AppleAttic Blog

I visited the home for sale I mentioned in my last post, so a review of that trip is in order. Plus, I purchased a used enclosed trailer. (I know, pure excitement!) Photos of that purchase are included in this post. Time to get to it!

I met the realtor at the home and took a good tour of the house and yard. Many good points, including setting and condition, but the house just won’t work for us. It is on four levels: Kitchen (main level), upstairs (location of the master suite,) bedroom level (one level down from the kitchen) with two bedrooms, laundry, storage closet, and a half-bath, then basement, down another set of steps from the bedroom level.

This puts the laundry area 15 steps down, on two different levels, from the master suite. Given our preference to minimize having to go up and down stairs for essential functions, this layout is not for us. We didn’t realize the house was on four levels!

Advantages were the location, water view, over-all condition, and overhead central air. Other disadvantages were all-electric heat (via baseboard heaters) and restrictions on adding additional garage space, both from permit policies and physical dimensions of the lot. I found it a bit odd that very few rooms had overhead lights. Instead, switches controlled outlets into which one would plug lamps.

I enjoyed the trip, about 3 hours each way, and took quite a bit of video for Pam to review. I stopped to speak to one of the area residents who was doing some yard work and gained some perspective about living in the area. (A “George Chat,” if you will.) So, although we have decided to pass on making an offer, it was a good day out. The search will continue.

The other main topic of this post is my purchase of an enclosed trailer. Found on Facebook Marketplace, this 7′ x 16′ Pace American trailer is in good condition but does have some dents and bruises. Instead of removing the old decals, someone just tried to paint over them. Not a good look.

I have begun removing the internal shelves the previous owners (I am the 3rd) had installed. My main purpose will be hauling firewood so the shelving is not needed, although I will leave some shelves [in the nose of the unit] intact for now.

The next step will be to take the bill of sale and Wisconsin title to my county offices to pay the sales tax, get an Iowa title, and finish the registration.

The trailer came out of Marshfield, Wisconsin, and pulled very well behind my Ford F-150. Lights and the brakes work with the exception of two small side markers that I will have to repair. A spare tire was included.

Once the rain stops I will get started on splitting firewood and loading the rig. In the short term I will list my equipment trailer, shown below, for sale.

I have little else to report on so will now close this post.

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

Pam’s Penny

Think of the recently-purchased red enclosed trailer as winter storage for yard maintenance equipment – mower, leaf vac, etc. Possibly the ATV too. Like adding a mini-bay onto the garage.

House hunting slows down for the season. Increasing home mortgage interest rates and gas prices (heading toward outrageous) tend to put a damper on this endeavor.

Rock on.

Today’s humor:

The past two weeks we engaged in limited activities due to the higher-than-normal temperatures for this time of year, accompanied by nasty “Feels Like” (dew point) humidity levels. Still, there is some news to report.

I finished gathering local trees for firewood. Rounds are now stacked and waiting for me to fire up the splitter and do some further processing. Then the question arises: How to transport the wood to New York? In the long term, I would like to purchase an enclosed trailer, both to transport wood and to use as additional storage for some of my “Big Boy” toys. I have begun looking at Facebook Marketplace and Craig’s List to see what is available. As part of this plan I will be selling my open 16-foot equipment trailer.

In other news, I had my colonoscopy on Thursday, September 3rd. The results, I am sad to say, were not good. I had 13 polyps removed. The tissues are being sent to a lab to see if they are benign or cancerous. The physician told me I had a strong probability of developing colon cancer and recommended annual tests for that condition.

The after-process report included black-and-white photos taken inside my large intestine. I didn’t really need to see those. Oh, and I had one hemorrhoid removed. Isn’t life fun?

The doctor inserted clips to close some of the spots where the polyps were removed. I now have a card to show at airport screenings or MRI scans proving the metal in my body is there for medical reasons. I tucked the card into my billfold along with my other insurance cards. The fun just keeps on coming.

