New growth on a Red Maple

 

On the Morning Constitutional I've been listening for the Morning Chorus.  That's when the sun comes up and the birds sing to greet it (or more probably to reestablish their territories).  I notice in the spring as the choir slowly builds w/ robins, finches, sparrows, thrashers, bob-o-links, etc.  After that it's just a background sound I expect.  Each year though I find I'm surprised when I realize it's gone.  Thought this year I'd try and pinpoint when there is no longer a burst of song at the beginning of the day.  As of today, it's still there.  Maybe not as robust as it was mid-spring but all of choir sections - the basses, tenors, altos, and sopranos - ae still here.

Bopped down to the Town Hall this morning and met up w/ Chief Inspector Andy.  I wanted to set up the vote tabulator before the Public Test next week.  Since we weren't working w/ actual ballots or voting cartridges, no need to announce it to the public though, of course, I let the Town Clerk know.  She has ultimate responsible for all elections held in the Town and should be kept aware of what's going on.  Pulled the tabulator and ballot bin out of the back room.  It hadn't been plugged in since April.  I plugged it in and Andy and I got out the test cartridges and test access info so we could bring up the machine.  'Test' ballots, cartridges, and access info were sent along w/ the machines when we bought them and the people on the ballot are Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, etc.  The test capability is to allow us to train people on the machine.  Came in handy today since we wanted to set the date and time.  Interestingly, the date was still correct and the time was off by only two minutes.  Good to know.  If the town hall does ever lose power during an election, the tabulator will have plenty of backup power to get us through the day.  When I got home I called two people on the Town Board approved list of poll workers.  One said they could work the morning shift and one the afternoon.  Also checked in w/ another who will function as a backup should a poll worker have to bow out at the last minute.  All of it didn't take long but plans fail when we fail to plan.  Ooh ... just felt a Honeywell vibe go through me.