I have been on the road for nearly three weeks so have a lot of ground to cover, including house painting updates and a trip to Colorado and Oregon. There will be quite a few photos this time!

I will begin with house painting update. The back porch steps have been cleaned up and repainted.

We think the porch looks quite good. If you look at the right side of the photo you will notice the blue trim board just above the first red board. This trim will be repeated around the house. The porch serves as an inspiration as to how the entire house will look when we finish painting it.

Also around the house, the hydrangea flowers have now turned a dark red from their initial white showing.

Due to a freeze, many other flowers have died and been cut back. However, the mums seems to have survived OK and add a touch of color around the house.

The “big event” of the last couple weeks was my trip to our Colorado lot and, from there, moving on to the Pacific NW.

In Colorado, I winterized The Box by draining all the holding tanks, packing items that would be damaged by freezing, and getting RV antifreeze in all the water lines. Before doing all that I was able to do some work on The Lot, cutting some wood, stacking some brush, riding my ATV, and getting some paint on the storage shed.

It was “color season” in Colorado and the aspen and other trees were turning colors. Here are a few photos of that portion of my trip.

By the time I arrived in Colorado, the last week in September, the peak of the color season had passed at The Lot. Many trees had already dropped their leaves, although some trees were still green. The weather was gorgeous my entire stay. It was cool some mornings, with one freeze, but mostly clear and bright.

I did get some paint on the storage shed. With not quite enough paint to do the entire building I did the two long sides and used the last of the paint on the front trim.

Other work done at the lot included cutting some wood and stacking some brush.

All was not work, however. I did get in some ATV rides during my visit.

On the way back I took a side trip to Hall Valley.

All too soon it was time to shut down The Box and head out for the next part of my trip, a visit to the Pacific NW.

Daughter Felicity recently moved from the Portland, Oregon area to Tulsa, Oklahoma, but had left behind a number of items in a storage facility in Vancouver, WA. My job was to pick up a U-Haul trailer, empty the storage unit, and transport the goods to Tulsa.

I stayed with my niece Stefanie and her husband Eric who live in Scappoose, Oregon, about 30 minutes away from Felicity’s storage unit. Coming through the Columbia Gorge brought back a lot of memories from the time we lived in Oregon.

This part of the journey was uneventful, just a lot of miles. I had the ATV in the back of the truck and the U-Haul on behind; people must have assumed I was moving!

Traveling to Tulsa was not difficult, although I encountered a lot of road construction along the way. I found Felicity’s (and boyfriend Peter’s) new place in Tulsa without incident. (Tulsa is greener than I expected.) With three of us the unloading the trailer took very little time and we had a long chat before I headed out for NE Iowa.

I departed NE Iowa September 22nd and arrived home on October 9th. Total miles came in at just under 5,600. I was able to be in Colorado for the fall color, visited my niece Stefanie in her new home, met Felicity’s boyfriend Peter for the first time and caught up with Felicity and her life. The shed painting project resulted in the shed being mostly painted (after being in primer since it was built several years ago), and some work was done on The Lot clean up. I worked in a few ATV rides. The truck gave me no problems. Although I arrived home somewhat road-weary, I would have to say it was a successful trip!

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

Pam’s Penny

While Himself vacationed and traveled, the home front was a mixed bag.

Two pets needed emergency runs to the vet – one resulted in a semi-feral cat (Sunny Sunset) being euthanized due to a cancerous growth, the other was a dog paw sting/allergic reaction issue (Auburn Jo). A cold spell knocked out a bunch of plants, they needed to be cut back as a result. Leaves needed to be raked off the lawn (how else to find the dog poop?) and piled into the trailer. Iris plants were transplanted from the property, as well as newly-purchased iris bulbs to join them in their new location. So, yard work.

The catio painting project took more time and required more detail painting than I had originally thought. The cold weather reduced the amount of time I could paint outside; several days were in the high 40-degree range and windy, not ideal for paint to stick.

Elmo (the Elma stray cat) is now about 6-7 months old, a holy terror in the house. He climbs, he destroys, he jumps the dogs. He broke the curtain rod over the bay window in the parlor bedroom (Tarzan time). He is driving me nuts. At this rate, I’m not sure holiday decorations make any sense at all on the main level.

And now, we have an industrious mole tunneling it’s merry way from west to east, around the house foundation and through my flower beds.

Who needs a vacation?

Happy Trails.

Last week’s rain and cold was replaced with warmer and drier air, marking the return to working on our outside projects. The week turned out to have quite a bit more activity than anticipated!

At one point we had Bob the Builder, Marv the cement guy, and Pam and I working on projects all at the same time. Painting, [overhead] garage door installation, sidewalk work, and a new door in the catio rounded out the major work done this week. I am going to jump about a bit and describe each project as if they happened in isolation.

Painting was the first and foremost activity. I began painting part of the house and managed to get large areas of the garage and garage addition painted. Pam continues to detail paint the back porch.

Photo above is the south wall next to the back porch. We were anxious to see how the house would look in Barn Red. Other parts of the house exterior need repair work before painting can begin but at least this is a start.

Part of the house painting included a cleaning of the old gutters and washing the walls. Note the gutter below; the left side has been cleaned and the right side has not. Just cleaning the gutters and porch walls made a huge visual difference! (Growth on the plastic gutters appears to be some type of lichen.) I am also pleased that I will not have to remove the gutters to re-paint them. That would have been a major job.

Most of the week’s painting was of the garage and garage addition. The north wall of the old garage received paint, as did the garage addition east wall and alley wall.

Here is the painted north wall of the garage:

The photo below shows the nearly completed east wall, alley side wall, and the garage door being installed.

I must say that having the overhead garage door installed makes the garage feel like a garage instead of an open shed. However, we had gotten used to looking out the kitchen window and seeing the alley through the back door of the garage; now we will have to get used to a different view.

