Category: General (Page 24 of 61)

Wow. With my home PC packed and in Iowa, it has been hard for me to keep up with happenings and events. I am at work, after hours, to get this post done.

I  made another trip to Iowa over Christmas. It was great to be with Pam again, and we accomplished many items she had on her “to do” list.

We hung a door in Pam’s bedroom. Wall art was hung in the halls, as was Pam’s cross-cut saw that she inherited from her grandparents home. Many items were unpacked in the medial room, including stereo equipment such as my reel-to-reel deck. While the gear needs to be cabled in to operate, it was a relief to get some of the boxes emptied and recycle the cardboard.

A major project for this trip was to install a separation wall under the steps that would keep the dogs out of the cat area. Pam had been using a large piece of cardboard to close off the place where she put cat food, water, and the liter boxes, but that arrangement has serious drawbacks and was difficult to use.

Using some bead-board doors from storage cabinets in the basement, we closed off the area under the steps, complete with an arch for the cats to use to access the food and boxes, and retained a hinged door at one end for human access.

Sounds like a simple job but it was not. I had to search through the storage area to find my saws and other tools, then we had to take the bead-board doors off some old cabinets located in the basement. To get the angle of the steps right we made a cardboard template to use to cut the wood. In the end it turned out OK but still needs some “tweaking” and trim to finish off the edges. Still, it is a much better arrangement  that using the cardboard.

A highlight of the trip was getting Pam and her two brothers, Larry and Craig, plus her sister, Becky, together for a sit-down and talk session. We all met at a Rocky Rocco’s Pizza place in the La Crosse area and enjoyed a good talking session and really good pizza.

All-in-all it was a good trip. I had taken the Honda, but had packed in quite a few items such as a floor lamp, summer clothing, some more “garage” items, and other odds and ends. The return trip saw me going through a bunch of weather including snow, sleet, fog, blowing snow, and wind. I made it OK, though, and returned to De Beque without incident.

In De Beque, I have been working to make the place HUD and FHA compliant. This involves foundation work, title work, skirting work, and painting but we want to appeal to the widest range of buyers possible. Whole process has been a PIA.

I will try to make these posts on a bit more regular basis but nothing is guaranteed!

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

Addendum:

Deb (Thanks for the note!) asked about the status of my moving to Iowa so I thought I would make a few comments on that.

The plan was for me to work until the house sold. We have a buyer and the original closing date was set for December 20th. However, the lender put up some requirements that we are still working to fill. These included some foundation work (tie downs) and, more recently, replacement or repair of the existing skirting which has some holes in it.

One of the photos above shows the axles that had to be removed from underneath the home, a HUD requirement since 2001. Since we used a conventional loan when we bought the place the HUD and FHA requirements were not an issue, but the but now they are.  So, a number of projects had to be undertaken to bring the place up the lender’s standards. Even though the place was set up in 1994, there is no grandfather clause so we now have to meet current standards.

So, I am still in Colorado, working to pay the mortgage and arranging to get these other projects done.  It may take several weeks.

Another concern is my right shoulder, which I injured last spring but is acting up again. I have an appointment with a shoulder specialist on January 23rd and may have to have rotator cuff surgery to fix it. If so, I will need a place to recuperate and it will have to be in Be Beque for insurance reasons.

Wow. It has been almost a month since my last post. Here is the latest update plus some photos of the moving process.

Recap

We closed on September 16. A week later the first load in a U-Haul truck pulling our 12 foot open trailer and Pam driving the Toyota RAV4. Some pets moved as well. Next trip consisted of the F-150 truck pulling a U-Haul 6 x 12 foot trailer, Pam in the Toyota, and the rest of the animals to be moved. I return to work. Forth trip was Halloween weekend, F-150 pulling a 5×8 foot U-Haul trailer filled with (mostly) garage stuff.

In between I got rid of a lot of item I did not want to move, including Ford tractor parts, my old Macintosh computer collection, my Gilson lawn tractor and attachments, and a number of smaller items, many left on our corner with a “Free” sign on them.

Current status

Pam is working on projects in Elma, I am working and packing the remainder of the garage in De Beque, and we are moving forward with the sale of the house. A few issues there having to do with this being a manufactured home. There is some additional paperwork having to do with titles that needs to be done. The County changed rules in 2010, four years after we bought the place, and now we have to get some additional title work completed. Always something.

