A quiet day. Except for the morning and evening, of course. Being as I got to sleep until after 6:00AM, it started off with a rested me. Chelsea and I had a good walk. The streets were snow covered but not too deep. Chelsea really wants to go around the park BUT with the sidewalk not plowed again and a couple of feet of snow you aren't going to catch ME attempting that until things are melted again and a bit dried out.

I spent some time in the kitchen this morning. First, I mixed a cream cheese-veggie spread for lunch. I found a recipe for this to be served on an open face slice of wheat bread with smoked salmon. Had it for lunch and it was VERY good. I also cleaned and sliced some carrots for snacking and sliced strawberries for shortcake.

Did some more sewing on the Kitty/Dog quilt. I can see headway. And I went to the Plymouth Art Center to see their current exhibit WOMEN WHO RUN WITH SCISSORS. It is a marvelous collection of quilt art. Such imagination and wonderful talent these ladies have. They come from Denmark WI. I also bought a ticket for an Irish event that will be held there next week called Shamrocks and Shenanigans. It was done the first time last year for one night and was so popular that Mary Calvey is extending it to three nights this year. I couldn't go last year because it was the same night as the Unity Concert, the concert that Blessed Trinity's choir sang in last year and for which I wrote the words to the song.

While we were in the hospital tonight there was an Irish special, kind of a travelogue and for some reason, the pictures of Trinity College reminded me of the first time I went there. Bobbie and I were together and when we walked through the gates we saw this big crowd of yelling students assembled around a few on a platform. We asked what was going on and were told that it was an Iron Stomach Contest. Asking further we found out that it was a contest in which students eat and drink and smell disgusting things until all but one have thrown up.

I was also telling Dick today about a talent that my ex husband had. If he saw ducks swimming down the harbor on Newport Bay he could quack and the ducks would swim towards him. As soon as he stopped they would turn and resume their journey. A strange but amusing talent.

Love

Mary

Just got home from Rhine. Bobbie and I worked tonight. It was busy, but the guys let me go home at about 8:30 because of the wind and snow. It was pretty bad out ther. Bobbie left about an hour before that because we were worried about her having to drive all the way to Sheboygan. Actually, I think I had it easier than she did. Not only was my distance closer, but by the time I left, the snow and wind had died down a LOT. It was slippery and the snow was drifting some but it was not too bad. Dick and Chelsea were very glad to see me.

Had to get up at 5AM again. Tomorrow and Sunday we can sleep in a bit as we won't go to Valley View until 8:00AM. Of course, the trade off is that we have to drive in to Memorial in Sheboygan and be there at 6:00PM.

I cleaned the kitchen and (almost) finished fixing the guest toilet. I needed Jim to help tighten the seals and I didn't know how to set the float. He did both and now (after some minor adjustments to the float by Dick) we think we have it.

I gave blood today at 11:00AM. I could go again on April 27 but found out that Bob and Peggy Feider will be having their annual A gallon or so for Joe on May 12 so I will sign up with Peggy at Bible Study. It went well. I have never suffered any discomfort or weakness at all. I like that.

Had lunch with the Ladies at Dairy Queen. I got a fish sandwich as I knew that there would be slim pickings for dinner. That was because, after Dick and I going for his evening intravenous, we got home at 5:30 and I had to head right for Rhine. I brought some soup and fruit which I could easily eat while working.

I shot my last two targets for league. Not impressive at all but I am having fun anyway and there is always next league. Next week Friday is the Bust Up Party. I have to call Sara Behr tomorrow so we can plan the menu. Bill Olson usually brings his "world famous" peach cobbler but told me tonight that he won't be home to fix it. I have decided to bring Kahlua Brownies. They turned out SO good for the Writers Club 50th. I must remember to put white chocolate chips on the grocery list.

Anyway, I am home, and Bobbie is home, safe and sound again. It is about time for bed and I get to sleep late (unless Chelsea betrays me.)

