About Jesse DeGroodt

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So far Jesse DeGroodt has created 26 blog entries.

This can’t be real

A frog in a well cannot conceive of the ocean. – Zhuangzi

What if you could see in four colors? Birds possess that ability, the capacity to see in not only the trichromatic spectrum enabled by the red, blue, and green cones that we are limited to in our human eyes, but also in ultraviolet, […]

By |2025-07-29T09:49:12-04:00July 30th, 2025|At Large|

Eatin’ Places

Caveat emptor: I’m not a gastronome, an epicure, or a foodie, although I’ve always assumed that the billions of us crawling about the planet Earth are “foodies” for the inescapable reason that we are all driven to consume sustenance in the effort to get on with this game of life.

Nossssirree, I’m the if-it-tastes-good-to-me-it’s-good chap who […]

By |2025-06-27T13:52:52-04:00June 27th, 2025|Food|

The cranky sports fan

“Baseball’s time is seamless and invisible, a bubble within which players move at exactly the same pace and rhythms as all their predecessors. This is the way the game was played in our youth and in our fathers’ youth, and even back then … there must have been the same feeling that time could be […]

By |2025-05-30T11:11:15-04:00June 2nd, 2025|Sports|

Hudson Valley agriculture

Our old Dutchess farmers may feel proud of their farms,
Producing such fine crops, having beauty that chains,
The stranger that journeys far over the state
Declaring old Dutchess stands first on the slate.
Rhinebeck farmers, of good tillage, are not afraid,
When they gather their harvest, they find they’re well paid;
Their corn, rye, and oats, such a bountiful […]

By |2025-04-28T13:28:23-04:00May 1st, 2025|Farm Feature, Great Outdoors, Our Environment|

Nuclear Power

Nooooo! A thousand times, no. Not here!

Yes, of course, the knee-jerk response to any mention of nuclear power is to scream with the fury of seven tornadoes during an early Sunday-morning earthquake. Everyone has a position, certainly, but how about we set politics to the side and start with a clean slate here, shall we? […]

By |2025-03-25T10:46:03-04:00March 27th, 2025|Great Outdoors, Our Environment|

Life Lessons

An’ here I sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get out of
Going through all these things twice
– Bob Dylan

One might suspect that after decade upon decade spent meandering this fair Earth of ours, even a besotted toadstool might’ve acquired a nugget or two of what passes as wisdom, […]

By |2025-02-26T10:34:27-05:00March 3rd, 2025|At Large, Featured Article|

Animals in Love

For those attracted here by the prurient possibilities suggested by this headline, settle down. Unless something goes completely off the rails, we will not be discussing, reviewing, or analyzing some raucous Thursday night orgy organized and participated in by the neighborhood cauldron of bats, romp of otters, or prickle of porcupines, although I suppose if […]

By |2025-02-26T10:35:11-05:00February 3rd, 2025|At Large, Featured Article|

Slumgullion

Photo above courtesy of istockphoto.com contributor Nadya Ustyuzhantseva.

“I said who put all those things in your head”
“She Said She Said” – The Beatles

“Cosmic activity in the career loathsome activities area of your chart will bring challenges and opportunities in equal measure today. You may be overwhelmed with choices,” speculated my horoscope this morning. Couldn’t have […]

By |2024-12-27T10:22:06-05:00December 30th, 2024|At Large, Main Street News|

Holidays During the Great Depression

However hard times may be pressing down on the hearts and purses of the citizens of Rhinebeck,” observed the December 26, 1931, Rhinebeck Gazette, “there is no evidence of it in the spread of holiday cheer about town.”

Like a fair number of us, we had family that were born and grew up in the teeth […]

By |2024-12-03T10:08:35-05:00December 3rd, 2024|History|
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