Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from May, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 2:05 pm on May 28, 2023 Permalink  

  A Project Completed 

  This morning I got a call from Carpenter Bryan.  He asked if I had a problem with him installing the storm door on our front door.  Absolutely not!  By twelve noon the door was installed and there was no cleanup for me.  I had stayed busy in the studio the entire time . . . staying out of the way.

  What had happened while Bryan was working with his helper on our front deck, the neighbors to the north of us had called the fellows over.  It seems as if Jan and Randy will be having their back door tricked out with a deck such as ours.  For the entire time I have lived next to Jan and Randy, they have only had rough wood steps not attached to the house at their back door.

  When I paid Bryan, he was grinning from ear to ear with another job to do in time to come.  I kidded Bryan that he had gotten a job for our same deck and steps design while he was finishing up with us.  Now that Jan and Randy will have a nice deck and steps such as ours, Bryan can soon have this design as his signature.  Bryan thanked me for putting his card on Facebook as he had to install some windows out on a rural site.

  St. James needs several Bryans for small carpenter jobs.  I let Bryan know I was hanging onto his card for a time when we might need him again.  He smiled and we shook on it.

  Tomorrow Dennis called in a favor without labeling as such.  Dennis’ daughter Sandy has a fellow that is storing a car in our back garage.  Tom will be coming over tomorrow with his chainsaw.  The plan is to cut up branches and trees on the blue barn acre.  Cutting them up in six foot lengths or less, will allow them to fit in the bucket of the skid loader that Dennis can borrow from his nephew Brett at any time.  It’s a smaller loader than Brett uses with his concrete work.  Brett keeps it at his house for moving snow in the winter. 

  Daughter Sandy wants to take some Hosta home from the east end of our original lot.  My plan is to stay put out of everyone’s way.  Sweet.

  May everyone’s Memorial Day be safe and restful . . . as mine will be.

   
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  Noreen 1:19 pm on May 23, 2023 Permalink  

  Enough 

  I was up early today.  I slept soundly from nine last night until seven this morning when I heard the coffee pot going off.  

  I checked my usual items on the HP in the living room while enjoying the coffee.  It really tasted as good as it smelled this morning.  My second cup of coffee I had while sitting on our front deck.  It is enjoyable watching traffic and watching birds in the huge evergreen right off of the deck.  Enjoyable until I heard in no uncertain terms that mama Robin was not happy.  On both ends of the awning, Robins have made a nest.  I teased her for a bit longer before I gave her space.

  It was very apparent that the dewpoint was low this morning.  The grass in the front yard was not glistening with dew.  I put on my garden shoes and headed outside.  Dennis was at his PT appointment but had left the weed trimmer with a charged battery in the patio porch.  The agreement was he would mow and I would trim.  It looks so much nicer when there isn’t a halo of tall grass around everything that a rider mower can’t get to.  I only trim on our original acre as now we do have an additional barn acre.  By the time I have used the battery up, the trimming is done and I can feel that I have used up the energy I had for this task.  Dennis would be mowing that area after the PT appointment.

  Cleaning off grass clippings from my pants, I made sure to break off some catnip before heading to the house.  Snuggles was right there rolling in it.  Several spots for several cats.

  It may well get to the 83 degrees that KNUJ was forecasting.  I intended to spend time in the studio.  When Dan at PT takes care of Dennis’ foot with new dressings, I do not have to do it in the same day.  The oven dish that I had taken out of the freezer for last night’s supper will have a repeat performance for this evening.  The remains of the day I pretty much had to myself.

  It was smooth sailing today making and sewing trim onto the remaining t-shirt blocks.  When the last block was trimmed, the sewing machine and lights were shut off.  I still need to poodle through the thoughts about orange sashing versus black sashing.  The next visit to the studio will be cleaning and oiling the sewing machine, complete with a new needle.  By that time, I will have made a decision.  For today . . . enough is enough.

  My cheery red reading chair is beckoning me.  The front deck might be a good spot for reading but I cannot hold a book with my arms and hands.  I have a great stand sitting on a table in my bedroom porch that is perfect.  All I need to do is turn the pages.  Mission completion.

   
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  Noreen 2:30 pm on May 22, 2023 Permalink  

  Here Comes Monday 

  Traffic past the house is indicative that a working Monday is underway.  The school buses will soon be out of the fray.

