The Lake that I Love

 
Cayuga Lake. My lake. This is home. 40 miles long, two miles wide. The big blocky building is the Miliken Power Plant (named for a former Michigan governor), now decommissioned. You could see this from my home.



We did go swimming. It was so hot that this activity was almost a requirement rather than recreational. Actually, we went back to Sheldrake. Even though it is posted, all the locals still swim there. The sign is mostly because of the bad current off the point. We stayed well inside that. In my opinion all beaches should be small smooth flat stones like the Finger Lakes beaches, not sand. We picked up some pretty rocks, and I found one fossil, a crinoid. If I'd hunted longer there were possibilities of finding horn coral, brachiopods, and even trilobytes.


And, I promised we'd get ice cream which we did. I had Sleeper Awake (coffee and chocolate), and Marie had Boomberry (raspberry ice cream with blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries). Definitely yummy, and it helped with the cooling.


This is the school I attended from kindergarten to 12th grade. It's still in use as an elementary school, although the district is consolidated. It was built in 1924. My kindergarten room was on the first floor on the left. But the use patterns changed when an addition was built, so that was also my high school English room!



And Dick finished the second of my trailer metalwork projects. The propane tank holder is now removed, and the spare tire is mounted on the hitch. Hooray!



Tomorrow more playtime. I promise there will be hiking eventually, but not quite yet.

See Memory Lane

Dad's Elementary School

 
If Chuck were still doing his Family Friday series, this would be an entry. Actually, I should have waited till my scanner was working again to post this, because the pictures would be better. But I can replace them when that happens.

This schoolhouse was around the corner and down Powell Road about a half mile from where Dad grew up (see Back to Jack).

When I was a child, it had been converted to a house, and was lived in by "Aunt Bess." I have no idea any more what her last name was.

Anyway, Here are the schoolchildren in front of the building around 1914. My dad looks about 10, so that's how I'm guessing the date.



There is a better picture of just the kids. I can name some of them, or at least give the family name, in case some people from the old hometown stumble on this.



Far left is Marian Marsh, next to her is Helen Marsh. Boy in back of them and girl just to the right of Helen are Stouts. Boy with the long bangs in front of the teacher is a Ganoung. Teacher in far back- no part of name known. Smallest girl in front of teacher with the loose hair is identified as a "poor girl, whose brother Melvin died." Last name might be Briggs. Boy with the curly hair in front of the teacher is my dad, Ray F. Leary. Boy with dark pants in front of him is perhaps a VanDorn. Last boy on the right in back is John Marsh. Girl on the far right is also a Ganoung.

The Marsh sisters grew up to be good friends of ours, and they were wonderful to "us kids" at church. Marian was a woman ahead of her time. Loved those ladies.

I really treasure pictures of my dad as a boy because there are so few of them. These also add a layer of local history.

In other news: Worked, wrote chapter 17 in The Hitchhiker, going back to work in a couple hours.

	See Ray F. Leary
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Changes, and First Update

 
I'm going to try to do a goal update on the first of each month. Not the whole list. That would be a complete bore, just items where I've made progress. Even though it's only been a week since I started, it is the first of November. So this will be a short report, but it proves I can remember my goals for a few days, at least.

But first, a sad example of how things just don't stay the same. Without maintenance, buildings fall apart. This old school building that I featured almost three years ago didn't survive last winter's snow. [I learned in 2019 that it was known as the Jones School.]



Here's what it looks like now.



That seemed an appropriate message to go with the goals, since the bulk of the report is on fitness stuff. Those goals won't be met at all if I don't get busy. Sure, we get older and can't do as much, but without maintenance anyone gets wimpy fast.

So, for those of you who seem to care about progress, here we go...

54 in 300, report on day 8
Number	Category	Item
5	WRITING	finish Dead Mule Swamp Druggist	finished chapter 19
6	WRITING	do 10 book promotion things	1, and signed up for another, and have a feeler out for a third. You can see the one on the Trail Summit blog at Wild Woman- Joan Young
7	WRITING	writing schedule day 50 times	1, with the current work schedule, about once a week is all I can do this
9	WRITING	pursue a contract I can't name yet	follow up letter written
21	FITNESS	increase to 30 pushups	12 I have to work up to this, but the most I've ever gotten to is 25, so this is a goal to stretch myself
22	FITNESS	increase to 100 jumping jacks	40, easy peasy... been to 100 many times, just need to work on it
23	FITNESS	increase to 2 min planking	60 sec, the most I've ever gotten to was 70 sec, so I have no idea if I can do this
24	FITNESS	walk, bike, ski or snowshoe 200 times	3, not good enough to be on track, but see #28
28	HIKING	clear my trail better	worked on this 3 days
29	PERSONAL	Savings Goal	added to the total
30	PERSONAL	Financial Goal #2	did one thing on this project
31	PERSONAL	lose 10 pounds	??- may have lost 1 pound, but my weight bounces around so much that one week isn't enough time to be sure
32	PERSONAL	play music 50 times	2
33	PERSONAL	other #1 (200 times)	5
35	MISC	make 21 quarts juice	3, I made cider today

	See Playing with Old Buildings See Oh No! It's a List
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