Grilled Jerk Wings Todaay

 

A nice winter day for grilling wings in Chaumont. NY.

Got out of bed about7:00 this morning. The weather was cloudy, short period of very light snow. By the afternoon the Sun came out. Beth and Abby stopped by for a couple of hours. I made some guacamole this afternoon and then about 4:00 started a charcoal fire in the grill and cooked some Jamaican Jerked chicken wings.  High temp today was 30 degrees. Was down to16 degrees when I lit the charcoal. Currently at 11:00pm it is 8 degrees. Health app on the iPhone recorded 10,448 steps. A lot of those came from me shoveling the layer of snow off our walk and driveway. 

Backyard in state of disarray. Grilled wings in 14 degrees weather. It was quite pleasant.

Our 2025 Christmas Tree

Our 2025 Christmas Tree, before and after

 Monday, December 8, 2025 we got our Christmas tree. It was a sunny, cold day. The low temp overnight was 0 degrees, the high was 19.  We took a drive to Garden and Grove (formerly Hemlock Haven) in Sandy Creek to see what they had for trees. We immediately found one with a nice shape and size. Price was $65.00.  On way home we stopped for lunch at Nu Pier Restaurant on RT 3, Sackets Harbor. It has been there for a long time but we had never been there before. The establishment is somewhat small, food was good and looked to have a small but pleasant bar room off the dining room. The BH had a turkey club sandwich and french fries. I had an Italian sausage sandwich with macaroni salad and a Sierra Nevada IPA beer. We got home and set the tree up in the stand and waited until the next day to decorate it.

Interior view of Garden and Grove, Sandy Creek, NY

Exterior view of Garden and Grove, Sandy Creek, NY

Dining room of Nu Pier restaurant, Sackets Harbor, NY

Broke a Couple Favorite Bowls

This morning the Better Half was clearing the dishwasher and putting dishes away when a couple of our favorite bowls slipped out of her hands and broke on the counter. No one was injured but we were a little bummed out. These were nice, heavy duty bowls from Italy that we have had for many years. 

It snowed lightly most of the day with temperatures reaching a high of 34 and a low of 27 degrees. I shoveled the driveway and walk. My iPhone recorded I took 8,040 steps today. 

Broke a couple of favorite bowls todays.

Snowy Day Today and Sore Neck

Snow in Chaumont, NY today.

It snowed moderately to lightly most of the day today, accumulating about 5 inches by 3:30. A neighbor said it was supposed to stop by 7:00pm. We will see. Otherwise I laid low today having woke up with a sore neck and shoulder. I feel it's how I slept last night. The pain / discomfort has increased throughout the day. I was able to replace a fluorescent bulb in one of our  kitchen ceiling lights though. The photos here are just some quick snaps I took from our yard in Chaumont, NY

Snow in Chaumont, NY today.

Snow in Chaumont, NY today.

Snow in Chaumont, NY today.

Snow in Chaumont, NY today.

Cold Morning and Cooked A Turkey

 

Yesterday, (Friday) the 5th of December, It was 10 degrees at 7:00 am. Overnight the temperature went down to 1 degree. The previous day I thawed a 15 pound frozen turkey by immersing it in cold water, changing it every 30 minutes. 7 or 8 hours later it was thawed. I kept it in a cooler overnight in the back shed hoping it would remain safely cold until morning but not refreeze or partially refreeze. When I opened the cooler the temp was a safe 34.5 degrees. Perfect. We cooked the bird and had a nice dinner around 5:00pm. Oddly for me I never snapped a photo of the cooked turkey. I will say it was delicious. Earlier at 2:00pm  I met sisters Sue and Carol at Al's place in Calcium. The were returning from an overnight in Albany where the attended a live show with actor comedians Steve Martin and Martin Short. They said it was a great show.

Thawed turkey in a water bath, changing the cold water every half hour or so.

Kept thawed turkey overnight in the cooler where it remained at safe temperature of 34.5 degrees.

