Late nights

I’m sure that many of you stayed up late to watch the Red Sox play the Colorado Rockies in the World Series. The 8:30 p.m. games ran late, of course, but weren’t they worth it! The first game score was 13-1, with Josh Beckett pitching. Curt Schilling left Game 2 in the sixth and great relief kept the score at 2-1. The third game score was 10-5, with Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching. The final game, with Jon Lester pitching and Jonathan Papelbon closing, was 4-3.

I listened to the radio on the Red Sox station, as we don’t have cable TV and didn’t know the games were on Fox 23 until near the end of Game 4. They were certainly thrilling games and I know the Red Sox players quite well, even the tricky spelling of some of the names.

I thought I’d be back to my 9 p.m. bedtime, when I often read several of the many newspapers we subscribe to or buy, until I fall asleep. But then I read that Papelbon, who finished the final game, was to appear on the “Late Show” with David Letterman for an interview and perhaps to dance (he had danced his famous jig as he rode with his teammates on the Duck Boat ride during the parade in Boston).

So I had to stay up late that night, too. If Papelbon did his dance, it was brief, and it must have been just before I tuned in, but I had seen several pictures of him dancing, wearing a kilt, in the Boston papers. In his interview, he was relaxed, smiling and pleasant, “y, know.” How many times did he use that “y, know” phrase? I couldn’t even count them all. But he is a talented member of that team and I’m pleased that I watched the interview.

Monarch butterflies part 2

I wrote in the July 26 Ramblings about the monarch butterflies we had enjoyed watching as they fed on the milkweed plants in our yard. That is their favorite plant.

The Oct. 8 Washington Times had a long article about the monarchs’ migration to Mexico each fall. Their migration is called unlike any other in the animal kingdom. They are seen in the Washington, D.C., area starting in August through October, and sometimes in November, if the weather stays warm.

Robert Robbins, a research entomologist with the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History, writes that it takes a lot of energy to fly to Mexico, and that the energy is provided by the flower nectar they eat in the weeks leading up to their journey. The butterflies’ abdomens are swollen with fat, which is their equivalent of a full fuel tank, Robbins said.

Last year’s monarch flight was particularly heavy. They travel an average of 50 miles in a day.

Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch, says his group distributes more than 200,000 tags a year to track and study the butterflies.

Some worry that their numbers may drop in the coming years. Taylor says that they’re over-wintering in Mexico, “but if you chop down all those trees there, this thing is going to collapse.”

Some areas of the world put the milkweed on their noxious weed list, and that causes people to spray them with herbicides to kill them. Plant pesticides can also directly kill the monarch.

Also, urban development puts them in jeopardy. Mexicans deforest their lands for economic reasons, but in doing so, they can hurt the over-wintering spots upon which the butterflies depend.

Mr. Taylor says that homeowners can plant butterfly gardens. This year portends to be about as strong for monarch sightings as was last year. The over-wintering sites can have as many as 20 million monarch butterflies per acre. He suggests that planting milkweed and other flowers that offer nectar to the butterflies isn’t complicated.

I surely hope that we will see them back here in Maine next summer.

A long-legged ‘Sox’

In the Oct. 30 Boston Herald was a picture of the Masai giraffe, born during the World Series, at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo. Names for the giraffe had been suggested – “Red,” “Fenway,” “Champion” and “Boston.” But they finally named it “Sox” after Sunday’s win. The giraffe weighed 154 pounds, and stood 6 feet 2 inches tall. The Masai or Kilimanjaro giraffe is one of the most rare species of giraffe in North America. When grown, Sox will have jagged spots and a tassel on the tip of his tail.

“Our beloved New England institutions, Franklin Park Zoo and the Red Sox, both have a reason to celebrate,” said John Linehan, president and CEO of the Franklin Park Zoo.

Fit for a sweet tooth

Today’s recipe is a simple one to prepare, and a popular one too.

CHOCOLATE BIT SQUARES

2 cups (about 24 crackers) fine graham cracker crumbs, firmly packed

1 package (6 ounces) chocolate bits

1/2 cup chopped nut meats

1 can (15 ounce) of condensed milk

Combine crumbs, bits and nuts. Blend in condensed milk. Put into an 8-by-8 greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 40 minutes. Cool and cut into 2-inch squares. (I baked mine about 30 minutes in our gas oven).