Note the small tree in the lower right hand corner of the photo above. This Black Hills Spruce was one of two trees planted this past week. The other was a small oak placed near the west side property line. These two brought the total number of trees, shrubs and arborvitae planted this year to 23.

Flowers were relocated as well; the phlox that used to be near the garage addition is now out near the 7th street sidewalk and has been joined by another phlox Pam ordered from a greenhouse.

Four potted mums were purchased from a local greenhouse and Pam put them in the ground today. Shasta daisies joined them. Other plantings will continue to happen over the next couple weeks as more of Pam’s fall planting materials arrive.

I am going to skip ahead a bit and mention another project that was completed: Adding a door to the catio.

This was something Pam had wanted and planned for since we bought the house. The current door is on the south side of the catio and faces the garage. In winter, or rainy days, the low area between the catio and garage floods and/or freezes, making access hazardous at best.

I had picked up a door at Home Depot but had not installed it. When Bob the Builder showed up to install the overhead garage door I asked if he might also install the catio door and he agreed to do the work. Here is a photo of the completed installation:

The major story of the week, though, was not even on our horizon when the week started. Monday afternoon Marv, the cement guy (he poured the foundation slab for the garage addition) stopped by with a quote covering the replacement of the broken sidewalk running between the back porch and the garage. After we accepted the quote, Marv indicated he could begin the work later this week. Huzzah!

Note: I have raw video clips of the sidewalk work and will try to have a finished video by my next post. Until then I will include numerous still shots of the work in progress.

The new walk includes paths to the catio and to the garage addition. The step-out from the original garage was made into a gentle ramp. A last-minute change was made to add a curved segment to join the old walk to the new one near the house. This eliminated a 90-degree joint that looked a bit out of place considering the number of curves in the new layout.

Marv’s crew arrived Wednesday morning and promptly began tearing out the old walk of broken cement pieces, placed forms for the new cement, and cut/placed the reinforcing rebar rods in the appropriate places.

All the prep work was done Wednesday. Thursday was the “pour” as the new cement arrived. Of course, one of the outside cats walked right across the cement while the crew was working it with trowels. We decided to put up some cat barriers after the crew was done and the cement was drying.

Once poured and worked the cement had to ‘set up’ before the next steps: removal of the forms and cutting expansion slots in the surface. Marv and his crew arrived Friday afternoon to take care of those tasks.

And here is the finished walk:

We are delighted with the new walk. It is solid, level, and makes getting to and from the garage doors much easier. We had not realized how much care we had to take when walking on the old, broken, and uneven walkway. The new walk looks better as well!

Pam “customized” the new walk with heart imprints.

Walkway replacement was a project we had planned to do this year but had not heard from Marv since he was out to discuss the work several weeks ago. We were beginning to think it would not get done before cold weather set in. To have it completed is a great boost for us – Pam defined it as a health and safety issue due to her difficulties on that walkway in the snow and ice last winter.

On yet another front, Jake the electrician, who had done the repair and rewiring of the house earlier this year, stopped by to give us a quote on wiring the garage addition. (We also plan to wire the catio, equipping it with an overhead light and outlets for heated water dishes and heated cat beds.) At this point Jake’s schedule is running about 3 weeks out so it may be mid-to-late October before he can make it to us.

On the agenda? More painting for sure (mainly the porches), but the major projects for this year have been completed or, like the garage electrical work and a window replacement on the west wall of the house, are scheduled. A bit more fall planting is on the docket but that will not be a major task. Winterizing the house will be undertaken beginning in October.

Wow. What a week. Overhead and catio doors installed, new sidewalks, major walls of garage painted, house painting begun.

Photo Archive

Over time I looked for unusual situations that I could photograph. Here are a few of my “artsy” photos.

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

Pam’s Two Cents

This week marked one year since closing on Heart House. Taking inventory of the finances as well as the projects, we’ve blown through tens of thousands of dollars to repair 702 Main and build the garage addition. That money had been primarily saved over the four years prior to the move, with the addition of the (somewhat disappointing) amount we received at closing on the property in DeBeque.

Money still remains for house painting next year and there’s a small cushion in the savings account, in case y’all thought we would bankrupt ourselves. The monetary improvements already put into Heart House have moved it from a resale value in the $60,000 range to a resale value in the $100,000+ range. That’s about all the local real estate market can bear, so additional improvements will be on our dime. (Plumbing, I feel, will be one of those “improvements” sooner rather than later.)

Himself received his first Social Security check this month; up to this point, we’ve been living on savings and pensions, as well as financing the projects from savings. I plan to begin my Social Security activity in January 2021, but due to potential COVID staffing issues, I thought it best to contact the local Waterloo SSA office this month to see if I need to begin paperwork early. After I explained this concept to the woman on the other end of the phone, she paused briefly and then replied, “Honey, I know you’re in a hurry to be retired – waited all your life – but you’re just a little ahead of the curve for us. Wait until Halloween or November before you start the paperwork.” Alrighty, then.

Happy Trails.

As anyone living in the mid-west can tell you, the last week was rainy and cold. Daytime temperatures were 25+ degrees lower than average for this time of year! These conditions impacted what Pam and I could get done on our various projects, painting in particular. Still, we moved ahead. Here is a recap of the past week.

Weather on Labor Day itself was still decent and we did some painting. Pam worked on the detail over two garage windows and two doors. Painting this detail is time consuming and took about an hour for each location.

I painted some of the garage addition west wall and under-eve trim on the back porch. The under-eve spot was bare wood, as the previous owner(s) never completed the paint job there.

Part of the job included cleaning the gutter which had a layer of lichen (?) on the outside.

