Month: April 2017

There has not been a lot going on this week so this is likely to be a quick post. Most of what we have been doing is just a normal routine. There are a few bits of news, though.

Health for both of us has been an issue; Pam’s bursitis in her left knee has been acting up making it painful to walk. Cold compresses and her TENS machine have helped, along with an anti-inflammatory drug, but getting around is still both slow and painful. Thankfully this episode seems to be on the decline but full recovery seems a way off yet.

I am getting over a nasty cold which has sapped my energy and leads to fits of coughing. As of today I am getting better but let’s just say the last couple weekends have seen little activity outside the minimum necessary to take care of the yard and grocery shopping. Hopefully, by next week, this will be past and I can get started on preparing The Box to take up to The Lot.

Commuting to work has become more difficult due to road construction around Glenwood Springs. A major project to replace the aging bridge over the Colorado River has been on-going for over a year now and will continue for another year. At the moment various access routes into town are being rebuilt or modified to accommodate the new bridge and intersections. The ongoing traffic delays are impacting our ability to get to work.

Typical construction affecting our commute

Access will get much worse starting in August of this year when the physical bridge gets removed and the new bridge installed  (a 90-day process at best) forcing all traffic to get into Glenwood Springs through a 2-lane option that was never designed to handle large trucks and a high volume of traffic. Pam and I are exploring alternate work schedules or other ways to mitigate the construction clog. This will be an on-going topic in future posts!

Other short takes:

Our property assessment came in much lower than we had hoped, pretty much ending our idea of refinancing the place. Biggest problem is comparable properties; there are not many in town that have sold in the last 18 months. Our comparables include a couple of repos that were sold at very low prices, knocking down the value of our place. The property tax valuation from the county shows us losing value in the house since last year’s statement. This part of the country is not recovering from the 2007 – 2008 recession and while this makes buying a house a better deal, refinancing or selling a place means we take a major hit (since we bought in 2006). Bad timing, for sure.

The weather turned cold with fresh snow at our work places this past week. Vail Pass and Eisenhower Tunnel both closed a few times due to the number and severity of accidents attributed to the late snow storms. I emphasize that snow in late April is not at all unusual for us but it has been lovely seasonal weather for quite a while — and people forget it is still winter in the high country.

Pam has located a couple more “interesting” properties through on-line searches:

Hazel Grove Road house in Clatskanie, OR

North 5th Avenue in Stayton, OR

The listing for the Hazel Grove house (listed @ $187,000) had few inside photos, not normally a good thing (it is a bank repo), but there may be a background story to it. The North 5th Ave place (listed @ $199,000) is fairly well upgraded inside and has a detached garage, both appealing aspects of the property. One is in the “boonies” on acreage, one in town on a corner lot.  No water feature or views in either location.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Gonna need to schedule that road trip to Oregon for a retirement house “look-see.” Maybe sometime this Fall, after bringing The Box down from Sanderling, we’ll pack up the dogs in our replacement Honda and do a Pacific Northwest loop. (Still need the replacement Honda…)

Regarding the low appraisal on our present digs (a loss of $43,000 in value over ten years), you were maybe thinking I was overly dramatic in saying De Beque is a dump?  Sad validation.

Happy Trails.

SMM = Special Mobile Machinery. That is how my chipper is now registered and plated.

It took most of a day, last Wednesday, that I took off as vacation. First I had to get a temporary permit so I could pull the chipper to a weigh station. No fun waiting at the DMV – only one office in all of Mesa County, population 146,723 – for over an hour until my number was called. $7.10 later I had my temp permit.

Since I was in Grand Junction, I stopped in at a Honda dealership to take a look at an Accord that Pam had seen on-line. (We are leaning toward replacing our Accord, with 411K miles on it, with a newer vehicle.) The Honda that Pam had seen – a 2008 model with under 100K on it – already had a pending offer so I looked at what else the dealership had on hand. There was a 2010 Accord on the lot but with more miles on it, about 138K. Asking price for either vehicle was just under $10K which is what we think it will take to get a decent daily driver. This was just a scouting trip to get info so I took the salesman’s card and moved along.

Next stop was grocery shopping. The grocery list was substantial and finding everything in a relatively unknown store took some time. Then it was off to home to unload the groceries, get lunch, put the temp tag on the chipper, hook up to the Ford F-150, and head back to Grand Junction to get the chipper weighed and complete the registration.

I needed a “weight slip” to complete the paperwork and, while in Grand Junction in the a.m., I had scouted the location of two certified scales located at truck stops. When I turned up at the weigh station, I was in for a bit of consternation; the scale would not register a vehicle as light as the chipper. The 2nd truck scale gave me the same news.

By this time I was getting frustrated and a call to the DMV did not help. They claimed either of those scales should be able to weigh the chipper, and if not, the recommendation was to “…get a Yellow Pages and start looking for a scale,” which was of no help to me. I was driving back through Grand Junction on the business loop when I spotted a scrap recycler off a side road. Figuring they had to weigh “stuff” I made my way over to them. Inside the office I was greeted by a middle-aged lady who said sure, they would weigh my chipper for me (after I explained I needed a “weight slip” to title the unit).

The lady showed me which scale to use and I drove the truck and chipper onto it. The scale was in three sections so the chipper could be isolated on one section and thus get an accurate weight. (Chipper weight = 1,700 pounds; the manual had it listed at 1,680 but for some reason the DMV would not accept the manual’s stated weight.)

The process took only a few minutes, and when I went back to the office the weight slip was ready to go  – made my day! – at no charge. My mood brightened considerably.

Soo it was back to the DMV, another hour+ wait, and finally my number was called. I turned in all the papers, forms, and temp permit, answered a few questions, then we had to go outside to do a VIN inspection on the chipper. The chipper had no VIN number, only a model number and serial number. The serial number became my VIN.

At long last, after a payment of $124.95, I was handed my license plate and registration. (The title will come in the mail in about a month.) I was one happy camper at that moment. Back into the truck and home. The first thing I did when I got there was put the SMM plate on the chipper. It had been a long day but I can now legally pull the chipper to and from The Lot, or to other small jobs if something comes up.

My SMM plate

In other news…

We are looking forward to seeing Pam’s brother Craig and wife Dianne when they are in Colorado over Memorial Day weekend. We plan to meet at The Lot and spend a few days in the area. Looking at the local forecast for The Lot the rest of April, temps are still dropping below freezing but not every night. Hopefully in a few weeks (early-May?) I will be able to tow The Box up to the lot and start getting set up for the season.

Otherwise our lives are into the fair weather routine; mowing and watering the lawn, more painting of the decks, auto maintenance. I did go on another ride with the Grand Junction ATV group yesterday, which is interesting as I get to meet more and more people. (The new ATV tires worked very well on this ride.)

One evening, while I was sitting in my new recliner, I noticed KitKat had taken up her usual spot on the back of the couch:

KitKat on the back of the couch

All the pets (inside and outside) made it through the winter OK and are appreciating the warming days and nights.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

I know it’s Spring cause my bursitis is acting up again.  This year my left knee has taken the hit.  With meds and time the swelling will go down, but it’s really boring to wake up every day and have to take an inventory to see what is working – and what is not.

Retirement House Hunt:  I’ve been scoping out several towns in Oregon that feature historic houses.  Brownsville and Scio offer some interesting options; they’re located in the center of the state along Oregon’s I-5 corridor.  Bigger cities close by the smaller towns would offer the medical and retail services we’ll need.  Other small communities like Mt. Angel and Amity are on the radar too, since we’ve been to both of them.  I recently located a hamlet off the coast (slightly inland from Florence) called Mapleton that intrigues.  A road trip to the Pacific Northwest is likely in order before “getting serious.”

This house in Brownsville recently sold for about $100K

Happy Trails.

This post looks to include a lot of maintenance items; some done last week and others done this weekend. I needed to take the snow blade off the John Deere lawn tractor and mount the mowing deck, change oil and filter on the Honda, mow the lawn, and work on other around-the-house chores. This is a typical “at home” weekend for us (before Sanderling season, that is).

Pam is baking a pie for our Easter dinner; she has the makings for a pumpkin pie. With my Type 2 diabetes we don’t have desserts as often as we used to and that is a missed pleasure. Pam bakes excellent pies.

Speaking of pleasures…we bought a new recliner for the living room. You might remember we had taken the old chair up to The Lot and used it there but brought it home for the winter. The old recliner will go back up to The Lot and be left there now that I have a replacement.

During the week I did replace our main entry screen door. The old door, original to the house, was beginning to sag as the hinges were getting worn. We picked up a new door at a lumber yard and proceeded to install it. That was interesting as I had never hung a screen door before and the instructions were not all that clear. None the less the door is now in place and working quite smoothly.

The door has a screen section, something Pam wanted, so we get a bit more air flow inside the house. The door looks good particularly after Pam painted the frame around it. This represents one more “update” project completed!

New screen door installed

This last week saw the ATV get a new set of tires. I had been running the original 2011 set until now and they were getting pretty worn. I found a full set on sale on Amazon for $245.00 including shipping. The tread pattern is based on a better-known brand (Maxxis) but this brand  (Sun F) was considerably less expensive. I had the tires mounted at Walmart who had the least expensive charge for this work, $32.98 for the set of 4.

Here is a photo of an old front tire (left) and a new tire. (Rear tires are the same except a bit wider.)

Left: Old tire. Right: New tire.

The rear tires were more worn than the front. I will be glad to have the extra traction when on a  trail or pulling the chipper or trailer around the lot.

Pam has been working in the flower beds, cleaning them out and getting them ready for the growing season.

Pam working in a flower bed

Of the two of us, Pam is more of a gardener than I am. She works with the flower beds and plantings; my roll is more helper than planner.

This time of year always includes a variety of projects I can work on. Keeps me busy and active, I guess. This afternoon will see me working a bit more on the back deck and, if time permits, getting a little more paint on the chipper.

Happy Easter to everyone!

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

The appraiser surveyed the property this past Wednesday, report due later in the month.  Refinance on hold until results are in.

The Honda, at 410,000 miles, needs $1,000 worth of tie rods etc.  This type of expenditure puts us at the point to consider replacement rather than repair. Fields wants to shoot for 450,000-500,000 on the odometer.  I’m not convinced this makes economic sense. Perhaps Felicity has the right of it – forget the expense of vehicle ownership and maintenance, and live near adequate public transportation.

Happy Trails.

Now that spring is mostly here (below freezing likely for tonight) we have started some home clean up chores (primary repainting our deck). We have an appraiser visiting on Wednesday morning as part of a refinancing scheme, so we want the place to look “spruced up.”  The forecast is 70s and 80s at the end of the week; I sure hope the freezing weather will be past us for good after tonight.

Deck painting: The main deck is 12′ by 16′ and has railings and a ramp that provides access from the driveway and garage. The deck is wood but the ramp is steel. It had been several years since I last painted the ramp and part of the deck; weather and use have taken their toll and it’s time to paint again.

I began by wire brushing and scraping the ramp to remove the loose paint. The ramp features a tread pattern so this job takes a while. After a wash with warm soapy water and letting the ramp dry off I began painting with an oil-based paint.

Oil- based paint sure takes longer to dry than latex paints. While the ramp was drying I used a ladder to get to and from the main deck and accessed the front door. When we let the dogs out we had to hand-carry them over the deck railing; Pam handed them to me from the house side and I stood on the lawn side to receive them and put them on the ground. (The dogs apparently thought this transfer was a novelty and didn’t object much.)

Pam worked on the deck sides and railings. Using a two-tone approach on the rails, the tops  were painted red and the boards painted grey. These boards also had to be scraped and wire-brushed to remove the flaking paint, so the precess was not very fast.

We kept at it and by 6:30 or so had most of the work done. Given our tired shoulders and arms, we called it a day. Some detail still needs to be done but the bulk of the work is complete. The ramp and deck look much nicer now after all our effort.

We know the before/after difference may not seem substantial and this is the type of maintenance that does not draw a lot of attention. It just makes us feel better that the place is neat and tidy. It’s more a matter of what you don’t see (flaking paint) than what you do see.

Pam’s two-color paint scheme

Ramp after paint job

We’re looking at replacing the deck planks with Trex-style material; this would cost around $1,000.00 but is needed as the existing wood planking is getting splintered and cracked. (Pam doesn’t want a vet bill for removing a large splinter from a dog’s foot at some point.) I’ve already replaced the wood in certain spots where it was getting pretty soft. We have tried to paint the deck but – due to the original stain used when the deck was new – a paint job does not stick for more than a season or two. Replacement is the best solution. It’s on the list, hopefully to be accomplished before Sanderling season starts.

Another project I plan to tackle is adding steps to the rear deck; the original steps were in bad condition and I had removed them a few years back. Municipal code requires that a house have at least two exits; adding the replacement steps will bring our second exit back into compliance.

Yard work: I mowed the entire lawn last week and found the hose and sprinklers. Our irrigation water has been turned on for the year and much of the lawn needed some extra water. Until recent rains came through it’s been pretty dry and the lawn responded well to getting some extra moisture.

High country prep: The RV needs to be opened up and we will begin to get it ready to take up to The Lot as soon as the weather cooperates. Only a few items to take care of this year; fill one of the propane tanks, check the awning mechanism, new light fixture for the dining area, general check of all systems, restocking with food, bedding, and clothing items and we should be good to go.

Chipper: I had called PowerTek with the serial number of the chipper to see if I could get a date of manufacture (which turned out to be September 26, 2002). I needed this information to fill out the request-for-title paperwork. (I hope to move forward with the title work this week.) I then did some more minor work on the chipper by removing the hydraulic motor and greasing the splines. This was recommended by the manufacturer; the guy at PowerTek suggested I grease the splines even though the procedure is not mentioned in the manual.

At work: My assistant, who had come from the Sheriff’s Office Patrol division, decided he wanted to return to Patrol after two weeks in IT, so I am again without a helper. This is kind of a PITA as I now have to reverse a lot of paperwork and reorder my work plans. Bummer.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

In preparing a set of maps for my brother (so he could find the Sanderling lot for a Memorial Day visit), I realized yet-again the challenges of accessing that location. Three maps and some copy machine time later (maps for state/local/neighborhood), the route should be clear.

Send us some positive vibes for a successful appraisal.  We are trying to determine if our mortgage is still under water; this part of Colorado has not fully recovered from the great recession.

Happy Trails.

No one item dominated this last week so here are updates on a variety of topics including the chipper, an ATV ride, work, and around the house chores.

I’ve picked up a few more of the small bits and pieces needed (or wanted) to bring the chipper into full operating condition. I changed the hydraulic fluid filter, have oil and filter on hand to change engine oil, did some touch-up painting (more to do), and purchased a battery hold down kit that I hope to install later today.

Doing some further research into getting a title and plate, I found this unit will be titled as an SMM – Special Mobile Machinery. This applies to trailers that cannot be used for general-purpose hauling. (Think of large air compressors such as those used at construction sites.) This adds a new wrinkle: I now need to get a “certified weight slip” and fill out a form DR 2698. The nearest public certified scale is about 45 miles away. At some point in the near future I will have to take a couple of half-days off in order to get all the paperwork done. The paperwork will prove to be more frustrating and time consuming than getting the chipper to run!

Unnamed rock formation along an ATV trail

Yesterday I participated in another group ATV ride. The weather was not great, but the morning mist did create some interesting views of the canyons and rock formations through which we rode.

Group ride 4-1-17

We reached the Colorado River and the Dolores River which flows into the Colorado, near the Utah border. Most of the day was spent on roads passable by regular vehicles (when dry) but a couple of the cross-connect trails were a little more challenging. It was a good outing despite the cooler temperatures and mud (plenty of mud).

My ATV after one muddy stretch

Turning to other topics:

I finally have a new assistant at work. His name is Jim, an internal hire with quite a bit of previous experience in the IT field. We began Jim’s training last Monday and he appears to be catching on quickly. After almost 6 months it will be good to have another IT person available to help support the four locations for which I am responsible.

Pam’s boss [the Assistant Registrar at the local community college] was scheduled to retire in May, but has agreed to stay on through June to help train her replacement. Hiring was comical – the Assistant Registrar had told management of her retirement plans over a year ago. A last-minute search did not turn up any qualified “outside” candidates so the job is going to an in-house candidate  (who initially had not wanted the job), almost a last minute substitution. I’m not sure I would have changed my retirement plans to accommodate management/HR. Pam will be supervised by someone younger than her daughter for the first time in her 47-year work career.

Around the house spring chores have begun. I will need to move the RV back into our yard from winter storage, take the snow blade off the John Deere tractor, and get the lawn mower blades sharpened. Our irrigation water will be turned on in two weeks and our cherry tree is beginning to blossom. Last week I spread Scotts Turf Builder on the lawn, mostly to help control dandelions. A few tulips have bloomed and trees are getting greener every day. However, the on-line forecast has below freezing temperatures for next Tuesday night so winter had not relinquished its hold completely — yet.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

“Pam will be supervised by someone younger than her daughter for the first time in her 47-year work career.”  Need I say anything more about it being time to retire???

House hunting: I think there is a likelihood we may end up in Oregon or Washington for winters in retirement.  Housing prices are a bit more reasonable than Colorado, and we are familiar with the dreary and rainy winters, having lived in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s (Toby was born during that time). I am still looking for a stream/river/lake on or near the property; we would consider fixer-uppers.  Apparently many of the fixer-upper properties are cash only sales (can’t pass the housing inspection, no doubt). Like this one:  36066 Tree Farm Road, Scio, OR.  No rush on securing an out-of-state property — we can save up our money for a cash sale.

Happy Trails.