The end of a productive, busy and pleasant day.

I got up at about 6AM as usual (with our usual bathroom break at about 3AM for the little old lady, Chelsea.)

Dick stayed in bed until almost 10AM. I really don't know how well he slept during the night as I sleep between 10PM and 6AM like normal people. But since he was asleep, I assembles a spinach casserole for tomorrow's dinner, a vegetable soup that just needs to be heated and have cheese melted into it, and a Strange Chocolate pie. I also mopped the kitchen floor.

I did a couple of errands at about 9. I mainly took the clothes that I had weeded out of my closet to St. Vincent de Paul. No sense cleaning out the closet and leaving everything in the house.

Dick didn't eat breakfast until 10AM. So since I was having lunch with my bank lady friends at the Dairy Queen, I just brought him home the same lunch that I had. A cheeseburger and fries. They were good. But that made us not want supper too. So it was a lousy day for diabetic meals but that's the way it goes once in a while.

At 4PM I went to Wittkopp Funeral Home to give my support to the Robert Fenner family. Robert was at the Plymouth Care Center and died this week. Bob was two years younger than Mother and attended her and Dad's wedding reception. His daughter in law was one of the RNs at the Care Center and she sent a message to Dick that she misses him because she could always escape into his room when she needed to get away for a few minutes.

Tonight I went down to the Plymouth Art Center for their 9th Annual Spring Concert called The Music of Spring. My friend Kate Herman is one of the singers as well as several other of my friends. It was a nice concert. The music was diverse and well selected, some of it very challenging. The chorus did a lovely job.

Tomorrow too will be a busy day what with the condo meeting and the cemetery tour. Richard and Brenda will be here sometime during the day to take care of Dick's computer needs.

Everytime I think things are settling down they rev up again.

Love

Mary

A sunny day today, but the wind was blowing until way after lunch. And it was cold. When Chelsea and I went for our walk I had to walk into the wind which certainly does do a good job of demonstrating that old Irish Blessing which starts "May the wind be always at your back."

Dick had an appointment at the anti coagulation clinic at 10. The count was 4.1 - way up. We can't figure out why. Usually it takes a change in diet or a change in medication to cause a major change and we have had a very mundane life these past few weeks. Hard to figure. So. He has to back off for a couple of days and then he will be rechecked on Tuesday. There goes his whole week without a medical appointment.

I cleaned bathrooms and worked in the gardens a bit today. The workers were out mowing and also thinned out the tall grasses in front or our condo in the berm. They are just beautiful but last year they grew so big that they blocked the whole porch and threatened to take over the berm. So I asked that they thin them. They reduced them by at least half. They will plant some of the weeded out pieced around the tract and left some for Jeff and Kathy. Kathy really would like some at their home.

This afternoon Nancy and I went out to Rhine and I finished shooting my league targets. Nancy has three more to shoot but will go out tomorrow and finish during open hours. We had just gotten a bit behind this league.

Tomorrow night, I intend to go down to the Plymouth Art Center to watch the spring music event that Kate is performing in. Songs of Spring, I believe. Poor Kate, her 10 year old kitty named Riley, was hit by a car early this week and has a badly broken leg. Kate is trying to save his leg for him. She settled him in a box in the kitchen and amazingly that badly injured animal made it upstairs during the night and crawled under their bed to sleep. He had to be close to them. God won't mind if we pray for Riley's recovery.

Tomorrow I will be cooking. I am going to put a spinach noodle casserole together for Saturday night. Dick and Brenda will be here on Saturday and I will be gone on the Cemetery tour MOST of the day so figured that it can just be popped in the oven about an hour before we eat. I am also going to fix a special dessert and some soup.

Haven't heard from Jim and Michelle. Guess they must be very busy.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain. But Saturday is going to be clear and sunny albeit a bit chilly.

Love

Mary

Would you believe that Chelsea dragged me out of bed at twenty to three this morning. I was not really very happy with her but what can you do with an old lady. I went back to bed of course when we got back in and slept until 6AM.

