Month: July 2020

In my last post I showed a couple photos of the garage addition cement slab and indicated the builders would be here to start the next phase of construction. That is, indeed, the major story of this past week.

The contractor is Bob’s Building Service, located here in Elma:

The following photos show the various stages of the project to date:

The lumber yard is about 10 blocks away by road so they are delivering materials by driving the forklift from the yard, on the streets, to our place. Only in small towns like this will you see forklifts delivering materials to a job site using city streets.

Here is a link to a 9:51 minute video of some of the construction, including raising the rafters and putting up the roof sheeting:

Garage Addition

There is still much to do: installing doors, windows, siding, shingles, and other trim. Bob hopes to be pretty well done by the end of this upcoming week. As you can see, I took advantage of the construction to date to move the F-150 inside for the weekend. This is the first time the truck has been in a garage for a while!

While the garage addition has been the big news, it is not the only project underway at 702 Main. Pam finished painting the east porch screen door, exterior trim and stoop still need paint refreshed:

We purchased a work of stained glass and hung it in the front door:

The new glass adds color to the entryway and is a very good addition to the house. The stairwell benefits from having some color at the bottom of the steps:

Outside projects have taken up quite a bit of time. Pam has been trimming and cutting back some of the trees and shrubs while I mow the lawn. There was quite the [large] load of yard debris to take to the dump this week.

The time goes by quickly. Minor projects are tackled and finished. One project, a bit larger than some, involved my new toy: a used table saw.

I had been asking around about the availability of a used table saw, and had mentioned it at my recent motorcycle rally. One of the guys had an old Craftsman saw he was not using. He had inherited it from a friend who had relocated and didn’t want to take the saw with him. Would I want it?

I said yes and picked it up at his Aurora (suburb of Denver) home on my way back to Iowa. Last week I built a stand for it, complete with two casters on the rear legs so I can roll it around the garage as needed. Construction took a few hours but note the chrome handle on the stand:

While I have a compound miter saw, the table saw allows me to rip wider pieces of wood down to narrower sizes as well as make accurate square cuts. I used the table saw to cut the pieces for the stand. Pam helped lift the saw onto the stand once the stand was completed.

So, it was another busy week at 702 Main. The garage addition will be the most expensive task undertaken; I look forward to having my stuff under cover and a place to work, particularly when winter hits.

Other projects vie for attention as well. Pam is already planning garden projects and transplanting to be done this fall before winter sets in. This week we relocated a bleeding heart plant that had been alongside the current garage and needed to be moved to allow construction to start. A dog ramp is in the early stages of construction. I contacted a wood working shop who indicated they can make the top and bottom railings for the porch and steps, to replace the rotted railings currently in place. Next Tuesday the F-150 goes in to have a blown exhaust gasket fixed. The list goes on, just like life.

Photo Archive

This week’s photos are from all over and not dated.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents

After the rush to complete stairwell projects while Himself was enjoying Colorado, I find myself slowing down in the intense heat and humidity of mid-summer. I did complete a patchwork-and-embroidery pillow cover I’ve been working on in the evenings. More painting needs to be done on various windows and doors, when I find the energy to do them.

At 11:00 p.m. last night, a five month old tricolor tabby female kitten was crying in our yard, near the dog pen. She had been encircled by the catio cats, who were acting mean (the jerks). I brought the kitten inside and penned it, as is my rescue habit. I’m not personally on the lookout for another house cat, and Elle (short for Elma) is too friendly to remain outside. Unknown where Elle will end up: 1) Is she a neighbor’s kitten and if so, why was she wandering around at night and not spayed? 2) Felicity is in the market for a feline in October. 3) Perhaps my sister Becky might be interested in saving her sister from yet another inside cat? The Universe will direct me, I’m sure.

I thought I was doing pretty well up to this point, not having any additional animals “show up” during the last ten months. Silly me.

Happy Trails.

I was on the road for 12 days, attending a motorcycle rally and working on our Colorado recreational property. I have a lot of ground to cover and many photos to share. Here, in more or less chronological order, is how I spent those 12 days.

Driving the F-150 and pulling the motorcycle behind on a trailer, I left on a Monday morning and arrived at The Lot Tuesday evening. On arrival, there were the usual “opening” chores: getting water, starting the refrigerator, making the bed, unpacking food and linens. And, this year, eradicating moths (living and dead).

I planned to work on The Lot for a day and a half, then move on to a motorcycle rally that was being held in Westcliffe, Colorado, over the weekend. A return to The Lot after the rally would give me a few more days to work before heading home.

