Day 1 of 2: Catskill-ish Weekend

An itty-bitty New York trip to finish up what I ran out of time for last month. Today was supposed to be “mostly sunny” but it turned out to be “mostly cloudy”. By afternoon, there were even snow flurries. They say tomorrow should be sunny. Regardless, it’s just good to get away from work and my PhotoShop marathon at home. Thursday and Friday, I put in thirty plus hours ready-ing Illinois photos. It will probably take me til spring to get those Midwest trip photos all up at the site.

On with today’s show. Newcomers to my blog, note that clicking on the photos makes them bigger. A couple signs from Haverstraw. These Hershey’s Ice Cream signs used to be common in the Northeast — now not so much. Here’s one from an earlier trip this year in better light and better shape:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidenut/4771282505/

Broken neon but still vibrant blue porcelain — and a local sign co. tag:

I wanted to check out Chief Towaco’s new paint job (his photo is over at my Flickr postings tonight) at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Middletown. The Fairgrounds always seems to be open when I’ve dropped by regardless of whenever the fair is. But I guess not on a Saturday and not this time of year. Locked up tight — believe me, I examined for any holes in the fence – nothing. But I was able to shoot The Chief from the highway somewhat. And I got some shots of the nifty lights. I’m told that these were originally installed at the New York World’s Fair in 1964. There are lots of them all over the grounds with different colors. I don’t know if these signs are still lit during the fair.

Also in Middletown, stumbled across this Lustron house:
http://www.agilitynut.com/modarch/lustron.html
It was vacant with a big for sale sign on the front lawn. So I got to check out the interior sans people’s furniture, etc. For those of you not familiar with these guys, they’re porcelain enamel steel inside and out, including the roof tiles, interior walls and built-in cabinetry…

The sun made this shot a challenge but I’ll include it anyway:

One more from Middletown — a repurposed KFC bucket! The old KFC buckets are rare enough — but repurposed ones might be even rarer:
http://www.agilitynut.com/eateries/kfc.html
Now Planet Wings — so the sign is still advertising fried chicken —

In Woodbourne, the former Center Theatre. Vacant since forever — very sad — but a relief to see it’s still there:

I was shocked to see what’s become of the carved wooden statues in Bethel. Apparently, there was a fire. Don’t know if it was a lightning strike or vandals or what. Here’s a photo I took in 2005 of the prisoners of war tribute:

And the same view from today — note only one statue and the remains of the eagle – a wing lower left.

The 9/11 firefighter tribute is completely wiped out but at least this sheriff guy is still standing:

I had to pull over for this little guy in Westbrookville. I’m assuming this is a one-of-a-kind sign and not a mass-produced character:

And yes, yes, the dogs are of course keeping me company. Here’s how we roll when we arrive at our Red Roof Inn, my motel of choice. Fix (lower left) heads for the pillows, Grem (top center) makes a lumpy pile with a tshirt of jacket, Grip (right) likes an article of clothing and to be near me…

and Nik wants to be nearby, too. Preferring his own chair — or in this case, the luggage thing with a pillow & clothing works just fine:

Yes, that’s my trusty Dell that’s been through about a gazillion hours of use at home and on the road. It’s had everything replaced (under extended warranty; hard drive, keyboard, motherboard, mouse, screen).

After just a few photos, Grem figured I was up to something and woke everybody up. End of photo session. Usually she crosses her front feet when she stretches but, naturally, not for this photo.