I have returned home . . . home sweet home. Today I took a solo road trip to my sister’s community for the committal of her ashes. For 18 months her remains have served as research at the University of Minnesota. I grew up at Stewart, Minnesota. When my sister married Orville Trettin our family farms were within three sections apart. I and Orville’s sister Carol were chums. Today was a good day to connect on so many levels. Being back in my sister’s home was as if she had never left. Orville is not yet ready to move any of the things that were left by Elvera at a time when they went on an RV trip. It had never entered her mind that she would not return home. I have returned home . . . home sweet home.
Updates from June, 2018 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Noreen
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Noreen
When I came back from my walk this morning, Dennis was already in his recliner for a nap. I took another cup of coffee and headed out to the yards. We had a huge dumping of rain over night. At three this morning the thunder and lightening woke me. I got up and seeing across the street was difficult through the heavy rain. Again our neighbor to the south has a huge pond that also needs mowing when the water goes down. Last week he was doing laps around the water pond with his lawnmower.
Yesterday I had managed to clean up a bit from branches, green things not wanted in the flower beds and whatever had blown or washed into areas where it was not wanted and it had been left in a pile. This forenoon Snuggles and I filled bushel basket after bushel basket and trucked it over to the fire ring. Yup, it’s too wet to burn, but leaving it piled on the grass would not be a good thing.
I put out more granules on spots that have sprouted up with huge ant hills. What is up with that! I got dirty this morning, complete with heavy muddy shoes, but the agenda had been met. The hardest part was getting Snuggles out of the potting shed. So many things to sniff. So many things to check out in the far corners.
How did Dennis fare? Finally at one this afternoon I woke him to see if he was willing to take nourishment. It seemed to be one of those napping type of days. For the first half hour he was out on the patio swinging his right arm as it apparently had been tucked in too hard in the recliner for the long nap. Too funny.
Tomorrow I will be traveling to my sister’s home town. Her ashes have been returned to the family and there will be a family committal service at the cemetery. Closure is a good thing.
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Noreen
There is nothing that will roust one out of self absorbed thoughts than a 10-year-old great granddaughter of Dennis’s bounding into the house and declaring that the school year is over for the summer. Addison is going to be spending most of the summer up north at Silver Bay where her grandmother, Dennis’ daughter, lives. Addison looks forward to canoeing, fishing and living the rustic life at a lake cabin. The best part for her is that there are three girl cousins awaiting her time there. Dennis’ daughter Sue and her husband stopped in shortly to pick up Addison and all of “her stuff.”
A flurry of activity on Stauffer Avenue and then the quiet. It’s not all bad to have a mix. Too much of either one can be daunting. Today is Friday, we have had a good week. For myself, I am going to pull into myself for the evening and let the memories roll. So many good memories and time well spent. I would be hard pressed to single out any one memory specifically.
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Noreen
Though rare, I do hit Minnesota State Highway 60 solo from time to time. A group of us that do machine embroidery met at one of the quilt shops in Mankato to share tips on stitching, materials and projects. YouTube videos are wonderful, but you can’t beat open conversations. The group is of various ages using various brands of sewing machines to accomplish the end result. For the most part I am self-taught. Several of the gals have traveled as far as Seattle for workshops. I continue to take part in these gatherings as at a unique moment a grand tip can be picked up. My end game remains the same . . . I am having fun doing it.
While I was in Mankato, Dennis finished up the mowing that we got rained out on last night. We started the mowing late yesterday to give the grass a chance to dry out. We had agreed that a late supper would be the plan. When the clouds began dumping rain, we had supper right on target. That rain tipped us over three inches within the week. The week went quickly and as usual the weekend will be taken as it comes.
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Noreen
Supper time on a Wednesday and again the skies are dark with droplets of rain. We had 1.85 inches last night with winds that meant business. Monday night there was damage west of us. Last night a barn went down south of us. We have been so fortunate.
When I came home from my walk this morning, I had missed the action in our yard. Snuggles had been acting strange and when Dennis investigated, there was a huge opossum waddling away from our yard and heading to our neighbors yard north of us. By the time Dennis had gotten his gun, the possum was not to be found. They are so nasty. I am happy Snuggles had not tangled with it. It would have meant a trip to the VET ER.
I think we have had our share of rain and heat. It does make me wonder what June will bring.
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Noreen
I had bugged off of walking the last several days but this morning I had my walking shoes on and ready to go . . . I just didn’t go as far as I usually would. By the time I got home I had soaked through the waist band on my jeans. . . and beyond. Another high 90s day and the dew point and humidity are also high. I was already past comfortable so I decided to clear off the patio of Oak blossoms, airplane seeds from the maple and small sticks from the wind storm that blew through at supper time last night. We were fortunate as there were buildings that went down about eight miles to the southwest of us. I finished up by doing some vacuuming in the patio porch. Local effort . . . completed.
