David Blount @ The Dawg

A flurry of spoons that was faster than the eye could see.  Always a pleasure to watch David as well as the other musicians jammin at the Dancin Dawg....


David Blount from p guston on Vimeo.

Budman's February Activities

Updated on February 7th 2009
This month is shaping up to be anti-cabin fever month.  Lots of outdoor activities to help you get over those winter blahhhhhhhhhs.  The Budman's prescription for the fever:

• Broomball Tournament.
• Ice Auger Drilling Contest.
• Golf Tournament.
• Polar Poker Run/Walk.
• Chicken and Biscuit Dinner.
• Silent Auction.

Sounds like what the Doctor orderd.  All the proceeds will be added into The Budman's grand total to be given to the River Hospital.

 Snow Golf Course Layout

Buckwheat Zydeco

Ya YA
Lighten up all you political bloggers------Take a Chill Pill------------NJoy duh music---------Fat Tuesday jus round da cOrnurrr

Heart of Winter Art Show and Chocolate Reception

Macsherry Library, Alexandria Bay is hosting the 6th annual Heart of Winter Art Show and Chocolate Reception in the Community Gallery on Saturday, February 7 from 1:30 to 5pm. This event is open to the public.

Categories on display are;

• Visual Art: Painting, drawing, mixed media, collage, photograph
• 3 Dimensional Art: Sculpture, wall hanging
• Haiku or Poems 

Chocolate treats are in the Community Gallery.

Point of Contact - Sue-Ryn Burns 315.482.2985

Thanks to Ron Spooner for sending me this info. 

Snow Blowing

........can be a time for reflection.  I blew out my sidewalk and both neighbors sidewalks.  I figure that is over 300 feet of sidewalk.  Here is what I mulled over while snowblowing.  I thought about what abay.com said about ticketing cars parked on the streets during the winter months.  I thought about some of the summer time issues that have been brought up about people not mowing their lawns and how the VB would send out letters reminding them that their lawns had grown above the max. height.  Hmmmmmm.... Tall grass on someones property is not much of a hazard to a pedestrian..................is it?

The inconsistency of our local politicians amazes me.  I will get around to the other nights VB meeting soon..........

Tonights VB Meeting Jan 27 2009

I have broken down the audio into 2 parts.  The first is the public concerns section of the VB meeting.  Tonight Richard Drake spoke.  I followed Mr Drake move your slider to 2:38 to hear what I had to say about the snow removal at the crosswalk that is used by many pedestrians, young and old.
Click here for a very short audio clip. 

The rest of the VB meeting audio can be heard by clicking this link.

More later.......

Achtung Baby?

Dynamic Blondes?  WTF?  Jefferson Democrat went on to refer to them as Senator Kirsten and Assemblywoman Addie.  Holy Cow, have you lost total respect for these PEOPLE.  Has Jefferson Democrat totally lost their collective mind?  Give me a GD break.  If JD is going to refer to our politicians then it should be Senator Gillibrand and Assemblywoman Russell.  Have a little respect and leave the hair color out of it...........JD this post was absolutely wrong...........what were you thinking?

Perfect way to end the weekend

Mooda, a friend of mine from the old college days sent this to me.  He is a huge music fanatic.  He called this obscure and I think he is keyrect.



enjoy

Issues Of Concern

The following is a list of actions that the VB has granted at my/our request.  Why do I say my/our?  Because they did not benefit me personally.  I requested them because I believed they would make our village a better place to live or enhance our guests/tourist stay in our little resort village.  This topic was another part of the Wednesday discussion that the mayor and I had.  The mayor brought this up by saying "we [the VB] have granted all of the requests that you [JC/PG] have made at the meetings, most of them were nonsense.....".  "We [the VB] have done what you have wanted, why do you keep writing about us on the internet".
I wonder which one of these the mayor was referring to?  The following is in no particular order.

1. Clean up Goose Poop Park.
2. Clean up the debris at the Village Beach.
3. Add more trash receptacles in the downtown area.
4. Increase the emptying of those trash recepticles on the busier days.
5. Place doggy doo dispensers for the tourists.  Yes I use those too!
6. Repair the crosswalk at the intersection of Church and Northern.  This was being done at other intersections in the village.
7. Repair the wire that was hanging at knee level in front of the old COC.
8. Examine the storm drains in front of my house on Church St.  This storm water has over flowed onto church st and wreaked havoc with my basement and 2 adjacent neighbors basements.  OK OK this was a personal request.
9. Remove the 4 ft snow pile at the crosswalk of Church St and RT12.
10. Voiced concern over the parking spaces at the intersections of Rock/Walton and Church Sts.
11. Asked the VB twice for clarification on the Village PD renovation project.   etc etc.

