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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:

The first of the Heart House spring flowers are blooming and flowering shrubs are starting to show green leaves. I have upgraded my web site somewhat and resurrected an old program and put it to use. Details below!

A few spring bulb flowers are blooming, daffodils and hyacinths. Magnolia trees are blooming on a neighbor’s yard. Tulips are developing their flower buds. It seems spring is definitely trying to arrive!

Spring often brings thunderstorms, and on Tuesday, the 14th, we received some of the largest hail I have ever seen. The sound of the storm was like someone beating on the house with a bat.

The hail damaged some daffodils and left quite a few small limbs and branches on the lawn. Some cleanup will be in order, but thankfully there was no damage to the house.

While we suffered only twigs and small limbs on the yard, others were not so lucky. The city’s solar panel installation was heavily damaged. Speaking to the city clerk, I learned the solar installation is covered by insurance but had to be turned off as a precaution against the system shorting out. Some of our neighbors reported damage to their windows and vinyl siding. A few cars have new dents in their sheet metal. No one I spoke to had ever seen such large hail.

Here is a 35 second video taken near the end of the storm.

Moving on into Tech Talk

I recently made the decision to upgrade my web hosting service from 10gb to 50gb of storage, as I was beginning to bump up to my original limit. This does not result in any visual change, but does open the door for me to do a few more things such as posting the above video.

Another upgrade was in software. Several years ago I had purchased a program called JuiceboxBuilder-Pro and had used it to create photo galleries for this web site. However, eventually it would not run on my old Mac Pro; there was a conflict with the operating system patches I had used to keep the old Mac going.

I tried using JB-Pro on my new Mac Mini and ran into a few problems. The JB-Pro support desk (Mr. Steven Speirs) did a great job of helping me solve my problems and get me back up and running. A salute to him!

My Gallery page looks quite a bit different now than it has over the past few years; many significant features have been added. You can now show or hide the thumbnails at the bottom of the gallery, open an individual photo in a new tab, enlarge or minimize the gallery, and step through photos manually or turn on autoplay. Instructions are at the top of the Gallery page.

The current gallery may be of interest only to Colorado or mining history buffs, but my plan is to publish a new gallery from time to time featuring more general topics. You will see a few past galleries that have been re-worked and expanded. This plan goes hand-in-hand with my project of grouping my old slides by topic instead of by date, making it easier for me to create and update galleries.

In other news, it was a quiet Easter. Becky’s birthday is the same week as Easter this year, so she drove to Elma and we celebrated both with a light lunch (including a desert of brownies and ice cream).

I will be heading to New York State shortly, so my next post will be delayed until I return. I hope to have some travel photos and information about the trip (and projects completed) when I get back. See you then!

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

Pam’s Penny

It will soon be Mennonite greenhouse time. Hopefully after spring finishes with the hailstorms.

Rock on.

Humor Corner:

The time has come to start moving things along. I have listed both my motorcycles and have already sold the tractor. Other items are going “on the block” soon.

We are considering moving out of Iowa due to a few factors: Hog smell when local farmers spread manure, and Iowa’s increasing water quality problems that are leading to higher and higher cancer rates. Nitrates are the biggest factor, found in fertilizers and manure. Iowa’s response: Raise taxes on tobacco.

In anticipation of a future move, it has come time for me to move along projects that I will, realistically, never get to, like restoring my 1948 Ford 8N tractor. The motorcycles also need to be moved along as I will, in all probability, never ride regularly again.

Parting with these items will free up space in the garage and eliminate the need to move them should/when we move. And it simplifies life.

The tractor was first to sell. A local guy picked it up a few days ago. I had spent a lot of seat time on it during my high school years (it was the family tractor) and I had mixed feelings about letting it go, but better to have it repaired and put back to use than sit and deteriorate.

I had hoped to use the 8N at The Lot but that experiment did not work well; the 8N was not nimble enough to use as I had hoped.

