Vacation?

 We feel like we are on vacation. No action is taking place on the 'Pool Hall'. It is Labor Day Weekend and every day feels like Sunday. It started yesterday because Russ took the day off and went to a Motorcycle Race and will not be back to work till Tuesday. Those guys have been putting in long hours and deserved to take it easy. It does feel different after the constant activity around here. 

Butch and I took a tour of the county, Greene County Iowa. This is something we do a few times every summer. It was very much a part of my childhood. My father loved to swim and so every night that I can remember through the summer months we would go to Spring Lake. We also rode around to get a breeze on hot summer nights because this was before AC in most homes. So our tour of Greene county always brings those memories to life for me.  For Butch, working for different power companies he always became acquainted with all areas where we lived because he frequented those roads in connection with his work. Often times at night and in the midst of storms all year round.

In our travels near Squirrel Hollow we come upon Jerry's Auto, a business neither of us knew existed. It is quite sizable too! Of course, there are also people who do not know Squirrel Hollow existed either.

This is the shelter house at Squirrel Hollow.

These next ones are all Spring Lake photos and this time I didn't take any of the water.  The "wood" part of Spring Lake Park fascinated me as much or more than the water. 

Almost forgot! I took a photo of the moon night before last and posted it on Facebook but forgot to put it on the blog. So here it is:

Guys are moving fast!

 Wednesday, Sept 2

Thursday Sept 3rd

Sherri's daycare

 My friend Sherri Clark runs a daycare and has for a very long time! Whenever I needed a baby fix I would stop by as she always had one to hold. She took this picture of her kids.

Butch being a lineman for many years I knew he would love this picture. They do seem to be fascinated.

Progress 9-1-2020

 Sometimes it is fast, sometimes it is slow and sometimes frustrating. This is a medium day. Butch and Russ are working on north side siding. By appearance, I would say half done but it is a side that takes a lot of fitting as they near the top. The sleeve for our heater/AC arrived today. It was just shipped yesterday! That was fast! 

In the meantime, I washed and scrubbed down the entry and steps on the east and west side of the house. They were both infected with a combination of dirt and mildew and have bothered me most of the summer. My mini-powerwasher is in the motorhome so I made do with bleach, water, and a broom. A more satisfactory solution and a coat of paint will have to wait for another day or perhaps for another year.

I am beginning to think there has been way too much crammed into this one.

Here are some interior photos. You cannot yet picture the concept of it all but it is safely in my vision.

I stood in the middle of the room and rotated. This is the future home of the bathroom and kitchen area.

This is the east-facing (streetside) door and south wall.

This is the east-side window, northeast corner and future resting place for the pool table.

This is the northwest corner, westside windows, and home of the future game table. Currently in the storage shed.

Leak fixed

 The leak in the plumbing has been fixed. The water from the leak did not appear on the surface because pea-rock had been used as fill, and therefore, served as a holding tank. The leak happened because of a split where a junction was made with the existing pipe. Blame was talked about but the phrase it didn't leak before but now it does was repeated. Our monthly water bill was always the same prior to the new plumbing so the leak is "new". It is mostly rectified. Accidents happen and there is no point in dwelling on it.😌

Progress Report-August 31 2020

 Butch has finished as much of the electrical as he can until the insulation is blown in and that can happen any time as far as we are concerned. But the guy who is doing it is stacked up a bit and so it will be a week or two until he can get to it. Butch asked him what happened to the company we hired to do our house because we could not locate them at all in our area and he said he ran them out of business. He is considerably less expensive than the last time we had this done so I am guessing he is correct. My job today will be covering the electrical boxes that are installed to keep them from getting filled with insulation. Butch will be working with Russ on the siding.

Russ installed the two entry doors and the three windows last week. The garage door is still a few weeks away. When we lined that part up they told us it would be 4 to 6 weeks. Not what we wanted to hear. We are ready for them too so we can be sealed off from the weather. Not much of a worry as the drought is hanging on severely. Every time we look at radar they are getting rain north of us and south of us but we are stuck in the middle with no rain. They said on the news that our area has had no rain for 69 days and the last rain we did have was meager at best and did not qualify as a drought breaker.

Whenever the first of September rolls around we start looking south, at least in our head. Still not sure what that means for us this year. I asked for a timeline on the RV repair and was told we would be notified when they had one. When we took it to them we told them it had never been winterized...hint, hint. It feels so strange to look through my "computer" window and not see the motorhome sitting there waiting for us. 

Also notice how 'airy' the trees look after the derecho. When golfing it is always said that trees are 90% air and this kind of attests to that.

And here we have progress pics taken from the usual spots.

Another airy tree.

