Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from September, 2017 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 2:55 pm on September 25, 2017 Permalink  

  A Busy Day on Stauffer 

  Today was the day of installation of our basement windows.  Dennis needed to head to Mankato for an appointment and I welcomed the two-man crew.  I tried to catch a camera shot when I knew I would not be in the way.  They were in the patio porch having a good old fashioned lunch so this was my chance.  At this time of the afternoon there is mortar being mixed and the area around the windows is being made “nice” inside and out.  The Watson boys moved the central AC for the fellows.  In days of old whoever thought about where the best place was for an AC, if not right in front of a window.  Dah!

  Dennis is now home and we are happy that even with the rain, the long awaited job will be finished at the end of today.  I am so not thinking beyond this work of today.  Well . . . that thought will go only so long and I’ll be down in the sewing room with rulers, graph paper and doing a “what if” for a floor plan.  They have been extremely careful with the mess of the work and I know that I will be doing the Lena type cleaning first and foremost.  The first thing the fellows did was put down a mat to cover the entry floor and the steps as we have had a half of an inch plus of rain today off and on.

  

  

   
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  Noreen 2:01 pm on September 24, 2017 Permalink  

  This was the first morning that I was taking my walk before the sun was up. As I walked east I was amazed how quickly the bright apricot colored sun did rise. I may have beat the sun up but the mosquitoes were at it full barrel. I was happy when I was out of town far enough that there was a breeze to ward off the buggers.

  Today was weird. The bugs were outside, the basement is tarped off with plastic . . . there was no where to go but the main floor of our home. Oh my gosh! My home is so small!

  What better time to work with photos in my HP Notebook. Getting albums put together was something I had not done since I have been loading photos these months. The many thousands of photos I have on my old Dell laptop is totally cataloged by individuals’ folders. I know it may seem redundant to have two separate computers. The Dell was purchased in 2006 with Windows 7. Kevin advised that the HP Notebook should come on board with Windows 10. Perhaps having the Dell laptop crap out on a Tuesday and needing to becoming accustomed to Windows 10 on a Wednesday could very likely throw me into a loop that I might not recover from. Kevin was right. It was an adjustment.

  It is very handy to have the Dell in the sewing studio. You never know when a YouTube Video might be needed when a question comes up with quilting or even a Bernina sewing machine question. The HP has a spot in the living room. Dennis’ computer is in the west porch . . . yes he likes his own space as much as I do and he has his own Facebook account and has multiple card games loaded to enjoy.  No online card games, just good ones that have been downloaded as gifts.  It does speak to Dennis’ ability to adapt as he can slide into the chair next to either the Dell in the sewing studio or the HP in the living room to access his many card games. All around, the two older ones on Stauffer Avenue can learn just enough to keep up with what is available without being on the phone begging someone for help. Grant it, I do fly a question by the kids every once in a while. O.K. I admit it, nine year old Nicholas just rolls his eyes.

   
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  Noreen 5:07 pm on September 22, 2017 Permalink  

  Time well spent. With book in hand, I found the most comfortable chair in the waiting room of our home town clinic. Dennis was in for a 10,000 mile check up. Aside from getting some reading done, I do enjoy watching people. There was no shortage there. I sent a prayer of thanks upward that I was here as an observer and not as a patient. Dennis came home, not the worse for the wear. He was sure he was a quart low after all the blood tests were completed. Silly ole cowboy.

   
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  Noreen 4:01 pm on September 21, 2017 Permalink  

  This has been a tranquil day on Stauffer Avenue. The temps were great this morning and now are a bit sticky. I just finished wrapping an item for the post office. Tomorrow it will be out and away. The counter gal thinks I don’t catch her “eye roll” in regard to my packaging prowess. Too bad. I have money and I have the right address.

  Dennis’ cold is getting better and I am clanging the pots and pans almost to the same decibel as previous. Small homes . . . noises travel fast and furious.

   
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  Noreen 5:24 pm on September 19, 2017 Permalink  

  Ya, it was a bit cool this morning so I wore long pants for my walk. My knees felt like they were smothering. The walking shorts are not done for the season, I’m just picking and choosing on a day by day basis.

  A challenge with machine embroidery comes about when companies that you purchase designs from have multiple brands of thread they may favor to use in their creations to obtain the finished product. The design is downloaded and as the embroidery unit begins sewing, a coordinating color is requested. I spent some time this afternoon on the computer printing out color charts from various companies. Nothing like having some prep work before it’s needed.

  I have started a shopping list. White cotton socks for myself is “major” on the list. In a time past I bought socks. Hmm, it was a good buy. Yup, they were white and in the shopping basket they went. Ugh! They were a poly/cotton blend. No cotton socks on my tootsies this last season. No matter how you try your very best of the Martha Stewart laundry tips, they are not going to come out white. I admit I may be out on the patio in stocking feet. Who has time to put on shoes every time you turn around. Wearing shoes that are not high tops lets in all sorts of dirt while gardening. Bleach and poly blend fabrics come out yellow. I want my socks coming out of the laundry as white as Dennis’.

  Oh for challenges. It sure keeps my days interesting.

   
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  Noreen 5:39 pm on September 17, 2017 Permalink  

  Today was a very quiet day here on Stauffer. Dennis has caught himself quite the headcold and I am running as far and as swiftly as I can to stay ahead of it. I must have not been fast enough as the head feels a bit stuffy. I did play around in the corner of my sewing studio that I can get at. Trying new things should keep my head too full of ideas to allow the cold to set in for a long visit.

