This says it All
This Says it All – Hanging out on a Sunday Sunny Day at Stauffer Ave.
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Noreen
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Noreen
October gives us another great sunny day!
The Porch Warmed by the October Sun
October gives us another great sunny day, but I am very happy to have the house plants in the porch. As warm as it looks I wouldn’t want to stand around outside for very long as 45 degrees with a brisk wind is goose bump weather on bare arms.
The best of both worlds is the warmth that the garage porch captures during the day from the sun, and the cooler temps outside will help capture the fresh air smell in the quilt that will last longer than any fabric softener.
When Dennis heads for his recliner he reaches for his red patch lap quilt – automatically. For the 20 years of use it is sporting a few little spots where mending has taken place, but I can’t imagine him giving it up any time soon. Hmm. His profile is a bit like Charlie Brown’s friend Linus.
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Noreen
Black Walnut trees dropping their leaves
The Black Walnut Trees Saying Amen to the Year
This morning the temperature was at the mid to high 20s for some time and it was very telling. The majestic Black Walnut trees in our yard and the neighbor’s began dropping the end branches just as a steady shower of rain as soon as the sun came up.
I couldn’t help but take a photo of the neighbor’s yard. The yard is covered in new greens much like what you would see after a heavy hail storm that had been accompanied with a wind. The winds are fairly brisk this afternoon and one has to be careful standing under the huge umbrellas of the Black Walnut trees as the remaining nuts falling from a height of 50 plus feet will definitely be felt. I was puttering around outside and the loud popping sound of a car driving over one of the nuts did cause a startle. There should be no hungry squirrels this winter.
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Noreen
A Fun Day in Odin
1923 Odin Feed Mill with the railroad servicing it, before remodeling
2013 Odin Craft Mill, after remodeling
Today I spent part of the day visiting the City of Odin, population 18. For three weekends in the spring and three weekends in the fall there is a craft show. The Odin Craft Mill has more than 150 vendors from five different states showing their wares. All of the mill machinery is still in place and the owner has worked around all of it perfectly. In time, a Montgomery Ward home was found on a vacant farm place and moved onto and added to the site. Oh yes, in days of old a home could be ordered through the Montgomery Ward catalog. Both floors of the home, including closets, hide wonderful treasures. A later addition was a gutted out and a two-story dairy barn was also connected to the splendor. The second floor of the barn is the Christmas area. The home is to the right of the above remodeled feed store and the barn has been added onto the back of the home. It is an amazing undertaking and the community club pitches in and serves food as a fundraiser for the small community. It takes me hours to look over everything. I don’t want to miss anything when it comes to the stitching in the quilts or how the glue was applied to the crafts. It’s just a “me” thing. I topped the visit off with a cup of coffee and some great chitchatting. Their weekends are Thursday through Sunday, so you never can tell if I will second-think something and head back over for another “look see.”
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Noreen
Stauffer Avenue’s Major Elf
Major Elf Making Sure Everything Stays Equal
It’s that time of the year when spooks and black cats are about looking for tricks or treats. Dennis is on top of it. With the smaller grandchildren and great grandchildren finding their way to Stauffer Avenue, Major Elf has to be prepared. It wasn’t that many years ago that we would have anywhere from 30 – 40 kids stop at our home. In the recent years the city has proclaimed a Halloween celebration all along main street from three in the afternoon until five – or until the procession of children is done. Starting at city hall the mayor leads them up each side of main street complete with a police chaperon. With all the businesses handing out treats the door to door traffic has been pretty much zero.
Dennis and I still make up bags of treats for our wee ones and we get to see first hand their great costumes. No one has more fun than Grandpa Dennis making sure all stays equal. Is it a bit early to get the bags ready? Each kind must be sampled to make sure they are as good as the label has stated. If the sampling gets out of control we know where to get more. Ya gotta love Stauffer Avenue’s Major Elf.
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Noreen
I have no idea where this day went. Sleeping in may have had a bit of an impact. Dennis and I are faithful users of the pool at the Super 8 Motel, which is just a mater of a few blocks up the street. Twisting, bending and stretching has made a huge difference in us over the last three years of using this wonderful resource so close to home. Low impact workouts and if I loose my balance and fall I only stand to swallow a mouth full of water if I am caught off guard rather than breaking a bone. By the time we got back to the house right before noon Dennis was off on an errand for his nephew’s concrete business and I turned to getting laundry going. Oh yes, sometimes I still have a difficult time, even having been retired for three years, that I don’t need to be in high overdrive during my days. I like this lifestyle a lot. A whole bunch of “a lot.” Catch ya later.
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Noreen
Pizza Balls
Pizza Balls
PIZZA BALLS Ingredients: 3 cans Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits (10 ct) 60 pepperoni slices (2 per biscuit) slices of cheese (Colby/Monterrey Jack or Cheddar) or tablespoon of shredded cheese, 1 beaten egg, Parmesan Cheese and Italian Seasoning Garlic Powder, 1 jar pizza sauce
Directions: Flatten each biscuit and stack pepperoni and cheese on top, like in the picture. Gather edges of biscuit and secure on top of the roll. Line rolls in greased 9 x 13 pan. Brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Bake at 425 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. Serve with warm pizza sauce for dipping.
