Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from April, 2018 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 3:24 pm on April 11, 2018 Permalink  

  More of the same outside but not so much here in the sewing studio. I finished up a project by shopping off of the button tree to the tune of two dozen buttons. My hands are beyond sewing that many buttons on one by one. It was time for plan “B.”

  I had found some great glue that I keep on hand . . . “9001.” It works on metal, fabric, glass and wood. It currently is holding our huge multi level birdhouse onto the plywood base for the third season coming up. Our octagon window in the bathroom has a huge amount of it in the guts of the exterior side of the window holding all those fabricated pieces of wood that is just beyond the exterior frame.

  Today with tweezers in hand I popped a small pearl of the 9001 on the back of each button and carefully placed the button where it was needed. If perhaps I would be washing the fabric using the 9001, I wouldn’t trust it. For crafting . . . by the time the buttons fall off the project that it was on it will have lost its luster and it will be time to put something new up.

  The entire time the button project was going on the embroidery machine ran like a top in the background, stopping just long enough to have a different color of thread as per the design I have loaded. Today was the 10th of the largest designs to stitch out within this packet. Here after will be smaller designs to add to and mix in and stitched together. The end result . . . a rectangle of multiple designs all using a mixture of different colors of plaid flannel . . . a true Christmas Mash up project.

  Dennis and I had lunch together . . . afterward he took a nap and I retreated to the sewing studio. In time he came down and we shared a bottle of Sprite . . . and he playing some solitaire on my sewing computer and I worked with thread and fuzz. Just a hell of a good day.

   
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  Noreen 4:59 pm on April 10, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Art, Arvel, Orlin ( 4 )   

  Hmm. If the sun could and would come out in the early morning hours, we could have better success at getting rid of some of this snow. With having the concrete driveway, it doesn’t take the sun rays long to clean it up and dry it off. It sure beats the two strips of eroding concrete we suffered with in times past. I am sure that in its day having two strips was quite the home improvement.

  Yesterday I happened to look in my “junk” emails. I was flying through them ready to take the whole shooting batch out with one flip of a finger when the name “Art Schafer” shot out at me as if it were in fluorescent letters. Art and I had lost contact.

  Art Schafer is Orlin’s brother. I still consider him my brother-in-law. Art and I are close to the same age. The difference is I have a wonderful full balanced life and Art will live out his life in the Buffalo Lake Health Care Facility. I believe it has been all of 10 years that a car accident put him in a very fragile physical and mental condition. When Mom was in the same facility I would stop and see him. Sometimes he would be agitated and not comfortable having anyone visit. Sometimes he would enjoy reminiscing. In February of 1964 Art and Julie, Orlin and I stood up for each other in a double wedding.

  The email in my junk was a simple “hi Noreen” and nothing more. I tried to reply to the email but it was labeled as undeliverable. I have no idea what Internet connections he has available in the facility. When I contacted Kevin with the news of the contact, Kevin reminded me of the time eight years ago when he and Uncle Arvel, Orlin and Art’s oldest brother, visited Art in the facility. Art was using a vice grip plier with an allen wrench. The narrow tip of the wrench allowed Art to punch keys on his computer as his way of using the computer. Art’s speech was compromised after the accident but he was an avid computer user.

  Today I decided to contact Art’s daughter in Fargo via an email. I told her of the email I had received from her dad and asked if she had an email address she could share with me for her dad. Time will tell if I hear from her. It touched me that out of the blue I had heard from Art. I would so enjoy letting him know that. If I don’t hear from his daughter, I may well contact the facility and see if there would be another avenue available. I most likely will not give up very easily. Family is still family.

   
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  Noreen 4:13 pm on April 8, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Brett, Kersten ( 6 )   

  The fallen snow is quite beautiful on the evergreen boughs . . . again. The concrete is staying clear as the snow falls. It may be cold, it may be snowing, but the sun is up there in the hiding in the clouds and it will not be shunned. These “indoor” days are being taken advantage of in the sewing studio.

  Each spring I have second thoughts about how many of the flower gardens I will tend to. My gut tells me to put them into grass seed. The spirit that controls the gut usually has me out there with the Mantis tiller as soon as the ground is dry enough. There seems to be plenty of time for this debate to continue.

  I am cranking out some awesome stitching that can be comparable to Kersten’s Pokémon quilt. I continue using up plaid flannel scraps and making great use of the quilt batting scraps that nephew Brett passed along as each block already has the batting in place. I will get some photos going for the near future. As each design is anywhere between 55,000 and 68,000 stitches, when the last stitch is done and I can retire the last spool of thread back in the cabinet, I am ready to climb those steps and take part in the ground level portion of our home.

