Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from August, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 2:26 pm on August 16, 2020 Permalink  

  It’s a Quiet Type of a Sunday 

  We have been sitting on the patio quite a bit today.  Great weather for it.  It gave us a chance to re-cap some of the events from the Riebe Cousin day.  I will say, and Dennis agreed, it was a lively bunch of people to mingle with.  No one stayed in a cluster.  Share and share alike.

  As we took a coffee break out on the patio, low and behold, we had activity.  Earlier, the cicada wasps that had infiltrated a flower bed next to  the southwest corner of the house.  Little buggers had tunneled holes supposedly laying their eggs within the dirt nests. It was noted that since we had shoved moth balls and crushed moth balls into the holes, we had not noticed any at the flower bed.

  Shucking darn.  Today one of the cicada wasps buzzed me and landed on one of the lawn chairs carrying another bug.  I got out the hornet spray and needless to say, after he dries out, he will be a crispy bug plus one.  Not too long later, one buzzed Dennis and it flew right into the latticed base of the patio umbrella.  The umbrella stand does sit over a small stump of an oak tree with quite a bit of dirt around it.  When we looked, the pulverized dirt under the stand was actually working its way through the lattice and coming to the surface.  They have been very busy.  We sprayed into all the lattice crevasses.  Time will tell. 

  What a gift it will be if we have a repeat of this day for some of next week.  May you all find something to smile about each and ever day!

   
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  Noreen 4:01 pm on August 12, 2020 Permalink  

  Ready, Set, Go! 

  When we received a call from Home Depot that our order of May was in . . . it was ready, set, go!  Dennis was determined to get the shutters home where they belong.  The shutters will be in storage in the garage until sometime in the fall when the weather is . . . wonderful.

  The unexpected trip to Mankato was a good road date for us.  We checked out Pet Expo as the Koi have really been eating.  No, I don’t think it is any type of sign as to what winter holds for us.  These older Koi are of pretty good size and need sustenance.  There is a funny thing happening with the Koi food which comes in small sticks that are fairly soft and float on top of the water in the pond and the Koi come up to the surface to feed.  When Dennis gets the bucket out to throw in a handfull into the pond . . .  guess who is right there for a few nibbles . . . Snuggles. 

  Snuggles has been a stitch this summer.  Dennis takes one bottle of chocolate Boost every noon.   Noon lunch doesn’t appeal to Dennis, but he did admit he needed more than coffee and cigarettes in his system.  Lots of protein and goodies in one small bottle.  I am not sure when it all started and I was surprised when one day I was privy to it.  Snuggles may be out of site, but when Dennis cracks open the bottle of Boost, Snuggles is right there.  Dennis pours the bottle cap full of the chocolate drink and Dennis and Snuggles share the Boost break.  Way too funny.  Boost and Koi food, this cat has a very unique pallet.  I just shake my head.  

  We came home and the apple barn on highway 169 was open and had customers.  As we drove by Dennis decided to go to the next exit and come back to it.  We now have a cherry pie in the oven.  Yup . . . the apple barn does not discriminate in goodies.  I think Dennis was feeling his oats.  Dennis had a doctor’s appointment earlier this morning and the lab work was ready for viewing shortly after he came home.  All – and I mean all – of his blood work came back in the normal range.  He was pretty pleased with himself.  I don’t think one cherry pie will flip any of these readings to a huge extent.  I have not been doing much baking of late.  Dr. Eatwell shared with Dennis that he will be 62 tomorrow and he hoped he would have such good readings when he is Dennis’ age, which is 83.

  Life is great and I wouldn’t want to change a thing.  We got home from our road date and both of us agreed it was the best part of the road date.  Sweet!  Going on a road date is special, coming home is more special.

   
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  Noreen 3:37 pm on August 7, 2020 Permalink  

  Magic Erasers 

  The mystery of Mr. Clean’s Magic Erasers and why they work so well . . . I don’t really need to know the ins and outs of them.  I do appreciate them.  What the Germans know in their secret formula is a winner.  

  We had oak railings put onto the walls of our interior back door steps several decades ago.  They had a wonderful poly finish on them before Kevin installed them.  We use them multiple times each day.  Anyone that comes into our home most likely uses them.  For some reason today as I came up the basement steps, I took a long, hard look at the railings where the hand would touch them while putting the foot on the first step going up into the kitchen.  The oak for the first twelve inches of the railing on the left side of the stairs had turned a gray color.  Hmm.  I had used a Mr Clean eraser on the steps to get some surface dirt off.  This surface dirt that I am referring to is due to the factory finish of the vinyl flooring wearing thin even though the manufacturers suggestions for cleaning has always been followed.  The traffic patterns on these steps and also certain areas in the kitchen and bathroom are tell-tail.  When Kevin told me that the life of vinyl flooring is generally twenty years, I dang near cried.  Getting back to the railing.  I used the eraser on the railing with a fair amount of pressure.  The gray color was being transferred to the eraser.  I kept rinsing the eraser and low and behold, I was just about down to bare oak, and it no longer looked gray.  

  I basically felt like mom, Lena, was clucking her teeth at me saying, “I’ve taught you better than that.”  This particular situation had been taken for granted for a long time.  I cleaned both railings and let them dry.  Out came my favorite oil wood stain, “Golden Oak.”  The biggest challenge for Dennis and I will be to walk those five steps keeping our hands off as the goal is to really let that stain soak in and then give it a new poly finish.  

  The Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are a good line of defense for multiple uses.  I know that there is a Mr. Clean Mop, which would work out great for me.  When we have looked, one store may have the handle but not the refills and then the exact opposite is true in the next store.  I may pay Amazon a visit, as I am not ready to replaced flooring in the entryway, the kitchen and the bathroom.  In the meantime, Grammie needs to bend over and get it done. 

  Where in the world does all this tweaking of home care come from!  In all honesty, I pray that I will always be able to see what needs to be done and then act on it.  It might take an ah-ha moment such as I had today, but I will keep looking.  

  In the meantime, in between time, the acre has been groomed today.  Dennis encouraged me as he watches the weather forecast and neither he nor I enjoy getting overheated and then end up feeling ill. The acre is showing mixed signs of green.  Our front yard as well as a few others in the neighborhood totally burned in the last weeks.  It crunches and begs to be left alone for some type of recovery.  It is a good feeling to end the week with a tidy yard.

  May the weekend bring all that you desire and all that you need to have that contentment of liking where you live.  We sure do!

   
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  Noreen 2:49 pm on August 6, 2020 Permalink  

  Three in the Afternoon 

  It’s three in the afternoon of Thursday and it feels as if a plastic bag has been pulled over our part of the world.  No breeze with heavy clouds and the humidity and dew point are on the rise.  Dang.   This morning was fantastic.

  Today we sat on the patio and did some “what ifs.”  The Koi pond needs to have the filters cleaned almost weekly during the summer.  It’s not that it’s hard work, but it is clumsy work.  Getting down on the knees and bending over the pond to get at the filters . . . it always takes my breath away when I watch Dennis tackling that, and believe me, I am there watching.  Most times I have a finger hooked into the back belt loop of his jeans . . . just as a precaution.  Taking everything from the back of the potting shed to the south side of the house for water access . . . yup, clumsy.  We had priced out new equipment as the older items are almost 20 years old.  There are six very old fish left in the pond.  It will be Dennis decision if and when he wants to retire from the aquatic hobby.  The inkling I got was that the Koi would be going into the horse tank when it gets cold and he will see how he feels next spring.  Fair enough.

  Today was our first meal in a sit-down restaurant since February.  Perkins welcomed us with plenty of social distance.  I had a list of items and . . . why not get in the car and go!  One of the items we came home with was a LED light bulb, in the daylight mode, for the car garage.  It is equivalent to 4,000 lumens.  Why we kept on being content with the LED 10, that compares to a 60 watt that was putting out 760 lumens . . . what can I say.  It’s even one with the softer glow!   We do now have the Good Off as well a the Goo-Gone to tackle cleaning up some caulking mess.  Those items used one at a time coupled with my wire brush should be able to give some relief.  Oh ya, I forgot . . . lots of elbow grease.  

