Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from September, 2018 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 3:35 pm on September 14, 2018 Permalink  

  Objectives Met 

  I am not fond of having to set the alarm on my phone.  When Dennis goes out to our VA clinic each month, that means Grammie has to set the alarm.  Sure as shoot, that would be the morning both of us would sleep in, I mean really sleep in.  Seven was the time we had agreed upon and seven was the time I shook the sheets to get Stauffer Avenue up and running. 

  I knew dang well what the forecast was for the day.  A forecast that would mean I would not be doing anything outside after twelve noon.  With coffee in hand and dressed for getting dirty I tackled those ten bags of garden soil that had been sitting on the north side of the house since Sunday.  The objective was to cover the rotten clay that had begun our landscape project in June.  With all the rain, the clay had a chance to run off from the slope that we had made from the foundation out to the remainder of the yard.  Man, did it run.  Man, did it make a mess on what had been nice grass.  The ten bags were just the right amount to cover the clay.  Dennis coming home from the VA came to give his opinion.  It was a good review.  After checking things out Dennis decided that the remaining area needed some light tilling before we used up the Walmart dirt we bought yesterday.  A bit of roughing up and then a covering of garden dirt might be just the answer before we mess with the grass mousse.

  I had had enough with my dirt work and I cleaned up and went into the sewing studio.  Out of the corner of my eye I could see Dennis making passes from east to west, from north to south with the Mantis electric tiller.  I stayed put.  He did not need to be interrupted or have any of my comments.  Let the fellow to his work!  He was wise to take several breaks as the afternoon humidity was nasty.  By the time Dennis came in for some iced tea, I was finishing up my quilt top.

  In days of old the five piece crazy quilt pattern was all the rage.  In finer circles, many used velvet cloth and each seam was embellished with hand embroidery running the lengths.  I had decided on blues and putting them together in such a way that they resembled pinwheels.  I enjoyed doing something different for the border and yes, sewing seams on the bias is a challenge so as to not stretch the fabrics.  What can I say!  The top is done and the borders are very happily lying flat.  I will be tucking this away to meet my December appointment at Old Alley Quilt Shop.  With the top being 100″ x 100″, I will gladly have Sharon long arm this.  My arms had all they could do to wrangle the bulk to finish up the borders.

  Here it is suppertime and all of our objectives have been met.  It’s a good feeling to get a workout and see some great results.  It will need to be a bit cooler before the Walmart dirt is broken in to.  That will also give the hard crust dirt that Dennis busted through a chance to get some air.

   
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  Noreen 5:12 pm on September 13, 2018 Permalink  

  A true return of summer complete with humidity. I am holding out for next week when it promises to be a great fall comfortable week. We decided to make a trip to Walmart today. All garden supplies are half off. We are making headway on landscaping the north side of our home. Tomorrow we will be unloading another twelve bags of garden dirt on the west end of the patio. With the electric tiller working up the surface of the dirt it will work well to put down a layer of soil and then trying out the seeding method that Dennis is ready and loaded for. He has talked about using the seed that is incorporated with a foam mousse via the garden hose. Time will tell. The north side of the house needs some TLC. There is nothing like getting some dirt under the fingernails.

  While I am waiting for the temperatures to settle down, I have a project to finish in the sewing studio. The studio has been ignored for some time. As I have often mentioned, a balance in my day makes for a happy Grammie.

  Hmm. The days of hearing “Grammie, Grammie” seem to be lost. Dennis says he just hates it that Megan and Nicholas had to grow past those cherished days. That’s okay. Memories can’t be taken away from us.

  On the down side, we needed a new coffee pot. We don’t spend a lot on pots. As long as we can program them, there are choices well under $20.00. I got the new pot set for the time and when it is to go off in the morning. I poured in a huge amount of water to have it run through the pot before using coffee grounds. Slow reflex on my part . . . the water was running out of the bottom of the pot as fast as I had poured it into the reservoir. What are the odds! Dried and re-boxed that in a heartbeat. The receipt and a huge notation on the box awaits the next trip to Mankato. Dennis suggested I visit the Shopko store here in St. James until we make the next trip to Mankato’s Walmart. Life in the fast lane.

