8A | WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2018 | SIUSLAW NEWS Siuslaw News Community Voices Natural Perspective — I By Emily J. Uhrig, Ph.D Special to Siuslaw News t’s the season for backyard bar- beques, gardening and just gen- erally enjoying the sun. As you take part in such activities, you may notice small dirt mounds that indicate a mole is also enjoy- ing your outdoor space. As nocturnal burrowers, moles are rarely seen above ground and molehills are likely the only sign of their presence. This time of year, however, young moles leave their mothers’ nest and strike out alone in search of their own terri- tory. Their journey exposes them Nosing around the garden to wild predators like owls and coyotes, but they also fall prey to domestic dogs and cats who often leave them uneaten. Indeed, find- ing your pet’s hunting trophy is perhaps the most likely scenario for observing a mole in nature. Thanks to their underground existence, many aspects of mole biology are not well understood, but one area of interest is the mole’s nose. Vision and hearing are of little use in a subterranean lifestyle, so moles rely mainly on their noses — but not just for Siuslaw Valley Fire & Rescue — we got it! Recently, Siuslaw Valley, Ma- pleton and Swisshome Dead- wood fire departments received a $224,600 Regional Grant from FEMA for new fire hose. After it was all said and done, our order consisted of $160,186 worth of hose, for which we paid $8,812, after matching 5 percent. This grant is one of the many efforts SVFR has made towards partnering with our upriver sis- B y P ete “B oa ” W arren ter departments to help improve Recruitment & Retention emergency response to all citizens Coordinator for SVFR and visitors of the Siuslaw region. hat is synonymous with Just how much hose does a firefighters? Hose — and quarter of a million dollars buy? W By Barry Sommer Special to Siuslaw News I was enjoying lunch with a good friend the other day at the Brown Hen Café on High- way 101 near Historic Old Town Florence. Languishing in the warmth of conversation, the sunshine and blue sky got the old grey matter spinning. Once the sparks subsided the ques- tion coalesced — where was our Main Street, and do we even have one? I mean, every town has a “Main Street,” don’t they? Main Street is as American as apple fritters, tow-headed, freck- le-faced kids on bikes and Fourth of July parades. I knew we had to have one and I wanted to discover its whereabouts. I figured that Main Street would be obvious everywhere. All cities, towns, villages and burgs have a Main Street (or so I thought) and it should be the first, or prime avenue when the town was laid out by its found- ers. Oh wait — the first street laid out would be called First Street, so isn’t First Street the number one (pun intended) street name? And if so, where does Main Street fit in? Ah, the questions are now starting to pile up like traffic on Main Street at the only signal light in town. Now it was a search. I had to solve the mystery and find our Main Street, so I began by looking up the top 10 most used street names in America. To my surprise I discovered that in Or- egon, Main Street doesn’t even break into the top 10. In Oregon, as with many other states, the top street name is Second Street. So why isn’t First Street the top name? My laptop was silent but for this explanation from the Washington Post; The most convincing explanation anyone has come up with so far is that in many towns the primary thor- oughfare is Main street instead of First street. Because those two names split the honor, so to speak, they tumble in the rank- ings. But if true, why is Main Street not the number one name if it is indeed the primary histor- ical thoroughfare? And isn’t all this an insult to Second Street as well? Ah, now my hair was be- ginning to hurt. I needed to find out what states have Main Street as their primary road and more importantly, will the answer reduce the follicle throbbing? Hint, it didn’t. There are only two states that have as their number one road Main Street — Utah and Maine. Yes, the jokes write themselves, but in the interest of not offend- ing Mainers, I’ll let them go for now. Florence has Second Street, but is it a Main Street? Maybe, as it does connect with Bay Street. Highway 101 is not Main Street even though it hosts pa- rades and other gatherings. Main Street should pass directly through the oldest part of a town — and skirting the western edge of Old Town as 101 does is not quite close enough. And how about Bay Street, does that qualify as our Main Street? Well it is the street that accesses Old Town, starting from behind the Dairy Queen at the north end of the bridge, but few use that route anymore. That way was one of the original different animals. Unlike gophers, moles are not rodents, but rath- er are members of an insect-eat- ing group of mammals. This diet means that moles can be bene- ficial to a garden by removing harmful insect pests. Their dig- ging also aerates the soil and can improve drainage. However, these positive activi- ties are usually underappreciated, and moles tend to get a bad rap. Molehills are considered unsight- ly and, although moles eat little or no plant material, their digging after the home’s smoke alarm ac- tivated. The scary statistic is that now, that has been cut down to only 3 to 4 minutes to get out. Fires are burning faster and hotter, and our fire hoses get damaged quicker. Different sizes of hose are needed depending on the size of the fire. As we say, “Small fire, small water; big fire, big water.” We received over 10,000 feet of Large Diameter Hose (LDH). We use this as supply hose to pump water into those ever so thirsty water tanks on our apparatus. Previously, we used to pull two hoses off the first arriving engine and connect to the hydrant. With LDH, one hose is all that’s need- ed. Amongst the order was wild- land, attack and supply hose. Ad- ditional adapters and necessary items to facilitate the new hose Main Street paths from the highway down to Old Town before the bridge was built. Today, getting to Bay Street usually entails for most of us a turn from either Second or Third streets off Highway 101, where the sign for Old Town is. So let’s see if I can connect the dots on the map. First through Fourth streets connect with Old Town, but Second Street is a di- rect connection to Bay Street. Using historical logic, mirrors and incantations, Bay Street is for all intents and purposes the Main Street for Old Town. Sec- ond to Bay to Main. My three- legged stool is now complete. Of course, this solves the im- mediate problem of our Old Town Main Street, but it does not address where Main Street is outside of Old Town. To be called Main Street, there should be specific requirements, and those include buildings over 100 years old, almost no electric traffic signals, a speed limit of no more than 25 mph, sidewalk sitting for people watching, free parking, a slower atmosphere with softer conversation and the immediate scent of coffee swirled with history. Highway 101 has little if any of these identifiers. No offense to the 101, but if I want to see the richness and the past of Florence, I won’t get it from whizzing past Pizza Hut, Safeway, pot shops and innu- merable gas stations. If I want to get from the bridge to Fred Meyer with little visual distrac- tion and only three signals, then 101 is the way. If I want to see, feel and breathe the bones of our town I look for a place to rest on Main Street. Sorry, Bay Street. Wait, Second Street… The soul of a city rests in its past. However aged a town is, whether new like Dunes City, created in the mid 1960s, or really old like Coos Bay, which sprang to life in the mid 1850s, finding the Main Street is where the story starts. Finding that perfect free park- ing space helps a lot too. Next Date is July 21 9am to 2pm at the Kingwood entrance to the airport, located at Kingwood & 27th St. COST Small Utility Trailer (Single Axle) $10 To help you understand your options, we've included descriptions of some of our leading services on our website. www.eugenefootandankle.com Florence 4480 Highway 101 Building G Mon/Tues (541) 997-2319 Eugene 1680 Chambers St. (541) 683-3351 2150 Hwy. 101 • Florence (541) 997-3475 • 1-800-348-3475 AUGUST 18 OCTOBER 20 Large Utility Trailer (12-18ft) $21 Greater than 20 cubic yards $21 +$5/yard over Bring: • Tree Clippings • Leaves • Grass Clippings • Weeds • Prunings • Brush DO NOT Bring your: • Food & Household waste • Animal Waste • Plastics • Construction Debris • Hazardous Waste For questions, please contact the City of Florence Public Works Department at 541-997-4106 FRAA ART CENTER 120 Maple Street Phone: 541-997-4435 Hours Open: Wed-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun. 11am-5pm Classes, Workshops & Events Poetry Writing Class with Jeff Lovejoy Writers on the River - Creative Writing w/ Catherine Rourke - Tuesday, September 11th, 6-8 pm. All levels welcome! Recapping a bit to get back into the swing of it. Short readings, exercises, why we write poetry! Contact Jeff for questions and registration: jlovejoy54@gmail.com Writing to Heal Your Life Saturday, July 28th 10 am - 12 noon Journaling/storytelling for transformation. Perfect for those who journal, write short stories, poetry or memoir. All writing levels and genres, Contact: CJReditor@gmail.com , 541-708-2120 Painting with John Leasure 
 Saturdays 9 am - 12 pm No painting experience required. Contact: jnleasure@hotmail.com or 541-991-2754 for details and fees. Let Paul show you a new car or truck. Stop by today! JULY 21 SEPTEMBER 15 Medium Utility Trailer (10-12 ft) $15 From routine checkups to treatments for surgery, Eugene Foot and Ankle Health Center is equipped to handle all your podiatric needs. Heel Spurs Ingrown Toenails Injuries Neuromas Plantar Fasciitis Sports Medicine Trauma Warts 2018 Collection Dates: Pickup load $10 Podiatric Physicians & Surgeons Crush Injuries Diabetic Foot Comprehensive Rearfoot and Reconstructive Surgery Flat Feet Fungus Toenails Foot and Ankle Fractures. Hammertoes also came with the order. So, if you see some shiny new yellow hose on our rigs, you’ll know, our grant writers were once again burning the mid- night oil, saving our district vast amounts of money. Yard Debris Disposal Eugene Foot and Ankle Health Center Achilles Tendon Ankle Instability Ankle Sprains Arthritic Foot & Ankle Care Athletes Foot Bunions Calluses Corns can damage roots. As a result, many folks attempt eradication. However, the success of remov- al tactics is often short-lived, as the moles’ territorial nature means that removing one simply provides space for a new mole to move in. So, if you see evidence that a mole is calling your yard home, consider learning to live with him. He’s undertaken a perilous journey to get there and, if you can look past his reputation as a pest, he may even help your soil. We’ve been Hosed! Well, consider a Boeing 787 cruis- es at about 41,000 plus feet. That’s the length of hose we received. Then we started receiving it. Pallet after pallet started filling our logistics building until it seemed like it was going to burst at the seams. Why new hose? Well, like ev- erything else, hose wears out. Hose typically lasts about 15 years. Today’s fires are not like those of days gone by. Nowa- days, fires burn hotter due to all the products made with synthet- ics. In the 1970s, a person had an average of 17 minutes to escape Notes from the Siltcoos — smell. The nose is highly sensitive to touch and tapping it on surfac- es and objects provides the mole with information about its envi- ronment. The skin of the nose is covered in small bumps, each of which is a complex sense organ containing many nerve endings that, when pressed against something, pro- vide fine details of texture. In this way, a mole “sees” with its nose. Although folks commonly re- fer to moles and gophers inter- changeably, they are actually very Whimsical Hand Building Ceramics w/ Alissa Clark Wednesdays, 3-5 pm & Thursdays, 6-8 pm Open Lab Ceramics on Saturdays Drop in, work at own pace. Sat 12-5 pm Call Alissa with questions, 503-957-5222. All ceramics classes held at Alissa’s Studio. 180 Laurel Street. Big Wave Poetry 1st Tuesday Open Mic Tuesday, August 7th at 6:30 pm. Admission is free and refreshments will be available. Next Art Change-Out Day Monday, September 10th, 9-11 am Please pick up your artwork and bring something new to help keep the art at FRAA fresh to our visitors. For more information about classes, visit fraaoregon.org. To register for these classes, please call or visit FRAA at our Art Center on Maple Street.