Testicle Festival

It was a great Saturday to be in upstate New York! Frost on the roof (our first this fall), a fire in the wood stove (not our first), a SUNNY morning (all too rare this year), the trash to the transfer station (always a cleansing experience), retrieval of our stuff that didn't sell in a friend's garage sale (now really - just because we didn't want it...), relocation of one of our compost bins (Did you know that oyster shells just don't like to decompose? The shells were still there from many Thanksgivings ago. We seem to have enjoyed a LOT of oysters that year!), etc. etc.

But all work and no play can be dull so went to the play "Around the World in 80 Days" at Syracuse Stage. We've had season tickets there for at least 30 years and the plays get better every year - just as good (in my humble opinion) as those in NYC. And of course if you go "around the world" you have to have dinner at Riley's where the food is always great. We were reminded that his annual testicle festival starts on Monday (you were probably wondering if I would EVER get to the title of today's blog) - choose from turkey, sheep, bull, bison - who knows what he'll find this year. Perhaps YOU should look for a festival near you!

Weinermobil

While digging potatoes may be the ultimate in day spa treatments, some people are just never able to take their mind off hot dogs in spite of the best efforts of their personal trainers. And of course it doesn't help anything when the Weinermobil comes to town. Frankly I think it looks like a big caterpillar (did the color of hot dogs somehow change to orange when I wasn't looking? Bright yellow rolls??). It does, however, draw attention. This one appeared to be brand new with VERY comfortable looking seats. In case you're wondering, it seats four and is NOT widely available at neighborhood car dealers, at least not those in our part of the world.

Spa Day

Remember those potatoes that needed weeding and digging from a few days ago? Well, I finally got the rest of them weeded. Since a real cold front was on its way, John was called in to do a bit of bending, stretching, toe touching, weight lifting - the types of things that are supposed to put you in shape at a spa. With me as his personal trainer, all the potatoes (50+ pounds) have now been dug, hosed off, and stored appropriately. So why the picture of the fall blooming crocus? Let's just say they were a whole lot prettier to look at at the end of the day than John was!

Brookfield

If you've never been to Brookfield, you probably won't go unless someone takes you there and then only if they don't get lost (there are many turns). The local joke about Brookfield is that some people known to be heading in that direction have never been heard from again.

So why were we in Brookfield? Well, our driver safety cards were up for renewal (NY gives a 10% discount on car insurance if you've taken the course) and this was the only class we were able to take anytime soon. It was just in the neck of time too. John almost turned in front of someone in "downtown" Brookfield. Thanks to the sharp eyes and keen screech of his good wife Patty, the collision was avoided and John was able to spend the rest of the day learning how to avoid such situations.

To tell you something about how remote Brookfield is, we enjoyed lunch on the steps of the parsonage located on the main north/south road. Not a single wheeled vehicle of any sort went by nor did any horses. (The state lands in Brookfield have some of the best horse trails in the east - they are also great for cross country skiing in the winter.)

If you do happen to be in Brookfield at dinner time, the Beaver Den is not to be missed. Great home cooking, generous portions and low prices (under $5 for a complete dinner). Our waitress was a senior at Brookfield High (K-12 enrollment is 255). In case you think they never go anywhere though, the senior class trip next June will be to NY City. They'll have a choice of either going to see a Yankee baseball game or "Beauty & the Beast" on Broadway. What would you choose?

Provence?!

France is not the only country that can grow sunflowers. A field near me (one of the few in this part of New York) was really showing off this morning. Even John happily backed up so I could take their picture. (Of course it might have been because he really wasn't looking forward to spending a beautiful morning trying out voting machines. Oh well, we all have to do our bit to make sure our votes are counted... correctly!) Anyway, the sunflowers look eager for the day don't they? I love the way they turn to follow the sun as it crosses the sky during the day. They already were looking away when we came back through - I guess they weren't interested in hearing about voting machines.

Hoboken

I know, I know - Hoboken is not really is in the country but sometimes you just have to go somewhere different. John's cousins from California were in the east for a family wedding in Pennsylvania so John & I volunteered to take them to a train station so they could spend a few days in NYC (blogs are not NEARLY long enough to be able to explain how & why one ends up going to the station in Hoboken from Allentown.) Anyway, Cousin Carol teaches art in the San Francisco area; Cousin Bob is retired from naval intelligence (can't you tell from his attire?!) & lives in San Diego; & John is just happy he found the station even though it does look like he's parked on the tracks.

