Category: Outdoors

Kiddie Pool 22/11/03

Family fun for the weekend

Art and science

• Learn about exoplanets at the event “Exoplanets: They’re Out of This World!” with experts Dr. Andrew Jordan, a University of New Hampshire research scientist; Dave McDonald, an astronomy educator; David Petriel, exoplanet enthusiast, and the Belmont High School Astronomy Club on Friday, Nov. 4, at 6:30 p.m. at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive in Concord; starhop.com). The event, this month’s Super Stellar Friday program, will talk about what exoplanets are, how they’re discovered and what conditions might be like on the planets, according to the website, where you can purchase tickets, which cost $12 for adults, $9 for children ages 3 to 12, $11 for seniors older than 65 and students, and are free for children under 3.

• Join the Bookery Manchester (844 Elm St. in Manchester; bookerymht.com) for a free family art walk through downtown Manchester on Sunday, Nov. 6, from 10 a.m. to noon. On the walk, there will be more than 40 pieces of public artwork to see and learn about. The walk will start at Bookery at 10 a.m. While the event is free, the Bookery requests that people register in advance on the Eventbrite page, which can be accessed from bookerymht.com/our-events.

Last bit of October-ness

• The corn maze at Elwood Orchards (54 Elwood Road in Londonderry; 434-6017) is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (with the last entrance at 5 p.m.) through Sunday, Nov. 6, when it closes for the season. Tickets can be purchased at the farm and cost $10 per person, free for children under the age of 5. According to the website, the farm still has pick-your-own apples, but call ahead to check on conditions.

• And for the teens: This is the final weekend for some of this season’s haunted attractions. Spookyworld Presents: Nightmare New England (454 Charles Bancroft Hwy. in Litchfield; nightmarenewengland.com) and Fright Kingdom (12 Simon St. in Nashua; frightkingdom.com) will close on Saturday, Nov. 5, with the last time for a fright being at 10 p.m. at both locations. Read our story about this season’s spooky settings in the Oct. 20 issue of the Hippo. Find the e-edition at hippopress.com; the story is on page 10.

Outdoor adventures

• Kids 18 months to 5 years old can be part of the Natural Wonders Fridays at the Beaver Brook Association (117 Ridge Hill Road in Hollis; beaverbrook.org) starting on Friday, Nov. 4, and running through Dec. 16. The weekly event will have kids exploring in nature and learning about the world around them. The six-week session costs $72 for an adult with one child, and there is a 25-percent discount for additional siblings.

• Join the New Hampshire Audubon for a birding walk at Massabesic Center on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 8 a.m. The walk will start at the Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way in Auburn; nhaudubon.org) and will explore some of the trails with local birder Joe Mahoney. All ages and skill levels are welcome at the walk, which will be about 1 to 2 miles, according to the website. Registration in advance is required and costs $10 per person. Binocular rentals are included with the price of tickets.

Showtime!

You don’t have to go under the sea to see Spongebob the Musical at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org) on Tuesday, Nov. 8, and Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. The show, performed by the Palace Teen Company, featuring actors ages 12 to 18, follows the lovable sea sponge Spongebob and his friends as they go on an adventure together. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $12 for children.

Let the good times roll

Concord native presents new photo biography of B.B. King

By Mya Blanchard

[email protected]

Whether through pictures or narrative, Concord native Charles Sawyer has a long history of storytelling. His latest project, B.B. King: From Indianola to Icon, is a coffee table book of photographs of the blues icon all taken by Sawyer. He will be at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord for an author event on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 6:30 p.m., to talk about the book.

Sawyer started writing in 1967 for the purpose of providing text to go along with his photographs. Through this experience, he realized how much he enjoyed it, and his writing eventually took on a life of its own. Since then, Sawyer has amassed experience in journalism and has worked on several unproduced screenplays in a variety of genres, including a special on King that was commissioned by WGBH, as well as a screenplay based on a murder trial in Vermont, and another centered on the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

One of his most successful projects was his 1980 book The Arrival of B.B. King, which stayed in print for 25 years. Used copies of that book can still be found on Amazon.

Many of Sawyer’s projects have been centered around King, with whom he became good friends over a period of 40 years.

“I met him in 1968 when he was playing at a famous nightclub outside of Boston [called Lenny’s on the Turnpike],” Sawyer said. “[It was] … a small 200-seat nightclub where he was playing for about nine days running. I had seen him perform a few times before but I had never met him, and I was very eager to photograph him and possibly to meet him. The intimacy of this club … afforded me the opportunity to get in real close under very optimal lighting conditions while he was performing.”

After King’s first set that night at Lenny’s on the Turnpike, the two engaged in conversation and quickly formed a personal relationship. Sawyer returned to the nightclub for several days and gained status as an insider after King invited him back to his motel room to join in on his poker game.

“I opted not to play because I was scared to death I would lose all my money,” Sawyer said.

With the extra down time that came with his retirement in 2015, Sawyer turned to his archive of photos of the blues singer. As he started digitizing them, he realized he had the makings of what would become B.B. King: From Indianola to Icon. This new book consists of more than 200 photos — some never before published — that Sawyer took over the years, accompanied by some of his own reflections and memories of his friendship with King. The first chapter of the book, for example, tells the story of how it began.

During the event at Gibson’s, Sawyer will engage in a question-and-answer session with attendees, share excerpts from his book and possibly show some projections or panels of pictures.

“One of the reviewers made quite a comment to say that a book of this quality, in this league of coffee table books, to be sold for as little as $45 is quite remarkable,” Sawyer said. “The photographic production … is of the very highest quality that I could have anticipated.”

Charles Sawyer presents B.B. King: From Indianola to Icon
When: Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Gibson’s Bookstore, 45 S. Main St., Concord
Visit: gibsonsbookstore.com

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Planting spring bulbs

Put a few here and there, or make a big splash of color

As a boy I was surrounded by hundreds of spring daffodils every year. We lived in rural Connecticut, and the people we bought our house from had planted daffodils by the hundreds in our woods. The woods consisted of sugar maples, huge ones, with a sprinkling of ash trees, providing dappled sunshine. We had wide raked paths and all along the paths were daffodils in April and May. We would pick 50 or more at a time and bring them into the house and put them in vases everywhere.

So when I bought my house here in Cornish Flat in 1970, I started planting bulbs, too. Except for my years in Africa with the Peace Corps, I have probably planted some every year for over 50 years. It is now getting tough to find places to plant more, but somehow I manage. One trick I use is to put those little white plant tags pushed almost all the way into the ground (so I see less of them) each time I plant a new batch. That way I don’t inadvertently dig up some while trying to find a blank palette.

The first step is to buy bulbs. My local feed-and-grain store has them, as do garden centers and most grocery stores. You can order bulbs online if you want things beyond the common ones. But I like to try first to buy locally.

Next, find an appropriate place to plant them. If you are planting small, early-spring bulbs like snowdrops or glory of the snow, you can plant them in the lawn. Just poke holes in the sod for them. Their foliage dies back early. But if you plant daffodils or tulips in the lawn, you won’t be able to mow the lawn until their foliage has replenished the energy in the bulbs, which for daffodils is July 4 or thereabouts.

I like to plant a big splash of color in one place. Rather than dig small holes with a trowel or auger, I like to plant a minimum of 25 daffodils or tulips in a wide single hole. To do this, I lay out the bulbs on the ground where I want them, spacing them 3 inches or so apart. I like a planting of bulbs to be an oval or teardrop shape as opposed to a rectangle. That seems more natural, but do whatever pleases you.

Then I take a hand tool and draw a line around the space designated for the bulbs. I remove the bulbs, and dig out the soil. I don’t dump it on the lawn — I put it in a wheelbarrow or on a tarp so I don’t make a mess on the lawn. I discard any stones as I dig.

For depth, follow the directions on the package. Big bulbs like daffodils and tulips generally should be planted at least 6 inches deep. Little things like crocus only need to be 3 inches deep. If I dig down 6 inches, I then add some bulb booster or organic fertilizer in the hole and then loosen the soil for another 2 inches with my CobraHead weeder (or a three-pronged scratcher). If the soil is heavy clay or very sandy, I add a couple of inches of compost and stir that in.

Next I place the bulbs in the hole in a somewhat random pattern, not straight lines. I wiggle the bulbs around so that the base of each bulb is near the bottom of the loosened and enriched soil. Finally, I shovel the soil from the wheelbarrow back into the soil, being careful not to dislodge my bulbs. If the soil is really crummy, I throw some away and mix in compost to replace it. Bulbs need good drainage.

What about hungry animals that want to eat your flowers before you can enjoy them? Squirrels and chipmunks love tulip bulbs and have been known to watch from a distance as gardeners plant them — and dig them up almost right away. Some sources claim that adding sharp crushed oyster shells on top of the soil, or near the top, will deter them. I doubt that. Oyster shells won’t deter a tulip-hungry gray squirrel.

Wire mesh buried in the soil above the bulbs will deter squirrels, however. The problem is that when you cut it to size, the edges are razor-sharp. When I interviewed the White House gardener at the end of the Clinton years, he reported that they kept squirrels away from their bulbs by feeding them all the corn they could eat. A well-fed squirrel won’t bother to dig for tulips, he said. That’s not a good plan, in my view, it will attract more squirrels. I say, if you want tulips, plant them and hope for the best. Having a dog helps, too.

Deer are another problem. Deer love tulip buds and flowers, and will often eat them just before they open. Although there are deer repellent sprays, I think the best solution there is to temporarily surround beds of tulips with wire fencing. Chicken wire comes in 3-foot-wide rolls that can easily be supported with thin stakes and will keep deer away from your tulips.

Lastly, if you want tulips on your table, you might consider buying them. Local greenhouses near me grow them by the thousand and sell them through my local food coop at a fair price in season. Then you can focus your bulb efforts on things that deer and squirrels won’t eat.

The best bulb in deer country is the daffodil. They are mildly poisonous, so squirrels won’t eat the bulbs and deer won’t eat the flowers. There are over a dozen different named categories of daffodils, and a wide range of colors beyond yellow: white, orange, and even some with a green eye, or center. They will bloom early, mid-season or late in the spring. So buy plenty and enjoy a pest-free spring.

Featured photo: Plant with the pointy end up. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Kiddie Pool 22/10/27

Family fun for the weekend

• Milford’s Trick or Treat on the Oval returns to the Oval gazebo area on Friday, Oct. 28, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Downtown businesses and nonprofits will hand out candy to trick-or-treaters as supplies last. Visit milfordrec.com for more information.

• The Bookery (844 Elm St., Manchester) is hosting a kids Halloween party on Friday, Oct. 28, at 5 p.m. There will be story time, sing-alongs, a costume parade, book signings and more. The event is free, but a space must be reserved. Visit bookerymht.com to access the Eventbrite page to reserve a spot.

• Celebrate the reopening of the Allard Center pool with a spooky open house on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the YMCA Allard Center of Goffstown (116 Goffstown Back Road). In addition to free pool activities like lap swim and open swim, there will be lifeguard swim tests, free family gymnastics, free open climbing, Halloween treats, a selfie station and more. Guests are encouraged to come in costume. Visit graniteymca.org for more information.

• Join the Fisher Cats for Trick-or-Treat at the Ballpark on Saturday, Oct. 29, at Delta Dental Stadium (1 Line Drive, Manchester) beginning at 1:30 p.m. The annual event will have a monster mash dance party, a spooky movie marathon, a costume contest and, of course, plenty of delicious treats. This event is free to attend and more information can be found on the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Facebook page.

• Beaver Brook Association (Maple Hill Farm, 117 Ridge Road, Hollis) will hold its Enchanted Forest family Halloween event on Saturday, Oct. 29, with arrival times starting at 4 p.m. Tickets cost $12. The event will feature “stars, stories, songs and s’mores,” according to the website, which bills the event as “non-spooky fun” with a wildflower trail featuring pumpkins, learning about New England wildlife and more. Visit beaverbrook.org for more information about this event.

• Nashua will hold its Halloween Boo Bash on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the bandshell in Greeley Park. The evening will feature a haunted house, a hayride, a bonfire and, at 6 p.m., a silly scary movie, according to the Nashua Parks and Recreation Department. See nashuanh.gov.

• Manchester’s Trick or Trot is on Sunday, Oct. 30, at Arms Park (10 Arms St., Manchester), with a kids’ run at 10 a.m. and a 3K at 11 a.m. Registration is $25 for adults ages 21 and over, $20 for teens and adults ages 12 to 20, $25 for kids ages 9 to 11 and $10 for kids ages 8 and under. Visit millenniumrunning.com to register in advance.

• Even more trick/trunk-or-treating and Halloween parties, movies and events can be found in the Halloween edition of the Hippo, which was published last week on Oct. 20. Find the e-edition at hippopress.com.

Taking shelter

Wine and Whiskers fundraiser to benefit dogs in need

By Mya Blanchard

[email protected]

As of 2010, an average of 2 million animals were euthanized in the United States every year. This number has gone down in recent years to 920,000 thanks to people like Stephanie Kehas of Manchester, who earlier this year started Tailgait Transport and Rescue, a nonprofit to save the lives of countless dogs in need. To fund her mission, Kehas is hosting a Wine and Whiskers Fundraiser on Friday, Nov. 4, at the Derryfield Country Club in Manchester.

It was 14 years ago when Kehas started dedicating her Sundays to the Manchester Animal Shelter. Through volunteering, Kehas was able to bring comfort not only to the animals but also to herself.

“I call it my church [because] it’s just such a spiritual and sacred place for me. I get a lot of healing there,” Kehas said.

4 puppies at door of metal kennel
Cupcake, Muffin, T-Bone and Meatball are cattle dog and lab mixes from Mississippi. Photo courtesy of Tailgait Transport & Rescue.

At the time she started volunteering, Kehas had been working at Elliot Hospital as a physical therapist, which has been her profession for nearly three decades. About 10 or 12 years ago, she became a traveling physical therapist, and was consequently no longer able to continue her ritual of volunteering. Realizing how much she missed it, she began volunteering at the local shelters in the states she found herself in for work, gaining connections in southern states like South Carolina, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia.

Of the nearly 1 million animals that are euthanized every year, half come from the South. Population control issues and surrenders mean that many of these animal shelters run out of space, causing an overabundance of animals to essentially be put on what Kehas calls “death row.” It was while she was on the road that she had an epiphany: “‘Oh my god! I could [totally be] driving dogs back right now’ — [and so] … that’s how it kind of all started,” Kehas said.

Kehas started tailoring her work schedule around her trips of collecting animals from the South and bringing them up to New England.

“Being located in New England, I feel like … I have the opportunity of creating a safe haven for animals to get out of harm’s way down south and bring them up north and just give them a chance,” she said. “I’ll have to stay overnight in a hotel or something, and I’ll bring these dogs into the hotel room. … They always end up on the bed with me [and] the look in their eyes … exuding happiness, love and gratefulness [is] why I do it.”

Not having a shelter of her own, the dogs that Kehas brings north end up going to other shelters in the region, which can be constraining. It is her hope that through the fundraiser, she will be able to raise enough money to open her own.

At this wine and chocolate event, attendees will be able to enjoy hors d’oeuvres while participating in auctions and raffles, to win prizes like a gift basket of 52 bottles of wine, or a “week of no cooking” package, consisting of gift cards from seven local restaurants.

Wine and Whiskers Fundraiser
When: Friday, Nov. 4, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Derryfield Country Club, 625 Mammoth Road, Manchester
Cost: $35; purchase on Eventbrite
More info: Visit tailgaitrescue.org, find them on Facebook and Instagram @tailgaittransportandrescue or email [email protected]

Featured photo: Kehas with Marcia, a chow mix from North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Tailgait Transport & Rescue.

Kiddie Pool 22/10/20

Family fun for the weekend

Bookstore craft
• Head to Bookery (844 Elm St., Manchester) for a fun and exciting story and craft time called Renaissance Kids on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 10 a.m. The story will teach kids about fun and interesting chemical reactions, and the craft will have kids seeing some of those reactions with their own eyes. While the event is free to attend, it does require registration. Visit bookerymht.com for more information and to register.

Cooking outside
• Parents and kids can learn all about the delicious herbal remedy called fire cider at the Kid’s Fire Cider Course on Saturday, Oct. 22, at noon at the Plaistow Town Forest (Main Street). In addition to learning about the nutritious tonic, kids will have the ability to control how spicy the fire cider gets and get to gather wild herbs for their concoctions. This event is recommended for kids ages 5 to 14. Parents will need to bring a knife and a cutting board, and everything else is provided. Tickets cost $35 and can be bought on the allevents website.

Museum fun
• Join the Canterbury Shaker Village (288 Shaker Road, Canterbury) to experience how people lived in the village in the Let There Be Light: Natural Illumination event on Friday, Oct. 21, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum is removing the special protective UV filters that cover the windows of the buildings so guests can experience the historic sights the same way that members of the Shakers did. Tickets for this event are $100 per person and can be bought at shakers.org.

Showtime!
• Travel down the rabbit hole with the students at the Majestic Academy of Dramatic Arts in their performance of Wonderland running Friday, Oct. 21, to Sunday, Oct. 23, at the Majestic Theatre (880 Page St., Manchester). Shows begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The show is a retelling of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, where Alice meets old familiar characters and a host of new ones. Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors 65 and above, and $10 for youth 17 and under. Tickets can be bought at the door or at majestictheatre.net.
• Epping Community Theatre is doing Shrek the Musical from Friday, Oct. 21, through Sunday, Oct. 23, and Friday, Oct. 28, through Sunday, Oct. 30, with 7 p.m. shows and 2 p.m. matinees. The musical follows an ogre named Shrek and how he is hired to save a cursed princess with the help of his loyal steed, a donkey named Donkey. Tickets cost $20 for adults, $17 for seniors and $15 for children. More information is available at eppingtheater.org.

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