We found and bought a 2020 Kia Soul with the EX trim package. The car was purchased from a dealer in St. Charles, Illinois. Here is the story and a few dealer photos of the car.

I found the car on AutoTrader.com and it had the option package I was looking for. After a few calls and e-mails, the salesman and I arrived at an acceptable price and I prepared a wire transfer to pay for it.

The price included [an unwanted] $374.26 charge from the State of Illinois, as the dealers do not issue titles; only the state does. All paperwork is sent in and the state will issue a title in my name. Right now the car has an Illinois temp tag on the back. I can’t license through Iowa without the Illinois documentation.

This was the listing photo from the dealer, St. Charles Motorcars:

The color is Platinum Gold under a Clear White top. This combo was only available in 2020; it was gone in the 2021 and later models.

These are a few more dealer photos from the listing:

I drove the F-150 and trailer over to St. Charles on Wednesday and took the car for a short test drive. This Soul is a major upgrade from out 2004 RAV-4! Once I had the car loaded on the trailer I drove about another 30 miles to my sister’s apartment in Elmhurst. Kitt (and Matt) and I had a very pleasant evening with an excellent meal (prepared by Matt) and lots of conversation.

Thursday morning I headed west to Iowa. The round trip was about 700 miles, but worth it for the savings on the vehicle. Here are a couple on-the-road photos:

Everything went well and the weather was good. The truck and trailer handled the load with no problems. Gas prices were about $3.00 in Iowa and $3.30 – $3.50 in Illinois.

Once home I unloaded the car, contacted the insurance agent to get coverage, and began reading the Owner’s Manuals. (The Infotainment system has a dedicated manual of its own.) It will take some time to get used to the features we will use most, and knowledge of other features, such as the navigation system, will come over time.

I hope this is a good purchase for us. Now I need to sell the RAV-4, as we really don’t need a 3rd vehicle here in Iowa. Craigslist and FaceBook Marketplace will soon see a listing for it. If anyone reading this needs a 5-speed all wheel drive vehicle in fairly good shape for around $1,200.00 let me know!

Moving on to holiday news…

Elma staged its annual Parade of Holiday Lights last Sunday. The parade lasted all of 3:52 minutes and you can see the entire parade below. (Short parade in bitter cold temps.)

Parade of Lights 2023

The Heart House outside lights were very “showy” by parade time, having been installed during the mild weather. I decided to take some video; the resulting clip has a run time of 4:21.

Heart House Lights 2023 The upcoming week should see us returning to our [mostly calm] schedule. A trip to the tree farm to cut our live tree is on the agenda; it’s not a major drive. Weather should turn a bit milder for the tree farm trip next week, although NE Iowa is expecting some snow tonight. I would like to get one more leaf cleanup finished before winter sets in for good, but we shall see.

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

Pam’s Penny

While Himself was on his auto purchase adventure, I enjoyed a quiet evening with my steak and kidney pie – plus tea, of course.

Heart House holiday decorations will soon be unpacked and selectively distributed in various rooms, subject to the destructive antics of the resident kittens. The season is upon us.

Happy Trails.

Update:

Fray Bentos’ Steak and Kidney Pie is a dish Pam encountered in Great Britain in the early ’70s. During the ’80s and ’90s, mad cow disease led to bans on importing this dish into the US for many years. (Some bans, worldwide, lasted until 2019.) I had ordered a couple of Fray Bentos as a gift for for Pam’s November birthday.

Now you know!

There were a few things going on this past week, the largest being Thanksgiving. I continued my search for a newer car. Outside lights and decorations were put up. Suet feeders and the large bird feeder were stocked and set out. Leaf pickup continued. Details below!

The big event was Thanksgiving. Pam and Becky had decided who would prepare what dishes. Pam cooked the turkey roast and pies and Becky brought a 7-layer salad, mashed potatoes, and squash. We had a very tasty and relaxed meal – everything was delicious.

Prior to Thanksgiving we put up our outside decorations while the weather was still mild. This year we put out a few more strings of lights and a special twinkling horse and sleigh display. I will have night shots in a later post, but for now here are a few daylight shots.