I mentioned the weather for September, and so far we have been above historical averages. This is from the KTTC TV (Rochester, MN) weather desk:

Instead of temperatures occasionally reaching the low 80s or even the upper 70s, we’ve been reaching the mid-80s, about ten degrees warmer than the 30-year climate average. 

Temperatures have climbed into the upper 80s, while dew point values have surged into the 70s, creating a noticeably muggy feel across the region.

Some outside activities were accomplished. I was able to grab some black dirt from the city’s stash and fill in some low spots around the yard. The new grass is coming in pretty well. (The city had cleaned out some ditches and dumped the dirt near the compost site. I had asked for, and received, permission to hijack some of this for lawn repair.)

One of the spots to get some dirt was the area to the right of the sidewalk leading to the catio:

A bit of news on the Gilson tractor project: I have ordered a new hydraulic cylinder to replace the leaking original. The replacement is a generic unit and I will have to modify one end to fit properly, but that should not be a big deal.

We received our new homeowner’s insurance, and it is up a couple hundred from last year. The billing came with an insert noting that tariffs and climate change were the main factors behind the premium increase. Not much we can do except grit our teeth and pay the bill.

In family news, Pam’s sister Becky sold her house in Greene and has relocated to St. Paul, MN. The duplex where she now lives will get an interior refresh, both levels, and life will begin to settle down for her. Becky’s daughter + partner will live in the other unit.

Felicity is now between jobs due to a re-alignment of her publishing company, adding more stress to her life, and is looking for other employment. She did get a good severance package but still…

I have scheduled a trip to look at a house near Mt. Pleasant, Iowa (SE corner of the state) for next week. On the surface, the house looks like a good match for us. It overlooks a pond, has a two-car garage, is .5 wooded acres, and is not far from Mt. Pleasant and all the services we would need.

On the down side, the house in question is heated with electricity (expensive) and there are restrictions prohibiting the construction of a stand alone garage / workshop. No main level bedroom. Given we would like to avoid stairs as much as possible in the future, stairs present a challenge.

The house is in our targeted price range and is in an incorporated area that provides water (private septic, though) and road maintenance. We know from past experience that an in-person visit will reveal things that listing photos ignore or don’t show, so an in-person visit is the way to go. However, our wish list is long and complex, and it’s unlikely any house in our price range will check off every box. On what do we want to compromise?

This is the link to the listing on Zillow. (The link will opening a new tab.)

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5007-Oak-Ln-Mount-Pleasant-IA-52641/86963594_zpid

I will have a report of the visit in my next post.

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

Pam’s Penny

When I picked Himself up at the clinic after his procedure, he handed me the discharge paperwork to look through. As I flipped to page 2, I saw the aforementioned graphic photos of the inside of his colon. OMG. WTF? TMI! For me personally, the written description and the line drawing of the colon [with trouble spots “x’ed”] were quite sufficient, thank you very much.

It was a medical week. Grayce developed some mystery condition where she started vomiting, stopped eating, had low energy and diarrhea. Off to the vet for meds. As that situation started to swing back to normal, Grayce’s face blew up like a football and her ears developed a very itchy rash. I’m thinking there were two separate issues with Grayce – something she ate for the first and something that stung her for the second. Whatever, with meds and special diets being the norm for humans and pets, it was indeed a medical week.

Due to doggies (still) on meds and higher than average heat indices, the dogs and I will not be accompanying Himself to the house viewing this week.

Rock on.

Today’s Humor:

I have several unrelated topics to go over this time. Acorn season has arrived, reclusive KitkKat is spending more time in open areas of the house, I attended a community dinner party, and more firewood was obtained. Lets get into it!

Acorns have begun to fall from our oak trees. It seems early for this to happen, but there it is. Many of the acorns are green and still in their caps but many more are ready for us to harvest. (We put them in our squirrel feeder during the winter months.)

