A diverse week; that is what we enjoyed over the past several days. 4th of July, Elma Trail Days, visits from relatives, and a plug for a new project all are covered in this post.

First, a plug for the proposed project, something rare for this blog. The old I-80 bridge over the Mississippi River from Iowa to Illinois near the Quad Cities (actually 5 cities, including Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline, Illinois, Davenport, and Bettendorf, Iowa) is going to be replaced with a new bridge. A proposal to retain the old bridge and turn it into a wildlife land bridge crossing – housing a small yard of bison – has been proposed. We think this is a neat idea! Here is a link to the Bison Project: https://bisonbridge.org. The site loads a video which takes a bit of time so have patience; the video is worth the view.

The 4th of July was quiet here in Elma because the town’s annual summer event, Elma Trail Days, was this weekend and not on the 4th. Trail Days is so named due to the bicycle trail that is built on the old railroad line. The trail begins in downtown Elma and passes the old railroad roundhouse (only the foundation remains) and will eventually connect to a wider series of trails in the area. The town sponsors a series of events that include fireworks, live music in the park, pancake breakfasts, a small car show, a parade, and other activities from Friday night through Sunday afternoon.

Friday, it rained heavily and continuously. The fireworks were supposed to be held on Friday night but were rain delay rescheduled for Saturday evening. Still, the Saturday a.m. parade went on as scheduled under overcast skies. We watched the Saturday parade [down Main Street] from our front porch and enjoyed the turn out. I’ve never seen so many people in this small town!

I did film video of the parade but it will take me some time to edit it down to a final product ready to post. Maybe next time I’ll have it done. It was not exciting by any means but it was nice to see a few familiar faces (contractors mostly) and watch the entries go by.

The biggest event of the week was the arrival of Pam’s sister, Becky, and the older of her two brothers, Larry. They arrived Thursday with plans to stay a few days. Larry rode down from Onalaska, Wisconsin, with Becky who drove down from Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Becky will stay with us for awhile into July, but we took Larry back to Onalaska on Saturday after the afore-mentioned parade.

We had reasons for making this arrangement as Pam wanted to see a friend from childhood who lives south of Larry in LaCrosse, Janean, and meet her husband, Mike. We also [finally] stopped for a photo of Onalaska’s signature entry sign – a sunfish – as the town bills itself the Sunfish Capitol of the World. (Note: Pam graduated from Onalaska High School.)

Pam and Janean have been friends since Pam was about 4 years old. Later Janean moved away from Onalaska but the two kept in touch over the years and remained friends. COVID-19 prevented us from visiting them last year so this year we arranged to take Larry back to Onalaska, then visit Janean’s and Mike’s home south of LaCrosse. Later we would continue down the river road, along the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River, to Prairie du Chien and then back to Elma.

We had a very enjoyable visit with Janean and Mike and received a tour of their custom-built house. It is quite the place, built into one of the many small coulees that are common in the LaCrosse area. A doe was feeding near the edge of the back yard, a common occurrence according to the couple. Mike is a carpenter and gave us a tour of his shop, which I enjoyed. We hope to have more visits with them in the coming years.

One of the reasons Becky had come down to visit us was to go have Pam and Larry go through some family history items, including photos, cards, and a couple old newspapers that had been part of Pam’s mother’s estate. That provided us with several hours of reminiscing and story telling as well as keeping a few items for our own files. One such item was an April, 1965 issue of a local newspaper that had published one of Pam’s 6th-grade poems.

The same paper had this add, aimed at the young ladies in town.

Having visitors and traveling was a good way to end the week. This type of activity is what we expected when we were planning the relocation to the Midwest, and after a year of COVID it has finally started to happen. It feels good to be able to resume activities this year.

As part of the preparations for Becky and Larry’s visit we re-arranged the storage room to create space for a roll-a-way bed. Elmo the cat had to help us out.

Out in the yard, the hostas and phlox are beginning their blooming season so we have some new color around the house.

It was a good week. Family, friends, some much-needed rain, and cooler weather made the week an outstanding one. Fireworks and a parade helped provide entertainment as well. Hopefully there will be similar weeks in the months to come.

Photo Archive

Only one photo this week. It is of the Boreas Pass roadhouse and cabin before both structures were rebuilt by the Forest Service. Photo dates from the late 1970s when we first moved to Colorado.

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

Pam’s Penny

Family, friends, memories. Quite a weekend. Activities were pretty much mask free, as my sister and brother are vaccinated and we only observed outdoor events (avoiding crowds) during the Elma celebrations.

Happy Trails.