Also new this year is a second suet feeder. I built a couple new holders out of scrap “plastic wood” and the results should serve us well.

Pam composed a pair of intertwined hearts using red rope lights and they are installed on the garden fence. The Black Hills spruce, near the garden, received big-bulb lights for the first time this year. I will have photos of them lit up in my next post.

It was a busy week. In addition to the tasks mentioned above, I did another couple leaf pick-ups. Unfortunately, one rear tire on the lawn vac just fell apart. It was of solid rubber construction and could not be saved. The vac is at least 25 years old and new parts are no longer available, so I ordered a couple new generic wheels and will have to modify them to fit the old machine.

The search for a newer vehicle continues. We are looking for a Kia Soul with the EX trim package and these are not thick on the ground. I do have a lead on one in northern Illinois and will be speaking with the dealer this week. I will see if a deal can be made.

Snow flurries are in the forecast for late today and into Sunday. Otherwise, daytime temps are about freezing or just above, and nights are slipping into the teens. There is no snow on the ground at this time; I’m still hoping for a mild winter. One of my upcoming tasks, though, is getting the snow blower out of storage and making sure it’s in running condition. Soon I’ll need it, I am sure!

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

Pam’s Penny

My cousin Karen [pretty much every year] sends the first Christmas card everyone on her list receives. Which means Karen has cards in the mail way too early, delivered the day after Thanksgiving.

The Elma holiday lights parade is tomorrow. Heart House is on the Main Street parade route. Which means (as a gift to the town) we have lights wrapping Heart House porches. But – it’s way too early to be illuminating porches nightly [yet].

Designing/preparing/sending annual holiday cards has always been a time consuming task, spanning months. When I was gainfully employed, getting cards out the door was stressful. Which is why I now take my time with the cards, as the design evolves. Cut-and-paste activities generally put me in my happy place. (Card prep + Hallmark movie + cup of tea or hot chocolate = happy place.)

When the last card is in the mail, any holiday “frenzy” is totally over for me. I enjoy the card journey…and I don’t mail Heart House cards way too early.

Happy Trails.

Pam celebrated a significant birthday this week. It was the highlight of an otherwise normal fall week. Leaf pickup and a few small pre-winter prep tasks took up some time as well.

Pam’s November birthday was celebrated over the course of two days. Day One we ordered Chinese take-out from The Lucky Bamboo restaurant in New Hampton, a treat for us. The next day Becky brought a few gifts and a cake to contribute to a second day of celebration.

Gifts included clothing, McVitties digestive biscuits, books, and a commemorative blanket from my sister Kitt. The steak and kidney pies I ordered were delayed in shipment and are still to be received. (I suspect they have to come all the way from England and may take a while to get here.) Pam enjoyed the cards, gifts and phone calls.

A few other tasks took up some of my time. While our oak trees are pretty leafless now, the neighboring maple trees are at the height of dropping their leaves, which blow onto our yard. A layer of leaves gets deposited every time the wind blows. Between the lawn vacuum and the John Deere rider with bagger, I took 4 trailer loads of leaves to the compost site this week. Leaf pickup will continue until snow’s on the ground (preferably no snow til late December!).

Pam has begun work on her Winter Solstice cards, creating a theme and getting artwork off the web. I help by resizing graphic files and creating print-outs of the selected artwork. There is a lot of detail involved in creating these cards. The deadline for getting them in the mail approaches quickly; Pam is putting in many hours of work on this project.

We continue looking for a replacement vehicle — in person at a dealership, online auto sites and via auction. The front runner at present is the [EX trim level] Kia Soul, as it adds many of the features I want, particularly heated seats. Pam thinks the adjustability of the power seats and steering wheel will be helpful; they can be moved up and and down and forward and back, tailoring a very comfortable seating position for her shorter height.

By the way, the “IVT” in the above titles stands for “Intelligent Variable Transmission,” which is a type of CVT automatic transmission. A CVT delivers seamless acceleration without interruption for gear shifts. Instead of fixed gears, it uses a pair of variable-width pulleys connected by a flexible belt. One pulley is attached to the engine and the other to the axle shafts.

