Category: General (Page 5 of 59)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pam’s Penny

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

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

Happy Trails.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other events of the past few days…

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

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

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

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

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

Pam’s Penny

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

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

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

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

Happy Trails.

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

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

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

The couple had two daughters, Evelyn and Gertrude.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pam’s Penny

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

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

Happy Trails.

Breaking News…

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

More to come in a future post!

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

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

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

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

A number of old waggons and antique trucks were included.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pam’s Penny

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

Happy Trails.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was a pleasant way to spend a morning.

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

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

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

Pam’s Penny

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

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

Happy Trails.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pam’s Penny

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

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

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

Happy Trails!

The main news this week involves painting. Gable painting began on Tuesday and the results are looking terrific! Other activity saw the power company working on the Main Street/north side, burying cables. (This necessitated digging holes in the median.) More flowers are in bloom and I have a short clip of neighborhood cat Autumn Calico rolling around on the sidewalk. A quick medical update will round out the narrative. Onward!

Both Pam and I took a lot of photos of the painting work in progress. Here are a few work-in-progress shots and I will include finished results below.

Last week I had included a photo of the power company putting guards around the power line that leads to the house. This photo below shows why guards were a good idea. The painter is in a bucket between the house and power line.

Above is over the east porch. The west side was somewhat more open.

The north and south sides had trees to contend with but the crew managed to get positioned OK. (Two guys, Will and Troy, each with a boom lift, did the work.)

Here are a few photos of the finished work.

As you can see, the painters were able to fulfill Pam’s request to paint the east gable under the electrical wire. We are very pleased we won’t have to try to negotiate rental bucket lift equipment under that wire. The house is looking better than ever. Now we just need to repair remaining [mint green] broken siding sections, and finish the second floor red painting.

The Tower: One of the painters will do some photography of the tower to establish a scope of work. A wooden decorative “skirt,” about half-way up, could possibly be removed, depending on what is underneath it. Photos may confirm it was built over the cedar shakes which could stay in place while permitting the removal of the “skirt” with no ill effects.

The top “cap” of the tower is problematic. It looks to have quite a bit of rot – can it be painted? Does it need complete replacement? Replacement would be more than I can personally do. Whatever we decide, it may just be “lipstick on a pig.” Our resources are not endless.

Moving onto other topics…

One of the outside cats, mentioned before, is Autumn Calico. Here is a – shaky – 57 second video of her grooming and rolling around on the sidewalk.

As if having two lift trucks in the yard was not enough excitement, the power company, Alliant Energy, dug a couple holes in our Main Street median. Power lines are going underground and junction boxes need to be installed on small pedestals at a few points. The following photos show one hole (of two in our median) and the plastic pipes that will eventually house the power cables.

At least the workers backfilled the holes when they were done and did a good job raking and leveling the area. We will throw some grass seed down and see if we get some green to come back yet this summer.

Around the yard, hostas are beginning to bloom as are daylilies. Regular lilies and hollyhocks are continuing to show their colors so we have a pretty good show going right now.

Finally, a medical note. I went to the dentist for impressions that will result in a casting for my replacement front tooth. The new tooth should be ready for fitting in a couple weeks. I broke it last September and getting the implant has been a long process, now nearing an end.

The Civil War Reenactment we had planned to attend last weekend did get rained out, but we really needed the rain and did not mind staying inside to read and work on quiet projects. Elmo, Bru, and Blondie had a quiet afternoon napping in the laundry room. (JoJo was elsewhere in the house.)

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

Pam’s Penny

Oh, Heart House. Look under the roof overhang below and see wood that hasn’t seen paint in decades (the dirty looking bit at the bottom of the photo). No wonder the house has looked so bedraggled. When I question why we took on this exterior paint “experience” I’ll remember this photo.

The paint crew was very thorough when cleaning the wood trim in the gables prior to painting, wood trim I refer to as the “lace” of the gables. Spindles and decorative circles fell off the lace left and right during paint prep. One wonders how they stayed up under the eaves all these decades? In the end, the lace is still attractive without these”artifacts” but it’s less intricate than it was originally. (The only piece of lace with most of the spindles intact is in the south gable, an area protected by the giant oak trees.)

Happy Trails.

A number of small items and news updates take up the blog post this week. Some involve the house, others the yard, and a few involve pets. A couple medical updates round out the topics. Read on!

The painter, who is to do the gables, is due on Monday. Per our agreement, I fired up the pressure washer and tried to clean the eaves and gables by using our 12-foot ladder. I did notice some dirt coming down and some loose paint was blasted off. I hope it was enough to satisfy the painting crew.

Another pre-painting task was to get the power company to come out and put a few guards over the powerline where it connects to the house. These guards are to prevent damage to both the painters and lines.

Out in the yard, a few new flowers came into bloom. Two of the hollyhocks have opened blossoms. One is a traditional pale yellow, but the other is a crimson with “feathered” edges to the flower. Both are very attractive.

Unfortunately, lack of rain is turning many parts of the lawn brown. According to the local weather channel, we are short almost 3.75 inches of rain for the month and it shows.

Moving to pets, the “Terrible Two” (Stirling and Vienna) continue to claw into things, frustrating Pam in her attempts to keep posters and pictures on the walls as decorative elements. They’ve even been trying to claw on the soft pine of the wood table pedestal in the library.