Normally I write my blog on Saturday mornings, but this one is different; I am writing Saturday night after we returned from an outing. We had a busy week preparing for the 4th of July weekend. Some preparations improved the looks of the outside of the house, other upgrades took place inside. I have a lot of photos to get through, so take a look at the captions for more of the details.

Pam had ordered another bookshelf — “some assembly required.”

Positioning the new shelves required the removal of some of the old carpeting. We had planned to take on this task this summer and it seemed like a good time to get started. We knew there was a strip of carpeting below the bay and side windows that could come out. The strip was held down with a very tough double-sided carpet tape, but I was a able to remove it with a putty knife and lots of pulling.

The smaller shelves we had purchased not long ago were repositioned in the library and filled with paperback books. The library is starting to live up to that title and looks good. Plus, we were able to got several boxes out of the storage room and free up some space. Best off all, we can now get reacquainted with some of our favorite titles.

This afternoon we drove over to New Hampton to look over an outside antique and craft fair. It was a delightful experience, and we even bought a few things.

A table full of bird houses caught Pam’s eye as she has a collection of houses and is always on the lookout for another.

One of the larger units was purchased and now resides in the snug.

A pair of wooden boxes now keeps the glider in the library company.

The largest purchase of the day was a storage unit built from old barn wood. We agreed this would fit in the kitchen and provide a place for critter supplies, replacing a metal stand we had been using. Problem was we were driving the RAV-4 and the unit is 6 feet tall.

We squeezed the unit to one side and held the rear door closed with a bungee cord. Needless to say the trip home was pretty slow but we made it! The new unit is now in the kitchen, christened the pet pantry.

We enjoyed getting out to this show and had a good time picking up the crates, birdhouse, and storage unit. The show will be repeated late this fall and we plan to visit it again.

And, it seems to never fail. We were talking to a vendor and mentioned we were from Elma and fixing up an old Victorian. The lady said, “I know that house. It’s green. I was looking for a house and saw it on Zillow.” She will be visiting a relative in Elma next week and we invited her to swing by the house. Will be interesting to see if she takes us up on the offer.

The house is looking its best for the weekend. The lawn has been trimmed and mowed, weeding has been done, and we put up Pam’s bunting. Part of the front porch has been painted. One can notice cars slowing down to look at the house as they drive past.

While other towns may have their holiday events, Elma had a tractor pull, which I visited for a time this morning. Things sure have changed since I last attended a pull. Here is how I spent a couple hours today and some background on how tractor pulls operate.

Tractors are grouped by weight with, generally, 1,000 pounds between classes. The facility had a portable scale on hand to confirm the weight of each tractor. Each class has a speed limit as well. There are prizes for the top three finishers in each class.

Tractors are hooked to a “boat” that consists of a truck with steel plates underneath it. Some of the plates are fitted with teeth. The plates are lowered by hydraulics as the “boat” moves forward simulating more and more weight. Eventually the tractor will stall out, the distance measured, and the truck lifts the plates and backs down to the starting line for the next pull.

It turns out that “Builder Bob”, the contractor that built the garage addition last year and installed the new siding this year, is a big tractor pull enthusiast and helps organize and run these events. Here’s Bob getting ready for a pull.

Quite a few tractors in various classes were present and several hundred people turned out for the event. Considering the population of Elma numbers less than 300 souls the attendance was remarkable.

I did enjoy my time at the pull. Many of the tractors I recognize from time spend on my uncle’s farms when I was much younger. Oliver, Allis-Chalmers, Farmall M and Super M, and Fords were all familiar to me. It was a blast from the past to see them all again.

If you would like to see a 1:21 video clip of an old John Deere pulling the boat please click on this link.

Given the number of photos I have already included there is no Photo Archive this time around.

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

Pam’s Penny

Mr. Haney’s Antiques and Craft Show – New Hampton. Just the sort of outdoor bargain hunt I was anticipating when we moved to the Midwest (and held on the lawns of two historic houses). COVID delayed participation in this type of event last year. It was an adventure. One for the positive list, Iowa.

I’ll be spending the 4th of July consoling quaking dogs while fireworks are booming away. Hopefully your holiday will be somewhat more pleasant.

Happy Trails.

The highlight of the last week was a visit from Jeff Hayes, a friend of Pam’s since childhood. A few other chores occupied us as well.

Jeff Hayes, his late wife Mary, and Pam had been friends since childhood. Jeff and Pam attended the same church and all three were in the same grade through school. Pam and Mary had traveled together in Europe before either married. Mary passed away about four years ago due to pancreatic cancer, a great loss to all of her friends. Pam established the Mary Lynn’s Memorial Garden in her memory. I have featured photos of the garden in previous posts; the name came from Mary Hayes.