Another small project took up a bit of my time, building a couple suet feeder hangers. NE Iowa should experience a mild spell this coming week, with temps topping out near 60 degrees. Too warm to put out suet or bird seed yet. Hopefully this mild weather will stick around until we decorate Heart House for the annual holiday parade three weeks from now.

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

Pam’s Penny

A significant birthday ending in “0” is now in the rear view mirror. Pondering the next decade; the last decade was action-packed with retirement, social security/ Medicare, relocation and home renovation. Looking forward — ???

Seems strange not having a list of outdoor activities and projects to do. With the digging in of tulip bulbs and construction of anti-deer enclosures for new trees, yard work is a wrap for the year. Ah well, plenty of activity keeping the “kitten nursery plus dog nursing home” going indoors.

As noted above, holiday cards have moved from design to implementation. All ordered supplies have been received. Time for me to get into my cut-and-paste happy place.

Happy Trails.

As I type this, snowflakes are falling. We are expecting some accumulation on the grass but not on the streets. I am not ready for winter!

There is not much going on right now. It is the height of “leaf season” and I am cleaning parts of the lawn almost every day. Pam continues to cut back hostas and other plants as they reach the end of their life cycle.

The forecast has several below-freezing nights ahead which will kill off the remaining geraniums and still-green flower plants. I had hoped the fall would be mild and extended, but those hopes are now dashed.

Cold weather preparations are moving ahead. Pam put out a pair of heated water dishes and we set up the outside cat feeding station for the winter. I had been putting out cobs of corn for the last couple weeks and it may be time to set up the suet feeder as well. The large bird feeder is still in storage, however. I won’t be putting it up for a couple weeks yet.

Locally, most of the crops have been harvested. The crops are mostly corn and soybeans, with an oat field here and there. While a few fields remain unpicked, they are getting fewer and fewer. It is kind of sad to see them go as they replace once green vistas with dull brown acres.

The biggest excitement has been the decision to upgrade from the 2004 RAV-4 to something newer. A Kia Soul (used) may be in our future. Re-designed in 2020, we are looking for a 2020 or 2021 with a higher-level trim package that adds heated seats, remote entry, and some other comfort options. Our local used car dealer is checking the auction lots for something suitable and when the right unit comes along we will purchase it.

I had not considered this car before, but Pam was doing some research and found the reviews to be quite positive. Definitely not a luxury car, but much nicer than our RAV-4 and still utilitarian enough to haul groceries, cats, and dogs as the need arises. This is a “developing story” and I will provide updates as a purchase moves forward.

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

Pam’s Penny

Pam does not have a comment this week, other than it is depressing to look out at the falling snow.

Happy trails.

Our oak and maple trees are turning color and the long-range forecast indicates NE Iowa will have below freezing temps about 10 days from now. Fall weather is definitely approaching! Heart House greets the change of seasons with numerous pumpkins from Becky’s garden.

This week’s projects consisted mostly of maintenance tasks. Screen inserts were removed from the doors and the glass inserts were installed. The furnace filter was replaced. An oil and filter change, plus thorough inside cleaning, was the order of the day for the F-150 after my Colorado trip. Pam cut back many of the hostas and other flower bed plants, with more to do. The lawn was mowed, picking up quite a few fallen leaves. A trip to the compost dump was in order to dispose of the grass clippings, leaves, and other yard debris. I made a trip to the Walmart in Decorah to pick up prescription refills and do some miscellaneous shopping. Pam visited the life insurance agent in Cresco to update her policy. I had a health check-up, with a blood draw, here in Elma and met my new primary physician. (My first primary had left the practice.) The week was full of small tasks with both inside and outside work, but nothing particularly newsworthy.

We had an episode where our LG washer would not turn on. Thanks to the internet, I was able to do some basic troubleshooting of the electrical system. After removing the “noise filter” and cleaning the contacts the washer came back to life. (Good thing as I was running low on socks.)

If you wander through my web site you may notice I have begun to remove various Galleries and Videos, a project I had mentioned in an earlier post. Updating the remaining collections will continue as a fall / winter task. The Cats videos page remained unchanged, however.

