The First Beans

To get myself through the remainder of the dreary winter weather I have started to dream of what I will be planting in my garden come spring. Here is a poem from Boreegard (aka Mike O'Neil) that makes me long even more deeply for the first days of spring. Thanks for sending it Bo!!

    THE FIRST BEANS

Even though the town plowed and harrowed this common ground,

I scuffle-hoe and rake the small patch where I will plant the beans.

 A thousand little weeds die as a result.

The burgeoning milkweed I dig out with the long-handled shovel.

Does God damn me for murdering his wild greens?

They are surely His tender creations. 

Or does he applaud the hoeing DNA he pumped into me in the first place,

Which compels me to kill the weed and plant the seed?

Hank Thoreau philosophized on beans in his pond book some time ago,

And I daresay my New England dirt is much the same as his,

With the rocky ground and the pesky tendril roots,

And my sweat, dripping down the row, much the same as his.

Now if the rain falls gently, in the proper intervals,

And the cutworms, Mexican beetles, aphids,

The deer, the rabbits, the woodchucks and the curious child,

Are somehow miraculously diverted, perhaps I’ll harvest a bean or two.

Boreegard

June 14, 2008

Lots of Rain With The Big Winds

It has been very windy here in the valley since last night. Nothing too bad and certainly nothing like the winds we experienced during Sandy. All is basically well.

There was a LOT of rain last night and the creek has risen but stayed within it's banks. It has been running that lovely YooHoo color but I am sure that will clear in a few days.

There have been no power, phone or cable outages and that is always a good thing. So we are surviving the latest batch of weather. And tomorrow is February 1st so that is one more month of winter behind us. I already looking forward to spring!!

Waiting For The Big Winds

The valley is under a high wind alert tonight into tomorrow morning. The national weather service put out this alert earlier today.

..High Wind Warning In Effect From 10 PM This Evening To 6 PM EST Thursday... The National Weather Service In Albany Has Issued A High Wind Warning...Which Is In Effect From 10 PM This Evening To 6 PM EST Thursday. The High Wind Watch Is No Longer In Effect. * Locations...All Of East Central New York And Adjacent Western New England. * Hazards...Damaging Winds. * Winds...Southerly Winds Becoming West Thursday Morning At 20 To 35 Mph With Gusts To 65 Mph...With The Strongest Wind Gusts Expected Across Higher Elevations...And Across Portions Of The Western Mohawk Valley. * Timing...Damaging Wind Gusts Are Likely This Evening And Overnight Associated With Downpours Ahead Of A Cold Front. Bands Of Heavy Rain Could Allow For Strong Winds Aloft To Mix Down To The Surface...Especially Over The Higher Terrain. In Addition...Winds Will Shift To The West Thursday Morning Behind The Cold Front And The Strong To Damaging Winds Will Be More Persistent And Widespread Across The Area. * Impacts...Damaging Winds May Bring Down Trees And Tree Limbs... Resulting In Scattered To Numerous Power Outages.

A High Wind Warning Means A Hazardous High Wind Event Is Expected Or Occurring. Sustained Wind Speeds Of At Least 40 Mph Or Gusts Of 58 Mph Or More Can Lead To Property Damage. 

Remember to securely  fasten down anything you think might blow around during the storm. Hopefully, it won't be too bad.

Joe DeSarle At The Landmark

WCA member Joe DeSarle is bringing his wonderful vocal skills to the Landmark Grille in Boiceville. "Joey D Sings Sinatra" will be happening this Saturday, February 2nd. The restaurant will feature special Sinatra favorite meals from all his favorite restaurants. So be sure to join the fun and catch one of Woodland Valley's own this weekend at the Landmark Grille. Sounds like it will be a great show!!!

