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This post will cover quite a few odds and ends that have piled up over the last few weeks. Topics include yard flowers, insects, ethanol production, and a health update.

The hot summer weather is taking a toll on the yard, with parts of the lawn starting to brown out. However, quite a number of flowers are flourishing, including the Grandpa Otts, Hydrangea, Phlox, and a few others. Here is how they appear today. (Deb, are you having luck growing your Otts?)

(Hydrangea blossoms begin as white then turn pink over time.)

The hostas are still blooming and one of the lilac bushes is in its second seasonal blooming phase, so there is quite a bit of color around the yard.

A few weeks ago we were watching the Elma Trail Days parade when we noticed a large flying insect in the front flower bed. Online research reveal it was a “Common White-tailed Skimmer,” nice to have around as they eat mosquitos.

In local news, we had known this area of Iowa produces ethanol, used to blend into gasoline. However, we were surprised to learn just how much is produced. “Valero Charles City is a biorefinery for progress, converting around 49 million bushels of corn into approximately 140 million gallons of denatured ethanol and 368,000 tons of distillers grain co-products each year.” (The grain co-products are sold as livestock feed.) That is a lot of ethanol and underscores just how much this technology means to area farmers.

I’ll finish this post with a short medical update. I am now on a maintenance plan to monitor my PSA and testosterone levels as a result of my prostate cancer treatments. Every 6 months I get a blood draw which is shipped to the Mayo Clinic for analysis. This week was one of those times. The results: My PSA remains low and my testosterone levels are slowly climbing back to normal. Good news all around.

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

Pam’s Penny

You DO NOT want to mess with cat ladies. Nope. Not a good idea. Trash them at your own peril.

Happy Trails.

The past week was quite active for me. I took a scouting trip to lower Michigan to check out houses and topography, and attended another old engine show. A few changes were made to the web site as well.

Pam has been checking Michigan properties on-line for a while now. While we like Heart House, we have been considering a move “Up North” to an area with more woods, a few lakes, and fewer agricultural odors. A Michigan relocation would put us closer to Felicity in upper New York state, and also makes a great jumping off point for travels in Canada and the eastern U.S. Location is everything, though, and as we’re not familiar with the upper part of Michigan’s lower peninsula, it was time to take a scouting trip.

I concentrated on the upper third of the state, from Mackinaw City down to Ludington. I visited areas on both the Lake Huron and Lake Michigan coasts. Total mileage for the trip came out to 1,925 miles.

As with all states, some areas are more attractive than others. The central portions are relatively flat which makes them less desirable. Eastern portions have more wooded rolling hills and some very attractive small lakes. On the western side, Ludington has a great beach and the nearby Reed City was one of the more attractive towns I drove through.

Along the way I drove past several properties Pam had identified as potentials in various areas. Alas, the listing photos do not always give a good indication of the neighborhoods and overall condition of the homes. Of three that had potential appointments with realtors, only one turned out to be worth the effort.

This older Craftsman style home sits on almost 6 acres and has over 3,500 square feet of living space. The upstairs could be a separate living space (for Pam’s sister Becky) as it has a bath, kitchen, and a couple bedrooms. The full listing and more photos can be found at this link. (Link opens in a new window.)

The realtor was Amanda Hunt, professional and with knowledge of the area. I enjoyed meeting and speaking to her as well as the information she was able to provide about the house and community.

I had mixed responses to this house. While it has several appealing features, there are some drawbacks that would be expensive to rectify. For example, there is moisture in the basement, possibly due to the wet weather the Midwest has been experiencing, but there are no gutters to channel water away from the house. Gutters, plus a new roof and tuck-pointing the chimneys, would run around $23K – $25K. Both kitchens and bathrooms would need updating, and we know from experience what kinds of problems that work might uncover. Do we really want to take on another fixer upper?

The house is part of an estate settlement and the price is unlikely to come down. As appealing as the house is, for location, style, and size, it is more of a financial burden than we want to take on this time around. We will continue to monitor the listing and see if the price drops as time goes by and if so we may reconsider.

I checked out a couple lake properties as well. There are some very pretty lakes in Michigan! The downside of most of these is they have many steps / stairs and are quite small, mostly designed as weekend or vacation properties and not full-time homes.

I enjoyed the trip, confirming some areas to search in and other areas to ignore. The roads were uniformly good, much better than Iowa roads, and services are available in larger communities within reasonable distances from the properties I drove past. I consider the trip worthwhile and a success.

Returning home, yesterday I attended the Root River Antique Power show in Spring Valley for the second year in a row. While I am not going to bore you with a lot of details, there were some new activities not present last year, and a few more crawler tractors were present.

I have created a video with clips of various sights, sounds, and activities of this year’s show. Run time is 8:54

Speaking of videos, I have added a pair of YouTube pages to the web site with links to the various videos I have posted over the last few years just in case anyone, including myself, would like to review them again without having to scroll through pages and pages of past posts. Here is the link.

I’ve also changed the Cats and Dogs pages to reflect Blondie’s passing and mentioning the three latest cats, now about a year old.

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

Pam’s Penny

Thank you Cindy and Deb for sending an animal condolence card. Thanks Julie, Becky, and Dianne for sharing the sadness of the passing of a long-lived pet. There is less laundry without Blondie in the house, but I can’t seem to change my habit of checking on her every half hour. Because, of course, there is nothing to check on anymore…

While Himself was busy driving in Michigan, I kept myself occupied rather than dwelling on the sadness. The stairwell to the second floor, in particular, needed deep cleaning (cripes, I dug out a few Christmas spruce needles from under the tread pads). The cats have been busy taking apart ribbon trim along these steps, requiring glue and tacking. Chipped paint on the front of the treads was repainted. To mix it up, I also climbed the ladder [inside] to clean and dust the high shelves in the parlour, and then up on the ladder [outside] to paint a second coat on part of the ceiling of the wrap around porch. And when I got bored, I bathed both dogs.

Happy Trails.

Sad news: Blondie, our senior 16 year old dog, found the Rainbow Bridge this week. I will start off with a photo of Blondie in her early days.

The rest of the week was not without incident. A neighbor’s house suffered fire damage, causing quite the stir in this small town. The fire happened when the owners were on vacation, and the cause is not yet known. Imagine coming home to this!

We don’t know these neighbors well, just enough to say “Hi” to, but they keep the yard mowed, put out flowers and bird feeders, and had recently put on the metal roof seen in the above photo. Right now the broken windows have been boarded over and we see people coming from time to time, so we expect, after the insurance has been settled, that the house will be repaired and occupied once again.

This weekend is the local celebration, Elma Trail Days. There have been some events in the park and a parade is scheduled for later today. (Saturday) In anticipation of people coming down Main Street, Pam made up this commemorative sign for Heart House.

The house and yard are looking good for the weekend, with all bunting and flags put up and yardwork completed.

A number of flowers are blooming around the yard, including daylilies, hollyhocks, hostas, phlox, and a few others. I like to see the colors around the yard.

It looks like I will be making a [future house] scouting trip into Michigan’s lower peninsula soon, checking the landscapes and helping Pam decide what regions we may consider for a new home. There will be a few “drive by” addresses to check out, and perhaps an appointment or two for viewing specific homes. More on this in my next post.

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

Pam’s Penny

Even after watching six months of her health decline, somehow I wasn’t ready for Blondie’s end. Three days before her 16th birthday. Goodbye, old friend. See you at the Rainbow Bridge.

Happy Trails.

Last week I helped Felicity and Peter move from Tulsa, OK, to upstate New York, to their new rental near Ithaca. This involved 4 airplane flights and driving a U-Haul truck and pulling a car caddy. Here are a few details and photos.

I flew out of Rochester, MN, to O’Hare on my first flight, then a second leg into Tulsa. A mechanical problem had delayed the flight out of Rochester, and for a while it looked like I would miss the flight into Tulsa. However, a weather delay for the Tulsa segment let me make the connection in O’Hare after all. I was about an hour and a half late getting in, but better than rescheduling for the next day.

My tasks in Tulsa were major: Load the truck and drive it to New York. Of course, it was 98 degrees (with a heat index of 110) when loading the truck. Man, it was hot! Felicity and Peter helped, but they were busy packing boxes so the major loading fell to me.

The Honda was put on a car caddy behind the 20-foot U-Haul. Yes, there were a number of boxes in the car as well as a pair of suitcases. Felicity traveled with me int he U-Haul and we planned for two nights on the road.

Peter flew with Mr. Darcy, the cat, into Syracuse where he was picked up by an old friend and taken to the rental home.

The trip itself was just a long time in the saddle, a distance of around 1,300 miles. The truck did very well and averaged about 10 mpg, not bad for a fully loaded van pulling a car. We made many stops at rest areas, now often called “text stops” in some states.

Some of the roads were in very bad shape, with potholes that really shook the truck. One cannot easily avoid such hazards in a rig like this. Generally speaking, the further east we went the better the roads became.

Once we arrived in Ithaca, it was time to unload the van. The storage area selected was a shopping center that was being repurposed. It was air conditioned, a feature that was greatly appreciated!

We unloaded the car and returned the car caddy first, then drove out to the storage site. There we developed a routine to get the boxes and furniture into the building, first unloading onto the curb, then using 4-wheel hand carts to move the gear into the assigned space. This worked well and we unloaded the truck in about 6 1/2 hours.

Among the boxes were a refrigerator, washing machine, and two mattresses. Easy to pack items went in first, followed by all the odd items like those shown above. A few boxes were taken to the rental, which came fully furnished. I am sure Felicity and Peter will be back, going through a few more boxes to locate necessary items.

My trip back to Iowa was pretty routine. Peter drove me up to the Rochester, NY airport and I flew, once again, into O’Hare. From there my last leg took me back to Rochester, MN, where Pam picked me up.

So that was my week from June 20th to June 27th. I will be back to NY this fall, if all goes well, to help Felicity and Peter move from their rental into the house they hope to purchase and rehab over the next few months. I wish them luck!

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

Pam’s Penny

While Himself was gone, I accomplished my semi-annual cleaning of the upper kitchen display shelves, coat trimming on one of the dogs, and application of the second coat of paint in the upstairs bathroom. I also changed-out drapes in the library and washed rugs.

There were no flooding problems in Elma, but the Midwest picked up so.much.moisture this past week. (Hard to remember last year’s early summer drought conditions.)

Happy Trails.

This past weekend we rented a bucket lift with the aim of completing the painting of Heart House. This was done, and more as well. Here are photos taken during the days we had the lift as well as a before-and-after comparison.

I have previously published other bucket lift weekends and do not want to be repetitive, but there are a few shots taken during this episode that can be shared.

First, here is Pam doing some detail work from the bucket.

I scraped and painted the NE corner of the house, the last area still in the mint green that covered the house when we bought it.

Before I put in the next two photos, note the “skirt” on the tower in the first photo. Close inspection will reveal the skirt is not in the second photo.

One of the ‘other’ jobs done was the removal of most of the skirt from the tower. The north and east portions were taken down as well as parts of the west and south sides. The skirt was sagging and very rotten in spots and there was some damage to the underlying shingles. If you look closely, a blue stripe is now where the skirt used to be. We think removing the skirt improves the look of the tower and house in general.

Part of the east wall, 2nd floor, received an additional coat of paint to bring it up to the minimum of two coats we had put on the rest of the house.

A finishing detail was added: A new address number plate was installed on the front entrance.

Finally, here are before and after photos of the house. The first is from the original listing. The second is from this past Monday.

It has taken us 5 summers to get to this point, and there are still maintenance items to complete, such as repainting or replacing some of the porch spindles. An old house is never finished 100 percent. We have taken this old home about as far as we will take it, leaving other work (replacing more windows comes to mind) to future owners.

I am going to close out this post with a few miscellaneous photos taken around the yard recently. The first is our peonies in bloom, quite a show this year.

This shot is somewhat whimsical as it features one of our neighborhood squirrels taking a rest on one of the suet feeder brackets. It stayed on the bracket for several minutes, just enjoying the nice day.

