An Explanation

You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t been posting much about personal experiences. Instead I’ve been posting mostly about things I think are interesting in Sullivan County in the Catskills. Since we closed our place up for the winter in the middle of November and I want to stay focused on Sullivan County, I just haven’t had many personal experiences up there to share.

Not nearly big enough

Below is the current home of WJFF, Hydropowered Radio Catskill, located in Jeffersonville, NY.

The station is bursting at the seams, so WJFF jumped on the opportunity to bid on the long-abandoned house next door at an auction in Brooklyn on Thursday, December 6.

According to Fritz Mayer, writing in web edition of The River Reporter:

The bidding on the house on December 6 went a bit higher than the board had planned to go, so their representative dropped out. However, two volunteers stayed in the process a bit longer and made the winning bid of $62,000. The volunteers and the board reportedly intend to work together to have the house become the property of the station.

For the full story, click here.

Cute Fix: Otto the soccer guard

I’m going back upstate unexpectedly tomorrow for two days and don’t know if I’ll be able to post while I’m there. If not, then I’ll report back after I return.

In the meantime, here’s a cute fix: a picture of Otto taking a break from playing soccer in October. He’s a powerful blocker.

P.S. I have to credit the remarkable Liz Spikol and her very important blog The Trouble with Spikol for the idea of a “Cute Fix“. Liz Spikol is lucid and incisive in her posts about mental health and mental illness.

Just to give you an idea: she posts about big pharma, meds, the rights of those with mental illness, and people who are mentally ill who are in prison.

She’s also made a great contribution by speaking openly about her own mental illness and her journey to greater health and stability. And she’s funny!!!

Munson Redux?

Yesterday Phil and I also stopped by the new version of the old Munson Diner, moved to Liberty, NY. We had coffee and (!) crumbcake. They opened a little less than two weeks ago. Still working out the kinks.

Mirage Reviewed in the Times

Yesterday afternoon we went to Hamish & Henry (favorite bookstore) in Livingston Manor. We saw the Narrowsburg/NYC-based author Nina Burleigh speak –fascinatingly– about her new book Mirage: Napoleon’s Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt . Afterwards she signed a copy for us. Today it’s favorably reviewed in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Well deserved; this is an important, interesting and well-written book.

Napoleon (who at 28 had rock-star popularity) set off on a mystery voyage with his 60,000 troops and his corps of 151 “savants” to the dark side of the moon. (The soldiers and the scientists had no idea where they were going until they set sail.) Egypt was almost completely unknown to Europe at the time. His goal: to conquer, catalog, and claim Egypt and all its riches as a colony of France. Mirage is about what happened.

The foundation of the matter

We just got back from upstate where we met with Allan Werlau, a Sullivan County contractor who has decades of experience with concrete construction and foundations. He told us that a new 4-foot concrete foundation would cost $35,000. Gulp! Then he gave us lots of good advice on what else we could do to the foundation of Big H.

He said that it looked like the piers that are supporting the house are in good enough shape that we could replace the sill, repair the skirting, and repour a new porch that’s angled in the proper direction. And that would cost a lot less. Like $3,000. That’s more like it.

The Munson Diner Has Opened in Liberty!

Two years ago the Munson Diner was moved from the corner of 47th Street and 11th Avenue in Manhattan to its current location at the corner of Lake and South Main in Liberty, NY.

And last week it opened! Hoorah! I’ll be sure to stop by and at least take pictures, maybe have a bite.

The photo above was obviously taken in Manhattan. The Empire State Building in the background is a dead giveaway.

The Agony of Da Arm . . .

and the shoulder, and the hand. I’m having an RSI flareup due to working too much and using my laptop’s touchpad and not using an external mouse. So I’m going to have to take a little break from posting. If I can get a massage with Gary, then maybe I’ll be posting sooner rather than later.

Havel’s Play Audience Opens Thursday in Liberty

Opening Thursday December 6, The Liberty Free Theater is presenting Vaclav Havel’s one-act play Audience.

Vaclav Havel, in case you don’t remember, is the dissident Czech playwright who was imprisoned for his political views during the Communist era. After the Berlin Wall fell and the Velvet Revolution, he became president of the Czech Republic from 1989 -2003.

(The Czech Republic is also where all those gorgeous supermodels come from. As in: Paulina Porizkova, Hana Soukupova, Karolina Kurkova, Petra Nemcova)

Audience runs Thursday December 6 through Sunday December 16. The Liberty Free Theater is located at 109 South Main Street in Liberty, NY. Admission is free, but seats are limited so reservations are required. Call 845-292-3788 for info and reservations.

A Mighty Wind

An innovative Japanese vertical windmill will be the first part of Sullivan County Community College’s new green technology park on their Loch Sheldrake campus. SCCC has a lovely neighbor who isn’t too happy about the windmill, but it looks like it’s going to happen!