The Sheepfold

We took advantage of the beautiful weather today and took Roxy to meet some friends at the Middlesex Fells Sheepfold. It's a giant field near a reservoir with some hiking and biking trails and lots of people take their dogs to romp around in the field together. Roxy had been exhibiting some signs of cabin fever so we were overdue for some outdoor exercise and general mayhem.

Here's the main part of the field (note: you can click on any of the pics on this site to view them full size).

Mariah, Roxy and Liz heading towards the hiking trails.

If there's water (or better yet, MUD) around, Roxy will find it.

I don't think she knows how to swim but she loves to wade. Unfortunately this was the cleanest water she got into so she earned herself a bath when we got home.

Spring has definitely arrived!

It's Earth Day

I wanted to title this post "Happy Earth Day!" but after reading the paper today it's not that happy. Here are a few facts published in today's Metro:

-There are 16,928 animal species (that we know about) in danger of extinction.

-The rate of extinction with humans on the planet is 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the natural rate.

-The Great Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean (primarily plastic debris) is now three times larger than Spain and Portugal combined. EVERY square mile of ocean is now believed to contain 46,000 pieces of floating garbage.

-Plastic NEVER biodegrades. It photodegredates meaning it breaks into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic, but it will always be plastic.

-Tigers now occupy just 7 percent of their natural habitat.

-There are only 4 northern white rhino's left (and nobody's seen them since 2006).

It's pretty but it's full of plastic.


So, why did I bother to depress everyone with these sad statistics? IT IS NOT TOO LATE!!! All of the following suggestions (borrowed from Green America, Metro, We Can Solve It and my own head) can help preserve and even improve our environment. Some of them might seem small but if everyone does them they'll really add up.

-Don't buy: styrofoam cups, bleached coffee filters and paper towels, teak and mahogany, chemical pesticides and herbicides, conventional household cleaners, toys made with PVC plastic, plastic forks and spoons, farm raised salmon and rayon.

-Do buy Organic, LOCAL and in-season fruits and vegetables, No-VOC paint, paper products with a high post-consumer recycled content, compact fluorescent light bulbs, Energy Star appliances.

-Combine several destinations into one trip so you drive less, or better yet take public transportation.

-Turn off lights and unplug appliances and other electronic devices when not in use. Turn down your heat and air conditioning. Buy electricity from renewable resources if it's available from your utilities company. Wash your clothes in cold water.

-Stop buying things you don't need and don't support these companies: Wal-Mart, Exxon-Mobile, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Monsanto, General Motors, Dominion, Citigroup, Shell Petroleum, McDonald's.

-Join me, Al Gore and 2,203,717 other people in supporting the We Can Solve It campaign. Be sure to sign the petition to Repower America.


Here's a picture I took of the jungle--hopefully a site we can preserve for future generations.

100 Site Visits!!!

Well this blog just received its 100th site visit! Okay so at least 50 of them were probably me updating and checking the site for comments and visits. My site counter is supposed to ignore my own clicks but I'm not sure if it's working or not. Anyway we've reached over 250 individual hits and 100 visits (when someone clicks on the site, then clicks a link and returns or views multiple pages). I hope you all continue to read and enjoy my ramblings.

A Saturday Drive

Liz and I (and Roxy) drove to Marblehead last Saturday. It's a nice little town just 17 miles north of us. There is an island connected to the mainland by a bridge that has beautiful houses and views all the way around with a little park at the north end complete with a lighthouse. I'd love to go back later in the summer when it's warmer and the harbor will be filled with boats.

We're taking on water!

As a follow up to my last posting, I did make it out sailing on Sunday. Ryan and I sailed for an hour or two and then I went back a little later that afternoon to take a jib class. I got paired up with a another guy in the class and we were sailing around a set of buoys when we got caught in a gust of wind right as we rounded a turn (lesson learned: check for approaching gusts before initiating turn!).
I had the jib and he had the main-sheet and tiller and into the water we went as the gust hit us during our gibe. I climbed over the hull and stood on the centerboard to keep the boat from rolling all the way over. Luckily this enabled us the get the boat back upright when our instructor arrived in the motor boat. A couple minutes later they had another boat with a water pump out, they sucked up all the water until we were floating nicely again and off we went ... until we were too cold to keep sailing that is. Good thing I usually bring a change of clothes!

Blown Away at Community Boating's First Weekend of the Season

Community Boating opened on April 1st so this was the first weekend of the sailing season! I have been waiting for months and the countdown timer they put on their website at the end of last season seemed like it would never reach zero. Well it finally did so friend Ryan and I headed down today to dust off the cobwebs in our brains and see if we could remember which ropes (lines!) went with what and whether to push the tiller towards or away from the sail and sheet in or out in order to luff up or bear away when sailing on a starboard reach. I think we might have done okay except for one thing--there was too much wind. It's a rare occurrence when sailing on the Charles River but today the wind was steady at over 15 knots gusting to about 25 knots. Alas, despite having several ratings between us we were advised that it would be risky even in a keel boat without a jib. I think they just didn't want to have to come rescue us if we capsized--well I don't blame them and we had no interest in sinking a boat today so opted to live to fight another day.


Yep, that's the red flag flying straight out.
Here's the lone Laser (Olympic men's solo class boat) capsized!
Here he is back upright, it's a small boat in those waves.
You can click on the above pics to make them bigger.