Worms

Q. I had a large oak taken down and noticed light-colored worms crawling under the bark. Did they kill the tree? Can we use the wood for firewood?A. The worms -- most likely beetle larvae -- did not kill your tree. Many types of beetle larvae will bore into severely stressed trees and feed on the cambium -- the area under the bark.You can burn the infested firewood but bring it into your home only as you need it. Keep it stored outside and away from your house.Q. I love vinca and plant it in garden beds and different types of containers.

A winter minicamp at Bear Branch Nature Center gave some Carroll County children a break from television and toys this week in favor of woods, wetlands and worms.The second of their three days dawned with a dusting of snow on the ground yesterday, so the group of 5- to 8-year-olds left their regularly scheduled program with the county-run program briefly to find tracks of raccoon, fox, beaver, deer, muskrat, opossum and mink."I've never had such luck, and I've run about 100 camps," said Sherry L. Fisher, 35, a naturalist at the park north of Westminster, after a chilly wind drove the group of 14 back inside the nature center.

IT WAS A NIGHT of gooey, scaly, smelly, cool science at Robert Moton Elementary Thursday when the school sponsored its ninth annual Science Night.More than 200 pupils and parents visited 12 exhibits at the Westminster school that covered topics like rocks and minerals, the senses, reptiles, rabies, wolves and "Wonderful Worm Waste."First-grader Michael Will proudly reports that he learned that toads use their eyes to help them swallow. Michael, his third-grade brother, Daniel Will, and neighbor Eric Kozayk soaked up as much science as the evening had to offer.

" 'Superfudge' by Judy Blume is mostly about Peter's mom having another baby when Peter already has a little brother named Fudge who is a pain. Peter thinks the new baby will be just like Fudge. After the baby is born, Peter realizes the baby girl is not as bad as Fudge and funny things start happening in the Hatcher house. Read this book and find out about the other exciting events in 'Superfudge.' "-- Jenn HudsonPine Grove Elementary" 'How to Eat Fried Worms' by Thomas Rockwell is a great book.

Wearing a Harlequin mask and a full-length black satin cape, Julie Wehrle welcomes about 100 young Halloween visitors to her haunted house in Sykesville every year.If toddlers are too afraid of her couture, she flips her mask up and says, "It's just me: Miss Julie."She treats guests to cemetery worms -- the gummy variety -- resting on a trayful of dirt -- wheat from the bulk food grocery section. They can wash down the sweets with vampire apple juice and then walk through a garage full of scary scenes with frightful fiends.

Learn how to leave a "no trace" campsite, plant and prune a tree, enlist earthworms in composting or understand your septic system at a Carroll County environmental festival today.Activities at Earthworks '98, the county government's first environmental festival, will range from face painting and a chance to sample "dirt pudding" -- chocolate pudding, chocolate cookie crumbs and gummy worms -- to programs on native plants, water conservation and assessing the health of a stream by studying its insect life.

Who needs chemical warfare? Many garden centers carry or will order these beneficial bugs, which will fight your gardening battles for you:* Ladybugs: Ladybugs love to dine on aphids and other little bugs such as thrips, mealybugs and spider mites. Aphids are those tiny insects that suck the juices out of the tender new leaves on roses, photinias, crape myrtles and other shrubs. Ladybugs come packaged in a mesh bag or a screen-top carton, for approximately $6 to $10 for 1,500 to 2,300 bugs.

As if there were not already enough enticing things to do on a Saturday in May, Baltimore has Cylburn Market Day. This gala community event, which draws fans from as far away as Washington and Pennsylvania, is held one day each year at Cylburn Arboretum on Greenspring Avenue, come rain or shine.Whether you are interested in a morning or afternoon outing for yourself to sleuth for unusual plants in a congenial atmosphere ,, among other gardeners, or are looking for an event that can captivate the entire family, this is the place to come.

NEW YORK -- From the beginning I have thought Whitewater was a smelly can of worms -- dead ones.Assuming the worst is true, I think we are throwing good money after bad down a cold trail leading nowhere. In the end we may find out that the president has been known to shake down a campaign contributor now and then -- surprise! -- and that his wife tried to set aside a little cash for a rainy day when she might be left alone with a daughter to put through college.That is just a little Little Rock Teacup Dome, which will end up where Paul Greenberg, the talented editorial-page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, put it more than two years ago: ''A swirly mix of fact and falsehood, impropriety and conflict of interest, suspicion and hypocrisy, excuse and indignation [illuminating]

A New Windsor man is taking lifesaving drugs to remotest Africa and may be traveling to the most inaccessible villages on bicycles donated by Carroll County Lions Clubs.Don M. Padgett leaves tomorrow for Tanzania, where he will supervise distribution of the ivermectin drug to 350,000 residents of 118 villages.Many of those people are already infected with river blindness, which causes unsightly rashes, severe itching, skin depigmentation, blindness and death.Tablets, worth $3 each, can eradicate the disease, formally known as onchocerciasis, and its cycle of misery for millions of people.

