Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 3:50 pm on June 12, 2024 Permalink  

  Several 

  We had several downpours today.  The sun is now out full bore with 84 degrees and humidity building.

  Dennis took his son to Mankato Clinic this morning to meet with an Oncologist.  Dennis stayed in the pickup.  First time of plain speak with any kind of doctor since this situation has developed with Jeff.  The appointment had stated extensive blood work.  Blood work tells no tales, factual from the moment the needle draws the first drop.  Little did they realize I knew the doctor’s notes before they got back to St. James.  

  Jeff came in the house and let it be known that treatment might buy him some extra time, feeling sick every day.  Without treatment he may make it to Christmas.  Apparently the financial advisors were part of today’s visit in regard to cost of treatments/burden to family.  Jeff left it be known, he has no family as he has been homeless.  That right there gave Jeff three stars from me.  Right now Jeff just wanted to go to his apartment and rest.  Friday morning, he needs to be back in Mankato at 7:30 as they need to draw fluid from his abdomen.  This was done just two weeks ago.  His breathing is very labored.  I met Jeff halfway for some plain talk.  No point in dishing out sympathy.  Dennis can’t bring himself to ask Jeff pointed questions.  For whatever the future brings, straight respectful talk Jeff deserves.  I am sure that Dennis will be making the trip with Jeff tomorrow.  Jeff also gave his permission for a biopsy to be taken on Friday.

  Dennis is quiet in his patio porch.  I can see that Snuggles is on Dennis’ chest with his face inches from Dennis’.  Way to go Snuggles, give grandpa some much needed love.

  Not all posts on a blog are cheerful and funny.  Sometimes, life just gives us a smack of reality.

  We may still receive some rain before this day is up.

  With that I take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:00 pm on June 11, 2024 Permalink  

  A Tuesday 

  The first floor of local effort was accomplished. 

  Quite a haul to our recycling bin.  I needed to call the Handi-Medical in Mankato and order my 90-day supply of catheters.  Our kitchen floor needed a Swiffer job followed by a damp mop.  Yesterday I picked up a small American flag to strip over a steel post on the northeast corner of the front deck’s sidewalk.  That’s always been a staple at our home.

  Counted cross stitch fabric can ravel very easily.  I had mentioned some time back, I had a healthy stash of said fabric from a time Carrie and I both stitched.  What I had caught on one of the YouTube channels was a pattern that I then ordered.  One of my emotionally attached items in my studio is a wooden circular box of Grandma Schafer’s.  I have no idea what the original contents had been.  It’s been with me for many decades.

  The pattern I ordered was a six inch wide ribbon of a lower and higher case alphabet interspersed.  The pattern also included a circular round pattern for a cover.  Hello!  The promise of a finished project is on the horizon.  Braided trim will tie everything around and together.

  Out came the Singer Ultralock Surger that Kersten’s grandma had handed down to her mother that was then handed to me.  Super sweet.  Of course it is not the latest model, but I had downloaded the user’s manual.  I may never change the color of the four spools of thread as the threading of it is quite arduous.  Black it is.  Improvisation can be achieved.  

  The pattern is 27.5″ long.  The circumference of Ester’s box is 34.5 “.  At that time, I will improvise some smaller stitch designs to make ends meet. 

  I have had a great afternoon getting this project towards a beginning.  It will be added to the other three projects that are in the works.  It never gets overwhelming if I switch off from one to another.

  I have an interesting bit of information.  At one time at a family get together we talked about jaws that can click while chewing.  As I have been going through the dental process and experienced his 360 degree X-ray, I asked Dr. Pitcher if something had shown up on the X-ray.  Why oh why would I not have suspected it.  Little bones in the jaw are susceptible to arthritis.  I asked him if others can hear that clicking if sitting beside me while I eat.  No.  That clicking noise is so close to the my ear drum . . . it’s just for me.

  With that I take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:00 pm on June 10, 2024 Permalink  

  New Week 

  Stauffer Avenue is off to a new week . . . a good week.

  My check-in with the dentist made a world of difference in how my new bottom plate feels.  As Steve said, you can always take a bit more off of a new plate . . . you just can’t put any back on.

  When I visited with neighbor Jan this morning, she mentioned that Dennis had been busy loading up some iron work.  As I can do longer do the amount of flower gardening as several years ago, it makes me sad to see it ignored.  

