You would think that with the weather getting colder, our lives would slow down. Not so. With more painting, a visit from a long-time friend, leaf clean up, and various other projects we are as busy as ever.
Last Monday we entertained one of Pam’s long-time friends, Sally Eglinton. Sally was a brand-new librarian when Pam was in high school. (Sally’s husband Ken [now deceased] was a shop teacher at the same time.) Pam struck up a friendship with Sally that still endures. I first met Sally when she attended our wedding in 1974.
Since 2020’s face-to-face visit opportunities were COVID-limited, we had not had a chance to see Sally, who lives in Minnesota, and she had not had the opportunity to visit us. This year we set a date and Sally drove to NE Iowa on a beautiful fall day to get a tour of Heart House.
Here is a photo of us on our front porch.
The “Welcome Fall” plaque, seen between Sally and Pam, is a much-appreciated housewarming gift from Sally and will be on display until the snow falls. We really enjoyed having Sally here — catching up with the news/events in our lives since the last time we saw each other.
A limited amount of work did continue on the house. I replaced two rotten pieces of trim with newly painted wood. I put a second coat of red paint on the west wall and scraped and painted some of the vertical white trim, which improved the appearance of the corners and really makes the red walls ‘pop’ with the contrast. With below freezing temperatures arriving late in the week, I drained and removed the hoses, pulled the last of the vines out of the garden, and made a couple passes over the yard with my leaf muncher and riding lawn mower to remove fallen leaves. Pam put away yard art for the season, then cut back a number of plants, including a few hostas and morning glories (saving quite a few seeds from the Grandpa Ott morning glories).
We are preparing for the plumber’s visit, scheduled to start next Tuesday. This project will relocate the laundry room water and drain lines away from an outside wall, where they are prone to freezing unless we plug in their heating tapes.
The upstairs bathroom will also get similar attention, moving water lines away from the south outside wall. We’ve had to aim a milk house heater at these lines where they made the curve from horizontal (in the basement) to the vertical where they ran up the wall to keep them from freezing. Finally, new water supply and drain lines need to be run for the job sink we plan to add to the laundry room. The plumbers have let us know that they will not do any repair on the walls and bathroom floor so after they leave we will have new projects to repair those areas. Photos will be forthcoming in my next post!
So ends another busy week. Items still on the list: detail painting we would like to get done, but that is weather dependent. Looking forward, the big event will be the plumbing project of course, which necessitates relocation of stored boxes out of two different areas. Other projects on the horizon include changing oil and filter in the truck and installing a new drive belt on the John Deere riding mower. I need to check the snow blower and make sure it is in running condition after not using it since last spring.
Pam has begun working on our 2021 holiday/Winter Solstice cards. These hand-made cards will take quite a bit of work to complete. I help where I can, primarily on the computer-printed art work, but Pam handles the hand work required to design and assemble the cards. It is a time-intensive project.
Finally, I have a short clip of Elmo the cat playing around the legs of the kitchen table. The clip is 46 seconds long and has no sound. You can find it on my Cats Videos page or go directly to Elmo at play.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Penny
I have it in my mind I want to paint the portico over the front porch before all is said and done re: outside painting this year. It is not an easy reach for me on the ten foot ladder, and all of the component parts of the (small) project involve detail painting. Standing by for 50 degree temps.
In many ways it will be a relief to wrap up exterior painting; both Himself and I are very, very tired of exterior painting. There will be interior painting for me over the winter, but my “break” between paint jobs is the cut-and-paste holiday cards.
Happy Trails.
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