Speaking of cats, here are a few photos taken this week.

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

Pam’s Penny

Item One — If we’re going to survive the winter with any furniture remaining, it appears I must break down and order one of those monolithic cat entertainment centers. Maybe my brother Craigie would like to build one; he’s said [more than once] if he housed cats he’d build them a climbing structure that would take up an entire wall. An entire wall is a bit much, but five young cats would certainly benefit from a “substantial interactive diversion.”

Item Two — It’s become clear to me that looking for this proposed replacement transport vehicle requires exposure to both an auto repair shop and used car sales facility. That combination is my idea of hell on earth.

Happy Trails.

Did you miss me? I recently returned from my fall trip to The Lot in Colorado. I have some video and several “fall color” photos to share this time around, plus a few “incident tales” to relate. Let’s get started!

I arrived at The Lot in the very late hours of a Tuesday. Wednesday was set-up day as I went to get water from the local hand pump (40 gallons) and drove to Fairplay to get groceries. The weather was sunny and mild.

Thursday and Friday were ATV days. Thursday saw me riding some new trails near Lake George. Part of this area is along the South Platte River.

Unfortunately, this trip was cut a bit short as I picked up a screw in one tire and had to find a repair shop before heading home.

Friday found me near Buena Vista, west of Fairplay, riding a number of trails. Some of these are width-restricted, with fenced openings which do not allow larger vehicles such as Jeeps and other 4×4 vehicles onto the trail.

Very colorful ground cover and some still-blooming flowers highlighted this area.

It was during this trip that I saw my first big animals, a group of juvenile mountain sheep. With their horns just beginning to grow, this group was taking it easy along a trail.

The video below is very shaky as I did not have time to set up the tripod and was shooting at almost full zoom. I hope you can still enjoy the images. Run time is 1:21.

Saturday and Sunday were work days at The Lot. (I really did not want to be on the roads and trails contending with weekend “leaf-peepers.”) I cut a few dead trees and started a new brush pile.

I had run into another problem in that my [recently-purchased used] portable generator turned out to be not powerful enough to run the pump I use to empty The Box’s holding tanks. Luckily, I was able to place the waste water tank lower on the driveway and let gravity empty the holding tanks through an extension of the drain hose. However, that left the problem of loading the waste water tank into the back of the truck. I was able to load the tank using my ATV ramps and the winch on the ATV.

The Elkhorn Ranches Owners Association maintains a waste water dump station a few miles from The Lot, and I have used it many times over the years to dispose of waste water.

The weather began to turn colder and some rain moved in, so for a few days I stayed pretty close to The Box. A few mornings saw frost on the truck and ATV, and one morning I had a few flakes of snow in the air. Surrounding mountain tops displayed a new coat of fresh white snow. The furnace ran frequently enough this trip to alert me to the need to replace the batteries for The Box’s heating system. That will be in the plans for next year.

One of my last ATV rides was near Black Mountain, west and a bit north of Fairplay. I had ridden this trail before and knew it would have some gorgeous fall color views and scenery. The trail did not disappoint!

While heading back to the truck I saw a bull moose. He was some distance away and I was not able to get videos of him, but did get a couple still (not sharp) shots.

On my final Saturday I closed down The Box and drove over the Divide to my old stomping grounds of Rifle, to attend an appreciation dinner (as a retired employee, I had been invited). Put on by the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office (my previous employer), this is an annual event. I enjoyed the evening, and the rib-eye steak, then stayed with a friend in Rifle that night. Sunday I headed back to NE Iowa, a trip of 1,015 miles which took 16.5 hours of drive time.

I am going to close with a few random fall color photos from around The Lot and along trails I rode.

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

Pam’s Penny

Since Himself was away (and out of the way), I had set myself painting tasks during his absence, like touching up the exterior steps. G-a-a-h-h! The Universe had other ideas. First the temps were close to 90 degrees, then the wind blew oak leaves into/onto freshly-painted areas, then it rained, and finally there was a gnat re-hatch (making painting miserable). Finally, just before Himself arrived back in NE Iowa, I was able to accomplish some of the painting I’d planned.

