It was quite a nice day today. Not the weather. When Chelsea woke me up at 3AM it was raining and was still raining when we got up at 6AM. When I went back to bed, Oscar came in with me. I thought that he would just cuddle then settle down to sleep, but by about 4:30 I had to send him out the door to wait with his cohorts.

I finished the vacuuming this morning. One really can't let that go when there are critters in the house. I seemed to wear myself out during the day anyway and took a nice nap at about 1PM after we got Dick through his bath which is quite an event. We are getting better at it. It is the moving from the chair to the tub that is the hardest but we are finding shortcuts.

Bill and Bobbie arrived shortly after I got up from my nap. Bobbie and I went down to the wine cellar and she helped me rack the two gallons and one half gallon of wine that have been in the works for quite some time. We were able to bottle the dandelion and the lemon balm wines. So we have 10 more liters that will be ready in six months to a year. The last one, a half gallon, started fermenting in earnest when we racked it so we decided to lit it finish. It is an orange wine, an experiment. I had a half gallon of orange juice that I forgot about down in the basement fridge. It started to ferment, so I added nutrients, camden tablets etc and let it finish. It has a nice taste so far and will be fun to share when it is done.

Bobbie is going to take up winemaking and it is a good time. Dick and I have stopped because he is unable to help me and it was always a fun thing for us to do together. I don't care to continue it alone. Anyway, this will work well, as we can give all of our equipment to her. She is going to try rhubarb first as her rhubarb is springing to live even as we speak. Mine is coming up too and I expect I will have enough to use fresh and freeze for winter use. Anyway, she has decided that she would like to make the first batch here so her Dad and I can go through the process with her as she goes on. We love that idea. She will also help us do the last box of wine that we have down there. It is White Zin and came just about the time Dick became unable to lift anymore.

Bobbie and I had the venison liver for our supper. I fixed bacon cheeseburgers for Dick and Bill. We had raw fried potatoes with it and Chocolate Banana Cupcakes for dessert.

Kitties loved all the attention they got today. Even Oscar was out from the beginning. Of course, he did do one dumb thing. I opened up the china cabinet under the breakfast bar and apparently turned my back just long enough for Oscar to get curious. I either closed the door or it closed on its own behind me and he was stuck. I could hear a muffled mew because I was filling animal food dishes and suddenly he burst out of the cabinet - all by himself. He was a bit upset, but it didn't last long as dinner was served almost immediately.

Chelsea's appetite is waning. She did not finish her breakfast and tonight when I put her food down, she did not seem at all interested. Bobbie discovered that if you offer her one kibble or piece at a time, she is willing to take it quite daintily out of your hand. Bobbie coaxed her into eating about 3/4 of her dinner that way. It is another sign of her age and the various ways her little body is failing.

It is almost bed time so I will wind down for the night. I received the following as part of an email. I thought it funny enough to share. Hope it brightens your day as much as it did mine.

Love.

Mary

Arkansas

A group of Arkansas friends went deer hunting and paired off in twos for the day. That night, one of! the hunters returned alone, staggering under the weight of an eight-point buck. 'Where's Henry?' the others asked.
'Henry had a stroke of some kind. He's a couple of miles back up the trail,' the successful hunter replied. 'You left Henry laying out there and carried the deer back?' they inquired.
'A tough call,' nodded the hunter. 'But I figured no one is going to steal Henry.'

Wednesday and Thursday, I went turkey hunting and had to get up at 3:30AM. I woke Chelsea up. Today, I did not go turkey hunting and she reverted to her ornery self and woke me up at 3:20AM. Can't depend on her at all.

I went back to bed, of course, and got up at 6AM. I cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms this morning and made another great fruit salad. Boy is the fruit good this spring. The watermelon and strawberries are to die for.

We had leftover hamburger helper for dinner at noon. Then I went in to give blood at the Blood Center for Peggy Feider's annual "A Gallon or so for Joe" drive. For the first time, I was not able to donate. My hematocrit reading was one point too low. I was totally surprised as I had eaten before I came and everything to be sure I would be OK. Oh well,I signed up for another 8 weeks and we will see how I do then.

