Author: admin (Page 17 of 62)

With the seasonal transition from winter to spring underway, this last week contained a hodgepodge of activities including work in the house, yard work, and addressing a few longer-term projects. Here is the week in review.

Pam has begun to order some new ‘fittings’ for the house. One of these items was a new curio cabinet intended to hold a number of small items we brought with us from Colorado. The case needed assembly and turned out to be well suited for holding a number of Pam’s small keepsakes.

Pam continues to work on the snug, ordering a few small items for around the house, sending a few Easter postcards, and working on other small projects.

In addition to assembling the new display case, I kept busy. Monday I drove to the Mason City Post Office and submitted my passport renewal forms. (Since the current passport had expired there were a few additional steps I had to take and could not renew on-line or by mail.) The process went smoothly and I hope to receive my new passport in the next 4 to 6 weeks.

With the warmer weather and some rain, all snow is gone from around 702 Main. I completed a lawn clean-up, raking more leaves, twigs, and small branches that had fallen on the lawn over the winter. The lawn looks good for a day or so, then winds pick up neighbor’s leaves and blow them onto our yard. These will have to wait until I get the mower out and run over the lawn. The bagger system does a pretty good job of collecting these strays after the raking loosens the base level of collected debris. I still need to take the utility trailer to the dump and dispose of this first load of stuff, a job for the upcoming week.

One warmer morning I sat on the east porch and took photos of birds at the feeder. House finches are the main species featured in this photo. Their red coloring is attractive and they are interesting to watch.

I took some time to work up a few bald spots on the lawn and put in some grass seed I had left over from last fall. For example, we had removed the phlox plants for relocation late in the season and grass had not had time to grow in before winter arrived. I am hoping the warmer weather and rains forecast every few days for the next week will be enough to green up these bare spots.

I would like to give a shout out to my sister Kitt who fixed me up with some KN95 masks. These are quite a step up from the cloth and blue pleated paper masks I had been using. Given I will be in contact with many people during the course of my prostate treatments I am very glad to have the new masks! Thank you!

On a technical note, a couple weeks ago I had a new battery put in my iPhone 6s. The phone is 5 – 6 years old and was still running on the original battery, but it was beginning to have issues. It required frequent recharges and would occasionally jump from 80% – 90% charge to less than 5% then back up. The new battery (with installation) cost just over $65.00 and took about 45 minutes. Charging is required only every other day and the battery is stable in operation. It was a worth-while update which will bring more peace of mind as I am on the road to and from treatment appointments.

The events in Boulder touched us this past week. Having lived near there, and working in Boulder, we have many memories of shopping at the King Soopers grocery, walking the Pearl Street Mall, stopping in shops and eating in various restaurants, and attending University Lutheran Chapel. Boulder was our home town from the late ’70s until ’85. We reviewed the names of the victims but didn’t recognize any of them, probably a good thing. It was a shock to see such violence in a place familiar to us.

The upcoming week, well, no major new projects are anticipated but many smaller jobs will receive attention. One such small job is mine; I have ordered a few tool chest organizers and plan to finally organize my socket sets in my main tool box. During the course of the move some items were separated and ended up in different places. Now is a good time to get everything together in one place.

I will probably put the mower deck and bagger back on the John Deere and retire the snow blade for the summer. There is already new grass growing in the cracks in the side walk and it won’t be long until the first mowing session of the year occurs.

JoJo will go to the groomers next week and all three dogs will be getting their nails and anals attended to. Some COVID-19 protocols are still in place at the vet for drop-off and pickup. This means a couple trips back and forth to Charles City (about 50 miles round trip) on Monday but I will get some grocery shopping worked in as part of the outing.

So it goes. Life is a mixture of routine and project work. What else is new?

Photo Archive

There is no theme for this week’s collection. Take a look at the captions for an explanation!

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

Pam’s Penny

On the TV design shows, staging takes place at the end of the remodel and the room(s) involved look fantastic immediately. Not here at 702 Main. It takes me months to layer all of the final elements in rooms. Painting and drapes are the easy part. Going through the stored stuff in storage room boxes (for the walls and for display in various ways) seems endless. Stored stuff has to be curated. The plaster walls don’t support heavy items; we lost two wall anchors on one wall, they disappeared right into the lathe and plaster.

Which is why it’s satisfying to have the curio cabinet filled with memorabilia. This also means fewer boxes in the storage room, which is another area of the house requiring organization (at some point). Win-win.

Here’s a new acquisition that defines the library space (in the room with the Art Deco stencil).

Be well. Happy Trails.

Several noteworthy events happened this past week, but getting out first COVID-19 shots tops the list. Here is the week in review.

We had been on a vaccine list through our local clinic, but didn’t know where (what #) we were on their list. Given my impending prostate cancer treatments, I investigated further and was referred to the regional health center, keeper of ‘the County list’, to see what might be done to speed up the process. I explained my situation to the vaccination coordinator and she called back with an appointment date of this last Friday for both of us.

It turns out Howard County vaccinations are being scheduled by birth year; Howard County had worked their way to 1947. Given our birth years are ’52 and ’53, bumping us up wasn’t much of a jump, but enough so that a board had to consider the request. Now I/we will be fully vaccinated before my next trip to the Mayo Clinic. Second shots are scheduled for April 15 and my next Mayo appointment is on April 19th.

Here we are getting our shots. We received the Moderna version of the vaccine.

Both of us had a mild reaction — sore upper arms for a day or so and fatigue — but nothing more than that. We’re pleased to have this protection in place and moving forward to full immunization.

Earlier in the week Pam finished the west wall of the library. Here are a few photos of the work as it progressed. The plan was to repaint the wall and add artwork to it.

In addition, the three east-side windows received wall paper in the panels below them.

And, if that wasn’t enough, Pam started working on the walls in the ‘snug’ which is the room off the library. There will be more on that project as it progresses.

My big project of the week was snow removal. Monday saw an all-day snow event which dumped about 5 – 6 inches of heavy, stick-to-your-shovel spring snow. I kept the walk between the house, catio, and garage open on Monday but decided to wait until Tuesday to do the rest of the walks and garage access.

The effort utilized shovels, a broom, my Toro snow blower, and the blade on the John Deere rider. As I also clear the snow from around our mailbox row, and a neighboring bank of mail boxes, the job took several hours in total.

Today the snow is almost gone, and will be totally gone by tomorrow night as temps have warmed up again and upper 50 degree days are on tap. Rain is to move in early next week so even the deepest ditches will be clear of the white stuff by my next post.

The next few weeks promise to be busy as well. Pam will continue to work on the snug, I am reviewing paint colors to repaint the upstairs (my) bathroom, I have an appointment with the Mason City Post Office to renew my passport, and Jake the Electrician called and put us back on his work list.

Bob the Builder will be coming by at some point to give us an estimate on re-siding the south wall (kitchen end) of the house. It had been on my ‘to-do’ list for this spring but given the anticipated side effects of the radiation treatments we decided to farm out the work. The project will include replacement of the existing window and trim. Pam and I will still take care of painting the new siding and other painting around the house as summer projects.

It was another busy week with some projects completed and others begun, typical of our calendar. Getting the first of our two COVID shots has improved our mental health, though. We will continue to wear our masks and social distance when in public places for the foreseeable future or until health experts say it is OK to abandon those practices.

Photo Archive

This first photo is one of my favorites of Pam reading to the kids. “Katy and the Big Snow” was one of their favorites. Early ’90s.

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

Pam’s Penny

What are the odds the nurse giving me my vaccine “jab” in Cresco would turn out to be the granddaughter of a past resident of Heart House? And yet that’s exactly what happened. After I handed the vaccine paperwork over to her, she saw the address in Elma, there was a short discussion, and Ann Sullivan identified herself as the granddaughter of Clara Boyle. Clara lived at 702 Main in the 1990 time period. Ann remembered her grandmother’s stained glass windows and clawfoot tub from her childhood. I invited Ann to stop by 702 sometime on a future trip to Elma (after this COVID crap is history). Small towns…

Be well. Happy Trails.

This past week was not exactly typical but, at the same time, not very exciting. Here is how we spent some of our time.

On Monday I drove up to the Mayo Clinic for two appointments. The first was to take a blood draw which will serve as a baseline to evaluate future treatments. The second was to get an injection of Leuprolide (AKA Eligard) a testosterone-reducing hormone treatment. The shot is good for three months.

I am scheduled for two late April appointments. The pre-surgury check-up will be on April 19th followed by surgery to implant the brachytherapy ‘seeds’ on April 21st. Not much to do between now and then except wait!

Tuesday was grocery shopping day, a process that generally takes 3 – 4 hours to complete, taking into account the time to haul groceries into the house and put everything away. For some reason local stores can’t get Friskies canned cat food, particularly the flavors our cats like. Empty shelves are a common sight.

Wednesday was Tax Prep Day. We went though our three sets of taxes (Colorado, Iowa, and Federal) and made all the corrections and calculations needed. Federal and Colorado returns have been mailed as we are getting a refund from both of those sources. We owe Iowa tax, no surprise there, so will not send those forms off for another month or so.

Thursday I drove to Cresco, the county seat. I needed to get an Iowa license plate for our aluminum utility trailer. The old Colorado plate was good through January, but with spring approaching I will be pulling the trailer on public roads so needed to ‘get legal’ in Iowa. Unlike Colorado, Iowa does not issue a title for trailers that weigh under 2,000 pounds, just a receipt along with the plate. I had to laugh, though. The cost of the plate, good through August, was $10.00. Renewals for a year will be $20.00. This is far less than we paid out West.

Pam took the spotlight for Friday. She returned to the dentist for X-rays and a routine cleaning. The molar that received the root canal is still very tender but is improving. Pam still needs to get that tooth fitted with a crown but that will not happen for a few weeks at best, possibly longer.

Scattered through this time I began the first lawn cleanup off the year. As much as I tried to have all the fall leaves taken care of, our neighbors are not as concerned with cleaning up their yards and a lot of leaves blew into our yard over the winter. The lawn is still wet from melting snow, but I have managed to clear leaves from around the dog run and garden fences and a bit around the garage and flower beds. Eventually I will rake the entire yard to clean up all the winter debris.

Other signs of spring are appearing. Tulip greens are starting to appear above the layer of mulch we put on them last fall. Some grass is beginning to ‘green up.’ Recently we have seen house wrens and finches at the bird feeder. I saw my first robin of the year a couple days ago. The outside cats are sunning in the catio enclosure. All the snow around our place is gone, although there is ‘plowable’ snow in the forecast for this coming Sunday night into Monday. (Warmer temps are in the forecast for later in the week so any snow we get won’t last long.)

Inside the house, Pam continues to work on the west wall of the library. Furniture has been re-arranged and a pair of new wall-mounted lights have changed the library appearance a great deal. That project continues and is now more than half-done.

All in all it was a busy week for mid-March. Not routine, but busy. Hopefully the next few weeks will have less trauma and more good weather.

Photo Archive

Family photos lead off this post. Taken in Oregon at our friends Tom and Patti Hamilton’s place, these first couple photos date from ’90 or ’91.

