Saturday. It was a pleasant day. A bit cool but the winds are much subdued so it was easy to live with. I took a walk this morning. I will try to do that three or four times a week and increase my distance each day. Since my sweet Chelsea is gone I have not been walking especially with the rib pain.
I made a batch of Cranberry Relish today. That lasts forever on its own and I froze part of it as I want it to last through Christmas. We had a bit with our chicken and rice and will enjoy it for the next few weeks.
I have enough cranberries left to make two loaves of cranberry bread before Christmas.
I sewed some pockets onto a couple of Dick's long sleeved shirts today. They are not beautiful but they will be utilitarian. He does not like shirts without pockets as he has nowhere to put his paper towels or to put the tv controllers when we go to bed. Otherwise we are rolling on them and losing them in the blankets.
Mass was at 4PM I was able to be a Eucharistic minister which always makes me feel very special. It is especially wonderful as I become familiar with the members of the parish. What a privilege to be able to feed Jesus to your fellow Christians.
Anyway. We are safe and sound in our own little house. The week is dying down and I am so glad. I plan on going to bed early and sleeping til I have to get up. Tomorrow is Halloween. We have decided to have Chili dogs as a special Halloween meal. If you want to join us, show up at about noon We have more than enough.
Otherwise, enjoy your Halloween. It is the Celtic New Years Eve, you know.
God love you
Mary
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Such a nice day. I was home for most of it.
This noon, I joined my bank friends for lunch and brought lunch home for Dick too. He thought a Dairy Queen Bacon Cheeseburger sounded good. We ladies had a nice visit. The weather was really pleasant today too. A bit chilly, but there was almost no wind, so it was easy to live with.
I dropped a couple of things off for Kate today on my way to lunch and we had a very short visit but a nice one. I said HI to Ron, Patty and the cat too.
Home again, I took a nap. I am all caught up on wash and changed the sheets on the bed. I am almost all done with my immediate necessary email contacts and feel quite proud of myself.
I am watching a biography of Bela Legosi. Quite interesting. Since we are close to deer hunting season I am enclosing an email I got a couple of years a go called Roping a Deer.
Have a Lovely weekend.
God love you,
Mary
Roping A Deer------- ( Names have been removed to protect the Stupid! )
Actual letter from someone who farms and writes well!
I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it.
The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope.
The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it.
After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up -- 3 of them. I picked out.. ..a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw.. my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me.
I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation.
I took a step towards it...it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and then received an education.
The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope.
That deer EXPLODED.
The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity.
A deer-- no chance.
That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined.
The only up side is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals.
A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.
I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual.
Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze chute.
I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.
Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist.
Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head --almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.
The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective. It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds.
I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it.
While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose. That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp. I learned a long time ago that, when an animal -- like a horse --strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal.
This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run.
The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.
Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.
I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.
So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope to sort of even the odds.
This noon, I joined my bank friends for lunch and brought lunch home for Dick too. He thought a Dairy Queen Bacon Cheeseburger sounded good. We ladies had a nice visit. The weather was really pleasant today too. A bit chilly, but there was almost no wind, so it was easy to live with.
I dropped a couple of things off for Kate today on my way to lunch and we had a very short visit but a nice one. I said HI to Ron, Patty and the cat too.
Home again, I took a nap. I am all caught up on wash and changed the sheets on the bed. I am almost all done with my immediate necessary email contacts and feel quite proud of myself.
I am watching a biography of Bela Legosi. Quite interesting. Since we are close to deer hunting season I am enclosing an email I got a couple of years a go called Roping a Deer.
Have a Lovely weekend.
God love you,
Mary
Roping A Deer------- ( Names have been removed to protect the Stupid! )
Actual letter from someone who farms and writes well!
I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it.
The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope.
The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it.
After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up -- 3 of them. I picked out.. ..a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw.. my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me.
I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation.
I took a step towards it...it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and then received an education.
The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope.
That deer EXPLODED.
The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity.
A deer-- no chance.
That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined.