Inside the house, our oldest feline, KitKat, has been spending more time in the library, sleeping on chairs and the sunny window sill. This is a bit of a change, as she has historically been the most reclusive of our cats. KitKat was good friends with our late dog JoJo and, I believe, has been missing her doggie companion this past year. Although Pam can occasionally pet KitKat, I have no such privilege.

Here is KitKat sleeping on one of the chairs in the library.

Our propane and local agricultural supplier held a community “thank you” dinner last week and I attended. Much of the community showed up for the free meal (after calling in a reservation). The food was basic, but good. I had the large turkey sandwich; the other option was a rib-eye steak sandwich.

I had success in my ongoing attempt to procure more firewood for Felicity and Peter. As mentioned before, a neighbor had a couple trees taken down and left in a pile in his yard. I had asked if I could reclaim the good firewood and the answer was yes. This week I finished going through the pile and stacked up more wood along the east garage wall. Now I need to split the larger stuff before taking it to New York this fall.

It probably is not cost effective for me to haul firewood that far, but it will save Felicity and Peter some money and Pam and I will know they have the best quality firewood one can have, old growth red oak and ash. The local stuff Felicity purchased last fall was OK but not top of the line. (It was mostly left-over pieces of wood from a local barrel making company, we were told.) I re-split some of it during my last visit, as some pieces were too large for their wood burning stove.

These are photos of my most recent load of wood and the pile along the garage. Note: Some of the chunks were too large to handle without being cut in half lengthwise. Those rounds are at the rear of the trailer photo below..

A medical note: I am scheduled for a colonoscopy on September 3rd. Not looking forward to it.

There is much color around the yard at this time. The sunflowers, phlox, Grandpa Otts, geraniums, hydrangea, and marigolds are all at their height. Here are a couple photos taken Friday, August 21st.

Some family news to report: Pam’s sister, Becky, in conjunction with her daughter Caitlin and Caitlin’s partner Neno, are moving into a recently-purchased up-and-down duplex in St. Paul, Minnesota. Good news for them – it being Caitlin’s and Neno’s first home – but we’ll miss having Becky near us.

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

Pam’s Penny

[OK, I’m kinda crazy. Planning for the holiday cards is in the initial stage already. The earlier I start, the more intricate the card can be.]

Re: Himself’s firewood activities, I hated to see such high quality/old growth oak and ash hardwood potentially being thrown out here in Elma (after various tree cutting projects in the neighborhood). Himself has historically enjoyed cutting and splitting firewood. I consider firewood prep his hobby. So, even if local NY firewood deliveries for Felicity might be less $$$ overall than driving this wood to her location, the quality of the Midwest wood plus Himself’s enjoyment appears to be “the thing.”

Rock on.

Today’s Humor:

The worst of the heat is over, sunflowers and Grandpa Otts are blooming, and work continues on the Gilson garden tractor. Long-range winter forecasts are coming out, and Brrrr!

I will begin with work on the Gilson garden tractor. The hydraulic cylinder that raises and lowers the blade had to be removed to see if it can be repaired with new seals. (Currently at a shop for disassembly.) This meant removing the engine and fuel tank to gain access to the cylinder.

This was a greasy job and a real pain. If the cylinder cannot be repaired I will have to scrap this project, sell what I can, and try to find another snow plowing unit. I hope it does not come to that.

Around the yard, the Grandpa Otts and sunflowers have begun to bloom.

I have been salvaging firewood, with permission, from the neighbor’s tree removal pile. The salvage task continues.

I celebrated a birthday this month, as did Pam’s older brother, Larry. Coming up in a few days is our 52nd anniversary, so this month is notable for birthdays and other celebrations.

Long-range winter forecasts are coming out, and it looks as if the upper midwest may be in for a cold winter.

However, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) forecasts a different scenario, with a 40% – 50% chance of above-normal temperatures through December for most of Iowa.

Still a 3rd forecast, from the Farmers’ Almanac, predicts a cold and snowy winter. I guess we will just have to wait and see who is the most accurate.

Life is continuing at a slow pace due to the recent hot weather. The “feels like” temperature hit 126F in Charles City, located about 22 miles from us. This review is from Rochester’s KAAL.tv’s July weather wrap-up.

In fact, on July 27, heat index values neared 120F in Rochester, and topped 120F for other locations such as Austin and Charles City.

Charles City is one of the local reporting stations. It was a hot and muggy stretch of weather! It has now cooled somewhat, back to seasonal averages, and we can now get outside a bit more often.

It is now primary season and several states have had, or are about to have, primary elections. I would like you to take a look at this AI-generated YouTube music video titled “Living Presidents” that encourages people to get out and vote.

Make sure you turn on the sound, muted by default, by clicking on the speaker icon at the top of the screen when it opens.

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

No Pam’s Penny Today

Pam says she has no additional comments other than she is glad we had central air installed back in 2020.

Today’s Humor:

This week’s activities consisted of routine maintenance (painting) and new flowers blooming. Unusual, though: I obtained a log splitter. Many photos this time!

The hydrangea, located at the NW corner of Heart House, has begun blooming. These unusual flowers bloom white then turn red as they age.

Hostas are also blooming around the yard:

The phlox are looking good as well:

Keeping with the “around the house” theme, here is how the house looked during Elma Trail Days, held the week after the 4th of July:

The “Info Table” we had set up on the front porch looked like this:

For me, the big news since my last post is a new toy: A used log splitter. While I had thought of building one, as mentioned in a previous post, a unit came up on Facebook Marketplace at a price lower than the cost of obtaining individual used parts.

It runs (the electric start option is nice!) and operates but leaks oil at the front of the cylinder. The control valve is a bit funky as well, but I did get our stash of red oak split and re-stacked.

I will see what it would take to get new seals installed in the cylinder and replace the control valve. No hurry, though, as it works well enough for my purposes at this time.

The tentative plan is to take this wood to Felicity’s place later this fall, along with whatever other wood I can scrounge. Felicity and Peter burn wood for supplemental heat and this pile should keep them warm for at while.

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

Pam’s Penny

What Himself failed to mention is the previous “freebie” log splitter frame went out on the yard, then found a new home in an Elma neighborhood somewhere. Easy come, easy go.

I try to fit in exterior porch painting here and there, as weather and inclination permits.

Rock on.

Today’s Comment:

I am back, and there is much to cover this time. There was my trip to Colorado, Elma Trail Days, and some around-the-yard happenings. Lots of photos, so let’s get started!

I will begin with my recent trip to Colorado. I spend a few days with friends in Westcliff as they rode motorcycles during the day and I rode ATV trails. We would re-group in the evening, eat, and tell stories. It was a good time for me.

Here are a few photos from my trail rides in the Locke Park area NE of Westcliff.

I enjoyed my time in Wescliff. The sight of blue Columbine in bloom always lifts my spirits as does time spend with my friends.

Back at The Lot, a mix of good and bad awaited me. The good: My roof repairs from last fall were successful and there were no leaks in The Box. I was able to run the chipper and chip several piles of brush, some from last year and a few new ones from this year.

The bad news: Pine beetles have killed a couple of the lodgepole pine. While there are several approaches to controlling pine beetles, once a tree is dead the only recourse is to cut it down and wrap it in black plastic so the heat will kill the beetles and their larvae.

This may cause us to list The Lot for sale. I am not close enough to manage a pine beetle infestation and dead trees will decrease the value of The Lot. A final decision has not been made, but we are leaning strongly to selling the place.

If we did sell, I would miss sunsets like this:

Returning to Elma, two weeks worth of tall grass waited for me. Just as I was getting started, however, the fuel pump on my John Deere quit. I have a replacement on order, but in the short term I was reduced to using the Torro mower. It works fine but the catch bag needed frequent emptying and was prone to clog due to the tall grass and clover mix that makes up our lawn.

