This morning, I joined Gary Hefter at the pheasant pens again. This has been a very good year for the pheasant program. I only helped twice, but Gary said that there have been NO dead birds all week which is almost unheard of. There are so many that usually a few are lost just because. They are getting very big and look wonderfully healthy. I do enjoy helping take care of them and later helping with the release of them into the wild. The program IS working. Of course, most of them are harvested and some die when released, but the smart ones and the lucky ones love and reproduce. We are seeing more pheasant by the roadsides and in the fields.

I stopped at Hunters Glen on the way home, ran the water and did a bit of trimming of bushes. Still have to keep it up but I figure I will have to go there only two, maybe three more times before the closing. My peace rose is blooming and the petunias that Bobbie and Bill planted are beautiful.

When I got home, I cleaned the kitchen and the outside of the windows of the office. Next week, we will do the bedroom windows and I will only have the living room left. Those will be a challenge as they are too high up.

I joined the bank ladies for lunch at Dairy Queen and picked up fresh corn for supper on the way home. Boy, was that good. We had corn, sliced tomatoes, cole slaw and cucumber salad for dinner. Num Num. Are you jealous?

There were several phone calls that I had to make also. I feel that I accomplished a big thing today because I found an organist, Mary Fellenz for the Mass at St. Michaels on August 12. Everything else is EASY.

Chelsea has been coughing and gagging more the past day or so. Last night was very hard on her. It can't hurt because she remains cheerful and does not complain. She just coughs until it is over. If it has not subsided by Monday, we will call the vet. She still went on a good long walk this morning and did not tire. As a matter of fact the activity seemed to help the problem subside for a bit.

Here is a dog quote for you. An Anne Tyler said, "Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul, chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!"

Tomorrow we get on the Discover bus and will to to Milwaukee to see Sweet Charity and enjoy a wonderful lunch somewhere. Don't know where we will be eating but we have always been satisfied and expect no less tomorrow.

Have a great weekend. Love

Mary

Today was a nice day, though it couldn't top yesterday, of course. Dick had his blood tested and Sue was very proud of him again. He is right where he should be. He has been instructed what to do when he goes off of the coumadin for the week before his angioplasty.

We stopped at Mom's on our way home, I had cashed a check for her. She is fine and looking forward to Holly's wedding shower on Sunday. Pat and Joan may be coming to the Reunion of the Clans at St. Michaels. She said Pat was really interested. We might have our own small family reunion.

Dr. Ziegler's office called this morning too and he now has his updated glasses. He is really pleased with the results. You may remember that he had to have the implanted lens lasered to clear the accumulated film off of it.

I feel that I was busy all day today, but I really can't tell you what took the time.

Last night we did go to 52 Stafford for the session that they have there every Wednesday. Dick and I had gone to one several years ago. That one was nice but they have come a long way. These musicians have been jamming together for long enough and just obviously have a good time. They even have a lady come with a harp. Beth, from Blessed Trinity, joined us. She said that she wants to learn the harp next.

I joined WFOP (Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets www.wfop.org) and they offer a "poet's page" on their site, so I have taken advantage of it. Maybe I can sell a few books through the site.

It is just beautiful outside tonight. We have opened all the doors and turned off the air to take advantage of it. I just took Chelsea out for her last walk and there is a crescent moon shining in a clear dark sky. Very special.

Have a good Friday. I get to play with the pheasants again AND we will be eating fresh corn on the cob for supper again. If you want to join us, let me know in the morning as I am getting the corn in the early afternoon and can always pick up a few extra.

Love

Mary

Boy do we have news today. Got a call from ReMax this afternoon at about 3:30PM. Shauna said we had an offer. I called Jim and Michelle and (miracle of miracles) Michelle had taken the day off and they were in Sheboygan.

So, they came here and we went right over to ReMax. Jennifer took us into the conference room smiling all the way. We talked for a few minutes and she covered up the offer. Then we each got our copy and -- Lo and behold -- It is a full price offer (on the new price) and they want to close in three weeks on August 9. The only condition is that THEIR current property which is scheduled to close on August 9 closes first that same day. Talk about perfect. We are ecstatic.

