SMALL SPACE GARDENING: Design a deer-resistant garden without the fence

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A hungry deer grazing in a garden. (photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com)

by Melinda Myers

Deer are common visitors to landscapes even in urban and suburban areas. Fencing is the most effective way to protect your plants but is not always practical or desirable. Your community may have restrictions on fencing, your budget may not support this option, or you prefer not to hide your plantings behind a fence.

Growing a beautiful garden despite the deer is possible but takes planning, persistence, and flexibility. You must be willing to change strategies as needed to minimize deer damage.

Deer dining patterns can vary from one part of your neighborhood to another and from year to year. You have probably reviewed deer-resistant plant lists only to find a few of the plants frequently damaged in your yard included on the list.

No plant is immune from hungry deer, but some are a bit less palatable than others.

Look for plants with these characteristics next time you go plant shopping. Include plants with fuzzy or hairy leaves, those with prickly or thorny stems, thick and leathery leaves, and strong fragrances that deer tend to avoid. Even though this is not one hundred percent, plant selection should be part of your strategy for reducing the risk of damage. Make note of the plants selected and how the deer responded. It will help as you make future additions to the garden.

There are toxic plants that deer avoid, including daffodils, ferns, false blue indigo, poppies, euphorbias, and bleeding hearts to name a few. Some of these are also toxic to people and pets so do your research before adding them to the landscape.

Some gardeners find combining the less favored plants with those the deer love helps discourage feeding. Planting strongly scented lavender next to roses or surrounding a garden of deer favorites with thyme can help discourage deer browsing. Diversifying plantings is also a good strategy for reducing the risk of insects and diseases infecting and destroying gardens filled with just one type of plant.

Look for pathways frequented or used to enter your landscape. Find ways to disrupt their regular routes to keep them moving along past your landscape. A trellis or a few posts covered with vines may be enough to limit access. Points of access are great places to apply repellents like organic Plantskydd (plantskydd.com). The deer take a whiff and move along before taking a bite out of any plants. The same holds true for those key plants favored by deer. It’s rain and snow resistant so you don’t need to apply it as often as other repellent products.

Plant a deer-deterring hedge. Some gardeners use deer favorites, allowing the deer to munch on these plants as they continue past your yard. Other gardeners fill the hedge with prickly, smelly, and less desirable plants. Deer will take a bite and move along. Plant these close together to discourage deer from pushing through in search of better-tasting plants.

Design round or square beds with more space in the middle and less perimeter. Long narrow beds allow easy access to all the plants in the garden.

Keep in mind deer are focused on finding food while you have other priorities to consider. You need to be vigilant and persistent, adapting as the deer’s eating habits change to be successful. Your efforts will be rewarded as you grow an attractive garden without the help of a fence.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including The 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 was commissioned by Tree World Plant Care for her expertise to write this article. Her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Rest of groundhogs ready to make an appearance

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Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

Groundhog day was a little over two months ago. However, this is the time of year when they usually start to make their appearance, emerging from their dens following a long winter of hibernation.

Groundhogs, Marmota monax, also known as woodchucks, are a rodent, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. It was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.

The groundhog is also referred to as a chuck, woodshock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger, Canada maramot, monx, moonack, weenusk, red monk, and, among French Canadians in eastern Canada, siffleux, which translates to whistler.

They are a lowland creature, found through much of the eastern United States across Canada and into Alaska. Adults are 16 – 20 inches long, including a six-inch tail, and weigh between 5 – 12 pounds. Extremely large individuals can weigh as much as 15 pounds.

The name woodchuck is unrelated to wood or chucking. It stems from the Native American Algonquian or possibly Narragansett word for the animal, wuchak. The similarities in the name led to the popular tongue-twister: “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could if a woodchuck could chuck wood.”

Groundhogs prefer open country and the edges of woodlands, and is rarely far from a burrow entrance. It is typically found in low-elevation forests, small woodlots, fields, pastures and hedgerows. It constructs dens in well-drained soil, and most have summer and winter dens.

