What a weather day. I drove north and had fog that was a challenge from time to time. Dennis drove east to Mankato and had to pull over at Lake Crystal because the rain was so heavy the wipers couldn’t keep up on the pickup. We both came back home safe and sound. We were sitting out on the patio this afternoon about four, watching the clouds when the wind shifted to the north. Huge gusts of wind and when we heard a crack coming from the back patio, we headed into the patio porch. A maple branch that was broke off from a viable larger limb is large enough, I know Dennis and I will not be able to move. It just missed the potting shed. We are in the house and will stay put for the evening and let happen what will with these winds.
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Noreen
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Noreen
Lord almighty! Thunder, lightning and heavy rains. Where did this pop from. Dennis and I looked at each other this noon and we both knew what the other was thinking. We are so glad we did what we did yesterday.
Several days ago we had a huge hydraulic auger attached to a skid steer loader here on Stauffer Avenue. I was amazed as to how it could dig holes in a heart beat. I was also amazed how it would empty the dirt by reversing the turn of the auger. Yesterday we realized how much dirt can be piled up from a finished hole that was about three feet by four feet by four feet deep. It looked like just a slick job. We didn’t realize how heavy that slick job of piling up would pack the dirt pile or how heavy it would be when we were ready to get rid of it. We had had four to five inches of dirt just seven days ago. There was wet dirt and wet clay.
The weight had not crossed our mind until we got our little $19.99 wheel barrow out of the potting shed with two shovels. We planned to put the dirt in the back garden that we had just cleared of flowers. One wheel barrow at a time the pile of packed soil and clay was dispersed. There were times it felt like I had gotten a teaspoon of packed dirt in my shovel. I filled and Dennis wheeled. Many, many breaks. Our breaks were long enough that Snuggles got in a fair amount of lap time between the two of us. Dennis and I got it done. We had taken our time and got it done without any harm to either of us. Just a good feeling of still being able to take care of what is needed on a day-to-day basis.
As dirty as we both were, we went to McDonald’s to get a bite of supper, knowing full well once we had taken the time to shower up we wouldn’t have had the heart to leave the house but rather sit down without the heart to get up.
When the thunderstorm broke this noon, we were both thankful we had gotten that dirt work done before the pile of dirt and clay would have been water soaked. As it turned out the thunderstorm did give us a day to take it easy.
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Noreen
“Work for the night is coming, work for the dawning day.” Days such as these feel good when we can see we have made headways with what is needed here on Stauffer Avenue. The entire week is going to be great for outside work. We are ready to take the week on. One of the things that will be on the agenda is mowing . . . one more time.
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Noreen
Project Completion
An I-Beam has been at our home since Easter that will hold a cable to attach to our aged garage. The garage is listing to the south. Today a bathtub shaped hole was dug for the beam’s home. Amazing what this auger could do in a short amount of time.
The beam is cemented in and it is “project completion” for now. It will take a month or so for the concrete to be totally cured before the cable is attached from the beam to the garage. This was well worth the wait. A hole 4′ x 6′ would have been back breaking with our little old time post hole digger. The concrete alone needed three huge buckets to be delivered from the concrete truck to the Bob Cat and then the final resting place. On to us moving a dirt pile that this hole has created. We do have a few places in the yard that could use some filling.
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Noreen
Oh my gosh, it’s 7:30 and it is dark outside. Fall has fallen. Today after wearing ourselves out getting our branches sawed up and burned, we needed a drive to unwind. We viewed the fields as we traveled north to see how much rain has left its mark in the harvest fields. A quick stop in Fairfax was the perfect stop for a visit and then turn that little red pickup around and head south. We stopped at the Dairy Queen here in St. James as it will be closed for the season starting next Sunday. It felt like we had the perfect day.
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Noreen
Oh my gosh! What a great day. You would be hard pressed to remember how many gray and wet days we have had earlier this week. The sun and the calm breeze . . . I could take this right into the time when it would be early winter. The official KEYC rainfall for this area thus far in September is nine inches. Thank goodness for a tiled basement and a good working sump pump.
One more time we got the lawnmowers going. Surprisingly with the amount of rains, the lawns are firm underfoot. This surely must be the last time for mowing. Dennis used the Cub Cadet Lo Boy and I had my trusty push mower. With the north side of the house being newly seeded, it shortened my time . . . big time. With the Cub’s width of 60″, Dennis made quick work of the acre. The only negative comment I have heard Dennis make of the tractor and mower is that in low gear, it’s still quite fast.
