Late Summer Days

Suzy discusses moose and garden with our corn- growing neighbor

A week ago a cold front dropped down from Canada, temperatures plummeted from from the upper 70s to the mid 50s; summer is instantly over. Good! It's my least favorite season. I haven't seen (heard or felt) a mosquito, black or cluster fly for a week. These are the glorious days of pre-autumn and the leaves are beginning to turn.

Best of all, it's harvest time. One of our neighbors has a small cornfield and his sweet corn is the best. We stopped at a nearby orchard and their early apples I eagerly awaited were mushy and tasteless. A bad apple year is a one of life's enduring disappointments. All is well, however, the Courtlands I bought yesterday (for one-third of the dud's price) were excellent. Often, the less you spend, the better the produce. 

Stephen and Lily dig potatoes

Our potato crop was a success, also the kale, tomatoes and cucumbers. We'll need better sunlight next year for the crops that didn't quite make it this year, notably the carrots, squash and beets. Another garden will be comstructed in front of the cabin next year. It'll have to be fenced because we've seen critters around there.

Katherine on Twilight

The kids visited in late August, Stephen and Lily toured all over, including Montreal. Katherine spent most of her time in the saddle, riding both horses to her heart's content. The weather was warm and it was buggy, but they seemed to enjoy their visits. I finally scaled Jay Mountain but it was Suzy's second ascent. The view from up there was magnificent, you could see all the way to Lake Champlain with the Green Mountains of Vermont in the distance.

Katherine at the summit of Jay Mountain

We've plugged away at our wood-splitting and cutting. I still don't think we have enough for the season, but we have our backup heaters. I removed the V-joint paneling around a window on the south wall so I could assess the prospect of replacing it with a door. We can, so I ordered a door with a full glass panel. That will provide much more light and even though it's a door, it'll be far more energy efficient than the old window. I like the looks of those old windows but they are inefficient, and wasting heat means depleting our wood supply early. 

The families who are well into their second century here, such as the Coolidges, put up their firewood early, neatly, and directly in the sun to dry properly. Those who do a particularly fine job of it aren't averse to building it near the street so passers-by can see how sixth-generation Adirondackers stack their wood.

The Coolidge's firewood stack

Upper Jay's Chief, Jeff Straight, teaches firefighters how to run a pumper.

I finished my six-week firefighter pump apparatus class. I drove our American LaFrance tanker and even backed it in to the station, right between the lines - well, sorta. The NY state exam for the certification included a written and practical portion. For the practical, we drafted water from a 'crick' feeding the AuSable River, across from Sue Benway's farm. Then we pumped it between three engines, one each from Upper Jay, Jay and Keene. I warily eyed every new hose lay, dreading the effort involved in rolling up and re-stowing them. We strung out many large diameter hoses wearing heavy gear...and it was a hot day. But our class of about a dozen rookies and experienced firefighters survived the exam and the practical. Only one guy (not me) fell into the creek.

Three pumpers can move a lot of water.

The Volunteer Ambulance down in AuSable Forks voted me in last week. (In this part of the country, north is considered 'down'.)  I registered for the EMT-Basic certification class over (not up) in Wilmington next month. It's a six-month class, with a state exam and practical in April.

It's nice to live in a small, rural area in the mountains where, every morning, there's more color than yesterday, a faint smell of wood smoke, and geese noisily going about their migration. Fall is arriving.

Fixing Up

Suzy Painting the Porch Floor

We've worked on Woodman's Lee for nearly 15 years...and it's far from done.

The porch needed sprucing up to be suitable for our overnight visitors. Suzy painted the wall and floor to brighten it up and make it easier to clean. Despite our fastidiousness the porch always reverted to a middenish hovel. 

Our first step was to remove everything, then clean and paint the walls and floor. We took the old table, benches and bed to the thrift store and I burned the old mattresses. I moved the tools and supplies to the tarp -covered containers on pallets in the back. Eventually the ever-growing number of tools and supplies will move into our new shed. Then we moved the vanity and futon to the porch. It's now a rather nice guest room.

The Old Loft Window

The loft window was a big job because it was my first window replacement. We needed more light - hence a bigger opening - and the work wasn't at ground level. Scaffolding was well worth the investment, it's safer than working off a ladder and access is key to a high quality job. 

