Year In Review

This is the time of year we look back at where we've been and ahead to what is to come. In church this morning we were reminded to look at our spiritual lives to see where we need to improve and then take steps to make that happen. If any of us say we're fine the way we are, we are not being honest. No one is perfect and there is always room for growth in becoming more like Christ. 

All that said, it is still easier to chart the path of our lives by our visible activities than invisible spiritual things. So here is a snapshot of our lives in 2018.

Our first great-grandchild, Avery Lynn Miller, was born January 15.

Some of my cousins came to help quilt on February 21.

On March 5, Leroy marked 45 years of working at Shank Door.

We enjoyed a week of lovely weather in Sarasota, Florida, the end of March. We had not been in Sarasota for 44 years.

 Our bathroom was remodeled the middle of May.

 We took some time out of our family weekend at the cabin in June to take a 5-generation picture.

 In July we went to the Museum of the Bible and the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.

 On Labor Day we made apple butter at my sister's place and crossed the Susquehanna on the ferry boat on the way home.

We enjoyed  a weekend of camping in Ohio September 21-22, though we wimpy old folks slept in the house.

We went to Holmes County, Ohio, in October where I was scheduled to speak at a writer's conference. An Amish family gave us a place to sleep in an apartment in this building which is used for his business of making horse-drawn farm equipment.

It was a very wet year with record rainfall and a heavy wet snow the middle of November made us wonder what kind of winter we will have.

Leroy celebrated his 75th birthday with a special lunch at work.

We had 34 people at the table and one in the high chair on Christmas Day.

A lot of activity that isn't recorded in pictures took place. Leroy worked on the John Deere tractor he is building from scratch and helped Gerald a couple times with his remodeling project. I crocheted an afghan, wrote a book, a couple articles for the historical society's magazine, a genealogy appendix for the reprinted Jonas Martin Era book, and about a dozen short stories for children. And then there was all the normal daily work of earning a living and keeping the house.

What are we looking forward to in 2019? More of the same everyday life, Lord willing. At this point we have no big trips planned but wild ideas may pop up as we go along. We'll take a day at a time and try to grow spiritually so that when we look back again at the end of the year we can see a difference.

Birthdays

Birthdays come and go. They were exciting at 16 and under, but the higher the numbers go the less exciting or anticipated they are. We've had so many birthdays they're old hat by now and we'd rather ignore than celebrate them. But ignoring birthdays doesn't stop them from coming so you might as well face the facts and admit the truth.

My birthday and Leroy's are just three days apart, on the 14th and 17th. However, he is four years older than me. Every time the numbers rolled over to start a new decade, it didn't seem as bad because he was four years ahead of me.  This year he got a kick out of telling people that we had our first date when I was 17 and now we turned the numbers around. If you remember your grade school math, you can figure out what number he reached today.

Although we had nothing to do with when we were born, it is convenient for a couple tightwads like us to have our birthdays close together. We usually have a gift card or two for a restaurant and use one to celebrate both our birthdays on one card. In addition, having December birthdays makes it convenient to give each other a gift that serves for both birthday and Christmas. We both prefer to give and get gifts that are practical and useful rather than luxury items, although that has happened occasionally. 

This year it seemed appropriate to recognize Leroy's birthday in a special way so we made plans for an office party. I was working on making five pies this morning when he left for work: apple, cherry crumb, pumpkin, shoofly, and lemon meringue. 

Gene ordered eight pizzas and I took chips, drink, the pies and ice cream in to the office at noon. It was a special treat to have lunch with my husband and son. He is celebrated and officially 75. I can hardly believe that number! But facts are facts and we are very blessed to have all these years together.

The Welsh Mountain

Anyone who is familiar with the Welsh Mountain south of New Holland, Pennsylvania, has probably heard stories of the Buzzard Gang of outlaws who lived there. The notorious members of the Buzzard Gang were brothers who grew up in the Welsh Mountains, raised by a single mother who lost her husband in the Civil War. Of the six boys raised by Mary Buzzard, three of them, Abe, Isaac and Jacob, had the most run-ins with the law. 

Abe, by far, was the ringleader, but his brothers were equally wild. Another brother, Martin, served 16 years in prison for shooting a farmer in the head during a botched robbery, although the elderly farmer survived. In and out of prison for most of their lives, the brothers terrorized communities throughout the region with robberies, gun battles and a string of thefts too numerous to count. 
Back in 1883, the Buzzard Boys organized the largest prison break in Lancaster County, taking advantage of lax security to free more than a dozen prisoners. At times, there were bounties out for Abe Buzzard that were larger than those offered for Western outlaw Jesse James. Abe was shot several times in gun battles, but he survived those encounters. Despite his outlaw ways, the end came quietly for Abe, who died in 1935 at age 84 in his home in Reading. 

The Buzzard Gang was not the first or only outlaw gang to live on the Welsh Mountain. It had a reputation for their type long before they were born.

The mountain reminded the Welsh people of their homeland and they named it the Welsh Mountain. When they settled in the area in the early 1700s, Indians still lived on the mountain. It was sold out from under them which, of course, did not sit well with them. How would you like it if someone came to your house, claimed it and sold it to someone else? 

Black slaves and white indentured servants who escaped ran to the Welsh Mountain. The Indians helped them hide from their masters. The three races mixed on the Welsh Mountain and produced a Tri-racial group of descendants that lived in crude huts. They made it clear they wanted to be left alone, fiercely defending their freedom with vicious dogs and guns. 

An article in the Philadelphia Gazette in 1790 warned travelers on the State road near Gap in Lancaster County that they were liable to be attacked by "Green's Banditti." The leader of the band was identified a burly black man, Thomas Green, who had control of the mountains. A few years later he died in an attack on a waggoner but his wife and family survived and perpetuated the name and family tradition.

In 1898 the Mennonite church established an industrial mission on the Welsh Mountain in an attempt to evangelize the people and provide a way for them to earn an honest living instead of begging and stealing. While their intentions were noble, generations of hardscrabble living on the mountain was not easily changed to the German work ethic of the mission's founders. The industrial part of the mission was not a stunning success and the residents of the mountain largely continued in their lifestyle.

In 1899, Cal Green was the leader of the black outlaw gang on the Welsh Mountain. She was a descendant of Thomas Green and fiercely defended their territory with guns and vicious dogs. At great peril, Leslie Gilliams managed to interview a few residents on the mountain and photograph the huts in which they lived. A report of his adventure was published in The Wide World Magazine, Vol. IV, Oct. 1899-Mar. 1900; p.366-371.

Today, the Welsh Mountain has been tamed. The industrial mission evolved into a home for low-income elderly. The outlaws are gone and their huts have been replaced with comfortable homes.  A paved road crosses the ridge that once was dense forest. It is safe to drive across the mountain in the dark without fear of being attacked by bandits.