Date:         Sun, 17 Dec 1995 11:49:03 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         busgirl@netcom.com (Martha)
Subject:      tree-trim party report


Not everyone could make it, but it was still fun.  Thom Fitzpatrick
got off work too late to be cofortable making the 90 minute drive
to my house.  Hugenard's new baby Jill exhausted both her parents to
the point that they neeed a break (hope that chocolate cake was
great!   :), Linda Johnson had a cold, Bill Abbott had a meeting,
and a few others phoned in.

In attendance were the Kautzes, Bradley, Al Hubbard (Swiss Al), me,
a few non-VW friends of mine, and Eugene Palmer, who as a great
labor of affection made the trek out here late-nite after working
an umpteenth Nutcracker show.  We dined on exquisite French cheeses,
Italian breads, salads of exotic greens, rice, curry, and some pretty
esoteric beers and wines, not to mention dried cranberry gorp, etc.,
which I had for dinner the next day.  

The party started at 5, and finally broke up around 2 a.m. or so.  We
(they?) never got my woodstove installed, but we finally just shoved it
into the fireplace opening and let it work in there withough the stove
pipe to channel the exhaust.  It still needs a catalyic converter.  :)
We managed not to burn anything more precious than a few fire starter
thngies and a presto log.  We got the tree decorated, thanks especially
to Max Kautz who has the eye of a mechanical/engineer type and deftly
erected the tree.  Nikki Kautz got the software and modem on my new
computer running (thanx!).

Someone new on our mailing list named Johnny who's into VW stuff,
especially web pages asked me if I would snap a few pix of the party
for him to scan and post.  As soon as some get developed, I'll send
them on.  I tried my best to capture the unusual:  there's the one
of Al Hubbard and Dave Kautz nearly unconscious sprawled out on
the couch after drinking a lot of beer and mulled wine.  Or the
one of Bradley, who after hearing that my mostly failed computer
monitor occasionally would work after beging warmed up, decided to load
the thing into the oven in the kitchen.  I guess if he can't get
fire, that he likes toying around with 220 sources of heat.  :)

Towards the end, we went out and inspected the inside of Eugene's
'71, which had been creamed in a hit and run you may all remember
from his post months back.  What happened inside to the auxilliary
battery was so impressive, I urged him to photograph it and post
it to a web page.  I doubt a bomb could have accomplished anything
so dramatic.  :)

Anyway, a few of you here and a few of you who called asked about
N.Y.'s eve, and that's till fine for here for another party.  Let
me know.  I know Kautzes are away, but I think Thom and Bradley
and maybe a few others are planning to attend.

/martha