Once again I was able to scoop the news of the week from my co-columnist Brad and the event occurred practically in his backyard no less! You would have read elsewhere in the Gazette about the brush fire last Friday on North Neck that was ignited by a downed overhead electric wire. What you didn’t hear in the mainstream news is that there is now one less raccoon living on Chappy. He came into contact with the wire and the rest is history. He was posthumously accused of causing the wire to fall, but alas that blame goes to a broken tree branch.

A cautionary note to owners of private power lines: poles rot, tree limbs grow into the wires, connections corrode, the wires end up on the ground and your power goes out on a humid August afternoon just as your mother in law arrives. It’s a preventable nightmare. In this most recent incident, luckily the resulting brush fire was noticed before it had gotten out of hand. Brush fires often become house fires. Make sure that your private power line is in good shape and the trees are kept clear of the wires.

One day many years ago while surveying along a property line through thick woods, I came upon what appeared to be a thin black snake. While trying to decide which end to pick him up by, I noticed that a tiny thread of bright gold glitter was flowing from its head onto the leaves. Looking up and ahead I realized that it was actually a live broken overhead electrical wire. Two more steps and I would have had my name in the paper!

The next Chappy Community Center potluck will be on Wednesday, May 6, starting at 6 p.m. Our host Rachel Self makes her home next to Shear Pen Pond out at Cape Pogue. That makes her the Chappy potluck hostess with the mostest travel time to the CCC.

A pair of Chappy lovebirds has decided to get hitched. Here in the future bride’s own words is how fate finally got it’s point across: “Since first meeting at Morning Glory Farm ten years ago Quincy Dewing and Emily Davis have brushed paths in many parts of the state. They even lived within a mile of one another in Montague, Mass., without knowing it! In the summer of 2013 they locked eyes across a fire and quickly fell in love. He proposed to her in North Adams at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art with a family ring.” Aren’t they lucky to have found each other amongst the millions of us here on earth?

I love the concept that the fates work diligently to bring people together. My wife Sally and I met when I took my daughter Nearess to her daycare. My ex-wife had written Sally’s number in the back of the phone book. But I know that we would have met at some point. As third graders we saw a documentary film about the hospital ship HOPE. Sally in Pennsylvania and I in Colorado. We both dreamed of working on the HOPE. We would have been onboard during the same time period and would have met. Since that didn’t happen, the fates had to come up with another plan. It worked!

Last weekend The Trustees of Reservations opened up the beach route between Chappy and the Vineyard to vehicular traffic. Looking at the tire tracks I could tell that the newly deposited sand is pretty firm but that it gets really soft on Leland Beach just before the turn-in to the inland route. Don’t forget to let some air out of your tires.

The Edgartown planning board will discuss viable recommendations to improve the staging of vehicles traveling to Chappaquiddick at their meeting on Tuesday, May 5, at 5:30 p.m. If you can’t make the meeting, send your comments by fax to 508-627-6173 or by email to planningboard@edgartown-ma.us. The Edgartown highway department has been putting in long days working on the ferry point parking lot. Asphalting should start soon.

Have you noticed those four little pigs at Slip Away Farm? They are so cute; I just want to eat them up. I’ll get my chance at the farm’s annual spring opening party on Saturday, May 23, from 4 to 6 p.m. Everyone is invited. Bring your own drinks and a $20 donation. The farmers have great plans for the summer, including pizzas and baked goods from their wood-fired outdoor oven.

Send your Chappy news to: peter@chappyferry.net