This has been a good day otherwise too. Actually, my trap shooting was abysmal but it will be better next week. I just was not following through.

I joined my friend Kate at her Rotary meeting to give a speech and someone else had been scheduled without her knowledge so I am coming back on August 22, the first Wednesday that I am not committed to something else.

Tonight Dick is going to join the Beths and me at 52 Stafford. I will have a wine and a Bailey's to celebrate this wonderful day.

Keep the prayers going so that all goes well.

Love

Mary

Started early this morning. I walked Chelsea and then went to Maywood to help Gary Hefter, from Rhine Plymouth feed and water the pheasant chicks. This is Rhine's week to take care or them. Gary and Greg Reich really do it all. Too bad there aren't a couple of others to ease the load, but everybody is SO busy. Greg called and I am able to help Gary, who comes right from his night shift at Kohler and is really tired, twice anyway. I can go back on Friday. With two of us working it takes about an hour. We fill the feed bins, check and refill water as needed and remove any dead birds. No dead ones this week at all. That is amazing. I guess the weather is just right and they started feeding them the water enriched much earlier than last year.

I kind of enjoy doing it as the pheasants remind me of when I was a kid and Dad raised chickens. We make pets out of them you know. Mine had crippled feet and would you believe that I named him Crip. I won a pet show at the school the year we had him. We eventually ate him. I know I was not a happy camper but must have been a "farmer's daughter" because I accepted the fact that he was raised for food.

When I got home, it was still cool enough and it was not raining, so I went down to the garden and lilac bushes in back. I trimmed the lilac bushes. We did not get many blooms this year so I decided to do some trimming. It may be a little late, but will help in the long fun. I re-edged the other gardens too. They were getting a little ingrown. The hostas and day lilies are blooming now.

Then it was time for a shower to get all the pheasant stuff, sweat, dirt and insect repellent off of me. AND take a nap.

When I got up, Dick told me that the computer had been down most of the night. When I got home, we still did not have a connection, so I called Time Warner. They had a BIG wait so I gave my number and waited. They called back in about 45 minutes (which is what they said) and after about a half an hour of trying different things, we got back online. I learned one more thing to try before calling them. Will Smith, the technician, was very good and told me that they had done some updates overnight and some problems had developed.

I went to Capelle's Farm Market for some fresh veggies and then we got waffle sundaes for lunch. About once every two months we treat ourselves like that. Usually a blizzard but these are new and looked good.

I spent the rest of the afternoon washing windows, watering plants and getting ready for my speech at the Rotary tomorrow.

Dick took me out to dinner to the Family Restaurant. He ordered meatloaf and I ordered liver and onions (It was really good, Bobbie.) Now we are home and in for the night.

During the tributes to Lady Bird Johnson, I heard someone who had been in the Johnson White House say that during that term, it was often the case that a calming voice would be heard saying at very important times saying. "Now Lyndon. Now, Lyndon." I know that he was very volatile and she was a rock at his side.

I could relate. I remember, my Grandpa Bowser, who was a great teller of stories, sometimes getting carried away and my dear Grandma saying in a calming voice. "Now, John. Now, John."

Mary

Good News Today. At 10:15AM we met with Dr. Siddique, the vein specialist at Sheboygan Memorial. He went through the records and checked the MRI of Dick's legs and says that he can help him. He showed us the MRI. It is easy to see where the arteries are blocked. He says that the veins are also in poor shape and had us schedule an appointment for an ultrasound of them. First, however, we tackle the arteries. He will have the first procedure on August 2nd. It will take two or three times before he can finish. Each procedure will be two weeks apart. We are so excited. It looks like this will do just wonders. Pray for us. We are so hopeful.

We stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch. That was nice. As Dick said, it is almost like going out for dinner.

I went to the Cream City Writer's Club at 1:00 at Book Heads here in Plymouth. There were seven of us there. We need to recruit a couple of more people. As it is one of our members gets a little preachy as he is an elder in his church. He writes very nice song lyrics associated with scripture. The trouble is that he seems to sometimes feel that everybody should be preaching. After reading Michael Perry's Population 485, he thinks that he wants to let Michael know that he should have used that book to show religious comfort to the victims that the fire department dealt with. Kudos for Sy Regan, who is a deacon, for saying that emergency workers need to be providing care and not counselling either with psychology or religion.

