First Tomato Side Porch Work

First tomato from our garden this summer.

I worked some on the side porch of  our Chaumont house. Trying to determine how to replace the one corner post and support the new floor boards. Was visited by brother Ron today to get his iput on how I should go about it. Day was sunny, somewhat subdued by smoke in the atmosphere from Canadian wild fires. Temperature hit 82 degrees. Very little rain lately so watered the garden. Garden is pathetic this year. Tomatoes are coming in strong now. Ate the first ones this evening. I think the variety I ate was Early Girl. Not particularly flavorful. Maybe be better in a couple more days of ripening.

Guitar Gig at Plein Air Festival - Bella Brook Winery

 

Detail of one of the paintings.

Today I had a pleasant guitar gig at the plein air festival art show and sale at Bella Brook Winery, Hammond, NY. The art was displayed in a cavernous hall at the winery. The building has a lot of reverberation that magnified the sound of people mingling and talking as well my guitar playing. It was one of those situations where I had difficulty hearing myself, or so it seemed. Anyway, I trusted i was sounding better out in front of me than what I was hearing. I got plenty of favorable comments and compliments. Outdoors the weather was windy, not overly warm, partly overcast. In general a gorgous north country day. The winery is 55 miles from our Chaumont house. I present here a few photos from the event.

This beautiful quilt was raffled off at the event.

Guitar Playing and Grilling Today

Saturday August 2, 2025

Played guitar today at the Saturday Farm Market in Watertown. 2 hours. $100.00 I haven't been there in 3 weeks. Saw old friend Phil Ashwood there. Bought some nice green beans there. Weather was sunny, breezy, low humidity. Just a lovely day. Later I fired up the grill and did some hotdogs to go with the green beans. 

    

Sunday Drive: To Newton Falls

 Sunday July 27 2025

Newton Falls, NY, once a vibrant paper mill community.

Yesterday (Sunday) the Better Half n I visited Brother Bruce, nephew Bryce, at brother Ron's place in Natural Bridge, NY. This was day after our annual family & friends party also at Ron's. We had to pick up some odds and ends from the day before. When we left we decided to drive to Star Lake just to take in some scenery. We decided to drive through Newton Falls where I made a couple quick snapshots. I liked the old playground equipment outside the fire department. We later discovered a body of water called Chaumont Pond. This was near Cranberry Lake. 

At one point we stopped at a store and got some chicken fingers and a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, the Cherry Garcia flavor. It was delicious. 

Newton Falls, NY, once a vibrant paper mill community.

Newton Falls, NY, once a vibrant paper mill community.

Playground at Newton Falls, NY, once a vibrant paper mill community.

Playground at Newton Falls, NY, once a vibrant paper mill community.

Playground at Newton Falls, NY, once a vibrant paper mill community.

Frying Bacon Photo for Walts Family Party

 I was frying bacon this morning for a potato salad when I snapped this photo. It's what caught my eye. 

Frying bacon. It's what caught my eye today. photo copyright Gary Walts 2025

The potato salad I made was for tomorrow's Walts Family & Friends party at brother Ron's place in Natural Bridge. It's become an annual summer event. After the salad I grilled some chicken marinated in Salamida's Spiedie Sauce. Pretty much whole day was spent prepping for the bash. 

I have so much I could be sharing on this blog but I have gotten out of the habit and but by the end of the day I am often too tired to bother. 

A few recent things I want to cover is my brother Al's recent 10 day hospitalization for kidney problems.

The passing of my high school sweetheart and ex wife Vicky Walts. 

Comments abut recent guitar gigs, particularly one last Saturday at Wrights Marina in Oswego, NY. It was for the annual Oswego PaddleFest. I arrived there with all my sound equipment, backup equipment, everything. EXCEPT MY GUITAR! I left it home. NEVER did that before. 

My Teenage Sweetheart and Mother of My Children Dies

Vicky Cornaire and Myself, Gary Walts, at my parents house in Calcium, NY in 1972

This was me in 1972 with my high school sweetheart and the mother of my children. We were young and eventually went our separate ways. During our years together she chiseled away a lot of my rough edges making me a better man. She was kind and loving. She was hardworking, artistic and independent. Vicky Walts passed away Friday afternoon, July 11, 2025. 

Vicky Walts with our first grandchild Stone Walts, December 1999.    photo by Gary Walts

2019 Kia Sedona Blower Motor Replacement.

Friday July 11, 2025. 

AC/Heater blower motor replaced because it was making high pitched grating and grinding noise. 

