The creator of goodmorninggloucester.org Lover of all things Gloucester and Cape Ann. GMG where we bring you the very best our town has to offer because we love to share all the great news and believe that by promoting others in our community everyone wins.
On October 3rd and 5th the sixth graders from O’Maley Innovation School explored the Gloucester Harbor Walk. Using our essential question "HOW IS CHANGE OVER TIME OBSERVED AND MEASURED’ to guide our discussion and exploration, students completed a scavenger hunt at each of 36 posts found throughout Harbor walk. We documented our exploration through writing, video and photos. Students will use the knowledge gained through this experience throughout the year in our project based learning curriculum.
The International Dory Committee will be holding the annual Oarmaster’s Cup Race on Sunday, October 14th at 10 AM Niles Beach , Gloucester . Our course will start off the beach and go out around Ten Pound Island , then back to the beach. The best time of the day will be crowned Oarmaster. Please join us to compete for the cup, cheer on you fellow rowers, or buy your 60th Anniversary T-shirt to help a great organization continue to thrive for years to come. Can Len Robertson retain his title in 2012, or will Jimmy T or Joe Sanfilippo regain this coveted award for the best singles dory rower in Gloucester ? Please let us know if you would like to compete or help out at the beach.
Another important date for IDRC faithful is next Tuesday, October 9th at the St. Peter’s Club where we will hold our annual meeting starting at 7 PM. All who would like to contribute something in 2013 are encouraged to attend. We really need the help of our members to accomplish goals of a youth rowing program, improved race day involvement and boat revitalization/maintenance.
Look forward to seeing you all at these important events.
Erik Dombrowski & the IDRC Board of Directors
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Join us for a Congressional Debate among the three candidates for United States Representative for the 6th Congressional District of Massachusetts.
The debate will be open to Chamber members and the general public and will be moderated by Robert Visnick. Questions will be posed by a panel of Cape Ann journalists. If you have questions that you would like considered for the candidates, please submit them to robert@capeannchamber.com.
Preregistration is highly recommended as this event will fill up quickly.
This past Sunday’s conditions were ideal, so I made a trip up to Cape Ann. After navigating past the beautiful and secluded twin lighthouses of Thacher Island off Rockport’s coast, I decided to take advantage of the conditions and head further North. This took me around the top of the Cape Ann and back through the Annisquam River. This is a perfect day trip for a boater coming out of Boston Harbor or the South Shore: far enough to be an adventure, but close enough so that you never have to go too far from shore or worry about the weather taking a turn for the worse.
Gloucester is a destination that I have visited by boat several times, and found it to be fun and relatively easy in a 28ft boat. One can get from the start of the North Channel off Deer Island to Gloucester Harbor in about an hour with decent speed. The distance from the mouth of the Boston Harbor at Deer Island to the end of the Dogbar breakwater outside Gloucester Harbor is exactly twenty-two miles. In past trips, I have found that the seas get rougher as you head North and out of the protection of Cape Cod, but Sunday was a truly gorgeous day for boating: despite overcast skies and chilly temperatures, there was no wind, and the 44013 buoy was reading wave heights of only 1.3 feet.
Part Puff Pastry. Part Muffin. All Incredibly Delicious.
On the weekends Heidi at Fort Square Café makes Muffins, Puffins and Smuffins.
Just like Alicia Cox’ world’s greatest coffee rolls, you need to just up and drop whatever it is you are doing Saturday morning, go to Fort Square Café and get one of these puffins. The one I got had cranberries and apple pie stuffing and it was so decadent, so delicious and rich and warm and feel good, I’ll tell you for certain I’ll be back next Saturday to get me one fer shizzy.
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Scroll down for a HarvestFest Schedule of Events. And be sure to pick up your Scarecrow Stroll Contest Ballot! Great cash prizes awarded courtesy of Granite Savings Bank to the winning scarecrows!
HarvestFest All Day Events: October 13th from 10 am to 6 pm
Information Booth & Music Tent in Dock Square. Pick up information about all there is to do and see during HarvestFest and listen to some great live music in the heart of Rockport!
Local Fare Fair on T-Wharf. Featuring food made locally on Cape Ann and in New England, with Cape Ann Brewing Co. offering a taste of some local brews from 11 to 6 o’clock. Cooking demonstrations to take place at 11am, 1pm & 3pm. Click HERE for more information.
