Just a morning note. We lost our connection last evening, just about "blogger" time. And I tried until almost 10:00PM, then went to bed.

We had a decent day. The blood test showed that Dick's blood is still a bit thick. Unusual, as antibiotics USUALLY thin the blood. But then we are talking about Dick. So Sue will test it again when we see Dr. Phelan on Tuesday.

The intravenous went very smoothly and they changed his dressing. The easiest yet. Usually it hurts when they pull that bandage off of the tender skin. Denise was really good yesterday.

I went shooting but was not impressive. Oh. Well. Maybe next week.

Barring lost connections I will blog tonight.

Jim Rohn said that"Life asks us to make measurable progress in reasonable time. That's why they make those fourth-grade chairs so small - so you won't fit in them at age 25."

Mary

The wind was blowing really bad this morning. Chelsea and I did manage to take our whole walk around the park today, but there were times when I was almost at a standstill when the wind was coming right at me. Much easier when the wind was at my back. Give real meaning to the old Irish Blessing, "May the wind be always at your back."

We went grocery shopping today too. Quite successful. Dick and I went to McDonald's for breakfast. Counting carbs works there if one sticks to an Egg McMuffin or simple biscuit.

We had to be at Valley View at 12:00. That went well. Only five more days until we see Dr. Phelan. Darlene, one of the nurses, let me read the description of the possible side effects from the Dactomycine that he is getting. One of the side effects is insomnia. Now he has always had trouble sleeping but it is much worse now. We are hoping that when this is all over he will have less difficulty staying asleep.

I went to John Diedrich's funeral tonight. Such a sad thing for his wife and children and all others who loved him. We know he is safe and waiting for them, but they can't touch him. We are after all human and do relish touch. Fr. Bittner told us that when we see the most beautiful sunset we should remember that John is enjoying SO much more in the kingdom of God. I still like the Celtic belief that John has not REALLY left us anyway, he is out of our sight but within our reach.

Tomorrow is another busy day. We have to get Dick's count checked, go to Valley View, I am having lunch at Dairy Queen and then will shoot pistol league in the evening. Saturday we just have the intravenous. It will be nice to spend most of the day at home. Jim and Michelle said they are coming to fix Dick's computer. I hope so. He is able to do some things but is really rather lost and with his not being able to sleep it is hard for him.

Martin Crane on Frazier. "What is this comment about a big round duff? The sands of time don't exactly flow UP the hourglass, you know!"

Have a nice Friday and get ready for a stormy weekend.

Mary

Another gorgeous day. It was up in the 40s again. Chelsea and I really enjoyed our walk and it looks like we should have at lease two days before it gets rainy/snowy again. I need to remember to take the pedometer along with me on the walk to see how many steps we take. I know we walk for about 45 minutes. But a lot of that is spent with Chelsea sniffing and running around.

This weather is starting me dreaming of spring. I need to measure for the flower boxes I will need for the deck. I want to plant herbs and colorful flowers in them. I think I might try to plant a couple of tomatoes in the back. down towards the woods. There is a rhubarb plant down there already. Maybe I should get a butterfly house. And a bird feeder.

Must not get too excited. There are months to go before we can plant.

I went to church at 8AM because it is Ash Wednesday. The church was full, half of the kids of course, as the whole school attended. The children's choir sang. I was "minded" of Ash Wednesdays when I was young. Until I started 6th grade, I went to the public school and for some reason or other, we Catholic kids thought we were so cool to go to get our ashes in the morning and then wear them all day at school. (I don't know why either.)

Another thing I remember. When I was young, there were a lot of old world ideas still around. There were four church services that were always full. Of men. Even if a lot of them did not feel that Sunday Mass was all that important. (The women took care of that.), these men always came to Christmas (mostly Midnight Mass), Easter, Ash Wednesday, (got to get those ashes) and believe it or not St. Blaze Day. This is a saint's feast day during which they used to bless the throat against disease with crossed candles.

I read the other day that perhaps if we are going to fast during Lent, we should fast from crabbiness. I will try to do that.

Dick got the second of this new order of antibiotics. Our nurse for today, Chris, told Dick quite sweetly, not to be disappointed if he has to go another week or two after this. We have to see what Dr. Phelan says next Tuesday.

I put together another square for the Blessed Trinity Church Quilt. Only one more to go. I also did a bit more of the quilting on my Kitty/Puppy Quilt. I should have it done in a month or so. It is moving along.

Hope your Thursday is fun.

Love

Mary

It was warm today. This morning was pleasant enough for Chelsea and me to take our longest walk through Tallgrass and then around the park and through the woods to home. She is SO happy. Then I made her unhappy by giving her a bath. She was simply filthy. Of course, I am sure that she felt that she was just beginning to smell just right. Now she smells like Puppy Love.

Dropped all our tax stuff off with Mark for figuring. He and I reviewed it a bit and then I drove Dick to his dentist appointment. He just had a cleaning. It went very quickly. Our next stop was to Valley View. The order is in for another week of one of the antibiotics. So we are on again. This time it is just once a day AND in the middle of the day so will be much easier on us.

We got to spend the rest of the day at home.

I was remembering a friend of mine from California, Ron Heinze. These were jeeping friends. Ron and his wife Connie and their kids were members of the Orange County Four Wheelers. They had a dog that was part greyhound. He was huge and a big love. His name was Tucker. When we would get ready to go out on a jeep ride, Connie would always tell Ronnie that he had to take Tucker with him. Ronnie would beg Connie to keep Tucker in camp. He always said. "Please, Connie, don't make me take him. He LEANS on me." The dog would sit between the seats next to Ronnie and Would lean on him.

One weekend it was terribly hot. We were driving along the All American Canal, a system of canals that was part of the irrigation system in that part of the desert. We pulled over and all jumped into the canal for a swim and to cool off. Ronnie tried to convince Tucker to go in to cool him off and finally just tossed him in. Tucker was not happy. The sides of the canal are cement. Tucker rose up out of the water on his claws and climbed up the cement walls - on his claws. He wore them down too. When he got to the top he glared at Ronnie and shook himself all over him.

Maybe our "heat spell" reminded me of the hot day that this occurred on.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. The first day of Lent. Where Is the year going?

Be happy.

Mary

Went to bible study this morning. We had a good group, as always. Helen Maurer was back. Bad weather keeps her away, can't say that I blame her. We had a lot of prayer intentions. Everybody is praying for Dick. I also asked for prayers for Harold's son. This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent. So the readings talked of the Hebrew's being asked to bring the "first fruits" to the priests in thanksgiving for their being brought to the promised land. Did the "first fruits" mean the first of the season, Or (remembering that Cain got frowned on my God for bring second rate stuff for a sacrifice) does "first fruits" mean the best? We can't decide.

Dick saw Dr. Sharon at 1:30 this afternoon. He ordered regular flushing of the PICC and is having one of the antibiotics continued because he believes there is still infection there. He took blood tests too. So we won't go backwards anyway.

We got home at about 4, having to go from the Clinic to Valley View to get the ports flushed. We can't start the antibiotics until tomorrow though because they had to order it from Sheboygan and it won't be there until tomorrow. At least we will just have one trip a day for the time being and we will be going at about noon. Much easier than twice a day at both ends of the day.

I remembered a story about my great aunts, Josephine and Lenore and Genevieve. They were my Grandpa John Bowser's sisters. All three of them lived in California. My Uncle Noel and Aunt Lois also lived there and Noel was very good to those ladies. They did like to do little home repairs themselves but sometimes got in over their heads.

One time they decided to tile a room in one of their houses. So they called Uncle Noel to ask how to start. He told them to chalk a line down the center of the room. They asked how to do that and he told them to run a chalked string from one wall to the other side and chalk it. They said they understood but he wasn't sure so he decided to go over to check.

Sure enough, they had tacked the line from one wall to the other side and were on their knees trying to draw a chalk line on the floor. He explained that they were supposed to actually chalk the string and snap it. Needless to say he did it and got them started.

I read this the other day and shared it at bible study this morning. A Jeanne Schuler said, "In the boardroom one language is spoken that seems to make all people one. From the top, everything seems possible. Down in the streets, people from many nations struggle to make a living. With gestures and halting words, they try to understand. Sometimes customs clash or fears polarize. We back away and wonder: will we ever live as one?"

Seems the story of life. Those at the top come up with all these plans but they don't fit the people who they are aiming at or else are not understood. How can there be peace in a whole world?

Well we can have peace with all of us. We don't have to understand everything but we have to love each other.

Love

Mary

I spent a quiet day today. The only times I went out were to church, which is always how I gather myself for the coming week and to shoot for the pistol league at Rhine.

Church was very comforting. Fr. Van Beeck pointed out a "truth" that he brought to my attention once before and was brought to my attention last night at the party for Hazel. Suzi's son, Jerry, mentioned that his wife, Laura, had recovered from surgery on a brain tumor. I said that it must make them treasure every day that comes to them now. He said they lived like that for a time, but now he is so relieved to be back to taking things and life for granted. It was like a revelation - Intense appreciation or really intense feelings cannot stay that way forever. It is comforting, healing and wonderful to be happy in the just plain NOW. And to appreciate the ordinary.

To get to Fr. Van Beeck's message. He said that if God asked us to do some really heroic thing or really difficult task in his name, we would be right there to answer the call. But usually, God only asks us to do the every day things to the best of our ability in His Name. It is hard to do that.

Last night was kind of a sparse blog. I was sure glad that Dick and Brenda were there. They figured out the easiest way for me to get out of there and back to Hwy 57. The way I came in was with directions from Google and was very complicated. It was very comforting for me to see Dick waiting in the parking lot to be sure that I had turned the right way to get to Good Hope Road.

I went to shoot at Rhine today. While I was there, the sister of Harold Diedrich's wife, Diane came in and told us that Harold and Diane's son John, only 39, had died during the night. We are all shocked. I can't imagine what the family is going through. John has two young children too.

When I was young and rather new in California, I rented a house, with Jacquie, my future sister in law, from Doris and Ronnie, also future in-laws. We had a washing machine but no dryer and hung our clothes on a line in the back yard.

One day we hung our clothes and went shopping. To our shock, when we got back, every pair of underpants that we owned was gone. So we called the police. They sent out two officers to take the report. It was quite embarrassing, as one of the officers was Al (can't remember his last name). He had gone to school with some of the Johnstons and though he tried very hard to keep a straight face, it was pretty hard especially when the standard questions are such as "Can you give us a description of the stolen property." "How many items were taken?" and so on.

Anyway, surprisingly, they found three or four of the underpants scattered a few blocks from the house. They decided it was a college prank, but it cost Jacquie and me quite a bit to replace all of our underwear. I am not sure if renters insurance would have covered underpants, but we didn't have any insurance anyway. It was a different time, a different place.

Hope your week is good. Ours is filling up.

Love

Mary