Today was a day to just be here on Stauffer Avenue and be content and peaceful.
Updates from July, 2016 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Noreen
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Noreen
Today comes with two sided emotions. Dennis and his son are headed to the airport so Ken can fly back to Arizona after an extended stay here in Minnesota visiting family and friends. It will be some time before he comes back. That would be the sad portion of this tale. The happy portion of this post is that Dennis will have his little red pickup back after a three week separation. For Ken to have rented a car for this time would have most likely broke the bank, aka: his bank.
I am working on a fairly large project with my embroidery machine. Yesterday, I learned how to go into my computer and re-size an image to alter it from the original that I had downloaded onto a USB stick. Live and learn and hopefully do it often enough that it will become second nature. Try, try and try until I get it lodged into my gray matter.
This project will keep me busy until I know Dennis is home safe and sound.
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Noreen
A Great 4th of July
All is well on Stauffer Avenue on this 4th of July, 2016. Our wish is that peace and safety is enjoyed by all.
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Noreen
We are right on track with our errands. Dennis has a brand new CPAP machine for his daily use in getting a good night’s rest. By the way, the invoice states the price is $7,660.00. Between Medicare and our supplement it will be taken care of. It poured rain in Mankato right at the time that we needed to be at the appointment. When we came home, I did notice that we had just a tenth in our rain gauge. We dodged the storms that traveled about the state today.
Dennis came home and decided to check his eyelids for cracks and I spent some time in my rocking chair out in the little red pickup garage. We are so close to getting the porch ready to be enjoyed. The carpet remnant has been laying on the new plywood floor for two days and the kinks in it are doable. While Dennis took a break, I decided to began trimming the carpet to fit the floor. Of course the porch is not square with the world. It was a poured concrete slab as a patio. The porch was built on the slab and ya-da-ya-da!
Perhaps tomorrow I will be enjoying my rocking chair in the porch on new carpeting. If this carpet lasts ten years like the old one, we will be very happy. It will be the peace that passes all understanding right here on Stauffer Avenue.
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Noreen
Where did this day go? Carpet was delivered for Dennis’ porch. It needed to be 12′ x 16′, with it just lying on the green treated plywood floor. The young fellows delivered it and off they were. What would have been a roll out did not happen. It is a 16′ x 16′ paid for and delivered. We do have it rolled out and will let all the folds have a chance to relax. When a remnant is purchased we do make allowances. Dennis does have a very sharp carpet knife and the trim job will be later this week. We are very patient.
On a very good note, all the branches from trimming shrubs and trees are loaded on the two wheel trailer for a drive out to the tree dump later this week. The backyard looks tidy.
I did spend a lot of time on the phone today. My sister, Elvera, has had a re-accordance of cancer. The five year reprieve is over. Support is important and I do know how to step up even over the distance between our homes. At the age of 78, one is never ready for what may come. Radiation five days a weeks is daunting.
Time for some quiet hours this evening.
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Noreen
Big day to the big city, Mankato. Dennis is ready to have a sleep machine geared to his latest sleep study and he can pick up it on . . . Thursday. Man, oh man. Talk about red tape, and yes, it is worth it all. Insurance mandates and Medicare have their hoops, and though Dennis has been using a machine for the last eight years, he has to go through a training class on its use.
I visited the Geek Squad and purchased three years of Internet security for up to three computers. Right now that is the number of computers we have and the coverage for one computer was the same as for three. That does sound extravagant, doesn’t it? Dennis is adept in the west porch with his television and his computer. What better way for him to see photos of the grandchildren and great grandchildren in a timely way on Facebook. Trying to outsmart the computer on a game of cribbage keeps the gray matter healthy as well. I am fortunate to be able to have a computer in my sewing studio. If the embroidery mode is going on the sewing machine, it affords me the time to pop out an entry for my blog, check YouTubes when I need some clarification of sewing and quilting techniques, plus downloading images for the embroidery options on the sewing machines. It is surprising what .99¢ can still buy. The laptop in our living room is eight years old and I realize it will not last forever. Right now, convenience of accessibility is sweet.
We did get back to St. James before five and Dennis picked out carpet for his porch at Nelson Furniture. It is a remnant and will be delivered tomorrow. You can’t beat local service. Dennis and Tim Nelson go way back. Dennis remembers Tim when he came back from Vietnam. Tim was not in very good condition. It was important to Dennis that we shop locally with Tim.
Dennis is so ready to get his porch back to normal use. He tells me many, many times how much he loves our home on Stauffer Avenue with me in it, and our four season porch is a huge portion of what denotes “home” for him.
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Noreen
What is not to like about a day with the temps in the low 70s. The breeze was great and made for good yard work conditions. Dennis did a bang up job of the mowing and my trimming wasn’t too shabby either. With all the rain we have had I knew it couldn’t hurt some trees and shrubs if they got a bit of a hair cut. Nothing is more annoying to the fellow on the lawnmower than getting swatted with low hanging branches. In a few days the greenery will have dried and the branches will be ready to cut down into doable fire pit sizes.
