Spending 11 weeks in France this winter.

Sanity in an Insane World

On this the 8th anniversary of the sad events in New York City, read this. Take a special note of the authors.

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/1227832.html

Summer is almost over. I've had one morning with the temperatures in the 30s. Lots of morning dew and I've seen the first chevron of geese heading south. The tomatoes are finally starting to ripen hopefully before the first frost.

It was a very busy summer and I was blessed with lots of visitors. I discovered a few new hikes both hard and easy but all rewarding. My daughters and their families visited for the first time. My granddaughter saw her first river otters at the "Wild Center".

I made new friends when Carlos and family stayed here during Deb's Summer Music Workshop. I did my first fly fishing and, thanks to Tom my instructor, I caught a 15" brown trout on my first outing.

This was a really good summer!

I'll be teaching at a local community college starting Tuesday. I'm teaching 2 remedial math classes. I've been away from the classroom for a while and I'm looking forward to returning. This will make for a busy fall.

I'll expect and welcome more company as the leaves turn. Last year the reds and golds showed up on the mountain tops in the middle of September. By early October, the colors have moved down to my area. Peak "leaf peeping" is the from just before to just after Columbus Day.

Here's a picture from last year.

For those who love to read, here's an interesting article from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/review/Straight-t.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Be well

Spring is here!

Spring has arrived to the North Country. A little lavender and white wild flower is surrounding the house. It grows in little clumps of about 10-15 blooms, each bloom 1/2" across. There are scores of clumps of these flower all over. Any ideas of their name?

And here's a mushroom I found behind the house. Is that a morel?

I discovered two wonderful easy walks through the nearby forest recently. They are both near the Wilmington Flume on Route 86. The first passes by a beaver dam and then goes along the banks of the West Branch of the AuSable River across from the Hungry Trout Restaurant. There are a whole series of easy trails in this area.

The other is on the other side of the river and downstream from the first. Here you get easy access to the water falls and flume.

Be well my friends!

Senator Jim Webb

Senator Webb has eloquently and thoughtfully expressed my thoughts on the use of "illegal" drugs and its criminalization.
Please take the time to read what he has to say:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/03/28/webb/index.html

Consider how much money is wasted and how many more lives are destroyed because of our drug policy.

Be well friends!

Spring is Here?

We've had almost a week of uninterrupted sunshine with overnight lows in the teens and daytime highs around 35º. So I'm still waiting for the real spring. To help things along, I bought a kayak today from EMS in Lake Placid. I had an email coupon for 25% off any full price item. I've had my eyes on this particular kayak for awhile. So with the inflatable kayak I already have, I'm ready for some outings this summer.

Deb and I had a WONDERFUL overnight in Brooklyn, NY a few weeks ago. I would highly recommend giving Brooklyn a try. Even if you don't usually like BIG cities, Brooklyn was fun. Lots of interesting streets, restaurants, antiques shops, and a great botanical garden. Hotels are at least $50/night less expensive. And you get to "Take the A Train" to get there from Penn Station. It's only 10 min. away.

Deb is doing a summer musical theater workshop in the Adirondacks from July 13-17. Two of her students are helping her with it, So they and their family will be here for the week. Their younger brother will be attending the workshop. I had the pleasure of traveling with their father on the choir Paris trip last Easter. It should be a fun week.

Other planned visitors this summer include (so far) more friends from Deb's choirs, Liesl & Bill; Kristin, Mike & Winnie(my grand-daughter); and my niece, Candy, with her 2 children. Their grandparents, my brother Larry and sister-in-law Grace will be with them. Her husband, Chet, is scheduled to return to Afghanistan in April. This will be his 2nd deployment there. He's also served in Iraq. When you see the impact this has on the families of servicemen and women, you get a really different perspective of the sacrifices they make for us.

I'll be teaching at Clinton Community College in the fall. I'm looking forward to getting back to the classroom. It's been a few years since I last taught. I'll be teaching 2 classes, one pre-algebra and one introductory algebra. They've said I could have as many as 3 classes a semester, if I wanted that many, for the forseeable future.