I have grass sprouts that are making their appearance on the area right next to the foundation of the house on the north side. It’s the area that got the benefit of the higher dollar fertilized dirt with moisture control. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the Walmart dirt will pop up some sprouts within the next week. It did have fertilizer in the mix as well.
We took advantage of the rain soaked dirt from the garden we put down to get the treated birdhouse post out of the garden. The old birdhouse that had sat on the post for the last ten years blew off the post several weeks ago and was beyond repair. It all works out great as the post was smack in the middle of the area that will be tilled up later this fall for grass seeding.
A day that began at 50 degrees, begged for an oven supper this evening. I have some seasoned pork steak roasting right along with two potatoes that are baking. Dennis has just helped me get the quilts back into the house. With a few windows cracked and the fresh quilts, sleep will come quickly and deeply tonight.
At the end of such a great day, it was easy to catch some time on the patio with Snuggles on my lap and sending petitions to the heavens. God is a merciful God to us older ones on Stauffer Avenue.
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Noreen
Five, Six . . . pick up sticks. After a late afternoon of winds and rains that you couldn’t see across the street yesterday we considered ourselves fortunate. There were some large branches down to the ones that are annoying when it comes to the lawnmower. We have a huge pile to either burn in our neighbor’s fire pit or take out to the tree dump. Choices. We got it done and it felt good. Dennis had on a down filled jacket. Yes, Dennis thought it was quite chilly.
Late this afternoon I had a cup of cold breakfast coffee while in my rocking chair in the sewing studio and considered my next project. I am not exaggerating when I say I have kept track of some yardage of fabric from Mom for decades. Today, the decision was made. The fabric is designed for white cotton bed pillowcases. It was milled in a circular tube. I have enough for two generous sized bed pillowcases. I sat in my rocking chair contemplating getting an embroidered design of some type in the hem of the opening of what will be a pillowcase. Getting the hoop and stabilizer in an enclosed area is something I have not tried yet.
I would love to know how this fabric was milled. I have watched YouTube on general milling and weaving of quilt fabric of all types, similar to the rug loom Orlin and I used to operate, only on a much larger scale. I can’t envision weaving to make a tube. Well . . . that may be my next search on YouTube.
It felt good to be outside today and the very best part . . . our 1,100 lbs. of garden dirt on the north side of the house did not wash to any degree. It all stayed put! Our neighbor’s rain gauge gave us a total of 4.5 inches over a period of the last several days. Yup, the neighbor across Stauffer Avenue has a huge pool of standing water. I can only imagine the farmers’ plight. The winds no doubt really did a job on the corn stalks.
Dennis and I will sleep well tonight.
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Noreen
I have issues. I have had such a great run at getting things done outside with Dennis helping. Bang! Damp weather sets in for several days and I have a challenge in shifting gears. It takes awhile of wandering around the house to find what I want to settle into.
There is a reason why we have been knocking out the work outside. Some is fall work getting prepared for a change in the seasons and some of it was what had been put off from last year. Nothing serious; nothing putting us in harms way . . . just homeowner responsibility.
The reason for our working together is that I have a partner this fall. Most of last year, Dennis was not present in our day to day schedules. The carotid arteries, that seemed to be impossible to diagnose, and the massive amount of medications that had been prescribed trying to fix what was wrong, resulted in Dennis sleeping his days away. Since the end February, when the second carotid was repaired, I have seen improvements right along. The carotid surgeries were not an instant fix. His brain needed time to adjust to the flow of blood and then figure out how it was going to send signals to him as to what his days would, should and could be like. Oh, there are still naps, but not to the extent of getting up at eight, sitting down for a nap at nine, getting up at one in the afternoon and catching a nap in the afternoon in his patio porch and ready for bed at nine.
Dennis being 81 allows for naps. With the digging out of gardens, hauling in dirt, cleaning out garages, repairing Santa; Dennis has been right there. He bought a 1968 tractor and worked on it and is working on it. He is present in each day. The prescribed medications have been drastically reduced. This has been a good run at fall. Dennis is amazed how good he feels. He is moving, he is visiting friends and today he decided to make one of his amazing hot dishes for supper.
I found my niche in the sewing studio today and my issues went away. I had not put the embroidery module on the sewing machine since June. It felt good to work with threads. Dennis brought down coffee and even played a few games of Solitaire on my 10-year-old Dell laptop. Life has always been good on Stauffer, but this fall “good” has a bit of a different feeling.
