Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 2:10 pm on April 7, 2020 Permalink  

  Boon Lake – Part 7 

  Boon Lake Township seemed to be a great fit.  It seemed like our forever home.

  In the spring of 1967, I had a job opportunity.  Boon Lake Township needed a local assessor.  And . . . I was an assessor!  Dad was on the Boon Lake Township board and he came over to sell me on it.  I would be taking my directions from the county office in Olivia.  I would be responsible to contacting all land owners in the township via driving up to each farmstead.  At that time there was a Personal Property tax as well as Real Estate taxes.  There were forms that queried each land owner.  The questions asked pertained to the number of head of livestock, machinery and also some for household goods. 

  For several months of work that included a vehicle to cover 36 sections, 640 acres each, that comprised Boon Lake Township, the pay was $200.00.  I jumped at it.  The work was in the spring of the year.  Orlin and I would hustle to get the morning chores done and then Carrie, in her plastic seat, and I hit the trails.  It wasn’t like the farmers were taken by surprise.  This yearly quest had been going on for years . . . it was just a new face with the old and usual riggers.  Carrie and I did a great job.  At the end of the work, I had $200.00 extra for groceries and we had enough Cheerios on the floor of the car to feed several orphans.  Looking back, that two month ditty turned into a profession that lasted me to the age of 65 when I retired as the Watonwan County Assessor.  Who would have guessed!

  Thanksgiving of 1967 we had news for the families that we would be having a baby in 1968.  I felt physically great.  No morning sickness.  Chores was handled as usual.  The cows had produced calves in the late fall of 1967 and we had a few that Orlin could take to the sales barn in Hutchinson.  We fed back much of the oats, corn and hay crop from the growing season into our animals.  We had gotten better with the farrowing of pigs, saving each and every one of the wiggly pink ones.  We were getting the hang of this farming.  Dad always kidded Orlin that he was too thin.  It was actually all lean muscle mass.   

  In the early days of 1968, with pride, we shipped a runt Holstein calf that had bulked up extremely well. Before Carrie was born, my teeth went seriously bad.  I gave birth to my first child with front teeth missing.  Dad had given us a runt of a calf to feed up and grow up.  That calf was earmarked to finish paying off the dentist.  The dentist in Buffalo Lake did a great job of fitting me with a full top plate of teeth.  We had been paying off a few dollars all along and sometimes got behind.  About the time the calf was going to market, the remaining balance on the dentist bill was turned over to a collection agency.  It was with pride and relief when we could get that cleared up.  Whew!

  —– to be continued.

  Today is April 7th and a great day.  I couldn’t resist going and doing a bit of raking.  If I made the piles, Dennis took the silage fork to beef up his burning ring.   I had noticed a huge amount of flies among some of the leaves.  It looked like there had been something wet put on the leaves.  Hmm.  With my neck brace on I had not looked up very high.  Dennis  realized that our huge Maple tree had a run of sap running down the huge trunk.  In all the years, we had never seen anything like it.   

  Dennis has made a tuna hotdish for supper.  Sweet!

   
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  Noreen 4:50 pm on April 6, 2020 Permalink  

  Huge Day 

  I have had such a huge day that brought a lot of good fuzzy good feelings.  I have been left speechless!  Catch you all tomorrow.

   
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  Noreen 2:44 pm on April 5, 2020 Permalink  

  Boon Lake – Part 6 

  What started as frightening in January of 1966 was feeling as if we had always been on the farm in Boon Lake Township. 

  There was no aspect of farming that we had not experienced, tackled and survived.  Though our equipment was not huge, we took care of the 160 acres.  Orlin would get through the morning milking and it was either field work or feed grinding.  Chicken, hogs, sheep and cows . . . they all had different recipes for the concentrate that was added to ear corn and some oats.

  There were some things that we could not have counted on.  When I had the chicken chores and the milkers washed, Carrie and I headed for the house.  There was laundry and once a week bread baking.  The north kitchen window faced north to take in pretty much the farm yard in total.  The east kitchen window took in the pasture.  One great day, I had a batch of bread going.  I could hear the feed mill on the south side of the barn as that is where the auger would empty into the window of the feed room, adjacent to the silo.  Carrie in the highchair and me up to my elbows in flour.  There would be fresh bread for supper.  The Hutchinson radio station was on most times if I was in the house.

  After a bit, I thought I should have seen Orlin take the mill to the granary. I went up to the north window and looked out.  What I saw made me sick.  Orlin was bent over the mill at the power take-off shaft using his free arm, waving his red bandanna. I didn’t do anything but rush out the back door.  Orlin was bent over using his arm as a brace against the hitch as his overall jacket was twisted into the take-off shaft, wanting to take his arm with.  His arm had caused enough pressure to shear off the pin.  I shut off the tractor and ran back into the house and grabbed the biggest butcher knife we had.  I had to slice and dice the jacket to relieve the pressure on his arm.

  What a close call.  Orlin’s arm didn’t have any feeling in it for the rest of the day as the twisted cloth of the jacket had cut off blood supply from nerves, tendons and his elbow joint.  I felt horrible, Orlin felt horrible that he had been careless not paying attention to where the jacket bottom was flapping.  Carrie was feeling horrible as her Cheerios cup was empty.  What a close call.  Accidents with power take-off shafts could fill volumes.  All three of us felt horrible but Orlin and I felt relief that made our legs weak.  We went into Hutch later that week.  We needed to buy a new chores jacket.  The new one was shorter with elastic at the sides and not the free swinging type that had the huge patch pocket on the bottom.  Yup . . . good old memories of farming “101.”

  —— to be continued.

  About all that I have gotten done on this 5th day of April is tune up the sewing studio from last weeks stitching marathon.

   
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  Noreen 4:26 pm on April 4, 2020 Permalink  

  Good Deed Done 

  Today when I shut off the sewing machine it was with heartfelt thanks that I finished a good deed done.  The family request to finish a started project came from a Speedy Delivery last Monday forenoon.  

  The printed feed sack that had been from decades ago is now a 52″ x 62″ cozy lap robe for cuddling.  I had told Dennis this morning that my quest for the day was to finish this quilt from A to Z.  The “Z” included using the last of the blocks to put them into a pillow.  Not enough blocks to make the lap quilt larger, but too many to dismiss.

  

  When the lights were shut off in the sewing studio, the first thing I did was put my walking shoes on and go for my walk.  Square the shoulders, move from side to side and get the kinks out from perhaps too many hours at the machine.  What can I say . . . started projects are hard to leave alone when the recipient of this quilt has plans to pass it along to a grandchild while she still can.

  The walk has been had.  A shower has been had.  Thank goodness there is a hearty amount of the scalloped potato and ham dish reheating in the oven for supper.

  By the way: the belt buckles that didn’t want to stay in the wall cabinet.  There is a product that I had purchased at Michael’s for crafting . . . Zots.  Little adhesive dots that when layered one onto another or perhaps another to adhere the belt buckle to the back of the shelf that they are perched on . . . time will tell.  I know they work as I had used some when putting a Christmas decoration up a few years ago.  When I took the decoration off of the wall, the Zots plus some of the wall’s finish came with it.  We determined that the belt buckle case was really inadequate for the honking large size that some of these buckles are.  As I said, time will tell.

   
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  Noreen 3:19 pm on April 3, 2020 Permalink  

  Boon Lake – Part 5 

  The farming in Boon Lake was going well.  Were we getting rich?  I had no idea.  There was always food on the table.  We butchered our own beef, pork and poultry.  The fruit cellar in the basement was filled to the brim as the first winter began in 1966.  

  Orlin had scored countless dozens of quart and pint fruit jars at the sales barn in Hutchinson.  There was one Sears chest freezer in the furnace room.  We canned crates of fruit into sauces.  When Ginsberg’s grocery in Hector had crates of pears, peaches, plums, and apricots in, and on sale, Orlin’s mom let us know and we were there. The hardest part was peeling pears.  Those skins were tough.  Peaches could be scalded and they slipped right off.  Sugar was bought in 50 lb. bags.  I was getting money each week by the fall of 1966 from the eggs that the egg fellow picked up.  That was the grocery money.  Sweet.  Tomatoes were scalded and precooked and packed tight into quart jars.  The enameled canner held eight quart jars at a time.  With Mom’s instructions, I knew how long each batch had to be in boiling water.  Cold-packing was the in thing.  Pressure cookers were more than my family dealt with.  When each of the two part lids did their thing, the audible ping of each jar as it cooled was priceless.

