Winter Heating Guide and Tips

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FHH Committees: You could this part of your Family Health and Heating Report! (Read carefully!)

Maine’s Energy Office has prepared a Winter Heating Guide to help Maine people stay warm this winter and know where to find assistance if needed. This includes steps to receive emergency fuel if necessary, sign up for automatic fuel delivery, or find support for energy bills or to help insulate your homes. If you need to order heating fuel, we advise contacting your supplier before your tank falls below one-third full, to give busy fuel delivery companies time to schedule your delivery.

Extended periods of low temperatures can result in frozen water pipes.

To prevent water pipes from freezing, try these methods:

  • Keep garage doors closed, especially if there are water supply lines in the garage.
  • Open kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors to allow warmer air to circulate around the plumbing, especially if your sink is on an exterior wall. (If you have small children, be sure to remove any harmful cleaners and household chemicals from the open cabinets.)
  • Let the cold water drip from the faucet of the exposed pipes. Running water through the pipes, even at a trickle, helps prevent pipes from freezing.
  • Keep the thermostat set to the same temperature during day and night. A cold snap is not the time to set back the thermostat at night to save a few bucks on your heating bill.
  • If you plan to be away during cold weather, leave the heat on in your home and set to a temperature no lower than 55 F.
  • For the long term, add insulation to attics, basements, and crawl spaces. Insulation will maintain higher temperatures in those areas. To prevent drafts, seal cracks and openings around windows, doors, and at sill plates where the house rests on its foundation.

If your pipes do freeze, you can safely thaw them with the following actions:

  • Turn on the faucet. Running water through the pipe, as cold as it is, will help melt ice in the pipe.
  • Apply heat to the section of the pipe using an electric heating pad wrapped around the pipe, an electric hair dryer, or a portable space heater (kept away from flammable materials). Do not use a blowtorch, a kerosene or propane heater, a charcoal stove, or any device with an open flame as high heat can damage the pipes or even start a fire.
  • Apply heat until full water pressure is restored. Check all other faucets in your home to see whether you have additional frozen pipes. If one pipe freezes, others may freeze, too.
  • Call a licensed plumber if you are unable to locate the frozen area, if the frozen area is not accessible, or if you cannot thaw the pipe.

Some Membership Wows!

The most recent Grange Membership Year runs from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.

According to the Membership Annual Report, 19 Granges in Maine had net gains that year, taking in some 75 members.

The top three membership gains were:

  • First: Huntoon Hill Grange #398, located in Wiscasset, showed a net gain of 16 members. According to the 2022-23 Roster, Russell Marr is the Master/President.
  • Second: Jonesboro Grange #357, located in Jonesboro, showed a net gain of 10 members. According to the 2022-23 Roster, John Cox Jr. is the Master/President.
  • Third: Trenton Grange # 550, located in Trenton, showed a net gain of 9 members. According to the 2022-23 Roster, Peter Lazas is the Master/President.

Congratulations and well done! Wow!

Are you aware of any “Wows” (new members, funds raised, successful events, other accomplishments) we should announce? Send a few details!

Communication Shorts 10-15-2023

By Walter Boomsma,
MSG Communications Director
207 343-1842

Communication Shorts are brief (short) but important items posted for your information and use. Send us your ideas and thoughts!

October Bulletin Reminder

The October Bulletin is complete and available for downloading and printing. However, with the State Convention happening this week, there may be some delay with the actual mailing. Remember, you can always find recent issues of the Bulletin on the Program Books and Information Page.

Planning a Holiday Event?

Are you planning a holiday event such as a Craft Fair or Party? Don’t forget to submit the details for a website post and event calendar listing!

Need an Absentee Ballot?

You can request a Maine Absentee Ballot online. Election Day is November 7, 2023.

Ideas for Granges

Rory Feek of Plain Values Magazine recently wrote an article on gardening and included a photo of his daughter’s “rolling garden.” It’s a child-sized “box” on wheels with child-sized “tools” kept on a port or deck. What a great idea! A Grange could make some as a fundraiser… provide a version for senior citizens… put your thinking caps on!

Thought for You…

Between what I think, what I want to say, what I believe I say, what I say, what you want to hear, what you believe to hear, what you hear, what you want to understand, what you think you understand, what you understand…They are ten possibilities that we might have some problem communicating. But let’s try anyway…

Bernard Werber

Do You Love the Grange?

The world wants to hear about it! Fill out the simple I Love the Grange Form… it only takes a couple of minutes! Thanks to all who have shared so far!

Online Directories Available 24-7

  • The ODD Directory features all state officers, directors, and deputies with contact information.
  • The Directory of Granges features all Granges in the state with a contact person. Please make sure your listing is correct!

Do You Have FOMO?

“FOMO” is, of course, a Fear Of Missing Out. One strongly recommended treatment is to subscribe to the Maine State Grange Website. We’ll send you a daily summary whenever news and columns are posted, and we won’t share your email address with anyone!