I admit it . . . I got real and spent some time in the basement where it is cooler and I have a small fan . . . in my underwear to totally cool down. I sweat like Dad did. Not to worry, I had the house doors locked. After an hour, I was ready to wash up and tidy up to go with Dennis to his doctor appointment here in town. Dennis is in the process of going off of some of his meds that he has been on for some time. The opioid prescription is no longer. There is one other that was at 3,200 mg per day and today he is at 1,200. The carotid surgeries have been successful in fewer meds. Priceless. It is still a work in progress.
Noon had us back at home and all errands taken care of. We currently are in a storm watch. It has been raining quite hard and for all practical purposes it should help the lawn fertilizer that we just put down. The granules for the ants also likes the rain for effect. Heat, humidity, dew point, rain . . . we take it in stride and I get stitching done when it’s not a good idea to push my luck outside. It’s a win, win.
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Noreen
To acknowledge the temperature today . . . not nice. Today we were asked to Paynesville for a noon picnic. Great nephew Justin was home on leave from the Marines and his family wanted a family get together as it may be some time before he will be home again. My brother, Michael and his wife Joann, and Dennis and I stood in as grandparents for the day as well as the fact that Justin’s dad could not make it. It was a good thing of family support. Michael is a Vietnam veteran and Dennis is a Korean veteran. It was good sharing support from two veterans as Justin travels on in his aviation training. In time to come he and a team would be airborne traveling to wherever they were needed to keep other airborne aircraft abled.
Was this what Dennis and I would do on a day when we would be welcomed back into our hometown late afternoon with the bank’s flashing temperature at 101? Usually not. What can I say? We do what the heart leads us to and are thankful to be safe at home after a great day.
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Noreen
Out of the literally blue sky last night we went from blue to purple. At supper time we commented that those north of use would most likely be getting some rain and or storms. Not a half hour later, Dennis was putting down the umbrella and batting down the hatches in the patio porch. The wind whipped the heavy rain in every direction. Every side of the house had lilac and crab tree petals stuck to the siding when all was said and done.
I was hoping the rain would have cracked the heat that was forecast for today . . . not. I blew off the patio this morning, picked up tree branches and righted the patio chairs. After a storm, no matter how long lasting, I am always thankful there was nothing severe in damage to our home.
We had forenoon company when Dennis’ niece and her husband from Morris stopped in. It’s always a good thing to catch up with family. When Jean and her husband left, Dennis decided to check his eyelids for cracks and I headed down into the sewing studio.
Jean is three years younger than I am. She was just recovering from having cataracts done on both eyes. Her vision is still recovering. Jean also made mention of meds to control the shaking in her arm and neck, also known as onset of Parkinson’s disease. Needless to say I said a prayer of thanks for my health as I whiled away the hot afternoon in the sewing studio. Dennis says I am too mean and too suborn to get the chronic stuff. Lord, oh Lord, I hope he is correct. Personally, I think perseverance is a more apt for what I practice than Dennis’ terminology. Tee Hee!
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Noreen
Twelve noon is my limit for being outside when it is as humid as it was today. I had ordered some towels for embroidery and they came on Monday. As I loaded a recipe to stitch out on one of the towels for Peppermint Bark I was banking on the cold weather recipe to help with the mindset of today’s level of outside comfort.
With the embroidering well on its way, I pulled out my ever faithful Filter Queen vacuum. I do try to keep the threads and fuzz under control in the sewing studio. When I notice bits of thread in various colors on the living room floor I know where the shoes drug them up from. It seemed today was time to touch all corners. As we have no carpeting in our home, the Filter Queen has a permanent home in the sewing studio. The main floor of our home is serviced by the Swiffer mop.
Unfortunately I am hearing on the six o’clock news there may be bad weather to the north of us. Extreme heat brings warnings to be heeded. Time to send up a few petitions for safety for all.
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Noreen
Fantastic day of taking care of the acre. It started out with a whole lot of wet grass. After a good noon lunch of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup, I headed out to do the trimming and Dennis took a short nap. Using the rider goes oh so much better if I have the trimming done around trees, utility poles and gardens.
After Dennis had mowed an area to the east he commented on all the ant hills that have shown up. I dug out a product that we had in the garage cabinets for just such critters. The powder is meant be carried by the ants into their secluded haunts. When I walked the area spreading the goodies I know I will be going out to Fleet and Farm and picking up another bag. There are a whole bunch of areas that need treatment. Several years ago we lost a huge area of nice grass before we got right down and personal for a close peek.
We have a great gas leaf blower that has a lot of power to tidy up the sidewalk, patio and driveway. One bad thing . . . you can also pull your arm off getting it started. I resorted to the old electric Black and Decker leaf blower. It’s easier for me to work with electric cords than having an arm that feels less than good.
The afternoon flew. Dennis and I finished our tasks in tandem. Here we are and it’s supper time. Crispy chicken tities and waffles. Sounds good to me.