This was the LONGEST day. I know it was. Started off by walking Chelsea as usual. It was about 8 degrees when we went out, warmed up to the low 20s and it now back down to 7 degrees. Actually when Nancy and I came back from Rhine tonight it was 5 degrees out in the country.

I cleaned the kitchen this morning while Dick and Chelsea were napping. Had quite an experience. I use the Swifter Wet Mop, put a new bottle of cleaner in and it just kept gushing out. It is supposed to just spray but it was oozing out the bottom. I ended up using the WHOLE bottle when I should only have used maybe a quarter. It is either broken or I had a bad bottle. I'll know next time.

We left the house at about 11AM to go to pick up our completed taxes. Then on to Sheboygan Memorial for Dick's forth procedure. This time I decided to watch the procedure. They always had said that I could but it took me a couple of weeks to decide that I wanted to. It is interesting to watch and not like an incision type surgery so was not a gory thing. This was the forth of the eight that we expect. Dr. Siddique worked on the left leg for the first time.

Tonight was the bust up party at Rhine as I mentioned. I got a trophy again. Don't be too impressed, there were only two women in the league, Lil and myself, who finished and we both got one. It is a nice looking trophy anyway. Nancy is really enjoying the group so I think she will join me at the next league and perhaps will be able to finish now that her gun situation is taken care of.

I had to stop at Kettle Moraine Veterinary Clinic to pick up Chelsea's medicine and saw a collection jar for an animal saving group that I never had heard of. There are a lot of them now, but until there are no mistreated animals, I think we need them. I was reminded of the day that my ex brought home our Tara, a black lab. She kept coughing as she was running around and then I discovered that her choke collar was literally choking her. Apparently her previous owners had put it on her as a puppy and never checked it again. Stupid - and on a growing dog.

I felt bad for her one summer. The flies started attacking her. They started gathering on her ears and actually left her bloody. The only thing I could do was to take Vaseline and just glob it on them. This provided a protection and helped them heal. But she sure looked silly. She was a sweet doggy. I felt so bad when she died. Somebody threw something bad in the back yard and she ate it. I took her to the vet but she died the next morning. He said it was probably shock as much as anything else.

Til tomorrow.

Mary