Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from January, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 3:44 pm on January 13, 2023 Permalink  

  Lots of Sun 

  Chilly it is but the sun has power.

  I am doing well at the livestock chores.  I know the three fur babies would like me to spend more time in the patio porch.  Sorry!  When I opened the east sliding door to put corn out for the deer . . . good ole Honey Bunny made a break for it.  I went ahead and cleaned the litter box, put fresh food and water out and then returned to the door I had left cracked.  She sat out about ten feet in one of the trenches of tracks made by the deer and . . . looked at me.  I slid the door shut with a fairly loud thud.  Bam, she was at the glass door when there was barely a width large enough for her head.  Gotcha!

  Last night I went to bed at nine and was surprised when I heard traffic was moving on the street outside and it was six in the morning.   Dennis and I both got a great night’s rest. 

  The patient has moved from place to place in the house, wherever we can get a stool to keep the leg elevated.  He is doing well and since surgery on Wednesday, he has asked for one pain pill.  I do remind him, it is easier to stay ahead of it than to try and quench it after it is raging.  He tells me he is doing ok and I take him at his word.

  After having Dennis’ heavy quilt outside for most of yesterday, the smell of winter’s cold fresh air filled the house.  It took me back to the farm in Boon Lake Township where we farmed.  Many times, I would hang out laundry and let it freeze dry.  No fabric softener was used and the softness of bath towels exceeded how they had been purchased.  Flannel diapers didn’t take long to freeze dry and when they were brought indoors, they were ready to be pinned on in a very short time.

  I am very thankful for a lifetime of memories.  It is true, they can’t be taken from you and I always have room to store more.  Sweet!

  Happy weekend!  The temps over Saturday and Sunday will be a great reprieve.

   
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  Noreen 3:00 pm on January 12, 2023 Permalink  

  Home Sweet Home 

  After spending the greater portion of yesterday in the surgical unit of the Mankato Hospital . . . today was home sweet home.  Dennis came through the amputation of toes and metatarsal well.  It was a one day surgery.  I did make good on letting all the kids know when were were home.  I encouraged Dennis’ children to give him a call in the evening.

  Dennis had a fairly good night of rest while wearing an orthopedic boot.  The boot is 99% Velcro with various straps.  I did remove the boot this forenoon so Dennis could get into some comfortable sweat pants plus a totally clean change of clothes.  That boot can be worn for several days at a time.  I may well be doing just that.

  The air was crisp today and fairly breezy.  I took Dennis’ heavy flannel quilt outside and made use of the bench that we have by the back door.  With the bench put in the middle of the driveway the quilt took to fluttering.  I have turned it end for end several times.  My hope is when I take it in, the house will be filled with the wonderful aroma of freshness.  It is washable, but it would take a huge front loading machine in the launderette.  By evening, his bed will be an option and perhaps better than the recliner he was in last night.  

  Bland food is the ticket for the day.  Supper will be either scrambled eggs or breakfast cereal.  Anesthetics can be hard on the system for the next day. 

  The wind is brisk enough that the iced snow is letting loose of the evergreen boughs.

  I have the livestock chores done for this evening and have the corn out for the deer.  Dennis will not be able to visit the patio porch until some time next week, if . . . he gets the wound doctor’s go ahead.

  The remainder of our week is quiet.  Sweet!

   
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  Noreen 3:08 pm on January 7, 2023 Permalink  

  A Quiet Saturday 

  With the sun shining brightly, I found myself taking in what I saw out of my bedroom porch window.  There was no breeze but small flakes of snow found their way to the ground after leaving the shelter of the evergreen boughs.  A heavy white frost gave us a wonderland.  

  I was in no hurry to finish my breakfast coffee.  Times like this morning need to happen more often.  Rushing through the hours of the day will not only exhaust me but I miss out of the finer points of each hour.  

  The birds that we have in our Lilac bushes never cease to amaze me.  A pair of cardinals cant be missed against the white snow.  We have Blue Jays that make a huge racket and that can be forgiven for the color they add.  I am not keen on knowing the names of the little birds of varying colors.  They add so much to our yard.  It also gives the patio porch kitties a reason to keep their noses to the window panes.

  After enough nature gazing it was time to get the bedding going.  One bedroom yesterday and one today makes for good local effort.  Dennis pitched in with the back entry floor.  He felt it was only right as he is the one going in and out many times during daylight hours.