  Orlin’s nephew, Frank, loved to spend time with us.  During the summer of 1966, he was a usual and man could he eat.  He was also very willing to pitch in.  We had a lot of grass that needed mowing.  At first he was quite frisky with  speed but soon learned . . . what Orlin said needed to be adhered to.  Frank was also good entertainment for Carrie. 

  Winter came and it didn’t scare us.  Dad had built his own snowblower that attached to the Allis tractor via a power take-off shaft.  When Dad had their yard blown out, he made the three mile drive to our farm and took care of the snow in short order.  We had a huge loop of a driveway from the initial run off of the tar road.  Carrie was able to stand at the window sill and watch grandpa.  She was also just tall enough to bite down on the window sills.  Little teeth marks in the varnish.  If the snow was too deep and Dad had not gotten to our yard as yet, the cans of fresh milk, one at a time, were put on the aluminium scoop shovel.  Orlin pulled the make-shift sled and I made sure it didn’t topple off the the shovel.  It was a good thing both Orlin and I had toned up.  Many trips and a few into the house to check on Carrie to see how her Cheerios were holding out.  God willing, Carrie was entertained enough watching us through various windows that she didn’t get into trouble.  Having had her one year birthday in October of 1966, she was curious and a daredevil in trying to climb.  Doors going upstairs or down into the back entry were secured.  Whatever she decided to do was contained on one level.  The bottom portion of our gas cooking range was storage of pots and pans.  Those could well be found anywhere when I got back in the house.  

  Winter months were set with the same schedules each day.  The dairy barn, pig barn and chicken barn were top priority.  The possibility of getting bored . . . not!

  —— to be continued.

  “There rose such a clatter, I jumped from my bed to see what was the matter . . . ”  Yup, that is how I awoke this morning.  I thought the entire house was coming apart.  Dennis had gotten up earlier than usual and had decided to tidy up his bed.  What the heck!  It is small quarters in his bedroom and he usually doesn’t venture into bed making.  He knew that I was really weary last night as I had put in a strong day on the quilt that is in the sewing studio.  Yup, I was dead to the world. 

  Dennis had gotten behind his bed which is pushed up against the west wall of the room.  He brushed against the cabinet that is on the west wall that holds 20 of the Heston belt buckles that he has been collecting since 1975.  The slender latch was pushed open by his sleeve and there were belt buckles flying off and out of the narrow shelves.  Heavy metal buckles hitting the laminate flooring . . . it had sounded as if the storm that had been predicted for early Friday morning was ensuing.  That was the start of a Friday morning on Stauffer Avenue.  It’s almost time to start supper and the buckles have been picked up and are still on Dennis’ bed.  The problem . . . he doesn’t trust himself to get back between the bed and wall while reading the continuation of years that are on the buckles that need to be returned to their rightful places.  I’m chuckling.  I’ll take care of them before he is ready for bed.

  My hope is that the weekend is enjoyed, relaxing can be done by doing things that were put off during the work week . . . for those that still have a job to go to.  For the rest of you that are housebound . . . text me. I will deliver one ole cowboy that will fill your day with unexpected events.

   
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  Noreen 3:22 pm on April 2, 2020 Permalink  

  Tedious 

  Some tasks with quilting are tedious. I am on track with what I had set out for myself for the schedule.  After sewing on a border to the pieced top . . . the top, batting and backing are secure on my sewing table.  I believe after I dig out my safety pins to begin securing all layers together may well be all the energy and time I will invest into the project today.  Dennis helped out by folding two loads of laundry.  We are either the dirtiest people or the cleanest people on Stauffer Avenue . . . the jury is still out.

  It is a good thing I took my walk after lunch as it is nasty wet out this afternoon.  The temperature states it is 60 degrees.  It sure doesn’t feel like it.  Having a sewing studio in the basement is great.  This time of the year the comfort level when doing tedious things can be chilly.  It’s not cool enough to have the furnace take the chill off of the fingers and I don’t care for blowing air from a heater on me . . . suck it up.  

  Dennis took one for the team and took entryway rugs and kitty blankets to the laundromat this afternoon as I headed out for my walk.   A bag of quarters, a small fruit jar of laundry detergent and hours of waiting brings about a good thing.  My walk keeps my joints and tendons oiled up for continued mobility.  Swinging my arms as I walk pumps a lot of good blood to the brain . . . and my brain needs every bit of help I can give it.  

  If I heard the weather forecast, I could have swore I heard words like rain, sleet and road surface issues.  I sure hope it passes us by.  A full day of warm sunshine would be welcomed.

   
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  Noreen 3:08 pm on April 1, 2020 Permalink  

  Boon Lake – Part 4 

  We are farmers in Boon Lake Township!  I am not sure, but looking back we must have had more than 24 hours in each day! 

  There was a bit of a pasture across the driveway to the southeast.  It had fencing around it with a bit of a hut.  Maybe calves were summered over in that area.  The fence was taken down just enough to get the Oliver 70 and the plow in that area and we had us a garden spot.  Man oh man it took work to get the sod broken up with a piece of a drag pulled behind.  When a farm is bought out and those owners move to town, lots of goodies are left behind.

  Can the scent of newly turned soil carry to lengths?  Most be!  Orlin’s brother and his family from Wilmer arrived shortly and the plan was to make the garden bigger so Elroy could have a potato patch.  Elroy’s had four children and everyone kicked in and that soil became mellow, just right for planting a garden.  For our part, we were in mind for several tomato plants, cucumbers, radishes, etc.  It went from plan A to plan Z in a heartbeat.  For the most part it all worked out.  Elroy’s residential lot in Wilmer was small and who doesn’t want to see a family enjoy fresh produce from the gardens.  I was home all week and I made sure our pantry and my canning jars were filled before a weekend came along.  First come . . . first served.

  It was quite often that a meal during the weekend went from Orlin and I to a sit-down of six . . . can’t forget number seven . . . infant Carrie.  It would be quite the jumble to work in our usual farm chores whether there were extras around to have a meal or not.  Livestock gets on a schedule that has nothing to do with meal times and the livestock won out as that is where the cash came from to run the farm.  

  It was amazing how a routine settles in on a farm.  Dad was still needed for advice but the day-to-day labor was on Orlin and I and . . . we handled it.  When the sows farrowed, our bed times were adjusted to be out in the pig barn to make sure all the little piglets were shuffled out of the way of restless sows.  Orlin had done a great job of making wooden farrowing crates out of used lumber.  The sow had enough room to turn around for water and feed, while the wee ones were protected by scooting under the partitions until nursing time for them.  Heat lamps hanging over those protected areas . . . how could they not snuggle up under them.

  We may have missed out on some social things with the Schafer families as most of them were W2 form workers.  Their evening weekend hours were quite different from our’s.  The Holsteins came first.  Orlin’s folks . . . Art and Esther enjoyed coming out on a weekend . . . sitting under the shade trees on the west side of the house and taking everything in.  Art would cross this palms across his broad chest and may catch a snooze.  Esther would have her little plastic ice cream bucket filled with crochet thread and crank out the stitches row by row.  Sweet.

  ——- to be continued.

  Today is April 1, 2020, and I am making good headway on a quilt top.  About three this afternoon, I shut down the sewing studio to ride shotgun as Dennis and I took care of a few errands around town.  Most of them being done at drive-up windows at the utility drop box, the bank’s drive-up and the Lewis Drug drive-up.  It is the new routine.  The lights are on but no one has doors open.  I couldn’t wait to take my walk.  I usually do it in the morning, but I am trying to put in a goodly amount of stitching.  The wind was strong from the south and southeast.  

  I have had one great day!  I look forward to another one tomorrow.

   
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  Noreen 2:24 pm on March 31, 2020 Permalink  

  Boon Lake Township – Part 3 

  In the early portion of 1966 and in short time, we were a well rounded farm.  The cows were milking, the sows were farrowing, and there were lambs under heat lamps.  Bring on the rest of what a farm needs.  

  Carrie was thriving on rice cereal and beginning to get table food.  Orlin and I were weary enough each night to fall in a coma to rest for the next day.  Orlin was 29 and I had just turned 22.  Oh for the stamina of the young.  Orlin’s long time friend Ted Skolberg, with Hector roots, farmed just down the road from us.  It was great moral support.  Sharon and I had been in 4-H together in years past.

  What’s a farm without chickens!  Orlin boxed off a small portion of the chicken house so we could keep the baby chicks under heat lamps until they were large enough to grow pin feathers to help with body heat.  Mom shared duck eggs from their Mallard ducks, complete with the clucks to sit on the eggs for hatching.  Man, those were nasty clucks.  In one of the small corn cribs, each cluck had their own box with eight to ten duck eggs under them.  I have no idea how Mom knew which of their chickens had cluck tendencies.  I would imagine when it was time to gather eggs, there were a few of those chickens that would peck the hand day after day that was gathering eggs.  Each cluck had a piece of twine on loosely tied to one of their legs.  They could get out of the box and get to water and feed before allowing the eggs to cool off.  Was the twine necessary . . . I doubt it.  Their focus was sitting on eggs. 