Elma is celebrating its annual Trail Days celebration, and today was parade day. Nothing special in the parade, but I did take these two photos to show what a typical small-town parade looks like in 2026.

Finally, the hollyhocks and day lilies are doing very well in the yard. The hollyhock featured below is a self-seeded plant from one of our original plantings.

Day lilies in this area are akin to weeds, but they do add color to the yard!

For now there is nothing major upcoming on our calendar. The 10-day forecast shows air temps at or near 90 degrees and the “feels like” temperature getting over 100. We plan to spend time indoors with chores and other tasks relegated to early mornings or late afternoons when the temperatures are a bit more bearable.

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

Pam’s Penny

Other than helping the pets suffer through Heat Alert days while Himself was in Colorado, I totally enjoyed my time on my own at home.

Today’s Humor:

Summer is here! Pam did some “trimming,” the Gilson is running but not operational, and a trip is planned. Here are the details!

We will start with Pam’s “trimming” project. Every year there is new growth on our trees and shrubs, and sometimes this new growth overlaps onto adjoining plants. That is when Pam gets out her loppers plus shears and gets to work.

This year the lilacs, butterfly bush, and honey locust all were trimmed back to some extent. The result was a trailer load of branches to be taken to the town’s brush burning area.

The results are a neater-looking yard and easier-to-mow-around areas between and under the various plantings. This is maintenance that Pam performs every year.

In other yard news, the day lilies are beginning to bloom, adding some color around the yard.

Turning to mechanical projects, I have made progress on resurrecting the 1985 Gilson lawn tractor. It is now running, but is leaking hydraulic oil in a big way. I will have to get it up on blocks to be able to work underneath it, a task for later this summer. I am glad it is running, however!

I have begun another long-term project: building a log splitter. Why? Well, Felicity and Peter burn firewood in the winter, and there seems to be a fair amount of wood I can salvage in our area. Felicity paid about $225.00 a cord for wood (delivered) last fall (3 cords total), so if I can get some wood together for them it will save some expense in their tight budget.

For those not familiar with firewood, a “cord” is a pile of wood 4 feet wide, 4 feet tall, and 8 feet long, or 128 cubic feet of wood. Generally each piece is 16″ long, so three pieces end to end make up the 4-foot width.

The local tire shop had the bones of a splitter sitting behind their building so I stopped to ask the story behind it. I was “gifted” the splitter to “get another piece of junk off my lot.” I managed to drag it home and get the wheels to roll, a beginning.

Now I will begin to hunt up the required parts and pieces, and I think Facebook Marketplace will be my friend in this endeavor. I need a motor, control valve, hydraulic oil tank, pump, some metal for mounts, and hoses to connect everything.

I have three other events of note:

1. The neighbors are moving out to a farm house left to them by Ben’s father. We were on cordial terms with Ben, Kayla, and young Liam, but it will be much quieter when they are gone.

2. I will be going to Colorado soon to meet up with friends and ride some ATV trails. My next post will be delayed until I return home.

3. A guy says he will be here tomorrow (Sunday) to purchase my Yamaha XJ motorcycle and assorted parts and pieces. I hope he does, as I need the garage space to work on the Gilson and the log splitter. The sale of the XJ will help fund both projects.

Addendum: XJ has been sold. (Sunday)

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

Pam’s Penny

In Himself’s garage, stuff leaves and stuff fills the empty spaces. So it has always been.

Rock on.

Today’s Humor:

Heart House flowers always have a progression of blooming, dying, then another round coming into bloom. This post will cover some of the early June flowers and a look around the yard. A few more critter photos are also in this post. Enjoy!

The iris and allium are done blooming but the peonies are just starting to hit their stride. We have three varieties/colors: deep red, pink, and white, all blooming at the same time.

Honeysuckle and tiger lilies are also in bloom.

Grandpa Otts and hollyhocks are doing well; the hollyhocks and day lilies are budding out and will be among the next round of blooming flowers.

Various other tasks have kept us busy. Pam planted our newest spruce tree and cleaned out the patio building (annual job after cats use the space in the winter). She is relocating the rhubarb plants and generally keeping the flower beds clean and neat. I will add that the north bed looks excellent this year, probably the best it has since we have been here.

I have been working on the Gilson lawn tractor and ordering parts as needed. It has been a slow process and still no guarantee the resurrection will be successful.

Another task: cutting and stacking firewood created by the oak trimming project. The wood is now stacked up along the side of the catio.

Keep in mind: These chunks are from branches of the old oak!

We did take a trip to eastern Iowa to drive by a few houses Pam had seen advertised for sale. Only one seemed worth the drive, a 5,000 square foot monster in Clinton, Iowa, but it needs more effort and money to repair than we want to take on at this point in our lives.

On the way home we stopped for gas at the Iowa 80 truck stop, billed as the “World’s Largest Truck Stop.” It was no great thrill.

As the last part of this post I am going to include a few cat photos. These seem to be popular with readers of this blog, so here you have Reese and Stirling.

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

Pam’s Penny

Taking a quick look at events in 1776: Thomas Jefferson spent most of the month of June 1776 in his Philadelphia [rented] room, drafting the Declaration of Independence. For inspiration, Jefferson used as reference various philosophical ideals of governance, as well as the new governing articles of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Undoubtedly, Jefferson realized the long-term historical importance of the document he was being asked to produce. Pressure!

Rock on.

Today’s Humor:

Our tulips and daffodils are done and the lilacs are fading, but irises and allium are in full bloom. A few new cat and dog photos are featured, and I announce a new project to be completed by winter. Such are the stories of our retirement life.

These allium are planted next to our east porch steps. They are quite tall, and the flowers will last for several weeks.

Blue and white irises are blooming on the garden fence.

We went greenhouse shopping and returned with quite a few annuals. Pam planted many of them in our north flowerbed.

While we work outside, the cats and dogs relax inside. I realized it has been a while since I showed any critter photos, so here are recent shots of a few of our critters.

A new Gallery of “Critters” is up as well. This collection should be more interesting than trimming the oak tree. It consists of animals, other than our pets, that I have photographed over the years.

As if I did not have enough to do, I (somewhat inadvertently) picked up a new project: Trying to resurrect a 1985 Gilson GT18HE garden tractor. It has a blade on it, which I wanted, as I am getting tired of the twice-a-year switch over between lawn mowing and snow plowing with the John Deere LX176. The Gilson will, I hope, become my snow plowing tractor.

It does not run, and that is the challenge. It is also why it was cheap: A $100.00 bid bought it, something of a surprise as accessories, such as the blade and tire chains, normally sell for more than that. Someone did some “creative wiring” under the hood and I am waiting on parts to see if I can fix it. Wish me luck!

Summer life has dropped into a routine of yard maintenance, flower bed creation and upkeep, and small projects around the house. (Something always seems to need paint, for example.) Pam continues to research houses for sale in hopes of finding something with a water view that we could afford.

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

Pam’s Penny

It was a bitch of a winter, and then – seemingly suddenly, but not without a few hail storms – everything is once again growing. Plantings around the yard finally matured and have a familiar pattern. But I change things up a bit with annuals every year. This fall I will reintegrate the garden area into the yard once more, as I’m finding spring garden prep is more work than reward.

Relocation search: The sub-zero winters (and the Victorian stairwell) will break us, if we stay in Elma. I scan house listings along the Mississippi River in the Driftless Area; hopefully, moving south of our current latitude will save us from direct Alberta Clipper winter blasts. Properties are not inexpensive along the river, which is a bummer for retirees. I anticipate selling Heart House will be challenging. All factors under consideration.

Rock on.

