Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 3:20 pm on September 29, 2024 Permalink  

  End is Near 

  Where oh where has this month gone!  October is only 2 days away.  Hmm.  The ole cowboy will be 88 on the 2nd of October.  I had asked him if he wanted to do or plan anything special for Tuesday.  Nope.  He made sure I understood he was content and happy right here on Stauffer Avenue.  I will make sure that he has a cake for his day.

  As I am working this posting, I can look to the south or the west.  What do my wandering eyes see?  Bugs.  Lots and lots of bugs.  Asian Beatles and Boxelder bugs flighting in the sunshine.  Ishi.  The suction cups that Boxelder bugs have on their legs is creepy when they latch onto you.

  I am from the old school.  Extra furniture to make things handier was not in the budget.  What did work for me was to find several boards around the farm that would be cleaned or painted.  In the grove I would find old bricks to take home and clean them up.  Before too long, I would have a handy book shelf by using two bricks to sit on the floor.  Next add a board.  Add bricks on the end of the shelf, lining them up so they were placed consistently with the two on the floor.  Eye appeal was everything.  The amount of bricks on each end was determined by how tall your books were.  The finished height of the shelving unit depended on how many boards close in length could be found, plus how many bricks could be scrounged up.  This DIY thought process is alive and well today on Stauffer Avenue.

  The “5” magnification lamp is located at the end of my 60s vintage sewing table as it sits on the floor.  The flexible goose-neck needs to reach 15 inches across said table where my cherry red chair is for the hand stitching.  Another item I addressed with the “5” is that for me to have my stitching far enough away from the lite lens of the lamp and still allow my hands to move over and under the fabric,  the lamp stand needed to be taller as it sat on the floor.  The table clamp that came with it would have had a lesser degree of help.

  I’ll bet you all wondered where I was going with my board and brick shelving unit solution.  Here goes.  I went into the basement of our home and I brought up two bricks that had been put to use down there over the decades.  Nice clean bricks.  Two bricks placed under the heavy metal base plate of lamp, brought the height of the lamp unit up right where I needed it.  My hands can work freely while I look through the “5” lens.  

  Sometimes that old Raymond logic is just the best when I need to help myself find what works the best for me without a whole lot of extra bells and whistles.

  We have leftover chicken ruebens for supper and I am going to bake a tube of Pillsbury’s finest biscuits.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:13 pm on September 28, 2024 Permalink  

  What’s Up! 

  To the west of us and to the southeast of us, there are lilacs blooming.  Very full blooms of soft lavender.  Truly this has been an unusual year.

  AJ was here this morning bright and early.  I was still in my robe having my first cup of coffee.  Dennis was in the patio porch.  The two fellows are planning a day for next Saturday.  I will wait until then to see what is popping.

  Just so you all know, we are minding the salt in-take.  For supper we are having an oven meal and it will be the chicken rueben that has been in the plans for several weeks.  The deal of staying away from anything in a can is being adhered to.  Unfortunately, I had a jar of sauerkraut open in the refrigerator for a time.  It is getting used up this evening.  Also . . . no red meat.  That will not be hard to stick to.

  As I was getting the oven meal ready, Dennis had the garden hose strung to the patio porch watering down the two small evergreens really good.  Yes, they are out in the open but amazingly having the potting shed five feet away from them is just enough shelter to keep the rain from hitting them.  His next task was washing out the tracks of the three sliding patio doors.  Yes . . . I think when we hear things from professional people, such as doctors, we tend to go with their advice a bit easier.

  I dug around the cistern closet for some beads.  Those that go thrifting had given me an unusual shaped red plastic carry case about as big as a bloated football.  As you open the lid it rolls over and over, exposing with each roll a tray of plastic beads.  I had never seen anything like it and oh yes, the trays had various plastic beads.  Every once in a while, Grammie gets a wild hair.  I am not sure where this wild hair is going.  I will keep you posted . . . but I have beads.

  I have been working with Grandma Schafer’s silk floss.  Using the “5” magnification helps ever so much.  It works best if I leave my prescription glasses on.  I work for about two hours with the project and then I turn to reading.  As I have had an indication all summer that when my yearly eye exam comes around, my lenses will be changing.  No, I do not feel as if I have eye strain as I do my various tasks.

  Dennis is patiently waiting for the time, 4:00 p.m., when the oven will be turned on to pre-heat it for the oven meal.  I can’t say I blame him.

  It would be interesting to learn why our lilacs are blooming going into October.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:06 pm on September 27, 2024 Permalink  

  So It Ends 

  It is a Summer feeling day as well as a Friday.  It’s something about the jet-streams holding us in this warm weather.