These next few shots are from all over.

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

Pam’s Penny

Life in Iowa…

Are you wondering what could possibly keep us occupied in Iowa during the waning days of winter? Days are full and tasks are many. Warming weather brings out the house flies and (continuous) hatching of the Chinese lady beetles (or whatever they are). Wasps will soon be next; Fields has already been on the hunt for defunct wasp nests from last year to eradicate from the house facade.

Lent is here, and with it additional Friday night fish fries to enjoy. The local bars feature Friday fish all year, of course, but Lent brings out the religious groups and town fundraisers. We’ve already enjoyed the drive-through fish fries in Alta Vista and Elma. (The fish fry featured above is in Charles City.) Lent fish fries seem to have more creative deserts than the all-year bar options. Anytime of year, Friday night fish is on the “things to like about Iowa” list.

The local weather report out of Rochester, MN no longer gives snow depths on the snowmobile trails and last month issued “get off the ice” reports for fishing shanties. Bugs-Lent-ice breakup — must mean spring is near.

Also, spring birds are here. The forsythia bush near the bird feeding station has finally come into its own. I hacked at that ancient growth three times in 2019/2020 in attempts to beat it into submission. Now the graceful forsythia fronds provide cover and branch supports for the variety of winter and returning birds helping themselves to bountiful meals. Enjoying the abundant bird life has also joined the “things to like about Iowa” list.

We are never at a loss to figure out on what to spend our COVID stimulus checks. The 2020 version helped pay my hospital bill at Gundersen in LaCrosse for the gall bladder surgery. The early 2021 stimulus paid a portion of my root canal, and the forthcoming Biden stimulus check will pay for a crown and various deductibles for Himself’s prostate cancer treatment. The only thing we’ve been stimulating is medical and dental providers, it seems.

My life, consistently, revolves around the needs of the animals. London, our 17-year-oldster Siamese mix, has stabilized at about 6 pounds and is now eating two additional small meals per day (the kitchen is always open, it seems). I keep track of the comings-and-goings of the catio cats, checking visually to see if anyone is ill or in need of repair. Elmo is always destroying something, usually requiring a change in interior decor to dampen his “interest.” The dogs are scheduled for grooming (JoJo is one giant hairball) and a vet visit. Heartworm meds and flea/tick preventatives are in-house for the season.

Himself already bought me a few packets of Grandpa Ott morning glories for spring planting. I was watching an Iowa farm show on PBS (I also occasionally take note of hog and soybean prices) that traced the Grandpa Ott seeds back to a Bavarian origin. There you go, Larry. PBS also had a special featuring the Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, which is definitely worth a field trip.

It will soon be time to switch out the “winter wardrobe” to the “summer wardrobe.” I am greatly in need of my sister Becky to be on premises; she always shames me into throwing away something totally ragged and unfit for continued use.

And, if we get bored, there’s always the hunt for COVID vaccine shots, which somehow have not made it to the NE Iowa rural area clinics (regardless of how well Iowa’s governor says things are going in that respect.) But then, who’s bored?

Be well. Happy Trails.

The latest medical news is not good.

On Wednesday, March 3rd, I went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for two appointments. The first was to get an MRI of my prostate; the second was a doctor consultation to determine a course of treatment.

The MRI indicated a possibility that the cancer may have spread into the pelvic area lymph nodes and seminal fluid canals. The results were not conclusive, but due to my high PSA reading the doctors think this is likely. As a result, the Proton Beam Therapy I had hoped would be the preferred course of action is not viable.

Instead I have opted to use Brachytherapy, or internal radiation therapy. This involves use of radioactive ‘seeds’ implanted for a short time in the prostate. External radiation will also be part of the treatment.

There are two version of this Brachytherapy, low-dose long term implants and temporary, high dose implants. The later are inserted for 5 – 15 minutes at a time and are then removed. General anesthesia is used for the procedure. I will be going the high dose route as the doctors think I am a good candidate for this type of treatment. The high dose implant and removal will be followed by external radiation treatments extending over 5 weeks, give or take.

In addition to the radiation I will be on one or two prescription drugs and injections to lower my testosterone levels, which helps discourage cancer development. I will be taking across-the-counter calcium tablets and vitamin D supplements to help offset the effects of the radiation. The first of the injections happens this coming Monday, March 8th, following a blood draw that will set a baseline for treatments to follow.

Pam will accompany me for the initial implant in April, as I will be sedated and not really fit to drive home after the procedure. Otherwise I can take the follow-up shots and treatments on solo trips. Many of the subsequent treatments can be scheduled at the Mayo Clinic satellite office in Austin, Minnesota, which is a half-hour closer to Elma than the main Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

The first implant will take place in late April and the follow-on treatments should be completed within 5 or 6 weeks after that. The lowered testosterone will continue for up to 18 months with PSA level checks every 3 months or so. The long-term prognosis, overall, is good.

However, there are side effects to deal with — loss of energy and loss of muscle mass mainly. There can be other issues as well but most clear up within a few days or weeks. It will not be a good time but the treatments are necessary. I’ll just have to deal with it as well as I can.

And face it…this is not like lung cancer or brain cancer. “Keep the big picture in mind” was the advice of the doctors and that is what I hope to do.

It does mean my summer plans will have to be modified; attending my annual motorcycle rally in Colorado will probably not happen this year, but the middle and end of the summer should still be productive to some extent. It remains to be seen how well I tolerate the treatments and side effects.

So Wednesday was (pardon the pun) kind of a bummer. I had hoped for a better outcome. We were mentally prepared for a non-invasive cancer program due to the CT scan results at Mason City, then the Mayo folks starting using the phrase “aggressive cancer” right away when describing the MRI scan. However, on the bright side, the MRI did not require the insertion of a probe, for which I was most thankful.

A side note:

If you have never taken an MRI, the machine is very loud. I was provided ear plugs and head muffs to keep the noise to a minimum. The process includes a lot of tones, beeps, and other noises from the machine. My session took about 50 minutes as 2 scans were completed, the first being a ‘normal’ scan and the second, aided by a chemical infusion, was a ‘high contrast’ scan. The doctors ( I had 2) showed us the results of the scans in their consultation session, but a layman can’t ‘read’ the outputs very well. When the doc points to a gray blob and says “this is the prostate” you just have to take it on faith. Anyway, with the check-in, preparation, actual scan, and release, the appointment took about 2 hours and 20 minutes, much longer than I had anticipated.

Back to our regular programming.

Pam is working on the west wall of the library, which is the wall containing pocket doors leading into the nook and bathroom. I will have before-and-after shots of the wall when completed, but for now Pam has the brown edging done and two coats of white paint down. Next comes the grosgrain ribbon border around the ceiling and above the door.

That wall will not get the art deco treatment of the east wall but will be decorated with posters and wall art. Complicating the work is the now-unused shell of an electric wall heater. The casing of the heater is not flush with the plaster; it sticks out just a bit and Pam is trying to find a way to work around it. Wall plaster in the library is very dry and fragile; Pam doesn’t want to take on a major sheetrock repair. (Pick your renovation battles.) So, a poster or large photo will eventually cover the area and, when we leave, the next owners will have to decide how to handle the old heater box insert.

Well-above normal temperatures have arrived, resulting in the rapid melting of our accumulated snow. I think NE Iowa will experience more storms before spring really arrives but it’s good to be able to take the dogs out without having to put on their cold-weather coats (offset by muddy paw prints in the laundry room). The outdoor cats have been more active outside the catio and I have been able to putz with several small projects in the garage. The warm weather is extending into next week’s forecast so should be with us for several more days.

Overall, the week had ups (warmer weather) and downs (MRI results) but not much in the way of photogenic moments, for which I apologize.

Photo Archive

This week’s photos are scenics from the Pacific NW and rural settings in that part of the country.

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

Pam’s Penny

Cancer. Here we go (again). Yes, Hank, it’s the “same-o same-o” treatment for prostate cancer now as when you survived it in the past. It ticks me off that cancer research seems to be more-or-less stalled on chemical and surgical treatments. I was hoping the Proton Beam would be an improvement, only to have that potential pulled out from under.

At least the Mayo Clinic keeps extensive electronic records in the online medical database (Epic). None of the Iowa clinics so far do this; it’s a huge headache making sure medical providers are all functioning with the complete patient profile. Mayo makes the fourth clinic location Himself has visited (Austin, MN for the radiation will make that five) and there have been three different medical groups involved — Howard County Medical, Mercy One, and Mayo. It’s a billing and information mess.

Regarding ongoing renovations here at 702 Main, re-evaluation of timetables will need to accommodate both the upcoming cancer treatment schedule and the health impact of those treatments. I suspect I will need to concentrate on more projects I can complete solo.

Be well. Happy Trails.

The weather has turned a bit warmer, thankfully. We had 32 days with high temperatures below freezing and 13 consecutive days (plus others mixed in) with highs below zero. A couple “record lows for the date” were recorded during the most frigid of those days.

Recently, though, temps have climbed to near 40 degrees. Snow is melting, which creates pooling water problems, but we’re happy to cut back on our heating costs and have sunlight coming through the windows. Even the dogs and outside cats are enjoying the (relatively) mild weather.

NE Iowa did receive about 8 inches of snow a few days ago. Low in water content, the snow was very light but there was a lot of it. I was able to use the snow blower (which ran pretty well after my recent repair) to clear the walks and access to the mailbox. Now routine, I cleared the ally access to the garage with the John Deere lawn tractor. Clean-up took most of a morning.

I should note that we have several pathways used by the outside cats. These generally provide access to the catio ramp, outside water dish, outside feeder, and access to the east porch. These needed to be cleared again after the recent snow, and Pam helped in this effort.

The dog run also gets attention in the form of shoveling back space for the dogs to run. Poor Bru is the shortest of the dogs and had to bunny-hop through new snow so Pam decided we needed to clear some space.

Inside the house, Pam has finished the library’s art deco paint job. Here are before and after photos of the east wall.

Pam tells me another step for that wall will be to sew valances for the tops of the curtains. She plans to rearrange, and possibly replace or upgrade, the library’s furniture. Flooring, which is now a somewhat older carpet, will be removed and be replaced with area rugs where possible. We don’t know (but can imagine!) the condition of the floor; once we pull up the carpet we’ll decide on a flooring approach.

A trip to Rochester, MN, took up some of our time last week. I wanted to identify where to go for my March 3rd appointment and find the 2 Mayo Clinic buildings I need to visit and identify surrounding parking places. Pam went along this trip and we made it a multi-function event, stopping at a Walmart to pick up some supplies and of course Culver’s drive-through for lunch.

Yesterday Pam went to the dentist to get a root canal done on one of her molars. She is in pain today. The dentist had trouble finding one of the roots and the procedure took a bit longer than average. Pam is handling the pain; hopefully she is over the worst of it. A return trip to prep the same tooth for a crown is on tap in March.

I finished our 3 tax returns — Colorado part-year, Iowa, and federal. What a pain. We’ll do a final review to make sure I have not made a calculation mistake or missed an entry before we send off the forms, but the bulk of that job is over and I am glad of it. We owe money to both states but will get something back (eventually) on federal. Next year’s returns should be a lot simpler!

Photo Archive

We had moved to Colorado in 1977 and spent many weekends exploring the high country. These next two photos are from one of those trips.

I often took off on my motorcycle to visit different areas.

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

Pam’s Penny

London, our oldest rescue cat at 16-going-on-17, is experiencing a decided health decline this month. He’s been losing weight and energy since the relocation from CO to IA. London’s a Flamepoint Siamese; he’s one of the cats I acquired while working for the animal rescue in Colorado. I began my somewhat-prolonged Crazy Cat Lady period slightly after London joined us.

I’ve been reflecting on London’s time with us this past week, and how different we are now compared to 17 years ago. The biggest changes aren’t location, or working vs. retirement, income, or what the kiddos are doing. Nope, the biggest change is how much time-energy-money we now devote to thinking about and planning for health care. How totally boring it is.

Be well. Happy Trails.

It was February of 2011 when Appleattic and this blog went live. Since then there have been many changes in our lives. The site has changed, over time, to reflect those changes.

I began by adding Galleries pages (with slide shows) that visually document people, places, family, and things that we had experienced. Videos came later and added motion to projects and events. I added the Humor Corner to the main page and Pam’s Penny and Photo Archive sections to each post.

Many under-the-hood changes took place over the years. Some were small or not noticeable, but include things like adding rounded corners to the thumbnail images on various pages. Navigation button and footer entries were consolidated into single reusable files, eliminating the need to modify each page when these items changed. Galleries received slide show controls and were standardized. Conversion of the site from an unsecured to a secured site was a major upgrade.

Many people do not realize I’ve also created and hosted web pages for my motorcycle club’s rallies over the years. Here is one for 2021.

Keeping the blog going has been an interesting exercise. This will be post number 454. I have lost track of the number of photos and videos uploaded over the years; these number in the hundreds. There have been close to 55,000 “hits” on the blog page. (Counters for the blog and main page were added after both were established.) A total of 782 comments have been posted. Security software Akismet and Site Lock have stopped dozens of spam messages and hacking attempts.

I don’t know how much longer the blog will continue but it will last for a few more years, at least. It has been an interesting 10 years!

Now, on to other topics.

On Monday I drove to Mason City to get the official results of my CT and bone scan tests. As anticipated, both tests came up ‘clean’ indicating the prostate cancer has not spread to surrounding soft tissues or bones. That is good news! Next up is a meeting with the Mayo Clinic on March 3rd to discuss treatment options.

Continuing with medical news, Pam is suffering from an infected molar that will need a root canal followed by a crown. Right now she is on penicillin and has a Friday appointment for the root canal work. Not good times. The basic dental plan she had signed up for does not cover this kind of work, as Pam has needed very little except maintenance dental work over the years. There goes the stimulus check (if we ever get one).

Inside the house Pam has completed two sections of the stencil in the library and it is looking good! The work is over half done, as the trim painting is completed leaving the rest of the stencils to be painted on two more sections of the wall.

Pam added this bit of decoration over the front hallway entrance:

In avian news, a pair of cardinals are starting to frequent the bird feeder. (Recently we saw four cardinals around the feeder at one time.) I have a hurried shot of this pair feeding on the ground. Taken handheld at maximum telephoto through two layers of glass, well, the quality is not very good. I will get out the tripod and see if I can get a higher quality shot in the future.

Elmo the cat is often photogenic and I took this shot of him sleeping on the back couch. (He looks so harmless, doesn’t he?)

Our frigid weather was not the only weather-related story this past week. On Tuesday our daughter Felicity sent us a text informing us Tulsa was on rolling blackouts and she was without power for periods of time. The South is not equipped to handle the record cold temperatures; demands for power (primarily electric heating and furnace blowers) have outstripped the grid’s ability to deliver. Weather is supposed to moderate in the next few days in Oklahoma and other southern states — conditions will improve. Amazing the human toll the cold has taken in these areas.

Photo Archive

Flowers in Colorado have always been a draw for me.

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

Pam’s Penny

I can think of at least ten things I would rather spend $1,000 on right now, other than a root canal. Seems about every twenty years my teeth require “attention” – wisdom teeth removal in my 20’s, a molar extraction in my 40’s, and now a root canal in my 60’s. (Yee-hah.) Well, you gotta have teeth.

Major excitement – Jerry added our names to the COVID vaccine list at the local Elma Clinic. The small clinic only receives 100 doses at any given time due to refrigeration issues; who knows when our number will be called? Overall, Iowa has not been very organized re: vaccine distribution. The governor has proven to be totally inept in her attempt to administer this statewide health program. Add COVID stupidity to the Iowa “not to like” list.

Be well. Happy Trails.

We are closing out the coldest week of winter with another week to come. High temperatures have been below zero for a few days and lows, with wind chill, are in the -40 to -50 degree F range. Brrr!

This has not stopped Pam from working on the art deco stencils going into the library.

The results are starting to look great. It’s just a huge amount of work to get there! And once the painting is done, Pam still needs to add the rest of the ribbon and tacks to complete the job. Things are moving ahead and looking good.

I received a call from the Mayo Clinic, setting up a March 3rd appointment to discuss treatment options for my prostate cancer. The fact that they called appears to indicate the cancer has not spread to surrounding soft tissues or bones. If confirmed, this is good news. I have an appointment with my regular doctor at the Mason City Clinic this coming Monday and will get the official results then. I hope for the best outcome which would be to qualify for Mayo’s Proton Beam Therapy but won’t know if that is the course of action until after the March 3rd appointment.

Most of my activity this week involved moving snow around. We had two light storms come though that dropped just enough snow to be shoveled. After I had finished a neighbor came up and asked me to do a driveway for a neighbor lady (Kate, whom we had met last year) as she is in therapy and can’t be home. Of course I said yes then spend another half-hour clearing her drive.

Cleared walkways are a rarity in this town, but I feel it is the duty of a responsible owner, or renter, to clear their sidewalks. Elma does not have a local school any longer so there are no children walking to and from, but there are people who walk and the only course open is to stay on the street. In winter, with slippery roads, this can be an adventure, particularly at corners with stop signs where autos tend to slide out of their lanes of traffic.

At any rate, I try to keep our walks clear and in useable condition. This year we maintain the walking path that extends from the east (side) porch out to 7th Street. Delivery people, the mail carrier (with boxes that won’t fit in the mail box), and even the neighbor who asked me to clear Kate’s drive all use this path.

It adds more shoveling time but is worth the effort. It’s possible we will put in a permanent cement walk in this location at some point.

Just for the record, here is a view of our Main Street walk; the 7th street access follows the left sidewalk branch and the diagonal walk goes up to and around the house.

Pam is starting to feel “cabin fever” and decided to put a bit of color — in the form of silk flowers and a spring flag — on the east porch to brighten the landscape a bit.

Speaking of colors, we have seen a male and female cardinal at the feeder a few times. Their reds add a striking bit of color to the otherwise drab snow. A blue jay has also made a few appearances, but he doesn’t stand out as do the cardinals. I’m glad to see all the birds getting something to eat.

In my last post I mentioned I had some trouble with the snow blower. I did work on its carburetor and the blower is now in running condition. Not perfect, and I have ordered a carb overhaul kit, but running well enough to get through to warmer weather.

We have started to assemble the paperwork for our taxes. Oh the joy. I have part-year status in two states, sold property, retired, and started getting Social Security checks. Pam does not have the part-year issue but also started getting retirement checks. There will be plenty of forms to fill out this year!

Photo Archive

This week’s photos are from 2004 and are primarily landscapes but there are a few others tossed in.

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

Pam’s Penny

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I reinstalled the two red hearts (made from rope lights) in the downstairs bay windows for the weekend. The hearts were such a hit over the holidays, I’m sure the locals will appreciate an encore.

We remember these frigid spells from previous years living in the Midwest. Not fondly. On the tally sheet of things to “like” and “not to like” in Elma, frigid Alberta Clipper weather patterns are definitely in the “not to like” column.

Be well. Happy Trails.

I didn’t get much done this week. Pam, on the other hand, moved ahead with redecorating the library. Snow and a trip to Mason City for my cancer tests rounded out the week.

The library painting involves a LOT of detail painting. Pam goes around the window frames, outlining them with the wall colors (green or white) but also touching up the brown window frames. Add in some patching with vinyl spackling compound, waiting it for it to dry, and the process takes a lot of time.

I don’t have any new photos of this work-in-process but hope to have some by my next post. Pam is almost at the point where larger areas of the walls can be painted. When that is completed I can show before-and-after photos that will clearly show the differences her work has made.

I do have a photo of one of Pam’s morning (and evening) rituals, feeding the cats. Four of the five house cats line up for their treat of canned cat food. The rest of the day they have to settle for the dry food in their feeding station. The exception is KitKat; she does not like to be around the other felines so does not come into the kitchen for this treat.

Pam also prepares three bowls of dog food for doggie breakfasts and dinners. The dogs are fed in the laundry room; a gate separates that room from the kitchen, to keep the two groups apart at feeding time.

We took delivery of a load of propane this week. With the forecast for bitterly cold weather this upcoming week (high temps near or below zero) we are pleased to have a full load of fuel for the furnace. One water line runs up the inside wall of the house to the 2nd floor bathroom, where a barn heater maintains a constant temp behind the toilet in that bathroom. Heating tapes keep first-floor water lines from freezing near the washer (also on an exterior wall). Ah, winter in Iowa.

With windchills in the minus 30 degree range or lower, most outside activity (and garage work) has come to a halt. Exceptions are getting the mail and refilling the bird feeder. That’s about it!

Thursday afternoon was spent clearing sidewalks and the alley (for garage access) after a snowstorm had dropped about 2.5 – 3 inches of snow in Elma. Unfortunately the snow blower developed carburetor problems and would not run properly so more hand shoveling than anticipated was needed. The blade on the John Deere can move snow but only if you have a place to move it to. The build-up of existing snow limited the blade’s usefulness in this new snowfall. Several hours of work later our walks, mailbox access, and alley access were opened up again. I will have to work on the blower before the next storm hits.

Friday I drove over to Mason City to take the tests that will indicate if my prostate cancer has spread into the surrounding soft tissues and/or bones. Two tests were done, a CT scan for the soft tissue and a bone scan.

For those who have not been exposed to these tests, here is a brief outline. The first step is to have an injection of a radioactive dye to be used by the bone scan system. It takes about 2 1/2 hours for this to fully circulate and be ready for the scan so the dye is injected early in the appointment. Since I would be getting addition injections before the tests the technician installed a ‘port’ in my right wrist.

The second step is to have an injection of a fluid that is used in the tissue scan. Along with this, two doses of a barium drink are consumed over a half-hour period. I took the first at about 11:50 (just before noon) and the second at about 12:20. During this interval I read I book I had brought along to kill the time.

After taking the second dose of the barium smoothie I changed into a pair of hospital gowns, one open in the back and the other open in the front. My gear was put into a locked storage area. I was taken into a room and given an explanation of the upcoming test, which covered my chest, abdomen, and pelvic area. I was also given an injection of another fluid that would enhance the contrast between my organs and the surrounding soft tissue.

The test itself was routine. I laid down on the machine’s bed, put my hands over my head like an olympic diver, and was moved forward and backward through the scanner. The technician told me when to hold my breath and when to breath again. The process took about 10 minutes. When completed another technical removed the port from my right wrist.

Back to the changing room and into my street clothes again. There would be a lull before the bone scan test so I nibbled on the three oatmeal and raisin cookies Pam had packed for me, and drank some water I had brought along.

After a short time I was escorted into the bone test chamber. Again, I laid down on the machine’s platform but this time with my arms by my side. In fact, I was ‘wrapped’ to keep my arms from moving or flopping off the side of the bed. (On both beds I had a support placed under my knees to help keep them stable.)

The machine started to operate and I could see and feel myself being drawn into the scanning chamber. The bed moves in a series of small steps, not a smooth pass, through the scanner. To be honest I kept my eyes closed though most of this process which took a bit longer than the tissue scan but not by much.

When the machine beeped, indicating the pass was over, I moved to a sitting position and another scan, shorter in duration, was taken. The tests completed, the ID band I had received when I checked in was removed from my wrist, the wrap that had covered the spot where the the port had been installed was removed, and I was free to return home.

Minimal side effect of the tests required me to stay close to a bathroom when I returned home. I didn’t feel very hungry for dinner so just had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich along with some hot tea.

Now comes an interesting wrinkle in this story. Jeff Hayes, a friend of Pam’s from childhood, mentioned during a phone call that the Mayo Clinic has a program called Proton Beam Therapy that can be used effectively on several types of cancer, including prostate. Elma is about an hour or so away from the Mayo Clinic. I called them during the week and spoke to Anne (with an ‘e’) about the Mayo program. The upshot of that conversation was enrollment in the Mayo system and their promise to get the results from Mason City (Mercy One care system) and determine if I could be a candidate for the Mayo program.

Mayo Clinic offers Proton Beam Radiation Therapy only in a few places in the United States, as the facility has to have a cyclotron generator to produce the protons used in the process. This is state-of-the-art stuff. The advantages are highly targeted beams resulting in minimal radiation damage to tissues and organs surrounding the cancer, often eliminating the need for surgery, and faster recovery with fewer side effects. Follow this link to view the clinic’s web page that discusses this treatment.

If I am a candidate I will get treatment at the Mayo Clinic. Assuming we can afford it and all the insurance pre-approvals support using Mayo. This is the most hoped-for outcome. If I am not a candidate then I will have to go ahead with surgery and/or conventional radiation therapy and will probably stick with Mercy One in Mason City. I’ll be pretty tense until I get the results of the tests (no earlier than the middle of next week).

Photo Archive

Most of my photos over the years have been of landscapes, fall colors, and places visited in Colorado. Here are a few fall color shots from 2004. (There will be more in the future.)

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

Pam’s Penny

Outside time for animals in these fierce cold conditions is brutal. I keep an oil-filled heater running nights [and sometimes during the day] in the catio, which only warms temps in there to the 20 degree range at best. There are also heated water bowls and bed heaters running 24/7. B-r-r-r-r. Our electric bill borders on outrageous, when adding in the washer heating tapes, farm house heater for second floor bathroom, and space heaters used occasionally on the second floor.

The dogs resist going outside into the wind chill. I frequently need to accompany them outdoors and “cheerlead” them to complete their business expeditiously. What a fun week ahead, with temps and wind chills bordering on arctic.

We learned Iowa ranks 47th in the country at distributing the COVID vaccine. No wonder we haven’t seen hide-nor-hair of it.

Be well. Happy Trails.

I found out that my prostate biopsy came back indicating cancer was present. I am not happy about this development, but prostate cancer is quite common in men of my age.

Surgery to remove the prostate is indicated, but the question of radiation therapy is still not clear. On February 5th I will undergo two more tests, one of soft tissue and the other of bone tissue, to determine if the cancer has spread outside of the prostate. If so, radiation will be added to the treatment. If not, surgery without radiation will be the path forward. I will get the results of these tests on February 15th. I am not looking forward to the next couple of weeks!

But life goes on. Pam has been busy painting the library, a detail-intensive task, and working on the art deco design she has chosen to add interest to the walls. Here are a few photos of this work-in-progress.

Before any painting can begin Pam has to go around with spackling compound and fill in gaps, dings, and other defects. Then she uses an artist’s brush, the kind you would use in a paint-by-number project, to touch-up paint on the window frames and other woodwork. Only then can she apply paint to the larger wall areas. There is a lot of up-and-down the ladder work to get things done. (I would take a photo of Pam painting these walls but she says I have enough shots of her painting things and wouldn’t allow any more.)

I was not nearly as productive this last week. I did work on a number of small projects, though. Going through a few boxes I found my work clothes which I had brought back from The Lot when I closed up The Box (RV trailer) for the winter. These went into my closet and various drawers. I unpacked my snowmobile suit and boots which had been in storage in the garage attic. These will help keep me warm when I go out to push snow around. Lumber was purchased and I built the first of the ‘large window’ inserts for the house’s bay windows. This first unit went into the Media Room upstairs and the next will go into my bedroom bay window. Boxes that had held Christmas decorations, now sorted and stored in plastic totes, were broken down for yesterday’s (Friday) recycle pickup. (Recycle pickup happens every other Friday.) A Monday night snowfall had to be addressed Tuesday morning so I spent some time cleaning the alley access, mailbox access, and sidewalks. I try to take a daily walk of at least one mile. The RAV-4 was taken to a u-spray car wash. More slides were scanned. Some editing was done on my digital music collection, deleting songs that I just didn’t care for, mostly heavy metal or duplicates. And, just for S & G, I went though my mail box, deleting old mails and old sent mails. It never fails to amaze me that even in retirement the amount of junk that builds up in my mailbox is surprisingly large.

