Today was not QUITE as quiet as I wanted it to be.

I got up at 6AM. Did all the usual morning stuff. We had breakfast and then Dick went down for a nap. He took Chelsea in the bedroom with him. We remembered that he used to do that all the time. It had actually gotten to a point where she would start begging him to go into the bedroom at certain times.

So, while they were sleeping, I cleaned the kitchen and then went out to do a couple of errands. First I went to KMart to find some thinner cotton sox for Dick and I also picked up a couple of shirts that were on sale. They are too big but will be comfortable for around the house. I then went to Walgreens for Dick's prescriptions. To my dismay, only two of them were ready. Unfortunately, the one missing was the painkiller. He takes two of them to ease his back pain when trying to get to sleep and was out. SO I drove over to the Clinic to the Urgent Care Unit which was open today. They checked the records and then got on the phone with a nurse. Here is when I really lucked out. The lady next in line to be checked in to Urgent Care works at the Clinic. She got on with the nurse and asked her to click on the Hydrocodone on Dick's chart. It showed that an order had been faxed. Apparently the FAX prescriptions fail often enough that she knew about it. She told the nurse to refax it. It worked. In the few minutes it took me to drive back to Walgreens, the prescription was ready. Somebody was watching out for me.

After lunch, I tried to nap but did not succeed. So we got Dick's bath out of the way before I headed over to Mass. A nice Mass. The adult choir sang and they are very good. We are in the forth week of Lent already. Fr. Van Beeck always says a nice sermon and I was privileged to be a Minister of the Eucharist. That is always a joy.

When I was at KMart I got to pet two greyhounds. They are part of a program to find retired racing greyhounds homes. Nice doggies. The one I petted most is all housebroken and is a nicely socialized dog. He was very friendly and amienable. If you want a dog I would recommend him.

A Margery Facklam said "We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare, and love we can spare. In return dogs give us their all. It is the best deal man has ever made."

Tomorrow will be my day. The only things I plan on doing are baking scones and washing the dog. I figure that Chelsea needs a bath before next weekend when all of the kids will be here at some time or another.

I am hoping to have them all for a meal - together. Of course, anybody can come and grab something or join us. But Dick would really like everybody together at least once. It is seeming that Sunday morning will probably be the best as the prayer service for Barbara is on Saturday afternoon and Dick and Brenda won't be coming until sometime on Saturday. Saturday night will probably be committed to something and Leslie and Bill will be leaving sometime Sunday. So it seems that a nice Sunday brunch or breakfast would work.

But to get back to tomorrow. I want to do some sewing, some writing and prepare an email for CWI.

Be happy and be safe. Spring is coming on fast.

Mary

I'm back on track again.

Chelsea woke me up at about 4:00AM again. So I took her out and went back to bed until 6AM. That little girl is coughing more and more these days. Some days better than others. She no longer jumps up on the bed and if I lift her up she is afraid to jump down alone. But when we go for out walk, she is like a young puppy. She runs and pulls me. Of course, sometimes she sits down for a bit to get her breath. As long as she is happy dog and not in pain she can just keep on being our little friend.

Will Rogers said, "If there are no dogs in heaven, I want to go where they went."

I cleaned the bathrooms today before we had to go to Plymouth Care for therapy. The shoe is back. Andrea did her adjustments and pronounced it ready for use. Now, for the next week or two, he will wear it only AT therapy sessions until they are sure that it is all settled in and that there are no hot spots. If anything shows up, Andrea will come and fix them. Next week, Tim, the prosthesis guy, will come to make sure that both legs are the same length. That is important too.

We got home in time that I could fix lunch and eat it at my leisure before going to take Mother to her eye doctor. She has felt that there was a change in her vision so we don't mess around with that as she only has one good eye now. As it turns out, there is a slight change but it is not correctable and Dr. Lavey says it is part of the aging process. But this usually does not progress very fast and should not be much of a problem.

I got a fish dinner from St. John's for Dick's dinner. Nancy picked me up at about 5PM so we could go to Rhine for the bust up party. A good dinner of chicken, potatoes and cookies and cake. It was fun and I won a split the pot raffle and came home with $20 more than I started out with. Not a bad night at all.

The weekend is looking very quiet. Tomorrow I will pick up some prescriptions and go to Mass and on Sunday I should be able to stay home all day. Such a deal. I hope to get caught up on a bit of rest. I will have to do the kitchen floor tomorrow. It is really a mess and there was no time today.

Today was the first day of spring starting at 6:40AM. It was cold - not windy but cold anyway. But the birds were singing and Mother even has some of her bulbs showing above ground. So spring must be here. As Ellis Peters said in the Cadfael book Dead Man's Ransom "A time for all manner of births and beginnings, and for putting death out of mind."

Have a lovely spring starting with tomorrow.

Mary

 

Here we are all ready for the big walk.

My brain must have shut down after the St. Patrick's Day Walk. I forgot to post that night and last night. It did not even dawn on me until Richard called tonight to see if everything was OK.

SO I have three days to cover. It still will not be too long as I am, again, very tired.

Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day, was perfect. I left at about 9:30AM for the Exchange Bank to meet up with the rest of the Celtic Women. There was a good group of us. Eleven. We had a quick meeting deciding the next two, maybe three meetings. Next month we are going to Kewaskum to see Caim in concert. Bobbie, Kate, Nancy and I saw them at Mead about a year ago. They are two women who sing Irish and Scottish music. It is all a capella and truly lovely. If anybody else wants to join us the concert starts at 6PM and is at the Kewaskum Theater which is in their school.

Rich Bieschke transported all of us up to the walk site by 11:00AM. It took two trips but we all got there. The weather was absolutely SPRING. It was in the 70s. There was a bit of a breeze which made holding the banner a challenge, but what is that to be complaining about. We have walked in snow, rain, sleet in other years so this was a real pleasure.

When we got to the Stafford, Rich had two tables reserved for us so we all had lunch together. I ordered a Reuben which was excellent. After we ate, I sat with Nancy and mingled a bit while listening to the music before heading home to Dick. A friend John Mc Mullen asked where my brother Jeff was. I told him that Jeff had hurt his shoulder so badly that they were concerned about surgery. He said that was no excuse so I got Jeff on the phone and then gave the phone to John so that they could talk it up. That was fun.

Yesterday was just plain busy. I went grocery shopping in the morning before taking Dick to the Plymouth Clinic to have his coagulation blood test. It was perfect. I think I have mentioned that the blood is supposed to be between 2 and 3 and his was 2.5 on the dot. WOW. So we don't have to go back for a whole month.

Then, after lunch, he had therapy. Andrea came with his shoe. YEA!!! She got it on him and he stood up so she could check the pressure points. There were a couple of immediate needed corrections so she took it back and will come again tomorrow so we can try again. After she has the best fit she can by observation, Dick will wear it in therapy for a couple of weeks so that they can check for any possible abrasive spots before letting him walk and letting us take it home. Dr. Moreno will have to see it when the bugs are all worked out too.

Today was another one. This morning I tried to get things picked up around here then ran about four errands. One of them was quite important. As I was getting Dick back into the car yesterday after therapy, we noticed an envelope under the windshield wiper. I could not see it from inside the car. Anyway, it was a parking ticket. On St. Patrick's Day, I was parked in the lot across from the Stafford which DOES have a two hour limit. I was kind of holding my breath when I parked there but hoped that perhaps they were going to be generous that day. Boy was I wrong. It was worth the ticket though to be so close and have the car safe all day.

So, I paid that ticket, mailed the CWI Banner back to Maureen and picked up a 12 pack of coke. I had an eye exam at 10:15. That went well, I think. My eyes had failed some since last year so I had to order a new pair of glasses. I am using some old frames so that helped a bit. I also ordered a new set of reading glasses which I got for half price so it was not too bad, I guess. Aside from that my eyes are OK.

This afternoon, I took a nap, then vacuumed the upstairs carpets.

Again, it is finally time to go to bed and will I ever be glad to get there. I am so very tired. I will send a picture of the CWI group for you to see.

Love

Mary

Today had to be micro managed.

Chelsea got me up at 5AM for her first walk but then I slept until 6:30 so was pretty rested.

I got everything done and everybody fed in time to leave for bible study at a bit after 9AM. There were 6 of us there, not a bad crowd since four people are on vacation in Florida and Texas.

The theme of the reading is choosing dark over light in other words accepting or rejecting Jesus. We discussed the fact that it is easier to be light to those we love but that we have to do so to everybody. There is that old song "They will know we are Christians by our love."

I stopped for just a minute to see Mother. I took her bulletin as she didn't get to Mass yesterday. A wise move. She wants to go to the meals tomorrow and Lucy Carderelle, who drives her and a couple of other ladies, called me tonight. She wanted to be sure that it was OK for Mom to go. I told her that Mom does get tired but got a clean bill of health from the doctor so - go for it.

I got home just in time to get Dick in the car and take him to his therapy. That went well. He had to be evaluated today and he stood for over 13 minutes. Pretty spectacular. Dr. Moreno has spoken to Andrea who is constructing the shoes for Dick. We are HOPING to have the shoe on Wednesday. Then after they are sure of the fit, he can walk.

