BRANT POINT LIGHTHOUSE PAINTING BY JAMES CROMARTIE

Although his art gallery is located on Easy Street on Nantucket harbor; paintings by America's premier hard edged realist artist James Cromartie are not quick and easy. I took a boat trip to Nantucket on August 27th this year with my parents and we noticed this interesting art gallery operated by artists in residence James Cromartie and his partner Kerry Hallam who does brilliantly colored landscapes,seascapes and potraits.

Mr. Cromartie's hard edged realist painting style is remarkable for his detail and photographic appearance along with symmetry and balance. Even observing his paintings up close you cannot notice any brush strokes. My Mom,Dad, and I had a nice conversation with this affable artist who originally hailed from North Carolina but now makes Nantucket his home.

Mr. Cromartie took my Dad and I into his back room where he showed us his current Nantucket beach scene that he was working on as well as telling us some stories about some of the paintings that he has painted in the past such as The White House, The United States Capital Building,The Supreme Court Building, and The Smithsonian Institute Building all located in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Capital Building took seven months to complete and The White House painting took four months. The White House painting is featured in an art history book "Art Talk" and prints of his painting are given to tourists and visiting dignitaries.

Some of Mr. Cromartie's original patrons include Nelson Rockefeller and Roy Firestone. Tom Brokaw and also Princess Diana have also purchased James Cromartie paintings.

It was a pleasure to meet this outstanding artist and gentleman.

BRANT POINT LIGHTHOUSE

Here is a photo of the Brant Point lighthouse found at the entrance to Nantucket harbor. This lighthouse location is the second oldest in America founded in 1746. It is a tradition to toss a penny over into the water when leaving Nantucket to ensure a future return visit to Nantucket.

WELL DRESSED NANTUCKET TOUCAN

Here's a photo of a well dressed Nantucket Toucan bird I saw outside a store while visiting Nantucket on August 27th this year. This "big bird" was quite stylish modeling her new dress and in keeping with a affluent image of summertime on Nantucket. I spoke to this Toucan and she said that she was vacationing from the Amazon river region of Brazil and would be flying back soon to her winter home. She said she comes up to Nantucket every Summer for the fresh fish and seafood as well as shopping for new outfits.

YouTube - KOSHER DUCKS

YouTube - KOSHER DUCKS On Thursday August 27th, 2009 I went to Nantucket Island with my parents for the day on the Hy-Line boat Great Point out of Hyannis Harbor. We ate lunch at "The Brotherhood of Thieves" restaurant. My Mom and I had Cuban Pork sandwiches with blue cheese on a bulky roll with cheese soup and bacon. We also split an order of "curly fries" as "The Brotherhood" is known for these fries which are quite long and curly. Not sure how they make these kind of fries. I remember them though from thirty-three years ago when I last ate at "The Brotherhood".

After the lunch we walked along the Nantucket harbor and I saw this small fleet of ducks swimming in the harbor and decided that we should feed them some of the left over Cuban pork sandwich. (Click on the You Tube link above "Kosher Ducks".) The ducks ate the bread portion of the sandwich but didn't touch the pieces of Cuban pork. They must be "Kosher Ducks" as my Dad said or maybe they are anti-communist ducks and won't eat anything associated with Cuba. Maybe these ducks are vegetarians or maybe the ducks are kosher vegetarian anti-communist ducks.

Then again, maybe these ducks had bacon,sausage,ham,and peperoni for breakfast and just had their fill of pork products for the day. I asked the ducks about this and all they said was "quack, quack" which didn't make sense to me.

'FRIENDLY GUEST PUT TO WORK"

This "friendly guest" who said his name was "Elmo", (see post below "Friendly Guest") didn't have any money but needed a place to sleep while visiting Cape Cod particularly as he turned "beet red" from an extreme sunburn.

Since he was "dollar less" as well as "penniless" we put him to work making copies in the office of the Soundings motel as a trade for staying in a room at this oceanfront property. In addition we made "Elmo" change some light bulbs above the indoor pool as well as retrieve a lost kite for one of the guests. "Elmo" said he is not afraid of heights and is pretty light weight so we attached some fishing line to his feet and he was able to retrieve the lost kite for little Timmy. Little Timmy was flying his kite on the beach when his kite became tangled in a power line on the hotel next door and was about five hundred feet in the air above the utility pole. Poor little Timmy went crying to his Mommy and Daddy about the kite as this kite was a birthday present for his fourth birthday.

Timmy's parents went to the front desk and asked if anyone could please help their distraught son retrieve his kite. "Elmo" heard the parent's plea and volunteered to retrieve the kite. "Elmo" jumped into the air and into the wind like a kite himself while we held the fishing line attached to his feet. Little Timmy was overjoyed to get his precious kite back and gave "Elmo" a hug and a tickle. "Mr.Elmo sir" said little Timmy, "You are my hero."

"Aw shucks", said the friendly guest "Elmo", "That was nothing. Maybe some day when you are a big boy you can help someone your age retrieve their kite."

"A NEEDLE IN THE WRIST"

I fractured my right wrist on Thurs. 8/20 while playing volleyball (see post below "Hitting the wall"). The next morning I went for my first visit to an orthopedic doctor in Hyannis for a "reduction". What the doctor and his nurse practitioner wife did was jab a needle into my wrist at the location of my wrist fracture and inject some Novocaine into this area of my wrist.

After about a ten minute waiting period for the Novocaine to take effect the doctor and his wife came back to the examination room. The doctor held my hand while his wife held my elbow. While his wife was pulling away from my elbow, the doctor manipulated my fractured wrist to align the broken bones in place. This felt kind of wierd and the doctor said to relax and put my mind to another place so I visualized that I was on the island of Hilo,Hawaii on a black sand beach. I was already to jump into the surf when the doctor said he was finished.

I then had an x-ray and the doctor was pleased with the wrist alignment. This procedure (reduction) was described to me beforehand as similar to pulling out a scoop of ice cream from an ice cream cone.

I returned today from my second visit to the doctor for another set of x-rays and the doctor said "excellent" which I suppose means " not too shabby". I am scheduled to return again in another week for another x-ray and then a hard cast if everything goes ok. It does appear so far that I can avoid surgery which would be fine with me as I don't relish the thought of having to stay in the hospital. Time will tell but so far so good, all things considered.

"FRIENDLY GUEST"

Yesterday at the Soundings Motel in Dennisport,Mass on Cape Cod we had a "friendly guest " appear at the front desk and try to rent a room for the night. It was a hot and sunny day here at this beach front resort and this pale guest first arrived at 10:00 am. to try to check in. We told him that the check in time was 3:00 pm. but that he could wait on the beach until then and come back when the rooms were cleaned.

This pale guest went to the beach, (he said his name was " Elmo").

"Elmo" returned at 3:00 pm. bright as a red lobster as apparently he forgot to wear a hat and didn't put on any sun screen. He still had his ever present smile even though he must have been in agony from his extreme sun burn. I shook his hand and he started to giggle as he said he was extremely ticklish.

We told "Elmo" the cost of the room in U.S. money and he said "Money, what is that?" We said, "MR.Elmo sir, don't you have some money in your pocket?". "Elmo" replied, "Pockets?, What are pockets?". This Mr. "Elmo" though he was friendly, always smiling, seemed a little unreal. He didn't have any money,pockets, or apparently any common sense as he stayed in the sun too long. "Elmo" was acting like a complete "air head".

HITTING THE WALL

I usually play volleyball on Thursday nights at the Harwich Community Center here on Cape Cod. Last Thursday I went to play a little after seven o'clock. Shortly thereafter during a game I was in the front row on the left hand side of the volleyball net when I saw the ball being hit towards the right hand side of the court on my side of the net. No one on my team was going for this ball at the time so for some reason I decided to run an dive for the ball and hit the ball before the ball reached the floor. I ended up hitting the ball but my momentum ended up carrying me into the solid wall located to the right of the volleyball net. This wall has a layer of protective padding that extends almost to the floor. As I was diving towards the wall I didn't want to hit my head on the wall area below where the padding stopped so I put out my right hand to try to slow myself down and protect my head. Hitting the wall at the speed I was traveling caused my wrist to fracture. I remember saying "OW" but really didn't feel much immediate pain as this all happened in a split second. I got up from the floor though an saw that my right wrist didn't look normal so I knew I was done for the night. My wrist had a strange bend to it so I decided that I better go to the Cape Cod Hospital emergency room and have my wrist evaluated. So, first I drove with my left hand only to my house and wrapped my wrist in an ace bandage and tied a plastic bag of ice cubes around my wrist. I drove to the emergency room in Hyannis and arrived there at 8:15 pm.

After a while waiting in the lobby area I was put in a wheel chair and entered the emergency room part of the hospital and was put on a rolling bed. I remember thinking to myself, "This hospital scene is just like the medical shows on television." There were a lot of ambulance crews wheeling people around strapped to ambulance stretchers with head restraints on the patients. One patients was just in a car crash and they were checking him to see if he had any head or back injuries. Another patient, a woman who looked to be in her upper eighties, was wheeled in and had an oxygen mask on as a lot of hospital staff were attending to her. There was another patient there that I didn't see but heard as he was either in a lot of pain or else throwing up non-stop as we could hear a continuous sound of "AHHH, AHHH!".

Someone came by to take my personal information and then a while later I was wheeled into an X-ray room for an X-ray of my wrist. I was then wheeled back to where I was before. The doctor came by and told me I had fractured my wrist. He said that I might need surgery but later the hospital staff decided that I could leave the emergency room so they wrapped up my wrist, gave me some prescriptions and let me leave the hospital. They gave me the name of an orthopedic doctor and told me to call him first thing in the morning and make sure that I didn't eat anything after midnight in case I needed surgery the next morning. I was discharged from the hospital a little after eleven o'clock that night and returned to my house just before midnight so I ate a bowl of cereal and finished eating the cereal at 11:56 a.m. "Whew!", that was close, I almost was still eating after midnight but finished just in time! I don't know what would have happened to me if I was still eating at 12:01 am.

Some times in life people are said to have "hit the wall" such as when running in a marathon or competing in a triathlon. Me, I literally "hit the wall" playing volleyball.

BARBECUED IGUANA

YouTube - Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio I've always kind of liked this song. (check out the You Tube video link of Stan Ridgeway and "Wall of Voodoo" singing "Mexican Radio"). I just ate some barbecued ribs and this got me to thinking, "I wonder what barbecued iguana from Tijuana, Mexico would taste like? Would barbecued iguana taste as good as barbecued chicken or ribs? What kind of sauce would be best for barbecuing iguana? I think iguanas may taste a little "leathery" as the iguana being a reptile looks to me that it wouldn't be that tasty although many people say that a lot of animals taste like chicken. I confess that I have never had barbecued iguana, or even baked,sauteed, fried,or roasted iguana. I've never tried cream of iguana soup or frankly any type of iguana.

Can someone out there tell me their experiences with eating iguana and which store has the best selection of iguana where you live? I'm sure someone has a favorite iguana recipe that perhaps they would like to share. After all, eating iguana must be a fairly popular food,(at least in Mexico), or why else in this classic song "Mexican Radio" would they show someone barbecuing an iguana? Thanks in advance for your iguana cooking ideas.

FRESH FROM THE SEAS

Darn, I should have taken a picture before I ate it! I just consumed a striped bass fillet that Eric, a guest and vacation owner at the Soundings motel in Dennis Port, gave me as he and his son recently went on a charter boat fishing trip and returned with several "keeper" striped bass fish.

Striped bass has a white texture and doesn't taste "fishy" like other types of fish such as blue fish. I cooked the striped bass fillet in the oven with olive oil, lime juice, bread crumbs, and Jim Beam bourbon. It came out great! I then sprinkled a pinch of home made sea salt on top to complete this dish along with a few garden fresh string beans and peas. I topped off this meal with a cold mug of Coors Light beer (silver bullet).

Thanks again Eric ! Now I'm off to play volleyball and work off this memorable meal.

