Category: General (Page 12 of 60)

We went from a cold and wet spring right into summer. Two weeks ago we had high temperatures in the 40s, this past Wednesday we set a new record for the date at 91, beating the old record of 89 set beck in 1911. The furnace was used at the start of the week, central air at end of the week. Crazy.

We scrambled to get the place ‘Summer-Ready’ by doing several tasks. These included swapping the storm door inserts for screen inserts, pulling out the last of the winter window inserts, finding and deploying window screens, and installing the bedroom window AC unit. (The upstairs gets very little cool air from the central AC.) We add several old-fashioned expandable screen inserts on windows with built-in [light mesh] screens. The wire mesh inserts keep the cats from clawing at the light mesh screens, saving repairs.

On the other hand, the lawn and flowers have flourished. The new grass seed that I put out is sprouting. Many flowers are now in bloom, including bleeding hearts, pansies, one peony, daffodils, and tulips. The Mary Lynn Memorial Bed is looking great.

Much routine work took up outdoor time. Pam planted Grandpa Ott morning glory seeds and began cleaning the north and northwest flower beds. She prepared a spot for this year’s sunflower seeds. I found a couple packets of ornamental corn and these will be planted shortly. Gourds will be added to the garden, a first for us. One day I used the string trimmer, push mower, and riding mower to get the yard in shape. A new power washer was put together in preparation for cleaning walls for painting. We spent quite a bit of time outside this past week!

However, outdoor activities were not the only activities on the list. Becky is going through her stuff in the garage and consolidating and marking totes and boxes. Her “new” house closing is tentatively set for May 27th and we would begin moving her stuff shortly after. Her mobile home in Rice Lake has been sold and the transaction closed, a great relief for Becky.

I finished my VHS conversion project. Including the splitting of some tapes into individual segments I ended up with 48 finished video files. Presentation has been split into several categories, including child-specific videos, family videos, my 4-wheel excursions, and “other family” such as relatives. Here is a screen shot of my “Family” video page.

During the process I used a couple of external hard drives. One contains all the original video files; these are “as captured” from the original tapes. A second hard drive holds the edited and converted files as well as the related still photos and HTML pages such as shown above. The entire project takes up about 300gb of “finished” files and another 524gb of “raw” files. I am currently bidding on a Super 8 film converter. If I win that bid, conversion of my movie files will be my next big (winter?) project.

Pam has been her usual busy self, starting on a list of projects as dictated by the weather change. Here she is giving dog Bru a clip before a bath. Then, the bath in the new job sink!

I purchased a new pressure washer from Northern Tool. The idea is to use it to clean the upper portions of the house walls, those areas we can’t really get to with paint scrapers. I hope this works out as it would save a lot of time and elbow grease. The washer is rated at 3,200 PSI which is what we were told was needed for a job of this type. Less expensive washers put out lower pressures so I had to get a mid-range model. Photos will follow when I am set up to start using it.

All told it was a busy week, much of the work routine. The Weed-&-Feed I had spread earlier this month appears to have helped cut down dandelions in the east lawn. I may try using more on the east and north “medians,” the green space between the sidewalks and the roads. I had not treated these areas and they have lots of yellow showing in them.

Projecting forward, we have visitors coming, flower bed maintenance and a few nice seeds to plant, Becky’s move, and getting started on our summer painting and repairs (after power washing). The job sink has already proved to be quite handy (Bru’s bath, but also dirty hands washing and paint brush cleaning). It’s very satisfying to finally have the job sink functional.

Photo Archive

Photos from all over.

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

Pam’s Penny

I vaguely recall the time when I could tackle flowerbeds — stretching across one side of a house — in one day. I now break flowerbed cleanup and planting into three days for the same space. Humbling.

The Mary Lynn bed is truly spectacular this year. First the hyacinths, then the daffodils, have been stars. The tulip bulbs are on their third spring, and are a well-established background. The flower colors “pop” against the foundation spray coat + red siding. Satisfying.

Happy Trails.

Spring has arrived. We are working outside and totally enjoying the better weather. While there were no major projects this week, many smaller tasks occupied us.

Our “fairies” arrived at their home at the base of one of our oak trees.

These are Pam’s addition to the oak tree flower bed. Fairies were waiting for comfortable weather before their arrival. They tend to stay all summer but retreat to warmer locations in winter. (Pam is hoping to tempt them into Heart House’s snug when summer ends this year.)