Mostly, my “vacation” was care of kittens, cats, and dogs. Heart House currently resembles a combination of animal nursery and doggie old age home. All the animals establish their own routines and I, as “concierge,” adapt to them.

The RAV also started leaking fluid while I was here solo. Anyone who knows me knows car maintenance/repair is NOT in my wheelhouse. I basically just stopped driving, relying on the local “Elma Locker” store for grocery items as needed. Turns out the thermostat gasket needed replacement. We will begin looking for a different used car shortly – it’s time.

Happy Trails.

We had a couple of notable events this week, but our activity level is declining. Because of that, I will have an announcement later in the post.

The highlight of the week was a visit from our friend Kathy Powers. Visiting Iowa relatives, Kathy made the drive from western Colorado to spend some time in the Midwest. She visited us with an overnight stay, the second time she’s slept at Heart House. This time, the Quilt Room features new windows that actually open and allow fresh air to circulate while guests sleep. A HUGE improvement.

We enjoyed the visit and having company. It was interesting to catch up with Kathy and exchange stories and tales since our last visit in 2021. Much has happened at Heart House and in Colorado since then.

Several posts back I’d mentioned a visit from Sharon and David Stute, grandchildren of Frederick and Gertrude Stute who once live in Heart House. Sharon had asked us to do some follow-up on the cemetery where her grandfather and grandmother were buried, with an eye to doing some maintenance around the head stone. Sharon received permission for us to fill in the settling area around Grandpa Fred’s stone, and we did that work this week.

The cemetery had a few small piles of dirt at one end of the field that could be used for fill. Once I had the new dirt in place, Pam applied the grass seed and watered the area with two containers of water she had brought along. Watering the area for the next couple weeks will be necessary, until the new grass is well established. (Unfortunately, there is no water tap at the cemetery.)

Last night NE Iowa received some very welcome rain which should help the new grass seed and – perhaps – revive some of the extremely dry lawn around the house. More rain is in the forecast for tonight and continuing into tomorrow morning.

And now on to news about the blog and website. I’ve been blogging for almost 15 years, and have tried to do a weekly post during that time. However, I’m no longer as active as I once was, and the number of projects taken on is declining. I’ve decided to cut back on the frequency of blog posts, putting up new content only when something newsworthy happens.

Serving as newsletter, photo gallery, and diary, the blog has been a good way to let friends and family keep up with us over the years. That will continue. For example, I am heading to Colorado in a few days and will have something to say about the trip when I return. There will be one more “bucket lift” weekend to finish the house painting. After that, though, life will be mostly routine — lawn clean-up and snow removal, not exactly scintillating topics.

I will also be removing many of the Galleries that I have created over the years. Many are getting stale with no or few updates since they were created. A few will remain, including the Videos pages and possibly the Heart House gallery (which needs to be updated), but others will be removed from the web site. I will be able to view them from my Mac if and when I want to revisit them.

I will be leaving the Videos pages up for now as they get some hits and I occasionally add new material. Over time, though, I will be removing a few older and less-interesting clips as well.

I’ll post again after my return from my upcoming Colorado trip. I am looking forward to viewing the fall colors and, new this year, attending the annual Appreciation Dinner the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office puts on. This year the dinner coincides with my visit, and I am looking forward to attending the event.

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

Pam’s Penny

Mostly I seem to be entertaining kittens these days; the “Three Amigos” are very time consuming at three months of age. And, sadly, Heart House is not really set up for kitten fostering. <sigh>

Happy Trails.

The past week was rather uneventful for us. Routine jobs were the order of the day after last weekend’s bucket lift work, including some yard maintenance and a few other projects. A few photos are included to show activities around the yard.

Pam transplanted some ferns and began to cut back garden and flower plants. The phlox were cut back, as were the sunflowers and blackberry bushes. All were at the end of their summer cycle of life, made a bit shorter by the lack of rain this year.

The hydrangea bush is in full bloom. The flowers emerge white then turn pink.

I finished work on the porch decks, including replacement of 5 spindles in the end railing. The new wood needs to be painted yet, a task Pam says she will take on while I am gone to Colorado in a few weeks.

The power company guys arrived and removed the orange guards from the power line near the house. We are pleased to see the guards gone.

The grass seed I had spread on some fresh soil has just begun to germinate. Hopefully the new grass will fill in over the next few weeks, eliminating potential muddy spots that the dogs would walk through, bringing mud into the house.

Other chores were mundane. I cleaned up my work bench, went to Mason City for a haircut, did grocery shopping, and stopped by the Elma library to get copies of a couple pages from a book on Elma’s history.

One afternoon I took out the pressure washer and cleaned the truck then turned my attention to blasting a few places on the garage where birds had managed to land some droppings. One thing about the red paint: It shows off bird poop rather well. A cleaning of the doors and walls, particularly on the alley side, was in order.

Mostly we did routine tasks and recovered from the long work days of last weekend. Going forward, the next couple weeks will be similar, nothing exciting on the agenda. Lawn maintenance will pick up as more leaves begin to fall and other plants will be cut back in preparation for winter. We will have one more bucket lift weekend but that is not on the schedule yet.

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

Pam’s Penny

At least the temps are cooler. Kittens are growing fast, and have tons of energy at three months of age.

Happy trails.

This past weekend was busy; we rented a bucket lift. Painting was on the agenda, and we worked on the east side of the house. Photos below will show our activity.

We began with the area over the east porch. Pam and I both worked on this section; I did the broad areas and Pam did the detail work below the power line on the south ends of the boards.

Most of my work was done outside the lift and standing on the porch roof. This proved to be hard on the backs of the legs due to the angle of the roof.

In the next photo I have completed scraping the surfaces and am beginning to paint under the lips of the siding boards. The bottom painted board and a short section to the right of the photo show the new boards that replaced broken siding.

Pam took her turn by doing the detail painting required to finish the wall.

The lift we rented this time (a NiftyLift TM34T) was a bit smaller than the one used previously. This worked to our advantage as I could move it with the ATV instead of having to use the truck. This made positioning the lift much easier.

The area over the east porch went pretty well but took more time than we had expected. The same could be said about the area over the front porch, particularly the NE corner window of the bedroom and under the gutters.

The areas we worked were over porch roofs, and I decided to use the shop vac to pick up loose paint chips on both porches. Here I am with the shop vac in the bucket lift, cleaning the NE porch roof.

After two long days of scraping, vacuuming, and painting, the house looks like this:

We ran out of time to make it to the north side of the second floor – so – another bucket lift weekend may take place later this fall. One reason the project took longer than anticipated was the inclusion of doing white paint around the windows over the front porch. The additional scraping and painting of this trim, which was really needed, made for a long day of east side work.

I’m very pleased with the progress made, particularly over the east porch. The siding repairs, coupled with the new paint job, really improves the overall appearance of the house. Pam will get a work order started with the power company to come and remove the orange guards that were placed over the power line (installed in June).

Another project was undertaken as well. A couple years back I had replaced porch decking on the front (north) and side (east) porches, but I had not gone far enough and both decks still needed work. Now a work-in-progress, new tongue-and-groove wood was added to both decks. This photo shows the front porch with the spindle sections, which need repair as well, removed to fit the replacement boards.

Now that cooler weather has arrived we can begin a few more outside projects. Undertaken, but not shown, is a project to fill in areas where truck tires from the painters and such made depressions in the lawn. Several bags of dirt were spread in these areas and grass seed put down. I will have to see if we can get the grass to grow with the drought conditions NE Iowa is experiencing. Frequent watering will be required.

And a short note about my blog. A problem with posting videos in the blog is they can be difficult to find if one wishes to view them again. I’ve added several Antique Power and Frito’s Kittens videos to their respective Videos pages, as much for my own organization as well as providing a spot for anyone to view them again. (Frito’s kittens are part of the Cats page.)

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

Pam’s Penny

I was so hoping the house painting would be DONE this weekend, four l-o-n-g painting summers into renovation. I guess it wasn’t a realistic expectation. Suffice to say both Himself and Myself are somewhat comfortable being in (and, in his case, also out) of the bucket lift on roof areas. (Comfortable once a person contorts body parts to both enter and leave the bucket itself, which is a gymnastic-quality endeavor.)

Frito, the mom cat in the catio, was successfully spayed and now has her freedom. She chooses to stay in our yard and make the catio her home base. Frito will be a fierce mouser around the house foundation, but also will be more aggressive stalking squirrels and birds over the winter than I will like.

How can it almost be time to start cutting back dead plants? The Grandpa Ott morning glory seed “harvest” is going well [prior to stripping those vines from the climbing structure]. Sunflowers appear ready to deadhead. My Indian corn is pathetic, not sure there are useable cobs of any size after this dry summer.

Happy Trails.

This post contains another “kitten” video, as Pam let Frito’s kittens out of the condo for the first time. Yard work included raking up more acorns. We took a couple of road trips to check out areas in south-east Minnesota. The Ford 8N tractor is running and moving under its own power. New temperature records were set, and more heat is on the way. A few medical updates will round out this week’s news.

Frito’s kittens are growing rapidly and needed more space to run. Pam decided to let them roam in the parlour where she can keep an eye on them. Run time is 2:55.

The kittens had a vet appointment this week for a wellness check and received their first round of shots. They are all healthy and very active! If anyone is looking for a house cat, these three are cuties.

Some yard work was done. Pam cut down spent hollyhock stems and weeded north flower beds. I raked more acorns and mowed the lawn, picking up some of the oak leaves that are beginning to fall. Projections for fall color were published, and due to lack of moisture this year, the fall colors may be pretty drab. Leaves are tending to just turn brown and drop. We are already seeing this happen. Below is a shot of the dump trailer with the latest batch of acorns mixed in with other yard debris.

Ford 8N update– In my last post I mentioned I wanted to get the tractor running and off the trailer. I was able to do this and the 8N is now parked behind the catio and covered with a tarp. It is not running well, mostly due to old and crappy gas, and I will occasionally work to get it running better.

Medical updates. Pam had a follow-up appointment to check the healing process of her forehead incision. The healing is doing very well and any scarring will be virtually unnoticeable when healing is completed. The discoloration around her eye is slowly subsiding, so recovery is well advanced.

The results of my last blood work at the Mayo Clinic were posted to my account and look good. PSA level remains very low and my testosterone levels are beginning to recover. As long as this trend continues I will be in good shape.

We took a couple road trips to check out areas in Minnesota; Pam is investigating a potential future home on water or with a water view. At the moment we’re just checking on a few properties that sound interesting. The results so far have been a mixed bag.

For example, the first place we looked at (with no water views) was an old commercial building. Not for us, and we cannot believe some of the prices people are asking for properties in remote locations. At $80k, this place was listed for quite a bit more than we paid for Heart House and really is a dump.

Our second trip was more enjoyable, as we found the small town of Lanesboro. Located in the Root River Valley, this artsy town is quite attractive and featured this view of a falls on the river.

Unfortunately, we won’t be taking any drives the next few days. Weather over the Labor Day Weekend is projected to be among the hottest of the summer, with new records expected to be set in the four major cities around us: Rochester, Mason City, Albert Lea, and Austin. Temps are projected to be near or at 100 degrees F. We will be working on inside projects, for sure. Our lawn is burning out and is very brown and dry, particularly in places that get little or no shade.

I am going to close with a couple random photos of Stirling and Reese. Their antics, and those of the other cats and dogs, keep us “entertained.”

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

Pam’s Penny

My sister asked me would I be sad to see summer leave and the flowers die. Well, the flowers are already dying, due to the heat. The watering schedule I have adopted concentrates on still-blooming flowers, as well as deep moisture for trees and shrubs we’ve spent good money on these last four years. The poor hollyhocks and Grandpa Ott morning glories are already in the seed production stage, with the random flower blooming now and again. Local weather reports NE Iowa is experiencing the driest summer in 50 years. We sure are.

Kittens are a LOT of work. Yes cute, but full of energy and curiosity. I think these three, in cahoots with Elmo and the Terrible Two, could deconstruct Heart House in a matter of days.

Happy Trails.