The replacement window is energy efficient, it's significantly larger and provides much better ventilation because it's a double hung window. We can vent the heat from the high ceiling quite effectively by opening the upper window, or close it down tight for cold weather operations. We'll crack it open just a bit on cold nights, allowing the crisp night air to mix in with the heat from the wood stove. That's a luxury you can't find at some of the finest homes and hotels in the world because either the climate is too humid or their windows are fixed. Civilization may impress itself with its modern sealed, recirculated-air conditioned buildings - so essential for survival in the South - but I think they are unpleasant and unhealthy.

The New Loft Window

Suzy also painted the loft floor, brightening it up and making the floor easier to sweep. Then we hauled the big Tempur-Pedic mattress from the storage facility and hoisted it into the loft. So now we have a very cozy sleeping loft, and now it'll be all too easy to sleep in late on those cold winter mornings.

Oil Train Intrusion

Old CP Rail logo. 

The beaver has been eradicated on their new logo.

North Country residents are preoccupied with the outdoors - work, chores, crops, and cold weather preparations consume most of our energy, and any spare time is spent with family, hiking, getting ready for deer season, fishing or chatting about all this stuff with neighbors. What happens outside the Blue Line is generally of little consequence. Exceptions typically involve the cost of the latest idiotic school mandate or the equally idiotic feel-good firearm-law-du jour out of Albany. 

But a catastrophe that happened outside the Blue Line last year managed to get everyone's attention, even though it was 250 miles away. 

On July 6, 2013, a runaway 'oil train', - a long string of tank cars transporting Bakken crude oil - derailed at Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. When these cars derail they also ignite. The oil companies aren't required to boil off the volatiles before rail transport as required for pipeline transport. So they save money by not doing that but the oil train crude has a lower flashpoint. When that energetic fuel ignited the explosion created a blast zone over a mile in diameter. That flattened the downtown area, polluted the lake and killed 46 people. 

Oil Tank Car BLEVE at Lac-Mégantic, Quebec.

The initial reaction here probably involved a glance at the headlines but a longer gaze at the sky, as the weather determines the cadence of work. Oh, it was unfortunate but it was one of so many outside-our-world tragedies. Then we realized that this accident could have happened here, as there are 100 miles of track inside the park, right along Lake Champlain's western shore. 

Adirondack Oil Train Enroute to Albany

Every day a Canadian Pacific Rail oil train rumbles through Port Kent, 25 miles from us, enroute to refineries in Albany. The Feds control the rails so CP Rail can ignore operational inquiries from state and local governments. Railroads have a rich tradition of arrogance. But anyone can count cars so we know they ship a million gallons of crude oil through Essex County every day. 

The quantity of oil shipped through here has increased exponentially in the last 5 years and it'll further increase if the Keystone pipeline is cancelled. The oil companies are hedging their options by seeking modifications to refineries to process the dirtier Alberta tar sands oil. The industries are directing their obedient servants (aka, our elected representatives) to fast-track modification permits, specifically the Albany refineries. It's entirely possible that another million gallons of crude oil a day could be transported through Adirondack Park in the next few years.  

In fairness, CP Rail didn't cause the Lac-Mégantic catastrophe. Another railroad, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, was responsible for that. MMA quickly realized they were mind-numbingly negligent and preemptively declared bankruptcy only a month after the accident, basically conceding every lawsuit. (They also didn't have to repay their $20 million US government loan.) Ah, it's swell to be judgment-proof. 

Here's one example of their incompetence, which happened the night of the accident: MMA thought it was perfectly ok for their engineer to essentially abandon their train carrying a quarter billion dollars' worth of oil, and get some rest at a nearby motel. And so it was parked next to busy highway, and left unattended overnight...with the locomotive door unlocked and its (damaged) engine running. While the engineer was asleep the engine blew, caught fire and the local fire department responded by shutting the fuel and pulling the circuit breakers, all per procedure. That put the fire out. Unfortunately that also shut down the air compressor supplying the air brakes and the engineer didn't apply the parking brakes. As the air slowly bled down, the train lost its brakes and rolled a few miles downhill, gaining speed and blasting through 13 grade crossings, until it finally derailed and exploded in downtown Lac-Mégantic.