Although I have not installed any more insulation in the garage, I had the heater going while I was working on the Media Room window insert. After about 10 minutes of running I shut the heater down as it had warmed the space to a comfortable working level. Previously I had to keep the heater going continuously to be comfortable. The insulation is already paying off in more comfort on these cold days.

Some time was spent watching birds at the new feeder. The local feathered community has discovered it; now it is not uncommon to see from one to two dozen birds at the feeder at any given time. Recently we spied a finch and jay among the more common sparrows and chickadees.

From time to time we are reminded of the very rural nature of Elma.

The days fill up and go by fairly quickly, but we both miss working outside on different projects. Outside time is now relegated to letting the dogs out to run/do their business, keeping the catio cats supplied with food/water/heat, getting the mail, or to shovel snow. Whoopee.

Photo Archive

2003, Aspen Hot Air Balloon Festival

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

Pam’s Penny

Himself’s prostate cancer diagnosis is not welcome news. We will “deal with it.”

The refresh project in the library is progressing, but very slowly. The shadowy light in the room this time of year only allows about 2-3 hours of fine detail painting per day. Which is about as much time as I can force my eyes to concentrate anyway.

Be Well. Happy Trails.

This week saw us working on small jobs. There is also some medical news; let’s get to it!

Monday Pam and I went to Mason City to get a biopsy taken on my prostate. (While I was in the clinic Pam checked out the Mason City Walmart.)

The procedure was routine but took time as the first step is to get a shot of antibiotics and then wait for 45 minutes for the stuff to circulate. The procedure itself took about 20 minutes. It was not comfortable (and a bit embarrassing) but had to be done.

Due to my Type-2 diabetes I have been getting blood work done on an annual basis and this is the first time my PSA (prostate enzyme) has been elevated. If biopsy tissue shows cancer cells, the cancer would have been caught at an early stage.

I have a follow-up appointment this coming week to go over the results with the doctor and will have more information to review. If the prognosis is cancer there are a number of treatments available.

Otherwise it has been a pretty quiet week with small projects getting attention. Pam has completed more painting in the library and picked out a shade of white for the upper parts of the walls. Known as ‘Woodland Morn’, the creamy white should offer a nice contrast to the green of the lower walls and bounce some light around the room. Here is a sample on one wall.

I worked on a few small projects, including putting up a bird feeder. The bird feeder had been in storage for maybe a decade or more. In spite of our resident population of outside cats, I decided to get it out and set up. It’s a large unit with three feeding tubes. As the ground is frozen I built a temporary base for it. A trip to the local farm supply store yielded some ‘black oil’ sunflower seeds and a bag of saffron seeds. The sunflower seeds went into two of the three tubes and the saffron went into the remaining tube.

Black Oil seeds have an easier-to-crack shell than the striped seeds and the safflower seeds appeal to songbirds. It took a couple days for our local birds to find and start using the feeder, but there is now some activity every day. We can watch the feeder from the library, kitchen, and my bedroom windows so we can observe the birds pretty easily. It is good to see them getting some food during these cold and snowy days. This time of year, we’re viewing sparrows, juncos and chickadees.

A pair of projects took up some of my time. First I re-arranged part of the garage to improve access to the passenger side car door. Normally I back the car into the garage which put the passenger door close to my ‘big boy’ toys. Up until now this limited the space available to swing the door open. The new arrangement fixes this.

The second project involved the John Deere garden tractor and snow blade. With snow in the forecast for tonight and next Wednesday I decided to move the existing snow away from the edges of the sidewalks. This would give me space to put the new snow when it arrives.

Speaking of snow, here is a photo of some of our snow fighting gear.

Events at the Capitol on January 6th continue to reverberate through the political world. I would just like to include this tribute:

We have begun getting information pertaining to tax preparation. I will have to file part-year Colorado taxes as well as Iowa tax. In addition, we sold property in Colorado and began getting Social Security payments. It will take some time to review all sorts of information and figure our taxes this year!

Photo Archive

I scanned more slides this past week. Those below are from a hiking trip to Hanging Lake in Colorado. The year was 2004.

For more information about the lake, which is considered a natural wonder, do an internet search or follow this link.

Thats it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

Stucco walls. Ugh. Have I mentioned the interior of 702 Main is loaded with stucco walls? Old, fragile stucco walls? The walls and I have been in direct conflict since the start of renovations. Any nail or screw hole into the stucco tends to start a fracture of mammoth proportions. You should see the broken plaster mess around electrical outlets, for instance. It is a design dilemma.

Therefore, rather than installing new wood details (ceiling or wainscot molding, primarily), I’ve hit on a solution. I found an online vendor that sells grosgrain ribbon by the yard, in various widths (Ribbons And Bows Oh My – RABOM). Their 1.5 inch grosgrain is pretty much the width I’ve been using, and it’s available in a wide range of colors. Ribbon is flexible enough to travel up-and-down-and-over the uneven contours and bulges of the plaster walls, ribbon is fairly easily attached using brass upholstery tacks, and ribbon can be removed at will without permanently damaging the plaster. The ribbon solution was used in the parlor bedroom last winter at wainscot height, and it will be used in the refresh of the two downstairs rooms this winter. The overall “look” fits well into a Victorian.

If only Elmo will leave this treatment on the wall, that is…ah, Elmo.

Be Well. Happy Trails.