Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Yesterday, I decided to start riding my mountain bike in the morning, when it’s cooler outside.
I think we were going for a walk when I came up with that idea. You know, as I was out and about…I always get good ideas. When morning rolled around and I was drinking my coffee, let’s just say I was less enthusiastic.
Even thought I was still groggy, I stuck to my word. I got on the bike and started to ride. For any of you out there who have ridden a bicycle for any amount of distance, I am sure you will agree with me when I say it is great exercise. I already knew that, but was reminded of it as I was struggling to get up the first hill. For those who know what “Brewster Hill” looks like, this hill reminds me of that one. It’s not nearly as bad here, but when I was on the bike, it sure felt it.
I had planned on doing the 3.7 mile ride, but when I got to the end of the road, I decided to make a left and do the 5 mile one. I am glad I did, because I keep talking about doing it. There are tons of downhills and uphills. The uphills are much less fun, but my legs got a great workout.
This area is really great for recreation. I am very pleased that people take it so seriously around here. On the last part of the ride today, I had to go through the woods. That was fun because I got to “get some air” off a few rocks. You know what that means, I think I might need to get a helmet.
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Monday, August 4th, 2008
Laura and I have been walking quite a bit. We are up to 3.7 miles per walk now. I never really thought that walking was much exercise until recently. When I hit that three mile point, I start feeling it. The feeling has been less and less intense though, so I guess I am getting in better shape.
We see a lot of things on our walks, and landscaping is one of them. One thing I notice in particular is what people do with their mailboxes. You could have guessed that. You know, your mailbox tells a lot about you. It tells what kind of person you are…not that it’s good or bad, just what you are like. I remember one guy back in Brewster had a mailbox that was 10 feet in the air. It read “Air Mail” on the side of it. That tells me he has a sense of humor. If you have a big iron mailbox, but have never had any previous mailbox smashed, that tells me you are kind of paranoid. If you have had a mailbox smashed and you went the iron route, I can see that you are smart.
Ok, this post really isn’t about mailboxes, it’s about the landscaping around them. I really like the idea of making the first thing people see when they come to visit us nice. I like a nice mailbox, a nice post and nice landscaping. As you may know, I already made the mailbox nice.
Today, I ran out to the local hardware store to pick up another yard of pine mulch. I wanted to use some for around the mailbox and the rest for another post I will most likely write tomorrow. Today’s post is about how I spruced up the mailbox area.
Here are a few pictures of what I did:
Mailbox before picture
This is a photo of the mailbox before I did anything to its surrounding area.
Digging out grass around mailbox
The first thing I did was to dig out the existing grass around the mailbox. I used the flat side of a pick-ax. It was pretty easy to get up. Then, I used a shovel to make the edges of the area nice and sharp.
Adding ornamental grass to mailbox area
After the area was prepped and ready for some plants, I added four ornamental grass plants to it.
Adding mulch to mailbox area
When the plants were the way I wanted them, I added three cubic feet of pine mulch over the dirt. This mulch will keep the weeds down and will also keep the dirt moist in between rain showers.
I still need to get a broom up there to clean the dirt off the street, but I think the area looks better than it did. Perhaps now, when someone goes for a walk, they can get an idea or two from what I have done.
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Posted in Gardening, Home Improvement, Landscaping | 8 Comments »
Saturday, November 10th, 2007
Oh yeah. Here it is…the moment you have all been waiting for…the funniest thing that ever happened in my life - #1.
What happened to number 3 and 2? Well, as you can clearly see, I have had a little trouble with motivation. I thought I would jump to number one and then follow up with the others later. Trust me, they are almost as funny.
You know the times when you just laugh and laugh? If it’s during dinner, you usually blow milk out of your nose. Yeah, I remember those times. They don’t roll around that often anymore, but when they do, they feel really good. If you get a stomach ache, even better.
Craig owns a tree service. He has probably run it for fifteen years. One of the main problems he has is finding good employees. Things are smoothing out now, but locating good workers has always been a tough hunt.
Early on, it was even harder. Sometimes a customer would call up and want a job done. Craig, being eager to please and equally as eager to make money, sometimes had some tough choices to make. Should he hire a full time professional, or…err…just get the job done. That’s where Rob and I came into play. Can you guess which choice we were? Yeah, we would bust on the scene and clean house.
Oh, how many times we have heard, “I will never work the two of you together again in my life.” Even that statement made me chuckle because I knew I would be standing in his driveway at 7AM the next morning, smelling the diesel burn, while his truck warmed up. In a few minutes Craig would walk out of the house and ask, “Where’s Robert?” I would say, “I don’t know.” “He’s in bed, that’s where he is. Let’s go get him,” Craig would say. I always knew Rob was awake and just running late, but I liked to make waves. For some twisted reason, I always got a kick out of watching Robert get yelled at by Craig. Craig was always yelling and Rob was always trying to explain his way out of it. I really wish you could meet these two guys.
This particular morning was a very nice one. It was summertime and it was a perfect day to work…warm enough in the morning, but cool enough not to sweat all that much. We had a small job to do in Westchester before lunch and then another one across from one of Westchester’s many reservoirs after.
There we were, sitting in Rob’s driveway, honking the horn. “This guy, I swear,” Craig said. “What’s up with Robert, anyway?” I was sitting there thinking to myself, “Why do you call him Robert?” A few moments passed and Rob flew out of the basement door and ran towards the truck. Craig couldn’t stay mad at Rob for too long. I’m not sure anyone can. I hopped out of the truck to give Rob the middle seat. He never complained because he knew how much I liked to sit near the window. Craig put the truck in reverse and we started heading toward Sunoco, down in town, for breakfast.
Craig always bought. He probably still does today. That’s just the way he rolls. I could win the lotto and Craig would still grab the check. This always happened, except for one time when Craig, Laura and I were in Vermont. Craig informed me that I was paying for dinner while he was in the middle of ordering another main course. He and Laura were drunk. She was trying to cut her pork chop, when it flung on the floor (carpet). Craig leaned over and picked it up. He put it on his plate and proceeded to eat it. That is another story for another time.
As usual, Rob and I were standing at the counter ordering our bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches. This guy at Sunoco always made the best sandwiches. This, of course, was before the time when the guy handed Rob and sandwich and informed him that the eggs were “a little gooey.” Rob didn’t like that very much and never ordered another sandwich from that gas station again. This morning was different. We ordered our sandwiches while Craig filled the tanks of the truck and chipper with fuel. What’s wrong with this picture…we order breakfast that Craig will pay for while he works…
Anyway, we hopped in the truck and started to eat. We slowly made a left turn out of the parking lot and headed down the road towards town. Craig always said he didn’t want a sandwich, but continuously asked Rob for a bite of his. This was during the era of “Mustache Craig” and one of the other reasons I liked to sit near the window. Rob would hand Craig his sandwich and I would watch Craig take a big, wet bite out of it and hand it back to Rob. I always watched Rob look at the sandwich…inspecting it to see if there were any mustache hairs in it. Poor Rob’s stomach is easily turned and I’m sure this would’ve been it for him.
I don’t remember the first job all that much. We probably did our thing and got in a fight. That was typical. Craig would scold us in the truck and express the importance of not yelling at any passing cars or people while there was a huge sign with his business name and phone number on the side of it. I guess he was right. We would go eat lunch at some deli and take a nap for a few minutes. The hardest thing was always trying to get up from laying on the ground under some apple tree on the deli’s property. I always dreaded what job was next.
I used to hate the days with two jobs. I wanted to go to one, get it done and leave. I wanted to go home, take a cool shower and then walk out in the road a few minutes later in my nice, clean jeans and no shirt. Craig would usually stumble out of his house a little while later and we would discuss current events. Rob? I am not sure we would see Rob again until the next morning.
