On The Sly

The last three days have been interesting and frustrating. What began as a simple upgrade by the company that operates the blog website for the Press-Republican ended up a mini-disaster, with confusion across the nation.

The Press had been told that the upgrade would have no effect on the operation of the blogs. One P-R internet staffer told me that the upgrade was supposed to be "seamless, but instead it fell apart at the seams." Anyone trying to read the On the Sly blogs met with a blank page and frustration.

It caused me and many of the regular visitors to On the Sly to question our own computers and immediately search for a remedy. I tried different computers, contacted friends with computers, switched browsers from Firefox to Explorer to Netscape and back again, all to no avail. I restarted, cleaned my desktop and deleted history and cleared cache. Still no blog.

As frustrating as it was for me and others, it was especially frustrating to the internet staff at the Press-Republican. At one point on Wednesday, the problem was seemingly solved, because in the Press-Republican office the blogs were working fine. For whatever reason, the blogs still were down for the rest of the world.

E-mails and phone calls kept me busy on Wednesday and into Thursday as I worried that the entire blog site might have to be rebuilt, and I feared that all of the blogs I have written would be lost forever. Several regular readers e-mailed wondering if the problem was with their computer or the actual site.

Finally today, Thursday, On the Sly and the other blogs were up and working. Much to my relief all of the blogs remained intact at the site, except for my most recent one, which was published on March 23. It was titled "Sometimes You Can Just Give Up" or something like that, and it was about the Lenten season. That blog seems to have floated into blog purgatory, and may forever remain outside the world wide web.

If anyone happened to have bookmarked that blog or made a hard copy of it, I could use it and republish it. In the meantime, I'll be working on an easy way to save all of my previous blogs, just so I can have them for my files.

Anyone who knows me knows that I save everything, and I even have every graded college report I did while working towards my degree at Plattsburgh State.

Otherwise, On the Sly is back up and running. Thanks to all who expressed their concerns during those confusing days. Hey, we were only blogged down a few days. It's not like we had to give it up for all of Lent!

Posted by Foxy Gagnon at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

The title of this blog sounds something like a terrorist plot, but it's not. I never thought I'd write about this, never thought I'd say it, or even think it! But it is possible that Peter Pan has died.

I don't mean that little boy, created by J. M. Barrie, who refuses to grow up and becomes the nemesis of the pirate Captain Hook. I mean Peter Pan the peanut butter. It was over a month ago that ConAgra, the makers Peter Pan peanut butter, issued a recall of their top-selling peanut butter due to the risk of contamination with salmonella.

When I read of this, I hurried to my cupboard to check my Peter Pan jars for the dreaded 2111 code on the lid. Sure enough, there were two jars, one newly-opened and the other unopened. Two full jars! The newspaper article advised throwing away the jars of peanut butter and sending the lids to ConAgra for a refund. I complied.

As much as it killed me to throw away two perfectly good jars of Peter Pan peanut butter, I figured salmonella would kill me worse. So into the trash they went, and off to Nebraska went my lids. I wanted at least to receive money for the emotional damages of throwing away my beloved peanut butter.

After all, the only, and I mean only, peanut butter I have eaten since birth is Peter Pan. You can talk about your Skippy and your Jif, but I'm a Peter Pan boy. In the Gagnon home we only were fed the best, Peter Pan. And, as a kid, when you ate your peanut butter sandwich at the neighbor's house, Mrs. Prentice served up Peter Pan peanut butter sandwiches. So did June Tellstone and Betty Quilliam and, I'm certain, so did Mary Gagnier, Peggy Froehlich and Evelyn D'Avignon and all the other moms on Johnson Avenue.

And in my own adulthood, never once has any other brand of peanut butter invaded my cupboards. Only Peter Pan enters Foxy Gagnon's place. That is, until all this salmonella mess took place!

After finishing off February without my weekly peanut butter sandwich (not to mention Peter Pan on celery and Peter Pan on crackers) I was dying for some peanut butter. But I refused to give in. I checked the store shelves every few days, waiting anxiously for the return of Peter Pan. It's been over a month now. We are almost finished with March, and still no store in the North Country has restocked their shelves with my favorite brand.

