Daughter's 48th Birthday April 29, 2022

Birthday card for daughter S. I love it

Today was daughter S's 48th birthday. Where has the time gone? I picked up a birthday card, potted plant and a cake for the birthday girl. She works overnight on the grave yard shift so was sleeping when I let myself into her home and dropped off the goods.

Spent rest of the day scraping paint on our Franklin St house while brother R worked in the stairway, putting up new siding. Got home to Chaumont at 6:30 and mowed the front and side yards. 

The inside of my daughter's 48th birthday card

Burger at Jeb's Restaurant, Lowville, NY

Thursday, April 28, 2022 

The Adirondack Burger at Jeb's Restaurant, Lowville, NY. Best burger I've ever had.

Today, on a fluke, the Better Half & I had burgers for lunch at Jeb's Restaurant, 5403 Shady Ave, Lowville, NY 13367. They were hands down the best burgers we ever had. The Adirondack Burger has 1/2 pound beef, cheddar and jack cheese, ham, and bacon. Lettuce, onion & tomato too. Served with the burger on one half the bun, the onion, tomato and lettuce on the other half. The two halves are put together by the customer. 

The Better Half had a physical therapy appointment for 1:00 today.  I tagged along with the idea we would have lunch at the Church Street Diner in Carthage afterwards. However, we arrived at the eatery at 2:30 not knowing they closed at 2:00. So, on an impulse we decided to go to Lowville and found ourselves at Jeb's. 

April 21, 2022

 

It is Thursday, April 21, 2022. This is the 57th day of the war between Ukraine and Russia. Here in Chaumont, NY the day started out with sun but slowly clouded up and eventually rained. Near sunset the sun came out for a dramatic set that I didn't photograph. The Better Half had an unscheduled list to an oral surgeon in Watertown to examine the inside of her mouth after having discovered some white looking areas on one of her cheeks. It turned out be some minor condition that's related t, or brought on by an auto-immune condition. Other than that I spent some time cleaning our garage in Chaumont. That is an ongoing project.  

Easter Sunday April 17 2022

 

Easter morning snow in Chaumont, NY. By the time I got around to snapping a photo the sun had come out and 90 percent of the snow had melted.

We woke up to some wet, heavy snow on Easter morning here in Chaumont, NY.  There was some nice sun most of the day, but cool temperatures. We went to B & M's house for dinner. M's brother and sister and their families were also there. We ate about 3:30, a nice ham dinner. The Better Half made stuffing and a coconut cream pie. It was all delicious. Oddly, I didn't snap any pictures. In recent months I've been snapping less and less. No particular reason that I can say for that. After dinner we played a game of Skip Bo. It's new game to me, easy and enjoyable. 

Highlights From The Past Week April 10-16, 2022

 

Sunday April 10:  Had dinner with H & D and their two sons in Brownville. H Made some really good chili along with some corn bread and rice. 

Monday April 11: The Better Half & I take a drive to Pennsylvania to buy some beer brewed by Yards Brewing Company of Philadelphia. The beer is not sold in NY State. Mostly bought Thomas Jefferson's Golden Ale.  We drove interstate RT 11 from Syracuse to Scranton. Had a good lunch at The Spot in Binghamton.  In Nicholson PA we came upon massive concrete railroad bridge. It towers 240 feet in the air. Was builtin 1915. 

Tuesday April 12: Took care of miscellaneous stuff and had guitar lessons in the afternoon.

Wednesday April 13: Thomas Jefferson's 279th Birthday (and my 68th!).  Rain alternated with Sun. Temperatures warm enough we sat outdoors asI grilled Hoffman hot dogs and drank some of the Thomas Jefferson Golden Ale.  

Thursday April 14: Spent a good portion of morning & afternoon cleaning up the garage at our Franklin St house. In the evening we went to the Tug Hill Winery in Lowville, NY. Went with both of Better Half's daughters and their husband. Arrived at 5:30, had dinner, stayed until 9:00 as we were entertained by singer/guitarist Phil Dumond. Stopped at Cottage Inn in Copenhagen way home and had another beer. Better Half was our driver, she wasn't drinking.

Friday April 15:  Good Friday.  My Celebrity Brother & I hauled a good load of trash and recyclables from my Franklin St garage to the transfer station.  Fee was $23.37. Went to Home Depot and ordered a shower door and a corded electric chain saw. Both items are not in stock at the Watertown store. It was extremely windy on this day.

Saturday April 16 (today): I was back at Franklin St. Blocked up some holes where starlings were trying to build nests. Repaired a clothes dryer vent. Did more cleaning & organizing in the garage. The Better Half made a coconut creme pie and some stuffing for Easter dinner tomorrow at B & M's house.  

Photos: Foggy April Morning in Chaumont, NY

Foggy morning in Chaumont, NY. View from our front porch on Washington St.  Photo copyright Gary Walts April, 2022

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

We awoke this morning to a heavy fog here in Chaumont, NY. It had rained during the night.  The photos presented here I took with a Sony a6000 camera using the black & white setting.  By noon the fog was gone. The temperature hit 60 degrees for a while . I had 2 guitar lessons at the Copley House the afternoon.  

Foggy morning in Chaumont, NY. View from our front porch on Washington St.  Photo copyright Gary Walts April, 2022

Foggy morning in Chaumont, NY. View from our front porch on Washington St.  Photo copyright Gary Walts April, 2022

Foggy morning in Chaumont, NY. View from our back door on Washington St.  Photo copyright Gary Walts April, 2022

April 9, 2022. More Work at Franklin St Apartment

 

5  gallon water cans left in our garage by a tenant. Put them on the curb and they're gone an hour later.

It was a sunny day here in Northern NY with high temperature about 45-47 degrees.  I spent most of the day cleaning out the garage at at our Franklin St, Watertown apartment house. For whatever reasons tenants over the years have been leaving behind a lot of odds and ends the garage. Many of them perfectly fine. Brand new tools, household items, toys many in original unopened packaging. Perfectly good  but outdated cathode ray tube televisions. One tenant left behind boxes of nails, caulk, electrical supplies. Lots of perfectly good used items too. They likewise run the gamut from tools to kitchen utensils and appliances, exercise equipment and furniture.  One hates to throw the good stuff away. But, eventually there gets to be too much. I've tried selling some of it on Craigs List, Facebook Market Place and E Bay. For the most part that hasn't worked out real well. So I've been hauling 95% of it to the transfer station and paying a fee to unload it. Today I took a good size pile of scrap metal there. Metal is free to drop off as it is valuable and very recyclable. 

Today I also put some five gallon US Army water cans out on the curb with a free sign. (These containers are also known as Jerry Cans.)They were gone an hour later. We have had a number of Fort Drum soldiers as tenants over the years so I'm sure one of them left the containers behind. I also placed 4 plastic gas cans out on the curb. They disappeared in short order too.

On another note I present this photo of dishes on a rack in front of a window. This was at my Celebrity Brother's place. It just caught my eye as I was going out the door. 

What caught my eye: Dishes at my Celebrity Brother's place. photo copyrightGary Walts 2022

April 8, 2022 Hauling Trash From Apartment House

 

Trash from our Franklin St, Watertown apartment house loaded into my 2011 Kia Sedona van.

Rain during the night and some this morning gave way to mostly sunny skies with a high temperature of 55.  I had a rather low key day. Did my usual couple hours of guitar practice, had a ham & cheese sandwich for breakfast which I ate while watching You Bet Your Life with Jay Leno. It's quite entertaining. It's a resurrection of the show that aired many years ago hosted by Groucho Marx.  

Then I went to our Franklin ST apartment house and tore up all the carpets in the upper unit. Loaded them into my 2011 Kia Sedona van along with some more trash that tenants left behind in the garage. Dropped in on my Celebrity Brother and gave him a nice folding closet door. That was something I never used and have been storing forever. I'm trying to weed out & organize. I took the trash to the Jefferson County Transfer Station. Fee for that was $23.00 and change.

Bought gas at the Valero Station in Watertown located at Arsenal & Court Streets. $4.07 a gallon. That is 32 cents a gallon cheaper than here in Chaumont.

This evening we started watching Season 5 of Better Call Saul on Netflix.

April 6, 2022 Beautiful Day to Paint a Sun

It was a great day for spray painting this tin wall hanging here in Chaumont, NY You can see the original finish still shows through the yellow Krylon paint.

It was a beautiful day in Chaumont, NY. I think the temperature hit 70, not sure. I looked before noon and it was 66. Never looked again. Back at Christmas time I bought a tin wall hanging of a sun with a face. I found it at Hobby Lobby. It was very rustic and had some sort of heavy textured paint or other coating on it. I liked it that way but it didn't seem to work well in any of the spots I'd like to hang it. I decided to paint it yellow. Today's weather was perfect for that job. I used Krylon spray paint. It turned out that the surface I was painting was difficult to cover. I used an entire can, applying multiple layers. I'm considering a different type of paint that I can brush on for a finish coat. 

You can see the original finish still shows through the yellow Krylon paint. I used the entire can, probably 5 coats.  

Busy Day with Doctor Appointments, Guitar Lessons

 April 5, 2022

The Copley House in Chaumont. This is the room I normally use for guitar lessons. It's a great spot

I had a busy day today. 8:45 am I had to visit dermatologist office  for a check on how a skin cream is working for me. Then at 11:00 I accompanied the Better Half as she went for an MRI scan related to back issues she has had for many, many years. At 3:00 I had guitar lessons at the Copley House in Chaumont, NY.  While I was doing that the Better Half visited her daughter B and had a great dinner with B & her family.

Here are a couple snaps I made today while driving downtime rod somewhere between Limerick & Chaumont.

Most folks will probably not like the skewed horizon and the telephone wires, but I somehow do. The photo was a serendipitous creation. Just pointing the camera phone outage window without looking.

This photo was like the above with a skewed horizon but I cropped it to a straight horizon.

Both photos would admittedly be better without the wires, but on some level I like them.

Sunday April3, 2022 Fired up Charcoal Grill and more

 It wasn't significant or special that I fired up my charcoal grill today to grill some chicken. I grill here in the North Country all Winter long, whenever it strikes my fancy. The trick with charcoal is to use a lot of lighter fluid on it. Don't e stingy with it. It gets ready quicker and doesn't smolder out. 

Earlier in the day the Better Half & I took a drive to Alexandria Bay, just for kicks, returned home via picking up Route 37 in Redwood to Watertown. That route takes us right by Longways where we stopped and had a late lunch. We each got Ruben sandwiches. 

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I light up some charcoal in my old Brinkman All-in-One grill  for cooking some chicken.  I use a lot of lighter fluid to start. The pyromaniac in me loves the visual.