worth - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T07:16:35Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/worthTheater: Dogs paw for the chance to be Annie’s shaggy sidekickhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/theater-dogs-paw-for-the-chance-to-be-annie-s-shaggy-sidekick2020-04-01T16:41:46.000Z2020-04-01T16:41:46.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960940458,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960940458,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960940458?profile=original" /></a><em>The winning dog was Parker, a 2-year-old golden retriever who gave Lake Worth Playhouse artistic director Dan Eilola a sniff during his audition for the role of Sandy. At right is Reese Lores, 11, one of two actresses who will play Annie in the musical. Seated are stage manager Lara Palmer and Andrea Gershbein, Reese’s mother. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Larry Keller</strong></p>
<p>This was no cattle call, but a canine casting search at the Lake Worth Playhouse.</p>
<p><br /> The March 8 audition was for the role of Sandy, Little Orphan Annie’s dog in the musical Annie. Only four animal aspirants vied for the job.</p>
<p><br /> The play’s timing is notable. The Lake Worth Playhouse opened in 1924 as a movie theater — the same year that the comic strip Little Orphan Annie debuted. The first performance of Annie on Broadway wasn’t until 1977.</p>
<p><br />Now Annie is in local theater limbo with events at the playhouse suspended indefinitely because of the coronavirus. These are gloomy days coping with a pandemic, but Annie would have understood. She sang:<br /></p>
<p><em>The sun’ll come out</em><br /><em>Tomorrow</em><br /><em>So ya gotta hang on</em><br /><em>’Til Tomorow</em></p>
<p><br /> Director Cathy Randazzo-Olsen and artistic director Daniel Eilola were seeking a midsize dog, preferably sandy-colored — to match the character’s name. And — in keeping with Sandy’s personality — a loner, yet friendly.</p>
<p><br /> Randazzo-Olsen had the dogs’ owners demonstrate their pups’ aptitude to respond to a few hand signals that could be given offstage. And she tested them on their ability to respond to a voice command — “Come, Sandy” — because the dog needs to respond correctly when told by Annie to come to her.</p>
<p><br /> Reese Lores, 11, of Palm Beach Gardens, one of two youngsters slated to play Annie, tried out the verbal command with each dog. <br /> The first hopeful hound to audition went to Reese when called, then flopped at her feet for a belly rub. “She’s a people person and loves little girls,” her owner said. Clearly.</p>
<p><br /> Next, a Bedlington terrier named Cha Cha responded to Reese’s command to come to her but walked past her — twice. And while Cha Cha was cute as a lamb and resembled one, the 3-year-old had neither the size nor coloring of Sandy.</p>
<p><br /> The youngest candidate was Bailey, a 4½-month-old golden retriever owned by Randazzo-Olsen’s sister. Bailey was remarkably good at such a tender age, but would she be overwhelmed in a production with 20 adults and 17 children?</p>
<p><br /> Then there was Parker, a 2-year-old golden retriever. With his tail wagging like a high-speed windshield wiper, he was already demanding star treatment, parading around the rehearsal room expecting and receiving a pat from each person there. His Lake Worth agent — um, owner — Mike Gantner watched.</p>
<p><br /> After a couple of false starts, as well as brief foray out an open door to Lake Avenue — perhaps to sniff out paparazzi — Parker returned and came to Reese when she called him.</p>
<p><br /> “I think Parker probably had the most personality,” Randazzo-Olsen said afterward. “We’d really have to work with him. I think he is our best bet.”</p>
<p><br /> And so, Parker got the job.</p>
<p><br /> The original theatrical Sandy missed only 14 of 2,377 performances on Broadway in a nearly six-year run that ended in 1983, his owner and trainer told The New York Times. He was hours away from being euthanized at an animal shelter when he was rescued and found his calling as a performing pooch. He lived to age 16.</p>
<p><br /> Parker will have a far less arduous schedule if and when Annie is presented. Still it will be no walk in the dog park. With rehearsals and 15 actual performances during the play’s run — which had been planned for April 9-26 — he will be practicing and performing at the theater around 50 times, Randazzo-Olsen said.</p>
<p><br /> That’s fine with Reese, who seemed to like all the dogs and approved of Parker as a co-star. “He’s not too crazy,” she said. “And he’s not lazy.”</p>
<p><br /> As for those critters and their owners who didn’t make the cut: Well, there’s always Tomorrow.</p></div>Online farmers markets emerge as local ones close downhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/online-farmers-markets-emerge-as-local-ones-close-down2020-04-01T16:00:00.000Z2020-04-01T16:00:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p></p>
<p><strong>By Linda Haase</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p>Canceled. Postponed. Suspended. Shut down.</p>
