As I write this I am trying to remember what has happened in the past two and half weeks. Nothing too much. On this past Saturday, after the Mens Group meeting, I made a couple of stops, with the last one being at Menards. I had somewhat decided that we needed to replace both toilets with the newer water saving ones. A week earlier, the basement toilet wasn’t working right so as I was messing around with it, I ended up breaking the valve so I ran into Ace Hardware to buy a replacement part. Well, I got what I needed, got home and replaced it, but it didn’t work out so well. It is tough to find the tank parts that work well with the old five gallon tanks. Anyway, making a short story long, I ended up buying a new toilet for the basement at Menards. And being they had a 10% if you use the Menards card, I also found a new faucet for both bathrooms as they both leak.

When I got home, I started on replacing the basement bathroom faucet. It went in okay, but was a little tight for the drain opener and needed a little extra tightening, but it works well. It is higher than the one that was in there – the old one barely made it past the edge of the sink. This one is higher and swivels so those that want to wash their hair in the sink can now do so. Plus it is easier to fill up the new little humidifier that Nancy bought.

Matt came home last week announcing he had gotten first chair baritone in the Ninth Grade Honor Band. So this week he starts practice for that on Wednesdays from 4-5 pm. This week’s practice is at Central. The rest are at Stevens. I don’t recall when the concert is held.

Cathy’s been getting a lot of college letters. The thing that surprised us the most though, was her interest in the Army. A recruiter had stopped in their Spanish class and talked about being a translator, about the classes in California, job opportunities, etc. Well Cathy is really interested in it, even if that means having to run and do push-ups & sit-ups, etc. Don’t know if she truly is interested or if she is just looking at her options. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

It has been another week. Nothing too exciting has happened. Matt doesn’t have to wear his splint anymore. He goes back to the Dr. next Friday 1/30 for possibly the final checkup. The doctor wants to make sure things are healing correctly. Nancy went to the doctor on Friday 1/23 to have her right hand pinky checked out. On Thursday evening, she was crocheting when it suddenly went numb. I helped her wrap it in a splint on Friday morning before she went to work. She said it was getting more swollen and sore so she called the doctor’s office around 4 and they would take her right then so off she went. Steve’s not sure what the problem is but he splinted it with a different type of splint. With Donna finding out she does have arthritis, some of the folks at Nancy’s work asked her if that is what she thinks it is. Right now Nancy is just denying it, figuring that will keep it away. But if it doesn’t get better in a week or so, she is to go back and they will do some more tests, one being the blood test.

On Thursday night I was back up at Church again for the Youth Ministry Planning Team quarterly meeting. We reviewed all the activities we are currently doing in the church, not just the youth activities. We are a pretty busy parish. And we talked about a number of activities coming up, including the 30 hour famine, Leadership Camp, MMA, etc. It was a good meeting with a good meal (lasagne, salad, bread, desert) prepared by Pat.

On Friday evening Nancy and I went furniture shopping again. We’ve been looking for a new couch to replace the love seat being the one side keeps breaking. What we really want is some custom stuff but that will have to wait. Well we found a couch, glider, coffee table and two side tables so now on Saturday we need to go pick them up. It will be the last nice day for a week or more and we’ll need to use the trailer to haul it. We’ll go get it after I get home from my Men’s Group meeting at Church.

Last Friday (1/9/2004) Dad called and said his sister-in-law Pat had passed away that morning. Pat had been battling cancer for a little over a year. He called back later that evening and said they were holding a memorial service Sunday evening in Bismarck, ND, the wake would be Monday evening at the church in Lead with the funeral Tuesday at 10:00 AM. He and my sisters Mary & Barb would be coming out Monday morning.

On Saturday the kids had a retreat at Church. This is part of the pilot theology class they are taking this year for their Youth Formation Class. It was lead by Fr. John Hatcher who is writing the book, which is a modified version of the Lay Ministry program books he wrote several years ago. I went up for the Men’s group meeting. When I got home, Nancy & I took down the Christmas decorations. When we were done, I said to Nancy that it seemed to go faster this year. She said it was because the kids weren’t around to help. We went to Mass and then to Nancy’s work “holiday” party.

On Monday morning I ordered $80 flower arrangement for Pat. Dad, Mary & Corey arrived around 4:00 PM. Barb didn’t come because her youngest son Blaine was sick. After we ate we headed up to Lead for the wake. We hung around for a while and visited with a lot of different people. I hadn’t seen Rich & Pat’s kids in years. We got home around 9:30.

