Cold Cold Cold again.   it was again below zero when we got up and as far as I know it only hit 12.  

I got up early, put the venison roast in the crock pot and went back to bed until almost 8AM.   Then I got up and had to rush a bit because today is the day I pick up SHARE.    After breakfast and shower, I made it over to the Armory by 9:15AM   Plenty of time.   We got a nice selection today.   Chicken,  pork tenderloin, beef sandwich meat, stew meat,  grapefruit, potatoes etc.

I heated up a Marie Callendar dinner for Dick this noon and we shared a honey bell orange.   I just had a piece of peanut butter toast because I knew I would be eating heavily at the Wild Game Dinner.

I went over to Donna and Randy's a little after 1PM for the party.    Bing and Stenn and George and Betsy were there so I got to visit with them a bit before things got CraZY as they tend to do at this event.

  It was quite the party.    There were 21 contestants in the beer tasting and 23 beers.   Bing and Betsy helped me serve the beers and keep the list intact.   It was again an amazing finish.   Mike and Mary Margaret helped score.   Mary Margaret came up with the best idea in the world for that.   One person reads the key list and two or three people check papers.  No looking back and forth, no need to double check.    We had a tie again.   That Jessica had 10 (in the top two the second year in a row.)  She was tied with John.   We ended up with a double drink off as they tied again on the first one.   Finally John took it this year so we may be going to Chicago to John and Holly's next year.    Holly was proud of John but kind of jealous because she lost to Jessie last year.

The food again was delicious.    My roast, chili, Brunswick Stew, pheasant, turkey Cordon Bleu and tons of other things.   Erin brought some vegetarian dishes that were really scrumptious too.We had angel food cake with berries and shipped cream for dessert.  

So home in the cold, it was 2 degrees as I drove home.  I got here at about 7PM and after I finish talking to you all, I will crawl in bed.   Tomorrow will be very quiet.   I will go to Mass at 9:30 then the rest of the day will be Dick's and mine to watch the big Packer game and just be together.

God love you all.

Hope the Packers and Steelers win.

Mary

I was lazing in bet this morning, it got to be a bit after 7AM when I remembered that Jody was coming to clean at 8AM so I had to jump up and get dressed and ready right away.   Dick was still sleeping too.  But we were both up and at 'em when she got here.

Poor Jody, her car broke down on the way here this morning in this awful cold.   Thank God for cell phones, she was able to get a friend to pick her up and drop her off here and her fiance was going to get the car going.   She had us to clean and then our neighbor's Tom and Linda so she was set here until noon.

Then I washed a load of wash and did a few things around here.   I left for the bank and Walgreens for some errands.   I had lunch with the gals at Dairy Queen.    We had a really nice visit.    I won't see Ceil and Betty for a month because I will be gone two Fridays and then they are leaving for a trip to Panama which will make them gone for two Fridays.    We are quite the world travelers.

When I got home, I ordered the euros for the Ireland trip.   They will be delivered to Wells Fargo on Tuesday.   I felt safer having them delivered there because I am sure someone has to be there to sign for them and there is always the remote possibility that I would be out just when the delivery is made.

We had minestrone soup for our supper.   I took mine to Rhine with me as I had to leave a bit before five and was not quite ready to eat.   I did not really expect very many people tonight.   It really surprised me that there were six squads out in this bitter cold.    When I came home, it was 0 degrees and probably will dip below zero again tonight.   It was -9 when I got up to feed the cat this morning.  A lot of us pistol shooters were there.   We have 22 in the pistol league this winter.

I was not too bad but did get a bit shaky and have to be steadier and remember to SQUEEEEEZE the trigger.

Home again.   I am finally warm again and ready to go to bed.  Roxie is telling me that it is time.

God love you

Mary

Today was exceptionally busy, especially for Dick.

The nurse, Megan, from VNA came over again today to recheck Dick and to redress the wound on his leg with a new ointment.   I have great hopes for this medication.