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

Pam’s Penny

The gymnastics required to get in-and-out of the bucket lift basket – truly special. Old bodies in their 70’s are not flexible enough to manage repeated efforts in this regard. The geriatric bucket lift model should include a small elevator to get a person into the basket from the ground. Or a ramp. Or something. Just sayin’.

Happy Trails.

Next week will be a “bucket lift” weekend so I am getting this post out a bit early. I went to a swap meet and multiple flowers are blooming around the yard. We made a trip to a greenhouse to purchase more annual flowers and Pam planted them in a bit unusual fashion. Here are the details!

One of the “old engine” shows on my 2024 list included a swap meet and auction near the town of Dundas, located a bit north and east of Faribault, MN. I decided to drive up and take a look.

While the main attraction was the auction of old and antique farm implements, the swap meet was fairly extensive as well. More family oriented than the Le Sueur meet, this one had quite a range of stuff spread out among the vendors. I purchased a few small tools and a motorcycle jack. I have already used the later to raise the front of the riding lawn mower to access the blades and spindles of the deck. At $20.00 it was a good buy.

Pictures often convey more than words, so here are a few photos taken at this event.

The Dundas group puts on a full antique power show over Labor day every year, and I may attend that show this fall. It was an interesting outing.

Returning to Elma, a few items to note. Main Street on our block was reopened to traffic. The reduction of noise was appreciated while it lasted but it’s just as well the barriers were removed.

Apparently the town is getting ready to remove a number of dead trees, mostly of the ash variety, from around town. As I drive around I do see quite a number that should be removed, including several in the city park. This will be an ongoing project throughout the summer months.

Our yard looks the best it has since we moved to Elma. Early flowers are done but new blooms are appearing. Irises, in particular, are doing great this year and blooming as they never have. A few photos from around the yard are in order.

We made a trip to a pair of local greenhouses to pick up a few more annual flowering plants. Pam planted them in transportable bags, a first for her. Several bags (not all, a few are in other spots) now decorate the east end of the garage, adding a bit of color to this otherwise fairly blank area of the yard.

As I mentioned in the opening, we have a bucket lift reserved for next weekend. Hopefully we can complete the painting and repairs, to the siding and trim we did not get to last fall, and finally complete the house painting project. That would be a relief! My next post, in a couple weeks, will have more details of the weekend’s work.

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

Pam’s Penny

While I do not enjoy being up in a lift, I do look forward to having the exterior paint project completed — after five summers. Hopefully this will be the last “lift experience,” at least in Elma.

I did do a test run on detail paint for the front porch ceiling trim. There has been so much fill-in putty used on that porch, I’m going to have to invent a straight line to paint along. Kinda what I figured.

The portable planting bags were a bust when I tried planting seeds in them. But they do seem to support greenhouse plant starts. Main attraction is being able to move portable bags around the yard, to fill in boring spots.

Happy Trails.

There are many small bits of news this time around, but most of the space will be dedicated to spring flowers around the yard. Storms hit the area and Felicity’s dream of home ownership moves closer. A new family video hit YouTube. All details are below!

I’ll begin with some weather news, as Iowa weather was featured on national news this past week. The devastation was quite some distance from us, but we did get high winds and heavy rain for a brief time. No damage to our trees but some of the flowers, particularly the lilacs, were affected. The storm effectively ended the lilac blooming season and left a lot of oak leaves scattered around the yard. Some trees in town were damaged as we saw the town’s front end loader carrying trees and branches out to the dump.

The town finally got around to patching Main Street in our block. A broken water line had made digging up the road a necessity some 3 1/2 years ago, The temporary gravel patch was the source of debris in the gutters and made for a bit of a rough ride. A concrete patch was poured and, as I write this, the road is still blocked off until the patch cures.

Felicity and Peter flew to New York to view their prospective fixer-upper. The place needs a LOT of work, even though the plan is to have the major projects done by contractors. Pam and I hope the pair are up to the challenges this place will present.

Recent rains have turned this spring into the greenest spring yet. All the flowers and plants are doing exceedingly well. Here are a few photos taken around the yard.

