Month: August 2025

Today’s post will cover several unrelated topics, kind of a “catch all” of news and photos that don’t have a common theme. There are some photos of the yard, news on the new house across the road, some weather related notes, and a few miscellaneous photos from my recent trip to Colorado. Enjoy!

Pam’s sunflowers are doing really well this year and the hydrangea, morning glories, Grandpa Otts, and phlox are in full bloom. These bright and cheerful plants add color and enjoyment to the yard.

In weather related news, we had a flood watch a few days ago due to getting nearly 6 inches of rain overnight.

Thankfully we did not experience any problems, other than some moisture in the lower basement, but a large branch fell out of dead oak tree a few days prior. (We have contracted a tree service to remove our huge dead oak, at a cost of nearly $4,200. Sadly, the tree is too rotten to save the squirrel branches into surrounding canopy.)

Removing the oak will be a project, as the dog run fencing must come out to allow equipment access to the tree. Pam plans a revamping of the run to make it a bit smaller when reinstalled; given that only Grayce uses it much any more we don’t need to have it as large as it currently sits. The removal will happen in about a month and will be the topic of another post.

The house across Main Street from us appears to be finished except for on-going yard work. Recent finishing touches include the installation of gutters and front steps. Best news for us: The Porta-potty has been removed! Actually, it has been kind of nice not having the workmen around; they have left, taking their early morning/blaring radios with them.

Heart House projects will pick up again now that the weather is entering a cooler phase. This last week I repaired a front porch handrail and a section of rail on the east porch. Rot in the rails, particularly the bottom rails, is an ongoing issue.

Fall is approaching and acorns are beginning to fall. We hear them hitting the roof and garage and see them on the lawn and sidewalks. As we have done in recent years, we are harvesting some of the acorns to feed the squirrels during the winter. Eventually we will have saved a couple bushels of acorns.

Finally, a few miscellaneous photos from my Colorado trip.

Wood bridges are unusual; I know of only one other still in service, located in the upper peninsula of Michigan. (Photo below.) Given Colorado’s traditionally low humidity I expect this bridge will have a long service life.

I know this has been a somewhat eclectic post, but I wanted to cover several topics this time.

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

Pam’s Penny

It is property tax and homeowners insurance payment time again. Yippee. Property tax has somewhat leveled out this year, at a rate we consider high for a dinky town with limited-to-no services. (The local municipal sewage rate has doubled to address updates to the aging facility, but that is of course in addition to the property tax.)

Our homeowners insurance company’s five year audit [last year] significantly increased our homeowners insurance, and this year several hundred more dollars were added to the total due. The informational chart below was added to our billing to illustrate the impacts of climate change on the insurance industry. Government legislators, at both the local and national levels, can deny climate change all they want — the proof is in the billings.

Sidebar: We can only laugh at the “replacement cost” valuation on our homeowners insurance. How can you replace a historic house? The value is in the age, not something you can (or could afford to) recreate.

Rock on!

Today’s Humor:

I made two trips into the old mining town of Tin Cup, one over Cumberland Pass and the other over Tin Cup Pass. I am combining both trips into one post, so be ready for a load of photos! (Note: Most signs have “Tin Cup” as two words while other references spell it as one word. I will use the two word version.)

Pam and I had mad a trip to Tin Cup decades ago, in our early years of living in Colorado. I was interested to see what had happened to the town since then.

The first trip was over Cumberland Pass, a previously county maintained road that has fallen into official disuse but is still quite actively used by off-road travelers. It is not a difficult trail and offers scenic views of the Rockies. And, common with these old roads, there is old mining activity along the way.

Here are some photos of this outing.

Tin Cup is now a happening place with many rebuilt cabins, a store, and a restaurant.

I returned to my starting point, the town of Pitkin, and then back to the lot for the night.

A few days later I resolved to make another trip to Tin Cup, this time by going to the town of St. Elmo and over Tin Cup Pass. Again, this is a scenic trip with mining activity in the area.

For me, trips like these are the reasons I enjoy Colorado so much. Mining history, ATV trails, long scenic views, and ghost towns that are now making a comeback; I enjoy it all. I put 138 miles on the ATV during my two weeks this time, a record for me.

While I was away from Elma there were things happening, and I will cover those in my next post.

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

Pam’s Penny

Pam says this post is long enough already and she does not have any additional comments.

Today’s Humor:

The first ATV trip on my recent Colorado trip was to the Cloverdale Mine, located west of the town of Silver Cliff. One of my friends, Howard Bonser, had a personal connection to the mine owner and had visited the area several times. He recommended this trip.

