A History of the Old Put

I have two Mickey Mouse flags, hanging from the maple tree in the yard that I also hang a deer from on occasion (not last fall, though); one says “Welcome Family and Friends!,” the other, “Happy St. Patrick’s Day.” Both of the messages are fitting to start this week's column ... After missing a column last week, I guess I should hang a message here too—“Welcome Back!”

It's a bright, sunny morning on this Tuesday, late for starting this column, but it's been a busy week here, but “the times, they are a-changing,” (that was an old Bob Dylan song). They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I'm thinking about a career change, a tough row to hoe in these troubled times, and at my age, but we're well into the month of March, and spring is coming on fast now. I'm optimistic as a kid who just graduated, looking for a bright future.

With the current warming trend, the snow is gone now and the ice is slipping away fast on Lake Gleneida here in the Hamlet of Carmel. It's the first winter in the history of writing this column that I didn't get out on Gleneida to go ice fishing—or anywhere else, for that matter. I'm never going to let that happen again, and I will be doing a lot of fishing starting with the April 1 opening of the trout season. That's April Fool's Day, but I'm really serious about getting ‘back in the saddle, again’ when it comes to getting back to enjoying the Sporting Life.

With more than 20 protected lakes and reservoir boats in my name, all for use for my Oasis Sportsman Club friends, I am making a pledge to myself this morning that I will actually try to use every one of those boats myself this year, to fish with friends. I guess you could call it a ‘New Spring Resolution!’

One of the things that delayed writing this column was the need to write a spring meeting newsletter yesterday, as Secretary of the Hamlet Of Carmel Civic Association. If you like old trains and local history, the HCCA is having their first general meeting on Thursday, March 18, at the meeting room at the Carmel Firehouse on Gleneida Avenue and Vink Drive, here in Carmel, at 7:30pm. These meetings are open to all, and Joe Schiavone, Author of The Old Put, a history of the old Putnam Railroad train that once rode the tracks to Carmel and Mahopac, will be the guest speaker at this meeting.

He will be giving a visual presentation and speak about the history of the old train that came here way back when on the route that is now known as the bike trail that runs from Mahopac to Brewster.

As a kid, I waited for the call that a package has arrived at the old railroad station here in Carmel, and my Dad and I would drive down and pick up a large package that my parents had bought to celebrate my birthday on July 4, each year. It was a large assortment of fireworks, coming from the Mid-west. July 4th has always been a noisy time around here.

I'm not a kid anymore, and the train whistle is not heard here anymore, either! Luckily, I have a suitcase of fireworks in a safe place (under the bed, of all places), left from a bunch I bought at South of the Border on a trip back from Florida, many moons ago. So some things never change and July 4th will be a new milestone marker, at age 73, for me here on Ridge Road in Carmel, in the house I was born in. I may get in trouble, but it will be a timely time to get that fire hazard out from under my bed.

Just got a call from the Courier office, that my editor called, concerned he hadn't gotten my column yet, so I'm closing this column right now. I can get in trouble without even trying these days!

It's going to be a little short, but I'll make it all up next week, I promise!