Jay Gaulard Blog

The Hidden Waterfall in the Ridge

Thursday, November 30th, 2006

I went up to Paul’s house this past weekend to pick up some fiberglass insulation he wanted to get rid of. Perfect! I needed a few pieces to finish up the basement.

We decided to make a half-day of the visit and take a hike to the hidden waterfall in the Ridge. There was a very special little lady who decided to join us. We needed a good guide.

I can’t give you the exact location of this waterfall, but I will give you a hint. It is off a road off a road off of Rt.44/55 going through the ridge. Is that clear enough? It is about the height of Awosting Falls…well, maybe a little higher. I promised Paul I would keep mum about its exact location to respect the privacy of the area. Nuff said.

We started on our way and our guide was doing quite well. I am not sure she used a telescope or any other equipment, but I can tell you that she had a very keen eye for detail and direction.

We made it to a wide open area that is used for part of the Catskill Aqueduct System. There was an opening of a few acres and even a helipad. Some digging had gone on there for shale. Also, on the right side, there were a few exposed pipes…part of the water system.

Just past the clearing, the trail to the waterfall started. It is a really nice area. It reminded me a lot of where I used to hike at Grimes Glen, when I lived in Naples, NY.

I just love waterfalls and creeks. A short hike through some semi-rough terrain brought us to a pretty amazing hidden treasure. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. I also couldn’t believe that this is so hidden. Well, at least now I know where it is.

The coolest part is that you can jump around on all of the really large rocks at the base of the falls to cross the river and look through the caves. The one thing that can kind of freak you out is the steep cliffs that surround the area. You could just imagine if anything ever gave way. Anyway, if you ever find this place, make sure to bring some lunch and hang out for a while…it’s worth the hike.

Flight School - Lesson #13 - 10AM-NOON - Go Arounds and Forward Slip

Monday, November 27th, 2006

I told you I would let you know how I did on the pre-solo written test. I did well. My instructor and I discussed the test and I got everything right…maybe too right. I think they were looking for general ideas and I gave them every last detail. One good thing is that it pushed me to learn a heck of a lot, especially where to look for stuff (in the books).

This lesson I was half way hoping I would solo. Yigal was really eager to get up in the sky. We used up a lot of time going over the test, so time would be cut a little short.

We took off and did a few landings. Yigal had me practice a few go-arounds and showed me how to do a “Slip to land” or as Bob C. correctly put it, “Forward Slip.” That was pretty extreme. A forward slip is when you need to get down to the runway at a steep angle, for whatever reason…obstruction at the end of the runway or icing on the windshield. Basically, you apply complete rudder pressure to one side and use opposite aileron pressure for the other. This turns and banks the plane in a very strange position, but decreases altitude quite well. In other words, you are losing altitude belly first, kind of sideways.

We did this once and had to call it a day. Yigal said that I am officially ready to solo for next lesson. I am a little nervous.

Flight School - Lesson #12 - 8AM-10AM - Engine Out Procedures and Presolo Written Exam

Tuesday, November 21st, 2006

I know this post is a little late. Things have been busy lately, so my apologies. This lesson was on Friday, Nov.17.

We decided to check my mad skillz on landings again. We are prepping for my solo. You know the drill by now, take off, do the pattern and land for some touch and goes. I have to say, sleeping on it really improves you for the next lesson. I think you learn a lot during your sleep. I aced every landing during this lesson. Yigal looked over and said, “Good, now that you learned how to land, let’s get you ready for your solo and do some emergency procedures.” Now, we did some of these during my first few lessons, but we went more in depth this time.

Basically, there are different procedures for different times you may lose your engine. Each circumstance calls for something else. We practiced what to do if you had pretty good elevation. Ok, here goes: If you encounter engine loss in flight, you,

1. Immediately trim for best glide. In the case of a 1977 Cessna 172, that is 65kts
2. Pick a suitable landing site and fly towards it
3. Make sure carburetor heat is on
4. Make sure your fuel mixture is rich
5. Make sure your fuel selector is on “both”
6. Make sure your magnetos are on “both”
7. Make sure your primer is in and locked
8. At this point, if you can’t get the plane restarted or if an off airport landing becomes necessary, you radio “mayday, mayday”
9. Turn your transponder to 7700
10. Turn your mixture, mags, master switch and fuel off (no spark for hard landing)
11. Seats and seatbelts secure
12. All sharp objects away
13. Doors ajar and open slightly before touchdown

I think this might be pretty hard to remember right now, but will become second nature if it happens. The main problem I was having was gauging my distance from the runway. Once I overshot and had to go around and once I undershot. I could’ve landed, but it was on the beginning of the runway where you aren’t supposed to land. During an actual emergency, that would’ve been a good spot to land though.