So, I was home pretty quick from that trip. Then, I vacuumed the bedrooms and fixed Dick his supper. I had traded Harold Diedrich for working at Rhine tonight so I could go to the CWI Gathering last weekend, so left for Rhine at a bit before 5PM. We were pretty busy tonight though most of the league shooters are done. We only have about 9 rounds that have to be shot next week. I wish I could say the same for Nancy and me.

Nancy was waiting when I got out there tonight but she had gotten something in her eye while working in the yard today. She thought it would clear up but it was not so we will go out during the week and next Friday to get done.

So now we are home and when I am done with this will get ready for bed. Tomorrow, Bobbie and Bill are coming over. Bobbie and I are going to rack and bottle wine and then have a delicious liver supper. Dick and Bill will have bacon cheeseburgers. They will be happy with that though they will still complain about the liver being cooked in the same house that they have to eat in.

I called Jacquie Hiner today. I have been thinking of her and just wanted to hear her voice. She sounds pretty good but is really stuck at home because George is getting more and more symptoms of dementia or Alzheimer's, it has not been diagnosed.

I told her that if she ever gets a chance for a vacation, she can come here and relax. She has never been to Wisconsin and we could have a good time.

Take care and have a good weekend.

Mary

Another 3:30AM morning. At least it was much nicer out there today. I stayed out in the field until 11AM today. I decided that that was enough. I saw six birds today. Three hens appeared in the field in back of me during the morning. They were all hens, I am sure, and I was unable to interest them in my calling anyway. I think I saw a Tom down near Hwy 57 again. He was way to far away, and I was unable to interest him in my calls either. I guess I was just not sexy enough.

Then on my way out, I scared two hens who were foraging in a grassy area between my stand and the road. They took off like a shot.

It was really a beautiful day with sunshine and no rain at all. A lovely little brown wren came to see me later in the morning. He flitted in between me and my blind and just explored and chattered for a while. If he saw me, I did not frighten him. I made a point of sitting very still so as not to frighten him as he was just adorable.

When Bart was a little boy, he got a stuffed yellow bunny for Easter. That bunny became his "security blanket". Bunny was special though. He eventually became gray and shapeless and smelly. I noticed that sometimes when he would set Bunny down and there were other little people around, they would pick Bunny up and hold him until Bart came back to get him.

Finally, we went out to the Borrego Dessert on a jeep run. We belonged, as a family, to a club the went out to play in the desert at least once a month. We stopped just before going off road to the camp area to gather together, and then headed into camp.

When we got to camp, we realized that bunny was missing. Tragedy!!! I was trying to convince Bart that another stuffed animal would work when a couple of the older kids who had gone out on mini bikes as soon as we hit camp, radioed that they had found Bunny. Joy reigned. We waited eagerly for them to return. As they pulled into camp, Donnie reached in back of her minibike to give Bunny to Bart. Tragedy again!! Bunny had been resting on the tailpipe and was on fire. We made a decision to bury Bunny out there in the Borrego Badlands and move on with our lives.

One side note. A year later we were discussing going back to the Badlands and Bart said that perhaps we could dig Bunny up. He was a loyal little soul and has not changed much.

Love

Mary

I got up at 3:30AM to go turkey hunting. Pretty confusing for the critter. Our neighbor kindly came over to take Chelsea out at about 8AM as that is about the longest we feel comfortable for her to wait to go out at that time of day.

When I met Randy and Kenny out at the field, the stars were still out and it was very quiet. We were in our places by 5 or so and just waited. I heard quite a bit of gobbling on the way in and as the dawn broke but only saw two birds and they were too far away. One was in back of me. I had heard him as I walked in and could see his shape reflected in the tree against the sky. The trees are not very leafed out and he was pretty obvious.

Eventually I heard and saw him fly down from the tree. He had his back to me and I couldn't tell whether he was a hen or a jake. I tried to call him but he ignored my sounds and meandered the other way up the hill and out of sight never getting in my range.

