Nantucket

New Year's Resolutions

New Year's has come and gone. 
For some people so have their New Year's resolutions.

I've never been a big fan of New Year's resolutions.  I usually make some sort of half-hearted attempt at promising myself that I'll do something better in the New Year but ultimately, I usually forget what it was that I promised myself I would do in the first place.   The other day I was trying to remember what I had told myself I would be better at this year and couldn't even remember what the hell I had resolved to do.  This is probably because I probably made a bunch of little promises to myself.   I'm sure that most of them were such a bunch of feel-good fluff that I never really meant to follow through with.   I'll bet this is true for a lot of people.   

Some New Year's resolutions are easy to spot on Nantucket. 

One of the major New Year's resolutions I see a lot of on Nantucket is people who resolve to get themselves into shape.   This is probably true in a lot of places.   People promise themselves they are going to lose 10  (0r 20 or 50) pounds, or take better care of themselves or whatever.  You see them out walking on the bike paths on Nantucket (sometimes in packs of 2 or 3 people;  safety in numbers I guess) and you think to yourself (as you drive by):  "Hmmm . . . I never see old so-and-so out walking.  Must be  a New Year's resolution."   This is usually followed by:  "He better keep on walking. . . he's really let himself go . . ." whilst chomping down on the second ham-and-cheese croissant of the morning. 

This  get-in-shape Nantucket New Year's resolution phenomenon tends to be more noticeable when you see someone that you've known as a driver all of their life suddenly out riding on a bike.   Sometimes you do a double-take to make sure it's who you thought it was.  Arms and legs akimbo, helmet on (usually backwards), and weaving dangerously all over the place.  Might as well be wearing a sign that says "WARNING: Attempting New Year's Resolution - stay BACK 500 feet!".

 Since I'm also a Spinning instructor at the local gym, I get to see a lot of bright-eyed Nantucket New Year's resolutioners walk through the doors of the gym the first week of January.  Intent on whipping themselves out of their holiday food-coma, they arrive with purpose and conviction, ready to strap themselves into whichever exercise machine has the biggest TV built into it.  Yes, fortunately for most resolutioners who are apprehensive about the sweat and pain they may incur at the gym, we, as a culture, haven't lost sight of the need for a TV to be installed on virtually every piece of gym equipment nowadays.   Don't worry, you can still watch Oprah (or "Real Stories of the Highway Patrol") while you flail away at Level 1 (easiest) on the "eliptical" trainer, which, seriously, looks like someone was kidding when they designed it.  Think cross-country skiing only you can ski backwards.  Yeah . . . I don't get it either.  Honestly though, for the most part, many American gyms are more comfy these days than a lot of peoples' homes.  You actually have to try pretty hard to work up a sweat. 

Many resolutioners arrive at the gym with visions of a svelte Dan Marino after a couple of weeks on NutriSystem.  Because with NutriSystem, he's in the "best shape of my life" . . . for real?  Was he in bad shape when he was a highly paid professional football player?  Now apparently all the ex-football (and baseball) players are shilling this stuff.   But many resolutioners balance their visions of those washboard abs with the fear of  looking like an idiot whilst trying to operate anything more complicated than a 5 lb. dumbell.   Rest assured, we all look like idiots on most of the equipment they have in gyms these days.  Even the most seasoned gym-goer has been known to shoot off the back of a treadmill every now and then.  No one even notices.  Their eyes are glued to the TV in front of them.  In my mind's eye I often think how ridiculous we look on this stuff.   Can you imagine someone from Afghanistan or Iraq walking into an American gym and seeing people on these machines?  Or in an aerobics class?   They'd be baffled as to what the hell we were doing to ourselves.

After a couple of weeks (right about now usually), the new sweatsuits, headbands, water bottles, iPods and yes, spandex, start to lose their appeal to many resolutioners.  Not that some of these things ever really made one feel good about those extra pounds since, at least as far as spandex goes, it tends to be pretty unflattering to most of us who are carrying a few dozen extra pounds.  This is particulary true for some of the more garish colors that look more like warnings to other deer hunters than cutting-edge fashion statements.  I think mostly this stuff is designed to show other people that you are "serious" about your workouts and to somehow convince yourself that, dammit,  you are too.  The brighter the colors, the more "serious" you must be.  I usually wear black.

Let's face it though.  Getting out of shape is easy (and tastes good).  Getting in shape is tough (and the food usually tastes like crap).  I have to say that the most successful and committed people that I see in the gym are either a.) competitive athletes of some kind, b.) have probably spent some serious time standing in front of a mirror naked and are horrified by what they see or c.) those who have had a significant health scare and essentially have a gun to their heads along with doctor's orders to take care of themselves or else. 

I wish good luck to all those who are giving it a shot this year though.   Remember that it takes more than a date on the calendar to make it stick.  I usually tell people to "start" their commitment to get into shape on a random Tuesday at noon and to only do about 15 minutes of exercise for the first week or so.  Takes the pressure of expectations off and allows you to set small, incremental and reasonable goals.  This also gives you time to make a thoughtful decision about how bright you want your spandex to be.   Once you get over the instant-gratification syndrome that Americans have come to expect and realize that even with amazing inventions like the "Ab-Lounger" (seriously? . . . you "lounge" while you work your abs?) and wonderous delicacies like NutriSystem food deliveries and its groundbreaking "glycemic advantage" (whatever the hell that means) it's all a process.   There aren't any easy ways out. . . sorry. 

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Winter Arrives on Nantucket

Winter got here yesterday. 

Or maybe it was the day before.  Can't say that we've got much to complain about so far though.  They say that the waters of Nantucket Sound insulate the island.  I guess this means that it's cooler in the summer than the real world and warmer in the winter.  Not sure if this factors in the windchill though.

I recall some winters from my younger days (ornery 'ol cuss that I am) that were simply God awful.  I remember '81 (or was it '83) when the water froze all the way to the mainland.  We were on the national news because they weren 't sure they could get a barge of heating oil into the harbor.  As it turns out they brought in a Coast Guard icebreaker and got the oil (and all the other boats) in here no problem.  There were a few 12 hour boat rides for people (I never was lucky enough to get on one of those), but other than that it was just COLD.  Back then there were only about 3,000 year-round residents.  I wonder how we'd fare these days with something closer to 15,000.

 So as it got cold I was thinking about . . . being warm. 

Thinking about chimneys 

Growing up I remember lots of nights in front of a warm fireplace.   We also had a woodstove in our basement and one of my jobs in my teens was to load the basement woodstove every night.  I was also tasked with cutting four (4) foot logs into three (3) sections (Dad was too cheap to buy cords of wood already cut) and loading them into the basement everytime the wood arrived.  Not sure what Dad was thinking in letting a 13 year-old run a 36" Stihl chainsaw for hours on end but I survived with all my digits and eyes intact.   So in thinking about fireplaces I began to think about chimneys on Nantucket.

Nantucket has lots of chimneys.  And they are all different.  Or at least they appear to be.  I walked around the core district (downtown) for about a half hour the other day and got a bunch of pictures of chimneys.  It's kind of funny how many different kinds there are and how you never really look up to see them.  When you do, it's quite interesting.  Makes me wonder about all the masons that have constructed chimneys on Nantucket over the years.

Some chimneys are big and fat.  Some are skinny.  Some are decorative.  Some are crooked.  Some are falling apart.  Some have "owls" on the top.  Some have caps.  Some are central chimneys.  Some are on the outside walls. 

I must've looked at about 50 chimneys in the 30 minutes I was walking around.   There's a lot of chimneys to look at if you just look up.  Interestingly, I didn't see smoke coming from any of them.  Maybe there's no one in these houses.   Kind of sad that there are so many empty fireplaces this time of year.