I decided to try feeding her after her walk this morning. Didn't do any good. So I put the food up on the counter UNDER a basket of veggies while I took my shower. That Oscar jumped up on the counter, pushed the basket off and ate most of Chelsea's breakfast. When we had our breakfast, which I got from Mc Donald's we gave Chelsea more food with a couple of scraps from our breakfast and she did eat.

Then I went grocery shopping and over to Walgreens to pick up prescriptions.

Got home just in time to fix lunch. After lunch and a rest, I spent quite some time going through my closets and drawers. I have two big bags of clothes that will go over to St. Vinnies when I head that way again. I still probably have way to many clothes but the closets are not jammed any more. I probably also at some time wish I had not given something away, but that is OK too.

Now, I will have to wake Chelsea up to take her outside so that I can go to bed.

Tomorrow may be a bit more exciting. I rather hope not though.

Mary


THE 10 COMMANDMENTS
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this -- you cannot post 'Thou Shalt Not Steal' 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery' and 'Thou Shall Not Lie' in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians .... it creates a hostile work environment.

 

A picture of Roxie just for fun..


Mary

Chelsea is still not enthusiastically attacking her food, but we are getting her to eat. I am feeding her when she has had a chance to get a bit anxious. For instance, I feed the cats when I first get up but wait to feed her until we are done with our walk and everything.

I spent the morning cooking and cleaning a cupboard. I made beer bread, soup and a salad.

We had chicken and pasta for lunch and chicken soup for supper.

This afternoon, Nancy and I went shooting at Rhine. We have to be done with our league by Friday night. I was able to go out last Friday so only had six to go but Nancy was unable to shoot on Friday so is a week behind. We will go on Thursday and again on Friday so she can finish. The trouble is that all shooting has to be done by Friday. The bust up is in two weeks because of Memorial Day Weekend. We thought that we had another whole week.

Tonight I am watching Dancing with the Stars tonight to see who will be eliminated. It is really hard at this point. I think it will be between Gilles and Melissa but we were so surprised last week that Lil Kim was eliminated. This is the only show that I watch that is even close to a reality show.

The next two days are also comparatively quiet. Tomorrow I have to go grocery shopping and Thursday shooting but that is all. Whew. If it rains and soaks the gardens in back, I may go to do some weeding. Travis from Steger heating came and checked the air conditioner today and said that mosquitoes are out there. I am going to try the Listerine spray to see if I can keep them off of me.

Til tomorrow then.

Mary

The end of another weekend. It was Mother's Day today. Both Bart and Bret called me this evening and I received some lovely email Mother's Day cards. I went over to Mother's home with her card after Dick and I had our lunch.

Mother was just fine. Yesterday, Jeff and the family came in and took her out for dinner. Today she stayed home because lots of people call her and come to see her on this day.

I went to Mass at 10:45 this morning. It was a very nice mass. They are not serving wine to everybody as part of the Eucharist. I assume that will last until this swine flu thing is over. No sense in sharing a cup with a couple of dozen people.

Aside from the above it was a quiet day and now I am ready to call it a day.

A nice way to spend a Mother's Day if one cannot gather your "little ones" around you.

Love

Mary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love.

Mary

Arkansas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Take care and have a good weekend.

Mary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love

Mary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love
Mary

 

CELTIC WOMEN - Hear us roar.

Mary

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

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

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

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

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

Take care

Mary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Take care and enjoy Tuesday.

Mary

I am home again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love

Mary

I got up at 6AM and spent the morning getting the end of the cleaning that needed to be done this week. Whew. I did it.

Dick had to be at therapy at 10AM. Andrea the orthotist was there and informed us that she had talked to Dr. Moreno. She told him that she felt that with adaptations and refining she thought she could get the ready made shoe we have been using to work - otherwise she said we would have to go to a custom shoe. Dr. Moreno said that this is what he wanted from the beginning and that this is how we should go.

