SRAC at the Chehanna Gem & Mineral Show

Zachary Levey of Horseheads, NY points at fossilized "Dino Tracks"

If any of you have not attended the Chehanna Rock and Mineral Show held annually in Athens, PA, you are really missing a truly incredible event for the Valley. Hundreds of people come from hours away to this event every year. We at SRAC are proud to be a part of it!

Ted Keir and I are both Chehanna Rock Club members!

While SRAC displays alot of artifacts at the show, it seems to be a tradition that many people bring artifacts or unknown objects for Ted to identify for them:

Once you finally find a parking place and come in the front door, you'll find incredible gems and minerals from many collections, but you will also learn about how gems are faceted and polished:

And if you like - you can even facet a gem for yourself!

While there is alot for the kids to do, their favorite seems to be the "Mini Mine" where they pay their fifty cents and the train car loads up a load in the mine...

Then "whoo whoo!" up it comes out of the mine:

And when it reaches the end of the tack - it empties out its "load" of minerals, gems and shells for the kids to take home!
There is also alot for the adults to include a couple thousand square feet of gem and mineral vendors out back!

Sorry you missed out? You don't have to be! The Gem and Mineral Show is open again tomorrow from 10-5pm!

The show is located at the Athens Township Fire Hall, Bressler Street, Athens, PA.


Hope to see you there!

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SRAC Wildlife Rehab Event a HUGE Success!

Thursday March 20th was the first event held at SRAC at 345 Broad Street Waverly, and we had a wonderful time of it! About 70 people in all showed up and let me just tell you that the barn owl was a big hit!

For those of you that missed the event, Barb will be back starting in May with more live animals and more stories from her unique perspective as a wildlife rehabber. Mark your calendars - it will be the THIRD THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH throughout 2008, from 6-7:30 pm!

Other Updates to Report:

Eating Out Healthily by Andrea Seeley - click here for flier
Our next event is scheduled for this coming Thursday - March 27. Our first "Healthy You" presentation which is FREE to the public will be by Guthrie's dietitian, Andrea Seeley. The presentation is to help those of us to learn how to make healthier choices when we dine out. Filled with lots of healthy tips and simple yet little understood easy steps to help you live a healthier life! Doors open ant 6pm, and presentation runs from 6:30 - 7:30 pm.

Kids Night Out Canceled-
We are canceling the first Kids Night as poor Inga needs to have surgery! Stay tuned for updates!

April 1 - Histories Mysteries! - click here for flier!
I will be presenting the "Mystery of Spanish Hill" April 1st, from 6:30 - 7:30 pm (doors open at 6pm) and will have tables full of EVIDENCE from the hill on display. Plan to come and be a part of a more interactive presentation on the site that has captured all of our imaginations for so many generations! Adults $5, Children $3, SRAC members $4 at the door!

Finishing Touches For Our First Event on Thursday, March 20th

Every time I walk in the SRAC right now at 345 Broad Street Waverly, NY, I cannot believe that we just bought the building on December 4th, 2007 ~ but it is true!

Just a couple of months before that we had walked through the very same building and it looked like this:

Within days of our purchase the work began to first clean the building out and then to begin renovations...and believe me, from the ceiling to the floor, nothing went untouched!

With the help of many SRAC friends, we are proud to tell you that although we will not be finished by any means, we will be ready to open our doors for the Wildlife Rehab presentation by Barb Cole this Thursday from 6:30 - 7:30 pm, and have our gift shop open beginning at 1pm on that same day...

We have been busy setting up and stocking the gift shop for the last couple of days..The Gift Shop alone is 50 feet by 28 feet, so we even had room to set up an area for people to sit down and chat a while before events:

Along with historical books and educational information which we sell from our online gift shop, we are adding alot of new items that we are very excited to be able to bring to downtown Waverly...

We will have alot of children's items as well as original photos and paintings by local artists...items include educational kits, different minerals, geodes, sand dollars, jewelry, and a whole lot more!

Lastly, we are just finishing the final coats on the back lecture area floor and getting ready to lay down the stage/platform.

I hope that you can come in and see the place this Thursday for the Wildlife Rehab night or in the near future. I find the positive and exciting atmosphere contagious...and I think you will too!

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SRAC Presents - Wildlife Rehab with Barb Cole! March 20th

SRAC is proud to announce a Wildlife Rehab Series presented by NYS licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator, Barb Cole on Thursday, March 20th from 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. The series which will include live animals will be held every month at SRAC at 345 Broad Street, Waverly NY.

Barb has been Class 2 licensed by the DEC and U.S. Fish and Wildlife since 1984. She has also served on the board for the NYSWRC as well as presided as President for 6 years.

The Wildlife Rehab Series will include many topics throughout the year to include discussions on owls, and other large birds, porcupines, deer, reptiles, bats, water fowl, garden birds and more!

March 20th - "Overview of Wildlife Rehab"
Join SRAC for a night with NYS licensed wildlife Rebilitator, Barb Cole as she brings live wildlife to assist her in presenting the basic overview of wildlife rehabilitation, how to tell if an animal needs help or doesn't and what to do until you can get licensed rehabilitation assistance.

Click here to download a flier for the presentation.

Stop in early to view items in our gift shop which be open from 1-5pm the same day!

Doors will open at 6pm and admission will be $3 for children under 18, $4 for adults and $3 for SRAC members. Refreshments will be available.

Saturday Workshop Results & New Carpet!

At the end of the day today, we can report that the gift shop renovation is now complete. Thanks to Mike Blakeman and Jack Rowe, the final step, the carpeting has been layed.

The furniture and display cases will go in tomorrow, and we will begin stocking throughout next week!

Meanwhile, Mike and Jeri Sanders are finishing the painting in the back area:

And Tom, Duane, Jess and Angelo worked on the east wall to get that finished up...

Oh and the crappiest job of the day goes of course to Tom and Duane who had to cut our front door (that had metal outside and 2 inches on wood in between!) to allow for the new carpet!

Note the wall up behind them, they finished dry walling that earlier this passed week and Jeri has already taped and spackled it to get it ready to paint...The other side (the the right in the picture and not dry walled) is where the bathrooms start going in next week.

We are still working on the grant for the flooring for the back area, and will continue to work on the museum space in the coming months before we host our grand opening....

We have just less than 2 weeks at this point before we open our gift shop at 1pm on March 20th and then have our first event "Wildlife Rehab" by Barb Cole, Wildlife Rehab Specialist from Owego, NY who will be bringing in live animals each month and sharing her knowledge with us all.

Hope to see all of you in the coming months at the Center at 345 Broad Street, Waverly, NY.

To see all of our scheduled events as well as other events in our community visit:

http://www.sracenter.org/Events/

It is worth the visit!

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SRAC Auction Items - Deadline March 15th

As many of you know - SRAC is asking their membership and community to consider looking around their homes, garages, and barns to see if they have anything they can donate to SRAC to take to auction to raise funds.

From furniture and books, to appliances and cars, we would appreciate whatever you can find that you no longer have a need for.

We can pick up most items if you give us a call before the 12th, and will be taking in items at the Center at 345 Broad Street Waverly weekdays from 10 - noon and 2-4pm, or Saturdays from 10 - 2pm.

Please consider donating an item to a good cause. We appreciate whatever you might be able to do!

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Is This Red and Yellow Ochre?

I have received yet more info on yet another site located in the southern tiers of NY that is described as "a 17th century Iroquois village hilltop fort site located at least 100 feet above the surrounding area. The site itself is located in the middle of the woods and is protected naturally by steep banks on all sides but for the path leading up to it. As the path leads up to the site the banks on both sides become steeper and steeper. "

The writer goes on to say, "You got me thinking about the above when I saw your blog concerning the Indians and ochre. I also seemed to remember running into, what I think, was ochre, at a Iroquois village site, at least 25 years ago. I had taken some pictures while at this site and thought I had one of the supposed ochre but couldn't remember for sure. With this in mind, I recently went through my photos and surprisingly found the one I was looking for (how often does that happen?)

That site had been dug over and over again from the turn of the last century and it parts of it looks like a mind field. I can only imagine what's been taken out of that ground. While there a friend and I were walking around, looking on the ground for any potshards or points that others may have missed when we spotted what looked like a red stain in the dirt. He started to scrape the surface there and the stain got even brighter. He dug about 6 inches down and found clumps of both the red and yellow stuff. I took the picture as it was found in the ground. There were no artifacts found with the it; It was just there, by itself. It may be clay for all I know. " ~Mark Spaulding

(See the above picture for the image he describes here.)

Please use the comments link below this posting to send your comments, and please continue to email me any info you may have concerning red and or yellow ocher (ochre) usage in the northeast.

Thanks for all of your help in this continuing online discussion.

Other postings in this blog concerning ocher (ochre) found in the northeast can be found using the following links:

• 11/27/2007
• 12/05/2007
  
• 1/14/2008
• 1/16/2008