Me, Myself and Memories

Recent Updates Page 71 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  Noreen 2:30 pm on May 22, 2023 Permalink  

  Here Comes Monday 

  Traffic past the house is indicative that a working Monday is underway.  The school buses will soon be out of the fray.

  Of course the grass was way too wet for mowing this morning.  After Dennis had a coffee guest in the patio porch he decided to check his eyelids for cracks in his recliner.

  This afternoon the Cub Lo-Boy was fired up.  I walked to the backyard as Dennis was mowing.  The new blades are doing a great job.  The front yard is done with the Sears rider set at a higher height than anywhere else.  It eliminates scalping next to the drive.  

  I took an oven dish out of the freezer for our evening meal before I visited the studio. 

  I put several colors, black and orange, out on the table top that now has 16 blocks laying out.  I think the bright orange for sashing that is also in the quarter inch trims, is too bright. A two or three inch strip in the orange to sew the blocks together takes away from the continuity as the eye moves from t-shirt block to t-shirt block.  The orange and black is laid out.  As I work in the studio and catch a glimpse of the two from time to time, in the end I will know what will be best.  Food for thought.

  In the mean time, in between time, the trim is being made into bias tape strips and then sewn on the 16″ blocks.  

  After doing six blocks, the lights went out in the studio.  I want to do a bit of weed whipping tomorrow.  There are always a few places that a rider mower cannot get to.  Taking the battery weed whip makes the mowing look complete.

  Going out to the front deck, the town is alive with the sound of mowers.  Time will tell how many of our yards Dennis will do today.

   
• 

  Noreen 1:42 pm on May 21, 2023 Permalink  

  Successful Sunday 

  There are some days that feel just right!  Today was one of them.  It was my usual tidy, tidy on the first floor.

  With a cup of coffee, I sat on our new front deck.  We had opted for a wide top board, just for a morning such as this, when I had that cup of coffee.  After receiving a cherry red reading chair, the black non-functioning retired reading chair was put out onto the deck.  The awning on the house is the perfect extension for shelter of said retired chair if and when rain comes.  That has already been tested.

  I kept an eye on temperatures.  When it got doable, I was going to try out my dandelion poker that Dennis fixed for me.  It’s amazing what a sturdy nail wedged between the metal poker and the wooden handle will do.  The east end of the acre still had Hosta coming up.  Within that batch were some beauties of yellow.  The fixed poker and I headed east.  With all the rain we have had, every single one was poked and flung.  None had as yet gone to seed.  We spray the grass with weed killer, but no so much where there are sweet plants. 

  While I headed east, the second string of this team, Dennis, headed for the studio.  I had completed 16 t-shirt blocks, complete with the quarter inch trim.  Those 16 blocks will make up one of the twin sized quilts.  Dennis’ job is to arrange them before the orange sashing and black corner stones are sewn on.  I have always put Dennis in charge of this next step in t-shirt projects, as well as color choices in other sewing items.  It gives Dennis a vested interest into what happens in the studio.  I never stick around when he is making his decisions.  The end results were . . . that I achieved my goal of clearing out unwanted dandelions, giving myself a good physical workout outside, and the blocks have been decided on the first of the two twin sized quilts.  Headways have been made.  All the lights for sewing were turned off for the day.

  There had been one chair on the new front deck . . . now there are two.  Dennis had retrieved an old metal folding chair from the garage.  It has been cleaned and is sporting a new coat of black paint.  Sitting out front on evenings . . . sweet.

   
• 

  Noreen 2:13 pm on May 20, 2023 Permalink  

  Check That Off 

  Today we had another item to check off of our “to do” list.

  My hand signals were good enough to help Dennis hook up the implement trailer to the little red pickup.  We had gotten a call that the 1968 Cub Lo-Boy was ready to come home with three brand new blades on the mower.  Charles told Dennis he greased everything that needed it once it was up on the hoist.  Charlie can no longer work in his shop due to a severe back injury that occurred when he was working for the county.  Charlie was servicing a pump on a county ditch when the area around the pump caved in on him.  Charlie has good workers in his shop and oversees everything.

  Dennis came home and unloaded his tractor.  It went right into the back garage, the trailer was parked and all was right with the world.

  After Dennis had left for Charlie’s this morning, I walked back home across the acre.  The heavy rains did a great job of dissolving all the deer pop from the winter.  Hmm.  There were tiny little biting bugs.  Not surprising.  I do have some sweet little yellow flowers to take care of on the east Hosta garden that wants to make a showing.  So be it.  Just not today.

