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Topics this time: Winter returned with over 9 inches of snow on the ground. We put two pieces of recycled furniture to good use. Cooking supplies and old cameras were unpacked and arranged. There are several photos to document these activities!

The most recent snowfall took place this last Thursday, February 19th. The forecast was for 2 – 6 inches of snow; we “officially” received 9.1 inches of the white stuff.

I dedicated a great deal of time on Friday to clearing snow from sidewalks, alleyway, and mail boxes. Machines did some of the work but there was plenty of hand shoveling as well. My little 5hp Torro blower and the John Deere LX 176 were pretty much pushed to their limits when going through drifts or berms pushed up by the city snowplows.

These shots, taken this morning, shows portions of the cleared sidewalks and “cat paths” around the yard.

“Cat paths” is the term we use to describe the narrow paths we clear around the yard. These are for the outside cats and for us to use as well. In the photo above, note the corn cob feeder in the right-hand tree. The acorn feeder and heated water dish are in the left-hand tree, although the water dish is out of sight from this angle. All require access. In the background, a path goes around the trailer and out to the alley giving neighborhood cats access to the food and water Pam puts out for them. The food and water dishes are along the garage to the right of this photo.

There are additional cat paths around the western part of the yard. These include one from the front of the catio, around the dead oak, to the cat ramp and then on to the LP tank and a 2nd alley access point. (The ramp lets cats access the inside of the catio.) We certainly wouldn’t want kitties having to struggle through drifts to get to food and water! Many of these paths are hand-dug as they pass over a loose rock base.

The snowstorm is not the only news this time. In the last week or so we completed two long-term projects: additional storage for the kitchen, and a display cabinet for my collection of old cameras.

I have been checking Facebook Marketplace for a kitchen storage unit. Pam wanted to organize her baking supplies in a single spot that was readily accessible. I found an acceptable unit for sale in Waverly, which is about an hour from us.

There was a slight problem with one of the doors, as a locating dowel had broken off. I drilled it out and replaced it with a new one, not a big deal.

Tho organizing required the construction of another full shelf and a couple half-shelves to accommodate the items Pam wanted in this cabinet. I used some material I had left over from another project, my camera display case, which I will discuss shortly.

Pam says she is quite satisfied with this new arrangement; she was able to unpack things that had been stored in Ziplock bags and small boxes, such as cookie cutters. A few items had been removed from the far reaches of upper cabinets, hard for her to access (requiring a step stool to get to them).

A quick thank you to Becky who came to Waverly from Greene to help me pack the display case for transport back to Elma.

The other project had been in the works for a bit longer. I had been looking for a display case to house my collection of old cameras but the unit had to meet very specific size restrictions, as it would be placed in the upstairs bathroom. The reason for having the case in a bathroom location is it provides a ‘pony wall’ to hide the toilet from the hallway when the bathroom door is opened.

I found a used unit but it needed work. There was only one glass shelf and no back. The glass rattled in the doors and only one door had a closing clip. Hardware replacement parts were not hard to find, as these were pretty much stock hardware store items. The problem was obtaining tempered glass shelves.

Eventually, a set of three shelves the right length appeared on Facebook Marketplace. While not quite as wide as the original shelf, they would work OK. I had to drive to Dubuque to get them, a fair way to drive, but the price was right.

I had received quotes for new tempered glass replacements, most coming in at around $60.00 per shelf. The three on Facebook were listed for $10.00 for the set. Add in the cost of driving to get them, the glass shelving ended up costing me about $35.00, a savings of around $150.00.

This is the reconstructed lighted cabinet with my collection in it:

I will reorganize the collection at some point, putting age-appropriate cameras together, but for now it’s good just to have them out of their basement boxes. Eventually I will paint the back panel white and am looking at covering it with mirrored tiles in an attempt to lighten the interior.

None of the cameras are worth much, but a few, like my old Pentax MX, have some good memories associated with them. Another belonged to my father. There are more cameras to be added to this collection, including a few of Pam’s (one a Brownie box belonging to her mother), plus one using flash cubes (remember those?) with a flash cube extender (deluxe!).

That was our last couple weeks: working on display cabinets and moving snow. I also listed my old Mac Pro on eBay and am waiting to see if it sells.