SO - Andrea took a cast of the foot. She also took the shoe for a sample to send along and to salvage the bracing and straps which will be used on the custom shoe. Now we need to wait for three to four weeks for the shoe to be manufactured. In the meantime we will not have therapy. Dick will have to continue with the exercises that have been given to him by the therapists and continue standing and practicing balance here at home but since he cannot walk or do any of that it is silly to be paying for therapy. So a bump has appeared in the road but it is better than a sore on the foot which would signal a potential disaster.

I had a great nap this afternoon. Then I took care of a couple of financial and medical insurance items that have been pending before getting things ready for dinner. Dinner WAS quite simple but I wanted to be totally ready so we could visit with Michelle and Jim as we will not be seeing them for a long time in all likelihood.

The arrived a bit before 6PM. Michelle worked her last day at Oshkosh Corporation today. They have been packing their hearts out. We had a cream of tomato and basil soup and a grilled Cuban sandwich with chocolate banana cake frosted with chocolate and brown suger frosting for dessert.

Tomorrow they will leave for Oklahoma as soon as the movers have their belongings loaded. They expect to be in Oklahoma City by Saturday evening and unless they are too exhausted will start their jobs as managers of the apartments on Monday. Wow. THis has gone fast and we are sure glad that they were able to come to visit this one more time before they leave. Pray that their trip is safe and that all is as it appears to be so that they will be settled nicely.

Tonight I went to Ric Iverson's house for the first Ad Hoc meeting for the Condo association to review the items that we need to review with the developer. The committee is going to try to meet with the developer on Monday if all goes well so that we have a report before May 16th which is the Association's annual meeting.

Now it is after 10 and I am tired and ready for bed. Tomorrow I will be leaving at noon to go the the Celtic Women Gathering in Lake Geneva. SO. You will not hear from me until Sunday Evening. I hope you will miss me. I am intending to renew and try to gain some strength.

Emily Dickinson said "I never spoke to God nor visited in Heaven... yet certain am I of the spot." I think heaven is not a place but a way of being and that we are even now on the fringes of it if we just open our hearts and look for it.

Love

Mary

That Chelsea woke up at 3AM again. I sometimes wonder if because I wake her up from such a sound sleep at 9PM she is not really ready for her last nighttime bathroom call and that is why she is coming so early. Oh. Well. I went back to bed until 6AM and did get my sleep anyway.

I watched all of Good Morning America today because it was exciting to see the "gang", Diane, Robin, Chris and Sam all in Waukesha for a block party. Wow. They served them brats, but they were Milwaukee brats on a "brat bun" with a sauce of beer and onions rendered down on them. I think they should taste a real Sheboygan brat on a proper hard roll with butter, catsup, mustard, dill pickle and onion. Not that is a brat.

After the show,I went to the bank and then grocery shopping. When I got home, Dick was sleeping so I made a fruit salad and then cooked some brats out on the grill (the show did make me hungry for them). I got Dick up at noon and we had a proper brat on a hard roll with salad for lunch.

Then at 2PM I went to Rocky Knoll for the Amputee Support Group meeting. We had a speaker today. Dinah Federer came an talked to us about her new book called Chasing Normal subtitled A Guide for the Newly Disabled and for Those Who Love Them. She has had a disability since birth but in recent years developed a second condition which caused her to eventually have to stop working and gave her the basis for this book. I have not read it yet but after listening to her speak am looking forward to it and feel that there will be a lot to digest in it.

Rocky Knoll is so welcoming of the Amputee Support Group. They give us a room to meet and always bring coffee and treats. Today they had mini chocolate covered cream puffs that were absolutely decadent.

