Electric Bills, Gas Companies, winter coming on...and Poor People.

Sunday has a way of making you lonely all on its own.  Whether it be because of the past… when as children we were going to church on Sundays… sitting in that pew waiting to escape from the Sunday clothes or the confinement. We couldn’t wait to get to the world of play and day off from school fun. 

Escape has arrived for us as adults and now that we have a permanent go nowhere on Sunday morning if we wish… and maybe some might feel there is something missing? I don’t know… but Sunday’s for me seems to be a time of reflection still… a time to think about the past week… and always that hope for a better one ahead… escape.

As fall in its festive colors and its brisk winds of dance are poised to make their entrance this Sunday, many of us are dreading the season of winter that lies just a number of days hence.  I have to think that winter will be colder than the last only because I am older.  Being older alone makes us cold I think.

Are we older because of age?  Or are we older because our bodies have aged?  Or are we older because our perceptions have changed?

Here in the north poverty plays a large role in this perception.  Those who can afford a warm house and nice car probably don’t reflect on the changing seasons in the same way as a poor person.  Those that ski and have snowmobiles probably don’t…they may actually look forward to it. This for me boils down to the high cost of winter and its lonely isolation as older friends avoid traveling for visits as shorter days and nights of unending darkness close in.

The object of my thoughts this week is the ridiculous cost of energy here in this rural area.   By luck of location I am stuck with NYSEG.  Yes location because just a couple of miles away my neighbors have Rural Electric service or their own village electric, both having much lower rates for useage.

Here in Eaton we have natural gas wells everywhere… a massive gas substation that is no longer going to pay school taxes, another in our town that is providing service to Hamilton, wind turbines that are trying to drop their tax paying status… and yet we pay a ridiculously high price for our energy!

When I was staying at my mother and fathers house in Solvay my electric bill was the cheapest in the United States and when I came home to Eaton I was paying one of the highest.

I listen and view so many on the Internet complain about welfare programs.  They spout about cutting services for the elderly and the poor, cutting welfare… and cutting social security… in truth they are actually not facing the reality of living in poor areas and being old.  What we should be doing is leveling the playing field… forcing the electric and gas and oil companies to pay up for what they are taking from us… especially here in Eaton…and elsewhere.

We should be able to utilize our own natural resources instead of letting others rob us of it and allow corporate investors to reap money from it.

Good case on this is the solar industry… I have friends that are in this plan… great idea but a catch…how do the poor tap into it?  It costs thousands to install this service…while I struggle to pay for this months electric service.

Next time you flip on the light or an extra heater think of the poor who can’t afford that luxury… oh you say they can get HEAP or help… aren’t they the programs that you are trying to cut????

As old Uncle Basil used to say…yes things and people change… they get worse…  and private corporations make a profit on the backs of the elderly and poor!  Don’t cite New York City or large city statistics on Welfare programs…find figures for a poor rural area that is daily being robbed of its resources. 

Cat Dilemma, people, Second Chance Thrift Shop, WRHS and the costs of pets

Rascal my original pet

This week the cat situation took a turn for the worst as I discovered another set of little kittens.  I have been working for a year and a half to spay or neuter the kittens and cats that someone dropped off at my house because someone told them I love cats…I don’t!   The cat that was dropped is not feral…it was a pet and it had kittens so many months old and was pregnant. 

I have put up a site on Facebook to try and help and all it has produced is people calling wanting to drop off their cats to me.  The comment I hear most is that they got a kitten so that their kids could see all about childbirth…dumb, by 8 their kids probably know more about everything than they do.

The complication that sets in are that they do not have their animals spay or neutered… and so the cycle continues.  Many just can’t afford to have it done…why get an animal?  I sure can’t afford this and humorously, a couple came over recently and we discussed that is was more expensive to take their cat to the doctors than for them to go.

In the past Wander’s Rest in Canastota issued certificates for $42 to $47 to help with the costs… but on the average to have the cat altered, the legal rabies shot, wormed and flea medicated costs about $180.  It is cheaper to have them put to sleep…although that can run $120.  This year Wander’s Rest has no money for the certificates, which, is why I have the kittens since I had waited for 2 promised for the oldest of the strays.

The Second Chance Thrift Shop now located in the former dinner building on Route 20 in Morrisville has been raising money to help the various animal agencies (see article http://www.oneidadispatch.com/20140706/your-neighbor-thrift-shoppe-given-second-chance-to-help-animals-in-need-of-homes).  “Several thousand dollars have been raised and donated to various local animal rescue programs, including Wanderer’s Rest” and it hurt nobody’s pocketbook since the items for sale are at a great price, in good condition and a boon to people who cannot afford new.

The Thrift Shop that is open on Friday and Saturday from 10:00 to 4:00 needs volunteers, since it only through volunteers that they are open.  This is a total not for profit situation.  The volunteers can work as little as one shift per month or more and the shifts are only 3 hours long…so it seems many people could donate their time if available.  For more information you can call 315-480-0336 or email rsmith@twcny.rr.com or stop in.  This is a case of need for all of the community. If you can’t volunteer, then shop there for something before purchasing it new.

A second thought is that something should be done to have clinics for the neuter-spay operation.  I am working with a few people on thoughts about setting up a special program for rural areas that use a mobile unit for veterinary school grads to serve as a summer clinic that would defray the costs of their education if they participate.  This is something New York State should get involved with…other states have them although they might be privately sponsored...it is needed.

If interested in helping or in commenting email me at backstreetmary@yahoo.com and I will get back to you...although it will take a bit as I am off line.

Another one of those weeks...Towpath Day, Erie Canal, and some summer FUN!

This week has been trouble and I thought I would pass all of it by and bring via the blog an event scheduled for this weekend.  My friends at the Erie Canal Park in Camillus, Liz & Dave Bebee and all there volunteers, are holding Towpath Day.  Earlier this year I spoke there to the new and old volunteers and I always marvel at the new things and the new history that is available..so here is the "skinny" on the upcoming event...really worth a visit!

Towpath Day in Camillus

The summer is heating up and as usual the Camillus Erie Canal Park on DeVoe Road in Camillus will be celebrating Towpath on August 8, from 10-4.

The park, located on the first enlargement of the canal where it crosses the Town of Camillus, is about seven miles long and features many displays on the history of the canal, the area near Gere Lock, which was lock number 50, as well as the newly restored Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct. The first enlargement of the Erie Canal was completed in 1862 with a depth of seven feet and a width of seventy feet with 32 active aqueducts at a length of 350 miles.

At the park site just off of Devoe Road is Sims Store, the centerpiece of this fun, family event!  Sims  is a replica of a store as it would have looked in the 1850’s. The actual store was located a couple miles away near Belle Isle and Gere Lock. This beautiful rustic building houses maps of the canal, photos, and models of the locks, aqueducts and canal boats and looks much the way it did during the days of travelers along this historic waterway.

This year’s theme is “Boats Afloat on the Erie Canal”! and features the Rotary 5 K Mule Skinner Race which begins at 9 AM, the Circus Boat  where there will be "kids stuff" featuring Make and Take from the Home Depot,  and old fashion games. There will boats and wagon rides with crafts, raffles, demonstrations including Mules, Lock Demonstration and  a Steam up.

The Showboat will include the Morris Dancers, Dr. Tom Dooley Chorus  and Jason  the  Entertainer/ Magician.

 So come out for a Summertime Fling with great food and music by Diamond Someday and the Soda Ash 6.

For more information call 315-391-7020.  Or go to www.eriecanalcamillus.com. Admission is Free and parking is available by shuttle cart transportation from DOT site, which is near by!

Here is a video I did for them this year...enjoy!