The hunting party from the south side of the road.

Back Row: Jeff, Lee, Randy and Shane and Cory peeking out in the front.

Love

Mary

 

Here are Jeff and me with the deer.

 

I'll send the other two pictures also.

Opening day and I have a tale for you which will be accompanied by a picture.

To start with, I overslept. I THOUGH that I had set the alarm clock for 4:45AM. But I goofed somehow and woke up at 5:09AM. I jumped out of bed like a shot and ran around like crazy. Fortunately, I had put almost everything that was not going on my body into the car last night. BUT I had to get dressed, feed and medicine the animals, take Chelsea out and gather the last things on my list.

I was out of the house by 5:20AM. I can't believe it either. Dick felt bad. He was not looking at the clock at all- he knew that I had "set" the alarm and wasn't even thinking about it and he was up too.

I got out the the site JUST on time. Everybody was ready and we all walked in together after our last minute instructions from Jeff. He always gives the pep talk. Have fun and be safe are the main instructions.

Jeff took me to the new site which is as I said, much closer to the road and close to his stand. I got all settled in, loaded my gun and waited for dawn. It was beautiful out there today. I watched a special star that was peeking down through the tree branches fade as day came in. It was a long wait. I always bread up the wait by saying my rosary, snacking, singing songs in my head and working on the bones of a poem. I can do those things while watching for deer.

Then shortly after 10, I heard rustling going on over to my right. I shifted my body slightly and brought my gun up to be ready to site it in. Then over the hill broke a gorgeous buck. He was big and had a perfect rack. As Dick and I would say - Bambi's Dad. I shouldered quickly and took my first shot. I missed. He shot down the hill in front of me. I chambered another shell and fired again. I missed. I chambered and got one more shot off before I no longer had a clean shot. And MISSED again.

A few minutes later I heard a shot from that direction and a few minutes more another one. So I was praying that someone in our party had brought it down. A few minutes later, I saw Jeff (orange is hard to miss) off that way. He called me on the cell and he had indeed got it. He is calling it our deer because if I had not shot, it would not have gone that way and set up for him. I got to see the gutting process for the first time and I brought the liver and heart home with me to clean. I will divide the liver, which is huge, up for Cory, Randy, Shane, Mother and me and I get to keep the heart.

Then I headed out to the car. It was about noon. I got in the car and tried to drive out. I had pulled off the road onto a kind of soft shoulder that had been built up with gravel. I got stuck. So after trying to call Jeff, who had his phone on vibrate and I guess I didn't vibrate hard enough, I walked back to his stand. Randy was there too and came out with me to drive the car out. He had little trouble. Brothers are sure wonderful creatures. And so handy to have around.

So. I was home at about 12:30. I showered, ate and napped for an hour and a half. I fixed a pizza for our supper and when the guys got to Mothers to hang the deer I drove on over for pictures. I will put them on tonight for you to see. Lee got a nice doe and Jason and his party have three deer. So - at this point we will be butchering 5 on Friday.

That is all for tonight. I have to change Dick's bandages and then get to bed. Tired city at this house.

God Love You

Mary

This was a very disjointed day. The morning started off OK.

I got the buckeyes all dipped in the chocolate. Always good to get that done. We all know how important buckeyes are to the holidays.

Then I went to the Plymouth Clinic for my appointment with Dr. Fehrman, the surgeon who operated on my knee. I told him all the problems. I was able to tell him that the pain does not get worse when I am walking, which was the main reason I went ahead with the surgery. I could not walk the pain off. But the knee is still so sore, especially when I get up from sleeping or sitting. He said that it could still settle down, that he riled up some arthritis when he was in there, repairing, and also arthritis is progressive. So It my not have finished healing yet. I have to keep exercising, but be careful not to overdo, use pain meds (Tylenol etc, when needed) and hang in there.

I left there for Kohler. Met Bobbie at Woodlake and we took the shuttle over to the American Club where we had a lovely lunch at the Horse and Plow and then walked over to the American Club for the Annual Christmas Market. It was fun. We did not buy much but saw a lot of really neat things and enjoyed the day.