On a very bright note: Out of the corner of his eye, Dennis noticed another cat was eating breakfast with the usual gray and yellow cats. There was a white one! Snuggles was wolfing down Meow Mix. Oh my gosh! He has been gone for a month! He is very skinny and I can count the bones on his back. It took a while before he came forward for some petting. But now, as of this afternoon, neither Dennis nor I can sit down on the patio and we have a very dirty white cat draped on our laps. Oh how I wish he could tell us where he has been. It was wonderful to have our neighbor Jan come out this morning and when she saw Snuggles, she was down on her knees and yup, the little ham that Snuggles is, was right there to get some loving. Can’t have too much of that for the one that came home safe and sound.
Yes, we are ALL doing well on Stauffer Avenue.
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Noreen
I have no idea how hot it got today. I do know that there has been a brisk breeze and I have spent most of the day on the patio . . . sitting still. I can speak for both the ole cowboy and myself that yesterday may have been a bit much for us with the temps in the 90s and high humidty. Dennis had been at the car show on the concrete of our main street in the heat of yesterday, and I was busy with our carpenter.
For myself, I knew by last night that I would feel the effects of trying to be what I had been perhaps twenty years ago, no, make that 40 years ago. The mind is willing and the body thinks “Okay, if this is how you want to play it, but payback is hell.”
I sat still for the bulk of the day and Dennis checked his eyelids for cracks several times today. I can say that tomorrow is a new day and we will be stepping up to whatever surfaces . . . and when Dennis looked at me today and then let his gaze wander to the acre, I knew it would be mowing.
Life on Stauffer is still sweet.
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Noreen
Good Results
My oh my. It was a really hot day right out of the gate this morning when I got up at seven. For me getting up at seven is rare. I knew that our favorite carpenter would be here right at eight. Dennis left for the St. James Railroad Days events shortly at eight. Main Street hosts the car show and Dennis had his 1965 Ford Galaxy ready.
I have been around Jim Bob, our carpenter, several times when he has done work for us. I know what to help with and when to get scarce. We had our lumberyard deliver green treated supplies and the object was to put the sub-floor down on top of the porch concrete floor. There comes a time when the older ones on Stauffer have to give up the battle and do a fix. With seepage onto the floor when the patio has more rain water that it knows what to do with, it does find ways to creep in. The bare concrete floor takes only several hours to dry off. We have found it is quite nice to put a carpet down. Oh yes, the comforts of home. Megan and Nicholas have appreciated the carpeted floor as well as they get out various games and toys to spread out on.
We are now ready for the next phase and that is picking out just the right color of carpet that is tagged as “Indoor-Outdoor.”
Five hours from start to finish and the project is completed. I cleaned up scraps of wood and carried it right over to neighbor Bob’s burning pit. One day Dennis and I are going to have to help clean out ashes. By the time I had the last of the saw dust vacuumed up, Jim Bob had his tools in his pickup. We talked about several options for venting and decided on holes on the east and west as that is how the 2 x 4 stringers run. The carpets will not be so dense as to work against this plan. Some of our chairs have fairly small caster rollers and it wouldn’t take much for a roller to find a hole if there were holes other than at the sides. Time will tell if more holes will be needed.
Jim Bob and I had some cold water on the east patio after the job was finished. It is 90 degrees plus, but a brisk wind did help cool us off. Jim Bob was telling me his take on big box stores and what they sell. As an example, Menards may sell products with the Kohler name, but the specifications of the product may be adjusted to warrant Menards selling it for a reduced price. I had never taken notice, but Jim Bod said
that somewhere on the product label, be it Lowes, Menards or Home Depot, there may be a “M”, “L”, etc to testify to the fact that that product meets their individual specs. It is much like what an outlet mall may sell. It is always nice to hear the skinny from people who make building supplies their specialty.Dennis is now home from the car show and he is willing to call it a day. I can only imagine how hot it was sitting in what little shade could be found. There were 50 cars that participated. Now we need to stay tuned to the weather channel. The last report was that there is a storm about 60 miles to the southwest of us and we may be included. Bummer.
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Noreen
After fixing us a light supper, I have my cotton nightie on. I had a great trip up North to take in all the hard work that Kersten had put in on an appreciation day at the Casey’s that she manages. It was also to celebrate and make known the fact that they are open 24/7. I found out that the Fairfax store is one of the few and far in between that has put on an event such as what was today. It seems at the last moment other managers have backed out, but not my “go get-’em” daughter-in-law. Kevin could take in all the car traffic at the Casey’s from his place of work just a bit to the east. Ya, I had a hard time getting out of the way from someone that wanted my parking spot. I know I got the car horn and I did not wait to see if there was any visual message as well.
It was just a great trip to the north country.
I stopped for groceries in town on my way home. We have always had two large grocery stores. Not so anymore. The one that we have enjoyed is closing the end of June. I will miss the people that always greeted you with a smile. I do believe the Family Dollar Store has impacted the shopping habits of our community. I frequent it as I know that my dollar does go farther and it all counts up. Anyway, by the time I got the groceries into the house and put away, I really felt extremely warm. I could not wait to get into something that was totally cotton to cool down enough to get supper on the table. I am like my Dad. I get hot quickly and sweat to no end. In the heat it is all about pacing one’s self, and from the forecast, I will be pacing myself a lot.
