Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 4:01 pm on September 25, 2018 Permalink  

  I will admit I sought out a warmer sweater this morning. Dennis reached for a heavier shirt over his t-shirt and we took the day for all it offered . . . rain. It’s not all bad to have a few cool days once in a while. It allows those who are procrastinators to get a hint that soon the coolness will turn into cold and they will be up a creek on the preparations that Minnesota winters demand.

  I am not in a position to demand anything. I take each day as it comes. It is my process of accepting the days as they come and not expecting. Never does a day go by that I don’t find plenty to tackle and am very appreciative that I can accomplish it . . . at my own pace. There are various passions that I move from day to day. It may be dirt. It may be fuzz and thread. In many respects, Dennis is not so fortunate. He chose to have no day-to-day hobbies.

  Dennis tried model railroads, remote airplanes and large puzzles. Nothing has stuck. God bless the Rural Farm television channel. He can always pick up a good tractor auction to take up several hours. It is a good thing that he keeps his little red pickup gassed up and road ready. Dennis seeks out people whom he knows here in his hometown. Dennis doesn’t know what a stranger is. He can find something to visit about with anyone to rehash history of his 81 years. This week there is one less of his era for such visiting. The fellow from whom Dennis bought the 1968 Cub Cadet Lo Boy from just several months ago passed away over the weekend. A funeral to attend is on Friday.

  Each day is a good day. Each day I am determined to have something to show for it at the end of the day. That I learned from Grandma Laura. She lived her last ten years bound to a wheelchair. I can tell you that may have slowed her up a bit and the doorways in her mobile home were pretty beat up . . . but by the end of the day she had achieved the tasks of having something to show. Dad was also like that. I have their genes and plan on making them proud.

   
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  Noreen 5:16 pm on September 24, 2018 Permalink  

  There are no words when a day goes as well as this one did. A few rain showers are holding off. We had a light supper and I will be heading out to the patio a bit later.

  I was exposed to a new product today. I remember mineral spirits from the days of oil paint that needed to be thinned out. Wow! It worked miracles today. We have had a gas driven leaf blower that has been used here for many years. I need to be clear. It has not been used by me as it is: to too hard to start by the pull cord and way too heavy for me to handle. My best bet would be to set it flat on the patio and then manually turn the blower so the snout could blow in multiple directions.

  I will also add that the exterior of it looked as if the oil was thrown in its general direction with the intent that some would find where it was needed. Yuk! The aging layers of oil that had accumulated layers of dust: it took a putty knife to make the first few swipes. Putting a few inches of the mineral spirits in my tin Folgers Coffee grounds can and a good stiff brush did wonders. It did take several hours but the breeze was nice, I had all the time in the world to get this down to the manufacture’s finish. Dennis came by several times but did not tarry. The one and only user of this machine thought better of commenting. It’s time that these two older ones stick with the electric one that has been my favorite all these years. It is sweet.

  I also got the front cement steps painted. I realize it won’t last. Paint on concrete needs a whole bunch of cleaning and prep. My cleaning and prep was a steel bush and then washing off the dust. Dry cement and then some paint . . . for a short time it looks sharp.

  That patio chair is beckoning and I know Snuggles is ready for some lap time. Sweet.

   
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  Noreen 6:41 pm on September 23, 2018 Permalink  

  Oh my gosh, it’s 7:30 and it is dark outside. Fall has fallen. Today after wearing ourselves out getting our branches sawed up and burned, we needed a drive to unwind. We viewed the fields as we traveled north to see how much rain has left its mark in the harvest fields. A quick stop in Fairfax was the perfect stop for a visit and then turn that little red pickup around and head south. We stopped at the Dairy Queen here in St. James as it will be closed for the season starting next Sunday. It felt like we had the perfect day.

   
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  Noreen 4:06 pm on September 22, 2018 Permalink  

  Oh my gosh! What a great day. You would be hard pressed to remember how many gray and wet days we have had earlier this week. The sun and the calm breeze . . . I could take this right into the time when it would be early winter. The official KEYC rainfall for this area thus far in September is nine inches. Thank goodness for a tiled basement and a good working sump pump.

  One more time we got the lawnmowers going. Surprisingly with the amount of rains, the lawns are firm underfoot. This surely must be the last time for mowing. Dennis used the Cub Cadet Lo Boy and I had my trusty push mower. With the north side of the house being newly seeded, it shortened my time . . . big time. With the Cub’s width of 60″, Dennis made quick work of the acre. The only negative comment I have heard Dennis make of the tractor and mower is that in low gear, it’s still quite fast.

  I have grass sprouts that are making their appearance on the area right next to the foundation of the house on the north side. It’s the area that got the benefit of the higher dollar fertilized dirt with moisture control. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the Walmart dirt will pop up some sprouts within the next week. It did have fertilizer in the mix as well.

  We took advantage of the rain soaked dirt from the garden we put down to get the treated birdhouse post out of the garden. The old birdhouse that had sat on the post for the last ten years blew off the post several weeks ago and was beyond repair. It all works out great as the post was smack in the middle of the area that will be tilled up later this fall for grass seeding.

  A day that began at 50 degrees, begged for an oven supper this evening. I have some seasoned pork steak roasting right along with two potatoes that are baking. Dennis has just helped me get the quilts back into the house. With a few windows cracked and the fresh quilts, sleep will come quickly and deeply tonight.

  At the end of such a great day, it was easy to catch some time on the patio with Snuggles on my lap and sending petitions to the heavens. God is a merciful God to us older ones on Stauffer Avenue.

   
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  Noreen 5:46 pm on September 21, 2018 Permalink  

  Five, Six . . . pick up sticks. After a late afternoon of winds and rains that you couldn’t see across the street yesterday we considered ourselves fortunate. There were some large branches down to the ones that are annoying when it comes to the lawnmower. We have a huge pile to either burn in our neighbor’s fire pit or take out to the tree dump. Choices. We got it done and it felt good. Dennis had on a down filled jacket. Yes, Dennis thought it was quite chilly.

  Late this afternoon I had a cup of cold breakfast coffee while in my rocking chair in the sewing studio and considered my next project. I am not exaggerating when I say I have kept track of some yardage of fabric from Mom for decades. Today, the decision was made. The fabric is designed for white cotton bed pillowcases. It was milled in a circular tube. I have enough for two generous sized bed pillowcases. I sat in my rocking chair contemplating getting an embroidered design of some type in the hem of the opening of what will be a pillowcase. Getting the hoop and stabilizer in an enclosed area is something I have not tried yet.

  I would love to know how this fabric was milled. I have watched YouTube on general milling and weaving of quilt fabric of all types, similar to the rug loom Orlin and I used to operate, only on a much larger scale. I can’t envision weaving to make a tube. Well . . . that may be my next search on YouTube.

  It felt good to be outside today and the very best part . . . our 1,100 lbs. of garden dirt on the north side of the house did not wash to any degree. It all stayed put! Our neighbor’s rain gauge gave us a total of 4.5 inches over a period of the last several days. Yup, the neighbor across Stauffer Avenue has a huge pool of standing water. I can only imagine the farmers’ plight. The winds no doubt really did a job on the corn stalks.

  Dennis and I will sleep well tonight.

   
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  Noreen 3:35 pm on September 20, 2018 Permalink  

  A Test 

  I have watched quite a few television shows that feature test kitchens for recipes and kitchen gadgets.  They have been entertaining and helpful.

  Today the sewing studio did a test of its own.  Stabilizer and machine embroidery goes hand in hand.  Stabilizers are needed to allow the needle to punch that embroidery thread in between the warp and the weft hundreds of times.  Both layers are then put into a hoop to allow a taut surface for the embroidery to begin.  Well . . . stabilizers come from multiple companies and each one has specific instructions for various fabrics and how many stitches in each digitized design.  Daunting to say the least.

  I enjoy doing dish towels, singularly or in sets of seven.  The days of the week have always been popular.  When I began doing dish towels Mom had several patterns intended to be ironed on.  Embroidery floss was a must in every household.  I still enjoy my collections of embroidery floss even if I don’t use them often.  Once the design had been ironed once . . . that’s all folks.  That at point is when we collected the milk hauler’s carbon paper receipt from the daily pickup to trace the pattern on multiple times.

  

  The orange was done with a sheet of water soluble, the green with the brushed on soluble.

  Digressing: Early in spring I decided to put my scraps of water soluble stabilizers to use.  I crammed them into my 1/2 pint fruit jar and then added water to the fruit jar.  As the stabilizer dissolved I kept an eye on the consistency.  When the amount of water that I had added had the solution like wallpaper paste, I deemed it done.  I had two dish towels to do my test on.  On the towel with the green thread, I had used a brush and brushed the liquid stabilizer on the back of a portion of the towel, allowing it to dry before hooping it.  It was hooped as a single layer.  The towel with the orange thread, I used a sheet of water soluble stabilizer hooping both layers.  I really had to take an up close look.  There wasn’t a discernible difference in the end result or the quality of the stitching.  It had been a good test.

  Granted.  These were towels that had cost me $1.29 each.  Would I go with this if the stitched design was one with over 20,000 dense stitches . . . no.  Would I go with this if the stitching was on a purchased garment with no chance of a do-over . . . no.  This little honey jar of mine will come in handy for simplistic stitching or when I think the sheet stabilizer I am using could use a little punch of extra support in an area of dense stitching.  That would need some preplanning to make sure the fabric had dried after the brush application.

  The best part of my test was that I can continue learning how to make use of my resources.  Dennis likes that idea of waste not; want not.  Gotta love that cowboy’s input into the sewing studio.

   
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  Noreen 4:08 pm on September 19, 2018 Permalink  

  I have issues. I have had such a great run at getting things done outside with Dennis helping. Bang! Damp weather sets in for several days and I have a challenge in shifting gears. It takes awhile of wandering around the house to find what I want to settle into.

  There is a reason why we have been knocking out the work outside. Some is fall work getting prepared for a change in the seasons and some of it was what had been put off from last year. Nothing serious; nothing putting us in harms way . . . just homeowner responsibility.

  The reason for our working together is that I have a partner this fall. Most of last year, Dennis was not present in our day to day schedules. The carotid arteries, that seemed to be impossible to diagnose, and the massive amount of medications that had been prescribed trying to fix what was wrong, resulted in Dennis sleeping his days away. Since the end February, when the second carotid was repaired, I have seen improvements right along. The carotid surgeries were not an instant fix. His brain needed time to adjust to the flow of blood and then figure out how it was going to send signals to him as to what his days would, should and could be like. Oh, there are still naps, but not to the extent of getting up at eight, sitting down for a nap at nine, getting up at one in the afternoon and catching a nap in the afternoon in his patio porch and ready for bed at nine.

  Dennis being 81 allows for naps. With the digging out of gardens, hauling in dirt, cleaning out garages, repairing Santa; Dennis has been right there. He bought a 1968 tractor and worked on it and is working on it.  He is present in each day. The prescribed medications have been drastically reduced. This has been a good run at fall. Dennis is amazed how good he feels. He is moving, he is visiting friends and today he decided to make one of his amazing hot dishes for supper.

  I found my niche in the sewing studio today and my issues went away.  I had not put the embroidery module on the sewing machine since June. It felt good to work with threads. Dennis brought down coffee and even played a few games of Solitaire on my 10-year-old Dell laptop. Life has always been good on Stauffer, but this fall “good” has a bit of a different feeling.