  Dennis came home from the clinic this morning and asked me if I wanted the good news first or the bad.  I went with the good.  His kidneys are good, his heart is good, his lungs are good.  So then I went for the bad news.  He announced I would have to put up with him for some time to come.  Let’s hear it for the ole cowboy!

  Dennis’ cousin, Sally Engel from South Branch, passed away from a stroke.  Her husband Myron always sang in church.  We passed on the funeral yesterday, but Dennis’ niece and her husband from Moorhead attended and then stopped in for a visit yesterday.  A very good visit.  Last night we got a call from Dennis’ nephew Matt from Windom that his brother from Nebraska was coming for a visit and would Dennis be home for a Friday afternoon visit.  Absolutely.  This afternoon there were four Curry fellows in the patio porch as Brett joined them.  Talk about the stories that were told.  It has been quite the amount of company to round out this week.

  While Dennis had been at the clinic here in town this morning, I walked over to the acre to see what was going on.  The tree fellows had two huge leaf blowers going and all the bits of tree tops and small branches were being blown to the fellow that had a huge rake in the front of his bob-cat he was manning.  Good thing the breeze was from the northwest as it was hard to see through the dust.  Most of the heavy equipment was already gone.  A second bob-cat with a huge bucket on the front was leveling off the dirt from all the stumps that had been taken out.  There was one large stump that was not taken out as there was a lot of old fence wire in it, around it and some grown through it.  It was right towards the lot line to the south.  They also took out three other stumps in various places where Dennis had been able to mow.  These fellows had a work order from the boss and they didn’t have a “what if” about that wire-infested stump.

  I think this will calm Dennis down as it was one of the last things that had been heavy on his mind for some time.  Dennis took me for a ride after his company had left, so we could see what there was to see.  The far east half of the acre had not had any heavy equipment on it and talk about pigeon grass that had grown tall.  Tomorrow may very well be the last mowing for the summer.  I will help with the mowing as Dennis’ tail bone won’t take much sitting on it.  They told him at the clinic it would take perhaps several months before it’s not the first thing he thinks off when he goes to sit down somewhere,

  No discussion about supper yet and so the busy week ends.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:45 pm on September 26, 2024 Permalink  

  Hello Thursday 

  The sun is out, bright and warm.

  We had thought the tree man would be here several days ago, Monday.  We knew we were on his list.  Early this morning, it was the sound of the chainsaw and the shredder going at it.  I walked over to the acre site at noon.  Many pieces of equipment.  The crew were on noon break.  Yes, Dennis and I were in agreement, just get it done before a nursing home gets Dennis’ funds.

  No, the nursing home is not anywhere in our future plans in 2024.  We have bit off several properties over the years.  We clean them up so the grass can grow and mowing is the maintenance.  Many years ago, this acre was the site of a bottling plant in St. James.  Over time, people were with no respect, and nothing was done other than to toss stuff over the fence from the south.

  In between time today, Dennis has gotten his shots and also an appointment for his yearly medical with his primary VA doctor in St. James.  I knew it was hard to tear himself away from the tree site, but he got it done.  

  This would have been a day that my dad, Raymond, would have been sitting on a pickup end-gate, right beside Dennis.  The thrill of seeing all this equipment making short work of what would have been labor intensive not so long ago.

  The tuna sandwiches were good for last night’s supper.  Cottage cheese was the second item on the table.  Today, I added two chopped up boiled eggs to the tuna.  Another night of no-salt eats.  Tomorrow Dennis goes back out to the Mayo Clinic here in town for another lab work and then to the doctor to see what these days have proven.  How grateful that we don’t need to motor to Mankato or Rochester.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:33 pm on September 25, 2024 Permalink  

  Not Long 

  Not long after I had been using my pruning shears, taking out volunteer trees, I was very warm in the sun.

  It might be 79 out today, but it feels like 88.  Some people have a difficult time starting new trees, not here.

  Earlier this summer, I had Dennis kill off whatever was growing under the Hackberry tree in the backyard.  When I asked him to kill off the area right next to the sidewalk on the north side of the porch, he took it all the way along the patio to the back door.  Yup, the killer works.  Oh well.  Take my own advice and use more words.

  The salt-free supper went well last night.  The next trip to our local grocer’s, I will buy some salt-free butter.  This evening we are having Albacore tuna with a hearty amount of onions mixed with mayonnaise, where there’s a minuscule amount of salt in it compared to miracle whip.

  Dennis’ appointment for his yearly eye exam went well.  There is no need for the lenses to be changed out.  Tomorrow, Dennis goes to the VA for his flu shot and the Covid booster.  I do neither.  He will also pick up a form that will allow him new glasses when needed from the VA.  I am sure the paperwork will explain how it all works.  So many people complain about the VA services they receive.  I have no idea what state or planet they are from.

  No stitching today.  The day seemed to fill up on its own.  Maybe after supper a stitch or two will be taken.  Hard as I try, my internal clock has wound itself down by nine or nine thirty.

  Snuggles seems to be getting back on his feet.  Finding a spot of bare black ground to roll in, he is as black as the ace of spades.

  That is all I have to report on today.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:03 pm on September 24, 2024 Permalink  

  Hello Tuesday 

  A new voyage where Stauffer Avenue has not gone before.

  Dennis was home from the clinic after several hours.  Starting this morning, it actually started last night with supper, until Friday morning the goal is . . . no salt, no product with salt in it.  It is chicken, fish or turkey . . . naked.  I think we can work with that as it will be an indicator, even with so few days of no salt.  The fact that one of his kidneys may be smaller than the other, is of no consequence.  Many people live with only one kidney

  Dennis was always proud of the fact that we didn’t have the salt shaker on the table.  Hmm.  One of his favorite food groups is butter.  I didn’t go with Dennis to the clinic.  It was important for Dennis to hear these things from medical staff and not me.  We will work with nothing that comes out of a can as it is all laden with salt.  No canned soups brought a roll of the eyes.  We will keep in touch on how this goes.

  Clarification is needed.  Yesterday, I said there was no way in hell I would want a repeat of  “yesterday.”  That means there is no “yesterday” repeat . . . ever.  By the end of each day I already have knowledge of those practices what went well enough to repeat in days to come. The rest . . . goodbye . . . no repeating . . . stay in the present please.  It goes hand in hand with the glass being half full.

  I have asked two professional medical women, where the women are in St. James that have had a stroke and continue living in their own homes.  Having a network of those with like challenges would be beneficial to get together socially.  My primary doctor thought and then the response I got was that those she knew of were living in a health care facility, requiring care.   Hmm.  Strike that line of inquiry.

  It also drives home the point that I am doing fine as I am.  My days do not have to prove productivity . . . not anymore.  Contentment and self-satisfaction is a high level of achievement.

  I am going on to drying some chicken tenderloins I had out of the freezer.  There will be no Chicken Ruben oven meal this evening.  Lots of salt in sauerkraut, 1,000 island dressing and Swiss cheese.  I may do basted eggs with the chicken.  No ketchup on the eggs.  Dennis will be accepting sympathy cards.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:19 pm on September 23, 2024 Permalink  

  Which One 

  Which one of my peoples is needed today . . . the huge question.

  I am ahead of the tidy, tidy on the first floor.  No housekeeper needed there.  The mid afternoon finds the laundry done.  No laundress needed.  Left-overs from yesterday is the fare for this evening’s supper.  The cook is off the hook.

  Sometimes when the ole cowboy has more aches and pains than I can list . . . here comes the in-house witch doctor.  That is the person needed for the day.  Tomorrow I will give him a hug, pat him on the butt and send Dennis off to the clinic.  Dennis was just there last Tuesday for lab work.  I got a call on Friday that his doctor wants to see him as his kidney function results need to be retested.  When Sandy was here last Thursday I shared the results with her.  She felt that the results were not alarming considering his age.  As long as the clinic is 5 minutes away, another visit can’t hurt.  Dennis and his girls know he was born with one of of his kidneys slightly smaller than the other.  Tomorrow Dennis will see if his doctor knows that.  It may be either a CAT scan or an ultra-sound that may be needed.  

  All things considered, Dennis is a very good patient.  If his tail-bone didn’t hurt so bad, his mood would be a lot better.

  I am so fortunate that I know the origin of where my pain comes from and I also know that there is only so much that can be done for arthritis.  I am doing and I am taking what I can to squelch it as best I can.  I keep moving in and around our home.  Not giving the muscles a chance to atrophy any more than they may already be.  The stronger the muscles, the more the joints have a chance for mobility.

  I believe the best item in my day-to-day toolbox is my sense of humor.  Being able to laugh at myself takes the edge off.  Starting off each day with a new attitude, as I sure as hell don’t need a re-run of yesterday.  There is nothing to change the outcome, but today may be full of possibilities.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:31 pm on September 22, 2024 Permalink  

  In the Air 

  For sure, there was a feeling of fall in the air this morning.  Dennis grabbed a light-weight jacket on his way out the door with his breakfast box and coffee in hand.

  I passed on sitting on the front deck this morning.

  I knew we would be getting company about 10:30 this morning, and I wanted to have the noon meal planned and prepared.

