A Moonless morning part 2

Dec 10, 2011 Lunar Eclipse 6:40am

6:50 am

6:58am

7:07am, Faint Image in upper Left corner

Sunrise over Little Cottonwood Canyon 7:13am

A Moonless morning

See the shadowed moon in the top left of this photo?

Wise Old Mr. Mountain Goat, more dangerous than thought

Here in Utah we the Mountain Goat is a fixture on the mountain sides. Seldom seen, they like to graze the high mountain sides. The unwary hiker need to heed their furry fur and aloof hoofs.

Below read of the tragic escapade of a hiker das he trekked the mountains of the great northwest!

PORT ANGELES, Wash. — Rangers in Washington state suspect an encounter with a mountain goat killed a 63-year-old hiker in Olympic National Park.

The park service says Robert H. Boardman, of Port Angeles, was hurt Saturday as he hiked near the park's Klahhane Ridge and died hours later at a Port Angeles hospital. Officials did not provide any specifics on his injuries but said an early investigation indicates they were the result of an encounter with a goat.

Rangers tracked down and killed the animal, which will be analyzed by a veterinary pathologist.

The Associated Press.

More Amish news from Leon New York.

Amish in the news... Again!

While we were in New York I asked Grandma about the Amish Teen who was arrested for "over driving an animal" see link here.

My mother then told about another incident that was all too scary. An armed robbery of an Amish Couple by a brazen robber who commandeered their horse and buggy and demanded that they hand over their wallet. When they told the robber that they "did not have a wallet" he fired a gun near the the shocked amish couples heads.

It seems that there is a local legend that the amish, who have well kept farms and a "fancy black horse and buggies" carry large amounts of $$$cash$$$ with them, especially since they do not work with local banks. Reason would tell me that their fortune is tied up in cheese, hay and horses!

Once again truth IS stranger than fiction.

Below is a video and two stories of the event and subsequent arrest of the robber...............

Local Amish shaken by attempted robbery

Updated: Tuesday, 13 Jul 2010, 7:15 PM EDT Published : Monday, 12 Jul 2010, 5:28 PM EDT

• Luke Moretti

LEON, NY (WIVB) - Sunday morning, an Amish couple fell victim to a terrifying crime in the Southern Tier.

Tonight we're learning more about the case.

Usually Amish county in Cattaraugus County is picaresque and quiet. So when a crime like this happens in this small, rural - predominately Amish community - it raises eyebrows.

"Like the Old West when I was a kid. Bandits on the highway," said Leon resident Bill Scherman when describing yesterday's attempted armed robbery of a young, recently married Amish couple, traveling on a road by horse and buggy.

Scherman continued, "The car had gone down the road and turned around, and came back and pulled right up in front of them and blocked them right, stopped the horse and buggy."

Authorities say one of the men in the car pulled a gun on the couple and demanded money.

The Amish woman's father said, "They saw the flame coming out of the barrel." The woman's father did not want to be photographed but continued, "He had the gun right on them and he asked for the wallet. And then when they told him he doesn't have a wallet he just pointed the gun a little beside her, and he fired."

Authorities say the suspect vehicle is described as a tan full sized car, with 4 men inside.

Captain Robert Buchhardt of the Cattaraugus County Sheriff's Office said, "After about the third time of him demanding money and their wallets from them they explained to the people in the car that they did not carry wallets and they did not have any money."

News of the incident has the Amish in the area on edge.

"I thought it was terrible and I thought it would scare anybody. It would scare me, big time," said one Amish man who was traveling in the area with his family.

"Everybody in the community is concerned. Everybody hopes these guys get caught. We watch out for each other around here," said Scherman.

The suspects fled the scene empty handed. The young Amish couple was shaken up but not injured. Authorities in Cattaraugus County tell News 4 that they are working some good leads.

Copyright WIVB.com

Arrest made in attempted Amish robbery

Updated: Friday, 30 Jul 2010, 11:24 AM EDT Published : Friday, 30 Jul 2010, 10:08 AM EDT

• Posted by: Emily Lenihan

LEON, N.Y. (WIVB) - A Town of Leon man is being accused of attempting to steal from an Amish couple, earlier this month.

