Month: July 2022

The week went past and many small projects received attention. “Just living” duties took up much of our time. Here is a recap of the not-so-outstanding week we had.

Auburn Jo had a grooming appointment this week. As the groomer is in New Hampton, about 25 miles from us, grooming takes two round trips – one to drop her off and another to pick her up. I did the first/drop off trip and doubled it up with grocery shopping and a trip to Theisen’s hardware store. Purchases included more cobs of corn for the squirrel feeder and three gallons of paint for the ginger breading of the house. The paint we have been using for trim, Valspar brand, has been hard to find (supply chain issues) so when I discovered Theisen’s had recently received the tint bases required we decided to stock up. We should now have enough to do all the ginger breading (three shades of blue) on the house, regardless of when we get to painting that high up. A large cache of paint is now sitting in the laundry room.

Wednesday I had my annual Type-2 diabetes checkup. As expected, I am a mess. My A1C is elevated and my triglycerides are high. So is my bad cholesterol, a state that has existed since my 40s. The doctor added Glypizide to my Synjardy prescription to see if that would help lower my blood sugar level. That prescription, of course, led to a trip to the Decorah Walmart to pick up my medications. While in Decorah I stopped at the local HyVee grocery store to purchase bottled water and a few more groceries. Since this is about a 100 mile round trip it took most of the afternoon.

Other chores done during the week included lawn maintenance and a trip to the town’s compost site.

Pam had ordered a “work desk” to be used for sewing and craft projects. (She mentioned this in a previous post.) The desk had to be assembled, which was not difficult as the only real job was to attach the four legs and install the drawer.

Pam has already used her new work area and thinks it will be the project work space she’s been needing.

One of my projects was decidedly invisible. One of the web page commands I had used in the past was the “Align” command. This has been dropped from the current specification of HTML, the language used to construct web pages. While replacement code has been published, it was not applicable to the way I had used “Align.” While my pages still worked, future support would vanish and I wanted to update my pages to make sure they would display properly going forward.

It took me several tries and lots of dead ends before I figured out how to make the replacement code work for me. The first page to be updated is the “Cats” page. It looks the same as before as all the changes are “under the hood” and one would have to compare the code behind the page to notice the differences. For anyone who might be interested, here is the original code and the replacement code.

align="left" style="margin: 5px 5px 5px 40px;" border="2"

/* Centers photos to left on non-gallery pages. Replaces "Align=" deprecated in HTML4 and HTML5 */
.center1{
display:block;
margin-left:40px;
width:210px;
float:left;
}

Knowing readers will observe that the replacement code is a “class” named center1 in a CSS style sheet. The top line, which starts with /*, is a comment to myself indicating why this code was created. Now I need to apply the new code to other pages to update them.

It always is a surprise to me how much time routine tasks take. Coupled with high humidity, warm temperatures, and some rain showers, nothing was done on painting projects this week. Next week I plan to take a trip to our lot in Colorado; it will be a couple weeks before major paint projects resume.

I do have several “around the yard” photo to share this time. While the day lilies are about done, the phlox and other flowers are doing well. Pam spent some time trimming the forsythia bush and cleaning out some of the past-prime day lilies under one of the oaks. The yard is looking good!

Photo Archive

Some “Artsy” Black and White shots.

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

Pam’s Penny

Didn’t I say [last week] it would be too hot to paint outside this week?

I picked up JoJo at the dog groomers (after Himself completed the a.m. drop off noted above). I was disheartened to learn the groomer was quitting; at this time it’s unclear who the vet’s office will find as a replacement. (The vet sponsors the grooming parlor, attached to the vet’s office.) Nuts. It took this groomer three visits to finally clip JoJo as closely as requested -and- this is my second groomer since moving to NE Iowa. I may have to bite the bullet and buy my own grooming supplies for the next grooming period this fall. This does not excite me.

Happy Trails.

Thanks to better weather – lower temps and humidity – this past week was filled with work on major projects. Painting continued and we accomplished a milestone by removing the guest bedroom window AC and old windows in preparation for installation of new windows. Follow us!

Beginning on Monday we began painting more portions of the west wall. The pressure washer was called in to remove the worst of the old paint. In the photo below, take note of the AC cover on the upper left-hand window.

Working from the 10-foot ladder, I cleaned, scraped, and painted large portions of the wall as far up as could be reached.

Note the AC cover is now on the ground. There is a story behind that. A neighbor had rented a bucket lift to do some work on his chimney. He had the lift for a day (Thursday) and his work would only take a few hours. He offered to let us use the lift if I would return it to the rental yard on Friday before its due time. We appreciated this offer and quickly accepted it. Our thanks to Calvin and Sherri!

Rain was forecast for Friday morning so we had to get our work done by Thursday night. We knew removal would be a big job as it included removing the old windows so new windows, which we were storing in the upstairs bathroom, could be installed. (The install fell though so we are still waiting on that.)

I began by removing the old windows, a difficult and time-consuming job. I had to make a lot of use of my carpet knife, putty knife, and a screwdriver to cut though and remove old paint and calk. Trim around the inside of the windows had to be removed – carefully – so as to not damage them. Here are a couple photos of the windows removed:

We left the storm windows in place to help keep “stuff” from entering the room. One had been in place and Pam reminded me we had the one from an upstairs bedroom in storage. I retrieved it and, thankfully, it fit the other window opening. At least we have both second floor window openings protected from the elements until such time as the new windows can be installed. All progress is incremental!

The photos above were taken after the AC unit was removed, a job that took about 2 1/2 hours and could not have been done without the lift. To get started I had to remove part of the dog run fencing and fence posts so I could back the lift up to the wall. The AC cover had to be unbolted from the wall and lowered to the ground. We had to wrap a rope around the “ears” of the cover to safely perform this task. Then the big job – removing the AC unit.

The AC is not your typical item. A commercial 240-volt unit, the window sill had been cut for a custom fit. The insides could be removed from inside the house – after removing 4 screws – but the outer shell, shown above, had to be removed from the outside. The unit itself is very heavy. We managed to get it on an old rug and Pam dragged it down the hallway. I was able to drag it over the sill plate and into the bathroom where it now sits until we get the energy to move it down the steps.

I had not found my little Panasonic camera so did not take photos of the work in progress. I wish I had. Here are a couple photos of the lift in place.

Bob the Builder had originally indicated he could be out Friday morning to install the new windows, but later indicated Friday was out. He thought he could get here Thursday night but never arrived. We are hoping he gets us on his schedule soon as we would like to complete this particular job with the installation of the new windows.

I will need to take some time off after the Monday – Thursday action. Additionally, I drove the lift back to Decorah on Friday, did some shopping at the Decorah Walmart, stopped for a few groceries, and made it home by around 4:30 PM. Today I need to restore the dog run by putting the fence post/wire fencing back in place. I think tomorrow will be that rest day!

Around the yard I am enjoying some hostas starting to bloom.

It was a very busy week with a lot of ladder work for both of us. We can feel the strain in our legs from stepping up and down the rungs, and in our shoulders from scraping and painting. The upcoming week is supposed to be quite warm and humid so we may not get a lot more painting done, but we shall see. I am hoping to get out to Colorado later this month and maybe celebrate my #70 birthday with a Colorado ATV ride.

Photo Archive

Family and Fun. Fireworks in black and white, Pam and the kids from the late ’80s.

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

Pam’s Penny

ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER WALL. Now we know how huge that lift is, and the side-to-side space the outrigger stabilizers need, so we can open sufficient pathways for “the monster” to enter the yard and park near the house. I personally was not desirous of seeing that machine again so soon, but one does not pass up a “lift gift” such as the one the neighbors offered. Plus I have been on something of a campaign to get that set of windows installed on the second floor. We’re halfway there with the removal of that freaking awful AC unit and cover. (There must have been over 1,000 lady beetle carcasses in that thing. Ugh.)