THE SWARM

Three days ago I was visited at my house by a traveling swarm of honey bees who decided that they would like to live underneath my enclosed porch. The first day there I saw a swarm of it seemed like a thousand bees whirling around and buzzing outside my sliding glass door for a few minutes before they went off to wherever they wanted to fly that day.

When I first saw this swarm I thought that it might have been a bunch of yellow jackets as I had a yellow jacket nest near the entrance to my basement area between the cracks of some landscape ties a few years ago. Luckily though these are honey bees and they don't seem to bother me and aren't as aggressive as yellow jackets.

I don't know yet if I will have these bees removed or maybe I should get a wooden bee hive area and try to move the queen bee so I could have some honey for my cereal and /or tea. I wonder where these bees came from and also why they picked my house for their new location?

I know I should BEE careful in any event.

To BEE or not to BEE that is the question.

"EMILY, NOT A SLEEPING BEAUTY"

Working at the front desk of a motel for many years, you end up meeting all kinds of people from all over the world and all types of personalities. One memorable guest was named "Emily" who I met while working at the Soundings motel on Cape Cod, Mass. in the late 1970's.

"Emily" called to make a reservation and confessed that she had had some mental problems and that her doctor advised her to take a vacation and mingle with people to help her with her problems. She took a bus into Hyannis, Mass. and then took a cab from Hyannis to Dennis Port which is about thirteen miles away. While riding in the cab and within about four hundred yards from the Soundings motel, Emily said to the cab driver "Take me back to the bus station I don't think I can go through with this vacation." The cab driver turned around and started back toward the bus station in Hyannis. The cab driver mentioned to "Emily" that the next bus back to her home destination would not be there for another six hours. "Emily"then told the cab driver to turn around again and go back to the Soundings and that she would try to go ahead with her vacation visit.

Dick Manning, one of the Soundings motel owners, met "Emily" at the front desk and told me that when he said to "Emily" "Hi, How are are you today?" "Emily" replied in a slow,low monotone voice, "I don't think I'm going to make it."

Later, when I arrived at work for the evening I met "Emily." She was about sixty-two years old and had long, stringy, unwashed, grey-black hair and was slightly overweight. She was not a lady who would win many beauty contests. "Emily" had reserved a non-ocean view room at the motel which was about eighty feet from the motel lobby area.

As the evening progressed I received a call to the front desk. It was "Emily". She said "What's that noise? I think someone is outside my room trying to get in." It was a very quiet night around ten o'clock. I went outside the lobby and looked down the walkway to "Emily's" room and there wasn't a soul around. I told "Emily" that everything was fine and to have a good night. Twenty minutes later "Emily" called the front desk again and said "That noise! I heard it again. I can't sleep in this room.
I'm coming down to the lobby and sleep on the couch. I don't feel safe in this room!"

About five minutes later "Emily" walks into the lobby area with a pillow and wearing a long white nightgown. She proceeded to put her pillow on the lobby couch and lie down on the couch. A couple of guests walked into the lobby and saw "Emily" on the couch. "Emily" was saying to us,"I knew this was a bad idea going away. I'm not going to make it."

I called Dick Manning and told him about "Emily" being on the couch in the lobby. He said that she can't stay there and somehow we'll have to get her back into her room. I told "Emily" that we can't allow her to sleep in the lobby and that we have a night security man coming in at eleven o'clock and that I would make sure that he would watch her room for her. "Emily" finally made it back to her room. Poor "Emily", a sleeping beauty she was not.

NA NA HA! HA!

I just took a quiz on the aol.com web site, Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

I scored 10 for 10 correct answers. I know the capital of South Carolina. I know what temperature water boils, I know a prime number when I see one. I also know the plural for deer. Let's face it you 5th graders: I RULE! I knew them all! You 5th graders aren't so smart. I received the title of "Smarty pants".

Better study up if you think you can beat me! BRING IT ON!!

CAPE COD CATERED CLAMBAKE

Here are some photos from a catered clambake taken by the Cape Cod sand dunes and ocean waters of the Lower Cape in 1984 when I was involved with the Captain's Clambake Emporium Restaurant and catered clambake services. Back then we used to have as many as five catered clambakes going on at the same time at different locations on the Cape as well as hosting clambakes at the Dennis Port restaurant.