So, this weekend, with peanut butter hunger pains getting the better of me, I gave in. I cursed ConAgra ceremoniously, and I purchased a jar of Skippy peanut butter. Of course, I immediately made a sandwich and hoped for the best.

But what I got wasn't the best. Although the first few bites of the peanut butter sandwich were tasty, after several bites I knew that Skippy just wasn't the same. I was getting a funny feeling in my stomach, and I couldn't finish the entire sandwich. The final one-quarter of the sandwich went into the trash instead of my stomach.

It's hard to explain, but the taste, the smoothness, the something, just wasn't the same. I guess I'm just a Peter Pan boy for ever!

And yesterday a letter arrived from ConAgra, thanking me for my purchase of Peter Pan peanut butter in the past. They vowed, "We are committed to providing you with safe, wholesome products." They further promised, "Because your trust and loyalty are important to us, we are working diligently to take whatever steps are necessary so that we can bring Peter Pan peanut butter back to the consumers who love it." That's me!

To seal the deal, a check was included. It's for $5.30, based on suggested retail price of two jars, plus cost of shipping the lids to them. Wow! $5.30 for the pain and suffering of going without my favorite peanut butter sandwich for over a month.

Don't worry about me, though. Somehow I'll survive. And when Peter Pan finally returns to the store shelves, you can bet there will be one whale of a sandwich party over at Foxy's house!

Posted by Foxy Gagnon at 7:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

The poet Robert Frost (no relation to Jack) wrote in a famous poem, "Good fences make good neighbors." I think the modern version of that might be, "Good snowblowers make good neighbors."

The North Country has always been full of good neighbors. That's obvious from all the benefits, golf tournaments, shindigs and dinners around our area that benefit one good cause after another. Remember the "Help Feed Your Neighbor" music benefit not long ago at Olive Ridleys to raise money for the food shelves around the North Country? So many people showed up with cans of food or money in their hand that the entire place was wall-to-wall people standing can-to-can.

The Press-Republican used to recognize good neighbors long ago. I would say that was back in the late Fifties or early Sixties. The Press-Republican would accept nominations from around the area and select a "Good Neighbor" of the week or month. In fact, my own Mom won once, and in a dusty scrapbook someplace in my house is a black and white newspaper photo of Vi Gagnon with her angelic daughter Darlene, with the title "Good Neighbor" above the picture.

Goose and I weren't in the picture. We were probably out stealing Mrs. Horvath's apples or breaking Mrs. Gagnier's window with a baseball. It was Mom who was the good neighbor, but nothing in the article said that her two sons were.

Anyway, the latest two snowstorms to bury our driveways reminded me of what good neighbors I have. On Saratoga Court we have our snowblowing crew of Casey, Jeff, Tom and, sometimes, me. Make no mistake about it, I'm the oldest guy in the group.

If we four were standing in a police lineup, nobody would have a problem picking out the oldest guy or the most out of shape guy. Nevertheless, once in awhile I try to compete with those younger neighbors. But there's nothing scarier to an old guy like me than to walk out the front door and see five feet of snow at the end of the driveway.

And there I stand with three bags of videotape equipment, headed out to Malone or someplace for an event. In each of the last two situations, along came Casey or Tom or Jeff to the rescue. Yesterday it was Jeff who snowblowed my entire driveway so that I could get to Malone on time for the ice skating show.

Two weeks ago Tom and Casey worked my driveway long enough so that I could unbury my car and get to my scheduled event.

And I'm not the only one being rescued. Goose, who lives way out in the woods almost in no-man's land, often gets help from his neighbors. One of his neighbors has a plow and when he spots Goose working the driveway, along he comes and zip, zip, plow, plow, Goose's work is about done. Yesterday Goose's neighbor finished his own driveway and then headed over to Goose's for a version of "Dueling Snowblowers."

I don't know what we'd do without those good neighbors. And the guys on each side of me, Floyd and Si are great neighbors too. In the summertime you'll never hear them blasting AC/DC while I'm trying to take my afternoon nap. Both of them keep their summer yards so neat and trim that it forces me to get out on my big 18.5 horsepower mower to give my yard a sprucing up.

I guess what old Robert Frost should have said is, "Good people make good neighbors." And we sure do have a lot of those around the North Country.

Posted by Foxy Gagnon at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

It's been three months since I've talked about the dating game, which is an interesting game for a retired guy who never thought he'd date again. The last time I mentioned anything to do with "wine, women and song," if you know what I mean, was on December 28, 2006, and I was fresh off my first date with a real life wonderful girl.

Over the past almost-three months I've been asked many times by friends and acquaintances about the status of my relationship with this female friend. She has probably been asked questions as well. In addition, I've been given advice, especially from women, about how to handle dating in the 2000s.

One thing for certain is -- dating takes time. Even though I'm a retired old man, I've discovered that time is something I don't always have. Believe it or not, I have days when I'm on the go from sun-up until sundown, and then some. I have days when I am gone from my home from 9 in the morning until 11 at night. But I guess I'm the kind of guy who likes it that way!

But to be dating, I mean, really what one would call dating, as in, "Foxy, are you and Gwen Stafani dating?", takes time. Not just the hours that it takes to escort Gwen to dinner or to a movie or to a cultural event. But the time it takes on the telephone making plans, or the time it takes instant messaging on the computer to figure out what night would be best to "hang out" or "hook up." Oh, there are those other words again!

I received another piece of advice from a female (who I'll call Elaine) who appears to me to be worldly and knowledgable and experienced. She told me that when it comes to relationships one has to be careful about the "first kiss." This Ann Landers wannabe has warned me, "Foxy, be careful in a relationship about the first kiss. Once you kiss her, it will be over." She meant over, as in "the girl will consider you all hers." I scoffed at that notion. Kissing is a nice thing. Do women in the dating game really consider kissing that important?

Elaine then looked at me real seriously, her brown eyes lasering into mine. "Did you ever see the movie FATAL ATTRACTION? That's required watching if you're going to be in the dating game," she warned.

Yikes! Of course, I've seen that movie. Of course, it makes an impression on any guy with a conscience who ever even remotely considered having a fling. But is there a message in that movie for a happy-go-lucky retired teacher like me?

If you've never seen FATAL ATTRACTION, it involves a guy who has what he thinks will be a one-night stand with a wonderful irresistable woman. However, she invests much more of her emotions than he does, and she turns his married world into a nightmare that no guy would wish for.

Elaine! All that from a simple wonderful kiss? Heck, kissing is a great pleasure. I'd put it right up there in my top ten pleasures of life, right alongside a Dodger Dog at Dodger Stadium or sharing a bucket of hot wings with my son. There's not a guy reading this who wouldn't admit he enjoys kissing.

The main thing I've learned from my brief journey into the dating world is that dating takes work. Like anything else, it's something you have to work at in order for it to be successful. The problem is -- I'm supposed to be retired!

Posted by Foxy Gagnon at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

With the Franklin Academy girls' team and the Chateaugay boys' team headed to the Final Four state basketball tournament in Glens Falls, that leaves only the Exceptional Senior Games to wrap up the 2006-2007 hoop season. These games will be played on Tuesday at Ausable Valley Central School.

I watched over a hundred high school basketball games this winter, and the final 24 games were from my courtside seat as announcer for the sectional and regional games. That gave me a great opportunity to watch the outstanding officiating during the games. It also gave me a chance to hear comments made by fans, as they evaluated the officials from their vantage point in the bleachers.

I'm disappointed at the lack of originality shown by fans this season. Year after year I hear the same comments, such as "Come on, ref, open your eyes!" and "Call those both ways!" If fans are going to berate officials, I'd just like to hear something new for a change. My grandmother used to yell those same comments at Andy Simays and Eddie Gallagher way back in the Sixties.

Mike Roberts, one of the best basketball referees in the North Country, chuckled the other day when he heard a fan comment. Mike said, "He must have read the Heckler's Guide." I'm sure during games the refs have heard them all!

Often those fan comments are just so illogical. During one of the regional games the same fan kept yelling, "Come on, ref, you're missing a good game!" That was when the fan's team was down by about 15 points. Is that what the fan calls "a good game"?

It took the man sitting next to him longer to come up with his saying: "Come on, ref, you're blowing the game!" No, I think the ref is blowing a whistle. The players were blowing the game by missing shots near the basket and throwing the ball into the bleachers.

Sometimes the fans offer to be helpful. "Wanna borrow my glasses, ref?" This is a variation of the "You're blind, ref!" barb. This would never do, though. If the fan gave away his glasses, he would never be able to see all the wrong calls those refs are making.

Sometimes the ref isn't right, no matter what he does. A fan yells, "Blow the whistle" when he thinks his son has been fouled. But the next time down the court, when his son is whistled for charging into two players under the basket, the same fan yells, 'Let 'em play!"

And some fans let the refs have it even when they think the ref made the right call. Maybe you've heard this one: "It's about time you called that, ref!" Or, maybe in the third quarter of the game, a team takes a timeout, and the ref reports it to the official table. That gives a fan the chance to yell, "That's the first call you've got right today!"

The poor ref just can't win. And I don't know how they take it. I sure wouldn't. I'd set a Section 7 record for most technical fouls given to fans. I'd be stopping the game while security guards escort heckler #1 and heckler #2 out of the gym. I guess I don't have what's called "thick skin."

Especially when those fans resort to barbs about the refs personal appearance. Like: "Did your hair get in your eyes, ref?" when said to a bald referee. Or, "Did you hit the buffet line before the game, ref? " when said to a ref who might be a pound or two overweight.

I guess this yelling at the refs will never stop. I guess it's just part of the job when you put on the black-and-white striped shirt. These refs pass rules tests and a rating system and earn their certificate to officiate. And then some fan screams, "Where'd you get your license? In a Cracker Jack box?"

Next basketball season I hope those fans get a little more original! Otherwise, we've heard them all.

Posted by Foxy Gagnon at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Remember in 1983 when Cindy Lauper sang that "girls just want to have fun"? Or, better yet, remember when we were kids we'd chant "What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice ..."?

Whoever wrote those lines never met the girls I'll be talking about in this blog. When these girls trotted out onto a basketball court, they wanted more than just fun. They were determined, competitive, and they were strong hard-working athletes. Nothing could hold them back.

When I wrote about Saranac's Linda Ryan in early 1990, she was living in Schenectady and she was a sales representative for a pharmaceutical firm. Her senior year of 1981 already seemed a long time ago. During Ryan's varsity years at Saranac, the Chiefs won 62 games and lost just 7. Both Ryan and her teammate Tina Pellerin scored over a thousand points in their high school careers. The Press-Republican called the 5' 11" Ryan "the most dominant force in CVAC girls' basketball." She later starred at Siena College and in her four years there tallied 1130 points, including her all-time high of 32 points against Niagra.

Her brothers Mike and Tom, as well as her sister Patricia, also made their marks on the CVAC basketball courts. That's why most longtime basketball observers figure it's the Ryans who hold the North Country record for most points scored by a family.

Over the years two of the most successful girls' basketball programs have been at Westport Central and Northeastern Clinton Central. At Westport Tom Beauvais coached many outstanding basketball players, but perhaps the two finest were Julie Moore and Erin Pratt. During those years sectional titles were almost a given for the Westport Eagles. Both girls went on to play college ball at Division 1 schools. The Conley girls were also standouts for Westport and their steady reliable ballhandling and shooting skills kept Coach Beauvais smiling all the way to his retirement.

Perhaps the first basketball standout at NCCS was Bonnie Covey. A 1981 graduate she is still remembered as one of the best volleyball players ever in the CVAC. However, she also played basketball, averaging 18 points a game her senior year, as the Cougars went 17-1.

Covey's exploits were followed by many, including, in more recent years, Sarah Bushey, Miranda Perras and Courtney Coryea. The Coryea sisters figure to challenge the Ryan sisters for most prolific CVAC scorers before they are done. This year's Northeastern Clinton edition featured Rachel Coryea and Johni-Rae Coryea.

Bruce Stevens, who coached CVAC girls' basketball for seven years, first at Mount Assumption Institute and then at Seton Catholic Central, recently listed several outstanding players that he coached. These, too, were girls who were a lot more than just "sugar and spice." Among those listed were Suzie Paiser, Kathy Lawless, Jane Nicknish, Mary Rickson, Katie Zeglis, Ann Yeckley, Rita Boule and Cindy Beebie.

Just last night, from my terrific courtside seat, I watched a determined Seton Catholic team battle the outstanding Madrid-Wattington Central team into the final minutes. The Knights quick, hustling defense kept the Madrid-Wattington team out of any offensive game plan. Seton Catholic coach Carrie Converse, along with her assistant Angie Mungrue, did a great job this year.

So -- the call is now out -- what other North Country girl basketball stars do you remember?

Posted by Foxy Gagnon at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Watching so much basketball lately, I'm starting to dream of my days of playing ball, and I'm starting to hear a bouncing basketball in my sleep. There are still six more sectional and regional games to play in this area before the athletes move on to the states.

Some day today's stars will be listed in the Press-Republican pages under "10 Years Ago," etc. We former athletes look over that feature to see the names of our teammates, our opponents in days of old, and, if we are lucky enough, our own names.

From 1985 until about 1992 I wrote a feature column for the Press-Republican sports department called "Where Are They Now?" Looking back on those articles now, I can find the names of some great North Country basketball players. Do you recall any of these?

Chuck Kinney - Peru High School - The 6' 5" center scored 98 points in a 120-80 win over Champlain High School in 1955. I'm sure this is still tops in the New York State record books.

Lefty Tessier - Our Lady of Victory Academy - Lefty scored 64 points in one game, but, overall, many consider him the top athlete to ever compete on the high school level in the North Country. Tessier was a four-year starter for the Foxes, and he averaged 16 points a game as a sophomore and 22 points as a junior. In his senior year he averaged 24 points a game.

Neil Breen - Dannemora High School - After Tessier graduated, Neil Breen emerged as the North Country's shining hoop star. He averaged 25 points in the 1956-57 season, his senior year. Breen scored 1223 varsity points at Dannemora. Even those who saw it still don't believe Dannemora's memorable win over OLVA in '57. In the North Country League title game the OLVA Foxes led by seven points with 42 seconds left to play. But Breen converted some steals into points, scoring seven points in less than a minute to send the game into overtime. Then with just two seconds remaining in the extra period, he sank a ten-foot jumper to give Dannemora the championship.

Jim and John Recore - Dannemora High School - These twins were "double trouble" for opponents on the basketball court. Both averaged over 20 points per game their senior year, the 1967-68 basketball season. They both were named to the Clinton County All-Star team.

Joe Cardany - Plattsburgh High School - He was the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 1976 and again in 1977, and is remembered as one of the Hornets' all-time basketball greats. Nobody passed or shot better than Cardany in those days. He went on to star at Union College, a Division II school, and earned All-American honors.

Bill & Bob Finney - Peru Central School - From 1967 through 1969 the Peru Indians won 57 games and lost just 3. Much of the reason for that was the play of Bill Finney and his younger brother Bob Finney. Both stood 6' 4", but they weren't just tall. They were athletes! In his senior year Bill averaged 27.6 points a game. And Bob averaged 25.8 points in his senior year. Are they the most dominant brothers to ever play in the North Country?

Tom Rice - Chazy Central Rural School - Rice averaged 21 points for the Section 7 Class B champion Chazy Eagles in 1973-74, his junior year. He followed it up with a great senior season, setting school records in rebounding and scoring. He's still regarded one of Chazy's all-time great basketball players.

Elmon Henry - Saranac Central School - At 6' 3" he's one of the tallest guards to ever play North Country high school basketball. But in his junior year (1960-61) he was one of the smallest players on the team! In his senior year he averaged over 20 points a game and scored 25 in his final high school game. He went on to start for three seasons at Clarkson College.

I know there are many more names left unmentioned. The North Country basketball tradition is strong and, having enjoyed the 2006-2007 season, I can state for a fact that basketball is alive and well in the North Country.

What? No mention of the standout girls? That'll be next!

Posted by Foxy Gagnon at 4:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

In the Sunday, February 18th edition of the Press-Republican, columnist Steve Ouellette wrote an interesting and humorous article called "... And we walked to school uphill both ways in the snow." I laughed my way through it and then realized that some of the things he mentioned in his article were on my list for a future blog.

In the article Steve recalled how his parents and grandparents told him how life was so different way back when with ice boxes, horse and buggies and the like. Steve, who has young children, wondered how his kids will react when he lays the same complaint on them. He mentioned things like 8-track tapes and black-and-white television sets and using a typewriter.

Am I really that old that I can say there are many things that we had as kids that my grandchildren (if I live that long!) will never see? Life seemed so great growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, it is hard to believe that our life is actually even better now that we have some of the more modern conveniences of the 2000s.

For example, licking stamps has become a lost art. Mailing out birthday party or wedding invitations used to be a yucky task. Who wants to lick the stamps? Not even helpful Aunt Vera wanted to do that! Licking twenty or thirty stamps could leave a taste on your tongue that not even a pack of Black Jack gum would take away. Nowadays all we do is peel a stamp off the handy-dandy book of stamps and place it on the envelope, tongue-free.

Driving a car at night used to be a bit more challenging with the dimmer switch on the floor. Part of your driving instruction was to get a feel for where on the floor (somewhere on the left side) that switch was so that you could use high beam or low beam headlights. If you weren't good at it, you would end up doing a condensed version of the hokey-pokey, putting your left foot in and your left foot out. Nowadays we just flick the lever on our steering column and change the headlight beam. Another big step in making our life easier in the 21th century.

My Dad was quite the amateur photographer. In fact, he had a darkroom in the basement of our house. For those not familiar with this, I don't mean it was a dark room without lights. It was a darkroom for photographers to process film and print pictures. Dad had all kinds of cameras, but they all seemed to have this big flash attachment that he would affix to the top of the camera. He would insert a flashbulb and the camera would be ready to go. Flashbulbs will surely be relics and museum pieces some day. Remember those big bulbs that would explode when he clicked the shutter? He would pop it out and it would burn a hole in Aunt Geraldine's new carpet. Nowadays our digital cameras have flashes, but they are built into the camera. Nothing pops out onto the floor. Life is so much easier.

Our Grandmother and our Mom used to make us popcorn on Saturday nights. That was always a big treat. Corn kernels into the big kettle, some cooking oil, a stick of butter melting on another burner. Heating, shaking, listening, popping, and tossing into a big bowl. The entire procedure might take ten minutes -- maybe even fifteen -- but it was worth the wait. I got into such a habit of enjoying popcorn that way that I still have a kettle for popping corn the old-fashioned way. Nowadays my (future) grandson (or granddaughter) will only know about microwave popcorn. No fuss, no mess, and ready in just two minutes. Times sure have changed.

And to go with the popcorn, how about a long-necked bottle of Royal Crown cola? RC Cola took Johnson Avenue by storm when it first came out in those streamlined bottles. I even gave up my beloved Pepsi for RC Cola. As you know, glass soda bottles have almost become a thing of the past. You can still get your beer in a glass bottle, but soda is much more readily found in a plastic container or aluminum can. I still think soda tastes better out of a glass bottle.

Another thing my grandchildren will never see, unless they visit Grandpa Foxy's museum, is a record player with a dial for setting the speed at 33 1/3, 45 or 78. I would have to explain that the numbers represent the revolutions per minute. And they would say, "But, why, Grandpa Foxy? All CDs play at just regular speed."

I won't have an answer for them. I'll just open pop another fireball in my mouth and get up and manually turn the channel on the television because I can't find where I left the remote control. Can life get any easier than what we have now in 2007?

Posted by Foxy Gagnon at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)