John of Catskills Photography surprised this fellow in his Monticello backyard a few days ago:
Lately I have seen a number of deer in my neighborhood and today I caught this one contemplating a nap in my hammock under our apple trees. He posed for this shot before he went on his way.
Shared in the Watershed Post Flickr group pool.
Above: A three-bedroom ranch house on 14 acres in Hancock that local realtor Leonard Piorkowski hasn't been able to get a bite for, despite a tempting $107,000 sticker price. Photo from listing on Klimchok Real Estate's website.
For some upstate New York landowners, a prime location atop the Marcellus Shale is a potential goldmine. For others, it's more like an albatross.
In today's New York Times, reporter Mireya Navarro digs into the issue of whether the fear of impending gas drilling is scaring off potential homebuyers in the Catskills. Among those she interviews is would-be second-home-buyer Arthur Gillett, who found the prospect of fracking in Sullivan County too rich for his blood:
The Associated Press reports today that the Angel's Gate animal hospice in Delhi is facing legal action from the state Attorney General's office for improperly documented finances, and that owner Susan Marino has decided to shut the hospice down.
Angel's Gate and Marino came under fire last year after the animal-welfare activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filmed disturbing undercover footage at the facility. Marino was later arrested on animal cruelty charges.
Today, the AP reports that Angel's Gate has not properly accounted for over $1 million in donations given to the hospice in the last decade:
Last week, Watershed Post reader Steve Messina got a few shots of a mama bear and her three cubs from a surveillance camera at his camp on Perch Lake Road, near the Pepacton reservoir in Andes. Great picture, if a little close for comfort.
Got bears? Send your photos to [email protected]. Or submit a few photos of Catskills flora and fauna, and earn your "Where The Wild Things Are" badge from the Watershed Post.
Above: On the path up Slide Mountain. Photo by Flickr user LULZ_ in the Watershed Post Flickr pool.
Lark in the Park, the annual hiking-biking-boating-fishing-and-more Catskills festival, kicks off this weekend with a spate of events planned for around the region.
According to organizers: "Since its [2004] inception, the Lark has brought together hundreds of people and dozens of organizations that have participated in hundreds of events, all aimed at heightening awareness of the Catskill Mountain region of New York State."
Above: Kim and Reggie Harris sing "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum," in Albany in 2010.
In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the West Kortright Centre is hosting two concerts this weekend that feature 19th century songs, music, parody and prose about the war and the Civil Rights movement that followed it.
On Thursday, guitar player and singer Reggie Harris will sing his way through a century of struggle against slavery and segregation. (There are some great ditties born of that struggle -- check out Harris's rendition of "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum," above.)
Then on Sunday afternoon, eleven renowned singers and instrumentalists team up to perform "Four Seasons, Four Years," a genre-busting program of music from 1850 to 1965, including Negro spirituals, marching songs, and the complicated art of shape-note singing. (Check out selections from the program in the video below.)
We looked for a photo featuring cauliflower, garlic, pie and beer. We really did. Splendiferous photo of cauliflower by Flickr user Jack Letourneau; published under Creative Commons license.
This weekend offers a plethora of exquisite feast-ivals in homage to the region's agricultural heirlooms: It's cauliflower time in Margaretville, garlic time in Saugerties, Jennie Bell pie time in Accord, and beer time in Andes. All four offer exquisite blends of good eating, eclectic arrays of local wares, and top-notch entertainment.
The "cabbage with a college education," as Twain once styled it, does not inherently connote elegance. Cauliflower Festival organizers confront this dryly on their website: “...one can scarcely imagine children being as entranced by James and the Giant Cauliflower.” That said, they go on to note that the veggie shaped like a brain used to be favored at the royal court served up in ways that would tempt Tony Bourdain.
Above: A section of Opus 40 in Saugerties that was damaged in heavy rains on September 18. Photo by Tad Richards.
On September 18, heavy rains swept across the region, causing widespread electrical outages and severe flooding in several Catskills towns. It's an all-too-familiar drill for many local residents.
The Sullivan County hamlet of Livingston Manor probably bore the brunt of the flooding -- and got its fair share of news coverage. But elsewhere in the Catskills, last week's floods left scars on the landscape.
"Another year, another flood" -- that's the word in the tiny Ulster County town of Denning, which had barely finished rebuilding from Irene's devastations when flooding hit it again last week.
The Denning Denizen, a local blog, is looking for photos of flood damage. Below is one they published on their blog yesterday:
A fire broke out at the Tuthilltown distillery in Gardiner yesterday morning, leaving the roof and upstairs portion of the building damaged.
According to a release from the Ulster County Sheriff's Office, the fire was discovered by an employee:
A lone employee was working in the office area when he heard a rumbling sound coming from the production room. Upon entering the production room he saw flames, at which time he exited the building without incident.
Investigators believe a tank containing alcohol may have ruptured and come into contact with a heat source. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The fire could have been much worse, the Times Herald-Record reports:
Brian Stiscia, assistant fire chief of the Gardiner Fire Department, agreed it was a good thing the spirits were housed elsewhere. If Tuthilltown's inventory — mostly whiskey, gin and vodka — had been stored in the same space as the stills, "it would have been a nightmare."
Shandaken's zoning enforcement officer, Richard Stokes, is in the hot seat after his arrest last week on charges that he groped several waitresses at Rocco's Speakeasy in April. Amid the controversy, Stokes has stepped down from his job.
In an emergency meeting held this morning, the Shandaken town board voted unanimously to accept a request from Stokes to take a leave of absence without pay.
The board has appointed former town ZEO Art Christie to fill the slot temporarily, while they look for a permanent replacement for Stokes.