By Tuesday, though, rain had set in and temps were colder, not conditions conducive to painting so we turned to other, and smaller, tasks.

Pam finished painting the light fixture trim ring she had purchased for the parlor bedroom and we installed it.

Other tasks included painting and installing a trim molding on the shelf above the washer and dryer, moving the last items out of the rented storage area, and putting up a few more shelves and unpacking some items in the garage.

I’m going to elaborate a bit on the emptying of the storage area. I moved the original ’48 Ford 8N engine into the garage addition but still had to deal with the non-running Yamaha XJ motorcycle. The storage area is about 11 blocks from the house and I did not want to push the bike that far so a plan of action had to be made.

Eventually I decided to put the bike on the trailer, but this required the help of Pam and the ATV winch. (I wish I had taken a photo of this but did not.) I parked the ATV at an angle to the trailer which was backed up to the storage unit door. I routed the winch cable through a clevis hook, attached to the truck through a strap, down to the front of the bike. Pam operated the winch controls while I walked the bike up the ramp and into the trailer. Piece of cake.

Other projects were completed. We both applied for absentee ballots. I sorted though a bunch of digital photos and put them in appropriate folders. Several new scans were made of old slides. Furnace filter was changed. Garage was measured for gutters. More summer flowers were cut back and the refuse taken to the dump. Dogs were taken to the groomer.

There is not much else to tell. I will note that the bare dirt area I mentioned in my last post is starting to turn a very light green as the grass seed starts to grow.

Hopefully the grass will “green up” in the next couple of weeks and I see ground cover before the winter sets in.

There are two anniversaries we are noting this week. First, we bought the Colorado property, aka The Lot, on September 12, 2012. The 8 years since then has gone by fast. The second anniversary is September 16, the day we closed on the Heart House at 702 Main in Elma. Much has happened this past year!

Photo Archive

These slides were given to me by my parents. The year was 1967 and I was 15 and had my first car, a 1959 Austin-Healy Sprite. I have good memories of that car!

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

Pam’s Two Cents

(Looking at photos of Himself at 15, I can see where son Toby gets his curly mop top.)

Himself was a bit at loose ends during the recent five day stretch of rain. I told him I could assemble a list of indoor projects upon which he could begin, but he refused my generous offer. I additionally noted it would be best if Himself developed a list of indoor projects for the January-March period. Here in NE Iowa, other than snow removal, not much to do outside during that stretch.

Bits and pieces of my fall plant order will start to arrive this next week. We should see iris and phlox, which will result in relocation/consolidation of the few iris and one phlox already on the property. I also have a coupon from the large nursery in Hawkeye, IA where we purchased the honey locust and arbor vitae earlier in the year. The nursery is in their final reduction of stock for the season. We may be in the market for an evergreen for the back yard, to be placed near the garden enclosure/adjacent to the newly-planted grassy area. Field trip!

Just by accident I learned the massive plant we allowed to grow in the actual bed frame in the back yard was an American Pokeberry aka Poke Weed. It is a poisonous and invasive plant. I never liked the way it took over the space where it came up, much like the day lillies do in their various spots. “Our” Pokeberry was cut back, but, with root systems reaching many feet underground, it will be years before it is eradicated. Live and learn. I believe there is one shrub plus two trees still unidentified on the property.

Happy Trails.

While every week is busy, this past week was almost intense in the number and variety of projects undertaken. The cooler weather helped and we were able to start on long-held painting projects. However, painting is not all we did.

A number of repair projects were undertaken. I purchased a “multi-functional oscillating tool” recommended by Bob the Builder. Equipped with a wood cutting blade, I removed three sections of rotted wood, two on the east porch corner and the third on the east side of the house.

As with any new tool, there is a bit of a learning curve and subsequent repairs went better and took less time than the first job.

More work was done to the spindles and railings. The east steps received new rails and spindles on the right side; the right and left sides have now both been replaced. The south end railing was repaired with new spindles and bottom rail.

The right-hand railing of the front porch steps also needed the replacement of the bottom rail. However, this repair took on a life of its own after I discovered the end post needed substantial rot repair work. I was able to carve out a cavity in the post and fill it with 2x4s. This allowed me to salvage the post, which would have been difficult to replace. I just can’t run down to the lumber yard and find a matching replacement! Anyway, the repair turned out OK.

A (very) sharp eye may notice that the right-hand spindles are a bit shorter than the left. I salvaged the original spindles by cutting an inch off each end. This was enough to get rid of the rot and allowed me to re-use the spindles. At some point I will need to cut the left hand spindles to match, but that is a job for another day.

Moldings were cut and added to the front and east side steps. The steps were painted or repainted, and with the moldings and new railings, are looking pretty good.

As you can see, painting the porch decks still has to be done, but a lot of work has gone into these steps. Note the 3/4 inch trim moldings on each step, the hand-cut tread pads, and, of course, the painting and repair of the rails. Everything is a challenge, including the cutting of the trim pieces found at the bottom of the east porch posts. Because of the condition of the post, each piece had to be individually cut. This took more time than it should have but the end result looks good.

Speaking of painting, I have to include this photo Pam took of me while I was painting the new step rails for the east porch. The end of the board you can’t see is under the front porch railing, holding it down.

Another project was knocking down and spreading the large pile of dirt created when excavation for the garage addition cement slab was done.

The bottom photo, above, shows the pile leveled out. It has been raked and seeded, thus the sprinkler. I hope to have grass growing here in the next 7 to 10 days.

The leveling was done partly by hand and partly with the snow blade attached to the front of the John Deere LX 176 garden tractor. The blade allowed me to move some dirt around and create a more level surface than shoveling by hand.

And, finally, painting. I’ve already mention the painting of the steps, but we were also able to get started on painting the garage and back porch of the house. Here are a few photos of this work-in-progress.

