Saturday, November 24, 2012

FAT in Babbitasset, SAT near Punkatasset

The following are accounts of efforts taken to work-off  a portion of our 2012 Thanksgiving feast.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving (FAT) Mrs. Trashpaddler and I trash pedalled the Nashua River Rail Trail from Ayer to Babbitasset Village located a short distance from Babbitasset Falls on the Nashua River.  Until yesterday, I didn't know this Native American place name for the village and falls at East Pepperell.  I stumbled upon the Babbitasset name while doing some online research into the history of Pepperell's Railroad Square.
Speaking of Native American place names, there is an interesting article in the November/December issue of Yankee Magazine written by Justin Shatwell concerning efforts of the Wampanoag people in resurrecting their nearly lost language, Wopannak.  It was the language the Pilgrims heard spoken by their native hosts back at the first Thanksgiving feast in Plymouth.

Today on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (SAT) I launched my boat at the Calf Pasture (Lowell Road) under the trailing clouds (opening photo) of a cold front that was in the process of sweeping away our recent warm weather.  I heeded the advice of Nathaniel Hawthorne who said this regarding the Assabet River on a windy day: "...It is sheltered from the breeze by woods and a hillside; so that elsewhere there might ne a hurricane, and here scarcely a ripple across the shaded water."  I paddled the Assabet from Egg Rock to Spencer Brook and back, and found truth in Hawthorne's words.
A deceased white-tailed deer was floating in the river near Dove Rock...
At the mouth of Spencer Brook I turned around after recovering someone's old tire re-cap.

Once back at the Calf Pasture, I continued to paddle down the Concord River to Sawmill Brook where I found refuge from the wind thanks to the blocking effect of the hills Punkatasset and Buttricks.  By the time I'd turned back, blue skies had returned...
 
 
Paddling back to the Calf Pasture I couldn't resist turning about to enjoy the site of the Old North Bridge basking in the sunlight...
 
A photo of today's catch...
This aquatic patrol netted 17 recyclable containers (7 redeemable) and 26 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as plastic bags, nip bottles, styrofoam, and the tire re-cap.
 
A photo of yesterday's rail trail catch...
The terrestrial patrol netted 17 recyclable containers (6 redeemable) and 5 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish.
 
YTD = 6560
 



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