I’M JUST CURIOUS: Hints for a better life

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by Debbie Walker

There is so much nastiness and cruelty in the world today that whenever I see something promoting a more pleasant life, I want to use it. The writing I saw this week didn’t have a title or an author just hints to a better life.

1. Compliment three people every day. (I do enjoy complimenting people. I like seeing the look of surprise on their face and I know I added at least a couple of smiles for them. One smile when I complimented them and one, they will experience as they compliment another.)

2. Watch a sunrise at least once a year. (This one I don’t do so well at. I am better at sunsets.)

3. Be the first to say, “Hello”. (I have found people enjoy it when I greet them with a smile and “Good Morning”. The whole thing kind of catches folks off guard!)

4. Live beneath your means. (I do struggle with this one.)

5. Treat everyone like you want to be treated. (Some days this is a little easier said than done. But if we all continued to try wouldn’t this be so much more pleasant way to live.)

6. Never give up on anybody, miracles do happen. Another idea I discovered a long time ago is, “As Long as There is Breath There is Hope.”

7. Forget the Joneses. (If you don’t know who the Joneses are, ask someone older). Concentrate on you. Make your wishes simple, you don’t have to participate in the rat race.

8. Never deprive of someone of hope. It may be all they have.

9. Pray not for things, but for wisdom and courage

10.. Be tough-minded but tender hearted.

11. Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

12. Keep your promise. Don’t make a promise if there is the slightest doubt.

13. Learn to show cheerfulness, even when you don’t feel like it. We always referred to “fake it till you make it.”

14. Remember that overnight success usually takes 15 years.

15. Leave everything better than you found it.

16. Remember that winners do what losers don’t want to do.

17. When you arrive at your job in the morning, let the first thing you say brighten everyone’s day.

18. Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.

19. Watch a movie chosen by a new friend. It may not be a movie you would have chosen but, you may learn a lot with an open mind.

20. Stranger is just a friend you hadn’t met yet. That is what my grandfather always said.

Fall Bird Questions: from Farmer’s Almanac 2022:

1 No, birds do not become dependent on your feeders.

2 No, feeding birds in the fall will not stop them from migrating. Somewhere I read that red pepper flakes sprinkled in bird seed will keep the birds happy but really mess with the squirrel happiness.

3 Birds need water year-round.

4 Only 40 percent of birds are migrating birds.

I am just curious if you will find any of this helpful. Hope so. Contact me at DebbieWalker@townline.org. with questions or comments. Thanks for reading and have a great week.

REVIEW POTPOURRI – Author: Larry McMurtry; TV Show: Elementary; Composer: Gustav Mahler

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Larry McMurtry

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Larry McMurtry

Novelist Larry McMurtry (1936-2021) was perhaps most well known for Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment, and The Last Picture Show. His 2008 books: A Memoir is an account of his adventures as a voracious reader, book collector (he would eventually amass a personal library of 28,000 books) and dealer in rare and-not-so-rare books.

He describes growing up on a ranch in the vast West Texas spaces, at least 18 miles from the nearest town and his family being plentifully self-sufficient with raising cattle, hogs and chickens and growing vegetables for their food supply during the depression.
However, books were another matter:

“Of books there were none….it puzzles me how totally bookless our ranch house was. There must have been a Bible, but I don’t remember ever seeing it. My father did read the range cattle books of J. Frank Dobie, but the only one I remember seeing in our house…was The Longhorns, which I borrowed for my father from Mr. Will Taylor, a wealthy and elderly oilman who lived in a great mansion just south of our hay field.”

McMurtry later bought the mansion and used it to house his library.

Highly recommended for those who love, read and collect books.

Elementary

I have been bingeing on Elementary, another take on Sherlock Holmes, with the very consummate starring roles of Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes, Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson, Aidan Quinn as a chief of detectives Captain Thomas Gregson (Quinn was in Waterville during the filming of Empire Falls and portrayed David Roby, one of the two sons of Paul Newman’s character), and Jon Michael Hill as Detective Marcus Bell.

The setting is the 21st century New York City and depicts Holmes and Watson’s roles as consultants for the Manhattan Police department and Sherlock’s super-human intuition for solving the continually odious murders in each of its seven seasons from 2012 to 2019 on CBS and now available on Hulu.

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler

Depending on my mood, I shift back and forth between the 3rd and 5th Symphonies of the ten that Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) left us. YouTube has quite a number of performances of the 3rd which I have lately been enjoying. Recently the Bucharest, Romania, Enescu Festival 2021 hosted a very exciting Mahler 3rd with Paavo Jarvi conducting the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, chorus and the very good contralto Wiebke Lehmkuhl.

Unfortunately that one is not available yet on YouTube but a video broadcast of Paavo from 2008 can be seen.

Here at the house are over 40 different Mahler 3rds, including two different ones of Leonard Bernstein, Bernard Haitink, Klaus Tennstedt, Jascha Horenstein, Erich Leinsdorf, Dimitri Mitropoulos, and Rafael Kubelik plus single ones of Heinz Rogner, Herbert Kegel, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa Pekka Salonen, Semyon Bychkov, Michael Gielen, Riccardo Chailly, Claudio Abbado, Vaclav Jiracek, Benjamin Zander, Pierre Boulez, Richard Burgin, Carl Schuricht, Antoni Wit, Maurice Abravanel, James Levine, Andrew Litton, Armin Jordan, Jesus Lopez-Cobos etcs. Each one scores points and I hope that this list of Maestros might instigate curiosity about the 3rd and other compositions.

Continuing with Robert PT Coffin’s essay Kennebec Crystals:

“The geese were coming back early, up along Merrymeeting, that same spring, before the middle of April. And in late April that best day of all the spring on the Kennebec came, when the first boat arrived, the Boston steamer, with the star on her smokestack and her whistle tied down all the way from Swan Island to the Cobbosseecontee, waking the dead and the hills with her news of spring at last. There was not a church bell in the five towns that wasn’t ringing. Women in bombazine waved handkerchiefs. School was let out for the day and the hills were alive with children.”

More next week.

FINANCIAL FOCUS: Plan ahead before joining the Great Resignation

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by Sasha Fitzpatrick

It’s been called the “Great Resignation” – the large number of Americans voluntarily leaving their jobs. If you plan to be part of it (ideally with another source of employment lined up), you’ll need to make the financial moves necessary to keep making progress toward your long-term goals.

Here’s some background: After a year in which the pandemic caused so many people to lose their jobs, the economy is opening back up, but the “quit rate” – the number of jobs people have voluntarily left – has been breaking records. Some economists say this high quit rate is because people are confident of getting better jobs, with higher pay and more flexibility to work at home, or because they are preparing to start their own business or join the gig economy.

If you’re thinking of joining this temporary migration from the workforce, how can you help ensure that you’ll be financially stable and can continue to make progress toward your long-term goals?

Your first move is to look clearly at your financial situation. As mentioned above, it’s best to have new employment in hand before you quit your job. Alternatively, perhaps you have a spouse or life partner who earns enough to sustain the two of you, or you’ve built up an emergency fund that gives you a cushion.

However, if your short-term income is less than you previously earned or you need to go without a paycheck for a while, could you still pay your bills? If you are strapped for cash, you might be tempted to tap into your 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan. But this move will generally result in taxes and, if you are younger than 59 ½, a 10 percent penalty as well. Because of this, and because your retirement accounts are designed to be a financial resource after you retire, think twice before dipping into these funds if you leave your current employer.

If your employer allows it, you can leave your money in the 401(k) so you’ll still be accumulating resources for retirement. You also have the option to roll those funds into an individual retirement account (IRA) or a new employer’s retirement plan.

And if you plan to work for yourself as a freelancer, consultant or business owner, you’ll still want to save toward retirement. Possible retirement plans for the self-employed include an “owner-only” 401(k), a SEP-IRA or a SIMPLE IRA, all of which may be relatively easy to establish and offer tax benefits. A financial advisor can help you find a retirement plan that’s appropriate for your needs.

Here’s something else to keep in mind – an emergency fund. As mentioned above, if you already have one, you’ll have some breathing room if you’re thinking of leaving your job and might have a temporary gap in income. But as the name suggests, an emergency fund is there to help cover unexpected costs, such as a major home repair, without forcing you to take out a loan, or cash out part of your longer-term investments. So, if you are planning to tap your emergency fund, work to restock it as soon as possible.

If you’re participating in the “Great Resignation,” it means you’re feeling positive about your future employment prospects, which is great. But you’ll want to support that optimism with a strong financial foundation.

Sasha Fitzpatrick can be contacted at EdwardJones Financial Advisor, 22 Common St., Waterville, ME 04901, or at sasha.fitzpatrick@edwardjones.com.

SOLON & BEYOND: A few words from the Carney Brook Chronicle

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

This week I am starting out with a few words from an old July 14, 1997, The Carney Brook Chronicle. It begins: I promised you there would be a sequel to my last column’s wild woodchuck story, but it’s just like one of those movies where you have to guess at the ending. I have not seen that vicious varmint since. (The day that I wrote the column I wanted to use the word “varmint” as an apt description of the woodchuck . I just hope the I just hope the animal didn’t have rabies and crawled off and died. When I called the warden service they thought that was odd behavior for a woodchuck. Animals always tend to like me but there is a question with some people. Those of us who “tell it like it is” aren’t as popular as those with numerous faces.

The following words are from another Carney Brook Chronicle on September 26, 1997 paper. Talk about an early start, here I sit at my typewriter at 2:30 a.m., on Tuesday morning! This is the first for me, but I turned and twisted since midnight so I decided to start the day early. I laid in bed thinking, what shall I write and how shall I write it? so here goes…! I received the official notification from the selectmen last evening that the “Welcome to Solon” signs that they had painted would be unveiled on Monday morning, September 29. I was told that the selectmen were going to have signs made several weeks ago and had tried to convince them that they should let the people vote on what would like to say on the signs since we’re having a special town meeting, and these signs were to represent the town. When I had been told about these welcome signs I asked how much they would cost and was told $400, and when I asked what account that sum would be taken from, Smiley said, “Scrap metal”. Since I am a firm believer in democracy and the right of the people to vote, if given a chance, this entire matter has disturbed me greatly. But it has also proved to me beyond a reasonable doubt why apathy abounds in our country today. At this point some of you are probably saying, ” Why doesn’t she go back to bed? I had, and as I laid there thinking, why can’t I go with the flow and not care, as is the tendency these days. I think the question was answered by a quote from Thomas Jefferson. “In matters of principle, stand like a rock, in matters of taste, swim with the current.”

And now for one more bit of information about a really good friend of mine. This in the December 5, 1997, Carney Brook Chronicle. On November 10 Benjamin Safford was presented with the Boston Post Gold Cane by Solon Selectmen Charles Johnson, Robin Robinson, , and John Sillars Jr.’ as Solon’s oldest resident. The cane was presented to him at his home on York Street where he has lived for the last 25 years. Two of his daughters, Glennis Rogers and Gladys Rogers, and his granddaughter, Linda French were present.

Ben was born in North New Portland on April 29,1904, the son of Russell and Emma Jackson Safford. He went to school in Dead River, then to Anson Academy for one and a half years, and Kingfield High School for one and a half years. He married Methy Morris on September 30,1922, and they had four daughters: Glennis Rogers, and Gladys Rogers, both of Solon, Betty Wyman, of Stratton, and Elsie Laughin, of Raymond. Ben worked as a watchman on Mt. Bigelow from 1922 until 1930, brought a truck and worked on the roads in Dead River. While working as a watchman he took courses in drafting, blueprint reading, and surveying from the international Correspondence School. He worked for Glen Viles building a cookroom, dining camp, and guide camp at West Carry Pond. Ben also trapped and had a Maine guide license. He was a very busy man and had several other jobs as well. After he retired, Ben wrote a book, Some History of the Dead River Valley, which sold over 290 copies. He joined the Mason and OES at the age of 21 and has been an active member ever since. My love and best wishes go out to Ben.

