Saturday, August 23, 2014

A Helping Hand

Sunset over the Bay of Green Bay on Lake Michigan
Hi Friends,

Hopefully you all are having a great week.   I can't believe that it's almost the of August.   It seems the older I get, the faster time moves.  Some days it's over in a "wooooosh!"   

A couple of days ago I had two dentist appointments.  Yup  - you read it right - two.  I'm being fitted for partial plates (replacing teeth).   Tuesday morning my regular dentist played around with one of my plates, glued it back in my mouth with Fixident, and sent me on my way.   By 3:00, I was grinding my teeth and really irritating one side.   Well, to make a long story short, I called the dentist back and was able to get in again Tuesday afternoon.   More adjustments made, so I went on my merry way.

I decided to stop at Walgreens as I had a couple of coupons that were to expire. I loaded up on stuff, went thru the check out counter, and another passing customer in the next line said to me "Can I help you to your car with the packages?"    She could see I was loaded down and dealing with a cane.  Of course my car was right outside the door, so I didn't have far to walk.  But I decided to take her up on her offer.

Bless you Peggy Sue - you were a bright spot in my day.  I thanked her profusely and told her I'd write about her kindness in my blog (without names). Then she said, oh, you can use my name - it's Peggy Sue - and I don't mind if you publish my name.

So Thank You to Peggy Sue (reminds me of the song Peggy Sue, which has been going thru my head) for helping an old lady with her packages. What an angel you were.   Such a nice lady.   Goes to show us that kindness is not by any means dead yet. Sometimes you find it where you least expect it.

Hopefully your day has been blessed with an unexpected kind deed - or you have blessed someone elses day with a kind deed.

Until next time,

Mary



Wednesday, August 20, 2014

One special lady - Aunt Ruthie

Ruth Williamson, 86

Dear Friends,

My family has almost reached the end of another era this summer.

I think I've mentioned before that my mother was 2nd from the oldest in a family of 7 girls, 2 boys, and 3 infants that passed away before they had a chance at life.   

Aunt Ruthie passed away on July 7, 2014 at the age of 86 after about a 3-month battle with stomach Cancer.   She was my mother's second-from-the-youngest sister.   There is now one sister remaining, Aunt Lillian, and no brothers!  Almost the end of an era!

I always felt especially close to Aunt Ruthie (we are only 11 years apart in age).   She and her husband and two children had a farm in Cross Plains, WI - which is only about 10 miles from the City of Madison, WI, where I grew up.

After my parents passed on, Aunt Ruthie and I became extra close.  Whenever we were in Madison, we would meet somewhere for lunch and/or visit her in her home.   She was my contact and only source of news of the family, and I'm really missing her.

I'm so thankful that our daughter and son-in-law drove Mr. D and I down to Cross Plains at the end of June so we could visit with her and her daughter-in-law and son one more time.  We enjoyed the visit so much, and so did she.    

Rest in peace Aunt Ruthie.   I'm thankful you are no longer in pain, are with your beloved husband and so many of your brothers and sisters once again. 
Until we meet again........

Love,

Mary


Saturday, August 2, 2014

Where Are The Cows?

Hi Friends,

Wisconsin has long been known as the Dairy State. One could take a ride down any country road and usually see cows out in the pasture.   There was always something peaceful about that scene, and it was so very typical Wisconsin.

I think I've mentioned before, that I was born on a farm.   My mother left there before I turned 1 year old, but all her brothers and sisters had farms. Spending time on a farm visiting was how I grew up. I always wanted to be in the barn with the dog, cats, and cows.  

We spent a week of driving back and forth to our daughter/son-in-law's house about 2 weeks ago taking care of their two cats.  They live about 45 minutes from us and we enjoy driving the back roads to get there.  I began to notice there were no cows in any pasture along the way.   Where are the cows?  I noticed the same situation when we drove to Oshkosh on the I-system also a couple of weeks ago.  Where are the cows?

I have since learned that the corporation farmers keep their cows in those huge barns round the clock. Those poor cows never get to graze in the meadow in the fresh air or feel the sunshine on their backs. The reason is that the cows give better milk production when they remain inside rather than free roaming - or so I hear.   How very sad for them! 

There are not very many small, independent farmers left these days.  Those that we did go by are also keeping their cows inside the barns - or so it seems. I realize you need to make a profit on a farm to stay in business. Farm equipment is not cheap and the farm is your only means of support.  You can't always depend on the weather to give you a good crop season either to help make up the cash flow or feed your own animals.   But couldn't there be a happy medium in still letting the cows out to pasture some of the time?   I guess this is the way of the future, but once again is it for the better??

Thanks for putting up with my rant. I still think it's sad, and I think I'll try Goat's Milk! Most small farmers work very hard for a living, and with animals to feed and cows to milk, getting away on vacation is next to impossible.    Do you see cows in the pasture in your state?   Or do you have any information on this subject and/or wish to make comments?   I welcome them for another perspective.   


Oh, the new header picture at the top of my blog was taken in our daughter's back yard.  Her husband has a green thumb for working with flowers and I couldn't resist getting a picture of the beautiful Hollyhocks.

Hope you are having a good week.


Mary


Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Hotter Than ...............