  Orlin scored a grinder mixer from Hoverstein’s for a whopping $75.00.  It’s first stop was Dad’s as it needed some welding and a once over for a few parts.  It sure saved Orlin’s day and time when we could put it out from the double corn crib rather than being on the road back and forth from Mom and Dad’s.  We were becoming more self sufficient . . . down on the farm.  

  The auction house was now being visited to purchase some machinery for the spring field work.  There was a lot of advice that Orlin took from Dad in regard to preparing fields and where and what needed to be planted and who to contact for seed.  There was eighty acres with the farmstead and pasture and eighty acres across the county road to make up the 160 acres.  Our first year of planting was done with a fair amount of rust being worn off of used equipment.  A used Oliver 70 was our first tractor.  It could handle a four bottom plow.  We were able to fill out what we needed and also borrowing from Dad and Ted to get the crop in.  Then came the wait and see.  Imagine watching beans coming up in a garden and expand that to a 40 acre track of beans.  Yup wait and see.

  —— to be continued.

  Yup, I have another year under my elastic waist band.

  So where in the heck did 76 year go!  Is it scary when one doesn’t feel one’s age?  It is either optimism or stubbornness.  I believe determination is where it is all at.

  I am taking a break from sewing on the new quilt project.  When My nephew Larry and his wife Jennifer reached out and asked if I would finish a quilt for Jennifer’s mother, how could I not.  Jennifer’s mother, Rita, is ill and her time is short.  Rita would appreciate it if this small quilt could be finished for Rita to give to Larry’s daughter.  The blocks that Rita had cut up were printed feed sacks from Jennifer’s grandmother.  Why not!  

  Dennis’ daughter is a nurse in New Ulm and is working hard shifts with all that is going on.  Like everyone else who works in the health world, she asked if I would sew masks.  Well, in checking things out, not all homemade masks are a good thing. Today Dennis went shopping.  In the parts store he found one box of 50 face masks of the formed pellon.  Dennis announced this afternoon that we are making a trip to Mankato where Sandy lives and deliver the masks.  I am going to make a stop at Hy-Vee for a few things.  Wow!  An actual road date.

  I am having a perfect birthday.  What makes it perfect is that I heard both of my children’s voices.  Priceless.  Not as sweet as being able to touch them with a hug, but it was wonderful.  My Aunt Janet . . . it never fails.  She remembers me each year.  Special!  I am well on my way to the next adventure that my days may bring, while keeping a level head, staying upright and open minded.

   
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  Noreen 3:15 pm on March 30, 2020 Permalink  

  Hmm 

  When we think that our days are planned and secure . . . Not!

  It is known that I like my fuzz and threads.  Today came a knock on the front door.  Most people know we don’t use our front door.  The mailman brought a good challenge. I have been given a request and a challenge.   A quilt has been started and now help is needed to finish it.

  There is no way I could refuse.  Within what was left with me is a bag of cut out pieces of fabric with enough uncut yardage to finish the quilt from top to bottom.  I did relay to the sender that I would clear up what I had started in the sewing studio and then tackle the project.  There is a timeline.  I knew that when the sender received an email that the package had been delivered, a thankful, grateful smile was had knowing that the project was in good hands.

  I was just about to take my walk when the mailman had knocked.  I did put the bag in the sewing studio and I opened the bag.  Where the kit had been purchased was inside the bag but with no pattern.  I took just enough time to pull up the website of the well known Missouri Star quilt company and found a photo of what the piece of paper indicated the pattern was.  After I printed off a photo of what the finished quilt would look like, I did take my walk.  I knew I had to get my mindset cleared.  

  Dennis and I had lunch and he gave me thumbs up on my new project. He gave me credit for helping someone that had no one else to turn to.  I took time to tidy up in the sewing studio before I started a new project.  It always goes better when the old has been tidied and organized and there is a fresh slate. 

  The towel I had stitched yesterday has now been pressed.  This had been my first free-form stitching whereby I had decided what smaller designs I would download and put together for a complete block of being stitched.  I had one spot that could have had either the individual designs placed differently or resized them to fill an empty spot.  Guess what!  The Fairfax button tree was visited and I found a button that replicated a purple pansy.  Do buttons belong on towels, not usually.  This towel will most likely be handled as a mini wall hanging in a bathroom.  I feel thankful for my God-given creativity.  I also ask God to help me through the next phase of that creativity in helping someone else.  

  The sun is out and warm temps will help everyone feel hopeful for what the week may hold.

   
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  Noreen 2:21 pm on March 29, 2020 Permalink  

  Boon Lake Township – Part Two 

  Early months in 1966, Orlin and Dad were busy.  We were moved onto the farm in Boon Lake township.  The house was in great shape.  I kept busy taking each room at a time. Using some elbow grease, soap and water, spring cleaning was in full force.  Carrie was a good baby and with her in her plastic chair, she went wherever I was in the house or outside.  They didn’t have the cushy infant seats as they do now.  It virtually was a molded piece of plastic with a bit of a cushion in it.  With two grandmas there was no shortage of warm blankets. 

  With Dad’s help we had a line of credit at the Gibbon bank to get us going.  Dad and Orlin were busy going to farm auctions to purchase livestock.  The dairy barn on the place was in fair condition and the sale of the farm from the previous owners included all the milking equipment.  We started out with ten milk cows and eventually filled the barn to its capacity of eighteen.  There was one empty calf pen in the barn.  The sales barn in Hutchinson was visited by Dad and Orlin to purchase hay to get us through the first cutting of alfalfa.  Dad knew the sellers and Dad knew a good price when he heard one. There was one field that had alfalfa as a carry over and then the sales barn purchases would be history. 

  Dad came over for every morning milking and Dad and sometimes my brother, Michael, came over for the evening milking.  Orlin had never milked a cow in his life.  It took a week or so and we were doing the milking solo.  A learning experience beyond belief.  Every morning Clara Luthans would be at the farm to pick up the milk cans full of milk from the cooler, take the full ones and leave the empty ones.  Clara always took time to give encouragement.  That gal slung full milk cans as if they were filled with air.

  I had no problem helping out with getting the milkers washed up after each milking.  I had done it as a child living on Mom and Dad’s farm.  I came in handy for cleaning the gutters as well.  Until the cows could be left out in the pasture, it was cleaning gutters twice a day.  Carrie and I took the pitch fork duty.  Bundling Carrie up after she had been fed and had dry diapers, she would be good for several hours napping in the feed bunk of the calf pen that was empty.  Orlin needed to go to Dad’s to borrow the feed grinder once a week.  As it was, there was ear corn left in one of the corn cribs. That coupled with concentrate from the Hutchinson elevator kept the cows milking to their capacity . . . once they were assured that the young fellow milking them knew what he was doing.  Orlin’s time in between milkings was getting the hog barn ready so some sows could be purchased at the sales barn that would be coming on board ready to farrow. 

  We had also inherited the sheep from the previous owners.  Even I was not up to speed on taking care of sheep, so we soon learned together as it was apparent there would be a lambing season coming up.  Get out the heat lamps!

  Needless to say the first three months of 1966 were busy as there was “Farming 101” going on non stop.  Lots of things to get under control before the spring field work started.

  —— to be continued at some time.

  Yesterday I had experimented with a simplistic digitization program I had purchased from my Bernina people in Bird Island several years ago. In the past I have made up my own phrases on projects to stitch out.  I can also download certain designs from collections that had been purchased and regroup them for a project to be stitched out.  That was my current quest.  The towel I had photographed earlier was completed, ready to stitch from the collection.  I had wanted to take the frame of that project and make up my own design to stitch.  It was a lesson in patience.  Placing each aspect onto the area and getting it sized to work out took a few tries.  As I am typing the finished stitched project is in a tub of water getting the stabilizer soaked off.  I almost screwed up the entire thing as the last item to stitch was the bug.  I had shrunk it down a bit too much as at some point the stitches did not reduce as much as I thought they had.  I bypassed several of the embellished overlays on the wings.  It would have been pounded into a mess.  So much for creativity.  If you don’t try you can’t succeed.  Tomorrow the towel will have dried for a posting of it. 

  Needless to say the world around us on Stauffer Avenue is very quiet, but we find ways to keep ourselves centered and balanced.  It’s going to be a great new week with many positives.  Save the best and leave the rest.