{"id":8170,"date":"2021-01-02T11:08:08","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T17:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/?p=8170"},"modified":"2021-01-02T11:08:08","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T17:08:08","slug":"new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2020 is behind us; let’s hope 2021 is a far better year!

True to recent form, we spent a quiet week at home. Pam finished hemming draperies, made a rhubarb pie (the last of the batch of rhubarb we grew), baked salmon for New Year’s Day (first time!), and started a living room painting \/ makeover project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First step: Paint trim.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

My projects were minor. I put a piece of pegboard up over my workbench; this required moving a few shelves and repositioning a light. I’ve spent a couple of hours on this already and have a bit more work to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pegboard over workbench<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Going through more boxes in the garage attic, I found a few more tools to hang on peg hooks and located my box of sport court tiles. With the tiles in hand I began assembling a mat in front of the workbench. The extra layer means I am not standing directly on the cold cement floor when at my bench, making working out there more comfortable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We did get a few inches of snow last Tuesday evening and into Wednesday morning. After some hand shoveling of steps, porches, and the walkway to the garage, I fired up the John Deere garden tractor and spent the next couple hours moving snow around. (Now the neighbors know the snow removal standard I intend to maintain!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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December 29th<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Alley after plowing<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We have been lucky so far this year; December overall was above average in temperatures even though we had a couple of very cold nights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall it was another quiet week. We find we are sleeping in, working a few hours on planned projects, then watching some TV after dinner. It is a much slower pace than we maintained last summer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elmo the cat has been up to his usual tricks, finding things to destroy or pull down. For some reason he likes to play on the steps and has succeeded in pulling off all the paper decorations Pam had put up on the step risers. Here he is at work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Elmo likes to play on the stairs<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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There used to be decorations about where Elmo’s head is located. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To his credit, Elmo does get along with the dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Elmo the cat and Blondie nap on the couch<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n


Our Christmas decorations are coming down. Right now the only items left are the lights and garlands on the front and east porch. The tree is down and the window decorations are packed away, including the red rope lights that made up the two hearts Pam had created in the windows. The upcoming week is supposed to have a couple warmer (for January) days and we’ll take down the rest of the garlands and lights and pack everything up for use next year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2020 is over and we look forward to a better year in 2021. Hopefully our health will hold up and, at some point, we will get one of the COVID-19 vaccinations. Given our rural location and issues with transport and refrigeration of the vaccines, distribution in NE Iowa may be a bit on the slow side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hope all who read these notes have a good 2021! We enjoyed hearing from those of you who sent holiday greetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo Archive<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This week’s photos are from a ride we took on the narrow-gauge Silverton & Durango Railroad in 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sharp curves let us see engine from rear passenger car<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Rails are very near a deep gorge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Engines pour smoke when pulling up-grade<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Fall colors were showing during our trip.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pam’s Penny<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After approximately two months of a painting hiatus, I have begun the “refresh” of the downstairs rooms. (There I am, back up on the ladder again.) At least the ceilings are lower in the two rooms slated for work this round. It will be a slow progression — one day work, one day rest!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our current [slower] schedule may just be The Universe helping us gather our strength and resources for another year of renovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Himself mentioned, Elma may very well be in a COVID vaccine desert. We’ll be looking for Moderna or Astrazenica by summer – maybe. Our newly-built local clinic should be open by then. Until then, mask – social distance – sanitizer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be Well. Happy Trails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2020 is behind us; let’s hope 2021 is a far better year! True to recent form, we spent a quiet week at home. Pam finished hemming draperies, made a rhubarb pie (the last of the batch of rhubarb we grew), baked salmon for New Year’s Day (first time!), and started a living room painting \/ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8170"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8235,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8170\/revisions\/8235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}