Family Branch Gathering.

We had a great time at the family gathering hosted by Roger Conant, the husband of my deceased cousin Sherry (Zimmerle) Conant. It was a great visit and I enjoyed seeing many cousins some of which I haven't seen for over 20 years. My niece Karla and her family and my sister Theresa, otherwise known as Teri were also there. I look forward to going again next year. They are thinking of having it in September next year. I am thinking about hosting one...when we are finished with the house, of course.

Our host Roger Conant and niece Karla's husband Don.

Devon and his Mom Karla and sister Theresa

A laid back visit after dinner. From left-Sara, her daughter Ava, Ava's grandpa and my cousin Howard, Howard's wife Deb, Their son Howard jr.,and Rose Zimmerle wife of my cousin Bill,not pictured. Confused yet?

Still on Shower

It is taking longer to get this shower installed than it will the flooring in the whole house. I am convinced of it. But the shower is in...mostly. We still have the handle and some waterproofing to do. But the bulk of the installation is behind us and it is looking great. Butch and I have tested the seat and we both have complete confidence in it. Oh yeah, did I mention it has a seat. Our feet will be much cleaner now.

We will not be working on it today as we are going to a family reunion. The Uncle Phil and Aunt Ruby branch of the family has a reunion every fall and this year they have expanded it to include other branches. Uncle Phil was my mothers brother. There were seven children in the John and Myrtle Zimmerle family and they are all deceased but today we will get together and talk about them. They were a wild and crazy bunch so it should be a fun day.

Reunion pictures and shower pictures will come later...maybe today.

Oh and there is nothing like 30 degree temps to bring on Texas Fever. We are making plans to head that way.

Thunder Bay Resort Aerial video

We workamped at Thunder Bay Golf and RV Resort in the summer of 2010. This video was a wonderful nostalgic event for us.
http://youtu.be/c74Q_KkwKEU

Carpet is down

Bedroom before and...

After. 

Closet before and...

after.

A ways from done but looking good.

The carpet install went well. The cabinet quote fellow came on time and measured, planned and calculated and we plan to keep looking. Butch thought the first quote was outrageous until he heard the second one. We have two more places we plan to check before we make a decision. It will not be happening until spring 2013. It will be very high on the priority list at that time though. So after quote guy left Butch squeezed in 9 holes of golf. When he came home we went to the Lowes store in Ames to pick up our GOOD flooring and while there we purchased a bathroom stool. Since the demo, when the old stool had to go, Butch has missed it and looked forward to having the new one installed. We may get it installed this fall but it most likely will not be hooked up to water till spring. I suggested to Butch that we should buy and install a cabinet for behind the stool before installing the stool to make it easier. There have been times when we had our projects out of sync. So while we were in Lowes I saw a dusty cabinet that had a red X through the price tag so I asked the fellow in that department what he would sell it for. So we purchased a $150 cabinet for $50. Sure like it when that happens.

I called Jason as we left Ames and asked if he and Laura wanted to meet us at the Colorado Grill in Boone for supper. They said "yes"! Love it when things work out. Laura has a really cute short haircut. 

The night before when Jason went home after helping us with the shower he called to tell us he had hit a skunk. At first he didn't think the car had been sprayed but the further he went the stronger it got and that was traveling at highway speed. We saw the skunk he hit on our way back to Jefferson and it was flat as a pancake in the middle of the road just east of the railroad tracks in Grand Junction. Any suggestions on how to get rid of skunk smell on the undercarriage of a car? It would be hard to get at it for the tomato juice option. Time and a car wash or 2 may be the only solution.

This morning we were getting rain so Colleen and I didn't get our walk in. Maybe later...

I cropped one of the pictures I took earlier and I like it for many reasons. It is on the bike trail we have faithfully walked all summer.

Shower install

Thank God for Jason coming to our rescue. The shower install, at least the panels, took brawn and brains and in this case it took 3 of us. This shower is going to look really cool but would I call getting it installed easy? No, Nada, Nyet etc.
Onyx is a really cool shower system but I would consider paying an expert to install it or at least someone who has installed a few before. It is tough for the inexperienced.
http://www.onyxcollection.com/

We do not have it completely installed. Still need to get the seat, soap holder, door and a few other things done on it but here is a pic of the panels.

Below is bedroom -before carpet that is being installed as I write

Below is closet looking west- before carpet

looking east-before carpet

looking through bedroom from closet-before carpet

Looking out front door

kitchen window-south side of room

north side of room

What happens when you are not naturally neat.

Morning walk shots

The much photoed asparagus plant- What a show off!!

Oh yes! They called yesterday afternoon to tell us the flooring is in!! Less than a week!!

More house stuff

We started on shower install yesterday. We have the base in place....it could have gone smoother but hopefully it will all work and serve us well for the rest of our lives. I am going to remain quiet about the shower until we are finished installing it. I do not want to borrow trouble. Jason is coming to help us later today.
We will be getting the carpet installed in the morning. They just called. That is happening sooner than expected. We also have someone coming from Sears to give us a quote on cabinets. That will be quote number two and we plan to get a couple more.
I am still able to get my morning walk in but it sounds like our morning time, recently moved to 7:30, will need to be set back even further to prevent frostbite. Colleen is leaving the 10th so we are winding down because of that deadline as well. I will miss our routine. I saw a quote this morning that I hope applies to both of us about our morning walk and talk. "The worlds best moment is a calm hour passed with a friend who can talk well."- quote from 11th century Arabic poet  Abu al-Alaa'al-Ma'arril.

Morning walk photos

We have had beautiful morning sunshine most of the summer. We have commented much lately on the beauty of the changing leaf color so I decided to take my camera this morning. Wouldn't you know, it was mostly cloudy. Oh well, here are my shots anyway.

Taken at the very north end of the bike trail looking south.

Milkweed

This asparagus has been  a photographic inspiration all summer. It is now a brilliant orange color.

On the bike trail looking north toward the depot

On Olive Street

At the Uptown Cafe

Years ago Colleen painted some old milk cans and they were at Alice Nipps art gallery. Colleen noticed them on Harrison street, a street she walks on every morning to get to the bike trail. How wonderful it is to spot YOUR artwork in an unexpected place many years after you had completed it.

Iowa- More pigs than People

Three guys- card playing buddies

Three old ladies

Three childhood friends

Firestarter

I read this tip on Facebook and when I tried to pin it on Pinterest it didn't work. So I will tell you because I think it is a great tip  for our camping friends. Save your corks from bottles and place them in a glass jar. Pour rubbing alcohol over the corks and when you are ready to start a fire, fish one out and place it among your kindling.

A Video Tour of Jefferson Iowa

Here is a video tour of our hometown. It was put together by our next door neighbor A J. What a great view of us! Do you want to come visit? Jefferson is our hometown. I was born here and Butch was born 5 miles south of here. We both grew up here and we think it is a great place to be from and a great place to come home to. I saw a saying about a small town that I think fits us very well;"We may not have everything you want, but we have everything you need."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ike6eODFPZk&feature=em-subs_digest-newavtr

Link of the Day:Online writing community

Link of the Day:

Online writing community

WritersCafe is an online community for sharing and reviewing homegrown
literature.

Just create an account using your email address or Facebook account and
you can start posting your work.

You'll have access to peer reviews, writing groups, practice prompts and
writing contests.

http://www.writerscafe.org/

Underlayment

The underlayment is down. And I planned to tell you we would be installing the vinyl planks in the next few days. Not!
Much has happened.
We tried to install the flooring and it became increasingly more frustrating as we tried to get them to click lock together. On closer examination the edges appeared to be damaged and on even closer examination of many boxes it became clear that installing this stuff was going to drive us crazy. I called Menards and they agreed to take it back so we decided to do just that. We borrowed Keri's car today as hers is of a sturdier make than ours to haul the 40 boxes of this stuff back to Fort Dodge. They did take it back without even a squeak and I thank them for that. And we thank Keri for the use of her car. Leo's truck is in the shop. So we made our way from Fort Dodge back to Ames and the Lowes store where we ordered Armstrong vinyl planks for the living room and bath and carpeting in the bedroom and closet. The bugaboo of all this is that they said it could be 3 weeks before we can get the vinyl planks and perhaps as long to get the carpeting installed meaning we would be up against the time we plan to leave for southern climes. We are hoping they were just trying to cover their bases and that it is all happening earlier than that. We have reason to believe that, especially on the carpeting because she told us at Lowes that they would contact us the beginning of next week, when in fact the fellow called us on the way home, telling us he would be here tomorrow to measure the bedroom and closet.
Carpeting, you say? When did that come into the picture? We decided it could be cheaper and quicker to go with carpeting in the bedroom and closet. I thought the Armstrong vinyl planking was going to be costlier than the sale stuff we had purchased. As it turned out that wasn't so....oh my it has been a confusing day. This too shall pass, of course and I am always convinced it all happened for a reason despite the fact I cannot see what the reason might be on this day.

This picture is a bit out of sync. The Iowa Light and Power, IES, Alliant Energy Retirees Picnic at Spring Lake.

The underlayment is laid. Don't you love that door?!!

You may notice Butch has reinstalled the ceiling fans. They were original to the house when we purchased it.

Pocket doors are installed too.

While we were at Lowes, I had a consultation about kitchen cupboards. Not on the agenda this fall but we wanted to be one step ahead next spring.

Till next time...

Making plans

Making plans to stay at the RV Park below before we get to the Rio Grande Valley this season. I did not have the info close at hand so I had to look it up. Plan to be there Oct 24 to the 28th in case any of you will be in the vicinity and want to join us.

Llano River Golf Course & RV Resort

123 Robinson Park Dr, Llano, TX 78643 » Map(325) 247-5100For reservations call: (325) 423 0550 ask for George

WooHoo

Friends Randy and Sherri Clark are coming today to see us. Always great to see old friends...and play some cribbage!
 Butch and Russ are busy putting underlayment on the floor. It will be a mixed blessing to leave it all in October unfinished but it will be a treat to get back in the spring as well. Always ready and anxious for the next step. What will most likely be remaining to do is kitchen cupboards, bathroom vanity,stool and plumbing.
Butch and I had a discussion about the placement of the trapdoor to the crawl space a few weeks ago with the decision being to keep it where it is but Russ came today and suggested we move it. We are moving it and I am happy with the new placement. Sometimes our prayers are answered very unexpectedly once we do not fight it. Oh, what a hard lesson for me to learn.
Yesterday we went to the retirees picnic. Actually most of those guys have been retired so long they never worked for Alliant Energy. They worked for Iowa Light and Power or IES or some other form depending on where they were with the merges. But regardless of the name they all enjoy each others company and getting together at Spring Lake shelter house for food and fellowship.
We had cold temps this morning...computer said 30 degrees but there were no signs of frost. I did not cover my plants. I get a bit tired of watering their sorry little butts this time of year. My flowers still look pretty good and some of my friends are complaining about theirs. In discussing why that may be, the only difference is I water them with rain water instead of city water. I think they like it better or at least they must. I am guessing it is better for their complexion.
With the cooler temps we have had lately we have been running and testing the furnace. All seems well with the operation of it. I plan to buy a big thermometer to put in the window so Leo and/or Keri can drive by and see if the temp is okay. With the new drywall and the insulation we thought it best to have some heat in the house.