Dick Manning, one of the owners of the restaurant , used to say that sometimes he would dream at night that giant lobsters would be chasing him to try to get revenge for all the lobsters that were put to death from the various clambakes. In these pictures bake master Peter Burell is cooking and serving a bus group at an idyllic sea side setting.

"The Day Eldia Moored at the Shore"

It seems like only yesterday but it was twenty-five years ago on March 30,1984 when the Maltese freighter "Eldia" beached on Nauset Beach in Orleans on Cape Cod. (Click on the photo on the left to get a larger view of this stranded ship). The "Eldia" was 473 feet long and weighed 9,807 tons. After dropping off a load of Colombian sugar to St. John, New Brunswick, this ill fated vessel ran into a storm with eighty mile winds and couldn't help beaching on to the sand.

This was quite a sight to see and many,many people came to take a look at this easily accessible site. The crowds reminded me a little of a pilgrimage to see a UFO or something as everyone just kind of showed up to take a look on their own. I tried to organize some of the visitors to help push this ship out to sea again but try as we did for some reason this boat wouldn't move.

The "Eldia" was salvaged two months later by Donjon salvage and later scrapped.

"Do You Like to wear a dress?"

In 1969 as a freshman at Simsbury High School in Simsbury, Connecticut a fellow freshman and friend Barry Ryan told me that a student named "Tom" who had a reputation as a "tough guy" approached him and said what Barry thought was, "Do you like to wear a dress?" Barry replied "N0". In reality "Tom" said "Do you like the way I dress?' "Tom" then started to hassle Barry and threaten to start a fight.

I worked for Culman Brothers tobacco company that Summer and "Tom" was working as well that year in the tobacco fields. One day "Tom" started ripping the tee shirts of some of the young fellow tobacco workers while we were traveling by bus from one tobacco field to the next field. "Tom" came up to me and started to rip the back of my tee shirt. I in turn ripped his tee shirt. From that day on "Tom" didn't bother me.

I'm a believer in an "eye for an eye". Also, a shirt for a shirt.

Where in Portsmouth?

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Walking through Portsmouth,New Hampshire on August 2, 2009 on a brick lined sidewalk sister-in law Leslie shows me where she used to live.

Marge "Silly Rabbit"

My friend Claire who works with me at the Soundings motel told me an interesting story that I thought I would pass along. Claire at one time used to work at a jewelry kiosk at the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis, Mass. At this kiosk Claire worked with a lady (let's call her Marge). Marge was divorced and had a special needs son who lived with her. Marge was about forty-five years old at the time and had an off-Cape boyfriend (let's call him Earl) who was about sixty-five years old with thinning white hair, tall, and looked like he was pregnant due to his large beer belly. One day Earl came down to Cape Cod to see Marge and stopped by the jewelry kiosk where Claire and Marge were working and Claire was introduced to Earl for the first time. Claire at that time had light reddish hair.

A couple of month's passed by and Claire was home one evening with her husband and she received a phone call. Claire answered the phone, "Hello". Marge had called Claire, "Claire, this is Marge, I know you've been having an affair with Earl, he admitted to me that he has been seeing someone on Cape Cod with red hair and I know it is you!" Claire said, "WHAT? What are you talking about? I'm here at my house watching tv with my husband." Marge's voice was somewhat slurred and she had problems with alcohol in the past. Claire said, "Where are you calling from? Is something wrong?" Marge said, "I'm calling from the police station, I was just arrested for drunk driving as I was so upset about learning about Earl cheating on me and I know he's been seeing you!" Claire told me she would never be tempted to have an affair with Earl.

Marge never returned to her job at the jewelry kiosk. Claire mentioned as well that Marge also had a job one Easter season at the mall. Marge took a job as an Easter bunny. She had to wear a furry bunny suit and pose for pictures with small children at the mall as their mothers paid for the pictures and watched their child with the Easter bunny. Apparently being an Easter bunny has its disadvantages as the furry bunny suit can get quite hot. One day it was so hot inside the bunny suit for Marge at the Easter bunny garden that Marge said she passed out and fell spread eagle to the floor from the intense heat. They had to call an ambulance to revive Marge and all the little children waiting in line started crying as they thought that the Easter bunny had died.

