April Showers and All That

It was officially the rainiest April ever recorded for the Syracuse area.  Let me tell you, it felt like it.  The whole month was gloomy and dreary and drippy, then we had a couple of whopper thunder storms this past week that caused a lot of damage and brought a whole hell of a lot of rain.

Mind you, I am incredibly grateful Syracuse's damage was just some flooding, hail damage, and power outages, and not the kind of deadly tornado damage some other states saw.  It still did, however, cause things like several feet of rushing water on Route 81, backed up sewers,  and damage to the local parks, among other things.  The hail did a lot of damage too, including to my Dad's car, which he had been contemplating trading in next month.  Spectacular timing.

Check out some of the massive hail stones from his yard.  You can see why they dented the car:

By the way, when I say backed up sewage, I'm not exaggerating.  The County sewers were so overloaded by that one massive storm that sewage erupted out of the toilets at my husband's office with such force that it blew the toilets clean off the seals on the two lower floors of the building.  That should give you some idea how much rain we got in that one storm.  Ew ew ew ew ew.

Anyway, on to pleasanter subjects.  Today dawned bright and clear and deliciously sunny - an incredibly welcome change from the gloom and rain.  Could this signal a brighter May?  Late in the day we stopped at Onondaga Lake Park to see just how flooded it is.  I had heard that the lake was well beyond flood stage, but Onondaga Lake Park tends to develop a lot of mini ponds on the lawns at the northern end in the spring anyway.

I certainly did not expect to see as much water as I did.

Parts of Onondaga Lake Park have basically turned into lake soup.  It's truly impressive.  Actually, for me, it was a little creepy.  I happen to have a nearly pathological fear of things submerged under water, and I often have anxiety dreams about having to walk on docks that are sinking into water.  Let me tell you, there are some things in the Park right now that are the stuff of my nightmares.

One section of trail disappears under a foot or so of water:

There are several docks that are nearly in the water (*shudder*) and which one could only access by wading:

The really sad part is that it's done some real damage to the marina, and undoubtedly some other areas too.  And my word, it has also dumped a whole lot of gross debris along the shoreline.  It's going to be a huge undertaking to clean up.  The poor docks in the marina are new, and I hope the damage isn't too extensive.

Thankfully, the worst of the debris is largely concentrated near the southern end of the Park, and much of the park was still pretty and inviting.  There were certainly folks out enjoying it, because it was hard to resist going for a stroll in all that sunshine, despite the damp.

The sunshine and all the water made for some beautiful photos, even if I couldn't get to all the benches to enjoy the view.

Here's hoping for a brighter, sunnier May to dry us out a bit!

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Faugh a Ballagh!*

Irish Road Bowling has come to Syracuse!

For our Sunday jaunt we did not wander off into the woods, but instead wandered into the wilds of Onondaga Lake Park to watch Syracuse's first ever Irish Road Bowling competition, an event hosted by Onondaga County Parks and put on by the Friends of Historic Onondaga Lake, Inc.  What fun!

What is Irish Road Bowling, you might ask?  It involves a team of four, a canon ball, beer, and 2 1/2 miles of open road.  It's sort of a cross between bowling and golf - you bowl the canon ball down the road, and the team that gets across the finish line with the fewest rolls wins.  In essence, it boils down to:

The ball:

By the way, this is a real sport, particularly in Ireland where it has been played for more than 300 years.  There are professional Irish Road Bowlers.  It's also gaining in popularity in the U.S., with Ireland, West Virginia being the U.S. capital of Irish Road Bowling.

Some participants in action, at the starting line:

And bowling down the length of the Park:

It was a cloudy windy day, but the rain largely held off, and the City of Syracuse made a pretty backdrop to the bowling.

People got really into it, and teams came with special shirts, hats, signs and decorated balls.

A team traveled from the New York/Vermont border, made up of people who Irish Road Bowl regularly.  They were the ringers, I guess, since they did take first prize in the men's team category.  For what it's worth, it took 45 bowls for the "pros" to go the length of Onondaga Lake Park.

Some of the other teams were mighty good, too, though.  The 2nd place men's team came in at 46, and the 3rd at 48.  Seems like Syracuse has the potential to turn out some talented Irish Road Bowling teams!  The top two co-ed teams each tied at 52, and had to do a sudden death shoot out, with the top team only winning by about 4 feet.

I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all - those who bowled, those who watched, and even those who ran the event.  There was a grand warm-up party at the end hosted by the Barking Gull, with plenty of Irish food and beer to warm everyone after the time in the cold.

The proceeds support the Friends of Historic Onondaga Lake's recreational and educational programs in Onondaga Lake Park, which I happen to think is a mighty worthy cause.  Most of the time when I'm headed outdoors I am looking to disappear into the wildest area I can find - I'm anti-social like that.  But Onondaga Lake Park is a real gem of Syracuse.  Most cities with lakes would do anything to have as much public property along their lake as Syracuse has.