Photos

The rest of the post will be mostly photos and captions. There is a lot going on, including Christmas preparations, but more in-depth news will have to wait for another post. Here are a bunch of photos:

Next Up

I hope to make another trip to Elma over the Thanksgiving weekend with an open trailer, moving my motorcycles, ATV, and the remainder of the large garage items.

In Conclusion

That’s about it for now. There are more stories and anecdotes that will come in future posts, but for now this is the bones of our move to date.

That’s not for now. Thanks for looking in!

I downloaded a few photos from my camera. These were taken during my first trip to Elma for the closing on September 16.

More to follow when I get access to Pam’s photos from her phone. It may be a while!

Still no photos, but here is where we are at on the move and updates on other topics.

The Move

Pam is working hard to get the house set up. She has been painting and working on the pantry and updating the kitchen. Bad weather in the form of light snow pretty much suspended outdoor work for several days, but Pam and Becky managed to get quite a bit of outside work done, cleaning up some of the end-of-life flowers and trimming back overgrown bushes before Becky had to leave to go back to Rice Lake.

The furnace seems to be working fine! Pam reports the upstairs is cooler as it has no direct venting to the furnace, a situation we expected.

The weather has improved in the last few days and Pam will be putting in her Mary Lynn Memorial Garden plantings and doing some other outside work during this interlude.

The cats, both the outdoor ones and the house cats, seem to be settling in OK. The cat shed needs some additional work, including running some electrical power for lights and heated cat dishes and such. The only window faces north and lets in a lot of cold air so a cat door will need to be installed. Having no handle on the inside of the main door is a problem that I will have to address, not a major job but add it to the list!

The dogs had no trouble settling in but prefer being inside to running in the dog run. This is about the same as when in De Beque; JoJo tends to stay out more than Bru or Blondie but Pam makes sure all three get outside time.

Pam has made grocery runs and is getting familiar with the two major stores in the area, HyVee in Charles City and Fareway in Cresgo. Both towns are about 25 miles from Elma. HyVee is a bit more upscale but Fareway has all the essentials one needs so we will probably use both over time.

The Lot

Last Friday I headed up to The Lot with two main goals; winterize The Box and put tarps over the chipper and Ford 8N tractor.

Normally I winterize The Box earlier in the fall. This trip found some water lines had already frozen and there was no water available when I arrived. A night with the furnace running and the water system came back to life. I was able to drain the fresh water tank and water heater then use my waste water kit to drain the holding tanks. (The waste water gets hauled over to a dump station provided by the homeowner’s association.) After that I added antifreeze to all the water lines and sink traps.

Other winterizing chores included removing all food items. Thankfully it did not freeze hard enough to affect the canned food. Then all the sheets and linens were packed for transport to De Beque.

Last on the list: Remove the batteries from the chipper and tractor and get tarps in place to help protect them from the winter weather. I had purchased tarps, tent stakes, and cord and used all to cover the equipment.

This shuts down activity at The Lot for the year. I was relieved to be able to get this work done as we have been having record low temperatures. Left any longer I feared The Box would have suffered major freeze damage.

In De Beque

I am still packing the garage and am making progress. Both workbench areas are pretty well packed but I need to bring home a few smaller boxes to finish. Still a lot to do; I have not even begun cleaning out the garage attic of my old Macintosh computer gear, most of which will end up in an electronic recycle business.

I have found a home for my Gilson tractor and possibly for the left over Ford tractor parts I have sitting along the garage. One last mowing and trimming of the lawn and that will end lawn care, even though there will be leaves to rake as the trees here start to drop them.

I am getting used to a very quiet house. With most of the furniture and rugs gone the place echoes quite a bit. However, Pam left me quite a few cooking utensils and food supplies so I plan my meals and cook as needed. Not fancy, but I won’t starve. I just have to get used to taking care of the outside cats (food and water mostly) as part of my normal routine.

We have a couple that may be interested in the house. They are trying to arrange financing and are checking out several lenders. We are holding off listing the place until we find out if an offer will be coming through from this couple. We hope it happens; Pam has an arrangement with a realtor to act as a “facilitator” which would avoid most of the traditional realtor costs involved with selling a home. Stay tuned.