  I had a good handle on getting some 16″ blocks tricked out with the quarter inch trim.  As I whiled away a few hours, it was great reflecting on how far we came this last week getting the basement back in good stead.

  We are having a scramble egg, sausage and toast supper.  Sweet!

   
• 

  Noreen 2:57 pm on May 19, 2023 Permalink  

  A Bit Chilly 

  I would say 46 is a bit chilly over the night hours.  It sure did sleep well.

  I must share my experience in the Old Alley Quilt Shop last Saturday.  I was at the shop by ten to purchase what I needed for these two t-shirt quilts.

  When I walked in there was a gal trying to decide on colors of a certain type of yardage.  It didn’t take me long to realize she would be making several projects for family members.  There were quite a few bolts of fabric on the cutting table.  This gal then took pictures of the fabric and called a family member for the family member to give her thoughts on the colors.  More bolts were added to the cutting table.  The family member called and shared with another family member while the shopper leaned on the cutting table.  Hmm.  I knew where my two bolts of fabric were located and I left them as I knew they would be very heavy.

  The door bell tinkled.  Another customer.  And then another costumer.  By the time the shopper had decided on what she needed, she then asked the cutting clerk about cutting her choices into six inch strips.  The cutting clerk declined.  Dah!  By this time it was 11:45 and there were four of us waiting in line.  I had found a sturdy table to lean against during this hour and forty five minutes.  I was weary but was determined to see this through.  My yardage was cut and I then told the clerk what I need fore batting times two.  I stayed at the till, paid my bill and made my way to the door.  The clerk was kind enough to carry my bags to the car for me, while apologizing for the long wait.  I really felt for her as the customers waiting needed her.

  When I got home and Dennis carried my bags in, I was glad to be home.  With the water issues of last weekend, it wasn’t until Thursday of this week that I unpacked the bags.  The yardage was right on, the quilt batting was not.  The clerk had packed up two packages of 100% quilting cotton, not the polyester I had ask for.  Not to worry.  I had my receipt.

  This afternoon, Dennis and I took a road trip back to Old Alley.  Dennis was curious about farm fields to the south and was happy to drive me.  I now have exactly what I need in the studio.  Ironically, I received a $7.49 refund as the cotton batting is more expensive than the poly.  I like the poly batting as it does not shrink and my quilts may very well be washed and dried.

  So this is how Stauffer Avenue is closing down this work week, a bit chilly but doable.

   
• 

  Noreen 12:42 pm on May 18, 2023 Permalink  

  Drippy Day 

  I knew a drippy day was coming.  I put my garden shoes on and went after the sweet yellow blooms that were in my Hosta beds.  Of course when Hunny Bunny and Harriet saw me amongst the plants, they needed to check things out as well.  When I finished one area, before moving on, I made sure to break off some of the cat nip plants.  That was all the invite the kitties needed.  They each tied one on.  The first trip fantastic of the year. 

  The photo is of the Star of David flowers that volunteer each spring.  When the greenery comes up, it looks like a sea of chives.  Each sprout puts out a sweet little white flower.  After the blooms are spent, all the greenery dies off.  They spread like crazy from the seeds of the blooms.   I have worked hard at digging them up where I don’t want them . . . forget it.  Ironically when dug, there is what looks like a little onion set, thus they look like chives when they first come up. 

  Two winters ago, Dennis had gotten a bale of road ditch hay to put under the Maple for the deer to nibble on.  Last spring, there were spears of long grasses that had had the seeds carry over.  This morning, I took out a huge patch of cocklebur young plants.  Dennis was right on, weed seeds can lay dormant for a long time.   The heavy rains had sent a lot of clusters of the Maple seeds to the dirt.  I raked up some as they can root so fast and easily to show a group of little trees.  Each day I will do a bit outside. 

  This drippy day is the best day to re-introduce myself into the studio.  All the lights were turned on and the threads and fuzz were beckoning me.  I did finish embroidering the last design times two.  It was time to get to the next step.  That step would be adding a quarter inch of trim to the 16″ square blocks.  I had done this with AJ’s quilt and it really brightened up the t-shirts.  It took me a while to remember how wide each strip had to be cut to be feed into the bias tape maker.  The next thing was to set the zig zag stitch to sew the four strips onto each of the 32 blocks.  All systems were a go for trying my plan out.  Yup, I’ve got it.  Perfectly cut 1/2 inch orange strips.  When they have become bias tape strips they are sewn around each block, two inches from the edge.  This photo is one of the blocks I created to fill out what would be needed.  I love my Bernina Tool Box software.

  It felt good to get back in the groove of the studio.

   
• 

  Noreen 1:43 pm on May 17, 2023 Permalink  

  Back to Normal 

  My precious studio is back to normal.  It looks fresh and it smells fresh.  They are talking about possible rain tomorrow.  As I looked everything over, I did close all the basement windows.  They are so easy to operate.  No taking a chance of having rain find its way in.

  When Dennis came back from having coffee with Dwayne this morning, he had been to Fleet Farm and brought home two new filters for that sweet shop vac that had done its duty with the water seepage we had experienced.  We will be back to sucking up threads and fuzz.  From the sounds of it, more people than not had had water coming into their basements.

  Dennis put in three hours of mowing yesterday.  He felt very pleased as well he should.  It’s not hard labor but our old Sears rider does not have power steering and the seat is sat out.  There is a lot of trimming around the house.  My push mower has the season off.  Hopefully the mowing will not be more than a once-a-week task.

  I am looking forward to doing some stitching tomorrow.  It seems as if I will need a refresher course.  If I recall, I have one design to stitch twice and then the 32 total blocks, 16 in each of the two twin sized quilts are ready for the next step.   

  The oven dish of last night got a thumbs up.  There won’t be a problem serving it again this evening.

   
• 

  Noreen 2:12 pm on May 16, 2023 Permalink  

  Tuckered 

  Today began the washing/damp mopping of hot bleach water on the concrete floors in the basement.  The stairwell closet has ceased with the seepage.  Good deal.  The cistern closet was also dry.  Both were homogenized.  

  I had lowered the setting on our huge dehumidifier Sunday.  In time it will be set to its usual which Complete Basements recommends at 52%.  We are scheduled for them to check the sump pump system later on this spring.  It has been so wonderful to be able to open the basement windows that Complete Basements of Mankato put in at the same time of the tile around the perimeter of the basement and the vapor barrier under the bathroom.  What we really appreciated was going with Complete Basement for everything.  One stop contact if something goes amiss. If the city’s system had not been overwhelmed, we would not have had any water problems in the large basement room, aka: my studio.

  Dennis began mowing at 12:30 today.  He has been by to re-fuel.  I think his hinny will be ready for a break this evening.  It’s easy to think there is another day coming for some additional mowing, but once Dennis starts, not so much.  

  After the damp mop was retired until more of the same tomorrow, it was oven dish prep.  I had one bag of the rotisserie chopped chicken in the freezer.  There was also a bag of pepperoni that was close to the “sell by” date.  A can of white kernel corn and Alfredo sauce was folded into the sha-bang.  One jar of sauce was not going to cut if for this batch.  Pouring on only half of the jar of Alfredo, I poured into the jar some heavy cream and gave the jar several hard shakes.  Folding all ingredients together for a good moist dish.  Between butter and cream, you can never go wrong.  As Dennis doesn’t care for pizza, this oven dish is close to a pizza.  Pasta in exchange of a crust.  In times past, Cassey’s had a chicken alfredo pizza.  To top things off, I threw in a handful of sharp cheddar shredded.  It made a huge batch, so I split the full blue speckled roaster contents in half so the freezer also has an offering for another time. 

  Folding the prep of an oven dish and mopping of concrete, I am going rest the arms to sit on my bright red reading chair for a bit of a break.  It is a partly sunny day with 79 degrees.

   
• 

  Noreen 2:24 pm on May 15, 2023 Permalink  

  At Last 

  At last the sun is out.  

  It was an early morning for me.  The bulk of the water debacle was over by supper of yesterday.  We went down every several hours to vacuum up the water from the closet that had seepage.  This morning I was set to handle the five by ten jute carpet that of course was wet.  Yesterday Dennis and I took turns folding the carpet in half and vacuuming off the back of as it had a backing of canvas.  That worked quite well . . . better than being able to get a lot of water vacuuming the jute side.  

  I used up the majority of our canned goods by folding the carpet over by half and then putting down the cans.  The carpet was tented.  My plan was to get the carpet off of the floor.  I did that with both ends.  The fan that we had running in the cistern closet was set on the north end of the carpet.  A fan that Dennis had had in the patio porch was running on the south end.  Getting air to the top and bottom of this carpet will help it dry.  Once the carpet is dry it can be folded and moved so we can clean the floor with bleach water.  After that I will shampoo the jute surface.  Patience is all it takes.

  By ten I had motored to New Ulm for servicing of my car and the renewal of the warranty on it.  I was amazed the amount of standing water in the fields.  Where there were culverts, the water shot out of them.

