Worms

You may not be able to see it through the rain clouds tonight, but a waning moon just past its fullest is up there. Luckily, I snapped a shot of it last night. The moon was technically "full" at 4:40 a.m. Thursday. It rises at 6:50 p.m. Thursday. March's full moon is known as the Worm Moon or the Sap Moon, for coming as worms begin to slither through softened ground and maple sap begins to run again.

Tumblr, the popular mircoblogger service, has been a beset a potty-mouthed worm that rails against the evils of adult My Little Pony fans. (Seriously, I'm not making this up.) But many of Baltimore's prominent tumblr bloggers have seemed to have escaped the wrath of the worm for now. Sad really because there would be something kinda hilarious about having " DRINK BLEACH AND DIE YOU EMO, SELF-INSISTING, SELF-DEPRECATING, SELF-INDULGENT EMPTY HUSKS OF HUMAN BEINGS " posted on the Maryland Historical Society Photographs tumblr.

Pardon Dee Tochterman if she doesn't have time for more than a quick hello. She has worms to wash. Thousands of them. Every day from spring to late fall, Tochterman is the head worm wrangler at T.G. Tochterman & Sons, the 94-year-old tackle shop on Eastern Avenue. Her specialty is bloodworms, the nasty critters from the mud flats of Maine and Canada that squirt blood and bite. Anglers love them. But the fish of the Chesapeake Bay — stripers, spot and croaker — love them even more.

The season is upon us when the question, "Hot enough for ya?" becomes a conversation starter. Usually around Fathers Day, though sometimes earlier and, more rarely, a little later, the sun interacts with the shallow water of the upper Chesapeake Bay in such a way that the second part of the conversation can easily be, "It's not the heat. It's the humidity. " It is fair to say Harford County had plenty of both last week, and this week promises more of the same. Unofficial time and temperature signs were flashing heat levels in excess of 100 degrees, and it wasn't the kind of dry 100 degrees people talk about after they've traveled to Las Vegas or the Grand Canyon.

Pardon Dee Tochterman if she doesn't have time for more than a quick hello. She has worms to wash. Thousands of them. Every day from spring to late fall, Tochterman is the head worm wrangler at T.G. Tochterman & Sons, the 94-year-old tackle shop on Eastern Avenue. Her specialty is bloodworms, the nasty critters from the mud flats of Maine and Canada that squirt blood and bite. Anglers love them. But the fish of the Chesapeake Bay — stripers, spot and croaker — love them even more.

I am sick and tired of waiting for our so-called "leaders" to stop nattering about the federal budget deficit, and instead roll up their sleeves and do something about the worsening Canadian-earthworm crisis.In case you are not aware of this crisis (which was brought to my attention by alert readers Nadine Lindst and Carla Hagstrom), let me bring you up to speed:In early May, the Canadian Press Service sent out a report that began: "Georgetown, Ontario -- More than 50 worm pickers beat each other with steel pipes and pieces of wood in a battle over territory."

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.

LONDON -- It is amazing the things that can seize the imagination of the British, trigger their fine collective madness and precipitate one of their long, deep plunges into the absurd.Worms, for instance. Particularly the Blackawton Red, a game worm if ever there was one.Last week, about 444 of them surrendered to the charms of about 140 people, who traveled from all over the country to the village of Blackawton in the hills of Devon.The people came to watch or take part in the Ninth Annual Worm Charming Championship, a charity affair to benefit the Leonard Cheshire Foundation, which helps the disabled here and in 48 other countries.

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.

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...

You may not be able to see it through the rain clouds tonight, but a waning moon just past its fullest is up there. Luckily, I snapped a shot of it last night. The moon was technically "full" at 4:40 a.m. Thursday. It rises at 6:50 p.m. Thursday. March's full moon is known as the Worm Moon or the Sap Moon, for coming as worms begin to slither through softened ground and maple sap begins to run again.

Marc Miller survived a motorcycle crash in October near his Baltimore County home, but his foot had been dragged along the pavement and badly damaged. That injury would require both the most advanced medicine and an ancient therapy — leeches. Trauma doctors at Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland and other U.S. hospitals routinely use leeches as a temporary measure to keep blood flowing as new vessels grow in a damaged area. The animals kept blood moving in and out of a new skin flap sewn onto Miller's foot.

I suspected that the worm would slowly turn to point the finger to Bear-Bear's guardian ("Prosecutors: Inquiry into dog park shooting may take another week," Aug. 17). And the worm just happens to be the off-duty federal officer, who shot a dog in a dog park with his off-duty weapon which was loaded with hollow point bullets. Let's break this down, as I have gotten between two fighting dogs three times in my past and am well aware of how an aggressive dog behaves. First off, not one of Bear-Bear's caregivers ever noticed any aggression.

Pardon Dee Tochterman if she doesn't have time for more than a quick hello. She has worms to wash. Thousands of them. Every day from spring to late fall, Tochterman is the head worm wrangler at T.G. Tochterman & Sons, the 94-year-old tackle shop on Eastern Avenue. Her specialty is bloodworms, the nasty critters from the mud flats of Maine and Canada that squirt blood and bite. Anglers love them. But the fish of the Chesapeake Bay — stripers, spot and croaker — love them even more.

Pardon Dee Tochterman if she doesn't have time for more than a quick hello. She has worms to wash. Thousands of them. Every day from spring to late fall, Tochterman is the head worm wrangler at T.G. Tochterman & Sons, the 94-year-old tackle shop on Eastern Avenue. Her specialty is bloodworms, the nasty critters from the mud flats of Maine and Canada that squirt blood and bite. Anglers love them. But the fish of the Chesapeake Bay — stripers, spot and croaker — love them even more.

The Ravens have the No. 26 pick in the NFL draft April 25, which isn't enviable, but Eric DeCosta, the team's director of player personnel, wouldn't mind being in that spot every year. A low position in the first round is an indication of success the previous season. The Ravens also like to point out that the last time they were in this position, they selected a middle linebacker out of the University of Miami named Ray Lewis in 1996. The rest is Hall of Fame history. "I don't know if there has ever been a No. 26 pick in the history of the league as good as Ray Lewis," DeCosta said Wednesday.

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.

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.

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.

William Eaton Perryclear Sr., former worm farm owner and museum curator, died of esophageal cancer Monday at Anne Arundel Medical Center. The Annapolis resident was 66. Mr. Perryclear was born in Pittsburgh and raised in Govans and Roland Park. He was a 1958 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree in English literature in 1962 from Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pa. Mr. Perryclear was an insurance agent from 1962 until 1975, when he moved to Delta, Pa., and established William & Mary Enterprises, a worm and organic soil farm.