Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 12:23 pm on March 11, 2020 Permalink  

  Leaving Texas Part Two 

  As I had posted previously, we were settling into Beaver Falls, Minnesota.  Orlin was working with herds of beef cows and I was making a home in a huge older farm house. I was five months pregnant with Carrie and enjoying each day.

  It didn’t take my mom and dad long and they returned with a used automatic washing machine.  In the back of their pickup were poles that dad had welded and would sink into the backyard for drying the clothes.  An old house that had been added on to, luck would have it there was a door going into the backyard from the bathroom.  Most likely that area had been a porch at one time.  The electrical would not support a clothes dryer, but at that point, getting the clothes washed was wonderful.  There was a catch to the automatic wash machine.  It needed to be filled with lengths of garden hoses for the wash cycle as well as the rinse cycle.  One hose for hot, one for cold.  Who cared!  All I had to do was stay on sight so as to not run the tub over.  It got the clothes clean.  

  We had a great summer at Beaver Falls.  The house stayed cool under huge shade trees.  Life was settling in for us.  There was a fair amount of company from Orlin’s family and mine.  Orlin’s family would come from Olivia, Hector or Willmar.  My family was from Stewart.   My two brothers were in high school and they had a blast bringing along tackle and bait to see if there was something to catch in the creek near the farmstead.  Weekends, we had a trip to Redwood Falls to look forward to for groceries.  We never had to buy meat as that was plentiful from Orlin’s sister’s farm.  A trip for groceries also meant a treat at the A&W before we came home.  

  The only surprise that caught me off guard was a day when I was home alone and a truck with a car carrier came up to the yard.  I waited to see if someone would come to the door and when they didn’t, I went out to see what was going on.  I don’t even know where they were from, but they came to take the car that Orlin had driven from Texas to Minnesota pulling the U-Haul.  The car was being impounded due to lack of payment.  There went that beautiful white Mercury that we had gotten shortly before we traveled to Minnesota.  When Orlin came home for supper that night with a questioning look as the driveway was empty.  All I could do was give him the paperwork that I had been left with.  No use crying over spilled milk.  There was more to life than a new car.  In time when the cattle yard work was done, Orlin and his brother-in-law went to Hector and we had a brand new used car for us.  It all worked out.

  During the early morning hours of October 17, 1965, Orlin and I headed to the Olivia hospital.  We were about to become parents.  We were prepared on the home front.  My sister Elvera had brought over a bassinet and inside it was fresh clean flannel blankets that Grandma Schafer had made.  There was an adequate supply of flannel diapers that mom and I had hemmed when she had visited.  Carrie came into the world with ten toes, ten fingers and a set of lungs that to this day cannot be squelched.  Within the next hours all felt right with the world.  Sometime after the first 24 hours it seemed as if Carrie would need more help than they could give in Olivia.  Babies are suppose to pee their diapers totally wet.  Carrie had not passed a drop.  It could be a serious situation.  The Olivia hospital had made arrangements for Carrie to be taken to a metro hospital.  My mom and dad were at the foot of my hospital bed ready to take Carrie away.  Mom had her bundled up to her nose.  It was tense and worrisome.  At the last hour, so to speak, her diaper was wet.  Extremely wet.  The hospital stay was five days, and believe me, Carrie was checked and checked.  All was well.

  ——–to be continued.

  On a side bar.  We had two inches of wet snow last night.  Pretty to look at.  Today the mild temps and sun are taking it away.  Winter may not want to leave us as yet.

   
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  Noreen 4:29 pm on February 5, 2020 Permalink  

  In the Quiet – Conclusion 

  We had settled into Waco, Texas, as Orlin was selling Lutheran Brotherhood Insurance.  There were good neighbors next to our home, the church friends were great, there was a feeling of belonging.

  Orlin had a small Volkswagen Karmann Ghia car that we used after we had gotten moved into the Waco home.  Riesel people had been great helping us with the move.  Orlin left work work each morning as there was a general office for Lutheran Brotherhood where prospective client contacts were accessed.  I kept busy in the home.  I had a rough time with morning sickness with the pregnancy and it took me a time to get going. 

