For some reason, it has seemed like Saturday all day today. It was well over 80 degrees and muggy. I had lunch in Plymouth with the Well Fargo ladies. Actually there were only three of us today but it was nice to get out and visit with Ceil and Barb. We always go to the Dairy Queen in Plymouth. They have great grilled cheese sandwiches. I had that and an order of onion rings.

I dropped the baby present for my nephew Todd and his wife Stacy's baby who is due next month. The baby shower is tomorrow and Dick and I are going to be seeing Evita at the Fireside, so I won't be able to go. I am really looking forward to the day. My friend Helen Morgan went to see the production at the Fireside and said that the woman who plays Evita is wonderful. We will be able to spend the $10 coupon that I won the last time we sent to the Fireside.

We had Swedish meatballs with noodles, stuffed mushrooms, cabbage and cole slaw for dinner. I made a bluberry pie but everybody but me was too full to eat. Jim and Michelle went to a movie and will probably have theirs when they get home tonight. Otherwise I will be eating a lot of pie. I DO love that pie as the blueberries are so crisp and juicy and they are really fresh, held together with a cooked sauce.

I trimmed the two bushes underneath the office window this afternoon. Now I can do the two next to the birdbath and be ready to start all over again. Actually, the major work is done and it will be a matter of just maintaining.

Dic I tell you that our peony bloomed. It is the most beautiful pink. I cut one and put it in a bowl on the table.

Have a great day tomorrow.

We will. The food at the Fireside is so good and I will bring home a couple of loaves of their wonderful bread.

Love

Mary

This day that was supposed to have "scattered showers" which turned into a steady downpour from 10:30AM to about 1:00 PM - just when I had gone out to Rhine to TRY to shoot for the morning league. I stayed until almost Noon, then gave up. I was hoping that I would be able to just shoot one round a week for the last four weeks. Now, I will have to shoot two, at least for one week.

I cleaned out the coat closet in the front entry hall. I have decided that keeping the boxes that things were given to me in is really silly. Lots of people thing it adds to the value of the piece if you ever decide to sell it, but why would I. Anyone who inherits it will either have to love it for what it is or just sell it without the original box. How much STUFF can a person keep?

We bottled the Wild Grape and Banana wine today. I got the wild grapes from Brian and Becky's land. I have named it Becky's Monkey Brew in honor of sweet Becky. It actually tastes pretty good now, which is unusual for a scratch wine. We will however let it age for a year as it DOES have a bit of a harsh undertone.

Tonight I went over to the Quilt Guild meeting to turn in my challenge block. The speaker was Klaudeen Hansen, a quilter, quilt teacher and quilt judge. She is one of only 70 accredited quilt judges in the United States. She said that she and the other judges are always giving classes to help train other judges. Her talk tonight was on log cabins. Her slide show consisted of actual log cabins interspersed with log cabin quilts in endless varieties shapes, colors and twists. I loved it. I will have to try one someday. I described to her the one that I saw on Simply Quilts that had a uniform fireplace piece (center) and then varying width logs. When each "square" is completed it is squared, then they are all sashed together. It is a marvelous concept and I thougth would be good for Bart if he chooses to do another as it is a very forgiving piece, not requiring matching and squaring up too much.

She told me she was invited to appear on Simply Quilts - BUT - she would have had to pay her own transportation, hotel, cab fare and meals. Then the show is scripted, you are not allowed to really say what you want so she passed.

So My day was busy. Tomorrow , we shop and Dick gets his finger pricked. The rest of the day is mine all mine.

Love

Mary

This day was one incident after another. When Chelsea and I were on our walk (a really lovely walk by the way) she found a dirt pile and rolled in it before you could say lemony snicket. I ended up having to give her a bath. The black streaks on her shoulders were bad enough but this was brown dirt all over her side, tummy and legs. I tried something new. I took her into the shower and used the telephone shower nozzle. It worked great. Guess what, Chelsea. No more sink. No more splattered windows. She was very disappointed in me.