I have always thanked the VB for their co-operation and acting on these public concerns.  I figured that was my only obligation to them.  Instead they were expecting me to close my blog and stop posting topics about things that I thought were wrong or needed attention.
I guess I never realized that there was a price tag affixed to any request made of the VB. It seems that the price I was expected to pay was to sacrafice the first amendment: a right to freedom of speech and freedom of press.

Gouverneur PD

Here is an article in Todays WDT and it sounds oh so familiar!  The VB up there wants to not fill  a vacant patrolmans position, eliminate a dispatchers job and and cut the Chief of Police position to half time.  History is repeating itself.

More Criticism From The Mayor

Several months ago the VB wanted to spend $6000 from the Municipal Building Fund [MBF] which at the time had over $100,000.  I was not completely opposed to spending that money on renovating the Police Dept.  BUT,  the mayor was not being very clear as to what renovations would take place.  He said that the money in the MBF could only be used for projects like the renovation of the VPD.  So in effect we [ the taxpayers] should spend it.  As the mayor tried to explain what renovations would take place, I suggested, why not walk down the hall to the PD and take a look at the proposal.  I was IGNORED by the mayor and the board.  Two weeks later at the next VB meeting, this issue came up again.  And Again I suggested that we just walk down the hall and take a look.  Persistence paid off and we all took a field trip.  BS CS KD and a few others looked around.  It seemed like a reasonable project.  Afterall the money from the MBF, according to the mayor, can not be used for anything else but projects like this.  And it is ONLY $6,000 out of the $100,000+ MBF.  So, I gave it my own little rubber stamp of approval in this blog.  After all what could possibly go wrong!

Here is what went wrong!  The projected local, state, and national economic woes worsened.  The renovation project stalled because the material list supplied by the village to Garlocks was wrong.  Wrong doors, wrong tiles and who knows what else!  Keep in mind that this $6000 project is $3000 for labor and $3000 for materials.   I am hearing that the labor had to be supplemented with some help from the DPW.

So I announced on this blog that maybe this renovation project was not a good idea, maybe it could have been post poned till the end of the year.  Just to see what the village finances would look like.  During our discussion this past wednesday, the Mayor was very critical of me for posting on my blog that I had changed my mind about this renovation project.   I stated to him  what I have just told all of you.  And then I asked the mayor this question.  Isn't it true that emergency spending measures can be implemented very easily to move money from the MBF to where it might be needed?  The answer to that is YES!  So all this boooolshit about we can't spend that MBF money anywhere else is just some more pee down our backs!

I do not know why the mayor gets upset with me,  he claims that he and most others do not read the crap in the forums and blogs.  {Shrug}........whatever..............

Another thought for all to ponder.  I am not commenting nor am I attacking the mayor or any politician as a person.  I will not comment on their personal life, family, friends, religion or anything else that is personal or private to them.  My comments are directed to the people that make up our local governments as politicians.

Mr Mayor Are You Pissin Down My Back?

The mayor is quite annoyed with me!  He thinks I wrote about him not being at the shared services workshop on the homepage of abay.com  Here is the link to what Chris Williams wrote.
I did not write that! Got It?  It was not hard for Chris or anyone else to figure out you were not at that meeting.
>
Mr. Mayor you told me on wednesday that you could not attend that meeting because you were at some other super secret meeting on the same night as the shared services meeting.  You also told me that the only thing you want to share with the town is equipment, fuel and some salt and that you do not want it to go any further than that. 
>
Maybe that is why  you had no intention of going to the shared services meeting in the first place.  Below is the audio from the Dec. 23rd 2008 VB meeting where you very happily find a way of not going............Everyone listen to it carefully.


wear your boots from p guston on Vimeo.


Mr Mayor,
In your own low tech version way of blogging, you keep telling everyone what an asshole I am.  Thats right, there are no secrets, word has gotten back to me!  
So keep pissin down our backs and tellin us that it is raining out.  And while your doing that, allow me to take just a little bite out of your a$$.

wipe with this:

BTW  I am not all gung ho about the shared services and all that it entails.  But I am willing to keep an open mind while we all discover the pros and cons.

Abay Govt. Trivia

Back in the late 1950's the Town of Alexandria Supervisor was also the Mayor of Alexandria Bay.
Any guesses?

Click this link to find the answer.

Shared Services Workshop

Members from both boards were present at a workshop to discuss shared services.  Martha Millett , Doug Williams, and Dale Hunneyman represented the town.   The village sent  trustees Cindy Chaltain and Steve Jarvis.
>
The audio of this discussion can be found by clicking here. 
>

This is the first workshop to discuss sharing of services between the Village and Town.  Obviously one service can not be shared,  the Village Police Dept.  Nothing else is sacred in the sharing is caring department.  Playing nicely together will help us share in the Planning and Zoning Boards, Village and Town Justice and the mingling of the Village DPW and Town Highway Dept.  The DPW and Highway Dept[s] could see one supervisor with the possibility of early retirement incentives for some of the employees in both departments.  The dissolution of the Village Board was also discussed with the creation of a Municipal Board.

None of this happens with the wave of  a magic wand and the uttering of bibbitybobbityboo!  Lots of planning, communicating, more planning, research, more communicating, and even more research is needed for the shared services concepts to succeed.  More on these workshops as they occur.
>
Later Added:  Another very important part of this process is community attendance and constructive input.
>

Regular Town Meeting audio can be found by by clicking here

Norwegian Air travel

A friend of mine sent me this video and I have watched it non stop all day.  It is unbelievable,,,,,ya have to watch it to believe it.........


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Castle Cable Channel 4

 ****Added Today****

The sound is back on!!!!

CC called our house to let us know that the sound was back on 4
Thank you CC

I put this same topic up over at abay.com.  But I know that there are a few of you out there that have vowed never to step foot in the forums ever again.  Whatever!


If you turn to channel 4 you will notice there is NO SOUND!


Thats right NO GD SOUND.  I called CC and reported the problem.  She said " I will make a note of that problem".  I reminded her that the sound had been out for several days.........pg jr brought that to my attention. 


Give CASTLE CABLE a call @ 482-9975 and let them know about this problem......I plan on calling them every couple of hours........

Like The Weather

10,000 Maniacs plus me makes 10,001

Thank You DPW

On my way to work this morning, I saw bright headlights at the intersection of 12 and Church St.  It was the village front end loader clearing the 4 foot snow back that blocked the cross walk.  Thank you to all responsible.  Now if we can get the owner of the laundromat to shovel his sidewalk.   

It is the right thing to do!

Unless you do not have a conscience!

A Poem About This Wonderful Season

I found this beautiful winter poem and thought it might be a comfort to all of you.  

It was sent to me and it's very well written and I hope that you enjoy it too . 

' WINTER '
by Abigail Elizabeth McIntyre 

Shit It's Cold
The End

Political IV Anonymous Said

Here is a message for all you anonyholes

"Why don't you say something righteous
and hopeful for a change"

VB Meeting Jan 13 2008

Missed It!  I have had a stomach bug for the past couple of days.  Thought I was going to feel better but felt like crap again today.  Sorry to say no audio from tonights meeting.  But I will be going to the Town Meeting tomorrow night at 6pm.  I did send one of our operatives to the meeting tonight and just received a briefing from her.  Don't worry VB I am alive and well and will return for the next meeting.

Political Correctness

Curmudgeon sent this quote and I thought I would share it with you........if the shoe fits!

"Political correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

It is Winter

.....and with winter comes >>>>>>>>>>>>Snow!  We seem to be getting lots of it.  As I said in a previous post,  I walked downtown the other night and for the most part the side walks were clear of all snow...except one .........

Winter sidewalks from p guston on Vimeo.

So Why DO I Blog?

I certainly ask myself that question every time I push the publish post button. I respond to topics that get my attention, move me, piss me off, or might piss you off.  I do not blog to regurgitate the news that someone else has already written about.  I do not crawl around the World Wide fuckin Web to find stories that I think you should know about. I could give a flyin fuck whether you comment on my posts or if you pick a fight with someone else who made a comment.  There are enough of those blogs kickin around the WWW. I do what I want, when I want, to who I want.

So if your a relative, neighbor,  fellow parishioner, co-worker, local politician, political coat-tail ridin wannabe.... and your just itchin to hijack my thoughts and divert what I have to say so that your cancerous thoughts can prevail............FORGET ABOUT IT! 


All the above is in response to a statement made to me today:  that we bloggers need to get busy and should be posting more political stuff [Joe the Homeless, North Country Liberal and Small Town America have taken a hiatus]....... is that what you were looking for Pat Y. ?