Onondaga Lake Park is always picturesque,

and has great people watching.  It's got great history, too, which is still represented by the Salt Museum and Sainte Marie among the Iroquois.  There's always at least a little wildlife,

and plenty of dogs.  It's a great place to rollerblade, especially if one is as unable to stop on rollerblades as I am (no cars and no hills means I'm more likely to survive without major injury).  It's also a good place to bike with kids, jog and walk.  Let's face it, anyplace that makes it appealing to exercise and be outdoors is an asset for the community.

I'm delighted that so many folks came to Irish Road Bowling, and hope we can find more fun events like it to keep drawing people to Onondaga Lake Park.  I, for one, will be going back next year to watch the second annual Irish Road Bowling event.  If I get daring, perhaps I'll even get a team together...


* means "clear the way" in Irish.

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The Eagles Return

The return of bald eagles to Onondaga Lake makes me happy.  See here for a recent news article on the subject.

I have been privileged to spot bald eagles around Syracuse for the past couple of years.  The first time I saw them I was on the lawn outside of Sainte Marie among the Iroquois on Onondaga Lake Parkway in Liverpool.  Sitting on the lawn with my husband and enjoying the view on a pretty summer's day nearly three years ago, I was sort of lazily watching a big bird circling over the lake, when I suddenly sat bolt upright and pretty much shouted "HOLY CRAP!  THAT'S AN EAGLE!" 

No one believed me except for my husband, who also saw it, and the volunteers at Sainte Marie who had been spotting them regularly and just sort of nodded and smiled knowingly when I mentioned it.

Then perhaps a year ago, I was riding in the car with my father on John Glenn Boulevard, not particularly near the lake.  While we were stopped at a stop light I spotted a mature bald eagle circling overhead.  I casually said, "Hey - that's an eagle."  My Dad, said "Nooo, I don't think so..." followed by a pause, followed by "Hey!  That really is an eagle!"

The point of this story is that it's sad that we should all be so skeptical about bald eagles returning.  Part of our skepticism, of course, is rooted in the near extinction of bald eagles because of hunting and the widespread use of the pesticide DDT and whatever else nearly did them in.  Throughout my childhood in the 1970s and 1980s, bald eagles were sort of just a legend for me, almost as much as the ivory billed woodpecker.  I never really thought I'd see one, and if I did, I sort of figured it would be just one, once.  Somewhere else.

Then they slowly started trickling into the area.  The first time I became aware of them locally was at Montezuma Wildlife Refuge, which is maybe 45 minutes west of Syracuse.  In 1976, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation began a program to reintroduce bald eagles to the state starting at Montezuma.  It wasn't until 1980 that the first pair released from Montezuma nested in northern New York, but wasn't until 1987 that the first pair of bald eagles nested and successfully raised eaglets right at Montezuma.  I should say the first since 1956.

How wonderful is it that you can now see them most days right here in Syracuse?  On any given day you can spot eagles by going to the upper levels of Carousel Mall and looking out the windows with binoculars, or late afternoon (4-4:30ish) they often seem to fly over Sainte Marie among the Iroquois.  During the summer months, I also recommend boating along the Seneca River just north of Onondaga Lake.  If you don't have a boat, try a cruise with Mid-Lakes Navigation starting at Dutchman's Landing.  I have now twice had my boat escorted up the canal by a bald eagle who flew from tree to tree beside us, looking sternly and disapprovingly at the boating riffraff cluttering up his water.

Not only does the near extinction of bald eagles make it surprising to spot them here, but as Syracusans, the health of Onondaga Lake makes it surprising as well.  Poor Onondaga Lake is widely touted as the "most polluted lake in North America" and a few other disparaging nicknames.  I admit it is pretty bad, but also feel compelled to point out that it's improving.  There are plans for all sorts of cleanup activities to remove depositions of contaminants left by the historic industries of Syracuse.  For some more info on lake cleanup and condition, you can try the Onondaga Lake Partnership web site, or the NYSDEC web site, for starters.  Much of the improvement in the condition of the lake to date is related to improvements made by Onondaga County to its wastewater treatment facility. 

Most local people I talk to who are not scientists or bass fishermen snort derisively when I note that Onondaga Lake is getting better.  But darn it, it is.  And it will continue to do so.  The proposed cleanup is of course controversial, but even disregarding the proposed dredging and capping activities, the lake has been surprising scientists with how fast it has achieved certain markers of returning health.  For one thing, the variety of fish in the lake is fairly high.  According to Onondaga County reports, something like 48 species have been found there between 2000 and 2009, including some species that tend to be pretty sensitive to contamination. 

It's amazing what nature can do to heal when left to itself for a bit.  It has a long way to go, but at least I feel hopeful that it's going in the right direction.  Would I swim in it?  Not yet, but I would happily kayak across it.  That's progress.

While I admit to a twinge of anxiety about how much mercury the eagles might be taking in by fishing on Onondaga Lake (mercury is one of the major industrial contaminants in it), I also am happy that the lake seems clean enough to the eagles that they're here.  The thrill of spotting the massive, majestic birds right here in my own city hasn't worn off yet - I hope it never does.

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