  With having one vehicle, we did our grocery shopping after supper.  We always unpacked our groceries outside on the back porch and carried them in one at a time.  Cardboard boxes and paper bags made great hide-outs for roaches.  Let me tell you they came in all sizes.  They were fast and hard to take out once they got a foothold.  Riesel had scorpions; Waco had roaches.  I always put my shoes up off of the floor.  Sliding my foot into a shoe that already had an occupant was not a good thing.

  I don’t know if the cost of living was high within the large town.  We didn’t need a joint bank account as I was not working and didn’t go anywhere during the day that needed money.  Some church gals would pick me up to go to another’s home for an afternoon, or they stopped at our home.  I really didn’t have a clue as to our resources.  After the morning sickness was over, life seemed good.  We spent some time visiting one of the parks that also had a fishing lake.  It was fun on the weekends to pack a sandwich and watch the goings-on at the park.

  There was quite a chain of events that summer.  We didn’t have a telephone.  Orlin worked from the company office and made his contacts there as to who was interested in purchasing Lutheran Brotherhood products of various types.  I was a heavy duty letter writer to my mom and dad and sister.  Once in a while I got a note from dad that he had slipped in with mom’s.  I loved getting those letters.  

  There was going to be a banquet at the Lions Club monthly meeting.  Orlin would meet me there after his work day. Norman and Elaine White would pick me up and we would go as a foursome.  It was a fun night of music and some party games.  When we all said our goodbyes and went to the parking area, I had a huge surprise.  We were going home in a brand new white Mercury car.  The Volkswagen had broken down during the day.  Orlin’s friend in Waco, Marv Horton, had helped Orlin get the broken down car to his home and there had been shopping that ensued. 

  As time went on, the title card for the car came in the mail and we had a larger car to go and get groceries with.  I was feeling fine physically and took to doing some yard work during the day.  The grass never did get real green but there had been some flowers to tend to that someone . . . sometime had planted.

  The surprise of the late August came when Orlin came home from work and announced that my mom and dad would be at our home that weekend.  Orlin had contacted them and there was a plan.  I would return with Raymond and Lena to Minnesota with most of my pack-able belongings, while Orlin took care of closing up the home and other odds and ends.  We were moving back to Minnesota!  Orlin would follow a bit later on with the Mercury and a U-Haul trailer.  I, in the meantime, would be staying with his mom and dad in Hector, or spending some time with my mom and dad on the Boon Lake Farm.

  There was no end to the questions that I had.  There were no real answers to be had.  All had been settled.  In my mind’s eye . . . all I cared about was keeping our baby safe.  October was not that far away. 

  ---

  In thinking through this time frame, it all came back easily as most of my memories do.  From February of 1964 to the fall of 1965, there had been a lot of experiences that had been lived.  Perhaps sometime when the quiet settles in again, I will again pull memories from the wonderful birth of our first child, Carrie Brett Schafer, born on October 17th, 1965, and where our days, weeks and months going forward had taken us.  The entire memory of this time has become oh so very sweet.  Save the best and leave the rest: good words to live by.

   
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  Noreen 4:13 pm on February 4, 2020 Permalink  

  In the Quiet – Part Three 

  We settled in at Riesel, Texas.  Orlin worked in Mart and . . . Norman White thought he could use some help at the Riesel Rustler newspaper and shop.  Norman taught me to run a hand-feed press.  There was an ongoing order for the postcards that was used for the gas meter reading.  When Orlin came home from work, he may not have been the only one with some ink on the hands.  I enjoyed meeting the people that came through the shop.  Norman’s son Scottie worked on the paper prep and had a never-empty bottle of “soda water” setting not far away.  If memory serves me it was Big Red.