Then Dick and I went to Mc Donalds in Plymouth for a late breakfast on our way to meet with Bill Cain, my realtor friend. This was a good part of the day. We are investigating the value of our house in anticipation of a possible move back into a condo in the next year or two. Bill gave us an informed evaluation and we were very pleased with the information that he was able to provide.

The more difficult part may be finding a condo (or two) that meets our needs.

Then I came home and attempted to water the plants. I found that Jim had replaced ONE of the couplings on the hose but the other one was broken too and he had not rehooked things. SO I made a trip over to Menards and got the piece I needed and got that all squared away. I got some more liquid fence at the same time, because I am determined to keep those darned rabbits away from my green beans.

I had a lunch meeting with Mary Pitsch who runs Next Stage Planning here in Sheboygan County. I received valuable information that I will have available to pass on to the Senior Saints in Sheboygan Falls. She provided evaluations, names and numbers for help in almost all aspects of aging. If needed she will come right with the senior to arrange or to handle the problems. She does, of course, charge for her services. But she works to help those who do not fit under the county, no fee, plans.

Then, I came back home and found that one of the Roombas is not working properly. I finally got the other one to function and at least the hall got vacuumed.

THEN, I discovered that the garbage disposal side of the sink was leaking. Apparently, when one leaves water in it soaking something, it leaks. I now have the cleanest under the sink in the county.

Bless Dick's heart, he took me out for dinner tonight. We went to Pa Thai, a Thai restaurant that we had heard good things about. We were not disappointed. Dick and I both ordered with medium hot sauce. It was spicy and we liked it but were sure glad that we chose not to get the hot sauce. I got a pork, almond dish and Dick got chicken fried rice. We have plenty for at least one more meal.

Now, I am trying to do some computer catching up. So far, the envelope program gave me fits and I am having trouble figuring out some aspects of Microsoft Publisher, which I will need in order to get my chap book published.

I think I am ready for tomorrow, today was just too much trouble.

Hope yours was MUCH better.

Mary

It was a lovely day today. The temperatures were only in the high 60s but the sun was shining, the skies were blue and the breeze was gentle and pleasant. So life was good.

I went to Bible Study by way of Mother's house. I cashed a check for her. When I got there she asked me to call to order some ostomy equipment for her. She hates getting on those phone calls where you have to press all the numbers and then wait through a concert to get to a real person. It turned out to be rather a disaster. First, they couldn't locate the number of the product that she needs, then they gave me a number to call that said they don't carry the brand she uses. So I finally had to call back and have her just try to order the number and name that Mom had before. I also found out that Medicare only lets her order 20 of her ostomy bags at a time. What a crock. A person uses one a day. I can't for the life of me figure out WHY they would not allow 30, just like pills. We will have to get a special request from her doctor and ask for a variance to change that. Her next physical is next month so we can try to rectify that at that time. I see no reason why a 90 year old little lady should have to be ordering a need every three weeks. Like Mom says, they aren't exactly black market items.

Writer's Club was very interesting. We had a new person come. A friend of Sylvia Bright Green. She writes mainly greeting card verses. She is very good and is trying to provide for two special markets, people in prison and people in hospice.

Tonight I did a bit of sewing with the Blessed TRinity Quilters. I now have TWO squares that I have to finish. It is coming along OK, but will take a while. Marlene brought a copy of the Quilters' Beatitudes

Blessed are the quilters, for they are the peacemakers.
Blessed are the quilters, for they shall make ends meet.
Blessed are the quilters, for they know how to cut corners.
Blessed are the quilters, for they keep us in stitches.
Blessed are the quilters, for they make great comforters.
Blessed are the quilters, for they patch things up.
Blessed are the quilters, for they save energy.
Blessed are the quilters, for they put color in our lives.

Enjoy

Mary

It was only 48 degrees when Chelsea and I walked this morning. Quite crisp. She got a second walk while I was gone to church. Jim and Michelle went out and invited her to go along. They think she is funny. Actually she is, but they experienced the rolling on the grass and her barking at dogs and announcing herself as she goes along. As Michelle says, her bark is not really that loud or impressive, so what the heck. Let her bark. She is VERY tired tonight.

The Lavender Scones that I made yesterday were delicious. I am looking for different recipies to try with herbs from my garden. Next week, I will try English Lemon Thyme Cookies. I harvested some rhubarb this afternoon too. I am freezing that as we have enough desserts right now and later on I will be able to just whip up a pie when no one is expecting it.

We are watching the Tony Awards. As usual, we don't know anything about many of the things out there, but this is how we find out and get kind of hip about it. It is always nice to see the legends. Frankly, Dick and I were both surprised that Patricia Neal is still living. An interesting note, she won a Tony about 60 years ago and it was stolen. They replaced it for her this year. Took them long enough if you ask me. I guess one just has to get old enough.

Perhaps we will get back to New York. I would like too as we couldn't go to Liberty Island, or up into the Empire State Building or several other places when we were there, because of 9-11. So I figure, I have one coming. Otherwise, often, these plays go on the road and then Maybe we can get to them.

Next Saturday, we are going to the Fireside to enjoy a great meal and Evita. One of my friends went to an earlier performance and said that the lead is just wonderful.


Have a good week. Tomorrow I will be going to Bible Study, Writer's Club and to sew on the church quilt. Remember. I will be selling raffle tickets for it. I will put a picture on the blog when we get it done and on display.

Love

Mary

It was chilly today. I don't believe the temperature got over 59 degrees. The sun was out which helped a bit but it was still much too cold. I did go out and trim one of the Yews and that darned tree/bush in front of the house. I only filled one trash bag. That is enough for one day anyway. If I can, I would like to do the two under the office window tomorrow. Otherwise, it will just have to wait until Wednesday when I have most of the day at home.

Dick and I did the second filtering of the 2year Currant wine. Now we can give it a couple of days and then bottle it. Tomrrow, we can do the second filtering of the Grape Banana. I am going to name it Becky's Going Bananas because I got the grapes from the back of Becky and Brian's place on Highway O.

We had spaghetti and salad for dinner tonight. I made it yesterday because it is always better the second day anyway. I had to go talk at church before Mass. I will have to talk before both Masses tomorrow also. BUT The choir is singing at the 8:00AM and I can leave right after I have my say at the beginning of the 10:30 so I will be home by 11:00. So we will have a nice brunch at about noon tomorrow. I made some Lavender Scones. They sure smell good. We will see if their taste comes up to the promise. I have sausage and bacon and eggs, so we should have a nice brunch.

Michelle and Jim volunteered at the MADD walk on the lakefront in Milwaukee this morning. They really enjoyed themselves though it was chilly. This was the first opportunity that Jim has had to do volunteer work in years. Working nights didn't give him much of an opportunity before.

It is not good form to pray that God let you win the race, but it can't hurt to pray for God to give you a little shove.

Love

Mary

It was chilly today. I don't believe the temperature got over 59 degrees. The sun was out which helped a bit but it was still much too cold. I did go out and trim one of the Yews and that darned tree/bush in front of the house. I only filled one trash bag. That is enough for one day anyway. If I can, I would like to do the two under the office window tomorrow. Otherwise, it will just have to wait until Wednesday when I have most of the day at home.

Dick and I did the second filtering of the 2year Currant wine. Now we can give it a couple of days and then bottle it. Tomrrow, we can do the second filtering of the Grape Banana. I am going to name it Becky's Going Bananas because I got the grapes from the back of Becky and Brian's place on Highway O.

We had spaghetti and salad for dinner tonight. I made it yesterday because it is always better the second day anyway. I had to go talk at church before Mass. I will have to talk before both Masses tomorrow also. BUT The choir is singing at the 8:00AM and I can leave right after I have my say at the beginning of the 10:30 so I will be home by 11:00. So we will have a nice brunch at about noon tomorrow. I made some Lavender Scones. They sure smell good. We will see if their taste comes up to the promise. I have sausage and bacon and eggs, so we should have a nice brunch.

