Today was another full day. Dick and I went to Plymouth to drop off our earnest money for the house. Jim and Michelle have not heard yet, but we did not REALLY expect to because the owner is, as I said, up north at her cottage.

Then we took Mother's vitamins to her. She takes a vitamin called Vita Eyes because she has macular degeneration and we get them for her on the internet.

THEN, I went over to Maywood and learned how to take care of the pheasant chicks. They are now big enough to be let out into the holding pens. So far, except for putting the blinders on, they have been kept in the brooder houses. I learned how to fix their "gatorade" and make sure that they have water and food. Rhine is in charge of them for this week. Greg and Lynn Reich will take care of them tomorrow, Gary Hefter and I are sharing the mornings. I will do Monday and Friday. And Greg will stop after work just to be sure all is well. All we do is replenish water and food and be sure that if there are any dead, we remove, record and dispose of them. It is rather fun.

Then I took a short nap. Bobbie and Bill stopped by for some Rhine information on their way back from the clubhouse and we shared the details of the purchases.

Dick called from Madison for an update and we had a great visit with him.

I fixed fried rice with pork tenderloin and salad for supper.

We played a game of rummy, followed by a game of hearts with Jim and Michelle. Michelle whipped us good on rummy and Jim beat us in hearts. Pretty poor showing for the old folks.

Til tomorrow. James Thurber said that "You can fool too many of the people too much of the time."

Mary

What a day!

FIRST: I did a bunch of cleaning and cooking this morning, and then Dick and I went to the Clinic, where he had his physical. Dr. Phelan is pleased with most everything. He goes back in six months. He is as impressed with Dick's blood tests as Sue, the nurse who tests it is. As I said, he has gone 19 months with his test within the perameters and apparantly this is just unheard of. Yesterday, the lady who was scheduled after him said she was pleased to see him because she thinks he brings her luck. She has been yo-yoing and last month she was right on the money. Sure hope he worked for her this month.

SECOND: We stopped at Hundyai to check on the warranty and see what they have now.

THIRD: We got home to find a message from Tom Cain that our offer was accepted. Judy, the owner is taking our request to bring all three pets to the condos with us (two pets too many) and says she has some pull. I know they have made exceptions before if people HAD animals and agreed not to replace as long as they still had one. We are willing to do that. We are REALLY excited. Did I tell you that Dick gets a pool table along with the house?

FOURTH: Jim and Michelle got their credit approval and went right over to ReMax and made an offer on the condo next to ours. It looks good. However, Judy went Up North to her place up there and probably will not be able to give us an answer until Monday. Holy Tension!!! Sounded like a good offer to me though.

FIFTH: Jim and Michelle took us to Hauser's Hideout in Port Washington to do Karaoke with Michelle's friends, Randy and Diane, who are Almost Live. We had a fun time. Michelle and I sang again. We also each won a t shirt. Mine says Forgive Me for I Have Zinned. A wine glass, on it , of course. The name of the bar is on the back. And wonder of wonder, Jim sang his first song on stage, American Made. And he was GOOD!!! He even has a groupie. A gal from out of the audience came up and told him his was good. If he didn't believe us, I hope he believed her. Because he IS good.

So - WHAT A DAY!

Wonder what tomorrow brings.

Love

Mary

We have been busy little people today. Chelsea and I went for our walk at 6:00AM as usual. It was very comfortable. By the time we left for our breakfast and errands it was already getting warm and muggy. Actually, it only hit 86 or 87 and we are supposed to be in the 90s by Saturday but it was quite hot enough, thank you.

We had our breakfast at Zana's, then went on to the Clinic for Dick's blood test. He was perfest AGAIN. That makes 19 months in a row.

Grocery shopping was next on the agenda.

When we got home, I cleaned bathrooms and started the currant wine. Tomorrow, I will strain the juice out of the pulp, add the sugar and additives. Then Saturday, the yeast goes in and we wait.

This afternoon, Dick and I met with Tom Cain and made an offer on a condo in the Tallgrass Condo's. It is the one that is REALLY too big but if we can get the price we asked, it will be OK. We love the view off the deck. I think we made a good offer, so now we have to WAIT. I hate the waiting.

Later

Mary

Well, Today started out rather cool and got very hot and muggy before it was over.

The bust up party for the Morning Trap League was today. We had fun. John Nevicosi brought the food. We had pulled pork in barbeque sauce on rolls, John's special calico beans made with venison sausate and boar bacon, fresh veggies and fruit and a nummy chocolate cake. There was enough, so I brought home enough for sandwiches for Dick and I for tomorrow. It was SO much that I fixed chef's salad for supper tonight. That is always refreshing on a hot day anyway.

We met with Tom and looked at the houses available in Tall Grass. We have decided to make an offer on one as soon as Tom calls us back with one bit of information. The decidinf factors were: the pool table stays and there is a deep laundry tub in the basement. Wow. Now if she will only accept our offer. We are offering the most that we can stretch out. The house is really bigger than we need, but the view is lovely and we love the floor plan.

