We're watching a fund raising special on PBS about Johnny Cash. Kris Kristopherson is singing The Ballad of Ira Hayes. There is a story. A man who went to war had showed such courage but could not take the fame involved in being one of the heros who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Read Flags of our Fathers by Bradley if you get a chance.

We have stories of such bravery in all of our wars. It is always the innocent boys who have to do the killing that is decided by those who don't have to go. I am not saying that all wars are wrong and I will not judge which are, but the truth is that those who declare the wars do not fight and it is the best of our young men and women who do die.

There is a song that says "Did you really believe when they told you the cause? Did you really believe that this war would end wars. For young Willie Mc Bride, it all happened again. And again, and again and again and again."

Don't mean to be so glum. Today was a good day. I worked out at Rhine for a bit as we were hosting the County High School Shooters. I stayed for about three hours. There are up to 60 teams of 5 that shoot at this event. Quite impressive. It is nice to see the young people learning the skill of trap.

It was a bit cool but sunny and bright today and it felt much warmer than it really was.

Hope this continues for a while. I did tell you that the day lilies and tulips are coming up, didn't I?

Have a nice Sunday.

Mary

Well, I went back to Plymouth this morning to join the Irishman's Walk. I have done that for many years. This was one of the better ones. The weather was very pleasant. Cold but sunny. I parked in the lot accross from the Stafford and hitched a ride up to Chester's Drive In where the walkers gathered. The Plymouth Lions Club was providing hot coffee with a wee bit of the barley and some Bailey's to warm the hands and the soul. I chose the Bailey's in some coffee and it warmed me all the way to the hotel. There I joined a few other "Marys" for lunch, visited with people that I knew. And came home. It was a pleasant day all around.

I am sure that you saw this but it is worth repeating. Nobody but the Irish

Ireland Declares War on France


Jacques Chirac, The French President, is sitting in his office when his telephone rings.

"Hallo, Mr. Chirac!" a heavily accented voice said. "This is Paddy Down at the Harp Pub in County Clare, Ireland. I am ringing to inform you that we are officially declaring war on you!"

"Well, Paddy," Chirac replied, "This is indeed important news! How big is your army?"

"Right now," says Paddy, after a moment's calculation, "there is myself, me Cousin Sean, me next door neighbour Seamus, and the entire darts team from the pub. That makes eight!"

Chirac paused. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 100,000 men in my army waiting to move on my command."

"Begoora!" says Paddy. "I'll have to ring you back."



Sure enough, the next day, Paddy calls again. "Mr. Chirac, the war is still on. We have managed to get us some infantry equipment!"

"And what equipment would that be Paddy?" Chirac asks.

"Well, we have two combines, a bulldozer, and Murphy's farm tractor."

Chirac sighs amused. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 6,000 tanks and 5,000 armored personnel carriers. Also, I have increased my army to 150,000 since we last spoke."

"Saints preserve us!" says Paddy. "I'll have to get back to you."

Sure enough, Paddy rings again the next day. "Mr. Chirac, the war is still on! We have managed to get ourselves airborne! We have modified Jackie McLaughlin's ultra-light with a couple of shotguns in the cockpit, and four boys from the Shamrock Bar have joined us as well!"

Chirac was silent for a minute and then cleared his throat. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 100 bombers and 200 fighter planes. My military bases are surrounded by laser-guided, surface-to-air missile sites. And since we last spoke, I have increased my army to 200,000!"


"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" says Paddy, "I will have to ring you back."

Sure enough, Paddy calls again the next day. "Top o' the mornin', Mr. Chirac! I am sorry to inform you that we have had to call off the war."

"Really? I am sorry to hear that," says Chirac. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well," says Paddy, "we had a long chat over a few pints of Guinness, and decided there is no bloody way we can feed 200,000 prisoners."


HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY.

Have a lovely weekend

Mary

What a great day. The impending winter storm turned out to be a short period of light snow this morning that ended early. By the time I went to get my hair cut at 1:45 the snow was gone from the grass and roads already.

