Category: General (Page 18 of 60)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now, on to other topics.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo Archive

Flowers in Colorado have always been a draw for me.

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

Pam’s Penny

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

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

Be well. Happy Trails.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo Archive

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

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

Pam’s Penny

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

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

Be well. Happy Trails.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo Archive

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

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

Pam’s Penny

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

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

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

Be well. Happy Trails.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo Archive

2003, Aspen Hot Air Balloon Festival

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

Pam’s Penny

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

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

Be Well. Happy Trails.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo Archive

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

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

Thats it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

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

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

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

Be Well. Happy Trails.

Here we are in the middle of winter and there is not much happening at 702 Main. A few projects are progressing, including painting and insulation installation.

Pam’s living room repaint is moving along. She has the lower part of several walls painted in the green hue she chose. Now comes the harder part, picking the shade of color that she wants for the upper portions.

Pam would like a shade of white, but there are hundreds of ‘white’ paints out there. Picking the right one will take some time.

While Pam was painting I was in the garage installing the insulation I bought a couple weeks ago. My goal was to get the eaves enclosed, insulate the west wall, and fill in as much as I could with the rest of the insulation batts. I had just enough to get these priority areas done.

I was able to insulate the south (alley) wall, including the eaves on that side as well. The addition is already warmer than the rest of the garage as a result of this work. Next I will need to buy some more insulation and finish the east wall, but the biggest job will be to get insulation in the ceiling. Those rafters are 24 inches on center and the work will need to be done from a ladder, slowing the installation. I would be nice to have all this done by spring but in the shorter term it gives me a good task to work on.

A recent snow added another cover of white to the area. Very heavy and wet, the snow did not want to slide off the snow blade very well, leaving clumps of snow along the sidewalks and road.

I came across this new word which describes Pam very well.

Photo Archive

I am not sure if I have used these photos before as I lost track of some of their uses. Taken in the late ’70s and early ’80s at a place I have mentioned before, Boreas Pass in Colorado.

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

Pam’s Penny

Although we live in a Victorian/Queen Anne style house, I am not a turn-of-the-previous-century purist when refreshing interior rooms at 702 Main. For one, maintenance of high Victorian decor doesn’t fit our life style. For another, the pets would absolutely destroy velvets, satins and laces. I installed lace curtains in the parlor bedroom, and I can’t tell you how many times I have found cats (usually Elmo) swinging off them.

One thing I am a stickler for is keeping or reproducing, whenever possible, the level of detail this house originally featured. Too many times 702 has been spray-painted a single color; these colors cover both plaster walls and woodwork on interior surfaces, then hide wood rot on exterior surfaces. This is why we are primarily brush-painting the house and repairing as we go along, restoring multi-colored details, and (too often) using artist detail brushes to compensate for previous poor quality workmanship.

All of these issues come into play in the refresh of the two downstairs rooms, which I am renaming the “library” (dining/living room) and the “snug” (Bob’s bedroom-previous owner). I’ve decided to incorporate a bit of art deco design in the library, utilizing the fan shape. I also plan to unpack as many of our books as will fit in the space, make a feature wall of travel posters, and hopefully find ways to display our curios behind glass, away from pet paws. Furniture will need to be pet friendly as well; these two rooms are the main habitat of five cats and three dogs.

It’s a process…more updates as the refresh progresses.

Be Well and Happy Trails.

Our winter activities were typical this week. Pam worked inside the house. I completed a few projects in the garage. Frosty weather created a few photo opportunities.

Last week I mentioned that Pam had started an upgrade on the main floor. This week she completed more painting of the ceiling trim, plus hung some new curtains. She also began the task of sorting and packing Christmas decorations. A busy girl.

I continued an upgrade of my garage work space, adding another storage rack and more shelving. A trip to the Rochester, Minnesota, Menard’s lumber yard yielded the storage rack, shelf brackets, more insulation to be installed, and new wheels for my table saw stand.

The frosty weather, mostly freezing fog that created rime ice, gave rise to a few photo opportunities.

And there were other odds and ends: my sharpened saw blades came back from the lumber yard, Pam measured a stretched-out Elmo at 31 1/2 inches long, and we received our stimulus checks via direct deposit into our bank account. Life goes on even if not documented in any particular way.