Jeff lives in Florida but is considering a move back to Wisconsin. He was on a visit to friends and relatives who live near LaCrosse and was able to arrange a stop in NE Iowa on his way home. We were very glad to be able to meet with him and have a several hour conversation.

Topics discussed included the kids, our work on the house, friends Pam and Jeff have in common, and future plans. The weather cooperated with mild temperatures and no rain so we spent quite a bit of time outdoors in the shade. It was a very satisfying visit and we really appreciated Jeff’s effort to go out of his way to stop at 702 Main.

Other projects have been started; we started scraping paint on the front porch. Pam would like to have the porch painted by the 4th of July but much depends on the weather, which has been very hot and humid lately. (Much needed rain arrived on Friday and again as I write this on Saturday morning.) Scraping and painting will be the prime project for the upcoming week.

As with many projects, unanticipated sub-projects emerged. In this case I began removing a bunch of old phone land-line wire and cable TV cables from the outside of the house. These cables, some of them cut by previous owners and none in service, were attached to the outside of the house by stapes and cable clamps. A pair had been run up to the media room via the end of the porch. No use in trying to paint over or around them; just better to remove them now. There are more wires to remove on the west side of the house but that will wait for another day.

The heat limited our outside activities for much of the week but it did not seem to affect the flowering plants. This year’s star, so far, have been the hollyhocks Pam planted last fall. I had a photo of these in my last post but since then more blossoms have appeared and the hollyhocks look particularly attractive.

Each plant blossomed with a different hue. The shortest plant, with the deepest red flowers, came from seeds we harvested from a flower bed in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. We hope these plants will self-seed and expand the flower bed over time.

Potted pansies on the front flower bed are also doing well this year. Visible from Main Street, this pot and other flowers in the bed add color to that side of the yard. Many of the hosta plants are getting ready to flower; photos of those will be in my next post.

Photo Archive

This weeks archive photos have a definite mechanical theme. They are from an antique tractor show I visited. Location was Janesville, Wisconsin and date was in the late 90’s.

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

Pam’s Penny

Happy to see the rain.

Happy Trails.

It’s Father’s Day and the Summer Solstice combined. What has the Fields’ household been up to, you may ask? Here is the answer.

It has been pretty quiet since my last post. The week’s activities were a combination of routine tasks (mowing lawn, for example) and small projects. Pam painted the inside sill of the new kitchen window; next up is detail painting the brown trim around the window, then re-hanging the curtains. This will require relocation of the curtain brackets as Bob the Builder installed the original trim upside-down. Oh well.

I worked on the trailer’s lights as a few of them were inoperative. Three lights were replaced and some work had to be done on the truck end as one of the 4-wire plugs was dead. This left me with no right-hand turn lights. All issues have been taken care of now so the trailer is safe and legal for road use.

Along those same lines the power mirrors on the truck had quit working. Fuse checked out OK and power to the switch was verified. A new switch is on order to cure that particular problem.

Pam and I did go bumming a bit yesterday, visiting a couple of area antique shops. We didn’t buy much but Pam did find a piece of crochet work that she thinks may work in the parlor. We enjoyed getting out and even had lunch at Culver’s, a special treat for us.

The hot weather seems to have broken a bit as we are getting some light rain today and temperatures will top out in the low 80s. According to the local TV station, we are in a moderate drought, 6+ inches below the average rainfall to date. Lawns are already drying and developing brown spots. In spite of that, various flowers are blooming around the yard. Photos of these make up the bulk of of the images in this post.

All in all it was a quiet week since my last post, and it will probably be that way for the next few weeks.

Photo Archive

More from our 25th anniversary trip to England in 1999.

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

Pam’s Penny

Summer Solstice has arrived! How wonderful it is to have twilight until 9:00 p.m. And how bittersweet it is to know the progression toward darkness at 5:00 p.m. has begun. Maybe it takes getting older to appreciate the light.

Not much progress re: exterior painting here at 702 Main. A little less heat and humidity, please.

I ordered a few bookshelves for the library; our books need somewhere to live. With so many interesting angles provided by the bay window in that room, finding shelving to fit has been something of a challenge. The jury is still out on the bookshelves just received, as I haven’t started sorting through the book collection quite yet. Hopefully I’ll be satisfied with the look and utility.

Happy Trails.

Two main events have transpired since my last post. The first is installation of the new siding on the south end of the house. The second involves my recent trip to The Lot in Park County, Colorado, which involved a few ATV rides. I have plenty of photos that document both events.