The only up side is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals.
A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.
I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual.
Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze chute.
I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.
Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist.
Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head --almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.
The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective. It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds.
I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it.
While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose. That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp. I learned a long time ago that, when an animal -- like a horse --strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal.
This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run.
The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.
Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.
I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.
So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope to sort of even the odds.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
The wind has finally stopped. What a relief. I can understand why people on the Great Plains went mad after weeks of the winds. It just wears on a person after a while. Now it is COLD. Not bitter cold but cold and the breeze just cuts through one's clothes.
I pulled the tomato plants and brought in all of the green tomatoes to see if they will ripen. Dick and I are tempted to try fried green tomatoes. We wondered if it was worth trying to contact Fanny Flagg.
I did get to be home all day. Somehow or other, usually something comes up, but not today. We had the Minestrone soup for lunch and fish for our dinner.
I did some wash today and baked scones. Lots of computer jobs and I rested. My cold is somewhat better. With any luck at all it willnot develope into a full blown one.
So that is today.
Bless you all. Have a great Friday
Mary
I pulled the tomato plants and brought in all of the green tomatoes to see if they will ripen. Dick and I are tempted to try fried green tomatoes. We wondered if it was worth trying to contact Fanny Flagg.
I did get to be home all day. Somehow or other, usually something comes up, but not today. We had the Minestrone soup for lunch and fish for our dinner.
I did some wash today and baked scones. Lots of computer jobs and I rested. My cold is somewhat better. With any luck at all it willnot develope into a full blown one.
So that is today.
Bless you all. Have a great Friday
Mary
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Hello.
I got an awful lot done today. I started with grocery shopping at 8:39 Am or so. That went quite well. I was home by 9:30and did not hurt any worse when I got home than I did when I left. A first.
I put the groceries away and started some wash. Then I prepared a couple of things that I had to take to the mailbox. Jeff arrived here at about 11AM with my part of the deer that he, Randy, Shane and I share. The husband of a teacher friend of his loves to go deer hunting but they do not like the meat, so he gives it to Jeff. All we have to pay for is the butchering. They cut it in such nice portions, steaks and chops. We also get burger and sausage. The freezer I got from Mom is filling up nicely. We won't go hungry, that is for sure.
After lunch, I went to the bank, to get some money, then to the post office and finally to Advanced Eye Care with Dick's glasses to have the new lenses installed. (He hasn't complained since I brought them back, so I assume they are OK.) With the horrible hurricane strength winds we have been having the past two days, there was no way he could have gone, even if I could have gotten him up and down the ramp and loaded the wheel chair.
The wind was supposed to be gone by 7PM but I heard it again just about 15 minutes ago. I hope that was it's last hurrah.
Home at last, I took a nap, then worked on several computer projects that I will HAVE to finish tomorrow as a couple of them are coming due or are time sensitive.
So that is the day. Dick felt pretty good today except that he was so tired. Hopefully he will have a good night's sleep, he is surely due for one.
Take care
God love you
Mary
I got an awful lot done today. I started with grocery shopping at 8:39 Am or so. That went quite well. I was home by 9:30and did not hurt any worse when I got home than I did when I left. A first.
I put the groceries away and started some wash. Then I prepared a couple of things that I had to take to the mailbox. Jeff arrived here at about 11AM with my part of the deer that he, Randy, Shane and I share. The husband of a teacher friend of his loves to go deer hunting but they do not like the meat, so he gives it to Jeff. All we have to pay for is the butchering. They cut it in such nice portions, steaks and chops. We also get burger and sausage. The freezer I got from Mom is filling up nicely. We won't go hungry, that is for sure.
After lunch, I went to the bank, to get some money, then to the post office and finally to Advanced Eye Care with Dick's glasses to have the new lenses installed. (He hasn't complained since I brought them back, so I assume they are OK.) With the horrible hurricane strength winds we have been having the past two days, there was no way he could have gone, even if I could have gotten him up and down the ramp and loaded the wheel chair.
