Spring Fire Ban  NEVER Leave any fire unattended. Who would have thought that will all the rain last year there would be a risk of brush-fires this spring? That is excately what Laura Legere a Times-Shamrock Writer reports in Wyoming County Press Examiner on 3/21/12 ~ To read more click the photo or WCPE.
High temperatures and relatively dry ground have combined to increase fire hazards in the region.
Both Wyoming and Susquehanna counties have instituted burn bans prohibiting open burning of yard waste, litter or any other combustible material either in burn barrels or on the ground.
The Wyoming County ban began Sunday at 1 p.m. and will last until Sunday, April 15.
The National Weather Service has issued one red flag warning so far this year, on March 7. The warning evaluates the potential for a forest fire to grow rapidly if one were to start, based on a combination of temperature, humidity, wind and the condition of fire fuel, like leaves and grass, senior forecaster David Morford said.
The warning came “a little bit early” in the season compared to normal, but humidity has largely kept the danger under control, Morford said.
“Normally, at the end of the winter the leaves and the grasses are all matted down under the snow,” he said. Instead, the potential fire fuel is relatively upright and “as we’ve gotten warmer the fuel has dried out a little more.”
Tips for Burning Leaves and Brush Piles Safely: It is VERY IMPORTANT to follow local fire and air quality regulations! http://www.firestormfire.com/fire-safety/pile-burning/
Subject - 99 WEIRD, STUPID & FUNNY FACTS  This was posted in Nov. 2006 by jaspalsingh77 I was looking for some facts, history and or interesting something about the area, when I can across this! I couldn't stop reading, so I thought maybe you would like it too! Pretty weird, stupid and funny! Subject - 99 WEIRD, STUPID & FUNNY FACTS1.A paper cannot be folded more than 9 times.
2. More calories are wasted by sleeping than sitting and watching tv.
3. The first object with a number scanning label is the chewing gum.
4.The Wright Brothers?first flying journey is shorter than a Boeing 747 airplane’s wings.
5. In 1987,after an airline company reduced a small piece of olive on every first class passenger’s meals,$350,000 USD was saved annually.
6.Everyone drinks coffee to perk themselves up,but in fact an apple can perk one up more than a cup of coffee can.
7.The majority of dust in your home consists of your own dead skin.
8.The full name of the Barbie Doll is Barabra Millicent Roberts.
9.When Hitler’s mum had Hitler,she once seriously considered abortion but the doctor persuaded her to keep the baby.
10.Marilyn Monroe has 6 toes on her foot.
11.In the movie E.T,the sound of E.T’s footsteps are made by someone squashing rotten oranges.
12.Pearls melt in vinegar.
13.In the number of people posting marriage ads,35% are already married.
14.You can pull a cow upstairs,but the cow will not know how to come down by itself.
15.A pig cannot stare up at the sky.
16.”quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog?has the 26 alphabets in it.
17.A duck’s quack will not have echoes,the reason till now is unknown.
18.A snail can live for 3 years without food and sleeping.
19.Tommy Lee Jones and America’s vice-president were roommates in Harvard.
20.In a month,if the first day is Sunday then that particular month will have a Black Friday.
21.Heating up a rock in the microwave oven will cause the rock to explode.
22. 1,111,111 x 1,111,111 = 1234567654321
23.The only word that has 15 alphabets not reused in it “uncopyrightable?
24.A cat can produce over 100 types of sounds,but a dog can only do 10.
25.The darker the environment,the more frequent a cat’s passing urine.
26.If you toss a coin upwards 1000 times,the number of times of heads facing upwards is 495.
27.According to the Newton dictionary the longest word in the world is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanocon...
28.A human’s stomach will renew its food contents inside every 2 weeks,or else it will self-digest.
29.Coke was originally green in colour.
30.The Hawaiian language only has 12 alphabets.
31.The country with the highest proportion of people walking to work is Alaska.
32.If Barbie was a human,her measurements would be 39-23-3333.On average,the number of people in the air every hour in America is 61,000 people.
34.Only honey will not turn bad forever.
35.Near the Caribbean sea there’s a species of oysters that knows how to climb trees.
36.The world’s youngest parents appeared in 1910,an 8-year old and a
9 year-old Chinese people.
37.A human’s ears and nose never stop growing bigger and bigger
38.There’s a square-shaped melon in Japan,it was cultivated because of its convenience to place in refrigerators.
39.A starfish has 8 eyes,one on each leg.
40.Some insects eyes have hair.
41.A giraffe’s tongue measures 2 feet long in length.
42.An elephant can stand on its head.
43.An ant will scratch itself when it wakes up.
44.Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark.(so that’s why he invented the light bulb)
45.The world’s oldest goldfish is 41 years old,named Fred.
46.Because of Einstein’s inability to speak at the age of 9,his mum once thought he was dim-witted.
47.Arab women can initiate a divorce if their husbands don't pour coffee for them.
48.Only 55% of Americans know that the Sun is a star.
49.Most lip glosses have fish scales content in them.
50.Giraffes cannot cough.
51.Owls are the only bird species able to differentiate numbers and colors.
52.A whale’s heartbeat only averages 9 times every minute.
53.The water that we drink into our body is already 3 billion years old.
54.Only 30% of people can expand and contract their nostrils at will.
55.A clam can switch its gender from male to female,and it will take place few times throughout its life.
56.According to a British law passed in 1845,suicide is a very serious crime,death sentence of hanging is the punishment.
57.In space,astronauts are unable to cry or shed tears because there’s no gravity pull hence the tears are unable to come out.
58.A chameleon’s tongue is twice as long as its own body.
59.Americans use toothpicks most often.
60.On average a human must move his eye muscles for 10000 ?15000 times a day.
61.An elephant will still remain at its standing position even when it has died.
62.Some insects are still able to survive for a year without its heads.
63. Da Vinci spent 12 years alone painting Mona Lisa’s lips.
64.When glass shatters,the average speed for glass is 3000 miles per hour.
65.A dairy cow can produce more milk when listening to music.
66.A rose picked during afternoon can survive longer than a rose picked in the morning.
67.Baby tiger sharks fight each other in the womb,the winner will be able to be born alive.
68.A 70 pound octopus can only go through a hole a coin’s size because it does not have a vertebrae.
69.An Indonesian bamboo insect has the longest body in the world,as long as 1 feet.
70.In fact,a hippo can run faster than humans.
71.The inventor of parachutes gave the chance of parachuting first in the world to a dog.
72.A Japanese crab can be as long as 12 feet long.
73.A newborn turkey must be taught by its parents how to eat food,or else it will die of hunger.
74.A shark can detect blood content up to 1/1000000th percent in water.
75.the Original meaning of Samba in the Samba dance actually meant “rubbing bellies together
76.Children grow faster during spring.
77.Bats are the only mammals able to fly.
78.A catapillar has over 2000 muscles.
79.A human’s heart can produce pressure that can squirt blood 30 feet high.
80.A male mantis cannot mate with a female mantis with its head,so when they mate the female mantis has to chop the male mantis?head off.
81.A shrimp’s heart is at its head.
82.You can never lick your elbow with your tongue.
83. 50% of the world population has not received any calls before at all.
84.A rat and a horse cannot vomit.
85. “Sixth Sick Sheik's Sixth Sheep's Sick" is one of the hardest sentences to pronounce in the English language.
86.If you sneeze too hard,it may cause your chest to rupture. But if you hold back your sneeze by force,it may cause one of your blood vessels to break.
87.If you talk on the phone for over an hour,the amount of ear **** in your ears will increase by 700 times.
88.A lighter was invented earlier than a matchstick.
89. When you sleep,you may eat over 70 kinds of small insects and about 10 spiders unknowingly.
90.The strongest and most flexible muscle in our body is the tongue.
91.It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
92.It is impossible to kill yourself by holding your breath.
93. Every time you lick the back of a stamp,you would have absorbed 1/10th of calories.
94.Right-handers live an average of 9 more years than left-handers.
95.Fish are unable to stick out their tongues.
96.Polar bears are left-handers.
97.An ostrich’s eyes are larger than their brains.
98.Starfish do not have brains.
99.Lice can jump over a distance 350 times longer than their bodies,equivalent to a human jumping over the length of a football stadium.
CAN ANYONE COME UP WITH NUMBER 100!?
Our planet, our home is being neglected. Climate change, while still controversial, continues unabated. It seems there's a new ecological disaster happening almost daily. This Earth Day it's time to mobilize the planet from the ground up to send a message that the Earth won't wait!
Earth Day is celebrated around the world on April 22. Some cities start celebrating a week in advance, ending the recognition of Earth Week on April 22nd. Others host month long events to stress the importance of teaching about our environment.
The United Nations celebrates Earth Day each year on the March equinox, which is often March 20, a tradition which was founded by peace activist John McConnell in 1969. Take some time to find out about how one man, who was determined to change the way we treated our planet, didn't stop until he had made a difference.Our planet … is a mysterious orb of mind and spirit, a world of hope and love - but, unfortunately, a world of clashing thoughts and feelings. … If our world is to survive and find its destiny, new ways of achieving harmony must be found. - John McConnell, "Minute for Peace" speech to National Education Association, 29 June 1965Here are just 10 of many amazing facts about our PLANET! Have re-arraganed some of the first 10, but take a look at the rest of these amazing FACTS just click on Earth!45 Amazing Facts About . . .EarthEarth can be seen as a living, breathing organism: it regulates temperature, burns energy, continually renews its skin, and experiences changes to its face as it ages with time.bResearchers in the the field of astrobiology have found that Earth’s current conditions are temporary and that Earth’s stable climate is an anomaly that will end in the next billion years.jUnder the oceans, there are the earth’s largest mountain ranges that circle the planet like the stitching on a baseball.jMore than 80% of the Earth’s surface is volcanic.eHoles drilled as deep as 5 miles into the Earth’s reveal that the rock temperature increases about 37 degrees Fahrenheit per 320 feet. Even on the deepest sea floor, rock remains slightly above freezing.hA belief of some Native Americans was that the earth is supported by a giant tortoise, which made the earth tremble each time it took a step.fEarth was originally born as a twin to the planet Theia, which was about half as wide as Earth and roughly the size of Mars. The two planets shared an orbit for several million years until they collided. Earth absorbed Theia, and the remaining debris eventually coagulated into Earth’s moon. The mass donated by Theia gave Earth the gravity necessary to sustain a substantial atmosphere.iIf a person extends his or her arm and index finger completely, the beginning of Earth is represented by the end of the nose and the present is the fingertip. Passing a file over the fingernail once would erase all of human history.jThe amount of carbon dioxide in water and atmosphere and the amount of solar energy the planet receives are two factors that control the destiny of life on Earth and the planet itself.jEarth’s Amazon rainforest is home to one third of the planet’s land species, illustrating Earth’s ability to sustain itself within a concentrated area.i
DO YOU PART THIS EARTH DAY!
Six months later, flood still hurts  Creek Junction Park at Windy Valley Road and Route 87 near Forkson still looks much the way it did after the rolling floodwaters from Tropical Storm Lee receded six months ago. TIMES-SHAMROCK PHOTO/MICHAEL J. MULLEN April 14th, 2012 RiverSide Park Clean-UP!Come-One-Come ALL! Meeting at the park at 10AMThis article by David Singleton is very interesting please follow the links to read the rest of his piece in the Wyoming County Press Examiner. BY DAVID SINGLETON
Times-Shamrock Writer
Looking back, Wyoming County emergency management coordinator Gene Dziak said the Lee flood was the worst disaster his county has ever experienced, bar none.
“You can go back to Agnes; you can go back to 2006; you can go back to what were minor floods – I can say that now,” he said. “The world has changed.”
Six months later, as lives, homes and businesses are being rebuilt, the full dollar-and-cents toll exacted by Lee, and to a lesser extent by the flash flooding and punishing winds from Hurricane Irene two weeks earlier, is still emerging.
Residential Architecture of Tunkhannock Homes  Nestled among the rolling Endless Mountains the town of Tunkhannock boasts many examples of high-style architecture. The majority of homes, however, can be characterized as architecturally vernacular (A big word for homes built for a certain ethnic area or time period, as I understand it.)
One of the most compelling homes in Tunkhannnock was built in the late 19th century, by architect George Franklin Barber, of Knoxville Tennessee, for a prominent local attorney of that period. Piatt-Ogden house was built in the high style of Queen Anne architecture. (Arnoldini - 2004)
Of all the Victorian styles, Queen Anne is the most elaborate and the most eccentric. The style is often called romantic and feminine, yet it is the product of a most unromantic era -- the machine age. Perhaps that is why the Queen Anne style became an architectural fashion statement in the 1880s and 1890s, when the industrial revolution was building up steam.
Residential homes radiated out from the Wyoming County Court House durning the mid to late 19th century, at the height of the area's residential development.
The Wyoming County Court House was first built as a two story brick building in 1843 and then re-designed into the three story Italian Villa style by architect D.R. Nott in 1870.
This architectural style became popular by the late 1860s. Its popularity was due to its being suitable for many different building materials and budgets, as well as the development of cast-iron and press-metal technology making the production of decorative elements like the brackets and cornices more efficient.
Tunkhannock's historic residential district was built in a tightly packed grid style to accommodate a very much early walking and horse and buggy community.
These two homes are examples of American Foursquare style. The main portion of these homes are nearly always square with occasionally additions built off the back of the home. The design was built for space-saving efficiency.
The hallmarks of the style include a basically square, boxy design, two-and-one-half stories high, usually with four large, boxy rooms to a floor, and a front porch with wide stairs. The boxy shape provides a maximum amount of interior room space, to use a small city lot to best advantage.
This Craftsman style home was influenced by the California Arts and Crafts movement, however the movement began in England in the 1860s as a reform movement that challenged the tastes of the Victorian era. This wonderful homes builders took advantage of the abundance of creek stones, which now is illegal to remove, but adds a certain charm to this home.
Known as the suburban bungalow these homes were first found in English from 1696, where it was used to describe "bungales or hovells" in India for English sailors of the East India Company, which does not sound like very grand lodgings, but later in America, they were a sign of high status and considered very exotic. Architects began to widely used this design in the late 19th century for large country or suburban houses.
 British colonial architecture swept the United States since 1876. In the 19th century, the Colonial Revival took a more eclectic style, and columns were often seen. They were designed around the kinds of homes colonists had in Europe. They were made from wooden boards. There was usually two stories with a winding stairway to get upstairs. There were large stone chimneys, and small windows. The nicer homes had a parlor, dining room, several bedroons and some extra buildings called "dependencies". These included smokehouses, and servants housing. Outdoor toilets were called "necessaries.
Here are two of the three Sears model homes that were put together here in Tunkhannock. Sears Catalog Homes (sold as Sears Modern Homes) were ready-to-assemble kit houses sold through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Company an American company. More than 70,000 of these were sold in North America between 1908 and 1940. Shipped via railroad, these kits included all the materials needed to build a house. Many were assembled by the new homeowner and friends, relatives, and neighbors, in a fashion similar to the traditional barn-raising of farming families.
History of the Watershed
 Click to read Rosamond Peck article I found this great article By Countryside Conservancy Board Rosamond Peck. It gives a history of archaeological finds and historical fact of the Tunkhannock Creek Watershed. Below is just a few excerpts of the article. 6000BC –1500AD –Native Americans. There is archaeological evidence of human habitation in the Tunkhannock Creek watershed area from 4000 to 700 years ago. It is generally agreed that Native American ”Indian” tribes used the Tunkhannock Creek watershed area as a hunting preserve, shared by more than one tribe. There is evidence of Indian activity, and artifacts are many and varied from all over the 413 square miles of the watershed. But it seems not to have been the long-term traditional village location for any particular tribe. Many paths were worn down by Indians on traditional routes along watercourses and through these hunting grounds, such as that from the headwaters of the Lehigh River in southeast Lackawanna County through the Leggetts Creek Notch along present day Routes 6 and 11, along present day Rt .407 through the Abingtons and north through Harford to the Great Bend of the Susquehanna River; and the path along present day Rt. 92 from the Susquehanna River along Tunkhannock Creek to the Great Bend of the Susquehanna River. ... the artifacts discovered is truly astounding and are the following:
~Four hundred projectile points, dating back to 2000BC based on carbon dating studies in New York of points created using the same techniques style.
~Hundreds of shards of pottery pieces, some two inches across dating to the Middle Woodland Period (500BC-500AD). ~A solitary burial of a young girl about 15 years old was uncovered. Careful examination of her teeth revealed that she had borne two children.Rosamond Peck mentions an article or book titled “Through a Child’s Eyes” available at the Wyoming County Historical Society, Tunkhannock, PA). I could not find any reference of this subject in regard to the Tunkhannock Creek Watershed, but it might be worth contacting the Wyoming County Historical Society.I did find an interesting organization located in Waverly New York, it is worth a visit.
© Copyright Susquehanna River Archaeological Center of Native Indian Studies - SRAC
Visit SRAC: 345 Broad St. Waverly, NY (directions) - Phone: (607)565-7960
SRAC Hours: 1 - 5pm Tuesdays - Fridays, 10am - 5pm Saturdays
Mail to: SRAC P.O. Box 12, Sayre, PA 18840, or email Info@sracenter.org
DUST THE WINTER COBWEBS OFF YOUR WALKING SHOES!
JOIN NORTH BRANCH LAND TRUST FOR A WALK ON THE ASHLEY PLANES. Saturday, March 31st at 10:30am The walk, led by Dave Estep, railroad buff extraordinaire and an adventure aficionado, is an easy 3-mile walk on a good trail with some moderate incline in spots.
The Ashley Planes, designed to move railroad cars over steep inclines, ran through the mountain cut from Ashley to Solomon's Gap in Mountain Top and was an important part of northeastern Pennsylvania's coal and transportation system.This event is free and open to anyone but REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. SPACE IS LIMITED and is on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE basis. You can either register online at our website, www.nblt.org, email romanansky@nblt.org or call the office at 570-696-5545. Directions and meeting place will be given upon registration.
Is Tunkhannock Haunted!?  - Ghost picture submitted by Colleen I propbably should wait until Halloween for this post, but I just couldn't pass it up! Memories of my sister's scary stories about 3 sisters who claimed to be witches that haunted a local old cemetery made me post it now!
Colleen claims, "This is a pic of a lady standing by a tree in a graveyard in Tunkhannock...my hubby and son were walking in the graveyard I took the picture." I have looked long and hard, but still I am not sure what I see?Website Ghost of America has a section for people of the area who have had a sighting or haunting to post their story. This is what they have to say about haunted Tunkhannock. Then you can continue to read about hauntings in the area...OR post your own! ~In the daytime you may assume Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania is exactly the same as any other city, but if you are easily frightened,you'd best keep your distance to this area during the night. Loads of spirit stories have been told by the people who live here. People whohave never spent a night in this settlement will tell you it's a pack of lies, but with so many spirits in Tunkhannock you have a relatively great chance of observing one if you stay an extra day in this town.~
Collector Patrick Robinson  Photo by WCPE Northeastern Pennsylvania has some very serious collectors, Patrick Robinson of Tunkhannock is one serious toy collector. Patrick Robinson has devoted his life to acquiring antiques and collectibles of just about sort.Toys are a favorite of his and Patrick estimated he has hundreds of toys from just about every era.In 2010 Patrick showed two of his most prized items to the Wyoming County Historical Society's open house. There was a toy ferris wheel made by the J. Chein Company in the 1920s, and a wind-up toy of a circus parade made by Marx Toys from the same era.To read more on about this at Wyoming County Press ExaminerMore recently Mr. Robinson's collection has been shown at the Dietrich Threater Galleries in Tunkhannock. Patrick Robinson has generously donated a print of the past to the Jackie Dispenza Memorial Art Scholarship Fund Auction. The nostalgic scene shows visitor of regional Lake Carey enjoying their folly on a miniature train ride. Their amusement shows the passed draw of tourism to the Tunkhannock area. The print is the front of an old postcard and an accompanying print of the back of the post card which dates back to 1907 is part of this great package!
Cool old Train Tressel - Tunkhannock Viaduct, NE Pennsylvania USA  By jdanvers I came across this and found it so great! Thanks jdanvers for having your camera handy!!! By jdanversSo... I'm on my way home from working at an off site location (I normally work in Binghamton) and traffic on 81 north is NOT moving at all between Scranton and Clarks Summit. Crash? Construction? I don't know - but is is bottled up for miles - literally. After taking nearly 10-15 minutes just to go (maybe?) a mile, I spot a means of cutting across the median to head over to the southbound lanes and decide to head back to the previous exit which was about a mile back - approaching 20 minutes ago by now. I figure that I'll just get on route 11 and head up that way for a while as I know this area. Long story short, that is precisely what I did and in the process of headed up route 11 I happened upon this old train tressel that had forgtten about. Cool... hit the brakes, park car, grab camera and grab some shots. ;) Here ya go.
Information from: Pennyslvania's Engineering Marvels ~ The Tunkhannock Rail ViaductNo matter who you are, or when it was, the first time you see the over 90 year old Tunkhannock Viaduct, you are completely amazed. The reinforced concrete arch bridge, that rises 240 feet over the Tunkhannock Creek and Town of Nicholson below, magnificently rises over the valley below, but at the same time carries a simplistic artistic grace from an era gone by.
The 2,375 foot long bridge was the key part of a 39.6 mile relocation of the then Delaware, Lackawanna, & Western Railroad. Construction of the viaduct began in May of 1912. Concrete for the structure would be first poured in January of 1913. The bridge - which consists of ten 180 foot arches and two 100' partially filled abutment arches - was dedicated on November 6, 1915. The bridge piers were sunk to bedrock, which in some cases was as much as 138 feet below ground. To build the viaduct, it took 1,140 tons of steel and 167,000 cubic tons of concrete. (1)
The bridge - which at the time was described by some as "The Eighth Wonder of the World" - greatly improved rail travel in the area. Passenger rail times were reduced by 20 minutes while freight trains saw more than hour taken off their time schedules. The entire relocation, known as the Clarks Summit - Halstead Cutoff, trimmed off 3.6 miles on the DL&W's Hoboken to Buffalo line, eliminated seven circles of curves, reduced the maximum curve from six degrees to three, lowered the eastbound ruling grade from 1.23 percent to 0.68 percent, and also eliminated numerous at-grade crossings. (2)
One of the biggest compliments on the viaduct came from the author, Theodore Dreiser, in his book Hoosier Holiday. He wrote, "a thing colossal and impressive - those arches! How really beautiful they were. How symmetrically planned! And the smaller arches above, how delicate and lightsomely graceful! it is odd to stand in the presence of so great a thing in the making and realize that you are looking at one of the true wonders of the world." (3)
Today, trains that are part of the Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern ride over the viaduct. It is still a vital part of the northeast rail system. The town of Nicholson holds a bridge day every year in September to celebrate the bridge.
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