Then I spent an hour or so running back and forth between the Walgreens in Plymouth and Glander Drug Store. I went to Walgreens to pick up the medicine that Dr. Moreno wanted me to put on Dick's open wounds. They did not have it in stock but DID have a prescription for an antibiotic that Dr. Moreno had called in because the blood test showed a slight infection. The pharmacist checked around and found out that the closest pharmacy where I could get the wound medicine was Glander in Sheboygan. So off I went.

I was just pulling into the parking lot when Dick called. Dorothy from Dr. Moreno's office had called. With the antibiotic, he is not to use the medicine that I drove to Sheboygan for but, instead, a ointment that she had called into Walgreens in Plymouth. So I turned around and tooled back to Plymouth, picked up the prescription and came home.

I am exhausted. Tomorrow is opening day of deer hunting. I am basically all ready and intend to be in bed by 8:30 as I have to get up by 4:45AM to get out into the woods by 5:35AM. I just have to get dressed, feed critters and walk Chelsea.

Dick and Kate are both going to be available to walk Chelsea during the morning. I am staying out until noon. I think that will be long enough as I am really worn down these days. Cross your fingers that I finally get my deer. I have put in my time.

Til tomorrow then with, I hope an exciting announcement.

God Love You

Mary

We had an appointment at Dr. Marino's office at 10:45AM. So, we left here at about 10:15AM, shortly after Joan, the cleaning lady finished. When we got there, Dr. Marino was running late. Guess what, he was a new daddy a couple of days ago and ended up getting overbooked today. We weren't on any schedule so it didn't bother us too much.

I congratulated him and asked him what the new boy's name is. He said it is still pending. Apparently, they can't agree. He said they are running it by the other kids too.

Anyway, he ordered a blood test to determine if there is any infection in that leg. We are now using a petrolatum dressing called Xeroform on the sores. If there is an infection he will order an antibiotic. We did not hear this afternoon so I suppose it will be tomorrow morning.

After we left there, we stopped at Nino's for lunch. We both had steak. Nino still makes a super steak. Linda, the owner, still remembers me from Optimist days.

When we got home, I made the peanut butter buckeyes (they still need to be dipped but they are mixed and rolled.) and the cranberry relish. That can be made WAY ahead of time and keeps well.

Tomorrow, Bobbie and I are going to the Kohler Christmas Market at the American Club. I have an appointment with Dr. Fehrman about my knee too. I am afraid that my knee is as good as it will ever be and I must just learn to suck it up. Just like Dr. Ganju told me to do with the pain in my side. Frankly, I sometimes wonder why I bother going to doctors. I can probably get pretty good at telling myself to just put up with it.

Oh well, you don't want to hear my problems.

Bret called tonight. I had not talked to him for quite some time. He is really busy, working sometimes two extra days in the week just to stay even. However, He and his friends are going out to the River for Thanksgiving. They will have their celebration of Friday or Saturday. He is in charge of the pies.

We started talking about dogs, Chelsea first. Then got onto Zero. He was one special dog. Bret remembered how funny he was. There were times that Bret would start eating something sitting on the sofa. Zero would jump up next to him and wait. If it took too much time Zero would fall asleep sitting and slumped on the sofa. He was a weird little guy.

Guess that is all for now. Take care and have a nice Friday.

God love you

Mary

Today was a day that I was busy ALL day. First, I had to be at Motorville in Sheboygan to have the Passat serviced. It has to be done at either about a year or 10,000 miles. Well, it has been almost a year but I am nowhere near the 10,000 miles.

Actually I called the dealership when I got a reminder from the company to schedule a 10,000 checkup a couple of months ago. I got a big chuckle when I told the receptionist that I only had a little over 4000 miles on the car and she said, "Well, you just get out there and drive, Girl."

So today, I took it in. It took MUCH longer than I would have thought, almost an hour and a half so it must be in perfect shape now. They did wash it for me too. I had brought my copy of Mary Pat Kelly's Galway Bay to read while I was waiting so I was not bored.

I went directly from there to the Holiday In Express for an informational meeting about AARP Medicare Complete from Secure horizons. I learned enough to make my decision about next year's supplemental insurance for both Dick and me.

Then I came home and fixed lunch for Dick and myself before heading over to the bank to cash a check for Mother and then to the gas station to fill up the tank and finally to the Pig to do my grocery shopping. The new expanded liquor department is open. When I went in to check it out, noone was there except the clerk and noone came in until I started checking out all of my groceries. Usually, I do the shopping in two stages if I am getting wine. I do the grocery shopping, load it into the car and then go back in to the liquor department for the wine.

