Animals Gone Wild

Posted on September 28, 2013September 28, 2013 by Dusty Roads

It seems that animals are making headiness these days.

According to the AP there was a real case of Snakes on a Plane in Australia grounding a Quantas Passenger plane. The article , written by ROD McGUIRK states in part: CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A tiny Asian snake was found on a Qantas Boeing 747 airliner in Australia, leading to 370 passengers being grounded overnight.

Staff found the 20-centimeter (8-inch) Mandarin rat snake in the passenger cabin near the door late Sunday before passengers were due to board the flight bound for Tokyo from Sydney International Airport, Qantas said in a statement Monday.

Australia’s flagship airline said passengers were given hotel rooms and left Sydney on a replacement plane Monday morning. Qantas said the original jet would be fumigated before returning to service in case there were other snakes on board.

Then we have the case of the stinky city and I don’t mean smog!

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Residents of a Buffalo, N.Y., neighborhood plagued by skunk odors now know what caused the stink: Trapped critters that were shot and stored at a shuttered police station.

The Buffalo News reports (http://bit.ly/18myscv ) that the city’s public works commissioner confirmed Monday that humanely trapped skunks have been taken to an old police station in South Buffalo, where they’re shot and stored in outdoor freezer until they can be incinerated.

Residents say they complained about the smell months ago but were told by city officials that skunks weren’t being killed inside the building. Later, they were told only a few skunks were killed there by lethal injection.

One neighborhood leader has dubbed the community scandal “Skunkgate.”

City officials say they’re looking for new locations for dispatching the nuisance skunks.

A bear walks into a bar….no this isn’t joke it really happened but he was a very well behaved bear and apparently left when asked.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — If only all unwelcome bar guests were this obliging.A black bear walked into the bar at the Alaskan Hotel in downtown Juneau on Monday night.Bartender Ariel Svetlik-McCarthy says she freaked out and yelled, “No bear! Get out! No! You can’t be in here!”The bear complied, leaving the bar within seconds.

And finally , It doesn’t pay to be anti social. Even animals can be “fired”. The Dallas Zoo certainly gave the cranky gorilla plenty of time to mend his ways, 18 years but finally it was time to hand the animal his “pink slip”. The story was reported by the AP this week. An excerpt from their report is included here:

DALLAS (AP) — There will be no rose ceremony for a 430-pound bachelor gorilla that failed to form any meaningful relationships with fellow apes during an 18-year stay at the Dallas Zoo.

Patrick, the 23-year-old Western lowland gorilla known for being gregarious with zoo staff and the public, while being ambivalent toward his female counterparts, has been handed his walking papers. The silverback will be transferred to the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, S.C. where he’ll be allowed more solitude, according to a statement issued Monday by the Dallas Zoo.

And now we will return to our regularly scheduled postings. 🙂

Goodbye Summer Hello Fall

Posted on September 22, 2013September 22, 2013 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

It’s here. The calendar reads: Autumn Begins

The nights are getting cooler even though the days are still warm and pleasant but the air has a different feel. It’s raining buckets right now. A fitting start to a new season.

Leaf Peeping time is just about on us. Here in southeastern MA. it comes a little slower than in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont but I spotted a little bit of color starting when I was outside yesterday.

I hope I get the chance to do some leaf peeping myself. Take the camera along for a work out. There are quite a few harvest festivals that roll around in the fall but I always miss them. They hold them on the weekends and I work. The cranberry harvest should be underway soon and the Cranberry Festivals. The bogs will be deep red. It’s a beautiful time of year in New England.

To me this is the best weather all year. The heat and humidity of the summer is gone but there is still enough warmth that we don’t have to deal with bulky coats and boots. Driving is still pavement…no ice and snow, which if we could just look at would be pretty. Unfortunately most of us have to go out in it and drive in it and shovel and…well I’m making myself depressed thinking about all that white stuff. Lets just get back to the lovely colors of fall.

Apples are fresh and apple picking is a wonderful pass time. Massachusetts has a number of wineries and they are bringing in the last of the grape harvest and pressing the wines. There is just a different feel this time of year.

Yes, fall is a nice time of year, a fleeting time of year. And the wheel of time keeps turning.

911

Posted on September 11, 2013September 11, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Not Fall Yet!

Posted on September 8, 2013September 8, 2013 by Dusty Roads

I know I did a post on Meteorological Fall but fall, as the rest of us know it, isn’t until September 22.

The Red Sox are still playing, even beating the dreaded Yankees. But mostly the talk is about football and tailgating , apple picking and leaf peeping.

Yankee Magazine, Outdoor Photographer, Adirondack Life and National Geographic’s Traveler magazine all have top drives for seeing foliage or articles on how to take the best pictures and capture the colors. (You mean there’s more to it than luck!?) I’m sure there are others, I just happen to subscribe to these. 🙂

My Southeastern AAA publication even got into the spirit of it even if the did concentrate more on the Hudson River Valley than New England.

The Adirondack Balloon Festival is coming up, another sure sign of fall.

We had fall-like weather the last few days with evening temps getting down to the 40’s but daytime was nice, sunny and mid-70’s even low 80’s in some places. No doubt about it, the Wheel of Time keeps turning and the air is starting to have a touch of fall. My allergies can swear to it as the Rag Weed crop was a bumper one this year thanks to all the rain. I’ll suffer until the first frost but please don’t hurry here, Jack. I’ll put up with the runny , itchy eyes and sneezes .

Another beautiful sunny day beckons beyond my windows so enjoy your Sunday everyone.

This and That

Posted on September 7, 2013September 7, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Mayor Stubbs: We know what’s going on with Mayor Stubbs, how he was mauled by a canine assassin and is clinging to life. I checked his Facebook page to see if there was any update on his condition but I didn’t see anything new. However there was a cute post. One of his young fans wrote him a song. http://youtu.be/XOEaFNfdQfo Now that should make him feel better. Maybe we could get him to run for President?

In Sports :

Tim Tebow was released by the New England Patriots.

He vows to continue his pursuit of an NFL career. Reports are that an unnamed NFL team was willing to pick him up if he’s change positions..no more quarterback. Tim allegedly declined.

And Aaron Hernandez appeared in court where he pled not guilty to all charges. You know who he is, right. He was a New England Patriot until he was charged with murder. Then, of course, the Pats fired him. Makes me wonder how they could have hired him in the first place. He had a history of violence and it seems like the team should have known.

And more cat news!

Alaska isn’t safe for kitties at the moment! Mayor Stubbs is mauled and now a cat in Juneau survives an 11 story fall from a window. The cat did not get away unscathed. He suffered broken bones and had to endure surgery to , Like Humpty Dumpty, put him back together again. According to the Juneau Empire, the cat, named Wasabi, was chasing the Alaska State Bird when it flew out the window of the 11th floor apartment and he followed.