Grandma and Grandpa's House

This week I've spent time trying to remember my Grandparent's house in rural Ottertail County.  If all goes right, I'll be going there to visit next weekend.  So what did the house look like?  I remember the back door opens into a porch and into the kitchen.  On the right side of the door was the telephone.  The hearing piece was attached with a cord while the speaking piece was stationary on the phone.  With the party line telephone system, each customer had a different sounding ring when the phone was for them.  And Grandma knew which calls for her and which calls were for other people.  But she listened to almost all the conversations.  On that side of the room was a door that led downstairs.  Halfway down the stairs was the root cellar where the potatoes were stored.  All the way down the stairs was the basement where the wood furnace was kept.  A pile of wood was down there.  Inside the furnace and sometimes on the pile of wood was a good-sized piece of petrified wood.  The washer and dryer were downstairs.  On a shelf above the washer was a bottle of blueing which was added to the white load to make the whites look even whiter.  Next to the blueing was a box of 20 Mule Team Borax. Back upstairs in the kitchen, on the other side of the back door was a small hand washing sink. I believe there was a small medicine cabinet above the sink.  I also remember a shaving brush sitting on top of a cake of soap inside a shaving mug.  On the other side of the sink was a table and beyond that a long counter running the length of the room.  At one end was a pail with a dipper for drinking water.  Next to that was a kitchen sink.  The kitchen cabinets had knobs like Offspring #2 has in her kitchen now.  Grandma often sat on a kitchen stool that had a step you could pull out.  The stove was to the left of the kitchen door and at the end of the room was a door leading to the dining room. At this stove is where I learned how to grease and flour a cake pan and how to fry eggs.  Both of these are important skills that I still use today. The dining room had a big buffet with a bowl of realistic wax fruit (complete with a few sets of children tooth imprints).  On the walls were paintings that I think represented French city scenes where lights were reflected in the rain puddles on the street.  On the far side of the dining room, under the window, was a sewing machine with a treadle powered sewing machine.  I remember being allowed to run the treadle while she sewed. On the right was Grandpa's bedroom.  To the left was Grandma's room.  Her bedroom had lots on windows and was quite sunny.  Giant lilac bushes lined the yard on Grandma's side of the house.  She had a wind up clock that tick tocked very loud all night long.  There might have been a front room between the dining room and Grandma's room. I remember pictures of flower bouquets with peonies.  The front room must be where the front door led outside.  I remember dark wood and comfortable furniture. All these memories I'm listing here are 40+ years old.  Next week I'll compare and see how correct I was. Should be an interesting trip down memory lane.

Tough Morning

I had a tough morning.  All day I've been a little forgetful.  Thursday, October 9th should not be so hard for me to remember but every time I tried to think of it I had to slowly go through the other  days of the week and the other months of the year.  Despite a 10 minute reminder from my Outlook calendar, I forgot a 10 o'clock meeting.  My whole day was a little hazy.  My problem started this morning.  I was able to get up on time, dress appropriately, groom and take care of business.  I managed to pack a lunch.  I actually did pretty well up to this point. I get in my car, open the garage door, start driving away and I ask myself, "Why can't I see?  Why is everything so dark?"  The sun has not yet risen yet here I am trying to drive with my sunglasses on and my headlights off. I thought I was going blind for a minute there. Is this because I don't drink coffee?  I've never drank coffee my entire life but today I think it might have been helpful.

Interesting Sky

I had to work all day but I still enjoyed the sky.  Someone at a meeting pointed out the beauty of the clouds.  So I looked.  The clouds, although moving across the sky to the east at an extremely fast pace, were big and puffy.  Some were white and some lower clouds were various shades of gray.  These were the kind of clouds a person could find shapes that resembled animals.  On the way home, around 6 o'clock, the clouds had changed from puffy shapes to a flaky pattern across the sky.  To me it looked like flaky fish flesh.  In any case, I'm not seeing the gray wood blanket clouds of winter yet and that is a blessing.  If I get up on time tomorrow (if I don't hit the snooze button) I will look outside for the lunar eclipse.  The moon should be visible and should be red.  It's an interesting sky we have this week.  May as well pay attention to it because the dull gray skies of winter will be here soon enough.

American Gods

I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman.  I knew it was written by a guy from Briton and I thought it would be about America.  And it is about America but also American Gods.  I wasn't paying attention to the title.  This book is about gods like Odin and Thor and Anansi.  The book started out as a story about a guy named Shadow who was finishing his time in the state penitentiary for assault. Even though he is a criminal he seems like a nice enough guy.  He gets released early because his wife died.  On the plane home he meets a strange guy named Mr. Wednesday and that is when things start to get weird.  The books drifts into science fiction and back into plain fiction again.  I prefer plain fiction.  By the time I've read 2/3rds of the book it's all science fiction. So I think I could put this book down and not finish it.  But I can't not finish it.  I am compelled to finish the story.  I was drawn in the the travels across America, the visits to Minnesota, to Wisconsin's House on the Rock, and the other near by states.  But the story line is what made me stay.  If I had thoroughly read the book jacket, I doubt I would have read this book at all.  

Used Some Tools Successfully Today

Used the claw end of a hammer to get this off the bottom of a kitchen faucet.

Used a pipe wrench.

Pounded the hell out of this thing with a hammer to get it bent far enough to get the old faucet off the sink.

Installing the new faucet went a lot faster than getting the old one off.

Used a screwdriver on this toilet roll holder.

Used an portable drill on this bathroom shelf.

Phillips head screwdriver used on this towel ring.

Used a level on these spice shelves.  Feels good to be successful using tools.

Seven Months

Today I planted tulips.  And in seven months I will have forgotten all about planting them and I will be so pleasantly surprised to see the orange tulips blooming.  After a long winter, tulips will be a sight for sore eyes. 

Nashville Warbler

I got a really good look at a Nashville warbler today at 5:45 p.m.  Warblers are nervous, twitchy little birds.  They're usually hard to see.  And while watching them I've often wished they would sit still for just a second.  This warbler migrating south sat still for me because it was dead.  It had crashed into the two-story tall glass entry-way of the gym I attend.  I saw it when I came out after swimming. The poor warbler lay dead on the sidewalk just outside the door.  I assume it saw the reflection of the sky in the glass and flew into it at full speed.  I admired the bright yellow breast and the white eye ring while holding the door open for two other gym goers.  I moved the bird gently to the side with my shoe so it wouldn't get stepped on.  I pushed it next to the big pot of flowers.  Poor little Nashville warbler.  Was he on his way south from here in Minnesota or had he come from Canada?  Was it able to raise a brood of chicks in it's nest on the ground under a tree?  Did it, like some Nashville warblers do, use a porcupine quill in the nest?  (Ouch!)  Although I am glad to get a good look at a Nashville warbler, I am sad it was under these conditions.   .