Carole Cray Reed

2023
We have sold our Arkansas townhouse, as before, within a day of contacting the realtor, and are moving to our condo in Gulf Shores, AL. Packing up for the move, I've come across LOTS of York memorabilia - photos, yearbooks, York-Hi newspapers, etc. Such memories !

We spent the past summer at the Gulf, most afternoons on the beach at our daughter's condo, swimming, snorkeling and collecting more shells and freckles. Mornings I participate in a water aerobics session at our condo pool. For over a year now, I have been on Duolingo every day, adding to my 3 years of French at York.



2022
For 4 years we have had a condo in a gated complex in Gulf shores, AL. Meanwhile, we are on our third home in Fairfield Bay, AR. After enduring several REALLY cold, icy and snowy Februarys, we decided to spend our winters at the Gulf condo. So last year, we sold our home of 14 years atop a wooded Ozark ridge that has a 20-mile panorama eastern view over Greers Ferry Lake and beyond. I loved to watch the ever-changing sunrises and track the point of the sunrises as they moved north and south throughout the seasons. The buyers were the first people to see it, an hour after the realtors first toured it. We bought and extensively renovated a townhouse on one of the golf courses here in "the Bay" for our summer use. I suspect we may move to the Gulf full time at some point. Our younger daughter has just had a house with pool built just north of Sarasota, FL, and our older daughter is moving full time to their beach front condo early next year. So we may all end up at the gulf.

Last year brought me a great personal loss. I had to have my Arabian mare put down. She had gotten arthritis in a hind leg. She was fine moving around and even trotted voluntarily. But she just loved to lie down and roll, but then didn't have the strength to get back up without lots of help. Thankfully, I do still ride one of my friend's "extra" Arabians and helped her several times this summer to hose the horses down to cool them on the many days we've had over 100.

Some years ago I wrote...
We have lived in the south since 1970. Jim's work took us to Atlanta, Montgomery, and then to the Memphis area for over 25 years. I was a liability insurance investigator/field adjuster for over 30 years (bodily injuries, fatalities and litigation). In 1984, Jim surprised me with 2 yearling colts which I raised and trained to ride myself. I had them for 18 years until we moved to the north side of Greers Ferry Lake (in the Ozarks) in 2001. I have had an Arabian mare for the past 5 years. I had bi-lateral hip replacements in 2015. (Minimally Invasive Surgery is THE ONLY way to go - ask me about it if you are contemplating hip replacement !) My return to riding 9 weeks later was the cover story of Horseman's Roundup Magazine (my 15 seconds of fame !). My friends and I ride the 35 acres where our horses are stabled, and we also trailer our horses off site for day long trail rides. I have learned to pull the trailer with Jim's Ram 4x4 and can even back it ! I do yoga 3 mornings a week, and have been in our Methodist Church choir for the past 16 years.

Re: Mr. Brant's Junior High homeroom class having a SRAM (MARS spelled backward) attack during Mrs. Swenson's English class. Everyone ducked under their desks pretending to be in the process of an attack by Martians.