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Doing Christmas Doggy-Style

Christmas came early on Nantucket this year. 

At least for me.  It actually came about ten (10) days early and it came in the form of a 3-5 year old Corgi-Sheltie mix named, at least at the time of his arrival, "Clyde".

Clyde was picked up from Good Dog Rescue which is an affiliation of volunteers that rescue sick, "misunderstood" or abandoned dogs and after acclimating them in a "foster" home, put them out for adoption.   (See the site here.)

The adoption process is fairly rigorous and involves interviews, approval from your local vet, a not-insignificant adoption fee, etc.   It's quite an operation and obviously a good cause.

Clyde arrived on Nantucket and lived with me at the office until he was sprung on my 4 and 6 year old on Christmas morning.  Although a little subdued from his trip when he arrived, Cylde's batteries were quickly recharged when he met our office dog, Bosun (9 year old yellow lab).  Bosun took the newcomer pretty well considering that she's quite a princess and not used to sharing attention with another dog.

Needless to say Christmas morning started early (around 6:15 AM) when Clyde arived at the house and began poking around.   The kids, who had been asking for a dog for months, loved him immediately and spent lots of time warming him up with belly rubs (according to the note from Santa, Clyde's  long trip from the North Pole left him very cold and tired).  Each child got their own dog bed so that Clyde could spend nights in each of their rooms.  They also got their own leashes for walks.  Oh,  and Clyde isn't Clyde anymore.  The children re-named him "Rocky".  He didn't seem all that responsive to "Clyde" anyway.

So Clyde . . . errr . . . Rocky. . . has been out and about with me on Nantucket a little bit.   So far his little legs have managed to keep up.  He starts to fade a little after mile two on our walks however but given his size and lack of conditioning, he's got big shoes to fill to keep up with me.  He seems a little blown away by all the fresh air and the smells of the moors and ocean.   He appears baffled by seagulls and other birds that we have in such large numbers here.  Clearly Nantucket is a far cry from being found somewhere by the side of a highway in Connecticut. 

Rocky has also met the "Gate Keepers".   The Gate Keepers are a family of three (3) dogs that "guard" the entrance to the subdivision where  I work.  They are quite friendly but pass judgment on all who enter the neighborhood.  "Judgment" by the way usually consists of  the two (2) labs  (one black, one chocolate) lying in the middle of the road, barely raising an eyebrow - let alone their heads - when someone enters the neighborhood ( a nine (9) lot cul-de-sac).  Occasionally they will make their rounds by wandering leisurely (and I mean leisurely - I've never seen either dog move at more than a snail's pace) around the neighborhood - stopping at each property to sniff around and see what's new.  Typically they leave a steaming  "reminder" as a calling card for their visit, but this appears to be only on my property for some reason.  The third Gate Keeper, a small black terrier, usually sprints out of the bushes terryfyingly before coming to a screeching halt nearby, giving a small "yip" and then leisurely walking back onto its owner's property.

Rocky sleeps on his back with his little legs in the air.  He's pretty quiet and attempts to climb into your lap at every opportunity.  He appears housebroken (so far) and doesn't seem to have much interest in chewing the furniture, clothes, shoes or hands and feet.  He stays pretty close and doesn't like to wander all that far away.  His obedience doesn't appear great although he seems to understand "sit" and "lie down".  "Come" appears to be a problem and will probably take a little work with some treats.  We've made a good start as he seems to have learned what "cookie" means and comes running when you say that.

Locals on Nantucket tend to be dog people.  Many dogs on Nantucket are as well known as some of the people.  Some dogs are locally famous, not for being aggressive, but for their antics in riding around in their owner's trucks or for sitting in front of their owner's shops downtown.  In order to keep dogs safe, Nantucket actually passed a local by-law a few years ago requiring dogs riding around in the back of trucks to be secured with a leash.  I tend to see more people walking their dogs this time of year.  Maybe it's because it's so quiet around here and people have more time to spend with them.