  Oh my gosh Nicholas is 6’1″.  He likes his job at Chik-fil-A.  It is a part of his Jr. year that colleges begin putting out a day during a school day for the kids to visit each table, picking up information.

  Megan is back in the classroom while working part time and keeping up apartment life.

  The Eden Prairie family of four left at 1:30 as Megan will fly back home later this afternoon.  It was a short visit.  When grandchildren still want to visit us older ones . . . its always special.

  Dennis Daughter Sandy stopped by this afternoon to see how we had gotten through the rest of the week.

  Sandy’s youngest daughter participates in the Ultimate Fighting Competition.  She won her match against a Russian Friday night and won the belt from her.  Cheyanne is now in it for the purse strings.  I can’t wrap my head around it, but we each do our own thing and live our own lives.

  We have had quite a few friends of Jeff’s stop in these last days and I know we are ready to pull in with what we do here on Stauffer Avenue, live quietly.

  Dennis will be ram-rodding the tree fellow tomorrow.  I will be content to take the Monday laundry basket on.

  It’s officially fall, folks, with September already half over.  It doesn’t matter much to me, I enjoy one day just like another.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:57 pm on September 21, 2024 Permalink  

  What’s Up 

  There is quite a bit popping loose on Stauffer Avenue.

  Next Monday our favorite tree man will be coming back to the blue barn acre.  The remaining light brush that runs east to west will be taken out to the south line of the property.  We had been on his list for a time.  The tree dump where most of this is going is only a 1/2 mile to the north of us.  Ryan had wanted to get the jobs done that were farther from St. James first.  It will feel so good to do it and get it done.  It is surprising that once the property owners on the south side of that property fence realized we were cleaning, no more extra garbage found its way over the fence.

  We are having guests tomorrow, Sunday.  Megan is coming home from Virginia and she wanted to make a trip to see us.  Fantastic.  I don’t know how many of the family of four is coming.  It won’t be a long visit as her flight leaves late Sunday to take her back home.  Dennis and I will take however many minutes as possible.

  As I am doing this post, Dennis is manning the crockpot as the sloppy joes are being fixed in the crockpot.  I like to have the flavors co-mingle and that could not happen if I start the process at eight in the morning and have them arrive at eleven.  Beans, chips, dip, pickles with the dessert being the frosted pumpkin cookies from our local bakery.

  When we stopped at the bakery before doing the grocer’s. I waited in line until a young Hispanic fellow could ask me how he could help me.  When I told him how many dozen of pumpkin cookies I wanted, he reach behind himself and picked up the pre-packed bags.  I chuckled and he said it made the day so much better when they had bagged cookies ready.

  I do have a progress report on Esther’s wooden box embroidery.  All of the stitching is done.  I had to scrounge for an additional 18″ of a substitute blue floss. Nothing like cutting it close.  The remaining of the project will be done in the studio enlisting the sewing machine and various other of my supplies.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:59 pm on September 20, 2024 Permalink  

  Hello Friday 

  They did say we would have two more days of uncomfortable warm weather.  Don’t you just hate it when they hit it on the nose!

  This morning we had company for most of the morning.  Dennis’ older brother Dick has been gone since the late 80s.  Dennis’ nephews, Mitch and Matt live in Windom and came to spend time with Dennis.  Family reaching out is priceless.  Did they have any relationship with Jeff, no.  Those two boys have stayed close with Dennis and would pop in unexpected, unannounced and the visiting would be hot and heavy.  Priceless.

  This afternoon, Jan from next door came over.  Jan dropped off a set of keys for their garage.  Tomorrow Jan and Randy are leaving on a trip to visit and see what is to see driving east.  Their trips have always been to the west as their Gold Wing group would make plans.  Jan just got a 2024 Ford car.  Whatever the model is, 2024 was the last year for manufacturing it.  No cycle on this trip.  This is Randy’s first trip since retiring from John Deere in December of last year.  He is 70 and John Deere was his first job after high school.  Hmm.

  Dennis is finding that when you slam down on the tailbone it doesn’t feel good for quite some time and there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to sit that it doesn’t hurt.  Every afternoon, I talk him in to lying on his bed.  It doesn’t hurt then. 

  I know from a little bit of history with pain, the more you buy into it, the worse it seems.  Relaxing does help.  I also know keeping busy helps . . . but then, what does the on-site witch doctor know. 

  Another thing I know . . . every day comes with possibilities that may never have crossed your mind.  It seems that those that consider their glass always half full have the best chance of a “sneaking occurrence.”  I am sad for those that have adopted the half empty approach to life.  I do feel sad for Dennis.

  I have taken out of the freezer a glass container of the pasta dish that I incorporated the brussel sprouts in to. 

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