Archive for the ‘Misc.’ Category

I hung a bird feeder the other day. With the snow cover gone everything looked so bleak. I thought the birds might need a little something to get them through until spring when their food supply became more plentiful.

I took a trip to the local nursery and bought a bag of mixed seed hoping to appeal to all. I really had no idea what I should get. I just figured I’d get something that looked good to me.

I filled my caged tube feeder that hung from a tree in the backyard and waited.

The first day I watched from my kitchen window. Nothing came near my feeder. On the second day, still not a single bird stopped by for a snack. I wondered about the seed mix, was it right? Would the birds eat it? I looked good to me, but I wasn’t going to eat it.

On day three they came. It reminded me of the baseball movie Field of Dreams – if you fill it they will come.

I don’t know a lot about birds, I’m not a birder. But I like to know what I’m Looking at. I recognized the ubiquitous Black-capped Chickadee and the Tufted Titmouse, but after that I was stumped. I needed a bird book. So off to the bookstore for a copy of Sibley’s Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America. It sounded good. I’d at least have this side of the continent covered.

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Munsungan Paleo-Indian Artifacts

Reading about my favorite part of the Pine Tree State early last summer I learned of an archeological dig conducted by the University of Maine in the North Central part of the state. It was at a place since named the Windy City Site where they found evidence of a Paleo-Indian camp. I dug into the information a little deeper and learned that there was actually more than one. The Windy City at the thoroughfare between Chase Lake and Munsungan Lake was the main site; however, there were more throughout the Aroostook River watershed that seemed to parallel an ancient travel route.

Where Little Munsungan Lake empties into Munsungan Stream.

A little more research led me to Jim Carter and his camps on Little Munsungan Lake. I called Jim and mentioned that Chris and I were interested in the Paleo-Indian digs and were planning a visit to the area. Jim told me that the sites were all closed and on private property. Even though we were talking about an area well off the beaten path, he made it clear, that the property owners and the State of Maine did not want people poking around.

Jim must have sensed my disappointment because before our conversation ended he said, “My camp is one of the sites and I own it. I’m planning to do some digging this summer and if you’d like to come up and dig, you’re welcome.”

I didn’t hesitate. We made arrangements for Chris and I to visit.

As Jim Carter describes it, “The Munsungan area is famous as a source of Munsungan Chert, the most desired material in the North East for making stone tools, this coupled with the fact it was on a major travel route, has made the area one of the more famous for the study of those who came before us.
With the blessing and help of the state archeologist and some friends who are trained archeologists an on going dig and survey has been conducted of the area where the camps are located. This survey was published in The Maine Archaeological Society Bulletin. It is interesting to note that people have been using (the Munsungan area) since the ice age ended over 10,000 years ago. It’s still possible to dig and find material that was worked by humans some 9000 years ago.”

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Our Flight In A DHC-2 DeHaviland Beaver

Currier’s Flying Service sits at the southwest corner of Moosehead Lake in Greenville Junction, Maine. It is owned and operated by Roger Currier who has been flying for most of his life. In addition to flying, Roger has an added passion. He restores antique airplanes.

Chris and I took a walk down to the dock where Roger ties his three float planes one morning. It only took me a minute to recognize the Beaver.

Chris on the dock next to the 1954 Beaver at Currier's Flying Service.

According to Roger Currier, his restored 1954 DeHaviland Beaver is the only one in commercial operation in the Northeast. Most of the Beavers still in service today are in Canada and Alaska.

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Nomar Nomore

My son collected Nomar Garciaparra baseball cards from 1994 to 2004. His goal was to get every Nomar baseball card published during those years. He has books full of hundreds of Nomar cards from when he was with the Red Sox. In 2004 when he was traded to the Cubs, my son gave it up. He searched out the remaining few Red Sox cards from that season, then put it all in a box and put it away. In his mind Nomar was Nomore.
It was nice to see Nomar come back if for only a day so as to retire with the Sox. If anyone comes out with a card celebrating his one-day minor league stint with the team this spring, my son will probably dig out his cards and look for that one final piece.
Whatever Nomar’s motivation was for returning so as to retire with the Red Sox, he has done MLB a favor.

What Do They Mean?

What’s in a name? It would seem when it comes to sports, maybe a lot. Teams from high school to the pros all have nicknames, its part of their identity. Sometimes it is geographic or traditional and sometimes it makes no sense at all.

Let’s take a quick look at some baseball nicknames; it is after all the season. There are traditional names like, Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, White Sox, Athletics and Braves. We’re all familiar with those.

But, how about the less familiar nicknames? Sometimes you’ve got to wonder; “What were they thinking?”

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A Trip Up Mt.  Washington

The first recorded baseball game on Cape Cod was played in 1865 in Sandwich. Did you know that possibly the first recorded baseball game played on Mt. Washington was just 13-years later in 1878?

Mt. Washington

The game was played on August 7, 1878 on the Cow Pasture (a level area at 5500 feet located between Ball Crag and Nelson Crag)) near the seventh mile-post on the carriage road, according to a letter written to the Editor of the “Among the Clouds” newspaper.

The letter went on to say that the game was played between teams from the employees of the Glen Coach Company and the Mt. Washington Railway.

“Extensive preparations were made for this game,” the letter writer noted. “The ground being cleared of rocks and the base lines laid out.”

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The Home Of New Hampshire’s Only World War II POW Camp

That it existed at all has long since been forgotten. Time has erased most physical evidence, all that remains are the scattered stones that once comprised this most unusual place.

The town of Stark, New Hampshire, named after Revolutionary War General John Stark, who is credited with giving the Granite State its “Live Free or Die” motto was quite possibly never visited by the famous general. But in 1943 the remote logging village 22 miles northwest of Berlin became host to on of the state’s most unusual occurrences.

In 1988 Allen V. Koop, a Professor of History at Colby-Sawyer College and Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College took up his pen to chronicle the events in Stark between the years of 1944 and 1946, unique in that during that time the isolated, quiet village was home the only German Prisoner of War camp in the state. (more…)

What The Rest Of Us Were Doing That Night 30-years Ago

Down Around Midnight, a new book about the June 17, 1979 crash of Air New England Flight 248 by Robert Sabbag came out this month. Flight 248 ran from LaGuardia, NY, to New Bedford and then on to Hyannis. Sabbag was a passenger on flight 248 the night it crashed in the woods of Camp Greenough in Yarmouthport while on approach to runway 24 at Barnstable Municipal Airport. Of the 10 people onboard the DeHavilland Twin Otter (DHC-6-300) that night only one was killed – the pilot, Captain George Parmenter.

I read the 214 page book in an afternoon. Sabbag has his facts right, and of course the events that took place in the passenger cabin onboard the aircraft that night and in the woods after the crash, only he and a few others would know. Among his injuries, Sabbag suffered a broken back and pelvis as the twin otter hit the trees at 140 mph and ripped through the woods for 300 feet.

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