Happy Mother's Day...........

Hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day. Dan did steak and shrimp on the grill. He did a wonderful job and it was delicious. I figured it would be cheaper to eat at home than go out but have buying the groceries I'm not so sure. Any way it was a nice dinner, then a nap and then to gospel meeting.

What?????

You mean it has been over a month since I posted anything here???? I can hardly believe it. I wish I wouldn't do that. Then when I do post it means there will be a lot of postings.

I still have pictures from when we were up in Rapids in April that I haven't posted.

Also I missed some birthdays.................... sorry!!!

Time at Randy and Debbie Swonger

Maple Syrup.............................................

We went up to Randy and Debbie while they were making maple syrup. This year they had

some help. Dan S and Brian M wanted to join in the fun so they added more trees which

made more work which was okay since there were more people. I enjoyed watching the

process................... it makes one appreciate maple syrup. Pictures above show them collecting

the sap from the buckets and then pouring it into the storage tank.

Here is the boiling process........... and also Randy, Brian and Dan

The tank on the left is where they put in the sap to start the boil or cooking.

The tank on the right continues the cooking and where it becomes syrup.

I'm skipping a lot of the details and correct terminology

The wood pile next to the shack. Dan and Joseph got in on some of the
fun and work.


Now it is down to just the
syrup tank. Waiting for it to reach
the right consistancy. Then let some
out while filting it. Then is goes

in a pail for another boiling. After
that is put in jars which I missed
because I was putting Joseph to
bed.

Joseph was playing with one of the cats. This cat was very tolerating of Joseph. He had picked it up but by the time I got the picture it was sliding from his hold. Even after being nearly
strangled it still followed Joseph around a bit.
Joseph enjoyed having Corina read to him. Our future camper when we get a trailor hitch.

Time for a posting...................

Pictures from some time ago

A couple more tries for the perfect picture.............

First Dan was sick then Joseph had some days with

the cold thing. Some how I escaped from getting a

bad case of it.

Why........why...........why

I get the pictures and words nicely lined up then post and their all over the place. Why is that?

A few pictures

I was trying again to get that perfect picture.

Here are the results.........

You get them in place, say don't move, then snap
the picture..................... look at the picture and
see that they moved.

Bob and Dorothy gave Joseph a bowl with Thomas on it. Dorothy
told him it was a popcorn bowl. So Saturday we had a little
popcorn. He was pretty excited about it.

Another ride for the chickens................ a cold one. Their off to the
farm where they will lay their eggs. (Dan mentioned more

probably survive a cold trip than in the summer)

Just think it won't be long and I might post some pictures of new calves.

Yesterday

We made our trip to Madison early yesterday morning. We took Joseph to Bob and Dorothy V so we wouldn't be distracted at the doctors appointment. After the appointment we picked up Joseph and visited a couple ladies in the nursing home there in Madison. We wish we would have made the trip to see Agnes again. After we got home we found out she had a stroke on Wednesday morning and again yesterday. Agnes has her 107th birthday coming up in April. We feel really bad we didn't go on down there.

What we learned at the doctor visit but not sure we totally understand yet what can we do...........
This is how I understand it..........
*Things aren't as bad as we thought. Out of the 3 test Dan had only one indicates severe leakage. So since the other two don't show it they decided to go with medical therapy (medicine)
*Dan does not have two of the symptoms that go with the mitral valve problem - retaining fluid and shortness of breath. So another reason to try medicine.
*Taking the medicine is to shrink the enlarged heart. The medicine lowers the blood pressure and slows the heart. Then it is not working so hard and shrinks back down in size.
*If there is a severe problem with the valve then surgery is something they would want to do soon before any more damage is done.
*Doctor doesn't really know why Dan is so tired. I got the impression that he doesn't think it is his heart.
*Doctor doesn't feel like there is any reason why Dan can't continue the line of work he is in. As far as Dan's back................ that is not in the doctors department.
*His next appointment is April 13 and they will do another test which should tell us what the medicine has accomplished. Until then.......................... we wait.

My thought on the matter......................... to many different medical opinions is very confusing. Yet it would be nice to have another one outside the VA system.