WANAKENA WEEKLY #23 - 07/09/20 - 07/15/20

Happy Thursday!

This past week in a nutshell: The rain we needed has arrived. Nice, steady and sometimes heavy RAIN! You can hear the rapids, way down on the shore of the setback of Ranger School Road you can hear the distant static of the Rapids above the village. It got down in the 50s the past few nights. Breezy, too. Venus lingers in the southern sky after long days of swatting at DEER FLY. Mosquito and No-see-ums will get ya too. Folks have been looking for NeoWise with no luck. Hard to get a look at the horizon when you’re in the middle of the forest. Snowshoe hares in their summer attire frequently spotted down in the village. Saint Swithin’s Day was nice, calm and clear. Beaver at The Mill Pond and swimming under The Footbridge. Here’s a shot of Bill G. and his hollyhock grandchildren:

Scattered thunderstorms Thursday evening into Friday afternoon, high 70s. Saturday and Sunday sunny and 80s. It was cool, it will soon be warm. Summer is here. This weather forecast is brought to you by Wanakena’s own PATTIJACKNAN weather team – a Wanakener garage pole mounted weather station and crew. THANKS, TEAM! This weather station can be found at: https://www.wunderground.com/weather/us/ny/wanakena/KNYWANAK8

Bridgework continues! Construction of abutment concrete forms – going UP! One Abutment at a time. The North Shore is first. The North Shore seems like a more crammed operaton; not as much room to get the work done. Perhaps the workers have chosen to begin with the more difficult abutment. The South Shore is much more roomy, a more gradual slope leading down to the crater. Concrete will be a’flowin. The two middle-of-the-river piers remain in place… for now.

Early this week there were reports of a rather large aspen fell by beaver. Coming out of the tree line by the labyrinth. A closer inspection reveals that yes, the beavers have appeared to be quite busy around that area. In the surrounding tall grass has super-highway beaver trails leading from The Millpond up to where the tree was taken down by the Labyrinth. No sight of the lodge, though. Perhaps it is the bank beaver by the footbridge. Perhaps it is a beaver up Skate Creek. Bark eatin’ galore. In this photograph of the freshly fallen tree you may note the abundance of slugs. Sluggin’ on the beaver drool?

Fourth of July Saturday at it was decided that a DRUM CIRCLE was to be attempted the following Saturday. This was this past Saturday. Right around 8pm a handful of Wanakeners descended upon ZPARK around a modest campfire with percussion-able objects. It took a few tries, but we got out rhythm and held the beat. A waltz, even! Jack proposed a 5/6 beat… Katie said that doesn’t exist… we tried something else. As the sun went town a rainbow appeared! The drummers hope to collectively drum down the sun every other Saurday. See you on the 25th!

The WANAKENA BOAT LAUNCH…. What the heck is it? A traveler popped in the shop the other day with a map depicting a BOAT LAUNCH symbol in an innacurate place (the town beach)…. You can launch a canoe there, but you can’t park there. And you shouldn’t launch a motorboat there. A lot of folks launch boats and park cars down by Black Waters Café. Lots of people do it. Have been doing it for years. Again…. What/where is THE WANAKENA BOAT LAUNCH? If such a thing exists (which it seems like it does)… then why is there no Aquatic Watershed Steward patrolling this entry point of Cranberry Lake? A BACKPACKERS MAGAZINE article from a couple months ago spoke of a boat launch somewhere down Ranger School Road. The word is getting out. HAVE YOU CALLED THE ADIRONDACK WATERSHED INSTITUTE AND ASKED WHY THERE IS NO WATERSHED STEWARD AT THE WANAKENA BOAT LAUNCH? There are currently NO aquatic invasive species in Cranberry Lake. That is HUGE! We want to try and keep it that way, right? Cranberry Lake has TWO main points of public access: Cranberry Lake State Boat Launch and the Wanakena Boat Launch by Blackwaters Café. If there are TWO points of entry, why is only ONE point of entry being protected? Here’s a shot from the middle of the week… cars lined up, boats out on the lake. No Watershed Steward inspecting watercraft and educating public about Aquatic Invasive Species.

