Well, it is almost 10:00Pm and I just got home from Hazel's party about 15 minutes ago. It was a NICE party. Suzi did a great job. The Olde Templeton Inn is a favorite of her and Hazel. Unfortunately, it will be closing this month because the road is being widened or extended or some such thing. They will miss it. We had an excellent meal. I had prime rib and a piece of the delicious cake that Suzi made for her mother. Bobbie said she was really pleased that it was chocolate (as were we all.)

This was a good chance for me to get better acquainted with Dick's nieces and nephews. And especially for Bobbie, Jim and Dick to get to know them.

I was especially glad to be able to talk to Theresa, who is a nurse about Dick's PICC line. She consulted with Jeannie another niece nurse and they assured me that it will be all right to not flush it for a day or two. Jeannie mentioned that she had a guy come in who had one. He had not had it flushed for almost a month and it was just fine. He told her that he had really forgotten about it. (Pretty hard to understand with the ports sticking out and all.) But Dick surely doesn't have to worry for a day or two. Whew.

Hazel was just delighted and seemed so happy with everything and everybody. She looks wonderful too. One would never guess her age. I see so many people, even my age who don't look any better. What is it about aging. I has so many variations. She told Bobbie and me that she remembers when Dick was born. He was born at home and was a big baby. She and her twin sister Helen were in their bedroom listening to every bit of it. I guess it was not an easy birth. Bobbie thought that might be a good way to encourage birth control. Of course, Hazel and Helen both had children so it didn't work for them.

Anyway, it was worth the long drive down and back. Such a lovely bunch of people. I am glad that I am related to them now.

Tomorrow for the first time in almost a month, we won't have to go to the hospital. I can't tell you how good that feels. I must go shooting in the afternoon. Otherwise, I will have to shoot too many targets at once and will get sloppy.

I read a quote that I liked. Perhaps you will enjoy it too. It is from a poet called Mary Anne Radmacher. "When I say "I am going home" I mean I am going to where you are." I liked it.

I need to go to bed now. I listened to the Irish Tenors all the way home from Sussex.

Love you all.

Mary

The last day, or so they say. Tonight while talking to Nurse Michelle, she asked us what we were doing about keeping the PICC flushed while we are not getting the intravenous. We said, Uh, We don't know about that stuff. The three of us consulted and decided that Dick and I will go there tomorrow when Michelle is there. She will flush and check the blood return and change the dressing. We will see if we can arrange a time to flush on Sunday and than on Monday we will see Dr. Sharon. He will be able to give us direction, though we really need to talk to Dr. Phelan who is on vacation before we are done with this nightmare.

The legs are still peeling but don't seem as swollen. He is not sleeping well and his appetite is iffy. We did stop for breakfast this morning and he seemed to enjoy that but the rest of the day, he ate only because he had to.

Tomorrow I will go to Hazel's party in the evening an represent Dick. He has a sore throat on top of everything and certainly doesn't want to expose Hazel to any germs.

I wrapped the presents today.

This morning on Good Morning America, Robin Roberts was telling a bit about a trip to her home town of Pas Christian in Mississippi that was affected SO strongly by Hurricane Katrina. It brought to mind how closely involved we become with people like her who report our news and who we see every day. I remember just wanting to hug her and pat her hand when she reported to us from Pas Christian right after the storm was over and she cried. We become "friends." The trouble is that it is a one sided friendship because they don't know us from Adam.

One year at Irish Fest in Milwaukee, Eileen and I were walking around one of the stages and I saw a man walking towards me. I said. " Well, Duane Gaye. How are you?" Then it dawned on me that he had no idea in the world who I was. Duane was the morning anchor on WISN channel 12 which I watch most mornings. So. I said. "You have no idea who I am. But I wake up with you every morning." I think he was pleased and was very gracious. A couple of years later he was diagnosed with cancer and after a fierce battle during which he would come on the morning news occasionally and report his progress, he died in 2005.

I received the information that I need to "merge" Quicken and Wells Fargo. Now I need to find out how to delete the Quicken that I merged with the old Quicken after backing it up and reinstall it clean so we can start fresh. The old Quicken is corrupted and we want to start over. With the backup we will still be able to trace things.

Tomorrow I am going to make a King Cake for the beginning of Lent. I want to make it tomorrow because it is BIG and I need to be able to share. Wednesday is the beginning of Lent and I will start fasting and abstaining on the prescribed Ash Wednesday and the Fridays during Lent. I am over 60 and don't actually have to but figure it is good for my soul. God Knows, I need to do things that are good for my soul.

All my love

Be healthy and pray for Dick. Also, someone was excited about the house but needs to bring their husband around. Pray hard.

Love

Mary

We are down to one more day. Today, we had to add in a visit to Dr. Hodous to have the calouses trimmed. They are still there but not as deep as they were before. We hope in time that we won't have to go there so often either.

We went grocery shopping too.

So we didn't get settled at home until almost 11:00AM. That makes a mighty long morning. We both took naps after lunch. I must have really been tired because I fell sound asleep for almost an hour. Usually, I only doze for about 20 minutes or so.

There is a a great song that I hear at Irish Fest but is really a folk song, not necessarily Irish. Dick and I were thinking of the last verse recently. It is a good motto for us and any one else who is under pressure. It is the story of a crew who bring up a ship that sinks during a storm when the owners want to leave it lying there.

Here it is - enjoy.


"And you to whom adversity has dealt it's final blow.
Those smiling bastards lyin' to you everywhere you go.
Turn to and give it all you have of arm, of heart of brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter - Rise Again.

Rise again
Rise again
Though your heart it be broken and life about to end.
No matter what you've lost
Be a home, a love a friend.
Like the Mary Ellen Carter - Rise again."

We are hanging in there and will rise again.

Love

Mary

Only two more days left. Saturday, we will not have to get up at 5AM. Both sessions went very will today. Dick slept poorly again last night so took several short naps today. He ate fairly well, at least it was a balanced diet.

We had our second diabetes class. There were two other people besides Tom and Dick and I today so the discussion became rather lively. We talked about exercise, eating out, alcohol consumption and how depression and illness affect blood levels. She gave us each a pedometer. We are going to wear them for a day and see what we do with our normal activities.

I went over to Salem UCC this afternoon to express my condolences to the Knapp family. Karen Knapp, a friend from my working days at Wells Fargo, died of cancer. The funeral was at 7:00 and I obviously couldn't go to that but was glad to be able to go over and see Carl and her daughters Amy and Dawn.

Tomorrow will be another busy day. The "usual" two sessions at Valley View, grocery shopping and Dick sees Dr. Hodous to have his callouses trimmed tomorrow. I sure hope he sleeps better tonight.

It is still cold and supposed to get down to 0 degrees tonight. I got a small "milk house" heater for the garage. I am hoping it will help keep things from freezing in there. I lost a whole bunch of potatoes. I checked after they froze and found out that there is NO way to save them then.

I also had water freeze out there so now we have our entryway full of water, coke and some wine. With the alcohol in the wine it did not freeze but I did not want to take any chances. If the little heater helps maybe I can move stuff out there again.

When the kids were little, Bret about 11 and Bart about 8, we went on a Caribbean cruise. That was quite an experience for all of us. Bret asked for chocolate milk. They didn't have it but our waiter mixed some Hershey's syrup into milk for him. We had the same waiter for the whole cruise and after that first day he had his chocolate milk at every meal and if he finished it they filled it up. Bart liked a certain breakfast, I think pancakes, and after two days he would tell our waiter "I'll have my usual, please." and he got it. That was quite an experience for them and for us. It is fun to be spoiled.

Love

Mary

Another day done. This morning went very well. Dick was SO tired. But he was hungry ( such a relief, he doesn't eat much which is OK but at least he is willing to eat.) He had some fried potato, toast and a scrambled egg. Pretty good and he ate it all.

He rested off and on and I puttered around today. I watered plants and stirred wine and got things ready to take to show Bob Fleming when I had lunch with him this noon. Met Bob at 11:30 at the Bread and Bean in Falls. Dick was not up to it and Steve had a commitment with a quartet he has been working with so it was Bob and me. We had a nice time. It is fun to share with him. He is such a good artist and I am hoping that he and my friend Cindy Matyi can communicate some. She is also an execellent artist. She does modern Celtic Art and is currently learning Icon Painting which Bob is concentrating on. He is trying to find markets to sell his note cards and prints through. He has some printed of an Icon of St. Patrick. I have the print in the den downstairs. It is really impressive. We had a nice lunch and got caught up. Next time I hope that Dick and Steve can be there too. If you are interested in St. Patrick note cards, let me know.

I thought that I was going to miss the last of Fr. Van Beeck's adult education classes because of the Valley View visits, but the hospital called this afternoon and moved it up from 6 to 4PM so we were home early enough that I could grab a snack and get there on time. I think the God planned it for me. It was well worth it. Fr. Van Beeck talked about Lent and our mission during Lent. He challenges us to do scripture reading during Lent and especially to read, not just skim, but really read the epistle of James. I must do that.

I also had contacted a lady named Ann at St. John's school about the Market Day that I had forgotten to pick up. She was coming to the meeting tonight too so we agreed to eschange check for food then. Imagine my surprise when upon finding out where she was she was sitting next to Harold Ziegler, a cousin on my Dad's side. I told her that Harold is my cousin and she laughed and said that he is also her Dad so we are cousins. That was fun. Harold told me that he has been going through old pictures and found some of my grandma, his Aunt Helen and some of Uncle Jack (My Bret looks SO much like Uncle Jack. ) and my Aunt Helen too. He also has one of 10 of the Zieglers (My great grandfather Alois's Children) that he will share. Sounds like fun. He is such a sweet man. He owned an office supply store in Plymouth until her retired several years ago.

Tomorrow the same old same old at the hospital - plus an hour or so at Diabetes Class #2. I am sure we will learn as much at the first time and they can advise us as to what to do about this lack of appetite and how to be sure that he eats what he needs to stay healthy.

I am going to make a New Orleans King Cake on Sunday to help kick off the beginning of Lent next Wednesday. Can you believe that Lent starts a week from tomorrow.

Have a great Wednesday. I will tell you about the class tomorrow.

Mary

I am so embarrassed. I forgot to go and pick up Market Day today.

We went to Valley View at 6:00 for the first antibiotics. Then I went to Falls for Bible Study. There were 7 of us this morning a good group. We had a lively discussion about loving your enemies and how hard it is to pass up a chance to "get even". Joe pointed out that Jesus tells us that if someone takes out coat, we should give our tunic too. He said that perhaps this means that when our kids come to "borrow" our tools we should just give them to them. Or maybe if we have TWO crescent wrenches, we should give them the GOOD one. What do you think?

I stopped at Mother's to visit and bring her a piece of quiche and a couple of Kahlua Brownies. We had a nice visit. We never run out of things to say. We started talking about the Westminster Dog Show which I am watching RIGHT now. This made us think of dogs both wonderful and awful from our lives. She thought of their Lucky. They got Lucky from a friend who had a female spaniel who got "knocked up" by unknown "lover". When they got him home, Dad said that he was going to be big. Boy was he right. Lucky grew to look like and be as big as a Saint Bernard. He was a sweet dog. The boys watched television at night using him for a big pillow. They also made a sign for his dog house that said "Friend of the Little People" and painted L U C K Y in big letters on top of his dog house so airplanes could see it.

We also got to talking about Auntie Brandl's Salve. This was a salve that was supposed to heal sores. Mother and I both have the recipe but even if we could get all the ingredients, we don't thing we'd make it because at least one of them is poison.

Here is the recipe if you are interested.

Wonder Salve or Auntie Brandl's Salve

8 oz sweet oil
4 oz red lead
3 drams olebaum
2 drams burnt alum
2 drams camphor

Heat oil to boiling point. Add all ingredients except camphor.

Boil until lead turns brown.

Take from fire and immediately add camphor. Beat until cool

My brother George said that red lead is a real poison. We don't know what the heck olebaum is, maybe it is olebalm, but what is that? What was considered sweet oil, and burnt alum is another mystery. and camphor, can you buy that? Anyway, Mom has a small sample. I told her that she should give it to George and ask him if he could get it analysed. Dad and Aunt Helen got the recipe from Grandma Deeley and swore that it healed sores wonderfully.

Then I went looking for a present for Hazel. We wanted a wind chime. I went down to the riverfront and had no luck but one of the clerks told me to check Hobby Lobby. Then I got a wonderful tuna sandwich at the Weather Center, zipped on over to Trillings to buy a small heater for the garage. (In this awful cold, water, potatoes, coke and onions froze. I checked and you cannot freeze potatoes raw so I will throw them out in the morning. Trash day you know.) I have yet to check on the onions but imagine that they will go too.

Writers club was next. We had several new attendees because they had come to our 50th Soiree at Mead. Some will continue.

Then Home. This is where things fell apart. I had to take Dick to the hospital at 4 for his last intravenous and fully intended to go and pick up Market Day while he was there. I got him settled and then they came in for blood test and I FORGOT. I hope they will forgive me and that they have some place to keep stuff overnight. Actually at this time, they probably could just put it outside.

Now I am watching the Westminster Dog Show and winding down.

Hope tomorrow is a bit quieter. I am going to have lunch with Steve and Bob, two artist friends.

Love

Mary

It was a nice Sunday. We, actually I, got to sleep late this morning because we did not have to be to Valley View until 8:00AM. Dick had a terrible night and was really wiped out all morning, but we did get his intravenous and his dressing changed this morning. Then home.

I stirred the wine and then went to the 10:30 Mass. When I got home, I put an Impossible Quiche in the oven. Dick was sleeping. Jim and Michelle came over at about 12:00 and hooked up the cable for the VCR in the living room for us. Now we have FULL entertainment in four separate areas of the house. Aren't we ever spoiled. They had brunch with us. Actually Dick did not eat again. He had toast and juice earlier. We did have a slice of bologna on the toast but I am really worried about his lack of appetite. He and I are wondering if is is a side effect of the medications.

Michelle and Jim brought over some soup that Michelle had made. We had that for supper. Dick ate a nice serving of that. It is an excellent soup.

Then we went to Sheboygan Memorial for what we hope is our last trip there for a while. Everything went smoothly, they were not quite as busy and we were home at about 8:15. Not bad.

Another hectic week with all the hospital visits. I WILL go to bible study and Writer's Club in Sheboygan tomorrow. Want to pick up the present for Hazel too. The big 90th birthday party is next Saturday. Suzi had originally thought of the party being a surprise party but decided to tell her Mother after all. She decided that it would be good for her to have the pleasure of anticipation more than the 5 minutes of surprise. I sure hope that Dick is well enough to go.
It isn't often that your sister turns 90 and they are the last remaining of the siblings.

Please pray for my brother in law Leif too. He is having surgery for prostrate in early March. They caught it very early so all looks well for a total recovery. Mother said that they have discovered a slight heart murmur so they have to test a bit further. This will be important so that they use the right anesthetics and monitor him properly. I am sure they (and I know that WE) will be SO glad when that is all over with.

I am looking at the framed picture of Jesus that Barb gave me. I believe that it is the statue that stands in Brazil but is superimposed in the clouds as if looking over the earth with the moon as a backdrop. The quote in the corner says "I never said it would be easy, I only said that it would be worth it." Frankly that is what I am counting on.

Have a great week and pray for us as I pray for you all.

Love

Mary