  The church in Riesel was a very social congregation.  There were activities on any evening of the week.  I take it back . . . there also was a church for the colored people in the Riesel area.  Both were based on the Baptist theology.  I did get to hear a bit about the colored church as the White’s housekeeper, Bertha, was in the day-to-day routine at the White’s household.  Bertha had been with Norman and Elaine for decades.  Elaine’s mother lived with them and that involved the need for Bertha.  Bertha was skeptical of me for a time.  We ended up in a good place.

  We had moved to Riesel in February and that summer Mom and Dad came to check us out.  The town rolled out the carpet for them.  Dad being curious, got a full tour via Norman White of the cotton gins.  Mom helped with some things in the house as we were determined to make the living room a bit more user friendly.  It was a great visit.

  There may have been a life outside of Riesel but it passed us by.  When it was known that there was an acre of pasture land for sale . . . guess what?  We paid the $150.00 and took a good look at the building on the acre.  It was a chicken dwelling.  Not large enough to be called a chicken house and too large to fit the category of a chicken coop.  We worked on that building non-stop.  There was water to the lot but not septic.  Orlin and I dug the hole for the septic tank.  Remember, Texas . . . it didn’t have to be covered with very much dirt.  The septic lines were the next to dig and we had a bathroom with a sink and a shower.  We never did get past having any more than the sink in the area we made for a kitchen.  

  We were happy homeowners.  I planted flowers that had been shared from those that had plenty.  Our first Christmas we had made Christmas decorations for outside and of course the perfect Charlie Brown Christmas tree that we had cut down in someone’s pasture.  It may have been more of a ceder tree than an evergreen.  It worked and it looked wonderful.  When I was outside, I always checked the area where the flowerbeds had been made as I lost my 1962 class ring in that area while working with the dirt.  Never did find it.

  In time Orlin decided to work in Waco at a printing company.  It was a bit of a longer driver but the pay and benefits were a good fit.  It would be just getting dark when he would arrive home.  It was about the same time as the “Good Humor” truck from Mart was making his rounds up and down the streets.  The echo of the music couldn’t be denied.  Supper would be ready and we would settle in for the evening.  If we enjoyed the porch, there would end up having someone stop in for a chat.  There was the T-P hamburger shop in town.  On rare occasions we found our way there.  To this day, I remember how tasty those burgers were.  

  I had a small portable sewing machine and I could be kept busy either sewing for myself or making Barbie clothes for Scottie’s two little girls.  The Pundt Mercantile store sold pre-cut lengths of fabric.  One stop shopping when the milk would be purchased.

  Somewhere between the place that Orlin worked in Waco and the distance it took to reach Riesel, someone talked Orlin into selling insurance.  The area that he had was interesting.  It was basically tenant workers.  I did ride with Orlin once or twice.  Not more than that.  It was off-putting to see the meager living condition with a string of children on the front stoop.  It seemed these people would have been thrilled to visit a shoe store rather than think about an insurance premium.  After several times of going with Orlin, I was very content to go to work and run the hand-feed press, log my hours and be home with supper waiting.

  During the summer school break, my brothers, Calvin and Michael, came to visit up.  That was huge for these two fellows.  I don’t think Michael even had his driver’s license as yet.  It was special having them.  Mom and dad had sent them packing with traveler checks for the trip.  There was a cooler with frozen farm fresh beef and pork.  What a treat.  The boys enjoyed several trips to the T.P.

  If selling insurance to colored tenant workers didn’t work out, maybe selling Lutheran Brotherhood insurance would be a better fit.  Once signed up, the surprise was that the area would be in Waco.  Orlin had found a small bungalow to rent.  Sight unseen, I rounded up and got ready for the move.  Our sweet little home needed to be abandoned as we were moving.  The people of Riesel were sad to see us go.  Norman joked that he would now have to train some other Yankee to do the hand-feed.  I was sad to be going.  I had just found out that we were pregnant.  By late October we would be parents.

