REVIEW POTPOURRI: Rev. Timothy Dwight

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Rev. Timothy Dwight

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Rev. Timothy Dwight

During the late 1980s to early ’90s, I taught American lit survey classes for the Houston Community College System in the Lone Star State and used the humongous two-volume Harper American Literature anthology, each consisting of 2,500 pages. Being a bit obsessive compulsive curious about anything and everything, I read through both volumes over a 15-year period and encountered several lesser known literary figures, along with the classic legends such as Thoreau, Washington Irving, Walt Whitma , Hemingway etc., whose writing was also of interest.

Two such individuals were based in Connecticut for most of their lives. The first was the very formidable Reverend Timothy Dwight (1752-1817), who wrote prolifically, established a private coed school, worked two farms, and eventually became president of Yale University.

The reason for using ‘formidable’ has its roots not only in Dwight’s personality but in 18th century Connecticut society. The authoritarian Calvinistic Puritanism that prevailed in Massachusetts during the 17th century had waned by the end of the 1692 Salem witch trials and the Bay State had become a more mild-mannered society with a more easy going governing world view while Puritanism had transferred its base of operation to Connecticut.

This theocratic influence was so insidious that, when Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, church women in the state were burying their Bibles in the backyard because they considered him a dangerous apostate.

Meanwhile, Timothy Dwight had been born and raised in Northampton, Massachusetts, and was the grandson of the preacher Jonathan Edwards, an unreconstructed Puritan whose own claim to fame was the frequently anthologized Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (which I studied as a teenager at Kent’s Hill and, 20 years later, taught in Houston.).

Back to Dwight’s own formidable personality. Like his grandfather, he was an absolutist of the Puritan faith and became a very popular preacher among the Puritans in Connecticut. Stubbornly unwavering and dogmatic, he ranted and railed against even the tiniest specks of what he considered heresy in a most pushy, heavy-handed manner.

Even his best friends were at times intimidated by him and referred to him as the “Protestant Pope of New England.”

The 20th century historian Vernon Parrington commented that Dwight’s “mind was closed as tight as his study window in January.”

Paradoxically, Dwight was an innovator in education and, upon assuming the presidency of Yale, expanded the University’s curriculum to courses in “modern” literature, languages, geography, medicine, chemistry, etc.

While president, Dwight undertook a number of research journeys through New England and New York State, from 1795 to 1815, to study anything and everything that attracted his curiosity within its constricted parameters and to take painstakingly detailed notes. The results were collected after his death into four volumes, Travels in New-England and New York, and published in 1821 and 1822.

As an example, Dwight visited several upper class families in Boston and wrote some particularly trenchant observations on the methods by which such parents were raising their children, comments that might be perceived as relevant to families in more recent years:

“The end proposed by the parents is to make their children objects of admiration. The means, though not sanctioned, are certainly characterized by the end. That I have not mistaken the end may be easily proved by a single resort to almost any genteel company. To such company the children of the family are regularly introduced, and the praise of the guests is administered to them as regularly as the dinner or the tea is served up. Commendation is rung through all its changes; and you may hear, both in concert and succession: “beautiful children, ” “fine children, ” “sweet children, ” “lovely children,” “what a charming family!” “what a delightful family!” “You are a fine little fellow.” “You are a sweet little girl.” “My son, can’t you speak one of your pieces before this good company?” “Caroline, where is your work?” “Susan, bring Miss Caroline’s work and show it to that lady.” “Susan, bring with you the picture which she finished last week;”…..Were you to pass a twelve month in this country, and to believe all that you heard said by people not destitute of respectability, whatever opinion you might form of the parents, you would suppose that the children were a superior race of beings, both in person and mind; and that beauty, genius, grace, and loveliness had descended to this world in form and determined to make these states their future residence…Children educated in the manner to which I refer soon learn that the primary end of their efforts, and even of their existence, is ‘appearance only. What they are,’ they soon discern is of little consequence; but, ‘what they appear to be’ is of importance inestimable.”

SMALL SPACE GARDENING: Elevate your garden’s beauty with jewel-tone plants

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Blue by You salvia has rich blue blossoms from late spring into fall, attracting butterflies and hummingbirds. (photo courtesy
of All-America Selections)

by Melinda Myers

Bring the beauty of your favorite gemstones into the garden and your outdoor living space with the help of jewel-toned plants. Even a pot of these beauties placed on the balcony can provide bold color, vibrancy, and lushness to any space.

Select plants with leaves, flowers, or both in the saturated colors of gemstones like rubies, amethyst, topaz, sapphire, and turquoise. Select plants with colors that complement your home and landscape and will thrive in the growing conditions in your gardening space.

Look for opportunities to include these rich colors throughout the growing season. Jewel-toned pansies, ornamental cabbage and kale, and calendula are a few plants that thrive in cooler weather, providing welcome color before other plants appear or have faded in the summer heat.

As temperatures rise, include rich yellows and oranges of Rudbeckias and sunflowers. Add a showy and exotic look to the garden with Crocosmia. Plant Lucifer for bright red flowers, Prince of Orange for its red-orange blooms, and George Davidson for an added touch of yellow. Check out the many colorful varieties of dahlias and gladiolus that grow well in the garden and containers and make great additions to your garden bouquets. Canna’s bold and colorful foliage is impressive all season long and is sure to command attention when topped with flowers.

Add colorful zinnias for season-long color. You can start them from seed right in the garden or buy transplants for earlier bloom. Look for disease-resistant varieties and those with bold colors like Benary’s giant deep red, Profusion red, and Double Zahara Fire’s orange-red blooms. These sunny loving annuals are also heat and drought-tolerant, making them perfect for low-maintenance gardens.

Plant some tall Mexican sunflowers in the back of the garden. Consider Fiesta Del Sol, a more compact variety, if you want something shorter and more compact. No matter which you grow, you and the pollinators will enjoy the orange blooms.

Keep the color going with summer to fall blooming Helenium which is hardy in zones three to eight. Hot Lava is topped with fire engine red flowers while Butterpat has vibrant yellow blossoms.

Coral bells come in a wide variety of leaf colors, making it easy to include jewel tones all season long. Many shade-tolerant hostas have deep green foliage that provides the perfect backdrop for other flowers.

Combining complementary colors that appear opposite of each other on the artist’s color wheel creates an eye-catching display. Dark colors can easily disappear in the background or shade. Teaming them with a complementary colored plant or light background can help them pop. A combination of purple-leaved bugbane and the fine chartreuse foliage of Hakone grass, for example, allows both plants to shine while creating a splendid display.

Make sure the plants you combine are equally bold, so each adds to the overall design. Mix in some green foliage to provide a bit of color relief. Too much of a good thing, including vibrant colors, can overpower the landscape and create a somewhat chaotic feel.

Make notes on the plants and combinations you want to repeat next year. Note those that didn’t perform to your expectations and don’t need to be repeated. If you decide to expand upon this theme, be sure to add some jewel-toned, spring-flowering bulbs like tulips and hyacinths to the landscape this fall.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including the recently released Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Spring is in the air; so is skunk odor

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Skunk preparing to dig up an in-ground bee hive.

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

There it is! That familiar odor in the wind that reminds you of a warm, summer night. It is unmistakable, and sometimes can be a sort of positive sign of spring. That odor was definitely in the air at our house this past weekend. Essence of skunk.

Striped skunks, Mephitis mephitis, had been classified to be in the same family with ferrets, weasels, otters and badgers. However, recent generic evidence suggests the skunks are not as closely related as first thought, and therefore are now classified in their own family.

Skunks are placid, retiring and non-aggressive. You can actually talk to a skunk, and it will avoid you. They try very hard not to get in harm’s way. I have had instances where I have spoken, softly, to skunks that have approached me, and “talked” them into taking another route. Although they have excellent senses of smell and hearing, they have poor vision. They cannot see with any clarity all objects more than 10 feet away, which also makes them vulnerable to death by road traffic.

Actually, one summer, we had a family of five skunks living under our deck at camp, and, believe it or not, we didn’t even know they were there until one morning, around 5 a.m., just as the sun was beginning to rise, I saw one adult crawl under the deck, followed by the three kits, and then the second adult. Other than that, no odor, nor any other sign of their presence.

Skunks are omnivorous, eating both plants and animal material, and changing their diet as the seasons change. They eat insects and larvae, earthworms, small rodents, lizards, salamanders, frogs, snakes, birds, moles and eggs. They also commonly eat berries, roots, leaves, grasses, fungi and nuts.

In settled areas, skunks also seek human garbage. Less often, skunks may be found acting as scavengers, eating birds and rodent carcasses left by cats. Skunks will even find their way into garages and cellars where pet foods are stored.

Skunks are one of the primary predators of the honeybee, relying on their thick fur to protect them from stings. The skunk scratches at the front of the beehive and eats the guard bees that come out to investigate. Mother skunks are known to teach this method to their young.

Skunks are not true hibernators in the winter, but do den up for extended periods of time. That is why, this time of year, you will see, or smell, the occasional appearance of skunks. They come out to forage while the temperatures are warmer. However, they remain generally inactive and feed rarely, going through a dormant stage. They often overwinter in a huddle of multiple females, up to as many as 12, while males often den alone. The same winter den is often used repeatedly.

When born, skunk kits are blind, deaf, and covered in a soft layer of fur. About three weeks after birth, their eyes open. The kits are weaned about two months after birth, but generally stay with their mother until they are ready to mate, about one year of age.

The mother is very protective of her kits and will often spray at the first sign of danger. The male plays no part in raising the young and may even kill them.

Most predatory animals of the Americas, such as wolves, foxes and badgers, seldom attack skunks, presumably out of fear of being sprayed. The exception is the great horned-owl, the skunk’s only serious predator, which, like most birds, has a poor to nonexistent sense of smell.

The skunk, still, gets no respect. The word skunk is a corruption of an Abenaki name for them, segongw or segonku, which means “one who squirts,” in the Algonquian language. Even in slang French, mostly Canadian-French, the term for skunk relates to its odiferous characteristic, known as “une bete puante” (animal that stinks). The real French word for skunk is “moufette”.

It is commonly known that skunks make excellent pets. However, make sure of one thing before you proceed. Is the keeping of a pet skunk legal in your state? As for Maine, it has been illegal to keep a skunk since 2002. Only if you acquire a Class B or C license from the USDA can you keep a skunk in Maine, and must be for educational purposes only. Keeping of skunks is legal in only eight states, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Long an enemy of most humans, when all is taken into consideration, skunks aren’t really all that bad.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who holds the American League record for most home runs in a season?

Answer can be found here.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Should you get tested for seasonal allergies?

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You might think that seasonal allergies are just a spring thing. Not true. Autumn brings pollen from the ragweed plant to many parts of the U.S. And if you’re allergic to it, you may find yourself dealing with watery eyes, a runny or stuffy nose and an itchy throat.

Ragweed pollen levels typically peak in mid-September. But depending on where you live, they can hang around until November, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

Here’s what you need to know about the symptoms and treatment of ragweed allergies — and when you should see your doctor.

What causes seasonal allergies?

“Seasonal allergies occur when the body’s immune system overreacts to something in the environment, such as pollen,” explains Morris Nejat, MD. Dr. Nejat is the chief medical officer at NY Allergy & Sinus Centers in New York City.

Many times throughout the year, certain plants release pollen. Tree pollen causes problems in the spring, and grass pollen is common in the summer. When fall comes, ragweed pollen takes over.

Seasonal allergies affect as many as 60 million people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Learn why the allergy season is getting longer.)

As pollen travels through the air, it can make its way into your eyes, nose and lungs. Your body may act as if it’s under attack and release a chemical called histamine into your blood. This causes symptoms such as:

  • Runny nose
  • Red, watery eyes
  • Itchy eyes, nose, throat and skin
  • Sneezing, coughing and wheezing
  • Sinus pressure
  • Tiredness

When do you need to get tested for seasonal allergies?

If you think you have seasonal allergies, talk to your primary care doctor. Finding out the cause of your symptoms helps your doctor decide which medications to give you. They will discuss your symptoms and medical history. Your doctor may also refer you to an allergist for testing, if necessary.

“You should get tested for seasonal allergies if you have symptoms that last more than 3 months or if you have chronic sinus infections, nasal congestion or difficulty breathing,” says Dr. Nejat.

A skin prick or scratch test can confirm your allergy, says the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. The doctor will place a drop of an allergen (such as ragweed) onto your skin, usually on the forearm. Then they will lightly prick or scratch your skin. You probably won’t find the test painful, but you may have a little discomfort. If your skin gets a red, raised bump, it means you’ve had an allergic reaction.

How to relieve symptoms

Taking an over-the-counter medicine can help relieve your symptoms. Your doctor might recommend:

  • Corticosteroid nasal spray. These medications reduce nasal inflammation. Examples include budesonide (Rhinocort®) and fluticasone propionate (Flonase®).
  • Antihistamines. These medications block the release of histamines, a chemical your body releases during an allergic reaction. Some examples are Loratadine (Claritin®) and cetirizine (Zyrtec®). (Here’s the difference between Claritin and Zyrtec.)
  • Decongestants. Oral decongestants such as pseudoephedrine (Sudafed®) relieve sinus congestion. Oxymetazoline (Afrin®) is a decongestant nasal spray.

“Oftentimes, the same medication comes in both over-the-counter and prescription versions,” says Dr. Nejat. The allergist will be able to decide which medicines are best for you.

You can also try a saline nasal rinse to reduce congestion. Eye drops can calm itchy, red and watery eyes.

No matter what regimen you’re on, always follow the medication’s instructions. For example, decongestant nasal sprays shouldn’t be used for more than 3 days in a row (unless your doctor says otherwise).

Other tips that can help you manage fall allergies

Don’t let allergies keep you from having fun this fall. Making small changes to your daily routine can help you get ahead of ragweed pollen.

  • Track the pollen count. You can check pollen counts in your area using the map provided by the National Allergy Bureau.
  • Avoid outdoor chores. When the pollen count is really high, steer clear of yard work such as gardening or mowing the lawn. If you do outdoor chores, wear a face mask, says the Mayo Clinic.
  • Close the windows. That goes for the doors in your house, too.
  • Remove pollen. Change your clothes when you come into your house from the outdoors. Take a shower, and toss the clothing in the laundry to wash away the pollen.
  • Breathe clean air. Use air conditioners in your house and car. Consider buying high-efficiency filters. And use dehumidifiers to keep the air dry and breathable.

LIFE ON THE PLAINS: The Plains, circa 1950s; southern end

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by Roland D. Hallee

Legend: 1. Intersection of Summer and Gold sts.; 2. The former Notre Dame church and school, now KVCAP; 3. South End Arena; 4. The southern tip of “the island”; 5. Site of Picher’s Furniture Store; 6. Silver St.; 7. South Grammar School, now the Muskie Center.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Grover Cleveland

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Grover Cleveland

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Grover Cleveland

The 22nd/24th former President Stephen Grover Cleveland achieved distinction in three ways during his years in the White House:

1. He was the only Democrat to be elected president since James Buchanan’s one term ended in 1861 and would remain so until 1913 when the Democrat Thomas Woodrow Wilson would defeat both Republican William Howard Taft in his bid for re-election and Taft’s predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt, who had bolted the Republican party and ran as an independent Bull Moose candidate.

2. Cleveland remains the only president to serve two split terms, first from 1885 to 1889 only to be defeated by the Republican Benjamin Harrison ; and then to defeat Harrison in the latter’s re-election bid and again serve from 1893 to 1897.

3. He was stubbornly, abrasively, incorrigibly honest, not giving a hoot about his own political interests, let alone pleasing others; he earned the honorary epithets “Ugly-honest” and “His Obstinacy!”

Cleveland was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, March 18th, 1837, to a Presbyterian minister, Richard Falley Cleveland (1804-1853), and his wife, the former Ann Neal (1806-1882), and had three brothers and five sisters.

When Rev. Cleveland was appointed district secretary for the American Home Mission Society, he relocated the family to New York State, which Cleveland himself would consider his home base for most of his working adult life.

He taught at a New York City school for the blind, moved to Buffalo where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1859, became a ward supervisor, assistant district attorney and sheriff of Erie County, mayor of Buffalo and finally governor of New York before winning the presidency.

As sheriff, Cleveland personally pulled the lever at the hangings of two convicted killers.

During the horrible 1880s of corruption in the country when the rich kept getting richer and buying up just about every official in government, one historian remarked that “the Standard Oil Company has done everything with the Pennsylvania legislature except refine it.”

Despite the rampant political criminality versus Cleveland’s refusal to wheel and deal in his frequently cursed honesty and independence, honest people in high places sought him out and his rise in public life began its ascendancy. As mayor, governor and president, he cut much fraud and waste with his own reforms and reduced tariffs.

But he did at times make mistakes, perhaps the greatest one being his appointment of a hard-nosed Attorney General Richard Olney , who in turn used harsh measures in cracking down on unemployed workers and strikers against the Pullman Railroad and Standard Oil.

In 1886, the 49-year-old bachelor married 21-year-old Frances Folsom, the daughter of one of his Buffalo law partners who had died 11 years earlier and of whom Cleveland had been a guardian for both her and her widowed mother. Married life softened Cleveland’s personality considerably. The couple had three daughters and two sons.

Cleveland had two vice-presidents – Indiana Senator Thomas A. Hendricks (1819-1885) who died shortly after taking office; and, during the second term, Illinois Representative Adlai Stevenson (1834-1914) who was the grandfather of the more famous opponent of Dwight D. Eisenhower twice for the White House and later appointed by John F. Kennedy as Ambassador to the United Nations.

An addendum:

Cleveland’s Republican opponent in 1884 was Maine’s own James G. Blaine who, as Speaker of the House, had engaged in suspicious sales of some railroad stocks and bonds.

The campaign became one of vicious mud-slinging with Democrats singing “Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine/The continental liar from the State of Maine!”

Then Republican operatives found a woman, Mrs. Maria Halpin, who stated that Cleveland had fathered her illegitimate son.

He accepted responsibility and, when his advisors inquired as to how they should respond, simply replied, “Tell the truth.”

Now the Republicans jeered, “Ma! Ma! Where’s my Pa?/Gone to the White House. Ha! Ha! Ha!”

After leaving the White House in 1897, Cleveland moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where he served on the University board of trustees and wrote the occasional article for Saturday Evening Post.

Grover Cleveland’s health declined during his last two or three years and he died of a heart attack on June 24, 1908, at the age of 71.

His widow outlived him by 39 years and died at the age of 83 in 1947. Except for the couple’s oldest child Ruth, who died at 13 in 1904, the remaining four children outlived both parents.

A personal note: the Nobleboro, Maine, author Elizabeth Coatsworth and her husband Henry Beston visited my grandmother annually for dinner over a period of years. She was a native of Buffalo and a cousin of Frances Folsom Cleveland.

Another cousin, Amelia Folsom, was one of Brigham Young’s 27 wives.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Culture change will improve your hiring

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

The tide has changed when it comes to employers and employees. Certainly, there is a shortage of the latter which is causing significant problems for all businesses, especially smaller ones. We are seeing restaurants both large and small including take out places, closed on Monday and Tuesday for lack of people to work those days and also to give their very hard working employees a break from the many hours they are putting on the days they do work.

It is much more difficult to get people to work at our houses. There is a shortage of everyone from landscapers to roofers to plumbers to electricians to just about every business you can think of.

This is an obvious problem, but it also reflects a more longstanding problem and that is one of the traditionally imbalanced relationship between the worker and the boss.

For years hard working people considered a job a privilege. They were proud and happy they had a job. But in the last few years not so much. It is now an employees’ market and will be for a number of years to come. This means that the employers have to change their ways and change their company cultures in favor of the employees.

One of the companies with a multi-million dollars electronics company recently hired 13 people…now a few weeks later two are left, all the others left in a matter of days once they saw that although the pay was good, the work was hard.

Now as a solution we have gone to work on that company’s culture. We are implementing a program that will change the culture of the company focusing more on the engagement of the employees by making them feel a sense of ownership in the company. Among the initiatives we are instituting are:

  • Creating an orientation and training plan for every new employee teaching them about the company, and the industry, showing them a bigger picture than just their department.
  • Showing them a future. Creating a career path for them that demonstrates when they can go in a year, five years towards making a good and financially profession in our field.
  • Constant communications: Keeping all employees involved with the progress of the company by holding, among other things, monthly “all hands” meetings
  • Offering small bonuses from introducing a potential employee to the company, paying them if that person is hired.
  • Making the new employees, and all the employees for that matter, like they are important stake holders in the company and instituting profit sharing programs where, if the company does well, everyone will be rewarded.
  • And finally, honestly caring about each and every one who works at the company, making sure that everyone feels they matter.

When all is said and done, people want to feel they matter, that their brain is as important as their hands, that their opinion is listened to and values as well.

No matter what size business you have from a factory with 200 people to a pizza shop with ten people, to a landscaping business with four people, applying these principles changing your company’s culture in this direction will go a long way towards solving your man and woman power issues. And yes, it’s a great way to grow your business.

SMALL SPACE GARDENING: Late winter tent caterpillar management

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tent caterpillars

by Melinda Myers

Start this year’s tree pest management with a stroll through the landscape. As you enjoy the scenery, be sure to look for any unwelcome pests that may be overwintering on the twigs of trees.

Look for and remove egg masses of tent caterpillars now through spring. These clusters of eggs look like shiny blobs of mud surrounding the twigs. Each egg mass contains hundreds and in some cases thousands of eggs.

The forest tent caterpillar is the most widely distributed tent caterpillar. It attacks a variety of trees that vary with the region. Check any sugar maples, aspen, cherries, apples, oaks, birch, ash, alder, elm, basswood, or water tupelo trees growing in your landscape.

Trees may suffer damage when large populations of these caterpillars devour the majority of the tree’s leaves for several years in a row. This can result in reduced tree growth, top dieback, and tree mortality. There are several natural predators of this insect pest so working with nature is a great way to help reduce damage. Remove the egg masses found on small twigs that are more easily reached on smaller trees. After the eggs hatch, look for the caterpillars in a silken mat, not a tent like the other tent caterpillars. Remove the young caterpillars from branch tips or squash those resting on the main stem in the evening or on cool days.

You may also see similar egg masses of the Western or Eastern tent caterpillars depending on where you live. Their egg masses look similar to those of the forest tent caterpillar. Remove the egg masses of these tent caterpillars in spring before the eggs hatch.

Once the eggs hatch, the caterpillars begin forming a webby tent in the crotch of the tree. As they feed and grow, the tent expands. They remain in the tent during the hot part of the day and rainy weather.

Knock the tents, caterpillars and all, out of the tree when the majority of caterpillars are in the tent. Smash or dump the caterpillars in a can of soapy water.
Do not burn the tents. This old practice is hazardous and the fire can severely damage the tree, much worse than the insects.

Control is usually not needed on healthy and established trees. If you decide to intervene, consider using an organic insecticide with the active ingredient Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk). It is effective when applied to the tents soon after they start to form and when the caterpillars are small. Just spray the tent and the surrounding 1.5 feet of leaves. These products only kill caterpillars and will not harm other insects or birds feeding on these pests.

When working with nature, we have help from predatory insects and songbirds when managing these and other garden pests. Taking time this winter for a bit of prevention can go a long way in reducing damage from tent caterpillars.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including the recently released Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Better Indoor Air Quality

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You and your family can breathe easier this season if your air ducts are professionally cleaned.

(NAPSI)—If your family is like most, you spend more time inside when it’s cold and dark outside. On the one hand, that can make this a great time for enjoying baking, reading, board games, movies, and so on together. On the other hand, you’re also all breathing in what could be poor-quality indoor air. 

According to the EPA, that can aggravate asthma and increase the risk of respiratory problems, cancer and heart disease. 

You can know it’s time to get your ducts cleaned when you’re dusting more often, the return air grills get covered in film or there are odd odors in the house.

What To Do

Fortunately, five simple steps can improve your indoor air:

1. Change air filters monthly. They trap pollutants such as pet dander, dust mites, and tobacco smoke. 

2. Dust with a damp microfiber cloth and vacuum regularly.

3. Increase ventilation. Weather permitting, open a window to let fresh air in and stale air out. 

4. Get a humidifier. Winter air can be very dry and that can be uncomfortable. Humidifiers increase moisture in the air and reduce static electricity. 

5. Schedule air duct cleaning. Contaminants get pulled into the HVAC system where they can be a problem for people with respiratory conditions, auto-immune disorders, asthma or allergies. In addition, those contaminants cause the system to work harder, which shortens the life of your furnace and air conditioner and raises your electric bills. When you’re ready to tackle those air ducts, choose a qualified contractor to ensure the job is done right.  

How To Get Help

To make that easier, you can learn more and find a National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA)-certified air duct cleaning professional at www.BreathingClean.com.

LIFE ON THE PLAINS: The Plains, circa 1950s

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Legend: 1. Inter­section of Sherwin and Water Sts.; 2. The “island”; 3 – 4, the row of apartment houses overlooking the river; 5. Gray St.; 6. Univer­sal-Unitarian Church, at Elm & Silver Sts.; 7. Old Red­ington Elementary School, now site of VFW; 8. Location of Dav­i­au’s Phar­macy; 9. Autumn St.; 10. The Chez Paree.