Thanks everyone. Robin I thought I had responded a thank you to your generous offer but I don't see it so apologies for not thanking you sooner. That is very kind of you.
Stripperguy, I lived in Saranac Lake. I went to Paul Smiths College in the mid seventies. Always have had friends there. My daughter has worked for Saint Regis Canoe Outfitters for the last four or five summers. I can always find work, what I couldn't find was a place to work that I could afford. I was working out of a storage unit for a while. But that was just too cold in the winter. It's been about 17 years since I lived there. The last straw for me was the Adirondack Museum put the Idem sailboat in their collection up for bid to repair/restore it for the 100 year anniversary of the class. There were seven bidders and I was smack dab in the middle of them and the only one to propose to do the repair on site at the Museum, remember I had no shop to put the boat in. On site was an option in the contract. Long story short, they sent it to a shop in Me. and I decided to move back to L.I. and pick up my business that I started here. I soon met a woman, we have a son and life is good. The irony of the story is that most of the displays in the museum are how hard it is to survive in the ADK's and they had the opportunity to put 60k back into the local economy but they chose to send the money to Maine. I've been to the museum a couple time since and the boat turned out nice. No hard feelings toward the museum, I wonder what my life would have been if they had awarded me the contract?
Norton thanks, I have sister thet lives in W. Virginia. Haven't been down to visit her in a long time, we talk often though.
Jim