Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from July, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  Noreen 3:08 pm on July 18, 2023 Permalink  

  Tuesday with Sun 

  This has been a busy day, actually my second busy day.  I wouldn’t trade either of them for anything.

  Yesterday was huge for me.  A funny thing happened to me on the way to a car repair.  I have driven through Hanska more times than I can remember.  Yesterday I decided to pull into the Main Street and even managed to pull off parallel parking . . . right in front of Johnson’s Furniture Store.  The stars were aligned.  A bit later, when I went on towards New Ulm, I had purchased two matching occasional chairs and would soon see the end of the 25-year-old chair and a half pull-out sleeper.

  Kersten picked me up at Chuck Speath’s and we motored on to McDonald’s for a well-deserved visit.  It was just sweet.  Next time we will need to meet up in Sleepy Eye.

  It was a long day, but all plans had been achieved.  I stopped at Hy-Vee for a few items as Tuesday was going to see family coming from Hutchinson. 

  By the time six p.m. arrived, the sleeper chair was out of our home going on to be of use in our carpenter’s young family’s home.  Bryan did an excellent job on our front deck and having moved into their own home recently, I gave him the option after a look-see.  The thought of an extra bed for a guest filled the bill.  Dennis and I felt good about helping out.

  By eleven this morning, Tuesday, sister-in-law JoAnn, her daughter Laura and Laura’s William and Heighlie were here at Stauffer Avenue.  What a great visit.  Now, at four, the house seems very quiet.

  Dennis did get the blue barn acre mowed with plenty of time to have coffee, lunch and a visit as well.  Dennis mentioned the bright sun felt warmer than the 78 degrees of actual air temp.  With no rain, it is a matter of keeping the weeds cut as the grass is dormant.

  Two very busy days for this Grammie, but so much appreciated.  The cherry red chair and I have some catching up to do.

   
• 

  Noreen 2:46 pm on July 16, 2023 Permalink  

  Sunday, Sunday 

  No good deed goes unpunished.  Having had a light supper last night, a dish of vanilla ice cream sounded good at eight last night.

  Wouldn’t you know it!  Four a.m. a bathroom visit was needed.  I went back to bed with eyes wide awake.  The dang birds were tweet tweeting to high heaven.  I got up and sat on the front deck and took in a fair amount of traffic watching.  Dennis got up at his usual time, six, and I greeted him with “Good Morning.”  I was sitting in my rocking chair.  He was surprised that I was up.  Once I could smell the coffee, I knew I was up for the day.  When the coffee was done, we both sat on the front deck with that freshly brewed black stuff.  Dennis, then with his breakfast box under his arm and his thermos type of coffee cup headed to the patio porch.

  I went into the studio and got some items together that I had started yesterday.

  By eight Dennis was in for a nap and I put a jacket on and went out to the gardens.  The weed that had put out such beautiful purple flowers was now done for the year.  Honey Bunny joined me and we pulled them up by their shallow roots.  Another bundle of greenery awaits drying by Dennis’ burning ring.  I even beat the bumble bees that love the Russian Sage by nabbing a hefty growth of nightshade in one of the corners of their purple blooms.

  With energy spent I came in and settled down to watch some YouTube videos.  My day just kept rolling along.  I now have Dennis’ favorite cold salad cooling in the refrig.  It’s the one with the pasta little rings, diced Spam, diced onion, green peas, diced celery and mayo.  Both Carrie and Kevin like it as well.

  Guess who is going to be in bed earlier than usual tonight, and . . . no ice cream.

  Tomorrow Dennis is going to Mankato to pick up his first pair of specialized shoes since the left foot has totally healed from . . . no toes.

  I am heading to New Ulm in the afternoon tomorrow to have a repair on my car.  Yippee!  It is covered under my warranty.  My favorite daughter-in-law will rescue me from the several hour wait as we go for a soft drink.  Sweet.

   
• 

  Noreen 2:44 pm on July 9, 2023 Permalink  

  Hello Sunday 

  This morning, with a breeze, it felt great.  With three cats following me to the east old Hosta bed, we headed out to see what the Roundup did for us yesterday.  Hmm.  I may be a little impatient.  We will try again tomorrow to take this walk.  I was just thrilled to have the area looking better than it had all of this spring and summer.  The cats found that hiding and playing in the tall plume grass a great game of cat and cat. 

  I can so vividly see Lena in her quest with weed killer.  Lena in her dust cap and a sprayer would check the rows of the new wind break.  She always had on heavy gloves.  If the weeds were too close to the young trees, she carried along a rag that she would spray with the weed killer and then take a hold of the weed and pull it through the rag as she held it.  Take that!

  If Lena, aka: Mom, was outside, more than likely a dust cap was on her head.  She took round circles of print fabric and sewed a hem that she would string elastic through.  Various colors of her dust caps were on the peg by the back door.  It was her perfect solution for helping out in livestock barns or in dusty chicken barns.  Mom’s hair was always fit to be in the company that the situation called for.

  As the east patio was getting a tidy look via the leaf blower, next door Jan came out for a chat.  Her yard reminds me of my yard years ago, waiting for the weed that dares show its face.  Jan is now retired from our school district.  May the birdies fly over her yard and pop out lots of seeds that will become weeds.  Jan has no hobbies to take her into quiet hours if there is no yard work.  She’ll get it figured out.

  The front deck had been my place earlier for coffee before I had gone outside.  When coming in from blowing off the east patio, I had a peanut and jelly piece of toast with the second cup of coffee while reading a few pages in my newest old book from the library while in my cherry red chair.  Washing the hands, the counted cross stitching needed a few pokes with the tapestry needle.  By the way, that cherry red chair is perfect for back support while stitching.  The left hand holds the hoop and the right hand runs the needle doing one “x” at a time.  I enjoy the quiet of my bedroom porch.

  The next event of my day was down in the studio.  A long time ago, I found four nice textured woven black placemates.  I had thought of making my own black mats from scratch for a project that has been discussed in the Pokemon vernacular.  I need three for sure and this will give me a chance to try out the fourth to see how it stitches.  More some time later on that.  I do move from one item to the next in my days as it is kinder on my ole body than overdoing any one thing.

  Tomorrow we see Dr. Renee in Mankato and she will sign off as Dennis’ wound doctor.  Everything done according to insurance and Medicare.  Jump through one hoop at a time.

  Enjoy what is left of the weekend.  It has been great.

   
• 

  Noreen 1:52 pm on July 8, 2023 Permalink  

  A Saturday 

  Mid afternoon and these two old timers are calling it a day.

  I headed out early for the final weeding on the far east Hosta bed.  Yesterday and today as I had pulled weeds, they had always been piled up facing in one direction.  When I finished today, the wide plastic rake worked great to roll the bale of greenery onto it.  I pulled it to the burning ring and slid the bale off.  It will take some time before it’s dry enough to burn.  Wouldn’t you know it . . . Snuggles followed behind trying to snag some of the greenery off of the rake. 

  A clippers were need to cut off the volunteer trees.  Surprisingly how fast those roots put down . . . as if they could stay forever.  On the last trip, the little sprayer with strong Roundup solution gave the entire ground surface a spray.  I stayed away from the plume grass but there may be a Hosta or two that will suffer.  I have offered these plants to many and if you snooze, you loose.  Dennis said as long as that area can look tidy, he has no problems steering clear of them with the mower.  If worse comes to worse, I assured him there were no rocks to be leery of. 

  During all the time my hinny was stuck up in the air working with unwanted greenery, Dennis was washing off the house with his soap suds in the attachment to the garden hose.  I must say it now looks wonderful.  Over time when we had a piddle of rain, it would be followed by strong winds bringing field dirt into town.  You could dip your finger into water and write your name on the dirty white siding.  Garden hoses on both the north and south sides of the house have been coiled up and Dennis is going to do as I am . . . calling it a day.

  Dennis and I are proud of our little home and take the extra measure to keep it looking that way.

   
• 

  Noreen 1:11 pm on July 7, 2023 Permalink  

  Another Gift 

  Another welcomed day of cool temps.  A great gift.  Breakfast under my belt, garden shoes on and out the door I went.  The Roundup I applied yesterday had a lot of weeds hanging their heads.  I chose three more Hosta to cover with my pails before the Roundup was sprayed.  Some of the broadleaf weeds looked sicker than some of the clover.  Hmm.

  With Honey Bunny trailing after me, I went to the far east to check on an older Hosta bed.  What my intentions are is for the plume grass to take that entire area over.  The white feathery plumes are beautiful in the late fall.  Each plume also has a seed pod for birds to harvest.  When I got closer to the area, I could not believe the amount of Nightshade plants.  They are easy to pull up and before I knew it, I had a bail of them piled up.  My gardening time was over.  Tomorrow I will take a clipper with me as there are several Elm trees that have gotten a pretty good start.  I intend to pull all the nasty unwanted, staying with my early hours as the temps may decide to climb over the weekend. 