Michelle and Jim volunteered at the MADD walk on the lakefront in Milwaukee this morning. They really enjoyed themselves though it was chilly. This was the first opportunity that Jim has had to do volunteer work in years. Working nights didn't give him much of an opportunity before.

It is not good form to pray that God let you win the race, but it can't hurt to pray for God to give you a little shove.

Love

Mary

I am just going to quickly post because the thing is scanning and not behaving properly.

I had lunch in Plymouth today and I stopped at Sun Graphics to do a bit more research on what I will need to do to get my poetry book printed. Then I swung by the Sheboygan County Research Center to talk to Beth and to give her some brochures for the Celtic Women's Conference in October. We had a great visit. I e-mailed Mike Shea to see if he will be home this summer and if he is could he say Mass at the "reunion" that occurs each year at St. Michael's near Parnell.

I also cleaned out the closet off the wash room. I took EVERYTHING out and scrubbed the floors and even got rid of a couple of things.


Now I will sign off because I don't know what is happening with the scan and all.

Love

Mary

Dick and I hooked up the hoses in the front and back yard today. Good thing. I will have to be watering the plants on the pole in the front yard soon and often. They are beautiful (Gerber Daisies as I said) but they become quite delicate and droop very dramatically when they get dry. (It is almost tempting to let them dry just to watch them perk up when you water them.)

We also went grocery shopping this morning. I cleaned the bathrooms and worked on the banner a bit. I hope to get it assembled by Monday. Then I can layer the backing the sizing and the top for quilting.

I stopped at Mother's before the choir party. We had a good laugh. She has a book on herbs that gives little history and old uses for various herbs. She planted fennel this year and one of the uses for it was to ward off witches and evil spirits. People would put bunches of it over their doors and plug their keyholes with the stuff.

BUT the one that really got me was for lavendar. I skimmed it and saw a poultice for sciatica and read on because, of course, I thought it might be good for Dick. However, here is the recipe - what do you think.

Boil three puppies in oil, add 1 pound of earthworms, 1 cup lavendar, 1 cup rosemary and 2 cups of a couple of other herbs (I was in stitches by now) To this paste you add wild mustard and more oil ( I think). Who would EVER think of such a thing. I wonder if any idiot really tried it.

We had a nice end of season choir party with the Kindercore too. Beth got pizza and make your own sub and make your own sundae fixings. It was all very good and we had a bit of a practice after we were done. We are singing at the 8:00AM Mass for the graduates. I have to try to recruit a couple of more leaders for the Environment Committee at all the masses this weekend. It is my (as Dick says) last hurrah for that committee. I have one more page to complete for the book I prepared and two sets of pictures to put on the Disc.

Tomorrow I will have lunch with my friends in Plymouth.

Have a good one.

Mary

Went out to shoot the morning league today. Not so successful as last week. The first round was not too bad. I shot a 15 but the second, I could not get down. As Doc said, I was not concentrating. I didn't follow through and was behind on a lot of shots. Anyway I only got an 11 on that. Well, next week will come and I will try again.
It was beautiful anyway. The scattered showers they predicted did not come and the sun was shining while I was shooting.

I finished the hand sewing on the Celtic Banner. Now comes the challenge of assembling, layering and quilting. I like it but the big Hand of God definately has to be outlined in a dark brown machine applique to give it character. I am going to give Him a sleeve too. It has been fun. If it is liked, I may make a companion piece - a High Cross - for next year.

There is an Irish thought that as you can have too much spirits in the pub, you can also have too much religion in the church. I don't know why that seemed important to me tonight but for some reason - balance and reason itself are on my mind these days. There is all this talk about making an amendment banning gay marriage. I find this difficult. On one hand, marriage, by it's definition means the union of man an woman to start a family. On the other hand there is a percentage of our population who are homosexual and still deserve the right to pledge to each other and - yes- to come together as a family. What is family but a place where one is loved, cared for and accepted. Tis a puzzle and until my questions are answered, I believe that an Amendment would be wrong.