Anyway, I read the entries that I have for the WFOP Triad contest and they seemed to like them. The words we chose last month were plover, glorious, tranquil, concert, flag, fireworks, lavender. I had also written a poem using them. Here it is.

Concert in the park
Fireworks on the 4th of July.
Where is tranquility?
I found mine on my morning walk
Punctuated by plover sitings
And lavender wild phlox
Glorious in its simplicity.


This month we are just going to write on summer's end. It is kind of nice to have an "assignment". It gets one started.

I went over to Kate's today because she ended up not being able to make the meeting. I had several things for her. We have set the first meeting for the new Celtic Women's Club for August 29. Kind of close to Labor Day but it is the Wednesday before so should not be too bad.
Kate, Bev (Cream City's President) and I have decided to go next year to Kohler to hear Maya Angelou speak. Want to come? Let me know by the end of the week. It is on Saturday, April 26, 2008.

Mom looked great today. We stopped off with her eye vitamins. She had gone over to church for the funeral of Adeline Lawrence. She lived right around the corner from my Aunt Helen. Randy and Donna live in Aunt Helen's house, you remember. Adeline raised strawberries and I miss them. I am sure Aunt Helen was there to show her around heaven. Mother commented that there was no Mass which surprised her. Just a prayer service. We decided that perhaps, since most of her children are not practicing Catholics, they asked for just a service.

Anyway. That is the news from our house. Have a good Tuesday. I get to feed pheasants tomorrow morning. Did I tell you I sprayed ANOTHER wasps nest. It is in the last possible crevice on the house.

Mary

It was a beautiful day. Started out that way albeit a bit chilly, all the way down to 54 degrees. Chelsea usually likes that kind of walking but she took a lot of shortcuts. One through the park and then cut through the woods where we saw the trilliums this spring and that Little Miss Adventure took me on a path that we had not taken before, but which I knew would take us to the park. Then we got to one of the little bridges that go over the creek and she was afraid to cross it. I had to carry her. I think that she just hasn't figured out how to keep all four of her little feed out of the gaps in the wood slats.

I went to the 8AM mass. Then came home and we had leftover roast beef hash with eggs for breakfast. Nummy. I worked on the quilt today. And painted four more tiles for trivets today. It is a fun, easy creative thing to do. I have traced some from a book of patterns and have designed a couple of my own. Maybe I can get a picture of a group of them to show you later.

I finished reading a book today too. It is Sunday and I was so glad to have a day with no commitments so that I could relax a bit.

Jim and Michelle went and washed the windows at Hunters Glen today. The flowers that Bobbie and Bill planted out front are spectacular. The color makes such a difference. I am so grateful that they did that. Next week, I will go back out and trim the bushes again. They still look OK but will need a little finishing by then. This week I have to spend some time on the gardens here.

When Jim got the hose and squeegee to clean the windows he noticed that there were two wasp nests starting above our garage door. One on each side. So this evening I soaked them with hornet spray. There were two on the front porch on separate days last week. I don't know WHY they have decided that our house is home, but I am doing my best to ensure that they know they are not welcome here. I would hope that death will do it.

We had strawberry shortcake on the marble pound cake with cool whip for dessert. Boy is the fruit this year ever good. We had a small bowl of strawberries and blueberries with our lunch too. I am kind of delighted that Cappelle's Farm Market is open. I will check them on Tuesdays and get as much produce fresh from them as I can. We do our regular grocery shopping on Wednesdays.

It also means we can have corn and tomatoes for our Friday dinners. Yahoo.

I remembered something kind of cute today. When I had Bart, Dick told him that we were bringing a little brother home for him. So when we got there, I showed the baby to him and he smiled very politely. I asked him how he liked the baby and he said that the baby was OK but where was this brother we told him was coming.

We realized that his friend's brothers were older and able to play too.

Have a great week.

Love

Mary