The Bedford Strangler
Creeping up and around and through my peonies and catmint is a twisty braided vine (weed) that is choking my plants. It pulls out easily but the way in which it braids is extraordinary - pretty, albeit in a malicious way.
Some websites say this is a version of a morning glory. Some say even kudzu has made it to parts of New York. I’ve seen kudzu up close and personal the last time I was in North Carolina, huge walls of it – entire berms of the highway taken over by kudzu. One blogger, Hilton Pond, did an extensive photo shoot of kudzu, referring to its fuzzy nature. What I have is not at all fuzzy. So by process of elimination, I vote out kudzu.
So I figure it’s some version of morning glory vine. The website Garden Web, has several posts on the invasive morning glory vine, minus the flower. It seems to be fairly common.
I’ve successfully pulled three-fourths of it but its starting to mist a bit and I need to change into better gardening clothes to climb in and around the peonies to get it all. Now, if we could still have a burn permit in town, I’d burn the weed, as throwing it down over the hill will just create more.
Quite Frankly, I Haven’t A Clue How to Vote
WEDNESDAY MORNING UPDATE: The budget passed, 1528 yes votes. 621 no.
Today Bedford residents get to vote on the Bedford Central School District Budget.
My first instinct, looking at the egregious budget numbers, and the 5.51% increase in my property taxes, was to automatically say no, enough is enough.
However, in fairness to my large increase this year, the section of Bedford I am in, North Castle, over the last five years has seen the second least increase. That’s because the majority of North Castle residents live in Armonk and are in the Byram Hills School District. Similar situation with New Castle, Chappaqua. They are primarily Horace Greeley HS residents. There are five towns serving Bedford Central SD and the school board try to balance the increase so that no one group of residents bear the brunt.
I like to do my homework, to read as much as I can, both from the material put out by the school district, and to balance, read the Letters to the Editor in the local rag. That’s often where the real story comes out.
The Bedford School Board blame Albany. In a letter to the newspaper, they collectively said:
Operating within New York State’s “tax cap”, our administration worked hard to find a balance, bridging a multi-million dollar gab created largely by state-imposed spending increases……such as pension contributions….non-negotiable and entirely out of our control.
Albany has yet to respond to state-wide pleas for relief from their imposed spending – even ignoring the recommendations of its own mandate relief council. While other school districts get back 77 cents in school aid revenue for every income tax dollar sent to Albany, Westchester districts get back only 12 cents…….As a community, we must get Albany’s attention and insist they take action to curb those costs beyond our local control.
But then LOOK at the millions of dollars actually allocated.
SUPERINTENDENT’S OFFICE
Superintendent Salary = $261,208.00
Clerical Salary = $105,027 (I don’t know how many people this dollar amount pays)
Treasurer = $129,708
Director of Personnel = $185,000 up $30,000 from last year!
PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES
Instructor’s Salaries = $1,266,308
(again, no mention of how many people in Psychological services and who gets paid what individually). That’s a heck of a lot of $$$ in my mind.
GUIDANCE SERVICES
Instructor’s Salaries = $1,368,976
Non-Instructor’s Salaries = $211,866
INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETICS
Instructors Salaries $452,733 (again, no mention of how many people split this salary).
This category doesn’t even make sense to me; anyone care to venture a guess what this million dollars pays for?
COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTION
Noninstructor salaries = $971,688
LIBRARY SERVICES
Instructor’s Salaries = $927,306
In this instance, I DO know how many people split this budget line item. Eight, many of them were close to losing their job during the first round of budget cuts but got thrown a bone when the parents (and residents) were outraged that librarians would be cut before other things. Librarians are a good thing and I’d vote this much, and more, to keep them all.
Another mystery category! Supervision, as in someone walking the hallways to monitor things?
SUPERVISION – REGULAR SCHOOL
Instructor’s Salaries = $2,757,714
INSTRUCTION – TEACHING
Total, for all grades, for regular instruction, for students with disabilities, for Occupational Education = $49,699,097
Soooooooooooooooo, if you haven’t fallen asleep yet, there’s more. And it’s the Cuomo bill called Property Tax Gap. It sounds like a reasonable idea:
The tax cap limits a local government’s (e.g. city, town, village, various special districts and school districts) overall growth in the property tax levy to 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less
But then the Town of Bedford votes to OVERRIDE The Tax Cap
BEDFORD — Asserting the right to rule themselves, town politicians boldly dispensed with a popular state-imposed 2 percent limit on property-tax increases after hearing one of the largest Town Hall crowds in recent memory speak out, becoming one of the first towns in New York to override the tax cap signed into law this summer by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
What’s a voter to do?
I’ll let you know later which lever I pulled.