SO, the drive to Plymouth to meet Jeff and Kathy for dinner at Dairy Queen and on to 52 Stafford to hear Blarney at 8:00 was on and fun. Dick and I stayed for two sets and left at about 10:30. The smoke was really getting to Dick and I figure that I will be walking in less than 12 hours and really need to get some sleep. One of my classmates, Nancy Gallagher Roehre joined us for the music. We had a nice visit, sang some songs and lifted a couple of pints.

Pat O'Reilly sang a couple of songs for us too. He is my brother in law, Ken Thuemmler's, uncle. He has a lovely Irish voice. Several years ago, Dick and I had gone for the music on St. Patrick's Eve when Pat sang. In the middle of singing "My Old Man", he collapsed with a heart attack. Fortunately, one of the musicians is an EMT and there were two emergency room nurses in the audience. They were on him before he hit the ground. By the time the paramedics came he was coming too and they stagilized him before they took him to the hospital. I still remember that stubborn old man struggling to get off the gurney. He kept saying that he had not finished his song.

He fully recovered and sang his song the next year and for these many years since.


I got some more cards today - notably one from my daughter in law Brenda about St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. Totally FUNNY.

Tomorrow I walk. Have a WONDERFUL St. Patrick's Day. I know that I will.
Archbishop Dolan even said that I can eat meat so I am looking forward to some Corned Beef either in a sanwich or a dinner. I just can't decide. I will be fixing corned beef and cabbage on Sunday if you want to come for dinner. Just let me know so I know how many potatoes to put in the pot.

Love

Mary

It was truly a lovely day today. The sun was shining all day. This morning it was only 22 when Chelsea and I walked but it did warm up nicely.

Dick had his eye exam today and is getting new lenses in his frames. Otherwise, his eyes are healthy and he is scheduled for next year.

We racked and filtered the 6 gallon Luna Bianca wine today. As soon as we have a day at home, we can bottle it. Good thing. Our stock was dwindling. We like to give away gifts a lot and were scraping the bottom of the stock. Actually a couple of last year's scratch wines are ready now, which is helping.

Yesterday, I watered the house plants AND the plants that I am wintering in the garage. While I was watering the three herbs that I have on the potting bench, I saw movement to my left. Lo and behold, there was a little gray mouse. He wasn't even alarmed that I was there. I don't know whether he thought that I didn't see him or if he was so used to us walking in and out of the garage but he just kind of sat there, even when I banged on the box he was next to. Anyway Jim put the mouse catcher that he got when we had one in the basement and within an hour we have no more mouse. We hope. I hope he didn't have any friends.

O'Toman walked into a bar and ordered martini after martini, each time removing the olives and placing them in a jar.

When the jar was filled with olives and all the drinks consumed, the
Irishman started to leave.

"S'cuse me", said a customer, who was puzzled over what O'Toman had done, "what was that all about?"

"Nothin', said the Irishman, "my wife just sent me out for a jar of olives!"

Tomorrow, barring too bad a storm, we will be enjoying Blarney in Plymouth. Pray for a mild storm or an early ending.

Mary

It was not too cold today but very windy. Chelsea and I had a nice walk early. I hope we will be able to do so tomorrow too. I will go as soon as we get up because we have to be in Plymouth for Dick's eye exam at 8:35AM. Why do they have appointments at such odd hours?


A big storm is threatening to come in and RUIN the St. Patrick Eve (March 16) concert and evening with Jeff and Kathy. I really feel that it will pass us by but that we will have a VERY cold walk the next morning.

I went to see Dr. Casey this afternoon and he is pleased that my arm is improving and is now working on my rib cage which started hurting last Thursday. I am simply disintegrating, one bone and joint after another. Hopefully, he will continue to be able to put me back together.

On the way home, I stopped and got Chelsea's license. So she is legal for another year. We don't have to license cats in the town. We did have to license Waylon when we lived in the city.

Here is another Irish joke for you.

