Month: July 2021

The main story of the week was the hot and humid weather we experienced. With the “feels like” temps exceeding 100 degrees due to a combination of temperature and humidity, most outside activities were abandoned. Still, there were a few noteworthy events and happenings.

On Sunday we drove to Greene, Iowa (about 40 miles) to look over their outdoor plant and craft sale. (This is an annual event but was not held last year due to COVID-19.) The sale was held in one of Greene’s riverside parks which proved to be a beautiful spot along the Shell Rock River.

We bought a couple of white phlox plants to go along our two shades of red plants. We hope this gives us a colorful display next year. The existing phlox are doing great, with two lighter red plants flanking the deeper red plant that Pam bought last year. A pot of daisy plants and half a dozen ears of fresh sweet corn came home with us as well.

Here is a photo of one of the vendors set up for the event:

Pam’s sister Becky accompanied us and she returned home with a plant to take back home with her. Becky departed Elma for her return trip to Rice Lake on Monday. We were sad to see her go as we had enjoyed her company and appreciated the work she did on Heart House. Thank you.

The night of the 27th we had quite a lightning storm which was followed by some high winds and rain. I took some video of this event which has been posted on my Videos tab under the title “Lightning.” The 3:13 minute long video is grainy as the low light and flashes of lightning raised havoc with the camera’s auto focus function. Still, it was quite a show.

Speaking of videos, I added the Elma Trail Days Parade to my Videos page. There is nothing exciting about this clip but it does show how small-town America celebrates a local event. Narration is provided by Pam, Becky, Larry, and myself. With a run time of nearly 26 minutes it is a long clip; view it at your leisure!

New grass seed was planted near the garage in a bare spot that had never filled in naturally. I am pleased to report the new grass is coming up. I hope it covers well and eliminates the bald spot that has been the source of mud in rainy weather.

Given that outside time was limited by the heat and humidity, Pam and I turned to inside projects. Pam stained her new birdhouse and one of the wood crates we had picked up earlier this summer. New valances were hung over the library windows. Zack from O’Brien Plumbing and Heating arrived to begin working up a quote for some plumbing we need done. I made a trip to Menard’s home improvement store in Rochester and came home with a new water heater, garbage disposal, toilet for the upstairs bathroom, and a faucet set for the job sink we plan to have installed in the laundry room. The job sink will be made out of a galvanized wash tub on a stand, which is on the way from the manufacturer.

Some of my inside time was taken up with updating my web pages. I needed to bring some of the code up to more modern “best practices” as many of the pages now date back a decade or more and coding techniques have changed a great deal over time. Most of these changes are invisible but a few are not; you may notice drop shadow boxes around many of the photos used throughout the pages. The site is now more portable-device friendly should you want to view it on a smart phone or other hand-held device such as an iPad.

A fan repair was accomplished after one of our fans began having a hard time turning properly. For some reason the fan’s manufacturer used security screws in two places. Security screws have a ‘pin’ in the middle of the screw head and you need a special type of bit to remove them. I have a set of these special bits as similar screws are often used on computer gear to discourage folks from taking things apart. Why industry goes to this trouble for an inexpensive fan is a mystery to me.

Small projects, a couple trips, saying good-by to Becky…the week passed with us doing a mixture of routine living tasks and chores. With the coming of cooler weather we hope to get back to doing things that improve the looks and functionality of the house.

One small note: We received our annual propane usage report from our local supplier. Last year we used 836 gallons of propane. The previous owners, for the same time period, had used almost 1,700 gallons. We keep the house a bit cooler than the previous occupants, but I suspect a lot of the savings is due to the foundation sealing, a few new windows, and other energy savings projects we took on last year. This year has seen us replace the kitchen window and broken siding on the south side of the house, complete with a layer of Tyvek underneath, and caulking of quite a few joints as we scrape and repaint portions of the outside walls. All these upgrades help make the home more energy efficient. With propane going up over 30 percent this heating season, all the upgrades will pay off in real dollars.

Photo Archive

Zion National Park in 2014

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

Pam’s Penny

I guess everything is on a domino-effect cycle around here. Purchase a new dishwasher and the resulting hot water load kills the water heater. Lukewarm showers may be somewhat refreshing this time of year, but that won’t last for long. Money spent on house maintenance/appliances seems endless.

Happy trails.

It’s been two very busy weeks since my last post. Which means I have a LOT of photos and ground to cover so let’s get started.

Last week we organized a road trip to Tulsa to visit daughter Felicity and her boyfriend Peter. The trip was possible due to Becky, Pam’s sister, staying on in Elma to watch the critters. We thank her for that! Becky had brought down some earrings that Lorraine (Pam and Becky’s mother) had in her estate when she passed. These were given to Felicity, who was delighted to get them.

Peter is quite the cook and made us dinner on Friday and breakfast on Saturday morning. Notice the food and plate composition in color, shape, and texture. Taste was excellent too.

We had a conversational visit that touched on many, many topics. We also visited the Tulsa River Walk (Arkansas River) which is within two blocks of Felicity’s and Peter’s rental home.

All too soon it was time for us to head home.

Yes, Peter’s face is partially hidden but this is the best photo I have of the four of us. Better luck next time.

On the way home the main road was under construction so Pam grabbed a Kansas map and we headed out cross-country. One of the places we passed was the small hamlet of Beagle. Pam was “taken” with the name (since we have beagle-mix hounds at home) so we had to stop and get a photo.

The round trip came in at about 1,300 miles and took us three days. Another long, driving visit accomplished!

Along those same lines, my college roommate, Jon, and his wife Joan were heading west on vacation and we arranged to meet them in Austin, MN, at a Perkins restaurant. The evening went by quickly. It has been some years since we’ve seen Jon and Joan face-to-face; it was time to catch up on all the news/events in their lives.

Jon and Joan are tall people and are members of Tall Clubs International. (Jon is 6′ 8″ and Joan is 5′ 11″) They met at a club meeting and will shortly be celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Joan has some medical issues and gets around now with the aid of a mobility device. Here we are outside the restaurant.

Our social life is getting more active, it seems. My sister Kitt (and significant other Matt) will drive from Illinois and visit Heart House in late August. This kind of interaction is what we missed last year due to COVID-19 and I’m pleased we can now expand our social contacts.

Meanwhile, back at the house…

Painting, sanding, and scraping were all on the agenda. Becky contributed a major assist with sanding and scraping, getting large areas ready for follow-on paint. She also sanded the top of the table we use in the kitchen, preparing it for the coat of oil that Pam would apply later.

Pam sanded the top of our dinner table and added a coat of oil to it. She does this once a year or so to renew the table’s surface.

Another project was spray painting the catio door, giving it a new coat of white. It had always been a bit of an off-white that did not match the house and trim – it was time for the upgrade.

The front (north) side of the front porch received a coat of barn red paint, moving that project along.

A big visual change was made in the library. The old carpet was removed, revealing the wood floor beneath. The floor is in good physical shape but does have paint stains on it. Apparently a previous owner had painted boards on the floor without using a drop cloth. Floor refinishing is not on Pam’s list of projects (and may never be). For now Pam will order individual rugs to cover traffic pattern areas in the space.

Along with the routine yard work – plus caulking, sanding, scraping, and painting – it was a busy week at Heart House. Outside time was a bit limited due to the heat and humidity. Even the dogs felt it. Here is Bru cooling off in front of a fan after an outside walk:

Given the number of photos in this post there will be no Photo Archive this week.

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

Pam’s Penny

It has been quite excellent teaming with my “see-eester” to accomplish a myriad of Heart House projects – small and large – some of which have been on “the list” for quite some time. Although my timetable for exterior painting is wa-a-a-ay behind (the humidity has been extraordinary lately), the indoor project list is now greatly reduced. Very satisfying.

Happy Trails.

A diverse week; that is what we enjoyed over the past several days. 4th of July, Elma Trail Days, visits from relatives, and a plug for a new project all are covered in this post.

First, a plug for the proposed project, something rare for this blog. The old I-80 bridge over the Mississippi River from Iowa to Illinois near the Quad Cities (actually 5 cities, including Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline, Illinois, Davenport, and Bettendorf, Iowa) is going to be replaced with a new bridge. A proposal to retain the old bridge and turn it into a wildlife land bridge crossing – housing a small yard of bison – has been proposed. We think this is a neat idea! Here is a link to the Bison Project: https://bisonbridge.org. The site loads a video which takes a bit of time so have patience; the video is worth the view.

The 4th of July was quiet here in Elma because the town’s annual summer event, Elma Trail Days, was this weekend and not on the 4th. Trail Days is so named due to the bicycle trail that is built on the old railroad line. The trail begins in downtown Elma and passes the old railroad roundhouse (only the foundation remains) and will eventually connect to a wider series of trails in the area. The town sponsors a series of events that include fireworks, live music in the park, pancake breakfasts, a small car show, a parade, and other activities from Friday night through Sunday afternoon.

Friday, it rained heavily and continuously. The fireworks were supposed to be held on Friday night but were rain delay rescheduled for Saturday evening. Still, the Saturday a.m. parade went on as scheduled under overcast skies. We watched the Saturday parade [down Main Street] from our front porch and enjoyed the turn out. I’ve never seen so many people in this small town!

I did film video of the parade but it will take me some time to edit it down to a final product ready to post. Maybe next time I’ll have it done. It was not exciting by any means but it was nice to see a few familiar faces (contractors mostly) and watch the entries go by.

The biggest event of the week was the arrival of Pam’s sister, Becky, and the older of her two brothers, Larry. They arrived Thursday with plans to stay a few days. Larry rode down from Onalaska, Wisconsin, with Becky who drove down from Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Becky will stay with us for awhile into July, but we took Larry back to Onalaska on Saturday after the afore-mentioned parade.

We had reasons for making this arrangement as Pam wanted to see a friend from childhood who lives south of Larry in LaCrosse, Janean, and meet her husband, Mike. We also [finally] stopped for a photo of Onalaska’s signature entry sign – a sunfish – as the town bills itself the Sunfish Capitol of the World. (Note: Pam graduated from Onalaska High School.)

Pam and Janean have been friends since Pam was about 4 years old. Later Janean moved away from Onalaska but the two kept in touch over the years and remained friends. COVID-19 prevented us from visiting them last year so this year we arranged to take Larry back to Onalaska, then visit Janean’s and Mike’s home south of LaCrosse. Later we would continue down the river road, along the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River, to Prairie du Chien and then back to Elma.

We had a very enjoyable visit with Janean and Mike and received a tour of their custom-built house. It is quite the place, built into one of the many small coulees that are common in the LaCrosse area. A doe was feeding near the edge of the back yard, a common occurrence according to the couple. Mike is a carpenter and gave us a tour of his shop, which I enjoyed. We hope to have more visits with them in the coming years.

One of the reasons Becky had come down to visit us was to go have Pam and Larry go through some family history items, including photos, cards, and a couple old newspapers that had been part of Pam’s mother’s estate. That provided us with several hours of reminiscing and story telling as well as keeping a few items for our own files. One such item was an April, 1965 issue of a local newspaper that had published one of Pam’s 6th-grade poems.

The same paper had this add, aimed at the young ladies in town.

Having visitors and traveling was a good way to end the week. This type of activity is what we expected when we were planning the relocation to the Midwest, and after a year of COVID it has finally started to happen. It feels good to be able to resume activities this year.

As part of the preparations for Becky and Larry’s visit we re-arranged the storage room to create space for a roll-a-way bed. Elmo the cat had to help us out.

Out in the yard, the hostas and phlox are beginning their blooming season so we have some new color around the house.

It was a good week. Family, friends, some much-needed rain, and cooler weather made the week an outstanding one. Fireworks and a parade helped provide entertainment as well. Hopefully there will be similar weeks in the months to come.

Photo Archive

Only one photo this week. It is of the Boreas Pass roadhouse and cabin before both structures were rebuilt by the Forest Service. Photo dates from the late 1970s when we first moved to Colorado.

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

Pam’s Penny

Family, friends, memories. Quite a weekend. Activities were pretty much mask free, as my sister and brother are vaccinated and we only observed outdoor events (avoiding crowds) during the Elma celebrations.

Happy Trails.

Normally I write my blog on Saturday mornings, but this one is different; I am writing Saturday night after we returned from an outing. We had a busy week preparing for the 4th of July weekend. Some preparations improved the looks of the outside of the house, other upgrades took place inside. I have a lot of photos to get through, so take a look at the captions for more of the details.

Pam had ordered another bookshelf — “some assembly required.”

Positioning the new shelves required the removal of some of the old carpeting. We had planned to take on this task this summer and it seemed like a good time to get started. We knew there was a strip of carpeting below the bay and side windows that could come out. The strip was held down with a very tough double-sided carpet tape, but I was a able to remove it with a putty knife and lots of pulling.

The smaller shelves we had purchased not long ago were repositioned in the library and filled with paperback books. The library is starting to live up to that title and looks good. Plus, we were able to got several boxes out of the storage room and free up some space. Best off all, we can now get reacquainted with some of our favorite titles.

This afternoon we drove over to New Hampton to look over an outside antique and craft fair. It was a delightful experience, and we even bought a few things.

A table full of bird houses caught Pam’s eye as she has a collection of houses and is always on the lookout for another.

One of the larger units was purchased and now resides in the snug.

A pair of wooden boxes now keeps the glider in the library company.

The largest purchase of the day was a storage unit built from old barn wood. We agreed this would fit in the kitchen and provide a place for critter supplies, replacing a metal stand we had been using. Problem was we were driving the RAV-4 and the unit is 6 feet tall.

We squeezed the unit to one side and held the rear door closed with a bungee cord. Needless to say the trip home was pretty slow but we made it! The new unit is now in the kitchen, christened the pet pantry.

We enjoyed getting out to this show and had a good time picking up the crates, birdhouse, and storage unit. The show will be repeated late this fall and we plan to visit it again.

And, it seems to never fail. We were talking to a vendor and mentioned we were from Elma and fixing up an old Victorian. The lady said, “I know that house. It’s green. I was looking for a house and saw it on Zillow.” She will be visiting a relative in Elma next week and we invited her to swing by the house. Will be interesting to see if she takes us up on the offer.

The house is looking its best for the weekend. The lawn has been trimmed and mowed, weeding has been done, and we put up Pam’s bunting. Part of the front porch has been painted. One can notice cars slowing down to look at the house as they drive past.

While other towns may have their holiday events, Elma had a tractor pull, which I visited for a time this morning. Things sure have changed since I last attended a pull. Here is how I spent a couple hours today and some background on how tractor pulls operate.

Tractors are grouped by weight with, generally, 1,000 pounds between classes. The facility had a portable scale on hand to confirm the weight of each tractor. Each class has a speed limit as well. There are prizes for the top three finishers in each class.

Tractors are hooked to a “boat” that consists of a truck with steel plates underneath it. Some of the plates are fitted with teeth. The plates are lowered by hydraulics as the “boat” moves forward simulating more and more weight. Eventually the tractor will stall out, the distance measured, and the truck lifts the plates and backs down to the starting line for the next pull.

It turns out that “Builder Bob”, the contractor that built the garage addition last year and installed the new siding this year, is a big tractor pull enthusiast and helps organize and run these events. Here’s Bob getting ready for a pull.

Quite a few tractors in various classes were present and several hundred people turned out for the event. Considering the population of Elma numbers less than 300 souls the attendance was remarkable.

I did enjoy my time at the pull. Many of the tractors I recognize from time spend on my uncle’s farms when I was much younger. Oliver, Allis-Chalmers, Farmall M and Super M, and Fords were all familiar to me. It was a blast from the past to see them all again.

If you would like to see a 1:21 video clip of an old John Deere pulling the boat please click on this link.

Given the number of photos I have already included there is no Photo Archive this time around.

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

Pam’s Penny

Mr. Haney’s Antiques and Craft Show – New Hampton. Just the sort of outdoor bargain hunt I was anticipating when we moved to the Midwest (and held on the lawns of two historic houses). COVID delayed participation in this type of event last year. It was an adventure. One for the positive list, Iowa.

I’ll be spending the 4th of July consoling quaking dogs while fireworks are booming away. Hopefully your holiday will be somewhat more pleasant.

Happy Trails.