Special Request!

It's Thursday morning.

I received the following E-note, yesterday, from Gary Orendorff, the President of the Board of Directors for WAVAC - the Waterville Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

"We are in Dire need of EMT`S and DRIVERS to cover the day time hours (7:00am Till 5:00pm ).

Could you get the word out in your Blog and in your column in the Waterville Times ?

For more information on helping Wavac out they can call me any time on my cell (315) 750-0714.

***************

We all need WAVAC, and now WAVAC needs us. Let's not let them down!

*****

It's Garbage Day, and 42.8 degrees.

Looking Ahead

Thursday: Mostly cloudy and cool with rain showers. High 55
Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy and cool with rain showers. Low 37
Friday: Mostly cloudy and cool with rain showers. High 60 Low 43
Saturday: Cloudy with rain and thunderstorms. High 62 Low 43
Sunday: Partly sunny with a lingering shower. High 63 low 41

************

A Bright Way to Start Sunday

A Pancake Breakfast sponsored by the

Fireman's Auxiliary

from 7:30 to 11:00

at the

Waterville Fire House

The DPW has placed several of our Park Benches where they look particularly inviting and I noticed that the "barrels" are out, waiting for the Garden Club's attention.

The Garden Club's Annual Plant Sale

will take place

from 9:00 - 1:00

(or "Sold Out")

Saturday, June 9th

at the Methodist Church!

Setting up will begin Friday evening at 6p.m.
Any donations of plants will be greatly welcomed.

*******

Tulips are at their best - these are at Kathy Manion's on Madison Street .........

........ and Redbuds are blooming.

There's a big, old-fashioned magnolia next to the Sweeney residence on White Street,

... and, if you can manage to slow down and you look very hard, you'll see a few clumps of Wild Columbine blooming in the rocks just to the Forge Hollow side of "the Caves."

Is this a new "construction site?" The water level in the little pond on Madison Street is higher than normal, and it looks - at least from the roadside - as if there's a reason for it!

*******

I think that this sign was in Morgan's window on Tuesday morning.

Wednesday

I'm having a strange computer problem, this morning, so this post will be short!

*******

It's Recyclables Day!

57.2 degrees; moist.

• Wednesday: Cloudy with a period of heavy rain and thunderstorms during the morning hours. Showers and thunderstorms possible during the afternoon. High in the 60's.
• Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy with showers. Low 43
• Thursday: Mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms. High 55 Low 37
• Friday: Partly sunny with scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 62 Low 43

It's getting late, but possibly - and hopefully - a few days of wettish weather could give mycologists the mushroom treat they've been waiting for: morels!

*******

From the O-D:
WCS BUDGET VOTE

Proposed $14.9 million budget:
Passed 216 yes 130 no.

Proposition: Authorization to acquire up to three buses, not to exceed $275,000.
Passed 195 yes 119 no.

School board: Incumbent Michael Campion, incumbent John Ferriter, unopposed

*********

The Yankees - Tigers game was postponed due to rain.

********

Whew! What a relief!
The computer's clock had reset itself to sometime before 2001 - before Blogspot - and couldn't find the website, but now we're back to today and everything's working the way it's supposed to.

*****

I've just had an E-mail telling me to watch Mohawk Valley Living's trip to Deansboro on Utube! It's fun. and they'll be back in Waterville in a few weeks.

Goodbye, Rick

We'll miss you!

As the cortege approached, trucks from Clinton and Hamilton arched their ladders over Main Street.

The fire truck bearing Rick's casket passed under the arch ......

on its way to the St. Bernard Cemetery ..........

....... followed by scores of automobiles and engines from several nearby Fire Companies.

*********

A lady standing next to me said, quietly,

"Wouldn't Rick have been proud!"

Tuesday morning

Paying Tribute Monday evening

There is an article in today's Observer-Dispatch about Rick Gaiser and his dedication to the Waterville Fire Department and the tributes that The Department will pay him, today.

****************

Also: Peggy O'Dowd's complete obituary.


Peg had, along with her husband, Bill, and five children a great many friends and interests. I will always remember how magnificent she was on stage, starring in several of the Arts in Waterville melodramatic theatrical productions of the 1980's.

Here she is, with Tom Brann, in "Midnight at the Blue Swan."

**********

TODAY

The Annual Budget Vote for the fiscal year 2007 - 2008 will be held between the hours of 8:30 A.M. and 8:30 P.M. in the Jr./Sr. High School Cafeteria.

Please Take Time to Vote!

*and remember that as well as those Board Members whose names are already on the ballott, there is a write-in candidate: Bill Lachmann.

I've known Bill and his family for many years and have smiled to myself, many times, thinking "What a nice man he's turned into!" Not that anyone ever said he wouldn't, but - considering that he and his wife, Cyndee, and their three boys live "out in the country" - he's chosen to become involved in the community rather than keep a comfortable distance, as so many do.

A 1981 graduate of WCS, he can remember - very clearly! - learning experiences of his own school days: both good, and bad. And he's seeing his sons go through the same thing and he told me that his primary concern was that "the learning process is being overlooked because of quotas vs. accountability" and that "teachers, administration and parents all need to concentrate on putting EDUCATION before anything else." "The system is there to help kids learn to LEARN - but too often that's being bypassed."

He clearly feels that parents need to be more involved - not just in seeking more communication with their children's teachers but, if need be, becoming students' advocates by running for the School Board.

**************

And now back to our regular programming!

Just a month ago today, we were looking at this!

This morning it's 51 degrees and moist.

• Tuesday: Partly sunny, warm and humid, with afternoon showers and thunderstorms. High 80
• Tuesday Night: Cloudy with rain and thunderstorms. Low 60
• Wednesday: Cloudy with rain and thunderstorms. High 65 Low 43
• Thursday: Partly sunny with scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 59 Low 42

The Yankees will meet the White Sox this evening, in Chicago.

Monday

It's Garbage Day, Again!

32 degrees on the nose!

I hope that no Mother's Day plants were left outdoors, last night. "Global warming" not withstanding, it's just too cold to plant Impatiens and Begonias!

• Today: Morning sunshine, followed by increasing afternoon clouds. High 68 low 47
• Tuesday: Partly sunny with the chance of a thunderstorm late in the day. High 76 low 48
• Wednesday: Showers and storms. High: 62 low 39

******

The weather was perfect, yesterday.

I had an especially good Mother's Day - a nice long lunch with my daughter Allison and her husband Rick and my GRAND grandson, Iain, and his grandparents from Berne, New York, Helen and Victor Methe. We ALWAYS have a good time when we're together!

*******
Mothers in Massachusetts had a good day, too!

*******

When I got back to Waterville, I found a Baltimore Oriole waiting for me in the big old willow tree!

Photo by Wendell Long

A little way farther down Buell Avenue, Tom and Katie McNamara are entertaining (or being entertained by!) two pair of Rose Breasted Grosbeaks!

There are two must-read articles in today's Observer-Dispatch:

Waterville Wins Top Award in "It's a Zoo!" and All the winners.
(Please note that Gillian "Murphy" is really Gillian MOWREY!)

Congratulations, everyone!

************

But then, this:

now we've lost "our" Peggy O'Dowd.

I am so sorry.

Sunday Morning

Happy
Mother's Day!

It's only 35 degrees, out, but it will warm up nicely.

Dandelions probably almost never appear in Mother's Day Bouquets, but I always picked them for my mother when I was little and she loved them - or so she said!

These views of dandelion-gold hillsides are for those of you who miss this country sight.




There's a lovely fruit tree blooming in front of Mr. D. Brown's home on Sanger Avenue and across the street, in the Park, the Flowering Crabapple trees will soon be covered with blossoms.

I wonder whether the Watering Trough will bubble or bloom, this year?

It's always been a Mother's Day treat, for me: finding the patch of Painted Trillium in the woods on York Road. I went looking, yesterday, and there they were - right on schedule!

While I was in that part of the region, I went to see what the Nine Mile Swamp launch site at the "Orange Bridge" looked like. I know that "WOW" (Women on the Water) plan on paddling there on Thursday, however .....

The bridge is being replaced, so the road really is closed. The access to the water is clear and there were two vehicles parked nearby, but I suspect that during the week construction workers' vehicles might use up any available parking space and hopeful paddlers would have quite a long carry.

Perhaps later in the year.

*******

Rick Gaiser's obituary is in this morning's Observer-Dispatch.
I hope that you'll read it.

********

Saturday

It's 42 degrees and clear. It was light at 5:30, and the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was letting everyone know that it was time to get up! Others may rely on roosters, but we in Whiskey Hollow have an excellent substitute.

The forecasts for both today and Mother's Day are fine!

*******

Yesterday was one of those perfect Spring days ...... up to a point:

I needed to stay at home and wait for a business-type telephone call, but it was pleasant. I decided that it was time to "switch seasons," packing up PolarFleece pullovers and getting out summer gear. My daughter Allison called to make Mother's Day plans; Leon Howe came with lawnmower and trimmer and made the yard look (and smell) especially nice. Daffodils, tulips, pulmonaria and Forget-me-nots bloom, here and there, and a great variety of birds flit between trees and shrubs. Nice.

*******

The phone call finally came and then I went up town:

a crew from North Country Landscapers was tending a low hedge atop the retaining wall in front of Ms. Hill's home on Sanger Avenue .......

...... and a bed of tulips gleamed on White Street where, on February 18th, the scene had been quite different.

My cousin Dr. Elizabeth Stacy, who teaches at the University of Hawaii in Hilo, sent me a bright coral-colored vanda orchid.

An E-mail from Don Brown at the high school read:

"I know the owner of the "Yankee" Thunderbird. His name is Don Brown and he lives on White Street. Don Brown is a huge Yankee fan and he also has a striking resemblance to Mickey Mantle. Don did the car as a tribute to Mickey and uses the car, his likeness, and his stories to help promote the Mickey Mantle Organ Donor Foundation. I am sure that the owner was not offended about the mistake. I will personally let him know that his car was in the blog....he's my dad. "

Thanks, Don!

******

I had a few more E-mails and phone calls from people saying that they would be coming to Dick's "Damned Fine Party" on June 10th, but then came the call that that erased all of the pleasant Springtime images of the day:

Jean Davis' voice was shaking. "I have terrible news. Rick Gaiser died of a heart attack, this afternoon."

*********

This was not possible .... but, of course, it was.

All I could think of was Rick, a young lad, pulling a wagon to the office of The Waterville Times to show Editor Doug Sexton a huge fossil he'd found; Rick the night the Candee Block burned - in 1982 - a fireman whose hands were nearly frozen, accepting a pair of gloves from Jim Morgan but saying he couldn't stay in the store to get warm . "I've got to go back!" And Rick, calming and soothing an accident victim while they waited for the ambulance.

And then I thought of his family -
and how terribly sorry I felt for all of them,

and how much I wanted to tell Dick, who liked Rick so much -
but perhaps he already knew.

*****

Note. I debated, a long time, whether or not to include the news of Rick Gaiser's death in this post. There was no notice of it in this morning's Observer-Dispatch, but I know from the number of subsequent E-mails and phone calls that I received last evening that the news is widespread, and it IS, after all, part of "Life in a Small Village in Upstate New York." PsB