I’M JUST CURIOUS: “Bless your heart”

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by Debbie Walker

I decided to have some fun tonight. I get curious about “sayings”. I am going to share some southern sayings. When I moved to Florida one of my treats was hearing these sayings. How about:

My favorite is: In the south you can say anything about anybody as long as you follow it with “bless his heart”. “That is the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen, bless his heart.” “She needs to do something with that hair, bless her heart.” Following an elder on the highway driving 30 miles an hour you can cuss and then just cover it with “Bless his/her heart.

“Do you know the difference between a conniption fit and a hissy fit?” None. Just pray you are not the one who caused it!

“I brought you into this world and I can take you out and make another one just like you!”

“Over yonder a piece” is not very far but “Way over yonder” is a far piece.

“A truth comes naked, a lie has to wear it’s pants.”

Southern babies know that “Gimme some sugar” is not a request for the white granulated sweet substance on the table.

A southerner knows that “fixin” is used instead of “getting ready to” any particular thing. A southerner is “fixin’ to do something.”

When a southern mama says, “Don’t ugly your sister” it has nothing to do with physical appearance.

Southern mamas are good at “slap” threatening. “I’ll slap your face off”. Or “I’ll slap you so far down in your shoes you can’t see daylight” or “I’ll slap a knot on your head.”

“If his lips are movin’, he’s lyin!” One lady I know used to say about her brother, “If he has a choice between standing flat footed on the ground or climbing that big pine tree and lying, he’ll climb that tree every time!”

“If that boy had an idea, it would die of loneliness”.

“He’s so dumb; he could throw himself on the ground and miss”!

“Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit”!

“Keep it up and I’ll cancel your birth certificate!”

“He fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down”.

“I’m so hungry my belly thinks my throats been cut.”

“Well, aren’t you precious”.

Oh yeah, this is a favorite of mine. I found out when I moved south that the south was still fighting the Civil War! I had never heard the term YANKEE as much as when I moved down here. They let me know that there was a Yankee and a damn Yankee. A Yankee was a northerner visiting the south. I was a Damn Yankee because I moved here!

I’m just curious if there are Northern “sayins” to compete with these. Contact me at DebbieWalker@townline.org and “Bless your heart” for reading once again.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Soundmaps Extended Realities

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Valeria Zorina

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Soundmaps Extended Realities

Valeria Zorina, violin and Evgeny Sinaiski, piano
Oehms Classics OC 492, CD, recorded May 1-5, 2019, in Madrid, Spain.

Although she has not yet set foot in the United States, Moldavian violinist Valeria Zorina has concertized extensively in England and Europe to tremendous and deserved acclaim. The late violinist Sir Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) mentored Valeria during her earlier years while Sir Colin Davis (1927-2013) and Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007) are among the conductors who have collaborated with her in concert. Since 2015, she has taught at a conservatory in Madrid, Spain.

Just released in early July, Valeria’s CD, Soundmaps Extended Realities, is a collaboration with Russian pianist Evgeny Sinaiski in which she takes a different approach from the usual recital.

Valeria Zorina has chosen six composers whose pieces have gone beyond the usual tuning of a violin at E, A, D, and G to achieve what is called scordatura, itself defined in the Harvard Dictionary of Music as “Abnormal tuning of a stringed instrument in order to obtain unusual chords, facilitate difficult passages, or change the tone color.” Having an unusually brilliant level of technique and musicality, she has tuned her instrument to the specific dimensions of each work and achieved very inspired results.

The six composers are Eugene Ysaye (1858-1931), Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704), Louis Franz Aguirre (born 1968), Franz von Vecsey (1893-1935), Giacomo Platini (born 1967), and Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921).

Belgian violinist/ composer/ conductor Ysaye is represented by his Poeme Elegiaque, a very passionate 14 minute piece for violin and piano that has a certain sadness in keeping with its elegiac quality of remembrance of a departed loved one.