Given this level of industry incompetence, it's amazing that there isn't more train accidents. CP Rail averages about ten derailments per year - for over 14,000 miles of track.

Corporations coldly analyze the cost vs. safety benefits of adding crew, strengthening the tankers, shortening the trains, slowing them down, upgrading the track, improving operational safety practices...and training/equipping the emergency responders. The decision makers must have determined that the benefits aren't worth the cost. Besides, they don't even live near the train tracks, also known as the Blast Danger Area.

A Lac-Mégantic-class accident here would overwhelm the first responders - and probably all the subsequent responders, too. There's not enough Class B foam or tankers in all of Essex County to knock down what's known as a cascading BLEVE (boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion). It took two days for 150 firefighters to extinguish the Lac-Mégantic fire...in other words, it just burned itself out. The environmental cleanup is still underway, over a year - and a billion (taxpayer) dollars - later.

Corporate budgets for common decency were zeroed out years ago - if they ever existed at all. In desperation, communities must now badger the federal government to force railroads to clean up their act. The process starts with concerned citizens who arrange public forums that the politicians can only ignore at their peril. Railroad and oil execs get anxious when the people notice how out of control they are and the commoners demand no-brainer regulations. 

Citizens may, for instance, request an end to the current practice of one employee, working 12 hour shifts, single-handedly operating a mile-long oil train. The railroads adore the labor efficiency and are undoubtedly developing drone trains to bring their labor costs closer to zero. But the public isn't enamored with one overworked locomotive engineer piloting an oil train that has the explosive potential of 25 tons of TNT. 

Thus, Suzy and I attended a public forum at the Whallensburg Grange this week. It was well attended by a collection of politicians, media and concerned citizens. Some of the attendees abused the Q&A session with bloviating questions seemingly designed, but failing, to impress the rest of us. 

Overall, it was a successful event because it grabbed the attention of the politicians and media. Additional, larger meetings are being scheduled. You can sense that something's going to change - after the inevitable stonewalling and perhaps another catastrophe or two.

With a little persistence and luck the people may indeed prevail on the oil train issue...perhaps the ethanol and propane trains, too!

Town Meeting on Oil Trains at The Grange in Whallensburg

Diēs Caniculārēs

The Dog Days began in late July. Definitions vary, but the Romans fixed the dates at July 24 through August 24. They invented the Julian calendar, so I'll accept theirs as the authoritative version. 

W graciously interrupted her busy day to laboriously demonstrate the traditional dog day pose. The proper technique involves sprawling out to match the curvature of the earth.

We had our first visitors, long time friends from Florida a few weeks ago and family from Connecticut last week. That's always fun for us, and I hope they had a nice time here. We've planned outings, but it seems as if the guests want to hang around here and relax. It is a peaceful place for an afternoon nap...as W can occasionally attest.

The shed is taking form but there's a lot of work remaining. I hope to get the rafters up, and the siding on the roof and walls completed this month. It's a slow evolution, but I don't work more than a few hours at a time on it.

We finally moved into the new firehouse, here's a photo of #345, our American LaFrance pumper, on its final departure from the old station. I was offered the brush truck to drive to the new station but I declined because I haven't been checked out on it. That was prescient because then I'd have to back it into the new station, which I may have literally done.

The new facility is nice, we have more space and I can store all my gear there. I can also charge my pager using the outlets right above my locker. The pager is an analog device, inefficient compared to the digital electronics that are common nowadays. Recall the 'old days' of analog cell phones, back when a battery charge would last a few hours. EMS pagers in more affluent areas (pretty much anywhere else) are routinely upgraded but due to the vast coverage area, remote and mountainous terrain - and limited budgets - we can't expect to stay current with the technology. So, it takes a lot of energy to charge my pager and the battery life is short. That's a problem for us because we don't generate much power from our 5W solar panel. It's a luxury to have an AC outlet available!

Anyway, here are the trucks safely parked in their bays. 

And here's a photo of my turnout gear's new home, this is so much better than leaving it around the cabin or car.

