This is the time of year when we, hopefully, take a little time to reflect on where we’ve been and where we are headed. In our case, life continues to be good and filled with many riches. Some
of the highlights of our year…
We became great aunt and uncle this year when our niece, Rebecca gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby 
boy in June. We flew down to Alabama in August to meet young Patrick, and what
a little charmer he is! We plan to get back as often as possible in order to spoil our grand nephew.
We spent a glorious two weeks on vacation in the Mediterranean aboard the.jpg)
Emerald Princess. One of the highlights of the trip was spending a day with Vittorio Bifulco and his family near
Naples. In addition to sailing to several ports in Spain, Greece and Italy, we also visited Turkey for the first time. We found Turkey to be a beautiful place with many exotic sights and sounds … and great food! It was a great time and we are already planning our next getaway.
Willie continues to race with the infamous “He Man Racing” team, and his times continue to improve. The team won several championships this year, in addition to placing third in a 24-hour endurance race in August.
We are both busy with work. Willie changed positions in his company and no longer travels constantly, which is great. However, Deb’s business has grown and she is now traveling every month of so. Still, we can’t complain!
We lost our beloved cat, Cleo, this fall, which was a sad time for both of us. However, it wasn’t long before we found ourselves bringing home another rescue cat to round out the menagerie. Little Phoebe was rescued from a highway in New Jersey and is still trying to figure out
how she landed here in what must surely be animal heaven. She’s about six months old and full of play - she is keeping Rocket (our male cat) and Carrie (our collie) on their toes!
Deb’s mom and Dad will be flying out for Christmas again this year. We’ll spend Christmas with all the parents as well as Willie’s sister. We are thankful that all of our parents continue to be in good ealth.
Willie has some thoughts to add to this (I know, this is what you’ve all be waiting for all year!) In the meantime, we wish you and yours a joyous holiday season and a
healthy, happy and prosperous new year!
And, now, a few words from Willie…
Where have all the Cicadas gone?
Well, it’s been another fine year of wandering somewhat aimlessly in search of the much coveted neighborhood horticultural award.
As you know from previous Christmas letters, the Bifulco residence is somewhat of a lightning rod for the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Yep, you’ll recall several years back, the International Space Station called home about an intergalactic hot spot emanating from 9 Tallyho Lane, the root cause of which was determined to be an overuse of lawn
fertilizer. Well, I’m here to tell you, despite the presence of our really cool ever-growing gelatinous-like “green pond” that continues to consume an increasing amount of land and the occasional inquisitive wild animal, the concept of “more of whatever you think is good can only be better” is definitely not the way to go with lawn chemicals.
Anyway, with nary a blade of grass to cut these days, and no longer bothered by the sounds of crickets, birds, mosquitoes and other familiar summer inconveniences, I found myself one magical summer night admiring our very own aurora borealis, starring blindly, almost literally, at the “green pond” from what we now refer to as the “safe zone” (a special shout out to the DEP for that yellow caution tape). And to my surprise, I noticed massive Buick-sized holes around the newly laid and almost unearthed patio pavers. Instantly, I was reminded of Bill Murray’s “Caddy Shack” where gophers invaded his world. How could this be? I asked. (No, not the reference to the gophers, but recalling a movie that debuted almost 26 years ago. )
After a thorough investigation of the organic matter that surrounded the holes, I surmised that this must be the work of a mole. Although not sure how a small protuberance on the skin, somewhat parasitic in nature and oftentimes requiring a host human to get from point A to point B could have morphed into a concrete-eating, patio paver destroying vertebrate, I abandoned the thought and decided this couldn’t be a mole – it must be the rarely seen but much sought-after vole!
Well, not so fast. You see, after exhaustive research and countless hours of field work…OK, let me stop there. Basically I shoved a really big stick in the hole and pushed a couple rocks into it, sadly and wrongly believing the interlopers were taken care of. The next evening, I returned to the scene where I had planned on posing for pictures atop the vole hill (similar to those you’ve seen when men brave the elements to bag their first big-game kill) only to notice those tricky little voles were not to be thwarted! It seemed my prior remediation attempts were for naught as there were many more vole holes - almost as if those swarthy voles were mocking me. In fact, As I got down on my knees and peered into the dark abyss, I believe to this day I was greeted by a gesture that could only be described as a little vole middle finger.