We pulled straight in the driveway of the customer’s house, stopped and put the truck in reverse. We backed out to park on the side of the road.
I remember the job well. The house was big and beautiful…typical Northern Westchester. It was white with some stone work. The driveway was a straight incline, aimed directly at the house. There was a large oak tree in the front yard and across the street was a reservoir. Along the road was a row of tall pines. That was our job…to remove some of the pine trees. I am not sure why. Perhaps they were too tall? Blocking the view? Who knows… Yet, we were there to get the job done.
We worked for a few hours until the hard part of the job was completed. I really think we worked well during that portion of the day. There were no incidents. Craig would cut the brush from the tree while Rob and I would drag each branch to feed it to the chipper. It was grunt work…that was part of the problem with finding good employees.
When the big stuff was done, it was always time to clean up. This is what separates the men from the boys. Some companies come to your house, make a mess and leave it there. Real companies leave your place the way they found it, or better. We were a real company.
There were usually some tools we would use to clean up a property…rakes, a big barrel for sticks and a backpack blower. You know the kind of backpack blower I am talking about…it straps to your back and you hold the tube in your right hand and walk around like a tornado. They are pretty fun to operate.
Rob and I would usually race to get to the backpack blower. Whoever got to it first was the lucky one because they could just walk around blowing things off, while acting like some sort of a supervisor. The unlucky one would get stuck raking and filling that awful barrel with sticks and leaves. The heavy barrel had to be emptied in the back of the truck multiple times, which really sucked.
This particular day, I made it to the backpack blower first. Yes, I was the lucky one. Rob grudgingly grabbed the rake and barrel. We worked for about fifteen minutes. There wasn’t all too much to rake up, because the trees were right off the road. This put Rob in a good mood. I just walked around the whole time, happy as a woodpecker, blowing off the driveway and road. We were both eyeing one another, looking for a cue that our clean-up job was good enough.
One of the most annoying things about tree work is wood dust on your clothes and skin. The dust would get on you and make you very uncomfortable. It would make you itch and scratch. The wood dust, mixed with a good dose of body odor, wasn’t much fun. Rob and I, while working with Craig, had a long standing tradition of using the backpack blower to blow the dust off one another at the end of each job. Now, you have to remember that this backpack blower is very strong. If it is pointed at your face, it could make your skin ripple. This day was no different than any other, so I began to blow off Rob’s clothes and hair with the blower.
Rob must’ve gotten drunk the night before, because he did something very odd. Right at the point when I was pretty much done cleaning him off, he bent over and looked right at me. He opened his mouth and told me to point the blower at his face, so the air would fill up his mouth and make his cheeks really big. I guess he wanted to act like a dog, hanging his face out the car window, while driving at 120 MPH. I didn’t really understand why he wanted me to do this, but who was I to argue with Rob, who was just trying to have a little fun at the end of a hard day’s work? The real question was why Rob would trust me to do this. Did he really think I was going to simply point the blower at his face and then walk away without doing anything else? To this day, I wonder what gave Rob the impression that I wouldn’t mess with him. Poor Rob.
I had a little stirring in my stomach as I raised the end of the blower tube up to Rob’s face. I just couldn’t believe that it was actually Rob’s idea for me to do what I was about to do. In neighboring towns, you couldn’t pay someone to let you do what I was doing.
I lowered the throttle and began to lift the tube to Rob’s face. He looked so eager. He thought he was a genius. He had such passion in his soul. His cheeks have never been as big as they were about to be. His eyes were wide. He was just thrilled. I raised the tube and pointed it right at Rob’s mouth. His cheeks immediately filled with air and expanded like a hot air balloon. YEAH, he was doing it…ROB WAS DOING IT!!! He was flying high, higher than he has ever flown. I raised the throttle to full speed and the force of air got much stronger. It was like a rush of water being forced out of a fire hose. If you put your finger right next to the stream of air, you would feel nothing. If you moved your finger a quarter of an inch towards the air flow, your finger would flip backwards. The end of the tube was about a foot away from Rob’s mouth. I am sure there has never been more air in anyone’s mouth in this part of the state. Rob’s cheeks were huge and his hair was blowing around like he just jumped out of an airplane at 30,000 feet.
Then I spit. Right in the air flow.
Yes, you read correctly. Maybe it was Rob’s nice parents who raised him to look at all the good in the world…to trust others. Why Rob didn’t think I was going to do this is probably best left for the great thinkers of our time.
Thwap…right to the back of poor Rob’s throat. We had been drinking sports drink throughout the entire day, so there was some good ammo.
I think I started giggling even before I let the beast out of my mouth. My knees were shaking from all the joy I was about to experience.
At the moment of impact, Rob’s head snapped upward and his eyes bulged at least a half inch larger than normal. His whole world came crashing down around him. I can only imagine the thoughts shooting around in Rob’s head at that moment…”What just happened? Where’s Craig? Who am I?” The molecules in Rob’s head were bouncing around in overdrive. Our eyes met and Rob’s look of question turned to horror as the whole idea of what just happened began to gel. A look of betrayal quickly took the place of horror.
I couldn’t believe I hit the target. The chances of this adventure actually being executed this perfectly in someone’s lifetime are statistically nonexistent. My lips began to quiver as every muscle in my body lost its strength. My legs slightly gave out as I burst into the heartiest laughter I have ever experienced. Rob began to run.
He followed his instincts. Earlier in the day, he noticed a hose attached to a spicket on the side of the house. He ran towards it with me in tow. I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t turn the throttle on the blower down. There I was, chasing Rob up the driveway with the backpack blower on full blast. The tube of the blower was whipping around like a garden hose turned to full with no one holding the end of it. It was like one of the snakes on Medusa’s head having a spasm. Tears were rolling down my cheeks. I almost didn’t make it.
I wanted to see what Rob was going to do with the water. How he kept from swallowing the whole run up the driveway, I don’t know. Rob grabbed the hose and turned it on. The angels were on Rob’s side that day because water started flowing out of the hose. Can you imagine if the hose didn’t work? Rob shoved the end of the hose into his mouth for a few minutes until there was nothing more he could do. I stood there laughing; now with the blower on idle. I turned it off and hovered over him, looking at a mere shell of what once was a strong and vibrant friend. His face was all wet and dripping with water. He was completely beaten down. Who knew that such a promising day could end like this? We walked back down to the truck.
The good thing about Rob is that he never stays mad for very long. We probably made up within minutes and things probably returned to normal. I am not sure if he is aware of the gift he gave me that day…the gift of experiencing the absolute, number one, funniest thing that ever happened in my short stay on this planet.
Now that the job was complete, we walked over to Craig and asked him if he needed us to work the next day. Craig replied, “I will never work the two of you together again in my life.”
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Tuesday, October 30th, 2007
I was just thinking about this really funny thing that my friend, Rob and I did when we were younger.
Rob and I do some very funny things together and this is one of them.
One day, Rob walked up to my house. I forget what we were talking about, but “Spinach” came up in the conversation. Now, everyone knows that when Popeye eats spinach, he usually kicks some serious ass. Rob and I decided to perform an experiment.
I had a can of spinach in the kitchen. He suggested that we wrestle, to determine who was stronger. After we did that, the person who lost would eat some of the spinach and then we would wrestle again to see if the spinach made any difference.
We walked out in the backyard and began to wrestle. I beat poor Rob into submission. He gave up and we concluded that I won the match. That was settled. We walked back into the house and Rob ate some spinach. He felt pretty good and I think he may have even flexed a little bit to intimidate me before the next match. I was unshaken. We again walked to the back yard and began to wrestle. Once more, I beat poor Rob into submission. He gave up and this time, we concluded that spinach does nothing for your strength in the short-run.
What’s the moral of the story? Rob, don’t mess with me. You’re just going to get hurt.
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Saturday, October 6th, 2007
Ahhh…my first audio book. I don’t know how Laura finds these things, but she does.
I like to think of her sitting at her computer, very studiously analyzing and contemplating my psyche. “Who is Jay?” she would ask herself. “What makes this guy tick?” In actuality, she probably sees what is popular that day on Amazon, but we try not to think about that.
I can’t get over the clarity of the new stereo I installed in my car today. Just a moment ago, I walked outside, across the driveway to it. I sat down in the driver’s seat and turned the key. The radio came on so I could hear 95.5 WPLJ, down in the city. I changed the channel to 100.3 Z100. It’s remarkable how clear the radio receives the signal. My old one never did that.
I opened the package of the audio book, “Wandering Home - A Long Walk Across America’s Most Hopeful Landscape: Vermont’s Champlain Valley and New York’s Adirondacks,” by Bill McKibben. I really didn’t know what to expect. My mother has been raving about audiobooks ever since she lived back in Brewster. I think they helped make her drive everyday to work in Danbury a little bit easier. She used to say, “My car can steer itself on the trip to work. That’s how used to it I am.” I think she really believed that at times. Well, when she told the story, she sounded very convincing.
I pushed the CD in the brand new slot. Everything is so shiny. The radio stopped and the CD started. A very faint, but clean guitar sound started. It got louder, and then a very soothing voice, that introduced himself as the author, Bill McKibben, began to speak. I though, “Ooh, this is going to be good. I listened for a few minutes and turned the key back, so the sound stopped. I didn’t want to ruin the first part of the story during a time when I wasn’t focusing on it. I turned the key forward, so the CD turned on again. Yup, it picked up right where it left off. This was going to work out fine.
So what’s the story about? Well, Bill’s website tells it like this…
“The acclaimed author of The End of Nature takes a three-week walk from his current home in Vermont to his former home in the Adirondacks and reflects on the deep hope he finds in the two landscapes.”
That’s not all, you can read the rest here.
As you can see, I am quite excited about using my frontal lobe even more than I currently am. It is going to be nice to break out of the mold of NPR and bad local radio. Yeah, it’s going to be nice.
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Saturday, June 23rd, 2007
Rob gave me a call yesterday to let me know that he was heading over to Craig’s yard to install some electrical stuff. He said that he would be there, along with Craig and another dude, Greg. Craig and Greg were going to be pulling a Cummins engine out of a Mack truck to put it into an International truck. Rob wanted me to stop over so we could all hang out. We haven’t done that in about 100 years.
I had some stuff to do this morning, but I was thinking that I wanted to go. Laura had to work and then head of to a party for her sister. I really needed to get off my butt, because as one gets old, one gets lazy. One also needs to see his old friends once in a while.
I did some work on my sites earlier in the morning and had to wait a long time for a few CDs to burn. For some reason, with this new Windows Vista, burning CDs takes F O R E V E R. While one of the CDs was burning, I trimmed a few branches off the trees in the front, near the driveway so the carpenter’s trailer can get through. He is starting the back deck on Monday. I finally took a shower and got out of the house at about 1PM.
I showed up in the yard (by yard, I mean truck yard) and Rob looked at me twice as I was walking in. He looked away twice too. I knew he didn’t recognize me because I was wearing my sunglasses. I am also much better looking than what he probably expected. On the third look, he finally broke a smile and came over to greet me with a hug. I then heard Craig cacklin about something and then he came over to say hi, and I think he may have tried to give me a hug too, I don’t remember.
I walked over to see what Rob was doing and saw the nice big setup he was making for Craig. Rob was a true professional. I helped out a bit, so now I think I am an electrician. Actually, I have always wanted to know how to do what he was doing, so it was quite fun. I like electrical work and know quite a bit about it because I took some classes in it back in the day.