Irish Cemetery
Three Irishmen, Paddy, Sean and Seamus, were stumbling home from the pub late one night and found
themselves on the road which led past the old graveyard..
"Come have a look over here," says Paddy, "It's Michael O'Grady's grave, God bless his soul. He lived to the ripe old age of 87."
"That's nothing," says Sean, "here's one named Patrick O'Toole, it says here that he was 95 when he died."!
Just then, Seamus yells out, "Good God, here's a fella that got to be 145!"
"What was his name?" asks Paddy.
Seamus stumbles around a bit, awkwardly lights a match to see what else is written on the stone marker, and exclaims,
"Miles, from Dublin."

Til tomorrow

Mary

Chelsea and I were able to take a nice walk this morning. It was pleasant. The temps in the hight 30s. Tonight it is WINDY and we are getting a rather chilly rain mix. Maybe no walk tomorrow.

Bible Study was stimulating. The readings next Sunday are the Ten Commandmants and the time the Jesus lost his temper and threw the money changers out of the temple. We were very impressed with the beauty of the writing of the Commandments. It is very intersting to know that they are not laid out in the nice order and as concisely as we memorize them in our religious ed classes. They could actually be broken down in to 12 or so and the "covets" are lumped in the passage. But all the major religons and the Old Testament itself ALL speak of the 10 Commandments.

Writers Club was fun. We had an artist Larry Baskey who is a part of a book that was a project with Artists doing paintings to go with a poem. Kind of a reverse of what we did with the existing art at the Milwaukee Art Museum. He was quite inspirational and I think I will persue the idea with him. He has a gallery on Mill Street in Plymouth. I will throw a few poems in in see if I can catch him open some day. He does not keep regular hours.

I called Bart and Barb tonight. They sounded pretty good. Barb had been going through a difficult departmental review which is now over so she can relax about that and Bart actually sounded pretty good. Perhaps he is on a good healing upswing now. They have had hot and dry weather and need rain. They are well below the rains and tornadoes that swung through the heartland over the weekend.

I have been having and writing down memories of the Kohler Strike. One thing that came to mind was the soup kitchen that the union set up for the strikers. It was open all the time, because the strikers picketed 24/7 (as they say now days) and could stop in any time for food. We were impressed as children because you would just walke up to the table and take what you wanted. I remember bologna sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper (no baggies back then) and the fact that we could have soft drinks, as much as we wanted. This was a big treat in our family of nine children where soda was a luxary reserved for very special occasions like family gatherings and Mother's bridge parties. After her parties, IF we were good, we got to finish whatever soda was left.

Times they have changed.

Love

Mary

A pleasant evening with Bobbie and Bill here for dinner. The Schlitzhagen and Rhubarb Pie were good, if I do say myself.

Went to the 8AM Mass. The Trinity Teens were selling Cinnamon Rolls again. They are raising money to be able to go on mission this summer. The Cinnamon Rolls are HUGE and delicious. I always get the 4 for $5 package. We split one this morning with our bacon and eggs and then we each have one for the Monday's breakfast or whatever.

Jim and I went out to shoot pistol this afternoon too. My arm is finally healing. It hardly hurts at all any more. My shooting is improving a bit. At least I am getting all the shots on the target. Now I have to improve my aim again.

This was a nice warm day again. We are getting some more rain late this afternoon and evening. The snow will be all gone soon. Now I looked at the forecast and it is supposed to cool down and possibly snow again on Thursday. Not Fair! I heard the red winged blackbird. That means SPRING.

Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Week

Here is your Joke.

"The Brothel"

Two Irishmen were sitting at a pub having beer and watching the brothel across the street.

They saw a Baptist minister walk into the brothel, and one of them said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see a man of the cloth goin' bad."

Then they saw a rabbi enter the brothel, and the other Irishman said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see that the Jews are fallin' victim to temptation as well."

Then they see a catholic priest enter the brothel, and one of the Irishmen said, "What a terrible pity...one of the girls must be dying.


Mary