Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 4:25 pm on February 20, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Dennis   

  A New Experience 

  Unfortunately, we had to get Dennis back to the clinic yesterday.  The first batch of the 5 day fast track of antibiotics was finished on Sunday and yesterday morning his temp was 102.2 with all the same hacking, aching to go with it.  I realized the antibiotic would still be in his system for another 10 days, but we were 8 days out from his carotid surgery.  No way do we want to have to postpone that important surgery.  Dennis’ regular doctor was not available.  Urgent care is something we had never visited in the clinic before.  You show up and take what you get.  A 21 year old looking young doctor came in.  I thought “Oh-my-oh-my-oh.”  This young fellow graduated high-school from the town just east of here, Madelia.  He wanted to come back to his community and . . . here he was.

  The doctor checked and saw that the last chest X-ray was for the pre-op in October of 2017.  He could hear a rattle in the right lung.  Off to X-ray Dennis went.  Nothing serious in that right lung, but several masses that needed to be broken up.  Fast forward . . . Dennis and I were so impressed with his attention to every detail of Dennis’ history and the state he was in currently.  Another, stronger antibiotic was prescribed.  Yes, it will interfere with the Warfarin Dennis takes for his Atrial fibrillation (an irregular heart beat), but . . . yesterday was the 19th and Dennis needs to stop taking it on the 21st to prepare for the surgery. Doctor Luis felt this would be the way to get him in shape and not have the surgery rescheduled.  In addition he is to take 4,000 mg of acetaminophen spread over four times during the day.  When the coughing spree starts, get it up and out.  Napping may be the way Dennis will spend these next days as everything he is taking has the ability for drowsiness.  Here we are 24 hours later, his temperature is down.  The rest I am sure will follow to getting him back on his feet.  My job is to make sure the meds are laid out and to push liquids so he can get the crap in his system and out through urination.

  The city streets were icy yesterday and we opted to get the prescription out of the automated vending machine in the clinic.  Talk about something that is oh so cool.  You enter the code from the doctor’s prescription and there begins a blue task message at the bottom of the screen.  It takes a credit card. It asked for Dennis’ birth date and off the blue line took.  “Looking up drug.” “Counting out drug.”  “Printing label.” “Attaching label.”  “Dispensing drug.” This took about 10 minutes, but I was amazed.  Dennis took his first dose right there in the clinic. 

  The Urgent Care and the med dispensing were both a new experience.  We came away feeling comfortable in having a new doctor that we will feel comfortable with.  Luis questioned Dennis on things that had never been broached before. 

  All I need to do is keep the house quiet, though he may be able to sleep through a freight train coming by.  His sleep is deep.  He says there are no nightmares or dreams . . . just out.  Two feet from the recliner and he begins to list towards it.  I did find some putzing to do in the sewing studio.  I have never worked with flannel . . . so why not.  Today the tracking info allowed us to know Dennis’ granddaughter’s scrappy quilt hit their home.  With all the snow they got over the last day or so, it won’t go unused. 

   
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  Noreen 4:00 pm on November 6, 2017 Permalink
  Tags: Dennis   

  I am writing while huge snowflakes are fluttering. The snow started just as we were returning from Mankato. Dennis had his follow-up appointment with the surgeon from the carotid procedure in mid-October. Everything is doing well for my ole cowboy. Quite a bit of swelling but that is on track to a full recovery. Feb. 6th there is an appointment for Dennis to have an ultrasound checking on the surgical artery and also getting the perspective on how the right carotid surgery will be done. The surgeon does not rush having the second surgery as the brain needs to recover from the increased blood flow. The left artery going from being blocked at 97% and now hopefully flowing at 97% is a huge change for the noggen. Doing both sides close together could cause swelling of the brain and then Dennis would be dealing with a whole new situation. If the right carotid causes issues, it would be noticed in Dennis’ speech patterns. Yup . . . he is talking and doing it well. As I am getting this post ready, he is over having coffee at one of this friends. This particular friend lives in an apartment complex that has a commons room. They get together for coffee and I can only imagine the city news that gets chewed over. We will later have a recap here on Stauffer Avenue. I like that my ole cowboy is getting back to his feisty self.

  We stopped at Perkins for brunch. Oh course, Mondays are free pie days. Dennis has two pieces of cherry pie in our refrig to enjoy these next several days. Because I splurged on potato pancakes, I am back on the wagon. I will say Perkins makes potato pancakes just like Mom did and I will tell you Dad loved her potato pancakes. It must be in the genes. I do pass on the syrup and prefer sour cream to enhance the onion and herb additions. Yum.