Taken from the northeast corner of our property.

I will be adding interior shots very soon.

Some Days:-(

 Yesterday the guy from the water department stopped in front of the house and was checking our meter. It seems some high usage was showing up. So we started investigating and woe and behold we have a huge leak and it has been leaking since August 13th. We do have water for the house but the line going to the RV sites in the backyard is where the problem is located. At least we think so. It could be the new line going to the pool hall. However, there is a shut off on that line and it has not yet had any use. So now every line but the one to the house is shut off and waiting for repair. The plumbers who worked on it have been notified but haven't shown up yet and no word as to when they might. We have a meeting with the board of the water department to negotiate a solution for cost on September 22. The guy did a quick estimate of the cost and said we didn't want to know. Needless to say, the plumbers are not getting any good words from us now and perhaps never.

There are no visible signs or indications above the ground. I would say "when it rains, it pours" but rain is another thing we do not have.

Pool Table

 This is the pool table my sister has so kindly gifted us.

Guys Having Fun

 Russ and Butch finishing the siding on the south side of the pool hall.

Progress report 8/25/2020

 I had forgotten how tied down you are when you start new construction. You either have to be on-site because somebody's going to stop by for an assessment or deliveries of needed supplies.  And there are probably a dozen other reasons.  I am so used to Butch wanting to go with me when I go grocery shopping that it feels strange to go alone. What can I say, the guy likes to go grocery shopping. Now I know where Gary got it.  When Gary was about three I needed to go to the grocery store for a quick trip and he wanted to go with me. I took off in the car without him and unbeknownst to me, he followed me. it was also unbeknownst to his father who was at home supposedly taking care of him. A policeman came to our door with a 3-year-old Gary asking if that was where he lived. Thank God this was in 1964 and we lived in a small town or we probably would have gone to prison.

But back to the present -Butch is out in the pool hall doing electrical wiring and he reported to me a few minutes ago that he was about one-fourth done. That is good news!

Last weekend Jason came over to help. Butch needed to connect the house electrical box and take it through an underground trench to the pool hall or vice versa actually. Suffice it to say, it got done. We had it all set up for when Jason came to help and it went rather smoothly. Jason even helped us fill in the trench.

Butch has also been helping with the siding when Russ needs an extra pair of hands. I think you can tell by now that Butch and his leg are getting along fine as long as Butch doesn’t push things too far and forget his limitations. The only wrinkle lately is the ladder he likes to use because it is lightweight and also very wobbly and unsafe. He bought it at an auction for $2 several years ago and it has been the scene of more than one accident for him. As I watched another wobble this morning I told him it was going to mysteriously disappear some morning about 6:00 am. I will carry it (very lightweight) to the curb and let some other DumbA-- break his neck. Every time I see a nice ladder on sale I point it out but until the wobbly one is gone he won’t do it.

We are having a heatwave to match the drought. Just when you think this year could straighten out yet one more thing piles on to the load.

Here are today’s pics:

RV Fix and other stuff

 Do you care to take a guess on what the estimate was for our RV to be repaired? The estimate from GoodLife RV in Webster City Iowa has been accepted by our insurance company so now we hope they get right to it so we can go south come October, maybe late October. I won't keep you in suspense. $17,700+!!  

Butch rented a trencher for the electric wire to go from the house to the pool hall. I helped as much as I could but anyone who knows me also knows if it has a motor I have a natural and everlasting disgust for it. It is too early to say if either of us had bit off more than we could chew. Actually, I think we got by with it. The rental trencher has been returned, the trench is done and we both are still able to function. So on to the next adventure!!

Lordy, We've been busy!

 Butch has started the electrical. He has the boxes in place and I would guess that by the end of next week the electrical will be as done as it can be until the insulation gets installed. Russ has started on the siding. The garage door people will be here today to sell us what we want.

They have come with their big equipment and removed the tree branches and logs from the parking in front of the house. Yesterday and this morning I raked up the bits that are too small for them to get but too big for the lawnmower; not that it matters much because the drought is still hanging on. We happen to live in the 5 or so county area in Iowa that is getting the worst of it.

Have I posted these? Since I can't remember I will rectify it later if I must. The tree refuse is before the big machine came.

Too many Tomatoes?

 

HOW TO MAKE GAZPACHO WITH RED AND YELLOW TOMATOES:

1. Chop up yellow tomatoes, red tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, celery, red bell pepper, and yellow bell pepper.

2. You’ll also need some chopped fresh basil and fresh parsley, plus a little more chopped basil for garnish if desired.

3. Get a large plastic or glass bowl big enough to hold all the ingredients. Put red wine vinegar into the bowl.

4. In food processor with steel blade combine garlic with sea salt (or use mortar and pestle and then add the salt mixture to the food processor bowl.)