Guitar at Ives Hill Retirement Community

 

Me at Ives Hill Wednesday Dec3, 2025. Was unable to open
this photo in Photoshop so took a screen shot of it on my phone.

Awoke yesterday morning to sun and temperature of 16 degrees. Didn't accomplish a lot but played a guitar gig at Ives Hill Retirement Community from 4:00 to 5:00 which went over well with my audience. Good compliments afterward. Personally it wasn't one of my better presentations. I arrived early enough and set up in The Lodge. Ten minutes before show time I learned I was in the wrong building. I should have been in the building across the street. I quickly packed up, moved to other building, set up and got started less than 10 minutes late. HOWEVER, this mishap flustered me, threw me off my game. I got off to a rough start, fumbling a bit on the first pieces, gradually recovered and regained control of myself. The people there however, were very pleased, very enthusiastic. For myself, the weakest pieces were some Christmas songs I was sight reading, not having memorized them. Overall, I enjoyed it much.

Yesterdays high and low temps, Chaumont, NY

Porch Corner Post Installed

 Monday, December 1, 2025

New corner post in place on side porch.

Today I installed the new corner post on our side porch. Temperature never surpassed 30 degrees. For the most part it was sunny making outdoor work pleasant. This post is considerably smaller in girth than the one it replaces.  I constructed the post a number of days ago. Inclement weather had me painting it in the basement as I waited a fair day for installation. 

New side porch corner post in place.

Christmas Lights Up Today

It was perfect day for stringing up Christmas lights.

It was a beautiful day here in Chaumont, NY. Sunny, pleasant, had a high temp of 43 degrees. I strung up some outdoor Christmas lights on our front porch.   In the afternoon I visited Orion Art Gallery in Watertown for about an hour and a half. Picked up a pizza at Art's Jug at 4:00 and was back home befor 5:00. All in all a nice day.

Street lights cast shadows of tree branches on the outside of our house.

Where does Time Go?

 I made a post here on November 9. The next one was today the 22nd. There is MUCH that has happened in the days in between. I'll try tomorrow to fill in some of that.

Kia Sedona Serpentine Belt, Tensioner, NY State Inspection

My 2011 Kia Sedona van this morning.

Yesterday I dropped my 2011 Kia Sedona van off at Main Auto Parts in Watertown, NY to have the NY State annual safety and emissions inspection as well as hd them replace the serpentine belt and belt tensioner. the tab for that came to $403.40 BTW, $21.00 of that was for the NYS inspection fee.

The tab for NY State inspection, derive belt and belt tensioner

Usually when I drop one of my vehicles off somewhere for a repair I have the Better Half or my Celebrity Brother meet me, pick me up, or whatever. They were both incapacitated. The BH was very sick for 2 days with vomiting and other issues. My CB was still recovering at home after 5 days in the hospital with a c diff infection. SO, my daughter S picked me up at the garage and drove me back home to Chaumont. Later in the day I needed a ride back to the garage to pick up the repaired van. This time my grandson JJ's girlfriend came out and picked me up. That was particularly nice because it gave me some one on one time with her. She is a most wonderful, kind person. (Very pretty too.)  J and her have two beautiful young children also. 

First Snow and Pickled Garlic

 

Freezing rain on our car today in Chaumont, NY.

Awoke this morning to snow falling. It was a light snow, sticking to the ground and outside objects. As day wore on it was more drizzling rain mixed with some snow and at one point it was freezing rain. Laid low today, checked in on Celebrity Brother Al as he recovers from prostate removal 10 days ago or so. Late in afternoon made some pickled garlic. Here is the recipe I used. This is first time I've tried it. 

Yesterday was a nice enough day that I painted a couple more boards for my ongoing side porch repair / rebuild. I also spent a couple hours with CB Al yesterday. His recovery has been quite painful at times and making him miserable. 

First snow of the winter season was accompanied with some freezing rain.

Made some pickled garlic today.

Painted porch trim boards yesterday.

Maple leaf on first snow and freezing rain.

A Trip to the Emergency Room

Last night, at 2:00 AM the Better Half woke me. She was in excruciating pain coming from her  lower back, right side. She has been experiencing pain in that area for some time, we figured it was related to her long time back issues that have a years long history. We arrived at Samaratin Medical Center in Watertown at 3:00. They concluded that she has a kidney infection. IV antibiotics were administered as well as some pain relief. We left the ER at 8:00 am. She was feeling well enough by then that we stopped at Shorty's diner for breakfast. Picked up prescriptions at Kinneys. At home we both dozed off and on a few times. About 2:00 I made some chicken soup. No rain today, some sunshine, pleasant, high temp of 44.

Yesterday I took my Celebrity Brother to his appointment with the doctor that removed his prostate. After I dropped him home and went to Wal-Mart and shopped some medical supplies for him. He is coming along ok, no longer needs the catheter, but  he is clearly somewhat weary as he recovers. The BH and I went back to his house late afternoon with couple more items for him. It rained most of the day. It was dark, dreary and miserable weather. 

Beautiful Day, Raked Leaves

My 2011 Kia Sedona van at Al's house. I unloaded 5 bags of leaf mulch
behind the shed. It was a beautiful day for outdoor work.

Yesterday (Sunday November 2) was a nice day here in the North Country. Sunny, high about 50 dgrees. I took down our Halloween decorations and stowed them away for next year. Then spent 3 hours raking and mulching leaves. I rake the leaves up into large piles and then take the lawn mower to them, chopping the leaves into a fine mulch. In recent years I dump the bagged leaf mulch behind my brotherAl's house in Calcium. He has been filling in a large section of hillside, slowly extending the yard. Al is recovering from prostate gland removal. His son Tim was there as well as brother Ron. I dropped off some Halloween candy bars we had left over from Halloween night. 

Halloween 2025 Steve Hunt Creations

 Halloween, Friday October 31, 2025

Steve Hunt house, Main St, Chaumont, NY, Halloween 2025

My neighbor down the street from me, Steve Hunt, has been creating some interesting sculptures. The photos I present here are of his home decorated for Halloween. 

As for us, we had our usual array of Jacko' Lantern string lights and inflatable. Nothing too elaborate. 

Halloween itself was rainy, windy and temperature in the high 40's. This put a damper on number of trick or treaters, even though the rain subsided for most of the evening. Last year we had 163 trick or treaters, a record number. This year we had 75. We bought 4 boxes of full size candy bars totaling 138 pieces. Bought at Sam's Club for about $150.00 Heather & Dave and their sons and girlfriends came over. Had some food and couple of beers. 

Steve Hunt house, Main St, Chaumont, NY, Halloween 2025

Steve Hunt house, Main St, Chaumont, NY, Halloween 2025

Steve Hunt house, Main St, Chaumont, NY, Halloween 2025

Steve Hunt house, Main St, Chaumont, NY, Halloween 2025

Porch Work, Lack of Sleep, Nice Day

 

Beautiful day in Chaumont NY. Side yard viewed from side porch.

Yesterday, October 28, 2025, was a beautiful day. Sunny, breezy, cool, temp in early 50's. I hd. shortage of sleep because I was up until 3:00am watching the 3rd baseball World Series Game between the LA Dodgers and Toronto Bluejays. The game went into overtime innings. Dodgers won in a walk off home run in the 18th inning. Consequently I was overtired and less ambitouse than normal. I did some work on our side porsh, accompanied the BH to a doctor appointment, picked up a grocery order from Hannaford's, had a guitar lesson at 4:30, went to Brother A's house and then to Sam's Club to buy Halloween Candy for Friday. Spent almost $140.00 for the candy. We bought a box of 48 Snickers bars and the 30 count boxes of assorted candy bars. Last year we had 163 trick or treaters, an all time record. This year it's supposed to be rainy so I imagine we will have fewer. 

Brother Goes In For Prostate Surgery

Brother Al ready for prostate removal surgery. He was upbeat and joking.

 I drove my Celebrity Brother A into the Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, NY for prostate gland removal. I got up at 4:15 am, left house in Chaumont at 5:00, arrived at his house about 5:30, got to the hospital at 6:00m, his check in time. At 7:30 he was wheeled into surgery. It's now 9:35. Procedure supposed to take about 3 and 1/2 hours. 

Rain Drops on Maple Leaf Photo

 

Raindrops on a maple leaf,   photo by Gary Walts

I snapped this photo of raindrops on a maple leaf back on September 25th. I took it with  Minolta 50mm f2.8 macro lens mounted on a Sony a6600 camera.

Today I finished cleaning the wood stove flue pipe, the part of the chimney system that is inside the house. A couple days ago I cleaned the chimney. It's ready for the first fire of the season. Normally I have this chore done much earlier in the season. I decided I should clean it in late spring or early summer at the conclusion of the heating system. 

It was sunny today, great autumn colors with a high of 5 degrees.

New Tires on Our 2019 Kia Sorento

 October 10, 2025: New Tires on Sorento

Sunset on the Taconic Mountains viewed from Hairpin Turn of Mohawk Trail, Clarksburg, Massachusetts

We recently had four new tires put on our 2019 Kia Sorento prior to taking a road trip. We had planned on a drive to Florida to meet H & D in Miami, however, several things cropped up including the fact that H & D got sick,  the Better Half was not feeling up to it due to her ongoing back ailments. So the BH and I decided to take a long weekend road trip to through Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine. (I still need to post some photos from that). 

Anyhow I opted to buy tires at Cheney Tires in Watertown. I've experienced great service and work at that shop. The tab for that came to $700.98 Cheney's, by the way was sold not long ago to Steve Shannon Tire and Auto Centers. 

Today is the Better Half's 77th Birthday

Wednesday October 15, 2025 

View from our backyard, Chaumont NY, a beautiful day.

Today is the Better Half's 77th Birthday. Outdoors it has been a lovely autumn day. Temperature at 55 degrees, clear sky, sunny, mild breeze. It simply can't get better than that. (Well, figuratively speaking.)

In the afternoon we took a drive, started by going down the Millens Bay Rd, having herd there was a nice farm stand somewhere along it. We came upon it and it was closed. Sign said it's open Saturday and Sundays. From there we made our way to Clayton and to Watertown. We had dinner at  the Texas Road House which was quite good. The tab came in at $100.00 and change. 

Here she is, my Better Half on her 77th birthday

My iPhone reports I walked 4,784 steps today.

Farm stand on the Millens Bay Road between Chaumont and Millens Bay

Farm stand on the Millens Bay Road between Chaumont and Millens Bay

The Texas Road House, Watertown, NY

Finished Kia Sedona Brake Job

 

New brake rotor, pads and caliper successfully installed on 2011 Kia Sedona

Today I finished replacing the brake pads, rotors and calipers on our 2011 Kia Sedona van. It came out great. Brakes and goes down the road nice and smoothly. Driver side rotor removal was difficult. The passenger side went smoothly EXCEPT: One of the bolts holding caliper bracket in place was very difficult to break free. But my large DeWalt battery powered impact driver got it apart. 

ALSO, a little trouble with passenger side caliper. Yesterday I Got new one at Auto Zone. Got home and discovered one of the pins was seized up. Could not budge it. Took it back. Watetown store didn't have another one but their Evans Mills Store did. I get home and go to install it and this one came with the wrong metal clips that the brake pads slide on! So back I go to Evans Mills and get the correct ones. This morning it all came together nicely.

I now need to get the exhaust system repaired. It's very loud. 

Later today I made a batch of Jamaican Jerk Marinade. In the evening we went to B & M's place for dinner. 

Reciept for brake purchased at Auto Zone.

New brake rotor, pads and caliper successfully installed on 2011 Kia Sedona