We are getting close to St. Patrick's Day. (It is March now, you know.) So I will share some of my favorite stories between now and the 17th.

I LOVED this and have seen it geared to Iraq also.

Ireland Declares War on France


Jacques Chirac, The French President, is sitting in his office when his telephone rings.

"Hallo, Mr. Chirac!" a heavily accented voice said. "This is Paddy Down at the Harp Pub in County Clare, Ireland. I am ringing to inform you that we are officially declaring war on you!"

"Well, Paddy," Chirac replied, "This is indeed important news! How big is your army?"

"Right now," says Paddy, after a moment's calculation, "there is myself, me Cousin Sean, me next door neighbour Seamus, and the entire darts team from the pub. That makes eight!"

Chirac paused. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 100,000 men in my army waiting to move on my command."

"Begoora!" says Paddy. "I'll have to ring you back."



Sure enough, the next day, Paddy calls again. "Mr. Chirac, the war is still on. We have managed to get us some infantry equipment!"

"And what equipment would that be Paddy?" Chirac asks.

"Well, we have two combines, a bulldozer, and Murphy's farm tractor."

Chirac sighs amused. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 6,000 tanks and 5,000 armored personnel carriers. Also, I have increased my army to 150,000 since we last spoke."

"Saints preserve us!" says Paddy. "I'll have to get back to you."

Sure enough, Paddy rings again the next day. "Mr. Chirac, the war is still on! We have managed to get ourselves airborne! We have modified Jackie McLaughlin's ultra-light with a couple of shotguns in the cockpit, and four boys from the Shamrock Bar have joined us as well!"

Chirac was silent for a minute and then cleared his throat. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 100 bombers and 200 fighter planes. My military bases are surrounded by laser-guided, surface-to-air missile sites. And since we last spoke, I have increased my army to 200,000!"


"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" says Paddy, "I will have to ring you back."

Sure enough, Paddy calls again the next day. "Top o' the mornin', Mr. Chirac! I am sorry to inform you that we have had to call off the war."

"Really? I am sorry to hear that," says Chirac. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well," says Paddy, "we had a long chat over a few pints of Guinness, and decided there is no bloody way we can feed 200,000 prisoners."

Slainte

Mary

Up at 5AM again. When I took Chelsea out at about 5:30 it was not too bad, but by the time we headed for the hospital, there was a good coating of snow on the ground. We took it very carefully and then when we were done medicating, we drove right to Mc Donalds for breakfast. Then we went on to the bank and finally to the Pig to do our weekly grocery shopping. We were VERY proud of ourselves. It was only about 8:30 when we got home, so we made good time.

I had plenty of time to clean the bathrooms, sew on the quilt and tear apart the toilet in the upstairs guest bathroom. (It has been running so I am replacing some of the innards. Don't ask me for names of things. I have charts and stuff so know what I am doing.) I had trouble getting the final nut out of the bottom. We did not have a big enough lug wrench.

So - - on the way to the 4PM intravenous, we stopped at KMart and I picked up a bigger wrench. Then Jim and Michelle came over tonight and Jim took the nut off for me. Now I can reassemble tomorrow morning.

When we got to Valley View tonight, it was starting to rain and almost as soon as I got inside, the skies opened. By the time we left it had calmed down alot, so we got home OK.

Dick still doesn't have much of an appetite. He just had some potato salad for supper. I had some Pork Cuban Old Rags, just a bit, that I heated up to got with mine.

Tomorrow, is really going to be busy. I will report tomorrow night.

Enjoy. I got this the other day and felt it was worth sharing.

Women are like apples on a tree.

The best are in the top of the tree.

Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt.

Instead, they sometimes take the apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy.

The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing.

They just have to wait for the right man to come along, one who is brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.

Now men....Men are like a fine wine.

They begin as grapes, and it's up to women to stomp the shit out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

Have a good Friday

Mary

Another day of antibiotics, only 13 days to go. All went well today. We still have to be at Valley View at 6AM but the evening session is now at 4:00PM which makes it much easier for us. This was not a great day for Dick. His appetite was really bad and he was very tired. He did get a pretty good nap just before lunch which did help.

