Mummichog'n

Haiku Snapshot # 8

2011-01-08T09:40:00.000-05:00

Its snowing again,
Tree scene turns to greys on grey,
Hoping for all white.

Haiku Snapshot #7

2011-01-07T19:30:00.008-05:00

The hawk stood and stared,
Her kill clenched against the ground,
I was way too close.

Haiku - ing

2011-01-06T07:11:00.018-05:00

My blog called "A half-assed attempt to keep up with myself," has become more of a whole-assed attempt. I just havent had the time for it. But I like writing, and I like keeping track of my memories. So, I thought, "how can I get my thoughts down more quickly?" And this is what I've come up with: I like photography, and a photo is like a 1000 words, so they say. But then, a Haiku is like a snapshot in words, at least it's supposed to be. Its words should paint a picture of the event or scene in as little words as possible... Perfect. So that's what I'll attempt to do. I'm going to try to do one a day for the rest of the year. I'm a little slow off the block getting these posted, so here are my first 6 all at once. (Then, one a day (or so) for the rest of the year...)

January 1
Behind dark curtains
Skies glow red on New Year's dawn
Few are up to watch

January 2
Inside and crumpled
While the world goes on outside
The flu has gripped me

January 3
Winds whip from the North
Sun hangs low behind bare trees
I walk head tucked down

January 4
My little girl twirled
Thrilled just to be where she was.
Wow! She won it all

January 5
Arkansas suburb
Quiet dark while people sleep
Its raining blackbirds

And Today... January 6
Sparce pink morning clouds
Whisper to the cold blue sky
A storm is coming

Brewster II (3rd & 4th Grade Soccer) wins 5-1 over Harwich

2010-10-24T00:01:00.005-04:00

Brewster II Soccer put the pressure on Harwich today, and came away with the only goal in the first half (It wasn't clear if Harwich actually scored on themselves!). But, during the second half, Brewster's offense came alive powering out 4 more goals. Teamwork paid off and position play really worked. Christian got one of the goals, Curtis got one and my Max got two. Matthew did awesome in goal and the rest of the team played extremely well, all contributing to a great team win.

(In this photo, Curtis finesses one by the Harwich goalkeeper. It was a thing of beauty! - click to enlarge)

Oyster Season

2010-10-22T22:43:00.007-04:00

Give me oysters and beer...
For dinner every day of the year...
and I'll be fine.
(Jimmy Buffett)

[More Oystering & Oyster Photos]

Calm Before the Storm

2010-09-02T00:10:00.003-04:00

I walked my beach tonight: Clear and starry sky, cool breeze, crickets chirping, gentle waves lapping the shoreline, a distant lighthouse light pulsing through a hazy horizon... Tomorrow the first of the high clouds will appear, and then, on the next day, my beach will be pounded, beaten, and torn to shreds by the lashing winds and waves of the hurricane. Hold tight, beach. Hold tight!

Oh man, what a good beer!

2010-03-12T22:36:00.007-05:00

I got this "Once Upon a Time" beer tonight after another outstanding Friday-night-beer-tasting event at the "Grain and Vine" liquor store in Hyannis. This beer, put out by "Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project" comes in a BIG bottle with a BIG price... but it was WELL worth it. The brew is based on a recipe from 1832, England, and it's just an all-around great beer. Wow... Thanks Alan for recommending it. I didn't think I'd be able to down the whole bottle by myself, but after this week... it really hit the spot.

If you're in Hyannis, and you like beer, don't miss a stop over to the Grain & Vine on Rte 28, near Kam Appliance. They have more beer varieties than you could imagine and there's a beer tasting every Friday night.

Cape Cod Bay - Cold Sunset

2010-01-10T22:37:00.005-05:00

Late afternoon, while looking out my back window, I became aware of a few bands of long grey clouds that had materialized in the western sky. There was barely any wind and they were stacked up loosely, with bright yellow-white sunlight shining between them on their lower ranks. It was 4:00, and the sun would set at 4:30. Since I have tall trees that block my entire view of any horizon, I hurried off to the beach to see if there was going to be a show. Well... there was.

I walked out onto the foam-ice-covered beach to watch the show. Starting at about 4:15 the grey slowly gave way; cloud-edge by cloud-edge, to light pinks and fuschias. And then at 4:30 as the sun must have hit the horizon, the whole sky exploded with deep purples, reds, yellows and oranges. The photo here doesn't even show how brilliant it was.

It was barely 20 degrees out though, and at some point just after this photo, I realized I couldn't feel the shutter button under the bony peg that had once been my right index finger. In fact, ALL my fingers... in both hands... were pegs - additionally they didn't work any more. I couldn't even depress the shutter. I realized they HURT too... numb and painful at the same time. It's a deep frozen hurt, and a hurt that I knew would get worse as my fingers warmed up. So, deliberately, but reluctantly, as the colors faded, I slogged back to my car to try to thaw out. And yeah... they hurt worse as they thawed. Even so... it was worth it. Next time... better gloves. The fingerless-es just don't cut it at 20 degrees. (click photo for a bigger view)

We DID get the snow!

2009-12-20T10:14:00.004-05:00

Today we woke up to about a foot of snow. This is the storm with the center of rotation just south of Cape Cod. You can see one of the big snow bands, in the darker blue, right over our house. Photos coming.

Finally... Some Snow!

2009-12-19T23:45:00.002-05:00

At 10:38 pm, I saw a few flakes in the front outside lights. The next time I looked, at 11:10, it was a white-out and the ground was covered. So... here's our blizzard: The Blizzard of Ot-Nine.

Here it Comes!

2009-12-19T06:46:00.004-05:00

Winter on Cape Cod is nothing to feel bad about missing altogether. For the better part of 6 months its just cold damp and monotonous. The weather can never seem to commit to either sleet or rain - rarely snow. But, every so often, the weather service sends a little ray of winter sunshine in the form of a "Winter Storm Warning." Here's the latest; and because of where we're situated; 30 miles out in the relatively warm Atlantic, we sometimes find ourselves in the birthplace of these storms or "Nor-Eastah's" Here's the report I'm watching (doesn't it sound GREAT!)...

A BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 1 PM EST SUNDAY.

A CLASSIC WINTERTIME NOREASTER WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OFF THE MID ATLANTIC COAST TODAY. IT WILL MOVE NORTHEAST TONIGHT AND LIKELY BE SITUATED JUST SOUTHEAST OF NANTUCKET EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. SNOW WILL SPREAD NORTHWARD IN ADVANCE OF THIS LOW AND WILL REACH THE WARNING AREA BY THIS EVENING. THE SNOW WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES OVERNIGHT AND CONTINUE SUNDAY MORNING. THE LOW WILL PULL AWAY DURING THE DAY SUNDAY WHICH WILL ALLOW THE SNOW TO TAPER OFF AND END SUNDAY AFTERNOON.

AS THE LOW APPROACHES TONIGHT... NORTHEAST TO NORTH WINDS WILL BECOME QUITE STRONG. SUSTAINED SPEEDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT AND SUNDAY WITH GUSTS POSSIBLY REACHING 60 MPH. THIS COMBINED WITH HEAVY SNOW WILL CAUSE BLINDING SNOW AT TIMES... WITH VISIBILITIES BEING REDUCED TO UNDER A QUARTER MILE. SIGNIFICANT BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF THE SNOW IS ALSO EXPECTED. THE SNOW MAY MIX WITH RAIN OR SLEET FOR A TIME ON NANTUCKET AND THE OUTER CAPE TONIGHT. STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE 7 TO 15 INCHES. LOWER SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE ON THE OUTER CAPE AND ISLANDS IF MORE RAIN MIXES IN LONGER THAN EXPECTED.

TRAVEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED TONIGHT AND SUNDAY AS IT WILL BECOME DIFFICULT AT BEST... AND NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE AT TIMES.

Winter's Here

2009-12-17T21:31:00.005-05:00

This early morning, still dark, but light enough to make out remembered shapes, I thought I could make out the cold blue patterns of what could be snow. Not a covering snow, but what I imagined I saw was a wind-swept confectioners-sugar dusting, so sparse and fine it could never hope to make a defining hold in a breeze. It could though, settle in pavement-cracks and between driveway-pebbles. It could cling to the outlines of roof shingles and in the crags of tree-bark. And in these places, I strained to certify the shapes and patterns as snow. And, that it was... with the first pink half-hearted hues of morning pink, I could just make out for sure, our first snow of the season. Our first insignificant snowfall, if you could even call it that. Still it was snow, and if its going to be bitter cold, let it snow!

I planned to get a picture of it on my way to work, but as I left our street and headed onto 6A, I never saw it again. It must have been one of those very local, very fleeting, bursts of precipitation, and just for us... or maybe us and East of us. Now its just cold. Very cold. 20 degrees and blowing 30 kts.

Some are Getting Snow... Lots O' Rain For Us

2009-11-28T23:12:00.003-05:00

We had a big storm form off the coast over the weekend. It's mostly passed now, but there are still some pretty big winds. Friday was basically a washout and today was so windy and cold you wouldn't want to be outside anyway. Take a look at this maelstrom in the Benny's parking lot taken this past Friday, Nov. 27. - Dennis, Massachusetts. Cape Cod

Oystering Day 2

2009-11-03T22:21:00.007-05:00

The weather this Sunday was much better than last... by far. The wind that had been blowing all day, finally calmed aound 1:00. And, although the clouds never went away, the water was clear, calm and not-so-cold. The oysters were easy picking, which allowed me to be choosy... only taking the perfect ones: rounded bottom, 3 1/2 inches or so. The previous week was so bad, I took whatever I found that was at or above the 3" limit.

This is my new gear this season: An actual clamming bucket, rather than a 3-gallon paint bucket. I just put the orange water-noodle on it this week. With a leash, the bucket now floats at arms reach from me. I also have a deeper plastic tub (to keep the waves out), a 3-foot "grabber," and the sleeves from my old surfing wetsuit.

This is a full 5-quart catch, or about 4-dozen 3 1/2-inch oysters. I didn't see many people leaving today without their limit.

