Keep Your Lawn Healthy: Aerator Anyone?

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A yard can become hard packed from frequently walking or playing games on it or lawn mowing. A hard-packed lawn may not efficiently receive much needed water, air, nutrients, seeds, etc. Aerating involves cutting little openings in the soil to create small reservoirs, which will bring benefits of water, oxygen, fertilizer, etc. down into the root zone. Indications that

a lawn needs aerating:

Lawn is full of water after the rain

Frequent driving on the lawn with a car or other transport

If it’s hard to stick a pencil or similar item into the soil’s surface

It’s hard clay soil

Bare or thin grass areas

Soil compaction

When to use

a lawn aerator?

Farming/Nature

Legacy Trees and their Storied Existence

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When we were growing up, my best friend and I liked to channel our inner primate by heading for the trees. We’d spend lazy afternoons climbing towering white pines with all their branches about to give way. We’d be gone for hours and come home reeking of sap. That was something we could live with, as it was a small price for freedom and a bird’s eye view. We weren’t the only ones climbing trees to pass the time.

People/Business

Old Friends Reunited at NEAM

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After John Gloria retired from Hamilton Standard in 1999, he volunteered to work in the restoration crew at the New England Air Museum, where he encountered an old friend. It was a surprise reunion, one that probably hadn’t happened before at the museum. His old friend was a Grumman Albatross amphibian, a.k.a. Grumman HU-16E, the very one he had flown regularly in Alaska for the Coast Guard. The sturdy aircraft, one of a type first delivered for service in the USAF, but later flown by the Navy and Coast Guard as well, had been used by the Coast Guard for search and rescue over 20 years in several locations. John had flown it regularly, based in Kodiak, Alaska.

Organizations

Friends of Suffield Invite Grant Requests

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Are you involved with a non-profit organization that could use a little extra funding? The Friends of Suffield, a volunteer organization committed to enriching our town and giving back to the community, is pleased to announce our annual call for grant requests. Applications are due by April 1.

Government/Town

Recycling and So Forth

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Not every, but most of the markets where we shop have containers somewhere near their entrance where you can recycle many other plastic materials besides the plastic bags, which have been phased out. For example – containers for lettuce, carrot, bread, or anything with a recycle symbol on it. If there is not a symbol, just put it with your regular trash. If you need more information about how to maximize your plastic recycling, go to http://www.recyclect.com. Something that I have been doing to eliminate wasting paper is to call or send a letter to those who are sending mail asking for charitable donations that I don’t wish to contribute to, and asking them to take my name off their list.

Government/Town

Monopoly Anyone?

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Cold winter nights are a time for families to hunker around a board game. Possibly one of the most popular board games in the world is Monopoly. According to a 2018 statistic, over 250 million sets of Monopoly have been sold since its invention and the game has been played by over half a billion people. This area of the world is Monopoly central, as the game is manufactured close by in an East Longmeadow factory once owned by Milton Bradley. Despite its title, the original intent of the game was to oppose monopolies.