A door had closed in my life. One morning I awakened at dawn: I lingered by that closed door. Then, as in previous losses, I walked alone.

The wet grass beneath my feet healed my body. The trees overhead fed my spirit. And I kept hearing, or thought I heard: Live it now. Live it now. You cannot live tomorrow unless you live today – this moment.

Then I became aware of the great process of time. We hold nothing. All things go. I became part of that stream of time when the ancient life-forms started. I could see those life-forms as though in progression. Vivid as a chart on a museum wall. Yet the ancient oaks speak only of today. An unbelievable optimism overflowed me. The Life-Force moves. It continues to grow and change. It re-creates from decaying hearts new grasses – perhaps in different form. And there is an expanding consciousness to perceive the wonder of this movement of Life!

Suddenly I knew my part in this. It is not to war with progress. Not to spend my force grieving because the buffalo are gone and the whale may be leaving. Not grasping for some utopian future. But from my thought and feeling first in mind and heart and then in words, tell what it is – just what it is this day.

So, this day I saw a crimson blossom of a trumpet flower in a pine tree. It bloomed above fist-sized cones. I saw the arched head of a deer; the gentle grace of a doe in movement. I saw a cottontail, poised as a statue. For a while I walked in the tracks of a raccoon. I sat on a moss-covered stump and wondered, what myth am I living? Promptly the answer came: Emerson’s woodlot myth, I smiled. I thought I heard the chuckle of a friend.

I departed the woods and went to the beach. Through cracks in the pier, three inches from my eyes, I saw two barn swallows with their golden lined beaks closed. In their carefully feathered nest, they slept the deep sleep of infants’ sleep. Their elders sat on the dock rail. They chatted together before starting the day of feeding their young. I heard the quack of a blue heron, and the plop of the dive of a tern. I listened to all the birds, and did not care about their names.

Today I walked in the good earth. I felt a gnarled oak with these fingers. I saw a blossom in a pine tree, and it healed me. I said, “Let the past go. Let the future be. It is enough to feel, and see, and be in this instant in time.”

I understood that the door was not really closed. All the life and live I’d known walked with me beneath the trees. Life flows in an endless stream. Being a part of life, we flow with it.

The swallows gather food

for their young.

I gather a different food,

for a different young.

THE CHESAPEAKE

This past weekend, I made a fresh batch of homemade laundry detergent from a recipe my mom Leslie gave us. I enjoyed the process –

THE CHESAPEAKE

With spring knocking on our door and the temperatures warming up; it may seem like an odd time to write about heating your home. However, for several reasons it is the perfect time.

With the problems we are all facing with the current economy and job market, a lot of wallets took a beating this winter keeping our homes warm. I was able to keep our house warm over the winter for next to nothing.

Many of us in southern Maryland are fortunate to have woodstoves in our homes, but I’m sure the number of homes with alternative heating methods outweighs the wood burners.

Now that its tax time, you should consider the possibility of using some refund money to install a woodstove.

It will more than pay for itself. Most homes nowadays have heat pumps. Some people may like the heat pumps, but if you have ever had oil or wood heat, I personally don’t see why you would like the heat pump.

Heat pumps almost always have a backup heat system such as electric or gas. This is due to the fact that once the outside temperature gets below a certain point the heat pump quits working. So even though you may think your heat pump is efficient, it still pulls a lot of electricity and stops working on really cold days. Natural gas and propane are surely a hot, clean heat but you sure do pay for it.

I’ve had houses with every type of heat and hands down, propane was the most expensive.

I personally love oil heat second only to wood. It’s usually cheaper than gas or propane and if you ever run dry, you can always pour a little diesel fuel in the tank until you can get a delivery of fuel oil. All these heat sources do have one thing in common though…they don’t work when the power is out like wood will.

Wood to me is the miracle heating fuel. And to save money in today’s world, it’s one of the best ways to reduce your household expenses. My home is well insulated and about 1,800 square feet and has two floors.

It usually costs me around $100 to heat my home for a whole year. Not everyone will be able to do this, but here is how I do it. My home had two fireplaces in it when I bought the house, one on each floor. Fireplaces are very poor heat sources because they actually suck warm air out of your house and are difficult to control the burn. They provide a little radiant heat but next to no convection heat.

