Daily Archives: March 21, 2013

Old Forge celebrates St. Paddy’s with annual parade

paddys5Blowing snow and below freezing temperatures did not blanket the spirits of marchers and spectators at the 2013 Old Forge St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Friday, March 15.

In fact, the parade drew more marchers than usual as some organizations from neighboring communities joined in the fun.

New to the event were the Black River Drum Corps and Twirlers of Lowville and representatives from Herkimer County Community College, featuring the school’s mascot, The General.

Taking first place honors for best parade entry was, KISS me, I’m Irish, a take on the heavy metal rock group. Continue reading →

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Growing up Adirondack by Mitch Lee

Getting a little sappy over the process of making maple syrup

Maple_Sugar_Spout__2013When I was a young boy growing up on Limekiln Lake, the house we lived in was owned by the Department of Environmental Conservation. Since we did not own the property, we were restricted from tapping the many maple trees in the surrounding woods.

However, there were a few folks in the area who set up small operations to draw colorless sap to make maple syrup for their own personal consumption.

As an eight year old, I found the maple syrup making process to be among the most interesting things for me to observe.

The buckets hanging from trees were quite a sight and the drawing of droplets of colorless sap came at a time of year when the woods seemed to be waking up and pushing out new smells every day.

Though I learned some basics of tree tapping from our Encyclopedia Britannica, I found it much more interesting to visit the twenty to thirty nearby sap collecting operations and watch them in action.

Perhaps action is too strong a word to use in describing the process as it was actually quite boring to watch. But regardless of how long it took a single silvery droplet to form and plop into a metal bucket I still found it to be fascinating.

One day I tagged along with a fellow who was tapping over near Sixth Lake. He gave me quite the education on the proper ways of sap collecting. Continue reading →

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Talkin’ Code with Andrew Getty

NYS continues to push energy efficiency in its building code revisions

The world of Building and Fire safety codes is a very fluid arena. There is an on-going, never ending process of code review and revision.

This process includes all the States that have adopted the entire collection of the International Building Code [IBC].

Presently, all but one state uses the IBC as their model or base set of codes. Most states may add, delete or modify certain sections of the IBC to suit their specific needs.

But, for the most part, the majority of the States have made very little, if any, changes to the IBC.

Most people know that major events are leading causes for code changes.

It does not matter whether the event is a life safety or an environmental condition.

Certainly, most of us know of those catastrophic fires, especially in public assemblies, where dozens or even hundreds of people die. Those events lead to code review.

Did the structure comply with the code to begin with? What caused the fire? Why couldn’t the people get out? Was there any automatic fire suppression? Why, why, why, what if….

With today’s technologies, the types of materials available and method of construction, these types of events simply should not happen.

Probably the most commonly known environmental issue would be energy consumption. We all feel this every day.

There is a huge push towards alternative energy sources. Continue reading →

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Just Call me Mrs. Lucky by Jane from Woodgate

It’s a big world after all…

While in the midst of the gloomiest weather months for our area, it’s sometimes so easy to forget that there’s a big huge world out there.

All around the globe there are massive doin’s going on, and thanks to more couch time my news consumption increases mightily. I try so hard not to be a Hater, but jeez it’s nearly impossible when one absorbs too much worldliness in a short period of time.

The past few weeks I’ve been dreaming like a champ, virtually at a different movie theater each night. Care for a glimpse into the shows that have been occupying my slumber lately? Continue reading →

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Gary Lee’s Daybreak to Twilight

2012 Season record-setting for New York State hunter safety

Geese near Verona

Geese near Verona

Winter is still with us. While out and about yesterday (3/18) I saw where the deer are getting weaker. Where they walked in the light snow they were all dragging the tips of their hooves in the snow. This means they have used up much of their stored fat.

If you find a dead deer and break the leg bone apart you will see that it has started using the marrow inside. It’s amazing how deer can survive a long winter such as this by living off its stored fat.

