AT THE HARDWARE store, Ramon Fernandez and Darrell Chamberlain discussed bear hunting. Ramon said he'd just found out that he can't run as fast as a bear. He had run after one to see if it would climb a tree. Darrell had told him that running after one and barking like dog was a good way to tree a bear. Why would you want to tree a bear? Darrell said, "So you're in control of him; he's not in control of you."

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Last Saturday, the town bustled with the activity of residents preparing for winter. Lawns were piled with stuff being given away, trucks were loaded with stuff headed for the recycling/trash depot, windows, doors and roofs were being repaired. The hardware stores were busy. Soup was on sale at the market.

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Isn't it fascinating the creative ways that people find to make do when time or ability or money (or time and ability and money), prevent them from making repairs? One Northfielder has attached a vice grip to his broken door handle. Problem solved.

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At this house, three adults and two teens spent the morning sorting out stuff in the garage so I could get the car in come snowtime. We all complained there was too much stuff that needed to be moved, thrown out, recycled, or given away. In the afternoon, following a trip to town, I took a sweet, wood rocker with a pressed back from the "free" pile on a neighbor's lawn. "I thought you had too much stuff," grandson Benjamin said as he unloaded it. "Not enough rocker stuff for the porch," I replied. If it can be repaired, we'll use it a lot.

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Benjamin and his friend stayed overnight. They think it's pretty quiet here compared to their hometown, Burlington. Benjamin said, "It's not just the video games at home; it's a quicker lifestyle. Someone from Boston might come to Burlington and think it's so nice and relaxed." Walking across our little three-store mall, TJ looked around and complained, "There's no technology!"

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Dick Holt's sister, Gloria Maloney, wrote in to tell us, "Dick truly enjoys friend's visits. He looks forward to seeing you whenever it is warm enough to travel outside to the assisted living at Mayo here in Northfield. Friends can still reach him by his phone number in the book. Thanks for your caring ways to make his days pleasant; he truly appreciates it."

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According to the October menu, the School Nutrition Program for Northfield and Roxbury offers fresh or canned fruit and ice cold milk every day of the week. Every day, veggies are on the menu along with an entrée and "sandwich choices". For lunch, children pay 2.75; reduced .40. Adults pay 3.25. The menu for October 30, the day before Halloween, sounds frightening: Chicken OOOOOO's (chicken nugget with a hole in it) and Creepy Potato Smiles. We didn't know that either item was possible.

• What are you doing to prepare

for winter? commontalk@trans-video.net.