Be sure to check out Denise's blog for the status of her garden. I'm looking forward to eating lots of her fresh fruits and veggies this summer.

Be well my friends!

No Snow - Just Winter

There's no picture of a nice snowy scene this time. The storm that dumped plenty on the east coast from DC to Boston gave us about 1". It was too far east to give us significant snow.
Last week we had some temperatures in the 40s and most of the snow we did have melted except where the plows have piled it. Since those 2 warm days, it's been REALLY cold. Lows around 5º and highs in the low 20s. I like playing in the snow. But I must say, the cold without the snow is a real drag - what's the point. I'm looking forward to spring now.

You may remember that I did get 2 TV stations with the rabbit ears on my TV, NBC and FOX. The stations here decided to go ahead with the move to digital on February 17. They didn't wait for the new June date. The NBC affiliate has a new location for their digital transmitter. It's on Mt. Manfield, northeast of Burlington, VT. That's about 50 miles away instead of the 20 miles away for the old tower.

Well, now I get no TV at all. I'm not a big fan of network TV but it is nice to get a bit of local news and weather, the NBC Nightly News, and Jeopardy. My first try with an outside antenna was a bust. When we get a warm day, I'll try again with the new antenna but 5º is too cold to fool around with it.

I don't think a satellite dish will work either - too many trees to the southwest. Not sure what or if I'll do anything about TV.

The joke up here on Groundhog day is: So 6 more weeks of winter - not bad.

Be well friends.

Please watch this ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2STDH14aJVk

and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7vlE0s83_s

Be well.

Keene Valley gym class

While snowshoeing in Keene Valley, I past a group of about 10 middle/high school aged students. Seems it was a gym class from the school nearby. The activity that day was cross country skiing and snowshoeing. They had crossed the pond next to the school and were heading up the mountain side. It was about 9F. Now that seems like a fun school function.

We've had little snow as of late but it's been cold. This weekend we're expecting temperatures to get above freezing, maybe even some rain.

Here's a picture from one of my more recent outings.



Be well friends.

Inauguration Day

There are lots of ways today is a momentous day for America. It brings to an end an administration with complete disregard for the U.S. constitution, that wallowed in the arrogance of power and anti-intellectualism. And it ushers in a new chapter in U.S. history. President Obama even included people like me, for what I believe is the first time, i.e. non-believers. But there is another personal marker for me with our new president. Barak Obama (b. 1961) is the first president younger than I am (b. 1952). So "the touch has been passed to a new generation ..."

Now that's cold ...

Yes, that's the thermometer I keep on the screen porch.

A week or so ago, I snowshoed the trail to Connery Pond. This trail starts near the road to Lake Placid, goes past Connery Pond, touches Lake Placid, and eventually leads to the TOP of Whiteface Mountain. But the first 3 or so miles are actually flat. Flat as in South Jersey flat. I really mean it this time, it is pretty flat and easy.

The trail is an old logging road, so it's wide (8'-10') as well. Lots of people cross country ski this trail. I met only one person while I was on the trail and one starting out as I was finishing. This was on a Saturday so it isn't a heavily use trail.

The views of Whiteface were spectacular. We had gotten a few inches of new snow the day before and it was cold overnight, single digits, so there was lots of frost on the trees. This combined with the new snow made the mountains completely white. Whiteface looked like Mt. Fuji.

Last night it was supposed to be -22F.

Be well!

Overnight we got 4" and waiting for another 8" by tomorrow!

Happy New Year

I had a quiet Christmas and New Years. Deb's colleague Kris visited for a few days between the holidays. We had the chance to go snowshoeing and do some site seeing. It was a really enjoyable visit.

New Years Eve was spent with Deb and her sister Dana, in Saranac Lake's for their First Night celebration. For a $10 pass, they had a number of venues featuring a wide variety of music. We saw a local madrigal group and a local Celtic band. Denise and I had see the Celtic band at McDougal's pub (only 5 miles away from Bleak House, at the Hungry Trout Restaurant). By 9:00 pm it was -2º so we made it an early night.

