Not the place to live just now

Northeastern New York is not the place to be right now.

REDFIELD, N.Y. — A historic snowfall of more than 11 feet is nothing to get excited about in this hardy upstate New York village that thrives on snowmobilers and cross-country skiers.

"It's snow. We get a lot of it. So what?" said Allan Babcock, a lifelong resident who owns Shar's Country Diner, a popular eatery in this village of 650 people.

"It's nice to have all the attention — it's certainly good for business," echoed Patti Patterson, who runs the Redfield Hotel. "Really, though, what's the fuss. Six feet of snow here is nothing."

But this isn't six feet.

Unofficially, there's 11 feet, 4 inches left behind by intense lake-effect squalls that pounded communities along eastern Lake Ontario for nine straight days, before finally winding down Sunday. Gov. Eliot Spitzer declared a state disaster emergency in Oswego County because of the heavy snow.