  Of course the grass was way too wet for mowing this morning.  After Dennis had a coffee guest in the patio porch he decided to check his eyelids for cracks in his recliner.

  This afternoon the Cub Lo-Boy was fired up.  I walked to the backyard as Dennis was mowing.  The new blades are doing a great job.  The front yard is done with the Sears rider set at a higher height than anywhere else.  It eliminates scalping next to the drive.  

  I took an oven dish out of the freezer for our evening meal before I visited the studio. 

  I put several colors, black and orange, out on the table top that now has 16 blocks laying out.  I think the bright orange for sashing that is also in the quarter inch trims, is too bright. A two or three inch strip in the orange to sew the blocks together takes away from the continuity as the eye moves from t-shirt block to t-shirt block.  The orange and black is laid out.  As I work in the studio and catch a glimpse of the two from time to time, in the end I will know what will be best.  Food for thought.

  In the mean time, in between time, the trim is being made into bias tape strips and then sewn on the 16″ blocks.  

  After doing six blocks, the lights went out in the studio.  I want to do a bit of weed whipping tomorrow.  There are always a few places that a rider mower cannot get to.  Taking the battery weed whip makes the mowing look complete.

  Going out to the front deck, the town is alive with the sound of mowers.  Time will tell how many of our yards Dennis will do today.

   
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  Noreen 1:42 pm on May 21, 2023 Permalink  

  Successful Sunday 

  There are some days that feel just right!  Today was one of them.  It was my usual tidy, tidy on the first floor.

  With a cup of coffee, I sat on our new front deck.  We had opted for a wide top board, just for a morning such as this, when I had that cup of coffee.  After receiving a cherry red reading chair, the black non-functioning retired reading chair was put out onto the deck.  The awning on the house is the perfect extension for shelter of said retired chair if and when rain comes.  That has already been tested.

  I kept an eye on temperatures.  When it got doable, I was going to try out my dandelion poker that Dennis fixed for me.  It’s amazing what a sturdy nail wedged between the metal poker and the wooden handle will do.  The east end of the acre still had Hosta coming up.  Within that batch were some beauties of yellow.  The fixed poker and I headed east.  With all the rain we have had, every single one was poked and flung.  None had as yet gone to seed.  We spray the grass with weed killer, but no so much where there are sweet plants. 

  While I headed east, the second string of this team, Dennis, headed for the studio.  I had completed 16 t-shirt blocks, complete with the quarter inch trim.  Those 16 blocks will make up one of the twin sized quilts.  Dennis’ job is to arrange them before the orange sashing and black corner stones are sewn on.  I have always put Dennis in charge of this next step in t-shirt projects, as well as color choices in other sewing items.  It gives Dennis a vested interest into what happens in the studio.  I never stick around when he is making his decisions.  The end results were . . . that I achieved my goal of clearing out unwanted dandelions, giving myself a good physical workout outside, and the blocks have been decided on the first of the two twin sized quilts.  Headways have been made.  All the lights for sewing were turned off for the day.

  There had been one chair on the new front deck . . . now there are two.  Dennis had retrieved an old metal folding chair from the garage.  It has been cleaned and is sporting a new coat of black paint.  Sitting out front on evenings . . . sweet.

   
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  Noreen 2:13 pm on May 20, 2023 Permalink  

  Check That Off 

  Today we had another item to check off of our “to do” list.

  My hand signals were good enough to help Dennis hook up the implement trailer to the little red pickup.  We had gotten a call that the 1968 Cub Lo-Boy was ready to come home with three brand new blades on the mower.  Charles told Dennis he greased everything that needed it once it was up on the hoist.  Charlie can no longer work in his shop due to a severe back injury that occurred when he was working for the county.  Charlie was servicing a pump on a county ditch when the area around the pump caved in on him.  Charlie has good workers in his shop and oversees everything.

  Dennis came home and unloaded his tractor.  It went right into the back garage, the trailer was parked and all was right with the world.

  After Dennis had left for Charlie’s this morning, I walked back home across the acre.  The heavy rains did a great job of dissolving all the deer pop from the winter.  Hmm.  There were tiny little biting bugs.  Not surprising.  I do have some sweet little yellow flowers to take care of on the east Hosta garden that wants to make a showing.  So be it.  Just not today.

  I had a good handle on getting some 16″ blocks tricked out with the quarter inch trim.  As I whiled away a few hours, it was great reflecting on how far we came this last week getting the basement back in good stead.

