SOLON & BEYOND – Gallagher resigns: no special election planned

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

Good morning, my friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

Selectman Keith Galla­gher is resigning effective November 28, 2019. He and his family are moving out of state in December. The selectmen are sad to see him leave. He has been a real asset to the town and brought new knowledge and insight to the Board of Selectmen.

The selectmen will not hold a special election to fill his seat. Instead at the March 2020 annual town meeting there will be two selectmen positions on the ballot, one a three-year term and one a one-year term. Selectman Sarah Davis will be running again for a three-year term.

Nomination papers will be available for the two selectmen positions and the road commissioner position on Friday, November 29, and due back by Tuesday, January 7. The nomination papers will be available from the town clerk and are required to have the signatures of at least 25 registered Solon voters when they are turned in.

For those considering the selectman position, remember the selectmen meet every Wednesday from 7:45 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Also in the spring they do property tax assessing several other days. Most of the work is done on computers using Word and Excel so familiarity with those programs is very helpful.

For those considering road commissioner a Class A or B driver license is needed along with knowledge of plowing, road maintenance, and equipment maintenance. It is a full time job with overtime when weather and/or road conditions demand it. The roadcommissioner is in charge of the road crew employees.

Elaine Aloes, selectman, town of Solon, PO Box 214, 121 South Main Street, Solon., Maine 04979, 207-643-2541- 2864, Fax. Office Hours Mon-Wed.Fri . 8 a.m. to noon and 1- 4 p.m., Wed., 6 to 7:45 p.m. Please visit the web site: solon.maine.gov.

Somerset County recently held its annual County Achievement Night at the Kennebec Valley Grange Hall, in Madison. The Solon Pine Tree 4H Club was the outstanding club in Somerset County. Several members received county awards in their projects. Kaitelyn De Leanardis in arts and crafts, Cooper Dellarmar, in forestry, for his maple syrup, Autumn Ladd, in dog, and Matthew Ladd, in poutlry.

FOR YOUR HEALTH – Ask The Doctor: Early Morning Challenges With ADHD

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(NAPSI)—ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by impairing levels of inattention, disorganization, and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity. For people with ADHD, these behaviors are more severe, occur more often, and interfere with or reduce the quality of how they function socially, at school, or in a job.

Does your child with ADHD struggle in the morning?

Does your child with ADHD barely complete basic daily tasks, such as getting dressed, brushing teeth or simply eating breakfast? If so, you are not alone. In a survey of 200 parents with children diagnosed with ADHD, more than 90 percent felt that ADHD symptoms negatively impacted their early morning routine.

For families with children affected by ADHD, the early morning routine is challenging at best, chaotic at worst. Problems can impact every member of the family and set a negative tone for the rest the day. Dr. Ann Childress, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Center for Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Inc. has many patients—and families—who struggle every morning simply to get out the door. Here are some of the most common questions she receives from these families—and her responses.

Why does my child with ADHD have so much difficulty in the morning?

The early morning routine can be especially challenging for people with ADHD. Getting ready for the day requires ongoing focus and depends upon our ability to remember and manage multi-step information, a capacity psychologists call working memory. Both children and adults with ADHD struggle with deficits in focus and/or working memory.

Getting ready for the day also requires us to finish many complex activities in a short time, such as completing a hygiene routine, making and eating breakfast, or packing a backpack, all before the school bus pulls up or the car pool arrives. Research shows that, when compared with typical peers, people with ADHD find it harder to gauge the passage of time—and thus find it more difficult to complete these early morning activities on time.

My child takes medication for ADHD that usually works. Why are mornings still so hard?

For individuals who rely on a stimulant medication to help them during the day, the early morning can still represent an ADHD blind spot. What does this mean? Most stimulant medications are taken in the morning with breakfast and they may take some time to work (anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours).6 Thus ADHD patients will not necessarily experience the benefits of ordinary stimulant medication in the early morning hours, making the morning routine one of the most difficult parts of the day for the patient-and for his or her loved ones.

My entire family has been negatively affected by one member’s early morning ADHD symptoms. What can I do to help?

Parents and caregivers can use behavioral strategies to improve specific behaviors that may prevent children from getting ready in the morning. Tactics to help children complete morning activities may include the following, either alone or in combination:

  • Setting multiple alarms to encourage timely completion of different tasks
  • Using behavior charts and incentive programs
  • Creating and using sequencing charts to outline the steps of critical activities
  • Utilizing checklists.

Some families choose to alter how they administer stimulant medications. In these cases, one parent or caregiver will wake and dose the child in the wee hours, approximately two hours prior to the family’s usual wakeup time. Next, the parent will encourage the child to go back to sleep, hoping the medication will take effect before breakfast.7 However, this routine often proves disruptive for both parent and child, both of whom may have difficulty returning to sleep.?

If you think ADHD has an impact on your mornings, consider taking a quiz at theADHDmorningquiz.com. The interactive quiz helps identify ADHD symptoms that make the morning routine a challenge. You’ll also be given access to a Doctor Discussion Guide to help start the conversation about mornings with ADHD.

Tips for Managing ADHD in the Morning

  • Be a morning realist. Setting unrealistic goals can set you up for failure. Being realistic about the early morning routine and adding a little more time to get things done will benefit the entire family.
  • Alarms aren’t just for waking up. Set ‘as you go’ alarms to make sure you’re not running overtime on each task. Remember to be practical about how long things may take.

Talking to Your Doctor

Once you’ve made the appointment with your doctor, start writing down what you want to discuss about your mornings with ADHD. Here are some suggestions from the Doctor Discussion Guide that you’ll find when you take theADHDmorningquiz.com:

  • Describe any challenges during the early morning routine.
  • How do these difficulties affect the rest of the day?
  • What specific ADHD symptoms are a problem in the early morning?
  • What actions have you taken to try to make mornings go more smoothly? How have those helped (if at all)?
  • Would it be helpful to have an ADHD medication that works when you wake up?

To learn more about morning challenges with ADHD, please visit www.adhdmorning.com.

SOLON & BEYOND: News from Solon Elementary School

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

Good morning, my friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

As always, I was very pleased to receive the Solon School News, to share with you. They have some great activities going on.

The Solon Civil Rights Team has had a busy start to the school year. Part of the Maine Civil Rights Team Project, it’s responsibility is for the education of young minds about matters of discrimination regarding race, religion, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender, and disability.

The team advisors are Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Jillson. The team is made up of students in grades 4-5 who will organize activities for the school.

The team celebrated Unity Day on October 23. They asked students and staff members to wear orange in support of Unity Day, and there was a great response.

The Civil Rights Team ran a Halloween Dime Raffle in which they raised money to be used for T-shirts and for other team activities. They are sponsoring a Thanksgiving Food Drive from November 4-21 to benefit the Solon Food Cupboard.

The team has displayed a beautiful banner welcoming everyone to the school on Welcome Day, October 25.

The Solon Civil Right Team members are Isabella Atwood, Izaiah Busler,Kaylynn Clark, Amelia Cooper, Katelyn DeLeonardis, Katlin Dellarma, David Dixon, Emerson Golden, Veronica Hoffman, Alex Jerkins, Elijah Katz, Jayden McKenney, Joseph McLaughlin, Nevaeh Palmer, Riley Pelkey and Jillian Robinson.

In addition to a Civil Rights Team, they have a Kind Kids Club made up of K-3 students and run by Mrs. LaChance. All of the K-2 students do activities to show kindness to their classmates, school staff members, their families, and community members.

On October 10, the Solon Fire Department visited the school to do presentations about fire safety in conjunction with Fire Safety Week. Firefighters Todd Dixon and Jenny Rollins, of the Solon Fire Department, talked to students about how to keep safe in the event of a fire. The firefighters brought goodie bags for the students.

The school administration thanks the Solon Fire Department for their continuous education and support of the students at the school. First grade Naturalists at work. This fall Mrs. Campell’s first grade students watched their butterfly house as beautiful butterflies emerged from their chrysalides. The students released the butterflies outside the school.

There will be a Thanksgiving Food Drive from November 4-21. Please send in donations of nonperishable food items to help the students in this community service project. Food will be donated to the Solon Food Cupboard. Sponsored by the Solon Civil Rights Team.

Mark Your Calendar! No School Days: November 11 Veterans Day Holiday and November 27-29 Thanksgiving Break. Christmas Activites: December 9. District Chorus, Christmas Concert, 6 p.m., CCS. December 12 Solon Christmas Program, 6 p.m., and December 17, PTO Children’s Christmas Shopping Day (donations appreciated). PTO meeting on November 14 at 6 p.m.

Book Buddies Enjoy Books Together: Students in kindergarten and fifth grade are meeting once a week as book buddies. The older students read to the younger students and sometimes the younger students read to the older students.

Had lots of fun yesterday helping Amanda at the Christmas Fair, at Carrabec High School. There were lots and lots of other people there enjoying themselves as well. As I sat watching everyone, there were lots of hugs being exchanged with love; and I got lots also, from friends that I see there every year. Another thing that made my day was sitting there cuddling a precious little baby.

And now for Percy’s memoir: Each day you are provided many opportunities to practice peacemaking. St. Francis wrote, “For it is in giving that we receive.” By giving peace you will receive peace, and after you are at peace your problems all dissolve. By becoming a peacemaker you are literally providing yourself with a remedy for virtually all your anxious moments. Today be on the alert for any opportunity to become a peacemaker. (words by Wayne W. Dyer, There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem.)

I know I dream a lot, but I used these same words for Percy’s memoir in this column in the October 19, 2017 issue. I hope some of you tried this advice. The world definitely needs all the help it can get!

I’M JUST CURIOUS: Uses for products you may have

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by Debbie Walker

I bought another book of different uses for regular products. The name of the book is CLEAN IT! FIX IT! EAT IT! It is authored by Joey Green; it is said that he has about 20 books published. I have enjoyed reading the content, have no idea if I will ever remember the ideas when I need the advice. I have not gathered information on all the ideas in the title, however, there is much more for a column at a later date. Let’s move on now:

DOWNY can be used as a hair conditioner: add a half a capful of liquid Downy to four cups of water. Pour through your hair. Rinse and, ta da, no tangles.

DOWNY will also eliminate static electricity from inside a car: Mix two teaspoons of Downy and one quart of water in a spray bottle. Spray fabric and carpeting. No more static! I will be using that one!

WD-40 is great if you get your hands all greasy while playing mechanic. Spray on hands, wipe with a paper towel, and then wash hands as usual. You can also use it to remove tar from your vehicle. We have Love-bugs here right now. They make a mess of the cars. I may just try this one, too.

Smirnoff Vodka can help as a hair product. Now don’t be upset, you will only be using one jigger of it. No, I know it wasn’t made for this purpose, but it works. Add one-ounce jigger to a 12 oz. bottle of shampoo. The alcohol will keep your scalp clean and remove the bad stuff.

Credit cards, the ones you get in the mail that serve no real purpose, can be useful for scraping dishes. I also understand they work well with frost or ice on the glass of your vehicle.

Morton Salt can be very useful when you drop an egg on the floor. Pour salt on the egg and let sit for one minute. Then you can easily pick up the egg with a paper towel.

Silly Putty, remember the toy(?), can be used to pick up small, dropped items like beads or get them out of crevices.

Purell Hand Sanitizer can be used to clean stains from plastic containers when washing.

Wilson Tennis Balls may seem like an odd thing to want to put in your swimming pool next summer, but it will collect the body oils. It’ll make cleaning easier.

Bounce sheets put on the floor of your boat before winter covering to prevent mice and raccoon from setting up camp for the winter. It works for special vehicles being stored for the winter.

Murphy’s Oil Soap can be used for washing your vehicle. It also leaves a shine and beads up when wet.

Barbasol Shaving Cream can be rubbed inside car windshield and wipe off with a clean cloth to prevent fogging.

Colgate Toothpaste, put a dab on a pimple at night and the next day wash off.

Bag Balm will take care of the worst of diaper rash on the baby. I know this one personally. It saved my sanity with my daughter’s rash about 49 years ago.

I am just curious how many of these things you will try and what others you know about? Contact me with your questions or comments at dwdaffy@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

REVIEW POTPOURRI – Herb Alpert: Magic Man

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Sergio Mendes

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Herb Alpert

Magic Man
A&M records, SP-3728, LP, recorded 1981.

Now 84 years old, trumpeter Herb Alpert staked his claim to fame back in the early ‘60s with the series of Tijuana Brass albums that sold in the millions as vinyl LPs and continue to do well in CD formats. His A&M label has been home to Sergio Mendes and HIS Brazil ’66, Procol Harum, the Sandpipers, the Carpenters, Burt Bacharach, Janet Jackson, etc.

Magic Man is best described as soft jazz/pop. Alpert utilized a full rhythm section; synthesizers; conventional piano, and Rhodes, and other electric pianos; harp, guitars; his own trumpet and other brass; special percussion instruments including marimbas, vibes, bongos and congas; strings; and vocalists, including himself.

This album consists of eight selections, including the title song, itself a huge hit. All of them are captivating in some fashion; my particular favorites are Secret Garden, with its bass/guitar weavings; the vintage pop classic, Besame Mucho, which contains hypnotic bongo/conga sounds; and a lovely ballad, I Get It from You, sung by Alpert. All of them can be heard on YouTube .

Since 1973, Herb Alpert has been married to Lani Hall, former lead singer for Brazil ’66; its leader, Sergio Mendes, married her replacement, Gracinha.

From E.B.White’s 1942 book, One Man’s Meat, about November on his farm in Maine: ”The wind blew from the South­east and brought rain and the dreariest landscape of the fall. For several hours after arising, everything went wrong; it was one of those days when inanimate objects deliberately plot to destroy a man cleverly ambushed, and when dumb animals form a clique to disturb the existing order.”

AARP SCAM ALERT: Bank Imposter Scam

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A new scam that has emerged this summer involves criminals posing as bank representatives and offering to pick up a customer’s “compromised” bank card. This scam originates over the phone with the impostor offering to send a ”senior services” agent to the house to pick up the credit card or debit card and PIN so the problem can be fixed. The crook then racks up credit card debt or drains checking accounts attached to debit cards.

Know this: banks don’t have “senior service centers” from which they send bank employees to your home. If you get a call like this, hang up.

Be a fraud fighter! If you can spot a scam, you can stop a scam.

Visit the AARP Fraud Watch Network at www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork or call the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 1-877-908-3360 to report a scam or get help if you’ve fallen victim.

THE MONEY MINUTE: Enjoy every age, they’re all good

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by Jac M. Arbour CFP®, ChFC®
President, J.M. Arbour Wealth Management

Something I enjoy in life more than most things is sitting and chatting with a voice of experience. I recently had a conversation with a friend who is going strong at 91 and certainly has that voice. She was blessed to share a marriage with the love of her life that lasted up until his death earlier this year; they had celebrated 73 years together.

My friend keeps a calendar with important dates, and I felt fortunate when she mentioned that I had a birthday coming up (which let me know I made the cut). “How old will you be this year, Jac?”

“Thirty-five,” I responded.

She sat back in her chair and, with a big smile, reminded me that I have a whole lifetime ahead of me. “Oh, to be 35,” she said. She reminisced for a few moments, and joked about how all the women in her friend group use to lie about their age in an attempt to stop the aging process altogether. She looked at me (just a bit more seriously, but not really), then came the voice of experience: “There is no reason to hide your age,” she chuckled. “They are all good, and you should enjoy every age.”

Later, we were going through a bunch of old things in my friend’s basement, each with a vivid memory attached to it, and she asked if I would carry a number of things upstairs. So, without hesitation I picked them up and, taking two steps at a time as I always do, ran up the stairs to place them where she had asked. When I was halfway up the stairs, I heard her say, “Oh, to be able to go up the stairs like that.”

It’s amazing how much we take for granted or don’t think about simply because we have never been older than we are right now. We don’t know what we don’t know, as they say, or what we haven’t yet experienced. Life itself is clearly one of the greatest teachers, but so too can be those who have been there already.

I hope that, wherever you are on your journey, you stop to acknowledge where you are now. Every point is good. No matter what.

Here is what I promise: There is a difference between communicating and connecting. Aim for the latter, and the voice of experience is something you might get to hear.

See you all next month.

Jac Arbour CFP®, ChFC®

Jac Arbour is the President of J.M. Arbour Wealth Management and can be reached at 207-248-6767.

Investment advisory services are offered through Foundations Investment Advisors, LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser.

Give Us Your Best Shot! for Thursday, October 31, 2019

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To submit a photo for this section, please visit our contact page or email us at townline@fairpoint.net!

SPECTACULAR: Stephanie Vinson, of China, photographed this spectacular sunrise over China Lake recently.

COLORFUL: Tina Richard, of Clinton, captured this fall foliage scene from the gazebo, in Fairfield.

FOR YOUR HEALTH – Medicare Enrollment Season Is Here: 5 Tips To Make Sure You’re In The Right Plan

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(NAPSI)—Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period runs from October 15 to December 7, 2019. This is your yearly chance to shop for insurance coverage that best meets your needs. People covered by Medicare will have even more plans with a host of new benefits to choose from for 2020.

Here are five things to keep in mind for Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period.

  1. Review your 2020 coverage options. Medicare Advantage plan details change each year, so the policy that was the least expensive or best match for you in 2019 may not be right for 2020. Changes to premiums, deductibles and co-pays can be costly. A recent eHealth analysis of people using eHealthMedicare.com to compare Medicare plans found that fewer than one in ten were enrolled in the lowest cost plan for their personal prescription drug regimen. Those who switched to their optimal drug plan stood to save an average of $900 per year.
  2. Look out for drug coverage changes. It’s common for insurance companies to tweak their list of covered drug and prices. That can mean higher out-of-pocket expenses. Check to make sure that the medications you need are still covered by your plan in 2020, and pay close attention to any special rules you need to follow to get the most coverage for your medications. Online tools, including eHealthMedicare.com’s prescription drug coverage comparison tool, can help you find the best option for 2020.
  3. Make sure your doctors are still covered. The doctors and hospitals that participate in your Medicare plan’s network often change each year as well. Make sure your preferred providers are covered under your current plan or any new plan that interests you. The amount you’ll pay when you get care from a doctor or hospital that does not participate with your plan will be higher than what you’ll pay if you stay within your plan’s network, and some health insurers won’t cover out-of-network providers at all, except in an emergency.
  4. Compare benefits. Along with price comparisons, be sure to review the full range of services and benefits offered by competing Medicare plans. These can include everything from preferred pharmacy and mail-order prescription discounts to dental, vision, hearing and even fitness benefits. And for 2020, many Medicare Advantage plans will offer supplemental benefits that provide additional assistance to people with chronic illness, such as non-emergency transportation, virtual medical visits, caregiver support, nutritional counseling and meal delivery, and air conditioning, among others.
  5. Work with a professional to understand your choices. To make sure you’re viewing a wide range of plans available on the market, work with an expert in Medicare products that represents more than just one insurance company. It doesn’t cost anything extra. A licensed agent can help you understand and make sense of all your options and select coverage that best matches your needs, budget, and lifestyle.

I’M JUST CURIOUS: Those crazy November “holidays”

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by Debbie Walker

It is almost over, all these holiday reminders. Hope you have found some new holidays to look forward to, let me know the special ones to you.

Nov 2: Book Lover Day – This should be my birthday! It is a day for finding a comfy seat either in the sun or shade, depending on your liking. Find that place to relax with a good book.

Nov. 3: Housewife Day – Thank all the ladies who stay home and tend to the house and family. It was the way of things some years ago when one income could support a family. The “good ole days.”

Nov. 6: Marooned Without a Compass Day – I would say the GPS has changed things for some of the compass carrying folks. When I drove to Ohio the first time my 28-year-old granddaughter said, “Nana, how did you find your way to Steve’s with no GPS? I introduced her to the Atlas and Compass. And they don’t need batteries nor Wi-fi!”

Nov. 7: National Men Make Dinner Day – This is to give the ladies a break from some daily chores. (This includes cleaning dirty dishes, clean off table and sweep the floor). It is also to encourage men who don’t know how to cook to learn!!

Nov. 8: Chaos Never Dies Day – If you think your life is chaotic today, just wait until the holiday season arrives!

Nov. 11: Veterans Day – It is to honor all members of the Armed Forces who served this country valiantly. Thank you all.

Happy Birthday Brother Blake. Rest in Peace.

Nov. 13: Sadie Hawkins Day – Do you remember Al Capp’s “L’il Abner Cartoon”? Sadie Hawkins Day started because the Mayor of Dogpatch wanted to marry off a daughter. The only way this girl was going to get a guy was by catching him in a race! Catch him and he must marry you!

Nov. 15: Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day – Use this day to clean out the refrigerator from top to bottom. Use the old saying for your guide: “When in doubt, throw it out’!

Nov. 20: Absurdity Day – Celebrate this in an absurd manner. Find things to do that are somewhat, if not wholly, illogical. Have fun with it. Have a wonderful, mind boggling and absurd day!

Nov. 27: Pins and Needles Day – This was the name of a pro-Labor play on Broadway on this day in 1937. This is a “Pins and Needles” Day when you are waiting for a special event. Relax and enjoy!

Nov. 29: Buy Nothing Day – On the day after Thanksgiving in recent years, people have celebrated the day by insane shopping for Christmas. Buy Nothing Day is to promote a little bit less craziness and a few less gifts to celebrate the Christmas holidays. We have gone crazy in debt for this holiday.

Nov. 30: Stay at Home Because You are Well Day – Celebrate this with caution. Your job may depend on it. Good Luck

I’m just curious which holidays you will choose to celebrate. Let me know how you did, please. This information came from a website called Holiday Insights. I hope you enjoyed the column. Contact me at dwdaffy@yahoo.com.