And now for Percy’s memoir: Life’s Rainbows: Oh, I wish I had a rainbow, I am waiting for a sign, To brighten things around me, Leave the shadows all behind. Then I put aside the wishing, And the waiting time is gone, Now it’s time to make things brighter With some rainbows of my own. (Mildred H. H. Bell)

SCORES & OUTDOORS: A good ol’ fishing story from the past

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Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

Reprinted from 2015

We haven’t had one of these in a long time, so it was kind of timely because it happened on one of our last fishing outings of the season. With summer officially ending on September 21, my wife and I are preparing to close camp, so the boat will be coming out of the water soon.

What is it you ask?

A fishing story.

Anyone who has done some significant amount of fishing can attest that sometimes weird things happen while on the water. It can involve birds, mammals, or anything related to nature, including fish.

For instance, recently, while fishing near the large island on Webber Pond, we heard this rather loud splash in the water. In the past we have experienced ospreys go into their kamikaze dive to catch a fish, or a large bass coming to the surface to grab something to eat. On occasion, it could be a loon. On that particular day, that large splash was made by a deer. We don’t know what happened, because we didn’t see, just heard. But the deer was in the water, chest deep, working its way back toward the island. As always, once it reached some vegetation, it disappeared.

But this next one is a fishing story. This is not a fabrication.

We were about to wrap up the fishing for the day, having spent a little over four hours on the pond, when I felt a “hit.” Once I set the hook, I could tell this was going to be a nice fish. I began the process of bringing the fish toward the boat. It was putting up a pretty good fight, finally breaking water and going into its routine of trying to release itself from the hook. It jerked and twisted while doing its “dance” on the water.

The fish wasn’t successful so the struggle continued. As I got the fish closer to the boat, it decided to dive aft. This is when things got really interesting. The bass had managed to get directly under the boat, or so I thought. My fishing rod was completely bent in half, with the tip of the rod nearly touching the water. At this point, I could no longer pull the fish toward the surface nor take up any more line on the reel.

I told my wife, “grab the net, we are now in a Mexican standoff.” The fish was pulling as hard from his end as I was from mine. After what seemed like an eternity, the line finally succumbed to the stress, and broke.

Disappointed, I had to investigate as to why I could not land the fish. I figured the bass had to have snagged itself somewhere under the boat. I first checked the side where I have a diving platform. That is the usual culprit. Nothing there. Next, I checked the fin on the lower unit of the motor, nothing. “OK, it’s got to be the prop,” I thought. A quick check of the propeller showed no sign of a fishing line. However, I did notice the anchor line coming across just below the prop, a strange place for it to be.

Closer inspection showed me that the hook, with lure still attached was imbedded in the anchor line. I always try to steer the fish away from that area, but this one had decided, with authority, that is where it wanted to go.

Wait a minute! I noticed something else when I saw the hook and lure. I could see eyes staring back at me. I grabbed the anchor and started to pull it up from the bottom of the lake, and there it was. The fish was still attached to the hook and lure, and tangled in the anchor rope. The fish was hauled into the boat, and the usual ceremony took place. Free the fish from the line, measure and weigh, photo op, and back into the water. It wasn’t a giant: 18-inches, 3-1/2 pounds, but it fought like a whale.

Another fish story to tell my grandkids and great-grandkids, because my friends don’t believe it.

WINTER PREDICTION UPDATE

I promised I would keep you updated on my observations regarding the winter prediction. Well, things haven’t changed much. I have seen many squirrels out and about, and all of them have had a skinny tail, indicating a mild winter. Last Friday evening, I saw my first wooly bear caterpillar. He was about one third rust colored, and two-thirds black, a sign of a relatively tough winter. Again, conflicting indicators.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who is the longest reigning heavyweight boxing champion with 25 successful title defenses.

Answer can be found here.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Time To Return To Regular Screening

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It is important for men to be vigilant about their routine health screenings.

(NAPSI)—The COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on lives in more ways than many realize. For example, it meant too many Americans neglected getting the regular health testing—particularly cancer screening—they should.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, an estimated 41% of U.S. adults reported forgoing medical care early in the pandemic. If you or someone you care about is among them, now may be a good time to schedule a doctor’s appointment. Members of the medical community fear that in a few years, all too many men will be diagnosed with later-stage, less-treatable prostate cancer.

As it is, the American Cancer Society, reports about one in eight American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Fortunately, it can be treated successfully, especially if caught early. If you’re 50 or older or have a family history of prostate cancer, speak to your doctor about screening.

Understanding Prostate Cancer

There are four stages of prostate cancer. Stage one is diagnosed very early and confined to the prostate. At this stage, the patient is unlikely to have any symptoms and may not need treatment beyond regular follow-up tests—and the five-year relative survival rate is almost 100 percent.

Some Answers

Testing: Prostate cancer can be diagnosed with a simple blood test, the PSA, which checks the level of prostate-specific antigen in your blood.

In the past, there was controversy about whether having a prostate cancer screening done was beneficial or if it produced more harmful effects due to complications from over-testing. PSA testing was the best thing available for a long time.

Now there are tools that provide much more information, giving predictability about the aggressiveness of the cancer and data to help urologists safely manage their patients’ disease. This lets urologists keep more patients on active surveillance regimens and put off more aggressive treatment. Using tests such as the Gleason grade score, overall patient health and risk factors—age, race, ethnicity, family history and exposure to Agent Orange—doctors can determine with confidence how aggressive the cancer is and which patients will do well on active surveillance. They’ll also know which therapy options will be the optimal for the patient.

Making it easier for doctors and their patients to do this testing is the full range of diagnostic equipment and supplies available through the trusted advisors at Henry Schein Medical, a provider of medical and surgical supplies to healthcare professionals.

Treatments: There are many ways to treat prostate cancer, including hormone therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and cryoablation. The newest innovation is immunotherapy, which uses your own immune system to identify, target and destroy the cancer cells without harming the body’s own “good cells.” Your doctor can help you decide what’s best for you.

It’s important to remember you have the most options available when prostate cancer is diagnosed early and in the most treatable stage.

Paying: Many insurance policies will pay for diagnostic tests and in some places, such as New York State, there’s no co-pay or co-insurance cost sharing responsibility for diagnostic prostate cancer screenings (with such policies). This puts PSAs on the same level as mammograms, thanks to efforts of advocates and doctors such as those at Advanced Urology Centers of New York, one of the largest urology group practices in the country.

Learn More

For further facts, visit the American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org and Integrated Medical Foundation (IMF) at https://imfcares.org/. IMF provides free screenings, education and support services.

MAINE MEMORIES: School days of old

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The old Weeks Mills one-room schoolhouse, built in 1860.

by Evangeline T.

Welcome to Maine Memories, little snippets of life from our home state. For this installment, I’m looking back at my early school days. Times definitely have changed, since then!

I grew up in the small town of LaGrange, Maine. We had a general store, a post office, service station, and a railroad station.

My first train ride was on an old black steam engine from that station to Milo, Maine, a distance of approximately ten miles. I’ve never forgotten it!

LaGrange had four working schoolhouses, which I attended one by one, until I was in my third year of high school. That’s when I moved to another town.

School number one consisted of a large room, where sub-primary (or kindergarten) and first and second grades were taught, all by one teacher. We sat at low tables, with small brightly colored chairs of red, green, yellow, and orange. Once a week, we’d gather together, and a lady would come and tell us a story. After that, a man gave us all chocolate cupcakes, with delicious white cream filling.

School number two was a single room, housing grades three and four. We had our own desks, which made us feel grown up. There was one teacher for every subject and for both grades.

In the back of the room was an iron stove called a ram down. The stove used a big log for fuel. It was our only source of heat, so everyone wanted a desk close by. Sometimes, we’d be allowed to cook lunch on the ram down, using ingredients brought from home. A great stew was the result. What a treat!

Teachers back then were strict. If we whispered and giggled, she wrote our names on the slate blackboard. Later, at day’s end, those who’d disobeyed lined up in front of the room and held out their hand. Each received a slap from a razor strap. Ouch! A razor strap was about two inches wide and two feet long, made out of strong leather and used to sharpen straight razors. It hurt, and I can witness to that!

School number three was split into two rooms. The left housed grades five and six. The right accommodated grades seven and eight.

A basement coal furnace provided heat. My dad filled it every evening and again in the morning, all part of his duties as school bus driver.

Our school was right in town, across from the general store. If we’d been good and asked “may I,” not “can I,” teacher allowed us to buy candy or an ice cream cone during lunch hour. If we didn’t have money, we’d play games or swing.

As I said before, Dad drove the school bus, so I’d wait to be the last one out. “May I have a nickel?” I’d ask him. Keep in mind, mom had already said no at home! He’d reach into his pocket and say, ‘gee, I don’t seem to have a nickel, will a dime do?’ It was our little secret. A dime bought a lot of candy and an ice cream!

School number four (high school) was a converted church on a hill called Hinkley Hill, after a family who’d settled there years before.

All four years of high school attended. We’d start each day by congregating in the central area, about 30 of us. Our senior class consisted of two sisters, and no one else! After roll call, we’d go to different rooms, depending on what subjects were being taught that particular day.

This building was heated by a coal furnace, and the heat came through one very large register in the floor.

Maine winters are famous for being chilly, but we girls knew how to keep warm. Slacks weren’t allowed, and the style was skirts with lots of petticoats. At recess, we’d stand over that register and get our petticoats as hot as possible. When the bell rang, we wrapped them around ourselves and sat down. Worked like a charm!

Those times of one room school houses, coal furnaces, razor straps and hand-held brass bells are all in the past, now. Just scrapbook memories. Too bad.

Today, it’s smart phones, computers, and modern technology galore. Are these new methods better? Are our students smarter? I wonder!

REVIEW POTPOURRI – Author: H.L. Mencken; Film: Cop Land

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Peter Catesby Peter Cates

H.L. Mencken

H.L. Mencken

The delightful scoundrel H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) wrote the scholarly and hilarious Treatise on the Gods in 1930 and revised it in 1946. Like so much of Mencken’s writing, it is very biased, scores points both intentionally and unintentionally in spots, reveals blindness in other spots, and was never intended to be taken very seriously.

In his 1943 On Native Grounds, Alfred Kazin (1915-1998) spoke of Mencken’s popularity among the younger generation of the bootlegging 1920s:

“As it was, he not only rallied all the young writers together and imposed his skepticism upon the new generation, but also brought a new and uproarious gift for high comedy into a literature that had never been too quick to laugh….Mencken proved that one could be ‘a civilizing influence’ by writing like a clown.”

Mencken’s own passage on the conflict between love your neighbor as yourself and loving yourself shows his devious wit:

“So long as it was believed that the end of the world was at hand it all was well enough to be poor and humble, but when years of uncertainty began to stretch ahead every man of any prudence had to take thought for his own security and that of his family. Thus the Beatitudes were forgotten and the immemorial game of dog-eat-dog was resumed.”

Cop Land

One highly recommended film, the 1997 Cop Land, depicts a group of New York City’s men and women in blue, the community they live in across the George Washington Bridge, and the harrowingly moral ambiguity in their conduct both on and off the job.

It even takes on the dimensions of a Shakespearean tragedy in its gritty realism, hopeless cynicism and the struggles to do what’s right.

The cast included Robert de Niro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Sylvester Stallone, Janeane Garofalo and Annabella Sciorra, along with others, in one outstanding ensemble performance.

Also highly recommended is Howard Shore’s very eloquent soundtrack.

Robert PT Coffin’s essay
Kennebec Crystals continued

Continuing with paragraphs from Robert PT Coffin’s essay Kennebec Crystals:

“That year the Hudson did not freeze over ‘til March. The betting of the Maine farmers had been three to one against its doing so. They won their bets. The rival river, the only rival the clear blue Kennebec had among the rivers of earth, had lean-kine stalls along its banks that year of our Lord. The Lord had been good. The Kennebec ice farmers heaped great towers of the harvest outside their houses and covered them with spruce boughs and sawdust, for extra measure. The Knickerbocker Ice Company lost nothing. For they owned most of the icehouses along both the Hudson and the Kennebec. All ice was ice to them. The Kennebec crop was better than the Hudson, in fact, for the water in the Maine river was clearer and purer. Kennebec ice stood at the head of all ice. It was the Hudson ice cutters who lost. But if Peter was robbed, Paul was paid. The Kennebec farmers went back to their hens and heifers with wallets stuffing out their trousers and their sons’ trousers, after the $4-a-week lodging and eating bills had been paid. The grocers canceled whole tomes of ledgers. The schoolteachers kept their patience right up to ‘Horatius at the Bridge’ in the Friday afternoon’s speaking. New barrels of pork and flour came home to the high farms on the whistling runners of the horse sleds. And barrels of halibuts’ heads and broken-bread. Active Frost stopped moving his checkers when his foreman turned to take a shot at the spittoon. And Timothy Toothaker asked the question when he brought his Susannah the first bunch of mayflowers. They were married and setting up housekeeping on new pine floors and in the new spooled maple bed before the catkins were gone from the popples.”

To be continued next week.

SOLON & BEYOND: It doesn’t pay to get a swelled head

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

It doesn’t work to get a swelled head, take it from one who knows! I just called Roland thinking I could ask him if he would use last week’s column that didn’t get printed, in this weeks paper? His answer was, “I never got it.” And this is why, I had stopped calling every week to make sure it had gone and he had received it! My head had gotten swelled thinking I was getting better with my using the computer. And so, I first want to thank Roland for not firing me, and my apologies to those of you who may like to read my mostly “Old” news, and would you please pray that my ability to use that wicked machine will finely improve.

Today, I’m going to use some quotes from a book that I have. This one is from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: “I may be old but I haven’t stopped growing yet.” Another one that might apply to those of you who are growing old: “O Lord, may this be true of me. As I age, may I also grow wiser in Your knowledge and wisdom, and live fully in Your Spirit. Amen.”

I’m going to take this advice from the book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. And it starts this way: “Let Others Be ‘Right’ Most of the Time. One of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself is, ‘Do I want to be ‘right,’ – or do I want to be happy?’ Many times, the two are mutually exclusive! Being right, defending our positions, takes an enormous amount of mental energy and often alienates us from the people in our lives. Needing to be right – or needing someone else to be wrong – encourages others to become defensive, and puts pressure on us to keep defending. Yet, many of us (me too, at times) spend a great deal of time and energy attempting to prove (or point out) that we are right – and/or others are wrong. Many people, consciously or unconsciously, believe that it’s somehow their job to show others how their positions, statements, and points of view are incorrect, and that in doing so, the person they are correcting is going to somehow appreciate it, or at least learn something.” Wrong!

Think about it. Have you ever been corrected by someone and said to the person who was trying to be right, “Thank you so much for showing me that I’m wrong and you’re right. Now I see it Boy, you’re great’! Or has anyone you know ever thanked you (or even agreed with you) when you corrected them, or made yourself “right” at their expense? Of course not.

The truth is, all of us hate to be corrected. We all want our positions to be respected and understood by others. Being listened to and heard is one of the greatest desires of the human heart. And those who learn to listen are the most loved and respected.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: What will winter bring to us?

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Basketball size bee hive, left, and its location in the tree. (photos by Roland D. Hallee)

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

OK, it’s mid-September and time for me to go out on a limb, stick my neck out, walk the tightrope – take your pick of the risk I’m about to take.

It’s my annual attempt at reading Mother Nature’s warnings, and predict the upcoming winter. I know…I know, it’s only September, but that season will be here before we know it.

I have been watching signs over the past couple of weeks, and I have to admit, I’m getting mixed messages.

My first observation are onions. If the skin is thin, we can expect a mild winter. The onions I have been peeling lately have had thin skins, thus that would indicate a mild winter. Another sign of a mild winter has been squirrels. They don’t seem to be in a hurry to gather nuts for the winter, another sign of a mild winter.

However, another farmer’s folklore signal is the squirrel’s tail. A bushy tail indicates a tough winter, and a skinny tail means a mild season. I have seen both. One day I noticed a squirrel with a really bushy tail, and later in the day, saw one with a less bushy one.

How about berries and nuts. Let’s examine that. I have wild berries growing in my backyard, black raspberries and choke cherries. My crop of black raspberries this year was minimal, and I have way fewer choke cherries than usual. Both signs of a mild winter.

Now, there are other signs for which to look. Are cornhusks thicker than normal? If so, a rough winter. I have not noticed much of a difference this year. Flowers blooming in late autumn are another sign of a tough winter. I don’t know if this qualifies, but when my rhubarb patch was pretty much finished in late July, I cleared the area, getting it ready for winter. While I was checking on my squash garden this past weekend, I noticed a new crop of rhubarb coming in. I have never seen that before. Also, the abundance of acorns at camp seems to be way down this year. Not as many as we’ve seen in recent years.

Let’s talk bees. Actually yellow jackets.

The old folklore states that bee hives constructed high indicates heavy snow fall. Closer to the ground means mild winter, snow-wise.

This past weekend, while camping with my family in Solon, we noticed plenty of yellow jackets around. On Sunday morning, we finally located the hive. It hung from a tree along the Kennebec River, it was the size of a basketball, and must have been a good 30 feet above ground, hanging over the river. Not a good sign, unless, of course, you’re a skier or a snowmobile enthusiast.

Another is leaves on a tree. If the leaves fall early, it signals a mild winter, but if they fall late, winter will be severe. Upon our return to camp from the camping trip, my wife and I noticed a large number of leaves on the ground. It seems, at least to me, that it’s a little early for that.

Finally, the wooly bear caterpillar. This one I can’t help you with. It is mid-September and I have yet to see one. I will keep a vigil on this, and perhaps report to you later. Remember, the wider the rust colored band on the caterpillar, the milder the winter.

According to the Old Farmers Almanac, weather folklore warnings of a harsh winter are based on La Nina. La Nina conditions for North America tend to be dry in summer and cold in winter, so if birds leave early, the leaves fall quickly, onions and apple skins are tough, and caterpillars are short, it may be due to the La Nina drought. A miserable winter will follow.

So, let’s review. I have presented 12 conditions on which to base my prediction. The score is: Mild winter 7, tough winter 3, and two undecided. It looks like a relatively mild winter. However, all the “weather experts” seem to say a rough winter. Maybe I’m just trying to justify a mild winter in my mind.

So, here is my recommendation. You’d better polish the shovels, and tune up the snowblowers, because to be a true Mainer is to be ready for anything. And we’ve all heard the old saying, “If you don’t like the weather in Maine, wait a minute.”

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

How many years did it take for Bill Belichick to win a Super Bowl as head coach with the New England Patriots?

Answer can be found here.