Relaxin' Adirondack Style

Yesterday was a great day.   First thing, Earl and I tackled the dump truck again.  We had mounted the repaired air brake tank the day before, but when we started the truck Earl noticed a serious gas leak at the carburetor and we shut it down.  Upon close inspection, we found that the female fitting on the carburetor was an NPT pipe thread and the male fitting a straight thread.  Some previous owner really messed up.  This posed no problem to Earl, of course.  He put the straight thread fitting in his lathe, tapered it, and rethreaded it.

Back at the dump truck, we reinstalled the fitting and started the truck.  It still leaked a little, probably because the carburetor threads were messed up a bit.  Earl and I looked at it, Earl puffing on his pipe.

"When the engine gets hot, the gasoline on the manifold will just evaporate." I offered.

Earl gave me a sideways look, shrugged his shoulders and shut the hood.

"See if you can move the truck."

I revved the engine and tried to rock the truck back and forth between first and reverse.  It didn't move.  I got a big hammer, crawled under the truck and smacked the spring release cylinders a few times.  This truck hadn't moved in six years.  They were probably stuck.

I got back in the truck, revved the engine, rocked the truck, and it inched forward.  I gave it more gas and the brakes released, and away I went down the driveway.   Slowly, because there was six years of dirt on the windshield and I couldn't see much.  I was worried I might drive it into a tree or something.  I backed the truck up into position on the foundation site.

It sure is a pretty sight, isn't it?

With our day's project done and temps shooting into the 90s again, we accepted an invitation to visit James' "camp" on Caroga Lake.  I put "camp" in quotation marks because it's not a camp the way I think of a camp.  This is really a nice little house, more of a summer home, with a wonderful front porch right on the water.

I took my camera along.   Those of you who wandered over here from our Drift Away blog know that I love photography, especially impromptu snapshots.   

As I sat on the porch, I realized something.  One thing that Adirondack Americans know how to do is burn gas.   No.  I take that back.  One thing that Adirondack Americans know how to do is to have fun.  Most likely because summer is so short  up here, you have to pack in a lot of summer fun in a short period.

Many local folks traditionally take off the last two weeks of July for vacation.  It's always beautiful weather in this area then, and hot, so all the leather mills and glove factories would shut down.   Many folks still vacation here for those two weeks, even though the mills and factories closed long ago, and they were out in force on Thursday afternoon.   

Here is the view from James' porch, in photos.

The local waterfowl, like this loon, seem to accept all this human activity...

like water off a duck's back.

Is there anything better than a gin and tonic on a hot day?   Yes there is.  Two gin and tonics.  Is there anything better than two gin and tonics on a hot day?  Yes there is... etc. etc.

James coaxed me into the water.  Notice his evil grin.  It was a frigid 78 degrees or so.  After about 30 seconds, I wisely got out and gave Pam and James a stern warning about the symptoms of hypothermia.

Keys.  I just liked the still life.

This must be an out-of-towner.  No motor.

James has a beautiful wildflower garden next to his "camp".  It is a most excellent year for day lillies up here.  They're everywhere.

By now, you might be thinking "Why are all these boaters going so fast?  It's a small lake.  What's the point?  Where are they going?"  They're not going anywhere.  They're trying to outrun the deer flies.

Taking the dog out for a ride.

A couple of hour visit turned into a seven hour visit.  I think we overstayed our welcome, but how do you pry yourself off an Adirondack porch like that?

What a great day.

Today, not so great.  It will probably be the hottest day of the year so far, in the 90s and sunny.  So Pam and I being who were are, never doing things the easy way, we've rented a U-Haul truck to move our stuff in storage up to TODD the Trailer.   Our storage unit is 10 x 20 and packed, so it will take two trips with our 8 x 17 truck.  Hopefully we can finish in the morning before it gets too hot.