THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 1996 TAG: 9611050156
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: COASTAL JOURNAL
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: 96 lines
After the column on brown recluse spiders, Pete Schultz, director of the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center, pointed out a fact that made me feel pretty stupid: brown recluse spiders do not live in this part of the country.
This poisonous spider's range is farther west, from Kansas and Missouri to Texas and west to California, according to the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders.
The only dangerous spider that is common in this area is the black widow spider and only the female bites. She is actually quite beautiful - 3/8 of an inch long, round and shiny black with a red hourglass on her abdomen.
On the other hand, the symptoms of a brown recluse spider bite are totally consistent with the symptoms of folks who were bitten by something and were featured in this column and elsewhere in the newspaper over the years. So you can't say the victims were not bitten by a brown recluse, said Deborah Waller, an entomologist at Old Dominion University. With as many Navy folk moving in and out of here and as many tourists coming and going, brown recluse spiders could easily hitch their way to town in a moving van or camper.
The possibility exists, Waller added, that a bite from an insect could cause the same kind of reaction that occurs from a brown recluse bite, if the individual was very allergic to that kind of insect.
I just want you to know that you don't have to be afraid of a brown recluse spider with the telltale violin shape on its back, lurking in every dark corner. At the same time, Waller said, that doesn't mean you should start sticking your hands into dark corners willy-nilly. No telling what other kind of insect or spider might be hiding there!
CAROLINA WRENS ENJOY ROOSTING in hanging baskets and other manmade objects in the winter, just as they nest in such things in spring.
This time of year, people bring their hanging baskets in on nights when they are afraid the temperatures will drop too low. But be careful, said wildlife rehabilitator Sandy Krebs. She's already gotten calls late in the evening from folks who find themselves with a wren or two flying around the house!
Just bring your baskets in before dark and you won't have a problem, Krebs said. But if you do end up with a wren in the house, spot the bird's location, then cut off the lights and use a flashlight to capture it. That way the wren won't fly to the ceiling light, out of reach and perhaps get burned.
Krebs advises keeping the bird in a ventilated shoe box overnight and releasing it in daylight when it won't be so disoriented.
W.T. COOKE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is celebrating its 90th birthday from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the school, 524 15th Street.
Alumni, students and staff are invited to attend the program and reminisce about the past at a reception afterwards. Local history buffs might enjoy the afternoon, too.
Edgar Brown, who collects Beach history and memorabilia, will display photos from the good old days when Virginia Beach was young and Cooke was the only school in town. Officials including Congressman Owen Pickett, Mayor Meyera Oberndorf and School Superintendent Timothy R. Jenney will speak. Cooke students, dressed in historic attire, will lead tours of the school.
Founded in 1906, Cooke School first operated in the Driftwood Cottage and then over the little resort town's jail. The funds to build the first school were appropriated in 1913 because the town council decided the jail wasn't a good influence on the children. Although nothing remains of that first building, the school has operated on that same site ever since.
I GOT MY FIRST COMPOSTER THE OTHER DAY and it was just like Christmas around here. I hadn't had one in the past because I don't have the main ingredients for compost - no lawn from which to get grass clippings and no need to rake leaves.
But recently I was having kind of a self-image problem because I always thought of myself as the type of person who would compost. So I ordered a small plastic composting bin, small enough that I hope I will be able to get something cooking from kitchen scraps, herb clippings and the like.
I could hardly wait for it to arrive. I even started saving ahead of time and to inaugurate my composter, I had a nice bag of stuff from the garden and also a bag of salad discards that I had been keeping in the freezer. I made sure the composter would have a critter-proof top since I was going to be using a lot of fruit and vegetable scraps. Sure enough I heard either a raccoon or a opossum thumping on the plastic top that very first night but so far, so good.
Every day I go look inside and add a few more lettuce leaves, but nothing, absolutely nothing, has happened yet. I'll issue a reports periodically on my progress as a small-time composter.
P.S. Beach Accents, an exhibit and sale of maritime art by the Art Alliance, an organization of South Hampton Roads artists, will on display through Dec. 1 at the Old Coast Guard Station museum at 24th Street and Atlantic Avenue. ILLUSTRATION: File photo
Cooke School first operated in a cottage. Funds to build the first
school were appropriated in 1913. Sunday, Cooke will celebrate its
90th birthday. by CNB