Animal Move Successful

The 4 hour hour trip to Philadelphia with Happy and Charlie went better than expected. Happy, who hadn't been in a car for 15 years, was surprisingly calm for the whole time. He really has mellowed in his old age. And Charlie, like most dogs, thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Once we were in Philly Martha took Charlie for a walk and realized our country bumpkin dog has a lot to learn about urban life. The abundance of new smells, other dogs, street noise and pavement was a bit overwhelming for her.

Happy, relaxing on the familiar futon in Greg's office.

Charlie with Jenny, her new master.

Caged Cat!

For the past two weeks I've been wondering how we are going to move our cat, Happy, to Philadelphia where Greg and Jenny are going to adopt him and our beagle, Charlie. Charlie is easy but Happy hasn't been off the property or in a car since we brought him home 15 years ago. Because our vet always came to the house if needed he's never been in a cat carrier which we don't have. While considering some antique wooden boxes I had as a potential cat carrier I found a wire dog crate we had in the barn. Now, I just couldn't picture Happy going willingly into the thing. Fortunately the crate is 6 separate panels that connect together to form a rectangular cube. Since Happy is more or less a senior citizen of the cat world he sleeps a lot and always in the same bed which he commandeered from Charlie not long ago. We placed his bed on the dog crate base and slowly added more cage panels over the course of a week. Now he sleeps in the cage about 12 hours a day. How will he react when we carry him out to the car?

We got Happy at the animal shelter over 15 years ago. He was named Happy because he was from a litter of seven kittens, all named after the seven dwarfs. He's 14 years old in this photo. Handsome boy!

Home Base for the Summer

Yesterday we moved Dessy about 40 miles from the storage facility in Dover Plains, NY to Sylvan Lake Beach Park in Hopewell Junction, NY Sylvan Lake Beach Park. This will be our part time/full time home for the next 5 months depending on how the sale of our house goes. Sylvan Lake campground was chosen because it is the only campground for a 75 mile radius of our house and jobs. Westchester, Dutchess, Fairfield and Litchfield counties simply do not have any RV camping sites whatsoever. That aside, Sylvan Lake seems like it should be nice with new 50 amp service, cable TV, shade trees and plenty of space. Since we rented the space for the 5 months they are open we are considered "seasonal campers". We are curious to see how many overnight or short term people will use this facility as this is not what we would consider a tourist area. It's also not easy to get here by RV. Despite the fact that it is less than a mile from the Taconic Parkway, RVs can't use the Taconic. We shall see.

Urban Wonders

For the past eleven years that I have worked in Mount Vernon, New York I have usually taken a 30 minute walk at noon time, weather permitting. While I have explored every neighborhood for a fifteen minute radius the walk I take most often brings me through an industrial area which eventually gets me to a Caribbean market where I like to shop. The industrial route also doesn’t have much traffic so waiting to cross the street and breaking my momentum isn’t a problem. Having lived most of my life in rural Connecticut the urban lifestyle I experience here has been fascinating to me. One of the things I pass on this route never fails to make me laugh. Right in the middle of this collection of auto repair shops, next to a huge commercial laundry and directly across the street from a scrapyard, sits a tiny restaurant.

The street of many industries with several trucks waiting to enter the scrapyard today. White arrow points to the tiny restaurant; Mike's Pizza.

Mike's Pizza, under new management. The sign says open 7 days a week. There was a padlock on the door today. Maybe he's out to lunch. Most days there are at least a couple people eating lunch here.

View of the scrapyard directly across the street from Mike's Pizza.

The Caribbean Supermarket offers great produce and fresh fish at very reasonable prices. I am after Haitian mangoes today which are just coming into season. They are soooo good!

The whole fish is stacked two feet high and packed on ice. Whether it's a dozen oysters or a couple salmon fillets, it's help yourself service here. I like that!

If you buy a whole fish, one of the three amigos at the counter will dress it for you for tip money. Life is good!

Less Than Six Months to Go!

With less than six months to go it's sell, sell, sell. I started this process well over a year ago and still there is always more. Thank god for eBay and Craigslist! I've sold so much on eBay that I have had Powerseller status for the last nine months. You can check out my current items here: link
This past week was excellent with the sale of two woodworking machines and two large pieces of furniture. By offering delivery to the New York City area I have greatly increased my sales of these large items. Our truck driver has been more than happy to take a furniture item to anywhere in the tri-state area for $50. The buyers love it!

Now it's crunch time to get the house ready. I managed to fit the punch list on one page using small text. Details to follow.

How do you like the new look for the blog? Playing around with html and all this stuff is soooo much fun!

The roll top desk found a new home in New Jersey.

My shaper and jointer sold quickly for good prices. Out of 15 floor machines only 5 remain.

This antique Edwardian Demilune cabinet was one of my favorite things. Now it resides on Manhattan's lower east side. Was it hard to part with? Nah, its not like I can take it to the grave with me. LOL