  I visit the library and take home quite a few books from the rack of books put out to pasture.  When I came in from gardening, I enjoyed a cup of breakfast coffee and finished the one in my bedroom porch.  What I do with them when I have finished, I plunk it into the recycling bin just as the library does with those not taken home by anyone.

  My stitching of counted cross stitching took me up to the time Dennis came in for a noon half sandwich.  I had leftover meatloaf on a slice of bread and Dennis had a tuna sandwich.  One length of thread does make headways in the stitching.

  I had been contemplating a project in the studio.  There had been quilt blocks saved on a flash drive.  Rather than the multied colors on each block, I wondered what the design would look like in silhouette for either a placemat, a pillow or the popular mug rugs.  I have one such prototype under the needle right now.  When it is stitched out, I will need to confer with a partner in crime for decision time.

  Take care everyone and keep the balance in life as your main focus.

   
• 

  Noreen 2:23 pm on July 5, 2023 Permalink  

  Glorious Rain 

  Rain came unexpectedly last night before supper.  No idea how much it totaled but it was appreciated.  This morning after I had some laundry started, the garden shoes came on.  This is the first summer that we have direct sunlight on an area that had always been in deep shade from the old Lilac bushes.  I am not sure if that has called forth unwanted foliage or if it is the luck of the draw.

  With the rain of last night, there was easy pulling of some of the weeds.  I also took a pliers and pulled up some trees that were wanting to make a start.  There was a Cottonwood that might have been around since last year.  No budging with the plier.  I dug down into the dirt several inches and used the clipper on the root.  Time will tell.

  After several hours, I called it a day for my gardening.  The air was so glorious, I hated to quit.  I know better than to overdue the shoulders, arms and hands.

  Before going in to finish up the laundry, I got my plan in place for tomorrow morning.  I have a small sprayer that holds perhaps a quart and a half.  There is a pretty strong mix of Roundup diluted with water in it.  My plan is to cover up the Hosta plant with a pail and spray the clover around the Hosta plant and leaving the Hosta covered for a time.  The back area of Hosta is loaded with clover.  Never had that before.  It looks like a nasty ground cover.  It can’t be pulled up by the root as the root is like a piece of thread ready to break off.  I have several pails to place.  The other weed is much like a hairnet that lies flat on the dirt and branches out from the main root.  Wherever a tendril grows out, it puts down roots of its own.

  So I have my plan in place for these mornings that promise nice air.

  It is the end of my day with local effort.  Dennis just got home from mowing the blue barn acre.  Tomorrow he will mow the remaining acre.  He also has had good local effort for the day.  When we were in Mankato on Monday, I picked up several “minute meals” in Hy-Vee.  I will heat up one for supper.  My plan all along was to get some gardening in when I saw the weather forecast and still put out a hot meal for our supper for several days running.  Nailed it!

  Catch ya tomorrow.

   
• 

  Noreen 1:35 pm on June 27, 2023 Permalink  

  Let it Be 

  This year the garden spots are on their own.  Whatever can come up and be proud . . . let it be.  If we could have more than a tiny sprinkle of rain, there are some weeds I could pull.  Me and a hoe do not get along.  I think the jewels of purple blooms at the picket fence may very well be a weed.  Each year I marvel at these plants.  I am sure they multiply by the seeds they drop.  We now have some on the east side of the house.  Whatever they are, I enjoy them and I encourage more next year.

  I did work in the studio for a time today.  My shoulders, arms and hand recovered quite well from some free motion quilting yesterday.  What I didn’t count on was my right knee.  Having the pedal to the metal yesterday . . . the knee sent me a message during the night.  Today as I have been stitching, I am using my left knee on what I call, “the foot feed.”  Many sewing machines have a bar on the right side of the sewing machine cabinet that engages the stitching when the knee puts pressure on the bar.  I think I could have sewn an entire wardrobe of clothing without the knee bucking.  Free motion is a whole bunch of stitches.  I have gone through six full bobbins.

  I have started a new book to enjoy whilst in my bedroom porch sitting upon my cherry red chair.  I picked books off of the “free” shelf.  It doesn’t seem to bother with who the author is . . . I can easily get with the program.  With reading, sewing and some YouTube channels, my days have a good balance.  I am contemplating adding one more diversion.  I have not done any counted cross stitch since . . . it seems like forever.  I have checked things out and a design called a sampler can be done in just one color.  I am leaning towards that.  Simplistic and yet satisfying.  I’ll let you know how that will go. 

  In thinking, I believe there is a whole bunch of items in my world with the “let it be.”

   
• 

  Noreen 2:17 pm on June 22, 2023 Permalink  

  Not a Nice Day 

  For me it was not a nice day and I didn’t even have to do much outside.  Dennis decided to mow and I wanted to help by picking up the downspout around the perimeter of our home.  We have PVC pipes as down spouts.  I couldn’t stand them upright but I did get them off to the side on concrete.

  Dennis finished mowing shortly after twelve noon.  Oh my gosh, I watched from afar.  The dust just rolled.  The rain dances are deemed a failure.  Even if we get rain this weekend, the grass will continue to struggle as the weeds do not.  All I could do was give moral support.

  Yesterday I had picked up a 6.5 lb. shoulder pork roast that I cut in half when we got home.  One half went into the freezer with the other half being put in a gallon sized zip bag. I marinated it overnight with teriyaki sauce.  I flipped the bag over every time I came near the refrigerator.  This morning the roast and the remaining contents of the bag went into our small crockpot with the low setting.  I must say this mid afternoon it has a good aroma.  Giving Dennis ample time to rest and shower, we will have a later supper than usual.  I have a bag of seasoned diced precooked potatoes to go with the roast.  Cranberries will top it all off.

  Having kept an ear out on Dennis and the mower, I headed to the studio this forenoon.  My goal was to get the second quilt top sandwiched.  My weights came in handy to keep everything held down and squared.  I did do some pinning as well.  Having done the first quilt in the same fashion, I now know, I need not do quite as many safety pins on each of the sixteen blocks as I had done prior.

  My prayer and wish for everyone is to take the afternoon heat carefully.  The highest temp often comes in the late afternoon.  Nothing is as important than our wellbeing.  Rest and hydration so the morrow can be taken on.

   
• 

  Noreen 1:51 pm on June 13, 2023 Permalink  

  All is Well 

  The sun is out and the temps are getting into the 80s.  I sure did enjoy these last cool days.

  My housewife jobs this morning included very little.  I folded some laundry and put eggs on to boil.  A batch of egg salad with quite a bit of minced Vedalia onion to be folded in with the mayo.

  Dennis had a forenoon nap that took him right up to twelve noon today.  Dennis was then off to mow some yards.  Yesterday Dennis only mowed our original yard.  He kept the basket catcher on and I couldn’t believe how the power of the mower swept up every little bit from our late winter into our early spring.  When he asked me to use the leaf blower to blow him off, it was dirty dusty.  I knew this afternoon he would be getting our far east lot mowed as well as the blue barn acre.  It will be a good run for his new used Snapper.

  With KNUJ radio one, I finished pinning the quilt top.  I decided to use black thread on the top and an orange on the backing.  I am not the best at free motion quilting and the black thread over the dark t-shirts would do a bit of camouflaging.  Everything is set up for me to stitch tomorrow.  It will not be a long stint of stitching.  Wrangling the sandwiched 75” x 75″ project will take patience and some arm wrestling.  I didn’t feel that Old Alley was needed for the quilting.  If I manage two or three blocks a day, it will suffice.

  Dennis just pulled up to fuel his mower, so I will check in with him.

  Tomorrow is hump day and I hope you all enjoy whatever the day brings.

   
• 

  Noreen 3:07 pm on June 12, 2023 Permalink  

  Quite the Day 

  The older ones on Stauffer Avenue are having quite the day.

  It’s not unusual for Dennis to pick up Dwayne for coffee.  It is unusual when the fellows came back home several hours later to pick up the implement trailer.   Dennis’ 2007 Sears rider is in the shop for repairs.  Dennis had been looking at new mowers, but the sticker shock had him pursuing the repairs on the Sears mower.  Dennis and Dwayne had looked over all the items they possibly could on a zero turn Snapper mower in Madelia.  I think the Snapper will serve Dennis well.  If the Sears is repairable at a reasonable price, it will come in handy mowing around the house.

  I have been in the studio with my quilt top and safety pins.  I won’t get the top totally pinned today.  All is going so well. I don’t want to overdue with the hands and pinning.  I have had pins contributed for the cause.  The more the merrier.  When a package from Amazon came last year with pins.  These pins may have been dubbed “Diaper Pins,” but the ease of using them to go into multiple layers and then removing them is outstanding. 

  I believe supper will be late this evening.  I can’t blame Dennis for trying out his Snapper.