The wind was supposed to be gone by 7PM but I heard it again just about 15 minutes ago. I hope that was it's last hurrah.
Home at last, I took a nap, then worked on several computer projects that I will HAVE to finish tomorrow as a couple of them are coming due or are time sensitive.
So that is the day. Dick felt pretty good today except that he was so tired. Hopefully he will have a good night's sleep, he is surely due for one.
Take care
God love you
Mary
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
My throat was still really sore this morning. So, I went to see Dr. Murthy. He said that my throat was red but no white spots. I am to drink lots of warm liquids, take Tylonol and if I develop a fever or am not better in a couple of days, I have a prescription that I can call for at Walgreens for an antibiotic.
I rested as much as I could today. The wind has been blowing like a banshee wailing all day and is supposed to continue through tomorrow. This is new.
I fixed steak and twice baked potato for our dinner. This afternoon, I did some sewing downstairs and cleaned the downstairs refrigerator.
Jeff called. He is stopping by on his way to Mom's tomorrow morning with my share of the venison from his friend. I also have liver in Mom's freezer which I forgot to pick up on Monday. Too distracted by the visit with Fr. Mike and Bridget I guess.
Thought you might enjoy the following:
1. If you migrate to this county, you must speak the native language.
2. You have to be a professional or an investor. No unskilled workers allowed.
3. There will be no special bilingual programs in the schools, no special
ballots for elections, all government business will be conducted in our
language.
4. Foreigners will NOT have the right to vote no matter how long they are here.
5. Foreigners will NEVER be able to hold political office.
6. Foreigners will not be a burden to the taxpayers. No welfare, no food stamps, no health care, or other government assistance programs.
7. Foreigners can invest in this country, but it must be an amount equal to 40,000
times the daily minimum wage.
8. If foreigners do come and want to buy land that will be okay, BUT options will
be restricted. You are not allowed waterfront property. That is reserved for
citizens naturally born into this country.
9. Foreigners may not protest; no demonstrations, no waving a foreign flag, no
political organizing, no bad-mouthing our president or his policies, if you do you
will be sent home.
10. If you do come to this country illegally, you will be hunted down and sent straight
to jail.
Harsh, you say? The above laws happen to be the immigration laws of Mexico!
God love you
Mary
I rested as much as I could today. The wind has been blowing like a banshee wailing all day and is supposed to continue through tomorrow. This is new.
I fixed steak and twice baked potato for our dinner. This afternoon, I did some sewing downstairs and cleaned the downstairs refrigerator.
Jeff called. He is stopping by on his way to Mom's tomorrow morning with my share of the venison from his friend. I also have liver in Mom's freezer which I forgot to pick up on Monday. Too distracted by the visit with Fr. Mike and Bridget I guess.
Thought you might enjoy the following:
1. If you migrate to this county, you must speak the native language.
2. You have to be a professional or an investor. No unskilled workers allowed.
3. There will be no special bilingual programs in the schools, no special
ballots for elections, all government business will be conducted in our
language.
4. Foreigners will NOT have the right to vote no matter how long they are here.
5. Foreigners will NEVER be able to hold political office.
6. Foreigners will not be a burden to the taxpayers. No welfare, no food stamps, no health care, or other government assistance programs.
7. Foreigners can invest in this country, but it must be an amount equal to 40,000
times the daily minimum wage.
8. If foreigners do come and want to buy land that will be okay, BUT options will
be restricted. You are not allowed waterfront property. That is reserved for
citizens naturally born into this country.
9. Foreigners may not protest; no demonstrations, no waving a foreign flag, no
political organizing, no bad-mouthing our president or his policies, if you do you
will be sent home.
10. If you do come to this country illegally, you will be hunted down and sent straight
to jail.
Harsh, you say? The above laws happen to be the immigration laws of Mexico!
God love you
Mary
Monday, October 25, 2010
Today was a quiet day weather wise. It was supposed to get up close to 70 degrees but I am sure it was less than 65 and it felt a bit cooler. Tomorrow we will be on weather watch for wind and rain. I was hoping to be home all day but will have to to to pick up a prescription for Dick.
It was a reasonably quiet day for a Monday. The morning was busy. I went to Bible Study at 9:30AM. I stopped at Mom's before to drop off some food and some information that she needed. Then I went back after Bible Study to visit. I knew that Fr. Mike Shea and his sister Bridget would be there and wanted a bit of time to visit with them. It was good that Mother was alone with them for about an hour though. She wears out so easily these days and one on one is much easier for her. She does treasure these visits with Fr. Mike. He looks and feels well and is kept busy by his "family" of over 160 children. Listening to him tell about his kids makes one realize that children are the same world over. They are good and naughty, they are jealous of attention and loving and kind and selfish and generous. They all deserve love and to know that they are special.
Home again, we had chicken, mashed potatoes and cabbage for our lunch, then I took a nap.
The afternoon was a rather lazy afternoon. I got my papers ready for the telephone conference and cleared out the email messages and that was about all. I did gather up the trash to put out in the morning, so I won't be rushing around then.
Then at 7PM I got on the CWI Conference Board meeting. We had all but three on the line and got a lot done. Roxie was a bit offended because I sit in HER chair in the old office for these calls.
Now I have a couple of projects that need to be done and the information passed on the the others.
Tomorrow will be a good day to start them.
Take care and stay warm, dry and out of the wind tomorrow.
Mary
It was a reasonably quiet day for a Monday. The morning was busy. I went to Bible Study at 9:30AM. I stopped at Mom's before to drop off some food and some information that she needed. Then I went back after Bible Study to visit. I knew that Fr. Mike Shea and his sister Bridget would be there and wanted a bit of time to visit with them. It was good that Mother was alone with them for about an hour though. She wears out so easily these days and one on one is much easier for her. She does treasure these visits with Fr. Mike. He looks and feels well and is kept busy by his "family" of over 160 children. Listening to him tell about his kids makes one realize that children are the same world over. They are good and naughty, they are jealous of attention and loving and kind and selfish and generous. They all deserve love and to know that they are special.
Home again, we had chicken, mashed potatoes and cabbage for our lunch, then I took a nap.
The afternoon was a rather lazy afternoon. I got my papers ready for the telephone conference and cleared out the email messages and that was about all. I did gather up the trash to put out in the morning, so I won't be rushing around then.
Then at 7PM I got on the CWI Conference Board meeting. We had all but three on the line and got a lot done. Roxie was a bit offended because I sit in HER chair in the old office for these calls.
Now I have a couple of projects that need to be done and the information passed on the the others.
Tomorrow will be a good day to start them.
Take care and stay warm, dry and out of the wind tomorrow.
Mary
Sunday, October 24, 2010
I suppose you missed me last night. I was just plain exhausted and went to bed early. Friday night at Rhine just took the zip out of me.
Yesterday, I picked up SHARE at 9AM. Then I went to see Mother for a few minutes as I had some business to help her with. I had intended to stop on my way home from Bobbie and my day at the Wine event at Kohler. So I had to go anyway.
Imagine my surprise. I got to Mother"s. two of my cousins were there with their husbands. These were two of my Mom's brother George's daughters, Marcia and Ann and their husbands Mark and Jack. We had the nicest visit. Marcia is still in Two Rivers and Ann lives in Colorado.
Uncle George was one of Merrill's Marauders in WWII. That was a group of 800 soldiers that fought in Burma without resupplying or support. Of the 800 men sent behind the lines, only 100 survived. He is a true hero. He said that the movie did not convey the difficulty and horror of that march.
They were delighted with Mom's books and her wall decorations. I found out that Ann does not have any of her Dad's paintings. I told her that when I pass on, she can have the painting that he gave me. That was a sweet story. I was home for a visit with the boys. We had a family get together and Uncle George and Aunt Annabelle were there. I said that I would really like one of his paintings. He did not respond so I didn't know what to think. Then, before I flew back home, he brought me a painting picked especially for me. An Autumn scene because we did not have Autumn with all the colors in California. I treasure that painting, but if Ann needs it she will be willed it as my boys won't remember Uncle George. We will see. Marcia says that she has some at her house, in which case it will become part of my family history.