Scarecrow Stroll Contest throughout Downtown. Don’t miss Rockport’s unique & artistic collection of scarecrows from Front Beach to Bearskin Neck to Harvey Park! (And be sure to vote on your favorite!). Great prizes offered to the winners sponsored byGranite Savings Bank in Rockport. Click HERE for more information.
Kids’ Zone in Harvey Park. Climb the hay bales and more! And don’t miss our scheduled events: pumpkin painting from 2 to 4 pm and the costume parade, The Great Scarecrow Chase, at 4:30!
Glass Art Installations by John Bassett, seARTS Partner With an Artist 2012 Winner. Bassett’s work will be on display at three downtown restaurants, right in the heart of the new Rockport Cultural District. Bassett has created the colorful Hannah Jumper series with slumped and fused recycled glass from Rockport’s transfer station.
WOCA Fair in Harvey Park. The What’s On Cape Ann Fair highlights area non-profits, organizations and sponsors. Enjoy interactive booths as you learn just what resources are available to Cape Ann residents and visitors!. Click here for more information.
NYRE Food Booth in Harvey Park. Proceeds to benefit New Year’s Rockport Eve, an annual tradition in Rockport.
Brandon Bernard, left, and Joe Maisonave carry one of 44 photovoltaic solar collection panels toward its place in a solar array on the roof of Reversing Falls Lobster Wharf in Harpswell recently. Each panel weighs about 44 pounds and can harness 240 watts of energy.
OK, let me first state that if this is true, that they could get all their energy to run their commercial lobster dock from these solar panels that would be fantastic. The clean air, fantastic. Less reliance on big oil, fantastic.
HOWEVER-
I’m not as sharp as I was when I was in college and practicing my math skills on a daily basis but from what they are saying in the article-
“44 panels which can harness 240 watts of energy each.”
That means you can power a bunch of lighting fixtures, right? Assuming in an industrial space you are using 100 watt bulbs. More than likely in huge industrial spaces I’m thinking your bulbs use more than 100 watt bulbs so maybe you could light the joint with 44 big lights? 44 panels times 240 watt lighting fixtures. But someone once told me you could have every light in your house on but as soon as you turn on the toaster oven it uses way more energy than a bunch of lightbulbs.
Take our dock for example-
I have a seriously hard time believing that the juice that our 5 lobster tank recirculating pumps at 2.5 hp to 5 hp and are sucking water in large pipes 20 feet up from low tide up to the tanks and run 24/7 is equivalent to a bunch of lightbulbs even if you were lighting up a monstrous building.
In my very conservative estimation the recirculating pumps use about 1000 times more energy here at our dock than whatever piddly money our lighting expenses are. Then we have refrigeration and huge refrigeration compressors for our bait cooler where the pallets of bait are stored.
Guaranteed that the energy those compressors pull are far greater than what 44 panels that can harness 240 watts of power when the sun is shining and not when it’s dark outside and our recirculating pumps are still pumping and our bait cooler compressors are still cooling.
Oh but wait, then there’s the winches. If you’ve seen the huge motors that turn the winch heads you know those bad boys are sucking down a huge amount of electricity to be able to lift three crates of lobsters at a time at close to 400lbs or tuna that can get to 1000 lbs, or three totes of bait at close to 450lbs. These motors run those a good part of the afternoon and early morning.
So to me, the numbers in no way add up. No way, no how.
But the media looooves to grab onto these stories because the green folks will always accept whatever the headline is as fact and run with it. Once the things are half paid for with government (read taxpayer) subsidies and installed, they’re not going anywhere.
I have a very hard time accepting that this commercial lobster dock is going to power their entire operation from solar power even though they will market themselves that way and all the green lemmings will trip over themselves to go buy lobsters there for $2-3 more a pound because they are using green technology that they as taxpayers footed half the bill for.
Hey if I’m wrong with the numbers and they can somehow squeeze 100 times more than 240 watts of power out of 40 panels and indeed run their lobster company with some type of new math, then congratulations!
The point for me is not if this was or wasn’t a good financial investment for the guys up in Harpswell. I wish them the best, I really do. What bugs the hell out of me though is the media’s acceptance of all these green technology wild claims because they know people eat that stuff up as it makes for a feel good story regardless if the numbers add up or not.
Smells fishy to me though.
Read the two mad scientists analysis and vote in the poll below as to who has it more right.
It’s Paul Morrison and his Rubber Duck vs Damon Cummings In A Brainiac Deathmatch
Paul Morrison Analysis-
240 watt panels times 44 equal 10,560 watts or 10 kilowatts. For every hour the sun shines 10 kilowatts of power (kwh) is fed back into the power grid. That is a lot of power. If they switched to some LED lighting, efficient refrigeration and made sure their winches had no shorts, that amount of power could cancel out their entire electric bill and more. I would not be surprised that next summer the electric company is sending them cash instead of the other way around.
The fact that the power is produced at the peak time the power company needs it (sunny days when people are running their AC on max) means if more solar panels go up then an extra power plant might not need to be built to cover those peak usage times. One less power plant, a little less coal burned, a little less emphysema, seems a logical course of action to me.
Damon Cummings Analysis-
The 44 pound weight of the panels roughly checks with the 240 watts optimistically. 44 * 240 = 10560 watts = 10.5 Kw Given reasonable efficiency estimates of electric motors that is around 10 horsepower total. A residence might have 100 amp service at 220 volts which is 22 Kw. I think they must have a lot more than 44 panels. I bet the pumps and compressors run in the dark as well.. They must have a huge battery bank. I suspect they just run their office and perhaps some lighting off the panels.
By the way a kitchen toaster is about 1000 watts, 1 Kw, all by itself (about 10 amps at 110 volts) so they can run about ten toasters . A 20 amp fuse at 110 volts is 2200 watts or 2.2 Kw so their 10.5 k Kw would blow five 20 amp fuses. That is a residential, not industrial, load.
Vote Here-
Vote here-
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Interested in Gloucester/Rockport real estate? Watch Kenny’s video commentary, complete with photos, stats and attitude. This week, tour 21 properties that he’s seen/shown or that are new to the market and hear his 3rd quarter sales analysis.
Call 978-758-0983 to talk to Kenny about your local real estate needs
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I tend to pack on the pounds in the fall and winter. What better way to get ahead of all that good fall eatin’ than getting to the MAC with a $50 off coupon?
Call 978-526-8900 and get on board at the MAC with several easy to get to locations including G-Town baby!
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Here’s the latest from Susan Parent owner of Toodeloos Toy Store Downtown Gloucester!
Stores Signed On To Downtown Gloucester Black Friday So Far
Toodeloos! Island Art And Hobby Life Is Good Jewels Of Gloucester Pisces Palazola’s Mark Adrian Shoes Premier Imprints The Cave The G33K Store (yes, that’s how it’s spelled) Green Life The Raven Local Colors Menage Dogtown Books Antique Store Village Silversmith Cape Ann Olive Oil Stuff The Bookstore Kid’s Unlimited
AND Lone Gull will open at 5:45 AM so people can get caffeinated and get shopping! Most stores will be open at 6AM, some a bit later…7AM or so. I am still working on more stores! I will be pounding the pavement again on Saturday.
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Brandon Bernard, left, and Joe Maisonave carry one of 44 photovoltaic solar collection panels toward its place in a solar array on the roof of Reversing Falls Lobster Wharf in Harpswell recently. Each panel weighs about 44 pounds and can harness 240 watts of energy.
OK, let me first state that if this is true, that they could get all their energy to run their commercial lobster dock from these solar panels that would be fantastic. The clean air, fantastic. Less reliance on big oil, fantastic.
HOWEVER-
I’m not as sharp as I was when I was in college and practicing my math skills on a daily basis but from what they are saying in the article-
“44 panels which can harness 240 watts of energy each.”
That means you can power a bunch of lighting fixtures, right? Assuming in an industrial space you are using 100 watt bulbs. More than likely in huge industrial spaces I’m thinking your bulbs use more than 100 watt bulbs so maybe you could light the joint with 44 big lights? 44 panels times 240 watt lighting fixtures. But someone once told me you could have every light in your house on but as soon as you turn on the toaster oven it uses way more energy than a bunch of lightbulbs.
Take our dock for example-
I have a seriously hard time believing that the juice that our 5 lobster tank recirculating pumps at 2.5 hp to 5 hp and are sucking water in large pipes 20 feet up from low tide up to the tanks and run 24/7 is equivalent to a bunch of lightbulbs even if you were lighting up a monstrous building.
In my very conservative estimation the recirculating pumps use about 1000 times more energy here at our dock than whatever piddly money our lighting expenses are. Then we have refrigeration and huge refrigeration compressors for our bait cooler where the pallets of bait are stored.