Then when we got home, I fixed some quick sandwiches and headed over to Book Heads for the Cream City Writers meeting. It was very nice. Everybody had something worth listening too. Sy suggested that we consider putting together a book of a compilation of our writings. Sounds like fun. We gave ourselves the assignment of all attempting a Pontoum. That is a poem that has a very defined structure. I will print one from my book so you can see how it goes.

THE SENTINAL

The red-winged blackbird waits
Bounding jauntily
On the street sign at the corner.
He trills his song for me.

Bounding jauntily.
Is he greeting or scolding?
He sings his song for me
Each morning.

Is he greeting or scolding
There on his perch
Each morning.
I would miss him.

There on his perch.
How long will he stay?
I would miss him.
The red-winged blackbird waits.

I have been able to stay home since and am being very lazy. Good thing as tomorrow, with the walk and all will be very tiring.

There is going to be a prayer service for Barbara on the 28th at St. Peter Claver. So all of the kids will be in town. I would like to have a meal with all of them here. Leslie and Bill are driving up from Louisiana. It would be good for Dick to have everybody together. Only God knows when that will happen again.

Now Dick and I are watching Dancing with the Stars together and then I will go to bed.

Have a good night. It is supposed to be 60 for our walk tomorrow. Yippee.

Mary

I took Chelsea out at about 5:30AM when she woke me up, then went back to bed and slept until almost 7:00Am That is the latest that I have slept in years. The cats were quite upset with me. But they forgave me the minute that I fed them.

I made corned beef and cabbage for our noon dinner. It was very good. Before noon, we got Dick into the bathtub and all washed up.

After lunch, I loaded up a ton of food and headed for Mother's for a visit. I brought her beer bread, cupcakes, Friday Chili and a corned beef and cabbage dinner. When I got there Jessie, Randy and Donna's youngest was there. We laughed because, Donna is sending over steak sandwiches and potato salad and Mom probably won't have to cook until Thursday. She was delighted.

Had a lovely visit with Jessie before she left. Continue to pray for little Sean. We think he is probably home but has a lot of healing to do and he is such a little guy. I was remembering Jessie's Dad Randy when he was a little guy. He had to go to the hospital when he was very little too. In those days, noone was allowed to stay with the patient and he was just frantic. He cried and cried for Mother. For a long time after that he was devastated whenever Mother left. I remember that he would sit on the floor hugging his little legs and rock and say. "Him's never coming back." It was heartbreaking and we, his older brothers and sisters all did out best to make him feel better. Eventually, he did get over that fear but I can't imagine how he must have felt. I can imagine how Mother must have felt leaving him there.

David Bowser, a cousin who does a lot of genealogy, sent a package of information. It will take a while to go through it. I hope that someone, Jeff, Randy or Kurt will be able to really follow up on all of the leads that we have. I just never have the time. It was my great great great grandfather Michael (Buser) Bowser who came to Town Mitchell in 1848 or there about. There is a collage of pictures of men who were on the county board (I forget the year) and my great great grandpa Joe was pictured in that collage. ( I think I have the "greats" right)

On the 27th I am going to Campbellsport to see the dress rehearsal play Winning put on by the Kettle Moraine Players at the High School. The gentleman who invited us is a John Brandl. I am anxious to see if he is related to the Aunie Brandl who made the miracle salve.

Did I tell you that I won two voice lessons from Samantha Lin Pool, one of the entertainers last night. I am rather exited. It should be fun and kind of make up for missing out on the storytelling classes.

Take care and have a good week.



Mary

It is almost St. Patrick's Day and I wrote this years ago for my Irish Grandpa Deeley.




GRANDPA'S WALLET


An Irishman who never set foot on Irish soil.
He was born - in London - on Christmas Day,
To emigrating parents – the oldest boy.
They came to America when he was eleven months old.

He was born - in London - on Christmas Day.
No one EVER dared call him British more than once.
They came to America when he was eleven months old.
His father worked the mills throughout New England.

No one EVER dared call him British more than once.
He started work when he was only eleven.
His father worked the mills throughout New England.
He was boss carder at age 16.

He started to work when he was only eleven.
He came to Wisconsin in 1889 to work.
He was boss carder at age 16.
I think leprechauns look like my Grandpa Deeley.

He came to Wisconsin in 1889 to work.
My Dad looked like Grandpa.
I think leprechauns look like my Grandpa Deeley.
He married twice and had six children.

My Dad looked like Grandpa.
I took Grandpa's wallet to Ireland.
He married twice and had six children.
He was an Irishman who never set foot on Irish soil.