It's Awesome August Time

by Esther J. Perne

August arrives with a hint of the refreshing season to come and an invitation to enjoy the summer at its height. August arrives with a flurry of small town events, some super days for outdoor activities, and some rewarding destinations for day trips and drives.

Fairs, summer theater, concerts and art shows, hikes, bikes, fishing and watercraft ventures, shopping, lingering and relaxing — and dreaming — are all on the awesome August calendar along with that rewarding option of just plain doing nothing — and loving it.

The month comes in with some favorite small town traditions: in Belgrade Lakes a Bean Hole bean supper — a great Maine menu benefiting a great Maine cause, the local volunteer fire and rescue workers; a Loon Calling Contest open to all from toddlers to nonagenarians attempting to imitate the lakes' legendary inhabitants; the weekly Farmers' Market; and a lakeside craft fair.

The month comes in with Skowhegan's River Fest — the mighty Kennebec River, of course, into which all the Belgrade lakes flow and through which the region was discovered and economically thrived. River Fest not only honors the history of log days but showcases the downtown river gorge as the future home of Run of River, a recreation area that will include a whitewater park, fourseason trails and a riverfront promenade.

The month comes in with the iconic blueberry, on a bush to be picked or at the Wilton Blueberry Festival to be celebrated. At the latter there will be a town full of activities, including a book sale, arts and crafts, boat tours, entertaniment a parade and fireworks, all to complement the State's most famous berry.

During August, the accent on most activities is outdoors, under the stars, near the water. Outdoor movies, concerts, markets and various venues to sample brews are open-air. The summer schedules may be winding down but they aren't over — perhaps just a little bit more in the dark with the shortening days and earlier evenings.

With August there is still time to catch a few rays, a few fish, a few rounds of golf or that hike not taken, time to catch up on friendships, neighborhoods, organizations that are working hard for the best interests of the area be it increasing water quality or decreasing the shocking number — there should be none — of area children going to bed hungry every night.

With August there is still time to make a difference, a donation, a volunteer effort. Money is great, so is that food left for a food bank from a camp being vacated. Shopping in advance for the holidays is brilliant, buying that benefits an association or cause is even brighter. Running is good, running to raise funds is more fun.

As August moves on while the weather is still gracious and nature inviting the final ode of August is to plan a return — a return to a lake, or a town, or to a scheme on how to spend more time in the area in the future when it's amazing August time.

Road Crossings Are Frequently Stream Barriers

by Dale Finseth

As towns, road associations and land owners continue work on their roadways this summer and fall, the sites where they cross streams need special attention. Usually this involves installing or replacing a culvert and sometimes a bridge. There seems to be two primary issues:

1. The culvert is too small. With changes in how severe a rain storm may be, the culvert may no longer be large enough or it has become "pinched". Or, given changes in land use upstream, the stormwater runoff may have increased and overwhelms the current culvert.
2. The current culvert was installed without attention to habitat protection. Fish and other aquatic animals can't use the stream to move up and downstream. The culvert creates high water velocity or may be "perched" so that animals, usually fish, are not able to travel upstream to other parts of their habitat.

Road crossings are, by their nature, restricted points in a stream's path to downstream. Ideally the water would move slowly enough and through a wide enough channel to maintain an environment conducive to aquatic animal passage. But a road crossings choke point can alter the natural flow and action of the stream. Both the stream environment and its water quality can be effected.

Occasionally the road crossing is a bridge. Usually better than a culvert because the water flow is more gradual and the stream bed beneath the bridge is closer to a natural channel. But in the case of a culvert, they may be too small and/or steep. Wildlife is unable to cross the barrier. They may be so damaged that critters, and certainly fish, can't travel through them. The classic — a culvert where the water runs out the lower end — drops a couple feet and scours out a large hole beneath the outlet. That is a "perched" culvert.

The fix for such barriers is usually replacement. The replacement is nearly always larger and installed deeper. Replacement is expensive. The improved life span of the properly sized culvert makes the cost more realistic as a long term investment, and the vast improvement for aquatic plants and animals upstream can be priceless!

It is estimated that about 40% of a watershed's area may be impaired because water flow is hampered by culvert barriers. A program called Stream Smart helps people identify stream barriers, judge their impact on the stream habitat and identify prospective fixes. They sponsor workshops around the State. The LakeSmart Program has begun to incorporate Stream Smart practices into their program. Maine DEP has offered grant funds targeted at culvert replacement. Contact Maine DEP or your local watershed association if interested.

Remember… the objective is improved water quality. Managing the waterways for native plants and animals is a big part of that.

A Village Stroll in 1959, Part III

by Rod Johnson

Last week in the small village of Belgrade Lakes, we migrated (very slowly) from the Catholic Church down to the first house North of the Union Church. The owners are Ken and Katherine Bartlett.

As we pick up where we left off, we scuff our way one building to the North and find ourselves in front of the Belgrade Lakes Post Office. The Post Office is located in the street side of the building and the back portion is the home of Donald and Marion Lord. He is the Postmaster and she is an assistant. They had the building built earlier in the decade and are raising their children Sara, Susan, and Peter while working at home. Donald was my Little League coach and is one of Earl Lord's children from the Point Road. Marion is daughter of Larry and Christine (Teeny) Damren from Belgrade Depot.

A couple of cars come and go while we gawk and talk, including the bait man from School Street, Cass French. Cass and his dog are seen daily at this spot as they shuttle around town in the beat up '52 Chevy pickup. Let's move on.

(After the Post Office was moved to its current location the building became Great Pond Financial, then the Lazy Lab Café, and later Pete's Pig. I may have missed others and it is now for sale.)

Next is a rather dilapidated sprawling garage with big overhead doors and a semi-rusted ESSO gas sign dangling off a metal post. It's Ken Baker's "everything" garage. He changes everyone's oil, fixes old tires and sells new ones, tinkers with lawn mowers, and is the area's Evinrude outboard motor dealer. Ken is always attempting to do 15 things at once and his wife Ethyl, who handles the gas pumps, comes out to say "Hi."

(Somewhere around 1968 Ken sold the garage to Leland (Red) Buzzell from New Sharon. He did more or less the same jobs as Ken for a decade or so. The building's use from then on was less defined, but Maurice Webster was next in line and continued to pump gas and sell odds and ends.

The building has since gone through several owners who sold antiques and curiosities, during which time it became more and more run down. The current owners have completely rebuilt the building and it has separate space for at least 3 businesses to the best of my knowledge. Currently, Happy Girl Apparel and the Intriago and Ferguson CPA office reside there.)

As we take 20 steps to the North, we cross over the end of Skunk Alley, as it was, and still is called by the locals. Apparently someone ran over a skunk down there 50 years ago and the name has stuck. The real accepted name is Hulin Road, as an old guide Charlie Hulin used to live there.

One can never be too careful right here as we know Sadie Yeaton lives down Skunk Alley and she is known to drive like a bat out of h—. We all love her and don't care, just remember to give her a wide berth.

At any rate, voilà, there is a long, shabby white building with a sign saying FIRE STATION over the single overhead door. The building is literally on — as in 2 or 3 feet from — the tar of Skunk Alley. My parent's house is only two houses away, so I see the men run to take the truck out whenever the siren on top of the building blows.

I can't wait till the day comes that I can drive the firetruck. Oddly enough, it was only about four years later at the age of 17. In those days, the first person with a driver's license to get to the station jumped in and roared off. What a thrill!

We see the old 1937 Dodge open cab firetruck quietly sitting inside as we all peek in the glass windows of the door. The place reeks of smoke and water from firehose and other equipment. The truck has done its job commendably for the town but there's talk of retiring it and ordering a new one in the next 2 or 3 years.

