Chelsea and I had a nice walk this morning. We ran into her friend Pepper, the schnauser and his master Roger. I used to think that schnausers were awful dogs. Aunt Helen and Uncle George had one called Yogi who was a real icky creature. They loved Yogi and Yogi loved them, but he barked the whole time anyone was there. He was was so bad that they used to pen him in the kitchen when they had company. Helen said he was just protective but I think that he just didn't like his quiet life with them disrupted by anything. When my brother Tim got married, he and his wife Joyce stopped off to see Helen and George after the honeymoon. Tim said they went in and sat down for a visit with Yogi yapping and jumping and pulling against his leash. Then suddenly, he leaped one last yappy leap, collapsed and died. Poor Tim and Joyce just gently left - they didn't know what else to do.

Helen and George mourned that dog, as well they should have, but frankly noone else did. He was really hateful.

We bottled the Gewertziminer today and will mix up some Chablais tomorrow. We are getting a nice stock again.

Sleep tight.

Mary

Bobbie and I worked at Rhine Plymouth Gun Club tonight. It was busy, so the guys make us stay til the end. If it is quiet, they always let us go home early. They are a bunch of sweethearts.

Dick and I went to see Meet the Fockers this afternoon. It really is a FUNNY movie, well acted, well crafted and FUNNY. Great cast too.

I found a pumpernickel bread for the bread machine that turned out good. I love black bread and this is really dark and tasty. Dick is trying low carb so I will be experimenting with different breads for me. I always end up freezing some because a loaf lasts too long and dries out otherwise. Anyway, it is really good.

Tomorrow we will be home all day. That will be a change. We are going to be bottling wine and mixing up a new batch.

A Minnesotan dies and is sent to hell. He was a horrible man
throughout life and the devil really wanted to punish him, so he
puts him to work breaking up rocks with a sledgehammer. To make it
worse he cranks up the temperature and the humidity.

After a couple of days the Devil checks in on his victim to see if he
is suffering adequately. The Devil is aghast as he looks at the
Minnesotan happily swinging his hammer and whistling a happy tune.

The Devil walks up to him and says, "I don't understand this. I've
turned the heat way up, it's humid, you're crushing rocks, why are
you so happy?"

The Minnesotan, smiling looks at the Devil replying, "This is great,
it reminds me of August in Minnesota. Hot, humid a good piece of
work to do - it reminds me of home. This is fantastic!"

The Devil, perplexed, walks away to ponder this. He decides to change
things up a bit -drops the temperature, sends down driving rain and
torrential wind. Soon, hell is a wet, muddy mess. The Minnesotan is
happily slogging through the mud pushing a wheelbarrow full of
crushed rocks.

Again, the Devil asks how he can be happy in such conditions.

The Minnesotan replies, "This is great. Just like April in Minnesota.
Reminds me of working out in the fields with spring plantin'!"

The Devil is now completely baffled. In desperation, he tries one
last ditch effort. He makes the temperature plummet. Hell is
blanketed in snow and ice. Confident that this will have to do it,
the Devil checks in on the Minnesotan. He is aghast as he sees the
Minnesotan dancing, singing, and twirling his sledgehammer as he
cavorts in glee.

"How can you be so happy. It's like you're celebrating. Don't you
know its 40 below zero!?" screams the Devil.

"Hell's frozen over!" replies the Minnesotan, "The Vikings won the
Superbowl!"




With Superbowl just around the corner, I thought this old 2001 e-mail might be fun.
Love

Mary

Today was REALLY busy. Dick had his blood tested this morning, then we went grocery shopping and I signed up for a Basic Pistol Shooting class at the Recreation Department. Three gals, who are members of the Tri County Women's Club that Bobbie and I joined before we found Rhine Plymouth, are taking the course too. I am always glad to learn more about the sport and this will get down to the nitty gritty.

The rest of the day was spent sewing, and walking and bookkeeping.

Tonight I had choir and council. But home I am and home I will stay.

Dick wants to go to see a movie tomorrow. We are going to see Meet the Fockers. It is supposed to be really funny and we did enjoy the Meet the Parents.

So popcorn will be my lunch tomorrow. Bobbie and I are working at Rhine tomorrow night. Saturday is a quiet day with nowhere to go. Wow. We will probably bottle the Gewertziminer and mix up a batch of Chablis.

I hope your Friday will be as much fun as mine.