Ysaye was taught by the violinist/composers Henri Vieuxtemps (1820-1881) and Henryk Wienawski (1835-1880) whose own Concertos personify the 19th century romantic virtuoso tradition, both of them tremendously captivated by Ysaye’s ability to draw sounds out of the violin that nobody else could.

Ysaye recorded several discs during the acoustic era as a violinist and as Music Director of the Cincinatti Symphony and several can be heard on youtube.

The German baroque composer Biber is represented by the 9th Rosary Sonata known as the Carrying of the Cross and a piece combining sublime spiritual beauty with fascinating sororities in its tunings.

The Cuban composer/conductor Aguirre’s Four Nocturnes With Masks, from 2017, are four minutes in duration. They consist of Winter, Dies Irae, Adoration and Dust of Snow and each Nocturne is a tribute to another composer – Gyorgy Kurtag, Manuel de Falla, Olivier Messiaen and Morton Feldman.

They powerfully and poetically evoke a stark middle of the night atmosphere of spooks going bump in the night and convey why Aguirre is not only a major figure in his native country but also in Europe.

Vecsey’s Nuit du Nord is a gem of extraordinarily poignant beauty and one I have shared often with several friends to the house. Vecsey studied with Joseph Joachim who was a very close friend of Johannes Brahms. Recordings of his playing can be heard on YouTube also.

The Italian composer Platini provided his Four Souvenirs, from 2018, and another example of the combination of bleakness and beauty in music of the 21st century, although with a quieter, more subtle range of dynamics than those of Aguirre .

Saint-Saens arguably most well-known piece Danse Macabre has the kind of tuning that tellingly contributed to its diabolical quality in which Death plays his fiddle at midnight on Halloween and calls all the skeletons from their graves to dance all night until the rooster gives his dawn cocka-doodle-doo wakeup call.

This CD has sustained several hearings and comes with an A-plus recommendation.

PT Coffin’s Kennebec Crystals continued…

Next paragraph from Robert PT Coffin’s Kennebec Crystals, an essay on the harvesting of ice from the Kennebec River:

“Then the field of the harvest was marked off for the game of wealth to be played there. Men walked with gougers tracing the line their narrow plows made straight as a die across the river. After them came the horse-drawn gougers cutting a deeper double furrow. Another army of men took up the game at right angles to the others, crisscrossing the wide fields. And then the sawyers came, slow with their loads of shoulder muscle and woolen shirts. They set in their saws and began the cutting of the gigantic checkers from the checkerboard on the hard Kennebec. The men stood to their work with both hands on the handles each side of their long tools, going down, coming back, fifty men keeping time as they ate into the stuff that meant their life, bed, and board, and fodder for their cattle. It was a sight to see the gates – ajar mustaches swinging like pendulums, gold and dark, and the breath in them changing to icicles as they worked. Every so often the picks spoke, and the sawed lines lengthened ahead of the sawyers. Noon saw a dozen checkerboards marked out on the river. One notable fact about the tools of the ice industry on the Kennebec is this: they were the only tools that were good enough to remain unchanged from the beginning of the industry to the end of it.”

To be continued…

FINANCIAL FOCUS – 529 Plan: not just for college

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by Sasha Fitzpatrick

If you’ve heard of 529 plans, you might think they can only be used to help pay for college. And you wouldn’t be alone: Less than one-third of adults properly identified that a 529 plan can be used for more than just higher education, according to a survey by Morning Consult and Edward Jones. But what are these other expenses?

Before we get to them, let’s review the main benefits of 529 plans. Contribution limits are high and earnings can grow tax-free if withdrawals are used for qualified education expenses such as tuition and room and board. (Withdrawals for nonqualified distributions are subject to taxes and a 10 percent penalty on the earnings portion.) Plus, as the account owner, you maintain control of the plan, so you can switch beneficiaries to another qualified family member, if necessary.

