We drove down from the Bolt Hole on Tuesday hauling the travel trailer
on its final journey. The trip was uneventful and traffic moved along at
a decent clip on the NY Thruway and then down Routes 14 and 54 to Bath.
At Bath we unhitched the trailer in the Camping World lot and presented
them with the keys. Everything inside was spick and span and, aside
from a few stone dings and a need for a good bath, the outside is in
very good shape, too. The only non-working items I am aware of is a wall mounted CD player
and a burned out light bulb in one of the overhead light fixtures. The
slideout behaved nicely when the Camping World rep tested it. And well it should after our experiences with it on our Alaskan trip and out on Cape Cod this summer.
I was a little sad to leave her there in the lot, but I believe we will
get more use out of the Class C than we did out of the trailer.
I can see a trip down to Florida in the spring with stops in South Carolina and Missouri for visits to relatives playing a part. Might even be able to get to Louisiana, Tennessee and/or Kentucky.
******
While Terry went off to one of her sit-n-stich hen parties, I ran a few errands down the hill then came home and did some work around the yard. Pulled up weeds from areas I didn't want them (that's how goldenrod and Queen Anne's lace become weeds around here). Trimmed the red bud that was threatening to completely shade the herb garden. Tilled the bed that once held onions, lettuce and beets and planted two rows of snap peas with their attendant climbing strings fastened to cedar and bamboo poles. And burned a lot of waste cardboard and junk mail. That work required almost as much walking back and forth as mowing the lawn would have necessitated--and I've still got to get the grass cut. Maybe Friday.
******
Tomorrow, Thursday, is the day we go pick up our new (used) motorhome.The only thing that scares me is that it has a 55 gallon gas tank. I read somewhere that the Ford E450 V-10 Triton engine will get around 9 miles to a gallon--about the same as the Tundra hauling the trailer. That larger tank may provide a few heart palpitations when I fill it up, but I won't have to do so every 200 miles like I did for the Tundra with only a 26 (?) gallon tank.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
Done Cleaning
We drove up to the Bolt Hole this morning (having waited until the post office was open) arriving shortly after 1 PM. Immediately we hitched up the travel trailer and pulled it out of the barn and into the sun where we could at least open the blinds to get some light inside. I reinstalled the two propane tanks and the battery before emptying the outside storage bays. Terry went through the closets, drawers and cabinets to remove everything inside before doing a little washing of the interiors. About two hours after we began, the inside of the trailer looked almost as good as new. Unless we give the outside a good scrubbing, it's not going to get any better. (And it's not going to get that scrubbing unless some passing down pour does the job tonight or tomorrow when we take it to the dealer's.)
We set aside two days to get this particular job done since we weren't sure what the weather would be like or what we might find as we started our clean-up activities. Now we can take off Tuesday morning for Bath, NY (about 180 miles from the Bolt Hole) and drop the 2002 Wilderness travel trailer before heading home to the Aerie and the adulation of our three starving pussycats. Thursday we will go back to Bath to pick up our 2007 Winnebago Access mini-motorhome (Class C).
******
On a side note...I had occasion to peek at the calendar today and all I can say is: Where the hell has August gone? I've got a million things I wanted to do this summer and....whoosh!..August is almost over.
We set aside two days to get this particular job done since we weren't sure what the weather would be like or what we might find as we started our clean-up activities. Now we can take off Tuesday morning for Bath, NY (about 180 miles from the Bolt Hole) and drop the 2002 Wilderness travel trailer before heading home to the Aerie and the adulation of our three starving pussycats. Thursday we will go back to Bath to pick up our 2007 Winnebago Access mini-motorhome (Class C).
******
On a side note...I had occasion to peek at the calendar today and all I can say is: Where the hell has August gone? I've got a million things I wanted to do this summer and....whoosh!..August is almost over.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Our Lazy Day
Terry and I enjoyed a very nice celebratory dinner over at Timeless Destinations in Wellsboro today. (I may not have to eat for another 40 years!) Afterward, we took a brief walk down the block to a sidewalk sale at Dunham's and to From My Shelf Bookstore. I got some nice polo shirts for $10 each and we both picked up a couple of books. (And talked to the bookstore staff about the Bacon Movement they so obviously support.)
This afternoon we just lolled around the house digesting.
******
Terry and I will be heading north tomorrow morning. We've got to clean our stuff out of the travel trailer and then haul it down to the Camping World in Bath, NY where it will serve as a trade-in on our new/used Winnebago Access Class C mini-motorhome--which we will pick up on Thursday.
This afternoon we just lolled around the house digesting.
******
Terry and I will be heading north tomorrow morning. We've got to clean our stuff out of the travel trailer and then haul it down to the Camping World in Bath, NY where it will serve as a trade-in on our new/used Winnebago Access Class C mini-motorhome--which we will pick up on Thursday.
Forty Years
It was forty years ago today that Terry and I exchanged vows of marriage.
A long time ago but it seems like yesterday.
A long time ago but it seems like yesterday.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Home again!
I'm back!
Joe and I just returned from our fishing trip with Caesar's North Camps on Gouin Reservoir in northern Quebec. We had a great time despite the rain (five of the seven days) and somewhat slow fishing. We've caught more and larger fish on other trips but had a good time and made lots of memories just the same.
Before we left to head north, Joe had gotten a call from Am, the office assistant. She warned that the lake water was down and that the level had been falling quickly (almost a foot a week!) for the last month. Just the word that we were coming, however brought two days of rain and our arrival guaranteed the end to all this "dry spell" talk. Joe and I are going to start a company called Drought Eradicators. We'll work for the cost of a fishing trip/hunting trip in any area you name. You want rain in the desert? Either let us shoot what ever wild game might be resent or stock the oasis pool with fish. A week after we arrive, there will be a bloom on the desert like none you've ever seen.
The highlights included Joe catching a 4-1/2 to 5 pound walleye that measured between 22 and 24 inches and (nearly) landing a 32" pike that broke off just as it touched the net. Those two fish plus our first ever sighting of a lynx made the trip worthwhile. We only caught 40 walleye and 25 pike in about 5 days of hard fishing. (Okay, semi-hard fishing. We basically fished from 8 AM until 5 or 6 PM each day the rain allowed.)
We got rained off the lake one day when over two inches of rain forced us to retreat to the cabin and fire up the wood stove to dry everything--including ourselves--out. As in previous trips, however, we managed to work around most of the rain that fell.
The lake was loaded with loons that showed no fear of us or our boat and allowed us to to get so close we were concerned they might try for our jigs.
I did all the driving up and back (12-13 hours one way just to get to our float plane in Clova), all the driving of the boat, and the dish washing. Joe purchased our food, fileted the fish we kept to eat and bring home, and did the cooking.
Don't like the set you've got at the moment? Just wait fifteen minutes. There will be some new ones along shortly.
One morning we drifted with the wind casting to some weedbeds along the shoreline trying for some pike. As we got near the end of our drift (too shallow water), this tawny cat popped up from the grass where it may have been waiting for some careless ducks to come within range...or it could have been napping in the sun. (Using a point and shoot I'm not that familiar with, these are the best I got. NOW, of course, I know how I could have gotten better by adjusting some settings. Know your tools before you have to use them.)
They, and a couple of pike got fileted for dinner or the freezer. (Note the essential tools of the trade: sharp, flexible knife; firm cutting surface; late for filets; and, most importantly, an adult beverage in the blue can.)
In addition to the lynx we say a young beaver addling around a bank lodge, a black bear along the shoreline, Bald Eagles, terns, gulls, Cedar Waxwings (eating fish?!?), very friendly Red Squirrels we could have hand fed if we had peanuts, a couple of snowshoe hares--one of which looked like a small kangaroo, a little brown bat (awfully far north!), and, of course, deer mice. (We tried to eradicate the latter with little success.)
Things we learned on this trip:
1) Call the credit card company when you leave the US. Our first stop for gas saw our cards rejected. We ended up paying cash (which we hadn't converted to Canadian). A short call to VISA got that problem corrected but too late.
2) Bisquick can be made into reasonably good pancakes using canola oil if you leave the eggs back home in your refrigerator. Taylor ham and egg sandwiches are a bit thinner without the eggs, however.
3) Patience pays off. We did a great deal of trolling to located walleye, but when we did, we were able to catch quite a few in the same spot using jigs or trolling back and forth over the same area.
4) Give 'em something they haven't seen before. When the standard yellow or black jigs stopped producing, I switched to a chartreuse and immediately connected. Then, when that slowed, a watermelon and connected again.
5) When you wish to see how a lure looks in the water, i.e. what sort of action it may have, before tossing it overboard it is wise to first connect it to your line.
6) Caught in a rainstorm while fishing 2 or more miles from the cabin, you might as well keep on fishing. you'll only get wetter--and in different laces--if you open the throttle on that little 9.9 horse power motor to try and get back to the cabin. (I think Myth Busters did something about walking or running to your car in the rain and proved you get wetter running.)
7) If it is raining cats and dogs, NEVER say: "Well, it can't get any worse!" It can--and it probably will. (This is an old lesson that needs relearning. At least this time it didn't start hailing.)
Joe and I just returned from our fishing trip with Caesar's North Camps on Gouin Reservoir in northern Quebec. We had a great time despite the rain (five of the seven days) and somewhat slow fishing. We've caught more and larger fish on other trips but had a good time and made lots of memories just the same.
Before we left to head north, Joe had gotten a call from Am, the office assistant. She warned that the lake water was down and that the level had been falling quickly (almost a foot a week!) for the last month. Just the word that we were coming, however brought two days of rain and our arrival guaranteed the end to all this "dry spell" talk. Joe and I are going to start a company called Drought Eradicators. We'll work for the cost of a fishing trip/hunting trip in any area you name. You want rain in the desert? Either let us shoot what ever wild game might be resent or stock the oasis pool with fish. A week after we arrive, there will be a bloom on the desert like none you've ever seen.
The highlights included Joe catching a 4-1/2 to 5 pound walleye that measured between 22 and 24 inches and (nearly) landing a 32" pike that broke off just as it touched the net. Those two fish plus our first ever sighting of a lynx made the trip worthwhile. We only caught 40 walleye and 25 pike in about 5 days of hard fishing. (Okay, semi-hard fishing. We basically fished from 8 AM until 5 or 6 PM each day the rain allowed.)
We got rained off the lake one day when over two inches of rain forced us to retreat to the cabin and fire up the wood stove to dry everything--including ourselves--out. As in previous trips, however, we managed to work around most of the rain that fell.
The lake was loaded with loons that showed no fear of us or our boat and allowed us to to get so close we were concerned they might try for our jigs.
I did all the driving up and back (12-13 hours one way just to get to our float plane in Clova), all the driving of the boat, and the dish washing. Joe purchased our food, fileted the fish we kept to eat and bring home, and did the cooking.
A couple of things northern Quebec has plenty of is water and sky. Often they combine.
You could watch the clouds for hours and hours.
Don't like the set you've got at the moment? Just wait fifteen minutes. There will be some new ones along shortly.
This one looks like the Roadrunner.
View from the porch as the sun sets behind us.
One morning we drifted with the wind casting to some weedbeds along the shoreline trying for some pike. As we got near the end of our drift (too shallow water), this tawny cat popped up from the grass where it may have been waiting for some careless ducks to come within range...or it could have been napping in the sun. (Using a point and shoot I'm not that familiar with, these are the best I got. NOW, of course, I know how I could have gotten better by adjusting some settings. Know your tools before you have to use them.)
Uh? What the heck is that?
Curiosity could have gotten this cat killed. But not today.
He's seen enough and heads slowly for the woods.
Joe with the large walleye. It was released soon after the photo was take.
Some of its smaller relatives were not so lucky.
They, and a couple of pike got fileted for dinner or the freezer. (Note the essential tools of the trade: sharp, flexible knife; firm cutting surface; late for filets; and, most importantly, an adult beverage in the blue can.)
In addition to the lynx we say a young beaver addling around a bank lodge, a black bear along the shoreline, Bald Eagles, terns, gulls, Cedar Waxwings (eating fish?!?), very friendly Red Squirrels we could have hand fed if we had peanuts, a couple of snowshoe hares--one of which looked like a small kangaroo, a little brown bat (awfully far north!), and, of course, deer mice. (We tried to eradicate the latter with little success.)
Things we learned on this trip:
1) Call the credit card company when you leave the US. Our first stop for gas saw our cards rejected. We ended up paying cash (which we hadn't converted to Canadian). A short call to VISA got that problem corrected but too late.
2) Bisquick can be made into reasonably good pancakes using canola oil if you leave the eggs back home in your refrigerator. Taylor ham and egg sandwiches are a bit thinner without the eggs, however.
3) Patience pays off. We did a great deal of trolling to located walleye, but when we did, we were able to catch quite a few in the same spot using jigs or trolling back and forth over the same area.
4) Give 'em something they haven't seen before. When the standard yellow or black jigs stopped producing, I switched to a chartreuse and immediately connected. Then, when that slowed, a watermelon and connected again.
5) When you wish to see how a lure looks in the water, i.e. what sort of action it may have, before tossing it overboard it is wise to first connect it to your line.
6) Caught in a rainstorm while fishing 2 or more miles from the cabin, you might as well keep on fishing. you'll only get wetter--and in different laces--if you open the throttle on that little 9.9 horse power motor to try and get back to the cabin. (I think Myth Busters did something about walking or running to your car in the rain and proved you get wetter running.)
7) If it is raining cats and dogs, NEVER say: "Well, it can't get any worse!" It can--and it probably will. (This is an old lesson that needs relearning. At least this time it didn't start hailing.)
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
New Used Motorhome.
Well, we did it. We went out this morning and ended up purchasing a used 2007 Winnebago Access. It's a Class C (aka mini motor home) with only 10,800 on the odometer. This is the vehicle we looked at last Friday but were discouraged by some cosmetic damage. They lowered their price, promised to make repairs, gave us a great value on the Wilderness trailer as a trade, and we signed the papers this afternoon.
We will have to get a dolly for our towed vehicle so we will have more mobility once we reach our destinations. So if you see this vehicle moving down the highway with a bright yellow Chevy Aveo come September, wave. It will be us.
We looked at lots of layouts since last Friday as we visited nine different dealers and twice that many on-line sites. Terry really, really liked this model's interior and extremely low mileage. Aside from a few minor blemishes, it was well maintained inside and out.
The slideout provides ample elbow room in the living area and even when it is closed , as it was during our short test drive, there's still plenty of room to walk to the bedroom or work in the galley. For one night stops we may not even have to open her up.
We may have to "borrow" some of my daughter's DVDs and invest in a coaxial cable. The trailer never had a TV--and it wasn't missed--now....
The kitchen (galley) is essentially the same as in the trailer with a bit more counter space but no pantry. There are, however, lots and lots of drawers and cabinets.
In addition, there's over 100 cubic feet of storage outside in various bins, a 4000W generator, a rear view camera ad several other amenities.
We will have to get a dolly for our towed vehicle so we will have more mobility once we reach our destinations. So if you see this vehicle moving down the highway with a bright yellow Chevy Aveo come September, wave. It will be us.
2007 Winnebago Access 30C
2007 Winnebago Access 30C
We looked at lots of layouts since last Friday as we visited nine different dealers and twice that many on-line sites. Terry really, really liked this model's interior and extremely low mileage. Aside from a few minor blemishes, it was well maintained inside and out.
The slideout provides ample elbow room in the living area and even when it is closed , as it was during our short test drive, there's still plenty of room to walk to the bedroom or work in the galley. For one night stops we may not even have to open her up.
View from middle looking forward.
Super slideout consists of the dinette and couch--
just like in the trailer.
We may have to "borrow" some of my daughter's DVDs and invest in a coaxial cable. The trailer never had a TV--and it wasn't missed--now....
The entertainment center (rather than a bunk) over the cab.
The kitchen (galley) is essentially the same as in the trailer with a bit more counter space but no pantry. There are, however, lots and lots of drawers and cabinets.
The galley has more counter space than most and
an oven as well as the microwave, cook top and refrigerator.
In addition, there's over 100 cubic feet of storage outside in various bins, a 4000W generator, a rear view camera ad several other amenities.
Monday, August 06, 2012
Aerie Report, August 6, 2012
It's been a busy few days at the Aerie.
Terry and I have been shopping around for a used Class C motor home and that's had us driving hither and yon.
Friday we went up to Bath, NY to visit Camping World and Wilkins RV. Each had a couple of nice units listed on their web sites and gave us a good feel for the layouts/floorplans we would encounter. Unfortunately, the former had one unit that would have been ideal but for some (to us) serious damage to the linoleum floor and shower stall. The latter had a beautiful Endura that was not listed yet but that 1) was just a bit above our initial price range and 2) had a few thousand more miles than we would have liked.
Saturday we went considerably further afield and visited two dealers down near Souderton, PA: Fretz RV and Indian Valley RV. Again, the former had an older Itasca Spirit that meets our criteria and the latter had a Class B+ that held some promise, but those dealers are four hours away!
On the way back, we swung by Hamburg, PA to visit Cabelas. As chance would have it, Saturday morning's mail had a 10% off coupon that would expire before I return from my fishing trip so we decided to take a slight detour. There were two more RV dealers in that area (Tom Schaeffer's and Boat N RV) and we stopped to see what they had. The answer was nothing that we were interested in.
Today we took the utility trailer up to Elmira, NY to pick up the Yamaha Prohauler since it was up and running again. While up that way, we swung east to Nichols, NY to stop at Jim's RV Center. They had nothing that matched our criteria but the salesman later called to make a proposal on a new Tioga Ranger that sounds pretty good if well above our price range.
Well, we have our name out there now and we've let the sales people know what we're looking for. If they get a trade-in that matches our criteria they should call. Well, if they want to make a sale, they should call.
******
I've got all my gear packed for the fishing trip. When Joe gets here on Wednesday we'll make some final decisions and toss our stuff in the back of the Tundra and start on our way. We have a flight out of Clova, Quebec at 7 AM Thursday morning. It's supposed to be a 15-16 hour drive from here. We shall see.
******
Sunday morning I was sitting at the table eating my breakfast when a black bear walked up on the deck. It sauntered right past the screen door and the watching Julie cat and headed around front where I usually have the bird feeders so it's pretty obvious that it has been here before. I got up and closed the sliding glass door and the bear came running back around the corner, down the steps and up into the woods.
Then it rained some. Or I should say some more. We had 0.33 inches on Thursday night and ran into one hell of a group of T-storms while we were out on Saturday. This Sunday rain didn't amount to much leaving just 0.08 inches in the rain gauge.
When the rain stopped and the breeze had dried things off a bit, I went out an harvested beets and onions from the front garden. I've about a peck (quarter of a bushel?) of each. Some were the size of golf balls while others were as big as softballs. The onions are spread out in the garage to dry. Terry cooked up some of the little beets for dinner tonight and they are the sweetest. The greens were also cooked with a little olive oil and garlic and proved to be even better than spinach.
******
Tomorrow I have to cut the grass. The buckhorn plantain heads are a foot high and they and the clover flowers are distracting the honey bees from the my zucchini and cucumbers.
Terry and I have been shopping around for a used Class C motor home and that's had us driving hither and yon.
Friday we went up to Bath, NY to visit Camping World and Wilkins RV. Each had a couple of nice units listed on their web sites and gave us a good feel for the layouts/floorplans we would encounter. Unfortunately, the former had one unit that would have been ideal but for some (to us) serious damage to the linoleum floor and shower stall. The latter had a beautiful Endura that was not listed yet but that 1) was just a bit above our initial price range and 2) had a few thousand more miles than we would have liked.
Saturday we went considerably further afield and visited two dealers down near Souderton, PA: Fretz RV and Indian Valley RV. Again, the former had an older Itasca Spirit that meets our criteria and the latter had a Class B+ that held some promise, but those dealers are four hours away!
On the way back, we swung by Hamburg, PA to visit Cabelas. As chance would have it, Saturday morning's mail had a 10% off coupon that would expire before I return from my fishing trip so we decided to take a slight detour. There were two more RV dealers in that area (Tom Schaeffer's and Boat N RV) and we stopped to see what they had. The answer was nothing that we were interested in.
Today we took the utility trailer up to Elmira, NY to pick up the Yamaha Prohauler since it was up and running again. While up that way, we swung east to Nichols, NY to stop at Jim's RV Center. They had nothing that matched our criteria but the salesman later called to make a proposal on a new Tioga Ranger that sounds pretty good if well above our price range.
Well, we have our name out there now and we've let the sales people know what we're looking for. If they get a trade-in that matches our criteria they should call. Well, if they want to make a sale, they should call.
******
I've got all my gear packed for the fishing trip. When Joe gets here on Wednesday we'll make some final decisions and toss our stuff in the back of the Tundra and start on our way. We have a flight out of Clova, Quebec at 7 AM Thursday morning. It's supposed to be a 15-16 hour drive from here. We shall see.
******
Sunday morning I was sitting at the table eating my breakfast when a black bear walked up on the deck. It sauntered right past the screen door and the watching Julie cat and headed around front where I usually have the bird feeders so it's pretty obvious that it has been here before. I got up and closed the sliding glass door and the bear came running back around the corner, down the steps and up into the woods.
Then it rained some. Or I should say some more. We had 0.33 inches on Thursday night and ran into one hell of a group of T-storms while we were out on Saturday. This Sunday rain didn't amount to much leaving just 0.08 inches in the rain gauge.
When the rain stopped and the breeze had dried things off a bit, I went out an harvested beets and onions from the front garden. I've about a peck (quarter of a bushel?) of each. Some were the size of golf balls while others were as big as softballs. The onions are spread out in the garage to dry. Terry cooked up some of the little beets for dinner tonight and they are the sweetest. The greens were also cooked with a little olive oil and garlic and proved to be even better than spinach.
******
Tomorrow I have to cut the grass. The buckhorn plantain heads are a foot high and they and the clover flowers are distracting the honey bees from the my zucchini and cucumbers.
Friday, August 03, 2012
More Food Stuff.
Terry spent the better part of Thursday doing some cooking.
First there were the ribs we had for dinner (with plenty left over for supper), then there were the stuffed cabbage (she cooked up five meals which now sit in the freezer), and finally she did some bread & butter pickles (five jars went on the shelf while the one that didn't seal went in the fridge).
Me? I cleaned the jars and supervised. And ate ribs. And they were good!
First there were the ribs we had for dinner (with plenty left over for supper), then there were the stuffed cabbage (she cooked up five meals which now sit in the freezer), and finally she did some bread & butter pickles (five jars went on the shelf while the one that didn't seal went in the fridge).
Me? I cleaned the jars and supervised. And ate ribs. And they were good!
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
Ho-hum. A Quiet Day.
A quiet day at the Aerie.
Terry went off to southeast Syracuse for a stitching meeting and I was left to hold the fort.
I checked the rain gauge this morning to see how much we got during the storms that passed our way last night: 0.64 inches for Tuesday night. We also lost power for about 15 minutes. Long enough to through all the digital clocks off and have Terry run around lighting candles. (Saturday we had 0.12 inches here while Williamsport got over 4 inches in two hours. Summer storms can be pretty spotty.)
I ran all the necessary errands (grocery shopping, some banking, a visit to Lowes) this morning. After feeding the cats (poor Chester threw up everything he ate!), I went out to pick more black berries. I managed to harvest a quart which I washed and put into the freezer. Picked a few string beans and two cucumbers also.
I assembled a new set of shelves in the basement for all our canned foods.
I did some small amount of work (or at least I thought about) on selecting the fishing equipment for our trip next week.
And now it's 10 PM and I'm heading to bed.
Hope you had a good day.
Terry went off to southeast Syracuse for a stitching meeting and I was left to hold the fort.
I checked the rain gauge this morning to see how much we got during the storms that passed our way last night: 0.64 inches for Tuesday night. We also lost power for about 15 minutes. Long enough to through all the digital clocks off and have Terry run around lighting candles. (Saturday we had 0.12 inches here while Williamsport got over 4 inches in two hours. Summer storms can be pretty spotty.)
I ran all the necessary errands (grocery shopping, some banking, a visit to Lowes) this morning. After feeding the cats (poor Chester threw up everything he ate!), I went out to pick more black berries. I managed to harvest a quart which I washed and put into the freezer. Picked a few string beans and two cucumbers also.
I assembled a new set of shelves in the basement for all our canned foods.
I did some small amount of work (or at least I thought about) on selecting the fishing equipment for our trip next week.
And now it's 10 PM and I'm heading to bed.
Hope you had a good day.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
From the Garden(s)
Having amassed numerous zucchini and cucumbers from our garden and Joe's, Terry went into cooking mode today.
First she baked up seven loaves of zucchini bread which will now be heading to the bowls of the freezer. Then she made up a double batch of sweet pickle relish. That gets canned in one cup jars and is in the process of being boiled as I type. We should get around a dozen jars to go on the shelf.
There are still plenty of cucumbers to deal with (thanks Joe!) and they will be turned into bread-and-butter pickles.
Meanwhile, the zucchini and cucumbers are still producing as are string beans. The onions are about ready to harvest and the beets will come out of the ground in a couple of days. There are a couple of green bell peppers that need to be taken off the plants before they weigh the poor things down. And tomatoes...if all those that set turn ripe we're going to be up to our whazzoo in cherry tomatoes, Early Girls and whatever the third variety is. Now that the ground hog has been hustled off to the pearly gates (or the fires of Hell, whichever) the tomatoes are doing just fine. And the lettuce is producing again, too.