   
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  Noreen 2:16 pm on September 11, 2018 Permalink  

  A quiet morning. Dennis went off to McDonald’s for coffee with fellows that he has known most of his life. It could well be dubbed “The Over 80 Club.” Dennis says the coffee is awful. I am sure their “go to” items do not include coffee.

  A great breeze took me to sit on the west patio with coffee and junk mail that I have been collecting from the last week. What caught my eye was the flyer from JoAnn’s. Patterns for sewing were on sale. I used to do that. I sewed clothing for Orlin, Carrie, Kevin and myself. Leisure jackets that matched the three of them, robes, PJs, a three pieced suit for Kevin and lots of clothing for Carrie through her high-school years. I did not pay the price per pattern that was listed on the flyer from JoAnn’s. Simplicity, McCall’s and Vogue were listed from $22.95 to $35.00 each. Oh my gosh. In the hay day of my sewing in the 50s and 60s McCall’s and Simplicity could be bought for $1.25 or $1.50.  Vogue always was a bit higher but still reasonable. Even with today’s 30% off, it would not be economical to sew garments in relationship to what can be bought ready made. One would really want to have that “I made that” stigma. Not me. Not anymore. The world of knits and even cotton with a bit of a stretch can be found always on a sale rack somewhere. Yup, I am a sale rack shopper.

  With the junk mail having hit the recycling container, Snuggles found a spot on my lap for a nap. Being lazy and reminiscing, looking out to the east, I couldn’t believe that about 30 years ago, I couldn’t have had the view I have today. The evergreens that bounded the east line of the property swept the ground with their boughs. It was total greenery.

  Dad and Mom came for a visit. Mom needed a home perm. Dad and Mom pulled up with their tandem truck. Dad had an agenda. While I twisted Mom’s hair onto the rollers for the Lilt home perm, Dad had the chainsaw going trimming the evergreen boughs up the tree trunk. His reasoning was for winds to take the snow through and not cause huge snow drifts. Dad went from the backyard to the front yard trimming, trimming. With the hair task finished, Mom and I put on gloves and helped Dad load up the truck box. It was filled to the brim. Even with the end-gate off the box, it was quite the heft to get the job done. Of course there had been coffee breaks and a noon lunch that had been worked into the day.

  Here I sit today enjoying the view. No longer doing pattern sewing, no longer whacking and stacking clearing the yard, well I did clear out the square garden just several weeks ago. No longer giving Lilt perms.  My life has changed. My life is sweet. My memories are sweeter.

   
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  Noreen 4:40 pm on September 9, 2018 Permalink  

  I Think – 

  I think Dennis and I need a brick in our pants.  This wonderful weather is keeping us moving beyond reasonable.  Dennis always takes a nap about an hour after he has been up.  It’s his tradition.  While I await his company, I find busy work.  Today’s busy work was taking on two of the slider doors in the patio porch.  Nothing is as hard on looking through a window when the sun is streaming as  . . . a dirty window.  I managed to get two out of three knocked out before Dennis came outside to see what I was up to.  Of course we sat on the patio and enjoyed the breeze and cooler temperatures.

  I had asked neighbor Jan if we could use their driveway to get our pickup backed close to the north side of our house.  The young fellow at Fleet Farm had loaded our garden dirt for us yesterday.  Today it was our turn to get the back of the pickup unloaded with as little of a walk as necessary.  One of us on of each end of the 40 lb. bag worked out well.  You all know we have had a lot of rain.  These last ten bags at Fleet Farm had been on a pallet outside during all of it.  I dare say they weighed a lot more than 40 lbs.  When I released my end of the bag to have it placed on the pile, there was water draining out of the corners.  We met our objective: the dirt is here, ready to use when the work area dries out a bit.

  

  Multipurpose and not in the way of day-to-day activity.

  Dennis has had an idea for the patio porch for some time.  He had made a run to the lumberyard before the weekend.  Today was the day for some execution of that plan.  Our 12′ x 16′ patio porch seems to end up with less floor space than originally thought of.  We like things handy, but handy compared to cultured needed some attention.  Today with brackets, electric drill and various bits and some of Dennis’ newly acquired lumber we set out to tackle the project.  Two objectives were in place.  The cats needed a way to get down from the rafters when the pickup is out of the garage.  Napping cats could care less if the vehicle a few feet below them is idling and about to move out.  The second objective was to allow for some storage area for items that we use often and want close at hand.  That may include Koi food, shears for cutting plants, Nicholas’ B-B gun and bug spray, etc.  Some of the boards were warped, but I can assure you my bubble on the level was right on.

