Herb 'n Garden

TO POT OR NOT TO POT

by Sue Baltes

Spring found me dragging out my fifty year old Phildendron bipinnatifidum (commonly know as Selloum), Sally, out to the porch. You can’t have a plant for fifty years and not give it a name, right? And since all of our names start with “S (Steve, Sue, Stephanie, and Sammie Joe) Sally seemed to fit. I didn’t grow up in a household with plants but I do remember a sweet potato vine rooting in the kitchen window of our cotton mill village three-room house.

When Steve and I married I saw this little six-inch potted plant on the markdown table at a K-Mart and it seemed to speak to me saying “I want you to take me home and help me grow”. So Sally move in with us and has been part of our home and life for over half a century. She’s never disappointed

us and has grown into a magnificent house plant. She started out in Stone Mountain Georgia and has moved to Gadsden Alabama, Jackson Michigan, back to Gadsden and finally to Asheboro about thirty-two years ago. Even here in Asheboro she has had nine different residences thanks to Vickie Gallimore, our real estate agent. Sally now resides with us on Sunset Avenue where she spends her winters in a nice warm sun room and her summers being happy on her large wrap-around front porch where she will stay until October. Sally is watered almost daily and fertilized most weeks. So why do I water her so often? Because she is all “root bound” and needs the water. Now comes the reason for the article’s title, to pot or not to pot. Sally happens to be happy growing in the same pot she has called home for many years and thrives. Remember she started out in a six-inch pot, and was later stepped up to an eight-inch, and then she moved to the sixteen-incher she is in now. I’m sure she has outgrown that pot, but to keep her manageable for her time inside and still enjoy the outside I do something called root-pruning. To do this I pop her out of her growing pot and remove some of the bottom and side root shoots, and she is ready for another year of growth and filling our home with her happy green plant-y-ness. A mistake so many people make when purchasing an indoor house plant is re-potting it too soon. A plant

bought in a plastic grow pot can be killed by replanting too soon or re-potting into a pot too large for the roots. I spend fifteen years working as an interior plant technician, and when I went into offices to take care of their interior plantings and gardens. The idea of maintaining the plants to the proportion of the interior space by using this method and not actually repotting the plants. When you see a Ficus tree or a corn plant sitting in a corner of an office they can survive for years in those same pots. My niece Tammy, who lives in Atlanta, mentioned to me she would take her favorite rubber plant and repot into larger pots thinking it would make it grow larger, but instead it died because she gave it so much soil it never adjusted to that larger pot. I’ve been growing a birds-nest fern in a six-inch pot for several years now and recently noticed its first brown leaf. So when I lifted

it out of that pot and realized it needed a larger one so it will be moved into an eight-inch pot. That should keep it happy for several years – when you do re-pot just go up one size. Don’t take a plant from a four inch pot into an eight or ten inch pot thinking it would save time later. Actually it doesn’t need to be done very often at all so don’t let that worry you. Just keep in mind that most house plants can grow in the same container for years. So, before you go and repot one of your indoor houseplants make sure that it needs to be repotted, and then only step it up to the next size container. Your house plants will reward you with many years of joy!

Sue Baltes is the owner of Herb 'n Garden shop on the corner of Academy Street and Bicentennial Park. The shop is open Tuesday through Saturday from 1 to 5 pm.

COMMUNITY NEWS

NEW COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY CERTIFICATE PROGRAM STARTS THIS SUMMER AT RCC

Are you an X-ray Technician who would like to add another skill to your resumé? Randolph Community College is starting a Computed Tomography (CT) certificate program this summer, starting May 24. CT uses x-rays, which are then processed by a computer to create cross sectional images of a patient’s body. The process is used in both emergency and outpatient procedures.

RCC will have two, eight-week classes online with a combination of prerecorded lessons and live, virtual faceto-face sessions. Clinicals will occur after completion of the two classes. The clinical is approximately 30 hours per week for eight weeks to help meet the AART requirement of 125 competencies. Students who are able to earn their competencies with their employer may be eligible for a different schedule.

Interested students must: • Have graduated or be preparing to graduate from a JRCERT-accredited program; • Hold American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT), and/or Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board (NMTCB), and/or the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS); • Submit two letters of recommendation to Director of Student Success Counseling Rebekah Kingston at rbkingston@randolph.edu — one from a direct supervisor and the other from any professional reference; • Attend an information session (contact Radiography Department Head Anna Phillips at anphillips@randolph.edu for dates and times); • Plan to submit a medical form, immunizations, and complete a background check and drug screen at their own expense; • Plan to attend an orientation session for the program.

Students are admitted based on critical availability, and admission is first come, first served.

Interested students can complete a residency determination and the free RCC application at https:// www.randolph.edu/apply-now.html. Indicate the “Computed Tomography” program as your major. A complete financial aid application can be found at https://www.randolph.edu/financial-aid.html. Students are encouraged to complete the financial aid application even if they do not think they will qualify as the College will use this application when considering scholarship applicants.

TRAINING DAY – A group of dogs meet at Bicentennial Park, in Asheboro, for an afternoon of training. There are more than two dozen dogs and their owners who get together regularly to work on commands and responses. (contributed)

TWO ASHEBORO GROUPS PROVIDE TRAINING FOR SERVICE AND THERAPY DOGS Story by Greta Lint

Can someone really start a $50,000 job with a high school diploma or GED and a two-year degree from a community college? Yes, they can - and they do.

Dogs can find missing people, illegal drugs and provide protection. They can also be trained to comfort patients, warn someone when their sugar is too high or help a person who cannot hear.

In Asheboro, there are two organizations that train dogs and owners, or handlers. Dogs on Duty works with service dogs and military veterans, while Fur the Hearts works with civilians and people needing comfort and assistance with therapy dogs.

Emily Dawn Hicks works with Fur the Hearts and Beth Angel manages Dogs on Duty. A former US Air Force military working dog handler, Angel has been a professional dog trainer for more than 35 years.

Both groups stress that legal service dogs have gone through hundreds of hours of training. They are a working dog. Registering your pooch and buying a vest online does not make a dog a service dog. In fact, you are breaking the law. North Carolina General Statute 1684.2-4.3 and other state laws clearly outline that dogs must either be in training or be trained in order to be called or used as service animals. And, according to the American Disabilities Act, therapy and service dogs are not the same.

Hicks and Angel need service dogs to help them manage and cope with life. For example, Roxy, a beautiful golden retriever, helps Hicks with her Stickler Syndrome and Dysautonomia. Stickler Syndrome is a connective tissue disorder and Dysautonomia is a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. At times, she also has difficulty seeing. Angel’s dog is Mongo Sidekick and helps her with military-related issues.

“Roxy alerts me when my heart rate is too high or low so I can prevent myself from passing out,” Hicks explained. Dogs like Roxy can be trained to pick up the smell of a person’s breath, which may indicate that a person’s sugar is too high or too low. They can detect if a person’s heart is giving issues or if the handler is suffering from a panic attack.

Roxy also comforts patients at Randolph Health and the Randolph Cancer Center. She visits patients periodically to make them smile, eliminate their angst and give them something soft to touch.

But then there are times when you should not touch a dog. When service dogs are working, they are focused upon their handler. If they become distracted, they can become dangerous and turn on their owner, the one who needs them the most.

The website, www.furtheheartsd.org, is a good place to find out how to act around a service dog. Some key no-no’s are to stare at a dog or take photos without permission. These actions can make the handler a bit nervous and can trigger someone with a psychiatric disability, causing them to go into an episode. So you have to think how your actions will affect the dog – and the handler. The dog can turn on the handler – the very person who needs the dog.

The best thing to do with a service dog is give it space. Talk with the handler, not the dog. Don’t stare. Don’t pet. Don’t bark. Don’t try to distract the dog.

In Randolph County, many disabled people need help. Dogs can help people walk up and down stairs, cross a street or walk through a crowd. Hicks says she is seeking volunteers to help her train the dogs and handlers.

The need is so great here that a support group has been formed for therapy and service dogs and their handlers.

SIT! – Mongo Sidekick isn’t just a beautiful dog, but is also a big help to Beth Angel, a former dog trainer for the US Air Force. (contributed)

WEAVING – This is a particular training exercise where flags, waving in the wind, are used to help desensitize dogs to sudden movements. The poles are called “weave polls” because the dogs weave in and out of them. Dogs, and owners, learn how to maneuver through a tight area, like a grocery store, where aisles and shelves are too close together for persons with disabilities. (contributed)

ON GUARD! – Trained dogs provide a safety net for their owners. Here, this dog is offering protection while the handler, or owner, gets some exercise. (contributed)

SMILING DOG, SMILING PATIENT – This yellow Labrador retriever, Roxy, helps patients at the Randolph Cancer Center. She is guaranteed to put a smile on patients’ faces and enjoys being petted. She helps patients who are receiving a variety of treatment. She also helps her owner, Emily Dawn Hicks, who copes with a number of disabling issues daily. One cancer patient called her a “ rock star.” (Greta Lint)

They typically meet in a park where dogs had space to work. If you have a dog and would like to participate, you can. But, rules mandate that your dog is groomed, in good health and that the shots are all current.

To learn more about joining the group, volunteering or getting a service or therapy dog, contact Hicks at (336) 736-5601 or email furtheheartsd@gmail.com. Angel can be reached at (863) 241-4740 or email alloverrovernc@ gmail.com

FEATURE

Busta Brown, DJ on WZOO Radio

Wayne Rowe and Busta Brown team up for 13th Annual Gala for the Children

Randolph Partnership for Children (RPC) will be hosting its 13th Gala for the Children fundraiser and benefit auction on Saturday, August 21. The IF YOU GIVE 2021 Gala for the Children blends the best parts of its historical formal dinner and silent auction with the broad reach of last year’s virtual event created in response to the pandemic.

RPC’s Gala for the Children chairpersons, Nicki and Brian Hill, are pleased to announce Wayne Rowe, RPC Board Treasurer, will be serving as emcee for the 2021 event. For the past six years, Wayne has served in the position of Senior Vice President, Office Leader for Pinnacle Financial Partners. He’s been with the company for 14 years.

Wayne has been involved with RPC since 2014. He credits RPC’s reputation in the community as the reason he began volunteering with the agency. “I admire their mission to support the children, child care facilities, schools, and families in our community to ensure children and families have access to quality resources,” Wayne said.

The IF YOU GIVE 2021 Gala for the Children will be his first opportunity to be an emcee for a community