Saturday. I did have things to do today outside of the home. First, at 10AM, there was a special meeting of the Condo association to decide if we were going to take legal action against the developer for things that need to be done yet. We were being told by our board the the statute of limitations is almost up on being able to force him to do certain things, like put in the road and fix some drainage issues. Mark was there and disputed many things that the board said. I had my doubts about whether we have utilized all of our negotiation tools before causing a permanent rift with litigation. Apparently the majority of the residents agreed with me because the vote was over whelming to not press for a lawsuit. I must tell you that Mark, the developer, is also a resident of the condo complex, so he has a lot to lose too. As we left, I told him I just wanted the road to be put in. He laughed and said that as soon as the board told him, he would go ahead with it.

I did offer to be on a committee to work with Mark to see that the problems are solved. I do not believe that the board has been doing a good job of that at all.

I cleaned the kitchen floor today too and watered plants. Hopefully I can start putting some of the heartier herbs outside soon to see if they come back.

I went to Mass tonight at 4PM. It is Palm Sunday weekend so I brought home a fresh blessed palm. I must remember to give my old ones to Jeff. He still burns things and that is what is supposed to be done with them. It was a nice service. Next Sunday, Easter Sunday, I will be able to go to 8AM Mass. That will be nice. I preferred that Mass when we had it. Regardless, I will have basically the whole day. Jim and Michelle are providing dinner and bringing it here so Dick does not have to go anywhere. At least we won't have to be taking things over to the Care Center as we did with Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow I will be able to stay home ALL day. Isn't that nice.


Love

Mary

A satisfying day. Chelsea woke me up at 4:30AM again but I got back to sleep until 6:30 and since I was in bed by 9:30 last night, I am reasonably rested today. Spent a good bit of the morning vacuuming the office and the living room. I also got several appointments coordinated and several other questions answered as well as getting the desk a little cleaner.

I did go for lunch at the Dairy Queen with the bank ladies. I had not been able to go for several weeks because of conflicts and it was good to catch up again. We will not meet next week because it is Good Friday and most of us do attend Good Friday services in one church or another. Betty and Marlene both work at the polls in the Town of Sheboygan so they will be busy on Tuesday. At least they hope they will be busy, otherwise that day drags on for the workers. We forgot to get an absentee ballot for Dick so unless something changes, I will be the family voter. Hope he likes my choices.

I picked up a fish fry for Dick from St. John's. I worked at Rhine tonight so I just took a container full of pasta salad with crab for my supper. I also splurged on a candy bar for my dessert. Something I have not had since the mini bars from Halloween were eaten up.

I must make a dessert of some kind tomorrow. We want healthy desserts but do like a bit of sweet after our meals.

We were busy at Rhine. But there are less shooters these days. I think the economy is hitting them too. Ammo is more expensive as is the cost of the leagues. Our league fee is the same but the Trap fees have gone up so people are paring back a bit. This was the second week and after tonight we have 16 teams, which is less than usual but not too bad. We are down on pistol shooters, I hope some of them come in. Otherwise, I hope they come back in the fall league. It was so nice to have 15 or 16 pistol shooters in the winter league.

Anyway, I was in charge of the gun room and signed people in so was a busy person which is nice and makes the evening to fast. We were done with the shooters at 8:30 and I had the money all counted so they let me come home. They are very good to me because they know I need to be with Dick as much as possible.

My friend Maureen sent me the following:

After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year, New York scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusion, that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, in the weeks that followed, a California archaeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet, and shortly after, a story in the LA Times read: 'California archaeologists, finding traces of 200 year old copper wire, have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than the New Yorkers.

One week later, The La Crosse Tribune, a local newspaper in Wisconsin, reported the following: After digging as deep as 30 feet in his pasture near Coon Valley
Wisconsin, Ole Olson, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing.

Ole has therefore concluded that 300 years ago, Wisconsin had already gone wireless. Thank Heaven for Ole.

Who said Wisconsinites are hicks?

Enjoy your weekend. We are supposed to be getting another snowstorm. What the heck is that? Doesn't Mother Nature know that it is April and almost Easter?

