This weekend offers an early morning show. Three planets and a star line up in the eastern sky before sunrise. Venus is the brightest of the three and works as an easy guide to find the other two. Above and to the right of Venus is the ringed planet Saturn. To the left and below Venus there is the always-hard-to-find planet Mercury.

The bright star Spica, the main star in the zodiacal constellation Virgo, can be seen above all three and to the right.

The time is drawing nigh for Santa Claus to land on the roof and slide down the chimney with a satchel full of toys for young and old. There are a good number of Vineyard homeowners that have a cap over their chimneys to prevent birds, squirrels and other critters from coming down the chimney for an unexpected visit. Those of you who have caps and worry about Santa Claus not finding an alternate route to enter your house and deliver your Christmas goodies might think about removing the chimney cap. However, I do not suggest this and here is why!

This is one that I can really sink my teeth into!

It has all the elements of a great story — an unusual find, a link to the past, a creature of epic proportions, and did I mention colossal choppers?

It is hard not to get excited about the mammoth megalodon and even more difficult to deny its dental distinction.

Admit it, you always knew the trees were talking to you. The branches sway and wave, the wind moves through the leaves whispering words of the ancients. But up until now you didn’t know how to respond beyond a bit of marveling or maybe some brushing of the bark. But this Saturday, Dec. 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. you can learn to deepen your connection with the green world at a workshop entitled Communing with the Tree Spirits

Jim Athearn is excited about the genetic possibilities from his new bull Moshup.

“We need to get into better breeding in two respects — better percentage of calves each year from the females we have, and have each one grow to be a profitable size,” Mr. Athearn said, looking over his cow herd in Chilmark. The owner of Morning Glory Farm will be the first to admit that the farm’s strengths lie in their vegetables and not in their meat production, and he’d like to do better.

Next week the deer hunting season shifts from bow and arrow to shotgun.

“You are up close and personal when you are in archery season, at 20, maybe 30 yards away,” said Walter Ashley, an experienced hunter on the Island. “With a shotgun, it’s not so critical.”

Mr. Ashley has been hunting for nearly 50 years, whether it be bow and arrow, shotgun or muzzleloader.

“I’d go if they had a stick and stone season,” he said.