Good morning from St. Louis. Temperature here is about 15 and I don't know - or want to know - what the wind chill is. Our furnace wasn't working one morning this week but it turned out to be a minor thing and the repairman got here before we froze.

We had some bad news this week. Shirley's brother-in-law, Clark, died in the middle of the night on Thursday. He had been very ill for quite some time. His widow, Shirley's sister, Loretta, is our vacationing card playing companion. She is our fourth Golden Girl anytime we have the opportunity to be with her. Rose and Shirley are leaving this afternoon for Louisiana to attend the services and to help comfort Loretta and her children. Their son, Michael, lives here in St. Louis and he and his fiance, Leslie, were already in Louisiana. Their daughter, Yvonne, and grandaughter, Savannah, live near Loretta. Shirley is their 'Aunt Rose' and Loretta's 'sister Sue'.

I have the appointment with the seizure clinic on Monday. It took weeks to get the appointment so I don't want to cancel it and decided not to go to Louisiana. Goldman and I will drop Rose and Shirley at the airport this afternoon and then Goldman will take me to the Abbotts. Chris will accompany me on Monday so he can again list my occupation as exotic dancer. The other doctors didn't seem to believe him so he's going to try to convince this new group.

Joe's generator blew out his computer and I guess it's still in the shop since we haven't had any emails from him. He said it's three years old. Pete claims that if you replace a refrigerator every seven years, it will pay for itself. Maybe computers are similar and have a three year economic span. Pete, I replaced my refrigerator at the lake a couple years ago and I'm still waiting for a check. Who's supposed to send it?

I can't tell a lot of improvement from the first two new IVIG's yet, but improvement was slow and very gradual when I had these treatments before. My next infusions will begin Valentine's Day. I'll have to stay overnight in the hospital again which I think is totally unnecessary and makes a long night.

Does anyone keep in touch with Wanda Jean? These awful storms in Florida has made us really think about her and we wonder how she and her family are doing.

Pete just called for his weekly update. He had a birthday this week but didn't do much celebrating since "Ma" had a cold. Bernie and Maudie are nearby and Pete told Bernie that he was an expert at hooking up satellite dishes and volunteered to hook up Bernie's. He had to admit to Bernie after several attempts that he didn't know as much as he thought he did. Is this an inherited trait that we all have, exaggerating our expertise?

The guys are organizing their annual work week at the lake for the last week in March. In reality, Doug tells them how and what to do and has to watch to be sure they do it right. Goldman claims that he can now pull nails out of boards without supervision. Doug, how many years and nails did it take to teach him this? Their project this year is making the deck one level which means fewer steps for me and also so we spread out a bit because we tend to group around just one of the tables. Goldman does most of the cooking during that week except for breakfast. Breakfast is Scott's task and he can never cook too much bacon. Goldman always cooks brisket using his grandmother's recipe at least once and it's always a mover. I don't think they have any sit down organized meals. They eat either when they get hungry or when the food is ready - or both.