<p><br /> One by one our favorite places closed in fallout from the coronavirus — including greenmarkets in Lake Worth Beach, Lantana, Delray Beach, Boca Raton and beyond.</p>
<p><br /> With social distancing the new normal, several farmers markets have carved out versions of working remotely.</p>
<p><br /> Less than 24 hours after organizers at the Lake Worth Beach Farmers Market were told to close, they came up with a plan: an online market, where they would coordinate transactions between vendors and customers and arrange deliveries.</p>
<p><br /> “Giving up just isn’t in our nature and we decided that there had to be a way to turn a negative situation into a positive experience, as opposed to just giving up on our customers and vendors,” explains manager Emily Theodossakos.</p>
<p><br /> The response has been phenomenal — about 20 vendors are participating.</p>
<p><br /> Among items available: raw, local unfiltered honey, fruit, farm fresh eggs, vegan muffins, baked goods, coconut water, olive oil, specialty clothing and jewelry, soap and edible flowers.</p>
<p><br /> “In addition, and what we are most proud of, is that our main farmer is making a variety box that includes various fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, and two dozen farm fresh eggs,” says Theodossakos. “We are taking orders from customers and arranging for home deliveries. So far we are up to about 50 produce box delivery orders and it’s only been two days since we started this.”</p>
<p><br /> The Lantana Shoreline Green Market, in its inaugural season, may have been the last to close — its last day was March 15.</p>
<p><br /> Now, Hector V. Herrera, the market’s founder and manager, is spearheading a virtual greenmarket focusing on essential foods that can be ordered online and delivered.</p>
<p><br /> “We want to give people hope and a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said about the project, which should launch by early April. “We are working hard to make sure farmers can still have a direct connection to people who need their products.”</p>
<p><br /> The abrupt closures also halted the winter/spring Delray Beach GreenMarket and the Boca Raton Greenmarket, along with the Artisans & Green Market at Mizner Park, which opened for the first time on Feb. 9.</p>
<p><br /> “The vendors were in tears and the customers were asking how they were going to get things,” said Laurie Landgrebe, who sells homemade gourmet granolas and muesli at her booth, Laurie’s Pantry, at the Delray market. “It is devastating. March and April are high season for us, when we make money.”</p>
<p><br /> So, she reached out to vendors from several green-markets in South Florida, offering her Hallandale warehouse as a distribution point, and is in the process of setting up an online market.</p>
<p><br /> Customers will find items sold at several greenmarkets, follow a link for more information about them, and order home delivery, she said.</p>
<p><br /> Keeping greenmarkets in business is vital.</p>
<p><br /> “All our vendors are local small businesses who have families to support and they rely on the market income, so these closures have put many in a difficult financial position,” says Theodossakos. “As we always say, the fruits and vegetables don’t stop growing, but if the farmers don’t have a way to sell it, sadly it goes to waste. We’re trying to do our part to help everyone through this difficult time.”</p>
<p><br /><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>Online greenmarkets</strong></span><br />• Lake Worth Beach Farmers Market: Lakeworthfarmersmarket@gmail.com or a private message on Facebook. <br />• Delray Beach GreenMarket: Farmersmarketstogo.com. <br />• Lantana Shoreline Green Market: Shorelinegreenmarkets.com or via Facebook.</p></div>Goat Yoga proves to be a hit at Shoreline Green Markethttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/goat-yoga-proves-to-be-a-hit-at-shoreline-green-market2019-12-16T19:00:00.000Z2019-12-16T19:00:00.000ZRachel O'Harahttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/RachelOHara<div><p><span style="font-size:10pt;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960916681,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960916681,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="750" alt="7960916681?profile=original" /></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Sarah Byerly, of Boynton Beach, has her photo taken while surrounded by three of the six goats from Downward Goat that took part in the Goat Yoga event on Sunday, December 15 at the Shoreline Green Market in Lantana. <strong>Photos by Rachel S. O'Hara</strong></em></span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span style="font-size:12pt;">Shoreline Green Market in Lantana teamed up with Downward Goat for its first-ever Goat Yoga event on Sunday, December 15 at Lantana Bicentennial Park. The easy-flow hour-long Goat Yoga class had 31 participants who were all eager to not only do yoga with the goats but to get plenty of selfies with the four-legged yogis.