Author: admin (Page 5 of 62)

This past weekend was busy; we rented a bucket lift. Painting was on the agenda, and we worked on the east side of the house. Photos below will show our activity.

We began with the area over the east porch. Pam and I both worked on this section; I did the broad areas and Pam did the detail work below the power line on the south ends of the boards.

Most of my work was done outside the lift and standing on the porch roof. This proved to be hard on the backs of the legs due to the angle of the roof.

In the next photo I have completed scraping the surfaces and am beginning to paint under the lips of the siding boards. The bottom painted board and a short section to the right of the photo show the new boards that replaced broken siding.

Pam took her turn by doing the detail painting required to finish the wall.

The lift we rented this time (a NiftyLift TM34T) was a bit smaller than the one used previously. This worked to our advantage as I could move it with the ATV instead of having to use the truck. This made positioning the lift much easier.

The area over the east porch went pretty well but took more time than we had expected. The same could be said about the area over the front porch, particularly the NE corner window of the bedroom and under the gutters.

The areas we worked were over porch roofs, and I decided to use the shop vac to pick up loose paint chips on both porches. Here I am with the shop vac in the bucket lift, cleaning the NE porch roof.

After two long days of scraping, vacuuming, and painting, the house looks like this:

We ran out of time to make it to the north side of the second floor – so – another bucket lift weekend may take place later this fall. One reason the project took longer than anticipated was the inclusion of doing white paint around the windows over the front porch. The additional scraping and painting of this trim, which was really needed, made for a long day of east side work.

I’m very pleased with the progress made, particularly over the east porch. The siding repairs, coupled with the new paint job, really improves the overall appearance of the house. Pam will get a work order started with the power company to come and remove the orange guards that were placed over the power line (installed in June).

Another project was undertaken as well. A couple years back I had replaced porch decking on the front (north) and side (east) porches, but I had not gone far enough and both decks still needed work. Now a work-in-progress, new tongue-and-groove wood was added to both decks. This photo shows the front porch with the spindle sections, which need repair as well, removed to fit the replacement boards.

Now that cooler weather has arrived we can begin a few more outside projects. Undertaken, but not shown, is a project to fill in areas where truck tires from the painters and such made depressions in the lawn. Several bags of dirt were spread in these areas and grass seed put down. I will have to see if we can get the grass to grow with the drought conditions NE Iowa is experiencing. Frequent watering will be required.

And a short note about my blog. A problem with posting videos in the blog is they can be difficult to find if one wishes to view them again. I’ve added several Antique Power and Frito’s Kittens videos to their respective Videos pages, as much for my own organization as well as providing a spot for anyone to view them again. (Frito’s kittens are part of the Cats page.)

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

Pam’s Penny

I was so hoping the house painting would be DONE this weekend, four l-o-n-g painting summers into renovation. I guess it wasn’t a realistic expectation. Suffice to say both Himself and Myself are somewhat comfortable being in (and, in his case, also out) of the bucket lift on roof areas. (Comfortable once a person contorts body parts to both enter and leave the bucket itself, which is a gymnastic-quality endeavor.)

Frito, the mom cat in the catio, was successfully spayed and now has her freedom. She chooses to stay in our yard and make the catio her home base. Frito will be a fierce mouser around the house foundation, but also will be more aggressive stalking squirrels and birds over the winter than I will like.

How can it almost be time to start cutting back dead plants? The Grandpa Ott morning glory seed “harvest” is going well [prior to stripping those vines from the climbing structure]. Sunflowers appear ready to deadhead. My Indian corn is pathetic, not sure there are useable cobs of any size after this dry summer.

Happy Trails.

This post contains another “kitten” video, as Pam let Frito’s kittens out of the condo for the first time. Yard work included raking up more acorns. We took a couple of road trips to check out areas in south-east Minnesota. The Ford 8N tractor is running and moving under its own power. New temperature records were set, and more heat is on the way. A few medical updates will round out this week’s news.