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Noreen
We Knocked It Out
We have been waiting for a cool breezy day to be able to unload the back of the pickup. There were 12 bags of garden soil
waiting to be put down. Our project started in June when Complete Basements came and put in a rod well in conjunction with a new window well. With the new window so close to the sump pump . . . why take a chance on late winter freezing up the flow from the tile job around the perimeter of the basement. Dennis and I followed up to put a better grade on the dirt from the foundation to the remaining yard. Knowing how much dirt it would take we put down the first layer that had a lot of clay in it. Whoopee ding! Rain and more rain kept us from finishing it up. These last days called to us to beat cold weather and possibly early winter. Our first
10 bags of dirt were all that our local ag store had. It was 40 lb. bags of Miracle Grow Moisture Guard. Top notch product. Didn’t need that type of soil but that was the end of their supply. Those 10 bags went over the bulk of the clay closest to the foundation. It had been out in their yard and it was soaked and heavy. Today we put on an additional 12 bags of garden soil from Walmart. It does have fertilize in it and the main thing . . . the contents of the bags were dry. In the photo the dark colored dirt was the moisture guard grade. The lighter is garden dirt with fertilizer.We had a bucket of garden grass seed that had a bit of age on it. We decided to use that up with a light sprinkling of water. With the threat of rain, we are holding off on the garden seed mousse to see just how much rain is in the offering so as not to have that investment to be compromised. It’s not a perfect job. Dennis said it looked like I had done a great job of distributing and leveling the dirt. His blessing made it all worth while. A good worker always needs moral support. It has put a good grade on to that portion of the yard, filling in more in some spots than others. A total of 1,100 lbs. of good soil will make a difference. Truth to be told, we had never done anything to correct the deficiencies of that area of our yard.
On a lighter note, we have a plant that is in bloom. I stayed true to my word that I was not going to purchase any plants
this year. Friend and neighbor Jan shared a Hibiscus perennial that she has had great success with. Sure enough. It likes the area that I put it in. I will follow her lead; cut it back after a frost and cover with leaves. It is loaded with buds and this blossom is the size of a small dinner plate. This day: success on so many counts. Let the rain begin. -
Noreen
Persistent Summer
Get that outside work done! Stepping out this morning, it didn’t feel like a typical early morning. It felt like a tropical morning. All we needed to get done was to lay down some grass seed on the black dirt that we put down yesterday, rake it lightly and give it a sprinkle of water. Done! Outside work . . . done.
After every finished large sewing project the sewing studio needs some time spent in it putting away extra materials and getting those loose threads vacuumed. Nothing feels more wonderful than starting a new project with the surrounding area tidy, organized and clean of fuzz and threads. It feels like you are in a . . . sewing studio.
When we were working in the patio porch with the Santa repair and the shelving for rafter cat rescue, we talked about several items that we had too much emotional attachment with to give away. After today and using Murphy Soap wipes (lots of them) we are feeling like we have remodeled our home, upstairs and down. Dad loved doing woodworking. Taking it up as a hobby after he hung his farming days up, he did well. The room divider Dad had made from lumber he had milled from the old chicken barn on the farm. His shop was complete with a plainer, router and multiple saws. He had fun stuff. Originally this divider was used in our living room. With the advent of a much needed small office corner we didn’t have enough extra real estate to divide, and it had been used in the patio porch as a divider between the porch and the pickup. Originally our small kitchen was built when there were no electrical appliances. It was a place for a refrigerator, a cooking range, a small table and possibly two chairs. Dad and Mom came with the answer to the lack of space. The microwave stand was the answer. Why had it been taken out of the kitchen? The wall behind the cooking range was stressed from decades of hot steam on the plaster. When it was time to try and salvage the area, the stand went out to the patio porch for ease of working. By the way, there isn’t that much extreme cooking that goes on in our kitchen as of late. Eating lighter, eating less of the stove top cooking.
Today both of these items are back in high use. With having people come and visit the sewing studio, the divider was the
perfect portable answer for some privacy in regard to the plumbing area. When Kevin had tightened up the wood rockers for us we had taken them down into the basement for him to work on. I realized how wonderful it was to take a break from an active project to sit, rock away and ponder what the next s
tep should be. Dennis has his rocking chair in the patio porch and I have my resting space. We never realized how many square feet we have gained on the kitchen counter by not having the microwave sitting upon it. There are times we make adjustments to our living areas and end up coming back to what makes the most common sense.It was an uncomfortable day outside but we sure have had a great day indoors. I am counting on next week for some comfortable weather so the 12 bags of Walmart dirt can come out of the back of the pickup. There is more to be done before fall is done.
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