She left and we finished breakfast and then Bobbie came because Dick had his hair cut appointment at 11:30AM.   We got there on time with no trouble   Janet was ready for us.   The hair cut is at Shear Delight at the Plymouth Care Center where Dick spent his recovery.  We saw Lori, his physical therapist from that time and several other of the care givers.    Anyway his hair and beard are all cut and trimmed and he looks and feels good.

Home again, Bobbie, Dick and I feasted on brats, rice, broccoli and salad.  I had made an apple cheesecake for dessert.   

We finished before Dick's next appointment.  A physical therapist from VNA came and put him through his paces.  She was very nice but will not be the regular person. 

Needless to say, Dick is exhausted.   He has not had that much activity in one day in months.

Bobbie and I racked the last of the gallons of wine in the winery that  are about ready for filtering and bottling.   we figure that we can do that about the time I am back from Ireland.

So it was a truly busy day.  Tomorrow will be busy for me as I am having lunch with the girls and working at Rhine in the evening, but Dick should be able to rest up a bit with any luck at all.

So the day is done and I am glad.   Roxie got tired of all the visitors, except for Bobbie of course.   When we went downstairs to rack the wine, she was in "her" room so we just got to business.   We had the door almost shut.   She figured out where we were and was quite annoyed with us as she had to push the door open herself.   She yammered at us for quite a while before forgiving us.



So Have a nice Friday

God Love You

Mary

A day between the snow and the cold.

I went shopping this morning.   That went quite well and I picked up donuts for our breakfast.   I have been hungry for donuts so picked some up for our breakfast.   

The representative from the Visiting Nurses Association came to evaluate this morning at about 11:00Am.   She spent a couple of hours with us reviewing Dick's history and examining his legs and we believe that we will have help for up to a month, including the time that I am in Ireland.   I am hoping that they will have advice on easier ways to help Dick get his cleaning and also help him organize and get his physical therapy on track.  I am very happy with what has been proposed to us and feel that Dick will have a good support while I am gone.

After Megan left, we had lunch,   Dick had requested  cannibal sandwiches on half rye.   I assume that all of you know that cannibal sandwiches are raw beef and onions.  He was a happy camper.

Then I drove to Meadow View to visit with Mother.   She is doing very well.  I got there during her physical therapy and the therapist said that she is amazed at how well mother is doing.

So here we are at the end of a very busy day.   Tomorrow will be somewhat quieter though Megan is coming back and Dick has his hair cut appointment for 11:30AM.

Hope we don't have to cancel that.
 God love you all

Mary   

No snow today.    Good thing as there was quite enough yesterday and last night.    Our wonderful crew at Tall Grass had our roads and driveways and sidewalks all cleared early.   I was able to get the trash out by 9AM.  Good thing because the collectors were here before noon today, something that I did not expect.

I was able to stay home most of the day.  I did have to pick up two prescriptions for me and some gauze pads for cleaning and protecting Dick's wounds on his leg.  I also went to Fleet to look for good old fashioned shoe rubbers or overshoes.   I can't find them any where.  That is what I would really like to take to Ireland with me.

We had pork chops and rice for lunch and soup and sandwich for supper.

Today, Regis Philbin announced that he is retiring from Regis and Kelly  at the end of the summer.    I was remembering that the first time I saw Regis was sometime between 1970 and 1983 when they appeared on an early morning show similar to the Regis and Kelly show.   She was still married to Steve Garvey at the time and they were referred to as the Ken and Barbie of the sports world.   She was indeed a beautiful blond and he was a gorgeous dark haired athelete.

I remember one show that Tom Sullivan, a blind actor, appeared on.   Apparently he was in Cyndy's dressing room as she got ready.   She mentioned that she felt quite comfortable getting ready with him in the room.   He got this smile on his face and said.   "The sounds were driving me crazy."   She was so embarrassed.

 Today when I was lying down for a nap, I remembered an incident from Bret's kindergarten days.   He had a wonderful teacher, Miss Gamel.   She was having a bit of a problem one day.   The kids were saying naughty words and would not settle down.   She made an announcement that the next child who said a naughty word would have to go to see the principal.   Well, Bret whispered. "Poopy, Poopy, Poopy."  just loud enough to be heard.  So she sent him to the office.   He got hysterical.     Some people in the office said that she should not have done that but I told her she had to maintain her credibility with those kids and it was not that he was hurt.   She told me that poopy was not one of the words she was concerned with but Bret obviously thought so.  So he was defying her.   I thought it was really rather funny.

Have a lovely Wednesday.   The VNA is coming over to evaluate Dick for seeing him while I am gone and I am going to visit Mother tomorrow.   A busy busy day.

God love you
Mary

This is going to be very short.   I am tired.   It started snowing just about the time that I left for bible study.   A steady slippery storm.   So after bible study I came right home without going to Sheboygan to see Mother.   We canceled the Writers club meeting too.

Bible study was very interesting.   There were just four of us but we had a nice lively discussion.   The Psalms, as I have said before are truly beautiful  and with the nice study guide we have are quite exciting.

Tonight was the telephone board meeting for CWI.   We had all but two of the board on the line so it went quite well.   I have a couple of things to do tomorrow so that the newsletter can get out and we can keep everybody informed of things in the Celtic world.

That was the day.

It was still snowing the last I looked and the stuff is piling up but it should be done by 3AM and tomorrow is a full day at home.

So Sleep Tight and God Bless

Mary

If New England wins the game tonight, I will be a vey happy camper.   It is not looking too good.    At this point, I have the highest score in the Fantasy Football league.  If they lose, I should still be in the top 6 but am not sure of my number one place.  The Chicago/Seattle game was exciting and the Packers will be playing the Bears next Sunday.

I had a rather quiet morning.  A couple of loads of wash and some computer cleaning.    I deleted a ton of trash messages that I should have dumped some time ago.

Then at about noon, I drove out to the Weirl Wind, a bar on Hwy 67 to join the rabbit hunters for the annual sausage tasting event.    All the hunters bring their various venison sausages, we slice them, put them on plates so that noone knows what came from where and then all the patrons and hunters who want to taste and rate the sausage for their favorite.   The last taster is the dog that hunted with the rabbit hunters.    He is sweet Digger who belongs to Dennis and Sara Behr.   They had another sweet hunter last year but he died this winter.  His name was Copper and he was a very good dog and a good hunter.

The hunters went out from about 8:30AM to 11:00AM and did not see a single rabbit.   I am sure glad that I decided that I was not going.   It was single digits when they started.   They said that the snow, however, was what probably kept the rabbits in their lairs.    They were much smarter than the humans.

We really have quite a bit for the wild game dinner.   We have venison, pheasant, turkey, squirrel and rabbit.   Should be another feast.   We will be celebrating Mom's birthday too but not all with her.   Short visits from the visitors and the rest of us will celebrate on our usual visit days.

So.  I really don't know what sausage came out the favorite at the Weirl Wind.   I brought a stick of the sausage that we had made from the deer that Jeff's friend got and was shared with Jeff, Randy, Shane and me.  Actually it was very hard this year as all of them were pretty good.  

We watched the Chicago Seattle game while the tasting was going on.   We met a couple of cousins of Fr. Mike Shea.   They may or may not be cousins of ours,   I think not, I think not but I will check on it.   Mike goes to see his Grandmother Anna Marie when he is home too as well as our mother.

BREAK FOR DINNER AND A BATH.

Well, Dick got his bath a few minutes ago and while we were doing that the Patriots/Jets game ended and dang it shuckins, the Jets won.    By tomorrow, I will know what it did to my standings and will be able to do my picks for next Sunday.    

Tomorrow will be very busy.    Bible Study, a visit with Mother, Cream City Writers and then a telephone conference in the evening.

The rest of the week should be quiet.