Another busy day. I helped take down Christmas in church today. How sad. I got there at about 9:30 after I went grocery shopping and I had to leave at about 12:00 when Dick called because the Sears Repair person was coming earlier than the 1:00 to 5:00 window they had projected.

I needed to be there, because I do the dishwashing. We had a female repairperson who just loves animals. She always tries to get Chelsea to come up to her. Chelsea is not the cuddliest doggy in the world and only puts up with me after 7 years because she has come to understand that I expect it. But I don't push it either.

This woman, Jan, is delighted to see the kitties too but for some reason, Roxie doesn't like her. Both times, when Jan has pets Roxie and she meows and eventually hisses at her. I can't quite figure out why. Roxie is usually pretty friendly. On New Years Day, she walked up to Mother and introduced herself, which we thought was very nice of her.

We racked the Marigold wine today. I have to suck to tube to get the flow going, so I always get a little taste. It is still one of my favorite scratch wines. It will be ready for tasting in late July, I would guess and be REALLY ripe in January of 2006. Patience is the name of the game. If you want to try it, let me know.

A month from tomorrow is the 28th Annual Deeley Wild Game Dinner and Beer Tasting Contest. I will be bringing venison stew this year. I finally have found a good stew recipe and it is fantastic with venison as the meat. The feast will be hosted by Kurt and Jody Thuemmler, my sister Dolores's son and wife. For those of you that may not know. The winner of the beer tasting contest hosts the following year's event. A very efficient system. We are all plugging for Kathy, Jeff's wife. She has valiantly competed for lo these many years and REALLY wants her name on that trophy.

Have a good Wednesday


Mary