Our Bovina Home

   Dairy cows did not play an important role on upstate farms until the 19th century, and then the keeping of the cow was generally the job of the housewife and daughters, whose butter and egg money often paid for the few luxuries of life.  In the early settlement days, cattle were used for mechanical power or meat, while milk (or milch) cows were 'boarded' on the village common or allowed to roam the streets and byways, as was the case in Roxbury.  Cows were marked by having their ears notched, and families passed the identification notches down through the generations.

   Bovina Center was given its name by the settler and politician General Erastus Root, who celebrated the importance of a favorite hillside animal.  Bovina butter was famous thoughout the state, and according to one history, 'Upon two occasions Bovina dairies have supplied the tables of the presidential mansion at Washington, being recommended as the finest flavored butter made in the United States.' (1898)  Bovina was also the focus of a 'Cow Census' in 1891, taken by the Dairymen's Association because 'it (Bovina) was conspicuous for the quantity and quality of its dairy products and because its inhabitants are more uniformly engaged in butter making than any other town in the State.'  According to this distinctive census, the town dairy of Bovina produced 66,988 pounds of butter in 1890, had 117 farmers engaged in dairying with an average of 23 cows each (most were Jerseys) and netted ten percent profit from the dairying."

Colin in Bovina.  Shayne's home in
background.

Colin in Byron Trimbell's Barn

Byron.  He was Milking.  Nora took us to pick corn, we wanted three ears, we picked baskets of corn, which then had to be husked.  Farm life was not for us!

A couple of Byron's Cows.  These pictures were taken with a Minox Camera.

Byron is no longer farming.  He and Honora operate Trimbell's Maple Products.  Honora is called "Nora" by friends and within the Rossley family she's called "Nonie".  They make  Great Syrup and Maple Cream. He also does custom millwork.

 I have some pictures  of sugaring operations.

This is a picture of Indians making syrup.  I guess that's another thing we learned from the Indians.

Old Sugar House.

Sugar House during sap boiling.

Cooking Sap in the open.

Sugar Maple leaves.

Trimbell's Syrup.

We finally bought through Mr. Burns in 1978 from Patrick Amello, who lived on Long Island and worked as a development person for new Entenmann Bakery Stores.  He was quite popular as he always had a trunk full of bakery products when he came up. He had built the one story house intending to put an addition on it, but never got around to it.  We wanted to add a cedar log home addition.  We searched for a log home company who could add a second floor addition.  We finally located Boyne Falls Homes in Michigan.  I sent them measurements of the existing home, which would serve as the foundation and they computer designed the addition.  They since have been acquired by Boise Cascade and no longer build homes.  When they sent us the plans, they included an instruction:  "If the contractor brings anything but his tools, fire him!  Everything, nails, screws, shingles, etc. is included."  John Antes of Delhi erected the addition for us in 1990.  It is now a fine two story home.

Bovina house when we bought it.

The House after a coat of whitewash.
One story, one bedroom, large all purpose room, bath and utility room.  All electric.
Well for water, septic tank.  Storage shed up the hill.
About 13 acres.

This picture of our rear yard shows the shed up the hill.  Just to the left of the shed is the trail to the top of the hill.

I took this picture of our view in the fall.

Evergreens we planted

The House with Addition in the Snow.  Picture taken from Ford Road.  This shows the deck and the entryway or mud room had been added.

Rear of home with addition

The house today.  There is  a ramp so Nance can push me up to the house from the garage.
*JB
Another view.  You can just see the shed up the hill in back of the house.
Janice Byrne and Debby Green stayed with us on their way to Quilting By the Lake with Nance in July 1999.  Janice took some fine pictures. They're marked *JB
*JB
The view from the front yard.  This is why Nance liked the house.

Side view to show the deck.        The old house in snow.We get up to 108".

This is a wildflower, a boulder and the rear of the original house.

*JB
Vermont castings stove                West end of Living Room
2nd Floor Living Room
*JB*JB
Another view of stove                      East end of Living Room
in upstairs Living Room
*JB
Rear view of the house,                            The Oak
the garage is on the right.                          Circular Staircase.

  My old Computer Set-up                  My 1999
  I think the Computer was                   Computer Set-up
 KayPro 4-84 when this                       I was carrying a
  was taken.                                          laptop up then.
 I had had a TRS80 Model I  and then an LNW80 before the  KayPro.  LNW and KayPro both went out of business.

Another picture of the stove

The overhead.  You can see the beams and the track lighting.

Our Stereo Equipment was here when I took this picture. The dark object on the right wall is a lovely clock mounted in a piece of wood that our daughter Suzy sent from Oregon.
There was a daisy print flanked by two pictures blown up from Minox pictures.  You can see the top of the circular stairs.

This picture shows both couches.  They face the Vermont Castings Stove.  There's a Danish Leather Recliner which
Nance uses now.  I couldn't get up from it.  I have a Laz-E-Boy recliner rocker downstairs purchased in Walton from Lyons Bros-Way Inc. Furniture & Funeral Home.
    I can't negotiate the Circular Staircase, so I stay downstairs.
In the lower left hand corner is the corner of a table I built out of extra splines from the installation of the cedar log sections.
    Elizabeth, our Old English Sheepdog, could go up, but not down, so we'd let her out on the deck and she'd run down to the front door.

    She loved Bovina.  We'd let her out.  She wouldn't leave the yard.  She would run out to the car if you said, "Want to go to Bovina?"  By contrast our cats love it when they get there, but they hide when they realize we are going.  They don't like to ride in the cat carrier in the car.

Elizabeth upstairs                        She helps us plant an Apple Tree.

Elizabeth on Morning Walk        Elizabeth with Uncle Jack Miller at Colin's door.
                                                  He was Colin's Uncle.  They were buddies.

Elizabeth was a very hard working dog!  Here she's inspecting our woodpile which used to be up the hill in back of the shed along the stone wall.  She's also helped out with airplanes.  When one flew over, which was rare, she'd bark at it until it flew away.  She was quite proud when that happened!  She also tried to attack a skunk which was in front of our door when we arrived on a snowy day.  Fortunately Nance was able to restrain her.

At home in Fair Haven she had to be on a long rope.  She liked to rest on the back steps
One day the UPS man came around the corner with my monthly delivery of pipe tobacco.  He startled her and she jumped up and barked.  He threw the package at her.  After that she barked at UPS trucks.

Nance in Winter                         Her VW diesel, her all time favorite car.

Firewood Collectors if you burn wood in the stove you have to gather it.
They're coming down our hill from our woods.

Nance's VW diesel parked in front of the house in snow.  Since my stroke, we no longer go up in the Winter
    We lost Elizabeth after 11 years when her liver failed.  She loved to visit the Dillons with us.  They each had a dog and they played together.  Colin would make buckwheat pancakes for breakfast served with turkey gravy.  Elizabeth would sit next to Uncle Jack at the table to help cleaning the plates.

Here she is ready to help Nance in our kitchen.
  We adopted a lovely, friendly cat named Crystal.  She was with us nearly 13 years and she developed acute pancreatitus.  She had to be put down in March 1997.  She loved Bovina, but didn't like the cat carrier or the ride.

This is Crystal in the sun on the dining table. A favorite place.
*JB
Apple Tree in 1998                    Another view of House. Garage on left.

The shed is up the hill.

1999 Apple Tree                        Black Walnut Tree.  They say this will be worth more than the property in 300 years.

Trees in the fall.                           Trees in Fall, looking up the hill.  There's a stone wall at the edge of the woods.
This is looking East, up the hill
Evergreens we planted.
This view is toward the Southeast.

Young Apple Tree                       Young Plum Tree.  It was diseased and is gone.

Bottles from Fair Haven             Downstairs Fireplace
Peter collected them.                 with Vermont Castings Insert
There had been a glass factory in back of our
Barn.

Our Christmas Tree one year.  Howard Hayes was our handyman.  He charged us $5.00 a month, plowed the snow, checked the house and mowed when we weren't there!  He found the tree for us in the woods. Nance made all the decorations.

Winter Scenes taken in 1978

When we planted the orchard, I built a 6' high fence to keep deer away.  It didn't work

Snow Scene from the front of the Home

We can't go up in the winter any more.  I've affililiated with the Bovina UP Church.  Dr. Ed Mcnulty was the Pastor, but has retired and moved to Kentucky.  The church is working on installing an elevator to make it wheelchair accessible.  I hope to attend services in 2002.  Proceeds from the Russell Estate will pay for the elevator.

The Bradfords visited                 The Dillons leaving.

Our VW camper in background.  We took it to Nova Scotia camping during the gas crisis.  I though gas was cheap until I realized the prices were for a liter, not a gallon.

Peter, Suzy and Wendy visited.  We took them to Hansford Mill, a restored Saw Mill.

  Nance in the original                 A squirrel at the kitchen window.
 doorway.  We added a              He seemed to be nibbling
 mud room.                                on the putty. One of my Netscape mugs in foreground.
    The Animal population includes a lot of deer and wild turkeys, a fox or two.  A couple of groundhogs.  We saw a skunk when we came up in a lot of snow one year.  We saw a spotted skunk August, 16, 2000.  It was digging a hole, probably looking for grubs.
    An Opossum was seen in an apple tree eating. Most groundhogs apparently were drowned in their burrows a couple of years ago.  Ed Rossley tried unsuccessfully to trap the squirrel.  Caught a number of rabbits, but he did find pieces of the squirrel, so something caught it.  In 2000 we saw a coyote on our first visit and Nance heard three of them calling at night.  She also saw bear scat when she walked up to the garden where she grows asparagus and rhubarb.

Covered Bridge near us.            Cows have the right of way
Fitches Bridge was built in 1878 and originally spanned the Delaware at Kingston St. in Delhi.  It was moved to Fitches Crossing, which was a ford, in 1965.

More pictures of the bridge

This is from an article about Covered Bridges in Kaatskill Life.
This is our cat, Jessy, adopted March 1999:

She's sleeping on my bed            Here she's watching moths sitting on the kitchen sink

On my bed

How about those eyes!

64 Woodland Drive Fair Haven  The barn in Fair Haven
I include the Fair Haven pictures, because Peter found the bottles behind the barn.

Russell's Store: Bovina's one and only with Agway gas pump in front.  Miss Marjorie Russell, the last sister passed away.  Her estate and home were auctioned by McIntosh Auction Service in July, 2000.  The proceeds went to the Bovina UP Church and the Historical Society.

There's now a place called "Main Street" which serves excellent lunches, but it's on the Second Floor so I can't go.
Byron and Honora Trimbell operate Trimbells's Maple Products.Phone 607-832-4315.  They sell very fine products.
Nora is Ed Rossley's sister.  He looks after our place and owns Delaware Discount Tires in Delhi.  His other sister Bonnie Burgin is Captain on the First Aid Squad.  His Dad, Ed Rossley, Sr.was a Destroyer Escort Sailor during World War 2.  Both Eds are on the First Aid Squad or Fire Company.

Bovina Community Center and Post Office.

Welcome to Bovina Sign on County Route 6.
    I started writing this page on August 14, 1988 on what would have been my father's 84th birthday.

This is me in my John Deere Hat.  Ed Rossley sold me our John Deere Model 216 Tractor/Mower.  He still uses it when he and a son are mowing.  I used to wear the hat when I mowed.  Hope you enjoyed your visit to our home.  For more about the area:
Visit the Bovina Volunteer Fire Company  website. Bovina Volunteer Fire Company
And  the Town of Bovina. Bovina
Glimmerglass Opera is just North of Cooperstown Glimmerglass 2001 Season
The National Baseball Hall of Fame is in Cooperstown Hall of Fame
Visit Delaware County Delaware County, New York
Our Telephone Company is small, but very progressive Delhi Telephone Company
Delhi and Margaretville Telephone Companies operate an Internet Service Provider: Catskill Net
Delaware County Times has a website: Delaware County Times
My Internet Service Provider is very good  Digital-Marketplace Inc.
Updated July 13, 2001 in Red Bank.
Barry Cruikshank. Email me Barry Cruikshank