Home Maintenance Continues

Home maintenance work continued today. After a run to the recycling center this morning we made a run to Walmart for supplies. Then to Seward Lumber and Fuel for Window Well Covers. There are numerous ways of installing them but we opted to hold them in place with stakes on each end. We bought the 40" wide ones with some 8" of rise. While Verlon and I were out buying them, Elaine cleaned out the window wells. Hopefully, these will prevent her from ever having to do that again. The window wells not only collected leaves but debris from animals that were attracted to the spots for the benefit of heat that seeped through the basement windows. We have a total of 5 windows and it took 2 stakes on each cover. Our underground lawn sprinkler system is self draining but the supply needs to be shut off in the basement which I did this evening. Verlon also took the "skirts" off the heat exchanger for our Air Conditioner system; and, hosed off the dusty film that had collected. We had planned to watch the Dodgers-Nationals game in D.C. but it was postponed because of the rain brought about by Hurricane Matthew. The Giants-Cubs game is on a pay channel so we won't see it either tonight. We have seen more football than normal and decided that after their bye week, Nebraska will have their hands full when they travel to Indiana next week.

Nebraska Life Magazine

Here are 4 years of Nebraska Life magazines. These are from 2012-2015 and were issued bi-monthly by Nebraska Life Publishing, Inc. of Norfolk, NE. Christopher Amundson is the Editor & Publisher assisted by Angela Amundson as Associate Publisher. The magazine is an excellent publication. Even the ads are well done and in excellent taste. Seward was featured in the May/June 2000 issue. Our coffee group was interviewed and pictured. I was not aware of the publication prior to that time but have been a regular subscriber since. The magazine contained 50-60 , center stapled pages in those days and priced  at $3.25/copy. It now has over 100 bound pages, and listed at $5.95/copy. We have "saved" a few selected issues but will probably pass-on most of these through Seward Swap, Et Cetera or the "Free Box" at the Library.

Verlon's work and Play with Jack

Rainy Day in Seward

This was a rainy day so home improvements were inside the house and involved some cleaning out and cleaning up. This is 4-years of "Journals of Soil and Water Conservation" that will go to the recycle center. They are "refereed" ,technical publications from the Soil and Water Conservation Society at Ankeny, IA. For several years, I passed them on to the Concordia Library here in Seward. They no longer stock them since much of the material is available on the Internet. I have kept those published during the years that I was the Executive VP and continue to receive them as a "lifetime" member. Jim Gulliford, the current Executive VP, writes an article occasionally which I read, but leave the technical details to those currently involved. 

Our "clean-up" focused on my desk in the living room. I don't really use it as a desk but more as a "side table" to my Queen Ann chair.We brought up a card table to use in the sorting process but forget to take a picture until there were several other "piles" around the room. Some of the books and other items will go down to my "office" on our lower level, and shared some of the pens with Elaine so she doesn't have to borrow mine. We woke up this morning with rain and have had a storm move through the area this evening. So far, we haven't had any damaging weather. Farmers are watching the clouds closely with the corn and soybean harvest underway. The beans are vulnerable to shattering during storms. The Toronto Blue Jays are up 1-0 over the Baltimore Orioles after 3 innings.

Professional Home Maintenance

I sat on the end of the west bench on the deck the other day, and it was obvious that the supports had rotted. Though the deck is supported by well preserved old RR ties, and the floor and much of the deck was built with treated lumber; the floor joist were used, full dimension 2x8's, that we just painted with wood preserver. I bought them at a farm sale and heard that they came out of the old wooden Garland HS. We built the deck in October in 1983 so after 33 years it's only reasonable to expect the need for some serious repair. We didn't even have this project on the list when Verlon came out to do some "home maintenance" but it took his excellent skills to be able to make the necessary repairs. We used nails to build the deck but Verlon says that he has used screws to put decks together for several years. 

He would not have been able to do the job had he not rented the screwdriver from a local lumber yard. Verlon suggested I mention the support crew which included Jack being here to inspect the site. We have been fortunate to have excellent weather so far during the time he has been here, but the forecast indicates that it may be changing. Elaine and I got our flu shots today so hopefully they will help keep us from catching the "bug" this winter. 

National Geographic articles of Czechoslovakia

Verlon came into possession of a number of old National Geographic Magazines when a friend was in the process of disposing of his parents estate. He brought along two of them with articles on Czechoslovakia when he came to visit last week. The earliest one is volume XXXI Number two, February 1917. It contains a 30 page article titled, "Bohemia and the Czechs" with 25 Illustrations written by Ales Hrdlicka. It traces the history of the people back to 500 B.C. and carries it forward. Karel (Charles IV) is known in Bohemian history as the father of the country.  Under his long and peaceful reign (1347-1378), the whole nation is strengthened. The University of Prague was founded in 1348. But Charles was succeeded by a weak son and Bohemia again suffered from its old enemies. Their great national and religious leader, John Huss, was excommunicated by Rome, accused of heresy, and burned at the stake on July 6, 1415. (My Dad's parents immigrated to this country  in the early 1870's from the Chaslov area, and Dad, told of their always having a picture of John Huss hanging in their house.) The article goes on to trace the countries history up to WWI. 

The second magazine was published in February, 1921 and includes a 30 x 33 inch map of "The New Europe" (Which is in excellent condition". It contains a 46 page article, "Czechoslovakia, Key-Land to Central Europe" with 46 Illustrations and written by Maynard Owen Williams. I have not had time to read this article, but a cursory review tells of the reshuffling of boundaries following WWI. Elaine and I visited the Czech Republic in the fall of 1993 accompanied by my brother and his wife, and my sister and her husband. My sister's husband spoke Czech fluently which helped make it a wonderful trip. I had earlier met a fellow from Prague, who was involved with land redistribution for the Government, who served as a guide for us a couple days. It was a great trip; I only wished I'd have been able to read these two historic articles ahead of our going.

Kids in the Backyard

Verlon and I hauled 2 pickup loads of tree and shrub trimmings to the City burn pile early this morning. When we finished, he picked up a package of Poppy Seed Kolaches from the Farmer's Market. We were enjoying them with coffee when John, Sadie and Jack stopped by to visit. They liked the Kolaches, but had even more fun out in the back yard. Jack liked roasting ears this summer but a mature ear of corn was something new. Verlon and Sadie played catch, and she even caught the ball several times. We don't have much for the kids to play with in the back yard, but Jack was impressed with the bird bath. Sadie enjoyed Verlon challenging her with different things. Jack has always been fascinated with bugs and seems to spot them before anyone else. His highlight came when his Daddy set him up in the fork of the Red Oak tree. Sadie set in the tree for a minute but being a bit larger than Jack, and wearing a dress, made it less comfortable for her than Jack.  I enjoyed watching all the activity from my chair on the deck, as much as the kids did. They both seemed to enjoy getting strapped into the little trailer that John pulls behind his bike. Later in the day we watched the Nebraska football team beat Illinois 31-16, but the #1 Girls Volleyball team saw a 28 game winning streak broken by Ohio State, 3-1.