Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from November, 2015 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 3:44 am on November 13, 2015 Permalink  

  I never knew that pine cones from a 50 foot tall pine tree being blown off by 45 mph wind could sound like mini bombs hitting the house. If there had even been a fraction of an inch of snow, we would have had a blizzard. The rain was over by the time I got up this morning. There it was, 2.75 inches of rain in the gauge.

  Throughout this day the winds have been howling. I am usually very comfortable with temps in the home at 65, but this wind is making me feel a bit chilly. I can only imagine how Dennis feels. He is the all time Chilly Willy.  If this keeps up, my jaunts out to the porch in my nightie . . . will soon be at an end. Not to worry. We are quite isolated in regard to neighbors. This cooler weather also means that the livestock . . . cats and kittens are confined to the inside of the porch as there will no longer be a patio door cracked for them to come and go at will.

  Today was a let down. I thought the perfect place to place a shelf was inside our closet above the doorway. We do live in a hundred year old home that has had quite a bit of redoing. I really can’t use the word “remodel.” What is a bedroom, with not a lot of extra room, was once two bedrooms with no closet. I got out my kitchen stepladder and really did a close inspection of the area above the closet doorway. I can’t find any type of framing that could possibly hold a handkerchief on a nail, let alone a shelf. The paneling on the inside of the closet above the doorway was fastened on the top and it appears that the plastic thin framing around the doorway has trapped the bottom of those short sheets of paneling. Ugh! Next option might be sky hooks.

  In the end, this little abode on Stauffer Avenue is home sweet home for Dennis and me and we may need to realize, it is what it is.

   
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  Noreen 5:05 am on November 9, 2015 Permalink  

  Time for a Switch Out 

  

  Off with the lightweight sheets and on with the Black Watch Plaid flannel sheets. Dennis’ flannel-backed quilt had its “coming out” party as well. I doubt that Dennis will be able to move about enough to fall out of bed with this quilt. Time will tell if he needs additional bedding.

   
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  Noreen 5:04 am on November 8, 2015 Permalink  

  Another 53 degree temperature day. Another blessing. We headed for the 6th great grandchild birthday party today. Being a one year old, she held up great. Both the Momma and Daddy are in the guards. The amount of fellow gaurdsmen and their families who shared in the day was awesome and there were many, many wee ones in the mix. That group of RED Bulls is a tight group. I can only imagine what they have shared while on foreign ground. I pray they won’t have to go back.

  We are thankful to be back home and reviling in the quiet. Man, oh man, we are so spoiled. I’ll drink a cup of cold coffee to that.

   
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  Noreen 5:51 am on November 7, 2015 Permalink  

  It has bee a good day here on Stauffer. We had a trip to Mankato planned, and before we could leave, granddaughter Erin from Silver Bay, Minnesota, stopped in. What a treat. Erin did bring me a project to work on. It will end up being three projects. I am to use a selection of Ava, Bella and Josie’s clothing from their baby and toddler years and work them into a quilt top for each of them, using their specific items of clothing. I will be making one third of the double sized quilt and signing it “Great Grandma Noreen Curry.” It will be passed on to Grandma Thompson to do the middle third and the remaining third will be Great Grandma Thompson with both signing off. It will then be returned to me to work with the batting and backing. I think this is a sweet idea. Each grandma will have varying ideas and techniques making for a great item full of memories.

  Before Erin left, I opened my basement craft area and Erin shopped for embroidery floss, ribbons of various widths and colors and buttons. Erin does a lot of crafting with her girls. Hats off to her. The price of her shopping . . . wonderful hugs.

  After Erin left, we headed to Mankato, but not before I grabbed my JoAnn Fabric circular that had a great coupon. I knew I will need supplies to turn tee shirt fabric into fabric that will be comparable to the cotton fabric that will be added for consistent sewing. I owed the clerk $34.77. The coupon was for 25% off of regular priced merchandise AS well as any items on sale. My savings were $30.24. Priceless.

  Dennis is off to visit his nephew to catch up on the news of the concrete projects that Brett still has to do this fall. Lots of chit chat will be going on. I have my shoes off and am going to hit the sofa and catch up on the mail, even if most of it will be going into the recycling bin.

   
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  Noreen 5:13 am on November 5, 2015 Permalink  

  Well, well. When I returned from the library, having posted on this site, I was welcomed by Dennis and a snared Mediacom worker bee that Dennis had spied in the neighborhood. All was back to normal on Stauffer Avenue . . . as normal can be for Dennis and me.

  Seven days of being off the grid with a land line phone and Internet service didn’t really impact our household as one might think. Neither Dennis or me are “phone people.” Dennis had his programmed card games on his computer and I made good use of our county library. That sure didn’t hurt me one bit. It actually broadened my horizons by catching up on some individuals who were using the library. Neither Dennis or I needed to use very many minutes on our cell phones during the city utility shut down.

  Now, if this interruption had happened to, as an example, my beloved sister, and I do say that lovingly, it would have been less than a good thing in regard to the world of Mediacom phone representatives and their field representatives. I cannot think of very many land line phone calls that I have had with my sister without more cell phones going off in the background from individuals trying to contact their residence. My brother-in-law heavily uses his computer for contact with various charitable organizations he is involved with . . . thus is the state of disarray his computer is in quite often.