Bulb flowers, planted last fall, are beginning to bloom. Hyacinths are being looked over by Gretel the lamb and they put out a pleasant scent. Tulip heads have formed, but wisely the tulips held off on blooming until weather supports the flowers.

Daffodils are beginning to hit their stride. The ones shown below join plants from previous years.

Outdoor projects: The lawn was mowed and Weed & Seed was spread in an effort to help control dandelions. A couple of bare areas were frisked up and grass seed applied. Tarps used outdoors through the winter for wind protection – on the back porch and NW corner of the dog run – were taken down and stored. A metal grid, intended for Grandpa Ott morning glories, was installed on the west wall of the south porch. Becky detailed the inside of my truck, and it looks better than when purchased.

All of us have appreciated the improved weather and the ability to get outside and work on tasks and projects. Sunshine boosts spirits, particularly after the 4th wettest April on record. Our energy bill indicates the past month, on average, was 9 degrees colder than last year and “energy days” (requiring either heat or air conditioning) were up by almost 100 for the year already. We hope May is more “average” than April.

Becky continues to monitor daughter Lilly’s condition, which appears to be good after her surgery. Becky is also busy arranging the closing details on her new home; it appears moving day will be in the first week of June. The sale of her Rice Lake place will be finalized the 2nd week of May. It’s a busy time for Becky!

Pam has added a few more decor items to the laundry room, and is additionally working on “Heart House” wreaths.

There are always projects underway in this house!

I have begun to edit my VHS tapes to create individual events instead of leaving just one long file with multiple sections. This adds extra time to the conversion process, but I think the effort is worth it. For example, I just finished a 1984 tape that had a reunion, footage from around the house, Easter, a visit to my brother’s place, a visit from the Paroubek grandparents, and a visit from my sister Carol and her kids Stefanie and Jennifer. (We celebrated Jen’s birthday.) This 2+ hour tape yielded no fewer than 6 events. The conversion project continues.

Warmer weather means house painting will soon commence. We will begin by doing what we can from ladders, although not much is unpainted at that height. Portions of the west wall can still be done that way, but soon we will have to rent a man lift to reach the higher levels. Our goal is to get the west wall done this year at a minimum; ideally we should finish the entire house but that may be a reach. Time will tell.

Photo Archive

The year was 2000 and we took a family trip to Arizona.

I should mention that Felicity’s and Toby’s middle names are Elinore and Henry, respectively, named after this couple.

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

Pam’s Penny

OK, sunny weather is finally here. One thing I do miss about living in Colorado is the many days of sunshine that state enjoys annually. Days and days and days of dreary NE Iowa spring cloudiness has certainly been a drag.

Work projects start to shift from interior to exterior as temperatures permit; I’m thinking about breaking out a bucket of red house paint. Which means I may not complete all the wreaths [I have in mind for the porches] by the patriotic holidays, however, I’ll display wreaths as they are ready. Fabric for this particular wreath project was purchased last year – so, what’s the rush? Don’tcha love retirement…

Happy Trails.

Well, for once we don’t have freezing nights in the forecast. Can spring be here?
We made a trip to a greenhouse, bought some plants, worked on the laundry room decor, and continued converting VHS tapes.

Every year we take a trip or two to a couple greenhouses to pick up annuals and other plantings. This week we stopped at Zimmerman’s Greenhouse located about 10 minutes away from us. We enjoy walking the aisles, viewing the flowers, and enjoying the odor of green, growing things. I thought I would include a few photos of this trip.

We brought home a few plants, just enough to get started. Our selection included a fern, two peonies, a lobelia, and a flat of petunias. Rain is in the air today so they won’t get planted for a few days but are doing OK on the east porch for now.

An inside project was moved along when Pam added more wallpaper and decorative items to a laundry room wall. As a second project, the coat rack was removed, repaired, and relocated. The wall is so uneven that spacers had to be added to each end to make the rack sit flat. I replaced a broken door handle on the south porch and aided Pam by wielding the power screw driver when needed.

The bird feeder came down and a new bird bath put up in its place. I will try to get a photo of it in use for my next post. In the mean time, birds and squirrels continue to frequent the corn cob feeder and the small outside table where we place cracked corn, apple peels, and stale bread.