Next Steps

More packing, getting rid of stuff I don’t plan to move, and finding homes for some equipment are all tasks on the agenda. I plan to make a trip to Elma over Halloween weekend using the F-150 and my 12 foot trailer. Hopefully that will move all the garage stuff, except for a few basic tools, and include a few larger items such as my kerosene space heaters and my ATV. Most of this will go into the storage area we rented in Elma. If possible I would also like to get one of the motorcycles moved this trip so it will be quite an undertaking. In the event of bad weather I will rent an enclosed U-Haul trailer instead of using my open trailer.

It will be a few weeks yet before we have photos of all of this. Our internet service install was rescheduled and won’t be done until October 23. Rather than try to send all the photos via e-mail, and Pam has taken quite a few, photos will have to wait until we have internet e-mail or I can transfer them to a flash drive when I am in Elma at the end of the month. We did purchased a refurbished HP laptop for Pam to use once the internet service is established. Doing a lot of e-mail on a smart phone is a real pain, mostly because the Verizon service we use only gives us one or two “bars” and taxes one’s patience waiting for web sites and mail to load.

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

This is gong to be a long post.

I’ll take this in more or less chronological order. When I last posted I was getting ready to head for Elma to close on the house. The F-150 was acting up, misfiring on one cylinder, and I did not have time to trouble-shoot it so I ended up taking the Honda. (A neighbor worked on the truck while I was gone.) While cheaper to run than the truck, I could not take as much “stuff” as I had planned which messed up some of the moving plan.

Anyway, the closing on September 16th went OK. No surprises and we locked in a mortgage rate of 3%, the lowest rate we have ever had.

After the closing I went to the house and started unpacking the Honda. There were several other chores to be done in the few days I would be at the house this trip so I had to get right at it.

These will seem normal to people who have moved before, but it had been many years since we had to get these tasks done.

1. Notify Post Office that we were in town.
2. Open local bank accounts.
3. Open an account at the local agriculture store as that is where our propane will come from.
4. Take delivery of new refrigerator and dryer.
5. Meet with the guy who would build the “catio.”
6. Find a grocery store, hardware store, and lumber yard.
7. Build a temporary dog run.
8. Set up a temporary kitchen and bedroom.
9. Meet with the city manager and arrange garbage pickup.
10. Get water running in the upstairs bathroom.

It was a very busy week, topped off with a return trip to Colorado. I arrived home on Sunday. Monday Pam and I  picked up our 20 foot U-Haul rental truck. We loaded the truck, and my 12 foot open trailer, to be pulled with the truck, on Tuesday. Wednesday we headed for Elma.

We had problems with the truck overheating on the long grade up to Eisenhower Tunnel. This delayed us for a couple hours until Pam, who was driving our Toyota RAV4, could get me some anti-freeze.

Did I mention I had two dogs with me, and Pam had our 3rd dog and 5 of our house cats in her car? A real traveling menagerie!

That night we stayed in North Platte, Nebraska, a few hours west of where we wanted to be. This led us to get to Elma very late the next night and we did not get to bed until the wee hours of the morning.

The wind was blowing very strong and gusty. One gust blew the hood off my John Deere lawn tractor and crashed it into the median. (I was able to recover a few parts of it on the return trip, but it will still cost $330.00 to replace the main hood which broke into dozens of small fragments.) Other than that the trip went OK, just a lot of miles.

OK. So we arrived in Elma with the Toyota full of animals and the U-Haul and trailer full of other stuff. We managed to get Pam’s mattress set up and my air mattress was still there from the previous trip so we fed the animals and called it a night about 1:30 in the morning.

The next day we moved the cats into the house and started unpacking the truck. Pam had had a wonderful idea; she hired a local handyman, in advance, to come with a lift so items going up to the second floor could be moved in through a window. This worked slick. The handyman (Dennis) brought a couple helpers who moved larger furniture out of the truck and helped move boxes from the truck to the lift and into the house. Process took about an hour and a half. We had unloaded some of the truck before the help arrived and were really getting dragged out so it was great to have helpers do the rest of the heavy lifting.

The next morning we returned the truck to the nearest U-Haul location, Charles City, which is about 25 miles away. While going through town we found the HyVee grocery store, a well known chain in the Midwest, and stopped to pick up a few food items. We also located the veterinary service that will take care of our pets. It appears to be a very neat, well kept, and well run operation. They even have separate waiting rooms for cats and dogs.

Back to Elma to unpack which continued the rest of the day. Another night over and Pam’s sister, Becky, arrived from Rice Lake. Becky would watch the cats and dogs while Pam and I headed back to Colorado for load #3. Becky provided us with some great tasting food so we did not have to worry about cooking, a great help and much appreciated!

Load #3 was my F-150 pulling a 6×12 foot U-Haul trailer. Several of the garage cats were trapped and placed in Pam’s Toyota. I had the last two house cats, Antonio and Mr. Bibbs, in the back seat of the F-150. Most of the cats trapped pretty easily but one, Gwyneth, eluded the traps and is still in De Beque. If I can’t trap her she will become one more of the neighborhood cats.

Getting started a bit earlier, we made it up to I-90 in the western part of South Dakota the first night and into Elma by late afternoon the next day. Top of the priority list was getting the cats settled. The house cats went OK as they were in separate carrying cages, but the garage cats, we thought, would be a problem.

Turns out it was not so much of a problem. The cats sought to hide in one of the carry cases Pam had left in the back of the car, so Pam just closed the cage door, carried the cats to the cat shed, and let them out. Repeat a few times and all the garage cats were transferred without incident. What a relief!

Events started to blur into each other. We unpacked the washer and Pam started doing laundry. There was cleaning, unpacking, arranging, minor repairs such as putting in light bulbs and finding the water shut off valve for the outside faucets. I managed to get the lawn mowed as it was looking pretty shaggy after weeks of neglect.

The Dish Network installer showed up to install our TV service. That went OK but the dish had to be mounted on the detached garage to get a clear view of the southern sky. That meant the cable running between the garage and house had to be buried. One more job I had not expected to have to do!

Then, for me, back to Colorado and back to work on October 7th. I had been off for three weeks and managed a trip a week to Elma. Each trip, with a few side jaunts, ran about 2,500 miles.

So, where are we now? Pam is in Elma with all the cats and dogs, working on getting things settled. She is paining, cleaning, re-arranging, and working with Becky to set up the house. I am working my regular job in Colorado and trying to get the garage packed in the evenings. There is still a lot to do.

Two more trips for sure are in the works, and I may have to rent a local storage spot for some items, such as my motorcycles, to be moved later or even next spring. We will have to see how the rest of the move goes.

We have photos on several devices and it will be a while before I can get them assembled into a gallery, so stay tuned for photos in an upcoming post.

The next few weeks are going to be hectic. Posts will be a bit erratic, moving away from near-weekly to whenever I get a chance. Why?

This weekend I head to Iowa to close on our Elma house. This means a 2,400 mile road trip is about to begin. While I am there several projects will be started; catio, dog fencing, bank account opened, create an account with the local Co-op for LP (propane) fuel, and take delivery of our new refrigerator. I will be in Elma for a few days before heading back to Colorado. The adventure begins!

Back at home

Some good news, some bad news. I worked on my F-150 truck, replacing the noisy idlers that keep tension on the fan belt and the truck ran much quieter. However, on my return trip from The Lot (more on that visit in a bit) the truck developed a misfire, running on only 7 of the 8 cylinders. I have replaced both the spark plug and the coil that fires the plug but those efforts did not cure the problem. Next up will be to replace the fuel injector but I just don’t have time to work on it now. This means the trip back to Elma will be with the Honda and not with a load of “stuff” (truck plus trailer) as I had planned.

The packing continues. I did a first pass through the garage and ended up with 3 bins of metal recycle stuff and a full garbage bag for the dumpster. Still to go though: all my old Macintosh computers and gear in the garage attic. Not looking forward to that.

Pam keeps working away at packing the house items and has completed several painting projects. She is one busy lady!

The Lot

I did make a trip to The Lot over the weekend of September 7 – 8. My goal was to see if the Ford 8N tractor could be used to pull the chipper around the lot a bit and get to places where the ATV could not pull the chipper. While I was able to move the chipper around, it is clear the 8N is not capable of pulling the chipper into the steeper parts of the lot. It just does not have the power and traction to move the chipper, all 1,700 pounds of it, up the steeper slopes present on the upper part of the lot.

Still, I managed to chip 4 piles of brush. Two were smaller piles but the other two were larger in size. I did not get the chips spread; that will have to wait until next year. I plan one more trip to winterize The Box and the other equipment at The Lot, probably the first week in October as usual.  That will close down all activity for the year.

Fall is approaching

I saw a few yellow leaves at The Lot, and the city of Steamboat Springs, in the north-eastern part of the state, had measurable snowfall on September 12th.  Summer is fast drawing to a close in the high country.