I've enrolled in a pumper truck operator class, 3 hours every Wednesday night for 8 weeks. Although pumping water looks easy, doing it right (and safely) involves a plethora of hydraulic theory and a solid understanding of the mechanical components. The class is taught in the Jay firehouse, the converted old schoolhouse, with big open windows, cool evening breezes...it's probably the finest classroom on the planet. Our class of twelve students ingurgitates a staggering amount of chewing tobacco during the lectures. I sip coffee, which feels appropriately old-school and, to a casual observer, looks like just another spit cup.

On a less repulsive note, the weather has actually gotten a bit cooler - in defiance of the Romans - the ominous prevision of a long heating season. 

I've cut and trimmed many trees, but the impact on the property is almost unnoticeable. We have an abundance of trees, which appear to grow faster than they can be harvested. 

Here's my latest woodpile, about a cord, which I figure will last about a month. I don't have a splitter so I hope that the small logs will suffice, as is. I may get a splitting maul, but I've never had much luck hand splitting logs. A gas engine powered log splitter would be the obvious gadget but I'm resisting the temptation to buy everything I think I need. It's not easy to do.

My firewood routine is to cut down the trees, limb them and either chip or burn the brush. Then I section the trees into cordwood logs, stacked and dried at the edge of the forest for a couple of months. Here's a photo of two cordwood piles around the property.

After that bit of seasoning, I cut the cordwood to size and restack it, letting the wood dry for awhile more before use. It's a lot of work but the reward is heat without using fossil fuels and nothing beats a wood stove on a chilly day. Although some fuel is used by the chainsaw, it has a tiny engine and consumes little fuel and bar oil.

In addition to laying in a stockpile of wood, I have to tune up the backup KeroSun heaters (we have a primary and a spare in storage), and clean the chimney.

To reduce heat loss, I began the loft window replacement, removing the old one and establishing the rough opening for the new one. Once that's squared up the installation should go fairly smoothly.

I completed the Election Inspector class, passed the state test and was sworn in. We have another primary on September 9, so I may work that day. Tonight is the Volunteer Ambulance meeting, and later this week is the big Oozeball tournament. The inmate detail from Ray Brook worked on the site last week and will finish up the preparations this week.

Soon the dog days will be waning and it'll be apple season. With luck, the bugs will become less energetic and we'll be harvesting more goodies from the garden. The tourists will start to diminish and it'll be even more pleasant to be outdoors...maybe we can sneak in a few hikes!

Cooling Off

The Jay Covered Bridge

The AuSable River bisects our town but it's linked up with a covered bridge. There used to be a mill dam under the bridge years ago, but the mill and dam are long gone, leaving the river to rush unimpeded over huge boulders. 

These rocks are fine for sitting upon and marveling over nature's energy. The massive stone retains heat and the water is always cold until you get used to it. This is a fine way to cool off after a summer day of chores. Usually you can pick your favorite rock, the place isn't crowded. I usually bring a book and read until I get a little sleepy.

You wouldn't think it's even possible to take a nap on a rock, but the warmth and  rumbling of the water are narcotizing. Upon awakening, you're refreshed and ready for another chapter.

Homestead Life

Sustainable agriculture is serious business around here, it's rare to meet someone who doesn't have a garden or a full-up farm - real ones, not factory farms. That's the reason that our cultural twin, Vermont, is the first state to require GMO labelling. It's also explains why a tiny community provided a viable quorum for a lecture on permaculture last night.

Marie Depres, a certified permaculture designer, lives nearby and was the presenter. Suzy and I attended and we learned a little about permaculture. Perhaps it's wishful thinking but it feels like this is the leading edge of a trend that can change the existing wasteful, unhealthy and unsustainable agricultural industry.

Icon depicting the twelve design principles of permaculture.

Suzy has been busy in the garden, not exactly a permaculture ecosystem but it does incorporate many elements. It's a haven for birds and pollinating insects. We are harvesting some of the early veggies such as kale, peas and lettuce. 

I'm working on our Walden-inspired shed. It took a while to set the pier blocks and level up the floor rim joists, but once that was accomplished it was a fairly straightforward job to install the joists and plywood deck. Then I had a big, flat, 16 x 9 area to build up the stud walls. That's a slow, methodical process, especially the gabled ends. Here's what it looks like so far:

The beagle is getting a bit more comfortable with living in the forest and she now spends all day outside. Sometimes she even sleeps under the truck, learning to be a true Adirondack dog.

