5/28/2017 Arriving Donnan Farm

From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com 

Tim and Linda Bunyan

May 2017

Verona, New York @ Turning Stone Casino

OVERNIGHT at the Turning Stone Casino (TS for the owned and operated by the Oneida Indian Nation) and laundry completed. 

Now to the Family Farm:Ready to arrive Galway, New York at the highly anticipated: Family Farm

The glory of the road; you can never get enough. 

 We arrive at the Donnan Farm

It is a storybook perfect testimonial to generations of Dairy Farming since 1836 and is now in very capable direction by Kyle Donnan as the Headmaster and runs the farm mostly in hay and beef cattle. 


Cousin Kyle Donnan knows his market there and people know him and the quality of feed he offers.  The rain has delayed a hay planting and he is very ready to become busy.  He has a cell phone in his pocket and he says he runs the farm from his pocket!  

Quite a fine young man and knows his work.  His mom’s family dairy farm: Clear Echo Farm by Kevin Peck is also doing successful dairy business.  Kyle gave us a tour; it has been a farm for 144 years and going strong.

CLEAR ECHO DAIRY FARM - Kyle gave us a tour and was very informative in his description of the farm, everyday operation, and the animals that are cared for at the family farm: Clear Echo.

Generations of Family

Kyle showing us the nutrients in the feed. 
 

Yes, this is the barn where the cows sleep........on WaterBeds !!!

The Milking Stalls and Operations

Happy Cows

The 'walk-about'

 BABY CALVES being cared for and selected as fine future adults.

MORE HAPPY COWS 

PRIZED  NECESSARY  EQUIPMENT TO OPERATE A DAIRY FARM

cLEAR eCHO fARM LOCATED IN SARATOGA COUNTY, 

New York.

Christine planned a family get together held at her daughter Debbie and George's House.  It was potluck and lots of good food and visiting.  Kathy and Frank built their own RV and Tina and Brian, from Vermont, are caring for his parents recently located to Vermont.

We spent several afternoons with Cristine in her kitchen.  It is kinda like having my mom and those times when the discussion is the love of hubbys, fixin of the food, and Christmases gone by.  Christine and Hume are quite the perfect pair and delightful. 

Warm and willing to offer supper.  We chose to dine supper most days.
Christine and Hume have their schedule entailing a 6:00a.m. get up.
Hume does his chores up at the farmhouse. 
People come to the house into the garage where the hen eggs are inside an ice chest.  They leave their money in a metal box and pick up their eggs.  

FAMILY TRADITIONS

EVERYONE CAME TOGETHER TO GREET THE FAMILY FROM CALIFORNIA !!

Even the cows visited us in the RV on the front yard!

We went to Stewart’s ice cream and Hume used the coupons he had won at the community meeting.  We had fun doing this and made a couple of trips. 

Tim and I visited the cemetery and found the Bunyan area and the Donnans and others from late 1700. 

We enjoyed going to church, at this Presbyterian sanctuary, with Hume and Christine.  The Rev. Thomas Gregg, likes this church and community.  He stated that he knows it is his calling to be there.  During services, he announced the Bunyans and Donnans and Jos. Manas families having built much of the church and steeple.

5/23/17 - 5/27/17 Niagara Falls

From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com 

Tim and Linda Bunyan

Here for Niagra Falls USA; and so much more

 The map indicates our route for 2017 Travel Tour

May 23, 2017 Tuesday

We arrived at Cinderella RV Camp, located just behind the Cinderella Motor-Court Motel on Grand Island, New York 




Our RV Park (home for this week) is conveniently placed across the Niagara River by way of the truss-arch, blue bridge, constructed in 1935. 

Arriving Niagra Falls, we parked at the U.S. Visitors Center 

and off we went for the amazing "Maid of The Mist" monumental boat ride.  This is a New York experience for the adventurous, the sport, and the conquerors! 

Entering the 18-floor elevator to Prospect Point, the boat dock, we boldly stepped aboard (wrapped in blue water coats.)
The boat ride is 20-minutes of full sensory experience with falling water and a thunderous sound, mist surrounds your body, and the air tendrils fill your being:  the Falls rule!  
Tim protected me at the section behind the main cabin.  I could then see all around me.

Next-Day: 'DRY DOCKED': For a close look at the Niagara River, we hiked Goat Island.  

The Niagara River current is white-water for miles.  The rushing river is parted by Goat Island creating the U.S. Falls and the Canadian Falls.

Approximately 90% of the Niagara River, after diversions for hydropower generation, flows over Horseshoe Falls.  The remaining 10% flows over American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.
May 24, Wednesday

We approached Niagara Falls today on the Canadian side
in the afternoon to stay for the stunning panoramic views of city lights and the famous colored illumination of the falls! 

AND SO MUCH MORE


We crossed over the Niagara River gorge on the 
International Rainbow Bridge.

It opened 75 years ago. We showed our Passports and 






declared our address as South Dakota and walked into a land of beautiful gardens, wide walkways, elevated hotels, and restaurants.  

The evening was calm and warm as the sprinkles of rain were only a tease. 

The U.S. side is lit with red, white, and blue;

 the Canadian side is shown red and white representing each country’s flag.  

About 600,00 gallons of water flow over Niagara Falls every second.   

We walked on, beyond the falls to the old Electrical Development Co.  It is a historical landmark in Niagara Falls, Ontario.  It is a former generating station along the river, upstream from the newer Rankine Power Station.  It was completed in 1906 in the Beaux-Art-style by architect E. J. Lennox for electric power supply to nearby Toronto.
Sure hope it will be used in future adaptive reuse and urban exploration activities.  We walked by the Rankine Generating Station, now closed built in 1905.  

NEW YORK POWER

POWER!

We dined a chef-prepared meal at Elements Restaurant overlooking the spectacular edge of the Canadian Falls and the Canada 150 sign, representing the 150 celebrations of Canada becoming a Confederation.  

We walked around the Illumination Tower which is located next to Queen Victoria Place.  Energy-efficient LED lighting provides high lighting levels, programmable lighting, and a wide spectrum of color.  It is financed by The Niagara Falls Illumination Board since 1925.

Next Day:
THE LOVE CANAL

  Yes, it does exist........stretching northward from the Niagara River in a quiet, low-populated neighborhood within Niagara Falls, New York.  This 70-acre 'Superfund Site' is a massive environmental pollution disaster, with over 200 chemicals identified, that affected the health of hundreds.  The chemically saturated land was evacuated in 1978.

 









LOVE CANAL, not longer loved; completely fenced!

  We hiked along the Niagara River

 the adjoining water: Lake Erie at the West and Lake Ontario to the East.

We took a drive to Old Fort Niagara.  It sets at the end of the Niagara River where it flows out into a bigger body of water: Lake Ontario. 

The Iroquois and the French fought in 1670’s.  British gained control in 1759 but forced by treaty to yield it to the U.S. in 1796.  Finally ceded at the end of the Ware of 1812.  Through the years and wars, the last army units were withdrawn in 1963.  Today, the U.S. Coast Guard is the only military presence on the site.

We visited where the tips of each state (New York & Ohio) meet up at the towns of: Youngtown and Lewiston, Ohio.  

The Youngstown Yacht Club was established 1931.  The address is 491 Water Street and right now the marina is edged with sandbags!  

The Yacht Club entrance gate is encased with sandbags overrun with water from Niagara River into Lake Ontario.











The concessionaire for the Niagara Jet Boats has several pumps going to save their new floor room, restaurant, and bar.  










The politics of dam regulation has not released the usual amount of water, so Lake Ontario is higher than in the past. 
Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River are
running about 21” higher than average.

This puppy dog is quite alarmed at the impending danger of completely flooding because of the high water.

Communities are facing losses and politicians are being called upon to ‘function’.  
Lots of rain and the former "Legislative Plan 2014" 
is taking the heat.  
There is flooding everywhere!  Climate Change?  The North Pole melting??  Donald Trump and both countries need to agree.

We took another hike.

We approach the month of June, eager to fly to Sacramento for our grandson, Jeffrey's HS graduation, and also our son, Jason and Erin's Wedding.  We are leaving the RV at the Family Farm for the month of June.
Laundry tonight, doormats all clean, refrigerator and cupboards are bare as we prepare to leave RV at Family Farm.  
Tim and I are planning our July through October 2017 trips:  New York, Fingers Lakes; down to PA-Hershey; over to Atlantic City; Washington, DC; and East to the Cape to Woods Hole up to Maine then west to Connecticut, Vermont, (Mike and Sherry to meet up with us) and return to Upstate New York.  The route we begin when we return to New York (after the month of June in the Sacramento area):
 is Our 2017 Travel Tour of the Colony States 'counter-clockwise express'.