New Guardrails, First Step In An "Addadecktomy"

Yesterday carpenter Bob from Chatham, Mass. just finished installing new guardrails on top of my enclosed porch. The new guardrails are made of pressure treated wood and are forty inches high replacing a twenty inch decorative railing which was coming apart and rotting after over twenty years of fighting the weather elements.

This flat roof is covered with rubberized material and is super hot on a Summer day.

My next project is to figure out how to install some type of stairway or access to this upper flat roof area as this location would provide me with a nice view of Swan Pond across the street. I then have to decide if my house wants an " addadecktomy" and if so what kind of deck material to use for this upper roof area. The rubber roof besides being hot has also slightly oxidized over the years so if you walk on or touch the surface you get a fine coating of black dust from the roof.

Time will tell when I proceed with the future improvements as an "addadecktomy" can sometimes be a tricky and expensive operation.

CUMQUAT OR KUMQUAT

Had any good cumquats lately? These delicious fruits look like mini-oranges and can be eaten whole the skin and all. I brought some kumquats one time to a Yankee swap Christmas party and everyone there enjoyed them. Anita Bryant was famous for the phrase ,"Orange juice, "Its not just for breakfast anymore!" in her famous television commercials for the Florida citrus industry. Well, I know from person experience that "cumquats, they are not just for breakfast anymore!"

Kumquats originated in China and are also found in Japan. You can also see cumquats growing in the Middle East,Greece,Florida, and California among other places. The eight to fifteen feet tall kumquat trees are said to be heartier than orange trees.

It is said on "Wikopedia" that a mixture of a few salted cumquats, brine juice, and hot water are a good thing to drink if you have a sore throat. It is good to cure a sore throat as soon as you can as you should strive to protect your uvula. " Saturday Night Live" had a skit a long time ago with comedic actors Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman, and the late Gilda Radner where they discussed uvula care in a sort of public service announcement with the famous line "It'll behoove ya to take care of your uvula."

I remember that in one of the W.C. Fields movies W.C. said something like "Come here my little kumquat" probably to Mae West but I'm not sure.

So, remember "A cumquat a day keeps the doctor away" and for goodness sake "Take care of your uvula!'

"PISCATAQUA TUG BOATS"

Last Sunday August 2nd I was up in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and took this picture of three tug boats moored in the Piscataqua River bank. Piscataqua is probably an Indian name which I'm really not sure what this name means. If I were to guess, I would say that Piscataqua may mean that one day an Indian boy saw a cat peeing in the river and thus the name Piscataqua.

After walking through town my brother Scott, his wife Leslie and I ate at a small riverfront bar where I order a margarita and also calamari.

I didn't pee in the river though like that cat from long ago.

"COOL BEANS"

Just picked these beans from my garden along with a few peas and home made sea salt for this "Blue plate special".

How these beans and peas grow from dirt,water, and sunshine added to the initial seeds is a mystery to me.

God knows.

YouTube - pigeon walking through downtown Portsmouth, NH

YouTube - pigeon walking through downtown Portsmouth, NH When the grey, grey pigeon goes bob bob bobbin' along. I was curious to see what this here pigeon was up to this August 2nd night in downtown, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. These pigeons have quite the life strolling the brick streets, looking for food, and watching the pedestrian and car traffic. Pigeons can fly up to fifty miles an hour and fly as much as six hundred miles in a day. If you kidnap a pigeon, blindfold this bird, and transport this captive bird many, many miles from their home; this pigeon could probably find its way home somehow they say as they can tell direction by the sun and the earth's magnetic field. That's why some pigeons are known as "homing pigeons". Although they are "bird brains", pigeons are said to recognize all twenty-six letters of the English alphabet. Maybe pigeons read the highway traffic signs to help them on their trips. Yes, pigeons are pretty talented and known to "work for peanuts".

SIGNS OF AUGUST (BY JIMINY)

I was thinking a few days ago that I never see a cricket in my house until August. August 1st came and went and I didn't see a cricket. "What the heck is going on?" I thought to myself, "Where are the crickets?".

Well, August 2nd arrived and I spied this cricket on my bathroom floor. I quickly took a picture to commemorate the first cricket of August to visit me this year. How they get in the house I haven't a clue as I don't leave my doors open and I don't send out invitations for the crickets to visit me but somehow they know how to show up each year at about the same day. I just remembered that 2008 was a leap year with an extra day in February so I guess without that extra leap year day this cricket would have arrived on the equivalent day of August 1st. Maybe crickets don't take into account the extra leap year day every four years like we humans so their cricket calendar may be a day behind our human calendar.

I was reading about crickets on the Internet and it is said that some insects in their dried form are said to have twice the protein as meat and other insects have important vitamins and minerals. Maybe the federal government will soon start mandating that people start eating more crickets and other bugs instead of beef as cows are known to emit a lot of flatulent methane gas which is said to contribute to greenhouse gasses and global warming although this year we haven't had a hot summer in New England compared with previous years. Maybe crunching on crickets is already gaining popularity around the world and people are already starting to eat less meat. In Taiwan, stir fried crickets are a delicacy. The government in Thailand encouraged its citizens to eat locusts when pesticides failed to control them and distributed locust recipes (yum,yum).

Perhaps President Obama will encourage Americans to forsake beef and start eating insects as part of his "Change we can believe in" policy to help save the planet.

Crickets are one of my favorite insects and in the Far East crickets have been kept as pets. Crickets can jump up to three feet in height which is quite a feat given their small size. Imagine if a basketball player could jump the equivalent height? A basketball player sized cricket could probably jump about one hundred seventeen feet high. By Jiminy, you would surely need a basketball rim higher than the current ten foot rim in use today.

"YES WE CAN ! (RAISE YOUR TAXES)

"Yes we can!" (raise your taxes). Fresh off celebrating his birthday yesterday; Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick can celebrate today August 1st as the first day of the new state sales tax increase as the state tax rises from a previous five percent to the now 6.25% level with a new tax now on all liquor products on top of the current excise taxes already assessed on liquor.

In this booming economy (not) it only makes sense to raise taxes to stimulate the private sector (not) to have employers expand their businesses and hire more people. I'm sure that the Massachusetts store owners in towns near the New Hampshire border are jumping for joy and singing high praise and gratitude for this new tax rate as they are all going to be swamped with new business and will have to hire so many more people just to ring the cash register. This new tax is "Change you can believe in!" "Yes we can" pay more now for everything we buy. Since some people attribute a higher price to mean usually a better quality product; then that must mean the Massachusetts Budweiser beer is far superior to New Hampshire Budweiser beer even though there is a Budweiser brewery in New Hampshire and no Budweiser brewery in Massachusetts. The reason I guess for a higher Budweiser beer price in Massachusetts than in New Hampshire must be because with Budweiser's "beechwood aged" process these cans of "Bud" are slightly older and must taste slightly better in Massachusetts as it takes time to truck the beer from New Hampshire to Massachusetts.

If this new tax is the type of "change" that the people of Massachusetts voted for then I say "Keep the change" and "Change is all we will have left".

"Yes we can!" have change in our government. Maybe a good place to start would be in a change in leadership in the governor's office and the state legislature. Then again, " We get the government we deserve", maybe Massachusetts is trying to regain its former title of "Taxachusetts" and was concerned that some other states were trying to get the better of us as they had higher taxes in some areas than Massachusetts.

We the people of Massachusetts will not stand by and let other states have a higher tax rate than us. We will fight to have the highest tax rates possible. We will NEVER surrender our right to have the highest taxes and only vote for political candidates who promise to waste money and raise our taxes.

Are you with me? YES! Do you support higher taxes? YES!! Can we raise the taxes even higher?

"YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!!, YES WE CAN!!! "
TAXES ARE COOL!, IF YOU DON'T LIKE TAXES YOU MUST BE A FOOL!!

"LONG LIVE TAXACHUSETTS!!!" YEA,YEA, YIPPEEEEEEEE!!!!!