Mini- Dream Vacation

My Honey and I got a treat, Our friends from Dallas Texas came home for a vacation, they rented an Island out in the St. Lawrence River and we got an "Invitation" to come out and see them, The rented a 10 bedroom, 5 bathroom, 4 porch, huge mansion on an "Island", the place is called "WATCH ISLAND" and you can only get there BY BOAT!!!

This is Mark and Marie Fuhrken, Mark and I were Policemen togeather and permanent partners for years and also off the job friends, Mark is retired and Marie works for a Large Television Company in Dallas!!








This is "Capt. Mark" commanding his Ship, the USS MINNOW taking us out to Watch Island!!!









We have arrived and are unpacking for a "Good Time" on the Island, We could only spend the day and really enjoyed ourselves.

This is "Watch Island" located out in the shipping channel of the river and very elegant and Old!!!

This place was a wonderful place to spend the day at and we enjoyed wandering around the 10 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, servants quarters and attic with the big 4 porches to watch ships coming up and down the river.

The woodwork was fantastic, huge stair case, all varnished and polished and an awesome sight!! The below picture is from the first floor to the second floor!!!!!

My Honey coming downstairs on the "Grand Staircase", I could just get my arms around the pillars holding up the main carrier beam!!!

Mark and I standing outside on 1 of the 4 porches watching the ships go by and catching up on a few years gossip!!!

Anna Mae and Marie and Mark and I having coffee in the kitchen!!

Sitting in one of the old antique chairs which was very cozy in one of the big living rooms!!!

We joined Mark and Marie and their son Lee, his wife Heather and Maddy and Gracie for lunch!!!!

Finally we went FISHING, Mark caught a nice scrappy Rock Bass!!!!

My Honey was not to be outdone by Mark so she caught one too!!!!!

Marie is finally relaxing and enjoying some well deserved R & R from work!!!!!

Mark and I did catch some nice Rock Bass, Perch, and then we let them all go by putting them back in the river so they could grow bigger!!!

We took a break from fishing and are trying to get the Gas Grill going, NO we didn't eat fish, we had STEAK!!!

2 Old Cops, nice set of steps, warm weather, nice sunshine, and just sitting and relaxing and catching up!!!!

Mark and Anna Mae with the Spy Glasses watching a "BIG" Freighter come down the river!!!

One of the many "Freighter's either going up the river or coming down the river, some head for the Locks and are Ocean Bound!!!!!!

I am sitting down relaxing as we are going to spend a few days here with Mark and Marie on the "ISLAND"!!!!! There are BOOKS and BOOKS, room after room to wander around in and front main stairway and also back stairs to wander around!!!

Anna Mae relaxing before bed doing some reading!!!!!
The desk is awesome and unique!!!!!!

A Beautiful sunset on the St Lawrence River over the 1,000 Islands!!!!!!!

Sitting around talking, relaxing in our elegant, antique surroundings!!!!!!!

Another beautiful morning on the river!!!!!

Morning Coffee on the porch watching the river and enjoying the view!!!!

The girls enjoying the morning coffee and a beautiful day!!!!!

Mark having his coffee, you can get lost in this place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 of the 10 Bedrooms here and it was great sleeping with the River Breeze and quietness!!!!!!!

1 of the 5 Old Fashioned bathrooms with claw foot bath tub!!!!!!!!

Another day of fishing, WOW!!! this is Marie and her son Lee from Salt Lake City, Utah who arrived to spend some time with his folks and we also stayed over another night!!!!!

Lee and his folks getting ready to do some fishing!!!!!!!!

Me and Honey getting ready to catch some whoppers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heather and Lee watching the river enjoying the day!!!!!

This picture below, I an holding an unwanted guest that Lee's daughter Maddy caught, it is a Round Goby that is not supposed to be in the river, it got here a few years ago from an Ocean Vessal blowing its ballast tanks into the river and these things are native to Europe and are hurting our fishing by eating the eggs of our freshwater sports fish, any of these caught are to be killed and not to be returned to the water but disposed of so they do not breed!!!

Picture from 2nd floor looking down at Anna Mae when we took a break from fishing!!!!!!!!!!

This is the front porch, it is full of Old Wicker and is a great view of the river, boats and ships and a nice place to relax!!!!!!!

