Sat. Eve Oct. 11th... Back home after a day in the North!!

We are finally home and my butt hurts from sitting! It was a long day, a long ride and coming home was looking into the sun the whole way, but we really enjoyed ourselves today.We stopped just outside Bennington at the Apple Barn & Country Bakery for a cup of coffee & an apple brownie. (also a mid-way, regular, pee stop) After that, we made it to Newfane, but didn't get out to see anything because it was such lousy planning for an annual event. We use a GPS unit when we travel, which actually has a mileage countdown to let you know how close you are to each turn or the destination. We got to 1.93 miles of the event and traffic came to a standstill. We inched that last 1.93 miles in the next hour and 7 minutes, then when we finally got there, we saw why it took so long......there was no parking. ANYWHERE! People just sat on the road in their cars waiting for someone to tell them where to park until they finally figured that no one was going to tell them anything, got pissed and just drove away. Occasionally, someone got in a car and pulled out to leave and if you were close enough grab the spot you parked.......if not you left.

















The Apple Barn (right on Vt 7 from Bennington) See the moose?

















Beautiful mountain views up here!!!!


















Beautiful houses in the middle of town
























Notice the No Parking Sign!!!!





















We didn't park.....We left!


After getting out of there, we headed for Salem where we would only be a stones throw from the Garden Works......which is where Vick really wanted to go anyway, so we headed over there. We arrived and saw some of the program, looked around at the nice things they offer for sale, grabbed some Vermont cheese and some maple roasted peanuts and headed for home. Have you ever used a GPS system to find your way around while traveling? They are the greatest thing. as long as you can learn a few minor adjustments you must make when changing your destination, but they are not as failproof as some would have you believe. Below is a series of four pictures where we were just putting down the road (as you can see) and the GPS says turn right in 500 feet. I missed it, so the machine says, "off route......recalculate?" So we punched yes and it recalculated and immediately said "Take the next sharp right.".....which I did and we found ourselves on a dirt road, then a grassy road, the a ATV road, then a deer path which took us to within 30 yards of the road I missed, but without a jump gear in the car, I doubted we would make it across the creek bed between. Back we went all the way to the correct road and then continued on. Just look at the pictures!!!!!!!

















One minute on the right road and the next.......


















We were Here!!!!!

When we got home, we gathered eggs and checked on all the critters, let the dogs out to run and ate. Now we are going out to catch a bunch of roosters to give to a friend that will take them tomorrow morning. Good Riddance to the roosters that won't leave the Bantams alone!

Saturday Oct. 11th... 7:45 and almost on schedule to leave....

The morning is one of clear blue promise........ promise of beautiful fall colors lighted by clear sunny skies and warm temperatures. 70 degrees by this afternoon they say and perfect weather for walking and picture taking in the New England Autumn mecca. We are traveling a good distance from Greene county to Troy, to Bennington Vt., to Newfane Vt., for their Heritage Festival and then back north to North Rupert and into Washington county, Ny., to Hebron to visit the Garden Works Farm for a program they are doing today too. It will be a nice ride through colorful scenery and all the pleasant fall things we've been waiting for and tonight we'll share the photographic trail we took. Stay tuned!

Fri. Eve Oct, 11th... early to bed...early to rise....Uh-Oh!!!

Our New Barn

Uh-Oh...We were going to go to bed early because we wanted to be up and gone by 8:00AM tomorrow and on the road to Vermont to see the fall festival in Newfane. Well.......so much for that!! We got home about an hour ago from Vick's family's home, where we enjoyed dinner with them. We checked out the critters, pulled eggs and closed everything up for the night, with the turkey's in the entryway of the barn.

These are the beautiful views we will see tomorrow in Vermont!

Did you ever notice that you always see neat things when you don't have your camera along? Well today, on the way to Richie's house, while going down a local road, we saw a little red fox just amble across the road in front of us. Well.........today was different because we had the camera and Vick went to clicking pictures as best she could as the little canine bounced around bushes and underbrush. She got a couple good shots which I added below.

He stopped to look at us one time, then went on about his business.

Obviously he was shopping for a dinner treat!

The leaves on the mountain have definitely peaked, so if you can get there this week-end, make sure to go up 23A through Palenville to Haines Falls and on to Tannersville and Hunter Mountain to see some beautiful fall foliage and beautifully picturesque fall scenery. If you go, try to be there around noon because the sun will be shining almost straight down and you can snap pictures in any direction then and the leaves are prettiest when the light is overhead or behind you.

Looking across Westkill toward the east

There is nothing more beautiful than fall foliage and a meadow!

And finally this evening.........I would like to say Hi and thank you, to all our faithful followers from Cameta Camera in Long Island.

I know you have been following us and spreading the word, inviting folks to visit us. Your support of us doesn't go un-noticed. Again, Thanks to all of you!!

Bye, Bye

Friday October 10th.... The weekend cometh to us!

Good morning from the Cluckin" "A" Critter Farm on this lovely, warm, fall morning in October. We will use this beautiful clear, warm day to finally finish closing the swimming pool which was put on hold for ....... well, a multitude of reasons, but now, will happen. We will finish removing the pool / filter assembly and then it will be finished until next spring. We will also close up the garden pond in the front yard and get the net covering over it before any more leaves end up floating in it, which makes it a mess in the spring when you open it back up.
We'll take care of the critters and administer injections of Penicillin to the needy chickens and turkey's, then feed and water them for the day, but not let them free range today because we are going to Vick's family for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow, we are going to forget about the lousy economy....the stock market scare......the stupid blind running stockholders that are killing the market by panic selling their stocks which will be scooped up by vulture broker buyers and head to the mountains of Vermont. We will trek to a little known Hamlet called Newfane, which is in the southwestern section of Vermont for a little fall foliage treat. Don't worry.....we will have plenty of beautiful pictures of the area and the things we see. The picture above is one from a road into Newfane, just at the town limits, so you can see the kind of beauty we will behold there. There is a little fall festival there this weekend which Vick will enjoy because they have several craft and arts displays, along with food stands and such....... a real Oktoberfest type event.
That's the plan for tomorrow and since we will leave early for the ride up to Vermont, I won't have a morning blog post. Please watch for the blog in the evening when we return.

Bye, Bye

Thursday Evening October 9th....A usual day ends in usual ways

It's amazing that a person can have so many things to do in a day's time and nothing is of enough interest to even snap a picture of it. We delivered the fish to the L&M Pet Shop in Hudson this afternoon, then went to Tractor Supply, where they pissed me off instantly. You know...... when you don't have time to screw around, and you know what you want..... that will be the very time that you can't get a lazy bastard that "works" there to assist you. We needed some hypodermic needles in 25G size for the chickens innoculations and being late as we were, we asked where they were. This loafing butt head at the front of the store pointed to a sign which read, "Animal Health" and announced that they would be right there. They weren't! They don't even handle 25G needles. Then as I was leaving, I noticed a 2pack of batteries for the bark collar, which cost a whopping $7.95, but were in a locked showcase. Obviously, no one is interested in stealing any of the small items that cost much more than $7.95 and aren't locked up.....but who cares......what I wanted was locked up like Fort Knox, but just unlock this stupid showcase and let me buy the batteries so I can get on my way to Kingston. My appointment for the amazing car sensor replacement is soon and we're cutting it close. I walked all around the back end of the store looking for a sales person to open the box, as the lazy dork up front watched.......without moving....I might add. I finally told Vicki, "That's it....let's go to Kingston.....we're gonna be late for the appointment. They can keep their damned stuff....I don't need it.......I come in to a store to buy their things, not hunt their clerks." I was rather loud... loud enough for Mr. Butt Head to hear me. I was wishing he would ask if he could help me when I got to him, because then I was going to flip out on him.

As I walked past the dork at the front of the store, he just looked and smiled his most pleasant FU smile. At that point, I need to walk away because I would like to......... well I would. And I shouldn't. BUT I WILL if I don't vacate the area quickly.

Anyway, after that.... we proceeded to the goofy car lot for the goofy sensor replacement.

It is a really nice place and once the car was parked and the paperwork completed, they gave us a ride to the Burlington Coat lot, where we had a nice lunch at the China Wok, walked to Burlington and Vicki window shopped a little while I held a bench down and guarded her pocket book. When Vick was done shopping, she called the car lot and they sent a car for us and back to the lot we went. Shortly after that, our car was ready and we left there very happy with the service and the peoples attitudes.

A quick stop at Adams for a small Maple tree and we were on our way home. When we pulled in at home, I sat the tree out exactly where we want to plant it this fall when Jeff or his father dig our water lines. We'll just get him to take one nice bucket full of dirt and an existing little tree our and put this one in.

Next we shot a few sickly birds we missed this morning and we were ready for dinner. After that, we put the animals away for the night and that was our day. Now I ask ya......was it not a full day of running and doing? Was there anything.........anything at all that seemed interesting enough to take a picture of? We didn't think so either.

All our posts from AOL journals are HERE!!!!!

All of our previous blog entries from January of last year are now contained here in Blogger.com and readily visible to anyone wishing to travel back through the time machine! If you want to revisit the Cluckin' "A" Critter Farm as it came into being..... like the beginning of the new barn being built by Vicki and I, just stroll backwards using the older posts button on the lower right of this page. When you come back, you will have to use the link to blogspot.com on the old AOL journal page that says "This is the last post from the Cluckin' "A" Critter Farm" and you will then be directed back to the current post. It is an interesting trip of pictures, thoughts, angry statements of events and poems or pleasant memory inducers! Take a long look and enjoy............
Today we are taking a trip. Being the brutal farmers that we are....... we are taking some fish we have in an aquarium upstairs in the studio, for their final ride today. We are doing away with the stinky tank and the fish, so we can enjoy the studio without the "fishing dock smell" in the room when the gas fireplace is burning. As you should all know, (or are about to learn) when a gas fireplace is burning, it will fill the room with any odor in the room, especially paint or shellac or varnish and will multiply the odor. It will also enhance pet smells or birds......especially smelly fish tanks, so if you've been blaming your gas heater/fireplace for stinking.... remove the source of the odor and it will no longer stink. Here ends today's lesson on gas fireplaces.
After bagging the fish........removing their little stinky tank and jumping into the car, we will deliver these little stinkers to the L&M Pet Store in Hudson, where they can be bought by other unsuspecting persons. After dropping those little guys off, we will head down the road to Kingston to have a failed sensor in our car replaced. This failed sensor, is supposed to indicate that the air bag system might not function in a crash. The manual says, "If this light comes on.....drive IMMEDIATELY to your nearest ****** dealership." That's all it says in the manual, in very large letters, simply..."drive IMMEDIATELY to you nearest ******* dealership". Well....... we went almost immediately, the next week when we could take the time to go....... and they said "Yep! it's a bad sensor saying that the airbags might not deploy in a crash. We'll order the part and call when it is in. You can then schedule an appointment to bring it back and we'll install the sensor. Just be careful until then." Now I don't know about you......but I'm always careful when launching a "3 ton projectile" down the highway.........especially when my family and I are in it............ and I wasn't aware that being careful in your "projectile" had a lot to do with the other guys "projectile" coming at you, in most instances. Wouldn't you think that, perhaps they should display the same IMPORTANCE to STOCKING THE PART, as the IMMEDIATELY, that we were supposed to drive the car to them? Stupid statements.......by stupid people. Well anyway, thank God that after having this sensor replaced, I can again go back to napping as I drive on long trips, playing chicken with approaching semi's or reading a good book on that boring trip to Vicki's brothers house. It will be refreshing to once again not have to be careful.
NOW! The critters are all looking pretty darned good this morning, with the exception of one hen that we shot for the first time yesterday. We will administer another shot to the two turkeys and this hen again today before leaving, then do a little more barn work if it is nice when we come home this afternoon. If it isn't raining later and the forecast says it won't, we'll turn the birds loose until evening. Until then.....We're gonna be real CAREFUL!