In between cutting, painting, and leveling Pam decided it was time to clean the catio. Some repairs and alterations were required as I plan to put a door in the east end of the shed, which required interior insulation to be removed and relocated. I replaced the [north side] cat entrance with the original 4-pane window after removing one of the panes. This addition allows more light into the shed and will be a bit more weatherproof than the temporary insert we had been using since last fall.

Pam had to clean all the cat bedding and items used in the shed.

We also started to set up Pam’s permanent garden enclosure:

The hinge-side post (right) is set in cement. This project was part of a larger project of emptying the rented storage unit, as we have to have it empty and be out of it by the end of September. Rather than store the fencing, posts, and gate, Pam suggested I set it up now.

Other material was moved as well. The only two things left in storage are the engine for the Ford 8N tractor and my old – and non-running – Yamaha motorcycle. I will move those this coming week, when the trailer is empty after a run to the dump.

And that trailer is quite full, as another project involved cutting back the day lilies and other growth from around the house and from flower beds under the oak trees. Today Pam is cleaning around the giant sunflowers, as a wind storm last night knocked several of them down. (Ten of the 24 sunflowers that bloomed this year are still standing. The photo of the garden area shows the complete sunflower array prior to the storm.)

Watermelons were harvested and the old melon vines, as well as the pumpkin vines (which did not produce this year) were pulled out, put in the trailer, and the garden area mowed to make it look nice and neat. Even some non-blooming morning glories were removed, making way for the garden fencing.

A bit of time was spent scrubbing the green mold off the lower north side of the garage. Pam already had the hose near the garage for the catio cleaning so it was an opportune time to take on this task. Completion made the garage look much better!

Most weeks are busy here at 702 Main, but this past week seemed to have us in an extra gear. Much was accomplished, mostly due to the better weather/working conditions, but also because of the realization that we have only a few weeks left to get projects done this year.

I hope to get to Colorado for an extended visit later this month, then it will be off to Vancouver, Washington to pick up items from Felicity’s storage unit and deliver them to her new place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When I get home it will be early October and winter will be fast approaching. Pam has ordered a number of items for fall planting, a task that will occupy several hours of work this fall. Time for project work is getting short.

One project that did not move ahead this week – the overhead garage door did not arrive. The supplier now says it may come in sometime between September 14th to the 18th. We hope.

Photo Archive

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

Pam’s Penny

I do love the selected barn red paint color. It was a delight to finally be at a point to start painting the actual house – but – there is an insane amount of detailing to be done, around doors/windows and white trim. That color red is not as forgiving of mistakes as was the previous pastel shade.

My ceiling medallion arrived for the parlor bedroom, something which also requires an insane amount of paint detailing. Yippee. It’s a work in progress; stay tuned.

Happy Trails.

The major story of the week was my mother’s funeral but progress was made on several renovation projects as well. Result: The week was a real mixed bag of “stuff,” so let’s get to it.

Mom’s Funeral

My mother’s funeral was held near Withee, Wisconsin, at Riverside Cemetery, on Thursday. Wednesday afternoon I drove up to Abbotsford, near Withee, to meet with some family and friends. That evening proved to be a delight as I had the chance to talk to both of my sisters, a niece I had not seen in years, and some friends who had driven in for the funeral.

We had arranged to stay at the same motel and ended up pulling some chairs (and a bench to set food and drinks on) under a pine tree on the grassy front lawn and having a picnic dinner of sorts. Sub sandwiches and other foods were procured from a nearby grocery store by my sister Kitt. Several people brought adult beverages. It was a good time for all who were there.

Thursday was the funeral. My cousin, Kurt Rohland, an ordained minister, performed the service. Several people spoke about memories they had of Mom and Dad, including Mom’s best friend, Mrs. Goeke. (Gay-Key) As the temperature was rather hot most of us stayed in the shade of the surrounding trees for the duration of the service. Most attendees wore masks, as did I.

After the grave side service we adjourned to an event center, Munson Bridge Winery, for a lunch and more socializing.

After several hours of mingling with friends and family, getting lunch, and getting re-acquainted with people I had not seen in decades, I called it a day and started the 5 hour trip back to Elma. Most people had left before me but a few remained to keep the gathering going a bit longer.

The above story is a bit out of sequence for the week, beginning as it does on a Wednesday. In fact, other projects had seen attention earlier in the week.

Garage Addition

Bob the Builder came by and started the process of installing the garage windows. He and his helper needed to determine where the windows would be placed, remove the outside siding, and prepare to cut the window openings.

This meant I had to take down all the hangers and racks I had on the impacted walls. Most of the stuff ended up in the back of the truck but some equipment, such as the snow blower and leaf muncher, had to be moved and parked elsewhere.

Before and after photos:

The north wall received one window. Having the windows makes the building look like a garage and I already appreciate the extra light and ventilation the windows provide!

The main overhead garage door is supposed to be installed this coming Monday. I hope that comes to pass – but – other deadlines have come and gone so we shall see.

Outside Projects

Something else arrived this week…my porch and step railing spindles. This allowed me to get one side of the east porch step rail replaced. (The rest of the east porch rails will follow.)

The new spindles are slightly different than the originals. The width is 1 1/2 inches versus the original’s 1 5/8. The tapered part of the originals is larger than the new ones but since I am replacing the spindles as sets I don’t think the differences will be that noticeable.

As you can see, the step handrail spindles need to be cut at an angle. I had cut the top and bottom rails last week so only had to cut the spindles, install them into the rails, and paint the finished product. Sounds easy, but nothing is easy the first time you ever do a project like this. Call it a learning experience.

Of course, the new paint just shows how much we need to get the rest of the painting done! I’ll be working on the other side of the step rail and the rest of the porch rails this coming week but it is already a pleasure to have the old rail replaced. We went a couple of months without a rail at all, which was inconvenient, but the old rail was in such poor condition we deemed it a safety hazard and had removed it.

