I am a committed out-the-backdoor cross country skier.

I discovered “cross country skiing” at college during the early 70s. Having grown up on alpine slopes, I was pretty disappointed to learn that my new home, St. Lawrence University, was not, ahem, in the heart of New York’s downhill territory. That was especially true in those days, when no freshmen, and few upperclassmen, had cars. Even a quick 50-mile trip to Big Tupper was rare.

Setting out across the yard mid afternoon Sunday in perfect conditions. Fresh snow, temperature approaching 10F. (Photo: Martha Foley)

So, if you wanted to get outside on skis regularly, x-country was your best option. It was a joyful transition for me. First, once you had your skis, poles and boots (CHEAP then), and some waxes, it was free. Second, it’s a warm sport, unlike sitting on the chairlift at Gore Mt., which was dangerously conducive to frostbite.

Third, I loved the adventure; we were discovering the rural landscape. Topo maps were our guide, or a friend who lived out in the country somewhere.  We’d pick a likely destination, dope out a likely route, and go. These were generally group expeditions, four to 12 people and a dog or two. Almost without exception, we were breaking trail. There was a lunch or heavy snack stop involved, and if we were lucky with our topo map interpretation, at least one thrilling downhill. An unlucky day found us spread out, picking our ways through an alder swamp to get home. (That’s when being short really is a real asset.)

Late afternoon, across the road, in the neighbor's field. Yes, that's a snowmobile trail. The aging dog needs it! Late afternoon is a favorite time to ski. (Photo: Martha Foley)

This is still my favorite way to ski, though at 59, I don’t have the legs for day-long trips, and I’m a little more cautious about the downhills. But the joy hasn’t faded. And after 30-plus years, our neighborhood has developed some lovely trails, so you don’t HAVE to bushwhack.  Though sometimes, it’s irresistible.

As a bit of a clean freak, it's nice to know that my studio once was the "Sterile Supply" room.

NCPR's studios are located in an early-50s hospital building.  If you live in an old house you know that unexplainable structural phenomena happen pretty regularly.  Turns out it's not much different here.  And while the Canton-Potsdam Hospital staff keeps the place running smoothly, the case of the mysterious banging steam pipe had us all kind of stumped.

Since I started working at NCPR in 1998 my production studio, where we can have as many as 16 microphones working at any given time, was always a nice quiet room all year 'round.  Then suddenly two years ago, winter brought some pretty noticeable pipe banging.

I grew up in an old house and I knew the sound right away.  It wasn't too loud and didn't happen all the time, so I worked around it.  Then last winter it was much worse.  Imagine someone hitting a pipe with a metal hammer just a few feet away from you every couple of minutes.  On the colder days when the boiler was running on high, that was the sound.  It was so bad that I had to shut down the studio for five months. We had to forego many recording sessions worth thousands of dollars in rental income.

Oh yeah, did I mention that there's no steam heat in or near my studio?

All the while Radio Bob and several folks from the hospital tried to figure out the problem.  The heating plans were nowhere to be found at Saint Lawrence University (the building owner) or CPH (the building manager), so Radio Bob decided to do some detective work.  After lots of phone calls, emails and legal delays, we had the plans in-hand from the original architectural firm.

When 62-year-old plans start as large blueprints, get converted to microfilm, and get converted again to PDF files, a LOT of clarity is lost.  Matching those blurry plans with the pipe grid in the boiler room, which looks a lot like an upside down box of spaghetti, would be tricky.  But Radio Bob is a bit of a pro at squeezing success out of chaos and was able to figure out that the violating pipe was in the studio floor and wasn't even part of the heating system.  A long time ago it was used to feed steam to sterilization tables.  A couple of years ago a valve that kept that old pipe steam-free started to fail.

So, just before Christmas our building manager, Kevin, was able to separate the pipe and cap it.  Fortunately there were a couple of cold nights on the way and he was going to run the furnace on high.  I ran a recording of the room for a few hours on a sub-zero night and heard…absolutely nothing.  Silence never sounded so good.

This is what 5 hours of silence looks like.

So now we can get back to partnering with local musicians no matter the season.  If you know anyone who might need some recording work done, please let them know that we're happy to help.

Last night's strong winds calmed down early this morning, but not before causing power outages affecting more than 7,000 people across the North Country. On its website, National Grid estimates power will be restored this morning for most people.

Temperatures are expected to drop through the day with single digits by this afternoon and near zero tonight.

More weather info on our website and at the National Weather Service, which issued a Special Weather Statement:

Rapid freeze-up this morning across the north country…

Sharply falling temperatures this morning following yesterday’s precipitation and melting snow is resulting in a rapid freeze-up of any standing water on road surfaces and sidewalks. Formation of black ice will be widespread this morning, causing hazardous conditions on any untreated surfaces for motorists and pedestrians alike. Be aware that asphalt and concrete surfaces that appear wet this morning are instead likely thin sheets of ice that are extremely slick and will offer little or no traction.

A strong cold front passing through the region from west to east is causing the rapid drop in temperatures.

During the past year our country and world have seen an enormous surge in protest energy. From Zucotti Park to Tahrir Square, people have taken to the streets, demanding change. These movements seem viral as they achieve critical mass. But a movement can’t be built on foot soldiers and zeal alone. It takes organization, politicking, and timing. It takes work.

A book I recommend to you all this Martin Luther King Day is Taylor Branch’s Parting the Waters: America in the King Years. At over 1000 pages, it’s something of a behemoth. But Parting the Waters reads easily as Branch recreates, in extraordinary detail, the development of the civil rights movement and its storied leaders. We learn much about Martin Luther King Jr’s education, life and choices. And learn that the success of the civil rights movement depended not just on Dr. King’s vision, but also on the grassroots organizing by thousands of others.  It’s a fantastic book that chronicles an extraordinary moment in our country’s history—when organization yielded real change.