WOODS HOLE – I was hot air ballooning with my instructor, Pops Loudley, when a belligerent flock of puffins began pecking our gasbag. Soon we were losing altitude over Barnstable Harbor, so Pops strapped an Army surplus parachute on my back and tossed me out of the basket.
I pulled the ripcord: out flew a can of beans and several back issues of Stars and Stripes, but eventually a dingy fabric emerged and I floated toward earth.
Below, I noticed that the aquaculture cages along the harbor s edge were arranged in block letters, spelling out the following message: Was guano ever big business in Woods Hole?