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

Pam’s Penny

Reorganizing kitchen shelves/pulling baking items together in some logical location has been on my mind since moving here (in 2019). Spacial limitations in the Heart House kitchen ruled out many storage options. It seems every upper kitchen shelf invented is wa-a-ay out of convenient access/reach for us folks in the 5’3″ (and shrinking) height range. Items stored at upper shelf height are best limited to “used-once-a-year” stuff, not monthly baking.

Interesting — I now consider acquisition of additional furniture items in a different way. How heavy are they? How bulky? Can two old people move them easily? Are the items something I want to be looking at until I die? These considerations provide a new overlay to purchases. (Is this morbid? practical? both?)

I’ve been watching the Winter Olympics the past two weeks, also with a new (geriatric) perspective. Some of these “sports” – half pipe snowboarding, bobsleds and luge, ski jumping with (or without) tricks – these are FUN? I can’t help but wonder if the young participants will have lots and lots of physical issues as they age. The Lindsey Vonn example comes to mind. (Morbid? practical? both?)

Rock on.

Don’t get me wrong; it is still winter. However, after a stint of really cold temperatures, the upcoming 10-day forecast has above freezing high temps in it. My computer cables arrived and my upgrade is done. A new Gallery has been completed and is now on the web.

There is better news in the next 10-day forecast: Above freezing temperatures. January was a very cold month, colder than normal, and that accelerated our use of propane for heating. A fill of just over 300 gallons was delivered a few days after my last post. It is comforting to have plenty of fuel back in the tank.

Next week’s forecast is projecting high temperatures in the mid to upper 30s and even into the 40s. While warming will cause issues with mud and melting snow, we are looking forward to the milder conditions.

My new computer cables arrived and I have completed my system upgrade. It is rewarding to have both monitors functioning again, as I had been placing data and folders on one monitor while working on documents on the other. I was missing that 2nd monitor. The new Mac Mini M4 is now working fine for all my needs.

I continue going through my 35mm slides with the goal of grouping them by topic instead of by date. (This is still an ongoing task.) One result: All my “fall color” slides are now together. Other groupings will follow, but one outcome is a new Best of Fall Colors gallery.

Here are a couple photos from that gallery:

Most of the gallery photos are scanned from slides. I am surprised my old Minolta scanner, a Dimage Scan Dual II, works on the newest Mac operating system using a software program called VueScan. The scanner dates from around 2000 and is now almost an antique in computer terms. It is not very fast but gets the job done.

When you click on a photo its name appears at the top of the new tab. If the name begins with “ST” the photo was scanned as “ST” stands for Scanned Transparency.

I also use “SN” for Scanned Negative and “SNB” for Scanned Negative Black for black and white negatives. If the name begins with a number the photo is from a digital camera. Those are my naming conventions. (Some “humor” photos have actually names.)

We saw an unusuall sight the other evening: Four deer were on our lawn. Having seen deer tracks with great frequency, the deer themselves had proved elusive. Apparently they are feeding on seeds that accumulate in the bottom tray of the bird feeder. It was too dark to get a good photo, but now we have seen the critters that have left so many tracks.

There is not much else going on. We have had a few very light snow showers, less than one inch each, just enough to necessitate clearing the sidewalks to avoid tracking snow into the house. My old plastic shovel, the lightest shovel I own, is taking a beating on the leading edge. This may be its last winter.

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

Pam’s Penny

February 1776: The Continental Congress authorized privately owned, armed merchant vessels (via “Letters of Marque”) to attack and seize British merchant and supply ships. Privateers were based in major port cities like Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and New London. Though often described as “legalized piracy,” privateers operated under government commissions and were restricted to attacking enemy, or belligerent, vessels. Privateers played a strong role in strengthening the new nation’s military position.

Rock on through the winter.

Today’s Humor:

Right now NE Iowa is in a very cold spell, this after a short interim of mild weather. I am in the process of replacing my old Mac Pro, nearly done but waiting on a few cables to finish. To save space on my host service I am trying a new photo format. There are a few things to cover!

I am writing this on January 24th. Wind chills this morning were -35° with an actually temp of -20°. Yesterday, the 23rd, the morning wind chill was -45°. It is frigid, and will continue that way for most of the upcoming week.

