The past week was a mixed bag of painting, yard work, bad weather, cold weather, and a visit to friends in Winona, Minnesota. Here are the specifics.

Starting with the weather — the last week featured some very cold rain, forcing us inside where we worked on smaller projects. We received word that our plumbing remodel is on schedule for the week of the 25th, so we began moving some boxes around and other prep work in anticipation.

Pam continued to sort through the linens and other items I brought home from The Lot. Several loads of laundry were involved, but everything is now worked through. Items that will be going back to The Lot next spring are packed in plastic bins and labeled. That will make the first trip packing much easier and quicker.

Fall temperatures have led to overnight lows in the upper 30 degree range, causing us to fire up the furnace for the first time this fall. Cooler temps have affected our painting and scraping routine. I did manage to get a large chunk of the west and north-west walls scraped and painted red, a big improvement. The blue trim board and white vertical trim still need to be painted, but we are waiting for slightly warmer weather early next week, probably Tuesday. That will (probably) end our painting for this year.

I did not get red paint over the west window as had been done with the other first floor windows; I did get up as far as possible while working from the ground. (Going up and down the ladder just did not appeal to me.) It was unfortunate that our scraping on the west wall revealed quite a bit of wood repair needed, which slowed the process considerably. As mentioned, given the weather and other work to be done, we may not get any more red paint up this year. It’s satisfying, though, that almost all the first floor painting is completed.

In an odd twist, one of our lilacs has been blooming for the past couple weeks.

We can’t figure out why this would be happening but we can enjoy the the fragrance the flowers are putting forth.

I have a photo left over from last week’s art and craft fair excursion to New Hampton. It seems “spinners” are all the rage. Quite a few vendors had numerous variations for sale; here its a photo of a few of them.

On Friday we drove to Winona, Minnesota, to visit John and Margaret Flesner. Pam and Margaret had both been co-workers in Glenwood Springs. Margaret, who still owns the family home in Winona, recently retired in Colorado. She and John extended their fall MN visit while awaiting a painter, who is due to show up next week. This timing worked out perfectly for us to arrange a visit. The family home dates from the 1880s and features an amazing amount of original woodwork inside. The stairwell and double door entry is a feature of real beauty. We had a lively (if short) visit — a couple hours of chatting after a tour of the historic home.

I had met both John and Margaret in Colorado as they both rode motorcycles. (Margaret had a trike.) A “Campus to Campus” ride was organized by a mutual friend, where all of us rode from Glenwood Springs to Steamboat Springs, visiting the local community college campuses in those towns. That “ride” was a good many years ago; John and Margaret have traded in their motorcycles for 3-wheel “tadpole” style recumbent bicycles. Many trails in the Winona area give them ample opportunity to ride. Here is a photo of Margaret on her recumbent trike:

Generally speaking it was a good week over-all, though the rain and cold weather did put a damper on the paint schedule for a few days. The upcoming week promises to be a bit warmer, and we are expecting a Heart House visit from one of Pam’s childhood/Midwest friends. That event will be covered in my next post.

Photo Archive

These photos are from September of 2009 during a trip to Estes Park, Colorado

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

Pam’s Penny

It didn’t make the photo cut last week, but — for those of you following along out there — I did manage to paint the floor of the east/side porch while Himself was in Colorado. Not an insignificant task, since one must keep the outside cats from utilizing that porch while the paint is drying (two coats). This time of year, leaves from the oak trees also have the discouraging tendency to blow down into the wet paint. All in all, something of an exercise in frustration, but done for this year.

All three porches + steps will likely need “paint refreshed” every couple of years (due to shoveling snow off the surfaces, sweeping, floor traffic, deliveries). Yippee. Himself and I are pretty burned out on painting at the moment; it’s excellent to cross paint jobs off the list, for this season anyway.

With the arrival of colder air, it was obviously imperative I tackle winterizing the catio. Time to clean cat boxes, vac, pull out winter bedding and bed heaters, stage a space heater for those evenings below 20 degrees. Cleaning indoor cat boxes will be next, to be done outside before the hoses are pulled for the season.

My bulb order arrived, on time this year (not stuck in pandemic Holland, like last time). I doubled up on daffodils, since the daffy display was so successful in the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden this past spring. After the first freeze, bulb planting will join the yard cleanup tasks.

It’s that time of year. Happy Trails.

It has been an interesting time since my last post. I took a driving trip to Colorado to shut down The Box for the winter and made a [long] side trip to Arizona to visit our good friend Hank Tourtillott. It was a long and tiring journey but satisfying on many levels.

Every fall, in late September or early October, the RV trailer we call The Box has to be shut down for the winter. This year, in addition to draining the fresh water and emptying the holding tanks, Pam suggested I bring home all food items, including all dry foods that would normally not be harmed by cold weather. In addition, I brought home all fabric items including bedding, pillows, and all other linens. The truck was stuffed on the way home!

Until the last day, I was finishing some cutting and chipping that I had set as objectives. The work was cut a bit short by rain and cold weather, as morning temperatures were often in the mid-30 degree range. Still, with the fall colors just past prime, it felt good health-wise for me to be able to get out and enjoy the weather; I completed as much as I had the energy to do.

Here are a couple of fall color photos from this trip:

I did not take many “work” photos but did get a before and after of some of the work I accomplished. In this case, I was cutting dead branches off the bottoms of pine trees on The Lot.

I do this kind of work so it is easier to walk around The Lot, it reduces fire load, and it just makes the place look better. The dead branches will be chipped. I was able to work on several trees in the upper part of The Lot, opening a potential path for the tractor and trailer to use to further clean up the area. I was also able to chip a couple of small piles of brush I had assembled on the lower part of The Lot, giving me the chance to operate all my “Big Boy” toys.

Part of the travel plan was to take 3 days out of the trip and drive to Arizona to visit Hank. It is hard to believe we met him more than 40 years ago when we moved near Nederland, Colorado. Hank (and Ellie, since deceased) were our good neighbors during that time and we have kept in touch ever since.

I did not take photos of my time in Lakeside, Arizona, but did record some strange “on the road” photos during the trip down and back. Here they are with captions.

The trip, in total, was around 3,200 miles. I was tired when I arrived home and the truck needs an oil change. Still, it was a satisfying journey.

I arrived home around dusk last Friday. Pam had a nice meal of roast beef and a fresh apple pie waiting for me. On Saturday I unloaded the truck and we took off to visit a craft and antique fair, as Pam was hoping to find some larger Christmas-themed decorations (none we liked were present). Pam did score an old heart-shaped rug beater – which will become a decoration in the house – and I bought an oil lamp (sans chimney) that caught my eye. It was a good outing.

Sunday was a day of yard work. In my absence the grass had grown and a lot of oak leaves had fallen. The work to mow and clean up the yard yielded two trailers-full of grass, leaves, and cut-back flower plants which I took to the town organic dump area and unloaded. Those loads will be the first of many for the fall leaf season; hopefully I will be able to keep up with yard work a little better with no long trips scheduled in the near future.

Finally, I have a new short video clip on my Video page. The latest covers a cannon shoot at the Ft. Atkinson Rendezvous we recently attended. The end of the clip features Greg and Annie, a duet that performs old fashioned music at events like this. The direct link is Rendezvous 2021.

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

Pam’s Penny

Himself is back in the house. Time to prepare bloody meats for mealtimes once again. The dogs love it when bloody meats are cooking. Me – not so much.

Happy Trails.

This week I concentrated on more scraping and painting. The process has evolved into a routine that I’ll describe below. We also took in a car show and craft fair, mentioned in my last post. Today we attended a Rendezvous. It was another busy week!

The north and north-west corner of the house was the focus for scraping and painting this week. Generally I start working from the ground and reach up to about eye level. After that it is all ladder work. The routine: Scrape and sand an area, followed by a first coat of paint. Scrape and sand another area, then put a second coat on the first area and a first coat on the second. Repeat for all sections. Here are the results for the north wall:

After painting the red I painted the blue trim above the windows and touched up the white trim. Re-doing the trim is going to be a project in itself, probably sometime next spring. With the current first floor painted to this point, the view from Main Street is much more cohesive.

Last Saturday we attended a craft fair and car show in Osage. (Mostly car show.) We examined all the vendor tables and many antiques, then walked through the car show. Here are a few photos of that event.

The outing was a good break for us. So much so that today (Saturday) we drove to another outing, this time to the Ft. Atkinson, Iowa, Rendezvous. Ft. Atkinson is just under an hour’s drive from us. We had seen ads for the event and decided to attend. Here are some photos, with video to follow in a few weeks.

We enjoyed the outing and visit to Ft. Atkinson, new territory for us. I don’t know if we will attend this event every year, but it’s an option. I have video of the cannons firing and of Gary and Annie playing, but those will have to wait for a future post. As I will be on the road again shortly, my next installment may be a few weeks from now.

