Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from February, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 5:23 pm on February 8, 2019 Permalink  

  Day Five 

  A sunny Friday and it was day five of working with the snow.  Monday was ice and snow and today is Friday, and it was cleanup from the horrific winds of last night.  It took two trips outside to get it done.  Yup, they were right, it was cold out.  As much Vaseline as I put on my face, I can assure you my skin has been moisturized while being protected.  The driveway stayed quite clear after Randy was here at five yesterday afternoon.  It was the city crew burying my bins that are on the corner of the garage that took me getting my red plastic shovel out.  That stuff was not pushable.  I have long given up on the heavy metal shovels.  The previous path along the north side of the house to the area where the furnace vent is was totally filled in.  One path from the driveway to the patio was pushable.  From there west, it was the trusty red plastic shovel that came to the rescue.

  I didn’t think the deer would come for their treats in the wind last night.  I took a chance and put corn out thinking the worst that could happen is that the dish and corn would be buried.  The first thing this morning, I looked out the bathroom window and there were tracks all over our yard and patio and also over to see what neighbor Jan had for eats.

  Dennis’ cats really miss him.  Yesterday when I had come into the patio porch all three of them were meowing.  No way can I spend as much time in the porch as Dennis does.  What I did do was put on the television and left it on all day until I went out at supper time to feed them.  It’s not Dennis, but it is part and parcel of their usual and customary.  When I went out to put the corn out this late afternoon, I left the slider door open.  Snuggles came outside.  He beat me back into the porch literally changing out his feet, two by two as his feet must have really felt cold.  He immediately sat down and began to clean between his toes.  Our cats have gotten to like the home that they have in the porch.

  While we had the six foot Santa in the patio porch over the Christmas season, we knew 55 years plus had given him some wear and tear.  Today the fabric came out for the trim to make new cuffs on his jacket.  I had saved all the pieces of the old jacket.  The total impact of the grime on the cuffs had gone unnoticed until I laid the new beside the old.  Several hours were spent in the sewing studio, but this ole Grammie can feel all that wonderful freshness of the snow removal time telling me . . . enough is enough.

  Dennis called last night and he and Brett were in California.  They drove over the Sundial Bridge at Redding.

   
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  Noreen 4:40 pm on February 7, 2019 Permalink  

  The Whiteness Of It All 

  The roaring of the wind told me more than opening my eyes could this morning.  Yup.  More white snow and a fierce wind.  This is the fourth day of snow issues.  It is bound to get it out of its system pretty soon.  No . . . you can’t tell that the driveway, the doorways or the east patio were cleared yesterday.  I can share that I put shell corn out for the deer at five yesterday afternoon.  When I walked into the kitchen at six to make myself some supper, the view of out the east window caught my eye.  Three deer were having supper as well.  It is satisfying to know that creatures need help when the snow covers up everything.

  Not a hurry bone in my body today.  Scrambled eggs sounded like the best breakfast before going out and clearing snow by the doorways and checking on the patio porch dwellers.  This week has had me feeling like I am back on the farm at Boon Lake.  Winters at that time always included suiting up and making sure all doorways were cleared on the variety of barns.  I really enjoyed those farm years.  It was hard work, but having both Carrie and Kevin enjoying the baby animals was priceless.  Both kids had greased up cheeks and lips so the cold couldn’t chap the tender skin.  I can close my eyes and be spirited right back to those experiences.  I could have had so many more years of that life.  But . . . here I am on Stauffer and getting that snow pushed out of the way! 

  Surprisingly even with measurable snow overnight, the north winds can play tricks on where it is going to pile up.  Coming in to warm up, the noise outside made me glad I had left my heavy clothes on.  Grandson Ryan was in the driveway with a skidloader making quick work of what was on the driveway as well as busting trough the pile of snow on the south side of the drive.  That huge bucket filled with snow had no problem taking a lot of the packed snowbank out into the backyard.  Ryan is taking care of quite a few people and told me he would be back sometime this week and take out the rest of the banked snow.  Priceless.