The upcoming weeks are going to be busy and involve a lot of driving. There is much to pack, sort through, and get rid of. Somewhere along the way I need to work on the truck. Stay tuned!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth

The F150 out of commission means I needed to revise previous plans to use it for hauling during the relocation. It now appears we’ll rent a 20′ U-Haul self-drive twice over the next three weeks. Those two trips — in addition to the one Himself is making in the Honda to begin project work this next week — should move most (if not all) of the items I’ve been boxing. I have at least 150 boxes stuffed around the house.

Over the past year I’ve been monitoring an old house renovation site in Iowa, and just this week I saw a fretwork item I have been on the lookout for. And I purchased it online (sight unseen), because it features a stylistic heart in the middle. Hearts have been something of a theme this year in the house hunt; I’ve been thinking of 702 Main in Elma as “Heart House.”

Happy Trails.

Time flies. It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post so I thought I’d better get with it and publish some updates.

702 Main

The Iowa retirement house purchase moved ahead with the appraisal accepted by the bank. Right now we are looking at homeowners insurance, which must be in place by time of closing. (We’ll pay the insurance premium as opposed to having an escrow account that pays it.) Pam is also filling out paperwork for the local Elma Co-op (our source for LP gas), internet options, and establishing electrical service in our name. Contact was made with the “bat boys” to get us on their list for remediation work. A handy man has been secured to help put up a catio and assist in installing fencing for a dog run. We are in the process of opening new checking and savings accounts at the local bank — the same one handling the mortgage.

At home

And the packing continues. The house stereo is packed along with several more household items.

Pam is doing some painting, both in the house and on the south side of the garage where the paint has faded. The new paint looks good!

I did some work on the back deck, adding some wire to replace the wood slats I had removed earlier in the year. Pam thinks the wire, and painting that went along with the install, looks much more modern than the old picket fence arrangement.

The Lot

I rented a U-Haul trailer and moved the Ford 8N tractor up to The Lot. I hope to use the 8N to move the chipper around The Lot – but – it also moves the tractor off our yard and will be one less item to have to transport to Iowa.

Other activity included bringing home the last logs from the Aspen Grove, transport of a load of burn pit wood, and filling two bins of chips for landscaping use around the house (on the parking pads where the Scout, Honda, and tractor used to sit).  I managed to fell a few dead trees and cut some brush on the area I call the Grassy Ridge. This work is slow-going due to the steepness of the terrain. Lots of breaks taken as I worked this area!

Truck maintenance

The F-150 truck had been making an engine noise for a few months. I thought it was the alternator that was replaced a while back; nope, with the help of a neighbor the noise was traced to a faulty idler wheel that keeps tension on the belt that runs the power steering, alternator, and air conditioning compressor. New parts are on order. There are four idlers in total in the system so I ordered replacements for all four.

Given the relocation and trailer-pulling demands that will be put on the truck in the coming few months, and the fact that it has over 195,000 miles on it, I thought it best to replace all the idlers (three wheels and a tensioner) rather than risk a breakdown somewhere along the way (like Nebraska or South Dakota). The belt itself was replaced along with the alternator so I didn’t think it was necessary to order a new one.  Cost was not excessive, less than $65.00, and it will take an hour or two for me to install the new components. That will be one of my tasks this weekend.

Moving On

It is hard to believe September is nearly here. We close on the 16th, which means it will soon be time for the first trip to Iowa. There will be closing and delivering the first load of “stuff” to the house and getting started on projects there. I have vacation time approved from mid-September going into October; in three weeks, we hope to move Pam, the house pets, garage cats, and the bulk of our belongings to Iowa. After those trips are completed and I return solo to Colorado, I shut down The Lot for the winter around the first week of October. Busy, busy, busy….

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

Pam’s Penny:

As I keep multiple balls in the air, both at home and in Iowa, let’s hope my aging brain is up to the relocation task. It certainly is a Type A project of the highest order.

Happy Trails.

There is news on a couple of fronts from last week. Here are a few items.

House Purchase

The appraisal for 702 Main in Elma, Iowa came in and just squeaked by. The bank is satisfied with the appraisal and our offer, and will finish our loan application shortly. We did have to send in updated documentation in the way of my last couple pay stubs but just for background; we has sent stubs earlier and these new ones are just a current update. It looks more and more like the retirement house acquisition will go through and we are now planning on closing September 16th.