For the record, since this blog is also part diary, the spindles are 28 inches long, cut down from 30 inches, and each end is cut at a 30 degree angle as are the 48 inch long top and bottom rails. The spindles, with shipping, cost $3.75 each (on clearance) from Mr Spindle. The rails were produced by a local wood working shop at a cost of about $85.00 for 32 feet.

Yard Work

Although we didn’t transplant any flowers this week, it was time to cut back a bunch of day lilies; there were quite a load of those. Also grass clippings and yard waste was taken to the dump. At last count, 13 of the giant sunflowers are blooming and there are a couple small but ripe watermelons in the garden. The summer cycle is beginning to close.

A few days were deemed too hot to work outside. Temps went into the 90 degree range and the humidity was high, making for very uncomfortable working conditions. Pam continued an embroidery project and I built shelves in the garage and scanned a few more old 35mm slides during these times. Some down time is a good thing!

Photo Archive

This first photo is from a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, in the early ’80s. We are visiting Buchart Gardens.

Here are Pam and Toby plus one of our cats, circa 1988 (?)

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

Pam’s Two Cents

My embroidery project was making a patchwork top for an ottoman. After five weeks of working on this in the evenings, I “built” the rest of the ottoman cover around the embroidered top. Then, a skirt seemed like an inspired idea. Then, the addition of bows. And all of a sudden I had produced a “tuffet.” Wow, that got out of hand quickly. Fortunately, a tuffet looks appropriate in the parlor bedroom.

You might be from the Midwest if your orthopedic doctor advertises one of his specialties in the local shopper – fixing trigger fingers. That was a first for me. What happened to tennis elbow or rotator cuff?

Happy Trails.

The big news this week concerns my mother. She passed away this last Monday evening.

Mom was 91 and living in a care center in Abbotsford, Wisconsin. I’d had a video chat with her last Thursday and she seemed to be about the same as she’s been for the last several months. (Due to Covid-19 I hadn’t been able to visit her in person.) However, on Sunday I received a call from her chief care giver, my cousin Marge Rohland, with the suggestion that I come to the care center, as Mom had taken a turn for the worse.

I drove to Abbotsford, which is just under 5 hours from Elma, and located the care center. My brother Jon and sister Kitt (Carolyn) were there. My other sister, Sienna, arrived shortly after me.

Not much happened the rest of that day. Jon, who had to work on Monday, left for home (Stoddard, Wisconsin) late in the afternoon.

The three of us – myself, Sienna, and Kitt – returned to the care center Monday morning. Through the day and into the early evening we talked and compared notes about life, kids, and our parents.

I didn’t really want to spend a second night in the hotel and it seemed as if Mom had stabilized at a new level, so I left around 4:30 p.m. to head for home. Sienna, who lives closer to Abbotsford, left later. Kitt, who lives south of Chicago, remained with Mom.

I had no sooner returned home and my phone rang. It was Kitt. She told me Mom had passed away at about 9:28 PM.

While I hadn’t been close to Mom for some time [for a number of reasons] and her passing was not unexpected, it was a sad moment just the same.

My mother’s graveside service will be this Thursday at the Riverside Cemetery near Withee. Mom was born and raised near Withee along with her 8 surviving brothers and 1 sister, many of whom are buried in that same cemetery. Mom and Dad had purchased a plot there decades ago and Mom will be interned next to Dad. The stone had already been prepared and only the date of death needs to be added to make it complete.

A Celebration of Life is planned after the internment has taken place, but it will be restricted to close family and invited guests due to Covid-19. That is sad, as Mom taught school in Greenwood for more than two decades and Dad delivered mail. Both were very well known and respected in the community and many more people, I think, would have stories to tell at a celebration.

If anyone reading this would care to leave a comment, the funeral home has an Obituaries page with a “Post Condolences” link. That site is http://www.cuddiefh.com/obituaries/index.php

I will be driving north a day before the graveside service/celebration of life, meet with some relatives who are coming in for the service, and check to make sure all other arrangements have been made. Kitt is taking the lead on these affairs; I’m just supporting her when appropriate. She and I get along well and are closer than I am to Jon or Sienna.

I will have some photos of the service in my next post. In the meantime, here is a photo of Mom as she appeared a couple years ago.

Next week’s service and celebration will end that chapter in her book of life.

Here at 702, other projects, none large, have received attention. Pam has been sanding the reproduction living room doors we purchased last spring. The bright green oil paint was not to her liking, so she worked to remove the color and re-stain the door. Here is a photo of that work in progress:

Once door #1 is done it will be on to door #2 (at some future point). Pam has decided not to sand the door edges (which are hidden, for the most part, when the doors are in the normally closed positions).

We’re still waiting for the garage door and three windows (which will go in the original garage) so no additional construction was done on the garage addition this week. I did construct a stoop for the back door and put up a few more shelves. My construction projects were done with scrap and left over pieces of wood.

The alley side of the addition received a retaining wall which should help keep gravel off the yard and makes the approach a bit neater.

I also back-filled around the garage addition using dirt from the pile left over from the slab’s excavation.

Around the yard, flowers near the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden (east side of house) are doing very well. Becky requested a photo or two of this area so here you go!

Photo Archive

This week’s archive features pictures of Boreas Pass, Colorado. This pass has special significance for us since Pam’s mother’s ashes are spread at the top near an old cabin. These photos were taken in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

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

Pam’s Penny

Still too hot and humid to start painting porches. At least I finished sanding one of the reproduction doors.

Happy Trails.

This past week saw the tackling and finishing of a lot of small jobs. Each seemed to take longer than expected!

