Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 1:52 pm on March 28, 2020 Permalink  

  Harken Back to Boon Lake Township Days – Part One 

  It was weather such as we are having today . . . wet and damp that we had closed the chapter of moving from Beaver Falls and being a hired beef cattle couple to being owners of a farm in the beginning months of 1966. It began in January of 1966 and finalized in March 1966.

  Dad, Raymond Wendlandt, had realized that a 160 acre farm was up for sale in the first portion of 1966 several sections from where my folks farmed.  We had been approached in the early winter of 1965 if we would be interested in taking on the responsibility.  Breathless!  That is how Orlin and I spent the last days of 1965.  Orlin and I would be purchasing the farm on a contract for deed from my parents.

  It was a lot to think on.  We had to give notice to Orlin’s sister and her husband that we would be leaving their farm and moving onto our own.  The news was accepted with grace and they were happy that we would have a chance to improve ourselves. 

  What had cinched the decision for Orlin and I was that Carrie had gotten quite sick.  Carrie was born in October of 1965 and by early December she was having a hard time keeping her formula down.  She was too young for solid foods and she was loosing from her birth weight.  Good old Doc Anderson in Hector had gotten on top of the problem.  The water needed to be tested at Beaver Falls.  It came back as having high levels of nitrates.  Did we feel like horrible parents or what!  It was a spring fed well.  We were living in the midst of farm land.  Farm land that was challenged with fertilizers and additives for more production.  Though we changed out to bottled water immediately, the lasting effects for Carrie would be unknown. 

  Doc Anderson put her on a heavy dose of Phenobarbital for a short time to slow down the pyloric vomiting.  After a month, the dose was lessened but was constant.  We headed into the new year with a baby that was gaining weight and on rice cereal, all the while keeping an eye on Carrie’s health.  

  We were preparing for the move to the Boon Lake Township farm beginning in January of 1966.  The target date to be moved and have livestock on board was March. Ironically, I new this farm from stem to stern.  My best friend all through rural country school, Marith Kurth and her family lived on this farm. Marith’s parents were retiring and moving into Hutchinson. 

  —————— to be continued.

  Today on Stauffer Avenue the day is feeling cold and damp.  I have begun a project in the sewing studio.  It is a lengthy stitching project.  I know that I am running the sewing machine at a slow rate.  I have also found out that if I want to finish the stitching with a break in between time, the machine can be set on “eco” and finished perhaps tomorrow.  Time will tell.

  It wasn’t raining this morning and we each knew we had agendas for the day.  Dennis put up a hook on the attic stairs for me to put my little shop vac’s hose on.  Easy for me to get down the lengthy hose and out of the way while the vac settles in on the attic steps.  I do enjoy having that vac so close at hand.  I am not a fan of carrying items up and down the basement steps that are as clumsy as a vac and hose.

  I got my Saturday cleaning done and headed out for a walk as it was beginning to drizzle.  As I rounded the corner for home, I saw that Dennis had taken down the swing from the huge Maple tree.  He had mentioned yesterday that the rope didn’t look any too safe anymore. For now, we no longer have wee ones to push on the swing and if a neighbor happened to use it, we would feel horrible if the rope broke and there might be an injury.

  Dennis has agreed to having brussel sprouts for supper.  I added the incentive that we had some grated cheese that could be added.  The sprouts will be added to chicken and some mashed potatoes.  Sounds good for a meal on a chilly  and wet day.

   
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  Noreen 3:15 pm on March 27, 2020 Permalink  

  Road Date 

  Dennis and I had a mini road date!  We went to our Fleet and Farm store.  Dennis is getting ready to change the oil in the snowblower before he puts it away for the summer months and also the lawnmowers before they get cranked up.  The store was quite empty.  We had a glass window with which to close our transaction of passing in a check for payment.  

  Dennis has announced that we are going through the drive-through of McDonald’s for supper.  I have not had anything from McDonald’s . . . since I can remember.  I’ll take it!