I went to church at 4PM and was a Eucharistic Minister. That is always a real privilege and I go home feeling quite special.
Today was really great. I did not have to go anywhere. So I finished a square for the Kettle Country Quilters Block of the Month, rested, fixed a couple of meals and just generally tries to do "nothing" (which is really hard for me) to let my body heal. We will see what happens. A quiet week is unfolding ahead of us. We have NO doctor appointments and I have nothing scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. So I am planning on doing great things. Dick won't let me do anything too physical. That is a big help t keep me in line.
Fr. Mike Shea called this morning. He is in the country and is going to see Mother tomorrow at about 9:30AM. His sister Bridget is coming with him. He called me to see what was a good time. I told him that her caregivers are always gone by 9:30AM to that is when he is coming. I called Mother to tell her that he will be there so she had something really special to look forward to. I will get to see him for a few minutes after Bible Study.
So that is the weekend. We are trying to figure out ways to be more mobile without my ability to lift wheelchairs and push up ramps. This week we have nothing but next week we have a anti coagulation meeting on Thursday. (Can you help then Bobbie.)
We always ask Bobbie and she is just a wonder, but one day she will have a commitment and we need alternatives.
Til tomorrow
God love you
Mary
Yesterday, I picked up SHARE at 9AM. Then I went to see Mother for a few minutes as I had some business to help her with. I had intended to stop on my way home from Bobbie and my day at the Wine event at Kohler. So I had to go anyway.
Imagine my surprise. I got to Mother"s. two of my cousins were there with their husbands. These were two of my Mom's brother George's daughters, Marcia and Ann and their husbands Mark and Jack. We had the nicest visit. Marcia is still in Two Rivers and Ann lives in Colorado.
Uncle George was one of Merrill's Marauders in WWII. That was a group of 800 soldiers that fought in Burma without resupplying or support. Of the 800 men sent behind the lines, only 100 survived. He is a true hero. He said that the movie did not convey the difficulty and horror of that march.
They were delighted with Mom's books and her wall decorations. I found out that Ann does not have any of her Dad's paintings. I told her that when I pass on, she can have the painting that he gave me. That was a sweet story. I was home for a visit with the boys. We had a family get together and Uncle George and Aunt Annabelle were there. I said that I would really like one of his paintings. He did not respond so I didn't know what to think. Then, before I flew back home, he brought me a painting picked especially for me. An Autumn scene because we did not have Autumn with all the colors in California. I treasure that painting, but if Ann needs it she will be willed it as my boys won't remember Uncle George. We will see. Marcia says that she has some at her house, in which case it will become part of my family history.
I went to church at 4PM and was a Eucharistic Minister. That is always a real privilege and I go home feeling quite special.
Today was really great. I did not have to go anywhere. So I finished a square for the Kettle Country Quilters Block of the Month, rested, fixed a couple of meals and just generally tries to do "nothing" (which is really hard for me) to let my body heal. We will see what happens. A quiet week is unfolding ahead of us. We have NO doctor appointments and I have nothing scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. So I am planning on doing great things. Dick won't let me do anything too physical. That is a big help t keep me in line.
Fr. Mike Shea called this morning. He is in the country and is going to see Mother tomorrow at about 9:30AM. His sister Bridget is coming with him. He called me to see what was a good time. I told him that her caregivers are always gone by 9:30AM to that is when he is coming. I called Mother to tell her that he will be there so she had something really special to look forward to. I will get to see him for a few minutes after Bible Study.
So that is the weekend. We are trying to figure out ways to be more mobile without my ability to lift wheelchairs and push up ramps. This week we have nothing but next week we have a anti coagulation meeting on Thursday. (Can you help then Bobbie.)
We always ask Bobbie and she is just a wonder, but one day she will have a commitment and we need alternatives.
Til tomorrow
God love you
Mary
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