Monday

It's Garbage Day!

27.5 degrees.

There's just a bit of new snow and, although I've heard snowplows, there doesn't seem to be anything slowing down traffic on Rt. 315!

• Monday: Cloudy with leftover snow or sleet. Total accumulations of 1-3". High: 34

• Monday night: Mostly cloudy with snow showers. Low: 23
• Tuesday: Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain/snow showers. High: 35, Low: 27
• 
  

I ventured out for a ride, yesterday afternoon ....

... and found that some snowmobilers had been out riding, too!


A few mallards were making the most of the small patch of open water on the pond at the foot of Grant Hill.

The Gray residence, in "Dicksville," is elegantly decorated!

And the big new barn at the Gallagher Farm, there, is coming along.

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From the Gallagher Farm in Sangerfield came this nice long - and interesting - E-letter!

"The well system everyone saw being put in behind our barns is now working to provide water to the youngstock in an easier manner. Many thanks to Dick Barnes and Jim Belfield ( and my husband paul) for putting in many hours in cold snowy weather to finish the job! Also, the Blue Team from Memorial Park visited in the fall. They named a Holstein calf that was born shortly before their arrival. The name they chose is Lynn.
They will be following Lynn's growth and progress here on the farm. Last year they named Ginger who is now a "yearling" and who will become pregnant shortly. She was in the last "snowy picture." on the blog.

A hot topic in the farming community at this time is the "labeling" and marketing of dairy products. Many processors have changed their labels to say things like: "BST Free" , No Antibiotics!", No artificial Growth Hormones.". Did you know that no antibiotics are in any dairy products being marketed? If we have to treat a cow, her milk is discarded until it tests free of all antibiotic residue. All milk that is picked up at the farms is tested throughout the processing track many times for antibiotics, bacteria and other quality indicators. So all dairy products you purchase are free of antibiotics.

The same goes for hormones in the milk. All cows naturally have hormones in their body systems. Cows that may receive BST shots- their milk tests the same as cows that do not recieve the shots. ( Just for your info- we don't happen to utilize BST as a tool here.) There is no known test to tell if a farmer even has used them. So when you pay more for this milk in the store, there is no difference from the other milk which does not make these claims. The only peopel really benefiting from the often higher prices charged for dairy products making these claims happens to be the processors. At one meeting in Pennsylvania, a farmer held up a gallon of milk priced at 2.99/gallon and another making such claims prices at 4.35/gallon and pointed out that the farmer is not getting the benefit of the price mark-up. The consumer is being misled as well. Anyone with questions can email me - PGallagher@twcny.rr.com - I will be happy to talk with you further."

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John Brouillette sent this photograph of some old Opera House posters he uncovered on the third floor of "The Wheeler Block" on Main Street. (The building had originally had only two stories - the third one added sometime between 1870 and 1874*. The Wheelers were (I believe) brothers who operated a grocery store in one half of the building and dry goods company in the other.

* The first place that I go, for information about buildings in the Historic Triangle District, is to the "Centennial Book" that was published in 1971. These books are hard to find, so my husband - a year or so ago - scanned one of the originals. I have a few bound copies and can also put the file on CDs - I think.

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I knew it would work!

Less than an hour after I'd posted the blog, yesterday morning, I had E-mail from Byron Stuhlman giving me his new E-address! I won't post it here, but - if you want to write to him - I'll be glad to forward E-mail to him in Maine.

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I'll be out and around more, today, so there will be more pictures tomorrow!

Have a good one!