Military Weekend

Well is sure was a busy week,, Wednesday we sat up for the Thursday Night "Stone Soup Supper" We now have replaced all those old heavy metal, cardboard type with brand new heavy duty plastic ones which are nice to handle!!! We came back thursday and we grilled and boiled 150 Hot Dogs, made chili if some one wanted a chili dog and also made some Home Made Baked Beans with Brown Sugar, butter, Maple Syrup and loaded with pieces of bacon, and we served a side of Green Beans and Corn with all kinds of home made cakes, pies, cookies, cup-cakes and brownies, we opened the doors at 4:30 and we served almost 90 people a nice meal.


We didn't get to go fishing this week but theres always next week!!!

This week end was "Mountainfest" and the "Airshow" at Fort Drum which is only 12 minutes from here, Friday we saw plane after plane flying over head over our place as we are on one of the entry ways into Fort Drum Wheeler Sack Air Field, some people don't like it because of the noise and I remind them that there were places not that many years ago where some of our men and women were in places where the planes flying over drop bombs on them!!!!! That usually "SHUTS THEM UP!!!! We drove over to the Army base and spent time watching the many many air planes doing their stunts, precision flying, we wandered around with the other 60,000 thousand people who also went over, saturday was cloudy and it rained a little off and on, Sunday was beautiful, sunny, nice fluffy clouds and warm, almost Hot.

I took a lot of pictures but had to pick just a few for the blog!!!

In the above photo 4 of these Planes were Old Navy Planes and man were they loud and nice to watch!!!!!!! In this next picture is the old red and white water tower at the beginning of the runway!!!! There is an old plane doing some fancy manuvers you can just barely see, BUT they made sure they flew tree top level when they came over the bleechers.






There were many displays all over the huge runway and Hangar area and you could walk thru most of the displays and get the hands on feel except most of the Pilot seats were blocked off but plainly visable. Pictured below is a chopper we just went thru, this helicopter was awesome to see.

This is one of the planes in the next picture that flew over our house to get here, and we went thru it as best we could, what was nice was all the Army and Air Force people offered my honey any help she needed to get around, most of these monsters had their rear ramps open so it was easy access!!!

This picture is one of the old planes doing his thing and it was awsome!!!! to watch!!!

Not only was the Army and Air Force well represented but the Navy was too as you can tell from the next picture!!!

This next picture is a lumbering giant that we went thru!!!

This next picture is the UNITED STATES NAVY doing some mighty fine flying!!!

All the planes on display were flown in from and will fly back to their home base!!!

This is 4 of the yellow Navy fighters that put on some awesome displays!!!!

My Honey looking over a chopper!!!

Security was tight, there were State Police, Sheriff's, Federal Police, Military Police and Homeland Security all over, there were even people ontop of some of the towers. Security was raised to "ALPHA" for the weekend!!!

We had to get up and walk around so Anna Mae's back didn't get to sore or tight which gave me a chance to play with the many TOYS the United States Army had around and I enjoyed myself!!!

My Little Darling said she would not mind one of these to help keep me in line!!! I DO NOT try to out shoot my wife, in High School she was a good Marksman, maybe that should be Markswoman!!! on the school "Rifle Team"!!!

This little baby is one of the weapons you see our men and women on the 6 o'clock news in Iraq are using!!!!!! And yes it is heavy!!!!!!

The NAVY is getting ready to go back up for some more stunts!!

The stunts were awesome to watch and the noise they made was fantastic!! This was a 2 day event, well worth attending, Saturday Night there were "FIREWORKS" that lasted for a half an hour and was impressive.

The Navy was there, the Air Force was there and the Army was there, AND YES JACK, the United States Marine Corps were there also!!!! This was one of the best ones to go thru because you could sit in the Pilots seat as long as you DIDN"T TOUCH ANT THING!!! The crew assigned to this crate were very much gentlemen, they offered to carry my wife up the gang way so she could get inside the plane but instead they dropped the rear door ramp,!!!!! "SEMPER-FI!!

This next photo is one of the old time trainers they used to train pilots during WWII!!!!!

