Presidential Tapes - Secret Recordings

     Archives of raw digital audio files have been made available to all of us by the Miller Center.You can sit in on meetings with Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. HERE

Enjoy the Stanley Brothers

Fun Facts About Lake Ontario

     The easternmost of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario is positioned at the base of the Niagara Falls and the St. Lawrence River provides the lake's outlet to the Atlantic Ocean. 

     With a surface area of 7,340 square miles Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes, but it's waters run deep; with a maximum depth of 802 feet, it's the third deepest Great Lake after Lakes Superior and Michigan. It averages 283 feet deep at 245 feet above sea level and has a flushing time of about six years.

     Although it is similar in width and length, it holds about four times the water volume as its neighbor, Lake Erie.

     There are a number of islands on the lake, including the Thousand Islands region, which is an archipelago of nearly 2,000 islands that line the US and Canadian border. 

     Many of the islands are small or even uninhabitable and the largest is Wolfe Island which is 48 square miles. About 1,400 live on Wolfe Island which has restaurants, a bakery, and a church. 

     Lake Ontario is probably the most polluted out of the five Great Lakes because all of the other lakes flow into it, including their pollution. 

     Because of the lake's depth and the warm weather that comes in from the southwest, Lake Ontario rarely freezes over. Water temperatures reach a high of about 75 degrees F. in August to about 37 degrees F. in February. The lake typically freezes just around the edges and from from mid-December to mid-April its harbors are closed. 

     The entire region around the lake is affected by lake-effect snow, but there is a snow belt along the southeastern shore that can get with 20 feet annually. The impact of the lake-effect snow can be felt as far as Syracuse, New York, which is one of the snowiest cities in the United States.

     In 2015, one of the first propeller driven steamships on the Great Lakes was discovered. In 1862, the Bay State set out from Oswego, New York and was bound for Cleveland and Toledo when it sank in a ferocious storm. 

     The storm was so bad the captain turned back, but the ship began to tear a[art and when it sank it left a field of debris about a quarter of a mile along the bottom of the lake. 

     The lake is home to a large variety of fish (walleye, salmon, bass, and trout and even mussels. It's interesting that the lake also contains giant goldfish. They get in the water when they escape ponds during flooding and in the wild they can grow to a massive size. Typically they range in size from about 4-1/2 to 8-1/2 inches, but the really big ones can reach nearly 16 inches long. 

     A member of the carp family, goldfish have a lot of bones, but they are edible and enough people eat them to make them worth catching. The commercial catch is trucked live or shipped on ice to wholesale markets in Los Angeles and New York. By most accounts, the fish sell mostly in the Asian markets places. 

     The goldfish are almost entirely fished from Lake Erie though, not Lake Onatrio. The reason is that Lake Erie is the only Great Lake where the goldfish are found in great abundance. 

     Baseball's legendary home run hitter, Babe Ruth, hit his first home run ball into Lake Ontario. That happened in September of 1914, when he was playing at Hanlan’s Point Stadium and hit the ball from Toronto into the lake. This was also 19-year-old Babe Ruth’s first professional baseball game. It’s believed that the ball is still in the lake. 

     In 1954, 16-year-old Marilyn Bell swam across the lake in a competition. It tppk her almost 21 hours and she encountered waves up to 15 feet and eels attacked her arms and legs. In 1954 she became the youngest individual to swim across the English Channel. 

     The American Eel is the quintessential Lake Ontario fish. The snake-like fish, which can grow up to 3 feet long. is born in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda and then travels almost 900 miles to Lake Ontario and other inland freshwater bodies, then returns to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. Due to nuclear power plants and dams there was a sharp decline in the eel population. In the 1980s from 25,000 per day were entering the lake, but by the 1990s the number had plummeted to 250 a day.

Lake Erie Water Snakes

 

     If you've spent any time on or around the western shores of Lake Erie you may have seen a Lake Erie water snake. The things can grow to 18 to 42 inches long. 

     The Lake Erie water snake is found only on 15 islands in the Western end of Lake Erie and the Marblehead Peninsula of Ottawa County, which stretches from Toledo to Sandusky, Ohio. 

     In Canadian waters, a subspecies is found on East Sister Island, Pelee Island, Middle Island, and Hen Island. In Ohio waters, it is found on 11 islands, including Kelley's Island and South Bass Island. 

     Its distribution range is less than 25 miles in diameter, making it one of the smallest distribution ranges of any snake in North America. 

     They eat mainly fish, including dead or dying ones, but they reportedly avoid frogs, although they may eat some. They are a key predator in the lake's aquatic ecosystem since they feed on mudpuppies, walleye, and smallmouth bass. 

     The LEWS interbreeds with the Northern water snake producing what are called intergrades, individuals that show characteristics of both snakes. 

     The snake likes basking in the sun on surfaces near the water's edge. Sometimes they hide under rocks. They are accomplished swimmers and when fleeing pursuit they often swim at the surface, but sometimes dive to the bottom and hide under rocks. These snakes also are nasty biters and will defend themselves vigorously both on land and under water. 

     They mate from late May through early June and can be found in large mating balls with one female bunched with several males. 

     The snake varies in its appearance, but its dorsal brown bands are less prominent, giving it a more uniformly gray appearance. This allows the snake to use gray stones as camouflage. Some specimens lack brown bands and appear uniformly gray, while others are gray with faint brown bands and blotches on the dorsal side. The ventral side is generally white or yellowish-white. 

     It spends time on both land and in water. On land, it is typically found near shorelines containing rocks, wood, and vegetation, usually staying within 600 feet or so of the shoreline during the summer. These areas allow the snake to bask, mate, shelter, and give birth. A subspecies can also be found in sandy areas or land without vegetation to a lesser extent. In water, it usually stays within 40 feet or so of the shoreline. 

     They hibernate during the winter, often traveling further inland than during the summer. They hibernate in rock piles, building foundations and drainage tiles. It hibernates both alone and with other species of snake. 

     When European settlers first arrived at the Western Lake Erie islands, the Lake Erie water snake was so ubiquitous they nicknamed them the Serpent Islands. Tourists and islanders began intentionally killing them in the 1950s, incorrectly thinking they were venomous. Increased residential development also contributed to their decline. In 2011, it was removed from the federal Threatened and Endangered Species list.

The Ubiquitous Coyote

     There is a large woods behind our house that is home to all kinds of wildlife, but the other day while driving down a street that runs through the middle of the woods I saw a critter that at first I thought was just a scraggly dog. Upon reflection, I realized it could have been a coyote (pronounced either kai-yo-tee or kai-yote, depending on where you live). 

     I always thought these critters lived out west, but they are found all across continent, from Alaska down to Costa Rica, from California to Nova Scotia! So, we DO have at least one coyote living in the woods. That would explain the sudden disappearance of Elvis...a feral cat that I befriended. 

     The first question is, are they dangerous to humans? Attacks on humans are very rare, but they do happen and encounters with one should be taken seriously. If you encounter a coyote, make and keep eye contact and make some noise. Yell, wave your arms and throw something at it to get it to move away. If it doesn't, never turn and run; instead calmly back away. 

     Coyotes can run at speeds of 35-43 miles per hour and leap up to 12 feet. By comparison, Usain Bolt was clocked at 23.35 miles per hour and the average dog can only reach speeds of 15-20 miles per hour. 

     Coyotes are one of the most adaptable canines on the planet and their habitat includes sagebrush, woodlands, prairies, deserts, oak savannahs, subalpine forests, alpine meadows, open ponderosa pine forests, and temperate rain forests. 

     Given the right conditions coyotes can survive in proximity to areas that have been heavily impacted by humans and they can even survive among densely populated areas. They live anywhere there is abundant prey and areas of good cover such as woodlands and shrub lands...anywhere that provides cover for both them and their prey. 

     Coyotes are especially fond of hunting in what are known a ecotones...along edges where two different habitat types come together. 

     They like areas that include a wide variety of food sources that area available throughout the year. They are carnivores, meaning meat-eaters, but they are very flexible and will eat rabbits, small rodents, ground birds, fish, frogs, snakes, lizards, invertebrates, although not a preference it will eat the decaying flesh of dead animals, fruit and nuts. 

     City dwelling coyotes will scavenge garbage as well as eat small pets such as cats and small dogs. 

     Packs of coyotes have also been known to hunt and eat deer and moose. In other words, coyotes are willing to eat just about anything and their extremely keen senses of smell, hearing and eye sight enables them to find food. 

     Coyotes are elusive animals and even though there might be one living very near to you it can remain undetected. They make their dens in rocky crevices, logs, caves or the den of another animal. It usually doesn't dig its own den; it finds an abandoned den of a badger or a fox and enlarges it. 

     Coyotes are very vocal animal and they bark, growl, yip, whine and howl. It uses a long howl to let other members of the pack know where it is. Short barks warn of danger. Yips are their way of welcoming a member into the pack. Growls establish dominance, whining and whimpering when males and females are establishing bonds and high-pitched barks summon puppies.  

     The town of Nahant, Massachusetts has hired sharpshooters to get rid of these nuisance critter. Article