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Daily Calendar for Monday, October 21, 2024
Question of the Day
I have a strange fungus appearing in numerous spots around my mulched flower beds. It first appears as a thick, bright yellow, bubbly liquid (almost paintlike). As it dries, it forms a tan crust across the top. If it is sprayed with water, it produces small clouds of dark brown dust. What can I do to eliminate it?
It sounds as if you have slime mold, a fungus that lives on mulch. Although it doesn’t decay the mulch, it is quite unsightly. To control the problem use corn meal as that will kill off the disease, or even diluted milk. These two treatments will not harm soil organisms. This is also an excellent way to control brown patch, a fungus that gets into Saint Augustine grass in the late summer.
Advice of the Day
Sprinkle pumpkin pie spice in your jack-o’-lantern to give it a pleasant, seasonal scent.
Home Hint of the Day
To prevent erosion, a driveway generally needs a ditch along the uphill side to keep water from collecting in the driveway. If there’s no easy way to run water away from your driveway, consider having one or more culverts installed.
Word of the Day
Solar eclipse
Earth enters the shadow of the new Moon, which cuts off all or part of the Sun’s light. Total: Earth passes through the umbra (central dark part) of the Moon’s shadow, resulting in totality for observers within a narrow band on Earth. Annular: The Moon appears silhouetted against the Sun, with a ring of sunlight showing around it. Partial: The Moon blocks only part of the Sun.
Puzzle of the Day
Why is summer like the letter N?
Because it makes ice nice.
Born
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poet) –
- Alfred Bernhard Nobel (inventor) –
- Dizzy Gillespie (musician) –
- Edward "Whitey" Ford (baseball player) –
- Ursula K. Le Guin (author) –
- Manfred Mann (musician) –
- Dr. Ronald McNair (astronaut) –
- Carrie Fisher (actress) –
- Douglas G. Hurley (astronaut) –
Died
- Lord Nelson (British admiral) –
- Jack Kerouac (poet) –
- Fred Berry (actor) –
Events
- U.S.S. Constitution launched, Boston, Massachusetts–
- Lord Horatio Nelson of Great Britain and his men destroyed a combined French and Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar–
- Thomas Edison successfully tested for the first time a carbon-filament incandescent light bulb–
- Columbia ran an advertisement in The Saturday Evening Post for the first two-sided record–
- Margaret Owen set a typing speed record on a manual typewriter of 170 words per minute–
- The Guggenheim Museum of Art, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in New York City–
- Trimline phone was first placed in service, in Michigan–
- Movie My Fair Lady premiered–
- Native American saint Kateri Tekakwitha canonized–
Weather
- The temperature in Boston, Massachusetts, was 80 degrees F–