Love

Mary

We are under either a thunderstorm or a tornado watch until 11:15PM. Actually it is not raining at all right now but the conditions are right. It did rain off and on most of the day starting at about 10:00AM. As I write this blog, thunder is rolling across the sky towards the lake.

We went to Dick's foot doctor, Dr. Hodous, today. He worked a bit on the callous that has been getting blood blisters. It is just about healed. I hope we can keep it from building up and causing all that trouble. We see Dr. Hodous in two months.

I got my haircut later in the morning and then spent the rest of the day finishing up projects on the computer. I spent the evening sewing on my Celtic banner while I watched two reruns of House that I had not seen before. I kind of got hooked on that show after it had been on for a while.

Tomorrow, baring rain, I will go out to Rhine to shoot in the morning league that John and Doc started.

That's all folks.

Love

Mary

I went out and trimmed the New Guinnea Impatiens today. I found out Sunday that I will really have to watch them. They dry out very quickly and droop quite dramatically when they are dry. I watered them really good on Sunday and will hit them again tomorrow morning though they are predicting rain on Tuesday afternoon. I don't want to take a chance. I have to water them in the morning as the hot sun is on them in the afternoon and it is not a good time to be soaking therm.

Bible study this week was quiet though our discussions were lively. The readings were lovely talking about God's love for us and the fact that we have been adopted as children of God - a theme that runs through this year's cycle of readings. I especiall liked the first line of the Old Testament reading . It was speaking of the release of the Jewish people from their Egyptian exile. Deuteronomy 4:32. "Ask now of the days of old before your time, ever since God created man upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other: Did anything so great every happen before? Was it ever heard of?" Isn't that impressive. It reminds me of the saying that goes somewhat like this. "Stop telling the storm how big your God is. Start telling the storm how big is your God."

Bobbie and I went to Rhine Plymouth for the regular meeting tonight. It went quite quickly as I was home before nine. Now I have the minutes to transcribe and will be done for a few weeks.

Tomorrow a haircut and doctor's appointment in the morning and then nothing in the evening. BOY am I ever glad of that.

Have a nice Tuesday. We had turkey burgers and creamed green beans for supper tonight. Num Num. I have some browned ground turkey that I thought I might make tostadas with for tomorrow's supper. Doesn't that sound good. Cooking for two gets really tricky. I like some leftovers but don't like to eat the same thing for too many days in a row.

Love

Mary

It was gorgeous today. Bobbie and I worked out at Rhine this afternoon from 12 to 4. Not an unpleasant time. It was rather quiet, but there was a steady albiet slow stream of shooters all afternoon. I spent most of the time behind the bar with Jimmy Schirmer and Bobbie but around 3:00 I took a couple of groups out and scored their rounds. It was so nice sitting there in the sun. Nice and warm. The only problem with scoring is that you REALLY have to pay attention.

Sure was fun last night. I was rather proud of my going up and singing. I picked 1. Scotch and Soda, 2. Green Fields, 3. Waltz Across Texas and 4 There's a Tear in my Beer. I butchered the last, was adequate on the first two and think I did well on Waltz Across Texas. At least a few couples got up to dance while I was singing. We had sandwiches and onion rings for supper when we got there. We didn't have time to eat before we left the house because I went to the 5:00 Mass and Jim and Michelle were waiting in the car to leave when I pulled in at about 6:05PM. (They did let me go to the bathroom before we left.) Michelle sang several songs - among them Sugar Sugar and Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy. She does very well if I do say so - Her voice is good and she is obviously loving it. There were some very talented people singing but I decided not to let that bother me. I'll probably never see any of them again anyway. Michelle's friends Randy and Dianne do a very good job and sing requests and keep the show moving. They wanted to clone this audience.

I am going to bed early tonight. Hope you have a super week.