  I had quite a few phone calls today and a bit of computer time checking on things that will keep us up and going here on Stauffer.  That brought about the neck brace time.  As I am no longer being seen by physical therapy at our local hospital, I have to listen to the body messages.  One’s body never lies.  Taking a walk without the brace goes well.  Many household chores go well without it.  I do wear the brace during my sleep hours.  It helps to hold everything in place for a good start to the mornings.  Enough about that!

  I did spend some time in the sewing studio that allowed me to tidy up before I have anything else going on down here.  

  I hope the weekend brings us weather without storms.  Rain is doable with intermittent snow showers.  We keep an eye out to the skies this time of year when warm weather pops up followed by rapid changes in temps. Worker bees have several days to run some of their own errands and maybe mini road dates.  Be safe, be happy but most of all be optimistic for the weeks ahead.

   
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  Noreen 2:31 pm on March 26, 2020 Permalink  

  Overload 

  The news media is on an overload with what is, what if, and mindless questions where there can be no quick answers.

  When we fed the deer, Dennis had put a bale of hay under our large Maple tree and then would each day sprinkle shell corn with the bale.  That was over and above the pans of corn on the patio.  What happened under the Maple tree is that the pavers that we have had there to shelter hosta plants were trampled.  Many were pushed out of place.  As of today,  Dennis has them all back where they were . . . pre-deer.  More pavers needed to be taken out so the dirt could be worked and would again allow each paver to sit properly.  A job well done.  Each day Dennis finds a project that was needed to be addressed.  The lopper day ended with all the fallen branches over the winter being cut in to small lengths that are ready to be burned in his fire ring when they dry out.

  As I posted yesterday I had a finished embroidered design.  I looked at it last night, I looked at it this morning.  It wasn’t my best end result.  I had decided to suck it up and go on to finding something else to do.  What I had not expected was to open one of my stashes and find a piece of purple fabric that spoke to me.  The pattern on the fabric replicated, in purple, the stalks and blossoms of the Lavender within the stitching.  I cut off the hemmed bottom and sewed on a cuff of my stash fabric.  Yup!  It did all come together.

  The sun can’t decide to shine.  It is a crappy week of it being gray with intermittently rain showers.  This morning I pulled out a heavier jacket for my walk than I have had one in prior days.

  Let’s hear it for Friday coming down the pike.  So much unsettled news, but Friday will prevail and bring a feeling of well-being and the encouragement to take on another week after rejuvenating over the weekend.

   
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  Noreen 2:03 pm on March 25, 2020 Permalink  

  Brr! 

  Talk about how chilly a 50 degree plus day can feel.  It would not surprise me if we had snow on the ground tomorrow morning.  I didn’t stop to take in any landscape viewing this morning during my walk.  I can tell how much less traffic there is out and about.  Worker bees in our small businesses are sitting in their homes wondering if and when the next shoe will fall with the virus.  

  We . . . on the other hand, always seem to find something to burn up the day.  Today, Dennis has the sump pump out and he has begun draining his very own swamp, aka: the Koi pond.  I know as the water level lowers there will be all sorts of leaves, branches and even garbage that managed to find its way into the pond.  As it is downright raw outside, he is keeping an eye on things through the slider patio doors.  All three cats were standing vigilant at the door taking in the project.  It’s too cold for them to trot out into the yard, but they love sitting in front of an open doorway.   

  Yesterday I whiled away the day working with sizing an embroidery design.  I did get it reduced from a 10″ square to 8½” project to fit into the hoop for embroidery.  That reduction reduced the number of stitches from 98,200 to 76,000 stitches.  I was curious as to how things would play out.  It played out to the tune of taking the full six hours.  In between swapping out thread colors,  I actually got quite a few thing taken care of around the house.  It all stitched out without a hitch.  No needle breaking, no bunching up of threads or thread breaking.  I had a terry towel to work with, with this experiment.  I applied a square of cotton fabric to the towel and all the stitches were stitched onto the cotton, then through to the terry towel and then onto the stabilizer on the back of the towel.  The photo of the towel is as it is drying, after being dunked into warm water to take the stabilizer off of the back of the towel.  With such dense stitching I am pleased that it isn’t all puckered and scrunched.  After it is dry, I will take an iron to it for a final pressing.  It will be an experiment that I most likely will not commit to again in the near future.  It was time consuming considering it will most likely hang as a decoration in the bathroom.  Nothing ventured, nothing known.  Curiosity needs to be fed periodically. 

  Dennis picked up on the news last night that even the CPAP machines such as he uses each night could be considered a respirator for people in need of hospital care when tested positive.  Desperate times bring innovation to the fore front. 

  Take it easy on the remaining days of this week.  I have it on good authority that spring is just around the corner . . . so says all the song birds that accompanied me on my walk this morning.

   
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  Noreen 1:59 pm on March 24, 2020 Permalink  

  Gray with a Mist 

  It can’t decide if it was to sleet, rain or snow.  Bundling up for the walk, I tried to cover myself for any of the above weather conditions. 

  When we had the little red pickup serviced at Jiffy Lube a while back, they told us of an oil leak that needed to be checked out.  With the virus and us staying in town much of the time, we did get an appointment at our service guy, Rod.  He had four full time fellows employed.  He is manning his shop on his own right now.  He did tell Dennis that some people that had appointments called and cancelled.  He appreciated the cancellations rather than have the work done, the parts replaced and then not having them able to pay the bill.  The pickup needed to be out at the shop at eight this morning.

  Dennis entertained in the patio porch in lieu of McDonald’s being closed.  We had donuts and coffee on board.  At noon when the last of the guests left, Dennis came down into the sewing studio to let me know that his pickup was ready to be picked up from the shop.  As I drove Dennis to the shop all sorts of dollar signs were going off in my head. 

  When Dennis came home in the pickup with checkbook and invoice in hand I was curious.  The differential pinion seal needed to be removed and replaced on the front axle.  Rod also replaced a stabilizer front sway bar.  I read over the invoice and truth to be told, I am not up on what either of these items were.  I was amazed the bill was not any higher than the $264.86 it was.  It is comforting to know that when we want to be mobile we have a reliable pickup to do it in and that we have people here in our town to take care of what we need.

  I am camped out in the sewing studio.  I spent time this morning dinking around with resizing an embroidery design.  It is part of a collection that I purchased on eBay.  The one design that struck my cord was to stitch out at 10″ x 10″.  The largest hoop that Bernina has is eight and a half by fifteen.  The HP computer has a Bernina software package on it that allows for such dinking.  The design was reduced to 83% and it is stitching as I am typing.  I will let you know tomorrow how it all turns out.  I don’t run my machine at a high speed with embroidery.  It is telling me that the 75,000 aitches will take six hours. 

  I have no plans and in between time I have backed up both of our computers, gotten some homemade soup out of the freezer for supper and started a load of laundry . . . always keeping an ear open for the steady stitching until the color of the thread needs to be swapped out.  In regard to the soup . . . whatever of the frozen veggies we had last night that were left over will be added to the soup.  Yum.

  Tomorrow is mid-week.  Keep the faith and know that whatever we face each day will be a bit different tomorrow . . . AND we can handle it.

   
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  Noreen 2:45 pm on March 23, 2020 Permalink  

  Gray Skies 

  The sun was out this morning and wham . . . the clouds moved in and it felt cooler that it had been moments before.  The walk was what I needed.  My gut told me to get out and suck up some fresh air.  When I looked out the bathroom window I realized that it must have rained just enough to make Stauffer Avenue muddy.  Dennis was in his recliner for a nap and I left him a note by the coffee pot that I was walking.  If his nap was shorter than my walk, I didn’t want him looking high and low all the while thinking I wasn’t answering him due to me have taken a fall.

  Dennis’ nephew Brett stopped by after lunch to see if we needed anything.  Brett’s concrete business is on hold just as so many other small businesses.  It’s appreciated when he stops in to check on his uncle Dennis.  We had stocked up on the things that we need from day to day.  It is amazing how much I can pack into the freezer area of our refrigerator.  I think I could be dangerous in the stocking up mode if we had an actual upright freezer.  Our grocery store is a total of six blocks from us if we would run out of something.  Dennis needs to stay on track with only one York Peppermint Patty candy treat per day.  In between cigarettes and Yorks, there is only so much one can endure if the supply is cut short.  

  At this point, I have no unfinished projects in the sewing studio.  It may well be time to put my thinking cap on.  As I walked past the bathroom window, I think Dennis must have put on his thinking cap.  I caught his backside going out of the patio porch with the branch lopper.  Do I really need to know what is going to get trimmed?  Naw.  I think I will just be surprised the next time I go for my walk down Stauffer Avenue and take a look at the backyard.  Everyone needs to stay busy and who is to say what should be spared and what should be lopped. 

  If I needed help with anything, Dennis would be right there.  When there are times that I get impatient with what I can’t physically do, Dennis offers to pick up where I fall short.  He takes in the situation and then tells me that he will take over: “Just tell me what that is because I don’t have a clue.”  

  May everyone see this week as a blessing and not get bogged down by naysayers.

   
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  Noreen 1:52 pm on March 22, 2020 Permalink  

  Soothing 

  As I head out for my walks, I walk east of Stauffer Avenue.  When I arrive at the east end of our acre, I can be seen standing still for some time.  No, I am not catching my breath.  I am standing still and taking in the whispering of the four tall pine trees that run along our property.  There seems to be enough of a breeze that five days out of seven they whisper.  In my mind it is the purest of sounds within a busy world.  The sound is soothing.  When I go to bed at night, I have a pine tree right outside.  Though I may not hear the whispering, with the street lights I can see the swaying of the boughs. I can hear the tinkle of the wind chimes that we have placed on the lowest branch of the pine tree.  That wee little wind chime is soothing as the boughs rock it back and forth.

  Right now as Dennis and I are being more home bound than usual, I am taking solace in the little things around me that sooth and give a feeling of security.  I surely can’t do more right now than abiding by suggestions from health care advisers. 

  What also is a huge help is when family stays in touch with an email now and then.  We won’t be traveling to see them in the near future, but just that bit of letting us know how their world is turning is soothing. 

  I have spent some time in the sewing studio today.  With certain body parts that let me know when it’s time to hold it and fold it, I move at will.  That in itself soothes and is a blessing.

  Each of you find what soothes and find what blessings can be enjoyed.  It’s a good thing.

   
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  Noreen 4:18 pm on March 21, 2020 Permalink  

  Whew! 

  We both have had a lot of fresh air today.  It wasn’t the greatest day to be outside, but just like little kids we managed to get our shoes muddy.

  I headed out for my walk this morning.  It felt like what I needed after the bedding was in the laundry doing its thing.  Being indoors only lasts for so long for each of us.  The stretch down Stauffer Avenue and then swinging around the truck route takes me along the Hammond Highway until 11th Avenue . . . and our driveway.  A mile done felt good.  I did go in for a bit as my nose was red.  I noticed Dennis was raking up the hay from the deer feed that is now over.  I put my shoes and stocking cap back on and joined Dennis in the backyard. I began picking up branches.  Where to begin!  I know they are too wet to burn, but Dennis told me to stack them next to his burning ring for another day.  Again with the red nose, I headed into the house. 

  As I had heated up a cup of breakfast coffee the phone rang and I settled in for a long chat.  It was my brother, Calvin, in Iowa.  We had not chatted for some time and catching up was needed.  Calvin reads my blog every day but I needed to hear from his side and his take on the world.  Calvin had read that Dennis’ McDonald’s coffee was doomed.  I shared with him that Dennis would be doing a bit of entertaining on Tuesday morning in the patio porch.  When Calvin and I hung up, Calvin called and bent Dennis’s ear for a bit.  A good time of sharing.  Priceless!

  When I had come in from picking up branches I had left my muddy shoes on the bench outside.  Leave it to my helpmate.  Dennis brought in my walking shoes this afternoon and headed to the laundry sink in the basement.  They will be fit to take on my walk tomorrow without flicking off mud globs likes the old farmer that I am at heart.  

  Tonight is the last night of the leftover hotdish.  Neither one of us mind leftovers.  It does seem to get better each time as we each heat up our own plates in the microwave.  Beggars can’t be choosers.  With all the fresh air that we took in . . . it’ll be extra good.  Tomorrow night will be a new night for the supper digs.  Can you hardly wait!