Frito’s kittens are growing rapidly and needed more space to run. Pam decided to let them roam in the parlour where she can keep an eye on them. Run time is 2:55.

The kittens had a vet appointment this week for a wellness check and received their first round of shots. They are all healthy and very active! If anyone is looking for a house cat, these three are cuties.

Some yard work was done. Pam cut down spent hollyhock stems and weeded north flower beds. I raked more acorns and mowed the lawn, picking up some of the oak leaves that are beginning to fall. Projections for fall color were published, and due to lack of moisture this year, the fall colors may be pretty drab. Leaves are tending to just turn brown and drop. We are already seeing this happen. Below is a shot of the dump trailer with the latest batch of acorns mixed in with other yard debris.

Ford 8N update– In my last post I mentioned I wanted to get the tractor running and off the trailer. I was able to do this and the 8N is now parked behind the catio and covered with a tarp. It is not running well, mostly due to old and crappy gas, and I will occasionally work to get it running better.

Medical updates. Pam had a follow-up appointment to check the healing process of her forehead incision. The healing is doing very well and any scarring will be virtually unnoticeable when healing is completed. The discoloration around her eye is slowly subsiding, so recovery is well advanced.

The results of my last blood work at the Mayo Clinic were posted to my account and look good. PSA level remains very low and my testosterone levels are beginning to recover. As long as this trend continues I will be in good shape.

We took a couple road trips to check out areas in Minnesota; Pam is investigating a potential future home on water or with a water view. At the moment we’re just checking on a few properties that sound interesting. The results so far have been a mixed bag.

For example, the first place we looked at (with no water views) was an old commercial building. Not for us, and we cannot believe some of the prices people are asking for properties in remote locations. At $80k, this place was listed for quite a bit more than we paid for Heart House and really is a dump.

Our second trip was more enjoyable, as we found the small town of Lanesboro. Located in the Root River Valley, this artsy town is quite attractive and featured this view of a falls on the river.

Unfortunately, we won’t be taking any drives the next few days. Weather over the Labor Day Weekend is projected to be among the hottest of the summer, with new records expected to be set in the four major cities around us: Rochester, Mason City, Albert Lea, and Austin. Temps are projected to be near or at 100 degrees F. We will be working on inside projects, for sure. Our lawn is burning out and is very brown and dry, particularly in places that get little or no shade.

I am going to close with a couple random photos of Stirling and Reese. Their antics, and those of the other cats and dogs, keep us “entertained.”

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

Pam’s Penny

My sister asked me would I be sad to see summer leave and the flowers die. Well, the flowers are already dying, due to the heat. The watering schedule I have adopted concentrates on still-blooming flowers, as well as deep moisture for trees and shrubs we’ve spent good money on these last four years. The poor hollyhocks and Grandpa Ott morning glories are already in the seed production stage, with the random flower blooming now and again. Local weather reports NE Iowa is experiencing the driest summer in 50 years. We sure are.

Kittens are a LOT of work. Yes cute, but full of energy and curiosity. I think these three, in cahoots with Elmo and the Terrible Two, could deconstruct Heart House in a matter of days.

Happy Trails.

Last week Heart House was visited by Pam’s younger brother Craig, and his wife Dianne. Heat indexes set new records, limiting our outdoor activities. Frito’s kittens are growing more active in their “cat condo.” Details below!

The highlight of the week was a visit from Pam’s brother Craig and his wife Dianne. Craig had helped us with the move from Colorado back in 2020 but had not been here since. Much has changed since then. Dianne hadn’t been here before so she received a lengthy tour of the house and grounds before we all sat down at the table and caught up with news and family activities. It was a good few hour visit.

From here, Craig and Dianne headed down to Greene to visit Becky and see her house for the first time. Becky reported that visit also went well and much talking and visiting was the order of the day.

Two photos to share. The first is Pam and Craig, brother and sister. The second is the four of us standing near the couple’s Mini Winnie camper.

