With the seasonal transition from winter to spring underway, this last week contained a hodgepodge of activities including work in the house, yard work, and addressing a few longer-term projects. Here is the week in review.
Pam has begun to order some new ‘fittings’ for the house. One of these items was a new curio cabinet intended to hold a number of small items we brought with us from Colorado. The case needed assembly and turned out to be well suited for holding a number of Pam’s small keepsakes.
Pam continues to work on the snug, ordering a few small items for around the house, sending a few Easter postcards, and working on other small projects.
In addition to assembling the new display case, I kept busy. Monday I drove to the Mason City Post Office and submitted my passport renewal forms. (Since the current passport had expired there were a few additional steps I had to take and could not renew on-line or by mail.) The process went smoothly and I hope to receive my new passport in the next 4 to 6 weeks.
With the warmer weather and some rain, all snow is gone from around 702 Main. I completed a lawn clean-up, raking more leaves, twigs, and small branches that had fallen on the lawn over the winter. The lawn looks good for a day or so, then winds pick up neighbor’s leaves and blow them onto our yard. These will have to wait until I get the mower out and run over the lawn. The bagger system does a pretty good job of collecting these strays after the raking loosens the base level of collected debris. I still need to take the utility trailer to the dump and dispose of this first load of stuff, a job for the upcoming week.
One warmer morning I sat on the east porch and took photos of birds at the feeder. House finches are the main species featured in this photo. Their red coloring is attractive and they are interesting to watch.
I took some time to work up a few bald spots on the lawn and put in some grass seed I had left over from last fall. For example, we had removed the phlox plants for relocation late in the season and grass had not had time to grow in before winter arrived. I am hoping the warmer weather and rains forecast every few days for the next week will be enough to green up these bare spots.
I would like to give a shout out to my sister Kitt who fixed me up with some KN95 masks. These are quite a step up from the cloth and blue pleated paper masks I had been using. Given I will be in contact with many people during the course of my prostate treatments I am very glad to have the new masks! Thank you!
On a technical note, a couple weeks ago I had a new battery put in my iPhone 6s. The phone is 5 – 6 years old and was still running on the original battery, but it was beginning to have issues. It required frequent recharges and would occasionally jump from 80% – 90% charge to less than 5% then back up. The new battery (with installation) cost just over $65.00 and took about 45 minutes. Charging is required only every other day and the battery is stable in operation. It was a worth-while update which will bring more peace of mind as I am on the road to and from treatment appointments.
The events in Boulder touched us this past week. Having lived near there, and working in Boulder, we have many memories of shopping at the King Soopers grocery, walking the Pearl Street Mall, stopping in shops and eating in various restaurants, and attending University Lutheran Chapel. Boulder was our home town from the late ’70s until ’85. We reviewed the names of the victims but didn’t recognize any of them, probably a good thing. It was a shock to see such violence in a place familiar to us.
The upcoming week, well, no major new projects are anticipated but many smaller jobs will receive attention. One such small job is mine; I have ordered a few tool chest organizers and plan to finally organize my socket sets in my main tool box. During the course of the move some items were separated and ended up in different places. Now is a good time to get everything together in one place.
I will probably put the mower deck and bagger back on the John Deere and retire the snow blade for the summer. There is already new grass growing in the cracks in the side walk and it won’t be long until the first mowing session of the year occurs.
JoJo will go to the groomers next week and all three dogs will be getting their nails and anals attended to. Some COVID-19 protocols are still in place at the vet for drop-off and pickup. This means a couple trips back and forth to Charles City (about 50 miles round trip) on Monday but I will get some grocery shopping worked in as part of the outing.
So it goes. Life is a mixture of routine and project work. What else is new?
Photo Archive
There is no theme for this week’s collection. Take a look at the captions for an explanation!
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Penny
On the TV design shows, staging takes place at the end of the remodel and the room(s) involved look fantastic immediately. Not here at 702 Main. It takes me months to layer all of the final elements in rooms. Painting and drapes are the easy part. Going through the stored stuff in storage room boxes (for the walls and for display in various ways) seems endless. Stored stuff has to be curated. The plaster walls don’t support heavy items; we lost two wall anchors on one wall, they disappeared right into the lathe and plaster.
Which is why it’s satisfying to have the curio cabinet filled with memorabilia. This also means fewer boxes in the storage room, which is another area of the house requiring organization (at some point). Win-win.
Here’s a new acquisition that defines the library space (in the room with the Art Deco stencil).
Be well. Happy Trails.