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Do you want to add a new member to your family and give back to the world at the same time? Adopt a pet from a local shelter or organization! Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, animal shelters in and around Oxford have dogs, cats and other animals ready and waiting to be adopted.

Across Connecticut, there are thousands of dogs, cats and other animals of all ages without a home many of whom are located in your area. In the search for an adorable new family pet, consider checking out a local animal shelter like A Pups Pizzazz, where Ziggy the cat is waiting patiently. If you aren't sure if you have time to take care of a pet year round, many shelters also offer opportunities to foster pets until they are placed.

If you need some help in your search, Patch and Petfinder have you covered. We round up a list each week of all the pets recently put up for adoption in your area. Whether you're a dog or cat person, there are several great options available. Click on any listing for more information, or to start the adoption process.

Editor's note: This list was automatically generated using data compiled by Petfinder. Please report any errors or other feedback to content@patch.com.

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Adorable Adoptable Pets Of The Week In The Oxford Area - Oxford, CT Patch

Wendy Mussoline, UF/IFAS Multi-County Agriculture Agent| The Daytona Beach News-Journal

The winter season is upon us, and that means just about everything except the ryegrass has turned brown. Ryegrass is the beautiful green patch that David Cleggs cows are munching on along the east side of County Road 305, just south of the 304/305 intersection in Bunnell.

Most beef cows are either pregnant or with calf and their nutritional needs are the highest this time of year. Without proper nutrition, pregnancies fail and lactating mothers cannot keep up with the required milk production to support a healthy calf. Successful cattlemen need to know how to grow forages all year round and so, as Walton Cowart admits, they are first and foremost considered grass farmers.

Some common cool-season forages grown in our area include ryegrass, oats, cereal rye, pearl millet and clover. Cattlemen that may be interested in reviewing UFs most recent list of recommended varieties should look up the EDIS publication titled 2020 Cool-Season Forage Variety Recommendations for Florida. Dr. Ann Blount is the lead author but contributing UF Forage Specialists from all over the state have provided their two cents. The document provides a description of each forage type, specific varieties recommended, planting dates, seeding rates and lots of practical instruction. If you are not computer savvy, you are welcome to swing by the UF/IFAS Flagler County Extension Office and wed be glad to print you a copy. Cool season forages should be planted around mid-October through mid-November, but its never too early to start planning for next year.

Another option for hungry cows in the wintertime is culled vegetables. An outstanding opportunity for local cattlemen is to fill their trucks with culled cabbage from the Hollar & Greene packing shed on County Road 305. When they are packing cabbage, the conveyor belt is designed to automatically dump non-marketable cabbage heads and excess outer leaves into a dump truck or trailer. Yesterday I was watching those trailers fill up in just a matter of minutes. The drawback is that cabbage consists mostly (90%) of water and cows often get full before they tap into the real nutritional benefits. With 90% water, that means that 10% is dry matter. Within the dry matter fraction, it contains lots of crude protein (24%) and exceptionally high total digestible nutrients (85%) compared with common forage grasses. While it should not serve as the entire meal, it provides supplemental calories and nutrition.

Another fantastic resource is the new Comarco Eggplant Processing Plant in Putnam County. They generate approximately 16,000 pounds of culled eggplant, skins and tops every week. The nutritional benefits are higher and more quickly accessible since eggplant consists of only 50% water. The dry matter component of the raw eggplant constituents has 17% crude protein and 70% total digestible nutrients.

For a list of other culled vegetables and their nutritional benefits for cows, consult the UF EDIS publication titled Utilization of Cull Vegetables as Feedstuffs for Cattle.

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EXTENSION NOTES Winter grass and culled vegetables for cows - Daytona Beach News-Journal

Here are a few quick hits on important dates coming up and then the complete February overview as the gardening season gets closer and closer.

Groundhog Day is Tuesday. If the hog sees his shadow its six more weeks of winter. If he doesnt, the worse is behind us. Then on Wednesday we celebrate the official Midpoint of Winter.

Seeding grass during the dark moon yields good results. The dark moon rules thru Feb. 10 and is back Feb. 27-28.

Plowing in January in February even if the water follows you down the furrow. Get it done before March or youll face problems all summer.

Snow peas by Washingtons birthday, which is Feb. 22. Give it a try if you have the space and your plot is ready.

Making changes: We have a six-day stretch in February for making changes, Feb. 5-10. The moon will be in the dark phase and the signs moving out of the body beyond anything that functions Sagittarius/legs, Capricorn/knees, and Aquarius/legs.

Pouring gravel: If you have gravel to pour on a drive or road on your farm, youll need to wait until the light moon returns on the afternoon of Feb. 11 through the 26th. Dont do it now! The same applies for stones on a garden path.

Ember Days: I cant believe theyre here again so soon, but February features three Ember Days on Feb. 24, 26-27. No planting anywhere on Ember Days, no matter the sign or moon phase.

MOON PHASES: February begins and ends with the dark moon in force. The new or light moon comes into force at 2:06 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Feb. 11 and rules until the dark moon returns at 3:17 a.m. on Feb. 27. Between those times, Feb. 12-26, the light moon is in force.

When the light moon is in force, plant above-ground producers and when the dark moon rules its below-ground producers.

Check the signs and plant when one of the fertile signs rules in the proper phase of the moon depending on where the veggie will produce. Dont plant when either of the killing signs, Aries or Leo, is in force and dont plant veggies when the flowering signs, Virgo and Libra, rule.

Dont forget the Ember Days, Feb. 24, 26-27. Feb. 24 is ruled by a killing sign while Feb. 26 and 27 are under a flowering sign. These days arent conducive to planting veggies anyway now theyre just plain off limits!

Planting in the so-so signs is a viable alternative to the fertile signs. They are Sagittarius, Capricorn, and Aquarius, Feb. 5-11, with the dark moon ruling until just after 2 p.m. on Feb. 11.

If you can only utilize one aspect of the system for planting, I would suggest going with the moon phases but still avoid the killing signs for any planting and the flowering signs for anything but flowers and the Ember Days this month.

THE SIGNS: Check to see if the moon is in the light or dark phase (information above) before proceeding with any planting anywhere, or other activities. February begins and ends with the flowering sign Libra (the reins) ruling. Well start by reviewing the flowering signs.

Flowering days: Libra rules Feb. 1-2 and 28 while Virgo (the bowels) is up for Feb. 26-27. There are five flowering days in February. About the only flowers you can be planting now are pansies since they can stand most weather extremes. But that will begin to change soon as spring approaches, beginning on March 20.

These are bloom days and flowers planted when they rule should bloom and do so abundantly. Be cautious about planting veggies on flowering days since they tend to spend more time flowering than they do setting fruit. Cautious as in dont do it!

Fertile days: The signs are accompanied by the phase of the moon in which they occur.

Scorpio (the secrets), Feb. 3-4, dark moon ruling; Pisces (the feet), Feb. 12-13, light moon; Taurus (the neck), Feb. 16-18, light moon; and Cancer (the breast), Feb. 21-23, light moon.

There are 10 days this month ruled by the most fertile signs: Scorpio, Pisces, Taurus, and Cancer. All are with the light moon in force except for the two Scorpio days.

So-so days: Sagittarius (the thighs), Feb. 5-6; Capricorn (the knees), Feb. 7-8; and Aquarius (the legs), Feb. 9-11. There are seven days this month ruled by the so-so signs. The dark moon is in force for all but the latter half of the 11th when the light moon comes to rule. Feb. 5-10 six days will be perfect for making changes. See more about that below.

Killing days: No planting, transplanting, or dealing with things you want to thrive should occur on these days. Reserve them for anything but planting anywhere be that garden, greenhouse, pot or cold frame. No planting!

Heres when they rule: Aries (the head) Feb. 14-15 and Leo (the heart), Feb. 24-25. There are just four days in February ruled by the killing signs. And the 24th has the added distinction of being an Ember Day. Thats a day Id just stay in maybe under the house!

These are great days to finish cleaning up your 2020 garden if you havent yet.

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Plantin' by the Signs and other things: Quick takes and February overview - State-Journal.com

On a perfect summer day, the bees drone and a million flowers dance as a dozen people move across the meadow, cutting hay with a rhythmic swish of scythes. As children play, the haymakers pause for refreshments of cake and cider.

This would resemble a scene from a long-lost rural idyll if the scythes were not Austrian carbon-steel and the children were not identifying flowers on smartphones. After a century in which more than 97% of Britains wildflower-rich meadows were destroyed, meadowland is making a comeback.

The miraculous properties of meadows and even, improbably, cutting them with scythes are being cherished again. The charity Plantlife has led the creation of 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) of wildflower-rich meadows since 2013 including 90 meadows to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queens coronation, in a campaign initiated by Prince Charles. Scores of grassroots meadow groups have also sprung up, inspired by everything from Poldarks scything scenes to books by the Cumbrian hill farmer James Rebanks and the West Sussex landowner Isabella Tree. Wildflowers are returning to not just rural, but urban communities. And this year, the governments Green Recovery Fund will create another 500 hectares of meadows, with trainee meadow makers learning the skills of meadow maintenance.

Even Trevor Dines, Plantlifes botanical specialist, was taken by surprise when he created his own meadow on a small field he bought near his home in north Wales in 2015. The field had been what farmers traditionally describe as improved its grass fertilised and grazed so intensively that delicate wildflowers disappeared. The field had about 20 species of plant. (Many intensively farmed grass fields are now sown with just one rye-grass species.) Dines stripped off this sward to expose the soil and spread fresh hay containing local wildflower seeds from a flower-rich meadow six miles away. This natural seeding technique has been a key principle of the coronation meadows, of which his is one.

Dines cut the grass once a year in late summer and removed the cuttings, because if cut grass is left on the fields, it cycles nutrients back into the soil, and nutrient-rich soils mean that aggressive grass species smother more delicate wildflowers. Then, last spring, Dines sat down to record what was there: 98 species of plant and, on a single day in late May, 2m individual flowers. They produced, he calculated, 1kg of nectar-sugar a day, which could support 83,000 bees. The transformation has been absolutely astonishing, he says. I dont think people appreciate the bags of sugar being produced in these fields.

Meadows are, as Dines puts it, crucibles of biodiversity. Up to 40 plant species are found in a square metre of chalk downland meadow. These plants support a tumult of other life; a typical suite of meadow plants provides food for 1,400 invertebrate species. Pollinators such as bees are really important, but its the aphids, thrips, grasshoppers, bugs and beetles living on plant matter, thats the real powerhouse of biodiversity in these areas.

Meadows are crucial sanctuaries during an extinction crisis, but also offer numerous practical benefits. For a start, they are better for livestock health. If livestock eat species-rich meadow grass, they take in natural herbal medicines, such as birds foot trefoil, which reduces gut parasites. (Birds foot trefoil also supports 150 invertebrate species.) More diverse meadows supply more minerals too. Were giving our livestock a really nice varied diet, which is what they want, says Dines.

The name water meadow gives a clue to another practical function: valley-bottom meadows hold flood water (and new estates often named after the meadows they destroy have been foolishly built on them). And, Dines says, meadows excel at storing carbon; grasslands in Britain store more carbon than any other habitat. Whats really exciting is that the biggest levels of carbon sequestration happen when you convert an arable field into a species-rich pasture, says Dines. Once established, a meadow is a stable store of carbon; plough it up, and the carbon is released.

Helen Baczkowska of Norfolk Wildlife Trust is another meadow maker. Working with farmers, she is restoring lost meadows by re-seeding them with hay from roadside verges, virtually the last sanctuary for wildflowers in parts of lowland Britain.

Meadows were celebrated by the Romantics. Among the meadows hay cocks / Tis beautiful to lie / When pleasantly the day looks / And gold like is the sky, wrote the rural poet John Clare in the 1800s. Their destruction is often blamed on the dig for victory campaign during the second world war, but the loss, says Baczkowska, was because meadows ceased to have an economic function. For a long time grasslands were really needed to feed cattle and working horses on mixed farms in winter, she says. Since the 30s, farms have fed grain to their livestock and, of course, moved away from horse power. Even those meadows that werent ploughed up became in very poor condition because there was no incentive to manage them, she says.

During the second half of the 20th century and into this one, the destruction of meadows quietly continued. Now, however, Baczkowska sees a new awakening to their beauty and importance, and believes this has intensified since the start of the pandemic. Ive seen a real change in the last 10 years. People are looking more and more to what they can do on their local patch. Not just gardens but playing fields, parish grounds and commons. Pollinator strips and wildflower strips are so easy to deliver, and when people marry it with using local seed, thats great.

Most meadow-makers buy wildflower seeds for the initial creation. However, Baczkowska explains, commercially produced seed is grown to be harvested on the same day, so new knapweed flowers, for instance, will flower together and go to seed in the same week. Hand-collecting local seed as Norfolk Wildlife Trust does in partnership with Norfolk Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, a charity run by farmers gives meadows a much longer flowering season, making them more useful to pollinators, and more beautiful. Keeping local seed types going will give you this resilience to climate change. Its not just the diversity of species; diversity of genetics is really important, says Baczkowska.

The individuality of different meadows is their strength. On Landseer park, in the heart of urban Ipswich, wildflower-rich chalk banks created by the charity Buglife and an inspiring young conservationist, David Dowding, an Ipswich borough council ranger, are now home to scarce butterflies such as the dark green fritillary. Off the busy A19 between York and Selby is Three Hagges, a woodmeadow created in 2012 by Ros Forbes Adam, whose family has farmed the area for 350 years.

Forbes Adam cheerfully admits she hadnt a clue when she began creating what she and her husband originally planned as a new wood on a 10-hectare barley field. She obtained a Forestry Commission grant to plant trees but, crucially, also secured an agreement to make meadows on 40% of the site. What emerged is what ecologists call wood pasture or woodmeadow, a mosaic of grass and woodland that was once widespread in ancient Britain and still occurs in Scandinavia and eastern Europe.

More than 1,000 invertebrate species have now been recorded, including 34 bee species, 26 butterfly species and 43 hoverfly species none of which were found on the old barley field. Three Hagges, which is open to the public, has been a sanctuary for people, too: there are school visits and 90 volunteers help manage the site.

My eureka moment of believing we had done the right thing, says Forbes Adam, was when Meg Abu Hamdan, who records butterflies here, told me: When I walk through the gate of Three Hagges, I step into my 25 acres of hope. And also when I held my first pygmy shrew, came across wood anemone flowering and saw my first marbled white butterfly.

Forbes Adam has since created a charity, the Woodmeadow Trust, which is advising more than a dozen other community groups and landowners on woodmeadow projects, from Yorkshire to London. Its really exciting that we are starting to inspire other people, says Forbes Adam. Our aspiration is a woodmeadow in every parish.

But can it really be wise to lose productive food-producing fields to flowers? We have to look at the bigger picture, argues Forbes Adam. It brings huge numbers of pollinators to the landscape, which benefit all the neighbouring farmers.

Some rewilders may scorn this careful management for not allowing nature to run free. But Dines points to his results. I started with a field with hardly any flowers. Ive got 9m flowers on a summers day. Are you going to tell me thats not rewilding? Ive put the wild back into that field. Unfortunately I only own a few acres, but if every farmer did one little meadow, wed soon bring wildlife back.

If you dont have a garden, join local groups (or your parish council) that manage parks, playing fields, church yards or school grounds. Encourage them to create pollinator strips or allow areas of long grass in summer. Many people still see long grass as untidy, but will be won over if it is filled with flowers and framed by short grass or mown paths.

Any lawn or verge can be rewilded. Some remove turf and top-soil before sowing. Or just scuff up existing sward with a spade and a rake to make space for new seed. I use Emorsgate Seeds for native wildflowers, but if you can find a local seed source, that is even better.

Add native yellow rattle seeds to lawns. The rattle parasitises the grass and enables other wildflowers to grow.

Plantlife urges people to sign up to No Mow May. Ideally a wildflower meadow should be cut (with grass cuttings removed) in late summer. But creating a mosaic of long and short grass in a garden is best for diversity. Leave grass cuttings in a sunny corner for grass snakes.

Every Flower Counts. Take part in this plant survey and Plantlife will give you your own personal nectar score, so you can see how many bees your wilder lawn is feeding.

Wildflowers for the Queen: A Visual Celebration of Britains Coronation Meadows by Hugo Rittson Thomas will be published by Wildflower Press on 4 February. To buy for 43.50 (RRP 50) go to bookshop.theguardian.com

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Flower power! The movement to bring back Britain's beautiful meadows - The Guardian

IF YOU win one award you are doing something right but it you win two then you are doing a lot right.

It was announced last week that the winner of the disadvantaged land category in the Grassland Farmer of the Year Awards was Pallasgreen's Sean Barry. Back in 2018, Sean and his father Patrick were the Limerick regional winners of the Dairygold Milk Quality Awards for consistently supplying the best quality milk to the co-op throughout 2017.

The Grassland Farmer of the Year Awards ceremony took place as a live webinar last week. The 15 finalists were profiled and winners of each category along with the overall winner were announced.

The Barrys milk 70 cows with a stocking rate of 3.2 LU/ha on the milking platform in Ballyluddy. The milking platform is split in three with a busy main road and minor road.

The farm is mostly heavy soil type and as such has required essential investments in grazing infrastructure, drainage and re-seeding to get it to where it is today.

In 2020 the farm grew over 13 T DM/ha. Sean aims to get cows out grazing by March 10 but this varies year to year. To help this Sean walks the farm daily in early March to identify dry areas within paddocks that the cows can graze. He also ensures they are not full of silage before going out and uses on-off grazing to get grass into the diet.

Sean included clover in reseeds in 2020 and plans to continue to do this in 2021 but he ensures the soil fertility is correct before this. The Barrys cows produced 485 Kg MS per cow, supplied to Dairygold Co-op, from 670 kg meal in 2019.

Sean was one of 15 finalists in the Grassland Farmer of the Year competition which recognises farmers who are achieving high levels of grass utilisation in a sustainable manner. Irish agriculture faces serious challenges in trying to meet Greenhouse Gas and Ammonia emissions targets. Improved Nutrient Management and the use of clover are now more important than ever.

The sustainability of our livestock production must improve. Some farmers have to operate with difficult land and the competition also recognises this. Awards are made to those farmers who demonstrate excellence in specific areas of grassland on their farm and Sean is certainly doing that to win the disadvantaged land category.

The Grassland Farmer of the Year competition is run as part of the Teagasc Grass10 grassland campaign. The focus of Grass10 is on encouraging grassland farmers to grow and utilise more grass in the animals diet. The aim is to help farmers utilise 10 tonnes grass dry matter per hectare per annum, with 10 grazings per paddock per year.

