Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from October, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 3:02 pm on October 12, 2020 Permalink  

  What’s Not to Like 

  The temps are in the high 60s and there is enough wind to keep bugs away and the sun is shining.

  Dennis has been gone since breakfast.  He and his buddy Dwayne are taking another load of Dwayne’s farm stuff to the Stordon auction house.  Each time Dennis comes home it is, “just one more load should do it.”  Too funny.  Moving with a crunch time can’t be much fun.  I am so thankful we have been shifting and sorting this summer.  Dennis wanted to get some items moved out while it was his choice to do it.  I agreed.

  I tidied up the house and my phone rang.  I was off to the Old Alley Quilt Shop to pick up the Folk Art pieced top.  It was two weeks ago when I took it over.  I thought that was very fast service.  The previous owner charged $.01 per square inch for longarm quilting.  The new owner charges $.0175 per square inch.  I had no problem with that.  The top measured 72″ x 85″ and that is a bit much for me to wrangle under the needle.  I do know my limits with the shoulders, arms and wrists.  The binding in itself is still quite a project.  

  When I came home from Sherburn, I cinched up my pants and decided to do a bit of work outside.  The caulking in saw marks of the blocked off concrete patio needs to be taken out as the age of it is no longer doing its job of keeping frozen snow water at bay.  Out with the silicon and sometime soon . . . in with the masonry caulk.  I decided to dedicate some time each day this week to get the job done.  Hmm, I can still bend over and touch my toes . . . but not for long.  

  It is leftovers for supper.  I can really get into leftovers.  I am so thankful that Dennis enjoys them.  When I was working and some of the gals would share that their husbands refused – and I mean refused – to eat leftovers, hmm. . . they must never had truly been hungry in their lives.  Oh that’s right, they didn’t have Lena as their mom.  Bless their hearts.  

  I think I am really going to enjoy this week of cool weather as we swat away on a few fall projects.  I refuse to put them in a job jar.

   
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  Noreen 3:16 pm on October 10, 2020 Permalink  

  Fall Marches On 

  The computer tells me the temps today were in the high 60s compared to yesterday when it was in the high 80s.  I’ll take everyone’s word for it.  I didn’t have an agenda for the outside today.  I can keep quite busy in our little cabin here on Stauffer Avenue. 

  Yesterday was a bit of a stretch for both Dennis and me.  We didn’t know how weary we actually were until after showering up and relaxing.  Dennis slept until 9:30 this morning.  My usual time is 8:00 and today was no exception.  I did get up at 2:30 a.m. and take something for the weariness in the joints and bones that bucked enough for me not to settle in.  Today, everything felt usual.  The blessing is that we had very little wind today, thus there were no torrents of leaves coming down.  That will give us both a break.  Oak and Maple trees literally shower us with their bounty.

  As I was doing laundry, I happened to look out the octagon window in the bathroom and watch our neighbor’s dog.  Peaches is three years old and has a hard time with her hindquarters.  Neighbor Bob has told us the vet says she has arthritis.  I do pat myself on the back for keeping my mouth shut in visiting with Bob about it.  My insides want to remark that kicking a puppy in the hindquarters with steel toe shoes for tearing up rolls of toilet paper may not have been the best choice of reprimanding a puppy.   I confess . . . I did call the city police on him as it was a repeated situation.  Come to find out, I was not the only person that responded when hearing the dog cry as she was being abused.  Now . . . Bob feels so bad for her as he can’t see himself without her as she is such a loyal companion.  Hello!

  Dennis has been busy in the patio porch most of the afternoon.  I like the fact that whatever he gets involved in, he does hit the rocking chair for a break intermittently.  

  Well, I had better get going in putting the bedding back in place if either one of us want the beds ready when we call it a day.  It has been a great day.

   
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  Noreen 3:25 pm on October 9, 2020 Permalink  

  Perseverance 

  It’s been a good day.  We have a family member that is back home from a short stint in the hospital.  Many tests were run and shortly the rest of the story will be known.  Always better to be safe than sorry.  Our prayers have been answered when check-out time comes from a hospital and there are no limitations for the present time.  Perseverance with prayers . . . it’s a good thing.

