Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 3:18 pm on November 25, 2024 Permalink  

  Oh My 

  Oh my!  When you least expect a text, one comes at six in the morning.  Dennis’ daughter from Casey’s called and offered to take her dad, Dennis, to his Mankato Appointment this forenoon.  With the cold wind ruffling the huge evergreen outside of my bedroom, how could I refuse that type of offer.

  Dennis’ appointment was for 10:15 this morning and he had told me last night to be ready by 8:30.  I have long since stopped arguing about the time needed from St. James to Mankato.  The funny thing is that I usually have a hard time waking him up for such event.  Let me tell you, Dennis is not a morning person.  A side-note on this is that when he was a live poultry transportoligst hauling chickens from west of the Rockies for Campbell Soup, he was always leaving early in case of something less than good happening.  Old habits die hard.

  Denise said she would pick her dad up at 9:15.  I thought he would pace the floor boards bare.  He finally stood in the open door-way of the car garage, waiting.  When Denise pulled into the drive, the car was still showing signs of momentum and Dennis was at the car’s passenger door.  I knew right there and then his hip was on target for good healing.  Too funny not to relay.

  The report was good from the surgery point of view.  He needs to go back in two months.  X-rays here in St. James with a follow-up in Mankato.

  Denise found a new place to eat in Mankato as Dennis was taking Denise out for lunch.  There appears to be a new truck-stop in the area of the Walmart distribution center.  Dennis, taking after my dad, ordered a pork roast commercial while Denise did the burger and fries.  When he got home, he asked me to guess what the bill was.  I guessed $25.00, similar to what our bill would be at Perkins.  Nope . . . $36.00 and some odd cents.  I chuckled.  The ole cowboy was still living the truck-stop prices of when he was on the road with his 18-wheeler.  Denise said he slept all the way home.  Too funny.

  All is well here on Stauffer Avenue.  It may be chilly out but from the sounds of both coasts of the great USA it could be much different.

  Dennis is in the patio porch and I see Snuggles has found a lap and a jacket to burrow into.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:27 pm on November 24, 2024 Permalink  

  I Checked 

  I checked twice if we had rain in the forecast.  Nope.  It’s just a very gray day with heavy air.

  I have a test going in the studio in regard to the old wood trunk.  With stubborn glue residue, I check on line.  Either Goo Gone or Goof-off might work.  As I had both in the cistern closet I proceeded.  On each corner, about an area of 3 x 3, each on one of the ends of the trunk, I applied a test.  I made sure not to mix the two.  Letting it set, it will be interesting to see if those test areas give results.  It was also mentioned to use mineral spirits . . . that I did not have.

  In the meantime, I have a kettle of potatoes ready to be boiled for our supper.  I have a colander of eight peeled and deveined shrimp to be sautéed in the frypan with butter.  I have not often fixed them, but Dennis had a request.

  Both of the vehicles have been run through the car wash up town.  Dennis wanted to get them washed and back in the garages where they then dry off.  It was a good thing to get done.

  In between time I am stitching on a small project.  It’s not beyond believing if my counting gets screwed up and I need to pick out more stitches than I put in.  Oh well. 

  Not much traffic out this afternoon.

  Last Monday it was the cardiologist that saw Dennis and gave him clear sailing.  Tomorrow morning it will be the orthopedic doctor in Mankato to read the x -rays that Dennis had here in St. James.  Hopefully we can bid the Mankato appointments a goodbye.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 4:06 pm on November 23, 2024 Permalink  

  Saturday the 23rd 

  Damp weather out.  I checked and there is no rain coming for our area.

  Our tree dump is still open as evident of all the trailers and pickups heading north with their goodies.

  Dennis reported that when he took his little red pickup for a jaunt around town today, he had to do a drive into and around our acre.  I need to stop calling it the blue barn acre.  I think it would be better calling it our park acre.  We did an amazing amount of work this year to get it looking quite spiffy.  Dennis even gave Kevin the tour of the park when they were here several weeks ago to help Dennis get the outside items buttoned up.  If all goes well with us, 2025 will see a few more trees taken down so the driveway off of the Hammond highway is a bit easier.  Our tree-man, Ryan, said to give him a shout when we need him.

  My buttoning up was getting the old black office chair in from the front deck.  The chair had served me well this last season as breakfast coffee in the mornings was enjoyable out on the deck.

