Congratulations to the USA for our teams in the Olympic games. They won the most medals, and that was no easy task. Several records were broken especially one in swimming by a 17 year girl in her first event. Remarkable, and she was all smiles.

How pleasant it was to see all the smiles and hugs for the winners everywhere. Winners would hug the losers, and it was pleasant all around. There were some tears for the losers, but it didn't last long because it was an honor to be there. All the entrants had to qualify to be there. Now for me, I never won any thing in athletics. It was more like some one has to be last.

It is so refreshing to see all these beautiful people from all different countries smiling and hugging each other in peace. I say that every time I watch the Olympics, because it is true. There were tens of millions of people that were able to watch these games which is also remarkable.

To change the subject, most of you know that I like to garden, and I can report some success. My cucumbers are doing fairly well, and they are delicious, That is the good news. My tomatoes are very tall, and so far I had one tomato. However there are many green ones coming along. This new watering system is working fine, and I do not need to water them. The cabbages are starting to head, and they look pretty good, The peppers are starting to bloom, so we will get some later. The really bad crop is the corn. There is too much shade for the corn to grow. I might have to change to something else next year.

I do have some beautiful phlox, white and purple, and I'm waiting for my order of irises to come for fall planting. I like flowers too. 

Why Would God Be Mad At Us ??

Could it be that God is angry with us as a whole nation ?
Of course He has many reasons. We have been identified as having a culture of death, however I have not heard of anyone doing anything about it. Just the reverse. A 24 year old crazy man shoots 70 people killing at least 12.  This is the worst tragedy of this type in our country. This happened two days ago.

I believe that God gave Moses ten commandments, and one says not to kill any one. " Though shall not kill "
Before this recent tragedy, abortions have been killing babies by the millions.

Where are the moralists, the religious leaders, the Christian churches that are accepting this situation by their silence,  They should be telling the truth that this activity is grave evil. I believe God is angry with our Christian nation as it continues to accept this evil of killing. I also believe that voting for individuals that promote abortion are guilty,  to some degree, as well. White is white and black is black, Amen

The country as a whole has to return to the original morals that we had before, and start teaching the Ten Commandments again  Because the violations are rampant, and the end is not in sight. .  . 

Is God Mad At The USA ?

Is God mad at us?  You would think that perhaps He is since all the terrible things that are happening to our country. Theoretically that this is not the case, because this is not the way that God does things. But now I am not so sure. According to the insurance companies, they say that this an act of God when a tree falls on your house. The Natural Law of God allows this to happen.

My thinking is that God created haven and earth and although He allows this to happen that there might be a way that we might have an influence on things. When Jesus was on earth, He said that God the Father will hear us if we pray. Could this be our problem ? Did we stop praying ?

In praying we can use informal or formal prayers. Informal is like talking to God as if was in the room. However formal praters have to come from memory. This could be a problem. Most Christians know the Lord's prayer or the Our Father, and the Hail Mary. We need to use these.

In my personal praying, especially while saying the rosary, that the part about Mary's womb was a bit annoying. I am a doctor of medicine, and I felt annoyed having to talk about part of Mary's anatomy. Also in teaching small children, that phrase is meaningless, Now that I am in my senior years and saying.my daily rosary, I needed to change those words. Now I am comfortable with the prayer. I would like to print the whole prayer:       Hail Mary, full of grace,
                           the Lord is with you
                          Blessed are you among women,
                         and Blessed is your Son, Jesus.
                         Holy Mary, Mother of God,
                          pray for us now and at the hour our death, Amen

Most people like it, it is easier to teach, more appropriate in meaning, saying that Mary had a son. I think it is a beautiful prayer, and we can use any words that we like.

My point is that we need to pray  

Gardening With A New System

This year I am having more success with my plants, because my son was able to set up an automatic watering system. It is working very well, and the tomato plants are doing very well. He only installed it for the tomato plants since we have 16 of them which is a lot if they grow. Last year we had the same number but we had only a few tomatoes. So this time we are making a few changes, and this irrigation is the main one.

My son Rick was aware of  this system and was able to get the parts, It is a bit complicated, however he did get it working perfectly. This is all operated by the water, and there is no electronic parts or batteries. He has it set so that it waters each plant, and it gets 1 gallon of water in a 24 hour period. The water is given in small amounts through out the day. He has his in tubs, and his tomatoes are growing like crazy. All of them are full of blossoms and several have small fruit on them now in June. Mine are in the field, and they are smaller but have some blossoms. My location does not get as much sun, and they are much smaller. Stay tuned to see how many tomatoes we get this year.

Now for the rest of the garden
Next to the tomatoes, I have 8 cucumber plants. Now these have to be supported, so they are in 4 cages.
Next are 7 cabbage plants that some deer that started to nibble.
Next is a row of peas for pods. My daughter, Barbara, visiting me had a sample, the first produce.
Next are 9 sweet green pepper  plants, one is starting to bloom
Last is my corn field which is about 10 feet square
 Now I have to brag, because I planted these all by myself at 93 , almost.

Speaking of Barbara, she came from Minnesota for a visit which I appreciated very much, We had a wonderful lunch prepared by Hedy and her daughter, Nora. It was very pleasant. Thank you all. 

New Exercise For A 92 Year old

Would you believe this exercise is in the kitchen ? Yes, emptying the dish washer, and I am an expert. Let me explain..
The dish washer was invented about the year when our twins were born in 1956. That was a time when you had to sterilize the glass baby bottles. This had to be done by boiling the bottles in water. When I was reading the news paper I read about a home dish washer that is now available for the first time. This unit could do all the sterilizing for both bottles and dishes. I promptly called the store, and it was available. I was able to have it installed in our kitchen with no problem. From that time on we always had a dish washer.
Over the years I was able to load and empty on occasion but not very often at first. But now in my old age, I am in need to be active as much as possible. Living here with my son and his large family they needed larger  bowls and heavy pots and pans. I volunteered to empty the dish washer.
I was surprised how heavy glass bowls are. Then stake them on shelves that are above my head. Also pots and pans and various grills that have to be stacked.
I find myself bending and lifting and carrying and walking all over the kitchen usually for 1/2 hour almost daily. I don't need to go to any health club, or pay any one a fee. Besides my school teacher daughter-in-law is happy that that is done. I'm making points that way too.
Needless to say that I'm happy to be here rather then in a type of home for old people.      

Did the Jesus Man die ?

On Good Friday I was reading in my monthly magazine " U.S.Catholic, " and this title caught my eye. Upon reading this essay, I learned that a little girl about three years old, asked her mother at the end of the service, "Did the Jesus Man die?" The mother answered, "Yes, honey, He died."

In our Apostle Creed that we say at mass there is a phrase that states that Jesus was a True God and a True man. He was born in a natural birth from His mother, Mary. That is how we all were born. After our birth we will live a certain number of years, then we all have to die. Now if Jesus was a true Man, then He had to die. Well it was predicted that His death would be very horrendous and break His mother's heart. My opinion is that His death had to be so severe that there would not be any question that He died.

After the three days He rose from the dead, and was alive again. He was completely healed and walking around, but the others did not recognize Him until He spoke. He went to Mary Magdaline and said, " Mary." Then she knew who He was. Why didn't she know Him because He was transformed, but His voice was the same. This happened several times later.

I personally had a similar experience after my wife died, I heard her voice about one month later speaking to me. My granddaughter-in-law heard and saw her in a dream about three days later.

So there is life after death, but our bodies will be transformed. If we are good on earth and we get to heaven, there will be complete happiness.

Happy Easter to all

Thin Ice

Even though I live now in Illinois, I continue to get the Minocqua Wisconson news paper every week because I have many friends there. Also our lake property is there with my son,Jack,as owner, and we need to follow the various changes that are occurring.

Now in last week's paper was a sad item even though I didn't know the people personally, I still felt the sadness for these people. In four consecutive days there were four accidents where people went through thin ice and drowned. The last one was the worst. Here the vehicle fell with two passengers went through the ice, but one was able to escape out of the vehicle. The other person drowned. How tragic to have sudden deaths in four families of active people.

This winter has also been mild with very little snow when a normal mid January temperatures should be near zero and ice on the lakes over 4 inches thick. This brought to my mind the time when I fell through the ice.

Very similar circumstances, mid January, but temperature was near zero and a good cover of snow. It was a week end when Jack and Marilou were over to do some cross country skiing. They went on the pond that I call, Broz Lake, because it is on the East end of our property. After they returned they suggested that there was a beautiful spot on the pond where the snow covered branches arched over the inlet creek, like a cathedral.

Then on Monday I told Dorothy that we should check it out because there was not much happening that day. After lunch we put on our skies and went to find our new found "cathedral". We were skiing on our pond before, and I knew where this creek was located. We would have to go about a half block across the pond and to our right.

There it was. A beautiful winter scene. The trees were on both sides, as if it was an entrance. It was narrow so I told Dorthy that I would go first. I hardly finished saying that when I started to go down as if I was in an elevator. Skies and all made a seven foot hole in the ice, I told her not to come any closer because I fell through the ice.

This was a shallow spot and I was standing on the bottom, However I am up to my waist standing in ice cold water. I leaned to the side to get out but the ice broke. So I moved back to thicker ice, I was able to get my left leg and ski out of the water. However when I turned my body, my right ski was caught under the ice. Now I had to lower my self back into the water to release the right ski and turn it to be able to get it into the hole where it went in. Now I was able to get both skies on top of the ice, and I decided to keep both skies on since I had to get back to the house.

I made it back but my shoes were encased in ice. I was able to get my skies off, and then I had to melt the shoe laces before I could get them off. I proceeded to remove my wet clothes and dry myself. Then a hot chocolate drink. The next day I developed a cold, but that was all of the effects after an ice bath.

My guardian angel was with me all that while so I'm here to tell you my story. So be careful of thin ice.