A by-product of the street repair was a surplus pile of black dirt. Some had been used to fill in around a new section of sidewalk, but there was a pile left over. I asked the crew’s boss if I could have some of it to fill in a few low spots on the lawn, and was given several small cart loads for my use. There are now places around the yard that have been filled and had grass seed spread on them. Several of these places were ruts caused by the house painter’s trucks and tires from the lift we rented on several occasions. Another low area, where water accumulates after storms, received what dirt was not used to fill in old ruts. I hope the grass takes root and covers these now-bare areas over the next few weeks as the yard now looks a bit rough.

I completed what may be the last of the family videos I will post in this blog. This one features Pam’s parents, Myron and Lorraine, and her older brother Larry. (Pam has a younger brother, Craig, and younger sister, Becky. Neither appear in this video.) Taken in Colorado during our early years there, the video is a compilation taken from 4 different Super-8 reels of film taken over the space of a couple years in the late 1970s. (One advantage of having converted the film to a digital format; it makes creating a clip much easier.) Run time: 5:15.

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

Pam’s Penny

I’m trying to work up the energy to start the painting season. This time it’s the front wrap-around porch ceiling. I looked at the various components and trim pieces involved. H-m-m. Gonna wait until after Memorial Day, as I don’t want to get paint on the front porch bunting. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Happy Trails.

It has been a busy couple weeks of yard work, nothing exciting, but satisfying. A new archive video featuring a late ’70s trip to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival was created and posted to YouTube. Daughter Felicity’s dream of a home in upstate New York moves a step closer. More on all below.

Yard work moved to the top of the task list. Grass seed was put down in some bare spots which are now ‘greening up’ a bit. The lawn has been mowed a couple times. Pam has been maintaining the flowerbeds and tells me the Grandpa Otts (morning glories) are just beginning to poke up out of the ground.

The daffodils have completed their run, also pretty much the tulips, but the lilacs have just begun to bloom; their scent is quite amazing. The hostas are really beginning to leaf out and add their spring green color to the yard. The honey locust tree is budding very well. The light green, almost yellow, of the honey locust buds add a nice contrast between the lilacs and the dark green of the lawn. It is a fresh time of the year.

The second topic of this post is one of my archive videos. This one consists of Super-8 film shot at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival. (The event was officially known as the “8th Annual International Balloon Festival.”) The year was 1979. Here is my edited video of that event. Run time is 4:36. Enjoy!

Daughter Felicity called last night to update us on the progress of her and partner Peter’s attempt to buy a house in upstate New York. Since the house does not have a certificate of occupancy (no working bathroom and questionable wiring) they have to obtain a construction loan to finance repairs before the house can be occupied. This has complicated the purchase. A general contractor has been contacted and a quote for the repairs created. The pertinent paperwork has been submitted to the bank.

The next steps: 1) a bank appraisal of the property, 2) approval of the loan + reno amount, and 3) determination of the worth of the house after the work is complete. If all goes well, the closing is tentatively set for the last week of June. Crossed fingers that all goes well!

There are always a few smaller bits of news as well. Pam scheduled an eye appointment — prescription the same, new frames only, several new supersized “floaters.” I suffered through a bout of stomach flu which curtailed my activites for a few days.

An older couple, in Elma for a funeral and walking through town, saw Pam working in the yard and stopped to comment on how nice Heart House looks. (The man of the couple, Tom, had grown up in Elma and the funeral was for one of his relatives.) I was ‘under the weather’ at that point but Pam felt comfortable giving the couple a tour of the grounds and of the first floor inside. Pam, Tom, and wife Lori had a pleasant conversation, with some reminiscing of life in Elma several decades ago. Tom and Lori now live in Florida. Lori appreciated the blooming tulips and lilacs, which don’t do well in the South. It was an unexpected but interesting visit!

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

Pam’s Penny

Impromptu house tours are kinda interesting, as Blondie is cooped up in the laundry room and there are cats everywhere. I had to think quickly — did I have the house somewhat picked up, so as not to be embarrassing? Sure didn’t want us to appear to be “low-life/filthy folks.” As I generally clean messes when made, put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, leave no clothes thrown around — all went well. (If one ignores imbedded pet hair…)

Happy Trails.

Highlights of the past couple weeks included a trip to our favorite greenhouse and an outing to the Le Sueur swap meet. I have a lot of photos to view. Hope you enjoy them!

