Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 5:10 pm on January 31, 2018 Permalink  

  We seem to be on a roller coaster with the winter temperatures. Tomorrow is Feb. 1st and that allows me to know spring is coming and I will soon be able to begin my usual morning walks along the Hammond Highway. When we came home on Monday, I checked out what is labeled as a bike trail along the Hammond Highway, aka: the shoulder of the road. Way too much snow coverage and possible ice hiding. I’ll continue with multiple trips up and down into the sewing studio and doing the snow pusher whenever we have new snow . . . that may be this evening.

  Today was special for me. I got a great email from Carrie and a phone call from my Fairfax team . . . both priceless. Contacts from my kids quiets my heart.

   
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  Noreen 4:42 pm on January 30, 2018 Permalink  

  Who Knew! 

  

  Humph! This did close down the embroidery unit of my sewing machine faster than a power outage or a design that had become corrupt while it is being stitched. Who knew that of all my thread stashes this gold metallic has no substitute. The project has been rolled up until our next road date, most likely February 6th when Dennis has an appointment in Mankato. There is bound to be a plan “B” that will surface tomorrow in the sewing studio.

   
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  Noreen 5:24 pm on January 29, 2018 Permalink  

  Mills Fleet Farm has been in Mankato for several years. Today, Dennis and I checked it out. One word . . . huge. Dennis tried out the motorized cart and got into all corners for a peek. What did I find? 100% cotton dish towels of the same quality and size as to what the old feed sacks were from days of old. Squared and hemmed, they will be fun to work with and see what stitches they will be sporting in times to come. It didn’t hurt that Mills had Circus Peanuts as well.

  We came back to St. James in time to vote. When there was an unexpected resignation in the House of Representatives for this portion of the state, it called for campaign calls, mailers, etc. Voted once today for a choice of one in a possibility of three candidates and then on Monday the 29th, we will vote again. Did it. Got that one done. The “I Voted” sticker fell off my jacket when I got into the house and that thing fluttered to the floor. I still have a portion of the back of it that is stuck to the floor and stuck good. No good deed goes unpunished.

   
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  Noreen 5:01 pm on January 28, 2018 Permalink  

  A gray day for a Sunday. We were not expecting snow over the night hours. Out came the snow pusher . . . again. Yesterday towards evening Dennis watched deer navigate across out backyard. Of course today Dennis took me for a drive, right to Fleet and Farm for a mineral block to put in our backyard. Mineral block could not be found but . . . Deer Lick – Apple flavor.

  I had kidded Dennis that we would need a scoop shovel to put the block on and pull it to the spot where he wanted it. Naw . . . he was sure we could drive right up to the spot with the pickup. Hello! We had 12 inches of snow and how many times has the city gone down Stauffer with the blades making the snow fly? On the way home from Fleet Dennis picked up a something or other, it was not a scoop shovel. I got myself over the bank of snow using the something or other to steady myself. With the deep snow and having to keep the handle and the deer block level, it was just easier to do it the old fashioned way. I picked up the Deer Lick and headed north until I got to the spot where we hope the deer will find it. Yes, even in the flat area of our acre the snow was deep. On the bright side, I got a ride around our area and Dennis and I both enjoyed seeing where the deer had been making their trails. There are benefits living as close to rural acres as we do.

   
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  Noreen 6:15 pm on January 27, 2018 Permalink  

  In time to come when people talk about the “good old days” I am quite sure it will consist primarily about working through situations of cell phones, modems and any and all computers problems.

  Mediacom did have to resolve the problem with our land line phone. It was my joy to work with my HP Notebook consistently dropping the wireless printing option. No, I don’t print out a huge amount of items, but dag-nab-it I want it when I want it.

  Earlier in the week when I was contriving to embroider the fabric for the black 12 Days of Christmas, I must have screwed up something in the download of a design from the online site. Yes, I made sure that I had clicked the option that let me remove the USB stick safely. After that download I had lost 75% of the designs on my Bernina USB stick. With the phone issue fixed, the printer was printing, I had promised myself to get the USB problem resolved. I have all the designs saved in a folder in the File Explorer. I had been working with the HP Notebook and the USB flash drive in the living room acknowledging the message that the device was corrupt. I must have missed a prompt at that time. Even though I had tried it several times I did not see a prompt.

  I happened to be in the sewing studio this morning and sat down with the old Dell laptop with Windows 7. I inserted the USB stick and immediately there was a prompt that the device was corrupt, ya, I knew that. What popped up next was a prompt to “scan and restore.” You bet I clicked on that. I watched that green line move across the screen and I don’t think I blinked or took a breath. And then . . . there it was. Done. Totally scanned and restored. Amazing grace. I was leery but you betcha all the folders with all the designs within each folder were intact.

  That was it for me. The sewing studio was shut down for the day as I was content. My stuff was o.k.

   
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  Noreen 4:59 pm on January 26, 2018 Permalink  

  It was errand day in downtown St. James. I was surprised how messy the parking lots were with slush. Several cars were caught up in the slush to be stuck. I am sure it was a crapshoot as to whether the warm temps would take care of it or if it would pay to have someone come in and clear the area. I chose wisely where I parked.

  We are down to 11 days of getting Dennis into the pre-op scheme of things for his carotid surgery. Today, out of the blue, an RN nurse from the Veterans Health Care facility here in St. James called to check in on Dennis. Whenever I hear people bash the service that veterans receive form the VA health care service . . . I wonder who they are or where they’re from. Dennis has always had the highest regard for the gals out here in St. James.

  We are awaiting for a great “Dennis Hotdish” for supper. I am also keeping granddaughter Megan in my heart as she is entering competition in Duluth this weekend. When I texted her, I allowed her to know I had been practicing my lunges and would be right behind her on the ice. We love that gal.

   
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  Noreen 5:26 pm on January 25, 2018 Permalink  

  The Quiet is Over 

  Today is a Thursday and what with the snow that we had on Sunday and Monday we had managed to keep busy.  It wasn’t until Tuesday evening when Carrie popped off an email that she had tried to call us but always got a busy signal.  Humph!  On thinking about it we realized we had not had any tell-a-marketing calls since the weekend.  That also tells the story of how little Dennis and I use the phone.  I had been keeping busy working on a binding for a scrappy quilt and Dennis was surfing his Facebook, checking out the RFD television channel and napping.  

  Wednesday evening I finally contacted Mediacom with the land line phone problem.  Using my cell phone I checked multiple items that the gal on the other end of the line prompted me through.  It was finally down to having a fellow stop by.  This afternoon a Mediacom fellow spent a lot of time checking things in our home.  Two old people and we have six options for picking up a land line phone.  We don’t believe in needing to rush to pick up a phone call.  Considering that we hadn’t even noticed the phones weren’t working, it brings a chuckle.  Three are wireless, one is hard wired into the kitchen, one is hardwired into the bathroom and the sixth is a phone with a phone jack in the garage porch.  Bringing in the phone from the garage porch and plugging it into the modem finally told the problem.  The problem was the modem.  It allowed internet and cable television but no land line.   So here we are . . . totally hooked up.  Within an hour, the tell-a-marketers were at it.  The quiet is over.  We have talked about letting the land line go.  For the $19.00 a month we had decided cell phones are not what all the people our age are accustomed to.  Amazing what can happen to our little world, and . . . we still getter done. 

   
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  Noreen 4:08 pm on January 24, 2018 Permalink  

  Finished What Was Started 

  I started working with the collection of the 12 Days of Christmas in January 2017.  I was curious as to how the images would work with various fabrics.  Off and on over the last 12 months I would take the blocks out of the storage box and begin pairing the blocks with fabric.  Not as easy of a task as I would re-think and second guess myself over and over.  Back in the storage box and I would work on a quilt or some towels.  It was always in the back of my mind to finish what I had started.  How sad to have so much time, energy and resources sitting in a box for someone to come across at a time in the future and toss them as they were not a finished product.

