Dealing with “Debbie Upper”
Adapted from a recent online discussion. Dear Carolyn: I have a dear friend who ...
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Nature
Grebe antics are fun to watch
The weather has been frigid this week, and ponds are covered with ice. In spite ...
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Should a mother leave her son with his father to take a far-flung job?
Dear Carolyn: I immigrated to marry a man I’d dated for four years. It was an incredibly toxic and abusive relationship and I finally managed to leave after 11 years. I was unemployed and without family or friends. After two years I’ve found an amazing job and have done brilliant work in my community and …
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Squirrels and eagles and shrikes, oh my!
It gave me great pleasure to hear from several column readers that they got to see flying squirrels at their feeders this week after reading my column. They had no idea that these appealing mammals were visiting them regularly until they turned the lights on outside and watched them glide into the feeders and enjoy …
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She wasn’t welcomed by in-laws until she had kids
Dear Carolyn: My in-laws, sister-in-law included, made it crystal clear they only invited me to things because they “had to” — their words — once my husband and I were married. I was even told point-blank that I ruined Christmas by being present. Well, now everyone wants to be around all the time, to see …
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Nature: Red squirrels can eat poisonous mushrooms
Even though our deciduous trees look stark and naked now, they are certainly not dead! Even in the summer they have already begun their next year’s leaves and flowers. These are miniaturized and hidden in the scale-covered buds. In late summer the trees keep these incipient leaves and flowers from growing. At the same time, …
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To go or not to the funeral of my friend’s boyfriend?
Adapted from a recent online discussion. Hi Carolyn: My friend’s boyfriend passed away last week and the funeral is tomorrow. My friend told her roommate that she didn’t want her friends going to the funeral if they were going just for her, and I’m torn on whether to go. Although I liked her boyfriend …
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Nature Angry squirrel stamps its feet
The daily search for food to sustain life sometimes makes animals do strange things. A friend this week watched a crow dragging a dead squirrel it had found on the road up into a tree. Very often, as any driver knows, crows are seen on the road tearing apart and sometimes eating road kill. Especially …
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Is sister smug for voicing appreciation of her husband?
Adapted from a recent online discussion Dear Carolyn: My sister has the good fortune to be married to a man who not only earns most of the money — and quite a bit of it — but also sees to the management of the household in both big and small ways. For example, he …
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Nature: Sorting out the woodpeckers
A unique visitor has been appearing in Manset recently in the form of a red-headed woodpecker. These birds are not at all common here. We do have several resident woodpeckers on Mount Desert Island which live here year-round. They are the downy woodpecker, the hairy woodpecker, the pileated woodpecker and the rare three-toed woodpecker and …