  Today felt good to see some white trim on the Santa jacket.  It perked me up to no end.  Up until I had the collar on it was just a challenge of red velvet material.  This has broken the ice for going forward and being a bit more brave.  Come on!  It is not a tailored suit.  It is a replacement of a tattered suit that served Santa well for 55 plus years.  I am now encouraged to go back online and find the site that had white doll wig hair.  In time to come Santa will need a new beard to replace the fiberglass Angel Hair. Each day will have had some work towards the finish.  I enjoy working on it.  I don’t do more than what several hours can accomplish.  With snow removal being what it is, I would kick myself to no end if I overdue the back and shoulders.    

  I can report that last night Dennis called from Oregon.  Brett had delivered one of his quilts to a family friend in Idaho earlier in the day.  The boys are indeed on the road.

  I can also report that the sun is peeking through all of the blowing snow.  It is quite pretty.  It’s time for me to go out and fill the supper bowls for the cats and the deer.

   
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  Noreen 5:37 pm on February 6, 2019 Permalink  

  A Treat Kind of Day 

  I was outside today moving some snow, as I expected, making room for more that will be coming in overnight.  We have such great service for garbage and recycling.  The key is that the bins need to be in a certain place along Stauffer Avenue to be picked up.  When Randy blows snow it goes to the south towards Stauffer.  When the city comes roaring down Stauffer with their truck carrying the blade, it pushes off Stauffer towards the north.  Right smack dab in the middle of this moved, packed snow are our bins.  It is truly a treat to have Randy move the bulk of the snow.   The bins now have the area cleaned out, ready to be positioned for a proper pick up.  Those trucks drive down Stauffer and the lift on the side of the truck plucks up the bins and they are gone in a heartbeat.    

  The patio porch was a great place to warm up.  I have yet to find the right combination of mittens shoved onto my gloved hands, to keep my fingers warm.  No problems with the feet, just the hands.  It gave me time to spend with the cats and fill up some empty ice cream pails for the nightly deer treats.  The snow pusher went with me into the patio porch so I could clean off the east patio where the deer eat.  As a treat for the cats, the slider door was left open while the snow was pushed off.  I had barely gotten myself and the pusher out the door and the three cats were lined up, proud as can be sitting in the open doorway.  Not one of them ventured beyond the threshold to set foot onto the patio.  About that time some of the thundersnow rumbled and wham, bam, thank you kitties, they were in the far corners of the garage.  It actually was a weird sound.

  Coming in, the tea kettle was filled, anticipating a hot cup of tea to be enjoyed shortly.  The tea and my library book headed to the west house porch.  What ensued was a phone call from JoAnn.  We spent a goodly amount of time catching up.  It is the winter of many firsts for JoAnn since the passing of Mike in November.  I am very proud of how she is handling the multiple things that may be the same . . . but different.  It was a treat of visiting about some times past, things that happen day to day and plans for a family gathering for the weekend.

  Some time was spent in the sewing studio.  It was a good feeling to get the side seams sewn on the jacket as well as the sleeve seams.  The white plush felt that will be used in the trim was gotten out and then I decided I wasn’t ready for it.  The bias tape stash needed to be pulled out.  As I really haven’t thought through all of what it will take to put on the white plush trim, I knew I didn’t want to fight the raw edges of the velvet.  The Velcro on the back of the jacket is going to make the dressing of the Santa so much easier.  Another day of decision making will be needed . . . and perhaps another day of snow moving.

   
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  Noreen 6:29 pm on February 5, 2019 Permalink  

  It’s Tough 

  It’s tough being a patio porch kitty and the weather is not up to their snuff.  Dennis’ tribe likes to have one of the slider doors open and sit in front of it, deciding if they are going to go out or stay in.  There is a new sheriff on Stauffer.  If I open the door and they would like to take a short stroll, I would stay in the patio porch until they want back in.  No way will I do what Dennis has spoiled them into thinking, that sitting in the door is usual and customary.

  My objective today was to work on the Santa jacket in regards to the sleeves.  Hmm.  Fitting a sleeve piece into the arm hole has always been frightening for most.  When I was in high school, it was not unusual for me to be putting sleeves into garments of some of the classmates.  Lena had taught me well and it does not go without some prep work.  I like to use Wonder Clips as they really hold well.  Straight pins tend to slide out when I really need them.  Note that my mark on the back of the fabric keeps me going in the right way for the nap.  When I had both of the sleeves sewn in, I shut down the sewing studio.

