Saturday

63 muggy degrees. No sign of a shower, and that's o.k.:
we'll have our turn tomorrow.

• Saturday: Hazy sunshine, hot and humid with scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 86
• Saturday night: Partly cloudy and humid with isolated showers and thunderstorms. Low 64
• Sunday: Increasing clouds with widespread rain and thunderstorms developing from south to north. High 82 Low 63

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The lilacs are fading, taking their aroma with them, but the sweet scent of honeysuckle almost makes up for it.


Fields that used to be golden with dandelions now look as if they have snow on them!

Blooming early!

The Gas Plant - Edward S. Barton's favorite!

The white, pink and purplish-brown flowers are borne on spikes 2 feet to 3 feet high. Both the foliage and flowers are fragrant and when the parts are crushed in the hand, they have the fragrance of a lemon. The Gas Plant begins blooming shortly after Memorial Day, and the seeds ripen about the middle of August. The whole plant gives off a strong, volatile oil which will give a flash of light if a lighted match is held under the blossoms or clusters of seed capsules on a sultry Summer evening.

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What a Game!

(When your two favorite teams play against each other, you really can't lose anything but sleep!)

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Friday Add-on!

A Telephone Pole? A Flag Pole?

No - unfortunately it's all that remained (as of 10:00 this morning) of a giant Norway Spruce in the side yard of the Meszler residence on Sanger Avenue. The tree had appeared to be dying, late last Summer, and no amount of waiting - or watering - this Springtime was going to bring it back and so it Charlie Cresswell & Co. have seen to its removal. Also cut down, today, so that they could not damage or hurt anyone, were two smaller trees on the Southeast corner of the same property. It will look strange, without them, but I imagine that the Lews are delighted: they will no doubt be able to see nearly all the way to Sangerfield!

Meanwhile - on Putnam Street ..............

It's Alive!!!

A CORRECTION and an APOLOGY
to
Mr. and Mrs. Person

The Charles Brainard Memorial Oak, planted by the children of Putnam Street some twenty years ago, was NOT the one that was cut down, last week!

The Oak is still standing, as always, tall and erect. A couple of years ago it was trimmed (0r gouged) by the power company, and then last year, trimmed again, due to some deterioration and in need of shaping. But, the tree is still there, as always.

Mrs. Person explained, "What was removed was a Sunburst Locust that Leo (my deceased husband ) and I planted 15 yrs. ago. Although we had trimmed it yearly, it just outgrew it's shape, and grew up in the electric wires. We had no choice. It was replaced with a Canadian Cherry which grows only 30 feet tall and turns red in the summer. It should be an asset to Putnam Street."

I'm sure it shall!

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SPECIAL EVENT!

The Waterville American Legion Ladies Auxiliary

will be having their Annual

BIG
Yard Sale

Saturday & Sunday

June 2nd & 3rd
from 9am to 4pm at the Legion.

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Have a great weekend, everyone!

Friday

It's 60 degrees and Garbage Day!

If it rained at all last night, it couldn't have been more than a sprinkle.

• Today: Hazy, hot and humid with scattered showers and thunderstorms possible. Highs in the mid to upper 80s.
• Tonight: Partly cloudy and muggy with a chance of thunderstorms, especially early. Low around 60.
• Saturday: Hazy, warm and humid with scattered thunderstorms possible. High: 84, Low: 62
• Sunday: Clouds, some sun with heavy rain and thunderstorms possible in the afternoon. High: 82, Low: 61

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WCS Marching Band and Music Booster members are watching the forecast hoping for rain this evening and even tomorrow morning, but NOT, under any circumstances, should it rain in the afternoon!

The Parade at the Annual Sherburne Pageant of Bands will begin promptly at 1:00!

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WCS students Abram Koester and Tatyana Selyuzhitskaya are among the thirty "2007 Teen All-Stars" listed in today's Observer-Dispatch. Congratulations!!

The O-D reports on last night's meeting in New Hartford re: the proposed Power Line.

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It looks just like a pink pond! There's a large patch of "Gilleyflower" - Ragged-robin - blooming next to Loomis Road just West of Route 12.

Farmers are busy: giant hay rolls get wrapped in plastic covering down on Pleasant Valley Road .........

...... while on the East side of Hanover Road a sprayer follows rows of corn and .....

... on the West side, hay is gathered.

In the village, a 1930 Ford takes a brief rest at the corner of Stafford and Putnam;

and a crowd retreated to "Roc's" for an evening treat.

Planning Ahead?

sponsored by the

Brothertown Music Boosters

4:00 - 7:00 P.M.

at the

WCS Cafeteria.

****

Relax! Listen to Music

by all of the musical groups.

And don't forget to get your $5 Raffle Tickets
for the
HUGE 50" HD TV
that'll be raffled off at the Social!

If fewer than 600 tickets are sold,
the Raffle becomes a 50/50 raffle!

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Now: about Goat Food. Mike Stephan, who used to live in Clinton, wrote: "Our goats and sheep always loved apples (and just about anything else we gave them) so I suspect it is just a matter of giving them some time to settle in. The sweet feed looks like the place to start."

Others have suggested that goats will eat anything that's hung on a clothesline!

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New York travels to Boston for this evening's game at the Fenway.
(I'll be up late!)

Thursday

Recyclables Day!

It's 54 degrees and feels like rain.

(We do need it, badly!)

• Thursday: Hazy sunshine, warm and humid with scattered thunderstorms. High 85
• Thursday Night: Partly to mostly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Low 62
• Friday: Partly sunny, warm and humid with scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 83 Low 61
• Saturday: Mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms. High 84 Low 62
• Sunday: Partly sunny with scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 82 Low 61

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In re: yesterday's query about the new blue barn on Shanley Road, Mr. John - a.k.a. "Jack" - Brouillette sent the following information:

"The dairy barn mentioned on Shanley Road is being built for Jason Stoltzfus, a son of Jacob Stoltzfus on Brothertown Road. He is currently renting Joe Barnes' facility on White Street. He hopes to be in his new barn in the next couple of months.
The Mennonites have been a nice addition to the agricultural community in this area. Many of the families have in excess of 10 children, so we will likely see more of the next generation in farming."

---- and then, last evening, I had a telephone call from Mr. Mike Tower who added that the barns were constructed by a Mennonite crew who had travelled some great distance, daily, to accomplish the task and that just yesterday a huge Harvestore Silo had been set in place - moved, actually, from one location to another!

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Jan Kelley sent me this fine photograph of "Jack in the Pulpits" growing in her yard on Tower Street.

A welcome bit of shade on a hot afternoon.

At the Waterville Historical Society, President Joe Falk was folding fliers advertising the
July 7th
Loomis Gang Country Tours
Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social
Hop Exhibit, barn open and Old Time Kids Games

and Doris Stephan sorted and labelled items from the dozen or more boxes of archived materials marked, simply, "Waterville." The Society is open each Wednesday from 10:00 'til 4:00.

*****

The Welcoming Committee at Sanger Hill!

When Kathryn McLean, her husband Mark and their children Sean and Katie moved to "Sanger Hill," they faced what must have been a seemingly endless - even insurmountable - task: to refurbish the century-old stone Sanger home, which had been vacant for years - and make it their own. But they've done it!

These goats arrived at Sanger Hill in time for Mother's Day, but that was just coincidental, I believe! Someone working around the grounds knew of three goats who were looking for a home, and who could say "no" to these three "orphans?" And now Mrs. McLean has an unforseen problem, and she's written to ask blog-readers for their help!

She writes:

"I have attached a picture of the goats - named Delores (the big one), Fran (the black one) and Betty (White one :). I'm wondering if anyone knows of any "goat-nip"? So far, they've turned up their noses at bananas, strawberries, carrots, celery and apples. I guess I should just try paper? Anyway, they are slowly becoming more tame. They hadn't been handled at all at their last home so they started out pretty skittish. Betty White, especially. I did get some "sweet feed" and they'll now eat out of my hand if I don't make any fast moves."

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Wednesday

It's one of those weeks when everything shifts a day: Recyclables will be collected TOMORROW and Garbage on FRIDAY.


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It's 44 degrees. WKTV's forecast:

• Wednesday: Mostly sunny and warmer. High in the low to mid 80s.
• Wednesday night: Clear to partly cloudy and mild. Low around 60.
• Thursday: Sun and clouds, warm and humid, with an afternoon thunderstorm possible, especially on either side of the Mohawk Valley. High: 85, Low: 59

The saga of "Kitty's" at the "Utica Historic Marina" continues. This has nothing at all to do, of course, with Waterville, per se, except for the fact that many villagers have enjoyed dining there in the past and - according to the O-D - can again, today.


The "Power Line" is in the news, with meetings scheduled in Utica and Norwich.

Sherri Wright, whose home in N. Brookfield is very close to the railway tracks, has been keeping track of what's going on. She mentioned to me, a few days ago, that one ploy to SLOW DOWN "NYRI" is by citing negative impact on historic sites within one-half mile of the proposed power line. Wouldn't Waterville's "Historic Triangle District" fit that description?

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A few days ago, Doris Stephan asked me if I'd seen this new building on Shanley Road. I hadn't - nor do I know what it will be used for. Livestock, probably? Perhaps a blog-reader knows!


After driving East on Shanley Road, I turned North onto Post Street. The view of farmland "patchwork" on West Hill was pretty enough to make me stop to take a picture.

They're haying in Hanover ........

..... and next to Osborn Avenue, Southeast of Waterville.

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Farther out in the country, protected by the soggy remoteness of their habitats in Nine Mile Swamp, the "Pinkster," Wild Geranium - "Crane's Bill" - and Yellow Lady's Slippers are in bloom!

The late Frank "Red" Kylar and his wife, Mary, took Dick and Allison and me to see the Lady Slippers one Memorial Day about thirty-five years ago and we used to make regular visits, every year. The Swamp, however, can be very tricky: Al Rand, a fine naturalist who also ran a print shop in the bowling alley, went into the swamp one cloudy day, got turned around, became hopelessly lost and spent the night in the company of all imaginable swamp dwellers! He worked his way out in the morning after hearing a train go down the tracks and he never went back there again without a compass!

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A while back I blogged an old photograph of several men in costume in an attempt to identify them. Donna Tool, who had sent the picture, has since determined that it was most likely taken somewhere near Rochester - not in Waterville. However, she writes:

"I do appreciate your effort and am still looking for any information on William O'Toole's home on Hanover Street, Marshall, and/or his occupation. I would so much appreciate a photo of the home. What I can see from the 1900 Federal Census, his house was #49 in order of valuation and he lived with his wife, Margaret, and sons Edward and Richard, between the Campbells and the Lowery home. His son, Richard's recollection was that William O'Toole was a blacksmith, but his health declined in the last few years of his life and the 1900 census indicates he was a saloon keeper. (My husband's recollections include a story that there were FIVE William O'Tooles in the Waterville area during the time of our William O'Toole, our William being nicknamed "Big Bill.")"

Does any of that "ring a bell" with anyone?

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Tuesday Morning

It's Garbage Day!

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43 degrees and Sunny!



"Solomon's Seal" is blooming in gardens ......

...... and fields are filled with Buttercups.

(Sorry: I couldn't resist!)

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The same sort of thing had happened on Sunday, too, and now the Standings are:

I'll be out and around the village, today, hoping for "feedback" on Memorial Day Activities.

Memorial Day

It finally rained, last evening. Just a nice gentle rain that watered newly-planted flowerbeds and window boxes and planters.


The yard here in "Whiskey Hollow" smelled just like a perfume factory when I went outdoors at around 7:00 A.M.


The wild honeysuckle, and both purple and white lilacs are as perfect as can be, the lilacs bowed nearly to the ground simply by the weight of the flowers.



I wish that I had the technology to "blog" the aroma! Perhaps someday that will be possible!

Although it was dark and lowery, early this morning, the sun came out around 7:30 and from then on the day shone!

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Crowds gathered early along Main Street and, up in Monument Park, the bronze Civil War Soldier waited atop a granite monument that bears this inscription:

Toward "the point" of Monument Park stands a smaller monument placed there by the Clifford J. Fulmer Post of the American Legion as a Tribute to those who served in the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and in Vietnam.

With Jack Gorton just about leading the way, the Parade began on Putnam Street, and on time. There were Color Guards from the Legion, the Fire Department and convertibles with dignitaries; Scouts marched, as did the Memorial Park School Band and a large contingent of Legion Riders rode.

And then, in the distance, just behind the Waterville Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps ambulance, The Waterville Central School Marching Band and Color Guard: nearly one-hundred members strong!

This was the first time that "the public" had seen the Band's new uniforms.

"Stars & Stripes Forever"

They are indeed magnificent and the musicians' performance was striking, as well. They were perfectly "in step!" and in tune and the crowd gave them their very audible approval.

Mr. Tom McNamara helped members of the Brownie Troop place flags in the four planters at the corners of the Civil War Monument.

There was such a crowd on Monument Park that I was not able to get good photographs of any of the speakers. I could hear them, 'tho, and each did a fine job. I particularly enjoyed Mr. St. Peter's history of "Decoration Day" and Memorial Day and - especially - his reading of Sam Miller's 1942 poem, "Whenever I see a soldier boy," which goes:

Whenever I see a soldier boy,
No matter where it be
I give him salutation
for he means so much to me

He's not the boy we used to know
In store, at desk or plow
He's a defender of our faith
He's in the service now

He keeps Old Glory flying
on land and air and sea
He lives to make our homes secure
He dies to keep us free.

"Taps" - always a tradition at Memorial Day Exercises - was played by Mssrs. Koester and Mowrey, both members of the Marching Band.

"Picture of the Day"

Right after the Exercises had ended, the band and colorguard marched through the Park on their way to the schoolbuses that waited on Park Place to take them to the Parade and Ceremonies in Deansboro.

And that's when the sun lit the flags and gleamed on shining instruments and - to me - the kids looked like a million bucks, and I couldn't have been more proud of them.

Thank you, all!

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