Tuesday morning we left for the funeral around 8:30. For me, funerals just aren’t sad occasions any more. I firmly believe that if a person was a good, God will reward them so they are now enjoying eternal life. Toward the end, Patti spoke briefly about her Mom. Afterwards, we gave Uncle Corny Kientz a ride to the cemetery. Pat was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery, which is a few miles outside of Deadwood along US Hwy 14. I had never noticed it before. It is actually a very beautiful location. We headed back to the church for some lunch. After visiting some more we headed home. We when home via Hwy 385 and Nemo Rd. When we got home, after taking some photo’s of a large 5×5 buck down the hill, and giving a tour of the camper to Dad & Mary, we headed into Rapid City. Corey wanted to go see the dinosaurs – so that is where we went. After that I took them out to Countryside, south on Sheridan Lake Road to show them the house we almost bought. They both decided they like where we lived better because it is much easier to find and more trees and land.

It’s a new year and I have a bunch of things to update here.

We had a good Christmas – didn’t go anywhere because Nancy had to work. The kids read a Midnight Mass, Nancy and I were Eucharistic Ministers, and Cathy played her Sax. I really like when the choir does the What Child is This and Child of the Poor together. We got home a little before 2:00 AM. Cathy put some ice on her foot as she slipped on the steps and twisted her ankle on the way to Midnight Mass. I think Nancy and I got to bed around 4:00 AM. The kids were pretty good – didn’t get us up until something like 9:30 or 10. The kids insisted Nancy and I open our presents first so we ended up doing that.

I got a dart board game, picture (If you’re lucky enough to live in the Black Hills, you’re lucky enough.) for my office, an indoor/outdoor thermometer which displays max/min/current outdoor temp & outdoor humidity, a weather ball, travel coffee mug, socks, and some other things I just don’t remember right now. Nancy got a spa (one you put in the bathtub), two (office & home) ergonomic keyboards, candles, and some not so personal gifts of a new kitchen facet, automatic setback HAC thermostat and a dry erase board for by the phone. Cathy got a snow globe (which holds a candle), a Halloween haunted house that holds a candle, gift certificate for the local Celtic store, computer games, Borders gift certificate, and some other things I don’t recall. Matt got a guitar (within one year he has to play at Church), Kansas City Chiefs Jersey & football (says things) & cup, computer games, Borders Gift Certificate and his Black Hawk Down book signed by Mike Durant. We also got the Black Hawk Down CD which Mike also signed. We got Trivia Pursuit from Jim & Janet. A box of meat containing bologna, summer sausage, country style sausage and beef sticks from Grandpa Sass. And we got money from Grandpa & Grandma Dwyer. The kids have already spent some of that on books.

On Wednesday December 31, Nancy, Matt and I, along with Matt’s friend Brenden went to Deer Mountain to do some tubing. Nancy just took photos. It was okay – the snow wasn’t the best for it, but it was fun. Matt hurt his left hand trying to avoid some people that were just standing in the middle of the hill. Needless to say he is hurting yet from that – may have to take him to the doctor.

Cathy was still home sick today. Her medicines are just wiping her out – she got up, went upstairs, and promptly fell back asleep. Around 9:30, she was thinking about going to school, but hadn’t eaten and was still, what I would call, a bit light-headed. Around 10:30 she was up walking around to see how things were going. We both had some pizza for lunch. I had tried to call Nancy at work, but she was out doing visits, so I called her on her cell phone. Well, I didn’t expect her to answer so I was going to leave her a message, but she did. She was busy so I told her to call back when she had a few minutes. The main question I had was about how soon Cathy could take another dose of some of her meds. Well by the time Nancy called back, Cathy had pretty much decided not to go – she was concerned about rushing between classes and getting light headed and not making it.

The furnace/water heater service man had called in the morning and was planning on coming out. We decided around 1:00 PM would be a good time for him to come so that is when he showed up. The main reason for me calling them was the water heater. For almost two weeks, it kept shutting down and we would end up without hot water. Well, according to the blinking LED and the book, it was one of several possible problems. One was low gas pressure, but MDU was out and checked that last Friday, and it was good. Another was the flame sensor might be dirty or bad, but I didn’t know how to check that so they came out. A dirty sensor is exactly what the problem appears to have been. It has been working correctly since then – hopefully it will continue to. As long as they were coming out, I also had them replace the humidifier water filter and the UV light. They left the old one with me in case something happens and I need to replace the new one.

This afternoon I called and talked to Dad to see if their Texas fruit showed up, and it did. Dad said he hadn’t tried any yet but Dwayne said it tasted like it was tree ripened or something – which it was. Dad said his brother Rich called around 9:30 last night, and they didn’t get off the phone until 1:30 AM. Rich updated Dad on Pat’s condition – which doesn’t sound good, possibly only a few more months. She was to go today to see about possible some radiation treatment or possibly some surgery. Dad also called Pat’s sister Mary to let her know if she was going to go visit Pat, sooner would be better than later.

I picked up Matt from school also. Nancy had called and asked if I could as she was busy. I didn’t have much to do this afternoon so I went and got him. I also deposited two insurance checks that came in the mail today. And speaking of mail, I remembered this morning to pick up the neighbor’s mail and paper – I should have started it two days ago, but forgot, mainly because on Wednesday the mailman delivered the mail to the house because of a large package he had to deliver.