GARDEN WORKS: It’s planting time! Helpful hints to get your garden growing

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photo by Emily Cates

Emily Catesby Emily Cates

Finally, after what seems like forever, the soil in the garden is ready to plant what we’ve all been waiting for: tasty tomatoes, sumptuous squashes, wonderful melons, among many more. After a tough winter and tardy spring, we’re going to make up for lost time. To get things growing, we have a few tricks up our sleeve. This time we’ll look at planting strategies and growth promoters.

This year’s planting season is definitely behind schedule by a couple weeks or so. But don’t despair, it should all catch up just fine with the right care. Early plantings, unless covered somehow with a hoop house or cold frame, won’t grow much faster than if they were planted when the soil warms up. So no worries for slacking this time.

However, I would certainly recommend planting long season, commonly direct-seeded veggies like corn, squash, beans, melons, pumpkins, and gourds right away. We definitely want them to have enough time to mature before our first frost in the fall. Tomato, pepper, eggplant, and others that are planted as seedlings will also appreciate being set out ASAP.

Cool-weather crops that are direct-seeded like peas and spinach have probably missed the boat as far as spring sowing goes, but will be happy to get a second chance to be planted in about a month for a fall harvest. Lettuce and salad greens like to chill in the shady part of the garden when summertime sizzles.

Black plastic mulch speeds up the growth of heat-loving plants and keeps weeds at bay. Also, floating row covers provide an added layer of warmth and protect plants from pests, providing the cover is removed when needed during pollination.

Most important is a nice, rich, healthy soil with adequate nutrients for the plants to grow fast enough to catch up. Liquid fish and seaweed fertilizers can be applied as directed. Compost and aged manure are great mixed into the garden or top-dressed as needed. I’ve read a ratio of 1:10 organic matter to soil, but heck, that seems minimal to me and I just load it on with fine results. Squash especially grows like crazy when planted in a manure pile, and that’s just what I want. Now if the weeds weren’t as enthused.

FOR YOUR HEALTH – Make Health A Family Reunion Affair: Talk With Your Family About Kidney Health

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(NAPSI)—Family reunions are a great way to reconnect with loved ones, celebrate your family’s heritage and make new memories. Family reunions are also an opportunity to talk about family health history.

You may have family members who have diabetes, high blood pressure or both. These are conditions that often run in families and are risk factors for kidney disease. Kidney disease affects African Americans more than other groups. That’s why it’s important to talk to your family about risk factors for kidney disease, how to get tested and how kidney disease can be treated.

Kidney disease is a serious and common health problem, affecting an estimated 30 million adults in the United States. Kidney disease means your kidneys are damaged and can’t filter blood the way they should. Kidney disease can often get worse over time and may lead to kidney failure. If your kidneys fail, you will need dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain your health. The sooner you know about your family history of kidney disease, the sooner you can make changes to help protect your kidneys.

To get you started talking with your family about kidney health, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), a part of the National Institutes of Health, created the Family Reunion Health Guide. This guide offers basic information about kidney disease and suggests approaches you can take to connect with your family about kidney health. You can use this guide to help make kidney health a family reunion affair. Information in the guide includes materials and tips to help you:

Talk With Your Family About the Risk Factors for Kidney Disease

Diabetes and high blood pressure are the two leading causes of kidney disease. You are also at risk if you have a family history of kidney failure or have heart disease. The Family Reunion Health Guide can help you talk with your family about kidney disease and its connection to diabetes, high blood pressure and other risk factors.

Encourage Family Members at Risk for Kidney Disease to Get Tested

Many people with kidney disease don’t know they have the disease until their kidneys begin to fail. This is because you can have kidney disease without any symptoms. The good news is that when kidney disease is found early, there are ways to protect your kidneys by managing your blood pressure, eating a healthy diet and being active. There is no cure for kidney failure, but dialysis or a kidney transplant can help you live longer and feel better. The sooner you find out you have kidney disease, the sooner you can take steps to prevent more serious health problems. This is why it’s important to talk with your family about the need to get tested.

Make a Family Commitment to Kidney Health

You can reduce your risk for developing kidney disease by taking steps to live a healthy lifestyle. Diagnosing and treating the disease early can slow or prevent the progression of kidney disease. The Family Reunion Health Guide shares ideas for how you can encourage family members to take steps to protect their kidney health. By being your family’s kidney health champion, you can help ensure that your family enjoys many more reunions to come.

Learn More

For more information about kidney disease, kidney failure, diabetes, high blood pressure and more, or to access the Family Reunion Health Guide, visit the NIDDK website at www.niddk.nih.gov.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Meeting the picnic beetle

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Above, picnic beetle.

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

This week, let’s return to the “never seen that before” department.

This past winter, for the first time, I deployed the “better mouse trap” in camp. It consists of a five-gallon bucket, a soda can, a piece of wire, some anti-freeze and a piece of strapping. You place the wire through the can, attach it to the bucket with a piece of wire, and build a “ramp” with the piece of wood. You coat the can with peanut butter, pour the anti-freeze in the bucket, and place it in camp before you close it up in the fall.

Once the mouse smells the peanut butter, it will climb up the ramp, jump across the gap to the can, which will rotate from the weight of the mouse, and the mouse then falls into the bucket of anti-freeze. It’s very effective.

So, this spring, I had captured eight mice over the winter. After giving them a proper burial, I carefully, and properly, disposed of the anti-freeze, and placed the bucket outside until I could put it away in my storage shed.

A picnic beetle in the bucket.

In the meantime, we received some rain, often, and heavy at times, which left about four inches of water in the bottom of the bucket. Last Sunday, when I finally got around to the bucket, I noticed six beetles floating in the water. They were blackish-brown, with four orange/red dots on the back. “Never seen that before!”

According to Bug Guide, at the Iowa State University Department of Entomology, they are Glischrochilus, a genus of sap-feeding and predatory beetles better known as picnic beetles or beer bugs.

They feed on exuding sap from injured trees and decaying vegetable or fungal matter. They are also attracted to ripening fruit, as well as beer, vinegar, wine, fruit juice and fermenting beverages. So, I don’t really know what attracted them to the bucket of water, that may have still had some anti-freeze residue.

As I researched more, I found they frequently drown as they feed. They congregate in large numbers – does six constitute a large number? – when such beverages are present. They are known to ruin picnics and outdoor gatherings like BBQs, earning them the name “picnic beetles” and “beer bug.”

At the university, researchers attract the bugs using bait that contains beer, molasses, vinegar and pineapples, among other ingredients.

They can be found in North America and Eurasia. In North America, their range is from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, to Florida, Kansas, New Mexico and Oregon. Their habitat consists of hanging out under the bark of injured or dying trees, on sap, oozing tree wounds, decaying or fermenting fruit. They are considered pests of certain fruit and vegetable crops like strawberries, corn, tomatoes, apricot, raspberries and peaches. They normally only become a problem when fruits are damaged or are overripe and beginning to ferment. They are extremely difficult to control because they are attracted to the odor of food. (Could it have been some remnants of peanut butter on the can?).

On strawberries, they will leave a deep cavity very similar to the damage caused by slugs. In sweet corn, an ear damaged by corn earworm will attract sap beetles. The larvae of sap beetles then feed on the undamaged kernels. They can be found from silk to ear maturity.

But it is the strawberries that are primary targets for the insect. These beetles prefer over-ripe fruit but also readily attack ripening fruit.

The use of pesticides is not very effective and is not recommended. Sap beetles have been seen on ripe fruit, so pesticides should not be used on the crop.

Carbaryl and bifenthrin can be used to control severe infestations. These pesticides may kill existing beetles, but if the fruit is present, they cannot prevent additional sap beetles from moving into the garden. As always, follow the pesticide label directions attached to the pesticide container you are using. Remember, the label is the law.

I don’t think I have to go that far. The six beetles that I had seem to be the only ones around. I have seen no others in nearly a week.

I’m just still curious why the bucket of water attracted them.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Which NFL team appeared in four consecutive Super Bowls, and lost them all?

Answer can be found here.

Saddened and confused: the flooding of Flagstaff village

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

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

This morning I’m going around in circles as I have been trying to find some local news to share with you. Since I couldn’t come up with anything new, I had told you I would remind you when Carolyn Waugh’s memorial would be coming up; it is on June 29, here in Solon.

Lief and I have been traveling the roads a lot, we went up to the ‘County’ and spent three days up there visiting his sisters and brother. We also stopped at the cemeteries where relatives were buried.

Because of the strange weather we’ve been having this spring, there were very few potato plants sticking up through the earth; although, as always, there were many, many fields plowed up waiting for some sunshine.

It was fun to visit with members of Lief’s close knit family and see and hear about the places where he had grown up.

We also visited with some of my family, up in God’s country, which is always a pleasure for me, (and, thankfully, Lief likes it, too.) As I have written before, two of my brothers have camps near Flagstaff Lake. We visited Tom and Insowa whose camp is right on the lake one day, and then, a few days later, when Larry and Stefhanie were up to their camp, we went there to see them, and it was a wonderful visit. As I have written before, the peace up there passes all understanding!

But……that was not always the case, this is a headline from an old clipping: Flagstaff Awaits Man-Made Flood That Will Cover Town; Tiny Hamlet Will Be Wiped Out By Construction Dead River Dam.”

This old clipping was written by Eva D. Bachelder, and she wrote,”Saddened and confused the people of Flagstaff are watching the preliminary procedure of the project which, if carried through, will wipe from existence their entire settlement. Their homes, church and lodges must go, their dead will be moved from their burial place. The Flagstaff that has marked the spot where Arnold’s men landed on their march to Quebec in 1775 and the War Memorial markers must be moved to the ground of a nearby town.

For when the Dead River Dam is constructed as now planned by the Central Maine Power Company, the Plantation of Flagstaff will be under the body of water made by the flowage. It is estimated that at least 13 feet of water will be over the location of the present post office and store and that the flowage will run back nearly to the village of Stratton, seven miles away.

Flagstaff’s present population is small, between seventy and one hundred, but it is a population of survivors, people who were born in the community, many of whom are living in the homes of their fathers.

They have heard the building of such a dam talked about for 20 years and twice during that time it almost seemed a certainty but as the years have passed it has become almost a myth, although all are unanimous in the opinion that a change began in the town when the company years ago began to buy farms and other land.

There has been a feeling of uncertainty for several years in everything that they have done and no one attempted to establish anything permanent. The sawmill of the Viles Timberland, Inc., of Augusta, sawing a cut of 2,500,000 feet of pine, has only temporary quarters in Flagstaff. ” It was a very trying, uncertain time living there during all of this uncertainty and so some people started selling their homes to Central Maine Power. The last of it, my folks moved their house to Eustis, many of the Rogers families moved to Solon. Frank and I and our 18-month-old son moved to a farm we had bought on the River Road, in Solon. It was a very stressful time for all involved…… and that is why I am so against this CMP Corridor!

And now for Percy’s memoir: What you do, what you say, what you are, may help others in ways you never know. Your influence, like your shadow, extends where you may never be.

I’M JUST CURIOUS – The wandering Nanas: Chapter One

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by Debbie Walker

What happens when THE Nanas decide to take a driving trip? Panic of the families! Nana Dee and I are related by marriage: our children married each other and gave us two grandkids to share.

In this trip we have been named “THE Wandering Nanas.” It all got started when Nana Dee wanted to go to Ohio (and not fly there) to visit her 94-years-young Aunt Jean and then on to Pennsylvania for a visit with a nephew and his family.

With vacation talk, one thing led to another and I, Nana Daffy volunteered to drive her, making us THE Wandering Nanas (or the blind leading the blind!).

This trip could have easily been called The Laughing Vacation. We have laughed since before we got into the truck to leave her driveway! We even laughed our way through getting lost a couple of times.

We had a mini-trip with Aunt Jean. She mentioned a wish to go to lunch at McDonald’s for a burger. We aim to please! We drove to one about 54 miles from her home, it was the only one we knew of. I share with you now that we managed to go past one about six miles from her home. Nana Dee and I saw it this afternoon and just could not believe our eyes. That poor woman had been taken all that distance and time from home; we didn’t get her home until about 6:30 p.m.

Since Aunt Jean gave up her driving when she moved to a new area of the state, she wasn’t familiar with this area yet, but Jean was the one who came up with the final direction we needed to get home last night. Thank goodness.

Walnut Creek, Ohio, according to the website, ‘MapQuest,’ is an unincorporated community located in an area with a large Amish population. It is quite a tourist attraction with all their shops and activities. I never saw so many beautiful quilts in my life as I have seen here.

Since Nana Dee is absolutely a “Give me a cup of coffee” before she functions person, we were both lucky there was Der Dutchman Bakery nearby. Dee says it is the best coffee ever. For my safety and enjoyment, I want Nana Dee to get that coffee!

We came back to Der Dutchman Bakery to the other side that is a restaurant for lunch. I really liked their menu ideas. I wish more would do this. Did you ever go into a restaurant and wish you could try several entrees? On their menu you can order a combination of a couple of smaller portioned entrees. They even have a dessert choice of three smaller portioned desserts. You know how you look at them and think it was hard to choose just one. You don’t have to there. So we ordered blueberry pie, peanut butter pie and date nut cake with caramel sauce. They are not as small as I thought they would be.

I am just curious how much crazier; our trip will become as we leave tomorrow for the drive to somewhere near Pittsburgh in Slippery Rock! (I think I am nervous now. How slippery is Slippery Rock!! Depending on how crazy it really is I may add more of our trip to next week’s edition.

Contact me at dwdaffy@yahoo.com with any questions, comments or ideas for future editions. Thanks for reading!

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Leonard Cohen, Songs from a Room

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Leonard Cohen

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Leonard Cohen

Songs from a Room
Columbia/Legacy-88697047402, CD, recorded 1968.

Quebec-born singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) was arguably most well-known for Hallelujah but, back in the 1960s, his Suzanne and That’s No Way to Say Good­bye held their own as very frequently sung.

The lyrics dealt with politics, loneliness, integrity, faith – the themes underlining a life worth living, whatever side of the drawn line. The titles in the above 12-track collection suggest much in subject matter – Bird on a Wire; Story of Isaac; A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes; The Partisan; You Know Who I Am; Tonight Will Be Fine; half dozen others.

Jennifer Warnes

For me, what sustains this second of his many albums is the beauty and moral power of the selections; the sing­ing, ar­range­ments, and repeat listenability. Very highly worth hearing and having.

His long time musical colleague and friend Jennifer Warnes devoted her worthwhile 1987 release, Famous Blue Raincoat to his songs .

Quote – “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

 

 

 

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Five Ways To Help Prevent Veteran Suicide

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Members of the Bourque-Lanigan American Legion Post #5, and Forrest J. Pare VFW Post #1285, in Waterville, joined together on Sunday November 11, for a special Veterans Day ceremony at Castonguay Square, in downtown Waterville, in front of city hall. (Photo by Central Maine Photography)

(NAPSI)—It’s a tragedy: Every day, 22 U.S. veterans take their own lives—a needless loss of 8,000 service members a year.

The Problem

Returning veterans may experience divorce, joblessness, homelessness and hopelessness.

The often-devastating effects of mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and post-traumatic stress (PTS), plus the loss of their military community support, can cause a downward spiral.

Symptoms of mTBI include headaches and problems with balance, sleep, vision and memory. Emotional signs include depression and anxiety. But today’s treatment approaches and therapeutic technologies offer hope for veterans feeling overwhelming physical and emotional pain from these invisible wounds of war.

What You Can Do

1. Be observant about behavior changes. For many veterans, the physical symptoms of mTBI are not obvious. Be on the lookout for loss of interest in meaningful activities, personality changes, social isolation and substance abuse.

2. Reach out and spend time together. Let a veteran know he or she is not alone. Meet for coffee or go for a walk. Listen and encourage them to seek help.

3. Tell veterans and their families about helpful programs. Encourage caregivers, spouses and friends to seek help on behalf of a veteran.

One outstanding option that’s transformed the lives of more than 550 veterans and their families is the SHARE Military Initiative at Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Ga. This innovative program provides up to 12 weeks of intensive rehabilitation, at no cost to the veteran, to treat mild to moderate brain injury and psychological concerns of those who served in the U.S. military since September 11, 2001. Treatment plans are personalized to each veteran’s needs. The program is open to all post-9/11 veterans, including those with other than honorable discharges.

Because of intensive and comprehensive therapy, rehabilitation and life coaching, SHARE has become a model for centers nationwide. Experts in working with veterans provide medical consultation, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and cognitive therapy, recreation therapy, case management, neuropsychology, chaplaincy and counseling.

4. Volunteer or donate to organizations battling the epidemic of veteran suicide.

5. Support fundraisers and events, such as the Shepherd’s Men Run. Annually, a team of committed volunteers runs seven days of half marathons in multiple states wearing 22-pound flak jackets—to increase awareness of treatment options and suicide prevention for veterans. Shepherd’s Men have raised millions for this heartfelt mission.

Learn More

Veterans and those who want to help can call 404-603-4314 or visit www.shepherd.org/share and www.shepherdsmen.com.

SOLON & BEYOND: Slow news week; let’s catch up on old news

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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!

This morning as I sit here, the only little bit of recent news I have for you this week is the following: Please note that the “Off the Hill” Band (Donna Whittemore) will not be taking place on Saturday, June 15, due to illness.

Would also like to apologize to Alice Heald for not including a picture with the write-up about her being awarded the Boston Post Cane, will try and get that corrected soon.

And now since I don’t have any more interesting events going on in Solon to tell you about; I will tell you of the mystery that Lief and I have been trying to solve! One morning last week when he went out to get our daily paper, there along with the paper was a large package of fresh fiddle heads. We both love them, and since they were in the paper tube we assumed they were from our faithful paper lady. I wrote a thank you note to her from Lief and me and he put it in the tube for her the next day. The next day she had written at the top of that days paper that she did not give us the fiddle heads. We have asked several friends and relatives if they gave us that wonderful gift, and they all deny it! And so I beg whoever you are if you read this, to tell us who you are so we can thank you for your kind deed! They were absolutely delicious!

And so as long as I didn’t have any recent news, I went looking through my stash of old papers and came up with two Skowhegan Reports from back in the 1990s! They were much bigger ( 23″ by 28″) than the ones in our modern world. With many different writers from around Somerset County. I was one of the writers, but back then there wasn’t any Beyond, there was plenty to write about in Solon, at that time my by line was, “The friendliest town in the state.”

One of the 1990 papers that I found started with these words,”This is going to sound like I’m blowing my own horn, but please bear with me, I’m trying to get a fact across to you who might not have taken advantage of this Blood Pressure Clinic that is held at the Pleasant Street Church the first Friday of every month from 9 to 11 a.m. This is the 14th year we have been doing this and we welcome you to come each month and have your blood pressure checked for FREE! Every three months, someone from the North Kennebec Regional Health Agency, in Waterville, comes up and does a cholesterol test and you find out the number of your’s right there for a fee of $6. Low blood pressure and cholesterol are very important for our well being, so come and have your’s tested.

“Those volunteers, (and we are just that – volunteers, though some people like to tease us about how much we make on this job!), who have been faithful to this cause are Lois Holzworth, who takes the blood pressures, (and we couldn’t do it without her, everyone knows I don’t want that job!); Amy Robinson, Mary Hall, and Heloise Ward. Others whom I have depended upon when they needed, are Ellen Hills, Linda French and Ruby Gates. Of course, I’ve been there rooting for a good cause, Do come and see us!”

Near where the above was printed, there was a great picture of Lois Holzworth taking Amy Robinson’s blood pressure.

When I read the story I couldn’t help thinking how the Solon Methodist Church building in Solon has housed at least two worthy causes over the years; the Blood Pressure Clinic and the Solon Thrift Shop and Food Cupboard.

Years ago when the Methodist and Congregational churches were federated in Solon, Sunday services were held at the Congregational Church in the summer time and the Methodist church in the winter time. I can remember some very inspiring sermons being preached at both churches.

And so for Percy’s memoir: It is called, An Old Limerick: There was a young lady named Hannah Who slipped on a peel of banana. As she lay on her side, More stars she espied, Than there are in the Star Spangled Banner.

SOLON & BEYOND: Alice Heald presented with cane as Solon’s oldest citizen

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

On May 22, 2019, Alice Heald was honored with the presentation of the Boston Post Cane as she is the oldest resident of Solon. Also present were her son David Heald, daughter Betty Price, grandsons William Price, Charles Price with wife Amy and great-grandchildren Seth and Leah Price, Lief and Marilyn Bull. Presenting the award were Elaine Aloes and Sarah Davis.

Alice Heald was born on December 1, 1922, daughter of Isaac and Arra Davis with siblings Harrison Davis, Arlene Meader, Richard Davis Beverly Shaughnessy, and Isaac “Bunky Davis, Jr. Alice lived in Solon all her life. She helped with the chores on the Isaac Davis farm across from the present Solon Elementary School for many years. Alice attended Solon schools and graduated in 1940. She attended Skowhegan Commercial School graduating in 1942. She worked at Depositor’s Trust Bank for four years, 1942-1946.

On July 11, 1946, she married the love of her life Roger A. Heald. They were married for almost 56 years until Roger passed away in 2002. After discharging from the Navy, Roger and Alice purchased a farm on what is now known as the Meader Road, in Solon, working on it from 1946 to 1958. The main part of their house still exists on the Meader Road. In the fall of 1958, Roger, Alice, David and Betty moved to the house on North Main Street where she presently resides.

Alice also worked with her husband at the D & B Store which was on the corner of Pleasant and Maine streets in Solon beside the Solon Hotel for about five years. Alice was secretary-treasurer of the Solon Village Cemetery for several years. In 1984 Roger and Alice bought the building where the Solon Post Office is, selling it a few years ago. She has been involved in the Solon High School reunion in which she still participates.

Alice spent most of her life as a homemaker taking care of her family. She has done many crafts throughout her lifetime being a member of the Solon Extension for over 50 years. She enjoys cooking to this very day.

Alice enjoys spending time with family and friends over her 96-plus years with many anniversaries and get-togethers.

I also wanted to add that Alice was a member of the Solon Chapter of the Chowder Eating, Beer Drinking, Marching and Singing Society, and we have walked miles, and miles together over the years. She is a dear friend! ( I checked with Alice as to whether she would mind if I added that information, and she had a good laugh remembering. ( Just wanted all of you to know there was never any beer drinking on our early morning walks!)

The Waugh family received a letter of sympathy from the George Washington University after the death of Carolyn Waugh. It states: Dear family members: We have learned of your loss and would like to express our deepest sympathy to you and your family. As a tribute to Carolyn’s relationship to the George Washington University, we have arranged to dedicate a book in the Gelman Library’s permanent collection in her memory. Library staff will select a book compatible with Carolyn’s field of study at GW and a memorial bookplate will be created. They will contact you with the book’s title, author, and call number after the bookplate has been created. Those who study at GW in the years to come will find they share a common legacy with Carolyn.

And now for Percy’s memoir: Entitled, When Blue Skies Are Gray:

Help me to think of springtime flowers, The exuberance in the message they convey – The dogwood bloom, violet’s perfume – Whenever blue skies are gray. Help me remember the summertime with the peaceful serenity of each day Gentle rains, so warm, butterflies that swarm – Whenever blue skies are gray. Let me recall a loved one’s smile and the joy that it brings my way – Just to know they care and are always there – Whenever blue skies are gray. May I ever be mindful of God’s great love and the blessings He sends, I pray; He surely will renew hope in me and you – Although today’s skies are gray! (words by Mary S. Chevalier.)

From what I hear, everyone is very sick of the gray skies, hope these words will help!

I’M JUST CURIOUS: Unusual names of U.S. cities

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by Debbie Walker

Being from Maine we are accustomed to some hard to pronounce names of towns, rivers, etc., due to the Native American historical names as are many other states residents. Yesterday we came across some other ‘uncommon’ names. What follows are ones I found last night on the internet:

The name that started my search is the little town of Two Egg, Florida. It has about 1,100 two-person households. Two Egg had a store where folks would come and trade farm products for other foods such as “two eggs worth of sugar” could make the difference of surviving or not.

The history is on the computer as will be the others you will see here.

How about Soda Springs, Idaho? The name comes from having many carbonated springs in the area. Just imagine, you get to go to the creek to get your soda fix for the day! Wonder if Pepsi or Coke ever investigated this.

Cut and Shoot, Texas – The name refers to a confrontation that took place in 1912 and almost came to violence.

Hooker, Oklahoma, was named for the man, a ranch foreman named John “Hooker” Threlkeld. Some residents like to say, “It is a location, not a vocation.”

Screamer, Alabama. One version of the name is they could have been referring to the sounds of the wood’s animals at night.

No Name, Colorado. It was meant to be a temporary solution but became a thing of pride. It’s population of about 200 people opted to keep the name. It is located near No Name tunnels, No Name Creek and the No Name hiking trail.

Corner Ketch, Delaware. It appears to have been named for a local rough and tumble bar. The drinkers were so quarrelsome that the residents would warn strangers, “They’ll ketch ye at the corner.”

Slickpoo, Idaho. It barely qualifies as a town but was once a bustling village. It was gifted to the folks by landowner Josiah Slickpoo.

Bugtussle, Kentucky. This one surprised me. I had heard of it but thought it was just someone’s funny idea of a name. Maybe it really was but there is a story. They say years ago when someone brought in workers for the harvest they would sleep in the barn – on hay that was infested with Doodlebugs. It is said the workers stayed so long that the bugs grew big enough to “tussle” for the prime napping spots.

Maine even has a spot in the long list of funny names. Burnt Porcupine is the name of a sister island to Bald Porcupine, Long Porcupine and Sheep Porcupine. They are near Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.

Hell, Michigan. I had a client (my real estate years) once who came from there! Some rude woman didn’t want us on ‘HER’ road, (it wasn’t hers). She hollered to tell us something about “When Hell Freezes Over.” He quietly told me that ‘Hell, does indeed freeze over but this is the wrong time of the year.’

I am just curious if you will search out some of the funny and bizarre names, there are many more. If you want to share a story with me or have comments just send them to dwdaffy@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading!