Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from June, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 1:56 pm on June 11, 2026 Permalink  

  Thursday 

  Thursday the 11th of June on Stauffer.

  This morning, I had made an appointment with our county’s Veteran’s Service Office.  I have known Deb Grote for a very long time.  Dennis and  I were wanting more information about the policies and programs allowing veterans to remain in their own homes for as long as possible.  Deb had a lot of good information that we now have at our fingertips.  There is nothing imminent, just knowing is being prepared.

  I have mentioned all the colorful flags in the yard with an additional internet service coming into town.  When I came up from the studio and checked out my bedroom porch, I couldn’t help but watch the latest utility van and it’s worker bee.  When he came back to his vehicle I stepped out on the front deck with a “Hi.”  The fellow was following all underground cable work via radio readings.  Sometimes the trail followed for short spurts and sometimes for longer.  All of the reading were automatically recorded on a mapping system in his equipment.

  He was really interesting and didn’t mind the break.  The longest reading without a break was around the Fulda area . . . 20 miles.  He went on to say it would be a short day for him as his grandpa was celebrating his 100th birthday tomorrow in Lamberton.  His grandpa came out of the service to WWII where he was an interpreter being able to speak fifteen different languages.  He went on to learn two more and still lives in his own home, of course with a nurse that checks with him every day.  Can you just imagine the amount of family members that will come together?  That visit just lifted my spirits for the day and the fellow said it felt good sharing it.

  I am a very curious grammie

  Dennis is checking his eyelids for cracks.  A cool cloudy day for it.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:49 pm on June 9, 2026 Permalink  

  Decisions 

  It is my belief that when Minnesota weather turns to hot and humid, those that can, adjust for the duration and exposure.  Look who is talking.  There are two vulnerable older ones having the wonderful benefit of not being outside. 

  From this forenoon to mid-afternoon, the fellows working with the new cable company have been out in the full sun.  They all have had water bottles every so many feet in the grass of the blvd.

  During Monday night with a shower of rain driven by a burst of wind, I will need to re-apply my ant powder dust along the foundation of the house.  KNUJ mentioned possible storms during the evening hours.  I’ll take a wait and see.

  I do have a studio project going that needs to be fully finished.  It has been dragging on too long.  I have been doing the conveyor belt on the project . . . completing one step on the individuals in total and then moving on.  Step five went well this morning.  Working on the church tables that are two bricks higher than the original height . . . I did well until my back said it was time to shut it all down.  There is always tomorrow.

  With that I will take my leave.♥

   
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  Noreen 2:41 pm on June 8, 2026 Permalink  

  Summer Days 

  This latest spell of Minnesota warm and humid weather has felt more like the middle of July.

  A long time ago, when our rural School District #34 let out for the summer, it felt like freedom.  As long as Calvin, Michael and I got done what mom and dad needed us to do . . . we actually had the freedom to do what we wanted.  We were outside from the time we got up to the time when supper was done and then back outside.

  The three of us had huge imaginations.  There was a fenced in pasture south of the house that ran right up to the gravel township road.  In our spare time, dad had suggested we could clean up that area as there would be no young stock fenced in there.  As we toiled getting the partially-buried fence out of the dirt, we made a game of it.  We imagined a would-be park.  It made the hard work fun.

  In between the boys helped out with cattle and hog chores.  My chores were the chickens and weeding in the garden that was north of this soon-to-be park.  There was always a large garden and always a lot of weeds that wanted to take over the rows of vegetables.

  Today, the 8th of June, 2026, thinking back we never minded the hot humid weather.  Every day rolled into the next and there was no thought of being anywhere else, but home.  We were grubby dirty farm kids living the good life with not a care in the world.

  Today, on this 8th day of June, seventy years later, I am living the good life in my home with not a care in the world.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 1:52 pm on June 7, 2026 Permalink  

  Muggy 

  It’s a muggy feeling day.

  Hackberry trees have huge limbs that stretch out far.  Neighbor Jan visited this morning to let us know the north such reaching limb broke off of our tree.  It is laying just east of Randy’s LP tank.  I texted our tree man to let him know we will be in need of him.  Let him know where the project was and ask him to put us on his list.

  After taking in the church service on KNUJ of the Grace Lutheran Church, I decided to hit some items on the first floor.  Laundry baskets grow without any prompting.  I remember mom taking dad’s chambray blue shirts each night and hanging them up in the basement laundry to make sure they dried out before stuffing them all together.  Yes, dad sweat profusely.  While doing a load on the small side, it was good to do the ceramics in the bathroom.

  There is no schedule for housework here on Stauffer.  A hit and miss works.  If I see it, it will get done.  There are times when I have looked but have not seen what was needed.  That seeing and looking bit can happen with a boatload of items.

  We trimmed a few branches on the north side of the house that were able to give Tom a swat in the face while mowing.  It’s tidy, tidy when property is owned.  The acre got a spray job during this last week from Spring Touch for weeds and grubs.  The grass is getting heavy and that will prevent weeds from getting a start.

  Leftovers for supper this evening.  It may be hot beef commercials that can be made from last night’s supper.  Oh my gosh.  That was one of dad’s favorites if a restaurant was offering it.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:16 pm on June 3, 2026 Permalink  

  The First 

  When I was in our grocery store I noticed the first of the apricots were in the produce isle.  They are one of my favorite fruits.

  Apricots made a great sauce to can in quart fruit jars.  So different from peaches or pears, they didn’t need peeling.

  After dad had passed away, Lena would come and stay with us for a week or so over the next years.  Mom drove herself and the visits were always a treat.  On one of her visits, she and I made several batches of apricot jam.  The apricots were pureed in the blender.  Small jars were washed, the heavy soup kettle came down from a nail on the attic steps and the process began.  Sur-Jell and sugar mixed according to the instructions in the Sur-Jell box.  Every fruit you could imagine had the instructions printed on the multi-folded pamphlet inside the box.  The jars looked like jewels as they sat on the kitchen counter after having been filled.  An old metal Folgers coffee grounds can had been bent for the top to serve as a spout.  Melted wax from the can sitting on the gas kitchen burner was poured over the cooked jam to seal it.  How sweet it was to work hand in hand with my mom in my kitchen.  Of course the amount that wouldn’t fill a jar to its brim was on the table for the three of us to sample come supper time.

  Once mom gave up driving, her solo visits were missed by Dennis and me.  I still miss my mom.

  With that I take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:34 pm on May 27, 2026 Permalink  

  Hump Day 

  Hump day, all day long.

  I didn’t think I would ever hear Dennis say he didn’t need a hot supper.  Last night I had given the bacon a few seconds in the microwave after I had pre-baked them in the morning.  It had been bacon sandwiches and cucumbers with sliced onion.  His comment was that maybe for the reminder of the week we could do likewise as he sure enjoyed the cucumbers with some protein.

  Dennis has also been given to enjoying strawberries lately.  Any time I can get fruit and vegetables into that fellow I will willingly make sure I have them as an offering.  This morning that meant that I return to the grocery store for more of the mini cucumbers.  The larger cucumbers are not as solid.  The minis are sold six to a tray and are sealed cellophane.  I also picked up two cartons of the strawberries.

  The gal at the checkout commented that the produce did go up a few cents when they got the read-out from the headquarters for Super Fair.  At that time their tills are updated for checkout.

  My take on the price of groceries is: Dennis and I don’t eat like we used to in quantity.  What we do buy is what we enjoy.  It is still a fantastic bargain considering most of the fellows that were and are Dennis’ friends are either dead, living in an assisted living unit, or in the nursing home.  Compare the the dollars spent and it’s a wonderful trade-off.  That’s my take on our grocery bill.

  I have the cucumber dish co-mingling in the refrigerator right next to the cleaned and diced strawberries.  Tonight will be the above mentioned with John Morrell’s summer sausage that will be sliced very thin with a container of coleslaw added for variety.  The summer sausage is Dennis’ all time favorite.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:21 pm on May 26, 2026 Permalink  

  Happy Summer 

  Last week it was a chilly atmosphere in the studio.  Today, it felt just right.  Talk about a theater of seasons.

  Again I worked on an alteration in the studio.  I had ordered an item online.  After waiting for an extended time for it to come, when it came the size was off by 2 to the excess.  I contacted the business and it was a mix up within the sizes from the US sizing to the European sizing.  All was checked over and the result was that it was a error on their side.  I didn’t need to return said item and the correct order would be forthcoming.

  I am not frugal but I had the opportunity to see if I could make a do-0ver.  Lena would have been up for the task.  Snip here, trim there.  She could take the collars off of dad’s blue chambre shirts when they frayed, flip it over to the underside and in a heartbeat dad never appeared to be in dire straights of going to town looking anything other than dapper as always.  Yes . . . those were the days when dad would come in to change out of his chores overalls into a pair donned as “town overalls.”  Call it self respect when going into town on business of either a thousand pounds of cattle concentrate or purchasing a new piece of farm equipment.  Dad ran a high-end business.