The Grassland Farmer of the Year competition is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Teagasc, Allied Irish Bank, FBD Insurance, Grassland Agro and Irish Farmers Journal.

Limerick has a proud record in the competition with John and Olivia Macnamara, Knockainey previously winning the overall award and the dairy enterprise award.

Niall Moloney, Crecora has been named Young Grassland Farmer of the Year. While John Leahy, Athea, won the most improved grassland merit award.

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WATCH: Limerick dairy farmer wins on the double for grassland and milk - Limerick Leader

A view from inside of the planning and economic development office on the second floor of the Chubbuck City Hall construction site on Feb. 1, 2021. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoNews.com

CHUBBUCK Two newly named streets Kinport Crossing and Scout Mountain Way frame the city of Chubbucks newest municipal development.

What will become the new Chubbuck City Hall is on schedule for a mid-July grand-opening. A recent milestone was a unanimous city council vote approving the names of two new streets. The naming came after requests from the public that the streets be named after local mountain ranges or waterways. Both Kinport Crossing and Scout Mountain Way bear the names of prominent local mountain peaks.

Shops, food trucks, a walkable downtown and a new City Hall. How Chubbuck will change this summer.

Chubbuck Public Works Director Rodney Burch remains hopeful that a ceremonial ribbon-cutting will be possible a bit earlier than the grand-opening, even if some landscaping work remains unfinished at the time.

I wish we were doing a Fourth of July ribbon-cutting, Burch said. It would be amazing to christen this building on our nations birthday.

Garrett Goldale, Regional Manager for CM Company, INC., the construction company responsible for the development, said despite the drywall process being a week behind schedule, an early ribbon-cutting remains possible.

Fourth of July ribbon-cutting is a milestone were shooting for, he said.

The first floor multi-purpose room, an area that city residents will be able to reserve. The drywall is nearing completion on the first floor of the Chubbuck City Hall development. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoNews.com

Prior to the drywall process, which Goldale called the start of the finish activities, the development had not been more than five days off schedule since it began last April. Delays and fluctuations happen, according to Burch. Its just part of the ebbs and flows of the construction process, Goldale added.

Were not worried about, Burch said. We still have the same move-in date that weve always had.

Aside from the drywall, officials say development is going swimmingly. Installation of windows and skylights are underway. Giant steel window frames spanning both floors, being fabricated off-site, are being installed at a pace of one per day, according to CM Company Superintendent Jim Frazier.

The mayors office as seen from a reception area directly below one of three large skylights on the second floor. | EastIdahoNews.com

With the interior taking shape, Burch has begun leading small tours of Chubbuck city staff to see the development. The idea, he said, has always been to make sure that all city staff, from the mayor to the mechanics, have some ownership over the development and their future offices. These visits, Burch said, have been met with excitement from all.

As I walk through the facility now, were 95% on sheetrock and the bottom level is starting texture and paint. Its really starting to look like a facility, Burch said.

While the task of drywall, texture and painting slowly spans the interior, the exterior is nearing a finished appearance.

Plastic sheets have been removed over the past month and replaced with giant windows. Likewise, covers over skylights now have glass. On the west side of the building, the coloring and framing represent a finished product.

Every time you pull some plastic down its like unwrapping a Christmas present, Goldale joked.

At present, the grand-opening is tentatively scheduled for July 20.

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Chubbuck City Hall remains on schedule for mid-July grand opening - East Idaho News

The Summit Lake Build Corps hires teens to work and teaches life skills.

AKRON, Ohio They say home is where the heart is, but Akron's Summit Lake neighborhood has a heart that needs some healing.

"I think the broader reputation for Summit Lake is somewhat negative," Summit Lake resident Stephanie Leonardi, aka "Leo," says. In an effort to change those perceptions and improve the area, she founded Summit Lake Build Corps.

"It used to be just watering gardens and picking up trash but over time, we found that building was something we could repeat every weekend," she said.

The corps is made up of teens from the neighborhood. The sounds of power tools echo through their workshop; this is a real job for them.

They learn real-world skills like carpentry, drywall installation, and painting. One fixer-upper job kept them busy over the past year. According to Corps team member Solomon Odekunle,

"It was like a naked house. and when I say naked, I mean like broken windows," team member Solomon Odekunle said.

They all had skills to bring to the table, including Eric Smith

"I helped with a lot of the painting and staining and stuff."

Working, learning, and earning: They get paid! But for all the Build Corps, this is about more than money.

"The fact that they're getting more teens off the street doing better things, more productive things," Alicia Diener said.

For Odekunle, an immigrant fairly new to Akron, he gets a new home. The humble house on Ira Avenue isn't the prettiest on the outside, but just like with people, it's what's on the inside that counts. He can't wait to show it off to his neighbors.

"I'll be like, 'You know I helped build this, right?!'"

