Cabin Critters

Our rental cabin is small.  We like it though.  It's got a simple layout, and the cathedral ceiling in the main living area is nice.  Sassy likes the view from the second floor window.

There are two bedrooms upstairs, one being a bedroom and the other storage.  I can't get up and down the steep stairway too well with my neck brace on.  I can't look down, and there's no railing.  Luckily there is a sofabed downstairs and I use that.  The dogs think this was a great idea.  A good place to chew a bone.

And just when I'm ready to go to bed...

Keeping Busy

I just thought I'd give you a brief update.  I've been grounded since my neck breaking accident.  I can't work on the property or do any kind of lifting.  We don't have TV and our satellite internet bandwidth is limited.  So what do I do all day?

I've watched quite a few movies.  Today I watched Convicted, a mystery about a woman on death row.  Out of five stars, I'd give it maybe three.  I'm not a fan of mysteries.

I watched a dark comedy called Drowning Mona.  I'd give that one four stars.  Good movie.

I've decided to give writing a book a shot based on our cruising blog Drift Away, from buying it to living aboard in Stamford to cruising it up to Albany, New York and down to Jacksonville Florida.  I'll leave out most of the boat project stuff and just write about what it's like to live and cruise on a boat with dogs and cats.

I'd rather be writing about homesteading in Bleecker.  Maybe next year.

Rolling With The Punches

"Rolling with the punches".  That's an interesting phrase.  I have no idea where it came from.  But I'm guessing that it means that if you're going to get hit by a punch, so "roll with it" to lessen the impact.

I didn't roll so good when I was attacked by that demon tree, for sure.  Fell like a sack of potatoes is more like it.

"When life hands you lemons, make lemonade" is another.  Make the best of the cards you're dealt.

Man, I'm full of idioms today.  What's going on?

Pam and I are, if nothing else, flexible.  It's one thing I love about her.  When cruising on a boat you have to be.  There's always weather to be concerned about, and tides and currents.  You can't always be where you want to be, when you want to be.  And that's where we are now.

My broken neck bones means that we won't be living here in Bleecker this year like we hoped.  Dilly dallying architects saw to that.  We intend to get the foundation, well, and septic system done though, and I'm working on getting electric service at least to the pole at the end of our road.  Next year, we can make the basement livable and then start on the house itself.

So what will we do in the meantime?  I thought about launching Drift Away, but dealing with three dogs on board is very difficult, and even when I get this neck brace off, I'll probably be on limited duties.  So I think we're going to buy this motor home and head to Florida after the Christmas holidays.

No, just kidding.  This one.  It's an old class A "Bounder".

It even has a little tubbie.

Pam's brother Chip is selling this.  His wife will be returning from serving in Afghanistan in October and will be working in Washington DC.  Chip got himself a job at the Pentagon and right now he's in training in... are you ready for this?...  Brunswick Georgia.  He's selling off his house, motorhome, boat, and a whole bunch of other stuff.  If we buy his motorhome, it's win-win.  He sells the motorhome, and we're not living in a cardboard box under a bridge.

What about Drift Away, our trawler?  Why not just go back to the cruising life?  Pam and I both love the boat, and Drift Away is a great boat, but I think we've shifted gears and our focus is now on building our little farmstead.  If we were wealthy, I'd keep Drift Away.  But we're not.  We can't afford to do both.

If Drift Away is not sold, we'll visit it in Green Cove Springs and clean it up.  Some bone headed yacht broker showed the boat and left the hatch to the flybridge open.  It  got rained on for a few weeks and I've heard it's moldy and stinky.  Stench never helps when selling something.  Depending on my physical condition, maybe I'll even paint it and fix some of the interior paneling that's water damaged.

In the spring, we'll drive the motorhome back north and live in it on our property in Bleecker while building our house.  It would be nice to be on our property while working on it.  

Leo Pard

We got Leo about a month ago.  He mysteriously showed up at Judi's and Earl's house.  Pam was taking care of Jeremiah the Horse when she heard meowing, and there he was.

We obtained two other cats about the same time, Sassy and Puss Puss.  Puss Puss went AWOL shortly after we got her, perhaps to look for a home without so many dogs.

Sassy and Leo Pard turned out to be great hunters.  They quickly cleared our Unabomber Cabin out of mice.  That's not the end of it though.  We live in the woods, surrounded by nature.  Yesterday, Leo was in his glory hunting anything that moved.  And, for some reason, he felt he needed to bring everything to me to show me.  First, it was grasshoppers.  He brought in at least a dozen.  It was OK though because he ate them.

But then he brought in a Chickadee, my favorite bird along with Friggin' Pelicans.  I wasn't too happy about that.

Then I caught him with a shrew.

I'm not exactly sure what the difference is between a mouse and a shrew, but shrews have long pointed snouts.

I may have saved the shrew.  Leo wasn't too interested in eating the shrew having filled up on grasshoppers and so was mainly just playing with it, tossing it about and pawing at it and such.  The shrew played dead.  I picked it up by it's tail and tossed it out the door, much to the dismay of Leo who frantically searched for it everywhere.

In house news, Pam and I are making new plans.  My neck injury has me totally out of commission for awhile, so even if we get the well drilled and the foundation poured, I can't finish it off.  That will have to be a project for next year.  Once we finalize things, I'll let you all know what we're doing, but rest assured that it will be typical for us.  

Let's Go To The Fonda Fair!

This year was the 172nd running of the Fonda Fair in Montgomery County, the county just to the south of Fulton County where we live.  Since Fulton County doesn't have a county fair, we've all adopted the Fonda Fair as our own.

The Fonda Fair is your typical county fair, a mix of agricultural stuff and tacky amusement park attractions.  Perfect.

Here I present the Fonda Fair, in pictures.  Yep, lots of photos of livestock.

Just two days old.

Love the bump on her noggin.

It seems I sired something.

Seriously?  You're at a county fair and you're playing with your phone?

You too?

I loved the horses.  What majestic animals.

The judge giving instructions.

Umm.... crazy.

Teaching her son how to drive.

Ewwww!   No kissing!

Milking time for the goats.

Alpaca.

The business end of a John Deere.

This would work so much better with air in the tire.

Meatsause?

The root beer truck has been going to fairs for over 75 years.  And what great root beer!  The best I've ever had.

You can see the carbonation pump behind Grant.

Gail and Grant.

The Snake Woman!  Half snake, half woman!  It was amazing!

I didn't go in to see Spidora.  Maybe next year.

Judi, Pam's mom.  She just had a foot operation and will be laid up for some time.

I think the  pit crew needs to change those tires.

Check out these antique chainsaws!

I have no idea what this machine does.

This was labeled as a bobsled.  It's actually a ripper.  See the bell on the front?  People would ride these down the hills in the Mohawk Valley.  People were positioned at intersections to stop automobiles as these things raced down the roads.  In Amsterdam, they'd ride from Sanford Farms all the way down to the Mohawk River.  Yes, people have been killed on these things.

Ah... fun times at the fair.  It's good to be home.