Monday, Sept. 14, was a busy day. I had ordered a load of stone for my driveway. I wasn’t used to ordering stone as Ray had taken care of it, the last time.

My grandson, Brandon Clark, tried to advice me on what to order. I told the stone company I wanted something to fill the washouts in my lower driveway and they advised me to order crusher run. I hope it doesn’t washout.

I didn’t know I could order smaller amounts so I got a huge truckload. The driver was considerate and tried to drop it in different spots. 

Brandon got home and started shoveling and raking it around the driveway. Nothing seems to be an easy fix.

On Tuesday, Sept. 15, I was excited to attend my great granddaughter, Nichole Clark’s open house at Radez School in Richmondville. Nichole is 9 years old and in the fourth grade. She is bubbling with excitement. She got the teacher she really wanted, Mr. Beekman, and she has started taking trombone lessons. Nichole showed her dad, Brandon, and me her notebooks out of her desk and explained everything in her classroom. Then she took us to the music room where we met her teacher, Mrs. Gilmore.

In the Richmondville-Cobleskill district they have the children in charge of open house. It is fun and the children are very interested in doing a thorough job. 

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, I called my sister-in-law, Betty Bates, who now lives in Whitehall. She told me the memorial service for her husband, Chuck, will be Sept. 27, instead of Oct. 11. The cemetery is closed between Oct. 1 and May 1. 

Chuck was 81 years old and died Aug. 4. Betty is very lonely now.

They were married for 63 years. Betty is Ray’s oldest sister.

Later in the afternoon I went on the dinner visit with Brandon to Samson and Nichole. We ate at Justine’s.

The children didn’t have any homework so we hiked the Cobleskill Creek Trail. I didn’t go to the end.

There were benches along the way. I let Brandon and the children trudge ahead of me and I rested on a bench. Then I walked back towards the car and found another bench where I could sit and wait.

On Thursday, Sept. 17, Kassi Martin, my granddaughter, came and we had lunch together. Kassi did some vacuuming for me.

In the evening I went to my granddaughter, Kyra Swan’s open house at the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School. Kyra is in the ninth grade. The school discourages children from coming to the open house.

Kyra did go with her mother, Marcia Pangburn, and me because she wanted to hang out with a friend while we visited her classrooms and teachers. I am very interested to find out what the children are leaning.

On Friday, Sept. 18, I drove to my granddaughter, Danielle Ricketts and my great granddaughter Zoey’s house to bid them goodbye and give them a great big kiss because they were leaving on a four-day vacation to Westerly, Rhode Island, with Danielle’s mother Desiree Lomio Wagner.

They would be spending their days on the Misquamicutt Beach. They were so excited.

My daughter, Kathy Carnevale, called me and she and her husband, Gary, were also leaving for a Rhode Island beach for the weekend. It’s supposed to be a beautiful sunny weekend. 

In the evening I went with my daughter, Marcia Pangburn, to a fund-raiser at Brennan’s in Earlton for a neighbor, Rick Hagadone. The food was good, the music was entertaining and I visited with friends and neighbors.

On Saturday, Sept. 19, I visited my grandson, Miles Pangburn, and his in-laws, Carol and Tim Maifoff, while they were staining Miles and Melissa’s deck.

I missed Melissa because she had driven to Curtis Lumber in Ballston Spa to get more stain. Then I had lunch with Jenn Smith and Brandon. They were soon going to the wedding of her cousin.

After that I drove to Vince Anna’s in South Westerlo to buy gift certificates for Miles and Melissa and Kathy and Gary, who will soon be celebrating anniversaries.

On Sunday, Sept. 20, I went to church and then spent a lot of time reading. Brandon and Jenn picked me up in the late afternoon and we went to a birthday party for Michelle Ferranino, who turned 16.

Michelle lives up the road from us and is an extraordinary young lady. She is just a wonderful teenager. Michelle is the daughter of Donna and Bob Ferraino. She is an honor student and excels on the volleyball team. There were many people there, family, friends, neighbors, schoolteachers, and more. It was a great party, good food and a relaxing bonfire. It was a peaceful closing to another week. 

The Enterprise has not had room for my column in recent months. I’ll probably have one more column published before I end more than 50 years of writing for “The Altamont Enterprise”. 

My wonderful news for this week was the birth of my fifth great grandchild on Friday, Oct. 23. Madeline Christina Pangburn arrived, weighing 7 pounds-13 ounces; the beautiful daughter of Miles and Melissa Pangburn. She’s the granddaughter of Marcia Pangburn. The maternal grandparents are Carol and Tim Maikoff of Voorheesville and the great-grandmother is Cathy Maikoff of Altamont.

We are blessed.