Whftby Froe Press, Weclesdlay, May 22, 199. page 7 I I 1 , - - 1 - Backyard bustie You know spring ham flnafly arrived by the sounde that jump the backyard fence: "lethi a weed or is it something we're trying to keep?" IThat's the problem with planting perennials. They keep coming up, or they're supposed to, year after year. Which means in the spring you're supposed to recognize and help what's good, and recognize and destroy what's bad. if.s a talent. (Not mine.) Annuals are easier. Dig a hole. Stick 'em ini. In our own backyard, we wrestle with other common problema. Strawberries, for one thing. It should be easy to tell we're not- trying ta grow them. That's because they grow. Ail over the place. They send out these long strings, like runners, fr-om place ta place ta place. Next thing you know: the attack of the killer strawrberries. lma that movie been made? They could shoot it in one location,. at our place, imagine the sounds that would create. Have I ever told you of our struggle with lupins? Lupins have become a provincial« statua symbol in Prince Edward Island. They grow in roadoide ditches, outhustling purpie loosestrife if need be. They also cultivate nicely, adding a look somewhat similar ta delphiniums in a flower garden. So every time- we ltruck on down'ta P.E.L (we've been four trnes in the past six years) we corne back with a trunk full of lupin seçds. Then the l4jins wcAiq oreu, bu his muêh (holà your thumb and forefinger about half an inch apart). They thon tuni pale as a cod's belly, ebrivel up, and make dying noises loud enough ta drown out the gurglings of our :neighbour's out-ott.ground pool. Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle. It'a not a pretty sound. This year, we've got one big cluster well established, about a foot* (30 centimetres) high. We should exceed last year's record of nine blooms. This may woll be bocause of the cooler- weathor this' srg.Maritime weather has nover been known for its hot speils, and lupins do f1iurish there and bloom by late June. Corne around ta our place in a month and chock'orn out. So if our lupins aren't maldng dying noises this year, what other sounds could one expeet? Well, radios, for one' thing. Neighbours do have t"i love affair with radios, don't they? 'Itfs a public service, I guess.- Else, how . would everyone -know about rap music, and early rock, and hard rock, and talk rock, and talk radio, and... So you retire ta your own backyard, and without investing a cent in radios, or éectricity, or any of that stuif, you get ta hear al tho kinds of music Inamed in the above paragraph. Loud. AUl at once. It's a good thing, too. Or we would aIl hear tho se awful birds, chirp, chirp, chirping in the trees, jaying like a-ba;l fan from the tap of the silver birch next door, crying for marna from the nest at the top of the front yard spruce. We have other sounds ta deal with. Like the midnight creak from nails, popping out of fence, bcards. Our fences (made bygood neighbours) are now nine yepar old.S js adamum ILI ri 1 IË, 17 5777 7 -~ w 'WERF i 1 ý-.dMZ miý ý 0--amz AlýWW--a m--W _-qw-mï;F MILYARY EVIW ONOSEHMUUgLLFARM% MAY 269 1916 A massive miitary training exoris was hold pn the farm where the West Lynde subdivision is now, for the soldiers of the ll6th Ontario County Bsattalion, to proparo for ovorseas service in the First World, War. -The officers rode horses whilo the enlisted mon marched. Whit1iy Archive.photo 10 YEARS AGO from the Wednesday, May 21, 1986 edItion of the WETBY FREE PRESS * Time la running out for the sale of the Lynde House property and no decision bas been made to move it. * An addition to St. Paul'a Soparate School has zeceived approval. *Seventeen long-tune members of the County Town Singera bave received recognition pins. * Regular ground beef sella for 99 cents a pound at the IGA grocery store. 35 YEARS AGO from theT7hursday, May 18,1961 edition of the WTYWEEKLY NEWS s Stuart Roblin was appointed to the Whitby Police Commission. * Whitby Gardon Club bas told the town council that the streets of the community are cluttered with signe. " Whitby's Oddfellows' Lodge is oelebrating its 9Oth anniversary. " At least four persons wore iigjured in an explosion at a fish and cbip store on Byron Street South. 100 YEARS AGO from theoFriday, May 22, 1896 edition of the WHITBY CHRONICLE *Miss Mary Elizabethx Dryden of Brooklin is the only lady graduate of McMaster University in Hamilton tbis year. *The last University of Toronto lecture of the season at the Ontario Ladies' College was on the subjeet of wit and humour, by Professor Raynor. *The town fire and water ommittee will dig a well 22 foot deep at the northern limita of tho Ontario Ladies' College grounds. *The Sons and Daughters of England lodgesl will march tw Ail Saints' Anglican Church on May -24 to, celebrate Queon Viîctoria' birthday. Il J] 1 ~1iL -- -~ -~ il