Then there's the head of cabbage Joe gave us. That will be turned into stuffed cabbage and some will be eaten while the bulk will get frozen.
The eggplant were delicious, BTW. One got chopped up with onions, peppers, sausage, a little mozzarella cheese and a bit of tomato sauce. That was served on a bed of rice. One got sliced thin, breaded and fried. Add some tomato sauce and mozzarella on a bun and we got two meals out of it and a couple of slices got eaten along the way.
First she baked up seven loaves of zucchini bread which will now be heading to the bowls of the freezer. Then she made up a double batch of sweet pickle relish. That gets canned in one cup jars and is in the process of being boiled as I type. We should get around a dozen jars to go on the shelf.
There are still plenty of cucumbers to deal with (thanks Joe!) and they will be turned into bread-and-butter pickles.
Meanwhile, the zucchini and cucumbers are still producing as are string beans. The onions are about ready to harvest and the beets will come out of the ground in a couple of days. There are a couple of green bell peppers that need to be taken off the plants before they weigh the poor things down. And tomatoes...if all those that set turn ripe we're going to be up to our whazzoo in cherry tomatoes, Early Girls and whatever the third variety is. Now that the ground hog has been hustled off to the pearly gates (or the fires of Hell, whichever) the tomatoes are doing just fine. And the lettuce is producing again, too.
Then there's the head of cabbage Joe gave us. That will be turned into stuffed cabbage and some will be eaten while the bulk will get frozen.
The eggplant were delicious, BTW. One got chopped up with onions, peppers, sausage, a little mozzarella cheese and a bit of tomato sauce. That was served on a bed of rice. One got sliced thin, breaded and fried. Add some tomato sauce and mozzarella on a bun and we got two meals out of it and a couple of slices got eaten along the way.
Used Farm Equipment For Sale
Received this via email this evening. I'm posting it because Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz have been complaining that comedians just aren't doing enough with all the material coming from D.C. this cycle.
[UPDATE 8/1 Added a link and corrected Mr. Lovitz's first name spelling.]
[UPDATE 8/1 Added a link and corrected Mr. Lovitz's first name spelling.]
YOU ARE PROBABLY NOT VERY INTERESTED IN ANY USED FARM EQUIPMENT BUT YOU MIGHT ENJOY THIS AD TAKEN FROM CRAIGS LIST:FIFTY YEAR OLD MANURE SPREADER - $1 ( WASHINGTON , D.C. )Fifty-year old manure spreader. Not sure of brand. Said to have been produced in Kenya. Used for a few years in Indonesia before being smuggled into the US via Hawaii. Of questionable pedigree. Does not appear to have ever been worked hard. Apparently it was pampered by various owners over the years. It doesn't work very often, but when it does it can really sling the manure for amazing distances. I am hoping to retire the manure spreader next November.I really don't want it hanging around getting in the way. I would prefer a foreign buyer to relocate the manure spreader out of the country. I would be willing to trade it for a nicely framed copy of the United States Constitution.Location: Currently being stored in a big white house in Washington , D.C
Sunday, July 29, 2012
We did some socializing on Saturday.
We did some socializing yesterday.
The Rutgers' Alumni Club of Central Pennsylvania had a planned Summer Sendoff for kids in our area that were going to Rutgers this fall. It was held at the home of the gal who has become the default club president (Hey! It was her idea to form the group.) down near Lewisburg. Mindy said she had heard back from a little more than a dozen folks that they would try to attend and we thought it would be pretty cool to see who else in the area were RU grads.
Turned out that the four students (from as far flung places as Altoona and Bloomsburg) couldn't make it. One was on a family vacation, one was already at RU attending "captains' practices" with the football team (incoming QB prospect from Bloomsburg), and the other two...well, they didn't respond. And the Alumnae weren't much better. We ended up with just four couples. Terry and I and Mindy and her husband are all grads. Then one of her neighbors, Cheryll, is a grad of Cook and another gent--Roy, a retired law enforcement officer--was also a Cook graduate. (CAES and Cook were pretty well covered!) All of us were once resident's of New Jersey but moved to PA for pretty much the same reasons--taxes, cost of homes, and/or jobs.
We had a good time visiting and talking about New Jersey and PA. Terry and I were by far the oldest couple there having graduated in 1971. The next oldest graduate, Cheryll, got her degree in 1991. Roy got his in 1997. (He obviously was working while a student.) Mindy and her husband are babies in comparison!
******
We left Mindy's house around 4 PM heading over to Jersey Shore to visit Joe and Pat. Joe had called early Saturday to ask for some help. He had a slew of cucumbers and wanted to know if we wanted any so we were going to swing by and pick a bucket of them up. We ended up with a whole lot more.
Heading north we saw some pretty impressive thunderheads in the distance and ran into a brief heavy downpour as we turned west on I-80. Turns out if we had been heading home through Williamsport we would have really hit some rain! They got over 4 inches in 2 hours around the time we would have been passing through. (Holy Buckets!) As it was, once we were out of the little rain we hit just as we left Route 15 to head west on I-80, we got nothing. There was no rain at Joe's at all.
We had a great time visiting with Pat and Joe, had a very nice--if unexpected--dinner, and came home with a two gallon bucket filled with cucumbers, a huge head of lettuce (Stonehead, I think Joe called it) and a couple of very nice eggplants.
Joe has a heck of a green thumb when it comes to growing vegetables. The two of them also do pretty good with flowers.
Terry and I finally got home around 8:30 PM to be greeted by three cats who were complaining of having been seriously shorted on their crunchy quota.
******
Thursday's line of severe storms that produced the damaging tornado in Elmira are now being credited with a tornado in Coudersport, two in Corning and two more in eastern PA (Montrose and somewhere else I can't recall).
The Rutgers' Alumni Club of Central Pennsylvania had a planned Summer Sendoff for kids in our area that were going to Rutgers this fall. It was held at the home of the gal who has become the default club president (Hey! It was her idea to form the group.) down near Lewisburg. Mindy said she had heard back from a little more than a dozen folks that they would try to attend and we thought it would be pretty cool to see who else in the area were RU grads.
Turned out that the four students (from as far flung places as Altoona and Bloomsburg) couldn't make it. One was on a family vacation, one was already at RU attending "captains' practices" with the football team (incoming QB prospect from Bloomsburg), and the other two...well, they didn't respond. And the Alumnae weren't much better. We ended up with just four couples. Terry and I and Mindy and her husband are all grads. Then one of her neighbors, Cheryll, is a grad of Cook and another gent--Roy, a retired law enforcement officer--was also a Cook graduate. (CAES and Cook were pretty well covered!) All of us were once resident's of New Jersey but moved to PA for pretty much the same reasons--taxes, cost of homes, and/or jobs.
We had a good time visiting and talking about New Jersey and PA. Terry and I were by far the oldest couple there having graduated in 1971. The next oldest graduate, Cheryll, got her degree in 1991. Roy got his in 1997. (He obviously was working while a student.) Mindy and her husband are babies in comparison!
******
We left Mindy's house around 4 PM heading over to Jersey Shore to visit Joe and Pat. Joe had called early Saturday to ask for some help. He had a slew of cucumbers and wanted to know if we wanted any so we were going to swing by and pick a bucket of them up. We ended up with a whole lot more.
Heading north we saw some pretty impressive thunderheads in the distance and ran into a brief heavy downpour as we turned west on I-80. Turns out if we had been heading home through Williamsport we would have really hit some rain! They got over 4 inches in 2 hours around the time we would have been passing through. (Holy Buckets!) As it was, once we were out of the little rain we hit just as we left Route 15 to head west on I-80, we got nothing. There was no rain at Joe's at all.
We had a great time visiting with Pat and Joe, had a very nice--if unexpected--dinner, and came home with a two gallon bucket filled with cucumbers, a huge head of lettuce (Stonehead, I think Joe called it) and a couple of very nice eggplants.
Just a little of Joe's produce.
Joe has a heck of a green thumb when it comes to growing vegetables. The two of them also do pretty good with flowers.
Terry and I finally got home around 8:30 PM to be greeted by three cats who were complaining of having been seriously shorted on their crunchy quota.
******
Thursday's line of severe storms that produced the damaging tornado in Elmira are now being credited with a tornado in Coudersport, two in Corning and two more in eastern PA (Montrose and somewhere else I can't recall).
Friday, July 27, 2012
Small business appreciation day.
I did some business with our local sporting goods store today.
Back in
'89 or '90 I bought a Daisy Legacy Model 2202 for Rick to shoot in the Adirondacks. It's a small
bolt action .22 with a composite stock that was adjustable as the kid's arms lengthened and had a 10 round barrel
magazine. We used it two, maybe three, times before scout camp came along and he
out grew it and was big enough to use the full sized Marlin and the shotgun. It's been
sitting in the back room up north ever since with the booklets and in the
original box (price sticker said I paid $75 for it.) I had no use for it and
felt it was time to get rid of it.
I put it on the counter at Cooper's Sporting Goods in Mansfield and opened the box. Tim looked at it. "Wow," he says,
"I've never seen one of these before."
He picked the rifle up examining it closely and worked the bolt. Then he pulled out his "Bible" and looked it up and says to me, "I'll give you
$100 for it."
I almost fell over. I hoped to get between $25 and $50. He showed me in the
book that a model like mine in "Very Fine" condition was valued at $150--twice
the original retail price.
Seems Daisy only made this rifle for three years, 1989-1991.
I took the money and said thank you!
Checked on the internet when I got home (Yeah, should have done that
first.) and it seems that there are only a few of these out there and for a .22,
bolt action collector they can go up to $200. (More if they have the scope which
mine didn't.)
I'm not sorry about getting "just" $100 for the Legacy. Parts are hard to come by for this little rifle and that alone would result in it seldom getting used. Tim can have the fun of finding a buyer and closing that deal. Hey, he's got the FFL so even if I did locate a buyer, it would probably have to go through him anyway.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Thursday's Activities
We had a line of thunderstorms move through during the night. There was some booming and banging and enough rain (0.26 inches) to make it worth while in a gardening sense. (Maybe that's why this morning's ground hog--the dead one--was out feeding on the grass and not the tomatoes.) Things were cooler this morning and the overcast sky kept them that way through the morning hours.
Terry and I took advantage of the cool, overcast but dry skies to visit the Morris Chair Shop and purchase a new table and six chairs. Delivery will be in about 8 weeks as they do not keep any tables "in stock" as it were. Much too bulky and item for a small company to keep laying about. The table is 54" long and 36" wide with two 16" leafs on the ends. It's Mission style (or Prairie, if you will) and made from quarter-sawn white oak. The chairs are of the same style and materials. As Terry said, "We've been married 40 years, and this is the first table of our own we've ever had." (Previous tables were hand-me-downs from Grandparents, cousins and aunts.)
On our way back, we stopped for lunch at The Landing Strip in Liberty (excellent meatball sub with fries) and then at the bank to replenish our wallets after putting our deposit on the furniture. (Heh. I didn't know the Morris Chair Shop didn't take credit cards.)
The sun has struggled to come through the clouds and the temperature has risen to a muggy 85 degrees. The national weather service has put us under a severe thunderstorm watch until at least 10 PM. Areas to the north in New York have a tornado watch. Currently there's a thin line of yellow and red stretching from the western Finger Lakes southwest to Pittsburgh and on nearly to Charleston, WVA. That line is inching it's way eastward and is likely to reach us in a couple of hours.
Terry and I took advantage of the cool, overcast but dry skies to visit the Morris Chair Shop and purchase a new table and six chairs. Delivery will be in about 8 weeks as they do not keep any tables "in stock" as it were. Much too bulky and item for a small company to keep laying about. The table is 54" long and 36" wide with two 16" leafs on the ends. It's Mission style (or Prairie, if you will) and made from quarter-sawn white oak. The chairs are of the same style and materials. As Terry said, "We've been married 40 years, and this is the first table of our own we've ever had." (Previous tables were hand-me-downs from Grandparents, cousins and aunts.)
On our way back, we stopped for lunch at The Landing Strip in Liberty (excellent meatball sub with fries) and then at the bank to replenish our wallets after putting our deposit on the furniture. (Heh. I didn't know the Morris Chair Shop didn't take credit cards.)
The sun has struggled to come through the clouds and the temperature has risen to a muggy 85 degrees. The national weather service has put us under a severe thunderstorm watch until at least 10 PM. Areas to the north in New York have a tornado watch. Currently there's a thin line of yellow and red stretching from the western Finger Lakes southwest to Pittsburgh and on nearly to Charleston, WVA. That line is inching it's way eastward and is likely to reach us in a couple of hours.
Me 1; Ground hogs 0
I brought the .22 bolt action Marlin down from the Bolt Hole to the Aerie because the ground hogs had put on so much fat eating up my garden and lawn that the air rifle just wasn't going to do the job.
Today that decision paid off. After seeing ground hogs twice with no chance of a shot, I laid a fat ole boy to rest. Took two shots--although the first would have been lethal by itself. Darn thing tried to crawl away after a chest hit and got stuck in the wire fence I've got around the herbs, beets, lettuce and onions. Had to put a second round behind his ear execution style so I could drag the carcass out of the fence and into the woods.
Normally I hate the idea of having a critter suffer after being shot, but if he had made it to the weeds, I would have been okay with the knowledge he would probably die in his hole. his rotting corpse would have probably discouraged other ground hogs from moving in what is now a vacancy in prime territory. (I say "prime" based upon the weight and size of the ground hog I slew today.)
Today that decision paid off. After seeing ground hogs twice with no chance of a shot, I laid a fat ole boy to rest. Took two shots--although the first would have been lethal by itself. Darn thing tried to crawl away after a chest hit and got stuck in the wire fence I've got around the herbs, beets, lettuce and onions. Had to put a second round behind his ear execution style so I could drag the carcass out of the fence and into the woods.
Normally I hate the idea of having a critter suffer after being shot, but if he had made it to the weeds, I would have been okay with the knowledge he would probably die in his hole. his rotting corpse would have probably discouraged other ground hogs from moving in what is now a vacancy in prime territory. (I say "prime" based upon the weight and size of the ground hog I slew today.)
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
What I did today.
So, Terry had a small knot of stitchers over for a sit-and-stitch luncheon today. Like any sensible, sensitive male, I hit the road. I would have gone to the Lamb's Creek Range to shoot, but it's closed this week because the NRA sponsored International YHEC (Youth Hunter Education Challenge) events that are spilling over from the Mill Cove Environmental Area.
So, instead, I did a tour of the county with a few stops along the way. Out Route 660 to Leonard Harrison State Park and the Grand Canyon of PA, then back through Stony Fork to the Wellsboro's Green Public Library (didn't find the books I was looking for), the Tioga County Courthouse (to obtain a concealed carry application), and AAA (for a new Road Atlas--we wear them out after two years). Then back to Mansfield and Lowes (to complain about carpet delivery and price deck stain), Agway (black-oil sunflower seed is on sale! $22.95 per 50 pounds. I got ten bags), McDonald's for lunch (because we don't have a Chick-fil-a nearby), Richmond Township offices (just to say "Hi! to Deb and let her know I'm putting her husband, Don, down as a reference on my cc application, and then, as I was driving up the hill with intentions to wander about Tioga State Forest on top of Armenia Mountain, Terry called to give me the all clear.
Good news! The ladies didn't eat many of the brownies and left some of the Cool Whip and pineapple cake.
So, instead, I did a tour of the county with a few stops along the way. Out Route 660 to Leonard Harrison State Park and the Grand Canyon of PA, then back through Stony Fork to the Wellsboro's Green Public Library (didn't find the books I was looking for), the Tioga County Courthouse (to obtain a concealed carry application), and AAA (for a new Road Atlas--we wear them out after two years). Then back to Mansfield and Lowes (to complain about carpet delivery and price deck stain), Agway (black-oil sunflower seed is on sale! $22.95 per 50 pounds. I got ten bags), McDonald's for lunch (because we don't have a Chick-fil-a nearby), Richmond Township offices (just to say "Hi! to Deb and let her know I'm putting her husband, Don, down as a reference on my cc application, and then, as I was driving up the hill with intentions to wander about Tioga State Forest on top of Armenia Mountain, Terry called to give me the all clear.
Good news! The ladies didn't eat many of the brownies and left some of the Cool Whip and pineapple cake.
Sur-prise, sur-prise!
A week and a half ago, Terry and I went to Lowes to order an 8x10 area rug for the dinning area. (We had been using the 6x8 carpet that once was part of Jessica's apartment at UMass many, many moons ago.) We found a nice one for under $400 with free delivery. The pattern on the carpet is Mission style and goes well with most of the furniture we have purchased. The color is a sage green and matches the sofa and chairs we bought last year.
Yesterday it got delivered. No fuss, no muss, no door bell ring or knock. The thing just magically appeared on the front steps. Although wrapped in plastic, if it had rained it would have gotten soaked. Someone (me mostly) was home all day yet never did we hear a truck pull up or a carpet get dumped on the front steps. (I guess, it could have come while I was behind the house cutting grass behind Terry's sewing room. The lawn mower noise could have masked the sound of the ruck and delivery.) If Terry hadn't gone out to sweep the steps in preparation for company coming today, we would not have known it was there.
I stopped at Lowes today to mention this little faux pas to the customer service desk. They looked at my sales receipt and told me that it wasn't one of their deliveries. Since we arranged to have the carpet direct delivered, it was probably delivered by the Big Brown Box truck. That I believe, he often backs into the driveway and puts packages on front porch with out ringing the door bell. But, this was a huge freakin' carpet left laying on the steps half out under the sky! This guy (or gal) will get an earful the next time we get a delivery and snag him or her before they run off.
Tomorrow we go shopping for a new dinning room table and chairs at the Morris Chair Shop. They had a nice one on display when we visited two months ago. Probably should have bought it then, but we were about to head for Cape Cod and then Portland, OR. Delivery would have been a problem. Hopefully , they don't change their floor models too frequently.
Yesterday it got delivered. No fuss, no muss, no door bell ring or knock. The thing just magically appeared on the front steps. Although wrapped in plastic, if it had rained it would have gotten soaked. Someone (me mostly) was home all day yet never did we hear a truck pull up or a carpet get dumped on the front steps. (I guess, it could have come while I was behind the house cutting grass behind Terry's sewing room. The lawn mower noise could have masked the sound of the ruck and delivery.) If Terry hadn't gone out to sweep the steps in preparation for company coming today, we would not have known it was there.
I stopped at Lowes today to mention this little faux pas to the customer service desk. They looked at my sales receipt and told me that it wasn't one of their deliveries. Since we arranged to have the carpet direct delivered, it was probably delivered by the Big Brown Box truck. That I believe, he often backs into the driveway and puts packages on front porch with out ringing the door bell. But, this was a huge freakin' carpet left laying on the steps half out under the sky! This guy (or gal) will get an earful the next time we get a delivery and snag him or her before they run off.
Tomorrow we go shopping for a new dinning room table and chairs at the Morris Chair Shop. They had a nice one on display when we visited two months ago. Probably should have bought it then, but we were about to head for Cape Cod and then Portland, OR. Delivery would have been a problem. Hopefully , they don't change their floor models too frequently.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Good Morning!
This morning's wake up call came courtesy of a couple of snorting deer in the brush to the south of the Bolt Hole.
The increasing volume and cadence put me in mind of the "Dueling Banjos" tune of "Deliverance" fame. The clamour finally caused me to get the hell out of bed and get dressed. By the time I got down stairs, they had STFU and departed. Bastards! (Or bitches, as the case may be.)
Yesterday it was a single doe with her twin fawns out back. The kids must have been romping about int he apple trees while Mom checked the ripeness of the fruit (still very, very green) and nibbled alternately on apple twigs and tall grass. The twins got Mom to stand still for a few minutes and nursed enthusiastically before the trio wandered off and out of sight.
For a secluded area with only distant neighbors, this is one noisy place. Bears and deer crashing about in the brush and--in the case of the bears--climbing trees in the night, an unknown something (not a deer or canine as far as I could tell--fox? possum?) bleating in the area between Mark's cabin and the Bolt Hole during the night, White-throated sparrows singing their high-pitched, sweetly whistled "Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody" song also in the middle of the night, and, of course, the early morning/late afternoon chattering of the red squirrels.
There are considerably fewer red squirrels thanks to a little 3x scope on a .22 caliber Marlin bolt action rifle, but there are still red squirrels. Don't know if Nature's Law of Vacuum or just a very, very prolific sex life of both squirrel and pine tree that makes the small area immediately behind the Bolt Hole loaded with red squirrels, but DANG! I've disposed of at least 10 within 50 yards of the house so far in June and July, yet they just keep on appearing. Peeled and striped pine cones are everywhere inside and out.
******
Got a call from my buddy Joe yesterday. He's heard from Caesar's and we are good to go on our August fishing expedition to Quebec. He reminded me of the balance due, reservoir fees, and fishing license costs so I will be able to bring enough cash with me. We talked about what gear to bring, who's truck we would take (mine) and how his menu/food planning was going.
We'll drive out of the Aerie on August 8th and head north on I-81 crossing the border at the terminus. Through Ottawa, and up towards the small town of Clova and we fly to the northern end of Gouin Reservoir from there.
Looking forward to it!
******
Terry called yesterday to complain about the blankety-blank ground hog she spotted in the garden eating green tomatoes. Either she's go to learn to shoot or I'll have to make the fence more critter proof. Maybe a few Claymore mines would help.
Later she called to tell me there was a standoff at the screen door between Julie and some stray beige cat that just wanted to get out of the rain. They sat on either side of the barrier sort of rumbling at one another while Chester and Shadow sat silently a couple of feet behind Julie as observers/supporters. Terry closed the class door just so no one got the idea to go barreling through the screen or claw it any further. Stray kitteh was NOT to be allowed in the house!
Well, that's about all for now.
The increasing volume and cadence put me in mind of the "Dueling Banjos" tune of "Deliverance" fame. The clamour finally caused me to get the hell out of bed and get dressed. By the time I got down stairs, they had STFU and departed. Bastards! (Or bitches, as the case may be.)
Yesterday it was a single doe with her twin fawns out back. The kids must have been romping about int he apple trees while Mom checked the ripeness of the fruit (still very, very green) and nibbled alternately on apple twigs and tall grass. The twins got Mom to stand still for a few minutes and nursed enthusiastically before the trio wandered off and out of sight.
For a secluded area with only distant neighbors, this is one noisy place. Bears and deer crashing about in the brush and--in the case of the bears--climbing trees in the night, an unknown something (not a deer or canine as far as I could tell--fox? possum?) bleating in the area between Mark's cabin and the Bolt Hole during the night, White-throated sparrows singing their high-pitched, sweetly whistled "Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody" song also in the middle of the night, and, of course, the early morning/late afternoon chattering of the red squirrels.
There are considerably fewer red squirrels thanks to a little 3x scope on a .22 caliber Marlin bolt action rifle, but there are still red squirrels. Don't know if Nature's Law of Vacuum or just a very, very prolific sex life of both squirrel and pine tree that makes the small area immediately behind the Bolt Hole loaded with red squirrels, but DANG! I've disposed of at least 10 within 50 yards of the house so far in June and July, yet they just keep on appearing. Peeled and striped pine cones are everywhere inside and out.
******
Got a call from my buddy Joe yesterday. He's heard from Caesar's and we are good to go on our August fishing expedition to Quebec. He reminded me of the balance due, reservoir fees, and fishing license costs so I will be able to bring enough cash with me. We talked about what gear to bring, who's truck we would take (mine) and how his menu/food planning was going.
We'll drive out of the Aerie on August 8th and head north on I-81 crossing the border at the terminus. Through Ottawa, and up towards the small town of Clova and we fly to the northern end of Gouin Reservoir from there.
Looking forward to it!
******
Terry called yesterday to complain about the blankety-blank ground hog she spotted in the garden eating green tomatoes. Either she's go to learn to shoot or I'll have to make the fence more critter proof. Maybe a few Claymore mines would help.
Later she called to tell me there was a standoff at the screen door between Julie and some stray beige cat that just wanted to get out of the rain. They sat on either side of the barrier sort of rumbling at one another while Chester and Shadow sat silently a couple of feet behind Julie as observers/supporters. Terry closed the class door just so no one got the idea to go barreling through the screen or claw it any further. Stray kitteh was NOT to be allowed in the house!
Well, that's about all for now.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Computer worries.
My Toshiba laptop has been acting wonky for a couple of months. It refuses to go to sleep. (The screen will go dark if I walk away from the computer for more than 10 minutes--sometimes--but usually not.) It refuses to shut off. (It freezes after going through 99% of the process.) And, today upon arrival at the Bolt Hole, when I started it up after shutting it off at the Aerie, it did not show anything on the screen when I started it up. Not seeing a log in screen, I shut it off and then turned it on again...three times. Nothing but I could hear the usual sounds in the background so I typed in my password and hit "Enter" and heard the usual sounds from my normal sign in routine. WTF?
I started looking around to see if there was a button I might have accidentally pushed that caused the screen to go dark. AHA! Function-F5 seemed the likely culprit. It switches to a monitor as the output device--and back. Perhaps if I pushed Function-F5....
BINGO! The screen came alive again.
This is the first time this has happened and I've no idea how or why it occurred. It's virtually impossible to accidentally hit Function-F5 so it must have something to do with the poor behavior at Shutdown.
This little Toshiba Satellite has served me well for at least five years with nary a hitch until the last 6 months. (One exception: Windows Defender fails to load "The handle is invalid," it says. Of course, no Windows Defender means I can't control the start-up programs.) I did upgrade its memory at one point when it was having some issues running PhotoShop Elements. (Issues that are still occurring, BTW.) It's running Windows Vista (Home Premium) which is not the most stable of systems. Perhaps it's time to start looking for a new machine.
(There! Let's see if the little bugger gets the hint!)
I started looking around to see if there was a button I might have accidentally pushed that caused the screen to go dark. AHA! Function-F5 seemed the likely culprit. It switches to a monitor as the output device--and back. Perhaps if I pushed Function-F5....
BINGO! The screen came alive again.
This is the first time this has happened and I've no idea how or why it occurred. It's virtually impossible to accidentally hit Function-F5 so it must have something to do with the poor behavior at Shutdown.
This little Toshiba Satellite has served me well for at least five years with nary a hitch until the last 6 months. (One exception: Windows Defender fails to load "The handle is invalid," it says. Of course, no Windows Defender means I can't control the start-up programs.) I did upgrade its memory at one point when it was having some issues running PhotoShop Elements. (Issues that are still occurring, BTW.) It's running Windows Vista (Home Premium) which is not the most stable of systems. Perhaps it's time to start looking for a new machine.
(There! Let's see if the little bugger gets the hint!)
Well, don't blame me!
Retail Purchases in U.S. Unexpectedly Decrease 0.5%
Not. My. Fault. I just dropped close to a grand at Bass Pro Shop and Cabelas. And Terry and I just purchased a new carpet for the dining room from Lowe's. Then there's the upcoming bill for the ATV repair...Oh, wait, all that was since July 1st. In June we just had a ball spending money all over the country for gas, meals and motel rooms. (Don't know if those count as "consumer spending" but I've nothing to show for it except miles on the odometer, a couple of extra pounds on the waist and several good night's sleep.) I guess we can expect the report for July to be a bit better since we did our part and will probably do even more. (There's a new dining room set in the near future. You know, to go with the carpet.) Unless you guys are slacking off, that is!
Retail sales in the U.S. unexpectedly fell for a third month in June as limited employment gains took a toll on consumers.(h/t Instapundit.)
The 0.5 percent drop followed a 0.2 percent decrease in May, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The decline exceeded the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey that called for a median 0.2 percent gain in sales. Other reports today showed manufacturing in the New York region picked up this month and U.S. inventories increased in May.
The retail figures prompted economists at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Credit Suisse to lower their forecasts for economic growth in the second quarter. A cooling job market is sapping the household spending that makes up 70 percent of the economy, curbing sales at retailers such asTarget Corp. (TGT) and Macy’s Inc. (M)
Not. My. Fault. I just dropped close to a grand at Bass Pro Shop and Cabelas. And Terry and I just purchased a new carpet for the dining room from Lowe's. Then there's the upcoming bill for the ATV repair...Oh, wait, all that was since July 1st. In June we just had a ball spending money all over the country for gas, meals and motel rooms. (Don't know if those count as "consumer spending" but I've nothing to show for it except miles on the odometer, a couple of extra pounds on the waist and several good night's sleep.) I guess we can expect the report for July to be a bit better since we did our part and will probably do even more. (There's a new dining room set in the near future. You know, to go with the carpet.) Unless you guys are slacking off, that is!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Fun Times North and South
While Terry was driving up to Syracuse for a meeting/stitching session with some of her friends, I drove south to the Harrisburg/Hamburg areas of PA to visit the Bass Pro Shop and Cabelas.
If Terry had driven a little further she would have reached Lake Ontario, about as far due north of the Aerie as you can go without reaching Canada. She ended up spending the night when the ladies went out to dinner and didn't finish until 9 PM. She says they had a great time and the restaurant was an excellent Italian place on the north side of town in Dewitt near the airport.
I, too, had a great day even though I stayed in state. First, I visited the Bass Pro Shop for the first time and dropped about $100 on "necessities" for the upcoming fishing trip: lures, knife, polarized clip-on sunglasses and such. Second, I drove over to Cabelas and bought myself a new "tool" in the form of a S&W M&P in .40 caliber. Plus tools to clean it and all my other "tools" and ammo. I've been looking for a long time and had narrowed my choice down to Smith & Wesson and Springfield. Both had excellent reviews on the Cabelas' site but then I found out that the Springfields are manufactured overseas so I paid a bit more for the S&W kit. The only "bad" thing about the purchase was that the digital background check system was/is down while they make some changes. That meant filling out the paperwork the old fashioned way and then hanging around for close to an hour while they did the phone in thing. Good thing it was a slow WEdnesday afternoon and not a busy Saturday morning. (And why do they need to know if you're Hispanic/Latino? That's one of the specific questions on the form. Some of the others are just plain dumb. "Are you an illegal alien?" Really?)
Just doing our best to boost the economy.
Oh, and I got to drive around a lot (350 miles round trip) and walk around the two stores a lot and my knees did NOT hurt! Not at all. Hooray!
If Terry had driven a little further she would have reached Lake Ontario, about as far due north of the Aerie as you can go without reaching Canada. She ended up spending the night when the ladies went out to dinner and didn't finish until 9 PM. She says they had a great time and the restaurant was an excellent Italian place on the north side of town in Dewitt near the airport.
I, too, had a great day even though I stayed in state. First, I visited the Bass Pro Shop for the first time and dropped about $100 on "necessities" for the upcoming fishing trip: lures, knife, polarized clip-on sunglasses and such. Second, I drove over to Cabelas and bought myself a new "tool" in the form of a S&W M&P in .40 caliber. Plus tools to clean it and all my other "tools" and ammo. I've been looking for a long time and had narrowed my choice down to Smith & Wesson and Springfield. Both had excellent reviews on the Cabelas' site but then I found out that the Springfields are manufactured overseas so I paid a bit more for the S&W kit. The only "bad" thing about the purchase was that the digital background check system was/is down while they make some changes. That meant filling out the paperwork the old fashioned way and then hanging around for close to an hour while they did the phone in thing. Good thing it was a slow WEdnesday afternoon and not a busy Saturday morning. (And why do they need to know if you're Hispanic/Latino? That's one of the specific questions on the form. Some of the others are just plain dumb. "Are you an illegal alien?" Really?)
Just doing our best to boost the economy.
Oh, and I got to drive around a lot (350 miles round trip) and walk around the two stores a lot and my knees did NOT hurt! Not at all. Hooray!
Monday, July 09, 2012
It may be Monday but...
...it's been a fairly productive day at the Aerie.
Terry and I started off with breakfast at Grandma's Kitchen in Mansfield and then went up to Murphy's Blueberry Farm to do some picking. We were there for just a little over an hour and came home with 10 pounds of berries which we packaged in Zip-Loc bags for the freezer.
Then we trailered the ATV up to Elmira to drop it off at Glider City Powersports. I told them my tale of woe and asked them to get the thing running. The shop has about a week's worth of backlog but he promised to get to it when its time rolls around.
Back home again we did some picking of string beans and inspected the damage done to the zucchini by the ground hogs. The plants are putting out flowers like crazy and there are a couple of small zukes forming but if the ground hogs aren't stopped, they'll probably eat those before we get to. The cukes also have flowers galore but there are no signs of any fruit forming yet. Tomatoes are doing very well. They've lots of flowers and green fruit but only a couple Early Girls that are turning red. Some beets are about ready to be pulled and the onions are knocked over under their own weight. When the stalks turn brown I'll be able to harvest some very, very large white onions. The lettuce is pretty well done having succumbed to both the heat and some critter (deer?) that's nibbled them over the low fence.
I'm spending some time cleaning a few dozen canning jars that Mark gave me. He came across them while cleaning out his Dad's stuff. Most are the old fashioned kind with the glass tops and wire springs that hold them on. All we need to do is find a source for the rubber rings that they require. A few are wide mouth jars of the more modern variety that use the rings and lids. I'm pretty sure I can get the proper sized lids at the local Agway. They might even carry the rubber rings.
Today is sunny but much cooler than last week. The high has been around 78 degrees and the breeze makes it feel even cooler in the shade. I'd take a summer of days like these.
Terry and I started off with breakfast at Grandma's Kitchen in Mansfield and then went up to Murphy's Blueberry Farm to do some picking. We were there for just a little over an hour and came home with 10 pounds of berries which we packaged in Zip-Loc bags for the freezer.
Then we trailered the ATV up to Elmira to drop it off at Glider City Powersports. I told them my tale of woe and asked them to get the thing running. The shop has about a week's worth of backlog but he promised to get to it when its time rolls around.
Back home again we did some picking of string beans and inspected the damage done to the zucchini by the ground hogs. The plants are putting out flowers like crazy and there are a couple of small zukes forming but if the ground hogs aren't stopped, they'll probably eat those before we get to. The cukes also have flowers galore but there are no signs of any fruit forming yet. Tomatoes are doing very well. They've lots of flowers and green fruit but only a couple Early Girls that are turning red. Some beets are about ready to be pulled and the onions are knocked over under their own weight. When the stalks turn brown I'll be able to harvest some very, very large white onions. The lettuce is pretty well done having succumbed to both the heat and some critter (deer?) that's nibbled them over the low fence.
I'm spending some time cleaning a few dozen canning jars that Mark gave me. He came across them while cleaning out his Dad's stuff. Most are the old fashioned kind with the glass tops and wire springs that hold them on. All we need to do is find a source for the rubber rings that they require. A few are wide mouth jars of the more modern variety that use the rings and lids. I'm pretty sure I can get the proper sized lids at the local Agway. They might even carry the rubber rings.
Today is sunny but much cooler than last week. The high has been around 78 degrees and the breeze makes it feel even cooler in the shade. I'd take a summer of days like these.
Sunday, July 08, 2012
Aerie weather
Saturday at the Aerie was a scorcher. The temperature reached 88 F before noon and would have gone higher except that Mother Nature pushed a blanket of clouds our way. Said clouds brought severe thunderstorms to our north and south as they swept in from the northwest. Us? We didn't get anything...until later in the afternoon.
That's when a cell of T-storms several miles in diameter took direct aim at the Aerie and slowly (there was remarkably little wind) moved overhead. In 15 to 20 minutes we had a couple of dozen lightening strikes--some so close I barely had time to say "one one thou...", more than a quarter inch of rain--there was 0.32 inches in the rain gauge this morning, and a drop in the temperature of 10 degrees from 83 F to 73 F.
We got a little more rain during the night but the sky has been mostly clear with a few fair weather cumulus clouds today. The temperature has been pleasant as well and hasn't yet reached 80 degrees. Tonight's low is supposed to be in the mid 50s so it might be good to turn the bedroom AC off and enjoy the quiet.
Looking at the 10-day forecast at weather.com and it shows little chance of precipitation during that period. Just one day is listed as 30%, ONE day--Sunday, July 15th! All the rest are 0-10% chance with most of them being the 0. Highs are listed as low to mid 80s but we're usually a few degrees cooler here at 2100 feet, and the lows are mid 50s to low 60s. (The lows are usually pretty accurate except during the winter. Cold air sinks and accumulates in the valley then and we are a couple of degrees warmer. During the summer, that cold air has to get past us first.)
If I can stop the depredations of the ground hogs, I'll be watering the garden regularly.
That's when a cell of T-storms several miles in diameter took direct aim at the Aerie and slowly (there was remarkably little wind) moved overhead. In 15 to 20 minutes we had a couple of dozen lightening strikes--some so close I barely had time to say "one one thou...", more than a quarter inch of rain--there was 0.32 inches in the rain gauge this morning, and a drop in the temperature of 10 degrees from 83 F to 73 F.
We got a little more rain during the night but the sky has been mostly clear with a few fair weather cumulus clouds today. The temperature has been pleasant as well and hasn't yet reached 80 degrees. Tonight's low is supposed to be in the mid 50s so it might be good to turn the bedroom AC off and enjoy the quiet.
Looking at the 10-day forecast at weather.com and it shows little chance of precipitation during that period. Just one day is listed as 30%, ONE day--Sunday, July 15th! All the rest are 0-10% chance with most of them being the 0. Highs are listed as low to mid 80s but we're usually a few degrees cooler here at 2100 feet, and the lows are mid 50s to low 60s. (The lows are usually pretty accurate except during the winter. Cold air sinks and accumulates in the valley then and we are a couple of degrees warmer. During the summer, that cold air has to get past us first.)
If I can stop the depredations of the ground hogs, I'll be watering the garden regularly.
