Local Stuff: Archaeology Lecture and Fiddlers

 There are always things to do in Northern New England when the weather is cold. Recently we attended a library lecture and heard fiddlers perform in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day. Today's blog is about each of those events!

(Photo: The Fiddling Thompsons (left) are introduced by Sharon, the head librarian. Credit: R.G.)

1) Heard the Fiddling Thomsons at the Berwick Public Library! 

The Father and son duo Ryan and Brennish Thomson visited the library in mid-March. The two have been performing together for over 20 years. Their large repertoire of Irish music includes jigs, reels, hornpipes, aires, slides and more, which they play on fiddles, accordion, guitar, banjo, bones, Irish tin whistle, and other instruments.

They have performed throughout New England and far away places such New York, California, England, and China. Besides numerous awards for their playing on various instruments, they are the recipients of the 2023 New Hampshire Governor’s Arts Award for Folk Heritage. 

(A 13 second video of some of the Irish Jig fiddling! Credit: R.G LINK: Video link

https://youtube.com/shorts/-lsIa2Gdcbg)

2) Local Historical Presentation: 1642 Abraham Preble Garrison in York Maine, excavated in 2021-2022

In October 2021, a team from Northeast Archaeology Research Center began scraping the surface of the site at 142 York St., looking for any traces of historical value. All the artifacts recovered from the Davis land went to the Northeast Archaeology laboratory to be cleaned, catalogued, analyzed and curated. Some of the artifacts were brought to the York, Maine library for attendees of the lecture.

(Photo: The archeological dig. Credit: Seacoast Online) 

WHAT IS THE PREBLE HOME? The Abraham Preble Site in York Maine began as a family homestead in 1642 and was later fortified to serve as a militia garrison and place-of-refuge during King William’s War (1688-1697), a destructive frontier conflict that pitted the English Colonists against the native Wabnaki and their French allies.

(Photo: The archeological dig at the Preble Home area in York, Maine.) 

THE PRESENTATION - The historical presentation was about the Phase III Data Recovery of the Abraham Preble Garrison on York Street in York, Maine. It was excavated in 2021-2022 because there is a proposed building project slated for that area. The developer funded the excavation to ensure any historic artifacts would be preserved.

WHAT WAS UNCOVERED? The team has found a number of interesting artifacts, including many old tobacco pipe stems, ceramics and traces of trenches used by soldiers in the late 17th century. Tables of artifacts from the dig were on display.

NINE BUILDINGS - Intensive archaeological excavations in 2021 and 2022 revealed at least nine buildings stood in and adjacent to successive palisade (fencing) lines, marking the site’s evolution. Confined to an area of 800 m², many of the structures appeared contemporary with the most intensive period of occupation, when the complex housed not just the Preble family, but the militia garrison and as many of 100 refugees from nearby farmsteads.

(Photo: An artifact excavated from the Preble House site)

WHAT WILL BE BUILT THERE? The Mary McIntire Davis Trust, a family trust, currently owns the property, and the York Planning Board okayed the development of 115 residential units on the property, including six workforce housing units and more than 40 units for people 55 and older.

Idiot of the Week: NH man sentenced for using $1M in COVID relief funds to buy golf course

This week's idiot stole a million dollars to buy himself a golf course. He secured more than $1 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) through the federal CARES Act during COVID. Why he's only getting a short prison sentence is unknown. The article doesn't say anything about him paying it back, though.

NH man sentenced for using $1M in COVID relief funds to buy golf course 

Michael Kirouac will serve 15 months in prison after pleading guilty in October.

February 21, 2026 Boston.com By Morgan Rousseau

A New Hampshire man who fraudulently obtained more than $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds and used much of the money to buy a golf course has been sentenced to federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Hampshire announced.

Michael Kirouac, 38, of Pembroke, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison and one year of supervised release after pleading guilty in October to one count of wire fraud, prosecutors said.

Federal investigators said Kirouac secured more than $1 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) through the federal CARES Act. The loans were meant to help small businesses cover payroll and other necessary expenses during the early months of the pandemic.

Instead, authorities said, Kirouac used roughly $600,000 of the funds to help purchase the Angus Lea Golf Course in Hillsborough after he was unable to get private financing.

