There are some days when I reflect on the past 24 hours. I feel humble and live in thankfulness. I am no one without my Lord watching over my family’s safety. It leaves me speechless.
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Noreen
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Noreen
Can you visualize a cat roping rodeo event? No, I did not mean a calf roping event. I did mean a cat roping event. This morning our intent was to get Fuzzy and Harry, aka: Harriet into the veterinarian for shots and also to take away the possibility that Dennis and I were contributing to the rampant wild cat population.
We had a plan that sounded pretty good as were sitting at the dining room table last night over supper. The vet tech said that when cats were netted they would not put up much of a fuss, but rather just become immobile while hanging in the net, thus allowing us to position the net in close proximity of the carrier and then reach in and grab them by the nap of their neck. We were prepared with a possibility of two different sized nets, plus Dennis’ heavy leather gloves.
This morning, with coffee cups in hand, we ascended onto the unsuspecting group of porch cats. They were all excited to see us, as Dennis has put the food bowl away last night before he came into the house.
The first of the two nets was too much of an oval and didn’t appear to have the look of a circle of netting coming straight down on the cat. The hardware on the net needed to be flat on the floor after it had been thrown over the cat. We found that out on the first try. A sliver of space and Fuzzy was gone and in hiding.
I put out a bit of food on the floor and of course all six were upon it as if they had not eaten for a month. We decided to get either one and Harry was nabbed. Talk about a blur of gray fur and netting material. It was all Dennis could do to keep the frame of the net pinned down flat onto the floor. It took a bit and Dennis was able to lift the net with Harry swinging in the bottom of it. Sure didn’t look like an immobile cat to me. Cautiously, the cat, the net and Dennis’ arm were in the carrier. It was much like trying to flick off a piece of sticky gum off of your finger, only there were teeth and claws involved. Finally, one down and one to go. Harry in the carrier was tucked into the back seat of the car.
It didn’t take long and Fuzzy was back checking out to see if he couldn’t quiet his hunger pains by finding a piece of the dry cat food. Voila! The net was thrown and Fuzzy was under it. When Dennis lifted the net to navigate toward the carrier, there was no way Fuzzy was going to swing low in that sweet chariot. In a heart beat, he was climbing his way out of that three foot long webbing of net. Dennis tried to push him back down and guess who won?
Okay, so one of the cats ended up at the veterinarian’s this morning. Fuzzy is back to chowing down with the rest until such a time when Dennis will strike again. Fuzzy is so dog-gone fuzzy that Dennis thinks he is a male. Worse case scenario, Fuzzy will wander off to spread his seed, but Harriet won’t be giving us any wee ones.
Life on Stauffer is anything but boring, and that is the tale of the cat roping rodeo. Dennis thinks calves would be easier.
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Noreen
I don’t think anyone in Minnesota is lacking for exercise in the fresh air. Grant it, the 9 to 10 inches of snow that we needed to move in our drive would have been much more of challenge if not for neighbor, Randy. The hard roll of snow at the end of the drive, via the county plows making multiple passes on our street, is much like wet heavy concrete. Randy made several passes by backing into the drive, taking off a huge amount of snow, saving Dennis oh so much leg work. The blowers may be self-propelled, but yet the machine is heavy and bulky to maneuver.
By the grace of Kevin, we do have a snowblower that is teeny, tiny compared to Randy’s John Deere rig. After Randy headed out, it did take us until noon to clear out snow close to the house, the front steps and sidewalk, plus access to the pickup garage door that faces Stauffer Avenue. We always clear the patio area around the garage porch for ease of access in case of needing to make a phone call for emergency help . . . well, I need not say more.
The sun is bright today with the wind dwindling down. Already in the middle of the day there is bare concrete showing from the strong rays of the sun. Dennis is the main man for snow removal, and I feel I can still contribute clearing out the areas with the ever-needed shovel. I am very thankful it is lightweight plastic.
It’s a great day and so very much to be thankful for.
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Noreen
This was just a great day. A highway road trip north . . . always my favorite direction to travel. Our old Lincoln Town-Car is programmed to turn onto Minnesota State Highway 19 for a Fairfax visit with son, Kevin, for a quick visit . . . hug automatically included. We motored a bit farther on and chatted with Kersten where she manages the Casey’s store. That place was jumping getting ready with choices for the noon lunch clients. It may have been a quick visit, but it meant a lot for me to see and touch the kids until the next visit.
From Fairfax we took a county road north to Bird Island to visit my Bernina sewing shop. Karen and Al were kind enough to assist in going through the steps of loading new embroidery designs from a CD to a USB stick that can then be plugged into my sewing machine. Three collections of designs, each with choices in finished sizes, for a total of 120 designs to be worked either for quilts, wall hangings or towels. I will admit, it was a bit overwhelming if it had not been for step by step instructions. One thing that was not available was just a master list of colors of thread that will be needed. I will be working through the patterns and collecting the thread color numbers and then return for thread on another day. This day was huge.
