I did not post Saturday or Sunday because we were celebrating Dick's 77th Birthday.

Saturday, Dick and Brenda, Bobbie and Bill and Jim and Michelle took us to the Villager for dinner. We had such a pleasant evening. Good food, good company and all that love can't be beat. Dick and Brenda then spent the night with us and were able to stay a bit later this time because they were not stopping to visit the other parent places on the way home. The kid's mother, Barbara, had surgery today. Our prayers are with her as it is a serious surgery. I placed her name on the prayer chains at both Blessed Trinity and St. John's. I don't know her personally but she raised four people well who mean the world to me.

The omelets in a bag were WONDERFUL. They come out just perfect. People can make them custom for their own taste AND they are all ready at once. I wouldn't have believed it but they DO just roll out of the bag, a perfect shape and really nummy. The Grandma Pekarski cake was good too. Brenda says now she KNOWS there must have been some Polish in my background. I don't think so actually. I am not sure WHO Grandma Pekarski is actually but she sure had a good coffee cake.

Dick and I left on his surprise getaway at 3:30PM. I took him to the Outback in Appleton where we used the gift certificate that Bret had given us for Christmas. They DO have good food. We were in the mood for steaks. The fillets were tender and tasty. They had a salad with a dressing with cinnamon covered pecans in it that was SO good.

After dinner we drove on to Green Bay to St. Brendan's Hotel, one of the four owned by our friend Rip O'Dwanny. I had booked a "romantic" weekend special. (A room with a whirlpool, a walk in shower, champagne and a full breakfast in the morning for a really good rate.) We had been talking about spending a night there and I felt this was a good way to GET away with not too much stress or activity for Dick. He really enjoyed it too. We were home before noon, rested and content.

The drive home was so pleasant with green all around us. We know why we live in Wisconsin. As we were driving along and Dick was dozing, I remembered the three things about farms that I know for sure.

1. If the cows are all lying down, it is very probable the it is going to rain.

2. Look at the round blue metal silos. If there is an American flag painted on it, it means it is paid for (Bart told us that.)

3. When corn tassels out, you can tell feed corn from sweet corn. Feed corn tassels out brown and sweet corn tassels out white.

And that's the truth.

Mary