6A
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
March 18, 2015
Chatterbox
Snakes slither through the
garden annihilating pests
The
BY KYM POKORNY
OSU Extension Service
Treasures and trash in the mailbox
BY BETTY KAISER
For the Sentinel
G
oing to the mailbox used to
be one of life’s pleasures. In a
more personal and un-computerized
society, we corresponded across town
and around the world with pen and
paper. Telephone calls were expen-
sive, but postage stamps were not. A
treasured note from someone saying
‘hello’ was usually tucked in among
the inevitable bills. Those cards, notes
and letters always made my day.
Today, just about the only people
saying ‘hello’ to me by snail mail are
not people at all. The mailers are auto-
mated computers deep in the bowels of
marketing offi ces all across the nation.
There, clever ad agencies put together
enticing, colorful offers that are mass
mailed to millions of people. At my
house they go right in the trash/recy-
cling.
This past year our mailbox has been
bombarded with a ridiculous amount
of unwanted catalogs, coupons, credit
card offers and donation requests.
Some charities send one or two solici-
tations a week. Many add stamps and
coins to entice a donation. They are
seldom opened. In an effort to stop the
fl ow, I tried marking them “return to
sender.” It made things worse and they
keep coming.
One day I couldn’t stand it any lon-
ger. I opened a solicitation and found a
phone number to call and (hopefully)
stop the onslaught. I was told they
would be happy to do so but “Mrs.
Kaiser, you must understand that these
mailings are prepared months in ad-
vance and will take up to 12 weeks to
stop.” I hung up before I said some-
thing that I shouldn’t.
Eventually, the mailings dwindled
down to once-a-week communica-
tions. As I stand over the trashcan, slic-
ing and dicing them, I no longer won-
der what some banking institutions are
doing with our money. I know. They’re
spending it on soliciting more custom-
ers and keeping the post offi ce in busi-
ness.
I am an avid magazine subscriber,
and thanks to some very nice ‘two-
years-for-the-price-of-one’ offers, I
often get good deals. Especially nice
are the ‘buy-one-give-one’ gift offers.
Obviously (as you will see) these are
cash-fl ow bonanzas for the companies
and cash cows for the long haul.
A couple of years ago I noticed that
the due dates for my Reader’s Digest
magazine subscriptions were coming
closer and closer together. Decem-
ber bills for family gift subscriptions
were arriving in July. When I didn’t
pay them, the bills kept coming. So I
decided the subscriptions must be ex-
pired and wrote a check. The next year
I did the same thing.
Guess what? By the time that I caught
on to their advance billing game, every-
one still had two years left on subscrip-
tions. I fi nally called Customer Service
and got it all straightened out. Now I
keep a list of expiration dates.
“Final Notice!” offers without an ac-
tual expiration date are common. An
offer to renew my three-year AARP
membership was really annoying.
My membership was only one year
old when I received a notice to con-
fi rm that I wanted to renew my AARP
membership and receive a free travel
bag! I called and complained that the
offer was deceptive and they apolo-
gized. Yeah, right.
Of course, these solicitations are not
just limited to snail mail. Oh, no. They
also come via telephone (email spam is
another subject).
Last winter, in one of March’s wild
winter storms, our power was out
about 24 hours. As soon as our tele-
phone service was restored, the phone
rang. The caller inquired if everyone
was okay and if we were interested
in purchasing a Personal Emergency
Response System (PERS) in case this
happens again. In a different state of
mind and a different time, I might have
been cordial. Instead, I just told him to
remove our name from his calling list
and hung up.
My husband has a product in his
workshop for which he purchases
parts on the telephone. When he needs
something, he calls and orders it. If he
NEW: Digital X-Rays (use less radiation)
Implants •Teeth Whitening • Extractions
Lumineers (no prep veneers as seen on TV)
G
ardeners should be glad to
see snakes glide through the
garden. These much-maligned rep-
tiles consume garden pests, including
slugs, grubs, mice, voles and rats.
“The vast majority of snakes in Or-
egon are very benefi cial,” said Bob
Mason, a professor of integrative bi-
ology at Oregon State University who
specializes in snakes.
Snakes eat a variety of pests. The
garter feeds on slugs; the sharp-
tailed snake adds grubs to their diet,
including the destructive Japanese
beetle grub. Rubber boas specialize
in eating mice and voles, going down
their tunnels after them. And gopher
snakes snack on mice and rats.
“I’ve even had farmers call me up
and ask if I had any snakes available,”
Mason said.
Garters are the type of snake most
often seen by urban and suburban
gardeners, he said. Two species of
garter snakes are commonly found
throughout much of Oregon, except
the mountains: the abundant western
terrestrial garter snake and the com-
mon garter snake. In western Oregon,
a third species is also present, the
northwestern garter snake. An aquat-
ic garter snake resides in southwest-
ern Oregon.