Our favorite greenhouse is located a few miles south of us, west of Alta Vista, and is named Zimmerman’s. They have an amazing range of flowers and plants. Here are a few photos taken of this outing.

When we returned home, Pam planted the new geraniums, adding red mulch around the base.

I will finish this section with a view of the Mary Lynn Memorial flower bed, filled with tulips and daffodils, which is along the east side of the house. This year the bed is more colorful than it has ever been. A dozen or so new bulbs are added to refresh the bed every year.

Last year I had attended the annual swap meet held in Le Sueur, Minnesota, and had planned this year’s return. This meet features mostly old engines, equipment, and parts but does have a few other collectible items.

The one YouTube channel I subscribe to is run by a guy who restores old equipment, and he attends this show. I was able to meet him and introduce myself, and we had a short discussion about his channel and projects. This meeting was the high point of the trip for me. If interested, look up “Squatch 253” on your YouTube search.

There is always something new at this meet. The following photos show an early motor addition to a bicycle resulting in a “motor bike” from 1917.

I am including a few other photos taken around the swap meet grounds.

I do enjoy getting out to meets like this and had a pleasant day wandering the grounds and looking at all the antiques and parts.

Along the same lines of old things, here is a list of hits for 1972 courtesy of a FaceBook post. If you are anywhere my age you will remember these!

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

Pam’s Penny

Flowerbed prep continues. Seed planting next week.

Happy Trails.

There were no major events occuring over the last couple of weeks, just a series of smaller things the arrival of spring made possible. Although the upcoming forecast has a couple of below-freezing nights, we are in spring mode. Here are a few of our activities of the past week or so.

Pam put a new coat of stain on the decorative garden bridge that spans an area under a pair of our oak trees. The bridge was elevated to about knee height for easier stain application. She also planted some new seedlings that arrived in the mail. It will soon be time to visit a greenhouse to pick out this year’s annuals.

One new yard addition will be a flower pot hanger I picked up at a local antique store. With bends that resemble a heart, the hanger will occupy a spot near the front steps. I will have another photo of this in a later post once the hanger, with flowers, is in place.

Daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips began to bloom on the east side flower bed. Hostas are beginning to poke up out of the ground and trees are sprouting tiny green leaves. Hoses were taken out of storage and put in place on the west and east sides of the house. Spring has arrived!

I cleaned out the curb and gutter on the Main Street side of the house as part of a larger spring lawn cleaning. (The city does not clean streets or curbs.) Using the lawn vacuum with the hose attachment, I was able to clear fence lines and flower beds of leaves that had blown in over the winter and during some spring storms. A new home-made handle on the hose made this task much easier by eliminating the need to bend down to the ground as much.

The lawn vac needed some repairs as one of the wheel brackets had been cracking over the last few years. I had ordered a new spool of welding wire for my small wire-feed welder and stitched up the crack, then ground down the repair and added coat of red spray paint. It is an ugly repair as I am not a practiced welder but the bracket will not break, which is all I wanted.

Previously I had mentioned an issue with the equipment trailer suspension. During the warm spell I was able to remove a pair of old (loose) shackles and replace them with new ones. In this photo, the old hangers are at the top. Note the “spacers” made of old and mismatched nuts. One new hanger is at the bottom for comparison.

Installing a new wiring pigtail for one of the lights completed the trailer repairs and it is now road-worthy again.

A national story last week was the eclipse. It was cloudy here and we were not able to see any of the action. Pam did, however, come across this cartoon:

Anyone with more than one cat will understand…

I am going to wrap up this post with another home video. This one is titled “Winter in Colorado” and features footage of us in late 1979 (I think). We took a trip on the Gold Camp Road, an old railroad grade that runs between Victor and Colorado Springs. Another outing was to get our Christmas Tree using a National Forest permit which allowed us to cut or top any tree that seemed appropriate. I hope you enjoy it. Run time is 4:45.

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

Pam’s Penny

Almost Mennonite greenhouse time! I really look forward to that first visit. A blast of color, fragrance and humidity will do my spirit a world of good.

Happy Trails