  I have put in my time in the studio working on the old trunk.  Under the paper that I am taking off is the rough wood that I can easily see the etchings of a saw.  The cover of the trunk shows better lumber.  The metal bands holding the trunk have done a darn good job.

  Our supper is going to be frozen waffles and frozen breakfast sausages.  

  The freshly-laundered flannel sheets guarantee good sleeping conditions for this night.

  I am saving some hand stitching for this evening that I will work on under the magnified light.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:05 pm on November 22, 2024 Permalink  

  Friday with Sunshine 

  All is quiet as the winds have gone somewhere else.

  This morning it would not have been out of the picture to see my phone as it could have been whirling in the toilet.  Being the adult as in being an advocate for all things medical for Dennis H. Curry . . . sucks.   

  It was eleven this morning before I could start my day.  No, I had nothing urgent going on but that is besides my point.

  The time in the studio had to switch to the FM option of my little battery powered radio.  KNUJ had a football game on.  It was some kind of play-off.

  The old trunk I am working on is really satisfying.  As I am not using any power tools, there is no mess that I can’t vacuum up.  Good grief.  The studio vacuum is the old Filter Queen.  It still works great.  Every component of it is extremely heavy.  Even lifting the length of hose to table top use makes me thankful to the small shop vacuum that we keep on the main floor.  I don’t think that vacuum even has a name.

  Initially I thought I could use Mod-Podge to seal the areas where the fabric was stuck on and then decide what to do next.  It has become easier to take off the oil-cloth of the cover of the trunk when I realized the remainder of the trunk was paper that was glued on.  In reading a YouTube, I found out that those old trunks used glue somehow from horse cadavers.  I didn’t go beyond that tidbit.

  This project is peanuts compared to what mom, Lena, had tackled over the years, even thinking of my grandmother Laura.  I was still in school when the family went to Laura’s for a visit.  Laura was refinishing a dining room table in the summer kitchen, using the edge of a butcher knife.  No solutions or chemicals.  Grandpa Christ’s job was to keep the butcher knife sharp.  In thinking, I know shellac was used frequently.  Over time the shellac would blister. 

  We are having a dish that I pulled from the freezer for supper.  It is a pasta, tuna and pea dish using Alfredo sauce.  

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:25 pm on November 21, 2024 Permalink  

  Hyde, Hyde, Ho 

  The first blast of the air feeling as if it were 3 above.

  I had no plans of experiencing the cold air.  Dennis on the other hand needed to be at the clinic here in town for an x-ray.  The x-ray was to determine the condition of his new hip that had been done on the 5th of October.  I just got off of the Mayo portal to check what was recorded.  Of the clinical notes, I focused on the phrase that allowed me to know the implant was secure and stable. 

  I have set up a bit of a schedule for myself in the studio.  About 10:30 in the morning the lights in the studio go on.  KNUJ is next on the list.  They have great local news.  What did surprise me is that the flour mill in Mankato will be closing the first part of January, 2025.  It is the iconic silos that I see coming into town from 169 with the art-work of bigger than life children.  Amazing loss of jobs . . . I would think.

  Back to the studio.  I am working on an old trunk that is perched on a dolly that easily moves the trunk so I can work on the trunk’s wooden cover.  In today’s mail I received addition chisel blades for my X-Acto.  I think all is progressing well.  The oil-cloth covering is either glued down tight or loose.  I would love to know what kind of glue was used.  It for sure was mot Elmer’s.  Slow but sure.  After about an hour and a half or two hours, my coffee cup is empty and I reach for all the components of power to be shut down.

  Whether it is stitching, sewing, reading or chiseling . . . I like to keep each at a reasonable length of time.

  With the continued gusts of strong winds the leaves that had still been on the trees have given up.

  I have a small flag that is stripped onto and over a steel rod that I can see from my bedroom porch.  The flag has not had any type of relief in several days . . . nor has the wind chimes hanging in the evergreen on the northwest corner of the house.

  This evening it is soup and a sandwich for supper.

  I did call my brother Calvin last night in Iowa.  His move from Decorah to Cloquet is on target.  Moving into an assisted living unit . . . of course there is paperwork up the butt.  Calvin is taking it all in stride as his son Eric is at the helm.  I believe when his wife Lois passed away several years ago, and with no family in Decorah, it was a bit lonely.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:56 pm on November 20, 2024 Permalink  

  Wednesday the 20th 

  The forecast does not look good for anyone planning on driving great distances next week.  That might be due to the fact that every day the forecast changes.  Dennis and I will be tucked safe and sound on Stauffer Avenue.