  By noon I was back home.  Dennis had checked the yards and the yards are too soft for mowing.  In fact, there is an area that still has standing water.  Did I mention?  Patience is all it takes.

  I do believe this Grammie will be ready for bed by the time the street lights come on this evening.

   
• 

  Noreen 2:22 pm on May 14, 2023 Permalink  

  Seeing is Believing 

  They are telling us that the rain is over, but until I see that the concrete in the drive is dry, I am being doubtful.

  Our neighbor has a huge rain gauge and when I visited with Randy, he was reporting 8.9 inches since Wednesday.  Hmm.

  When I got up at seven and saw the city crew was pumping water from the main holes, I didn’t know what to think.  I got up and had my usual routines before I wanted to reassure myself all would be good in the basement.  The fact that the sump pump hardly took a break made me need to find out for myself.  I flipped the switch for the basement lights.  When I could stand at the top of the basement steps and see an overhead bulb reflect off of the floor, I knew all was not good.

  It matters not what lay ahead as we would not be the only people doing a bucket brigade.  The first thing I did was to clean the canister of our shop vac.  I couldn’t do anything in the large studio room until the floor drain was down.  After an hour, I knew it was safe to run the shop vac, the floor drain was down.  The sucked up water could be poured into the toilet.  There is a closet right next to the stair steps that water was running over the first basement step and going into the tile for the sump pump.  Of course the far corner of said closet is quite a bit lower than next to the steps.

  We have a wonderful old wooden courthouse chair in the studio that is on rollers.  After the shop vac was set up for wet vac, I set the shop vac on the seat of the chair.  I began sucking up the water from the floor of the closet.  I could tell when the canister was getting full.   I would roll the chair over to the toilet and empty it and go back for more.  This water was coming in fairly fast.  Though we had the eve spouts on the house to have taken the rain away from the house, the ground was like a loaded sponge.  The foundation on the east side of the house had a crack that was like its own faucet.  Eventually the seepage will subside.

  Nothing had gotten ruined as nothing sits on the floor in the studio.  It is after all spring.  Spring cleaning of the cement floor in the studio . . . it’s a good thing.

  When the skies clear, I will believe the rain is over . . . for now. 

   
• 

  Noreen 1:39 pm on May 13, 2023 Permalink  

  Rain and Wind 

  Of course when the ornamental crab tree blossoms are beginning to open, the strong south wind complete with rain gives us flutters of pink blossoms.  It never fails.

  As I have just two blocks to embroider for the two twin-sized t-shirt project, I decided to head south to The Old Alley Quilt Shop for the fabrics of the back, the sashings, and corner stones.  I also purchased the batting.  With each of the two quilts being 75″ x 75″ I may be able to handle the actual quilting on my sewing machine.  If I run out of steam, I would bundle the tops, backing and batting and head to the quilt shop to have then long arm them.  Time will tell.

  I am a long way from making that decision.  The dark drab quilt blocks are going to have the bias strips on all four sides to brighten things up.

  As I was driving highway 4, I got some thinking done.  By May 28th, I need to contact Chuck Spaeth car dealership to extend my warranty.  I purchased the car in 2019 and had the premium warranty put in place.  I also need to have an oil change.  The last oil change was in November at the same time new tires were put on.  The tires were not new at the time of the purchase.  When I got home, I called the dealership and spoke to a gal about the warranty and to make an appointment for the oil change.  I was told I could come in Monday and take care of both items.  Sweet.  The warranty will be for 20,000 miles or four years which ever comes first.  I have put on about 20,000 miles since the purchase and felt that would work going forward.

  Dennis has gone out to the fix-it shop to see if Charlie has information on the three new blades that the Cub Lo-Boy mower needs.  Wouldn’t you know it?  He just left and now there is a fairly heavy rain shower.  We surely do not need this.  As I was driving to Sherburn, it seems that the heavy rains have concentrated near and around St. James. 

  Day by day the Hosta are peeking through the soil.  It is rewarding.  Last May, 2022, I relocated many from the east end of the acre to fill in around the patio porch.  The Hosta unfurl their greenery and it keeps the weeds down, plus giving cool hiding spots for the three kitties.  I will not be purchasing anything from the garden nurseries.  The Russian Sage under the southwest windows is giving up many new little plants.  I may find a few spots for those.  If there are too many in close proximity, they tend to want to tip over from the weight when they are in full bloom.

  Rest easy from the week’s work.  The work will be there waiting for you on Monday morning.