The main goal for The Lot was to clean up the trees that did not survive the winter. Aspen are short-lived trees and there have always been some dead, or near-dead, trees that need to be removed from areas already cleaned. Usually these are smaller trees but some larger ones have also been known to die off.

Unfortunately, a walk-about revealed a large pine tree had been uprooted. We hate to loose any conifers on The Lot; the uprooting and other damage indicated a strong wind must have blown through this past winter or spring.

Wednesday was a day of various chores. I made a couple of “water runs,” where I take water containers to the community hand pump and fill them. Upon returning to The Box, I use a transfer pump to get the water into The Box’s storage tank. I had also brought along the string trimmer and used it to cut the grasses and fresh aspen that had grown in and along the driveway. A trip into town yielded fresh fruit, dairy products, lunch meat, and other supplies. To relax, I walked around The Lot and began identifying dead trees that would need to be removed. I kept busy!

Thursday morning I began cutting trees and stacking them up near the chipper. There was more work to be done than I had expected, but I made progress.

Thursday afternoon I headed for Westcliffe, about a 3-hour drive from The Lot, to meet with other members of the motorcycle club who were arriving that day. Our base of operations was a member’s vacation cabin near Westcliffe.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning featured group rides to various locations around SW Colorado. I won’t go into day-by-day details, but one section was of note: Cottonwood Pass is now paved on the west side for the first time ever. Pam and I have been over it, by car, so I was familiar with the area but had never ridden my motorcycle there.

The other comment I will make is that the evenings were cool, generally in the upper 40 degree range. I was glad to have my down sleeping bag!

Sunday night I returned to The Lot. Monday I began the clean up in earnest and continued through to Wednesday. During this time I was able to get the tractor and chipper started (I brought the batteries with me from Iowa). The tractor assisted in maneuvering the trailer to various piles of brush and salvage wood, then to move the wood closer to the chipper.

I chipped a pile of brush, then put covers on the tractor and chipper. Next was to get into the upper reaches of The Nook where the tractor could not go. I cut several small and large trees and made small piles of wood here and there. On my next CO trip later this summer, tasks will include hauling – by hand – all this stuff to the chipper location for processing.

Thursday morning I began the drive back to Iowa and arrived home Friday night. In my absence two major projects received attention: prep work for the garage addition was begun and Pam worked her magic in the stairwell.

Pam had painted the stairwell to wainscot height a few weeks ago. While I was gone, she purchased new tread pads, painted the front “noses” of the steps (step areas with the most damage), added wallpaper border, and adhered decals to the risers. The result is exceptional. I could not get everything in a single photo so here are a few that show the details.

Pam spent a lot of time on this project and the result is terrific. As she says, the stairwell was long overdue for a little love and attention.

The other project, the garage addition, was originally scheduled for later in the month but Bob the Builder finished another job early and moved up the schedule. Surprise! No need to worry about the details in my absence; Bob and the cement guy Marv worked off hand-drawn sketches made during an initial walkthrough of the project this past spring.

Preliminary to building, the cement pad needed to be poured. Forms were put in place, some fill sand was hauled in, and finally the concrete was poured.

Construction will hopefully commence tomorrow, Monday. More photos will follow in future posts.

I have a few miscellaneous photos as well. One of our “mystery” plants has been identified as phlox:

Here is a sunset over South Park from Pavilion Paint on the Colorado lot:

Bru, our youngest dog, has taken to sleeping on the bolster on the back of the dog couch:

Pam has a new rug in the parlor bedroom:

Photo Archive

From July 1991: Grandpa George with Felicity and Toby

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents

I worked fairly diligently to accomplish as much as possible in the stairwell during Himself’s absence. Trying to establish a work zone when egress is needed through the work area is truly frustrating; having the stairwell to myself (except for cat races) moved this project along. I almost accomplished the ambitious amount of work I had planned.

As with most of the projects here at Heart House, implementation of any “design” comes in layers. First the actual use of the space is established, then the painting, deciding on the borders, starting to add the decorative elements, addressing the floors. There are still decorative items to add in the two-story stairwell; sadly most require a very tall ladder and Flying Wallenda skills.

In between stairwell projects I undertook some limited lawn mowing. Iowa “enjoyed” about four severe storm warnings during Himself’s trip, and the resulting wet grass basically just clogged the mower. I tried out my new head bug netting during mowing — works great at keeping the skeeters and gnats away from my face and ears. Add some DEET to the ankles and arms, and I’m ready to go.

Happy Trails.

