Noise Pollution

We live in a very quiet pleasant urban neighborhood... most of the time. Sure, sometimes it gets a little noisy from the traffic going past our house during commuter rush hour as the folks in the suburbs use our neighborhood as a cut through on their way downtown. The recent installation of the speed humps on our street and throughout the neighborhood have toned down that problem somewhat.

The past few days have been very noisy around here for a different reasons. People have been working on their home, hired contractors and have had a lot of tree trimming being done. That's all a very good thing but it sure gets noisy.

One guy spent two afternoons power washing his house using a very loud portable power washer. He did the driveway too. Another home had a very large tree in the backyard taken down and put into a chipper on the street. Extremely loud and an all day job. Another neighbor had a very large branch come down in some wind and had that cut up and taken away. A couple of days later they had the entire tree cut down and chipped. Our next door neighbor had the recently taken down tree's stump ground down to nothing. It only took a couple of hours but it sure was loud.

On the street behind our house there was a lot of work done on some roofs which was also very loud. Hammering and shouting too. Right behind our home the neighbor was working on his backyard pavilion with a lot of power tools. He played a lot of loud new agey music too LOL.

And then there are the airplanes. Once again the airport has shifted the runways because of renovations and the flight paths are again coming directly over our homes. I hear them early in the morning and then throughout the day. It's really annoying. I wrote about them a couple of times last year... airport runway and flight paths and the plane again. Hopefully that project will be completely over this Fall.

I'll end this little rant with a little comment about dogs. There are a lot of dogs on the block and most are fine. However, there is a little yappy dog down the street that spends a good part of the afternoon in their backyard with a very loud high pitched yappy bark that goes on and on. It's almost a block away and very distant sounding but still annoying. I can hear it when I'm sitting in the kitchen at my laptop and it is bothersome when I'm in the backyard reading. I can't imagine what the close by neighbors feel about that constantly barking dog.

Oh, and let's not forget the chickens. Most of the time they are quiet but sometimes something riles them up and they are noisy. Well, I'm ok with their noise.

Biden Drops Out

It was a shock today to see the headline of the NY Times... "Biden Drops Out and Backs Harris". Becky and I and Karen were sitting in the backyard talking and I just happened to look at my phone. I was going to look something up that we were talking about and I immediately saw a text message from a political group screaming that Biden had dropped out of the presidential race. I then looked at CNN and NYTimes as I told Becky and Karen what had just happened. Apparently he had made the announcement only minutes before. I checked and there was nothing on Facebook yet but that would change very quickly.

Cactus Bloom 2024

Our porch cactus bloomed this week and we were here to experience it. The blooming this year was unusual in that there were three flowers. In years past it was usually one flower and then there were a couple of years when there were two blooms. This was the first time there were three. Unfortunately only two completely bloomed for their one night flower.

I may have damaged one of them when I picked up the cactus pot to show the three potential blooms to the kids down the street. They were very excited as were a few other neighbors too. Olivia shouted "Mom, how come we don't have a cactus?" The third flower never bloomed. 

That was Thursday afternoon and the cactus looked ready to bloom which of course it did that night. On Friday morning the blooms still looked great but as the day went on the flowers started drooping. On Saturday they were all depleted and sad. All gone. I took the last picture today and later we will probably take off the used up blooms.

Our porch cactus history of one night blooms

• 2018 - first bloom, one flower, mid July
• 2019 - out of town and missed the bloom, mid July
• 2020 - one flower, mid July
• 2021 - one flower, mid August
• 2022 - one flower, mid July, out of town and missed it
• 2022 - two flowers, early September, first time two blooms in one year
• 2023 - out of town and missed the bloom, mid July
• 2024 - three flowers, mid July

An Interesting Garden

After dinner at Coles we walked back to our car with Karen and stopped at the open house at the Byrd Avenue Gardens of Brian and Gordon. We walk by that wonderful garden space all the time and it was very nice to walk through and talk with the guys about their amazing garden. We spent around twenty minutes in there. Karen was very interested in the space and the artist who was doing a painting in the garden.

We left the garden and went back to our house where we sat and talked until nearly midnight.

Karen's Dinner @ Coles

Last night we had dinner at Coles with Dave & Donna and Karen. She treated us and took the check. Her original plan was to take us out for dinner on Wednesday evening and fly back to CA on Thursday. That all changed with the passing of Bobby on Wednesday. Karen was able to change her flights to next week.

So we went out last night instead. We had a wonderful time and the food was great as usual. We love going there for a little something... sandwiches and pub food. When Karen asked about going to a place to take us all out to dinner Becky suggested Coles. It's good and inexpensive. Great selection of beers on tap too.

So we met them there. Apparently Dave and Donna don't go there very often if at all. I guess it's just not on their radar. Not like us. We go there regularly. I had their Clancy sandwich with pepper and onions. Always great. Everyone ate well except maybe for Donna who ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and ate half of it. Dave finished off his steak sandwich and had three beers on tap.

Karen came back with us. We had parked at our usual spot on Byrd Ave. There was an open garden at one of the homes there and we stopped in for a few minutes. It was spectacular. We walk by it all the time so it was nice to be able to go in and check it out. Karen loved it.

Then we went home to our house and sat and talked for a couple of hours. Becky dropped her off back at Dave's house around 11:45. We didn't get to bed until after midnight which is a bit unusual for us. We're not night owls like Dave and Karen.

On The Beach

Beach time. The kids love being on the beach and of course the adults love it there too. Every day we try to have some beach time for the kids regardless of whatever plans there are for the day. Except of course if it is a rainy stormy day which we did have a little of this year.