  It’s a warm afternoon and Dennis cleaned the garage floor for our car.  There was enough of the winter’s collection of kitty hair tufts to make a new kitty as the strong leaf blower got into every corner.  Outside it looked as if there were cotton balls flying through the air. 

  Before it got warm this morning, I baked out a pound of the Black Label thick cut bacon on a cookie sheet lined with the wide foil.  No mess when all was said and done.  Six of the smaller cucumbers have been peeled and a red onion sliced in very thin additions.  The sauce is some mayo with bit of salt to pull out the moisture of the cucumbers with a teaspoon of sugar.  Supper is bacon sandwiches and creamed cucumbers.  No additional kitchen heat added to this day.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:14 pm on May 18, 2026 Permalink  

  Heavy Air 

  We had a wonderful rain in the evening hours of the 17th of May.  The skies were lit with lightning that brought thunder, long past bedtime.  

  The studio brought a challenge today.  I took my eyes off of the project under the needle for a bit too long.  The spool for the top thread had shredded and there was a whole bunch in between the top spool and the needle.  The bobbin thread had continued to do its due diligence on top of the design.  Taking the hoop off of the machine and then deciding to either fix the project in the hoop or in the machine.

  Any craft will give you a challenge once in awhile.  I sat and picked out an entire letter with a seam ripper, tweezers and a sharp scissors.   The sewing machine I started very slowly as I had really wanted to get the last 31 minutes of the design done without literally throwing in the towel.  KNUJ kept me company.  When I thought I had it conquered,  I ran thread through the tension disks much like flossing it to make sure there was no undo tension.  Success.

  Silly ole me.  I should have checked the bobbin before starting up the machine.  Nine minutes left and the bobbin was empty.  Living and learning has no time element.  You just suck it up and work through so that when the project is done, no one else is the wiser of anything that has gone before.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 1:57 pm on May 17, 2026 Permalink  

  Nice Sunday 

  It’s quite the service when Dennis’ son-in-law, Tom, calls to make sure we are up as he is going to mow the yards before the forecasted rain.

  Our front door has allowed the screen door to be open with the nice temps.  The birds have made nests in the evergreen boughs that are right off of the deck.  The little Thrush male takes great pride in sitting on the deck rail to serenade the world.  His bright red colors are a treat.  When the female comes for a short visit and rustles her feathers after a long sit on the nest, her feathers under her wings and the base of her tail shows bright red.  Sweet music in the morning. 

  One embroidered design was accomplished today in studio.  Should have, could have made a better decision in the stabilizer.  That shows I may be out of practice with the embroidery.  The plans are to do a bit more of it.

  My most important thought to remember in life: with every action, there is a re-action . . . some cannot be undone.

  No . . . we have not had any rain as yet here in the mid-afternoon.  One huge system traveled south and then north.  All in all, it is a nice Sunday.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:18 pm on May 5, 2026 Permalink  

  The Day 

  Today is Tuesday the 5th of May.  The day has gone by quickly.

  I could have, would have stayed in the studio for longer today, but the trickle of water around the tile perimeter of the studio made it feel a bit too chilly.

  I have a project that I could bring to the first floor.  I fight that as one thing after another could dribble up to the first floor.  That would break the rhythm I have for my days.  Just so much time in my morning is spent having coffee and breakfast.  It’s then time to get dressed and do a tidy, tidy on the first floor.  After the “have too” is finished, I give myself permission for the studio time.

  The studio time is  say-la-vees.  If I get lost in thoughts or threads and fuzz . . . it matters not.  Creative time is good for the soul and the mind. 

  I will follow up that our unique oven meal of last night was a success.  It’s always convenient when a bag of ingredients can come out of the freezer to mix with sauce and pasta. Even doing a pork roast in the crockpot can leave it become dry as a pork loin roast doesn’t have any marbled meat.  When we had done the roast for a meal,  I used the kitchen shears and cut up the remaining very small.  The juice from the crockpot that contained the seasonings from the meat and the bed of carrots was perfect to pour over the cut up meat and cut up carrots.  Too much flavor to waste.  The ingredients of the leftover stove top added its kick of flavor.  Two cups of uncooked medium ribbon pasta and a jar of Alfredo . . . mission completion.  

  Dennis said he would be up for that combination any time.  He is the food critic.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