THESE PLANES WERE HUGE!!!! AND interesting to actually see up close!!!

This next picture is an A-10, it is one from from the "Boy's in Syracuse" from the 174th Fighter Wing, it had a steady line all day waiting to get a view of the Cockpit, you were not allowed to TOUCH as there was always a Pilot taking turns to answer questions sitting in the cockpit. I stand outside and can watch these baby's fly over Carthage and the house as there attached to Fort Drum and they like to scream into Fort Drum and the are constantly flying in, out, around, Fort Drum and the area!!!

This is another plane used as a Trainer during WWII and is controlled by a stick and pedals!!! This baby would shatter your ear drums!!!!!!

This is the United States Navy flying over just before the Moment of Silence and just before they played "TAPS"!!!!!!

The crowd was about 60,000 people, there were many, many Veterans there, The United States Army and Commander at Fort Drum need to be applauded for the fantastic week-end event held.

Lets never forget our Veterans!!!!

MONDAY

Fathers Day has come and gone, I hope all the Dads had a Great Day, I did, My daughter called me and wished me a Happy Fathers Day and my Son dropped in with a surprize visit and a card, My Honey bought us a couple of Nice HUGE Sirloin Steaks for me to grill out and they were beautiful cuts of meat!!!!

They were thick, brownish red, they were aged a bit and nice and heavy without all the fat trimmed off from them so they would sizzle when cooking!!!

I still miss my DAD!!!!!! BUT, I sure got a lot of good memories of him!!!

I went out and started the grill and got it good and hot to about 400 degrees and then turned it down to low, the steaks were seasoned with rubbed garlic powder, Onion Powder, some salt and pepper, a little bit of Brown Sugar rubbed into the edges of the fat, I then let them slow cook and I went over and weeded our garden.

The garden is coming along, the parsley is coming, onions are up, beans are coming up, Lettuce and Romain Lettuce is coming up and the Tomatoes *(Early Girl) are now almost ready to tie up to stakes, and the cucumbers are almost ready to thin out.... Thankfully it has stayed warm, all the way up in the 70's!!!!!!!!!!

I finished the Garden and came back to those Beauties on the grill and slow cooked them and touched them up with a little more Garlic and Onion Powder and let them s l oooo wwwwly cook!!................

This is our garden and what has come up so far, the hanging basket is the cucumbers I wil let droop and tie to the shepards crook. The black pots have Parsley planted in them.

Almost ready, Just a few more turns over and these beauties will be Medium Rare and ready for the table, My Honey made a tossed salad of Lettuce, Mandarin Oranges, Sharp Cheese, Onions as the Sweet Vadalias are in season now and we had a fresh loaf of home made bread to go with it!!!!

What do they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, These slabs of Beef are now ready to come off the grill and head for the dinner table, they look almost perfect.

Below is a picture worth framing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The above were fantastic to eat!!!............

Dinner was delicious, and there was left over steak, believe it or not. We only eat Beef on special occasions, we try to stay with Pork and chicken and fish but this my Honeys Fathers Day Present for me and also her!!!!!!! Shes a wonderful little woman, She is still having back problems.

Wednesday we go back to the Spine Center to see whats going on and get an update.

Thursday is our "Stone Soup Dinner" for the public so its going to be a busy week!!!!!!!!! Hope everyones week is starting off great!!!!!!!

Let's not forget our men and women serving over seas, My Great Nephew heads for Iraq in 3 weeks, He is an MP, He will do just fine!!!!

RAINY THURSDAY

Well it was nice weather until today, yesterday we went over to the Thousand Islands and drove up to Lisbon, we fished the Brandy Brook Fish Launch, My honey caught the first Bass, but they were biting really soft, I caught a couple small perch, nothing to brag about.

It was sunny, and about 70, it was a beautiful day, Anna Mae said the hot sun felt good on her back, she is stillhaving back problems and a lot of pain, she tries to cut back on the pain medications and has but she is taking them today. This picture is of the days first fish!!







