Warner Hill (part two)

Back on the 9th of November, I wrote about our short hike up to Warner Hill in Western Mass.  the plan that day had been to explore the old farmstead found north of the summit that I had earlier detected using LiDAR.  Well that exploration didn't happen, but this past weekend we returned to the area and entered the site from an old wood road from the south.

So here are some shots.  this first one shows the bed of the old wood road north of Blotz Road.

The AT corridor Monument (number 8) is on the northern end of the settlement.

Multiple stone walls are found throughout the area.

And some evidence of the farm like a shovel blade stuck in a tree.

Up into the corridor, the mixed forest and stones are shown here.

More debris found at a site of a cellar hole.

Another shot of the old road (found on older USGS topomaps, but not the current ones.

These walls show up on the LiDAR, so I need to search old maps from Massachusetts Archive.

Here is monument 9, and unfortunately I didn't have the boundary map to find number 10, where a sharp turn toward the Northwest is found.  But I was following the road.

Disney part 2, more layoffs for the Holidays

 Two months ago, I reported an article from the New York Times where 28,000 people were getting laid off from Disney.

Well in my local paper, it is reported that "Disney to lay off 32,000." Yet another 4,000 layoffs the day before Thanksgiving.  See this article from Fox.

Talk about a bummer.

The info graphic for Orange County (Orlando is found here) from Johns Hopkins University Covid Mapping site shows this:

To throw gas on the fire, Florida voted for the losing candidate in the presidential election.  In all fairness, the counties around Orlando voted for the winner.

Had the citizens listened to the science, maybe this could have been averted.

So what can we learn from this?  Wear a mask and save your jobs!

ISISA -- The International Small Islands Studies Association

This is one of the email groups I subscribe ever since I learned about it in Martinique.

The next year, I attended one of their conferences in Tortola, BWI. 

Globalisation: Islands Adapting to Change"
29 May – 1 June, 2012
The Virgin Islands (BVI)

 

 So for now, if you have an interest in anything to do with islands, check out ISISA

 

 

Warner Hill, Appalachian Trail

 With temperatures in the 70s (!?!?) here in November, we headed out to Blotz Road in Hinsdale to tackle Warner Hill.  Not a difficult climb, but one that still offered some great views of Pittsfield and the northern Berkshires.  A bit south of the summit, an old apple orchard was found.

From the summit, Mt. Greylock is seen and is tallest in Massachusetts with an elevation of 3,491 feet.

There were other hikers on the trail, and it was nice to see most were practicing social distancing and wearing masks.

 

For a nice map and elevation profile.  Or use your favorite map app.

Election 2020

 Everyone is watching the US right now.

so let's take a look at the view in the UK and the Guardian with this headline:

US election polls tracker: who is leading in swing states, Trump or Biden?

With the presidential election just days away, the Guardian is tracking the latest polling in eight states that could decide the election.

Ohio and Iowa are leaning toward the red, while all the other swing states favor the Blue.

 

The BBC shares a similar cautionary view

Biden leading national presidential polls