Month: February 2022

This week saw a bit of everything going on, including the puzzle, weather, painting, a trip to the Mayo Clinic, etc. None were major but in combination the week was more interesting than some recently.

Becky took a break from puzzling to do some sewing. We now have a new and unique clothespin holder for the laundry room. Becky reports this project included learning some new techniques of stitching and working with ribbon. I think the bag turned out great.

Pam began adding details to the downstairs bath by painting stencils and hearts above the door. While the project is still in infancy, details like this give a hint as to what the final product will look like.

Pam completed another decorating task by adding a banner over the entry to the library — it ties in with the library theme.

I contributed a bit to Heart House decor by putting up one of my “aspen tree” photos in the stairwell. This 16″ x 20″ is printed on canvas. The tree photo was taken at the end of Handcart Gulch near Breckenridge, Colorado.

All of us continued to work on the 2,000 piece puzzle. Pam and Becky most of all; I add only a piece or two now and then. Here is the puzzle as it currently stands.

We finished our taxes, both Federal and Iowa, and mailed in the forms. Finishing taxes is always a great relief for us. We had to pay Iowa, as we expected, but chose to put our Federal refund toward next year’s total so we will not get any cash back this year.

My Mayo excursion on Thursday, a six month checkup, included three appointments and took most of the day. First was a blood draw, followed by a doctor consult, followed by my hormone infusion. The first was at 11:00 AM and the last at 3:45 PM. Adding in the 90 minute commute each way, it made for a full day. The evening commute was accomplished in a light snowstorm.

Between the first and second appointments I visited a Walmart store to pick up a few supplies and groceries. While I found almost everything on my list, it looks like supply chain issues still have a way to go before shopping returns to normal.

A couple of our favorite noodle brands are “No Yolk” and “Barilla” and both were almost non-existent on the shelves. Here is a photo of the Walmart pasta aisle:

I left without finding the spaghetti and broad noodles on the shopping list. Other shelves also had bare spots.

The Mayo appointments themselves were pretty routine. My PSA level is still undetectable; this is what the doctor wanted. My blood sugar levels are high, which I expected, which tells me I do need to get more waking/exercise done. With better weather I will begin my longer routine walks again, which will help with my ongoing diabetes.

Back in Elma, there were chores to get done on Friday. After a light snow had fallen, I took out the John Deere LX176 and blade to clear the sidewalks.

One item I had purchased at Wal-World was a pair of short LED lights that I plan to mount over my garage work spaces. Here is one of them mounted near my drill press and vise.

The weather is gradually improving but we still had a couple below-zero nights last week. None are in the 10-day forecast so we hope we are over the worst of the winter weather. The local weatherman mentioned that we are about 12 inches below normal for snow for the season but there are several weeks of winter to go.

You might think small town Iowa is immune from police activity. Apparently not. One of our neighbors is in trouble with the law. We witnessed several county sheriff’s cars at the house to our immediate south on 7th street, across the alley from us. A one-car garage was opened and the vehicle inside was trucked away. The Mr. was taken away in handcuffs. I did not recognize the car’s brand but it appeared to be a foreign vehicle. With no idea of what circumstances triggered this action, I assume the car is either 1. Evidence. 2. Stolen or 3. Repossessed. I doubt if they would have arrested the guy if the action was a repossession. Anyway, I’ll continue to watch from afar to see if there are any new developments. Maybe they’ll have some info at the local lumber yard…

Projects were begun and completed, others continue. Life goes on.

Photo Archive

I have several “artsy” shots to showcase this week.

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

Pam’s Penny

The winter storm this past week featured thunder snow, lighting, and ice pellets. Wow. Glare ice was so intense I had to rig up some fabric on the catio ramp so the cats could climb up and down for access. A person almost needed a spotter to walk on the sidewalks. Not a fan.

Happy Trails.

The past week saw us tackling a few projects: rug cleaning and continued work on the 2,000 piece puzzle. Becky has been the prime worker on the 2,000 piece puzzle I mentioned in my last post. Pam has put in a few hours and I have contributed a minimal amount of time. Right now the puzzle is about 60 percent done. Here is a photo, taken by Becky, of Pam and I working the puzzle in its initial stage:

It will be another week (or more) before the job is completed. I’ll include a photo of the finished work (or work-in-progress) in my next blog post.

Another activity that took up several hours was the rental of a rug cleaner and cleaning a couple rooms — the parlor and the media room. Both room cleanings required the removal or re-arranging of furniture and “decoration stuff.” The first photo is of what came out of the parlor bedroom and found a temporary resting place in the library.

Becky piloted the cleaning machine around the parlor and I did the upstairs media room.

The cleaning machine came from the Ace Hardware store in New Hampton. We had been in town to drop JoJo at the groomers and rented the machine after dropping JoJo off. We returned the machine on the trip, later in the day, to pick up JoJo.

Seeing as we would be in New Hampton already, we took the travel opportunity to order take-out from the Chinese restaurant in town. The restaurant is named “The Lucky Bamboo” and the food turned out to be very tasty. It has been a long time since we’ve enjoyed Chinese. The restaurant is take-out only, so we waited outside until the order was filled. It was hard to drive all the way home with the smell of hot food in the car! (The dogs thought so too.) We will be ordering from The Lucky Bamboo again.

That was one busy day for retired people!

The following day, it was time to drive Bru and Blondie to the vet for their checkups. The examinations went pretty well for dogs of 12 and 13 years of age. Turns out only Blondie has a current issue – a mild infection/irritation in one ear requiring drops for treatment.

The rest of the week, I worked on making a DVD on a flash drive, and my trial effort seems to work OK. (I used some existing clips to make the DVD.) The next step is to buy the VHS to digital movie software and hardware and start converting our old family VHS tapes.

I continue to scan slides from my collection. I had made a mistake, though, in not marking the early slides once I had scanned them. Now I put a small “s” in a corner of the slides I have processed to indicate they have been scanned. To date I have scanned about 320 slides. The other thing I need to do is sort through the slides in a big way as I have images of the same topic taken at different times. One sample of this is the Lead King Basin and town of Marble. I visited this area several times and images from the trips are scattered through different 3-ring binders where I keep them. That, however, would be a major project and require a lot of room to spread out sheets of slide holders. Not sure when I will take that on. At least once I have them scanned I can put related photos in their own folder.

The upcoming week holds a few tasks to be completed. We will be going through both our tax forms to finalize them. Federal will be filed first, as it appears we are due a small refund. Iowa taxes won’t be filed until near the deadline, as we will own them a few hundred dollars. It’s always excellent to get that task finished and out the door.

For me, the big event will be another trip to the Mayo Clinic for my 6-month check up and my second-to-last hormone injection. I hope there are no surprises and the treatment is progressing normally. Critical will be my PSA level, which was undetectable at my last visit, a condition that I hope continues.

“Significant snow” is in the forecast for the upcoming week. So far the weather forecasters have not put a number on how many inches NE Iowa could get, but it appears several inches is possible over a couple of days. It looks to be a slow moving cold air mass interacting with moisture coming up from the Gulf of Mexico, so there is potential for a good-sized snowfall. We’ll follow the usual “wait and see” forecast cycle.

Photo Archive

Family photos from the early 2000s:

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

Pam’s Penny

I’m trying to work up the enthusiasm to continue painting in the downstairs bathroom. It’s more entertaining to watch the Olympics, although my attention span for ski events is pretty short.

We’re surviving February. I’m pretty well “over” winter myself.

Happy Trails.

I spent a great deal of the week fighting a head cold, but Pam moved ahead with the bathroom update and that is the story of the week. We also started preparing taxes, always a pain in the neck, and cracked open a 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

Pam put a 2nd coat of [white] paint on several of the bathroom walls and ordered a few upgrade items. These included a replacement mirror with an interesting shape and a wall-hanging storage unit.

So, the bathroom project continues. One wall is waiting for new paint but most of the “fussy” walls are done. Once painting is completed we can hang the new mirror and storage unit.

Since we have been doing jigsaw puzzles this winter (mostly 1,000 pieces each) I thought we would move up to a larger puzzle– a 2,000 piece challenge. It was unboxed this week.

This one may take a while to finish and it spreads out onto quite a large surface, but it’s a good way to spend several cold winter’s days. IF we can keep the puzzle pieces away from Elmo…

Tax prep has made it onto the radar. Our taxes this year are not as complex as last year (since we don’t have a two-state income and moving expenses to deal with). Still, both Federal and state forms have their challenges. I really dislike going down the forms and discovering a new schedule needs to be viewed or completed before one can move forward. Per our initial numbers, we should get a refund from the Feds but will have to pay the State of Iowa. We expected this given the withholdings (or lack thereof) on our retirement income. Still, preparing taxes is an exercise in frustration.

Pam is really looking forward to spring this year; she ordered this lamb statue (named Gretel) to be placed in in the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden after the snow is gone. (Mary and Jeff raised sheep for a while on their farm – Gretel was one of Mary’s favorite sheep.) A list of seeds and plantings for the upcoming year has been compiled as well and will be ordered a bit later this month.

I am debating about moving away from scanning slides to converting a bunch of old VHS tapes, taken when the kids were young, to a more modern format including DVD. Pam pointed out the kids have a good selection of photos in scrapbooks she kept for them over the years. And while it is true they have not seen many of the slides I have scanned, these may not substantially change their memories.

The VHS tapes may be a different story. There were no photos made from these and it’s always fun to see things in motion. I began looking into how to create DVDs and the hardware / software needed to convert the tapes into a digital format. Good thing we still own a VHS player! I have not yet purchased the items I will need to take this on but will probably do so in the next month or so. I do plan to keep scanning some of my slides for the Photo Archive but my focus will change. Besides, it’s always fun to learn how to do new things.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl and it will take place in near-record heat – THERE. But HERE in NE Iowa it was -2 degrees last night and will be colder than that tonight, down to about -4 degrees. Below zero temps are forecast for a few nights next week in the 10-day forecast. I know I’ve had my fill of sub-zero days for the winter.

Photo Archive

A few more mine sites from the Savage Basin Road near Telluride, Colorado.

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

Pam’s Penny

I know folks out there are saying, “They still do their own taxes?” It’s a matter of principle. We have simple retirement income. No investment income. No itemization, a very straightforward 1040. If we can’t do our own taxes, who can? And yet, preparing tax forms is NOT an easy exercise and — let’s just say — does not enhance marital quality.

The bathroom re-do is not actually very far along. The white base coat is only step one. I plan to re-use the Art Deco fan stencil [from the library] in the bathroom. Stenciling is always a fussy decorative painting project. Plus tiles will be installed on the floor, then wall edges and floor transitions need wood molding. A lo-o-o-ong way to go. (Luckily I only need to use a two-step ladder to reach the ceiling. I don’t think there’s enough space in that bathroom for a full stepladder.)

Himself is correct, milder spring-like weather cannot arrive soon enough. Bless the variety of birds (even the squirrels) plus puzzles for keeping us occupied during these cold and nasty winter days.

Happy Trails.

Life goes on at a slow pace this time of year. However, we did have three (!) trips taken during the week. Here are the details.

On Tuesday Pam and I went to the dentist. For Pam this was an annual routine check-up and cleaning, but for me it was a “first visit” to a new dentist. Although I had the earlier appointment, Pam was done long before me. I had the full range of X-rays taken and records to fill out before getting my teeth cleaned.

During my exam a small cavity was discovered near the base of one of my crowns. This led to trip #2 on Wednesday to have this cavity filled. On the way home I picked up a menu for a Chinese carry out place. While a bit far from home (25 – 30 minutes) we may give it a try in the near future as we have not had Chinese cooking since we moved to Iowa. It would be an interesting change from pork…

The third trip took place on Thursday; a visit to the nearest Wal-world was in order as I had to pick up a refill of my Type-2 diabetes medication. Walmart (in Decorah) is now kind of a “Big Deal” as Walmart offers [many] items we cannot buy locally. Some of these items include McVitie’s biscuits, large boxes of Twinings’s English Breakfast Tea, Tetley tea, flounder and haddock frozen fish, and numerous other small items. We keep an ongoing list of Wal-world items to look for on the next monthly visit, and it was a pretty long list this time.

Given that the nearest Wal-world is about an hour away, a trip becomes almost an all-day event, figuring in the commute. Upon arriving home there are bags to empty and overstock to find room for. (Three boxes of McVitties, for example when only one fits on the shelf.) Below is a photo of three of the many items we get on such trips: Mrs. Myers Clean Day in Honeysuckle, Madhava agave in a 64 oz container, McVitie’s Digestive Biscuits.

In other project news, Pam has begun painting the downstairs bathroom as the first step in the upgrade. Valspar “standard white” is covering the medium-yellow existing paint. This change makes the room brighter and sets the background for further work. (I have had a small part in this, removing towel holders and miscellaneous other brackets and re-installing them when the painting has been completed.) To complicate matters, this is the main bathroom with the only shower; it has to be kept functional during the upgrade.

The other day I got ambitious and dug the F-150 out from snow along the garage. I had not had to run the truck for quite a while – so – I plugged it in. After the warm up, I drove around town a bit just to keep the truck’s systems in good shape.

Weather has been up and down again, with a few milder days punctuated by sub-zero days. Doing some research, I found this part of Iowa has, on average, about 30 days that record below-zero temperatures. We are now over twenty for the season. (What I could not find was exactly how many degrees below-zero the recorded days measured.) Average low for this time of year is around 6 degrees above zero.

I have been keeping my garage kerosene heater going in hopes of keeping the garage items above zero. So far this has worked and the garage stays about 20 – 30 degrees above the outside temps, depending on wind conditions. I had installed a new wick last year and the heater is performing well. While the garage is still below freezing, you can really tell the difference as soon as you walk through the door.

We continue to enjoy watching the birds and squirrels that come to the feeders. One surprise is that the squirrels also appear to like suet, or at least the grains molded into it. They can get into the darnedest positions trying to get at the feeder, which is suspended a few inches away from the tree trunk.

That’s about it. Nothing exciting! We fill the time with doing jigsaw puzzles, working on indoor projects, watching the birds, and catching some of the opening Olympic venues. That’s our “retired” life this winter.

Photo Archive

Family photos from 1989 and 1990

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

Pam’s Penny

One of the seed catalogs arrived in the mail this week. Gurney’s. I had a spring moment. It was lovely.

January and February in NE Iowa are to be survived. Rarely enjoyed. But there were a dozen cardinals at the bird feeder yesterday – a moment of rare enjoyment.

Happy Trails.