Brewster Oysters - Tough Day

2009-10-25T17:31:00.005-04:00

Every season, in October, if you hold a Brewster shellfishing license, you are welcome to brave the elements for your share of the town stocks of oysters. Last Sunday was opening day, but since we had a Nor-Eastah' that lasted for nearly four days, the harvest was cancelled.

So THIS week became opening Sunday. I arrived with the masses at about 1 1/2 hours before the low tide and joined the rest of the oyster-addicts out there in this week's slightly-less-than-a-Nor-Eastah'. The wind was blowing 20mph from the North West, and it completely churned up the water into a dense brown soup. You couldn't see a thing. The only way to find 'em was to take off your gloves and just blindly feel for them on the bottom. I felt lucky to get my limit.

If next week is decent weather, there should be a bunch, since there were a lot of people leaving the beach with only some or NONE in their baskets. (look at the frustrated look on the guy standing to the left)

(click images for a larger view)

Wow... Guggenheim Grotto Acoustic... Just Wow.

2009-10-22T08:47:00.005-04:00

I went to see the Guggenheim Grotto in Cambridge last night. What a show. It was well worth the long drive up to Boston as well as dealing with the bridge-repair traffic.

They played to a packed house, but it was a very small, very intimate venue. I was at a table, second out from the stage and it was really a treat. Two hightlights for now before I get back to work... 1) In the song, "Cold Truth," Kevin plays the lead guitar. I never realized this until I watched Mick pass the Guitar to Kevin, that Kevin plays left handed and holds the guitar upside-down. And 2), for their encore, they did a three-song set that included at the very end, a completely un-mic-ed "What is this Feeling." It sounded something like this one from another show... [watch video]

(The photo is a still from a youtube vid at the same venue back in June)

Turtles!

2009-10-17T22:35:00.008-04:00

Today, at the kids' soccer games, one of the girls came up to me and said, "Wanna see our turtles?" She had one of those padded cooler bags and I thought "odd," but OK, "Sure!" I said. "Let's see the turtles."

She set the bag down and opened it up. Along with a pile of orange wedges and a few bottles of water were tiny, half-dollar sized little turtles. There must have been around a half dozen and one of the girls picked one up. "They're snapping turtles!" she excaimed with glee. "They were all over the field. We kept these ones... We're going to put them in our pond," she said.

"Yikes!" My mind instantly flashed back to the Mill Pond and all the white-whale adventures we had floating around on that murky pool. I don't remember our monsters there as cute as these little hatchlings. (The movie, "Gremlins" comes to mind) Soccer saved the day for these guys, and surely an opportunistic gull missed out on a quick and easy breakfast.

And, it wasn't only snapping turtles that caught a break today. When I was buying Milk at Cumberland Farms today (only because they charge an average dollar less than the grocery store charges), a Chatham nartural resources officer pulled up, and he had an endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtle in the car. They wash up on the beach this time of year, and usually in bad weather. They are cold stunned and lost on their migration back to the south.

No Oystering tomorrow. The town postponed the harvest until next week due to the extreme weather. (Noreaster blowing since Thursday)

Cranberries on Cape Cod

2009-10-12T20:14:00.002-04:00

After being shaken off of their bushes, these cranberries are floated in the flooded bog and harvested. This is from a bog in Harwich two days before harvest. (Click photo for bigger photo)

Oyster Season!

2009-10-07T21:35:00.005-04:00

It's October on Cape Cod and that means Oysters!

These are from "Brewster Oysters" grant, here on Cape Cod Bay, and they are about as good as you can get 'em.
(Click Image for a bigger view)

Peach Harvest

2009-09-27T22:30:00.003-04:00

When we moved into our house a few years ago, we found out we had a peach tree. The first year, we got a few hundred rotten worm ridden tiny fruits. That year I pruned it and the following season we got none. The next year, we got a few, but they were still very worm eaten. Then the next year, I used an oil on them to keep the bugs off them. We got a bunch, but they were all small, and still pretty buggy. A golf-ball-sized one with only one worm was a good one! The next year we had a baby and I didn't have time to deal with them. This year I fertilized and oiled and we started out with hundreds of tiny peaches on the tree. By late summer though, most had rotted on the tree and fallen off. I'm guessing the early cold and rain caused the rot. We did get a few that made it though and they had some good size. Still, even though I oiled, I got the bugs in most, but I did get about 5 or 6 nice billiard-ball sized fruits, and they tasted very good. NEXT year, I will try thinning out the middle of the tree, fertilizing twice during the growing season, culling a lot of the fruit early and spraying the tree more often. (I use a non-chemical insecticide oil.)

What a Difference a Day (and a half) Makes!

2009-09-14T00:23:00.007-04:00

Max and I went to the Sox vs. Rays game on Friday night to watch Lester load the bases in the pouring rain before the game was put on delay. Two and a half hours and a few hot dogs later, they called the game. Our tickets would be good for the day game on Sunday... which turned out to be PERFECT weather for baseball (even a bit on the hot side). Sox won 3-1 in fine fashion.

(click images to see them larger)

Buchholz piched a gem. Kotsay, gathering up an overthrow to first, threw out the go-ahead run at the plate, and Oki came in to hold 'em in the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth, Poppi pinch-hit for Bay and blasted a double into right field. He was in turn, pinch-run by Joey Gathright. Elsbury bunted him to 3rd (and almost beat the throw to first himself). Then, Pedroia tried to sac-fly Gathright home and ended up hitting himself a 2-run homer. Papelbon came on in the 9th to close it out and the Sox had 2 out of 3 from the Rays. Later they would win the 2nd game of the Double header to complete the sweep.

Great Whites off Chatham

2009-09-06T21:34:00.003-04:00

There are seven different confirmed Great White sharks off the Atlantic side Cape Cod Beaches. This is pretty cool, having some visiting top predators to our area, especially since they can't get out of the water to come eat us.

We went looking for them today, but didn't see any. We did see their buffet table though - a few hundred seals, blobbing about in the water of Chatham. We watched the seals for a good part of the afternoon, but the sharks never showed. Later that afternoon, Chanel 5 News nabbed Amy and the kids for a few quick questions... Amy made the news! Check out the spot here: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/20764973/index.html

Aliens Hatching!!

2009-08-30T08:23:00.004-04:00

It's been 10 days since this guy went into his cocoon,
now it looks like it's about ready to come out...

(Monarch Caterpillar Cocoon about to Hatch. Click for a larger view)

Nature Aliens

2009-08-21T21:28:00.006-04:00

On Monday we found this guy on a milk weed plant.
We took him home, along with his leaf, found him
some MORE milkweed and let him eat...

(August 19 photo)

He ate all day Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday,
he hung upside down, and on Thursday around noon,
when no one was watching he turned into this...

(August 21 photo)

(click photos to see bigger images)

Coming Soon to Cape Cod...

2009-08-20T22:47:00.004-04:00

Hurricane Bill
Cat 4 today

We'll at least be getting some waves and very likely a tropical blow.

It's Football Season!

2009-08-13T23:20:00.001-04:00

Me?

2009-08-11T00:57:00.001-04:00

Canon Digital Rebel Error 99

2009-08-03T22:30:00.005-04:00

I have a Canon Digital Rebel which is attached to my hip... or cheek or at least within reach at all times. Recently, I've been getting this pesky Error 99 code or Err99. This error occurs right when I depress the shutter button and I lose the photo that I had just composed. I found that shutting the camera off, then back on again cleared the error, and if I was lucky, and the shot still remained, I could have another chance. On many occasion, I lost the shot.

At first, it only would occur occasionally, but recently, the Err99 had been getting more and more frequent. It got to the point, this past Sunday, that even after clearing 6 or 7 times, I could still not get the camera fire.

I had almost given in to the fact that I would have to send it back to Canon, and lose at a minimum 2 weeks, but more likely 2 months, of prime shooting time here on Cape Cod. Luckily, (and hopefully) this little fix I found online has done the trick. So far so good... I'm crossing my fingers.

There seem to be many probable solutions, but the one that I used was the first one recommended. Take a look at Richard's Blog for all the info.

Thanks Richard!
Click here for Canon Err99 Error Code Solutions

The Weekend of the Summer

2009-08-02T21:35:00.013-04:00

We packed a lot in this weekend...

SATURDAY
Blueberry Picking
Beachin' it at Robin's Hill Beach
Found some tree frogs
Made some delicious local pan-seared sesame tuna (new recipe)
Good Beer (Dogfish 90-minute of course)
Red Sox Win!

SUNDAY
Beach Day - It's all about the sandwich.
High Tide, Sea Dragon, Playing on the air-sand sandbar, the baby napped
Quahoggin' - only 4, but that's enough
The Mimosa is in full Bloom
More Dogfish 90-minute
Red Sox SWEEP!

And the Results...

2009-07-25T09:46:00.004-04:00

So we did get up early and it turned out to be quite fruitful! We had a long walk because of the low tide, but once out there, we got into some hungry fish. Mostly, they were pounding crabs on the bottom, but some were outgoing enough to bite our offerings. Max used a white Slug-go and landed a nice 27 incher... one inch shy of a keeper. My biggest was 26" - taken with my fly rod on an olive green sand eel pattern.

It was tough leaving all those fish to go into work, but I had commitments. We fished on the way back, in what turned out to be a VERY fishy tidal river. The fish were all coming in with the tide and they were everywhere. Maybe I'll try tomorrow too... who needs sleep?!

Fishing?

2009-07-22T21:37:00.004-04:00

All looks good for a fishing trip tomorrow except for one thing... I don't like an East wind. At sunrise the wind will change from souwest to noreast... that is if you want to call it wind. The report calls for 4-6 mph. I've got a dozen quahogs in the pot, Red Sox on as I tie up the rods. Hoping for good weather holding... Maybe I'll even get back in time to go to work... hmm.

Rockport Scenerey

2009-07-20T21:49:00.004-04:00

Photos from 4th of July Weekend (only 2 weeks later)
Click the arrow in the center to start the show, then to see a full-screen slideshow, click the little icon at the bottom right of the viewer with the little "corner-arrows" or click here. Click your "esc" key to get back to the blog.
(Facebook - click here for slideshow)

Pesto Pains

2009-07-16T22:29:00.002-04:00

I have a batch of Basil ready to turn into pesto. Amy went to the store today and brought home Romano cheese instead of Parmesan ($4.40/ 8 oz.) Apparently the Romano was half the price of the Parmesan which was $9.00 for 8 OZ of crappy Shaw's Market store-brand cheese!

