Nature & Science
If I were a tomato, I would want to be a porch tomato. It is a lesson which took only 15 months, about $50 and a bowl of bruschetta on a warm summer evening to learn.
Friday, Sept. 5: Bright and sunny summer day. Temperature in the 80s. A perfect beach day without the crowds at State Beach in Edgartown. Solitary strollers search the shoreline for shells. Sailboats under tow are taken from Edgartown harbor as preparations for approaching storm pick up speed. Increasing clouds in the afternoon.
This lion won’t roar, but it could be considered king of the insect jungle.
Antlions are neither true ants nor are the little bugs lions. In fact, they are not yet even adults, but rather predacious insect larvae that have a big head and sharp spiny jaw. These terrorizing teenagers resemble a pill bug in a suit of armor.
The striped bass is fun to catch and good to eat. It’s also enigmatic, historically prone to wild fluctuations in numbers and to inexplicable disappearances from area waters. And with the annual Island fishing derby opening Sunday, the old question is being asked again: where are all the fish?
Cooper Gilkes 3rd, an Island fisherman for more than 50 years and the owner of Coop’s Bait and Tackle in Edgartown, is concerned, for catch numbers seem to be in sharp decline.
With bacteria levels in Sengekontacket Pond lower than anticipated this summer, Edgartown shellfish constable Paul Bagnall is advocating that parts of the pond reopen to shellfishing as soon as next summer.
“I am pushing for the reopening of certain areas of the pond,” Mr. Bagnall told the Friends of Sengekontacket at their annual meeting this week. “And I don’t anticipate opposition.”
The fishermen will begin lining up with their fish well before the 8 a.m. Sunday opening of the weigh station at the foot of Main street in Edgartown. Many of the anglers will be sleep deprived, having not slept but a few hours overnight.
Almanac
A comprehensive guide to weather and tides on the Island.
Vineyard Gardener
I guess this past week weather-wise is called a January thaw. We did not really experience it the last several years as December was unseasonably warm.
Farm & Field
Beige and brown and tan and black, with horns spiraled or semicircular or in undulating waves, a legion of goats marched up the hill toward us, bleating in anticipation of fresh grass and leaves.