Oldest dog, Blondie, is sleeping more and more. I’m not sure how long she has left with us, but seems to be eating OK even though she doesn’t move with much fluidity anymore. Blondie will be 15 years old next month.

I mentioned last time that Pam had a biopsy taken of a lesion on her forehead. The results confirmed it is a spot of basal cell carcinoma. Pam is taking the steps to get an appointment to have the lesion removed; the operation will take place later this year, most likely in later summer/fall.

I have a couple weeks of physical therapy left. Both my therapists indicate I have come a long way and am improving steadily. While still under 100%, I am working the shoulder more and can note my range of motion and ability to lift small weights above my head is improving. Full recovery, according to my doctor, will take several more months.

I’ve also been cleared to move ahead with my tooth implant. The oral surgeon that did the work has declared, in an appointment last Thursday, that the implant post is fully healed in and ready for the next step of building a new tooth on it. The focus now shifts back to my local dentist who will do the work. That is good news.

I never thought I would have to worry about air quality in Iowa, but here we are, under advisories and warnings for quite a few days this month. The first were related to smoke coming out of Canada, but the recent ones have been for ozone. Currently we are in “Level 3” which is “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” and only just below just plain “Unhealthy.” Quite a large area of the midwest is affected. Not much can be done except hope for a weather pattern change that will disperse the ozone and get the air back to safer levels.

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

Pam’s Penny

We envisioned our Iowa summer activities as including short trips to numerous local events. Then COVID arrived, and lingered for basically two years. This summer I think we can anticipate more activity. We’ve already been to a craft fair in West Union and the River Days festival in Greene. Plans for this weekend may get rained out; we had planned to attend a Civil War reenactment in Nashua but thunderstorms in the forecast may force a cancellation.

Himself mentioned Blondie above, and her age; the other two dogs are 12 and 13 (not youngsters either). During COVID lockdown, being home [pretty much] all the time meant the dogs became very comfortable with me as on-demand door opener. Now, retraining the dogs to be comfortable secured in the laundry room for up to five hours while we attend local events — that activity is ongoing.

Happy Trails.

Last week saw little in the way of outside project work, due to smoke haze from wildfires in Canada. Air quality warnings were the norm, with some alerts in the “Unhealthy” category and much time at the “Sensitive” level. Pam and I passed the days with routine yard work, getting to know a couple outside cats, and “puttering.” Saturday morning we visited Becky at her home in Greene and watched the local River Days parade.

I am going to start with a photo of the equipment trailer that I was working on in my last post. I did get both sets of wheels done and fenders as well. Pam took this photo of me at work. Note the rusty wheel and taped-up light and license plate, preparations for painting to come.

Wheels received a coat of white paint, hubs received a coat of black, and mounting hardware and fenders were done in red. Main deck is still to be done using a combination of white and red.

One development concerns a couple neighborhood outside cats that have been appearing with more regularity at our house. Autumn Calico and Cheeto are seen more and more frequently, with Autumn using the catio ramp and shelter from time to time.

While Autumn seems to be in good physical health, the same cannot be said for Cheeto. He is a skinny little thing and appears to be having problems with diarrhea. Pam is drawing on her rescue background to feed him probiotics with targeted diarrhea meds in hopes of helping improve Cheeto’s health.

Both animals are friendly and can be petted with no problems; they are obviously used to people. Are they cats let out by neighbors, or were they dumped? We don’t know. If they stay around Heart House they may end up in the catio over the winter. Autumn is already comfortable using the ramp and entering the catio building for periods of time, but Cheeto has not yet been so bold. We have a summer to work out the dynamics.

Staying with a cat theme, here is [indoor cat] Elmo at rest one day. That cat can relax in a number of unconventional poses.

The trip to Greene to visit Becky and take in Green’s local parade went well. The dogs seemed to be OK (sequestered in the laundry room) for the hours we were gone, and we enjoyed the drive through fertile Iowa cornfields. Here’s a photo of Pam and Becky waiting for the parade to begin. Our chairs were in the shade and a light breeze blew. Quite comfortable.

We are very impressed with the work Becky has put into her place her first year in residence. Becky’s small garden is doing well, growing a wide variety of plants, and the yard looks great. The work of planting, putting up arbors, and purchasing hanging plants has resulted in a good-looking place. (The photo does not include parts of the front walk and area at the end of the garage which have received attention and resources as well.)

There is (always) some medical news to relate. Pam has had a lesion on her forehead since just before our move to Iowa, and [finally] she was able to schedule a dermatologist appointment. During the consult, a biopsy was taken. The official results are not yet in, but basal cell carcinoma is strongly suspected. (This is the most common form of skin cancer in the U.S.) More on this as the story line develops.

So that was our week, routine tasks mixed in with a few trips and projects. Summer heat is building. Summer Solstice is this coming week.

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

Pam’s Penny

My sister is in the process of creating a charming “grandma house” in Greene. Inside, the decor is as interesting and detailed as the exterior landscaping. She has worked s-o-o hard, solo, to achieve results. Very impressive. And more to come!

Silly me. I though, with Cloudy Day’s exit to the Rainbow Bridge in April, the catio would be essentially closed down going forward. As soon as Cloudy’s presence was no longer an obstacle, the neighborhood cats moved in. First Autumn Calico, then Cheeto – next, maybe Frito and Spook and Muffin Head…don’tcha just love neighborhoods?

Happy Trails.