I’ll begin with the siding project. Pam and I had been painting the new siding at a workstation I had set up in the garage. All the long boards had been painted and Pam had worked on painting a few short boards that were left after the garage addition was completed. We were in pretty good shape when Bob the Builder and his helper arrived to remove the old siding, install a new kitchen window, and put up the new siding. Here are photos:

I was in Colorado during this process so Pam handled all the on-site organization and inspection. There are a few touch-up spots that need to be addressed but overall the new siding is a huge improvement over the old! Plus, the new window works much better than the old one and the Tyvek and caulking will help make the home more energy efficient. One more item off the home project list.

While the siding project was going on I was in Colorado visiting The Lot and opening The Box for the summer. My goal was pretty minimal given my medical circumstances and the fact that I am no longer acclimatized to The Lot’s higher elevation. (9,750 feet.)

The largest single job was to remove a large pine tree that had fallen across my west access trail. The tree had been partially down last fall, leaning against another pine, but over the winter it hit the ground. I really hate to loose a pine like this.

Using my ATV’s winch I moved the trunk sections off to the side of the trail near one of the piles of branches. Chipping the limbs is on the agenda for the next trip.

Doing this work revealed how little stamina I have at this point. It was cut a few branches, rest, pile up the branches, rest, cut a few more branches, rest, and so on. Clearing the tree took me most of a morning.

I did manage to clean up a few smaller trees that had not survived the winter. A small pile of these were chipped but I have not yet dispersed the chips. (No problems starting the chipper as I had brought the battery home with me last fall and kept it on a ‘maintenance’ charger all winter.) There were no major changes around The Lot but there was a bit of garbage to pick up here and there. This is normal but the volume has picked up since the neighbors moved a large RV trailer onto their lot and have been spending more time there.

One of my goals for the trip was to get some riding time on the ATV. There is a trailhead about 8 miles from The Lot that gives access to several miles of forest service roads. I had explored part of this system last year but wanted to do more riding in the area. I had picked up a map and photographed the area I would be riding in.

I enter the area from trail 146 located in the upper-left corner of the photo. These trails are not difficult. I would describe them as pleasant but they are forest service trails — none goes to an old mine, ghost town, or scenic overlook. A person does ride through a variety of landscapes that include grasslands, pine forests, and aspen groves.

My ATV (Yamaha Grizzly 550) is equipped with electronic power steering so I did not find the riding took a toll on my stamina. I enjoyed getting out on the trails and spent several hours over a couple of days riding the area. These outings were the highlight of the trip for me.

The road part of the trip was uneventful. I paid a high of $3.25 per gallon of regular gas in Denver and a low of $2.55 in Ogallala, Nebraska. Two nights were spent in hotels and summer rates are in effect so prices were a bit higher than I expected, near $100.00 for the first night (Days Inn) and about $78.00 (Motel 6) for the second. Distance from NE Iowa to the lot came in at 926 miles and took around 18 hours of driving time.

The only disappointment came in the form of a failing chain saw. The more I ran it the worse it ran. I finally had to quit using it. On return home I took the saw into a local shop and they will clean the carburetor and get the saw running as it should. Estimate for this service is $40.00. But…the failure put a cramp in my planned activities for the last day or so of my trip. I walked The Lot and located all the corner stakes and rode my ATV around the development.

I really enjoyed the visit to The Lot and being in the mountains again. Getting out on the ATV and riding new trails was a real hoot. I did get some work done on The Lot and found the The Box and the power equipment survived the winter OK. Temperatures were in the upper 70s during the day and upper 40s at night. There was no rain but it did get windy at times. (Back in NE Iowa during the same time period it was in the 90s and heavy on the humidity.) I am looking forward to a return trip (or two) later this summer.

Photo Archive

Not much this time. The first is a photo of the cabin we owned near Nederland, Colorado.

The baby cradles were made for us by our good Colorado friends Hank and Elinor. (Felicity’s and Toby’s middle names came from this couple.)

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

Pam’s Penny

Due to excessive heat and humidity for this time of year, I confined myself to mainly small inside projects during Himself’s absence. I did mow sections of lawn on a rotational basis.

While I’m pleased to see the south end of the house’s siding now tidy and painted, the mint green conduit running up it’s height is going to drive me crazy. It stands out as a focal point on the red paint, and it is not meant to be a focal point.

Happy Trails.

With temperatures rising into the 90’s, it has been a hot week. High and low temps have been around 20 degrees higher than average. Time to run the central air and turn on the bedroom window A/C at night. The heat has put a limit on our outside tasks as well; we try to plan exterior projects for the shady side of the house — west in the AM and east in the PM.

