Nature & Science
Remember Venus hanging low in the southwestern sky after sunset during summer? Tomorrow morning you’ll find the same brilliant planet low in the eastern sky before sunrise. It is a dramatic shift. Tomorrow morning Venus is joined by the crescent moon. The two are close together. They both rise together as daylight approaches. Sunrise is after 6 a.m.; so the best view is probably around 5 a.m. and earlier.
Whoa, where do I start? This long weekend brought several goodies for the Vineyard birders. It all started on Thursday, August 30, when Dick Jennings, who runs the Cape Pogue trips for The Trustees of Reservations, called in the morning to say he had spotted a marbled godwit at Cape Pogue the day before and was able to get a photo of the bird the next day. Great excitement resulted.
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
August 31 86 63 .00
Sept. 1 82 64 .05
Sept. 2 77 54 .00
Sept. 3 78 56 .00
Sept. 4 80 63 .00
Sept. 5 80 54 .00
Sept. 6 77 57 .00
Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 71º F.
Approval of a mussel farm permit this week may lead to a collegial effort to clean up Menemsha Pond.
In the process of approving Hollis Smith’s aquaculture permit request, conversation expanded to disclose informal discussions between Chilmark and Aquinnah town officials and Wampanoag tribal members to work together to clean the pond.
Menemsha Pond waters lie in both Chilmark and Aquinnah and have been separately maintained by each town historically. The pond has not been dredged since 1971 and “has been dying for 20 years,” Mr. Smith said.
Don’t even get me started about the use of public land by private corporations.
A staff report released by the Cape Cod Commission this week gives a decidedly mixed review to the controversial plan by Cape Wind Associates to build 130 wind turbines on Horseshoe Shoal. The report finds that Cape Wind’s plan to connect the turbines to land in West Yarmouth through underwater electricity transmission lines meets only eight of 32 performance standards set by the commission.
In general, the staff report concluded, a good deal more information is needed in order to satisfy the requirements of the commission.
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.