Happy Thursday!
WITHIN NUTSHELL – Oh man! It got cold again! After a very nice WARM couple of days – we lost a lot of snow pack - Wanakena dipped back below zero for a couple of nights. Got a fresh dusting of snow over the past weekend, too. Blackie the Cat left some prints in the snow dusting – keep on rovin’, cat! Pretty good wind gusts, too! Warmed right-back-up again, though! Grass is showing in some spots. Still, many giant snow mounds abound. Moon’s a’waxin. Blue jays, redwing blackbirds, even evening grosbeaks! Ski trails should be pretty sloppy at this point. Snowmobile trails, too. Cranberry Lake Ice Out Contest ended this past Wednesday. The ice on the lake is pretty thick, still! Paul Smiths College’s Adirondack Watershed Institute is hiring Watershed Stewards to check boats for invasive Species – get paid to hang out at the boat launch! Stone Manor Diner and Motel is CLOSED for the next two weeks and will re-open Wednesday, March 31st. Here’s a link to the most recent town board meeting minutes (03/10/21): HERE
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY BURN BAN – A burn ban is in effect from March 16th through May 14th in St. Lawrence County and the rest of the state according to the DEC. Open burning is prohibited in NY, with several exceptions: Campfires less tham 3 feet in height and 4 feet in length, width and diameter are allowed; small cooking fires are allowed; fires cannot be left unattended and must be filly extinguished; only charcoal, or clean, untreated or unpainted wood can be burned; Ceremonial or celebratory bonfires are allowed. In towns with a total population less than 20,000 you may burn tree limbs with attached leaves. The limbs must be less than 6 inches in diameter and 8 feet in length (also refered to as brush). However, this is NOT allowed from March 16th – May 14th due to increased risk of wildfire.
UP THE FROZEN RAPIDS - The ICE JAM DANGER remains LOW. The highest risk for an Ice Jam was last week sometime during the thaw and rain. That has passed, and now the river slices through the ice in a smooth and orderly fashion.
FORTHCOMING – After Friday it looks like a LONG stretch of warm weather on the way. Daytime temps up in the 50s, nighttime temps in the 20s and 30s. Spring Fling, anyone? 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 Also, always beautiful photography at the Wanakena Tracks facebook page
DOWN AT THE ABODE – We’ve already got a couple of submissions for the JUNK DRAWER show! You’ve still got a couple of weeks for the March 28th deadline! DIG IN THOSE JUNK DRAWERS FOR THE GOOD STUFF AND BRING IT DOWN! More information below. PAINTING SALE - 15% OFF JUDY JAMES ORIGINAL PAINTINGS. A painting that was $120 is now $102 – That’s $18 off! Judy James is a Keene Valley, NY painter. We met her this past fall when she was doing The Fifty – she was wearing three hats! We had the windows open recently and the fresh air blowing through the Abode was WONDRFUL! This time last year we closed-up for Covid. We had a St. Patrick’s Day party planned and everything. Remember this? THIS MONDAY! OTTO’S ABODE IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE: A CELTIC CEILIDH. Monday, March 16th 6:30-9pm, Rick Kovaks and friends will perform LIVE Irish and Scottish tunes and keep the crowd fed with scones and corned beef and cabbage. Refreshments – beer, tea, etc… - will be served! Sound excellent, Rick! So, grab a friend and head on down to Otto’s Abode the Monday evening before St. Patricks’ Day. Event donations accepted ($).
ON VIEW – We’ll call it our JUNK DRAWER. Sometimes you need a place to put things. Uncategorical things. Things you don’t want to put in the trash. Important knickknacks you might need. They don’t really have a place, but now you know where to find them – usually. Five years ago, when Otto’s Abode first opened its doors to the public, we came into possession of some beautiful, old, glass & wood cases that had been used to display merchandise here in the store, some of which for nearly one hundred years. In a world where billion-dollar mega-media corporations hire folks like Marie Condo to tell you to get rid of everything, behold: a small “best-of” selection of GLORIOUS JUNK that has been collected and displayed in the (now) empty case behind you over the past five years.