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Post Election Fireworks

“We petition for a hand recount of the ballots cast in the special election of November 21, 2006 to fill a vacancy on the Nantucket Board of Selectman [sic] on the grounds that irregularities in the conduct of the election and the preliminary and final counting of optical scanner-read and so called rejected ballots caused the record of such balloting to be erroneous and that a recount will effect [sic] the results. To preserve the issues for additional legal review of the election, we allege: that the initial hand count of the 70 rejected-as-unreadable ballots resulted in an adjustment to the vote tallies totaling 73, above the two-vote margin that decided the election; that the subsequent count of rejected ballots resulted in a count that was significantly different, statistically, than the voting pattern reflected in the machine read ballots; that an unauthorized person, namely, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, Whiting Willauer, was present in the secure ballot counting area and interfered with the orderly counting of the rejected ballots; that the Town Clerk, who was a candidate for the office, appears to have certified the ballot and/or caused her name to be placed at the top right corner of the ballot, and that the ballot layout deviated from the standard election ballot layout employed by the Town Clerk previously, and resulted in voter confusion over which oval corresponded with each candidate.” (credit here to Grant Sanders for publishing this text; see his blog at www.grantsanders.blogspot.com)

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Walking on Nantucket

Nantucket, in the off-season, is a great place to rehab

Up until about a year ago, I was a pretty active guy.  Even though I was about 275 lbs. at the time, I used to compete in triathlons around New England.  For those of you who don't know anything about triathlons, it's a swim, bike and a run (in a row) of varying distances from a "sprint" (500 yard swim, 10-12 mile bike, 3 mile run) to an "Ironman" (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run).  Organized triathlons have a special category for us uber-sized male "athletes".  We're called "Clydesdales".  Plus-sized women by the way are referred to as "Filly's" or, sometimes "Athena's".

In the summer of '05 however, my back started to hurt.  Bad.  It got to the point where I had to stop running.  Then, over a period of months, I could barely walk.  A trip to Mass General resulted in the good news that I had a fractured vertebrae and a herniated disc.  Genetic they said.  Turns out running 10 miles 3 or 4 times a week at 275 lbs.  wasn't that great for me.  So, at the end of September I went under the knife and had a spinal fusion.  Now, eight (8) three (3) inch titanium screws and two (2) titanium rods later, I'm all "better".  Except for the recovery.

Nantucket, in the off-season, is a great place to rehab from injuries.  Although I'm frustrated by the pace of my recovery I do get to walk outside for an hour at a time while my back heals. Normally walking just annoys me because I'd rather be running or riding my bike (honestly, I can do without the swimming) but the doctors say that walking is all I'm allowed to do for now.  Walking on Nantucket this time of year is great. 

There's  lots of places to walk on Nantucket, but my favorite is Ram's Pasture a/k/a Sanford Farm.  This property is managed by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and is about 600 acres of pristine moors and woods and fields leading to the ocean off of Madaket Road.  It has a series of walking trails and a "loop" between the east and west sections of Hummock Pond.  There are Osprey nests (now vacant), lots of deer and deer trails and circling Northern Harrier hawks.  On the ponds that line the sides of the walking trails, there are Canadian Geese, flocks of  ubiquitous seagulls and during certain times of the year, loads of swans.  I once counted 84 swans on the west end of Hummock Pond.  There are no vehicles allowed on Sanford Farm (although you can ride your bike) so the dirt and grass trail are smooth and, for the most part, easy to walk on.  This time of year you usually have the whole place to yourself and you don't run into other walkers very often.

One thing to remember:  it's hunting season out here.  Although Sanford Farm is typically "off-limits" and a posted "no hunting" property, the Conservation Foundation does open it up for about a week at the beginning of December for hunting deer "by written permission".  Walking on Nantucket for the next two (2) weeks requires bright colors and usually staying on the bike paths.  I went to Sanford Farm yesterday and saw a number of deer stands in and around the trees on the property leading into Sanford Farm. 