According to Leo, this model could work in any neighborhood, but this is her and all her corps members' homes.

"We found this niche where the work we do matters and makes an improvement in the physical neighborhood and it also works on us," she said.

Summit Lake Build Corps is not only rehabbing properties; they're rehabbing the neighborhood's reputation as well.

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Akron group rehabs properties and reputation of underserved Summit Lake neighborhood - WKYC.com

Some homeowners seek out home improvement. Others have home improvement thrust upon them.

Take last November, for example, when a windstorm toppled a tree smack-dab onto the roof of one of the homes Steve Corker rents out. Corker had little choice but to find a roofing contractor who had the time to replace nearly 30 percent of the roof.

"It almost took us four weeks to find a roofer," Corker says.

In the meantime, to prevent rain from leaking into the tenant's apartment, all they could do was put up a tarp and wait.

It's not like Corker doesn't have connections. He's the president of the Landlord Association of the Inland Northwest. But with a portfolio of only four apartment units and 14 homes, it's nearly impossible to find a full-time handyman on call.

"Most of the contractors won't touch us with a 10-foot pole," Corker says. "We're not big enough. They want to work on big projects."

And so like most homeowners or small-time landlords in Spokane who need work done on their property, Corker is at the mercy of a brutally tight market where getting a subcontractor in the door means sitting on a waitlist for ages.

Just finding someone to upgrade a window, he says, took four months.

"Right now, there's just a lack of qualified craftsmen," Corker says. "We're just screaming for people in the industry to do the work."

Combined with the skyrocketing cost of construction materials, the dearth of available craftsmen can turn a simple home improvement project into a long and pricey nightmare.

HELP WANTED

"I don't advertise or do anything," Sebright says. "It's all word of mouth."

Yet most contractors who rely on subcontractors are running into the same frustrations as they try to seek out plumbers, electricians and other skilled laborers for their projects.

William Morin, a contractor who runs Morin Construction, says it can feel impossible to find ceramic tile setters or "a good drywall guy right now."

Even before COVID, Spokane had already been struggling with a construction labor problem. A few years ago the froth from the surging Seattle and Portland housing markets overflowed into Spokane, ending years of low rents and low home prices.

But Joel White, executive officer at the Spokane Home Builders Association, says that the pool of construction laborers still hasn't been replenished after many left the region or the industry after the 2008 recession.

White, like many observers, thought that COVID might have sparked another housing crash. But that's not what happened. The coronavirus didn't devastate the construction trade it supercharged it.

While the initial lockdowns froze construction projects for a few months, that just gave more time for demand to build up.

Stay-at-home orders, it turned out, just made people want to fix up the home they're staying in.

"People being stuck in home, stimulus checks maybe they're able to get stuff done around the house they've been planning for years," Morin says. But it's one thing to have the intention to rehab your house. It's another to find someone to help you do it, at a time when everyone has the same goal.

"If you don't know somebody, you're going to call them, and you're not going to get a call back right now."

WOOD ON FIRE

"A sheet of oriented strand board has tripled if not quadrupled in price," Sebright says.

Take it from Karl Ziegler, executive officer of Spokane's beloved regional building supply store chain Ziggy's.

"Lumber prices are high right now unrealistically high," he says.

During the last week of January, he says, the composite price of 1,000 square feet of plywood was around $861 a $16 increase from the week before.

Last year at the same time? It was $339.

"It started with the COVID shutdown," Ziegler says. "All the do-it-yourselfers came out of the woodwork, wanting to rebuild their decks and paint their houses and do roofs and fences."

Simultaneously, the shutdown brought the lumber supply chain, already hobbled by Canadian trade tariffs, to a screeching halt. Mills and factories shut down or reduced their output, he says some to avoid infecting their workers and others because they wanted to upgrade or retool.

Once the shutdown was lifted, both average Tim Taylor types and professional contractors were competing for lumber, even as the size of the lumber pile had been whittled down.

Wood was the toilet paper of hardware stores. Every building supplier across the country saw shelves get stripped bare.

"In the summer of 2020, we were some of the only guys who had product," Ziegler says. Builders and contractors of all sizes, he says, were driving extreme distances just to shop at his inventory. "We had people from Colorado, from Eastern Montana. We've got people from Portland and Northern California."

But he wanted to focus on serving customers, not visitors. Ziggy's put restrictions on how much any one customer could buy.

"It's not just a shortage on lumber, it's a shortage on everything," he says. "If you have the product in stock, somebody is going to try to buy you out."

The price spiked the most on wood, but the costs of building supplies across the board increased by 10 to 15 percent.

"It's on roofing. It's on nails," Ziegler says. "It's on wire. It's on copper pipe."

In other words, sometimes it's not the contractor who screws you on the price. Sometimes it's the screws themselves.

"There's guys who want to do a quality job and a fair price, and it's all coming back on the consumer," Sebright says.

KNOW A GUY

Courtesy of Garrett Sebright

"They think, 'I'll just call such and such and trust they'll do a good job and do a good price,'" says Morin. "But they'll not do a good job and won't do a good price."

Everyone in the construction business has horror stories about botched bathroom floors, half-completed projects and shoddy tile work.

"Certain companies are notorious," Morin says.

Sebright knows the jokes well. From memory, he recites the scene from the Naked Gun, where the love interest asks the villain, "How could you do something so vicious?" and he responds, "It was easy, my dear. You forget I spent two years as a building contractor."

Sure, there are websites like Angie's List and HomeAdvisor where you can find contractors. But everyone the Inlander spoke with preferred word of mouth: To avoid a bad experience, find people who've had good ones. Ask people you trust to recommend people they've worked with before.

In the Five Mile Prairie area, Corker says, the message board of the neighborhood social media network Nextdoor is filled with these sorts of contractor referral inquiries.

"Every day they say: Who can do fences? Who can do roofs?" Corker says. "Who can put a water heater in?"

And if all else fails, there's the old-fashioned technique. Knock on the door. Driving around town, Corker keeps his eye out for impressive paint jobs or nice new fences, and if he needs one put up himself, he's not afraid to walk up and ask.

Last summer, Corker spotted a particularly nice deck. So he walked up to the landlord in the front yard, who was more than happy to put him in to touch with the craftsman who built it. There was just one problem.

"'I'd love to do something for you,'" Corker says the deck-build told him then. "He said, 'We can't do it this summer."

And so, as has happened many times before, Corker was put on a waiting list.

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It's crazy-hard to find a decent, available contractor but word of mouth is still your best bet - Pacific Northwest Inlander

John ONeill certainly wasnt a traditional public figure, but his death two months ago has resulted in an outpouring of sympathy and tributes from the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

ONeill, who was best known for standing near streets and yelling at cars, died on Thanksgiving night when he was struck by a vehicle while he crossed 21st Street in Lewiston. He was 68.

Following his death, Katy Yeats, who had been acquainted with ONeill since she was a teenager, said on Facebook there should be a memorial to the man. A friend of hers, Cody Long, took the cue and created a GoFundMe page, and the donations started rolling in.

They didnt have a plan for what the memorial would be, and there were plenty of strong opinions online, Yeats said. Eventually, they arrived at a decision: They will use the money raised to pay for a bench dedicated to ONeill, which will be installed at Locomotive Park. It will include a plaque that says Your compassion perseveres.

The GoFundMe page has raised more than $1,400. The city of Lewiston told Yeats and Long that the bench will cost $1,200, so they will turn over the money once the city is ready to install the bench. Yeats and Long arent sure when that will be.

ONeill was most often seen on Lewistons 21st Street, intensely yelling and gesticulating at passing cars like a basketball coach working the referees.

Yeats said ONeill was affected by mental illness, which usually manifested itself in his roadside theatrics. But when he was taking his medication, his kindhearted side became apparent, she said.

The person inside of John was good, said Yeats, a 29-year-old psychology student at Lewis-Clark State College. Its not like John was a drug addict; he was actually mentally ill. Just because he screamed at cars doesnt mean he wasnt compassionate.

During a candlelight vigil for ONeill at Locomotive Park shortly after he died, several speakers mentioned his kindness and willingness to help those in need. And Yeats and Long were impressed by the quick pace of donations to his memorial.

He, in my opinion, was a very beloved figure in the community, whether or not people knew him personally, said Long, 28, of Lewiston. Again, its just amazing to see that kind of support come out for a man that not a lot of people knew personally, but everybody knew.

Yeats said that any funds remaining after the bench is installed will be donated to a homeless or mental health cause.

The star that shines over the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley during the Christmas season was kept on until late January, in hopes that it might raise the communitys spirits.

The star was kept lit longer than usual since everything is still going on with the virus just to give a little extra shine to the valley, I guess, said Randy Servatius, a member of the Clarkston Lions Club, which maintains both the Christmas star and the Easter cross.

The star was first switched on in mid-November, when members of the Lions Club made their traditional trek to the site to double-check the hardware.

But there was a temporary malfunction on New Years Day. Coincidentally, Servatius remarked to his wife that day that there hadnt been any problems with the star this season.

And then I get a phone call an hour later saying one side of the star is out, he said.

The bottom left point had suddenly gone dark. Some people on Facebook said it made the star look like Texas.

The next day, Servatius and fellow club member Tom Driscoll scrambled back up the hill and discovered that a brittle wire had burned in half. They taped it up and got the point of the star working again, but the club is planning to install new wiring and a new panel box before lighting the cross in March.

The valley is very good at supporting our cross and our star, and we thank them tremendously for that, Servatius said. Donations can be made by sending a check to the Clarkston Lions Club at 615 Sycamore St., Clarkston, WA 99403.

Mike Dodson said he was like a newborn when he was sick with pneumonia during a harrowing stay at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center recently.

It wasnt the first time he had been in the care of the Lewiston hospital he was born there in 1964.

Fifty-six years ago, they gave me my life, Dodson said, and then 56 years later, they gave it back to me. Kind of a trip.

Dodson called the Tribune recently to sing the praises of St. Joes doctors and nurses on the third and fourth floors. He also praised Idaho Medicaid for covering his two-week stay at the hospital.

Dodson, a retired drywall installer, went to St. Joes two days before Christmas when he experienced heart and back issues. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, had a tube inserted down his throat and was incapacitated for two or three days.

Once he woke up, he started physical therapy, and steadily got back to walking on his own. Hes still on oxygen, but is now feeling great and remains appreciative of the care he received.

Its not every day that you get a new life, Bubba, Dodson said.

On a recent stroll around Lewistons Normal Hill, my family and I spotted a ninja throwing star (made out of paper) and intriguing note affixed to a power pole.

The note mentions there being eight more of these, and if you find them, you win ... something.

Ive kept my eyes peeled, but havent spotted any other throwing stars around town. Plus, the one we found, which was at the intersection of Prospect and Sixth avenues, has since vanished.

Does anyone have any idea whats going on here? Please let me know if you do.

Bite Size Takes, which runs periodically in the Tribune, scoops up the news that almost didn't fit in print. If you have an offbeat but interesting tip you would like to share, contact Matt Baney, the Tribune's assistant city editor, at mbaney@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2262, or on Twitter @MattBaney_Trib.

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Memorial plans are in the works for John O'Neill - Lewiston Morning Tribune

When it comes to maintenance and repairs, professional labor can be one of the more costly portions of a homeowner's budget. While many people try to save money by doing the work themselves, not everyone has the skills necessary to fix their homes, even with the help of instructional videos.

Attempting a DIY project without careful preparation and complete knowledge of the task could result in expenses that far exceed the cost of a contractor.

Even if you have the experience and know-how, it's important to consider the time, materials, tools and permits required for your home improvement project. Here's a look at some projects you can tackle yourself, and some you should probably leave to the experts.

Verdict: Try to DIY it. One DIY fix for a drain pipe may be to simply tighten a slip-nut near the P-trap. If the leak is coming directly from a hole in the drain pipe, you could try a flexible coupling with hose clamps. Consider calling in a professional if the leak is from a drain pipe inside the wall.

Verdict: Hire a pro. The challenge of hanging wallpaper is keeping it straight and matching up the patterns correctly. Sometimes bubbling can occur, and that strip of paper will need to be removed and replaced. This can result in running out of wallpaper and needing to order more. Don't want to risk it? Hire a professional.

Verdict: Hire a pro. Painting the exterior of a house is a big job that requires extensive use of tall ladders (and sometimes climbing up on the roof). Homeowners should consider safety requirements before tackling an exterior job.

Verdict: Try to DIY it. A clogged disposal may be cleared by using a small specialty wrench that fits into a hexagonal opening on the underside of the disposal while the disposal is turned off.

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Verdict: Try to DIY it (if it's centerset). Installing a centerset type faucet is something you may be able to do yourself just follow the faucet manufacturer's instructions. If it's a more complicated faucet with several hose connections, you might want to hire a professional.

Verdict: Try to DIY it. A running toilet can be comfortably fixed by a DIY-er with a toilet rebuild kit from any hardware store. These kits typically contain straightforward and easy-to-follow instructions. On the other hand, one-piece or specialty toilets can be tricky and might need the professional touch.

Verdict: Hire a pro (probably). Electrical repairs and installations are at best expensive. Taking a little time to research and understand your electrical system can give you the necessary skills to do some electrical projects yourself. When installing a light fixture, low-voltage projects can be safely performed by a homeowner, as these are less likely to cause structural or bodily harm. Stick with a professional for anything over 50 volts.

Verdict: Hire a pro. Installing a ceiling fan is not extremely difficult but may take a few hours (depending on your home maintenance experience and the size of the fan). If you don't enjoy standing on ladders and craning your neck for hours, bring in the experts.

Verdict: Try to DIY it. Nearly any homeowner can patch nail holes. Using a Spackle knife, fill in each hole with lightweight putty and scrape the excess off the walls. Wait for the putty to dry and sand down the spot until it's smooth. Then, paint the repaired spots with primer. Larger holes in drywall require more steps to repair and may be best left to the professionals.

Verdict: Hire a pro. A new door can help brighten up a space and cut down on heating and cooling costs, but these savings are best spent on making sure the installation job is done right.

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5 home repairs you can DIY and 5 you should leave to pros - Newsday