This day marks

THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-ONE DAYS of hearty, and joyful howling on Sherwood brought to you by the Sherwood Howlers.

THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-ONE DAYS.

CLOSING IN ON OUR ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY. FOURTEEN DAYS AND COUNTING.

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Tonight I am howling for the WOOD DUCKS of the world.

A magnificent bird that North American hunters nearly brought to the edge of extinction until Congress passed the Migratory Bird Treaty in 1916 and enacted of the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

Having conservation oriented laws and regulations in place, like these two declarations, has been vitally important in bringing wood ducks, and many other migratory waterfowl species, back.

See my sixty second natural history act below to learn more.

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Join me tonight in a hearty howl to celebrate the life and times of wood ducks everywhere.

HOWL LONG AND LOUD TONIGHT TILL YOUR FLAMMULATED WOOD DUCK FEATHERS FLATULATE AND FORNICATE.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

Ladies and gentlemen of Sherwood.

The night before last I had the pleasure of meeting some brilliant and exciting new young people.

Welcome Rob Milano and Greg Milano, and John Dicaro from Long Island. These three are here visiting their sister Sara Dicaro and her husband Joe LeBlanc, who live in Staunton on North Coalter with their little howler doggies, Margo, and Harper. Sara and Joe are educators. Sara teaches social studies and instructional technology at the Millers School in Charlottesville and Joe is an assistant professor in the school counseling program at JMU.

Rob, Greg, and John are buddies and live together on Long Island. They are multitalented artists. Together they recently wrote a musical entitled CORONA NIGHTS, perfect for these covid pandemic times.

Check out this song QUARANTINE, from their new album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR3DS8ru9s9aq5RZ9olmkYpPvdF2grsJagVsEzUc6-E3yFMKgslKJ6qGK0s&v=IeF8BE26wac&feature=youtu.be

As you can imagine I at once invited them to howl with us, an invitation they accepted gleefully. Back again for a second dose last night they came. These three do not let grass grow under their feet. They jumped right in. howling away like a bunch of majestic wolves.

I am sure this will not be their last howl. They are hooked.

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SIXTY SECOND NATURAL HISTORY NOTE

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)

A tapestry of brilliant and juxtaposed colors marks the male wood duck, a site to behold. Here in our part of Virginia we are just on the boundary of the wood duck’s breeding range to the west and an area to the east where one can find this magnificent creature all year long.

The male’s call is a rising whistle, “jeeeeee”; the females utter a drawn-out, rising squeal, “do weep, do weep”, when flushed, and a sharp “cr-r-ek, cr-e-ek” for an alarm call.

Listen to a wood duck here:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Duck/sounds

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Wood ducks breed in wooded swamps, shallow lakes, marshes or ponds, and creeks in eastern North America, the west coast of the United States and western Mexico. They usually nest in cavities in trees close to water, although they will take advantage of nesting boxes in wetland locations.

The wood duck in the only North American Duck that can produce two broods in a single season.

These birds feed by dabbling or walking on land. Dabbling means to search for food from the surface of the water, as opposed to diving underneath the surface to scavenge for food. They mainly eat berries, acorns, and seeds, but also insects.

The population of the wood duck was in serious decline in the late 19th century as a result of severe habitat loss and market hunting both for meat and plumage for the ladies’ hat market in Europe. By the beginning of the 20th century, wood ducks had virtually disappeared from much of their former range.

Thanks to the efforts of brilliant wildlife conservationists, Congress passed the Migratory Bird Treaty in 1916 and enacted of the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. This treaty and act held corporate polluters accountable for harming bird species and put limits on hunting. Seems like a reasonable thing if scientific data points to an impending extinction of a species. As a result of the passage of these laws, wood duck populations, as well as populations of many other North American waterfowl began to recover slowly.

Then along came Donald Trump, ranting about over regulation and impingement on personal freedom. Just two weeks before he left office he completed a rollback of these important conservation initiatives. Trump’s Interior Secretary, David Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist, announced a new rule under which the federal government will no longer penalize or prosecute companies when their actions cause the inadvertent death of birds.

In a sane world can you imagine that a former oil industry lobbyist could become head of the Department of the Interior, whose fundamental mission is to “conserve and manage the Nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people…..”

Good work President Bone Spurs.

Let us hope that this kind of shameful and blatant cronyism is undone by the Biden administration.

People refer to a group of ducks as “a brace of ducks”, “flush of ducks”, “a raft of ducks”, and my personal favorite, “a paddling of ducks.”

Never paddle a duck. Kiss one today instead.

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AMERICAN TRAVELS

0900, May 23, 2014, Elizabeth City, NC Town Dock.

We are aboard Flicka (our intrepid 32 foot Allied Seawind ketch), bound for home in Virginia after a season on the Intracoastal Waterway. Tied to the Elizabeth City Town Dock.

We woke to clear skies, sixty-five degrees. A blissful sleep last night, something we surely needed after our harrowing experience with the snubber line failure at our Reed Point anchorage just north of the William B Umstead Memorial Bridge, that connects the mainland to Roanoke Island.

Gus, the dock master was already on duty issuing jokes and fables, but somehow they are always amusing and fresh. The monkey man is here, with Joe Bo the monkey doing his suite of monkey tricks.

I have told this story before in an earlier blog, but it is worth repeating. It is about adventure, and the boundless possibilities in life if one is open to them. It is about pluck, verve, and courage.

It is about Neil Groff, a man with all three.

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Neil is tied up beside us. He came in last night in “Full Moon”, a twenty-seven foot Cal (Cal Boats, of Costa Mesa, CA), after we were snuggled away in bed. Cals are well built boats that are sea friendly and sea worthy.

“Hello neighbor”, I holler.

“Hello back”, says he.

“Where do you hail from?”, I asked.

“Vancouver, British Columbia”, he replies.

“How the heck did you get that little boat from Vancouver to Elizabeth City, NC.”, I enquire.

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He began his story, which he related to us as if he were describing a visit with a cousin just down the street. As it unfolded, I am sure an observer would have reported my eyes popping out.

“I bought “Full Moon” after my wife and I broke up. During the refit I had a fall aboard and hit my head on the companion way ladder and wound up in a coma for two weeks with a severe concussion and brain swelling. They had to drill holes in my skull to relieve pressure.”

“After I got out of the hospital I decided life was to full of uncertainty to waste any more time, so I quit my engineering job and left Vancouver”.

Now he had my attention.

Neil went on to tell us that he had sailed alone down the west coast to Sausalito, CA where he teamed up with some other sail boaters and continued traveling south to Mexico, where he lived for a while on Isla de Cedros, in Baja California, Mexico. A 2,500 mile journey, more or less.

After spending a few months on Cedros and sailing around in and around the Gulf of California, he took a notion to go to the Galapagos Islands, five hundred miles off the Ecuadorian coast. He ran down to Manta, Ecuador and made his offing.

He was obviously beginning to develop a severe case of wanderlust.

From the Galapagos he sat out on a west southwest course and crossed 4.200 miles of the southern Pacific Ocean, bound for French Polynesia (Tahiti and other exotic and remote islands), then from there to New Zealand, another 2,650 miles, then on to Australia, another 2,000 miles.

Mind you, this guy is sailing by himself in a twenty-seven foot boat. He had very little sophisticated equipment. A limited range VHF radio, and a sextant. Paper charts, lots of books.

On he sailed through Indonesia, across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar, then around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, then to Brazil, then through the Panama Canal and on to Guatemala where he actually crossed the meridian from which he left, thus circumnavigating the globe, although not crossing his original track.

Now hear this. Just to make sure he had not missed something along the way, he repeated his epic journey a second time. That is right. A second circumnavigation of planet Earth, another 25,000 miles, except this time he reversed his course.

After negotiating the Panama Canal a second time he went on to Cuba, the Caribbean Sea and all its richness and finally entered the ICW in Florida, and after some short “hops” out to the Atlantic, came to be in Elizabeth City parked beside out boat.

Neil Groff out for a little 60,000 mile hike.

Now he is bound for Nova Scotia and plans to cross the North Atlantic and check out the Scandinavian Countries, the United Kingdom and Europe. Possibly spend some time in the Mediterranean.

Any questions?

Neil Goff, from Vancouver, BC with ancestors in Lancaster County, PA he says.

Pluck, verve, and courage. Lots of courage.

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A beautiful, humble, mindful man indeed, easy to talk to. Seems not the least bit lonely, although he is alone a lot. He keeps a journal and says maybe someday he will write a book. I told him I wanted to reserve a copy.

He just smiled.

We spent the morning talking to Neil. He was happy to answer my 1,000 questions.

Her Highness and I walked over to the market and bought some fresh produce, sour dough bread and a small loaf of pumpkin bread for tonight’s desert. Took our largess back to the boat and walked up town to look around. Back at 1600 for dinner and planned our day tomorrow. An early start up the Dismal Swamp Canal to Norfolk, VA. Planning on traveling, more or less, with Neil.

Over dinner, we looked at one another and reveled in our good fortune to meet Neil Goff, world traveler.

Namaste

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COVID 19 IN VIRGINIA, STAUNTON, AND AUGUSTA COUNTY

Today’s Trends and Notes

NO TIME FOR COMPLACENCY. COVID IS MAKING A RUN.

1. The state seven day positivity rate is steadily rising and now stands at to 5.8%. Not good.
2. New cases per capita in Virginia are at 240 today, a slow but steady rise over the past 10 days.
3. New cases in last 24 hours in Staunton and Augusta County are still in single digits and have been for 10 days.
4. There have been no new deaths in Augusta County or Staunton for 11 days.
5. The average 14 day case rate for all categories of localities I follow is sideways.
6. In the past 24 hours VDH reported that 1,043 people are in hospitals currently with COVID 19, still around 1,000 for the last 2 weeks.
7. Virginia administered a total of 3,403,097 vaccinations to date.
8. Virginia is now averaging 59,538 vaccinations per day.
9. 15% of Virginia’s population has been fully vaccinated.
10. At this administration rate, it will take about 123 days to get to full vaccination and about 104 days to herd immunity.

No time for complacency. Stay away from blockheaded dopes who refuse to wear masks and the anti-vaccinators milling around like zombies.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“One thing. There are no excuses for not being prepared when you go open ocean sailing. You don’t get a second chance out there”

Neil Goff

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