Sunday Brunch at the Birch Ridge Inn 

A special benefit Sunday Brunch will be held at the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington on Sunday June 25th. All proceeds from the brunch are to be donated by the innkeepers at Birch Ridge, Bill Vines and Mary Furlong, to "Team Killington" for contribution to the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Each year, local residents Dick and Noel Gluck organize other Killington area residents and guests to form "Team Killington" to participate in the Vermont "Race for the Cure" to raise funds for the Komen foundation. This year's race takes place on July 30th. All proceeds generated at the brunch at the Birch Ridge Inn on June 25th will be donated to Team Killington's effort.

Chef Stephen "Frizzie" Byrne will be re-introducing his legendary brunch menu, a Killington tradition in years gone by, to a new generation of residents and visitors to the area. Traditional brunch favorites made famous by Chef Byrne, including "Eggs Sylvie" and "Schnitzel ala Holstein", will be paired with new additions from the award winning Birch Ridge Inn restaurants' menu.

Sunday Brunch will be served at the Birch Ridge Inn, this summer season, each Sunday from June 25th thru fall foliage from 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM. Seating is first come, first served. The Birch Ridge Inn will also resume dinner service for the summer season at Killington on Friday June 23rd. Birch Ridge will served dinner, during the summer months, Wednesday thru Saturday starting at 6:00 PM. For additional information about Sunday Brunch at Birch Ridge, or for summer dinner and lodging reservations, call the inn at 800-435-8566, or 802-422-4293, or go online to www.birchridge.com.

Large Old Maple Tree brought down by rain. 

Answering the age old question..."if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, does it make any noise?"... I can answer "Yes!".

The large amount of rainfall that we have been having over the last two weeks has made the foliage in the forest quite lush, and the grass on the lawn quite long. But it has also continued natures process of thinning out the forest of sick or dying trees. At the back of the inn's property, near an area landscaped for outside events (think weddings or family reunion cook outs), a grand old maple tree was brought down by the recent rains.

The tree originally stood about 100 feet in the air, with a trunk measuring in excess of 10 feet. Since we have owned the property, the tree has appeared on it's last days, taking on a severe leftward list (this is Vermont after all) with only a few branches with leaves at the very top of the tree. The inside of the tree was hollowed out by woodpeckers, and was home to countless creatures of all shapes and sizes. It it's day, this tree was probably quiet majestic.

But the process of hollowing out the tree to create a woodland animal shelter, was probably also the tree's demise. Debris in the tree had become very water logged with the rain over the last 2 weeks. In it's weakened state, the tree could not support the weight of the debris and came crashing down.

On a side note; for many of you who read the blog in the winter and remember the snow stake. It was used again to provide a scale for the tree. The white strip on a part of the tree is the snow stake. It measures 8 feet, so you can get a sense of how big the old maple tree really was. The good news in all of this is that the tree came down without injuring any one. And it came down in a place on the property where little damage was done requiring immediate clean up. But the old tree will be missed, as it was a majestic backdrop to some of the gardens at the inn.

The Fifth Green on the Killington Resort Golf Course 

The annual "Goombay Golf Tournament" held by the Grist Mill Restaurant and sponsored by Bacardi went off yesterday afternoon as planned. Unfortunately, instead of playing golf under warm sunny sky's, yesterdays edition of the Goombay took place in a steady, cold rain storm.

Mary and I teed of with some friends, Bill and Carolyn. We played reasonably well over the first few holes, keeping the ball in play and sinking putts. But the food stand at the 11th green turned to be our down fall. Linda from the Grist Mill, sporting a red Bacardi bikini this year instead of traditional tropical coconuts, took care of us well with a nice sandwich, brownies, and beverages. But for the next 4 holes, we could not hit the ball. We took 4 bogies in a row, which if you have ever played golf in a scramble before, you know basically finished the round. By the time we got to the 15th hole on the Killington Golf Course, which was our 9th hole in the tournament, we regrouped. Instead of fighting the pouring rain and the wet golf course, we decided to play ready golf. As soon as one of us got a good shot, we advanced to that ball, instead of everyone taking a shot in turn. That got us back on track for the rest of the round, and helped keep us out of the rain a much as possible.

All in all, it was not one a pretty round of golf but, as they say, it sure beats working...

Great Room back to normal 

You can tell that spring time is coming to an end at Killington, well at least at the Birch Ridge Inn, by the number of spring projects that have been finished. Well, Mary and I got a big one off our list this week.

Great Room without carpet

We have often joked with friends over the last few weeks when we were asked about vacation, that we went to Carpet Warehouse. Actually, it was not far off, although we did spend a few days away last week down on Cape Cod. In early May, we contracted with Carpet Warehouse in Rutland to get about 1000 Sq Ft of new carpet for the inn's Great Room. We were called late last week and informed that it had arrived from the factory, which set this weeks work into motion.

Great Room with new carpet

Mary and I decided that we would save a few bucks by ripping out the old carpet. All I can say is that removing 1000 SQ Ft of old carpet, then doing it again to remove the old carpet pad, with the temperature in the mid 80's with humidity at ~90% was such fun...enough said. After getting over that hurdle, we were very happy when the carpet installer showed up yesterday to install the new carpet. At about 6 PM last night, the new carpet was installed, leaving us with clean up activities to get the Greet Room back into shape to receive guests. But now we are done. One more project off the list.

Hole #7
Green Mountain National Golf Course 

We have had a delightful spring thus far at Killington. Enter the little white ball!

The weather has been so nice over the last few weeks, that Mary and I have been able to spend a good deal of time out on the golf course. Spring tournament season is in full swing. Last Sunday saw the 10th annual Bombay Open, hosted by the Lynch's. Bert and Pete have been running this tournament since it's inception. This year was their last heading the tournament committee. Long time Snow Kats member, and former Birch Ridge bartender Billy Mac will take over the reigns and run the tournament when it returns next year.

Yesterday brought us the Killington Rotary Classic at the Green Mountain National Golf Course. Mary and I played with Pete, substituting for Howie, and local Killington selectman, Norm. Our team score was a very respectable 7 under 64, net 55. After a match of cards, we wound up in 4th place, just out of the money.

Today's picture is the 7th green at Green Mountain. It was playing 148 yards from the Blue tees during yesterdays tournament. I hit an 8 iron 6 feet from the cup.(If you click on the picture, the ball is just below the cup to the right of the pin). Mary knocked in the putt for one of our 7 birdies. A nice day on the course!

Jeff Hadley
PGA Golf professional 

It is with sadness that I must report that former Green Mountain National head professional, Jeff Hadley, passed away yesterday after battling ALS.

ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ), also know as Lou Gehrigs's disease, is a progressive neuromuscular disease that weakens and eventually destroys motor neurons which connect the brain with skeletal muscles, eventually causing complete loss of muscle control.

The original headline I wrote for this posting was that Jeff had lost his battle with ALS. But the more I though about it, nothing could be further from the truth. Jeff LIVED with ALS for some time. Outwardly, he always seemed upbeat and positive about dealing with his affliction. In the last 18 months, as the disease progressed, he spent much of his time involved in various benevolent activities to raise funding for ALS research.

If you are in Killington over this Memorial Day weekend, Jeff's wife, Alice, and family, will be hosting a memorial celebration of Jeff's life at Green Mountain National Golf Course at 4:00 PM on Sunday afternoon, May 28. Jeff Hadley day, a previously scheduled golf tournament to raise funds for ALS research, will be held as planned on June 20th, also at Green Mountain National. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Jeff Hadley ALS Foundation c/o Green Mountain National Golf Course, PO Box 429, Killington VT 05751.

Mary and her baby!
a 1973 Ford Mustang
in mint condition 

Today marked another indication that the summer season of 2006 has arrived. Baby made an appearance!

Baby, in this case, is a 1973 gold Ford Mustang in mint condition. Mary is the original owner, purchasing the pony in 73, and she has kept it looking great ever since.

We retrieved Baby this afternoon from it's winter hiding place in Liecester Vermont. Mary dutifully took the top down for the ride back to Killington, enjoying a beautiful afternoon of cruising through the Green Mountains.