I am a retired 44-year veteran of the Real Estate Assessment field. As with real estate assessing and how it applies to real estate taxes, one can make many acquaintances, but not many real friends. It was a great career choice.
It has been nearly 10 years since I reclaimed my home and my real passions within my home. I enjoy it more each day and tip my hat to those who I left behind.
Each day I try to stretch myself with the use of my computer as it relates to this site and using it to print out labels for quilts for trying to incorporate photos into my sewing. Life is so full and I know that I have room for more.
Early Childhood’s fundraiser had lines of waiting people to enjoy a fish supper. I am sure that a huge amount of fish were served, and I can tell you, it was a great meal. The topper was the little gals that came around with dessert trays. How can anyone say “no” to wee ones with cute smiles.
I just came in from the garage porch. Now that the days are getting longer, I enjoy hitting the rocking chair and watching some after supper news with Dennis and the cats. The furnace keeps the porch above freezing and when Dennis and I take a cup of coffee out, it’s not hard to give the thermostat a nudge. Though I wouldn’t think 50 degrees was warm enough to sit round in in our home, it is acceptable for the porch. Stepping out on the patio to return to the house, that 50 degrees felt like I was leaving a heat wave and entering the Arctic. Hopefully, tonight will be the last of the minus 0 degree temps.
Today I ventured for lunch with a dear friend. We had worked together for years, each in different counties of Minnesota. Doreen has pinned 2016 for her leave of county government. Needless to say, she is looking forward to being able to try out her next venue . . . that of being a hermit. We have grandchildren similar in age and we have had “in the olden days . . . ” that were also similar. It is such a good visit when we can lay our cards on the table and share thoughts and ideas as if we had seen each other on a weekly basis. Ironically, we share situations with adult children that we would never have seen coming when we were young mothers striving to be the best parents with what we knew or had to work with. We both agree that now we are older mothers still striving to be the best parents with what we know and what we have to work with. Go figure.
Nothing finishes off a good day as having Dennis greet me with a cup of coffee here on the most sought after place in St. James . . . Stauffer Avenue. The surprise for him was that Doreen had sent home several boxes of Girl Scout cookies for him to enjoy. Hmm, I may not be able to see where he tucked them, but I know he will enjoy them.
It is amazing how a covering of snow can clean things up. The cold freeze drying of existing snow had made everything look grubby outside. Dennis and I did not hesitate to pull snow boots on and prepare for some snow removal. Though it wasn’t the temps in the high 30s like yesterday, it was mild enough for the several inches to be cleared from the drive and walkways comfortably.
While Dennis mans the snow blower, I have a plastic pusher that I use to contribute to the effort. No lifting or twisting, just taking a swat of snow that is too close to the house or garage for the blower to be effective.
It didn’t matter to Honey Bunny that she had snow to trudge through, she headed to the far backyard and the vacant shed. That shed has been her private retreat for several years. Like clockwork she shows up at night and sits at the east patio door of the garage porch to be let in for the night to enjoy a brushing and some petting. If I ever feel creative someday, I will put a nanny cam in the backyard to see just what is so inviting in and around the old shed. 
Butter Ball and Snuggles really didn’t know what to make of the new snow. 
They have been let outside for short jaunts whenever Dennis or I go to the garage porch. They check out the neighbors bird feeders and any new tracks that rabbits may have left. They know that if they sit by the east patio door, that is the signal they want in. The new snow caused hesitation. I think the latest addition, Snuggles, would have gone farther if I had continued clearing a path. Butter Ball was content sitting in the doorway, but with the furnace ready to heat all of the outdoors, that was not going to be an option.
Everyone got a fair share of exercise today . . . it’s a good thing.
With a sunny 36 degrees and wind speeds matching that, the remaining snow is diminished and anything lying loose in the yards, is no more.
A time back I was puzzling on what to do with four dinner napkins I had purchased many years ago. The graph paper came out and now there are four dinner napkins tricked out for use in bread baskets or as napkins. Surprisingly, I only used two skeins of floss from my stash. All four carry the same message, but I will admit there are variations on each of the four by a stitch or two that was missed or misplaced. Those tell-tale differences prove they were not mass produced in China. Counted Cross Stitch can while away the hours and take one’s mind into a mood on concentration of counting, thus not being open to more serious thoughts or even some physical discomfort. That’s a good thing. An extra plus, it is a very quiet hobby . . . hush, Dennis is napping.
Oh yes, this last cold snap smacks me in the face when I step outside and leaves my cheeks as red as if I had been struck. Oh, how I love the little lever on the furnace thermostat. I do turn the thermostat down a bit during the hours of sleep as a cooler home makes for a better, sounder nights sleep. The cold weather prompts more sunshine days than gloomy warmer days and that prompts the shades on the south-facing windows to be raised as soon as the sun wants to peep in. Let that wonderful warmth in.
A lever on the thermostat and raising of window shades are a good thing to make a cold day seem more tolerable. I remember several winters in the mid-seventies when the only thing that made a cold day tolerable was making sure Orlin and I had enough wood split to keep the Warm Morning stove going to heat the home. Warm Morning stoves were a wonderful brand of free standing heat elements that needed to be hooked to the chimney and heat was just an armload of wood away.
Our family was living in the brick schoolhouse just outside of Buffalo Lake, Minnesota, at the time I am speaking of. The brick walls were very thick and there was no way any amount of winter sun could warm them. What had been the gymnasium for the school we had made into our three bedroom living area. With the bulk of the wall height being below ground level, the Warm Morning stove in the living room kept the entire living area comfortable. A bucket of coal for the hours during the night kept the home comfortable without anyone needing to get up during the night to keep the fire going. There was always a stack of wood right next to the stove for the morning feeding.
Orlin was managing the fleet of buses for the Buffalo Lake school system as well as being one of the drivers. I got on board and got my license and also had a morning and evening bus route. Orlin and I spent a lot of time in the fall and winter weekends building a good supply of split wood for the adjacent wood room directly behind the living room. It was amazing how much split wood could disappear during a cold snap much like we are having now. During the winter, sometimes after I got back home from the morning bus pick-up route, I could be found on the southwest side of our acre splitting wood to ease the amount that would have to be split on the weekends.
Directly across the road from our schoolhouse lived Bill and Esther Miller. Both were in their 80s and had never had their own family. They were thrilled to have the schoolhouse occupied to give them neighbors to watch and also to know there was someone close if they needed help. Oh, there was a lot of activity for them to take in and they enjoyed every bit of it and we enjoyed them as well. It was not uncommon during my wood splitting episodes for Bill to trek across the road and invite me over for a cup of coffee. Both of them were very slight in stature with huge warm hearts. Esther had given up baking many years prior, but there was always a cookie to go with the coffee. After a cup of instant Maxwell coffee and a cookie, I would slide my boots back on and finish the amount of wood to split that I had given myself as a challenge to do. I never gave it a thought . . . actually enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment to help ease the extra work load from Orlin. Weekends had more on the agenda than just working on filling the wood room.
Sitting here enjoying a cup of coffee as the sun warms the south through the windows, I marvel at times past . . . those times still bring a smile to me. I wouldn’t trade those times or those memories for anything. There may be an ax in the garage today, but I let my fingers do the walking on the thermostat and the shade strings.
In life, remember to give and have no memory of it, or take and remember it always.
Decades ago, telephones were used only for important messages. Long distance phone numbers that were called were especially placed sparingly as each call was evident on the phone bill that came in the mail and how much it had cost per the minutes used. Does anyone trust happenstance on being in the right place at the right time to receive a message?
It is my job to get the last of the product out of a container long after the pump will deliver. It happens to be a peeve of mine. It matters not if it is mustard, ketchup or a laundry product . . . I am going after it. It is my constitutional right to get what I paid for. The amounts left on the bottoms of containers is criminal. Well, that’s all I have to vent on today. Catch you another day.
No cabin fever on Stauffer. Stitch a little . . . get some fresh air by checking on the garage kitties . . . keeping the house tidy. It’s all good.
Nothing makes the cold temps tolerable like keeping busy within my home. I would love to be taking a walk on Stauffer Avenue, but there is more hidden ice that I dare trust. Each day that passes with no huge dump of snow will allow the spring to get here sooner than later. The sun is gaining power, regardless of what the temperature reading is. Life on Stauffer is good.