Donald Pfaffenbach, 29, is charged with attempted robbery. The Cattaraugus Sheriff's Office says, Pfaffenbach tried to steal from the couple, displaying a hand gun and demanding their wallet.

The Amish couple didn't hand over their wallet. The defendant fired one round, in the proximity of a horse that was pulling a buggy the couple was in.

The Amish woman's father said, "They saw the flame coming out of the barrel." The woman's father continued, "He had the gun right on them and he asked for the wallet. And then when they told him he doesn't have a wallet he just pointed the gun a little beside her, and he fired."

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Related Stories

Local Amish shaken by attempted robbery

Attempted robbery in Amish country

Amish teen caught after chase on buggy

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Usually Amish county in Cattaraugus County is picaresque and quiet. So when a crime like this happens in this small, rural, predominately Amish community, it raises eyebrows.

"Like the Old West when I was a kid. Bandits on the highway," said Leon resident Bill Scherman.

"I thought it was terrible and I thought it would scare anybody. It would scare me, big time," said one Amish man who was traveling in the area with his family.

Pfaffenbach has been remanded to the Cattaraugus County jail in lieu of $500 bail. More arrests are pending after the completion of the investigation.to the Cattaraugus County jail in lieu of $500 bail. More arrests are pending after the completion of the investigation.

Garlic Butter Mix

This evening I was asked to do a final test of the Hires Garlic Butter Mix. So far it is only available in the stores but is about to be rolled out to grocery outlets throughout the West and on the Hires Big H website.

So I fired up the BBQ for some roasted corn, garlic bread and burgers. I whipped up some garlic butter with the Garlic Butter Mix or the "magic mix" as we refer to it in the Szymanski home. The recipe is 1 stick of butter to 2 tablespoons of mix. I buttered some home-made whole wheat bread and placed it on the grill along with the fresh corn. I placed the bread, garlic side up on the grill and closed the lid which melted the butter and then turned it over for just no more than 30 seconds with the butter side down. It was wonderful !

I also buttered my corn with magic mix spread which it gave it a rich roasted corn flavor and will add to my spread consumption. I'll give you my final conclusions tomorrow. BTW, we use the dry garlic butter mix as a rub on steaks, yum!

And dare I suggest Hires Garlic Butter Mix with peanut butter, I haven't tried it yet but when I'm daring, oh no !

Our August trip to Grandma's house!

Aaron, Sarah and I took a trip to visit Grandma Szymanski and my sister's families in Western New York.

We had a relaxing and fun filled week visiting relatives and experiencing the local sites including a county fair, a real maple sugar "bush", an auction and flea market where they actually sold everything from chickens to rocks, a beautiful lake side community, the local Mormon ward which is located on the Seneca Indian Reservation, and much more!

Plus we cleaned up up Grandpa Szymanski's horseshoe pit, mowed grandma's huge 3 acre lawn, were treated to a picnic at my sister's home and played bocci ball, sampled the food at the Amish cheese factory, Timmy Horton's, Buffalo Chicken Wings, Mighty Taco and fresh fruits and vegetables from the neighborhood gardens! The week went by so fast that we look must go back again soon, next spring I hope!

Below are a few photos that I managed to take, I'm sorry I didn't take more.

We began our trip on Friday morning with a stop in Minneapolis. We waited for our plane to be loaded full of peanuts and pretzels to make our flight so much fun!

After we settled in we visited a local Maple Syrup sugar bush called Maple Glen Sugar House in nearby Gowanda NY. Very authentic...

A visit to the Chautauqua Lake community of Bemus Point. I nice lakeside community with plenty of walking paths on the lake shore. The lake is just North of Jamestown, birthplace of Lucille Ball.

We enjoyed a outdoor lunch at the Beach Club, yummi food.

The fun continued at the Erie County Fair, Aaron and Sarah dared enter this space ship, spun around for a few minutes until they were almost sick.