It has been years since we were in Hoboken and I found myself thinking it would be an interesting place to come back and visit. However, it didn't look like the Women's Department would be opening anytime soon. I have NO clue where that doorway lead or used to lead although it wasn't far from Frank Sinatra Blvd. if that helps. There was no Men's Department.

Washington, New Jersey

Just thought you'd like to know that my favorite business in little town is "A Leg Up" pet boutique featuring, according to their sign, a self-service dog wash. What does that have to do with the photo at the right? Nothing. Just thought you might like to see a photo of the 67 Corvette that cousin John restored. When he started it had a tree growing through the middle of it. It turned out VERY well! It also lives in Washington NJ. John & I are just visiting.

Pig Heads

What are the chances of two strangers (or should that be strange guys?) meeting on a dead end road outside Wells Bridge, NY, both wearing pig hats? Well, you've now see two. They of course "bonded" right away. It turns out Fred is the guru of repairing old wood stoves and has a million parts he's accumulated over the years. John on the other hand is not a guru but was in need to one to advise him on how to get our wood burning kitchen stove working (we have to have some place to burn all that wood we split). While Fred didn't have the grate we needed he did have parts that could be welded together. As luck would have it we were on our way to NJ to visit John's cousin John who does not have a pig hat but is a master welder. Within a half hour upon arriving, the part was welded to meet specs. Only then did the two John's stop to have a beer. We'll have to see about getting cousin John a hat of his own.

Killing Time

Years ago when I had a broken leg and was on crutches, I was forever trying to get people to “save steps” by having them carry more than one thing at a time or do more than one thing that “needed doing” when they got somewhere. It was all too obvious to me on crutches how much energy it took to go back and forth a lot.

To this day I’m still trying to “save steps” including scheduling my in-town activities on the same day. The glitch in that comes when you suddenly find yourself with more time than expected between appointments. Today I had an hour to kill. I could a) drive back home and have a nice cup of tea but I’d spend 15 minutes driving each way and waste gas; b) go to the library and read but it was a beautiful fall day; c) go shopping but I’d already gotten everything I needed; d) go for a walk. I chose d.

Admittedly, I could have walked the streets of Hamilton which would have been different than my country lane. On the other hand, Hamilton has the Madison Lane loop trail, a beautiful walking trail through a small wetland adjacent to their senior housing complex right in the village. The goldenrod and New York & New England asters were still in bloom & the weather was perfect for walking (I did the loop twice) – 60 degrees, mostly sunny, light breeze. It was a great way to spend a little time and, of course, feel virtuous all day.

Footnote – Today I realized I had forgotten to get dog food which meant another trip to Hamilton… so much for “saving steps/gas”!!!

Rainbow

If you were up at our house when the sun came up AND you happened to look out the window to the northwest AND you were able to "encourage" your mate to go out and take a picture, you might have ended up with this lovely photo. If you look closely you can just make out the beginnings of a second rainbow off to the right.

While it's not unusual to see a rainbow in the evening, we seldom see one in the morning. However, an evening rainbow generally means the rains have passed. One in the morning means rain is on the way and, sure enough, it's raining again. The sun was welcome while we had it.

About those potatoes...

Remember those potatoes in my garden? Well we were having guests for dinner over Labor Day so John dug some to go with the meal. John may skimp on some things but when it comes to potatoes if you need a pound, then you’ll get at least two but three or four pounds are even better. Needless to say I didn’t cook them all – just left them in the 5 gallon plastic bucket until I needed some for another meal. Repeat after me… Patty knows better than that! Damp potatoes + plastic bucket + warm temps = rotten!

Yuk! Yuk! YUK!!!! PHEW!!!!!! Please notice in the photo there is NO ONE in the kitchen. If you want to clear an area, rotten potatoes are a great way to do it - they’re probably non-toxic as well. Fortunately, Jeff was our only guest for dinner. He’s not only a good friend but an understanding gardener as well and, bless his heart, disposed of the rotten mess for me in the compost pile while I cleaned the sink. Yes, I confess, I wasn’t thinking and had dumped the bucket into the sink before my nose reacted to the problem. Yuk! Yuk! YUK!!! - just in case you didn’t hear me say that before.

On the good side, the kitchen aired out in time for dinner (it being a beautiful evening & we had a bottle of wine to sip on to pass the time). We had wonderful winter squash & wasabi mashed potatoes (the good ones) both from my garden, a beautiful salad with fresh lettuce & tomatoes from Jeff’s garden & tuna steaks from a tuna Jeff’s friend had caught off the coast of Rhode Island. You can’t get a meal much better than that.

Quilts

I have a GREAT mother! Although a big city gal now (Brady, Texas), she, like me, has lived most of her life in the country. Unlike me, she's a fantastic quilter. This is a new quilt she just sent - thought we might like one with fall colors for our bed. She thought right! For those of you who aren't into quilt designs, this is a log cabin quilt. And it's made with scraps (all different types of prints) - my favorite type. It's also hand quilted with a bazillion little, even stitches.

Quilting runs in my family. I have a quilt my great grandmother did and another quilted by my grandmother. My sister quilts. (My brother doesn't unless he's a closet quilter.) I have several quilts my mother did including two that I pieced the tops for and she hand quilted. Even though I've come to realize that quilting is not "my thing", I do have one more quilt in the works for our nephew, Bridge. I actually pieced it while Bridge was in high school to give to him as a graduation present. I didn't make it. Then I said I'd finish it by the time he graduated from college. I did manage to get it basted together with batting and a back in preparation for quilting. Then it was law school - surely I could manage that but he had the nerve to zip right though and finish on time - the quilt didn't. Bridge even had his 30th birthday with the quilt still waiting patiently in the drawer. Maybe this winter...

Country Toys

Formula for an adult play day in the country... Begin by inviting friends over to play (hopefully they’re VERY good friends so they’ll come back again). Have something exciting to do… like splitting wood.

It helps to have friends who were good at playing “pick up sticks” so when they pick up the wood from the pile that’s waiting to be split, the top pieces don’t roll down and land on someone’s foot.
Let everyone have a turn running the splitter.




If you and your playmates were good with building blocks you’ll end up with nice, neat stacks of wood when the play day is over. As you can see, some, (none of us will snitch on who they were), were better with blocks than others.

Did we have a good time? You bet! We even got to play some more at Bruce & Leigh’s before we had to give the splitter back to the rental place.

Basement

Is your basement like ours? It tends to accumulate stuff that, a week from when you put it there, you wonder why on earth you wanted to keep THAT! Anyway, fall is here which means winter is not far behind which means the space where we used to keep firewood in the basement had to be "found" again. After filling up the back of the truck with odds & ends to take to the dump, we're almost ready.

We have an OLD stone basement, older than our house which was built somewhere around 1820. Anyway, we always assumed it was older until someone in Earlville decided to build his house first, then add the basement, thus shedding doubt on our own basement's age. Unfortunately, the person in Earlville didn't understand exactly how to keep the house in the air while he dug. The bottom line was he was lucky to have time to jump off his little backhoe and get out before the house settled into the hole. And there it's been for the last 5 years...

PS - This guy is a local contractor who perhaps is not as much in demand now as he once was. However, he did dig a "ramp" down to the bottom of the hole to get the backh0e out. It was a rental after all.

Meghan!

An uncle once again! Meghan is 2 weeks old and a bundle of joy, of course. She and Uncle John are comparing hair styles but something tells me as far as hair goes she's soon going to leave John behind. He'll then have to move on to yoyo tricks I guess.

Meg comes in first in a lot of categories. First grandchild & first granddaughter for Jeff (just barely visible behind John) & Betty; first child & first daughter for Jennifer & Dan; first niece for Uncle Steve; & first kid to live in her house in a long, long time. Do you think she'll have to be careful not to get too spoiled?

We took dinner down last night to give the new parents a night off as far as cooking goes. We also opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate Meg's arrival (or was that to celebrate her first "poo" in 24 hours?).

Regional Market

First a news item you city folks might find interesting... A 22 year old man was arrested in Canton (which is further upstate than we are so we can't claim him) for stealing 7 calves. He managed to squeeze all 7 of them into the back seat and trunk of his 2000 Dodge Neon.

Back to the market... Our regional produce market is in Syracuse and has all sorts of wonderful things. For a gardener it's like taking a restaurant owner to a restaurant. You want to have one of everything just to see what the competition is doing. However, I did show a certain level of restraint and ONLY bought locally grown peaches, red pears and apples (oh yes, and some lettuce). Aren't the peaches beautiful? Why commercial growers think they have to "de-fuzz" peaches for the stores is beyond me. The fuzz makes them look like something out of an old master's painting. (And then there were the green beans which I just remembered buying...)

Picnic

What do you do when the temperature is in the 50's and it's raining? Have a picnic of course! Every fall our water exercise group has a picnic to celebrate the beginning of fall and all the pounds we have or haven't lost over the summer.

Carolyn hosts it. She's really amazing. We won't say how old she is but her son is retired if that tells you anything. She runs a campground on our local reservoir with over 150 sites with full hookups (for those of you who don't "RV" this means electric, water & sewer connections at each site). Carolyn inherited the property from her parents and started the campground 40 years ago. She also serves on the town planning board with me. If we ever have a question of where a property is or what the history is, Carolyn is the one we turn to.

Back to the picnic... Carolyn lets us use the picnic pavilion so rain & cold does not deter any of us, even the folks in wheelchairs or using walkers. We're a hardy crew in this part of NY! When it's bring a dish to pass (one way to get rid of all those extra cucumbers), all you can eat (that really shouldn't be allowed!) only your waistline suffers. As soon as this rain lets up it's back to pulling weeds for me! I really did NOT need to sample all 4 types of brownies but of course I did. Honestly, sometimes I just loose all self control!

Primary Election

I have the "honor" of being an election inspector in our town. In other words, I was one of the few they could get to agree to do it. Actually our pay went up this year to $8 an hour for our 10 hour day but that didn't seem to entice any more interest in the job.

It was an exciting day!!! We had 39 voters (including the 4 election inspectors) - 22 Democrats & 17 Republicans in case you're interested. Let's see... it took, at the most, one minute to vote so that left 561 minutes to fill. Admittedly we WERE somewhat busy for the first 20 minutes setting up the voting machine and posting signs like the one above (I guess BIG type makes it understandable) and filling out some paperwork. And then there's 20 minutes at the end when we do everything in reverse. But that still leaves 521 minutes.

So what DO we do? Catch each other up on the latest happenings in the town. Try to engage EVERYONE who comes in in conversation - if we're successful that kills a few more minutes. I taught another inspector how to work sudoko puzzles and how to work a mechanical pencil (that's a biggie!). Crossword puzzles. Read the one paper someone brought. I had fortunately picked up the mail on the way so had an LL Bean catalog & a Yankee magazine. I did remember to bring my knitting. We snacked. Gone are the good old days when voters brought in lots of goodies for us to eat. But we made it through the day, "felt good" about doing our civic duty & went home "looking forward" to election day in November.

Gravel

Whoops! Missed the gravel pile with the tractor scoop, or so it looks. Actually John is just getting ready to dump the scoop he has so I (that's Patty) can take my wide hoe and spread & level it out.

What you see is what's known as driveway mix here in the country. It's a blend of smallish pieces of shale & sand & probably dirt they dig out of a hillside. Since this whole valley was once under water, it's often another way for farmer's to make money from their land. It settles and packs down almost overnight so when you get a delivery you have to deal with it then - no procrastination. Soooo... after 4 hours of scooping and hoeing (we're almost done in the photo) we got it spread out. Today my arms are sore! Remind me again about that excuse I used when I retired that I would have time to do things we might otherwise hire done.

Note - You might like to know that the posted speed limit in the gravel yard is 5-1/2 miles per hour. Unfortunately I forgot the camera.

Nine Mile Swamp

What does one do after 30 years of saying they're got to do something? Well... hopefully they finally get around to doing it.

Ever since John & I moved to this part of New York, we have said we had to go canoeing in Nine Mile Swamp (only about 10 miles from our house). Of course it took the treat of a power line being built down the middle of it to get us there but at least now we have. It will NOT take 30 years to get us back again either.

The swamp is nine miles long (who would have guessed?!) and acts like a giant sponge. It soaks up rain and releases it to the Chenango River only when the river can handle the water load. (Dams have nothing on Nine Mile Swamp!) The Chenango is connected to the Susquehanna is connected to the Chesapeake is connected to oysters & crabs... One of the reasons some cities along this water connection were saved from flooding in June was because this swamp held the water. Nature is a marvelous thing when we don't destroy it.

Unfortunately an investment company (NYRI) wants to run a high power line down y/our swamp and beautiful valley to bring power downstate to NYC. While there are other ways of accomplishing this task, this is the "cheapest" route for them to take thus maximizing the return on their dollar. The rest of us pay the price. As we paddled enjoying the wonderful day and learning about plants & wildlife from the state environmental folks, we were encouraged to join the fight to save y/our swamp and y/our valley. It is amazing how interconnected the city and the country really are.