As for events, we attended a play at the Pendragon Theater in Saranac Lake. It was a full house for the final performance of 'Red'. The story involved an artist, Mark Rothko and Ken, his assistant. Maybe I was just tired from working outside all day, but I didn't get it. Suzy explained some of the profound plot points to me later. Despite my cluelessness I did enjoy the acting, for me there's no such thing as a bad night at the theater. In a couple of weeks we'll be attending a dark comedy by Christopher Durang at the Recovery Lounge, our local theater that gravitates to that genre.

Upper Jay Art Center, aka the Recovery Lounge Theater

We also have our activities, Suzy and her horses, my firehouse meetings, training sessions and occasional calls. Our new station should be open in a few weeks, and it'll be nice to store my turnout gear at the station, in an actual locker, instead of our already-cluttered front porch. A few of the firefighters also work at the volunteer ambulance service in AuSable Forks, so I'm attending their meetings. It's the same protocol - fill out an application, introduce yourself at a meeting, find a sponsor and if there's a place for you they will put your application up for a vote by the members. I've been to one meeting so far. The work is unappealing - I never cared for biology - but, like so many volunteer agencies, they are struggling to cover the needs of the community.

We've had a few hot (mid 80s) days but it was 49F this morning. The hottest day of the year is theoretically July 25, so we're getting close to the peak of summer. Fall is just around the corner, so we have to get serious about installing our new windows and laying in the firewood for a long heating season.

Working the Congressional Primary

NY-21, the largest congressional district east of the Mississippi.

The Republicans held their congressional primary in NY District 21 on June 24. Candidates running for office have to cover a lot of territory if they want to canvass the voters because the district is larger than every New England state except Maine. The Democratic and Green Party candidates avoided the indignity of a primary because they are running unopposed. 

There were two Republican candidates on the ballot, Elise Stephanik and Matt Doheney. Ms. Stephanik won by a landslide. Her campaign was 40% financed by NYC billionaire venture capitalist Paul Singer and further boosted by Karl Rove's super PAC. With her campaign already bought and paid for by Singer and Rove, there was only $5k of influence remaining to peddle to the Koch brothers, pocket change for them, but they paid up, too.

First name only on the placard: Stefanik contains too many syllables for her supporters.

Elise is a 29-year old who grew up in upstate NY but left for Harvard, and after graduation landed a swell job in the Bush White House. She then gravitated to Romney's campaign, preparing Paul Ryan for the VP debate, presumably by portraying Joe Biden. If elected, she will be the youngest woman to serve (not the common good, of course, but her employers, Singer, Rove, Koch & Koch) in Congress. As for issues, she promises to repeal 'ObamaCare' and replace it with the usual ineffective slogans: tort reform, legalizing out-of-state insurance providers, eliminating waste and providing more tax deductions for medical expenses. 

The market-tested slogans are designed to appeal to emotional voters, especially the ever-growing cadre of Obama-haters. Tort reform, for example, sounds great but it can only lower premiums by about a half of one percent. Same deal with the out-of-state insurance companies, it's a great slogan but a bargain policy in Texas won't meet NY minimum standards. I suppose the NY standards can be lowered precipitating a race to the bottom in insurance coverage. Congress has no jurisdiction over intra-state insurance and the response time of the NY legislature is measured in decades. Increasing medical tax deductions has no effect on the working poor because they don't pay income tax. All this illustrates the shallow, low bandwidth marketing strategy that, with enough money, wins elections.

There were originally two Democratic candidates, but Stephen Burke was eliminated after a party operative alleged that he didn't have a sufficient number of signed petitions. Mr. Burke had an tendency to understate numbers, such as his age. Although 77 years old, he claimed he was a decade younger until he was outed by a reporter for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Thus Democrats are left with the abundantly-vowelled Aaron Woolf from Manhattan. 

This doesn't look like Woolf's grocery store in Brooklyn

Woolf lives in Manhattan, owns a grocery and deli in Brooklyn and says he splits his time between there and the North Country. Right, and I split my time between here and Paris. According to the local newspapers, no one has ever heard of him. Aaron was a documentary film director and producer, notably King Corn, an inside view of big agriculture. Imagine the angst at Monsanto, now they have to line up behind the Koch brothers to feed money to Woolf's opponent. 