My VHS conversion projects moved ahead with a few more upgrades to my Macintosh system. I am trying to phase out my old (’90s) external data disks in favor of newer and more reliable units. To this end I have replaced my main data disk and the disk I have been using for the VHS project. Left to swap out is the disk I use for backing up the other two disks.

In addition to being more reliable, the new disks are faster than the old ones which cuts down on the time it takes to complete a VHS tape conversion. I appreciate this! I generally have one tape being digitized while I edit another, resulting in one completed tape a day and another ready for editing the following day.

To showcase the digitized tapes I have created a web-like page that introduces each tape and give a brief description of it, along with the run time. Some tapes feature Felicity, others feature Toby, but most are “family” tapes of events such as Christmases and birthdays. I have footage I had forgotten about and it is fun to re-live some of the footage such as Toby and Felicity learning to ice skate. I am about half-way through with about 24 conversions so far.

I may split some of the files into smaller single events. Christmas tapes, in particular, are more-or-less self-contained events that may merit individual attention rather than being part of a months-long session. I’ll have to see how much energy I want to put into that aspect of this project.

Photo Archive

From the mid-’80s. These are “frame captures” from video tapes so quality is not high.

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

Pam’s Penny

When I walked into the first Mennonite greenhouse yesterday, my breath was almost taken away by the color and vibrancy. In that moment, I almost forgot how dreary and colorless NE Iowa has been for most of the last four months. And then that damp earth smell hit me, like getting off an airplane in a tropical climate. It was awesome.

Let gardening commence.

Happy Trails.

This past week held a few big events. Easter, Becky bought a house, plumbers finished the job sink, and Becky’s daughter, Lilly, had surgery. I added some updates to my computer system and continued my VHS conversion project.

Easter brought activities to the house. Pam set up a holiday centerpiece on the table and colored eggs.

Better weather for the day enabled a photo opportunity on the east porch.

In addition to an excellent meal of ham, potatoes, fresh green beans, and pineapple Pam made an apple pie. Everything went down well!

Spring may finally be arriving even though the weather continues to be cold and wet. I noticed some spring flowers beginning to bloom under one of the oak trees. I don’t know the name of these, but they have lifted our spirits.

I added a few updates to my computer system to handle the VHS to digital files and movies I have been creating. My Mac is old, but at the time it featured a technology Apple called ThunderBolt 2. This interface was designed for faster transfers of data to external devices such as hard drives. Now nearly obsolete, I was able to find the parts and pieces I needed to add a “port replicator” or “Dock” to my system. The dock has USB 3 ports which are faster than the Mac’s built-in USB 2 connections. I attached a new 4 terabyte (4TB) drive to the dock and will use it for file storage. Another port will handle the VHS to digital capture device. Hopefully these upgrades will speed up the process.

Finally, after 5 1/2 months, the laundry room plumbing was completed. Yes! The job sink is finally functional and we moved the washer to it’s new location. This means we have eliminated the need for heating tapes on lines running to the old location. Plumbing in the basement was cleaned up and simplified. Another house project completed!

Much news revolved around Becky. After months of looking and a few trips to view properties, Becky found “The One” in Greene, Iowa. The Shell Rock River flows through town. We had visited the town last spring to take in a plant show and had a favorable impression of the area. The house is not on the river, but has a view of it from the deck and kitchen window. One end of the garage has windows that have the best river view and Becky is already considering turning that space into living area to take advantage.

Here is the listing for the house. Closing is set for late May. Now Becky is working on all the details that go with a home purchase, including getting insurance, scheduling a home inspection, arranging the financing (she had been pre-approved) and forming plans for moving and decorating. It is an exciting time.

Becky’s youngest daughter. Lilly, had surgery this past week and is currently hospitalized. Becky plans to go to Minneapolis to help Lilly for a few days after Lilly is released from the hospital. Vanna, Becky’s cat, is now comfortable coming down stairs and mingling with the other cats and dogs (to some extent) and will stay with us while Becky is gone.

Both Pam and Becky have been working on sewing projects. Pam sent me this photo of Becky working at the library table and working on a banner.

I continue with my VHS conversion project, but did manage to get some yard work done on one of the better days last week. Leaves were raked from around the garden fence and mulched. I made the first trip of 2022 to the compost area and unloaded a trailer of mulched leaves and branches we had picked up from the yard.

