Fun at the NYS Fair

Well our set just doubled

So the old lady who owned these items got my number from the store I bought them from and offered me the rest if I kept the set together. I now have lots of black walnut with every receipt and artist dating back to the 50/60's on almost every piece!

She also has several pieces of handmade Danish furniture I will be looking at tomorrow. What a score.

Today's Haul

Found an entire collection of black walnut pieces today for a steal.

Our neighborhood park

The park got the worst of it. We lost 2 huge trees that must have been 100's of years old. Look how small that telephone pole is compared to that tree. Farther back there is another 6-7 trees snapped in half about 8' from the ground.

End of the driveway

Luckily we live in Amish country and they are helping us out taking down the broken trees. All the trees were brought down today and they will be picking them up tomorrow.

Summer Storm

Well Elmira got a confirmed tornado and they don't know yet what hit us. Luckily no trees on the house but we lost five beautiful pine trees along the driveway. All in all our road with 11 houses lost probably 40 trees.

Flat Summer

Flat Summer came with us on vacation and we got pictures of her all over the island. Our little island girl had a great time.

Mmmm Barracuda

Not many places you can get fresh barracuda in the states. The Driftwood catches them fresh everyday and this is a blackened Cajun catfish with a peach BBQ sauce. So good.....

Had fun in Aruba

Another fun vacation in Aruba.

On the plane in Hotlanta...

Next stop Aruba!

We've got twins

We have another set of twins hanging out in the woods around the house. They watched me grill up some cedar plank salmon tonight.

The bandit brought her little ones

They were pretty cute, there was 4 babies just learning to climb. Two already made it up the tree.

Freddy still thinks he's a kitten

We love him a lot but he isn't the smartest cat we've ever had.

Brave

Last year we had to bribe her to touch the middle. Now she's playing ring-around-the-rosie under the water and sticking her hand in the spray.

Fountain Fun!

Emily's having fun cooling off!

Thanks Scott!

Installed my trailer wiring splitter and Ron Jon surf shop sticker Scott sent me. Then put on my spiderwebshade safari top to keep some of the sun off my head.

1st Mod is complete

Looks much better with the newly painted and smaller flares.

Rear fender flares done

I forgot how hard it was working on NY vehicles. Ended up having to cut off half the bolts on the rear fender flares. Should finish up the fronts tonight.

Another critter

We've got a black squirrel visiting the feeder now. I've seen them hunting in the woods but never around here.

One of them is not like the others

Another feeder down

The bear made short work of my racoon and squirrel proof feeder. Now I have to figure out how to make them bear proof too.

Our other bandit

Em and I came home tonight to finally see the bear!

Good morning Mrs. Doe

Yep, they really were just a few feet apart.

My little Jeep girl

No top today so we went out for dinner.

A new addition

It will look a lot better after I clean it up but I'm a Jeeper again!

Look what we found this morning!

The Doe must feel that our yard is pretty safe since she left her fawn in the front bed all day. It's still hanging out tonight waiting for her to return.

One of our furry friends

Waiting for his turn on the feeder. The bear showed up while we were at work two days ago and broke their feeder so we have some unhappy squirrels now.

Gardens are planted

Got the garden planted and the deer guard up this weekend.

Our little bandits

We finally figured out who was stealing out of the squirrel feeder. Turned on the back lights to find these numbskulls all over the tree.

Happy Mothers Day!

Here's what I built for Beck. Just some more topsoil and put in the irrigation system then it's ready for plants.

CMOG

Emily was in the art show

At the Corning Museum of Glass!

Our little hippie

Flattened the burning bush

Snow Day

Oldest Temple

This Taoist temple is over 300 years old. It is quite popular with the fishermen as they believe praying there will bring them luck.

Ferry Ride

Took a 5 minute ferry across the harbor to walk around and see the oldest temple in Kaoshung.

On to the Beach

We made a stop after the museum to see the black sand beach. I found a few sea shells for Emily.

A Lot of Stairs

To get to the museum, we took a winding path around some houses. To get back to the bus, we went out the back door and down all these steps.

Museum

On the peninsula where we started the former British Consolate building has been converted into a museum explaining the history of British relations to the island.

The Rest of the Harbor

The last side on the harbor faced back at the city. Our hotel is the second tallest building (just to the left of center).

Lighthouse

Overlooking the harbor and the many container ships that come in and out.

Kaoshung Harbor

Went down to the harbor to start our tour.

Dessert

I forgot to take a picture of dinner. We ate dumplings and spring rolls, family style. This was dessert from the hotel bakery - raspberry chocolate cake!

Guard Dog

These are found by all the doors of our hotel.

Taoist Temple

Conversely, Taoist temples are open to everyone and are much more ornate than the Buddhist temples. This pagoda is where worshipers burn money for their ancestors. We're guessing it's not used much as the hot dog vendor has camped out right in front of it.

Buddhist Temple

Located across the street from our hotel. The Buddhist temples only allow buddhists in to worship so there is a guard posted at the entrance to make sure any non-believers are turned away.