Friday, July 06, 2012
Well, that was...
...frustrating!
After charging all night, the new ATV battery was ready for installation. (Just as soon as I finished cutting the grass.) No problem at all getting the old battery out and the new one in since the Prohauler was still on the trailer and the battery location was about chest height.
New battery in place, I turned the key and pushed the start button. The engine growled but didn't catch. Got some starter fluid and sprayed it in the air intake hose and tried again. Nothing but growls. Made sure all the settings were correct (gas tank on, choke on, kill switch set to "Run," etc.) and tried once more. Still nothing but a few growls. Drained a bit of gas from the carburetor (a tiny amount of water but nothing significant). Pulled the new (in May) spark plug and it was moist with fuel. While holding the spark plug in my hand and under the shade of the engine I pushed the start button again. No spark! Shit! I pulled the air filter and checked all the wire connections. They seemed fine. Now I'm at a total loss.
I put the things I took apart back where they belonged and went int to have lunch thinking I would have to wait three weeks to haul it to Larry's to get it repaired.
Meanwhile I had to take the Tundra over to Sayre to have it serviced--again. Just an oil change and quick inspection after our trip to the west coast. Everything with the Tundra was fine. They even wanted to do the state inspection for which I'm due in September. I held off on that since I'm not sure whether Joe and I will take the Tundra up to northern Quebec for our fishing trip or use his vehicle. Might need another oil change in September if we do use the Tundra! For now, I'm good for another 7K miles.
On the way back, I swung over to Elmira to locate the Yamaha dealer there. Found it easily enough and asked about his service department's backlog. "One week," was the reply. Then I told him all about my Prohauler's malady and said I had talked to Larry's. "Yeah," he said, "I hear they're a month behind. Bring yours in and we'll see what we can do for you." So Monday morning I'll be hauling the Prohauler up to Elmira to have the guys at Glider City Powersports take a look and, hopefully, get it up and running before the month is out.
After charging all night, the new ATV battery was ready for installation. (Just as soon as I finished cutting the grass.) No problem at all getting the old battery out and the new one in since the Prohauler was still on the trailer and the battery location was about chest height.
New battery in place, I turned the key and pushed the start button. The engine growled but didn't catch. Got some starter fluid and sprayed it in the air intake hose and tried again. Nothing but growls. Made sure all the settings were correct (gas tank on, choke on, kill switch set to "Run," etc.) and tried once more. Still nothing but a few growls. Drained a bit of gas from the carburetor (a tiny amount of water but nothing significant). Pulled the new (in May) spark plug and it was moist with fuel. While holding the spark plug in my hand and under the shade of the engine I pushed the start button again. No spark! Shit! I pulled the air filter and checked all the wire connections. They seemed fine. Now I'm at a total loss.
I put the things I took apart back where they belonged and went int to have lunch thinking I would have to wait three weeks to haul it to Larry's to get it repaired.
Meanwhile I had to take the Tundra over to Sayre to have it serviced--again. Just an oil change and quick inspection after our trip to the west coast. Everything with the Tundra was fine. They even wanted to do the state inspection for which I'm due in September. I held off on that since I'm not sure whether Joe and I will take the Tundra up to northern Quebec for our fishing trip or use his vehicle. Might need another oil change in September if we do use the Tundra! For now, I'm good for another 7K miles.
On the way back, I swung over to Elmira to locate the Yamaha dealer there. Found it easily enough and asked about his service department's backlog. "One week," was the reply. Then I told him all about my Prohauler's malady and said I had talked to Larry's. "Yeah," he said, "I hear they're a month behind. Bring yours in and we'll see what we can do for you." So Monday morning I'll be hauling the Prohauler up to Elmira to have the guys at Glider City Powersports take a look and, hopefully, get it up and running before the month is out.
Thursday, July 05, 2012
Back at the Aerie hauling the hauler
After several very sunny, hot days at the Bolt Hole during which I did little but cower in the cabin, I drove home to the Aerie early today.
Wednesday, Mark and I had tried to get the Yamaha Prohauler started. We checked over all the wiring. Checked over just about anything we two could think of (but being non-mechanics, that wasn't much!) and then even tried jump starting the thing by towing it behind Mark's van and slamming it into gear. (It's difficult to do when the gear shift is a foot lever and you'd like to get into 2nd gear.) We had no success and ended up pushing the ATV onto the utility trailer for a trip back to PA.
I researched Yamaha dealers/servicers in the area and found three: One in Elmira, NY; one in Hugesville, PA and Larry's Sport Center in Galeton, PA. I decided I'd rather deal with someone from God's Country (that's what they call Potter County, PA which is home to Galeton) and so made plans to call Larry's when I got close to home.
I did make that call from a rest area just north of the NY/PA border on Route 15--in case I could bring the ATV out there via Routes 49, 349 and 6--only to find that the service department has a month's worth of work on their hands. They also sell motorcycles (Harleys) and this was a prime season for repairs and maintenance.The service manager was sorry he couldn't help, ASAP but asked what the problem was. I described the "click-click-click" I was getting and he surprised me by saying that it sounded like I might have a weak battery. That was the last thing I would have thought of since the lights seemed bright enough and the charger had indicated no problems with the battery. He suggested that I try using the truck's battery ("Do NOT turn the truck on!" he warned.) and a set of jumper cables to see if I could get a response from the ATV's engine.
In the driveway of the Aerie, I ran the jumper cables from the truck to the ATV, turned the key, pushed the starter and got a much more familiar "grrrr-grrrr-grrr" as the ATV's engine attempted to turn over. That was enough to convince me that the problem (probably? hopefully?) lies with the battery.
Terry and I took the drive this afternoon out to Galeton and bought a replacement battery from Larry's Sport Center. It's charging in the garage right now and will be ready for installation tomorrow or Saturday. If it get's the ATV to run, I'll have saved myself a bundle on repairs--and Larry's will be the first place I go when I decide to purchase a new ATV.
Wednesday, Mark and I had tried to get the Yamaha Prohauler started. We checked over all the wiring. Checked over just about anything we two could think of (but being non-mechanics, that wasn't much!) and then even tried jump starting the thing by towing it behind Mark's van and slamming it into gear. (It's difficult to do when the gear shift is a foot lever and you'd like to get into 2nd gear.) We had no success and ended up pushing the ATV onto the utility trailer for a trip back to PA.
I researched Yamaha dealers/servicers in the area and found three: One in Elmira, NY; one in Hugesville, PA and Larry's Sport Center in Galeton, PA. I decided I'd rather deal with someone from God's Country (that's what they call Potter County, PA which is home to Galeton) and so made plans to call Larry's when I got close to home.
I did make that call from a rest area just north of the NY/PA border on Route 15--in case I could bring the ATV out there via Routes 49, 349 and 6--only to find that the service department has a month's worth of work on their hands. They also sell motorcycles (Harleys) and this was a prime season for repairs and maintenance.The service manager was sorry he couldn't help, ASAP but asked what the problem was. I described the "click-click-click" I was getting and he surprised me by saying that it sounded like I might have a weak battery. That was the last thing I would have thought of since the lights seemed bright enough and the charger had indicated no problems with the battery. He suggested that I try using the truck's battery ("Do NOT turn the truck on!" he warned.) and a set of jumper cables to see if I could get a response from the ATV's engine.
In the driveway of the Aerie, I ran the jumper cables from the truck to the ATV, turned the key, pushed the starter and got a much more familiar "grrrr-grrrr-grrr" as the ATV's engine attempted to turn over. That was enough to convince me that the problem (probably? hopefully?) lies with the battery.
Terry and I took the drive this afternoon out to Galeton and bought a replacement battery from Larry's Sport Center. It's charging in the garage right now and will be ready for installation tomorrow or Saturday. If it get's the ATV to run, I'll have saved myself a bundle on repairs--and Larry's will be the first place I go when I decide to purchase a new ATV.
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Saturday morning was...
...a bummer.
In May I fired up the 1989 Yamaha Pro Hauler (an ATV designated YTU1W) at the Aerie. After sitting in the garage all winter, it was a bit reluctant at first but draining some of the water laden gas out of the carburetor and giving it a new spark plug had it soon humming along just fine. So I loaded it onto the utility trailer and hauled it up to the Bolt Hole.
When I got to the Adirondacks, the blasted thing would not start. All I could get out of it was a rapid "click-click-click..." from somewhere along the starting line. I traced the sound to the starter relay and, thinking that was the problem, ordered a new one from Village Motor Sports in Speculator.
What with our preplanned travel and my gimpy knees, I wasn't able to pick up the part until Friday afternoon.
Saturday I installed the new starter relay, turned the key and hit the starter button: "Click-click-click...." Damn! The freaking machine still will not turn over and I'm now at a loss as to what the problem might be. It could be something incredibly simple or something that needs to be totally rebuilt or replaced. I'm no mechanic! Hell, I barely understand the principle behind the internal combustion engine and when it comes to the electrical side of the damn thing, I've not got the slightest clue as to what those little black boxes do.
I guess I'll have to wrestle the beast onto the utility trailer and haul it home again and then out to a shop nearer to the Aerie. (The shop in Speculator is also a snowmobile/boat shop and--being in the middle of lake country with summer here--is busier than a one armed paper hanger. There's no telling how long it would take them to get around to working on the beast.)
In May I fired up the 1989 Yamaha Pro Hauler (an ATV designated YTU1W) at the Aerie. After sitting in the garage all winter, it was a bit reluctant at first but draining some of the water laden gas out of the carburetor and giving it a new spark plug had it soon humming along just fine. So I loaded it onto the utility trailer and hauled it up to the Bolt Hole.
When I got to the Adirondacks, the blasted thing would not start. All I could get out of it was a rapid "click-click-click..." from somewhere along the starting line. I traced the sound to the starter relay and, thinking that was the problem, ordered a new one from Village Motor Sports in Speculator.
What with our preplanned travel and my gimpy knees, I wasn't able to pick up the part until Friday afternoon.
Saturday I installed the new starter relay, turned the key and hit the starter button: "Click-click-click...." Damn! The freaking machine still will not turn over and I'm now at a loss as to what the problem might be. It could be something incredibly simple or something that needs to be totally rebuilt or replaced. I'm no mechanic! Hell, I barely understand the principle behind the internal combustion engine and when it comes to the electrical side of the damn thing, I've not got the slightest clue as to what those little black boxes do.
I guess I'll have to wrestle the beast onto the utility trailer and haul it home again and then out to a shop nearer to the Aerie. (The shop in Speculator is also a snowmobile/boat shop and--being in the middle of lake country with summer here--is busier than a one armed paper hanger. There's no telling how long it would take them to get around to working on the beast.)
Friday, June 29, 2012
I can hear Dorothy now...
A Little Traveling Music Please!
Terry drove into New Jersey and NYC on Wednesday. One of her former bosses was retiring and they had a big party for him on Thursday. She stayed at her Mother's in New Jersey and took the train into the Big City just as she had done for 32 years before she retired. (Different route to Path but otherwise the same old same old.)
She says there were quite a few of her former colleagues there and they remembered her fondly--even if she couldn't remember the names of some of the younger folks. Typical of a bureaucratic federal government office, they are being reorganized...again. She says they are going to be going back to the way things were shortly after she joined them back in the early '70s.
Anyway, she had a good time at the party despite the near 100 degree temperatures. Those temps did affect her stay at her Mom's, however. The MIL just won't budge on the air conditioner front. During the winter she keeps the house near 80 degrees and won't put the window AC in during the summer. Heh. She's pretty well up there in age (I think she'll be 87 on July 7th [UPDATE: Terry corrects me in the comments. Mom wil be 89 on the 7th.]) and pretty well set in her ways. (Stubborn as a mule and twice as tough. Try telling her NOT to go out and shovel the snow next December!)
Today she drove out of NJ and back to the Aerie. Good thing, too. Today it's even hotter in The City and New Jersey.
Before Terry left, I put OUR window AC in the bedroom window. A lot of good that did me! The damn thing ran all night and didn't lower the temperature in the room below 78 degrees. And this was one we bought two summers ago. So I switched it out this morning for an older model and that one seems to be working just fine. (Terry says it's in the 60'sin the bedroom this afternoon.)
I will not be enjoying those cool temperatures in our Aerie bedroom, however. I took off for the Bolt Hole around 10 AM. The temperature hit 90 degrees on the NY Thruway near Syracuse but it fell slowly as I turned northward out of Utica. Windier, too. That and the low relative humidity are producing comfortable conditions that will get even better as the sun goes down. Lows tonight are forecast for the upper 50s. It will be hotter tomorrow, by a few degrees but then the highs will fall for early next week.
Anyway, my drive up was uneventful and I found the Bolt Hole to be intact and standing. As soon as I got my food in the fridge, I called to see if Village Motor Sports in Speculator still had the part I needed to fix the ATV. (I hope!) I ordered it in late May and never got around to picking it up what with our travels to Cape Cod and the Pacific Coast, and my knee problems. They assured me it was sitting there waiting for me to pick it up so I hopped in the truck and headed even further north to do so. (Tack another 100 miles onto the 220 I drove from PA to the Bolt Hole.) Tomorrow I see if this was the part I was looking for.
It was a nice leisurely ride during which I got to see a member of the dumbest bird species in North America: a Ruffed Grouse. Standing on the side of the road--on the painted line marking the division between the traffic lane and the bike lane--just watching all the cars of holiday vacationers speed past as though it was greeting each one to its Adirondack domain. On the way back, I had to stop twice to let some hen turkeys shepherd their chicks across the highway. Good thing no one was behind me or coming the other way. The first group was a pair of hens with between 12 and 15 little ones that looked to be three, maybe four, weeks old. If I hadn't stopped I would have had a grill full of the little ones. I was surprised to see that even as young as they were, they were able to get airborne for the short flight to the shoulder of the road. The second group was a solitary hen with about 10 chicks that looked to be only one or two weeks old at the most. They couldn't fly, but man could they waddle! I saw two other solitary turkeys in different spots as well but they seemed to be chickless.
Now I'm sitting here in the Aerie listening to the wind rustle the leaves of the Aspens while there's an evil Red Squirrel chattering nearby. I can also hear the songs of Cedar Waxwings, Robins, Song Sparrows and Chipping Sparrows, a couple of warblers and others as well.
Oh, and I've been reminded that I'll need to put out the mouse traps by the rat-a-tat-tat of tiny paws on the storage tins on the shelf.
(I was looking for something with Jackie Gleason saying "And away we go!" but it's not on You Tube. This is, however. And it's cute!)
She says there were quite a few of her former colleagues there and they remembered her fondly--even if she couldn't remember the names of some of the younger folks. Typical of a bureaucratic federal government office, they are being reorganized...again. She says they are going to be going back to the way things were shortly after she joined them back in the early '70s.
Anyway, she had a good time at the party despite the near 100 degree temperatures. Those temps did affect her stay at her Mom's, however. The MIL just won't budge on the air conditioner front. During the winter she keeps the house near 80 degrees and won't put the window AC in during the summer. Heh. She's pretty well up there in age (I think she'll be 87 on July 7th [UPDATE: Terry corrects me in the comments. Mom wil be 89 on the 7th.]) and pretty well set in her ways. (Stubborn as a mule and twice as tough. Try telling her NOT to go out and shovel the snow next December!)
Today she drove out of NJ and back to the Aerie. Good thing, too. Today it's even hotter in The City and New Jersey.
Before Terry left, I put OUR window AC in the bedroom window. A lot of good that did me! The damn thing ran all night and didn't lower the temperature in the room below 78 degrees. And this was one we bought two summers ago. So I switched it out this morning for an older model and that one seems to be working just fine. (Terry says it's in the 60'sin the bedroom this afternoon.)
I will not be enjoying those cool temperatures in our Aerie bedroom, however. I took off for the Bolt Hole around 10 AM. The temperature hit 90 degrees on the NY Thruway near Syracuse but it fell slowly as I turned northward out of Utica. Windier, too. That and the low relative humidity are producing comfortable conditions that will get even better as the sun goes down. Lows tonight are forecast for the upper 50s. It will be hotter tomorrow, by a few degrees but then the highs will fall for early next week.
Anyway, my drive up was uneventful and I found the Bolt Hole to be intact and standing. As soon as I got my food in the fridge, I called to see if Village Motor Sports in Speculator still had the part I needed to fix the ATV. (I hope!) I ordered it in late May and never got around to picking it up what with our travels to Cape Cod and the Pacific Coast, and my knee problems. They assured me it was sitting there waiting for me to pick it up so I hopped in the truck and headed even further north to do so. (Tack another 100 miles onto the 220 I drove from PA to the Bolt Hole.) Tomorrow I see if this was the part I was looking for.
It was a nice leisurely ride during which I got to see a member of the dumbest bird species in North America: a Ruffed Grouse. Standing on the side of the road--on the painted line marking the division between the traffic lane and the bike lane--just watching all the cars of holiday vacationers speed past as though it was greeting each one to its Adirondack domain. On the way back, I had to stop twice to let some hen turkeys shepherd their chicks across the highway. Good thing no one was behind me or coming the other way. The first group was a pair of hens with between 12 and 15 little ones that looked to be three, maybe four, weeks old. If I hadn't stopped I would have had a grill full of the little ones. I was surprised to see that even as young as they were, they were able to get airborne for the short flight to the shoulder of the road. The second group was a solitary hen with about 10 chicks that looked to be only one or two weeks old at the most. They couldn't fly, but man could they waddle! I saw two other solitary turkeys in different spots as well but they seemed to be chickless.
Now I'm sitting here in the Aerie listening to the wind rustle the leaves of the Aspens while there's an evil Red Squirrel chattering nearby. I can also hear the songs of Cedar Waxwings, Robins, Song Sparrows and Chipping Sparrows, a couple of warblers and others as well.
Oh, and I've been reminded that I'll need to put out the mouse traps by the rat-a-tat-tat of tiny paws on the storage tins on the shelf.
(I was looking for something with Jackie Gleason saying "And away we go!" but it's not on You Tube. This is, however. And it's cute!)
Thursday, June 28, 2012
This Means War!
The last couple of days I've been waging war against groundhogs. (This may be a violation of Pennsylvania code given Punxutawney Phil and all that. Just kidding. Ground hogs are considered vermin in PA. They're fair game.) I've caught them coming out on the lawn during the day, but they must also be making it into the garden as well. The leaves of the zucchini and cucumbers have been nibbled--just as they were getting large.
I've spotted three different critters. Two are large--one very dark chocolate and one milk chocolate in color. Then today a smaller one showed up.
I'm beginning to feel like Clint Eastwood:
Only, I've got an air rifle and not a shotgun. And I'm sneaking out onto the deck and trying to get a bead on them before they head for the tall weeds. The big ones have learned that the cocking of the rifle and/or sliding of the screen door mean something. Just the tiniest noise, and they dive for cover. The little one who showed up today hasn't learned yet...despite being hit at least twice. (The big ones got hit once or twice in the last few days.)
Conclusions:
1) The fat of a groundhog is thick enough to absorb the .177 pellets even traveling at 1400 fps.
2) Being absorbed in the fat, they do little damage. Especially since they don't expand upon contact like lead would do.
3) I'm going to need a bigger gun. Oh, I've got them, but using a 12 gauge or a .30-.30, or a .270 or a 50 caliber muzzle loader seems excessive.
4) I'm going up to the Bolt Hole tomorrow. I'll be bringing the .22 home with me.
5) In the mean time, I've extended the chicken wire fence down the side of the garden in an attempt to halt their depredation.
I've spotted three different critters. Two are large--one very dark chocolate and one milk chocolate in color. Then today a smaller one showed up.
I'm beginning to feel like Clint Eastwood:
Only, I've got an air rifle and not a shotgun. And I'm sneaking out onto the deck and trying to get a bead on them before they head for the tall weeds. The big ones have learned that the cocking of the rifle and/or sliding of the screen door mean something. Just the tiniest noise, and they dive for cover. The little one who showed up today hasn't learned yet...despite being hit at least twice. (The big ones got hit once or twice in the last few days.)
Conclusions:
1) The fat of a groundhog is thick enough to absorb the .177 pellets even traveling at 1400 fps.
2) Being absorbed in the fat, they do little damage. Especially since they don't expand upon contact like lead would do.
3) I'm going to need a bigger gun. Oh, I've got them, but using a 12 gauge or a .30-.30, or a .270 or a 50 caliber muzzle loader seems excessive.
4) I'm going up to the Bolt Hole tomorrow. I'll be bringing the .22 home with me.
5) In the mean time, I've extended the chicken wire fence down the side of the garden in an attempt to halt their depredation.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
"The bear went over the mountain..."
Or in this case the Cape Cod Canal and then the Berkshires all to get to the Cape.
Poor guy probably just wanted to go back to the beach.
Wandering Cape Cod bear captured in Boston suburb
Poor guy probably just wanted to go back to the beach.
Wandering Cape Cod bear captured in Boston suburb
BOSTON (Reuters) - He's baaack: A male black bear captured on Cape Cod earlier this month, where it was tranquilized and moved to central Massachusetts, showed up again on Tuesday just six miles from downtown Boston. State officials said they had captured the bear in a tree in the Chestnut Hill area of Brookline, just west of Boston, and confirmed it was the same bear which roamed the Cape for about two weeks before being captured and relocated on June 12. The bear was identified by a tag placed in its ear. It had probably traveled about 100 miles. .... The so-called Cape Cod bear was first spotted May 27 in the Cape Cod area, the easternmost part of the state. State wildlife officials think the bear swam across the Cape Cod Canal from the mainland.We were on Cape Cod from May 23 to May 31. You don't suppose he stowed away on the trailer and rode east from the Adirondacks, do you?
Vampire hunters?
Obviously these guys are not vampires...but, perhaps, they know some.
Police: 5 suspected of stealing 9.5 tons of garlic
Police: 5 suspected of stealing 9.5 tons of garlic
VIENNA (AP) — Austrian police did not need sniffing dogs to locate this suspected heist — 9.5 tons of garlic. The Austria Press Agency says police stopped three overloaded and sagging vans about to cross into Hungary from Austria on Wednesday and found them packed to the roof with the pungent cargo.Harry Dresden, call your office.
Lonesome George
At least when they say, "He looks so lifelike," they will be right!
Famed Galapagos tortoise to be embalmed, displayed
Famed Galapagos tortoise to be embalmed, displayed
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The beloved Galapagos Islands giant tortoise known as Lonesome George will remain a tourist attraction even in death.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Aerie Rain
Remember how I said last night that the forecasters were predicting little rain for the next week? Well they--and I--had it wrong.
About 2 AM a thunderstorm rolled in and deposited a considerable amount of water on the Aerie along with much sound and fury. I guess my watering of the gardens was unnecessary after all. (That or I primed the pump much like washing the car.)
More good news from the rain is that the winds shifted so as to come out of the north and it's much cooler this morning. The overnight low was in the high 50s and it will struggle to reach the mid 70s today. That should end late in the week, if you can believe the forecasters, when the high will be closer to 90 on Friday.
The bad news is that the rain has driven the relative humidity way up.
About 2 AM a thunderstorm rolled in and deposited a considerable amount of water on the Aerie along with much sound and fury. I guess my watering of the gardens was unnecessary after all. (That or I primed the pump much like washing the car.)
More good news from the rain is that the winds shifted so as to come out of the north and it's much cooler this morning. The overnight low was in the high 50s and it will struggle to reach the mid 70s today. That should end late in the week, if you can believe the forecasters, when the high will be closer to 90 on Friday.
The bad news is that the rain has driven the relative humidity way up.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Back at the Aerie
A busy couple of days since our return from the west.
I needed to cut the grass. After three weeks away it was a bit brushy. Terry did some food shopping and the laundry before cleaning up the flower bed by the front door.
Then the vegetable gardens needed weeding. Got one done on Saturday before the loss of fluids had me feeling lightheaded and woozy. That caused me to call it quits. This morning (Sunday) I got another weeded and finished the third this afternoon.
Everything needed watering. We received only 1.25 inches of rain over the three weeks we were out west. The long term forecast doesn't promise much for the next week, either.
******
Saturday I was surprised by and surprised a black bear who came out onto the lawn in the middle of the afternoon. It was our friend the young male. He's about 3+ years old and looks to be around 250-300 pounds. Which is plenty big enough from 20 yards away. Luckily, he's pretty shy and took off with little more than a few shouts. He didn't go swiftly, but steadily, which was fine by me.
******
This morning I woke at 4:30 AM still feeling the effects of the dehydration. The birds were pretty darn active too. A very loud Indigo Bunting was followed by an equally loud Eastern Towhee. They were followed by a persistent Chester the Cat imploring someone to get up and feed him--and the girls too, if you must. So I was up and about by 5 AM. If they double team me again Monday morning it might be time to get the shotgun out--or send Chester and the girls out to catch some birds.
I needed to cut the grass. After three weeks away it was a bit brushy. Terry did some food shopping and the laundry before cleaning up the flower bed by the front door.
Then the vegetable gardens needed weeding. Got one done on Saturday before the loss of fluids had me feeling lightheaded and woozy. That caused me to call it quits. This morning (Sunday) I got another weeded and finished the third this afternoon.
Everything needed watering. We received only 1.25 inches of rain over the three weeks we were out west. The long term forecast doesn't promise much for the next week, either.
******
Saturday I was surprised by and surprised a black bear who came out onto the lawn in the middle of the afternoon. It was our friend the young male. He's about 3+ years old and looks to be around 250-300 pounds. Which is plenty big enough from 20 yards away. Luckily, he's pretty shy and took off with little more than a few shouts. He didn't go swiftly, but steadily, which was fine by me.
******
This morning I woke at 4:30 AM still feeling the effects of the dehydration. The birds were pretty darn active too. A very loud Indigo Bunting was followed by an equally loud Eastern Towhee. They were followed by a persistent Chester the Cat imploring someone to get up and feed him--and the girls too, if you must. So I was up and about by 5 AM. If they double team me again Monday morning it might be time to get the shotgun out--or send Chester and the girls out to catch some birds.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Still on the Road Home
Still on the road as we head eastward.
Terry and I left American Canyon, CA very early Monday morning at the same time that Lucille and Doug headed for the Oakland airport to fly to Kansas City and then drive down to their lake house on the Lake of the Ozarks. Today we drove within 65 miles of there. They beat us by two days. But we saw some fantastic sights (or perhaps "sites") along the way.
Monday we drove east on I-80 until we reached Sacramento and then took US-50 east to South Lake Tahoe (A pretty ride!) and through Nevada (A stretch of highway laid out with cooked and uncooked pieces of #8 spaghetti. Parts were as straight as a ruler but the connections through the mountains looked like a toddler's scribble.) into Utah to Salina where US-50 meets I-70.
Tuesday we left Salina, Utah on I-70. This, like US-50 the day before, was a new stretch of roadway for us. WOW! What scenery! The rock formations, canyons and color put one in mind of the national parks to the south: Bryce, Zion, the Grand Canyon and Arches. And you can see it for FREE! (I'll share some photos when I get a chance.) Eastern portions of Utah and very western portions of Colorado were not nearly as scenic. It was, however, increasingly moister as we approached the Rockies and ski country--which was developed to within an inch of its scenic beauty--maybe beyond. Through Denver, I-70 took us out on to the drier planes and we made it all the way to Burlington,CO on the eastern edge of the state before we came to a halt.
Wednesday we left Colorado and drove all the way across Kansas and much of Missouri. Winter wheat was being harvested in eastern CO and western KS and corn grew progressively taller as we drove east until we saw some with tassels on it in mid Missouri. We also say some huge wind farms harvesting the wind energy in Kansas. Hundreds of windmills stood idle in the 20+ mph wind, however. They're either not yet connected to the grid or something is seriously wrong.
Tomorrow, Thursday, we'll head through St. Louis and on into and across Illinois and Indiana and the southern most tip of Ohio to get to Wheeling, West Virginia.
If all goes according to plan, we'll be back home on Friday.
Terry and I left American Canyon, CA very early Monday morning at the same time that Lucille and Doug headed for the Oakland airport to fly to Kansas City and then drive down to their lake house on the Lake of the Ozarks. Today we drove within 65 miles of there. They beat us by two days. But we saw some fantastic sights (or perhaps "sites") along the way.
Monday we drove east on I-80 until we reached Sacramento and then took US-50 east to South Lake Tahoe (A pretty ride!) and through Nevada (A stretch of highway laid out with cooked and uncooked pieces of #8 spaghetti. Parts were as straight as a ruler but the connections through the mountains looked like a toddler's scribble.) into Utah to Salina where US-50 meets I-70.
Tuesday we left Salina, Utah on I-70. This, like US-50 the day before, was a new stretch of roadway for us. WOW! What scenery! The rock formations, canyons and color put one in mind of the national parks to the south: Bryce, Zion, the Grand Canyon and Arches. And you can see it for FREE! (I'll share some photos when I get a chance.) Eastern portions of Utah and very western portions of Colorado were not nearly as scenic. It was, however, increasingly moister as we approached the Rockies and ski country--which was developed to within an inch of its scenic beauty--maybe beyond. Through Denver, I-70 took us out on to the drier planes and we made it all the way to Burlington,CO on the eastern edge of the state before we came to a halt.
Wednesday we left Colorado and drove all the way across Kansas and much of Missouri. Winter wheat was being harvested in eastern CO and western KS and corn grew progressively taller as we drove east until we saw some with tassels on it in mid Missouri. We also say some huge wind farms harvesting the wind energy in Kansas. Hundreds of windmills stood idle in the 20+ mph wind, however. They're either not yet connected to the grid or something is seriously wrong.
Tomorrow, Thursday, we'll head through St. Louis and on into and across Illinois and Indiana and the southern most tip of Ohio to get to Wheeling, West Virginia.
If all goes according to plan, we'll be back home on Friday.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Thursday night in Portland
and Friday on the road
Thursday evening, I made my way back to Mezza for a double helping of baklava to go. (Terry made spaghetti for dinner so as to leave Rick and Sandy a couple of meals of sauce.) We all got a taste of the honeyed dessert.
Afterwards, Rick went outside to do some work on his bee equipment. More frames are needed for expanding hives.
******
Friday morning, Terry and I packed up and headed south toward American Canyon, California to visit Joe and Laura, Doug and Lucille. Along the way, the temperature--which started out at 53 degrees ended up passing 100 degrees and settling at 91 some 10 hours later. We past Mt. Shasta along the way.
We also past many groves of olive trees, rice paddies, pistacio orchards and more in the fertile Sacramento Valley but at 70 mph we had no chance to snap a photo.
Joe did some BBQ ribs for dinner. And it was good.
Mezza's very friendly and helpful waitress
Afterwards, Rick went outside to do some work on his bee equipment. More frames are needed for expanding hives.
Rick at work/play
******
Friday morning, Terry and I packed up and headed south toward American Canyon, California to visit Joe and Laura, Doug and Lucille. Along the way, the temperature--which started out at 53 degrees ended up passing 100 degrees and settling at 91 some 10 hours later. We past Mt. Shasta along the way.
Mt. Shasta viewed from I-5
Elevation of Mt. Shasta
We also past many groves of olive trees, rice paddies, pistacio orchards and more in the fertile Sacramento Valley but at 70 mph we had no chance to snap a photo.
Joe did some BBQ ribs for dinner. And it was good.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
It's a Velvet Re-Revolution
Hey, I'm all up for a bit of revolution. Especially in a good cause.
Read why and how here.
What are your demands?
Our needs are simple. We seek to drive Brett Kimberlin’s fake Velvet Revolution into third place, or lower, on a Google search for the term. We estimate that we can do this within six months. Eventually we’d like to knock Wikipedia out of the top spot, but all things in their time. We seek to replace Brett Kimberlin’s fake Velvet Revolution with a fake Velvet Revolution of our own, a Velvet Revolution that tells the truth about Kimberlin and his henchmen, in order that past and potential donors to Kimberlin, such as George Soros, may be fully informed about who is cashing the checks.
Read why and how here.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Wednesday Afternoon in Portland
Today was an "easy" day.
Rick had expressed an interest in a workbench which he could use to build/repair his bee boxes. Since there was plenty of material left over from the old deck and new deck, I spent the morning cutting and screwing the stuff together to build a 30" tall, 45" wide, 24" deep table out of 2"x and 4"x lumber. Take my word for it. This is one sturdy bench.
Then Terry and I went around the corner to Mezza, a Middle Eastern restaurant specializing in Lebanese cuisine for lunch. And it was good.
Rick had expressed an interest in a workbench which he could use to build/repair his bee boxes. Since there was plenty of material left over from the old deck and new deck, I spent the morning cutting and screwing the stuff together to build a 30" tall, 45" wide, 24" deep table out of 2"x and 4"x lumber. Take my word for it. This is one sturdy bench.
Workbench
Then Terry and I went around the corner to Mezza, a Middle Eastern restaurant specializing in Lebanese cuisine for lunch. And it was good.
Wednesday Report from Rick & Sandy's
I've been a busy little beaver here at Rick and Sandy's home in Portland's Woodstock area.
Saturday Rick and I went shopping from lumber and supplies. Saturday Eric (a friend of Rick's) brought his tools over and we spent half a day framing out the deck. Monday I screwed down the deck boards with the assistance of Terry to straighten out some of those that were bent. Tuesday I dismantled two of the sets of steps leading up to the the front porch and rebuilt them into sturdier formats.
Then Tuesday evening we went to Eric's house for a grand dinner. The deck is a 6'x16' affair with cedar boards supported by pressure treated lumber.
Being the Northwest, the steps to the front porch were suffering from moss, mold and general decay. They were never protected from the weather with stain or weather proofing and were on the verge of collapse. The new four foot wide steps built from pressure treated 2"x12" (sides and treads) and 2"x6" (risers) are very solid and sturdy.
Terry spent time admiring Rick's raised bed gardens that are chock full of delicious snap peas begging to be picked right now.
******
Yesterday afternoon (June 12th) we got an email announcing the arrival of Samantha Rylee McMahon. Sammi is my niece's first and makes my younger sister a Grandma. Suddenly my knees hurt even more.
Ryan and Sandy McMahon made something far more beautiful than any deck and sweeter than the sweetest snap pea. Congratulations kids.
Then Tuesday evening we went to Eric's house for a grand dinner. The deck is a 6'x16' affair with cedar boards supported by pressure treated lumber.
Nearly completed deck with a photogenic model for scale
Being the Northwest, the steps to the front porch were suffering from moss, mold and general decay. They were never protected from the weather with stain or weather proofing and were on the verge of collapse. The new four foot wide steps built from pressure treated 2"x12" (sides and treads) and 2"x6" (risers) are very solid and sturdy.
New side steps
New front steps.
Terry spent time admiring Rick's raised bed gardens that are chock full of delicious snap peas begging to be picked right now.
Rick's garden plots
******
Yesterday afternoon (June 12th) we got an email announcing the arrival of Samantha Rylee McMahon. Sammi is my niece's first and makes my younger sister a Grandma. Suddenly my knees hurt even more.
Welcome Samantha Rylee!
Ryan and Sandy McMahon made something far more beautiful than any deck and sweeter than the sweetest snap pea. Congratulations kids.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Deck Construction and more!
After Rick and I paid a visit to the Big Orange Box store (aka Home Depot) on Saturday to get supplies on Saturday, Eric showed up at Rick's house today for a breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon after which we got to work on construction. First we sent Rick out to get two more 4"x8" timbers. Then Eric and I carefully sited the concrete piers for the four corners and the centers. We sistered two 4"x8"x8' timbers to a 16' 2"x6" to form the rear stringer, cut 4"x4" posts to level it across the house, and mounted joist hangers on it to place the joists. We cut the joists to length and then waited for Rick to bring the 4"x8"s that would form the front stringer.
Once Rick got back, we all positioned the front stringer on three concrete piers (only a little adjustment as to their position was required), cut the 4"x4" posts to level the stringer and attached the hangers and joists. All that remains to do now is to attach the cedar deck boards using screws and construct a ramp and set of stairs so as to get up and down to and from the deck.
Much of the construction was done under the watchful eye of Penny, the Labradoodle. As Eric had brought his dog, Buddy, with him and the two pooches entertained one another. (In reality, Buddy just wanted to be left alone so he could figure out how to spring the gate to chase after a cat that would have beaten the crap out of him or just to go across the street and smell the California poppies int he neighbor's yard.) Penny seemed very pleased with the new deck ans sprawled out upon it as soon as we laid the deck boards.
Rick is a bee keeper with 5 or 6 hives at various places including one at a friends house a little over a mile away. He works on his boxes in his yard sometimes and had one set in the back that was unoccupied until a few weeks ago when a wandering hive found it and took it over. For all he knows, these may be the same bees that swarmed over at his friends place a month ago.
Once Rick got back, we all positioned the front stringer on three concrete piers (only a little adjustment as to their position was required), cut the 4"x4" posts to level the stringer and attached the hangers and joists. All that remains to do now is to attach the cedar deck boards using screws and construct a ramp and set of stairs so as to get up and down to and from the deck.
6'x16' Deck Nearing Completion
Nearing Completion
Much of the construction was done under the watchful eye of Penny, the Labradoodle. As Eric had brought his dog, Buddy, with him and the two pooches entertained one another. (In reality, Buddy just wanted to be left alone so he could figure out how to spring the gate to chase after a cat that would have beaten the crap out of him or just to go across the street and smell the California poppies int he neighbor's yard.) Penny seemed very pleased with the new deck ans sprawled out upon it as soon as we laid the deck boards.
Penny the Labradoodle
Rick is a bee keeper with 5 or 6 hives at various places including one at a friends house a little over a mile away. He works on his boxes in his yard sometimes and had one set in the back that was unoccupied until a few weeks ago when a wandering hive found it and took it over. For all he knows, these may be the same bees that swarmed over at his friends place a month ago.
Volunteer Bees
(Check the entry on the left. They're busy as...well...bees.)
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