Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 3:12 pm on September 15, 2018 Permalink  

  Persistent Summer 

  Get that outside work done!  Stepping out this morning, it didn’t feel like a typical early morning.  It felt like a tropical morning.  All we needed to get done was to lay down some grass seed on the black dirt that we put down yesterday, rake it lightly and give it a sprinkle of water.  Done! Outside work . . . done.

  After every finished large sewing project the sewing studio needs some time spent in it putting away extra materials and getting those loose threads vacuumed.  Nothing feels more wonderful than starting a new project with the surrounding area tidy, organized and clean of fuzz and threads.  It feels like you are in a . . . sewing studio.

  When we were working in the patio porch with the Santa repair and the shelving for rafter cat rescue, we talked about several items that we had too much emotional attachment with to give away.  After today and using Murphy Soap wipes (lots of them) we are feeling like we have remodeled our home, upstairs and down.  Dad loved doing woodworking.  Taking it up as a hobby after he hung his farming days up, he did well.  The room divider Dad had made from lumber he had milled from the old chicken barn on the farm.  His shop was complete with a plainer, router and multiple saws.  He had fun stuff.  Originally this divider was used in our living room.  With the advent of a much needed small office corner we didn’t have enough extra real estate to divide, and it had been used in the patio porch as a divider between the porch and the pickup.  Originally our small kitchen was built when there were no electrical appliances.  It was a place for a refrigerator, a cooking range, a small table and possibly two chairs.  Dad and Mom came with the answer to the lack of space.  The microwave stand was the answer.  Why had it been taken out of the kitchen?  The wall behind the cooking range was stressed from decades of hot steam on the plaster.  When it was time to try and salvage the area, the stand went out to the patio porch for ease of working.  By the way, there isn’t that much extreme cooking that goes on in our kitchen as of late.  Eating lighter, eating less of the stove top cooking. 

  Today both of these items are back in high use.  With having people come and visit the sewing studio, the divider was the perfect portable answer for some privacy in regard to the plumbing area.  When Kevin had tightened up the wood rockers for us we had taken them down into the basement for him to work on.  I realized how wonderful it was to take a break from an active project to sit, rock away and ponder what the next step should be.  Dennis has his rocking chair in the patio porch and I have my resting space.  We never realized how many square feet we have gained on the kitchen counter by not having the microwave sitting upon it.  There are times we make adjustments to our living areas and end up coming back to what makes the most common sense.

  It was an uncomfortable day outside but we sure have had a great day indoors.  I am counting on next week for some comfortable weather so the 12 bags of Walmart dirt can come out of the back of the pickup.  There is more to be done before fall is done.

   
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  Noreen 3:35 pm on September 14, 2018 Permalink  

  Objectives Met 

  I am not fond of having to set the alarm on my phone.  When Dennis goes out to our VA clinic each month, that means Grammie has to set the alarm.  Sure as shoot, that would be the morning both of us would sleep in, I mean really sleep in.  Seven was the time we had agreed upon and seven was the time I shook the sheets to get Stauffer Avenue up and running. 

  I knew dang well what the forecast was for the day.  A forecast that would mean I would not be doing anything outside after twelve noon.  With coffee in hand and dressed for getting dirty I tackled those ten bags of garden soil that had been sitting on the north side of the house since Sunday.  The objective was to cover the rotten clay that had begun our landscape project in June.  With all the rain, the clay had a chance to run off from the slope that we had made from the foundation out to the remainder of the yard.  Man, did it run.  Man, did it make a mess on what had been nice grass.  The ten bags were just the right amount to cover the clay.  Dennis coming home from the VA came to give his opinion.  It was a good review.  After checking things out Dennis decided that the remaining area needed some light tilling before we used up the Walmart dirt we bought yesterday.  A bit of roughing up and then a covering of garden dirt might be just the answer before we mess with the grass mousse.

  I had had enough with my dirt work and I cleaned up and went into the sewing studio.  Out of the corner of my eye I could see Dennis making passes from east to west, from north to south with the Mantis electric tiller.  I stayed put.  He did not need to be interrupted or have any of my comments.  Let the fellow to his work!  He was wise to take several breaks as the afternoon humidity was nasty.  By the time Dennis came in for some iced tea, I was finishing up my quilt top.

  In days of old the five piece crazy quilt pattern was all the rage.  In finer circles, many used velvet cloth and each seam was embellished with hand embroidery running the lengths.  I had decided on blues and putting them together in such a way that they resembled pinwheels.  I enjoyed doing something different for the border and yes, sewing seams on the bias is a challenge so as to not stretch the fabrics.  What can I say!  The top is done and the borders are very happily lying flat.  I will be tucking this away to meet my December appointment at Old Alley Quilt Shop.  With the top being 100″ x 100″, I will gladly have Sharon long arm this.  My arms had all they could do to wrangle the bulk to finish up the borders.

  Here it is suppertime and all of our objectives have been met.  It’s a good feeling to get a workout and see some great results.  It will need to be a bit cooler before the Walmart dirt is broken in to.  That will also give the hard crust dirt that Dennis busted through a chance to get some air.

   
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  Noreen 5:12 pm on September 13, 2018 Permalink  

  A true return of summer complete with humidity. I am holding out for next week when it promises to be a great fall comfortable week. We decided to make a trip to Walmart today. All garden supplies are half off. We are making headway on landscaping the north side of our home. Tomorrow we will be unloading another twelve bags of garden dirt on the west end of the patio. With the electric tiller working up the surface of the dirt it will work well to put down a layer of soil and then trying out the seeding method that Dennis is ready and loaded for. He has talked about using the seed that is incorporated with a foam mousse via the garden hose. Time will tell. The north side of the house needs some TLC. There is nothing like getting some dirt under the fingernails.

  While I am waiting for the temperatures to settle down, I have a project to finish in the sewing studio. The studio has been ignored for some time. As I have often mentioned, a balance in my day makes for a happy Grammie.

  Hmm. The days of hearing “Grammie, Grammie” seem to be lost. Dennis says he just hates it that Megan and Nicholas had to grow past those cherished days. That’s okay. Memories can’t be taken away from us.

  On the down side, we needed a new coffee pot. We don’t spend a lot on pots. As long as we can program them, there are choices well under $20.00. I got the new pot set for the time and when it is to go off in the morning. I poured in a huge amount of water to have it run through the pot before using coffee grounds. Slow reflex on my part . . . the water was running out of the bottom of the pot as fast as I had poured it into the reservoir. What are the odds! Dried and re-boxed that in a heartbeat. The receipt and a huge notation on the box awaits the next trip to Mankato. Dennis suggested I visit the Shopko store here in St. James until we make the next trip to Mankato’s Walmart. Life in the fast lane.

   
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  Noreen 3:30 pm on September 12, 2018 Permalink  

  Got It! 

  

  There is nothing like Amazon to find what is needed. I now have 3M monofilament strapping tape. Yippee!

   
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  Noreen 2:16 pm on September 11, 2018 Permalink  

  A quiet morning. Dennis went off to McDonald’s for coffee with fellows that he has known most of his life. It could well be dubbed “The Over 80 Club.” Dennis says the coffee is awful. I am sure their “go to” items do not include coffee.

  A great breeze took me to sit on the west patio with coffee and junk mail that I have been collecting from the last week. What caught my eye was the flyer from JoAnn’s. Patterns for sewing were on sale. I used to do that. I sewed clothing for Orlin, Carrie, Kevin and myself. Leisure jackets that matched the three of them, robes, PJs, a three pieced suit for Kevin and lots of clothing for Carrie through her high-school years. I did not pay the price per pattern that was listed on the flyer from JoAnn’s. Simplicity, McCall’s and Vogue were listed from $22.95 to $35.00 each. Oh my gosh. In the hay day of my sewing in the 50s and 60s McCall’s and Simplicity could be bought for $1.25 or $1.50.  Vogue always was a bit higher but still reasonable. Even with today’s 30% off, it would not be economical to sew garments in relationship to what can be bought ready made. One would really want to have that “I made that” stigma. Not me. Not anymore. The world of knits and even cotton with a bit of a stretch can be found always on a sale rack somewhere. Yup, I am a sale rack shopper.

  With the junk mail having hit the recycling container, Snuggles found a spot on my lap for a nap. Being lazy and reminiscing, looking out to the east, I couldn’t believe that about 30 years ago, I couldn’t have had the view I have today. The evergreens that bounded the east line of the property swept the ground with their boughs. It was total greenery.

  Dad and Mom came for a visit. Mom needed a home perm. Dad and Mom pulled up with their tandem truck. Dad had an agenda. While I twisted Mom’s hair onto the rollers for the Lilt home perm, Dad had the chainsaw going trimming the evergreen boughs up the tree trunk. His reasoning was for winds to take the snow through and not cause huge snow drifts. Dad went from the backyard to the front yard trimming, trimming. With the hair task finished, Mom and I put on gloves and helped Dad load up the truck box. It was filled to the brim. Even with the end-gate off the box, it was quite the heft to get the job done. Of course there had been coffee breaks and a noon lunch that had been worked into the day.

  Here I sit today enjoying the view. No longer doing pattern sewing, no longer whacking and stacking clearing the yard, well I did clear out the square garden just several weeks ago. No longer giving Lilt perms.  My life has changed. My life is sweet. My memories are sweeter.

   
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  Noreen 5:23 pm on September 10, 2018 Permalink  

  An indication that we have been having heavy traffic past our home is when a water truck makes multiple passes during the day to keep the dust down on our concrete road. Four blocks north from our home the city is digging out a holding pond that is to work directly with the infrastructure to take pressure off of the storm sewers when we have heavy rains. It encompasses two city blocks and it is deep. That is from Dennis who does a daily trip to that area for a report. The city had used that area for decades as a spot to get rid of dirt type refuse of building and street projects. There are side dumps, and gravel trucks of various sizes and colors that keep up a steady flow going to and from. It is all getting hauled out to the south end of town. State, county and city are working together to fill in a spot out south that will become a huge parking lot to handle a portable cement plant when highway 60 is rebuilt next year. With all the rain of this area, the hauls are nothing but huge clumps of wet clay. Wet clay on tires drags it onto the city streets. The company has their own street sweeper that also runs by multiple times. Talk about dust composed of clay. The water truck does about as much good as me peeing on the street. No windows open until after seven in the evening. The haul from seven to seven.

  Last year the heavy traffic put in place detours in town past our home as we had two round-abouts that were placed. Some day we will again be a quiet small town dwelling.

   
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  Noreen 4:40 pm on September 9, 2018 Permalink  

  I Think – 

  I think Dennis and I need a brick in our pants.  This wonderful weather is keeping us moving beyond reasonable.  Dennis always takes a nap about an hour after he has been up.  It’s his tradition.  While I await his company, I find busy work.  Today’s busy work was taking on two of the slider doors in the patio porch.  Nothing is as hard on looking through a window when the sun is streaming as  . . . a dirty window.  I managed to get two out of three knocked out before Dennis came outside to see what I was up to.  Of course we sat on the patio and enjoyed the breeze and cooler temperatures.

  I had asked neighbor Jan if we could use their driveway to get our pickup backed close to the north side of our house.  The young fellow at Fleet Farm had loaded our garden dirt for us yesterday.  Today it was our turn to get the back of the pickup unloaded with as little of a walk as necessary.  One of us on of each end of the 40 lb. bag worked out well.  You all know we have had a lot of rain.  These last ten bags at Fleet Farm had been on a pallet outside during all of it.  I dare say they weighed a lot more than 40 lbs.  When I released my end of the bag to have it placed on the pile, there was water draining out of the corners.  We met our objective: the dirt is here, ready to use when the work area dries out a bit.

