Oarsmen Eleven Rowing Club : Castleton NY 12033

Castleton on Hudson New York 12033 is a small village located about five miles south of the State Capitol of Albany. In it's hay day , Castleton was a small but busy river port and train stop. Those days are long gone of course. At present there is a Castleton Boat Club located on the river. But at one point for a few yrs there was a rowing club that made it's nominal home in that town. The name was Oarsmen Eleven Rowing Club. So named because of the original 11 members. I was one of them. We did not row sculls but had a 16 ft ocean going life boat built in the 60's by the Boston Whaler company. Four could row one on the tiller. Sort of like rowing " The Eights ." By the way I had upon occasion rowed the eights in my junior yr of High School. Hence that is how I was drafted into our society , from past acquaintance. Hello Tim Matheson where you now might be. Anyway my first trek was what we hoped was to be our annual early morning float down. We started near Troy at about 4:45 am and traveled down the river starting in the dark. Perhaps we were trying to prove we were tough. But it was about 17 above zero and we were freezing our asses off. Though I must say Albany never looked better than in that early morning light. Still we were overjoyed to land in the Papscanee Island Preserve area get the boat out and get warm. We went out to breakfast at the East Greenbush Diner after the team was reassembled. We all agreed that of maiden voyage was fun but not to be an annual event. Jesus it was cold. By the way brandy did help. So the club pretty much was a late spring to mid fall affair. We stored the boat in back of 110 Scott Avenue and took turns on use. The club was in existence from 1994 untill 1999. A few new members were added along the way but as we went deeper into middle age interest became less. Plus our wives grew tired of it as well.The boat ended up in 06037 and last time I heard went next to Croton /Harmon N.Y. For a while the club rowed the river from below the Castleton Thruway Bridge to near the Port of Albany and back again. Oarsmen Eleven.

Hudson Hawk's Barbecue Sauce

Well , I am not a great cook. My culinary experiments have sometimes met with disaster. However , I have obtained some success with my barbecue sauce I like grilling even in winter so I tend to stick with that. So here by request is my recipe for Hudson Hawk's Sauce.

One quarter cup butter
2 cans chopped tomatoes or puree
One quarter cup vinegar
One small to medium onion , finely chopped.
2 tsp. salt {you can use less for lower salt diet}
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp paprika
Pinch or two of ginger
2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 quarter tsp Tabasco or more according to taste.
1 tsp of black pepper {I prefer course ground}
1 and a half tsp of sugar
Mix ingredients well and simmer for 20 minutes. Use for chicken or beef or other favored meat. This recipe makes about enough for 5 pounds of meat or chicken. Have also used as a serving sauce. ENJOY.

History Is Not An Antidepressant

So many times in difficult moments of our personnel or civic life you often hear people remark how they miss what America and their place in it was. In certain days people feel we were better or more civilized or whatever. We all probably fall victim to these emotions at some point. I myself as well . I have even been retrospective in this my occasional blog about my interactions and experiences of my life past. But the truth so often is not quite as we remember. I have a few fond memories of my hometown life in Schodack , NY 12033. Certain friends and events. But if after moments of thinking of past times with a reflective kindness my sense of historical reality always seems to intrude. We travel through a whirlwind of events , great and small. As someone is in a circle of the glow of life , someone else is miserable. For old school people as an example I might wish to see and discover how some are doing , there are many more people I wish to avoid on a permanent basis. As events this past weekend of the mass political shooting in Tucson AZ unfolded several times people commented what we have become and what better times there was. Bullshit. The sixties were a mass of conflict , assassination , riot , and past discrimination coming home to roost in our cities and of course the ongoing war in Vietnam. The drug problems we have now got a strong foothold in those days. The following decades had their less treasured moments of political strife and social pain. I have also seen improvement in the lives of people and institutions , more responsive to a broader range of the populace. Yes we are a culture more rude and violent on some scales. It is a mistake on the parts of historians or regular folk to avoid the true sense reality of what really was. History is not an antidepressant to be used as a reflective drug to calm or condemn. If it were a drug it would cause a complex reaction , not to be surprised all over again by what just happened.

The Politics of Snow Removal: Schodack New York

As I write this in early 2011 the down state New York area has just dug out of a large snow storm. No one is at this moment quite sure why the streets were plowed so badly in the tri State area during and after this storm. Tax paying citizens in an uproar , mayors & the New Jersey Governor are in a scramble to explain. This will as well pass. I am an old enough old goat to remember in High School the February of 1969 NYC storm when Lindsay was mayor {when there was such a thing as a moderate Republican}. Plows got out late , the city in semi mayhem. I had attended a rowing event in the city shortly before and got out just in time. It all passed. So what does this have to do with the Town of Schodack , New York. Well , all political type people know or should know that these nature made events can effect political careers. How one administratively handles these moments can turn an election , nationally and on a local basis. In the mid 1920's a young Pol named Lewis V. Hudson was the newly elected Superintendent of Highways. He would later be county commissioner of roads. Schodack was if not the first , one of the first towns in New York State to run their snow plows 24 hrs a day during storms. This started circa 1926. A rural town with farmers needing to get produce to market , schools needing to be opened people needing to get to work in factories or get to a doctor. All these of concern. The innovation of 24 hr plowing was new and Schodack was doing it. Various logistic problems arose , such as getting gas to the trucks when there were few gas stations back then and none open 24hrs a day. In interviews later in his life Hudson talked about how he had to get in his own pickup truck late at night and deliver gas to the plows by gas can. Sometimes even at 2:00 am. Such was life in a small town back then. The point is schools were open more often , people got to work more safely and less babies were delivered in farm houses and got medical care quicker. Hudson as I may have mentioned in earlier blogs was in elected political office for over 40yrs. Hudson would partially give credit to 24 hr snow plowing as a major boost to his reelections. A simple lesson in administrative politics from a small town the streets got plowed voters remember.