EXTRA...

Wild Turkey; Five Days in Summer; Musical mystery; Thanksgiving myths debunked; One good hit deserves another

TODAY's quote: "The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts.  No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving."  ~H.U. Westermayer

Book Review:
"Five Days In Summer"

For Emily Parker, mother of three, her life, unknown to her, began to unravel the moment she decided to go to the local grocery store. It was supposed to be simple enough as their last summer vacation before school starts winds down. She was leaving in the morning with the kids and returning home to New York as she wanted to leave the house stocked with food for her mom, Sarah. She never returns.
   For Will, her husband, his carefully constructed life begins to unravel the moment his mother-in-law calls him late at night. Will knows what the death of a parent can do to a child having lost both of his when he was four due to a car crash. He also knows that Emily would not have just vanished. Before long he is on the road speeding south, to Cape Cod and his mother-in-law's home seeking answers... Blogger News Network. See the book.

10 Things to Know About Thanksgiving
A couple are the opposite of what you've been taught

The first Thanksgiving. The earliest Thanksgiving celebration by European settlers in what is now North America was not held by the Pilgrims in 1621. The first documented Thanksgiving observance was held on May 27, 1578 in New Foundland. There also may have been a Thanksgiving service in Maine in 1607. Historians also speculate that Spanish explorers observed days of Thanksgiving in Florida even before 1578. (Learn more: Smithsonian Institution).

Pilgrim Prayers. It is probable that the Pilgrims did not consider the celebration they held with the local Indians to be a Thanksgiving observance. For the deeply religious settlers, Thanksgiving was a prayerful occasion reserved for church. They would have considered feasting, music and dance inappropriate as part of a Thanksgiving service. (Learn more:History.com).

Dinner Guests. It was not only Christian Europeans who had a tradition of giving thanks. The Wampanoag Indians, who were the Pilgrims' guests for the 3-day celebration in 1621, had long celebrated a festival of Thanksgiving they called Nickommoh. The celebration included give-away ceremonies, feasting, dancing and sports and games. (Learn more: Plimoth Plantation)... WTOL.
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Musical Mystery on Cape Cod
Who abandoned piano in the woods?

Was it a theft? A prank? A roundabout effort to bring some holiday cheer to the police? Authorities in Harwich, Massachusetts, are probing the mysterious appearance of a piano, in good working condition, in the middle of the woods

Discovered by a woman who was walking a trail, the Baldwin Acrosonic piano, model number 987, is intact -- and, apparently, in key.

Sgt. Adam Hutton of the Harwich Police Department said information has been broadcast to all the other police departments in the Cape Cod area in hopes of drumming up a clue, however minor it may be.

But so far, the investigation is flat.

Also of note: Near the mystery piano -- serial number 733746 -- was a bench, positioned as though someone was about to play. The piano was at the end of a dirt road, near a walking path to a footbridge in the middle of conservation land in Harwich... CNN.
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Don't let my Thanksgiving debunking distract you from dinner
The Separatists, not Pilgrims, landed in Ptown, not Plymouth

Nearly a century ago, Henry Ford told the Chicago Tribune : "History is more or less bunk." He could have been talking about Thanksgiving. Most of what we know about the holiday, we don't really know.  It began with the folks we call Pilgrims. They were indeed pilgrims, but they called themselves Separatists (from the English church), Saints and, later, Forefathers. A couple of centuries after that, they were handed the moniker Pilgrim Fathers, and they weren't around to refute it.

They weren't somber fuddy-duddies in black clothes, big hats and belt buckles

They weren't somber fuddy-duddies in black clothes, big hats and belt buckles. The Victorians gave them that image. Neither were they Puritans, who wanted to purify the church, not break away from it. The Puritans settled in Boston years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in late 1620.

Actually, the Mayflower first landed at Provincetown, later reaching Plymouth, where the passengers went ashore in a smaller boat called a shallop. They didn't land on Plymouth Rock, either; that public relations gem arose 120 years later.

The Mayflower apparently was headed for the northern edge of the Virginia Colony, which included today's New York state. But after a four-month voyage, and facing winter, they had to go ashore in Massachusetts -- "our victuals being much spent, especially our beer ..."

They survived winter aboard ship and in an Indian village wiped out by plague brought by earlier Europeans (log cabins didn't exist in America yet). They scavenged graves and stores of grain. Despite all that, they got the natives' help that winter and at spring planting... Augusta Chronicle.
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One good hit deserves another?
Ptown utility pole gets whacked two times in one week

An accident involving a car and an NStar telephone pole early Sunday morning on Bradford Street was almost identical to another car crash involving the same electrical pole only a week before.   According to the police report, a car driven by Jose Pimentel, 47, of Provincetown, ran into an electrical pole located at 123 Bradford St. A 911 call to police just after 4 a.m. reported that the car had suffered significant damage and the driver had blood on his face... Banner.
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Home to roost
Protection boosts wild turkey numbers

On these pages you will find information on the biology, habitat requirements, and natural history of this striking Massachusetts native as well as information on the bird's history, restoration, and status. The information posted below is packed with details!

In 1961, you could drive from Provincetown to Plymouth to Pittsfield and never cross paths with a wild turkey.  But then, wild turkeys had not graced a Thanksgiving dinner table here in nearly a century.  Today, the game bird so admired by Benjamin Franklin is found throughout the commonwealth, with the exception of Nantucket.

The state population is estimated at 25,000, and wildlife biologist James E. Cardoza draws satisfaction from having played a key role in the turkey's restoration.

The 39-year veteran of the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife said while the bald eagle and peregrine falcon restoration programs may be more high profile, the turkey's steady comeback garners his vote for being the agency's most successful restoration program among similar programs throughout the Northeast... Worcester Telegram. 

[From Mass, Division of Wildlife] On Cape Cod, Barnstable County, turkeys may be found on and near the Massachusetts Military Reservation and the Cape Cod National Seashore. These birds have also moved northward from releases in Plymouth County into southern Norfolk County. About 1600, the wild turkey was found throughout much of eastern and central North America, from southern Ontario through at least 39 of the present states, and in Mexico. Prior to European colonization, turkeys were widely used for food, apparel, and artifacts by Native Americans. When the Europeans came, wild turkeys became an important source of food for the settlers, and were hunted year-round without the benefit of game laws. The hardwood forests were also rapidly cleared for farms, dwellings, and villages. As early as 1672, the wild turkey was considered rare in the vicinity of Boston.

Can they fly? Wild turkeys can and do fly. Although these birds may sometimes weigh over 25 pounds, their strong muscles and wings allow them powerful flight over short distances. However, adults rarely fly with continuous wingbeats for more than about 1/8 mile. When gliding with periodic wingbeats-- such as flying downslope-- turkeys can fly about 1 mile without difficulty. Their flight speed has been estimated as up to 55 to 60 mph. By nature, however, turkeys are "cursorial" (running) birds and they prefer to move about and escape on foot except when startled or severely chased.