With my butt in the air and face slightly tilted at ground level, hovering within inches of my nose I saw, to my horror, a flying insect the size of my trusted 65 pound companion collie, which incidentally usually finds sport in chasing wasps and was now hiding in a big collie-ball under the deck. Immediately, I concluded that what I was looking at was the result of some genetic mutation that could have only been caused by the creation of the gelatinous “green pond.”
Great, now I’ve done it, I broke the earth! Debbi is not going to be pleased, I thought. Realizing that the stick and rock technique was not going to fix this, I ran as quickly as my weeble-like legs could take me to the house where we called the local pest control guy to apply his craft to the earth.
In fear of this story appearing less than truthful, I’ll skip over how that conversation went. However, we did settle on him joining us at our house to asses the situation. Upon his arrival, which incidentally precipitated another uninvited visit from the DEP, it was surmised that these helicoptersized pterosaurs’ where not flying genetic mutations from millions of years ago revived by the presence of the “green pond” but Cicada Killer Wasps! Well, based on how scary these things were, I would have much preferred the flying dinosaurs.
Anyway, it appears these Cicada Killer Wasps sneak up on the unsuspecting Cicadas and administer a quick jolt of Ambient-like drugs. Now don’t be alarmed, this is just meant to calm them for the flight back to the burrow. You see, these Cicada Killer Wasps are somewhat akin to our Santa Claus. They’re simply providing a toy for their young ones so when they’re awakened, they have something to play with.
Once again, not so much a traditional Christmas letter, but should you happen to see a seemingly drug-induced Cicada at your door during this Holiday season, invite him in. It was mostly likely a gift from our little Cicada Killer Wasps to you….almost magical, isn’t it?
Happy Holiday!
Willie, Debbi, Carrie, Rocket and Phoebe
of the highlights of our year…
We became great aunt and uncle this year when our niece, Rebecca gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby 
boy in June. We flew down to Alabama in August to meet young Patrick, and whata little charmer he is! We plan to get back as often as possible in order to spoil our grand nephew.
We spent a glorious two weeks on vacation in the Mediterranean aboard the
.jpg)
Emerald Princess. One of the highlights of the trip was spending a day with Vittorio Bifulco and his family nearNaples. In addition to sailing to several ports in Spain, Greece and Italy, we also visited Turkey for the first time. We found Turkey to be a beautiful place with many exotic sights and sounds … and great food! It was a great time and we are already planning our next getaway.
Willie continues to race with the infamous “He Man Racing” team, and his times continue to improve. The team won several championships this year, in addition to placing third in a 24-hour endurance race in August.
We are both busy with work. Willie changed positions in his company and no longer travels constantly, which is great. However, Deb’s business has grown and she is now traveling every month of so. Still, we can’t complain!
We lost our beloved cat, Cleo, this fall, which was a sad time for both of us. However, it wasn’t long before we found ourselves bringing home another rescue cat to round out the menagerie. Little Phoebe was rescued from a highway in New Jersey and is still trying to figure out
how she landed here in what must surely be animal heaven. She’s about six months old and full of play - she is keeping Rocket (our male cat) and Carrie (our collie) on their toes!
Deb’s mom and Dad will be flying out for Christmas again this year. We’ll spend Christmas with all the parents as well as Willie’s sister. We are thankful that all of our parents continue to be in good ealth.
Willie has some thoughts to add to this (I know, this is what you’ve all be waiting for all year!) In the meantime, we wish you and yours a joyous holiday season and a
healthy, happy and prosperous new year!
And, now, a few words from Willie…
Where have all the Cicadas gone?
Well, it’s been another fine year of wandering somewhat aimlessly in search of the much coveted neighborhood horticultural award.
