I live in Willow New York
Part of the Town of Woodstock
Surrounded by the Catskill Mountains
It's part of the Catskill New YorK State Park
with peaks thirty two to forty two hundred feet high
in a flat valley some seven hundred fifty feet above sea level.
We are protected by the mountains
and we're over 100 miles from the ocean.
We have lots of hedges, trees and bushes
and real green grass that get plenty of rain --
so we don't have to worry about forest fires,
mudslides, toronados, or hurricans.
We have a lot of tall trees around the property
which is fenced in with hedges.
The views are really beautiful.
It gets very cold here in winter
especially after Christmas,
and warm in summer
but cools off at night
or when there is a storm.
Usually 10 to 15 degrees
cooler than Kingston, NY.
By the end of February --
some skyers wear shorts!
We had a stream which cut through our back yard when it rained
and which seeped into the basement and flooded it
before the highway department diverted it.
Another stream bounds our property
across the road - it runs all year.
Out back is a stone fire place and grill.
Beyond is a summer house for sitting and eating.
Across the dry stream is a regulation size tennis court.
And beside it is a winterized cabin with a porch.
There are sheds for lawn mowers and tools
and a carriage house with a storage attic
and a two car garage.
There is a Post Office within 200 feet.
Four different roads come together at the corner.
There are quite a few good neighbors on each road.
We are 3 miles from the Lake Hill fire station,
and 7 miles from Woodstock and their rescue squad.
And it's between 17 and 20 miles from Willow to Kingston,
two hospitals and the south bound thruway entrance,
92 miles going south to New York City.
It is 23 miles to Saugerties and the north bound thruway,
which leads to Albany some 35 miles further north.
Outside of the Post Office there is little social life here.
The Adirondack - Pine Hill Trailways Buses come through here
each way some three or four times a day, to Kingston and beyond,
on State Route 212, about 1000 feet down the road from our house.
It's a milk run - they stop anywhere to pick up or drop off people.
Through Lake Hill, Shady, Bearsville, Woodstock, and West Hurley.
The other way, Mt. Tremper to Route 28 south to Boiceville, 5 miles,
Mt. Tremper, Route 28, north thru Mt. Pleasant to Phonicia, 15 miles.
My daughter and I have a good home here,
thanks to my dear departed wife Ruthe and her family.
It costs me a lot of money just to keep it --
some $8,000 a year in school and general taxes
and a lot more for oil, propane, and electric heating,
and cutting grass and hedges, maintenance
and painting as needed.
I use electric heat as much as possible.
It has not gone up nearly as much as oil or propane.
Made with 51% coal, 20% nuclear and maybe some hydro power.
Now that my wife is gone,
I like meeting people, making friends
and being with my daugher.
I'm not good at remembering faces or names
unless I can write them down and get a photo.
Most important is getting their phone number!
And maybe their E-mail address.
I really enjoy living with my two Cock-a-Pooh dogs.
They need to be let out, fed, petted, brushed
and taken to the vet and the dog groomer!
They sleep on the bed or very near by
give me a kiss and warn of strangers.
There are a number of good restaurants in the area.
And I particularly like being with women
whom I can entertain as often as I wish
and spend money on them like mad!
I like to play chess - come try me!
Please call first: 845-679-2989.
I will take you out to dinner
if you can beat me.
My girl friend is 5' 1½" tall, green eyes, brown hair
and only weights a mere 112 pounds.
Says she loves me!
Fits my dreams
perfectly!
I love being in love
and fantasize about being loved.
Puts me to sleep when nothing else works.
But crazy things can happen - like never before!
I mailed my tax forms without even signing them!
And forgot to mail the School Taxes due 10/16/08!
I got caught unexpectly out of town - out of state,
when people who come to work here were left in the lurch.
I really have to get organized!
And I forgot a dinner date
on a friends birthday!
I'm pretty bad!
But I like doing things - like
I have some new hobbies
creating web pages
and writing!
I have a good knowledge of HTML markup
and can create just about any static web page.
I am also able to create forms and feedback scripts
which execute on the server
and can turn feedback
into E-mails.
I am starting to work on MySQL database applications--
such as an online store or membership application.
Eventially, I will begin to use JavaScript
to create dynamic AJAX web pages.
I write poetry about my dogs
and an autobiography.
I think - I know - I want to publish.
If I can't find an agent or a publisher
at least I can put my material on the Internet!
I haven't had any success trying to sell web pages for free
(to gain word-of-mouth advertising.)
I don't need the money--
Just for the fun of it!
I read poems Monday evenings,
at the Colony Restaurant's Poetry Night.
First - several times in September, 2008
Then October 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th.
and possibly last in November, 2008.
I will find other places to go and read my poems.
Maybe I will find out how to get on the lecture circuit
and get a business going that way.
I plan to start going to the golf driving range in Kingston
and getting more exercise so I can get my weight down
and stop taking blood pressure medicine.
I am thinking of throwing parties at my house
and invite all of the neighbors to come
and bring their pets to visit my dogs,
play cards, listen to music and poetry.
They can park across the road on our lot.
I would serve cheese, crackers, wine,
champaign, and some other food.
I don't care if it costs a bit much.
I don't have too many years left to enjoy it.
I know my daughter would really like that too!
Maybe I should convert the swimming pool to a flat bottom
gallery where people can sit and play cards, etc.
I might have private bridge games.
I couldn't charge anything --
could ask for contributions
to cover the cost of food,
but no liquor of course.
Would have to change the steps going down to the lower level.
I would have to put in a pair of studs going up to the rafters
and cut off the header going across above the steps
so people would not hit their heads.
Willow Winds Enterprise was my wife's business name.
She operated an antique business at Winchell's Corners, Shokan.
She called our home in Willow, "Willow Winds"
There are a lot of white birch trees
on our lot across the road,
and catalpa and other trees
and you can hear the winds
blowing through the trees.
We have an old farm house dating to about 1875
which Ruthe's father bought in four transactions in 1937.
Had to buy them through third parties - because
the local Dutch wouldn't sell to Jews.
It use to have a wrap around porch - he took off half of it
and added a room to shoot billards, called it the "mens room."
Opened up the living room into the hallway-stairway,
added a dry bar under the stairway - to serve liquor
and put in pine covered walls and beamed ceilings
replaced propane floor heaters with an oil boiler
and added a big stone fireplace,
ripped off the back entrance
and built a 12 by 20 foot kitchen and
a 12 by 12 foot screened-in stone patio,
and added a two car garage to the carriage house.
When I came there there were five dog runs
out the back of the carriage house.
I eliminated the dog runs,
shored up the building,
added insulation
and wood interior.
The dirt floor basement used to flood
four feet deep without a sump pump.
In the basement he built a concrete enclosure
to protect a large freezer chest for his beef,
and added a concrete base for a butcher table
so he could cut up a side of beef into two inch thick steaks
and take them outside to a stone fire place and grill
and share them, entertaining large numbers of his extended family.
After I retired we kept the apartment in New York City for five years
till they evicted us because it was no longer our primary residence--
it was a rent stablized apartment--
We had moved to our summer and weekend home in Willow, NY.
We added a 15' by 31' green room to contain our New York furniture.
It was a good thing we were evicted since we were rarely there
more than once or twice a month.
I ran underground water lines to the cabin
so it conld be winterized.
When Ruthe got sick and could not get enough exercise
We built an enclosed swimming pool so she could do water exercises.
The pool house, 50' by 25' wide, 18' high - the pool was 12' by 30'.
These helped keep her alive the better part of the last 10 years.
We have a great neighborhood here in Willow.
The James Cox Art Gallery and Auction House
is just around the corner on Route 212.
And Arthur Vogal's Willow Auto Garage is there too.
He restores ventage cars!
The Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary is located here.
They operate a charity for abused and neglected farm animals.
The owners are themselves Vegan Vegetarians.
And every year Edward Fesseden at the four corners
has a great apple cider pressing party for all the neighbors.
About the twenty-eighth of September!
You just bring your own jugs!
His cider mill and press date to 1875
and is driven by a two-cycle gasolene engine.
He had another similar engine driving an ice cream maker.
His started with 12 to 15 bushels of apples - had a half dozen left.
There was plenty of regular picknicking food available.
The party lasted from 2 PM to at least 9 PM!
I brought home two gallons of apple cider.
His family dates back to the 1860s.
His wife made a family tree in tiles out back.
Other neighbors participate in our volunteer
fire department rescue squad.
I just can't believe
that 47% of Americans
want Republicans to control our democracy!
They want to give
more power and money
to their rich and powerful friends!
Which would surly destroy our democracy!
No individual should be allowed to control
more than 1000 times as great resources as
the average person!
Corporations are a fictitious "person" and should not
have any greater power to vote or give money to political parties
than a real person.
They should also be required to recogize labor unions.
Where corporations are 50% or more owned by other corporations
they should loose the right to vote or give money to political parties.
There are a lot of changes I would like to make.
I don't expect to accomplish any of them in my lifetime.
First, I believe there are two many levels of government.
When our country was put together transportation was by horseback.
People did not want to travel more than four or five hours to get somewhere.
As a result states were divided into counties and townships, cities and villages.
Now we have multiple levels of law makers, administrators, judges, and police.
We need to get rid of this overburden of control and cost.
Only the state should be able to pass laws and they should apply everywhere.
Eliminate all local government.
State and Federal law makers should be elected by proportional representation
to stop the control of the two party system which is slow to respond.
Finally, if children are used in performances
as in the theater, on stage, television, or commercials
the producers should be required by law to provide videos
of their performances at cost to the parents for their personal use
and any labor or other contracts which prevent this should be outlawed.
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The End