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

Pam’s Penny

Fall weather is just about perfect for attendance at outdoor events. Today was no exception, although it wasn’t sunny; partly cloudy and a slight breeze was very comfortable. We stood in line for school bus transport from the Ft. Atkinson Community Center to the historic fort. How many years has it been since either of us rode in a school bus? Did those school bus seats get smaller or something in the intervening years?

Today is Dog #2’s birthday — “Sassy Brunette” turned 12. Bruie was actually born in Iowa a dozen years ago. I’m remembering the crazy December car ride from Colorado to Iowa to pick her up from her foster family. Ice covered the interstate after a major storm, and dozens of vehicles were off the road along the route. An adventure.

Happy Trails.

This week saw us completing the painting of the peak on the west wall of the laundry room, a milestone for us. A few other events of note passed as well.

In my last post I included a few photos of Pam on the scaffolding and painting the ginger breading on the west wall of the laundry room. I am pleased to say that painting is now complete. Below are before and after photos of that wall.

We think this project turned out very well and will serve as a model for doing the other ginger breading on the house. Bob the Builder picked up his scaffolding a couple days ago and charged us only $75.00 for the use of it, a very reasonable price.

I am going to include a photo of Heart House taken from its Southeast corner as I think it shows off more of the house painting and siding replacement accomplished this year.

The scraping and painting has taken a toll, however. I am still fighting a very tender back and had to take a day off to recover. Hopefully this is a passing ache and I will be able to get back at it tomorrow. I had started scraping the north side of the house, working from the ground. I was able to prep the wall part-way up around the bay window and got the first coat of paint on that area, but there is much to do yet. I want to get the north side done up to about two boards above the bay window, the same as we did on the east side of the house, before winter sets in.

A major irritant, over the last few days, has been an outbreak of mosquitos. Pam and I have had to use a fogger and Deep Woods Off mosquito repellent in order to do any work outside. The mosquitos are very aggressive and, no matter how much we prepare, they always seem to find an unprotected body part to attack. We suspect the swarms are the result of the massive rains we had a couple weeks ago, as up to now, the mosquitos had not been much of a problem although a few were always present.

Another phenomenon involves our oak trees. This year we had a bumper crop of acorns, not seen in either 2019 or 2020. I was raking up – literally – snow shovels of acorns and putting them in the trailer for disposal at the dump. It was hard to walk in parts of the dog pen and yard because of the loose footing below our feet. And we are not alone; it seems our neighbor’s trees are producing as much as ours. It may be a good year to be a squirrel!

Fall projects have begun. Pam removed several of our sunflower plants as the heads were maturing and dragging the plants down. A few plants remain to provide some color to the garden.

Leaves are beginning to fall at an increasing pace, a portent of a leaf-covered lawn to come. I’ve ordered a new battery for the leaf muncher and performed some maintenance on it as I know I will need its services before long. Just for the record, the old battery was the original in the unit, purchased in 1999 or 2000.

We are heading out to an antique and craft fair this Saturday. (I am writing this on Thursday night.) The show is in Osage, 25 miles or so away from Elma, at the Mitchell County Fairgrounds. My next post should have a few photos of this outing. We are not looking for anything in particular but it will be good to get out and look over the tables and vendor offerings.

Photo Archive

Since fall is in the offing, I decided to include a few “fall” photos. As a reminder, we lived in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, before we moved west. All these photos are “Wisconsin” fall colors.

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

Pam’s Penny

I’m trying to get motivated for another round of exterior painting, all the while battling swarms of mosquitoes. (The temps are cooler, that’s something.) For some reason, after four days of scaffold climbing, my joints are reluctant to engage in continuous trips up-and-down ladders. Go figure.

A second wind would be welcome right about now.

Happy Trails.

I have three topics for today’s post. They are: Painting the east wall of Heart House, working from scaffolding to paint the gingerbread on the west wall of the laundry room, and a summary of my ATV trip over LaSalle Pass during my last Colorado visit. Plenty of phots are included.

We were able to finish quite a bit of the first floor painting on the east side of the house. This required a lot of scraping and wire brushing, much of it from ladders. Pam’s sister, Becky, had done some of the prep work when she was here visiting. Pam and I much appreciate her contribution!

In the same vein, Bob the Builder was able to deliver some scaffolding for our use this past Thursday. Pam wanted some repair work done on the trim of the west wall of the laundry room and follow that up with painting the gingerbread in the wall’s peak. The trim repair was completed and Pam has begun painting her 3-color combo in the peak. As of this writing, the work is still in progress.

Below are three photos of the west wall work-in-progress.

I should have photos of the completed work in my next post. One side note: Pam and I are pretty stiff from climbing, scraping, and painting from ladders and scaffolding. We may need a couple days to recover from our exertions. However, the results are looking pretty good! (Also: Pam is wearing her bug repellent head net while painting. The mosquito population is ginormous after the heavy rains, and swatting at bugs while on scaffolding is not an option.)

My last “big news” item concerns the ATV trip I took over LaSalle Pass the last time I was in Colorado. This route was a pleasant ride with a couple surprises. Let’s take a look.

Along the way I came across an old farmstead, complete with an old barn and a “soddie,” a sod home built into a hillside.

I did not try to enter the home as the roof had already collapsed in the rear and the rest of the place won’t last much longer. Nearby was the barn featured above.

The trip was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. Located north of Wilkerson Pass on Highway 285, the trailhead is about 20 miles from The Lot. There are several more trails in the same area that I hope to explore on future trips.

Finally, a personal note. I had my latest check-up at the Mayo Clinic this past week. My blood draw indicated the Eligard treatments are doing their job of reducing my PSA levels, just what the doctor wanted to see. As a result, the doc changed my injection schedule from every 3-months to every 6-months. I will get my next injection in February, 2022, then my last injection in August of that year.

The week was busy and we feel we accomplished a great deal of work. With the days getting cooler and shorter we want to get as much work done as physically possible while the weather is optimal. I need to take one more trip to The Lot to winterize the RV trailer, bring home food that might get damaged by freezing, and just close things down in Colorado for the winter. While I enjoy the fall colors and weather, I am not looking forward to winter.

Photo Archive

Here is an assortment of family photos.

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

Pam’s Penny

OK, folks, I am not a fan of painting 18′ up on scaffolding. Nope. Not a fan.

However, I’m intent on painting one gable with what [I think] will be the final shades of blue ginger breading. I can observe the colors over the winter — in many lighting conditions — and also have an actual example to point to when we [hopefully] find someone to paint the second story exterior next year. This is not a color choice in a location that can easily be changed in the future.

But doesn’t the first floor on the east side of 702 Main look vibrant?

Happy Trails.

My sister Kitt (AKA Carol/Carolyn) and her partner Matt visited us last weekend. It was our first face-to-face since Thanksgiving of 2019 — just after Pam had moved to Heart House but before I had retired. Our move was still in progress then, and I was driving back and forth from Colorado with loads of stuff.

In 2019, Kitt and Matt had helped us move some boxes and assemble the queen bed frame upstairs. They had brought with them a Thanksgiving Dinner which, in addition to being very tasty, was very much appreciated by Pam and myself.

Not many people saw the house in 2019 — there have been plenty of updates, repairs, and lawn work since then to observe and discuss this visit.

Kitt and I had a good time talking about childhood memories. Kitt is older than me, so I had memories that differed from hers a bit. It was interesting to note the differences in point-of-view that a few years makes!

While some meals were eaten in Elma, Kitt and Matt treated us to a night out at a pub in Charles City and the Sunday Brunch at Klunder’s. Both places were new to us and the food was very good. Thank you, Kitt and Matt, for this courtesy.

Of course, there was much to discuss about the house repairs, updates, and yard work that had been accomplished since the fall of 2019. The garage addition, a major piece of work, did not occur until the summer of 2020, for example. Pam’s work in the Library and the Snug, as well as in the front parlor, became a focal point of many discussions. Kitt and Matt mentioned they departed in 2019 thinking how much had to be done, and commented we had moved along very well in all of our projects to date.

The one disappointment was the weather. Elma and the surrounding area received over a foot of rain over that weekend. One local said she had reports of as much as 16 inches of rain in some places. While our basement stayed dry, we heard of several homes getting flooded basements and damaged water heaters and furnaces. One place, about two blocks up the street, looks to have suffered major foundation damage. It is now being rebuilt.

Several side roads flooded but we didn’t have problems getting to and from the pub and restaurant. I did snap a couple of photos of flooded areas near one of our routes.

By this weekend the flooding had subsided and some of the road damage has been repaired. A Rochester-based TV company had broadcast from Elma with interviews of yard and home flooding in town. Click on Elma Flooding to see that report. We had small ponds in low places in our yard but had no water in our basement. I guess we were lucky!