Love

Mary

Last night really left me tired this morning. We had such a good time, but it was after 11PM when I got to bed. I took Chelsea out at 4:30AM and went back to sleep. I must have been having nightmares because I woke poor Dick up yelling. Then went back to sleep but I HAD to get up by 6:15 or so because of our morning schedule.

We got Dick to his first appointment with Dr. Cheryl at Advanced Eye Care at 8:35 by the skin of our chinny chin chins. That went OK but they made an appointment for Dick to see a specialist because there are signs of aging and possible macular degeneration. Nothing serious yet but there are things to do to stop it if it is caught on time.

We went right from there to therapy to try the shoe again. It is almost perfect. Lori is going to ask Andrea to make one more small adjustment. Then with any luck at all, we can go to see Dr. Moreno next week and then WALK. He did stand for almost 20 minutes today.

We were able to stay home all the rest of the day. I made some soup and a pasta salad, cleaned the kitchen and washed what seemed to be 1000 dishes. Now I am exhausted.

We called to see if someone could come to check the wheelchair because it seems to push so hard. The man stopped right over which is really great. There is nothing wrong, it seems to be just that there is rubbing because Dick JUST fits and there is some rubbing. Chelsea was sleeping along the wall when he came in and never woke up until he was almost ready to leave. Then she woke up and looking very confused walked over and sniffed him. He laughed and said that he kind of wondered if she was alive when he came in because she didn't move and she was laying there so still with her tongue hanging out of her mouth.


But she is still with us and still amazes me in the mornings when we go for our walk.

We are supposed to have a snow storm coming in again. Mother is so disappointed. She wants to go to church on Palm Sunday and if it is slippery it is dangerous. I am thinking that maybe driving her over to the front of the church and picking her up might work.

Anyway Have a pleasant Friday. Wear red in honor of our service men and women overseas if you think of it.

Love

Mary

Here it is 10:30PM. I have just arrived home from a delightful evening. Mother and I had dinner at the Villager in Falls. We both had their pasta special, penne, with veggies and a spicy Alfredo sauce on it all. It was delicious. Then we went to Horace Mann to meet Bobbie for the Sheboygan Theater production of Over the River and Through the Woods.

It was a delightful play. If anyone wants to have a good evening between now and Sunday, I would recommend it highly. It is a true comedy/drama and the characters are wonderful. Two sets of Italian grandparents and their grandson and their intense loving relationship. We laughed and laughed and then there is some sadness too. Much like life. The last line of the play is "Didn't it come on nice?" Referring to many a meal and to life.

The rest of the day I was pretty much on the go. Roxie and Oscar had their annual checkups. They got their shots, blood tests and have been proclaimed healthy. Roxie,however, will have to have her teeth cleaned. So she will be very disappointed in me in three weeks time when I take her in for that.

I had an appointment with a banker and my investment banker at 10AM. That went very well. I have some tweaking that I would like to do but need to be sure that Dick understands and approves of the changes.

Then I went grocery shopping and filled up the gas tank while I was out.

After lunch, I took a nap. Had a pretty good one too. Then it was time to get Dick all squared away and fed before I went to pick up Mother for dinner.

And now I am home again. So far Chelsea did not wake up for about 15 minutes after I got home and has had me take her out twice since she woke up. I hope that is all for tonight. She will probably want to sleep late tomorrow and I can't. We have to get Dick to the eye doctor by 8:30 and to therapy by 9:30.

Leslie emailed that she and Bill are back home in Bossier City safe and sound. That is a relief. A long drive is always a worry. She said they were exhausted. We will communicate later to find out how the trip was.

Guess that is all for now. I am ready to wind down and head for bed myself.

Til tomorrow

Love

Mary

 

Here is the picture of my voice teacher (Isn't that cool. "My voice teacher") Samantha Pool and her son Michael, the leprechaun. Isn't he adorable.

Today was a comparatively quiet day. I picked up my glasses at about 9AM. I CAN see better. I will however have to get used to the change in the bifocal because it makes a difference as to how I position my head. But distance and close are much better. Now Dick has his appointment on Thursday.

Then both of us had dentist appointments. We got a call moving the appointment up from 11:40 to 11AM which was fine with us because we got our lunch at a reasonable time. Dick's abscessed area is all healed and I have the cleanest teeth in the house.

We stopped at Dairy Queen for our lunch. We had good old cheeseburgers with fries. We got two burgers, split a coke, split an order of fries and split a bowl of chili. It all tasted really good.

The rest of the day we kind of rested and just puttered around. Chelsea is totally exhausted. I think the weekend with all the company was hard on her. Tonight I had my second voice lesson. That really was a lot of fun. For two lessons, I think I learned a lot. Samantha Pool is a good teacher. I will post a picture of her and her son. When she sang in Mary Calvey's Shamrocks and Shenanigans, her son, Michael, dressed up like a leprechaun and I took a picture of him and her. I asked her tonight if it was all right for me to post the picture.

When Leslie was here, we started talking about pets that we all had had in our lives. In the Deeley house, we had almost every possible pet except for large farm animals. (We even made pets of chickens.) Then someone gave us a parakeet. This parakeet was really ugly, he did not have many feathers but we felt sorry for him so he had a home with us until he died. He was not a really nice bird. When he was let out of his cage, he proceeded to eat Mom's wooden spice cabinet. And he was not really pleasant but he was ours. One warm sunny day, somebody took his cage outside so he could enjoy the nice weather. Somehow or other he got out of the cage and disappeared. I think everybody was secretly glad he was gone because they would have liked to get a bird that was not naked. But no such luck. He made it clear across town and someone found him. Our friends the Petri's heard about it and told whoever found it "The Deeley's have a bird with no feathers." So we got him back. He finally did die as all God's creatures do and I hope he was given a nice place in heaven and that his feathers were thick and gorgeous.

I tried to replace the license plates on the car with the new ones that we received the other day. The front ones were easy. Then I tried to take the back ones off. I could not budge the screws. I tried a couple of times and then was afraid of stripping the screw heads. So I stopped and sprayed them with WD 40. I called Jeff to see if he had any suggestions. He said that he would stop on their way back from taking Mom to the doctor. I drove around to the couple of errands I had with different plates on the front than on the back. Just in case, I carried the new back plate in the car. I figured is the unlikely happened and I got stopped, I could ask the police to fix it.

By the time Jeff got here I had managed to get three of the screws out. He did the last one for me. And I was then easily able to put the plate on. As Jeff, Kathy and I were visiting, I heard a dog collar rattling in the garage. I was wondering how Chelsea got out of the house and then realized that it was Katrina, my neighbor, Dick Kastberg's dog. So here came Dick. I introduced him to Jeff and Kathy. Suddenly, Jeff and Dick realized that they knew each other from the bowling alley in Cascade.

Small world.

So today is done and I need to get ready for bed. Tomorrow, Mother, Bobbie and I are going to the play Over the River and Through the Wood in Sheboygan. I have heard that it is wonderful.

Love

Mary

When Somebody Calls after Ten P.M.

by Bruce Dethlefsen

when somebody calls after ten p.m.
and you live in wisconsin
and you're snug in your bed

then all's I can tell you
somebody better be missing
somebody better had a baby
or somebody better be dead


Garrison Keillor had this on his Writer's Almanac today and I simply HAD to share.

It was a great day. I started off with a large group at the bible study. Helen Morgan is back from a well deserved vacation in Florida and Tom and Kathy Keyes are back from Texas. Only two of our regulars were unable to be there and Liz , one of our gals who comes when she can was there. So we were nine strong. Would you believe that Sunday will be Palm Sunday already and the gospel will be Mark's telling of the Passion. When I was a little girl I dreaded Palm Sunday because it is such a long reading. Now I like it, especially when the reading is done with different voices and the congregation becomes the crowd. Oh Well. I digress. The second reading is Paul's letter to the Philippians 2:6-11 and is an old hymn from those days. We always wish that we could hear the hymn. It is kind of like reciting How Great Thou Art. So much of the hymn is the music. I am going to try to fix that.

Stopped at Mother's next. She sounded much stronger today. I was pleased. We had a good visit and I threaded three needles for her so she can work on that quilt. She had Donna do three a couple of days ago. So we are keeping her sewing. Threading the needles seems to be impossible for her. Wednesday we will be going to the Sheboygan Theater production of Over the River and Through the Woods. It is a new one to me. Bobbie is going with us.

Then home for lunch and getting Dick ready for therapy at 1PM. Tim met us there with the shoe. It is better, but Tim took it back for a couple of small adjustments and it will be back on Thursday at 9:30AM. SO we canceled the Wednesday therapy because he won't have the shoe to work with anyway.

Leslie and Bill came by shortly after we got home from therapy for a last visit as they will be heading home tomorrow morning. They were invited to Bobbie and Bill's tonight for dinner. Good sister time. We had a nice visit. They spent some time yesterday and today "touring" Sheboygan and visiting all the places that Leslie, Leslie and the kids and Leslie and Bill had lived, getting pictures for the kids per their request.

So it was a full day. Tomorrow will be much quieter. (I hope it stays that way.)

Hope yours is also quiet. ( Unless quiet means less to you than to me.)

I will be in bed shortly after Dancing with the Stars is over. It is really fun this year.


Love

Mary

 

Kittie in a box. Roxie enjoying herself. I think she likes her picture taken.

Chelsea let me sleep until 5AM this morning. I took her out and then went back to bed til after 6. The promised snow storm came but was much less than was projected. At 5 the roads were not even covered. The snow kept up all of the morning very lightly and the roads did get covered a bit but there was not sleet here and it was warm enough that nothing froze.

Leslie and Bill and Bobbie and Bill were able to make it here for the brunch that I had planned. They got here at around 10.Richard and Brenda had spent the night here.

My breakfast strata turned out really good. We also had brown bread, cranberry scones, fresh fruit and cheese.

Richard brought and installed an arm for Dick's monitor. He mounted it to the desk that we have the printer on. Now the monitor can be moved to a lot of positions, depending on where Dick is settled at the desk. It frees up room both on the desk and on the floor as we were able to remove the tray that we had the monitor set on. Now he can roll in and out easier.

Bobbie and Bill left for home at about 1PM. Leslie and Bill stayed a while longer to visit and will come back tomorrow after Dick's therapy for a couple of hours. They left to to exploring. Leslie wants to drive around Sheboygan and has instructions to get pictures of every place that they lived for the girls. Nora called while they were here. She is, you know, in the Air Force and out in California. Can you believe that she will be 21 this year. Sara is also out in California and doing well.

Richard and Brenda left shortly after that and emailed when they got home. We were still JUST a bit concerned about the roads but they said that there was really no problem.

Brenda is celebrating a birthday on Tuesday.

Dick and I had the leftover pizza for supper and then he went to bed. We had such a good time but he is not used to being around a lot of people and being part of so many conversations. He is a tired and very content Dad. I am going to bed very soon too.

Richard also has scanned many of the pictures that his mother had of the family when they were young. It is fun seeing pictures of them when they were young and at various ages. I also now know what Barbara looked like as I never met her. I just knew her as the mother of four people that I love very much. There are also a couple pictures of Dick's parents. A real treasure trove.

Roxie was quite the little social butterfly while the gang was here. Oscar stayed under his chair until everybody but Richard and Brenda were gone. He is getting used to them (actually if only two people are here he can sometimes be coaxed out after a time). They have said that they will come and stay here on May 1/2/3 when I go to Lake Geneva for the Celtic Women Gathering. I am so relieved. Dick can kind of be alone and will be that much further along, but taking care of Chelsea would not be possible. She is not so dependable as far as her times for going out any more. She is after all, just a little old lady.

Tomorrow Dick gets his adjusted shoe back. It was OK before but needed a few little adjustments.

Sleep tight. I am now officially exhausted and am going to bed.

Love

Mary