New York stuff

The staircase is a wooden escalator in Macy's. Macy's is HUGE. Bigger than most malls.
Central park is big, too. Very well kept.
My overall impression of New York is, clean, big and friendly. It surprised me a bit that the people here are more fit in general than the rest of the nation. Maybe all the walking or the fact the food's expensive. Everyone dresses pretty nice too. Glad I got to see all this, but I won't be moving soon.

April Building Update

Parking area's all done. Since it's up against the rear property line, the law says there has to be a 6' fence to obscure the neighbor's view of the cars. Not that anyone has a house there, and if they did, a 6 foot fence wouldn't do much with the slope. I'm hoping it's 6' from my side, not the other side, as I used the height of the retaining wall for half of what was required. The downhill side is more that 24" high so a rail is required. Yesterday, the rare combination of wet ground and beautiful weather was conducive to some manual grading----forming the turn between the driveway and the parking. It'll just be gravel for now, maybe concrete later.
When I get back from New York I'll put in the temporary power. I have to dig a deep hole for a 24' pole to go in.
It was time to purchase the materials, too. Not because I'm ready to frame, but because lumber prices went up 22%! I got my order in just in time. It was quite a bit less than I thought and budgeted for---$18,576 for nearly everything I need to build. It gets delivered May 18. I'll put it in our home's driveway and just carry stuff across the street as I need.

Crazy weather

Last Sunday, the girls found a nice sunny spot to replenish some vitamin D on the roof of the pavilion. The next day it snowed. A lot. Then it all froze solid. It's nearly May for Pete's sake! I made it out the driveway for work just as the sun was coming up over the lake and decided to snap a picture---big mistake. The parking lot had a thick ice layer. I kept sliding away from the car. After removing shoes, socks gripped a little better. It was very scary driving back out to the highway.
A friend that bow hunts on our property at the cabin shot this turkey and gave it to us. Delicious. Full of omega-3's too, since they eat all the natural bugs and such... The wild birds are shaped a bit different so I had to cook it on its side....