The bird feeder received its last fill of the winter. Bird Flu is making the rounds in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa and organizations have asked that bird feeders be taken down for the summer. As soon as ours is empty it will come down. That is a shame as we enjoy watching the birds come and go. Recently I spied a Yellow Finch for the first time, bright yellow with black trim, another sign spring is on the doorstep.

Photo Archive

Flowers, critters, and landscapes from 2016.

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

Pam’s Penny

Just like local farmers, we watch the weather to determine when to plant our (garden) seeds. Could be tricky this year.

Houses are a big topic in my family at the moment. One brother is building a new house, sister is buying a house, another brother is considering housing options, and we are – of course – renovating a house. Who knew retirement would be so house-oriented?

Happy Trails.

We had a couple of events that were out of the ordinary this past week. Becky celebrated a birthday, outdoor cat Zip reached the Rainbow Bridge, and the F-150 received a new windshield.

Becky had made a trip to Rice Lake to retrieve a few more items from her home and meet with the buyer, John, on her birthday so we celebrated shortly after her return. The chocolate cake with chocolate frosting was a big hit!

One of the outside cats, brought with us from DeBeque, was euthanized. Zip had been in poor condition for several months but we had hoped he would pull through with the advent of warmer weather. Alas, he took a turn for the worse and Pam decided it was time. We don’t like to see any animal suffer when there is no hope for a return to a good life. Zip was buried in the garden near the graves of some of our other cats. RIP.

The F-150 developed a major windshield crack stemming from a rock chip. The split ran from the driver’s side all the way over to the passenger side. A call to the insurance company set up an appointment with Safelite Mobile Glass Service to replace the glass.

The process took a couple of hours and it is nice to have brand-new glass in the truck. Below are a few photos taken during the replacement.

Weather again made news this week. A series of severe thunderstorms passed over Elma. Our lights flickered but did not go out. Surrounding regions suffered wind damage and tornadoes caused major damage in a few communities. Thankfully we were spared, but the storms created quite a lightning and thunder show that kept us awake into the early hours of the morning.

Temperatures remain well below seasonal averages causing us to use more propane than anticipated. (Forecasts for the upcoming week show a return to more normal temperatures.) We had purchased all the propane we had contracted for; if we need to get more the costs will be higher. Warmer weather would be welcome!

I did get my generator, mentioned in my last post, running again. A good cleaning of the carburetor, fresh fuel in a cleaned tank, and the engine fired with just a few pulls of the starter rope. I was pleased to hear it running again.

My VHS digitizing project continues. A few of the tapes run close to two hours to digitize, than take time to edit, then more time to save the files in a PC-friendly format. I have been trying to add subtitles which identify people in the videos as the kids won’t remember who these people are. It can take me a good part of a day to do a single long tape! A couple had very bad audio tracks and I have over-dubbed a sound track explaining what the video is showing. It is good thing I had purchased a good microphone before I left Colorado as it has come in handy. Over-dubbing is somewhat new for me so it is stretching my skills a bit. That is not a bad thing!

Photo Archive

Only one photo this time. Taken in 2016 by daughter Felicity, we were visiting a gift shop.

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

Pam’s Penny

Waiting for Spring is becoming somewhat boring. Enough already.

Re: Zip and cat population — with seven cats buried since we moved to NE Iowa, I am technically no longer the Crazy Cat Lady. I wish I had learned in the past two decades how to give up on lost feline causes, but alas, I have not. Until the necessity for a trip to the Rainbow Bridge is totally and irrevocably evident, I keep trying.

Happy Trails.

We received a quote from the painter. Boy, was that an eye-opener!

The quote came in at $14,371.00 including tax. (Tax was $940.00) And that was not for the entire house; we exempted some parts of the east side that need repairs to the siding.

Paint was quoted at $50.00 per gallon. ($40.00 per gallon for 5 gallons of primer.) Our regular paint costs about $20.00 per gallon. (Behr #25 Barn Red.) The painter had assured us he could come close to our per-gallon price but he didn’t. He would not use Behr; all painters seem to have a particular brand they prefer and try to “color match” to other brands. Total material came in at $2,800.00.