Driving on U.S. 40, shoving along with the traffic past strip malls, gas stations and drive-through restaurants, there's no apparent reason to give Nuwood Road, landmarked by an auto supply store, a second glance. But if one did turn in and hang a quick right, he or she would see what could soon become the linchpin for bringing wholesome eating to Baltimore City schools. Tony Geraci, the system's new food service director, plans to turn the 33 surprisingly rural acres in Baltimore County into an organic farm where schoolchildren will learn about healthy food and sustainable living, by digging in the dirt, planting seeds and watching fruits and vegetables come to life.

Giant worms rise to attack humans on the surface in Tremors (8 p.m.-10 p.m., ABC Family), with Kevin Bacon (above).

I have worms in my yard and would like to get rid of them. In the spring, when it's wet, they churn up the surface and make the ground soft, though the grass does grow. I have tried all kinds of chemicals at different times (diazinon, sevin, malathion), but nothing works. I thought about tearing up the yard and putting in new topsoil, but if I don't dig deep enough, I'm afraid they'll still be in the ground. Is there anything that will kill them? Earthworms are unique benefactors of soil, moving nutrients up to where they are available to plants, breaking down compounds and aerating.

One of the stars of the biological research world is a millimeter long and probably lives in your back yard. Caenorhabditis elegans, a worm with no heart, bones or blood, has been used by one group of scientists to win a Nobel Prize and by others to explore how life works. The growing army of researchers who work with C. elegans appreciate it for practical and scientific reasons. Most important, the tiny creatures have something in common with humans. C. elegans became the first multicellular organism to have its genome sequenced in 1998.

The only good whale is a dead whale - at least from the standpoint of two of the weirdest creatures known to science, which make a living devouring whale bones on the floor of Monterey Bay in California. They're worms, but they look almost like plants, sending roots deep into whale skeletons to draw out nutritious fats and oils. They're full of bacteria that help them digest this bounty. And the female worms, which are an inch or two long, harbor dozens of microscopic males inside their bodies - 111 of them, in one case.

Like any good horror story, the northern snakehead saga already has a Maryland sequel in the pipeline: the Vietnamese nuclear worm. Hot-pink and up to 5 feet long, the worms have quietly made their way from the brackish waters of Southeast Asian mangrove forests to bait and tackle shops around the Chesapeake Bay. For anglers out to catch striped bass and white perch, the worms are everything they could want in a bait - fat, cheap and juicy, hardy in...

The locations Piney Run: Something must be in the water. Carroll countian George Waldner caught a striper that tipped the scales at a shade under 21 pounds in the upper portion of the reservoir with live bait. Glen Burnie's Mel Montgomery caught an 18-pound, 40-inch tiger muskie on a Rat-L-Trap. Bass are taking top-water plugs in the morning and evening. Bluegills are taking worms and grubs. Reserve a spot in the fall fishing tournament on Sept. 30 by calling 410-795-5165. Prettyboy Reservoir: Set up shop just off the gravel bars where the bottom drops off to deep water for good smallmouth-bass fishing.

The locations Morgan Run: Ants may ruin a picnic, but they're welcome on the water. All sizes, from big carpenter ants to size 20 and 22 ants are attracting fish, says Robert Sollett of Angler's Hollow in Westminster. Sulphurs are taking their fair share of fish as well. Water temperature is in the upper 60s, flow is good and it's just a little dingy in the deeper spots. Prettyboy Reservoir: After several days of cloudy, cool, damp days, the heat is on, says Duke Nohe. Largemouth and smallmouth bass are averaging 1 to 3 pounds.

A winter minicamp at Bear Branch Nature Center gave some Carroll County children a break from television and toys this week in favor of woods, wetlands and worms.The second of their three days dawned with a dusting of snow on the ground yesterday, so the group of 5- to 8-year-olds left their regularly scheduled program with the county-run program briefly to find tracks of raccoon, fox, beaver, deer, muskrat, opossum and mink."I've never had such luck, and I've run about 100 camps," said Sherry L. Fisher, 35, a naturalist at the park north of Westminster, after a chilly wind drove the group of 14 back inside the nature center.

Q. I had a large oak taken down and noticed light-colored worms crawling under the bark. Did they kill the tree? Can we use the wood for firewood?A. The worms -- most likely beetle larvae -- did not kill your tree. Many types of beetle larvae will bore into severely stressed trees and feed on the cambium -- the area under the bark.You can burn the infested firewood but bring it into your home only as you need it. Keep it stored outside and away from your house.Q. I love vinca and plant it in garden beds and different types of containers.