Such a pleasant Wild Game Dinner and Beer Tasting Contest. Number 28 is behind us. Becky, Randy's oldest daughter, won the beer tasting contest. The Aunts and Uncles who participate are really becoming nervious. This is the third year IN A ROW that that generation has wiped them out. Has their time passed? Their day in the sun sunk below the horizon? They are vowing to come back next year. We will see.

Almost all the attendees participated in the contest, which left me and Stacy, Todd's wife, to do all the pouring etc. Dick helped us do the scoring.

The food, as always, was delicious, we had my stew, Mom's rabbit, Donna's pheasant and rice, Kathy's Brunswick soup and lots of great side dishes, including beans, 7 layer salad and, of course, Eileen's potato casserole.

A nice day. I am so glad that Becky won. She has beent rying for five years now and (my own selfish reason) SHE AND BRIAN DON'T ALLOW SMOKING IN THEIR HOUSE EITHER.

I saw in the news the other day that Queen Mary II sailed by Queen Mary I, which is permanently docked in the Long Beach Harbor and is a hotel and tourist attraction. Did I ever tell you that I spent a night on the Queen Mary I as part of a seminar. I stayed in one of the cabins and we had our meetings in various halls around the ship. I remember eating at a restaurant down the road from the ship and drinking the very best coffee that I have ever tasted. Don't have any idea what it was but that memory lingers on.

Love

Mary

I finished the baby quilt for the At Risk Babies at Children's Hospital. That is a big cause of the Sheboygan Quilt Guild. Our members make and deliver usually about 200 quilts to the hospital to be given to EVERY baby that goes through the care there. We have also been asked to make little pads for the premies. I haven't done that but feel good making a quilt each year for some little munchkin. I would have treasured such a thing when my Tony was in the hospital during his few months. I treasure his memories anyway. One of my friends who still lives is California told me that she occasionally drives past the graveyard where he is buried and thinks of him. It gives me comfort to know that someone remembers him.

Tomorrow is the 28th Annual Deeley Family Wild Game Dinner and Beer Tasting Contest. WOW. That is really a mouthful. I made my stew today and does it smell good. Tomorrow I will make a loaf of Irish Brown Bread so it will be warm when we take it over there.

We sent a card off to our Sara today. I know it will be late and as Leslie reads this, tell Sara OOPS. We are thinking of her and tell her I still remember going to the hospital when she was born and finding out that Grandma's can go in any time. She was a beautiful baby and is a beautiful girl. I can't believe that she is 19 already.

Tomorrow is SATURDAY ALREADY!!!

Enjoy your weekend.

Mary

Whew - Busy AGAIN. Dick and I went shopping this morning. We had our usual breakfast at Zana's and were able to congradulate Ralph Schneider, our incumbant town supervisor friend on his win in the primary. Now his real work begins as the "real" election is in April.

Went crazy at the store. They had a lot of specials and we needed quite a bit on top of that.

This afternoon, I went out with other volunteers to help the residents at Rocky Knoll play bingo. We play about an hour and a half and help the residents that cannot recognize or just mix up their numbers play. I always enjoy that and the visits with the other volunteers.

Then tonight was choir. We will be singing on Ash Wednesday, Next Wednesday. And we will sing at that concert at the Wiell center on the 4th.

I am going to make Brown Bread for the Wild Game Dinner to go along with the stew. I am hungry for Brown Bread anyway. Did I ever give you thiat recipe. I probably did, but here it is again. Remember my Irish friend, Alice,l says that the trick is to aeriate the flour by tossign it with your hand before you add the buttermilk.

IRISH BROWN BREAD
2 cups wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tbs.. white sugar
2 tbs.. brown sugar
2 cups buttermilk (in a pinch you can sour milk by putting a tsp. of lemon juice or vinegar in it and letting it set for a bit but buttermilk is best.)
Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bow. Scoop up handfuls of the dry ingredients and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture. (Very Important!)
Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough. Work quickly as the buttermilk and soda are working. Knead the dough lightly. Keep flouring hand to keep dough from sticking. Too much kneading will toughen, too little it won’t rise.
Form a round loaf about as thick as your fist. Place on a lightly floured baking sheet or stone and cut a cross across the top with a floured knife.
Bake at the top of a preheated oven. 450 Degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. The loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom. Wrap immediately in a clean tea towel to stop the crust from hardening.

My mouth is watering.

Mary

The Senior Saints function was a great success. I anticipated that we would have maybe 30 people attending so was really pleased that we had over 40 of our seniors there. As I said, we joined the school kids for Mass, then enjoyed some cookies, punch and coffee and then the Golden Chordaliers sang for us. It was a wonderful concert. Some of the attendees said that hey miss Sr. Marcia's programs, so I will have to be sure to do something at least every two months or so. Time to start thinking of the next one.

I had a nice visit with Mother too. She fed me lunch after I set things up at Church. I showed her the pictures that Andrew, Brit's friend, sent to me. One of them, the one of Mother and all of her children, fit perfectly in a ceramic Irish frame that the Thomas's (old friends of the family) gave to Mother at her birthday party. I also picked up the venison roast that we had left in her freezer for the wild game dinner, which is Saturday. Friday I will make the stew for the dinner. It only took me 64 years, but I finally have a good stew recipe. I am willing to share if you are interested.

