Sculpture for the Assabet River Rail Trail

 The sculpture proposal was approved by the Select Board on 3 December 2024 and funding of $760 approved by Maynard Cultural Council on 10 December 2024. Installation expected by mid-summer 2025.

A group of Maynard residents is proposing to the Town of Maynard that sculptures be added to town land adjacent to the Assabet River Rail Trail. Of the other communities that ARRT passes through, Hudson has several wooden and metal sculptures and murals, Marlborough none, Acton none, Maynard six painted posts (see below) and a daffodil sculpture which is temporarily installed at the Marble Farm Historic Site when the daffodils are blooming. A proposal has been submitted to the Maynard Cultural Council for 2025 funding for one sculpture, so perhaps by this time next year there will be progress. 

When the 3.4 miles of Trail in Acton and Maynard were officially opened to users in August 2018, art had no part in the project. Thebudget had included some landscaping, meaning specifically the planting of hundreds of trees adjacent (but not TOO close) to the pavement. Subsequently a non-government organization - Trail of Flowers (www.trailofflowers.com) - was started in the fall of 2018 with the intent of beautifying the Trail via planting flowering bulbs, and pollinator-friendly flowering shrubs and trees adjacent to the Trail. As of the fall of 2024, TOF has raised and spent about $11,000 for plantings primarily in Acton and Maynard, with some daffodil and grape hyacinth bulbs planted in Marlborough, and intention to expand to Hudson in 2025.

Painted posts salvaged from the ArtSpace Pollinator
Meadow project and getting a fresh coat of varnish
before installation along ARRT north of Summer St.

In October 2023, the ArtSpace Honeybee Meadow project offered to donate six painted posts to the Town of Maynard for relocation along the Assabet River Rail Trail. The Honeybee Meadow had been created in 2016 on ArtSpace property with a combination of donor and state governemnt grant funding. Later renamed Pollinator Meadow in recognition that many insects other than just honeybees required flowering plants to provide nectar and pollen, the project was let go fallow after ArtSpace closed in 2020. Each post - six feet tall when installed with the bottom anchored in gravel and soil - includes a pollinator-informative plaque at the top. Users of the Rail Trail find the artwork and information to be pause-worthy. The same east side of the Rail Trail has been planted with Forsythia and pollinator-friendly Beauty Bushes chosen to obscure the view of Enterprise Rent-a-car and Emerald Acres. 

My idea for first-year sculpture

For this initial sculpture project, the idea is that the Maynard group would meet with metal shop students enrolled at the Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School to design a work that was within the students' capabilities. Maynard volunteers would then be responsible for pouring a concrete slab as an anchor for the sculpture. The Town of Maynard has liability insurance covering injuries that occur in town parks; the Rail Trail, being on town land, would also be covered. Of course, design and placement would need to assure that there would be no sharp edges too close to the pavcment of the Trail. One of the proposed ideas is of a combination of a bicyclist knocking down a pedestrian (sketch). While some are of the opinion that this is too foreboding, it would definitely be more memorable that just the bicycle/bicyclist.

Another modest idea would be a 'wheel' six feet tall, with the spokes being flat strips of metal with Maynard history facts laser cut into the metal. Examples: Amory Maynard 1804-1890; Woolen mill 1846-1950; Town of Maynard April 19, 1871; Lorenzo Maynard 1829-1904; Digital Equipment Company 1957-1998; Clock Tower built 1892; Electric trolley 1901-1923; Monster.com 1998-2014; and so on. This could also be done for Acton, Hudson and Marlborough. 

If the first year's proposal succeeds, the group is considering a much more ambitious sculpture plan for future years. All that would call for corporate and government donations, requests for proposals from established metalwork sculptors and professional installations. Thinking big!!!

DONATIONS FOR TRAIL OF FLOWERS

Tulips at Marble Farm site blooming spring 2024

If you have enjoyed use of the Assabet River Rail Trail and the flowering installations, please consider donating to Trail of Flowers. Funds are needed to continue to add plants in all communities bordering the Trail, including the daffodil display at the Marble Farm Historic Site  (across Route 27 from Christmas Motors, Maynard). In the fall of 2023, tulips were added inside the fence at the Marble Farm site with great success - an additional 125 bulbs will be added fall of 2024. Elsewhere along the Rail Trail volunteers will be planting 1,000 daffodil bulbs. The bulbs were purchased as a mix of early-, mid- and late season blooming so as to stretch the bloom period.

So, please, as individuals or families, donate $20 or more via PayPal to damark51@gmail.com or via Venmo to www.venmo.com/u/DavidAMark51. Businesses are asked to donate at least $100. Whether you donate or not, if you wish to be kept informed of TOF volunteer planting opportunities then send an email to damark51@gmail.com. Thank you.      

Maynard Hurricanes

 Much of this is a repeat of a 2017 column in the Beacon Villager (Maynard'd former newspaper)

With all the recent news about hurricanes Helene and Milton, what is the history of hurricanes hitting eastern Massachusetts? 

1938: Trees damaged in Glenwood Cemetery

1938: The practice of naming Atlantic hurricanes with women’s names did not begin until 1947; or retiring names of major storms after 1955, or having men’s names rather than only women’s starting in 1979. Thus, the storm of 1938 came be known as the Great New England Hurricane, also the Long Island Express. Mistakes in interpreting weather data had led to a prediction that this storm would dissipate to gale force before making landfall. Instead, on September 21, 1938, it reached Long Island with hurricane force winds and a significant storm surge. More than 600 people died – mostly in Rhode Island. The oldest residents of Maynard and Stow remember vast numbers of trees being blown down, blocking streets and damaging buildings.    

1954: A double-header! Hurricane Carol also crossed the east end of Long Island, reaching landfall as a Category 2 storm. In Boston, high winds destroyed the steeple of the Old North Church. Hurricane Edna crossed Cape Cod as a Category 2 storm just ten days after Carol had tracked a bit farther west. Locally, rainfall of 5 to 10 inches on ground already saturated by the passage of Carol flooded basements and rivers. Combined, the storms destroyed much of the peach and apple crops just weeks before harvest time.  

1955: Hurricane Diane waltzed ashore in the Carolinas, wandered across New Jersey and southern New York, before heading eastward across much of Massachusetts. By this time it was weak wind-wise, but very, very wet. Much of southern Massachusetts, from its border with New York to the ocean, experienced flooding. Half of Worcester was under water. Locally, an estimated 15 inches of rain fell in four days. The Assabet River crested at 8.93 feet, the highest it had been since 1927 and the highest since. (The flood of 2010 crested at 7.1 feet.) Main Street flooded, as did the first floor of the mill building closest to the river. No bridges were lost.   

1991: Hurricane Bob was an August event. It skirted the coast before making landfall at Newport, Rhode Island as a Category 2 hurricane. Forecasting was good, so Rhode Island and Connecticut were able to declare of emergency before the storm hit. The storm crossed eastern Massachusetts fast and relatively dry, so most of the damage was due to high winds and storm surge along the coast. Provincetown reported sustained winds exceeding 100 miles per hour. Locally, downed trees and minor damage to buildings. The name “Bob” was permanently retired, joining Diane, Edna and Carol as other New England hurricane names we will never hear again.

An explanation of ‘storm surge’: Coastal flooding can be severe during hurricanes (and also northeasters). The push of wind across long distances of water for prolonged periods of time not only generates large waves, but pushes water. When this reaches shore at times of high tide, the water can be five, ten, fifteen, even twenty feet above normal high tide. The greatest storm surges are always to the right of the eye of the hurricane. In fact, on the left side, as the hurricane comes ashore, the winds are blowing away from the coast, causing the opposite of a surge. With Milton coming ashore south of Tampa, water was blown out of Tampa Bay, lowering sea level by about five feet. The Galveston, Texas hurricane of 1900 pushed a storm surge of 8-12 feet across a city that was mostly less than 10 feet above sea level, flattening the city and resulting in a loss of an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 lives, making it the deadliest natural disaster to every strike the United States. See Wikipedia article "1900 Galveston hurricane."

Digital Equipment Corporation - a 41 Year Arc

On Saturday, January 4th, 2025, I presented in-person talk titled “All Things DEC” to a standing-room only audience - many of them DEC alumni - at the Maynard Public Library. This was be taped by Maynard High School's WAVM and will be posted to the library's Youtube channel.

Founder and president Ken Olsen
multi-tasking while donating blood

The talk’s description will be the same as when I gave this lecture in 2021 as part of celebration of Maynard's 150th anniversary. The description at that time: “Digital Equipment Corporation (digital, DEC) had a glorious arc that started with some rented space in the mill complex in 1957, furnished with office furniture bought on credit from Gruber Bros. Furniture, then rising to make Maynard the 'Minicomputer capital of the world', as a multi-billion dollar company second only to IBM. Mark's talk, with many images from the archives of the Maynard Historical Society, will span the origin, rise, peak and decline of DEC. He will touch on the work experience of women at DEC, and the company's commitment to diversity training.” Registration (free) is at the Maynard Public Library website."

After ten years of NOT writing about DEC in my weekly history columns in the Beacon-Villager, I finally started a series of articles about DEC in November 2019, with an origin story. All this stretched to a last article in March 2020 about DEC’s approach to anti-discrimination and diversity training. In between, the columns (all posted at www.maynardlifeoutdoors.com) covered not just the rise, peak and fall, but also DEC’s faltering and flawed efforts to be in the personal computer business, and then the impact on Maynard once DEC was gone. DEC was headquartered in Maynard for 41 years, and at its peak employed thousands of people in Maynard (a fraction of the 100,000+ employed worldwide).

Clay model for a never-made stature intended to honor DEC
founder Ken Olsen (at Maynard library, referred to as "Mini-Ken")

DEC’s demise was not unique. The myth is that DEC missed the advent of mini-computers because of president Ken Olsen’s blind spot, but in reality, there were multiple, major, corporate missteps. And not just at DEC. Just in the greater Boston area Data General, Wang Laboratories, Prime Computer, Lotus Development Corporation and Apollo Computer faded, and either folded or were acquired. This trend of short corporate lifespan actually continues today and extends beyond tech. An interesting report by Innosight [https://www.innosight.com/insight/creative-destruction/] observed that the average lifespan of large companies has been declining for decades, either because they lose to the competition (Monster, Yahoo) or are acquired by larger companies (Monsanto, Aetna, Time-Warner). Locally, our example is Acacia Communications, headquartered in Maynard’s mill complex, which started in 2009 with about the same building space as did DEC back in 1957, expanded, expanded more, went public in 2016 with a valuation of several billion dollars – and then was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2021. As of 2024, Acacia continues to exist as a branded company within the Cisco family.

 For most of its history, Maynard has been a company town, in the sense that its survival and prosperity depended almost entirely on one company. From 1847 to 1950, that was wool industry, turning bales of fleece into cloth. A period of diversification began in 1953 when the empty mill complex was bought and repurposed as Maynard Industry Incorporated, with dozens of industry and office space tenants. DEC started renting space in 1957, expanded over the years, until buying the complex in 1974, reverting Maynard to a one-company town again. DEC closed operations in the mill complex in 1993, then the Parker Street complex and the corporate headquarters on Powdermill Road in the years following. At the mill complex, Wellesley Rosemont (Clock Tower Place; 1998-2015) reverted to the practice of multiple clients, which carried over to current-day, Mill & Main operations. Looking forward, the Town of Maynard hopes to sustain the idea of being a commercially diversified community rather than hitch its wagon to one star. But it would still be helpful if the mill complex was 100 percent rented.    

Heat deaths more than all other weather combined?

U.S. government data shows heat-related deaths per year are more than the combined deaths from cold, tornado, hurricane, other wind events, flood, drowning due to ocean rip currents and lightning. 

Furthermore, while heat-related deaths officially reported as averaging around 1,200 per year, indirect estimates put the number as exceeding 10,000 per year. The discrepancy exists because autopsy reports that state cause of death as heat-related are much lower than the spike in total deaths during the heat wave versus the average for the same time of year without hot weather. In Chicago, mid-July 1995 saw temperatures above 100 degrees for five days. During that period, more than 700 deaths above average occured, and hundreds more were hospitalized and survived. Details are explained at a Wikipedia article titled "1995 Chicago Heat Wave."See also the general article titled "Heat wave."

People at risk are the elderly, infants, indoor workers at facilities without air conditioning, outdoor workers, outdoor athletes and hikers, and the homeless. Dehydration increases risk. In addition, evidence supports that use of methamphetamine puts people at higher risk.

The other weather-related deaths are dying from cold, hurricane, tornado, wind (not hurricane or tornado), flood, lightning or rip currents near ocean shoreline caused by storm-generated waves. Each of these, except in extraordinary years, cause fewer than 100 deaths per year. Furthermore, deaths from these causes are not trending up or down, whereas since 2015 the number of heat-related deaths per year have more than doubled. 

On a larger scale, according to the World Health Organization, between 2000 and 2019 there were approximately 500,000 heat-related deaths each year, with close to 80% of that total from Asia and Europe. Lack of air conditioning - also lack of electricity - combined with longer periods of extreme temperatures and inadequate medical care for heat stroke, contribute to these deaths. 

Wildfire smoke

Another under-estimated contribuion to premature deaths is wildfire. In the U.S. deaths directly attributed to wildfire, as distinguished from building fires, numbers in the single digits or teens for most years, with spikes when people are unable to escape when a wildfire sweeps into a residential area. However, indirect causes of death that can be attributed to wildfire smoke is an entirely different story. For people with existing respiratory, cardiovasuclar, kidney and other diseases, are at increased premature death risk when exposed to wildfire smoke. Even suicide rates increase! As with heat-related deaths, smoke-related deaths are under diagnosed and under reported. A recent study published by researchers at Yale University estimated that wildfire smoke-related deaths are at 30,000 per year. As with heat-related deaths, the elderly, outdoor workers and people who cannot afford indoor air filtration machinery are at greater risk.  

After the hurricane is gone

The 2 October 2024 issue of Nature magazine (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07945-5) has an interesting article titled "Mortality caused by tropical cyclones in the United States." The key point is that for years (years!!) after a hurricane has passed through an area, there is a long-term increase in deaths above expected. The research tracked deaths following 501 hurricanes over the period 1930-2015. The report estimated that the average hurricane generated 7,000–11,000 excess deaths over a multi-year follow-up, which is far inexcess or the average of 24 immediate deaths reported in government statistics. These indirect deaths - from many causes - had the greatest effects on the very young, the elderly and the impoverished. Often the indirect causes include less access or ability to afford health care, resulting in increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and others (but not repiratory diseases, vehicle accidents or others). For the hurricane-targeted states stretching from Texas to Maryland and Deleware, indirect storm-attributed deaths put the death rates in those states at 5-10% above national average. Although not mentioned in this study, tornado damage may also cause a long-term increase in deaths.  

Wild Cucumber (Repeat)

 A version of this was first published in 2013 and very popular (tens of thousands of views)

Wild cucumber showing leaves, tendrils and flower spikes

Wild cucumber, also known as prickly cucumber or balsam apple, is a plant species native to North America but with the annoying habits of some invasive plants. It is a fast-growing annual vine propagated by seeds. This slender-stemmed vine can quickly blanket low plants or tendril its way 15-20 feet up trees.

During July and August the vines display white flowers, followed by the development of seed pods that superficially resemble a spiky cucumber approximately two inches in length. Once the seed pods mature they dry out and disperse from the bottom several large black seeds the size of pumpkin seeds. Wild cucumber dies with the first frosts of fall.

Wild cucumber pods open from the bottom and seeds fall

The Linnaean name, Echinocystis lobata, comes from Echino for spiny and cystis for bladder-like in appearance. Lobata refers to the shape of the leaves. Echinocystis is native to the central, eastern and northern states, up into Canada. It is not found in the southwest, but confusingly, there are distantly related plants in southern California that also go by the name wild cucumber.

The latter are in the family Marah, with several related species. These are all fast-growing vines with tendrils and seed pods that superficially resemble a spiky cucumber, but Marah are perennials not annuals, with each year's new growth sprouting from a huge tuberous root that can weigh more than 100 pounds.

In Maynard, summer of 2024, there is a patch of wild cucumber near where the Rail Trail is parallel to High Street (a dead end street behind Jimmie's gas station).  Also, there was a single known appearance of Bur cucumber - a related annual native species that is similar in vining to wild cucumber but instead of one large seed pod has clusters of small seed pods, each holding one seed.  

Winter leaves a mat of dead vines and dried pods

American species invasive elsewhere

Although native to North America, Echinocystis lobata is in fact an invasive species in Europe, where it was first introduced as an ornamental garden plant (always the same sad story). This serves as a reminder that not all invasive species move from the Old World (Europe, Asia and Africa) toward the New World (the Americas). Poison ivy plagues England and parts of mainland Europe because back in the 1600s people thought it was pretty!

And not all invasive species are plants. Some of the most damaging to have made the crossing from North America to Europe are grey squirrels, raccoons, mink, and lobster. The mammal introductions were deliberate - either as pets or an attempt to develop locally grown animals for the fur trade. American lobsters may have been escapees from seawater holding pens for the food trade or deliberate releases by people who bought live lobsters air-shipped to Europe, and then found themselves unwilling to immerse their purchases in boiling water. 

The American bullfrog is considered one of the world's worst invasive species in Europe and elsewhere. Introduced as a food source (bullfrog farms), these frogs escaped into the wild where they out-complete native frogs by laying massive numbers of eggs and eating just about every living thing they can fit into their mouths, including native frogs.  

Trail of Flowers planting July 2024

Ronan Rafter (left) and other Scouts from Maynard Troop
#130 added to Trail of Flowers plantings on July 20, 2024

 On July 20, 2024, nine Boy Scouts from Maynard Scout Troop #130 volunteered to do a morning's worth of planting a mix of Weigela, Beauty Bush, Yucca and Forsythia along the Assabet River Rail Trail as part of the Trail of Flowers (www.trailofflowers.com) program. This was an Eagle Scout project coordinated by Ronan Rafter.

The site selected was a 20 yard section where the Trail is parallel to High Street. Earlier plantings adjacent to High Street include nine Kousa Dogwoods (2021) and three Dawn Redwoods (2024). Prior to the July 20th planting, the site was cleared of wild plants, include invasive species Multiflora Rose, Oriental Bittersweet and Garlic Mustard. 

Site before clearing

While the nursery-bought plants were modest in size, the Weigela should reach four to five feet tall and wide at maturity, and are expected to be blooming next spring. The one Forsythia should also bloom next spring, and reach 8-10 feet within five years. The three Beauty Bush will take several years before blooming and much longer to reach mature size, but after ten years are expected to be multi-trunked and more than ten feet tall and wide. All of these are considered drought-resistant after the first year, and not browsed by deer. The Weigela and Beauty Bush (but not the Forsythia) are considered pollinator friendly for a variety of pollinating insect species and hummingbirds. We will have to see what shows up as these plants mature. 

Site, planted

Trail of Flowers was started in the fall of 2018 as a volunteer organization under the umprella of Assabet River Rail Trail Inc (ARRT). TOF volunteers plant and maintain flowering bulbs, shrubs and trees in the four communities that have paved trail: Acton, Maynard, Hudson and Marlborough. The planned route of the Trail - 12.4 miles - has a four-mile gap in the center, in Stow and part of Hudson, that may never be completed. The crtitical issue is that part of the route in Stow is private property, and the owners are not interested in selling ot providing a pass-through. 

As of summer 2024, Trail of Flowers has raised (and spent) more than $10,000 from individual and corporate donations, plus grants and gifts from community Cultural Councils and garden clubs. Maynard Community Gardeners also donates unsold plants from their annual plant sales. (Three more yucca in transplant recovery mode were added to the site in the fall.) Volunteer efforts and funding are acknowledged on the TOF website. 

ONLY IN MAYNARD Coffee Mugs

Some 20 years ago it was possible to buy ONLY IN MAYNARD bumper stickers, T-shirts and sweatshirts at local stores and at Maynard Fest. The lettering was orange against a black background - Maynard's school colors. Then, for a while, the sole remnant of this endeavor was bumper stickers for sale at Russell's convenience store, next to Town Hall.

The bumper stickers had TM superscripted above the end of ONLY IN MAYNARD, signifying that an application had been filed for a trademark in 2003. This was a Massachusetts-only trademark. It lapsed, but a new Massachusetts trademark was issued in 2017 to a new holder. 

An agreement was reached with the trademark holder that the slogan could be affixed to coffee mugs. The mugs, black exterior, orange interior, the slogan in orange on the outside, are for sale at The Outdoor Store, Boston Bean House, Sugar Snap and other locations. All profits are channeled to an effort to beautify the Assabet River Rail Trail with flowering spring bulbs, summer-blooming perennials and flowering shrubs and trees. This “Trail of Flowers” effort, initiated in 2018, has resulted in the planting of thousands of daffodils, plus hundreds of tulips, daylilies, irises and other plants in Maynard, Marlborough and Acton, with plans to extend the plantings to the south section of trail in Hudson. See www.trailofflowers.com for program description and photos.

A bit of history: In the original form and subsequent incarnations, the words on ONLY IN MAYNARD products were deliberately printed so that the right side was noticeably higher than the left. Best guess is the wording was askew to convey that negative, rueful pride that only in Maynard could things (town things, school things, people things...) be so humorously incompetent or fouled up.

To counter the prevailing negative impression, a group of civic-minded citizens approached the Beacon-Villager newspaper back in 2005, to see if they could take turns writing a pro-Maynard column featuring the friendly and welcoming nature of this unique small town. The column lasted only a few months. An echo of that positive intent was conveyed in a 2008 article in the Beacon-Villager that read in part "A clever slogan, coined some few years ago, continues to describe our singular uniqueness, our melting pot citizenry and our basic values for the 'good life.' That slogan, ‘Only in Maynard,’ sets up the town as a special place where very special people do distinctive and exceptional things. This is especially true in the art of song and music as developed in our town."

An informal survey of people about town yielded both the negative and positive connotations, and also a third meaning - the concept of specialness. Only in Maynard can you see Santa Claus arriving by helicopter for the Christmas parade. Only in Maynard can you still find a local movie theater. Only in Maynard are the bars close enough together to have a pub crawl that might involve actual crawling (or at least walking) rather than driving.  

So, after all this debate, what does "Only in Maynard" really mean today? Whether it is only in this small town are people so warm, friendly and welcoming, or only here are things so ruefully, headshakingly messed up, or a comment on the unique nature of life in Maynard, my own opinion is that in comparison, ONLY IN ACTON or ONLY IN SUDBURY or ONLY IN STOW would make no sense whatsoever.

Maynard, MA Population 12,000?

Until after WWII, the population of Maynard was larger
than the populations of Acton, Stow and Sudbury combined 

The 2020 Federal census put Maynard's population at 10,746. That was before some 350+ housing units at the Maynard Crossing development were occupied, so a fair guess is that the population now exceeds 11,000. There is potential for further population growth. The MacDonald Corporation is nearing completion on a three-story apartment building on Main Street, between CVS and the Assabet River. The Town of Maynard put to a vote in May 2024 a proposal to sell the building at 61-63 Summer Street that from 2000 to 2022 was ArtSpace and Acme Theater ( and before that Fowler School). This could become a building conversion to apartments or condominiums, or a teardown followed by new building construction. See below for vote results.

Maynard is also proposing that owners of single-family dwelling properties be allowed to create a second dwelling unit on their property. As proposed, these can be an existing or new structure, attached to the main house or not, that will be a separate unit with its own entrance, electricity and plumbing. Size to be limited to 600 square feet. Renting cost to be limited to affordable housing rates set for Maynard and no short-term renting, as in like AirBNB, allowed.Initial term 90-days, and after that, either month-to-month or longer for the existing tenants. Neither the unit nor its parking may be between the existing house and the street. 

At the same Town Meeting, people are also being asked to vote on the Powder Mill [Route 62] Overlay District (PMOD) to create a minimum of 474 housing units in a high-density building complex - meaning a minimum of 15 units per acre. The proposal includes zoning for many types of retail establishments in addition to housing. The property in question is the former Stratus campus at 111 Powder Mill Road (occupant, before that Digital Equipment Corporation corporate headquarters), a 37 acre property located south (behind) Wendy's restaurant.

Collectively, all this means that the population of Maynard is expected to exceed 12,000 in the not too distant future. The question then, is whether this constrains Maynard's existing infrastructure. Maynard's water supply is local wells. First level water use restrictions are enacted every year, whether the aquifers are full or not, as a means of keeping the need for water restriction inthe public eye. Maynard also has rights to White Pond, Hudson, but to reactivate that would require a multimillion dollar multi-year project. 

Maynard starts water use restriction every year, on May 1st. Policy described at https://townofmaynard-ma.gov/256/Water-Restrictions  Page 13 of the state water status reports that as of April 11, 2024, no parts of the state are at any level of drought. (See https://www.mass.gov/doc/2024-april-hydrologic-conditions/download ). Maynard, as do many other towns and cities in Massachusetts, announce a water restriction starting in May regardless of the drought status.

TOWN MEETING RESULTS: https://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3019/Town-Meeting-Results-May-20-2024

ARTICLE 17 ARTSPACE BUILDING was passed: "To see if the town will vote to change the use of the property at 61-63 Summer Street (former Fowler School) from general municipal use to a property for sale and to authorize the Select Board to sell the property on the terms and conditions it deems appropriate and are in the best interest of the Town and to enter into any and all agreements to effectuate same."

ARTICLE: 18 PUBLIC SHADE TREES was passed: "To see if the Town will vote to Amend the Town By-laws by adopting a new Chapter 46, Public Shade Trees as follows." (lots of detail about tree managment on Town property)

ARTICLE: 27 ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS (ADUS) was passed:  "To see if the town will vote to amend the Town of Maynard Protective Zoning Bylaw as follows." (lots of detail on adding dwlling units to existing property)

ARTICLE: 28 OVERLAY DISTRICT AND MBTA COMMUNITIES was passed: "To see if the town will vote to amend the Town of Maynard Protective Zoning Bylaw as follows." (lots of detail on allowing hundreds of units of housing and also business zoning at Powder Mill Road site)

Trail of Flowers planting April 2024

ABRHS senior students ready to plant quince bushes.
Quince flowers on older stems, so it will be 3-4 years
before these are impressively large and colorful.

On April 26, 2024, seven students from Acton Boxborough Regional High School. as part of Senior Community Service Day, volunteered to do a morning's worth of planting flowering quince shrubs along the Assabet River Rail Trail, as part of the Trail of Flowers (www.trailofflowers.com) program. 

The site selected fronts a low wall, roughly 250 yards from Acton's ARRT trailhead. The wall is a remnant of a factory that had been on that site circa 1892-1920s. The factory was originally operating as a manufacture of Morocca leather - a supple leather made from goat hides, dyed, and used in the manufacture of gloves, purses, wallets and book covers. The factory was sited adjacent to a railroad spur that started operating in 1850 to service mills in what bacame the Town of Maynard in 1871, later extended to provide freight and passenger service to Stow, Hudson and Marlborough. Power at the leather factory (1892-1902) was provided by a coal-fired steam engine. The railroad brought in raw hides and coal, and shipped out finished leather for further manufacture elsewhere. Water from the adjacent Fort Pond Brook was probably used for the steam engine and the leather-dyeing process. When it was operating, the leather factory was the largest employer in Acton.

Garden supply catalog photo of a mature quince plant

The students planted fifteen "Double Take" Scarlet quince shrubs pictured, spaced four feet apart. When mature, these plants will be 4-5 feet tall and equally wide, creating a hedge-like row 60 feet long. This variety is described as thornless and without fruit, drought-resistant and not browsed by deer, so after being watered through the first season by TOF volunteers, should prove to be relatively low maintenance. Flowering quince (Chaenomeles) is native to Southeast Asia. Flowers appear in late April and early May, and are present for about a month. The flowers are considered pollinator friendly for a variety of pollinating insect species. We will have to see what shows up as these plants mature. 

Trail of Flowers was started in the fall of 2018 as a volunteer organization under the umprella of Assabet River Rail Trail Inc (ARRT). TOF volunteers plant and maintain flowering bulbs, shrubs and trees in the four communities that have paved trail: Acton, Maynard, Hudson and Marlborough. The planned route of the Trail - 12.4 miles - has a four-mile gap in the center, in Stow and part of Hudson, that may be paved in the future. The crtitical issue is that part of the route in Stow is private property, and the owners are not interested in selling ot providing a pass-through. 

Weigela are also pollinator friendly

As of spring 2024, Trail of Flowers has raised more than $10,000 (and spent most of that) from individual and corporate donations, plus grants and gifts from community Cultural Councils and garden clubs. The gaqrden clubs also donate unsold plants from their annual plant sales. Funding is acknowledged on the TOF website.

This was the second time that Acton-Boxborough students participated in a Trail of Flowers planting. In April 2023, eight students helped plant forsythia, weigela, vibernum and winterberry at the Sylvia Street site, which has a small parking area and an access ramp down to the Trail. The site gets good sunlight. The forsythia bloomed in April/May and the weigela are expected to max-bloom in late May to early June. 

The variety planted is known as "Sonic Bloom" pink, with an expected mature height of 4-5 feet and width of 4-5 feet. These have a major blooming period in late May, with modest reblooming expected throughout the summer. In addition to the ones planted at Sylvia Street, Acton, three were added at the Marble Farm site in the fall of 2023.These are expected to have first blooming spring 2024. 

Assabet River Rail Trail 2024

Ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the completion 
of the Acton and Maynard portion of ARRT

 The north end of the Assabet River Rail Trail (ARRT) encompassing Acton and Maynard, is approaching its four-year anniversary, as a ribbon-cutting ceremony had been held on August 10, 2018. That represented the end of two years of construction, as the ground-breaking ceremony had been in Maynard, July 2016. The south end, spanning Marlborough and part of Hudson, had been completed more than ten years earlier. The gap in the middle, Stow and part of Hudson, may be years away (or never). In the interim it is possible to do two miles west from the Maynard/Stow border on a privately owned dirt road, to Sudbury Road in Stow, then two miles on roads – Sudbury Road and Route 62 – to reconnect with the south section of the trail, in Hudson. From there, it is 5.8 miles of paved trail to the Marlborough trailhead.

A recent walk on the Acton/Maynard portion, 3.4 miles in length, found the asphalt in almost entirely excellent condition – no surprise. There is one crack developing about 50 yards west of Florida Road and a series of small cracks about 50 yards east of Ice House Landing which may in time need preventive maintenance, i.e., crack filling. Paved trails typically last for 15-20 years before repaving needs to be considered. Given that the south end was completed in 2005, those towns may be coming up on some seriously expensive maintenance.

Questionnaires sent to trail managers by the Rails-to-Trails conservancy in 1996, 2005 and again in 2015 led to reports on how trails are being maintained and what organizations are paying for that work. Per those reports, the cost of maintaining an asphalt-paved trail averaged $1,971 per mile per year. This encompassed work done by town employees and a value put on volunteer labor. Collectively, the 2015 report tallied this as about 13.5 hours of labor per trail mile per year. The Assabet River Rail Trail organization, incorporated in 1995, had provided volunteer efforts involving trail clearing to create a walkable path before the paving began. Volunteer work continues on the paved trail.     

The nature of work – town-paid and volunteered – includes litter removal, repairing vandalism and removing trash dumping (old car tires, etc.), mowing plant growth bordering trails and combating invasive plant species. Trees fall on trails, or else are standing dead trees threatening to do so. Drainage ditches bordering trails need to be kept clear of plant debris or else their function is compromised. Some towns will operate leaf blowers in the fall, and snow plowing in winter. Maynard and Acton have decided to not clear snow. Towns may choose to plow trail parking lots, thus providing parking for people who want to ski, snowshoe or hike in winter. There are also information kiosks, benches, signage and in Maynard a couple of trash receptacles, all of which also require maintenance.

 The 2015 report also noted, surprisingly, that 60% of the returned questionnaires did not confirm a written maintenance plan. While personal injury lawsuits are very rare, the report went on to suggest that towns should have a process to regularly inspect trails, correct unsafe conditions, and keep records. Signage of rules and regulations and hours of operation need to be posted at trailheads and other access locations. Not everyone is aware that ARRT’s signs include “Maximum Speed: 15 mph” and “Give an audible warning before passing,” but the signs are there. Guidelines for what organized volunteer groups can and cannot do need to be established, for example using herbicides or power tools.

As for what was observed during a recent Acton/Maynard walk-through, there was remarkably little litter along the trail, with the exception of downtown Maynard, and only a few instances of graffiti. Acton’s kiosks were empty or near-empty of content. Both towns’ Department of Public Works mow the trail’s shoulders. In both towns, there are dozens of standing dead trees that in time may fall on the trail. ARRT volunteers have replaced wooden railings that were broken by fallen trees or large branches. Dozens of the hundreds of trees that were planted as part of the trail landscaping in 2017-18 have died, and were removed by volunteers. Looking forward, consideration should be given to combating invasive plant species such as Oriental bittersweet, Japanese knotweed, garlic mustard, and purple loosestrife, the last beginning to appear in the wetter sections of drainage ditches.

Sign set up at Marble Farm site when daffodils are in bloom

Trail of Flowers (www.trailofflowers.com), a volunteer organization, operating under ARRT’s auspices, has since its inception in the fall of 2018 been planting flowering bulbs, shrubs and trees along the Assabet River Rail Trail, mostly in Acton and Maynard, but expanding to Hudson and Marlborough. As of early 2024, TOF has raised and spent more than $10,000. Students from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School have participated in annual planting events as part of Senior Student Community Service Day. Maynard Community Gardeners contribute unsold plants from the group’s annual plant sale. Maynard Scout Troop 130 will be conducting a planting event this summer as a Scout’s Eagle Scout project.

Concord MA Prison to Close in 2024

Aerial view of MCI-prison, Route 2 rotary in front

Massachusetts officials are closing the men’s prison in Concord because of a decline in the number of men imprisoned in the state*, a long-term trend ongoing from a peak in 2012. For the ten-year span 2014-2023, the male prison population size fell by 42% to a total of 5,660. The decrease was much larger than the 25% decrease nationwide. One reason for the downward trend in MA is a 1/3 decrease in the number of released prisoners reincarcerated within three years of their release, i.e., fewer violation of parole or arrests for new crimes.

As mentioned in the title, one consequence of the downward trend is the decision to close MCI-Concord, the oldest currently operative prison in the state. The 350-400 men held there and some of the staff will be transferred to other medium-security facilities. According to Governor Healey, closing the facility will save $16 million dollars per year in operating expenses and avoid spending close to $200 million dollars on deferred maintenance and needed improvements to the facility. The closure, scheduled for summer 2024, follows the closing of the Cedar Junction/Walpole facility the year before.

Prisoners' advocates praised the move and said they hope some of the savings will be put back into programming, especially to help those incarcerated transition to life after prison. "The time is now to reduce our carceral footprint and invest in rehabilitation, re-entry, and community-based support systems," said Jesse White, policy director at Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts.

Not entirely surprisingly, the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union voiced opposition to the planned closure. Its stated reason was that transferring prisoners in large numbers will increase the risk of violence and other disruptive behavior at the new locations, placing officers’ safety at risk. Unspoken was a concern that consolidation of prisons would include staff layoffs, as had occurred with the previously year’s closure of Walpole.

As for the history of MCI-Concord, the original building at Concord opened in 1878 as the New State Prison, with Mexican War veteran General Chamberlain as its warden. Prior to that, state prisoners were housed at the Charlestown State Prison, which had become operative in 1803.  Massachusetts reversed itself in 1884, returning state prisoners to Charlestown and converting Concord to the “Massachusetts Reformatory" where young, male, first-time offenders would be held for their sentence but potentially released early to supervised parole. Around 1980 the reformatory designation was dropped and Concord became a medium security facility.

One of the inmates at Massachusetts Reformatory was Malcolm Little – 1947 and part of 1948 – in his early 20s at the time, who shortly afterwards converted to the Nation of Islam and took the name Malcolm X.

As for the future of MCI-Concord, the approximately 50 acres will be made available for development. The state will be meeting with community and other stakeholders about what will be done with the site. Concord officials are in a strategy stage. From The Concord Bridge, an independent newspaper started after the Gatehouse-owned Concord Journal ceased publication, “Housing? Commercial development? Municipal buildings? Are there historical preservation concerns? And what about doing something with that harrowing Route 2 rotary?”

At the state level, the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance will facilitate the sale, lease or transfer of the property, a process that is expected to take years. Issues include how the prison’s wastewater treatment facility might serve the town’s future needs. Select Board members have pointed out that Concord already has several sizeable housing projects in the development pipeline, including affordable housing, so the prison site – close to Route 2 – might be a better opportunity for business development. The Board voted unanimously to set up a local advisory committee “that will bring together some of the expertise that we have in town and kind of flesh out what [Concord wants] to see there.”

Concord is also host to a minimum-security facility on the north side of Route 2A - the Northeastern Correctional Center – which houses 175-200 men. It will remain open for the foreseeable future. NCC encompasses 300 acres of farmland and provides inmates with work opportunities prior to being released from prison. NCC work opportunities include the Fife and Drum Restaurant, which is open to the public for lunch, Tuesday-Friday. Meal cost is $3.21.

Maynard lock-up behind what is now
the Paper Store building (emply)

Maynard has its own history of a lock-up. The position of constable was created at the first town meeting. Shortly thereafter the Selectmen authorized construction of a brick lock-up, 14 x 14 feet, behind what is now No. 2 Railroad Street. In April 1894 a two-cell lock-up, again brick, was built behind the Nason Street fire station. Photos in the collection of the Maynard Historical Society show it as a one-story building with a chimney for a coal-burning stove. This was in use until 1934, then closed when the police offices more to a building on the west side of Town Hall (later the town library, currently the police station again). The Nason Street lock-up remained unoccupied until demolished in 1984 for construction of the Paper Store building (currently empty) that replaced the fire station. The present-day police station on Main Street has lock-up cells for short-term use – it is not a prison.

 *And imprisoned women. The women’s prison population for 2023 was 201, all housed at a facility in Framingham. The count is down from 792 in 2014.    

 

How Maynard Became Maynard - April 6th lecture

"Hidden History of 
Maynard" (2014)

Local historian David Mark will present a talk on this topic at the Maynard Public Library on Saturday, April 6th, at 1:00-2:15 PM. After the talk he will be selling signed copies of his second history book, "Hidden History of Maynard" (2014) for $20 and ONLY IN MAYNARD mugs for $10.  

Maynard author and historian David Mark will speak about the 1871 proposal to create a new town and how the boundaries were set. Prior to Maynard becoming Maynard, land south of the Assabet River was part of Sudbury, north of the river, part of Stow. Growth of the woolen mill and other factories powered by the river resulted in a population explosion near the river and far from the churches and schools of the farmland towns. Petitions were submitted for (and against) creation of a new town. Compromises were made on size. The new town made compensation payments. Given that Amory Maynard owned much of the land and employed most of the people, the town naming vote was “unanimous.”

A reprint of a Beacon-Villager column from 2016: 

The inaugural celebrations marking the founding of Maynard, April 19, 1871, are described in great detail in the 1921 book "A Brief History of Maynard." Drawing on newspaper accounts of the time, the first town meeting, on April 27th, just eight days after the Commonwealth had granted the petition to create the town, met for the purpose of electing key officials, and then ended early, to turn to the celebrations.

The parade included the Eagle Cornet Band, IOGT (International Order of Good Templars), mill representatives, the Amateur Brass Band, St. Bridget Temperance and Benevolent Society, students, and town officials. A Revolutionary War cannon was borrowed from Concord. The Treasurer's Report recorded $13.50 spent on gunpowder.*   

David Griffin and Paul Boothroyd, members
of the Maynard Historical Society, holding the
original of the never-submitted petition.

A note here on the 'founders' of Maynard. Histories of the town list as founder the 71 men who signed a petition dated January 26, 1871. There is more history behind this history. Months earlier there had been a petition with 68 signees to create a town, name not yet selected, to encompass small parts of Acton and Concord in addition to larger portions of Sudbury and Stow. This was never submitted to the state legislature. The second petition gave up annexing the gunpowder mill land from the first two towns.

Subsequent to this official petition there were three additional supporting petitions with 76 more names. All tallied, minus a few who signed more than once. the count came to 211 men who favored the creation of a new town. (Women not achieving a right to vote until 1920.)

Stow and Sudbury were against the idea, as the proposed new town would take roughly 50 percent of their populations. Stow residents circulated three petitions which garnered about 140 signatures. Sudbury held a vote at Town Meeting, 183 against and 88 for. In disregard of this opposition (and perhaps influenced by some undocumented lobbying), the request to form a new town was granted. 

Amory Maynard was not among the signees although he was perhaps the largest landowner and also part owner and manager of the woolen mill. His sons Lorenzo and William signed, and Lorenzo became the town's first Treasurer and Tax Collector. An account of the day, in the Hudson newspaper, had this comment on how the town came to be named: "Mr. Maynard is the chief founder of the community now incorporated in his name. He is a taking man withal, and his personal christening of the new town is a popular acknowledgement of his agency in its birth and breeding."

Milestone anniversaries have been celebrated in various ways. There is no mention in the Town's Annual Report of 1896 about any events to mark the 25th anniversary. Nationally, there was a recession going on, and the mill would go bankrupt in 1898, so perhaps everyone was distracted.

The two major peaks in births represent the influx of young
adult immigrants to work at the expanding mill complex and
the post-WWII baby boom. Present population ~ 11,000.

The 50th anniversary was a huge event. According to the program, church observances on Sunday, April 17th, school observances on Monday, and on Tuesday morning a 50-gun salute and a parade of an estimated 1,000 people down Main, Nason and Summer Streets. Speeches by Governor Cox and Senator Gibbs followed. Local veterans of the Civil War (!), Spanish-American War and the Great War participated. Afternoon activities included Glee Club and choir singing, a band concert and ball game - Maynard versus Concord - at Crowe Park.

Likewise, the 100th anniversary was a huge event. Huge. Celebration was pushed to June, perhaps in hope of better weather? Ten days of celebrations included picnics, concerts and performances, capped by a parade and fireworks on July 4th.  

The book cover states
that the book was a
product of the Committee
but it was actually 
100% David Mark (me)

The 125th anniversary celebration, in 1996, appears to have been a subdued affair. The Maynard Historical Committee published a collection of essays on town history.

In 2016, Maynard celebrated its 145th anniversary as First Annual Founders' Day via various events to be held April 16 and 17, throughout the town. Much of the organizing was accomplished by Maynard High School student Haley Fritz as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project, in collaboration with the Board of Selectmen, Maynard Business Alliance, and Maynard Historical Commission. Alas, Founders' Day did not become an annual celebration.

The year 2021, in honor of Maynard's 150th anniversary, saw many events organized by a Sesquicentennial Steering Committee, including a parade attended by several descendants of Amory and Mary Maynard, a monthly lecture series and a book "MAYNARD MASSACHUSETTS: A Brief History". 

 

Trail of Flowers - First Daffodils 2024

 

First daffodils at Marble Farm

The first daffodils in bloom at Marble Farm Historic Site, appeared March 19, 2024. Looking back to previous years, starting with 2019 (first planting having been fall of 2018), first bloomings have ranged from March 21 to as late as April 10. Timing much depends on how long winter snow cover persisted and extent of warm spells.

The plantings at the Marble Farm site - more added each year - are of early- mid- and late-blooming varieties so as to prolong as much as possible the spring blooming season. Daffodils will still be in bloom well into May. In the fall of 2023 a planting of tulip bulbs was made inside the fence that surrounds the stone foundation that is all that remains of the Marble family home (built 1705, burned 1924). The site was selected to prevent deer from eating the tulips. (Deer don't eat daffodils.)  

To be installed once the 
tulips are blooming

The spring of 2023 had a remarkably poor showing of blooming for several perennial plant species. This was attributed to there having been an extended warm interval in March, causing 'bud break', i.e., initiation of bud opening, followed by a period of hard freeze night temperatures. Throughout eastern Massachusetts there were poor-to-no bloomings for forsythia, azalea, wisteria and other spring-blooming plants. March 2024 has been unseasonably warm and without snow cover, but did experience a night temperature of 20 degrees the night of March 21, followed by snow, freezing rain and rain March 22-23, so the effects of this harsh weather on the daffodils and other plants remains to be seen.

FIRST UPDATE: Late March and early April saw more snow, freezing rain and rain. Daffodils already blooming were knocked down, but most recovered after everything thawed/melted. The Trail of Flowers daffodil plantings in Acton and Maynard are planned to have a mix of  early- mid- and late-blooming varieties in order to stretch the blooming season into May. Unlike last year, forsythia are having a good bloom year. Max blooming appears to be week of April 14-20. 

Interestingly (and sadly), although forsythia is a popular early spring blooming plant, it is not pollinator friendly, as it has minimal nectar and pollen. Likewise, daffodils and tulips - popular spring-blooming bulbs - contribute nothing to pollinators, and thus can be derogatorily be referred to as 'eye candy'. Trail of Flowers (www.trailofflowers.com) has had donating town garden clubs request that future plantings include more of a mix of pollinator-friendly plants, with a preference for those native to New England versus overseas imports.   The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources has developed this list of native plant species commonly available at local nurseries:  https://www.mass.gov/doc/creating-pollinator-friendly-gardens-with-native-plants-locally-available-options/download

More to be added as Spring progresses

 

"Water Always Wins" a book review

 Water Always Wins Erica Gies (2022)

Water Always Wins (327 pages, 290 references) is a treatise on how water behaves and misbehaves on our planet, and how our human attempts to control water via dams, channeling rivers, dikes, draining of wetlands, shoreline management, and so on, and so on, fail. The subtitle: "Thriving on an age of drought and deluge" points toward how human-caused climate change has exacerbated the problems we have with out-of-control water. 

The overlying theme of the book is "slow water," meaning that in a nature-pristine state there are mechanisms such as plant cover, porous soil, drainage obstructions (including beaver dams) and so on that slow drainage, and that by doing so lessen flooding in times of heavy rain or snow melt, and also recharge the local and regional surface water and ground water, lessening the impact of drought.

Beaver skull: see that the gnawing teeth are 
separate from the eating teeth, and that the former
have an orange enamel on the outside surface. 
These teeth grow throughout the animal's 10-12
year lifespan. The orange enamel is harder than
the white, so these teeth are self-sharpening. The 
bite force is twice that of a human, but much less
than that of large dogs.

Chapter 4: "Beavers - the original water engineers" describes the impact this species had on North America prior to European colonization and fur trapping, and how the more recent recovery from extirpation (regional extinction) is being accomplished. A rough estimate of 60 to 400 million beavers population North America prior to arrival of the Europeans. Trapping for the fur trade reduced the numbers to an estimate 100,000 mostly in Canada. With government protection, the beaver population has recovered to an estimated 10-15 million.This includes live-trapping of beavers in areas where their activity infringes on human habitat - flooded farm fields and suburban lawns plus gnawed trees - for relocation to ideal habitant is empty. Beaver dams slow water from headland tributaries, and be doing so, mute floods and maintain water flow in times of drought. The water impoundments also stongly support biodiverisity.

Chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8 are in-depth case studies of how water was and is and will be managed in various countries, specifically India, Peru, US and China, and Kenya. The common theme across all of these chapters is that deforestation and urban sprawl are contrary to the concept of slow water, and need to be addressed by plans to support slow water, and to also plan for space within and adjacent to cities that are allowed to flood in times of excessive water. The chapters also address that while reforestation in theory can be beneficial, planting the wrong types of trees or only a few species of trees, i.e., monoculture, can be counterproductive. 

Chapter 9: "Sedimental Journey",  describes the best and worst ways to manage the land/ocean interface in these times of rising ocean level. Worldwide, our current practices are mainly the worst. By building to the water's edge, and in places trying to defend that edge with seawalls, we have removed all of the natural coastal ecosystems - salt water marshes, mud flats, mangrove forests, coral reefs, barrier islands, sand dunes, kelp forests - that when in place blunt storm damage and coastal erosion. The chapter adds that building dams on rivers compounds the problem by preventing river sediment from restoring and actually increasing the land height of marshes, beaches and river deltas. Efforts to restore natural waters' edge barriers to San Francisco Bay are described in great detail.

Chapter 10: "Our Shared Future", loops back to the concept first broached in the title "Water Always Wins", To wit,  stop fighting and adapt. Towns, even cities that have a frequent history of flooding have been abandoned, or even moved. Sometimes the catalyst is a refusal by insurance companies to provide flood insurance. Efforts at rewilding coastland and river valleys provides space for water. On the drought side of the equation, limits on development recognize the fatal flaw in allowing population growth in places where water cannot be guarenteed, neither by reservoirs nor pumping ground water in excess of what can be replenished by rain and snow melt. Ditto on water-intensive crop choices in areas with water limits. If water always wins, make peace, not war. 

Consultant and Consulting Jokes (3)

If you know any consultants, please mention these postings to them.

Back when I was a self-employed consultant I started to collect consultant jokes, with the half-baked idea of self-publishing and selling a paperback book of jokes and cartoons. Below, the first part of what I had collected.

For people who are seriously considering a career in consulting, I strongly recommend buying a copy of Alan Weiss' book, Getting Started in Consulting. When I was getting started, I would read the entire book every few weeks. It help tremendously in understanding how to establish visibility, 'gravitas', reputation, etc. as means of rising above the competition. 

I also remember being asked and answering two key questions about becoming a self-employed consultant: Separate from your credentials, experience and knowledge, "Are you comfortable talking to strangers? Are you comfortable talking to no one?" Because if you cannot do the first, you won't find clients, and if you cannot do the second, sitting home alone in your office with the phone not ringing an no one to have coffee with will be depressing.

MORE CONSULTANT JOKES

Consultant or Prostitute? 

   1. You work very odd hours.
2. You are paid a lot of money to keep your client happy.
3. You are paid well but your pimp gets most of the money.
4. You spend a majority of your time in a hotel room.
5. You charge by the hour but your time can be extended.
6. You are not proud of what you do.
7. Creating fantasies for your clients is rewarded.
8. It's difficult to have a family.
9. You have no job satisfaction.
10. If a client beats you up, the pimp just sends you to another client.
11. You are embarrassed to tell people what you do for a living.
12. People ask you, "What do you do?" and you can't explain it.
13. Your client pays for your hotel room plus your hourly rate.
14. Your client always wants to know how much you charge and what they get for the money.
15. You know the pimp is charging more than you are worth but if the client is foolish enough to pay it's not your problem.
16. When you leave to go see a client, you look great, but return looking like hell (compare your appearance on Monday AM to Friday PM).
17. You are rated on your "performance" in an excruciating ordeal.
18. Even though you might get paid the big bucks, it's the client who walks away smiling.
19. The client always thinks your "cut" of your billing rate is higher than it actually is, and in turn, expects miracles from you.
20. When you deduct your "take" from your billing rate, you constantly wonder if you could get a better deal with another pimp. 

THE SHEPHERD JOKE

 A shepherd was tending his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a dust cloud approached at high speed, out of which emerged a brand new BMW. The driver, a young man in an Armani suit, Ferragamo shoes, the latest Polarized sunglasses and a tightly knotted power tie, poked his head out the window and asked the shepherd, "Hey! If I can tell you how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"

The shepherd looked at the man, then glanced at his peacefully grazing flock and answered, "Sure."

The driver parked his car, turned on his Blackberry, surfed to a GPS satellite navigation system on the Internet and initiated a remote body-heat scan of the area. He printed the results on the laser printer in his glove compartment, subtracted three (for himself, the shepherd and the car), and pronounced “You have exactly 1,586 sheep."

"Impressive. One of my sheep is yours." said the shepherd. He watched the young man select an animal and bundle it into his car. Then the shepherd said: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you reverse the bet?"

Pleased to meet a fellow sportsman, the young man replied “You’re on.”

"You are a consultant." said the shepherd without hesitation.

"That's correct," said the young man, impressed. "How ever did you guess?"

"It wasn’t a guess," replied the shepherd. "You drive into my field uninvited. You ask me to pay you for information I already know, answer questions I haven’t asked, and you know nothing about my business.”

 Now give me my back my dog."

 THE RESTAURANT JOKE

A customer at a fancy restaurant noticed during the salad course that each of the waiters had a spoon in his jacket pocket. He asked his waiter, “What gives with the spoon?”

The waiter replied, “The owner brought in a time efficiency expert who discovered that the utensil people dropped most often was a spoon. If we all carry replacement spoons we improve service speed by 3.4%.”

During dinner the same customer noticed that that his waiter had a string hanging out from his pants zipper. And so did all the other waiters. He asked, “And what’s with the string?”

The waiter replied, “The same consultant observed that we were using too much time to wash our hands after going to the bathroom. Now I just pull down my zipper, tug on the string, and I can manage my business without dirtying my hands.” With that, the waiter bustled off to another table.

Over dessert the customer stopped the waiter one more time. He said, “OK, I can see how you get started, but how do you put everything away without using your hands?”

The waiter leaned over and softly said, “I don’t know about the other guys, but I use the spoon.”

DEFINITIONS OF CONSULTING TERMS

 Consluting/Conslutant:  A search on any decent Internet search engine will garner many hits for consulting or consultant, but also a fair number for consulting or conslutant.  Either a small percentage of consultants are dyslexic, or ‘consluting’ is a rare subspecialty of consulting.  Possible definitions:

-          Someone who gives away for free what others charge for

-          working for competing clients – and providing the same answers to both

-          propositioning your friends’ clients and promising more for less

-          submitting reports without checking your outgoing material for viruses

-          decorating your website with gaudy gifs, clip-art, sound effects and backgrounds

-          invoicing twice for the same work and hoping to get lucky

Bozone: The substance surrounding stupid people which stops bright ideas from penetrating.

Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when coming at you rapidly.

Contruck: Is a contract with a small-print clause that makes you feel like you were run over by a truck when it is invoked.

Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

Invice: Is an invoice with a criminally high total considering how little work was actually completed.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

A doctor, lawyer and a consultant were discussing whether to have a wife or a mistress.

The doctor said he enjoyed time with his wife, building a solid foundation for an enduring relationship.

The lawyer said he enjoyed time with his mistress, because of the passion and mystery he found there.

The consultant said, "I like both."

"Both?" asked the doctor and lawyer in unison.

The consultant replied, "Yeah. If you have a wife AND a mistress, they will each assume that you are spending time with the other woman, so you can go to the office and get some work done." 

 A time management consultant dies and goes to Hell. On arrival the Devil says, "I'm going to give you three choices, which is more than you ever gave your clients. Whichever room you choose will be how you'll spend eternity."

So the consultant opens the first door and sees a mob of people sitting on a floor covered with spikes. He goes to the next door and sees a humongous crowd of sinners lying down in spoiled food and maggots. At the third door, there is a throng of people talking and drinking coffee, although they are up to their knees in pig manure.

"Thank God," he exalts, "It smells terrible, but at least I could drink all the coffee I want and be able to talk to people."

He enters and joins the group. He is about to sip his first coffee when a loudspeaker announces, "Coffee break is over.  Back to standing on your heads!"