Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 3:07 pm on September 14, 2023 Permalink  

  The Last 

  This afternoon was the last of my important yearly medical appointments.  It was at the eye clinic here in town.  There was no change needed in my lenses.  Yippee.  There is a test for eye pressure and there is a test for peripheral vision.  There is a test for glaucoma.  Then the eye drops come for dilation so Dr. Pinke can see the carotids, and into the brain.  There has been the slightest macular indication for ten years.  It never increases.  Yippee.  All is well with my vision health and all is well with my soul.  A win, win.

  I am using the prescribed over-the-counter for dry eyes.  Reading and stitching doesn’t harm as long as I have good lighting.  Man . . . do I have great lighting, thanks to the Fairfax team.

  Yesterday there was a small beef roast in the crockpot and today there is a large kettle of beef vegetable soup.  The condensed marinade from the crockpot is giving it a bit of a kick.  A Better than Bullion vegetable flavor tablespoon was added.  I know there will be several bags of it going into the freezer.  When I stopped at the grocer’s this forenoon, I bought a bag of Bird’s Eye vegetable medley:  broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots.  I also tossed in the remaining refrigerator diced potatoes.  Dennis said a can of corn was needed.  We have all bases covered.

  What a great day to be a Minnesotan.  Dennis spoke with his son in Arizona this afternoon and he remarked that the snow birds were already arriving into his mobile home park.  The heat is still raging there.

  Take care my peeps . . . and pups.

   
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  Noreen 1:10 pm on September 13, 2023 Permalink  

  Hump Day 

  Quite the cool start of the day.

  Dennis and I had the forenoon to ourselves.  At twelve noon I had my work socks and shoes on complete with long gardening pants.  In the little red pickup, we headed through our back yards to the blue barn acre.

  Dennis had the Harbor Freight lopper in hand and I had my pruner.  Oh so many volunteer trees coming up around the older trees.  Once those spindly trees were pruned off, my trusty six inch rake could make some headways,  making piles with the brush and limbs.  All lying in one direction, it will be easy to either get them picked up or pushed to the main pile. 

  Dennis was getting his half gallon sprayer ready with his brush killer.  Having lopped off or pruned off, the raw stubs will allow the brush killer to soak in taking it down to the root.

  I wandered off to the south end of the acre.  What Dennis had been spraying is showing results.  Under three Black Walnut trees, there will be my next attack.  Not nearly as much volunteer stuff.  I will be able to easily carry a bundle of dead branches to the main pile.

  We got a lot done in an hour and a half, choosing to call it a good clean-up effort without overdoing it.

  When I got back into the house, the crockpot was revealing the aroma of supper.  An Angus boneless beef roast of just two pounds with chunks of onion and a top layer of baby carrots to hold in a bold marinade.  What an easy supper coming our way.

  It is two in the afternoon and I have some west bedroom porch time to enjoy.  Cherry red chair, here I come!

   
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  Noreen 1:13 pm on September 12, 2023 Permalink  

  Blown Away 

  This morning Dennis and Dewayne had a coffee date at McDonald’s.  We had been busy here on Stauffer Avenue and it had been a two-week hiatus for the fellows.

  Dennis had gotten a letter from Ford that there was a recall on the air bags in his little red pickup.  After coffee the fellows headed to Madelia for Dennis to make an appointment.

  While Dennis was gone, I tidied up the dining room table of extra paperwork.  I had the second part of the refund check from the state ready to pitch.  I could not believe it.  The check was cut from a post office box located in Missoula, Montana via Submittable Holdings, Inc.  Who is laundering money?  Too funny.

  What isn’t funny is the price of gas.  The price in St. James was the same in Madelia . . . $4.0999 as per Dennis.  Ouch.  I would hate to have to make trips out of town right now. 

  My day is spent on the quiet side.  In my cherry red chair stitching, reading and watching traffic.

  Our supper is going to be some refrigerated diced potatoes with adding scrambled eggs.  I am calling it a smorgasbord.

  These are the days we wished for during the heat.  Enjoy!

   
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  Noreen 2:10 pm on September 11, 2023 Permalink  

  Happy Monday 

  A great fall-feeling day.

  After getting the Monday laundry going, my next stop was the little red pickup’s garage where we had a paint station set up.

  I knew there would be spots on the four sets of shutters I painted yesterday that would need to be gone over.  They were looking good.  They were saving us several hundred dollars looking good by not buying new ones from Home Depot.  Of course they would have needed to be ordered.  This way they will be back on the house by this weekend.

  The black paint pail was open and Dennis decided to take the bench apart by our back door and paint those six 2 x 4s.  The 2 x 4s slide into the molded plastic ends.  Great idea.  We have got to say that Behr products really go on well.  What may be left to paint is our foundation of the house that we have kept painted black.  It was a vast improvement over the powder blue that we started out with.