Aaron alienated the media, who accused him of running a campaign in absentia. He initially refused all interviews, probably because he had to learn upstate geography and issues before being questioned about them. He's a nice guy, with perhaps some principles but he's from the city and appears to be just another imported, wealthy, lightweight candidate. 

A working man who represents the interests of constituents. He has no chance of winning.

The Green Party candidate, Matt Funiciello, may be the best choice to actually represent the people. He's a resident, works hard to run a bakery in Glens Falls, isn't wealthy, spent part of his childhood in Canada and has firsthand experience with a single-payer health care system. He opposes fracking for the North Country and doesn't support military bases (like Fort Drum) solely for the economic impact. He will be dismissed as a serious contender.

Returning to the primary last month, some states (such as South Carolina) have open primaries, meaning that any voter who shows up can vote, regardless of party affiliation. That sounds egalitarian, but it opens the door for all sorts of mischief. It is fun to vote for a first-rate nutjob from the opposing party - but sometimes that backfires when the kook (such as Mark Sanford) actually wins the general election. 

Sanford was the South Carolina governor who was in Brazil visiting his mistress, not hiking the Appalachian trail as he told the press (and his wife). That got him in hot water, but he never resigned as governor. His wife, Jenny, stood right by him when he faced the media - while finalizing the terms of her divorce. He cooled his heels for a couple of years, and when the opportunity to run for Congress arose he jumped on it. Mark also had the audacity to ask Jenny to manage his campaign (which she did when he ran for governor), even "offering to pay her this time" but she turned him down. 

Another fine example is the 2010 SC Democratic Senatorial candidate, Alvin Greene. Mr. Greene won the primary, probably assisted by crossover votes from Republicans. He was such a defective candidate (complete with an impressive arrest record) that even the Democratic Party didn't support him. Because Mr. Greene was unemployed, the Republicans probably paid his $10k filing fee. His primary victory permitted his opponent, Jim DeMint, who identifies with the Tea Party, to coast to reelection. There was no outrage, such political shenanigans are unimportant to an apathetic electorate, especially during football season.

New York, which is no shining example of clean politics, has closed primaries. Why they need Democrats to inspect balloting for Republican primaries is puzzling, but so many things aren't intuitive here. Anyhow, they were short-handed for Election Inspectors over in Chesterfield. Holly at the Essex County Board of Elections called to see if I was available to assist. Anyone who asks me for help is desperate by definition so I put away the chainsaw and got cleaned up for work.

I drove to the utterly unmarked Knights of Columbus hall and took my seat at the "Town Shed" table. Why "Town Shed" and why aren't there the usual "vote here" and "no campaigning" signs outside the building? Well, signs are unnecessary because everyone knows this is where you vote, and what damn fool is going to waste their time - in blackfly season - lobbying a tiny number of voters on their way in? And, I was patiently told, "Town Shed" is Election District Two. But no one calls it ED #2, because that district used to vote at the Highway Department (aka, "shed") years ago, and if they started calling it District Two, no one would know what that meant. 

There were seven other Inspectors, four Republicans and three Democrats, so I evened out the team and made it legal. We had 81 voters all day, each one (and two previous and succeeding generations of their relatives) were known personally by one or more of the inspectors. This was a fun group of people to hang out with, and one of our biggest laughs involved my question about asking for voter ID. I, in fact, was the only anonymous person to enter the K of C building all day - and perhaps all year.

It was a long day, one big social event, as one doesn't just vote, say hi, and run. It's impolite to meet a neighbor without chatting about the kids, work, weather, crops, animals, bugs, taxes and of course trucks, tractors, moose and deer. Our biggest celibrity was Charlie, the retired ferry ticket booth operator for Port Henry, a few miles down Route 9N. Charlie worked there for over forty years and sold over a million tickets. Well, the millionth customer got a free ticket to cross Lake Champlain that day, then Charlie was honored with a big party at night. 

The polls closed at 9pm. Votes were carefully counted, cross-checked, forms signed, ballot bags sealed and delivered to a deputy sheriff standing patiently by. No polling place exceeds Chesterfield's high standards of integrity and diligence.  It was another glimpse into past - and perhaps future - America.