Awake: 6:41am Temp 52 sleep 6+59 sunny overnight @ Watertown, WI.
“Happy Birthday to Kathy!” On the occasion of this special occasion, I serve her not one, but two cups of coffee while she is still in bed. Well, it’s a start; the day’s only begun.
Larry visits us early; “a lot of people will be arriving today so just feel free to introduce yourselves & make yourselves @ home” he tells us.
I was going to keep track of the names of each person/persons when they arrive & what side of the family they are they related to & where they are from, etc. But as the day went on, I was distracted by doing things + too many people escaped my attention to log them in properly.
Mid morning, I continue trimming the low branches on the west side of the circular drive & finally finish this job around 1:00pm.
Meanwhile, Kathy has been getting e-mail cards, notes, & phone calls from all around the country; such popularity.
Ken & Chris, the carpenters, are finished (for now) with the 1st floor bathroom renovation & the old studs, sheetrock, floor tile, etc have been accumulating on the flat bed trailer outside the garage. With plenty of relatives & friends coming, Larry is ready to move it with the pickup & make the entrance more presentable; his son Alex, home for a few weeks from college, backs the truck up to hitch the trailer. Just then, lunch time is announced & that stops everything. You don’t want to miss a meal when Sallie or/and her sister, Cindy, are cooking. We have been enjoying some great meals, without a doubt.
After another terrific lunch, we haul that load of “rough stuff” over to Bruce & Marsha’s big burn pile. Only the burn worthy “stuff” is off loaded; the rest stays on the trailer to be dumped @ some other legal site. Larry does a superb job of backing the flat bed trailer under some low hanging branches on the east side of the house which nearly camouflages the unit.
After my shower, I go into the house to meet the people; (28) for dinner, most to spend the night. Some of the guys are having prayer time in the prayer room as I walk nearby. That makes it a little easier to remember names when the intros are spaced out. When the guys finish with their prayers, someone started the ball rolling about getting a tour of that motorhome parked in front. Since Shabbat starts @ 8:00pm, these people certainly don’t want to wait until Sunday to satisfy their curiosity.
With all shoes removed, Kathy explains the galley, shows the pantry, Murphy bed, rear shower, etc to the ladies; I answer fuel mileage, slide operation, finding campgrounds, driving the bus questions, etc to mostly guys. Norm, an elderly distinguished gentleman, originally from Watertown, then Milwaukee & now Florida, who I befriended & spent most of my time talking with that evening, kept my attention with some good stories of life & living.
8:30pm dinner: There were (2) long tables & a lot of passing of much food; Chala bread, egg drop soup, salad, (2) types of chicken, corn on the cob, green beans, etc. And for dessert: frozen lemon pie, almond pound cake, watermelon, and a 2 layer lemon cake with chocolate frosting which Sallie announced was “Kathy’s birthday cake” & so it was brought in to all singing “Happy Birthday” to Kathy.
Many discussions & conversations with many people too numerous to mention.
K & I finally make our way toward the door to return to our bus but then, in the prayer room, who do we find: about (20) of the young crowd & some older, playing the game of Taboo & having a great ole time doing it. We watched in amazement for over (25) min. They were hilarious!
By the end of the day, all of our children had called their mother for her birthday which truly made it a special day for her!
High temp=74 Lights out: 11:30pm
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