The Adventures of Restoman

thespian15's Birthday

restoman — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 12:24:01 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Jon!!!

Hope you have a great day!

Franklin Square, Syracuse

restoman — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 06:23:50 GMT

Three decades ago, Franklin Square was Syracuse's industrial graveyard. It was an area of mostly brick industrial buildings just north west of downtown that had become vacant eyesores with the collapse of American manufacturing in the late 20th century.

The early industries were powered by the water from Onondaga Creek which runs through the neighborhood. The land farther from the creek was mostly occupied by the salt making industry. At first, salt was produced in "salt blocks", one story brick buildings with a big chimney, where brine from local springs and wells was boiled until the water evaporated, leaving salt crystals. This method required vast quantities of wood as fuel. By the late 19th century, virtually all the forests in Central New York had been clear-cut to provide that wood, and to make lumber. Once wood became more costly due to the distance it had to be shipped, the salt industry switched to a solar evaporation process to make salt. The boilers were replaced by open-air flat pools where the sun evaporated the brine to form salt. Removable wooden or canvas covers had to be fashioned for these flat pools to protect them on rainy or snowy days. This system was inefficient and doomed to eventual failure due to our relatively wet weather and general lack of sunshine. By the early 20th century most of the salt manufacturers had gone out of business and other manufacturing companies took their place.

Some of the business that built their factories on the old salt flats were;
New Process Gear, which made the transmissions for Chrysler cars,
O.M. Edwards Co, which made metal office furniture, padlocks, windows for buses and railroad cars, and phone booths,
Merrill-Soule Co., which made canned vegetables, powdered milk and lemonade, and Nonesuch Mincemeat,
Amphion Piano-Player Action Co., which made the mechanical parts for player pianos.
Easy Washing Company, which made washing machines,
The C.C. Bradley Foundry which made the famous Bradley Forging Hammer, widely used in steel manufacture around the world, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shQtlspHJR8
and the H.H. Franklin Manufacturing Co. which built Franklin automobiles (1902-1934). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f_vUbzh5l8

Other, smaller factories produced a wide range of products from the Monarch typewriter, to textiles, handbags, baseball bats and underwear.

Even though a bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin stands in the park, Franklin Square is not named for him, but for Herbert H. Franklin, the Syracuse industrialist who developed and manufactured the Franklin car.

Many of the old factories in Franklin Square were bought up and redeveloped by The Pyramid Corporation a few decades ago, and are now high-end residential apartments and office space. Pyramid created a lovely park at Franklin Square and planted dozens of flowering trees along Solar Street and Franklin Street. I believe the trees are mostly Bradford Pear (with white flowers) and Crabapple and Cherry (with pink flowers). The trees are all in bloom right now and create a very pleasant urban landscape. The contrast between the flowering trees and the old red brick factories is delightful!

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The steel truss bridge across Onondaga Creek was restored and upgraded to be usable again. It dates to about 1910.

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The old steel water tower for New Process Gear still towers over the complex, but is no longer in use.

Family visit and the Eclipse

restoman — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 06:44:04 GMT

As planned, my sister, Linnell, her oldest daughter, (my niece) Alida, and Alida's husband, Patrick arrived at my house just after noon. They had driven up from Queens, where Alida and Pat live. After a brief stop, to meet Honey, we went out to lunch at Eva's Polish Restaurant in Solvay. Alida and Pat had been there with me last time they visited about 6 years ago. The food was great. I had perogies with onions, but tried some of the Polish meatballs and little potato pancakes (I don't remember the Polish name for those dishes) that the others ordered. From there we went to Joan's house, a block north of my house, where the three of them will be staying while they visit. I spent a year (1980-1981), restoring Joan's house, which she now operates as an AirBnb. It was a convenient and pleasant place for them to stay, and they could enjoy a close-up look at one of my first big restoration jobs.
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Linnell meets Honey.
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The parlor in Joan's house, built 1868. The cornice is cast, and run-in-place plaster. The mantle is marble.

After taking a rest we went to dinner at Laci's Tapas Bar, in my neighborhood. Again, the food was great. Tapas-type restaurants feature small portions of artistically and exquisitely prepared exotic dishes. Afterward we hung out at my house and talked, planning out our adventures for Sunday.

Sunday morning was sunny but cold. We all had breakfast at Stella's diner, on the north side of the city, and then went on a tour of the countryside, visiting several waterfalls, and historic buildings. First we stopped at Fiddler's Green, in Jamesville, a picturesque brook and falls on Butternut Creek. From there we drove to Pratt's Falls in Pompey.
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Linnell, Alida and Pat at the top of the falls.
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This is a view of the 137 foot (42 meters) falls from the top. I did not join the others to hike to the bottom of any of the falls. I just can't do that much walking anymore.

From there we drove to Delphi Falls, where there are two sets of waterfalls in a still-under-construction county park. The next stop was the picturesque town of Cazenovia, on Cazenovia Lake.
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The Cazenovia Town Hall is in a marvelous Gothic style house from 1847. The house is listed in the National Trust.
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Lorenzo, built 1807, was the mansion of Colonel John Lincklaen, who founded the town of Cazenovia. The house is open the public as a museum, but it was still too early in the season for that. We wandered around the grounds before heading into the village for a late lunch at El Patruno, a small Mexican restaurant, where I had some wonderful chicken chimichangas.

After we left Cazenovia we headed to Chittenango Falls, where I relaxed at the top of the falls while the rest of them hiked to the bottom. Of course, the best view of a waterfall is generally from the bottom, so I did not get any photos. But, that's OK, I have seen all these waterfalls before, but they were new to Linnell, Alida and Pat. We stopped at Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville on the way home, where the three of them hiked to Dead Man's Point on the lake to admire the unique green color and marvel at the fresh-water coral.

After a long day, all of us were exhausted so when we got back to my house Linnell and I stayed there, while Alida and Pat went out for some dinner. We had a good time talking, and Linnell worked at making friends with Honey.

