Month: September 2025

There are a few things to report on this time: A trip to Indiana to visit Toby and Sarah, work around the house, and a swap meet and auction were rolled in to the weeks. Let’s get to the news!

Toby and Sarah flew into South Bend to take in a Notre Dame home football game, and I had decided to drive to Indiana and spend a few hours with them. (They came in on a Thursday, we met on Friday, game was on Saturday, they flew home on Sunday.)

We met for breakfast, then decided to go to a couple antique stores. One of them was Coppes Commons in Napponee.

While we saw items we had never seen before, purchases were on the small side. These shops seem to get a premium price for their stuff!

This area is Amish country and there are parking signs tailored specifically to this clientelle:

The visit went well; we spent about 6 hours together all told. As with all such meetings, we caught up with family news.

Before driving to Indiana, I had attended a local auction and taken in a swap meet. The swap meet was held in a fairgrounds building and featured a lot of stuff, not just your typical glassware and home goods. Not surprising, given the rural nature of the area, less often seen items such as grain gleaners, old steel wheels, kerosene heaters, and other hardware items were mixed in with collectibles, dishware, and other antiques.

A few days later I attended a local consignment auction, interested to see how the area farmers would bid on various items of agricultural interest. Some items went for more than I expected, but many went for less. A few larger items, big tractors and skid steel loaders, did not sell for the reserve prices the owners had put on them. It appears to me the local farmers are being very cautious about spending money, which might not bode well for the economy in general.

The auction had 3 “rings” going simultaneously with 3 trucks / bidding active at various parts of the auction grounds. I chose to go back and forth, gauging the mood of the bidders. The above photo was taken in the older or antique section of the grounds. The old tractor went for $650.00.

Other antiques were on the grounds as well, along with many types of tools, pumps, building supplies, yard machines, and just a lot of other stuff.

Back in Elma, Pam started putting together our fall yard art using pumpkins and gourds donated by Becky. Squirrels have been quite interested in the smaller gourds.

I worked on a couple of other projects scheduled for cooler temps. More porch railing repairs were finished, upstairs bathroom trim was fitted, painted, and installed, and a bit of trim was added to the front porch where the floor meets the walls.

Installing the trim was an exercise in frustration as nothing is square so corners are very basic, but the trim is in.

On the way back from visiting Toby and Sarah, Pam asked me to drive by some properties along the Mississippi River in Iowa, listed as having river views. The only one of any interest is in Clinton, Iowa. An old home at the top of a hill, and including a large pole building, it needs a lot of TLC including a complete redo of the kitchen.

The listing is for 206 32nd Ave so I will not include a lot of photos here. (Click on address to open link to listing.) The listing has interior photos that I could not get in my drive-by. It could be an interesting place to live but neither of us is really up for another renovation project. If the place does not sell and the price drops we might reconsider it. River views are over the tops of other houses, and seasonal.

There are two main events coming up in the next few weeks, meaning my next posting may be a little delayed. Friend Julie Nickles will be visiting from Florida, taking in the homecoming festivities for Luther College in Decorah, and staying with us for a few days. Her schedule spans October 2nd – 7th. The week before that I will be in Colorado, attempting to mend the leak in the roof of The Box, taking in some fall colors, and shutting down for the winter. Shortly after Julie returns to Florida I will be driving to Lodi, New York, to tackle a few home improvement tasks for Felicity and Peter. So, quite the busy fall schedule for me this year.

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

Pam’s Penny

Senior dog Sassy Brunette turns 16 this week. Although her eating and eliminating activities are fairly normal, I frequently wonder what Bru’s internal quality of life is these days; she deals with both hearing and vision losses. As far as I can determine, Bru isn’t in pain. But her mobility is certainly more and more off balance. (It’s easy to sympathize with aging difficulties.) A regular vet visit is scheduled for Bru this week.

Rock on, Bru.

Today’s Humor:

The last two weeks have been relatively slow in terms of “exciting” action or events. Most of our time has been taken up with routine tasks and getting ready for the approaching fall season. Here is a bit of what has occupied our time recently.

I won’t have a lot of photos this time around, but I do have a couple recents of three pets. The first is Elmo relaxing on my lap:

Snickers taking a nap near Bru:

I spent some time in the garage upgrading the LX176 riding lawn mower to an electric fuel pump, replacing the failing vacuum unit that was causing very hard starting. The conversion took a couple hours but the results were worth it as the mower now starts right up every time I need it. Small victories.

Also in the garage, I replaced a badly bent top rail on one of the garage doors. This rail had been bent went we bought the place and I had tried to straighten it out, but it failed again and was making the door hard to open. The replacement U-channel was not expensive, around $23.00, and was purchased from a garage door outfit in Rochester. Now in place, the door opens quite well.

Porch rail repairs have begun once more, with a new bottom rail and a few replacement spindles cut to size and painted. Now I have to remove the old section, replace the rotting bottom rail and spindles, repaint the entire unit, and re-install so I have a few hours of work remaining on that project.

The lawn has been raked several times, in places, in attempt to stay ahead of the falling acorns. I think the heaviest of the falls are over, as fewer and fewer acorns are to be found on the sidewalks over the last few days. Each raking included a trip to the compost site to empty the utility trailer so each clean-up takes some time. I will be doing another raking session later today.

Along the same lines, with fall approaching the grass does not have to be cut as often. I had been doing it weekly as of late but this week I have been able to increase the interval. However, I did get out the edger and edged all the sidewalks, something I do only a couple times a year. This makes the sides of the walks nice and straight and, in my opinion, makes the entire yard look neater.

As part of a lawn upgrade Pam had me install several pavers between the east porch and the 7th street sidewalk. This is a project we had been talking about for several months and the advent of cooler weather seemed to be the right time to get it done.

We used the garden hose to outline the gentle curve needed to align the pavers to the porch and sidewalk.

Pam has also been busy with yard work, dead-heading flowers as needed and cutting back bushes as she sees fit. She opened the catio for fall use as a recent spell of colder than normal temperatures, into the low 40s at night, had left the neighborhood cats looking for a sheltered place to stay. While not completely ready for winter (no heated cat water dish and space heater yet), several cats have taken advantage of the sheltered space the last few nights. Warmer temperatures are expected to return in the upcoming week.

Pam has also been gathering materials for the annual Winter Solstice card and will be trying out a few designs she has in mind. That project always takes several hours of manual labor and a few trial-and-error prototypes until the final card design is ready and assembly can begin.

We did take a half-day trip east toward the Mississippi River, near the town of McGregor, to look at a couple houses listed for sale and drive through some areas new to us. (Becky came over to stay with the cats and dogs, and we appreciate that!) While the houses were somewhat of a disappointment we enjoyed seeing the country and getting out for a bit. Pam would like to live in a location that overlooks the Mississippi River but few properties are in our price range, and the ones that are require much TLC to bring back to life. Not sure we want to go the renovation route again.

So, all in all, it has been a pretty quiet couple of weeks since my last post. We have been busy but not in a particularly newsworthy way. Life is like that.

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

Pam’s Penny

Must be fall, I made my first apple pie of the season. Seemed right, with the cooler temps.

Another full moon reminds me it’s been a month since JoJo passed. Miss her quiet presence around the house. Bru is hanging in there; her sixteenth birthday comes up soon. Grayce still can’t be trusted to free-roam in the house, mainly because she is now in her chewing/destructive mode.

Holiday cards: I discovered cut-and-paste was my super power many decades ago. That skill was refined in the 1990’s when I administered a Gifted and Talented program for K-5 kiddos. Looking forward to Heart House holiday cards for this year, cut-and-paste will feature prominently once again. Which means I start early, take my time, and get into my happy place well prior to the holiday season.

Happy Trails!

Today’s humor: