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.
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