Saturday, April 21, 2012

Being a New Yorker

Maybe I should wait to publish this until I feel like a real New Yorker, but when will that be. What does it feel like to be a New Yorker as opposed to a New Jerseyite or a Floridian or a South Carolinian? Things aren't that different here, except a lot of things are cheaper, but not gas for the car. You can't tell by the weather that you're way up in upstate New York. There are less people living in this general area than there are in central New Jersey and a lot more open space. There are rolling hills, forests, streams and ponds. The other day we went with Anne's brother, Andy to help with some maintenance at his cabin, less than an hour from our house. Nearby is Canadice Lake, one of the Finger Lakes. There is no development allowed on its shores so there are trees right down to the water. A gravel boat launch allows for canoes, kayaks and motors up to 10 hp. You could be in the Adirondacks, or Canada or anywhere. There is very little usage of it so it is very pleasant to go boating there. You can't swim in it because it is a water supply for the City of Rochester, but there is another lake, Honeoye, where swimming is allowed as well as larger motors for water skiing, etc. I'm told that fishing and kayaking around here is excellent. Our next door neighbor saw a bald eagle fly over our houses the other day. I don't know if I feel like a New Yorker yet, but it's a nice place to live up here in Webster, NY.

It is raining today so I decided to try to get my technological self in order. That's no small task, but I got all, or almost all, of my CDs onto my computer and iPod and I am updating my photos on Flickr. You can view them by clicking the clink to the right (a clink is a link that you click on). While doing so I have noticed that I have been remiss in my pictorial pursuits. One of my readers is putting me to shame in that category, but hopefully her efforts will spur me on to greater photographic accomplishments.

Above are pictures of Canadice Lake from the boat launch, from the South end and a picture of Andy's cabin.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

How Do They Do It?

These Blogspot guys are good. No sooner than I hit the "Publish Post" button on my last post, I got several ads for cabinets, racks and garage flooring. Someone is reading my Blog.

Hooray For Me

Today I got the second car in the garage. I have been working hard and thinking hard about this for a while. Mainly, I've been thinking about where to put the stuff that was preventing the second car from being in the garage. There will be a few extra things put out for the trash on Wednesday night. I also discovered that we are not utilizing our existing storage shelving in the most efficient way. I am working on that too. As one of my readers pointed out to me, once you throw something away, it gets easier. Of course, I've thrown things out or given things away before. It always seems that whenever I did that, about a week later I'm wondering what I did with that thingamajig and when I realize that I got rid of it, I wonder how I could have done that. I'm finding that having the space is better than having the stuff. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a computer program into which you could enter all of your stuff and the dimensions of the space that is available and then the program would tell you just how to organize everything? Pretty soon I will stop writing about organizing stuff, at least I hope I will stop soon, but at least, in terms of the cars, I'm ready for winter.

Today we did a little exploring and found a nice county park and a place to launch a canoe or kayak into Irondequoit Bay. It is about fifteen to twenty minutes from our house. On the next nice day we will explore Mendon Ponds, about a half an hour away. I think I should stop writing now so I can go get a chair and sit in the garage and admire my handiwork.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Now That It's Spring, It's Cold

I want the Winter to return when it was warm. It's downright chilly out there now that Spring has arrived. I was planning to work outside today to spiff up the rock (slab, flat stone) patio off of our deck. We removed a large holly bush that was obscuring a view of our pond. Well, it barely qualifies as a pond. It's more like a deep puddle. It is one of those plastic basins that you dig into the ground and let a water feature dribble water into it. I didn't install it, the previous owners did. It's nice. It has a large rock from which water pours to create the waterfall effect. Anyway, it was too darn cold and raw this morning to make me want to stay out there. Besides, my whole body was sore from hauling mulch from the town hall yesterday. We made two trips with the minivan and got some really nice mulch for the garden and some nice wood chip mulch for a garden pathway that we are constructing. The only trouble with the garden mulch is that it's mixed with horse manure, which is great for the garden, but not so great for the nostrils. Anne tells me that the aroma will dissipate. I hope it dissipates before Sunday when we will be hosting Easter dinner.

Not having the stamina to work outdoors, I descended into the cellar to continue to get my workshop in order. I have to say that progress is being made, both in the cellar and in the garage. I predict that one of these days, both cars will reside in the garage. When I got back up to ground level, I said to Anne, "I feel good. I got a lot accomplished this weekend." Then, of course, I realized that I had more weekend to come. It's nice being retired, when every day is Saturday..

We visited New Jersey last week, stayed in Basking Ridge, celebrated March and April birthdays, saw Katie Rose in Woodbridge High School's rendition of Cabaret (great show) and drove to Virginia to visit with Anne's sister and her husband. Living way up North now, I had forgotten what traffic was like until I hit the beltway around DC. They sure have a lot of cars down there.