More - "The View From Here," Part Deux

Remember a week ago this past Saturday, Gene Bach of "Turning the Pages of Life" had a little blog event where those of us who participated were supposed to put up photos of the area around where each of us lives. Although I did post several photos that day, some that I had taken with the specific intent of putting them on here for the "View From Here" were on a roll of film I hadn't been able at that time to get developed. Well, Mandy got it -along with pictures take of Miss Maya at her 4th birthday party all developed today so I figured I would post some of the photos here now - all for your viewing pleasure! Isn't THAT special now?

So, here goes!
Here's my home - built in 1903 by my maternal grandparents. It's nothing fancy - just a big old barn of a place to heat but not big enough to hold all the "stuff" that three adults, a teenager, a four-year-old and 18-month old have accumulated and of course, absolutely need. But it's been home to me for the bulk of my lifetime and I kind of like the old place. Know what I mean?




And, the picture on the right is what my front entrance looks like right now - except that orange cat there, checking out the little pumpkin isn't always outside. That's out "new" cat (had her since June now) and she likes to sneak out whenever she can. I don't like her to be outside because there's just too much risk that she will run out on the road and get hit by a car but she's a slick little so-and-so and very adept at sneaking out the door as soon as someone opens it.

Blogger is acting really strange the past couple of days.
Uploading photos and getting them to load for openers, then getting them to appear where you want them is not working the way it is supposed to do. Normally, I would be able to enter text beside the photos I have posted here but it isn't doing that today -at least not the text-entering part! Go figure, huh? And I don't know enough about how to go about trying to re-arrange things. So it looks like you're going to have to flip up and down to see what pictures I am talking about as I post them here then.


The picture to the right here now is the view
looking to the east of my house. So, when you
would exit my house and come up to the street
in front, looking to your left then, this is what
you would see. It's generally a very quiet road
- not all that much traffic here except on the
weekends -and of course, during hunting season
or in late March when they have the canoe/kayak
races on the Red Moshannon Creek, which is about
2 miles down the street from my house in the
ghost town of Peale.
Ok, let's try it this way - now that I got another photo posted here - right now, it is to the left of this text but who knows how long it will stay that way. LOL

The photo on the left here is the view of my street if you were to look to the right as you leave the house. Nothing spectacular there - just a quiet street in a little quiet village is all that amounts to, but what can I say other than that this is home, where I live. Nice view though of the garbage cans out in front of the house beside our parking pull off spot that will allow, normally for parking of up to six vehicles - usually. Right now, there are two cars parked out front that are not running - one, my son-in-law plans to use for parts for a car he and Mandy just got last week and the other, the son-in-law plans to work on, fix it up and get it running and then sell it. He usually manages to do that a couple times a year.

The photo on the right side of this page is Cooper's Bar and Grill and just beyond the bar there is a white house that used to - back when I was a young'un - house our post office. That house at one time was one of the finer homes in town too but over the past probably 20 or so years, the gentleman who lived in that house was more than a bit eccentric, frequently sat out in his front yard in one of those big wood Adirondack type lawn chairs in the nude. Not exactly sun-bathing because he always sat in the shade but I guess he just didn't want to be bothered with clothes. While he lived in the house though he had no heat, no running water either for a while until his father set up some kind of trust fund for him that he would have coal and could at least have heat during the winter months. But he paid no attention whatsoever to the yard, to bushes around the house or to any other upkeep type things with the house and today, it is very dilapidated, very run-down and it really is sad to see it especially for those of us who can remember how pretty this residence was for many years.
Ok - back to not being able to position text where I want it. So we'll have to make do this way. Going up the street from my home to the "mid-section" of the village, you will find these two establishments. These are the only things left in the town from its former life I suppose you could say. The building on the left below is the home of the Grassflat Moose now but once upon a time it was a hotel -back at the turn of the century. Today, it is basically just a bar -with slightly lower prices due to having to have a membership in the Moose to get in.


Moving right along here now, the next photo is of Jim and Charmaine's restaurant - a place you often hear me mention that Mandy and the kids and I have gone there for lunch from time to time. It is also the place that was the scene of an accident a couple weeks back where a truck ran off the highway, struck the marquee in front of the property and also a telephone/power line and disrupted our electricity for 11 hours! So the next photos will be of Jim and Charmaine's restaurant - which I might add is also for sale if anyone out there reading this is interested in buying a restaurant/bar with a motel (small) attached to it. I am also including pictures of the Penelec trucks there making the repairs to the power/phone lines after that accident.





As you can probably figure out, both photos were taken the morning after the accident while Penelec crews were busy making all the needed repairs -installing a new pole, etc.

The guy who was driving the truck somehow managed to escape uninjured -as a matter of fact, he walked away from the wreckage. Wish I'd been able to get up there earlier and get a picture of the truck being pulled out as the lady worker for Penelec who I spoke to said the truck was really very mangled up. Go figure, huh?






Now, if you were to stop at Jim and Charmaine's for lunch or supper and upon leaving would make a turn to the right and head north on Rte 53, after traveling about six or seven miles, you would find yourself coming down the mountain as shown here.
You would come to this bridge which goes across the Red Moshannon Creek after it joins up with the Black Moshannon Creek.




In the above photo on the right here, that is the Red Moshannon coming down along the hillside and in the left hand corner of the photo, that is the Black Moshannon Creek joining into the Red Moshannon. The Black Moshannon comes out of Black Moshannon State Park -over near Philipsburg but sort of behind the area where I live -about oh, maybe 8-10 miles or so. This creek which is actually a very nice trout fishing stream winds around back in the mountains, very rough terrain and wilderness that is also excellent for hunting enthusiasts -bear, deer, rabbits, squirrels, grouse, pheasants and wild turkeys in abundance in that region. There are even folks in this area who also trap fox for one thing. But, once the Black Moshannon enters up with the Red Moshannon Creek, the water from the Red Moshannon is still majorly polluted with sulfur content and other residue from the old slope mines that existed in this area from the late 1880's until the latter part of the 20th century.
This then is the Red Moshannon AFTER the Black Moshannon has joined up with it on the opposite side of the road of the photos above. From here it is just a short piece that the Red Moshannon travels before it empties into the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. It is here where the Canoe/Kayak Race - called the Red Mo Race -which takes place the last Saturday of March, ends its seven mile journey through the mountains. That race has been happening for well over 40 years now and is rapidly becoming a big event in the white water racing circles across the country. Frequently, there are participants in this race who come here from the mid-west states as it is a fun time but also a challenging race too.

Now, we're going to turn around and head back to my house -perhaps sit and chat, have some coffee.

If you visit my house on a Sunday afternoon or evening -or Monday -you might be greeted by a sight like this - my son, with Maya and Kurtis - showing off on the hood of Clayton's lovely latest automobile addition - a 1969 Cadillac that could pass for the one Boss Hogg used on the old Dukes of Hazard show.










Or, perhaps this of Miss Maya pretending she is driving Uncle Clate's big Caddie!













Or, you might also see something like this scene too if you arrive just prior to Halloween!! Or maybe Kurtis, walking with Uncle Clate, to come out to meet you too!












And, if you should arrive on Halloween, you might find this friendly little dinosaur waiting to show you in as well. Or, maybe Maya will entertain you by showing off something she's been learning to do -all by herself -this past week now too!!!




















But there's also a possibility -if you should come when a certain person from Nevada is here visiting the kids and grandkids, you might have all these folks here to greet you. One big happy family, huh



Here's who might be here to greet you - Mandy, Maya, Kurtis Poppy (my ex), Alex and Carrie - the whole crew!!!