  My brother Calvin could make scrolled iron work look like welded child’s play.  He also happened to be Kevin’s Christian sponsor.  Today, the Fairfax team can apply it, work with it in their backyard to their heart’s content. 

  From Fairfax we whipped over to Menard’s in New Ulm.  Dennis is now equipped with several gallons of “Total Vegetation Killer.”

  It will be several days before the ole cowboy tackles vegetation as he needs to heal up from a stumble on our concreter drive last Thursday after a successful day of mowing.  His face is healing well, but the goose egg on his left knee needs a few more days of R&R.

  I am not done sifting and sorting my garden items.  Carrie had bought me a huge iron pot stand for the open area of the petals to hold a flower pot.  I had found a huge heavy glass globe in the store in Mankato called Harpie’s Bizarre.  I didn’t purchase it until the store’s going out of business sale.  The globe and stand are a perfect pair to perhaps grace Carrie’s garden.  I will wait until she is stronger on her feet before broaching the topic.

  When we came home from the day’s road trip we had a late noon lunch.  For the first time since June 3rd, I enjoyed some solid food.  Yes!

  We may do a slower start of the week, but no doubt nothing will go a-miss.

  With that I take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 1:56 pm on June 9, 2024 Permalink  

  Windchimes 

  We have two old pieces of metal hung in the evergreen on the northwest corner of our home.  Nothing fancy.  On a day such as this, sitting in my bedroom porch, it can very well lull me into total relaxation making me believe it came from a high-end nursery.

  Yesterday, it was the straw that crimped my patience.  My cherry red reading and sewing chair hugs my back to perfection in my bedroom porch.  It was a gently used Bernina chair the Fairfax team had found at Goodwill for Mother’s Day of 2023.  The rollers were a bit stiff.  Dennis took the chair out to the front deck and de-frocked those rollers with a whole bunch of sewing threads and carpet threads.  As I have said this chair is fantastic . . . roller wise . . . not so much.

  At Easter Kevin replaced one of the rollers on my sewing chair in the basement from a five pack from Amazon.  I remember Kevin mentioning that chairs with rollers use pretty much universal rollers.  Dennis helped me pull four of the five rollers off of my sewing and reading chair.  At first I thought, I was too heavy for the chair to roll easily.  When I read the box that contained the four rollers we were going to swap out, the label listed “Up to 1,000 lbs. each.”  Well, well, well.  The swap-out went well and I am amazed in the difference of the chair moving from point A to point B.  The fifth old roller of the cherry red chair is going to have to keep up until such time an Amazon order is placed when the rollers of the chairs at the dining table give out.

  After a nap and a snack, Dennis is off in his little red pickup to see what is happening around town.

  I had boiled eggs, diced onions and mixed in some bought Gerry’s Original potato salad.  Dennis says its my extra touches that make it almost as good as starting from scratch.

  With that I take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:53 pm on June 8, 2024 Permalink  

  A Day 

  This is Saturday and I am calling it a day.

  This morning at ten, we turned ourselves in for pedicures and haircuts.  Five weeks is a bit too long, but Maria had a son’s graduation party last Saturday.  Very special.  There is no way that I could tell which of the two treatments felt better than the other.  Dennis was sure his eyebrows would need curlers.  Too funny.  It is a block of two hours for the two of us.  We’re worth it.

  A bite of noon lunch of pureed apple sauce and peanut butter felt good.  As I was leaving for the grocery store, Jeff road up on his battery-powered three-while bike.  For someone that has not worked a W-2 form job for a decade or longer, he seems to do alright for himself.  He is on medical assistance.  I bid him a good day.  Jeff and his dad can do and have much to visit about . . . or not.

  I couldn’t resist looking a few things up on the internet.  Jeff had had two instances of having fluid taken from his side.  It is called ascites.  Blood vessels not working in the liver weep their fluid into the body cavity.  For sure, not good, not comfortable with shortness of breath.

  Rain during the early morning hours was unexpected.

  For some reason yesterday I thought of my grandpa Christ.  Dennis was sleeping in his recliner and his profile of no teeth in his mouth reminded me of grandpa years ago. 