  Nope, I do not want to be in such demand. Did that. Been there. Stauffer Avenue is a place of peace and quite with hermit dwellers within the abode. Priceless. The services are back in full swing and so is the assurance that we can be accessible if needed. It is a lot like car and house insurance. Very rarely needed or accessed, but bring with it a cloud of assurance hovering over the little home on Stauffer Avenue.

   
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  Noreen 11:47 pm on November 3, 2015 Permalink  

  I just got back from Sherburn and the The Old Alley Quilt Shop. My scrappy king sized quilt will be finished on their long arm. It is way too large of a project for me to take care of in my basement.

  The library is very busy this forenoon. In fact, I have yet to be here at a time that it is not. I find that refreshing. We have a great facility and being forced through the front door due to necessity, I more than likely will make better use of it.

  Dennis did get the house washed off yesterday and this morning, with the sun streaming through the windows, one would swear we have Eisenglass for our house windows. Eisenglass was from times gone past and was a heavy privacy glass. I will tackle the two windows today that need to be cleaned from the outside. We are fortunate that the remaining windows can be tipped in for cleaning. With all the hard water droplets on the windows, I am going to first give them a cleaning with Fresh Start. It is a cleaner that Kevin turned me onto. It is a multi-purpose biodegradable product that I use a lot.

  It is time for me to get to the grocery store and pick up bread and a birthday card for Nicholas. Being 8 is not something to take lightly.

   
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  Noreen 2:08 am on November 3, 2015 Permalink  

  I am still at the county library. I do miss my laptop. The monitors are set for the average user and I must very, very short.

  I do feel 50% better today, as we made a trip north to get my sewing machine home. Being out of a land land phone and the Internet was one thing, but add that to a missing sewing machine . . . it was a bit much.

  I also came home with more color brochures for the Bernina sewing machines. Now that the Bernina threads itself, that does sweeten the pot for the arthritic fingers and less than great eyesight.

  These wonderful days of 60 and 70 degree temps are sweet. When we came home from picking up the sewing machine, I came uptown to run some errands and do a post on the blog. Dennis was getting ready to wash off the house from the harvest dust.

  It is not that I don’t trust him, but he does have a way of doing battle with stepladders. I am off to keep a closer eye on him. Better to give him a feeling of me being over cautious, than having him getting hurt. So long for now.

   
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  Noreen 10:32 pm on October 31, 2015 Permalink  

  Today was the last day of the farmers market here in St. James. I now have a stash of squash, onions and potatoes to carry us into the early winter time. My favorite acquisition was two more jars of Joel’s mother’s horseradish dill pickles. Dennis is a fan of dill pickles. I did ask him and his mighty hands to open the very first jar I bought. Before I knew it, he was in the dining room telling me how good they were. He was right! As this was Joel’s last day, he let me in on a secret. After the jar is empty of the original contents, slice up any pickles to small dimensions and let them soak for several days and the horseradish flavor will infuse into the new batch. This I will try.

  I do now have an appointment for Mediacom to come to our home and allow us to have the land line phone and the Internet from Mediacom. It is for November 16th, or the next cancellation. When I was here at the library yesterday late afternoon, I checked my emails and Mediacom had left many messages about the appointment. “Hello,” they need to come due to lack of service. I took a deep breath and used my cell phone to talk to a real live person. How special is that?

  Dennis will come home this evening at supper time, so I think I will head home from the library and bake out a package of bacon and fix a breakfast-type of supper for him.

  Libraries are not open on Sundays, so I will see you all on Monday, with an extra hour of daylight, in the month of November. That is a bit hard to take in.

   
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  Noreen 3:12 am on October 31, 2015 Permalink  

  News from the county library: We may not have a land line phone or the internet until sometime next week. The city utility crew did their work and the rest of it is up to Mediacom. Oh well. I do fund the library with taxes, so I might as well make us of it. Dang, I have to get dressed to do so. After a busy road day yesterday, I had planned on staying in a robe for most of the day.

  Dennis is off to a gun show in Windom. After the setup, I am sure he will make contact with one of his two nephews who also live there.

  Today, I did have to made a visit to my sewing room. I was drawn, much like a moth to a flame. I sure miss that Kenmore. Soon, I hope to hear from the fellow in Bird Island at Karen’s repair shop.

  You may hear from me tomorrow, Saturday, depending on how busy the library computers are. It seems that today all eight were busy and I whiled a bit of time away by browsing some of the latest fictional books.

  Take care.

   
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  Noreen 6:32 am on October 30, 2015 Permalink  

  Well, here we are at the Watonwan County Library. The so-called modernization of burying cables is quite debilitating. It seems it may take a bit longer than they calculated, finding all sorts of lines that had nested in the dirt for the long haul.

  Just wanted to let you know all is well. We did make a trip to the VA center in Minneapolis for the ole cowboy to have a lung scan. Time will tell as there have been some tell-tale signs that needed more investigation.

  Take care and hopefully tomorrow we will enjoy land line phones, Internet, and television before the weekend comes.