Guaranteed that the energy those compressors pull are far greater than what 44 panels that can harness 240 watts of power when the sun is shining and not when it’s dark outside and our recirculating pumps are still pumping and our bait cooler compressors are still cooling.
Oh but wait, then there’s the winches. If you’ve seen the huge motors that turn the winch heads you know those bad boys are sucking down a huge amount of electricity to be able to lift three crates of lobsters at a time at close to 400lbs or tuna that can get to 1000 lbs, or three totes of bait at close to 450lbs. These motors run those a good part of the afternoon and early morning.
So to me, the numbers in no way add up. No way, no how.
But the media looooves to grab onto these stories because the green folks will always accept whatever the headline is as fact and run with it. Once the things are half paid for with government (read taxpayer) subsidies and installed, they’re not going anywhere.
I have a very hard time accepting that this commercial lobster dock is going to power their entire operation from solar power even though they will market themselves that way and all the green lemmings will trip over themselves to go buy lobsters there for $2-3 more a pound because they are using green technology that they as taxpayers footed half the bill for.
Hey if I’m wrong with the numbers and they can somehow squeeze 100 times more than 240 watts of power out of 40 panels and indeed run their lobster company with some type of new math, then congratulations!
The point for me is not if this was or wasn’t a good financial investment for the guys up in Harpswell. I wish them the best, I really do. What bugs the hell out of me though is the media’s acceptance of all these green technology wild claims because they know people eat that stuff up as it makes for a feel good story regardless if the numbers add up or not.
Smells fishy to me though.
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Click the banner below for The News from Rocky Neck via Judy Robinson Cox
Museum presents second lecture in the series: Who We Are Is Who We Were: Historic Businesses of Cape Ann
The Cape Ann Museum is pleased to present the second lecture in their series Who We Are is Who We Were: Historic Businesses of Cape Ann. The series looks at today’s local businesses that have thrived on Cape Ann over a hundred years. On Saturday, October 20 at 3:00 p.m. Scott Memhard, President of CAPE POND ICE COMPANY, INC., will be discussing his historic business. As part of his illustrated talk, Memhard will have historic ice harvesting tools, block ice and other tools of the trade to share with the audience. This program is free with Museum admission.
Cape Pond Ice Company was started as Gloucester Co. in 1848 by blacksmith Nathaniel R. Webster, who recognized the local fishing industry’s need for a reliable, large volume source of ice. Prior to that time, fish – primarily halibut & cod – were preserved with salt and brine. Webster dammed a local brook and built his first ice house on what became known as Webster’s Pond; today it is the site of Veteran’s Memorial School and the Route 128 extension. The ice industry grew rapidly, and within four years Webster built ice houses on Upper & Lower Day’s Ponds, where Foster’s Service Station is located, and on Cape Pond in Rockport, which the company is still named after.
Almost a century and a half later, in 1983, Memhard Investment Bankers of Riverside CT became the fifth family group to own and operate Cape Pond Ice. Today, it not only provides ice to the commercial fishing industry but also the produce, poultry, and concrete industries, and to sculpture and wholesale / retail packaged ice customers.
Since “The Perfect Storm” sales of the popular “Cape Pond Ice – Gloucester – The Coolest Guys Around” t-shirts and merchandise have become a significant element of the business, including national advertising and internet sales. Over the past 29 years, in the face of dramatic declines in the commercial fishing industry, the company has implemented a strategy of diversification, requiring substantial investment in plant and technology upgrades. The workforce increases from a year-round base of 7 to 20-30 during the busy summer season, including a fleet of ice delivery trucks. Cape Pond Ice occupies an acre of industrial harbor-front real estate, and also has storage and distribution operations in Peabody and Lawrence, MA.
Funding for this program was made possible through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which promotes excellence, access, education and diversity in the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences, in order to improve the quality of life for all Massachusetts residents and to contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.
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I bought one for the Mrs a couple of weeks ago without the Kit lens but for this deal it is ridiculous. Listen to me- If you have ANY interest in photography this camera has the best of all worlds and I can’t think of a better camera for the price than this one. Small size, awesome low light capabilities, huge sensor $478. For just a little more than a good point and shoot you get DSLR performance in a small package. COMPLETE TOTAL NO-BRAINER THE CAMERA TO BUY!
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Good Morning Gloucester 