Saturday morning

The WCS Band Buses were due back in town fairly late, last night. Perhaps by late this afternoon some more reports and pictures will have turned up! Good Job, Everyone!!

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This morning it's 58 degrees and WKTV predicts:

• Saturday: Partly sunny with a chance for an afternoon shower or storm.
  
• High: 80, Low: 62
• Sunday: Partly sunny, hot, and humid. High: 92, Low: 68

TODAY IN WATERVILLE

Loomis Country Rides begin at 9:00

$5

at the Waterville Historical Society.

Hop Equipment Display all day;
Ice Cream Social 1 - 3:00

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Lindsey Family Gospel - Bluegrass

CONCERT IN THE PARK

6:30

Free Snacks

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The siding is going on to the new Belfield Building on West Main Street. It's a lovely "sea green!"

Patriotic doorway decor on Madison Street.

On Hanover Road, the side doorway on the Cornish's old barn.

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TOMORROW

The Focus Shifts to Utica and the

30th Running of the 15K "Boilermaker"

Utica Observer-Dispatch website offers information on all aspects of The Boilermaker.

WKTV Newschannel 2 offers online features of everything Boilermaker, including a nice large interactive MAP of the race course.

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It's Going to be HOT!


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Jim Kloster said that he's seen the Bald Eagle fishing at Chittening Pond in both morning and evening! I'm off to take another look!

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Have a great day!

More from our Washington Correspondent

After leaving their hotel, this morning, the buses took the students to a few places not originally on their itinerary:

the District of Columbia WW I Memorial,

then the WW II Memorial and "The Wall" - the Vietnam Memorial,

and at 12:30 they'd reached the National Zoo!

Friday, continued

It's Garbage Day!

56 degrees.

• Friday: A mix of clouds and sun with a few showers or thunderstorms possible. High: 75, Low: 58
• Saturday: Partly sunny and nice. High: 76, Low: 62
• Sunday: Partly sunny, hot, and humid with showers and thunderstorms possible in the afternoon and evening. High: 90, Low: 66

From the O-D: Watercolorist W. Ralph Murray was among six local artists who are winners of the People's Choice Awards at Munson-Williams-Proctor.

On the WKTV website: There are some new WiFi "Hotspots" in Downtown Utica!

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On Main Street, yesterday ........ He's Back!

And it didn't take long for people to find Gary Camp and his Hot Dog Wagon!

Look for him there during lunchtimes and also on Wednesdays at the Farmer's Market in the Park!

A tiny glimpse of the "Secret Garden" on South Babbott Avenue.

Out at Gorton Lake, yesterday - a strange contraption powered by paddle wheels and prowling around the bogs!

It had been delivered to the lake by a Town of Brookfield truck, and that was where I found Mr. Mike Kuhn who explained what was going on. The "watercraft" is a Weed Harvester. It's owned by the State, but a grant to Madison County makes it available to lakes that are members of the Federation of Madison Lakes Association that have State Boat Launches. He wanted it known that the two men who had driven the Brookfield truck were actually on vacation but had volunteered their time for this job.

The Weed Harvester comes to Gorton Lake every year and, yesterday, would remove about 100 tons of undesirable vegetation. That clears channels around the bogs for paddlers and - according to one gentleman - fishing has improved a great deal since this opeation started, four or five years ago.

The "weeds," in turn, are all dumped on land owned by a lakeside resident who composts it and then lets other landowners use it for the flower and vegetable gardens.

Cool!

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Even some Redsox fans are hoping that the Yankees start catching up, saying, "That's what makes playoff and series FUN!"

Make sure to scroll down

and read

"Friday - Part I"

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Friday - Part I

This is pretty special so I'm going to do the blog in two separate posts so that I don't overload photo upload capabilities!

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Thank You Doug Plourde!


He sent nine great pictures of the WCS Marching Band on parade in Washington, D.C.!