Wish us luck. Love

Mary

 
JUST FOR FUN. THE WILD GAME DINNER GANG IN 2004 

We had a lovely day. It rained actually for most of the afternoon. But it was comfortable and we needed the rain badly. I had actually done some watering early this morning but that won't hurt either.

Dick and I drove over to Jeff and Kathy's house to pick up the currants for this year's currant wine. They had picked them because the birds were really going to town and they were afraid there would not be enough left. There are still some inside the bushes that are not quite ripe that they will pick tomorrow or the next day for making muffins and jelly. Currant wine is SO good. We did discover that it definately needs to age for a year to get the full flavor. Patience is SO necessary with wines, especially the wines made from scratch.

We took Jeff and Kathy out for lunch. They took us to a pizza place in Hilbert that has excellent food. We ordered a combo veggie and pepperoni pizza for our lunch. The veggies were fresh and very tasty. What a treat, I had really been hungry for pizza. Downtown Hilbert is in the process of a revitalization and this restuarant has been redecorated too. Very attractive to go with the good food. We will have to go back soon so I can go to an art store that is also on the main street. Jeff and Kathy said that 6 artists using different media own and run this store. Sounds like a fun place to go.

I helped Kathy lay out patches for a quilt and gave her some basic instructions on how to prepare and assemble it. Then we had a piece of delicious ice cream/strawberry cake that Kathy made and came home.

Critters were glad we came home. We often wonder if they worry when we are all gone, or if they just assume we will be back.

Tomorrow is the bust up party for the morning league at Rhine and then Dick and I are going to look at a couple of condos in the Tall Grass Condos. A new one is on the market and we will revisit two others that are still for sale.

I am watching a movie I recorded a few days ago. When it is over I will clean the currants for tomorrow's wine making, then to bed to bed.

Have a good day. Wish us luck on our house hunting.


Mary

Three meetings today. Whew!

I had Bible Study this morning. We had a new member of the parish, a gentleman named Joe, join us today. That was nice and good for Tom Keyes, who has been our only regular man in the group. It is really useful to have a nice diverse group. We had a lively discussion about free will and predestination. It is easy to see why predestination would be accepted by some people because God, after all, DOES know everything. However, I believe that we still have free will and can turn Him down if we choose to. And I do not believe that we end up "saved" - I believe it is a work in process. We need to trust God to give us what we need, and I have never been disappointed, but he also expects us to use the talents that he gave us, to get up off our butts and do what is practical and necessary for our good and the good of others in our life.

Then I stopped at Mother's and visited for a bit with her and George. George and Betsy will be heading back to Houston in a few days. They will be spending more time with Shawn and Sara in Chicago before they head back.

Home again to fix lunch for Dick and me. Then on to Writer's Club. I read my poem about the Red Winged Blackbird and shared the picture that I took. They suggested that perhaps I should send it to Birds and Blooms the magazine.

Home again. We had steak, leftovers and corn with peppers and onion for supper along with the last of the apple pie.

At 6:30 Bobbie came by and picked me up for Rhine Plymouth Field and Stream meeting. It was quite uneventful and we were able to get out and on our way home by 8:15PM A minor miracle. John, our acting president, is good about keeping people on the subject and not letting them ramble on. Bobbie and I are insisting that there be a new Secretary and Treasurer for next year and a nomination committee will be established. Three years is quite enough.

Cadfael's Book of Days today says. "Rest easy, for God is awake." Isn't that comforting.

Mary

Today was WAY too busy but what a fun time.

I started off early with a walk with Chelsea. We kept it short as she did not seem too enthused and I had to be at Maywood by 7:00 to help put blinders on the baby pheasants. It seems like a strange thing to do, but the pheasant often become very cannabelistic if unblinded. So the blinding is for their protection. When time for release comes we cut the blinders. Therefore, the birds go into the wild unblinded and able to see to protect themselves. The only thing they lack is experience and, of course, they have a certain lack of fear of humans. It was noted that the birds raised like this do have a tendancy to gravitate to buildings which mean food to them.

Anyway, I was able to spend an hour. Then I went home, showered, fixed breakfast and headed for Mom's house. I delivered her prescription, meat and potatoes and the newspapers that we share. After we visited for a while, we went to church. I walked her home after church and rushed to Rhine Plymouth, where Bobbie and I were working the 100 bird Lewis shoot. I got there just in time to help Harold Diedrich with the registering of the participants. We had 19 squads. Usually we do good with 13 so this was quite a coup. I learned how to do a lot of the registering and recording of the scores. We were a bit later than I expected so I called Dick to tell him and he offered to take me out for dinner. I accepted. We went to Xana's. I had a Reuben and Dick had a Grilled Cheese. Such a sweet thing to do. I LOVE that guy.
We had a quick thunderstorm sweep through the area. No much rain but thunder and lightening.

Tomorrow will also be very busy. Bible study, Writer's Club and Rhine Plymouth. Why does everything come at once. Dick has the Dentist, his Blood Test AND a doctor Appointment all this week.

Will Rogers said.
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

So get up off your butt and do something. Just be sure it is what you want to do. Even if it is NOTHING.


Love

Mary