Well, two weeks ago, Tom Puersrchner was asking about blue birds and I was saying how I rarely see blue birds and guess what? Last Saturday I saw a blue bird and on Election Day, I had about three blue birds at the Otto residence bird bath, drinking water! That makes my day! Blue birds are my favorite bird. I will cut some winterberry and maybe I can attract some more blue birds. (By the way, there is an enormous amount of winterberry this year. It seems as though every year, there is more and more winterberry, that beautiful, red, Christmas berry bush that you see along the back roads.)

I forgot to mention in my last column that Helen and Rudy Hoering shared the delicious, Youngsville Fire Department's Roast Beef dinner with my husband Ray and I and the friends and neighbors that were part of our table. We had a delightful conversation, including discussing how they need to wrap the bottom of their trees as the Lake Jefferson resident beavers have attempted to cut down their trees. You may recall that a few weeks back, I reported seeing a monster dead beaver along Route 52, not too far from the damn of Lake Jeff.

Although my late father did some rifle white tail deer hunting when I was a youth, he ended up ceasing to hunt. Once I started dating my now husband Ray Otto in 2003, I started to learn about the white-tail deer rut. It is really a fascinating event, the serenade, the competition, the change of behavior, etc. etc. This year, I have witnessed more “buck dogging doe” activity that I have ever seen.

Belated sympathy wishes and condolences to the family of the late Sheila Coleman. I remember Mrs. Coleman as being a 4-H leader of the Kenoza Lake Hummingbirds, the 4-H group I attended during my youth.

The Kenoza Lake United Methodist Church preaching schedule for November: Linda Simmons, November 10th, Paul Thompson - November 17th, Joseph (Bud) LeConey - November 24th. Most of the regular Kenoza Lake parishioners have had the opportunity to hear the excellent preaching of lay preachers Linda & Bud, however, I don't believe that Paul Thompson has preached in Kenoza Lake yet. I have heard Paul preach several times in the Jeffersonville United Methodist Church (where I do some substitute organ playing). I encourage folks to come out to hear Paul as well as Linda and Bud. They all have excellent messages. We are truly blessed to have so many preachers in the local pulpit.

The Kenoza Lake United Methodist Women thanks everyone who supported their soup, chili and Krispy Kreme Election Day sale. Everything was sold out and it was a very successful fundraiser. THANK YOU!

I always am excited when I learn of something new and alas, within the past two months, I learned something new about cows and milk. Faithful readers of this column know that I grew up on a dairy farm and specifically, a Holstein cow dairy farm. My cousin Peter Erlwein and his wife Dawn are Holstein dairy farmers. Their daughter Rianne recently told me that Jersey cows produce milk with the A2 enzyme and not the A1 enzyme. If you do a little bit of online research, you will find fascinating information about the health benefits of A2 milk. How folks who are lactate intolerant may be able to drink the A2 milk. I read that A2 milk may have few negative effects on heart disease. Both Jersey and Guernsey cows produce the A2 milk (whereby Holstein produce A1 enzyme milk.) If you go to Peck's Supermarket, you can find A2 milk. This morning, I saw the first advertisement on television for A2 milk. The marketing of A2 milk is a recent event (starting in the 1980s). It started in New Zealand. Google the topic and you will find this very fascinating. Stay tuned, I hope to have more information on A2 milk in some future Kenoza Lake news columns. Maybe the Sullivan County Democrat, award winning Kathy Daley, can write an article on the topic?

A community pride shout-out and huge thank you to my sister Nancy Neumann and to Missy Slater for volunteering to and planting bulbs around the Kenoza Lake, including the post office. The bulbs were part of the Town of Delaware Renaissance award bulbs. Thank you for caring.

No Kenoza Lake news column next week, November 15th.

Full moon, Tuesday, November 12th, Beaver Moon. The Old Farmer's Almanac says the following, about the November full moon:

“November's full Moon was called the Beaver Moon by a number of Native American groups and by colonial Americans. The Native Americans used the monthly Moons and nature's signs as a sort of natural calendar to track the seasons.

Why this name? This is the month when the beavers begin to take shelter in their lodges, having laid up sufficient stores of food for the long winter ahead. During the time of the fur trade, it was also the season to trap beavers for their thick, winter-ready pelts.”