Heat deaths more than all other weather combined

U.S. government data shows heat-related deaths per year are more than the combined deaths from cold, tornado, hurricane, other wind events, flood, drowning due to ocean rip currents and lightning. 

Furthermore, while heat-related deaths officially reported as averaging around 1,200 per year, indirect estimates put the number as exceeding 10,000 per year. The discrepancy exists because autopsy reports that state cause of death as heat-related are much lower than the spike in total deaths during the heat wave versus the average for the same time of year without hot weather. In Chicago, mid-July 1995 saw temperatures above 100 degrees for five days. During that period, more than 700 deaths above average occured, and hundreds more were hospitalized and survived. Details are explained at a Wikipedia article titled "1995 Chicago Heat Wave."See also the general article titled "Heat wave."

People at risk are the elderly, infants, indoor workers at facilities without air conditioning, outdoor workers, outdoor athletes and hikers, and the homeless. Dehydration increases risk. In addition, evidence supports that use of methamphetamine puts people at higher risk.

The other weather-related deaths are dying from cold, hurricane, tornado, wind (not hurricane or tornado), flood, lightning or rip currents near ocean shoreline caused by storm-generated waves. Each of these, except in extraordinary years, cause fewer than 100 deaths per year. Furthermore, deaths from these causes are not trending up or down, whereas since 2015 the number of heat-related deaths per year have more than doubled. 

On a larger scale, according to the World Health Organization, between 2000 and 2019 there were approximately 500,000 heat-related deaths each year, with close to 80% of that total from Asia and Europe. Lack of air conditioning - also lack of electricity - combined with longer periods of extreme temperatures and inadequate medical care for heat stroke, contribute to these deaths. 

Wildfire smoke

Another under-estimated contribuion to premature deaths is wildfire. In the U.S. deaths directly attributed to wildfire, as distinguished from building fires, numbers in the single digits or teens for most years, with spikes when people are unable to escape when a wildfire sweeps into a residential area. However, indirect causes of death that can be attributed to wildfire smoke is an entirely different story. For people with existing respiratory, cardiovasuclar, kidney and other diseases, are at increased premature death risk when exposed to wildfire smoke. Even suicide rates increase! As with heat-related deaths, smoke-related deaths are under diagnosed and under reported. A recent study published by researchers at Yale University estimated that wildfire smoke-related deaths are at 30,000 per year. As with heat-related deaths, the elderly, outdoor workers and people who cannot afford indoor air filtration machinery are at greater risk.  

Wild Cucumber (Repeat)

 A version of this was first published in 2013 and very popular (tens of thousands of views)

Wild cucumber showing leaves, tendrils and flower spikes

Wild cucumber, also known as prickly cucumber or balsam apple, is a plant species native to North America but with the annoying habits of some invasive plants. It is a fast-growing annual vine propagated by seeds. This slender-stemmed vine can quickly blanket low plants or tendril its way 15-20 feet up trees.

During July and August the vines display white flowers, followed by the development of seed pods that superficially resemble a spiky cucumber approximately two inches in length. Once the seed pods mature they dry out and disperse from the bottom several large black seeds the size of pumpkin seeds. Wild cucumber dies with the first frosts of fall.

Wild cucumber pods open from the bottom and seeds fall

The Linnaean name, Echinocystis lobata, comes from Echino for spiny and cystis for bladder-like in appearance. Lobata refers to the shape of the leaves. Echinocystis is native to the central, eastern and northern states, up into Canada. It is not found in the southwest, but confusingly, there are distantly related plants in southern California that also go by the name wild cucumber.

The latter are in the family Marah, with several related species. These are all fast-growing vines with tendrils and seed pods that superficially resemble a spiky cucumber, but Marah are perennials not annuals, with each year's new growth sprouting from a huge tuberous root that can weigh more than 100 pounds.

In Maynard, there is currently a patch of wild cucumber near where the Rail Trail is parallel to High Street (a dead end street behind Jimmie's gas station). 

Winter leaves a mat of dead vines and dried pods

Although native to North America, Echinocystis lobata is in fact an invasive species in Europe, where it was first introduced as an ornamental garden plant (always the same sad story). This serves as a reminder that not all invasive species move from the Old World (Europe, Asia and Africa) toward the New World (the Americas). Poison ivy plagues England and parts of mainland Europe because back in the 1600s people thought it was pretty!

And not all invasive species are plants. Some of the most damaging to have made the crossing from North America to Europe are grey squirrels, raccoons, mink, and lobster. The mammal introductions were deliberate - either as pets or an attempt to develop locally grown animals for the fur trade. American lobsters may have been escapees from seawater holding pens for the food trade or deliberate releases by people who bought live lobsters air-shipped to Europe, and then found themselves unwilling to immerse their purchases in boiling water. 

The American bullfrog is considered one of the world's worst invasive species in Europe and elsewhere. Introduced as a food source (bullfrog farms), these frogs escaped into the wild where they out-complete native frogs by laying massive numbers of eggs and eating just about every living thing they can fit into their mouths (including native frogs).  

Trail of Flowers planting July 2024

Ronan Rafter (left) and other Scouts from Maynard Troop
#130 added to Trail of Flowers plantings on July 20, 2024

 On July 20, 2024, nine Boy Scouts from Maynard Scout Troop #130 volunteered to do a morning's worth of planting a mix of Weigela, Beauty Bush, Yucca and Forsythia along the Assabet River Rail Trail as part of the Trail of Flowers (www.trailofflowers.com) program. This was an Eagle Scout project coordinated by Ronan Rafter.

The site selected was a 20 yard section where the Trail is parallel to High Street. Earlier plantings adjacent to High Street include nine Kousa Dogwoods (2021) and three Dawn Redwoods (2024). Prior to the July 20th planting, the site was cleared of wild plants, include invasive species Multiflora Rose, Oriental Bittersweet and Garlic Mustard. 

Site before clearing

While the nursery-bought plants were modest in size, the Weigela should reach four to five feet tall and wide at maturity, and are expected to be blooming next spring. The one Forsythia should also bloom next spring, and reach 8-10 feet within five years. The three Beauty Bush will take several years before blooming and much longer to reach mature size, but after ten years are expected to be multi-trunked and more than ten feet tall and wide. All of these are considered drought-resistant after the first year, and not browsed by deer. The Weigela and Beauty Bush (but not the Forsythia) are considered pollinator friendly for a variety of pollinating insect species and hummingbirds. We will have to see what shows up as these plants mature. 

Site, planted

Trail of Flowers was started in the fall of 2018 as a volunteer organization under the umprella of Assabet River Rail Trail Inc (ARRT). TOF volunteers plant and maintain flowering bulbs, shrubs and trees in the four communities that have paved trail: Acton, Maynard, Hudson and Marlborough. The planned route of the Trail - 12.4 miles - has a four-mile gap in the center, in Stow and part of Hudson, that may never be completed. The crtitical issue is that part of the route in Stow is private property, and the owners are not interested in selling ot providing a pass-through. 

As of summer 2024, Trail of Flowers has raised (and spent) more than $10,000 from individual and corporate donations, plus grants and gifts from community Cultural Councils and garden clubs. Maynard Community Gardeners also donates unsold plants from their annual plant sales. (Three more yucca in transplant recovery mode were added to the site in the fall.) Volunteer efforts and funding are acknowledged on the TOF website. 

ONLY IN MAYNARD Coffee Mugs

Some 20 years ago it was possible to buy ONLY IN MAYNARD bumper stickers, T-shirts and sweatshirts at local stores and at Maynard Fest. The lettering was orange against a black background - Maynard's school colors. Then, for a while, the sole remnant of this endeavor was bumper stickers for sale at Russell's convenience store, next to Town Hall.

The bumper stickers had TM superscripted above the end of ONLY IN MAYNARD, signifying that an application had been filed for a trademark in 2003. This was a Massachusetts-only trademark. It lapsed, but a new Massachusetts trademark was issued in 2017 to a new holder. 

An agreement was reached with the trademark holder that the slogan could be affixed to coffee mugs. The mugs, black exterior, orange interior, the slogan in orange on the outside, are for sale at The Outdoor Store, Boston Bean House, Sugar Snap and other locations. All profits are channeled to an effort to beautify the Assabet River Rail Trail with flowering spring bulbs, summer-blooming perennials and flowering shrubs and trees. This “Trail of Flowers” effort, initiated in 2018, has resulted in the planting of thousands of daffodils, plus hundreds of tulips, daylilies, irises and other plants in Maynard, Marlborough and Acton, with plans to extend the plantings to the south section of trail in Hudson. See www.trailofflowers.com for program description and photos.

A bit of history: In the original form and subsequent incarnations, the words on ONLY IN MAYNARD products were deliberately printed so that the right side was noticeably higher than the left. Best guess is the wording was askew to convey that negative, rueful pride that only in Maynard could things (town things, school things, people things...) be so humorously incompetent or fouled up.

To counter the prevailing negative impression, a group of civic-minded citizens approached the Beacon-Villager newspaper back in 2005, to see if they could take turns writing a pro-Maynard column featuring the friendly and welcoming nature of this unique small town. The column lasted only a few months. An echo of that positive intent was conveyed in a 2008 article in the Beacon-Villager that read in part "A clever slogan, coined some few years ago, continues to describe our singular uniqueness, our melting pot citizenry and our basic values for the 'good life.' That slogan, ‘Only in Maynard,’ sets up the town as a special place where very special people do distinctive and exceptional things. This is especially true in the art of song and music as developed in our town."

An informal survey of people about town yielded both the negative and positive connotations, and also a third meaning - the concept of specialness. Only in Maynard can you see Santa Claus arriving by helicopter for the Christmas parade. Only in Maynard can you still find a local movie theater. Only in Maynard are the bars close enough together to have a pub crawl that might involve actual crawling (or at least walking) rather than driving.  

So, after all this debate, what does "Only in Maynard" really mean today? Whether it is only in this small town are people so warm, friendly and welcoming, or only here are things so ruefully, headshakingly messed up, or a comment on the unique nature of life in Maynard, my own opinion is that in comparison, ONLY IN ACTON or ONLY IN SUDBURY or ONLY IN STOW would make no sense whatsoever.

Maynard, MA Population 12,000?

Until after WWII, the population of Maynard was larger
than the populations of Acton, Stow and Sudbury combined 

The 2020 Federal census put Maynard's population at 10,746. That was before some 350+ housing units at the Maynard Crossing development were occupied, so a fair guess is that the population now exceeds 11,000. There is potential for further population growth. The MacDonald Corporation is nearing completion on a three-story apartment building on Main Street, between CVS and the Assabet River. The Town of Maynard put to a vote in May 2024 a proposal to sell the building at 61-63 Summer Street that from 2000 to 2022 was ArtSpace and Acme Theater ( and before that Fowler School). This could become a building conversion to apartments or condominiums, or a teardown followed by new building construction. See below for vote results.

Maynard is also proposing that owners of single-family dwelling properties be allowed to create a second dwelling unit on their property. As proposed, these can be an existing or new structure, attached to the main house or not, that will be a separate unit with its own entrance, electricity and plumbing. Size to be limited to 600 square feet. Renting cost to be limited to affordable housing rates set for Maynard and no short-term renting, as in like AirBNB, allowed.Initial term 90-days, and after that, either month-to-month or longer for the existing tenants. Neither the unit nor its parking may be between the existing house and the street. 

At the same Town Meeting, people are also being asked to vote on the Powder Mill [Route 62] Overlay District (PMOD) to create a minimum of 474 housing units in a high-density building complex - meaning a minimum of 15 units per acre. The proposal includes zoning for many types of retail establishments in addition to housing. The property in question is the former Stratus campus at 111 Powder Mill Road (occupant, before that Digital Equipment Corporation corporate headquarters), a 37 acre property located south (behind) Wendy's restaurant.

Collectively, all this means that the population of Maynard is expected to exceed 12,000 in the not too distant future. The question then, is whether this constrains Maynard's existing infrastructure. Maynard's water supply is local wells. First level water use restrictions are enacted every year, whether the aquifers are full or not, as a means of keeping the need for water restriction inthe public eye. Maynard also has rights to White Pond, Hudson, but to reactivate that would require a multimillion dollar multi-year project. 

Maynard starts water use restriction every year, on May 1st. Policy described at https://townofmaynard-ma.gov/256/Water-Restrictions  Page 13 of the state water status reports that as of April 11, 2024, no parts of the state are at any level of drought. (See https://www.mass.gov/doc/2024-april-hydrologic-conditions/download ). Maynard, as do many other towns and cities in Massachusetts, announce a water restriction starting in May regardless of the drought status.

TOWN MEETING RESULTS: https://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3019/Town-Meeting-Results-May-20-2024

ARTICLE 17 ARTSPACE BUILDING was passed: "To see if the town will vote to change the use of the property at 61-63 Summer Street (former Fowler School) from general municipal use to a property for sale and to authorize the Select Board to sell the property on the terms and conditions it deems appropriate and are in the best interest of the Town and to enter into any and all agreements to effectuate same."

ARTICLE: 18 PUBLIC SHADE TREES was passed: "To see if the Town will vote to Amend the Town By-laws by adopting a new Chapter 46, Public Shade Trees as follows." (lots of detail about tree managment on Town property)

ARTICLE: 27 ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS (ADUS) was passed:  "To see if the town will vote to amend the Town of Maynard Protective Zoning Bylaw as follows." (lots of detail on adding dwlling units to existing property)

ARTICLE: 28 OVERLAY DISTRICT AND MBTA COMMUNITIES was passed: "To see if the town will vote to amend the Town of Maynard Protective Zoning Bylaw as follows." (lots of detail on allowing hundreds of units of housing and also business zoning at Powder Mill Road site)