Love

Mary

What a day. It is now 2:30 in the morning and Jim, Michelle and I JUST got home from KJ's Bar and Grill in Germantown where we joined in with "Almost Live" Karaoke friends of Michelle's, Randy and Dianne. I even joined in the singing.

This is going to end very quickly as I can see that I am not really flowing.

I got up at 6 and spent three hours at church this morning conducting a meeting and decorating for Pentecost. Then I had to go back at 4:00 to warm up for Mass and then sing at 5. Then as SOON as I got home we headed to the KJ's. I am t-i-r-e-d!!!!

Tomorrow I will expand. I will say that when I got up to sing Waltz Accross Texas people got up and danced. I was thrilled.

Love you

Mary

Just got home from a lovely evening at the Irish Center in Milwaukee where Jim, Michelle and I enjoyed the reading of the poetry of a group of women who wrote poems for poems written by a group of fiber artests. These women meet occasionally and exchange poems and fiber art. The poems are sealed in blank envelopes and the fiber art is also wrapped so nobody knows what they are getting. Then each poet writes a poem in honor of the art she has received and each artist creates a piece of art for the poem she has received. They have several months to create their poem or art piece. The body of work was beautiful and there is nothing more special than hearing a poem performed by the author.

We stopped at the Silver Springs Inn for dinner. I had a really good burrito. They serve it with chopped green onion and tomato on it which is really tasty. I liked the slice of orange that was on the plate too.

It was a beautiful day. Tonight we are seeing a bit of lightening and hearing a bit of thunder but that too shall pass.

My friend Bill Cain came over today to see the house. We feel that we may be considering moving in a year or two into a condo possibly and I felt that I would be more comfortable knowing what the market value of the home is so that we would have some idea what we would have to work with funds wise.

Tomorrow is another busy day. I start off at 8:00 at church with the environment committee so I need to get to bed pretty soon.

I think I shared this once before, but after my evening of poetry it bears repeating.

"I am always amazed that poems are willing to lie down and stay inside the flat closed pages of books." John O'Donohue


Mary

Today was a spectacular day. The sun shone, everything is green. Even the fields (at least the ones that the farmers have managed to get planted) are starting to grow. We did not see too many people out so just enjoyed the sun and the "avian choir."

The Guys from Richardson's arrived promply at 8:00AM. The guys that came on Wednesday had neglected to take off the boards and trim the side, so they had to do more prep than they should have, but they still got done by noon. Jim came home shortly afterwards and attempted to hook up the sink, diswasher and garbage disposal but ran into some things beyond his scope of expertise, so he called Bill. (Bill knows all that stuff.) Bill will be here in the morning to see what he can do. I think I will have to clean an disinfect the bathtub and do the dishes that I have been stacking in the dishwasher. I don't even have a sink big enough. The counters look wonderful but the beautiful stainless steel sink in unusable. I have almost everything back in the cupboards. I should be able to finish everything but the stuff under the sink back in the morning.

This afternoon, I went to the grocery store. I ran into Betty Becker and Ann Pirung from Writer's Club. We had a short visit. Betty will be on vacation at the next meeting. Ann stopped writing for the Press. Lots of news.

Tonight I went to choir practice. We will have a party next week and then disband for the rest of June and July. We will start practicing for Celtic Mass on August 17. Beth, the director, has a good idea. Put the words to the "Mass" (the Gloria, the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei) to a traditional Irish melody. Sounds good to me. I will have to start listening to my collection of traditional tunes and then we will consult with Jim Wilsing, our bagpiper/tin whistle friend.

THE KILT QUESTION ANSWERED.



Mary

Today was a whirwind.