There are many people concerned with the rate of development on Nantucket.  I always try to remember that almost 50% of Nantucket has been preserved as open space by the Nantucket Islands Land Bank (established in 1983 as one of the first land "banks" in the country; 2% of every real estate transaction goes to buy open space) and various conservation groups like the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and the Nantucket Land Council.  Hopefully this means that there will always be lots of places to walk on Nantucket if you like that sort of thing.  I do. . .  at least until I can start running again.

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Voting on Nantucket

In this election cycle, many of you out there may wonder about the political leanings of the voters on Nantucket and the actual machinations of how voting works over here. 

Despite the impression that many in the "real" world have of Nantucketers being rich, elitist snobs, the island votes overwhlemingly democratic and the election results over here show that with the democrats basically winning our district yesterday right down the line.  This may give you an indication that the actual voters on Nantucket do not possess the vast wealth of our visitors and/or the other 85% of property owners who don't get to vote here.  Those wealthy peeps (with some notable exceptions; John Kerry, etc.)  usually vote republican or is that not true? 

Anyway, Catherine Stover, our Town Clerk (and now Board of Selectmen candidate) reports that there are 7,999 registered voters on Nantucket.  Yesterday slightly more than 4,000 people voted.  So our turnout over here was almost exactly 50%.  Catherine also reports that the standard rule of thumb for Town Clerks charged with managing elections and censuses and such, is that for every voter, there is at least one adult non-voter.  SO,  we get an unofficial census count, based on voting participation, of approximately 15,000 to 18,000 people on Nantucket which is considerably higher than the actual census count of a little over 10,000 year-round residents.  It's also considerably higher than when I was a kid.  From September 1 to June 1 there was about 3,000 of us, no traffic, no parking problems and no one getting run over in the parking lot of the Muse nightclub on Saturday nights.  Ahhhh, the good old days.

 We go to the Nantucket High School to vote.  Built in 1988 (the year AFTER I graudated of course), the High School is used for all sorts of fun Town stuff like local board meetings, our annual Town Meeting, OUI classes, etc.  Pulling into the school is a challenge.   Surfside Road leading to the high school is usually mobbed with opponents and proponents and, evidently some candidates, that are waving and yelling and madly gesticulating and holding up all manner of signs and political paraphenalia like campaign posters, faux windmills (KIDDING) and other claptrap.  It's an accident waiting to happen I tell you.  When Doug Bennett was in his campaigning hey-day you can only imagine the chaos aorund the high school.

When you walk into the high school you are greeted by the first ladies of voting who sit at long tables arranged by the first letter of your last name.  These local ladies meet the voters each and every election (special and otherwise), offer you a tootsie roll, check you in and hand you a ballot.  They confirm your address and if you are from a family where all the kids look the same like mine, they'll say "Which one are you?".  I usually reply "the really good looking one", but they are used to my shenanigans and this hardly gets a smile anymore.  I probably need to come up with some new material.  They will tell you if other family members have shown up to vote yet so that you can return home with an air of moral superiority.

 You then take your ballot and wander into the little stalls that we all get to hang out in.  We don't have any chads  to punch  or levers to pull or even any screens to punch.  We don't get a curtain or other artificial privacy method.  We just stand next to one another in our little stalls and, using a permanent black magic marker, blacken the oval for the person or thing you are voting for.  I like to do write-ins and often encourage others to put my name in for Governor.   So far, no dice.  I seem to remember once being told that if you got like 25 write-ins they had to print you up in the election results.  You can't buy that kind of publicity.

Once done, you wander over to the second ladies of voting to check out.  They give you a sticker that says cheerfully "I voted!" (and more candy if you want it) and I run through the same tired jokes about being the best looking one in the family and then they say "tsk, tsk" and shoo me along.  You then walk to the exit with your ballot and give it to Manny Dias.  Manny has been collecting the ballots for as long as I've been voting, so 20 years anyway.  The only difference these days is that Manny just gets to watch the machine that scans in the ballots.  You can look at it however and tell how many people have voted.  It was at 1,804 when I went through at about 1:00 PM.   Rumor has it that Manny is in his 80's but you wouldn't know it to look at him.  He owns a landscape business and still goes to work everyday.  Often you'll see him on his hands and knees somewhere laying brick - year-round.  He is also famous for making Nantucket Lightship baskets.

 As you wander back to your car, you get to run into various and sundry other people much like you get to do in the grocery store and then, if the police haven't ticketed you for parking on the bike path or in the fire lane, you get to get in line with all the other SUV's to get out of there.

 I guess that you'd think that on an island as small as Nantucket, almost everyone would vote.  Unfortunately that's not the case even though I have to imagine that it's as easy to vote here as anywhere.  I've often made suggestions about how to increase Nantucket's voter participation.  But since such suggestions usually revolve around setting up fried dough and corn dog stands and having balloons, animals, clowns, a Tilt-A-Whirl ride and a freak show, my suggestions have thus far fallen on deaf ears.  Obviously voter participation is the weaker for it.

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Roundabouts and Rotaries

 When is a "roundabout" not a "rotary"?

For those of you who don't ever get to make it over to Nantucket, you are missing the construction of a new "roundabout" at the intersection of Sparks Avenue, Lower Pleasant Street and Hooper Farm Road.  I wonder who it will get named after? 

This roundabout was quite a few years in the making as there appears to be  a constant tension on Nantucket, as I'm sure many of you will understand, between those who want to improve everyone's ability to get around in a car and those who think that cars should be restricted and/or the roads should be so congested that people will somehow be forced from their cars and onto alternative forms of transporation like our Nantucket Regional Transit Authority buses (aka "NER-TA"). 

Our rotaries are famous in the world of politcs

If you haven't a clue what a "roundabout"  is, think of a rotary's baby cousin or nephew or step-child or some other relative.  I think it's called a roundabout because it's a little smaller than an actual rotary.  Although I understand rotaries to be quite common in Europe and other "progressive" areas of the world (you see them all the time on "Benny Hill"), the rotary seems to be a traffic control device relegated almost exclusively to Massachusetts.   I'm not sure what the rules are for rotaries in terms of sizing but I know there are big ones and smaller ones all over Massachusetts.  When they get really small I guess they become roundabouts.

There are a couple of unique  and fun things about Nantucket's "real" rotary at the intersection of Milestone Road, Lower Orange Street, Sparks Avenue and Old South Road which, as luck would have it, is only about 200 yards away from our new roundabout.

I have to admit that one of my favorite pasttimes in the summer months, (particularly August) is sitting at our "real" rotary after a bike ride and watching our visitors from Pennsylvania, Texas, Maine, Kentucky,  California and other foreign countries approach the rotary with utter bafflement, visible unease and sometimes outright panic.  I mean, come on, it's really just a circle with a flagpole in the middle.  If you are really lucky you can see someone attempt to go around the rotary the wrong way.  This is the holy grail of rotary watching and, unfortunately, it doesn't happen very often anymore with all the traffic we have these days.  It's like looking for Nessie though - just because she hasn't been seen awhile doesn't mean you don't keep looking and hoping to see her. 

The other fun fact about our rotary is that it's where current Nantucket Selectman and former State Senate candidate Doug Bennett began his political career.  Armed only with only a smile, a  sheet of plywood, his two (apparently opposable) thumbs and an interesting collection of his uncle's old suits, Doug began his run for a seat on the Nantucket Board of Selectmen.  History shows that he won.  

Not only did Doug grace us with his presence for months at a time ( in rain, sleet and snow even) his use of the rotary as a means to campaign for political office spread like wildfire throughout the Commonwealth as he catapulted into the spotlight and began making other appearances at rotaries around Massachusetts.  I think one of his campaign promises was to visit every rotary in Massachusetts.   Ultimately the bright flame of Doug's senate hopes was unceremoniously snuffed out in the primary but Dougie's legacy lives on.  

Other candidates (or at least some of their supporters) have now acknowledged the rotary as an indispensible and virtually required tool to get out the vote.  Several times I saw bunches of people holding various  signs  for candidates around the rotary in Hyannis a-la Doug Bennett.  Not for nothing, but  I always thought this was dangerous.  Isn't it hard enough to get in and out of that damn thing without some ideological nut waving and screaming at you? Quite frankly it's distracting.  How's the Hyannis rotary look as we head into election day?

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Getting Things Straight

Let's get one thing straight right off.  This ain't no political blog.  We've got quite enough blowhards out there spewing both sides  of the wind farm issue to keep 100 wind farms going forever.  Maybe THEN I could get my electric bill cut in half.  What does Nantucket do to keep our electric consumption down?  We forcibly drop our population from 60,000 to 10,000 every Labor Day.   And we don't let 'em back in till 4th of July weekend the following year.  Oh yeah,  I also put four (4) flourescent bulbs in my office the other day so I'm clearly doing my part.

As for allowing the thousands of sea birds to die so I could save $50-60 a month on my electric bill?  It would actually be more like $70-80 so you can see what I'm struggling with. 

You know, I also remember the "minimal" impact the attempted intentional poisoning of  thousands of seagulls had on Monomoy Island a few years ago.  Weren't they dropping out of the sky all over the Cape on Memorial Day and dying in the streets?  It reminds me of the same geniuses that decided that the best way to dispose of a dead whale that had washed up was by trying to blow it up with TNT.  I think there's some footage going around out there showing how well that worked out. 

Enough about that.  Let me tell you what my focus is today.  It was the pile of dog doo that some neighborly person was kind enough to pick up in a clear plastic garbage bag somewhere in my neighborhood.  That's what people are supposed to do right?  Right.  They were not neighborly enough, however, to properly dispose of same.  In fact, the bag they used was not a little sandwich bag, but a full-size clear garbage bag.  This is, of course, very deceiving because it doesn't look like there's anything in it until you pick it up.   You'd  just have though it was a loose garbage bag blowing around.  But it's not.  The end result was that in our 50 mph wind storm the other day this bag of dog poop wound up next to my side door.  I was just going to grab it and throw it away, but some base, animalistic, preservation instinct suddenly kicked in.  Upon closer inspection I then became aware of what I was dealing with.  What a bummer.  Now, much like the skyrocketing price of utilities with no easy solution I guess it's my problem.  But it still stinks. 

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Wind Farm

What do I think about the windfarm?

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Welcome to the premier edition of the Man from Nantucket Blog

Welcome to the premier edition of The Man from Nantucket blog

I am your host, Jamie Ranney, and I will be guiding you through the various trials and tribulations that the Grey Lady is experiencing out here in the middle of the ocean.  I'll try to tune you into some of the more interesting goings on as well as identifying some of the people and the players for those out there in "the real world".

I was born into a middle class family in Los Angeles, California in 1968. Summers however were spent at my grandmother's house in Nantucket.  In 1977 my Mom and Dad packed the family into a green Volkswagen bus with a dinghy strapped to the top and a U-Haul trailer behind and, over a truly memorable three-week period, drove me and my four (4) brothers and sisters to Nantucket to live for good.  I've been here ever since.

We'll talk a little politics, we'll talk a little about some of the more controversial issues Nantucket is dealing with, we'll also talk a little bit about stuff that just generally interests me or that I think is funny or interesting about life on Nantucket.  Any comment, opinion or topic suggestion is encouraged and I hope everyone enjoys.

Holler if you hear me.

Jamie Ranney, Esq.
The Law Office of Jamie Ranney
4 Thirty Acres Lane, Nantucket, MA 02554
508.228.9224 (tel.)  508.228.4752 (fax)
jamie@nantucketlaw.net

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