A few people have inquired about the motorcycles, my 1982 Yamaha XJ1100 Maxim and the 2006 Kawasaki Concours, but neither has sold yet. Several accessories I had accumulated over the years will be listed next, mostly old windshield and luggage parts.

There are a few other news items. I attended the most recent No Kings Day rally in Decorah. Several hundred people were in attendance, a good number considering the cold conditions. Pam had made me a sign to take along.

A few days have been warm enough to get some lawn cleanup done. We cut back the forsythia bush as it was getting woody in the center. (Pam says it will “probably” regrow from the base. She was getting tired trimming it three times every summer.) I raked much of the yard to get rid of the sticks, twigs, and old acorn husks that had accumulated over the winter and the early lawn looks good.

In my previous post I mentioned I had stopped at the Plant Peddler greenhouse grand opening in Cresco. It turns out I won a door prize (!) consisting of a mixing bowl, pancake mix, a kitchen towel, and a bottle of maple syrup. All items are much appreciated.

My next post may be delayed as plans are progressing for another visit to Felicity and Peter in New York. The new swinging mailbox post and mailbox have arrived and I am starting to get my tools in order. I hope to tackle a variety of additional small tasks including putting a handrail on their basement steps and performing some lot clean-up. The latter will include renting a chipper and chipping brush, as well as felling a couple dead trees that I did not get to on my last trip. Should be a productive outing, providing the weather cooperates!

Finally, I have a new iGallery posted. This one is the first of a few on the topic of old mine sites in Colorado.

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

Pam’s Penny

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

from Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published 1860

When Longfellow composed this “founding origins” poem in 1860, the US was experiencing the internal turmoil that eventually resulted in the Civil War. History records Longfellow wanted to remind American citizens of the events unifying countrymen in 1775, when Paul Revere and a group of patriots engaged history.

Many years ago, I chose “Paul Revere’s Ride” as a poem to be presented to Mrs. Mealy’s 2nd grade class, as part of a Gifted & Talented program. I’d invited the school District Administrator to read the poem and lead a discussion after. Second graders were asked to project their imaginations back into US history, to be a kiddo in one of those houses on Paul Revere’s route. They were asked to describe how “A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door” would make them feel.

The second graders were magnificent; they grasped the concept and ran with it. Comments ranged from “I’d get dressed and go with my Dad” to “I’ll take care of the farm while Dad takes his musket and goes into the dark” to “This is scary, I think I’ll hide in the closet.” It was the glorious, but elusive, “teachable moment.” I felt very privileged that day, listening to children from the twentieth century connect, in an emotional way, with children from 1775. Through poetry.

Those long-ago second graders are now in their mid thirties. They’re workers, and possibly parents, they’re voters. I wonder if any of them remember the message of “Paul Revere’s Ride,” if they participate in their democracy, if they attend No Kings rallies. If they ever recall the warning from that 1860 poem:

Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

Rock on, Mrs. Mealy’s second graders. Rock on, America.

Today’s Humor:

A week ago we were preparing for a record snow storm. Today we may set a record high for the date. Spring in the Midwest!

While Elma did not receive record snows (we were on the outer edge of the heavy snow band) several nearby cities did set records. Rochester, Minnesota received over 15 inches. Rochester is about an hour and a half north of us. Further north, and into central Wisconsin, the total snowfall was even greater, up to 24 inches. We received around 5 inches of the white stuff.

Our biggest problem was the high winds that accompanied the storm. Blowing and drifting snow was a problem, particularly in rural areas. Here in town we had some drifting in the alley and on sidewalks, making clean up a bit of a chore.

The snow was preceded by freezing rain. While this did not last long it did leave a layer of ice on walkways. Snow falling (along with the sleet) froze into a rough surface instead of glaze ice, making it bad but not treacherous.

The storm had been forecast several days in advance. I made a grocery run just to top off our supplies knowing our regular shopping day, generally a Monday or Tuesday, would be delayed. A stop at the gas station left me with enough extra fuel to run the snow blower and lawn tractor. Food and fuel to prepare.

