Home From The Hospital

There was a hail storm accompanied with tremendous thunder & lightning last night in Chaumont, NY. Everything was soaking wet this morning. But by mid morning the Sun came out and the rest of the day was beautiful.



My mother came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. Hospice arrived earlier in the day with a bed, oxygen equipment and some other odd & ends. We quickly discovered that we needed to add an electrical outlet in the living room to accomodate it all. So brother Ron set about installing that. My celebrity brother went to the hospital to oversee Mom's discharge and transport home. She was transferred by ambulance as the accompanying photo shows. Meanwhile I went shopping for linen for the hospital bed. Not knowing what to expect I bought numerous flat sheets & fitted sheets as well as a mattress cover. When that mission was completed I set about making the bed. So, the three of us were busy prepping for her arrival and brother T was missing in action. (But he has his own things happening with a son that needs heart surgery). She arrived just as I completed the bed. Fifteen minutes later I had to head to Syracuse area to photograph a job for the Post-Standard. The following photo came from that shoot. It was taken at the Fayetteville-Manlius High School Observatory.

That's The Way It Is

Late this after noon my Mother says, "I am sick of all this garbage." she is referring to the hospital routine. "I am just waiting for Suzie & Carol to get here and then I am going home. If they don't like it, they can shove it."

So that's the way it is, MARCH 4, 2012.

My Mother In The Hospital

My Mother is 79 years old and quite ill. She was admitted to the hospital a week ago today. She has congestive heart failure. Yesterday she was very chipper, talkative, appeared to be in much better condition than the previous days. However, last night she had more fluid build up in her lungs. Her heart is weak and her heart rate fell off. She was given more oxygen, more drugs, got stabalized and her heart rate was brought back up. I suspect that it's only a matter of time before her heart simply gives out all together. Is it days, weeks or months? I don't know. Three years ago she had a heart valve replacement. At this point, based upon my Google research, I think her only hope would be a heart transplant, and at her age and level of frailty, that simply isn't going to happen.

Observations, Thoughts, Question Marks

It got cold here in Chaumont, NY last night. 14 degrees F.
Thursday evening my mother went to the hospital. Fluid build up in her lungs. Spitting up blood. IT's congestive heart failure. She has no pain, just concern. The Doctors want to drain fluid out of her body. She's admitted to intensive care.

I gave up all alcohol for lent. Today is Sunday. My Mother is still in the hospital. I play a 3 hour guitar gig at Carl's Furniture in Watertown. Paid a hundred bucks. At 3:00 I visit my Mother. I am told she has pneumonia. I don't like the sound of that. She seems weaker and frail. It is the first Sunday in Lent and I have given up all alcohol for lent. But, it is SUNDAY. So I stop at Gold Star Liquors and buy a bottle of Merlot. It is Rex-Goliath to be exact. A reasonabubbley priced and flavored California wine.

It is the first Sunday of Lent and I am at Carl's Furniture playing guitar. Paul Ferguson comes in and sets up 3 video cameras to tape an hour or so of my playing. I mention to him that my mother is having some issues and is in the Hospital. He tells me that his mother passed away a year ago this last September. She had a stroke. But the stroke did not kill her. She was recovering just fine when, still in hospital, she got pneumonia. That was the beginning of the end of her. So I finish up my gig at the furniture store, collect my pay and go to the Hospital to visit me Madre. She looks weaker than the day before. She is breathing harder. My Celebrity Brother is there. The doctors had earlier informed him that she has developed pneumonia. Today I took no photos of her.

I am drinking the Merlot, hic-cupping in between sips as I write this. The Academy Awards are on TV in the background. Who cares? Not me. I could give a shit. Pardon the vulgarity. Hic-up.

I need to get out and play Thousand Dollar Gigs. ten or twenty of those a year would be a help.

Trouble Sleeping

I went to bed at a decent hour, 10:00PM, thought I was tired. Three hours later I am still wide awake. So I did a lttle web surfing, checked my e-mail, and now feel genuinely sleepy. Good night.

Photographing Basketball With Nikon D7000

Last Friday I photographed high school basketball. Last night I photographed high school basketball. Tonight I am photographing high school basketball. It is probably the single most thing that I dislike to photograph. But what is one to do? One must pay the bills, so you photograph what The Man wants photographed and you takes your pay.
I've been using a Nikon D7000 camera for these ganes. I'm not so sure it's the best choice. I will use it again tonight to see how it goes.

Once again the Better Half and I are at odds with one another. 'Tis the season to be merry.

