You’ve been busy, and haven’t had the chance to spend any time in the woods. Now, here we are a few days before the beginning of deer season, and you realize exactly how far behind the eight ball you are. You haven’t scouted. You don’t have any stands up. You don’t have a plan for Saturday’s residents-only deer season opener.

Jeremy Loguercio, program and marketing director at The Commons at Central Hall, recently announced the special schedule of events for November

Land in Common (www.landincommon.org) invites farmers and homesteaders concerned about the future of their land to come learn about the community land trust model as a strategy for long-term land protection from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 10 at The Commons at Central Hall, 152 East Main Street.

Written specifically for kids to read and use, “Ten Days in the North Woods: A Kids’ Hiking Guide to the Katahdin Region” blends a fictional story with accurate descriptions of real trails. The book hit shelves earlier this year, and the author, Hope Rowan of Southwest Harbor, hopes it will inspire children to get outside and explore some of Maine’s most treasured natural areas.

To parents and friends of our area's children: If your family lives in one of the towns served by RSU 68 (Charleston, Dover-Foxcroft, Monson and Sebec) and your family needs assistance in providing warm winter clothing and a gift for each of your children (ages infant to 17 years old), the Kiwanis Club of Dover-Foxcroft may be able to help.

The Foxcroft Academy boys soccer team took another huge step in the playoffs by upsetting the second-seeded Winslow Black Raiders 2-1 in a Class B North quarterfinal on Wednesday, Oct. 30. The teams played under the lights at the campus of Thomas College.

Celebrate fall with the 10-cent book sale at the Thompson Free Library, 186 East Main Street. The sale will be from 3-7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8 and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9.

Upcoming events around the region.

Much like a 16th seed in the NCAA basketball tournament, the Dexter boys cross country team is savoring the chance this week to join Maine’s top interscholastic runners at Saturday’s state championship meet. The Tigers aren’t likely to win the Class C state crown after being the sixth of seven teams to qualify at last weekend’s North regional.

I know I have said this before, and I will likely say it again, but neither side in the American political debate takes government finances seriously. One party pretends to care about deficits and (rightly) lowers taxes while (wrongly) allowing spending to continue to grow exponentially. The other party pretends that our debt problem doesn't exist, and proposes ever more creative ways to make it significantly worse.