While I try not to get into politics in these posts, the events of last Wednesday concern me. Those Capitol rioters tried to interfere with the peaceful transition of power from one administration to another. That transfer is, perhaps, the greatest strength of democracy. To interfere is illegal, un-American, and un-democratic.

One candidate lost and another won. There is no evidence of anyone “stealing” the election. The 60+ lawsuits filed in the courts all found “no merit” in the claims of ballot irregularities. The election was fair and clean. Biden and Harris won.

There is much the Biden – Harris administration will have to clean up before they can begin to move this country forward. However, if Trump supporters refuse to believe in evidence and refuse to accept election results, America as a democracy can not survive.

I could go on (as I am quite angry), but better leave with these comments. As I write this, over 360,000 people have died of COVID-19 which Trump called a hoax. The National Guard had delegated 6,000 men to keep order at the Inauguration, an event which is supposed to be a celebration of the democratic process. The nation is deeper in debt and politically divided as never before.

I would encourage anyone reading this to reconsider the words of the Pledge of Allegiance we have all uttered over the years. “..to the United States of America…” Allegiance not to a person or political party, but to the country. To democratic processes. That is the glue that holds democracy together, and without it, democracy will fail.

Photo Archive

From a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia in 2004:

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

Pam’s Penny

Himself and I have worked VERY hard our whole lives, frequently performing tasks we didn’t really enjoy at all. We anticipated enjoyment in retirement, livin’ the life, setting our own schedules. The continued refurbishment of 702 Main in Elma, IA is our transition project between the work hassle of the past, into the leisure zone. We deserve to enjoy “the fruits of our labors,” as the saying goes.

Then “Bam!” – a virulent worldwide pandemic hit hard, followed by the Big Orange Liar fermenting political violence. Events certainly not on our original retirement radar. My range of emotions in reaction to horrible numbers of COVID deaths and POTUS-directed insurrection is wide – anger, disgust, fear, extreme sadness, a tumult of many more. The political fallout penetrates even rural Iowa.

As a result, be forewarned, family/friends – I am no longer conciliatory in the least toward political idiocy.

Be Safe. Happy Trails.

This is more of a photo gallery than a post. Below is a collection of photos I took on the morning of January 3rd as the sun began to burn off morning fog. Click on each photo to open a larger version, then click on any detail in the photo to enlarge the area around your cursor.

That’s it. Hope you enjoy these.

Jerry

2020 is behind us; let’s hope 2021 is a far better year!

True to recent form, we spent a quiet week at home. Pam finished hemming draperies, made a rhubarb pie (the last of the batch of rhubarb we grew), baked salmon for New Year’s Day (first time!), and started a living room painting / makeover project.

My projects were minor. I put a piece of pegboard up over my workbench; this required moving a few shelves and repositioning a light. I’ve spent a couple of hours on this already and have a bit more work to do.

Going through more boxes in the garage attic, I found a few more tools to hang on peg hooks and located my box of sport court tiles. With the tiles in hand I began assembling a mat in front of the workbench. The extra layer means I am not standing directly on the cold cement floor when at my bench, making working out there more comfortable.

We did get a few inches of snow last Tuesday evening and into Wednesday morning. After some hand shoveling of steps, porches, and the walkway to the garage, I fired up the John Deere garden tractor and spent the next couple hours moving snow around. (Now the neighbors know the snow removal standard I intend to maintain!)

We have been lucky so far this year; December overall was above average in temperatures even though we had a couple of very cold nights.

Overall it was another quiet week. We find we are sleeping in, working a few hours on planned projects, then watching some TV after dinner. It is a much slower pace than we maintained last summer!

Elmo the cat has been up to his usual tricks, finding things to destroy or pull down. For some reason he likes to play on the steps and has succeeded in pulling off all the paper decorations Pam had put up on the step risers. Here he is at work:

To his credit, Elmo does get along with the dogs.

Our Christmas decorations are coming down. Right now the only items left are the lights and garlands on the front and east porch. The tree is down and the window decorations are packed away, including the red rope lights that made up the two hearts Pam had created in the windows. The upcoming week is supposed to have a couple warmer (for January) days and we’ll take down the rest of the garlands and lights and pack everything up for use next year.

2020 is over and we look forward to a better year in 2021. Hopefully our health will hold up and, at some point, we will get one of the COVID-19 vaccinations. Given our rural location and issues with transport and refrigeration of the vaccines, distribution in NE Iowa may be a bit on the slow side.

