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{ S M ono Weekly Times, Wednesday, January 12, 2000 - 3 Local poetry published in anthology Out of Africa - 2 Arlene Snyder of Orono recently had her poem on the values of time, Titled 'Time Well Spent' published in the Poetry Institute of Canada's, latest anthology; Thoughts for the Millennium. Snyder, a mother of five, says she has been writing since grade school, and her favourite subject is loving the unloved. African Bugs by Aubrey and Koren Kassiser Aubrey and Koren Kassiser left: Orono mid December to spend some time working and touring in Africa. They are currently currently in Zimbabwe, were Aubrey is volunteering his medical medical training at the Howard Hospital, and Koren is volunteer volunteer teaching at a local school, African Bugs We have never been so aware of how many insects share this earth with us. Neither . have we realized how large they grow here in Africa, Our education education started in the open-air kitchen of a backpacker lodge outside Harare. When using the only night light and surrounded by food, there is a great chance of being introduced to a wide variety of bugs. Movies such as AN 1Z and A Bug's Life kept flashing through our minds as dinner was prepared that night. Armies of ants, flies, mosquitoes, crickets, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles and roaches made appearances, but ON THE WING by Roy Forrester This column started out some time ago really as. a birding column but of late it has been a matter of the supposed Millennium and other items that I had found to be interesting, at least to me. Well its back to birds this week being reminded of stime local bird action out front of the house. Not much mind you but enough to take us back some. ' For the past month the feeders have not been visited visited at the Forresters, neither in the back nor out front. Well that changed Sunday with two male Purple Finch spending time munching away on the black sunflower seed. Theàe birds who summer in the northern Townships can be seen in migration south in the late fall and in varying numbers will remain during the winter. When I say we haven't had any birds Donna tells me a Downey Woodpecker visits daily to the suet feeder in full view of the front window. window. It is quite apparent that this bird is more interested in the fatty suet than the seeds that make up the mix. As a result the seeds drop to the ground below the feeder and these have been an attraction of another another of our winter visitors, the Snow Bunting. Counted a dozen such birds under the feeder during during one of the weekend days. This winter visitor wings in in October and will stay around until late March. It can often be noted in sizeable flocks. For two days in a row there was a flock of Starlings numbering, I would think, close to one thousand in flight over head. It was most interesting interesting to watch this round ball of black as it circled about in precision form. One has to wonder how they can be so precise in flight without flying into one another and especially, at the speed they travel. On both occasions I had to stop and watch. Another act of nature that is confounding. confounding. Over the past few days a number of outdoor trips on unopened road have resulted resulted in bird sightings mostly in the north-west comer of old Clarke Township, Mosport area. Entering one of the allowances we came face to face with a mammoth brush pile and within a few minutes viewed two Blue Jays, a Hairy Woodpecker, Chickadees, Snow Buntings Buntings and a couple of Redbreasted Redbreasted Nuthatch. It was a real bird area which we visited visited again on Sunday but from another direction. It was a grassv environment the most interesting were the giant stick bugs. The largest stick bug was perched above the sink and was bigger than five inches long. We also discovered gigantic moths that could pass as bats or small birds. Our education continued while we were camping on the jungle island for New Year's: three days of uninterrupted quality time with creatures hoping hoping to share our tent. The most alarming was waking up to a small scorpion on the outside of our tent. Although not lethal, they can give a nasty, limb- numbing bite. Beetles .come in all shapes, sizes,' and colours. We actually mistook, one for a mouse at Howard Hospital because it was making so much noise burrowing burrowing around in our food box. We also share our living space with gigantic black flat house spiders. spiders. Because they eat other insects, we are quite happy to have them around. The piece de resistance has been our game of cockroach hockey. When we arrived at the hospital, we saw the contents of our kitchen all over the living room. The kitchen had been sprayed for roaches earlier in the day and our housemates had to evacuate the cupboards. Slowly, overnight, the roaches crawled out to die on the kitchen floor. We awoke to the sound of Laurie laughing hysterically hysterically as Raz was "shooting" the roaches out the door with our push-broom. We have seen many roaches in our time, but none as big as these; they were with a small water hole and numerous small, four foot, thorn bushes. The chickadees chickadees were flying from bush to bush feeding. On what they were feeding we have yet to figure out, They certainly were active and busy everywhere. To trek into a little-used unopened road allowance often provides an untouched untouched natural environment. Such was the case recently when two sizeable, what I call drumlins, came into view. These two sizeable oval shaped hills, likely formed by glacial drift, stood out most prominently. prominently. The surface is even, clean shaven, with short grass and one would have to expect never were treed. This type of hill does stand out in the crowd. For what it is worth that is it this week. Do enjoy the outdoors and it is our intent that we can have some hikes this summer. The provincial lands, west of the Village, Station Street, do provide some great trails for hiking. ' They are so close to the Village and with little danger danger of getting lost. up to three inches long! Other notables are the big black millipedes that seem to be everywhere and the red soil termite termite hills that are so prevalent. At times these mounds appear to have a symbiotic relationship with a certain variety of tree, while at other times they rise like obelisks in the middle of open fields. Apparently one queen hatches a>m ill ion termites monthly. * After this toiir of African bug life, we have not yet. begun to discuss the medical problems of bugs harboured within the African people. Those especially especially we can do without. ORONO PASTORAL CHARGE Minister Rev. Mervyn Russell Church Office 983-5502 SUNDAY SERVICES Kirby United Church at 9:30 a.m. Orono United Church 11:00 a.m. "Wheelchair Access" ***** Sunday School Classes and Nursery facilities available during Church Services A.A. meets every Thursday 7:30 p.m. Fire Calls The Clârington Fire Department responded to the following calls during the period of December 27 to December 31, 1999: 6 property property fires; 1 pre-fire condition; 3 false fire calls; 5 public hazrd calls; 11 rescues; 12 medicâl/resuscitator calls and 5 other responses. St. Saviour's Anglican Church MILL ST., ORONO, ONTARIO Rev. David R. 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