Now we are listening to the President's speech about his first 100 days. He is handling the questions well. We will see how the nation responds to it. He seems unflappable. He mentioned that when he started running for the office the War in Iraq was the main issue out there. Before he took office the economy had tanked and health care had loomed it's ugly head again. So there are all kinds of balls that have to be kept up in the air. We need patience and have to give time for the plans to work. This is not an easy when we still have our young men and women in foreign countries dying when they should be home. We have too many people unemployed and underemployed. The banks and our auto companies are in a sorry state. We need to continue praying and to work together. I am sorry that he is "pro-choice" but I do understand the concept. I have the other outlook that a life upon conception is a life and somebody has to advocate for those most helpless and defenceless human beings. But I do agree with him that abortion itself is a moral not a legal issue.

So the day is almost over and am I ever glad. Only one more full day before I get my mini vacation. I can hardly wait for that.

That naughty Roxie jumped up onto the TV last night and knocked the lovely bouquet of daffodils off onto the floor. I picked them up and put them back. They look a little bedraggled but are hanging in there. I think I rearranged things so that she can't make that trip again.

Mother Teresa said " Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls."

Love

Mary

I was able to spend most of the day at home. Chelsea and I had a really lovely walk shortly after 6AM. Then I picked up some breakfast for Dick and me from Mc Donalds. We haven't done that for a long time and I seem to be out of milk and eggs which rules out most breakfasts. I would settle for toast and cheese or bread and peanut butter but these do not seem to thrill Dick. Tomorrow is grocery shopping day so we will be stocked up again.

After we ate I "surprised" our poor Chelsea with a bath. She is now the prettiest little doggie in town. She literally glows.

Then Dick went for a nap with Chelsea and Oscar so I did a couple of errands. I went to Amy's Mary Lee to stock up on cards because I had a $7 coupon that was expiring in a couple of days. It seems silly to throw away $7. I dropped of some clothes for Mother and Dick's old shoes at St. Vinnie's. Now I need to go through my closets and pare things down. There are lots of things I have not worn for almost 8 years, when I retired, and it is really silly to keep them any longer.

This swine flu is really becoming a thing, it seems. When I was at Mom's yesterday, she was remembering the pandemic flu that ran the world shortly after WW1 in 1918 or so. She barely remembers as she was born in 1916. They lived out on a farm that Grandpa Bowser was running and she just remembers that whole families were sick and the neighbors, like the Bowsers who were not sick, would take care of their own animals and chores and then go over to the farms of neighbors that were sick and take care of their animals and chores too. Such a wonderful cooperation. I wonder if we would do that, would we even know that our neighbor needed help.

This afternoon, the doorbell rang and when I went to the door there was standing our neighbor Jean Steiner with a bouquet of daffodils that she had just cut. I thanked her for spring and put them in a vase on the TV.

I am really having trouble staying awake tonight. BUT I am going to stay up for Dancing with the Stars. That is over when I need to take Chelsea out anyway so it is a good goal and I would like to see who is let go this week. I really do enjoy that show.

Til tomorrow then.

All my love

Mary

Strange day. Would you believe that Chelsea woke me up at 3AM? Well she did. At least, I was able to get back to sleep and got up for good at 6:20 or so.

Chelsea hardly touched her breakfast so I put it on the counter and set a heavy metal trivet on it to keep the cats out of her food. A lot of good that did. When I got out of the shower Dick said that he heard a crash in the kitchen and sure enough that naughty Oscar had gotten up on the counter, knocked the bowl AND the trivet onto the floor and he and Roxie had finished off Chelsea's breakfast.

By then it was not raining so Chelsea and I took a long walk. I found it quite refreshing and felt good when we got back. She was happy too. But I am concerned about her sporadic lack of appetite. She was quite hungry tonight and ate her whole dinner but mornings seem to be another story.

I went to bible study this morning. We had a good group, 8 of us and the discussion was lively. Next Sunday's Gospel is the Good Shepherd story. This story is so familiar that it is good to put a new slant on it. We took the viewthat the story is not really about shepherds but about us. We are supposed to make choices to offer service, sacrifice and love given freely as did the Good Shepherd. We too must lay down our lives out of love.

