A visit to Barclay

While spending a couple days at the cabin, we decided to see if we could find the locally famous ghost town of Barclay. Barclay was a coal boom town from about 1860 to 1901 when a flood destroyed much of the infrastructure used to gar the coal or market. Also, by that time, most of the east to mine coal had played out and Bradford County coal mining was on the wane.

While nothing remains of the town, except a couple apple trees and some foundations, if you know where to look. The cemintary is still there, and in remarkablly good shape. While it is unmaintained, it is located on State Game Land offers some protection.

Check out some of our pictures here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Gary.N3HCP/Barclay#

Embracing my internal redneck!

Admit it to your self. There's a bit of the redneck in all of us. Being in northern PA has a tendency to bring this trait to the surface. In Overton Township pick up trucks are like opinions...everybody has one!!

After several months of preparation, our 2006 Dodge Dakota was finally ready to tackle the back roads and jeep trails on Bradford and Sullivan Counties. We've tuned it up, had the transmission serviced, installed a 55 watt back-up light (ever try to back around a narrow dirt road with a 6 foot drop on each side, in the dark?? I have!), bull bars with a skid plate, and, of course, KC Daylighter off road lights.

Last week I got to try it out! Very cool!! It handles the rough, rutty, mussy roads with ease and the lights are remarkable! They don't call them "daylighters" for nothing! Can't wait for the next trip north :)

Address comes camp

As part of the Bradford County 9-1-1 system improvements, most places, including seasonal residents, are getting street addresses. We are now 89 Junk's Pond Road, Overton township. Now all we need is indoor plumbing...

Snowey weekend at camp

When I arrived at camp Friday there was about2 to 3 feet of snow in the Woods ans 3 to 4 foot piles in front of the driveways from the township plows. To be fair, there are all seasonal cabins and most owners stay away in the winter...but not me! The gentlemen who lives down the road was kind enough to plow our driveway. All in all, a relaxing weekend!

Up and running!

The new weather station is up and running. My wife and I were able to get the remote sensor unit up on the pole on the garage without breaking anything (well, she did slip on the snow, but nothing broken!!). The new unit is smaller and lighter then the old one, so installation was not too bad. Now the data is once again reliable so the guys at NOAA won't disown my station!!

Comming soon to a weather station near you!

The weather station her at Radio Free Schaefferstown has been having some technical problems over the fast few months. As is so often the case, it turns out to be more cost effective to replace the whole system that to try to repair it.

The new system will be a Weather Vue from Davis instruments. After it's installed it should interface with the existing computer and data transmission systems with no further upgrades.

If all goes well, the new system should be on line sometime Thursday...I hope!!

http://www.vantagevue.com/

Welcome to March

Well, to say February was crazy would be an understatement! Schaefferstown has been snow covered for most of the month, and cold and windy to boot!!

Due to some construction on the offices at the Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, the venue where we normally hold the funeral services was closed and we were forced to use a back-up facility. Unlike the usual place, the back-up place is much more unprotected so cold and wind are much more of a factor. And it can get mighty windy out there!!

So far, the snow has kept us away from Bradford County most of the year, so far. Hoping to remedy that situation this weekend!!

Winter Cabin Trip

We went to the cabin on Wednesday, December for New Year's. The weather was interesting, to say the least! After the first day, the temperature stayed mostly below 20 degrees, with some stiff wind. We had some snow every day, including Monday, when we headed home. We never got officially "snowed in", but it was fun, never-the-less.

The two pictures from the Trail Cam show a small bear and an Eastern Flying Squirrel (look close on top of the stump...he's about the size of a chipmunk) that came to have a snack. The trail cam took 662 pictures, mostly Gray Squirrels, over about a week and a half!