I have been working on inputing things into the new Quicken. The next major item will be the investments. We weren't happy with the old investment section of Quicken, so it will be interesting to see if there is an improvement.

Aside from that I just did miscellaneous chores around the house. I watered plants, quilted, made a potato salad, swept water out of the garage and took Chelsea for it seemed like 8 trips outside. She is getting worse as she gets older. Just like all old women I guess.

We are supposed to be getting a storm tonight. I hope it is not too bad. 6:00AM comes might early and it is hard enough to get going when it is clear and dry.

Dick just had a little dessert and let Chelsea lick his plate. Now she is over by me begging. She fully believes that if one of us eats something, the other simply HAS to have something too.

Love

Mary

Well, we had good news and bad news. First, Dr. Phelan is seeing improvement in Dick's legs. However, they have a way to go, so he has prescribed two more weeks of the twice a day, two antibiotics that we were on a week ago. We are now going to be getting up at 5AM again, but it looks like we can possibly go for the second session at 4PM instead of 6, which means that we won't have to go to Sheboygan on the weekend evenings.

At one point this morning, Dick had a nurse on each arm taking blood. Marsha was drawing blood for the lab tests to check his level of antibiotics etc, and Sue was poking his fingers to get the clotting level. This brings us to the second bit of good news. His level is back to the ideal, between 2.00 and 3.00. So we are happy. She will check him again when he sees Dr. Phelan in two weeks.

We accomplished LOTS of other stuff. On our way home we picked up prescriptions AND stopped at the DMV and got a handicapped card for the car. Now, if it is right, I can use the handicapped spaces if Dick is with me. I found out how useful this is when Bart and Barb met us in Branson. Bart could never have made it down that whole parking lot for some of those shows. We were almost closer than the spot that the bus let everybody off at.

I think Chelsea is trying to tell me that it is time for bed.

We were having trouble with the computer service dropping on and off, especially during the storm. A Bob Hughes from Time Warner came today and fixed it. There were several splices and extra junctions and so on and he cleaned it all up and got us back with more power and speed than we had before. He is from the area and likes to go to 52 Stafford on St. Patrick's day. His wife and kids march and he waits for them at the Inn. I also found out that he is a cousin of Jim Hughes, an attorney in town, that I used to work with when I was "mortgage banking." He said if we have any more trouble to ask for him. He also said that Paddy's Irish Whiskey is the BEST.

Red Fridays.

Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing RED every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the "silent majority." We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organized, boisterous or overbearing.
Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of America supports our troops. Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday -- and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that .. every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar, will wear something RED.

By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the United States on every Friday, a sea of RED much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers. If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, coworkers, friends, and family, it will not be long before the USA is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once "silent" majority is on their side more than ever... certainly more than the media lets on.

The first thing a soldier says when asked 'What can we do to make things better for you?' is ..."We need your support and your prayers." Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example, and wear something RED every Friday.

I am going to try to remember to remember to do this. Sounds simple and I have Lots of RED.

Take care. Be prepared for a very tired Mary.

Marymom

I am TIRED.

The roads were clear enough today and the snow was pretty much done, so I went to bible study. There were 5 of us. Not bad after the storm and all. We were able to all give prayers of thanks that Shirley and Dan's Dave is in remission from the autoimmune disease that he had developed.

Then I went to Mother's and we had a nice visit before I came home to take Dick to Valley View. I took Mom some Spinach Egg Casserole and fruit salads. Those are things that she really likes but wouldn't make for just one.

We were talking about family. We were commenting on the fact that the Deeleys and the Bowsers were not very big people. And musing as to why so many of the grandkids are really quite tall. It always seems to be the second son too. As Bret is shorter than Bart and Matt is shorter than Shane and Kurt is shorter than Todd.