   
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  Noreen 3:42 pm on September 16, 2017 Permalink  

  Today I had the best of the day during my walk this morning. It has since been gloomy, with rain every once in awhile. I came back from the grocery store a bit ago and it was quite cool. I still had my walking shorts on but a few of the other older folks had jackets, and I mean real jackets that I might drag out in December.

  It was a good day to work with my embroidery files. There are just a few too many flash drives on the shelf by the sewing machine. It was time to tidy them up onto the Bernina Flash Drive. Tidily named files makes it easy to scope out what I am looking for.

  When Lorraine was here I had downloaded some embroidery pattern that she wanted to share with me. At the time I had loaded them on the SanDisk flash drive. Today was the day to get them on the Bernina flash drive. I was making great headways. A file for the “7 Days of Dishtowels” and a file for embroidering recipes on towels called “Recipe Towels.” All was going well. Just one more file and it was called “Cut Work.” Sitting at the computer in the living room, something distracted me and I looked up not realizing my left hand was hovering over the palm pad. I had opened a file from the SanDisk and all the EXP files were ready to move over to a document file and after that the Bernina flash drive would be loaded with them. As I looked up it took me awhile to realize what was blinking like crazy. Talk about speed. Wham . . . they were gone. Honest to God, I have yet to figure out just where the hand hover needs to be to initiate the deleting.

  Needless to say there was a huge lesson learned for the remaining computer work. It has happened to me when typing for the daily blog that somewhere in that left hand hover, I would lose everything. I did ask the Geek Squad about disabling the palm pad 100% but that didn’t happen to be addressed at the last visit.

  Live and learn. When walking, keep those steps high. When typing, keep that arthritic left hand high . . . or AWAY from the palm pad.

   
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  Noreen 1:58 pm on September 14, 2017 Permalink  

  Just Hanging On 

  Sitting on the patio this morning after a good walk the dance of the leaves has begun.  The small maple leaves that came out early are the first to do their dance in flight.  The leaves with the clear blue background evoke many fall seasons such as this.

  My favorite fall seasons were the ones on the farm in Renville County.  Having Carrie and Kevin follow me around the garden as we rounded up the last of the harvest was pretty special.  Tomatoes were off limits.  Way too much squeezing going on there.  Of course we had left some cucumbers get too ripe for canning, but they sure made a huge pile in the red wagon to be trundled off to the chickens.  Carrie didn’t like the flutter of the chicken’s wings and Kevin didn’t need to inhale the dust so the doorway was as far as they got and mom got to spread the goodies out to the chickens.  

  We had a great fruit cellar and the red wagon came in handy for hauling the squash.  Our favorite was the Acorn squash.  Two of those halved and baked with a bit of brown sugar and butter . . . yum.

  There are so many aspects of that farm that I miss, but the fall of the year was just the best and because of those memories I savor the days ahead.  My mind’s eye allows me to put aside the hours of hard labor that the farm life required.  It didn’t seem all that bad or that hard at the time.  It was just one day at a time.

  Being on Stauffer Avenue is such a turn around from the farm days.  I now have the time to refresh my memories at will.  There is no garden to clean out as our shady yard says no to that.  The perennials are showing signs of being weary of putting on their show.  The grass is slowing down and the lawn mowers are breathing a sigh of relief.  I think my ole cowboy feels the same way.  Out in back is the last vestige of a lone snowball bloom.  It’s either a late comer or has its seasons mixed up.  It’s just like me . . . hanging on to see what comes next. 

   
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  Noreen 4:40 pm on September 13, 2017 Permalink  

  Today gave me a lift that indeed our basement window project would soon be here. The wonderful Watson boys came and moved our central AC away from one of the windows. The installer had looked at the window/AC situation and asked if we were planning on moving the unit. At that time I had said we were not intending such. In thinking it out, we could not be paying good money out for a once in our life time project and have it jeopardized because the workers could not get at the area properly. The Watsons will return after the windows are in and we have the dug out window wells in place. At that time the AC unit will be securely placed in good proximity to the house and the window. Soon all will be back to normal on Stauffer Avenue.

   
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  Noreen 4:33 pm on September 12, 2017 Permalink  

  Granddaughter Megan and I text each other usually over weekends. When I inquired last Sunday evening how the first four days of her seventh grade classes went, her response sentence included the word “difficult.”

  I can close my eyes and recall both Carrie and Kevin’s integration into seventh grade. Ya, difficult was a wise choice of words from Megan. Changes in classmates, routines and even physical locations all add up to many adjustments.

  If I go back even farther into my memories of my seventh grade it seemed like the same-old, same-old. All eight grades of us were in the one school room of Renville County Rural District 34. Mae Podratz returned as the one and only teacher for the 40 plus of us students.

  In many ways I believe Megan and many other kids might have enjoyed the experience and the comradery of kids of various ages all pooled together. There were no “clicks” or “the in group” or “nerds.” We were one just like the other. Each of the eight grades had one on one with the teacher while the remaining grades were assigned work. The teacher floated throughout the day from grade to grade, to child to child.

  I am not sure how it all worked when it came to lesson plans that needed to be approved of by the County Superintendent. For myself, when I entered public school for my ninth grade there was no catch up from what their curriculum had been. Amazing.

  Megan . . . Grammie hears you. There is way more to school days than the academic pressure in this day and age. That is all I have to say about that. I assured Megan that I believed in her and that in time things would level out. That being said, it doesn’t mean my heart isn’t breaking for her and so many children finding their ways during the first weeks of the new school year.