Love

Mary

I'm a rambling a bit but that is because I am tired.

Hello - Are you all keeping warm? We feel so cold here. When Chelsea and I walked today, the wind was blowing and my legs lterally got stiff. So I was really glad to get back into a warm house again.

We filtered the Gewertziminer today. On Saturday, we can bottle it. We are really getting stocked up down there.

I have asked Fr. Gene if we can use Fr. Mike Shea's Sarnelli House for one of our alms focuses during Lent and he has given permission. I am listening to the DVD now so I can know the time it takes to run it. I would like to share it with the parish and hopefully get a little mission society going. I wrote a letter to Good Morning America about Fr. Mike's mission. After watching Dianne Sawyer around the tsunami area, I thought perhaps they might find Sarnelli interesting to feature.

We will be going rabbit hunting the last Saturday in February. The season starts this Saturday, but everybody is busy all the other weekends. Sometimes I think I should just hunt right outside the garage. I know we have several out there.

We are all like crayons.
We start off fresh and bright.
We leave our mark on the world.
We break.
We get lost sometimes.
We wear out.
Some of us are used more than others.
But in the end we fill the BIG box of crayons and make beautiful pictures.




Make your pictures bright and beautiful with big splashes of color.

Love

Mary

Well, we shopped this morning. It was a good day to buy some of our vitamins. They were marked 50% off and I had a dollar coupon for each of them too. Wow, do I feel like a coupon queen.

I wrote two articles for church and printed labels for the Boozie Lady wine and took care of a LOT of bookkeeping.

It was really nice today, up into the 30s. My morning walk was really special because it was warmer with NO WIND. That seems to be the important part.

We "Roomba-proofed" our bedroom and set it loose in there today. We are getting through the house, then we can start over again. It does do a nice job of cleaning. It needs cleaning too. Jim says he thinks that Roxie thinks that it is another animal. He cleaned it out the other day, put it back in its perch and Roxie ran over and smelled it't behind.

Have a nice Wednesday.

Mary

Bible Study this morning. That was the only time that I ventured off of Hunters Glen Drive.

Chelsea and I did go for a walk at about 7:30AM. I am really glad that Dick and I decided that walking in the dark in winter is really not too wise. It is so much nicer to be able to see where we are going and to be aware of icy spots.

Aside from that, we bottled some wine today. The beaujolais. It was a five gallon batch and the initial taste is good. Beaujolais is probably my favorite red. Maybe because, unlike most reds, it can be served chilled.

Tomorrow we shop and I go to see Dr. Casey the chiropractor. That is quite enough. I want to quilt one of the baby quilts for the At Risk Babies at Children's Hospital. I have the top all done and have picked the backing and pined the two to the batting. One step at a time.

Have a nice Tuesday.

Love

Mary

When I drove to church this morning the temperature was -2. It warmed up to 21 by this afternoon however, and Chelsea and I had a very nice walk when it did. Then, right after her walk, she got really hyper. She ran around like a crazy dog and we had a heck of a time settling her down.

Went shooting. My average for the three was pretty good. My first one was the best - a 61 but the others were in the upper 40s so I am happy.

Tonight we went to a new Thai restuarant. We were very pleased, I had a chicken veggie dish with a peanut curry sauce and pork rice. I tried fried bananas and was not impressed with them, but I sure liked the rice and chicken. We WILL go back. They were very friendly and the service was good to go along with the food.

Mother sent a picture of Great Grandpa and Grandma Uelman with all their children, including, of course, Grandma Matie Bowser. What a handsome group and what a great picture. I am having Jim scan it and if it scans well, I will copy it for the brothers and sisters. Grandma sure was a beautiful woman. I can see why Grandpa John fell for her.

I talked to Barbara last night. She and Bart were worried about us because of all the snow reports and I think they secretly wanted to gloat a bit because they are out of all of this. It is "cold" there now. They are getting temperatures in the 40s. Last week, they had to go to Oklahoma City for some medicine for Bart and he went with her to a quilt show. She said that he got a little bored but was interested in the things that the embroidery machines can do and was very patient. He is doing well most days and is content. I just want my boys and girls to be happy and content.

A friend is someone who knows
the song in your heart
and can sing it back to you
when you have forgotten
the words.;

-- Unknown



Sing the song in your heart and if you are blessed, someone will hear.

Mary