Possible Blizzard Ahead?

During the record breaking warmth earlier this week, I made a move to take out all of my driveway sticks that will help a snow truck discern the boundaries of my driveway. No one wants to see their snow plow driver pushing a row of sod across the front yard. Unless you're a worm loving American Robin. The removal of sod would be like a Chinese Buffet to them.

But as I started to pull out the first stick, I stopped. Over 70 degrees and I had to stop and leave it. It's only the middle of March. There might be a blizzard around the corner. And I'm not kidding.

Years ago I recalled the April Fool's Day Blizzard that dumped between 20 and 30 inches of snow on me up in Marlboro, Massachusetts. East Greenwich did not receive as much snow that day, but having a blizzard of that magnitude hit you that hard on April 1st leaves an impression. A hiking trail that I constructed was obliterated by small trees that snapped under the weight of snow and ice. I don't remember that much about that storm, but the lasting impression it made was to not be surprised by a blizzard in late March.

So my shovels are still ready and my bags of ice melt are still waiting. Even the sleds are hanging in the corner of the garage, looking longingly outside, hoping to be taken for a second run this winter. Most likely, they will not be used again, because I left those sticks in the ground. If I had taken them out and stored my shovels and sled and put away the ice melt, I am sure that there might have been a 10 inch snow storm right around the corner. Or maybe even a small, surprising blizzard.

I Hate Ticks

Every year it happens. I hear about another person in East Greenwich that is diagnosed with Lyme Disease. I hate parasites. They are so selfish. I hate how small ticks are. I always read about how they are the size of a period at the end of a sentence. I do tick checks on myself and my family but sometimes I feel it's futile. Even that stupid bull's eye rash does not consistently show itself after a tick bite. This is when I appreciate, dare I say it, the bump and itchiness of a mosquito bite. At the very least you knew you were bitten.

Here are some odds and ends about ticks that have been rattling my brain recently.

So you think your kid is safe playing outdoor soccer? When the ball goes into the woods, cheer them on when they stay on the field. The kid that gets the ball may also get a tick bite.

A bus driver from Lyme, Connecticut told a friend of mine to put some soap on a paper towel and rub counterclockwise on a tick that is biting you. The soap in the paper towel makes them let go. One week later I was forced to try it and it worked like a charm. So no welder torch needed.

Do you know that ticks can kill a moose? Especially if thousands of them are biting the animal.
I learned about it in a National Geographic video here. http://bit.ly/zUBH1I

The earliest known human with Lyme disease was Otzi the Iceman. And that was 5,300 years ago.

The best way to fight Lyme disease is to check yourself for ticks every day and to have a heightened awareness of tick prone areas. Stacks of wood, leafy forest litter and pets are tick hotspots.
The University of Rhode Island has an outstanding website to learn more about ticks. Here is a link to the "Top Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Ticks."
http://www.tickencounter.org/think_tick_take_action/top_ten_things

I am hoping that one full year will go by and I will not learn of a person contracting Lyme disease. I also hope that this post will heighten your awareness of these blood suckers and urge you to check yourself 
for ticks, even in the winter. If only they were a bit bigger, I would scour the forest with my welder's torch put an end to them Rambo style. But right now, we have to settle "tick checks." 

Not Finding Bigfoot in Rhode Island

I just watched a show on Animal Planet called "Finding Bigfoot", where four Bigfoot investigators searched Rhode Island for this fearsome beast. This was the first episode that I watched and it was so horribly done, that I would rather subject myself to the pain of watching the Patriots lose the 2007 Super Bowl again.

After meeting with two Bigfoot witnesses who were as credible as the Milli Vanilli singers, the investigators headed over to our own East Greenwich town hall to hear what people have seen around this state. The first indication that proved that this was a set up was the fact that the investigators found a big empty parking spot on our own EG Main Street! Was it 6:00 am Sunday morning? If they used all of their luck to find that cavernous Main Street parking space, then there was no way they would catch or see a Rhode Island Bigfoot.

The show has reenactments to show what the Bigfoot witnesses have seen. And it's the investigators who always get to play the part of Bigfoot, just to see if a human can do what the witnesses are describing.
If I was a witness, I would tell them that I saw Bigfoot slipping off a rock and falling into a murky swamp. And then I would tell them that I saw Bigfoot ride bareback on a horse and fall over the horse and into a ravine- all while trying to eat a live, squirming porcupine. That would add a little excitement and challenge to the reenactment, and make it enjoyable to watch at least one part of the show.

I think that the "Finding Bigfoot" show is a waste of time. The only show I want to see is a one hour special called "Found Bigfoot" where they have a dead body or a live specimen in a cage. Then I would love to see them release the live specimen only to have it attack its hunters like the Sasquatch in the Beef Jerky commercials.

PLACES TO SEE SASQUATCH IN EAST GREENWICH

I was looking forward to seeing what spots in Rhode Island or East Greenwich had Bigfoot sightings but was disappointed by the lack of disclosure. So here is my list of possible places to see a 'Squatch in East Greenwich.

1.   Carr's Pond
It's so obvious that Sasquatch uses that little island in the middle of the Pond as a secret lair. The investigators will never go there because that would be the end of their little show.

2.  Frenchtown Pond. 
There are witnesses that have reported a Sasquatch trying to catch that wily alligator that was seen in the pond late last fall. 

3.  The Bleachery Falls
The waterfall is so big, that an entire Sasquatch family can take a shower under the falls.

4. Your Yard!
Any place where you have seen white tail deer. Everyone knows that Sasquatch consumes deer the way we eat ribs at the Texas Roadhouse. So if you have seen deer in your yard, then a Sasquatch was probably there hunting them. 

The Flocking Experiment

I missed it this year. At least a few times in the fall I see a huge flock of birds, usually starlings, weaving and diving their way through the air and landing on a telephone wire or treetop. These bird flocks are a signature part of the fall season along with cold, crisp air and falling leaves. Last year a huge flock landed in my backyard and the simultaneous chitter chatter of hundreds of birds was unforgettable. That's when I decided to do an experiment.

Several years ago I watched in awe as a friend of mine quieted down an entire brood of chicks by imitating a hawk screech. Instinctively, each chick stopped peeping and froze. They were only a few days old and never knew the danger of a hawk but this protective behavior was built into their DNA.

So last year when I found myself under a couple of hundred chattering starlings I instructed my youngest daughter to imitate the hawk's screech noise. Upon imitating the hawk, almost all birds quieted down to see where the noise had come from. It was amazing to see how their vigilance and communication spread quickly throughout the flock and quieted them down. My daughter thought that was cool too and proceeded to do another hawk screech, this time very human like. The birds seemed to realize that it was an annoying small human and decided to take their chit chat to another set of treetops farther away.

Flocking is a pretty cool behavior and even though I did not catch a few hundred starlings with my camera, I did catch a couple of other flocks. Every morning on Frenchtown Road I see a flock of pigeons huddled together on a telephone wire. They always look so cold there but maybe they are there to take in the energy from each sunrise. (see pics)

In addition, I was fortunate to take a couple of pictures of a flock of 25 wild turkeys. (see pics). I was trying to figure out where the Tom or male turkey was, but like white tail deer, maybe the males are a bit more secretive.

Observation Quiz! How good are you?

Mystery Object

A student brought this in and asked me what I thought this was and I am stumped! I think she said it was found on a beach. I will ask her where. Does anyone know what this is? (I think it's a calcified fairy wing, but until a fairy is caught and its wing is studied for comparison, we will never know)

Heads Up!

I'll never forget the day I hit my grandmother in the head with a baseball. I was only thirteen and learned the hard way that my accuracy still needed honing. I was playing catch with my brother in our backyard when she dawdled towards our garden. We cautiously continued to play catch until a high, rainbow like flutter ball konked her on the head and softly landed five feet away. She was a bit stunned but forgave me even though I did not shout "heads up!" It all happened so slowly, that yelling "heads up" did not even enter my mind. I felt like I was watching a horror movie in slow motion! And anyways, if she did look up, she would have been hit in the nose. So I like to think that I was "protecting" her. My brother disagrees, but he had a bad angle on the throw anyway.

So I am here to say "heads up" to you. Because there are at least five things you need to keep an eye out for in the coming days.

ANOTHER FALLING SATELLITE

Did you know that you had a 1 in 3200 chance of having a decrepit satellite fall on you last month? If you didn't, now the odds of having a satellite fall on you has increased to 1 in 2000 because a defunct German satellite is going to enter our atmosphere and crash somewhere on Earth. Where? No one knows until one or two hours before it hits. Now don't fret. Our atmosphere will protect us by burning up most of this satellite. But unfortunately, the mirrors on the satellite will probably survive re-entry temperatures and land on Earth. They gave an estimate that it will land somewhere between Canada and South America. At least I know Santa is safe. UPDATE: The estimated time of crash is this Sunday morning (the 23rd). So make sure you park your car in the garage and spend the weekend in a bunker or basement!

METEOR SHOWER

If you do not want to wait to see Halley's Comet, just look outside near the constellation Orion during the wee hours of Saturday morning. If you see a meteor streaking across the sky, you are likely seeing a piece of dust that left Halley's comet the last time it whipped around our Sun. The peak of this meteor shower is only 15 meteors an hour, but it is still better than no meteor shower at all. So heads up for space junk and meteors!









BIRD POOP

When one of my kids was a toddler, a bird in a parking lot pooped on her head. It was gross and quickly cleaned up. When I told my Mom about this, she said one of the best things in the world. "When a bird poops on your head, that means your lucky." I never heard that before. So I believed it, until last week.

I visited Blue Beach in North Kingstown and had the whole beach to myself except for the presence of some cormorants and one large great blue heron. I stalked the heron to get a picture and I watched in awe as it slowly flew away with its usual grace. But the elegant grace disappeared as a single, thick, long wet stream of heron poop landed on the pristine sand of the beach. It's incredibly hard to gross me out, but that was totally disgusting. So heads up for bird poop.

LICHEN

I have a love / hate relationship with squirrels. Mostly hate though. But when I was in my backyard over the summer a piece of bark landed on my head. Then another piece just missed me. When I ran away and looked up, I saw a squirrel frantically breaking apart the lichen and bark looking for food to eat. I was very impressed with the variety of the squirrel's diet. It made me want to at least try some "yucky" foods like cabbage, pickles and cauliflower. But not really. I would rather throw that food at the squirrels who constantly outsmart me at my attempts to feed birds. So heads up for lichen and bark falling on your head from evil squirrels.

THE ACORN GAME

I thought of a great game to play. Put on goggles and lay face up under a towering huge oak tree as it is losing acorns. Try to catch the acorns for points. If you miss and it hits you, then you get a bruise from the speedy and pointy acorn. I have not played this yet, but I will have the common courtesy to let someone else be the first to play and to let me know how much an acorn can hurt you before I decide to play. At least with this game, due to your position facing the sky and trees, no one needs to holler "heads up!"