Back in the USSA; getting ready for summer at Seneca Lake

WATKINS GLEN, NY, USA - It was a shorter-than-normal season in Mexico this year, prompted in part by the domestic situation of son Dustin, but also because Admiral Fox and I in December purchased a home here, just a few blocks from Seneca Lake and within walking distance of town.

The pier at Watkins Glen on Seneca Lake

Watkins Glen - yes, that Watkins Glen with the NASCAR race track - has grown up in the last decade and has excellent restaurants, a nice marina and waterfront area, good shopping, all kinds of medical services and several good bars.

Several.

And, perhaps as a sign the place has come of age, this July there will be a Phish concert held at the racetrack that has the entire area buzzing, mostly about the commercial possibilities brought into town by the arrival of probably 75,000 people.

Go Phish, right?

The house has a good view of Seneca Lake

Our new house is a rock-solid brick place with one of those huge, East Coast basements that is as large as the rest of the house.

Adm. Fox has already claimed part of the basement for a music studio. I'm lobbying for making it into a den for videos, too. There's enough space for both and to build a bar in one portion.

A bar? Hmmmm....

I already commandeered one of the bedrooms for an office, where I am decorating it in early 'Chuck' decor (LINK: TV Series Chuck). Does anyone know where I can get an original poster of the movie TRON?

I arrived a few days before Adm. Fox and had a chance to equip the house. It came fully furnished (gracias Dios!) but without normal accoutrements like dishes and linens and all the other items you need to live in a house.

One of the flock

I discovered that nearby Montour Falls (home of the Harvest Cafe, another great place to eat LINK: Harvest Cafe) has a Dollar Store ensconced on the edge of town where the prices put the Watkins' WalMart to shame.

Oh! And no pink flamingos came with the house either. I remedied that immediately and we now have a growing flock. Whether the birds will go south with us next winter when we return to Arroyo Seco in Mexico is in question.

The early arrival here in the north means that, well, we are freezing are butts off (it was 85 degrees when I left Mexico, 35 when I arrived at the Syracuse, NY airport). But more importantly, we will be able to open up the lake house in Valois earlier and do projects that are best completed before the growing season.

I have at least a half dozen trees that need to be trimmed, the path to the lake needs to be rebuilt (again...) and the raspberry vines need to be trimmed back to near the ground .

Most summers, by the time we have arrived, everything has been growing for months and we are confronted with a jungle of new growth, high grass and, of course, poison ivy creeping around.

LINK: The Coasters sing 'Poison Ivy...'

The lake house in Valois - sans foliage

This fall we will return to California for our last semester of teaching at California State University, Sacramento.  It's been a great run in California, but after December, perhaps, we will be splitting our time between Seneca Lake (and Watkins Glen) and Arroyo Seco.

Or some other place, I suppose. We are subject-to-change, after all.

But for today (so far), I am holed up in my office (dubbed a 'man cave' by amiga Tina Hazlitt), organizing the place, searching online for Tron posters, and cruising Craigslist for a skiboat so we can zip from here up the lake to Valois quickly.

Summer is just around the corner after all. Really...