Month: November 2023

There were a few things going on this past week, the largest being Thanksgiving. I continued my search for a newer car. Outside lights and decorations were put up. Suet feeders and the large bird feeder were stocked and set out. Leaf pickup continued. Details below!

The big event was Thanksgiving. Pam and Becky had decided who would prepare what dishes. Pam cooked the turkey roast and pies and Becky brought a 7-layer salad, mashed potatoes, and squash. We had a very tasty and relaxed meal – everything was delicious.

Prior to Thanksgiving we put up our outside decorations while the weather was still mild. This year we put out a few more strings of lights and a special twinkling horse and sleigh display. I will have night shots in a later post, but for now here are a few daylight shots.

Also new this year is a second suet feeder. I built a couple new holders out of scrap “plastic wood” and the results should serve us well.

Pam composed a pair of intertwined hearts using red rope lights and they are installed on the garden fence. The Black Hills spruce, near the garden, received big-bulb lights for the first time this year. I will have photos of them lit up in my next post.

It was a busy week. In addition to the tasks mentioned above, I did another couple leaf pick-ups. Unfortunately, one rear tire on the lawn vac just fell apart. It was of solid rubber construction and could not be saved. The vac is at least 25 years old and new parts are no longer available, so I ordered a couple new generic wheels and will have to modify them to fit the old machine.

The search for a newer vehicle continues. We are looking for a Kia Soul with the EX trim package and these are not thick on the ground. I do have a lead on one in northern Illinois and will be speaking with the dealer this week. I will see if a deal can be made.

Snow flurries are in the forecast for late today and into Sunday. Otherwise, daytime temps are about freezing or just above, and nights are slipping into the teens. There is no snow on the ground at this time; I’m still hoping for a mild winter. One of my upcoming tasks, though, is getting the snow blower out of storage and making sure it’s in running condition. Soon I’ll need it, I am sure!

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

Pam’s Penny

My cousin Karen [pretty much every year] sends the first Christmas card everyone on her list receives. Which means Karen has cards in the mail way too early, delivered the day after Thanksgiving.

The Elma holiday lights parade is tomorrow. Heart House is on the Main Street parade route. Which means (as a gift to the town) we have lights wrapping Heart House porches. But – it’s way too early to be illuminating porches nightly [yet].

Designing/preparing/sending annual holiday cards has always been a time consuming task, spanning months. When I was gainfully employed, getting cards out the door was stressful. Which is why I now take my time with the cards, as the design evolves. Cut-and-paste activities generally put me in my happy place. (Card prep + Hallmark movie + cup of tea or hot chocolate = happy place.)

When the last card is in the mail, any holiday “frenzy” is totally over for me. I enjoy the card journey…and I don’t mail Heart House cards way too early.

Happy Trails.

Pam celebrated a significant birthday this week. It was the highlight of an otherwise normal fall week. Leaf pickup and a few small pre-winter prep tasks took up some time as well.

Pam’s November birthday was celebrated over the course of two days. Day One we ordered Chinese take-out from The Lucky Bamboo restaurant in New Hampton, a treat for us. The next day Becky brought a few gifts and a cake to contribute to a second day of celebration.

Gifts included clothing, McVitties digestive biscuits, books, and a commemorative blanket from my sister Kitt. The steak and kidney pies I ordered were delayed in shipment and are still to be received. (I suspect they have to come all the way from England and may take a while to get here.) Pam enjoyed the cards, gifts and phone calls.

A few other tasks took up some of my time. While our oak trees are pretty leafless now, the neighboring maple trees are at the height of dropping their leaves, which blow onto our yard. A layer of leaves gets deposited every time the wind blows. Between the lawn vacuum and the John Deere rider with bagger, I took 4 trailer loads of leaves to the compost site this week. Leaf pickup will continue until snow’s on the ground (preferably no snow til late December!).

Pam has begun work on her Winter Solstice cards, creating a theme and getting artwork off the web. I help by resizing graphic files and creating print-outs of the selected artwork. There is a lot of detail involved in creating these cards. The deadline for getting them in the mail approaches quickly; Pam is putting in many hours of work on this project.

We continue looking for a replacement vehicle — in person at a dealership, online auto sites and via auction. The front runner at present is the [EX trim level] Kia Soul, as it adds many of the features I want, particularly heated seats. Pam thinks the adjustability of the power seats and steering wheel will be helpful; they can be moved up and and down and forward and back, tailoring a very comfortable seating position for her shorter height.

By the way, the “IVT” in the above titles stands for “Intelligent Variable Transmission,” which is a type of CVT automatic transmission. A CVT delivers seamless acceleration without interruption for gear shifts. Instead of fixed gears, it uses a pair of variable-width pulleys connected by a flexible belt. One pulley is attached to the engine and the other to the axle shafts.

Another small project took up a bit of my time, building a couple suet feeder hangers. NE Iowa should experience a mild spell this coming week, with temps topping out near 60 degrees. Too warm to put out suet or bird seed yet. Hopefully this mild weather will stick around until we decorate Heart House for the annual holiday parade three weeks from now.

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

Pam’s Penny

A significant birthday ending in “0” is now in the rear view mirror. Pondering the next decade; the last decade was action-packed with retirement, social security/ Medicare, relocation and home renovation. Looking forward — ???

Seems strange not having a list of outdoor activities and projects to do. With the digging in of tulip bulbs and construction of anti-deer enclosures for new trees, yard work is a wrap for the year. Ah well, plenty of activity keeping the “kitten nursery plus dog nursing home” going indoors.

As noted above, holiday cards have moved from design to implementation. All ordered supplies have been received. Time for me to get into my cut-and-paste happy place.

Happy Trails.