July 15th is a date that will live-on in infamy here in Wanakena. July 15th – right around 5am – THE MICROBURST HIT. KABOOM, WOOOSH… To celebrate this event, a gathering was planned for the Wednesday morning of the 15th at 5:15am. Those in attendance were greeted with cool, calm and quiet mist. Judy H. brought a nice selection of newspaper articles about the microburst. We drank some coffee and swapped stories. The sun was out and the mist cleared away in no time. Happy Saint Swithin’s Day, too.

Down at the Abode we’ve made it past the Fourth of July push. The rest of the summer is ahead of us! The COVID METER still reads “PHASE FOUR”. We still wear facemasks within The Abode and still social distance. Easy enough, people. It’s too bad folks cant really sit and linger comfortably inside the shop, but we’re glad to be open and have plenty of space outside to hang out. The Microburst exhibition “TWENTY FIVE YEARS” remains up on-view through the weekend. Microburst tshirts for sale. Fresh stash of groceries in the shop; cookies, coffee, potato chips and more! Heard through the grapevine there will be a low-key, live, social distanced, musical experiment out in ZPARK this Saturday evening, perhaps 5-7pm. If you know anyone who has a body of artwork they would like to have on display here in Otto’s Abode, shoot us a line. We’d LOVE to chat about exhibiting it.

Two words: SCAVENGER HUNTS. Yes, there are TWO scavenger hunts going-on in the Clifton-Fine Region. The Cranberry Lake Boat Club has organized a “VILLAGE POKER RAMBLE” Scavenger Hunt as a fundraiser for the Clifton Community Library which has organized a Clifton-Fine-wide Scavenger Hunt. Both Scavenger Hunts are open for “play” ALL SUMMER. Find out more via Facebook pages or c’mon down to The Abode to find out more in person.

Blackwaters Café and Trading Post in Wanakena is open for pick-up/take-out Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat 11-6:30 pm. Picnic tables and port-o-john out front! Picnic tables out back by the river, too. Order though their take-out window or better yet do it online at their website www.blackwaterscafe.com

Stone Manor Diner and Motel in Cranberry Lake, Lakeside General Store in Cranberry Lake, UB’s Mercantile & Adirondack Rustics in Oswegatchie, Coffee Fever, Todd Hardware, Adirondack Pharmacy and Circle K in Star Lake, Mountain Gate Redemption near Benson Mines, and Sevey Point remain open for business in one way or another (open, take out, pick up, drop off, etc…). Somebody said Packpasket Adventures is renting rooms. The Clifton-Fine Municipal Golf Course is open seven days a week. Post Offices are open too (Thanks, Mary!) Duck Decoy and MORE showroom open for pop-ins. “Showroom FILLED” 481 Tooly Pond Rd, Cranberry Lake – 315-848-4223. Always beautiful photography at the Wanakena Tracks facebook page. ZOOM Churches, too.

The Clifton Community Library in Cranberry Lake is closed but hosts via Facebook Live bedtime stories most nights read aloud by Ms. Kate the Librarian! Also, from the CCL Facebook page: “Community wide scavenger hunt!!! From Windfall to Oswegatchie, from Fine to Cranberry Lake--put your peepers on and prove you have 2020 Vision!. I'll be putting paper forms in the CL post office shortly, and then hitting the road to drop off paper copies in Wanakena (Otto’s Abode), Star Lake, Newton Falls, and wherever else we can! I hope you have a great time--first prize is $50 to either Todd's, UB's, or Stone Manor. #2020vision Have a GREAT time and remember that you have to enter via the Google Form listed at the top of this sheet.” https://www.facebook.com/cliftoncommunitylibrary/

Hillside Diner in Oswegatchie, Twin Lakes in Star Lake remain temporarily closed.

Kim’s Lost Dog Report: As of today there are NO lost dogs in Wanakena. Someone has found some lost hiking-poles, though. If you’re looking for them.

All for now!

Any questions, comments, concerns, trail condition inquiries, legends, jokes, animal sightings, etc… feel free to email otto@ottosabode.org or call 3158483008 or pop-in the shop! Wanakena Weekly archive here: http://www.ottosabode.org/p/wanakena-weekly.html

Experience is the fruit of the tree of errors. -Portugal