Fun and Games Dept

I never thought I would see the day when my husband would bring more iDevices than me to the kitchen table.

The Dunkin’ Donuts I haunt on a daily basis proclaimed to me yesterday that iced tea was now 99¢, no matter what size I ordered. This is a savings of $1.66. The ladies behind the counter were very excited to give me this news as they handed me my pre-fetched large, unsweetened iced tea with lemon.

Hear hear to saving money!

I casually mentioned that the Dunkin’ Donuts closest to the house, which is 55 miles away and obviously owned by a different franchisee, has been doing the 99¢ thing for quite a while. I smiled while I said it but they had a look of panic and then shock, like I had just peed in my tea or something. This concerned me because I felt like I had just told them that I had been cheating on them by going to another DD and like a typical man, I kind of like having my tea ready when I walk into the Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s an ego thing. It’s kind of like having supper cooking when I get home from work except it’s at lunch.

No worries though, everything was on schedule today when I walked in; tea was poured, no looks of shock and $1.07 with tax.

They didn’t ask about the other DD. Sometimes we need to celebrate the little things.

So today I decided to drive old NY Route 12. I tried to follow the path of Route 12 between Utica and Watertown before it was upgraded sometime in the mid 20th century. I think I was pretty successful at my attempt.

Oneida County makes following old Route 12 fairly easy by labeling it with a county route number that is “out of range”, as the county routes in Oneida are numbered sequentially by location and since old 12 was numbered after the rest, it’s number sticks out a bit. I started out on County Route 91 and followed it north. I passed by an old-drive in theatre, a couple of 40s style gas stations that have been abandoned and several old motels and motor lodges that are still open but have mostly been converted to low rent apartments. Signs of the driving age of the 50s when this was the main route between Watertown and Utica.

Heading north but just south of the hamlet of South Trenton, old 12 used to open up to a four-lane highway with at-grade intersections. This section was converted to a two lane country road a few years ago, making for an extra wide right-of-way that affords the folks that live on the road bigger lawns.

Existing Route 12 maintains the four lane expressway configuration north of Putnam Rd. and I have to jump onto the freeway at that interchange with the Route 12 freeway to get to it, as old Route 12 now makes a 90 degree turn onto Powell Rd (or you will run into a big pile of dirt separating old Route 12 from current Route 12).

I followed existing 12 through the Mapledale Business District and from what I can tell, this is the original roadway that was just widened. From there, Route 12 followed Mappa Avenue into the Village of Barneveld. Quick aside, until 1975, the village’s popular name was “Barneveld” but it’s legal name was “Trenton”. The village’s name has roots in Oldenbarneveld but was incorporated as the “Village of Trenton”. Residents didn’t like that, though, because Trenton, N.J. mail and freight was always getting delivered to Trenton, N.Y. by mistake so that’s why they changed the name. The post office was called Barneveld but the village was called Trenton until the legal change in 1975.

Whew.

Back to old 12. This part took a little exploring today. Old 12 followed Mappa Ave. onto what is now Route 365, where old 12 then followed up what is now the off ramp from now-12 SB to Route 365. From there it crossed over existing 12 and went along the railroad tracks to what is now Plank Rd. From there it veered to the west of the railroad tracks onto what is now an old roadbed that was not suitable for driving but quite comfortable for geese, as there were a ton of them hanging out on there today. Old 12 continued along this old path onto Main Street in the Village of Remsen. In Remsen today I found an old Super Duper grocery store. There used to be a ton of them in these parts, but now they’re mostly gone, including this one.

My Grandma Country once told a story about talking with a woman down south and mentioning that “Piggly Wiggly” was a funny name for a store. The southern woman retorted that it wasn’t any odder sounding than “Super Duper”. I don’t know what happened after that, that’s where the story always stopped.

Old 12 is easy to follow through Remsen and north, because it’s marked “Old State Route 12” though it’s also County Route 82.