The Summer Morning Trap League (a new thing) started at Rhine today. We have to shoot 200 rounds by July 7. We shoot from 10AM to 1PM on Wednesdays. I left at about 10:15 as the rain (which had been falling really hard ALL morning) seemed to be stopping. I was even driving into blue skies, BUT had to wait until about 10:45 or 11 to start shooting anyway. I did pretty well. My first time I shot a 16 and the second increast that to 18. I found that I can outshoot Tom, a dear man who spends a lot of time with us at Rhine along with his dachsund Rufus, who is also a dear.

e
This morning Todd and his helper from Richardson came and tore out the old counters. They were done in about an hour and took everything away too. We had to move out the stove. EEEEEWWWWWW! was that a mess. It is NO longer a mess. I scrubbed both sides, the floor underneath and even cleaned the walls in back of the stove and above where the new counters will be installed.

Tonight, we picked up Mother at about 5:OOPM and went to dinner at Richard's followed by the Sheboygan Theater presentation of Damn Yankees. Mother and I wore our baseball hats and got our free popcorn. Of course, we were not really hungry but it was the principle of the thing. It was a good production. Lots of good voices. Applegate was especially wonderful. The orchestra left something to be desired but the singers made up for it. I like the music from that musical and the message that love and goodness conquer all. It was really cute to see Applegate (Satan) jumping up and down and stamping his feet when Joe and Meg's love just plain negated his "purchase" of Joe's soul.

Next year they are going to do Annie, Beauty and the Beast, Cheaper by the Dozen, Diary of Ann Frank AND Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Coat. Some years I think of not getting this series, (maybe switching to another company) and then they do a lineup like that.

Well, It was a VERY long play and we have to get up early tomorrow to be ready for our workers. You must all come to see the new counters.

From The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

Lo, Money is Plentiful for Those Who Understand the Simple Rules of its Acquisition

1. Start thy purse to fattening
2. Control thy expenditures
3. Make they gold multiply
4. Guard thy treasures from loss
5. Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment
6. Insure a future income
7. Increase thy ability to earn


The Richest Man in Babylon



TOMORROW it will be June already. WOW!

Mary

Thunder and rain all day today. According to the rain gauge we got 1.57 in the past 24 hours.Chelsea and I had a good morning walk, though she got a little lazy and turned back before we got all the way to the end. After that, every time I took her out it was either raining or the thunder would boom. She did a lot of running back to the house. She doesn't seem as upset this year as she used to be. Maybe age has given her the knowledge that the thunder doesn't REALLY hurt or come and get her.

The rest of the day was reasonably busy. Dick and I racked the Marigold Wine. In a couple of weeks we can filter and bottle it, then we just wait for it to age.

I went to see Dr. Casey and then stopped at Wal Mart to pick up some plastic totes to store my fabric in. Jim and Michelle have Jim's things in the den so organized and cleaned out, that I feel I should organize and store my fabrics so the whole den looks nice.

I picked up Market Day, the last until the Fall. Chelsea got a nice ride which always pleases her.

Tonight I am sewing on the banner for Celtic Faire and we are watching Capote. I think the Netflix subscription Bart and Barb gave me is about expired. I am sure they will let me know.

Tomorrow, Todd from Richardson's will be here to tear off the counter tops. The next day, the new top will be delivered and installed. I have all the cupboards emptied and will remove the drawers in the morning. Good thing we are going to see Damn Yankees presented by the Sheboygan Theatre Company. As we always go out to dinner, that solves the problem of no counter tops or sink for at least one day.

They are really going all out on the baseball theme. They are even giving free popcorn to anyone who wears a baseball cap. Mother and I are going to bring hats. Dick says he is not. Perhaps we will share, perhaps not.

If the rain keeps falling we may need a boat. I remember the year that we bought this house was a year of torrential rains, actually in the later summer. We knew that this house was water tight because the basement was totally dry and non musty even after all the flooding around the area. This morning the ditches had water flowing. It will probably be even deeper tomorrow. Wonder where the ducks went. I haven't seen them for over a week and you would think they would like the water to swim in.

Remember this old poem?

If all the world were apple pie
And all the seas were ink
And all the trees were bread and cheese
What would we have to drink?

More rain predicted for tomorrow. Pray that we don't float away.

Love
Mary

We got to stay home ALL day today. Such a deal. It was wonderful. We had some hard rolls left from frying out yesterday, so I fixed us egg and cheese sandwiches on toasted hard rolls for breakfast. BOY were they good.