  I thought about my mom Lena this morning.  A huge part of who I am today is what I learned at her elbow.  It was not only while I was at home during high school.  During my days as a homemaker and a new mother, Lena was only a phone call away to check on baking, sewing and cooking in general.

  If a cookie or cake recipe listed ingredients, you followed it to a “T”.  The baking soda and baking powder reacted in a totally different outcome for success dependent on the recipe.

  When it came to making dishes for a meal . . . whatever was handy and available . . . it worked.  In Lena’s kitchen, meal time dishes were very creative.  The basics of meat and potatoes and you had a meal.  The advent of the various soups allowed for as many different oven meals as you could imagine.  If the ingredients would work in a blue speckled roaster, in an oven of 350 degrees for an hour and a half, the crockpot would do just as well.  Toss ingredients in and you have a meal in four to six hours.

  Where was the internet when I needed it years ago.

  I use a digital thermometer when raw meat has been used in a crockpot.  Anything in a range of 155 to 165, I call it good.  If a dish comes out of the crockpot a bit on the soupy side, I call it soup and put it in a bowl.

  I really enjoy the “Better than Bullion” that I find in the specialty department of Hy-Vee.  It enhances any flavor of what you are working with.  It keeps in the refrigerator . . . within reason.  When last I Googled it, I think there were at least eight different flavors.  The directions of how much to use of the paste compared to the little cubes of yesterdays is on each jar.

  Having jellied cranberries on hand or apple sauce can round out any meal.  

  The wind today is nasty and it bites.  The little bit of snow we got is swirling.

  We are having left0vers of our oven dish of yesterday.  If Dennis likes it, it is a keeper so I had best write down what I used. Tee-hee.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:52 pm on November 19, 2024 Permalink  

  Tuesday the 19th 

  The wind is really whipping it up from the north.  

  My bedroom porch is always grateful to have a huge evergreen type bush on the northwest corner of my porch.

  I believe we had 1.5 inches of rain.  The drought monitor should be having a better reading this Thursday.

  My studio time is showing progress.  I have undertaken cleaning up an old trunk.  It is not a job for the faint of heart.  Slow, very slow.  The exterior has shown signs of having an oil-cloth glued-on finish.  Some is good, some is not so good.  It matters not.  I have been mulling this project over for some time.  I can only imagine the rough treatment this trunk has had.  My objective is to allow it a new life being used as storage of items that have an emotional attachment.  We all know those items are handled carefully.

  The stitching project I had been working on for some time is now in a frame.  It was a 16″ x 16″ frame that was in my stashes of items in the cistern closet.  Gotta love those dry storage areas.  From my perspective this is my sampler giving a bit of my thoughts and my earmarks along the way.  I never knew what the end pattern would be until I had one item was finished and then thought about what would be stitched next.  It was a thoughtful project.

  I am now on to doing a few smaller pieces of stitchery from the cherry red sewing chair in my bedroom porch.  I have a new book that is getting very interesting.  Dennis watches murder mysteries on television and I choose to read about them.

  I am going to be trying a new oven dish for supper using raw cubed chicken tenderloins and the pre-bagged shredded potatoes.  The topping is shredded mozzarella in a bowl stirred in with some mayo and a host of seasonings and that is spread over the top.  What’s not to like with an oven dish on this blustery day. 

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:50 pm on November 18, 2024 Permalink  

  Weather 

  And the weather is turning.

  The rain was promised and sure enough it is here.  The air is chilling and hitting the arthritis hard.

  Quite the difference this morning for me.  I was up at 5:30, having coffee ready for Dennis by six.  His PT was at 6:45 this morning.

  Once I am up, I most likely will remain as such for the day.  After two cups of coffee Dennis was back home.  Dan Kern the PT guy is also a wound doctor.  The incision from Dennis’ hip surgery needed additional TLC from Dan.   One spot always kept weeping.  Dan cleaned the area and the wound dressing he put on is to stay on even during showers until Dennis sees Dan next Tuesday.  Wonderful doctors so close to home.

  Dennis stopped at Casey’s after PT and brought home biscuits and gravy for us for a breakfast.  Dennis was wanting to try them for some time.  The review from Dennis was made in the comment that he was not impressed.  The biscuit was solid and not willing to soak up any gravy.  Now we know.

