by Roland D. Hallee

It’s amazing how one day you are oblivious of certain things, and the next day. you learn how a small, previously obscure caterpillar is now raping the landscape along the southern Maine coastline, and moving swiftly into the central part of the state.

The browntail moth caterpillar falls into that category. It not only poses a health problem for trees and insects, but it can also make humans uncomfortable.

browntail moth caterpillar

Last fall, Maine Forest Service entomologist Charlene Donahue wanted to see just how much damage browntail moth caterpillars were causing by chomping on the leaves of hardwood trees and shrubs. So, she did an aerial survey.
“In September, when the little teenie weenie caterpillars that are about a twelfth of an inch long were feeding, and mapped over 11,000 acres of feeding damage,” she says.

That means when they mature, and reach a size of about two inches in length, they are going on a mission to defoliate everything in sight. Donahue says most browntail moths are centered in the Topsham, Brunswick and Bowdoinham areas of the state, but the infestation has expanded. It has now been reported in the central Maine area from Waterville-Winslow to Lewiston-Auburn and even further south to Kittery.

And while that’s bad news for trees like oaks and apples, it’s also bad news for people because the caterpillars shed hair that can cause poison ivy-like rashes and breathing problems if ingested.

“The hairs can last for a year or 2-3 years, so people — even if the browntail moth go away — they go and rake or work in the brush in a place that’s been infested in the past, you can still end up with a rash,” Donahue says.

The severity of this year’s infestation is prompting the town of Cumberland to consider spraying pesticide in an area of town most affected, Cumberland Foreside.

Apparently, this is something that happens every year and the Cumberland Town Council tries to be pro-active.

According to Council chairman Peter Bingham, “Cumberland has considered spraying in the past, but abandoned the plan after too many homeowners opted out. The town held a workshop recently to help determine whether to spray this time around.”

Donahue says using pesticides would provide relief for people in the area, but it won’t get rid of browntail moth entirely. They’re invasive, from Europe, and don’t have natural predators.

According to biologists, the caterpillar and moth have been around these parts for well over 100 years. See what I meant when I said it all of a sudden makes news.

The only thing that seems to slow down browntail moths is a fungal disease, which hasn’t been as prevalent in recent years.

Donahue says to avoid exposure, mow the lawn when it’s wet. Don’t hang laundry outside where it can pick up the caterpillar’s hairs. And wear long sleeves and pants if you’re in an infested area.

by Debbie Walker

Have you ever been involved in a conversation and realized you don’t really remember much of it?? It has happened to me. Sometimes I would be so engrossed in what my clients were saying…….at least that’s what I thought I was doing.

However, truthfully, I was hearing things they wanted and my head was actually in high gear trying to think of my answers to them.

I saw these words in something I was reading: “The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.” Oh yeah, the light bulb came on and I saw that I fit right in the category of non-listener.

All that time I was listening to the comments I could help out with, evidently, I wasn’t hearing the whole story, only parts.
We started our holiday season already with Thanksgiving, one of the “conversation” holidays, it’s over. The month of December generally hits us all with more family and/or friend’s parties, dinners, get togethers of all kinds. There will be people that we care about but only see on holidays, once every few years. There is so much we have missed in each other’s lives and without realizing it in our “conversations” we are busy coming up with things we want the other to know about us. Oops. We just missed most of what they were trying to tell us about them.

I also just realized that we use a form of selective hearing when we deal with children, spouses; maybe it’s because we think we know already where they are going with their conversations. I have learned with my little niece Haliegh that I need to be on my toes! That child is very smart, very conversational and if you’re smart you don’t want to miss it. The kids at the school where I am a foster grandparent/teacher I have learned to listen closely. They have some wonderful ideas.

We did a “circle story” with the class this fall. We started with the teacher making up the first sentence of the story and then it goes on to the first child, the next and the next, right around to all 15 kids, each kept up their part of the circle. It was wonderful! These are only first graders!

If you have kids at home of any age I encourage you to listen carefully to what they say to you. It might be tougher with teens; they have already learned to not talk to an adult because they probably don’t want to listen to you anyway. Let’s change this where we can.

Family and friends will remember any discussion with you when you have been actively listening to them. Let them talk; you can make comments but remember to listen to understand, I promise your interest will be noticed.

Contact me at dwdaffy@yahoo.com sub: Communication problem. Thanks for reading. Looking forward to any communication.

PS: Put the cell phone away while with others!

Submitted by the Taconnett Falls Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society

Amy Morris Bradley was born September 12, 1823. She spent her youth in the family home in East Vassalboro. Her father’s cobblers shop was in the north section of the house. The main house consisted of two front rooms, kitchen, pantry and upstairs chambers. Eight family members lived and worked in this small house.

Amy Morris Bradley

Amy’s life was dedicated to education and helping others. She taught school in Vassalboro and Gardiner, also, the Winthrop School and Putnam Grammar, in Massachusetts. She suffered from a weak body, but she more than made up for it by forceful determination. Periodically she would return to East Vassalboro to recuperate and then forge ahead again.

During one of her recuperations, she was invited to stay at her sister in law’s family home in Charleston, South Carolina. Being an abolitionist and prohibitionist she had to mute some of her beliefs while she was visiting. Amy was treated very well and soon recovered though the visit did reinforce her views on both slavery and alcohol.

Amy was a governess for a short time in Costa Rica. The plantation owner overstated the opulence of his holdings and treated her more like a servant than teacher. She left that employment and went to the city of San Jose. Having become fluent in Spanish she went on to start the first English School there in 1854. Amy returned to Maine in 1857 to care for her ill father.

The fluency in Spanish that she gained in Costa Rica allowed her to pursue other employment. After her father died, Amy moved to Boston and worked as a translator for different companies.

The Civil War brought her to her toughest task, nursing. She was first attached to the 3rd Maine Regiment, and then put in charge of 5th Maine’s hospital, and then worked for the United States Sanitary Commission. She supervised and worked on the steam transports in the Peninsula Campaign. Before she would allow wounded soldiers on board, the entire boat would have to be cleaned to her particularly high standards. With her success on the transports she was put in charge of the Sanitary Commission’s home in Washington DC, where discharged wounded soldiers began

Amy Morris Bradley’s grave located at the Oakdale Cemetery, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Internet photos

their journey home. Her final position was head of Camp Convalescent, a wet muddy field that was the hospital for recovering soldiers. She soon put it in order with tents, beds, bedding and decent food. The Soldiers Journal was a newspaper she published for her charges.

After the war, she continued her efforts by working for the Freemans Bureau setting up schools for freed slaves and poor white children. One of the things that she discovered was that a hungry child would not do well academically. Amy set up kitchens at her schools so that the pupils had at least one nutritious meal a day. She established the first Normal School and is considered the founder of the school system in Wilmington, North Carolina. She died there January 15, 1904 and is buried in Oakdale Cemetery.

Headstrong, the biography of Amy Morris Bradley, by Diane Cobb Cashman is the source for this article.

Kent G. London
President Kennebec Historical Society
Treasurer Vassalboro Historical Society
Member Taconnett Falls Chapter
(taconnettfalls11@yahoo.com)