Back and Bach in Schuyler Lake

MonkeyCat all tucked into The Hub's coat, only his little head peeking out. I am back home after a short trip to NJ (see previous post). I was down there just long enough to miss the end of summer up here. We are now getting the chillier weather we should have had weeks ago...not that anyone is complaining!

If I can get this video to upload, you will hear the young Lucian Lytel bringing Bach (on the viola) to the Little White Church Coffee House in Schuyler Lake.

Cheagle? Behuahua? Chihoundhound?

Lucky in the bank

New pressure-treated deck

It's official, Little Sister's new puppy is a mystery mix. We have since found out that her Mama was a chihuahua mix, possibly some corgi in her. We will never know what Papa is, but guessing a mix as well. If there is shepherd in there, it is only providing the coloring and the long legs, certainly not the size. We think beagle or hound is the cause of the floppy ears (certainly not a chihuahua or corgi thing). She did gain a pound or 2 in the week+ that LS has had her. Up to 15 lbs at 4 months, vet says maybe 25 all grown up. I'm thinking 30 lbs, which is just perfect.

Inspecting the firepit repairs

Went to NJ for the weekend and spent lots of quality time with Little Sister and the puppa. Took her all over on Monday while LS was in school. We bought some deck stain at Lowe's (for the new deck!), we went to PetSmart (of course) and she even patiently waited in the bank while I filled out the papers for our new landlord/tenant account.

New tenant in the NJ house is a blessing! She is the daughter of some old volleyball friends of mine. I gave her free reign to do whatever she wants in the house, because I am sure she has good taste. She has already made some huge improvements, mostly painting, but also her Pop updated a lot of the electrical outlets so we could pass our code inspection.

Palmyra Code Office has not been a blessing, but we have passed almost all of the hurdles. Brand new deck in the back thanks to Jeff Skertic! Shame on us for never sealing the cedar deck we had done in 2004(?). Firepit is repaired (inspected by Number 1 Inspector Lucky). 3 windows fixed. Getting chimney liner for old brick chimney. It hasn't been cheap, but once all these repairs are done and tenant is done with her remodeling of my old house, I think we will have an easier time selling it when we put it back on the market next year. Unless of course we convince said tenant to buy it!

Recognize my old living room? Me either!

The Sheagle Has Landed!

Little Sister sadly lost her beloved pup Jersey Girl 2 weeks ago. Devastated was her word to describe her loss.

In her search for a new companion, she came upon this little sweetie—a rescue puppy from Hurricane Harvey's attack on Texas. We have been having fun trying to come up with the mix of breeds in this little one, and we settled on shepherd/beagle. Mom was only 17 pounds, but dad had to be larger because 4-month-old puppy is already 17 pounds.

Since everyone seems to love designer dogs with goofy names, I came up with Sheagle for this little girl, and I gave her a pink cowgirl hat because she came from Texas, and it has a little tiara on the hat because currently the pup is named Tiara.

I am sure Little Sister will have fun coming up with a better name for her. She is picking her up somewhere in New Jersey as we speak.

The other 3 photos are to prove what a strange summer/fall we are having. It is mid-October and the flowers are still blooming, bees still buzzing. Actually these little bumblebees seem to have died in place. There are more than ever, having a party on all the flowers that remain, but a few are just clinging to their
last blossom, and then they fall to the ground, poor bumbles!

The Erie Canal

The Husband's sister Susan and her husband Joe came north for a visit this Columbus Day weekend. They were lucky to catch not only some leaf color, but also 2 days of pretty nice warm weather. Of course today they have to drive back to PA through the remnants of Hurricane Nate, but it's not supposed to be too bad.

It is grey and rainy here today. The brightest part of our morning was breakfast with Sue and Joe at The Barnwell Inn where they stayed for the weekend. Thanks to Tara and Mark, now we don't have to eat for the rest of the day. Husband got some of his favorite peach cobbler.

Yesterday we abused our visitors by taking them on a tour of the Erie Canal. It is something we have been wanting to do... We like to avoid the tourist traps unless we have relatives we can drag along.

Captain Jerry made the trip quite interesting with that tour-bus-driver kind of chatter along the way. Other than the lock itself, there really isn't much to see, but we were pleasantly entertained by his knowledge of the history of the canal.

We went to Lock 18 where they lower the boat 20 feet in some magical feat of engineering with no motors. The 100-year-old GE motors are only used to open and close the gates at either end.

This is the Bicentennial celebration of the Erie Canal—begun July 4, 1817. The part we were on was not the original, but built in 1905 (?). Parts of the original canal were visible, including in front of the Fort Herkimer Church. Nicholas Herkimer, legendary Revolutionary War general in the Battle of Oriskany, was commander at the fort.

And here's my bit of historical chatter:

The brother of General Nicholas Herkimer, Hendrick Herkimer, was owner of the Herkimer Farm. Our little 20 acres is a small part of the old Herkimer Farm. The Herkimer Cemetery is just a few feet from our property line, and the original home from the late 1700s and the hop-picker's barn (AKA Charlie's Magic Barn) are at the end of our driveway.