Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from April, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 4:39 pm on April 26, 2020 Permalink  

  A Good Sunday 

  Sunshine and cooler temps gave way for a great walk this morning.  As I toddled down Stauffer Avenue George and Sherry were out in their yard.  Of course a chat ensued.  A bit further June was out raking rock out of her grass after the winter’s snow plowing.  Always time for a bit of chit chat with June.  I had missed out on walking Friday and Saturday and today I could feel it.  How soon the old body wants to go back to the old ways and shorten the tendons and muscles in the hips, legs and even toes.  It is true . . . moving is the tonic to staying mobile.

  Dennis did take the day off . . . in total.  I took notice that he moved from the east side to the west side in the patio porch, taking advantage of where the sun would warm him to allow him to catch cat naps.  Snuggles and Harriet were right there with him each in their own basket.

  The sewing studio had not had its lights on for the entire week.  It took me a while to get back in the grove.  The hexagon quilt was under the needle just where I had left it.  I have realized that sewing a straight line is still difficult for me.  It’s one thing to move the fabric forward allowing it to be pulled into the needle area.  I could do straight quarter inch seams non-stop. With machine quilting the goal is to move the fabric left to right, at a right angle, right to left and also pulling it towards me.  It’s a whole new mindset and my mind was not cooperative with this machine quilting.  My goal was to mirror the hexagon angles, sewing straight lines from point to point.  Doing each hexagon, I would tell myself that this one would be better than the last.  Not!  It is what it is.  With all the seams that are evident in sewing hexagons together . . . looking at 89 of them sewn together, my erratic seaming fits right in.  Hey . . . if it were perfect there would be a label on it stating that it was a product of China.  This is definitely one of a kind.  Dennis is already eyeing this 55″ x 65″ as a new cover when he is in his recliner.   

  Tomorrow, being Monday, begins a new week.  New opportunities.  New perspectives.  Out with the old mindset . . . onto a fresh outlook.  When I listen to new statistics of health issues, I can only say a prayer to keep my family safe.  I realize that being at your place of employment has brought on new challenges to get through the day.  I realize that having to work from home is annoying as there is no way that the noise from children being home and needing to be home schooled can be closed out.   Those scenarios are doable in relationship to what some are enduring when a family member is ill and they can’t even have the presence of family support to get through their fight.  Being in a hospital bed with only a masked health care worker for company . . . scary.  Not even able to see and read what their eyes are saying.  Eye contact is part of our communication. 

  Dennis and I are good through this and pray that those we love and know will also endure.

   
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  Noreen 2:26 pm on April 20, 2020 Permalink  

  Hang On 

  What a season of winds!  After I had taken care of what needed to be tidied in the house, Dennis mentioned that maybe my walk should be done sooner than later.  His forecast was that the winds would only get stronger as the day went on and there might be rain.  I checked the computer and 45 degrees was doable for walking.  

  I checked before I left home as to what Dennis had on his plate.  Oil needed to be changed in our Sears rider lawnmower as well as the Cub-lo-Boy mower.  Dennis had coffee on board and I knew he would take a break or two during this.  As an ole 18 wheeler trucker, Dennis does know how to take care of the mowers . . . me not so much.  The extent of my portion of the mowers is . . . pushing mine.

  Saturday as we came back into town from our road tip we had stopped at the grocery store and picked up a rotisserie roasted chicken for supper.  For us, it is a lot of chicken, but . . . bones out it speaks to a chicken pasta hotdish within several days.  Today was the day!  I had a package of small egg noodles that would pass for the hotdish.  Lots of cubed chicken.  There was a lonely package of frozen brussel sprouts that was weary of being pushed around.  Those sprouts were quartered and will add great color in the mix with the Alfredo sauce.  Though not Dennis’ favorite vegetable, he will enjoy them when they are outnumbered by the other ingredients in a hotdish.  This hotdish will actually take me out of the kitchen for tonight’s supper as well as tomorrow night’s fare.  I love leftovers.

