Sunday, June 30, 2013

Updates...Help your neighbors...flood waters and other problems...


Well Flood 20..this time firedepartment came full force and Emergency Management added others..this time it effect many people include some who had to be evacuated....Mother Nature is the cause..but a good portion of these problems are infastructure that has been let go for years...and years...I cleaned the sluches and dug the holes again..and later today will do the same where they are getting plugged...cleaning them in the summer and opening them all the way up Morrisville-Eaton Road would prevent much of this..how would you like it if the County or Towm dumped all its waste runnoff into your back yard with no where to go but an old stone drain under a driveway????

Update...flood 19 has happened..no stopping the water..no septic or well at this point..power is off at some houses...two pumps running third died..basement is flooded...and reality is it is still raining...have dug out pipes that have now been bent by traffic unfixed by town...ditches full not dug out by town in 2 plus years... no hlep until hours later ...Fire Department saying they have answered 500 calls as West Eaton WeVac has not answered a call in three years and volunteers are tired......but of course we are just a little group of people in a hamlet...unimportant....I am here 19 floods later..think about it..how would you feel!

Well the floods have hit and I feel sorry for those effected. This blog is an appeal for you to help but it tells my story and why I can definitely feel for these  effected people. 

I truthfully escaped my 18th flood while living in Eaton this week by a matter of one or two inches this week.  The truth is I have lost everything I stored in my basement the first year I moved here and was repairing the house.  Didn’t know it could get flooded…of course it seems it is only a few houses that have this problem on our street.

Second time it flooded I lost the wood stove that heated the house, all of the pumps the hot water tank and air tank…and they were the only things in the basement.

By the third time I had three huge pumps going and started building my banks in the back of the house up to stop the water…. Then it washed out the banks and flooded the basement and pushed all the mud and debris into the whole yard. Can’t dig deeper because it is at water level of the Chenango and would bring more water!

Now I have learned that cat litter in plastic bags, covered with rocks, gravel, and indoor-outdoor carpet covered with tires and dirt can hold a mighty flood until it overtops the bank.  I have also learned to clean every item in the basement and repair all the pumps….

So 15 floods later and this past summer I raised the bridge and bank 9” and have a bigger pump in the basement (among the three) ...and it worked but it will only until the water gets higher I guess… When the rain stopped …it stopped right at the top of the bank.

Cleaning up the terrible mess every year is costly as the waters push, mud, waste, debris, manure from the farm lots on the hill and residue heating oil into the basements…

My problem can be solved, as it is a simple one….

The Eaton Street water flows into the drainage culvert that is almost 3 feet wide then into my backyard….at the side of my yard it goes to a drain going under the driveway of the Old Union School that is only 12 inches or so….bang the wall of water stops!  Does not take a rock scientist to figure it out!  So my back yard, side yard or land around me becomes a lake!

Our neighbors have had to buy bottle water for month’s because of oil in their well.. other neighbors have had to buy new furnaces….I put my furnace (boiler) above ground in my garage.

The slushes around the streets have been allowed to fill over the years and today are covered. What used to drain around the streets and into the Chenango now just rolls over lawns.  Even the ditch in front of my house has not been cleaned in 3 years…I dig it out by hand before or during each flood! 

There is money available to cure chronic problems if you document it and submit it and…if your town is declared a disaster area…(and it was one year) .. I went to the FEMA meeting got the paperwork for it and had the proof waiting…took it to the town …but of course…nothing.  The town says it’s the county’s problem, the county says it’s the states; the state says it’s the town’s…and so really it is your problem.

SOOOO…  If  you can possibly help your neighbors and friends in this terrible situation…please do…

Remember, unless you have expensive flood insurance the cost is the homeowners.  Take the time to donate money, shelter or needed items and then help your neighbors find a solution to the problem so that it does not happen again. 

PS …Help the animal shelters that have displaced pets and then…Thank God it didn’t happen to you!

Here is a link to my last flood one and a half years ago..http://youtu.be/HW5NZXAGuD4..took out my basement walls......

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Summer is here..thoughts of Lake Ontario, Lighthouses, West Wing & the "Big Cheese"...


The first day of summer has caused me to be very depressed.  I swore to myself that this year on the first day of summer I would be at Lake Ontario visiting my favorite landmark the old Selkirk Lighthouse.  This is also the place that a close friend and I want our ashes spread.  Hers are there now.....and I need to visit.

As children and as an  adult I have spent many summers on the beach near by and there so many memories of those family trips still come to mind... from fishing to sailing!



Tourists occasionally wander down to the marina at the mouth of the Salmon River and discover this old landmark that  looks like it dropped down from a time of sailing ships and double-masted schooners... Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it still stands towering above the water with a near by a shell of the old hotel where sailing ships docked, and guests stayed in the hot summers of the past.