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The following note from the Band "correspondent" appears on the Music Boosters' website:

Hi

We are having a great time!!! I wish that we could share pictures of our parade on Wednesday, and our trip to the beach today but the Hotel’s internet connection is not working. This post is being completed from a lobby computer.

The Parade was AWSOME!!!!! More people than we have ever seen at one parade and we have since heard many great comments from people that saw the whole thing. The parade was followed by a brief visit to a medical cooling station where several of our students spent a little time cooling down. They collapsed just as they left the parade route. We returned to the hotel so that they could shower and get cleaned up. The SIX lanes of Constitution Avenue, which served as the parade route, were very hot.

The remainder of our day included a pizza lunch in the hotel lobby, a shortened tour of the site around Washington D.C. (Downtown was closed for the fireworks), Dinner at the ESPN Zone, and the national fireworks over the Washington Monument.

The FIREWORKS were SPECTACTULAR!!!!!

Thursday we traveled to Cape Henlopen State Park on the coast of the Delaware. The grouped spent 6 hours playing and picnicking under a private pavilion and section of the beach. At 6:00 the band found that their director, along with a couple of chaperones, were pretty darn good at flipping hamburgers and hotdogs. With approximately 100 burgers, 64 hotdogs, tossed salads, chips, watermelons and pickles the group sat down together for dinner. Desert was provided by a sheet cake that was inscribed with “W.C.S. ROCKS D.C.”. Friday is our last day we are modifying thing a little to include a stop at a few monuments downtown. Our arrival home time will likely change to 10:30 pm. We will have the kids call when we are about one hour away.

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For the usual blog stuff, see "Friday - continued!"

Thursday Add-on

8:33 A.M.

I just received a 'phone call from Dale Meszler, who is travelling with the Marching Band and has been acting as spokesman and correspondent to the blog and the highschool website. He wanted me to apologize to you and to tell all of you that there are "computer issues" at the hotel, and he has not been able to update the Music Boosters' website. (In fact, it's quite messed up and there's nothing he can do about it!) But the good news is:

The Parade was AWESOME!!

and, although the kids did not get to see the concert,

The Fireworks were INCREDIBLE!!!

Bandmembers did get "some culture," yesterday, and will get some more tomorrow. The time at the National Zoo is being shortened to allow for visits to the WW II Memorial, the Korean Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

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And in my computer "mailbox," a note from Nancy Ayala. For months, now, she has been playing the bells in the Masonic Temple tower every Sunday and on special occassions - including yesterday!

She wants to remind readers (and listeners) that there are times when the "tune" of a song has to be changed to fit the nine available bell-notes. And there are other times when the bell-ringer's memory of a melody may be different than another's recollection.

I hope that everyone recognizes the fact that this set of bells - called a "chime" - is unique! And it's old! And some of the bells don't produce the clear sounds that they once did. But, by golly:

Cheers to Nancy and the Masons!

With the permission and courtesy of Sanger Lodge, Nancy climbs those stairs at least once a week just to share this musical treasure with all of us!
When you see her, say

Thank You!

Thursday

(I'm chuckling over this:)

Today in Waterville: it's a "Recyclables" Day.
"Garbage" is tomorrow!

And it's a Bbrrrrrisk! morning - 51 degrees under blue sky at 6:00 a.m.

The BLOG is getting a late start because the writer has been immersed in the Music Boosters web page.

(That's what I wrote a year ago today! And this morning - July 5, 2007 - it IS 51 degrees, but cloudy, and I HAVE been immersed in the Music Boosters web page hoping for more photos taken during the Parade or an update on last evening's activities. )

There aren't any new postings - perhaps the site is getting overloaded? - but I hope that "our" kids did, indeed, get to see the concert and fireworks at the Mall. As anyone who's following their travels knows, by now, the threat of storms caused the evacuation of the Mall in the late afternoon, but the crowds were allowed back in a few hours later. The Waterville Marching Band wasn't scheduled to arrive there until 9:00 P.M., so let's hope that they got to have a really fun evening, after all! Today they're off to the beach! It'll be cloudy - but maybe that's not a bad thing.

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Last year in Waterville.

Today, roadwork continues on Route 315. There's a stretch between Steve Cleary's driveway and the Petersons' that has not gotten it's surface layer of "blacktop," yet and - right now - traffic is slowed at the Buell Avenue end of the road with crews filling and smoothing the "shoulders" in the Northbound lane.

Today's forecast from WKTV:

• Thursday: A mix of sun and clouds with afternoon showers and thunderstorms possible. High in the upper 70s to near 80.
• Thursday night: Partly cloudy with scattered showers or thunderstorms possible. Low in the low 60s.
• Friday: A mix of clouds and sun with a few showers or thunderstorms possible. High: 78, Low: 55

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"Rusty" sent this great photograph of Two Babes from Brookfield!

Cornflower is blooming on West Hill.

A sign in the Park.

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ALSO:

Today at 1:30 P.M. at the Waterville Public Library

a showing of Peter Brian Falk's

"The Loomis Gang"

Free, and Open to the Public.

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On Saturday

Loomis Gang Country Tours

start at 9:00 A.M.
at the Waterville Historical Society.

$5.

Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social 1:00 - 3:00
Hop Exhibit, barn open and Old Time Kids Games

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Elsewhere: The Utica Observer-Dispatch has lots of coverage of events leading up to the 30th running of the "Boilermaker!"

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Direct from Washington!

They're ready to go!
Posing for their Official Portrait
on the steps of the
National Gallery of Art.

Earlier today........

Wednesday

It's 55 degrees - nice out!

Wednesday: Morning sun and clouds with scattered thunderstorms developing after Noon. Any storm could become strong and produce strong, gusty winds and hail, along with heavy rain. Not everyone wil see storms in the daylight hours. Highs in the mid 70s.
Wednesday night: Thunderstorms likely, especially after sunset. Some of the storms could be strong before midnight, with high winds, hail and heavy rain. Most locations should see at least some storms. Low in the low 60s.
Thursday: Showers and thunderstorms scattered about in the afternoon. High: 78, Low: 59


If you're really interested in weather forecasting, etc., click the link to the WKTV Weather Blog, in the left-hand column.

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"Where in the World is the Marching Band, Now?"

Click this link:

The Marching Band Tour

and you'll find the complete itinerary and, below that, lots of photos and a great description of their activities.

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Their first stop was at the National Air & Space Museum.

Dinner at the "Red Robin" restaurant. There were seats for all 97 travelers and a banner that read "Welcome Waterville Central School Marching Band."

Save that link as a "Favorite" or "bookmark" and check back for more!

Today's their Big Day!

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Back here in Upstate New York, flags are flying

and the "Turk's Cap" lilies are blooming!


Yes - they're "protected" - in more ways than one: by law and, also, by the fact that they always seem to be in the soggiest, swampiest spots. That's probably why there are more in the woods than in our gardens!

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This E-mail was making the rounds, yesterday. If no one sent it to you - it won't take long to read - I think it will add a greater sense of importance to today.

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This is an interesting lesson in History.

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the
Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured
before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two
sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the
Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their
sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.
Eleven were merchants.
Nine were farmers and large plantation owners.
Men of means, well educated, but they signed the
Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty
would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader,
saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy.
He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was
forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the
Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding.
His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer,
Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British
General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters.
He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was
destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed
his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13
children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to
waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home
to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

Many of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.

The Fourth of July is more than beer, picnics, and baseball games. It's
about showing gratitude and respect to those who gave much more than
most of us to keep our nation free. So on this 4th of July holiday, take a few
minutes and silently thank these patriots and others who have given so much
for our freedom. That's not much to ask for the price they paid.

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Another man who gave his all for what he believed in was Asahel Grant, who was born 200 years ago on the North side of Hanover Hill. Author Gordon Taylor, of Seattle Washington, has just sent me a website with a review of "Fever & Thirst," the story of Grant's short life. That, too, is worth reading.

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Whatever YOU do, today, Have a Good One!

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