  As of today my itchy, bitchy hexagons are one.  They have been gathered, paired and rearranged multiple times to find just the right configuration.  There was no one right answer.  Within my stashes, I found a good green to use for the border.  The green border actually made me like this project a bit more.  It mellowed it out.  The backing is sewn together and ironed with a tone of the golds that are within the hexagons.  That is as far as I took it today.  All I have on hand is a king sized package of batting, aka: 12o” x 12o”.  It will take a bit of doing to decide where I take out the 55″ x 65″ to allow the remaining batting is be a good fit for the next project. 

  By the way . . . today the evergreens in our backyard were not whispering . . . they were howling with the 20 mph winds.

   
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  Noreen 3:04 pm on April 19, 2020 Permalink  

  Chilly Sunday 

  Dennis asked this noon if the plants for the edge of the Koi pond could be put out.  The way the raw wind blew my hair every which way on my walk this morning, I suggested he wait a bit longer.  The night temps in the twenties could make easy work of killing off the plants that he has been nurturing all winter.  Every once in awhile a bit of Miracle Grow crystals found its way into the water to keep their interest alive.  The patio kids, aka: cats, must be getting older.  Not one of the three raised havoc with the foliage this winter.  They will actually look fairly decent when put out for their addition to the pond.

  Someone is getting spring fever.  When I took a break from the sewing studio to swap out some laundry, Dennis had the Windex bottle out and a ton of cotton towels.  There was commencing of washing the patio slider windows.  Dennis’ bursts of energy ebb and tide.  How great is that!

  I continue to work with hexagons for a quilt top.  From what I can estimate is, the 528 triangles that my friend had cut will equal a quilt top of 56″ x 46″.  I do believe the heft of the top will be from all the sewing thread.  Tomorrow may be the day when the piecing will be done and I can spend some time going through stashes to see what I have on hand for a border.  Dennis keeps encouraging me with the idea that I will have my very own lap robe with I settle down to watch some television in the evenings.

  My situation with this project and all others is . . . I don’t want to leave things unfinished.  To me starting something and then leaving it to go onto another task . . . it’s just not right.  Being surrounded by UFOs . . . unfinished objects, is counter productive.  I remain stimulated with my abilities and creativity by seeing the finished results of my energy, time and materials invested.  Ya . .  I would say that sums me up quite well.

  It’s about closing time down here in the sewing studio.  Today went well and tomorrow is yet to be.  

  Today was chilly while I took my walk.  I am weary of my nose feeling it.

   
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  Noreen 3:03 pm on April 17, 2020 Permalink  

  Power in Walking 

  Arthritis feels so much better when the body moves.  Walking has become something I look forward to every morning.  My whole day goes better.  I do know that I also walk with more stability when I keep a cadence.  Ambling along I know I do not look as if I am stable.  I can feel it.  Whatever! 

  Dennis is out and about today.  I know his days go better when he can get that little red pickup out of the garage and check the town out.  My only stipulation was that he hit the Lewis driveway window for one of his prescriptions and pop a bill off in the mail . . . then the sky was the limit. 

  Yesterday nephew Brett stopped in.  He has had enough.  Today he was going back to concrete work with his crew.  If landscapers could, he saw no reason why concrete workers were any different, working outside.  Of course . . . that is where one of Dennis’ stops will be.  Just like Dad, watching something being done is what Dennis enjoys.  For both men, remembering when they would have been able to handle that task as if it were nothing at all.  Priceless.

  Being busy with the sewing machine is fun and always a challenge.  These hexagons are under the needle big time.  Putting six triangles together to form a hexagon, pressing all seams open is a must.  The next step of quilting these blocks will go badly if the point where all seams meet, which would be twelve layers thick . . . lots of sewing machine needles broke at the point of impact.  I take the process easy.  Lots of up and down from the sewing machine to the ironing board to the church table for more pinning.  There is power in walking and also power in moving within the sewing studio.  That is my “priceless.”

  Dennis is making noise . . . like being in need of a road trip sometime this weekend.  It may be a trip to Hy-Vee in Mankato, Fairmont or New Ulm.  Who knows?  It doesn’t matter to me.  I enjoy getting out of Dodge as much as he does.

   
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  Noreen 2:52 pm on April 15, 2020 Permalink  

  Ice on the Pond 

  Dennis had been gearing up for the Koi to come out of the winter sheltered horse tank.  Not!  The ice has formed a shroud around the bubbles.  In several days, all will be better.

  I am working on hexagons.  I think when my friend had cut out hundreds of triangles and grouped them by six, she had no idea what the end goal would or could be.  I am dubbing it my Coronavirus project. So many seams that need to be pressed open.  Over 80 plus hexagon blocks that do not resemble one to another, all being cut out of the same piece of fabric yardage.  I am determined to forge ahead.  I am not going anywhere anytime soon and I think if I had to sit and look out the window all day long, I could and would be crabby.   I have always enjoyed challenges.  This one will not break me.  Getting the hang of sewing these blocks together was trial and error.  After laying them all out, I realized if I took the top half of one hexagon and the bottom half of the next hexagon in the row, I would eventually have a straight seam to sew one length onto another.  Hmm.  If my estimate is correct, it will be approximately 45″ x 62″ for a border to then be added.   

  It has been noted what a blessing the new Husky sewing table has been as a replacement for the heavy wood table that I had been using for decades. The height adjustment of the Husky has made a huge difference on my neck and shoulders.  After so many years of not having to think about what I slid my sewing chair up to . . . being open to something new has worked out well.  Dennis’ trip to Mankato to visit Home Depot worked out well.

  I canceled on the walk again today.  Too cold.  Too windy.  As with the Koi pond . . . it will be better soon.

   
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  Noreen 2:40 pm on April 13, 2020 Permalink  

  Less Than Good 

  I will have to admit there may be some truth in weather making arthritis act up. I have missed taking my walk for two days due to the snow storm yesterday and the muck today.  I do need to make sure that my footing is secure.  Nothing worse than trying to get a retiree up after taking a spill while trying to do something healthy.  When I checked, the wind was quite active with the cool temperatures.  

  When the box arrived several weeks ago and I had a quilt to finish, there was included a huge amount of fabric and fabric kits as a gift to me.  There was one huge plastic bag of triangles included.  Oh so many sets of six.  Every six triangles were pinned together.  There was also printed a three-page instructional that looks as if it has been passed to one quilter after another.  Reading it over several times was needed to make sense of all the triangles.    

  The pattern required yardage that had huge colorful print.  Just as in wallpaper, designs repeat themselves in fabric.  The fabric was laid out so that there would be a repeat that amounted to six strips laying on top of each other matching the designs one on top of another using the 44 inches of width in the yardage.  The six strips were then cut into triangles keeping the strips secure so as to not shift.  Each set of six triangles can then be arrayed making a hexagon.  The finished hexagon then takes on the same image as a kaleidoscope.  Oh, how I loved those from times past. 

  I think I have my work cut out for me. I foresee oh so many hexagons.  I also foresee checking out a few more videos after each set of six has been sewn as to how do all these different hexagons get put together?

  There is more than one way to skin a cat.  The weather may be bothering my arthritis . . . I know keeping busy can also take my mind off of a lot of aches.

   
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  Noreen 1:12 pm on April 9, 2020 Permalink  

  Boon Lake – Part 8 

  Farming in 1968 treated us well.  Prices were good at the sales barn, the chickens kept us in egg money and we were keeping our head above water.

  We were getting ready for a baby in the mid part of July of that year.  I was feeling good.  Carrie was sleeping in a big girl bed that sister-in-law from Hector had shared with us.  Hmm . . . that memory bounced across decades.  Carrie’s daughter Megan had that as her big girl bed.

  As soon as public school was out in Hector for the summer break of 1968, we had extras move in as Orlin’s nephews, Craig and Frank, loved to stay with us.  Orlin put them to work.  Four extra hands helped with a lot of chores and fetching.  I was pregnant keeping up with my chores, baking and making meals for hungry boys that had bottomless pits for stomachs.  Good times all around.

  The first part of July Craig went home to Hector and Frank decided to stay.  Frank never got tired of the farm work, where Craig was ready to go back to the town life.  With Orlin’s mother now being a widow and retired from being the head cook at the Hector school, she enjoyed when Carrie and I would come in and take her on some errands.  Esther never drove.  She had a friend that lived in Redwood Falls that she wanted to visit.  Mrs. Conners sold Tri-Chem oil fabric paints.  Esther incorporated the painting with her love of crocheting.  It was a great July 4th day that we decided on.  No huge celebrations as there was hay to cut and side-rake on the farm.  Orlin and Frank were going to be busy.  I had left a picnic lunch for them as I knew noon would bring hunger pains.  We had a good visit with Mrs. Conners and Esther had made her purchases.  As the three of us gals decided to head home, Esther wanted to treat us to a stop at the Hardee’s in Redwood Falls.  Carrie was all about that.  As we left Hardee’s my shoe caught on a crack in the sidewalk and I caught myself before I hit the concrete and only came away with a scrape on the knee.  It was quite the jar.  As we got closer to Hector, I realized that I was in labor.  It was the 4th of July and not the mid point as we had been banking on.  I didn’t drop Esther off in Hector, she came right to Boon Lake with me.  By the time we got home, of course, it was right at chores time.  I called over to Mom and Dad’s.  Dad came over to start milking with Frank, Esther stayed with Carrie. Orlin and I headed to the Hutchinson hospital.  

  Kevin Michael Schafer made it the best 4th of July ever.  Though a bit early, Kevin did tip the scales at 8 plus lbs.  His torso was long and his legs were long.  Kevin wasn’t a chubby newborn, but he had the most important attributes . . . ten toes, ten fingers and a good set of lungs.  I was able to go home after three days and Kevin, having come almost two weeks early, needed to stay under care at the hospital.  Those several extra days gave us a chance to tidy up what was needed when Kevin could come home.  The day that we went to get Kevin, Frank had Carrie in the car before either Orlin and me had left the house.  Those first days of having a new baby in the house, if Frank was in the house, I knew where his first stop was.  Frank loved to hold the tiny feet in his hands.  I will always remember that tenderness of that thirteen-year-old young man. He couldn’t believe how tiny Kevin’s feet were.  Frank holding Carrie on his lap would make sure she had baby time.  It was a sweet summer.   

  —– to be continued.

  I did got for a walk today in my winter coat.  Dennis thought it was too raw out.  There were winds that clocked 26 to 30 mph.  But . . . I needed to have that walk.  Today is Thursday.  Monday morning, I had gone to visit a friend to deliver a quilt to her that she had started.  Her time was short as cancer doesn’t hold back.  It was earmarked for her oldest granddaughter.  That Monday night the quilt was hand delivered . . . from a loving grandmother to her granddaughter.  This morning that family had to handle how they will begin and how to go on after the grandmother passed.  Yup.  I needed to take a walk in the brisk raw air.

   
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  Noreen 2:44 pm on April 5, 2020 Permalink  

  Boon Lake – Part 6 

  What started as frightening in January of 1966 was feeling as if we had always been on the farm in Boon Lake Township. 

  There was no aspect of farming that we had not experienced, tackled and survived.  Though our equipment was not huge, we took care of the 160 acres.  Orlin would get through the morning milking and it was either field work or feed grinding.  Chicken, hogs, sheep and cows . . . they all had different recipes for the concentrate that was added to ear corn and some oats.

  There were some things that we could not have counted on.  When I had the chicken chores and the milkers washed, Carrie and I headed for the house.  There was laundry and once a week bread baking.  The north kitchen window faced north to take in pretty much the farm yard in total.  The east kitchen window took in the pasture.  One great day, I had a batch of bread going.  I could hear the feed mill on the south side of the barn as that is where the auger would empty into the window of the feed room, adjacent to the silo.  Carrie in the highchair and me up to my elbows in flour.  There would be fresh bread for supper.  The Hutchinson radio station was on most times if I was in the house.

  After a bit, I thought I should have seen Orlin take the mill to the granary. I went up to the north window and looked out.  What I saw made me sick.  Orlin was bent over the mill at the power take-off shaft using his free arm, waving his red bandanna. I didn’t do anything but rush out the back door.  Orlin was bent over using his arm as a brace against the hitch as his overall jacket was twisted into the take-off shaft, wanting to take his arm with.  His arm had caused enough pressure to shear off the pin.  I shut off the tractor and ran back into the house and grabbed the biggest butcher knife we had.  I had to slice and dice the jacket to relieve the pressure on his arm.