We were also talking about the electric trolley that used to run between Sheboygan and Elkhart Lake and Plymouth. That is how Aunt Helen got to work from Sheboygan Falls when she worked in the canning factory office in Plymouth.

All went well at the hospital. The last intravenous before Dick sees Phelan tomorrow. The nurse changed the dressing too. Dick was very brave but he said that it really hurt. That skin under the arm and around the PICC is really tender.

This afternoon I linked our New Quicken with the eligible bank accounts at Wells Fargo. Now we have to determine how best to use it. Once we have it mastered, it should save lots of double entries and that should cut down on errors. Lots to learn again. Are we ready for this? I hope so.

I did some quilting on the Kitty/Doggy quilt and am really seeing headway. I should be done by the end of March. When I am I will tale a picture and put it on the blog for you to see.

Nothing else exciting. We are supposed to have fairly quiet weather until Thursday then another storm will be coming in. So we had better brace ourselves. I hope it starts after we do our grocery shopping.

Have a nice Tuesday. And think of us at the Doctor.

Love

Mary

This weekend has been a computer fiasco. I couldn't post last night because Jim was working on the computers. I fell asleep on the couch before they left and found a note on the computer when I woke that I was not to touch it until morning. So there you go. Dick's also had a note that we weren't supposed to do anything to it either.

Then we lost our server this morning and after several calls to Time Warner and getting a message stating that we would have to wait varying lengths of time, Dick finally waited. 57 minutes later, we talked to a real person who transferred us to two others. These people walked Dick through all KINDS of fixes and finally decided that we need to have a tech come here. So we have an appointment for Tuesday between 1:30 and 4:30. He said "We can get someone there AS SOON AS Tuesday." Doesn't sound soon to me. About 20 minutes after we hung up, I suddenly got a connection. So I am posting like crazy.

We have been hit by a really heavy late winter storm. The plows finally made it down to our end of the tract just before dark and did not do a very good job. Actually, the guys that shovel next to the garage door ran out of steam, I think.

This morning I decided to try to make church. The plows had not come into Tall Grass but I determined that if Highland, the main road we empty into, was plowed, I would go. God must have wanted me there because the plows had cleared to Highland JUST past Tall Grass Lane. So I trucked up Highland, turned left on Eastern to Mill and left on Mill to the bottom of the hill to church. God hadn't told me that neither the hill OR the streets around the church and school were plowed. But I figured that since I was that close, I would go the distance. Up the hill I went and proceeded to get stuck next to the parking lot. I remembered that one should back up and try a new path and it worked. Somehow, I made it into the parking lot, which was plowed. Fr. Van Beeck officiated at an abbreviated service for the few die hards like me that had ventured out. He said that the church was PACKED last night and that he had told the congregation that he would say the masses this morning but figured that it would probably be just him and Puppy. Puppy was not at all enthused, so he was glad that we were there.

There was a respite from the snow during the mid to late morning so Dick and I had a rather easy ride to Valley View for his intravenous. Only one more to go before we see Dr. Phelan. We are really hoping that he has answers and glowing words for us. He slept a wee bit better last night, but his appetite is still very poor.

The Poetry Reading at Plymouth Arts Center was canceled and will be rescheduled. That was good because I was saved the trauma of having to make another decision about going out. We just holed up in our warm little house (except for that silly Chelsea of course.)

I did some sewing this afternoon and we racked a gallon of wine. Now we are watching the Oscars. A pleasant way to end a Sunday. We find that we haven't seen too many movies this year but it is always fun to see the celebrities, even the celebrities that we have never heard of. The clothes all seem to be really pretty this year.

Uncle Fred Michels always sends a report on the Wild Game Feast and he writes a little poem. They are always really sweet. I thought you might enjoy this one.

And now, 30 years have passed
And no one got to gassed!
We swallowed our beers, and shed no tears
When Donna won, at last.


And would you believe that the Wild Game And Beer Tasting has been going on for 30 years.

Have a nice week and stay warm.

Mary