Calverton Column: Riley doings, worms and farm planting advice

I’m not a golfer, but when I have the time I love to watch golf on television. How about The Players tournament Sunday and the sudden-death overtime? It was awesome! It almost makes me want to play golf.

Field Day is fast approaching at Riley Avenue Elementary School, dates and times as follows: Tuesday, May 24, grade 2, 9 a.m.-11 a.m., kindergarten, 1-3 p.m.; Wednesday, May 25, first grade, 9-11 a.m., third grade, 1-3 p.m.; Friday, May 27, fourth grade, 9-11 a.m. Good luck to all of you!

School will be closed on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30.

The next Riley Avenue Parents Association meeting will be Tuesday, June 7, at 7:15 p.m. in the library. I think this is the last one for the year, so try to attend.

Mrs. Vengilio, a fourth-grade teacher at Riley, held a Mothers’ Tea last week at the school. I was told there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. The moms wrote poems about their children and it was a touching time for everyone.

The Pulaski Street Band will be visiting the fourth-graders at Riley in the near future to talk about which instruments they might play next year at the school. On June 2 the fourth-graders will visit Pulaski for orientation for September.

I received some bad news: Mrs. Dorman is retiring from Riley in June. She will be greatly missed. A retirement party in her honor will be held Wednesday, June 22, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Polish Hall. Tickets are $15 for adults; $6 for children ages 5-10. There will be finger food, pitchers of soda and water and a cash bar. For tickets send a check (made out to cash) to Dorman Party, P.O. Box 777, Aquebogue, NY 11931. Email Christine Santini at [email protected] for more information.

Congratulations to Lauren Kruger, who celebrated her birthday last week and also received her first Holy Communion. From your mom and dad, big sister, grandma and all your family and friends, we hope your days were really special.

Lets’ talk worms. Do you know why worms come out of the ground when it rains? No, they do not have a fear of drowning in their homes. They come out to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. Also, since they need to be kept moist to survive, they either need to surface when the ground is wet or at night when the ground is damper than it is in the heat of the day. Hence the name night crawlers.

The full moon of May has come and gone and according to the experts (us local farmers) it is now safe to plant everything. Of course there is an exception every now and then, but we are planting, so go for it.

I had a pretty sad week as I said goodbye to Mikie Bird, a cockatiel whom I baby-sat for a friend for 10 years. He was the man of the family. He was always full of energy and chirps, loved to sing and kiss and loved life. He was a wonderful little guy. I guess I had no idea he was so old, he just went to sleep. Being that he was a huge Jets fan, I buried him in my best Jets shirt. Mikie, I know you will be with me when we finally win the Super Bowl. I love you, silly bird.

Take care, be safe, bye.