   
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  Noreen 4:13 pm on October 17, 2017 Permalink
  Tags: Dennis   

  Here it is 4:45 on a beautiful sunny afternoon and I feel whipped. It may have something to do with the 4 a.m. rising time to get to a medical appointment for Dennis. Perhaps after the surgery that Dennis had this morning to remove plaque from his left carotid artery, that may allow the tempo here on Stauffer Avenue to be a bit calmer. When only 25% of blood flow reaches the brain via the carotid arteries, it can cause lack of cognitive awareness, imbalance while walking, and taking a pass on life as it happens moment by moment that continues into weeks and months. The surgery involved Dennis being alert and able to converse with the surgeon as the procedure was done. No chance of him sleeping through the procedure only to wake up thereafter and have had something happen that would have caused Dennis a loss of clear speech or being mentally confused. Lots of nerves in a tiny area that needed to be treated carefully. There had been pain blocking via IVs.

  In my heart, I know some of what I am feeling today is relief in not having to watch where Dennis was. Was he on the floor of the garage, the driveway or not being able to remain sitting on the chair without slipping off onto the floor with him wondering after it was all over with as to “what happened?” When a flick of plaque would break off of the blockage, it would cause a TIA . . . a very small stroke.

  It doesn’t matter how this slipped through the medical people that we had been working with for a very long time. What matters is that this afternoon Dennis has good color in his face. Dennis was smiling and laughing . . . which was all too seldom in the past months.

  O.K. I admit it. It has been a singularly lifestyle here on Stauffer Avenue being on watch for what each day may bring and what each day would entail for the both of us. I believe I will sleep very peacefully tonight. Tomorrow when I return to the hospital, I want to see more of that smile.

   
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  Noreen 2:33 pm on October 2, 2017 Permalink
  Tags: Dennis   

  The Tables are Turned 

  

  Literally . . . the tables in the basement have been turned. Total access for the coming sewing studio season. Nothing is yet where the final resting place will be. All the shelves have been cleared and washed down and placement is now at random. I remember several Christmases ago we gave Carrie and Kevin music boxes and I had purchased containers at Hobby Lobby that totally folded down when not in use. On ebay, with free shipping, I have containers in two sizes coming. At that time I will be getting down to business for placement of items. The tables are a perfect place to let it all hang out as the new containers find their contents. I know I said yesterday nothing would be out in the open. Silly ole me. The south wall will be a place for special glass items and items that I will enjoy looking at and won’t mind dusting. Where my red chair is located, that will be where my sewing machine will be. At this time I have decided to use the church tables, thus having an area to attach the embroidery unit when I want to use it. There will be several small tables that perhaps won’t have to be herded around near the sewing machine. Paring down! The new sewing studio is getting closer. By the way, the basement effort is closing down early as I want to make Dennis’ favorite supper for his birthday. Happy Birthday Dennis!

   
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  Noreen 3:12 am on March 1, 2016 Permalink
  Tags: Dennis, Kevin ( 8 )   

  Tidy Up 

  After a sewing project or two the threads are everywhere.  As many wastebaskets that I have in various locations in the sewing studio, some are still bound to take flight.  Dennis cleaned the vacuum filter after I was finished and he was wondering if I sat in a corner making small bits of thread.

  

  The bright colors were fun to work with even if some had to be spliced to be able to be used.

  Yesterday after folding up the large turquoise and coral quilt with the embroidery motifs, I had not planned on starting anything new.  I thought I was burned out.  Not!  I was in the process of making tidy the work area when I could not help myself from thumbing through the scrap box.  At the very bottom was a half yard of a printed panel.  It was a panel of the alphabets, three letters to a block.  Before I knew it, I had some scraps for this and a few scraps for that and the challenge was on for making a crib sized quilt.  Not all projects need to be queen or king sized.

  I knew I had supper in the bag.  From roasting out a large turkey from Kersten and Kevin, we had several bags of roasted chopped turkey in the freezer.  I planned on using some cream of chicken soup to add to the turkey for hot sandwiches.  The sandwiches coupled with a lettuce salad and the menu was planned, giving me ample time to sew a few seams.  I did call it quits when I realized I had sewn the last seam placing the right side of the quilt to the wrong side of the border, rather than the two right sides facing each other.

  It wasn’t much fun knowing that the first job of the day was taking the seam ripper out and taking out that last seam.  It did give me time to consider what sort of backing to put on a crib quilt.  When all was said and done, I had taken everything out of each tote to find just the right yardage.  I am not going to mention just how many totes that entailed.  When I saw the Crayon print yard goods, I knew it would be the right fit.  It may have been a good find, but I shot myself in the foot.  As I went through the totes, I weeded out bits of scraps that had been folded into the larger pieces.  I had been working very hard to use up scraps and now my scrap box is again just as full as before all the pot holders and placemats have been cranked out.  This puts a whole new slant on job security.  Care must be given when one is doing a tidy up.

