Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 12:53 pm on June 6, 2018 Permalink  

  Back to Normal 

  Today is Wednesday and Stauffer Ave. feels like a normal today.  I put all the shelves back on the north wall of the sewing studio.  Nothing needed to be sacrificed in regard to storage.  It felt normal today that my brother called and we took jabs at each other.  Humor is always a good thing when there are under- tones of care and support.  It was also back to normal to get the weed whip going so Dennis could get the riding lawn mower going without all the back and forward motion needed to get close and personal to objects.  I am quite sure he will be heading in soon for a good drink of water.  After an additional half inch of rain last night it is humid, sticky, soggy and a bit muddy in sparse grass areas.  All the phones in the house were ringing at 4:00 a.m.  Our county has an alert system.  The alert was for a severe thunderstorm heading our way.  Lots of rain, wind, thunder and lightening.  Quite the season of rain.  Yup . . . on so many levels normal feels good.

   
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  Noreen 3:38 pm on June 5, 2018 Permalink  

  Basement Project 

  

  Window well and pails of rocks.

  

  The metal drain at the bottom of the dug out hole screwed tight.

  

  Hole bored from the outside to the inside of the basement wall.

   

  

  If the window well water was excessive enough it would filter through that metal drain, flow through the hole in the basement wall run down this rod well and enter the tile that we have around the perimeter of the basement.

  

  We are totally secure with water issues as all the work is warrantied. Complete Basements came with a trailer of dirt. Our entire north side of the house now has a good slope towards the north. Sweet!

  Here in St. James it is not about who lives on what side of the railroad tracks, it is all about who lives at the high water mark and who lives at the low water mark.  We live in a part of our city that is considered the low water part.  Today we had Complete Basements of Mankato come and give us the next level of safety for excess water that may infiltrate one of our window wells that is about 2″ from the sump water as it comes up and out.  This winter the underground line to take away the water did freeze over.  It was a bit hairy for a while as the water was encroaching the window well.  Once inside the window well it would follow the path of least resistance and stream down on the inside of the basement wall.  I have captured photos of their work today.  The rod well has been screwed into place and also an adhesive was put all the way around it.  After a day or two I will be able to put my shelves back up as the depth of this is the same as the shelving rods.  The window well on the outside of the house has 24 inches of river rock in it.  This was a good day here on Stauffer Ave.

   
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  Noreen 3:10 pm on June 4, 2018 Permalink  

  Last Thursday I had attended an informal get together for machine embroidery stitchers. On the way home on the 45 mile trip from Mankato the idiot light came on . . . “check engine soon.” Flutter, flutter went the heart. I cannot express how much I like my 1999 Lincoln Town Car that is sporting 183,000 plus miles.

  Dennis called our local fellow that afternoon and made an appointment to get the car in this morning at nine. I used the ole cowboy’s pickup to get to Stewart yesterday. Right after lunch Rod Rushing called and said we could pick up the car. “Is she going to live?” I asked. I was assured all was well.

  I drove the pickup out with Dennis riding shotgun and Dennis went in with Checkbook in hand. We knew that whatever the bill was it would be worth having the car road ready.

  I was sweating bullets waiting at home for Dennis to return home and drive the car into the garage. When he got out of the car he handed me the invoice. His words . . . “sometimes you have to pay the price to learn a lesson.” The total bill was $42.64. The charge was for having the computer analyzer hooked up. The gas cap had become dislodged enough to trigger the idiot light. Who knew!! Dennis and I both got a good laugh of relief. I do have trouble getting the cap twisted with the just the right amount of tension to first off, get it off, and just as much of a challenge when I put it back on.

  Needless to say it was worth the price to drive down the highway knowing that the old girl is road safe, and this old gal will need to be a bit more attentive to the gas cap.

   
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  Noreen 6:12 pm on June 3, 2018 Permalink  

  I have returned home . . . home sweet home. Today I took a solo road trip to my sister’s community for the committal of her ashes. For 18 months her remains have served as research at the University of Minnesota. I grew up at Stewart, Minnesota. When my sister married Orville Trettin our family farms were within three sections apart. I and Orville’s sister Carol were chums. Today was a good day to connect on so many levels. Being back in my sister’s home was as if she had never left. Orville is not yet ready to move any of the things that were left by Elvera at a time when they went on an RV trip. It had never entered her mind that she would not return home. I have returned home . . . home sweet home.

   
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  Noreen 5:01 pm on June 2, 2018 Permalink  

  When I came back from my walk this morning, Dennis was already in his recliner for a nap. I took another cup of coffee and headed out to the yards. We had a huge dumping of rain over night. At three this morning the thunder and lightening woke me. I got up and seeing across the street was difficult through the heavy rain. Again our neighbor to the south has a huge pond that also needs mowing when the water goes down. Last week he was doing laps around the water pond with his lawnmower.

  Yesterday I had managed to clean up a bit from branches, green things not wanted in the flower beds and whatever had blown or washed into areas where it was not wanted and it had been left in a pile. This forenoon Snuggles and I filled bushel basket after bushel basket and trucked it over to the fire ring. Yup, it’s too wet to burn, but leaving it piled on the grass would not be a good thing.

  I put out more granules on spots that have sprouted up with huge ant hills. What is up with that! I got dirty this morning, complete with heavy muddy shoes, but the agenda had been met. The hardest part was getting Snuggles out of the potting shed. So many things to sniff. So many things to check out in the far corners.

  How did Dennis fare? Finally at one this afternoon I woke him to see if he was willing to take nourishment. It seemed to be one of those napping type of days. For the first half hour he was out on the patio swinging his right arm as it apparently had been tucked in too hard in the recliner for the long nap. Too funny.

  Tomorrow I will be traveling to my sister’s home town. Her ashes have been returned to the family and there will be a family committal service at the cemetery. Closure is a good thing.

   
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  Noreen 5:46 pm on June 1, 2018 Permalink  

  There is nothing that will roust one out of self absorbed thoughts than a 10-year-old great granddaughter of Dennis’s bounding into the house and declaring that the school year is over for the summer. Addison is going to be spending most of the summer up north at Silver Bay where her grandmother, Dennis’ daughter, lives. Addison looks forward to canoeing, fishing and living the rustic life at a lake cabin. The best part for her is that there are three girl cousins awaiting her time there. Dennis’ daughter Sue and her husband stopped in shortly to pick up Addison and all of “her stuff.”

  A flurry of activity on Stauffer Avenue and then the quiet. It’s not all bad to have a mix. Too much of either one can be daunting. Today is Friday, we have had a good week. For myself, I am going to pull into myself for the evening and let the memories roll. So many good memories and time well spent. I would be hard pressed to single out any one memory specifically.

   
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  Noreen 5:17 pm on May 31, 2018 Permalink  

  Though rare, I do hit Minnesota State Highway 60 solo from time to time. A group of us that do machine embroidery met at one of the quilt shops in Mankato to share tips on stitching, materials and projects. YouTube videos are wonderful, but you can’t beat open conversations. The group is of various ages using various brands of sewing machines to accomplish the end result. For the most part I am self-taught. Several of the gals have traveled as far as Seattle for workshops. I continue to take part in these gatherings as at a unique moment a grand tip can be picked up. My end game remains the same . . . I am having fun doing it.

  While I was in Mankato, Dennis finished up the mowing that we got rained out on last night. We started the mowing late yesterday to give the grass a chance to dry out. We had agreed that a late supper would be the plan. When the clouds began dumping rain, we had supper right on target. That rain tipped us over three inches within the week. The week went quickly and as usual the weekend will be taken as it comes.

   
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  Noreen 4:56 pm on May 30, 2018 Permalink  

  Supper time on a Wednesday and again the skies are dark with droplets of rain. We had 1.85 inches last night with winds that meant business. Monday night there was damage west of us. Last night a barn went down south of us. We have been so fortunate.

  When I came home from my walk this morning, I had missed the action in our yard. Snuggles had been acting strange and when Dennis investigated, there was a huge opossum waddling away from our yard and heading to our neighbors yard north of us. By the time Dennis had gotten his gun, the possum was not to be found. They are so nasty. I am happy Snuggles had not tangled with it. It would have meant a trip to the VET ER.

  I think we have had our share of rain and heat. It does make me wonder what June will bring.

   
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  Noreen 2:51 pm on May 29, 2018 Permalink  

  I had bugged off of walking the last several days but this morning I had my walking shoes on and ready to go . . . I just didn’t go as far as I usually would. By the time I got home I had soaked through the waist band on my jeans. . . and beyond. Another high 90s day and the dew point and humidity are also high. I was already past comfortable so I decided to clear off the patio of Oak blossoms, airplane seeds from the maple and small sticks from the wind storm that blew through at supper time last night. We were fortunate as there were buildings that went down about eight miles to the southwest of us. I finished up by doing some vacuuming in the patio porch. Local effort . . . completed.

  I admit it . . . I got real and spent some time in the basement where it is cooler and I have a small fan . . . in my underwear to totally cool down. I sweat like Dad did. Not to worry, I had the house doors locked. After an hour, I was ready to wash up and tidy up to go with Dennis to his doctor appointment here in town. Dennis is in the process of going off of some of his meds that he has been on for some time. The opioid prescription is no longer. There is one other that was at 3,200 mg per day and today he is at 1,200. The carotid surgeries have been successful in fewer meds. Priceless. It is still a work in progress.

  Noon had us back at home and all errands taken care of. We currently are in a storm watch. It has been raining quite hard and for all practical purposes it should help the lawn fertilizer that we just put down. The granules for the ants also likes the rain for effect. Heat, humidity, dew point, rain . . . we take it in stride and I get stitching done when it’s not a good idea to push my luck outside. It’s a win, win.

   
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  Noreen 4:13 pm on May 28, 2018 Permalink  

  This is Us 

  

  Yes indeed . . . this is us! It doesn’t matter how hot it is outside. It doesn’t matter about the physical challenges that God puts in our paths. We believe in each other. We challenge each other, we laugh at each other and more importantly . . . ourselves. Each evening we thank the Lord for the day we have had, even if that evening meal is a bowl of oatmeal as we are not interested in fussing, and pray that we may be given another day and to do better with it than the one before. We know life is not easy. We never claimed it would be. We do know that working together, loving together, laughing together makes the bitterest of events doable. It allows us to be there for our children and our children’s families. We are never far away. Yes . . . this is what “Us” is.