Minneapolis, Mn

March 14, 2010

Good Morning to all,

Another week has passed and 2010 spring and daylight savings has given Doris and I the opportunity to look forward to more and more enjoyable Minnesota weather.

Unfortunately, a rainy week and melting snow and ice have added to the runoff into Minnesota streams and rivers. It seems every spring, people living near these waterways suffer from floods. It always amazes me how much they must love living near or even on these flood plains. We wish them luck again this year.

To-Day, The U of M basketball team plays in one of the semi-final games. I nor Doris are not die hard sport fans, but do get excited when the Gophers, Twins and Vikings do well.

The Minnesota Twins, after much dissatisfaction with the Metro-Dome now have a brand new outdoor ball field. I have not seen it except driving by and television pictures. All reports are that it is a state of the art place to watch and play baseball. More tickets, season and singles, have been sold than anytime before in the history of this Minnesota team. Even those who complained about how the stadium was financed or where it was built are now standing in line for tickets. Many of the teams future home games are already sell outs especially the Yankees and Milwaukee. We shall see what happens on the cold and wet days of a Minnesota spring. The Target Corporation helped financially, hence (Target Field).

Son Tod is doing better with his therapy. Twice each week his friends, the Siglers make sure he gets to his sessions and exersize sessions. Doris and I are very appreciative of this family.

Son Jay, the father of the triplet girls is busy with his his recent purchase of the duplex next to his. It was in pretty bad shape and required many unexpected repairs. I have been helping as much as I can with repairs than can be accomplished in my shop.

In addition to our blog, we send e-mails and to those who are not computerized an occasional letter. It seem unfair that if you don't have a computer youre out of the loop. Some have trouble when receiving e-mails and opening attachments. We too have the same problems occasionally when receiving e-mails with attachments. I must assume we are not alone. We just keep on keeping on.

The green thumb news; This last week I sowed my wild oats! In my case it was tomatoes. I use those handy little plastic greenhouses that contain every thing to be successful except the seed. These tiny tomato seeds have sprouted and are doing well in our partly sunny living room window. Yesterday I purchased the soil for them to grow in when they grow up. I need all the help I can get as the growing area in my grow boxes is not very spacious. This gives me and the tomato plants a better chance to be popular when those delicious red fruits are ready for slicing. I especially am anxious to watch them, on a daily basis, grow outside of my shop door.

Today is bright and sunny. I awoke to daylight saving this morning. Popped out of bed, showered, shaved and then realized it was Sunday, not Monday.

Almost as bad as showing up at church after the service.

1969;

Woodstock, Apollo Mission to the moon and Sesame Street debuted. Do you remember?

He said to her "what have you been doing with all the grocery money I have been giving you"?

She said to him " turn sideways and look in the mirror".

Jim and doris

An exciting week at the Minneapolis Battenberg,s

March 7, 10

Today is March 7th.

Two full days and 61 years have passed since our marriage in Madison, Wisconsin, Doris, home and her affiliation with Trinity Lutheran Church.

Most of Doris, family and friends and my family were in attendance.

Many of those are gone now.

We have fond memories of all those great relatives and friends who gave us our start in the beginning 61 years ago.

If anyone who was in attendance that day it would be thrilling to hear from them.

The second exciting event that took place this last week was the electronic filing of our income tax.

Who would have thought 61 years ago that we would be able type information onto a computer, dig up last years Income tax return, stored in a computer type information into little boxes, and send it to the IRS with out using an adding machine having or to dig for information we might have missed if it was not for the electronic miracle we are now used and would have a tough time living without and communicating to many many people without this valuable asset.

Mind boggling to say the least.

Our long lost wandering son Tod, who resides in Oroville, Ca. unfortunately suffered a stroke. It has slightly paralyzed his right side. He is in therapy and his right arm is working better than his his right leg. There is s a family that has adopted him and are taking great care of him.

(they deserve a gold star) His prognoses is good but has high cholesterol and blood pressure. (to much junk food).

I will take time to explain what the problem was over the time since I published my last blog. I finally opted for a service with high speed internet capabilities. I had trouble getting reconnected to many of my former list of providers such as the blog. I have restructured and am (I think) back in the loop. My e-mail is (e.jamesbattenberg@comcast.net) I might add that I am more than satisfied with the service and ease it affords me.

Those of us in Minnesota are now looking forward to spring. We were clobbered with a snow storm on Christmas day that was almost immediately followed by a hard rain. Because of the holiday, plows were not immediately dispersed and over night the whole mess froze solid. We have been suffering with that until the last couple of weeks when the sun rises higher each day and takes its toll on all that snow and ice.

I (Mr Green Thumb) have been thinking of starting my Tomato plants in our living room as I did last year. It is not Doris, favorite place for them but is the only place I have found where I can give the proper environment and the loving care they need. Stay tuned for more tomato news.

It seems as though I have been rambling to long so will sign off for now , but not without a smile!

Aging:

Eventually we all will reach a point in our lives when you stop lying about your age and start

bragging about it.

When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, Think about algebra!

Remember to keep on keeping on!

Jim and Doris