March Madness in New Immigrant

Puzzled: I miss you all and fully intend to continue writing here, for those who may have wondered. I miss not being part of your lives and having our give and take. In recent weeks my daily schedule has been changed with Tom here more, with exercise and frequent birding excursions added to my routine, I've not managed where to reschedule my computer time. This causes me pangs of guilt as well as thinking about you continually, wondering how you are. I intend to get things worked out.

Smile: Basketball is "my" game. Two Iowa teams were/are in the NCAA tournament and gave us nail-biting performances, the Wisconsin Badgers did too. The "high" sporting events provide is not loss on me. I always wonder if it supplants the primitive "thrill" of the hunt.

Smile: Spot and Una are purring on my lap.

Smile: The truck is running again. Repair of the broken brake cable and ABS connection cost $681. The Wisconsin Toyota dealership was exceptional in maintaining contact, spelling things out clearly, and even reporting those damages were most likely from the towing (which was our expectation, you recall).

Frown: Since our last claim our insurance company (Allied) has changed. Not that WE changed it, but it's been bought by a larger corporation or something. Rather than a local agent who knows us, we are now dealing with an out-of-town person. If we read our policy we might have known we were to contact Allied in advance about towing. All this makes us wonder how much of the claim they will pay. The body work will be $3,500. This winter has caused an above-normal number of claims and we fear that could affect us. Even our body shop can't work on the truck until April 21st!

Smile: Our body shop recommended an auto glass company which thinks it can repair the back window (hammered out during my earlier house/car lock out) for $50.

Smile: I've continued getting on the treadmill regularly. My calendar is filled with the red stars I draw for myself on those days. However, I am looking forward to walking OUTDOORS.

Frown: Have not lost any weight.

Smile: Have Pyewackett and Una scheduled to be spayed next week. Pye seems to be constantly in heat so I don't know if she can have it (surgery is risky then). Spot is patient and sweet with her, licking her (both ends) but that is all he can do. I laugh when she presents herself and he bats at her tail! Isn't it interesting that both she and Una focus on him, a neutered male? Apparently he still exudes some male pheromones?

Frown: The main channel is open, despite an overnight low of 10' last night (bah-humbug). Two below freezing days in a row and many other windy, chilly ones are getting me down. For the next ten days daytime highs will be mainly in the forties (low for March/April).

Smile: Saw six Great Blue Herons together in a backwater fishing spot. The river is covered with ducks. I chanced to see a dozen male Hooded Mergansers fighting over a single female. Was she the Homecoming Queen, I wondered? At my favorite marsh there were a dozen sandhill cranes.

Smile: Gathered with friends for the first time in months. This winter has nearly done us in. Friend John took off for his daughter's in Florida. I gave him a hard time about not taking me along, too. If any of my Florida friends know anything about "snowbird" rentals, please help! Probably we should get a realtor in the area we're interested in (Fort Meyers, Tampa, Sarasota)? Both Tom and I are DONE with northern winters.

Frown: I need to try attaching photos here and still haven't.

Smile: HIGHLY RECOMMEND a book I've mentioned before, the Pulitzer Prize winning "Devil in the Grove" by Gilbert King. The focus is on a Lake County Florida
court case (1949 on) about the alleged (untrue) rape of a young white woman by four black men and the NAACP legal team, including Thurgood Marshall, who battled the case at the risk of their own lives. The well-researched history reads like a novel and shows the vile, despicable face of Jim Crow-ism in the courts equally with the reign of terror of Lake County's Sheriff Willis McCall.

I am grateful for: Each and every one of you Sunny days Having insurance

I will be noting you.

Carpe Diem!