  Neither of us have had a physically heavy day, so a soup and sandwich supper will be the menu.

  The mail brought us our $520 check from the State of Minnesota.  Yippee.

  There is some afternoon left to do a bit of reading while enjoying my cherry red chair.  I need to pass on stitching as my right hand is feeling the use of the paint brush yesterday and a bit of it this morning.  Rest and relaxation is what it needs.  I am very proud of this ole body having gotten my bedroom porch painted as well as the front deck.

  These temps have no need for fans.  I do love the quiet.

   
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  Noreen 1:50 pm on September 10, 2023 Permalink  

  Happy Sunday 

  A Sunday with doable temps.

  Today my Sunday of local effort was to paint four sets of shutters from our home.  We had the paint, I had a brush . . . what was there to not like.  There was no disagreement that it needed doing.  The painting of the plastic shutters may not stand up well.  Time will tell on that.  It sure beat purchasing new ones.  Grandson AJ will put them back on the house this coming weekend.  

  The remainder of this Sunday, I am taking it easy.  Of course I got weary.  I am not ashamed to admit it.  Standing in the garage for four hours took its tole.  I am proud to have gotten the job done.  My right shoulder, right down to my finger tips served me well.  Dennis and I know what tasks each of us can do and do well.  He is my go-to fellow, as in the example of yesterday getting our paint shook at our local store.       

  Yesterday I received photos of a new fur baby to join the Fairfax team.  Sweet.  Kluge now will have Eevee to show the ropes to.  My friend Perry, who I worked with for many years, always said if a dog was to be a family pet, the dog would do better if there were two dogs in the family.  Enough said about that. 

  As much as my wanting a dog for my own, I need to think beyond the good thoughts, the cuddly thoughts.  A dog needs to have exercise no matter the weather.  The last thing I would need is having an excited lovable dog wrap himself around my legs and we would both get hurt.  I will continue thinking good thoughts and am up for occasions when a dog sitter is needed.

  The oven meal of last night will give us a good second meal this evening.  

  Take care . . . my special people.  Perhaps out of sight but never out of loving thoughts.

   
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  Noreen 1:46 pm on September 9, 2023 Permalink  

  Gray Day 

  A gray day with a few drizzle drops.

  We had a funeral this morning here in town.  Dennis’ daughter’s brother-in-law.  We have known the family for years.

  Yesterday there was a commotion on the driveway in the afternoon.  It was the sound of a Harley.  AJ came to town to be here for the funeral and had stopped in.  By the time AJ scooted up the street to see his mom, there were four sets of house shutters in the garage. 

  By this afternoon, Dennis had saw horses and planks ready to set up for painting said shutters in the pickup garage.  I pulled him back.  I would be doing no painting today.  What Dennis could do for me was to take our full, never opened Behr black exterior paint to Fleet Farm and talk one of the fellows into shaking the can for us.  That didn’t seem to be a problem.  Dennis came home with the can shook, some stir sticks and an opener.  Only in a small town where Dennis knows everyone would our locally owned store shake a pail of paint from Home Depot and send home additional items.

  I will do the shutters and they will be done before AJ stops in next weekend.

  I did get an oven dish prepared for this evening’s supper. 

  This ole Grammie doesn’t need to put in a long day everyday.  I do appreciate the need to do this and Dennis making sure, I have a good work setup.

  Catch you tomorrow.

   
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  Noreen 12:41 pm on September 8, 2023 Permalink  

  Short and Sweet 

  The appointment with his pulmonary doctor went well.

  The sleep study of Wednesday night also included an echocardiogram for Dennis.

  All is well.  Dennis’ sleep apnea originates in his brain, not his heart.  That origination may be in part to his age of 87, well not until Oct. 2nd.  That is what all the little sensors were for, all over him.  His pulse has always been in the 53 to 56 range.  His oxygen level was at 96% Wednesday night and at 98% today. 

  Dr. Ziegler read all the information from the sleep study.  She determined to treat the patient and not the graphs of the report.  No changes on the settings of the ResMed machine.  When Dennis told her we had a granddaughter that was a sophomore in college and that she looked about that age, she gave him a bit of a chuckle.  I agreed with Dennis, she did look young.

  We did stop for a meal at Perkins.  It had been a long time since we had.  Our first choice was Culver’s but they don’t open until eleven in the morning.

  Home for the weekend . . . sounds great to me.

  There is a hint of fall in the air.  Some of the corn and bean fields are brown awaiting the harvest, while just as many are grass green.  So many varieties in seed, it’s hard to say if they are 90 day crops or 120 day crops.