  Dennis and I had a plan for today.  All perennials needed to be cut back, raked off and mulched.  I can tell you that we met our objective.  Dennis went on to mow the rest of the acre.  He tells me it is the last time.  When I sat on the patio for a break and tipped my head ever so slightly . . . there are a lot of leaves yet to sail downward.  Dennis was right.  With the Hosta cut back it will be easier to blow out the leaves of the Oak and Maple under the Lilacs in time to come.  We have not had a killing frost as yet.  The dancing leave that are doing their thing are the impatient ones.  Just like farmers in the spring of the year wanting to be first.

  We did pay an itchy price for getting the yard work done.  The no see-um were relentless.  I checked online.  It is their saliva that brings their blood supply, aka: us, to the surface for them to feed off of.  Accidently I found out they love a wet surface.  After the Hosta on the east side of the house were cut back via the weed whip, I wanted to wash off the foundation of the wet greenery splatter.  Why not veer a bit to the south and wash off the backdoor and knock off a few spider webs.  By the time I had the water turned off and the hose wrapped, the white backdoor was literally covered with the no see-ums.   I think they are going to hang around for a bit, as the internet article offered.  If I want to work on a project outside I will water down something several feet away and let them play in the water to their hearts content . . . away from me.   It will be worth a try.  Once the water had dried off of the back door, there were still no see-ums about, but not to any degree.  I did try Kersten’s bug spray that works well on gnats.  It didn’t phase the little bastards.

  It did get very warm this afternoon with low humidity and dew point.  I need to check in with Dennis, but I do believe we have emptied the job jar in regard to the yard work.  Whew!

  Have a great . . . whatever it is that makes you happy.  You deserve it!

   
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  Noreen 4:11 pm on October 7, 2020 Permalink  

  Wednesday 

  Wednesday . . . also known as hump day.  I have to remind myself each morning as I open my eyes as to what day of the week it is.  Though I have been retired since 2009, I remember and give credit for worker-bees getting up and hitting each work day.  Dennis had a good outlook, “I get to go to work.” 

  I am all about balance in my life.  Even with the covid I have blocked out certain amount of times for reading, cleaning, checking on Dennis and yard work.  Yard work will soon be traded for keeping the back steps cleaned off.  It is what it is.  I know many have not had the chance to see what the next door brings.  The adage of “live each day as if it were your last” . . . I do work hard at that as Dennis does.

  

  Sophie

  

  Today we lost a special fur-baby family member, Sophie.  Difficult . . . absolutely.  It is too bad that all the devotion that dogs can and do give does not allow us to know how they are feeling.  We have had the best in Sophie and Bell.  Two dogs that wormed their way into our hearts from their wee puppy days to their last.

  One more time the potting shed doors were cracked open as Dennis put his chainsaw Eagle away until next spring.  He did a great job on giving the Eagle extended longevity by a cleanup and a new coat of sealant.  I thought Dennis might have run out of some things to take care of, but this afternoon he was out on the patio cleaning up a metal garden art that resembles a copper boiler.  The item will soon have a new paint job inside and outside.  I wonder if he remembers that there is an actual full sized copper boiler that may like to have a new shine.  Time will tell.

  Ball Park beef hotdogs for supper with the rest of the potatoes that are in need of being used up.  Veggies may be pickle relish.  Some days we just take a look-see to see what is in the refrig.  It works.

   
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  Noreen 3:56 pm on October 6, 2020 Permalink  

  Popped Out at 89 Degrees 

  A bit of a warm up.  Who would have thought!

  We were up to sitting on the patio this afternoon with our break.  Not to be.  Asian Beetles, flies, Boxelder bugs . . . Nope.  We had a sit-to in the patio porch where screens kept most at bay.  Of course we need to have a bit of the doorways open for the four footed fur babies to pop in and out.

  For living in town we sure do have the dust flying this afternoon.  Choke city.  Stauffer being a gravel street and the winds from the south, it would not have been a good day to have the clothes lines full.  We had picked a perfect day on this last Sunday for that.  

  I had put two items on Facebook Marketplace.  I had one success, and then I closed it down.  Too much of a hassle to be tied down for responses.  I realize having a garage sale is “one day” and then it is done.  The only item we are contending with is an old White brand electric sewing machine.  It came to us from one of Dennis’ kids as they were moving on and needed to clear out their home.  No one, including me, has an emotional attachment to it.  Several years ago I opened the cabinet and realized something is amiss.  Don’t want it, don’t need it, don’t want to take the time or energy to see what it would take to get it sewing.  After all, it only takes up several square feet in the back garage.  I am spoiled as what I sew with just takes a flip of a switch and I am off and stitching.

  My emotional attachment with sewing machines is what I have in the sewing studio. Mom’s machine does sew well.  Several years ago I was working on a double sized bed quilt.  Of the blocks that needed to be sewn, I did each half of the needed number of blocks with Mom’s machine to give it a good working out.  There also, it only takes several square feet in the sewing studio to store it.  Time will tell what happens to it eventually.

  I have been giving Dennis his space in the garage.  The chainsaw Eagle has had a good cleaning, rinsing and drying off.  We had cans of clear poly spray on hand.  The only suggestion I gave was that several light coasts of spray is better that one heavy coat that is bound to run.  With the pressure that it takes to hold the nozzle down . . . better his hands than mine.  I have all I can do to hold the nozzle down on my personal deodorant.  The Eagle is, after all, one of our favorite garden art pieces that takes rain and hot sun each summer.  Anything to help reserve it . . . priceless.  

  It has been warm outside, but the humidity and dew point are very low.  Take it the way it comes.

   
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  Noreen 3:31 pm on October 5, 2020 Permalink  

  A Sunny Monday 

  Too nice to be inside.  There was a bit to take into the back garage.  The bridge that sits in the far east Hosta bed needed to be taken inside.  Perfect fit into the back of the pickup and off we went.  Dennis is holding out on the patio umbrella and the wooden electrical spool that we use as a patio table.  I am sure he is right . . . there will be patio sitting time yet to come.

  All of the Lilac trimming that we had done a week ago Sunday needed to either be taken to the city tree dump or burned.  By the time we would have gotten the two-wheel trailer out of the back garage and loaded all the limbs, taken it to the tree dump and unloaded it . . . naw.  We decided to burn it.  Handle it one time and not several, seemed like a good idea.  Some limbs were green and some were four inches in circumference.  Dennis worked his magic and I didn’t ask what he used to start the fire.  Ignorance is bliss.  Lilac wood is dense and heavy.  Within several hours, all that were left were fine ashes.  Amazing.   

  Dennis has taken our chainsaw Eagle into the garage.  I do hear a sander going.  We have had him for quite a few years.  We found him at a flea market and he has had the perfect place here on Stauffer ever since.  Dennis’ plan is to take some of the old finish off, wash it well, let dry thoroughly for several days and then do the poly clear spray as a re-fresher.  Sounds like a plan to me.  

  As we have been hitting the job jar quite heavily, I wonder what Dennis will find next.  The Cub repair is still on the list but in limbo until the electrical harness has been built and shipped.  What a great fall with Dennis feeling his oats.

  The request for supper was soup and sandwich.  Easy enough.  

   
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  Noreen 2:25 pm on October 2, 2020 Permalink  

  Preparing for Winter 

  The type of preparation for winter that I observed today had nothing to do with either of us.  The ornamental crab tree right outside our kitchen window is doing quite well on its own.  The red berries will be feeding the birds well into winter.  What is knocked off accidentally, the squirrels will find.  Today the Blue Jays were busy with acorns in neighbor Jan’s yard.  The Blue Jays are huge this fall.  I do know that many people say Blue Jays are naughty birds in regard to their treatment of other birds.  Well, I have had the distinct pleasure of being called naughty a time or two.  I still have my good points just as the Blue Jays.