We got home in time to hit the grocery story for some essentials. A great day of travel and instructions and now to honker down before the blizzard that is threatening for the next several days.
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Noreen
Surprise – that’s one on me! Dennis is taking me out for supper to a small spot between here and there. Dennis also said he was ordering for me. Catch ya tomorrow.
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Noreen
Zika virus is all the new news. It may be a bit of relief from the politics. I watch the news once during the day and recently, that needs to be cut back. The news moderators are just a pack of hungry wolves. That’s all I have to say about that.
I am busy watching the sun set. It is beautiful.
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Noreen
Dennis comes in the back house door. “Grammie . . . where are you?” Chances are in a 720 square foot home, I am not far away. “Put a jacket on, I have something to show you and be careful the cement to the garage is all ice.”
Lordy, lordy, there was a brand new furnace that the Watson boys had delivered for hook up, sometime this week. It may have a few bumps and bruises on the housing, but the internal components are new, thus a great deal for us. The old furnace that has been in the garage since 1998 was a cast off at that time from a fellow that installed a new furnace in his home. The new gas furnace will be more energy efficient. We spend a lot of time in the porch over the winter . . . it wards off cabin fever. There are times when one might think that the Popsicle stand on Stauffer Avenue has to be escaped from, the porch is there for a different point of view of the world.
We were very surprised how small this new furnace is. Dennis had noticed there have been times when the old furnace was not trustworthy. We are way too old to be at the mercy of a crisis. We have Koi that need to be kept comfortable, not to mention the kittens and cat. We do have our priorities in check.
We are kind of hoping that the tick list has run its course and the next thing that may need replacing is just a light bulb.
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Noreen
The learning curve with my Bernina sewing machine has been huge, and I wouldn’t missed it for anything. The project I am currently working on will be my most challenging for quite some time. It isn’t about lining up blocks and then sewing. I am incorporating the embroidered blocks with printed sentiments of various sizes, and still having points meet up: Lena’s lesson number one.
Even finding products to use for the embroidery has been a good lesson. Finding tubes of sticky stabilizer of Sulky 12″ x 6′ at a premium price in JoAnn Fabric, compared to ordering off of Amazon and receiving a roll of 12″ x 50′, is downright a godsend. I began using the Amazon roll the day it came in the mail and it does the same job.
So much more to learn . . . taking it day by day, enjoying every bit of it. I am also enjoying Dennis’ command of the kitchen. Today a frozen package of squash became a fragrant custard type baked dessert. The challenge today was using up honey that needed to be heated and used as a substitute for sugar. I may have to enter Dennis into a competition.
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Noreen
Fleeting Thoughts:
When Dennis comes into the back door of our home and the first thing I hear is: “I need help.” I don’t know if I should expect an inquiry that brought blood, a broken bone or a problem with his heart disease. Lo and behold . . . there Dennis stood with a plastic grocery bag and within the bag was a tube of Pillsbury pie crusts and pie filling. “I need some help on how to make this pie.”
Ya just gotta love the spirit that dwells within my ole cowboy. Dennis had bought two cans each of apple and cherry. I can report back: the apple pie was very tasty and a real treat. He was disappointed that there was just enough crusts for one pie as he was all geared up to follow up in the very near future with the cherry pie. It’s a good thing we can slow that process down. Too many treats too close together . . . not such a good thing.
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Noreen
A New Day —
I will never get weary of fabric and thread, but getting a new spin gives me a spurt of energy. I know I have quite a few designs to choose from so the plain turquoise blocks will add a bit of a punch.
— A new idea. I ran across a panel of heartfelt sayings that I had purchased from The Old Alley Quilt Shop a time back. Out came the stashes to see what I could do with it. Since the new sewing machine came on site, it gave me a new insight of possibilities. I had spent most of yesterday trying to draw out a design, complete with colored pencils. This morning, I scrapped that and decided to quit trying to re-invent the wheel, just go with the four patch already! Incorporating the printed blocks with it made for a good challenge.
Dennis was very much in favor of the colors I had picked. It isn’t quite like a southwest color scheme, more of a bright color scheme for the dead of winter. The photo may portray it as a red, but it is a very bight coral. Getting the measurements that are required has now been done, as well as a test square using the embroidery aspect of sewing. I think I am really going to enjoy creating as I go with the turquoise blocks.
Now that I have the idea in place and the size of the blocks I will use, there is definitely going to be an ole cowboy called into service to help run the rotary cutter. Zoom, zoom, and Dennis has strips cut in one svelte swoop.
After working very hard on the ice on the front steps, I know I can lure him in with a cup of coffee. When the front awning slid all the snow off, it became an ice pack on the steps. Our insurance is paid up, but no one needs to get hurt coming to Stauffer Avenue, even if it is a Jehovah’s witness standing out there waiting for the door that will never be opened to them.