Congressman Steve Israel

Gary Williams and I traveled to Watertown this afternoon to meet with Congressman Steve Israel.  Interesting person, well spoken, sharp dresser, and clean cut.  He was born and raised in Brooklyn and now lives on LongGGgg Island.  I know what Political IV would have to say about that........another Democrat that is a NYC  based politician that will divert upstate money to the Big Apple.  I am not blogging to say that Israel will or will not remember the North Country after his departure this evening.  I have no idea whether he will act on our best interests.  Either way it is simply out of our hands........this is entirely up to Gov. Paterson.

Israel seems down to earth and he drinks beer and looks as though he not only enjoyed the beer but our company.  What else can I say........until last night, when I started a frantic search on google......I had never ever heard of him.  Maybe he will become a friend to the North Country just like one of my college buddies who is from LongGGgg Island is still my friend today.



Video from today courtesy of Jefferson Democrat

More about Steve Israel

Music Mode

My friend Mooda just sent me a youtube link.  This eclectic group of musicians is amazing!  Sit back and enjoy.............

Frigid Frosty Freezin Friday

 I put the winter boots on along with a fleece lined pair of pants and trudged on downtown.  I only had to walk in the road once because a sidewalk was not cleared of snow, but more on that later in another topic!  I ventured on to Skiffs to meet my friend Curmudgeon.  While I was waiting for him to show, I ran into Mike and Tracey.  Fellow posters from Abay.com.  They were up for the BCYB boaters party.  Good to see you both!  Cur showed and we shared some peanuts, a couple of beers for me and a couple of NA's for him.  I took some ribbing from a couple of my friends, when my wife showed up.  What can I say,  she and I are like PB & J.......and no she did not show up to "clip my wings"!  I had a nice chat with Critter and another Buddy [ who does not like to be mentioned or photographed]. 

I bundled back up and headed home.  Well sort of!  I had to make a pit stop at the Dancin Dog.  I bellied up to the bar and shot the bull with my friend Ron Waterson.  He was not staying long because he promised his wife he would be home for dinner.......shortly.  A promise soon to be broken when he was lured onto the stage by MXG and DG aka the Dog Brothers.  Without any further delay............
Here's Ronny


Ron Waterson from p guston on Vimeo.

Here is a video from a few weeks ago of Ron's brother Bob.  Now if we can get the 2 of them to play together! 
Bob Waterson Jammin @ The Dog

Village & Town Shared Services

Rescheduled to Jan 20 @ 5pm:

 The village and town officials will have a workshop to discuss sharing services.

NYS DOT TanDUMB Snow-Plowing

What were these guys thinking when they came up with this idea!  Putting 2 snow plows side by side on I-81 traveling at 35 mph.  Have any of you seen this yet?  Don't get me wrong,  I have no problem traveling at 35 mph or slower if that is the reasonable and prudent speed to be traveling during bad weather.  I also believe in giving the other vehicles in front of me a whopping 10 mississippi distance instead of the 3 or 5 recommended by the insurance companies.  Today I got caught in the middle of  this and it created a moving traffic congestion of road rage tailgating  motorists.  This has all the ingredients of multiple fatalities and I hope to be heading in the other direction when it occurs.

Shared Services With Town Meeting

CXL DUE TO WEATHER

Village Trustees Chaltain and Jarvis will be meeting @ 5pm on January 7th 2009 @ The Town Offices on Old Goose Bay Road to discuss shared services with Town officials. The Town of Alexandria Organizational Meeting will follow @ 6pm.  This is an open meeting for the general public.

This is a brainstorming session. Some of the areas possibly to be shared are as follows:

Planning Board

Zoning Board

Justices/Court

DPW

Although, one thing was not mentioned. The possibility of consolidating the 2 governing bodies to eliminate the potential of Bureaucratic B.S. in the form of territorial interference.......


Neither the Town or Village web sites have any info on these meetings.  Kind of a shame that they both spent over $1000.00 each on this technology and neither of them can maintain their sites.  Maybe not a lot of people check them for info, but a few of us do.

The Death of Another Blog?

Danger Democrat died a few months ago only to be resurrected as Jefferson Democrat.
 I went to visit Positively Alex Bay Blog and got this message:

Blog has been removed

Sorry, the blog at positivelyalexbay.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.

Did you expect to see your blog here? See: 'I can't find my blog on the Web, where is it?'

Is it a glitch in blogger.com or worse?

Ken Nordine>> Word Jazz

Some people like to bicker

I'M TIRED OF.........

Some of my resolutions as expressed by Tim Wilson