The past week found NE Iowa with temperatures 25 – 30 degrees below average for this time of year. Whoa! This limited outside activities somewhat, but a few things received attention.
The main effort was in the laundry room. Photos of our current and past dogs now decorate the upper portion of the north wall.
This space (over the laundry room door into the kitchen) received some wallpaper + border as well.
Once again, more ladder work was required to get the ribbon trim in place and to hang the photos. Three pictures are 16 x 20 and the other two are 11 x 14, not real easy to handle when on a ladder! These photos were ordered specifically for this laundry room placement. I think the room looks great.
Other activities included the taking down of tree and window decorations inside the house and some of the outside lights and garlands. However, the cold weather postponed some of the exterior work until it warms up a bit.
With overnight lows hitting close to -20 degrees, it has been a frigid week. Even the outside cat heated water dish froze! I fired up my kerosene heater in the garage in an attempt to keep the cars and gear above zero and that effort, so far, has been successful. Just before the end of 2021 we received a “fill” of propane — we’re in good shape for the extra demands of the furnace. My new LL Bean boots are proving to be equal to the sub-zero temps. The upcoming week promises to be on the milder side and I will be glad to see more moderate winter temperatures.
I’m going to take a moment to mention current events. I have striven, over these past 11 years, to keep politics mostly out of these posts as there are many other forums and places for political debate and expression of political ideology. This has tended to make my blog rather bland. The only statement I’ll make this week is that I thought President Biden delivered a good speech this week, one that was long overdue.
Here is a follow-up on an experiment we started in early December: we canceled our cable TV and went to a streaming service to provide our programming. After a month, I can say we have benefited from the change-over. Not only do we get more channels, the cost is measurably lower. The only down side we have seen is that going to the “previous channel” (the “back” button) involves a lag time that was not present on the cable remote. The lag is only a few seconds but seems longer. This is a minor inconvenience, more than made up for with a broader range of offerings and lower cost. We are running Fubo TV over Roku Ultra streaming devices and, as there are only two TV locations, are contracted through Roku for two devices. This works at present.
As the cold weather has shut down many of our projects that would normally be done outside or in the garage, other activities for the week were pretty routine and small in nature, typical winter chores for the most part. I continue to scan some slides and update some Galleries; there is now an audio introduction on the Boreas Pass gallery, for example. It is pleasant to have some down time now that the holidays are over and just ride out the cold weather with a good book and a cup of tea.
Photo Archive
From a Renaissance festival we attended in the late ’70s or early ’80s:
Around the yard photos from previous places we have lived:
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Penny
Frickin’ cold. I find myself contemplating future projects — but — not energized to start them. S.A.D. ?
Sometimes, after watching the totally-depressing news (rising pandemic hospital numbers, extreme weather, insurrection, politics ad infinitum), I dial up Roku “oldies but goodies” and watch Bob Ross paint. Calms me right down.
Happy Trails.
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