Auld lang syne

Auld Lang Syne {pronounced Zyne} is not necessarily a New York thing but is well known around the World especially if your some of the millions of New Yorkers that visit Time Square each year on New Years Eve 

Auld Lang Syne has a few meanings such as “old long since” “days gone by” or “old times” Robert Burns was the first person to write the prom on paper in 1788  The poem is Scottish but made its way around the world with the immigration of the Irish British and English 

Even though Robert burns was the first person to write the poem on paper he's most likely not the person who came up with it there's another poem that was written in 1711 by James Watson called old long syne and Burns himself admitted he got it from an old man

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

                                                       

The first tree in Rockefeller center is between west 48th and 51st street and Fifth and Sixth avenues  was in 1931 was a small 20 foot balsam fir. when workers put up and decorated it with stringed cranberries, garland and even cans. The first official tree was two years later and that was a 50 foot tree now the trees are 69 to 100 foot Norway Spruce.  In 1936 the ice rink was opened. During world war 2 three small trees were put up in the center each decorated one color of the united states flag in the years of 1944 and 45 the tree was left unlite do to black outs regulations. In Dec 2001 again the tree was decorated in red white and blue following the attacks on 9/11 When the tree gets to Rockefeller center it is anchored by 4 steel spikes held buy guy-wires with a spike in its base then scaffolding is used to decorate the tree with 3 million multi colored lights 70 spikes and topped with a Swarovski crystal star and weighing 900lbs in the end. Starting in 2007 the trees have been milled and donated to habitat for humanity 

Tug hill plateau

Tug Hill Plateau region is East of Lake Ontario North of Oneida Lake West of the Adirondack Mountains and isn't really a Plateau it's a Cueata and covers 800 square miles covering Jefferson County towns of Adams, Champion, Lorraine, Rodman, Rutland, Watertown, Worth. Lewis County towns Denmark, Harrisburg, Lewis, Leyden, Lowville, Martinsburg, Montague, Osceola, Pinckney, Turn, West Turin. Oneida County towns Annville, Ava, Boonville, Camden, Florence, Floyd, Forestport, Lee, Remsen, Steuben, Treton, Vienna, Western. Oswego County towns Albon, Amboy, Boylston, Constantina, Hastings, Orwell, Parish, Redfield, West, Monroe, Williamtown.

Before the English the area was controlled by Iroquois confederation mainly the Oneidaga and Oneida nations used for fishing and hunting. Four million acres were bought by the English after the revolutionary war by William Contable that was subdivided for English settlers and set aside anther 10,500 for roads and canals.

Even though the tug hill regions has nice summers it is well known for the amounts of snowfall it gets averaging 200 inches thats 16ft 7inches per winter between feb 3rd and 12th RedField can get 141inches (11ft) Parish can get 121inches(10ft) and Osceola can get 106 inches (8ft).Tug hill is used for a bunch of recreations snowmobiles hiking skiing and fishing and hunting there are a lot of animals that can be seen such as Deer, Rabbits, Beaver, Turkey, Fishers, Bobcats, Coyote   sometimes Black Bear, Salmon, Trout, Bass, Walleye, and Waterfowl.

Rome sand plains Rome NY

The Rome sand plains is a 15,000-acre pine barren with only two are found in New York State and the other is located down by Albany, the pine barrens are normally found near the coastal regions. The barrens consist of a mix of hardwood forest meadows and wetlands. 4,000 acres that are protected

In 1980 the sand plains have privately owned an application was made to mine the sand to be used for molds for metal casting triggering efforts to protect the area organizations such as The New York Environmental Conservation and The Nature Conservatory with other organizations started buying land    

The sand plains are a relic of Lake Iroquois that is a larger version of Lake Ontario and 100 feet deeper. Lake Iroquois was a lake that existed at the end of the last ice age 12 thousand yrs ago 

The Rome sand plains have a variety of trees and plants, along with some rare species of plants and animals  for the area including the red-shouldered hawk and the frost elfin butterfly along with

purple pitcher plant

and a sundew both are carnivorous plants. 

The pine warbler

The eastern whip poor will

The marten

the barrens buck moth

 

Wild Blue Lupine

and the pitch pine

purple pitcher plant

and a sundew both are carnivorous plants. 

The pine warbler

The eastern whip poor will

The marten

the barrens buck moth

 

Wild Blue Lupine

and the pitch pine