Sunday April 26th through Saturday 2026

 SUNDAY

First to the refuge to a spot where a tri color bird has been hanging out.  No luck.  Then to Skaneateles to drive down the west side of the lake to Carpenter Falls.  bit of difficulty  find it, but we stumbled across the OLD New Hope Mill and Country Store.   After the falls, we decided to drive up the other side of the lake to get back to S.   Along the way we found four geocaches.  Had supper at KOSTA'S restaurant, and it was very good.    Played two games of SEQUENCE  and L won both.

Monday: drive to Oneonta took a really long time.   I found a few interesting photo ops and found one geocache.I drove down the east side of Skaneateles Lake hoping to see an old general store that I thought I saw yesterday.  Strange thing is that today I did not see it.  I did see another general store that WELCOMES HUNTERS in New Hope,  and stopped to take a picture.  I continued driving south and wasted some time and gas before I got on the right track and ended up in Cortland.  I stopped at a BYRNE DAIRY to use their bathroom and picked up a box of crackers and I ate a whole sleeve of them as I was driving.

I saw an interesting old, seemingly abandoned small shop in a Hamlet or Village named North Pitcher.

  I stopped to take a couple of pictures and peek in the windows, as I was leaving, a man in a truck stopped and asked if I was family.  I said no and the owner, a man named Mike, died a couple of years ago.  I kept driving and saw an interesting site with ponds and old buildings (South Otselic Fish Culture Station and Rearing Pond Complex) so I stopped to take a picture.   I don't remember why I stopped a little bit further down the road, but I parked off to the side of a bank, and went on the geocaching app, which told me I was less than 400 feet from a geocache which I found  quickly and easily.  I continued on, this time following directions to Oneonta.  And I arrived at Mary's place a few minutes after three p.m.   She helped me get my stuff inside and then I rested and checked email for a while.  I went downstairs at about five p.m. figuring that Mary would be watching THE FIVE, but she was in the kitchen working on putting lasagna together for our supper.

TUESDAY April 29th:   After a shower/shampoo and breakfast, I went into Oneonta to go to WELLNOW (Urgent Care) due to the fact that last night when I looked at the tick bite area it was inflamed.  I was in and out quickly and I was given two antibiotic pills to take (on the spot) and paperwork listing all of the symptoms to watch for in the next few weeks.  I went over to PANERA and got a drink.  They had the pomegranite hibiscus tea that I love.  Shortly after I got back to Mary's house, Carol arrived.  We sat and talked for a while before going to BROOKS for lunch.  Lunch was great!  The chicken was tender and tasty and everything has gone back to how it was before COVID.  Carol wanted to return three bras to J.C. Penneys and she was nervous about going alone because she read something on Facebook about a crime in Oneonta, and the police warning people to be careful and lock their doors.  I offered to go with her.  So, we returned to Mary's house because she had to get her car so she could pick up LADY from Doggie Day Care. I drove Carol and I to J.C. Penneys where she was successful in returning the items and getting partial credit to use towards another purchase.  She found some shoes that she liked and she got them and opened up a J.C. Penney's credit card.  We returned to Mary's house and visited a bit more and took a few pictures  before Carol left.  Mary offered to drive a route that she likes that would avoid Carol going back into Onoenta, so Carol followed her.  After they left, I immediately laid down and took a nap.  When I got up, Mary and I talked and watched FoxNews for a while.  I heated up a slice of lasagna for my supper.  

WEDNESDAY:   I met up with Hildy at the PLAINS and we went in to get Connie.  Connie seemed happy to see me.  We went to Neahwa Park, so Connie could see some dogs, and then to Riddell Park where we walked on the main trail a couple of tenths of a mile and then to Denny's for lunch and then to WalMart is Connie could stock up on cookies.  Then we returned to tbe PLAINS.  A couple with two small dogs was in the dining area, and Connie got to hold one of them for a few minutes.