Last week was very busy. We had a social engagement, a trip to the Mayo Clinic, pressure-washing Becky’s deck, splitting hostas, and more. Details are below.
Our oak trees are dropping mature acorns and the “caps” or “crowns” that hold the acorns in the trees. The “caps” are abnormally abundant this year. Pam and I have been raking, trying to clean up the areas of lawn where we normally walk. The acorns and caps make walking around the yard something of a trial, as they tend to roll underfoot. Pam saved a large bag of the acorns and will try to use them as squirrel food next winter.
The first photo is a section of lawn showing the acorns and their caps. This photo is not doctored and the area had already been raked a few days prior to the photo being taken.
While on the topic of the yard, here is a shot of the sunflowers in bloom.
The week included quite a few trips away from Elma. The first was a social engagement; we journeyed to Trempealeau, Wisconsin, to attend a birthday celebration. Pam and friend Ed Allen were high school classmates and have kept in contact over the years. Ed’s wife, Annie, was celebrating a birthday and we were invited to join the party. (Trempealeau is about a 2 1/2 hour drive for us each way, so Becky came up from Greene to watch the dogs while we were gone.) Pam was familiar with the area from her high school days, but there’s been quite a bit of development/road changes since that time. Located right on the banks of the Mississippi, Trempealeau is a quiet river town with great views of the river and the bluffs on the Minnesota side.
Music was provided by the Piper Road Spring Band, many of whom are friends of Ed. I created a short (1:36) clip of the event that features the band playing one of their songs.
Another attendee was Pam’s long time friend, and former classmate, Diane Wittenberg, and her husband Jim. Pam and Diane had a lively conversation and Pam discovered Diane had accepted the invite partly to visit with Pam in person. I had the chance to meet Ed and Annie and Diane and Jim, people Pam has mentioned often over the years. We enjoyed the outing and social connections were refreshed and renewed.
The trip to Trempealeau was the first of three trips taken on three consecutive days. The second was to the Mayo Clinic for my latest 6-month check-up. The news from this visit was that my blood work looks good and I am done with getting infusions of Eligard, AKA Lupron. I will have another check in 6 months, then another 12 months later. This means I will gradually recover my energy and stamina levels as the Eligard works out of my system over the next couple months. My hot flashes, a side effect of the treatment, should also decrease as well. Good news all around.
During the Mayo Clinic trip I stopped at a Goodwill store (unusual for me). I was eating a burger and saw the store across the parking lot and decided to stop and look around before I headed home. I found the store had received a couple metal-wire rolling racks similar to the ones we’d purchased for the storage room. The Goodwill racks were heavier-duty as they had been in retail use before arriving at Goodwill. I bought one of the three racks; it’s now in the Media Room. This allowed the unpacking of family photo albums that had been in storage in a closet – albums are now out where we can access them.
The third trip was to the Regional Medical Center in Cresco. I finally scheduled the MRI on my right shoulder. Results indicate some muscle damage and a tear in the rotator cuff. The center referred me to a Mayo Clinic specialist. Turns out in addition to the MRI Mayo wants an X-ray of the shoulder for review. Once I finished at the Medical Center, and since I was then halfway to Decorah, I rolled a shopping trip into that outing.
To thank Becky for her dog-sitting Pam split several of our hosta plants to give to Becky for her “new” river cottage. I took them down to Greene yesterday (Saturday) along with my pressure washer. While Becky replanted the hostas I pressure-washed Becky’s deck and cement pad leading into the garage. Both areas cleaned up pretty well, with the deck almost a different color after the removal of accumulated tree sap, dirt, and some lichen. I did not take photos of the Greene outing, but here is a shot of the hostas Pam had bagged for Becky.
I took advantage of a rainy Wednesday to put new belts and “tire” in my cassette deck. (The “tire” controls fast-forward and rewind functions.) My deck, a Nakamichi BX-100, was produced from ’84 through ’87 and still gets excellent reviews. I had decided to update it instead of taking a chance on another used deck, and the results are good. The deck now plays, fast-forwards, and rewinds like new.
The extended weather forecast for the upcoming week is a good one to get back to painting. We will be hauling out the ladders, paint, and brushes and have at the red exterior painting again. All work at this point is from ladders so will be slower than painting from the ground. Neither of us is looking forward to this as we always feel the stress in our legs and backs from going up and down the ladder. At some point we’ll have to rent a lift again, but first the ladder work has to be done.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Penny
The “little” project – AKA painting hearts on the LP tank – stretches into another week, with second coats going on the existing hearts. Himself suggested red hearts should be added to the blue heart mix – but – definitely not this year.
I’m a big fan of hostas as a landscape plant (not a flowering plant); hostas need to be divided frequently, however. Their root systems are akin to cement blocks when one cuts into them. Hardy little buggers, right up there with dandelions and day lilly plants.
Speaking of hardy little buggers, another bat showed up in the stairwell. Himself speculates the bats may be using the unfinished plumbing in the second floor bathroom as a conduit into the house. Great. Just great.
Happy Trails.