I listen to WUMB radio a lot. It's an (almost) 24/7 "folk music" station operated by U. Mass. -Boston. I get it through streaming audio on the web and run it into my stereo. Last sunday some one mentioned this quote from President and Five Star General Dwight D. Eisenhower:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children....
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense.
Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from an iron cross."

Be well my friends.

I had the chance to do some snowshoeing over the weekend. We got about a total 16" of snow in two storms. I was over at Denise's for two nights while my driveway was being plowed. There are acres of woods behind her house most of which are owned by the Nature Conservancy. It's GREAT place to snowshoe. There is a quarry back there and on top you can see across Lake Champlain to Vermont and sometimes all the way to the Green Mountains. Be sure to check out Denise's blog for some great pic from our snowshoeing excursions. Look for "Dog Daz" to the right ->.


Deb will be driving up on the 24th and we'll be at Denise's for Christmas day. We're planning on lots of snowshoeing during her 8 day visit.

The driveway was plowed and sanded a second time this morning. Then unexpectedly the propane truck showed up. So I've got a full 400 gallons of fuel to keep us warm.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Years.
Be well my friends.

We got the first real snow of the year last night. After predicting 5"-8" we got 11". Since it was cold during the storm, it's a very very light fluffy snow. The little shoveling I have to do, weighed next to nothing. But we expect a much bigger storm on Sunday!!

I know it's not to every ones liking, but for me the novelty of living in a place with real snow hasn't worn off. I'll be out snowshoeing around noontime today.


Checkout the forecast for the week: http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/USNY0727_f.html

I'm little under the weather right now. Seems I picked up a cold while visiting in Southern New Jersey last week. I'm not a pleasant person when I'm sick. Since it doesn't happen often I'm not used to it. Denise and I had hoped to drive over to Burlington, VT on Sunday to see a performance of the Metropolitan Opera broadcast live to a movie theater in High Definition. But if my head doesn't clear by then we'll have to try it some other time. I've been wanting to try this for while. You can see where you might catch this is your area:
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx

It's been plenty cold this week. The rivers are starting freeze where the current is slow. This is the East Branch of the AuSable River near the house. These rapids don't freeze completely but much of the river up and down stream from them does. It's very pretty.

We're expecting 3"-5" of snow tonight and then real snow on Sunday, maybe 12" more. They are very good at predicting the snow falls here but only 24 hours in advance. So we'll have to see. We'll definitely have a white Christmas here.

Burrr

Last night it was -4°F (-20°C) and windy, which is VERY unusual. This morning, it's as clear as can be. I'm looking forward to bundling-up and going out in the first really cold Adirondack day this winter.

Winter time and living is easy

Just a quick peek at the latest snow at Bleak House. We're in that season of at least flurries everyday. We won't have many days with the temperature above freezing, until maybe the, not uncommon, January thaw. The temperature is predicted to be 2°F (-17°C) tonight and 6°F (-14°C) tomorrow. Time to break-out the Calvados.

Let it snow, let it snow, ...

Returning to Bleak House after a week in SJ & DC celebrating Turkey Bowl XXXLIII (my annual get-together with college buddies), I found 2" of old snow on the driveway and parking area.



Finally we're getting the snow base needed for snowshoeing. A dead 30' tall, 18" diameter tree behind the house had fallen toward the parking area and broke in two. The top part landed in the parking area close to where I sometime park. Phew

The Lake Placid area has about 12" of snow. Hunting season ends December 7th. Then I'll get back into the woods for snowshoeing. The Northfield-Lake Placid trail in a 130+ mile north-south lowland trail. I've hiked a small portion near Lake Placid. This should be the perfect easy winter hike. I've 3 sets of snowshoes and trekking poles, so there is equipment for visitors. There are also places in Lake Placid to rent equipment.
(see: http://highpeakscyclery.com/page.cfm?pageID=125)

For those interested in X Country Skiing check out Cascade Cross Country Ski Center:
http://www.cascadeski.com/index.html
I've visited the shop and everyone was very nice and friendly. When there is a full moon, they do all night sking with bonfires and drinks along the trails and music in the lodge.

Here are some wild turkey tracks I found behind the house. There must have a lot of them because there are a whole lot of tracks like this.

Be well my friends