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Noreen
Life Long Kept Treasures
I should know by now that planning too far out just doesn’t work. Yesterday at this time I was sure I would be up in the attic getting a few things tidied up. Today – not so much. Dennis reminded me that we had various types of paint in the garage that needed to be brought in before the cold. The dang stuff costs an arm and a leg so protect it we will. Who would have thought that good paint could cost $39.99 or more?
My Haven for Crafting
In the last 1980’s Dennis and his friend Bruce gave me a surprise when I got home from work. Off of my sewing area they had borrowed an air hammer and had busted through the concrete blocks of the basement to open up the area that had been the cistern aka: water container for the home’s use prior to the city plumbed water supply. Was it a mess? Oh yes. Did it knock items off the walls on the first floor? Oh yes. Did we gain some wonderful storage? Oh yes. The cistern closet has been outfitted with cabinets and shelves to the max. This is where we keep household tools and of course extra paint etc.
I do have one set of these shelves for some special treasures. What can I say? I am sentimental and once I have an item I won’t let go of it too easily as how could I replace them either due to the sentiment or the cost. I needed to share with you a priceless memory of my Dad, Raymond Wendlandt. He knew he needed a hobby after retiring from farming and he turned to woodworking. His uncle Roy Gronewald had a love of woodworking and Roy became my Dad’s mentor. My Mom turned over an extra room in the basement to Dad and it was his haven. It would take him hours to finish a project, but he never gave up and every one of us four children reaped the rewards.
My Dad: Raymond Wendlandt’s Craft
Dad worked on his projects to the extent that he took delight in finding just the right wood to take to his saw mill site and then plane them down to be used in his workshop. At the age of 73 Dad passed away with many projects yet to be made and also to be finished. The only shortcoming Dad had with his craft was that once he had crafted it, putting the finishing coats on them did not really pique his interests. These small items that I am sharing have remained just as Dad passed them off to me. I enjoy them as Dad left them and I don’t know if I will ever “finish” them. The heart box was going to be a gift to all the granddaughters in time to come and I was to paint this prototype for his approval. The tulips needed to have the holes drilled into the base to have a small dowel inserted for the stem. I was to affix leaves on the stems.
Literally Having My Dad’s Light Shine on Me
The lamp that each of us children received from him is close at hand to me each and every day while I am enjoying my crafts. If I could possibly expand my passions to the next degree it would be woodworking. Dad had an entire room and I just don’t think I could squeeze it into my basement area and Dennis is really “in like” with his garage porch. I may need to rethink that for now but if we don’t have dreams we have nothing to strive toward.
As I stated in the beginning, Dennis and I completed taking items out of the garage and have checked off one more item in preparation for colder temps. I can only hope the attic area will still be in the plans for another day and it would not surprise me if upon finding some items of sentiment I may get lost up there.
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Noreen
Just when you think the day is too dreary for productivity
Just when you think the day is too dreary for any chance for productivity – bang! Silly me. Slowly Dennis and I got some momentum and it was a great day to feed the recycling bin as wonder of wonder there were magazine racks that were running over and needed sorting and pantry items that could be grouped. The process just dribbled to one area after another. The two of us so enjoy being outside we tend to have blinders on as we pass through the house for the daily needs. It is so true that everything happens for a reason and the reason for this day of chilly weather turned out to have a few of the corners tweaked of excess.
The temps this entire week are to be in the 40’s so it’s hard telling what will shake loose as the sorting may continue. It has been a while since I have been up to the attic. The steps of the walk up attic are – full of items waiting to be placed in their proper place. Those steps are similar to a panic room that generally every home has. What is a panic room? Time is too short to put items in their correct place – so stash it. Company is coming and there are extra items lying around – so stash it. Dennis is rolling his eyes and is being thankful he has a few appointments that will take him off of Stauffer Ave. Priceless.
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Noreen
It’s hard to sit on your hands when the sun insists on shining and you know that somewhere not too far north of you there are people having rain and perhaps even snow flakes. With a rather brisk breeze the bedding billowed on the clothes line. Nothing beats the smell of all that captured fresh air. I know that there will be many more sunny days though the temps will be much different than today. With the sun showing me just how much the garage porch windows needed some TLC it seemed that today might be the last chance to stay fairly comfortable being outside to clean them. We spend a lot of time in the porch come rain or snow as it never gets colder that 40 degrees. How could we not install a furnace that would serve the garage and the porch? Its pretty sweet to get into a car that is not freezing in the inside. Even for the die hard, Minnesota dweller cabin fever can set in over the winter months but it feels like a mini resort to be able to turn up the thermostat in the porch and take in the panoramic view of winter with a steaming hot cup of coffee. Priceless.