Subscribe to the Maine State Grange Website

Communications Column – October 2023

Annual Reports and Parties

By Walter Boomsma
207 343-1842
Communications Director

As most know, the “Grange Year” ends on September 30th. One of the communication tasks I have is to post annual reports and program books on the website. Annual reports should highlight the activities and accomplishments of the person or department. Program books should be a resource for all Granges and Grangers. For this month’s column, I’d like to share a few paragraphs from my annual report as communications director.

The website is now in its thirteenth full year of operation in its current form. The objectives for the redesign in November 2010 were simple. Some of the more important included:

  • To encourage prompt posting and maintenance of information and resources,
  • To control that posting process with some level of moderation and quality control,
  • To allow users to find basic information and resources (such as applications, manuals, etc.) readily and
  • To allow users to subscribe to the site and receive email versions of posts.

We continue to achieve those objectives. Site views have decreased by 3.0% over the previous year. There have been 20,840 site views from September 1, 2022, through August 31, 2023—an average of nearly 1,700 monthly. However, these visits do not include subscribers who are receiving the posts without necessarily visiting the site.

Considering the decline in Granges and Grange membership, the site is doing well. Some of that success can be attributed to the site design and content. The site is resource-rich and appeals to both members and non-members. The top pages visited are the information pages, such as the directory of Granges, program books, etc. This year, however, several posts about Community Grange Events and programs received a lot of attention. This tells us how to maintain interest in the site.

I would go one step further and suggest that this also tells us how to maintain interest in the Grange. In a word, it’s “communication.”

The Communications Handbook is designed to help local Granges do just that. You can download a copy from the Maine State Grange Website or request one be mailed. Grangers help each other. Please let me know if there’s some way I can help you and your Grange achieve more in 2023-24.

For your part, please use the website! One of the largest pages is the “Program Books and Information” page. You’ll find annual reports, program books, and assorted resources listed by department or committee. But an even more important part you play in the website’s success is communicating your news and events. Are you having a craft fair during the holidays? If you send the information, you get a free “ad” and a listing on the Events Page. Will everyone who sees it attend? Of course not. But I can assure you that people who do not know about it won’t come!

Don’t be guilty of having a party and forgetting to invite anyone! And remember, this is not just about events. When you share news about your Grange, you give people a reason to be interested. You could even write an annual report of your activities and accomplishments and include some of the things you’ve got planned for next year!

► FACT: During the first week in August, there were 513 emails delivered to website subscribers. (The most subscribers get is one email per day.) A big advantage for subscribers is that they don’t have to remember to check the website and can choose which posts they are going to read entirely.

From the Deacon’s Bench – October 2023

By Clay Collins, MSG Chaplain
207 837-0564

“And He saith unto them, ‘Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?’ Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.”     

Matthew 9:26

Friends! Have you ever taken the time to determine just who your friends really are? Who are your rainy-day friends? Who are your casual friends? Who are your good friends? The ones who are there for you when they are needed no matter what the problem or situation?

These are just a few questions to help you put your friends into the right perspective. Not all friends are alike! There are friends from work or school who are more casual acquaintances than friends. There are those friends that would drop everything and come running (literally) if you should need help of any kind. Then there are those friends that will stick by you when all of the other friends have long gone.

We must cherish all of our friends, as they each have a purpose in our lives. God would not have given us the friends that we have if there were not a purpose to it. It has been said that friends are like a fine wine; both add comfort to a significant situation. For if it weren’t for good friends, how would we be able to cope with our day-to-day lives?

Friends are a gift from God that we cannot overlook. I am thankful every day for all of my dear friends, for without them, I could not appreciate the true gifts from God. Thank you one and all for being my very dear friends. Remember, always, “Life has many gifts – take time to unwrap them all”!

Until the next time, I continue to pray for good health for you and yours, and remember, “Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.”

Don’t forget to thank a Veteran for his/her service in the defense of our country and pray for their safe return to their families!

Benediction: “Gracious Father, thank you for our friends for without them, life would not be worth living. Help us to realize that our friends are really a true and loving gift from You. We give our thanks in Thy holy name. Amen. ”  

Thought for the month:

May your neighbors respect you,
Troubles neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And Heaven accept you.

An Irish Blessing for Health and Prosperity

View from the Farm – October 2023

Webmaster’s note: The format of this column has changed a bit, with all of the Quill’s Endians participating at various times and in various ways! This month’s column is written by Phil.

Could this be why?

Every year it happens. The cool starts to the days. The dark, dark early mornings. The hints of the colors to come as September advances.

It all invigorates me and adds a quickness to my step. I wonder if it is the cool, the beauty, the bounty, or…the foreshadowing. My northern brain, lacking long-term memory, has lulled me into a false sense of security. The cool starts prick the recesses of my mind, and lead me to inventory: time for the wood to be in the shed, time to harvest and preserve, time to start all the projects that had a vague end time of “before the snow flies.”

 Perhaps this is why a strawberry tastes better warmed by the sun, and an apple tastes better cold and crisp off of the tree. One says, “kneel, stay awhile and linger with my taste in your mouth,”; the other says, “reach, stretch, climb and I will refresh you for your task.”

Perhaps this is the reason that the migratory birds scream, “suckers!”, as they bee-line it to where it is still strawberry season.

Perhaps this is the reason the ones that stay stop breeding for the year and concentrate on their own calories instead of their descendants’.

Perhaps this is the reason the trees hint at their imminent sleep with dazzling colors that leave them naked and free from the pursuits of the last year.

I wonder if they all feel it like I do. Do the trees feel the dark and the cool and think, “better start in on that”? Do the birds wonder what happened to the summer and why they didn’t start in on something sooner?
 

Every season has its cares, and I am so grateful that fall’s cares, while as urgent as the rest of the seasons, can be accomplished in the comfort of crisp autumn air.

Every season also comes with its own flavors, and fall offers the bounty of the land: slow-cooked veal stew simmered with garlic, onions, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, greens, leeks; veal cutlets in a simple sauce of fresh tomatoes, capers, garlic, and lemon; veal short ribs in homemade barbecue sauce. BLTs! Crock pot pork loin roast with freshly dug potatoes, crispy kale, and sweet corn if you’re lucky. Add fresh tomatoes with queso fresco and basil for the simplest and happiest-making salad.  Fresh pears and cottage cheese for a light lunch? 

Food from our farm and farming neighbors can make warm days and cool evenings sparkle.

Heather and Phil Retberg and their three children run Quill’s End Farm, a 105-acre property in Penobscot that they bought in 2004. They use rotational grazing on their fifteen open acres and are renovating thirty more acres from woods to pasture to increase grazing for their pigs, grass-fed cattle, lambs, laying hens, and goats. Heather is Vice President of Halcyon Grange #345 and writes a newsletter for their farm’s buying club of farmers in her area and has generously permitted us to share some of their columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.

Junior Report – October 2023

By Betty Young
MSG Junior Director

Some of the Junior Grangers will be attending the State Session and will be presenting a short program on reducing, reusing, and recycling, concluding with a song. We are slowly adding new members. Remember, the State Junior Grange is open to any child or grandchild of a subordinate member. Currently, we only have one Junior Grange for the state, so I try to plan meetings in central locations with a few farther North and some farther South. Wouldn’t it be great to have enough to have a northern and a southern Junior Grange?

.

Help! Help!

By Walter Boomsma, MSG Communications Director

If your name is “Martha,” I did ignore your cry for help. Let me explain why.

I recently received two “blank” (no content) emails from Martha with the subject, “A Cry for Help.” I successfully ignored the first one, but the second one a few minutes later made me concerned enough that I was tempted to reply, at least to find out who Martha was and what the problem might be. I did not. That seems counter to my desire to be a helpful person.

Before you judge me, stop and think. This has all the markings of a scam. Scams often include urgency, so people do not have time to think. They also appeal to our curiosity and an instinctive desire (for many but not all) to be compassionate and caring.

I’ll admit, a day later, I’m questioning myself. But my thinking brain is saying that if Martha was in immediate danger, she probably wouldn’t have sat down and typed an email to someone she didn’t know. (The email was addressed to the webmaster, not me personally.) If it wasn’t an emergency and she wasn’t in immediate danger, a sentence or two describing the need would have made sense. She was more interested in a response, not help.

That’s why spam callers rarely leave a voicemail.

I share the story as a “public service” in the form of caution and a reminder that you shouldn’t let your emotions or instincts get ahead of your logic and self-protection. I took a first aid course many years ago. I can brag that I only got one question wrong on the final exam. It was something like, “Who are you primarily responsible for when you arrive at the scene of an accident?” I instinctively triaged and selected the most injured.

The correct answer was “Yourself.”

Shortly after, I happened on the scene of an accident and saw a good samaritan nearly get hit by a car because he threw caution to the wind and was more concerned about getting to a victim than his own safety. You aren’t putting your own safety ahead of the injured; you’re doing the right thing.

Think.

Reports and Program Books

Annual Reports and Program Books are always available on the Program Books and Information Page when we receive them. Reports are also included in the delegate packages distributed at the State Convention. For your convenience, there is a list what we’ve received so far–if you click the name of the report or book, it will open in a new window where you can download and print it.

Annual reports are for the year 2022-23 and summarize activities and accomplishments. Program books are for the year 2023-24 and include contest information and other resources.

Annual Reports

Program Books

Notes from National – October 2023

  • Please subscribe to the National Grange’s Good Day! Magazine. Just $16 a year gets you access to our print or digital subscription. Learn more about the magazine at http://www.nationalgrange.org/goodday or the digital issue at http://www.issuu.com/grangegoodday. The October issue is in mailboxes across the country, and additional copies are available through the Grange Store.
  • Subscribe to the Patrons Chain and View from the Hill at http://www.nationalgrange.org/subscribe. These newsletters are released every Friday, containing information about National Grange programs, events, and more.
  • Are there topics you would like to see covered in a future Zoom from a National Grange staff member or department director or officer? Please let us know! We’re always working to ensure our topics are in line with what our members want or need to hear from us.
  • Many National Grange events have been recorded and archived – if there’s something you missed and would like to see, please visit the National Grange YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/nationalgrange. 
  • Follow National Grange on Social Media! We’re on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and more!

We hope to see you “at” some of our Events!

“Notes from National” is based on a monthly email received from the National Grange Communications Department.