Monday Morning

Garbage Morning! No: it didn't snow, overnight. It's just a picture to look at and remember what it was like six months ago when we couldn't wait for summer!

It's quite comfortable, at 5:30 A.M., but if you click here - AccuWeather Forecast - you'll see that it'll be getting fairly warm throughout today and even moreso tomorrow! Some inventive scheduling of cooling-off activities (check Ecco Video for films about penquins or dogs in the Arctic; watch all three DVD's of Ernest Shackleton's 1914 polar expedition) and/or rearrangement of fans might be a good idea.

Then there's the other sort of "fan" --- those who click back and forth between channels so that they don't miss anything!
At this stage in "the season," they may also be impervious to thermometric influence!


It'll be no surprise if the brick paver crew shows up early, today, hoping to get as much work done as they can before it becomes miserably hot, and the sidewalk/driveway crew out on Sanger Avenue will no doubt do the same.

I'll do an early tour, just to see what's happening uptown.

Ride in the Country

It cleared off beautifully!
It's not terribly hot out, but it is the sort of afternoon when paddlers and fishermen like to find a nice pond or lake to enjoy. We started at Chittening Pond, east of Sangerfield on Route 20, and found the parkinglots and roadsides full - and with good reason!










It was the Waterville Forest Fish and Game Club's Annual Kid's Fishing Derby, and there were lots and lots of kids there.



(Click Photographs to Enlarge.)

And then 'round and about to get a view of Bailey Lake. The Baileys - matriarch Azubah and her son Vine - walked here from Connecticut around 1795. Their home was probably about where the Wicks residence is now located. Azubah's death in Sangerfield in 1823 at the age of 93 was noted in the Utica newspaper.






Paddlers like Bailey Lake because of its floating bogs and numerous little coves where several varieties of unusual plants thrive.






Gorton Lake is somewhat smaller than Bailey, but has floating bogs, too. Private camps and year-round homes take up most of the shoreline but paddlers will find public access on the southern shore.




Parking and access to the Sangerfield River in the legendary "Nine Mile Swamp" is on Wickwire Road at "the Orange Bridge" in Hubbardsville. This is always a favorite spot for paddlers and fishermen but recent rains have sent submerged logs downstream so special caution is advised!


Just above the "orange bridge," we met Charlotte Blanchard and Jody Palmer out for an afternoon ride.

We've known Charlotte for years, but had never met Jody although we HAD read about her and her husband, Keith, in this morning's Post-Standard. (See page A-18 and the article headlined "NYRI promises development money..") The proposed power line would cut across the Palmer's farm - it's not what they had in mind!




There's plenty of water for paddlers and fishermen on both sides of the Lake Road causeway at Lake Moraine. The shoreline along the southernmost part of the lake is quite thickly settled with cottages and homes, but the northern section is inhabited, mostly, by Canada Geese.



Black-eyed Susans - the "early" variety, we hope! - make bright splashes in fields and along roadsides and, out near the corner of Madison and Route 20, there is another "Sunflower Field." It's not as wonderful as the fields near Vernon Center, but it IS a happy sight and so we say "Thanks!" to whomever made it happen!


E-mail: Homeinthehuddle@AOL.com)

Soggy Sunday

That was a "rip-snorter" of a thunder storm that we had, around 4 o'clock, yesterday afternoon! Today's forecast does not call for any such major electrical events, but the humidity will be especially high, this morning, and it's certainly going to feel very warm and sticky.

Weekend Wind-up

It really did turn out to be a rainy, gray day. Despite the optimism shown by Gallaghers' cows - who stood in a steady drizzle -
TIOGA crews packed up their toys and went home.






House-painting ceased at the top of "Livingston Hill" -Putnam Street - and at #183 Babbott Avenue,





and the brightest spot in town seemed to be at Dairy Isle (a.k.a. "Dairy Creme; "Roc's" and/or "The Langone Family Restaurant") where Brianna Cowen and Andy Dorr served up smiles to everyone!

The Writer will be playing The Artist for the next day or so, working on plates for the Waterville Historical Society's "Coloring Book" - due out this Fall! - but we shall certainly plan on taking you for our regular "Ride in the Country" on Sunday.

Have a nice weekend!

E-mail: Homeinthehuddle@AOL.com.

Friday A.M. Ride-around

And then it started to rain: really rain. Some sidewalk prep that was going on in front of the Bancroft residence on Sanger Avenue was in progress - the cabs of the two pieces of machinery involved were, at least, fairly well enclosed.











By 7:15 it was pouring. The Brick Paver crew who had gathered on the sidewalk in front of Morgan's and the Liquor Store dove for cover in doorways.





The Driveway to the Library is now OPEN! Around back, some new shrubbery has been planted. There'll be no need for that garden hose today!



And it rained even harder until, suddenly, at around 8:00, it simply stopped!

Canada Geese out at the Moons' went about their business and the brick layers went back to work.

T. G. I. Friday Morning

Although AccuWeather gives us hourly predictions, the WKTV News Channel 2 Forecast, yesterday afternoon, was a little bit more dramatic in their description and labelled our weather "Downright Oppressive!"

• Friday Morning: Showers and thunderstorms, perhaps tapering off by noontime. Temps to near 75-80 by Noon.
• Friday Afternoon: Showers and storms winding down. Gradual clearing, but still hot and soupy. Highs in the low to mid 80s.
• Friday night: Partly cloudy and a bit humid. Low in the mid to upper 60s.
• Saturday: Sun and clouds with a chance of a thunderstorm. Hot and a bit humid. High: 88, Low: 67
• Sunday: A mix of sun and clouds, warm and humid. Chance of a storm. High: 85, Low: 68

The Yankees and RedSox took yesterday off, but both play, this evening, on home fields. NYY vs. TB and BOS vs. LAA - both games at 7:05. P.M.

Of little Importance or Interest to Anyone: the white flower blooming in such abundance along roadsides and in country fields is "Queen Anne's Lace," (Anne 1665 - 1714) so-called for the tiny speck of red in the center of each blossom - a drop of blood, it was said, shed by her Majesty when she pricked her finger on a pin while working on a piece of lace.

Of GREAT Interest to Rotarians and Bouckville Antique Show Breakfast Customers: the conditions of this year's crop of Blueberries!





(Click to enlarge Snapz and Photographs. Time for the Morning Tour. Be back soon!)

4 O'clock Sweep

Hot and hazy; nearly 90 degrees on Main Street, and I'm sure that if the brick layers who had been installing pavers in front of Morgan's were anywhere near this little watering hole on Brouillette Road, they'd have waded right in with "the girls."

Perhaps the sidewalk crew would have, too: they've laid forms nearly to the village limits; everyone up to the Zirkles has a sidewalk and driveway pouring progressed as far as the Cole residence. There are still quite a few residents who do NOT have anything but the sidewalk forms and they will probably be parking their vehicles elsewhere, over the weekend.


There was a rumor going round, earlier today, that there is a shortage of concrete and that that was causing a slow down in the paving process, but there was a "cement truck" right in front of Olmstead's Garage. (Only with great discipline do I remember that "cement trucks" - called that ever since I was a child! - do NOT dispense cement! It's concrete!)

I had hoped to have so GOOD NEWS to write about - perhaps that the driveway to the Library is now open - but that's not the case.

Instead, I have some REALLY GREAT NEWS!!!!!!
I spoke, this morning, with a close friend of Army Pvt. John Sigsbee who had talked with him yesterday. John said that he'd be COMING HOME TO WATERVILLE - hopefully within the next few days! He's got a good deal of recuperating to do, but he'll be home for a month and, as we all know, there's no better medicine than family and friends! Best Wishes, John!!!
Welcome Home!

The COIRO Gardens on White Street

Everyone admires their front yard and doorway, but looks what's hiding in the back yard!
























































Photographs by Joan and Jerry Coiro. (Click to Enlarge.)

Thursday morning, continued

Looking down the "tracks" from Olmstead's Garage,
and the "Visitor's Parking Lot" on the West side of Sanger Avenue.




It's trickier than it looks and more artistic than we'd thought, too! All of the areas covered with brick pavers have an edging - or framework - of bricks that abuts sidewalks or curbings at 90 degrees.



ELSEWHERE: Small sidewalk sections had been poured: 1. pedestrian crossing in front of the Waterville Historical Society;
2. pedestrian crossing from Municipal Hall to the Petrie residence; and at the northern end of Municipal Hall.

Obsorn Avenue, closed while the lower half was blacktopped yesterday, is open, today.
The "Driveway Closed" sign is still outside the entrance to the Library.