200 hours of labor, at $35.00 per hour, added $7,000.00. Other charges included the use of a boom truck at $2,400.00. Miscellaneous items such as tape, masking paper, sanding supplies, airless paint sprayer, and pressure washing added another $1,230.00 to the total.

Pressure washing came in at more than the price of a new home-owner type washer, $480.00. (New washers start at around $300.00.) The painter’s outfit is a trailer-mounted rig capable of cleaning all types of surfaces at very high pressures. We were concerned his rig would damage the somewhat fragile old siding on the house.

We can’t afford to go with his quote. On to Plan-B, which is doing more work ourselves. Plan-B will include renting a boom lift for weekend use, purchasing a used pressure washer, and continuing to paint by hand. A summer of hard work looms along with a late summer completion date but that is the way it will have to be.

Another house project took a step forward as we took delivery of two new windows to be installed in the upstairs guest bedroom. Replacement is a warm weather task but we had ordered the windows early as delivery times were very long and prices were going up. As it is, this pair cost us almost $300.00 more than the same pair we had installed in The Snug in 2020. We had determined the guest room windows are the worst in the house and replacement is required for comfort and energy efficientcy.

The owners of Busti Lumber, here in Elma, sold the company and retired as of April 1st. Busti (pronounced boost-e) is where we ordered windows, purchased siding and paint, and picked up incidental lumber and hardware over the last couple years. Dale and Tina were of great help to us and we will miss interacting with them. I have not yet met the new owner(s) but probably will over the summer.

In-house projects moved ahead. Pam has started a new sewing project. Becky finished an embroidery panel she was creating for her daughter, Caitlin, as a birthday gift. I digitized several more VHS tapes and it was fun to revisit events such as Felicity learning to walk back in 1984. I just wish conversion did not take so long!

The weather was dismal for most of the week. We had snow flakes in the air on Thursday and a thin layer of new snow on the ground by Friday morning. The snow did not stay long, but it was the third week in a row where we had more of the white stuff. The next few days look better but the 10-day forecast has more below-freezing nights and daytime high temperatures in the low-to-mid 40s. Normal highs are in the low 50s and above freezing at night.

We had planned to phase out the bird feeder and suet feeders by mid-April, but colder conditions have kept birds at the feeders in large numbers. I bought another bag of bird seed for the main feeder and refilled the suet feeder. We are still enjoying watching the action and have spotted a few new birds in the mix.

I started a “garage” project; resurrecting my 1987 portable generator. Built by Kawasaki, I used it on camping trips during the late 80’s and 90’s, and we used at The Lot for a few years. The engine was not running well when I retired it. I am going to have to clean / rebuild the carburetor and get all the old gas and varnish out of the fuel tank. The generator is not large (900 watts continuous, 1,100 watts surge) but would power the refrigerator in an extend power outage.

Outside work was limited due to the variable weather, but we did get a climbing frame for the wisteria plant. Runners should be able to wind around the frame for the next few years and display flowers as they bloom. Wisteria is an old-fashioned plant and Pam though it appropriate to have some around our Victorian homestead.

The week was not one of our best but we tried to move forward with projects. There are always things to do. I’ve sold a couple items on eBay and keep a few listings active, for example. Still, the painting quote set us a-back; we now have a new path forward. Such is life!

Photo Archive

North Rim of the Grand Canyon motorcycle camping trip from 2002

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

Pam’s Penny

Still waiting for spring…

Happy Trails.

The past week was interesting from both an activity and weather perspective. We had snow, a visit from a painter, and a set-back on the VHS project. All the details are below!

Thursday morning we were greeted with a layer of fresh new snow. More arrived Saturday morning, heavy, wet, and soon to melt (I hope.)

The snow brought birds back to the feeder. During the warmer days they had been somewhat absent.

Hopefully the snow will melt over the next couple days as high temperatures are expected to be in the mid to upper 40s.

Thursday was also a good day as we had a visit from a painter we had contacted. A young man, named Dalton, had responded to Pam’s request for a quote to finish painting the house, or at least the portions that don’t need additional repairs. The prime goal is to get the areas under the peaks (the ginger breading) painted along with the north and west walls. (Areas above the east porch and near the tower need repair work and would not be included.) Part of the east wall, above the bay window, would be painted as well. Here is photo of the west wall as it now stands.

