An amazing story of survival

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The fawn in the back of the SUV being delivered to the Duck Pond Wildlife Rehab Center. (contributed photo)

by Jayne Winters

As I slowed down to turn into the driveway at the Duck Pond Wildlife Rehab Center, I couldn’t help but notice the SUV ahead of me did likewise. I could never have imagined the story the driver soon shared with me and Don about the three-week-old fawn she had in the dog kennel in the back of her vehicle.

While in the car with her husband, a doe had unexpectedly crossed the road in front of them and they couldn’t avoid hitting her. Naturally upset and concerned, her husband got out of the vehicle to make sure the doe wasn’t suffering. She had died upon impact, but he was shocked to find she had expelled her fawn, still in its placenta. He went back to the car for his wife and together they delivered the baby, rubbing it down with a blanket and massaging its mouth to get the airway functioning. Its first breaths were drawn while being held by its human “parents.” What a gift, especially under such sad circumstances.

(contributed photo)

Although they were initially advised by IF&W to let nature take its course, they simply couldn’t leave it, knowing it wouldn’t survive. They brought the fawn home and made calls to several rehabbers, none of whom had room for a newborn (I couldn’t help but think of the Christmas story, with “no room at the inn.”). However, having grown up and currently living on a farm, Savannah was familiar with raising young animals, so she took on the care and feeding of the little guy. Looking at his size and behavior in the kennel, it was obvious she had done a great job. He was alert, with bright eyes and a beautiful coat. She provided Don with details of what she had fed him, how often, his level of activity and habits. In addition, she left food so that his diet wouldn’t be changed while in rehab. An expectant mother herself, it was apparent that her nurturing extended beyond her own family.

While I’m sure it was bittersweet to leave the fawn at Duck Pond, Savannah was able to observe him quickly bond with two younger fawns in the stall. They literally looked up to him, he was that much taller! All three were eventually taken to another rehabber where they will stay together until their release back into the wild. A happy ending to what began as a sad story.

Many critters continue to be transferred to other rehabbers who are generously providing assistance to help keep critter care at Duck Pond manageable. They are greatly appreciated! 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 nonprofit state permitted rehab facility which is supported by his own resources and outside donations. Mailing address: 1787 North Belfast Ave., Vassalboro ME 04989 TEL: (207) 445-4326. Please note the previous e-mail address is no longer monitored.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: How Functional Fitness Can Help You Keep Up with the Grandkids

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Grandfather and his grandson enjoying and playing together on basketball court.

Fun with your grandkids is just one good reason to get physically fit.

(NAPSI)—One of the greatest joys—but potentially biggest challenges—for many grandparents is time spent with the grandkids. Whether yours are toddlers or teens, keeping them entertained requires a level of fitness that might include everything from lifting a child to chasing them at the playground to competing in a round of golf. For grandparents seeking an enriching and active experience with their grandkids, it’s important to engage in everyday fitness routines that can help:

  • maintain muscle mass,
  • preserve cardiovascular health,
  • fortify flexibility, and
  • bolster balance.

Functional fitness training can help with these goals.

What is Functional Fitness?

“Functional fitness uses multiple muscle groups and movements to help train muscles, joints, limbs, and nerves to all work better together for everyday tasks, like lifting groceries from the car, or outmaneuvering the grandkids,” says Jaynie Bjornaraa PhD, MPH, PT, who is vice president of rehabilitation services and fitness solutions at American Specialty Health Fitness.

Examples of functional fitness exercises include lunges, squats, and planks. “Lunges help improve balance and make the legs stronger,” says Dr. Bjornaraa. “Squats help strengthen the muscles used in sitting, standing, or lifting heavy objects safely. Core training, like planks, helps strengthen the lower back, hips, and abdominal muscles. A strong core provides a stable base when lifting, standing, or performing the chores of everyday life.”

There are many ways to incorporate functional fitness into an everyday fitness routine. For example, online workout classes such as Pilates, yoga, or strength training can provide easy access to beginner, intermediate, or advanced exercise routines. Gyms offer in-person classes plus access to most any kind of fitness equipment you may need to practice functional fitness, from mats and free weights to fitness balls and exercise bands.

