Saturday morning

A note to Bill Beldan in Shirley, Massachusetts, and other new blog-readers: you can almost-always enlarge photographs by clicking on them, and if words in the accompanying text are in a dark bluish-gray, click on them, too - they'll link you to more information.

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Look at what I just found!

Click here!

Great job, Kristi!

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It's 32 degrees on the nose and, according to the O-D, we can expect "more blue skies, sunshine and temeratures in the low 70s for the next few days!"
with a caution that, once again, there's fear of flooding in Herkimer County.

Yesterday was Magnificent!

It was hard to believe that just last Monday there was a 13" frosting of snow on the picnic tables at "Roc's!"


If you're walking on Babbott Avenue, peer through the fence on the East side, overlooking the creek, and you'll spot a bright patch of Blue Scillas (Scilla siberica)! Watch for more on lawns throughout the village, especially at the Burbacks' on Sanger Avenue where it will soon look as if buckets of blue paint had splashed all over their side lawn.


The first Hepaticas have bloomed in the Fuess-Cleary Road woods.


In many areas, this little plant is called "Liverwort."

Purple and black bunting hangs on the Waterville Fire Department in honor of Alan Jamieson, whose funeral will take place at 10 o'clock this morning at Grace Episcopal Church.

I'd like to offer my condolences to his family and also to that of Doris A. Cross who passed away on the 15th.

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I've received a note from Audrey Welch, in Florida, who writes:

My husband Robert Welch, went to school in Waterville with Shirley Hart. That will give you a guess as to our age. We still have family and friends in the area. I've said all of this, so that you would remember us. and so I could tell you about the newest addition to our family. Our Granddaughter Elizabeth Camp Lutke just gave us our 7th great grandchild on Monday 4/16.(not all her children). Grace Elizabeth joins big brother Caleb on his second birthday. The proud father is Jake Lutke, an esteemed teacher in your area.
We have another in the basket due out in early June to Elizabeth's sister, Laura Camp Snyder.
We do enjoy your news. I wish we could send you some of our nice weather.

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It was a fine night in Boston, for sure!

It's "Riggie" Day at the "Aud" in Utica.

and there's a Spaghetti Supper at the Vernon Center United Methodist Church from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Friday morning

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declared Friday a day of mourning and called for a moment of silence at noon to honor the 32 victims in Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech. Churches around the country, from California to National Cathedral in Washington D.C., have scheduled vigils and special prayer services. Similar events will certainly take place here, in Waterville, and Nancy Ayala will toll the Great Bell in the Masonic Temple Tower at just a minute after noon.

(Sorry that I'm late posting, this morning, but I had heaps of E-mail and a couple of very nice phone calls that I didn't want to cut short!)

It's 28 degrees and there's frost on the lawn but, at least there's a LAWN, and the sun is shining!!

WKTV's forecast is bright and shiney:

Friday: Sunny and very pleasant. High 67
Friday Night: Clear and cool. Low 35
Saturday: Mostly sunny and warm. High 70 Low 39
Sunday: Mostly sunny and warm. High 70 Low 45
Monday: Partly sunny and warm with afternoon showers and thunderstorms. High 71 Low 45
Tuesday: Partly sunny. High 59 Low 44
Wednesday: Partly sunny with showers. High 53 Low 35
Thursday: Partly sunny. High 50

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Morgan's Hardware has their whole Spring/Summer display out: yard decorations, a bench, barbeque, bags of peat moss, etc. What a nice sight!

The temperature reached the mid-sixties, yesterday, and as the last of the snowmen grew shorter and shorter, so did sleeve and pants-legs!

"Lake Hanover" is still quite high, but I swung by the Barker Brook Golf Course in Oriskany Falls and didn't see any water hazards that even came close to this.

I don't know where the event will take place, but Mrs. Newsom told me, yesterday, that the Lions Club is 100% SURE that their Annual Golf Tournament WILL take place as usual - on the third weekend in July!

This is a really poor "screensnap" of Albert Bierstadt's huge and magnificent painting, "Discovery of the Hudson," which he painted in a little studio here in Waterville in the Fall of 1874. He was married to Rosalie Osborn, grandaughter of early settler Amos Osborn.

My reason for mentioning this at all is that the WCS Student Council left either late last night or very early this morning for a trip to Washington D.C. where they will, no doubt, tour the Capitol Building. That's where "Discovery of the Hudson" hangs - right in the huge rotunda! - along with a second Bierstadt painting which may also have been painted while he was in town.


Deb Mayne just sent me this: "If the face on the Faxton-St. Lukes Healthcare billboards and TV ads look familiar, it should! It is none other than Dan Acker, his wife Debra and daughter Ava. The billboards can be seen by the Scheidelmans warehouse (southbound lane) on the North-South arterial, and on Rt 12B between Clinton and New Hartford by the Milk Stop mini-mart. The ad can also be seen on the Faxton-St.Lukes home page."

And, after seeing yesterday's photo of the stone steps leading from the Tower/Harding residence down the hillside toward Big Creek, Sandy Harding wrote: "Now if I can get a shot of the stone work that is behind the houses up the street from you the stone work must be left overs from the mill pond.

Some of the stones have shifted & my Dad has cleared some of the brush so the Granddaughter & I could climb up and down."

The stonework that she refers to is part of the dam - probably built around 1806. I did a drawing of the grand stonework about twenty years ago, and it's in the Barton Room at Municipal Hall. Perhaps, when the water warms up a little, I can send someone up the creek with a camera to take a picture of the stonework, now.

The steps might also be referred to in a paper written some time ago by Hobie Morris called, "Charlemagne Tower at Harvard" in which he cites a letter written by Charlemagne to a younger sister warning her to "be careful when you go down to the garden."

Thursday morning

It's Garbage Day!

It's 35 degrees,
and WKTV has posted "The Best Forecast in a Long Time!"

Today: Morning showers giving way to partly sunny skies by afternoon. High 56

Tonight: Mostly clear. Low 32

Friday: Sunny. High 62 Low 40

Saturday: Mostly sunny & pleasant. High 58 Low 42

Sunday: Mostly sunny. High 63 Low 45

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I only took one picture, yesterday, because with this one exception, I'm really sick of forcing everyone to look at SNOW!

Here, however, the snow is just right, and brings out the shape of an old, old series of stone steps - fifty, I think we counted, many years ago - that lead from the Charlemagne Tower residence down to a flat spot next to what was then a millpond. This view is from Buell Avenue just above the former Nolan residence.


Flying low - just a few feet above corn stubble in countryside fields - there are lots of beautifully-marked Killdeer to be seen, but not photographed! I had to resort to using a drawing from Google's image collection!

The name "Killdeer" comes not from a danger they pose to animals, but from their cry, "kill-dee! kill-dee!"

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The opening of the Utica-Rome Speedaway has been delayed a week due to the recent (wet) weather.

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The Red Sox hit three solo home runs -- one each by Mike Lowell, Doug Mirabelli and David Ortiz -- on Wednesday night in a 4-1 win over the Blue Jays.

For the second straight night, the Bombers bats helped a pitcher pick up his first big-league win. On Wednesday, it was Kei Igawa, who pitched six strong innings in a 9-2 win over the Indians. The Yankees had 14 hits -- including Alex Rodriguez's ninth home run.

I don't like to have advertisers use the "comments" capability that has been on this blog so I've disabled it - at least for the time-being. Please use the "E-mail the Writer," as you have been!

Wednesday morning

It's Recyclables Day!

31.8 degrees

Today: Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of a morning shower. High 45
Tonight: Mostly cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers late. Low 35
Thursday: A morning sprinkle, followed by some afternoon sun. High 48 Low 36

I don't believe that I've ever seen this much water in the swampy pond area behind the Moon residence on Madison Street.

I realize that unless you know what you're looking at that this doesn't make sense, but the photograph shows a "slide" that occurred, yesterday, next to "the caves" in Forge Hollow.

A Puzzle!

This photograph is owned by one of the descendants of William O'Toole who died in Waterville in 1905, and she is trying to identify the occassion upon which the picture was taken and also the people in it.



She has provided Mr. O'Toole's obituary: "Waterville, Sept. 3: - At about 1:30 o'clock this afternoon, at his home on Hanover Street in this village, occurred the death of William O'Toole at the age of 43 years and after only about ten days' illness. Several years ago he had four separate attacks of appendicitis, and since that time his health had been poorly, and he was the victim of a heart ailment, which was the ultimate cause of his death. He was born in Ireland and came to this country and village 21 years ago, where he since resided. He married Margaret O'Connor ten years ago, who survives, together with three sons, Richard, Edward and Leo. He also leaves four brothers and four sisters in Ireland. He was a member of St. Bernard's Church and of Division No. 4-A.O.H. "


"He was very generally known here, where he was highly esteemed, and he leaves many friends to mourn his death. The sympathy of the community is extended to the wife and children in their bereavement. The funeral will be held from St. Bernard's Church on Tuesday morning."

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Questions: Where was "Ticanium Hall"?

and where was the O'Toole home on "Hanover Street"?

This has brought up the subject of yet another fraternal organization - the I.O.R.M. - and the possibility that there was once a chapter here in Waterville. (I had never heard of the organization, but was amazed by it's history!)

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Now that the teams are playing some serious baseball, and that there are two confessed Redsox fans in Waterville ......

Do You Remember When ....

Main Street looked like this?

I spent a little while, early this morning, revamping some pictures that I took before the first orange barrels and bulldozers arrived in Waterville two years ago. As soon as the snow melts, I'll take matching "after" pictures, and I think you'll all be amazed!

Tuesday morning

It's 33.6 degrees; no new accumulation ......

and today's doppler is much nicer than yesterday's!

WKTV Meteorologist Matt Lanza is quoted in today's Observer-Dispatch: "The nor'easter hovering over the Mohawk Valley will clear out by Thursday, leaving sunshine and warm temperatures for the weekend. But for two more days, residents will have to put up with damp weather, including rain and snow showers, he said. Temperatures will stay pretty much locked in the 30s. Utica was spared from big snow totals Monday, receiving only 6 inches. But Boonville topped out the region with close to 20 inches. Things will start to warm up Friday, with temperatures in the 50s. And it just gets better from there: by Sunday, temperatures will be approaching 60 degrees. (Yeah!)

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Those of you who are scratching your heads and wondering why Watervillians did so much whimpering about 12" - 16" of snow, when a real "lake effect" storm of two or three feet in January doesn't bother them, probably weren't here to do any shovelling or snow-blowing: "The stuff's like wet cement! Really heavy; really wet!"

And then it rained for a couple of hours, so what's left out there is really bad!

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There's a list of area schools, in this morning's O-D, and the n umber of "Snow Days" each was allotted and how many have actually been used. Unfortunately, Waterville's not on that list.

LOOKING AHEAD

From the Community Calendar: There will be a meeting of the Waterville Forest, Fish
& Game Club at 8 p.m. at the clubhouse on Kemp Road. Call 841-4070 for information.

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At 8:00 P.M. on Saturday, the Utica Symphony will present an All Russian Concert at the Clinton Central School.

I'll be out and around today - thanks to Tom Stiles! - and will make sure that I have my camera right at hand!

More pix

Gary Tuttle just sent these pictures to me with this note: "I had to clean this out to make my morning coffee break at Ken's. I measured 13" on a level spot in the driveway. Do you think maybe we came back from FL a couple of weeks to early?"





Missy Brouillette just got back from Florida, too. I wonder what she's thinking?!?!

They were Right!

The Weather Forecasters, that is!

And We Have SNOW!

Between 8" and 9" just outside my front door.

Lines are sagging and the shrubbery - including all my ancient lilac bushes - is bowed.

Mrs. Davis just sent this!
(She has a steadier hand! or used a flash!)

You can check WKTV for School Closings:

as of 6:22 Waterville was listed as OPEN, but that could change.

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I'm going to post this, but will add bits and pieces as I read the morning news, so check back!

6:29 - According to the O-D Online, it's not over, yet!

"Today: Periods of snow before 8 a.m., then periods of rain and snow between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., then periods of snow after 2 p.m. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 34. North wind around 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

Tonight: Periods of snow showers, mainly before midnight. Low around 31. North wind between 8 and 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. "

6:31 - WATERVILLE CENTRAL SCHOOL CLOSED!

AND, FROM WKTV:

I won't be getting right out onto the road, this morning, but if blog-readers around Waterville are taking pictures that they'd like to share, please do send them to me by clicking on "E-mail the writer" at the top of this post!

I'm sure that everyone in Florida and Arizona and Texas would love to see them!!

10:30 A.M. "jella" just sent this picture of snow on Tower Street.



They always say that there's more snow at "higher elevations" - especially at those over 1,000 feet. The elevation here, in Whiskey Hollow, is just 1,140 feet --- Tower Street must be twenty or thirty feet higher and it looks as if they have the snow to match!

Snowy Sunday

It's just 33 degrees and it is SNOWING!

From WKTV: "(Sunday) night, cold air intrudes into the region. Everyone will turn over to snow, and we will see the bulk of the accumulation take place during this period. Most places will pick up around 6"-10" in addition to what has already fallen by Monday morning. Expect windy conditions to continue. The heavy wet snow coupled with the windy conditions could cause power outages in some areas. On Monday, it looks like we'll see snow showers winding down, possibly turning back over to rain by the afternoon."

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In 1851, Abner Livermore sat down to write "Reminiscences of Sangerfield," in which he refers to two memorable snowstorms:
"The greatest snow storm ever known in this country before or since commenced on the last day of March. it was very cold and the storm continued a week. A great body of snow fell and drifted badly. Nearly one hundred inhabitants of the Huddle turned out with teams and shovels to break the road to the Center. About half way there they met the Center people working their way through the snow drifts to get to the Huddle. Thus it required the energies of these two villages all day to break one mile of road, the most public road in town, too.

Another cold snow storm came on the 16th day of April.

Here some one discrediting the story will say: "How do you know this and give the date so exact?" to which I answer in the scripture expression: "In those days we lived so many years and begat sons and daughters." Here I refer to my family record. James Clinton Livermore, my second son, was born on the 16th day of April, A.D. 1807."

Just 200 years ago!

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I wonder if it was storming when Ron Buell was born?

The elegant Goodwin Residence on East Main Street was pressure-washed, yesterday. Will it be repainted? or left to have the original brickwork show.

There are as many scooters as skateboards, this year. This yellow one strikes my fancy!

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Don't forget:

The Ladies Auxiliary of the Clifford J. Fulmer Post
of the American Legion will cook your breakfast for you, this morning!

Donations will benefit the

WW II Veterans' Trip
to see the WW II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

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More, later, as the storm progresses.