The other news of the week was the heat. Several all-time records were set and it was the hottest week of the year. Activities were limited to inside tasks and projects. I learned how to add “chapters” to my YouTube videos and experimented with the code that plays videos in my posts. It turns out the same code can be put in my “regular” pages, such as the cat video page, and the videos will play in my Videos that way. This saves me from having to upload a copy of the video to my web server and makes creating “video play” pages much easier and faster. This is under-the-hood stuff but expanded my job skills when it comes to adding video to web pages. There is always something new to learn.

Frito’s kittens, AJ, Snickers, and Reese, are growing and playing more inside their cat condo. I made the 4:25 video showing them climbing, wrestling, and moving around to show their status as of this August.

In other news, Pam had her stitches removed at the Elma Clinic. That process seemed to go well; Pam still has a “shiner” around her eye and a droopy eyelid as a result of the surgery. Hopefully both will clear up in the next few weeks.

I picked up a small used generator (1,600 watt) to take to The Lot, hoping it will power the Honey Wagon kit I use to empty the trailer’s holding tanks. Last fall I brought the big (5,500 watt) generator home as a backup in case of a storm knocking out our power. Photo is from front page of the Owner’s Manual.

Acorns continue to fall from our trees, and I am in the process – once again – of raking the lawn to pick them up and get them to the dump trailer. There appears to be more acorns still in their “caps” and smaller in size this time around. Walking the yard can give one an uncomfortable feeling of not having sure footing until the acorns are removed.

A bit of work was done on the Ford 8N tractor, replacing the broken ballast resistor in the ignition circuit and installing a new carburetor. I hope to get the tractor running later today.

The F-150 and the RAV-4 both received oil and filter changes. Given the relatively few miles we put on them – about 5K last year on the F-150, for example – the next required change should be several months away.

That about wraps it up for this post. The upcoming week has a few things scheduled, including taking the kittens to the vet for their first wellness checks and shots, and Pam’s follow-up appointment at the clinic to make sure the facial incision is healing correctly. I will report on those activities in my next post.

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

Pam’s Penny

1948 was a freakin’ hot summer, setting all kinds of local record high temps. This past week towns and cities in NE Iowa and SE Minnesota broke most of the records set in 1948. Yippee. Temps near 100 and humidity in the 80% range felt like the tropics. (I am not a fan of the tropics.) For the first time I can remember, a ticker ran during the news on the TV screen identifying school hours shortened due to intense heat. Hopefully our “climate change moment” for the month has passed.

Happy Trails.

Some weeks are routine, even mundane. This past week was mostly one of those weeks. I have a few photos taken around the yard and of the equipment trailer. Nothing exciting there.

But for medical drama, I’ll begin with Pam’s surgery to remove a spot of skin cancer from her forehead. Done at the Gunderson Clinic in Onalaska (north of La Crosse) the 4 hour procedure went according to plan. Pam reports the pain can be handled with Tylenol and is not bad. However, the area above and below the left eye has turned purple. Pam won’t be making public appearances for a while.

Her 24 +/- stitches, mostly hidden in this photo under the Band-Aids, will be removed by the clinic in town next Wednesday. It’s anticipated it will take a couple weeks for the bruising to subside.

Other events were not nearly as interesting. For example, I had the fender brace on the equipment trailer welded and installed a new tail light. (This was the brace that broke on the return trip from Colorado earlier in the month.) The other light was replaced at the same time so both sides match.

I did some work on the Ford 8N tractor, but need parts to go any further. A ballast resistor, part of the ignition circuit, had died and needs to be replaced. After jumping around the broken part the tractor started but ran for only a minute or so.

Further investigation revealed carburetor problems. The needle and seat that allows fuel to enter the carb was continually stuck shut. A disassembly and cleaning did not help, so a repair kit will be in order. At least I know the tractor will start and run.

In anticipation of boiling hot temps predicted for the coming week, Pam decided to move Frito’s kittens into the house from the catio. Below, the brown kitten is Reese, and the other is Snickers. The single kitten is AJ, short for Almond Joy.

