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