Note the ginger breading Pam had painted last fall above the laundry room window at right.

Dalton arrived and took a guided tour around the outside of the house and viewed the work to be done. He was aided by photos of the house to which Pam had added circles, arrows, and text explaining what work was to be done. We asked Dalton to replicate the laundry room peak’s pattern in the other peaks. This involves hand painting which will add to the cost of the job. Dalton made notes as he went along. He indicated he would get us a quote sometime next week, and if accepted, work would commence this August. Yes, he is already booked out that far but that is still better than the 2023 date given to us by the first painter we had contacted. Now we are waiting for the quote and will decide if we can afford it.

On Tuesday Becky and I took a road trip to view some properties Becky had seen on-line. We visited several towns along the Mississippi River, including Gutenberg, MacGregor, and Elkader. Becky and her brother Larry are looking for a home with a minimum of two bedrooms and two bathrooms so each can have some space of their own. A river or water view is highly desired. One place of interest, in Elkader, had a view of the Turkey River but one wonders if there would be a view in summer when the trees are in full foliage. It was an interesting trip and I enjoyed getting out and about a bit.

Pam has completed the painting in the downstairs bathroom and I re-mounted the towel racks. The walls look quite good now; Pam plans to replace the flooring as the next phase of this project.

One of my projects took a major hit; the hard drive where I had stored all my digitized VHS tapes and related files malfunctioned and erased everything. I was bummed out, but luckily the original edited files were still on my iMovie program. I was able to re-save them in PC-friendly .MP4 formats, but the related files (HTML pages and poster photos) had to be recreated. I lost hours of work due to this hardware failure, but am now caught up to where I was about a week ago. It may be time for a new external hard drive as mine are several years old at this point and are of limited capacity. (Video files are quite large.)

It was quite a week. A road trip, two snowfalls, painter visit, and VHS re-work were all on the docket in addition to normal activities. As a comedian recently said “I don’t want to brag about expensive trips, but I just returned from the grocery store and gas station.” Life goes on as we hope for better weather to arrive.

Photo Archive

Kind of a mix this time.

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

Pam’s Penny

Spring, where are you?

Happy Trails.

Temperatures were up and down last week, but we managed to get some outside work done. Inside projects moved along, including VHS digital conversion and more painting in the downstairs bathroom. Lets see the details!

Pam ordered a new project: a birdhouse. Small birds (sparrows, mostly) are trying to nest around the house. While we have leaf filters on the gutters, there are gaps at the ends of the gutters. Birds are trying to fly into these gaps to build nests. The theory is a new birdhouse would provide a convenient nesting place, effectively re-locating the birds. We’ll know in a few weeks if this works!

Pam had to paint the new bird dwelling and I added the perch, as the house had not come with one and we felt it was needed. Below is a photo of the house, now mounted on the east side of the front porch. (The level says the birdhouse is level, the eyeball says it is not.)

We will observe the housing location and see if birds actually choose to use it. Time will tell.

A few other outside projects were undertaken. Major parts of the lawn were raked and I fired up the lawn vac to clean up the debris. For a few days we had the best looking spring lawn in town, but windy days have blown more leaves into the yard. The clean-up never seems to end…

Pam erected a protective fence around the iris bed, which is next to the back steps. She is trying to keep free-roaming cats off the budding plants. Last year the iris produced foliage but did not flower, being the first year they were relocated to this spot. I hope they bloom this year; if not, Pam wants them relocated to the garden where they’ll get full (not filtered) sun.

While we were working outside one day last week, with temperatures approaching 70 degrees, the animals kept track of us.

Later in the week temperatures plunged, with a light coating of snow greeting us on Thursday morning. The upcoming week will see high temperatures barely above freezing – or into the very low forties – and low temps down into the teens and low twenties. The calendar says spring but it’s early days yet, even though the grass is starting to turn green in some areas on the lawn.

Pam added more art deco painting to the bathroom. Due to the uneven wall (and a well-used stencil), every line’s edge has to be hand-painted to “clean up” the borders. It is a time consuming task, but the results look very good.

I added to the inside decor by hanging two more 16 x 20 canvas prints to the stairwell. These are from photos I took in Colorado.

Top-left columbine is Colorado’s state flower. Photo on right is of the Sheep Mountain Mill, AKA Deadhorse Mill, near Marble, Colorado. This is probably the most-photographed structure in Colorado. It was an electrical generating plant that supplied power to area mines.

