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Dennis, I'm sorry to hear about your medical issues, I have a very deep respect for what you are going through. my uncle Donald lost his sight due to complications from diabetes, and I used to split firewood on the farm of this 90 year man who due to diabetes, also lost his leg during the years I spent working there. After, he still came out to spend time with us in his F150 wheelchair though...LOL
The 2017 AMPS nationals are going to be in Danbury Connecticut! For me at least, its never going to be any closer than this, where in NY are you located?
I live in the section of Upstate New York known as the "Southern Tier". I live about 2 miles West of a little hamlet called East Branch, which is on the East Branch of the Delaware River. East Branch is about 10 miles Northeast of Hancock, N.Y, which is virtually on the border of New York and Pennsylvania. The Southern Tier used to be real American Railroad Country, what with the New York, Ontario & Western, (NYO & W), the ERIE, the New York, Lackawanna & Western, ("Lackawanna"), the Delaware & Hudson, the Ulster & Delaware, the New York Central, the Pennsylvania, the Lehigh & New Jersey, the Lehigh & Hudson River, the Central of New Jersey, the Philadelphia & Reading, ( the "Reading"), and the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroads ALL making connections, (but not exactly all of them in the same towns), along their respective routes.
WHEW! Got all THAT out in one breath!!!
Just East of Hancock is the little settlement known as Cadosia, (pronounced "Ka-DOE-sha"), which up until 1957, was quite an interchange, servicing the NYO & W primarily, but also the ERIE and the Lackawanna, the latter two of which eventually merged into the "Erie-Lackawanna". The NYO & W ran from Weehawken, New Jersey, on the West Shore of the Hudson River, all the way up through the Catskills, to the interchange at Cadosia, where the Railway diverged North-West, all the way up to Oneida, NY, and South-West, down to Scranton, Pennsylvania...
If you're not familiar with the Catskill Mountain Range, the roads NEVER go straight from "point A to point B", but do so by making as many turns as possible through the hills, sometimes even doing a near-"360" up or down a steep mountain!!! A touch of local humor states that "all the local roads, no matter which way you go, are ALL UP-HILL!!!" It's ALMOST TRUE!!!
If you're at all familiar with US Rt.17, (soon to be re-named Interstate 86), East Branch and Hancock are both towns that Rt.17 services. As a matter of fact, Rt.17 runs on, and sometimes parallel to the old NYO & W right-of-way.
It is a very picturesque, albeit economically depressed area. Years ago, this was a big tourist area, what with Rt.17 and before that, the Railroads, carrying vacationers to many now closed down-resorts. The Beaverkill River, outside of Roscoe and Downsville, merges with the East Branch of the Delaware River, and this area is still a "minor mecca" for Fishermen, (Brook and Rainbow Trout), and Deer Hunters, (LOTS of Deer, here), in Hunting Season.
Besides the plentiful Deer and fresh-water Fish, we also have more than our share of Black Bears, Crows, Skunks, Red and Gray Fox, Raccoons, Skunks, Crows, Woodchucks, 'Possums, Porcupines, Crows, Field Mice, Skunks, Chipmunks, Red and Gray Squirrels, Crows, Coyotes, Owls, Skunks and a million other kinds of birds including Crows and Blue Jays, Hawks, Crows, Skunks, (which aren't birds, but I just that I'd mention them in case you didn't know that we have THEM in my area, too), AND YES, EVEN AMERICAN BALD EAGLES!!!
So, now you know, (maybe), where I live...
PS- Re: Your Uncle Donald- Yeah, diabetes is a VERY destructive and debilitating disease, which many people don't realize that it is, and what having it really entails. I consider myself as lucky- I had cataracts in both eyes, but luckily, I was able to have surgery, where implants were placed in each eye, back in 2002. I needed to get that done, because I got out of the Automobile business in late 2000, and had switched myself into the Pharmaceutical Trade, for which I needed to have perfect eyesight, (with glasses), because of the type of work I was to be doing.
I recently had my eyes checked, and I'm a perfect 20/20 with glasses. My eyes can't focus without glasses, because of the man-made implant lenses, so consequently, there are THREE different prescriptions for each separate eyeglass lens to compensate for that. I'm on NINE different medications besides the two different insulins that I'm injecting myself with four times a day, except in February, in which case it's 28, excluding "Leap Year", in which case, it's 29-
On top of that, I've had to deal with edema and diabetic ulcers in my lower extremities, (which resulted in the loss of the lower half of my right leg), PLUS diabetic neuropathy in my hands, left leg, foot, and what's left of my right leg! So YEAH, folks, EVERY DAY IS AN ADVENTURE!!!