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Stephanie Aguilar and Adam Elder, of Hypoluxo, give Penny, an African Pygmy, some scratches before the start of the Goat Yoga class on Sunday.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960917465,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960917465,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full align-center" width="750" alt="7960917465?profile=original" /></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Sapphire, a Nubian goat, wanders the grounds during Goat Yoga at the Shoreline Green Market.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Willow, a Mini Mancha, jumps on the back of one of the participants during Goat Yoga on Sunday morning. </em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960917274,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960917274,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" width="750" alt="7960917274?profile=original" /></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Patrick Hogan takes a photo of Emma Dewalt, both of Lake Worth, while Poppy stands on Dewalt's back during Goat Yoga.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960917853,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960917853,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" width="750" alt="7960917853?profile=original" /></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Melissa Young, of West Palm Beach, smiles at Sapphire eating a leaf.</em></span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span style="font-size:12pt;">Downward Goat co-owner Korinne Johnson became enamored with goats years ago and later got her first two goats, Garnet and Sapphire, as a Valentine’s Day gifts in 2015 from her husband, Doug. Now they have a wide variety of goats Krazy Hearts Farm, out in Loxahatchee, along with a couple of miniature horses, dogs, and cats. The six “goat yogis” that were at this particular event included Garnet, Sapphire, Poppy, Willow, Penny, and Penny's daughter, Pixie. </span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Poppy climbs across the back of two different participants during Goat Yoga on Sunday.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Tammy Thompson, of Lake Worth, gives mom and daughter <span>African Pygmy </span>goats, Penny, left, and Pixie, right, some back scratches while they visit her mat during Goat Yoga. </em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Poppy jumps on the back of a participant while Penny looks for any Eureka palm leaves nearby.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960918289,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960918289,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" width="750" alt="7960918289?profile=original" /></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Penny tries to one-up Dara Gyorko with her own yoga pose during Goat Yoga at Shoreline Green Market on Sunday.</em></span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span style="font-size:12pt;">Dara Gyorko led the yoga class and was never distracted by the giggles, commentary, or photo-taking happening in the crowd. Of course, she too gets a kick out of the goats and got her own laughs by leading the class into "downward-facing goat" and having everyone end the class by saying "naa-aaa-maste." </span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960918701,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960918701,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" width="750" alt="7960918701?profile=original" /></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Kendall Angling, of West Palm Beach, reaches out to pet Pixie while taking part in Goat Yoga.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:13.3333px;"><em>A participant reaches down to give Penny a quick pat on the back during Goat Yoga at the Shoreline Green Market on Sunday, December 15.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Willow tries to decide how to hop down off of Fred Thomas, of Boynton Beach, during Goat Yoga. </em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960918890,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960918890,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" width="750" alt="7960918890?profile=original" /></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:13.3333px;"><em>Willow makes an impressive leap off the back of one of the participants.</em></span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span style="font-size:12pt;">Doug Johnson, co-owner of Downward Goat, sprinkled Eureka palm leaves, a favorite treat of the goats, around the mats and on participants' backs as a way to entice the goats to be extra social. </span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Patrick Connelly, of North Palm Beach, takes a break from doing yoga to give Pixie some scratches, much to her delight. </em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960919667,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960919667,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" width="750" alt="7960919667?profile=original" /></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:13.3333px;"><em>Poppy and Pixie butt heads in the middle of class.