House Updates

Projects for this week included replacing the the damaged (and cheap) combination storm and screen windows located in the front parlor.

The window was missing the screen and the sliding glass panel was no longer staying in the damaged channel. Since we now have central air, a screen window in that location was no longer a priority so I decided to replace it with one of the standard storm windows I had found when cleaning out the basement.

I re-glazed the glass and Pam put a coat of fresh paint on the frame. However, the old window gave me a fight when it was time to make the swap.

The combination window had been glued in place. It was a real chore to get all the parts of it removed. In addition, working from the outside revealed a problem with the deck: more rotten boards.

I had not thought to check the far west end of the porch deck for rot; everything looked OK. However, when I stepped on the boards under the window, my foot almost went through the floor. This led to another repair project, replacing the boards on that end of the deck.

A visit to the local Mennonite hardware store scored some old-fashioned clips to fasten the old storm to the window frame. In the end, a project that should have taken a couple hours turned into a day-long job but I did get both the deck repaired and the window installed.

Sure hope this window does a better job of sealing out cold air this winter. The front parlor was a bit drafty last year.

Another “house job” was re-working the back deck. As I had mentioned before, I had planned to re-use some wood removed during the front porch repair to cover the back deck boards. The goal was to have all three decks sport the same decking.

At the same time, the back steps had always felt a little “squishy” when stepped on. I decided to add two more risers below the steps to fix this problem. This led to a removal of most of the step structure, adding the two risers, and reassembling the steps.

The risers were cut by the local lumber yard to the dimensions of the original risers. Sort of. The local lumber yard is right in town, and they didn’t believe the riser build measurements I initially gave them. One of the guys came out to the house and checked my numbers. I was accurate, but the steps are two inches farther apart than most. (No wonder it feels like such a stretch for the dogs and us to climb them.) I had to do some final tweaking to get everything to match, but now the steps feel solid when stepped on, a noticeable improvement.

Pam painted the face boards before I re-installed them. While more painting is needed — and will be done when we start painting the house — this step eliminated the need to paint while bending over to get at these boards.

Yard

We did quite a bit of yard work this week. The hosta plants located on the south side of the house were dug up, separated, and replanted around the dog run fence and near the garden area. This was a continuation of a project started last week.

There are a few new flowers blooming in the yard. Two varieties of morning glories, Heavenly Blue and Grandpa Ott, both just started to bloom. The giant sunflowers are starting to show their yellow heads.

The sunflowers are around 10 – 12 feet tall. We are surprised they don’t bend and break in the wind, but they seem to do just fine!

Garage Addition

We are still waiting for the main garage door to arrive. This week saw the installation of the “pass through” door that provides internal access between the old and new sections of the garage.

I have used these doors several times this past week. I am pleased they are in place.

I did some other repair work on the garage. The original had 6 small lights installed in the front and rear soffits and they had never worked. Turns out all 6 bulbs were burned out!

I installed LED versions of the bulbs, shown below, and these throw a good amount of light around the front and back of the garage. I don’t know if we will use these much in the summer, but they might come in useful in the early dark of winter.

I purchased the first of three 4-foot work lights for the garage addition. The fixture contains LED lights which produce a very white and evenly distributed illumination. Right now the light is hung from the ceiling and connected to an extension cord but it has already proven to be a welcome addition.

A couple of shelves have been put up. This will be an on-going process but it is good get started and be able to, once again, sort and have access to my stuff. Installation of the pass-though doors meant I had to take a bunch of shelving on that wall down. All the “stuff” had been piled up on my workbench making it inconvenient to find items as I needed them.

It seems like all of the jobs take longer than expected. For example, I had to run out to the hardware store to get the clips to hold the storm window in place when working on that project. About 3/4 of the way through the back step and deck rebuild I ran low on deck screws and had to make a 50 mile round trip to resupply as the local hardware stores close early on Saturdays. A trip to the closest Walmart, where I picked up the lights and did some other shopping, is close to 70 miles plus time in the store. It all adds up!

Photo Archive

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

Pam’s Two Cents

At last, the morning glories (the blue ones, not the purple ones) bloomed. I am particularly fond of the Heavenly Blue variety. I wrote a poem about morning glories for a college class once, long ago, and submitted it for [successful] publication in a garden calendar.

It’s time to identify fall bulbs and perennials for planting @ 702 Main. Some time this week was spent thoroughly reviewing incoming garden catalogs. The south side of the house, the previous spot of the relocated hostas, now needs different plant material.

Per usual, actually working in the yard for a season suggests different plants and locations than initially thought. (Just as living with a house suggests uses for the rooms not originally obvious.)

Happy Trails.

There are quite a few photos in this week’s update as we have progress on the garage and a few other projects (a couple of which were unexpected).

Garage Addition

This continues to be the major activity here at 702. This week the siding arrived and was installed, as was the back door, and the roofing was completed.

Pam and I painted some of the new siding before it was put up. This way I will not have to paint the high east end gable from ladders or hire a lift to get into that peak.

We painted more than is shown in the above photo; I did not want to run short.

Pam also helped clean up some molding corner pieces, as these are no longer manufactured and Bob the Builder wanted to re-use them. (They had been taken off the original garage when construction began.)

Siding installation moved right along on the east wall but was a bit slower on the north and alley sides, as there is more detail to fit the siding around. Here is a shot of the east wall getting siding:

Note the painted siding getting put up in the gable! Below is a shot of the garage as it was as of Friday, August 7th.

Note the addition of the barn ventilator on the roof! There is a story behind that.

Many barns in the area sport ventilators of some type and we have seen them used as yard art. We had agreed it would be kind of cool to have one on the garage addition, but the ones we had seen at antique stores were very large and expensive.

I was out on a rare Sunday motorcycle ride and traveled past another antique store and there it was, sitting outside.

