Mother Nature’s Message?

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This is a little bit off my usual theme but I was watching the late news the other night and the weatherman (yes, it was a man) was commenting on the activity in the tropics and then mentioned that it is snowing in northern parts of Canada. He then went on to say that the most recent copy of the Farmer’s Almanac was out with the predictions for another hard winter.

His comments got me thinking of how “Mother Nature” had been in the news a lot this year or maybe I’ve just noticed it more. There are reality programs about tornadoes and tornado chasing (I wonder if I’d have the nerve to go on one of those trips for vacation?) that have become very popular over the past few years. The debate on Global warming continues while volcanos shut down air traffic with their ash clouds.

Presidential hopeful Michelle Bachman even wants us to think that at least some of the recent natural disasters are a message from God. In late August while speaking at a political rally in Florida she said: “I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane…” Yes she was joking but maybe she has a point.

Have you heard of the Gaia hypothesis? I’ve always liked this theory. It appeals the primitive part of me that has a deep respect and affection for nature…not that I’d want to give up all of my modern conveniences…just make them more energy-efficient.  But anyway the Gaia hypothesis proposes that all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are closely integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet. ( This is the definition listed on Wikipedia)

The Gaia Theory first showed up in the 1970’s and received a great deal of ridicule by the scientific community. How things have changed. Scientific investigation of the biosphere, the salinity of the oceans, global surface temperature, Ozone, oxygen levels and so on have developed into a number of earth sciences. There are even some religious offshoots connected with the theory.

Some of those treat the earth as a living organism and liken hurricanes and tornadoes and other natural disruptions as the mother earth trying to cleanse itself. Well, far be it from me to offer any opinion on that theory but  the Jesus Blog has listed the natural disasters so far this year:

  • Earthquake magnitude 6.9 Argentina-January 1
  • Earthquake magnitude 5.2 – Southern XinJiang, China-January 1
  • Earthquake 7.1 magnitude Chile-January 2
  • More Than 1,000 Dead Birds Fall From Sky in Arkansas-January 2
  • Dead fish cover 20-mile section of Arkansas River-January 2
  • Uganda yellow fever outbreak kills more than 40-January 3
  • Earthquake Near Japan Triggers Tsunami Warning-January 3
  • Powerful earthquake hits south-east Iran-January 3
  • Earthquake 7.0 magnitude hits northern Argentina-January 3
  • Hundreds of dead blackbirds found in Louisiana-January 3
  • 10,000s of Birds found dead in Manitoba-January 3
  • Thousands of Birds fall from the sky in South America-January 3
  • Major Flood in Rockhampto,Australia-January 3
  • Dead Birds Found In Kentucky-January 4
  • 100 tons of dead fish wash up on Brazil’s shores-January 4
  • Hundreds of dead birds found in East Texas-January 5
  • Dead birds in Sweden, millions of dead fish in Maryland, Brazil and New Zealand-January 5
  • Shift of Earth’s magnetic north pole affects Tampa airport-January 5
  • 40,000 crabs found dead on England beaches-January 6
  • Heavy floods leave at least 35 dead in Brazil-January 6
  • Earthquake 4.5 magnitude in California-January 12
  • Huge Waves Destroy Homes in E. Indonesia-January 12
 
  • Thousands of marine animals found dead  in MATO GROSSO DO SUL/AMAZON Region-Febuary 4
  • Magnitude 6.3 earthquake– SOUTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND-Febuary 21
  • Thousands of dead fish have washed up at Sebastian Inlet State Park Florida-Febuary
  • Millions of small fish including anchovies, sardines and mackerel were found dead at King Harbour area at Redondo Beach, California-March
  • Magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami devastating Japan-March 11
  • 40ft section of California Highway falls into Pacific Ocean-March 16
  • Magnitude 3.5 earthquake – OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA-March 17
  • Magnitude 6.5 earthquake– Vanuatu- March 17


  • Magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes northeastern Burma-March 23
  • Magnitude 6.8 earthquake hits Myanmar, Thailand-March 23
  • Magnitude 6.4 earthquake off the coast of Japan-March 25
  • Thousands of dead fish wash up in Florida-March 25
  • Hundreds of dead fish found in Midland,Texas-March 26
  • Hundreds of dead fish and frogs in Marquette Lagoon-April 1
  • Magnitude 5.4 earthquake in South Sandwich Islands Region-April 1
  • Magnitude 6.4 earthquake Fiji-April 3
  • Magnitude 6.7 earthquake in South of Java,Indonesia-April 3
  • Magnitude 6.5 earthquake hits Veracruz,Mexico-April 7
  • Dead birds fall into Kansas yard-April 8
  • Magnitude 7.4 earthquake hits shore of Japan-April 7
  • Dead fish found in Cedar Creek, Texas-April 10
  • Magnitude 6.5 and 6.2 earthquakes hit eastern Japan-April 11
  • Dead fish float up in 36 lakes in the state of Connecticut-April 
  • Deadly Tornadoes hit N. Carolina and Virginia, at least 47 dead-April 16
  • Thousands of dead fish are hauled away in Lakeside,NY-April 27
  • A massive thunderstorm front spawned 137 tornadoes, killed at least 180 people, and mangled sections of Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Huntsville, Alabama-April
  • Dead fish wash up in San Tan Heights pond-May
  • Deadly Tornado hits Albany, New Zealand, at least 1 death-May 3
  • Major Mississippi flooding, destroys many homes-May
  • Dead fish found in Valsad district of south Gujarat-May 3,4
  • 6.5 Magnitude Earthquake hits Papua New Guinea, Tsunami warning-May 15
  • Iceland’s Grimsvotn Volcano erupts,followed by small earthquakes-May 21
  • Deadly Tornadoes hit Minneapolis and Missouri-May 22
 
  • Deadly Tornadoes hits Oklahoma City-May 24
  • Chedeng exits Philippines, leaves 3 dead-May 28
  • 800 tons of dead fish float ashore in Philippine fish farms-May 29
  • At least 10,000 metric tons of fish dead in Bolinao and Anda waters in Pangasinan-May 31
  • Deadly tornado hits Springfield, Massachusetts-June 1
  • Dead fish found in Ogeechee River-June 3
  • Dead fish wash up in Bulacan and Ilocos Sur-June 4
  • Volcano erupts in Chile for the first time in 50 years-June 6
  • Massive wildfires in Arizona,claimed more than 30 homes-June 8
  • 6.0, 5.5 and 4.4 Magnitude Earthquakes hit Christchurch,NZ-June 11,12
  • Hundreds of dead fish float up in Delco Lake,Creek-June 15
  • Buildings,trees and mountains miraculously appear in a China lake (no explanation)-June 17
  • 40 Tornadoes rip through Nebraska,Kansas-June 21
  • 7.2 Magnitude Earthquake hits Fox Islands,Aleutian Islands,Alaska-June 24
  • Massive dust storm hits Pheonix-July 5 
  • 7.8 Magnitude Earthquake hits New Zealand-July 7
  • 7.3 Magnitude Earthquake hits northeastern Japan-July 9
  • 6.2 Magnitude Earthquake hits Philippines-July 11
  • Hundreds of fish found dead in lake in Kuantan-August 9
  • A ton of dead fish found in River Segura-August 9
  • Large number of fish found dead in Central China River-August 12
  • 5.3 earthquake hits Colorado-August 22
  • 5.9 earthquake hits Virgina, jolts NY and Carolinas-August 23
  • Hurricane Irene hits SC,NC,VA-August 26,27
  • Deadly Typhoon hits Taiwan and China-August 29
  • 6.8 Magnitude Earthquake hits Alaska-September 2
  • 6.7 Magnitude Earthquake hits Argentina-September 2
  • 7.0 Magnitude Earthquake hits Vanuatu-September 3
  • 6.6 Magnitude Earthquake hits Northern Sumatra, Indonesia-September 5
  • 6.4 Magnitude Earthquake hits Vancouver-September 9
  • Floods in Pennsylvania-September 10
  • Texas Fire destroys 1,554 homes, 17 people missing-September 11

Whew! I’m glad they are tracking these and not me. But If the Gaia theory has any validity, and some mainstream scientists are starting to take note, I’d say we have a sick planet and we’d better start helping out. Break out the antibiotics for the earth or something! My sister and I need to get to Alaska before the glaciers melt!

Smokey’s home from the Vet

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The news is all good at least for now. Due to  Smokey’s age he is starting to develope kidney problems. This is not unusual in older cats but there was no infection or anything like that. For now he is in the early stages and all are going to do is make some adjustments in his diet to try to reduce the stress on the kidneys.

He will have to have another blood panel in 6 months to monitor any changes so we can stay on top of it. As the condition progresses there are medications that can be introduced but we don’t have to go that route yet.

Rocky was happy to have his buddy home and calm seems to have returned to the household.

You can see Smokey’s picture in the gallery of Yankee Magazine’s cutest cat in New England photo contest. Rocky’s is there too.

