Dear Old Guy welcomes letters on all subjects, including love, marriage, child rearing, even basic plumbing and medical advice. What he doesn’t know, he is happy to make…
Columns
Everything old is new again
Everyone says they don't believe that we ever had so much snow as this fall and winter. …
Down to the sea
Wooden vessel building was a major industry in Camden from 1800 to probably the 1960s. My first book, Grog Ho! The…
Penobscot Falcon
I found an old newspaper clipping that almost brought me to tears. Every couple years, I do an online search for my father, and…
Out to sea
For over a month now, Fairpoint telephone service on Vinalhaven has been bad, in some cases nonexistent. Calls to Fairpoint have been routinely met with empty promises to have whatever problem is…
Financially Speaking
When you get a coffee mug from your public radio station in response to a contribution, it’s considered a minimal gift; no tax is involved. But when a bank’s gift for opening an account buys an…
Financially Speaking
Many retirees do a pretty good job of figuring their expenses for the after-work years. What many forget, though, is to allow for taxes. Taxes are a fact of life even in…
Take a field trip to the capitol when cabin fever descends
Well, we’ve got the elections behind us and the holidays out of the way. Now is the time for us to pursue outdoor activities to ward off cabin fever or become couch hermits until mid-March with an…
Dear Old Guy welcomes letters on all subjects, including love, marriage, child rearing, even basic plumbing and medical advice. What he doesn’t know, he is happy to make up. After all, he…
Financially Speaking
Your first step toward student aid or student loans should be completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Many colleges use the form to evaluate the family’s financial situation and…
Commentary
The struggle for control of Maine’s county jails, between the governor and the counties, just ended round three. The governor won.
In 2008 then Gov. Baldacci, as he did with schools, tried…
Down by the sea
The ball dropped in Times Square and we are into another New Year. I do not know when the celebration first started…
Out to sea
VINALHAVEN — Standing at the toilet early Tuesday morning, Jan. 27, was a little startling. It’s not usually. I’m customarily quite at ease. Anticipating the great relief I am accustomed to…
2015 Pies on Parade
ROCKLAND — If, in the aftermath of this snowstorm, you can even manage to remember back to Sunday, let us reminisce about a day of feasting.
The weather had stabilized enough for me to get…
At a few minutes after 6 this morning we had a gust of 65 miles an hour here at my house in the middle of the island. I tell you…
Financially Speaking
Happy 2015! Look for changes this year in benefits and taxes. The Social Security wage base is $118,500, up $1,500 from last year. The pay-in rate for both employers and workers remains at 6.2…
Dear Old Guy welcomes letters on all subjects, including love, marriage, child rearing, even basic plumbing and medical advice. What he doesn’t know, he is happy to make…
Bologna sandwiches will get you through
Being in the dead of winter with lots of Throwback pictures on Facebook pages, I got to thinking about what was called the Blizzard of ’78. In 1978, I was hauling dressed poultry from Maplewood…
Financially Speaking
The Internal Revenue Service does not always offer the clearest explanations. The first set of rules about IRA rollovers were so fuzzy that the changes were put off until this January 1.
…
My wife contends that the severity of a coming winter can be foretold by the intensity level of squirrel activity during the fall. So far, November has…
Dear Old Guy welcomes letters on all subjects, including love, marriage, child rearing, even basic plumbing and medical advice. What he doesn’t know, he is happy to make…
Industrial arts
Be warned, ye regulars, as I am about to get very sappy.
On the sixth day of January I took our Christmas tree down. My husband and I are both…
Angus King opinion
Another session of Congress is underway, and there are all sorts of developments in the Senate, including a new Republican majority, new committee assignments, and new chances to work together.…
Prescriptions for health and wellness
I found the lump. I was not looking for it but I knew something was wrong with my breast. Over a period of several months, I noticed subtle changes in the shape of my breast. At times it felt…
Eva Murray: Industrial arts
It would seem obvious that it is wrong to respond to printed insult with physical violence. It seems obvious to me, but in these days, we overanalyze such…
Dear Old Guy welcomes letters on all subjects, including love, marriage, child rearing, even basic plumbing and medical advice. What he doesn’t know,…
The actual stories leave me wondering
The news fascinates me. Not the national TV news where one network is trying to outdo the other, but the local, ‘here’s what your neighbors are up to’ news.
…
Dear Old Guy welcomes letters on all subjects, including love, marriage, child rearing, even basic plumbing and medical advice. What he doesn’t know, he is happy to make…
Financially Speaking
Who is an employee? Who is an independent contractor? The IRS is keeping after companies regarding worker classification determinations. Treasury inspectors noted that some employers failed to…
Financially Speaking
What happens to joint accounts when one spouse dies? If the joint account is titled the most common way—that is, joint tenants with rights of survivorship—then any assets in the account should…
As I write, it is beginning to get dark, and starting to rain in earnest. It is Dec 22; the pilots of Penobscot…
Christmas is a season celebrating the birth of Jesus. The Christian church festivities extend from Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve) to Jan. 6 (Epiphany) .The…
Dear Old Guy welcomes letters on all subjects, including love, marriage, child rearing, even basic plumbing and medical advice. What he doesn’t…
The Penobscot Falcon
Over the past 16 years, I've participated in a few online forums, never under my real name. As we all know, an Internet forum is a virtual location where people…
Financially Speaking
The rules for IRAs are pretty straightforward, but sometimes people forget. Watch out for these common mistakes:
Did you put in enough? The more you put in, the more…
i”m sick of it
Dear Old Guy welcomes letters on all subjects, including love, marriage, child rearing, even basic plumbing and medical…
Have a blessed Christmas season
Saturday, Dec. 6, was cold, wet and miserable in Owls Head. A plane was leaving in the morning that needed fuel in the rain and another came in late in the day for which we handled luggage and…
Financially Speaking
The 2014 inflation adjustments that move up the tax brackets and the alternative-minimum tax cut-off will also affect the thresholds for phasing out itemized deductions.…
Financially Speaking
For small firms that owe delinquent payroll taxes, the Internal Revenue Service offers an option: an In-Business Trust Fund Express Installment Agreement. Small companies…
Financially Speaking
Now that the Supreme Court has invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act—the law that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman—the Internal Revenue Service has been clarifying the rules…
Plus, movie suggestions for the holidays
Dear Old Guy welcomes letters on all subjects, including love, marriage, child rearing, even…
Financially Speaking
Now is when many folks pay extra attention to charitable giving and the deductions that go with it. How can you make the most of what you give away?
Donating appreciated assets is especially…
She said yes!
ROCKLAND — Belfast artist Eric Leppanen got a call from a high school friend earlier this fall who had a great idea on how to propose to his girlfriend. Kevin Blackwell, of Owls Head, wanted to…
Dear Old Guy welcomes letters on all subjects, including love, marriage, child rearing, even basic plumbing and medical advice. What he doesn’t know, he is happy to make up. After…
I think there is money being made in Maine by offering bear hunts. That's what's being protected
Why is a black bear different from a brook trout?
Too many hours of casting with a fly rod had my right arm feeling dead by…
Start a tradition of being thankful every day
When I first started writing for another publication it was all very formal. They sent a photographer to take head shots. They expected me to submit columns in a certain timeframe. They dictated…
Down to the sea
In Camden we honor our veterans, not just in November, but every day, with permanent memorials and honor rolls.
…
The U.S. economic releases were mostly positive, but those elsewhere were on the soft side. The equity market rally followed easing moves by the European Central Bank, Peoples Bank of China and…
This week in social media, Facebook introduced a new app they've appropriately titled "Groups." This app, according to Facebook, is meant to "help people share faster and more easily with all the…
The Penobscot Falcon
I almost lost my entire right arm in Hull, Quebec, on a glorious summer afternoon. This might not mean so much to you until you realize that at that time, my…
