Garden update!

The Helen's Flower is beginning to bloom. I wish they'd turn the damn water on! It's getting tedious to fill up empty Gatorade bottles with water and lugging them down to the garden. Sadly, someone stole the gate lock to the garden the other day. But then I look at my flowers, and everythings OK!

What, you want more birds?

Yesterday I saw a gray catbird in the Fens by the MFA. It looked like this:

Weekend birding!

This weekend I was in Mattapoisett visiting my dad, and we ended up going to the finish line of the Rochester Memorial Day Boat Race at the M'sett herring weir. It was great to see all the people out for the race, and it's pretty impressive that these folks made these boats to race down the M'sett River. One interesting thing I saw were geese that looked like this:

I'm by no means an avid birder, but I do love cool looking birds, and if I'd seen these before I would have realized it. When I went to check out what they were in my dad's bird book, I found that they were Greater White-Fronted Geese, which are usually found in midwestern and western U.S., and rarely in Atlantic states. Score! They were hanging out in the cove at the finish line, probably bewildered by the approaching boaters. When they ventured out into path of the race, one of them (the male, I presume?) let out a ferocious "squawk!", and then they went about their merry way. It was fun to see such a different kind of goose in the area. I'm glad that the marshy river cove provides them with a suitable habitat - it's great to see non-native birds making New England their home!

Later on in the backyard at the house I saw a Common Grackle:

And a walk to Ned's Point was a great treat! Truly one of the most beautiful oceanside locations in New England that I have been to.

Addendum! Upon further investigation, what I saw may have been Greylag Geese! I will look into this further. Developing...

Further Addendum! Apparently there are two greater white-fronted geese that make the Buzzards Bay area their home. And according to this article, the Buzzards Bay region is sort of an anomaly as Massachusetts bird dwellings go. So I'm sticking with my initial interpretation of the birds, and maybe I'll see them again to confirm this without a doubt.

One more thing! I would like to add that I'm fairly certain that these geese (which traveled alone as a pair) did have the whiteness above their orange bills, which the greylags do not have.

6/13 update - I was totally mistaken! The geese in question are greylag geese, and I have the photos to prove it. They're a fun sight, anyway, since you don't see them every day. Damn greater white-fronted goose doppelgangers!!

Mine disasters - where's the public outrage?

I've been reading the latest about the miners who were killed in the Kentucky mine accident with great dismay. Not only does this come shortly after the Sago mine accident, but it involves the exact same model of breathing device. On the heels of Sago, the Kentucky legislature passed measures to beef up their mine safety - new regulations that would go into effect in July. Why the wait? Why not as soon as possible? And why is this story not getting as much attention as the Sago story? Could it be because the media didn't declare the miners alive before it found out they were dead? I'd say so. With Sago, the media thought they had a winner of a story that would probably be made into a movie. If the story of the miners "surviving" hadn't gotten out, I doubt that Sago would have received the publicity that it got. Weeks later I read about miners in Australia surviving for 2 weeks after a mine accident - and it turned out the breathing devices that they used helped to save their lives, while the devices which failed in both Sago and Kentucky led directly to the deaths of those miners. I'm not an expert on how mine safety differs between countries, but I'd bet that Australia's regulations are more rigid than the US'. And the US regulations are far better than those of China. Now you hear more about mine accidents, though since the media didn't have the "survival" angle on the Kentucky mine it's relegated to the back pages of the paper. Despite the widespread attention, the mining industry is trying to rollback safety procedures for mines, especially ones that have been instituted since Sago. Why? The conclusion I've come to is that sacrificing a given number of mine workers per year is an acceptable loss which is not worth the price of improving mine safety. It's not in their economic interest. Sad.

Make way for Clipper Ship Wharf!

Progress marches onward in East Boston. Not only are the new residences at the old Maverick Gardens coming along nicely (and the retro-grid layout is SO nice), but it looks like the beginnings of the new Clippership Wharf (which will possibly feature Eastie's first Starbucks) are taking shape. Walking down Sumner Street this morning I found that the abandoned warehouses next to LoPresti Park (where only a short time ago television crews were filming "The Way") have been torn down, and only rubble remains. At least until the luxury condos get built, there will more open harbor space from which you can see the Boston skyline.

The new Tool album is FANTASTIC!

WOW. I didn't know exactly what to expect (aside from a little nostalgia) from 10,000 Days, but it really blew me away. One of the great things about it is that you have to judge it as a complete album, you can' t necessarily pick it apart by the tracks. Admittedly, I don't pay too much attention to the lyrics...they're pretty depressing. But they come together with the music to make a powerful album. I've never been a huge Tool fan (I bought Lateralus in 2001 and was disappointed), but this album's a winner - it's intense, interesting, and absorbing.

Red Sox Nation goes way back

As you can tell from these photos of the Governor John Endicott (or Endecott) statue near the MFA, baseball in Boston has very deep roots.

Everything old is new again!

Spamalot has been thwarted, and the battleship from Fall River reigns again. It's good to see the old billboard in all its glory.

In the window of the Christian Science Reading Room

Considering the financial troubles that the First Church of Christ, Scientist, finds itself in, it's strange that this is how they'd try to attract prospective worshippers in the window of the Reading Room over near the Mother Church. Click for a larger version, and read the fine print!