Acorn season has begun in the 100 year old oaks growing between the house and garage. It seems as if thousands of nuts, and their caps, are falling from our oak trees. Last year we saved one small bag of acorns as squirrel food, and it was well received by our local crew. This year we decided to expand the amount we harvested to extend the winter squirrel feeding season.

Acorns are still falling; we can hear them “pinging” off the house and garage as we do outside tasks, but the bulk seem to have hit the ground. The nuts and caps make walking around the lawn something of a challenge as they roll underneath our feet. Luckily, the riding lawn mower, with bagger, picks up most of the caps and some of the nuts, but it does leave a lot of nuts behind that need to be raked up and loaded into the dump trailer. This will be an ongoing task for the next several weeks.

Around the yard, sunflowers are beginning to bloom. The indian corn is tasseling out, the hollyhocks are generating seeds, and geraniums on the east side of the front porch are adding color to the yard. It’s high summer.

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

Pam’s Penny

It was a long drive (through parts of three states) to have my Mohs surgery on the facial lesion. What a lot of drama for a procedure that should be in the routine category. I asked my dermatology surgeon what is the deal with Mohs surgery; he said it’s an add-on specialty to the standard physician learning package. It’s been difficult for both local clinics (NE Iowa) and larger clinics (Gundersen Clinic) to hire personnel trained in the Mohs procedure. Fewer doctors trained, fewer clinics providing surgical appointment times.

My black eye is truly the biggest issue of the entire surgical event. Ugh. At least I enjoyed a large blackberry shake from Culver’s before the long drive home.

Happy Trails.

Here is a short post that contains two more videos and additional miscellaneous photos from my recent trip to our lot in Colorado.

One evening bad weather rolled in and delivered a hail storm. Here is what it sounded like and the aftermath as seen the following morning. Run time: 1:58.

The ground was white with hail, but all melted off during the day adding moisture to the grass and trees. The date was August 6th, 2023.

Pam had asked me to do a “lot walk-around” video as she has not been to the lot in the last few years, and I had been clearing dead trees and brush in this interval. The video is fairly long at 18:58 but does cover quite a bit of ground. Shot over two days, there is some overlap and different lighting – some evening, some daylight. The clip is as much for historical purposes as anything so we can remember all the effort and time we have put into this parcel since we bought The Lot in September of 2012.

The following photos all fall into the “miscellaneous” category.

This first photo shows some damage to my equipment trailer due to a very rough road leading from The Lot. I strapped the fender to the tractor and continued home to Iowa. The local repair shop will re-weld the broken fender bracket and replacement tail lights are on order.

This photo shows the location of buildings at the top of Boreas Pass in its heyday. Find the Log Section House near the top of the map and note a small building just to the right. Around this cabin is were Mountain Lorrie (Pam’s mother, Lorraine) requested her ashes to be dispersed after a trip to the pass with us in the late ’70s.

One can sometimes see strange things along a trail, including this bus that was partially buried and converted into a hunting (?) camp.

Eastern Colorado appears to be expanding the variety of crops being grown. These sunflowers along I-76 added a golden cast to the landscape.

I am including a photo for Craig who asked about the ATV fitting in the truck.

And, to round out this post, a couple photos of me along the trails. All were on National Forest lands and were pretty well marked. I used my Avenza map application, on my phone, to track my location along the way.

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

There has been quite a bit of activity since my last post. I took a trip to The Lot in Colorado, Pam and Becky attended a Nordic Fest, the catio kittens are getting more active, and a few medical notes are included in this post. Let’s get started!

Pam had encouraged me to take a trip to The Lot so I could spend my birthday in the high country. While I didn’t do much work ( I did pile some brush) most of the time was spent on ATV trips on trails west of Fairplay.

I will not bore readers with multitudinous details, but the trails were pleasant. Here are a few photos taken along the way.

During the trip I made a point to visit Boreas Pass, where Pam’s Mom’s ashes were scattered years ago. Here is what the place looks like this year.

One of my outings crossed paths with a small herd of antelope.

I sat out an evening hail storm in The Box, and rose to find the ground covered with hail the next morning.

All-in-all I had a pretty good trip.

I had taken my equipment trailer along with a plan to bring home the Ford 8N tractor. I had a few problems (broken fender brace and tail light) but managed to get the tractor loaded and returned to Iowa.

I returned home on a Tuesday and had my implant front tooth installed on Wednesday. No more do I need my “social tooth” which had filled the missing tooth gap (when I remembered to put it in). I am glad that process is over.

Pam will undergo minor surgery to remove a spot of basal cell carcinoma (a type of skin cancer) from her forehead next Wednesday. Becky will watch the cats and dogs as we travel to the La Crosse/Onalaska area for the day to have the procedure done. (Cat care includes feeding the growing kittens, who are now six weeks old and weaning away from mom. That little family is well and safely secured in the catio.)

Other events of the past few days…

I mowed the lawn, which had grown very little in my absence due to a lack of rain. We are getting some moisture today which should help relieve the dry conditions. Acorns are falling like shrapnel from the oak trees; on some parts of the lawn a person can literally roll along over the tops of acorns while walking. We are gathering a quantity of acorns this fall to feed the squirrels in January and February; this was very successful last year.

I visited another antique power show and wandered around for a few hours, taking in the sights and speaking to several of the exhibitors.

For any who may be interested, here is a 6:17 video of my visit to the show.

That about wraps it up. I have other videos from the trip but did not want to overload this post with them. Possibly they will make an appearance in future posts. (You have been warned!)

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

Pam’s Penny

The Decorah Nordic Fest is a fairly significant regional celebration. Sister Becky and I enjoyed this “real parade” one Saturday whilst Himself was in the high country. By real parade l mean: 1) at least one marching band, 2) floats showing intentional preparation, and 3) people in costume. Nordic Fest had it all, including one flatbed containing a men’s chorus (of various ages including high schoolers to retirees) whose music resounded superbly on the route. Very satisfying.

This is more what we expected our summers to be like in NE Iowa [before COVID hit] – attending various activities reflecting [each of] our interests, within comfortable driving distances from Elma. Even better if the activity in question is in a town with a Culver’s. Sweet.

Note to Deb: I’ll be happy to send you some Grandpa Ott seeds. I collect probably thousands from the morning glory vines in the fall. I have Tabitha’s address; I can send them there.

(Any others who ready the blog, if you’d be interested in some Grandpa Ott seeds, leave a comment.)

Happy Trails.

A few weeks ago I reported we had an unexpected visit from brother and sister David and Sharon Stute. (The Stute family had lived in this house from 1903-1973.) During that visit, Pam asked for photos, if any, of some of the Stute ancestors who had lived here. Sharon recently did mail us photos of the house and, more importantly, some of the previous occupants. This post will delve a bit more into the history of Heart House and its former family.

Heart House was built in 1894 by Edward D. Kelly at a cost of $1,500.00. He sold the house in 1903 to Denis (yes, only one “n”) R. Tierney and his wife Hannah Kane Tierney for $2,500.00. Denis died in November 1904, and Hannah became the sole owner.

The photo below was not labeled but the couple are believed to be Denis and Hannah.

The couple had two daughters, Evelyn and Gertrude.

Evelyn Bertha Tierney (1883 – 1973) is listed as living in the house in the 1910 and 1920 census reports. She trained as a teacher, moved to the East Coast, remained single and died in Morris County, New Jersey.

Gertrude Josephine Tierney (1884 – 1971) married Frederick Nickolas Stute in November of 1907. The pair, and their children, lived in the house with Hannah and paid her $20.00 a month in rent.

The Stutes had three children: Frederick Wallace, known as Wally, (1908 – 1998), Josephine Lorraine (1920 – 1993) and Francis Bernard (1928 – 2020) who was known as “Corky.”

Hannah died in 1940 and her two daughters inherited the house. Evelyn sold her half to Gertrude. When Gertrude died in 1971 her children kept the residence empty for a few years, then sold the house to Charles and Clara Boyle. We had heard that Charles died shortly after their purchase, and thereafter the house became known as “Grandma Clara’s house” by both their descendants and Elma residents.

This history illustrates an important side note: The house was titled in a female name for 70 years in an era where male property possession predominated.

After the 1990s the house’s history becomes a bit muddy and random. It went through several owners who used the property as a short and long term rental, until we bought it in September 2019, from an elderly couple who had only owned it for 18 months.

Sharon was able to send us a couple photos of the house as it appeared in February of 1993 at the time of Josephine Lorraine’s funeral. (Note that a portion of a barn is showing at the lower left-hand corner of the house.) Instead of Victorian porch spindles on the wrap around porch, the 1993 home had solid wood porch surrounds in the Farmhouse style. Where we now have shrubs planted, there were trees in the 90’s.

Sharon confirmed our suspicions that the current laundry room was once the kitchen, and the current kitchen was a living room. She did not remember a bathroom on the first floor. (Sharon and David are Corky’s children and were the only grandchildren of Gert and Fred. Neither Wally nor Lorraine had any children.)

Both David and Sharon visited Grandma Gert in their childhoods, but Sharon, being the older child, has more exact memories of the house than her younger brother. David did remember being forbidden to go into the basement due to the dirty and dark coal bin that took up most of the basement floor space.

Pam and I would like to give David and Sharon a big “Thank You” for providing the photos, history, and personal recollections of past history at Heart House. We really appreciate it — just exactly the info we have been seeking since we moved in.

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

Pam’s Penny

Speaking of old-timey things, the Grandpa Ott morning glories blooming so prolifically on our west arbor are a variety developed in Iowa from an older German strain of morning glories. Iowa Public Television had an interesting documentary [which aired a few years ago] detailing preservation efforts of these older seed types. The Otts are smaller in size than other morning glories I’ve planted, but the deep purple with red accents is second to none in arbor color.

The white phlox has finally started to bloom; the whites seem to be always later blooming than the pinks. Whenever a breeze blows across the phlox patch a delightful-but-gentle scent wafts across the lawn.

Happy Trails.

Breaking News…

We knew a neighborhood cat Pam calls Frito had had kittens. Pam opened the catio this morning and found this…

More to come in a future post!

I mentioned, in my last post, that I would be attending an antique power show. This week’s post covers that event with a lot of photos and three videos. I hope it is not boring but it is definitely aimed at those who enjoy looking at old machinery.

In addition to old tractors, including some very rare models, there were garden tractors, steam engines, threshing machines, two-man chainsaws, draft horses, hit-and-miss engines, antique waggons and vehicles, miniature railroads, and a flea market. Not all are pictured below but all were interesting to see and visit.

Live demonstrations of threshing and sawmilling were done. Corn shelling and lumber planing were on the show’s schedule. A parade of antique power was part of the show. Let’s move on the the imagery!

The tractor below is a rare unit. Around 150 were ever built and very few remain. Designed to be part car (with a heater installed) and a road gear giving up to about 45 mph speeds, it was thought a farmer could work his fields and go to town with the same unit. The idea did not go over very well.

A number of old waggons and antique trucks were included.

Antique cars were well represented, including this 1913 International Harvester.

There were row upon row of tractors, separated into brands, including these red Farmalls.

Even garden tractors had their own display area. These are getting quite collectible now.

When we think of steam tractors, we normally think of very large machines, but smaller samples were also produced. This show had some of each. Here is a smaller Case model.

Off to one side of the show arena a model railroad, with several miniature engines and cars, offered rides through a forested park.

Several demonstrations were scheduled, including threshing and sawmilling. Here is a photo of the later. It is quite likely that lumber for our 1894 home was produced on mills like this one. (A video is included below.)

I enjoyed the visit and taking in the demonstrations and looking at all the machinery. While I won’t go every year, it had been some time since I last attended a show and not a swap meet.

I put together three videos, one dealing with the parade of old equipment, the sawmill in operation, and threshing. Run times are 2:03 for the parade, 2:50 for the sawmill, and 1:23 for threshing.

I apologize of the jerkiness of the first part of this video. I had tried going back to hand-holding the camera, a mistake. The second half is better quality.

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

Pam’s Penny

Who-da-thunk the guy running the antique power show Himself attended is my brother Craig’s friend Les Radcliffe. That’s the Midwest for you.

Happy Trails.

There are several unrelated topics to cover this time. I attended a family reunion, went antique hunting, and reviewed photos (taken by the painters) of just how bad the tower needs work. More flowers are blooming around the yard and Elma had its annual celebration, Elma Trail Days. Onward!

I will begin with photos of the tower as that is the oldest topic this week. While the painters were here with their bucket trucks we asked them to get close to the tower and take photos so we could see what we were going to have to deal with. The results are not pretty.

It does appear that the “skirt” was built over regular shingles so removing it will not involve disturbing any structural elements. The “cap”, on the other hand, will need extensive rebuilding. However, the top is a piece of metal that was installed sometimes in the ’90s and is not original to the house. It appears to be salvageable, but the decorative elements are in pretty bad shape.

This is worse than we had anticipated but not completely unanticipated. We are currently discussing how to approach the repair work, if we can find someone to do it. Definitely NOT something I care to take on.

Elma celebrated Elma Trail Days with a parade and other events, but I did not take photos of anything. The parade was pretty lame with few decorated floats and no bands. Area service company trucks made up most of the entries, along with fire engines from various nearby communities. Let’s just say that if the parade did not come past our house we would not bother driving anywhere to attend it.

Becky did come up to visit us and watch the parade from our front porch. Here is a photo of Pam and Becky among the festive bunting.

Last Sunday, July 9th, I attended a Rohland family reunion. (My mother was a Rohland.) This gave me the chance to visit quite a few of my many cousins for a few hours and catch up with a bit of family news and lots of “where are they now” stories.

Back in Elma, utility workers have been around to set “pedestals” for the new underground wiring and running cable to them. Not exciting, but here is a pedestal near the west side of our lot.

Friday afternoon I went antique hunting. Pam, Becky, and I had met an antique dealer a few weeks ago during our jaunt to an arts and crafts fair and it made sense to see his “home store.” I was hoping he would have more furniture, but that was not to be. He did have quite a variety of steel wheels and lots of bottles of various vintages and, to be honest, a lot of stuff in his 5,000 square foot shop. Outside he had more ‘mechanical’ items such as old wheels, some antique farm implements, and other odds and ends. I spent a few hours there going through the shop and yard but bought only one small item.

It was a pleasant way to spend a morning.

Around the yard, the phlox are now in full bloom. Along with the hostas, daylilies, and other blooming flowers the yard is quite colorful.

My next event to attend is an antique power show north of Elma, in Spring Valley. I will try not to overload the next post with pictures of old motors…

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

Pam’s Penny

Re: Elma Trail Days, when did hogs in a pen on a flatbed become a float? Or a pickup with a handwritten sign taped on the door an entry? Is the bar that low?

With a hefty budget, I’d alter the entire tower design by cutting it in half and installing a metal-fence widow’s walk around the [new] top. But that is NOT going to happen. So I vote for a basic “tidy up” approach; take off the wood around the middle (mostly rotting/falling off anyway), scrape and paint the decorative top elements and call it good. Even that very basic plan will be hard to implement.

Happy Trails.

There is a lot to cover this week. Pam’s high school classmate, Ed Allen, staged a concert and we attended. Along the way we stopped to visit Pam’s older brother, Larry. Heart House was decorated for the 4th of July. A squirrel was filmed while eating from our corn cob feeder. We had an added bonus when a brother – sister pair stopped by; their grandmother had lived in this house and the pair had set out to find it again. Quite the activity going on!

I will mention, at the outset, that my hands are not as steady as they used to be. The included videos are proof of that. More use of a tripod is in order for future videos.