The transmission bit the dust on my 2002 Dodge Caravan. Repair bill will be around the $1,500.00 mark. That's a nice thing to buy myself for Christmas.

When will I ever get to buy a new guitar?

I do not have time to post a photograph at this moment in time.

Roofing, Glen Campbell

Here is waht's going on lately. I am a land lord. The tenant in my upper apartment on Franklin St., Watertown recently moved out. I noticed that the closet in the bedroom showed evidence of a leaky roof. I inspect the roof outside and see that it is in terrible shape. Evidently it has been leaking for quite some time and the tenant did not let me know. Anyhow, my celebrity brother and my brother Rocket R. and I have begun stripping off the old roof and are in the process of nailing down a new one. Asphalt shingles. This follows on the heels of me just replacing the garage roof at the same place.
Two nights ago I had to photograph a Section III Class AA boys soccer game final in Liverpool, NY. It went into two overtimes, ended in a shoot out. I got home at 12:30 in the evening. In bed at 1:00AM. Up Tuesday at 7:00AM. It was election day. So I met brother Rocket at the Franklin St house at 9:00am. I worked there until 3:00 in the afternoon. Hard work. Slipped on the roof and twisted my shoulder. Slipped on a ladder & skinned both shins. At 3:00 I drove to Fulton for election day coverage. From there I went to Oswego to cover the mayors race. I got home from ther at 11:30. Had a glass of wine & was in bed by 1:00am. Got up this morning made coffee, had SHORT guitar practice (bummer!) met my brothers at Franklin st roof job at 9:30. Worked non stop until 5:30 at which time it was dark. We picked up tools and I went home. Watched Survivor on Tv. Then, I caught a part of the Country Music Awards. I posted the following on facebook after watching the Glen Campbell tribute: "I usually don't watch the Country Music Awards, BUT.. happened to catch the tribute to Glen Campbell. As a musician I just became SUPER CHARGED as I watched the great song writer Jimmy Webb embrace the equally great Glen Campbell at the end!. Two spirits whose paths crossed and the result was magic. I truly believe that music, beyond all other arts, proves the existence of God."

What a wonderful day I have had. Thank you Lord.

"I would have been content to just do studio work, making it on my own never really entered my mind."
Glen Campbell

Another Day

Yesterday: I worked on the garage roof at my apartment house on Franklin St. I am putting a new tin roof on it. At 5:00 I went to Syracuse and photographed a job for the Post-Standard. Got home at midnight. Went staright to bed.

Today: Woke at 7:30. Made coffee. Started fire in wood stove. Took out the trash. Edited pix for a freelance job I shot a few days ago. Packaged them up and made out the invoice. 11:30 at post office & mailed it. Went to my Franklin St apartment house. Went to my mother's house for an hour. Back to the apartment house. Working on garage roof until 6:00. Stop at Michael's Crafts looking for a picture frame. No luck. Home at 7:00. Drank 2 beers, ate some food. Watched The Middle and Survivor. Time for bed.
Good night.

Stressfull Wedding Edit

Spent most of yesterday and part of today editing a wedding job. All went well until I went to select a cover photo and discovered that the photos were out of sequence. There were about a dozen images from the start of the day and group shots taken after the ceremony that somehow got sprinkled among the reception and ceremony photos. Using Photo Mechanic i tried to reorganize them and things got worse. It became like a shuffled deck of cards. What a nightmare! I finally returned to my original backup folder that had just the dozen or so shots out of order. I'm simply going to have to deliver them as they are. All of the photos are there, and they are all good, it just would be nicer if the sequence was perfect. The only other option is to go back to my original, complete take and weed through it all, start fresh at the beginning. That really sucks because there are 800 images. I open every one of them in Photo Shop, crop, adjust the levels, and sometimes the color balance. I also trash the obvious bad ones and weed out the redundent ones. That's a lot of work. It's also a mystery to me how this all started too. It's after 10:00pm and I was supposed to ship the photos out tomorrow.
About tomorrow: I have a freelance job in Syracuse that's going to use up a good portion of the day. Then I need to find time to cut some mats and fram some photos for the Fall Art Show in Watertown. The need to be delivered on Sunday. Saturday I have a full day of guitar lessons. Sunday I am working in Syracuse for the post-Standard. This is getting to be a bit much.

Birthdays & Acid Reflux

Today is the Better Half's birthday. Tomorrow is my brother T's birthday. Next week my celebrity brother A has a birthday. Brother T is having a birthday party at The Last Call, a bar in the village of Evans Mills this evening.



It's 3:30 am. I was suddenly awakened by an acid reflux attack. Something I have not experienced in about five years. How terrible! I thought those days were over. However, I know what happened. I have let myself get overly tired lately. Sinmply not getting enough sleep. That coupled with the birthday party tonighyt. I over drank ( but was not drunk), and the real troublesome thing I did was drinking right up to bed time. I have not done that in a ong, long time. Usually I do not eat or drink anything for 2 or 3 hours before going to bed. What an idiot I was. It's been so long since I had such an attack I had completely forgotten about them. A lesson learned.

25 Years On The Job

Tonight I am attending a reception for employees of the Post-Standard newspaper that have been employed there for 25 years. That includes me. I am rather busy prior to that. I have to place an ad for wedding photofraphy in the local paper here. I have one guitar lesson, and, I need to stop by the North Country Arts Center and pay an entry fee for this years Fall art show. I hope to have a photo of some sort to place here today too. But I am simply pressed for time.

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So the event honoring 25 year employees at the Post-Standard went well. With one exception. When my name was announced and a little blurb read aloud about me, I was introduced as Gary Waits. That's W-a-I-t-s. Not Wa-L-ts but Wa-i-ts.

I pretended not to notice. However, I felt like the character Sue Heck on the TV show The Middle.

Today is October First. I was sxcheduled to have four students come in for guitar lessons. Only two of them showed. One of the non-shows had allready paid so I don't know why they didn't show. It is cold here in Chaumont NY. I have a fire in the wood stove. Also had a squireel or some other vermin running around in the walls and cielings. I know

Christmas On Bear Mountain

I was a huge comic book fan when I was a kid. My older brother A & I had quite a collection. The DC heroes were among our favorites. That would be Batman, Superman, Hawkman, Aquaman, The Flash and more. I also liked the Disney comics, particularly Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. I gave my comic book collection to my son to read when he was a teen. He liked them a lot. But I never saw them again. What became of them after him I have no idea. With one exception: A Donald Duck comic from 1947 with the story Christmas On Bear Mountain. I do not remember where I got my copy of it. It was published in 1947, a few years before I was born.

As comic books go it wasn't worth a lot because the cover was missing. It was also well worn from many readings over the years. However, it was my favorite. The story and art were done by Carl Barks. He created some of the greatest comic book stories of all time. So, when I passed my collection to my son I held on to that particular one. I kept it in a desk drawer.

When I bought my home in Chaumont, NY the desk and comic book came along with me. The house was in terrible condition and it took an entire year for me to get it into livable condition. All of that time my belongings were stored in the garage. That was twenty years ago and the desk never did find it's way into the house. So it and the comic book remain in the garage. Over the years I would regularly take the comic book out and look at it. Last Winter I pulled it out and gave it a read. Still like that story. I always meant to one day make a digital copy of the book just for a back up.

Then one day I opened the desk drawer and what do I find? Mice got in there and chewed it all to pieces. The photo is exactly how it appeared when I opened the drawer. What a bummer! However, the internet being what it is I can find a replacement. It has been reprinted more than once over the years. But mine, rough as it was, was a 1947 issue.

What A Wonderful Life

This morning I leave the house early, 6:30AM. It was 70 degrees there (Chaumont, NY). I went off to make a feature photo for the Post-Standard. Among the photos I made ws this one of a deer in a meadow on Route 3, Sandy Creek. From there I drove to Pulaski where I am currently sitting and have transmitted this photo. It is simply a glorious morning and I am reminded once again what a wonderful life I hve been blessed with.

Some Updates

So, we have not had so much rain in the past month or so. Thus, the grass is drying & turning brown. That has not heppened in the past 2 years. Basically I like that. We are having a dry spell. The fire wood I have stacked is seasoning nicely. Last Summer we had so much rain that mold & fungi grew on the fire wood. I never once mowed the lawn when it was dry.

Friday morning my aunt Jaunita died. She was my father's sister. She was 78 years old. She had cancer. However, prior to that she had some heart trouble. So, I am assuming a combination of the 2 maladies is what placed her in the hospital. Then, she decided she wanted no more treatment and she died within a few days. She was an unselfish woman with a HUGE heart who always saw the good in people.

The day after she died we got a call that a member from the Better Half's family died. He was here niece's husband. They have a 15 year old son that he leaves behind. They had gotten divorced a few years ago. He re-married and had a a second child with his new wife. Cancer claimed him too. He was 48 years old.

It makes one wonder. Though I knew him, I have not seen him since he divorced the BH's niece. Also, I never knew him well. However, his death strikes me as sadder than that of my Aunt, whom I have known my whole life. It's because of the age discrepency between the two. How much sadder it is to leave behind children under the age of 16 as opposed to one who leaves behind grown children that have families and children of their own.