I took a few photos and showed them to Pam when I arrived home. We decided to buy this one, so I went back on Monday, negotiated a better price, and brought the ventilator home.

Pam gave it a new coat of white paint and decided it needed some dark blue detail around the top to set it off a bit.

The builder installed the unit on the roof just before he finished installing the last of the shingles.

The garage is beginning to look quite fine and the ventilator sets it off. Although quite a lot was done on the garage addition, the overhead garage door has not arrived. I hope it comes in this week.

Also MIA so far are the three windows to be installed in the original windowless garage. Another door, a 60-inch wide “pass through,” will get installed this week. This door will go between the old garage and the new addition so I can get between the sections and move stuff around as needed.

New Display Case

Pam had been looking for a display case to show off some of her doll collection, which has been in boxes for months. The same antique store [mentioned previously] had a reasonably priced case that I thought would fit the bill. Another trip and it was home. Here are the photos:

(Remember, you can click on any of these photos to open up a larger version that will reveal more details.)

Elmo The Kitten

Elmo seems to be adapting to home life and the other cats are getting used to him. He must grow an inch each week. So far, Elmo is a pretty laid-back feline.

“Mystery” Flower Identified

Pam identified a bush growing on the NW corner of the house as an older variety of hydrangea. We are delighted with this as Pam had purchased a hydrangea this spring, at one of the Mennonite greenhouses, and she was wondering where to plant it. (It is currently potted.) The two hydrangeas next to each other will be quite attractive – planting problem solved.

The flowers start out white and with almost no aroma, but develop into a pinkish color with a very light and aromatic fragrance.

Transplanting hostas and peonies from their original locations to near the north dog fence has begun. Photos I took of this activity had sun flare in them so I will have to get a couple new shots this week.

Other Projects

A milestone of sorts…all three doors, and their screen doors, now open and close with latches and door knobs. When we moved in none of the doors worked as they should. The screen doors were held closed with eye hooks and the three main doors were held closed with deadbolts, one even during the day so it would not blow open in the wind.

I had worked on the front door some time back and got it opening and closing OK, but did not get to the front screen door until this last week. It received a new latch which makes it easier to actually use.

The main work was on the back and side doors. I removed, repaired, and re-installed the antique lock sets. The side door works well but the back door is still sticking due to, I think, multiple layers of paint that have been applied over the years. I will have to take the door off to work on it a bit more, but it does open and close when you turn the knob. We do not have keys for any of the antique lock sets; added-on deadbolts remain in place for security but these repairs make it much easier to get in and out of the house. Just part of the joys of fixing up an old Victorian…

So, as usual, it was a week full of projects, a few surprises, and a few more items checked off the “to do” list. (To-Do lists never get shorter; new projects get added as soon as some are marked off.) We are making progress but there’s so much more to get done before the weather starts turning cold.

While cold weather seems a bit far off, I plan to spend a couple of September weeks at The Lot in Colorado, then it will be October and getting cold. In reality, we have about 4 – 5 weeks to finish the projects we had hoped to complete this year. That includes getting started on painting the house, a project that will span years.

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

Photo Archive

Pam’s Penny

It’s August already. Wow.

I’ve actually been calling the ventilator a cupola. I think cupola has more class than ventilator.

Anybody else noticing how much earlier we are losing the evening light? Bummer. I’ve been out nightly in the twilight, watering plants and shrubs planted this year. NE Iowa is having a run of no rain (still humid, though).

Happy Trails.

The big projects for this past week are mostly continuations of projects begun over the last couple of weeks, hence the title of this post.

Garage Addition

Construction continued on the garage addition but ran into a problem: the siding, main door, and back door have not arrived. Bob and his helper did what they could, working on soffits and installing windows and roofing, but by Tuesday afternoon had come to the end of their work for this week. Hopefully the rest of the materials will be in next week so this project can be finished!

Decking

A couple of posts ago I had mentioned I would be replacing some of the decking on the front porch. This work would eliminate some rotting wood and seams where boards were pieced together. Note the decking was installed on the diagonal across the entire porch. Here is the “before” photo:

Here are a couple of “during” and “after” photos:

One of the two worst elements of this job was cutting around the posts, which had been installed after the decking in the original construction. It was time consuming to cut templates to fit around the posts then transfer those to the final boards.

Note that the wood is of a tongue-and-groove style which means the boards interlock with each other. This has advantages but makes the margin for error, when cutting around the posts, much smaller.

The other worst element was removing the screws that held the old flooring in place. I had to use a small screwdriver to dig the paint and crud out of the old screw heads before they could be removed. Add in different types of screws used over the years, Phillips and Torex T-25 drive heads, and removing the screws turned out to be the most time consuming part of the job. It was also hard on the knees.

The original builders had used 8-foot boards and pieced in additional lengths when they put in the decking. I used 10-foot lengths which eliminated the need for any additional pieces. I sure wish this had been done in the original build; it would have eliminated the need for replacement now.

The new wood is very solid and we can really feel the difference between it and the old, and somewhat “spongy” feel, of the original wood. It turned out to be more of a project than I thought it would be but I am glad to have it done.

New Kitten

We took our new kitten to the vet for a check-up and blood tests. It turns out that “Elle” is “Elmo,” a young male. The tests turned out OK. Elmo received a rabies shot and de-wormer and is now running around the house. The other cats don’t know quite what to make of him but there are some indications that KitKat may start playing with him.

F-150 Truck

The truck was out of commission for a few days. I had taken it in to get an exhaust manifold leak fixed but the mechanic ran into a few problems: broken studs, bolts that hold the manifold in place. Four of the eight studs had broken. Two were easy to remove and replace but the front two required some special tools, a left-hand drill bit and compact air drill, to remove. More labor than originally estimated was involved.