Glacier National Park



Hi All,

As is the case with most of the US, we are baking here today.  The current temp is 93 with a Dew Point of 73.    The a/c is running full force  and I don't even care how much it costs this month to keep us cool.  I'm just so thankful to have it.    Our state doesn't experience temperatures like this every year - it might be every 3-5 years.  We are fortunate so far this year that this is the first time we've hit 90. It is supposed to cool off tonight with a high tomorrow of 71.  I can't wait.

I went to the mailbox (at the end of our driveway) a few minutes ago and got light headed just from being out there for all of 2-3 minutes.   That's when I decided to post a picture of a glacier in Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. Just looking at it makes me feel a tad cooler (ha ha - because I'm back inside where the a/c is cranked up).

Did you ever wonder how the pioneers ever survived those early days without a/c?   They had to do hard, physical work too.   I suppose it helps some when you finally get used to it and don't know any other way of living.   Makes me happy I am living in this century!

I have some errands that need to be run, but that will have to wait until it cools down some.  We're supposed to get severe storms tonight and maybe that will help bring the cold front down. 

A very good Blogging friend (Beth) is going through another horrible health scare again after thinking she was in remission.  Please add her to your prayers.   Such a lovely person.    

Stay cool!

Mary

P.S.  It seems like I just got thru complaining about our bitterly cold winter - now I'm complaining because we have heat.  Guess I'm never happy with the weather, and it's something we can't even control.  


Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Keep Your Cool!







Hi Everyone,

Sorry I've been missing so long.   We've been fine - just busier than what I am able to handle.   I swear people retire just to have more time to go to doctor appointments, dentists, and any other appointment you can think of. We've had plenty of them lately - yes, all is well.  My doctor said I have the blood of a 20-year-old.   Hmmm, why does my body feel like 120!    Why can I barely walk because of back problems.  But, I have the blood work of a 20-year-old!  ha ha   But, we're back now and I hope to get around to visit again.  I've missed all of you.  

As all of you know, I love animals.  My mother said I was always in the barn with the cows when I was young.  A couple of weeks ago, D and I were looking outside in the backyard on one of those miserably HOT days where the Dew Point was 70 and the temperature 80!    There were two squirrels out there laying FLAT on the grass - just as flat as they could get, trying to stay cool.
I apologize that the photo is rather blurry, but D was shaky and he wanted to take the pictures.   We tried to get the two squirrels in the same shot, but they wouldn't cooperate.  The grass was getting long too as our wonderful friend who mows for us was camping that weekend..  Just the right length for the squirrels to think they were hiding.  



Squirrels sure do have the right idea on how to stay cool.   Just lay in the tall grass or cool concrete and relax.   I think I prefer a lawn chair however!  LOL.

Hope you are all well.

Until next time,

Mary




Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Unwanted Guests

Hi,

A couple of weeks ago, Mr. D decided to clean the grill to get it ready for the season.   Imagine his surprise when he opened it up and started working in it.   Yup - a mouse nest.   Apparently they were nice and comfy for the extremely cold winter.  They were well fed too because of my feeding the birds.   They stripped the insulation from the grill cover to build their cozy nest.  Ingenious little critters!

Now we'll spend the next two weeks with mouse traps trying to catch the little critters.   Mario has continuous bird, mouse, squirrel TV at our house.   He's a happy cat while his humans are grumbling!  He he   Guess it serves us right for feeding them so well and providing nesting material.   We'll have to come up with a different game plan for next winter.  

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I sure did.  Daughter & SIL came Saturday night and took us out for dinner.   It's always nice spending time with them and we never seem to get enough of it.

Mary
  


Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Goodbye Winter - Hello Spring


Dear Readers,

I hope it's safe to say Hello Spring - it is May!  But, maybe I should rap on wood or something.   Mother Nature could still make a liar out of me.  It's a cool spring with temps in the 50's daytime and high 30's at night.   Storms arriving tomorrow - joy!  After this past long winter, even a cool Spring is welcomed.  At least we haven't had the severe storms that so many have had -  so far anyway.

Some good pieces of news for a change.  Mr. D decided to join the Parkinson's water class at the CP Center.   They wanted me to come with him the first session, in case he needed help!  haha! It should be the other way around.  Mr. D is like a fish in water.   But I appeased them and went anyway.   It was nice to see what types of things they were doing.   

The 45 minutes consisted of water walking, stretching, different muscle exercises with the arms, using a 8 inch pool ball and sinking it (not easy), passing it from hand to hand behind the back.  Peddling a pretend bicycle backwards - one leg at a time.   They try to incorporate things that are not done normally to work on retraining the brain.   It's difficult to explain in writing, but some of the arm things were actually difficult.

There are 3 Parkinson's patients in the class, with Mr. D being the 4th.   All three were much more advanced than he is.   This  session will last for 5 more weeks, twice a week.   Then it will be up to him if he wants to stay in that class or switch to a different one.   We both feel that warm water is so therapeutic and we feel better for the day after getting out of the pool. We are blessed to have that option in our small city!   This pool is the only one in Wisconsin operated by the CP Center.

Happy Mother's Day to all you ladies - fur babies count for they are like children to some of us.   (Yes, I'm a crazy cat lady - and admit it).

Mary