  The last task was to get Santa tucked into his box and take him to the back garage.  We have a two-wheel trailer in the garage and he is laying down in it and taking a nap until called upon.  That was a great project to get him up and running and getting a clean suit for his nap didn’t hurt either.  With him enjoying the free-for-all in the patio porch, we still have a huge amount of harvest dust complete with the pink corn chaff that finds it’s way into town.  We enjoy coming and going with doors open in the porch.  More than likely, the harvest mess would have loved to settle on the red velvet.

  We have had a great day.  No bleeding, no swearing and a great feeling of satisfaction.  Neighbor Jan came over to see what the noise was all about.  She thought that the cats would have a hay day.  Of course not one cat came out and expressed some curiosity.  Not to worry, in the dead of the night, the felines move about.  It will be interesting to see what takes place in time to come.  It is time to take the brick out of our pants and settle down to decide what is for supper.  Dennis’ thought: a fried egg sandwich.  I second that.

   
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  Noreen 4:25 pm on September 8, 2018 Permalink  

  That was the last straw. We needed to mow the acre today and I had Dennis start my push mower so I could mow the front yard and around the house. As I was finishing up, my eye caught the north side of the house. Admittedly the north side of the house is about 25′ from the neighbor’s driveway and we don’t spend any amount of time in that grass area. What my eye caught was green moss like discoloration on the white siding. We have had a wet summer with very little full sun shining on the north side of the house.

  I finished mowing and the put on old shoes to begin washing off the house. I had a brush that I could telescope the handle to the height I could manage and yet reach the height of the greenery. I set the hose attachment for a sharp spray. When I started spraying water up to the roof line, the muddy rivets of water began to run down the siding. I followed up brushing what needed it with a cleaning solution, followed by rinsing. A bit weary but also feeling satisfied on a good job done.

  This actually all worked out well. In July we had worked on the slope of the yard on the north side of the house in relationship to the foundation for a good run off of water rather than having it pool close to the house. That was less than good dirt. It had a lot of clay in it. With all the rain, we are confident that the dirt mixed with clay has firmed up. Now with the house washing it needs to dry up a bit.

  Dennis was making a run to Fleet Farm and I rode along. As I sat in the pickup waiting, I noticed that their pallets of summer products was getting quite low. I got out and checked. They had 10 bags of garden dirt left. We came home with those 10 bags. In the next days or perhaps weeks, we will be putting this black garden dirt on top of the clay on the north side of the house. This is not a quick half day job for us. The bags were 40 lbs. at the time they were trucked to Fleet Farm, but with them being out in the weather, I think they might weigh a bit more. We have lots of time to get this done. It will need to be put on and raked. You know me: nice and tidy. Dennis wants to try the water activated seed that is put on with a harden house leaving a blanket looking covering. From now until then we will be collecting cardboard boxes to cut apart to protect the foundation of the house from the seed spray landing where it will do no good but make a mess on the concrete.

  Lordy, Lordy, if it is not one thing it is another. It is good to get this stuff done as it is warranted while the weather is nice. The weather was chilly this morning turning out to be a good day for a workout. That chilly morning spurred me on to make a batch of chili. Having a large enough batch to have some in the freezer doesn’t hurt either for a quick meal sometime down the road.

   
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  Noreen 2:35 pm on September 1, 2018 Permalink  

  The Crazy Pattern in Blues 

  I have many pastimes that I enjoy.  The days are never dull.  The first thing I check out is what Dennis’ plans are for the day then I work around them.  Today the tree dump was open so that was a no-brainer.  Out went the last of the plants I had dug out last week as well as multiple branches and twigs that have fallen out of the Maple tree with some fairly brisk winds.  On that note we have put in a call to the tree service that helped us out a week or so ago.  Our huge Maple needs a bit of a manicure. Twice we have been lucky with large branches breaking loose during a wind storm with no damage to our potting shed or patio porch.  It’s time to tidy up a few of the large trunks that are listing towards the buildings.

  

  Five fabrics and the pinwheels go around and around.

