I love nature, but when it comes to boxelder bugs….yuck. Each year, the little visitors decide to hang out on the side of my house – making my normally plain siding littered with black bug dots. As I made my way through several communities on Tuesday, I felt like they were following me everywhere. From French Park to CVS, the boxelder bugs are out in full force. Although the ugly little bug doesn’t pose any real harm to trees or plants, they can be irritating in and around homes.  If you want to avoid dealing with the boxelder bugs, locally owned Adam’s Pest Control has a few chemical-free …

A flashing and rotating object in the sky. Four lights flying and disappearing. A UFO? Two reports posted on UFO Stalker, a website that tracks reported UFO sightings throughout the country, indicated two recent sightings in Maple Grove. I admit, it is one of the more unusual bits of information to come across my desk as an editor. It's one of those situations where you ask yourself – "What do I do with this?" So, I’m passing it along to you the readers. Are you a believer? Here’s the information, as shared on UFO Stalker: The following information was submitted on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012, …

Reporting the news is a busy business. Whether you’re covering a city, suburbs or certain beat – each day we need to make decisions as to what to report. Occasionally, I’m asked why Patch haven’t reported about a certain incident, named names, or covered an event. There isn’t always an easy answer. I’ll do my best to try giving you a glimpse as some reasons. If the police or fire departments are involved, it can be a matter of waiting for information to confirm what happened. In fact, we had a situation happen recently at St. Michael Patch where information about an attempted abduction was …

Every spring, I’m one of those people who always enjoys the fuzzy animals popping up all over the place. What can I say? Baby animals are cute. When I decided to stop by the Maple Grove Community Center for photos at the Arbor Day Festival in May for photos, I happened to see a sign on the windows of the Senior Center announcing the mother duck’s presence - and protecting her nest. After peeking out the window, I could see mother sitting a flowerpot – patiently waiting for her young ones. I wondered how they could possibly survive through the nesting process and make it off of the patio. Here…

As the weather gets warmer and you do some spring cleaning - maybe you want some extra cash to help pay for those new summer toys. Cue the neighborhood garage sale. School clothes your children have outgrown, old toys, that set of unused free weights, old trinkets that just take up space in the attic—if you’ve got it, you probably want to unload it. For those who decide to host a garage sale, Maple Grove Patch is here to help you get the word out. Our events section is perfect for letting the community know about your sale. Just follow these steps and you’re on your way:    1. Gather up all …

No, you're not losing it! Patch looks different. We did a quick visual nip-and-tuck to the homepage to make it even more user-friendly. And we've moved a couple pieces of furniture. For those keeping score: * We tweaked some words in our navigation bar to save space (e.g., "Traffic & Gas" is now "Commute") * We moved the weather icon next to the Patch branding so you can find it more quickly! * We moved, well, YOU closer to the top! Our "shout stream" is now front and center to show all your comments off. * And of course we did a few other makeover items.  While the site might look a little …

Taking a little vacation time Friday afternoon, the family and I went fishing off the dock on Fish Lake, off the trails in Fish Lake Regional Park in Maple Grove. Expectations were low. We used corn kernels for bait and looked forward to a quiet afternoon lakeside, hoping to catch a few sunfish. And, then it struck. The first time “it” hit our little fishing area, the fish went after my daughter’s line dangling in the water. It hit hard and quickly breaking the line and taking the hook. My husband followed with the same scenario and as did I within a half hour. After each line break, my …

How cool would it be if Maple Grove Patch had its own fishing writer?—or gardening writer?—or high school football or volleyball correspondent? How cool would it be if we enlisted the chairs of the county's Republican and Democratic parties to be local political analysts? How cool would it be if the mayor, your kids' principal, your pastor and the owner of your favorite pizza place had a spot on Patch where they could tell you all about what's going on in Maple Grove from their point of view? When Maple Grove Patch launched in May, it included a blogging platform called “Local Voices.”  We …

Whether you are a graduating senior, friend, family member or supportive community member, here are the top 10 things Maple Grove Patch thinks you should know about the Maple Grove Senior High commencement ceremony at the Target Center. 1. Parking might be a challenge due to a Minnesota Twins game nearby. Plan out your parking strategy before driving downtown, including a couple backup options. Bring cash and credit or debit card since payment methods vary from ramp to ramp. 2. Graduates need to be dressed in their commencement attire and in the staging area by 1:45 p.m. Sorry parents and …

Now that you've had a couple weeks to see what Maple Grove Patch is all about, I would like to introduce you to a great way to stay in the loop while you're on the go. It's the official Patch iPhone app, and it's available on the Apple App Store shelves. The app is free and features a variety of ways for you to stay connected and keep up to date about what’s going on in town. For starters, the Patch app includes everything you see and read on Maple Grove Patch, including community news, weather, local business listings and events in the city. You can read the latest articles on the recent …

How long have you been with Patch? I started in October 2010 just before we launched the first sites in Minnesota. I’ve been in online media working for newspaper websites and TV websites for over eight years – most of my career. What is the nature of your position? What do you do on a daily basis? I’m an advertising manager in charge of advertising and marketing for three Patches in Minnesota:  Maple Grove, St. Michael/Albertville and Minnetonka. Most of my time is spent in these three communities helping small and mid-sized businesses market themselves on Patch. I also help with them with …