The first day of 2007 is almost over. Dick is already sleeping and I am waiting for 9:00PM to roll around so that I can take our Chelsea out for her last nature call before I can get the jammies on and crawl in myself.

It was a beautiful winter day with blue skies and lots of sunshine, a welcome change after all the gloomy rainy days we have been experiencing. The temperatures stayed in the 40s too. So often when the sun comes out in the winter the temperatures drop immediately.

Last night I taped Garrison Keillor's New Year's Eve show because I knew I would not be able to stay up until 1AM. Now I have turned it on. He is at the Riemann Theater in Nashville. Right now he is interviewing Vince Gill. I know that I will really enjoy this.

Jim an Michelle came over and hung the pool cue holder that I got for Dick for Christmas. Now we have all the pool cues off the shelf by the windows. It looks really nice. They brought their Boots kitty over to meet Chelsea. They got along just fine. Boots was mildly interested in Chelsea and Chelsea was quite indifferent. This is great because Dick and I are going away the weekend of the 19th and they are going to puppy sit and would like Chelsea just to stay over with them most of the time anyway. Looks like it should work just fine.

I picked Mother up at about 1:00 for our New Year's Dinner of ham, mac and cheese and banana cream pie. You missed it. Love mac and cheese. We had enough to share too.

It was a pleasant afternoon. Mother and I told the story of the time the U. S. Army bombed us. I don't know whether you all have heard that story or not. So I will tell you.

It was the evening of the day that my Grandpa Deeley was buried. So I was about 17 or 18 years old. The whole family, all 9 kids, and Mom and Dad AND my then boyfriend Jim (Jumbo) Martin were in the house. Everybody but my brother Tim were downstairs spread out through the living room, dining room and kitchen. All of a sudden the house shook with a crash and loud bang from the upstairs. Mom's first thought and comment was that Tim must have knocked something over.

Several of us rushed up the stairs to find Tim standing at the door of the left back bedroom his mouth open staring at the plaster and dust that was billowing out of the door into the hall.

We looked in and could see several gouges in the floor linoleum and a hole in the ceiling. Further searching found a large cartridge (bullet) about a foot long and about and inch in diameter or more (Now these are 60 year old memories) We called the police and they came out to investigate. There had been other reports of similar incidents. A home up on Fond du Lac Avenue and a small fire in the street between our house and the downtown area AND a house in Oostburg where another small fire had started.

The police called the U. S. Army base which was located near Haven along Lake Michigan between Sheboygan and Manitowoc. In time we found that there had been some air maneuvers over Lake Michigan and somehow or other one of the planes had dropped a few of its load. There were several disturbing things BESIDES the fact that they had bombed Sheboygan Falls and hit three civilian houses. First, not all of the bombs or bullets had gone off. They were live. Dad and the policemen were handling this thing and tossing it back and forth to each other thinking that it must be a dud or a blank. Second, none of the planes had reported anything unusual and until the reports came in did not know that they had bombed us.

Thank the Lord. No one was hurt in any of the four places that were impacted. The bomb at our house had come through the roof, through a rafter then hit the linoleum floor at an angle, bounced like a skipping rock and rolled under the bed. It had hit the floor in the exact spot that my little sisters, Eileen and Dolores often played in their bedroom of an evening. It was only because of Grandpa's funeral that we were all downstairs.

Anyway. Times have changed. Nowadays I am sure that attorneys and many other people would have been swarming around suggesting that we sue the government and probably all 9 of us kids would have been awarded funds for trauma or something. Kind of silly if you ask me. What really happened is that the high ranking officers, probably from Haven, came personally to the house to talk to Mother and Dad and apologize for the incident. They gave Dad a model of the plane that did the deed and an empty cartridge for him to put in his display case. There was an estimate of the damage and a check was given to Mother and Dad for the full amount to fix it. Dad and some friends did the repairs and they used the money to buy a TV. Done and Done.

Pretty Simple and we have a story to tell. The night we were bombed by our own Army.

Went to Church this morning to start out the New Year. Fr. Van Beeck said that he wished that as our Pastor he could give us all Sunday afternoons for 2007. But he can't do that. We all know that Monday mornings WILL come. But along with him, I wish you more Sunday afternoons that Monday mornings this year.

Love

Mary