A survey of grandfathers revealed that the most important character traits they hoped their grandchild would develop were kindness, cooperation, warmth, generosity, and selflessness. Grandfathers can play an important role in helping grandchildren develop these and other character traits. Character work refers to grandfathers’ efforts to nurture and shape the character and personality traits of their grandchildren. As they do, they address their grandchildren’s needs to be sociable, responsible, and ethical members of society (Bates and Goodsell 2013).
Grandchildren may ask, “Grandpa, did you have a cell phone when you were growing up?” For many men, the role of a grandfather includes helping grandchildren learn about the past, specifically about his and the family’s history. Lineage work refers to a grandfather’s efforts to provide an historical road map of people, places, and information that teaches his grandchildren their family’s heritage. Grandfathers are motivated to do lineage work by their grandchildren’s need to be connected to their ancestral roots—to know who they are and where they came from.
When a young woman was involved in a terrifying car accident and was extremely upset and frantic, it was her grandfather’s heartfelt and compassionate words that brought her a peace and calm she has remembered all her life. She calls it her gift from her grandfather. This is an example of a grandfather doing spiritual work. Spiritual work refers to a grandfather’s efforts to be compassionate, patient, empowering, affirming, and empathic to his grandchildren.
More than 63% of grandfathers who participated in a recent survey reported that their role in the family was that of playmate for grandchildren and over 35% reported doing recreational activities with grandchildren at least monthly. Indeed, leisure activities are likely the most common types of activities grandfathers and grandchildren do together, regardless of how frequently they see each other. Recreation work refers to a grandfather’s effort to organize, facilitate, or participate in fun and enjoyable activities with his grandchildren.
One of the greatest desires of a caring grandfather is to see his grandchildren reach their full potential. He can help them reach their full potential by passing on the life skills, talents, and competencies that he has learned during his life. Mentoring work refers to the time, effort, and energy grandfathers demonstrate to teach, coach, guide, and correct their grandchildren as they learn practical knowledge and skills. Grandfathers are motivated to do mentoring work because of their grandchildren’s need to be competent in and informed about their world.
Few segments within the green industry have shown the potential for growth that cannabis has recently demonstrated. Nine years after the states of Colorado and Washington legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, cannabis-derived retail markets have reached $14 billion in annual sales in the U.S. (Somani 2019; Mikulic 2020). In comparison, the 2021 domestic retail market for fresh vegetables is estimated at $41 billion (Mintel Group 2021).
Mosquitoes are small, long-legged flies with slender bodies that require pools of standing water to complete their development (Figure 1). As adults, male and female mosquitoes feed on plant nectar (Figure 2), but most species of female mosquitoes must feed on animal blood in order to produce eggs (Figure 3). During this process, female mosquitoes can transmit pathogens to humans such as viruses that cause West Nile fever and St. Louis encephalitis, and parasites that cause malaria and canine heartworm. Adults can vary in length from 0.15 to 0.5 inch.
The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is a common mosquito in southern Ohio, but it can occur in all Ohio counties. The mosquito is native to Asia but was introduced to the United States in 1985, likely in imported, used tires (Sprenger and Wuithiranyagool 1986). The tires provided a site for egg laying and larval development. Subsequent trade of the tires spread the mosquito throughout the eastern and midwestern United States.
In southwest Ohio a small turkey processing plant was facing closure. The permitted lagoon system that had treated the plant wastewater for decades created odors and threatened the groundwater. The company was looking for a way to treat the high-strength, high-fat-content wastewater in an affordable way. Pretreating the wastewater with dissolved air floatation (DAF) and constructing a sewer extension to the municipal treatment plant in the neighboring city was deemed cost prohibitive.
Vaccines have been used by humans for over 225 years to prevent serious illness or death from infectious agents. Immunization currently prevents 4–5 million deaths every year (World Health Organization 2021). Vaccination allows the body to educate your immune system to recognize and eliminate foreign invaders (pathogens) before they cause disease. Several vaccines, such as those for smallpox in humans and rinderpest in cattle, have been so successful the disease is all but gone (Greenwood 2014).
