Summer 2019 New England Banter and Disco

[tamarack]

11 hours ago, MetHerb said:

There was an event - I wish I could remember when - that they had to bring out plows in parts of Holyoke, MA.  It's pretty rare but that's the one event I can remember, at least in New England.

That's some impressive stuff though in Mexico!

The defoliator storm of August 30, 2007 left water-gathered piles of dime-nickel hail that were still 2-3 feet deep when I drove by 14 hours after the event, temps not having dropped below 60.  Road (Rt 27 in Rome) was a 2-track through 6" of leaf salad.  Read reports of up to 4" on the level, but the leaves in the road showed no plows had gone thru.  Piles were still 1-2' deep that afternoon (31st), more than 24 hours after the storm.

Read this morning that Guadalajara and the nearby mountains are a hail-prone region.  That article also showed a pic - date not given - from Denver (similar elevation and hail history) that looked much like the ones from MX.

[Typhoon Tip]

6 hours ago, dendrite said:

lol

Did he graduate?

Heh... that's the snark that leaped to my mind too - ...  like, really -   'cotton' 

okay

[Ginx snewx]

Chilly here on the beach, we bocce

[dryslot]

Love Bocce.

[powderfreak]

When the shadows creep... it's pretty crazy how much different the feel is between sun & shadow this time of year.

In the direct sun it feels hot and humid, but in the shadow it feels almost chilly as there's a breeze under the Cu shadow.

[HimoorWx]

Since the weather is quiet, thought I'd post a few pics from our trip to Utah 3 weeks ago.  Arches and Canyonlands were absolutely amazing!!!

[CoastalWx]

Didn't take long for I-93 to become a castastrophe. Shut down at exit 23. Pretty bad accident. We alternate route I guess. 

[Typhoon Tip]

For those of us who live mid ...north Middlesex co ( and probably everywhere else W-N-NE of here... )  be careful about bear - 

I was out doin' a 25 mi ride yesterday and had to lock the breaks, skidding to a stop when I finally processed what I was looking at along the side of the bike path.  A huge gamely black shadow was a that of a black bear. 

The encounter was only abut 3 mi from Ayer ..which is a fairly populated, and though the path its self appears wilderness on both sides there... there are lots of back yards in the region this guy was seen, too.   Soon as the sound of my breaks it turned it's leer down toward me, and it leaped over the bike path and scurried into the woods... Pretty amazing. Enormous... It pretty much filled the path width.  f'er musta been 500 pd ...I guess a big big male.   

You know, these television and photos ...they don't do those justice.  Those beasts are bigger than we think.  So I continued along my ride and less than a quarter to half mile later I pass a young mom with a tot in a stroller... I felt compelled to warn her the bear was in the vicinity... her eyes got big and she turned the stroller around, "okay"... It started to sink in and so I warned others along the bike path.

Later as I was bragging about the encounter to other friends and family... they were scolding me for not going to animal control...  and I guess in retrospect...if that had been a mom with cubs, I wonder if my sudden startling her would have ended the same way.  You might be going, "Tip hasn't posted in months."  heh.   anywho, I went to the police and then 20 minutes later Animal Control called and took all this information. They said the were getting higher frequency of sightings with mom and cubs in the area, but that description above did sound like a male to them and they were all freakin out.  

[CoastalWx]

We bear. Yeah I probably would crap myself there. 

[Typhoon Tip]

Yeah... honestly, I wasn't 'scared' per se?     I really didn't know what to do.  Locking the breaks was really more instinctual - like... sometimes when you ride past a dog the dog will be inclined to chase? Similar deal... didn't feel like being chased by a bear - ha.  But yeah...  I think I had internal voices telling me not to act panicked or to make sudden moves.  So I just slid to a stop and froze, and let the bear notice me... Soon as it did, it bounded away. The whole encounter was really only 40 or 50 feet - so ...despite what I'm saying now, that's definitely way way too close per both common sense and advice by animal control/specialists for that particular species.  But it was accidental thing... I haul ass...average 19 to 22 mph on my rides so I happened onto that scene very quickly and zomb!  

But it's true...if that had been a mom with cubs trying to cross the path ....  oy. Not sure the situation resolves the same way - 

I tell you though...what they say is true.  Despite the beastly nature of that animal, they are very very skiddish.  That guy really was more afraid of me than I was of him... I was still trying to figure out what to do about the meet up when he was already gone. 

[tamarack]

27 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

We bear. Yeah I probably would crap myself there. 

Bears are usually timid around humans, even momma with cubs if she sees an escape path for the group.  (If she feels cornered or that her cubs are threatened, it gets bad real quick.)  Bears also go where the food is, as many owners of birdfeeders or beehives have learned, and the critters can smell such things from an amazing distance. There's an old saying that goes, "An arrow was shot into the air.  An eagle saw it fall, a deer heard it fall, a bear smelled it fall."  

When bears associate human habitation with food, there's problems.  The first year that "North Woods Law" was filmed, the wardens took a huge amount of social media opprobrium after a warden put down a medium-size bear in South Portland.  That critter was in peoples' back yards, was mere feet from a busy street and maybe 100 yards or so from I-295.  (It evidently had crossed the interstate eastbound in the wee hours.)  Since the morning commute was in progress when the encounter was filmed, that bear could've been on 295 in 30 seconds or less and the nearest wildlife biologist (qualified to tranquilize animals; Maine wardens are not) was over an hour distant.  If that bear had tried to re-cross the interstate, it would almost certainly have been just as dead as by shotgun, and maybe with some people for company. 

[Typhoon Tip]

Local news media down our way has been warning about bird-feeders in particular ... ( not so much bees but... duh - ). 

I hadn't paid too close attention.  Every so many years you hear of a bear sighting.  Cayote does in a house cat ..or Bobcats too.   But this year there's been some heightened thing going on...  I think there's been a few sightings with a momma and cubs ..perhaps more than one family's been roaming around out here in these NW rural burb's lately...  That's what the AC gal intimated on the phone when the call came in asking questions about where and what circumstances, and what exactly I say a couple hours ago.  She also said what I saw fit the description of big male and that was a little more alarming in that Ayer is brick-and-mortar town with streets and thoroughfares ... terminating into near-by neighborhoods with lawns that fade into woodland lines. Not totally cow-poke with some population density, so - 

She mentioned the bird feeders ...and that bears (apparently) have a remarkable memory for where they can eat.  Dumpsters behind diners and grocery stores are also a problem, which we have both those too..  

You're right about the timidity of the bears ...and this one acting skiddish and fleeing the scenario is typical. But, the "startle" factor is a different thing... It's true that bears will make haste, even with cubs, but if you come up on one so quick and startle them while proximal that's a different beast - perhaps literally... 

[tamarack]

2 hours ago, Typhoon Tip said:

You're right about the timidity of the bears ...and this one acting skiddish and fleeing the scenario is typical. But, the "startle" factor is a different thing... It's true that bears will make haste, even with cubs, but if you come up on one so quick and startle them while proximal that's a different beast - perhaps literally... 

This is important - the bear always should have a clear plan of escape, and will use it 999 times out of 1,000 (sucks to be #1K.)

An N. Maine anecdote from decades back:  My co-worker had to walk a half mile up a mega-rutted logging road (impassable for his 2WD) to inspect the harvest, with his only "weapon" a Nelson Tree-Spot, a device to paint-mark trees for harvest.  He heard a pickup bouncing and crashing toward him, then as he rounded a corner there was a sizable bear loping down the road toward him but with head looking back at the source of all the noise.  When about 30 feet from my chum, the bear turned, screeched to a halt and stood tall on its hind legs.  Mike looked at the bear, looked at his paint gun, and wondered.  The bear looked at Mike, looked back at the noise, looked at Mike, and wondered.  Finally Mr. Bear chose a sideways course into the woods while Mike dealt with a quart or so of adrenaline coursing thru his veins.    "startle them while proximal" for sure. 

[Typhoon Tip]

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

This is important - the bear always should have a clear plan of escape, and will use it 999 times out of 1,000 (sucks to be #1K.)

An N. Maine anecdote from decades back:  My co-worker had to walk a half mile up a mega-rutted logging road (impassable for his 2WD) to inspect the harvest, with his only "weapon" a Nelson Tree-Spot, a device to paint-mark trees for harvest.  He heard a pickup bouncing and crashing toward him, then as he rounded a corner there was a sizable bear loping down the road toward him but with head looking back at the source of all the noise.  When about 30 feet from my chum, the bear turned, screeched to a halt and stood tall on its hind legs.  Mike looked at the bear, looked at his paint gun, and wondered.  The bear looked at Mike, looked back at the noise, looked at Mike, and wondered.  Finally Mr. Bear chose a sideways course into the woods while Mike dealt with a quart or so of adrenaline coursing thru his veins.    "startle them while proximal" for sure. 

I was talking specifically about cubs with protective mother getting startled... you're siting a different scenario there -

least the AC spoke at length about it and its stuff I've read on that anyway - mother bears are a different lot; escape or not, if in their primal brains they feel there is any threat to their kids, you're in the wrong place.

I mean ...in general, what I encountered was minimal risk.  I was not presenting any threat to it and it had options for vectoring out of there... But any time one sees a wild meat eating animal that probably stood over 6 foot on hind legs also fill up a bike path in front of them, that's bit disconcerting.

[Ginx snewx]

 When the cities evacuate for holiday, its a massive traffic disaster. I drove 33 miles in 45 minutes back roads and walked on to an empty beach. Looking down the beach its like sardines. 

[HoarfrostHubb]

3 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

 When the cities evacuate for holiday, its a massive traffic disaster. I drove 33 miles in 45 minutes back roads and walked on to an empty beach. Looking down the beach its like sardines. 

Traffic out of Boston during rush hour was pretty non existent.   I didn’t really expect that...

