DEAR SUN SPOTS: The Androscoggin Historical Society now reaches out for help from you and your readers. We urgently need new members on our Board of Directors. Because our staff person has very limited hours, we rely on board members and other volunteers to help manage our finances, our collections, our programs and our public relations.

You do NOT need to be an expert on local history. All that is needed is an interest in an organization that preserves and educates about the history of Androscoggin County. All sorts of skills and backgrounds are needed: business, computing, writing, carpentry, filing, teaching and others.

If the society is to continue to provide services to historians, genealogists, home and business owners, news media and others in the community, we must spread the work in keeping the organization functioning.

To apply for membership on the board or for more information, please contact me at 207-782-3072 or dhodgkin@bates.edu. Thanks. — Doug Hodgkin

ANSWER: The society has been very helpful to Sun Spots and her readers, as the next writer notes.

DEAR SUN SPOTS: I just wanted to say thank you for printing the answers (June 10, 18) to my May 15 question about the so-called potato trains.

I think that the two gentlemen who wrote in replies probably are more right than any other information that I had. I think Mr. Hodgkin’s answer is the nearest.

It did get my sister-in-law thinking, so maybe she can find out more from members of her family.

My only question now is, why would the Bubier family be singled out if there were others who went up there? I don’t expect any answer. — Charlotte via email

ANSWER: Perhaps someone will answer anyway!

DEAR SUN SPOTS: In the June 26 column you advised No Name from Dixfield to shop at Amazon for a foam pad (30 by 74 by 2 inches) for a cot, which they sold for $47.

On the next page of the paper Mardens had an advertisement for 4-inch foam pads, 30 by 76 inches for $25. So she could shop locally and get a thicker pad for half the price! Such a win-win! — Donna Childs, Wales, dgchilds@aol.com

ANSWER: Thank you for writing and letting Sun Spots know about the deal at Mardens. Unfortunately, it is impossible for her to keep track of all the things available locally, especially at places such as Mardens and Reny’s, which sell a large variety of rapidly changing items and often don’t advertise online.

Even if they advertise in the Sun Journal, Sun Spots does not see the ads until they appear in the paper, just like any other reader. So she is very grateful when readers help her track down odd items.

By the way, Sun Spots would have run Donna’s letter sooner, but it went astray — to sun-spots@sunjournal.com. There is no hyphen in “sunspots” or “sunjournal” in the email address, but sometimes when it is printed in the newspaper it ends up that way because the computer software justifies the text.

DEAR SUN SPOTS: Please help me to find the owner of a set of keys found on the corner of Plains Road and Thorofare Road in Litchfield. Thank you for all you do. — Anita, anitastg@hotmail.com, 207-784-1290

 ANSWER: Last year Sun Spots lost a single car key and went to the grocery store to see if someone had turned it in. She was astounded when the clerk pulled out a huge box full of keys, many with multiple keys or rings, that no one had ever claimed. (Hers, alas, was not one of them.) So don’t be surprised if no one calls!

GOOD DAY, SUN SPOTS! You have always been a help in the past, and I am sure today shall be no different.

I am in the process of setting up a Children’s Museum of Natural Science here in Lewiston, and I still have work to do. 

I am looking for anyone who might have any houseplants that are getting too large for their homes and would like to donate the plants to the future museum?

We have a large open space with plenty of natural bright light and feel this would be a nice and natural decor for the environment we are creating. Any help would be greatly appreciated. — Drew Desjardins, mr.drewsanimals2@yahoo.com, 207-576-1034

This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Please include your phone number. Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can also be emailed to sunspots@sunjournal.com.

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