Chelsea and I did our whole walk this morning. I was very cold but there was really no wind to speak of so it worked out OK. I mentioned the new condo units that are going up on Cattail Court. The workers were sitting in their trucks this morning. It was 6:30 and light when we got on our way. Chelsea did not see them at all. If she does she always barks.

I cleaned the kitchen first thing then gave Chelsea her bath and took my own shower. She is just glowing and is ready for her trip to Bobbie's on Sunday. Bobbie said she is planning on a chocolate peanut butter dessert. No way she can go wrong with that.

I went to the Good Friday service at St. Johns. That is always a nice service. Fr. Van Beeck gives such a nice sermon. He sometimes likes to ask us to try to look at the gospels though eyes of one of the protagonists. This time he asked us to try to look at the story of the Passion as if through the eyes of God. Kind of an interesting perspective. God knew what was going to happen and COULD have stopped it but chose not to. Wow.

I had to work at Rhine tonight. Was it ever dead. We only sent out 7 teams. I shot league and am still way off my mark. Hopefully I will settle down eventually. Perhaps I should go out a Sunday or two and just practice. My friend Nancy DID say she would like to to try it sometime.

I talked to my Bret last night. For some reason, I was thinking of him and was worried about him. He is fine so my worries were unfounded. He is at the River with friends having a four day weekend and will have Easter with them.

Have a good Saturday and relax. Easter should be time of renewal.

Love

Mary

Today is Holy Thursday. It was COLD this morning when we went for our walk. Fortunately, Chelsea wanted to cut through the park before we finished the whole trek around the condo complex which cut the walk short and then I turned her around again because the wind was so cold that I didn't like it. We are supposed to have this cold weather at least through the weekend. It was in the 20s this morning and did not get over the 30s all day. It felt a bit warmer late this afternoon because the wind died down and the sun came out.

There are some little bulb plants blooming in the planter in front of our front door. I thought that they might be scillas because they seemed little and were coming out blue but not some of the flowers are white and gold or orange so I am confused. I believe the other bulb plants are tulips. Only time will tell.

We had lost our internet connection yesterday and called Time Warner for a repairman. They scheduled one for today. Then the connection came back on. BUT, we didn't cancel and he came anyway. He checked everything out, tightened things up and did a couple of things to give us more power or something. Hopefully this will stop the outages.

This afternoon, Dick had to go the the Sheboygan Clinic to have his legs wrapped again. Darlene did it. She did a nice efficient job. We hope that this will help continue the healing. He had an appointment with Dr. Sharon, his new primary physician, on Monday. That way, his nurse can unwrap them and see how they work and Dr. Sharon can see how Dick's legs look. Last time, the wraps did not seem to do as well as they had done previously. So, I won't be putting the salve and bandages on until Monday night.

Tonight is Holy Thursday, so I went to St. John's for the Holy Thursday service. It was very warm and nice. The traditional choir sang. I sat with my friend Joanne Miley and saw Maryanne Robinson and Kate Herman after the service. Tomorrow, I will go to the Good Friday Service at 1:00PM. Dick and I will have our main meal at noon because I also have to work at Rhine in the evening.

I don't know who to credit the following to. I have received it a couple of times in emails. Perhaps you have seen it also, but it is beautiful and I do surely WISH YOU ENOUGH.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

Mary

Just for fun. A Peace Rose with an opening bud.

As Winnie the Pooh or was it Christopher Robin said "It was a blustery day." There were flurries most of the day and I don't think it ever even reached 30 degrees. The wind was not at my back when Chelsea and I went for our walk. She loved it and even found frost here and there to roll in and rub her belly. But I am tall enough that the wind was holding me back and my ears got cold through my cap. Needless to say we only walked for about a half an hour. Too long actually.

Dick and I went to Woodlake. He kind of wanted to get meat for raw beef sandwiches but changed his mind because he couldn't get exactly what he wanted. But I got some tea and chorizo and a nice fresh loaf of half and half so the trip was not in vain. We also had breakfast at the Parkview in Sheboygan Falls and I stopped at Mother's to pick up some Mary Kay that my friend Barb had dropped off there. Mom was making Hot Cross Buns. She said that she had been disappointed that she was too weak to make her Christmas Stollen. So she is baking Hot Cross Buns which she usually makes every Easter. I told her it was certainly a good day for it. Nothing like fresh bakery in the oven on a blustery day.