[HoarfrostHubb]

As far as bears go, we see them in my neighborhood from time to time, but it has been a while.  We had one 10 feet from our front door back in 2005on a June Sunday afternoon.  That was surprising.  

They rarely go after a person. There was that fatal attack in NJ a few years ago though.

[Baroclinic Zone]

Finally got my hands on some BB @OceanStWx @Damage In Tolland.  Good stuff.  I was shocked how cheap it was relative to stuff around me. $13 for a 4 pack is unreal.  I’m used to $18-20+.  I also had a micro from fryeburg that was awesome.

[rimetree]

16 minutes ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Finally got my hands on some BB @OceanStWx @Damage In Tolland.  Good stuff.  I was shocked how cheap it was relative to stuff around me. $13 for a 4 pack is unreal.  I’m used to $18-20+.  I also had a micro from fryeburg that was awesome.

Battery Steele is another one to try if you haven't already.

[Damage In Tolland]

5 hours ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Finally got my hands on some BB @OceanStWx @Damage In Tolland.  Good stuff.  I was shocked how cheap it was relative to stuff around me. $13 for a 4 pack is unreal.  I’m used to $18-20+.  I also had a micro from fryeburg that was awesome.

“ Toast”

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

We have bears all the time. There was a mom with 3 cubs eating a neighbors bird seeds a few months ago. Another family cited near the Hoose on the other side of town. They venture down the river along the Litchfield Hills often. Great animals. Would love to own one. That and a tiger. 

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

9 hours ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

As far as bears go, we see them in my neighborhood from time to time, but it has been a while.  We had one 10 feet from our front door back in 2005on a June Sunday afternoon.  That was surprising.  

They rarely go after a person. There was that fatal attack in NJ a few years ago though.

It’s very rare and usually an angry mother. They’re beautiful creatures but certainly need to change undies after an encounter. 

[moneypitmike]

13 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

It’s very rare and usually an angry mother. They’re beautiful creatures but certainly need to change undies after an encounter. 

Black bear mothers are much less protective of their cubs than grizzly/brown bears.

[tunafish]

9 hours ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Finally got my hands on some BB @OceanStWx @Damage In Tolland.  Good stuff.  I was shocked how cheap it was relative to stuff around me. $13 for a 4 pack is unreal.  I’m used to $18-20+.  I also had a micro from fryeburg that was awesome.

We definitely benefit from the amount of competition up here.  Plenty of options here that would make it on their own as #1 in most smaller markets.  More options = the price stays low.

My favorite beer, Epiphany (Foundation) is $14 and always available at retail and the brewery.

If you venture out to Industrial park, be sure to make the rounds at Foundation, Definitive, Austin Street, and Battery Steele.

Lone Pine and Liquid Riot are also top-notch.

[HIPPYVALLEY]

1 hour ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

We have bears all the time. There was a mom with 3 cubs eating a neighbors bird seeds a few months ago. Another family cited near the Hoose on the other side of town. They venture down the river along the Litchfield Hills often. Great animals. Would love to own one. That and a tiger. 

I've seen 5 at once in my back yard and they were not cubs. 

[Baroclinic Zone]

15 minutes ago, tunafish said:

We definitely benefit from the amount of competition up here.  Plenty of options here that would make it on their own as #1 in most smaller markets.  More options = the price stays low.

My favorite beer, Epiphany (Foundation) is $14 and always available at retail and the brewery.

If you venture out to Industrial park, be sure to make the rounds at Foundation, Definitive, Austin Street, and Battery Steele.

Lone Pine and Liquid Riot are also top-notch.

I was on my way to Bridgton, so I’ll have to keep these other places in mind.  I’ve had Foundation and Lone Pine before.  There is not a lack of breweries in MA, I just think the state is just a bit more affluent, so that is reflected in the higher prices.

[Baroclinic Zone]

Came across a bear once in my life, in the confines of a car.  Was on the mountain road just past the base lodge of Shawnee.  The thing saw us and bolted up the mountain.

[Ginx snewx]

AA meeting in progress in here.

Happy 4th Chillin, grillin, swimmin, tokin

[PowderBeard]

1 hour ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

It’s very rare and usually an angry mother. They’re beautiful creatures but certainly need to change undies after an encounter. 

We have one in our neighborhood, it has an injured front-left paw and has a limp. The neighbors all said it has been around here for about 2-3 years. I have had 2 encounters with it since moving in but the dog has had more. Speaking of changing undies...his first time meeting the bear it was about 11pm and he was outside doing his last thing of the night.  We had the windows and screen doors open and I heard a howl from him I had never heard before. At first I thought he came across a porcupine and feared it got him. I ran out our back slider, onto the deck, and began running down the steps. He met me on the deck steps going the opposite direction and immediately sat by the slider door shaking with his ears back. The bear was trotting through our back woods to get away. His one other confirmed encounter was similar but he spent the next 10-15 minutes shaking on the couch pretty terrified. Pretty happy he does not mess around with them but I rather he have that fear about  coyotes than bears.  

[moneypitmike]