Before and after the visit (and rain), Pam and I continued to scape and paint the house and work on other projects. This is slow going as we try to remove as much old paint as possible before putting on the new coats in either red or white. Pam took some time to add blue detail work to most of the porch posts.

Another project undertaken concerns the job sink we plan to install in the laundry room. (This is part of a project that will relocate the clothes washer and re-route water lines to the upstairs bathroom.) We received our quote from O’Brien Plumbing & Heating to do the work and wrote them a check for half the cost as a deposit. This will get us on their work calendar but we don’t know when. We suspect they are booked up as much as a month in advance (due to damage caused by the recent rain) so our project will not be completed for some time. However, there is some work I could do beforehand.

The job sink will be a galvanized tub sitting on a stand. I need to build a platform that will hold the faucet and spray attachment and equip the platform with a backsplash.

Not ever having done this before, I decided I needed to “prototype” the faucet platform using some old wood I had in the garage. This worked out OK and I can now move on to buying the good lumber, building the platform, and covering the assembly with polyurethane to make it water proof. Below is a photo of me building the prototype.

Out in the yard, the garden is making some news. I now have a couple pumpkins and watermelons developing although they are still very small. Pam continues to get a few blackberries off the plants we put in last spring. The sunflowers are probably at their peak.

With cooler and drier weather on the horizon we hope to get more scraping and painting done on the house. It seems clear we will miss our goal of getting the entire first floor painted this year, as the work is going slower than anticipated, but we will persist until cold weather sets in. Any work we get done improves the appearance of the house and adds protection to the wood and trim over the upcoming winter.

Photo Archive

These photos are from 2013 when we drove to Boise, Idaho to hear Felicity sing with her vocal group “Northwest Harmony,” part of the Sweet Adeline organization.

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

Pam’s Penny

September 16 marks two years since we purchased 702 Main in Elma. Much has been done, much remains to be done. All in all, old house renovation has turned out to be the “retirement transition project” we thought it would be. (The COVID pandemic having been something of a bump in the road in this regard.)

Hours of daylight decrease and winter looms. Pace and possibilities in projects take both into consideration.

Happy Trails.

There has been more activity around the Heart House in the last week or so. We attended a local sweet corn festival, my sister Kitt and her partner Matt arrived for a visit, a new water heater was installed, and more of the house was scraped and painted. Details are next.

The nearby town of Lime Springs held a sweet corn festival that featured a parade and car show along with some vendor tents. Free sweet corn and watermelon (while supplies lasted) were incentives to come to the event.

We started off with the car show, and there were some very nice vehicles present. A walk down the avenue brought us to the heart of Lime Springs and we were able to snag some free watermelon. It was quite good.

The parade was typical for a small town, including only one marching band. Parade entries included floats from local vendors and service providers, some restored older tractors, and even a family float advertising their upcoming reunion. That was a new one for me.

After the parade we returned home and continued working on scraping and painting the east side of the house. The front porch walls were completed and prep work started around the east side bay window. Scraping the multiple layers of old paint is slow going, and many of the boards have to be re-calked and repaired, slowing the process. We move along as well as we can.

Here are a couple photos of the east side front porch and work underway below the bay window.

A few posts ago I mentioned we had to replace the failing hot water heater. O’Brien Plumbing and Heating, from Elma, showed up to do the work this last Thursday afternoon. The work took about 90 minutes and we now have our hot water back. Below are a few photos of the replacement process.

We are currently experiencing a deluge of rain after having been drier than average this summer. In comparison, I came across this graphic about extreme weather during 2020 on the internet.

Other than heavy rain and some wind which brought clumps of leaves and small branches down on the lawn we have not suffered any damage. The dogs, however, were unsettled by the thunder and lightning and were constantly seeking reassurance from us (mostly Pam) as the storms continued. The forecast for the upcoming week includes a high probability of more rain. This will cut into our outdoor work time but we can use the break to work on indoor projects.

The highlight of the recent days, ongoing as I write this, is a visit from my sister Kitt and her partner, Matt. Kitt and Matt had last been here in 2019 as we were moving and before I had retired. They had helped assemble my bed frame and moved a few boxes for us. Kitt and Matt had brought along a full Thanksgiving meal for us on their 2019 visit.

This time around Kitt and Matt were given a tour of the house and yard and a summary of all the changes that have occurred since 2019. We spent quite a bit of time in conversation and eating meals. The bad weather limited outside activities, such as sitting on the porch, but the time passed quickly just the same.

