Greetings faithful readers of Kenoza Lake. As I write this column, we still have summer like weather in western Bethel. Our local farmers were scrambling this past week to get the last of their hay made and into the barns. As we have not yet had a killer frost this fall (or any frost for that matter), the hay quality is still fairly good, for early October. On Wednesday, October 4th, Boomer Russell made numerous round hay bales in the Perry Road hay fields. One more field to go. I haven’t seen any of the local corn chopped yet. The fields are so wet, hard to get the corn chopping equipment on the corn fields. I see that David Olsen was tuning up his corn chopper. I ran into Will Hughson at Peck’s the other day, and he said the Hughsons had not yet started to chop corn.

So, in nature, there is something known as a mast year. Oak and beech trees have mast years. A mast year is a year when a particular woodland species produces more fruit than normal. A mast year for an oak tree happens every two to five years. Judging by the number of red and white oak tree acorns that have sprinkled the Otto household driveway and Pucky Huddle Road this year, I am anointing 2023, a mast acorn year. The whitetail deer rut is gearing up so if you are out driving, be careful! Last Saturday I was driving on Route 17B, White Lake, headed east, by the traffic light and low and behold, what appeared, a huge buck!  Mon Dieu! He looked like the Hartford Insurance Company buck.  I was planning to pull over and stop traffic so I could maybe help him safely cross Route 17B, but I saw in my rear-view mirror (as I was stopped at the traffic light), that he safely crossed the road, near White Lake. Wooly bears are on the move. I try to dodge them as I navigate the back roads. (I also try to dodge Monarch Butterflies, frogs and turtles.) 

October means roast beef dinner time.  Mark your calendar for the best roast beef dinner in the county, the Kenoza Lake Fire Company’s annual roast beef dinner. The dinner will be held on Saturday, October 14th.  Take out only. $17.00. Real mashed potatoes. The roast beef comes from the Alpine House in Honesdale, which is well known for their delicious meat. Also, REAL mashed potatoes, delicious Raum Boys gravy, special desserts, generous portions, what more can I say? I know that there will be a gorgeous wine basket, for a 50-50, from the 52 and Vine store in Jeffersonville (that Thomas Wasserman has put together. Thank you, Thomas!) The only unfortunate thing is that it is take-out dinners only this year.  (If you want to eat in with your neighbors and friends, the Jeffersonville Fire Company will have a roast beef dinner on October 21st (plus a dance!) I understand that the name of the band will be “The Other Band”. I don’t believe that they play square dances. Maybe next year we can get some square dance music as well as “regular”/modern music? (Just a request. It has been decades since I danced a square dance.) 

Get well wishes and prayers for Pastor Bridgette LeConey (and Bud) who is still on the recovery path, after some recent health challenges. Also, get-well prayers and wishes to Janet Terwilliger who is recovering from a nasty fall.

There are six churches in the Western Sullivan United Methodist Church’s Western Sullivan Cooperative Parish, namely Jeffersonville, Kenoza Lake, Liberty, Livingston Manor, North Branch and White Sulphur Springs. If there are five Sundays in a month, then there is only one church service for the six churches.  This month, October 2023, there are five Sundays.  The Fifth Sunday service this month will be held at 10:00 at the North Branch United Methodist Church. Hope to see you there!

I was saddened to learn that Buck Showalter was effectively fired by the Mets.  I loved Buck. Hopefully, he will land someplace, just like Dusty Baker, and finally, will win the World Series that he so much deserves. Also saddened to learn the fate of Kevin McCarthy, the Speaker of the House. I had the honor of meeting him in Callicoon, back in August. I have a great photo of my husband Ray and me with him and our congressman Marc Molinaro.