Garter snakes generally breed in
the spring and give birth to live young
in the late summer or fall. Often,
young are not seen until the follow-
ing spring, after they emerge from hi-
bernation after their fi rst winter.
“Most young garter snakes don’t
survive into adulthood,” Mason said.
“They are killed off by predators, cars
and lawnmowers.”
To make your property garter snake
friendly, Mason advises:
Walk your lawn before you mow it
to scare the snakes into hiding. Lawn
doesn’t need anything, he doesn’t call.
The problem is that if he doesn’t call
every 30 days, they call him — night
after night at dinnertime. He asked to
speak to their supervisor and be re-
moved from their call list. They agreed,
but still the calls came.
Finally, I got online and ferreted out
email addresses for the corporate offi ce
customer service division. A distinctly
worded message protesting their sales
tactics resulted in corporate calling me.
They assured me that the sales solicita-
tions would stop. And they did.
Still, in spite of our enrollment in the
“Do not call” program, the other calls
continued. So, we threw in the towel
and subscribed to our phone com-
pany’s feature that blocks unwanted
calls. For a small fee its message an-
noys everyone who calls—but it does
what we pay for—a great job of fi lter-
ing out solicitors and scam artists!
In a last-ditch effort to opt out of the
trash mail offers that kept coming, I
Googled for some help. I started with
http://www.usa.gov/topics/family/pri-
vacy-protection/junk-mail.shtml. Their
site suggests that we tell the companies
directly to remove our name (an on-go-
ing chore) or call the credit reporting
agencies notifi cation system at 1-888-
567-8688. This required giving one’s
Social Security number.
A fi nal suggestion was to visit the
Direct Marketing Association’s web-
site at: https://www.optoutprescreen.
com/opt_form.cgi
I decided to sign up with this one
even though it doesn’t get rave reviews
and must be renewed every three years
(without an expiration notice). It was
quick and simple and hopefully it will
work.
Now, if I could just get friends and
family to fi ll the mailbox with hand-
written treasured notes—I would be a
happy girl!
mowers are deadly to snakes because
they can’t hear like we do. Rather,
they feel vibrations.
Provide habitat for snakes if you
have room. Old plywood or corrugat-
ed metal roofi ng left loosely on the
ground in an out-of-the-way place
on your property provides hiding and
nesting places for slithering creatures.
Old stumps and large rocks also make
good snake habitat.
Don’t use chemicals such as pesti-
cides and fertilizers, in areas used by
snakes, including lawns.
If you have pets, the likelihood of
attracting snakes is minimal.
The western rattlesnake, the only
species of truly venomous snake na-
tive to Oregon, feeds on mice, rats
and other smaller animals. Rattle-
snakes were once more commonly
found on both the west and east sides
of the Cascades, however they’ve
largely been killed off on the west
side, Mason said.
“Rattlers are rare in northwestern
Oregon,” he said. “They were shot
out 100 years ago by early settlers.
There are a few dens left, but only in
really isolated places.”
In southern and eastern Oregon,
however, rattlers are more common.
“Rattlesnakes are part of the natural
environment,” he said. “They should
be respected. When you encounter
one in its natural environment, away
from homes and children, stay away
and leave the snake alone. They are
quite reclusive and rarely aggres-
sive.”
Learn more about snakes from
the Extension publications Common
Garter Snake and Attract Reptiles
and Amphibians to Your Yard. Mason
also recommends the photo-illus-
trated book, “Reptiles of Washing-
ton and Oregon,” published by the
Seattle Audubon Society and edited
by Robert M. Storm and William P.
Leonard.
Walk will raise funds for sensory
gym for students with disabilities
Betty Kaiser’s Chatterbox is about
people, places, family, and other mat-
ters of the heart. Contact her at 942-
1317 or via e-mail — bchatty@bet-
tykaiser.com
The A Team Justice League, a group
of parents and caregivers who have
children with special needs, is plan-
ning its fi rst annual Walk for Aware-
ness on Sunday, March 29 from 1-3
p.m. The walk starts and ends in Al-
ton Baker Park in Eugene. The event
Willamette Valley
Arms Collectors Association
is planned as a fundraiser to build a
sensory gym for children with special
needs, which would aim to provide
stimulation to all of a child's senses
using special therapeutic equipment.
The group's website can be viewed at
www.ateamjustice.org.
Douglas G. Maddess, DMD
Brightening Lives One Smile at a Time
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Saturday March 21st
9am to 5pm
Sunday, March 22nd
9am to 3pm
Dr. Brent Bitner, DDS
350 Washington, Cottage Grove (behind Better Bodies)
541.942.7934
A T
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