Posted by Skip and Vick at 9:31 AM 0 comments

Wed. Eve, Oct 8th.....What a busy day of running and nursing.........

We got up late today, so I was rushing around to leave the critters out and survey their health conditions. We have had several birds with a cough, sneezing and respiratory distress symptoms, so those are on Penicillin and under our watchful eye. The female turkey and all of the previously affected birds are doing better after three days of shots, so we seem to have this virus under control. The male turkey looked like he was coming down with it now, so we shot him today too. We'll keep an eye on him and shot him for the next 2 days and hopefully see the same kind of improvement as the female. I'd sure hate to lose any more of our birds to this crap. Four fatalities from this virus was enough. Thank goodness for the Internet and sites that list the symptoms and recommended treatment for it or we could have lost over half of our flock and more than one turkey. We were using Terramycin powder at first, which you use to treat their water which was actually affecting all the birds, even the healthy ones and it is very difficult to get a sick bird to drink enough to do any good anyway. The information we acquired over the Internet suggested we use injectable Penicillin and treat only the sick birds.

Boobie Dumps Barbie for Phoebe

It's hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, we past Barbie & Boobies garden spot and remarked about them having a baby, which we referred to as B.B.

Now, we pass by and find that Boobie dumped Barbie for a cute chick named Phoebe A. Jeebee. Now Boobie will be paying child support for the next 18 years!!!!!

If you look closely....you will see that the new chick is definitely different (and better looking) than Barbie was.

Down a little north country road

What a beautiful picture. It's now my wallpaper.

How lovely the colors of fall reflection across a lake.


From Seed of Past, Blooms the Future
By Skip Watt

We are all the forefathers of a still unborn generation to come,
for in retrospect, we now look gratefully to those who came before us,
as we consider them the pioneers of our daily lives from years ago,
likewise I suppose, they thought the same of generations before them .

It is no different those years ago, nor in the future years to come,
for tomorrows adventures will be truly yesterdays histories today,
and we will all be instrumental in the creation of all those memories ,
as we simply live our lives without giving second thought of it.

We must strive to live exemplary examples of truly faithful friendships,
and in the end, what else might we pride the existence of ourselves,
for you may amass a multitude of monetary wealth and prestige,
but when our time here has ended, no amount of wealth will shine,
yet good deeds and true friendships will light the darkest of nights.

live doing good toward another and enrich their lives by being a friend,
learn from another, that we may then pass this knowledge to all in need,
help one in need, for as a life is saved, it is destined to reflect on another,
enjoy the friendship of those near you and share life as a luxurious party,
give freely, a love you feel, for the love of another may hang in the balance.

Go forth with joy and plant seeds of happiness in the lives God created,
for as sunshine begins as a glow upon the distant horizon each morning,
so too will the growth of happiness take over the darkness in those lives,
and the happiness that blooms, so enriches the life of the gardener as well.


Vicki and I are quite upset and praying constantly for a very dear friend and neighbor of ours who is lying in a medically induced coma after a quadruple bypass surgery on Monday and doesn't seem to be doing very well. The surgery took an extremely long 8 hours to perform and the coma is being used to allow his body to recover from the trauma of the surgery before the patient is awakened. He is one of the first people we met when we moved here and he has given of himself on many occasions and has offered anything he owns to Vicki and I if we needed it. He is a very quiet, decent and generous person and we wish the very best for him and Joan, his better half.

Tuesday, October 7th... Early Quit Used Right For Once!!!!!!

