As usual, early Sunday morning, I took Shadow out for his walk before we set out for our bike adventure. We have a tree in our front yard that I have not figured out yet. Between the pairs of large dark green leaves, there are light green (almost yellow) leaves that are as long as the green leaves, but only about one fifth as wide. Where the narrower leaves grow, there are also what appear to be small seeds or berries.
Patty has been busy planting more flowers around the ramp that leads to our front door (our unit is handicapped accessible, hence the ramp).
Patty has also started some vegetables.
All during the week of June 9 - 15, we planned to take advantage of the good weather and go for a bike ride in Plattsburgh NY on Sunday (June 16). Of course, by the time Sunday morning came, the good weather had moved east. The forecast called for rain, but we decided to pursue the ride. Patty, Terry and I went in our Subaru with our three bikes on the back, while Ann and Jean went in Jean's Toyota. The plan was that we would leave the Subaru at the ferry parking lot in Grand Isle, VT; then ride the ferry with our bikes; and then ride our bikes from the ferry landing in Cumberland Head NY into downtown Plattsburgh for lunch at the Naked Turtle. Jean and Ann would drive and meet us there.
The bike ride was excellent, as the bike path is newly paved and is parallel to but separate from the road for the first five miles or so. Then there is a half mile stretch where you can ride either on NY Route 9 or on the sidewalk (we chose the sidewalk). Then you follow a quiet side street for a mile or so. And then walk your bike across a pedestrian bridge and ride the final half mile on a paved path. The total distance is about 6.5 miles and the three of us had a pleasant ride - it started to sprinkle just before we arrived. We parked our bikes in outdoor dining area - it is covered so we could have sat outside, but for the cool air. Jean and Ann were already there waiting for us. The five of us enjoyed a nice lunch together with much fun discussion.
When it came time to go, it was raining steadily. Patty verbalized that she would ride her bike back, but I knew better. With Jean's permission, I removed the seat and two wheels from Patty's bike and placed all parts in the trunk of Jean's small car. The trunk would not close completely, but I used one of Jean's bungee cords to tie it in place. Then Terry and I set off in the rain - even with the rain, it was not a bad ride. We made it back to the ferry dock without incident, and took the ferry back to Vermont. Once there, we both had brought dry clothes and changed out of the wet biking gear. We grabbed a cup of coffee and headed back to Ann and Terry's house. We unloaded Terry's gear, and Jean, Ann and Patty arrived. I reassembled Patty's bike and put it back on the bike rack. We said goodbye to Jean, then the four of us had coffee on Ann and Terry's front porch. A very nice way to spend a Sunday.
Monday, I had breakfast with Ben at Barrio Bakery in Burlington. Later, I had the oil changed on the Subaru. Tuesday, Henrique, my friend and colleague from Johnson State College, came by for lunch after his class in St. Albans. We had a simple but hearty lunch of soup and sandwiches, and discussed plans for the 2013/2014 school year.
Wednesday, I was at the Habitat ReStore. Unfortunately, the assistant manager was ill and I left to drive the truck and pick up donations by myself. I filled the 14 foot box truck between 7:00 and 11:00, then came back to the store to unload it. Fortunately, another volunteer was available to go with me for the rest of the day for two more truckloads of donations. I finally got home at 5:30, after ten hours - a long day, to say the least. The good news is seeing how well the store is going.
On Tuesday through Thursday, many students from the eight Masters degree programs at Champlain College were on campus as part of a required three day seminar for the otherwise online programs. After finishing at Habitat ReStore, I quickly showered and changed and joined Jean and some of the MSL (Masters of Science in Law) students at Champlain for the social hour. We had a couple of hours of spirited discussion about the Constitution and the Supreme Court. One student in particular has requested placement in my section the next time I teach.
Thursday and Friday, I went to the 2013 Community College of Vermont Institute; this is a two day conference designed to get us thinking about how to keep improving the college. But before I left at 6:30 a.m., I walked Shadow. As I came around a corner, I was surprised to see a rabbit just sitting in the middle of the road.
Shadow and I walked up to within about 15 feet of the rabbit and he still did not move. Finally, after a couple of minutes, a car came up the street slowly and finally the rabbit slowly walked off the street.
The CCV Institute was held at Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee VT. As the name implies, it is located on Lake Morey with a private beach and docks, as well as tennis courts, an 18 hole golf course, and hiking and biking trails. A very nice place to connect with colleagues and get new ideas for teaching. On Friday, I happened to wear one of my shirts from the Habitat ReStore - this led to my meeting another faculty member from Manchester VT. She has been involved with Habitat for many years and we had a great discussion about what they do there (including hosting a Global Village team this summer) and what we do in Williston (especially the ReStore operation).
You can learn more about the Lake Morey Resort at their website (http://www.lakemoreyresort.com/) and about CCV at their website (www.ccv.edu). CCV has twelve locations around Vermont and this fall, I will be teaching at the both the Winooski and St. Albans sites.
After returning from Lake Morey, Patty and I celebrated our 38th anniversary on June 21 by going to the Essex Resort and Spa (www.essexresortspa.com) and dining at the Amuse Restaurant (http://www.amusevt.com/). Pineapple was celebrated that evening with all diners given a small pineappletini, pineapple air and grilled pineapple. After much discussion of the eclectic winelist and menu, we enjoyed a nice bottle of chardonnay, a three course dinner and ended with Irish coffee (with Jameson's whiskey) for Patty and an Essex Warmer (kahlua, Bailey's Irish cream and a third liquor I can't recall).
I had another busy day at Habitat ReStore Saturday June 22 - volunteer Ben and I filled and emptied the truck four times. It started to rain just as we made the last pick up of donated items, so we unloaded the last time in the rain. We decided to load the truck with metal items that could not be sold. We do this often, and the metal is brought to All Metals Recycling where they pay us by the pound. The plan was that by loading the truck Saturday, it could be taken first thing Monday morning to be emptied and this would make more room around our loading dock. On the very last item that I was carrying with Robert (another volunteer), I was walking backwards up the ramp. I slipped and fell hard on the pavement. It was a bit of a scare, but when I was helped up, although I had several bruises and small scrapes, all body parts still worked. The most serious injury was to my ego. And of course, I was soaking wet and covered with mud and crud.
I cleaned up at home, showered and shaved, took some Tylenol and put some ice on the two sorest spots, my lip and my left thumb. After resting for a bit, Patty and I headed for the Bayside Pavillion in St. Albans where we had an enjoyable evening with Alex. Alex was an older, non-traditional student in my fall 2001 Immigration Law class at Vermont Law School. Since graduating, he has become a full time instructor at Vermont Technical College where he heads the Fire Science program. He also teaches part time at Community College of Vermont and we had spent some time together Thursday at Lake Morey Resort. After dinner, we left in the rain. After driving through town, we started up the on ramp to I-89 and the windshield wiper blade on the driver's side broke off. To my amazement, I was able to find it in the dark, but could not get it to stay attached. They did not sell wiper blades at the convenience store just before the on ramp. So I moved the smaller passenger side wiper blade to the driver's side and then tied my cloth handkerchief onto the passenger side wiper arm so that it would not scrape the windshield.
We then drove slowly through the rain. We stopped at six different convenience stores on the 25 mile ride home and none of them had wiper blades.
Sunday, I drove Patty to work for 8:00 a.m. I planned to arrive early at the Red Cross Blood Center and read until my 9:00 a.m. appointment. However, that is not what happened. The last time I was there, the usual two and a half hours dragged to more than four hours because of the installation of the new equipment and software. This time, I found out that the new software had a problem and was deferring about 75% of donors. On Sunday, they usually do two rounds of six donors, one at 6:30 and a second round at 9:00. This day, there were only three at 6:30 and I was the only one at 9:00. So I started right away and was done by 10:40, got the wiper blades replaced and was back home for 11:00. I was then able to rest before going to Essex to pick up Patty at 1:30. We then had a quiet Sunday, resting up after the short night after the anxious, slow ride back in the rain with only one wiper blade.
And so ends another week in Vermont.
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| Unidentified tree - if you know what it is, please post a comment and let me know |
Patty has also started some vegetables.
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| Three tomato plants |
The bike ride was excellent, as the bike path is newly paved and is parallel to but separate from the road for the first five miles or so. Then there is a half mile stretch where you can ride either on NY Route 9 or on the sidewalk (we chose the sidewalk). Then you follow a quiet side street for a mile or so. And then walk your bike across a pedestrian bridge and ride the final half mile on a paved path. The total distance is about 6.5 miles and the three of us had a pleasant ride - it started to sprinkle just before we arrived. We parked our bikes in outdoor dining area - it is covered so we could have sat outside, but for the cool air. Jean and Ann were already there waiting for us. The five of us enjoyed a nice lunch together with much fun discussion.
 |
| Jean and Patty |
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| Terry and Ann |
Monday, I had breakfast with Ben at Barrio Bakery in Burlington. Later, I had the oil changed on the Subaru. Tuesday, Henrique, my friend and colleague from Johnson State College, came by for lunch after his class in St. Albans. We had a simple but hearty lunch of soup and sandwiches, and discussed plans for the 2013/2014 school year.
Wednesday, I was at the Habitat ReStore. Unfortunately, the assistant manager was ill and I left to drive the truck and pick up donations by myself. I filled the 14 foot box truck between 7:00 and 11:00, then came back to the store to unload it. Fortunately, another volunteer was available to go with me for the rest of the day for two more truckloads of donations. I finally got home at 5:30, after ten hours - a long day, to say the least. The good news is seeing how well the store is going.
