One Potato Canon Salute

Barn Cats

We went quite a few years without cats. There was a time when we had about six cats, but a mother and son team of Australian cattle dogs did away with a couple (that’s another story) and we gave the rest away. Since we found out the hard way that Australian cattle dogs can’t abide cats, and we always had at least one Australian cattle dog around, at times as many as three, we’ve steered away from cats. However, despite the rather hazardous situation, about a year ago a feral calico cat with enormous yellow eyes decided our barn was a good place to have kittens.

A true cat person, Dieter tamed the kittens and as they grew into adulthood they continued to live in the barn. Our remaining Australian cattle dog, Ringo isn’t pleased about the situation but we seem to have come to some sort of a truce. Of these three there was a gray and white male-Stig, an orange male, Orange Cat, and an all gray female, Sister Cat. Orange Cat managed to break his leg and we had had to bring him to the vet and have him put to sleep, to the tune of $375 (yet another story). Now two cats remain—Stig and Sister Cat. Cats being cats two weeks ago Sister Cat had kittens. Stig, who was clearly the father, has since been neutered ($200).

There are five kittens in the litter--one gray, three gray and white, and one mysterious solid brown one, the color of a milk chocolate Easter rabbit. Wolfie is in charge of taming the kittens. If he succeeds he will be allowed to keep the brown kitten. We hope to find homes for the others. Sister Cat will be spayed once the kittens are weaned. 


You might be thinking that all of this is getting rather expensive. It is. Fortunately we have a benefactor--Dieter’s mother Jean. Also cat people, she and Dieter’s father Charly possess two neurotic yellow tiger cats Jean rescued as tiny kittens from a junkyard in the pouring rain. Wonder if the brown kitten is a male or female? 

Bonaire Video

Bonarie Video

Valley Malt

Spent the morning with Andrea of Valley Malt http://www.valleymalt.com/ in Hadley, Massachusetts. With her 2 year old daughter Sara on her hip she showed us around their malting facility and fields planted with malt barley and we learned a lot.

Hadley is a different place from where we live where there is a constant battle between farmland and suburban sprawl. In Hadley everyone lives along the road and the land behind the houses all remains in agriculture and is referred to locally as “the old meadow.” Located in an oxbow of the Connecticut River this land is very fertile and has been farmed since the Native Americans lived there. The soil is a type known as Haldey Loam and is one of the better sandy loam soils in the country.

Andrea and her husband grow malt barley on about 40 acres of land in Hadley. Behind their malt house they have another five acres which they rent from a neighbor. This is where they do field trials. In addition to malting barley they raise themselves organically they buy barley from other organic farmers. In their malting facility barley kernels are steeped in water, then germinated, releasing the sugars. The barley is then “kilned” which essentially means dried. The Malt House, which started production in 2010, sells the locally grown barley to craft brewers through the Northeast

Chimney Rock

Pillar/Chimney Rock No More

You know you are old when events of geological significance begin to occur during your lifetime. As long as most alive can remember there has been a column of rock rising up at the base of the Helderberg Escarpment known by many as Pillar or Chimney Rock. It was actually once part of escarpment. Over who knows how many years, a crevice eroded away between the giant tower of rock and the cliff it was once attached to and eventually it stood on its own as a towering column as high as the cliff itself. A couple of days ago it fell down.

News traveled fast in our neighborhood, which lies along the base of the mountain. Many of us who live here have grown up here and spent a lifetime studying the cliffs in all seasons. We don’t know yet of anyone who heard it fall but one neighbor, Dwight Anderson, who lives on the flats right below the section of the escarpment where Pillar Rock had stood, came home one day and thought something seemed strange. He studied his environs and soon determined that Pillar Rock, which was visible from his back door, was gone. He called another neighbor, Tim Albright with the news. Yesterday Tim called my husband, and that’s how I found out. This morning my husband went down the road to take a look and it is true—Pillar Rock is no more.

Pillar Rock stood near the base of Yellow Rock Falls, an area which is in Thacher Park but is not accessible to the public. As teenagers however we frequently set out from our own backyards and climbed up to the base of the escarpment. The huge, limestone blocks of staggering size that litter the slope beneath the cliffs had fallen once, as Pillar Rock would eventually do. We spent hours scrabbling amongst these enormous boulders as big as cars and along the Upper and Lower Bear Paths that run the length of the escarpment.  It was possible to walk along a narrow path in between Pillar Rock and the cliff and of course we did.

If you want to learn more about Thacher Park, check out the book of antique photographs I helped Tim Albright put together, John Boyd Thacher Park and the Indian Ladder Region   http://www.amazon.com/Thacher-Indian-Ladder-Region-America/dp/0738575968

Also, this Saturday local people will have a chance to talk to state officials about what we think the future should hold for Thacher Park. The state folks will be at the Emma Treadwell Nature Center on Saturday, April 28 from 9 to 5 to hear comments. http://nysparks.com/events/event-results.aspx?nc=8

Confident Warblers, Barracudas, Flat Tires and Dutch Cheese

One of the best things about Bonaire is the abundance of Belgian and Dutch beer and excellent cheeses which make a good lunch or happy hour snack. There is a giant Dutch grocery store here called Van Der Tweel which has an incredible selection of cheese.

We have been combing the west coast of the island, snorkeling at various spots along the way. A trip to an abandoned fishing village introduced us to the island’s Yellow Warbler, described in the island bird book as “Very Confident”. Our truck was swarmed by these little birds who were intent on fighting their reflections in the side mirrors.

Snorkeling this morning, Dieter and Wolfie saw a very big barracuda, Dieter actually swam with it for awhile. Happily I did not see it. I was lucky enough to be the only one to see a ray. The other day, thanks to Wolfie’s sharp eyes, we all saw a turtle.

We went to Washington Slaagbaai Park today, careening around back roads in our trusty pick up. Dieter was able to make a video that you all should find interesting of a Caracara bird eating a dead goat. We found a great isolated beach. It even had a cave Wolfie and I were able to use as a changing room. The water over the coral was so shallow though we felt like we were swimming in a fish tank and had to got out. That is when Dieter almost stepped on a poor little striped eel. We got back up to the top of the cliff to find the trusty truck had a flat tire. Fortunately Dieter was able to change the tire without too much trouble.

Oh, one more exciting thing, Wolfie is now drinking espresso!