FINANCIAL FOCUS: Use your financial strategy like GPS

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submitted by Sasha Fitzpatrick

When you’re driving these days, it’s pretty hard to get lost because your smartphone’s Global Positioning System (GPS) can get you just about anywhere. And as an investor, you can have a similar experience by employing another directional tool – a personalized financial strategy.

Let’s look at the parallels between your GPS and this type of strategy.

To begin with, your GPS pinpoints your exact location at the start of your trip – in other words, it tells you where you are. And when you create a financial strategy, your first step is to evaluate your current situation by answering these types of questions: What are your assets? How much do you earn? How much do you owe? How much are you contributing to your IRA, 401(k) or other retirement accounts? Once you’ve got a clear picture of your finances, you’ll be ready to begin your journey toward your long-term goals.

Once your GPS has identified your starting point, it will then show you where you want to go and the routes to help you get there. And it’s the same with your financial strategy – you want it to help lead you to a particular place in your life. In fact, a well-designed strategy can show you the steps you need to take to help reach more than one destination – to a place where you can send your children to college, a place where you can retire comfortably, a place where you can leave the type of legacy you want, and so on.

Here’s another element of your GPS that applies to your financial strategy – the warnings. You’re certainly familiar with those thick red lines your GPS shows to indicate traffic slowdowns ahead. And while they’re annoying, they’re also useful in cautioning you that you may arrive at your destination later than you had originally planned. Your financial strategy can also express “warnings” about events that could hinder you from reaching your goals. These obstacles might include an illness or disability that could keep you out of work for a while, or the need for some type of long-term care, such as a nursing home stay or the services of a home health aide. Your financial strategy can not only identify these threats, but with the guidance of a financial professional, suggest potential solutions.

In addition to providing warnings about things such as heavy traffic and road construction, your GPS can change your route if you miss a turn or if you decide, for whatever reason, to go a slightly different way. Your financial strategy can also show you alternatives, if it’s comprehensive and overseen by a financial professional, who, using specialized software, can create hypotheticals – illustrations that provide alternative outcomes for different steps, such as retiring at various ages, investing different amounts each year or earning different rates of return. These hypotheticals can be quite helpful to you as your chart your course toward your goals, especially if you need to change your plans along the way.

Your GPS and your financial strategy are two great tools for helping get you where you want to go.

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor.

Edward Jones, Member SIPC.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Over 100 whales spotted during aerial survey

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Northern Right Whale

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

There has been a lot of discussion and controversy lately about the plight of whales in the North Atlantic, in particular about the Right Whale, and their interaction with lobstermen.

Maine’s lobstermen have fought national conservation groups over federal gear rules and fishery closures intended to protect endangered whales.

During a special research flight on April 25, the New England Aquarium aerial survey team sighted more than 100 whales of several species, including 27 critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Aquarium researchers, Associate Scientist Orla O’Brien and Research Assistant Katherine McKenna, flew a five-hour flight on April 25 focused on how survey altitude affects researchers’ ability to detect whales. The New England Aquarium primarily flies aerial surveys over the waters south of Nantucket that are designated for offshore wind development, but this week’s flight in Massachusetts Bay was a strategic effort to better understand how to merge survey data collected before, during, and after wind energy construction. Surveys that occur during and after wind turbine construction will need to be flown at a higher altitude to account for the turbine height, which is about 800 feet. This special survey was flown over Massachusetts Bay and Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary because these areas typically contain many whales, giving researchers the best opportunity to collect the data they need to address questions about changes in flight altitude.

“On this special flight, we flew each track line at a lower and higher altitude. Comparing these data, and data from previous flights, ensures that we can correctly identify and interpret any changes in the number of animals seen before, during, and after construction,” said Dr. Jessica Redfern, Senior Scientist and Chair of the Aquarium’s Spatial Ecology, Mapping, and Assessment (EcoMap) program.

While aboard the five-hour flight, researchers O’Brien and McKenna spotted multiple marine mammal species, including critically endangered right whales, and an abundance of humpback whales, fin whales, sei whales, and dolphins. They also noted some right whales close to the entrance of Boston Harbor. Passengers aboard New England Aquarium Whale Watches in partnership with Boston Harbor City Cruises have been seeing right whales recently.

“We were really pleased to see so many whales and collect valuable data needed for our project. Massachusetts Bay and Stellwagen Bank are hotspots for whales, and we were grateful to our research colleagues for helping us collect valuable information on this flight,” O’Brien said.