We decided to quit early this evening, so we are in the studio lounge and Vicki is going to paint as I continue to blog and possibly write a short story installment to add to the one I published as an eBook earlier in the year. I think I will continue to write about growing up in central Pennsylvania in the late 50's and early 60's.

I may also decide to just read a little too. Vicki picked up a new book for me on drawing with pen & pencil by Claudia Nice and I've been wanting to read it, but never get up here until my eyes are ready to slam shut like the bank doors these days.

Today we took care of feeding the critters and leaving them out around 1:30 when we returned from lunch. We also gave the turkey her second injection of Penicillin, which I think is making her better. Vicki doesn't think it is doing much good and we will lose her like we did the other female, but I think there is definitely a change for the better. We'll see tomorrow. We did install the full sheet and the half sheet of plywood in the upstairs office wall area. We still need a full sheet to finish the barrier between loft and office up there and will pick a sheet up from GNH when we are ready to finish it. We didn't hang the door, because we decided that we could do the inside work when it rains. We needed to get outside while it is sunny and finish the fence posts which have been sitting in the open holes since late April when we dug the post holes for the fence and beams for the barn. I'd say it was time to finish them, wouldn't you? Some we were required to pull the post and dig dirt out so we could align the posts properly. We still have one long line and 4 across the back side to finish up and then we can measure and order the boards for the fence rails. It should really look sharp once the sticks are on the posts and we white wash them to look like the old fences of yesteryear. We're still using the pumpkin Orange in the blog for the Halloween season. I think it's pretty!

Tue. Oct 7th... Beautiful Sunrise on the Pupskill Lake.....

What a great sight to wake up to each and every morning of your life! Vicki and I never take it for granted, because to live and experience the dream you've had since childhood is the most precious gift of God you can imagine. Vicki and I labored hard our entire lives trying to achieve what we finally did through God's grace, but after she lost her first husband to a long fight with cancer and I endured years of a terribly one sided marriage. We vowed to make one anothers lives happy and fulfilling until the end of time.

Each morning you can see this very sight on the Pupskill

We have deer this close to us each and every day!

Perhaps we can work in the barn doing some of what needs done. Also, if the day continues to warm up, we can pull the cover on the pool, remove the eyeball assembly, install the expansion plug and the skimmer cover and take the pump, filter and hoses off. That's all that is needed to finish closing it up for the winter.

Vick say's we should go to the Two Kids Bakery for lunch, which will mean a top of the line soup and sandwich. After that......who knows!!!

Monday Evening, Oct. 6th... This was a lost day for us......

Good evening...... We experienced a pretty slow and uneventful day today (although it was beautiful) because of my knee which has become increasingly, more and more painful. The little flip & trip I took at the pool yesterday when I went and fell, has taken it's toll. We were putting the cover on and as I attempted to step past Vicki, I stepped into a crack between the deck and pool, which was under the cover edge and I went all the way down to the deck, but caught myself before smashing face first onto the wooden deck floor. I did however, jam my 5 inch wide knee through a 4 inch wide opening between the deck boards and the metal top of the pool. As if that wasn't painful enough, I then couldn't pull my leg back up through the opening without a horrific yank, which felt even worse. To my surprise, I really didn't hurt anything, break the skin or even get a visible brush burn, but today it is swollen and tender. That knee doesn't really want to bend to well when I walk and it is tender to the touch topically, but not really in the joint. Must be all muscle bruising without discoloration.
Anyway, we did a slight bit of work in the barn, then went to Agway and picked up 100 ML of Penicillin to administer injections to the chickens that obviously have an infectous bronchitis. We gave the turkey an injection to, hopefully to get ahead of whatever is ailing her too. This one is starting to act just like the other turkey hen we lost last week, which obviously had a respiratory problem she succumbed to. After tending to the sick birds, I carried a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood up to the loft in the barn to place on the wall and decided after the 2nd half sheet was carried up that I was done (because of the knee pain) for the day. Tomorrow is another day and I don't need to kill my body to put up plywood and hang a door.
I guess I'll just retire early tonight and read or watch TV. Maybe I can be productive tomorrow. I hope.