  In between times I have been watering a dry floor drain.  It doesn’t act up often and believe me it is not something that can be ignored.  I know Mom would comment on what transpires with the weather that may cause it, but I don’t recall what it is.  Multiple fills of water into the drain does do the job.  

  I would have thought that Dennis would be taking it easy on this his birthday.  I looked out the bathroom window and there is garden art disappearing from the back yards.  Speak of the devil.  He just popped in the back door and asked if I could lend a hand.  Absolutely!  Dennis knows we won’t be about tomorrow as there is a three-year-old great-grandchild in Mankato that shares his birthday and we have been invited to a party.

  Enjoy these great days beckoning us into fall.  Special.

   
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  Noreen 4:00 pm on September 27, 2020 Permalink  

  Quiet Sunday? 

  It was not a quiet Sunday here on Stauffer.  We had agreed that I would spend some time in the sewing studio and Dennis had several rodeos that were scheduled for the RFD channel.  We each enjoyed a noon lunch of our choosing and we bid each other “catch ya later.”

  I was deep into sewing together the backing of the colorful flannel quilt.  It was fabric the stitchers had helped me pick out Friday at the Old Alley Quilt yardage yard sale.  Out of my peripheral vision, I caught something passing across the basement windows outside to the north.  I slipped up to the first floor and looked out the living room window.  I saw electrical cord strung out on the lawn to the north.  I went to the bathroom window and saw the electrical cord had been plugged into the exterior outlet on the patio porch.

  It was time for me to get a jacket on and see what was going on with the ole cowboy.  Dennis was just in the process of getting our small electric chainsaw going by the old Lilac bush.  I decided right then and there, there would be no sewing until Dennis had completed his spontaneous tree trimming.  Granted, there were branches that needed some TLC.  Granted, we had talked about taking care of it next week.  Hmm.  I stuck around close and made sure I kept track of where that electrical cord was in relationship to Dennis’ feet.  Home accidents can happen very quickly . . . especially with senior citizens on board.  

  I must say the Lilac bush looks so much better as a tidy round shrub rather than having huge bare branches sticking up.  When we got all the branches pulled around to the north side of the garage, we realized there will be more chainsaw work needed to be done . . . next week!  Cutting the limbs into doable sizes and who knows, maybe Dennis will pile them up for a fall fire ring event as he is sitting on the north patio.  I wonder how old the original Lilac bush is.  The rotted, twisted, gnarled limbs would have been content going forward for who knows how long.  They had not reckoned on Dennis and his little green electric chainsaw.  Priceless!  As long as Dennis is content with the day’s labor, it’s a good thing.  I can sew any old day.

   
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  Noreen 2:50 pm on September 24, 2020 Permalink  

  A Night’s Rest 

  A restful night of sleep does wonders.  I cracked open one eye at 8:00 a.m. and realized that we were having a mist of rain.  Sure didn’t last long and the sun was bright.

  Going about the a.m. routine here on Stauffer Avenue sets the tone for the remaining day.  I was geared up to spend some time in the sewing studio.  Busy hands and a busy mind keeps the doldrums at bay.  I had barely gotten the lights turned on when the cellphone’s melodic tune let me know I had a text.

  The group of my stitchers was getting a motorcade organized to head over to Old Alleiy Quilt Shop on Friday to take advantage of a yardage yard sale.  Anita was the organizer and asked if they could pick me up on the way.  Several of the gals do have health issues and are leery with the covid.  The plan was for everyone to take a bag lunch along as eating inside anywhere was not in the plans.  The group was not planning on taking lawn chairs with, due to room with multiple cars.  A city park is what was hoped for.  I countered Anita.  How about stopping here at our home and I would have a brunch ready for the group and then head out for the quilt shop.  The farthest gal would be coming from Jordon, 45 miles east of Mankato.  Being able to sit on the patio with tables and chairs rather than grass . . . complete with a bathroom break if needed, seemed to be appealing.  After all, shopping on an empty stomach can make for less than rational decisions in purchases.

