Lookout, Lookout!  In view of reports of three recent burglaries in our area, we should be extra alert to unusual signs and behaviors on the properties in our specific neighborhood.
The most recent attempt was foiled by the property owner’s timely arrival to his home, interrupting the robbers.  Another incident happened during mid-day while the residents were away from their home. The third attempt happened as the residents swept their driveway.  A man stopped trying to sell them something while his accomplice went through the back door and robbed the home.
Keep in mind, that just because we live in the beautiful countryside, away from city violence and crime, it doesn’t mean that we are completely safe.  This rash of burglaries should make us sit up and take notice.
So many homes are vacant during the winter months. Those of us who live here all year should talk to our snow bird neighbors to arrange for local supervision while they are away.  We could be watchful of strange tire marks or foot prints in the snow on these properties.  Will burglars close doors? Will they care if the pipes freeze in their targeted houses?
It makes me very uneasy to think that properties and resident’s schedules are being watched; gives me the creeps!
A documentary will be shown on Saturday, October 24 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Manchester Library, Rt. 191, just behind the Manchester Township shed.  The title is ‘Transition: From oil dependence to local resilience’.  This film was produced by the Transition Movement and will introduce where we are with peak oil and climate change, and show a practical vision for creating a post-consumer society, away from carbon dependence and toward community sustainability.  The film is about an hour long and will be followed by discussion.
The discussion will include details and ways you can save money and help the environment.  This is one of many events sponsored by SEEDS. Call 224-0052 for information. The website is SEEDSGroup@gmail.com  or visit their blog at SEEDSGroup.blogspot.com
A Harvest Concert featuring ‘The Local Boys” band will be held at the Damascus School on Saturday, October 24th  from 7 – 9 p.m.  The evening will include music of the 50’s and 60’s  in addition to square dancing.  Refreshment will be available.  The admission is a free will offering.  This event is to benefit the Damascus UM Charge for the Mission Charge that they sponsor.  Sounds like a fun night to help missionaries with their work.
A Halloween Party is planned on October 31 starting at 5 p.m.  This Trick or Treat Safe Night will feature refreshments, hayrides, prizes, and much more.  It will be held at the Pine Mill Grove, across the road from the Pine Mill Church and Community Hall. Call 224-6696 for more info.
 Doug’s Garden Notes
Amazing Maize
Driving recently near Elk Mt., I noticed a sign to a corn maze.  This turned on within me a fountain of memories of my childhood in Iowa, the corn state above all others.  Sixty years ago out there, no corn mazes existed, but we kids ha great fun playing hide-and-seek amongst the abundance of cornfields.  It’s extremely easy to get lost in those fields -often 100 or more acres-so we learned to follow rows and make only right angle turns.  Many were the times when parents needed to rescue crying youngsters, hopelessly lost. 
As you may know, most of the world refers to corn as maize, coming from the Latin name, Zea Mays.  Thus, I amusingly refer to ‘amazing maize mazes’ which have proliferated countrywide in the last 20 years.  Many are simple puzzle mazes, but also unbelievably complex corn pictographs are readily found.  Some farmers have even retained their farms with fees from mazes along with hay rides and pumpkin patches.  If you walk a complex one, be sure to unwind a ball of string as you wander – lest there be no one to rescue you.
Until I moved East, I took for granted the miles and miles and miles of cornfields.  The vast area that comprises the corn belt of the Midwest is the largest single area in the world of rich fertile loam suited to food drops.  Driving in this area during summer one fords through canyons of corn and soybeans for hundreds of miles on end.  In many .areas the land is so flat that only the horizon looms ahead.  The monotony breaks only when the level plains turn to rolling hills formed by rivers slicing the landscape.  These streams all are coursing to the mighty Mississippi.
My home town (100 people) lies amid these gentle hills of eastern Iowa.  The artist, Grant Wood,  known for “American Gothic” loving painted this terrain.  In fact he was born but four miles from my home.  He even employed my father at the age of 14 to model for a painting portraying “The Farmer’s Son”.  How Daddy loved  to brag of this till the day he passed!
Another indelible memory of my early youth was watching my grandfather pick corn by hand, throwing the ears into a wagon drawn by horses.  Certainly, he was one of the last of that ilk, but it boggles my mind in comparison to the immense machinery of today.
Sorry, I have rambled so much of reminiscences that I haven’t spoken of corn’s culture and uses. Next week.