New Years Eve was the start of our 4 day marathon at Gilligan's. Our original plans had gone belly up, so we decided to celebrate our New Year Eve with Larry and Judy. As we were having a frickin blast, Joel & I turn around and in walks Steve.
He was there celebrating with Pam, Tim and Sue. It had been quite some time since we saw them, so we all tried to catch up. Pam & Steve are doing well and looked fabulous. Tim & Sue's son-in-law had committed suicide and left a wife & kids behind. They are in the long process of healing themselves, daughter and grand kids, but things were starting to look up and they were ready to welcome in a New Year to have a fresh start. Joel & I wish them nothing but the best during this healing time and know that the family bond that they have will guide them through this difficult time. Gary & Nancy showed up with their friends, so the partying continued on.........we closed the bar at 3:00 am! Whew what a grand start to the New Year!!!!Sunday morning.........up, dressed and back to Gilligan's at 11:00 am for a Noon Packer game. Larry & Judy played it smart and had gone home at a "decent" time......not like us dumb a$'s who stayed out all night. Once again, had a blast and afterwards we ran Grandma Waage up to Rice Lake for groceries that she couldn't live without. Ugh! By the time we got home, we were ready to roll into bed.......at 8:00 pm!
Monday morning I sprang out of bed to get ready for our lunch guests, Floyd Furgeson and his partner Jon. Floyd and I attended Emanuel Lutheran School together in elementary years and lost touch in junior high. He have reconnected through Facebook over the last 2 years and just thought it was time to get together. As 11:00 approached.......table was set, cocktails were mixed, lunch was in the oven and I headed up to get cleaned up before they arrived at noon. I had left my phone upstairs and quickly checked it.......OMG! He cancelled!! Are you kidding me!! Plan B.........called Larry and Judy, told them what happened and Larry & Judy to the rescue to help eat all the food. It all worked out for the best as we planned on meeting them at Gilligan's for the Badger's Rose Bowl Game. Crappy game, they lost! :(
Tuesday, I sent Joel back to work for the week and I continued my domestic household engineer job :) That evening, I headed back to Gilligan's for Trivia with my team members Larry, Judy, Joan and Norm. We had our a$es handed to us on a platter, but the beers we awesome! This concluded my 4 day marathon at Gilligan's.
Wednesday brought hopeful news that our foster, Paris had someone interested in her. I immediately got in touch with Dennis Clausen, to set up a meeting the next day at his house in Minneapolis.
Thursday was a day of both a high and low in emotions. I was very busy with work and got a late start leaving for Minneapolis. Big Joe was off from work for the day, so he rode along with Paris and myself. We arrived at Dennis's house and was greeted with open arms. It was love at first sight for both Paris and Dennis. He had officially retired last Saturday, New Year's Eve and was wanting someone to fill up some of his extra time. I could not have hand picked a better Dad for Paris, this was going to be a match made in heaven and I know who was going to rule the roost! We met Joel at Eddington's for a quick lunch before we had to get back home as it was laundry day for Grandma Waage. Got to Grandma's in time to do her laundry, came home, quickly made dinner and stay down to do a little Facebooking......That is when I saw it! My heart dropped, my throat swelled up and my eyes welled up...........
Let me start from the beginning. You all know how I feel about animals in distress, hence why we have 7 babies in the house. I know that I can make a difference, one or two babies at a time. I have a lot of contacts with Internet Min Pin Service (IMPS), National Min Pin Rescue Service (NMPRS) and many, many shelters that are kill shelters and non kill shelters. On December 28th, a picture of Lil Red showed up on my Facebook, stating he was at Orange County, CA Animal Shelter and was in need of help. I don't know what I was instantly drawn to him, but I needed to help him(maybe it was that he looked like Jack's long lost brother).......now. I was speaking with David at NMPRS and we started the process to get a ground transport put together to get him to me. Then a fellow rescuer said that Lil Red had been placed in a foster home a month earlier.
Whew! Another one saved from a slaughter house. Now, back to Thursday evening, January 5th........already had a high going on, Ms Paris had her forever family and now some time to catch up on Facebook. Then I saw it, a posting saying "RIP Red". I quickly read through the thread to find out what the F&^% had happened. Red was a victim.........he was 7 years old, in the prime of his life when the Christmas puppy came into the house . Red will always have a place in my heart and now his picture will reside on my desktop as a constant reminder that I may be one person........but I do make a difference in the lives of distressed animals.Saturday was Grandma Waage's 83rd birthday celebration at Lehman's Supper Club in Rice Lake. It was the first time after living here all these years that we decided to try it out. All I can say is if you go away hungry, you were in the wrong place. The food was beyond awesome, the portions were incredible and the atmosphere was fabulous. John, Joanne, Joel and I surprised Grandma with her two nephews, Brent and Terry along with their wives that she hadn't seen in almost 10 years. We all had a lovely evening with reminiscing about the good ole days.
Sunday was spent working around the house, installing 3 interior doors in the basement and getting ready for Scott to come next Saturday to help Joel get his brewery started in the basement. Sunday evening, Grandma Waage took Jonathan, Big Joe, Joel and I out to celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary which is January 10th. Was an early evening as Joel needed to prepare to go back to work bright and early Monday morning for meetings.
The rest of the week is looking up to be the same ole, same ole.......
Check Back Soon........Check Back Often
Joel, Amy and Jonathan