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/ecard/index.php?action=See%20Photos&sortby=&category=108

Thanks for all the well wishes and support. Hopefully Smokey has a few more good years ahead of him.

Scout’s Tips: Overbooked Flights

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Scout

Recently I was happy to share the new Passenger’s Bill of Rights. Part of those regulations by the DOT was supposed to reduce over booking and involuntary bumping. Ironically right after that post one of our readers was faced with that situation on their flight. Here’s that comment:

Scout, I really appreciate your tips!  We’ve just experienced the “overbooking” situation and now I’m on a quest to see what I can do to prevent it in the future.  We don’t fly much and had little experience, so it was quite a shock to learn we “may” get bumpted off our flight, even though it was paid for 8 months ago.  The next flight out wasn’t for another 2 days!!  Oh, my husband was livid.  Even when using Expedia, (which I think helped a little because phone calls were made) I have learned there is no guarentee.  Fortunately we made the flight, but one of us had steam coming out his ears for a long time after.  There is much I need to learn in this area.  One thing I know, I’ll not be using that airline again!!  Do you have any other tips for newbies like us??

As a result We made some calls and sent some emails and this was what we were able to find out:

Delta Airlines said they try very hard not to bump anyone who has checked in and has their reservation in advance. However, they admit that they do over book flights. They have found that on most flights there will be “no-shows”, passengers with confirmed reservations who either change their travel plans or for some other reason decide not to take the flight and often neglect to notify the airline. In order to keep costs contained it is in the best interest of the airline and the traveling customer to have these seats filled.

The Delta representative said they always ask for volunteers and actually have  a Bid System in place for when they are overbooked. They don’t know if a flight will be overbooked untill everyone has checked in. At that time the last people to check in are the ones targeted to be bumped if there are no volunteers to give up their seats.

Just another good reason besides the possible hassles and delays at security to arrive early.

American Airlines , probably in accordance with the new  Passenger Bill of Rights, actually has their  over booking policy disclosed on their website. You do have to dig a little to find it but it is there and it is quite similar to Delta’s policy.

Flights with Oversales

American Airlines and American Eagle, like most airlines, overbook flights. We do this because historical information shows that some people do not cancel their reservations when they change their travel plans. Overbooking is done in the best interest of both customers and the airline. Without the revenue produced by filling seats that would otherwise go empty, every airline would have to compensate by raising fares. And just as important, selling our seats in this manner allows us to say “yes” rather than “no” a lot more often when customers call for a seat on the flight of their choice. Just because a flight is overbooked, it does not necessarily mean that customers with reservations will not be accommodated on their flight. The overwhelming majority of overbooked flights depart with all customers who have reservations and are present for departure.

If at departure time more customers with confirmed reservations are present than there are seats available, gate agents will first ask for volunteers who are willing to give up their seats in exchange for compensation and a confirmed seat on a later flight. On extremely rare occasions, a customer may be denied boarding on an involuntary basis, if a sufficient number of volunteers are not obtained. In such events, we will usually deny boarding based upon check-in time, but we may also consider factors such as severe hardships, fare paid, and status within the AAdvantage program. With few exceptions, persons denied boarding involuntarily are entitled to compensation under federal law.

Additional information concerning our overbooking policies can be found in our conditions of carriage. Upon request, reservations representatives or airport agents will advise you if your flight is overbooked at the time your reservation is made or during airport check-in. Bear in mind that, as stated above, most overbooked flights do in fact have sufficient seats to accommodate all customers who are present for departure.

Continental Airlines was the hardest to get information about. Thier website does not supply a contact # for customer service but rather has a “virtual assistant”. You plug-in a question and the “assistant” responds. When we plugged in Over Booked flight policy we were supplied a link to Continental Inc, Contract of Carriage. We waded through 23 pages of “legalese” before we found the information we were looking for under the obscure Heading of “Denied Boarding Compensation”

I am taking the liberty of reprinting it here: As you can see, compared to Delta and America, Continental has cloaked their policy in tons of hard to follow paragraphs instead of just straight forward information. We were not amused.  On the good side, if you do take the time to wade through the mess, it does spell out the pecking order for bumping and compensation.

 

ULE 25 DENIED BOARDING COMPENSATION

A) Denied Boarding (U.S.A. Flight Origin) – When there is an Oversold CO flight that originates in the U.S.A., the following provisions apply:

1) Request for Volunteers

      1. CO will request Passengers who are willing to relinquish their confirmed reserved space in exchange for compensation in an amount determined by CO. If a Passenger is asked to volunteer, CO will not later deny boarding to that Passenger involuntarily unless that Passenger was informed at the time he was asked to volunteer that there was a possibility of being denied boarding involuntarily and of the amount of compensation to which he/she would have been entitled in that event. The request for volunteers and the selection of such person to be denied space will be in a manner determined solely by CO.
      2. In exchange for voluntarily relinquishing confirmed reserved space on CO, CO may, at its option compensate the Passenger with credit valid for transportation on CO in lieu of monetary compensation. The transportation credit will be valid only for travel on CO or designated Codeshare partners for one year from the date of issue and will have no refund value.
      3. 2) Boarding Priorities – If a flight is Oversold, no one may be denied boarding against his/her will until CO or other carrier personnel first ask for volunteers who will give up their reservations willingly in exchange for compensation as determined by CO. If there are not enough volunteers, other Passengers may be denied boarding involuntarily in accordance with CO’s boarding priority:
      4. Passengers who are Qualified Individuals with Disabilities, unaccompanied minors under the age of 12 years, or minors between the ages of 12 and 17 who use the unaccompanied minor service, will be the last to be involuntarily denied boarding if it is determined by CO that such denial would constitute a hardship.
      5. ngers who qualify for Presidential Platinum Elite status, as determined by CO in accordance with CO’s OnePass Program Rules (see www.continental.com for details) will be prioritized for boarding over all other Passengers, excepting circumstances described in 2) a) above.
      6. Passengers who hold a seat assignment will be prioritized for boarding over passengers without a seat assignment, regardless of check-in order.
      7. The priority of all other Passengers will be determined in the order in which they present themselves for check-in in accordance with CO’s rules.
      8. 3) Transportation for Passengers Denied Boarding – When CO is unable to provide previously confirmed space due to an Oversold flight, CO will provide transportation to such Passengers who have been denied boarding whether voluntarily or involuntarily in accordance with the provisions below.
      9. CO will transport the Passenger on its own flight to the Destination without Stopover on its next flight on which space is available at no additional cost to the Passenger, regardless of class of service.

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  • If space is available on another Carrier’s flight regardless of class of service, such flights may be used upon Passenger’s request and at no additional cost to the Passenger only if such flight provides an earlier arrival than the CO flight offered in 3) a) above.
  • 4) Compensation for Passengers Denied Boarding Involuntarily
  • For passengers traveling between points within the United States, subject to the exceptions in section c) below, CO shall pay compensation to Passengers denied boarding involuntarily from an Oversold Flight at the rate of 200% of the fare to the Passenger’s first Stopover or, if none, Destination, with a maximum of USD 650 if CO offers Alternate Transportation that, at the time the arrangement is made, is planned to arrive at the Passenger’s Destination or first Stopover more than one hour but less than two hours after the planned arrival time of the Passenger’s original flight; and if CO offers Alternate Transportation that, at the time the arrangement is made, is planned to arrive at the Passenger’s Destination or first Stopover more than two hours after the planned arrival time of the Passenger’s original flight, CO shall pay compensation to Passengers denied boarding involuntarily from an Oversold Flight at the rate of 400% of the fare to the Passenger’s first Stopover or, if none, Destination with a maximum of USD 1300.

 

SCOUT’S BOTTOM LINE:

  • Arrive at the airport early. Most domestic flights suggest that you check in 30 minutes prior to boarding. Our suggestion, plan on a minimum of one hour. You can always browse the duty-free shops to kill time. Most airports today are modern with many amenities to help you pass the time.
  • When booking your flight take the time to enroll in your airline’s frequent flyer program even if you don’t think you will ever fly with them again. Having the FF # often will get you a discount  at the car rental and , from what we’ve  found here, provide another layer of protection if a flight is over booked.
  • Over booking happens most often on Monday and Friday flights. Although all flights are routinely over sold, the odds of an overbooking situation develop more often before and after weekends when travelers need to get to a destination in a hurry or return home for work in a hurry.
  • Over booking often becomes a problem around Holidays, especially the major holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.

Well, That’s about it for another of Scout’s Tips. That was a great question and we’re really sorry this happened to you especially where you are not seasoned travelers. Getting bumped, missed connections and other travel mishaps do happen no matter how hard you try to avoid them but when it’s your dream vacation and you aren’t used to it, it can really put a damper on your travel.

Scout hopes the rest of your vacation is relaxed and worry free and that you enjoy the gorgeous state of Alaska!

D.W. Field Park

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D. W. Field Park is located in the middle of the city of Brockton, Ma. I have heard of the park but I hadn’t been there before today.

I dropped Smokey off at the vet first thing this morning and wanted to stay close to home incase they called so I gave my friend Nancy a ring to see what she was  up to for the afternoon. I was thinking of going over to the Fuller Craft Museum where there is a pond on the grounds.  I thought I might be able to get some pictures there.

Nancy lives in Brockton so through the wonder of miscommunication she thought I wanted to go to the D. W. Field Park that surrounds the Fuller Craft Museum. Sometimes things have a way of working out just right!

I picked up Nancy and her 5-year-old  daughter Dawn and we headed over to the museum. I missed the turn into the Museum parking lot but Nancy assured me we could get in at the next left.

 I found myself pulling through an iron gate set in a stone fence. A paved road led us on into the park. As we drove Nancy pointed out picnic tables and pull offs for parking.

The park itself is over 700 acres of woodland and ponds that support a wide variety of native wildlife. There are over 7 miles of paved roads that wind through the park along with paths and trails for walking and hiking.

As we drove along we spotted a pull off across from one of the ponds. There were benches and loads of ducks, geese and swans. There were even some pigeons. I’d never seen a  brown/red pigeon before but there was one in this flock.

Dawn found some fuzzy caterpillars and seemed more interested in the bugs than the birds although she did feed a whole loaf of bread to the riotous avians and watched the feeding frenzy that followed.

We walked a little way along the pond until we came to a man-made waterfall that is the out source for the pond.

It’s a really beautiful area. It’s hard to believe you’re in the heart of a city. Once the leaves really start to change color this is going to be worth a return visit!

We wrapped up our afternoon with a visit to Asack’s Turkey Farm where they have 24 flavors of soft ice cream. We had the ice cream first then considering the time picked up Turkey pockets for dinner..yummm! The Turkey pockets have turkey breast, stuffing and cranberry sauce. The pockets are really stuffed full. They don’t skimp on the turkey, an excellent value.

Our bounty in hand I dropped Nancy and Dawn back at their home. Young Alex, Nancy’s 7 year old son, had just come home from school so I said my good byes and headed on to my other errands.

What a nice afternoon break!

Fall is in the Air

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Yes Labor Day has come and gone and with it we reached the traditional end of summer. It seems strange that it could be so hot and sunny one day and the next have a nip in the air but that’s New England for you.

The nights have been very chilly even though the days are warmer, not hot. These are beautiful days. Warm enough not to need a jacket so you can still travel “light”. One of the things I hate about winter is the way you have to bundle up to keep warm.Those extra layers make me feel like a stuffed sausage..barely able to move. Hopefully we still have a month or so left before we have to break out those winter clothes.

There’s a beautiful moon right now. I think they call it the Harvest Moon. Like I said, the nights are cool but that makes for good sleeping weather, no need for air conditioning when an open window lets the fresh air in.

Driving into work I noticed that the air temperature is cool enough in  the morning to create the fog layer on the river.

 I love those wispy mists and the effect they have on the landscape.

Those billowing clouds mark the location of the brooks, rivers, ponds and lakes of the area giving away their hiding places in the valleys and glens.

Spring and fall are the only seasons we get that effect.

We’re not quite into leaf peeping season but the signs are there. Some of the trees are getting a hint of color foreshadowing things to come.

 Squirrels and chipmunks are busy gathering in the last seeds of summer getting ready for the sparseness of the winter months.

As I stood admiring that full moon tonight I mentally checked off items from my summer bucket list. There’s more on it than crossed off but there’s still time to try to get a few more things in. I didn’t get to Salem. Remember I was going to take the Harbor taxi. I don’t know if it’s running now but I can still drive up there and October is a big month for Salem. Maybe I should really try to fit a day trip in.

Apple picking season is upon us too along with the Fair Season…Marshfield Fair & Topsfield Fair come to mind and I know there are others. One of the biggest is the Big E in Springfield Ma. That runs from Sept. 16- Oct 2. It’s a bit of a hike but it might be worth a day trip.

I have this feeling that I should take a day trip to Narragansett RI. I don’t know why. I just have it in my head. I’m not even sure how far it is from here or how to get there but RI is just a few minutes away from Taunton and RI is tiny. So how long a drive could it be? I bet it’s an easier day trip than the Connecticut River trip I took last March!

All in all I think there will be plenty of things to do and places to see before I head off on my next vacation in January. You can be sure I will share them all right here! 🙂