On a different note, when we got home from the Adirondaks a couple nights ago, we pulled into our driveway to be greeted by a small sized Maple tree that had fallen across the driveway. Today I cut it up and added it to the wood pile for Winter's heat.

My garden this year is growing strong & lush. No deer or other vermin feeding on it. Also, appears to be no blight affecting the tomato plants.

I also painted the front porch floor & steps today. Red floor paint by Valspar. Really good paint.

After that one of BH's daughter's & family showed up & we went to the lake for a couple of hours & had a nice swim. We go to a place called Wilson's Bay in Lake Ontario at Cape Vincent, NY. About 10 miles from our house. It was well over 80 degrees F with a brisk wind blowing toward shore. Waves were probably 2 or 3 feet.

The photos presented here were taken on our recent drive to Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondak Mountains of NY State. Whiteface is the 5th tallest peak. It has a road that leads close to the summit. You then walk through a tunne (around 500 feet) to an elevator. The elevator takes about a minute & half to reach the weather station / observatory at the summit.

What I LOVE about tjis place is the man made structures. The weather station and the castle. There is a trail that leads from the summit station back down to the castle. This was constructed some time mprior to mthe Great Depression. I love it beacuse it reminds me of the Myst games. It's almost as if you were within the game Myst hiking about. Going along the trail with the old rusted irion railings. The views that make you feel as if you ar isolated in the world. I am anxious to go back there again.

Mulch Pix

Mulch Maker, Mulch Maker, make me some mulch...

It remains stubbornly chilly here in Chaumont, NY. 35 degrees this morning. The past couple of days have been grey and rainy. You know what they say: April showers bring May flowers. Well, what do May flowers bring?

Mayflowers bring pilgrims. I know, it's an old joke.

These piles of mulch were spotted near my mother's home between Watertown & Calcium. The light, the colors, the shapes caught my eye and were worth snapping. I didn't really work the subject because as often is the case, I was pressed for time. The apartment I have been cleaning up and inproving with a new bathroom floor, commode, & sink is near done. My mother's health has greatly improved. However, she has great dificulty getting in & out of cars, and getting in & out of cahirs, bed etc. But once she is up she gets around quite handily. A month or so ago we all thought a nursing home was in her near future. Tomorrow I have a meeting with the tax man to get my income taxes filed. Hope all is well with you and your world. Now I'm off to Clay St to finish up the plumbing and painting. Yay!

Day 339: Snowing

It's been snowing a lot here today. The Better Half got caught in a white out while driving home from work. Fortunatley she was near her daughter's home and managed to get there and is staying the night. Ten miles away I am home alone and it has been snowing steadily, however, at 11:00pm it has subsided somewhat. THe visibilty has greatly improved. Earlier today I had a couple of guitar lessons, then spent a couple hours cleaning up a vacant apartment. The couple that just moved out left it quite a mess. The living room carpet is a disaster and must be replaced. Otherwise, they left a lot of junk behind. Some clothing, a television, various household odd & ends.

Day 337: Winter Wonder & Woe




Last night I went to bed at 1:00am. I awoke at 6:00am to 8 degrees below zero. Quite cold. Not enough sleep. Later in the morning I went out to the wood pile to bring some wood in for the stove. As is often the case in below zero weather here, the air was still and the Sun was bright and strong. I looked across the street at my neighbors house and WOW, what do I see?  The Sun behind this frost covered Maple tree. I race into the house, grab a camera, get back outdoors and snap this photo. Such is the beauty and glory of Winter in Northern New York. It's a good thing that God made Winter so pretty or we would never put up with it.  

A little while later I am reminded of the problems of living here in the Winter. Those problems can often be anticipated, but usually they show up unexpectedly as was the case this morning. The Better Half was running late for work. She went to back out of the driveway and got hung up on some ice. Her wheels were spinning. My neighbor who was outside shovelling off his porch roof came over and the two of us pushed her out of the driveway. She headed down the street. I look at where she was parked. There was an unusually large block of ice that had formed and kept the van from backing up properly. Well, that's not the real problem. A few minutes later she is pulling back into the driveway and telling me something in wrong with her van. It wouldn't drive properly. She had trouble explaining it. So I hop in and take it for a spin down the street. Yes indeed, something was wrong. It turned out that one of the rear wheels was frozen such that it would not turn. It was just being dragged down the street as if the rear brakes were locked up on that one wheel.  Now everything begins to make sense. The wheel locked up made it difficult to back out of the driveway.  So, I go to the garage, get my floor jack and wrench to remove the problematic wheel.  After the lug nut were removed I had to take a sledge hammer to the wheel, give a number of "luv taps" to break the wheel rim off the hub. Then I got out the Bernz-O-Matic torch and began heating the wheel. A few minutes later it was free and spinning like new.  Evidently water (melted snow) had gotten inside the hub and froze in such a way that the wheel seized up. I have never experienced this before today.

Day 298: Merry Christmas

A crispy 12 degrees here in Chaumont, NY on Christmas morning. The Better Half & I exchanged gifts allready, and are preparing for visitors later in the day. I got the BH a Sony DSC-W350 digital point and shoot camera. It is her first non-film camera. It also shoots HD video clips. The battery is in the charger and we hope to test the camera out soon.

It was a few days after Christmas in 2004, late afternoon and I was just getting home from a long day of driving and photographing for the Post-Standard. The house, yard, driveway were blanketed in fresh snow. There was some great afternoon light and my home looked like a Christmas card. Though I was hungry, tired, and discouraged at the prospect of shovelling all that snow, the scene befor me was a delight. The scene was truly a gift, a reward at the end of a long, stressful day. The next year I used it for a Christmas card which I sent to everyone. This year  I dragged it out of my digital archive to present here. I hope you all are having wonderful Christmas.

Day 208: Cooking With Beer & Love

So today it's Sunday? Where did Saturday go? Well, actually it went well. I spent a couple of hours at my friend Tom Bintz's home on Pillar Point. He has a guest with him for a few day. He was a film and photography major back in hid college days. So, over a few beers we had some good conversation about life, art, promoting your work, inspiration, and other good things. Most enjoyable.
The beer was Thousand Islands Pale Ale from the Sackets Harbor Brewing Co., Sacket Harbor, NY. A fine beer indeed. My first time drinking it.


So that brings me to Sunday. Well today I finally got down into the basement to take apart the pipe that runs from my furnace to the chimney. I needed to clean it out. You see, it tends to get rusty inside and then the rust flakes off and gathers on the bottom of the pipe. If ignored the debris will build up to where it affects the draft and cause the furnace to short cycle. Never mind why this happens, that's too much to get into right now. But anyhow, one of the elbows rusted apart at the joint & I had to replace it. Lucky for me the local;l hardware store is open on Sunday's until 3:00. So off I go. Then it occurred to me, I may as well stop at the local grocer and get a beef roast to slow cook in the crock pot. That can take place while I'm doing other chores. By the way, the Better Half is off for the day visiting one of her daughters so this will be a nice surprise for her to come home to. So here is the deal: I had so9me fresh produce from a local farm market and the crockpot idea seemed a good way to use the stuff. I placed small red potatoes on the bottom, added the beef roast, then sliced up fresh carrots, onions, garlic, and tomatoes tossed them in. Added spices, some water and there it was. In a few hours, great eats!.

Now here are a coup-le of my secrets about cooking. I cook with Love & with Beer. What I mean is I do not cook unless I want to. Not because I have to. There in lies the problem with many women in relationships. It seems the are REQUIRED to cook. That is terrible. I do not want my better half to cook ever, unless she is truly into it and wants to do it. Now of course things are different if you have kids. They must be fed, and fed on a schedule. It's also important for the family to eat as a group. But we are at a point in life where we are not obligated to eat at any set time. I would NEVER demand that she prepare my meals. And vice verso. The idea is to enjoy cooking. Most of the time I cook for me and the bonus is that I am also cooking for her. In other owrds, I simply cook with Love in my heart. It is what I want to do and it is what I want to share. I don't ever want to eat a meal if somebody felt coerced into preparing it. Do you get it? I am cooking with Love, and as best as I can tell thye Better half does the same.
Now, about the beer. When I cook, I like to drink beer. There's nothing better when it comes to peeling onions, washing potatoes, chopping carrots, and the like, than to do so while slugging a couple of beers. Suddenly it becomes festive. I think the problem many women have is that they do not drink while cooking. Break out the wine or the beer and dive in to the work. Enjoy it. If your better half walks in pour them a glass. Cheers! While you are at it you can always throw a splash of wine or beer into your recipe. It will never screw it up. You see that photo of the beef roast in the crock pot? I just put that together an hour or so ago with the great company of two of those Thousand Island beers. I loved it. Now, after posting this I am going back down to the basement and finish my furnace pipe cleaning job. Life is good. Thank you Lord.