On Tuesday through Thursday, many students from the eight Masters degree programs at Champlain College were on campus as part of a required three day seminar for the otherwise online programs. After finishing at Habitat ReStore, I quickly showered and changed and joined Jean and some of the MSL (Masters of Science in Law) students at Champlain for the social hour. We had a couple of hours of spirited discussion about the Constitution and the Supreme Court. One student in particular has requested placement in my section the next time I teach.
Thursday and Friday, I went to the 2013 Community College of Vermont Institute; this is a two day conference designed to get us thinking about how to keep improving the college. But before I left at 6:30 a.m., I walked Shadow. As I came around a corner, I was surprised to see a rabbit just sitting in the middle of the road.
Shadow and I walked up to within about 15 feet of the rabbit and he still did not move. Finally, after a couple of minutes, a car came up the street slowly and finally the rabbit slowly walked off the street.
The CCV Institute was held at Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee VT. As the name implies, it is located on Lake Morey with a private beach and docks, as well as tennis courts, an 18 hole golf course, and hiking and biking trails. A very nice place to connect with colleagues and get new ideas for teaching. On Friday, I happened to wear one of my shirts from the Habitat ReStore - this led to my meeting another faculty member from Manchester VT. She has been involved with Habitat for many years and we had a great discussion about what they do there (including hosting a Global Village team this summer) and what we do in Williston (especially the ReStore operation).
You can learn more about the Lake Morey Resort at their website (http://www.lakemoreyresort.com/) and about CCV at their website (www.ccv.edu). CCV has twelve locations around Vermont and this fall, I will be teaching at the both the Winooski and St. Albans sites.
After returning from Lake Morey, Patty and I celebrated our 38th anniversary on June 21 by going to the Essex Resort and Spa (www.essexresortspa.com) and dining at the Amuse Restaurant (http://www.amusevt.com/). Pineapple was celebrated that evening with all diners given a small pineappletini, pineapple air and grilled pineapple. After much discussion of the eclectic winelist and menu, we enjoyed a nice bottle of chardonnay, a three course dinner and ended with Irish coffee (with Jameson's whiskey) for Patty and an Essex Warmer (kahlua, Bailey's Irish cream and a third liquor I can't recall).
I had another busy day at Habitat ReStore Saturday June 22 - volunteer Ben and I filled and emptied the truck four times. It started to rain just as we made the last pick up of donated items, so we unloaded the last time in the rain. We decided to load the truck with metal items that could not be sold. We do this often, and the metal is brought to All Metals Recycling where they pay us by the pound. The plan was that by loading the truck Saturday, it could be taken first thing Monday morning to be emptied and this would make more room around our loading dock. On the very last item that I was carrying with Robert (another volunteer), I was walking backwards up the ramp. I slipped and fell hard on the pavement. It was a bit of a scare, but when I was helped up, although I had several bruises and small scrapes, all body parts still worked. The most serious injury was to my ego. And of course, I was soaking wet and covered with mud and crud.
I cleaned up at home, showered and shaved, took some Tylenol and put some ice on the two sorest spots, my lip and my left thumb. After resting for a bit, Patty and I headed for the Bayside Pavillion in St. Albans where we had an enjoyable evening with Alex. Alex was an older, non-traditional student in my fall 2001 Immigration Law class at Vermont Law School. Since graduating, he has become a full time instructor at Vermont Technical College where he heads the Fire Science program. He also teaches part time at Community College of Vermont and we had spent some time together Thursday at Lake Morey Resort. After dinner, we left in the rain. After driving through town, we started up the on ramp to I-89 and the windshield wiper blade on the driver's side broke off. To my amazement, I was able to find it in the dark, but could not get it to stay attached. They did not sell wiper blades at the convenience store just before the on ramp. So I moved the smaller passenger side wiper blade to the driver's side and then tied my cloth handkerchief onto the passenger side wiper arm so that it would not scrape the windshield.
We then drove slowly through the rain. We stopped at six different convenience stores on the 25 mile ride home and none of them had wiper blades.
Sunday, I drove Patty to work for 8:00 a.m. I planned to arrive early at the Red Cross Blood Center and read until my 9:00 a.m. appointment. However, that is not what happened. The last time I was there, the usual two and a half hours dragged to more than four hours because of the installation of the new equipment and software. This time, I found out that the new software had a problem and was deferring about 75% of donors. On Sunday, they usually do two rounds of six donors, one at 6:30 and a second round at 9:00. This day, there were only three at 6:30 and I was the only one at 9:00. So I started right away and was done by 10:40, got the wiper blades replaced and was back home for 11:00. I was then able to rest before going to Essex to pick up Patty at 1:30. We then had a quiet Sunday, resting up after the short night after the anxious, slow ride back in the rain with only one wiper blade.
And so ends another week in Vermont.