We arrived at Long Lake and the cottages around 3 pm and after we got settled in the cabins it was time to get down to the beach on the lake. Sunday was another beach day after we got back from Buttermilk Falls. We had quite a few more beach days throughout the week.

Family Dinner @ Adirondack Hotel

It's a family tradition to all go out to dinner at the Adirondack Hotel restaurant. We've been doing it for years... actually decades. There were probably too many of us earlier in the week when Dave and Donna were here along with Sean and Ashley and the kids. That would have been dinner for 15. We could have made it work but we we ended up going there on Thursday evening. It was me and Becky, Karen and Davo, along with Katie, Todd, Henry, Clara and Violet. We sat in the front area along the windows instead of the back porch where we have been at the past few years.

The waitress taking care of us has been waiting on us there for probably the past twenty years. We remember her well. We had a great meal and I had a spectacular fish sandwich... gigantic too. And of course I had an Ubu Ale on tap from Lake Placid Brewery.

The kids were wonderful at the restaurant. 

Lunch @ The Museum

We always have a little lunch at the Museum after spending some time looking at the exhibits. It's kind of a hassle but the kids like it and they need something to eat after a couple of hours walking around the grounds and buildings of the museum. It looked like it was going to rain so we got a couple of tables in the dining room rather than out on the patio. The patio tables were kind of dirty too so I grabbed some tables with

a lot of room. We needed seating for 12 plus a high chair. We got a corner of the room and had what we needed. The food was ok. The usual. We ate around 12:30 to 1pm. Earlier we had sat at a picnic table for a rest. After lunch the kids played on some swing sets. 

We left a little before 2 pm and it was a good thing. There were a lot of people going into the museum as we left but about an hour later there was a big storm that pushed through the area including some tornados and waterspouts on the lake. 

Adirondack Museum

Going to the Adirondack Museum is another family vacation tradition that we usually save for a rainy day. Wednesday was supposed to be one of those days and it was eventually but it was actually an ok day in the morning when we drove down to the museum in Blue Mountain Lake. We went down with Karen and Davo while Katie, Todd and the kids met us there. Sean and Ashley and the kids were there too.

We had a wonderful time as usual and it was fun to see Henry and Clara getting more into the exhibits. They were really enjoying the museum. The younger kids did too but you could see the difference in how the older kids absorbed all the information. They especially seemed to love the artwork and we could see that art gene showing up.

They also loved climbing on the train engine as usual. 

Buttermilk Falls 2024

We headed down to Buttermilk Falls on Sunday following our drive to the Adirondacks on Saturday. The family tradition continues and we take our photos on the rocks overlooking the falls. Sean and Ashely weren't there yet so they missed out on this trip to the falls. 

We hiked around the falls for a while and Todd took Henry and Clara exploring. They waded into the river and climbed up on an island which they renamed Henry & Clara Island. They had a great time.

Dave and Donna didn't want to go to the falls. The last time they were there, many years ago, Mary had stepped on a hornets nest and got multiple stings. They just didn't want to go there. Karen and Davo were in town and would have to go to the falls another time on their own.

After the falls it was time to celebrate Henry's birthday... 8 years old. Then it was down to the beach.

Long View Lodge Dinner

We decided to go out for a Sunday evening dinner at the Long View Lodge with Karen & Davo and Dave & Donna. 

I had a wonderful dinner of Utica Riggies which was chicken, sausage, sweet & spicy peppers roasted tomato sauce, cream, parmesan cheese asparagus and rigatoni pasta. It was delicious and a little hot 'n spicy. I wish I took a photo. Becky and Donna had the eggplant parmesan. Dave had a big beef & bacon burger while Karen had wedge salad but without the bacon. Davo asked about his dietary needs and they made him a special dinner that satisfied him completely. Becky and I both had some nice leftovers for another meal.

Dave and I both had a couple of Zero Gravity Conehead IPA drafts. Davo likes to have fancy cocktails and was making a big thing about the restaurant having a full bar but of course in NY State every bar is a full bar everywhere. We can go decades without hearing the expression full bar but Davo lives where most restaurants don't serve cocktails... just beer and wine so thus the obsession with full bars. 

Dave and I took the check for the group and split it. We were treating Karen and Davo and because of their vegan vegetarian dinners we would have gotten off pretty cheap except for Davo's fancy cocktails. LOL. 

We have been going to this restaurant almost every time we've been to Long Lake because we love it so much. I think we were also here back in 2019 when we stayed in Blue Mountain Lake for the week. We have many fond memories of many dinners in the Long View Lodge.

On The Road Again... Long Lake NY

We got on the road again today and drove up to Long Lake in the Adirondacks. It was a beautiful day and the traffic wasn't too bad. The worse part of it as usual was between Rochester and Syracuse. It was a Saturday on a holiday weekend. 

We stopped a couple of times for bathroom breaks and we had some lunch in the car at one of the rest stops. Before the pandemic we always stopped at a restaurant on these trips but since then we have been eating our lunch, which Becky put together, in a parking lot somewhere along the way. 

We did get a good start this morning and I started packing the car right away after getting up. We had a lot of food to pack and also extra towels for Karen and Davo. We got on the road around 9:30 and got up to Long Lake a little before 3 pm. We were the first to arrive but everyone else got there a little while later.

Packing for Long Lake

Packing for our family vacation in Long Like is always a chore that seems to take all of the previous week. It's hard to imagine how we did it when we would travel with our kids during the years when we were working and packing had to be done in the evenings or mostly the day before and the morning we traveled. 

The photo here is of the bags we had to pack into the car. That's not including the luggage, the backpacks, the pile of jackets, etc. Putting all of this stuff into the car was a chore and a process that took a good hour and a half.