On The Waterfront - Waddington, New York - Part 2

I was touring the village of Waddington, NY and had turned onto Main Street, headed toward the shore of the St. Lawrence River. I passed by the H.A. Rogers Insurance Agency and a cute little shop which appeared to be out of business:

I was impressed by Main Street and its well kept buildings except that it appeared many, perhaps most, were empty:

Another commercial building which also appeared to be empty. There might have been an apartment on the second floor, judging only by the window shades:


Almost at the end of Main Street was this friendly looking pub:


Main Street ended at St. Lawrence Avenue, which ran right along the river. I turned right at this town pavilion, clearly a place for picnics and other gatherings on the river shore:

St. Lawrence Ave. was lined with historic homes, mixed with some new homes:

You can see a bit of the St. Lawrence River behind this nice brick house:

I came to the end of St. Lawrence Ave, where there was a park and open land for public use. Of course everything was ice and snow, but I could easily imagine how beautiful it would be in the summertime:

This, of course, is not my photo. It came from the internet to illustrate the bass and carp fishing tournaments which are held in Waddington during the summer:

I turned back the other direction on St. Lawrence Ave and was dreaming of life on these beautiful shores, living in these well kept homes:

The True Value Hardware, Do It Center, Lumber and Builder's Supply, also on St. Lawrence Ave., seemed to be doing a good business:

There were some impressive homes:

And all the homes were well kept and beautiful. I had more to see in Waddington, and I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

On The Waterfront - Waddington, New York - Part 1

I've wanted to go visit the village of Waddington ever since I moved here. It's right on the mighty St. Lawrence River and hosts bass and carp fishing tournaments each summer. So one day I decided I'd procrastinated long enough. I hopped into the car and drove to Waddington. I knew I was there when I saw the old fashioned water tower:

There were more homes than I'd expected - nice homes, well kept - but I was looking for the business district:

I came to a highway and there saw the impressive, stone St. Mary's Catholic church:

And more homes, of course. There seemed to be more snow than I had at home, but that may simply have been because the houses were closer together and there was less room for the plows to push the snow:

I found St. Paul's Episcopal church, another impressive stone structure:

I thought this might be a church but instead, I learned that it was the Tourist Information and Town Museum building:

There were more brick homes than I usually see around here, and I began to conclude that Waddington was an upscale residential community:

Some homes were clearly historic:

I turned down Main Street, toward the St. Lawrence shore and passed the Waddington Hepburn Library:

The John C. Moore Museum looked like it was closed, but most town museums close for the winter to save heating costs. Or maybe the museum had been moved to the big stone building I'd seen earlier:

A lovely Victorian:

This appeared to be a historic stone home with improvements and an addition:

"A Touch Of Icing" coffee shoppe and cakery. But I was just getting started and will post Part 2 tomorrow:

Happy Pets At Home

When I saw Clover and Bugsy lying together like two sausages, I grabbed my camera for a snapshot:

It was a bit more rugged outdoors in the snowy back yard when I photographed Fergus, Daphne, Jack and Seamus:

Clover and Bugsy were cuddling together again, this time with Jack and Daphne nearby:

I keep putting the round dog bed in the corner, but Clover drags it out on top of the floor pillows. This time, Bramble was in it while clover was on the big, green floor pillow:

Daphne gave me her cute and innocent look in the kitchen:

Looking from the kitchen through to the computer room, while Seamus looks back at me:

Bugsy, Fergus and Seamus on one of the five new yoga mats. They're good for lounging on as well as skid-free walking:

Fergus and Seamus looking at me in the kitchen, with Clover behind, cleaning the snow off her feet by the heat register:

Daphne, Bugsy and Clover on the big, green floor pillow:

Bugsy, with his owl eyes, on the upstairs cat tree:

Daisy on the same cat tree, but she claimed the very top tray:

And what does having all these dogs and cats result in? For one thing, hairy furnace filters which have to be replaced monthly despite sweeping the floors daily:

Snapshots From Around The Farm

It's been a cold and snowy February, but the herd has weathered it all without seeming to mind at all. Little Rocket (that's him on the right, just behind Blue) is not so little anymore. He's growing at an astounding speed, eating hay and grain in addition to draining his mother's exceedingly large milk supply:

I've had to use the tractor bucket to remove snow many times. I keep hoping each time is the last, but of course it hasn't been:

Home Sweet Home, or perhaps I should say "Home Snowy Home:"

I keep treating Gracie's two bare spots but they don't seem to be improving. On the plus side, they don't seem to be spreading either:

The fantail pigeons are looking healthy and happy:

Many of them appear to be ready to nest, and I suppose they will do so as soon as it warms up:

Despite their beauty, they are still pigeons and leave piles of poop everywhere. In fact, their nests are fashioned out of poop:

But they are peaceful and lovely birds, a joy to have around:

The bantam hens are a bit cramped in their room, but I don't dare let them out because of our large and voracious fox population:

I have four Easter Egger bantams and seven Barred Rock bantams:

They too are a pleasure to have, though they too poop an awful lot:

The wind often blows snow through the cracks around doors and in the siding, which means I often see animal tracks inside the barn. One or more foxes hunts inside the barn each night, I often see mouse tracks - and this time, I saw new tracks. They were bigger than a mouse, but smaller than a rabbit. I suspect they may have been from a Least Weasel, hunting for mice in the barn. Of course the fox would probably eat the weasel if they met: