Recreational Ativities in Boston

Recreational activities for senior citizens in Boston Massachusetts are plentiful, and there is something for everyone. If you are headed to Boston on a trip, relocating there or if you simply live in Beantown, you need this information.

TD Bank North Garden

100 Legends Way, Boston, MA, 02114 (617) 931-2000

http://www.tdbanknorthgarden.com/

This is the place to be if you want to watch the Boston Bruins or Celtics play, or catch some on the music industry greats while you are in Boston. This building opened in 1995 and has had a host of top rated concerts, and millions of people have enjoyed countless games, shows and other fun events right here.

Senior citizens can enjoy a casual dinner, or a more relaxed dinner before the game or event because there is a restaurant on every level here with the building. You can have a limo drop you off, or simply use one of the nearby parking lots to park cars while you attend the events in the building.

New England Aquarium

One Central Wharf, Boston, MA, 02110

(617) 973-5200 extension 617

At the New England Aquarium, senior citizens and other people n this Boston Massachusetts location will learn about plenty of underwater life, but there are also several movie screens and even a planetarium. Eat a meal at the Reef, try your hand at trivia contest or simply sit back and enjoy the meal. This summer you can learn about the water life from all over the world and see those animals swimming in their carefully recreated natural habitats.

The New England Aquarium also records the underwater life in action to show at different times, and while you are in the building perhaps, you will meet a diver. Senior citizens in Boston can also learn what the animals eat and how they are taken care of in the behind the scene tours.

Boston Common

Boylston and Charles Streets, Boston, MA, 02116 (617) 635-4505

The Boston Common is just about the oldest public park in the United States and it is almost 50 acres in size. This means there is usually a wide range of things to see in this public park, which is accessible to those people among us with disabilities who require specialized items.

This public park marks the start point of the famous Freedom trail, but before the American Revolution the British troops camped here before moving on to begin the war. In the early 1800's public hangings occurred here as well. The Boston Common is full of history, and is wonderful to visit. Currently in the spring, summer and fall senior citizens can attend concerts, baseball games, festivals and other fun events designed to enlighten and delight audiences of all ages. If you enjoy ice-skating, frog pond inside the Boston Common is a great place to visit.

http://calendar.boston.com/boston-ma/venues/show/11652-td-banknorth-garden

http://www.tdbanknorthgarden.com/calendar.asp

http://www.neaq.org/index.phphttp://www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail/bostoncommon.asp

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Hurricane Agnes 1972 Pennsylvania

Hurricane Agnes created much havoc in my hometown and even as a child, those memories are still within me. Every time I hear of another hurricane hitting the United States, I am reminded of those memories.

In 1972, it was just a few short months before my 6^th birthday, in the sleepy little town of Athens Pennsylvania when Hurricane Agnes struck. Highway 220 was just being built across the Chemung River in Athens and I remember standing on the area and seeing huge tress go down the river. The river, which used to be small, was now huge and extended into the town. I was so glad that we lived on the hill and were safe from this water.

I asked my dad with wide-eyed wonder what caused all this water to come to our town, and he replied it was Hurricane Agnes. At that point I had no clue just what that meant, but I knew it was bad just the same. The entire borough of Athens Pennsylvania was under water, and it got much worse as you went into downtown.

My family stood on the highway while my dad and other men walked Ralph's cows up from a barn to the railroad tracks and finally to the highway where they would put those cows in trucks to transport them to safety. The cows were taken to various farms in the country for safety reasons, and seeing those men put the cows on the trucks was unreal. Those cows were survivors of Hurricane Agnes because Ralph's friends and fellow farmers helped him as a small community does in a natural disaster.

From this point on the highway, one could see much more of the town, and much more of the floodwaters that were causing untold damage to the town. I see a house float down the river that really scared me. There were cars, trucks and huge uprooted trees just floating as if they were toys, I remember saying to my family that I wished this bad water would go away. Hurricane Agnes had caused major damage north of us, and some of that debris was floating past us as well.

Of course, during the flood you could not get into downtown by food, but after the water settled boats would go down Main Street and reveal the horror of it all. Water up to the second floors of buildings, and those building that had cellars in them was flooded as well. The main elementary school was flooded up to the third floor, while your post office received water quite high as well. I remember seeing images of the post office, it looked like a building on an island, and it appeared scary as was all of Hurricane Agnes.

I went down with my parents to help their friends Leona, Donnie, and Susie clean out the Tioga Point hotel, which was their bar. Mud covered every surface on the main floor and was two to three inches on the second floor. The parking lot had so much mud on it that you sank down quite a few inches, it made a sucking noise when you lifted a foot to take a step. My parents, along with countless other people help clean this bar up and got this family back into business.

After my parents helped there a few hours one day we went up to Ralph's house where the cows were rescued and his big two story yellow house was still standing but had been moved off the cellar, which was full of mud. There was a wooden plank from the ground, stretching over the three-foot span to get to the house. My dad told me that the mud there was at least eight foot deep, and I could not fathom how deep that was, but I knew it was bad. The house was destroyed by Hurricane Agnes, along with everything inside, so there was no option but to tear it down. A trailer was put on the property and Ralph and his wife never rebuilt their home.

Several families that were friends of our family were now homeless by Hurricane Agnes, and I remember us kids sharing our toys with some of them. Shirley and Ed, got a new trailer that was temporary because their house was destroyed, Paul and Grace left the downtown area and choose to build a house out in the country on a huge hill. The floods wiped out almost a hundred homes in our small town, including the two that sit on the lot where my own home was built in 1993.

FEMA supplied trailers to lots of families like Shirley and Ed who had four small children, and the Red Cross provided clothes. Friends and other family member provided what they could, and everyone helped each other as best they could. All over town, people were helping other people and Hurricane Agnes brought the community together.

The President would declare Pennsylvania a disaster area and damage from Hurricane Agnes would exceed 2.3 billion dollars while the total damages for the country would exceed 3.1 billion. Over 117 people were confirmed dead within the United States from Hurricane Agnes and 48 of those deaths occurred in Pennsylvania.

Old timers around here said this was a hundred year flood meaning that a flood like this only occurs every hundred years. There are dikes on the rivers now, which are very high, but I wonder if another flood like the one that came with Hurricane Agnes , comes again will the dikes hold it back?

This article was written from my personal memories of Hurricane Agnes, which occurred in late June 1972. Our town learned valuable lessons from this flood as did our neighbors in surrounding areas up and down the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers, which merge just below Athens. The river is something we never take for granted any longer, as we, all know if it happened once it can happen once more.

To learn more about Hurricane Agnes and the damage it caused read the following links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Agnes

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/marfc/Flood/agnes.html

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/2002/6-20-agnes-revisited.htm

http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/heritage/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=444559

http://www.agnesinnepa.org/

http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Tech/Nature/Disasters/Hurricanes/72Jun19-Agnes.asp

http://books.google.com/books?id=rKNVOU7sMQUC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=hurricane+agnes+athens&source=web&ots=UgtkOeY3hV&sig=AD_9KKVel_hgeZRr-cuxsBxC3-k&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#PPP1,M1

Venison Roast Without the Gamey Taste

To cook a venison roast is easy and if done properly it will not leave that gamey taste in your mouth. You need to select a nice venison roast, and toss it in a pan with onions, peppers and drown it in cold water, are the instructions my father gave me when he taught me how to cook a venison roast.

Ingredients:

One large venison roast

One large green bell pepper

One large onion

Salt, pepper, and garlic to taste

Water, a deep pan and of course a cutting board

Water and the pan:

The amount of water needed depends on the size of the pan in which you will cook the venison roast. You will need a deep pan that has a cover, which will seal in the juices and aromas, but do not use a pressure cooker pan for this one.

Preparation of the meat:

Take your venison roast and cut it into smaller pieces you can chop, dice, or slice the meat, it really does not matter. However, it does cook quicker and is easier to serve if it is in bite-sized chunks at the table. There is no need to scrape fat off this meat, because there is extremely little fat here. When the meat is all chopped place it in a pan, but do not turn it on just yet.

Chop the onions and peppers into small pieces and toss them on the venison roast in the pan, add salt, pepper, and garlic until it looks right according to my dad. Now go ahead, cover all the meat and vegetables with water, and turn the burner on low and allow it too cook for until it breaks apart easily with a fork.

As the venison roast cooks, you will need to replace the water as needed, but always make sure it there is water in the pan. It is this cooking method, which removes that gamey taste. The gamey taste is what leaves the roof of your mouth feeling funky and it is why most people do not enjoy a nice venison roast.

When the meat is done, you will notice that it flakes easy with a fork and there is a nice gravy base in the pan. Go ahead and make some gravy so serve over the venison roast or the mashed potatoes.

Serve this delectable venison roast with real mashed potatoes, or even boiled potatoes but there is no reason to screw up this meal with boxed potatoes.

If you are lucky enough to have left over venison roast and that yummy gravy then it is wonderful to heat the gravy on low, chop the remaining meat into the gravy, and pour it over fresh hot pancakes!

Keep Bees and Mosquitoes Away Naturally

With summer time picnics and other outdoor activities fast approaching, we need to exercise common sense. Bugs, bees, ants, snakes and other creepy crawlies will soon be everywhere and will no doubt cause many problems to many people so I have some quick common sense tips to share to make your summer time fun more enjoyable.

Bees and mosquitoes love sweet smells and with so many shampoos, conditioners, deodorants, and lotions having wonderful smells it is time to go with unscented products. This will do wonders in reducing the amount or pests that you will attract to you because of the way you smell.

Mosquitoes carry west mile virus and many other types of diseases so it is far better to keep them at bay always. My grand daughter has allergic reactions to them as many people do, so a mosquito repellent is always a great idea.

Standing water is a well-known breeding area, so get rid of any cans, pails, old tires or any containers around your property, which collect water where these pests congregate and breed. Early spring is the perfect time to do this, as it is before the majority of mosquitoes are not around yet.

If you have a short bowl pour a cup of water in it along with some lemon fresh joy and set it in the area but away from the people at your picnic. The mosquitoes are attracted to it, they partake of it, and they drop dead, this will mean fewer bites for you.

When my adult niece Jessica was about five years old, she like the other children were running on a side hill at my parents home, which had high grass. Jessica was the unfortunate child who stepped in a bee's nest, which was in the ground, and she was stung very badly. A quick trip to the hospital to remove numerous stingers and get some medicine she recovered quickly but still has a fear of bees. Lesson learned for all of us adults, and we kept that hill mowed from that point forward.

Bees love hidden areas and often build nest in areas hidden away and quiet for the most part. Children's playhouses, out buildings, swing sets unused infrequently are havens for bees so check them often and spray as needed.

Trick the bees by leaving a bee bottle sitting in the location but not around the people. A bee bottle is simply a bottle without the label and it contains a few inches of flat soda they bees are attracted to it and stay away from the people.