Stuff gone

This past week “downsizing” efforts, to decrease the amount of stuff to be moved, took on new life. Our 2001 Honda was donated to Colorado Public Radio — they came and hauled Old Bessie Lou away. The car had 412,000 miles (plus!) on the odometer; we have been commuting in it since 2004. That Honda Accord has been our most reliable car ever. (Close second was the Toyota Tercel we drove back in the 90s.)

I sold my 1976 Scout II that I had owned since 2002; it went to a neighbor. While I will miss it, the cost of moving and lack of storage on the Iowa end pretty much made the decision to sell somewhat obvious.

With more downsizing needing to be done, moving along two vehicles was a good start.

Around the house

Pam continues to pack stuff, and has started working in the garage. That will be a challenge as there are numerous boxes and shelves to go through. Pam ordered colored dots to mark boxes. In the photo below the dots are shown, along with a list of rooms and colors assigned to them. (OCD?…or “CDO” in their correct alphabetical order.)

I was able to get the load of firewood (brought home from The Lot) cut and stacked along the driveway. Our friend Kathy will be by to pick up the wood later this month.

This load had some larger than normal trees in it and Kathy may need to split some of the bigger pieces. By the way, the steel item holding up the left end of the pile is the grill guard for the Oliver OC-3.

The week ahead

Packing will continue, along with sorting and getting rid of stuff. One big packing chore will be the two stereo systems I have, one in the house and the other in the garage. Packing a 10-inch reel-to-reel deck is a real challenge, but there are two turntables that will need special attention.

We have mede up a list of “stuff to fix” before we can list the house, and those projects , primarily concerning the two decks and some painting, will need to be undertaken soon.

And so…

Life goes on with the normal attention to cats, dogs, yard work, vehicle maintenance, and now actively preparing to move. We’re quite busy!

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Additional tasks at hand: finding an insurance agent in Iowa (mortgage insurance), locating appliances we need (gas dryer, refrigerator) at Iowa stores, contacting the Elma clerk to establish utility and garbage service at closing, signing up for LP [propane] delivery, transferring vet records to an Iowa animal hospital, firming a date for bat mitigation. I’ve already scheduled a handyman for a few days the week after closing to assist Fields in building animal enclosures.

Some items need to be ordered/purchased: washing machine (it appears the model we prefer will need to be purchased in CO and transported in the box), replacement slipcovers, bath rugs, small microwave, additional flat screen TV, heavier two-wheel moving dolly. I’m sure that list will grow in the next month.

One topic of discussion – what to do with the super-king water bed this move. It is huge and heavy. Can parts of it be recycled???

Happy Trails.

There are several projects going on; here is an update on the major events of this past two weeks.

House Purchase

We are in a waiting period. The property appraisal has not come back to the bank yet so we are waiting on the bank to finish our mortgage loan application. We did hear that the current mortgage rate has fallen to 3.125 percent and may drop a bit more if the Federal Reserve makes another cut later this year.

Sorting and winnowing projects keep moving along. Pam has removed much of our wall art and packed everything in boxes with ample amounts of bubble pack, particularly for the odd-shaped stuff that does not fit into boxes very well. There is still much to go through.

The Lot

The weekend of August 3rd I made a trip to The Lot to bring home a load of firewood and another load of ‘burn pit’ wood. I was able to fire up the chipper and process two piles of brush, one on Birdhouse Ridge and the other in the corner of the Aspen Grove. Except for some firewood left over after the trailer was full, this finishes the major work in the Aspen Grove for this year. (I need to spread the chips generated this trip and bring home the last of the firewood, both relatively small projects.)

Next up, and started this trip, is to work on the upper end of the Grassy Ridge. While not as thickly covered with dead and fallen trees as the Aspen Grove, the terrain is steeper and trees and brush need to be carried further as access for wheeled vehicles gets more limited. The work will be slow going.

Each time I go to The Lot I take some chipmunk food, generally odds and ends of bread products. This time I had some cherries from our cherry tree.

The chipmunks are fun to watch, and this time of year they are stocking up for the winter on seeds from various grasses and so are very active. I did not see how they reacted to the cherries but bet they had a fun time eating the fruit I spread out for them.

This summer has been wetter than normal and the pine trees are producing a bumper crop of pine cones.

This weekend Pam and I did a short overnighter to The Lot. Pam had only been to The Lot one other time this year; plans were to do only a few light chores — to bring back a bin of wood chips to use around the house and to clean up a bit of the Grassy Ridge. These two items were accomplished, along with a bit of driveway clean-up, between light rain showers.

