Horsy News, Views and Attitudes   Vol. 1 Number 34     March 10-16, 2008

 

Going for a ride --- Photo courtesy of

http://cavaliersdelafrontiere.com

 

Wiggins Winter Weather Won't Wander

Downtown Businesses Feel the Chill

     Winter in Wiggins often offers challenges to local residents. But this year, so much snow, rain, ice and sleet have built up frozen layers on the ground that some village streets have snow banks along them. Sidewalks are mostly covered up.

    Village businesses are concerned that customers have trouble reaching their stores.

      When residents walk along plowed streets in downtown Wiggins, they must be careful to watch for cars. If they drive, they face other problems.

       "Both walking and parking a car are now hard to do" said Mr. Kline, owner of Kline's hardware.

 

Plowing the road -- photo courtesy of http://www.plowsunlimited.com/snowayST.htm

 

Winter Weather continued on page 2

NEW --  Wiggins Weekly  Survey  --

Mt. Morris Ski Resort Commemorative Monument

    Three young Wiggins residents have started a campaign to build a concrete monument commemorating the site of the old Ski Resort on Mt. Morris. 

    According to the New England Lost Ski Areas Project, almost 600 smaller family-run ski areas have closed in the past two decades, Mt. Morris among them.

    This week, the Wiggins Weekly will sponsor a survey. Do you think that the Connecticut Department of National Resources should find the money for a monument?  Vote at http://www.clubponypals.com.

     Survey results will be published next week.

 

Pony Pals Power thought for the day - -

Spread happiness where you go, not when.

 Page 2

Horsy News, Views and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number 34     March 10-16, 2008

Wiggins Winter Weather

Continued from on page 1

      "Our village streets have been plowed and that is good, people need to drive. But with the snow heaped up along our streets, drivers don't really have any place to leave their cars while they come in to shop," Kline continued.

     The owner of Folger's Feed and Tack, located behind Kline's Hardware faces even more difficulty. "People who buy feed from us often have to carry heavy bags. When there is not this much snow, they can park their car behind our store, or we can help them move feed bags out to their cars with our two wheel cart," said Ms. Folger. "But now, our cart gets stuck in snow so it is not much use. And our parking area behind our store is covered in snow so deep nobody can park there."

       Wiggins Town Clerk Milton Shapiro has gotten many calls from villagers. "Right now, all we can do is hope that spring will start sooner than later" he stated. "Our town budget just can't pay for clearing our sidewalks as well as our streets."

       Volunteer Fire Chief Roger Edwards agrees. "All we have for the whole village is a four wheel drive pickup truck that has a snow blade on the front of it. Our main street is plowed by the county snowplow. So we have all we can do just to keep our side streets clear."

     "Our first job is to make sure that our fire truck can get near any home that needs fire department help," he said. "After that, we do our best to keep open rural roads, like the Mudge Road extension. 

Plowing the road -- photo courtesy of

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=After+33+years+with+state%2c+77-year-old+now+plows+out+his+neighbors&articleId=0bb5e64c-eb09-44d2-907e-5d9a8c30d9ce

Pony Pals Letters 

Dear Pony Pals,

  My name is Sophie and I am almost 7 years old!  I have a sister who is 5.   Her name is Isabelle.  We love your books!!  We are already on number 9, and we love Lightning, Acorn, and Snow White!!  We even named two of our stuffed animal horses "Lightning" and "Acorn"!  We love the books because they have friends who are always together, and they always stick together, and their ponies do, too!!  We also love how they always work together, too!!  We love how they find missions and solve them in the books!  My favorite book in Pony Pals is...ALL OF THEM!  The books are nice because it's really cool to have mysteries, and then they solve them! When we read them, we want to read more and more!!   
Love,
 Sophie and Isabelle  :)

 

Dear Pony Pals Sophie and Isabelle

     It so great that you like the Pony Pals books. I really like the books, too.

     My favorites are; number 28, where Beauty has a foal and the Pony Pals and Mike watch it all night to make sure it is OK; Super Special number 5, where Acorn and Snow White start fighting and the Pony Pals have to figure out what's wrong; and number 29 is pretty scary, too, when Rosalie and Mimi get lost.

      Those books are hard to find. You have to buy them from a used bookstore because they are not for sale from Scholastic right now. On the Club Pony Pals website I have a link to the Reading Well, where you can buy lots of Pony Pals books.

     Thanks for writing! Your letter made me wonder --which books are favorites of other readers?           Editor

__________________

i love ponys they are my fave animals    donna

 

Dear Pony Pal Donna

        Me, too.        8-)           Editor

 

 Read a letter from Lulu!

Pony Pals Letters are continued on page 3

 Page 3

Horsy News, Views and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number 34     March 10-16, 2008

Pony Pals Letters

Continued from Page 2

Dear Pony Pals,

     Lulu here.  Two weeks ago we talked Mrs. Eastman about the Mt. Morris ski resort that she used to run with her family. When Mr. Eastman died, Mrs. Eastman gave the land and buildings to Mt. Morris Park.  She was sad that no one remembered the resort.

       We thought Mrs. Eastman would be happier if people visiting the Park knew about the ski resort. We had a Pony Pal meeting and decided to ask Ranger Stranton about how to get a sign put up telling people about it.

    Anna drew a picture of the sign.

     Monday Anna, Pam and I saddled up right after school. There is so much snow in Wiggins our secret trail to the Ranger Station at Mt. Morris Park was blocked. We took our ponies up Mudge Road Extension along Morristown trail, then on to the Ranger Station. 

       Once we got there, we tied our ponies to a hitching post outside. Because of the snow, Acorn was really tired. Lightning and Snow White were glad to rest while we went in to talk to Ranger Stranton.

        The Ranger remembered us asking about the big metal wheels on Mt. Morris. He told us they were on land donated by the Simpson family. We then told him how we visited Mrs. Lydia Simpson Eastman. 

     The Ranger did not know the metal wheels were part of a lift for Mt. Morris ski resort, because he never saw the resort when it was open.

 

      When we finished telling the Ranger how sad Mrs. Eastman was about nobody remembering her ski resort, he asked us what we wanted him to do.

      Pam went first. She said we want the Park to put up a special sign on a trail leading east towards the first wheel we saw. That way people would know that there was something special to go look at along that trail and what the metal wheels were.

       I said that maybe it could even have a picture of what the resort used to look like, with photos from Mrs. Eastman's album.

       Anna said she could draw a map showing where the sign should be and what it should look like.

         The Ranger was quiet when we finished talking.  We all looked out the window and it was starting to snow.

       When Ranger Stranton turned back to us, he seemed almost as sad as Mrs. Eastman.  He said that our idea for a sign and a trail was good, that he thought a monument would be even better.

       Then he told us even if he thinks it is a good idea, there was no money in the Mt. Morris Park budget for a monument or to build a trail to the old wheels.  He thought we were sweet to want to make an old lady happy but without a lot of interest, he did not think he could get his boss to spend the money.

         By now the snow was really falling hard outside. We had to go so we could get our ponies home before our saddles got too wet.

         It was a long, quiet, cold, snowy ride back to Crandal's. Pam and Anna and I decided we won't give up. The Pony Pals are now also the "Mt. Morris Ski Resort Monument Committee!"

         It was getting dark when Anna and I finished putting Acorn and Snow White up in their paddock. We made sure that they each got two handfuls of oats because the ponies had worked so hard.

 Lulu's Pony Pal Letter is continued on page 4

 Page 4

Horsy News, Views and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number 34     March 10-16, 2008

Pony Pals Letters

Continued from Page 3

         Whether or not we are a committee, Monday night it seemed to me that we were not making anything better at all. Just because we were curious about the metal wheels, we visited Mrs. Eastman. That reminded her of the Mt. Morris Ski resort, which made her sad. 

       To make Mrs. Eastman happier, our Pony Pal idea was for a sign so she would be remembered for giving her ski resort to Mt. Morris Park.        

          When we talked to Ranger Stranton he was sad there was no money for a sign. He said the only way to get a sign is if a lot of people tell him they want it.  He was the one who said what we needed was a big concrete statue with a sign on it, called a monument.  

        I kept thinking, what could we possibly do to make lots of people want a monument about how Mrs. Eastman gave the land where her ski resort was to the Park?  Just before I fell asleep I suddenly had an idea.  I turned my light back on and wrote it down.

     The next day Pam, Anna and I went outside at morning recess. There were little flakes coming down and we all stood under a tree and started to talk about how to change the Ranger's mind.

        Anna showed us a copy of some posters she drew. 

     Pam and I were amazed how good the poster was, as usual. Anna said her Mom made sure the letters were all correct.

     Anna thought we should put up posters like it in town about how we want to get a monument made.

      Anna said if lots of people know about how Mrs. Eastman gave the land to Mt. Morris, they would tell the Ranger they wanted a trail monument.  She told us her Mom already put a poster up at the Off-Main Diner.   

      Pam said we can put up a poster on the wall at City Hall. If there is enough support, maybe Mr. Shapiro he might find money for a monument from the Wiggins city budget.

      Then I told them about my idea.  I said that we know the lady who publishes the Wiggins Weekly and maybe she would help us.

       All three ideas seemed good. Anna and I made some more posters on Wednesday. We put them up in Folgers Feed, Kline's Hardware, the Green Market, the Library and Pam took one to Mr. Shapiro in City Hall.

       Then we called the editor at the Wiggins Weekly. 

        She said that the paper had to remain impartial, but she would be glad to run a survey and find out what Wiggins Weekly readers thought.  

         Pam, Anna and I know that too get this monument built, we need lots of votes on the survey. So help us out. Go to

 

http://www.clubponypals.com

 

and vote for whether or not you think Ranger Stranton should find the money for the Park to build a monument thanking Mrs. Eastman for the ski resort land.

          Every vote counts! You can join the Pony Pals to make a difference.

        More adventures next week – write and tell us about yours!    

    

Pony Pals,

 Lulu

 

P.S.  Anna had me put a copy of the poster in so you can print it out and take it to school.  Get your friends to vote, too!