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 Sign of Spring: Forsythia Bush Photo by Judy Wilbur Craig taken in Dexter, May 2021
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PENQUIS - Stock Your Private Pond with Trout Through the PCSWCD’s Annual Trout Sale! Private ponds that are stocked with trout provide multiple benefits for landowners and their families. This is the time of year to order trout to stock your pond! The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD)’s 2022 Trout Sale pick up will be held on Monday, May 16th, 12PM at the Piscataquis Regional YMCA. Customers must pre-order and pay for all brook trout by Thursday, May 12th, 2022. Customers who would like to place an order for brook trout must have a current, signed permit from the Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife department. A copy of this permit must be submitted along with your order and brought with you for pick up of the trout, as this permit is both your stocking and transporting permit. The person on the permit must be the person picking up the trout. If you need to have someone else pick up the trout, they must be added by IF&W to your permit. If you do not have a permit you can download the application from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website. Customers should place their orders online. If you can not place your order online, please call us at 207-564-2321 ext. 3 for an order form! It is recommended that you place your order early this year, as the number of fish we are able to sell is capped. Trout provide food for wildlife and migratory birds. Ponds that are stocked with trout can provide recreational fishing for your family and friends. Trout can also provide families with low-fat, low cholesterol, high protein, heart-healthy fish. By stocking 8" or larger trout in early spring and feeding them throughout the growing season, many nutritious meals may be enjoyed before the ice cover in winter. Contact the PCSWCD at 207-564 - 2321, Extension 3, by email at info@piscataquisswcd.org, or visit our website at www.piscataquisswcd.org, for more information on this sale that supports our education programs and also enhances your natural landscape. PENQUIS - The sounds of pure country music will be coming from the stage of the Center Theatre on May 28th. The Wayside Grange Theatre has again partnered up with the Center Theatre to offer our community another season of concerts from May to October. Brooks & Kennedy will begin the series with their renditions of classic/traditional country & Americana music. Four old friends, Ken & Jane Brooks and Joe & Nellie Kennedy, perform acoustically on guitar, mandolin, stand-up bass and harmonicas. The lead & harmony vocals are tight, sweet and well rehearsed. The instrumental work of Ken on guitar & Joe’s harmonicas are just right for every song and they are ably backed by Nellie’s mandolin work and Jane’s bass playing. All four band mates are extremely active in promoting country & bluegrass music in Maine. All have been inducted into the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum where Ken serves as the chairman of the board of directors. Jane serves as a board member. Joe and Nellie serve on the board of directors for the Bluegrass Music Association of Maine. This popular and local Wayside Grange Theatre house band has been an annual favorite at the North Dexter hall. CDs will be available. Tickets are $15 & can be purchased at the door or online at www.center theatre.org or call 207 564 8943. All 2022 concerts will be held at the Center Theatre, 20 East Main St., Dover/Foxcroft. Doors open @ 6:30 pm. Shows start @ 7:00 pm. AUGUSTA – State Representative Steven Foster (R-Dexter) announced in February 2022 that the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) Work Plan for Calendar Years 2022, 2023 and 2024 is available. The estimated value of work in the plan totals more than 2,316 individual work items with a total value of $3.17 billion. This represents a substantial increase from last year due to anticipated federal funding. The MDOT Work Plan for House District 104 includes projects in Charleston, Dexter, Exeter and Stetson. These projects include:
The full work plan, searchable by municipality, is available at the Maine Department of Transportation’s website: . Residents and visitors can take simple steps to avoid tickborne diseases AUGUSTA – The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) urges the state’s residents and visitors to focus on tick prevention during May, Lyme Disease Awareness Month. This year’s Lyme Disease Awareness Month theme is “Stop. Check. Prevent.” The campaign asks Maine people to stop frequently to check for ticks because personal prevention measures are the best way to keep from getting a tickborne disease. Deer ticks in Maine can carry the germs that cause diseases including Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Borrelia miyamotoi disease. These ticks are most commonly found in wooded, leafy, and shrubby areas, putting most Mainers at risk every day. Anyone spending time outdoors should take steps to limit their exposure to ticks. Ticks are already active in Maine. The following strategies help prevent exposure to ticks and the diseases they carry:
The most common symptom of Lyme disease is an erythema migrans or “bullseye” rash. Other common symptoms include arthritis, fatigue, chills, fever, headache, and swollen lymph nodes. Some of these symptoms resemble COVID-19 symptoms. If you experience any of these symptoms, make sure to mention a recent tick bite or time spent in tick habitat to a health care provider. Maine CDC provides many resources to prevent tickborne diseases, including: Short educational videos on tick identification, tick checks, tickborne diseases, repellents, and choosing a residential pesticide applicator are available at www.youtube.com/MainePublicHealth. A youth tick curriculum for third through eighth grade students to teach kids about tick bite prevention is available at www.maine.gov/dhhs/schoolcurricula. Answers to frequently asked questions about ticks and tickborne diseases are available at www.maine.gov/dhhs/tickfaq. Tickborne disease data from The Maine Tracking Network (MTN) for Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis are available in the Data Portal at data.mainepublichealth.gov/tracking. For more information on Lyme Disease Awareness Month activities and tickborne diseases, visit www.maine.gov/lyme. Follow Maine CDC on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, for updates throughout the month. The University of Maine Cooperative Extension Tick Lab offers tick identification and testing to Maine residents. Tick testing is available for $15 with a three-day turnaround time for surveillance purposes only. Contact a health care provider for concerns about tickborne illnesses. Find more information atticks.umaine.edu. Register and join us for a morning bird walk on Saturday May 7th as we explore springtime birds at the Nickerson Tree Farm in Greenville! The Piscataquis County Soil & Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) will be taking their annual bird walk on the road co-hosting with Forest Society of Maine (FSM) with FSM Conservation Specialist Kristin Peet and experienced birder, Shane Barker. Together, they will be leading a bird walk along the Nickerson Tree Farm trails starting at 8:00AM. Kristin Peet joined the Forest Society of Maine in 2018 as the Forestland Conservation Specialist to assist in developing new conservation projects. She graduated from the University of Maine with a B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and a master’s degree in Forestry. Prior to her work with FSM, she managed wildlife populations and habitat, conducted research projects, and wrote grants for the Penobscot Nation’s Department of Natural Resources. Kristin has 16 years of experience networking and collaborating with multiple agencies to complete a variety of projects. Kristin is excited to explore her newfound home in Greenville and showcase the Nickerson Tree Farm with the community. Shane Barker was led into birding as a hobby and shared how his father-in-law was an avid birder, and his love for this hobby got him involved. He would go on Christmas Day Bird Counts, big days, or just general trips looking for occasional migrants. When he passed away from cancer a few years back, this sparked a stronger interest in his birding and to get more serious about the hobby. Shane has been birding for the last four years, using any opportunity he can. Whether it's driving around the state looking for rare birds that show up out of the blue or 18-hour state-wide trips on National Big Day. Shane has found birding to be a great way to get outside, see all sorts of places that you would otherwise never get to, and meet genuinely interesting people. Our hope is to view year-round birds in Maine and some returning springtime birds! Bring your binoculars and cameras, wear your mud boots or other sturdy water-proof footwear, and join us as we hike out on the woodlot trails while we experience the joys of birds and their habitat at the Nickerson Tree Farm in Greenville. It is also suggested to explore mobile applications to have installed for the day of the event, such as “Ebird” and “Merlin” which are both birding aps that are useful for this type of workshop. This annual bird walk is a great way for folks to enjoy what local tree farms have to offer as an outdoor educational and recreational space, while learning first-hand from these experienced bird watchers. Registration is required and we are limited to 25 people for this event. Registration can be made online at www.piscataquisswcd.org or by emailing info@piscataquisswcd.org for more information. Note: this is NOT the safest possible route to take, but it is a good service and much better than never running a virus check. To check your computer, go to housecall.antivirus.com Many people think that if they have a virus program on their system they are safe, BUT you are only as safe as your latest update. Yes, you do have to update your virus program frequently. (I do it every day!) Download a FREE virus program that works well at www.free.avg.com The Daily ME is on-line only, non-profit newspaper and a one-woman operation with the help of contributing writers and photographers. If you would like to contribute to The Daily Me, we welcome press releases, contributing editor's young and old. Send your Upcoming local events, news, Town reports, club news, school news or other items that you have in mind. If you have pictures you would like to share with friends and relatives far and near, please contact The Daily Me. We encourage feedback and suggestions from our readers. I hope that The Daily ME gives you information that keeps you in touch with home! 
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