I replaced this noisy blower motor in our 2019 Kia Sorento. Easy to remove: 3 screws and a wire connection. Installing new one was challenging trying to hold motor in place while inserting the first screw. 3 hands would have been better than 2. All told it took me under 90minutes. The weather was 85+ degrees and high humidity. Caused me to sweat like crazy. Bought new motor at Auto Zone that totaled $131.75 with tax.

Blower motor receipt from Auto Zone

Porch Lattice Repair / Rebuild

 

Finished lattice project, Chaumont, NY. (I could have done a better job.)

This afternoon I finished replacing / repairing a section of lattice at one end of our front porch. I used a piece of vinyl lattice that I bought at Home Depot for $50.00. It's very flexible product and was problematic trying to get it in place from under the porch.  I decided to try and brace it by gluing strips of wood to it. from some angles the wood braces were a bit visible so I decided to paint those edges black. I used Loctite brand adhesive. Seemed to work pretty good but one of the braces fell off as I was handling the lattice. Vinyl has a problem with expansion and contraction which can cause it to crack and break if fastened to tightly. I used some at our Franklin St house some years ago and it cracked and broke after a couple of years. I screwed it in place too tightly. 

Replacing lattice on porch, Summer 2025. This is not visible
from the street and consequently has been easy project to put off

Original lattice, very weather beaten and old. But it's salvageable which I intend to do.

New vinyl lattice held in place with wood strips, screws do not penetrate the vinyl.

Painting wood bracing that I glued to vinyl lattice. 

Wood bracing glued to vinyl lattice. This greatly improved handling the thing.

Easily cut the lattice these  hardware scissors

Tooth Extraction, Sold Clay St

418 Clay St, Watertown, NY, sale closed today.

 Closing on the sale of our Clay St apartment house was today at 3:00.  Selling that was an education. Wasn't happy how all of it went. Had North Star Realty as our agent. Not pleased with them. Too tired to go into it now. The Better Half had a tooth extraction today. Aslo learned that my ex, the mother of my children, has entered into hospice care. I am saddened about that. It was mostly cool and cloudy day here but it got warmer and more humid as it progressed.  Currently at 11:30 it is raining. 

418 Clay St, Watertown, NY, sale closed today.

Fishing Cape Vincent - Hot Weather

People fishing, Cape Vincent, NY. photo by Gary Walts copyright 2025

We have hit a spell of hot weather here in the North Country. Humid and 86 degrees here in Chaumont. Been working around the house, moving slow because of the heat. Mowed the lawn this morning. Been working on the front porch o our Chaumont house. Framing up some lattice on the porch end facing the stone quarry. Would be left side of house when looking from the street.  We took late afternoon drive to Cape Vincent yesterday, I snapped these photos of people fishing there. I love the haze this weather produces. It mutes the background. Used aSony 6600 Camera and a Minolta 200mm f2.8 AF lens. 

People fishing, Cape Vincent, NY. photo by Gary Walts copyright 2025

People fishing, Cape Vincent, NY. photo by Gary Walts copyright 2025

I Played Guitar at Watertown NY Pride Event

Rainbow flag and revelers outside Watertown NY City Hall today. 

Today, June 21, 2025 I played guitar at the Jefferson County Historical Society Pride Event: Mimosas at the Mansion. 11:00-12:30. This event followed a flag raising at Watertown City Hall. The mansion is the Paddock Mansion, home of the historical society. They have beautiful shady gardens. There was sunshine today, some wind and temperature around 80 degrees. It was wonderful all the way around. 

Me playing at the Pride event Mimosas At The Mansion.

I Install New Schaller Guitar Tuning Machines on Guild Mark V Guitar

 Thursday June 112, 2025

Beautifully packaged Schaller Hauser style classical guitar tuning machines.

I installed new Schaller guitar tuning mchines on my 1984 Guild Mark V classical guitar. The instrument fell over last Saturday and bent the original machines. I ordered replacement machines from StewMac.com located in Athens, Ohio. Placed the order online Saturday evening and the machines arrived the following Thursday. Very quick service. I purchased the Hauser style gold machines. They appeared on the website to be identical to the originals on my guitar. The new ones fit PERFECTLY. No new screw holes to drill or anything. Took old ones off and new ones fit perfectly, screw holes lined up precisely. Swapping out the machines and putting on new strings took me 30 to 40 minutes. Easy. 

New machines set in place in guitar peg head. Old machines bottom. 

New tuning machines by Schaller. Beautiful. 

Detail of New tuning machines by Schaller. Beautiful. 

New tuning machines by Schaller were perfect fit. Original screw holes
aligned precisely with them.