The weekend marked our 45th wedding anniversary on August 10th.

This week it is back to work during the day for me, and beginning to cut firewood and pack the garage in the evenings. Plenty to get done!

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

Pam’s Penny

I would say 45 years of marriage is a very, very long time.

Happy Trails.

Here is an update on the home buying process.

Elma House

As I write this we and the sellers have come to an agreement on price and a closing date. (September 16th.) Now we are waiting for the bank to finish processing our loan application. Part of the process includes getting an appraisal done on the property, ordered by the bank, and that seems to be moving along OK. We were lucky to get on the appraiser’s list quickly. The appraiser had a couple of other properties to appraise in the area and 702 Main will be included as part of that group instead of ending up on the bottom of a “To Do” list. The bank will let us know how the appraisal went and the status of our loan application once they get the results.

Around Home

At home Pam is packing stuff and planning trip schedules and what goes where when. It is quite likely that I will make the trip back for closing solo while Pam stays with the animals in De Beque. I will take a trailer full of non-essential stuff, such as the John Deere lawn tractor, my motorcycles, and other bulky and large items that can be stored in the garage for the time being. (I also have to take some tools.) While I am in Elma I need to get a dog run built, if only temporarily, and get the appliances we need (washer, dryer, refrigerator) installed. The bat remediation people will have to be there to do their thing, and we hope to hire a local handyman to get started on the other projects that need to be done before we move more stuff.

In particular, Pam wants the utility shed (which is about 4 x 8 feet) set up as a place for the outside cats to use. This involves building a cat patio , or catio, on the side of the shed. The cats would be able to go into and out of the shed at will but not be free to roam a strange neighborhood.

We hope the appraisal goes OK and the house will qualify for the loan amount we are asking for. The Fed just dropped interest rates and we hope to lock in a historically low rate which would help the retirement budget. Much needs to be done at both locations before the move happens but we are moving forward!

Colorado

I-70 west of Glenwood Springs, where I work, is built through a canyon. Last Friday a heavy rain caused mud slides that closed both the east and west bound lanes of traffic.

I didn’t know if I was going to get home from work Friday evening. However, the State Patrol gave the Sheriff’s Office permission to take a convoy of 5 cars through the mud-impacted area. Those of us in the Sheriff’s Office who had to go west to get home ended up in two of our transport vans (10 people each) and three private vehicles, all 4-door and all full of people. I rode with our HR Manager who lives further west than I do, along with two other people in the car.

I arrived home at around 9:30 PM, about 3.5 hours later than normal. The east bound lanes were opened by Saturday afternoon but the west bound lanes (only one) did not open until Sunday morning. Pam and I made a trip to Glenwood later in the weekend to retrieve the Honda which I had left in the parking lot at work.

This kind of messed up the weekend plans. The Honda needs an oil and filter change and was not at home, and going to The Lot was questionable because I didn’t know if the return trip would be possible. So it was on to Plan B which involved doing some work on the motorcycle (replacing a broken speedometer cable and burned out dash light bulb) and getting some yard work done. The Sunday trip to Glenwood included stops at Tractor Supply Company to get pet food, and I stopped at Wally World to get a few items. We also decided to treat ourselves to an ice cream goodie at Culver’s, a pretty special stop for us given my Type-2 diabetes.

Speaking of Motorcycles…

The quiet weekend gave me time to work on a new Gallery using photos and video taken at our Owner’s Association motorcycle rally held in Durango earlier in July. For any who might be interested, take a look at my Durango 2019 gallery. There is a link to a video clip at the bottom of the page as well.

A few more photos of the Magnolia Mill were added to my Wheeler Lake gallery as well.

Conclusion

Anticipation — mixed with a little dread — about the Elma house purchase, work on projects and maintenance items, a bit of an ice cream treat, road closures…it was quite the week!

We will continue to work on sorting and packing and getting rid of “stuff” we no longer need or want. Life goes on. I have projects to do at work and will begin to move more duties to my assistant who will take over my spot once I retire. Stay tuned for more updates as things happen.

Pam’s Penny

Some of the stuff departing the house this week was in a pile of shredded documents from the two-drawer file – past taxes, bills and notes from years past. O-u-t.

Even though I have been packing and sorting and throwing “stuff” out since April, there still seems to be a bunch of items to go through. Next up – the garage.

Happy Trails.