DRAGON ON: Emily Poulin, of South China, photographed this dragonfly last summer.
WHY DON’T I MIGRATE SOUTH?: Joan Chaffee, of Clinton, snapped this blue jay trying to stay warm this past winter.
JUST GLIDING ALONG: Lindy Sklover, of Vassalboro, captured these ducks swimming past a dock last fall.
by Norma Best BoucherI just spent one of the best mornings I could want. I didn’t set out to do that. I don’t think that life works that way. I do try to start every day with a positive attitude, but this morning God just pointed me in a direction and said, “Enjoy!”
The weather was cool for Florida, a beautiful winter morning, when I took my early morning walk just as the sun came up. I usually walk with my neighbor’s Yorkie, Scooter, but today I was especially early and just took off alone. I didn’t realize that I usually look down or at eye level when Scooter is with me. I have to be careful that he doesn’t step on fire ant hills or disturb any snakes. Today I looked everywhere and discovered a leafless deciduous tree silhouetted against the morning sky. Suddenly, my mind was back home in Waterville, Maine, walking on Elm Court and School Street on a beautiful cool day.
Florida is filled with beautiful full-leaf and flowered trees that thrive in the winter, but at that Maine memory moment the leafless branches on that tree were more beautiful than all of the other trees combined. Right next to it was a smaller palm tree. The two trees together seemed to epitomize my own life – the majority of my years spent in Maine and the last of my years spent in Florida. The larger tree had the deepest and best root system just like my own life in Maine.
And then – My cat Olivia and I were sitting on the screened-in porch when a beautiful hawk landed a few feet from us. She saw him first. I saw her body stiffen and followed her gaze. The hawk was perched on the roof in a majestic pose. As his head turned, I saw the downward curve of his sharp beak and his proverbial “hawk eyes” sizing up the backyard. Olivia did not move. Neither did I. He was even more beautiful when he took flight and flew past us.
And then – I went for my daily ride along Indian River. The morning was still young. There was a very light rain that appeared on my windshield but was too light to disturb the mirror surface of the river. Hundreds of seagulls were perched on the long river docks, much, I imagine, to the chagrin of the owners. One lady was taking pictures of them. I stopped my car and saw several files of “ducks in a row” at varying distances in the river. All were paddling north.
And then – I saw them, three dolphins. Indian River is quite shallow, so I could see them intermittently breaking the water. They, too, were going north. I don’t know whether they were feeding or just playing, but I never tire of watching them just living their lives for all of us to enjoy.
The first time I saw mammals swimming in a river was when I was seven years old in 1954. My father drove my mother and me from Waterville to Bangor, their hometown, to see the two white whales that had swum to Bangor up the Penobscot River. We drove in my father’s 1948 Studebaker. There was no Interstate 95 highway then, so the trip took two hours up and two hours back. We could go no faster than 45 miles an hour because the car shook at faster speeds. Seeing the whales was quite a thrill. Seeing the dolphins brought back to me another cherished Maine memory.
As I left the River Road area, I stopped at a stop sign and saw perched on a tree limb a different but still beautiful lighter colored hawk. He was watching me as intently as Olivia and I had watched the earlier hawk.
And then – I left the serenity of the scenic river ride to go to a gas station to pump gas into my vehicle. The prices had dropped. Another Maine memory came to mind. Again, my father had driven my mother and me to Bangor to see the gas war.
“Norma,” I remember him saying. “Remember this day. Gas is 18 cents a gallon.” I watched as a man filled the gas tank. We turned around and left Bangor for the long two-hour ride home.
Today, I paid more for my gas than 18 cents a gallon, but who cares? I enjoyed a million-dollar morning and Maine memories.
Elisabeth Ogilvie
by Peter CatesThe consistently intriguing Maine Speaks anthology contains a short story, Scobie, by Elisabeth Ogilvie (1917-2006), which was first published in the August, 1951, issue of Woman’s Day magazine.
The story is set in a fishing village along the Maine coast and is recounted from the point of view of a first person unnamed narrator who is living presently in the early 1950s and, in visiting with a childhood friend, Rhoda, is recalling memories of those 1920s or ’30s yesteryears when the village only had “a general store, a filling station, a sardine factory, a fish-and-lobster buyer, and a fifteen-room hotel that catered for three summer months to artists and elderly people….” and in particular of an eccentric named Scobie who lived for a year on the very edge of the village in a “pinkie” or discarded boat with his well-trained pet baby pig, Barnaby.
The story has a very commendably achieved sense of time and place in its details of local color but the main plot in its depiction of the girls interactions with Scobie when they visited him a few times (and without their parents’ permission) was unfortunately a bit wooden and desultory.
Still, one paragraph stood out in its vividness, when the narrator is describing her father’s job as a warden of the village “fisheries”:
“At the far curve of the harbor, away from the sardine factory and the big wharves, there was a regular settlement of lobstermen, who preferred to live in sight of the harbor and the moorings rather than in the town. Their houses, with neat white clapboards or silvery shingles, were sheltered by the spruce woods behind; the grassy ground sloped down to the shore, where their boats were hauled up for painting; and their traps were stacked against wildrose bushes and blackberry vines. My father spent a lot of time over there.”
The potential for further reader interest in the lives of these inhabitants in a separate universe from the other villagers may have been a lost opportunity.
Ogilvie was a Massachusetts native but, in 1944, she moved into a 33-acre farm, on Gay’s Island, in Cushing, where she died from a stroke in 2006. She published more than 40 novels, mostly based on life in the islands along the Maine coast; along with an autobiography.
Rachmaninoff
April 1 was the 150th birthday anniversary of composer Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). YouTube contains a highly recommended recording of his ever justly popular 2nd Piano Concerto, which he composed in 1901, after recovering from a deep depression through the help of hypnosis from a Doctor Dahl. The performance is a 1960 Columbia Masterworks collaboration between pianist Philippe Entremont and the late Leonard Bernstein, with the New York Philharmonic.
It was the first LP I ever owned of the work and its power and poetry had a uniquely gripping eloquence of its own. The second movement was slowly paced and milked for maximum sentiment while the concluding 3rd movement was paced with lightning speed until the magnificent concluding three minutes when, with slower tempos, the music exploded with beauty.
You can help keep your smile shining, even when your diet isn’t adequate, by taking vitamin and mineral supplements as you need them.
(NAPSI)—Brushing and flossing are the main tricks of the trade for maintaining a healthy smile, but if you want to expand your dental health from the inside out, you may want to consider nutritional supplements.
“Most people can obtain all the necessary vitamins and minerals from a balanced diet, but for some, supplements can be helpful as nutrition deficiencies can lead to conditions such as inflammation and tooth loss if left untreated for too long,” said Kiran Malhi, DMD, a dental consultant for Delta Dental of Washington.
Six Suggestions For A Stronger Smile
In tandem with brushing, flossing and consistent trips to the dentist, these six supplements can jump start an even healthier smile:
Calcium: Calcium helps more than just your bones—it can help your teeth too. While calcium is found in dairy products, fish, vegetables and nuts, you can also take calcium as a supplement if you have roadblocks to accessing calcium-rich foods.
Phosphorus: Phosphorus aids in calcium absorption into the body, helping to strengthen teeth by protecting and rebuilding tooth enamel. Many people get enough phosphorus in their diets through meat, fish, milk and whole grains, but it is available in supplement form for those with dietary restrictions.
Vitamin A: Vitamin A helps in saliva production, which is beneficial to your overall oral health. Saliva functions in breaking down foods and cleans bacteria between teeth. The vitamin is found in orange-colored fruits and vegetables, fish and eggs. Vitamin A tablets and gummies are widely available and also keep eyes and skin healthy.
Vitamin C: Vitamin C helps your gums as well as your teeth, keeping connective tissues in the gums strong to hold teeth in place while deficiencies in vitamin C can be the cause of bleeding gums and gum disease. Chewable or liquid forms of vitamin C are erosive, however, and can cause the loss of enamel if taken in excess, though they’re safe at the recommended dosage. Vitamin C is present in many fruits and vegetables.
Vitamin D: Vitamin D protects against oral health conditions such as gingival inflammation, cavities and gum disease, as it plays a significant role in tooth mineralization. Like calcium, vitamin D can be found in fish or vitamin D-fortified foods like milk and cereal, but for convenience, it is available in supplement form.
Zinc: Zinc can eliminate cavity-causing bacteria and control demineralization. The vitamin can also help with gum diseases such as gingivitis and other common periodontal problems. A bonus is that zinc helps fight bad breath.
Learn More
For additional information about how to get and maintain a healthy smile, visit www.deltadentalwa.com/blog.
A hungry deer grazing in a garden. (photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com)
by Melinda MyersDeer 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.
by Roland D. HalleeGroundhog 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.
Which Red Sox player made an infamous error in the 1986 World Series?
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. HalleeA 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.
William McKiinley
by Peter CatesIn 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.
(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.
by Jayne WintersBy 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.