The Best of the Outer Cape: 2011

New Year’s Eve brings reflections of the passing year: the best, the worst, trends to welcome and trends, like the Kardashians, to which we hopefully bid adieu.

So what were Trail Hound’s highlights of 2011?  No boring rehash here – there’s one delightful geocache published in September that puts together a stellar sampling of the Outer Cape all in one five-leg multicache.  The name, logically enough, is “A Great 5-leg Multicache from Wellfleet to P’Town.”

With a few simple calculations from interpretive panels and local sites, the cache takes the intrepid traveler from the wonders of Wellfleet’s beautiful kettle ponds, to the Truro dunes overlooking the Outer Shore, to a landmark lighthouse, to the charm of vintage Provincetown.

For the geocaching tourist or anyone who wants to revisit the best of the Outer Cape, this cache provides a fine roadmap.

Have a safe and healthy New Year.

Happy Trails.

 Images, from top:

Long Pond – Wellfleet

Truro Overlook

Highland Light

Carpe Diem

New Year's Day Football Lines, Predictions

The Perfect Way To Start The New Year

Many of you, myself included, take it easy on New Year's Eve. I like to get to bed early, there are cops and drunks all over the roads, and temperatures are usually frigid on NYE. Shoot, I missed NYE 1999 because I was sick in bed with the last flu I ever had. I could hear the huge party five doors down when I wasn't sinking in and out of feverish sleep. If you have that going on tonight, I've been there before.

Others like to go out among the proles. Going into Boston, doing First Night, watching some fireworks, checking the Freaks... it's a very nice way to close out/start off a year. I heartily recommend doing so as a family once the youngest kid can stay up til 1 AM or so without getting all cranky and needing-to-be-carried and stuff.

Others like to make a Beast of themselves, for, as someone said, it takes away the pain of being a man. I'm not going to tell you that many NYE's haven't passed that saw me stumbling down a street, full of wine, pausing to fight passerby or projectile-vomit onto people I had been sexually harassing. If you know me, you wouldn't buy it anyhow.

But however you may spend NYE, the perfect way to spend New Year's Day is to lounge on a couch and watch the NFL for 11 straight hours. Maybe you invite the family over for a nice dinner. Maybe you take down the Christmas tree. Maybe you get a heaping helping of The Hair Of The Dog Who Bit Ye. Maybe you're alone, or maybe you're even booting heroin while not knowing exactly what day it is.

I get a big gathering of friends, cook up a mammoth pile of food (for large gatherings, I recommend Olde Cape Cod Whale Stew), mostly stick to marijuana, and sort of just focus on the games most of the day. It's actually a terrible day for Sports Betting, although many will be using this week to try to even out the numbers a bit as the season comes to a close.

The problem with betting NFL games on Week 17 is that the usual motivations for the players have changed in many cases. Some teams are fighting for the right to be in the playoffs. Some teams are already in the playoffs, and are just trying to not get injured. Some teams have been eliminated since October, and basically have Senioritis at this point. Some guys on the fringes will be using this game to audition for next season. Some guys will be hung over.

Only a desperate man or a fool would gamble upon the outcomes of these contests... and, as life shows us from time to time, it is often the fool who becomes the desperate man.

Please also check out Mayan-themed forecasts at my friend's site. Please remember that any betting lines here are For Entertainment Purposes Only.

1/1 1:00 ET At New England -10 Buffalo 50 (CBS-4)

New England is fighting for home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and can guarantee it with a win. Buffalo started strong, before undergoing a terrific crash that may land the team in Toronto someday. Buffy pwned us earlier in the season, and many guys on this team will be playing for their jobs.

However, if I lived in Buffalo (the most boring city I ever have been to personally, and I lived in Worcester for a year), I'd be a heavy drinker. I never bet on even presumed heavy drinkers on the day after NYE, and this supercedes all other factors outside of things like "team plane crash.".

New England, 41-24

1/1 1:00 ET At Philadelphia -8.5 Washington 45.5

You know that, at some point every Christmas season, Michael Vick wonders if/how he could get two reindeers to fight. "I gotta go to motherfuc**g Finland some day, playboy."

Philly, 30-7 

1/1 4:15 ET At Atlanta -11 Tampa Bay 45.5

My brother is up from Florida, so I got to tell my Tampa Bay joke for the 100th time. It's a bit raunchy for the newspaper, but the punchline is the hillbilly telling his daughter, "I didn't say I was going to take you to Florida when you turned 16, Betty Sue.... I said I was gon' Tampa with ya."

I guess I sort of actually omitted all of the joke except the raunchy part. Sorry about that. It's probably why ESPN never calls me.

Atlanta, 20-7

1/1 1:00 ET San Francisco -10.5 At St. Louis 35.5

St. Louis actually needs to lose this game while concurrently rooting for Indianapolis to win. Whoever gets the #1 overall pick will be able to demand a king's ransom for it.

San Francisco, 21-10

1/1 1:00 ET At Minnesota -1.5 Chicago 41

Minnesota can't get the #1 overall, as they'd lose all the tiebreakers. That's too bad, because they could really use that Andrew Luck guy. This will be a game full of people who have already booked flights South, probably for like 5 PM or so. If I were a Minnesota millionaire who suddenly didn't have to be in January Minnesota anymore, I'd be Audi like motherf***ing Curt Gowdy, probably while still in my uniform.

Minny, 13-12

1/1 1:00 ET Detroit -3 At Green Bay 43.5
On paper, this is a great game. In reality, the outcome doesn't matter much for either team playoff-wise. Everyone was making it rain or doing the Discount Double Check last night. They don't want to give away even a hint of what their game plan is vis a vis the other before the playoffs. You don't want to get anyone injured.

Detroit, who can gain or lose a spot in the playoff seeding, will be looking at either dominant Green Bay or how'd-they-get-here San Francisco. To bet this game, you'd have to watch how San Francisco and New Orleans are doing in their games. Once you figure out where SF/NO will be seeded, you either than win or lose to avoid the more dangerous Saints team. If the numbers break wrong, Detroit may end the game by running the ball into their own endzone to lose on purpose or something. Green Bay may kill them anyhow.

I wouldn't touch this game with a six and a half foot Pole, and neither would Ron Gronkowski. I can do it here for entertainment purposes, but I wouldn't bet a bad penny on it IRL.

Green Bay, 47-6

1/1 1:00 ET At New Orleans -7.5 Carolina 54.5

The 49ers own the tiebreaker if both teams win, I think. Unless a rotten Rams team is destroying the 49ers, the Saints can gain nothing but the risk of injury by playing their good people. They have to get way ahead early in this one, and then watch the scoreboard.

New Orleans, 30-24 (although, if SF gets up 21 points early in their game, this could be Carolina, 31-14)

1/1 1:00 ET Tennessee -2.5 At Houston 40

This game is pivotal. Houston is guaranteed a playoff spot, but they have no QB and have several key defenders missing. Every team in the playoffs will be watching this one, and perhaps angling themselves to play Houston.. as opposed to taking on the Steelers or rolling the dice with that Jesus Tebow motherf***r. Houston has many good reasons to just sit anyone who can even kinda play.

Tennessee, 14-13

1/1 4:15 ET Pittsburgh -7 At Cleveland 35

Pittsburgh has the chance of both being the #2 seed in the AFC or playing a road game against Christ incarnate in the Rocky Mountains.

Pittsburgh, 16-3

1/1 1:00 ET At Jacksonville -3.5 Indianapolis 37.5

Especially where this game is in Florida, one could understand if both teams decided to skip this game and just let the cheerleaders wrestle for the benefit of the season standings. God didn't make all that coastline so people could sit inside and watch a 2-13 team play a 4-11 one. God made that game so that people would have something to do with Rum.

Indianapolis, 21-17

1/1 1:00 ET At Miami -3 NY Jets 41

As much fun as Rex Ryan is, a loss here would stand a 40% chance of ending his Jets career. It would be cool if Bill Belichick pulled Rex Ryan off the unemployment line... at the cost of having to kiss Bill's Super Bowl rings.

NYJ, 23-10

1/1 4:15 ET At Oakland -3 San Diego 47.5

If San Diego wins and Denver loses.... well, just read this:

If, at the end of the regular season, two or more clubs in the same division finish with identical won-lost-tied percentages, the following steps will be taken until a champion is determined.

Two Clubs

Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs).

Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.

Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.

Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.

Strength of victory.

Strength of schedule.

Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.

Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.

Best net points in common games.Best net points in all games.

Best net touchdowns in all games.

Coin toss

I want to see how this works out, so I'll bet along those lines.

San Diego, 20-19

1/1 4:15 ET Baltimore -2 At Cincinnati 39

Cincy is playing for their lives, while Baltimore can still be the top seed through the playoffs if things break right... or can be a road wild card team if things break wrong. This game is for all the marbles.

They're called the Bungles for a reason, folks...

Baltimore, 34-0

Before we proceed,,,, watch this.

1/1 4:15 ET At Denver -3 Kansas City 37

See final line of the SD/Oakland prediction. It would be fun to see Tim Tebow in the playoffs and someone asks him about Tom Brady ditching Bridget Moynihan or however you spell that. Tebow will reply that Brady is most likely Damned, and oh, the fun we'll have after he does something like that.

KC QB Kyle Orton can knock the team that dumped him (and the QB who took his job) out of the playoffs with a great performance and some cooperation from Oakland.

KC, 20-19

1/1 4:15 ET At Arizona -3 Seattle 41

Both teams are eliminated. Pete Carroll will have his boys more jacked and pumped, however.

Seattle, 20-17

1/1 8:20 ET At NY Giants -3 Dallas 47 (NBC-7)

The winner wins the NFC East, and the loser is eliminated. The question isn't IF the game will somehow be decided by Tony Romo botching a critical play, it is WHEN and HOW he does so. The only way it doesn't happen is if the Gods have some sort of plan for Romo to fail on a higher stage. If he does so, there's a pretty good chance that Dallas just gives away Romo and their entire 2012 draft for a shot at that quarterback from Stanford.

NYG, 28-27

Savings Reflection of 2011.

2011 was a great year for me, savings wise.  I learned more savings tips and tricks then I have since I have started this whole "savings sha-bang" in 2009.  The most important thing I learned, is how invaluable coupons really are.

Coupons make me a stockpile, a stockpile takes care of my family and I. Particularly, my stockpile took care of my family and I for nearly 3 months straight this year after my husband was badly injured. I had no need of running to the store for toilet paper, baby diapers, laundry detergent, deodorant, or any other staples such as groceries such as rice, canned foods, juices, so on and so forth.  I considered myself lucky that I did not need to run to the store, simply because I would not have been able to do so while caring for my husband.  I would have had to depend on other people to help me with shopping, and lord knows I hate depending on other people for anything.  I'm a stubborn Taurus, a Taurus to the T-asking for help and depending on others literally PAINS me.

I also learned to "stick to my guns" and shop via the internet as much as possible.  Shopping via the internet saved me money on gas, and earned me money in return by using Ebates (I have mentioned this website countless times, it truly is an invaluable source especially if you shop online a lot).  Whenever I did shop in-store, I chose to do so at local businesses because I feel that supporting local non-chain small businesses is important in this economy.

I made other savings adaptions too, particularly learning how to navigate CVS's Extra Care Bucks program efficiently and effectively.   You can read all about the wonderful savings program CVS offers *here*.  In addition, I also started shopping for office supplies and school supplies for my children at Discount Office Items (which is Ebates friendly).  Although a store like Staples offers a great rewards program, I find that Discount Office Items offers more variety in product, and at steeper discounts.

I am still compiling the grand total of money I saved this year via couponing, shopping online, and participating in the CVS Extra Care Bucks Program.  I can tell you that my total exceeds $6,500.00 so far,  but I am still waiting for a few more reports to come in :)

2012 brings even more savings opportunities, another year for me to hone my money-saving skills and share them with my readers.  If you aren't familiar with my website The Savings Momma, please feel free to check it out.  You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter. 

