I am a retired 44-year veteran of the Real Estate Assessment field. As with real estate assessing and how it applies to real estate taxes, one can make many acquaintances, but not many real friends. It was a great career choice.
It has been nearly 10 years since I reclaimed my home and my real passions within my home. I enjoy it more each day and tip my hat to those who I left behind.
Each day I try to stretch myself with the use of my computer as it relates to this site and using it to print out labels for quilts for trying to incorporate photos into my sewing. Life is so full and I know that I have room for more.
Last night Dennis had closed up the house for the night and then had a few fleeting thoughts of the ‘Dennis persuasion’ type. He ask me if I remembered that from our beginning we had within us half good and half evil. Then he went on to tell me that, that which prevails in each of us depends on which of those two we feed. Yup, that’s my deep thinker cowboy. Ya gotta love a guy like that.
For now – This cap goes where Dennis goes during winter months.
As I was getting some laundry sorted this morning I snafued Dennis’ Legend Seed Corn cap for a good washing. Oh yes, it is the one with fuzzy ear flaps. It was not given up voluntarily. I am not sure how this winter cap was acquired in days of old – like fifteen years go. Dennis and his brother Roger were each given one and you would have thought they were from a limited edition collection from Cabelias or Scheels. This yearly event had the cap surrender to the Shout Triple-Action Stain Remover and then was immersed into the sudsy laundry water. The important part of washing Dennis’ caps is to retain the integrity of the cap’s bill. There is nothing like a coffee ground container to help shape and dry the precious cargo. It sits on the counter as a sub had to be used for the day. From the outside it still looks to be in pretty good shape. The test will be if the bill and interfacing choose to remain attached. It may become a beanie with ear flaps.
I do not know what will happen when Dennis realizes that this winter may very well be the last that the cap can endure. Hmm – I may have to check out ebay and see if there could be a replacement for future cold weather seasons. If taps can be heard coming from Stauffer Avenue you will all know that everything possible had been done and a living directive was enforced by me and Dennis is in mourning.
Of course it’s above zero and the mind freeze is over and the real world can again be seen. For me today it was dust bunnies. I did have the television on and as I was changing out the Swiffer and there was a blurb about a new site in the Minneapolis area called Color Me Mine. There were just a few key words that made me stop to see what the buzz was all about. Oh my gosh. It’s back from the days of old. Today it was marketed as Color Me Mine Pottery. In my day it was a ceramics class.
In the 1960s ceramics classes were the hot item. Someone would have a kiln in their basement and offer classes for anyone that wanted to come and clean greenware (soft plaster images that had been poured in various molds). I had taken the kids with me several times to a gal in Hutchinson, Minnesota, as I was working on some items to be used as gifts. After the seam marks from the molds had been cleaned from the greenware, they were painted and then fired in the kiln for a hard finish.
After we moved from the farm and lived right outside of Buffalo Lake, we connected with Mrs. Schrup that also had a setup in her basement. It was no small endeavor as the kilns required an electrical service far in excess of what a home would normally require. The paints, brushes, and cleaning tools were all supplied to you when you came and picked out your greenware. The variety of items in molds to create the greenware must have been quite the expense, and the price quoted to you was a price that had to cover all of the above mentioned tools, all the way to the finished, fired item.
I know that today Kevin still has a bust of Lincoln and one of Washington that he did with Mrs. Schrup. Carrie came with several times and may well have a bank. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it still had coins in it from that time?
For the longest of time I had not noted anything similar to the ceramics class, but today I couldn’t help but take note of this metro business in one of the malls. Home-based crafts are indeed in the past as today there would have to be liability insurance, viable access, air quality inspections and on and on. Gone are the days when people could just get together in an extra room of the basement for the sake of fun and sharing and for someone to make some pocket money as an extra income.
Quilted Cardinals and Chickadees
The view out the east window allows for watching Cardinals, Chickadees, Blue Jays, sparrows and what I call cow birds. The view as I look towards the west wall of our home allows for Cardinals and Chickadees. I should have expanded my pattern choices to have art totally imitate nature.
Today it never did get above zero outside and the heated water dish was visited many times by the birds but they did have to wait their turn as the cats have first dibs.
Dennis’s Meow Mix for the neighborhood cats is frequented just as often by the birds. They swoop in and snatch a piece and fly up into the lilac bushes. Water and food — it’s there for all that need it.
Just five minutes away – rain or shine – hot or very cold – the Super 8 awaits the two of us from Stauffer Ave for a good work out in the pool and then relaxation in the hot tub. I believe the mobility Dennis and I enjoy is due in a huge part to making use of a wonderful resource. It truly is the small town resort option.
Cold Weather Finger Therapy
Don’t you just hate it when the weather guys are right on with their forecasts. The minus temps came and the minus temps have stayed and will more than likely be here when I awake tomorrow morning. Dennis kept me informed most of the day when the number had bumped a degree or so. I decided my day was not going to be about ruminating about something I had no control over.
I fussed around in my stashes and decided today was a good pot holder making day. Having a few new ones about is always a good idea for that little bit of an addition to a bridal shower event. This particular stash goes back to Carrie and Kevin’s grandmother, Esther Schafer’s stash of crochet thread, cotton yarn and acrylic yarn. The storage tub gets cracked every once in awhile when the mood strikes. 
The week before Christmas when I was doing mittens for Dennis and a new hat for myself the same stash was visited. At the time in the distant past no one else was interested in that type of inheritance and I was not shy about taking it and enjoying all during these times past.
My project today was not all that difficult but the single crochets allowed me to think back on Esther Schafer’s crochet projects. What I was most impressed with were the crocheted thread window panels in the dining room of their Hector home. The window were the long 83 inch ones that every older home had. Panels were each crocheted wide enough as to have a bountiful gather stemming and flowing from the curtain rod. Four windows each giving anyone that had an eye for creative art an indication of the hours the fingers did the tension dance with the thread entwined.
I still have grandiose ideas and plans in my head for some of Esther’s crochet thread in my stash but today I had to settle on the utilitarian side of life. Maybe another day.
Today we traveled to Mankato to pop in on a friend in the hospital. Of course there were some errands to run and that did it – I feel whipped. Too much commotion. I am back on Staffer Avenue sipping on cold coffee and continuing to enjoy the living room lit by the Christmas tree. It is just plain sweet.
When darkness fell on Stauffer Avenue Dennis and I had the extra dishes done and put away and settled in to enjoy the light of the Christmas tree in our P.J.’s and robes. We had a great Christmas Day opening our doors for guests as well as receiving greeting via the phone and emails. Dennis commented at the end of the day that each year just gets better. I liked that comment a lot. All of our plotting and scheming to do what we felt we could do for family went off without a hitch and we were left with the best of it all – a calm feeling of contentment.
Right up to the last minute Dennis found a few more items to take care of for individuals that he felt needed a little of Santa Claus. Though it would have been fun to see the response of those unsuspecting people, the twinkle in Dennis’ eyes for pulling it off was priceless. That’s the type of thing that makes Christmas get better each year.
Water Glass/Rolling Pin – Priceless!