I forgot to tell you yesterday that Chelsea and I saw a deer, a doe, at the bottom of Tall Grass Lane yesterday morning. She was standing real still between two of the units thinking that Chelsea and I wouldn't see her. Suddenly Chelsea did. I could see Chelsea suddenly get really alert and hunch her little shoulders in excitement. Then she let out one YIP and the doe took off like a shot. Where are they when I am out in the Kettles at my stand.

I tried to sleep today but it didn't work as I got too uncomfortable. My hope is that I will be tired enough tonight to get to sleep before I start hurting again.

I called Dick and Brenda tonight and they are going to help us solve some of our computer problems. Thank God! We are so grateful.

We had chili for supper tonight. I told you all that you could come, you know. It sure is good. And I found out that it is impossible to make a small batch of it.

Almost Easter already. We shop tomorrow and I am getting extra eggs. I like to die them using natural dyes. Limits the number of colors, but they are pretty and fun to do.

Have a great Thursday. I hope it is warmer and doesn't snow.

Love

Mary

Poor Chelsea had quite a night last night. The thunder sent her down into the depths of the basement to hide. We lucked out this morning though. There was a respite from the rain just at the time we were ready to walk and it was not too cold. SO we went for quite a good walk. We did not go down to the big part of the park because I could see lakes in the part near highland and did not particularly want to swim the last few hundred yards.

This morning I had a gastroscopy done. Dr. Murthy was hoping that we could find out the reason my stomach hurts. They did not find anything out of the ordinary but did biopsy the esphagus for some reason. I see Dr. Murthy next Tuesday and he will explore other reasons for the discomfort. In the meantime I will keep taking antacids and watching when and what I eat.

I rested most of the rest of the day.

My computer is driving me crazy. Now I can't print and can't adjust the sound. I think it has something to do with the System set up as I have been getting odd windows when I boot, but the things I have done to correct them are not helping. I guess me and the computer do not think alike. I wish I had taken some classes in computers. I do understand when things are explained to me and can usually correct the SAME problem, but something new comes along and I think either my logic or the computers is warped.

We also have this new backup but neither Dick nor I know how to use the darn thing. I am too tired tonight to try to figure anything else out. So. I won't.

Have a nice Wednesday. Tomorrow I get to stay home except that we are out of gauze for Dick's dressings so I will have to zip on over to Walgreens.

Love

Mary

I turned out to be a rather pleasant day, all day. A storm is supposed to be coming in tonight but I didn't see any signs of it as of yet. Chelsea really zipped along today. There is a new condo going up on Cattail Lane. I think it might be the last lot in the complex except for those two singles that are proposed for the land in front of us. I sure hope we can convince the builder that building on that would be a mistake. I really have NO idea where they would go with snow without that area. It was full and high after the big storms this February.

Bible study this morning. Tom and Kathy Keyes are back. We are so glad to see them home safe and sound. They spend a good portion of the winter in Texas near their son. I am sure Joe is glad to have another guy to add some input. Last week we had a question as to whether we to are the "suffering servant" referred to in Isaiah 50:1-4. Because of the Passion which was read and spoken about the priest did not even mention any other readings but the gospel. Maybe, if I see Fr. Van Beeck, I will ask him.

Then I stopped at Mom's after the study. She had and has some banking for me to take care of. Jeff was coming this afternoon to do some yard work for her. We had Bobbie check to see if it is too soon to uncover the roses and came to the conclusion that it is not.

The rest of the day was quiet until this evening when I went to the Rhine meeting. It was a bit long but we had a lot to discuss with taxes and insurance questions and also proposed improvements.

Now it is evening and time to settle down for the night.

My friend Janet sent me a really funny email that I will share with you.

Subject: Wine vs Water

It has been scientifically proven that if we drink 1 liter of water
each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than
1 kilo of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria found in feces.
In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of Poop.