  We had a fair amount of snow that started in the forenoon.  I think four inches qualifies for a fair amount.  There was a plan that I had to complete by five this afternoon.  I knew that Randy, and his snowblower, from next door would be in our driveway a few minutes after five.  My plan was to have all of the snow from the back door going east to the garage, about 15 feet, and the snow from the back door going to the far edge of the driveway pushed west into the middle of the driveway.  Randy would then be able to clear the driveway and not fight to get close enough that it would not need shoveling.  I didn’t mind getting out for some exercise and fresh air.  By the way . . . the plan worked slick.  It sounds like this plan will be re-played several times before this week is over. 

  The shoveling time gave me pause to plan for the next step in the Santa jacket project.

   
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  Noreen 4:46 pm on February 4, 2019 Permalink  

  Innovation on Board 

  With Dennis having left this morning on his road trip with nephew Brett, I had better have a lot of innovations on board for these next few weeks.  I am quite sure that all of Dennis’ planning of all things Stauffer . . . I am going to be just fine.

  My first agenda this morning was to watch YouTube videos on tricks of the trade sewing with velvet fabric.  When a seam is to be sewn, it slides, it glides, its objective is to not have nicely sewn seams.  It’s as simple as that.  I had a few supplies in my sewing studio that were mentioned as possible tricks.  

  With chalk in hand I made sure I had arrows drawn on the back side of the yardage.  All pieces of the patterns need to run in the same direction, top to bottom, to follow the nap of the fabric.  Having one piece of the front of the jacket pattern lying up-side-down, it will look as if you had two different colors of the red velvet when all was said and done.

  It was a struggle to get the jacket off of Santa.  One of the arms is mechanical and needs much TLC.  The other arm is not mobile.  What to do?  This afternoon I cut the original back portion of the red velvet jacket right down the middle from top to bottom.  I have decided that the jacket will be slipped onto Santa in two separate pieces.  The right side will be totally finished off as the left side will be.  What will fasten them together is the frog closures in the front.  What will fasten them together in the back will be enclosed Velcro running from the neck to the bottom of the jacket.  No more taking a chance of dislocating arms of our 55- plus year-old Santa.

  The best part is that Kevin will get all of his Python Velcro straps returned to him.  Over the weekend I had been pondering this project and low and behold, I had a package of white inch wide Velcro.  At one time we had used it to make a display for a trade show Dennis had gone to.  I made sure to beef up the hemmed edges of the back of the jacket with inch wide bias tape that I had in my stashes. It will take the stress off of the velvet with the Velcro being opened and closed.  It takes quite a tug to release the hooks and loops.  

  The rest of the late afternoon was needed to take care of Dennis’ livestock for the evening chores.  The last thing I did was to take the empty ice cream bucket, fill it with shell corn and put it out in the bird bath dish for the deer.  Dennis enjoyed watching seven deer last night as they took their time coming and going from our backyard. 

  Cats taken care of with food, water and litter box . . . check!  Make sure the Koi haven’t knocked over the bubbler . . . check!  Fed the deer . . . check!  This calls for scrambled eggs and toast for supper.

   
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  Noreen 6:48 pm on January 29, 2019 Permalink  

  Feel Good Times on Stauffer 

  Going back to Mom’s solution today when the winds were howling and cold could not be described.  The window shades on the west and northwest side of our home are pulled down and closed.  Perhaps it doesn’t dispel the cold from penetrating, but again, it worked for Mom.  

  Dennis spent a total of 10 minutes with the snowblower today.  The city plows and the county plows can really pile up the heavy stuff at the end of the driveway.  We did learn our lesson many years ago when the huge frozen deposit at the end of the driveway took off the muffler of the little brown Buick I had at that time.

  Dennis is on spot!  Last night after supper, I looked out to the patio porch.  Through the east slider widow I could see that the deer were enjoying the shell corn Dennis had put out in the top of the bird bath.  Dennis was elated.  When Dennis had gone out to check on the furnace and the kids . . . the half pail of shell corn was gone.  Dennis did put out a bit more when he was satisfied all was tucked in for the night.  Dennis reported this morning that again, during the night, the treats had been enjoyed.  This afternoon Dennis waited until about four before getting his empty ice cream pail ready with more corn.  His reasoning was that usually birds and squirrels are not that active in the late date.  Good times watching the deer.  With the deep snow and the cold, the corn does give them a bit of added body heat.

  I did spend some time in the sewing studio.  I have been on a bit of a sabbatical since getting the queen sized quilt hemmed. Surfing one of the closed Facebook sites that I belong to, I had downloaded a pattern for a currency sized wallet.  Hmm, zippers.  I took it slow as I had the perfect size of cork fabric and it didn’t allow for a boo-boo.  I have mentioned it before . . . it bares repeating . . . I like a good challenge.  If I would do a second one, of course there would be a few tweaks here and there.  It does hold six credit cards as well as the I.D. slot in the mid section.  Most likely it would include a snap for the closure rather than the strap for the top to be tucked behind to hold it in place.  Live and learn.  I love it.

   
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  Noreen 4:57 pm on January 25, 2019 Permalink  

  All is Back to Normal 

  It may have been cold out with full sunshine.  That was the just the ticket we needed to head out for errands.  I thought we had just done that!  

  Our pharmacy in Shopko is in a flux.  Monday, I went to fill one of Dennis’ meds that he needs for his trip with nephew Brett.  The are leaving Feb. 3rd.  It needed to be 60 pills to last 30 days.  When I received the bottle and had paid for it, I was told they could only do 40 pills.  I asked when I could stop back for the other 20.  Hello!!  The pharmacy is closing and they are no longer receiving meds for prescriptions.  If they happen to have them . . . you may get a full prescription or you may get less than what is needed.  They could have had a sign up.  

  Today we had an appointment with Dennis’ doctor for a new prescription.  Once the old one was processed, we had to start anew.  This med is a specialty.  Only one month prescription at a time and they must last 30 days.  The new start date of the prescription is Feb. 8, 2019.  Where Dennis and Brett will be on the 8th is anyone’s guess.  Upon advice from our doctor we drove over to Mountain Lake’s pharmacy.  It is a privately owned pharmacy and this pharmacist takes care of his customers.  He and our doctor are working hand in hand, so Dennis can pick up the meds on the first of February and have them with him when he leaves St. James.  It seems when a pharmacy is linked to a chain, there is no consideration for the timing of a vacation and how it interacts with what the label on the pill bottle indicates.  The store linked to a chain . . . does not recognize people.  They only work with numbers.  We are so fortunate to have good doctors that have a rapport with good pharmacists.  

  I on the other hand needed my blood pressure meds refilled.  Where to go?  I decided to have the prescription sent down the highway to Madelia.  It’s 20 minutes and I have a 90 day supply with each refill.  

  As lucks would have it, GEEK Squad in Mankato had left a message that the HP laptop was ready to be picked up.  I had called and we got an appointment for later in the afternoon.  I also made them aware I was bringing with me a Dell Laptop.  All was good to go.  Dennis and I stopped at home for a bite of noon lunch and off to Mankato we went.  There was no charge on the HP.  The HP got a total new top.  No more sticking keys . . . and there are no more worn off keys.  The Dell was looked at and tweaked with a minor adjustment under the hood.  I came home with both computers and there was no charge.  What wonderful service!

  On the way home from Mankato, we stopped in Madelia and I picked up my 90 day supply for a whopping charge of $2.95.   By the way . . . Madelia is hooked to the chain of the Lewis Drugstores, that is why our doctor sent us to the independently owned pharmacy in Mountain Lake for Dennis’ medication.

  Our last stop was here in town at the library.  It is to be cold for quite the stretch and nighttime viewing is less than wonderful.  I can while away the after-suppertime with a good book.

  This was a busy day.  After we got home and made ourselves a cup of coffee, I marveled.  We had spent the entire day out and about with an outlay of cash of $2.95.  Gas for the pickup was $1.97 per gallon.  What a heck of road trip for us.  It sure does feel good to have these annoying little issues taken care of.  Having everything covered before it becomes a panic or causes stress is . . . priceless.

  P.S. I had sent Nicholas and Megan some of my stitching.  Something totally out of the blue.  I had been playing around with cork fabric and thought it would be fun to make each of them a wallet. The one pictured was my prototype.  Nicholas’ was brown and Megan’s was black with silver in and among the look.  Grammie can’t always do the same old, same old.

   
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  Noreen 4:48 pm on January 24, 2019 Permalink  

  When the morning finally registered to my slumber… 

  When the morning finally registered to my slumber, I was hesitant to open my eyes.  It sounded horrible outside.  The wind chimes were a constant rattle.  The wind rushing through the evergreen outside the northwest side of the house sounded more like a train.