5. Add tomatoes to food processor and pulse until desired texture. Put tomatoes into a plastic bowl with vinegar.

6. Put cucumber and red onion into a food processor, pulse to desired texture, and remove to a bowl.

7. Repeat with celery, red pepper, and yellow pepper, pulsing together.

8. Stir parsley, basil, olive oil, lemon juice, tabasco, Worcestershire, and tomato juice into vegetables in a bowl.

9. Add more tomato juice if it seems too thick. we thought 2 1/2 cups were just right.

10. Taste and season with fresh ground black pepper and more salt if needed.

11. Chill overnight for flavors to develop, although you will probably have to have a bowl or two before putting the rest in the refrigerator!

Today’s thought

 

“You couldn’t relive your life, skipping the awful parts, without losing what made it worthwhile. You had to accept it as a whole–like the world, or the person you loved.” ― Stewart O’Nan

Progress on Project 8/18/2020

 I haven't posted anything on the progress for a while or at least it seems that way. Butch is starting on electrical. Russ has the soffit done on one side and he most likely will finish it and the other side today. Then siding, doors, and windows will follow. Butch and I plan to do the interior walls after it is insulated so it is coming right along.

Our motorhome being in the RV hospital is concerning us. It must be finished before we can go to Texas this fall. Also, we did not realize how much we used it for storage. Maybe storage is not the right word. We did not take many items out until we needed them, such as I had an abundant supply of eyeglass cleaner packets. Guess what! I ran out in the house and they are in the motorhome. This has happened on different items 3 times now. Not earth-shattering in the scheme of things.

Butch must be doing better with the healing of his leg. He is leaving his canes in the house once again. And last night when he came in from working in the pool hall he was not limping as much. The PT people in Texas told him it would be 6 months at least and maybe longer.  September 7th will be the 6-month mark of the great fall.

Here are pictures I took this morning:

Here are the limbs waiting for pickup. This is the bigger stuff. The smaller stuff, 3 or more pickup loads have already been taken to the city compost pile. This curb appearance is duplicated all over town.

Randy Clark Memorial Golf Tournament

 Butch and the boys, Rich, Gary and Jason played in the tournament last Saturday. The four of them have picked a day in August for the past three years now to play in a tournament somewhere. This is the second year for Nishna Hills in Atlantic Iowa. It is the course Butch and I played for twenty years and quite often with Randy and Sherry Clark. Randy passed away in late April so this year's tourney came with mixed feelings and a tear or two.

The guys played well and felt good about it despite that they didn't finish "in the money". The format is such that it is somewhat a matter of luck anyway.

They topped their day off with a meal at the Redwood in Anita Iowa. A very good place to eat. In the twenty years we lived in the area we ate there often and never had a disappointing meal. Masks and social distancing were abided throughout the day and evening.

By the way, Sherri do not let them get by without a picture next year! Butch told me you offered but he told you we had one from last year! Men!!

This is the one from August 2019...and Randy took this picture.

smaller projects

 I have a long list of smaller projects. Some of them have been on the list for years but what better time to do them than now. The final home of both of these projects will be the pool hall. That has been the spark that got me going instead of just thinking about it.

Here are the pics of the finished projects: Both of these projects were given to me by friends. I am sure they will recognize them when they see them.

The chairs had a label on the bottom of the seats so I researched them and found out they are a Thoney Bentwood chair. New ones can be purchased today for $303 each. Nice gift!

USPS

Another great and timely column from my friend Colleen. Her columns come each week in the opinion section of greenecountynewsonline.com

 

Now is the time

August 12, 2020

~a column by Colleen O’Brien

The more dis-, mis- and in-formation crowding the media these days regarding our general election in just under three months, the more unsettled the country becomes.

I sign off all news and read a good murder mystery which indeed keeps me engaged through the night.

But a new day dawns, and with it my iPhone dinging at me that I have “NEWS.”

I fall for it, click on it, and I am once more swamped; or perhaps that would be, in the swamp.

I learn from the President that we cannot have across-the-board mail-in ballots this pandemic year, despite the pandemic, because:

kids rob mailboxes and sell stolen ballots down the block so other kids can mark them, vote for the “wrong” people [what does that mean?] and then send them in.

With this news at hand, I am shocked that I ever received my passport. In fact, this last time I applied for it, I did it all through the mail [no trip to any bureaucracy; they had streamlined it in the 20 years since I’d last sought one]. All I had to do was fill in the form, attach my old passport, a new photo of me, a check, put it all in the mailbox where I live, and lo and behold! I received a brand new passport!

Apparently, those kids down the block were not looting mailboxes during that exchange of significant money and important documents. . .

nor when I lost my driver’s license and received a fresh one through the mail;

nor when my Discover bill arrives each month, through the mail, and I open it, make sure all the charges are legit, write a check, return it all in an envelope to the mailbox, where it will soon wind up in the Discover mailbox far across the country;

nor when my doctor told me I needed a medical test I could do at home; he had the kit sent to me in the mail. I did what it told me to do, and I mailed it back, via my own household mailbox – I didn’t even need to go to the physical post office building around the corner;

nor when my husband died, when I asked, paid for and received copies of his death certificate through the mail.

As an editor, I receive and send people’s precious manuscripts of novels, memoirs, collections of essays through the mail every week.

I am flummoxed by the idea of mail-in ballots becoming “insecure” because they’re being mailed via the U.S. Postal Service. I am disbelieving when I hear that mail-in ballots will be forged, illegally printed or fraudulently signed. The whole smokescreen is a falsehood to help a re-election, a prevaricated disruption of one of the most precious rights – the ballot – that we prize as one of the oldest democracies in the world. In an era of pandemic when it’s either dangerous or merely problematic to be around lines of other people, voting by mail is being disparaged, lied about and therefore made suspect.

We do have a more than 200-year-old working postal service, although hampered right now by administration directive to cut hours, which means not all the mail gets to us in a timely manner. I think this in itself would be against the law, since interfering with mail delivery is a federal crime; perhaps in the category of “high crime”?

The postal service is a function of government, not a corporation. It does not have to turn a profit. It can be and has been subsidized from the federal government just as the President’s salary is.

The postal service has been hampered by the USPS Fairness Act of 2006 and by the latest appointment of postmaster general DeJoy, a big donor to this president’s political campaigns. DeJoy has cut overtime at a time when there are fewer mail carriers because of cases of COVID-19 and more mail, also because of COVID-19. And DeJoy has complicated the casing of mail to a point that mail is left each day undelivered. Photos of mail piled in bins in post office mailrooms accompany newspaper articles in Chicago and Philadelphia.

That this current non-functioning government is getting away with holding up our mail is causing problems long before the problems that will arise if we cannot have mail-in ballots. Already, people are complaining to the post office that they’re not getting their bills in time, so they wind up with late fees. Residents in Philadelphia have complained about not getting their worker’s compensation checks. A Philly mother of an autistic child reported to her post office that her son’s dosages are two weeks behind, and she has been forced to scout pharmacies across town for the drugs she has paid for delivery by mail.

Even Congress is complaining about receiving complaints, even though it’s their job to listen to and do something about them. The House has included funds for the post office to cover its overload of work, but the Senate is doing nothing about it, which includes refusing to include money for the post office in the relief bill. This is kind of a moot point, because they’ve left town without voting for any relief to anybody.

Although the USPS is a government agency, it operates as an independent business without direct taxpayer support, earning its money from selling stamps and sending mail. Can we do something to help? Or do we have to wait for our general election to be screwed up for us to get rid of the source of the screwing?

A democracy takes so much work! To rephrase a once-popular typing drill, Now is the time for all good folks [sic] to come to the aid of their country, in this case, the local post offices of their country.

Anyone concerned about the purposeful decline and fall of the postal service can call or email their U.S. senators, asking, at least for now during the time of coronavirus, that we get some help for the only familiar face we see daily, our mail carrier. Ask your senators (1) that funding for the USPS be included in the next relief package; (2) that new Postmaster General DeJoy be investigated regarding his fateful policies within the post office; (3) that a vote be taken on the USPS Fairness Act that has crippled the postal service budget for a decade and a half.

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Tip I actually use!

 

I was cleaning out my emails, files, etc, and came across this tip. It is one I actually use so it must be a good one! Barb B.

Easy Sheet Folding

When folding sheets, make the first fold lengthwise down the middle. If you are making the bed by yourself, you won't have to go around to the other side to verify that the lengths are the same on both sides. You just use the fold down the middle to guide you.

Candy and Rick with Storm Damage

 Candy and Rick were parked behind us last winter in Trophy Gardens. Butch bonded with their pug, Thelma. We communicated after our derecho and they were sympathetic to our state of affairs. Well, last night Candy sent me photos of their big storm. She said when the sirens went off for a tornado warning they went to their niece's place to take shelter as they live in their RV full time. This was near Mcpherson KS.

These hailstones could have killed someone!

Windsheild on their truck.

Tomatoes in the garden are history

She said both skylights on their RV as well as the AC cover were broken. There may be more damage than they know yet considering the size of those hailstones!