  We did get side tracked from the sewing studio when we received 12 inches of snow on Saturday and Sunday.  Here we are on a Wednesday and the snow project is finished.  Dennis’ grandson Ryan came today with a bob cat skid loader and cleared all the snow off of the area between the driveway and Stauffer Ave.  Buckets of snow have been parked in the far east portion of the lot.  Ryan used the snow rake and took off a huge amount of snow from the south side of our garage roof.  We need to remind ourselves that WW2 pallets were used when that garage was built.  Yes, I agree . . . fragile.  A treat of warmer temps and we have bare concrete showing on the driveway.  Snow at this time of year competes with a variety of thawing and melting.

  So . . . back to the sewing studio.  The last of the four 12 Days of Christmas is done.  The blessing of a home that is over a 100 years old and not having a finished basement ceiling, it is a great place to pound a few nails in the floor joist overhead and size things up.

  

  Each one took on a life of its own as I puzzled through.  Dennis’ favorites were the blue and the black.  The blue did have the designs embroidered on blue fabric with decorative stitching in the sashes.  The rust colored one was what I called Prom dress material in the sashes with brass washers and beads for the quilting.  The gray blocks embroidered with white sashing and red has 57 buttons for the quilting from the button tree.  The gray embroidered blocks with black sashing was a challenge and had to have special embroidered sashing to bring life to the black.  Have I mentioned that I am a patient quilter?  I don’t get bored and I am always up for a good challenge.  I know that come the latter part of the 2018 year, these will find homes.  The sewing studio needed the concrete floor Swiffered this afternoon and it is totally void of anything going on . . . well . . . there is a king sized quilt that is waiting for a binding.  I will think on that tomorrow.

   
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  Noreen 4:14 pm on January 23, 2018 Permalink  

  Got it Done 

  Today had the entire city of St. James shoving, pushing, moving and blowing snow.  Stauffer Avenue didn’t quite feel the pressure of snow removal as most folks.  We were so fortunate that as we were having supper last night waiting out the last three hours of the snowfall, neighbor Randy was pulling into our driveway with his John Deere tractor and snowblower.  As he made his first swipe up the drive, it drove home just how deep 12″ of new snow looks.  A sharp slice just as if it was a piece of pie.  Randy returned this morning. Granted, a tractor can’t get in small areas or get up close and personal to structures, we had minimal snow to remove around our garage doors and house doors.    When I spoke to Randy’s wife, Jan, last night she said he was so excited to finally have enough snow to get out and play with his tractor and blower.  This snowfall was what all winter enthusiasts were waiting for.

  After lunch Dennis got his snowblower going and he also played in the snow.  The patio around the porch is now clear of any amount of snow.  As we were taking it slow and steady, the cats sat in the windows of the porch.  When I opened one of the sliding doors two of them came out and checked out the cleared areas.  What was comical was that you could see that they were sizing up checking out the backyard.  With the bank of snow taller than they stood, the anticipated jumps never were executed.  By the time we finished up there were bare spots of concrete showing as the bright sun was strutting its stuff and Dennis was resting in his rocking chair in the patio porch.  Priceless.  It may be awhile before the cats can venture very far, but at least they have the patio to patrol.  It definitely was a good workout for the older ones on Stauffer Avenue.

   
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  Noreen 3:53 pm on January 22, 2018 Permalink  

  Dennis’ Pathway 

  

  It is so white and it is Dennis’ pathway to his patio porch. The snow is heavy and after nine hours it is still coming with a brisk wind from the north. My snow pusher doesn’t push very far and then it wants to roll it up like a Tootsie Roll. We have no need to be anywhere. Taking it slow and easy on Stauffer Avenue.