Himself is hell-bent on painting the west side of Heart House ASAP. People – the coming week is statistically the hottest and most humid of the year in NE Iowa. Why exactly should retired elders be hanging off the side of a building under those conditions??? I ask you.

A portent of winter to come arrived in the mail, in the form off our contract with the local ag services co-op for propane purchases into 2023. The price per gallon for LP increased another 40 cents since last contract period — it is now almost twice as expensive per gallon as when we first ordered LP locally in 2019. Jer’s chat with a neighbor, who uses another LP supplier, confirmed all companies in the area are in the same ballpark on price point. Our inclination is to think the LP price is not being manipulated by supply, but rather by demand (and stockholder dividends). Don’t think we will “blame the President” on this energy source, as seems to be the popular pastime. If we use the summer fill service before August 31, we can save a few cents to tide us over until [maybe] December.

There you have it – in the hottest week of the year, we contemplate winter heating bills. Crazy place, The Universe.

Happy Trails.

With high temps and high humidity, coupled with rain showers, we did not get much accomplished on painting projects this week. However, we did move ahead on smaller tasks, including decorating the house for the 4th of July. The yard benefitted from the moisture and sunlight so I have included some “yard” photos as well.

Pam completed one of her sewing projects, making skirts for the job sink and laundry room table. The finished project looks pretty good!

Pam finished her ‘summer holiday’ wreaths and hung them on the gates around the dog run. Here is one of them.

The house looks fine in its 4th of July garb.

Even Gromit got into the act.

I kept busy as well. One task that should have been done last fall, but didn’t, was addressed this week. I put new brake pads in the rear of the truck. I had done the front pads last November but the advent of cold weather and Becky’s arrival made me put off doing the rear brakes. The job went OK and the brakes are now nice and quiet; they had been ‘squeaking’ which is an indication of worn pads. I’m glad to have completed that particular job.

Other indoor projects included scanning more negatives and creating another “travel” video. The latter was part of a longer SW Colorado vacation from 1989, before we moved back to Wisconsin. (We were living in Oregon at the time.) The movie’s main topic is the area around Marble, Colorado, including McClure Pass, the marble quarry, the Crystal Mill, and the Town of Crystal. Run time is 12:46 and you can view the clip, if interested, from this page.

Next up for me is the replacement of the John Deere’s electronic clutch that operates the lawn mower deck. The old clutch has been acting up for some time, not wanting to engage after it has been running for a while and getting warm. The John Deere is around 30 years old, dating from the early ’90s, and needs some maintenance to keep it in operation. A clutch replacement is a fairly common problem for older riding lawn mowers. Here is a photo of the new clutch.

Hopefully the job to replace the old unit will not be difficult or take a lot of time.

The yard plantings are doing very well this year. One example is a maple in the east yard. Chewed off by deer last winter, we were uncertain it would survive. The tree has instead exhibited phenomenal growth, putting on more that 2 feet of new shoots this year.

Other flowers are doing equally well.

The outside cats like to get under the hostas and day lilies, under the oak trees, to stay cool. Here is Dusty taking advantage of the shade.

A couple of events to note. Last week, the 4th of July weekend, Elma hosted a tractor pull. I attended this event (drove the several blocks on my ATV) and watched a couple of classes and enjoyed the short outing. This weekend it’s Elma Trail Days, the first “full” celebration since the pandemic began. There will be street vendors, a concert, and fireworks were shot off last night. We will have to see how successful the event will be. (Last year most events were canceled, although there was a parade.) Here are a couple shots from this year’s parade, which we can enjoy from our front porch.

Photo Archive

Family photos from the late’80s

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

Pam’s Penny

Small sewing projects, large and small painting projects, subtle reorganizations of space in rooms for more efficient usage – these occupy my summer retirement days. With Becky’s departure, the storage/guest bedroom once again houses the rolling storage shelves; now, misc. art work stashed under a bed upstairs has been moved/is being sorted on the guest bed. The storage/guest bedroom is scheduled for major painting and decor this coming winter. In the meantime, I execute incremental changes and ponder possibilities.

I’m investigating purchase of a desk-sized work table for the parlor bedroom. I have quite a bit of project work during the year that needs to be spread out and (if Elmo leaves it alone) left out until completed. Initially I’d thought projects could be done on the laundry room table, but in reality this hasn’t happened. The laundry room table is good for trimming Bru’s coat, for staging laundry, and for Elmo to sleep on. Likewise, if I work on the library/dining table, project items are in the way and have to be moved/put away for meals. Subtle reorganizations for more efficient usage – my goal.

Happy Trails.

This week saw us working on a variety of projects – none as major as renting a bucket lift – but all checking off our list of update and maintenance tasks. Here are the details.

Monday was a “driving day” as I returned the bucket lift to the rental yard in Decorah, Iowa, followed by a shopping stop at the Decorah Walmart. Later that evening I drove a couple hours to a town named Houston, Minnesota, to rendezvous for dinner with my brother Jon, his wife Dianne, plus their oldest boy Garrett and his wife Cassie and their two children Heidi (7) and Colin (4).

We had a pleasant dinner and caught up on a number of topics. Garrett and Cassie, who live on the eastern coast, had traveled to visit family and friends. I had not seen them for many years but had kept up with them a bit through our holiday cards. All the family members seem to be doing OK. (A side note: Houston, MN is noted for its annual International Owl Days.)

Pam continued working on her holiday wreath project. This involves adding patriotic-themed ribbons and bows to wire frames. She will finish and hang these outside, adding more color around the house just in time for the 4th of July.

Pam took advantage of a calm day to move along on the LP tank painting project. Done with four spray cans of Rustoleum, a calm day was essential to this task; there have been few calm days lately. Here are photos of the tank and west end of the garage from the time we moved in until yesterday.

I continued painting the house in (for us) a novel way. Since we had run out of time to do the white trim using the bucket lift, I decided it was time to try painting from my 10-foot wooden ladder. This gets me part-way up the trim but my reach fell short of the upper parts of the trim. Going through a bin of painting supplies that had been stored in the garage attic, Pam and I came across a 4-inch roller. Coupled with two extension handles, taped together, my reach was extended to within an inch or two of the top of the trim boards.

After many repositions of the ladder, Pam stayed on the ground to dip the roller into a paint tray, handed the extended roller to me on the ladder, and in this way we painted the trim boards around the front of the house and a few other places I could reach. The bare wood that had been exposed during the pressure washing now has the first coat of paint on it, making everything look better and adding some protection from the showers that are in the forecast.

I worked at an “indoor” project involving photography. My brother Jon had given me a carton of Mom’s old cameras and photography gear. I went through these items, removing old batteries (most corroded) and sorting through accessories and manuals. I found film in many of the camera bodies.

I do not plan to get these developed as the films themselves are very old and have deteriorated over time, but will keep them as examples of film types used over the years. (A note, though, to readers of this blog: If you are going to store cameras for a long time, please remove the batteries.) Eventually I hope to display my growing collection of old cameras somewhere in the house. I have several old Argus 35mm cameras, a couple of Brownies, and even a couple of “bellows” units. None are very valuable but they are of interest to me. More on this hobby in future posts.

A few things are happening around the yard. Various lilies are beginning to bloom.

The east wall of the front porch is looking quite colorful; the geraniums are doing well. Hostas in the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden are getting huge this year.

Out in the garden we set up some retaining walls. Pam hopes to train the various vining plants – pumpkins and gourds – to stay (mostly) within these bounds.

It was another typical week: painting, project work, yard maintenance. Sometimes it seems we are not moving ahead as fast as we wanted to, but every project improves the appearance or livability of the house. We are reinvigorated to see paint on the 2nd story; that’s a big step forward for Heart House.

Photo Archive

A few family photos this time. These are scans from color negative film.

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

Pam’s Penny

Pondering how to move forward on the second floor paint project. (I’m not in a hurry to rent the lift again soon.)

Happy Trails.