Built in 1838, this venerable relic has one of the few “bird cage” light surrounds left on Lake Ontario. Costing the United States Government seventy-five hundred dollars, the building escaped the renovation of many of the lake’s lighthouses because of being scheduled to be decommissioned (which it was) in 1858. It was built because many thought that by putting a lighthouse near the lake in what was considered a dangerous area known for shipwrecks, and by dredging a deep channel in front, it would become a large port, which it was for a while. 

Unfortunately, its neighbor Oswego to the west took its business because of its link to Syracuse via the Oswego River and Canal.

Today, the port is just a sleepy reminder of a by gone era, except for fall when sportsmen arrive for the Salmon run which has replaced the Sturgeon fishing of the past.. In the old days the lighthouse would dock Great Lake schooners, allowing the local area to receive and send goods of all varieties. 

It’s most notable cargo however, few know about, even though a segment mentioning it was on the television show West Wing. In this episode Leo McGerry reminds everyone that it is cheese day and relates the story of President Andrew Jackson receiving a huge cheese and having it set in the White House’s main room, threw the doors open and invited the public into “their house” so that every citizen could share in the bounty.

The cheese that is recorded to have weighed over 1,400 pounds was made near Sandy Creek by Col. Meacham and was transported first by sets of gray horses to Pulaski and then on to the port where it was shipped via schooner and the canal system to Washington, D.C. The man who made it, Col. Meacham, was noted for his showmanship. The Colonel also made 500-pound cheeses fro the Vice President and the Governor of New York.

The hotel next to the Lighthouse ran for many years and was noted for its German Cuisine and dances. This building is now just a vacant and broken remnant of a time gone by when ladies and gentlemen summered by the lake.

I love sitting out near it in bad weather since it is a spectacular place to view an upcoming storm and last night would have been a great place to view the large full moon!

I always dream of  renting a room in the lighthouse for the night and enjoying the light at night which is now a solar light with the lighthouse was recommissioned in 1989. 

Today it once again acts as a useful navigational marker and a marker for the different parts of my life which I hope to get back to if I can ever get this museum roof project done!  Go and visit it and tell it I sent you....you will be glad you did...really!

Oh well ...I will sing....sing along with me and James Taylor....Up On A Roof!







Friday, June 14, 2013

Battle of the Bulge, Father's Day and "Nuts!"....


Domenic J. Messere
This has been a weather nightmare for a good portion of not only our country but of Europe and beyond with floods, tornados,  rain and hail.  Down here in old Eaton we escaped the big flood by a matter of a couple of hours more of rain.  The museum is fine even though the weather has prevented my rear section roofing plans from going forward…I assure you that after falling from two roofs I have learned…

Rule 1 -”Do not roof on wet days!”
Rule 2- “Do not use wet aluminum ladders!”

So I have been working on other projects that have finally come together.

Father’s Day always bring thoughts of my dad who I worked with as a helper as a child and who worked with me when he retired as an adult.  He never really swore in mixed company using his famous “NUTS!” as the expletive if something went wrong.  He was an ‘officer and gentlemen” as the old saying goes.

He had actually been with Patton at the Battle of the Bulge time and I guess he picked up the phrase “Nuts” from General McAuliffe who was the acting commander of the 101st Airborne at the siege of Bastogne.  The general had quite a history..he had flown in on a glider before D Day.  When asked to surrender by the Germans who had his troops surrounded,  he sent back one of the most famous WWII replies…one word…”NUTS!” Some say it was because he didn't want to be remembered for a swear word..but whatever...

Dad taught me everything about construction and electricity - I remember his saying, ”If you are going to learn to drive a car, you should know how it works and how to fix it”.  If I had and older model truck I could still do it today.    I even rebuilt an engine in the dead of winter and repaired anything I could.

His motto was...”IF YOU CAN READ AND HAVE THE TOOLS YOU CAN DO ALMOST ANYTHING!”  You can!

My favorite story was the time I bought a house in Syracuse and we had to jack up the basement in one part because of a broken beam.  I came home from a job…contracting…and dad was in the basement.  He told me to hold this timber in place and he worked the jack.  We could not lift it…the timber came loose and hit me in the head. 

After much effort and two jacks we got it sort of up there.  One day I decided to hang a shelf on the wall above the bad area and “bam” I found the reason why we had such a hard time.  A former owner had taken a chimney out in the basement and on the outside but not in the middle…. He or she had walled it off! 


P.S.   The word he used when 
the beam came loose and hit me was “Nuts”.  I said something 
different!



















Thursday, June 6, 2013

Eaton's Church turns 180 years old........Happy Birthday!


Today is a special day in Eaton, it is the day the current Eaton Church was dedicated on June 6th in 1833.  Its the historic sight I see while having coffee in the morning.

At that time it was the Congregational Church, its founding members included two of the original incorporators of the Baptist Theological Seminary that became Madison University and today's Colgate University.