While wind turbine construction in southern New England has not yet begun, the surveys help monitor changes in animal populations, identify various animal species, and recognize trends using standardized data that has been collected over many years. Determining where right whales occur and how they are using these habitats provides crucial information that can be used to better protect the species. Aqua­rium scientists are also monitoring the occurrence of sharks, tunas, and billfishes in the offshore wind lease areas.

North Atlantic right whales are a critically endangered species, with an estimated population of less than 350 individuals. The whales travel hundreds of miles while searching for tiny crustaceans, which they feed on in large volumes. Warming waters in the northern Atlantic Ocean have led to shifts in right whale habitat use, with the animals adjusting where they feed off the northeast U.S. and Canada. Southern New England waters have become an increasingly important habitat for the species in the past 12 years.

The New England Aquarium is the main source for this article.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who has hit the most career home runs for the Boston Red Sox?

Answer can be found here.

Give Us Your Best Shot! for Thursday, May 12, 2022

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

WAITING PATIENTLY: Joan Chaffee, of Clinton, snapped this female cardinal perched on a branch.

BLUE BIRD: Tina Richard, of Clinton, photographed this bluebird sitting on an old cut off branch in a tree.

COLORFUL ‘SHROOMS: Emily Poulin, of South China, captured these colorful mushrooms.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Three Tips To Help Seniors Kickstart A Spring Fitness Routine

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Exercising with a partner can help you both get fit and have fun.

(NAPSI)—Spring is here, and with it comes warmer weather, longer daylight hours, and for many, a desire to spring into new activities, including exercise. If you’re ready to kickstart a new fitness routine, here are three tips to help you get started.

1. Find What Motivates You 

Are you itching to get out into the sunshine for a walk? Are you eager to set up some friendly competition on the tennis or pickle-ball court? With warmer weather, there are so many outdoor options. But, if there’s still too much “brrr” in the air for you or if you’re motivated by more structured exercise options, such as strength training or cardio classes, there are many online workouts you can enjoy in the comfort of your home. For example, the Silver&Fit® Healthy Aging and Exercise program offers 54 free Facebook Live or YouTube classes each week. Thousands of people participate in these beginner, intermediate, and advanced dance, yoga, tai chi, cardio, strength, and flexibility classes.

If you’ve got a hankering to get back to the gym for the rowing, cycling, running, weight training, or stair stepper machines that most gyms offer, now is a great time to take the leap. Being around others who are working out can be motivating. If you aren’t a gym member but want to find one, look into the affordable, subsidized gym memberships available to Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement members. Thousands of top-name gyms, fitness centers, YMCAs, and boutique fitness clubs across the country belong to fitness networks that honor Medicare memberships. Call your Medicare Advantage plan directly to learn what fitness programs they offer and what gyms near you participate.

2. Set Your Goals

Are you ready to kick spring off with a goal to gain more muscle, lose a few pounds or improve your flexibility and balance? Setting a goal and finding a workout that supports it is a key to success. For greater flexibility and balance, try yoga or tai chi, for example. To build muscle, you could alternate between strength training classes and free weights. To get started, write down a few simple goals and cross them off your list as you achieve them. Don’t be afraid to start small. Try 10 minutes of a video workout, walk on a treadmill for 15 minutes or do 10 bicep curls with light weights. Achieving small successes improves your motivation and your fitness level. As you progress, increase your workout intensity.

3. Join Forces with a Workout Partner

Kickstarting something new can be easier and more fun with a friend or accountability partner. Set a regular time to take a walk or jog together. Join a tennis group or meet a friend at the gym. Ask your gym about working with a personal trainer who can help you plan an exercise routine. Some programs even offer members healthy aging coaching, so you can connect with a personal health coach via phone sessions. Your health coach can help you plan and achieve various health goals.

Always remember to consult with your doctor before starting a new exercise routine and to discuss what types of exercises are safest for you.

Whether you want to work out at home, get fit at the gym or attend online classes, there are many types of fitness programs that can help you kick start your spring fitness routine.

I’M JUST CURIOUS: 12 things to always remember

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by Debbie Walker

I believe I found this material on Facebook, a social website, and I really wanted to share it. I don’t know who the original author is but I liked the thought behind this. And, of course, I had to add a few of my own thoughts. Any thoughts or comments you have I would be glad to hear from you.

1. The past cannot be changed. If we were able to change the past, we would lose some of the lessons we needed. What we don’t think of is in our quest to redo the past we would also lose some of the things you weren’t considering.

2. Opinions don’t define your reality. I will listen to anyone’s opinion, if I agree then it is part of my reality already. If I don’t agree I just ignore it. We all make mistakes. From those mistakes we learn. These are what makes our realities.

3. Everyone’s journey is different. No one is in the exact same spot in their journey. Everyone’s journey is different, that’s what makes us who we are, makes us all special. We might be the same age, in the same income bracket and may even have similar goals in life. Fortunately, the way we accomplish it is what makes our journey different.

4. Things always get better with time. Most injuries get better with time, most illnesses get better with time, grief and losses get better with time. Usually even our children get better with time!

5. Judgments are a confession of character. You will only know the character of a person through three things. (a) When you live with that person. (b) When you do business/partnership/employer/employees/ or friends with that person. (c)Any reason to spend a lot of time together. Character says a lot about a person, and that character is being judged, often, before you meet someone.

6. Over thinking will lead to sadness. Overthinking is focused on the past, specially the bad things that have happened or unfortunate situations that a person wishes had gone differently. Sadly, it is not just something you can ‘shake off’. The sadness or depression usually requires a little help, not just wishing.

7. Happiness is found within. According to my dictionary True Happiness is enjoying your own company and living in peace and harmony with your body, mind, and soul. It’s for being truly happy you neither need other people nor materialistic things. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. I think we look for other people to make us happy rather than doing it for yourself. Such as: My husband doesn’t have a clue what I would love for Christmas. My suggestion is to purchase a couple of your most wanted items, buy them and put them in his hands to wrap. I doubt he will be unhappy and you will get what you wanted without disappointment.

8. Positive thoughts create positive things. Explains itself.

9. Smiles are contagious. I believe in smiling, especially when I have eye contact with anyone, strangers, and all.

10. Kindness is free.

11. You only fail if you quit. Or…If you don’t try all.

12. What goes around, comes around. A person’s actions or behavior will eventually have consequences for their behavior.

Contact me at DebbieWalker@townline.org. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Years without a first lady

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Thomas Jefferson

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Years without a first lady

Christine Sadler’s delightfully gossipy, but well-researched 1963 book America’s First Ladies tells us the following about the years of Thomas Jefferson’s occupation of the White House:

“Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and the country, too, apparently, rocked along quite well without a First Lady for the eight years beginning in March of 1801. The third President, however, did have to call on Dolly Madison, the wife of his Secretary of State [and later 4th President James Madison (1751-1836)], to ‘assist with the ladies.’

“Jefferson was a widower of nineteen years standing when he moved into the President’s house with his exotic flower plants, his fiddle, and his mockingbird so tame that it hopped up the stairs behind him to sing during his midday siesta.”

His daughter Martha Randolph did step in at times and she and her husband Congressman Thomas Mann Randolph lived with her father at the White House, as did his other daughter Maria Eppes, also married to a member of Congress, John Wayles Eppes.

Martha gave birth to five sons and seven daughters, making Jefferson the President with the most living descendants. Her oldest son Thomas Jefferson Randolph would be the joy of his grandfather during old age while the youngest, James Madison Randolph, was the first baby born in the White House. The other three boys were also named for prominent Americans.

Jefferson courted controversy because of what was perceived as his tendencies to play politics and his worldliness. Unlike Washington and John Adams, he was not a committed Christian and, when he was elected President, there were rumors of elderly women in Connecticut burying their Bibles in the backyard.

In addition, Gore Vidal’s very colorful historical novel Burr, which is told from the point of view of Jefferson’s vice-president Aaron Burr, recounts how Jeff­erson, who preferred hosting dinner parties of one to five guests, would converse about subjects of interest to the guests.

Aaron Burr

In the interest of providing context for these dinner party conversations, I need to mention the following items.

Burr was the grandson of the famous preacher Jonathan Edwards, whose sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is a classic of early American literature and still frequently taught in college courses.

The vice-president was also a notorious womanizer who commented that his grandfather sought glory in heaven while he sought it on earth (Burr was tried for treason when he attempted to gather an army to invade Mexico and declare himself Emperor but was miraculously acquitted. And, of course, his most famous act of notoriety was killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel.).

Thus, when Burr himself was invited to dine with the President, Jefferson wanted to hear about Burr’s escapades with the women. In Burr’s words, “If my grandfather Jonathan Edwards was the guest, Jefferson would have been talking about the Book of Samuel.”

Jefferson also amassed a collection of 6,000 books, which became the basis of the Library of Congress.

Finally, after Abigail Adams died in 1818, her husband John Adams and Jefferson began a correspondence in which a range of subjects, including the comparisons of translations of Greek and Roman classics, would become the Adams/Jefferson Letters; pony express riders were making very quick trips on a weekly basis between Quincy, Massachusetts, where Adams lived and Monticello, Virginia.

And both men died July 4, 1826. On his death bed, John Adams expressed his hope that Jefferson was okay, not knowing that the latter had died three hours earlier.

SMALL SPACE GARDENING: Enlist nature’s help for managing garden pests

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by Melinda Myers

Put away the harsh chemicals and work in concert with nature to manage pests in the garden. Create an inviting habitat for nature’s pest controllers to enlist their help with your gardening efforts.

Lady beetles, praying mantis and other beneficial insects feed on damaging pests like aphids. Just tolerate a bit of damage and wait for the good guys to move in and clean up the problem.

Grow a few plants to attract these and other beneficial insects to your landscape. Dill and its relatives attract parasitic wasps, coreopsis brings in the aphid-eating lacewings, and milkweed attracts lady beetles as well as monarch and other butterflies. Add some hyssop to attract the pirate bugs that eat thrips, spider mites and leafhoppers. Then plant members of the aster family to attract spiders that eat a variety of insects.

Invite songbirds into your gardens. They add motion and color to the landscape and help manage garden pests. Most songbirds eat a combination of fruits, berries, seeds, and insects. Their diet varies with the season. During spring and summer, they eat lots of insects and spiders when they are plentiful, easy to catch and an important part of their hatchlings’ diet.

A birdbath will help attract them and beneficial insects to the garden. Select one with sloping sides for easy access to the water. Add a few seed producing flowers like black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, salvia, coreopsis and more. If space allows, include a few berry producing shrubs like dogwoods and evergreens for shelter.

Leave some leaf litter under trees and shrubs and in the garden for toads that dine on slugs and other insects. Include a shallow pond or water feature. Even a shallow saucer filled with chlorine-free water is effective. Place rocks in and around the water for added toad appeal. Purchase or make your own toad abode from a ceramic or clay pot. Place it in a shady location near a garden filled with protein-rich insects. Set it directly on the soil and elevate one side with stones or use a cracked or broken pot that provides an entryway for the toad.

If you can’t wait for nature’s help, look for more eco-friendly options. Knock aphids and mites off plants with a strong blast of water. Trap slugs with shallow cans filled with beer. Trap and kill aphids in yellow bowls filled with soapy water.

Use barriers of floating row covers to keep pests like cabbage worms, Japanese beetles and bean beetles off plants that don’t need bees for pollination. These fabrics let air, light and water through so just loosely cover the plants at planting, anchor the edges and allow the plants to support the fabric.

Use these fabrics to help manage squash vine borer and squash bugs. Cover squash plants at planting. Remove the fabric as soon as the plants begin flowering for bees to pollinate the flowers. Only use this method if these pests were not a problem in this area of the garden the previous growing season.

Remove and destroy, smash, or prune out pest-infested stems as they are found. Enlist the help of young gardeners. Teach them the difference between the good and bad bugs in the garden. Then show them how to pluck, drop and stomp the plant-damaging pests. They’ll burn off some excess energy while helping maintain your garden.

If you decide to intervene with a chemical control, look for the most eco-friendly option on the market. Always read and follow label directions as these chemicals are designed to kill insects and if misapplied can harm beneficial insects as well.

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” 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 Summit for her expertise to write this article. Her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

MY POINT OF VIEW: Mother’s Day manifests itself in different ways to different people

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by Gary Kennedy

Do I need to ask what does Mother’s Day mean? It manifests itself in different ways to different people. For some of us every day is Mother’s Day as we love her so very much. However, others need to be reminded that one’s mother is a very special person. You were born on a foundation of love between two people, mother and father. That is why we set a special day aside just for them; to fortify our relationship and to outwardly express our feelings for them. Some­times it’s great to hear it in a ceremonious manner. This carries the magnitude of this relationship to a somewhat formal level and puts that glow into the relationship.

Mother carried you for nine months and even though she did this with love, sometimes it was difficult. Even so, the result was you and the title Mother came to be for her. Along with this comes copious amounts of laundry, thoughtful preparation for school and sports events. She also laid the foundation for your education and morality. She even made church fun by encouraging you to attend the church events for young people. This helped with building morality and character.

Most of us don’t really realize all that goes into acquiring one of the most glorious titles on earth. God created the Earth and also Adam. I guess most of us are aware of that. God saw that Adam was lonely so he decided to create Eve. As most of us know this cost Adam a rib but I’m relatively sure God was gentle in this extraction. God’s plan was not to only quench Adam’s need for the companionship but for allowing a pathway for procreation. And so it began. Eve became the mother of 28 children although the Bible mostly centers around Cain, Abel and Seth. Geneticists, by tracing the DNA patterns, found through lineages decendents from 10 sons with genetic material from Adam and 18 daughters from Eve’s genetics. There certainly was lots of motherhood there.

Mother’s Day is celebrated in 50 countries worldwide. Some or most use a different day than we do but they obviously remain the same. The entire world loves their mothers but just go about it in different ways. Our date for Mother’s Day is synonymous with Julie Ward Howe who wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870 which she wrote condemning the senselessness of sons killing the sons of other mothers. Her persistence paid off as President Woodrow Wilson signed into law, Mather’s Day to be held on the second Sunday of May, in 1914. Anna Jarvis is given first credit for their holiday and its reason; war and the killing of our sons.

Women played such a dynamic role in the development of our great nation and nations throughout the world. Women especially, and mothers in particular, have played formidable roles in our history and that of the world. Most women are smart enough to not go near an apple tree, figuratively speaking. The Bible has many examples of Motherhood and in many different situations. Being a mother is the hardest job you will ever love. Times are hard right now but not so hard as to forget about our mothers. April showers brings May Flowers. So without a penny in my pocket I know I can pick some flowers to give to the first lady of our lives, Mother.

So, all I can say from my heart is do your best to make this second Sunday in May an event that will last the mother we love until next year at this time. It’s worth doing forever. Thank you Lord for Mother. God bless and have a happy and thankful Mother’s Day.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Great customer service on a budget

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to deliver great customer service.

Imagine a barber shop on Main street in your town. This shop is in fact the most popular in town. The barber, Fred, seems to know everyone’s name. He knows all about their family, what they do for a living and most importantly, how they like their hair cut, how often they come in and all kinds of other little things about them.

“How does he do it?” I can hear one of you asking. “He must have a very expensive customer service computerized systems?” Another one of you is thinking. Or maybe he just has an incredible memory for minutia? No, it is none of those things. Do you want to know what he has? Do you wonder what kind of customer retention plan he has invested in?

His shop is always busy. No one has ever seen the shop empty. He has never been seen sitting in his own barber chair reading the paper.

His business is successful. He bought that beautiful old Garland house on Birch Street last year, so he has to be doing well.

Fred seems to know everything about his customers. What they want. What they need. He knows when to offer them that special straight razor shave that he gets premium dollars for. He has a deep personal knowledge of all of his customers and what they want.

Okay, here is his big secret. Are you ready for this? He keeps a three by five index card of each of his customers. He has a set of questions that he wants answered on each of them and then he adds to them as he learns more about them.

The whole system cost him about five bucks a year…and the time and effort and passion for his business that it takes to make it a great and successful business.

And do the customers come back? Oh, do they ever. Everybody likes to be known, everybody has a comfort zone for someone who cares enough about them as customers to learn all they can about them and what they want.

This is the very essence of a good CRM (Customer Retention Management) System. That’s all it takes. A little effort and a few index cards and you’ll have the best CRM system money can buy.

In the end all business is people business, and all great businesses care enough about their customers to take the time to learn, not on what they need, but also what they want. These businesses are what is called Customer-centric businesses. And being customer centric is the very best way to grow your business.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Toxic worm has been sighted in Maine

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Hammerhead worm

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Joro spider that is working its way up the east coast of the U.S., and could arrive in Maine within the next 10 years.

Well, hang on to your hats, because here we go again with a native Asian invader to the state of Maine. The hammerhead worm — a toxic, predatory invasive worm capable of unlimited self-cloning — has arrived in Maine.

