Welcome to Volume 27 of the Texas (still not changing the name) Times! I'll begin the annual rundown by saying that 2020 brought a couple of significant firsts for us. To kick off the year, Paige and I went to our first Roaring Twenties New Year's Gala. And let me tell you, nobody does Roaring Twenties like the Topeka Ramada Inn.
Nobody. Full Stop.
Even more noteworthy, to close out the year we took advantage of favorable tax treatment under the plague-inspired CARES Act, cashed in about half of our retirement savings, and bought a working buffalo ranch (see The Boss below with a two-year old aspiring herd bull named Samson). I don't teach in the spring semester so I'll be splitting time between Lawrence and Bell Fourche, SD (about an hour northwest of Rapid City) over the next few months. Most of you are familiar with Paige's lifelong obsession with animals and will appreciate knowing that she'll finally have a place to keep a couple of miniature horses.
So ... Yippee Kai Yay!! Or as they (we) say in South Dakota ...
Lest you think the above slogan is Photoshopped, here's one of many you've-got-to-be-kidding-me links regarding the state's campaign to wipe out meth usage.
