Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 342

It is snowing again and certainly going to be a white Christmas here in Inlet. I received a great bunch of presents from the tree of bells in Inlet which were a major surprise when the Town Police Officer delivered them to my door. We had a nice chat, and I thanked him for his Santa delivery.

Those who traveled on Sunday coming from the Thruway and getting off in Rome got a snowy surprise on 365 to Route 12 and north on twelve to Forestport. There was six inches of snow on the highway, and it was falling in a white out most of that route. Others going south and west from Boonville to Rome and Camden way encountered the same conditions when all said and done over a foot fell on that area and we got nothing here in town.

The winds never did stop in this area for four days straight and the power only flicked one time, so they probably lost power in Raquette Lake with a tree on the wires. We did get snow in little batches of three and four inches and two inches of wet stuff just after the temperature went up to forty-seven at four in the afternoon. That was after a driving rainstorm which had water running everywhere here at Eight Acre Wood. I got all my culverts running and drained the bird feeding area of three inches of water. That didn’t last long as the temperature went down to -10 overnight which froze everything up tight with ice everywhere.

My birds battled all the weather, and I still have over sixty Evening Grosbeaks, fifteen of which are now wearing a band and over twenty Blue Jays are also wearing bands. I had a new bird, a Mourning Dove which I hadn’t had in years. It was a female and she now has a band. I did have one window hit of a female Grosbeak which hit one of my windows with the parachute cords on them. With eighteen windows facing the feeders normally I would have several hits when there are well over one hundred and fifty birds feeding less than thirty feet away.

My daughter Erin, her husband Dave and Grandson Jake came up Sunday to make Me Ma’s Fruit Cakes. They came through that white out that I mentioned above. Erin had brought up some of the ingredients which I couldn’t find and Sunday night she did lots of cutting and snipping the ingredients into smaller pieces and adding them to the pot. When it came to the sugar it called for six cups and I pulled out the bag, and not enough as I guess I had fed too much to the hummingbirds. I made a quick call to Julie Manzi up the road who I knew had been making cookies and Sean came out his icy driveway too make a delivery and keep the process going. That was put on the stove to simmer for about an hour following the recipe. That cooled overnight in the garage which it says is the secret to the recipe, well I don’t know about that. Then Monday morning we get out the turkey roaster and start adding flour, luckily, I had enough of that on hand, and a few more choice ingredients. This is then mixed with a strong arm as the vapors rise from some extra liquid added. When completely mixed some are placed in baking tins without nuts. Then crushed walnuts are stirred in to make the rest with nuts. These are placed in the over to bake at 325 for an hour and fifteen minutes, test with a toothpick. It makes ten big loaves or twenty small and four big loaves. JoAnn and Gordy Rudd came over to check on us as they were the helpers last year and they enjoy Me Ma’s Fruit Cake as do many others.

I hope you can go out and enjoy the winter weather but be careful as there are many trees down in the trails from the windstorms and many haven’t been cleared but that’s another story. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year. See ya.

Photo above: Grandson Jake stirring the Fruit Cake