Diary - New Years' 2001 at BTA

12/29/00

2:45pm - After finding out that Patti is afflicted with a case of Vertigo (which she has since gotten over, don't worry), she and I pack up the Honda CR-V with 4 days' worth of really warm clothes and head off an island bracing for over 9 feet of snow (or so you'd think) with out destination being that ultimate holiday paradise, Betty's Twisted Acres. Temperature on S.I. at 3pm - 31°F.
We make our routine stops on N.J. Rte. 17 North for gasoline and bathroom. We also stop at Victor's House of Music to pick up a Sustain Pedal for my recently-acquired keyboard... no dice. They're sold out... of sustain pedals!!!

5:10pm - Mile 100 on NYS Thurway North... the sun has set, and it's starting to feel awful cold outside. Patti had heard from a colleague at work that the big nor'easter that's got NYC in a panic is supposed to completely miss the Schoharie Valley...

5:20pm - Radio 810, WGY-AM, Schenectady, reports that Patti's colleague is wrong.

5:50pm - Giddy with the excitement of enduring another big storm in the tradition of the Blizzard of '93, we decide to head over to Wal-Mart after turning on the heaters and water at the farm. 4-8" are expected, and we'll enjoy each one of 'em!

6:15pm - We arrive at Betty's. Outside temperature: 17°F... 2 1/2 inches of snow quilts the ground... Venus is positioned right over the moon as they meander west... the pond is frozen over, and every window in the house is covered with a veil of crystalized ice. Could it be more perfect?

6:20pm - Temperature in the living room: 23°F. We've got work to do! I close the faucets throughout the farmhouse, and connect the pipes in the basement. I fill up and fire both kerosene heaters... one for the living room and one for the kitchen/front room/bathroom, to help thaw out the toilet. Even with a healthy (& toxic) dose of anti-freeze to keep it from completely solidifying, a healthy cake of ice has formed in the bowl. At least this time, there isn't an Alpine-Ice-Mouse encased within.
With the pipes connected, I activate the pump. Now, in the somewhat distant past, Mrs. Landy (Betty to you) and I would cross our frost-bitten fingers at this point and hope to hear the lovely sound of the hot water heater filling up. More often than not, we'd hear nothing, and curse as we lowered a space heater down the well in the hope that it'd thaw in time for breakfast the following day. It usually worked... sometimes, it didn't. That's why the well is now completely filled in, with the pipe leading into the house happiily insulated by several feed of precious dirt. We've heard water evey time we've hit the pump switch since the well was filled during Hall of Fame Weekend 2.

6:30pm - Water is running in the bathroom sink! Sink won't drain, though. Shower won't run. Solution? Put kerosene heater directly into bathroom. Close door. Wait for pipes to warm up.

7:02pm - With the house beginning to warm up (inside temp up to 32°F!), we decide to drive up to Cobleskill for dinner and to pick up necessities at Wal-Mart.

7:48pm - Our favorite winter eatery has provided us with another delicious meal. Overjoyed, we eat and write up a list of items to buy. Where are we? Mrs. K's? Hubie's? The Cobleskill Diner? Try Pizza Hut. We avoid the place like a rabid skunk in the summertime, but when it's cold out, we find ourselves here quite a bit. Why? We have no idea!

8:29pm - "102 Dalmatians" is playing at the Park Theatre. We pass.

8:40pm - WGY revises forecast... 6-12" expected.

8:43pm - Wal-Mart is hopping with folks picking up what they need before the storm hits tomorrow between noon and 4pm. Killing time to let the house get nice and toasty, we stroll the aisles, grabbing items on our list (Kerosene siphon, lantern batteries, fire-starting mini-logs, soap), and things that aren't (earrings, Hot Wheels, magazines, boots)... grand total: $124.89.

10:06pm - Living room temp is up to 44°F. We get a fire going (that pushes the temp over 50° within 10 minutes), and straighten up the house. All water fixtures are operational, except for the kitchen sink, whose poorly-installed, cheap plastic pipes didn't survive the very first frost back in late November. Our usual plumber wore out his excuse handbook with us, so we're probably without a functional kitchen sink until spring. But we've got water, and more importantly, hot water.

11:50pm - I'm sitting in the living room in a sweatshirt, underpants and sneakers (floor much too cold for barefootin'), hypnotized by our brand-new, glass-doored woodstove, and serenaded by Patsy Cline. She had quite a life, I think. James P. and Julie Walsh won't be here 'til Sunday morning, and Christine & Andrew will be comin' 'round the mountain shortly afterward. Patti's asleep upstairs, and I think I'll join her.

12/30/00

8:20am - It's snowing! Earlier than they predicted, and it's those little flakes that do the most sticking, too. We decide to brave it and drive to Oneonta (65 miles) to pick up the bluestone base for the woodstove, along with a screen you can put on the stove in place of the glass door. It's chilly in the house, but an awful lot warmer than it was when we got here.
It's tough to get out of bed when you have the option to lay here all day watching snow flakes fall against a mountain backdrop.

9:35am - Mrs. K says "Hi" and "Happy New Year!" A little breakfast (bre-fist, eh Moose?) before a roadtrip with disaster potential tastes that much better. French toast for me, oatmeal for P.J.

10:52am - We leave the Apple Barrel on Route 30.

10:56am - WGY revises forecast... 12-18" expected. We're on I-88, and fearing utter doom (or sleeping in the car outside Oneonta), we get off one exit after we get on.

11:15am - Back in Wal-Mart for oil change... gonna be an hour and a half wait, so we're wandering around again, in what we know as "mall-mode."

1:11pm - Back at the Acreage, we park the car facing the road, just in case we need to blast through a snowdrift to get onto the road.
The house, at this point, is perfectly heated up. Living room temperature is up to 68°F. When the living-room-half of the house was gutted in 1995, John McCole, Jimmy, Frankie & company had the foresight to install super-maximum insulation, and every winter when the temperature drops to sub-human levels, we thank them for that bit of extra work. Even the kitchen half of the house holds its' heat better then ever since we had the house re-sided this past summer.
We've re-configured the living room furniture into what's known 'round these parts as "The Winter Arrangement." Both easy chairs and the couch are snuggled up near the fireplace, with a square coffee table nestled in the middle. The blinds on the windows on either side of the hearth are thrown way up so we can sit and watch the snowfall. Fire & ice... coh-zee!
Patti is not feeling well at all. Vertigo will do that to you, so she's drifted off to sleep on the couch. Think I'll pop open a Saranac or two and read my Speedway Illustrated!

3:31pm - I'm sitting here with Sam Cooke, reading about Junie Donlavey, a true Southern Gentleman, and I realize that a storm such as this is considered fierce. When I think of a fierce rainstorm, I think, of course, of a hurricane, with dangerous tides and relentless, destructive winds. I think of heatwaves that laugh out loud at your discomfort and melt your sneaker into the asphalt. But this dangerous storm, this nor'easter, is pleasant, soothing, and as beautiful as a sunset or a rainbow. What gives?

4:23pm - The campfire has disappeared! (So has our car)

6:10pm - Chrissy calls... she and Andrew are not coming up; no reason to get on the road if you don't have to in a strom like this... we'll miss them, but we're glad we won't have to worry knowing that they're on the road.

6:12pm - WGY says that the snow should stop around 10pm... perhaps another inch or two after that.

6:46pm - James P. Walsh calls to let us know that nothing will stop them from celebrating New Years 2001 at BTA!
They're leaving tomorrow morning at 7:30am, and they'll have Bud (a real canine's canine) and Luna the Pug in tow. Their VW Beetle might have a little trouble making it up the mountain, so they're riding in Jame's super-king 4x4 pickup truck! LOOK OUT!

7:34pm - After a wonderful meal of roasted chicken, stuffing, peas and biscuits, Patti and I recline at the fireside. Again.

9:03pm - WGY revises forecast. Again. 12-18" have landed in Albany. That means plenty more us these here mountains...

12/31/00

9:12am - I awaken to snowin', & blowin'... bushels of fun! The plow makes it's way up Brooky Hollow, and everything is completely covered in white. I forgot how beautiful this place is after a big snow.

11:59am - It must be nice and warm at Wal-Mart, and the folks must be mighty friendly, because we're back there for the third time in less than 3 days (after Mrs. K's, of course)! We're picking up some stuff for to-nite's festivities, and it's funny following Patti around listening to the two shopping bags she's got stuffed in her boots to keep her feet dry rubbing together. We're also getting those Duraflame logs, because they're so easy to light, and once you get one going, it's very simple to just throw a real log on top of it... and you've got yourself a gen-yew-wine fire!

1:00pm - We arrive back at the Acreage, and Jim and Jools are settled in and waiting for us! We spend the afternoon catching up, and making plans for this evening. They stopped for a quick round at Darby's in East Durham, where the owners (an Irish-born self-taught Chef, and his British wife) told Jim & Julie about their New Year's festivities. A band is flying in from Dublin to play, and it sounds like it'll be a hoot. We decide to go there for dinner & revelry.

8:38pm - We arrive at Darby's, and it is truly a traditional Irish pub-restaurant. The ride here from Middleburgh was slightly on the tricky side... I hope it's not forboding of our return trip. We've ordered Harps on tap... here they are... ahh!
Here we'll celebrate the coming of 2001, the true dawn of the 21st Century and 3rd Millenium, with the good friends we travelled much of Ireland with in the beginning of this year... and who we'll travel much of Italy with in just 10 days.

8:56pm - Julie has predicted that she'll be dead in the year 2021. She just feels that way. James laughs, Patti says, "God forbid!"
The irish band that was going to perform tonight had to cancel... no airport would have them. In their stead... a DJ. 'Nuff said.

9:32pm - We're smack in the middle of an 8 course meal... pretty darn yummy!

11:09pm - "I'm Too Sexy" comes on, Patti wants to dance... she looks a little dizzy... think I'll dance, too!

11:13pm - Big-brained DJ follows highly danceable "I'm Too Sexy" with Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive". Why not just throw us out of your bar!??

11:40pm - DJ throws us out of bar... just kidding. Actually, he throws out some inflatable guitars... Jim does his best Chuck Berry. Julie's playing behind her head and with her teeth! What talent.
It seemed like there were a lot of cancellations here at Darby's, but the folks who are here are good and warmed up now. They're ready to ring in 2001 with bubbles, explosive mini-champagne bottles, & hooch.

01/01/01

12:00am - Don't I have anything better to do than write in this damn book?

12:01am - Everyone forms a high-kicking, Rockette-style line while "New York, New York" plays.

12:03am - "Who Let the Dogs Out!"... then the power amp blows. The rest of the night's music is no louder than a $39.99 boom box. The DJ is panic-stricken, and while he profusely sweats, he arranges fans to blow on his power amp in a feeble, futile attempt to cool it back into working order.

12:31am - We're on our way back to the Acreage for a warm fire and loud music!

1:07am - The fire and the conversation are going as if we never left. Jim and Patti stay up the latest.

11:20am - Yes, of course, the fire's going! The sun shines, the blinds are upu, and the combination of sunlit snow and glowing hearth are positively intoxicating (at least they can help work off a hangover). But Mrs. K's awaits! GET DRESSED!

12:02pm - 12 hours into the year, we're taking an updated shot of Jim's classic Mrs. K's portrait. We then pop in for brunch. It's surprisingly empty... only us and a couple of regulars... Jim wants an omlette with a fried egg on top! He settles for a hamburger... with a fried egg on top!

1:15pm - After a long lunch with much philosophical discussion (including with Mrs. K's daughter and waitress/cook extraordinaire Patti about how she celebrated the new year along with a convoy of snowmobilers by having a bonfire in the woods), we took a nice, long stroll through the sidestreets of Middleburgh.

1:45pm - Riding along Route 30 south of Vroman's Nose, we pay a visit to the Breakabeen General Store (closed, but a MUST-VISIT next time you're up), and to the Max V. Shaul State Park Ballfield (home of the Rusty Game!).

2:12pm - Back up the mountain, beers are cracked, naps are taken, books are read, CDs listened to. What a choice way to start the year. ZZZZZZZ.

4:06pm - Jim's cooking up a chicken & some pasta with a home-made sauce made up of whatever he can find around the kitchen.

5:12pm - Yum!

5:51pm - The clean-up/shut-down process process begins. Sadly, the new years weekend is winding down. Bud and Luna don't seem to want to leave.

6:57pm - The house is locked up. The water is off. The fire is out. Happy New Year, everyone!