Christmas Blizzard: The great snowstorm of 2010

We were one day short of having a White Christmas, as the snow arrived on December 26. Following are some photos taken in and around Peter Cooper Village, in the first couple of days after the snowstorm.

Mini snow cyclone on First Avenue. Due to high winds, little cyclones of snow were blowing all around us.

It was scary, but we were out there to help the squirrels! Neither rain nor blinding snow would deter us from our mission.

YIKES!!! Step in THAT???

WHEEEEE!

I can make it!

There might be a peanut in there somewhere.

OK where is it?

I give up; hand it over!

Little Miss Brownie sticks close to the base

And prefers to sit on her tuffet

But thanks so much for being there!

Winter Solstice

Well here we are approaching the shortest and darkest day of the year: the Winter Solstice, which is on December 21st this year. We have been suffering in a deep freeze here in New York. All the squirrels have their fur coats now, except for some of the littlest ones, that I fear for. Even Spunky - a skinny little suirrel - finally got her coat!

Last night we had our first casualty: a big, beautiful black adult that seemed to have half her face frozen. Bernie caught her with his bare hands and carried her home under his jacket, got her warm and fed her. She then rested and seemed OK, but at about 3 o'clock in the morning she started moving about in her cage and shortly after that, she expired. RIP, big, black beauty.

Letter to Lina

Dear Lina Macri,
As you know, you have deeply offended members of the New York squirrel community. If you wish to get back in their good graces, salvage your reputation, and once again  feel free to walk your dogs in city parks, I'd advise you to make reparations.

How could you do that? I'd like to suggest that you do some community service that would show your remorse, amd also that you are the animal lover  you profess to be.  Perhaps you could feed squirrels 2-3 times a week throughout the winter months. That way  you'd  have a chance to get to know up close and personal, these wonderful, sentient creatures that are every bit as smart as your beloved dogs. 

You will gain an appreciation for the fact that squirrels, unlike so many other animals, do not hunt and kill other animals. You will learn to love the littlest ones -- the babies -- and hurt for them on the coldest winter days. When you see that the squirrels you feed have to stay outside in the cold while your dogs get to go back to a toasty warm apartment, after their romp in the park, I think you'll develop a new empathy for squirrels. When you see that there are few nuts on the trees in winter and realize that the squirrels, unlike your well cared-for dogs, will have to go to bed hungry as well as cold, I think you will begin to care for them. And that could change your life around.

Ice Pick Robber Hits Peter Cooper Village

Yes folks, the man dubbed the 'ice-pick robber' has come to our fair community. After hitting Co-Op City in The Bronx three times, he came to  Peter Cooper Village and then to Stuyvesant Town.  First he struck inside a building on Cooper Road in Peter Cooper Village on Monday evening (Nov. 22). The victim was a 63-year-old woman.

Then he moved next door to Stuytown where according to police, he robbed two women in separate incidents only minutes apart on Thursday (Dec. 2).

The suspect follows the victims into the buildings and into the elevators, displays a weapon (knife or ice pick), demands money and/or jewelry, receives an unknown amount of USC/jewelry, and flees the locations on foot.

The suspect is a M/B or M/H/40's, 6'0", 250lbs, with a close-cut beard, and was wearing a green jacket.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto Crime Stoppers' website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting their tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577.
All calls are strictly confidential.

From Fox News we have the following report:

At 3:15 p.m. and the again at 3:22 p.m., the man approached two women in the elevator of two apartment buildings with an ice pick and demanded money, according to the NYPD.

In the earlier robbery at 17 Stuyvesant Oval, the man took off with the victim's wallet and phone. In the second attack, at East 14th Street, the man stole money and jewelry.

No one was injured, police said.

The 'ice pick robber' has struck at least six times beginning on November 10.