My sister Anni Black arrived from five days of watching polar bears in Churchill, Canada, on the edge of Hudson Bay. This was an Earthwatch excursion, assisting biologists in researching the functions and forms of male bear play behavior, as well as their behavior in the presence of tourists borne on enormous "tundra buggies," bus-seated boxes on five-foot tires for safety and maneuvering over rugged terrain. Anni's job was to record the approaches and interactions between the several bears, identified by names such as Desert, Valley, Grasslands and other geographical features. The bears are gathering at the shore in anticipation of ice floes to ride out for their winter of living off primarily seal. In an area expected to have temperatures from 5 to 15 degrees, so far they have not gone below 28 degrees. The bears face possible starvation.

Daphne, Kevin and the grandkids will be up over Thanksgiving!

Fort Edgecomb news, and it's not good. According to Molly Carlson, a wood conservator hired by the Bureau of Parks and Lands to assess the blockhouse's condition, the roof's shingles are nearly gone, the siding shingles' weathering has been accelerated by fungus, and the big beam which goes from the front door to the rear, past the staircase, shows signs of damp. Further, the cellar space is damp, and she has found powder dust beetles in samples taken from the foundation beams. I will be calling on Friends of Fort Edgecomb, the Edgecomb Historical Society, the Bicentennial Committee and everyone else to confer on major fund-raising efforts. Please give me a call if you want to help save our Fort!

Turkeys are back, only 15 in the flock just now. The flock may have split over the summer.

Enjoying the far-flung strands of my family at 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com.

This column appears in the Boothbay Register, The Lincoln County News, the Wiscasset News-paper, and at www.Edgecomb.org.