CALL FOR ART-IFACTS - OTTO’S ABODE, an Adirondack Art-centric Inconvenience Store and Travel Agency, invites YOU to participate in a summer-long exhibition we’re calling THE JUNK DRAWER SHOW. Five years ago, when Otto’s Abode first opened its doors to the public, we came into possession of some beautiful, old, glass & wood cases that had been used to display merchandise here at the old General Store – some of which for nearly one hundred years. Over the past five years, one of these cases became our JUNK DRAWER. It became a place to put uncategorical art-things. Previously exhibited Important art-knickknacks. A JUNK DRAWER for previously exhibited art. Well, we’ve emptied-out our JUNK DRAWER and are looking to fill this now empty, beautiful, wooden and glass case with YOUR submission.
What’s in your junk DRAWER? We invite you to practice your own form of junkology and nudge you to examine THE JUNK DRAWER as a content-rich cultural biome. We encourage you to share your findings with us! We’re looking for JUNK DRAWER goodies such as photographs, tools, oddities, hand-drawn diagrams, dust, poems, treasure, etc… this is just a small list of what we hope you’ll submit to be included in THE JUNK DRAWER SHOW. Please include a written description of WHY you submitted this object; its significance, its story. If the object came from your JUNK DRAWER it most likely fits in the beautiful, glass & wooden case we will exhibit the objects within. We’ve got a photograph of the empty case available for viewing at www.ottosabode.org.
You may drop your submission off to us directly or slap a stamp on it and mail it to: OTTO’S ABODE, PO Box 1, Wanakena, NY 13695. Please include your name, phone number, a brief project description, and any other supportive material. We ask all submissions to be received by us on or before Sunday, March 28th 2021. If applicable, please include compensation for return postage. Submissions will be mailed out or picked-back up by Labor Day Weekend. If you are able, we kindly ask participants to include a suggested $10 donation fee with each submission – thanks! No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Email (ottosabode@gmail.com) or phone us (315-848-3008) with any questions. Otto’s Abode reserves the right to refuse any submission we deem inappropriate or too vulgar. Through we promise to take great care, Otto’s Abode is not responsible for reimbursement of any form for any lost, stolen, or damaged submissions. JOIN US at OTTO’S ABODE, 6 Hamele street, Wanakena, ALL SUMMER-LONG for THE JUNK DRAWER SHOW!
SNOW CROQUET – As you can see in the photograph, we’ve got grass! This is sort of a surprise since usually when you walk (or in our case, play croquet) on the snowpack over and over again you get a dense ice pack. Like on a cross country ski trail in early spring; balance beam of ice. Which reminds us…. The Wanakena Labyrinth is experiencing this ice-balance-beam-phenomenon. Go check it out! It’s in reverse! Where people have walked it is raised up high, where no one walks, it has melted and is lower. REVERSE!!!!!! Unwind the mind…
BLACKWATERS CAFÉ AND TRADING POST - IS OPEN AND HAS ANNOUNCED: Due to C19 and warm winter trends, we will have 2 separate schedules. #1 IF THE SNOWMOBILE TRAILS ARE DECENTLY RIDABLE: we will be open regular days and hours (T, W, Th 8am-3pm. Fri & Sat 8am-7pm. Closed Sunday & Monday). #2 IF THE TRAILS ARE NOT DECENTLY RIDABLE, we will only be open Th 8am-3pm. Fri & Sat 8am-7pm. ***Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we encourage take-out - and WILL NOT let in more than we are allowed. If the door is locked, we are at capacity. But if you’d still like a meal to go, order online and it will be prepared in the order received - or - think ahead and schedule a pickup time. Come in smaller groups. CHECK OUT THEIR TRAIL CAM: https://www.gotsnowcams.com/gotsnowcams.htm
WANAKENA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION – The Wanakena Walking Tour is “closed” for the winter… but deep in the bowels somewhere, some folks are hard at work actualizing the WANAKENA HISTORY CENTER. Here is a message from their website: Five equal partners (made up of groups of families and friends) are forming an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) each pledging $25,000 for a total of $125,000 to own, renovate and restore one of the original Rich Lumber Company houses at 21 Second Street to its original facade. Their dream and intent are to provide a location for a Wanakena History Center where the WHA can continue its mission to encourage greater knowledge of the history and to display and make available for study: artifacts, relics, books, manuscripts, papers, photographs, and other records and materials relating to the history of the State of New York and particularly of Wanakena and the surrounding area.
RANGER SCHOOL - RANGER SCHOOL IS IN SESSION FOR THE 2020/21 SCHOOLYEAR, BUT THE CAMPUS IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC!!! Here’s a message from the Ranger School: The Ranger School's James F. Dubuar Memorial Forest will be closed to the public for an indefinite amount of time beginning Saturday, August 15, 2020. The Cranberry Lake 50 trail, which passes in front of the school, will remain open. This action is necessary to protect students and staff as they begin a new academic year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but it is a critical precaution as we work to ensure the health and success of the Class of 2021. Thank you for your cooperation. Here’s a story about it all: https://www.nny360.com/news/stlawrencecounty/property-sales/article_eeec3094-901a-531a-8a18-ab1b991b3a79.html CHECK OUT THEIR TRAIL CAM: https://www.esf.edu/rangerschool/webcam.htm
WANAKENA CHURCH - CLOSED FOR WINTER! WESTERN ADIRONDACK PRESBATYRIAN CHUCH zoom-zooms every Sunday at 10:45 using meeting #6663654813 and every morning at 9am for a Morning Prayer. WANAKENA CEMETERY ASSOCIATION announced that Cremation Remains burial has gone up from $150 to $250. Also, there is no longer a backhoe charge for cremation burial because they don’t use a backhoe for cremation burials any longer.
NEW CAR BRIDGE - AS OF 11/25/20 THE NEW WANAKENA CAR BRIDGE IS OPEN FOR PUBLIC USE!!!! AS OF 12/22/20 THE TEMPORARY BRIDGE IS FULLY DISMANTLED!!! And as they’ve been saying around Wanakena: WE’LL BE DRIVING OVER THAT NEW BRIDGE IN NO TIME!!!!! And ALAS! WE DO! Now that the bridge is WIDE OPEN, watch out for speedsters!!!
DOCK AND PUBLIC RESTROOM - CLOSED FOR THE SEASON MID NOVEMBER… REASON: FREEZIN’!
HAREWOOD - CLBC ICE OUT CONTEST submissions are done, but watch for that ICE to OUT. Stone Manor Diner and Motel is CLOSED for the next two weeks and will re-open Wednesday, March 31st! The Clifton Community Library will return to curbside service on WEDNESDAY'S ONLY. Tooley Pond Duck Decoy Showroom in Cranberry Lake is OPEN (call first)!!!!!!! John Dragun NEON ARTWORK and MORE down in Windfall… OPEN! Check out the Cranberry Lake Boat Club and The North Shore Hub on Facebook. The Cranberry Lake Fire Department will NOT be checking and facebook-reporting the ice thickness as in years prior: FISH AT YOUR OWN RISK! LAKESIDE GENERAL STORE IN CRANBERRY LAKE IS CLOSED FOR THE LONG WINTER SEASON.
NEWTON FALLS - Robust discussion of Newton Falls on Facebook HERE
OUT WEST - Coffee Fever is back open after a covid/winter hiatus. AMERICAN LEGION has been WIDE OPEN! Todd Hardware, Adirondack Pharmacy and Circle K in Star Lake are OPEN! Though we heard Circle K no longer sells beer! YIKES! UB’s, and Adirondack Rustics in Oswegatchie are OPEN! Community Bank in Star open! Mountain Gate Redemption near Benson Mines is open. There will be NO ICE SKATING AT THE AREANA this winter – cause, ya know: covid. Bargain Hunter says The Town of Fine Offices are CLOSED to the public ‘cause of COVID-19. Coffee Fever IS COVID-CLOSED. Both Twin Lakes and SOS in Star Lake got a fresh paint job but remain temporarily closed since March 2020. The following is copy-pasted from the Fine Town Board Meeting hours from Wednesday 11/11/2020: Jeremy wanted the board to be aware that the Dollar General is looking into putting a store at the former Great American site. This would not be required to go to site plan review since it is not a change of use. HERE IS A RECENT ADIRONDACK ENTERPRISE ARTICLE ABOUT A DOLLAR GENERAL IN WILLMINGTON, NY (NEAR WHITEFACE MOUNTAIN) https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2021/02/plans-submitted-for-wilmington-dollar-general/ HERE’S ANOTHER STORY ABOUT ONE OPENING IN BLOOMINGDALE: https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2021/03/dollar-general-planned-for-bloomingdale/
KIM AND THOMS LOST DOG REPORT: As of today, there are NO lost dogs in Wanakena.
ALL FOR NOW!!!!!!
Any questions, comments, concerns, trail condition inquiries, legends, jokes, animal sightings, cartoons, 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 Also, we probably wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to publish your submission!
"Yf... a serpent be burned and the ashes of it put in ye fyre, anone shall there be a raine bowe with an horible thunder." -Albertus Magnus The Book of the Secrets (13th Century)