   
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  Noreen 5:57 pm on April 6, 2018 Permalink  

  There doesn’t seem to be any let up in the phone calls that start in the morning hours through the late afternoon. Dennis does answer his cell phone when it rings. I think he has something going on with a gal named Elizabeth who tries to give him a cruise. I am thankful that family members send me a text if they need me and then a phone call may ensue if my response is going to put my fingers in a permanent cramp. For the cost of $19.00 a month we did decide to keep our land line. Many folks our age still use the antiquated tool.

  More threats of snow coming for the weekend. I have decided to take advantage of it being too nasty for anything outside and get as much stitching done as I feel like. Yesterday when we were in Mankato we stopped at Mills Fleet Farm and I stocked up on dish towels to machine embroidery. My favorite quilt shop “River City Quilts” was also visited. All sewing accessories were 30% off. Fusible web is always handy to have on hand whether an actual project or to help with a tough mending problem. No . . . I did not purchase any fabric.

  The north winds really whipped it up yesterday. In 2015 we purchased a new solid wood front door. Upon the installation it was noted that the door frame is quite skewed. Some decades ago it was an open porch with spindled posts and the slated floor for the rain to run off of. Out came the Press and Seal product . . . the one that advertises you can put over leftovers, tip the bowl over and it will hold the contents. What do you know . . . it also works to put over the crack between the door and the door frame. Why did I not think of this in the winter of 2015 and going forward. It is never too late to work through the little things in life that really just pisses you off.

   
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  Noreen 4:53 pm on April 5, 2018 Permalink  

  Dennis has been using a CPAP machine for sleep apnea for nine years. It is a condition where the patient will stop breathing during sleep. I wonder how many people in times past died in their sleep and it was listed as natural causes . . . Hello! From not breathing – I guess that is as close to natural causes as you can get. Those who snore and those who live with someone that snores know that many times there could be a long duration where the person snoring is not breathing . . . sleep apnea. It does not allow for a restful night of rest regardless of how much sleep the person thinks they are getting. It is exhausting for the heart having to rouse the person by a hard jerk to get the body to respond. Dennis went through the sleep study by staying overnight in the hospital being hooked up to multiple machines giving readings. It was severe durations during the hours of sleep that Dennis stopped breathing. Dennis never goes to bed without the mask on. Dennis never travels without packing the CPAP.

  Keeping the product clean is a pain. The long tube that is hooked to a humidifier via the machine that causes the burst of air that rouses the patient is corrugated. They have not as yet manufactured a brush long enough to properly clean it. The gasket that is worn each night is of a latex that is meant to be taken off the hard plastic and cleaned. The soft gasket has multiple pliable areas that are hard to clean.

  Today we went to Mankato to the medical supply store and we purchased a “So Clean 2.” It uses activated oxygen with oxidizing properties for complete sanitizing. Each morning Dennis will be cleaning his unit and it is timed and will be ready for him to use by bedtime. Totally cleaning of the hose, the humidifier and the face mask. I read reviews for hours on the Internet. We thought about this long and hard until we found out Dennis’ nephew has been using this every day for over a year. Never needing to fill our sink again with hot water that has bleach and non-detergent soap and then getting it all rinsed is going to be wonderful. It is a 30-day refundable product.

  Prior to Dennis having this last carotid surgery, the lung X-ray indicated several spots of congestion in his right lung. That played right into the fact that Dennis usually has phlegm to get rid of . . . which is not socially acceptable. When I have heard him sneezing or having a cough into the face mask during the night, it meant an automatic cleaning the next day. This is so worth a try. Personally I cannot imagine having to wear a mask over my face every night much like a gas mask. Putting that aside it would bring peace of mind that the unit is totally cleaned for every night’s use.

  We did do some errands after the medical store and we are home safe and sound and happy to be home after a busy day in the big town.

   
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  Noreen 4:24 pm on April 3, 2018 Permalink  

  Snow bunnies are abound. Talk about heavy wet stuff. I went out long enough to get the “stink blowed off of me” . . . as Dennis would say. The concrete is wet underneath. As soon as I pushed the snow off for a path into the garage, it became slick to walk on. The wind from the north is brutal. Neighbor Randy comes home for noon lunch. It didn’t take long he was taking swaths of snow off of our driveway. When I went out at five to push a path open, the far end of our driveway had quite a drift over it. Randy will be back as I don’t think he is ready to park his long green toy for the season. I have allowed him to know how much his help is appreciated.

  I had been in the sewing studio for most of the day. There are still a few leftovers from Easter Sunday to tide us over for supper. I have had some software programs for several years for a twist on appliqueing in conjunction with machine embroidery while all is in the hoop under the needle. When I texted my Aunt Lorraine in Arizona after lunch, she warned me it is slick but very time consuming. Time will tell if I have anything to share here in days to come. With the weather forecast as it is, I have the time to try this.