Mark and I getting ready to head outside, in back of us is the Bar, but neither of us drink and there was a sign behind me that said, "PRIVATE STOCK" DO NOT TOUCH!!!!!!!!!

Anna Mae relaxing before we go back FISHING and her back was hurting her!!! Sitting behind her was Maries Dad and Mom, the formal living rooms were back to back!!!!!

This is the end of the Island looking back at the Manse and a nice spot to go swimming but water was too cold for me, 68 degrees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Maddy Fuhrken, Lee and Heather's daughter, she caught all the fish on her little Barbie pole, I know she caught 40 to 50 fish because her father lee and I were kept busy taking them off the pole and putting on fresh worms!!!!!!!!!

THIS GIRL LOVED TO FISH!!!!!!! Her sister Gracie caught some fish also but I missed the pictures!!!!

I didn't do too bad either, when I wasn't taking fish off for Maddy I managed to catch a couple!!!

Marie even got into the act catching the fishing fever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lee, who is from Salt Lake City, Utah liked catching fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT Maddy his daughter got the most, Lee's other daughter Gracie was off SWIMMING with her mother!!!!

AND guess who caught the Biggest Fish, Mark latched onto this nice 14 inch Large Mouth Bass which was a nice fighter and brought a smile to his face, the head sticking out from behind the boat house was me hiding the knife I was going to try to use to cut his line!!!!!

Mark and his granddaughter Maddy with a couple of thjier prize fish they caught! Maddy outfished all the men!!!!!!!

I didn't do too bad with a nice stringer of fish that I let go back into the river!!!

Trip is over, waters have calmed down and the river is peaceful, Lee Heather and Maddy and Gracie headed back to Utah, AND we had to go home but Mark and Marie were going to stop at the house before going back to Texas, how lucky we were to have been able to spend a few days with them, meet some of their family I had never seen . We enjoyed our MINI-VACATION!!!!!!! THANKS MARK and MARIE!!!!!

Let us not forget our service men and women and it is saddening to report our local Fort Drum Post lost 4 more soldiers overseas!!! Remember, it does not matter if you support the Wars or Don't, what matters is that you support the men and women who stepped forward in the past and those who step forward now and lay it on the line for you and me!!!!!!

FREEDOM NEVER WAS AND NEVER WILL BE FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GEEZER'S

WELL WE WENT FROM A NICE DAY YESTERDAY TO THUNDERSTORMS AND A HEAVY RAID THAT WOKE ME UP THIS MORNING ABOUT 3 AM, THE RAIN WAS POUNDING ON THE WINDOWS.

TODAY ENDED UP BEING SUNNY AND WARM BUT OUR TEMPS ARE STILL BELOW NORMAL, WE SPENT THE DAY GOOFING OFF, I WENT TO GET A HAIRCUT, ***(YES, I HAVE TO HAVE THE SIDES CUT) AND THE BARBER SHOP WAS BUSY, ONE SMALL BOY ASKED HIS MOTHER WHEN IT WAS HIS TURN FOR A HAIRCUT AND SHE SAID, "WHEN ALL THESE OLD GEEZERS GET DONE".!! I WAS SURPRIZED AS I THOUGHT NO BODY USED THE TERM GEEZER ANY MORE!!!

MAYBE THIS IS ONE REASON US OLD "GEEZERS" HAND AROUND SO LONG!!!!!

LETS NEVER FORGET THOSE WHO CAN NO LONGER TAKE LIFES RIDE AND WHO WILL NEVER GROW ANY OLDER !!!!!!

LET'S NEVER FORGET OUR VETERANS!!!

Weather

Well, the weather sure changes, We are supposed to be on record for having the WETTEST and COLDEST June in quite some time and the first part of July has been below average temps and cool.



July 11 we all sat outside in a thunder and lightning storm and watched it rain very hard, it was the night of our Fireworks in the Village, about 10PM there was a break in the weather, it quit raining and we had the chance to watch a very fast "Fireworks" display, they lit them off fast and furious in between the rain and we had about 22 people standing around clapping and cheering as we watched the show. We have had quite a bit of rain.



On Wednesday the 3 Housing complexs went on a Picnic to Whetstone Gulf up in Lewis County, The housing Authority provided a bus for transportation, some of us drove and 38 people went, we cooked out, played cards, chatted and enjoyed a beautiful day with temps in the 70's.

Our Kitchen and Community Room have been closed so there has been no Tuesday Morning Coffee Hours at 9:30AM and we are getting a brand new kitchen, counters, cabinets, new floor in the dining room, and a new paint job in the dining room, all 50 apartments are getting ceiling fans and lights in the bedrooms and also new windows in our living room and bedrooms. they are very nice fans, 4 bladed and 3 bulbs.



My friend Mark and his wife Marie are on their way here, they live in Dallas Texas, its been 105 to 110, hot, and horrible in Texas!!! Mark has Pancreatic Cancer and has had it for quite some time, right now he is cancer free!!!!!!!



They have rented an "Island" in the Thousand Islands called "Watch Island" and we are going over to spend some time with them, the only way there is by Boat and we are excited about going, it is a big old 10 bedroom house, and they said its wonderful. Me and Honey can't wait to get there to see them. AND ITS GREAT FISHING!!!


I have not seen Mark in a few years and almost lost him to cancer. This is a picture of Watch Island where we are going to head out to!!!...............










Well the War goes on..... We have lost more troops and our Local Base, "Fort Drum" the 10th Mountain Division is there now with a few thousand troops and we are now going to sent over 7,000, *( 7 Thousand) more men and women.................













ENJOY SUMMER, ITS GOING FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COOKING AGAIN

Well, its been busy with Doctors appointments for me and Anna Mae for her Back. We're doing OK!! We took our daily weekly day trip and went over the the St. Lawrence River again and went to Fishers Landing, Chaumont Bay and Clayton, it was beautiful but fishing was lousy but we did manage to see several large ships coming down the river thru the 1,000 Islands heading for the Locks and then out the St Lawrence River headed for the Ocean and home ports far far away!!!

In the picture below is an island flying an American flag and directly in the back is our neighbor Canada.

We went to "Stone Soup Supper" thursday night and enjoyed a nice cold plate and salad put on by the Nazarene Church, it was a nice meal and some great conversation and socializing. We sat with our friends and enjoyed the meal.

I cooked out tonight, this picture is a picture of our rear patio, the gardens and grilling area.

So, yours truly got 2 nice Pork Steaks, rubbed them down with Garlic Powder, Onion Powder and let them sit.

I took 2 nice large fist size baking potatoes, scrubbed them down, sprayed the skins with "I can't believe its not butter" sprinkled them with a little salt, ground pepper, then I made a shaker bottle of Red Wine Vinegar,. garlic powder, Onion Powder and Olive oil.

I then cut the potatoes into about 1/2 inch slices and took everything out to the grill, We have a good landlord, Nancy bought us a brand new Weber Gas grill, we usually have several people cooking out everynight on nice days and today was a really NICE DAY!!!!!! IT GOT UP TO 80!!!!

I loaded up the grill and started tonight's dinner.

I preheated the grill to HOT, about 450 degrees then turned it down to low, I put the sliced potatoes and pork steak on, sprinkle them with the shaker bottle and then sit down and relaxed.

While everything is slow cooking I went over to our garden, lettuce is up and delicious, the Parsley is coming along and tastes delicious, onions, beans and cucumbers are growing nicely and the tomatoes *(Early Girls)have nice small yellow flowers started on them. The cucumbers are in the hanging basket and parsley is in the black pots.

Finally after turning the steaks a few times, flipping the sliced potatoes and sprinkling with sauce dinner was ready, complete with fresh parsley sprinkled on them from the garden, This meal with a nice tossed salad and WOW, what a meal we were blessed with.

This is the finished product after an hour of cooking!!!!

It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, so tomorrow its going to rain, we already have set a record for one of the "Wettest" June months in a long time.

Tomorrow one of my best friends, Mark and his wife flies in from Texas, he has rented a boat and an Island in the Thousand Islands for 2 weeks and hope to get with him during the next 2 weeks.

Hope everyone is doing OK and enjoying themselves!!

With a sad note the Governor has agian ordered Flags on Government Buildings lowered to half staff due to more recent losses in Iraq and Afghanistan!!!!!

Happy 4th

Hope everyone had a Great 4th of July!!!!

xxx