THE ECLIPSE

A total solar eclipse is a big deal, and most people can count themselves lucky to see just one in their lifetimes, without having to travel some distance. Syracuse was just within the edge of the path of totality for the eclipse, so there was a huge influx of people to Syracuse for the eclipse. Every hotel room in the area was booked for Sunday night, and the restaurants were all packed as well. Being the closest city to New York City that would experience the total eclipse, throngs of people came here from NYC and its suburbs just to watch the eclipse. On Monday, the day of the eclipse, schools and many businesses were closed, or at least closed for the afternoon.
We decided to drive to Sackett's Harbor, on Lake Ontario which was close to the center of the eclipse's path. It is a picturesque, historic town where there was plenty to see and do while we waited for the eclipse to happen. We left Syracuse at 9 AM, driving north in light traffic. On the way there, the radio played any songs they could think of that had a connection to the eclipse: Here Comes the Sun, Total Eclipse of the Heart, ...Hello darkness, my old friend... etc. We got to Sackett's Harbor just after 10 AM and found a restaurant, Tin Pan Galley, where we had a lovely brunch. We wandered around the town for a while, checking out a few of the stores, and settled in at a town park on the harbor, in front of the visitor's center at the historic Sackett mansion. The modest-sized mansion was built by the town's founder in 1801. Sackett's Harbor is one of the best harbors on the American side of Lake Ontario, and as such it boasted two forts, one on each side of the harbor, to help protect the US's northern boundary. It was an important site for shipping and ship building by the late 18th century. A major battle in the War of 1812 was fought there and a naval battle was fought on the lake adjacent to the town.
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This hotel was built in 1817, and was bigger than any building in Syracuse at the time.
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Dozens of people staked out their places on the lawn in front of the Sackett mansion to watch the eclipse.

Although Monday had started off with mostly clear skies, clouds moved in by noon. The sun was still visible through the clouds, but it made for poor photos of the eclipse.
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Before the eclipse began there was an unusual phenomenon: a faint rainbow formed around the sun, from the water droplets in the high clouds.

When the eclipse began, there was little to see at first. My group, and most of the people watching had "eclipse glasses" made of cardboard with a dark plastic filter. As the eclipse progressed, the temperature started getting distinctly colder, and a breeze picked up. The birds started calling a confused alarm and headed for their roosting places. As it got darker, the birds became quiet. The street lights around the town all turned on automatically as their photocell switches were tricked by the eclipse. Just before the peak of the eclipse, the clouds seemed to clear out a bit, making our view a little better. The moon seemed to cover almost the entire sun for quite a while, showing a corona with just a corner of the sun showing. Then all of a sudden it became full! The sun became a perfect dark disk with just a ring of light, the corona, around it. There was an audible gasp from the crowd when that happened followed by cheers!
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Alida and Linnell with eclipse glasses.

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As the sky got dark, there was a sort-of sunset in the eastern sky, out over the harbor.
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The moment just before totality, when just a tiny corner of the sun was still visible.

The eclipse lasted three and a half minutes, and then a small corner of the sun peeked out from behind the moon. As it gradually grew lighter, the crowd dispersed and we headed to a restaurant called the 1812 Brewing Company where we had reservations. We had a fabulous table indoors, with a great view of the harbor. We had figured that by having dinner before heading home, we could avoid some of the inevitable traffic jam. But we got stuck in heavy slow-moving traffic for about a half hour anyway.

When we finally got back home, we spent the rest of the evening around my dining room table with a bottle of wine and a six-pack of Labatt Blue, playing dominoes. I had not played dominoes in over 50 years, and none of us had played recently enough to remember the rules, so we had to look them up online. It was a fun time!
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Pat, Alida, Linnell, wine, beer and dominoes.

Tuesday morning we all had breakfast at Stella's again, and then said our goodbyes.
It was great to see them all again. I hope the next visit will come sooner.

Riding the weather roller coaster

restoman — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 05:03:24 GMT

It has been a while since I have done a general update post on my so-called life. Sorry about that.

This past winter, aside from being the usual gloomy-gray, was relatively mild with much less snow than usual. But March was a real roller-coaster ride. We had several record-breaking days where the temperature got as high as 71 degrees (21.6 C.), followed by a 50 degree drop a day later. The Crocuses started blooming almost a month ago, followed by a snow storm. A few days after that melted, the Winter Aconite and Snow Drops started blooming.
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Then more snow, followed by another warmup. This was a repeated pattern, from low temperatures to high, to low again, then another high, then low. It snowed 4 times in March, the last time it snowed, 10 days ago, we had 8 inches (20 cm.). My daffodils had started blooming by that time, only to be buried under snow.
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This was early in the last snow storm. By the next day, you could not see any green, just white mounds where the daffodils had been. I could swear I heard Mother Nature cackling: "HAH, Gotcha, Suckers!"

My health has been up and down as well this winter. My usual January cold lasted longer than usual, but I recovered by February. For the past six weeks I have been dealing with almost constant low-level pain. It started with sciatica, again, in my back and left leg. Then I also had some pain in my jaw. I went to my dentist, who X-rayed the problem area, but his examination was inconclusive. One of my teeth may be cracked at the root and I may need to have a root canal done. He referred me to an endodontist, but my insurance would not cover it. My insurance company found another local dentist who will do root canals, but getting an appointment there has been like pulling teeth (pun intended). Meanwhile, I saw my back-and-spine doctor. I wanted to get another cortisone injection in my spine like I had 2 years ago, a procedure that was quite effective at reducing my pain. Unfortunately, my insurance company would not authorize the shot unless I first tried another round of physical therapy. So my first session in this round of PT will be a week from Friday. The pain continues on, and I take Ibuprofen when it gets real bad. Dealing with my health insurance company has been a real pain too.

Easter Sunday I made a dinner for John, Ricky and myself: baked, glazed ham, studded with cloves, mashed potatoes, asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, and pumpkin pie with Cool Whip. The guys had fun hunting for Easter eggs in the house before dinner. Honey has found a new treat that she loves: boiled eggs.
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The glazed ham, topped with pineapple and candied cherries.
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Can you find the egg?
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How about this egg?
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OK, I guess this one was a little obvious!
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Ricky, after dinner. He is doing well, back in the rehab program, and working for me part-time, but not living here. He and Johnny both rent rooms from Tom, who lives 3 blocks up the street from me.