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Willow enjoys some Eureka palm leaves on one of the yoga mats. </em></span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span style="font-size:12pt;">"We came for the goats but the yoga was good," said Melissa Young after the event was over.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span style="font-size:12pt;">Lindsay Wolfe added that the hooves of the goats, surprisingly, alleviated some of her usual lower back pain and said she would recommend the class to anybody.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960919694,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960919694,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" width="750" alt="7960919694?profile=original" /></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Korinne Johnson holds Pixie during a "time out" after butting heads with Poppy.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"> </span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:13.3333px;"><em>Michele George, of Boynton Beach, pats both Penny and Pixie while laying in Savasana pose at the end of the Goat Yoga class.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960920487,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960920487,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" width="750" alt="7960920487?profile=original" /></a></span></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><em>Michelle Roos, of Lantana, gets a good laugh after Poppy falls on top of her at the end of class.</em></p>
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<p class="p1"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span class="s1"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/LantanaGreenMarket/">Shoreline Green Market</a></span> hopes to have <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DownwardGoat/"><span class="s1">Downward Goat</span></a> back at the market sometime in March of 2020. Downward Goat does run classes at other places including out at their own farm. The classes are capped at 30 students and cost $30. Please check their <a href="https://www.downwardgoat.com/" target="_blank">website</a> for more information. </span></p></div>The Buzz about bees: Amateur hive keepers give life to a struggling species and receive insights into naturehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/the-buzz-about-bees-amateur-hive-keepers-give-life-to-a-strugglin2017-08-29T18:30:00.000Z2017-08-29T18:30:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960736660,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960736660,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960736660?profile=original" /></a></strong><em>Aaron Budney checks one of the hives he keeps at his mother’s home west of Lake Worth. <strong>Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Ron Hayes</strong><br /> <br /> Catnip bores them.They don’t chirp. Wouldn’t fetch a stick to save your life. And they sometimes kill.<br /> Why in the world would anyone want to keep bees?<br /> “No, they’re not really a pet,” concedes Colleen Paul-Hus, who set up her first hive in the living room of the Gulf Stream home she shares with her husband, Rich, and four young children. “But you can learn from them. They give you an insight into nature. And we’re curious people.”<br /> She’s not alone. Last year, Bee Culture magazine estimated that the U.S. has about 120,000 amateur beekeepers, and the number is growing as a result of colony collapse disease. First identified in 2006, CCD is a phenomenon in which worker bees suddenly abandon a hive. Left without the bees that bring nectar and pollen to the queen bee and her babies, the hives die.<br /> Suspected culprits include parasites, insecticides and climate change, but whatever its cause, the damage has devastated the commercial bee industry.<br /> Between April 2014 and April 2015, about 42 percent of domestic honeybee colonies died, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture — an 8 percent jump from the year before.<br /> “Colony collapse disease has brought an increase in backyard beekeepers because it made news,” says Lee Wisnioski, vice president of the Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association. “People heard nearly half the hives were dying and felt this was something they could do to help.”<br /> Established in 1974, the local group has more than 200 members, Wisnioski said, of whom about 180 are hobbyists with just a few hives in the backyard.<br /> Beekeeping is legal throughout Florida, he added, except that communities governed by homeowners associations may forbid them. However, all hives must be registered, and a modest annual fee paid, based on the number of hives. For backyard beekeepers with fewer than five hives, the fee is only $10.<br /> “I’m fearful of the bees going into decline,” Paul-Hus agreed, “and I felt this would be a safe haven for them and a learning experience for the children.” <br /> Paul-Hus, raised on a farm in Ohio, has made her home on North Ocean Boulevard a testament to the family’s love of flora and fauna. The garden grows tomatoes and potatoes, cucumbers and spinach, oranges, tangerines, parsley, rosemary and thyme. The family has a very large, very friendly silver Lab named Sandy, and once kept Japanese fighting fish until someone put too much food in the tank and the fish succumbed.<br /> “And we had nine or 10 chickens,” she reveals, “but you needed a permit for the coop and we had to get rid of them.”<br /> And so, two years ago, she added a beehive.<br /> In the living room.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960736677,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960736677,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960736677?profile=original" /></a><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960736866,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960736866,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960736866?profile=original" /></a><em>Beekeeper Colleen Paul-Hus and her son Max wear suits and veils for safety while checking the family’s backyard hives in Gulf Stream. Max says he has yet to be stung. They keep an observation hive in the living room of her Gulf Stream house. Bees enter and exit via a small passage leading from the honeycomb to the world outside.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><br /> • • •</p>
<p><br /> “It’s called an observation hive,” she explains.<br /> Imagine a box about 2.5 by 1.5 feet square and perhaps 3 inches deep, with a glass front. This transparent box, which can hold up to six honeycomb frames, is attached to the wall, with a small passage leading from the honeycomb to the world outside, so worker bees can come and go.<br /> Whereas other families watch TV or a crackling fire, the Paul-Huses can watch their bees make honey, without fear of being stung.<br /> “That observation hive makes a lot of people want to keep bees,” she says.<br /> In June, she added an outside hive capable of holding up to 30 honeycomb frames.<br /> “I’m the only one except my dad who hasn’t been stung,” boasts Max Paul-Hus, 8, who helps his mother tend the hive. “At first I was afraid but now it’s fun.” He dips his finger in a bowl of the very honey he helped harvest. “There’s nothing I don’t like about it.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><br /> • • •</p>
<p><br /> Aaron Budney found his first hive in a discarded orange traffic cone on the vacant lot beside Briny Breezes Boulevard.<br /> “I was interested in getting involved with nature,” he says, “and my mother was interested in getting a tax deduction.”<br /> Budney, 21, who lives in the County Pocket, contacted the PBC Beekeepers Association, which provided a mentor to help him extract the hive and start a hobby.<br /> Today he keeps two thriving hives behind his mother’s house in the agricultural area west of Lake Worth, where they qualify for the deduction.<br /> “I’m a novice beekeeper,” he says. “I haven’t had a honey harvest yet, but I’m fascinated by the whole process of caring for and observing them. There’s so much more to it than just the honey.”<br /> On a sweltering Thursday afternoon, Budney donned the beekeeper’s traditional garb — white hood and veil, shirt, pants and gloves — and began inspecting the hives while his mother watched from a distance.<br /> As he worked, Budney grasped a hand-held smoker, a small can filled with burning pine needles. Bees sting when they feel threatened, and the sting releases a pheromone that brings other bees in a swarm. The burning pine keeps other bees from smelling that first release of pheromone and swarming.<br /> “When you’re stung, it’s a sudden, sharp pain, and then it radiates like a hot needle and swells for about an hour,” Budney said. “And then it itches for a couple of days.”<br /> Budney has been stung five or six times, but never attracted a swarm.<br /> On June 21 in Boca Raton, a beloved family dog named Delilah wasn’t so lucky.</p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960736694,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960736694,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960736694?profile=original" /></a><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960737076,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960737076,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960737076?profile=original" /></a><em>Nancy Palilonis checks on beehives at her home in Delray Beach. Her father and uncle got her involved in beekeeping when she was 7</em></p>
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<p style="text-align:left;"><br /> The 7-year-old rottweiler mix died after being swarmed in the backyard of Debbie Leonard’s home near Mizner Park.<br /> When Delilah took refuge in the garage, Leonard’s teenage children were able to reach her. The family veterinarian removed nearly 60 stingers from her body, but she’d gone into toxic shock and, despite repeated antibiotics, had to be put down.<br /> At first, experts from the state Department of Agriculture speculated that Delilah may have been killed by a colony of feral “Africanized” bees found on a nearby tree. Imported from South America in the 1950s, the subspecies is more aggressive than Florida’s common, Europeanized honeybees.<br /> However, after testing bees from a nearby hive, the experts determined the dog was killed by the more common species.<br /> Apparently a honeycomb had blown away from a hive in a nearby tree and landed in Leonard’s yard. The dog was attacked when she came to investigate.<br /> Bee attacks are rare, but any time a hive is threatened, the bees will become aggressive, no matter the species.<br /> According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 90-100 people are killed in this country every year as a result of allergic reactions to the stings of bees, hornets and wasps, making bees the second-most deadly animal in the United States — after human beings. But that’s out of the many thousands stung by bees each year.<br /> “Lightning is a much greater danger than bees in Florida,” the beekeepers association’s Wisnioski says. “Walking quickly is what we teach. Get inside a car, a house. You do not stand there and swat at them.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><br /> • • •</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><br /> “I didn’t pick this hobby,” Nancy Palilonis says. “The bees picked me.”<br /> When she was growing up in Binghamton, N.Y., in the 1950s, her father and uncle bought some beekeeping equipment for $20.<br /> “We got enough honey to take care of three families,” she remembers. “And when I turned 7 my father said, ‘You’re old enough to help now.’ It was a family process to harvest the honey.”<br /> In 2009, Palilonis bought a home off Lindell Boulevard in Delray Beach and found bees had invaded the garage wall. An extractor from the PBC Beekeepers Association who removed the hive encouraged Palilonis to renew her childhood friendship with bees.<br /> Today, she keeps three hives, three smaller “starter hives” and volunteers as a mentor with the association.<br /> “It’s work,” she says, sweating behind her hood, veil and long-sleeved coat. “But I enjoy the social element, interacting with other beekeepers and introducing people to it.”<br /> Her hives yield about 20 pounds per hive a year, which she harvests through a strainer placed atop a 5-gallon bucket. The honey drips from the frame to the bucket, and she stores the remaining wax in her freezer, to be melted down someday.<br /> “I’ve bought a candle mold,” she says.<br /> She’d like more hives — a few more, anyway — but hesitates to name a number.<br /> “I’d have to think about that,” she says.<br /> It’s not for fear her neighbors might complain.<br /> “I give my neighbors honey,” she says.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><br /> • • •</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><br /> The first time Colleen Paul-Hus and her children harvested the hive, they came away with about 3 pounds of honey, which gave them seven Mason jars full and a huge sense of sweet satisfaction.<br /> “It’s like getting your first egg from a chicken,” she says.<br /> And that’s why people want to keep bees.<br /> The stinger stings. But the honey’s sweet. <br /> <br /> <em>For more information, contact the Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association at 206-4483 or visit <a href="http://www.palmbeachbeekeepers.com">www.palmbeachbeekeepers.com</a>.</em></p></div>On the Water: Courses help dormant divers refresh scuba skillshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/courses-help-dormant-divers-refresh-scuba-skills2017-07-31T21:00:00.000Z2017-07-31T21:00:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960732499,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960732499,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960732499?profile=original" /></a><em>Diving student Seth Butcher, foreground, practices buoyancy control during a scuba diving class held on the bottom of the pool at Pompey Park Recreation Center in Delray Beach. <strong>Willie Howard/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p>Even if you live near the ocean in South Florida and you’re a certified scuba diver, diving might not be something you do regularly.<br /> I was certified in the late 1970s — but truth be known, I haven’t logged that many dives, especially in recent years. <br /> I wanted to start diving again this summer. But it had been three years since I’d strapped on a scuba tank, so I decided to take an in-the-pool refresher course offered by the Boynton Beach Dive Center.<br /> My pool class cost $99. The dive center also offers a pool refresher class plus two open-water dives for $199.<br /> To begin my training, I lugged my tank and dive gear up the steps to the pool deck at Pompey Park Recreation Center in Delray Beach, where I met instructor Bill Utterback and other students on a hot July afternoon.<br /> I managed to remember how to assemble my tank, buoyancy compensator and regulator. <br /> Once our gear was ready, we filled our buoyancy control devices, or BCDs, high-tech swim bladders that can be inflated using air pressure from the tank. We set our tanks and packs into the pool, where they floated while we donned our masks, snorkels and fins.<br /> Utterback showed us an easy way to slip on fins by crossing a foot over a knee to slip on one fin, then the other. <br /> After entering the pool, we worked our way into our BCD packs, fastened the clips, snugged the shoulder straps and added anti-fog solution to our masks.<br /> We released air from our BCDs and sank below the surface to practice a skill at the heart of scuba diving — buoyancy control.<br /> As instructed, we adjusted the amount of air in our BCDs until we each rose slowly from the bottom when we took a breath, then sank when we exhaled. <br /> Our group practiced several essential skills in the pool, including recovering a lost regulator (the mouthpiece from which a diver draws air), equalizing the pressure in our ears, clearing flooded masks, removing and putting on tank packs underwater and two methods for towing an incapacitated diver through the water.<br /> Utterback taught me a trick I had forgotten or never learned — how to breathe from a free-flowing regulator, or a scuba mouthpiece spewing out air instead of delivering it on demand as it should. <br /> Toward the end of the refresher class, I went to the deep end of the pool with Utterback to practice sharing air with another diver, hovering below the surface during a safety stop and an emergency ascent to the surface.<br /> After the pool class ended, I felt more confident with my re-learned skills and ready to dive in the ocean.<br /> Keeping dive skills fresh is important not only for safety but for the enjoyment of the dive — both for the diver and for those diving around him or her.<br /> Capt. Tony Coulter of Boca Raton, who operates the dive boat Diversity, said it’s painfully obvious when divers show up who haven’t been diving for a while. Their gear might not fit properly, or they often have trouble controlling their buoyancy.<br /> Coulter, who has been working in the dive charter business since the late 1970s, said divers who want to get back in the water after a hiatus should at least hire a dive master to accompany them on a dive to refresh their skills.<br /> The dive training organization PADI offers its divers the online Reactivate program ($59.95) that uses video scenarios to refresh divers’ knowledge. <br /> Divers who complete the online course can add an in-the-water refresher course and receive a replacement certification card with a reactivated date.<br /> PADI says reactivation is not required to maintain a certification card but is recommended for those who haven’t been diving in a while.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960732898,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960732898,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960732898?profile=original" /></a><em>The Lantana-based Bait Me fishing team of Pat Gregorchik, left, his son Ian and his brother Mike hold the 52.9-pound wahoo that won heaviest fish in the June 24 Lake Worth Fishing Tournament based at Palm Beach Yacht Center. Ian Gregorchik caught the wahoo on a spinning rod holding a cedar plug in 350 feet of water north of Boynton Inlet. <strong>Photo provided/Leonard Bryant Photography</strong></em></p>
<p><br /> <strong>Lake Worth Fishing Tournament winners</strong><br /> Pat Gregorchik, of Lantana, was fishing with his son Ian and brother Mike in the June 24 Lake Worth Fishing Tournament when something unusual happened.<br /> A strong fish hit a cedar plug while Ian Gregorchik was reeling it in after trolling it behind his family’s 23-foot boat, Bait Me.<br /> After a 10-minute fight in the waters off Lantana Beach, Ian Gregorchik brought to the boat a 52.9-pound wahoo — the heaviest fish of the 58-boat tournament.<br /> Commonly trolled for tuna, the plain-looking cedar plug is not a traditional wahoo lure. <br /> Another outstanding catch in the Lake Worth tournament: Capt. Matt Liskay’s 48.2-pound dolphin (mahi mahi), caught trolling a bonito strip behind a black-and-red skirt in 450 feet off Mar-a-Lago aboard Liskay’s boat, Born-N-Raised.<br /> <br /> <strong>Surfrider Foundation campaign</strong><br /> Surfer and technology entrepreneur Jeff Max is leading a campaign to help the Surfrider Foundation raise $100,000 by Labor Day.<br /> In a short video on Spotfund (<a href="http://www.spot.fund/surfrider">www.spot.fund/surfrider</a>) Max lists threats to the health of the oceans, including global warming, overfishing, plastic pollution and oil drilling. <br /> Donations to Surfrider can be made through the Spotfund site. As of mid July, Max’s campaign had raised slightly more than $5,000.<br /> Founded in 1984, the Surfrider Foundation organizes networks of everyday citizens to promote the preservation and enjoyment of the world’s oceans and beaches. <br /> The San Clemente, Calif.-based nonprofit has 84 chapters, including one in Palm Beach County.<br /> <br /> <strong>Florida reef survey</strong><br /> NOAA and partners are conducting a survey to better assess the economic importance of Florida’s coral reefs.<br /> Anyone who has been diving or snorkeling in Florida in the past year is being asked to complete the short online survey.<br /> The survey can be found at <a href="http://www.floridareef">www.floridareef</a> expendituresurvey.com. <br /> <br /> <br /> <strong>Boating security zones near Mar-a-Lago</strong><br /> The Coast Guard is considering whether to make permanent three boating security zones put in place when President Donald Trump visits Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach estate.<br /> The Coast Guard accepted public comments on the plan through July 20. After responding to each comment, the Coast Guard will publish the final rule in the Federal Register.<br /> The three Mar-a-Lago boating security zones used since early 2017 are:<br /> Zone 1: A section of the Lake Worth Lagoon immediately west of Mar-a-Lago extending about halfway across the waterway from the southern tip of Everglades Island to 1,000 yards south of Southern Boulevard. Entry by boat is prohibited. <br /> Zone 2: The western side of the lagoon west of Zone 1. Boaters moving through this zone must maintain a steady speed and not stop (unless they must wait for the drawbridge).<br /> Zone 3: Extends 1,000 yards off the beach from Banyan Road south to Ocean View Road. As in Zone 2, boaters moving through this ocean zone should maintain a steady speed and avoid stopping.<br /> If the boating security zone regulations become permanent, they would apply when Trump, the first lady or anyone else protected by the Secret Service visits Mar-a-Lago.<br /> To read comments on the proposed security zones, go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. Search for the document labeled “USCG-2017-0016.”<br /> <br /> <strong>Coming events</strong><br /> Aug. 5: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the headquarters building at Spanish River Park, 3939 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Fee $35 for adults or $20 ages 12 to 19. Register at the door. Bring lunch. Call 391-3600 or email fso-pe@cgauxboca.org.<br /> Aug. 5: Full moon wahoo tournament, the last of three summer wahoo fishing tournaments organized by the West Palm Beach Fishing Club. Entry fee $60 per team. Each team must have at least one West Palm Beach Fishing Club member. Call 832-6780 or visit <a href="http://www.westpalmbeachfishingclub.org">www.westpalmbeachfishingclub.org</a>.<br /> Aug. 12: Mark Gerretson Memorial Fishing Tournament for kingfish, dolphin and wahoo. Captain’s meeting 6 p.m. Aug. 10 at Hurricane Bar & Lounge, 640 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach. Weigh-in at Boynton Harbor Marina. Entry fee $225 per boat. Call 927-8092 or visit <a href="http://www.mgmft.net">www.mgmft.net</a>.<br /> Aug. 12: Palm Beach County Lionfish Derby. Final registration and captain’s meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 11 at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach. Lionfish collection Aug. 12, followed by scoring and awards Aug. 13. Entry fee $120 per team. Contact REEF at 305-852-0030 or <a href="http://www.reef.org">www.reef.org</a>.<br /> Aug. 26: Fish for Disabled Vets KDW tournament for kingfish, dolphin and wahoo. Captain’s meeting 5 p.m. Aug. 24 at Lakeside Anchor Inn in Lantana. Weigh-in at Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park in Boynton Beach. Entry fee $225 through Aug. 23 or $250 at captain’s meeting. Details at <a href="http://www.disabledvetskdw.com">www.disabledvetskdw.com</a>.<br /> Aug. 26: Boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the classroom building next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee $20. Discounts for ages 14 to 18 and for family groups. Register at the door. Call 704-7440.<br /> <br /> <strong>Tip of the month</strong><br /> Fishing for bottom fish such as snapper and grouper during this summer? <br /> Carry a venting tool that can be used to allow fish to return to deep water after their swim bladders have inflated on the ascent to the surface.<br /> Fish brought up from depths of more than 30 feet often have distended swim bladders, which causes their stomachs to turn inside out and show inside their mouths.<br /> Don’t puncture the distended stomach. Instead, use a venting tool (small, hollow needle) to puncture the fish’s body near the tip of the pectoral fin. After you hear the swim bladder gas escape through the venting needle, gently release the fish. <br /> Small, narrow-bodied fish such as porgies, grunts and many snappers often do better when returned to the water as soon as possible without venting. Find a two-minute video on fish venting at <a href="http://www.flseagrant.org/fisheries/venting/">www.flseagrant.org/fisheries/venting/</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Willie Howard is a freelance writer and licensed boat captain. Reach him at tiowillie@bellsouth.net.</em></p></div>