The Vernon Tunnel, Tunnel Road, Vernon CT & The Rails to Trails project

The Vernon Tunnel is another rare engineering structure from Connecticut's first generation of railroad construction. Like other railroads of the period, the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad had to accommodate numerous pre-existing rural roads when putting through their line. While most roads simply crossed the tracks at grade, at least initially, tunnels such as this were needed when the railroad, in order to maintain a near-constant elevation for its line, constructed a high embankment. Massive ashlar masonry such as that of the Vernon Tunnel was typical of these early railroad structures. The tunnel has outlived the rail line, which was abandoned in the late 1970s.

Vernon Tunnel

This Single lane auto/car tunnel is still in use, whereas the

high embankment above has been fashioned into a beatiful hiking/bike/jogging/walking path.  They tore up the disused Rail Road tracks and liked the path with heavy sand. 

From the embankment you look down upon sprawling woodlands and neighbouhood farms.

This Multi-use 'greenway' consists of 5.05 miles of trail along an abandoned railway (Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill RR) from the Vernon/Manchester town line easterly, then southerly to the Vernon/Bolton town line. From Bolton, the railway has been re-graded 15 more miles to Willimantic and is identified as a Connecticut State Trail named the "Hop River Linear Park Trail". In Willimantic, it joins the Airline Linear Park Trail which is approximately 40 miles long. These trails are permitted on Connecticut DEP property.

The original railroad was completed in 1849 and ran for over 100 years. The Rails to Trails project was designed and engineered by the Town of Vernon Engineering Department. Phase 1 of the project funs from Tunnel Road to the Bolton Line and was dedicated in 1995(2.43 miles). This section in Vernon was re-graded by the Connecticut National Guard- Bravo Company of the 242nd Engineer Battalion and was then covered with stone dust by the Town of Vernon. The trail was named "Route Sapper" in honor of the Bravo Company in Vernon. The funding for this project was obtained by the Vernon Hockanum River Linear Park Committee from the State via ISTEA funding, grants and the Boulder Ridge Subdivision sidewalk fund. The trail provides to the public a route for biking, hiking, cross-country skiing, and horseback. Handicap usage is encouraged. The trail is maintained by the Vernon Parks and Recreation Department and by volunteers. Phase 2 of the project, which was dedicated in 1998, runs from Tunnel Road to the Manchester town line and from Phoenix Street to the Tankerhoosen Bridge(2.62 miles). This phase was funded by State and Federal STP enhancement programs and HRLP funds. Phase 3 of the project runs from the Tankerhoosen Bridge to West Road and was dedicated in 2000 (3.19 miles). This part of the trail was constructed by the Town of Vernon Department of Public Works with National Recreation Trails program grants and State LOCIP funding

There is even on the Tunnel Road Embankment section, a very rustc little shed/outbuilding that is a beautiful focal point along the hike.

Or as I like to think of it as "The house in the woods"

SPOOKY!

Twenty Years After Revolution Romania Grapples with Future

Romania is gearing up to remember next month's 20th anniversary of the violent revolution that overthrew the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in which some 1,300 people lost their lives. Celebrations and memorials are planned - though some Romanians still feel ambivalent about the 90-minute show trial of Ceausescu and his wife Elena on Christmas Day, 1989, which was followed immediately by their execution by firing squad.

Ironically, Romania finds now itself in the middle of a crucial presidential election still colored by the deep shadows of the past. It remains one of Europe's poorest countries and has been hit especially hard by the global recession.

In last Sunday's voting, incumbent Traian Basescu of the centrist Democrats won almost 33 percent of the vote. He'll face off in a run-off on December 6 against Mircea Geoana of the Social Democrats, the heirs of the Communist Party, who won around 30 percent. A third candidate, Crin Antonescu, took around 20 percent, and has thrown his support to Geoana. Polls suggest a close finish with Geoana possibly holding a narrow advantage.

In many ways, Romania emerged from the revolution the least prepared of any country in Eastern Europe to face a non-communist future. Its economy was in ruins, its people half-starving. Unlike Poland, which had Solidarity, or Czechoslovakia, where Vaclav Havel was the natural choice for president, Romania had no dissident movement to provide its new leaders. Ceausescu had ruthlessly crushed any and every sign of dissent. The Securitate secret police were ubiquitous, monitoring every citizen's movements, associations, telephone conversations and activities. It's been said that one in every four Romanians was collaborating with the Securitate in one way or another.

After several days of bloody street fighting, so-called "moderate" communists led by Ion Iliescu managed to exert authority over the country. Iliescu duly won almost 90 percent in the first post-communist election in May 1990. Former communists stayed in control for all but four years until 2004, slowing economic reforms, keeping the lid on attempts to investigate the crimes of the past and allowing rampant corruption to emerge as the country's biggest problem. Indeed, today corruption permeates almost every aspect of daily life, from visiting the doctor to winning prized slots in medical or law schools.

The country's agricultural sector remains hopelessly backward and many Romanian villages still lack running water.

The no-nonsense Basescu, a former merchant marine captain, promised a fresh start when he narrowly won the presidency in December 2004. He steered the country to European Union membership in January 2007 and presided over several years of economic growth. Foreign investment flooded into the country, real estate in and around Bucharest took off and the government took some halting steps to tackle corruption and come to terms with the past.

But the Social Democrats still controlled parliament and were able to frustrate much of Basescu's agenda. They even engineered an attempt in 2007 to impeach him - but a referendum decisively returned him to power.

Then came the global economic slump. Thousands of Romanian workers who had found lucrative employment in Italy, Spain and elsewhere in Europe, lost their jobs and had to return home. The Romanian economy is forecast to shrink by 8.5 percent this year and had to look to the International Monetary Fund for a $30 billion bailout. The country has been run by a caretaker government since mid-October when the Social Democrats withdrew their support. There is no state budget for 2010 and the IMF has delayed disbursing its next scheduled loan payment of $2.2 billion until the crisis is resolved. The money is needed to pay some 1.3 million state workers, who will likely have to celebrate Christmas without their salaries. For them and for millions of other Romanians, it's likely to be a long, cold winter.

As they mark their anniversary, Romanians should take pride in their revolution. They exhibited enormous courage, defying the dictator's tanks and guns with their bare hands to win freedom and the chance of a brighter future. But for many, the promise of that revolution has yet to be fully redeemed.

Alan Elsner

Author, Journalist

Rhode Island "That place next door"

I have an immense distaste for Rhode Island, mainly because it is so small and useless.

There seems to be only one road that meanders through it and it wraps around the state in an endless circle of pot holes. Providence is a pretty city but ill get to that in a moment. You can't really count NEWPORT or its mansions as a redeeming quality of Rhode Island because no one from Rhode Island lives in them. They are all summer homes for people from Connecticut!



At any point in time along the major routes in and out of Rhode Island you will notice a disproportionate number of vehicles exiting the state to those entering. And if you were to ever be pulled over by a RI state trooper he would undoubtedly leap into the back seat of your car and exclaim,



" I have a gun pointed at the back of your head, turn around and get me out of here, DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE! "



Some RI facts that you may not know.







state motto: "Run while you can"



State flower: Poison ivy



state bird: The Vulture



State seal: A Century 21 sign that reads [ FOR SALE]

Upon entering the state you are greeted by not only a strange smell but a sign that reads "Welcome to the armpit of Connecticut". In RI their favourite pass time is "cow tipping" and their favourite sport is "slap your brother's bottom".





Here are some indicators that you're from Rhode Island:



YOU MIGHT BE FROM RHODE ISLAND IF-



You think Sherlock Holmes is a housing project outside Providence.



You have been married three times yet your in-laws remain the same.



You think Taco Bell is the Mexican phone company.



You find it normal that your dentist moonlights as a Maytag repair man and is much busier their.



The State passes a new law saying after you divorce, you are still legally BROTHER and SISTER.

You can burp and say your name at the same time.



You brought a fishing pole when visiting Mystic Sea Life Aquarium in Connecticut.



You met your current wife by calling the number on the men's room stall door.



You think a quarter horse is the ride outside the dollar store



Your bathroom is on blocks behind your trailer.



Your house has wheels and a wide load banner on it.

You and your dog use the same tree!



and



You wear your Sunday bests to shop at Wal-mart.

Lets talk about Providence for a moment, Pretty actually with a population of aprox, 626,000 (as of Jul 2008) and 624,000 of those are HOMELESS and 1,400 are tourist that became lost driving from Mass, about 600 of them are unknown. Providence has some beautiful architecture, borrowing from Historic Connecticut designs. An interesting river that flows through it, or is that what is known as "waste management". Their accent, HA! Their accent sounds like a mix between someone exiting a synagogue with marbles in their mouth and a high pitched cat screaming as if it were being skinned alive!

Their idea of garden statuary is old refrigerators with no doors and a few rusty hood less abandoned cars. Of course you often cannot see these yard ornaments through the 6' grass and vines covering their trailers. The roads have no street lamps because no one wants to look at the state in the day, never mind illuminating it at night. The tax rate in RI is much less because they have no highways to fund (those that run through it are owned either by CT or MASS) and they certainly don't use it for education!

                                          

This is not a joke (this actually happened to me) I once stopped in a small town to ask for directions to the beach and the girl at the counter who only sold BOSTON maps had this golden nugget of advice. "Well, this is Rhode Island, drive in any direction. We are surrounded by water, you are bound to hit one sooner or later"!!! Ask yourself this, Surrounded? Surrounded would suggest it really were an Island. However, to the West is Connecticut and to the North is Massachusetts. So surrounded? Now, why is it that the deeper you travel into that dirty little state, the more it resembles a hick town out of a slasher film?

So the nest time you're up at 3am watching an extended commercial for "FEED THE CHILDREN". You know, the ones that depict the faces of fly covered children drinking murky water from a rusty old basin, remember; Those may just be children from Rhode Island, give and give generously!

Thank you,

This was a response to a blog I read about some jerk who hated CT and he was from, YOU GUESSED IT!

EVEN ON THE COLDEST DAYS, ROMANIAN WEATHER CAN BE HOT!!!

PRO TV  out of Bucuresti uses Sex to sell their product.  What is their product?  RATINGS.  They get advertisers to buy time slots during the news, and to keep the publics attention they use "Hot" chicks and muscular guys as presenters. 

HERE IS ARE TWO EXAMPLES HOW ON EVEN ON THE COLDEST DAYS, ROMANIAN WEATHER CAN BE HOT!!!


Romanian Weather Girl Rumena Rumene Romania





Weather Guy Romania

GUARD DOGS

This article was removed at the request of a Dog trainer and German Shepherd breeder. 

 The photos remain because they are interesting on their own.

GERMAN SHEPHERD BITE MARKS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

EVIL PUPPY?

.

The historic Heublein Tower in Simsbury, Connecticut

One day, in the years after the turn of the 20th century but before the outbreak of World War I, German-born businessman Gilbert Heublein was hiking in the Connecticut woods with his fiancé. As they stood atop Talcott Mountain on the border between the towns of Avon and Simsbury, Gilbert promised Louise that he'd build her a castle on that very spot. Heublein had the means. He'd made a fortune in the hotel business, and importing food and beverages - notably A-1 Steak Sauce and Smirnoff vodka.

In 1914, Heublein made good on his promise, building a summer home complete with a six-story tower at the peak of the stone ridge overlooking Connecticut's Farmington Valley. The 165-foot tower, modeled after the architecture of Heublein's native Bavaria, was designed to withstand 100-mile-per-hour winds.

For decades, the Heublein family made the house at the peak of the 1000-foot high mountain its summer retreat. At the top of the tower is a grand ballroom, where the family held lavish parties. It was here, at a more subdued Heublein Tower party, where history was made in the 1950s, when notable Republicans, including Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush - father and grandfather to two US Presidents - convinced General Dwight D. Eisenhower to run for president as a member of the GOP.



Today, the Heublein Tower is owned and managed by the state of Connecticut's Department of Environment Protection. A quarter century ago, a group called Friends of the Heublein Tower was formed to assist in the restoration and upkeep of the home, which operates as a museum and educational center.

The tower sits at the center of a 350-acre site that is part of Talcott Mountain State Park. Visitors can climb the 110 steps to the former grand ballroom on the uppermost observation level. From here, the view is spectacular, taking in parts of six states - from New Hamshire's Mount Monadnock to the northeast, the rolling Berkshire Mountains to the west, and even New York's Long Island to the south.

The 165-foot Heublein Tower, in Talcott Mountain State Park in Simsbury, is a very notable Connecticut landmark which provides spectacular views of Hartford and the Farmington River Valley. It was built as a residence for Gilbert Heublein, a food and drink magnate and manufacturer of A1 Steak Sauce, and was modeled on castles in his native Bavaria. In 1875, a young Heublein was hiking on the mountain with his fiancee and said, ”Someday Louise, I’m going to build you a castle on this mountain.” The Tower, constructed to withstand 100 MPH winds, was designed by Smith and Bassette and built by T. R. Fox and Son in 1914. The rest of the residence was added around 1925. The tower later opened to the public as part of the state park and many visitors hike up to visit it each year. There have been a number of restorations of the building, most recently through the efforts of the Friends of Heublein Tower.

Funniest sneaker (trainers for my British viewers) Advert ever!

This Advert is just way too funny.  Little dude would rather die than be embarassesed!   LOL

I should have been an artist!

At a Christie's auction in September in New York City, London artist Gavin Turk's empty, nondescript cardboard box (the size of an ordinary moving-company box) sold for $16,000. (Actually, it was a sculpture designed to look exactly like an empty, nondescript cardboard box.) [New York Post, 9-2-09]