Over the Memorial Day weekend we visited a couple of graveyards, one here in Elma and a new one, the Bohemian National Cemetery that Pam had read about. Pam’s ancestry includes a Bohemian link and this was the impetus to visit this site. The cemetery is small and very well kept, about a 35-40 minute drive (one way) from Elma and out in the farm countryside.

We found that many of the stones had marriage dates on them, and a few had genealogical information listed on the back side of the markers (such as Mother of, Daughter of, Parents of, and Grandparents of). Not only interesting but a boon to anyone doing family history research.

Just as we were about to leave, a mother and son arrived at the cemetery and, being the only people at the cemetery when they arrived, we struck up a conversation. The lady had grown up in the area and was able to give us some information on growing up in a mix of Norwegians, Bohemians, and Germans as well as Catholic and Lutheran religions. We enjoyed the conversation and left with a better understanding of life near the small town of Protivin, Iowa in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Back home, a couple projects occupied our time. Pam is nearly done with the snug and here is how it looks now:

Pam moved in the furniture, floor lamp, side table and other decorative items. The room is now “snug” and we are enjoying the fruit of her labors. The dogs and cats really appreciate having the sofa available to nap on. 🙂

I worked on two main projects, one was the install of a new dish washer. The old one had died last year and it was time to replace it. A trip to Lowe’s, in Rochester, yielded a Bosch unit in white to match the other appliances. Here are a couple shots of the install in process.

The dishwasher is now installed and in service. Not only does it clean the dishes well but we no longer have to hand-wash all the plates, pots, and pans. That was OK during the winter but now time is at more of a premium and better spent on other tasks.

The second project was to finish painting the siding that will be used on the south side of the house when Builder Bob arrives to install it and replace the kitchen window. We don’t have a time line yet but hope this work occurs sometime in the next month. The delay is dependent on delivery of the new window; building products have been experiencing long lead times.

This is my first week since completion of my radiation treatments, although I did have my second hormone therapy shot on June 1st. I am doing OK although my stamina is quite low. By 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon I am about done with project work for the day and turn to projects that take less effort (such as scanning slides). I did manage to get my pumpkins and watermelon seeds planted in the garden one cooler evening.

Also in the garden, potted pepper plants are doing well. Seeds from last year’s sunflowers have germinated in the line Pam planted. Rhubarb was allowed to go to seed at the beginning of the summer, with increased rhubarb production to look forward to in the future (hopefully). The blackberry bushes planted earlier this year are getting ready to flower. The Grandpa Ott morning glory starts appear to have been “frosted” one of the cooler evenings in late May, but are now making a gradual recovery. In the east side flower bed the geraniums [from the Mennonite greenhouse] are adding their red coloration. Numerous toads, of various sizes, have been spotted in the flowerbeds.

I will be on the road this next week. (Pam will be home with the cats and dogs.) As a result, my next post will be somewhat delayed. I am going to visit The Lot and see if The Box and other equipment survived the winter. Given my low energy levels I doubt much clearing work will be done, but it will be good for me to be in the mountains again. I’m taking the ATV and will purchase the annual CO license for off-road vehicles, allowing me to enjoy a few back country mountain field trips.

Photo Archive

I scanned a few more slides from the late 80’s featuring Pam , Felicity and Toby as well as a couple “artsy” shots.

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

Pam’s Penny

It’s just a few weeks now until Summer Solstice. Kinda hard to wrap my mind around the longest daylight in the year occurring a short time from now. The current long-lasting twilight [until almost 9:00 p.m.] is such a delight.

Happy Trails.

There will be lots of photos this time around and news on several fronts. Let’s get to it!

I finished my radiation therapy this week. I had to get a selfie of me gowned up, masked up, and ready for treatment.

The Mayo Clinic has a long-running custom that signifies a person’s completion of treatment: Ring the bell. Here I am doing just that. The bell is located just outside the Radiation and Oncology check-in desk and I passed it while going for each treatment. Note that the bell is titled “The Sound of Hope.”

Next up, on June 1st, is a scheduled hormone therapy injection. After that I am clear until my 3-month follow-up in late August or early September. I look forward to regaining some of my energy so I can move ahead on the various projects planned for this summer.

Last week we hit up a couple greenhouses and bought some plants. Pam potted some pansies for the front porch steps and planted geraniums in the east flower bed. Here are the potted pansies.

While trimming back some day lilies under the oak trees, Pam found two columbine plants blooming. One is pink, the other the traditional Colorado blue. Below is the pink plant in bloom.

One of Pam’s ‘Bucket List’ items for the house has been to get bunting on the porches for summer holidays. To this end she ordered bunting online, and has been sewing a casing to the tops, so each panel can accept a 5/8-inch dowel rod. The rods are used to hang the panels while maintaining their shape. (My idea.) Pam installed the bunting this morning, and the results look great.