   
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  Noreen 2:18 am on February 21, 2016 Permalink
  Tags: Carrie ( 12 ), Dennis, Kevin ( 8 ), Orlin ( 4 )   

  Fresh Air Can’t Hurt 

  Dennis has gone to see his friend recovering from a bad fall on the ice.  I have taken the opportunity to open up both ends of the house for some fresh air.  Fresh air can’t hurt after a spell of cold temps, and it sure can’t hurt keeping me on the straight and narrow with my scrappy projects in my sewing studio.

  I have been in the habit of making gifts for people for decades.  I find it relaxing and allowing myself to think about each person who will be on the receiving end of the gift.  That is how I had so many scraps that ended up being finished one inch squares to put together in various patterns.

  Having a sewing studio is not foreign to me.  When Carrie was just a year old, my Dad and my Mom staked Orlin and me to a 160 acre farm not far from where my parents lived.  I was very familiar with the farm and the home, as I had spent many hours in that home and on the dooryard playing with my District 34 classmate, Marith Kurth, whose parents owned the farm.  It was a lovely story and a quarter, three bedroom home with a dry, usable basement.

  We did enjoy and make use of every square inch of that home.  It is the first home that Kevin ever knew.  It didn’t take much prodding from Carrie to teach Kevin how to navigate the steps either going up or down or out.  Without the basement, that we did finish out for a playroom and a television room, some would have said it was a small home.  Marith and her brother’s family found it suitable long past the time that grandchildren visited.

  One of the basement storage areas, Orlin converted into a sewing room.  There was a handy closet on the west end that was partitioned off for a canning cellar on the south end and a sewing storage area on north end.  It was handy as all get-out. The kids were close by, the laundry was close by and the half bathroom didn’t hurt either.  In time, the sewing room had enough room in it for a 4-harness rug loom to be added.  Sewing studios have been a part of me for over fifty years.

  Back to the one inch squares.  In today’s world, I would not have made anything from which these scraps evolved.  I am onto larger pieces of fabric.  Fifteen or sixteen years ago, I did make gifts for the gals who worked for me in the courthouse.  Once I got into the swing of all things being an inch, my sister-in-laws each received one, as well as my mom, my daughter, and a niece, Erin.  Wouldn’t you know it?  I had scraps left.

  Today, with the fresh air wafting through the home, it was time to get serious and put scraps to use once and for all.  I never throw very much away if I can envision something coming out of the depths of a storage box. Several years ago, when granddaughter Megan was going to receive her first American Girl Doll, daddy Jeremy emailed me.  He was handcrafting a doll bed and wanted to know if I could make the bedding, complete with a quilt for it.  No problem.  At that time, out came the one inch square happy scraps.  Now today, the batting and backing has been determined as well as the bindings being cut.  Dennis already had marveled over the potholders that were whipped out earlier from quilt squares that had not made the cut. He knew I would not back down until this group of projects would be finished.  It is fun to have an item here or there for an unsuspecting visitor to our home.  Happy scrapper quilter sucking in fresh air: happy home.

   
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  Noreen 2:55 am on January 15, 2016 Permalink
  Tags: Dennis   

  My Favorite Photographer 

  

  Dennis helped me pin up this project as best as possible. It’s Josie’s 1/3 quilt top that will be added to by two other grandmothers to make a full size quilt top. On various baby clothing I did embroidery in designs to honor using them as well as giving them some added dimension. On sleepers , I made sure the zipper pulls were taken out and sewed portions of the sleeper onto the blocks. Here a great grandma’s name, there a great grandma’s name. The three quilt tops may be coming back to Stauffer Avenue after the other two grandmas have completed their tasks for me to finish with the batting, backing and binding. These three quilt tops were ideal for me to become totally accustomed to using the new sewing machine in multiple ways with a whole lot of ease. It will interesting to see what ideas the Northern Minnesota grandmas have in mind.

   
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  Noreen 2:45 am on September 9, 2015 Permalink
  Tags: Butter Ball ( 7 ), Dennis, Snuggles ( 7 )   

  Ugh!! 

  

  Fuzzy and Harry spending some time
  in the prime spot of the porch.

  There are good “Ughs” and some not so good “Ughs.”

  The good ugh of the day: “Ugh, I now need to share my rocking chair?”  The newbies, Fuzzy and Harry, were in my rocking chair soaking up some sun when I came out this afternoon. These two charmers are just that, charm the pants right off of you.  The squeaky toy that Kersten and Kevin sent over for Snuggles earlier this year is a hit with these two.  It is the squeak that keeps on giving.