   
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  Noreen 3:52 pm on September 18, 2018 Permalink  

  A fairly gentle rain. Lots of storms around us, but we were spared. When we were on our way to Mankato for Walmart dirt with the pickup last week, Dennis pulled over to see what the red light was that had popped on. It was the ABS light; a brake situation. We pulled out the owners book and knew we would be making an appointment to get it checked out at Rod’s here in town. Today was the day of the appointment. Not knowing what it would all entail, Dennis took it out there this morning and I picked him up to give the repair fellows all the time they needed. Rod called this afternoon. The pickup was ready and the repair bill would be $127.37. I took Dennis out to get the vehicle out of Rod’s way. I was very curious when Dennis returned home as to what had been found. What was found was some short red hair around the area where a wire had been chewed on causing the red alert light to come on.

  We had let the pickup sit out for several days when we were working on . . . whatever, and used the floor area of that part of the garage. We do not have any cats that have red fur. We do have many, many red headed squirrels. Rod mentioned that there would be no way a cat could get up as far as this wire was. All is good to go.

  When I was coming back in to town I noticed one of the corn fields next to the repair shop had a field of corn that looks like it is about ready for harvesting. The stalks are totally brown; the ears are hanging down and the husks have split open. Yup . . . fall is right around the corner. These two older ones are well prepared.

   
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  Noreen 1:37 pm on September 17, 2018 Permalink  

  We Knocked It Out 

  We have been waiting for a cool breezy day to be able to unload the back of the pickup.  There were 12 bags of garden soil waiting to be put down.  Our project started in June when Complete Basements came and put in a rod well in conjunction with a new window well.  With the new window so close to the sump pump . . . why take a chance on late winter freezing up the flow from the tile job around the perimeter of the basement.  

  Dennis and I followed up to put a better grade on the dirt from the foundation to the remaining yard.  Knowing how much dirt it would take we put down the first layer that had a lot of clay in it.  Whoopee ding!  Rain and more rain kept us from finishing it up.  These last days called to us to beat cold weather and possibly early winter.  Our first 10 bags of dirt were all that our local ag store had.  It was 40 lb. bags of Miracle Grow Moisture Guard.  Top notch product.  Didn’t need that type of soil but that was the end of their supply.  Those 10 bags went over the bulk of the clay closest to the foundation.  It had been out in their yard and it was soaked and heavy.  Today we put on an additional 12 bags of garden soil from Walmart.  It does have fertilize in it and the main thing . . . the contents of the bags were dry.  In the photo the dark colored dirt was the moisture guard grade.  The lighter is garden dirt with fertilizer.

  We had a bucket of garden grass seed that had a bit of age on it.  We decided to use that up with a light sprinkling of water.  With the threat of rain, we are holding off on the garden seed mousse to see just how much rain is in the offering so as not to have that investment to be compromised.  It’s not a perfect job.  Dennis said it looked like I had done a great job of distributing and leveling the dirt.  His blessing made it all worth while.  A good worker always needs moral support.  It has put a good grade on to that portion of the yard, filling in more in some spots than others.  A total of 1,100 lbs. of good soil will make a difference.  Truth to be told, we had never done anything to correct the deficiencies of that area of our yard.  

  On a lighter note, we have a plant that is in bloom.  I stayed true to my word that I was not going to purchase any plants this year.  Friend and neighbor Jan shared a Hibiscus perennial that she has had great success with.  Sure enough.  It likes the area that I put it in.  I will follow her lead; cut it back after a frost and cover with leaves.  It is loaded with buds and this blossom is the size of a small dinner plate.  This day: success on so many counts.  Let the rain begin.

   
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  Noreen 2:41 pm on September 16, 2018 Permalink  

  How Warm Is It? 

  

  It is warm enough out in the yard that Snuggles has decided on a spot where the ceiling fan gives a bit of relief. I do believe relief is in sight. Though it is 88 degrees out today, the humidity is at 45% and the dewpoint is at 66%. Stauffer Avenue and Snuggles are looking forward to some cooler days.