In the wild, groundhogs can live up to six years, although three years is the average. In captivity, they can live up to 14 years. Humans, dogs, coyotes and foxes are about the only predators that can kill adult groundhogs, with the red fox being the major predator. Young may be taken by owls and hawks.

According to studies, despite their heavy body weight, they are accomplished swimmers and will occasionally climb trees to escape a predator. They prefer to retreat to their den when threatened, and will defend itself with its incisors and front claws. They are territorial among their species and will skirmish to establish dominance.

When alarmed, they will use a high-pitched whistle to warn the rest of the colony, hence the nickname whistlepig. They will also squeal when fighting, seriously injured, or caught by a predator. They will also produce a low bark and a sound produced by grinding their teeth.

They are excellent burrowers, using the burrow to sleep, rear their young, and hibernate. An excavated den can remove about six cubic feet of soil, on average, or almost five bushels per den. They are relatively large and include a sleeping berth and an excrement chamber.

The burrow can be a threat to agricultural and residential development by damaging farm machinery and even undermining building foundations. However, in a June 7, 2009, issue of the Humane Society of the United States, How to Humanely Chuck a Woodchuck Out of Your Yard, John Griffin, director of Human Wildlife Services wrote, “you would have to have a lot of woodchucks working over a lot of years to create tunnel systems that would pose any risk to structures.”

The burrow is used for safety, retreat in bad weather, hibernating, sleeping, love nest, and nursery.

Groundhogs are one of the few species that enter into true hibernation. In most areas they hibernate from October to March or April. They drop their body temperature, the heart rate falls to 4 – 10 beats per minute and breathing falls to one breath every six minutes. Researching the hibernation patterns of groundhogs may lead to benefits for humans, including lowering the heart rate in complicated surgical procedures.

Groundhogs are already used in medical research on hepatitis B-induced cancer. Humans can’t receive hepatitis from woodchucks but the virus and its effects on the liver make the woodchuck the best available animal for the study of viral hepatitis in humans. The only other animal model for hepatitis B virus studies is the chimpanzee, which is an endangered species.

Always thought to be a nuisance species, groundhog dens often provide homes for skunks, red foxes and cottontail rabbits. The fox and skunk feed upon field mice, grasshoppers, beetles and other creatures that destroy farm crops. In aiding these animals, groundhogs indirectly help the farmers.

I had a groundhog living near my garden a few years ago, and he unceremoniously cleaned out all my string beans. Well, I unceremoniously captured him in a Hav-a-Hart trap, and relocated him to the wild, and wished him the best of luck.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Which Red Sox player made an infamous error in the 1986 World Series?

Answer can be found here.

LIFE ON THE PLAINS: Stroll along west side of Main St.

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A postcard showing Main St., in Waterville, after an ice storm with iced lines and plowed Waterville, Fairfield & Oakland trolley tracks running the middle of the street, on March 10, 1906.

by Roland D. Hallee

A couple of weeks ago we traveled out of The Plains to take a walk down the east side of Main St. This week, we’ll take a stroll down the west side. On this side, because we are talking about more than 60 years ago, there are a few gaps that this old brain can’t remember, but we’ll come close.

The west side of Main St. actually started down by the traffic circle. As you came up Water St., once you passed the Lockwood Little League baseball field, was W. A. Taylor Co., kind of an appliance store, but with other amenities. Next came Waterville Hardware Store, where I spent a lot of time, especially where I used to buy my hockey sticks, made of all wood, and cost 75-cents. The blade was straight, no curve. Nothing compared to the composite sticks today, that have no wood in them, and cost upwards of $350 and more.

After that, across a driveway, was the building that housed Atkins Printing, and photo shop. There were apartments on the other two floors. Cross Silver St., and we had Barlow’s Shoe Store, where the Paragon Shop now sits. Next to that was A. W. Larsen’s store, a shop where you could buy any kind of plastic models. That was a hobby of mine back then, and I purchased a lot of the “classic” cars to build. Also, every week, you would go in there to check out the latest rock ‘n roll, 45 rpm records that were popular at the time. Everything from Ricky Nelson, to Connie Francis, Ray Coniff Singers, Elvis, and more. I bought a lot of them, too.

The space SBS Carbon Copy now occupies was the Emery Brown’s Department Store. Mostly women’s clothing. Moving further along, we see Berry’s Stationers, followed by Dunham’s of Maine clothing store. This store was more famous because it carried the line of Hathaway shirts, which everyone knows were produced in Waterville. The mill at the time was located on Hathaway St., which runs parallel to Front St., from Appleton St.

Along that same stretch was Day’s Jewelers, which is still operating today.

After Dunham’s was McClellan’s Department Store, which later would house CVS Pharmacy, and Northern Mattress Furniture Store, until recently. That space is now occupied by the Record Connection. At McClellan’s there was a lunch counter that was very popular with downtown workers. They probably made the best milk shakes in town.

Next in line was Depositors Trust Co., a bank that is now Key Bank. This memory does not recall what was on the corner of what was the west extension of Temple St., now the entrance to the Concourse, where Key Bank drive-thru is located. For some reason, I seem to think it was an Army-Navy store.

The next stretch of buildings, where the Colby dormitory stands, is a little foggy for me. The corner building escapes me, but the next one would be Diambri’s Restaurant. That was a popular hang out for high school kids. The best french fries and brown gravy in town.

Following that was Beal’s Stationary Store, then Foxy’s Billiard Parlor, and the famous Park’s Diner, a 24/7 joint that was a converted railroad caboose. Every table had initials carved in them of what appeared to be every high school sweetheart couple that ever existed. Many lies were told in that place. Once, while my wife and I were on our way to Canada, we stumbled across the old Park’s Diner in North New Portland, to where it had been moved decades prior. Walking through the doors was like entering into a time warp. Nothing inside had changed – even the initials were still there.

After crossing the Appleton St. extension, there was J.C. Penney store, where Care & Comfort is now, followed by Giguere’s Super Market, Waterville Savings Bank, where I secured by first home mortgage, in 1970, and finally, the U.S. Post Office, at the intersection of Main and Elm streets.

As you can see, Main St. was a diverse business district with many options available to the shoppers. Again, there may be a few gaps in this stroll, but for the most part, you can see how different Main St. is today.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: William McKinley

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William McKiinley

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

William McKinley

In a speech given at the Pan-American Exposition, in Buffalo, New York, on September 5, 1901, (one day before he was shot by the psychotic anarchist Leon Czolgosz), the 25th President William McKinley (1843-1901) stated that “Isolation is no longer possible or desirable….The period of exclusiveness is past.”

During his first term in office, McKinley would be faced with the challenges of the Spanish-American War in Cuba, an armed insurrection in the Philip­pines and the Boxer Rebellion in China ; and the annexation of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Hawaiian Islands. But he showed gifts of leadership that were both firm and quietly unobtrusive.

His main political goal, one that had pre-occupied him since he was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1876 as a Republican from Ohio, was the protective tariff and, after an exhaustive study of its intricacies, concluded that protectionism benefitted both American industry and the working people, guarding them from the unregulated cheap foreign goods.

Within 14 years, his McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 attracted much criticism but gave Congressman McKinley additional fame throughout the country. The tariff imposed rather high rates on agricultural and manufactured products from abroad yet, strangely, raw sugar was not taxed.

Interestingly, a reciprocity agreement on the tariff provided elbow room for any sitting president to impose additional duties on goods from nations if they were extorting extra duties on our exports .

At the 1888 Republican Convention, McKinley attracted the attention of the multi-millionaire manufacturer Mark Hanna (1837-1904) whose strategic talents and personal wealth would help McKinley win the White House in 1896 and 1900. As with many such behind-the-scenes individuals, Hanna’s own rise to power would make a fascinating case study in the political science realm.

William McKinley Jr. was born January 29, 1843, in Niles, Ohio, to William (1807-1892) and Nancy Allison McKinley (1809-1897). Being the seventh of nine children, he had three brothers and five sisters. His father operated an iron foundry but the business started floundering when McKinley was attending Allegheny College, in Pennsylvania, necessitating his withdrawal to go to work as a schoolteacher and store clerk to help support the family.

When the Civil War started, McKinley joined the 23rd Ohio Regiment and moved up its ranks to the post of Major under the command of Rutherford B. Hayes, who called McKinley, because of his performance during some very bloody skirmishes, “one of the bravest and finest officers in the army.”

When the war ended, McKinley studied law, was admitted to the Ohio bar and shared a partnership in the city of Canton with an elderly judge who soon retired and handed over his practice to the younger man. He moved with assurance in society and soon became interested in politics, campaigning for his former commanding officer Hayes (who by now was a close friend) when the older man successfully ran for governor and later president.

As an eligible bachelor in Canton society, McKinley attracted the ladies but set his sights on the beautiful and well-connected Ida Saxton (1847-1907) who was quite attracted to the young lawyer in return.

They married in January 1871, and a baby girl, Katherine, was born on Christmas Day of that year. They were a very happy and financially prosperous couple with a wonderful future in the works.

But then tragedy struck . Just before their second daughter was born in 1873, Ida’s mother, to whom she had been very close, died; the baby girl, also named Ida, was born but only lived a few months; and finally in 1875, their daughter Katherine died at the age of four from typhoid.

Already having suffered a physical and mental breakdown when she lost her mother and baby daughter, Ida had taken great comfort in Katherine and might have recovered most of her health, but losing Katherine, too, resulted in Ida being an invalid for the rest of her life, clinging to her husband with brief periods of remission during which she went to social gatherings with him. Among the ailments were epilepsy and later phlebitis.

One of her hobbies was crocheting bedroom slippers and she made several thousand pairs .

She and her husband also opened their homes to children from both sides of the track who needed a place to stay during daylight hours and always provided them with lunch, both when residing in Canton and later in Washington D.C., on up to and including the White House years, and she became known as “Auntie McKinley.” It was believed by friends and family as a way of sublimating her grief at the loss of her daughters by giving attention and affection to other children who needed it.

However, she did encourage her husband’s political career even as she was totally dependent on him.

For reasons of space, I now move to the aftermath of when McKinley was shot by Czolgosz on September 6, 1901. The president was beginning to improve a few days later but then gangrene set in around the wound in his stomach and McKinley died on September 14, his wife by his side and his last words to her were those of a favorite hymn, “Nearer My God to Thee, Nearer to Thee.”

Leon Czolgosz was tried quickly and sentenced to death in the electric chair on October 29, six weeks after McKinley’s death.
McKinley’s first vice-president was Garret Hobart (1834-1899), a very shrewd New Jersey lawyer and politician who became a very close friend while in office but he died before the first term ended.

At the 1900 Convention, McKinley allowed its leaders to pick his running mate, Theodore Roosevelt; McKinley accepted him but the two men had a wary dislike for each other.

Then fate intervened and Teddy was president until 1909, when he was succeeded by his own hand-picked choice, William Howard Taft, their stories for later.

FOR YOUR HEALTH – One A Day: Small Daily Acts of Self-Care

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(NAPSI)—The winter holidays have ended, and spring is in sight. As the days start to lengthen, it is a good time to tend to your overall health and well-being, including your mental health, by practicing daily acts of self-care.

Mental health and physical health are closely related. Our emotional, psychological, and social well-being affect how we think, feel, and act. Caring for all parts of ourselves helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices.

Making small healthy choices each day can build habits and make a difference as we move out of winter and into spring. Here are some self-care activities you can fit into your daily routine:

• Take breaks to unwind through yoga, music, gardening, or new hobbies. Try new things and make the ones that make you feel good a regular part of your week.

• Find ways to connect with family and friends, get support, and share your feelings. Staying in touch with friends and family online or with a phone call or chatting with a neighbor outside can help you connect and keep you from feeling isolated.

• Make physical activity part of your daily life. Tending to your health through physical activity doesn’t require a gym membership. Dancing, taking a walk, or even working in your yard or cleaning house can improve your mood and your overall health. 

• Treat yourself to healthy foods. Splurge when you can on fresh fruits and vegetables. Finding a vegetable that you’ve never had before at a farmer’s market or a grocery that carries foods from another culture and learning how to prepare it can be a fun way to include more fresh food in your diet.

• Make sure you are up to date on vaccines, especially COVID-19 vaccines. Updated COVID vaccines can restore protection that may have waned over time and keep you healthy to participate in activities you enjoy.  

“Staying current on COVID vaccines is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and can give people extra peace of mind about their health,” said Dr. Jaime Fergie, director of infectious diseases at Driscoll Children’s Hospital. “Getting vaccinated provides added protection against severe illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID, and helps reduce the risk of getting long COVID too.”  

Move into spring, a time of renewal, with a renewed commitment to healthy habits and actions.

For more information about COVID vaccines and to find a vaccine near you, visit vaccines.gov.

CRITTER CHATTER: It’s time to spring forward

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by Jayne Winters

By the time you read this month’s column, we will have turned the clocks ahead an hour and despite any late season snow storms, we know that spring is right around the corner. In looking through some of Carleen Cote’s old articles (dating from the 1990s), I thought I’d share one that is still applicable all these years later:

“Warmer days are becoming more frequent. This winter was very kind. We only had to shovel snow from our 25 pens three or four times. The major inconvenience was the icy paths to the pens – there was much slipping and sliding, but most of the time we managed to stay upright. The supply of sand we had stored in buckets in the cellar came in handy to provide traction on the paths.

Because the pens are constructed with plastic-covered wire, we cannot wear creepers in the pens. They would cut into the plastic, defeating the purpose of the plastic – to prevent the wire from rusting and to prolong the life of the pens.

The wildlife that spent the winter at the Center include late babies that were not ready to be released last fall, who will soon be released. All the pens and equipment will be cleaned and sanitized. Necessary supplies have been ordered, the milk has been purchased and the incubators are ready for the spring babies that will soon be arriving.

Squirrels will be the first, followed by baby raccoons. We never know what will arrive or how many. Every year is different.

Most people who find baby squirrels are happy to pass them on to a rehabber. However, there are those who go on the internet to find information on how to care for a wild animal in order to keep it. Anyone can post anything on a website; not all postings are correct. Some folks tell us they just couldn’t take the animal away from their kids. There is more to raising a baby squirrel than just giving it food!”

As Carleen noted in her article, typically some critters will be held over the winter for release the following spring. Reasons vary, but often fall admissions aren’t strong or well enough to survive the colder temperatures and reduced food sources of the winter months. Don is always particular about his release sites, mindful of habitat and fresh water availability, both of which may not be accessible after autumn weather sets in. Last spring, the triplet bobcats, three red foxes, and ten fawns were successfully transported and released back into the wild. This year, Don has a couple opossums, three red foxes, one gray fox, and two gray squirrels to return to their rightful homes.

Admissions have slowed down during the winter, but there are still calls from folks worried about animals that appear to be injured, sick, or struggling to survive. Don continues to take them in, but transfers some rescues to other rehabbers who have graciously offered to provide assistance to help keep critter care at Duck Pond manageable. Please check the following web sites to see if there is a rehabber near you: https://www.mainevetmed.org/wildlife-rehabilitation or https://www.maine.gov/ifw/fish-wildlife/wildlife/living-with-wildlife/orphaned-injured-wildlife/index.html –

Donald Cote operates Duck Pond Wildlife Care Center on Rte. 3 in Vassalboro. It is a non-profit state permitted rehab facility supported by his own resources & outside donations. Mailing address: 1787 North Belfast Ave., Vassalboro ME 04989 TEL: (207) 445-4326. PLEASE NOTE THE PRIOR wildlifecarecenter EMAIL ADDRESS IS NOT BEING MONITORED AT THIS TIME.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: First sighting of the common house fly

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Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

Another sign of spring is upon us.

While out checking and emptying my maple sap buckets last Monday, I saw a common house fly on the side of the bucket. The first one of the season. A sure sign of spring, but also the beginning of their irritation.

The housefly is the most common fly species found in houses. The female housefly usually mates only once and stores the sperm for later use. She lays batches of about 100 eggs on decaying organic matter such as food waste, carrion, or feces. These soon hatch into legless white larvae, known as maggots. Adult flies normally live for two to four weeks, but can hibernate during the winter. The adults feed on a variety of liquid or semi-liquid substances, as well as solid materials which have been softened by their saliva. They can carry pathogens on their bodies and in their feces, contaminate food, and contribute to the transfer of food-borne illnesses, while, in numbers, they can be physically annoying. For these reasons, they are considered pests.

The housefly is probably the insect with the widest distribution in the world; it is largely associated with humans and has accompanied them around the globe. It is present in the Arctic, as well as in the tropics, where it is abundant. It is present in all populated parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia, and the Americas.

Houseflies play an important ecological role in breaking down and recycling organic matter. Adults are mainly carnivorous; their primary food is animal matter, carrion, and feces, but they also consume milk, sugary substances, and rotting fruit and vegetables. Solid foods are softened with saliva before being sucked up. They can be opportunistic blood feeders.

Adult houseflies are diurnal (active during the day) and rest at night. If inside a building after dark, they tend to congregate on ceilings, beams, and overhead wires, while out of doors, they crawl into foliage or long grass, or rest in shrubs and trees or on wires. In cooler climates, some houseflies hibernate in winter, choosing to do so in cracks and crevices, gaps in woodwork, and the folds of curtains. They arouse in the spring when the weather warms up, and search out a place to lay their eggs.

Houseflies have many predators, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, various insects, and spiders.

Houseflies are a nuisance, disturbing people while at leisure and at work, but they are disliked principally because of their habits of contaminating foodstuffs. They alternate between breeding and feeding in dirty places while feeding on human foods, during which process they soften the food with saliva and deposit their feces, creating a health hazard. However, housefly larvae are as nutritious as fish meal, and could be used to convert waste to insect-based animal feed for farmed fish and livestock.

During the Second World War, the Japanese worked on entomological warfare techniques. Japanese Yagi bombs developed at Pingfan consisted of two compartments, one with houseflies and another with a bacterial slurry that coated the houseflies prior to release. Vibrio cholerae, which causes cholera, was the bacterium of choice, and was used in China in Baoshan in 1942, and in northern Shandong in 1943. Baoshan had been used by the Allies and bombing produced epidemics that killed 60,000 people in the initial stages. The Shandong attack killed 210,000; the occupying Japanese troops had been vaccinated in advance.

In literature, The Impertinent Insect is a group of five fables, sometimes ascribed to Aesop, concerning an insect, in one version a fly, which puffs itself up to seem important. In the Biblical fourth plague of Egypt, flies represent death and decay, while the Philistine god Beelzebub’s name may mean “lord of the flies”. In Greek mythology, Myiagros was a god who chased away flies during the sacrifices to Zeus and Athena; Zeus sent a fly to bite Pegasus, causing Bellerophon to fall back to Earth when he attempted to ride the winged steed to Mount Olympus. In the traditional Navajo religion, Big Fly is an important spirit being.

William Blake’s 1794 poem The Fly, part of his collection Songs of Experience, deals with the insect’s mortality, subject to uncontrollable circumstances, just like humans. Emily Dickinson’s 1855 poem I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died speaks of flies in the context of death. In William Golding’s 1954 novel Lord of the Flies, the fly is, however, a symbol of the children involved.

Ogden Nash’s humorous two-line 1942 poem God in His wisdom made the fly/And then forgot to tell us why, indicates the debate about the value of biodiversity, given that even those considered by humans as pests have their place in the world’s ecosystems.

So, I guess the fly has its good and bad, mostly bad. I know one thing, when one enters the house, or camp, they can be annoying as all outdoors.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who was the first player in MLB history to win the Most Valuable Player, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, batting title, and World Series in the same season?

Answer can be found here.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Allergy avoidance

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Allergy season doesn’t have to mean misery if you heed a few hints for your home.

(NAPSI) — Ah, Spring: Flowers in bloom, birds on the wing, fun in the sun—and itchy eyes, runny noses, sneezing, coughing, hives, wheezing, fatigue, and difficulty breathing for the more than 60 million Americans the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America say suffer from asthma or allergies.

But there can be a solution.

The Problem

Even the cleanest home can harbor all sorts of indoor allergens. Unseen contaminants and air pollutants include dirt, dust, pet dander, cigarette smoke, mold, mildew, and chemicals. They get pulled into your home’s HVAC system and recirculated throughout the house several times a day.

An Answer

A few simple steps can reduce and remove allergens.

  • Pet dander: Regularly steam clean your furniture, carpets, and window coverings. De-cluttering gives dander fewer places to hide. And regularly bathing your dog or cat sends excess dander down the drain.
  • Mold and mildew: Use mold inhibitors in your paints, clean your bathroom and kitchen with mold-busting products and use a dehumidifier or air purifier.
  • Air system filtration: Change air filters monthly. Consider HEPA filters, designed to catch the tiniest particles of pollutants.
  • Schedule a professional air duct cleaning: A good way to be sure you’ll get the job done right is to hire a National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA) member through the online directory at http://nadca.com/en/prosearch/all. NADCA members have technicians on staff with advanced training and certification in HVAC system cleaning.

THE BEST VIEW: Cotton candy

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by Norma Best Boucher

I bought cotton candy today…in a bag. That’s right – that’s what I said – in a BAG. I was standing in line at a gas station store when I spied the blue spun sugar treat. Suddenly, I was bombarded with childhood memories of fairs, carnivals, Gene Autry, Annie Oakley and Rin Tin Tin.

By the time I had reached the check out, I had relived my cotton candy youth. I grabbed a bag of the blue minutely thin strands of sugar glass, paid for the bag and my diet drink refill, and ran to my car.

Childhood treasures, even cotton candy, must be guarded.

To eat or not to eat – that was the question.

I tore open the bag with my teeth, ripped off a chewing tobacco size lump of blue fluff, and popped it into my mouth. Pure sugar never tasted so good.

When I was young, my father took my mother, my Aunt May, my cousin Ann, and me to the fairs. We went to the Bangor, Skowhegan, and Windsor fairs. We all started out with a couple of dollars. Mamma and May played Bingo and won prizes. Ann and I rode the rides. Dad played the gambling games to pay for our fun. When we ran out of money, we went to him for another dollar and another dollar. I don’t remember all of the games, but I do remember the mouse game because I played it once as an adult. The mouse went to the slots after the cheese. I watched to see when the cheese ran out and won when there was only one hole left with cheese. I guess that was cheating, like counting cards, but there was only a small prize won and the fun of winning. I knew then how my father must have felt.

By the end of the night, Dad usually either broke even or was ahead in money.

Ann and I bought our cotton candy to eat on the way home in the car because if we had eaten earlier, we would have had sticky mouths and fingers for the fair. Our cotton candy was spun onto paper cones and puffier than what I had bought at the store in a bag. Our teeth and mouths were blue from the food coloring.

In the summers, carnivals came to Waterville, my hometown. These carnivals set up on the grounds at the old Colby College campus field house on College Avenue. There was an array of rides such as the Tilt-A-Whirl and the Ferris wheel, but my favorite ride was the swings. I had a love/ fear relationship with those swings. We were chained into child-like box seats that were connected by stronger chains to the top of the ride. When the ride was in motion, we swung out over the terrain. The Colby grounds were on the shoreline of the Kennebec River. Although we were always over solid land, we had the feeling we were flying over the river. At night the view was quite spectacular with the multi-colored carnival lights shining off the fast-flowing river. My fears dissipated with that shimmering view.

To amuse us on our walk back home on Elm Court, we all had cotton candy, blue teeth and mouths, and sticky fingers.

One of my most memorable childhood memories was in the mid 1950s when television series stars Gene Autry, Annie Oakley, and Rin Tin Tin came to that old Colby campus field house. I was about eight years old. One TV star would have been wonderful, but all three TV show stars was almost too exciting. So many young, hyper, screaming children in one building is almost too much to imagine now. We were well-behaved in those days, but we let loose when applause time came. No one had to hold up a sign to tell us to applaud. Television was new, in our living rooms, and now live on stage in our own hometown.

Cotton candy, once again, completed our happiness.

By now I had eaten half of that bag of cotton candy. With sticky fingers I pulled open the visor mirror and peered in. Yes…blue teeth and mouth.

The bag read, “No fats, no cholesterol, no sodium” – just 28 grams of sugar and cotton candy memories.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Joseph Conrad

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Joseph Conrad

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) has recently become my favorite novelist of all, supplanting such favorites as Graham Greene, John Le Carre, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. His combination of slyly understated wit, of a very perceptive awareness of the hearts of darkness in all hu­man­kind and of his own genius level of mastery of English as a second language are seen in his Lord Jim, Typhoon, Victory and Under Western Skies.

I have been slowly but surely reading his 1913 novel Chance, a book that others find not one of his best; I disagree most vehemently.

The story focuses on a young woman Flora de Barral who runs off to sea in holy wedlock with a Merchant Marine Captain Anthony who is more than old enough to be her father. The novel deals, quite captivatingly, with the repercussions of this marriage. The Anthonys simply want a private life in which they mind their own business but are surrounded by people who make it impossible.

Much of the time in this novel, Conrad uses the first person narrator Charles Marlow who is constantly brooding on the significance of everything he sees and hears with respect to the couple.

One situation has Marlow conversing with an unnamed acquaintance about the gap between people with real integrity, such as the Anthonys who , through no fault of their own, get caught up in absurd, even traumatic situations; and the people who think they’re better than everyone else, but are actually ignorant, if not downright destructive guttersnipes:

“‘They say,’ pursued the unabashed Marlow, ‘that we laugh from a sense of superiority. Therefore, observe, simplicity, honesty, warmth of feeling, delicacy of heart and of conduct, self-confidence, magnanimity are laughed at, because the presence of these traits in a man’s character often puts him into difficult, cruel or absurd situations, and makes us, the majority who are fairly free as a rule from these peculiarities, to feel pleasantly superior.’ “

One could say that Conrad had a very cynical view of human nature but what distinguished him from other writers with a similar worldview was his having made peace with this cynical view and the sense of humor he maintained.

Finally Conrad incorporated elements of his own experiences as a Merchant Marine officer from the age of 18 to 37 when he left that life behind to devote himself full time to writing into his fiction, especially drawing on his own travels to the Far East and other such exotic locales. The grand impersonal immensities of the ocean and its depths, combined paradoxically with its ability to shelter the individual from the toxic humanity on land, held ardent fascination for him, as seen in another quote from Chance, in which the chief petty officer is on night watch:

“The very sea, with short flashes of foam bursting out here and there in the gloomy distances, the unchangeable, safe sea sheltering a man from all passions, except its own anger, seemed queer to the quick glance he threw to windward where the already effaced horizon traced no reassuring limit to the eye.”

One highly recommended novel.