C'mon Shaw's, stop gouging us. What the HELL!

Will Walked

2009-07-14T20:48:00.002-04:00

Will walked today... Out of nowhere... the kid starts walking. He'd been taking a couple steps here and there over the last week or so, but today something clicked. He just goes... all of a sudden.

He's very proud. We're proud. He walked right across the room, then turned and walked the other way.

Whoopie Pies

2009-06-29T21:47:00.006-04:00

I go to this one gas station every so often for cheap gas, and as I stood there this one particular time, this one particular early morning, numbly filling my tank, I suddenly had an unexplainable desire to indulge in a whoopie pie. Odd, I thought at this hour, that I should crave a whoopie pie.... but then it clicked as the little mini-mart's marketing ploy revealed itself to my senses... (see the list in the photo - click to enlarge)

"Gotta move those whoopie pies - put 'em on the thank list."

Martha's Vineyard Ferry Ride

2009-06-29T21:02:00.006-04:00

It has rained almost every day this month of June. With a little luck, though, Amy and I picked the two dry days in the month to go to Martha's Vineyard. The wee hours of Sunday Morning (a couple weeks ago) started out in foggy drizzle, but as our ferry, "Martha's Vineyard" pulled out of Woods Hole, the fog was well on it's way to being completely burned off. By the time we arrived in Vineyard Haven, it was clear and sunny, remaining that way through Monday night. (We were off on a quick mid-week, early-summer cheap-hotel last-blast before the busy summer season) Here are the pics from the ride over. More up later.

Click the arrow in the center to start the show. To see a full-screen view, click the little icon at the bottom right of the viewer with the little "corner-arrows". Click your "esc" key to get back to the blog.

Testing the slideshow Thingy from flickr (Rockport Photos)

2009-06-23T01:42:00.002-04:00

OK... not bad, flickr... this is kinda cool. Click the arrow in the center to start the show. To see it as a full-screen slideshow, click the little "4-arrows-out" icon on the bottom right of the module.
Click esc to get back to the blog
(It's windy as all hell out... welcome summer)

A Cape Cod Box Turtle!

2009-06-23T01:17:00.007-04:00

Look what Will and I found on our walk along the power lines. Thanks Keith and Evangelina for the off-road baby jogger. We can go anywhere with that thing!

This is an Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) . This one is a female I'm guessing because she has brown eyes. Apparently, the females have brown eyes and the males have red ones. I wondered if she was making a nest. I know the snapping turtles are at it this time of year, but I didn't see any disturbed dirt around her.

Will loved it, but she closed herself up pretty quickly and never poked her head out again after I handed her over to Will. Good idea. He eats everything.

Are we there yet, are we there yet...

2009-06-16T00:30:00.005-04:00

The other night Amy and I were driving home from some event somewhere off-cape... (there's at least one commitment every weekend, somewhere, and it will be that way through December). So yeah, the first 3 weeks of summer have flown by (since the eels), it's 1 am and I've got a couple minutes to myself... Anyway, that's not where I was going with this...

So we're driving home and I noticed a new sign on the side of the road on Route 6 on Cape Cod. It was a mile sign. I'm not talking about one of those little 2 x 6 single-digit green rectangles on a post, put there, i'm sure, to occupy your mind on long drives through such mundane landscapes as kansas or nebaska. This thing was a HUGE sign. I'd say it had to be 14 x 18 inches or so. It was a big green sign with typical white letters: "Mile 66."

"Odd" I thought. They need such a big sign for a mile marker. But, that wasn't the oddest part. It wasn't that they had the need to make every mile sign bigger and extremely conspicuous, but about 5 seconds along I saw another one... "Mile 66.1" ... Now THAT was ODD! Sure enough, there was one every TENTH OF A MILE the same size, marking every 10th of a mile that you'd passed since the last. Now I ask wha.. WHA... What FOR??! The only thing Amy and I could come up with was it was some kind of government work project to stimulate our dead economy... but really... REALLY! Do we really need a reminder that we're not where we want to be EVERY SIX SECONDS??? And what a waste. (photo is the next day going the other way, so multiply the waste by 2)

Any other ideas what this is for?

Elvers!

2009-05-26T22:47:00.007-04:00

Pete and I found this little guy and 3 others just like it, making its way up the tidal rivulets on Rockport's Front Beach. This is an elver, or glass eel. It's actually a baby eel on the final leg of its transformational journey as an imature "american eel." It has swum (or drifted) for the past year or so, all the way from the Sargasso Sea (north-east of Cuba) where it was born; changing from a tiny, clear leaf-like creature in it's larval stage along the way, and ending up as this elver on Front Beach. (click photos for full size view)

If this guy is lucky, he and his 3 buds will make it all the way up to a little freshwater pond that I grew up on, called "The Mill Pond." He will live his adult life there, growing to about 2 feet long and be about a half inch to 1 inch in diameter. I'm actually guessing on that growth, solely based on the size of the biggest, slimiest, squirming eel that I had ever caught in that pond as a kid back in the 70s and 80s.

Eventually, if it survives the poisons in the run-off and all the kids like me, with all thier deceptive worm-covered hooks, it will eventually get the call to return to salt water and somehow, it will know how to get back to the Sargasso Sea, mate, and probably die there. (apparently scientists still do not know EXACTLY where the actual mating is going on... they're very secretive about it...)

I'm so glad to see they still come up to Rockport. (PHOTO: Peter looks for more elvers in this little rivulet on Front Beach.)

A Great Game - A Great Time

2009-05-09T21:24:00.004-04:00

This had to be one of my best Fenway trips to date. Highlights as follows:

Big 6th inning rally to take the lead and keep it to the end.
Not a big enough lead to keep our star closer off the mound (Tampa has earned the right to see Pap, even with a 4-run lead)
A full moon rose over right field grandstand
It was 79 degrees at game time... yeah... 79 and the forecast had originally called for rain and wind.
Great bird's-eye-view seats high above 3rd base in the State Street Pavillion (Front Row)
Jason Bay crushed a 3-run homer into the Monster Seats
They were serving Guiness and Sam Adams on Draft...
I survived a super-dog

Goin' to the Show!

2009-05-03T09:10:00.002-04:00

Keith scored us tix to Fenway! Against Tamba Bay Even! We'll be watching in style in the Pavillion Box Seats above 3rd base. Check out the view. Thanks Keith - can't wait.

I'm Home... and So Are the Herring

2009-04-29T21:17:00.005-04:00

I'm finally back home, back online, and back together after being away for 10 days. Well, we were really only away for seven days, but I didn't touch my computer for 10. Anyway, as always, it seems it takes me about another week after getting home from vacation to get back on track again, and I've been really tired these last few days - passing out mid-story during bet-putting time for the kids. It's now 9:30, the Sox are on (but losing) and I figure I have a couple hours in me before I pass out. I've downloaded several HUNDRED photos from my camera over the past couple days that I need to go through, cull and post up on flickr. They go all the way back to April 1...ugh...

Not only did we return, but also, our "Stony Brook" herring have returned in force. There were mobs of them in the stream this weekend, and I stopped on the way to work on Tuesday to get these photos.

(and ps... the Red Sox just tied the game!)

Pilgrimage to Dogfish Ale House in DC

2009-04-22T09:51:00.003-04:00

Dogfish beer is one of my favorite "homebrews." Here I am tasting one of their weekly special drafts at thier arlington brew pub, "Dogfish Ale House"... The brew is called "Immort Ale" More later...

A Band For Chase - The Heartless Bastards

2009-04-18T02:06:00.004-04:00

OK so the Guggenheim Grotto isn't touring out west but this rockin' chick is. I've been hoping they'd come around here, but once again they're not... and now they're on tour again. The lead girl-singer really belts it out... Good good stuff. Chase Go see them for me on the 24thand beg her to come to the Beachcomber on Cape Cod...

4/24/09 DENVER, CO - Gothic Theatre

The Guggenheim Grotto

2009-04-16T00:28:00.003-04:00

These guys are really good. I love this song... and such a creative video.

I Cleaned the Sensor on my Canon Digital Rebel Camera

2009-04-07T22:30:00.006-04:00

Wow... it's been a while. I actually started this post back on April 7. Things have gotten a little crazy since then. In the midst of all the commotion, Sophie turned 6, Will met the Easter Bunny, I donated a small piece of my back for surgical education, and our neighborhood has become the home to a rather tame Turkey (gobble gobble). All noteworthy, but honestly....I feel like YESTERDAY was April 7. It's now a week and a day later.

Back on April 7, I took the plunge with my digital SLR and decided to try and clean the sensor myself. After reading several articles on the best ways how to (and how not to) do it," I figured I might as well give it a try since, with the rate I switch out lenses, and with the amount of dust I seem to collect on the sensor, I couldn't afford to keep taking it in to be cleaned at $50 a pop. And, even though every article and post I read warned "...don't blame us if you destroy your camera doing this..." many of them also said, "there's nothing to it..." so I figured it's worth the risk. To make a long boring story short and ultimately sweet, the cleaning went fine, but I found I had to do it 3 times, each time holding my heart in my throat as I dragged my modified pec-pad-coverd spatula across the sensor, a little harder each time... until finally... no dust.

There is a great article on the whole process here [Cleaning the CMOS Sensor on your Digital Camera]. If you decide to proceed, read this article carefully, and read all the comments. There are some really good tips. My camera is a Canon EOS Digital Rebel (350D). I used a silicone spatula trimmed to 14mm, covered with a pec-pad moistend with Eclipse solution. The article linked above has all the info and resources on where to get this stuff, but I bought from Adorama.

Spring Peepers

2009-04-03T21:42:00.002-04:00

Tonight it's pouring rain. The temperature stayed above 40 all day and the wind is up. On my way home from work, lightning was flashing in the grey sky, but now the downpours have calmed to a drizzle and all the thunderstorms have passed along... for now anyway.

Outside my window is the sound of regular drip drip drips of rain freefalling from the second floor gutter and hitting the bent aluminum curve at the bottom of the downspout. Drip drip drip drip drip. It will do this all night. The other sound is the sound of the spring peepers. Tiny frogs that come out of the mud in spring all at once on a particular day and start singing. If you didn't know they were frogs, you might think some bunch of crazy song birds were up at night. Sweeet sweeeet sweeeet sw - sweee suh swee suh sweee sweet. It's a steady chorus late into the night. Every so often they all go silent, all at once, and then after a pause, they get into it again. At some point, they will stop singing altogether. I wonder if there is a leader frog that tells eveyone when to start and stop peeping. Hmmmm.

I LOVE Flash!

2009-03-30T20:14:00.004-04:00

I just spent the better part of today trying to figure out why my stupid flash movie didn't work. I still don't know. Wouldn't work with the photos I prepped for it, but with test images, it works great. Tomorrow, I'll reprocess all the photos and see if they work. I really wonder why I'm in this business.

On the flip side... the boss just agreed to get me Adobe CS4 Web Pro... (sweet!)

2009-03-24T00:14:00.002-04:00

I'm so tired I don't even know why I'm up right now. I have a bunch of photos that I want to upload, but it will take more energy than I have to get them done now. So, a quick blurb in the mummichog...

I found some motivation and started painting my storm windows yesterday. Yup.... that's right, the ones that have been stacked in the garage all winter. The ones I got last September so we'd conserve heat this winter. Well, I never was able to find a weekend to paint them, so they never made it up onto the house, and as I listen to the furnace blasting away right now, I cringe at the thought of what the heating costs are going to look like at the end of the season.

The temperature hit 48 degrees by yesterday afternoon, and I figured that would be good enough to get some paint down. I was wrong. It turned out that 48 was as warm as it was going to get. As I worked, the temperature went down. The latex paint I was using globbed up within minutes and when I thinned it with hot water, it went on too thin, so after fighting with two windows, I gave up. I got the chainsaw out and hacked up a few fallen trees and their branches into fireplace size pieces. I love the chainsaw. It beats painting any day, and I can use the wood to offset the heating cost next winter...(unlikely with our fireplace, but who knows).

Spring! 7:44 am

2009-03-20T08:03:00.002-04:00

Hey it's officially spring (well not yet in Colorado)! So legend has it you can balance an egg on its end on the equinox. I've tried this year after year and it's never failed. However, I can't remember EVER trying it on any other day than the equinox, so maybe, with the same amount of determination, I could balance an egg on its end on say.... my birthday! I'll probably never try though, just because I wouldn't want to smash the mystery. Anyway... happy Srping, Happy Equinox. Now... where's the warm weather?

Whales...er Whale

2009-03-17T06:52:00.003-04:00

I finally made it up to Provincetown, at the end of the earth, to look for north atlantic right whales. There are about 300 left in the world and each year, they come close into Cape Cod to feed on the baitfish-rich (krill, sand lances, etc) water of Cape Cod Bay. Last year they were in very close, and I saw a few feeding off Herring Cove beach, near Race Point in Provincetown. I got a late start, and arrived at the beach well after sunrise, missing all the magic of the sunrise over the sand flats. Still, the long shadows of the morning made for some great light and I had the entire beach to myself (except for a couple and thier dog that disapeared over the dunes into the National Seashore's "Beach Forest."

The colors and patterns were amazing on the sand and I had a hard time focusing on the horizon, where I hoped to see a whale. I did look up occasionally and eventually saw one whale. It looked like a finback though. It rolled to the surface, blew out a huge puff of spray and disappeard, rolled again another hundred feet in front of where it did the last time and then disappeared for good. The one big puff and straight line, deliberate path it made is why I think it was a "finner." The right whale has a very distinctive "V" shaped spout of water vapor, and they tend to roll around in the same place for a bit. So... one whale, and a hell of a photo trip. More photos on flickr later this week.

Brewster Oysters - Best in the World

2009-03-09T22:24:00.011-04:00

The oyster farmers are out working on thier grants here in brewster. This is a grant by our home beach. The oysters live here in these cages, grow and fatten during the summer and are ready to harvest during the "e - r" months (SeptembER, OctobER, NovembER, DecembER, JanuarER... and even sometimes FebruarER)

Oyster cages on a farm off Brewster.

Wild oysters clinging to a stone on the Cape Cod Bay flats.

An adult (harvestabale) oyster growing wild on the Cape Cod Bay flats. (The season ended on March 3rd though)

Everybody in the car...We are going OUT!

2009-03-08T22:07:00.004-04:00

Did I write in here this morning? I guess I did... wow... long day. Anyway, the storm we were supposed to get today never materialized. It was another warm(ish) day with a full afternoon of blue sky. Of course we had to take advantage of it and neglect EVERYTHING that we had to get done this weekend. The list is endless, but I've all but given up on getting it done this year anyway, so why not! The choice wasn't difficult... 1. paint the bathroom to the tune of a screaming baby or 2. get out and enjoy the first really nice weather in 120 days while the baby naps in the jogging stroller. Done. We hit the bike path by 11:00 - all of us - two kids on bikes, Amy running (very quickly) and me taking up the rear, pushing the baby in our $5 yard-sale baby-jogger. It's only downfall is that it pulls to the left as I push it along, so I keep having to correct it. Someday I'll fix that too.

We stopped for lunch at "Local Flavor;" a sandwich joint on the bikepath, and on the way there, we saw our first blue bird of the year. My feet hurt and I think I have a sunburn, but man, it's nice to have these days.

Springtime On The Cape - Is Winter Over?

2009-03-08T08:49:00.003-04:00

66 Degrees! Skunk cabbage is coming up along the swamp edges and the tips of daffodil stalks are coming up everyhwere. Sophie found a little crocus blooming by one of the downspouts, and I dug a mess of clams without freezing my fingers off. Oyster season ended 5 days ago and the time changed (spring forward) last night. I turned the outside water on and the kids rode bikes around and around the neighborhood (both collecting muddy dirt stripes on their backs.) The morning chatter of the birds is getting louder and there's only a few last remnants of snow in the yard. Dare I commit to Spring?? I think so, but I am prepared for a few more wintery blasts before... oh, say "Tax Day."

Tracks...

2009-03-05T06:46:00.004-05:00

There is a thick crust of re-frozen once-slush snow everywhere outside my back slider window. It looks like its about 2 to 3 inches deep. On top of it, a thin layer of light puffy snow, only about a quarter of an inch deep, has accumulated, and has created a perfect medium for "releif in birdfeet." Everywhere there are little bird footprints. Thier meanderings in search of the remains of seeds that I have put out there, have created quite a design in the snow.

These days, the flocks ruturn each morning to eat a full tube of seads each day. There's obviously more birds showing up now than just last week - and a few more species too. The tube used to last a few days. Spring seems to be coming.... we just need the temperature to comply.

We Did Get Some Snow!

2009-03-03T20:59:00.004-05:00

Yup! We got some snow. Not a really good snow-bomb nor-easter, but a good amount of snow. If the center of the storm had moved up the coast, just a wee bit more out to sea, we would have gotten wallopped... like Rockport did.

It wasn't bad. Even though, here in Brewster, we got mostly freezing rain over about 3 inches of heavy wet snow, we got enough to cover the ground and encrust everything. It was enough to close the schools too, so the kids had fun! They went out in the back yard and played in the freezing drizzle for a bit, and after I went to work, I hear they played with the wii all day long. Why not...

Running on the Beach

2009-02-27T21:19:00.003-05:00

I went for a run this morning before work. There was a dark grey-pink sky when I left the house and as I got closer to the beach, and time ticked on into daylight, the grey gave way to an overall pinkish hue. I wasn't in a clearing and the the thick trees on both sides of the road blocked what might be happening on the horizon. Everything that was white, turned light pink. Pink houses, pink maple trees, my white long-sleeve t-shirt was now pink. Birds were chirping like it was spring and the air was still.

I reached the end of the road at the mouth of Paines Creek and crossed over the seawall onto the beach, and turned East for what is about a 3/4-mile leg over sand. The sky was filled with pinks and blues, but because the sun still rises in a more southerly arch, its morning magic was hidden by the hills, trees and houses to the south of the beach. It was dead low tide and the bright white lights of 3 boats glistened on the bay, way out beyond the low water mark.

It was beautiful out and I was exhilerated. I felt really good for the first part of the run, but right after I got off the sand and started the 2-mile leg back to the house, I started to feel like I was towing a wagon full of kids. It ws like an immediate switch. I didn't run too hard, and I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but by the time I was done, I was worn out, and my legs had a pain I hadn't felt before. It wasn't that good work-out pain, but more like someone was peeling my skin away from my muscles mostly my thighs and calves. Well, it looks like we're in for 5 days of slush and snow, so I guess I'll stay out of my sneakers for a while. How the HELL does chase run for a hundred miles.... Chase??

Odd Ritual for Winter

2009-02-21T06:27:00.003-05:00

So here it is, the middle of.. well I guess almost the END of, February, and it's cold and nasty out... soon to be nastier. It's early morning and everything out the window is grey, except for a faded hue of pink, low through the naked trees. The trees are swaying at thier tips, back and forth and it's 28 degrees out. There's a reported 20 mph blow going on and later it's supposed to increase to 40 to 50 with rain and a mix of snow. You can tell by just looking at the grey, clumped, frozen and frosted ground that staying inside is the best idea for today.

But not for this tree... This tree in Brewster blooms in early to mid February every year, no matter how cold it is. These little green-yellow flowers are more like curly leaves. Nothing like getting a jump on the competition, but still.... who's going to polinate? No bugs around. And we've got at LEAST two more good months of potential frosts and even freezes. It's also about the time of year that we see the first of the crocusses, but I haven't seen any. So why do they bloom so early, and what do they have to gain?

Down to... well past... the Big City

2009-02-17T20:41:00.002-05:00

We just got back from a family reunion in New Jersey. Four hours each way and oddly no traffic. NONE! I've never been to, or anywhere near, New York City without sitting in traffic for at least part of the way. This is the GW Bridge. I'm sick as a dog. Not too many thoughts for tonight. (hack cough cough hack)

Raptor Love

2009-02-12T21:24:00.007-05:00

I saw these two flying Wookies on the way to drop off the baby at daycare. Two very happy birds (wouldn't you think?) Happy Valentine's Day! Watch out squirrels - (pst. you're the gift)

(click image for a larger view)

Whale-walk... Kind of.