The first sightings were reported last fall from southern and central parts of Maine of the hammerhead worm, a flatworm that can range from 8- to 15-inches long and is distinguished by the unique hammer or shovel-shaped head.

“We have a couple of reports of them already,” said Gary Fish, state horticulturist with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. “I don’t think anyone in Maine is up to speed on them,” he said in a news article published in the Bangor Daily News by Liz Baker.

The discovery is bad news for Maine’s gardeners since hammerheads prey on earthworms, which contribute to the health of Maine soil by turning organic materials into useful compost. Earthworm activity also helps aerate the soil, which increases soil nutrients and moisture intake.

The hammerhead worm can prove additionally troublesome because it has no known predators.

The hammerhead worm is native to Asia and has been reported as far south as Florida, as far west as California and now as far north as Maine, according to the University of Florida.

The biology of the hammerhead reads like a horror movie. It does not have respiratory or circulatory systems or a skeleton, and it may or may not have eyes. What it does have is a single opening on its head that serves as both its mouth and its anus. (Sounds like something that is tailor made for an episode of Svengoolie.)

Baker spotted one slithering up her foundation in Lewiston last fall.

In the BDN article, Baker said, “I was fascinated. Totally creepy and strange but I love learning about different species [and] I had never seen anything like it.”

The truly amazing trait of hammerhead worms is that they are basically immortal. Like other flatworms, they reproduce asexually by what is known as “fragmentation.” For example, they leave the tip of their tail stuck to something, and it will develop on its own into a new worm.

That also means if you cut a hammerhead into pieces, in 10 days or so you are going to have multiple new hammerheads — all capable of fragmentation.

They are also the first land invertebrates found to produce the same toxin that is found in pufferfish. In the fish, the toxin is lethal to humans with one pufferfish containing enough to kill 30 adult humans. Little is known about the hammerhead toxin’s effects on humans, but it is believed a person would have to eat a large quantity of them to be lethal. Yuck! Are you kidding me? Who’d want to eat a worm? However, it is a good idea to wash your hands after handling hammerhead worms.

So, what do you do if you spot hammerhead worms, and don’t want to see an entire colony form in your yard?

Because hammerhead worms consume beneficial worms, secrete poisonous toxins, and transmit harmful nematode parasites, they should be removed and dispatched whenever found.

If you spot a hammerhead worm, take a photo. Should you kill hammerhead worms? Yes, but first take a photo and send it to your local cooperative extension service, your state’s department of natural resourc­es. These groups study and track invasive species like this worm, gathering numbers and locations of sightings.

Collect hammerhead worms in a sealable container. If you find a hammerhead worm in your garden, capture it in a sealable plastic bag or some other sealable container. Don’t touch it with your hands; use a stick, gloves, or paper towel to place it into the container. If you do touch it, be sure to wash and disinfect your hands. Placing the worms in a container ensures they won’t be able to get away and makes it easier to apply a solution to kill them.

Apply salt and/or grain vinegar concentrate to the hammerhead worms in the bag, seal the bag, and place it in the freezer for 48 hours to ensure the worm has dissolved. Soapy water, neem oil, citrus oil, boric acid, or pesticides may also work.

Do not cut the worm into pieces. Each section can regenerate into a fully developed worm within a few weeks.

Discard the dissolved worms and sanitize the container.

After a hammerhead worm has been sealed in a plastic bag, treated with salt (or a combination of salt and vinegar), and placed in the freezer for 48 hours, the Texas Invasive Species Institute recommends discarding the still-sealed baggie in the trash.

Alternatively, you can use a glass jar with a lid or any kind of plastic sealable container. Most sources advise tossing the sealed container into the trash, but if you prefer to reuse it, it should be cleaned and disinfected with alcohol or another strong disinfectant.

If you have found one hammerhead worm, there are probably more, so remain vigilant. Examine your garden, particularly in the early morning after a rain when they’re likely to be easily found on the surface.

It’s important to keep an eye out for these invasive, toxic worms. The slimy predators threaten earthworms, which are vital to our ecosystem because they help decompose organic matter and incorporate soil amendments. Knowing how to identify and correctly kill and dispose of these nuisance worms will help keep your garden and your pets safe and healthy.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who holds the Boston Red Sox team record for most hits in a single season?

Answer can be found here.