  Kevin was just about a year old when Grandpa Christ and Grandma Laura stopped in at our Boon Lake farm.  They had found that my parents were not home at their farm and they drove a bit farther.  From Brownton to Stewart along 212 and then 12 miles north, it made for a nice Sunday drive for them.  Grandpa always drove a dark blue Ford sedan.  It didn’t take grandpa very long before he had Kevin in his lap giving gentle bounces.  Carrie was busy sharing her dolly with grandma.  What a sweet visit as we sat on the lawn west of the house.  We had coffee and cookies before they left.  The cookies may have been soft or maybe hard, I knew grandpa would dunk them.  Just as I wish I now had his favorite knife at their round kitchen table during meals.  He had taken his knife to the tool-shop and fabricated a one-of-a-kind utensil.  Possibly as many as six peas or kernels of corn could be scooped up to lay in little divots on the wide blade of the knife.  Grandpa never missed a beat.  I enjoyed many summers with them on the Penn Township farm.  It was with great grandma Christine, Christ and Laura and uncle Jerold and his wife Marion.

  Grandpa Christ died at age 79 a year later, almost to the day on his July 8th birthday.  He died of Prostate cancer.

  Those dang memories . . . just keep getting sweeter.

  With that I take my leave.♥

   
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  Noreen 2:18 pm on June 7, 2024 Permalink  

  Oh Happy Day 

  It may be gray with mosquitoes galore, but Dennis doesn’t care.

  On a whim Dennis drove out to the building site of Ryan the tree hauler.  The trip was to just let Ryan know that anytime, Ryan had time, Dennis had more work for him on the blue barn acre.  After supper, the phone rings and the job had for today, Friday, canceled out on him.  Ryan and his crew would meet Dennis at 7:30 this morning with his crew.  I am surprised Dennis got any sleep, he was almost giddy.

  Here we are at mid afternoon.  Ryan’s crew needs to load up some equipment.  All, and I mean all, of the old railroad ties lining the east and south of that acre are gone.  The ties actually lined the east of the acre and the ties on the south had been pushed into a mess of sometimes four and five high at various degrees.  Two loads of ties headed to Brown County landfill.  One load of wood went to our tree dump.

  My ole cowboy has had quite the summer of getting his job-jar taken care of.  Next on his list is to go back to Home Depot for several more gallons of the Brush killer.  What he used last year had a great carryover into this year.  Now that the railroad ties to the south are gone, he can tackle more brush that had been growing among them.  I got a tour of the latest work via the little red pickup.  We can now see the residential lots to the south of the blue barn acre.

  Me . . . I am still on the mend from Monday’s dental visit.  I supply a good lunch and orange juice breaks to Dennis while he ram-rods.  Sweet.

  Sister-in-law sent a photo of our Koi in her pond.  They have had many bright orange babies.

  With that I take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:12 pm on June 6, 2024 Permalink  

  Under Attack 

  The strong gusts of wind are lobbing pine cones right and left onto our west awning.  It does make quite the bong.

  There was one run to Lewis Drug today.  Dennis and I are quite content to spend time right here on Stauffer Avenue.  Dennis had a huge day of mowing yesterday, I encouraged a nap in his recliner. 

  Last night for supper I enjoyed a soft egg on butter bread.  Very tasty.  Vanilla ice cream later on wasn’t shabby either.

  Neighbor Jan popped over this forenoon to see how I was doing.  She was surprised in the over-all process.  I assured her it all went according to expectations and skill set of the dentist.  Dr. Pitcher, at the on-set, said he could and would refer me to Oral Surgery Of Mankato as extractions of roots could be a challenge.  I immediately told him, I would do just fine under his care.  All that referral would have done is added mileage and extra expense as they would have put me to sleep, with possible stitches.

  I checked in with daughter Carrie as she is two weeks out of her cancer lung surgery. 

  Text messages . . . where would we be without them!  I do very little on Facebook.  Very little brings news via emails.  I do have a smart-phone with no internet connection, neither does Dennis’.  We seem to get along just fine.   

  I would have thought once school was out, the traffic passed our home would have lessened.  Not a snowball in hell chance of that.

  Right now there are leaf tips, flower pots and litter flying south down our street.

  JoAnn’s Fabric has apparently solved their filing of bankruptcy.  That was proven today as the box containing two bags of pillow stuffing at a hugely reduced price and a $1.27 shipping fee was delivered by FedEx.

