Which Monks Take a Vow of Silence?

"Which monks take a vow of silence?" While we couldn't find the answer in our copy of “The Religions Book,” nor by looking under “monasticism” and “vow” in Merriam-Webster’s “Encyclopedia of World Religions,” searching online turned up a variety of resources.

As it turns out, the Christian monks most strongly associated with silence are the Trappists. However, according to www.trappists.org and www.ocso.org (OCSO stands for “Order of the Cisterians of the Strict Observance,” the less common name for the religious order to which Trappists belong), they never take an actual vow of silence. Rather, they take a vow of conversion, which is a promise to live the monastic way of life and also covers a promise to be celibate and to practice voluntary poverty. While there is a pervasive atmosphere of silence at a Trappist monastery, there are several circumstances where the monks will typically speak. According to www.ocso.org, “there are three reasons for speaking: functional communication at work or in community dialogues, spiritual exchange with one’s superiors or with a particular member of the community on different aspects of one’s personal life, and spontaneous conversation on special occasions.”

For more information, Jeremy Mesiano-Crookston wrote an article called “How Silence Works: Emailed Conversations With Four Trappist Monks." Also, Patrick Leigh Feymor’s “A Time to Keep Silence,” which includes a section about his stay at a Trappist monastery, is available through CLEVNET.

How Do You Find Out Who Owns a Business?

“How do you find out who owns a business?” While the most surefire way to find out is to call and ask, there are also a few other avenues you can try.

Some businesses may list the owner on their website. If you know that the business is based in Ohio, you can try the Business Search on the Ohio Secretary ofState website. This will bring up filing information, including the name of the person who filed the paperwork. In some cases, that will be the owner. However, if the company used a lawyer to do the filing instead, that’s the name that will come up.

Another option is to check the county auditor’s website. If you know where the business is located, you can search the website for their county and find out who owns the property. (The Trumbull County property search site is located at http://property.co.trumbull.oh.us/Search.aspx.) If they’re renting, however, that won’t be of much help.

Finally, you can try “Hoover’s Handbook of American Business” and “Hoover’s Masterlist of Major U.S. Companies,” several editions of which are held in the reference collections of other CLEVNET libraries. 

Where Can I Find Authentic Cowboy Slang?

“I’m writing a story about cowboys, and I’d like to incorporate authentic cowboy slang. Could you help?”

While we have “Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang” and “A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles” available in the reference section here at the Newton Falls Public Library, both are more useful for looking up the origins of specific words and phrases. Putting “cowboy slang” into an online search engine brings up quite a few websites, but we had a tough time finding one that cited its sources, and so we weren’t sure how authentic they actually were.

Looking through CLEVNET, however, we found “Cowboy Lingo” and “Western Words: A Dictionary of the Range, Cow Camp, and Trail.” Both are written by Ramon Frederick Adams, a respected Western writer, historian, and bibliographer, and both can be put on hold and sent to any other CLEVNET library.

Here at Newton Falls, we have Candy Moulton’s “The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the Wild West From 1840-1900,” which has a short chapter on language along with a wealth of other information, including sections about the clothes people wore, the food that they ate, and what they did for fun. We also have “The Cowboys” by Time-Life Books and a selection of more general books about the American West, including Geoffrey C. Ward’s “The West: An Illustrated History” and James D. Horan’s “The Great American West.”

Do You Know Any Online Computer Classes?

“I’d like to learn more about using computers, but I can’t make it in to all the classes at the library. Are there online classes I can take?” The Newton Falls Public Library offers free computer classes and one-on-one times three Mondays and one Saturday every month. However, we understand that everyone has busy schedules. Fortunately, there are online resources available. Cynthia Casterline, our technology educator, recommended LearningExpress Library and GCFLearnFree.org.

LearningExpressLibrary requires that you set up an account first at a participating library (such as Newton Falls Public Library), but after that, you can access it from anywhere. Along with tutorials on everything from the very basics to Adobe Photoshop, LearningExpress Library also offers practice exams for the SAT, ACT, GED, AP tests, CDL exams, NCLEX-PN and NCLEX-RN, and many others. It also provides math and English practice and help.

GCFLearnFree.org can be accessed anywhere even if you don’t have a library card. It offers math, English, and career help as well, along with a wealth of computer tutorials on Google, Facebook, Microsoft Office, using the mouse, Skype, iPads, iPhones, and many more.

Can Groundhogs Climb?

“Can groundhogs climb? I swear I saw one in a tree, but no one believes me.” At the Newton Falls Public Library, we weren't familiar with tree-climbing groundhogs either, but we looked into it and, as it turns out, they’re very capable climbers and they’re also able to swim!

Groundhogs, also known as woodchucks, land beavers, or whistle pigs, are members of the squirrel family, so their climbing ability shouldn't surprise. They’ll climb to find food and take in the sunshine. However, as their name suggests, they spend most of their time close to the ground. Groundhogs build extensive burrows with secret entrances, multiple chambers, and tunnels that can be up to fifty feet long. They enjoy coming out of their burrows to forage and sunbathe, but will beat a quick retreat when they sense danger, since most predators won’t bother trying to dig them out.

In our research, we also learned that the name “woodchuck” has nothing to do with wood. According to Scientific American, it comes from “wuchak,” the Algonquian word for groundhog. However, according to Native Languages of the Americas, the name may actually have come from the Algonquian word for fisher (which is a type of weasel) or it may have been a corruption of the Narragansett word for groundhog, “ockqutchaun.”

Groundhogs spend several months hibernating. When they hibernate, they curl up into a tight ball with their nose to their belly and their tail wrapped over their head. Their body temperature drops around 50ºF and their heartbeat goes down to about four beats per minute. They’re just starting to emerge now for the mating season, so we can look forward to seeing them out and about!

We found our groundhog information on the National Geographic and Scientific American websites, as well as in several books available here at the Newton Falls Public Library: The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals, edited by Don E. Wilson and Sue Ruff; Guide to the Mammals of Pennsylvania by Joseph F. Merritt; and Mammals of North America: Temperate and Arctic Regions by Adrian Forsyth.

What Do You Do With The Money From The Book Sale?

"What do you do with the money from the book sale?" There are two annual book sales at the Newton Falls Public Library, one in the spring and one in the fall. There's also a small cart in the lobby where people can buy books year-round. All sales are put on by the Friends of the Newton Falls Public Library.

The Friends of the Library is a non-profit organization founded in 1979 dedicated to supporting the library. The money from the book sale, as well as what's brought in from their other fundraisers, pays for supplies, prizes, and special programs during Summer Reading. The money also goes toward projects to improve the library, such as siding the garage, and all of our other speakers and programs throughout the year, including the Harvest Fest.

Along with running the book sales, the Friends also volunteer at the library and sponsor programs like the Annual Poetry and Short Prose contest. Membership is open to anyone, and those interested can pick up an application at the library's circulation desk. The Friends of the Library are currently running a spring membership drive, and any new or renewed memberships between March 3 and May 20 will be entered into a drawing to win a Kindle Fire HD, so it's an excellent time to join for anyone who's interested.

How Long Is the Buckeye Trail Little Loop?

"How long is the Buckeye Trail Little Loop? Can you bike it?" One of our patrons, an avid walker and biker, was making plans to spend a few weeks in late spring or early summer going around the Little Loop of the Buckeye Trail.

The Buckeye Trail winds around the interior of Ohio. It's made up of twenty-six sections and covers around 1,444 miles altogether. The Little Loop is comprised of the Akron, Bedford, Burton, and Mogadore sections, as well as part of the Massillon section. According to a post on the www.buckeyetrail.org Trail Talk forums, the Little Loop covers 229 miles.

The official Buckeye Trail website, www.buckeyetrail.org, states that 93% of the Akron section, 68% of the Bedford Section, 41% of the Burton section, 32% of the Mogadore section, and 47% of the Massillon section are off-road, suggesting that they may not be ideal for biking. The Trail Talk forums confirmed our suspicions. When a member posted in the forum asking whether it's possible to bike sections of the trail (though not the Little Loop specifically), others discouraged them. The Buckeye Trail is intended for hiking, and biking could actually damage parts of it.

Our patron checked out Robert J. Pond's "Follow the Blue Blazes: A Guide to Hiking Ohio's Buckeye Trail," other copies of which are available through CLEVNET. For more Ohio hiking routes, Diane Stresing's "60 Hikes Within 60 Miles, Cleveland," Ralph Ramey's "50 Hikes in Ohio" and "50 More Hikes in Ohio," and "Ohio Trails and Greenways," edited by Annemarie Kuhn, can be checked out here at Newton Falls Public Library. For bike routes specifically, "Biking Ohio's Rail-Trails" is available through CLEVNET.