Jeez, I guess it's been a while...what haven't we done since last we visited? Well, for one, we haven't gotten any jobs. Oh, I guess I sorta work and make money as a Guy who drives people around, but it ain't steady. Not that I'm complainin'. Just sayin...


We've had the good fortune of experiencing some nice thunderstorms (ya know, where the sky gets all green and dark and there's lightning about fifty times a minute and it frickin rains like mad, that kind) which we've both missed since living out west.
Our Dumb Grey Cat has some kinda sore on her foot that she won't stop chewing on, so we had to give her the old cone-around-the-neck (known as an elizabethen collar ), but you know how cats are..she can still somehow reach it, so it's been a vigilant week for us. Also, she hates us.
Though it seems like a million years ago, it looks like we went to Bushkill Falls in the last few weeks. It was totally awesome. We took the long hike, which wasn't really that long or difficult, but there were signs every few hundred yards warning us how dreadfully strenuous it was. Now, we are not in any way very excersise oriented, but it was not a tough walk. How fat and out of shape are these people? And what miracle brought their lazy asses up to the Poconos? This was before the cat thing, so we had a little more free time on our hands (and feet).

Hey ya know what I hate? The state. Not this state, as in Pennsylvania, but the concept of the state (you know, a monopoly on force), and i feel like I haven't spent enough time here on Lelko Blog making this clear. So, may I direct you to our Permanent links to the upper-right. The road-side blog is fun, but the others are something you should at least peruse, because the quicker we all get over this whole 'it's okay to be slaves' thing, the quicker we can all have the option of Complete Liberty .
But, hey, who am I to rain on your parade? Let's get back to those all important giggles ("you're not human tonight, Marlowe").
Apparently the indians around here were very short and shiny. Who woulda thunk it?
This was near a living, old-time farm where you can go and watch them do old-time farm stuff, like, I don't know, animal husbandry or something. The farm was closed the day we went, but maybe we'll make it back for the old-time Halloween they do. As a side note, we were thinking of some hi-larious costumes, like the sexy quadruple amputee, cos, you know, Halloween is all about being a sexy something or other. At least that's how it appears judging on what they have in the windows at each of the 812 halloween store near us. What a boon for the economy halloween is...
Dill, pesto, tomato, Raw cheddar-stuffed mushrooms. All raw baby! Yeah, we've been doing pretty good with the Raw foods. I'd say we are about 80-90% raw these days, and feelin' fine.

Walkin' around Caty

Hey, it's a fact. We look better when the sun is setting. You probably do too (god, I hope so). Today we decided to take a walk around Catasauqua (hereon known as Caty), our new hometown, and look at the cool old homes dotted around the neighborhood. Back in the 1860's, and thru the early 1900's, this town was a seriously happenin' spot. Some of the wealthiest folks of the Industrial Revolution made camp in town, and their way-big mansions are still standing, as are some of their old industries (something we'll see in a later post).


This is a cool old church that's been turned into a home.
Check out this wacky place. We live on the top floor. Dang!
"Is our picture gonna be in the newspaper?" they asked. I frickin' hope not!
This is our block...

Tie up yer horse here
The basement of this church is the town library.

David Thomas and his son moved to Caty in 1839, and less than one year later, on July 4, 1840, the first successful anthracite iron furnace in the United States began operation, and the Industrial Revolution began.Check out their house(above).
There are about 167,000 churches within 2 blocks of us. This is only one of them. I think it's for sale. Actually, so is this awesome old home that's been turned into apts.
Couple of good examples of 100-140 year old houses still keepin' people dry (or warm, or cool).

This (below) is by far the largest house in town. The guy who built it was an Austrian fella named D. George Dery who created a vast industrial empire based around silk mills that he built in the area.( We'll take a look at his original Mill later this week.) The section you see is only about a third of the place. The original three-story colonial structure was expanded and enlarged until it disappeared entirely. A long, south wing was added to the house as an art gallery. Elegant porticos with delicate fluted columns and ornate pilasters added a touch of neo-classical grace. Equipped with a library and astronomical observatory, it also contained a large ballroom and indoor swimming pool. Modeled after the palaces the very rich built for themselves at Newport, R.I., it was a home worthy of a man of wide interests and social connections. Naturally he lost it all...
Not sure what the deal-e-o is, but I dig this house.

We got some old, OLD sidewalks in town! See ya next time
LELKO

Stuff N' Stuff

What haven't we been doing. you may be asking. Well, nothing, I may say in answer. Let's see, I built this bridge... went back in time to the caveman days..., turned Emily into a goat, then a chicken, then a peacock, and then, very briefly, a cow. And that was only today!

I like to drive around these parts, and that works for us in a couple ways; first we get to drive around the old country roads (which are five minutes in any direction) and see cool old farms and towns and just plain old stuff that we both enjoy lookin' at. Second, I get paid to drive folks to the airports around here 'cos I've been working for Marty, and he owns a limo service. Pretty cool, huh?



Today we went and got some raw cheese from a farm about 15 miles away and then we went cruising around. There's an old bridge in Reigersville that was built by the guy that built the Brooklyn Bridge, and its a mini version of that bridge. we also went to the Lost River Caverns to look around (too cheep to actually go IN the caverns, but the gift shop had cool old stuff), a place I went to a long time ago with my Grammy.


Check out these tiny sewing machines they had on display at the Lost River Cavern!
There are a bunch of old canals around these parts that used to have mules and or people pulling barges down them. I have to read up on that for more info. Any way, the apartment is coming along nicely (finished the bathroom, more or less) and now we both have a chair to sit in and our bed arrives this coming Friday (after a month and a half of sleeping on the floor!). The cats frickin' love our place with all of its windows and nooks to hang out in.


There are twenty million Yacco's within four miles of us!


The weather is startin' to cool off, and the very beginnings of the Fall can just barely be felt in the air and seen in the trees.


See y'all later
LELKO

Poison Ivy...not the movie!

So, I'm a nice guy, right. I don't mind helping folks out...a little yard work here, some hauls to the dump, clean out a flooded basement there, tear up some carpet (in a non-dancing way) etc.
Well etc just bit us in the ass. Actually in the arms and legs, and instead of etc it's actually poison ivy! YAY!!!!!
Besides reading about and trying every herbal remedy for the damned itch, we've had a very busy week. Our $60 mac died, so getting online has been impossible until we set up our big 'puter. Also emily and i hung out with my dad, his very cool and seemingly normal wife Lorraine, and my half-brother Patrick, who used to be 12 but is more like 28 now. We all went over to Jersey for a Lelko family reunion (which is more normal than you might imagine) and saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in twenty years. They all called me Boomer and remembered that instead of swallowing meat I would just store it in my cheeks for later removal. What a weird thing to be remembered for, and man, was I a freak or what?! I even hated meat as a kid, so at least I'm consistent.
Our new apartment in Catasauqua (Catty if you're in the scene) is a hilarious clusterf@%k, but it's cool 'cos it's right across the river from my grandparents' place and the landlords are SUPER laid back. Like, couldn't care less what we do to the place. And do we did. We just finished totally ripping out the old shower thang and, since we're so handy, we put in a new one. At least now I might actually get clean in the shower (the old one looked like it might give a guy the plague). Tomorrow we move in with the cats!
Check these pics and stay tuned for more exciting adventures!





MARTY (SEATED) AND THE GANG

The view from our Bedroom looking in the general direction of Grammy's
Honey Bunny in the grandparents basement (our temporary headquarters)