Well it's official,the state of Pennsylvania has a new teacher educated and looking for a classroom,meet my second oldest Jeremy.He'll probably shoot me if he sees this but I can't help it.

Well we're off to PA again this weekend,surprise,surprise,this time there is a very good reason though,my middle son Jeremy,is graduating from The Pennsylvania State University with a BS in Secondary Education with a concentration in Social Studies on Saturday evening at 6:00.I'm proud of all my kids,but this will be one of those special times,I'm sure I'll have some pictures when I get back.If your ever in State College,PA and hungry for ice cream,ask anyone for directions to the creamery on campus,they make some of the best ice cream that you'll find anywhere.No auction plans for this weekend,I couldn't find anything interesting,there is an antique engine show in Bangor,PA,out in the Poconos,that I'd like to hit while we're down there,have to see how late it is when we get home Saturday evening.

I had an hour to kill yesterday afternoon,the sun was shining,it was a beautiful spring day,so I stopped at Mt Albion and went for a walk.There are more pictures with descrptions a Fliker with a link at the top of the page,it is a beautiful place and about the hillyest part of Orleans county.The tower above,center picture,I didn't take a shot of the top but it's about 50ft high and sits at the highest part of the cemetary,from the top you can see Lake Ontario about 5mi away.The lighting was terrible,it was 3:30 in the afternoon,but I wanted to get some of the blossoms before they were gone.

So today was Mothers Day,Chars son called a couple days ago and wanted her to go along with him,his wife and 2 children to a train station/museum about 20 miles west of here in Medina,NY,so of course I got to tag along.Now the big event for the day was Thomas the Tank Engine,at least for the little ones,but while everyone else went on the train ride,I relaxed among the displays of items from railroadings heyday,and of course I took pictures.They have an amazing display of old tools,lanterns,and paperwork from a couple of my favorite lines,the DL&W/Erie and the PRR.The center of the whole building is a huge,very detailed,HO scale layout,it isn't complete so I guess that's good reason to visit again.

It's Saturday,today I decided to go to an auction that I had never been to,this one in Gratz,PA.Gratz is in a valley just North of the Lykens valley,the most distinguishing thing about it is that it meets the Susquehanna River at Millersburg,Millersurg is one of the few places on the river with a ferry,and it still runs,although I think it's mainly tourists that use it nowdays.The valley is also home to one of the largest Amish communities in PA and they were out in force todayIt was a gray,chilly day but it didn't affect the crowd,most of the auctioneers are Amish.There was modern machinery and lawn tractors,along side of horsedrawn implements,there were even new buggies.A couple of the pictures show horses pulling sulkies,a lot of retired trotters go on to a new career as driving horses for the Amish,these guys were trying them out to see how they handled.I spent about 10yrs hauling hay mostly to the Amish around Lancaster,PA in the 1980s,they are interesting people,making a decent living with very few modern conveniences.

This time of year we usually only make the trip to PA about every other weekend,this would be a regular weekend to go but Char has a wedding shower for an old friends daughter to go to on Saturday afternoon,so I was going to skip out of going by myself.That is until Mom reminded me that I had told her we'd be down to take care of Zeke because her,her brother,his wife and another aunt are going to Virginia for her Aunts 91st birthday.Now Zeke is a big lovable,lazy cuss and he gets worried if somebody isn't around to fill his food and water dish at the right times.So I'm going by myself,it looks like there are a couple of good auctions,and it also looks like rain most of the weekend,so I guess I won't be missing much around here.

Here are a few pictures I took of the engines at the auction on 4/19 And a couple of restored washing machines.

I just got a call from a lady in Conesus that says she has a Maytag engine she wants to sell,hopefully I can get to see it on the weekend.

This is always a sure sign of spring.I love the smell of fresh turned dirt.It takes me back to my younger days,we didn't plow with equipment like this,but I always loved that smell.

Alright,so I'm an auction junkie,most weeks I attend at least 3,sometimes as many as 5.I'm in Nescopeck for the annual Fire Co consignment sale,it's the first one i've been to in about 8 or 10 yrs.My Dad got it started back in the 80s,I think,it's a much smaller version of the annual auction in Kempton,PA,Dad and I did a lot of work for this auction for quite a few years.After Dad died,my cousin ran it until he passed away in March of 2007.It's a lot different than it was 20yrs ago,but I know I'll run into some old friends and hopefully come away with a few bargains.

The sun is shining,the birds are singing,the grass is turning green,spring is finally here.