  I have no plans for the coming day.  It will be welcomed and I am sure within a short amount of time, something will speak to me as to what needs to be done.  Living on the edge . . . priceless!

   
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  Noreen 3:18 pm on August 4, 2020 Permalink  

  Energy is Back 

  With such great weather, I had energy today.  Yesterday, I think someone would have had to have held a mirror in front of me to see if I was at full capacity.

  I was pulling up some quack from the front yard, when neighbor Jan walked over.  We had not visited in quite some time.  Jan works in the library at our public school and it seems as if there is a September 8th start day for school . . . full bore. I hope all goes well.

  As we had been determined to clean that almighty potting shed, there were several long and heavy planks that had been there long enough that they had settled into the dirt along the east side of the interior.  I am sure that the settling occurred as over the last several decades as we have been flooded several times to the degree that the potting shed was not spared.  We pulled out the planks and yup, the eyes burned.  There was mold.  We pulled them outside to let the sun work its magic.  In the end, we have donated them to nephew Brett’s concrete company.  They use so many different materials to form up, load up and walk on with various job sites.  I didn’t want to take a chance that we believed them to be free of mold and then fight it all over again by putting them back in the shed.  

  I have mixed up one of our small hand sprayers with strong bleach water and once a day the area inside where these planks were and also the north wall . . . a mist of bleach water is applied.  The north wall of the potting shed is also the exterior of the south wall that the Koi pond is attached to.  Yup . . . we had so much stuff inside on that wall that we missed the fact that there was evidence that the pump of the Koi pond had splish splashed enough to have gotten the sheeting damp and had soaked through.  This spring Dennis moved the pump far enough away from the exterior wall so as to keep it dry.  Oh yes, the joys of home ownership.  We actually don’t mind taking care of the homestead.

  In between, I did spend time in the sewing studio.  June from down the street popped in while I was down at the machine and she came on down.  June had never been in our basement before and she now realizes why the lights are on as often as she sees them.  She commented that when she took Home Economics in school, she was more into the portion of the school year that did baking and cooking.  She has never had a sewing machine.  Hmm.  

  I look around and I have four machines.  The oldest one is a White brand.  Older than the hills.  No emotional attachment as someone dropped it off here.  I have Mom’s machine.  I have sewn with it and it works fine.  My Model 1820 Kenmore works well.  It was purchased new and I have had that since 1965. It is older than Mom’s.  The Bernina has made its home here since 2015.  How time flies.  I will keep the threads and fuzz flying as it is better than any tranquilizers.

  Enjoy this week and the wonderful evening hours, just as much as all the fire flies that have been in abundance.  I never tire of seeing them.

   
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  Noreen 3:31 pm on August 3, 2020 Permalink  

  Me, Speechless? 

  With a day sporting temps in the low 70s what’s not to enjoy.  It has virtually left me speechless as I have spent most of the day sitting out on the patios watching clouds.  I will be back tomorrow for a blurb of what Dennis and I are up to during this mild weather.  Catch ya later!

   
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  Noreen 2:59 pm on July 27, 2020 Permalink  

  A Feel Good Monday 

  New week brings new outlook.  The weather looks to be cooperating with humidity and dew point.

  The first thing I did this morning was to get all of the metro bug splatter off of the front of the car.  It looked as if I had driven through a massacre. I have found that baby wipes work the best and with them being non abrasive.   

  It couldn’t be helped.  It had to be spoken of:  “Noreen, do you want me to pre-start your push mower for you?”  Oh for Pete’s sake!  Let’s just do the mowing and get over with.  Grant it the four inches of rain was needed, but I must say, I did not mow the very front of our home.  The grass roots need some time to absorb the moisture and I am sure they will send me visuals of when their tops need a trim.  The hot direct sun had really done a number on the front yard.  I did mow the north side of the house as it enjoys shade for the entire length of the day.  Dennis used the Cub tractor and that takes off a good hour of his mowing compared to using the Sears rider.

