The Redemption of Randy Moss

I’ve been both fascinated and gratified by the incredible performance of Randy Moss, the wide receiver who was traded to the New England Patriots this past April.
In the words of Tom Brady:
“I think everything that has been written and said about him is the complete opposite of what we’ve experienced,” Brady said. “He’s a great teammate, a great player. He’s very coachable. He’s selfless. He’s a great worker. He leads by example. He’s got a bunch of great qualities.”

Continue reading The Redemption of Randy Moss

Poison Darts, To Go

To keep my mind off the storm, I watched Mel Gibson’s film “Apocalypto” the other night.
It’s an entertaining film, although historically inaccurate, but what struck me the most is the constancy of Mel’s thematic obsession with the superhero.
In the film, a young man with a wife and child is captured and almost becomes a human sacrifice. He escapes, getting lanced in the process, and in spite of his weakened condition, manages to outrun a jaguar, leap down a fifty foot waterfall and kill off his multiple pursuers one by one, even though he’s unarmed.
One of his devices is to make poison darts on the fly from thorns, a frog and a rolled up leaf for a blower.
His pregnant wife is no less heroic. Having been lowered by our hero to safety in a deep well-like cave, she and her little boy find themselves inundated to the point of drowning when a rainstorm starts to fill the cave. While she’s treading water and keeping her son afloat, she manages to give birth. This is after she uses a makeshift club to kill a wild animal that fell into the cave.
The hero and his family are reunited, the bad guys are defeated and the conquistadors land. Now, can you ask for more than that?

Storm Wrap-Up

We were lucky, kept power the whole time and only lost Comcast for a few hours this morning. At Peter’s, they didn’t lose any of their services.
One tree on Dixon was topped, but the back yard at Edgewater has a lot of big branches. Fortunately, no damage to vehicles or to the house, aside from a slightly bent gutter. The shed and the swing set were untouched.
I left messages for a couple of arborists and bought an electric chainsaw. Tomorrow, I’ll see if Peter, who is on a plane from Rekyavik at this hour, is up for some yardwork. Patriots game with “the girls” for me later this afternoon.

It’s Over

The latest report from the superb Cape Cod Today blogger Tim Caldwell is that the worst remaining power outages are in Mashpee and Yarmouth.
Tim also reports that “the peak wind gust reported so far on Cape is 63 MPH in Eastham, Highest overall is 72 at Nantucket. Nantucket reported a barometer reading about 5 p.m. of 29.11 or 985 mb. The storm is expected to bottom out at 965 mb.”
According to NASA, air pressure at sea level is around 1013.25mb. In hurricanes, the pressure can drop anywhere from 30-70 mb. The pressure drop in this atmospheric event was 48.25 – well within range for a hurricane.
Based on wind speed, if this storm was slightly less than a Category 1 (74-95 mph), I’d hate like h-e-double l to be in a Category 5.
For even more excitment, we set the clocks back tonight.

Storm Update – 8:45 PM

Earlier today, the section of Route 151 between the Mashpee Fire Station and Old Barnstable Road was closed after winds tossed power lines and phone transmission equipment into the roadway.
From NOAA:
THE DAMAGING WINDS WILL DIMINISH BETWEEN 10 PM AND 11 PM AS THE STORM
PULLS AWAY.
NOAA’s Boston radar is currently down, but regional radar shows that the storm is definitely moving away from us. The wind gusts, though, are still terrifying.
Another hour or two to go.

Storm Update – 6:30 PM

Check out the plummeting barometric pressure and the wind speeds measured at Buzzards Bay: http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/buoy/BUZM3.html.
Evidently they haven’t closed the bridges, which is somewhat of a surprise.
Per NStar, 33,000 customers were without power at 5:30. By 6 p.m., most of Falmouth was without power, including huge chunks of Woods Hole, and parts of Yarmouthport, Dennis, Bourne, Harwich, Brewster, Marstons Mills, Centerville, Sandwich, and Wellfleet.
5 1/2 hours to go.
The kids called a little while ago, they’re scared, but fascinated.
A tree fell outside Emmeline’s window, but didn’t cause any damage (we’ll see tomorrow what happened to the fence). I’m not entirely surprised, was worried about that one because it’s on the North side of the house. If anything, I’m grateful that it’s down.
James is not pleased, a tree fell in the back yard, near the swing set.
I’m just glad that I had so many trees taken out a couple of years ago.

Storm Update

This storm is a monster – 953 MB, about the same as the “Perfect Storm”. NOAA now considers it a Category One hurricane:
THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION AND TRAVEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED IN
THIS REGION. THIS STORM SHOULD BE TREATED AS A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE.
THE BRUNT OF THE DAMAGING NORTH WINDS WILL OCCUR THROUGH 10 PM WITH
SUSTAINED WINDS OF 40 TO 55 MPH AND PEAK GUSTS BETWEEN 70 AND 85
MPH. THE STRONGEST WINDS WILL OCCUR OVER THE OUTER CAPE AND
NANTUCKET.
So far, we’ve lost two trees at 11 Edgewater and one at 20 Dixon.

How the Wind Doth Blow

We were lucky, hurricane Noel is passing 75 miles to our East, but we are getting some backlash, expected to continue for another 9 hours or so.
James’s school is having their sixth annual crafters fair, which I’m happy to have attended this morning before the weather got too crazy.
I wanted to drop by the KofC today for a Wampanoag cultural event, but between the slick roads, the leaves and especially the high winds, opted to stay put.
You have to feel sorry for anyone who planned an event for today.
From NOAA:
A HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT EDT TONIGHT.
DAMAGING NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND
EARLY EVENING. THE PERIOD OF STRONGEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO
OCCUR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING BETWEEN 3 AND 10 PM.
THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION AND TRAVEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED
IN THIS REGION!
SUSTAINED WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE INTO THE 40 TO 50 MPH
RANGE BY THIS AFTERNOON…WITH PEAK GUSTS BETWEEN 65 AND 85 MPH
POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WINDS THIS STRONG ARE
CERTAINLY CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRUCTURAL DAMAGE AND WIDESPREAD
TREE DAMAGE. WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES ARE ALSO EXPECTED.
IN ADDITION…PEOPLE IN MOBILE HOMES ARE URGED TO SEEK SHELTER.
MOBILE HOMES ARE NOT SAFE WITH THESE EXPECTED WIND SPEEDS. THE
DAMAGING WINDS WILL DIMINISH BY LATE EVENING AS THE STORM PULLS
AWAY.