  Anita bantered back and forth via phones and people and by twelve noon it was going to be a done deal.  I got busy and by George, it’s going to all work out.  Dennis is in charge of the patio set up.  Our card tables are under a tarp so they are ready at a moment’s notice.  Dennis had just washed off the plastic chairs on Sunday as he had noticed a few webs where they shouldn’t be.  I now have a cold salad in the refrig, a container of buttered croissants, a bowl of fresh fruit, a container of pickles and a pan of chocolate frosted rice crispy bars.  The beverage of choice is water in bottles.  The guests will arrive sometime around eleven.  Sweet!  Anita had concerns about the effort and the cost.  We had been meeting at Baker’s Square once a month and ordering off the menu and had not done so since February.  The cost of this brunch in relationship to Baker’s Square . . . not even enough to compare.

  Dennis commented that this would be like the old days of lunch on a patio when we would host the secret pal lunches when I worked at the courthouse.  Yes . . . it will and Dennis was all in.

  All I need to do to round out the day is to go down into the sewing studio and get a bit of shopping list ready for myself.  It will be my first purchases in a quilt shop for 2020.  I am in need of some quilt batting.  I am also curious to get some feedback from the gals that have used clear nylon thread on top for quilting, and what would be the choice for the bottom thread.  The quilt of many colors presents that question.   Needless to say the sewing studio lights have been shut off until sometime this weekend.

  The best part is that Dennis will be enjoying for supper the same fare that is awaiting the stitchers.  It doesn’t take much more time to make ample amounts of everything.  

  As I mentioned several days ago, each day does have its surprises.  What a great get together with friends for tomorrow.  Having had a good night’s rest didn’t hurt either.  Here it is at a few minutes before four and all is well.

   
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  Noreen 3:02 pm on September 22, 2020 Permalink  

  Out of my Realm 

  Oh my oh my! That was one of my grandmother Laura’s comebacks when she was asking something out of her realm.

  I really was minding my own business today.  My business for the day was mowing the lawn around the house.  The lawn was extremely uneven.  The Kentucky Blue Grass seed that had been sprinkled over the existing grass had made itself known over the last four weeks.  I had used up whatever I had had on hand prior to that and who knows what blend of seed that had been.  I put the blade of the pusher mower as high as it could be set and let her rip.  It will be the last mowing of the area around the house for 2020.  

  Dennis and his International tractor fellow, Dwayne, were working on the Cub Lo Boy that is sitting off to the side of the drive.  I passed them by as I was going to put the mower away.  I should not have slowed down to greet Dwayne.  I should have put my head down and kept on trucking.  Nope!  As it was, they had dropped a part and neither of the fellows could find it.  That was at one this afternoon.  It is now three thirty and I have escaped the repair area of the tractor.  What ensued was me taking the laptop out to the patio porch scooping out sites for Cub Lo Boy parts.  We now have a new ignition switch coming via the mail.  My homework is to search the web for the wiring harness for the unit.  Ya, sure!  Why not!  Dwayne is the epitome of the fellow that you would want working on your tractor repair.  It is going to be done according to regulations or else.  He had his own IH dealership for years and knows his stuff.  I think that is great.  We are not in a hurry and if the tractor needs to be worked on . . . let’s do it right the first time.  I have the time and I have the fingers that work a keyboard.  I spent $1.00 and did a “Just Ask.”  Via text messages I was given an email address and that company had all the specs for the harness complete with the “starter, generator” aspects that we needed.  What had looked like one wire having been burned through from the vibrating of the old throttle cable was requiring all the wiring to be replaced.  Yup.  We got it ordered.  The Brillman Company out of the state of Virginia specializes in parts for older items.

  That does bring to mind our evening meal.  After I get the grass clippings off of the pants and shoes and the grease off of the finger . . . oh yes . . . I helped seek and search the missing part on the tractor, supper may be eggs.