However, we do not run that risk when drinking wine (or rum, whiskey,
beer or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification
process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

WATER = POOP

WINE = HEALTH

Ergo: It is better to drink wine and talk stupid than to drink water
and be full of crap. There is no need to thank me for this valuable
information;

I am doing it as a public service.

This afternoon, I went out to put some cow manure on to the rhubarb. (I remembered, Bobbie) For some reason, It reminded me of my Grandma Deeley and my Dad.

Dad was quite a gardener. And Grandma was too and she loved me and used to like to give me little gifts. One year she gave me this set of seeds that were all named Biblically. There was a St. Joseph's Staff and even more important, Mary's Thistle. Dad helped me plant them and they did reasonably well that first year. After that, Mary's Thistle appeared every year. Dad came to look for it and would get rid of all but one. It was a large thistle with a prickly leaves crossing smooth leaves. Quit pretty but really a pest. I wonder if the new owners still are "blessed" with it.





Love

Mary

Am I every embarrassed and relieved. On Friday, I was trying to trade work weekends at Rhine. For some reason or other, I thought that I was working the weekend of April 20 -22. That is the weekend that I am going to Galena. Today, I went to check which teams would be OK to trade with and realized that I work NEXT weekend, which is just fine. Boy am I glad I didn't find anyone who COULD trade.

I went to Mass in Falls. I think I mentioned that I was going to. Mother was really glad that I was there. I suggested that she go over with her walker to get the practice. We sat in the back and I brought her communion so she didn't have to walk up to the front without support. She has decided that if she DOES go alone, she will sit in the front so they can just bring communion to her. A friend, Dorothy Walsh, does that so Mother finds it acceptable.

It was Palm Sunday, so most of the congregation met in the church hall and processed into church at the beginning of mass. I took our palms and joined the crowd downstairs so we could have them blessed while Mother waited upstairs. It is a long Mass with both the blessing of palms AND the reading of the Passion so we weren't back to Mother's until almost noon.

Then, I went home by way of Hunters Glen so that I could run the water and flush the toilets. There is a showing tomorrow morning at 8:30AM. Kind of early, I hope that is a good sign. I decided to take the pot off the deck that I have wanted. It was full of water. I managed to get it off the deck and down the stairs with just a few splashes on the pants and shoes and dumped the excess water out of the bottom. Just then our neighbor, Mary Yurk, from across the street came over to talk for a bit and she helped me get it into the car. I also took two smaller ones so the only pots left on the deck are the real big ones. It seems wise to take the rest as the one rotten offer we got indicated that they wanted stuff hauled away and I got the impression that the pots might have been part of that. On the way home, the big pot toppled gently over and dumped dirt out. SO when I got home, I had to vacuum and wipe down the back of the Santa Fe. It cleaned up just fine.

We had chili for dinner tonight. Mine this time and it is really good. You still can partake you know. I think we will be having it again on Wednesday.

I watched CatMinster on the Game Show Network. It is supposed to be the Westminster of Cat Shows. Saw some real ugly and some really great cats. There was a beautiful Manx. It had no tail at all but is built much like our Roxie.

I sent a poem in to Prairie Home Companion for a poetry contest. Mine did not win. But I listened to SOME of the show today between chores. You can read the winning poems at prairiehome.publicradio.org. and I will share mine with you. Garrison said he had over 2000 entries. He also told the story of a research librarian who is writing a novel and intends to sell it and retire somewhere on the coast of Maine.

Here is my poem

DRESSED IN DRAB

Spring enters quietly dressed in drab

Trying to sneak past Old Man Winter

Who has become old and blind

And he still causes havoc in his dying days

Trying to sneak past Old Man Winter

She is young and full of frolic

And he still causes havoc in his dying days

Because he knows he cannot win

She is young and full of frolic

She tucks fresh life under her shawl

Because he knows he cannot win

She slips past him with gentle power.

She tucks fresh life under her shawl

Who has become old and blind

She slips past him with gentle power

Spring enters quietly dressed in drab.

Have a good week

Mary