I certainly hope this coming week will be better than previous weeks for me. After midnight going into Wednesday, Feb. 3 I received a call from Karen J. I had been calling her and receiving no answer starting in December. I couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t calling. When I did hear from her, it wasn’t good news. Her sister, Tammie’s husband John had died the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 1. The reason why she hadn’t called was because she was watching him as Tammie was still in school teaching. He had ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Zachary went to the Vet’s Clinic to make a date for one of Bethany’s kittens. Remember the kitten that had a back leg hung up in the fence that we happened to see when we drove by? “She” couldn’t get down and three other kittens stood in front of her as if to say, “we can’t help you.” Zachary got her down and off she went to join the other kittens. The next day Bethany took her to the vet’s for medicine to ward off infection. Well, now Pumpkin is going to the vet’s for another reason. The school didn’t teach all that Bethany should have gotten information about on cats, especially their gender!
I see on television the other night that MMCRU School received a $10,000 grant for education purposes. I’m sure the next board meeting we will hear more about this. The school must be doing something right in order to get a grand this size.
I went to Thelma Gravenish’s funeral on Thursday. Reading her obituary, I thought there was a date that was wrong. She might have gone to Heartland Care Center in 2012, but she did not quit writing for the Marcus News in 2006. I went back to the newspaper and found she was still writing for the Marcus News in 2011. She really was well informed on many items and it was sad to see when she was losing all this to dementia problems. It is hard to understand why a vaccine could be found so quickly for COVID, when dementia and other diseases like ALS have had no help. I know money has a lot to do with there being research and a cure, and there just doesn’t seem to be any extra for these other diseases.
Basketball season is coming to a close for this year. I really have appreciated being able to stay home and still see the games on the television. Thanks to whoever is responsible for this. Friday night, we played Gehlen from Le Mars at Marcus. MMCRU girls have not lost a game this year, drew a bye for district, and are looking good as far as state material is concerned. Friday night, the opposite team knew which girl/girls to keep the ball away from and try and get a foul from. We do have other girls that can take over when this happens, which is good for us. The final score was in the 40’s for us which was unusually low.
Our boys were ahead of Gehlen boys several times, tied as many times, but lost by fouls which resulted in Gehlen making the free throws and winning the game. Actually, it was a good game and MMCRU boys have improved over the last games.
We did have a school in our area that cancelled a Tuesday night game because 7 of the players had the flu. Hopefully the flu stays away from any of these teams that are getting ready for district play.
Joanne Johnson is at Heartland Care Center for a short stay. I understand she is in one of the nine new rooms Heartland has. I was in one of these and believe me, it was like being in a hotel room really nice!
Remember in your thoughts and prayers those who have lost loved ones to death, have their lives changed because of this, are struggling with health problems, some of which are terminal, are having a hard time making ends meet even though they have a job, encourage those who are not working to accept a job so that others don’t have to work doubly hard in their place, and to those who are distanced from their family and friends and are trying to build a bridge instead of a wall. Count your blessings.
I will leave you with this quotation from Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author, “Walking with a friend in the dark is better then walking alone in the light.”