Mother also gave me a copy of an typed pledge sheet dated Oce. 19, 1895. It listes lots of people that pledged money for the purpose of building the original St. Mary's Church in Sheboygan Falls. My Grandpa Deeley, Dad's father, pledged $100.00 which must have been a fortune to him, a foreman in the Woolen Mill. We were commenting that most of the names on that list are no longer an entity in Sheboygan Falls, but many of them were pillars of the community. Some of the names are totally unknown to me.

I don't know how many of you I sent this on to in e-mail, but it is worth repeating. I got it from a friend and really got a kick out of it.

FORWARDED IN THE NAME
OF PATRIOTISM

We all know that it is a sin for an Islamic male to
see any woman other than his wife naked, and that he
must commit suicide if he does.


So next Sunday at 4:00 PM Eastern time, all American
women are asked to walk out of their house completely
naked to help weed out any neighborhood terrorists.

Circling your block for one hour is recommended for
this antiterrorist effort. All men are to position
themselves in lawn chairs in front of their house to
prove they are not terr orists, and to demonstrate that
they think it's okay to see nude women other than
their wife and to show support for all American women.



And since the Koran also does not approve of alcohol,
a cold six-pack at your side is further proof of your
anti -terrorist sentiment.

The American Government appreciates your efforts to
root out terrorists and applauds your participation in
this anti -terrorist activity.
God bless America
and
GOD BLESS AMERICAN WOMEN!


IT IS YOUR PATRIOTIC DUTY TO PASS THIS ON


Bye Bye

Mary

I have new glasses on order. I could tell that my left eye had changed quite a bit since last year. Dr. Cheryl said that they can correct to 20/20 so it is nothing to be concerned about as my eyes otherwise are very healthy. I was able to use a previous frame, so kept the cost down quite a bit.

I saw Dr. Casey, the chiropractor, this afternoon. I am having trouble with pain in my right shoulder. He adjusted my shoulder and back and gave me some exercises that should help strengthen the muscles around the rotator cup. I sure hope so because it HURTS.

Chelsea and I had a nice walk today. It was sunny and about 28 degrees with no wind to speak of. She acts like a young pup on those walks and then spends most of the rest of the day sleeping.

Tomorrow, there is a program for the Senior Saints at Blessed Trinity Church. I arranged it as I am supposed to be the Senior Saints Coordinator. We will join the St. Mary School kids for Mass at 1:00 and the Golden Chordaliers, a group of seniors that sing in four part harmony, will entertain us after we have refreshments. One never knows how much stuff to get. I ordered 6 dozen cookies (figuring that the singers might like some too). I expect there will be about 30 participants. About 15 have signed up. Hope it goes well. I have decided that perhaps I will put out a quarterly newsletter for the seniors. Or perhaps include a column in the Angelus, our parish newsletter. I really feel that my main function is to keep the seniors at Blessed Trinity apprised of information as to where to find help for physical, social and spritual needs. Everything is really in place but so many people are not aware of it.



The above is a picture of a gray crowned crane that I took at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo. I loved his expression and thought it would brighten up your winter. I recommend the Crane Foundation to EVERYBODY. You can view it online at www.savingcranes.org.

later

Mary

Chelsea and I got our first walk in three days this afternoon. Was she ever a happy girl. Me too actually. It was in the mid 20s with nice sunshine and very little breeze so we did just fine.

The only out of house event except for the walk was Bible Study this morning. We had a quite lively discussion about the state of the world and people holding grudges and not trusting each other. We had pretty full crew today. There are 10 of us in the group.

Tomorrow, I will have my eyes tested. Dick drives me, of course. Not clever to try to drive with one's eyes dilated.

I have decided to put together a book of my poetry. I think I have enough how and can incorporate some pictures that I have in my pictures on the computer. I have until October (It is good for me to have deadlines) because then I can bring some to the Celtic Women's conference . Perhaps I can get it done for Celtic Faire, another good way to get it marketed.

Here is another quick little spring poem that I did recently.

CYCLE

Robins grow fat
On poor old worms
That squirm up out of the earth
To avoid drowning
In the fresh spring rain.

As you can see Spring is on my mind.

Love

Mary

It was much warmer today. It got all the way up to 12 degrees above zero. Do you hear the sarcasm? It started out at -1 so we were rather pleased with the 12 and sun.

I had to work at Rhine this afternoon. We did not send many squads out, but the time went fast. There was quite a bit of activity for the few people that shot. There were several that went down to shoot pistol, including Jim and me. Not too bad. The middle one was not good but at least this week I got all ten on all three targets. There was food left from our hosting of the Sheboygan County Conservation Association on Wednesday last week. So we served hot tamales, chips, cheese and crackers free to anyone who wanted it. I didn't do much but snack on cheese and crackers because Dick took Jim and I out for dinner tonight. We went to El Camino on Michigan.

I need to gather up the information that I have on the Uelman, my Grandma Matie Bowser, family. I told you someone called Aaron Laatsch called me. He is my Great Granfather Peter Uelman's brother John's great great grandson. One very interesting comment on my great grandfather. He was working in a lumber mill in Peshtigo and survived the big fire.

Have a good week.

Mary