  Wonder of wonders, the driveway had not drifted over to any degree.  I could still see Randy’s tractor tire tracks that had drug gravel from the street.  The portion of the driveway I had cleaned off with the leaf blower was still clean.  I did not think the snow was heavy enough to have held firm.  Yippee for us.

  I am in between serious sewing and stitching projects and have decided to take a break and do some reading.  I had sent Nicholas and Megan a package with some stitching in it for each of them.  Obviously I don’t have any photos loaded here on the ole cowboy’s computer to share right now.  I may get the photos loaded but then I also need to download a program to resize them.  When Megan received the package in the mail, I got a text that said “awesome,” I knew I could take a bit of a break from the sewing studio. 

  The house smells oh so good as there is a pork roast in the oven along with an Acorn squash.  A good oven meal always adds a bit of warmth to the kitchen.

  I will add if I am to stay on the ole cowboy’s computer much longer, each one of these keys need to be cleaned . . . just saying.

   
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  Noreen 2:57 pm on January 20, 2019 Permalink  

  Then and Now 

  

  Mom had a favorite pattern for embroidery. These flowers were done in numerous colors. Mom gave me these embroidered pillow cases in the late 1980s. I crocheted and attached the edging for them. They indeed were special. Not long after I did the crocheting, working with threads became difficult for my hands. In today’s world, within my stashes were two pair of white pillow cases that Mom had ready to embroider on, but it didn’t come into fruition. My project was to make use of these from a time long gone. Within the green checked shopping bag that my Crazy 8 quilt is still resting in, is the quilt that will match the border fabric I used on Mom’s made ready pillowcase. We are getting closer to letting the quilt out of the bag. After I have these pillow cases ready to go, I have been working on getting the binding ready for the 100″ x 100″ Crazy 8 blue quilt.

   
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  Noreen 4:40 pm on January 18, 2019 Permalink  

  The Test of Mettle 

  I believe I may have gone beyond Dennis’ mettle in regard to his stitching abilities.  Give Dennis a puzzle to work through for pin pointing what needs to be done in all aspects of a vehicle.  He knows when to hold it or when to fold it and get it into a repair shop.  

  We are in a snow situation here and that means that we hunker down until the snow stops and then we move it.  Neighbor Randy has already been down our driveway and his when he was on his noon break from John Deere. 

  I was at my sewing machine finishing up the last of what I wanted to get done in my adventures working with cork fabric.  Dennis wanted to help by doing some serger work on the cotton dinner napkins.  My machine was working with one spool of thread.  Dennis’ serger was working with four spools of thread.  It sounded like a a good way for Dennis to while away some time.  The project was clipping right along.  I had encourage and advised him to do what we call chain sewing.  When the one side of one napkin was stitched just feed another one right behind it under the presser foot.  The threads are not cut to separate them until all of the napkins have had one side stitched.  It eliminates the need to lower and raise the pressure foot to position the fabric each time. 

  Somewhere along the line, that process wasn’t going well and Dennis wanted to cut one from the machine as each side was done.  When thread is held taut behind the needle and then cut the pressure and tension causes the thread to snap back out of the eye of the needle.  In this case two needles.  The snap back extended far beyond the eyes of the needle.  Where oh where did these two threads snap back and become overlaid with the remaining threads from the other two spools.   At that time, Dennis thought that perhaps he could see if his snowblower would start and move some snow around.  It was a good call on his part.  

  I got my Dell computer down into the sewing room.  I knew there was a good YouTube called “A man and his serger.”  I dug out the manual.  Between the two, I should be able to get everything re-threaded. It had been a challenge getting the four spools threaded the first time and one time does make a blueprint in my mind on how to successfully repeat it.   

  Midway through, I got dressed and went outside to move a little bit of snow around and clear my head.  Dennis and I both got a good amount of the driveway cleared.  No . . . it’s still snowing.  There will be plenty for Randy to play with after he is done with work.

  It’s now supper time.  The serger is ready to go again.  My cork fabric projects are done.  Dennis has gotten some snow exercise and is enjoying playing solitaire on his computer in the west house porch.  Dennis’ mettle is in good shape.  I may have stretched it a bit.  It’s all about living and learning – and we sure do a good job of it here.