Work continues around the Heart House. Pam has been painting doors and I have been working at various other projects. Flowers around the yard are in bloom, including a new “mystery” flower. Let’s get to it!

Pam took it on herself to paint the back doors. I think they turned out very well! Here is the back inner or main door:

Then she painted the screen door and insert:

Pam is now working on the east side doors and I will have photos when they are completed.

Working on the doors is a time consuming task due to all the layers of old paint and lack of really straight lines. The addition of the hearts sets off the paint job which will compliment the house painting when we get to that project.

Pam baked our first rhubarb pie of the year. This one featured our own home-grown rhubarb, a goal Pam had in mind from the time we decided to buy the place. I hope this is the first of many pies!

My main project for the past week was working on the east (and a bit on the north) decks. Some of the boards needed to be replaced due to rot. The decks have a “spongy” feel in a few areas. This work will continue on for some time before completed. Also time consuming as the railings and downspouts have to be removed then reinstalled as part of the project.

The porch railings have been repaired to some extent; the bottom rails should be replaced due to rot in some spots. However, finding replacement wood and balusters has proven to be difficult. So, for the time being, I replaced 5 rotted balusters from some taken from the step railings. The porch balusters are 24 inches tall and the step balusters were 28 inches. I was able to cut off equal parts of the tops and bottoms of the 28 inchers, ends that were rotted, and use them as replacements for the porch balusters. As you can see, painting needs to be completed but at least the rotten wood is gone.

The front porch is not as bad, but someone in the past decided to save some money and not use full-length boards in some areas. This led to a lot of seams in the decking that I do not care for, both for aesthetic reasons and because rot has begun to take hold in these locations.

After talking it over, Pam and I decided we will replace more decking than originally planned and eliminate these problem areas. The removed decking will be re-used; I plan to use it on the back porch. (Currently the back porch decking is 2″ x 6″ planks.) Using the salvaged decking will result in a consistent look to all three porches.

The decking material, called car siding or box-car siding, is readily available in a number of different lengths. I bought the first of it from the in-town lumber yard. The wood uses a tongue-and-grove system to interlock each board to its neighbor. This is not a bad system but replacement of one board usually means replacing, or at least removing, boards on either side as well. The job just takes longer.

The largest amount of work is getting all the old securing screws out. Over the years the wood has swelled up and over the screw heads and paint has filled in the screwdriver slots. I have to locate, clean, and then remove each screw. This process that can takes several minutes for each one, so just getting that part of the removal done will take hours.

Another project completed was to move all my photo gear, including all my old slides and negatives, out of the garage attic and into the basement. The garage is not insulated and the attic gets very hot. (Same situation was present in De Beque.) The basement, now cleaned and with a dehumidifier running, seems like a good place to store old film.

The move took several trips up and down the garage attic ladder and up and down the basement steps, but I did get the stuff moved. During the process I opened every box, consolidated items, and was able to recycle several boxes and a lot of packing. In addition, I put a couple chairs and a storage bin in the basement; Pam wants to keep a few emergency supplies down there in the event we have a severe storm or tornado come through and we need to retreat to the basement for shelter.

I am planning a trip to Colorado next week. Two purposes: The first is to visit The Lot, the second is to attend a motorcycle rally.

Work at The Lot will be minimal, consisting of painting the storage shed and cleaning up after the winter. I don’t know how I will react to the 9,500 foot elevation after being gone from Colorado for months now, so work plans are fairly modest.

The motorcycle rally will be in Westcliffe, west of Pueblo. The organizer has asked us to wear masks and social distance. We will have to see if this works out! I am looking forward to seeing friends I have made over the years through these get-togethers. As a result of this planned road trip there will be a gap in blog posts. When I return I should have quite a few photos to share.

Around the yard, day lilies are in full bloom. Pumpkin plants have flowers on them, as does one very small hollyhock stem. Hostas are blooming. We also have another “mystery plant” blooming; does anyone recognize this one?

Photo Archive

This group reflects our kids, Felicity and Toby, taken over a few years in the early ’90s.

And then there is the large towel we owned for several years:

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

I paint screen doors inside, in the AC. I see no point standing outside painting (in the freakin’ heat and humidity) when there is a perfectly comfortable inside area to paint. This requires Himself to take the doors off the hinges, one by one, and bring each indoors. A small inconvenience. The main security doors are super heavy to move around in this way, though. So-o-o-o, the red and white security door may be the only one painted this cycle.

“Away time” for Himself is certainly due, now he’s been retired four months. The initial retirement period – plus sheltering in place – resulted in a bit much togetherness.

Happy Trails.