In closing, I hope that this new year brings my readers  happiness, luck, and a boat load of savings! Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve Forecast, Long Range Concern

Looks Like A Nice Night To Make A Beast Of Yourself.... Storm In 10 Days?

New Year's Eve should be clear and cold. Not terrible cold, but 30s. You want to bring a jacket, but you may not have to wear a ski jacket if you plan on just running from the car to the tavern. Any showers we get today (and some are incoming) will be gone by 8 PM or so, although it will be rather breezy.

The long range forecast shows a relatively cold week, with highs only getting into the 30s Tuesday. Wednesday is forecast to be 25 degrees in Buzzards Bay. Things warm up into the 40s next weekend, but that is just a lead-in to a storm that is being forecast.

Monday, January 9th will start warm, but a pile of precipitation will come in. Temps will be near 50 at the start, but will plummet into the 30s as darkness falls. The precip will continue into Tuesday, January 10th, turning into snow. It won't be a lot of snow, maybe 3-4 inches. It could even end up as all rain. However, the winds will be howling in the 30s, with guts maybe reaching 70 mph.

Remember, snow totals aren't key to a blizz... uhm, the B word. You just need it to be snowing with winds over 35 mph. That makes for whiteout conditions and treacherous travel. No one will be looking back and remembering the 2012 Blizzard if we only get 3 inches of snow over 8 hours, but a little bit of temperature fluctuations will make everybody forget about that warm December with the quickness. It'll probably turn to rain anyhow.

We're 10 days from this storm, no Boston weatherpeople are mentioning it, but I saw the "snow, gusts to 71 mph" in the long range forecast, and I thought I'd let you know about it.

Mr. Paul, Meet Mr. Barkley

                                                                   Mr. Paul, Meet Mr. Barkley  

         "Why don't you go back and look at what I said yesterday on CNN . . . " -Ron Paul, 12/28/11 

                   "Sometimes they write what I say and not what I mean."  - Pedro Guerrero

              GOP Presidential hopeful Ron Paul is drawing some much deserved heat over hate-filled racist comments made in his newsletter back in the 1980s and 1990s.  This was a newsletter issued in his name, with comments claiming to be from his own "perspective," comparing Afro-Americans to zoo animals, slandering Jews, calling for a race war on American soil and promoting right wing fringe-group militias.

            Those newsletters were in his name, which means he owned them then and he owns them now.  Still he's trying to distance himself from the message, by saying he didn't write them. Why, he didn't even read them before they went out in his name.  Of course not but, still, he can't name the handful of other individuals who he now claims actually wrote the newsletters issued in his name which he didn't read.

           Even more interesting is the fact that when confronted earlier about this issue, in 1996, he told the Dallas Morning News that he in fact had read at least some of the newsletters and went on to expand on one passage, issued in his first-person voice, saying that 95 percent of black males in Washington, DC, were "semi-criminal or entirely criminal."  Back then, he defended that comment as being based on "outside research".  Now, though, he says never even read it, telling Gloria Borger on CNN that "I never read that stuff."

            Mr. Paul should definitely sit down with Charles Barkley for an interesting discussion.  He can try to convince Mr. Barkley, an Afro-American athlete, that he didn't say the hateful racist things that appeared in his own neswletter.  Mr. Barkley, in turn, can tell Mr. Paul all about how he was "misquoted" in his autobiography, Outrageous, which trashed 76ers' owner Harold Katz and said his grandmother could score more points than his teammate Manute Bol.

           Perhaps they'll believe each other's denials, Paul didn't write or even read the first-person passages in his own newsletter and Barkley was "misquoted" in his autobiography as he told the media.  It's clear, however, that nobody else with a functioning brain can believe either one of them.  It's like former All-Star first baseman Pedro Guererro complaining about sportswriters who wrote what he said and not what he meant.

            The difference, though, is that Barkley's denial was merely laughable because his statements were directed at the competence of specific individuals who he knew personally in the relatively trivial world of professional sports.  Meanwhile, in stark contrast, Paul's racist, anti-semitic generalizations were a blatantly hate-filled appeal to the very worst elements in American society.  While Barkley was worried about repercussions in the trivial arena of professional sports, Paul is clearly worried about his past appeals to white supremacists and anti-semitics coming back up to bite his behind in the far more critical arena of Presidential politics -and they damned well should, big time.

           There are only two conclusions to draw about Ron Paul in light of the undeniable fact of his newsletter's blatant racism and his present denials.  He is either a Gingrich class liar or, if you believe his denials, he is so grossly incompetent he couldn't be trusted with the presidency of a redneck gun club, never mind the United States of America.  Those two conclusions, by the way, are not mutually exclusive. 

.                                  

Barnstable County man in critical condition after possible bat bite

First case of human rabies in Massachusetts since 1935

A Barnstable County man in his 60s is hospitalized and in critical condition after contracting rabies.  It is the first case of human rabies in the Commonwealth since 1935, according to a release from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH).

Although awaiting confirmation from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the man most likely contracted rabies through a bat bite.

Rabies is treatable if caught before symptoms show, but almost impossible to cure after. According to the DPH, it is possible to be bitten by a bat without even knowing it, especially while sleeping.

Rabies was first discovered in bats in the Bay State in 1961, according to the DPH. If you are bitten or scratched by a wild animal, you should wash the wound thoroughly and contact your doctor to determine if treatment for rabies is necessary.

The Department of Public Health's website includes several important tips if you or your family come in contact with a bat or other wild animal.  Click here for details and here for instructions on capturing bats.

State health officials have yet to release the man's name.

Congressman Keating to host "Breakfast with Bill" January 7 in Hyannis

MA 10th District Congressman William Keating will host "Breakfast with Bill" next Saturday, January 7 at Caffé e Dolci in Hyannis. The breakfast, which is open to all, will be from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

All are welcome to come and speak with Congressman Keating.

Caffé e Dolci is at 430 Main Street in Hyannis.

To learn more about Congressman Keating, visit his website here.

Email us any upcoming Cape Cod political events (campaign kick-offs, fund raisers, informational sessions, debates, monthly meetings, etc.) and we'll feature them here on our Cape Cod Political calendar.

Just 'n time for your New Year's Party (next year)

Olde Cape Cod Whale Stew

Preparation time: 4 to 5 weeks depending on size.
Cooking time: 12 to 15 days, depending on size.
Serves: Population of Truro (1,500).

Ingredients:

• One whale, large.
• One-ton truckload of potatoes, chopped.
• Small pick-up truckload carrots, diced.
• Six wheelbarrow loads of onions, thinly sliced.

Peel skin from whale, and cut into one-inch pieces. This should take less than a month. Place all ingredients in a 700 gallon pot. Simmer for two weeks or until potatoes are done. Add Sea Salt and Pepper, garnish with Seaweed. Drain whale blubber and serve hot at the beach.

Note: A microwave oven may be used if one large enough is available. Cooking time may be reduced to two weeks if cooked at high.

-- Recipe discovered in an ancient book of New England Humor
by Chef May Bangs Twite, Oak Bluffs, MA

1962: Epic blizzard blasts Northeast, 18 die

1962: The storm claimed at least 18 lives and created snow drifts 20 feet deep

On this day, the last of 1962, a savage winter storm, "a freak of nature" as described by the Associated Press, "continued its merciless assault on the Northeast Monday, with below-zero temperatures and howling, destructive winds."

The storm claimed at least 18 lives and created snow drifts 20 feet deep, temperatures plunging to 35 below zero on the summit of Mount Washington and winds gusting to 80 miles per hour.

"New Year's Eve celebrations were curtailed in many areas by the ravages of the gale," the AP reported.

A NEW YEAR?S EVE TO REMEMBER

Camp Zama, Japan was like paradise after Korea.  The band barracks was in the former Japanese Officers’ Club.  It sat upon a hill with many steps leading down to a giant Torii.*  After Quonset huts in Korea, the parquet floors and chandeliers were jarring; and there were houseboys who took care of everything.  They did laundry, pressed uniforms, cleaned our rooms and even helped dress us.  All of this was designed to make us feel special; and we were special, most of the band members were drafted out of America’s best music schools—Julliard, Eastman, the University of Indiana. 

My journey to this place had started when I enlisted in the Army as a trumpet player.  A fistfight at Fort Riley during Basic Training left me with two busted lips and four missing front teeth.  Unable to play the trumpet, I was shipped out to Korea where I served in a Heavy Mortar Company and did some reconnaissance until the night my squad bumped into a Chinese Platoon-----bad news all around.  My last day in the hospital saw the arrival of Corporal Nick Mallick.  “You were in a high school band,” he said while looking at my records.

“But I don’t know if I can still play,” I said.

“You know how to hold the horn, don’t you?” said Nick, “the General wants to field a large band.”

And so I went from a fortified bunker to a Quonset hut with central heating, showers and a bathroom. Amazing at the time, but nothing like Zama.  The Zama Band played concerts mainly; although I very much enjoyed marches down Japanese streets, especially when our bagpipers played their whining reels in between marches.  The Japanese were mesmerized by the Scottish get-up and the looks on their faces were precious.

I had a mentor in the band, a Sgt. Lee Carpenter, who explained to me that his real name was Zimmerman.  “I am one hundred percent German,” he said with pride.

He introduced me to Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.  He taught me how to play the flute and explained chords on the piano that amazed me.  In short, I followed him around like a pup and he used to say with a twist of irony, “Rojay, you’re my Jew.”

At the end of that first year, when New Year’s Eve came, I was scheduled to pull CQ Duty at midnight.  There was one other Jew in the band—Mark Emanuel—from Loss Angeles and we naturally pulled Duty on Christian holidays—Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Easter.  We didn’t complain; after all, we had Rosh Hashanah—Yom Kippur (10 days), Hanukkah (8 days) and Passover (one week).  Every Jew in the Army became religious in order to enjoy these benefits. 

But back to New Year’s Eve…….  When Carpenter and I stole into the NCO Club, we saw a large sign that read “Mixed Drinks—ten cents apiece”.  In four hours, as midnight drew nigh, I had spent $2.70, made a fool out of myself several times and was rebuffed by every woman I approached. 

Perhaps because of adrenalin, or some other inner workings of my body, the twenty-seven vodka martinis that I drank caused me to become stone-cold sober with a hydrogen bomb going off in my brain.

Carpenter helped me back to the Company and I relieved the night CQ at five till twelve.  I don’t remember the New Year being rung in, I don’t remember the crack and boom of fireworks; I passed out cold. 

When I came to at daybreak, devils from the underworld were stabbing my stomach with sabers and daggers and knives.  I cried out in pain until the ambulance arrived.  A shot of Phenobarbital put me away again. 

When I came to in the hospital, I was told they had pumped my stomach.  I was told that I had alcohol poisoning; I was told that I would be eating rice pudding and Jell-O into the foreseeable future; I was told I was lucky to be alive. 

I lay in my hospital bed for a week in a state of suspension.  I had been threatened with Court Martial for “Dereliction of Duty”. 

My ordeal came to an end when two females entered my room and closed the door behind them.  One was a quite pretty doctor and the other was a very pretty nurse.  “We have come for a sperm sample,” they said in unison and then they put on rubber gloves.

Lenin said that “paper will withstand anything you write on it” but I will not write what they did to me; and to this day, I wonder what a sperm sample had to do with twenty-seven vodka martinis. 

*A sign of the Shinto Religion-----two vertical columns joined at the top by two horizontal beams.

______________________________________________________________________________
Be sure to watch David Rojay on The Dave Rojay Show each Saturday night at 9:30 on Channel 17. Read A RED STATE HERO and THE LONG BRIDGE RUNNER—current chapter The Panther by David Rojay on capecodtoday.com and finally check out David Rojay on YOUTUBE. For more information, Google "David Rojay".