Anyway, that was my exciting day. I got home between 2:30 and 3PM, put the groceries away and then took Chelsea for a little bit of a walk. I did that so she would not be bugging me every 20 minutes to be taken outside.

That was the end of my real work. I have spent time on paperwork for the insurance, CWI and writing. But it is nice to be just sitting at my desk to do that.

The other day I was remembering planting roses in our yard in Santa Ana Heights, CA. Bret was about 4 years old. We had a pet rabbit in a cage in the back yard. I don't know why, we always seemed to end up with animals that noone else wanted. Her name was Thumper and I believe she was a refugee from a day care center. Anyway, she produced wonderful manure. Especially for rosebushes as long as you did not get it too heavy around the roots which could burn them.

Bret liked the pictures of the roses on the packages and asked if one could be his. Of course, I said yes and we started planting. I dug a deep hole, then went and got a shovel full of the rabbit doo doo and put it in the hole. Bret looked at me like I was nuts. I filled in dirt and then planted the rose. He said. I don't want that one. I'll take the next one. As it ended up, he didn't want any. Rabbit poop roses were not his cup of tea.

Have a nice Thursday

God love you

Mary

I cooked that ham that got me the free turkey, eggs and sausage today. Boy is that a good ham. Since I had invited my friend Bob over to look at sheep. (He just wanted ideas for an altar cloth that he plans to design for Grace Episcopal Church in memory of his partner, Steve Naffin, who was also my friend.)

Then Bobbie needed to come by to take a specific gravity on a wine we had bottled so she could estimate the alcoholic content. I told her she might as well come for lunch too. It is nice to have a full table. Since Bill works at Grace and Bobbie did gardening there this summer, they had some common bonds anyway.

I added Irish Herbed Potatoes, cabbage and mushrooms and a nice green salad. We had the Ricotta cheese pie for dessert.

Nice to have a table full of people. I can hardly wait for Thanksgiving. There will be six whole people then.

That is about all I did today. Dick's legs still look pitiful and I was out of the salve so I called Dr. Moreno's office and we will go in on Thursday to have the Doctor look at it. I also picked up some more salve.

Just for a laugh - from the Reader's Digest by a Carol Howard

"The highlight of our zoo trip was a peacock showing off its plumage. My four year old son was particularly taken with it. That evening he couldn't wait to tell his father: 'Dad, Guess what! I saw a Christmas tre come out of a chicken!' "

God love you

Mary

A full Full day today.

Since I have had to add dressing the wounds on Dick's legs to the morning routine, it is even more crowded than before. BUT I got out of her to head for Bible Study at exactly 9AM which was necessary because I had to stop at Walgreen's for a prescription for Mother.

There were nine of us there. Only two of our regular's missing. They are both experiencing health problems. Please say a prayer for Helen and Ione if you get a chance. They would really appreciate it. We finished Mark, chapter 5 and started chapter 6 today. We covered two events. First, Jesus going home to His own town and finding all of His neighbors saying, who does he think he is. He is just the carpenter. The second section we read was the first sending of missionaries. Jesus sent His disciples out to preach.

Mom's was next. I took her some of the food that I had cooked over the weekend. I also took along the folders that I have with genealogical information on the Uelmens, the Bowsers and the Cliffords. Aunt Kathleen was wanting the information on the Uelmens and I had extra copies. As I told Mom, my big push now is to find out where Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Deeley came from and where exactly Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Clifford came from in Ireland. Mary Pat Kelly said that she will help me. She said that if she found the right Michael Kelly, I ought to be able to find a David Deeley and a Jeramiah Clifford. One would think. Anyway she is sending me a web site that I can do an inquiry on. Then they will tell me what they will charge to find it for me. I am encouraged. I did call my cousin Doug to ask for some information he has or at least says he has. I will forward that along with what I know for sure. What I know for sure is what I got from Grandpa Deeley's biography. Short but quite full of information.

Anyway, she and I solved a lot of problems, as we always do.

We were talking about how people can surprise you and that one should not judge another. She mentioned a story that she had told me before that is really sweet. When Mom and Dad had plumbing put in the house, they had to put in a septic tank and system as there was no sewer on that street which was outside of the city of Sheboygan Falls. At. that time, Route 2 was all the address you needed to get a letter to us.

Anyway, Dad hired a buy to dig the pit for the septic tank. He was a rough and ready guy who did odd jobs and hard work like this for a living. As part of his wage, Mom fed him lunch every day. My brother Tim was just a little baby then. One day at lunch, this man asked Mother if it would be all right if he held Tim. So Mom handed her baby over to this man who gently held that little baby while he ate his lunch.

That reminded me of a friend of mine, Crazy Karl Kendall. Karl was a carpenter and just a guy's guy. But when I brought Bart home from the hospital and I was exhausted, Karl was willing to take that little guy and change his diaper for me if he was around. I understand that Karl is very ill too so a prayer for him, my friend, would also be appreciated.

I got home in time to fix lunch and get to the Cream City Writers. There were just five writers and Don's wife at the meeting today. Next month we will have our Christmas gathering. We decided to meet at Antoinette's, write something for the holiday and exchange a gift that costs no less than $5 an no more than $10. I said that I would make the reservations at Antoinette's.

I stopped at Kate's on my way home and left her the Share order for next month. She said she will pick up the order on Saturday as I will be out deer hunting and be unable to do so. She said she will bring it over here and put things in the downstairs freezer for me. And , I asked her to walk Miss Chelsea for me as it will be about 9:30AM or so and Chelsea will be ready. What would one do without friends. Her Riley cat is looking absolutely wonderful. He was hit by a car and almost lost his leg this past spring and summer but you would not guess it now. He is absolutely gorgeous and healthy as a horse.

Then I went to Plymouth Furniture and Bedding to look for a new mattress and spring set. Our air bed is not holding air and we have replaced parts once already and I had to sew the mattress together anyway. I ordered a nice Sealy with memory foam. It felt good when I lay down on it. I couldn't get Dick to go over to try SO I got to have the final say. I presented the options to him and he told me to get the one that felt best to me, so I went back and ordered it. Since we ordered before tomorrow and it was over a certain amount we got free delivery and the old one hauled off AND the store paid our sales tax. So I figure we did pretty good. We will have it delivered the morning after Thanksgiving.

Richard sent some more pictures. I was especially pleased to see a couple of pictures of Dick when he was a baby and a little boy. Wow. There were a couple of pictures of his parents that he did not recall seeing too. It touched him.

I have been home the rest of the day, what is left of it and am very tired. So I am going to finish my cup of Happy Tummy Tea and go to bed.

God love you

Mary

I was still very tired today. Would you believe that I took two naps? One in the morning and one in the afternoon. I cooked a lot this morning. Just was in a cooking mood. I baked some Tastefully Simple Beer Bread, made a ricotta cheese pie with some of my homemade ricotta cheese and made a big dinner of chicken breast, cabbage with mushrooms and salad.

We are watching the Packer Game as I begin this. It is almost over and they are winning. This is the very first week that I EVER did not pick the Packers to win in my years of playing Fantasy Football. I decided to just follow my Plan and point system to the letter. They were not supposed to beat Dallas. If that is what it takes to get them to finally win a game, perhaps I should pick the opposing teams all the time.

Intermission:

I stopped blogging for a while. The Packers won handily while we were having our supper and I was cleaning up. Right now, I am up near the top of the list but that could change with the last two games and I don't believe that I can win this week. Too bad my Packer loyalty did not come through.

When Bret was little, he started liking all sports and football was a favorite. When he was about 11 or 12, he was watching a game one Sunday afternoon when his father came home. Now the boys' father, often, just came in and turned the channel to whatever he wanted to watch without much consultation. But for some reason, this time he didn't and he sat down and watched the game with the boys. It was in the last of the fourth quarter. Finally, he blurted out that he couldn't understand why the game was still on. When he came in there were only 4 minutes left and it was almost 20 minutes later.

I was amazed and started questioning him and found out that he had never SEEN a football game, even a high school game and had no idea how it was played and that the clock stops for so many reasons. Poor guy.

This afternoon I put arms on the doll that I am currently working on. She is shaping up nicely. Did I tell you that I am working on a set of three women. This one is the Crone or Wise Woman, then I will do Mother, then the last one will be the Maid.

Tomorrow starts another busy week.

God love you

Mary