The surprise flood

After the wonderful weekend of skating last week, we were ready to skate again this weekend. There had been a warm spell in the middle of the week where it got up to nearly 60 degrees F. There had been rain and obviously the snow melted but I had not anticipated that the Wallkill River would flood. As we drove up today we were surprised to see the fields covered with a layer of ice.

This interesting combination of melting, flooding and re-freezing caused a very unusual phenomena. The flood waters had frozen about half an inch and then the flood receded leaving ice suspended a foot or two above the ground. You could see this most clearly on our reed bed by the lake.

Suspended Ice

Ice suspended in bushes
Showing the height of the flood

Unfortunately since the pond had been under water the ice on the surface had been buckled and bent and broken in several places. Ice skating would be impossible. The 'flood ice' was all over the peninsula and we had lost a couple of our seats around the fire pit.

The peninsula

Ice rink destroyed

One sad moment was the discovery of one of our grey herons caught in the ice. Not sure if he died there or got washed there in the flood. They are such beautiful and majestic birds. It's very sad.


Grey Heron in the ice

I could not resist the immediate urge to go and explore down by the river. Last time the river flooded during winter it left massive chunks of ice on the riverbank. When I got to our bridge I was sorry to see it had uprooted itself in the flood. Thanks to the tether to the tree it did not go far.

Bridge moved

On the other side was a strange patchwork of thick blocks of ice joined together with thin flood ice. It was very difficult to walk on without falling through. Underneath there were layer and layers of blocks of ice. Some of the so clear that it sparkled in the sunlight.

ice patchwork

Thick on thin on thick

Ice jewel

I'm sad that there will be no ice skating this weekend. If it freezes even more we might be able to have the world's first skate-able assault course.

Comments

Paradox farm

If you wander along Springtown Road, past DeJoux House, you will see our mailbox opposite the front door. It's not especially distinguishable except it is rather large and sits on an old tree stump. It's a rusty old thing but it seems to have survived the snow plows and drunk drivers of Springtown Road. It has always bothered me that on the side of the mail box you can see the vague outline of the words "Paradox Farm" which was clearly a name that DeJoux House was more recently referred to. Occasionally when wondering the fields I would stumble across some incongruity and wonder if that was indeed the "paradox" that the farm was named after. Yesterday morning, for some unknown reason, I decided it was time to resolve the paradox. I sent a quick email to the previous owner June Finer to see if she knew anything of the Paradox Farm ghost on the side of the mailbox. This was her reply: once upon a time we, (myself and russell gilmore---my ex), met a...

Maria Deyo - a chilling tale

We arrived at the house this weekend to meet with the contractors who had poured concrete in the basement on Friday. When we arrived we found a family standing in front of the house taking pictures. Being the friendly types we are, we went over to chat. They told us they were on a haunted house tour and were looking at the house because their daughter had been talking about the ghost at our house for the last couple of days. She had bought a book called "Spooky Hudson Valley" and in it was the story of Maria Deyo and a tragic tale of a mother killing all three children and then killing herself. The family were wonderful and excited to be shown the house. They showed us the book and at the beginning of the story was a picture of our house. The book went on to say that Maria sent the men to the fields and then she slit her daughter's throat and the throat of her other two children...then killed herself. All this happened on September 13 th 1801. There was...

Inspiration for the future look

Daniel has found some wonderful reference materials for keeping the history and character yet not making it a museum. I love the big kitchen table plan for the kitchen inspired by Lutyens and some "behind the scenes" pictures of victorian kitchens. He also showed me some country houses from Axel Vervoordt that I really love. http://bit.ly/uX1eW Simple, authentic yet modern. We discussed putting a full length plate glass window in the old hay loft window on the end of the house. Wow. I can't wait.

DeJoux House

Search This Blog