  Waco, to me, was a huge city.  The 1956 Buick hearse was no more.  We had one car, and we had date nights when we went grocery shopping.  Orlin and Norman White were in the Lion’s Club.  The club met in Waco.  Elaine White would ride along with Norman and visit me while the fellows were at the meetings.  We found a very friendly church and met many young couples.  It felt like it could be a good thing.  Several of the gals close in my age would stop by.  Not for coffee!  The drink of choice was sweet tea.  I was crocheting baby clothes and sewing receiving blankets.  There were plans to be made.

  –to be continued.

   
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  Noreen 5:50 pm on February 3, 2020 Permalink  

  In the Quiet – Part Two 

  As I was saying – there were two flat tires on the Buick hearse.  They managed to get swapped out in good stead.  We said our goodbyes to Art and Julie and we headed out to Texas.

  Our plan was to drive strait through to Riesel, Texas.  I had cashed my last paycheck from McLeod County.  I had $150.00 in hand.  I never asked Orlin as to what his financial situation was after closing down the newspaper.  I lived then, somewhat like I do now.  I lived in faith.

  We had one oops in Oklahoma.  We ran out of gas in the middle of the night.  We were in some small town called Marion, Oklahoma.  We slept where we sat until daybreak when the gas station that we had coasted into, opened.  A very leary black man checked out the vehicle as he opened up the shop.  We picked up some coffee and some less than fresh packaged rolls and headed on.  There were no cell phones in 1964. I had no idea how Orlin, or if Orlin had notified the Norman Whites that we were coming.  Remember . . . faith!  

  Of course we were welcomed with open arms when we made our first stop, that being at the Riesel Rustler Newspaper on Main Street.  Norman and Elaine were thrilled that we were there.  Of course, everyone in Riesel called him “Schafer.”  It didn’t take long for the community to know that Orlin had come back to all of his old friends.  For several nights we stayed with the White’s son . . . Scottie and Pattsie.  

  Someone knew someone who knew there was a house for rent in town.  All we had to do was find Charlie Bruggeman.  We rented the house for $35.00 a month.  It had no heat but it did have running water in a kitchen and a bathroom.  Amazingly used furniture showed up day by day.  It seems a whole lot of people had extra to share. Orlin went to Waco on the fourth day we were in Riesel.  He came home followed by a Sears delivery truck.  We had a box spring and mattress and a refrigerator and gas kitchen range.  It sure looked promising that we were going to have a home.  It also meant we had just opened a Sears credit card.  

  The house was a single wall home built on short stilts.  There was an open porch on the front of the home as well as on the back.  The yard had grass and it also had an older garage.  I took my time cleaning and scrubbing in the house.  I found out that mud daubers, a friendly sort of wasp, liked to build nests in the depths of the closets.  I kept busy during the day and would often break up the day by walking down to the newspaper office to visit with Norman and his wife, while Orlin began looking for work.  One could walk one end of the town to another in several blocks. Across the highway were the cotton gins and also Pundt’s grocery store and mercantile store.  

  Shortly after we arrived we were given a house warming shower.  At the time it never came to me, but . . . I wonder what people thought of the two of us showing up with so little with us intending to live in their town. 

  The people were friendly to no end.  Orlin had practically lived with Norman Whites the entire time he was not scheduled at the Air Force base.  Our kitchen was equipped with a card table and two chairs.  The Sears truck had also delivered a television set.   

  It took me some time to remember names.  Norman and his wife made sure we had something to do or somewhere to go to meet and greet people.  I was introduced to everyone in town in short order.  It didn’t take Orlin long to catch up with his friends.  For Orlin it was old home week.  I worked hard at fitting in and listening closely to fill in missing pieces of the conversations.  This Northern Yankee was going to make it just fine.

  Within a short amount of time, Orlin found work at Mart.  It was a small town which was a short distance from Riesel working in their newspaper, The Mart Herald.  They also did a fair amount of special order printing.  I had gleaned that while Orlin was in the Air Force, and had spent a lot of time with the White’s, he had found a passion working with the presses for the newspaper and the special orders for printing.  Orlin was right at home.  

  –to be continued.

   
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  Noreen 2:34 pm on February 2, 2020 Permalink  

  In the Quiet – Part One 

  The house being quiet while I am in the sewing studio is the ultimate. It is amazing what travels through memories when there is quiet all around.

  Today is February 2nd, 2020.  Many, many years ago on a February 2nd I found out where Riesel, Texas was.  It was quite far from Dallas on a flat plain.  It was a very small town along the highway and it was cotton gin town.  The cotton gins were still productive.

  I came to Riesel, Texas, as a newly married farm girl, married to Orlin only a day prior. Why Riesel?  Many years before Orlin had been stationed on an Air Force base not far from Riesel.  Norman and Elaine ran a newspaper in Riesel and it didn’t take long for a lasting friendship to take hold when Orlin had found his way into town after meeting and dating a gal from Riesel.  After the military stint, Orlin moved back to Minnesota alone.

  I had met Orlin at the Lake Marin Ballroom off of Highway 15 just south of Hutchinson.  Orlin and his brother, Art, were at the ballroom as I was with several of my gal friends.  

  That was a beginning of a journey that I am still on today.

  Orlin owned and was operating a newspaper in the metro and had come to visit his family in Hector.  What’s a couple of Hector fellows to do on a Saturday night when Hector rolled up the streets by eight in the evenings.  

  Orlin and I struck up a conversation.  At the end of the evening, Orlin went back to the metro and I went home with the Raduntz girls I had come with.  In time when Orlin found his way to my folk’s farmstead in Boon Lake Township, it was indeed a surprise when his choice of vehicle was a gray 1956 Buick hearse.  Hmm.  Optimum choice for delivering newspapers hot off of the press. 

  Orlin met up and got along with my family and I met his parents and family in Hector.  It was fall.  As winter progressed, and as it is today, travel was not an assured thing, but in time Orlin and I were dating.  Orlin’s brother ran the Hector theater.  When Orlin came from the metro, our dates generally were visiting each other’s family and then the two of us would take in a movie at Art’s theater.  Going out beyond that routine never happened.   

  By that time I was working in the McLeod County’s Assessor Office doing clerical.  I liked my job working with numbers.  For myself I thought I had found my destiny working for Wes Abrahm.  I rented a sleeping room in Glencoe.  With no car, Dad picked me up Friday for the weekend and brought me back on Sunday night.  My paycheck was $150.00 clear per month.  I had a budget.  $1.50 per day for five noon lunches across the street at a cafe.  I could fix toast at the rental home for breakfast and I always had half a sandwich left for supper from the noon lunch. Saving up for a car was the plan.

  One Sunday night towards the end of January, Orlin surprised me by telling me he was moving back to Texas.  He had shut down the newspaper and was making new plans.  It took me back.  Nothing took me back more when he asked me if I would go with him . . . as his wife.  I took that weekend to think about it and visit with my parents. 

  My parents had wanted to meet Orlin’s family.  Orlin’s dad, Art, was a repair man for the machinery dealer in Hector.  Orlin’s mom, Esther, was the chief cook at the Hector public school and she cleaned offices in town.  His parents were hard working good people, just like Lena and Raymond.  My parents had an insight on Orlin’s family.  In time the two families got together at the Cat and the Fiddle outside of New Ulm. 

  February 1st, 1964, Orlin and I were married in a quiet ceremony in the metro.  Orlin’s brother and his wife were our witnesses.  The 1956 Buick hearse had been loaded with our belongs and we were to leave for Texas . . . that is right after two flat tires needed to be fixed before we left the church. 

  My fingers are weary . . . to be continued.

   
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  Noreen 4:02 pm on December 25, 2019 Permalink  

  Back When 

  Back when Carrie and Kevin were small children we were farming in Boon Lake Township.  Kevin was born at that address.  Carrie was three.  Back then Christmas was celebrated on Christmas Eve by attending a church service.  Seems fitting then as now.  

