Goodbye winter, farewell eagles

  Winter’s over or just about and there is a lot I won’t miss – like putting on all the winter duds – coat, hat, boots, gloves – before even going outside, for example. Or those cold winds whipping snow against the house, filling the driveway and walkways with the white stuff; beautiful to be […]

Save our Maine local rights!

Nothing makes me madder than someone trying to take away one of our basic rights.  A legislator from Hancock County, a state senator no less, wants to take away local control from Maine towns. State Senator Tom Saviello of Franklin is trying to have the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry […]

Part 2 – You be the judge!

If you read last week’s blog then you know that our town may open up formerly protected areas within 75’ of streams for single family homes and smaller structures such as decks. This will be left open to voters. This all began when the Planning Board considered adopting changes to its Shoreland Zoning and Stream […]

You be the judge! part 1

Here’s the problem: Our conservation commission urged a change in the Shoreland Zoning a few years ago. This change would apply the same 75’ setback from any body of water, including streams not defined by the Maine DEP, as streams such as water flows usually 1-2’ wide. These small flows can flood roads after a […]

Lose power much?

Lose power much? We seem to lose power a lot more here than when we lived in upstate New York.  We seem to have lost power routinely several times a year since we moved here nearly 20 years ago. Twice I remember losing power in upstate NY during the 30 years we lived there, once, […]

What’s up with our oceans?

What is happening to our ocean?  I never recall these weird changes with the ocean when we were younger, do you?  Were we missing something? Let’s look at what we all know is happening. We’ve heard a lot of talk about sea level rise. Portland has seen some of its streets near the Old Port […]

Banned from the game?

Roundup and its main ingredient, glyphosate now have yet another strike against them. You would think this stuff would be out of the game by now, but Roundup is still the most used product of its kind in America and in the world. The newest strike? Roundup can severely impair your immune system, brain function […]

Did the winter cold kill the bugs?

Remember that cold snap? Those week long Arctic temperatures when it was below zero and a ‘warm up’ was 12 or 13?  How could you forget it? Were you one of the unlucky ones who lost power and had no way to keep warm? You might think little good could come out of those long […]

Are we turning into plastic people?

Did you ever stop to realize how many products in your house now come in plastic?  I realized this when I saw that a lot of what I haul to the transfer station to recycle is plastic. Look in our fridge and you’d see a plastic V-8 bottle, jam bottle, yogurt containers, lettuce containers, a […]

Should you or shouldn’t you?

Here is something you might have missed while celebrating the New Year.  Did you know that Maine garden centers can no longer sell plants that are considered to be invasive here? So what are these  invasive plants you can’t buy anymore? We finally found the list after some wandering around on maine.gov; that website is […]