Known locally as Trail 198 or the Rainbow Lake Trail, this route is very rough and rocky as are most of the western Colorado trails. Although only about 9 miles long, low-range operation is the rule of the day and getting up to 5 mph makes you feel like you are flying. Most of the route is 2 – 3 mph tops.

Here are a few highlights from this route.

This was one of a few old mine structures in the area, but not part of the Cloverdale Mine which is a bit further up the trail. Other mine ruins were in the area as well.

I rode to the end of the trail before heading back to stop at the Cloverdale Mine.

These next few photos were taken at the Cloverdale Mine site, still privately owned. The mine was active until about 1960. Copper, silver, and lead were the main products although there was a small amount of gold taken out as well.

A few cabins remain at the main camp located downhill and across from the mine portal.

While I have several more photos of the area, I think I better quit while I am ahead.

Returning back to The Lot, I took this after-the-rain photo looking across South Park.

This concluded my full-day riding of trail #198 to the Cloverdale Mine. In my next post I will combine two trips, the first over Cumberland Pass into the town of Tin Cup, and the second a visit to St. Elmo and my trip over Tin Cup Pass into Tin Cup.

I do have a sad note to add. JoJo, our second-oldest dog, passed away in the early hours of Saturday, August 9th.

JoJo (Auburn Jo) had joined our family in the fall of 2011. A rescue dog, she had a great heart and loved to run. RIP.

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

Pam’s Penny

Two of my rescue friends, who knew JoJo throughout her life, summed up Jo’s personality very well. One said Jo was always a pup at heart. The other observed Jo was a great sister dog to the rest of the pack. Both comments are so true. Jo lived to be 14.5 years, a good lifetime for a (mainly) springer spaniel.

While Jo was in some distress, her final hours of discomfort were limited; her symptoms progressed quickly. Jo was as comfortable as I could manage (without after-hours vet care, rarely available in rural Iowa and certainly not during fair season, when the vets are working with fair stock). One of my wishes for all our animals is to have them die peacefully at home. Jo was with us and the other dogs and cats, a comforting place to be. We buried her in the garden.

Happy Trails, JoJo.

I was in Colorado for two weeks, working around The Lot and riding my ATV on new trails. A few repairs to The Box were undertaken, one successful, the other not.

I will cover these events through this and the next few posts, starting with a few around-the-lot photos and an ATV trip to Hermits Pass. There will be many images!

There were a few repairs I had to make to The Box: Replace the A/C cover and repair the refrigerator. The old A/C cover had been damaged in a hail storm last year, and I had found a replacement on-line. That chore went fairly well, but I do not relish working on top of the RV.

A second chore involved the refrigerator. Last fall it would work on electrical power but not on LP gas. Research indicated the gas burner was not lighting for some reason. I had purchased a new “flame tube” (which is what manufacturer Norcold calls the burner) and a new igniter. With these parts installed the refrigerator ran on LP, a great relief for me as I had not wanted to be running the generator on and off to keep my food cold.

Unfortunately, during a heave rain storm I found I have a leak somewhere in the roof. This I tried to fix with a can of FlexSeal, but I must have missed a spot as a second storm showed me a leak was still present. I pulled a tarp over the front half of the trailer before I left, but it looks like the next trip out will have to include a new roof sealing kit. Look at the top of The Box and you will see the blue tarp.

Other work around the lot included cutting some brush and a few dead trees. The ATV was pressed into service to haul salvageable trees to my stack of logs to be cut into firewood at some future date.

With nighttime temps in the upper 40s and daytime temps in the upper 60s to low 70s, I was quite comfortable. Humidity ranged from 17 to about 40 percent. I spent time under my canopy, sitting at my table with chairs enhanced with some red cushions I had brought along. (ATV is under the black cover.)

The first few days I was in Colorado were spent with a couple friends based out of Westcliffe, SE of Salida. While they did Saturday and Sunday rides on their motorcycles I took off to ride trails with my ATV. One of these trails was to the top of Hermits Pass, elevation 13,037 feet.

This trail was originally a supply route between the San Louis Valley and the Wet Mountain Valley. There are no mines or any sign of human activity along the way. I did see lakes, flowers, butterflies, and marmots.

The trail was rough and rocky but not technically challenging. I was fortunate to have good weather for this scenic trip as you can see in the following photos.

While the trail was rough it was a good outing and I was pleased to have made the trip. Later that evening my friends and I had a dinner of barbequed chicken, veggies, and good companionship. It was a very good day.

In my next post I will document my trip to Rainbow Lake and the Cloverdale Mine plus an excursion from Pitkin to Tin Cup.

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

There is no Pam’s Penny this time around.

Today’s Humor: