My sainted mother used to threaten to wash my mouth out with soap if I used certain words – four-letter words used to describe bodily functions and other once-taboo subjects. These words seem to be almost commonplace today, in person and in print.

Well, in honor or the temperature rising north of 50 degrees, I would like to add a few words to add to her list of forbidden utterances.

At the top of the list is a word once rarely used – cancer. This year, this devil paid a visit to friends and colleagues.

I know our universities, hospitals, and drug companies are working to find the cause and cure of the various ailments we lump under the word cancer, and I know former vice president Joe Biden is heading an effort to coordinate some of the research efforts.

But, if I was walking along the shore at Ocean Point and spotted a bottle containing a genie, I would give up two of the three wishes if he/she could magically provide a cure for cancer. Nuff said on that topic.

As for other words that should be added to the list of “bad words” please consider “Arctic Blast,” “Alberta Clipper,” “Nor’easter,” “Storm Center” and my all time favorite: “snow shovel.”

While I like getting outside after a new snowstorm, and don’t mind exercise, my back has a different take on it. This winter, I did learn a little snow shoveling trick. Small shovels are better than big ones. Taking a smaller bite at the snow pile saves the back, and only adds a few minutes to the length of the overall chore. In true Boothbay fashion, I found my small grain shovel at the dump.

Yes, Grasshopper, this past winter did me, and a lot of us, in.

On the good side, we became pals with good books, watched the utility bills inch skyward, became acquainted with jigsaw puzzles and visited with friends.

For me, and my once youthful pals known as “The Walkers,” we were able to continue our five-year-long string of trudging through the woods at the Boothbay Region Land Trust’s Penny Lake Preserve. Five days a week, Monday through Friday, cold and snow be damned, we walked for nearly two miles along the trails. Yes, we had to use snowshoes on a few days, yes, we wore “creepers” attached to our boots to increase traction on the ice and yes, some of us “Old Guys” did do face plants in the cold, wet stuff.

And no, we did not walk in the pouring rain. We are old, but not stupid, at least not yet.

Once again, hats off to our municipal road crews who performed with honor clearing our streets and roads.

I can attest the road crews were up way before dawn, scraping the roads so we could get to work, to school, to the store and the post office.

But, it always sort of nagged me that while they did a  fine job on the pavement when they would shove the ice and snow to the side of the road, their efforts also fashioned an icy barricade at the bottom of our driveways.

After seeing a video of a road grader with some sort of a movable barrier that kept the snow from clogging driveways, I mentioned it to Tom Woodin, the Boothbay Harbor town manager. He said he had seen it too and that it was pretty neat.

Is that something we might consider? I asked.

In reply, he asked me how much a road grader would cost. I guessed one might cost $250,000 and he said: “There is your answer.”

Despite my gripe, I must admit that when the winds blew and the snow fell, the town road crews did a great job, as did the local plow guys.

Without them, we would have been out of luck this winter.

Around the roundabout

For most of the winter, folks have been bugging me about the famous Boothbay roundabout on Route 27, across the street from the town hall.

They say it’s a mess and the entrance and exits are too bumpy and lumpy. “What were they thinking,” one wag asked.

Well, the answer, Grasshopper, is that it is not finished, although they say a long and warm fall season allowed them to work into early winter putting them well ahead of schedule.

Road-building folks tell me they stopped in the fall because it was too cold to pave. They put down the first coat of asphalt, so we could use the new road/roundabout over the winter. 

Boothbay Town Manager Dan Bryer says the Maine DOT and contractors are scheduled to begin the final paving and landscaping at the end of the month.

“They are going to do the sidewalks, curbing, landscaping, and improve the directional signs,” he said.