Two years ago the old Dodge's flathead six motor seized up after pumping for hours when Don Clement's chicken house burned — but not without saving the building before the motor's meltdown. The motor was replaced with a used one to tide us over until we got a new truck.

(And so it was, four years later the Lakes village got a new 1963 GMC pumper truck which took over residence in the old building. Somewhere around the year 2000, a new firehouse was built just south of the village and the old building we saw in 1959 was torn down.)

Next, and only 30 feet north, is a big old house crammed between the firehouse and my parent's home. It appears vacant. I know that it belonged to an old guide named Pudge Farnham and that he died within the last year or two. I've heard my parents talking about buying the property and tearing the house down.

(In the next year the property is in fact purchased by my parents Cliff and Elsie Johnson. It becomes a community project to tear it down and we have small bonfires whenever there is a work bee. The fires get rid of the wood scrap and create a festive atmosphere. People take used wood home for their own projects. Paul Hammond fills in the cellar hole next spring and my mother plants the flower garden that may well still be there.)

We have reached my parent's home. It sits directly across from the big Tillson house. My parents bought it right after WWII and have, little by little, made it into a fine home. My older brother is in the army and I live here with my folks until it's time to go off to school and military in the late sixties.

(My parents pass at a young age in 1971 and 1972. By brother and I rent the house for 3 or 4 years, then sell it to Maurice and Becky Webster. They live there for 20 years or so until the current owners purchase it from them. The Tillson house I spoke of is what we all now call the Lime House.)

Author's Note: There's one more installment left before we get to the dam where we started in 2014 on the other side of Main Street. Hope you hang in there and stay with us — also hope that a little history is shed here for all to learn.

How Maine Changed the World

by Martha F. Barkley

As with most of my reading, this book makes me want to find another one by the same author, in this case, 50 Things to Do in Maine Before You Die, another young adult read also by Nancy Griffin. I must check again with our wonderful Belgrade Public Library.

We are so fortunate to have this gem of a public place in our summer midst and year round, especially for children and young adults just discovering the power of learning. Knowledge changes our lives and this one book shows in particular detail how Maine has already changed the world, beyond our Maine borders: people, places and objects (inventions). There are surprises on every single page…

M*A*S*H reruns on television remain a favorite in our home. Who knew that Dr. H. Richard Hornberger of Bremen, Maine wrote the original comedic story about his experience in the Korean Conflict? I did not. The 1970 movie based on his 1968 book was different from the ever popular later television series. In fact, the author did not care for the rather anti-war character Hawkeye (Alan Alda) as portrayed and televised during the Vietnam War era.

This is the summer of paper bags, not plastic, please! Margaret Knight from York, Maine is the inventor of the machine that makes that flat-bottomed paper bag. She invented and patented so many other creations that Knight has been nicknamed our "female Edison". It is good to shop at Reny's, Christy's and Day's Stores where paper bags are happily provided and often the young folks take my heavy bags to the car in the hot parking area.

The world renowned Dorothea Dix is from Hamden, Maine. She trained Louisa May Alcott in Washington, DC to be a nurse for Civil War wounded. "Dragon Dix" was her nickname due to a bossy personality in handling many Army nurses. One way to get the job done, right?

Who knew that John Ford was originally from Cape Elizabeth? So far he is the only American director of movies to earn four Academy Awards: The Informer (1936), The Grapes of Wrath (1941), How Green Was My Valley (1942), and The Quiet Man (1953). My favorite is the Irish story How Green Was My Valley with John Wayne…What is yours?

Another favorite is On Golden Pond by local Ernest Richard Thompson, playwright, director and writer. [Thompson's play was turned into a movie of the same name, which won Academy Awards in 1982 for Thompson (Best Adapted Screenplay) and for the movie's co-stars, Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda (Best Leading Actress and Actor).]

This 135-page young adult book has so much to offer to all ages, young and not so young. Even picture reading children will learn along with you because every page has a great photo, drawing or illustration of interest. The only thing missing for me was a map of Maine to show where all these famed places are. I kept Googling for maps.

Camp Powhatan in Otisfield was a new locale in Maine for me. "This camp is as important as anything being done by statesmen or politicians, because it creates hope. Without that understanding — that love — conflict is created," according to Senator George Mitchell.

"Seeds of Peace" began in 1993 with an idea of children from Arab-Israeli conflict zones coming together for camp in Maine…success grew and grew. Now the children attending are from every possible place of conflict in the world you can think of: over 25 listed on page 21, if you are curious, dear reader…

Samantha Smith was honored in a local parade upon her return from Russia to Manchester, Maine, our Belgrade neighbor. We were boating on Lake Cobbessee that particular parade day, so we heard about her letter-writing to Yuri Andropov in 1982 when he became the Soviet premier.

What a lesson in letter writing for kids in 2018. Samantha helped bridge the gap during the Cold War. Her lovely statue in bronze can be seen just outside our Maine State Museum in Augusta. One letter written by a ten year old made a difference in U.S.-Soviet relations during a difficult time.

Albion native Elijah Parish Lovejoy has a huge 110-foot high monument in Alton, Illinois, honoring his journalism and persistence. Read about his struggles and why his fame goes way beyond our Maine borders. I noticed many of these world changers were graduates of Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, or the Orono campus of our state university. Our colleges and libraries help bring about change and improvement for all, inside Maine and outside our fair state.

Check this title out of Belgrade Public Library. If others by this author are not available, try interlibrary loan with a librarian's assistance. Almost every person featured in this short book has multiple biographies out there to select from. Many Margaret Chase Smith histories are at her home and museum in Skowhegan, not that far away. She was the only Senator that dared to speak out! Not even President Eisenhower had the gumption she had at that time. Go see the Eisenhower room added to Smith's lovely home on the river.

All three librarians here in Belgrade this summer are very helpful indeed, as they were last summer, too. Air-conditioned and comfortable if you do not care to jump into the lake to cool off! Better yet, swim in the lake AND go to our local library.

Taking Advantage of Mother Nature's Bounty

by Pete Kallin

We finally got a little much needed rain last week. Early in the week I was out fishing in a light rain and noticed a group of kayaks paddling along. I pulled up alongside the kayaker that looked to be about 5 decades older than all the others and called out, "Hey, don't you know it's raining out here?"

He laughed and said, "It doesn't matter when you're out on the lake having fun." The kayaker turned out to be Stan Berman of Dover, MA. Stan and his family have been summer visitors to the Belgrades for 35 years. He was out paddling with one of his grandkids, a niece, and a nephew. Others out fishing this week included 11-year old Vanessa White who caught a nice smallmouth bass over on Snow Pond while fishing with her family.

The rain this week has been good for the garden and given a big boost to the wild berries and mushrooms in the woods and along shorelines. I went foraging at the 7-Lakes Alliance property along the Great Meadow Stream in Smithfield and was rewarded with a delicious mixture of red and black raspberries, the first blackberries of the season, and lots of high bush blueberries. The blueberries were in large clumps growing along portions of the stream and I harvested quite a few canoeing along the stream. Later in the summer I will use them to brew a refreshing blueberry wheat Belgian Ale.

I also got a little hiking in and some foraging for mushrooms. Got enough to make a nice meatloaf with wild mushrooms for dinner one night and scrambled eggs with onions, garlic scapes, and black trumpet mushrooms for breakfast. Another night we had some friends over and grilled white and yellow perch and crappie filets with a honey-coriander glaze. The honey was supplied by friend, Matt Scott, a master beekeeper.

Take advantage of the rest of the summer and get out on the lakes or hike or bike in the hills. And take a kid along. You will be creating memories that will last. Check out the events at the 7-LA website and the sign in front of the Maine Lakes Resource Center. There are lots of exciting things coming up.

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