Between the weather and my health, I have been having a rough time, but I have a family visit coming up in a few days which I have been looking forward to. My sister, Linnell, flew into New York City today from Spokane, Washington. She will be staying with my niece, Alida, and her husband, Patrick at their house in Queens for a few days, then the three of them are driving up to Syracuse on Saturday. They will be staying at an Airbnb a block away from my house. The Airbnb is owned by my friend and former customer, Joan, and is a house that I spent a year restoring in 1980-81. I can see it from my back yard. On Monday, the four of us will drive north to Sackett's Harbor, NY, on Lake Ontario, to get a good view of the total solar eclipse. Syracuse is within the zone of the eclipse, but Sackett's Harbor is centered exactly on the path of the eclipse. Sackett's Harbor is a charming little historic town. It was the scene of a battle during the War of 1812.

I am really looking forward to their visit. I have not seen my sister since her boat trip across Central New York 5 years ago, and it has been a little longer since I have seen Alida and Pat. In anticipation of their visit, my big project for the past week has been "putting on the dog"; whipping my house into shape, doing major cleaning, organizing, and even some interior painting. John and Ricky have been helping with this huge undertaking. We still have 2 more days to work on it, but the place is looking a lot better already. We completely cleaned and reorganized the pantry, getting rid of 3 recycling bins full of empty plastic and glass food containers, I reuse them regularly but had ~~hoarded~~ accumulated far more than I needed. I also cleaned out my bedroom closet, filling 3 trash bags with clothing which I donated to the Rescue Mission (some of it went to John and Ricky too). I actually went through the tableware drawer in the kitchen, cleaning it out and getting rid of superfluous and unmatched silverware and utensils. The kitchen has been repainted, and most of the house has been dusted and vacuumed or mopped. Even the lawn has been raked.

After the family visit is over my crew and I will get back into the restoration project we started last October on the house diagonally across the street from mine. Pictures of that project to come!

Easter 2024

restoman — Sun, 31 Mar 2024 13:45:26 GMT

I dyed last night.

Yeah, I dyed Easter eggs last night. It was a lot of fun, and brought back pleasant memories of childhood. I have not dyed eggs since I was about 12 years old.
I will be making an Easter dinner of Baked, Glazed Ham, studded with cloves and topped with pineapple rings and cherries. We will also have mashed potatoes, asparagus, and pumpkin pie for dessert. Ricky and John will be coming for dinner. I will have an Easter egg hunt in the house beforehand. Both Ricky, at 36, and John, at 58, are still kids at heart, and I know they will enjoy it.

I would like to wish all my LJ friends a VERY HAPPY EASTER!

*HUGS*

mrdreamjeans's Birthday

restoman — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 12:51:58 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NEIL!!!

Hope you have a great day! Enjoy Europe!

*Hugs*

thespian15's Birthday

restoman — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 02:59:27 GMT

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JON!!!

*Hugs*

Just a Reminder

restoman — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 05:00:54 GMT

The meme is recycled, but it still makes me laugh!

I'm still here, and will soon do a proper update post on my life of late.

*Hugs*

hoobird's Birthday

restoman — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 02:12:19 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOE!!!

*HUGS*

Snow storm & Death of the Fridge

restoman — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 03:39:23 GMT

Last Friday it became apparent that my refrigerator was no longer working as it should. Ice cubes were not freezing all the way through, and some items in the freezer were starting to thaw. I can't complain too much, because the fridge was given to me for free 20 years ago by a customer who had me remodel their kitchen. So, 20 years use of a free refrigerator is not bad. But being the Friday before a holiday weekend meant that even if I went out and bought one immediately (which I did), they probably would not get it delivered to my house until Tuesday at the earliest. I bought a couple bags of ice and put them in the fridge, and bought a 25 pound (11 kg.) block of dry ice to put in the freezer. I also started cooking up a big batch of chicken vegetable soup to quickly use up 6 thawed chicken breasts and leg/thigh quarters. Several packages of thawing vegetables also went into the soup.

After 2 days, the ice was melted, and the dry ice had almost completely evaporated, but things that had been thawing in the freezer were frozen hard again.

This called for a change of strategy. Fortunately the temperature outdoors was dropping. With John's help I emptied the contents of the freezer and fridge into 2 camping coolers, a plastic tote, and a large enamel pot. We carried everything outside and put it on my back yard table. The temperature dropped below freezing, only getting above freezing for a few hours one afternoon. No animals got into the food, in spite of a dream I had where racoons were pillaging the coolers. All the food stayed out there until Wednesday when the new refrigerator finally arrived. I loaded most of the food into the new fridge, only lost a little bit of stuff, and threw away some things that were due to be tossed anyway.
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My outdoor "fridge".

I love my new fridge. It is a 25 cubic foot (708 cubic liters) side-by-side, just like my old one was, but the new one is stainless steel with black sides instead of all white.

Last night I made up a big batch of chili, using 3 pounds (1.36 kg.) of ground beef that had partially thawed and refrozen. I also used up the last 6 cups (1.4 liters) of my home made stewed tomatoes, some of which had been frozen for 9 years.

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Yesterday it started snowing mid-afternoon. It continued all night and did not stop until this afternoon. All together we got about 9 inches (23 cm.) of light, fluffy snow. It looked quite pretty in my back yard.
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Looking to the west across back yards.

This was the first time that Honey had experienced more than a trace of snow. She was a bit frightened by it, but eventually started exploring it a little, blazing trails through it in the back yard. Still, in spite of its novelty, she did not want to be outside for long.
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Honey exploring the new snow.

She definitely preferred to be inside in her hidey-hole under my computer desk.
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Honey in her hidey hole under my computer desk with her favorite ball. It is pretty comfortable under there with her gray dog bed, and just inches away from her daddy. She is teething, so it gives her easy access to my sneakers. She loves to untie the laces, and has chewed all the aglets* off in spite of giving her multiple chew toys to play with instead. She has also been chewing on the lower desk shelf.

She is slowly gaining more confidence in my house, and ventures into most of the rooms downstairs. She has also been learning to play with a ball, apparently this was something new to her. She loves her red rubber ball and will bark at it if it hides under a chair. She also takes it into her dog-bed under my desk and chews and snuggles with it, making little whining noises. I don't understand the whining, but it is cute and endearing. Also in the past week she has started wagging her tail when she's in the mood. She is definitely breaking out of her timid shell.

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Yours truly, with Honey. Photo taken by John.

*Aglets are the stiff ends on shoelaces to prevent unraveling and make threading through holes easier.

[Edited: Problem with e-mail validation and photo posting fixed. Thanks LJ tech!]

Christmas by the Numbers

restoman — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 04:37:23 GMT

I spent the week before Christmas doing a lot of baking and cooking, much of it Christmas-related. Cards and packages got sent out with little time to spare, and the minimal Christmas shopping that I did was accomplished without setting foot in a mall. Christmas Day was relatively warm and sunny, without any snow on the ground. I went to George's house for a turkey dinner and to exchange gifts with George, Gary and Michael. This is my holidays-and-birthdays gang that I get together with for special occasions, though this year was the first time we all have been together for a Christmas meal since 2019 (before Covid). It was great to spend Christmas Day with the gang again. I have missed that!

So here is my Christmas, by the numbers:

400 Spritz kuchen (German shortbread Christmas cookies) baked over several days before Christmas.
100 Or more ornaments hung on the tree.
26 Cards sent to friends and family.
24 Candy canes hung on the tree.
19 Cards received from friends and family.
11 Presents wrapped and given out.
6 Tins of home made cookies given out.
5 Jars of Queen Anne's Lace Jelly made as a gift.
4 Loaves of Date-Nut Bread baked.
3 old friends, that I spent Christmas with.
2 Pumpkin pies baked for Christmas dinner at George's.
1 Big batch of Chicken vegetable soup made before Christmas to last much of the week.
Sorry, no partridges in pear trees.

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I hung a small part of my glass ornament collection on the tree this year for the first time since 2017.

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The lights set to "white" instead of colors. Ahhhh, the miracle of LEDs! The shiny packages under the tree are a dog-fence, not presents. The boxes also provide storage space for ornaments.

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A close up of the tree.

Honey is doing fine, and the next post will have some more pictures of her.

I hope all my LJ friends had a pleasant Christmas. And may you all have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

*Hugs*

New Dog

restoman — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 04:25:23 GMT

Last Tuesday, the 12th, I drove to North Syracuse to visit HelpingHounds Rescue. HelpingHounds does their best to match homeless dogs from overcrowded shelter systems with loving homes. They frequently bring dogs from Texas and Mississippi, where there is an abundance of homeless dogs in shelters, to Syracuse for adoption. I had done my homework, filled out their application online, and perused the photos of their dogs beforehand. I picked out two promising-looking dogs that I thought might be a good match for me: Rocket and Snoopy. I was looking for a middle-aged small to medium-sized dog, one that would not be big enough or enthusiastic enough to knock me down. When I got to the shelter, I found out that Rocket had already been adopted, and someone had called and reserved Snoopy. (I didn't know you could do that!)

So, I told the staff my needs and asked for their recommendations. They led me to a "conference room", then brought in a dog for me to interview. The first dog was Toto and looked just like his namesake from The Wizard of Oz. I got along well with Toto, and he was eager to take the dog biscuit I had brought along. But Toto was 10 years old, and I wanted to see what my other options could be. Next they brought in Max, a long-haired poodle/terrier mix. Unfortunately, Max had no interest in me or my dog biscuits. I asked for a third dog, perhaps one with short hair (it makes it easier to keep the dog and house clean.) They brought me Elle Woods. She was only 5 months old, a short-haired Dachshund/Catahoula Leopard Dog mix. She is quite small, only 18 pounds (8 kg) and will not get much bigger. She has a sweet, affectionate temperament, but is very timid. She came over to me and tentatively put her two front paws on my knee to check me out. She eagerly took the dog biscuit I offered. In the course of the 10 minute interview, she won my heart.

I signed their paperwork, paid the adoption fee, and coaxed Elle into my car. She made the drive home without making any fuss, and stayed in the back of my Mercury the whole time. I pulled into my driveway and lifted her out of the car. This was all very new to her, and she was clearly terrified. I could not get her to go up the 4 steps to my front porch. I was wary of traumatizing her further. Fortunately, Sue, my neighbor across the street saw us and came over. She was excited to meet my new dog and befriended her quickly. Elle allowed Sue to scoop her up and put her on the porch.

We went inside, and Elle made a bee-line for the nearest nook. That happened to be under the raised footrest of the recliner in the living room. She would stay in that spot for the next 28 hours. I laid a blanket and pillow down on the living room floor and laid down there with her, talking to her in soothing tones, hand feeding her dog kibble and pieces of rawhide chewies. She gradually relaxed and started licking my hand and resting her head on my arm as I stroked her.

Wednesday evening, I brought her outside to take care of business. But when I brought her back inside, she hid under a kitchen chair until Thursday. I wanted to speed up her bonding with me, so that night I carried her up the stairs to my bedroom and put her on my bed. I have a hard time climbing the stairs by myself, but to do it carrying a dog was more dangerous than I was comfortable with. In my bedroom she saw herself in the mirror. She made a long growl and two barks before she decided that the other dog was not a threat. That was the only time I have ever heard her bark or growl so far.

She loved being on my bed, and spent much of the night snuggled up next to me, which I also enjoyed. About 3:45 AM she started licking my face. After a while I turned away and she started licking the back of my head. I could not sleep like that and gently put her on the floor. I clearly missed a cue here, because in the morning I found that she had done her business on the bedroom floor. I did not raise my voice or punish her in any way, I just cleaned it up and carried her downstairs. Clearly I need to be better aware of her signals.

Sue, her housemate, Debbie, and my friend, Johnny, have all been over here almost every day this past week to fawn over her. Johnny said that she is a real honey. I had never been fond of the name the shelter gave her, and she clearly did not know her own name anyway, so I decided to rename her Honey. She has distinctive honey-colored eyes, and some of her fur is that color as well. I think her new name suits her sweet, loving temperament too.

She has given up her lair under the recliner, and has made the space under my computer desk her new home. There she is only inches away from me for much of the day. I think it is a good sign that she is bonding with me and learning to trust and love me.

It is nice to have someone living with me again. There is nothing like the companionship of a loving dog, and I am very happy to be able to walk into my house and say: "Hi Honey, I'm home."

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Her markings are very much like those of a Catahoula Leopard Dog, but she has the build of a Dachshund. I did not know what a Catahoula Leopard Dog was, having never met one, but looked them up online. Apparently they were bred in Catahoula County, Louisiana in the 1700s, and were traditionally used in hunting feral boars, but are considered a herding dog. They are a medium-size dog with a mottled or somewhat striped coat of various colors.

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This is Honey on her first day in my house, hiding under the recliner, terrified. She has made a lot of progress in the past week, but we are still getting to know each other.

New Respect for an Old Friend

restoman — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 23:01:55 GMT

I have known Johnny for about 20 years. He has led a checkered and tumultuous life, but deep inside he is a good, salt-of-the-earth type of person. He has struggled with addictions (he is clean now), and homelessness. I used to joke that if couch surfing ever became an Olympic Event, John could win the gold medal.

John has worked for me, as needed, for about 18 years: lawn mowing, snow shoveling, construction and house cleaning. Today he was helping clean out Ricky's bedroom, which was a disgusting mess. After he was done I offered to drive him to his home at Tom's house 3 blocks up the hill from mine. He had a big bag of groceries, that would have been a pain to carry up that long hill. Half way between my house and Tom's is a boarded-up house that has been empty for years. The rumor was that squatters were staying in the house, using it as a place to do drugs. As we passed by the house, I noticed that there was fresh fire damage coming out of several windows.

John said: "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Two days ago when I was walking by that house I saw smoke coming out and called 911." After calling, he ran up to the house to make sure no one was inside, in spite of the 911 operator telling him not to. He found 3 people inside. Two of them were able to get out quickly on their own, (and they disappeared before the fire department got there). The third person was passed out on a mattress in the room next to the one where another mattress was burning. John was able to rouse him and got him out of the house before the fire department got there. He was groggy and disoriented, but stayed around for treatment by the medics. So, John saved a life this week.

10 years ago, when John witnessed a murder in the house next to mine, he and I called 911, and John gave the police information that enabled them to catch the murderer very quickly. John would later testify at the trial, and helped get him locked up for a long time.
https://restoman.livejournal.com/233176.html

Seeing how John handled the fire up the street, and knowing how he handled being the witness to a murder 10 years ago, has given me new respect for John as a person.

restoman — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 16:36:51 GMT

We had our first real snowfall of the season yesterday and last night. It started about 2PM, and continued off and on into this morning. This was a "lake effect" snow event, so high snow totals were very localized. Syracuse was right on the edge of one of the lake effect bands, so while the city got 3 to 5 inches (7.5 to 12.5 cm.) of snow. The town of Redfield, just 37 miles (60 km.) north of here got close to 36 inches (91 cm.) of snow.

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In my back yard, there was about 3.5 inches (9 cm.)of snow.

2.
A healthy crop of icicles growing on the edge of the kitchen roof, over the garden shed.

Yesterday, when the snow started, I remembered to fill the birdfeeders. The squirrels watched me doing that, and were quick to attempt a raid. They only had moderate success.

3.
He managed to get past the squirrel-proof shield below the feeder, probably by jumping from a tree trunk 7 feet (2 m.) away. He seems well-fed!

4.
Today this fellow found the newly stocked suet feeder, and has been back several times. This is a male Red-Bellied Woodpecker. I have not seen one of these in many years, though their smaller cousins, the Downy Woodpeckers, are regular visitors to my suet feeder every winter. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo, I took this shot through the dining room window, which needs a good cleaning.

Johnny has already shoveled the sidewalks last night and again this morning. I will probably stay home most of today. There is no urgent reason to leave, and this should be a good day for my favorite winter sport: stamp collecting. ;-)

The Holidays

restoman — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 21:38:53 GMT

And so it begins...
1.
My car this morning. We have had snow flurries several times already, the first one on November 1st, but today was the first time I have had to scrape the windshield. The ground is still too warm for the snow to stay for very long, but that will change soon. We have had hard frosts several times in the past week.

2.
To help lay the past two disappointing holidays to bed, I changed the front door from Indian corn to my fake Spruce wreath.

3.

HALLOWEEN

I have neglected writing about it so far, but it is time to record that day and move on. I decorated the front of the house with orange lights on the Wisteria vine, plastic Jack-O-Lanterns replacing the porch light globes, and 2 carved pumpkins, lighted with candles.
I was well-prepared with enough small candy bars to satisfy almost a hundred kids, or if I doubled up the treats, to make 50 kids even happier. The candy this year was: Junior Mints, Peanut M & M's, York Peppermint Patties, Heath bars, and Mounds. I had a disappointing 18 kids come to my door. The highlights were: two young blonde girls of about 5, with their mother and father. It was obviously their first time going trick-or-treating, as they seemed not to know the routine. But they were thankful for the little boxes of Junior Mints they received. A little later a group of 11 Somali kids came all at once. Their ages ranged from about 6 to about 12, and they were accompanied by 3 mothers, dressed in traditional Somali clothing. The mothers stayed back on the sidewalk as the kids came up on the porch. They spoke English well, and were all very polite. Each one said "Thank you" for the candy, and most of them also wished me a "Happy Halloween". We have a number of Somali refugee families here in Syracuse, mostly on the north side. It is heartening to see them adapt to and embrace our quirky holidays.

4.

5.

Here are the statistics for the past umpteen years of Halloween:

1992: 132
1998: 77
2001: 53
2003: 33
2004: 57
2005: 69
2006: 64
2007: 53
2008: 26
2009: 43
2010: 42
2011: 55
2012: 42
2013: 64
2014: 63
2015: 60
2016: 77
2017: 74
2018: 23
2019: 45
2020: 2
2021: 15
2022: 34
2023: 18
2024: 60
2025: 7

I enjoy Halloween. I like the creative process of carving pumpkins and decorating, and enjoy giving candy to the local kids. But I am beginning to feel that it is all too much work for relatively little reward. I don't know if I will bother with it again next year.

THANKSGIVING

Yesterday I made, (or started to make) a traditional Thanksgiving meal. I made 2 Pumpkin pies Wednesday night, using Pumpkin I had cooked and frozen last year. I had a 17 pound Turkey, which I stuffed with bread stuffing made by my Grandmother's recipe, passed down in the family for over a century. I had invited Johnny to dinner, and Tim said that he might stop by as well. The stuffed Turkey went into the oven late, about 1 PM. I got no response when I called John to let him know that dinner was running late. When 5 PM came around, the pop-up timer on the Turkey said it was done, but no one had shown up to eat it. I decided to cut dinner short. I did not bother to make the gravy, mashed potatoes or green beans that I had planned, and did not even open the can of jellied Cranberry Sauce. I feasted alone on just Turkey and stuffing with Pumpkin pie and Cool Whip for dessert. It was not exactly a very balanced meal (unless you can count Pumpkin pie as a vegetable.) It all felt a little too self-indulgent, without even a dog to share the meal with.

Today I found out that Johnny had gone into the hospital yesterday with breathing problems. He suffers from COPD, but still smokes cigarettes anyway. He was doing better today since he got a new inhaler.

The house has been terribly quiet since Chloe died 2 weeks ago, (Lily died in August) and I kicked Ricky out of the house a week ago.

In spite of being in the Methadone program, Ricky had started using heroin again. I was definitely not happy with that! I had warned Ricky not to steal money out of my wallet, but he persisted. I normally keep my wallet either in my shirt pocket or in my locked bedroom. Twice in the past month Ricky has waited until I went to take a shower. Since my bedroom door was locked, he climbed up on the back roof of the house, walked across the kitchen and dining room roofs, jumped down onto the side porch roof, then walked around to the front porch where He pried a screen out of my bedroom window, and got into my bedroom through an unlocked window. My neighbor across the street (Ricky's Aunt) saw him doing this the second time and told me about it. He stole $50.00 that time, and left the screen laying on the roof.

I was furious, but the event that finally put the icing on the cake was the war he started with one of the local drug dealers. Soon after Chloe died, Ricky was talking with Poppin (the street-name of one of his drug dealers) and said something that pissed him off. Poppin replied "Well, f*** you and your dead mutt." Ricky was livid. Besides being a drug dealer, Poppin is just a really vile person, so I have no sympathy for him, but what Ricky did next had me scared. Ricky confided to Josh that he was planning to toss a Molotov Cocktail through Poppin's window. Thankfully, Josh was able to talk Ricky out of that felony. So instead Ricky started telling everyone he knew that he would pay them $50 for each time they beat up Poppin. I don't know if anyone took him up on the offer, but I definitely did not want to be dragged into a drug war, since Ricky's main source of income is the money he earns doing work for me.

Ricky refused to move out voluntarily, and my lawyer was too busy with other work to take on another unpleasant eviction. I finally got Ricky to agree to move out by offering him $300 and a ride to his mother's house. By accepting that verbal offer, he no longer had any legal claim to stay at my house. I drove him to Tully, NY, handed him $300, and left him there at his Mom's. I came back home and immediately changed the lock on my front door. I had spoken to the police, explaining the situation and they told me that for my own safety, I could tell Ricky that he could only come into my house with a police escort to retrieve his stuff. He has done that twice in the past week.

I have to admit that I enjoyed having Ricky around. He is a lovable guy and was good company here. I am generally an easy-going person, but there is only so much that I can take before I snap. Ricky crossed that line by a mile.

So, now the house is very quiet, with no Ricky and no dogs. Hopefully there will be no more drama to deal with. I may decide to adopt another dog before Christmas. In December I will probably start looking at local dog shelters for a medium-sized, middle-aged dog that can be a loving companion and a good watch dog.

Chloe

restoman — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 07:03:23 GMT

Chloe died last night. She started getting sick back in August just before Lily died. She began having seizures. She would tilt her head, and walk in tight circles, drooling heavily. The seizures would only last about 3 to 5 minutes, then she would snap out of it and be fine. At first the seizures were about 10 to 20 days apart, but they began to happen more frequently and with more severity. She began to get weaker, and fell part way down the stairs ten days ago. After her fall, we kept her off the stairs and Ricky put a mattress on the living room floor so he could sleep there with her. She stopped eating about 6 days ago.

We took her to her local vet 3 or 4 times since August, our local vet did not know what to do for her and referred us to the Animal Hospital at Cornell University in Ithaca, one of the best animal hospitals in the US. We took her there last Tuesday. They did some initial examination and some basic testing, and recommended some follow-up tests. They felt that she might have a brain tumor, but that was only one of the many possible causes of her seizures.

After that she had another seizure at home and apparently breathed in some of her own drool, which got into her lungs and caused pneumonia.
On Friday she had 5 seizures, far more then she had ever had in one day. I drove her back to the Cornell Animal Hospital on Saturday. They admitted her and started treating the pneumonia with medication and oxygen. She had another seizure while she was at the hospital. Last night at 1:30 AM the hospital called to tell me that her heart rate had slowed a lot. At 2 AM they called to tell me that her breathing had become very shallow and death was imminent. I feel bad that she died in a strange place, away from her home, Ricky and myself. But there was little that we could do here to help her and she was in the best possible care at Cornell.
I drove down to Cornell, a little more than an hour away, this morning to pick up her body. Johnny and Dave dug her grave, next to where we buried Lily last August.

Ricky and I are both devastated. She was only 6 years old. We will both greatly miss our little snuggle pup.

1.
Chloe in 2018.

2.
She enjoyed sun-bathing in the back yard.

3.
Ricky holding Chloe 14 months ago after he got out of jail. Rick and Chloe had a very close bond. She slept on his bed every night. He took her for walks in the neighborhood several times each day and spoke to her and doted on her all the time.

4.
Ricky did what he could to care for her while she was sick. She slept snuggled up next to him in his bedroom, and then for the past 10 days on the mattress on the living room floor.

5.

Just a Reminder...

restoman — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 04:07:00 GMT

If you live in most of the US, set your clocks back an hour tonight.

A Very Spooky House

restoman — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 02:32:39 GMT

A few weeks ago, I drove to New Berlin, NY, to see one of my favorite houses. This house, built in 1862, is a gem of "French Second Empire (Mansard) Style" architecture. Yet, it languishes, slowly rotting away, and sitting open, in the small town of New Berlin, NY.

1.

2.
Looking closely, you can see that the tower is starting to lean into the house, a indicator that there are serious structural problems inside.

3.

4.
The slate roof is patterned in 3 colors: blue-gray, green, and red.

5.

6.
The roofs are decorated with iron cresting that would best be described as iron lace.

7.

8.
When I saw it, the side door was standing, open, as if it was beckoning its admirers to come inside and enjoy its beauty. I was alone, and not feeling particularly brave, so I declined its offer. Besides, I had already seen a video online:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL7KCw9zwD0
that showed its once lavish interior, now badly decayed, with the floors beginning to sag and collapse. It was very sad to see it in this condition.

Back in 2011, I posted photos of the house in the oldhouses community here at LJ. https://oldhouses.livejournal.com/58319.html
I was hopeful that someone would buy and restore the place. The place sold last year for $38,000,(my guess is that the land alone is worth that much.), but so far, nothing has been done to save the house, not even boarding up the door.
With the continued deterioration, it seems like a hopeless task at this point, and I fear that this gorgeous house will meet its death soon.

Fall has Fell

restoman — Sun, 29 Oct 2023 00:44:26 GMT

Some photos from around my yard.

1.
My house, in a rare sunny moment yesterday afternoon.

2.
The Pepperidge tree to the left of my house. When I was a kid there was a Pepperidge tree growing outside my bedroom window in Huntington. I loved that tree! It turned a brilliant orange every Fall. When I had the chance to get a foot-tall sapling from a fund-raiser at a local nature center 30 years ago, I jumped at the chance to have a Pepperidge tree in my Syracuse yard. It must enjoy that spot, because it has grown taller than the house!

3.
This fellow visited my back yard a week ago to enjoy his breakfast: a pigeon. He left a litter of feathers behind. This might be an immature Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii), but I don't know. If anyone knows for sure, please tell me!

4.
Looking across the neighboring back yards. The larger red bush is Michael's Elderberry bush.

5.
My Sassafras tree, another purchase from that nature center fund-raiser 30 years ago. It is usually more red-purple, this year the yellow is dominant.

6.
Looking up the trunk of my Hickory tree. The squirrels planted this one in my garden many years ago.

Meme time

restoman — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 11:22:27 GMT

I swiped this from thespian15...

HAVE YOU EVER: ?
1. Made bread from scratch? Yes
2. Cooked fresh squash? Yes
3. Made homemade soup? Yes
4. Fried chicken? No
5. Made spaghetti sauce from scratch? Yes
6. Made homemade rolls or cinnamon rolls? Yes
7. Baked a cake from scratch? Yes
8. Made icing from scratch? Yes
9. Cooked a pot roast with all the veggies? Yes
10. Made chili from scratch? Yes
11. Made a meatloaf? Yes
12. Made potato salad? No, but I make macaroni salad regularly.
13. Made mac/cheese from scratch? Yes
14. Made any pies from scratch? Yes, many!
15. Made sausage from scratch? No
16. Made fudge? No
17. Made cookies from scratch? Yes
18. Cooked a pot of dried beans? Yes, but only to make "16 Bean Soup"
19. Cooked a pot of greens? If you mean Collard greens, then No.
20. Made cornbread from scratch? No, only from Jiffy Mix.
21. Made a pie dough from scratch? Yes
22. Cooked a whole turkey? Yes, at least 50 times.
23. Snapped green beans & cooked them? Yes
24. Made mashed potatoes from scratch? Yes
25. Prepared a meal for 30 plus people? No
26. Made homemade tortillas? No
27. Made pancakes from scratch? No, only using Bisquik or pancake/waffle mix.
28. Roasted vegetables in the oven instead of boiling them? Yes
29. Made pasta from scratch? No
30. Made tamales from scratch? No
31. Made tuna or chicken salad? Yes
32. Fried fish? Yes
33. Made baked beans? No, not from scratch.
34. Made ice cream from scratch? No
35. Made jam or jelly? Yes
36. Zested an orange or lemon? Yes
37. Made grits from scratch? No
38. Made an omelet? Yes
39. Made homemade pizza? Yes
40. Lived in a house without a dishwasher? Yes (I'm old!!!)

A truly haunted house.

restoman — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 14:22:13 GMT

A few weeks ago, while driving around the countryside, I passed by the "Spirit House" in Georgetown, NY. No, it's not a bar or liquor store, but was built as a meeting place for the Spiritualist society in the mid-19th century. Timothy Brown was a farmer who settled in Georgetown in the 1850s. Between 1864 and 1868 he designed and built his unique house based on a vision he received in a dream. He and his family lived in the first floor of the house. On the second floor he built a large room in which to hold his Spiritualist meetings. The Spiritualist movement was very strong in Central New York. After a few years, in order to accommodate the crowds, Brown bought an empty Presbyterian church, had it moved to his property, and attached it to the back of his house.

The Spiritualists believed that a medium could make contact with the spirits of the dead by conducting a séance.

For a time, the Spirit House was a busy gathering point of Spiritualists. It is reported that one of the mediums who came to the Spirit House to conduct a séance had a notebook containing information obtained from local cemeteries. Once their fraud was discovered, the residents of Georgetown became distrustful of the Spiritualists who visited the Spirit House, and the house’s heyday as a spiritual center was over.*

1.
This is an 1879 engraving of the house from a Spiritualist magazine, The Banner of Light.

2.
There are 4 pilasters on the front and each side of the house, made with a scalloped texture.

3.

4.
The triple-layered cornice with odd turned pendants and bandsawn scrollwork was created based on Brown's dream.

Brown did all of the carpentry himself, recreating the vision from his dream. He believed that square corners in rooms could trap spirits, so all the rooms in the house had rounded corners. The closets in the house were considered "safe havens" for the spirits.

Brown built his Spirit house with a concave roof which channeled all the rain water into a large pipe in the center of the house. Today the house sits empty. In recent years, the house has not been well maintained. The roof and central drain pipe deteriorated, and water pouring down into the center of the house has done considerable damage.

*Read More: The Legend Of The Georgetown Spirit House ~ CNY Paranormal | https://lite987.com/georgetowns-spirit-house-cny-paranormal/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

legalmoose's Birthday

restoman — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 01:05:22 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOOSE!!!

Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

*HUGS*

A Wild Day

restoman — Sun, 01 Oct 2023 00:37:10 GMT

Today was a wild day in the neighborhood.

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. About 2 PM a crowd formed in front of Dominick's Market, half a block away from my house. They were standing in the parking lot in front of the little store, watching the scene unfold in the park across the street. A young man of about 30 had walked up Lodi Street, and into the park, totally naked!. He had first tried going into the Arab-owned convenience store on the south side of the park, but they kicked him out. You know: "No shoes, no shirt, no service." Besides he clearly did not have a wallet or any money on him.

He was definitely very agitated and delusional. He was loudly complaining about "snakes crawling all over his body." After crossing through the park, he tried getting into several parked cars. Our mailman, Kevin, was sitting in his mail truck next to the park. The naked guy tried getting into the truck, but Kevin quickly locked the door. He crossed the street, tried another, unoccupied car door, but it was locked. Then he tried getting into another car parked in front of Dominick's Market, on the north side of the park. The black woman who owned the car was sitting inside. She pulled a can of pepper spray out of her purse and sprayed naked guy right in the crotch, and then in the eyes. He backed off and started thrashing around on the hood of her car, with his hands over his crotch screaming; "It burns! It burns!"
About this time, several police cars and an ambulance arrived at the scene. Five officers surrounded him, pulled him off the car hood, wrestled him to the ground and handcuffed him. The medics brought out a gurney, strapped him onto it, covered him with a sheet, and loaded him into the ambulance. He was still screaming "It burns." as he was loaded into the ambulance and taken to a hospital for psych evaluation.

Naked guy had gotten sweat and drool all over the hood of the black woman's car. She got out of her car and said to one of the police: "Look what he did to my car! What are you going to do about it?" The cop tried to tell her that no crime had been committed, that the guy was just crazy and she should get her car washed. She swore at the cop called him a "motherf*****", and said: "If that had been me you tackled, I'd be dead by now." She continued to swear at him, but he kept his cool and told her to move on.

I was doing some masonry repairs to the brick store I own at the other end of the block at the time, so I missed the whole thing. So, I'm sorry, but I don't have photos. However I heard the story 3 times in the 20 minutes after it happened. My new neighbors across the street, Sue and Debbie, had been at Dominick's Market and saw the whole thing happen. Johnny had been working with me, but went to Dominick's to get some cans of Pepsi, and caught the end of the drama. Also, my mailman, Kevin, relayed the same story to me as he passed by on his route.

I don't know whether it was drugs, insanity, the full moon or some combination of them all that prompted this little scene, but it seems like there is never a dull moment in my neighborhood!

20 Year LJ Anniversary

restoman — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 01:52:43 GMT

We're together for 20 years now! Thank you! Your LiveJournal Team.
From: livejournal

Date: Fri Sep 29 08:03:36 2023

Thank you for being with us for 20 years! With love, LJ Team.

*********************************

Sorry that I have not posted much here lately. There has been a lot going on in my life that has kept me busy, stressed, depressed, and ultimately relieved. I will try to post more later.
~Glenn

restoman — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 13:33:30 GMT

Periodically, as I sit at my computer desk in the dining room, I hear a loud

THWACK Pahdum Pahdum Pahdum Pahdum Pahdum ....Thud

It often startles me, but it doesn't particularly bother me, as I know exactly what is going on.

There is a large Black Walnut tree, about 55 feet tall (17 meters), that spreads out over the roof of my dining room. Every summer/fall it produces a crop of Walnuts, which drop off the branches and fall on my roof. They roll down the roof, onto the back porch roof, and then drop to the ground along the back of the house. Some drop naturally, but I suspect that most are knocked off the tree by the squirrels in their obsessive quest to find their winter's supply of food. The Walnuts should grow to almost the size of an orange, but these are closer to golf ball-size. The squirrels have no patience for the ripening process, and knock them all off the tree before they fully ripen. The squirrels then pick them up and chew off the husks. They either save and hide the nut, still in its inner shell, or chew apart the inner shell to eat it right away.

If I wanted to, I could harvest some myself, but there is a lot of work to it. After gathering up the fallen nuts, their outer green husks have to be removed. This is a difficult, messy, and repulsive task. The nut husks are tough, and need to be scored with a knife before they can be peeled off with gloved hands. Gloves are absolutely necessary, as the husks stain your hands a dark brown, which does not wash off easily. (In colonial times, the Walnut husks were used to make ink.) The process is repulsive because the husks are usually riddled with larva (of the Walnut Husk Fly), white, one centimeter long worms that feed on the husks. After the husks are removed, the inner shells need to be thoroughly washed, and then dried for about 2 months (In a ventilated, but squirrel-proof container). After all that work, the inner shells still have to be cracked open and the nut-meat removed. The larva does not get into the inner shell. The nuts are tasty, but far too much work to be worth the meager reward. I will leave the nut harvesting up to the squirrels!