The step which bore the inscription still sits in front of the church, but has been broken up and can no longer be read.  But the churches history has followed that of the Eaton Hamlet and has in fact helped the history of the United States. 

In 1848 the church hosted the Congregational Society’s yearly northeast meeting at which time the Congregational Society officially adopted an anti-slavery stand.  Some information on this is in the Cornell College Library.

The church had many noteworthy pastors including its first installed minister the Reverend E D Willis, a friend of Gerrit Smith and a noted abolitionist.  I became interested in Willis because he lived in my house, a house that Allen Nelson Wood and his wife would buy on their return to Eaton.

The church’s members at that time included Allen Nelson Wood founder of the Wood, Taber & Morse Steam Engine Works and both his partners Loyal Clark Taber and Walter Morse.

Other famous Eatonites who attended services were Melville Delancey Landon and his family. Landon became a well known as both a writer and as a lecturer. Many rich and famous people attended the church during the Victorian era during what time Grover Cleveland’s brother; the Reverend William Cleveland was its pastor.

The church still today houses a historic Meneely Clock and Bell, and the churches windows which bear the names of some of Eaton’s greats... still grace its interior; an interior that sports hand turned pillars turned by Allen Wood himself.

During the Civil War the Eaton Churches banded together and held services attended by each other patrons during the week to pray for the wars end.

Eventually, the Congregational Church became part of the Federated Churches of Eaton and then later became a Community Church under the Pastor Thomas Clark who improved not only the building, and but helped institute a fabulous AWANA program. During the time he was pastor the congregation also built a large activities build that is used today for youths to play basketball and games and to host special functions.

One of the best stories I have about the church is one that ended up involving me.  Melville Landon wrote a story on Mr. Wood and the Rev. Cleveland for one of his books. In the story Mr. Wood is hawking hymnals for sale in the back of the church while Rev. Cleveland was announcing the following weeks Baptism Service for children.  Wood only had one child and so when the minister said for the parishioners to bring their children… Mr. Wood piped up, thinking he was talking about the hymnal that “they could have as many as they wanted for 50 cents each.”

I wrote about this story for the Mid-York Weekly newspaper and the next week I received a package from Pennsylvania…it was the sermon handwritten that Rev. Cleveland delivered that day!...

History always returns to Eaton…so visit the museum soon and see the document for yourself…we are going to be open on Sundays 1-3 pm in the summer.

Here's a video of the church!

Sunday, June 2, 2013

The summer like heat has made me think about Old Forge!!!


This week I have an urge to think "Summer"...must be the heat...and take a trip up the Adirondacks and Old Forge.  My brother has been remodeling his place up there and I could snap a few "going along" pictures for fun and then I could visit the Old Forge Hardware Store and wander around looking at all the stuff it contains.  After a ton of visits you can never really see everything that is in that store. 

 Of course being a history buff...on one of my trips up I did some research on the Old Forge Hardware Store and its founder...Moses A. Cohen.... and it is a really interesting story!

Moses A. Cohen was a Lithuanian immigrant who came to America to
join his brother at the young age of 16. Moses started as a pack
peddler, walking a route through the wilderness of the Adirondacks
near the Saranac River, eventually going into a retail business with his
brother David, in Bloomington, New York. As a pack peddler he was
known to carry a 100-pound pack to cabin or house, from place to
place. A friend of many, he was a successful man who knew the value
of the honesty of a merchant, something he had learned from his
father in Lithuania when they would go many miles to town and bring
back goods to sell in their neighborhood.

Eventually, bought out by his brother David, he wandered into a place
called Old Forge with a wife and an old horse with a cart of goods,
setting up a business in rented rooms. When he had enough money
he built a store. With the burgeoning retail market caused by the influx
of people to this vast scenic area and the opening of lumber mills to fill
their building needs, his store took an important place in the village as
a source for goods and supplies.

This building, built for about $10,000, burned in the 1920’s causing a
great loss to the Cohen family. Never one to give up, Moses rebuilt the
building and today, as the Old Forge Hardware, the Cohen Building
stands as a Mecca for travelers and visitors to today’s Old Forge. No
longer in the family, it is still a must see for tourists in the Old Forge
area, and it still carries anything anyone could ever need.

Cohen was an important man in Old Forge for many reasons,
becoming its first bank director, a 50-year Mason, and a founding
director of the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mt. Lake. This immigrant
pack peddler also became one of the largest landowners in the
Adirondack region. With his son, he was responsible for the building of
the Enchanted Forest, Howard Johnson’s and was a mover in getting a
ski center to Old Forge.

In 1976, to honor his father, A. Richard Cohen donated their residence
to the community so that it could act as the library and today their house is
providing services to community members and visitors - a wonderful
monument to the Cohen family that invested not only its time and
money, but its "heart" to a region that is one of the scenic wonders of
America.  

Take a drive up and enjoy the day and a visit to this historic business and look around you might see me wandering about wishing I could buy everything!.