If cost is a factor in joining a gym or fitness classes, programs such as the Silver&Fit® Healthy Aging and Exercise Program, which is available through certain Medicare Advantage plans, offer no-cost or subsidized low-cost access to thousands of standard name-brand gyms and YMCAs, in addition to premium boutique studios around the country. These programs may also include online access to fitness video classes such as dance, cardio, tai chi, Pilates, strength training, yoga, and others that teach proper form and technique. Nearly five million participants use the Silver&Fit program to help them stay fit.

“Functional fitness offers terrific health benefits for everyone, no matter your age or fitness level,” added Dr. Bjornaraa. “I encourage my friends, family, and clients to engage in some kind of functional fitness exercise every day to maximize the benefits.”

If you’re ready to try some functional fitness exercises but aren’t sure where to begin, you may care to check out a functional fitness exercise video called “3 Functional Exercises Using Only Body Weight.”

Learn More

For information about the Silver&Fit program, visit www.silverandfit.com.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Slugs, they’re everywhere! And now, how to control them

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The common slug

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

Slugs! They can truly do a lot of damage to your plants, like they did to mine this past spring. They like damp places, feed at night and prefer tender new growth and seedlings.

Last week we learned about slugs, this week we will talk about how to control them.

Here are a few general tips on how to deal with slugs:

  • Seedling protection: Protect your seedlings with 2-3 liter plastic soda bottles. Make sure no slugs are around the seedlings first. Cut the bottoms out of the bottles, sink them into the soil around the seedlings and remove the caps. You can reuse them over and over.
  • Mulch: Keep mulch pulled away from the base of your plants. Consider waiting to apply mulch until the soil temperatures have warmed to above 75°F.
  • Garden debris: Keep all decaying matter cleaned out of your garden beds. Clear all dead leaves and debris from the garden on a regular basis and put it in the compost pile which is best located in an area away from the garden.
  • Slug havens: The shaded areas beneath decks can be a slug arena. Keep them weed and litter free.

You can also build barriers around your garden:

  • Use cedar, oak bark chips or gravel chips which will irritate and dehydrate them.
  • Try a barrier line or an overall sprinkle of powdered ginger.
  • Use wood ashes as a barrier around plants, however try not to let the plant come into contact with the ashes. The ashes act as a desiccant and dry up the slugs.
  • Spread well crushed eggshells around the plants. The calcium released from the eggshells is an extra benefit that “sweetens” the soil. The sharp edges of the shells will kill slugs.
  • Talcum powder works as a barrier but must be replenished after rainfall or watering.

Finally, there is always the slug trap method:

  • Beer or yeast traps: A traditional trap that seems to work well is to place containers of beer or yeast and water at one inch above the ground level in the garden to entice and drown your prey. Empty traps as needed. For the yeast trap, use one package of yeast to 8 ounces of water.
  • Grape juice: A new rendition on the beer trap is to use grape juice. For some reason slugs really have a taste for this. Use just as you would in the beer method and buy the cheapest grape juice you can find.
  • Beer batter bait: Mix 2 tablespoons of flour with enough beer to make a thick batter. Put 1 teaspoon of this in a small paper cup and lay the cups on their sides around your plants. Slugs will flock to this, get snared in the flour and die. When the trap is full toss the whole thing in the compost pile.
  • Comfrey: This perennial is a preference of slugs and can be used as a trap. Comfrey is considered to be an invasive plant, however, it has so many uses for the garden and medicinally that it is worth having around. Comfrey has more protein in its leaves than any other vegetable, perhaps explaining its appeal to slugs.

I have comfrey around my garden at home and have had very little problems with slugs. So, I might just transplant some to the garden at camp.

Taking into consideration everything we have learned about slugs in the last two weeks, the more I think about it, slugs remind me of college students: They suck up available resources, give very little in return, and they like to drink beer. They even prefer the same beers (a study conducted by students at Colorado State University concluded the slug’s favorite beers are Budweiser products).

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

How many New York Yankees players have recorded 3,000 career hits with the team?

Answer
One. Derek Jeter, 3,465.

THE BEST VIEW: A bug’s life

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by Norma Best Boucher

“Drat!” I just spent two minutes trying to save with a piece of paper a nondescript insect that was stranded on my living room floor. The insect finally grabbed the paper. I walked the paper with the tiny creature to the door and opened it. The insect then let go of its grip and jumped to the concrete just in time for my foot to land on it. “Oops!”