Now, let’s consider the other uses of 529 plans, which have been made possible by various pieces of legislation over the past few years:

Student loan repayments – The average amount of student loan debt per borrower is well over $32,000, according to the Federal Reserve. So, many people welcomed the news that 529 plans could be used to repay student loans. There’s an aggregate lifetime limit of $10,000 in qualified student loan repayments per 529 plan beneficiary, plus $10,000 for each of the beneficiary’s siblings. Being able to use 529 plans to repay student loans gives you some flexibility if your family members have excess balances in their accounts.

K-12 expenses – A 529 plan can now be used to pay up to $10,000 per year in tuition expenses at private, public and religious elementary and secondary schools. This amount is per student, not per account. However, not all states allow 529 plans to be used for K-12 expenses – or to be technical, some states consider K-12 tuition to be a nonqualified 529 plan expense, which means the earnings portion of a 529 plan is subject to state income taxes and possibly a “recapture” of other state income tax breaks connected with 529 plan withdrawals. So, make sure you understand your state’s rules on K-12 expenses before taking money out of your 529 plan.

Apprenticeships – Not every child wants or needs to attend a college or university. And now, 529 funds can be used to pay for apprenticeship programs registered with the U.S. Department of Labor. These types of programs, which combine on-the-job training with classroom instruction, are offered at community colleges and trade schools. Once students complete their apprenticeships, they often go on to well-paying careers in a variety of fields. And since these types of programs are typically far less expensive than a four-year college degree, a 529 plan can have a particularly long reach.

The tax treatment of 529 plans for all these expenses can vary from state to state, so, if you move to another state after you’ve established your plan, you’ll want to know the rules. Even if you don’t move, it’s still a good idea to consult with your tax advisor about how 529 plan withdrawals will be treated.

Nonetheless, a 529 plan could be valuable to you in many ways. Consider how you might want to put it to work for you and your family.

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. Edward Jones. Member SIPC.

Submitted by Sasha Fitzpatrick

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Turtles are laying their eggs: please use caution when approaching

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Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

“It’s that time of year, again.” Probably one of the most over used phrases in the English language, and one that I loathe to hear. Why? Because when you come right down to it, everyday is that time of year for something. Anyway, here we go.

It’s that time of the year again when snapping turtles appear everywhere to lay their eggs. Just this past week I have seen at least a half dozen snappers on the side of the road; saw one person stop to help it across the road, and I myself have done it once on the Nelson Road, in Vassalboro.

And, two concientious young citizens, Bella and Sophie Lefferts, have created and placed signs along a stretch of Village Street, in South China, proclaiming, “Take it Slow, Turtles Crossing.”

Snapping turtles, Chelydra s. serpentina, range across the eastern United States to the Rocky Mountains, from southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and into Central America.

common snapping turtle

The snapping turtle can be easily recognized by its dark upper shell with a deeply serrated back margin, and a small bottom shell that does not completely cover all of the animal’s flesh. The upper shell can measure between 8 – 12 inches in length on average in adults, and it can weigh between 10-35 pounds. These turtles have long tails, often measuring as long or longer than the shell, and is covered with bony plates. They also have a large head, long neck, and a sharp, hooked upper jaw. This hard beak has a rough cutting edge that is used for tearing food.

Once turtles mature and their shell hardens, they are virtually predator-free.

If you see a snapping turtle crossing the road, and decide to help it out, always make sure you relocate it on the side of the road in which it was headed. If not, it will only try to cross the road again. It’s obviously headed in a direction that is important to it. Always use caution when picking one up. Place your thumbs in the center of the upper shell, and the rest of your hand on its stomach. Be careful not to make contact with its mouth. It could be painfully uncomfortable if it were to bite you.

Never use a broom or shovel to help it along, as you could injure the turtle.

The female turtle will lay eggs in sandy, soft soil between April and November, depending on its location. In our area, they usually lay their eggs in May and June. That is why the shoulder of a road looks inviting to them. Be on the lookout, and try to avoid the nest. The female will generally lay between 10 and 50 eggs, and they take three to four months to hatch. Interestingly, eggs incubated at 68 degrees will produce only females; eggs maintained at 70-72 degrees will produce both male and female and those incubated at 73-75 degrees produce only males.

The female will dig a nest, lay the eggs, using her back feet to position them, and then bury the clutch. That makes the nest extremely vulnerable, and is usually a target for raccoons who consider the turtle eggs a delicacy. Skunks, crows, dogs and other mammals are also culprits. It is estimated that up to 90 percent of the nests are destroyed by predators. Countless turtles are also killed or injured on roads during their terrestrial treks. Despite this high rate of mortality, snapping turtles are not endangered, although some states have placed a ban on harvesting them.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIF&W) has voted to outlaw the commercial harvest of snapping turtles. It was urged by then-Commissioner Lee Perry to support the ban, to ensure the sustainability of snappers, which don’t breed until 20 years of age in the north. “While I have no reason to believe that snapping turtles are threatened with extinction in Maine, there is reason to be concerned about the viability of the population,” he said.

Snapping turtles typically live until between 20 and 50 years of age in captivity, although records are poor as to the actual longevity of turtles in the wild. Some studies have indicated that snapping turtles can live well over 100 years.

However, turtles are not innocent victims. They may cause depredation at privately-owned ponds, fish farms, or waterfowl sanctuaries and control methods may be warranted. They will feed on plants, insects, spiders, worms, fish, frogs, small turtles, snakes, birds, crayfish, small mammals and carrion.

It’s important to be on the lookout for turtles this time of year. By driving defensively and keeping alert to conditions on the road, motorists should be able to avoid hitting a turtle.

Have you ever heard the riddle, “If a turtles leaves its shell, is it naked or homeless?”

Well, the answer is: it is not possible for a turtle to “lose” its shell. Their shell is part of them just as much as our skeleton is a part of us. The turtle is connected to its shell through its nerves, skin, ribs, and spinal cord.

I guess you learn something everyday.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

What do the “away” jerseys of the Boston Red Sox say on the front, Boston or Red Sox?

Answer can be found here.

SOLON & BEYOND: Uncle Jack’s Revenge, conclusion

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Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percyby Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

As I promised last week, this will be the conclusion to the story about Uncle Jack’s revenge that began in last week’s paper. The story ended with these words: “This must have been what angered the Great Spirit, because the next morning the white woman was found in a state of shock, the wigwarm burned to the ground and Uncle Jack was gone.

She recovered and told how a huge stone had been rolled from the side of the mountain near the Old Man’s face and a voice had said that the white people would all be driven out and that the valley would be destroyed by fire and water. The soil would never again bear fruit and grass for the white man, and Uncle Jack would roam the slopes of Bigelow Mountain for eternity, as his soul could never enter the happy hunting ground. The poor white woman packed up her business and moved away and Uncle Jack was never seen again in the flesh.

Once in awhile a bit of fog will take the shape of an Indian as it floats across the slopes of Bigelow before it dissolves in the morning sun, and some times the shadow of his canoe can be seen on Flagstaff Lake as he paddles into the sunrise.

In 1950 the entire valley from the foothills of Mt. Bigelow to the base of Blanchard Mountain was destroyed by fire and water. Every white person was driven away. Even the graves were opened and the dead were forced to continue their sleep in another place. All the top soil eroded away and never again will grass and fruit thrive in this once fruitful valley.

Uncle Jack was once again the ruler. His bad medicine had beaten the white man. In 1964 the Flagstaff Corporation bought 8,000 acres of the old Dead River Plantation and made plans for a new town, but Uncle Jack gave them bad medicine all the way.

In 1973 a new plan was made and everything was going well for a four season recreational area. But the spirit of Uncle Jack still hung over the valley.

Consider…..the negative decision by LURC could NOT have been promoted by the testimony against the development given the Sugarloaf Mountain Cooperation and the citizens of the Stratton-Eustis area that was motivated only by jealousy and greed, and get into Somerset County.

The members of LURC could certainly see through this type of thing and would never, never, use their power to support such personal and political reasons. Nor could LURC’s decision been based on the testimony of the Fish and Game Department, with information compiled in 1959, stating that the resort might ruin the hunting and fishing in the area, The hunting and fishing has been ruined for 15 years.

The officials of LURC are mature, well educated people; too smart to be impressed by the testimony of the Natural Resources Council, who are against everything as a matter of principal, and who acted like a group of greedy little boys talking to Santa Claus, and who kept running back time and again to ask for something they had forgotten the first time around.

It seems most likely that sometime when the Land Use Regulation Committee visited the mountain as a group, that the evil spirit of Uncle Jack entered their bodies through the through the holes in their heads and his bad medicine made the negative decision, just as he affected the legislature before they granted Central Maine Power Co. permission to destroy the valley.

I could tell much more about Mt. Bigelow, the Horns Pond and the white woman that seduced away the secret but I wouldn’t dare. I am like many others in the State of Maine. I am afraid of that Eternally Damned Indian that still rules the valley.

* * * * * *

I have been trying to find different kinds of stories in the many different papers I have written for over these many years. Hoping to please as many of you as possible. That was the longest one yet. Sorry it took two papers to get it all in, but hope you liked it. Have made many friends and some enemies in writing, I am well aware that you can’t please them all. And quite often someone will ask me, “Are you staying out of trouble”? It brought to mind, the one time I shed tears when some people ganged up on me and I walked out…….telling myself that, “It takes all kinds!”

And here is Percy’s memoir about Challenges: A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers consequences.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: They Saved A Baby’s Life — Here’s How You Could, Too

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(NAPSI)—If your family is like most, you’ve spent months preparing for the joys and challenges that arise with the arrival of a new baby—and if your family is like many, you’ve discovered not everything can be planned.

One Family’s Story

Consider the case of the McKennas: In July 2020, at six months pregnant with her second child, Erica McKenna and her husband Dan, received devastating news about their unborn daughter. Their baby was experiencing a condition called maternal alloimmunization. This condition can occur when a pregnant woman’s blood contains certain antibodies that attack the red blood cells of the fetus. This can cause the baby to become dangerously anemic.

Doctors told Erica if this condition was not treated, her baby would die. To stabilize and save her child’s life, Erica’s baby received five blood transfusions in utero starting at 24 weeks.

Just two months later, at eight months pregnant, Erica experienced worrying symptoms requiring immediate action. Within hours, she was in the hospital where she underwent an emergency C-section. Following delivery, her infant daughter was rushed to the NICU where another three blood transfusions were needed.
Nearly a year later, Erica and Dan’s daughter, Annie, is a thriving baby with a smile for everyone.

“You would never know she went through all of that,” said Erica. “We’re extremely lucky. We’re grateful for the people who donate blood and the amazing doctors who took care of us both.”

Arms Out For Annie

To give back, Erica and her family started Arms Out for Annie, a special blood donation campaign with a goal to recruit 100 donors to give blood in Annie’s name before her first birthday on September 26.

“Annie’s life was saved eight times,” said Erica, referring to the eight transfusions her daughter received before and after birth. “She wouldn’t be here without them. And I can’t imagine our lives without her.”

What You Can Do

Currently, there is an emergency need for lifesaving blood donations. As the nation confronts a severe blood shortage, due to a rise in hospital demand for blood, the American Red Cross urges those who are healthy and able to donate now.

The Red Cross is distributing more blood products to hospitals across the country compared to the same time last year. Over the past three months, the Red Cross sent 12% more blood products to hospitals each day for patients. Hospitals are responding to a higher number of traumas and emergency room visits and seeing patients who postponed medical care earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic.

All blood types are needed, particularly type O. With only about a day’s supply of type O blood, there is an emergency need for type O donors. Type O is the most needed blood group by hospitals. In most cases, those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine can donate.

How To Help

Healthy individuals are urged to schedule an appointment to give blood or platelets by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org or calling 1-800-RED-CROSS.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: The power of a simple “thank you”

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

Last week we received a Thank You card from the company who had just completed a roofing job at our house. It was not a large job as far as roofs go, just a couple of porch roofs that needed to be replaced. And once again as far as costs for putting on a new roof this was a not that expensive…relatively speaking.

The company did a good job, they worked fast, were efficient and cleaned everything up and took it away, all in one day, “easy peasy,” as some people like to say.

But then the Thank You card came in the mail. A real official Thank You card with the receipt for our payment enclosed.

Now some people would think that did not mean much…and I might have been one of them. But I was surprised at how much that one small gesture touched me. After all, this was a roofing company, not a car dealership or other such company where the sales team is trained to send out cards and notices, even birthday greetings, and yes, I do appreciate those “small touches”, but I have come to expect them.

Now to get this card, this small token of appreciation for my business, was truly touching. Not only personally but also professionally as a person who trains companies to make the extra effort to thank their customers.

That card showed me that someone was paying attention. That someone was actually thinking about the customers and working at finding ways to stand out in front of those customers. Someone in that company was making an effort, to look and act professionally.

Think about that for a minute. This was much more than just a card. This was an indicator that this company was focused on being better, on standing out on being memorable and yes, most of all hoping that someone, like me would not only notice, not only appreciate but would tell others about it.

And guess what? It worked because here I am telling you about it.

Always remember that even the small things, like sending out a receipt enclosed in a Thank You card will go a long way in making your business outstanding. And it is a great way to grow your business.

I’M JUST CURIOUS: 12 things to always remember

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by Debbie Walker

I believe I found this material on Facebook, a social website, and I really wanted to share it. I don’t know who the original author is but I liked the thought behind this. And, of course, I had to add a few of my own thoughts. Any thoughts or comments you have I would be glad to hear from you.

1. The past cannot be changed. If we were able to change the past, we would lose some of the lessons we needed. What we don’t think of is in our quest to redo the past we would also lose some of the things you weren’t considering.

2. Opinions don’t define your reality. I will listen to anyone’s opinion, if I agree then it is part of my reality already. If I don’t agree I just ignore it. We all make mistakes. From those mistakes we learn. These are what makes our realities.

3. Everyone’s journey is different. No one is in the exact same spot in their journey. Everyone’s journey is different, that’s what makes us who we are, makes us all special. We might be the same age, in the same income bracket and may even have similar goals in life. Fortunately, the way we accomplish it is what makes our journey different.

4. Things always get better with time. Most injuries get better with time, most illnesses get better with time, grief and losses get better with time. Usually even our children get better with time!

5. Judgments are a confession of character. You will only know the character of a person through three things. (a) When you live with that person. (b) When you do business/partnership/employer/employees/ or friends with that person. (c) Any reason to spend a lot of time together. Character says a lot about a person, and that character is being judged, often, before you meet someone.

6. Over thinking will lead to sadness. Overthinking is focused on the past, specially the bad things that have happened or unfortunate situations that a person wishes had gone differently. Sadly, it is not just something you can ‘shake off’. The sadness or depression usually requires a little help, not just wishing.

7. Happiness is found within. According to my dictionary, True Happiness is enjoying your own company and living in peace and harmony with your body, mind, and soul. It’s for being truly happy you neither need other people nor materialistic things. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. I think we look for other people to make us happy rather than doing it for yourself. Such as: My husband doesn’t have a clue what I would love for Christmas. My suggestion is to purchase a couple of your most wanted items, buy them and put them in his hands to wrap. I doubt he will be unhappy and you will get what you wanted without disappointment.

8. Positive thoughts create positive things. Explains itself.

9. Smiles are contagious. I believe in smiling, especially when I have eye contact with anyone, strangers, and all.

10. Kindness is free.

11. You only fail if you quit. Or…If you don’t try at all.

12. What goes around, comes around. A person’s actions or behavior will eventually have consequences for their behavior.

Contact me at DebbieWalker@townline.org Thanks for reading and have a great week.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Perry Mason

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Raymond Burr

by Peter Cates

Perry Mason
Season 4

Season 4 of Perry Mason had a particularly compelling episode, The Case of the Misguided Missile, which was first aired May 6, 1961. It dealt with a missile launch and provided some background footage at Vandenberg Air Force Base, in central California, and now renamed Vandenberg Space Force Base. The missile explodes in midair and the cause is a bolt that had been tampered with.

The story de­picted the tensions between the civilian scientists of the company which built the missile and the Air Force military that results in the murder of the lead investigator, a captain who has an abrasive personality combined with unimpeachable honesty. The plot has the usual several suspects, a defendant who has Perry Mason as his attorney and, given the circumstance, a court martial which is fascinating in its details of procedural and very careful weighing of the evidence.

Simon Oakland

Simon Oakland did an outstanding performance as the officer who is murdered. Interestingly, he started out as a concert violinist but then detoured into theater in New York City with success and then to Hollywood with a long list of movies and television programs to his credit. A notable appearance was his portrayal of the psychiatrist in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic Psycho.

The actor died of cancer on August 29, 1983, one day after his 68th birthday.

Fans of the movie West Side Story may remember Oakland as the formidable policeman Lt. Schrank.

P.T. Coffin’s Essay
Kennebec Crystals continued

Continuing with Robert PT Coffin’s essay Kennebec Crystals and its account of Maine’s most renowned winter industry before the invention of refrigerators:

“The men crowded into the river lodging houses of Hallowell and Gardiner, Pittston and Dresden. They unloaded and stowed their dunnage in their temporary homes for the next few weeks. They armed themselves with picks and gougers and saws. Each man had his favorite tool tucked under his quilted arm. They descended on the cold harvest floor with horses and sons in a great host.”

To be continued…

SCORES & OUTDOORS – Slugs: what are they good for in the realm of things?

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Slugs

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

Slugs! They have been raising havoc with my tomatoes, turnip green and even marigolds. Last year they were responsible for the complete destruction of my cucumber, green pepper and marigold plantings at camp. There seems to be no end to them. That raised the question: what are slugs, what are their usefulness and how do we get rid of them?

First of all, let’s find out a little bit about them.

Slug is a common non-scientific word, which is often applied to any gastropod mollusc, and the word “slug” is more frequently encountered as applied to air-breathing land species, including a few agricultural and horticultural pest species.

Land slugs, like all other slow-moving gastropods, undergo torsion (a 180-degree twisting of the internal organs) during development. Internally the anatomy of a slug clearly shows the effects of this rotation, but externally the bodies of slugs appear rather symmetrical.

The soft, slimy bodies of slugs are prone to dry up (desiccation), so land-living slugs are confined to moist environments and are forced to retreat to damp hiding places when the weather is dry.

Like other snails, a slug moves by rhythmic waves of muscular contraction on the underside of its foot. It simultaneously secretes a layer of mucus on which it travels, which helps prevent damage to the tissues of the foot.

Slugs produce two types of mucus: one which is thin and watery, and another which is thick and sticky. Both kinds of mucus are hygroscopic (absorb and retain moisture). The thin mucus is spread out from the center of the foot to the edges, whereas the thick mucus spreads out from front to back. They also produce thick mucus which coats the whole body of the animal.

Slugs’ bodies are made up mostly of water, and without a full-sized shell to retreat into, their soft tissues are prone to desiccation.

Slugs are hermaphrodites, having both female and male reproductive organs. After mating, the slugs lay around 30 eggs in a hole in the ground, or beneath the cover of objects such as fallen logs.

Mostly, slugs are harmless to humans and to their interests, except for a small number of species of slugs that are great pests of agriculture and horticulture. They feed on fruits and vegetables prior to harvest, making holes in the crop, which can make individual items unsuitable to sell for aesthetic reasons, and which can make the crop more susceptible to rot and disease.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but so far I haven’t mentioned any benefits to the ecosystem. Their only contribution seems to be the fact they eat dead leaves, fungus and decaying vegetable material. It has always been my belief that if you allowed those to decompose, they will turn to dirt. Why do the slugs have to eat them?

Frogs, toads, snakes, hedgehogs, salamanders, eastern box turtles and certain birds and beetles are slug predators. Birds include blackbirds, crows, ducks, jays, owls, robins, seagulls, starlings and thrushes. With the large number of crows we have around our camp, I can’t figure out why they haven’t wiped out the slug population.

I also have seen numerous frogs and toads in my garden which might be helping with the fact that the slugs have not attacked my tomatoes. Snakes, which are a no-no as far as I’m concerned are allowed to stay. However, those sightings have been few and far in between, partly due, I think, to the large number of raptors in the area.

So, as you can see, slugs are a pest, they are disgusting, and they serve very little purpose in our environs.

Here are a few general tips on how to deal with slugs:

  • Seedling protection: Protect your seedlings with 2-3 liter plastic soda bottles. Make sure no slugs are around the seedlings first. Cut the bottoms out of the bottles, sink them into the soil around the seedlings and remove the caps. You can reuse them over and over.
  • Mulch: Keep mulch pulled away from the base of your plants. Consider waiting to apply mulch until the soil temperatures have warmed to above 75°F.
  • Garden debris: Keep all decaying matter cleaned out of your garden beds. Clear all dead leaves and debris from the garden on a regular basis and put it in the compost pile which is best located in an area away from the garden.
  • Slug havens: The shaded areas beneath decks can be a slug arena. Keep them weed and litter free.
    You can also build barriers around your garden:
  • Use cedar, oak bark chips or gravel chips which will irritate and dehydrate them.
  • Try a barrier line or an overall sprinkle of powdered ginger.
  • Use wood ashes as a barrier around plants, however try not to let the plant come into contact with the ashes. The ashes act as a desiccant and dry up the slugs.
  • Spread well crushed eggshells around the plants. The calcium released from the eggshells is an extra benefit that “sweetens” the soil. The sharp edges of the shells will kill slugs.
  • Talcum powder works as a barrier but must be replenished after rainfall or watering.
    Finally, there is always the slug trap method:
  • Beer or yeast traps: A traditional trap that seems to work well is to place containers of beer or yeast and water at one inch above the ground level in the garden to entice and drown your prey. Empty traps as needed. For the yeast trap, use one package of yeast to 8 ounces of water.
  • Grape juice: A new rendition on the beer trap is to use grape juice. For some reason slugs really have a taste for this. Use just as you would in the beer method and buy the cheapest grape juice you can find.
  • Beer batter bait: Mix 2 tablespoons of flour with enough beer to make a thick batter. Put 1 teaspoon of this in a small paper cup and lay the cups on their sides around your plants. Slugs will flock to this, get snared in the flour and die. When the trap is full toss the whole thing in the compost pile.
  • Comfrey: This perennial is a preference of slugs and can be used as a trap. Comfrey is considered to be an invasive plant, however, it has so many uses for the garden and medicinally that it is worth having around. Comfrey has more protein in its leaves than any other vegetable, perhaps explaining its appeal to slugs.

I have comfrey around my garden at home and have had very little problems with slugs. So, I might just transplant some to the garden at camp.

Taking into consideration everything we have learned about slugs, the more I think about it, slugs remind me of college students: They suck up available resources, give very little in return, and they like to drink beer. They even prefer the same beers (a study conducted by students at Colorado State University concluded that the slug’s favorite beers are Budweiser products).

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Which two Red Sox players were known as the Gold Dust twins?

Answer can be found here.