Painting lengths of the house cement siding was interrupted this week by all of these weather conditions: cold weather, rain, and high humidity. Frost advisory? Really? And one day the humidity was 99% with temps into the high 80’s. I had to put the window A/C unit in my bedroom and we ran the central air a couple of days as well. Crazy weather this spring.

Photo Archive

In July of 1994 we took the kids on a trip to the east coast. We visited Old Sturbridge Village, Kitty Hawk, Shenandoah Park, Mt. Vernon, and other sites along the way.

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

Pam’s Penny

The patriotic bunting project is not yet complete (the small buntings on the east porch need some additional ruffles, for instance, for better proportion). But it’s satisfying to see the main porches with bunting swaying in the breeze. I tried to order bunting last year during COVID, but due to manufacturing difficulties none was available. Probably just as well; with the stresses of both the pandemic and the previous administration in 2020, I wasn’t feeling very patriotic last Memorial Day anyway.

Depending on what is flowering in the yard by Monday, I will cut some sprigs of fresh flowers and put a few on the grave stones of Hannah Tierney and daughter Gertrude Stute. You may recall these names of two of the past owners of Heart House — we visited their graves in the Catholic cemetery in Elma last year.

The gardens @ 702 are exploding with plant growth. Except for purchase of petunias for the Mary Lynn bed (hopefully on sale), most of the annual flowers are planted. Now begins the weeding. I’m trying not to be obsessive about weeding, as we have a resident population of toads who enjoy shady areas and undergrowth.

The possibilities of participating in local events closed down by COVID last year is tempting; we are considering which ones to attend. Summer will include continuing renovation projects of course, but I don’t think we’ll keep our noses to the grindstone as we did last year during lockdowns. Hopefully we’ll see some of you in Elma this year to check out our renovations/updates at Heart House.

Happy Trails.

With the arrival of full-on spring, the yard is coming awake with more flowers. It’s hard to believe that just a couple weeks ago we were dealing with frost and freeze warnings.

The daffodils and tulips have run their course for the year, but many other blooms are taking their shot at the sun. Lilacs, blue flax, bleeding hearts, and lilies of the valley are adding their colors to the place. Here are photos of a few of them.

In my last post I mentioned a few repair projects — Pam’s board buddies and a fountain. Here are a couple shots of these completed repair projects.

I have the fountain on the porch for the time being as I like listening to the tinkling sound of the water when I sit near it.

The man had one of his hat brims replaced and the lady received a new foot. Damage had been caused during our move from Colorado. The figures are placed where Pam can see them from the kitchen window.

Spring has also brought a few new birds to the area. One of them is this white breasted nuthatch:

Another bird spotted for the first time, which I have not been able to photograph yet, is the Northern Oriole. His bright colors are easily recognized. Photo below is from the internet.

A recent trip to a couple greenhouses yielded another amur maple, now planted in the east yard, and various flowers that Pam will put in pots or plant in the flower beds. More on these in my next post. I will note that the greenhouses seem to be very low on stock with many empty racks in the facilities. We don’t know if this is because it is still early in the season or if plant stock is abnormally low this year. Major chain stores seem to have their regular allotment of plants for sale.

Helping the grass and plants in their growth period was the arrival of nearly 2 inches of rain this past week. NE Iowa/SE Minnesota had been in a ‘moderate’ drought, according to local weather stations. Pam had been hand-watering plants, particularly the new ones, so the rain was welcome.

Painting of the cement siding got underway this past week. The rain didn’t help that project much, but a number of boards were painted and are being stored in the garage addition. I move the boards and Pam does the painting.

I completed another five sessions of radiation treatments. Eighteen done and four to go. On Thursday, my last treatment day, I will discuss a follow-up plan with the doctor and move into that phase of treatment. I suspect the plan will consist mostly of blood draws to monitor my PSA levels and hormone therapy injections every 3 months. More in my next post.

Photo Archive

More fall color photos. The first one includes Pam, myself, and son Toby enjoying a fall day.

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

Pam’s Penny

Busy. You too?

Happy Trails.

This week continued with the routine of last week, at least as far as my trips to the Mayo Clinic were concerned. Really nothing new there. I have completed 13 of the 22 treatments so am in the ‘home stretch.’

For those who may be familiar with the Mayo Clinic, you know there are two campuses. One is the St. Mary’s Hospital campus and the other is the Methodist Hospital campus. I am getting my treatments at the Methodist campus. The two are a few blocks apart in the city of Rochester, Minnesota.

My last post mentioned me getting my ‘day pass’ when I arrived at the campus. These are used for COVID-19 screening. Just for hoots I kept a week’s worth of these passes:

The treatments go on. Although I will be done with the radiation treatments by the end of the month, I will be getting my 3-month shot of Eligard (hormone therapy) on June 1st. These shots will happen every 3 months over the next 15 months. It remains to be seen how I react to the rest of the radiation but, to date, the side effects have been fairly subdued.

Pam continues her work in the snug. Painting is nearly done but details need to be completed. Later today we will attempt to remove the rest of the snug’s carpet which will be a real job. Here are some photos of Pam’s work to date.

The snug is looking good!

Ever since we moved in we knew at some point we’d need to replace the kitchen sink faucet as it, believe it or not, made a sound (like a sad sigh) and dripped every time a valve was turned off. (Not to mention the hand sprayer sticking in the “on” position and giving the next person a complementary shower.) Replacement was on the docket. I found a suitable new unit at Menards and set about swapping faucets.

One thing led to another and I ended up replacing several of the drain pipes. Nothing is ever easy, and what should have been a simple project took a trip to the hardware store for more parts and pieces and a couple hours of work. The main culprit was a broken trap and down-pipe that connects the sink drain to the rest of the plumbing, located in the basement.

Additionally, several of the slip rings and gaskets had to be replaced. The job was a real PITA but we now have a new faucet that does not leak or make noises and drains that should last as long as we own the house.

Spring continues to progress. Our lilacs are beginning to bloom. New growth is on all the plants and trees, good to see. Pam harvested a few rhubarb stalks this week and will continue, as growth permits, until there is enough diced rhubarb to make a pie.

A couple other projects are in the works. I sealed the cracks in our decorative water fountain and cut and glued a couple of repair pieces onto Pam’s “farmer and wife’ board buddies lawn ornaments. The fountain is waiting for the sealant to cure and the repaired parts of the buddies need paint. I hope to have photos of these by the next post.

It was a routine week. The time is dominated by my daily 125 mile round trips to Rochester and work on a few small projects after I get home. Pam’s work in the snug is highly detailed and takes up quite a bit of her time. Throw in the routine tasks and occasional animal transport to the vet for maintenance (JoJo just had her teeth cleaned) and the time goes by.

Photo Archive

Family photos from the early and mid ’80s.

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

Pam’s Penny

It’s an interesting thing about retirement – after a lifetime of reporting to one workplace or another, a person resists being scheduled in retirement. One of the irritants of the radiation therapy is Himself having to get up at an assigned time every weekday and meet an appointment schedule in Rochester. When the weekend arrives after five radiation appointments, it’s as if a work week has ended (all over again). Not a good memory.

JoJo and I also had to organize our schedules on Wednesday to drive her to Charles City by 8:15 a.m. for a doggie dental. Drove back to Elma quickly so the RAV was available for Himself to drive to Rochester. Himself returns from Rochester and I get back in the RAV to return to Charles City for groceries and doggie pickup. Schedules and timing again. Tiring.

Has anybody else out there been having major issues with the postal service? Ever since the incompetent previous administration replaced the postmaster with Dejoy, and our [regional Waterloo] sorting machine was destroyed [unnecessarily], mail service into/out of NE Iowa has been a mess. There were holiday cards and December bills arriving in mid January, a box shipped from Colorado in April that took four weeks to arrive. Now the USPS appears to have lost our mailed checks to pay for annual supplemental health insurance. Irritating, irritating, irritating.

Be well. Happy Trails.

This week was my first full week of getting radiation treatments. To date I have had eight sessions, leaving 14 more to go.

The routine is pretty simple. Up in the morning, shower and breakfast, leave the house by around 9:45. Arrive in Rochester and find a place to park. (Most days the parking ramp has space available but that is not a sure thing.) Get parked and head into the clinic. Stop at the COVID-19 screening station, answer some questions, get my ‘day pass’ sticker to put on my shirt. Head for the check-in desk.

Arrive at Radiation and Oncology check-in desk, give my name, date of birth, and answer more screening questions such as “do you feel dizzy or nauseous” and complete check-in. Head for a seat and wait for my name to be called.

On my first visit I was assigned a changing room that I would use for each visit. In my case, changing room G. When my name is called I head for that room. Right turn, left turn, down a hallway, left turn, right turn, down the hallway to room G. Grab a hospital gown from the Clean Linen locker and get ready for the treatment.