  Back then there were many Christmas gifts that were done in secret.  Christmas morning was commotion in motion.  From the times when Santa was hero, until the times when the kids were a bit more informed, Christmas Day was the best ever.  For Orlin and I there was the initial fleeting moments of taking in and enjoying the surprise that was found under the tree for Carrie and Kevin.  Nothing sweeter than blue eyed babes seeing wishes come true.  That was one morning when the milk cows did a shuffle as the milking schedule was stalled a bit.  

  The Christmas tree housed the opened gifts at its base for days to come.  Toys would be played with, scattered about and carried around . . . but at the end of the day they all came back to rest where they had been found.  The entire week between Christmas and the New Year had a laid back schedule.  Not much to hurry over, not much done that couldn’t be put off.  Even the feed mill was quiet that mixed the feed for the cattle and hogs.  There had been double batches made the week before.  Christmas came and Christmas was to be enjoyed.

  Each Christmas holds a place in my heart.  Though some Christmases were enjoyed at different homes, it was still “our” Christmas.  Extended family was visited.  Extended family was hosted.  Amazingly, the one time of the year, when the world could stand still for a bit.  Almost to the sound of a drum beat the Christmas days, the Christmas feeling faded and there was a new date with a new year to remember to write.  

  Oh so many “new year” dates I have written.  Oh so many “new year” dates that I want to be able to write.  The entire world has changed so very much since the Christmas glisten can be remembered in Carrie and Kevin’s blue eyes as the small wonders that they were.  Now when I look into their blue eyes I see the strong adults that they are.  Taking each day . . . each event in their lives head on.  I don’t think I was ever as strong as they are today.  Today . . . I want to keep the child within myself alive as I can then recall all the wonders of Christmases past that have brought Carrie and Kevin to today.

  Santa gave me just what I had asked him for in this the Christmas of 2019.  I have been given the gift of my children’s abiding love. 

  Hmm.  Back when seems like yesterday.

   
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  Noreen 4:27 pm on December 5, 2019 Permalink  

  No Throwing in the Towel 

  There is nothing more challenging than a project that has no end game.  No time pressure.  No one waiting for its completion . . . it’s just there haunting.

  Dennis had wanted to refinish our $5.00 garage sale find highchair.  Dennis had no idea what he had let himself in for.  I promised myself I was zero in that refinishing.  Oh . . . I did observe from time to time then hurriedly got out of the garage so Dennis wouldn’t see my lips bleeding from having bitten while keeping them silent.

  When Dennis said “Uncle” I did not question him.  The highchair was delivered into my sewing studio for the rest of the story . . . that being taking the bare wood and finishing it.  I did not take any steel wool or sandpaper into the sewing studio.  I took it as it was turned over to me.  Out came the stain and the polyurethane.  I believe in the adage that one cannot fail if one does not try.  I actually turned that into a ditty and sang it to myself . . . often.

  As I contemplated several options, I remembered what Lena taught me when I was learning the finer points of all types of sewing and stitching.  The essence of that advice was that if you cannot change how a project is shaping up, do something that will take the eye off of the less than good seam or stitch and make that the point where the eye will travel to first.  Give me a high-five Lena.

  As of today, the highchair is completed.  It has turned into a sweet confection.  I recalled how small children had a rope of beads that was used for playing or chewing.  The portion of Dennis’ highchair that could have the illusion of beads got that extra special treatment.  I had forgotten how steady my right hand was . . . NOT!  Slow and cautious.  After the final finish was permanent, it needed a bit extra. 

  I made a stencil that resembled the string of colorful beads from times gone by.  In my era, there wasn’t a single small child that didn’t try to chew their way through the rubber like beads.  Out came the Tri-Chem paints from the 1960s.  The $5.00 highchair has no reason to hide.  It is quite eclectic, much like me.  Be sure to give the thumbnail a click to check out a “One of a kind, found only here on Stauffer Avenue.”

  Dennis has no inclination to seek another piece of furniture at a garage sale.  Woodwork and furniture refinishing is no slam, wham, thank you.  It takes countless hours and most of it is elbow grease rather than motorized tools.  I think the only tool with an electrical cord that Dennis didn’t use was the skill saw. I am looking forward for no longer be haunted by this little chair that never really bothered anyone. It had been content to sit in the corner of the patio porch nurturing all of its blistered and peeling paints of many colors.

  For me . . . back to the thread and fuzz.

   
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  Noreen 4:22 pm on November 17, 2019 Permalink  

  November Rain 

  The rain that we had overnight has taken all the snow away.  The gloomy weather is still a good trade off to allow us to start fresh with snow cover.

  Dennis has always taken several cookies with him into the patio porch with his early morning coffee.  My feelings were that with his morning pills that he takes right after getting out of bed, there had to be something in that stomach other than pills to irritate the stomach lining.  This morning, all I had to send him off with was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  The cookie jar was naked.

  There needed to be some baking done this afternoon.  I made a pan of lemon brownies.  Same recipe that I use for brownies, only adding lemon flavorings to make a yellow colored batter.  It did make the house smell like there was a wana-be Martha Stewart on the premises. 

  After kitchen duty was done, I headed into the sewing studio.

  I started using scraps last fall for a scrappy quilt.  It was put on hold while I worked on Carrie’s skate towels.  I worked on the scraps while I was on the quilt retreat. Then again they were again put on hold for an embroidery project.  Today those scraps were whacked at again.  After doing some sewing, a break was needed to see just exactly would be needed to make a double sized quilt top.  Sixteen various scraps sewn together to make a ten inch block that will be an eight point pinwheel design.  I always am up for a challenge. 

  The pinwheel design takes me back to the vinyl pinwheels that were attached onto two foot round dowels allowing the pinwheels to rotate at will.  Carrie and Kevin would run with them to make the pinwheels twirl in a fairyland of colors so fast there was not one individual color that could be picked out.  Fond memories of innocent times.    

  It will be some time before there are enough scraps cut and sewn for the quilt top.  My goal is to have a scrappy pinwheel quilt backed with warm fussy flannel completed for my bed in November of 2020.  The quilt that I made for Dennis’ bed is backed with flannel and is wonderful.  The flannel on the back does not allow for the quilt to shift off of the sheet while the body moves during sleep.  I learned that trick from my sister-in-law, JoAnn.  Sewers are never too old to learn a trick of the trade.  

  Time to close down the sewing studio and get supper going.  Hmm.  Fixing meals . . . not so much fun anymore.  I’d like to wiggle my nose and have it appear on the table to enjoy.

  The rain has done its duty of taking the snow cover away.  We could do with a break on having new snow.

   
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  Noreen 4:41 pm on November 10, 2019 Permalink  

  We Show Up 

  Today we motored to Mankato.  Dennis’ great granddaughter Lux was five today.  Last month we were in Mankato for  great granddaughter Luella who was two.   The month before that is was Charlie B’s second birthday.  Oliver turned six in late fall.  There are a total of eight great grandchildren that we are invited to their parties.  When we get invited . . . we show up at every possibility.  Why not!  A chance to see children having a good time, brings a good feeling to us.

  It was good to get home this afternoon.  We drove in snowflakes that fluttered.  We have no idea what the forecast is . . . it doesn’t matter.  We take the days the way they come.

  When I got home I took several Aleve Gel Caplets.  The neck and shoulders can’t wait to get back to physical therapy on Tuesday.  Does the fact that there is pain surprise me . . . no. 

  Last week as I was doing something, a memory of this time of the year, several decades ago, flooded my mind.  At the time we were burning wood in a Warm Morning wood and coal stove.  I was driving school bus for the Buffalo Lake Public Schools in the mornings and in the afternoon routes.  In between times, I was in the backyard chopping wood as we were filling the wood storage for the winter.  I was actually pretty good at it.  Between Orlin and I we would have the storage room filled before the snow would cover the pile of wood, yet to be chopped.

