A Ride in the Country

Thursday Bill and I spent taking a ride around my old stomping grounds in Western NY, Chautauqua County. Most of the sights are barns, farms & hills. We wanted to check out to see what other storm damage was done in and around the area near where I grew up.

Deb, you will enjoy a lot of these pictures. I have many more for you, but you will just have to wait for my "project"!

(Just a reminder, if you want to see a bigger picture, you can always click on it to open it up to a larger size.)

We left the campground in Kiantone, NY around 10am. Our first sight about 1/4 mile from the campground is this huge farm located on the Kiantone Road. (The Cheney Farm). We were on the Riverside Rd. headed toward Fentonville, NY.
Next, this is the Eckman barn in Fentonville, NY. This gentleman was the man who bought my dad's farm. Both have since gone on to a better life. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of our barn, as it burned in a fire & was never rebuilt to look like "our barn". It is little more than a "feeding" station now.
This was my Uncle Luther's Barn on the Wiltsie Rd., now run by his grandson, Brad.
This is the creek that runs in front of the home I grew up in. As you can see, more & more of the bank has washed away with all the flooding. Since everything has grown up so much over the last 40 some years, it's hard to tell, but I think the tree that had my swing in it has since floated down the creek! The back yard to the right held many memories of reunions, games of badminton, crochet, fox & geese in the winter, & just plain having a great time!
This is my childhood home. It is owned by my 2nd cousin.
Side view of kitchen, back door, & garage.
This is the bridge in front of the house. I've seen this washed out many times over my lifetime. A previous, older bridge, was washed out on the day of one of my sister's weddings & cars had to drive across planks to get back to the main road.
I spent many, many hours playing in this creek!
This is one of my Grandfather's barns. Not too much left of it, but on the 2nd board from the top, there is a date carved into it.
The date is 1865. I guess if I was that old, not much of me would still be standing either! That's 144 years old!!!!

This is my Grandpa's main dairy barn. I never knew my Grandpa as he died a year before I was born. But my Grandma lived in the house across the road/creek for many years. I loved to go there to visit to play dominoes & eat her big sugar cookies! She had the prettiest white hair I ever saw. To get to her house we either had to walk up the dirt road a little ways & go around by the woodshed, or across from the barn was a foot bridge that went across the creek. No railings, just the boards to walk across. We used to stand in the middle of it & jump up & down. (Especially if somebody else was crossing it!) I'm glad I was young when I did that. I don't think I'd dare today! Funny, I never used to be afraid of heights!!!
This is one of the roads I used to ride the school bus home from school on. (It took me 1-1/2 hrs. to get home. My bus route had every dead end on that end of the district because we were close to the PA state line.)
This is the Jones farm on Wheeler Hill. Now, I want you to close your eyes & imagine with me. See the corn on the side of the road? You know how tall corn gets. Imagine you are in a school bus right at this spot & snow is 3 times as high as that corn! Yup, you couldn't even see over the top of the snow piled along the road on this stretch of road. School Delayed 2 hours? What was that? Snow Day??? You've got to be kidding!!!
This is an old barn that I can remember my Dad taking his thrashing machine to to help other farmers. It was in the next county over from us. Quite a drive with an old Farmall & huge trashing machine (in those days anyway). Today the machinery is humongous compared to then!
This is a sight (rather hazy as it was a hot day), from the top of Oak Hill Rd. out of Frewsburg, NY. Had it been a clear day, you might have been able to see Chautauqua Lake. For those of you who read this that live in the west or midwest, our farms are quite a bit hillier than yours!
Along the roads everywhere here in PA & NY these pretty blue corn flowers (at least that's what we call them) grow. I always loved to pick bouquets of them, but they don't last very long once you pick them. Over the years, I've found it's better to let Mother Nature bloom where she's planted & enjoy them from a distance.
We went by way of the Kinzua Dam/Reservoir. What a beautiful picture perfect day. We didn't get to see any eagles though. We see the nests, but some of them have been taken over by hawks I think.
After our stop at the Indian Reservation to buy our diesel fuel, we return almost the same route. We stopped at my sisters to tell her we wouldn't be there to play cards as Bill was going to the Warren County Fair. This is my brother-in-law's farm. Okay Deb, did I do okay? At least I ended with your dad's!
Today we took a different route & I didn't have my camera. I still have quite a few more pictures of barns to take. Deb told me when we were in Michigan she loved old barns & it's amazing how many you see & no two are alike. They do make a pretty picture!

