by Roland D. Hallee A few weeks back, I wrote about how strange this past summer has been (see The Town Line, August 15, 2019). My research also revealed that I wrote a similar column back in 2015. Is there a pattern developing? Anyway, one of the things I mentioned was the lack of bees […]
by Roland D. Hallee A couple of weeks ago we remembered the tragic events of September 11, 2001. That prompted me to want to share a journey I recently experienced. Back on August 8, my wife and I, along with our daughter and her friend, traveled down to New York City to pick up our […]
by Roland D. Hallee We received a visitor at camp last week. A member of the Maine Forest Service appeared to pass on some information to us about the threat of invasive insects, and to educate us on what to look for. First was the Asian Longhorned Beetle. The ALB, Anoplophora glabripennis, is a wood […]
by Roland D. Hallee I think it was Dr. Demento who used to say, “They’re everywhere, they’re everywhere!” Well, they are. You could be sitting on the deck or porch at camp, and there’s one on your leg, or walking across your shoulders. Go do some garden work, and you’ll see them there. Deadhead flowers […]
by Roland D. Hallee Has anyone seen a monarch butterfly this summer? I certainly haven’t. It wasn’t so long ago that I would see them everywhere; at home and at camp. They are a magnificent-looking butterfly, all dressed in the bright orange and black colors. However, their numbers have come under a lot of stress […]
Postpone proxy balloting and voter restrictions to 2020 by Roland D. Hallee This year’s edition of the Webber Pond Association annual meeting took on the feel of meetings from the past. Where in recent years they have been somewhat quiet, especially in regards to the lake drawdown, this year’s version produced additional controversy, with much […]
by Roland D. Hallee Has this been a crazy summer, or what? The summer of 2019 may go down as one of the more mysterious of recent years. We had a bumper crop of black flies and mosquitoes, last week we covered the decline in the number of bats, the usual suspects appeared at our […]
by Roland D. Hallee The biggest complaint I have heard this summer from numerous people is the extremely high number of mosquitoes that have pestered us. I had noticed it myself but attributed it to the cold and wet spring and early summer. However, there is another reason for the unusual number of those little […]
by Roland D. Hallee Of all the animal species on earth, approximately 40 percent of them are beetles. Many of them look alike. That is probably why a friend of mine related to me that he had seen an emerald ash borer in Vassalboro and killed it, because, as a fairly knowledgeable woodsman, he knew […]
by Roland D. Hallee A popular subject of discussion this summer has been the proliferation of the tick population in our area over the last several years. Myself, I have had three ticks on me so far this summer, and I take all the precautions I think I could. One of them, I have no idea how […]