  

  Multipurpose and not in the way of day-to-day activity.

  Dennis has had an idea for the patio porch for some time.  He had made a run to the lumberyard before the weekend.  Today was the day for some execution of that plan.  Our 12′ x 16′ patio porch seems to end up with less floor space than originally thought of.  We like things handy, but handy compared to cultured needed some attention.  Today with brackets, electric drill and various bits and some of Dennis’ newly acquired lumber we set out to tackle the project.  Two objectives were in place.  The cats needed a way to get down from the rafters when the pickup is out of the garage.  Napping cats could care less if the vehicle a few feet below them is idling and about to move out.  The second objective was to allow for some storage area for items that we use often and want close at hand.  That may include Koi food, shears for cutting plants, Nicholas’ B-B gun and bug spray, etc.  Some of the boards were warped, but I can assure you my bubble on the level was right on.

  The last task was to get Santa tucked into his box and take him to the back garage.  We have a two-wheel trailer in the garage and he is laying down in it and taking a nap until called upon.  That was a great project to get him up and running and getting a clean suit for his nap didn’t hurt either.  With him enjoying the free-for-all in the patio porch, we still have a huge amount of harvest dust complete with the pink corn chaff that finds it’s way into town.  We enjoy coming and going with doors open in the porch.  More than likely, the harvest mess would have loved to settle on the red velvet.

  We have had a great day.  No bleeding, no swearing and a great feeling of satisfaction.  Neighbor Jan came over to see what the noise was all about.  She thought that the cats would have a hay day.  Of course not one cat came out and expressed some curiosity.  Not to worry, in the dead of the night, the felines move about.  It will be interesting to see what takes place in time to come.  It is time to take the brick out of our pants and settle down to decide what is for supper.  Dennis’ thought: a fried egg sandwich.  I second that.

   
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  Noreen 4:25 pm on September 8, 2018 Permalink  

  That was the last straw. We needed to mow the acre today and I had Dennis start my push mower so I could mow the front yard and around the house. As I was finishing up, my eye caught the north side of the house. Admittedly the north side of the house is about 25′ from the neighbor’s driveway and we don’t spend any amount of time in that grass area. What my eye caught was green moss like discoloration on the white siding. We have had a wet summer with very little full sun shining on the north side of the house.

  I finished mowing and the put on old shoes to begin washing off the house. I had a brush that I could telescope the handle to the height I could manage and yet reach the height of the greenery. I set the hose attachment for a sharp spray. When I started spraying water up to the roof line, the muddy rivets of water began to run down the siding. I followed up brushing what needed it with a cleaning solution, followed by rinsing. A bit weary but also feeling satisfied on a good job done.

  This actually all worked out well. In July we had worked on the slope of the yard on the north side of the house in relationship to the foundation for a good run off of water rather than having it pool close to the house. That was less than good dirt. It had a lot of clay in it. With all the rain, we are confident that the dirt mixed with clay has firmed up. Now with the house washing it needs to dry up a bit.

  Dennis was making a run to Fleet Farm and I rode along. As I sat in the pickup waiting, I noticed that their pallets of summer products was getting quite low. I got out and checked. They had 10 bags of garden dirt left. We came home with those 10 bags. In the next days or perhaps weeks, we will be putting this black garden dirt on top of the clay on the north side of the house. This is not a quick half day job for us. The bags were 40 lbs. at the time they were trucked to Fleet Farm, but with them being out in the weather, I think they might weigh a bit more. We have lots of time to get this done. It will need to be put on and raked. You know me: nice and tidy. Dennis wants to try the water activated seed that is put on with a harden house leaving a blanket looking covering. From now until then we will be collecting cardboard boxes to cut apart to protect the foundation of the house from the seed spray landing where it will do no good but make a mess on the concrete.

  Lordy, Lordy, if it is not one thing it is another. It is good to get this stuff done as it is warranted while the weather is nice. The weather was chilly this morning turning out to be a good day for a workout. That chilly morning spurred me on to make a batch of chili. Having a large enough batch to have some in the freezer doesn’t hurt either for a quick meal sometime down the road.

   
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  Noreen 6:34 pm on September 7, 2018 Permalink  

  It has been known for quite some time that Dennis is a cat lover. For myself I can enjoy cats or dogs. Dennis has often remarked that traveling with a dog is not easy. Leaving a dog behind with a handler is not easy. Either way, the dog doesn’t know how to react . . . their world has changed. Now with a cat, a cat is so independent, they really don’t care if the human is around or not as long as the litter box, water dish and food dish remain in place. We have enjoyed vacations away and made sure there is someone to take care of the litter box, water dish and food dish.

  Our patio porch does sport a furnace that services the garage for the pickup and the car. In the winter, the entire area never gets colder than 40 degrees. It took us awhile to realize that the cats would launch themselves off of our vehicles and sleep on the rafters above where the air was warmest. Why fight it? For some time there have been baskets with cushioning above both vehicles.

  It has happened that we have been gone all day to come home and realize that one of the cats had been stranded aloft for the entire day. Today we began to make plans for an exit if and when one of the cats would get stranded above the pickup. One situation at a time. It will be interesting to see how this all works out. I assure you, I will keep you posted. This project was in Dennis’ plans before we got side tracked with the Santa restoration. That was a good thing as it bought me some time to put paper to pencil for more detailed plans before heading to the lumberyard.

  Ah yes . . . life is always interesting here on Stauffer Avenue.

   
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  Noreen 4:09 pm on September 6, 2018 Permalink  

  A Sweet Day 

  The intent of the day was to work with the Santa Clause project and finish it up.  With a huge roll of the 3M 2X Duct Tape I tackled the dressing room for Santa, aka: storage box.  The Santa is 5′ plus his cap pushes the 5’5″.  The box is the original shipping container.  We would be hard pressed to find a substitute.  When all was said and done I had put a huge dent into the roll of tape.  The box had always sat on end.  The bottom of the cover rode on the floor over the decades of the box having been moved and there wasn’t much left of it.  I use a box we had saved and fabricated a new bottom portion of the cover complete with a whole bunch of my tape.  I couldn’t help but put clear tape over the shipping label, saving it for posterity.  I do intend to go online and see if that address still remains.

  I am quite sure that the beard was manufactured with what was known in the 1950s as angel hair.  It didn’t stay on the market for very long as there were multiple concerns that it was virtually fiberglass.  All of the beard had been manipulated into curls and stapled onto a cloth stabilizer.  Some of the beard needed a bit of work as the curls had “done come undone.” At the time of manufacturing there was what appears to be a spray that was applied over the beard containing it. As much as the red velvet had sprung to life after being vacuumed, there wasn’t much that could be done to take away the decades of airborne impurities that had settled on the white.  Oh, by the way . . . on the inside of the belt was a sticker that identified the Santa as a 1959 product.  I left the sticker right where I found it.

  I really had to hunt for my hair dryer.  Since I have had both shoulders replaced, I can’t handle the hair dryer and it was in storage.  We needed the hair dryer to soften the black plastic that the belt was made out of.  Taking it off had been easy, but getting it strung back through the buckle was a bit difficult.  Dennis manned the dryer and it worked as slick as a baby’s butt.

  Here it is supper time.  Santa is stationed for now in the patio porch with his new improved dressing room.  I am sure Dennis will plug him in a time or two before we put him in the box before he comes out for the Christmas season. We did have a great run with this project.  We had plenty of help from time to time and Dennis did get to check his eyelids for cracks several times.  It may take me some time to figure things out but according to Dad, “You don’t have time to do it right the first time, but you have time to do it over.”  Nuff said.