2nd Annual Winter Tree Scavenger Hunt

2nd Annual Winter Tree Scavenger Hunt

Town of Sturbridge 

Conservation Commission

What is this you may ask?

The object of the hunt is to find 10 decorated trees, take your

photo with each tree and email all photos to the Conservation

Commission between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

Submit photos with all 10 decorated trees to

Sturbridgetreehunt@hotmail.com which will be entered

Into a drawing for the GRAND Prize.

All participants (teams or individuals) will receive a certificate of

participation

Experience and value: Priceless and Fun

Where?

• Hein’s Farm Conservation Land, 200 Leadmine Road, Sturbridge

Why?

• Free family event that everyone can enjoy at their own pace

• People are introduced to Open Space

• Something fun and unique to promote in Town

• Basically a win-win-win

EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA:

“Count the Rings Tree” sponsored by the Trails Committee

A cross cut slab section of a large pine tree has been placed at the entrance to the Heins

Farm property. To the person that supplies the correct answer as to how many rings there

are, the Trails Committee will supply a “Trek Sturbridge T Shirt” and a “$100 Gift Certificate

to Bicycle Concepts”.

Keep in mind to use caution on the trails. 

The maps of the trails are available on our Town website at: www.town.sturbridge.ma.us

One Side Does Not Make A Story; Let's Hear The Rest Of It

I've seen this kind of behavior in town before.  At the moment I don't know exactly who is  at fault, if anybody is, or is it just left over emotional collateral damage from this summers appointment to the School Committee by the Board of Selectmen against the wishes of the School Committee.

According to the School Committee they submitted an article that was to be placed in the town warrant that would have changed the procedure of how vacancies on the school committee would be filled from now on.

“The Board of Selectmen can put it on the town meeting warrant,” School Committee member James P. Ehrhard said. “They did not do it this time. There is no reason to think that they will in June.


The above quote from the Worcester Telegram  was included in an article by Craig Semon.   The article referred to the appointment of Ms. Waters to the school committee by the BOS, and that that particular action, against the school committees wishes, may be the reason the article, submitted to the selectmen for inclusion on the town warrant, was not placed on the warrant.

So far, it is a lot of he said, he said.  What's missing are some facts, and some other voices.

Was the article for the warrant submitted on time, and in the correct format?  Who submitted it?  Was the article written by one person, or by all of those on the school committee?  Who was the article submitted to?  Was it submitted via the mail, in person, faxed, or email?

See, if one is going to make an accusation that the BOS did not add the article to the warrant, and they may not later in 2012, then it lends a nefarious air to the matter without it actually being said, and maybe that is on purpose.  One school committee member did state that in all his years as a selectmen in Wales he could not imagine the BOS denying any other board the right to place an article  on the a warrant.  We don't really know if the BOS denied the school committee from the information we have thus far.

So, the School Committee is upset that their article was not included in the Warrant, we get it, but we still don't have answers to the questions above.  Those answers will add much more to the story.

Oh, and another thing, the article does not have:  an interview with the Sturbridge Selectmen.

Seems that the article was written without completing some basic interviewing.  It is almost as if someone was ticked off, called the reporter, vented, and the reporter wrote the story way too late in the evening to corroborate it, and then, simply emailed it to his editor.  The result was what I read this morning.  A one sided, incomplete story without a word from any member of the Sturbridge Board of Selectmen.  Very obviously one sided.  Intentional or not, still poor form.

In all fairness, no matter how one feels about the situation now, or last summer, we need to hear from the BOS before we can get a true feel for just what happened.

Now, that being said, if the BOS does explain themselves well, then fine, let's move on, and take it the next step in the process.  If the BOS doesn't want to talk about it, gives reasons that are not acceptable, some multi-paragraphed double speak, or just silence, then we can all be a ticked off,  do some venting to the press.

Getting pissed off is only therapeutic, and beneficial,  when all all the facts are in, otherwise one just looks silly.

Believe me, I don't need any outside help in that department.


For the entire article click here.

Tree Lighting On The Common

                                

Sturbridge Recreation Presents

Town Common Tree Lighting

Friday November 25, 2011

6:00 PM

Santa

Sturbridge Fire Department

Refreshments

Winter Tree Scavenger Hunt Kick Off

Music by Hart and Harrington

                                  

Volunteers Needed To Clear Storm Damaged Trails

Trails Volunteers:

As a result of the recent heavy snow fall, significant tree damage has occurred, blocking or making passage very difficult on some trails. The Heins Farm Trails have been cleared and are fully open but the Leadmine Mt trails remain blocked. The Sturbridge Trails Committee will be working to clear the Arbutus Park Loop Trail and the Shattuck Rd entrance to the Leadmine Mountain (Camp Robinson Crusoe Area) property on Sunday November 20, 2011 commencing at 8:00 AM. Volunteers are asked to come and assist.

We will meet at the Shattuck Rd entrance to the Leadmine Mountain Conservation area located at the intersection of River Rd and Shattuck Rd.

Note that this is the entrance close to Hwy 84, not the entrance on Old Sturbridge Village Rd.

Dress appropriately with heavy soled shoes, gloves, safety glasses, etc.

In other news:

Have you seen the new Arbutus Park Trail Bridge crossing Hamant Brook? Known as bridge 7, this recently completed bridge now opens up the full loop around the ponds.

Hope to see you!

Sturbridge Trails Committee

The Weekend Morning Muse

Weekend mornings are the best.  The earlier I get up, and check out the day, the more in control I feel.  If I get up too late, the day will have its way with me.  It's a discipline ingrained in me.

The old sun porch

Just an hour, or so before the rest of the world becomes cognizant of their surroundings is enough for me.  I usually will go down into the old sun porch, and watch the light play with the objects in the yard as it rises.  Lately, there has been a young cat that has added our back yard to his daily itinerary.  This visitor will hunch down on the grass, above one of the hundreds of chipmunk holes we own, and wait.  He'll wait for hours sometimes, and then, when he feels it's time, he will sit up, stare off into the opposite direction for a moment or two, and then head off.  He'll be back the next day.  Our cats will sit and watch him through the glass doors.  Occasionally, they will follow his antics in the yard by rushing from window to window.  I don't think they know he is real.  I think that they think they are watching a reality show on cable, and they are always waiting for the season finale when he actually catches the chipmunk.  If he does, well, so much for next seasons shows.

It's during this early time of the morning that I will do some further refining of my plans for the day.  I'll work out a plan, a schedule, and then, after a second cup of Maxwell House, I'll start to move in earnest.  Sometimes those plans are nothing more than walk with Mary around Westville, coffee, and a scone  at the Publik House, and then bumble about annoying Mary, and her plans.  I like those days, but more often than not we are on the same wave length, and thinking on doing the same project, except when I am planning on building something innovative like the chipmunk death ray in the basement.

Sometimes, Mary is up way before me.  I'll find her reading from her Kindle in the sun room.  Like me, she enjoys the early mornings, and the sun porch is the perfect place to watch it evolve.

Today, as I got up, Mary asked, as I sat on the edge of the bed trying to remember my name,  what I had planned for the day.  I said something unintelligible, smiled, and stumbled off.  I had yet to muse about it in the sun room, and so I had nothing to give her yet.

After a bit of musing, or as some have observed it: staring off into space, I came up stairs, sat behind the desk and began typing.  The result is the above bit of early weekend morning rambling, however, during this time I was also able to make a plan for the day.

Funny how sometimes I can multitask vast projects, and schedules, and other times I put my shoes on before my socks.

Go figure.

Well, as John Wayne once said, "We're burnin' daylight", and I have a day to get a head start on.

Well, maybe after just one more cup of coffee, and a bit more musing.  Then, of course, there's the shower.

Weekend mornings are like this. They just don't have the discipline.