Fall is approaching and we hope to get back to scraping and painting more of the house. In addition, we have contacted Bob the Builder and arranged to rent some scaffolding from him for use over the Labor Day weekend. Pam intends to use the time to paint the ginger breading on the west side of the laundry room, experimenting with widths of the different colors she plans to use in all the the home’s peaks. Fall will be a busy time for us!

In a previous post I said I would be creating a new gallery consisting of photos taken on my recent trip to the Alpine Tunnel, located in western Colorado. I have created that gallery and uploaded it to my host server. If interested you can access the Alpine Tunnel gallery from my Galleries page or go directly to the Tunnel’s home page. On the Galleries page you will need to scroll down and find the section titled “ATV and Off-Road Trips” then click on the “Alpine Tunnel” thumbnail image.

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

Pam’s Penny

Mother Nature seems intent on deleting a 7″-8″ rainfall deficit in a single three-day stretch this weekend. The lawn is a giant wading pool at times. Yikes.

Happy Trails.

It has been a couple weeks since my last post. (I was on vacation in Colorado.) Much has happened since I last wrote including house updates and a report of my vacation time. Lets get to it!

Because I have so much ground to cover I am going to mention just a few of the more important details for each general topic. Home news is up first.

A bit more painting has been done on the front porch but it is not yet completed. Here is the front porch east wall getting a first coat of paint.

While I was gone Pam added a second coat of paint to the porch and began painting the west wall off the laundry room.

Pan did as far up as she could reach from our aluminum ladder. We hope to rent some scaffolding from Bob the Builder and finish the wall and paint the detail work up to the top of the peak over Labor Day weekend.

More flowers are blooming, keeping us supplied with “color” around the yard.

Not shown is detail painting Pam has done on some of the north and east porch posts. I will have more on that in my next post. Work goes on but at a slower rate due to high humidity and temperatures levels that limit time outdoors.

The next topic covers my time in Colorado in early August. There are three general divisions to discuss: Work on The Lot, ATV rides, and a special guided tour.

Given my decreased energy levels I decided to concentrate on cleaning up areas where Pam and I had previously worked. Aspen trees are not long-lived and there are always some dead trees to remove and brush to cut. On my June trip I made a few brush piles that I wanted to chip this time, and I was able to get that done. Going through the Aspen Grove and Bird House Ridge I removed several more trees, mostly small but a couple were big enough to salvage for firewood. Some of these were chipped but a few remain for my next outing.

While I spent quite a bit of time working and walking on The Lot, I had also planned a return to the Alpine Tunnel, the first railroad tunnel to go under the continental divide. Pam and I had visited the tunnel 40 years ago and I wanted to make a return visit to see what has changed since then. This was an all-day event. Suffice to say I took a lot of photos that only a railroad history buff would find interesting, so here are just a few of the many views I took along the way.

The first surprise is that the area is now a National Historic District with much signage along the route. I was pleased to see this historic bit of railroad is now recognized as something to preserve.

The railroad is most famous for the rock work required to build a shelf road along some towering cliffs. Known as “The Palisades” the work was done beginning in 1880. The railroad ran until 1910 and the rock work survives to this day with only minor degradation.

You really need to click on the above photo to blow it up to a larger size to appreciate it. As you can see, weather was just about perfect.

I will have a full gallery featuring photos from this trip shortly and will add it to my Galleries page. I will let you know when the gallery is completed but it may take some time due to the amount of material I wish to include. Watch for it.

Another high post of my vacation occurred when I went to visit the top of Boreas Pass. (Readers may remember that Pam’s mother’s ashes were spread at the top of the pass as she had requested.) We try to make the trip each year we visit Colorado.

The route to the pass goes through the town of Como where the railroad had a roundhouse in use from the late 1800s into the mind-1930s. Over the years we had observed the roundhouse undergoing repair and reconstruction work. On this trip the yard seemed to be unusually busy so I stopped to see what the excitement was about.

The owners of the old roundhouse are in the process of building a replica water tank. Another couple had stopped to look over the work and I joined them.

During the talk I asked if the roundhouse was ever open to the public. (It is one weekend of the year.) I said I would not be around for that event, and before you knew it, I, and the other couple, were invited on a personal tour of the roundhouse!

My camera’s battery had gone dead and was recharging so I reached back for my old Canon but it has no flash so most of my inside photos did not turn out well. Still, I enjoyed the tour and learned more about the history of the Denver, South Park, and Pacific Rail Road. I had known some of the history as this is the rail road that created the Alpine Tunnel but the guide had even more information at hand. I was delighted at this turn of events.

A few roundhouse photos will be included in my Alpine Tunnel gallery as both the tunnel and the roundhouse were part of the same railroad line.

After the guided tour I continued my trip to the top of Boreas Pass, where little has changed over the last several years. However, the public outhouses are now locked.

One thing that I will mention is that a smokey haze was present throughout most of my vacation, a by-product of all the fires in the western states. The haze was particularly noticeable from the Boreas Pass Road.

I also ran my ATV on some forest service trails including LaSalle Pass but those photos will have to wait for an upcoming post.

Finally, just a couple miscellaneous photos taken during the trip.

No Photo Archive this week.

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

Pam’s Penny

While Himself was in Colorado, oldest cat London (17+ years) went into his final decline; he died in my arms in the middle of a stormy night. London came into my life as a kitten, when I was working for a Colorado animal shelter and had just started investigating rescue. His life spanned an intense kitten-fostering period in our Colorado years – 33 kitten litters fostered in a decade. London’s passing is a bittersweet goodbye to those Crazy Cat Lady days.

Happy Trails.

The main story of the week was the hot and humid weather we experienced. With the “feels like” temps exceeding 100 degrees due to a combination of temperature and humidity, most outside activities were abandoned. Still, there were a few noteworthy events and happenings.

On Sunday we drove to Greene, Iowa (about 40 miles) to look over their outdoor plant and craft sale. (This is an annual event but was not held last year due to COVID-19.) The sale was held in one of Greene’s riverside parks which proved to be a beautiful spot along the Shell Rock River.

We bought a couple of white phlox plants to go along our two shades of red plants. We hope this gives us a colorful display next year. The existing phlox are doing great, with two lighter red plants flanking the deeper red plant that Pam bought last year. A pot of daisy plants and half a dozen ears of fresh sweet corn came home with us as well.

Here is a photo of one of the vendors set up for the event:

Pam’s sister Becky accompanied us and she returned home with a plant to take back home with her. Becky departed Elma for her return trip to Rice Lake on Monday. We were sad to see her go as we had enjoyed her company and appreciated the work she did on Heart House. Thank you.

The night of the 27th we had quite a lightning storm which was followed by some high winds and rain. I took some video of this event which has been posted on my Videos tab under the title “Lightning.” The 3:13 minute long video is grainy as the low light and flashes of lightning raised havoc with the camera’s auto focus function. Still, it was quite a show.

Speaking of videos, I added the Elma Trail Days Parade to my Videos page. There is nothing exciting about this clip but it does show how small-town America celebrates a local event. Narration is provided by Pam, Becky, Larry, and myself. With a run time of nearly 26 minutes it is a long clip; view it at your leisure!

New grass seed was planted near the garage in a bare spot that had never filled in naturally. I am pleased to report the new grass is coming up. I hope it covers well and eliminates the bald spot that has been the source of mud in rainy weather.

Given that outside time was limited by the heat and humidity, Pam and I turned to inside projects. Pam stained her new birdhouse and one of the wood crates we had picked up earlier this summer. New valances were hung over the library windows. Zack from O’Brien Plumbing and Heating arrived to begin working up a quote for some plumbing we need done. I made a trip to Menard’s home improvement store in Rochester and came home with a new water heater, garbage disposal, toilet for the upstairs bathroom, and a faucet set for the job sink we plan to have installed in the laundry room. The job sink will be made out of a galvanized wash tub on a stand, which is on the way from the manufacturer.

Some of my inside time was taken up with updating my web pages. I needed to bring some of the code up to more modern “best practices” as many of the pages now date back a decade or more and coding techniques have changed a great deal over time. Most of these changes are invisible but a few are not; you may notice drop shadow boxes around many of the photos used throughout the pages. The site is now more portable-device friendly should you want to view it on a smart phone or other hand-held device such as an iPad.

A fan repair was accomplished after one of our fans began having a hard time turning properly. For some reason the fan’s manufacturer used security screws in two places. Security screws have a ‘pin’ in the middle of the screw head and you need a special type of bit to remove them. I have a set of these special bits as similar screws are often used on computer gear to discourage folks from taking things apart. Why industry goes to this trouble for an inexpensive fan is a mystery to me.

Small projects, a couple trips, saying good-by to Becky…the week passed with us doing a mixture of routine living tasks and chores. With the coming of cooler weather we hope to get back to doing things that improve the looks and functionality of the house.

One small note: We received our annual propane usage report from our local supplier. Last year we used 836 gallons of propane. The previous owners, for the same time period, had used almost 1,700 gallons. We keep the house a bit cooler than the previous occupants, but I suspect a lot of the savings is due to the foundation sealing, a few new windows, and other energy savings projects we took on last year. This year has seen us replace the kitchen window and broken siding on the south side of the house, complete with a layer of Tyvek underneath, and caulking of quite a few joints as we scrape and repaint portions of the outside walls. All these upgrades help make the home more energy efficient. With propane going up over 30 percent this heating season, all the upgrades will pay off in real dollars.

Photo Archive

Zion National Park in 2014

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

Pam’s Penny

I guess everything is on a domino-effect cycle around here. Purchase a new dishwasher and the resulting hot water load kills the water heater. Lukewarm showers may be somewhat refreshing this time of year, but that won’t last for long. Money spent on house maintenance/appliances seems endless.

Happy trails.

It’s been two very busy weeks since my last post. Which means I have a LOT of photos and ground to cover so let’s get started.

Last week we organized a road trip to Tulsa to visit daughter Felicity and her boyfriend Peter. The trip was possible due to Becky, Pam’s sister, staying on in Elma to watch the critters. We thank her for that! Becky had brought down some earrings that Lorraine (Pam and Becky’s mother) had in her estate when she passed. These were given to Felicity, who was delighted to get them.

Peter is quite the cook and made us dinner on Friday and breakfast on Saturday morning. Notice the food and plate composition in color, shape, and texture. Taste was excellent too.

We had a conversational visit that touched on many, many topics. We also visited the Tulsa River Walk (Arkansas River) which is within two blocks of Felicity’s and Peter’s rental home.

All too soon it was time for us to head home.

Yes, Peter’s face is partially hidden but this is the best photo I have of the four of us. Better luck next time.

On the way home the main road was under construction so Pam grabbed a Kansas map and we headed out cross-country. One of the places we passed was the small hamlet of Beagle. Pam was “taken” with the name (since we have beagle-mix hounds at home) so we had to stop and get a photo.

The round trip came in at about 1,300 miles and took us three days. Another long, driving visit accomplished!

Along those same lines, my college roommate, Jon, and his wife Joan were heading west on vacation and we arranged to meet them in Austin, MN, at a Perkins restaurant. The evening went by quickly. It has been some years since we’ve seen Jon and Joan face-to-face; it was time to catch up on all the news/events in their lives.

Jon and Joan are tall people and are members of Tall Clubs International. (Jon is 6′ 8″ and Joan is 5′ 11″) They met at a club meeting and will shortly be celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Joan has some medical issues and gets around now with the aid of a mobility device. Here we are outside the restaurant.

Our social life is getting more active, it seems. My sister Kitt (and significant other Matt) will drive from Illinois and visit Heart House in late August. This kind of interaction is what we missed last year due to COVID-19 and I’m pleased we can now expand our social contacts.

Meanwhile, back at the house…

Painting, sanding, and scraping were all on the agenda. Becky contributed a major assist with sanding and scraping, getting large areas ready for follow-on paint. She also sanded the top of the table we use in the kitchen, preparing it for the coat of oil that Pam would apply later.

Pam sanded the top of our dinner table and added a coat of oil to it. She does this once a year or so to renew the table’s surface.

Another project was spray painting the catio door, giving it a new coat of white. It had always been a bit of an off-white that did not match the house and trim – it was time for the upgrade.

The front (north) side of the front porch received a coat of barn red paint, moving that project along.

A big visual change was made in the library. The old carpet was removed, revealing the wood floor beneath. The floor is in good physical shape but does have paint stains on it. Apparently a previous owner had painted boards on the floor without using a drop cloth. Floor refinishing is not on Pam’s list of projects (and may never be). For now Pam will order individual rugs to cover traffic pattern areas in the space.

Along with the routine yard work – plus caulking, sanding, scraping, and painting – it was a busy week at Heart House. Outside time was a bit limited due to the heat and humidity. Even the dogs felt it. Here is Bru cooling off in front of a fan after an outside walk:

Given the number of photos in this post there will be no Photo Archive this week.

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

Pam’s Penny

It has been quite excellent teaming with my “see-eester” to accomplish a myriad of Heart House projects – small and large – some of which have been on “the list” for quite some time. Although my timetable for exterior painting is wa-a-a-ay behind (the humidity has been extraordinary lately), the indoor project list is now greatly reduced. Very satisfying.

Happy Trails.