For information go to www.landmarkgrille.com

Happy Belated Birthday Mike O'Neil

I may be one day late with this greeting but it is no less sincere. I am sure I speak for the whole association in giving Mike O'Neil a warm shout out (I am sure a warm anything sounds great right about now) for his birthday from the whole Woodland Valley community. Mike is an important part of life around these parts. He serves as the WCA secretary, valley poet laureate, culinary master and piscatorial grand poo bah. And besides that he makes a magnificent cocktail (an underrated skill these days as far as I am concerned). I am including a poem by Mike in this post for the enjoyment of all. Happy Birthday Boreegard! I hope it was a good one!!

          GLORIOUS ME

Oh, la-de-dah, la-de-double-de-dah.

Just between glorious you and

Glorious me, dear bro and sis,

When I think about it,

I must be quite a guy.

It seems like just about when I began shaving,

They started making me President of this,

And President of that, Chairman,

Vice Admiral, commissioner, Chief,

Councilor, Director  and

Heir apparent to a number of other miscast titles.

But for all of that, brothers and sisters,

(And I speak mainly to you young ones who

Covet such grandiose and puffed titles,

And the implicit warrant of power they

Seem to guarantee)—

It is all bullshit, or more politely stated,

Nitrogenous waste, as my ninth grade

Biology teacher used to call it.

If you have more than two cells in your cranium,

You’ll soon find this to be true.

I’d rather breathe in the satisfyingly clean

Smell of a well-groomed cat, perhaps

To earn a strain of purring in the key of C,

Or hear the wild bird’s appreciative song,

In gratitude for the freshly filled feeder,

Than ever again be forced to endure

The inexorable joint stupidity of a

Committee in endless session, leading nowhere,

Meeting without end—amen. .

Boreegard

Cold, Cold and More Cold

The valley has been uber-cold this week. The worst it got was early Thursday morning. It hit -6 at my house around 5:00 in the morning. Brrrr! It has been a little warmer since then (right now it is about 6 degrees) but I wouldn't call it a heat wave.

Several people have had issues with frozen pipes due to the ongoing single digit and sub-zero temperatures. So watch out for the water situation at your house.

Tonight we are having a bit of flurries but I don't think we will be getting much accumulation. There is a lot of ice around so watch your step if you are coming over the weekend. And be sure to stay warm!!!

The Moon and Jupiter

WCA member Dennis Havel sent me this cool photo of the moon and Jupiter taken a few nights ago. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Apparently, this is the closest that the two bodies will appear to each other until 2026. The phenomenon that causes the planets to look so close is called an appulse. That is an event that is caused by perspective rather than a change is the actual distance between the two. The moon is roughly 248,700 miles from the earth and Jupiter is 413.8 million miles away, Cool image Dennis, thanks for sending!

Just Flurries and COLD

It snowed very lightly all afternoon into the evening yesterday but there wasn't much accumulation. I would say that in the end we got less than an inch. After the snow moved out the temps plummeted. It was about 4 degrees at my house when I woke up this morning. Yipes! It's long john time here in the valley. The cold is expected to last for a few days before returning to more normal temperatures. Well, at least it is sunny today.

Just To Make You Smile

A couple of WV residents have send me uber-cute photos of the little tykes in their family. The first is Joe DeSarle (awesome singer and stromboli maker) and his grandson/buddy Salvatore Joseph. You have to love the matching cami outfits! Very Catskill Mountain chic!! So cute!!

And here is the adorable little Maya Wolf in her best sunglasses! Also too precious for words!! These little cuties should warm your heart on this frigid winter night!!

"Training Wheels" Blog

WCA member John Raffaele sent me a link to his blog (see below) and website recently. The sites are devoted to Direct Support Professionals and people with developmental disabilities. There is also a post on the blog that also talks about the recent passing (December 27th) of John's mother-in-law (Julia's Rose's mother) in Japan. I know I can speak for all the members of the community association when I extend my condolences to the whole Raffaele/Rose family.

http://dspeducationalresources.blogspot.com

http://johnraffaele.org

More Snow

It snowed all through the night last night. By about 6 o'clock this morning there was 5-6 inches on the ground. At that point the snow changed over to rain. The rain was very light (just really misting most of the time). It changed back and forth from mist to light snow for several hours and finished up for good somewhere in the mid-afternoon.

The roads are a bit slick tonight because everything that fell as rain is freezing over. I went to stop at the stop sign at the intersection of High St and Bridge St and felt the car slide a bit. Thankfully, I did not go far and there was no one coming anyway.

So, in the end, the snowpack melted down slightly and left about 5 inches of snow on the ground with a slight crust of ice on the top. In some spots there is still a bit of ice underneath too so be careful where you walk.

Luckily there have been no power, phone or cable outages with this storm.

So that's all folks! Not too bad this time around but we still have a lot more winter to go so stay tuned.

Meeting Of The Friends Of Phoenicia Library

Our local library is one of the gems of our community.  It provides unbelievable resources for all. The upcoming meeting of The Friends of the Phoenicia Library would be a great time to join the group and help support this important organization. See details below:

Wanted all you friends to know that we are planning a bunch of new and exciting events for the Library this spring and summer....and we need a little help from our Friends!!

Please come to our new, revitalized Friends of the Phoenicia Library meeting. We need your help and we want you to be a part of the fun...
The meeting will be Saturday, January 19th at 10 am...Hope to see you there!

Town Board Meetings On YouTube

I was very happy to learn that Town Clerk Joyce Grant is posting the Shandaken Town Board meetings on YouTube. I think this is a wonderful thing especially for those residents that are here only on weekends or in the summer. Also for those who don't subscribe to cable TV. Now you can follow the town business on your computer from anywhere in the world. Very cool!

The meetings are sometimes long so they will be in several parts but that is better than having no access to them at all. Here is the message Joyce sent to me regarding the Town's YouTube page.

To provide more convenient & accessible information to our citizens, Shandaken Town Board Meeting Videos will be available online at the Town's Youtube page. Video's will still be available to watch on Time Warner Channel 23 but this will provide this service to those that don't live here full time or don't use Time Warner TV.  

here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/townofshandaken?feature=watch

Joyce GrantTown Clerk - Shandaken NY
845-688-5004
Fax: 845 688-2041http://www.shandaken.us

Weather For Weekenders - 1/10/13

The weather here this week was pretty good. There has been no new snow and the temperatures are on the rise. There is still a fair amount of snow lying around but it is melting quickly during the day. If the temps rise even higher (into the 50s), as predicted, we should see a serious melt off over the weekend. The only problem has been that it is still getting colder at night and some of the snow that has melted is turning back to ice in the evening making many surfaces very, very slippery. So if you are coming for the weekend be very careful getting out of your car in your driveway and approaching your house. The snow is also melting off the roofs and in many cases dripping down onto walkways and decks making them increasingly icy as well. So, until you figure out the situation around your house go slow and beware.

2013 Woodland Trout Fund

WV Troutmeister and Piscatorial Grand Poo Bah, Mike O'Neil (aka Boreegard), sent me this message regarding the Woodland Trout Fund. For those who don't know,  the Woodland Valley group stocks our lovely stream twice every summer with fine brown trout. They have been doing it for over 40 years. Mike sent along this piece (written in 2000) regarding the endeavor. Anyone who feels inclined to donate can follow the instructions in Mike's message below. The address is still correct.

WOODLAND TROUT FUND—2000

    We have been stocking Woodland Brook’s fly fishing section for more than 30 years now (in fact this year is our 35^th anniversary), and for nearly all that time we have bought our trout from a private hatchery in Sullivan County—The Beaverkill Trout Hatchery.  The hatchery has thrived over the years due in no small measure to the tireless hard work and persistence of its founders and owners, the Shaver family.  They have been challenged by a chain of natural and man made exigencies (marauding bears, drought, ravenous blue herons, the threat of fish diseases, flood, faulty generators, the rising price of fish food), and they continue to triumph over adversity.  

     Those of you who have helped stock the trout will remember Edwin Shaver--the tall taciturn old man with the droll sense of humor, and his son Gary—the boss of the operation, with his Ambrose Burnside mutton chops and steadfast philosophic outlook.  Edwin, I am sorry to report, died of a sudden heart attack last spring; we will see him no more.  Year after year, one or the other of them arrived at the appointed hour in our valley with a truck full of beautiful trout, and patiently put up with our exasperatingly tedious stocking routine.  Rather than dump the fish into the stream wholesale at two or three sites, we insist on making many stops.  And to accomplish this with at least the appearance of control, tradition requires that the Troutmeister must ride in the cab of the truck, alongside the driver, to advise where to stop for each transfer.

      With this in mind, it was last July on a particularly hot, muggy stocking day, that I first met charming elements of the Beaverkill Hatchery’s fourth and fifth generation.  At the wheel of the truck was Gary’s youngest daughter, Lisa, and in a baby seat situated on the passenger-side, sat her baby daughter, Ashlynne.

      A bit dumbfounded, I explained that I usually rode in the cab.  Lisa swiftly rearranged things to accommodate my bulk. I was never little as a boy, and I’m a lot bigger now. With the two fifty pound bags of trout pellets and other trout miscellany repositioned just so, and with me straddling the gearshift, we set out to get the job done.  The usual caravan of helpers followed behind us in their vans and cars.

     If I’d had any misgivings about Lisa’s ability, they quickly evaporated.  She drove the twisting valley road with the assurance of a Teamster.  She calmed her daughter, who was somewhat distressed by the arrival of this bulky bearded stranger, with a few sweet words. She told me of her love of fly fishing and of trout. And I saw that she was as adept at netting those slippery-slithery trout and plopping them into the stocking buckets as ever her Pa and Grandpa were. 

     Ashlynne and I soon became friends.  Her mom had given her a little drawing pad and a pen to keep her busy.  I pointed to her first scribble as we bumped along and asked, “What’s that, Ashlynne?” “BROWNIE !,” she exclaimed.  And the next—“BROOKIE!”  She sealed our friendship by grabbing hold of my suspenders and laughing impishly as she snapped them.

     Can there be any doubt as to the commitment of the Shavers?  I hope there’s no doubt about your commitment to the stocking of Ashlynne’s brownies, which I anticipate you will be fishing for in the year 2000.  I ask you to provide us with the wherewithal. You can do this in the usual manner, by cutting a check made out to: THE WOODLAND TROUT FUND,  and mailing it to  Mike O’Neil, 101 Rambling Road, Vernon, CT 06066. 

                                                                                                                                

Thank you,

Mike O'Neil

No Shandaken Resident Ski Program

Many people have asked me about the ski program for Shandaken residents at Belleayre. The management of the mountain changed hands this year and now is being handled by ORDA (Olympic Regional Development Authority). They decided to discontinue the program. So you didn't miss any information, it just isn't happening. Too bad, it was a great way for residents to get some regular exercise at an affordable price.

Brigitte Engler Show Opening In LA

WCA member and artist Brigette Engler is having a show in Los Angeles.  The opening is on January 13th. The show runs through February 17th. If you find yourself in LA check it out!

Brigitte Engler

Imprints

Dates January 13 - February 17
Reception: January 13, 5-7 PM
Hours: Sundays, Noon - 6 PM
and by appointment
also open during
Art Los Angeles Contemporary Art Fair
on January 24- 27, 12-8 PM

PØST
1904 East Seventh Place
Los Angeles, CA 90021 USA
213 4881280
new@post-la.com

Joe DeSarle Lights Up The Stage

Happy New Year to you all. After some brief flurries yesterday the weather got really cold overnight. The temps are climbing today but I thought I would post a couple of videos to get your toes tapping and help you warm up a little quicker in this dreary winter weather. Both of these videos feature the dynamic vocal stylings of our own local songsmith, Joe DeSarle. Joe performed at the Sinatra Birthday Bash on December 7th at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank NJ. All reports are that Joe nailed his performance and wowed the crowd. Check it out for yourself. Great job, Joe!!