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Spring has sprung on this first day of spring (Sunday, March 20) and my daffodils would have bloomed yesterday if the sun stayed out, however it started snowing which shut them down. The crocus usually come out first, but they have only popped out of the ground and the daffodils have flower buds ready to pop. Coming home from Utica on Friday (March 18) with temperatures in the fifties (and even sixty) I kept mentioning there are more Robins along the shoulder of the road. My wife, Karen, said, “I hear you, yes, there are lots of Robins.”
My neighbor Eric Sutherland’s sugarhouse [Maple Moss Sugarworks] has been cooking 24/7 this last week with lots of guests visiting his operation. He is into it big time and I’m learning more every day about his operation. With each day freezing at night and thawing during the day this next week he should be making maple syrup every day. He loves to show people his operation and he will be glad to sell you some of his products.
The snowmobiling and cross-country skiing is done for this year and the thunderstorms that rolled through here last Saturday sure put an end to that season. I was out on Ferd’s Bog checking traps as beavers have flooded the boardwalk and the bog. I saw and heard it coming as I was snowshoeing across the bog mat and told myself if I don’t make it to the truck, I’m going to get wet. While out there I had a pair of Gray Jays visit me and saw where the Black-Backed Woodpecker was making a nest hole. The White-Winged Crossbills were singing all around the bog, so they must be nesting now with these males singing on territory.
I jogged up the hill out of the bog about as fast as my legs would take me as the booming got closer. I just got in the truck, and the skies opened up. I would have gotten more than wet in that deluge. We must have gotten an inch in about ten minutes, and you could just barely see to drive with the way it was coming down. This is not good news for these early-nesting Crossbills which may have lost their nests in the storm.
I got an e-mail from Laurie Rankin announcing there will be tower steward orientation and training on June 4 for the Stillwater Tower held in the Boat Launch parking lot at Stillwater. If anyone is interested, they are more than welcome to meet there if they can only do a weekend or two during the summer meeting and greeting people up at the tower.
Ukraine is still on my mind and when I wrote about it last time some folks commented that if I didn’t like it here in the North Country I should leave. Well, I’m not leaving so comment all you want or write your own column as we do have freedom of speech. Not like we live in Russia where if you protest, they throw you in jail. Putin’s army found out they could not beat the Ukrainians on the ground, so now his army and navy are going to bomb and rocket the civilian population, food and water sources and power from afar. Over three million civilians have fled the country trying to save their children and many of the elderly left also. Putin puts some of our TV reporters and some of our legislators on his TV showing that what he is doing is okay, well it’s not. Prayers and arms for the Ukrainian people to defeat this Russian aggressor.
Bret Thompson, his partner Megan Merrell, and son Leif pose with the Inlet Mighty Loons ice sculpture outside the ice skating rink in Fern Park. Photo submitted.
On a local note, the Inlet Mighty Loons hockey team has been building all winter. Speaking with coach, Bret Thompson, at their last practice I learned much about the hockey program. Steve Schanely tried to get this going two years ago, but with Covid that didn’t happen. This year they had over fifty kids sign up before the season started then they had to wait for ice. Once they had ice, they practiced three nights a week from 6 to 8 p.m. and many kids had to just learn how to skate. During the first hour there were also figure skaters on the ice being taught by Carolina Perez-Gabler and Mary Kate Russell.
Bret had three assistants helping him including Steve Schanely, Seth Knoeller, and Kate Orr with about 25 to 30 skaters at each practice. To end their season, they were asked to do a scrimmage during a break in the Utica Comets game in Utica [on Friday, March 11]. They had ten girls and nineteen boys suit up for this event where they got royal treatment. This was a great event for these kids, some who had never even skated before this program started.
Their program has gotten so much local support for equipment, uniforms, and raffle items to raise money to continue the program. Bret has gotten offers from some of his former teammates from all over the country for equipment when they found out about this program. The program drew kids from all around the area, but what they need of course is ice.
With global warming, it wasn’t until late December before they had ice and that was iffy a few times during the winter. They are talking about a frozen rink, which isn’t out of the question. If all the local towns got together, it could happen. If we can build a ski hill making snow, and maintain miles of snowmobile trails, we can build a frozen ice rink for the kids.
With this weather, the bears will be out, but that’s another story. See ya.
Photo at top: Youth hockey team, the Inlet Mighty Loons, got to play a short scrimmage during intermission at a Utica Comets game in Utica on March 11. Submitted photo.
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This is such a great story
As Gary stated previously, “if you just watch Fox News and former President Trump (both who have given praise to what President Putin has done), you need to watch a different channel.”
