But for some reason I just did not relax. I didn’t get to spend as much time with friends or just vegging on the beach as I wanted, and I really have no one to blame but myself. Part of the problem is that I just could not shut my brain off. Last year I got a notebook, and it ended up being my ‘PyCon’ notebook. This year, I just didn’t seem to have time, oddly enough. Code freeze at work was Friday and that, I am sure, didn’t help. The official fork will most likely be this upcoming Friday.

I have had no time to work on any of my python projects, and it is driving me crazy. There are so many fantastic things happening with django-survey, and Pinax is picking up steam, I need to put the old PyCon ’08 stuff into archival mode, and start up ’09. There is some very very interesting stuff going on with the DFW Python group that I want to help out on as well. There are so many fantastic things being worked on right now by incredible people, and I feel a down right claustrophobic not being able to do anything myself. I only been able to attend one Boston Python Meetup so far this year!

It looks like I will be in Montanna the first week of July this year (my anual pre-PyCon-Tech kickoff-kickoff). Barring any project ‘issues‘ I hope to get my act together then (with respect to PyCon software for 2009). If there are any pythonistas in the Missoula area, please send me an e-mail! For now I guess I should get back to unpacking the car.

My brain went through the usual progression of squirrel, dog, large dog, look for the owner. Then a large black animal about chest high burst through, bounded across the road, crashed through the brush on the other side and stopped. My brain was expecting a dog and was quickly running thought all the animals it had seen, and drawing a blank. Then my son yelled ‘BEAR!’ *click* Yup, that was a bear. A juvenile black bear, and he was now just off the road to our right about 40 feet in front of us. When it happened I could have sworn I could reach out and touched him, but no it was some distance off. There was some more rustling around and I could see the dark form through the trees. I would have gotten a picture of him, but:

1. I didn’t have a camera
2. Even if I did, my son was with me
3. Even if he wasn’t, it’s a black bear who just covered more distance in a few seconds than I could with a jet pack attached to my back.

So we turned around and headed back down into the main campground. My son desperately wanted to go back and see the bear so the going was not as fast as I would have liked. I went to the ranger station and reported the sighting. It was the first sighting this year at least. There is a mother and child with callers being tracked by animal control. From what I understand it is quite rare for them to come to the park, and even more rare to be seen. I had previously only seen bears on tv or at the zoo. There is quite a difference.

The rest of the time camping was a blast, if less eventful. There was lots of baseball, bike riding, and swimming for the kids, and cooking, sitting and cave man tv (fire) for the adults. My son and I went on a hike around the unnamed trail off of Walker Pond road looking for beavers and herons. We got lucky and found two herons fishing and many, many butterflies. I made three tabblo‘s (previews below) and added a tabblo badge to the right hand sidebar. I would have done so sooner, but I wanted to hack the default display a litttle. Ned Batchelder’s blog inspired me to try some shutter settings for time lapsed night photography. My wife is the photographer and artist so the good shots are hers.

See my Tabblo>

Part of the wetlands preserve of Wells State Park in Massachusetts is home to a number of herons, beavers, and owls. There is also a family of black bears, a member of which made a surprise appearance recently. … See my Tabblo>

See my Tabblo>

Park Serve Day is this Saturday, May 12th!

Please select a park where you would like to volunteer from the list below and register by clicking the “Register Now” link.

For more information, to register a group of six or more people, or to discuss any special accommodations or needs you may have for the day, please contact the Department of Conservation and Recreation at 617-626-4980 or park.serve@state.ma.us. DCR welcomes all interested participants and has developed a broad list of projects suitable for various abilities.

General directions are provided for your assistance. Please use additional on-line trip planning tools or maps to guide you to the park from your specific starting point.

As I have mentioned before, our local parks are in dire need of attention. Any time you can spare would be greatly appreciated.

Also here is an update from the Environment Massachusetts on the Budget which is now in the Mass. Senate for vote, which includes $9.6 million earmarked for our parks.

Massachusetts has a strong legacy of preserving our special places. Unfortunately, this legacy, like our state forests and parks, is deteriorating. Many of our public treasures are suffering from chronic neglect, mismanagement and understaffing that in some cases have led to visible decay, safety issues and environmental damage. Our state forests and parks system currently has a deferred maintenance backlog of estimated between $1.2 and $1.7 billion.

Our state forests and parks support dozens of rare species, natural communities, old growth forests and champion tree sites. They provide recreational opportunities for millions of visitors who walk, play, camp, bike, hike, and otherwise enjoy these natural resources. And, they contribute significantly to our economic prosperity in the Commonwealth, supporting robust tourism and recreation economies and even, according to recent studies, drawing young people to settle here.

Unfortunately, Governor Patrick missed a crucial step toward restoring our world class forests and parks a few weeks ago when failed to fulfill his campaign promise to provide an additional $10 million for our forests and parks. By ignoring our forests, parks and beaches, we turn our backs on the places that make Massachusetts such a great place to live and work.

The legislature is writing its budget between now and the end of June, so we are working to build as much support as possible to convince our legislators to deliver the additional resources our public treasures need and deserve. We are working closely with the Parks Caucus in the Legislature, other environmental groups, and you to make this happen. As the first step in that process, the House of Representatives passed the final version of the House budget last Friday. We are happy to report that their final budget includes an additional $9.6 million for the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The budget now moves on to the Senate where we will work with Senator Augustus, the Legislative Parks Caucus, and you to ensure the additional resources remain.

To send your senator an email, click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web browser. Then, ask your friends and family to help out by sharing this message with them.

https://www.environmentmassachusetts.org/action/preserving-massachusetts/senate-email?id4=ES

Sincerely,

Frank Gorke
Environment Massachusetts Director
FrankGorke@environmentmassachusetts.org
http://www.environmentmassachusetts.org

Last week the House heeded your call and stood up for Revere Beach, Middlesex Fells, Nickerson State Park, Balance Rock State Park, Walden Pond and other great places across the Commonwealth by including an additional $9.6 million for the Department of Conservation and Recreation in the final version of their budget. Thanks to all of your emails, phone calls and petition signatures, we won this critical first step in the Legislature’s budget process.

This additional funding, championed by Speaker DiMasi, Chairman DeLeo, Chairman Smizik and Representative Rush, means more rangers, cleaner and safer parks, more public access, more educational programs and more recreational opportunities. These lawmakers, as well as all the legislators who supported additional funding for forests and parks, deserve our thanks.

Please email your state representative and thank them for standing up for our treasured public places.

To email your state representative, click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web browser.

https://www.environmentmassachusetts.org/action/preserving-massachusetts/thank-rep?id4=ES

Background

Massachusetts has a strong legacy of preserving our special places. Unfortunately, this legacy, like our state forests and parks, is deteriorating. Many of our public treasures are suffering from chronic neglect, mismanagement and understaffing that in some cases have led to visible decay, safety issues and environmental damage. Our state forests and parks system currently has a deferred maintenance backlog of estimated between $1.2 and $1.7 billion.

Our state forests and parks support dozens of rare species, natural communities, old growth forests and champion tree sites. They provide recreational opportunities for millions of visitors who walk, play, camp, bike, hike, and otherwise enjoy these natural resources. And, they contribute significantly to our economic prosperity in the Commonwealth, supporting robust tourism and recreation economies and even, according to recent studies, drawing young people to settle here.

Unfortunately, Governor Patrick missed a crucial step toward restoring our world class forests and parks a few weeks ago when failed to fulfill his campaign promise to provide an additional $10 million for our forests and parks. By ignoring our forests, parks and beaches, we turn our backs on the places that make Massachusetts such a great place to live and work.

The legislature is writing its budget between now and the end of June, so we are working to build as much support as possible to convince our legislators to deliver the additional resources our public treasures need and deserve. We are working closely with the Parks Caucus in the Legislature, other environmental groups, and you to make this happen. As the first step in that process, the House of Representatives passed the final version of the House budget last Friday. We are happy to report that their final budget includes an additional $9.6 million for the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Please email your state representative and thank them for standing up for our treasured public places.

Sincerely,

Frank Gorke
Environment Massachusetts Director
FrankG@environmentmassachusetts.org
http://www.environmentmassachusetts.org

P.S. Thanks again for your support. Please feel free to share this e-mail with your family and friends.

Please take the time to thank your representatives for passing this budget and the additional funding for our parks in particular. Don’t know who they are? Here is the list by town and here are their e-mail addresses and phone numbers. Now it is up to the Senate to accept the budget. I will post information on that process later.

And on a personal note….

We go camping many times a year at many Mass. parks. In recent years we have seen a major changes, most not for the better. Wells State Park has had to close their nature tours and children’s programs. The parks are understaffed and the rangers (now under the State Police) are overwhelmed. We try to do our part by leaving the camping areas in better condition than when we arrived. Simple things like clearing the trash, rebuilding the fire pits, leaving fire bundles, and keeping the kids out of the regrowth areas. If you spend time in a public area, park or otherwise, please try to do the same; many small single acts can go along way.