  What a close call.  Orlin’s arm didn’t have any feeling in it for the rest of the day as the twisted cloth of the jacket had cut off blood supply from nerves, tendons and his elbow joint.  I felt horrible, Orlin felt horrible that he had been careless not paying attention to where the jacket bottom was flapping.  Carrie was feeling horrible as her Cheerios cup was empty.  What a close call.  Accidents with power take-off shafts could fill volumes.  All three of us felt horrible but Orlin and I felt relief that made our legs weak.  We went into Hutch later that week.  We needed to buy a new chores jacket.  The new one was shorter with elastic at the sides and not the free swinging type that had the huge patch pocket on the bottom.  Yup . . . good old memories of farming “101.”

  —— to be continued.

  About all that I have gotten done on this 5th day of April is tune up the sewing studio from last weeks stitching marathon.

   
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  Noreen 4:26 pm on April 4, 2020 Permalink  

  Good Deed Done 

  Today when I shut off the sewing machine it was with heartfelt thanks that I finished a good deed done.  The family request to finish a started project came from a Speedy Delivery last Monday forenoon.  

  The printed feed sack that had been from decades ago is now a 52″ x 62″ cozy lap robe for cuddling.  I had told Dennis this morning that my quest for the day was to finish this quilt from A to Z.  The “Z” included using the last of the blocks to put them into a pillow.  Not enough blocks to make the lap quilt larger, but too many to dismiss.

  

  When the lights were shut off in the sewing studio, the first thing I did was put my walking shoes on and go for my walk.  Square the shoulders, move from side to side and get the kinks out from perhaps too many hours at the machine.  What can I say . . . started projects are hard to leave alone when the recipient of this quilt has plans to pass it along to a grandchild while she still can.

  The walk has been had.  A shower has been had.  Thank goodness there is a hearty amount of the scalloped potato and ham dish reheating in the oven for supper.

  By the way: the belt buckles that didn’t want to stay in the wall cabinet.  There is a product that I had purchased at Michael’s for crafting . . . Zots.  Little adhesive dots that when layered one onto another or perhaps another to adhere the belt buckle to the back of the shelf that they are perched on . . . time will tell.  I know they work as I had used some when putting a Christmas decoration up a few years ago.  When I took the decoration off of the wall, the Zots plus some of the wall’s finish came with it.  We determined that the belt buckle case was really inadequate for the honking large size that some of these buckles are.  As I said, time will tell.

   
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  Noreen 3:22 pm on April 2, 2020 Permalink  

  Tedious 

  Some tasks with quilting are tedious. I am on track with what I had set out for myself for the schedule.  After sewing on a border to the pieced top . . . the top, batting and backing are secure on my sewing table.  I believe after I dig out my safety pins to begin securing all layers together may well be all the energy and time I will invest into the project today.  Dennis helped out by folding two loads of laundry.  We are either the dirtiest people or the cleanest people on Stauffer Avenue . . . the jury is still out.

  It is a good thing I took my walk after lunch as it is nasty wet out this afternoon.  The temperature states it is 60 degrees.  It sure doesn’t feel like it.  Having a sewing studio in the basement is great.  This time of the year the comfort level when doing tedious things can be chilly.  It’s not cool enough to have the furnace take the chill off of the fingers and I don’t care for blowing air from a heater on me . . . suck it up.  

  Dennis took one for the team and took entryway rugs and kitty blankets to the laundromat this afternoon as I headed out for my walk.   A bag of quarters, a small fruit jar of laundry detergent and hours of waiting brings about a good thing.  My walk keeps my joints and tendons oiled up for continued mobility.  Swinging my arms as I walk pumps a lot of good blood to the brain . . . and my brain needs every bit of help I can give it.  

  If I heard the weather forecast, I could have swore I heard words like rain, sleet and road surface issues.  I sure hope it passes us by.  A full day of warm sunshine would be welcomed.