  We are having a scramble egg, sausage and toast supper.  Sweet!

   
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  Noreen 12:42 pm on May 18, 2023 Permalink  

  Drippy Day 

  I knew a drippy day was coming.  I put my garden shoes on and went after the sweet yellow blooms that were in my Hosta beds.  Of course when Hunny Bunny and Harriet saw me amongst the plants, they needed to check things out as well.  When I finished one area, before moving on, I made sure to break off some of the cat nip plants.  That was all the invite the kitties needed.  They each tied one on.  The first trip fantastic of the year. 

  The photo is of the Star of David flowers that volunteer each spring.  When the greenery comes up, it looks like a sea of chives.  Each sprout puts out a sweet little white flower.  After the blooms are spent, all the greenery dies off.  They spread like crazy from the seeds of the blooms.   I have worked hard at digging them up where I don’t want them . . . forget it.  Ironically when dug, there is what looks like a little onion set, thus they look like chives when they first come up. 

  Two winters ago, Dennis had gotten a bale of road ditch hay to put under the Maple for the deer to nibble on.  Last spring, there were spears of long grasses that had had the seeds carry over.  This morning, I took out a huge patch of cocklebur young plants.  Dennis was right on, weed seeds can lay dormant for a long time.   The heavy rains had sent a lot of clusters of the Maple seeds to the dirt.  I raked up some as they can root so fast and easily to show a group of little trees.  Each day I will do a bit outside. 

  This drippy day is the best day to re-introduce myself into the studio.  All the lights were turned on and the threads and fuzz were beckoning me.  I did finish embroidering the last design times two.  It was time to get to the next step.  That step would be adding a quarter inch of trim to the 16″ square blocks.  I had done this with AJ’s quilt and it really brightened up the t-shirts.  It took me a while to remember how wide each strip had to be cut to be feed into the bias tape maker.  The next thing was to set the zig zag stitch to sew the four strips onto each of the 32 blocks.  All systems were a go for trying my plan out.  Yup, I’ve got it.  Perfectly cut 1/2 inch orange strips.  When they have become bias tape strips they are sewn around each block, two inches from the edge.  This photo is one of the blocks I created to fill out what would be needed.  I love my Bernina Tool Box software.

  It felt good to get back in the groove of the studio.

   
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  Noreen 1:43 pm on May 17, 2023 Permalink  

  Back to Normal 

  My precious studio is back to normal.  It looks fresh and it smells fresh.  They are talking about possible rain tomorrow.  As I looked everything over, I did close all the basement windows.  They are so easy to operate.  No taking a chance of having rain find its way in.

  When Dennis came back from having coffee with Dwayne this morning, he had been to Fleet Farm and brought home two new filters for that sweet shop vac that had done its duty with the water seepage we had experienced.  We will be back to sucking up threads and fuzz.  From the sounds of it, more people than not had had water coming into their basements.

  Dennis put in three hours of mowing yesterday.  He felt very pleased as well he should.  It’s not hard labor but our old Sears rider does not have power steering and the seat is sat out.  There is a lot of trimming around the house.  My push mower has the season off.  Hopefully the mowing will not be more than a once-a-week task.

  I am looking forward to doing some stitching tomorrow.  It seems as if I will need a refresher course.  If I recall, I have one design to stitch twice and then the 32 total blocks, 16 in each of the two twin sized quilts are ready for the next step.   

  The oven dish of last night got a thumbs up.  There won’t be a problem serving it again this evening.

   
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  Noreen 2:12 pm on May 16, 2023 Permalink  

  Tuckered 

  Today began the washing/damp mopping of hot bleach water on the concrete floors in the basement.  The stairwell closet has ceased with the seepage.  Good deal.  The cistern closet was also dry.  Both were homogenized.  

  I had lowered the setting on our huge dehumidifier Sunday.  In time it will be set to its usual which Complete Basements recommends at 52%.  We are scheduled for them to check the sump pump system later on this spring.  It has been so wonderful to be able to open the basement windows that Complete Basements of Mankato put in at the same time of the tile around the perimeter of the basement and the vapor barrier under the bathroom.  What we really appreciated was going with Complete Basement for everything.  One stop contact if something goes amiss. If the city’s system had not been overwhelmed, we would not have had any water problems in the large basement room, aka: my studio.