Old 12 and current 12 meet up a few miles north of the Steuben and Remsen Town Lines where evidence of old 12’s former routing can be seen along current 12. Old houses are a little off-alignment with the current road due to the removal of curves, trees still form the former front boundary of lawns and there’s a ditch here and there. This motif continues through the hamlet of Alder Creek, where Route 28 leaves Route 12 to head off into the Adirondacks.

This type of routing of 12 continues up to Boonville. I couldn’t quite figure out how 12 used to get through Boonville. The alignment looks like it used to go into Boonville and meander around the village center before heading out, but I couldn’t figure out where it came back out of the village. I picked old 12 back up after crossing into Lewis County, just south of the Village of Port Leyden. Here old 12 parallels current 12 as Canal Street and then Mechanic Street and Kelpytown Rd. until the Village of Lyons Falls, where it meanders through the village and ends up on Cherry St., before joining up with it’s current counterpart. North of here, remnants of old 12 can be seen from current 12 (old bridge structures, abandoned road beds) and it continues like that through Lowville and up to Watertown.

Speaking of Watertown, the city’s downtown has a pretty impressive “square” that still seems to be somewhat busy. There have been many efforts to make it easier to navigate. As a young driver at 16, it used to make me nervous.

From there I let Route 12 do it’s own thing up into the Thousand Islands area, as I did some shopping in Watertown and some other exploring before heading home.

I can imagine that in the mid 20th century when the interstate system was being built and the United States was becoming the land of automobiles, where “happy motoring!” was commonplace, that folks were excited about the straightening of these old country roads. Shoulders were widened and more direct routes were built from point A to point B. As a kid I used to get excited about construction, heck as an adult I still do. (I went and checked out the construction on Future Interstate 781 near Fort Drum today). But there’s a good part of me that enjoys finding the roads that once carried the bulk of the traffic; the predecessors to the high speed roads we enjoy today.

The drive was a good exercise in road geekdom today. I look forward to doing the same someday along the old famous Route 66. In the meantime, I’ll continue to explore upstate New York.

– Proudly posted using BlogPress from my first generation iPad

So as I mentioned in an earlier blog post today, I went on a road trip like I sometimes do when I have a weekday off from work. Along my travels I passed by the Maple Ridge Wind Farm, which is located near Lowville, New York along NY Routes 12 and 177.

Here is a shot of the wind farm from Route 12 as you’re headed north about three miles outside of Lowville.

And here’s a shot looking towards the tiny hamlet of West Lowville, which is actually four corners where Routes 12 and 177 and one other road meet. The road that is headed up the hill is Route 177, which is one of my favorite roads to drive. You can click the photo to embiggen.

I decided to drive up Route 177 a little bit to see if I could get relatively close to one of the turbines. It was a windy day and I wanted to hear just how loud these turbines were. I have heard reports of people saying that they’re so loud that they can’t sleep. I’ve also heard reports of women having five periods in one month because of the turbine, but I think that’s just a symptom of being cantankerous. As I got to the top of the hill shown in the previous photo, I reached the Eagle Factory Rd. and noticed a little gazebo and trash can sitting in a field alongside the side road. Curious, I decided to go to it to see if it was some sort of information booth.

It was!

Fenced off on three sides so you can’t get to the turbines that are close by (at least without a Six Million Dollar jump), the gazebo has two little display panels explaining that the Maple Ridge Wind Farm generates enough electricity to power about 64,000 homes.

Maple Ridge Wind Farm didn’t have to put up a lot of powerlines; the turbines are connected together via underground cables that come to a common line that runs through the farm. That line then jumps onto a bigger line that runs about a dozen miles to a nearby line, which happens to be one of the highest voltage lines in the United States. Maple Ridge ties into that line, which runs from the Mohawk Valley (where most of the Upstate New York power is switched) to HydroQuébec near Montréal.

Looking northeast off of Maple Ridge Farm. The line near the row is the line that connects the turbines together.

The turbine marked “235” nearest the information center.

I recorded the video you see in the previous blog entry, took the photos and then continued on my roadtrip.

I can understand folks thinking that these wind farms may be intrusive on their land and their scenic view. Sitting atop the Tug Hill Plateau does afford one a beautiful view. And I don’t really believe that wind power is the ultimate solution to the energy needs of the United States, but I do believe that a combination of all the technology available to us (now and in the future) will build us the brightest future as technology progresses and we move towards cleaner energy and away from the older stuff that could be doing damage to the environment.

I have relatives that live not too far from where I stopped today. I’ve seen pictures of family gatherings up there and I have to admit that I found it a little startling to see these turbines in the background, however, I do believe that today’s technology allows us to do everything we can to make these turbines as nonintrusive as possible; they’re relatively quiet, they don’t add to pollution and these guys seem to be located away from areas where birds would seem to migrate (lakes and woods and such). Would I want to live near one of these? I probably wouldn’t protest the building of these if they wanted to put one in the field behind our house. I would see it as a reminder of American progress and our attempts to secure our energy future.

– Proudly posted using BlogPress from my first generation iPad

So yesterday evening Earl came home from an overnight in Buffalo and got all caught up on his personal email and the like. Part of this ritual involves catching up on various blogs. Like a dutiful husband, the first blog on his reading list was mine. I could tell this because he said, “Oh!”.

This was apparently a comment about the cosmetic changes I made to the blog yesterday. I knew this through intuition.

“What do you think of the new look?”

He smiled and said, “I like it, though I think it’s a little too dark.”

If anyone had looked at the blog on multiple occasions yesterday, you may have noticed that I had changed the color of the theme several times before settling on a darker-grey theme. Previous selections had been orange, flaming red (*insert snorts of laughter here*) and a pleasant variation of putrid.

I fired up my laptop across from him and took a look and at that moment I decided that yes, it looked a little too dark. Perhaps it was from spending the day in the sun or from the fact that I just feel somewhat giddy these days, but the look of the blog did not convey what I wanted it to convey.

Click, click and a press of the ENTER button and I changed the color scheme to one that was called “Air”.

“Please press refresh.”

Before he asked how to do that, I said, “click the arrow pointing to itself or press Open Apple-R”. I still forget that it’s “Command-R” or “Clover-R” because I’m obstinate that way.

“Much better.”

I often say I don’t care what others think but that’s actually an outright lie. I do care and I care most to strive to get the seal of approval from the big guy. And that affirmation made my day even sunnier.

– Proudly posted using BlogPress from my first generation iPad

This is one of my first attempts at taking a night shot. I used a tripod and everything.

I’m surprised that Earl doesn’t embrace Twitter more than his casual use. He is so good at conveying a thought in as few pixels as possible that it seems that a tweet would come natural to him.

Me: “Please make sure you send out your iPad today. The repair company sent me a reminder to include insurance and tracking.”
Him: “sent”

Me: “I hope that you have a great day today! Enjoy your Monday. I love you lots!”
Him: “loveyou”

Me: “Mr. Husband, this is an inquiry as to the status of your afternoon and it’s subsequent progression. Fondly, Amy Farrah Fowler.”
Him: “conf calls”

He’s a man of action when he’s in work mode. It’s a good thing that after all these years I know the weight of the meaning behind the few words he shares over email.

Here is a shot of Earl and me from the same set of stairs at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as the shot on the front page of jpnearl.com. This photo on the main page was taken in 2005, this shot was taken on Monday.

I tried to snap a few photos at “Fantasmic!” but without a tripod and the unwillingness of the audience member in front of me to tolerate my using his head as a steadying stand, the long shutter speed proved to be a bit of a challenge. These photos were taken with my Canon Rebel.

Daylight shots are so much easier. Here’s Earl, Jamie and Scott waiting for me to take a photo. We don’t know the woman in pink.

I have been using my iPhone for photography more than anything other purpose on this trip and this has contributed to the feeling of relaxation that I am enjoying this week. I hear that it’s just as warm at home as it is here in Florida. Quite a contrast to a few incidents of our return home in previous years, where we couldn’t get into the driveway due to the amount of snow we received.

Yesterday was spent at the Magic Kingdom where we enjoyed the entire park, ending the night at Tomorrowland. I would share the photos from that adventure but the Photo Stream syncing thing that Steve talked about last year doesn’t work as well as one would expect. The photos are sitting on my iPhone waiting to be shared with my other devices when they’re not just on the same wifi, but apparently on the same better wifi.

I think Tomorrowland is best enjoyed at night. Space Mountain is a great ride to enjoy right before going to sleep. I’ll have to share the photos when the wifis are speaking to each other.

Today we are headed to Epcot, Part 1. I love Epcot. We choose to divide Epcot into a two day adventure; today we’ll enjoy the front half and then tomorrow we’ll enjoy the World Showcase Pavilion (or something like that).

I often wonder what life would be like if Disney had gone forward with Walt’s vision of Epcot as a real community. I think it would have been awesome.

– Proudly posted using BlogPress from my first generation iPad

I love people watching. I simply adore the sport and quite frankly I could spend hours and hours in my own little place of a busy space and watch the people go by going through their routine, wherever it may be. Whether it be a busy airport, a restaurant, the shopping mall; these are all wonderful places to do some pretty good people watching. Walt Disney World is no exception.

One of the things I find fascinating about Disneyworld is the mixture of cultures that is found here, both from folks from different parts of the country and from folks around the world. This morning I watched a family come trodding through the bushes to the bus stop, wearing what looked like Hefty bags for rain gear instead of the Disney-branded rain ponchos just spontaneously start conversing with a family that was wearing high-end foul weather gear that had arrived in a decked out Escalade. Forced to sit next to each other on the bus, it was only a few moments where the matronly woman of the Hefty bag set was talking to the Grand Dame of the Escalade set and before you know it they were talking like they were long lost friends. The southern accent and the New England lack of “r”s were contrasting in the conversation, but they found a common ground and seemed to be getting along really well.

I find this fascinating.

I watched a couple that appeared to be my age play on the bus with their two children. He looked like the business type, she looked like the well groom mother of the 00s type and they had two daughters that appeared to be adopted as they were both from differing ethnicities. That made my heart warm. No worries about color or the like, just lots of love.

Wonderful.

A waiter at one of the restaurants today commented on my moustache and how he used to have one until he moved to the states, where at 21 or 22 years old (quite a while ago) he shaved it off to fit in better. His father was dismayed as he felt that a man should always have a moustache, at least where he is from. I didn’t know that there was that much importance on moustaches elsewhere in the world.

You learn something everyday.

The weather has been soggy for most of the day. It’s the only day of our vacation where the weather forecast indicates rain and the showers have been right on cue. Watching how people find ways to still enjoy themselves in the rain has been interesting to me. Some choose to just wear their regular clothes and go all out wet, others make it a wet t-shirt contest and the majority of park guests don the ponchos and still stand in lines to see the attractions. It’s good to be in an atmosphere where the spirits are high.

My heart and mind are soaring.

– Proudly posted using BlogPress from my first generation iPad

Well we are settled in safe and sound at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa at Walt Disney World. This was after about 22 hours of driving. I found the drive enjoyable.

We made a side trip to visit my godparents for a little bit on our way to Orlando. They live about 40 minutes outside of the city and have become Upstate New York snowbirds. These are the folks that find a place to retire to during the more harsher months of the year back home. They found a quaint little trailer in a small retirement community. The visit was enjoyable; we had not seen them since before the holidays. It’s always good to visit with the relatives from time to time.

Upon our arrival at the room, we freshened ourselves up (I had been wearing the same clothes for three days) and headed over to the Magic Kingdom. This is a tradition in our family; we always spend the first night at Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom. The first ride is on the PeopleMover.

We made our way around Tomorrowland, enjoying the Carousel of Progress, Space Mountain and the Buzz Lightyear attraction before calling it a night.

Now we are just waiting for our groceries to be delivered so we can pop some corn before hitting the hay.

– Proudly posted using BlogPress from my first generation iPad