2009-02-08T20:52:00.006-05:00

Today, the kids (minus the baby) and I went for a walk out to Great Island in Wellfleet. Two right whales had been spotted offshore earlier this week and I thought maybe we might see them if they came in close enough. I always though it was too shallow in there, but last week a small finback whale was IN Wellfleet harbor and later got stranded on one of the bay beaches just to the south. So, I guess they do come in there. Anyway, off we drove to Great Island as the snow cover melted and the temperatures rose.

We parked at the trailhead and hustled downhill through the short evergreen path, still covered with about 2 inches of very wet snow, to point at which it met the water. It was just the turn-of -tides, at a very high tide, and the path from this point, continued UNDER water and sea-ice-slush that had been pushed up by the south wind. The trail, although under water, was marked by a split-rail fence and we could see that it hugged the shoreline all the way around the cove out to the distant dunes that made up the causeway out to Great Island (which isn't really an Island). So, figuring we'd have the path on the way back, we too, hugged the shoreline and marched out along a single-file "bushwhacked" path of trodden salt marsh hay mixed with ice and snow, bordered to the left by water and to our right by the steep brambly banks of the hill we had just descended. The hay gave way to sand as we approached the dunes, and finally, we met up with the other end of trail as it ascended out of the shlushy retreating tide.

Just beyond this point the trail took a turn through a cut in the dunes and we found ourselves on Cape Cod Bay. The sun had come out, it was 50 degrees, and we had the entire beach to ourselves. Someone had built a driftwood "hut" just to the north of us, that captured the interest of the kids. It was a sculpture that seemed to have many hands that worked on it, and was in many ways, still a work in progress. We ended up spending a good deal of time in and around it and we even collected some of our OWN driftwood, and added it to the sculpture. We flopped on the dunes and threw big stones into the quicksand of the soft sea ice that was being pushed up on the shore. There were shells to be collected and castaway buoys to be inspected.

Once the kids had had enough of the thing and it's surroundings, we turned back south again to continue our walk. But, by now, the littlest was tired and the oldest was "bored" of walking, so we cut our trip short and headed back down the path that we started on. The tide had gone out... WAY out, and we had the real trail to walk back on. Still, it was covered with chunks of slushy sea ice, but each chunk sat solidly on the dry sandy trail below. The kids had a blast hopping from chunk to chunk and crushing through some of the smaller ones as they landed. A short hike, but a good one just the same... oh yeah, and as for whales... I looked to the horizon occasionally, but never saw any spouts. I'll look again in a couple weeks.

Snowman!

2009-02-07T15:20:00.004-05:00

The week's worth of mid-teens degree weather finally broke today and put a thaw on all the crusty snow cover we have. It was a perfect day for building a snowman, so we did. I love his hair.

Decisions decisions...

2009-02-03T00:05:00.006-05:00

Well, this weekend turned out to be one of the best so far this year. Max had a great basketball game on Saturday and Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day. It eventually got all the way up to 47 degrees! (click images for the full size view)

BUT, at 7:00 am, it was still only in the high 20's so I had to make a decision whether to go all the way up to P-town to look for whales or not. Amy wouldn't let me do both whale watching and clamming... and really, I don't think I could have pulled it 0ff anyway. Maybe, I could have gotten them both in if I got up and out of here at 5:00 am, but not in this weather. Anyway, I took the kids down to our local beach which is less than 2 miles away and we dug some nice steamers. The air was warm, the sun was out, and there was no wind. So, even though the water was absolutely freezing, wet hands warmed up once out of the puddle.

We found enough for a full meal for two people, and that afternoon I took them over to Keith's house. He and I slurped them down with a couple beers each - Anchor Liberty Ales. There's just something about same-day fresh steamers. Oh man were they good. The best part was that the steamy clam stink and the filthy pot remained at Keith's house. Sorry Keith.

That night I put the kids to bed and fell asleep on the bean-bag chair as I usually do. Last night was the super bowl and I slept right through it. I guess it was a pretty good one too... oh well.

Whale Watch Tme.

2009-01-30T22:45:00.008-05:00

Weather permitting, I'm off to the tip of Cape Cod to look for whales on Sunday. For the past few years, come January, I start to go looking for right whales off the coast of provincetown. Two years ago, max and I watched one feeding off of Race Point in Provincetown. Last year, we found them off of Herring Cove Beach, also in P-town. We've seen lots of humpbacks, and a few finbacks and minkes right from the beach. It sucks if it's windy, but if it's sunny with no wind, there's a good chance we'll be able to stay out on the beach for a while and see some kind of whale. Saturday will be cold and nasty. Sunday is supposed to be warmer, but still only in the 30's. Hopefully there will be no wind. Oh... and I just got my 2009 shelfish license, so with luck... fresh steamers for supper.. oh yeah!
(click the image for a bigger view)

Update: Saturday Morning, 25°, windy and cold. The ground is covered with a dusting of snow. No WAY am I going out to any beach today.

Update: Sunday Morning, 24°, cold, but no wind. It's supposed to warm up to 39° today by this afternoon, but the wind will be picking up. Maybe have to wait 'til next weekend.

Pinewood Derby

2009-01-27T20:54:00.006-05:00

Max and Sophie had cars in the Cub Scouts' Pinewood derby race this last weekend. I'm slow at getting anything posted these days, so I'm just getting around to downloading the photos and getting them posted. They just MIGHT be on flickr tonight

The kids both had fun making the cars, but again, the race itself was chaotic and somehow, even though Max had one of the faster cars, he was eliminated and never even got to face the three winning cars. Personally I think they forgot to run a few of the middle heats that he should have been in... he only raced twice all day! Sophie, who isn't even a Cub Scout, and was racing Max's friend's car, raced in six or seven heats.

He clearly beat the car that came in fourth overall in his first heat, 3 out of 3 times. However, he was still eliminated even after taking another win in his second heat. Maybe it was because his car just looked too damn good!

He's not bitter, but I can't seem to let it go. I feel bad for him. He obviously knew he had one of the faster cars.

(click the photos for full-size views)

Another Snow Storm is Coming!

2009-01-26T17:14:00.008-05:00

I woke up to the announcement that more snow is coming. I love snow. I'm glad it's coming. So many people are groaning about the long winter, but I can't wait. Now, come March, when it's steadily 36 degrees and raw during my out-of-work hours, I'm sure I'll be complaining with the rest o'ya', but c'mon! It's January. It's winter and if its going to be cold as hell, it might as well look nice out there. Plus, it's the beginning of the year. For those of us poor saps that are still working for the man, we have a full year's allotment vacation and sick day's comin' at us.... so if it's driving that's bummin' you out. DON'T DRIVE! Go play in the snow and try to remember how much you enjoyed anticipating the big storm when you were a kid. What kid doesn't like a snowstorm. I think the day I don't wish it to snow will be the day I figure out that I really am an old man. Snow pics from Chatham here: flickr. Some snowy lighthouse ones...

January Almost Over - Nothing Done

2009-01-25T19:57:00.003-05:00

I don't seem to have much time these days to keep up with this blog about not keeping up with myself. Suddenly it's a month into the new year. I haven't checked a thing off my list. Well, there you have it, my half-assed attempt to keep up with myself is surely living up to itself.

More Snow - Cold Coming

2009-01-15T15:21:00.002-05:00

It's snowing like crazy out. It's beautiful light fluffy snow - classic January snow, and it's all Cape Cod's. Nowhere esle is getting this storm. Special.

I'm missing the whole thing because I'm in the basement at work. The rude building manager just came down and made us all move our cars so they could plow the lot. So, I at least got to see it. There's a TON of snow! I have the Prius, so should be a wild ride home. Hoping to get out before dark.

Starting the Year off Right - and Props to Juno

2009-01-07T23:11:00.003-05:00

Ugh... on New Year's day our Microwave stopped working. It wasn't the fuse, it wasn't a bad plug... it just stopped. It's been sick for a while, and recently it couldn't even handle finishing a bag of pop corn without crashing the power to the kitchen. Come to think of it, it's had symptoms like that for a while... just more pronounced more recently.

Well now it's dead. I took it off the wall yesterday (its one of those over-the-range deals) to see if I could find a fuse on it anywhere within its guts. I only found little signs all over as I dug deeper that said "DANGER!" and something to the effect of "Microwaves can be dangerous... only professionals should delve any further..." So, instead of wasting time trying to find someone to pay $100 to fix what I can buy for $200, I went shopping.

The sales guy at "Sears" had such bad breath I almost puked. Really! My throat went into this auto-heave-motion and I had to retreat quickly. I then tried "Best Buy" at the complete opposite end of the mall. They had a whole bunch, but NO ONE was interested in helping me. I went to Home Depot. No one was there... it was spooky. No shoppers I mean. I've never seen the store so empty. Three salespeople fought to help me. No kidding. They took me to a row with a $200, a $250 and a $300 machine. The $200 was just cheesy - it looked like the screws I'd hang it with would pull right through the metal. The $300 I'd have to have delivered, but it was nice. But, I didn't want to wait - I settled for the $250 one. It looks like it should cost more than $250 because it's made of some stainless steel-like material. I was told it's not really stainless steel. Who cares. It was shiny. I bought it. Now it's on the kitchen floor. I watched a movie instead of hanging it. Great movie... Juno. (Chase - rent it!)

Big Weekend for Will

2009-01-05T06:36:00.003-05:00

Wow... The holidays are over and now it's time to relax. I almost got all of my Christmas cards out this year too. Good thing. I don't think I'll do it any more. It's just too time consuming and now too expensive. A hundred cards and a hundred stamps and I'm well over a hundred dollars. Everyone I know well enough to send a card to, I keep well enough in touch with for them to know I'm thinking about them at Christmas time. I'll probably do some kind of digital deal this year. Not sure what. Hey... save paper, printer ink, plastic, less photo chemicals, stamp glue, shipping boxes from the distributor, pen ink.... it all ads up to less waste. Digital it is this year.

But that's now what I was going to blog about... I was going to blog about Will. He has reached several milestones this week. He cut a tooth, moved from the bassinet to his crib where he now has almost learned to put himself to sleep. He rolled over onto his belly, ate rice cereal and got baptized. All at roughly the turn of four months. Good job little guy!

Storm Cancells 2009!

2008-12-31T20:13:00.006-05:00

One more day of 2008: We are in the midst of a classic coastal blizzard. Its now 20 degrees out, blowing 30mph and snowing like a bastid'. Its supposed to go down to the single digits overnight and the wind is supposed to pick up to 50 to 60 mph. Cool storm, BUT, I just heard on the radio that the town of Chatham has cancelled it's New Year's Eve celebration. Us too. For our small group of friends, those of us who were going to gather at Keith and Evangelina's, we put 2009 on hold. We'll all wait a day to ring it in. Single Digits! That reminds me... I better bring in the beer and the Cristalino. I stuck it in a snowbank when I got home from work (the drive took me almost two hours). At that point it still we were still planning on going out.

Will Cuts a Tooth: It's been a big couple days for Will. He got home from his 4-month doctor's appointment with the blessing to go ahead and eat real food. Yesterday, he ate his first rice cereal, sitting in his highchair and a day later, that's today, on New Year's Eve, he cut his first tooth! He also is trying to learn to put himself to bed. It's a horror show. He's not happy now and I'm going to go help him out...

Running Again

2008-12-27T11:05:00.004-05:00

On Friday, we hit 45 degrees and I've been feeling pretty much like an old shut-in vampire for the last two weeks. So, I got out and ran. I think I went about 5 miles: From the house, I went down Main St. to Paynes Creek Beach (~1.5mi), then over sand to Saint's Landing (1 mi), up Robbins Hill Rd, down Lower, then up Swamp, back to Main to Alden (1.25 mi), then up Alden (with it's nasty hill) to Tubman, and back to our house. (1.25 mi). I had planned on only going out for 3 miles, but it was so nice I just kept going. Now... I'm feeling the pain.

It's been a relaxing 4 days . I'm glad I took Friday off. Now Monday looms. Tomorrow, while Chase is skiing... I'll be back at the desk.... ugh. (Will you be getting some footage chase? I saw a helmet cam mount on E-bay)

A Snow Day - Lucky Kids

2008-12-19T23:04:00.004-05:00

The kids had a snow day today (Friday). I'm not sure what kid is whispering in the right ear but there was NO snow. Not a bit. It was barely even a cloudy sky. It was, however a beautiful sunrise with lots of RED in it, so maybe the decision maker was a sailor... "Red sky in the morning sailors take warning..." At any rate, as we waited for the bus that never showed (on dry pavement), our neighbor pulled up in his car on his way to work. "You know there's no school today." he said. The kids went bananas and it was even exciting for me. I love a good storm.

Well, it took all day before the first flake fell, and the kids certainly could have gotten in a school day in. Huh... in Rockport, we used to have to have a good 8 inches AT LEAST on the ground at daybreak before they even thought about calling off school...

(This is where the power went out last night, and killed my computer. - I finally got the pc running again. I'm not sure if I dare turn it off again though)

So, to finish my thoughts from last night...

Good for the decision makers! It was always so exciting to get a snow day. Thanks to the guy who said... ah what the heck, it's Friday... give the kids the day off. And they did! What a thrill.

We finally did get our snow. A lot of it, starting around 2:30 in the afternoon. The heavy stuff, and it pulled a wire down somewhere. Our power was only out for an hour I hear. I don't know. I took the opportunity to go to bed after lamplight card writing became too much of a pain in the ass. Power to Abe Lincoln!

Christmas Decorating - "Oh Joy!"

2008-12-15T06:59:00.004-05:00

Every year I hang a very simple line of fake evergreen swag adorned with tiny white lights. At each hook, there is a red bow. It usually looks pretty good and has just enough holiday tackiness to save me from looking like I was really trying to make it look good. This year, just after I got home from the dump, I couldn't find my bag of "ready to go" decoration. I looked all over and even found a bag marked "Outside Lights." This bag, I'm now realizing must have been marked from a previous year and stuffed with something else. At any rate, the swag is gone. I'm all but certain that it went into the bottom of the transfer truck's bin. 40 feet of lights, swag and bows, not to mention all the sanity that slipped away with it while I was searching for it...

So, this year there will be no swag. Oh well. I put up the remaining lights around the edge of the new porch and put two more strands on the bushes outside the front door. I even hung the REAL clippings from the bottom of our Christmas tree under the garage lights, but Amy told me I should take them down. "Don't overdo it" she said. And one look around at my make-shift second-"string" plan with it's sparse glow and wires all over the place and I knew she was right.

Remembering (Great) Grandma Merrill

2008-12-14T09:13:00.003-05:00

This is a photo of Great Grandma and Great Grandpa (Kay and Arthur Merrill) at Cape Hedge Beach in Rockport. It was taken in July of 1938. They are the two that are sitting up toward the right side of the photo. Grandma died last week at 94 and we will all miss her very much. She always had a big smile on her face and loved to see her kids, grandkids, and 11 great grandchildren. I'll always remember that smile, and sitting with her looking through one of her many photo books(all way out of any chronological order.) Sometimes my kids would be wedged in between us, sometimes it would be just Amy and me; sometimes just me. She'd pick out a photos from somewhere in the middle of the book and captivatingly tell us the story of it. Sometimes she'd get to laughing so hard she would have to stop talking.

Hey Rockporters... Where's the Madras Shop?

2008-12-03T19:33:00.005-05:00

In case you didn't know, the old Madras Shop is GONE! Yup, they finally tore it down to make way for the new Symphony Hall. Kind of cool to see the empty lot. Imagine what the whole street looked like at one point. (click the image for a bigger view)

Cold Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T06:55:00.005-05:00

Happy TG Everyone! (well mostly to Chase and Keith... the only people who read this)
It's a cold grey day here on Cape Cod. Just nasty out. It's at this time of year that I start counting months (not days) until spring. I always have wishful thinking that it will be one of those years where the crocusses come out in February. So... 3 more months of this crap until Spring! Better get the fishing gear ready... wait.. I never cleaned it up yet from this year.

Oh... and the moths are back!

Temps Down and so are Gas Prices

2008-11-24T23:25:00.004-05:00

Last Tuesday, November 18, the gas prices dipped below $2.00 per gallon on Cape Cod. Of course we're not getting any breaks in our home heating oil... It's going UP of course. As I'm writing this, I keep hearing the furnace kick on, then for a short period, the room warms up a bit, but quickly cools down as the the 30 mph winds blow cold air through the 16th inch gaps around my windows. In my garage are the final 8 storm windows that need to go up. They still need to be painted first. I'm guessing they'll be in place just in time for summer 2009. (Today gas prices at that station were $1.93. I wonder if I should invest in oil??)

Last Day for Oysters

2008-11-23T22:40:00.006-05:00

For me anyway, oyster season ended today. It was so DAMN cold and windy out there!

Smart people waited 'til the tide had gone WAY out then only ventured into the shallows (about up to their ankles). Really smart people went to the store! I clomped into the winter North Atlantic up to my waist and WAY before low tide. Of course I was covered with neoprene; waders, boots, gloves and even my old yellow sleeves from the old 3-mil surfing suit I used to wear in Rockport. It helped a little, but not nearly enough. The air temperature was 31, but the 30 mph winds out of the North West made it feel so so much colder. It just cut through everything.

Waves were a foot high and choppy, and the water visibility was really murky - 2 feet at best. The only reason I was in so early was that I had an afternoon commitment (a sudden birthday party for Max to go to, and because Sophie had a play date already scheduled... I was Max’s ride).

In the first half hour (12-12:30) I found about a dozen by half-blindly striking out at pinky-white blob shapes on the bottom, snagging them with my barbeque tongs. Most shapes I grabbed were just empty shells. Others I couldn’t even get because my non-responsive hands, which froze instantly, had no feeling left in them. At 12:30, when my hands stopped working altogether I retreated to the beach. Plopping down my tools, I hastily peeled off my gloves off with my teeth and shoved my hands down into my waders and into my pants underneath. I waited for my hands to warm up and then put my gloves back on. I figured I take another stab at it now that the tide was out. It looked like people were finding them in the 1-inch to 2-inch depths, which would be much better for seeing though the murky water and dealing with the cold and waves. Within 20 minutes I had my limit of 5 quarts (between 4 and 5 dozen oysters).

I checked out with the warden, raced home and got max to the party (only a little late)

I didn’t bother to take my camera out today, but up top is the finished painting of Day 3 – earlier this year. (click it for a larger view)

Brrrrrrr, 'Twill be a Frigid Oyster Hunt

2008-11-23T01:50:00.005-05:00

It's Saturday night. No wait, its Sunday morning, twenty something degrees out, and windy as all hell. Tomorrow is the pre-Thanksgiving Oyster Hunt in Brewster; the day they put out the last of the oysters for the year. I'm geared up to go, but we'll see what the weather brings. The Oyster Egg hunt was the theme for my first painting in 8 years. It's coming along... will be done tomorrow, unless I screw it up.

Hey Denver Boy!

2008-11-19T08:01:00.003-05:00

First Snow. Not much... but FIRST SNOW!

Its snowing like crazy now, but it looks and feels like ocean-effect snow. Probably will be gone by the time I get home... then again, I remember saying that in Rockport as a kid once.. Let's see when was that... February 1978?

Indoor Weekend

2008-11-15T08:06:00.002-05:00

I've been offline for a while... with blogging at least. After a long weekend, in bed due to the surgery that all loving husbands/fathers must go through when they've finally attained the full family they'd always hoped for... I'm finally feeling back on track. And, maybe due to the drugs and monotonous downtime (no pun intended), I got my act together to drag out my old art bin. I emptied it out, cleaned it up and got ready to paint something. It's been over 8 years! Now, with three little ones in the house, the question is can I find the time and keep to it? Time will tell. (Note the little "binky" or pacifier in the corner of the photo)

The Last of the Oysters

2008-11-10T22:32:00.007-05:00

About 30 people (including me) were out on the rockpiles yesterday, hoping to pluck what was left of the fall stocking of oysters. With three weeks of Sunday harvests behind us, I figured there wasn't much chance of getting another full limit, but I just wanted enough to serve for appetizers when our friends, the Kreegers came over. After 2 hours on the water, I had 22 oysters (which would be just enough).