Humor for today:

There are many topics to cover this time, and lots of photos to show as well. A new Gallery has been published to go with part of the story. The New York trip, tree trimming, motorcycle sold, and a few other topics are covered this time around.

I will start with my trip to visit Felicity and Peter in New York. Several tasks were finished or moved along, including:

Swinging mailbox installed. The old box had been hit by winter snowplows. While the post had been repaired, the box was in bad shape and all the neighbors had converted to swinging boxes to prevent winter damage.

The old post was removed and taken apart; the wood may be used in future projects. The new box will now swing if hit by a plow.

Another requested task: I added a handrail to the basement stairs. The laundry is in the basement and Felicity had difficulty going up and down the steps, preferring to go outside and use the back door instead. The handrail will be a big help to her.

One project was a partial success; splitting much of the existing woodpile, left over from a tree removed to make way for the septic system and the cutting down of a couple dead trees. I rented a splitter but ran into mechanical problems – the splitter would quit every few minutes – and had to return it before the job was completely finished. More to do next trip!

One job, a big one, did not get off the ground. I had rented a brush chipper to process brush cut from several locations. While I did have the chipper started at the rental yard, once at the property it would not take in any brush: the in-feed roller would not spin. Calls to the yard resulted in some troubleshooting but nothing worked. I had to return the chipper. The yard owner tried but could not get it to work either. I was very disappointed! Now Felicity is left with 4 piles of brush scattered around the yard.

The tall stump at the left of the above photo is there at Felicity and Peter’s request. They hope to fashion it into a roadside marker for their property, making it easier to locate the driveway in low light or night conditions. I had felled and processed the rest of the dead tree into firewood.

Since I could not chip brush I took to weed-whacking parts of the yard. In the photo below, brush was cut from around the tree to the right and the entire area cleared with the weed-wacker. Other parts of the lot received the same treatment.

The trip was long. With local running around and a trip to East Syracuse to listen to Felicity’s choir group sing in a competition, I put on 2,523 miles. (Felicity’s group did qualify for the national competition and I enjoyed the event.) Lowest fuel price on the way out: $3.40 per gallon in Iowa. Prices went up the week I was gone; the lowest price on the way back, also in Iowa, was $3.80. I did pay a high of $5.10 per gallon in Ohio.

I’ll include this travel photo and a short video clip. The first is the Mississippi River near Le Claire, Iowa, and the second is of Hector Falls near Watkins Glenn, New York. I passed the falls several times as it is on the road between Felicity’s place and Watkins Glenn, the nearest larger town and location of the equipment rental yard.

This second is a 44 second clip of Hector Falls.

In normal times, the trip would be the only topic of a post, but not this time. There is a lot more to come!

Two other events happened that are worth posting about. The first deals with the dead oak tree in our yard. I have mentioned this tree before as we had a quote to get it removed last year but the company never showed to do the work.

A neighbor was getting a tree removed so I went over to talk to the lift operator. Turns out he is a neighbor but not a professional tree remover. Still, he came over and looked at our tree and said he would take down what he could reach with his lift. We really wanted the dead limbs over the garage removed to avoid damage should they fall in a storm or strong wind. We paid him for his time and equipment expenses which was far less than the quote we had last fall.

I have created a Gallery to showcase the photos taken during the trimming. Please take a look! This photo will give you some idea of the work done.

In an effort to move along stuff I no longer use, I had listed my motorcycles for sale. The 2006 Kawasaki Concours sold this past Saturday. A younger couple had contacted me and came down (with a trailer) to see the bike and decided to take it home with them. The end of an era for me; I hope it serves the new owners well.

The last couple weeks have been very eventful and busy. Now I hope to settle down for a couple days and list a few more items for sale and move them along.

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

Pam’s Penny

May 10, 1776:

The Second Continental Congress passed a resolution urging colonies to establish new, local governments. This marked a major move toward total separation from England.

Rock on!

Today’s Humor: