The Wing

Boston Sports Morning Report — Tuesday, Oct. 6

Not for nuthin'…. But….. the Bruins came out flat at the Garden last night, and Ottawa made 'em pay. Grab the coffee, it's a quiet Tuesday on the board.

Short version: B's fell to the Senators 4–1 and drop to 2-2-0. Pats are off until the Raiders come to Foxborough Sunday. Celtics open preseason Thursday in Cleveland. Red Sox season is done.

New England Patriots

• Yesterday: No game (last out: W 29–26 @ Buffalo Bills, Sun. Oct. 4)
• Today: No game
• Next: Sun, Oct. 11 — 1:00 PM ET — vs Las Vegas Raiders (home, CBS)
• Standings: 2-2 · 2nd in AFC East · Buffalo 3-1 leads · Jets 1-3 · Dolphins 0-4 · No. 7 seed in the AFC right now per ESPN

Still riding the high from Orchard Park. Take care of business at home against Vegas and we're over .500.

Boston Red Sox

• Yesterday / Today: No games — season over
• Next: Offseason
• Final standings: 87-75 · 3rd in AL East · Eliminated in AL Wild Card by the Yankees

Hot stove season. We'll keep an eye on the winter moves.

Boston Celtics

• Yesterday / Today: No games
• Next (preseason): Thu, Oct. 8 — 7:00 PM ET — @ Cleveland Cavaliers
• Then (preseason): Sat, Oct. 10 — 8:00 PM ET — vs Philadelphia 76ers (home, NBA TV)
• Regular-season opener: Tue, Oct. 20 — 3:00 PM ET — @ Detroit Pistons (as listed by ESPN)
• Status: Preseason · 2026-27 season not started

Two more sleeps until the green is back on the floor.

Boston Bruins

• Yesterday: L 1–4 vs Ottawa Senators (home)
• Today: No game
• Next: Thu, Oct. 8 — 7:00 PM ET — vs Utah Mammoth (home, NESN)
• Standings: 2-2-0 · 4 points · 4th in Atlantic (Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Florida also at 4)

Tim Stützle had two goals and an assist, and Ottawa jumped out 4–0 before rookie James Hagens got the B's on the board in the third. Boston went 0-for-4 on the power play and Swayman made 20 saves. Two days to clean it up before Utah comes to town.

That's the Tuesday board, folks. Shake off the B's loss, enjoy a quiet night, and we'll go again tomorrow.

MOAM Out.

Glad for the Help, But…. Healey's 'Energy Emergency' Lands Four Weeks Before Election Day

Not for nuthin'…. But….. on Sunday the MOAM was going on about Stephen King and his $5.32 hi-test. Gas at the pump is what makes the headlines. But here on the North Shore, the number that really scares people doesn't show up on a sign out on Route 1A. It shows up on the slip the oil man tucks in your storm door. On Monday, the Governor noticed too.

What happened Monday

On Monday, October 5, Gov. Maura Healey went to the Edward G. Connolly Center, a senior center in Everett, and signed an executive order declaring a "State of Energy Emergency" (Boston Globe; WBUR). Her office says Massachusetts heating oil averaged $6.08 a gallon the week of September 28, compared with $3.52 this time last year (Globe). And it hasn't let up. The state's newest weekly survey, taken October 5, came in at $6.12 (Mass.gov DOER price page).

Here's what's in the order:

• A new benefit for middle-class oil heat. It's one-time help of up to $680 for oil-heat households earning 60% to 100% of state median income. For a family of four, that's more than $103,049 and up to $171,749. The state expects about 50,000 households to qualify. The money is available starting in December through April 30, 2027, or until the funding runs out, and it's run by the same local agencies that handle fuel assistance now (NBC Boston).
• $15 million more for fuel assistance. That money goes to the state's Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP, which runs on the federal LIHEAP money) for about 156,000 low-income households. Families who heat with oil get a 20% bump, and families with gas or electric heat get 15% (NBC Boston). According to the administration, a family of four earning up to $103,049 could get $870 to $1,450 for oil or propane this winter (WBUR).
• The SMART solar charge comes off electric bills for three months. The state will put in $80 million to cover it for January through March 2027 (NBC Boston).
• The Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard charge gets cut in half this winter, worth an estimated $20 million (NBC Boston).
• Price-gouging protections turn on with the emergency declaration, and the Governor says state agencies will monitor and enforce them (NBC Boston).

She also asked Congress for another $3 billion in federal heating aid and kicked off an Emergency Winter Warmth Fund with Citizens Energy, which put in $100,000 to start it. Her office puts the whole package at "nearly $150 million" in relief (NBC Boston).

Glad for the help

The MOAM will say this plainly: this is real money, and it lands right where it hurts. Do the basement math. A 275-gallon fill at $3.52 was about $968. At $6.08 it's about $1,672. That's roughly $700 more for one tank, and the Governor said the same thing herself: "Many could pay as much as $700 more for a single fill-up" (WBUR). So the $680 benefit just about covers what this year's price adds to one fill.

The middle-income piece matters most around here. Statewide, about one in five households heats with oil (WBUR). In Essex County it's about 39% (CheapestOil). Think of the Old Town capes, the Clifton colonials and the 1700s houses along the harbor, plenty of them with a steel tank in the cellar. Lots of North Shore families make too much for regular fuel assistance but are a long way from comfortable writing $1,600 checks all winter. Picture a teacher married to a firefighter with two kids. Until Monday, that household didn't qualify for state heating help. Now it might.

So if you heat with oil and you think you're in that income range, bookmark mass.gov/heatinghelp. The state says applications for the new middle-income benefit open in December. If you're under the regular fuel-assistance limit, you can apply for that one right now (Mass.gov). Don't let anybody's politics, the MOAM's included, talk you out of money meant to keep your house warm.

But….

First, the calendar. Election Day is November 3. This order landed four weeks before it, and the Globe pointed out that Healey faces reelection in less than a month (Globe). Her Republican opponent, Mike Minogue, says he's been pushing a similar plan for a year. "I'm glad she proposed it," he said. When reporters asked if it was an election ploy, he answered: "Of course it does. Everyone sees this, it's obviously the exact thing she's doing, so that afterwards she'll go back to taxing and spending" (NBC Boston). In fairness to the Governor, heating oil is up more than 70% in a year (Globe), and any governor would be expected to do something. She blames the war in Iran and the Trump administration for the prices (WBUR). Two things can be true at once. The help is real, and the timing is political. When both candidates want roughly the same thing, the MOAM's only question is why it took until October of an election year.

Second, the solar charge. This is the part that made the MOAM put his coffee down. To lower your bill this winter, the state will pay the SMART solar charge for three months so it doesn't get passed on to you, and it will cut the Alternative Portfolio Standard charge in half. The administration says those moves will lower energy bills for about 85% of ratepayers (NBC Boston). Fair enough. But if taking a charge off your bill counts as emergency relief, then that charge was making your bill bigger the rest of the time. That's not a talking point. That's arithmetic. The administration says the solar program "continues to deliver benefits to all Massachusetts ratepayers" (NBC Boston), and clean-energy folks will tell you it pays off down the road. Maybe so. But you can't call it relief when the charge goes away and then act like it costs nothing when it comes back on April 1. For what it's worth, nobody's thrilled. Minogue wants to slash what he calls "climate taxes" on utility bills. On the other side, the Sierra Club's Massachusetts director called the package "not even close to enough," and the Conservation Law Foundation compared it to "patching a leak while ignoring the broken pipe" (Globe).

Third, who pays. WBUR noted that Healey didn't say how much all this will cost the state or where the money is coming from (WBUR). Her office did say the money comes, at least in part, from "alternative compliance payments." Those are payments electricity suppliers make to the state when they miss their clean-energy quotas, and they usually go to clean-energy projects (WBUR; Globe). So penalty money from the green rules is paying to take green charges off our bills for one winter. Credit where it's due: that's not a new tax. But it's one-time money for a problem that shows up every January.

MOAM's checklist

1. Apply for fuel assistance now, and watch for December. Regular fuel assistance (HEAP) applications are open now. Applications for the new middle-income benefit open in December (Mass.gov). For either one, go to mass.gov/heatinghelp, call 2-1-1, or call the statewide line at (800) 632-8175. If you live in Marblehead, Salem, Beverly, Peabody, Danvers, Middleton or Topsfield, your local agency is North Shore Community Action Programs in Peabody, (978) 531-0767 ext. 136. NSCAP processes applications first come, first served, and the new $680 benefit lasts only "until funding lasts" (NBC Boston). Either way, get in line early. You don't have to be on public assistance or behind on your bills, and renters whose heat is included in the rent can qualify too (NBC Boston). Applying is free. Anybody charging an "application fee" is running a scam (Mass.gov).
2. Shop around before you book. In the state's October 5 survey, the low-end dealers averaged $5.69 a gallon and the high-end dealers $6.61 (Mass.gov DOER). On 250 gallons, that 92-cent gap is about $230. This morning, the cheapest cash quotes in Essex County were down around $5.20 (CheapestOil, Essex County). Check that the dealer delivers to your street, and ask about senior discounts.
3. Know the gouging rules are on. With the emergency declared, price-gouging protections apply (NBC Boston). If a quote looks way out of line next to the DOER weekly numbers, report it to the Attorney General's office.
4. Get the burner tuned before the first cold snap. A dirty nozzle and a clogged filter burn oil you paid $6 for. Speaking as a Construction Supervisor: while the tech is there, have him look at the tank. Rust, weeping seams, a wet spot under the filter. You want to find that in October, not with a cellar full of fumes in February.
5. Button up the house. Weatherstrip the doors, caulk the drafty windows, and insulate the pipes in the crawlspace. If you qualify for fuel assistance, NSCAP's partner Action, Inc. also runs no-cost weatherization and heating-repair programs (NSCAP).
6. Check on your neighbors. If there's an older person on your street, knock and ask if they've got oil and if they've applied. Some folks are too proud to ask. A neighbor can make the call with them.

Look, the MOAM will take the help, and you should too. File the paperwork, shop your oil and look in on the folks next door. That's how a small town gets through a hard winter. But a one-time check four weeks before Election Day and a solar charge that disappears for exactly one quarter aren't an energy policy. They get us through one heating season. Come April, whoever's in the corner office, somebody ought to tell us the plan for next winter.

MOAM Out.

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Sources: NBC Boston, Oct. 5, 2026 · WBUR / State House News Service, Oct. 5, 2026 · Boston Globe, Oct. 5, 2026 · Mass. DOER home heating fuel prices · Mass.gov Home Energy Assistance Programs (mass.gov/heatinghelp) · Mass.gov: Apply for HEAP · NSCAP Home Energy Assistance · CheapestOil, Essex County (Oct. 6, 2026)

New England This Morning — October 6, 2026

Not for nuthin'…. But….. Tuesday finally brought the sunshine. Marblehead Harbor is bright and glassy, the Mount Washington camera is caked in rime ice, and the Mad River Valley is showing off what's left of its color.

Marblehead Harbor (BYC Oceanfront) — Clear blue sky and a low morning sun glaring across the water from the left of the frame. The harbor is flat calm and still full of moorings and sailboats, with the dinghies tucked in along the Boston Yacht Club float.

Mount Washington North View — No view at all this morning, just a lens coated solid in rime ice (cam stamp 7:49 AM). Up top the forecast is partly sunny with a high near 28, northwest winds of 55 to 90 mph gusting as high as 115 mph, and wind chills down to 8 below.

Great Eddy Covered Bridge, Waitsfield — Patchy grey clouds with some blue breaking through over the bridge. The Mad River is still enough to mirror the bridge and the trees, and the foliage is running rust, orange and gold, with a few trees already starting to thin out.

Back on the coast it's sunny with a high near 58, but hang onto your hat, with northwest gusts up to 30 mph. Over in the Mad River Valley it's mostly sunny near 54, with patchy frost possible tonight.

Webcam views courtesy of the Boston Yacht Club, the Mount Washington Observatory, and Mad River Valley Television.

MOAM Out.

A New Home for Nanepashemet Real Estate

For a long time, the Nanepashemet Real Estate website did its job the way an old skiff does: it floated, it got you there, and nobody would call it pretty. This fall I hauled it out, scraped it down, and gave it a proper refit. The new site is at nanepashemet.com, and I hope you'll take it for a spin.

Why bother? Because the way people look at houses has changed. Most of you start on your phone, late at night, scrolling. I wanted a place where you can do that without wading through clutter, and where you can reach a real person when you're ready.

Here's what's aboard:

Home search. You can search homes for sale in all 29 North Shore towns I cover. Save a search and let the site do the watching for you.

New Listings Today. Every day there's a fresh page showing what just came on the market across those 29 towns. It's the same list I point to in my daily listings posts, and it's a good one to bookmark: New Listings Today.

Sell Your Home. If you're thinking about selling, this page lays out how I work: honest pricing, getting the house ready without overspending, and staying with you through closing.

Two new pages for sellers. The free Seller Checklist walks you through what to fix, clean, gather and decide before the sign goes up. And if you're wondering what your place would bring in today's market, fill out a Home Value Request and I'll get back to you with a real number from a real local broker, not a computer guess.

Renovations. I'm a licensed Massachusetts Construction Supervisor and a boatbuilder, so I spend a lot of time thinking about how things are put together. That helps whether you're buying a house that needs work or fixing one up to sell.

About and Contact. A bit about me, about Marblehead, and about the name. The business is named for Nanepashemet, the sachem who led the people of this coast long before any of us showed up. I try to keep that respect for the place in how I do business.

A website is no substitute for a conversation, though. If you have a question about a house, a neighborhood, or a project, call or text me at 781-727-6516 or email jnestor@nanepashemet.com. I'm around 7 days a week.

Take a look, poke around, and tell me what you think. If something's broken, tell me that too. I'd rather hear it from you.

MOAM Out.

—
John Nestor, Broker – Nanepashemet Real Estate Services · MA Broker License #136995-RE-B · MA Construction Supervisor #CS-047636

TDS Watch: Mark Ruffalo vows to 'Hulk out' and make a lame duck a lame duck

Pour yourself a Dunkin', folks….. The Incredible Hulk went to a rally in New York City Sunday night, predicted his side would win the midterms in a landslide, predicted the other side would steal it anyway, and then promised to turn green about it. All in one speech. That's a busy night, even for an Avenger.

What was said

On Sunday night, October 4, 2026, actor Mark Ruffalo spoke at Indivisible's “Hands Off Our Vote” livestream from New York City (the program started about 7:05 PM ET). Here's what he said about the President, about 41 minutes in:

“We gotta get this dumba**, fool a**, tired a**, lame a**, duck a** out of office. We got to make him a lame duck. We have to stop his policies now.”

When somebody in the crowd yelled “You tell 'em, Hulk!” (as Variety reported), he answered:

“I'm gonna Hulk out.”

Earlier in the same speech, about 37 minutes in, he laid out the game plan:

“And we all know that we're gonna kick their a**es. But we all know they're gonna steal it.”

(The asterisks are ours. Mr. Ruffalo spelled it all out.)

Coverage: Variety, “Mark Ruffalo Tells Trump ‘Hands Off Our F—ing Vote’ or ‘I'm Gonna Hulk Out’” (Oct 5, 2026) and Fox News, “Mark Ruffalo threatens to ‘hulk out’ at Trump, GOP over voting rights at NYC event” (Oct 5, 2026).

Context (not spin)

First, the lame duck business. President Trump is in his second term, and the 22nd Amendment says that's the last one. In plain English, he's already a lame duck. Has been since Inauguration Day. To be fair to Mr. Ruffalo, what he really means is flip Congress in November so the President's agenda stalls. That's a perfectly normal thing to want in a midterm year. The party out of power has run on exactly that in midterm after midterm. But “we got to make him a lame duck” is a little like a Marblehead lobsterman vowing to make the ocean wet.

Second, the steal. In the same breath, he said his side is going to win big and the other side is going to steal it. Both before a single ballot is counted. For about six years now, the country has been told that saying an election will be stolen, without evidence, is a threat to democracy itself. It seems that rule has a Hollywood exemption, or at least a pre-game one.

Third, the venue. This was a get-out-the-vote rally. Mr. Ruffalo told the crowd to sign up and volunteer as election protectors, and that's fine. Volunteering at the polls is as American as a church supper. But it's hard to fire people up to vote while telling them the result is already rigged. You can't have it both ways.

The White House didn't let it go. Spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital that Ruffalo has a “severe and incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.” That's their diagnosis. The MOAM makes his own below.

MOAM's diagnosis

Severity: ACUTE.

This is commentary, so here's the MOAM's opinion. Mark Ruffalo is a fine actor. Around here we remember him as Mike Rezendes, the Boston Globe reporter in Spotlight. That's a movie about checking your facts before you go to print. On Sunday night the same fella stood at a podium, swapped the argument for five flavors of “a**,” promised to make a term-limited president term-limited, called the election stolen before it happened, and threatened to turn into a cartoon. That's not a case. That's a condition. It's the one where the President is such a big emotion that the words stop needing to make sense, as long as they're loud.

Not terminal. Nobody compared anybody to Hitler, and he did tell people to go vote. But when the most coherent part of your speech is “I'm gonna Hulk out,” the patient needs rest, fluids, and maybe a civics book with the 22nd Amendment dog-eared.

Mr. Ruffalo, come on up to the North Shore some time. We'll buy you a coffee and a cruller and show you how a midterm works. No green paint required.

MOAM Out.

Woodworking Tip of the Day: Tuning a Card Scraper

This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. a ten-dollar rectangle of steel that will out-smooth your random-orbit sander on curly mahogany. That is, if you sharpen it right. Most folks crank a big fat hook on it, get a cloud of dust, decide scrapers are overrated and hang it back on the wall. Here's how to tune a card scraper so it peels shavings off like a good smoothing plane.

Why it matters: A scraper takes tearout out of wild grain that no plane will touch, and it leaves no sanding scratches to show up under varnish later. On a boat that's half the brightwork. WoodenBoat's varnishing guide suggests a cabinet scraper for smoothing big bare-wood surfaces like transoms and cabinsides before the sealer coat, and says to scrape a sag out of a cured buildup coat before you sand. Mahogany and white oak trim with interlocked or reversing grain are exactly where a plane tears out and a scraper doesn't. And it's the best tool going for cured epoxy squeeze-out, drips and runs on a hull. Gougeon's people point out that scraping epoxy, especially green epoxy, keeps it from going airborne the way sanding dust does. The catch is that a scraper is only as good as its hook, and the hook is only as good as the square, polished edge under it.

Materials

• A card scraper. Common stock runs from .016″ to .042″ thick (0.4 to 1 mm). Lee Valley sells .016″ and .024″ for fine finishing and .032″ and .042″ for heavier work and paint. Lie-Nielsen's pair is .020″ (supple, good for short, complex surfaces) and .032″ (stiffer, takes a heavier cut on bigger surfaces). If you only own one, make it something in the .020″ to .032″ range.
• A few drops of light oil for burnishing. Lee Valley's instructions note that a fingertip rubbed behind your ear carries just about the right amount.
• A permanent marker
• A hardwood scrap 1¾″ × 1¾″ × 8″ for a filing block
• Duct tape or fine-line painter's tape, for the epoxy-drip trick below

Tools

• A 10″ single-cut mill file. Bob Van Dyke uses a mill bastard. Christopher Schwarz prefers a finer second-cut or smooth file because a coarse one leaves deep scratches in soft scraper steel.
• Sharpening stones or plates: a 1000 waterstone plus a 4000 to 8000 polishing stone, diamond plates, or wet-or-dry paper on glass from 180 or 320 up to 600
• A burnisher: a hardened, polished steel or carbide rod. Ron Hock (quoted by Schwarz) puts burnishers around Rc 58 to 60. Plain spring-steel scrapers run about Rc 38 to 42 and the premium ones Rc 48 to 53 (Lie-Nielsen's are 49 to 51), so the burnisher always wins. Paul Sellers gets by fine with the back of a chisel or a nail set. If freehand angles give you fits, the Veritas Variable Burnisher dials in anything from 0° to 15°.
• A bench vise
• A flat refrigerator magnet. Matthew Teague sticks one on the scraper as a thumb heat shield, and on a long session your thumbs will thank you.

Steps

1. Make a filing block. This one's Brian Boggs's idea, via Fine Woodworking's Michael Pekovich. Bandsaw a 7″ kerf down the length of that 1¾″ × 8″ hardwood block. Slip the scraper in so its edge stands barely proud of the wood (no more than 1/64″) and clamp the block in the vise. Now the file rides the block and can't go out of square.
2. Joint the edge square. Color the edge with marker. Lay the single-cut mill file flat across the block and take long, full-length push strokes. Files cut on the push. On a used scraper the file will skate over the work-hardened steel at first. Keep going until it cuts steadily and the ink is gone. Do both long edges.
3. Hone the faces and the edge. Faces first. You only need the first ½″ or so next to the edge, not the whole card. Go from a 1000 stone to a 4000 to 8000, or from 180 or 320 paper up to 600. Then hone the edge with the scraper held square against a wood block standing on the stone. Move the scraper, not the block, and wander over the whole stone so you don't wear a groove in it. Alternate face and edge until the filing burr is gone and the corner is crisp and polished. Don't mistake that filing burr for a hook. It'll cut, but it leaves a rough surface and dulls fast.
4. Draw the faces. Lay the scraper flat near the edge of the bench and put a drop of oil on it. Hold the burnisher flat on the face, or tipped a degree or two toward the edge, and take firm strokes along the full length, with the burnisher skewed a bit. Schwarz uses five or six strokes. Paul Sellers bears down hard and takes 20 or 30. Do both faces at each edge. This work-hardens the steel and draws a hair of it out past the edge, so the hook turns easily.
5. Turn the hook. Clamp the scraper upright. Lee Valley leaves about 1½″ above the jaws, and Sellers sets it about ⅛″ above his holder block. Lay the burnisher across the edge, square to the faces, then tip it a few degrees. About 5° is a good place to start, and the sources are all over the map here. Tage Frid held his at 85° to the face, which is 5°. Van Dyke goes 3° to 4°, Pekovich just 1° to 2°, and Teague says anything from 1° to 15° works. Lee Valley says most scraping falls in the 3° to 10° range. Schwarz tried 5°, 7°, 10° and 15° hooks side by side and got excellent shavings from all of them. Take two or three light strokes. Tage Frid put it at about 4 oz of pressure, and Schwarz calls it the pressure you'd use to spread butter on bread. Then tip the burnisher the other way for the second corner. A good hook feels like a tiny lip your fingernail can almost catch.
6. Hold it, flex it, lean it. Fingers on the short ends, thumbs together in the middle of the back about ½″ above the edge, and push just enough to put a slight bow in it. More bow gives a narrower, deeper cut. Lean the top forward in the direction of the push. Schwarz works between about 60° and 65° to the surface. Teague starts beginners around 60° and adjusts until the hook bites. Tage Frid started vertical and tipped it until it bit, at about 70°. The lower your hook angle, the more upright you can stand the scraper. Push to chase tearout. Pull, with your fingertips behind the edge, to flatten the slight dish a push stroke leaves. Feather your work out around a bad spot so you don't scoop a divot that shows under varnish.
7. Read the chips. Fluffy, curly shavings mean you're sharp. Dust means you're not. Change your angle first, then check that the hook is still there. Van Dyke figures five to ten minutes of steady scraping before the shavings fall off. Don't push on into dust, because scraping dull rounds over the jointed edge and leaves you nothing to turn a new hook from.
8. Re-turn it before you refile. When the shavings quit, re-draw the faces and re-turn the hook. No filing. Lie-Nielsen says you can usually do that a few times. Teague gets four to six burnishings, and Van Dyke and Tage Frid five or six, before the steel gets work-hardened and brittle. Pekovich says the hook actually lasts longer the second and third time. When it won't take a clean hook anymore, back to the file and start over.

MOAM's shop note: The common mistake is too much pressure and too much angle. You get a big, fragile hook that's hard to control, and Pekovich warns that heavy burnishing can crimp the steel so badly you have to file it off and start over. Go light and stop as soon as you can feel the hook. Pro trick for the boat shop, from Gougeon's Tom Pawlak at Epoxyworks: for a cured epoxy drip about ½″ wide, tape off the scraper's edge everywhere but the center inch. Lean it forward and push along the drip with the blade square to it. Each pass peels a ribbon, and the tape stops the cut right at the fair surface, leaving the drip only a few thousandths proud. Knock that down with a small hard block and wet-or-dry paper. No sanding swirls on your topsides and no epoxy dust in the air. Here in Marblehead we call that a fair trade.

Sources: Bob Van Dyke, "Learn a fast, reliable way to sharpen a card scraper," Matthew Teague, "Mastering the card scraper," and Michael Pekovich, "The right way to sharpen your scraper" (Fine Woodworking); Tage Frid, "The Scraper" (Fine Woodworking #6); Christopher Schwarz, "A Better Way to Sharpen Scrapers" (Popular Woodworking); Lie-Nielsen Toolworks hand scraper instructions; Lee Valley/Veritas Variable Burnisher instructions and scraper specs; Paul Sellers; Tom Pawlak, "Scrapers: Versatile Tools for Working with Epoxy" (Epoxyworks/WEST SYSTEM); Matthew P. Murphy, "Varnishing Basics" (WoodenBoat); Chesapeake Light Craft, "Cabinet Scrapers for Boatbuilding."

MOAM Out.

New Real Estate Listings on the North Shore Today – Monday, October 5

New Listings Today – North Shore 29 Towns

This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. 12 new listings popped up across John's 29 North Shore towns in the last 24 hours.

Top towns: Salem leads with 3, Peabody adds 2, and Amesbury, Beverly, Ipswich, Lynnfield, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Marblehead and Saugus each added 1. That's 9 of the 29 towns with something fresh to start the week.

By property type: Residential 7 · Residential Lease (rentals) 4 · Commercial Lease 1.

The MOAM's take: the new inventory is spread out this Monday, with more than half of it homes for sale and no single town hogging the list. Even with mortgage rates climbing, sellers are still listing.

Contact Nanepashemet to view these.
Nanepashemet Real Estate Services
Call or text 781-727-6516
jnestor@nanepashemet.com

MOAM Out.

Listing data courtesy of MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN); listings shown are held by various brokerages. Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, MA Broker Lic. 136995-RE-B.

30-Year Rate Hits 7.28% — Highest Since Late 2023: North Shore Real Estate Weekly (Oct. 5)

This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. the 30-year mortgage rate just jumped to 7.28% — the highest Freddie Mac weekly average since late November 2023. Here's this week's short video with the real numbers for Marblehead and Lynn, plus one practical tip from a guy who sells houses and builds things. No hype, no made-up stats. If I can't source a number, you won't see it.

This week's numbers

Mortgage rates (Freddie Mac PMMS®, U.S. weekly averages as of Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026)

• 30-year fixed: 7.28%, up from 7.03% the week before. A year ago it was 6.34%.
• 15-year fixed: 6.60%, up from 6.42%. A year ago it was 5.55%.

That's a 25-basis-point jump in one week — and the highest 30-year PMMS reading since November 22, 2023 (when it was 7.29%), per Freddie Mac's historical CSV.

Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey · PMMS history CSV

A quick reality check: on a $600,000 30-year loan, principal and interest runs about $3,729 a month at 6.34% and about $4,105 at 7.28%. That's roughly $376 more a month than a year ago, before taxes and insurance. (That's my own arithmetic at the Freddie Mac average rates. Your actual rate depends on your lender and your loan.) If you're buying, get pre-approved with a lender you trust and ask about rate locks before you start falling in love with houses.

Marblehead, single-family, August 2026 (Massachusetts Association of REALTORS®) (September 2026 town reports were not posted yet as of Oct. 1 — we'll update when MAR publishes them.)

• Closed sales: 13 (down 27.8% from August 2025) — small sample; one month can look extreme
• Median sale price: $998,000, up 0.6% from August 2025
• Homes for sale: 20 (down from 28 a year ago)
• Months of supply: 1.5. Anything under about six months favors sellers, and we're nowhere near it.
• Cumulative days on market: 31

Source: MAR Local Market Update, Marblehead, August 2026 (MLS PIN data, provided by MAR)

Lynn, single-family, August 2026 (MAR) — this week's rotating town spotlight

• Closed sales: 41 (down 8.9% from August 2025)
• Median sale price: $600,000, flat year over year
• Homes for sale: 60 (up slightly from 58)
• Months of supply: 2.0
• Cumulative days on market: 36

Source: MAR Local Market Update, Lynn, August 2026

So what does it mean? Marblehead is still a tight little town with barely a month and a half of supply. Lynn has a bit more inventory and a flatter price — still a seller's market by the textbook months-of-supply rule, but more choices than Marblehead. Rates at 7.28% will cool some buyers; the ones who can still buy will keep hunting the scarce Marblehead inventory.

The broker-who-builds tip: pre-listing repairs that pay back vs. ones to skip

Listing soon? Spend money where buyers and inspectors actually notice — not where you're decorating for yourself.

Usually worth it before you list:

1. Fresh paint in a neutral color. Cheap, fast, and it photographs.
2. Lighting that works and looks bright. Swap burned-out bulbs; fix flickering fixtures.
3. Leaky faucets, running toilets, sticky doors and cracked glass. Small fixes signal a cared-for house.
4. A dry, decluttered basement. Buyers walk downstairs looking for water stains and storage. Give them neither drama nor clutter.

Usually skip (or do lightly) before listing:

1. A full kitchen or bath remodel. Buyers often want their own finishes, and you rarely get dollar-for-dollar back at closing if you just finished a gut job.
2. Big landscaping projects. A tidy yard and a mowed lawn yes; a six-figure hardscape no — not for a sale timeline.

This tip is general information, not a substitute for a professional home inspection — and it doesn't replace advice from your listing agent on what your specific house needs. If you're planning renovation work before a sale, I hold MA Construction Supervisor License CS-047636 and can talk through what pays back on the North Shore stock we actually have around here.

Buying, selling, or fixing up?

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Or call or text me at 781-727-6516. I'm available seven days a week.

New episode every week. Tell me what you want me to dig into next.

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John Nestor, Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, MA Broker Lic. #136995-RE-B · 328 West Shore Drive, Marblehead, MA 01945 · 781-727-6516 · nanepashemet.com. Renovations: John Nestor, MA Construction Supervisor License CS-047636. Equal Housing Opportunity.

MOAM Out.

Boston Sports Morning Report — Monday, Oct. 5

Not for nuthin'…. But….. the Patriots just went into Orchard Park and handed Buffalo its first loss of the year. Monday coffee tastes a little better this morning.

Short version: Pats rallied past the Bills 29–26 and are back to .500 at 2-2. Bruins host Ottawa tonight at 7:30, sitting 2-1-0 atop the Atlantic. Red Sox season is done. Celtics tip off preseason Thursday in Cleveland.

New England Patriots

• Yesterday: W 29–26 @ Buffalo Bills
• Today: No game
• Next: Sun, Oct. 11 — 1:00 PM ET — vs Las Vegas Raiders (home, CBS)
• Standings: 2-2 · 2nd in AFC East · Buffalo 3-1 leads · Jets 1-3 · Dolphins 0-4

Drake Maye threw three touchdowns, Efton Chism hauled in a one-handed 23-yarder with 1:50 left, and Craig Woodson picked off Josh Allen to close it out. That's the bounce-back we were waiting for after Jacksonville. Raiders come to Foxborough next Sunday.

Boston Red Sox

• Yesterday / Today: No games — season over
• Next: Offseason
• Final standings: 87-75 · 3rd in AL East · Eliminated in AL Wild Card by the Yankees

Hot stove season. We'll keep an eye on the winter moves.

Boston Celtics

• Yesterday / Today: No games
• Next (preseason): Thu, Oct. 8 — 7:00 PM ET — @ Cleveland Cavaliers
• Then (preseason): Sat, Oct. 10 — 8:00 PM ET — vs Philadelphia 76ers (home)
• Regular-season opener: Tue, Oct. 20 — 3:00 PM ET — @ Detroit Pistons (as listed by ESPN)
• Status: Preseason · 2026-27 season not started

Three more sleeps until we see the green on the floor again.

Boston Bruins

• Yesterday: No game
• Today: Mon, Oct. 5 — 7:30 PM ET — vs Ottawa Senators (home)
• Next: Thu, Oct. 8 — 7:00 PM ET — vs Utah Mammoth (home)
• Standings: 2-1-0 · 1st in Atlantic · 4 points (Florida also at 4)

After Saturday's loss in Minnesota, it's home ice on Causeway tonight. Good chance to get back in the win column against Ottawa.

That's the Monday board, folks. Pats win in Buffalo, B's at home tonight. Not a bad way to start the week.

MOAM Out.

Making a canoe the old way

As a boatbuilder, the scene I most wanted to get right was a man making a canoe the old way. You burn a log hollow, scrape out the char with a clamshell, and burn it again. English writers of the 1600s described the method, and I leaned on them.

In the book, Wenepoykin's first memory is his father's canoe coming around the ledges of the Great Neck. Years later, in a hungry winter, he makes one alone and launches it off those same rocks to catch cod for his people.

Every time I walk out there now, I think about it.

The Wing is on Amazon now, paperback and Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HL8VP2JM

New England This Morning — October 5, 2026

Not for nuthin'…. But….. Monday came in grey and quiet. Marblehead Harbor is glassy under low cloud, Mount Washington is buried in fog and rain, and the Vermont covered bridge cam sat this one out.

Marblehead Harbor (BYC Oceanfront) — A soft, overcast start with flat calm water and a harbor still full of moorings. The dinghies are lined up at the Boston Yacht Club float and nobody's in a hurry.

Mount Washington North View — Nothing to see but white. The summit is socked in with fog and rain beading on the lens (cam stamp 7:44 AM). The forecast up top calls for rain and snow showers, temperatures falling into the low 30s, and west winds gusting as high as 85 mph today, possibly 120 mph tonight.

Great Eddy Covered Bridge, Waitsfield — The Mad River Valley stream wasn't reachable from here this morning, so Vermont gets a day off. We'll try again tomorrow.

Down on the coast it should brighten up nicely, with sun and a high in the mid 60s, but it'll be breezy, with gusts in the 20s.

Webcam views courtesy of the Boston Yacht Club, the Mount Washington Observatory, and Mad River Valley Television.

MOAM Out.