I could have gone to the store and bought two dozen instead for FAR less than I feel like my time is worth, but I've become weirdly addicted to going out there, and at least I'm on the water. I also know how fresh the oysters are. In two weeks, the town should put out the remainder of the stocks for Thanksgiving. That's good because I won't be leaving the house this weekend.

(click photo to enlarge it and note Keith's stylin' phone -who needs an I-phone?!)

Bakugan Brawl!

2008-11-07T19:12:00.005-05:00

I guess this is the new craze... Bakugan! Have you seen these things? Little plastic balls that, when they roll onto a metal surface, pop open into little "monsters" . There are hundreds of different ones, all named and numbered, and packaged randomly so you don't know what you're getting. Retail, the little balls sell for... sit down... $5 - $7. On ebay, the retired or hard to come by models are averaging around $18 - $20. LITTLE PLASTIC BALLS...REALLY! They look like something out of a happy meal.

Yeah I know it's a fad, but this is the first one my kids have gotten swept up in. Max has a few and so do most of his friends. They make him happy and he has a blast playing with them. He got 3 for $15, and I guess that's OK for all the joy they're bringing him.

Today though, he emptied his piggy bank and painstakingly counted out ALL his bills, change and pennies, coming up with a well earned and carefully saved $24.37 which, he announced, was enough for him to buy one of the Brawlers he found on Amazon.com... ONE PLASTIC HAPPY MEAL TOY, $24 bucks! He's willing to spend ALL his money on this thing. Kids can't afford these! Good Grief!

I told him to put it on his christmas list. (UGH) (below are actual size)

Obama Wins!

2008-11-04T23:09:00.006-05:00

I am so hopeful of our future and that of our children.
This is a day to remember.

Sunset 4:30pm.... Ugh..but again... OYSTERS!

2008-11-02T21:09:00.010-05:00

And so it begins today that we crank our clocks back to get another hour of daylight in the morning. For me, I'd trade the morning hour for an extra hour in the evening any day, but who am I...

My day began on the Brewster Flats at 6:15am. 6:15 was sunrise and that's when, in Brewster, you are allowed to start shellfishing. "No shellfish shall be taken in Brewster between the hours of sunset and sunrise." Another rule is that... " NO shellfish shall be taken when the air temperature is less than 32 degrees." That almost put everyone off the water because it was 37 when I left the house. Low tide was at 7:30, so by the time I was in the water just after sunrise, the tide was well out and there were lots of oysters to be had at barbeque-tongue-grabbing depth. I barely got my sleeves wet! The usual crowd was a bit smaller today, in part I'm guessing because of the early tide and also partly because of the cold weather and northerly blow. DAMN it was cold out there.... and my right-hand wetsuit glove (which was really my left-hand glove turned over) was leaking, making it absolutely useless. I kept it on anyway. (My right-hand glove had floated away a year a go to the day and I never got another)

The rough conditions were well worth it. I got my 5 quarts quickly and spent the next half hour or so taking photos. It was a beautiful morning and the light was great. For dinner tonight, I had 14 raw oysters and some crackers. Since cranberries are in season right now too, I tried garnishing the plate with some. I ate a raw cranberry between oysters, kind of like you'd eat pickled ginger between bites of sashimi. I think it worked well. If I had a restaurant I'd serve it like this... but with a lemon of course, and some of Keith's fresh horseradish and mignonette but I didn't have any of that tonight. I like them plain anyway... fresh from the sea.

No Waders for This Water

2008-11-02T00:13:00.006-04:00

Unlike my flats-forrays after oysters these days, I wouldn't need waders for tonights adventure. Tonight, Amy and I went to the Cape Cod Symphony's production, "Water Impressions." It was a great concert with some modern stuff along with a couple classics. These were my favorites:

Tan Dun - Concerto for Water Percussion
You may have heard the name "Tan Dun," He composed this year's Summer Olympics opening theme music. Tonights concerto was a very modern piece with special percussion instuments that used water to create the sounds and change the pitch of the notes once they were struck. There were 3 percussionists; one soloist in the center and two "backups" if that's what you call them, on either side of the stage. Each set of instruments had, at its center a large clear glass bowl filled with water that the instruments were worked in. Lights were shined on the bowls and up from under the bowls, creating moving patterns of light on the ceiling that reflected the water's movements as the players and their instruments interacted with the water. Pretty cool.

Bedrich Smetana - Moldau from Ma Vlast (My Country)
I don't know much classical music, but I recognize this tune. It was indeed a very "watery," piece. Jung-Ho Pak, the conductor, was outstanding and you could tell he got the orchestra charged up with his directing. I'd say this was the best piece in the show.

(I, along with the web development company I work for, built the symphony's new web site. My role was creating the "look and feel" of the site, and I worked extensively with Esther Owen (the marketing director) and Jung-Ho Pak to come up with the look they were hoping to achieve. Our tickets were compliments of the Symphony:

Thank you Esther and Jung-Ho - They were great seats and we thoroughly loved the show. )

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T21:01:00.003-04:00

A Typical Morning

2008-10-30T00:49:00.005-04:00

Today started before the sun, with all 3 of my kids up and ready to go. Will got the day going with his good morning songs at 4:30. An hour later, I passed him to Amy, still singing and headed downstairs since I was now well awake. I got the coffee going and tried again in vain to find the motorola driver on the Verizon web site that will allow me to download stuff off my phone to my pc.

At 6:00 Max came down to watch his favorite morning cartoon, "Bakugon Battle Brawlers." I've watched it a couple times and still don't know exactly what it's all about. I'm sure it's mostly a marketing tool for it's action figures and vice versa. At about 6:15 Sophie came down and I startled her as I came out of my office, heading to the kitchen for more coffee. We both came around the corner at the same time and she leaped and shreaked, then jumped into my arms. We both laughed as I squeezed her. Her poor little heart was beating a thousand miles per hour.

I had promised her she could draw on the computer so at this point, my search for a driver ended. Just as well. All dead ends. I got Sophie going with Microsoft's "Paint." Its a terribly clunky bitmap drawing program, but she has fun with it. I helped her get going with a pumpkin scene she wanted to do, and ended up sitting with her for the next 45 minutes or so, making pumpkins on a fence... (she stole the idea from her brother who did the same drawing yesterday).

At 7:00 "Arthur" comes on public television... a GREAT kid's cartoon, and even if the kids don't pick it up, it does have a message/moral on each show. Plus it's funny for adults too! After that we all convened in the kitchen (Will still singing) and had breakfast on the fly. Ten minutes later we were off to catch the school bus. Once I got back from the bus drop, I flung the fixin's for a sandwich together, bounced Will in my arms while Amy grabbed a quick shower, and then I raced off to work to barely get there by 9:00....whoa...

Every morning goes something like this as four and a half hours FLY by in a blink of an eye.

More Oyster Egg Hunting

2008-10-27T07:17:00.004-04:00

There seem to be an abundance of oysters in the Brewster stocks. Either that or it was so nasty last week that people just gave up the hunt. Yesterday, the crowd was out in force again, collecting their 5 entitled quarts. I had to be at a Birthday Party (see previous Hello Kitty Post) at at 3:00, so not only was my venture dependent on the tide, but time as well. I would have to get out into deep water before it was low enough, which meant I might be getting wet.

Flats workable at 2 hours before low.

Low tide 4:00

I waded out at 1:30

At 1:30, the tide was not quite low enough to work. I could SEE oysters on the bottom, but even with my barbeque tonges, I coudn't quite reach them. At one point, I dropped my tongues, and that preoccupied me for a good 10 minutes as I tried to "hacky sack" them up from the bottom on my wader-bood bound feet. Once I had them back in hand, the tide was out JUST far enough for me to pluck a few from a pile I found. Still, I got my arm soaked all the way up to the pits, but I wasn't the only one (see the lady in the photo? She's got water down her waders and soaked from the neck to her hand too). Seems a lot of ealy birds were trying to get their oystering in before the end of the Pats game (which they won) .

I got my limit and made it home by 2:48 for the party. Hello Kitty! (I still don't know what Hello Kitty really is...)

Soccer, Frogs, and HELLO KITTY!

2008-10-26T06:52:00.006-04:00

It's 7:00 in the morning. I've been up since 5:00 putting the first colors on a "Hello Kitty" cake for my little niece, "Amelia's" birthday party. For her birthday, she got a trip to Cape Cod with her Mother; a special trip for her, since her sister had to stay home. So we are happy to have Rosemary and Amelia, but are missing Jay and Maggie. The white and pink are done and I just have the details to go... not sure how I'm going to do the black outlines yet... It's hard to make black frosting and the gunk that comes in those tubes are disgusting.

Yesterday was a fun day all around. It started with Max's Soccer game and it turned out to be a special one for him. He scored 2 goals, had two assists and when he was goaltending, he stopped 4 hard shots on the net. All the kids looked great, and it was nice to see it all come together for the last game of the season.

Sophie and Amelia played and played, putting on "shows" in the garage and passing out "tickets" for us to come watch them on scooters, doing tricks and hamming around. Later we found a wood frog (Rana sylvatica) by the side of the house. It was pretty big for the frogs we find around here, the biggest of all the frogs we've seen. The girls, for whatever reason, didn't really care about it, but Max was into it. He tried to catch it, but whenever the frog jumped, Max "jumped," and he could never catch it. Or when he DID catch it, it hopped right out of his hands. I finally snatched the thing and passed it around, but still the girls didn't want to hold it. Go figure.

(click photo to see a larger size)

If it seems like it's too good to be true...

2008-10-21T22:35:00.003-04:00

Last Sunday when I was pre-occupied with scrounging up oysters at the adult Easter egg hunt, I let a wave wash up over my chest wader pocket. No big deal, it happens all the time, except this time, I had my cell phone in that pocket. Now usually, I leave the phone in my bucket of stuff on the beach, but Amy wanted me to call her if I was going to be late. Industrious person that I am, I figured that I'd call from the water giving me a few extra minutes if I was indeed going to be late. Well, I WAS late, and when I pulled my phone out of my waders, it was wet. Not just wet... soaked. It's been wet before, so when I got home, I rinsed it out with fresh water and let it dry. eventually, to my glee, it came back on. Then it shut right off again. On Monday, it came on again, but I couldn't do anything with it. It was spent, but could I get my contacts off it???

Our 2-year contract with Verizon was up, so I went in to get new phones and we ended up getting two brand new phones for $20. The guy said they were $280 dollar phones! They're nice, shiny new gadgets with camera, video, blue tooth, all kinds of interactivity etc. etc. etc. Wow, cool, huh! I signed on for another two years. Of course I won't use all that stuff, but I see how they getcha: After reading a few pages in the 150-page half of the manual (the other 150 pages were upside down and in spanish, starting from the back, or the spanish front I guess) I kept finding at the end of every paragraph, "additional usage fees and/service agreement may apply." Ahh of course! Entice you with the gadgets, get you hooked and you will pay for your addictions. The old baby mouse in the beer bottle... well kinda. (oh yeah, and no... they couldn't get all my contacts off the old phone)

Busy Week: Manatee, Corn Maze, Apple Picking, Red Sox and Oysters

2008-10-19T10:09:00.011-04:00

I've had a busy week and have a lot to catch up on (note the tagline for my blog) since my last post, last Sunday.... so here goes...

MANATEE:
Word on the Manatee is that the poor guy was on his way out long before they even hoisted him from the water. Now the question people are trying to get answers on is why couldn't they have done the rescue earlier. Hindsight...ya know. I still stick by my original post. Leave well enough alone. He probably had reasons for being here. Who knows. We move on...
(Click for More Photos)

CORN MAZE/APPLE PICKING:
Last Sunday was our traditional Fall trip out Amy's parents house in Holden. We go through a big Corn Maze and go apple picking. The Maze is huge and has a different theme every year. This year it was Oympics. So far, the only year we've made it out without help was our first year. Since then, we've had to ask the "Maze Assistants" for clues. They hang out on the bridges. Still, even with help, it took us over 3 hours to get out. After that, we got our annual half-bushel of fresh apples. So good.
(Photos coming soon)

RED SOX:
YOUUUuuuuuuuuuuk! Here we go again. Hoping for another good game tonight. I've bootlegged a bunch of red sox stuff from the web and the kids and I made T-shirts for the game last night. (looks like the team spirit helped our boys!)
(Photos coming soon)

OYSTER SUNDAYS BEGIN:
Finally, today was "Oyster Sunday" in Brewster. Hmmm "Oyster Sunday." I just realized how much that sounds like "Easter Sunday." Funny because the two days share similar traditional "hunts." On Easter Sunday, of course, the kids hunt for Easter eggs. On "Oyster Sunday," its the adults that do the "hunting," and it's oysters they're after.

The town of Brewster, has several open shelfishing seasons during the year for differennt types of shellfish. Currently it's soft-shell clam and oyster season. I have my secret haunts for finding the softshells, but sadly, the oyster stocks have all but been depleted. However, twice a year, the week before a certain designated Sunday, the Brewster shelfish constable "releases" a cache of the town's (aquaculture-farmed) oysters at a specified location on one of our beaches. (Basically, he floats over the designated area in a skiff at high tide and flings out the oysters.) If you have a Brewster shellfishing license your entitled to go wade out into the brine with a pair of barbeque tongs with around a hundred or so other enthusiastic competitors, and seek out your limit. It truly is a giant aquatic Easter egg hunt for adults. [more photos]

Today I found 56 oysters (my limit of 5 quarts) which if you like oysters, is WELL worth the yearly license fee... currently $20. Here they are displayed on my favorite piece of pottery. A platter made by my friend Keith Kreeger. (Hey Keith, let's eat!)
[more photos]

Sad Ending for Our Manatee

2008-10-13T09:38:00.002-04:00

Manatee Update: It turns out that a 20+ hour trip in the back of a truck is just as risky as our animal-rescuing officials predicted. Our poor manatee, named after the town on Cape Cod where he had been residing, died an hour before he arrived at his destination in Florida. I feared that it may have been the wrong thing to do, but we trust our leaders will do the right thing. I hope for their sake that this "rescue" attempt wasn't just an attempt to put a feather in thier own caps. Perhaps with a little more planning and assistance from local entities, a 2 or 3-phase trip could have been attempted. Why couldn't he have been moved to a closer aquarium for rehabilitation? Did anyone ask this question? We have Boston, Mystic, and even several more smaller places that may have been able to temporarily accommodate him while he regained strength for a long trip? How shocking for this poor creature, to be hauled out of his surroundings and sent into the unknown and the unfamiliar, as the wieght of himself and his organs slowly crushed him over 19 hours. (I'm guessing at all this. The details are not out, but I certainly hope I'm wrong and that he died of an illness or just old age)

Manatee on Cape Cod?!? Really!

2008-10-11T00:36:00.012-04:00

(Click images for a larger view)

Have you heard the latest bigfoot story? Well it's not a bigfoot it's a big Flipper. Someone saw a Manatee in Cape Cod Bay early last week and for about a week it was this myth, and then slowly it became validated as more sightings came in, and then photos started to surface of the creature. But now, we have a special treat because he/she IS real and has decided to settle in to a mid cape estruary, Sesuit Creek. The poor thing looks so old and tired and according to experts she has only one eye. She also has a wound to one of her flippers (I call her "she" because it seems fitting... you know... a sea cow... an ancient mariner's mermaid - good lord how did they mistake one of these for one of those...long LONG days at sea I guess.) View my Cape Cod Manatee Photos on Flickr.

Today, on my way to work, I stopped by the harbor hoping to get a glimpse of her, and was so lucky to have gotten this chance. I'll have some photos posted on Flickr shortly of the encounter.

I guess they're going to try to move her to Florida where she won't have to deal with the season's end cold water. According to the paper, moving a Manatee is no easy task and is very risky for the Manatee. I hope she makes it and I hope it's not the wrong thing to do. Something tells me she wants to be here and maybe she's even been here before. Maybe she WANTS this as her final resting place... who knows... just not sure how much we should muddle with nature in this case. She seems so happy here.

Little Neck STEW!

2008-10-08T22:04:00.004-04:00

So I dug all these clams the other day (see earlier post), and I've been eating them every day since. When Keith and Evangelina had us over for dinner on Sunday night, Keith made a nice garlic broth for the ones I brought to his house, and he taught me how to make it.

Tonght, to a similar broth, I added tomatoes, red peppers, hot peppers and zuccini to get a nice spicy red sauce, served with a bunch of the littler clams over pasta. Amy doesn't eat clams so I had them all to myself again. (She liked the sauce though)

Red Sox Win! (ALDS)

2008-10-07T00:33:00.007-04:00

Yeah! What a game... What a series! Well, actually, I slept through the first two games. I was so frustrated with myself, and felt like such a bad fan, (but I did catch up on all the plays and scores on mlb the next morning). I just got sucked in by those wonderful bean-bag chairs while putting the kids to bed and the next thing I knew it was 3 am. I marathonned through the 5 1/2-hour 3rd game's loss, and kicked myself for NOT opting for the bean-bags that night. (Still a great game!)

Then tonight... TONIGHT! Tonight those Sox, they launched me on the requisite Red Sox Fan's roller coaster ride, right down to the finish. Way to go good old V-Tech with that key out on the suicide squeeze. How in the world does he get those duck legs going so fast? Way to go OTHER Jason with the big double and perfect slide home on Lowrie's base hit. Lester was dead on, Kotsay (sp) rocked, Pedroia, Youk... What a great game. It's so fun to be a Sox Fan. Can't wait for the Rays series. Oooooh it's gonna be good.

Little Neck Day

2008-10-06T08:06:00.010-04:00

Yesterday, in Brewster, was the start of Little-Neck Week. (Small Quahogs or Hardshell Clams). It was cool and drizzly, but the usual crowd was out. The first photo was at the very beginning of the tide, as it went out futher, more people showed up. Eventually, there were probably about 100 people out there. The clams are good raw, in a garlic broth (thanks for the recipe, Keith!) or cooked on the grill in thier own juice. I got about 60 which made my week's limit of 5 quarts.

False Albacore Craziness

2008-10-02T04:31:00.013-04:00

(click images for a larger view)
In times of trouble, you can worry about how things are going to turn out or, try to avoid the thought of it all. One good way to avoid thinking about horrible things, like what's happening to your life's savings, is to spend it and go fishing. If you're fishing for hard-to-catch fish like the greyhound of the sea... the false albacore, then you have no time to think about anything but getting the fish ON the hook. Then, if and when you DO get one of these suckers to bite... all you can do is think about how to keep him on the line right to the edge of the boat. (More pics on my flickr site)

Keith Kreeger and I went out with Alan Hastbaka of "Got Stryper Charters" this past Tuesday in search of the speedy "False Albacore." Alan knew they would be off Nantucket, and didn't waste any time hauling right over there. Even though some of his guide-buddies were chiming in from the Monomoy Rips, Alan played his hunch and it payed off. We got into them within the first hour of arriving at our spot and the action heated up steadily until the tide turned. Then it became spotty and the fish got REALLY finicky.

Keith was using spinning gear and had 2 for 4. These were his first false albacores, so it was exciting for me to share in his initiation. I had a couple bumps on my fly rod early, but they didn't feel like albies. Finally, after changing to intermediate line on a tip from one of Alan's guide buddies, I hooked up and landed this beautiful 11+ pounder. (It may have been more, but Alan only weighed HIS fish!) Mine was about the same size, if not slightly bigger than his (which was 11.4 lbs), so that's why I'm guessing 11+.

Toward the end of the trip, as the action slowed, we watched some kind of jacks congregating below the boat. It was pretty cool to see jacks, if that's what they were, this far up the coast. Keith was fooling with them with his albie rig and managed to tease up a scup. (Photo at right: not quite the fight of an albie, but still a fish!)

All in all a great day.