I made a few more good landings and finished up the lesson. I asked for the pre-solo written exam and they gave it to me. I am completing it right now, so I will let you know how I do. To complete it, you need your training airplane POH, the checklist for your airplane and the FAR/AIM.

The Pickle Festival in Rosendale, NY

Monday, November 20th, 2006

This is pretty cool. We went to the Pickle Festival in Rosendale this past Sunday. Laura said she saw a sign for it on the road and then emailed me a link. I checked out their site and was intrigued, to say the least. “What the heck is a pickle festival?” I asked myself. Then I said, “Hmm, I wonder.” And then thought, “Well, maybe we should go.” OK, enough of that.

We got in the car and drove over the Ridge and through Ellenville. We made our way up Rt.209 and then made a right towards Rosendale. I haven’t been up that way for over a year. I am always shocked at how interesting of an area it is. It’s just so tucked back in the Ridge that you really need a reason to go there.

I really didn’t know what to expect for this type of festival. Well, we arrived and apparently it is a pretty popular happening in that neck of the woods. If I had to guess the whole day’s attendance, I would say about 1,500 people. Now, I didn’t hear a peep of advertising for this thing, so I would have to say that road sign worked pretty well.

We walked in the parking lot towards the entrance and couldn’t really find it, so we strolled through an opening in the tent around back. No one stopped us, so I guess it was free admission for us. After a brief look around, we discovered the typical booths…jewelry, t-shirts, fried dough, etc…Hmmm, not many pickles. We walked through the tent, lengthwise towards the front. There seemed to be more and more vendors giving out samples of food. There were different types of spreads, breads, jellies and finally…pickles! I started noticing that there was some sort of a line that snaked itself around the whole tent. I guess you just hop on this very slow line and get a sample from each booth. The only thing you had to do was battle the ladies who were trying to push their way through you. That’s right, through you. I don’t know why people think it is ok to be rude. They are lucky I didn’t body slam them. Perhaps a pile driver would’ve been ample…or a figure 4 leg lock.

We looked around for a bit and even bought a jar of Spacy Tracy’s Pickles…(hey, there’s some free advertising). She makes some pretty damn good pickles. Nice and garlicy…

…and then we noticed some commotion coming from all the way at the front of the tent. We made our way up there and saw this long line wrapped around…everyone was waiting for this dude to grab pickles our of these 5 gallon buckets and put them in quart containers. They must’ve been good pickles, so we got on line. A half hour later, we were getting our very own container of half-sour pickles for $5. Laura even got a different type of pickle for $1 (full-sour). We were kind of full. Who knew this guy filling pickle containers would be the coolest guy there.

He was hot shizznit. I ate one of them on my way down the parking lot…MMMMMMMM…gooooood! The best pickle ever! I have to find his recipe and make my own, or I can just wait until next year and get another quart. Over all, I would recommend this fun festival if you are in the area.

GoSasa - A Rising Star?

Thursday, November 16th, 2006

As you may know, my classified sites have a BUNCH of members. They also have a BUNCH of ads. I mean, these things are growing fast. The ads the members place get exposure, but the really cool things is the way they are exposed. By placing an ad on one of my sites, members get their ads listed on GoogleBase, Oodle, Vast, Backpage, Lycos and now GoSasa, among others.

Now, when I say “show up,” I don’t mean like search engine results, I mean like actual listings, so you can pretty much see the power of that. List in one place, get scattered all over the place…

This seems to be the new thing. First (and still), everyone sets up a classified site, manages it and either watches it die, or watches it grow. Now, people are getting out there and setting up these classifieds search engines that pull in listings from all over the place. This goes hand-in-hand with all those other niche search engines out there, although there is a pretty good model to this type. If given the chance, I would jump on this bandwagon.

Anyway, back to GoSasa. I was recently contacted by this company for permission to access my listing feeds. I agreed, and they informed me that they would be going live soon. Since I know the traffic these types of sites can generate, I am curious to see their marketing prowess in action. Good luck guys!

Flight School - Lesson #11 - 8AM-10AM - Spin Awareness & Recovery

Monday, November 13th, 2006

This lesson was a really cool one. We started off by making the decision whether or not we would even go up. The winds were 10KTS and gusting at 20KTS. Yigal asked if I wanted to do it, of course I said yes. If I ever want to land at Block Island, I would have to be consistent with cross wind landings. We got up and did a few touch and goes. Since the wind was pulling us to the right of the downwind leg, I had to use the rudder pretty liberally to maintain my heading. On the third takeoff and turn to crosswind, Yigal mentioned that I wasn’t using my rudder enough. The ball in the turn coordinator was not centered. I kind of hinted that it was good, but he wanted to really plant the idea in my head of how important the rudder use was. He said that it may save my life in certain situations. I wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about…things have been pretty good up to that point.

Well, he wanted to show me what he was talking about. He told me to climb to 5,000 feet. I headed out of the pattern and climbed to that altitude. He indicated that he wanted to show me what can happen when you takeoff and climb with an airplane without proper use of the rudder. A spin can occur. Of course, he asked me if I wanted to do the maneuver and I said yes…after a bit of hesitation. The maneuver is not required by the FAA, but it really is something that should be covered. Yigal performed the first maneuver. He pulled the yoke all the way to him for a power-on stall with no use of the rudder. The plane naturally pulled to the left and the nose pitched down for a spin. We made about one revolution and he pulled back to recover. He wanted me to do the next one. I was kind of apprehensive before we did the first one, but once it was done, I loved the feeling. I pulled back for a power-on stall and right at that critical point, the plane pitched down and to the left for a spin. We spun about twice and I pulled back and used the right rudder to recover. I could really feel the g-force as I pulled back to maintain altitude. What an awesome feeling. Now I know why these guys get hooked on acrobatic airplane maneuvers.

So, now I knew what could happen without use of the rudder during a power-on stall. Next, we performed a power-on stall with the use of the right rudder. The plane pitched up, maintained its direction and pitched down perfectly straight. Lesson learned. The reason this is critical, is because it only takes, on average, 300FT to recover from a stall, but 1,200FT to recover from a spin. If any of these things happen right after takeoff, every foot counts.

We headed back to the airport, entered the pattern and did a few more pretty decent touch and goes. I am getting much better at landing in these conditions.

I really liked this lesson and really like how smooth the air gets at higher altitudes. It is sooo peaceful.

PS - I found a great resource that you can get involved in yourself. They are the Sporty’s Safety Quizzes. Give ‘em a shot and see how you do.

The Toll Booth Drag Race

Friday, November 10th, 2006

Here is the scene - you are on a nice trip with your family (or just on your way to work, like me) cruising down the highway and you cross a beautiful river…ahh, the Hudson River. You cross the Newburgh-Beacon bridge to stumble upon the toll booths that are on the Beacon side of the river. You find a good lane and slide into it…You wait until it’s your turn to pay your toll, or slowly glide through EZ Pass. What a peaceful day. Once payment is made…WHAM! You hear the screeching of tires and car engines revving up to 9,000RPM. You see cars shooting out of the holeshot like bats out of hell. You smell exhaust like you never have before. You wonder what the hell is going on. Just on the other side of the booths was a nice laid-back cruise and on this side is alike a race to save your life.

I experience this almost every day I drive to work. Just the other day, there were two drivers, pushing their cars to do 0-60 in about 2.3 seconds, trying to pass a semi truck in the fast lane. Now remember, there are about 10 lanes merging into 2, so you need to be slightly…just slightly respectful to other drivers. These 2 cars pushed themselves so far up the rear of this semi truck they both almost crashed into the highway divider…by themselves. There was no other condition that caused their close accident.

My question is this - What the hell is going on? What is the rush? As I cruise slowly on purpose, I see the most aggravated looks on these people’s faces trying to get ahead. I think some of them would really kill you and not care, just to get in front of you. I love it when they whiz by you and then are forced to stop behind the car that was right in front of you. They have to feel stupid.

I really try to drive slowly out of the toll booth, but sometimes I slip. Yesterday, I was almost at the end of the merge and in my lane when this lady tries to fly up behind me and pass me on the left. Now, this really aggravated me. She got past, so I gunned it and went around her on the right. Once around her, I cut sharply to the left to land right in front of her. She had no idea what was going on, because she didn’t even know she was being rude.

I really hate it when adults have to discipline other adults.

Corporate Jargon - You Gotta Love It

Friday, November 10th, 2006

You gotta love this…if you work in an office, you most certainly have heard the following sample list of corporate jargon. Perhaps you haven’t heard all of them, but I am sure you have had the pleasure of listening to the cooler people in your office rattle these things off, day in and day out. FYI - this is not an exhaustive list…I am going to add on to it as I hear them. Please feel free to add your own as a comment.

“At the end of the day” (number 1 of all time)
“Brainchild” - whoever thought of this word needs to be punched in the face
COB - Close of business
I need to to “champion” this (spearhead) (ooohhh, that’s really annoying)
I have to go “put out a few fires”
It’s a horse race
Push the envelope
Don’t “reinvent the wheel”
Best of breed (oh, that’s annoying)
Let’s have a power (working) lunch
It’s great to finally “touch base” with you
Seems like we are playing “phone tag…you’re it”
Let’s circle back around tomorrow
I think we’ve got a “key player” here
Please keep me “in the loop”
I wanted to give you a “heads up”
Kudos
Let me “wrap my head around this”
Let’s “think outside the box”
I’d like to revise an “addendum” to that piece
Signing emails with “regards” or “best”
Using one initial as your name in emails, like “J”
FYI
As per our conversation
“Clearly” and “no worries”
Please advise (this one strikes a nerve every time I hear it)
“On brand” and “off brand”
Can you be a little more “proactive”
I will be working “off-site”
She’s really “on top of her game”
Here is tomorrow’s “agenda”
At 9AM, we are going to have a “meet and greet” (grip and grin)
Are you “in the know”
Thanks for the “assist”
Tnx
I climbed that tree, got knocked down a couple of times
Are we “on the same page?”
I’ve “been down that road”
That one “totally fell off the vine”
Let’s “drill down” on this
We’ve got to “jump into the pond”
Let’s keep those “bees in the nest”
Anything that talks about “team building”
Let’s “piggyback” this with project A
Asking a question and then answering it yourself

All time favorite email: We are putting together our publicity report for HB 5th and I would love to have a cover to grace the report that mirrors our creative - can you assist?

Who makes this stuff up? Here is a funny article on the topic…

PS - Please, please, please…now, this is just my meager opinion, but I really don’t think anyone past the age of 25 should let the phrase “24/7″ leave their lips. I think I saw a minister on TV the other day say that in a sentence…I nearly fainted right there.

Update 11/10/06

I found this great site that is ALL about Corporate Jargon. Check it out. I thought I had a great list.

Some Background on the Tilly Foster Mines in Putnam County

Thursday, November 9th, 2006

Since I started writing about the Satan Caves, the posts on the topic have become the most popular on this blog. I started talking to some people about it and thought it might be fun to get some history on mining in the Putnam County area to share. I found some good links here:

Iron Mining in Southeast (Provided by the Southeast Museum. Did you know there are tunnels under Brewster?)
The Croton Water System (All about the local reservoirs)
History of Southeast, NY (Good resource on the mines)
Ellenville Tunnels and Pine Bush Pits (This is a good one. Read lower on the page for great stuff on abandoned mines)

There are a lot more great resources on the topic and they can be found if you just Google search for Tilly Foster Mines.

Let me know your thoughts…

PS - the photo above is an aerial view of the Tilly Foster Mine at the Carmel end of Rt. 312. This is the one right next to Simon’s Junkyard.

Trees From The National Arbor Day Foundation Received

Thursday, November 9th, 2006

A while back, I ordered some trees from The National Arbor Day Foundation. I received the Norway Spruce trees the other day, but found the bulk of the other trees sitting on my front porch last night, when I pulled in the driveway from work. I was a little curious about the size of them.

When I opened the package of Norway Spruces, I was pleasantly surprised to see 10 trees, each about one foot high. They were pretty full trees. These trees come with their roots bunched up together and surrounded by gel in a plastic bag. It is recommended that you plant the trees immediately upon receiving them. Luckily, I saved all the plastic containers from all the shrubs I purchased throughout the summer. I mixed some topsoil with some sandy loam and planted all the Norway Spruce trees…one per container. I added these new trees to the collection of about 25 I am growing on my back porch.

As I mentioned above, the rest of the trees were waiting for me last night (by the way, I ordered a new shipment yesterday). I found two boxes with 3 Red Maple trees, 1 Paper Birch, 10 Canadian Hemlock trees and 3 Saucer Magnolias.

The common question everyone has is how big the trees are when you get them. Here is some insight. The Red Maples came about 2-3 feet high, the Paper Birch came about 4 feet high, the Hemlocks came about 8 inches tall and here is the good part…the Saucer Magnolias came about 6 inches high. They say these trees are supposed to be 1-2 feet high. Oh well. I have all these trees planted now in their own buckets on the back porch. In a few years, I will be able to plant them in their final place.

Obviously, these trees are meant for patient people, but go ahead, give it a shot and get your own!