I spent about an hour outside in the front yard trimming some bushes this morning. Thought I had better get to it before they got away from me. With all the rain and now the hot weather, everything is just going to go crazy soon. Tomorrow, I want to trim up the junipers before they get scruffy looking.

Yesterday, Mother and I were talking about all the animals that we have had over the ages. I would really miss having them around. Mother had a bird up until about 6 years ago. She and Dad had dogs even after moving into the little house. I remember their Buffy. Buffy was a cock a poo. He adored Dad. Dad was not too steady on his feet in his later years but Buffy seemed to know just how to weave in and out around his feet without tripping him. Buffy was terrified of riding in cars because the only place he ever went was to the vet.

This is how the conversation started. I brought Chelsea with me when I picked Mom up and when I took her home. I mentioned that I like to take her for rides whenever I can so she thinks it is fun. Otherwise, she too will be afraid because they DO hate going to the vet. I can't say I blame them. I don't much like going to the doctor either.

Dad was very unsteady on his feet in his later years. On one occasion, Mother had her friends over at the old house playing cards. Dad was puttering around in the garden. Mom would look out on him every so often to see how he was doing. Eventually, he sat down in the lawn chair so she figured he was done gardening. When she looked out , he waved and she would wave back. Suddenly, she realized that it had started to rain so she went out to see why he had not come in. It turns out that he sat down and couldn't get back up. His "waving" was motioning for her to come to help him up. Fortunately, it was not raining hard and double fortunately, Dad had a marvelous sense of humor and thought the incident was funny.

Jim and Michelle went to Door County this weekend. They took an airplane ride (Jim's very first) around the peninsula to view the lighthouses. He liked it.


Have a nice week

Love

Mary

It was hot today, all the way up to the mid 80s so Dick turned on the air conditioning. I guess that is all right.

I went to the 8AM Mass, as I mentioned that I would. I like that mass. It gets me a good start on the day and I have the whole day ahead of me when I get done. When I got home, I fixed breakfast for Dick and me and made the potato salad for tonight's dinner. I went outside and cut all those dumb suckers that grow up under the tree outside the garage door. Chelsea came out with me but it was a little muggier than I think she likes. She put up with it because she like to be with me.

Jim and Michelle got back from Door County at about 1:30. We played half of a game of Hearts. I guess we will have to finish it tomorrow sometime. At 3:00 Chelsea and I went to get Mom. We drove to the cemetary to check the boxes that Mom had planted for the family. Everything looks really good. The rain last night sure did not hurt. The sweetest thing. My nephew Todd, who has depression and had been e-mailing back and forth to Courtney, bought a statue of a cat and asked his mother, my sister Dolores, to put it on Courtney's grave. Someone also brought her a potted yellow rose bush. The cemetery truely is a beautiful one.

Dinner and the pie were really good and I cut up some watermelon that I had purchased on Thursday for a kicker. MMM MMM.

We were talking about cell phones and the fact that they have invaded every possible nook and cranny of our existance. People even use them while doing the most personal things in public restrooms. For some reason, it reminded me of an incident that my ex had happen years ago when he worked on the luxury yachts and fishing boats in Newport CA. The had finished a boat and took it out for a shake down. The boat had to be ready the next day. Mechanically, everything was going fine. Then they put it on auto pilot and one of the guys went down to the head. Suddenly, the boat did a 90 degree turn to the right and slowly but surely moved back to the correct heading. The guy in the head came running up asking what was going on. They soon discovered that whenever the toilet was flushed the boat would do that 90 degree turn and readjustment. Something was goofy in the wiring and they did not have time to fix it. So it went out that way as everything else was OK. They fixed it when it came back from the first real trip and nothing was said about it. I guess it was quite a ride in the bathroom when it happened, so apparantly the owners did not use the auto pilot, or else thought they were drunk or something.

Have a patiotic Memorial Day.

Mary