  I was in the studio when I got a call from nephew Eric.  He first asked me about how to go about getting the power of attorney over his dad’s affairs.  Here it was 11:30 on a Monday morning and he already had a unit of an assisted living nailed down for his dad in Cloquet.  The unit will be Calvin’s new home.  It must be a fairly large complex as Eric said the building his dad would be in had 16 units.  It was just two days ago, Saturday, when Calvin had been broached by Eric for a move from Decorah to the Duluth area.  Talk about swift plans being nailed down.  Cloquet is 25 minutes from where Eric lives.

  Eric was on his way back to Decorah and I have no doubt a U-Haul trailer will be backed up to Calvin’s mobile home by dark this evening.  Small kitchen stove and refrigerator in the unit and Calvin’s furnishings that he chooses.  Calvin told me yesterday his landlord would inherit what he would leave behind.

  I am so pleased for Calvin and even more so for Eric.  Jason does over-the-road wide load hauls.  With the interstate right at Cloquet, Jason may well be able to have a load in the vicinity and get an Uber to see his dad. 

  Yippee . . . leftover Chicken pasta dish from last night.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥ 

   
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  Noreen 2:58 pm on November 17, 2024 Permalink  

  Oh Happy Day 

  Yesterday I mentioned I would call my brother in these next days and feel him out as to the visit his son Eric had made to him.

  Calvin called me this morning and shared with me that Eric had visited.  Calvin wanted me to know that in the not too distant future he would be living somewhere in the Duluth area.  I believe Calvin was relieved to have this move be in the works.  Calvin wasn’t concerned if it would be in an apartment or in an assisted living.  One of his comments were that when you hear a bell ringing find out what the message of it is.  Definitely growth on Calvin’s part.

  I visited three different projects I have going in the studio today.  Spending a little bit of time on each as the thought process is in gear.

  The sun is streaming into my bedroom porch this afternoon, almost making it hard to do this blog.  “Oh let the sunshine in, face it with a grin.  Smilers never lose ——-.”  Amazing how small ditties flutter in and out of my mind.

  Dennis went shopping this afternoon to one of the two dollar stores.  For a dry throat or perhaps a habit, Dennis likes Lemon Drops.  Yup, they can cause the throat to constrict.  From the looks of the plastic bag on the table, he may well have bought all they had on hand.  It’s not uncommon that the store cannot get them in.  Dennis is well set for Lemon Drops.  

  I have a container out of the freezer for supper.  It is a chicken oven pasta with carrots dish.

  The day seems to be flying.  In part it may be due to the fact that when Calvin called I was still in bed . . . sound asleep at 10 a.m.  Hmm.  No explanation needed, it must have been needed.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:37 pm on November 16, 2024 Permalink  

  Dreary Day 

  The strong south wind has finally let up a bit.  

  The sound of lawnmowers is telling that the weatherman’s prediction is being taken seriously.

  Our morning was spent at Maria’s salon here in town.  Haircuts and pedicures were on the docket.  Dennis could hardly wait.  The pile of hair around the chair as Maria snipped told the rest of the story.  For myself, traveling five minutes from our home, this day makes me feel kempt.  Our next appointment is December 21st.  It brings to mind how 2024 is dwindling.

  When we got home, I noticed a missed call from my nephew that lives in the Duluth area.  I called Eric back as I knew something was going on with my brother Calvin.  Eric was in Decorah at his dad’s.  Calvin has been having some issues staying upright.  Eric will be heading home to Duluth in the morning to begin finding some housing in an assisted living around Duluth or in the Cloquet area.  It was a sad phone call to get but totally understandable.  Calvin was not privy to Eric calling me, so sometime this next week, I will make a call to Calvin and chat just like we always have and not make mention of future plans.  The distance from Duluth to Decorah is not conducive for care visits.  Hmm.

  Eric mentioned he had taken some time off of work as his wife, Cycelea, had undergone breast cancer surgery several weeks ago. 

  This afternoon Dennis’ daughter Sandy from Mankato has been visiting.  We sent the flag home with her that the honor guard had presented to Dennis at the celebration of life for Jeff in September.  It being in a glass display case, our tiny home had no place to display it safely.  Sandy’s daughter Sadie, being in the military, will gladly add the flag to her family room where she has collected military items which include Dennis’ items from Korea.

  A busy day on a dreary day.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