We also watched the goat judging, did you know that a female goat is called a doe! We also enjoyed the fair food including vinegar french fries.

Aunt Jan traded cars with Grandma, so we put the top down and cruzed the highways, hold onto your hat Grandma Szymanski!

After a week of non stop activities with the Szymanski's it was time for a little rest waiting for our return flight.

Thanks to Grandma Szymanski, Julie, Rick, Janis and our cousins. We hope to see you again soon....

A few pretty pictures

The mom on a hike, Granite Quarry trail, note the leaves just popping out

I have collected a number of pictures on my phone and thought I would post them here from time to time before they are erased. All of these were taken from May 15-22, 2010.

Here are some spring photos from the gardens, love the tulips!

and more.....

and even more.

I will add more photo in the future!

We're Not in Kansas Anymore...

Mayville, NY with Lake Chautauqua in the background

This is a photo that I found in the Buffalo News relating the events surounding a tornado that touched down near the Chautauqua Lake community of Mayville, NY. You can read the article below after I tell my little story.

As a young boy I recall having nightmares of tornadoes, which coincided with the annual TV showing of the Wizard of Oz. I need to remind you that when Dadoo was growing up, you could only watch a movie when it was shown on Television or in the Movie theaters. There was no way of recording the show off the TV, (other than my attempts to record the audio with my reel to reel tape recorder, but that is another post), this was way before VCR's!

So back to the story, I was so afraid to watch the beginning of Oz when Dorothy and her house are ripped from the foundation and sent twirling into the air that I would cover my head with a pillow during that scene. Still I didn't associate tornadoes with South Dayton, they just happened in Kansas!

Until....

One night when I was about 7 or 8 years old we had a huge thunderstorm, the whole house shook when the lightening hit and I would count the time from the flash and the sound of the lightening and multiply by 7 (the approx speed of sound) this would tell how many miles we were from the actual lightening. Boom! Flash! Boom! Flash! I have heard that if you are outside and you don't hear the sound you are in big trouble, maybe worse...

But anyways we had a big storm that evening and in the morning my parents told me that a tornado had touched down within a mile of the west of our house on old mud lake road and we were going take a ride to see there it happened. When we arrived there were huge trees laying on top of the houses and doggies were missing. I thought "Oh no, they have gone to Oz with Toto and Dorothy!"

After that Tornado the Fire Department began to sound a special siren that could be heard through the community to signal a Tornado Warning, a long steady tone lasting for a minute that makes your hair stand on end. So now you can understand my thoughts as I read of the tornado damage from Randolph and Mayville this article.

Tornadoes leave chilling imprint

Communities sustain severe damage but no serious injuries

Randolph, NY

Jordan was helping his friend Nathan Lamper remodel Lamper's Main Street house when the wind began picking up in the Cattaraugus County Town of Randolph. Jordan went outside to grab the garbage cans from the curb. As he did, a quick gust ripped them from his hands.

By the time Jordan grabbed a front porch post, a tornado was at his heels, picking his feet off the ground.

"Nathan was holding on to the door with the rain coming sideways," Brandy Gann said Sunday, recalling the chain of events that Lamper, her fiance, had told her.

What lifted Jordan from the ground was one of a string of tornadoes that ripped through the Southern Tier late Saturday afternoon. There were no serious injuries, but damage was estimated in the millions -- possibly as much as $5 million in just one of the effected communities, the Chautauqua Lake community of Mayville.

Mayville was hit first Saturday when a tornado came through at 4:48 p.m. with winds of 125 mph.

Randolph, located in the western part of Cattaraugus County, about 15 miles northeast of Jamestown, was the second Southern Tier community hit by a tornado. That twister, which was seven miles long and a half-mile wide, traveled 100 to 125 mph as it unleashed its fury over a 10-minute period begining at 5:25 p.m.

A third tornado traveling at speeds of 90 to 95 mph, struck the towns of Carrollton and Allegany, several miles southeast of Salamanca, for nine minutes beginning at 5:49 p.m.

"Three in one day basically within the same time period is pretty rare," said Davecq Sage, National Weather Service meteorologist.

Chautauqua County Executive Gregory J. Edwards Sunday said 20 homes in his county received anywhere from moderate to significant damage. Of eight commercial properties affected by the Mayville tornado, two were being inspected for demolition, including the Sword & Shield restaurant at 5695 East Lake Road.

"People are doing whatever's necessary to get their homes together," said Julius J. Leone, Jr., Chautauqua County's director of emergency services. Leone guessed that the total damage from Mayville could be as much as $5 million.

James and Lynn Kester, of 77 Morris St., Mayville, were playing pinochle with their son and his girlfriend Saturday when they began seeing debris swirling in the air near the house.

"We ran to the basement, just got the doors closed and it hit," Kester said, adding that the event lasted about 10 to 15 seconds.

In that time, a 40-foot limb from a maple tree was deposited in his backyard pool. A heavy plastic fence around the pool had only four of its original 16 sections remaining. Another tree had fallen across his front porch and the siding was torn in several places.

Betty Newhouse, of 72 Valley St., Mayville, lives one block away from some of the heaviest damage. "I saw a funnel full of debris, a flash of light, and then the power went out," Newhouse said. Her family took to the basement to wait out the tornado, which did not damage her house.

In Cattaraugus County, the tornado uprooted more than 250 trees and knocked out power in the Southern Tier Village of Randolph.

"You could build a house in the holes some trees left after being pulled up by the roots," said Chris Baker, Cattaraugus County's director of emergency services and fire coordinator.

Downed trees and power lines caused the town to block off about two blocks of Main Street in Randolph. Roofs were torn from multiple homes and commercial properties. Residents reported heavy damage at Landmark Chevrolet and at the town's Mobil station. There was also concerns over livestock.

"I know they had issues with livestock coming up missing. We're getting some reports of people finding the livestock in different areas and returning them back," Baker said.

As many as 100 calves were swept up by the tornado from Beavers Dairy Farm, according to several Randolph residents. One person said some calves were found as far as three miles from the farm.

It was in Randolph where Jordan was helping remodel his friend Nathan Lamper's home.

Sunday, Lamper's fiance, Brandy Gann, said Jordan is lucky to be alive.

Retaining his grip on one of the front porch's spindles as the tornado came through, Jordan jumped forward and gripped the steps when the wind died down. A few seconds later, the front porch roof fell. The roof protected him from flying debris, and only an upright treadmill and a metal brake bender kept the roof from crushing him.

Gann was sitting on what was left of the porch's crumbling concrete foundation as she spoke on Sunday.

"I just kept thinking that it's really weird that we're getting a tornado in New York," said Gann, who moved to Randolph from Kentucky 10 years ago. "It blew my mind."

work crews were busy in Randolph on Sunday removing damaged trees and trying to restore electricity to the town's approximately 1,300 residents. Multiple fire companies from Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties have responded, while the local department of public works crews have been assisted by the county, nearby towns, private contractors and volunteers.

Baker estimated 200 to 250 people had been involved in cleanup efforts over the two days. "The cooperation of all the agencies working together in these conditions with a common goal has been just unbelieveable," he said.

The tornadoes that hit Mayville and Randolph were classified on the Enhanced Fujita Scale as being as EF2 on a scale of five. Only 25 percent of all tornadoes are EF2 or stronger, meaning tornadoes estimated at between 111 and 135 miles per hour, he said.

"I think it happened at a good time of the day where there was daylight and people were watching TV [to get updates], because there were no deaths and practically no injuries, and the lead time average was a half hour and as high as 45 minutes."

The National Weather Service aided the emergency preparers by putting a storm assessment package together and providing constant updates, first as the storm developed and as it happened, and then through the night into Sunday.

With electricity out, the Office of Emergency Services has attempted to go door to door in an attempt to keep people updated about what's being done in the aftermath. Anyone with unreported damage is instructed to contact the office at 938-2212.

Buffalo News By By Steve Brachmann and Mark Sommer