A New England Tradition?

If you have ever been to New England then you will know that New Enladers love their idependence. You know that they tend to be very self reliant, especially in Northern New England. They are very private people and they don't open up easily. New Englanders tend to keep things to themselves and they don't tend to open up to new people easily.

This probably stems from the fact that many New Englanders are descended from hearty stock. Many immigrants from Nordic and northern European nations came here America at great risk of life and limb a few centuries ago. Those decedents did not have anyone to depend on but themselves. If they did not do something, then there would be nobody else to do it for them.

You will notice that many New Englanders don't just throw things away either. They tend to keep things in order to put them to use at a later date. Often, I have found, they will find a totally new use for a particular item, something that the item in question was never intended to be used for. For example I know a woman who has a very large barn stock full of things from broken furniture to old iron and old farming tools.

One day, she decided she needed a new work bench. Instead of going out to buy a new one, she simply took a dresser and an old book shelf apart and within 2 hours she had reconstructed the two units into one, simple yet very solid and sturdy work bench. That was three years ago and that bench is still in use to this day. And I am sure she will use it till the day she dies.

As for me, being an outsider, when I needed a workbench, I just headed for my local Home Depot and bought the wood needed to build one. So, OK, I did build one instead of buying one but I am still far from tearing apart old furniture and putting them back together in some useful, yet very ugly form.

But that is not what I wanted to tell you. What you may not know about New Englanders is they also seem to love their coffee. Yes, I said coffee. Now why do I say that? Because if you ever come to New England, one of the things you will notice right off is that Dunk n Donuts coffee shops are almost as plentiful as gas stations. And we have a lot of gas stations.

In fact, many coffee shops are located inside gas stations. Now don't think that only mass market coffee shops such as Dunk n Donuts or Starbucks or Honey Dew are the only coffee houses you can pick up a cup of joe. No indeed not. In every town of any size or even in many towns of no size, has at least one indy coffee shop. The funny thing is that every one of them seem to be doing very well. They are not hurting for sales. Ad to the fact there are a number of what I call trailer shops as well.

What is a trailer shop? It is just that. It is a coffee and hot dog stand that is housed in small trailer or camper and set in a parking lot. Again, they dot the landscape and make coffee almost as plentiful as gas.

I am guessing because it gets so cold in the winter that they need something to keep them warm but that does not explain the vast number of coffee shops. I have even talked to people who hail from Seattle, WA that cannot believe how many coffee shops we have in New England. And it seems a new shop pops up in some of the most remote places and they survive and make money and stay in business for years.

So I have come to the conclusion that New England is the land of coffee. The pilgrims came to America in order to have the freedom of having coffee their way on their terms any time they wanted it. Yea, some of these coffee shops are open 24/7.

But I have to ask, if New Englanders are so pumped up on coffee, why do they often move so slow? Sometimes it is really hard to understand how to become a true Yankee. Maybe I need to up my coffee intake.

The Moose is lost

It was a cold day here in the Keene, NH area of New Hampshire. In fact, I was standing in my living room looking out my window in Swanzey, NH at the result of the near record snow fall from the previous day and night.

I was not going to work that day. Indeed, the plow man had not even yet come to free our vehicles from the cold, white frosty entombment. I was trapped. No one was going to get in my driveway. And certainly no one was getting out. I called in to work and told them I would not be making the now typical Yankee commute to my source of income.

Yes, I looked out my window admiring God handiwork all the while enjoying that favorite of beverages in New England, coffee. If you doubt the Yankee love for coffee, all you have to do is make a trip to the area and you will notice coffee shops are almost as plentiful as gas stations. In fact many a coffee/donuts shop are located IN gas stations.

But I digress. As I was about to sip the morning nectar of the Yankee gods, I noticed something moving in the snow. Actually my yard was not flat. It was rather hilly. Sort of like the pictures seen when someone wants to describe Amber Waves of Grain. Rolling hills.

I noticed that one of those small rolling hills was moving. Then I realized that this moving hill was brown while everything from hill to treetop was covered in white. And then all of a sudden, the enormous head of a moose popped up. I nearly dropped my coffee cup.

I could not believe my eyes. A moose this far in civilization? How could this be? I have seen moose before, but never this close. And silly me, I wanted to get closer. So I hurriedly dressed myself. Yes my dog looked at me as if I had three heads. But none the less, I donned my winter cloths and shoved on boots without socks, grabbed a leash and hitched up the dog. After all, if I was going to get close, I may need a little protection. My loving and trusting dog would be the perfect distraction for this moose should I need to make a hasty retreat.

I opened the door but soon realized that the going was going to be tough. I had a covered deck, so I could get out my door with no problem. But to get off the deck, I was going to have to swim in snow. Yes it was that deep. My dog, Jesse, was less than enthusiastic about this adventure. I had to coax her by strongly yanking on the leash to get her to take the plunge.

But trudge we did. Through waist high fresh snow. Across the drive towards the area in which I first saw the moose. And then behind a bunch of trees, was the biggest head I have ever seen on an animal with legs. No rack. So this moose was a female. A cow as they are known.

I realized I made the biggest mistake of all when coming out here with my dog. No, the moose did not chase us down. I forgot my camera. I could not get a shot of this for all eternity. As I was about to turn back to my apartment for my camera, other Yankee residents came to see the giant animal.

Some even brought their kids. Little kids. They giggled and laughed and pointed at the moose. One child yelled out, "Lets call it Moosey". How original. Whats more is that the name stuck. The residents of my building all began calling her Moosey. I figured it must be a traditional Yankee name so I went along.

Then someone asked the really Yankee question of "did anybody bring a camera?" Now me not being a Yankee, I lowered my head in shame because I knew if anyone should of had a camera, it should of been the outsider. Yes, I had my first real Yankee moment.

Then all of a sudden many of the male residents darted back to their appointed abodes as I stood there amid the females and children, and my dog. I knew they were all going to go for the shutter bug machines. So I thought I would not be a Yankee in that way. Foolishly trying to retrace my steps through that high snow just to get something that anyone with a sense of a brain would have grabbed before coming out in the first place.

No, I thought I would be the smarter outsider and just play it cool. I found it amazing that my dog, who was usually very protective and always stood in front of me was now strangely hanging behind me. I swear to you when I looked upon Jesse's face, I saw the look of sheer terror. She had never seen anything such as the size of this mammoth beast.

Moosey was rather calm even though some hours later when someone called the game warden who did not even bother to make the trip to our humble abode. He just told us the Moose was lost due to the near record snow fall and high drifts. That she would find her way out in a day or two.

I thought how safe could it be to have this huge monster lurking about with children around. Well, I learned that Yankee parents can be very protective of their offspring. They basically told their kids to stay clear or face the switch or even worse, lose their Nintendo game. Not a kid went withing 10 yards of the moose.

Well, we all took a gander, others took pictures, my dog still hid behind me putting me between her and the moose, (not such a dumb dog after all) and the kids played in the snow...for a couple of hours. Yes, we stood out there for about two hours. Hey, when you are a Yankee, you don't have much in the way of live entertainment. And this moose was a huge hit. Moosey was such a hit, that we repeated the same event the next day.

But then on the third day, the show was closed. Moosey indeed found her way out the night before. Now dog and kids could roam the grounds freely without the risk of losing their Nintendo.