  As the trimmer and leaf blower were being put away, neighbor June was walking by and she came over and we caught up with each other.  It had been hot enough last week that neither of us had been going for a walk.  I do enjoy taking the walks around the block, but being physically busy is a good trade off for lazier times.  Dennis had spent the entire week being physical and look how proud we are of having gotten so much cleaned up and cleaned out.  Sweet!

  Dennis has gone for coffee with his group that live in one of the apartment houses. Before he left, I wrote out the electric bill for him to drop off at city hall.  That bill was an ouch!  Dennis just patted me on the shoulder and reminded me of how much we enjoy getting a good night’s rest when we are not sweating the bedding wet.  He is right, of course.  When I was a kid, we often found the room in the farmhouse where there was a breeze coming through the window and we would sleep on the floor in close proximity to that window.  I do like what we have going for us so much better.  Hmm, I will just have to give up all of my vices and pay the piper.

  Enjoy what this week will bring to you.  You may think you have it nailed down, but . . . nothing is 100% in place and you must leave a bit of room for some variance.

   
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  Noreen 3:47 pm on July 22, 2020 Permalink  

  A Needed Day Out 

  Today we decided we needed some TLC.  Our TLC is found in Mankato.  

  I have no recollection as to when I had dropped something quite heavy on my left foot, but it sure had done a great job on the middle toe of that foot.  It has the propensity of building a callous under the nail that would engulf the entire tip of the toe if not taken care of.  I have found that the over-the-counter Kerasal does wonders.  What really does the trick is if that toe nail is properly cut and shaped.  Since the lock down of businesses, we had not had a pedicure since February.  With shoulders and hands that are not the most agile, Dennis has helped with the toes several times.  Only once was a band-aid needed to stop the bleeding.

  The Nail Group in Mankato is a Vietnamese-run shop.  We have been going there for years as Dennis has foot problems from his Korea days.  It felt like such a vacation to have the pedicure and the leg massage.  Dennis and I willingly wore our face masks.  They always remember that we do not “do color” on our toe nails.  My middle toe on my left foot is thankful for the TLC.

  After the toes were pampered and beautiful, Great Clips was our next stop for hair cuts.  When I tried to go online at home to make the appointment, the message came up with a wait time of seventeen minutes.  It is a 45 minute drive to Mankato, so we headed out thinking we would see what could be done.  As it was, there was a gal in the pedicure shop that used her phone to go online and set up an appointment for us.  Great Clips does not do phone appointments and with the covid it has to be done online.  I can see their point.  Their in-house rules are what they are.  In time if and when the covid has passed they will again accept walk-ins.  Covid . . . Grrr.  They did admit to cutting a string or two of someone’s face mask when doing the haircut.  They are not allowed to use the blow-driers so Dennis and I were like two monkeys out in the parking lot cleaning each other of loose hair.  Too funny.

  It felt so good to get home and feel pampered.  From head to toe . . . you can’t beat it.  I made fried eggs sandwiches for a late lunch when we got home and Dennis commented how hungry he had been and how wonderful the fried egg sandwich tasted.  I agreed!

  Today is Wednesday and we have gotten quite a bit accomplished so far this week.  When I spent some time with Dennis in the patio porch this late afternoon, I caught his eyes traveling to the back yard.  It didn’t help that our neighbor Jan had mowed her yard while we were gone and the smell of the newly cut grass was filling our nostrils.  I think I detected an itch in Dennis for tomorrow.   I surely cannot deny Dennis’ desire to keep the acre tidy.  The growth of the grass is very spotty as we have so little rain in the last several weeks.  Time will tell.  Happy hump evening to one and all.

   
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  Noreen 3:13 pm on July 21, 2020 Permalink  

  Cleaning Up and Moving Out 

  We continued having a good day cleaning up and moving out items from the potting shed.  I had one nibble on the two acorn cement items that we used to have on either side of the front steps.  When the gal told me she definitely wanted them and was driving two hours to pick them up, I marked as sold as per that information.  

  I had started doing more cleaning in the potting shed early this morning while it felt comfortable outside.  I had sent Dennis to our local greenhouse with several flower containers that looked like crocks.  It was a feeler as to find out if Becky would take them for her growing season for 2019.  Dennis was back shortly and Becky would take whatever I had that plants could be put in.  That was all I needed to hear!  Dennis left our potting shed with half of the back of the pickup full of every sized container imaginable.  Having had a garden here since 1988 . . . you betcha I had containers of all sizes and shapes and colors. 

  When Dennis came back, my next destination for him was to go out to the Brandt’s farm north of town.  They raise sweetcorn and have a stand here in town every growing season.  I don’t know how we ended up with a box full of plastic bags from the company in neighboring Butterfield when there had been a company that bagged bird feed.  The cardboard box was six inches tall and you can only imagine how many plastic bags the box contained.  The bags were perfect for holding a dozen ears of sweet corn.  

  Twelve-thirty today, a little hatchback drove into the drive and the acorns commenced to be loaded.  She left with a bit more than she had anticipated.  There was a six foot trellis that she got into that hatchback, two smaller trellis, wrought iron birds on poles to stick into the ground and an old iron decoration with an iron basket that would hang on a garage wall.  Wow!  She was tickled to have a car full and I was more tickled to see it go.

  When Dennis got home from visiting with the Brandt’s, my gal from Chaska had been here and left.  We were left with a potting shed that almost echos.  I shared with him how much the gal from Chaska appreciated what she took home.  Dennis shared with me how much Becky appreciated all the containers as by not buying in bulk, the cost of containers is huge.  The Brandt’s were tickled to have an additional supply of bags.  They commented on the thickness of the vinyl bags being perfect for the ears of corn.

  Dennis and I have really done well this week by clearing out what we no longer need or use. Most interesting was the response of the people that were taken by surprise that we would share what we no longer needed and not expect to be paid for it.  Who would have thought!

  I have an egg bake ready to go into the oven for supper.  I needed to use up some eggs as Marcia brought me three dozen from the farm last week.  That may also take a batch of cookies or such.

  Dennis was a major elf today with his little red pickup and I will admit to being a great one for disseminating what we don’t need.  I hope the rest of you are having a great day also.

   
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  Noreen 3:15 pm on July 20, 2020 Permalink  

  A Whirlwind 24 Hours 

  Yesterday in the mid afternoon, I posted a giveaway on the marketplace hosted by Facebook.  The giveaway was two totes, one of crochet thread and the other of yarn for crocheting.  I felt comfortable in doing so as neither of my children crochet nor do their spouses.  The thread was actually Esther Schafer’s, The kid’s grandmother.  She made each of her children a crocheted bedspread from the thread.  Kevin and Carrie each have one of her spreads.  They are not very utilitarian but definitely keepsakes.  I made sure each one was laundered appropriately before they were handed off.

  To make a long story short, the totes were gone by five yesterday afternoon.  My arthritic body was thankful and they went to a gal that I have known here in St. James for years. 

  Today, I got busy.  The plastic green turtle that Megan and Nicholas played with is gone.  Gone via the marketplace site as well.  Three cement garden art pieces are gone from the potting shed as well.  The giveaway items went to appreciative individuals.  None of it owed me a penny.  I had years of enjoyment of them.  Who knew I could clean out the potting shed so easily!

  It has kept me busy being on Facebook to answer questions and giving our address.  I feel good about lightening our load.  As I had said yesterday, no emotions were attached.  I have several other items listed and time will tell.  

  Have a great evening as the weather is warm but not frightening.  That is still coming for the weekend . . . but we are not going to dwell on that today.