We have had a quiet day. The snow is shrinking before our eyes. With that being said, most likely where it thawed today there may be ice in the early morning hours. Spring can’t be stopped now!
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Noreen
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Noreen
Safe and Sound
This is how I am assured that Dennis will be safe and ready for his carotid surgery in two days. The snow moved in Saturday afternoon and was not messing around. Randy came over at supper and took the first of the accumulation out. This morning the long green line and Randy were back and cleared the Stauffer Avenue freeway. With the mild temps it was enjoyable being out and clearing doorways, buried garbage bins and of course we can’t forget the doorway of Dennis’ pickup. A great workout. Dennis made noon lunch . . . Campbell’s Chunky Soup. This afternoon we were going to make cookies . . . Humph, no flour. I got out the Bisquick cookbook and sure enough, we have cookies in the cookie jar. No one goes hungry on Stauffer Avenue. This entire week is forecast to be mild and a sloppy messy.
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Noreen
Last week Megan shared with me that her and Nickolas were having an old fashioned meal. Well we aren’t doing Hungry Man frozen dinners . . . but we are doing a Tombstone Pizza. Have not had a frozen Pizza in decades. We were running some errands this morning before the snow and when we stopped to fuel up the car . . . it came to me as clear as day. Neither one of us has burned off enough energy today to amount to a diddle but it is what it is.
Dennis has been using the snow pusher each time he travels out to his patio porch. Blazing a trail until the next time. My sewing studio is making its own trail of the white stuff. When I did Kersten’s Pokemon quilt with the embroidered blocks I had not a problem taking off the stabilizer from each embroidered block. As Kevin had mentioned, if you don’t take it off it will eventually let loose and there will be hard balls of the stuff co-mingling in the quilt in time to come. Grant it, it was a different brand as I needed a different size for my currant project. It is coming off in tiny, teeny, annoying, hateful bits the size of my thumb nail. Ya, look at your own thumb nail and there I am. Believe it or not, this teaches patience. I am calling it a day and going to read the instructions on the pizza. Tomorrow is another day. As I look out the back door window on my way to the kitchen to get the pre-heat going on the oven, Dennis is rocking away in his patio porch rocker and I bet you a dollar to a doughnut he is listening to the gospel music on the RFD television channel. Gotta love that guy.
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Noreen
A theater of seasons here on Stauffer Avenue. Dennis was sure the snow of last night would miss us . . . not! It was music to my ears as I realized, though it was just getting daylight, Randy and his green snow moving machine was going up and down our driveway. Randy and Jan live adjacent to us to the north. Randy works for John Deere here in St. James and owns some amazing green toys.
Randy left just enough snow for me to take care of close to the doors and buildings after I had enjoyed several cups of coffee. One must be mindful of keeping track where the city snowplows have gone. You might think the end of the driveway has been cleared. I went back and did a bit of snow pushing at the driveway to 11th St. as well as Dennis’ driveway for the pickup garage which faces on Stauffer Ave.
It was a good hour workout. I looked out a bit ago and with the bright powerful sun I see bare spots on the driveway and our front door sidewalk is totally clear. I enjoyed the fresh air and treated myself to more coffee.
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Noreen
Which One
I have often commented that older people are fun to watch. It is so true. It all comes down to being able to seek and search and know where to seek and search. Which one is not like the other?
It is a good thing that Kevin and Kersten give Dennis and I a helping hand. The carpenter tool is now back in the garage where it is needed to keep a cabinet door closed from the prying curiosity of the cats. Dennis and I now have an appropriate tool to open a variety of bottles and jars. Who knew? Inquiring minds seek and search and find the answers. Hats off to the Fairfax team and a very warm “Thank You.” -
Noreen
I went outside today to get some fresh air. Where the last dusting of snow has blown off of our concrete drive, it was as if looking through a layer of glass seeing fossils that were captured beneath. The rain in the early morning hours of Monday froze ever so smoothly. So much for having a clear driveway for the winter.
I had a great visit with my brother via the phone this morning. All is going favorable with him and his family this winter. We chatted about all things including utility bills. Mike lives in rural Renville County and is serviced by REA – Rural Electrical Association. His last electrical bill was just a few dollars above $800.00 for the month. I commented that the meter on the poll was turning fast enough to be humming a tune. Nope. He said he could go out there at any given time and watch it putt, putt, putt ever so slowly. I know Mike and Jo have always enjoyed cooler temps in their home than I ever thought of having in our home. Mike has one water heater in a stock tank to keep it from freezing for his few steers. Hmm. There is no other option in the rural area.
Dennis than relayed that years ago the REA was always on the high end as they had add-ons for everything imaginable. I guess I have no complaints about our $175.00 current bill for the city gas bill. I do think the reason that Dennis’ cats are so content in the garage porch is . . . if cats wore shirts, they would be sporting tank tops. I know enough to not even go and check what the garage furnace is set at. It is what it is and so be it. March is not that far away. Yippee!
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Noreen
A New Experience
Unfortunately, we had to get Dennis back to the clinic yesterday. The first batch of the 5 day fast track of antibiotics was finished on Sunday and yesterday morning his temp was 102.2 with all the same hacking, aching to go with it. I realized the antibiotic would still be in his system for another 10 days, but we were 8 days out from his carotid surgery. No way do we want to have to postpone that important surgery. Dennis’ regular doctor was not available. Urgent care is something we had never visited in the clinic before. You show up and take what you get. A 21 year old looking young doctor came in. I thought “Oh-my-oh-my-oh.” This young fellow graduated high-school from the town just east of here, Madelia. He wanted to come back to his community and . . . here he was.
The doctor checked and saw that the last chest X-ray was for the pre-op in October of 2017. He could hear a rattle in the right lung. Off to X-ray Dennis went. Nothing serious in that right lung, but several masses that needed to be broken up. Fast forward . . . Dennis and I were so impressed with his attention to every detail of Dennis’ history and the state he was in currently. Another, stronger antibiotic was prescribed. Yes, it will interfere with the Warfarin Dennis takes for his Atrial fibrillation (an irregular heart beat), but . . . yesterday was the 19th and Dennis needs to stop taking it on the 21st to prepare for the surgery. Doctor Luis felt this would be the way to get him in shape and not have the surgery rescheduled. In addition he is to take 4,000 mg of acetaminophen spread over four times during the day. When the coughing spree starts, get it up and out. Napping may be the way Dennis will spend these next days as everything he is taking has the ability for drowsiness. Here we are 24 hours later, his temperature is down. The rest I am sure will follow to getting him back on his feet. My job is to make sure the meds are laid out and to push liquids so he can get the crap in his system and out through urination.
The city streets were icy yesterday and we opted to get the prescription out of the automated vending machine in the clinic. Talk about something that is oh so cool. You enter the code from the doctor’s prescription and there begins a blue task message at the bottom of the screen. It takes a credit card. It asked for Dennis’ birth date and off the blue line took. “Looking up drug.” “Counting out drug.” “Printing label.” “Attaching label.” “Dispensing drug.” This took about 10 minutes, but I was amazed. Dennis took his first dose right there in the clinic.
The Urgent Care and the med dispensing were both a new experience. We came away feeling comfortable in having a new doctor that we will feel comfortable with. Luis questioned Dennis on things that had never been broached before.
All I need to do is keep the house quiet, though he may be able to sleep through a freight train coming by. His sleep is deep. He says there are no nightmares or dreams . . . just out. Two feet from the
recliner and he begins to list towards it. I did find some putzing to do in the sewing studio. I have never worked with flannel . . . so why not. Today the tracking info allowed us to know Dennis’ granddaughter’s scrappy quilt hit their home. With all the snow they got over the last day or so, it won’t go unused. -
Noreen
It is priceless to be able to text with Megan. She is now 14 and Nicholas is 9. They are at the age that they do stay home alone for a time. Kody, the dog, is getting to be a good watch dog. Saturday night the first text came in. “Grammie, we are having an old fashioned dinner tonight.” That was followed by a photo of Hungry Man T.V. dinners. “Nicholas said mine looked gross, but I put it in the microwave and actually doesn’t look or taste as bad as it first seemed. Nicholas wants to do his own.” I texted back and mentioned that maybe Nicholas could fix his and when he is about to enjoy it, he should just sit back, close his eyes and pretend he was at a high-end steakhouse. I reminded her that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. “Grammie I guess I will be the strongest person ever then.”
I texted her that at least by nuking, there couldn’t be any cooking utensils that would over heat and burn the food or them. I went on to relay to her the time her mom and Kevin were home alone making popcorn. The end result was not realizing how hot the handle was and the utensil was set on the vinyl floor. The pattern came off of the floor with the picking up of the pan. I spent some time using my Tri-Chem oil paints replicating the design. “Grammie I’ll have to remember that and have a bit of info when it is just the right time to use it.” That a girl.
Yes . . . Grammie gets to tattle a bit on their mom. It keeps the relationship between Megan, Nicholas and me real. I would never want to be the Grammie that they think is boring to visit. It has already been difficult for Dennis and me to not have them be able to have extended sleepovers. Their snowboarding, ice skating, violin lessons and having their friends involved in their day-to-day doesn’t leave much time. But . . . the memories that Dennis and I have are as fresh as the new fallen snow of today. The freezing rain we could have done without.
I did text Megan on Sunday evening and asked her how the “old fashioned dinner” fared on a scale of 1 – 10. She gave it a strong six. Having communication with Megan is priceless. You cannot image how painful it is for me to text, not physically. I spend more time going back and correcting than going forwards, then it flips into the draft mode, etc. My school typing class is so ingrained in me, the perfect phone would have a full sized pad and ya know that isn’t going to happen.
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Noreen
Doesn’t Quite Fit
With the temperatures teasing us that we are approaching spring, it doesn’t quite fit that Dennis should be on the fritz. The five day fast track pack of antibiotics is falling a bit short. Fluids are being pushed and him being bundled up to break the fever is what the aim is here on Stauffer Avenue. 99.9 for a temperature is not horrible, but it would be better if lower. Dennis is being a good patient. It is one of those instances where he is ill but not ill enough to be given anything other than what has been given at
the clinic. The clear thing would have been if he had been given a shot it the butt of penicillin. We are not giving up. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully a good night’s sleep will bring some positive reading on the thermometer. Dennis was sure the instrument was flawed as he didn’t feel as warm as what it was reading. I stood beside him and took my temperature . . . 97.2. Dennis’ response . . . “Hmm.” Bless his heart. It may mean another trip to the clinic and press our concerns tomorrow. -
Noreen
With a day as we have had today . . . spring cannot be far behind. We had almost two inches of new snow to be pushed around. I am going to keep my eyes open as March approaches. My snow pusher has had the first several inches of the plastic edge wore off. It has been a great help in the last six years. There is bound to be a sale of snow toys as spring approaches.
Dennis will take the last of the antibiotics tomorrow. I sure hope there is a huge turn around from now until Monday morning. The aches that he describes can’t be much fun. Naps are still the better part of the days on Stauffer Avenue. Dennis’ daughter Sandy came by today and gave he dad the once over. Yup . . . he has people. Thus far, all I have been diagnosed with is a craving for Veggie Sticks. They are addictive. Tomatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes and spinach shouldn’t be too bad . . . it’s the moderation that is the kicker.