  I can add that yesterday in the afternoon of Friday, we found out that the meds that we assumed were given to the drug store Thursday afternoon were not forthcoming from the doctor in Mankato for the pain Dennis was experiencing in his left foot.  I went onto our Mayo Portal at three on Friday afternoon to visit with our family doctor.  I got a message back on the portal at five that Dr. Eatwell had the meds sent to Lewis Drug.  The Drug store is open until six.  A family doctor that knows his patients is so much appreciated.  Dennis got a great night’s sleep.  Having Dennis sleep deprived prior to his surgery on Wednesday would not be a good thing for oh so many reasons.

  Our weekend chores are complete and with the weather having settled . . . all is well.

   
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  Noreen 3:23 pm on January 6, 2023 Permalink  

  Bright Sun 

  What a treat to have bright sun amid all the snow and ice that is hanging around.  Snow removal is slowing down.  Where it could get pushed it has.  The bad part of snow removal is that where the pushing has taken place, it is slick.

  There was a need for us to contact a medical desk in Mankato.  As soon as I read the email, I got right on it.  I was put on hold as all the representatives were currently helping others.  I was on hold for 35 minutes.  I was then told I needed to hold for my call to be forwarded to the Doctor’s nurse.  Another ten minutes.  

  The pain prescription that the Doctor was to forward to our drug store never showed up since yesterday afternoon.  I was finally told that the Doctor in radiology would prefer that our family doctor prescribed what he felt would be best suited as he knew his patient and his history better.  How hard would it have been to tell us that straight out.  Twenty four hours had been wasted.  I am now waiting for our family doctor to return my call.

  I wonder what happens to those that have no one to advocate for them.  Grant it, Dennis has his senses but he is not a match for the jargon of “medical speak.”  Oh well.

  I have one of the two sets of bedding ready to go back onto a bed.  The refrig and freezer got a review and we now have an oven dish ready to pop in for supper.  Some of my tasks were done while I had my phone on speaker.  I kept it close enough that I could make a grab for it.  Working smarter, not harder.

  There is a bit of rearranging going on in the living room for next week.  Dennis tidied up one of the square card tables that we have used in the past for patio picnics.  The computer table is going into my porch bedroom and the computer has found a home on the card table.  There is plenty of room for Dennis to play solitaire during recovery while keeping his foot up under the card table.  It all can work with just a bit of planning.

  Dennis just came home from the elevator as his stockpile of corn for feeding the deer is growing.  Like I said . . . planning.

   
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  Noreen 2:59 pm on January 4, 2023 Permalink  

  Winter! 

  We have not had a winter such as this for one long time.  The depth of the snow is quite the sound barrier.  The evergreen’s boughs outside my bedroom porch window are laden beyond belief.  I know we have a wind of 10 mph but it is not enough to take the snow.  

  I dressed up at noon and made a path from our back door to the garage door.  I have been doing this every several hours so as not to have so much each time.  It is very wet and heavy snow and what has been falling all day is half rain.  Randy will be over after five to clear the drive.  Grandson Ryan is coming over later with a skid loader.  The city has plowed Stauffer Avenue on a once through and that has not allowed much for Dennis to back out of his garage.  Each time the snow opposite the garage gets taller and much falls back onto the surface.  Ryan will take the snow and pile it in the backyard.  After all what is a little red pickup if it can’t get out of the garage?

  I spent time in the studio puttering around mindlessly.  I need to get myself centered and dig into something . . . even if it is wrong.  Come on Grammie . . . you are better than this.  I have more on my mind than what is needed.

  I did stick my head into the refrig to see what I would be scaring up for supper.  Hmm.  What I spied was half of a huge white onion.  That would have been Raymond’s solution.  My dad could have a raw onion sandwich on white and call it good.  I think we will be having scrambled eggs with buttered toast.  I had heard that an 18 count of eggs was $11.00.  Seriously!

   
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  Noreen 2:52 pm on January 3, 2023 Permalink  

  First Wave 

  It seems as if the snow is coming in multiple waves.  I look outside and I can’t give an estimate of the inches.  White on white allows for no measure.

  When I got up last night for a trip to the bathroom, the deer were plentiful in the backyard.  Two smaller deer were not far from the house.  Though I don’t turn on lights, it seemed they sensed an intruder.  Each of the two jumped over our picket fence in a blink of my eye.  That was quite the sight.

  January 11th cannot come soon enough.  That is the surgical date for Dennis to have the remaining three toes taken off of his left foot.  All seemed to be going along well with the healing.  In a heartbeat, the little toe began turning black.  Infections can remain in our systems without warnings.  Dennis’ temp has been the same good range for all of this duration.  Heaven knows I check it often enough.  This sure took us by surprise.  Within the last days, Dennis has pain in the foot.  As I said January 11th cannot come soon enough.  This Thursday Dennis will have an ultrasound as a heads up for the condition of the arteries before surgery.  One step at a time.  I can’t believe I am saying this, but . . . Dennis is not welcoming visitors right now.  With what he is dealing with, it’s hard to stay positive all the time.  I think he has done rather well through this last year and a half.

  The Christmas tree is beckoning to be stuffed back into its box.  “It is “Ho-Ho-Ho’d” out.

  The homemade soup was a winner, so we will have an encore of it this evening.

   
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  Noreen 3:04 pm on December 28, 2022 Permalink  

  A Drippy Day 

  There are puddles everywhere.

  I had an appointment this morning with my doctor.  With the strong south wind, I felt lucky to get into the clinic.  In September I had several batteries of tests and x-rays for my “farmer type” back.  I printed out the results and one by one I went online to see what the huge terms meant.

  This morning, I wanted to find out what could be done going forward.  If I would have surgery to repair my lower back, there would be five vertebra that would need to be rebuilt.  It would most likely take a full year of rehabilitation to get back to relative normality.  For now, I am going to try meds.  If an opioid can give marginal relief, so be it.  If, after a time, perhaps a cortisone shot may be of a help.  Yes . . . the shot has to be spot on to help.  For now I am willing to try this meds recourse. 

  Yesterday I had a text conversation to brighten my world.  I have known Sharon Skolberg since we were each in country school.  Sharon and Ted farmed north up the road from Orlin and me in Boon Lake Township.  Ted and Orlin have since passed, but the special friendship between Sharon and I remains.  Sharon had shared with me that phone conversations are difficult for her as she is on oxygen therapy.  Texting works out just fine via Facebook’s messaging.  Sunshine can come into my world when least expected and so appreciated. 

  Dennis was off to the grain elevator.  He is stockpiling shell corn for his deer.  It seems as a mama deer and two small ones come early for a snack.  Dennis did say that larger, older deer can put up quite a fight for food.  The older and larger are more apt to fend for themselves.

  Tonight is a soup and sandwich night.

  No sunshine but seeing puddles where not too long ago there was ice . . . is a good thing.

   
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  Noreen 2:29 pm on December 27, 2022 Permalink  

  Happy Tuesday! 

  With 26 degrees out, there is a whole lot of happiness going on our drive.  There is bare concrete sticking out.  Even with all the hard packed snow, once Dennis got down to the concrete by our back door, it was wet from the rain we had right before the snow.  A weird winter.

  I had a project in mind for the studio.  After one of those things . . .  “you can’t fail if you don’t try.”  I tried and now the waste basket has had an offering of failed.  I had some ultra suede, a manmade product.  Stick pins, safety pins and any other kind of a pin I had would not go through it.  My attempt of putting a zipper in, in what would be a pillow . . . failed.  the two layers wanted to walk away from each other.  This morning was garbage day and now the clean wastebasket in the studio doesn’t feel like it isn’t needed.  Tomorrow is another day.  Lights and my electric heater . . . shut down for the remainder of the day.

  A friend, Linda, was the gal that took all of the Dueber fabric and embroidery floss for her church’s mission sewing.  Today, I sent her a get well text.  The 20th of this month she had surgery for a portion of her jaw and some lymph nodes removed due to cancer.  A bone from the calf of her leg is now a portion of her jaw.  She is in amazing spirits.  Linda could talk a leg off of a chair.  She shared with me that she is getting callouses from texting as much as she had talked.  A very sweet friend.

  Dennis and Dwayne did the McDonald’s coffee group today.  As the fellows were catching up, a woman from the First Lutheran Church came to the fellow’s table and thanked Dennis for all the fabric his wife had donated.  Sweet!  Dennis drove Dwayne past our backyard.  The deer-trampled acre is quite the sight.   

  Our Christmas tree is still shining brightly.  I don’t feel in a hurry to tuck it away.

   
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  Noreen 3:30 pm on December 26, 2022 Permalink  

  Monday a Holiday 

  When Christmas Day is on a Sunday, the Monday is then considered a holiday.

  It was a good thing that Lewis Drug was indeed open today.  They had closed on the 23rd in the morning due to blowing snow and the same for the 24th.  Now today being the 26th they were backed up ten deep.  Dennis was one of their customers standing in line.  Not a good day for a new employee behind the counter.  All is well as Dennis did come home with the correct items.

  Grandson Ryan was here this morning with the skidloader.  The pile of snow in our front yard is huge.  Ryan takes the snow from Stauffer Avenue, which is where Dennis needs to back out of with the little red pickup for his errands, and that snow is piled in the backyard.  Oh so much white.

  Who knew that the snow that began to fall Christmas day would continue most of the night.  When I went to bed at ten and looked out, the snow against the street light looked as if glitter were falling from the heavens.  Every color imaginable reflected.

  The storm that we had over Christmas blew snow in drifts that became hard.  We had never had snow pile up at our back door to the depth that this was.  It took quite a push for Dennis to get out of the house Christmas Eve morning.  That push also took off part of the sweep from the bottom of the combination door.  There we had it . . . flopping every time the door opened and closed.  After Dennis cleared off snow from the back door walk to the garage, he was due a break.  With the bitter cold, I rolled up a carpetrag rug to keep the cold at bay.  A short term fix.

  When Dennis was napping, I looked the door situation over.  What would my dad, Raymond, do?  The vinyl sweep tore through from the screw holding it on.  The sweep was kept at bay by that screw length and thus not fitting back under the combination door.  The sweep had u-shaped channel that was now full of frozen snow.  I dressed warm and took one step at a time.  That step was clearing the frozen snow off of the inside door sill.  I got out my pastry brush and cleaned all the snow out of the channel.  I couldn’t get the screw out.  With a side clipper I snipped out just enough of the vinyl sweep so it bypassed the screw and I could get the length of the sweep back under the length of the door.  It’s not the best fix.  With the snow being kept away from the bottom of the outside door, it will do for now.  At least the sweep will keep the cold air from seeping in under the inside wooden door.

  When Dennis got up he couldn’t believe we were back in business.  There is nothing like a DIY Grammie.

  Today with laundry done, I decided to come down into the studio.  It had been dark for far too long.  It also gave me a chance to try out the small heater we purchased to sit under the sewing table.  The remote works great and can be set to oscillate if needed.

  Yes, this is a winter that we have not seen for many a year.  Now . . . if the forecast is correct we may have temps in the 30’s for the remainder of the week.  Go figure.

   
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  Noreen 2:49 pm on December 25, 2022 Permalink  

  Christmas Day 

  Christmas Day, the birth of our Lord and Savior.  No one’s life on earth would ever be the same again.

  We have so much power over our own life once we are out from the shelter of parent’s love.  It is quite humbling and also quite frightening.

  Little do many of us remember that that shelter lasts as long as God gives them breath.  For myself, my shelter for my children is as large as the biggest umbrella you could find.  I am right here for them, just a phone call away any time of the day.  Moral support is powerful.  I sure had a lot of it from Raymond and Lena.  I try to give as good as I got.

  Today, as Dennis and I are sharing our Christmas here on Stauffer, alone but not lonely.  It gives me contentment that my children and my grandchildren are safe within their homes.  What better Christmas present could I have.  It warms my heart.

  I will add that our home is fragrant with a small beef roast in the oven.  I wrapped it in two layers of foil after I had put a rub on it.  The foil wrapped beef was put in a fry pan at 300 degree at nine this morning.  I am hoping for a steamed tender roast to go with our favorite carrot casserole and cheesy potatoes.  Once the winter dictated we would be two rather than eight, I scaled back the size of the dishes I prepared, but maintained the original menu.  Sweet.

  I did my family responsibility and called my brother in Iowa.  Nothing newsworthy came forth.  I struggle to understand his lack of family feelings.  I have chosen to accept rather than expect.

  Looking outside, the snow is lightly falling.  We have reached nine above zero.  Not bad. 

  Each time Dennis goes out to the patio porch he takes another swipe at some of the hard packed snow that found its way right by our back door.  The deer appreciated the offering of the corn as evident of all the tracks around the patio porch.  A bit of corn for each one offers good body heat for them.