  Leftovers do bring a dessert treat.  The grocery store was having eight inch cream pies on sale when I was in there on Friday.  Yup, a slice of the cookies and cream pie hit the spot last night, just as it will this evening.

  Blessed are the Sundays when we seek the good in our lives and find restoration for a new week.

   
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  Noreen 3:48 pm on March 20, 2020 Permalink  

  A Little Joy 

  Nothing brings about a bit of joy to the ole cowboy more than having a friend call and have Dennis help him with some guns.  It seems that the good Lord knows when to pull the nap app.  Dennis’ friend helped him with his Cub-Lo-Boy in the past and this is a good deed to help back.  When people decide to move out of their home and into an apartment it calls for desperate measures.

  I am so thankful that I don’t have to contemplate that and hopefully not for a long time to come.  When I have visited some friends in their apartments, I do size them up.  What they have sacrificed their homesteads for . . . we have in place right here on Stauffer Avenue.  Thank the Lord.  There would be no need to use our basement, aka: sewing studio.  But . . . for right now it is my sanctuary.

  I made a trip to the grocery story this afternoon.  I thought I had picked a time that the store would not be very busy.  Not!  I would say the majority of shoppers were my age give or take a few years.  We needed bread and milk.  The options for bread were considerably less than usual.  Dennis and I enjoy a dish of ice cream from time to time.  Just plain old vanilla.  We do like some of Blue Bunny’s wonderful flavors but purchasing them in small containers that are available in our store is not very cost effective.  What’s not to like about a five quart pail!  That area had a lot of empty shelves within the freezer.

  When I awoke this morning and realized we still had a roof over our heads, I knew it would be a great day.  The north winds howled to no end through the night.  Seventeen above this morning was quite the shock . . . but missing out on the snow that had been talked about was sweet.

  Love leftovers.  The hotdish with the sliced brussel sprouts was a hit.  I think a can of cranberries as a side dish tonight sounds appealing.  

  My prayer is that everyone stay strong within themselves and use the weekend to peek around and see just how wonderful life is.  Having to pull in from some outside activities may be just what had happened with Julia Childs when she realized she could cook.  Martha Stewart, regardless how her food turned out, always commented “It’s a good thing.”  Yup, you can talk yourself into almost anything.

   
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  Noreen 3:16 pm on March 19, 2020 Permalink  

  Rain and Gloom 

  It could be worse than the rains we are getting.  Storms have been near and far and we have been fortunate.

  There will be a hotdish for supper.  I made my plans when I saw that Dennis was settled into the patio porch.  Oh yes, Dennis does his hotdishes and I am appreciative when he does.  I have a bit of a twist when I make one.  I like to use some cream cheese that I stir into the pasta when it is still hot from being prepared in boiling water.  The Alfredo sauce is my favorite.  Dennis always enjoys a can of corn . . . which he will get.  We will also get some brussel sprouts that I sliced up to add some great color and great taste. 

  What had happened when Dennis settled into the warm patio porch is when a nap snapped him up.  He and the three cats realized that this damp wet weather is not fit to be out in.  It is chilly and penetrating.  When I went to check on the four of them I had to snap a photo.  No . . . the photo does not depict Dennis being enveloped up into “the cloud.”  When we had our huge red bow on the front door of the house over the Christmas season, we found that encasing the bow into plastic and hanging it from the porch ceiling was the best option to keep it for another season.  We got the $100.00 bow at Hobby Lobby for $10.00 and we look forward to enjoy putting it up for seasons to come. 

  I am on board with fabric lying out in an array of colors on the church tables.  Not quite sure what will pop out for a project, but be not afraid.  I enjoy having the ability to see joy in what could be, what can be.  Believe it or not . . . it is a rare commodity for many of those in or close to my age.  It goes hand in hand with logic.  I am blessed to have both be given to me.

  Tomorrow signals the last day of the week and I am sure the weeks ahead may be uncertain.  What is certain is that He will lead us through whatever may be ahead.