  No matter how much the sewing studio is used, it is never as sweet as when I am piecing a quilt top.  The process is very quieting and each piece a precise size to meld to the next.  I had been working on a border for this blue crazy pattern.  Yesterday, I got the opinion of the metro girls: Carrie and Megan.  I am taking their advice and today I will begin cutting out the pieces for the border.  Three different fabrics making four distinct patterns, all cut at a 45 degree angle.  The end result will be a straight edge of all four sides.  It’s a good puzzle.  I am contemplating that the size should fit and cover a full sized mattress easily for the border to be a great drop on each side.  I can enjoy this puzzle as right now there is not a twit of anything that needs to be done outside.  It’s time for both of us to kick back and take the day easier than we deserve.

   
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  Noreen 3:56 pm on August 30, 2018 Permalink  

  It is 4:45 and I am calling it a day. Dennis has found his rocking chair in the patio porch. I am always amazed when people who are close to our age tell us that they get bored. Oh my gosh. They should follow Dennis and me around for a day.

  Dennis did the entire mowing today. He didn’t shut off the mower one time. There was a good reason for that. The battery took a dump and he knew once everything was done he would be heading to the parts store. The fellow allowed him $3.00 for the old one. Even the store fellow was amazed. The old one was ten years old. It was the original battery in our Sears riding mower.

  My task today was to visit the remaining flower beds with pliers in hand. Most of the volunteer trees of various kinds were able to be pulled up by hand. Some needed to have the pliers get right down to the nitty-gritty with a pull. With all the rain and if the volunteers would have been left on their own . . . we would have a forest in a short matter of time.

  The final task of the day was to visit the garages and load up fence post of all sorts of varying sizes and other odds and ends of iron paraphernalia. Grandson Ryan has an iron pile going and we are going to add to it this evening. This type of work will never need to be re-visited. Dennis is right. We never run out of things to tidy up.

  We also agreed on supper: frozen waffles and Jimmy Dean pre-cooked breakfast sausages. It’s a win, win

   
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  Noreen 7:07 pm on August 29, 2018 Permalink  

  No matter what is going on in a day, such as we have had today, could surely be helped by it. Wonderful air. No humidity. No biting bugs. It’s a win, win.

   
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  Noreen 5:45 pm on August 27, 2018 Permalink  

  Today was a bit of final cleanup in the backyard. Several more rocks needed to be taken out of the dirt and the Hosta found a home. My feet were so heavy from the mud I was dragging around on the bottoms of my garden shoes. We had had a strong rainfall on Saturday. Dennis cleaned up and emptied the birdhouses and we relocated them for the next season. I was very thankful that I had an old post hole digger to use for the Dr. Seuss copper pipe. The dirt that came out of the hole was dry after about 12″. By twelve noon all the tools were put away and most of the mud was clapped off of my garden shoes. You can’t buy shoes that have a fairly smooth sole, so it will be a time before I get all the formed sockets cleaned out. Dennis is my backup when I am doing my thing digging and hauling rocks. You never know when I might trip over my feet and take a tumble. Dennis is no longer able to do the deep work that gardening takes, but let me tell you he washes a mean sink of dishes.

  I put myself in my favorite chair for a time this afternoon. I was dozing off when the emergency phone calls rang on our land line and cell phones. Sure enough. Strong rainfall and thunder storms rolled in about three this afternoon. I was absolutely tickled that we had gotten the backyard project done when we did. We may have to postpone the last trip of plants to the tree dump as it was plenty muddy before these last two rainfalls. Nothing was half started in the backyard. All tasks completed. Totally done. God willing the soil will still stand a chance to dry out so when the tilling is done it will not be hard clumps made by mucky dirt. I think tomorrow may be a sewing studio day.

   
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  Noreen 12:53 pm on August 26, 2018 Permalink  

  Making Choices 

  

  In the hayday when all things would grow and bloom. It was a labor of love each spring. I was a bit younger as well.

  

  Reality sets in after too many seasons of rain flooding the square garden. This was my choice and it is always a good thing to be able to make those decisions before someone else needs to. I had a really good run with the square garden. I will be content working with the plants around the Maple tree and Lilacs. One small plant in the forefront will find a home under the Maple. August of 2018 bids adieu to flowers and we will try our hand in getting grass going.