Rehoboth Ramblings

Some people may experience post-Christmas letdown in January. Others are just mightily relieved to go into CVS without hearing “Jingle Bell Rock” yet again. I don’t know if being forced to listen to shlocky holiday music over and over is actually classified as torture, but it sure is for me. Now that Santa arrives along with the Great Pumpkin, one newspaper writer referred to the season as Hallothanksmas. There is simply no reason for Christmas songs in October.

I noticed with a chuckle that one of the upscale stores at Garden City was playing a turbo-charged version of “The Nutcracker”, heavy on percussion. It sounded more like the Dance of the Sugar Plum Sumo Wrestlers. As Chuck Berry once sang, “Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news”.
But enough about the holidays; on to the New Year. Providence Journal readers flying south this winter probably saw the articles on air traffic at T.F. Green Airport being down quite a bit. I knew this, but did not realize that there are now only about a dozen direct flights from Green these days. Florida is one of the few locales where you can still get a direct flight from Rhode Island to several cities. Direct flights to the West Coast, or any place west of the Mississippi, can only be had from Logan now.

This prompted a number of letters, including one from a Rhode Island man who suggested flying from JFK instead, not just from Logan. Oh please! Think of the time and hassle this involves. First there is the always clogged Connecticut Turnpike, then there is New York area traffic and finally, coping with one of the busiest airports in the U.S. when you get there. JFK makes Logan look like a good deal in comparison.

Along with the decrease in passenger traffic at Green is the decrease in places to buy anything to eat at the airport. The place is practically a ghost town in the evening. (My view is it’s always a good idea to carry snacks with you. You never know.) So we’ll see what this year will bring for passengers, what with all the airline reconfigurations offering flyers less for their money. It always seems crazy to me how two connecting flights can cost a lot less than a direct flight, when you’re often covering much less territory with one non-stop flight. At any rate, if you want convenience, it’s going to cost you.

Looking ahead, it will soon be Groundhog Day, a turning point in the winter, even if there are always six more weeks of winter in this part of the world, whether the animal sees his shadow or not. Groundhog is another name for woodchuck. For some reason, on February 2 they are groundhogs and when they are tearing up gardens in the summer, they are woodchucks. These animals do not naturally come out of hibernation in the northeast as early as February 2 so it’s no wonder they look groggy and confused if disturbed then. Think how you feel when something wakes you up in the middle of the night.

Here are some interesting facts I learned about these critters in the most recent issue of Mass Audubon’s Connections magazine, thanks to the staff at Drumlin Farm in Lincoln. When groundhogs are hibernating, their body temperature drops from 90 degrees to 40 degrees and their heart rate drops from 100 beats per minute to four beats a minute. They can burrow down as far as six feet and can build tunnels of 50 feet or more. Their home territory may be as large as three acres.

The groundhog in residence at Drumlin Farm is Mrs. G, who has been proclaimed the Massachusetts State Groundhog. Not quite as famous as Punxsutawney Phil, but a local celebrity of sorts. The Audubon folks don’t answer the age-old question of how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood, nor do they indicate how long it takes the average woodchuck to go through the average home garden if not deterred.

If you’ve got cabin fever this winter and need to get out of the house, Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary nearby on Rt. 118 in Attleboro, as well as other Massachusetts Audubon Society locations, offers trails for winter woodland walks and other programs and activities for both children and adults. Find out more at www.massaudubon.org.