By Laura Kadlec Activities Director & Music Therapist

We never know where our sing-a-long conversations will take us. Although it's the regular Monday morn – ing sing time, it's often about life's questions, such as, “Why are polka dots called polka dots?" This question arrived after the song, “Pol- ka Dots and Moonbeams." Our seniors are amazed at the possibilities the internet brings, and so we googled it. Indeed, the name of these "dancing" dots arrived in 1857, at the same time as the popularity of the polka dance grew. Now you know! After singing and solving the question of the day, lunch was served, naps taken, mag- azines read, mail delivered and on to our afternoon pop corn social. Soon after, Stac- ey oered our newest game, Tic-Tac-Toss. Similar to tic- tac-toe but with bean bags. Top throwers this week were Carol Bauer (fourth place), Alvin Bergmark (third), Penny Staord (second) and first place champion Frances White. After supper, Teresa Fedie stopped in and assisted with Bingo.

It was so nice to have Fa- ther Jojo and Terry Pelzel here Tuesday morning for mass and communion. They are faithful to come every week and visit with those who are unable to attend. Sure, we can watch mass on our televisions, but how much nicer it is to worship together with others. Soon after, we had a fun game of Name That Tune. We lis tened to over 50 songs and winners were as follows: Barb Smith in second place and a three-way tie for first place between Barb Grewe, Mary Ellen Coulson, and Shirley Klinski. Congrats ladies! We spent the after –

noon "horsing" around – lit – erally! Our local trail riders galloped up to our front pa – tio with four adorable mini horses! A heartfelt thank you to Lori Larson for organizing this adventure, along with her cowgirls Susan Sanders, Judi Brunner, and Jeanne Laforce. We learned about each horse and enjoyed feed ing them timothy pellets. A couple left some road apples for us but these experienced horsewomen came prepared for that as well! We soon had to trot back inside for supper. Our evening ended with a dice game called “Cover the Number." Wednesday rolled in with the bowling balls. Our stu dent helpers also came from Ave Maria Academy. Bray don Diesing and Weston Bocksell kept score and set pins. Winners were: Doro- thy Pfae (fourth), Shirley Klinski (third), Alvin Berg – mark (second) and first place champ Milda Bautch. The afternoon oered bingo with Wanda Ebensperger and Linda Delong on deck to deliv- er candy, fruit, and quarters. Black out winner this week was Myrna Buchholtz. Cara – mel apple slices were oered after bingo and enjoyed my many folks.

Thursdays are our newsy days – some fit to print, some maybe not so much. Lana Ingli arrived to read the lo- cal papers while we enjoyed coee and cookies. She al – ways has a few jokes thrown in which we enjoy! We all took time to share some of our own news as well. Lunch followed and soon ladies were lined up for manicures. It was fun choosing darker colors for fall, oranges, golds and reds. And of course, an

update from Zeona on her wedding happenings from the weekend before. We were sad that Brad was un – able to bring the puppies to visit. He has spoiled us with those babies each week. Sup per soon arrived and a few folks stayed up to play Poke no. This week’s big winner was Lorraine Anderson.

The Friday drumming group was a little slow to start o the morning. But you just have to meet them where they’re at so slow we began.

It certainly didn’t take long for them to pick up the tempo and soon enough the sticks were flying! As entertaining as it was to watch these seniors in action, we soon had to pack up the drums and head to lunch. The afternoon had the snack makers bak- ing pretzels and dishing up cheese sauce. A few visitors filed in and the beer was on ice. Rudy Rudesill headed up the entertainment for hap – py hour while we enjoyed our friends and sharing our snacks. Supper was served and soon after we settled in for our Friday night mov ie. This week’s movie was a "The Bucket List," which had us chatting about things we might put on our bucket lists! We certainly enjoyed it. As you consider taking a drive to see the trees changing colors, consider driving our way. Or better yet, take us with you! See you soon!

Lorraine Anderson and Shirley Klinski giggled as the mini horses nuzzled their fingers! Photo courtesy of Laura Kadlec