Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from July, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 2:00 pm on July 20, 2026 Permalink  

  Rain Shower Came as Predicted 

  At 3:30 the lightning and thunder did bring a rain shower.  It brought .30 inches of rain that the humidity and the dew point marveled in.  Dennis declared a very hot day being muggy and steamy enough to make it feel like 99 degrees.

  Tom mowed the yards today.  He comes equipped with his trusty water bottle.  It was a gift from his grandchildren and keeps cold items cold for a long time.  Several mowing’s ago, it took some time before he realized it had gone missing.  He thought maybe he never packed it; maybe it fell out of its slot on the mower.  Nope it wasn’t at home.  Tom literally walked some areas thinking a branch had nudged it off the mower.  Third time going around the yards and the sun happened to glint a clue.  Yup, the shrub right next to our home had taken ownership.  One happy Tom.

  I tackled dust bunnies:  here, there and everywhere.  Our bedding is by a long sight not new.  The little rolls of fuzz under the far reaches of the beds . . . bring it on.

  We are in Spring Touch’s ant program.  Several applications in intervals.  Some sidewalk ants still roaming the bathroom.  What is causing me angst is the larger black ants finding their way onto the kitchen cupboard and the sink.  The cleaning of said area has been ongoing.  Terro is down in several places with bright post-a-notes beside it so as to catch the eye when we are in the perimeter.  WE were told that the onslaught might get worse before better.  Man are they fast moving!  Patience to the hilt.  Our home is over 100 years old and Dennis knows it doesn’t take much room for an ant to wiggle in.

  Dennis’ famous creamed cucumbers with onions is going to be paired with chicken titties in the fry pan.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:46 pm on July 19, 2026 Permalink  

  The 19th of July 2026 

  This is the last day of our county fair.  Surprisingly we did hear some fireworks go off last night at ten.

  The studio was visited this morning while I had Grace Lutheran church services on from Gaylord.  All went according to plan.  The next time I visit there are numerous spools of embroidery thread to put back in numerical order.   

  We had a plastic bag of garden goodies left on our front steps.  Cucumbers have been peeled, salted and dressed with mayo as an offering for supper.  The remaining cukes have been washed and added to one of the refrigerator crispers.  Three huge tomatoes will be set aside to finish putting the blush on them.  We are passing on the little elongated purple peppers. 

  I checked on Aunt Janet from Brownton last night.  She has been staying close to home in the hot weather.  Two nieces take care of grocery errands and the mowing of her yard.  The city librarian swaps out books for her as her favorite authors are known.

  Not much else to share today.  Being in our home is the best.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:10 pm on July 18, 2026 Permalink  

  Let’s Hear It 

  Let’s hear it for the little flag on our front sidewalk that didn’t forget how to catch a breeze from the north!

  A break from the Minnesota heat would be great for this weekend and many days after that.

  Our favorite weatherman from KEYC, Shawn Cable, has begun taking the tour of many county fairs in southern Minnesota.  I will say the only thing I miss from the county fair is the little bag of greasy sugar laden mini-donuts.

  It was pretty great to see the parade of farm tractors that started at the fairgrounds this morning and made the jaunt down our street, to the main drag and then back to the fairgrounds.  Every make and color imaginable.  Not surprisingly most of the drivers were of Dennis’ vintage.

  I am going to fix Maria Callender’s Chicken with Mushroom pot pies for supper.  Last night we had deveined and peeled sauteed shrimp in a butter sauce.  Variety from the kitchen.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:16 pm on July 16, 2026 Permalink  

  Choose the Time 

  We decided to go to the grocery store last night after seven.  Dennis drove, so he could keep the car running with the A/C while I filled the list.  We were only gone from home for a bit after half an hour.

  I knew that I had a meet and greet this morning and leaving the shopping go for after would have been too much for too long in the weather.  It all worked out great.  I was back home by eleven and thankful for it.

  Dennis chooses his time for spending being in the patio porch with the kitties or being on the main floor of our home.

  Our chicken salad sandwiches were great for our evening’s meal yesterday.  Dennis thought it was so great we are calling for a repeat performance this evening.  It had been a rather large batch considering that just as much of diced onions matched the diced chicken.

  I was in my bedroom porch when I noticed the FedEx truck come to a screeching halt a bit a go.  It is a concrete street but the dust just rolled from the tires.  The same spry young fellow that picked up a Mayo box from our deck on Tuesday was delivering the goods from Mayo today.  I opened the door and he nicely set the parcel on the floor for me.  I carried it right to the back door so I could open it without stirring the layer of dust from the box any more than I had to.  My fingerprints were evident where I had held it.  Yuck!

  All is well here on Stauffer Avenue.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:30 pm on July 15, 2026 Permalink  

  Out of the Depths 

  Out of the depths of the freezer came the base ingredient of this evening’s supper.  When we are in Mankato, I will be sure to pick up one of their broasted chickens at Sam’s Club for $4.98.  They are what us old time chicken raisers would call heavies.  Breed for the amount of meat they can put on compared to leghorns which is quick raising and very lightweight.  We always raised two batches.  One batch for pan frying and one batch for roasting in the oven.

  The Sam’s chicken will give us one meal of Dennis’ favorite white meat and the remaining I debone immediately and store in freezer weight bags to pop into the freezer.  This forenoon the bag had not been out of the freezer for very long before I took the chef’s knife and did the tip to end chopping for minimal sized bites of the chicken meat.  The chopping always works slick if the product is still semi frozen when the steel comes down on it.  An onion is always present in our kitchen.  Be it tuna or chicken there will be finely chopped onions with it.  

  Dennis had the privilege of using our new pepper mill for the first time since it was delivered on Monday.  It is the same model as the one that gave up on us.  Pepper is another ingredient that is used by us often.  I have learned from Chef Ransby that a bit of salt is needed to bring the flavors to its peak.

  Cold chicken salad sandwiches or chicken salad on the plate is what is being served here on Stauffer Avenue this evening.  The other fixings in the freezer needed a hot oven . . . that’s not in the cards when it feels like 100 degrees outside.  I think our air conditioner would pick right up on that and start wheezing. 

  That’s it folks!

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:10 pm on July 8, 2026 Permalink  

  A Bit Humid for Errands 

  It was my turn to run errands today.

  . . . A short break in the blog because Denise stopped in.

  . . . For lack of sleep on Monday night, I slept until 9:45 this morning, after a bathroom break at five.  Dennis said I must have needed it.

  My doctor had forgotten to allow refills on a med of mine.  That meant I limped along over the fourth on that med and did just fine.  Even doctors have their days.  I went to Lewis Drug and all is as it should be.  I went to Super Fair for a few items and to stock up on fruit.  A neighbor of mine from South Branch, Diane Dannon, was shopping and it gave us a chance to catch up with each other.  My last item on the errands was Subway for a 12″ tuna.  I have them load it up with the tuna, lettuce, green peppers, red onions, ripe olives and Ranch dressing.

  Denise just got the manager’s job at Casey’s #1 here in town.  We have three Casey’s in St. James.  We are thrilled for her as she has been doing the load of manager for quite some time as the assisted manager for the thirteen years she has been employed at Casey’s.  It was good getting caught up with her. 

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:06 pm on July 4, 2026 Permalink  

  Well, Well! 

  It’s a great day for a 250th celebration.  I have notably been celebrating the 4th of July for 58 years.  Memories can not be taken away.

  I knew when I got up this morning, I was going to act on my plans.  At the end of this day two kitchen items will have come into fruition:  we would have Dennis’ favorite supper of sautéed shrimp and have brownies for a nine o’clock dessert.

  Dennis has had a bit of the “there are consequences with choices.”  Thursday night he fell in his bedroom.  After cleaning a head wound the night was normal.  Friday, using the leaf blower, he fell on the back patio.  A warm cloth for cleaning and a band aid and the rest of the day was normal.

  Life happens and incidents happen quicker than a blink of the eye.  We all have “free will.”  In Dennis’ case he needs to be able to feel the purpose of time.  He has lived his life honoring the use of time.  What will happen to Dennis, me, you, cannot be orchestrated.  Life cannot be lived that way.  After less than good incidents, we pick up the pieces and carry on.

  Back to supper.  The grocery store had a special on the jumbo deveined shrimp.  Something different for us.  I bought a box of brownie mix.  Diced strawberries on brownies, again something different.  