We fished, sat and talked and watched people come and go and we saw a lot of boats being put in as this saturday June 20th Bass season opens up, if you catch any bass you put them back in as there are spawning right now, We saw lots of ducks and also the Big Canadian Geese are nesting now, we fished and enjoyed the morning sun and time togeather, we stopped for lunch and enjoyed our little Picnic Lunch we take with us

We had a nice day fishing and it got even better becasue I hit the jackpot today, In the below photos are some "Smallmouth Bass" that I was lucky enough to latch onto and I didn't have a net to got them in so I got them into shore using the boat launch to bring them into shallow water, then I could bend down and grab them, these are really good scrappers, they like to jump to the surface and walk along on their tail trying to spit the hook so you have to keep a tight line on them to get them in!!!










Right now the Bass are spawning and laying eggs and if you find a spawning area you can catch bass all day but the limit is 5 per person, we put them back after taking their picture.






We enjoyed the day, it was just over a 2 hour drive over but we stop alot so anna mae can strech her legs and ease the back pain.

Next week is a busy week, We have Doctors appointments, a trip to Syracuse to the Spine Center for a review of Anna Maes surgery and Thursday we are cooking our Monthly Stone Soup Dinner at church.

Today was a lazy day, it rained all day, and right now its 58 and cool out so you have to wear a jacket.

Hope everyones week is going great!!!!

Don't forget our servicemen and women!!!

Posting

Will try to catch up on a post!!


WELL, IT WAS A BUSY WEEK, WE DID MANAGE TO GET AWAY FOR OUR WEEKLY FISHING DAY, BELOW IS HONEY FISHING IN THE SAINT LAWRENCE RIVER, DIRECTLY BEHIND HER IN THE PICTURE IS CANADA, THERE ARE SOME PLACES BETWEEN THE AMERICAN AND CANADIAN BORDER WHERE YOU CAN THROW A STONE ACROSS AND HIT THE OTHER SIDE. WE CAUGHT SOME PERCH, SUNFISH, BASS AND PUT THEM ALL BACK IN.




BELOW IS THE OBSERVATORY AT THE PEARCH LAKE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA, AFTER MUCH LABOR AND SLOWLY HONEY MADE IT TO THE TOP, WE GOT TO SEE OSPREYS, BALD EAGLES, DUCKS, CANADIAN GEESE.




WE ENJOYED THE AFTERNOON WATCHING THE BIRDS AND WILDLIFE.








I SPEND SOME OF THE WEEK GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY, THE MINISTER WAS OFF AND I GOT TO DO THE SERVICE, WHICH I ALWAYS ENJOY DOING!!!!



JUNE 14 IS "FLAG DAY", PART OF MY CHILDRENS SERMON WAS TALKING ABOUT THE FLAG AND GIVING THE KIDS A FLAG TO TAKE HOME, IT WAS A GOOD SERVICE AND GAVE ME THE CHANCE TO LIFT EVERYONE'S NAME UP FOR PRAYERS.


THIS AFTERNOON AT 4PM OUR AMERICAN LEGION POST HONORED OUR POST MEMBERS WHO WERE WWII VETERANS WITH A DINNER OF CHICKEN AND BISCUITS, AND A NICE CAKE FOLLOWED BY COFFEE, EACH MEMBER WAS PRESENTED WITH A CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE FOR WWII AND PRESENTED WITH A SMALL AMERICAN FLAG AND ALSO WITH A NICE WORLD WAR II GOLD PIN AND HAD THEIR PICTURE TAKEN. EVERYONE PRESENTED WITH A PIN HAD THEIR PICTURE TAKEN AND MONDAY I WILL PRINT OFF A PICTURE FOR THEM AND ALSO A GROUP PHOTO AND SEND IT TO THEM AND SOME I WILL GO VISIT AND HAVE COFFEE WITH.
PICTURED BELOW ARE THE HONORED WWII VETERANS WHO SO PROUDLY SERVED, I KNOW EACH ONE OF THEM AND HAVE BEEN TO MOST OF THEIR HOMES,
THEY ALL ENJOYED THEMSELVES AND HAD A CHANCE TO REHASH OLD MEMORIES AND GET TOGEATHER, I WISH WE COULD DO IT MORE OFTEN FOR THEM. I GOT THE CHANCE TO SPEAK TO EACH ONE AND ALSO GOT A KISS FROM THELMA, THE LADY STANDING IN THE REAR ON THE LEFT SIDE!!!!

AS TODAY IS "FLAG DAY" IT IS ALSO THE DAY MOST LEGIONS AND VFW'S DISPOSE OF OLD, WORN, UN-SERVICEABLE FLAGE, IT IS A NICE CEROMONY AND THE PROPER WAY TO DISPOSE OF OLD FLAGS BY QUICKLY BURNING THEM AFTER THEY ARE PRESENTED FOR DISPOSAL IN A FORMAL CEREMONY.

tHE FLAGS ARE PRESENTED TO THE LEGION COMMANDER, AND 1ST VICE COMMANDER, THE SGT-AT-ARMS AFTER ANSWERING IF THE FLAGS HAVE SERVED THEIR PURPOSE PLACES A FEW FLAGS IN FOR BURNING, BECAUSE WE HAVE SO MANY FLAGS, "BAGS AND bAGS" OF THEM WE TAKE THEM OUT TO A FARM, DIG A PIT AND PROBABLY BURN SEVERAL HUNDRED FLAGS ALL AT ONCE PAYING ALL DUE RESPECTS AS THE FLAGS ARE BURNED.

THE GARDEN IS COMING ALONG FINALLY, CUKES ARE COMING UP, TOMATOES ARE COMING ALONG, LETTUCE IS UP AND ONIONS ARE STARTING, THE CHIVES ARE POPPING UP AND THE PARSLEY IS COMING ALONG, WE HAVE FINALLY HAD SOME SUNSHINE AND WARM WEATHER.

NEVER FORGET-REMEMBER THE VET!

Well we woke up to SUNSHINE and the promise of a beautiful day, we packed our lunch, got in the old ford and headed out on our weekly "Fishing Trip", we have been lucky and gotten some nice days, it was sunny, warm sunshine and a gentle breeze, we headed for the "Thousand Islands" and the St. Lawrence river that seperated us from Canada. We enede up in Chaumont and found a nice spot to fish, it was easy access for Anna Mae and myself so we settled in, I caught a few pan fish, some sun fish, perch, small mouth bass and some snags.




My little Anna Mae got into a spot where there were some nice fishing, she snaged some large perch, sunfish, and a couple of rock bass and out fished me!!!!!

We fished all morning and then we found a beautiful spot in the shade to enjoy our lunch of grapes, cheese curd, croghan bologna, sandwiches and some nice conversation and relaxing.

We then drove down to the Perch ake Wildlife Management Area to try for some "Bullheads" and if I didn't know better I would have thought I was in the "everglades", all that was lacking was the "Gators", this area is hundreds of acres of marsh land and small setbacks and we saw deer, rabbits, and geese, the sun was great to have out shining on a beautiful god given day!!!

Anna mae went to the left of where I was fishing and made it thru the "cat-tails" to the water where there was an opening to fish from, BUT she quickly learned that this was also a place the 6 large, 3 feet plus long, "Water Mocossins" had picked to sun them selves and look for a mate, needless to say she gave up possession of her spot to the "Snakes", 3 of them decided they liked where I was standing and came over for a visit but I was not in the gabbing mood and I know these big black beauties like to BITE so we left this area without putting up a fight, we lost, snakes won. Managed to get a picture below of these critters!!!!!

We packed up and headed home, it was 4PM and it was a full day, Anna Mae was hurting with her back BUT when we got home we found we actually got a SUNBURN on our arms, which is much better than "Frostbite"!!!

We had a great day today, tomorrow we are going to plant the garden as it looks like there will not be a frost on the Full Moon as its WARMING UP finally!!!

Today June 6th, is the Anniversary of "D-DAY",, lets never forget those "Veterans" who gave their all for you and for me, and pray for those currently serving!!!!!!!!

and it is with sadness I report that our local Fort Drum Post lost 4 local Brave Soldiers this week to the ravages of war in Iraq.

NEVER FORGET-REMEMBER THE VET!!!!!