  Bill and Esther Miller lived a stone’s throw across the tar road from us.  It was not unusual that right after their noon dinner, Bill would wave me over for a cup of coffee to share with them.  Bill thought I needed a break.  Both were very fragile and in their early 80s.  Bill and Esther never had a family and visitors to their home were far and few in between.  They were two very sweet individuals.  I digress. 

  There has always been physical activity, and some labor intensive that was a part of my life.  I was a farm kid, I was a farm wife and I have always known how to show up when there was work to do.  There is a promise I hope to keep for myself this winter . . . no snow removal.  My heart tells me “get out there and do it!’  The reality is that I hope my God-given logic will override the heart in this respect.  I don’t bounce back as quickly as I have in the past when I overdo it.  The saving grace is that I do go for help when the pain lingers.  Nothing eats up energy as much as physical pain.  Hell’s bells.  I have plans and those plans are doable.  Those plans do not involve incapacitating myself.  Good grief . . . I hope I have learned my lesson and that includes listening to Dennis when he gives me his warning lectures.  

  It goes to show that Mom knew what she was talking about when she was in her early 90s.  “I’m still watching you for signs of improvement.”  That statement had come to be a long standing comment from her.  She would spout it and have the most wonderful twinkle in her blues eyes the entire time it took her to say it.

  This winter season I will show up to all those things that I can handle while doing no harm.

   
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  Noreen 3:59 pm on September 10, 2019 Permalink  

  The Day I Have Enjoyed 

  I had my alarm set for six this morning and I was ready and willing to get up and start the day.  After much rigmarole I had scored an appointment at the physical therapy department at the hospital. 

  I played nice.  I knew I was having problems with my balance.  Found out after a successful cataract surgery, which was sorely needed, my eyesight had nothing to do with my balance issues.  I had a CAT scan to check on my shoulders and neck to see if that might impact the balance.  I did find out that my #6 and #7 vertebra in my neck are fused via arthritis.  Nothing else amiss in the upper spine.  On to a MRI to see if I had a brain tumor.  Nope.  My 75-year-old brain is perking right along with no issues. 

  I wasn’t about to give up.  My family doctor was ready to try the physical therapy.  Without proper tests of the spine and neck and head, physical therapy can hinder more than help.  Mike T. has been my therapist since the time I had my knees replaced.  That by the way, was 16 years ago this June.  I again filled out the proper paperwork.  Insurance rules the outcome of care.  Mike had me walk the length of the gym at the hospital and he knew right off the bat, my lack of balance was not imagined, it was literally in my butt.  The right ham string that connects to and in the pelvic bone was slipping and sliding at will.  Having its way with me!  

  I began this journey in June.  I am now on tract for sessions with Mike for a great success.  In time I will be able to walk without fear of the right side of my body giving out.  I had not taken a tumble, but I sure was cautious once I felt that first searing pain that numbed the right leg right down to the ankle.  It could happen as I was turning from the kitchen sink or walking along with Dennis in a store. 

  I feel blessed to have had a fair amount of tests that allowed me to know more about my body and how it is holding on.  I will still be doing the visits to Madelia for adjustments on my neck and shoulders as it is so much better with the headaches that have subsided.

  All of that was this morning in the early hours.  This afternoon I was back at the eye specialist that comes here from Mankato.  The right eye has healed perfectly from the surgery.   October 7th I will be having the left eye cataract removed.  I feel very comfortable about this.  I have struggled with some seeing issues since August 5th due to the fact that each eye is focused separately.  How do I tell?  Distance vision hardly causes much of a difference or concern.  Reading and watching television is quite the joke.  I have handled it for this long and I know the amount of time that the left eye needs to heal is temporary.  It’s doable.

  So in a nutshell . . . I am doing great.  Dennis backs up my check of numbers when I need it  The cookies have turned out great from the oven, so he is doing his part just fine.  I may screw up my passwords from time to time, but . . . do it until you get it right and if too many attempts have been made, I take a few hours for the computer to reset itself.

  It’s gotten warm this afternoon with more storms that may hit.  It’s O.K. We are safe and sound on Stauffer Avenue.