  Getting onto the bad “Ugh”: Butter Ball was suppose to have his yearly check up this morning at 9:00 a.m.  We bought some treats that were suppose to have a calming effect on the cat.  Two treats were the prescribed dose.  At eight this morning, Dennis gave Butter Ball three of the treats.  By 8:20, I was applying an antiseptic to Dennis’ arm, finishing off with band-aids.   Butter Ball is one really strong cat.  I had happened to look out the bathroom window towards the porch patio doors and all I could see was a tail flailing wildly with an occasional pair of paws jutting straight out.  By the time I got outside, Butter Ball was hiding under the car and Dennis was wiping blood.

  We canceled out on the appointment and Dennis made a trip to the veterinary clinic seeking help.  Help . . . to knock out this cat enough to get him into a carrier for his checkup.  We have several pills that can be crushed up and put into something that Butter Ball will eat.  Actually, a half pill is suppose to do it.  Hmm.  It will be some time before Butter Ball wants anything to do with us.  We have given Butter Ball the best year of his life.  “Ugh.”

  Later this afternoon, I did put some butter on the tip of my finger and Butter Ball took a sniff of it and then strode off.  Snuggles had no problem licking my finger right down to the first knuckle.  This whole project will take some time.  I can assure you that even if Butter Ball is comatose, he will get his annual checkup.

   
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  Noreen 4:14 am on August 30, 2015 Permalink
  Tags: Bell ( 2 ), Butter Ball ( 7 ), Dennis, Kersten ( 6 ), Kevin ( 8 ), Sophie ( 2 )   

  The Patio Annex 

  It is no secret that the older ones on Stauffer Avenue have a soft heart.  Most of that heart is reserved for family, but the four legged creatures that happen into our lives are real scene stealers.

  The talk has been had about a dog.  When we travel, that would be a real heart breaker.  Leaving a dog with a stranger could crush its spirit.  Taking a dog with when traveling, is not always appreciated.  We have had Kevin and Kersten’s Bell and Sophie for a sleepover.  They fit right in and know that we are kindred spirits.  So . . . the talk about having a dog, is just that, talk.

  Now, cats that happen across our patio, that is another story.  One of the first cats that happened across our yard quite a lot of years ago, is still coming for brunch.  Megan named her Tabatha.  She looked like she had some age on her then, and has kept a consistent look of well-being.  We couldn’t count how many have been by for a snack and, over time, did not return.  Dennis feels that if they make it to our yard, they will have a bite to eat and water to drink.  Formally, we have taken in three cats to the degree of having them treated to a visit to the veterinarian once a year for their shots.

  This late spring, pretty much right on schedule, the yellow mama cat, Sweetie Pie, brought over her wares.  Butter Ball Curry is one of her kittens from last year.  This year, there were two little gray ones following mama right up to the Meow Mix bowl.  Surprisingly, they were not as frightened of us as we would have thought.  Dennis gets the biggest charge out of these two in the morning.  They can hear him getting his slippers on in the house and they are coming up the patio sidewalk to meet him.  If he takes a bit too long, one of them will give him a “Meow,” as if, “What are you waiting for.”  We have had a run of very cool evenings, and the little ones would huddle against the porch patio doors.  The ole cowboy felt sorry for them and put out an old pillow.  Sure enough, they still were huddling, but the fluff of the pillow seemed to have swallowed them up.

  

  Our patio annex, complete with Dennis making sure that there are comfortable fixings inside. It’s a good thing I save old quilt batting for uses such as this.

  Yesterday morning, I came out with my coffee to find that we had a patio annex added.  Inside, I could see the same little pillow had been tucked inside.  What peeked out from the opening of the pod were four little ears.  Priceless.  I have no idea where this kitty adoption center will take us.  In the mean time, Dennis feels proud that he could offer a retreat to these two wee ones.  I was going to snap a photo today, but I think they had decided to sleep in.

  Stauffer Avenue: where wondrous events keep us happy and content.

  In life, please remember to give and have no memory of it, or take and remember it always.

   
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  Noreen 6:02 am on August 18, 2015 Permalink
  Tags: Dennis   

  Rainy Day Job 

  

  Dennis’ niece, Geri, has worked very hard on Ancestry to pull information in regard to the Curry family. Sunday at the reunion she had a book for each of Tom and Edith Curry’s children. The intent was that each child’s family would make copies for their children. It was a rainy day today and my Dell printer was kept quite busy. The genealogy went back to the year 1830 and came forward. Geri has spent years on this and to actually have a printout was priceless. The book had 51 pages up to Dennis’ parents. After that each of the four books were detailed specifically for each of their lives. Dennis’ book went on for another 23 pages detailing Dennis’ life to the present. As of this evening, Dennis’ children will each have their own copy to continue the story.