When will it be over?

Okay, I've had enough. Icy sidewalks, short walks, crabby owners, how much can one dog take?

Baby Shower

Toni and I went to a baby shower for Jim & Karen's daughter Chris. I haven't been to one of these in over 30 years. At least I had the other guys there for support and the food was great. I think I'm covered for baby showers now until I'm 85.
Are those women laughing at us shower boys?

First Sign of Spring

Here it is January 23rd and we have robins in our trees and feeders.
Can spring be far off? Sorry about all the bird postings, but it's slow in the country.

How's Your Bird Feeder?

Our bird feeders are very active these days.

Ice Storm

We had an ice storm Wednesday 1/7. Here it is two days later and the ice is still on the trees. It's just beautiful when the sunlight hits the ice on the branches

Our Sears House

I was surfing the other day and I found this
advertisement for our house in the Sears 1936 catalog. Toni's grandfather Percy was a local builder in Wurtsboro and her grandmother was a real estate agent. Percy built my grandparent's house where my parents live today. He also built most of the other houses in Wurtsboro Hills.
So Percy ordered the plans and materials for our house from Sears. The cost was around $1,200.He used it to build our house in 1937 and at least one other in our town.He would just use the same plans over and over and he'd pick up the wood and materials where he could find them. We love our house, it has so many "Sears" conveniences like a built in ironing board, spice rack and a kitchen table that comes down from the wall. We added on to the house in 2006 but we tried to keep the integrity of the style.

Happy 2009!

We had our annual New Year's get together at Mike & Cheryl's in CT. this year. Getting there was half the fun. New Years Eve the temperature was nine degrees and the winds were howling at 30 mph. Snow kept drifting across the roadways. A fun trip. Jim threw his back out so the Kilgores couldn't make it, but Maur & Eric flew in from FL. We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant in Brookfield, where we were the only brave souls in the place. We watched the ball drop on Mike's new 50 inch HD TV. New Year's Day Cheryl made a wonderful breakfast. Cory dropped by with the Jack & Ryan. Before we drove home we stopped at Stew Leonard's and ate all the free samples they had to offer. A good start to the New Year.