Today the snow is gone except for a very few place where the city had created huge piles. With a forecast high of 78 the remaining snow will not last long. However, a cold front is coming through tonight and the extended forecast has high temperatures in the mid-40s for the next several days, much closer to average for this time of year. We will enjoy the warmth today and look forward to the arrival of true spring.

Speaking of spring, greenhouses are beginning to open. I stopped at a newly-rebuilt shop called the Plant Peddler located in Cresco. While the bulk of the annuals had not yet arrived, it was pleasant to walk through the facility and look at the gifts and plants on display. I took a few photos.

I am getting supplies together in preparation for a trip to New York. Felicity and Peter have a list of projects they would like addressed, including the replacement of their mailbox (destroyed by a snow plow during the winter). My trip will be made during the end of April.

The new box will be mounted on a ‘swinging arm’ post, hopefully preventing a repeat of the destruction. This is part of the advertisement from source Etsy:

Other small tasks have kept us occupied. I have pretty much finished going through my 35mm slides, grouping them by topic. There are a few left to get though, one binder left out of 15, and I hope to complete the project in the next week or so.

I have published a new Gallery, made up of waterfalls and other water features.

Pam had ordered a new sisal pad for the cat scratching post which I installed this morning, as well as reversing an existing pad so the cats could scratch on an unused portion. This approach is far more economical than buying a new cat post every time the scratching surface needs to be renewed. Pads have been replaced a couple times now and are available from Chewy.

A new “No Kings Day” rally is scheduled for March 28th and I plan to attend. While I try to keep politics out of this blog, I am very concerned about recent events (attack on Iran) and the proposed SAVE act. The country is on the wrong track. I need a new sign for next week’s rally, so if anyone has ideas for a good one, let me know.

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

Pam’s Penny

Why am I trapping mice out of the basement stairwell? What happened to that foundation barrier blown on the house only six years ago? This is very irritating.

With the snow-warmth-cold temps-heat cycle comes the mud. Grayce loves the mud. The dog run is churned into a mud pit already. Yuck.

What do I enjoy the most — additional warmth or additional daylight? Luckily I don’t have to choose.

Rock on.

Today’s Humor:

Winter is coming to an end. Warm temperatures and rain have melted all the snow. Is it really spring?

This winter has produced a roller coaster of high and low temperatures. Right now we are well above normal for early March, and rain has melted all but the most stubborn snow drifts.

Pam spied a few bulbs starting to emerge in the east side Mary Lynn flower bed. Daffodils and tulips are among the early blooming plants and it’s always promising to see how many survived the winter. A quick raking of leaves that had collected over the winter gives “the buddings” a chance for sunlight.

Activity at the bird feeder and corn cob station has slowed with the warmer temperatures. However, I’ve seen several cardinals over the course of a few days, indicating they are in the area to a greater extent than I had thought. Cardinals do not migrate, by the way, but stay in our area year-round. They can be seen in concentrations at dusk.

Grayce had her vet checkup and now weighs 30 – 31 pounds. She is one solid beagle!

My cousin, Sue Metzner, was kind enough to send me a family photo from 1997 featuring my parents and my three siblings. I am on the left, my sisters Carol and Mary next, them Mom and Dad, and brother Jon at the right. Thanks, Sue!

Dad is in his Lederhosen, traditional garb for German gentlemen back in the day. Dad wore his on special occasions.

We are in a kind of between-season “suspended animation” waiting for winter to end and spring activities to begin. There really is not much going on right now. I putter with my computer and out in the garage, and Pam is preparing seed orders and making planting plans for the spring.

I did come across a NOAA chart showing the average yearly temperatures for all 50 states and was surprised to see Hawaii is not #1, it is #4.

In other trivia, here is an example of how the English language has evolved over the last 10 centuries.

Even more trivia: (I have been spending too much time on-line recently.)

That it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny:

Let’s see what happened in March of 1776:

George Washington successfully expelled British troops from Boston. For this action, Washington was given a medal by the Continental Congress.

I suppose if Washington had done the same thing today, he’d be awarded the FIFA Peace Prize…

Rock on.

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: