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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:

There are two main topics to comment on this time around. The first was my trip to Colorado to winterize The Box and take in fall colors. The second was the visit from Pam’s childhood friend Julie Nickles.

I am going to start with Julie’s visit. Pam’s friend from childhood, Julie now lives in Florida. She came to Iowa to attend Luther College’s homecoming festivities and connect with us and a few other friends.

As of this moment, Julie is in Decorah (Luther College) staying with another friend. I will pick her up tomorrow and bring her back to Heart House where she stayed on her first night.

Many have been the lively conversations with Julie; the cats are beginning to venture out to see what the new human is like. Vienna and KitKat are the most reclusive, but the other cats are coming around pretty well. The dogs, Bru and Grayce, seemed to absorb the visitor without much fuss.

We ventured out to a local greenhouse, Zimmerman’s, to pick up a few mums and small pumpkins. Here is a photo of that outing:

(Photo by one of the greenhouse staff.)

Julie returns to Heart House for a time before she flies back to Florida. There will be stories about her visit to Luther College that we would like to hear!

The other main dialog concerns my recent trip to The Lot to take in Colorado’s fall colors and winterize The Box. There were some great moments and a few issues along the way.

I was lucky this year; the aspen colors were at their peak. Last year I was a bit late, but this time around I really hit the mark. I have quite a few photos taken during my stay, a few in this post, but I have created a Fall Gallery with more for those who might wish to overdose on mountain colors.

Here are a few “color” photos.

I took a trip over Boreas Pass and stopped at the top. Pam’s mother’s ashes are spread around the restored cabin here and I try to make the visit every year. Here is what the structures look like this visit.

One evening, on a drive home, there was a gorgeous red sunset so I had to stop and get a few photos.

The trip was not without a few issues. The truck had a brake problem; a spring that helps retract a brake pad had broken and was jamming a front caliper intermittently. I was able to remove the broken part and drive back to Iowa without problem. A replacement pad kit has been ordered and will be here in a few days.

The real disappointment for me involved the chipper. I had hoped to get it running and chip the brush I had cut during my last outing. Alas, this goal was not to be reached.

I was able to get the chipper running, but as soon as I began chipping, one of the hydraulic hoses sprung a leak and I had to quit. The nearest store with parts was in Buena Vista, around 40 miles away.

I drove over to the Tractor Supply store, who had a suitable hose, but I also needed two swivel fittings and the store had only one. As a result, the chipper is sitting, waiting for me to repair it on my next trip. The brush remains piled along the driveway.

During my last trip (earlier, this summer) I had a leak in The Box’s roof. This trip I found the source, located around the refrigerator vent. There was a low spot where water and leaves accumulated. I was able to clean the area and coat it with a rubberized spray material. It did not rain while I was there but I am pretty sure the leak is now fixed. However, I did cover the spot with an old tarp before I left for added protection.

As a side note, the refrigerator, which I had repaired on my last outing, worked perfectly.

Nights are getting near freezing in the high country, with frost present several mornings. Since the RV’s furnace takes a lot of battery power to run, I used my little generator to keep the batteries fully charged so I did not run out of power overnight. I was very satisfied on how well this worked and I was able to stay comfortably warm the entire trip.

Evening campfires helped add to the ambience of the visit.

I enjoyed my outing and time spent in the high country. Hopefully the next trip will see the chipper back in action and more lot cleanup can be accomplished. Until then, there is yard work (leaf season has started) here in Iowa and a few more house projects to finish before the first snows arrive.

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

Pam’s Penny

In a house the age of this one — considering the number of pets housed within — a person can clean and clean for a week without noticeable effect. And so it was while Himself was in Colorado. At least random tufts of cat hair and skittish bits of litter were disposed of…

Rock on.

Today’s Humor:

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:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally, a few miscellaneous photos from my Colorado trip.

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

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

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

Pam’s Penny

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

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

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

Rock on!

Today’s Humor:

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

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

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

Here are some photos of this outing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pam’s Penny

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

Today’s Humor:

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

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

Here are a few highlights from this route.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pam’s Penny

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

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

Happy Trails, JoJo.