Buck rack found dead, scoring 198 and 7/16

Buck rack found dead, scoring 198 and 7/16

In years past I have seen where this marrow was a clear liquid when all the stored fat was used up. A deer like that wouldn’t last much longer without a break in winter weather.

The bear harvest numbers just came out. The 2012 season’s harvest of 1,337 is the third highest harvest on record.

Only the harvest of 2003 (1,864) and the harvest of 2009 (1,487) surpassed last year’s take.

Take in the Adirondacks was 606, Central-Western was 289 and the Southeastern was 442. Many of these bears were taken in both the early seasons of these areas.

The reason for this was that there was very little wild food and these bears denned up early so not many were taken during the regular season in all areas.

Speaking of hunting, another new record was set for hunting safety in New York. The 2012 season had the lowest number of hunting-related shooting incidents on record.

During the 2012 season a total of 24 personal incidents were reported with just over half being self-inflicted. There were two fatalities that occurred during the deer season. Continue reading →

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Tax Time Questions with Independent Tax Preparer Deborah Ritz

What’s the deal with trusts, revocable and irrevocable?

What are the Filing Requirements for Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts?

My parents established a revocable trust years ago and the income in the trust was always added to their personal income tax, even after my mother died.

My father converted the trust to an irrevocable trust in 2011 and then died in 2012.

What are the filing requirements for those trusts?

It is important to identify what type of trust you have because this directly affects your tax filing requirements relative to the trust.

When a revocable trust is created, the law treats the trust as simply an extension of your property for all purposes except probate.

This means that any trust income is simply your income, so you just include that income on your personal tax return each year.

In other words, you file a 1040 “U.S. Individual Income Tax Return” adding any income from the trust to that return. Continue reading →

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Old Forge Library Contest: Poetry & Illustration winners announced

libraryThe opening reception for Old Forge Library’s Annual Poetry & Illustration Contest was held Tuesday, March 19. Winners for this year’s contest, with the theme Journeys Taken, were presented with certificates and $25 prizes.

Winners and honorable mention artists’ works were read either by the authors themselves, or by Master of Ceremonies Michael Cunningham.

The contest was open to students in grades kindergarten through 12, and adults throughout the Mid-York Library region which includes Herkimer, Oneida and Madison counties, and the Town of Inlet.

Winners of the Poetry Contest were:

Grades K to 4 – Katie Kelly of Inlet. Honorable mentions: Maria Lutz, Rachel Manzi and Olivia Payne, all of Inlet.

Grades 5 to 8 – Sarah Beck of Woodgate. Honorable mentions: Bella Beck and Dayna DeAngelo.

Grades 9 to 12 – Emily Crist of Barneveld. Honorable mention: Joy Clemons of Utica.

Adult – Star Livingstone of Woodgate. Honorable mentions: Susan Knight of Remsen, Glenn Miley of Sherrill and Tom Stock of Herkimer.

The James Mulvihill Memorial Award for Imagination was presented to Jameson Pratt of Big Moose, a third grader.

Winners of the Illustration Contest were:

Grades K to 4 – Karleigh Hollister. Honorable mentions: Lexie Aliasso, Katie Case, Cameron Gribneau, Alana Haehl and Coral Williams.

Grades 5 to 8 – Sarah Beck. Honorable mentions: Bella Beck, Earl Deland and Shyla Deland of Remsen, and Trinity Liddle.

Grades 9 to12 – Megan Greene. Honorable mentions: Allyson Brosemer, Lexie Haehl and Autumn Townsend.

Adult – Lorraine Kreimeyer of Whitesboro for My Fairytale Life. Honorable mentions: Patti Delano, Sue Freese, and Lorraine Kreimeyer for The First Thing When Packing for the Journey, Remember to Take Your Imagination.

Beta Sigma Phi Sorority members hung the exhibit and the Friends of the Library provided refreshments for the gathering.

All entries will remain on display in the library wing through May 23. The public is invited to stop by during that time to vote for their favorite entries.

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