  With that I take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:43 pm on June 5, 2024 Permalink  

  No Deck Sitting 

  The high pitched hum of mosquitos sent me right back inside this morning.  No morning deck sitting for me.

  Dennis did some garage/shop work this morning as the dew was quite heavy.  Long about eleven, he was off to get a mower out of the back garage.  I don’t say anything, as he needs to be his own person.  I was relieved when that person was finished with all the lots at three this afternoon.

  I do keep an ear out as to where he is at at any given time.

  Over my years, I have known discomfort from various surgeries.  Man oh man!  The inside of my lower lip is sore and raw.  I knew the dentist was seeking somewhere to get the leverage to remove the two roots that were flush with the gum.  That area was the inside  of my lower lip.  Nothing can pass into the mouth without passing over the interior of that dang lip.  With my chin swollen and having two deep colored bruises down each side of my chin, I could pass for a wooden marionette.  It is surprising how little the amount of salt may be in food to set off the fire of the lip.  Actually what worked well today was peanut butter on a spoon to be licked off.  I am saving my pureed apple sauce for supper’s dessert.  Aren’t I the big wimpy person!!  This also shall pass in due time.

  The middle of the week already.  May your days treat you kindly.

  With that I take my leave.♥

   
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  Noreen 3:01 pm on June 4, 2024 Permalink  

  Gray Skies 

  With fairly strong winds you would think the gray skies would be blown away . . . not.  It looks like rain.  The winds are bringing the cotton tree’s fluff down.  They make a mess on window screens and also air filters on the lawn mowers.

  I went in for my 24 hour check up with Dr. Steve Pitcher.  He was very happy with how the bottom gum looked and surprised my speech was so clear.  When he did the litmus test on the bite:  first the right side, then the left, and once in the middle. He said he would see me next Monday.  When the swelling goes down, things can be different.  He did say my black and blue chin may become a darker bruise yet.  I paid my bill and got the discount for it.  Sweet.  No bill coming in the mail.

  July 1st, Steve and Kris will have their daughter Morgen join the dentistry family team.  She will be moving here from Salt Lake where she attended college.  Wonderful to know that our community will continue with great medical professional caregivers.

  I made Dennis a hot meatloaf sandwich for noon.  I got a piece of butter bread down.  For breakfast I had had an individual cup of apple sauce.  Both tasted good.  After lunch I sat in my rocking chair and dosed off.  Not my usual thing to do, but I can’t say it felt bad.

  I am working on a counted cross stitch.  Monogamous white on mottled blue.  I have three items that I can switch off and on to.  Having a book going is also a good thing.

  I think soon Dennis will let me get on the zero-turn to help.  I would welcome it.

  With that I take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:37 pm on June 3, 2024 Permalink  

  The Rest of the Story 

  This . . . June 3rd, was the target date that I have been waiting for since the first part of March.  That is when two of my teeth that had caps on them rotted off.  Those two teeth kept my lower partial in place.

  I had been going to Steve Pitcher as my dentist for a very long time.  We took a break when Dennis needed dental work and Aspin Dental in Mankato could fit him in.

  Since 1965, I have never worn vanity teeth.  I have them in one form or another and they will be in my mouth 24/7 with breaks for cleaning.

  My appointment today was for one this afternoon.  I walked into the house at 2:10.  During that time, my lower jaw was filled with Lidocaine and I was told it would take three hours to subside.  Two extractions were just the roots of said caps.  Two were full blown teeth.  I heard Steve say scalpel and he told me he would smooth out the soft tissue where these four teeth had been making for a better fit in time of the bottom plate.  The next process was smoothing some bone.

  No stitches.  I am to clamp my mouth tight shut as much as possible as that pressure will lend to blood clotting.  Very little rinsing of mouth.

  When I got home, I poured myself a cup of fairly warm coffee.  Stuck a straw in the cup and had several cups of coffee while keeping my mouth clamped tight . . . better than a rinse.

  My supper is going to be a Sprite float via a straw.  When I go to bed, I will put a kitchen towel on my pillow as I am sure I will drool.  Tomorrow I go back at 11:30 for a look-see by Steve.

  With that I take my leave.  ♥