Thursday morning I was outside clearing a few inches of snow that had fallen Wednesday night. The snow was light and like powder, making shoveling a bit easier than normal. After a short problem with the John Deere LX 176 was solved (it required a new spark plug), it was put into service clearing sidewalks, our alley garage access, and around the mailboxes. Cat paths were cleared by hand, including those around the bird and squirrel feeders. All in all, the work took about 3 hours. Needless to say, I did not stay outside continuously during those hours.

I purchased a new Mac to upgrade my computer system. The new unit is a base Mac Mini M4, and along with it I purchased a Minisopuru brand expansion dock. The dock gives me a few extra ports where I can plug in external devices such as my scanner and external drives and allows me to use my existing mouse and keyboard.

Apple includes a utility program called Migration Assistant that is used to transfer programs and settings from one Mac to another. This worked quite well, taking some time and a few tweaks, but the majority of my programs and all my settings (passwords, links, bookmarks) transferred just fine. A couple utility programs had to be reinstalled or upgraded to take advantage of the new operating system, but these tasks also went well.

The biggest problem is the change in cable styles. My old Mac Pro used the common USB-A connections while the new Mini M4 uses USB-C. While I am making do with the old cables, running through an external hub for now, I am waiting on cables that can connect my external devices to the newer USB-C ports without using the external hub. The new cables will enable me to remove some cords, power supplies, and clutter from my work area.

I will use this new setup for a couple weeks then wipe the old Mac Pro and list it on eBay. This will help recover some of the upgrade cost and allow me to buy a few more upgrades, including a wireless keyboard and mouse.

As you can tell, tech work took up much of my time lately. Here is another tech upgrade I have been working on: photo formats.

For a long time, most photos I use, including those in various galleries, have been in the .jpg format. This is almost universal in web pages, not just mine. Technology changes, however, and a few years back Google introduced the .webp format. This technology yields high quality images at lower file sizes and is supported by web browsers since about 2020.

My web hosting service cost is based on capacity; currently I am on a 10gb plan and have used about 8.8gb. Saving space by going to lower file sizes is attractive, and I have begun converting iGallery images to the .webp format. The space savings averages about 40% per image. As an example, my “Yule” gallery images, in .jpg format, ran about 104.5mb. This was reduced to 62.3mb when converted to the .webp format.

Web pages using the .webp images load faster as a result of the smaller file sizes. It takes me less time to upload the images as well. Please let me know if you have any problems viewing these images!

We have settled into a winter routine. Pam maintains a food/water station for the outside cats and monitors heaters in the catio, as well as regularly letting the dogs outside and limiting their exposure times. (Plus cleaning indoor cat boxes and refilling their feeding station, of course.) I attend to the various outside feeders. Recently I finished distributing our fall-gathered supply of acorns and switched to putting out peanuts for the squirrels. This has not worked out as planned; Blue Jays take most of the nuts and fly off with them, leaving few for the squirrels! I may not be putting out more if this keeps up. The squirrels will have to make do with their cobs of corn for the rest of the winter.

One medical note: I had a 6-month diabetes check up and my A1C has fallen to the lowest level since I was diagnosed many years ago. The lab came back with an A1C of 6.0. I am quite pleased with this reduction and hope to go even lower in the future.

So, that has been it for the last couple weeks; tech upgrades, house cleaning, caring for pets and critters, and keeping warm. Hopefully this will be the worst of the cold for the season! Frigid weather “bursts” started around Thanksgiving, meaning we’re getting pretty worn down by the cold as it extends through January.

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

Pam’s Penny

Only strictly controlled strength of will motivates me to go outside during subzero weather. If the catio and outside cat feeding stations were not operational, I would just monitor the dogs’ outside exposure. Period.

However, January is reliably an ugly weather month in NE Iowa. Mentally, I try to project forward through the month, appreciating how the daylight finally starts to last longer into the evenings. Looking forward to Winter Olympics coverage in early February.

Rock on, Minnesota. Stay strong in the frigid temps. Remember, in 1776, the Continental Congress was grappling with escalating violence as well.

Today’s Humor:

This will be a fairly short post as not much worth reporting on happened over the last couple weeks. We did have a spell of warmer weather which enabled us to take down holiday decorations and I began a new photo project.

With a few days getting warm, into the upper 30s, it was time to take down decorations. Outside lights, tree, and inside decorations were taken down, repacked, and stored for another year. There is always some sadness associated with this as I enjoy having the lights on in the evenings.

Snow receded from the edges of the sidewalks but the “cat paths” we use to fill the bird feeder, acorn tub, corn cob feeder, and the path to the LP tank became very soggy and muddy. One unexpected result from us reconfiguring the dog run last fall is that it is getting wet and muddy from moisture coming off the house. Next spring we will have to re-think where the dog run should be placed.

I began a new project concerning my old 35mm slides. Originally these had been filed chronologically, which works for some topics but not others. Family photos and events work OK, but generic topics, such as sunsets, fall colors, and national parks should be grouped by topic and not by date. I have begun to go through my collection with the goal of combining like subjects together.

Given I have about 15 each 3-ring binders, some of them of the 4-inch type, this is an ongoing project for the winter months. At the same time, I am throwing away many slides knowing I will never use them for anything and decreasing the work anyone may have going through them once I am gone.

The first result of this activity is a new Gallery of sunset photos. I like sunsets and, it turns out, have nearly 60 slides and many digital images of them. Here are a couple used in the gallery:

Eventually I will go through my negative files as well. Those are mostly of family so less grouping will be needed. Just like the slides, though, it is highly unlikely the kids will ever do anything with these as they already have scrapbooks with relevant photos in them. We also have a collection of family scrapbooks containing dozens of photos so the original negatives are now more of a burden than a resource.

Pam has kept busy with cleaning and re-arranging projects. We are now looking for a new storage cabinet for the kitchen, having moved a small corner unit up to my bedroom. A new small shelf was installed in the kitchen. Cat posts recently received new sisal scratching pads. The address book has been updated after reviewing holiday cards received. There always seem to be many small projects to keep busy, nothing major, all necessary.

Other upcoming projects include getting a newer Macintosh computer to replace my aging 2013 Mac Pro. It will not run the latest version of Apple’s operating system, 26.x.x. I have been using a software patch called Open Core Legacy Patcher to extended the Mac’s useable life but that appears to be at an end. I am looking for a good price on a used Mac Mini equipped with Apple’s M4 processing chip, introduced in 2024. Not looking forward to having to transfer and reinstall all my programs and files, but something that needs to be done. (Another winter project.)

We keep busy. We keep looking forward. The arrival of seed catalogs is something of a treat with the bright and hopeful displays they contain. Now, to get through February and March!

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

Pam’s Penny

USA 250th commemoration trivia: January 1776 was a pivotal month in the forming of the American democratic republic. On January 10, 1776 Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “Common Sense” was published. It made a compelling case for breaking from Britain, convincing many colonists independence was necessary.

In this current troubled time, it helps me somewhat to remain calm as I review lessons of political turmoil in our country 250 years ago.

Rock on.

Today’s Humor:

Christmas was a couple days ago as I write this. Becky came over on the 26th and we opened many gifts, had pumpkin pie and ice cream, and enjoyed the visit.

In addition, I worked over many of my old galleries and made a new one featuring old slides and negatives from visits to the Colorado – Yule Marble quarry near Marble, Colorado. This quarry provided marble for many projects across the US, and is most famous for being the source for the marble block used in the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington, D.C.

I’ll begin with several photos of our Christmas, beginning with a few indoor decorations.

Becky brought over numerous presents, to add to the ones wrapped for her. So gift opening was quite the event.

We all received much-appreciated items — most practical, a few humorous. I have several new short-sleeved shirts (to replace my aging and worn collection of Sheriff’s Office gear). Much appreciated for next spring! Other items of apparel, gift certificates, a “reacher-grabber’, and a Big Ass Bar of Soap were exchanged. It was a good and fun time.

During the lead-up to Christmas I continued to work on updating my old galleries. This took longer than expected and led me to creating a new gallery. I dug out my Minolta Dual II scanner which can handle 35mm slide and negative film. Going through my slide collection I came across a batch dating from the late ’70s and early ’80s featuring one of my favorite Colorado places, the Crystal River Valley and the town of Marble. (The Lead King Basin, a delightful ATV destination, is accessed from Marble as well.)

Marble has quite a history, much of it tied up with the high-quality marble found in the area. At one time Marble exported thousands of tons of material annually, making Colorado the second-largest source of marble in the world.

The largest of the quarries was the Colorado-Yule quarry located along Yule Creek. (The name changed with different owners over the years.) I first visited in the late ’70s and went back several times. At that time the quarry was abandoned and one could walk up to the site, look into the vaults, and wander around. The gallery’s photos reflect this freedom which, sadly, is no more as the quarry was re-opened sometime in the 2000s and public access is denied.

Clicking on Colorado-Yule will take you to the gallery page. It may be of more interest to Colorado viewers and those with an appetite for history, but it brought back many good memories for me while I was putting it together, which was the point of doing it.

These are two of the photos used in the gallery, taken in 1978.

Here in NE Iowa, we’re looking at a quiet spell as we move into the new year. Hopefully there will be mild conditions when it comes time to take down our outside lights. The weather has been unpredictable so far with spells of frigid, well below average temps followed by mild and above average conditions. Weather in the Midwest!

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

Pam’s Penny

Scanning weather reports for a break in conditions, then planning for temps suitable to retrieve outside holiday decor, seems to be an annual tradition prior to New Year’s Day.

I personally will be pleased with lengthening daylight as it presents in late January and into February. At the moment, I do my “farm chores” (refilling outside cat feeders/water dish) before dawn in the a.m. — then again in the p.m. twilight. (Grayce gets me up before dawn, or I wouldn’t be awake then. I’m sure the roving neighborhood cats would thank her, if they could.)

Upcoming: 2026 – 250th anniversary of the American experiment. “A Republic, if we can keep it.” [Ben Franklin]

Today’s humor:

We are in that space between Thanksgiving and Christmas. There are few active projects so this post will cover some random topics. It has been cold, more snow arrived, and I updated some of the underpinnings of my web and blog pages.

First, a comment on the cold: This morning’s low temperature was -4. Currently it is +1. Tomorrow (Sunday) is forecast to be the coldest morning so far, with a projected temp of -10. It is c-o-l-d! In comparison, temperatures at our Colorado lot (elevation 9,300 feet) are projected to be in the low-to-mid 20s at night and daytime temps in the low-to-mid 40s. Current temperature in Como is above freezing at 33.

Because of the colder temps, the cats have re-discovered that heating vents are the place to park when the furnace is running.

In addition to the cold, we received another 5 inches of snow last week. This is the second storm in about 8 days; I mentioned the first in my last post. While this follow-up storm did not deliver as much snow as the first, 5 inches vs 9 inches, it was still a pain to deal with. The cumulative totals make this one of, if not the snowiest, Decembers we have had here in Iowa.

This time of year brings out some Norwegian treats such as Lefse. An ad for this delicacy appeared in our local shopper.

Our local bank sponsored a Kolachi Day; kolachis are a pastry of Central European origin, primarily Czech / Slavic, and are a sweet pastry filled with (in this case) fruit jams. Other fillings can include cream cheese and walnuts. We tried cherry and blackberry versions; they were quite good.

Warning: Tech Talk Ahead

Web pages are built on a programming language known as HTML, and there have been different versions over the years. I recently began using a programming tool known as BBedit, a Macintosh-specific program. I had been using Adobe Dreamweaver on a monthly subscription but Adobe increased the price, more than doubling the monthly cost. (Old cost = $29.98, new cost = $69.99.) BBedit has both a free version and a licensed version with more features. The licensed version has a one-time price of $59.99.

Using BBedit, I went through my current web pages (Kids, Dogs, Cats, Gallery, and Blog) and brought the code up to the current HTML5 standard. I had to create new entries in my CSS stylesheet and change some code on several pages, a task that took a few hours to complete. To expand my skills I decided to go through my older Galleries, retired some time ago when I scaled back my web site.

These older galleries required more work as many had been created under the older HTML4 standard. Several commands have been “retired” (deprecated) or changed in HTML5, including “align”, “clear”, and changes to the way video formats are coded. While the older code still works, I felt it best to update and stay current and widen my (very basic) coding skills.

Here is a sample of the “head” section used in almost all of my pages:

I change the contents of the <title> tag to reflect what the rest of the page is about. Below the <body> tag comes the code that makes the page unique and determines what you see on your computer. Some pages, particular those with many photos and links, are more complex than others.

Anyway, that is how I spent some of my time these last few days when the cold and snow limited outside time and tasks.

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

Pam’s Penny

This winter so far =

⊝ RECOMMEND

✅ DO NOT RECOMMEND

Rock on.

Today’s Humor:

We had quite the Thanksgiving week this year. Toby visited us from Las Vegas, Becky came over, and one of the heavier snowstorms of the last few years dropped several inches of snow. Here are the details!

Our son, Toby, lived for several years in South Bend, Indiana. This year he wanted to spend Thanksgiving with a few of his Indiana friends, one of whom recently had her father pass away. Toby had spent several Thanksgivings with this family and wanted to do so again.

His travel plans included an overnight stop with us on the Tuesday before Turkey Day and another night the day after. He spent the rest of his time in South Bend or on the road (due to the situation with air travel these days, he had driven from Las Vegas).

We had a good Thanksgiving meal on Friday with Pam’s sister Becky also in attendance. Along with the traditional holiday foods Pam baked a pumpkin and an apple pie. We enjoyed all the company, good food, and deserts.

Toby stayed with us until Saturday morning. Alas, it snowed overnight and more was on the way. This made Toby’s departure a bit of a driving mess. The National Weather Service had issued a winter storm warning for those of us here in Howard County as well as much of Iowa.

I had converted the John Deere LX176 into winter trim by removing the mowing deck and bagging system and mounting the snow blade, suitcase weights, and cable-style tire chains. The rig had a workout Saturday and more work on Sunday.

For the first time in a couple years I started the snow blower. Last year I did not use it at all, but with several inches of snow already on the ground and more coming, the blower was the best tool for part of the snow removal job. I use the John Deere to clear our alley access and approaches to our set of mailboxes, and the blower on the sidewalks. (Hand shoveling is also needed to complete the job. Not everything can be done with a machine.)

The weekend before Thanksgiving was quite mild so we hung our outside Christmas lights. Normally we do this after Thanksgiving, but with a storm in the forecast and cold weather following behind it, we decided to get the work done early. Inside decorations will follow in the next week or two.

Pam continues to work on the holiday cards while I spent time in the garage changing out the starter on my ATV; the original had failed. Some time in the past I had broken the tail light so replacing that assembly is another task accomplished.

The Mr. Heater and propane tank I documented in an earlier post worked well during the ATV repair sessions, providing enough heat to warm up the garage to the point where I could work with my jacket off.

In my last post I mentioned I had installed a solar-powered motion sensing light in the dog run (so Pam can see the dogs when they are at the north end gate). That experiment did not go as planned; there was not enough sunlight to charge the battery in that spot with the first purchase. That model solar light was switched out for a plug-in style, and Pam now has the light she wanted.

That about covers it for our last couple weeks. The next few will be taken up with decorating for the holidays.

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

Pam’s Penny

As of this writing, Toby has crossed the Rockies and is driving across the high desert toward home in Vegas. Not without a few stoppages along the way, due to ice on the road and a car computer malfunction, in addition to the very snowy conditions in Iowa. Murphy’s Law re: winter driving in the Midwest should always be taken into consideration.

Rock on.

Today’s Humor:

November is Pam’s birth month. A few days of good weather, after single digit temps, allowed us to complete a few more outside tasks. Take a look!

Pam observed a birthday this month. Her sister, Becky, came over with a cake and gifts. Pam opened the presents, and all enjoyed the cake and ice cream.

Thanks to Becky for the gifts, cake, and ice cream.

A spell of good weather (one day in the 60s!) allowed us to complete a few more outside tasks. Wind breaker tarps were put up, more flowers were cut back, another leaf pickup was done, and some painting was accomplished.

Day lillies and hostas were removed from under the oaks. Heated water dish was set up for the winter and is already being used by several birds. Lawn was swept for leaves. We both spent a bit of time outside this week.

An annual task is putting up windbreak tarps along the dog run and on the south porch’s west side. These help break the winter winds that hit Heart House from the north and west.

An additional item this year was added to the dog run: a solar-powered motion-activated light. Pam had requested this so she can see the dogs when they are at the north end of the dog run in the dark. The light is mounted to the north gate. Question: Will it get enough light to recharge as needed? Time will tell.

Finally, here is a photo of outside cat Frito, mother of our three inside cats (Reese, A.J., and Snickers). Frito is an outside cat, has been spayed, and enjoys the morning sun on the east porch on these chilly mornings. Here she is living her best life.

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

Pam’s Penny

Grayce’s first birthday was this week. What a year for her, what a ten months for me. Puppies and old people = a very challenging combination.

Today’s Humor:

We finished a few fall projects in the last couple weeks. Depending on weather, these may be the final jobs of the year except for on-going leaf pick-up. I don’t have a lot of photos this time, but continue on to see what I have!

One project was to repaint the east porch steps. Not as easy as it sounds, as the last paint was oil-based and the steps had to be sanded to give the new latex-based paint something to adhere to. Still, the results were worth it as the new paint (and treads) look good.

Pam painted the steps above and painted the railings on the south porch and touched up a lot of white on various window sills and hand rails. Much scraping of old paint was involved…

We checked with the tree removal company and confirmed we are still on the list to get our old oak tree removed. To make room for the trucks and equipment we needed to reconfigure the dog run. This project took place over a couple of days, as I had to pull up old posts and wire, then put the posts in their new locations and re-stretch the wire. New arrangement has posts at a 6-feet spacing where the old spacing was 8-foot, so a couple extra posts were installed.

The ramp had to be modified to point to the North-west instead of west to gain the needed room. The dogs picked up on the change fairly quickly so using it is proving to be OK.

We are not sure this will be enough to allow all the access the tree company needs; we may have to remove the closest corner post and make that corner more rounded. After the tree is gone I will put in a wood corner post, in cement, as a final step.

Other yard work continues with cutting back more hostas; east and north flower beds were cleared. More leaves were mulched and raked then taken to the town’s compost site. There are day lilies and a couple hostas to remove from under the oak trees so there is more to do in the yard before the snow really flies.

In past years I have used a kerosene heater to warm up the garage when I needed to do winter work. This year I am trying a different approach, using a propane heater. I found a Mr. Heater unit on Facebook Marketplace for sale not far from us, in Stewartville, and bought it. While I have a spare 20-pound propane tank (from an old grill) I have moved a 100-pound tank a couple of times now. I dug it out of the corner of the garage and had it purged, re-certified, and filled. Tanks like this have to be transported standing up and getting the tank into and out of the truck was a chore in itself. Nearest place to get the tank certified was in Protovin, about 18 miles away, and they (Fencl LP) also did the re-cert, purge, and fill.

I tried out this combination and the heater did a good job of warming up the space. Since the garage is not insulated I will use the heater as-needed, which I hope will not be often as I don’t know how much propane the heater will use in any one session. Price to fill the tank plus purge and re-certify was $94.00. Heater was $50.00. Certification is good for 5 years.

Fall continues. Snow flurries are expected later today and high tomorrow (Sunday) is expected to be below freezing, well below average for this time of year. However, a return to more seasonal averages is in the forecast for late next week so we are hoping to get a few more days of good weather.

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

Pam’s Penny

The dog run is smaller in size, but there are still plenty of locations for Grayce to dig. <sigh>

Rock on.

Today’s Humor

I spent a little over a week on the road with a trip to Lodi, New York to visit Felicity and Peter and work on a few of their house projects. These are stories of that trip, along with a few photos.

I left Elma on October 13th and returned home on the 20th. The first night I stayed at a place in Nappanee, Indiana, and this led to my first story.

I had pulled into a parking lot to do a search on my phone for lodging in the area when a gentleman approached the truck and asked if he could help me. I explained what I was doing and he offered this advice. ” Go back to the hotel (Countryside Inn) just up the road and give them my name. They will give you a discount.”

So I went to the Inn and gave them Ken’s name. They did indeed give me a discount, explaining they do so to encourage local businesses to refer their clients and representatives to stay at Countryside. Discount was about 1/3 of the regular nightly price. My thanks to Ken, a stranger who took the time to help out a traveler!

On the road in Indiana, I had a problem of my own making with the truck. I had replaced a front caliper before I left and, apparently, had not tightened the mounting bolts correctly. One fell out, leaving me to scramble to find a replacment. I ended up at a supplier that specializes in nuts and bolts, Sanders Indiana Hardware in Valparaiso, Indiana. They had the correct hardware and even stayed after closing to make sure I was able to install and tighten the bolt and be on my way again. Very good people!

Much of my time was spent on the Indiana and Ohio turnpikes, both toll roads. For this trip I obtained an E-Zpass transponder which enabled me to roll through toll booths without having to stop and pay tolls in cash. This made the trip a bit faster and more convenient. However, there is an $8.00 yearly fee to have the transponder active. (Account established through the Ohio Turnpike web site.) Considering I made two trips to upstate NY this year, the annual fee will probably be justified in the future.

I guess it is a sign of our times, but I found this sticker in a rest area men’s room.

It appears a number of stickers have been torn off.

Once at Felicity and Peter’s house I worked on a number of mundane but important projects. These included:

** Winterizing / sealing the basement door. **Adding pull-chain lighting to the basement light fixtures. **Cutting and sanding pegs for a coat rack, then installing it. **Adding a downspout to the gutter system. (More on that in a bit.) **Trimming around a dead tree so the branches did not hit the power lines. **Helping Felicity assemble a compost frame. **Assembled a firewood rack. **Tightened the clotheslines. **Cut and installed insulation panels for the basement windows, complete with handles to ease installation and removal. **Even mowed a little bit of lawn using a reel mower.

The biggest project was the installation of an additional downspout in the front gutter. The original installation was poorly done, with the gutters leaking at several joints and water pooling up in one corner of the gutters. (The result of wrong angles, not draining correctly.) I installed a new downspout in the corner that was leaking the worst and trying to seal the other joints.

The downspout drains into a 4″ diameter black pipe which is then routed under the porch and empties out behind the house on a downslope. I had to buy a 100-foot roll of drain pipe as it did not come in any shorter lenghts. Felicity and Peter will use the drain to water the garden next summer, so the extra pipe may not go unused. Supplies for projects were purchased locally, including the sheet of insulation for the basement windows; hauling stuff is the reason I drove the truck on this trip instead of taking the more economical Kia.

The final project of the trip was the trimming around a dead tree near the road. The center of the tree had died but many shoots had sprouted from the base and were threatening to hit nearby power lines. I had intended to take down the entire tree, but it was getting late in the day and we had planned to go out for dinner that night, so I settled for removed the shoots and stacking them nearby.

All in all, it was a busy time in New York and I think I accomplished most of the items on my list. The projects will, I hope, make Felicity’s home a bit more energy efficient and more convenient to live in during the upcoming winter. Pam, in particular, has reservations as to how Felicity and Peter will negotiate the hardships winter in a vintage house will throw at them.

Back in Elma, one of my first tasks was to do a lawn clean-up, as we are in the peak of leaf season. Pam is beginning to cut back the hostas and other plants; the first hard frost has pretty much ended the local growing season. Pam is also trying to refresh the paint on the east side porch steps, a project she waited for cooler weather to attempt — but then it started raining and raining and raining…

There are a few routine projects left to be completed this fall, such as preparing the bird feeder area, covering the A/C compressor, and tarping some NW areas of the fence line to create winter wind buffers. We still don’t know on what timeline the dead oak will be removed by the tree service. If the company still plans to do it this year, the dog enclosure will require relocation.

A random side note for what it is worth. We were having on-going buffering issues with our streaming service. Very irritating! Digging into the settings on the router, I found the DNS settings, primary and secondary, were pointing to servers out of New York. Since I bought the router used through eBay, this may have been the original and default setting. I changed to DNS servers in Iowa and the buffering issue has disappeard. (We use Mediacom, and both sets of numbers are used by them.) This may be something to check if you happen to buy used equipment or are having similar issues.

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

Pam’s Penny

Only two months until Christmas Day — I continue working on the holiday cards. Toby turned 39 — yikes. (Realizing that makes us somewhat ancient.) Grayce is almost a year old — still waiting for her potty training to be reliable.

Rock on.

Today’s Humor: