Your Say Dec. 14-20
A Bird (and Cat) Story
There seems to be a lot going on in the paper with birds lately. Here is my own bird story.
Returning from lunch out, we pulled into the driveway to discover a blue heron perched on our roof. Herons are common in the neighborhood, but this is the first time we had one on the house. When we opened the car doors, the noise and motion scared him off, but he didn’t go far. When we got in the house, we discovered him sitting on the deck railing outside our dining room.
This room is seldom used for dining; rather it is the province of Ginger, our cat. We were watching the heron for only a few minutes when Ginger came in to check out the excitement. That started a staring contest, and the stares were far from friendly. The assembled humans started betting on which creature would blink first. After almost 20 minutes, the winner was decided: The humans blinked, getting bored with watching the animals watch each other.
Some time later, we returned to find the cat sleeping peacefully and the bird gone.
–Bob Melamud, Severna Park
Twice in a Lifetime Opportunity
One doesn’t often get the chance to correct the nearly omniscient Frank Gouin, but in [the Dec. 7] issue there is a blunder in each of his two pieces.
In The Story Behind Your Christmas Tree, Frank tells us that farmed trees generally grow at a rate of “10 to 12 feet a year.” That’s very impressive, but most of us here in Chesapeake country can’t accommodate a six- to 10-year-old tree that would be 60 to 120 feet tall. I think he meant to say the trees grow at a rate of 10 to 12 inches a year.
In Bay Gardener, Frank tells us about several anti-transparents, which I guess are products that keep greens from disappearing from view. Perhaps he meant to say anti-transpirants, which would be more effective in keeping greens from losing moisture to the environment?
I love the Bay Weekly, and never miss an issue. I also know and like Frank, but it’s nice to see even he can make a mistake now and then.
–John Carley, via email
Editor’s note: Misstatements like this are the editor’s to correct, and I missed them.
Correction
Betty Briscoe, founder of the Calvert Garden Club, was married to Dr. Everard Briscoe, not Phil Briscoe. The error appeared in Greening the Courthouse Square, a section of the feature The Pageants of Christmas in the issue of Nov. 30.