  With that I will take my leave.♥

   
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  Noreen 1:33 pm on June 29, 2026 Permalink  

  A Mishap 

  Mishaps can happen so easily and quickly, it takes your breathe away.

  Egg salad was a perfect dish to prepare for supper.  Nothing needed to be heated on a very steamy evening meal.  Dennis and I both enjoy it.  Pair that with bread and butter pickle chips and it’s a win, win.  The eggs peeled easily.  Half of a red onion diced up to perfection.  Never can get enough onion in a dish.  The eggs were minced, the onion added.  What was next was grinding in pepper.  Our favorite pepper grinder filled with peppercorns.  A few swift motions back and forth . . . and the pepper grinder flew apart.  Peppercorns on the floor, in the sink and in the egg and onion mixture.

  It was a no-brainer.  Cleaning up the floor before stepping on peppercorns and slipping on them.  The next task took more fortitude.  Standing over the egg and onion mixture and hand picking out peppercorns, a whole bunch of them one by one by not disturbing the egg and onion mixture for them to be buried.  Throwing out the baby with the bathwater was never even contemplated.

  Tonight when we are about to make our supper sandwiches, slathering the egg salad onto the buttered bread . . . it will be cautiously checked over once, twice and then once more. 

  Miraculously, I spied where the little silver washer of the grinder had landed right off the bat in the egg and onion mixture.  Can the grinder be fixed?  I have no idea at this point.  I do know where to order another one.  Ours was green in color and had ground more refills of peppercorns than I could count.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 1:59 pm on June 25, 2026 Permalink  

  A Treat 

  This morning, it felt like a good treat to put things back where things belonged in the studio after yesterday.  I had made sure that sewing items were out of the way for Tom to do the concrete job of filling in the useless drain.  Tom came by this morning and did some vacuuming around the area with his shop vac and then loaded his tools up and bid me a good day.  You could see that the center of the concrete still had some curing to do.  I had no intentions of stepping on it for several days.

  What did throw me for a loop was when several pull-chain lights wouldn’t work.  It then dawned on me that when Tom used his drill with the wire brush while his shop vac being on and picking up particles, the ground fault on a plug-in had tripped.  Little things to think on to keep me being mindful.

  We really need the rain that has skirted around us for the last two weeks.  We by all means do not have a showcase yard, but it does look a bit stressed.

  An oven meal of cubed broasted chicken with pasta has been pulled from the freezer for our supper this evening.  It’s part two of what was a larger batch a bit ago.  It’s been cool enough that heating the kitchen with the oven shouldn’t be as terrible as what is coming for this next week.  Nevertheless, the older ones on Stauffer never go hungry.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 1:59 pm on June 20, 2026 Permalink  

  Got to Love the Weather 

  Today is the 20th of June and this type of weather is what Minnesota weather is all about.

  After I am done bustling about with first floor chores, a cup of breakfast coffee takes me to my bedroom porch.  As I sit facing south with double windows in front of me, the world is my oyster.

  Movement of cars driving by, bikers, walkers . . . I am in a fish bowl, looking out.

  The neighbors directly across the alley, named Stauffer Avenue, are Guatemalan.  I noticed the grill being brought out and a fire soon ensued in the grill.  What then surprised me was two gals each with a dead chicken in their hands.  Head and feet were still on the chickens.  It was a usual thing to hold a dead chicken over a fire to burn off the fine hair of the chicken’s skin before the gutting of the chicken.  It would take seconds to accomplish that.  That’s how Lena had taught us.

  What I wasn’t ready for was to bring out the grill’s top to put over the fire and then lay the two chickens on top of the hot smoking grill and walk off.  They came back after a bit to turn the chickens over and again backed away for a time.

  These were slight chickens to begin with and the skin on a chicken is very thin.  Hmm, a whole new technique that I would not want anything to do with.  Yew!  To each their own.

  I have not done any hand stitching all week.  I miss the quiet comfort and the sound of pulling the thread through the cloth that is stretched tight in the hoop.  A few too many days of the hands being busy in the kitchen for future meal preparations.  An endeavor oh so worth it.

  A window cracked on each end of the house to let the welcoming fresh air in.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