Clip out this column and pin it to the refrigerator. For online readers, pin your computer to the refrigerator. Eleven birding highlights are about to happen.

Abbot resident Walter Boomsma of the Valley Grange, who also serves as communications director for the Maine State Grange, will appear on a one-hour program on Maine Public Radio Friday, May 3 starting at 1 p.m. The program is “Maine Calling” and will feature Boomsma and Past Master of the Maine State Grange Vicki Huff as studio guests discussing “The Role of the Grange in Maine.”

Two police officers were involved in the shooting of a 40-year-old man in Medford on Friday, according to Piscataquis County Sheriff Robert Young.

This morning’s tv news story about a “dire forecast” for brick-and-mortar New England colleges has me thinking again about learning alternatives to colleges. WMTW-TV’s reporter said two New England colleges shut down recently, and four more New England colleges are closing their doors this month. The tv reporter said an “alarming number of schools are going out of business, affecting thousands of students.”

Aside from the fact that watching thousands of fish come gushing out of a tube and landing in a river is just plain cool, April 24’s uncommon stocking effort on the Piscataquis River was one worth noticing.

Ritchie, of Greenville, was a slugging outfielder for the Guilford Advertisers, one of Maine’s storied semi-pro teams during the heyday of town team baseball.

Baxter State Park is pleased to announce that Hunter Law, who is a graduate of Foxcroft Academy, has been selected as this year's Visiting Artist. Law's submission was selected from an extremely competitive field of very talented artists.

There was plenty of food and conversation and some rousing tunes at the free community luncheon offered at the Brownville Junction American Legion Building on Thursday, April 25. The event was sponsored by the members of St. John’s Episcopal Church and supported by the Brownville Junction American Legion and the Ladies Auxiliary.

“Where you look affects how you feel,” discovered Dr. David Grand, PhD. in 2003 when he developed his psychotherapeutic technique called Brainspotting. It is used to help a client access unprocessed trauma by using eye gaze and subcortical brain activity to locate the spot deep within the subcortex where emotional pain is experienced.

The impaired driving simulation event “Every 15 Minutes” comes to the Penquis Valley School on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 7-8. Every 15 Minutes is a two-day program which demonstrates to high school students the impact drinking and driving (as well as distracted driving) has on friends, family and their community.