Anyway, a good lively discussion.

Then I went over to Mother's for a visit. I took her a couple of the pasties because I know she likes them. They make an easy meal for her to prepare also. I also took her a bottle of wine.

On the way home I picked up a new toilet seat for my bathroom. The tip lid hinge broke. I decided, no more wooden seats for me. Either the lid cracks or the hinges break. I put the new one on this afternoon.

Dick had therapy at 1:45. Tim from Wisconsin Prosthetics came to check the prosthesis and to talk to Dr. Moreno about his concerns about the shoe. They discussed the shearing that seems to be causing redness on the bony prominences of Dick's foot. Dr. Moreno is still pushing for a fully custom shoe as this one fits width wise, height wise but is a bit too long. The orthotic people think that the adapted shoe should be OK. So Andrea, who fitted him for the shoe, will come to the Care Center on Thursday and review everything and perhaps talk to Dr. Moreno again. Int he meantime, Dick cannot do any walking so we are again at a standstill. A bit of a disappointment but we did get good news on the prosthesis. Tim said that the stump is just about stable and we are ready for the next casting - one step closer to the final prosthesis.

I think I have everything about ready for the weekend. I have to take lots of stuff that belongs to CWI so that we can have a good gathering. I have a box of items such as books for sale and scarves and sweatshirts. Now it has finally reached 9PM and I will have to wake up my poor little old doggie so that she can go out to go potty one more time before I go to bed. I sure hope that she lasts longer than 3AM this morning. She is no longer consistent, yesterday it was 5AM.

Tomorrow we have no appointments at all. Isn't that going to be a strange day. I am so glad. I do intend to take a bunch of stuff over to St. Vinnies just to clear out the garage a bit. I will be going through my closets soon too. As I told Dick, I will weed out my work clothes and keep just a couple of good suits for special occasions. I certainly don't need all of them as I did when I was working. It is always hard to do that but I have not worn some of them for seven years and that is really long enough. Someone else might as well be getting the use out of them.

Take care and I hope your tomorrow is a special one.
Mary

 

Here he is. My sentinal. Notice the name of the street sign.

Mary

It was both a busy and quite wonderful day.

Chelsea did not wake me up the first time until almost 5AM. Which is almost unheard of. I took her out and then went back to bed until a bit after 6. I spent the morning getting things ready for the noon meal and helping Dick with his bath.

Jim and Michelle came back from Oklahoma City on cloud nine. They had updated their blog so we knew that things went well, but it is even better to hear things from their own lips.

I prepared enchilada stacks, bean and chicken tostadas and for Jim since we don't know when they will be here for dinner again for at least some time, Chocolate Mousse. (Dick says Jim always gets what HE asks for.) I have not made that in a long time and I don't know why. It sure does taste good.

Everything tasted good and we found out a LOT about their new job and the place.

I called Bart and Barb tonight and updated them on Jim and Michelle's move. They are delighted and would like to show them around if they need it and want to take them for dinner or have them over for dinner. If our children are moving away, at least they are moving closer to each other.

We lazed around the rest of the day and listened to the rain. I opened a couple of windows today and some kitties we know sure got excited. Roxie's ears sure perked up when she heard the birds singing.

With all the blackbirds singing their hearts out this spring, I thought I would reprint my poem about the red winged blackbird that greeted me every morning one whole summer when we lived at Hunters Glen. People tried to tell me that he was protecting his nest but I know he just was saying Hi. If he wasn't on the street sign when I approached it, I would see him flying across the wetland to get there before I did. I will send a picture too.

Have a good week
Mary

THE SENTINAL


The red-winged blackbird waits
Bounding jauntily
On the street sign at the corner.
He trills his song for me.



Bounding jauntily.
Is he greeting or scolding?
He sings his song for me
Each morning.


Is he greeting or scolding
There on his perch
Each morning.
I would miss him.



There on his perch.
How long will he stay?
I would miss him.
The red-winged blackbird waits.