Rantings of a New Yorker

If you’ve never gotten up to Castle Rock before, take a trip with Scouting, NY and discover a beautiful place that more people should visit.

Photo gallery here, but it doesn’t seem to be working correctly.

The mastodon pond in Montgomery was recognized as an historic site on June 17.  It is important because the pond is the location of the world’s first complete prehistoric mastodon bones were found.
The site covers two acres, including the pond, which was left behind from the 1801 excavation of the mastodon skeleton.  Noted artist and [...]

For most of you, when you think of New York, you think of New York City.  In particular, you think of Manhattan.  Nearly everyone I come across is amazed that there is something outside of Manhattan.  If you’re a native New Yorker, you know of the rest of the state because you grew up “upstate” [...]

A single gunman is dead after walking into the American Civic Center in Binghamton, New York. He opened fire, killing 13 people and wounding several others before taking his own life.
The gunman drove a car to the back of American Civic Association building to block the exit and entered the front of the building, [...]

These two photos of bald eagles were taken by Julia Fuhr.  They were originally here, but it appears the Times Herald Record no longer has the photo gallery online.  It’s a shame because there was a nice little gallery of recent reader photos of bald eagles spotted around the Hudson Valley area.  The first photo [...]

If you never get the chance to travel upstate, have a look at SkyscraperPage.com’s array of photos of Utica, New York.

If you happen to be in the upstate New York area, there is plenty of chance to view bald eagles around the Hudson Valley region.  If you take Metro-North’s Grand Central to Poughkeepsie train, there are numerous opportunities to see these majestic birds.
An added glory to see: Golden eagles drifting from the West have been [...]

Some sad news from my hometown as the owners of the Middletown Psychiatric Center can’t seem to pay their property taxes and so the city has bought a lien against the outstanding taxes.  Considering the big plans that were supposed to be in the works, I hope something can be worked out.
At the former Middletown [...]

My nephew is a volunteer fireman. He sent me this link today that shows him in action. You can see him at about 16 seconds in, carrying a fire extinguisher. He was pretty excited that he actually got filmed.