“The defendant stole over a million dollars from taxpayers amidst one of the worst health and economic crises in a century,” U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan said in a statement. “This office will continue to vigilantly investigate and prosecute those who defraud pandemic relief programs.”

According to court documents, Kirouac owned or controlled four companies: HK Manchester, HK Loudon, HK Hudson, and HK Pelham. Prosecutors said he certified that the EIDL funds would be used as working capital and not for personal expenses or business relocation.

Beginning in 2021, while attempting to buy the golf course, Kirouac obtained EIDL funds on behalf of HK Manchester and HK Loudon and put a large portion of the money toward the purchase, prosecutors said. He also misused funds tied to HK Pelham.

Kirouac also received a $260,500 EIDL loan for HK Hudson even though he had already agreed to sell the company to a third party, authorities said. He didn’t disclose the pending sale to the Small Business Administration when applying for the loan.

“Today’s sentencing of Michael Kirouac demonstrates IRS-CI’s continued commitment to prosecuting all those who took advantage of the CARES Act for their own undue self-enrichment,” said Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office. “Kirouac defrauded a federal program designed to help those most in need at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic with the intent of misappropriating these funds to purchase a golf course, while others, who were truly in need, struggled.”

Hero of the Week: Betty, assistance dog at Santa Fe sex assault services nonprofit, helps victims find calm

This week's hero is a black labrador retriever with a talent for bringing calm. Betty works in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her human, and has already done amazing things. That's today's blog. 

(Photo: Betty’s handler, Jacquelyn Belinsky, who is also a nurse practitioner and sexual assault nurse examiner getting ready for work. Credit: Nathan Burton, Santa Fe New Mexican) 

Betty, assistance dog at Santa Fe sex assault services nonprofit, helps victims find calm 

By Lily Alexander, February 9, 2026, Santa Fe New Mexican news

Though her 90-day orientation period is still underway, the newest staff member at Solace Sexual Assault Services — a black English Labrador named Betty — has already made an impact.

“One of Betty’s superpowers is that she will be nonjudgemental,” said Betty’s handler, Jacquelyn Belinsky, who is also a nurse practitioner and sexual assault nurse examiner. “There’s non-judgement coming from her eyes, and also she emits a sense of safety. And with those two qualities, she helps people — they feel safe, they don’t feel judged, they can just go ahead and tell their stories.”

Solace, a nonprofit facility located on Santa Fe’s south side, serves hundreds of victims of sexual violence in Northern New Mexico each year. Four-year-old Betty — the facility’s first assistance dog — sits with children and teenagers during forensic interviews, and she will soon accompany clients to therapy sessions, too.

She even has an office.

Having an assistance dog was a longtime dream of both Belinsky and Solace’s executive director, María José Rodríguez Cádiz. For Belinsky, the dream dates back two decades — to a day she was in Taos to testify in a case regarding the sexual abuse of a young girl by a family member.

The girl was so terrified she could not enter the courtroom, Belinsky recalled. Then a service dog was brought in. The dog lay down on the ground, the young girl locked eyes with it “and bravely disclosed — while making eye contact with the dog — the whole story of what had happened to her while her perpetrator was in the courtroom,” Belinsky said.

“The dog gave her this sense of safety and decreased intense anxiety,” she added. “And I saw, so long ago, the power of what a dog could do. … That stayed with me.”

A 2018 study published in the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse found a service-trained facility dog at a child advocacy center in Virginia significantly decreased the stress of children participating in forensic interviews.

Assistance dogs provide a new means of healing that traditional therapy — though also effective — does not, Rodríguez Cádiz said.

“It is just a very effective way to help folks regulate while undergoing acute trauma,” she said.

Betty is a product of Assistance Dogs of the West, where Belinksy started volunteering in 2019. The Santa Fe-based nonprofit breeds and trains dogs to work in a variety of settings across the country — courthouses, schools and following mass-casualty events, for example.

As she helped to raise puppies, Belinksy started thinking about her work with Solace and the impact an assistance dog could make there. And after several years of collaboration and discussion, Betty, with her temperament of calmness and peace, “became the ideal candidate,” Belinsky said.

AMAZING EXAMPLE OF BETTY'S TALENTS 

So far, Betty’s impact has been “amazing,” Rodríguez Cádiz said, citing a recent example of a child who was set to participate in a forensic interview, but was so nervous the staff did not think they would be able to do it that day. The advocate in the room quickly thought of Betty, and when they brought her in, the child’s demeanor immediately changed.

“It wasn’t seasoned professionals, fully trained, who have done this over and over again that were able to create that shift,” Rodríguez Cádiz said.

It was Betty.

It was the English lab, too, a couple of weeks ago, when a young girl who came in for services was anxious and hyperventilating, Belinsky said. Belinsky brought Betty into the room, and the girl wrapped her arms around the dog and cried into her chest. The pair stayed together for two hours, she said.

“And when she was done and she was going home, she said, ‘I couldn’t have done this without Betty,’ ” Belinsky said.

At the end of her day, Betty goes home with Belinsky and takes off her assistance dog vest. She enjoys chewing on her toys, watching the birds in her backyard and playing with Belinsky’s grandchildren.

“But when I put that vest on her ... she knows she’s on duty,” Belinsky said.

Betty also provides support to Solace’s staff. Belinsky brings her to visit the detectives at the Santa Fe Police Department’s Special Victims Unit, which is housed at Solace.

The pup is also prepared to attend meetings and accompany Rodríguez Cádiz to community events.

“And this is just the beginning,” Rodríguez Cádiz said.

Lily Alexander is a Santa Fe New Mexican reporter through a fellowship with the New Mexico Local News Fund.

Book of the Week: Tails You Lose: Witch City Mystery by Carol J Perry

The Witch City Mystery series by Carol J. Perry is one of my all time favorite series!  I have read most of them, and finally went back and read the second book of the series "Tails You Lose." - Somehow I had missed it, and it was AWESOME. That's today's blog.

The main characters are wonderful, Lee who teaches television at a local school (and in later books becomes a reporter for WICH-TV), her boyfriend, later husband, detective Pete Mondello, her aunt Ibby, a retired librarian, and her cat O'Ryan, who originally belonged to a local witch found murdered in book one- are all captivating. There's also Lee's best friend River North, a true witch who reads tarot.

Tails You Lose is a GREAT mystery that will keep you wanting to finish. I read it in 1 week, which is Super-fast for me. In the book, Lee is teaching a television class, and the assignment is to write about the history of Trumbull's deparment store, which happens to be haunted by one of the former residents when it also served as a home. There's mystery, secret tunnels, ghosts, and various new characters. 5 of 5 stars!

ABOUT THE BOOK:  Her instincts may be killer--but can she catch one this wicked?

After losing her job as a TV psychic, Lee Barrett has decided to volunteer her talents as an instructor at the Tabitha Trumbull Academy of the Arts--known as "The Tabby"--in her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts. But when the school's handyman turns up dead under seemingly inexplicable circumstances on Christmas night, Lee's clairvoyant capabilities begin bubbling to the surface once again.

The Tabby is housed in the long-vacant Trumbull's Department Store. As Lee and her intrepid students begin work on a documentary charting the store's history, they unravel a century of family secrets, deathbed whispers--and a mysterious labyrinth of tunnels hidden right below the streets of Salem. Even the witches in town are spooked, and when Lee begins seeing visions in the large black patent leather pump in her classroom, she's certain something evil is afoot. But ghosts in the store's attic are the least of her worries with a killer on the loose. . .

New 'sungrazing' comet could become visible to the naked eye during the day (April 4-5)

A newly discovered sungrazing comet C/2026 A1 will make an extremely close slingshot around the Sun in early April, and could become bright enough to be seen without a telescope during the day.... if it doesn't burn up, that is. That's today's blog.

(Image: This is NOT C/2026 A1. Instead it is comet ISON. Comets are thought to hold material from the time when the Sun and planets were forming. They are like giant, frozen time capsules in our solar system. Credit: NASA/MSFC/Aaron Kingery)

New 'sungrazing' comet could become visible to the naked eye during the day — if the sun doesn't destroy it

By Harry Baker, LIVE SCIENCE,  (Updated by editor to reflect comet arrival April 4-5) 

Astronomers have discovered an exciting new "sungrazing" comet that will have a perilously close encounter with our home star in less than a month  (April 4-5). Some experts predict the hefty ice ball could become bright enough to be visible to the naked eye, even in daylight — but only if the comet survives its deadly solar slingshot.

The newfound comet, dubbed C/2026 A1 (MAPS), was discovered Jan. 13 by a team of French astronomers at the AMACS1 Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. It is likely around 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) wide and, when it was first spotted, was just over twice as far from the sun as Earth is, according to Sky & Telescope magazine.

C/2026 A1 belongs to the Kreutz family of "sungrazing" comets — a group of at least 3,500 comets with orbits that take them within 850,000 miles (1.4 million km) of our home star. The Kreutz sungrazers are suspected to be fragments of a single massive comet that was ripped apart by the sun around 1,700 years ago, according to Live Science's sister site Space.com.

The icy ball of rock and gas will reach its closest point to the sun, called perihelion, on April 4, when it will come within around 500,000 miles (800,000 km) of our home star — or roughly 70 times closer to the sun than Mercury is. At such proximity, the comet will whip around the sun at more than 2 million mph (3.2 million km/h), causing it to experience intense gravitational pressure, high temperatures, and a hefty dose of solar radiation.

This immense strain may end up ripping the comet apart, which happens to most other sungrazing comets. But if it survives its perilous perihelion, C/2026 A1 will be so changed by the event that it will shine like an incredibly bright star — potentially even during the daytime.

How bright will it get?

C/2026 A1 comes from a particularly noteworthy subgroup of Kreutz sungrazers that are thought to be fragments of the "Great Comet of 1106," which was itself a remnant of the family's massive progenitor. Previous alumni of this subgroup include Comet Ikeya-Seki, which shined brighter than the full moon in 1965, and Comet Lovejoy, which became a "headless wonder" after being largely ripped apart in 2011.

As these comets made their own solar flybys, they became uncommonly bright, largely due to the significant amounts of gas that were released as they soaked up solar radiation. This has also caused several sungrazers to grow spectacular "broom-like" tails as they neared the sun, which could also happen to C/2026 A1, according to Sky & Telescope.

It is too early to accurately predict how bright C/2026 A1 will become. However, some researchers speculate that it could get several times brighter than the full moon, which would make it visible to the naked eye in the daytime sky, according to an article in The Conversation. But this will happen only if it survives perihelion; if not, it won't get anywhere near its max brightness.

Most sungrazing comets are small and are discovered mere days before they reach perihelion. Usually, they also get ripped apart by the encounter. For example, during the total solar eclipse of April 2024, researchers discovered a tiny sungrazer just hours before it disappeared forever.

How to see C/2026 A1 (MAPS)

If C/2026 A1 survives its deadly dance with the sun, it will likely reach its max brightness a few days later as it nears its closest point to Earth later in the month.

Archaeologists raced against the tide to record a unique set of footprints made 2,000 years ago on a Scottish beach.

For just a few days, storms revealed something extraordinary on a beach in Scotland — ancient human and animal footprints pressed into clay nearly 2,000 years ago. When a couple walking their dogs after a strong storm unearthed ancient footprints, archaeologists from the University of Aberdeen were contacted and came out immediately to capture them before they were washed away. That's today's blog.

(Image:  The outline of a footprint left in the clay 2,000 years ago. The orange coloring is digitally added. (Image credit: University of Aberdeen)

In a 'race against time,' archaeologists uncovered Roman-era footprints from a Scottish beach before the tide washed them away. 

LIVE SCIENCE  Kristina Killgrove published February 19, 2026

While walking their dogs along a cliff-flanked Scottish beach after an intense storm, a couple stumbled upon a series of unusual markings on the damp ground — patterns that looked like ancient human and animal footprints.

Their discovery sparked an archaeological race against the clock to document and study the prints before they disappeared into the surf.

"It's very rare that you get involved in a genuine archaeological emergency where, if we didn't do it very, very quickly, the whole site would be gone," Kate Britton, an archaeologist at the University of Aberdeen, said in a video about the find.

On the beach at Lunan Bay in eastern Scotland, locals Ivor Campbell and Jenny Snedden — along with their dogs Ziggy and Juno — spotted a fresh layer of clay in the storm-damaged dunes with what appeared to be prints. They notified Aberdeenshire council archaeologist Bruce Mann, who brought in Britton and her team to excavate the newly uncovered site before it was lost forever.

The team of archaeologists worked in wind gusts up to 55 mph (88.5 km/h), racing to document the prints as the site was eroded with each high tide. They used drones, cameras and, later in the lab, 3D modeling software to record images of the archaeological site. They also used plaster to create molds of some of the better-preserved prints, which were made by barefoot humans and several animals, including red deer (Cervus elaphus) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), according to the statement.

"I'd never seen a site like this in Scotland," Britton said. "It was just immediately clear that this was something special."

Underneath the prints, the archaeologists found a layer of charred plant remains. They carbon-dated the plants to 2,000 years ago, during the late Iron Age.

"It's very exciting to think these prints were made by people around the time of the Roman invasions of Scotland and in the centuries leading up to the emergence of the Picts."

The Lunan Bay site "tells us how this now sandy beach was once a muddy estuary and that humans were using this environment, perhaps for hunting deer or to collect wild plant foods," William Mills, an archaeologist at the University of Aberdeen, said in the statement. Britton and her team excavated the site for two days, recording as much as they could. When they returned a week later, the prints were completely gone.

Read: "Ghosts of Ireland: On a Medium's Vacation" for St. Patrick’s Day

 It's Saint Patrick's day, and if you're looking for something to get you in the "Spirit" of being Irish, I have to plug one of my books. 

 "Ghosts of Ireland: On a Medium's Vacation" for St. Patrick’s Day

"Ghosts of Ireland on a Medium's Vacation" was my eleventh book and published in 2024. Although it's about haunted places, it also includes references to places where St. Patrick traveled. 

I'm happy to say the book did attain the number 1 spot on Amazon’s “Irish Travel” and “Haunted and  Unexplained” categories.It's loaded with photos, including one of 8 ghosts I encountered in an old jail!- Rob*

Read "Ghosts of Ireland: On a Medium's Vacation"  and Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day   

BOSTON –   Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, best-selling true paranormal author and medium Rob Gutro is publishing his 11th book, “Ghosts of Ireland on a Medium’s Vacation.”  The book debuts on February 24, 2024.  

What happens when a medium goes on vacation? Can a medium simply switch off their ability at will?  Well…not exactly. Like others in his “Medium’s Vacation” series, this book contains Rob’s ghostly encounters, history, his sketches of ghosts and photographs of each place. Readers will experience ghosts in prisons, castles, churches, other historic places and even a shopping mall with a tragic past.  

“Cork City Gaol (jail) was the most haunted place and many prisoners still lingering there as earthbound ghosts,” Gutro said. He sketched out one ghost and captured a photo of a male ghost walking across a corridor that was sealed off by a glass window. “I sensed a ghost down an empty corridor in the jail so I snapped several photos one after the other, and the ghost appeared in one of the photos. That’s the cover of my book.”

The book is organized alphabetically by County, and crosses Ireland from Dublin in the east, to Galway in the west, and south to Cork County. Within each County section are chapters of the haunted places he visited, so readers can use it as a paranormal tour book. “It’s the perfect guidebook for travelers who want to see Ireland, learn history and find out where ghosts still dwell and why,” Gutro said.

"Ireland’s rich history resulted in many ghosts who decided to stay earthbound. I also encountered an abundance of residual emotional energy generated from battles. Everywhere I traveled, I had a paranormal experience, he said.”        

On pre-order status, the book attained the number 1 spot on Amazon’s “Irish Travel” and “Haunted and Unexplained” categories.

The book provides a brief history of haunted places and is intended to be much more than just a collection of personal ghost stories. “Knowing the history of a place is key to understanding why a ghost has decided to stay behind,” Gutro said. Readers will experience haunted places like churches, castles, jails, and unexpected ghosts in an art gallery and shopping mall. “You’ll also understand how the spirits of your loved ones can give you signs anywhere in the world, even on vacation.”

This is the third book in his popular “Ghosts on a Medium’s Vacation” series. The others include Ghosts of England on a Medium’s Vacation and Ghosts of the Bird Cage Theatre on a Medium’s Vacation.  

Rob’s books are available in paperback, Audiobook and E-book, on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/author/robgutro 

Enjoyed the Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale Movie (on DVD)

 We love the Downton Abbey series and last year we didn't get a chance to see the third and final film in the series, so I bought it on a DVD that came with the other 2 films! Today's blog is about that movie.

There always has a to be a scandal to make a story more interesting and this movie had one!  We love all of the characters in Downton Abbey. I love the wait staff, and Lady Mary... who always seems to get in trouble with men. If only she would learn! :)  - But there were two new characters introduced in this movie, one is Lady Cora Grantham's American brother who brings a big mess to the family, and who arrives with a handsome investor named Gus Sambrook. 

I loved how the director brought in all the characters, including those who passed away through flashbacks. This was a great final movie in the Downton Series!! 5 of 5 stars!

ABOUT THE FILM- It's time to say goodbye…When Mary finds herself at the centre of a public scandal and the family faces financial trouble, the entire household grapples with the threat of social disgrace. The Crawleys must embrace change as the staff prepares for a new chapter with the next generation leading Downton Abbey into the future.

Idiot of the Week: Dog Abandoned At Airport By Owner Going To Departure Gate

This is EXACTLY why the country needs a "Do Not Adopt" registry for animals. This week's idiot is a woman traveling at Harry Reid airport in Nevada who abandoned her 2-year-old dog at the airport to catch a flight. Unbelievable. At least the Idiot was arrested and the dog went to a rescue, where I learned he was adopted by February 20th. See below!

(Photo: A woman traveling at Harry Reid airport in Nevada is accused of abandoning her 2-year-old dog at the airport to catch a flight.Las Vegas Metro Police Department

Dog Abandoned At Airport By Owner Going To Departure Gate

 “When asked why she abandoned the dog, she stated the airline would not allow her to fly with it and claimed the dog had a tracking device," police said.

Huffington Post, Pocharapon Neammanee Feb 19, 2026, 05:27 PM EST

A woman was arrested at Harry Reid International Airport in Nevada earlier this month after police say she abandoned her 2-year-old goldendoodle at the airport following her failure to complete service dog documentation.

“We can’t believe we have to say this… but please don’t abandon your dog at the airport — or anywhere else,” The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a press release Wednesday.

Video of the Feb. 2 incident shared by police showed the woman, whose identity was not released, speaking with airport staff at the JetBlue ticket counter with her dog before leaving it tied to what authorities said was a metal carry-on baggage sizer.

A woman traveling at Harry Reid airport in Nevada is accused of abandoning her 2-year-old dog at the airport to catch a flight.Las Vegas Metro Police Department According to police, the woman was denied a boarding pass after failing to complete the online documentation required to travel with her pet as a service dog.

She then attempted to make her way to the departure gate, but bodycam footage shared by police shows officers confronting the woman there, informing her that they would escort her back to her dog and issue a citation for leaving him at the ticket counter.

“When asked why she abandoned the dog, she stated the airline would not allow her to fly with it and claimed the dog had a tracking device — implying it was acceptable to leave the animal behind and it would return to her,” police said.

Police say the woman “became hostile” while being escorted back and resisted officers’ attempts to restrain her. She was then arrested and booked on charges of animal abandonment and resisting arrest.

The 2-year-old dog was taken into Animal Protective Services’ custody, but its owner never returned. After a mandatory 10-day hold period, the dog was transferred to Retriever Rescue of Las Vegas, where he was renamed JetBlue.

“While that part of his story is heartbreaking, what has followed has been nothing short of extraordinary,” the animal rescue said in a statement online.

“This sweet boy is incredible. Truly incredible. And after everything he’s been through, the thought of him ever experiencing abandonment again has us on very high alert,” the statement continued. “We will be extremely intentional in choosing his forever family. He deserves stability. Security. Commitment. A lifetime promise.”

The rescue’s spokesperson, Danielle Roth, told People, “Despite experiencing abandonment, JetBlue has shown nothing but love.”

“He is affectionate, gentle, and incredibly social. He greets everyone with trust and warmth, which is honestly remarkable given what he went through,” Roth said. The rescue said JetBlue has received an outpouring of love and applications to adopt him, adding that his story has brought awareness to abandonment laws.

****************************************

FOLLOW UP!  I checked the Rescue website on February 20th, when I wrote this blog, and Jetblue was adopted! 

Hero of the Week: Mass. snowplow driver who spotted legs sticking out of snowbank praised for saving older man

 This week's hero is a snowplow driver who spotted a man who was trapped headfirst in a snowbank and couldn't get out. Matte McGarry pulled over and freed the man, saving his life. 

Mass. snowplow driver who spotted legs sticking out of snowbank praised for saving older man 

A quick response during a snowstorm is credited with saving a man’s life in Auburn, Mass.  

By Morgan Rousseau Boston. com  January 31, 2026

A Massachusetts snowplow driver is being praised for helping save the life of an older man who became trapped face-down in a deep snowbank during a winter storm Sunday night, January 25, 2026

Matte McGarry was plowing roads near the Worcester–Auburn line when he noticed a pair of legs flailing from a snowbank along Burnett Street, according to a report by Boston 25 News. McGarry stopped his truck and pulled the man from the snow.

The incident occurred during Sunday night’s snowstorm as McGarry was making multiple passes along his route. At first, he couldn’t believe what he saw, he told the outlet.

“It looked fake — it didn’t seem real when I saw it at first,” McGarry told Boston 25. “I was doing my route, probably my third time around, when I was turning around and saw legs sticking out of the snow, pretty much just flailing.”

McGarry said the man had been walking home after watching the Patriots game when he fell headfirst into a snowbank about 3 feet deep.

“He couldn’t reach the bottom — the snow was really powdery — so he had no way of pushing himself back out,” McGarry told the news outlet. “It was scary.”

The man was face-down in the snow with his feet kicking as he struggled, McGarry said, adding that he appeared to be in shock and that his arms and face were freezing from exposure.

A nearby resident noticed the commotion and came outside to help McGarry bring the man to safety.

The man, who was not identified, told Boston 25 that McGarry saved his life and said he was “beyond grateful.”

McGarry is expected to receive a commendation from the Auburn Board of Selectmen, according to the report.

Book of the Week: Take the Monkey and Run by Laura Morrigan

This week's book of the week is from the mystery series called "A Call of the Wilde Mystery." It's "Take the Monkey and Run" by Laura Morrigan. The cozy mystery series follows Grace Wilde, who can communicate with animals, and includes Woof at the Door, A Tiger's Tale, Horse of a Different Killer, and Take the Monkey and Run (she hasn't written any more since 2016, sadly). 

Grace, the lead character, can "hear" what living animals tell her, and she can communicate with them- which makes her an Animal Communicator (not a medium). As someone who communicates with pets who passed, I gave this book a try and I enjoyed the series. The "Monkey" book is 4th in the series, so I need to go back and read the other three.  

The characters were interesting and captivating- especially Grace and her Jacksonville, Florida police officer boyfriend Kai. Her sister Emma is also a good supporting character in the book. But the character I enjoyed the most was Belinda, a New Orleans tarot-reading drag queen that ran her own B and B.

The story was a bit odd to figure because someone hired Grace to find a woman by having Grace communicate with the missing woman's cat... but the person who hired Grace turned out to be someone she needed to be wary of... and it all lead to an odd twist about people hunting psychics...

I enjoyed the book and the characters, but I need to go back and read the others books that precede book four. 4 stars! 

ABOUT THE BOOK: Take the Monkey and Run is a cozy mystery novel by Laura Morrigan, the fourth book in the "Call of the Wilde" series, featuring animal telepath Grace Wilde in New Orleans as she investigates a missing person case complicated by a mischievous Capuchin monkey and a suspicious client. The book blends a lighthearted mystery with psychic elements, as Grace uses her unique ability to communicate with animals to solve the crime, all while navigating the quirky culture of the city.

Outrageous: Texas drag ban to take effect in March

Texas is now banning some public drag shows "because it's offensive to children." Can we just be done with these conservatives who hide their pedophilia and abuse by distracting and attacking innocent others?  It's senseless knowing that conservatives who are pedophiles, scam artists, bullies and liars think they, themselves are good examples for children.  Today's blog is the ridiculous Texas law against the drag performance artists.

Appeals court clears way for Texas drag ban to take effect in March 2026

By ALEX NGUYEN/The Texas Tribune , February 26, 2026

Texas can enforce a 2023 law that restricts some public drag shows, a federal appeals court reaffirmed in a new ruling on Wednesday, Feb 25, 2026.

Texas Senate Bill 12 prohibits drag performers from dancing suggestively or wearing certain prosthetics on public property or in front of children. The law would fine business owners $10,000 for hosting such performances, while those who violate the law could be hit with a Class A misdemeanor.

In September 2023, U.S. District Judge David Hittner declared the law unconstitutional, saying that it “impermissibly infringes on the First Amendment” and that it is “not unreasonable” to think it could affect activities like live theater or dancing. More than two years later in November, a three-judge panel in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unblocked the law and returned the case to the district court.

On Wednesday, Feb 25, 2026 the appeals court withdrew its November opinion and reissued a largely identical ruling, denying the plaintiff’s request for a rehearing in the process. SB 12 will now take effect on March 18, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, who represented several of the plaintiffs.

As part of the ruling, the panel found that most of the plaintiffs — a drag performer, a drag production company and pride groups — failed to show that they intended to conduct a “sexually oriented performance,” and therefore, could not be harmed by the law. The ruling suggests that the federal judges don’t believe all drag shows are sexually explicit.

Critics of the ban have previously raised concerns that Republican lawmakers were portraying all drag performances as inherently sexual or obscene.

And while the law doesn’t have language explicitly referencing drag performances, SB 12’s original version specifically included them. Republican leaders have also made it clear that drag shows are the target.

[ED NOTE: This guy is an Ass]  “Texas Governor Signs Law Banning Drag Performances in Public. That’s right,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a post on X in June 2023.

SB 12 considers a performance to be sexually oriented if the performer is nude or engages in sexual conduct, which could include “actual contact or simulated contact” between one person and another person’s “buttocks, breast, or any part of the genitals.” It also has to “appeal to the prurient interest in sex” — and most didn’t meet this criteria, according to the appeals court’s ruling.

“To appeal to the ‘prurient interest in sex,’ material, at a minimum, must be ‘in some sense erotic,’” it said.

For instance, a pride group testified that some of its performers may “twerk,” but the panel said none of the conduct it described amounts to a sexually oriented performance. It also said accidental bumping or contact during front-facing hugs don’t count.

The panel did find that a drag production company’s described performances “arguably” are sexually explicit, though the ruling doesn’t specifically say which actions qualify. “When asked whether the performers ‘simulate contact with the buttocks of another person,’ the owner testified that the performers sit on customers’ laps while wearing thongs and one performer invited a ‘handsome’ male customer ‘to spank her on the butt,’ said the ruling. “When asked whether the performers ‘ever perform gesticulations while wearing prosthetics,’ the owner testified that in 360 Queen’s most recent show, a drag queen ‘wore a breastplate that was very revealing, pulsed her chest in front of people, (and) put her chest in front of people’s faces.’”

Though Judge Kurt Engelhardt, a Trump appointee, also wrote in a footnote that there is “genuine doubt” that these actions are “actually constitutionally protected—especially in the presence of minors.” He was joined by Judge Leslie Southwick, a Bush appointee.

Judge James Dennis, a Clinton appointee, disagrees with this assessment.

“That gratuitous dictum runs headlong into settled First Amendment jurisprudence and threatens to mislead on remand,” Dennis wrote in his partial dissent in the November ruling.

In addition, the appeals court removed most of the defendants from the case, before sending it back to the district court to reconsider a part of SB 12 that focuses on the Texas attorney general’s role in enforcing the law.

[ED NOTE: This guy is an Ass] Attorney General Ken Paxton cheered the November ruling in a news release.

“I will always work to shield our children from exposure to erotic and inappropriate sexually oriented performances,” he said. “It is an honor to have defended this law, ensuring that our state remains safe for families and children, and I look forward to continuing to vigorously defend it on remand before the district court.”

The plaintiffs and the ACLU of Texas, which represents them, underscored that Wednesday’s rehearing denial maintained that family-friendly drag shows would still be legal, and said they intend to continue fighting the law.

“The law’s vague and sweeping provisions still create a harmful chilling effect for drag artists and those who support them, while also threatening many types of performing arts cherished here in Texas, from theater to ballet to professional wrestling,” ACLU Texas attorney Brian Klosterboer said in a statement. “Because this law remains unconstitutional, we look forward to continuing this case before the district court and encourage anyone who is impacted by the law to reach out to us. Drag in Texas is here to stay.” ___