To the left of Rob, were Mardo and his wife (Craig’s helpers) painting Craig’s new (old) bulldozer. If you like blue, this is the bulldozer for you. I never really was into bulldozers very much, but then again, I work with computers. Perhaps one day I will get into bulldozing things. I think I would like to tell people that in bars…”Hey Jay, what do you do for a living?” “I drive a bulldozer, so you BETTER WATCH OUT!!!” Sucka. My father likes machinery like that. That might explain his own bulldozer.
Ok, I wanted to see what was going on over with the other guys. They were taking an engine out of the International because the piston sleeve was cracked. Apparently, diesel powered trucks need some additive in the anit-freeze, or else it will create tiny air bubles, which can pit the outside of the piston sleeve. In this case, I am assuming the correct amount of additive wasn’t added, somewhere along the way, and pitted the sleeve to weaken it enough to crack. Craig picked up the sleeve to show me first hand. I asked why he didn’t just replace the sleeve and he told me because it was about $1000. He got a good deal on a freshly rebuilt engine, so it was worth it to do the swap. Question: Who the heck finds a Mack truck with a rebuilt engine in it for you to use? Oh, who the heck knows. How does Craig find anything he finds. I suppose if you were in the business of talking, like he is, you would find an engine as well.
That’s Rob in front of the Mack truck, that the engine is coming out of. I wanted the dog on the hood, but Craig wouldn’t give it to me. Nice guy, huh?
This is the International that the engine is going in to. Mardo did a nice job of cleaning it and painting the engine compartment black.
After Craig and Greg took all the bolts out of the brackets holding the radiator in as well as the ones holding the cooling fan on, they lifted the radiator out. If helps when you have a huge excavator helping you. I could’ve used one of them back when I was a kid, changing engines in my 1979 Camaro. Noooo, I was stuck with my hands and a tree branch. Hey, it worked.
Ok, here are some mad props to Craig. He insisted that I take pictures of some of his trucks. I think there are about 8 of them, but I didn’t take pictures of all of them. He wanted me to get the CV Trees on the doors, but I am not that good of a listener. Here goes…
That’s a pretty nice bucket truck. These trucks are a big step up from back when Rob and I used to work with Craig doing tree work. I would guess that lifting huge logs with a crane is more efficient than with your hands. It also saves a lot of time. Also, man would I have liked to have a bucket truck to save the pain of climbing those trees.
I get the strangest feeling every time I go back to visit Brewster, NY. It’s like the sun is always going down there. Rob and I went to Home Depot for some parts and it seemed like everyone was looking at me. I really don’t think I am that funny looking. Rob says it is because everyone is in a rush, but I am not sure. I grew up in Brewster, so it may just be a slightly noticeably different culture over there, compared to where we live now. The first indicator is the way people drive, but I’ll save that for another post.
Anyway, it was a good visit and it was nice to see everyone again.
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Friday, June 8th, 2007
My sister Laurie emailed me these really cool photos this morning, so I decided to dedicate this post to her. Now she can print it out and hold it close forever.
Now, I don’t have much of a memory of any of these pictures being taken, but I am sure they did, because we are in them. Laurie’s email indicated that they were taken in 1976. Her email said, “All the things I love…..my stroller, my Jenny Doll, my blankie, my little brother and having lunch on the driveway (I still have the blankie and the little brother).” Now that is just too cute. Thank you so much Laurie. I love these kinds of photos.
Man, I have a lot of memories of that porch we were standing on in the first photo. I used to sleep out there when it got too hot in my room in the summer. Back when breakdancing was huge, I had my own cardboard box that I placed on the floor and tried to do the windmill (don’t laugh, you know you did too). There used to be a wooden bench that ran the length of the porch that my father built…it was pretty cool. Our cats, Smokey and Tiger, used to meow at the back door when they wanted to come in and I gave my sister Laurie a very meaningful hug on that back porch during a pretty hard time for her.
The driveway is a similar story. There is a lot to remember when you grow up your entire young life in the same house. My parents built most of that house, so there was a lot of heart put into it. Sure, they were ready to go when the time came, but you have to respect the amount of work that went into it.
I remember trying to roller skate on that driveway when we got roller skates…probably at a yard sale somewhere, or what we called “tag sales.” The blacktop was never quite smooth enough, no matter what we thought. Later on, we set up a basketball net to practice what I am still horrible at…basketball. I remember people kept on asking me why I don’t join the team (probably because I am tall) and I wanted to tell them because I stink at the game, but I didn’t say that. I can’t even count how many times I had the hood of my Camaro open in that driveway, just looking at the engine. What fun it was to try to fix things. I guess that’s where I get it from.
I am sure Laurie has a bunch more…
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Saturday, May 19th, 2007
Believe it or not, this post title has been sitting on hold since I started this blog, back last August. WordPress has a feature where you can type a title in and save it. With all the other exciting things I was writing about back then, I just never got to this one. I guess a rainy Saturday will help me catch up.
Back when Laura and I lived in Brewster, we liked to drive down to Green Chimneys for a daily walk around their nature trail. Basically, Green Chimneys is this:
“Founded in 1947, Green Chimneys is the nationally renowned, non-profit organization recognized as the leader in restoring possibilities and creating futures for children with emotional, behavioral and learning challenges. Recognized as the worldwide leader in animal-assisted therapy, Green Chimneys operates residential treatment for children and a special education school.”
It really is a very cool place…you should drop by if in the area. It is located near the Great Swamp in Patterson and near Putnam Lake, right on the border of New Fairfield, Connecticut. One thing they are very much known for is their annual “Birds of Prey” day. We have yet to make it to this one, but when we drive by, cars are lined up and down the road.
Way back when I was a kid, my friend Brian’s father used to play soccer in Green Chimney’s indoor soccer field. We would usually swim in their pool for a few bucks. But that’s not what Laura and I would go there for…
The walk around the nature trail is about 3/4 of a mile. It’s just long enough for us to get off our butts and get just a bit of excercise while having a decent conversation. Since Green Chimneys is located in a farm setting, there are friendly animals around the whole loop of the nature trail. The cow above just loves visitors. Who even loves visitors even more is this deer type beast below…
This one was hilarious. We would walk by and she would pace us, just waiting for a good petting. As you can see, she likes to get close, even if it means sticking her head through the gate. After we left, it was a bit depressing seeing her follow us all the way to the end of the fence and be forced to stop.
Here are a few more good shots…
These are what we like to call a little horse and a big horse. Notice their difference in size. Man, there are tons of different types of animals at Green Chimneys…ducks, horses, cows, all type of birds, snakes and even cats. I am not sure the cats were brought in as a rescue or anything though. This funny cat below slept under a little shed at the end of the trail. She would always come slowly walking out just as we passed.
I would want to keep on walking, but noooooo…Laura liked to spend an extra half-hour sitting on the bench with the cat on her lap. I would usually walk around and look for things to play with. One time I found a little cat of my own and tried to pet it. It was hanging out on the hood of a pickup truck. One pet and the damn thing scratched my hand. No more love for that cat.
Anyway, Green Chimneys is a great place that specializes in large bird rehabilitation. It is worth the drive…just be sure to drop a few bucks in the donation box if you want to spend some time there.
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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:
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.
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Friday, October 27th, 2006
I have decided that a trip back to the Satan Caves would be worthwhile. After looking at Google Maps (satellite view) and typing in “Croton Falls, NY,” a few questions arose. I am telling you, this whole area is strange. Take a look at these photos:
The photo above is the entrance to the Satan Caves. You can see the entrance from the ground here. This is just to give you a reference on what the area looks like from above. Now, my sister Laurie says that there is a lake with more entrances to the caves in the area. It was part of a Girl Scout camp. I found the lake, but I think the Girl Scout camp was transformed into a development.
I have to go for a hike to see for myself. Also, from the aerial view, I see some more dark areas that look like entrance ways to the caves. One thing that strikes me is in the photo below. What the heck are these things in the middle of the woods?
After I go for the hike and take TONS of photos, I will post them here to give the full story.
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