Winter is coming.........

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Well, Old Man Winter is coming I think to the North Country.
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The above picture was our yard  yesterday, today we got another 1 inch of SNOW, it is only 28 degrees outside, it's COLD !!
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My Honey started putting up our Christmas Decorations.
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I helped by putting on the Tree Top, trying to work off a couple days of eating turkey, turkey and more turkey and dressing.
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We took a break from eating all that Turkey and went to Country Manor Nursing Home and playing for the Residents there who always enjoy our visit and it gives us great pleasure in being able to give them some enjoyment.
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30 Years ago I lost my Father, John Ellsworth Wood, we buried him on Thanksgiving Day, deeply missed still today.
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Lets not forget our Veterans  !

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Moving Forward,

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Election's are over, the people have told their Delates who to cast their Electoral Ballots for, The Popular Vote ment nothing, so now we have a President, As he is the President and Commander in Chief,. Let us move forward as we were trained to do,  Now if we could get both parties, BOTH of the Reds and BLUES to work for US the people it might not be a grueling, depressing 4 years but from reading it seems it is a "Lame Duck" period from now until the President is sworn in in January, and then the "IN-HOUSE" fighting and bickering will start!!
Please Pray this does not happen !!
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Well, I spent a few days at home and then in the Hospital with severe Diverticulitus, it is a dasterdly disease and can bring you to your knees or flat on your back,  you can Google it and see what it is, I had surgery to correct it but it didn't, there is nothing left to remove so further surgery won't help, It is what it is!!!
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Last night we played at Country Manor Nursing Home to a group of 32 residents, this was the first time I was able to join in with the "Friends of God" in our Musical Ministry.  It was fun and the residents enjoyed themselves anmd we did too.

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Above picture shows me in the back, I found an old Train Whistle, when Karl and Travis and Roger started to do "Long Black Train" I gave the horn a blast, surprised them and after some laughter and applause from the audience we were able to do the song and received lots of applause and whoots.
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Our time drew to a close, we finished with Amazing Grace, mingled with the residents and they all were smiling and telling us how much they appreciate us, but we get just as much enjoyment bringing in smiles, laughter, music and enjoyment and Prayer to these permanant residents.
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On a sad note we lost 3 members of the United States Army from a near by village to an IED Explosion in Afghan !   How Sad !!

 

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. Never forget, remember the Vet !!!

Goodbye Brother Don

When you come from a large family you assume that everyone will always be around, you take each other for granted, you visit, see each other at events, visit eachothers homes and enjoy their company.
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My older brother Donnie went to the Doctors, they immediately put him in the hospital up in Burlington Vermont, they found he had cancer, this was on the 21st of September, he started chemo treatments,  while in the hospital we talked, I woke with severe diverticulitus, i was rushed to Lowville hospital;  my older brother and I called each other while in the hospital, I was released after 4 days of heavy antibiotics and went home, On October 20th my brother Donnie passed away in the hospital. 
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Above is John, Jim, Janice, Donnie, Roland, Beverly, me, Ronnie, Ronnie and Roland are twins.
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This is my family, My father was also 73 when he developed cancer and my brother Donnie had the same type, a fast and agressive type.
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The above picture was taken in October, my dad could barely stand, right after this picture he went in the hospital and passed away November 20,  my brother passed on October 20th.
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In memory of my brother, Donald Theodore Wood.
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The above picture is my Brothers family, Arleen, Donald Jr. His wife Linda, Jeanette, Donnie and Fred.
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Donnie lost his youngets son Fred on July 1st this year from a heart attack.
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So thankful we had our annual Wood Reunion in July and we were all home.
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Rest in Peace Dear Brother !
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Fall fresh cider.

Fall is in the air, it is our yearly trek to Burrville, NY to the Burrville Cider Mill,  We have plenty of apples, Anna Mae has been making Apple Sause, Apple Crisp and whatnot.
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The Cider Mill presses apples and makes delicious cider, this year they are NOT pressing on Tuesdays and Thursdays because there is a shortage of apples.  MOTTS which is a big apple juice and sause company up here has been buying up any and all apples they can get, apple prices this year are 200 % to 300% higher than normal,   we went in the store and got a nice glass of fresh squeesed cider and a home made Apple cider doughnut,  "Delicious"!!
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I am standing in front of the original dam built back in the 1800's that was used to power the mill and the apple presses.
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The bottom part of the dam is solid rock and the top 4 feet are hand cut and placed stone.
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The leaves are beautiful around here and very colorful as usual !
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. Most of the apples come from down state but now thyere are many, many newly planted orchards around this area for apples.
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As you can see from the picture above they were down to one crete of apples, usually they are 20 to 30 cretes standing to press, they "Blend" their cider using Macs, Red delicious, northern spys and grannys.  The green container on the right side is mull from the pressed apples, it is saved and sold to farmers for cattle feed as they mix it with their regular silage for the cows, also it is cove3red in BEES !!!
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The Mums are ready to transplant, the pumpkins were early this year,  Cider is expensive this year and they are not making it by the gallon but only putting it up in half gallons,  the nice part is you can freeze frese squeesed cider and have it all winter.
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Music, Food , Music, Travel Music

Well it is still hot up here in the North Country, our Temps have been in the high 80's and high humidity. There is also a shortage of water and wells, creeks and cisterns are dry.