Last Saturday was the concert day. Onalaska was on the way so we stopped to see Pam’s older brother Larry. A carry-out from Culver’s provided lunch and we had a good chat. (Becky drove up from Greene to watch the dogs for the day. A thank you to her for that.)

From Onalaska we drove a bit north and then west to Trempealeau to attend a two-person concert featuring one of Pam’s high school classmates, Ed Allen, and another artist named Clara Byom. The Allen name may be familiar to regular readers of this blog as we had made a similar trip last year to help celebrate Annie Allen’s birthday.

Below is a 5:58 clip of Eddie and Clara. Ed solos first then is joined by Clara who provided some background music to another number. There is some wind noise, but the breeze was welcomed in the heat.

We enjoyed the 5-hour concert and Pam was able to connect with a few of her classmates.

Since I am including video clips, here is one featuring a squirrel eating from a cob of corn on one of our feeders. Run time is 1:07. Shot through the upstairs bathroom window, the quality is not the best but you will get the idea.

This squirrel lives in one of our trees, we think, as we see it often on the cob feeder and water dish. It is identifiable by a white pattern on its chest.

As has become a custom with us, Heart House is decorated for the 4th of July and this weekend’s Elma Trail Days parade. A few new items are included – a change from last year.

Around the yard, daylilies are really coming into their own.

Even the “board buddies” are looking good near the catio.

We had a pair of unexpected visitors. A brother and sister, David and Sharon Stute, stopped in. Heart House was “home” for their grandmother and great-grandmother from 1903 – 1971; the two siblings embarked on a nostalgic drive from Wisconsin to track down the place as part of ongoing genealogy research. Both David and Sharon related memories of visiting the house that were of interest to us.

A tour of the house was in order, as well as a discussion of their memories and the history of 702 Main, including Elma’s growth in the early 1900s. Sharon had a large binder of family documents drawn from Ancestry.com. These confirmed much of what Pam had learned through independent research about the previous occupants. Addresses and contact info was exchanged between us, and an offer to stop by any time they are in the area was extended. It’s highly possible photographs of the Tierneys and Stute families will be sent via our smartphones. Finally, we may see the faces of the folks who lived in this multi-generational house.

Other projects received attention. The equipment trailer was fitted with four new tires and some additional paint was sprayed on. Pam put up the holiday decorations mentioned earlier and spent time in the quilt room going through boxes. The Quimby Quilt was unpacked and hung on one wall.

The only bummer of the week was on the 4th; we had driven to Charles City for an evening outdoor concert and fireworks, only to find the concert had been moved indoors and the fireworks display canceled due to approaching severe weather. (Which never materialized, by the way.) An outdoor concert would have been appropriate for the 4th, particularly on the banks of the Cedar River.

It was a busy week with some fun ad a few surprises thrown in. The weather cooled down a bit over the last couple days making outside work more bearable. On tap for next week is some lawn repair (where the painter’s lift trucks left some ruts), more paint on the equipment trailer, and my final physical therapy session.

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

Pam’s Penny

Here I am at the afore-mentioned concert in Trempealeau, with my high school classmate Diane [Stuhr] Wittenberg, and going through our senior yearbook. We’re attempting to determine who’s alive, who’s dead, and how many of these folks we still have any contact with.

Why? Since our 50th high school reunion fell during the COVID-19 lockdown period, there’s been a conversation re: if the class of ’71 will ever meet again en masse. A gathering next year has been proposed, loosely called “Class of ’71 turns ’71.” It may all come down to the numbers — out of a class of 92, 16 are already deceased. Of the remaining classmates, if one third are willing to attend a gathering, it may make sense to purdue the possibilities. Currently, Diane and I were able to identify only one quarter who could be contacted by verified phone, postal, or social media addresses. Will be interesting if the one third number can be reached.

Re: the visit by the Stute siblings, I remember thinking on Memorial Day (when we put flowers from our yard on the gravestones of the Tierney and Stute family members at the Catholic cemetery) how nice it would be if someone from that family visited Heart House during our residency. The Universe delivered.

Happy Trails!