The truck was repaired and now sounds better than when we first bought it. Nice to have all the exhaust going out the muffler. However, in the meantime, the RAV-4 had to do duty as a wood hauler for some of the new decking materials.

Other Projects

Pam went through some of our boxes – the second floor storage room/guest bedroom is still full of them – and found and hung up some of our wall art on this and a few other walls.

I installed new latches on the side and back doors. The back door latch was worn out and working only part of the time and the side door did not have a latch at all; we were keeping it closed with an eye hook which proved to be very inconvenient. The doors need a lot more work before winter but that is a project for later this fall.

It was another busy week here at the Heart House. The upcoming week should see the start of a major painting project; we hope to start with the front porch now that the floor is taken care of. Some of the wood removed from the front porch will be re-purposed and installed on the back porch as the current decking there does not match the other two porches.

There are three anniversaries of note this month; my birthday and our 46th wedding anniversary both occur in the first two weeks of August. Pam’s older brother Larry turns 70 next week and Pam made him a special birthday card to mark the occasion. COVID protocols mandate extremely limited “celebrations” of these types of events this year.

Photo Archive

Family and friends are featured in these photos from out past.

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

Pam’s Two Cents

Kittens. I used to have their care down to a science. I still have pens and cat boxes and feeders in abundance. What I do not have in abundance, apparently, is the patience I used to employ in kitten care. Because Elmo is into everything. Everything. Which is why a pen will remain in the living room, and Elmo will be in that pen frequently. (Actually, it’s his “safe place” and he climbs in all by himself to sleep in the hammock.)

Cooler weather, predicted for next week, may allow me to start some plant relocations — hostas, mainly, and probably the peony bush currently situated in an awkward location in the back yard. I have a potted maple growing from seed (a seed which probably blew in from the huge maples across Main Street) and it’s time to plant the maple in the east yard. This house greatly needs trees producing summer shade on the east side; I hope we see some of that shade during our stay at 702.

Happy Trails.

In my last post I showed a couple photos of the garage addition cement slab and indicated the builders would be here to start the next phase of construction. That is, indeed, the major story of this past week.

The contractor is Bob’s Building Service, located here in Elma:

The following photos show the various stages of the project to date:

The lumber yard is about 10 blocks away by road so they are delivering materials by driving the forklift from the yard, on the streets, to our place. Only in small towns like this will you see forklifts delivering materials to a job site using city streets.

Here is a link to a 9:51 minute video of some of the construction, including raising the rafters and putting up the roof sheeting:

Garage Addition

There is still much to do: installing doors, windows, siding, shingles, and other trim. Bob hopes to be pretty well done by the end of this upcoming week. As you can see, I took advantage of the construction to date to move the F-150 inside for the weekend. This is the first time the truck has been in a garage for a while!

While the garage addition has been the big news, it is not the only project underway at 702 Main. Pam finished painting the east porch screen door, exterior trim and stoop still need paint refreshed:

We purchased a work of stained glass and hung it in the front door:

The new glass adds color to the entryway and is a very good addition to the house. The stairwell benefits from having some color at the bottom of the steps:

Outside projects have taken up quite a bit of time. Pam has been trimming and cutting back some of the trees and shrubs while I mow the lawn. There was quite the [large] load of yard debris to take to the dump this week.

The time goes by quickly. Minor projects are tackled and finished. One project, a bit larger than some, involved my new toy: a used table saw.

I had been asking around about the availability of a used table saw, and had mentioned it at my recent motorcycle rally. One of the guys had an old Craftsman saw he was not using. He had inherited it from a friend who had relocated and didn’t want to take the saw with him. Would I want it?

I said yes and picked it up at his Aurora (suburb of Denver) home on my way back to Iowa. Last week I built a stand for it, complete with two casters on the rear legs so I can roll it around the garage as needed. Construction took a few hours but note the chrome handle on the stand:

While I have a compound miter saw, the table saw allows me to rip wider pieces of wood down to narrower sizes as well as make accurate square cuts. I used the table saw to cut the pieces for the stand. Pam helped lift the saw onto the stand once the stand was completed.

So, it was another busy week at 702 Main. The garage addition will be the most expensive task undertaken; I look forward to having my stuff under cover and a place to work, particularly when winter hits.

Other projects vie for attention as well. Pam is already planning garden projects and transplanting to be done this fall before winter sets in. This week we relocated a bleeding heart plant that had been alongside the current garage and needed to be moved to allow construction to start. A dog ramp is in the early stages of construction. I contacted a wood working shop who indicated they can make the top and bottom railings for the porch and steps, to replace the rotted railings currently in place. Next Tuesday the F-150 goes in to have a blown exhaust gasket fixed. The list goes on, just like life.

Photo Archive

This week’s photos are from all over and not dated.

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

Pam’s Two Cents

After the rush to complete stairwell projects while Himself was enjoying Colorado, I find myself slowing down in the intense heat and humidity of mid-summer. I did complete a patchwork-and-embroidery pillow cover I’ve been working on in the evenings. More painting needs to be done on various windows and doors, when I find the energy to do them.

At 11:00 p.m. last night, a five month old tricolor tabby female kitten was crying in our yard, near the dog pen. She had been encircled by the catio cats, who were acting mean (the jerks). I brought the kitten inside and penned it, as is my rescue habit. I’m not personally on the lookout for another house cat, and Elle (short for Elma) is too friendly to remain outside. Unknown where Elle will end up: 1) Is she a neighbor’s kitten and if so, why was she wandering around at night and not spayed? 2) Felicity is in the market for a feline in October. 3) Perhaps my sister Becky might be interested in saving her sister from yet another inside cat? The Universe will direct me, I’m sure.

I thought I was doing pretty well up to this point, not having any additional animals “show up” during the last ten months. Silly me.

Happy Trails.