The Most Clever Mother Robin In the World
Mr. EOS was moving his lobster traps and lo and behold, he found a nest with babies in it. I wonder if this is the same mother robin who last year built a nest right under the dining room window, only to lose her eggs and babies to a hawk.
The lobster trap position offers shade, protection from larger prey, and protection from all the elements. Way to go Mom!
A Peek at Mozambique
Reader Luke Gardner is home from a vacation in Mozambique, specifically Benguerra Island where he and his wife enjoyed some R&R…..and sport fishing! Thankfully for us he brought his camera, a Nikon D800.
Happy Luke with his great catch, a king mackerel. Was it dinner Luke?
First, a little geography lesson and map. Benguerra Island is the tab marked A.
Sit back and enjoy the terrific photos.
Crane
Crane on Dhow
Flamingoes
Abandoned Dhow
Blue Starfish
Driftwood
Fish Market
Bird
Where are we going next Luke?
Airline to Heaven
Reader Brit send me this fabulous photo she took above the skies of Florida last week.
The title comes from a famous Woody Guthrie tune of the same name.
UPDATE:
Catherine had a funny in the comments section, saying she was sure she could see EarthImage in Brit’s photo! EarthImage replied:
But yes, over there on the Braden River is EarthImage waving up from the bar, er his canoe, at Linger Lodge. And he sent some photos as proof. And adds: The alligator gumbo was worth the trip.
It’s supposed to be in the 80s here today so maybe my peonies will open up a bit. They were in denial mode after the last few days of near freezing morning temps.
But our back patio is ready for some REAL springtime. Bring it on!
UPDATE THURSDAY 2:30PM: I started with a call to Governor Cuomo’s office. They directed me to the Commissioner of the DMV, who directed me to a woman who said she’d have someone call me today with the answers to my questions posed within.
UPDATE #2 @ 4PM:
It took several phone calls but to my amazement, and pleasure, I got answers.
1. The Carmel DMV is a County station, not a state one so no state line item funding. There ARE armed guards at many state DMV’s I was told, particularly down county where there have been known to be incidents. This has been the procedure for many many years and they vary from station to station whether the guards are subcontracted or state employees, but most likely subcontracted part-time workers.
2. So I called Putnam County and they connected me right to the horses mouth, the Carmel DMV office. The woman to whom I spoke has worked there 22 years and said armed guards have been in place there for a decade at least. In the afternoons when crowds can get testy (which is probably why I never noticed them before but I have to say I’ve never even seen a desk there before or the huge sign ON the desk) The men are retired police officers and the money comes out of the Putnam County budget, at the request of the head of the Carmel DMV. She added that while they haven’t had a real incident, she feels the presence of a guard quells a fury that can easily arise in a place with such enormous bureaucracy. And long lines.Solid answers. No post-Newtown panic or gun law adjunct. A decision based on need. I felt quite satisfied with their answers. Case closed.
Traveling up to Carmel, NY today as back-up emergency Bank of Mom for a child who
a) had to deal with a suspended license
b) had to pay a fine for an uninsured vehicle
c) had to register another vehicle
d) all of the above
e) NONE OF THE ABOVE (**buried in the comments is the truth that this child was NOT at the DMV for any of the above!!)
I was stunned, I repeat STUNNED, to see an armed security guard at a teeny outpost of a DMV in the middle of nowhere in Putnam County.
As a matter of fact, by the time I left, there were two armed men, perhaps changing of the guard so to speak, but what the heck? Why on EARTH do the employees at the DMV need armed protection? I know the service at any DMV is stressful, annoying, lengthy, and irritating, but are the employees worried that someone will go crazy when they find out that one needs six points of proof for an identity or that the line is a 40 minute wait??
I’d REALLY like to know if I am paying for the guards. And how much do they make? Salary? Hourly wage? Benefits? Paid vacation? Healthcare? Does every DMV in the state have an armed guard now? Is it in a union contract that DMV employees require someone packing heat? I mean, this is bad, really really bad.
Fortunately, I brought my own pens (always carry two, concealed!!) but it looks like had I forgotten, I could have helped the Visually Handicapped. Because, god knows, we can’t say BLIND anymore. Oh dear.
Aaah, that pesky ObamaCare finds its way into my pocketbook.
We’re card carrying Medicare customers these days, both of us past the ripe young age of 65. We’ve signed up for other Parts of Medicare to make sure we have all our bases covered as we age. (who us, age?) One of the Parts we got from Aetna was Part D. I don’t take any medications and Mr. EOS only one, but we felt it would make sense to pay and be prepared. A good former Girl Scout leader is always prepared.
This month’s Medicare bill has a line item for IRMAA Part D, an amount higher than the premium we pay to Aetna. I called Medicare and when I explained I already have Part D, the customer service agent, who was quite nice and helpful, started to laugh.
I knew I was in trouble if HE found something funny about my bill.
Turns out, our income was vetted when applying for Medicare and it met a threshold that makes us “qualified” to pay into the Part D trust fund that will pay for OTHERS.
Part D-IRMAA stands for the Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount for Part D and this is mandated by the Affordable Care Act to help fund the Medicare Part D Trust Fund. It started on January 1, 2011. Now Part D-IRMAA is a set amount paid to the government in addition to and separate from the plan premium. As a reminder, this is not paid to the plan. The Part D-IRMAA is required to be paid by those who have Part D coverage and higher income.
Will this added premium break our bank? No. But am I irritated that I am being forced to pay for others healthcare? You bet. We’re pretty darn eleemosynary folk, we help in a lot of ways – making donations and working hands-on with people and groups who need a hand up. That’s part of who we are. But darned if I want my government telling me how much I have to pay into a trust fund. (managed by whom I ask, and not implemented until 2014). The IRS?
I’m not a fan of much government intrusion, or so many government demands of my money. Progressive will disagree with me, saying it is incumbent upon me to support those who can’t afford care. But do I want to pay for your abortion? No. And that’s a big problem for me. I am very definitely pro-choice, so you’d think I wouldn’t mind, but I think it’s NOT the government’s business if you get an abortion and NOT the government’s business to pay for it.
End of rant.
Miscellany Monday
Busy weekend and heading out the door for a chore-laden Monday but wanted to share some photos, some from readers, some of mine.
From EarthImage: Mother’s Day in Florida
From CosHarbour, photos taken a couple of weeks ago of The Kon-Tiki sitting in Brooklyn, there for the preview of a documentary aired by the National Geographic channel called Kon-Tiki: The Incredible True Story
Me:
More blooming flowers, including a great fragrant free Mother’s Day bouquet!
Wild Turkey. Usually a band of merry men and women, this fellow seemed lost and alone. I made SURE Dawg did not see said turkey. I don’t know for a fact, but I suspect Dawg would find this chase-worthy, maybe even damage worthy?
Last night’s moon:
And a slight oops photo, taken by a friend in Rhode Island, sent in a text to Mr. EOS. Thankfully no one was hurt, hard as that is to believe, looking at the damage.
Dansking With The Stars
Lo and behold, almost right under my nose, a fabulous mid-century modern house is for sale and I didn’t even know it existed!! It’s only a couple of miles from me, on a wonderfully beautiful winding road, but the house is way off the road, invisible, and the owners were never acquaintances so I’ve not be inside. Darn.
I found the listing quite by accident, browsing the website Curbed, as any good house junkie does daily. There, on the front page, a house built in 1961 for the founders and owners of Dansk.
Curbed says of the home:
When Theodore and Marsha Nierenberg, founders of the Scandinavian tabletop firm Dansk International Designs, needed to build a house atop their scenic, 22-acre slice of land in Armonk, N.Y., they knew just who to turn to: Jens Quistgaard, Dansk’s chief designer, who was game for the task of putting his signature kitchenware aside for a moment to, well, design a house. The 7,100-square-foot structure was completed in 1961.
All photos posted here are from the real estate listing, linked to at the end of this thread.
Clicking one photo will open up a slideshow.
The home was put on the market when Mr. Nierenberg died in 2010, at a price of $7.5million. It is now at $5.5 and for the life of me I can’t figure out why some mid-century modern lover hasn’t snapped this up. Who doesn’t LOVE that wood carved spiral staircase? (click photo #11 to see it fully) Even if this style of architecture is not your personal choice, the attention to detail of the era has to be appreciated. And hopefully preserved. Okay, maybe not the kitchen. I might scrape that!
Realtor.com says of the home:
Inside, the 7 bedroom, 6 bathroom retreat retains its connection to the serene setting with vaulted ceilings and glass walls showcasing the 10-acre lake. Evoking an ornamental feel of the medieval, beamed ceilings, hardwood floors and built-ins are accented by magnificent brickwork in the form of four great fireplaces and a resplendent kitchen hearth. But the real prize is arguably the handcrafted wood-spiral staircase, which offers a true showcase of Quistgaard’s outstanding feel for Scandinavian form.
Here’s the official real estate listing by a company I’ve never heard of, Estately. Perhaps that has something to do with its limited exposure to the public? I’d live in it in a heartbeat!
PS: I’ll be gone much of the weekend so this post will run through Sunday. Happy Mother’s Day to MY fabulous mom and all other moms out there!!
Misty Mornin’, Don’t See No Sun
Lyrics by Bob Marley, photo by Mr. EOS, in RI this morning, waiting, waiting, waiting for the plumber.
