Page Title

Huber

Funeral Home & Cremation Services

952-474-9595

Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinic.

Occupational Therapy. Speech Therapy.

952-443-9888

Victoria’s Corner Bar. Nightly Specials and Menus. 952-443-9944

Buying or Selling Victoria?

Call Nan Emmer. 612-702-2020

Weinzierl

Jewelers

8 First Street in Waconia. 952-442-2885

Preschool and Childcare in Victoria.

Call 952-443-2121.

MVT Excavating

No job is too small. 952-446-9341

The Key

The Key to advertisers

in the Victoria Gazette.

Located at www.VictoriaGazette.com.

Four walls to hear me,

Four walls to see,

Four walls too near me,

Closing in on me.

I’m living it, breathing it, walking it, dreaming it, feeling it, touching it, hearing it, seeing it, loving it, and now I’m writing it. When something affects all of your senses, how can you help but write about it!

It begins every morning at 7:30 a.m. with a bunch of guys surrounding our house inside and out with hammers and hip holsters. After the first day or two, they didn’t need to knock to enter. Construction tools and equipment such as the saws, air compressor, and cement mixer are parked outside in various corners of our yard.

Scaffolding appears, disappears, and reappears on all sides of our house so I must be alert as to how much privacy is available to me at any given time in any given bathroom.

I spend many hours these last three weeks holed up in my little Gazette office with the doorway wrapped in plastic to protect ventilation systems (my own very lungs) and my office equipment. Sometimes the four walls seem to be closing in on me.

Four walls to hear me,

Four walls to see,

Four walls too near me,

Closing in on me.

Our home and kitchen remodel project brings to mind the initial construction of our place back in the fall of 1971, nearly 40 years ago. We were so young to have made those rather big decisions on our own, and sometimes I marvel that we did it and that it turned out pretty much okay. With only a minimum of life experience, we chose design, windows, wood, siding, beams, cabinets, flooring, tile, countertops, paint, stain, faucets, fixtures, appliances. Will I ever forget Harvest Gold or Avocado Green? How about orange shag carpet?

I’d say that the first 25 years here on Lilac Lane was a remarkable era for us in our first years of marriage and for our babies as they became toddlers, played together, discovered neighborhood friends and then the school bus and the park and the trails. This is the only home our kids knew and now they’re married with nests of their own. Yes, time flies and leaves specks behind.

Most all of our original neighbors and friends have since left this Schutz Lake neighborhood, which was brand new in 1971, and Allan and I have now lived here longer than anyone else currently residing here. As a matter of the fact, some of the homes have seen two and three families move in and out of them.

When Allan and I built our house -- rather, hired a carpenter to build our house -- I knew it was for the long term, like a dandelion with roots that go deep and you can hardly get rid of it. Since home is where my heart is, the walls have seldom closed in on me.

Four walls to hear me,

Four walls to see,

Four walls too near me,

Closing in on me.

It’s exciting for us to see our remodel ideas take shape physically in front of us. The craftsmanship of our excellent carpenters is evident each evening as we walk the vacant silent space alone together, surveying the progress and marveling at the day’s work.

The satisfaction, and even the joy, is related to creation, of course. As I’ve said before, the ability to create is what differentiates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. No squirrel or monkey produced cave art or built a roaring fire or a round wheel or, for that matter, built a home or a garden or a newspaper.

When the four walls of my little Gazette office begin to close in on me here at home during this spring project, I venture out to talk to Scott, Josh, Brad, Jim, Larry, Mike, Troy, Pete, Irene, Nels, Jeff, Chris, Wayne, Greg, John, and there are others. Of course, I’m also taking pictures. It seems everything is a story in progress, a story to be told. I wonder if I will create a page online for Sue’s Album. I wonder if I will create a page for print in the Gazette.

Four walls to hear me,

Four walls to see,

Four walls too near me,

Closing in on me.

So history is repeating itself on Lilac Lane in Victoria as we’re doing it all over again -- countertop, appliances, cabinets, paint, stain, faucets, fixtures, outlets, wiring, windows, siding, flooring.

Since Allan “goes to work” every day, I’m the one living it, breathing it, walking it, dreaming it, feeling it, touching it, hearing it, seeing it, loving it from sunup to sundown, and now I’m writing it. When something affects all of your senses, how can you help but write about it!

952-443-2808

Specialized assisted living for those

with memory challenges.

Victoria. 952-908-2215