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Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 10/21/10

By the Light of the Moon

Autumn’s full moons help dispel the impending darkness

Sunset Friday the 22nd, at 6:17, reveals the full Hunter’s Moon rising in the east. Like all full moons, this one rises with sunset and sets with sunrise, around 7:25 this week. The full moon is always juxtaposed to the sun with earth right in the middle. As sunlight washes over the other side of the world, it spills around the planet, striking the face of the moon head-on. Think of yourself in a movie theater, with the projector beaming behind you. That light doesn’t brighten...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Mark Burns - 10/21/10

Red

Superspy sages come out of retirement swinging in this snappy comic action flick.

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis: Cop Out) is a lonely guy, quietly whiling away retirement with regular phone calls to his federal pension agent, Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker: TV’s Weeds). Dimmed verve gets a jolt, though, when a hit squad comes crashing through his home in the dead of night. Suddenly he’s crisscrossing the country, fighting off a kill order and CIA hotshot William (Karl Urban: Star Trek) even while connecting with mothballed allies and assets. Together they’ll crack a...

Article - Our Capital by Ellen Moyer; by Ellen Moyer - 10/21/10

Dealing with the Downpour

The Parking Garden at Little Gotts Court in Annapolis is soaking up stormwater runoff and getting it back into the ground

It rained and it rained. Three inches, five inches, nine inches, 13 inches of new water fell on Annapolis. City Dock was underwater. Compromise Street was flooded. The low places in Eastport on Second Street and Chester Avenue and in West Annapolis on King George Street were flooded. Roads with the least bit of incline were sluiceways for water. Overloaded storm drains seeking new outlets made missiles of manhole covers. On September 30, 2010, a mini-Isabel was flooding Annapolis. Off West...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 10/21/10

A Letter on Letters

On one, I ask you to be the judge

Your letters are the high point of my week. Of course praise is ice cream after dinner. Of that I had a full serving in W.R. Kraus’ words from Edgewater: We very much enjoy your paper. Since we moved here in 2004, it has helped us understand the area we live in; manage our garden; and find lots of fun things to do. It also has the added benefit of not making me want to jump off the roof after reading the news! Dessert is good, but I’ve never been one to skip dinner, so I happily dig...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Frank Gouin - 10/14/10

Watch Our for Spider Mites

Test and treat your plants before bringing them in

A friend told me the leaves of her Ficus benjamina are covered with black soot. I suspected that the plant had been infected with a soft-scale insect that exudes a honeydew substance that breeds sooty mold. However, upon examining the plant, I saw it was severely infested with spider mites. If you moved your houseplants outside for summer, there is a good possibility that they are infested with spider mites. Spider mites are tiny insects about the size of dust particles. On houseplants, look...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 10/14/10

Where Are Your Osprey?

From here to Venezuela

Where have our osprey gone after abandoning Chesapeake Country over the last six weeks? In general, we know that Chesapeake osprey fly from between 2,000 and 4,000 miles. Their journey takes 15 to 50 days, depending on the individual’s flight plans. Transmitter-tagged birds can tell us much more. So we turn to 40-plus-year osprey researcher Rob Bierregaard of the University of North Carolina. He’s been banding birds since 2000 on Martha’s Vineyard and in New York, Rhode Island...

Article - Good Living; by Capt. Allen Delaney - 10/14/10

Trailer Tips

Avoiding water-logged bulbs

Anyone who has launched a boat via a trailer soon realizes that the lights on the trailer function correctly right up to the first submersion. After that, it’s anyone’s guess. The left turn signal will function, but not the left brake light; only the brake lights work, but not the signals; signals work at random and the running lights have disappeared. Each spring brings a trip to the auto store to buy new trailer lights. The hermetically sealed package clearly states that...

Article - People; by Dr. Frank Gouin - 10/14/10

Confessions of a Secret Boatbuilder

When not getting his hands dirty in the soil, the Bay Gardener keeps busy restoring old boats and making new ones

Wife Clara claims that my desire to build and restore boats can be traced to Viking genes in my blood. I remind her I am of French Canadian descent with Algonquin heritage. Her rebuttal is that Vikings invaded northern Europe where my French ancestors lived. In the 20 years we’ve lived on Rockhold Creek in Deale, I have built two boats, with a third under way, and restored two more — plus a 1949 John Deere B tractor and, now, a 1939 Allis Chalmers B tractor. Clara is still...

Article - People; by Aries Matheos - 10/14/10

Sir Barchan of the Joust

For the honorable knights of the Maryland Renaissance Festival, every charge is aimed for the win — knocking the other rider off his horse

“A piece of armor may fly into the crowd. If this happens, please do not be harmed,” says Sir Barchan of Dinglebury, who comes armed with a sense of humor and over 90 pounds of 14-gauge stainless steel to introduce his fellow jousters. As champion of the Maryland Renaissance Festival’s home field, Rebel Grove, the 60-year-old knight loves this contact sport. The self-taught champion leads the Ren Fest knights into battle against the new era. With no high-tech gadgets,...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 10/14/10

Perseverance Pays

If you’re on the water, the fish may come to you

The sun was getting low in an overcast sky, night was rapidly falling — and still there were no fish. Conditions were perfect off the shallow-water point, the tide was up, there was good current, a chilly wind was lying down nicely — and only one other boat was present. But no fish. Fish Are Biting Better weather and cooler water temperatures have jumped the fall bite into the red zone. Nice rockfish are schooling at the mouths of all of the major tributaries and are...