Based on our grocery list, supply chain issues are improving but a few gaps still remain. I was able to get all but one item we wanted on my last outing. Of all the items on the list this time, the store was out of El Monterey frozen enchiladas. It’s the first time this has happened.

I spent many hours digitizing VHS tapes. Knowing each tape would take time to copy from VHS to a digital format, editing and adding titles, then saving to PC-friendly formats, I was not surprised at the time it takes to do each tape. However, a few nice surprises have turned up so far. I was reminded Toby’s baptism was on a Super Bowl Sunday. I have footage of a trip to Telluride, Colorado, which included a trip to the Alpine Tunnel. And there is video of Felicity’s grandparent and relatives singing songs for her. Keep in mind these tapes have not been viewed for more than 30 years! I have about three dozen tapes to go so this will be a long-term project. When completed, I will put the converted files in order by date and make HTML front pages so they can be played on various PC operating systems.

The down side is that the tapes are already beginning to deteriorate. I have had to repair two so far as the “leader” portion of the tapes had broken at the spool. Some color shifts have been observed and the “tracking” is not always good, resulting in lines at the top, sides, or bottom of the images. I have tried to adjust the track settings but that did not seem to help. The tapes themselves are on the way out. Not surprising as the oldest dates to 1985 or so, and others date to the late ’80s and early ’90s. VHS was never meant to be “archive” quality so it is probably a good thing I’ve decided to convert them before they deteriorate past use.

I’ve sold a couple small items on eBay, the latest this morning. I would like to move along items longer I no longer need or am interested in. Listing, packing, and shipping all take some time and pay little in the end but items are going out the door, even if at a slow pace.

Photo Archive

Flowers, leaves, and “color” make up this week’s archive

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

Pam’s Penny

After fixing the tacked border along the stairwell yet again, I decided to start putting Elmo in a pen overnight (night is when he methodically completes his destruction). The cat has earned this incarceration; my patience has limits.

Happy Trails.

It has been just over two years since I retired, and what a span it has been! I’ll review the last two years in brief, then move on to activities of the last week.

I retired in Colorado during February of 2020, then joined Pam in Iowa. In the intervening two years, much has happened. Pam had her gallbladder removed, COVID-19 hit, much work was done on Heart House, and I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The garage addition was built, we acquired Elmo the Cat, and Pam’s sister Becky moved in with us during her house hunt. My mother passed away. And those were just the major events!

I must say retirement is not what I expected it to be. While I anticipated the work on Heart House, I also expected we would be traveling more to visit family, friends, and take in local events. I envisioned concerts in the park and trips to antique stores. Instead I got vaccination cards and KN95 face masks. Yes, this retirement is not what I expected when I was making my plans more than two years ago. I can only hope it gets better as COVID-19 and its variants decline from this point forward.

Moving on, this past week saw well above-average temperatures that led us to begin outside activities, such as lawn clean-up and removing mulch from flower beds. It is not full spring yet; it was below freezing this morning and there is a good chance of accumulating snow one day next week. It was very satisfying, though, to sit on the porch in the sunshine wearing only a light coat this past Wednesday.

Pam had mentioned to her Florida friend, Julie, that tulips are beginning to pop up in the Mary Lynn Memorial flower bed. Julie requested a photo of the spring growth, so here it is:

Pam has not removed all the mulch; she knows from experience below-freezing temps are still a pretty good possibility. Once NE Iowa is safely above freezing weather, the remaining mulch will be removed. While snow is gone from the yard, a few stubborn ice patches remain in shady areas near the dog run and north side of the house.

Pam moved ahead on the bathroom project, doing more stencil painting and putting up a few “whimsey” items (such as this sign over the shower):

Another sign was added to the laundry room, referencing our dogs and cats:

Speaking of cats, I have not included an update on our youngest troublemaker, Elmo, for a while. Here he is during a nap on a seat cushion.

Elmo has more energy – and curiosity – than the other cats (combined!) and continues to find ways of getting into trouble. Most recently he has decided to remove the decorative tacks that Pam added to secure the stairwell ribbon. Possessed of endless patience, he will work on a ‘project’ until it is completed to his satisfaction. This feline project activity usually occurs at night, when “correction” is not an issue for him.

I spent quite a few hours working on my newest project, converting VHS tapes into a digital format. While the work is not difficult, it is time consuming. Here are the steps involved:

1. Digitize the VHS tape using “Video Capture” from a company called Roxio.
2. Edit the tape using iMovie on my Mac. (Mostly this is adding transitions and a titles.)
3. By default, the edited tape is in Apple’s .mov format. I have to convert this to formats of .mp4 and .webM so the video can be viewed on other operating systems. The conversion can take hours as the converting program, called Prism, is pretty slow. It can take over an hour to convert 10 minutes of video into the .webM format, less time to create the .mp4 version.
4. Create an HTML page that will play the videos and includes background information. Web browsers all read HTML code making the videos playable on almost all common operating systems. These pages are patterned after my gallery web pages so I don’t have to build the new pages from scratch, but it still takes some time.

Below is a photo of my set-up. The TV (at right) is not required but is useful for previewing the tapes. Center screen is running the Video Capture program while the screen at the left is running the Prism conversion software. On the table in the right foreground is the VHS deck.

I have converted a few tapes so far which include Felicity’s 4th birthday party, Toby’s baptism, and a 1987 Halloween party. It is a real trip back in time to view these tapes again! I don’t plan to put these up on my web site; I will put them on thumb (flash) drives and send them to the kids. They may (or may not) view the videos but at least I will have converted the now-obsolete VHS footage into a more modern format. I have another 25+ “family” tapes yet to convert and will be kept busy for many weeks (years?) before I’m finished.

Photo Archive

Waterfalls and mountain scenes make up this week’s archive.

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

Pam’s Penny

Tulips! Robins! (Daffodils still underground.)

Himself contacted a Charles City painter re: exterior house completion. Painter is already scheduled into 2023. Crap. The couple running the local Elma building materials center are retiring April 1. New management taking over. Ga-a-a-a! Then, of course, Bob the Builder is still recovering from heart surgery.

To date, the Universe is not cooperating re: Heart House projects for the year.

Happy Trails.

As the title suggests, last week’s weather was another up-and-down spring week. We had temperatures ranging from 50 to zero. Along the way we worked on a few more projects and the updates are below.

Pam continued to move ahead with the bathroom upgrade. The new mirror was hung as was the new storage unit.

There is more to the mirror than meets the eye. Originally a green tint, Pam repainted to get a bluish color, then used sandpaper to give the frame a slightly “distressed” look. The process took a few hours to complete over the space of a couple days. However, Pam is satisfied with the result. The size and location of the new mirror is a big improvement over the previous rectangle. The newly-installed wall mount soap dish declutters the pedestal sink, as well.

The bathroom storage unit project was more straightforward. A shelf was installed first, to distribute the weight of the unit along the wall and (more importantly) into secure points behind the sheetrock. Screws in the keyhole back of the unit keep it from tipping forward. Pam likes the additional storage as supplies are now clearly visible and not hidden behind other items.

Between the new mirror and this unit the bathroom upgrade progresses. More painting is on the docket — as are new floor tiles — so this is still a work-in-progress.

I began listing a few small items for sale on eBay, including some 1990’s era “Thomas The Tank Engine” VHS tapes. The first one sold and was shipped this morning. There is not much money in these but it gives me another project to work on and will lead to clearing out some of the stuff we no longer want or need.

Becky’s search for a new home took a step forward this week when she and her brother Larry viewed a couple homes in and near Fountain City, Wisconsin. While the visit did not yield a suitable place, the outing was informative and a rapport was established with a local realtor.

In conclusion, projects moved ahead on several fronts. The upcoming week promises to be warmer and I may be able to begin some spring clean-up of the yard. There are plenty of small branches that dropped during the winter and some leaves were built up along fence lines that need to be cleaned out. As for new projects, I ordered a VHS-to-DVD converter and that should arrive shortly; I will begin the task of converting our old family VHS tapes into a digitalized form that can be turned into DVDs or just viewed on a computer. That should be a learning experience.

Photo Archive

Various critters make up this week’s archive.

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

Pam’s Penny

Time for all the sleeping schedules and dog feeding routines to be screwed up tomorrow, due to Daylight Savings Time. Why do we go through this twice a year anyway…

Happy Trails.