Several years ago I used my tax return to purchase a woodstove insert and installed it in my upstairs fireplace.

My woodstove, like many new ones is also an energy-star certified appliance so I got a tax credit on the purchase. Just because you’re current home doesn’t have a fireplace or existing woodstove doesn’t mean you can’t add one.

Woodstoves can be installed in just about any house by most home improvement contractors or a competent handyman. There are even woodstoves certified for use in mobile homes. I use about 4 cords of wood per year to heat my house.

A cord is the volume measurement that firewood is bought and sold with. To be a full cord of wood it has to be a stack of wood measuring 4’x4’x8’. If you don’t have the desire or resources to cut and split your own firewood, average prices per cord delivered are $120-$150.

My goal, and I hope the goal of all my readers is to become self-sufficient. Therefore, over the years I have purchased a good chainsaw, log-splitter and have a pickup.

The cost savings of having wood has paid for the saw and splitter over time. Just about every time I check the local online classifieds I see an add or two for someone with a tree that has fallen or is in the way for free as long as you cut it up and haul it.

This along with my own trees is where my wood comes from. But..Once you cut and split your own wood it needs to dry completely or “season” before it will burn. Depending on the thickness of your wood, this typically takes one year. One way to tell your wood is seasoned is to look at the ends and ensure there are small cracks are present. These are called “checking” and tell you that the wood is seasoned. If you do decide to cut and split your own wood, it’s definitely a great workout!

Wood is efficient, renewable and can cost as little as some sweat and sore muscles. You can keep your family warm even when the power is out and cut your dependency of oil/gas. If your wheels are turning about this wonderful heat source hit the internet. There are numerous sites dedicated strictly to wood heat that are much more in depth than this brief intro. So when you get that tax return this year, think about purchasing a woodstove….it’s worth it.

The CHESAPEAKE

HB 208 A bill to Confiscate all riparian rights shellfish grounds by the state of Maryland.

Gone are the good old days.

You can read the entire bill at http://mlis.state.md.us/2011rs/bills/hb/hb0208f.pdf

Look specifically at the new language at the very end of the bill.

” SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That any riparian owner who has used or is actively using any creek, cove, or inlet directly in front of his or her property for depositing oysters or other shellfish if the water surface at the mouth of the creek, cove, or inlet is 300 feet or less in width at mean low water shall have the right of first refusal to apply on or before December 31, 2011, for a submerged land lease for that area in accordance with the provisions of Title 4, Subtitle 11A of the Natural Resources Article. ”

Understand some of the ramifications MAY be important.

You lose your right of first refusal On January 1

If you were interested in oyster restoration: Forget it. This bill will make all of the water in these protected creeks public bottom. That means in St. Mary’s, Calvert and all the other Bay Counties any one with an oyster license, be it recreational or commercial can take all of the legal sized oysters in a riparian rights creek as long as they obey the harvest regulations or just don’t get caught. So if you started your own little sanctuary reef. Consider it gone.

If you are interested in Oyster Aquaculture riparian rights creeks gave you a large buffer protecting you from poaching. Under this bill, you will lose that margin of safety. Natural Resource Police are already spread pretty thin . You will have to be your own Policeman 24 – 7 Do not expect them to come running when you need them. Let alone to catch the thief themselves. This bill will add hundreds if not thousands of miles of shoreline throughout the state for them to patrol. Frozen sections of water during the oyster season will not make their job any easier.

You will now have to pay for what was already yours and it won’t be cheap just to keep what you had. It will be expensive. To Apply for a bottom lease you pay $300. Then you rent it at a mere $8 an acre per year but are required to to maintain it at about $6000 per acre every other year or so. But then you might just get a few bushels of oysters off your grounds to offset some of the costs.

If you don’t like it just call or write your legislator while there is still time.

Contact your Legislators http://mlis.state.md.us/.
After that somebody I mean just anybody can file for a lease right in front of your home and you will not have any say as to who they are or for that matter if the state will lease the grounds to them. The law does not require that they be citizens of Maryland or for that matter even the United States.

stst.
After that somebody I mean just anybody can file for a lease right in front of your home and you will not have any say as to who they are or for that matter if the state will lease the grounds to them. The law does not require that they be citizens of Maryland or for that matter even the United States.

THE CHESAPEAKE

For the first time in fifty two years I returned to the campus of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. It is located just a good eyeful of distance east of the Rocky Mountains, halfway between Cheyenne and Denver.

When I was on the campus it was a Teachers College and they had a College High School. I attended high school in 1937 and 38. This was the first year James A Michener joined the faculty with a position in social studies. He remained four years as a professor. My family migrated to California.

After roaming about the world I made this pilgrimage because Elderhostel offered a week long class on the history of the South Platte.

In the first orientation meeting twenty three silver haired students from all parts of the United States were asked, “Why are you attending this program?”

My response: My mother Elmyra Josephine Paterson was born in Greeley in 1888. Before she was sixteen, her mother and other assorted relatives had made two roundtrips to Saint Jo, Missouri. Many people were riding by train at this time, but this crew made the journey by covered wagon. They followed the old overland route through Julesug to the Missouri River. I thought if I learned something about the history of the South Platte I would discover why Grandma was so restless.

The high point of the week was meeting Robert W. Larson, Professor of History. He had just published a book called

I showed him a page from a newspaper printed August 27, 1977. It had an article and picture of James A. Michener and on the same page a picture and article of me autographing my book Professor Larson said, “Come with me. We must have this article and your book in our archives. You are an alumni.”

We exchanged books. Mine went to the archives and his came back to St. Mary’s.

He said, “Anything else you publish, please send it to the archives.”

During the week I attended informative classes and attended the many interesting functions arranged by Elderhostel. This included a trip to the Rockies to the shadow of those beautiful twin peaks.

I spent much time walking over the campus and re-discovered the yerning for learning that gripped me when I was fifteen. I know now, this yearning was nourished by the atmosphere of this particular school.

One afternoon, Nancy Kisvater, Director of the Elderhostel Program volunteered to take me out to the South Platte.

We found the house I was born, I studied the fields where my family labored. I recalled following the plow and my father, picking up arrow heads. I had a box full. I looked at the river, it is puny compared to the Potomac. But over the years the Platte has changed the terrain. The big slough was gone but enough water remained for fish. I watched the slow moving carp in the murky water, and the memories went swimming by of life on the sugar beet farm.

On August 4 I received a copy of the August issue of the The Chesapeake travelled by truck from Lexington Park to Washington D.C., by plane to Memphis and by plane to Denver, and again by truck to Greeley. All in twenty four hours by Federal Express.

As I stood by my grandmother’s resting place and looked at the stone, I thought of those grueling long trips by covered wagon. My mother described to me the hardship and the time – the long slow time of those journeys.

And then I thought of another story. The Doctor had told my grandmother she was going to die. A few days later she looked up at my father and made her final request. “Henry, will you take me for one last buggy ride.”

Over a half century the Platte has changed the terrain of the river bed. Over a half century time has changed the terrain of my thinking. I feel a kinship with those pioneer people who struggled for their life on the Great Plains.

Maybe someday some grandchild will wonder why Grandma was going to sea in a sailboat when everyone else was zooming around in a jet.

I only hope when my time comes that I can say with gusto, “Please take me for one more buggy ride.” Or in my case it might be – one more sail – for I love the sea.

Things that make you go HUH????

Environmentalists have been talking about it for decades, politicians almost as long.

The Chesapeake Bay needs more oysters.

Jay Heberle of Calvert county got it. He understands. He took it all in. Then he decided to do something about it.

As a waterfront property owner and a good steward of the Bay he decided to grow oysters.

But a boat from the Maryland Department of the Environment came by and they saw it.

Finding this to be very important they came over to investigate. They returned and gave him a citation for growing oysters. Not the good kind of citation either. They cited him for growing too many oysters and gave him 60 days to correct the situation. So.. To bring the site into compliance he has to reduce the number of oysters. Huh?

I used to grow oysters at my mother in laws dock when she lived in St. Celement’s Shores.

The Maryland Department reclassified my area from open to restricted and I could no longer harvest directly from the area. The sampling station they used was was on the other side of St. Clements Bay near the mouth of a polluted creek. Well over a mile away.

Several years later Jon Farrington applied for an aquaculture permit to raise oysters commercially in Calvert County. In order to do this the Maryland Department of the Environment requires the water to be classified for shellfish production.

They need 30 samples over a 3 year period before they think they have enough data to classify the water. So in order to accomplish this they set up a monitoring station near the end of his dock. A year and a half later they changed the person who was doing the monitoring.

No two people do things the exact same way so the new monitoring person started testing the water 25 feet from where it had been done previously.

The head of the Shellfish waters section found out and disqualified all of the previous data and required the monitoring to start over. This is the same person that made the decision for St. Clements Bay. 25 feet is too far but over a mile is close enough? Huh?

But the tale of Thomas Taylor is even more interesting.

Thomas is an outstanding citizen and just a great guy to know. He is also a fellow Viet Nam Vet and and African American.

He has wanted to get into aquaculture for years.

Thomas has a vacation house on the Eastern Shore where he thought it would be great to grow oysters like we do at my operation on St. Jerome Creek. So following the state guidelines at the time he first filed for an aquaculture permit with the Department of Natural Resources. After a couple of months of not hearing anything he called to ask what was going on. He was told that his permit application had not been accepted because he did not have a facility to inspect. He did not have a dock. To me, most docks look pretty much the same.

But what do I know.

In order to get his application accepted he had to build a dock. Docks are expensive! Well Thomas being a persistent fellow went ahead and got a dock built. He then called and told DNR that there was now a dock they could come and inspect. He was told he would have to re-apply.

So Thomas went ahead and re-applied. He sent in the required paperwork, again.

Upon receiving the application, one of the first things DNR did was send the aquaculture permit application around to bunches of different State, Federal and Local officials. One of these officials was … you are jumping to conclusionsnow!

Yes you are Right it was the Department of the Environment and the director of the shellfish waters section.

She dispatched one of her teams to go take a water sample at Thomas’s dock. They got the sample and off it went to the lab.

The lab reported high fecal coliform numbers and if you read my last piece on Iced Tea you know what that means.

The numbers were so high the area was immediately declared prohibited waters.

Absolutely no oysters may be grown there! Maryland Department of the Environment then made up a map showing the prohibited area and sent it out to all kinds of people on their special mailing list.

What they had done when they made the map was to put the point of a compass in the exact middle of Thomas’ Dock and draw a circle.

That Circle was 100 meters in diameter. That is just a little over 300 feet.

Thomas’ dock is 200 feet long.

So you get the picture.

A dock with a big black circle around it. Everything outside of the circle remained completely open to harvest. While everything inside the circle was now prohibited. We raised Cain together and finally got granted a meeting.

During the meeting I suggested that Thomas be allowed to raise seed oysters in tanks on the dock and we would run the intake line outside of the circle.

The number 2 in command of the Shellfish waters section exclaimed. We will just make circle bigger!

and the Bay needs more oysters……………………. Huh?

By Karl Blankenship
(Special to THE CHESAPEAKE)

Atlantic sturgeon have no shortage of adjectives that suit them. Ancient, as in a fish species that has been around so long it swam with dinosaurs. Giant, as in the largest fish native to the Chesapeake Bay – it can grow to 14 feet and weigh 800 pounds. Long-lived, as it can survive up to 60 years.

And potentially one more: federally endangered.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has proposed listing most Atlantic sturgeon populations along the East Coast as endangered species, including those native to the Chesapeake, because they could become extinct in the foreseeable future.

Its recommendation came in response to a petition filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council that argued that current protections, including a coastwide ban on harvest, had been inadequate because they failed to address a gauntlet of other problems such as sturgeon bycatch in other fisheries, impacts of pollution, ship strikes, dredging and global warming.

The NMFS is expected to make a final decision about the listing late next year.

The recommendation is a mixed bag, scientists say.

It could bring more protection from ship strikes and sturgeon bycatch in other fisheries. It could also mean more support for research in the James River, where a small breeding population remains.

But scientists fear it could doom hopes to eventually stock sturgeon in Maryland tributaries, where the giant fish is thought to be extirpated from all rivers. A 15-year old sturgeon tagging program in Maryland may also be in jeopardy.

“Certainly, listing increases public awareness of the plight of the species,” said Brian Richardson, a fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. “But it most likely is going to have