I am ushered into the treatment room, lie down on the table, get positioned by the two ladies who work that room, and the lights go down as the treatment starts. (The nurses leave the room during the radiation treatment.) Music is playing in the background, usually soft rock or easy listening tunes. After about 8 minutes the lights come up and the nurses return. Treatment is over. They help me off the table and I return to my changing room, get dressed, and head out of the building.

Once I am back at the car it may take a bit of time to leave the ramp. Parking is $2.00 for the first hour and $1.00 for each additional hour and I generally pay the $2.00 charge. There is always a backup of cars waiting in line to pay. Eventually I leave the ramp and head home.

I may or may not stop for small items at Walmart or other stores. For example, none of the local stores carries Lava hand soap (which we use to get paint off our hands, frequently). Walmart stocks this stuff. A trip to the Home Depot resulted in stocking up on house paint and other project supplies. There may be other sundry items on my list as well.

I’ll get home between 1:30 and 2:00 PM, check in to see what Pam is doing and discuss my morning, get some lunch, change clothes, and then take a look at any tasks that I can do during the rest of the afternoon. This does not amount to much as my energy levels are quite low.

I do attempt to keep dandelions eradicated in the dog run and garden areas. I spread some “Weed and Feed” stuff on other parts of the lawn in an attempt to keep the dandelions under control, but Pam doesn’t like to use chemicals in the location where the dogs spend their outside time. Same in the garden, where the chemicals might damage seedlings. Manual weed control is the order of the day in these areas.

And, of course, there are always routine tasks such as mowing the yard, grocery shopping, and doing laundry. I put together a painting station in the garage so we can begin to paint the siding that will be used on the south wall of the house.

How am I doing with the whole cancer thing, you ask? OK, I guess. I have no discomfort from the treatments although that may change as I get deeper into the program. The Flowmax the doctor prescribed has me going to the bathroom more frequently, including at night, so I’m up quite often. I don’t really feel refreshed when I get out of bed in the morning. It is also frustrating that I don’t have the energy I would like to have to tackle more projects. I am counting down the number of treatments left and will be glad when this is over. I try to stay positive but it is an uphill battle at times. Having any form of cancer upsets your mental equilibrium.

Pam has been busy decorating in the snug, adding hand-painted morning glory and [a few more] vines to the walls. More artwork was hung and she began removing the old, and quite worn, carpet in there. Which turned out to be a real job as the old backing is literally sticking to the floor. Removal will require a lot of hand work but the floor under that mess is in better condition than we had hoped. One half done, one half to go.

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of Pam reading “Katy and The Big Snow” to our kids when they were young. Pam found the book [the one actually used in the photo!] in our storage room, framed it, and hung it next to the photo. Pam used this story for first grader activities when she ran an elementary Gifted & Talented program back in the 1990s, and “Katy” also used to be one of my childhood favorites.

We did get some rain last weekend which helped freshen the yard. The bleeding heart plants are flowering and all the other plantings are doing well. The maple tree and oak tree we planted last fall deployed actual leaves. Both of these trees had sprouted from seeds and we are pleased to see they made it though the winter OK. The three rhubarb plants and two blackberry bushes planted earlier this spring are displaying new growth and look to have survived the late frost NE Iowa experienced earlier this month. Spring is a good time here at Heart House.

Photo Archive

I have always taken pictures of flowers; here are a pair from my collection.

Colorado’s fall colors were a frequent target of my camera.

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

Pam’s Penny

Himself is correct; as anticipated, his energy level is very low these days. Which was totally to be expected with his body taking in all sorts of meds and chemicals. The yard work – mowing, weed whacking, dandelion pulling – lends itself to be broken into small(er) projects and done a little bit at a time. But Himself is used to doing hours of yard tasks at once, and therein lies his frustration.

I’m trying to complete this phase of the two-room refresh indoors, because it’s now time to start painting outdoors. One of the first outdoor tasks will be painting barn red on that cement siding, so it will be ready for Bob the Builder when the window we ordered arrives. (BTW, the painter we talked to at the home show never did show last weekend to give us a quote on painting the second floor of 702. That’s the second no-show painter. I guess painting Victorians is not popular.)

On totally another topic, were you surprised Bill and Melinda Gates filed for divorce? Himself was. Me, not so much. Around married years 27-30, when the kiddos have moved out, and you look across the room at the person you married, I think it’s perfectly normal to think “Is this all there is?” No amount of money changes that dynamic. A phenomenon called “Gray Divorce” is apparently a thing, the Gates’ being the latest example. l think a couple has to develop a different “relationship plan” of some sort then — something that benefits both individuals — so divorce doesn’t have to be the conclusion. But it is NOT easy. And I don’t judge anyone who decides to call it quits.

Be well. Happy Trails.