I've been living in the country for more than half my life now. Growing up in New York City (Queens), I figured I'd never leave the city and one day I'd buy the family house and just stay there. But life is full of surprises, and I came to the Catskills to go camping with friends when I was 18. And that was the start of a new chapter in my life.

One weekend lead to another weekend and eventually I bought a weekend house in the Village of Phoenicia. Not a lot of land, but I was still drinking in those days, and I didn't need a lot of land to take care of. Getting up in the morning was enough like work to count for an entire weekend. But good alkie that I was, it was difficult to go back to the City every Monday and wonder what condition the house was in all week. So it wasn't long before I moved upstate permanently.

I stayed in Phoenicia for quite some time, and it wasn't until I was almost finished with graduate school that me and my now ex bought a motel five miles down the road from the house. That was an interesting business, but we sold it and moved further west before she split.

So, they used to say that there is now law west of Shandaken--where the motel was. And now, I'm 40 miles further west than that. So what's the deal with what you'll see in the picture below? Did I move into a redneck community without knowing it? Most people around here are NYC transplants like myself....except for this guy.

The picture you're about to see was taken with zoom from my backyard. These people like to party on holiday weekends, but I don't know if he really plans to use this or not. Could work for the men, and maybe even for the women after enough beers. Memorial Day weekend is coming, and this guy will have a barn-fire, and I'll be watching!

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