  In the snow it was easy to spot a pair of Cardinals and also a pair of Blue Jays in the Lilac bushes along with Grackles, and little tiny birds picking at seed pods from last years Lilac blossoms. That made my day. The little things in my day feed my soul. Talk about feeding . . . I think I would be happy with some popcorn for supper. We had a warm noon lunch and neither of us have really done much since. I’ll need to check with Dennis on that.

   
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  Noreen 3:30 pm on April 2, 2018 Permalink  

  Dennis and I are in a relax mood this afternoon. We each had an item on our individual agendas today and once we did all we could do, it was downtime. Complete Basements is coming on Thursday for a visit in regard to our frozen underground drain line of the sump pump and how this can be remedied for winters to come. Our trench that we dug on Saturday is taking the water from the foundation and in time all will thaw out. But . . . you can bet a dollar to a doughnut when their person leaves here on Thursday there will be an appointment on my calendar for their people to be back for a fix.

  Dennis went and had a visit with his favorite nephew Brett in regard to using some of his equipment after the frost is out of the ground. Dennis got it done.

  With the cold week upon us we can be content that we have done all we can at this point and chill.

   
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  Noreen 4:27 pm on April 1, 2018 Permalink  

  There could be no amount of horrible north winds or threat of more snow that could possibly take away the warm fuzzy feelings I have had since Friday. Within a short span of the weekend all of my family has been here on Stauffer Avenue. Smiles, hugs, giggles . . . just about covers what will warm my heart until the next birthday. There was a bit more to today as Kevin and Kersten emptied the Stauffer Avenue job jar. Tweaking here, tightening there, adjusting fittings . . . makes for a safe feeling as the Fairfax team left our home. Dennis and Kersten gave a thumbs up on the new recipe I tried out on them for dessert. It’s all priceless!

   
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  Noreen 3:47 pm on March 31, 2018 Permalink  

  Oh my gosh! It’s so cold outside with a raw wind that could most likely be causing the spring song birds to hide. It also happens to be my birthday today. That, however, does not give a pass to what needs to be addressed. I went out to check on the huge branch of the deep purple lilac that has been twisted to the point of almost detachment. When I turned to go back around to the driveway, I realized the huge collection of water around the sump pump as it egresses the house next to the house foundation. That was not suppose to be there. The underground line that the sump pump is attached to was frozen to the point that the water had no where to go but pump out onto the yard.

  I snapped a photo of the sump pump area and sent it with a text to Complete Basements . . . “is this going to cause a problem that I can’t see at this time?” I soon got a return call. The proximity of the sump pump to the new basement window and the window well is less than two feet . . . “yes it could be a concern if the window well fills to the point that the basement window would allow water to run down into and down the interior basement wall.” Shucky darn! Dennis and I managed to hack a spot through the ice-covered yard area where the sump pump drain surfaces. Dennis went to Fleet and Farm for a bag of salt to be emptied on the surface of the drain. I decided my yard was not as important as my sewing studio. I did the ole farmer, Raymond Wendlant, solution. I begin digging a trench to take the water away from the foundation of the house and sump pump and allow it to run to the north. Thankfully there is a slight incline. I could have used a pickax but made good use of our ax to break through the ice layer until I hit soft dirt.

  We have had a winter of having no snow cover – to having rain with extreme cold temperatures allowing a layer of ice that was then covered with 11 inches of heavy snow. The surface of the yard on the north side of the house is as hard as a rock. It is very easy to see how this freezing of the drain line has frozen. It is the first time in twelve years of having the sump pump installed. Monday I will be contacting Complete Basements with the question as to why there cannot be a rubber boot in place where the sump pump PVC pipe comes to the surface to allow for a temporary dis-connect to the under ground and allow for a secondary hose to be attached.

  We are about to put together my “Happy Birthday supper.” As we are pooped, it may well be fried eggs and Spam with toast. It is still a wonderful day for my 74th birthday. Logic and stamina pull through to get through some tough challenges.

   
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  Noreen 4:48 pm on March 28, 2018 Permalink  

  What can I say! I am in God’s waiting room for spring beyond a few glimmers of sun, followed by rain showers. It’s not about me. He has a plan and patience may be what the world needs by weather patterns that keeps us wondering . . . when will it change. It will change when He decides. Suck it up people. Perhaps I have become complacent. I heard the forecast that included the word “snow” and I continued to tidy up the back entryway making sure I had my wool cap and mittens close by. This time of the year the 40 degrees makes my bones feel like it is -20 degrees . . . artificial joints tell the real story.