Good Morning from The Cluckin' "A Critter Farm

This morning started off pretty chilly. When I went out at 6:40 this morning, it was 32 degrees and slightly foggy over the Pupskill Lake Pond. All the critters were ready to run free, so I cut the doors open to all the buildings and away they went. We seem to have a cold being passed between the birds right now and some develop a secondary infectious bronchitis. Most get over it, but some succumb to it, so we are going to head for the Vet today to see if we can get a medicine from him for them. We lost about 4 or 5 birds in the last week, plus one of our turkey's.

The pool needs finished, but since it is completely covered and it is raining, we will wait for sunny weather to finish removing the pump, filter, eyeball assembly and install the skimmer cover and rubber plug to the eyeball socket which will complete the winterizing.

Perhaps we will work on the barn a little if my knee and leg can take it. It's a little stiff and sore after jamming it into that crack between the pool and deck. No scrapes or blood mind you, but sore. Oh well, it was exciting! What a ride........SPLAT!!

The pool is cleaned out, covered but not done......

Above is an antique machinery museum at the Altamont Fair Grounds.

We arrived at the fair yesterday around two o'clock and made the first round without buying anything until we saw all there was to see. We then went back and bought anything we wanted after that. We bought some Christmas presents for family and then a picture painted on flagstone. After this we decided to grab some food and watch the entertainment as we ate, so I bought a blooming onion and Vicki got some kettle corn and we sat and listened to "The Lustre Kings" sing. We listened until we decided to get our things and walk to the car because it was getting really cold there. Below are some pictures of what it was like.



















This old gas pump was neat. I remember these at some really old stations when I was a kid.





















A nice old car in the exhibit.




















And when have you seen one of these beauties lately?




















Here is the old fashioned kitchen




















More old kitchen hand tools and equipment




















A lady in period dress showing a dining room setting




















An old fashioned living room





















More of the old living room. a beautiful chunk stove




















A Doctor's office in that period




















More of the Doctor's office




















The bedroom in that era.




















Everyone was enjoying the day and the goodies..........




















Right in the middle of everything was this little chapel........




















It was very cozy and comfortable inside. Vick was a bell ringer for the lady inside.




















More folks enjoying the goodies all over the fair grounds.




















Finally, the band just kept on playing. We were starting to shiver. It was cold.

That was about it for the Apple Festival. It was like any other festival or art and craft show. We always enjoy going through the exhibit buildings and seeing all the vendors.

Today we started out cleaning the pool to close it. After a lot of elbow grease removing the dirt on the bottom and scooping out old leaves, we threw the closing kit into the clear water, added some algacide, added the inflatable pillow to hold the cover up and put the cover on. We still need to disconnect the pump and filter assembly, install the plug in the eyeball hose and install the cover plate over the skimmer opening. After doing those few things, we'll be done. We have a crack between the pool deck and the pool, because the old pool was just a tad smaller in diameter than this pool, so there is a small crack on one side and a five inch opening on the other side. I can tell you that when you step into this hole. NO ONE KNOWN TO MAN..... can hit you in the face with a board quicker than than that deck came up on me!!! I stepped..... and I was looking at the deck boards. FLAT on my face with my leg jammed in the opening clear to my groin. OUCH!!

Vicki was frantic!! She thought I killed myself or maybe that something was eating me........ like on alien when it reached up through the floor grating and yanked a guy down against the grating. I rolled around and yanked my leg out (after some pulling to do so) and just laid there for a moment as the pain subsided. I then checked to see if I had skin on my leg anymore and that it wasn't bleeding. I was fine, but sore. We finished for the day with a visit from Stanley Maltzman and his friend Joyce. After a little chat, they left and we ate, then quit for the night.