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.We played at Angels Inn Nursing Home and Peggy joined Roger and I to give the residents some enjoyment and also we get enjoyment for being able to give these folks some enjoyment.
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We went to a afamily gathering I managed to get 3 bags of Clams to roast on the grill and were they ever good.  I can eat several dozen by myself !!
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. We went back to Angels Inn and Played again for the folks there and the whole gang was there to play and sing.
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We took some time off and went up to the Canadian Border and watched the ships, river, birds and enjoyed ourselves .
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. This pitcure shows you there getting ready to put a ship into the locks so you havew to clear the area for security.
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. We went over to Country Manor Nursing Home and Played and sang for the folks there and enjoyed ourselves.   It was nice as the Air Conditioning was on and it was nice and cool inside.
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We toured a couple of Battle Fields up on the St. Lawrence River spending the day enjoying the coolness of the river.
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I am back to cooking us up some pre seasoned chicken, it turned our great.
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Hard to believe it is almost September.   Hoping Jack enjopys himself as he tackels the AT, Hoping Jimmy can ride out Issac in Area 51 OK.
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Don't forget our Veterans,  We were just informed that Fort Drum will be sending a Briogade of 2500 to 3000 service members to Afghanistan in January.    Please keep those there and those going in your prayers.

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The Church in the Wildwood

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.We started back up playing again for awhile, we went to the Hamlet of Omar, New York and played for the Omar Methodist Church, Omar is just a small Hamlet, a church, parsonage, an old cemetary and a few houses and its a tight knit community,  today, (*Sunday) they had an auction, and some Hot Dogs, soda and an Ice Crene Social for a fund raiser and it was very sucessful, they asked us to play. 
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I am playing with the "Friends of God" and I am helping Pastor Dennis on his song about animals, the Ark and some rain.
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Roger is giving it his best at "Luther Perkins" style of pickin and doing pretty good.
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We are doing a Medley of songs here.
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Above I am trying to remember the words to "Mercy".  Thankfully I did.
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Kristey came up and sang some for the Church members and they liked her.  If you look at the table in the far right the white table cloth is empty, their "Auction" was a sucess.
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I am either singing "I saw the Light" or gasping for Oxygen during this song.
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I try not to get into Politics but I am starting to feel like this.
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NEVER FORGET, REMEMBER OUR VETS !
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Mountain Trip, Fishing, Deer, Fred

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Sadly I learned of the sudden death of my brothers son, Fred Wood, Fred lived out in Washington and at a young age of 47 he was struck with a stroke and passed away in his home at the age of 47,  His service is tomorrow at 1PM. 
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My Nephew Fred worked in the Woods out in the State of Washington and would be gone for a while so he would let his beard grow until he returned from the woods, Fred was a rather large man, easy going, an Army Veteran and if your familiar with the American Legion he was a member of the Old "40 & 8". 
Fred worked at many "Fund Raisers" and was always helping others in the orginizations he belonged to.
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Fred and his wife Jackie.
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 He will be sadly missed.
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Well, we got out of Dodge for a few days, we packed and went up to the "Adirondack Mountains".  We have a place we usually stay at and made reservations and headed out.

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I am standing in front of the Adirondack Lodge, this is a chain saw carving of Eagles and a fish, behind me in the building is the "Heated Pool"... We changed and went to the pool and let me tell you, that water which is usually nice and warm was "Ice Cold" and it took some bravery to get in.
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Anna Mae is standing in front of a carved Bear, weather was great, hot and humid.  We both are tired, Usually we get a quiet room but this time we ended up with a family over us, the children did nothing but run and run and run across the floor over our heads and it sounded like they were playing with bowling balls dropping them on the floor, this lasted till 1:30AM before they went to bed.
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We rented a boat and this is 4th Lake, part of the "Fulton Chain of Lakes" that goes from Old Forge to Tupper Lake and beyond, I once with a friend took a Canoe trip down these lakes spending 7 days on the chain coneing and camping out.
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Directly behind Anna Mae is Mt. McCauley,  looking up toward 3rd, 2nd and 1st Lake and Alger Island Camping Island which can only be reached by boat.
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With Motel, Boat Rental, Gas, Meals, this little yellow perch cost me about $100.00 dollars an ounce, this was the one and the only fish to come aboard the USS Woody. 
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We are standing on the State Boat Launch, directly behind us is the 5th Lake on down thru to the 8th Lake,  Look up "Fulton Chain of Lakes" on your computer and you can see how big they are.
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Above is a nice "Spike Horn" wandering around inside the Village of Old Forge.
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This little girl above wandered right up to Anna Mae as if to say, where's my treat ?  one picture we missed was 2 large Bucks, a 6 point and an 8 poind, standing in the road stopping traffic in Old Forge, they are right now in the Velvet and soon the males will start fighting for territory and rights to the females.
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Above is a building which has stood for years on Rt. 28 going to Old Forge, years ago an Air Plane crashed into the building thru the roof, it attracted many people, the owner fixed the inside and then repaired the rood leaving the end of the plane sticking out from the roof.  It draws tourists in and is good for his business.

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Sadly we have lost 4 more of our Fort Drum Soldiers.  Remember of Veterans, those past and Present.

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