Friday Bill took a trip to the doctor to get medication for his congested lungs. This damp, humid weather has not been good for him. Arizona looks better & better every day! He is doing better this week after being on the medication for a few days.

Friday night my girlfriend, Judy & I planned a night out for supper & then to the Library Theater. Since my Bill wasn't doing too great, he decided not to stay at the Fair that evening & came home & went with us. We saw The Hunt Family. They were fantastic. Bill said he wished they would come to Arizona & entertain at our resort! There was a mother & father & 7 children. The oldest were twin girls & the rest were all boys. All between the ages of 11 & 19. They sang, played fiddles, guitar, drums & keyboard & could they Irish Step Dance! So much talent all in one family! If you are ever anywhere that you can see them, be sure & go. They are from Chesapeake, VA & have performed at Busch Gardens several times. Several of the boys have competed in Scotland & Ireland for the World Championships in Irish Dance.

Sunday we went out for breakfast & then to church. Visited with Bill's sister, Carolyn & husband Neil to get our mail, then came home. My nephew David, came to measure for some more welding work for us. We had our generator removed from our trailer since we haven't used it in 2 years. The front compartment where it was, has holes in the bottom, so David is going to make us a metal sheeting to place in there. He will caulk & attach it with screws. So far he has made us a flag pole holder to go under our back tire for our new telescoping flag pole & fixed me up with a metal rod to place my revolving flag pole on. He's an all around handy nephew to have! A lot of talent & not afraid to fix up anything. Now I'm just waiting for his last project & my bill! Before we sold our home, he welded me an arch to put between our 2 stone pillars so I could grow my wisteria over it. He surprised us by making letters of our last name & welding them onto it. I loved it. Unfortunately when the wisteria grew over it, you couldn't see the letters except in the winter time! We love you Dave!

We've had some pretty hot, humid days this past week & the weekend was beautiful. Last night we went to Bemus Point, NY to see the Chautauqua Lake Idol Finals contest on the floating stage. It was very good & a young man of 22, named Shawn Kirk, was the 2009 winner. A favorite?? You bet!! He sang country & sang from the heart. He wrote a song for a couple that was his friends who had a stillborn baby & the song had everyone in tears before he was done. He truly was favorite of the crowd!

Today we paid a visit to our friend, Tammy, who has moved her restaurant from downtown Jamestown, to another street still in the city where the old Ironstone Restaurant was. We had some delicious Italian cooking for lunch today! It was good to see her & she is very excited about her new venue. I didn't have lasagna today (that's an evening meal), so I guess that means we get to go again before we leave the area!

Tonight we had a pot luck supper at the campground. I wasn't very hungry, but of course I ate! Such a habit!!! Wish I could break it! I told the doctor today, that is my only complaint. It gets harder & harder to keep the weight off! I think I'm more active in Arizona during the winter, but I seem to eat more there too (I think). Maybe I'm just plain eating more anyway! Oh well. I got a cute Maxine Joke today that said something to the effect I don't worry about what others think too much anymore & I like myself just the way I am. Being happy is the name of the game! Besides, Thursday is another lunch date with my friends Toni, Marilyn & Mary Ann for a "hot tub" party! Then next Tuesday it's out to breakfast with my other girlfriends Judy & Sarah. See.......I never stop eating!

Well, that brings us up to date again.......So until next time...........The Traveling Cardinal's