  Dennis began mowing at 12:30 today.  He has been by to re-fuel.  I think his hinny will be ready for a break this evening.  It’s easy to think there is another day coming for some additional mowing, but once Dennis starts, not so much.  

  After the damp mop was retired until more of the same tomorrow, it was oven dish prep.  I had one bag of the rotisserie chopped chicken in the freezer.  There was also a bag of pepperoni that was close to the “sell by” date.  A can of white kernel corn and Alfredo sauce was folded into the sha-bang.  One jar of sauce was not going to cut if for this batch.  Pouring on only half of the jar of Alfredo, I poured into the jar some heavy cream and gave the jar several hard shakes.  Folding all ingredients together for a good moist dish.  Between butter and cream, you can never go wrong.  As Dennis doesn’t care for pizza, this oven dish is close to a pizza.  Pasta in exchange of a crust.  In times past, Cassey’s had a chicken alfredo pizza.  To top things off, I threw in a handful of sharp cheddar shredded.  It made a huge batch, so I split the full blue speckled roaster contents in half so the freezer also has an offering for another time. 

  Folding the prep of an oven dish and mopping of concrete, I am going rest the arms to sit on my bright red reading chair for a bit of a break.  It is a partly sunny day with 79 degrees.

   
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  Noreen 2:24 pm on May 15, 2023 Permalink  

  At Last 

  At last the sun is out.  

  It was an early morning for me.  The bulk of the water debacle was over by supper of yesterday.  We went down every several hours to vacuum up the water from the closet that had seepage.  This morning I was set to handle the five by ten jute carpet that of course was wet.  Yesterday Dennis and I took turns folding the carpet in half and vacuuming off the back of as it had a backing of canvas.  That worked quite well . . . better than being able to get a lot of water vacuuming the jute side.  

  I used up the majority of our canned goods by folding the carpet over by half and then putting down the cans.  The carpet was tented.  My plan was to get the carpet off of the floor.  I did that with both ends.  The fan that we had running in the cistern closet was set on the north end of the carpet.  A fan that Dennis had had in the patio porch was running on the south end.  Getting air to the top and bottom of this carpet will help it dry.  Once the carpet is dry it can be folded and moved so we can clean the floor with bleach water.  After that I will shampoo the jute surface.  Patience is all it takes.

  By ten I had motored to New Ulm for servicing of my car and the renewal of the warranty on it.  I was amazed the amount of standing water in the fields.  Where there were culverts, the water shot out of them.

  By noon I was back home.  Dennis had checked the yards and the yards are too soft for mowing.  In fact, there is an area that still has standing water.  Did I mention?  Patience is all it takes.

  I do believe this Grammie will be ready for bed by the time the street lights come on this evening.

   
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  Noreen 3:52 pm on May 10, 2023 Permalink  

  Sweet Treat 

  This afternoon Dennis and I made a trip north.  The kids had spied with their little eyes when they were out and about, a chair that might fit in nicely into our little home.  Today that bright red cheery chair settled right into my bedroom which is also my reading room.

  When we were settled, I tried out the adjustments on the chair . . . a total of six of those.  I have never had a chair with which to read by that actually fits my body.  In times past, I never gave my body a thought.  Now, I know that teeny tiny voice that can be ever so annoying . . . is my body voicing its opinion.  I now know to listen to it.

  What made our road trip complete was stopping at the Dairy Queen for small sized ice cream cones.  Yum!  Our first of the season.

  Dennis decided to mow our original lot this late afternoon.  He heard of possible weather coming in for tomorrow.  It is the last of the “first of the season” areas to trim.  Dennis mows this first quite high to give it all a leveling out.  He does have a method to his mowing.  Early on, we decided I would not be doing any mowing.  Using the weed whip is a movement of twisting at the waist like waving a wand for success.  The push mower involves hitching up the shoulders as mowing in one straight line isn’t going to happen . . . not a good thing, lots of turning corners. 

  There was a half bag of pasta that I decided to cook up.  Some all beef meatballs were thawed.  A jar of Alfredo, a huge hand full of shredded cheddar cheese from the freezer, the pasta and the meatballs will be put in at 325 degrees at about 45 minutes.  I always use my thermometer to make sure the dish will be piping hot.  Thus is our supper.  There is determination to continue cleaning out the freezer.  Fear not . . . we will not go hungry whilst on Stauffer Avenue.

  Good thing we had our sweet treat early in the afternoon.