A SAD DAY HERE AT THE CABIN

S-TER

1996 - 2008

My goat S-ter died last night. She seemed to be fine yesterday. I will miss her!!!

She was 12 years old so I think she just died of old age.

GRANDKIDS HAVE GONE HOME

Mackenzie went home late yesterday afternoon. Gpa drove her half way to meet her Mom in Richfield Springs. We sure did miss her presence here last night. What a lot of fun she is.

While Gpa was gone with Mack, Jessie and I got subs and Dunkin Doughnuts and brought them home to eat. In the evening when Gpa got home we went to Cranberry Creek to watch the fish swim upstream to spawn. They hadn't started yet, someone there told us that they'll be moving upstream in a few days, so we missed them. We played Upwards and "pigged out" on junk for the rest of the evening.

Mack getting the mail for Gma and Gpa

Jessie and her cat, Little One. This cat weighs 16 lbs. We gave her L. O. years

ago, but she can't take it home because her Dad is allergic to cats.

Jess left this morning...sigh ! Her Dad got here about 8:30 and they left about 9. Jessie is such a neat teenager, didn't seem to get bored at all the whole time she was here and that's pretty good for a teen. She kept busy and seemed to enjoy everything we did, never complained.

Love ya Jess

Mack and Jessie and our dog Molly sunning themselves on our beach

One of the many activities of the week was to jog around the pond. It's 1/4 if a mile all the way around. I don't know how many times they ran around it. Mack did real well to keep up, but I'm sure Jessie had to slow down a bit. (Jess is so patient with Mack who is only 7) Jess did get up one morning real early and ran around it by herself.

Thanks for a great week kids...we miss you.

JACKWAX

"Sugaring" is done for the season in our area. We just bought another fresh gallon from a local maple sugar sap house at $39.00 a gallon. We wouldn't use anything else on our pancakes, waffles, and biscuits!!! We also buy the maple cream which is made from boiling the sap down (thicker), then stirred 'til get gets to the consistency of creamy peanut butter. (maybe a little softer)

To make jackwax, you boil the maple syrup until it "hairs", like when you make fudge. The next step is to find real clean snow (we still have a huge pile of it that came off the roof of the barn), put the snow into pans, and then pour the hot concentrated sap over the snow. It immediately hardens to the consistency of taffy (and sometimes harder). Take fork and twirl it around the "candy" and ENJOY.

Years ago they had Jackwax parties, which was a big treat. They often took place after a group of young people would have been on a hay ride. They'd meet at someone's house where they'd prepare the sap, gather the snow in pans, and enjoy their treat.

Mackenzie's first taste. She loved it

Jessie liked it too.

GRANDKIDS HERE FOR THE WEEK

School is out for a week, so two of our younger grandkids are here for one their annual weeks vacation. Mackenzie is 7 and from Erieville, NY and daughter of our youngest daughter, Sue . Jessie is 15 and she is from Johnson City, NY. and is the daughter of our youngest son, Scott.

We have all kinds of attivities planned for the week.

Mackenzie (Kenzie) and Jessie

on the bridge that is named after their 4th great grandfather

who arrived in the USA in 1854 and settled near this bridge,

which is about 10 miles from our home.

THE ANSWER

Ok those who are curious about the stick. Here is your answer. It's a weather stick... check this website out http://www.snowsource.com/generalstore_davishillweatherstick.htm

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?

This is an instrument that is working everyday. It doesn't use batteries or electric power. Some times is sticks out straight and sometimes it points upward. As you can see, it is pointing down today. Just comment that you do or don't know what it is...the answer will come later.

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN ( I hope )

For those who don't know my husband, he is an incurable "Hudson Car" collector, and restorer. Right how he has 4 of them liscenced and running and a number in the wings ready to restore. ('36 Hudson Terraplane, a '47 Hudson truck, '49 Hudson, and a '52 Hudson)

Here are some of them. http://groups.msn.com/HudsonEssexTerraplaneBulletinBoard/unclejoshshudsons.msnw

Right now he is working on this 1940 Hudson Coupe. The reason I titled this "Miracles Do Happen", is that he is restoring this as I speak/write. I took these pictures today. Now the miracle will be.....we are driving it to Boston to the Annual National Hudson Meet in July of this year. Like that's .... in about 3 1/2 months. (He does all the work himself) I know he'll have it purring like a kitten by then, but not so sure about all the upholstery, painting, etc. As long as it runs he'll probably drive it, even if I have to sit on the floor (hehehe). He loves this hobby and gets excited over every little part that he gets cleaned up, repaired, or whatever that he does.

By the way, this Hudson is suppose to be mine.

Any suggestions on what color to paint it. As of now it's going to be black,

with white walls and of course lots of chrome that Hudson's are noted for.

CAMP COOKING in the ADIRONDACKS

I bought this cookbook last Fall while I was visiting the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, NY. I decided it was time to try some of the recipes. Last night I made the Cream of Carrot soup. My my, was it ever delicious. You must try it. Today I've made the Shepard's pie recipe. I'll let you know how that was.

I have a confession to make. I digressed some from the recipe and it was still exceptional. I didn't have any chicken stock (the neighbor had borrowed what I had) so I used Cream of chicken soup and added some water to it. I also used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream. It was delicious anyway!!!

A NICE SURPRISE THIS A.M. "A Crocus in bloom"

When I went outside this morning I was greeted with this crocus, what a nice surprise.

As you can see though we still have some snow but it is going fast.

The pond is still frozen over but we have 2 geese and 4 ducks

that have found a small patch of water to swim in.

This is so cute...and unbelievable!!!

Jennifer and Will kept getting huge water bills. They knew beyond a doubt that the bills weren't representative of their actual usage. But no matter how they tried to conserve, the high bills continued. Although they could see nothing wrong, they had everything checked for leaks or problems:first the water meter, then outdoor pipes, indoor pipes, underground pipes, faucets, toilets, washer, ice maker, etc. - all to no avail. One day Will was sick and stayed home in bed, but kept hearing water running downstairs. He finally tore himself from his sick bed to investigate, and stumbled onto the cause of such high water bills. Apparently this was happening all day long when they were not at home. Knowing that few would believe him, he taped a segment of the 'problem' for posterity.

Saturday Afternoon ... ADK Woodworkers Show

After I got home from the Antique show I rode to Saratoga with friends where we went to an Adirondack Woodworkers Show. Larry stayed home and worked on his Hudson.

A man from Northville's creation

This was made by another Northville craftsman. His wife was our high school principal until a couple of years ago. I didn't know he was a woodcrafter. He got third place for this.

Saturday Morning Antique Show

Larry and I went to the Mayfield Historical Society Annual Antiques Show this morning. Not only do they have a good variety of neat antiques and treasures, but we see lots of our friends, neighbors and town folks there. I found a few "treasures" as did a couple of my friends that I saw there. Below is my favorite. It's a log cabin incense burner (an old one) I have one that's maybe 1o yrs old but it doesn't compare to this one. It's 4 1/2 inches long, 3 1/2 inches wide and 3 1/2 inches high.

I couldn't pass this up. Don't know what I'm going to do with it, but it brought back memories of the farm I grew up on and all those baby chicks that arrived in the Spring. It's been tole painted..paid too much for it, but I wanted it. Got any suggestion of how I can use it in my decore?

The library had lots of "free" books but kindly suggested a donation. These caught my eye. Two of our grandkids are coming for a visit next week, so thought the craft book might be something they'd like. I always have a project for them to do while they are here.

Early Morning Fog on our Pond

Last Fall my cousin Tom and his wife Ginger visited us from California. Just today he emailed me this picture that he took of our pond. Remember the loons "On Golden Pond"? These are Adirondack Loons. There is activity every day on the pond. Soon the blue herons will arrive, then the green herons and many kinds of ducks. Some stay a few days and move on, some visit every day or so. We even had a eagle land on our beach one day, he was after the baby geese, but the adult geese were able to chase him off with their wings. It was quite a sight to see. As summer and these birds arrive, I'll post pictures of them.

Restaurant Creamer Collection

HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEETING

Last night was our monthly historical society meeting. The program for the evening was "Our Collections are History". Each member was encouraged to bring in one of their collections and "show and tell" about it. The meeting proved to be very interesting, among others there were; miniature houses, H.O. trains, miniature cars, dolls, NY Giant football cap collection, cylinder records, old dishes, old local postcards, and my collection of restaurant creamers. They were all displayed on a table in the center of the room and each person in turn told how they started the collection, how long they've collected and any stories behind items.

There are/were a number of companies that made these creamers for restaurants and hotels. Some of them had the restaurant/hotel logo painted/stenciled on them. I'm not sure if they still make creamers because now we have the little disposible ones. The restaurant supply companies still make dishes for restaurants and hotels. Some of them have their names on them, others just a pretty design. In my collection I have several different companies represented. (Syracuse, Mayer, Iroquois, Jackson, Sterling,Shenango & Ononadaga)

SPRING HAS ARRIVED (I think)

THEY HAVE ARRIVED
The first geese flew in this morning and I got to see them as they landed in what water is exposed. For many years we would have one pair of geese come and stay for the summer and raise their family. We enjoyed watching the family grow as their parents taught them how to fly, bathe/duck under water, and to follow them in a straight line around the pond. Yes, they were messy but it was only for about 3 months, then they'd leave for who knows where . Just before they left for the winter they would always come back for a day, I guess to say good bye and thank us for the use of our pond. The last couple of years they have only stayed a short time, and didn't raise a family here. We think because we had a resident fox and we think he got into their nest one time, so they don't stay here, only fly in once in awhile.

I know it doesn't look like Spring because the pond is mostly frozen over. The many deer that we have here are still walking across it. We still have a foot or so of snow, 2 ft in the woods.

Mommy and Daddy Goosums and their babies several years ago.

OUR LOCATION

I thought maybe you'd like to see where I/we are located. The large lake is a man made lake called "The Great Sacandaga Lake." Due to flooding down the Hudson River and need for a water power plant, a dam was built in late 1920's, which flooded the area where you now see this beautiful lake. It destroyed many old homesteads, farming, many communities and was a sad thing for those who lost their homes, businesses, churches, schools, cemeteries etc. Today it is a beautiful lake as it serves as a recreational area as well as flood control and power generator.

This picture was taken before our new bridge was built in 1990. Note our village is a peninsula. You can also see our beach area and pond by our cabin. It's a beautiful area in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains of New York.