We hope all who read these notes have a good 2021! We enjoyed hearing from those of you who sent holiday greetings.

Photo Archive

This week’s photos are from a ride we took on the narrow-gauge Silverton & Durango Railroad in 2005.

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

Pam’s Penny

After approximately two months of a painting hiatus, I have begun the “refresh” of the downstairs rooms. (There I am, back up on the ladder again.) At least the ceilings are lower in the two rooms slated for work this round. It will be a slow progression — one day work, one day rest!

Our current [slower] schedule may just be The Universe helping us gather our strength and resources for another year of renovations.

As Himself mentioned, Elma may very well be in a COVID vaccine desert. We’ll be looking for Moderna or Astrazenica by summer – maybe. Our newly-built local clinic should be open by then. Until then, mask – social distance – sanitizer.

Be Well. Happy Trails.

This week was a “lazy” week. With the arrival of very cold weather, some snow, and Christmas Day, only a few projects received attention.

Pam continued to work on her project of adding material to the new drapes. This involves a combination of sewing machine work and time-consuming hand hemming.

Another of Pam’s projects was adding a sign above the kitchen entry, going into the living room:

I went through more boxes in the garage and scanned a few more slides. Minor basement work was done to clean it up a bit; I removed many of the old, and now unused, wire clips and nails from the beams.

Another of my projects was to replace the wick in my old Aladdin TR3000 kerosene heater. I use this, along with my Craftsman kerosene-fueled “torpedo” heater, to give me some heat in the garage when I am working out there.

With the new wick in place the heater works well and produces a good quantity of heat. It is rated at just over 10,000 BTUs which is high for this type of unit. I also found a local supplier of kerosene who I will use when refills are needed to my 5-gallon kerosene can. I only start either heater when I will be in the garage for a longer period of time and welcome the extra comfort.

We received a light dusting of snow on the night of the 23rd which resulted in a white Christmas Day. I took the John Deere out to plow the sidewalks, mostly as a trial run as there was not much snow to be moved. The sidewalks are uneven and the blade caught on several edges so I have to go slow to avoid damaging the blade or tractor. Plowing may also serve as a notice to neighbors that they should clear their walks as well.

On Christmas Day we opened our gifts. Pam received a Weather Tech (brand) phone holder that can be used in the house. I received a new pair of flannel-lined jeans and a pair of “house pants” that are on the order of sweat pants but higher class. Pam’s sister Becky sent us a new doormat and shoe scrubber and Pam’s friend, Julie Nickles, sent a few cat-themed holiday items. We enjoyed opening everything while sitting around the tree and listening to the Christmas music playing in the background. Later, we ate pumpkin pie and enjoyed a slow-cooked roast. Christmas during COVID.

In medical news, Pam’s recent series of medical tests (blood and EKG) were perfectly normal across the board. (The tests were partly as a follow-up to the gall bladder surgery earlier this year.) Good news.

A couple weeks ago I had scheduled a doctor visit so I could get a new prescription to treat my Type-2 diabetes. Up to that point I had been using the prescription from Colorado but it expired on my last refill. As part of the exam a full slate of blood tests were done.

On the positive side, my A1C came in at 6.6 indicating my type 2 diabetes is very well controlled. I’ll take that. But my PSA result (prostate enzyme) was somewhat high. The doctor wants me to have a biopsy taken; that will happen mid-January and I have to drive to Mason City to have the procedure done. Not looking forward to that.

A small change was made to my camera gear. My old point-and shoot was giving me some trouble so I replaced it with a used Panasonic DMC-ZS3 camera. (The above photos were taken with this camera.) Although several years old, the ZS3 has a reputation for being a durable camera which produces very good images. It came without the cable needed to plug it into a computer for image transfer so I had to buy one from Amazon before I could really start shooting with it. A battery and charger were included in the purchase so I did not have to acquire those.

This past week was a mixed bag of small projects, a trend that will continue for the next few weeks as the temperatures fall and snow builds up. There won’t be much to report on so my posts will probably be pretty short!

Photo Archive

This week’s archive features our son Toby. Photos were taking in 2004 and 2005.

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

Pam’s Penny

Frigid white Christmas. Wind chill. Cold dog paws and colder cats in the catio. Did I mention the wind chill? Iowa in winter – not my favorite. But, with the Solstice, at least hours of daylight will s-l-o-w-l-y begin to increase.

Happy Trails.