The other was WAY down field towards Highway 57. I sit at the top southwest corner of the fields. He was a Tom as I was able to see him fanning and dancing down there. I tried to call him too, but though he showed a little bit of interest, he never started towards me and eventually made his way north and out of sight, never moving west towards me at all.

I left at about 9:15 because it started sprinkling. I had not seen anything since about 7 and it seemed silly to get wet when there was no activity going on. It rained pretty good as I was on my way home but stopped almost immediately. Randy had to leave to be at work at 8AM but Kenny was staying. They have those pop up blinds so a little rain wouldn't bother them.

I will try again tomorrow morning. I have been getting leg cramps, I am beginning to think from walking that field which has a really rough plowing job and is awful to walk on.

Tomorrow should be clear, I hope. Perhaps the turkeys will come out of the woods if it is.

I went grocery shopping this morning, then fixed lunch and took a nap. I fell asleep after supper too and don't believe I will have any trouble sleeping tonight either.

It was not a dull day out there. I saw two deer, a squirrel, geese, a heron and many other birds.

Tomorrow is Dick's birthday. He actually had a special meal today. I bought raw beef and he had raw beef and onion sandwiches on rye for lunch and dinner. He was a happy camper.

Love
Mary

 

CELTIC WOMEN - Hear us roar.

Mary

Chelsea and I had a lovely walk this morning. We decided to go through the park to Valley and then east to the other edge of the park and home through the woods like we used to do. This is the first time this spring. The path is in pretty good shape. It looks like the trilliums are just beginning to get buds so we are not too late either. Actually a lot of the big trees have not leafed out as of yet but it was a really good walk. Remember the year before last I told you that there were fairy rings in the grass on that side of Lion Park. Well, they are back.

When Dick laid down for his nap, I took Mother her meds and her money. I had forgotten her money when I went on Monday and I also had a nice sweet lavender scented bar of soap for her that I brought from Lake Geneva. We has a nice visit and then I came home in time to fix lunch for Dick and me.

I had a hair cut at 2:30 and have been spending some time getting ready for turkey hunting tomorrow. I finally reached Kenny and we are going to meet out at the field at 4:30AM tomorrow morning. It is supposed to be light at 5:15AM which gives us plenty of time to walk in. Hopefully it will not be raining.

As we finished our supper I got a call from Sara Behr out at Rhine. We were hosting the Kettle Shoot and not enough of the volunteers showed up to help - so I went out to tend bar for a couple of hours. I had missed the Monday night meeting because of the Tallgrass committee meeting and I guess there was a big blowup. The SCCA VS the shooters. What can you do. I am just as glad that I was not there. I just know that Hoover gave his keys to Dennis tonight and that is a big loss so Greg really got him mad. The SCCA (Sheboygan County Conservation Association) is having a raffle - The tickets are $100. each. The big prize is $10,000 BUT the thing that made Hoover and others mad is that they are "requiring" our club to sell at least 4 of them. This is probably possible but the members who are avid trap shooters resent more money going to the Association as they feel we have spent enough and we need to spend money on our own facility. Oh well, you don't care about that, I suppose.

I am going to send a picture of the Celtic Women for you.

Take care

Mary

The first day home from my getaway was hectic but I feel that a lot was accomplished.

I went to bible study. We had a nice discussion. The Gospel was the Vine and the Branches. And we kind of agreed that some of the "branches" we meet are hard to accept. Shirley recalled a statement by a wonderful lady from St. Dominics who said that she knew a whole lot of Catholics but very few Christians. An interesting observation.

Stopped at Mother's next. She had an episode of weakness on Saturday so did not go to Mass on Sunday. So. I picked up a bulletin for her. We visited until 11AM. Then I walked her two doors down the street where she was invited for lunch. The neighbor had a lovely table set up in her back yard. They have a koi pond in their back yard with a lovely cascading water feature.

Got home in plenty of time to fix and eat lunch before we took Dick to Plymouth Care Center to the beauty parlor to have his hair and beard cut. There is a gal there who does the nicest job for him. He looks really good.

I spent the afternoon working on computer, weeding down the email and just catching up. Tomorrow, I have to drop a couple of things off for Mother and get a hair cut. The rest of the day will be spent getting reports and emails done for CWI and for the Tallgrass committee that I am on. We met with Mark, the builder, tonight and discussed what we would LIKE him to do and he told us what he thinks he would be willing to do. It was a good meeting, not like the special meeting called by the current board where they were trying to instigate a law suite. That was so overwhelmingly overturned that Mark is feeling better about working with us and thanked us for actually meeting with him. The first actual meeting he said that he ever DID have wiht anyone about the problems. The main one is when to finish the road.

So I am done and trying wind down. I taped Dancing with the Stars and hope to watch it before tomorrow night. I will be too late to vote, but I can at least have my opinions down.

I got the trash all together during the day so tomorrow morning I just have to haul it out to the pick up place.

When I was walking down to Rick Iverson's house for the meeting, a fire truck was parked at the walk up to the park. There were several firemen milling around. I asked what they were doing and it was a controlled burn to clear the brush. A wee bit of excitement for the evening.

Take care and enjoy Tuesday.

Mary

I am home again.

Kate and I left Lake Geneva after a lovely lunch and a quick stop at Flemings, LTD, and Irish store to look around. They have a very nice selection and Kate, Betty Gavin and I all got a couple of things. I found some decaf Berry's tea and bought some of the heather and moss soap that I do love the scent of.

We all gathered in a meeting room at the Comfort Suites at about 5PM for a mixer. We shared some wine and crackers and cheese and good company, introducing ourselves for those who had not met each other. Then we went out for a lovely dinner at Popeye's along the lake in downtown Lake Geneva.

Yesterday we also had a full, relaxing and stimulating day.

Our main speaker, in the morning, was Patricia Monaghan. Patricia is a poet, author and teacher who gave us a wonderful talk describing the four Celtic Seasons, and related them to the four provinces and their attributes. Did you know that the fires that the Irish used to build at the top of the hills at the beginning of the seasons represented the Eyes of the Godess. She also said that mobile phones were made for the Irish so they never have to be silent. She suggests that we go to Ireland on St. Brigid's day in February. The weather is in the 40s and 50s - certainly better that it is here - and the prices are rock bottom. Sounds like fun to us. I will, of course, have to see what is going on in our lives at that time.

I bought one of her books. The Red Haired Girl from the Bog. The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit.

Then we had lunch, again down town. We were able to have breakfast at the hotel. It was a good breakfast too. Always a warm entree and the ability to make waffles along with fruit, juice and different breads and sweet rolls.

The afternoon was divided into two sessions. The first half offered psychic readings for those who wanted them Or people could listen to Kate, Brigid O'Malley and me read poetry and discuss them. Brigid is charming. She was a nun at one time and now teaches and is on the board of the Irish Center in Chicago. She read poetry from a couple of collections of women poets. She picked several poets, gave biographies and then read a poem or two from them - some in Irish and with the translation if that was how they were presented.
Kate and I presented mainly our own work though I explained how my family had such talent and read pieces from my brothers and my Dad then going into my own. I tried to give a bit of background to the poems for the meaning. Kate read her poems and also gave background on the time and reason for the writing. We are different as day and night in our creative process but everybody seemed to enjoy the session and we did too. It is such fun to share a creation.

The second half of the afternoon was "Learning how to Pamper yourself." I was not interested in that and Joan Kramer, one of our Plymouth members had offered to do a reflexology treatment for me so I took advantage of the time and did it. I was truly relaxed after that and slept like a rock last night.

Dick and Richard and Brenda all had a good weekend. They all seemed to have a good time and I did not have to worry at all. Chelsea did OK. Actually she even got a couple of extra walks too. They brought me an absolutely gorgeous hanging basket with Purple Petunias. My first potted plant of the year. It will look beautiful hanging out front. I have a couple of daffodils blooming and the tulips are about to open. So things are getting more springlike. Tomorrow I will look to the pictures and post one or two from the gathering for you all to see.

Kate had a friend design a pretty bracelet of colored crystals and silver that match the colors of our CWI tartan. It is really lovely.

Guess that is all. It is good to be home and I think I am ready to crawl into my very own bed and see if big Oscar will join me.

Love

Mary