Mountain Times - Volume 49, Number 14: April 1-7, 2020

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Columns 24 • The Mountain Times • April 1-7, 2020 What to see, hear, and do outdoors: A treasure hunt for early spring This is such a disorienting time, when all our lives have been turned upside down and shaken. One of the ways my own family is coping is by spending time outside every day. We stage nature treasure The Outside Story By Elise Tillinghast hunts in the woods behind our house. The kids work as a team, with points awarded for number of species identified, and chocolate doled out after every 10 points. It’s fun for the kids. For my husband and me, it’s a chance to escape a swarm of worries and enjoy such basics as spring light and birdsong. You don’t need specialized knowledge to get outside and have a treasure hunt of your own. Below is a simple list of common sights in early spring, and suggestions for handson activities. For those who have the time and interest to go deeper, the online version of this essay that’s posted at the Northern Woodlands website (northernwoodlands.org) has links to related articles. And here’s a great outdoor learning resource: the Upper Valley Teaching Place Collaborative (uvtpc.org), supported by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s Wellborn Ecology Fund, is serving as a hub for outdoor learning opportunities, bringing together online resources from environmental education groups around the region. Bookmark their site! Then get outside. Yellow-bellied sapsucker holes: Look for lines of tiny holes in old apple trees and other common tree species. The birds drill these, then used their bristle tipped tongues to lap sap. Fun fact: as spring progresses, hummingbirds will follow sapsuckers around, taking advantage of the freshly-drilled feeding stations. Red maple bud bouquets: Red maples are a common, earlyblooming tree with easy-to-identify raspberry-shaped buds. Cut a stem with a couple of buds and stick this in a jar of water on a sunny windowsill to force an early bloom. Try other early-blooming stems as well. Insect galleries: Pull the bark off a log or dead tree, and you’re likely to find intricate patterns chiseled underneath. These are made by tunneling insects, probably beetle larvae. See if you can find different patterns underneath the bark of different logs. Moon close encounter: On April 7, the moon will make its closest approach to Earth for the entire year: a mere 221,773 miles away. And lucky us, this occurs on a full moon night. Get the binoculars! Chickadees: Listen for their dee dee dee alarm call, as well as their love song, fee bee. Ditch your dignity, and try making a loud, repeated “pshpshpshhhh” sound. This is likely to lure them to fly closer to investigate. This trick works on many other songbirds, as well. Chipmunk burrows: See if you can identify one or more burrow entrances. Leave a seed offering and wait to see if it’s gathered. Yes, I know – it’s inadvisable to feed wildlife. I’m willing to corrupt a few chippies. Spring ephemerals: It’s still early for wildflowers, but under the ground, they’re already racing to sprout, bloom, and set seeds before the tree canopy closes in. Keep an eye out for their emergence, and in the meantime, look for early nonnatives coming out of the ground now, including snowdrops, daffodils and crocuses. If you have access to wetlands, look for the bizarre seacreature-from-outer space purple spathes of skunk cabbage – a plant that gets a jump on spring by generating its own heat. Pileated woodpecker feeding holes: These are large, shallow gouges, with wood chips piled at the bottom of the tree. Sometimes you can find the bird’s scat there. A fun project for the non-squeamish: use your phone or a hand lens to magnify this, and inspect all the undigested carpenter ant bits. Woolly bears: Those fuzzy, brown-and-black banded caterpillars are active again. Their markings show past, not future, weather; as a rule, the milder the past autumn, the broader the middle brown band. See if you can find a woolly and “read” its past. Vernal pools: They’re still icy now, but repeated trips to these small, seasonal pools in the woods will reveal constant change over the next month, as amphibians arrive for mating season. Peepers and wood frogs start off the spring chorus. One peeps, the other chuckles. Can you hear them both? Jelly fungus and other fungi: Look for these globby fungal forms on logs and dead trees. Bright yellow-to-orange witch’s butter is easy to spot. You can also find turkey tail and other shelf mushrooms, and old puffball mushrooms (some can still be stomped to create a modest puff). Elise Tillinghast is the executive director of the Center for Northern Woodlands Education. The illustration for this column was drawn by Adelaide Tyrol. The Outside Story is assigned and edited by Northern Woodlands magazine and sponsored by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of New Hampshire Charitable Foundation: wellborn@nhcf.org. Important birthdays over 50 Most children stop being “and-a-half” somewhere around age 12. Kids add “and-a-half“ to make sure everyone knows they’re closer to the next age than the last. When you are older, “and-a-half” birthdays start making a comeback. In fact, starting at age 50, several birthdays and “half-birthdays” are critical to understand because they have implications regarding Money Matters By Kevin Theissen your retirement income. Age 50 At age 50, workers in certain qualified retirement plans are able to begin making annual catch-up contributions in addition to their normal contributions. Those who participate in 401(k), 403(b), and 457 plans can contribute an additional $6,000 per year in 2019. Those who participate in Simple IRA or Simple 401(k) plans can make a catch-up contribution of up to $3,000 in 2019. And those who participate in traditional IRAs can set aside an additional $1,000 a year. Age 59½ At age 59½, workers are able to start making withdrawals from qualified retirement plans without incurring a 10% federal income-tax penalty. This applies to workers who have contributed to IRAs and employersponsored plans, such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans (457 plans are never subject to the 10% penalty). Keep in mind that distributions from traditional IRAs, 401(k) plans, and other employer-sponsored retirement plans are taxed as ordinary income. When you are older, “and-a-half” birthdays start making a comeback. Age 62 At age 62 workers are first able to draw Social Security retirement benefits. However, if a person continues to work, those benefits will be reduced. The Social Security Administration will deduct $1 in benefits for each $2 an individual earns above an annual limit. In 2019, the income limit is $17,640. Age 65 At age 65, individuals can qualify for Medicare. The Social Security Administration recommends applying three months before reaching age 65. It’s important to note that if you are already receiving Social Security benefits, you will automatically be enrolled in Medicare Part A (hospitalization) and Part B (medical insurance) without an additional application. Age 65 to 67 Between ages 65 and 67, individuals become eligible to receive 100% of their Social Security benefit. The age varies, depending on birth year. Individuals born in 1955, for example, become eligible to receive 100% of their benefits when they reach age 66 years and 2 months. Those born in 1960 or later need to reach age 67 before they’ll become eligible to receive full benefits. Age 70½ Under the SECURE Act, in most circumstances, once you reach age 72, you must begin taking required minimum distributions from a Traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and other defined contribution plans. You may continue to contribute to a Traditional IRA past age 70½ under the SECURE Act as long as you meet the earned-income requirement. Understanding key birthdays may help you better prepare for certain retirement income and benefits. But perhaps more importantly, knowing key birthdays can help you avoid penalties that may be imposed if you miss the date. Kevin Theissen is the owner of HWC Financial in Ludlow.
The Mountain Times • April 1-7, 2020 COLUMNS • 25 The “Greatest Show on Earth” When I was a very young child, my mother took me to see the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. It was an event that had a profound influence on me for many years. My mother used to vacation with her parents in Florida each February, and for several years I accompanied her. We stayed in a small villa located adjacent to the ocean, spending most days swimming, The Movie Diary By Dom Cioffi building sandcastles, searching for seashells and shark teeth, and eating out at the multitude of restaurants. On occasion, we would also make a day trip somewhere. We went to Disney World one year and periodically visited orange groves and other beaches. But my all-time favorite excursion was the year we went to the circus. In the early 1970s, Ringling Bros. was still a profitable venture. Started in 1871, the organization ran shows continuously until 2017 when their tents finally came down due to weakening attendance, pressure from animal rights activists, and high operating costs. I remember the circus being a grand affair. The clowns were strange and funny, the trapeze artists and stunt shows were mesmerizing, and the animal acts were a world of wonder with their constant flow of exotic beasts. I was a huge fan of all the animal acts, but nothing captured my attention quite like the tigers. I vividly remember watching these enormous beasts with a combination of love and terror. Deep down, I wanted nothing more than to walk up and pet one. I took my love of tigers home with me after that experience. I began to draw tigers incessantly, even winning a school art contest with one of my tiger depictions. I also decided that the Detroit Tigers were my favorite baseball team (much to the chagrin of a family of Red Sox fans). I even went so far as to ask for tiger apparel. I remember owning one shirt that had a giant tiger screen printed on the front. I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing that shirt today, but at 10 years old, I thought it was the coolest thing on earth. But the one thing I always wanted to do was pet a tiger. I envied the trainers who were inside the cages running the animals through their acrobat routines. I wanted that experience, but living in the northeast climate, my opportunities were nonexistent. Unfortunately, it never happened. To this day, given the chance (and knowing I would be completely safe), I would love to nuzzle up to a big cat. I suppose I appeased this desire by getting a house cat when I got my first apartment. When everyone else was buying or adopting a dog, I went for a feline pet. I’m sure part of it was my affinity for tigers, but another part had to do with how much easier cats are to care for. I named that cat Sam and treated her like the queen she believed she was. She was a part of my life for 18 “Tiger King” is the talk of the world right now and the most watched streaming program in the United States. years, bringing me immense love and joy until the day she passed away. I would have another cat today if it weren’t for my son’s allergies. We’ve even tried to get a hypo-allergenic dog and it never works. The kid breaks out in rashes and his eyes and nose swell up horribly. But as soon as he moves out, my first stop is the pet store or rescue farm to get another feline to have around. So, it’s probably not surprising that when I was sniffing around Netflix this past weekend looking for something to watch, that my eyes caught the title of a new docu-series called, “Tiger King.” And like everyone else on the planet, it took all of 10 minutes of the first episode to get me hooked. Since the movie theaters are closed and the studios are not releasing many films online, I’ve opted for a different form of entertainment for this week’s review. And it does not disappoint! “Tiger King” is the talk of the world right now and the most watched streaming program in the United States. And for good reason. It’s got everything you could ask for: unbelievable characters, an all-consuming storyline, and more twist and turns than you can imagine. In fact, if this were a fictitious movie, you might pass it by because it’s too unrealistic. Strange times call for strange entertainment choices. While the subject matter may not be of interest to everyone, I’m confident anyone who watches this will be intrigued by the over-the-top span of events. It’s “Making a Murderer” meets “Duck Dynasty” times 2. Give one episode a try and I’m confident you’ll finish the series. Plus, you don’t want to feel left out when you have your next Facetime group chat over the weekend. A ferocious “A-” for “Tiger King.” Got a question or comment for Dom? You can email him at moviediary@att.net. > Recipes: Making do with what you have from page 18 thickness of the sauce. You may need to add more broth. Remove chicken, keep warm. Add shrimp to the pan and simmer in the sauce adding more stock as necessary. Check for doneness and serve over rice. Dessert And of course, no meal is complete without something sweet. Pot de Creme is a loose French dessert custard, which is made easily with just a few ingredients. As supplies may be dwindling, Chef Claude’s latest version used a little creativity. “I’m going to sub milk for half & half, honey for sugar, and skip caramelizing cups. I’m using only items I have already.” Chef Claude’s Pot de Creme • 2 cups half & half • 3 oz sugar • 1/2 cap vanilla • 2 eggs • 2 yolks • 1 tsp nutmeg 1. Caramelize cups (Claude recommends skipping this step as there is a high chance of burning yourself in the process!) 2. Heat half & half; mix with eggs and sugar over a double boiler 3. Pour in cups in water bath heated to 325 degrees Bon appetite! For more information visit Chef-Claudes-Choices- Restaurant on Facebook. Flowers are everyday occasions! 200 Main St. Poultney 802.287.4094 Delivery Available Arrangement by Emily Stockwell Wedding Flowers ♦ House Plants Secure 24-hour ordering online: everydayflowersvt.com Please call or check us out online for this week’s movie offerings. Movie Hotline: 877-789-6684 WWW.FLAGSHIPCINEMAS.COM
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Mountain Times - Volume 49, Number 14: April 1-7, 2020

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