What did I learn from this experience? I’m thinking.

This fall, when I was home in Maine on vacation, I visited by parents’ graves. Many thoughts and experiences ran through my head, but the common thread was that I am thankful that I am an everyday, ordinary person. There is nothing wrong with being a celebrity, accomplished, recognized, or even charismatic and adored. I am just happy that I don’t fit into those categories. No one, except those I want, knows anything about me. The paparazzi are nowhere near, and I melt into crowds. Works for me.

Allow me, please, to walk down Memory Lane. My personal Memory Lane began in the late ’40s. I lived on a street with all boys, so I was a tomboy. There were cowboys and Indians, Kick the Can, Red Rover, baseball (I still throw like a girl.), roller skating (skates with a key, of course), and the “Ding Ding” ice cream truck. Ordinary? —Yes. Memorable? —You bet.

The sixties encompassed my high school and college years. I was fortunate enough to live in those times when our world was coming into a new age. I personally missed the drug scene. I was ahead in time of the turmoil or too busy with life to be involved. Later, when I taught high school English, I was thrown into that world with student devastation. Not pretty.

At the present time I have the joy of having three pet animals in my life, none of which are mine. I am their adoptive friend. There is an older, former feral cat, who makes sure that I am well-trained to her needs. There is an 85-pound dog, a three-year-old Rhodesian, who may run away at whim with me on the other end of the tether, and, finally, a two-year-old Yorkie, who runs circles around me, literally, when we walk. Life with these beautiful creatures is free, fun and enlightening.

What will tomorrow bring? I don’t know. I go to bed each night with a “thank you,” and I wake up every morning with great expectations. I may list a number of clichés such as “Stop to smell the roses,” or I may sit for hours trying to think up new, catchy ones. I don’t want to waste that much time. I want to pet the cat and walk the dogs. I want to LIVE, not just be alive.

Back to the bug. What did I learn?

I don’t know what the life expectancy of the insect was. A few seconds of his life may have been equal in time to hours, days, weeks, months, or even years for my life. Yes, he died, but rather than be stuck on my living room floor for the rest of his life, he grabbed the paper. As soon as he sensed the outdoors, he jumped to his freedom. Neither of us knew how long that freedom would be, but the last act of his life was to “Go for it!”

I guess what I have learned from that experience is that all I know is the here and now — life, opportunity, and the freedom to choose — so each day I shall with gratitude say, “Thank you” to the night, I shall with great expectations rise to the day, and I shall with as much courage as I can muster, “Go for it!”

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Harry S. Truman

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Harry S. Truman

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Harry S. Truman

The 33rd President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), upon being sworn in as FDR’s vice-president, was told by his mother, “Now you behave yourself.”

Like every other president since George Washington, Truman was, warts and all, a character. A highly controversial 1974 book, Plain Speaking, by Merle Miller (1919-1986) has Truman recounting a number of fascinating stories about his life.

One in particular recounts his problems with General Douglas MacArthur (Old soldiers never die, they just fade away!). It seems that MacArthur had a very high opinion of himself and treated Truman as a small town hick from Missouri. He also disregarded several orders from Truman which included talking to the press out of turn and trying to provoke a full scale war with Red China.

Truman finally fired MacArthur and the before and after repercussions have been extensively documented elsewhere. Truman commented that he fired MacArthur for insubordination, not because he was a dumb [son of a gun, censorship of the other word Truman used instead of gun because this is a family newspaper]. He also stated that if generals were jailed for stupidity, three quarters of them would already be there.

Truman’s daughter Margaret published her own biography, simply titled Harry S. Truman, in 1973 and provides some hilarious details of her parents later years in Independence, Missouri. One tells of Truman’s own laziness about mowing the lawn, instead wanting to hire a neighborhood kid, against the opposition of his wife Bess, who could be just as stubborn.

One Sunday morning, Truman told his wife he was going to mow the lawn. Bess quickly realized that people would be driving by their house on the way to church and would see the former president of the United States mowing his lawn on the Sabbath Day instead of going to church. She decided to hire a neighborhood boy.

When Truman was vice-president for a few short months, he rarely saw Roosevelt. However, a photo was taken of them having lunch at the White House; Truman later commented that Roosevelt was already showing signs of his failing health and that, when the latter lifted the cup of coffee to his mouth, he kept spilling it due to his shaking hands.

FDR kept Truman in the dark about a lot of national security issues, including the Manhattan Project, at Los Alamos, New Mexico, but Truman made the decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, believing that it would force Japan to surrender a whole lot sooner than otherwise.

At the 1944 Democrat Convention, Roosevelt’s decision to replace vice-president Henry Wallace with Harry Truman became known as the Second Missouri Compromise.

I’M JUST CURIOUS: Some summer tips

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REMINDER OF SUMMER PAST: Judy Mathiau, of Vassalboro, snapped these colorful flowers last summer.

by Debbie Walker

I have been collecting seasonal tips for some years now and once again they are for what’s left of your summer. Wish I had been able to get them out sooner. Of course, summer weather for Florida lasts a lot longer.

I don’t know if you have seen your can make a temporary waterer. I like this cheap one. In a pinch to water your yards and your little people, grab a two liter soft drink bottle and put holes in it for watering. Use waterproof tape to be sure to hold the bottle on a hose. Yardwork and emergency fun for children for cheap!

You left your swimsuits without drying them. It is not perfect but a good idea just the same. Do you have one of those salad spinners that I don’t have? You can spin the extra water right out of it! Or, you can place the suit on a towel and roll it up until it squeezes out water. Works like a charm.

To grow lush green yards place wet paper teabags over your lawn. The bags will release nutrients, seeping into the ground, you can even dust with dry powdered iced tea mix for bigger areas.

You don’t have to cool your wine or other drinks with ice that will water them down. I love frozen grapes in the summer for a cooling snack but also learned they were better than ice for drinks!

Pool noodles are handy in the summer months.

I love this one. How many times have you tried to fill a bucket with water, but the bucket is too big? So, you put the noodle over the faucet and let the water flow through.

Have you ever had trouble picking up or moving a heavy plant. The dirt or the pebbles in the bottom make it almost impossible, and then add water. Cut up pool noodles for the bottom of the pot and then add the plant and soil. Still have the drain needed but much lighter.

You have tools such as rakes, hoes, and shovels. Slit a pool noodle in every so many inches, just enough of a slit that will hold the noodles in place, noodle horizontal and slits are vertical cuts. Attach to your wall. You could make another one to hang mops, brooms, and possibly a lightweight vacuum.

I also like the noodles for making a knee rest for when you are on your knees gardening. The instructions I read in my latest First magazine about the noodles. Cut three sections from the pool noodle wide enough for your knees to rest on and bind them together with rubber bands so they look like a raft. Inexpensive and with a little thought we could find other uses for adults and comforts.

I read there is a different spray against mosquitoes that smells a bit better than usual. Fill spray bottle with distilled water and 15 drops of lavender essential oil. Spray around the deck, or on outdoor furniture and on yourself. It is said they hate the smell of lavender.

I’m just curious which ones you will try, me, too. The First magazine never fails to give me new ideas and some I can add to as well. What are your favorite magazines? Any comments or questions, if I can help find me at DebbieWalker@townline.org . Have a great week!!

PS: don’t throw the old grills away, bet it makes a great planter and on wheels to move around. From First, also.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Music Potpourri

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Tiny Bradshaw

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Tiny Bradshaw

Singer Tiny Bradshaw (1907-1958) was an important figure in the development of what came to be known as rhythm and blues. A 1951 King label (4447) ten-inch 78 rpm record features him vi­brantly vocalizing two blues selections – Brad’s Blues; and Two Dry Bones on the Pantry Shelf – with very leisurely paced but riveting backup instrumentalists who convey a very powerful sense of oneness with his singing.

Theresa Brewer

Theresa Brewer

Teresa Brewer (1931-2007) will forever be associated with Music! Music! Music! which she recorded first for London records in 1949, a second time for Coral in 1953 and a third time in 1962 in Europe for the Dutch label Philips.

A 1952 ten-inch 78 rpm, also on Coral, features her peppery singing of two novelty songs, Ricochet; and Too Young to Tango. Her arranger/conductor is Jack Pleis (1917-1990) who provided exquisite backdrops for some of Kitty Kallen’s best records from the 1950s – Little Things Mean a Lot, In the Chapel in the Moonlight, I’m Old Fashioned.

Reginald Kell

Reginald Kell

I have a 1940 Victor Red Seal 78 rpm set of four 12-inch fragile records featuring clarinetist Reginald Kell (1906-1981) performing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, a piece composed towards the end of that genius’ much too short life before he died at the age of 35, in 1791, from a variety of health problems, was bedridden the last two or three months, and buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave.

The Concerto was the 622nd among his almost 800 works and was yet one more incredible example of quantity of work combined with quality.

Kell collaborated with Sir Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967) and the London Philharmonic where he had been principal clarinetist since 1932 when Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) hired him, oboist Leon Goosens (1897-1988) and several other brilliant ensemble virtuosos and transformed the orchestra into the finest group for recording purposes during the 1930s.

Kell eventually moved to the U.S. where he numbered among his pupils the legendary Benny Goodman (1909-1986).

With respect to the Mozart Concerto, Kell was noted for a very expressive vibrato in his playing but very strangely, I found the performance of the Mozart rather bland.

Along with the Brewer and Bradshaw 78s, it too can be heard via YouTube.

Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt

Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt

Hundreds of books have been written about Franklin (1882-1945) and Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) but I do share two items of possible interest:

In 1974, noted journalist Jim Bishop (1907-1987), who was acclaimed for his The Day Lincoln Was Shot and The Day Kennedy Was Shot, published FDR’S Last Year: April 1944-April 1945, which revealed much previously unknown information about the 32nd president’s declining health in an immensely fascinating book of more than 500 pages and was critically acclaimed.

Secondly, South China’s most famous native and the Quaker founder of the American Friends Service Committee, Rufus Jones (1863-1948), was friends with Eleanor and former President Herbert Hoover.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Finding relief from painful varicose veins is possible

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Angie King

Angie King, of Detroit, has been in healthcare for more than 20 years, currently as a medical assistant. She loves her job and helping people. But being on her feet all day caused her varicose veins to swell, causing pain and heaviness in her legs. “Some days I was in real pain and it’s hard not to show it. I had to sit down frequently just to get off my legs for a minute, walking got painful.”

Angie heard about a treatment that could help her being performed by Mark Bolduc, MD, a physician with vascular expertise, at Northern Light Sebasticook Valley Hospital, in Pittsfield. The procedure is called Radio Frequency Ablation or RFA for short. It’s an in-office procedure that eases the common symptoms of varicose veins, which can include pain, swelling, achiness and irritation. RFA can help sufferers avoid a more involved surgical procedure.

Dr. Bolduc has more than 20 years of experience with the procedure. He sees patients of all ages, many of whom who work on their feet all day such as teachers, and those in retail and healthcare – like Angie King. “It’s a procedure that lasts about 60 minutes using local anesthesia, the patient stays awake the whole time,” says Dr. Bolduc.

Dr. Mark Bolduc

Dr. Bolduc explains that varicose veins can appear because of damaged vein walls and valves. RFA works by sending a thermal heat source to an affected vein and closes it off, which helps reduce pain to the leg. “Patients will find relief from the nagging ache and itchiness in five to seven days. I’ve seen it make a big difference in a person’s daily life.”

It’s been five months since Angie had RFA. “I am so happy I did it. I’m more active now, and I’m not in pain after standing at my job for long periods of time. I can keep up with my younger colleagues at work!” she said with a smile. “It’s really changed my life and I hope I can encourage others to check it out.”

RFA is covered by most insurances if a medical necessity. Contact your primary care provider for a referral. Dr. Bolduc performs RFA at Sebasticook Valley Hospital and also sees patients for consultations at Northern Light Vascular Care in Waterville.

Visit Northernlight.org/SVHveins or call 207.487.4040 for more information.

VETERANS CORNER: Where to turn when denied benefits

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Veterans Administration facility at Togus. (Internet photo)

by Gary Kennedy

Well since we have returned from our humanitarian trip to S.E. Asia much has happened surrounding the Veterans Administration and veterans.

Where does one go when they are told by the VA that they don’t qualify for VA programs as they make too much money? Well, I have represented several such veterans over time. All but one are 100 percent service connected or will soon be. Unfortunately, in many cases the V.A. has been very remiss in the training they have given their employees; both on the medical and administrative sides. I have found that some doctors don’t even know how to properly initiate medical records with proper follow through. This can not only be detrimental to the veteran’s ability to approach the system but also can be misleading when a veteran asks for help.

I personally have found some doctors/medical professionals who are arrogant and have no idea how to diffuse the anxiety of a disabled veteran. Some act as if they are speaking with a street urchin. Some of the pain and suffering a veteran goes through is inside. Even though often time the veteran may become argumentative one needs to be trained on the why of it and find a way to get on even ground with the veteran. He or she is, after all, a patient and is there because of a problem. Many of the medical staff have never served in the military and really don’t understand why a patient can be so irate. Most of them are use to dealing with civilian patients and or varied reasons have decided to work where they don’t have to worry about medical malpractice. This, however, is a two way street. You leave one world of service for another. Unfortunately, the VA system is not giving an adequate transitional training. Recently we have lost some fantastic doctors, some of many years of service and some of only a few weeks, why? One story I heard was the ethical environment. I wonder if it is true, doctors are trained to watch out for seekers?

I mentioned early on that I have represented veterans who have been refused care at the V.A. because they made too much money. That is absolutely true. The last person that I encountered with this reason was met by my wife in the emergency room at the V.A. Togus. He is an old man in his 80s and was only at the V.A. to help a son who was also a veteran and very sick. He was friendly, talkative fellow. While waiting for his son he struck up a conversation with my wife who was delivering some reading material for veterans and their accompaniment.

This fellow told a very riveting story regarding his son’s condition and his own refusal of medical help some 50 years prior. My wife being knowledgeable regarding the V.A. to a minor degree felt very sad for this elderly veteran and told him he should speak with her husband. I met him and talked with him for a while. Eventually, I began to take notes and asked if he wanted to pursue this matter? He said he thought it was too late for him but I, of course, felt otherwise. I received his power of attorney and did a 21-526EZ. His history gave me 14 possibilities and so I filed. In less than one year this veteran was at 90 percent, assuredly 100 percent in the near future. All these years have gone by and this veteran believed he was not eligible for medical aid. He was seriously injured in the military.

Long story short, always get a second opinion and never go it alone. There are some great resources out there and some are veteran advocates with good training. V.B.A. is supposed to go by the letter of the law but at the same time in 38 CFR and 38USCS it states that VBA is there to assist you not only with educational and financial situations but to aid you with sound trained advice regarding claim initiation. The U.S. government realizes we are not all rocket scientists and some of us need help and good sound advice. There are other service organizations such as DAV, American Legion, VFW and Maine State Veterans Services and more. However, you have the right to go directly to the man, so to speak, Veterans Benefits Administration. They are well trained and they are there to help you. At Togus they are located on the second floor of building 248. The phone number is 207-621-6938. They have walk in service but it is appreciated if you call first and make an appointment.

V.A. is open now so you may feel free to enter either through building 200 or building 205, which is where primary care is located. The direct door to VBA has yet to be opened. Administration controls those difficulties if you are in a chair. All doors should be open now that covid has been lifted. If you have a problem call 623-8411, press “0” when you hear the recording and a live person will answer. Ask to be connected to the Director Office for explanations. You also have a right to do that.

This has been lengthy so I will have to end it here and get back with you next week. I will be meeting with some of you after the Juneteenth event and we can continue our discussion on the other issues that plague us all. Please ask for help if you need it. There are some of us out there who will hear and answer your call. You are never in this alone. If you have a problem or in any way feel that something is wrong reach out to one of us. We see each other every week and we truly care. God Bless and stay safe.

The views of the author of this column are not necessarily those of The Town Line newspaper, its staff and board of directors.

Give Us Your Best Shot! for Thursday, July 13, 2023

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

FULL BLOOM: Laura Jones, of Vassalboro, snapped these tulips in full bloom.

MAGNIFICENT: Jayne Winters, of China, photographed this magnificent male bald eagle.

EAVES DROPPING: Emily Poulin, of South China, caught these chickadees gossiping at her feeder, with a third eaves dropping.