Putin has been using clips from Fox News and Tucker Carlson to brainwash the Russian people. It’s disgusting and embarrassing.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/03/fox-news-hosts-putin-ukraine
I agree with Bill, stop watching Fox News, most especially Tucker Carlson. Beyond disgusting and embarrassing, Carlson is supporting an autocrat who hates the west, most especially Americans. Putin has no value for human life and cares not for even his own people. If you think he’s going to stop at Ukraines border, think again; if not stopped he’ll continue to roll west into the rest of Europe with the fantasy of taking over the world (Remember Hitler?). Everyone should be aware of his hatred and desire to return to a regime reminiscent of the old Soviet Union.
Glory to the brave Ukrainians who are defending their people, their homeland and democracy. As of today, there are 20,000 Americans, previous military people and others, that have volunteered to go to Ukraine to support the Ukrainian people, even though our government has warned against entering the country due to personal safety. These brave Americans understand how delicate democracy is and are acutely aware of the suffering the Ukrainian people, most especially the 3 million refugees, who are dominantly women, children and the elderly. We are so fortunate to live in a country with free speech and safety from a tyrant like Putin. Don’t let Fox News brainwash you or the people that you love and care for.
And this is not the first go-round for Putin. Remember Chechnya, Georgia, Syria? We didn’t pay as much attention to this conflicts as we should have. But Ukraine is right on the edge of our friends and allies in Europe.
And due to the courage of the Ukrainians, we actually have a chance to stop Putin. We just need to: 1) keep sending anti-tank weapons to the Ukrainian troops, and 2) keep send humanitarian aid to Poland, Moldova, and Romania. The people in those neighboring countries are saints for the way they have taken in all the refugees.
Ya z Ukrayinoyu! I am shocked and saddened that people gave you flak for writing in support of Ukraine. That Americans can be so completely bereft of any sense of the grand sweeping history that brought the world here, leaves me speechless and searching for answers. That Americans can be so vapid as to invoke the child-like “love it or leave it” nursery rhyme surprises me only until I remember the golden idol they pledge their fealty to, and watch in real time as their ilk toils to undermine the fundamental principles on which our representative democracy was built, all the while chanting USA, USA.
Thank you Gary for including, in your excellent column, your words of outrage about Putin’s war against Ukraine, and the tragic fate of millions of Ukrainian people who are now homeless refugees thanks to him. I share your indignation over this ruthless dictator and also of Trump’s crass praise of Putin’s actions as “genius”.
We all need to see how all this is so destructive. Putin’s war and the lies spread by Trump and his handmaidens, continue to suck all the air out of the room on so many other urgent issues like climate change, mass extinction of nature, and even our local Adirondack issues.
I would hope that Adirondackers who normally register Republican, just as I did for most of my life, will take a long, hard look at how our elected Republican leaders have turned their backs on us while they promote their own selfish interests and stay silent about Trump’s lies and and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. This is not okay.
We need our elected officials to stop kissing up to the billionaires and corporate elites and get back to work for America and for the things that local people need here in the Adirondacks and in local communities everywhere.
Our democracy needs both parties working together to function properly.
Congrats Lois. You got almost every democrat political talking point, climate Armageddon warning, and Trump rant into an article entitiled Youth hockey team….. Good job!
Rather than criticizing the very pointed comments with empty Republican rhetoric……….try some critical thinking rather than disparaging fact, history, and science. Please seriously. Debate is interesting but only when undertaken in a serious manner.
Seriously Mike. I think you’ll find no Republican rhetoric (empty or otherwise) in my comment. My comment was pointing out the Democratic rhetoric in Loius’ posting on an article that ostensibly was a feel good article about a youth hockey team. . But since you mention it, here’s some Republican rhetoric from the ‘Golden Idol’ you mention above. Let’s see. Where to start.
Thriviing economy. Best in years.
Historic tax cuts and reduction of stifling business regulations.
Gas prices hovering around $2/gallon.
National Energy independence – didn’t have to kowtow to Saudi Arabia, Russis, Venezuela for oil or natural gas.
Negotiating a historic agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Border Control – Got control of an out of control influx of illegal immigrants.
Operation Warp Speed – got us a vaccine for COVID within a year and a half.
And my personal favorite. Withdrawing from the Paris Climate accord.
Oh yeah, here is what Americans are thinking about your ‘guy’ and his performance so far.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/biden-ends-first-year-president-bleak-discouraging-marks-public-n1287751
Serious enough now Mike??