As you know from previous Christmas letters, the Bifulco residence is somewhat of a lightning rod for the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Yep, you’ll recall several years back, the International Space Station called home about an intergalactic hot spot emanating from 9 Tallyho Lane, the root cause of which was determined to be an overuse of lawn
fertilizer. Well, I’m here to tell you, despite the presence of our really cool ever-growing gelatinous-like “green pond” that continues to consume an increasing amount of land and the occasional inquisitive wild animal, the concept of “more of whatever you think is good can only be better” is definitely not the way to go with lawn chemicals.
Anyway, with nary a blade of grass to cut these days, and no longer bothered by the sounds of crickets, birds, mosquitoes and other familiar summer inconveniences, I found myself one magical summer night admiring our very own aurora borealis, starring blindly, almost literally, at the “green pond” from what we now refer to as the “safe zone” (a special shout out to the DEP for that yellow caution tape). And to my surprise, I noticed massive Buick-sized holes around the newly laid and almost unearthed patio pavers. Instantly, I was reminded of Bill Murray’s “Caddy Shack” where gophers invaded his world. How could this be? I asked. (No, not the reference to the gophers, but recalling a movie that debuted almost 26 years ago. )
After a thorough investigation of the organic matter that surrounded the holes, I surmised that this must be the work of a mole. Although not sure how a small protuberance on the skin, somewhat parasitic in nature and oftentimes requiring a host human to get from point A to point B could have morphed into a concrete-eating, patio paver destroying vertebrate, I abandoned the thought and decided this couldn’t be a mole – it must be the rarely seen but much sought-after vole!
Well, not so fast. You see, after exhaustive research and countless hours of field work…OK, let me stop there. Basically I shoved a really big stick in the hole and pushed a couple rocks into it, sadly and wrongly believing the interlopers were taken care of. The next evening, I returned to the scene where I had planned on posing for pictures atop the vole hill (similar to those you’ve seen when men brave the elements to bag their first big-game kill) only to notice those tricky little voles were not to be thwarted! It seemed my prior remediation attempts were for naught as there were many more vole holes - almost as if those swarthy voles were mocking me. In fact, As I got down on my knees and peered into the dark abyss, I believe to this day I was greeted by a gesture that could only be described as a little vole middle finger.
With my butt in the air and face slightly tilted at ground level, hovering within inches of my nose I saw, to my horror, a flying insect the size of my trusted 65 pound companion collie, which incidentally usually finds sport in chasing wasps and was now hiding in a big collie-ball under the deck. Immediately, I concluded that what I was looking at was the result of some genetic mutation that could have only been caused by the creation of the gelatinous “green pond.”
Great, now I’ve done it, I broke the earth! Debbi is not going to be pleased, I thought. Realizing that the stick and rock technique was not going to fix this, I ran as quickly as my weeble-like legs could take me to the house where we called the local pest control guy to apply his craft to the earth.
In fear of this story appearing less than truthful, I’ll skip over how that conversation went. However, we did settle on him joining us at our house to asses the situation. Upon his arrival, which incidentally precipitated another uninvited visit from the DEP, it was surmised that these helicoptersized pterosaurs’ where not flying genetic mutations from millions of years ago revived by the presence of the “green pond” but Cicada Killer Wasps! Well, based on how scary these things were, I would have much preferred the flying dinosaurs.
Anyway, it appears these Cicada Killer Wasps sneak up on the unsuspecting Cicadas and administer a quick jolt of Ambient-like drugs. Now don’t be alarmed, this is just meant to calm them for the flight back to the burrow. You see, these Cicada Killer Wasps are somewhat akin to our Santa Claus. They’re simply providing a toy for their young ones so when they’re awakened, they have something to play with.
Once again, not so much a traditional Christmas letter, but should you happen to see a seemingly drug-induced Cicada at your door during this Holiday season, invite him in. It was mostly likely a gift from our little Cicada Killer Wasps to you….almost magical, isn’t it?
Happy Holiday!
Willie, Debbi, Carrie, Rocket and Phoebe
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