  We do have some Monarchs fluttering about.  I noticed they would perch on dandelions that still had a bloom and take a good snack.  I hope they make it to Mexico.

   
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  Noreen 8:24 pm on September 7, 2023 Permalink  

  Shh 

  Shh.  Dennis is catching up on his sleep today.  Last night at eight, Dennis checked himself into the Mayo East Ridge Clinic in the Sleep Study wing.

  It was a usual tri-yearly overnight sleep study to have the CPAP setting checked for changes in patients that use the CPAP machine nightly for sleep apnea.

  Though there is a furnished bedroom provided, Dennis reported that there were more electronic monitors stuck to him that he could have counted.  Limbs, chest and and head monitors give readings for oxygen levels.  Those results allow the doctor that we see tomorrow, to set his CPAP machine for what he now needs.  The CPAP machine sitting beside Dennis’ bed can be set via Mankato.  Last night, the nurse was in and out of the room many times if the face mask was not tight enough and was allowing air to escape around the gasket as well as other checks and balances.  Dennis still had marks on his face from the elastic when he came home this morning at seven.

  For individuals that have atrofibulation, aka: afib, an irregular heart beat, it is not unusual for the patient to stop breathing during their sleep.  The goal is ten times or less per hour.  What sparked this sleep study was that Dennis’ machine reported as high as 30 times per hour.  Not always consistently but higher than healthy.  Interrupted sleep takes a tole on one for the next day’s feeling of wellbeing. The CPAP machine reads those times of not breathing and when there is no breathing it pumps a whoosh of air through the tubing into the face mask to get the heart pumping.  Dennis’ machine also has a humidifier on it for moist air to breath.

  The nurse also shared that there are more women needing CPAP machines than men.  Hmm.

  In years past when someone died in their sleep it may have been assumed that they had a heart attack during the night.  They may very well have had an episode of sleep apnea. 

  I am keeping the house quiet for Dennis to catch a couple of naps today in his recliner.  Actually sitting upright in a recliner does assist in keeping the episodes of not breathing to a minimal.

  Dennis uses his machine religiously. The cost of the machine and the monthly supplies are covered by Medicare and our Blue Cross Blue Shield. 

  Dennis wants Eggo Waffles for supper.  I can get that toaster pulled in with no problems.  We will be in Mankato tomorrow morning by 9:15.

   
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  Noreen 2:48 pm on September 6, 2023 Permalink  

  Big Change 

  The cold front that was mentioned in the weather news yesterday has made a big change.  I would say a huge change.

  We didn’t get enough rain to amount to anything.

  Today, I am back to being the little ole lady reading and stitching from her cherry red chair in her west bedroom porch.  I have taken nothing today for the body’s discomfort.  I have even noticed my left titanium knee is not cracking.  One should never lock one’s knees when bending over at the waist.  It is really hard to keep from doing it, but I did try.

  Dennis is also doing the computer solitaire games today.  For both of us it is a deserved break from the last week where each day time was put in working on the front deck and then washing up the staining brush no later than 10:30 each day before the heat was upon us.

  Dennis’ daughter stopped in this forenoon.  Her shift at Casey’s has ended up in more twelve hours days than not.  They are very short of help . . . what place of business isn’t.

  Beans and wieners went over well for last night’s supper.  Neither one of us have done anything today to warrant anything called a supper.  I won’t be the one to bring it up first and see what happens.

  Happy hump day!

   
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  Noreen 1:39 pm on September 5, 2023 Permalink  

  Tuesday feels like Monday 

  Days of the week can be a conundrum for Stauffer Avenue’s older ones.  That is why our calendar has a spot on the dining room table.

  This morning with stain pail in hand, Dennis did do a walk around the front of the house where our deck is.  Sure enough, there was a spot here and there that needed some stain.  When the brush was put into the pail, it did not have a problem touching the bottom of the pail.  The top of the pail was stepped on and will be set aside until some time later.  There was plenty of stain to do the anchor posts of the deck.

  It was time for a grocery run.  We use a few items that we can’t use up by the sell by date . . . milk.  We generally use it to make instant potatoes.  This evening it is beef wieners and beans for supper.  Yesterday while working on the deck, there were wafts of people in the neighborhood doing grilling.  The aroma of hot dogs sure smelled good.  Thus . . . our fare for supper.

  Dennis’ one request was ice cream.  So be it.  My add-on was butterscotch topping.

  The air is heavy with clouds that look like they might have a shower or two in them.  That would be welcomed.  Over these last days there were several Hosta that just plain gave up.  The leaves are totally burnt.  Oh well.  There is always next year for perennials.

  There may be some 70s in the rest of this week.  Sweet.

  I am heading back to my cherry chair for some stitching.  I finished a book last night and have not yet pulled out another one from my stash.