WHAT'S NEW IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD, AUGUST, 2022

 

 

Hello Neighbors...Welcome to the latest

RATTLESNAKE  CREEK  GARDEN CLUB        NEWSLETTER                August 22, 2022

     As you well know, It's been too hot to grow anything but okra so I've been holding off the garden news. I do want to say though,

VOTE TOMORROW AS IF YOUR CITY DEPENDED ON IT!

       Many of you have cast you ballots already but if you have not, vote tomorrow for the candidates that have promised to do their best to roll-back the city's ban on single- family zoning. If you need advice on this, call or write. 

     Our University Park Neighborhood Association sponsored a zoom gathering recently featuring most of the local candidates.  You can view it on their website. Also we had two candidate gatherings in Florida Park. Brenda and Dan had a meet 'n greet in their back yard and our last garden club meeting featured a two candidates discussing the

zoning issue.

   Our neighbor, Christian Newman, is hoping to represent us on the city commission. I suggested that he use this in his campaign. He thought I was kidding. I know that once elected "Super Chris" will do a great job and all he can to rectify the commission's terrible zoning decision last month.

 

HONORING OUR PANDEMIC HEROES

   I'm working on a project to thank G'ville's essential workers, The folks who put themselves at risk to get us through the "worst of times" since March of 2020.  We have asked the Mayor to declare October "Essential Worker Appreciation Month". "EWs" will get concert tickets, restaurant discount coupons, and other cool stuff.

Essential workers include educators, retail employees, anyone providing medical services, the GRU guys, police, firemen, retail people, sanitation workers, nursing home staff, and so forth.

If you'd like to be a part of this project, or, to offer something to show "EWs" our gratitude, let me know.

BIG NEWS! Sweet Dreams of Gainesville has moved to the former Starbucks location on Southwest 13th Street

YES, Florida Park finally has a place we can walk to and hang out.  Sweet Dreams Ice Cream Shop moved to the corner of 13th and 16th Ave. last month. Owner Mike Manfredi took me on a tour and it is impressive.

He is also serving coffee now and may create a beer garden out back next year. Hooray!

 

 

THE A. QUINN JONES CENTER,  A Local

Treasure

     We have an amazing place three blocks east of Florida Park, a historic site where you can learn about our city's history, and, take in an occasional concert.

    The A. Quinn Jones Cultural Center is open most days at at 1017 NW 7 Ave.

 Why not walk over?  They have a terrific art exhibition up through September 30th., "Blues Pioneers". Many of these musical giants passed through

 

 

Gainesville at one time or another. Bo Diddley lived nearby y'know...

     Saturday night we took out-of-town guests to one of their outstanding outdoor concerts on the back patio. "Sheba the Mississippi Queen" and her accompanist, took us through blues  favorites like "Hound Dog" and "No Good Ugly Man". 

The shows are free and fun. Our guests were amazed.  Check out their website, Aquinnjones@cityofgainesville.org.

 

 UPNA'S PARKS INITIATIVE

      Florida Park has no parks.  University Park only has the Parker Park on weekends. Your neighborhood association is trying to do something about that.

PARKER PARK 

    UPNA'S Parks committee met with school board representatives last month. They own the five acres of public land (mostly woods) west of Parker Park.

We want them to allow the City to turn it into a passive nature park that all of us can enjoy every day.  We expect to hear from them next month. 

    UPNA retained a graphic designer to create materials for our school board presentation. 

 

 

 

 

RATTLESNAKE WOODS

     Have you noticed the wide swath of vegetation cleared out in Rattlesnake Woods (on the west end of NW 14 Ave.)?

That's 75,000 sq. feet of public land (a "right of way") that belongs to the city. One portion of it is 55' wide and it runs from the end of 12 Rd. all the way to the creek. We have asked the city to make that this public land a park as well. It's a great idea but seeing something like this though will take considerable work and perhaps many years. 

 Here's sketch to show you our public land in "the woods" (X'd out).  Our property there (technically a "right-of-way") is almost as large as a football field.

Why don't we at least put in some benches and replace exotic plants with natives?

 

FLORIDA PARK'S THIRD ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARADE will be marching again on Monday, Oct. 31st, at 5:30 p.m.

This year we'll have two marching bands, one for actual musicians and one for the rest of us.  Let me know which one you'd like to join.

I will direct you to the appropriate band rehearsal site. 

Tony went pirate last year.

 

RAINBOW BRIDGE WILL BE LOOKING GOOD AGAIN  We thank the neighbors who have volunteered to give it a new, colorful coat of paint. Eddie and his family were there last weekend making the green steps as bright as the surrounding foliage.

 

FINALLY, THE GARDEN PART

      Have you ever noticed the pineapples growing by our driveway?  It takes two years, y'know, but after that you can

harvest one and save  three dollars. 

Our first Hawaiian gem finally ripened   and it was delicious. It's one of the few things we grow that the squirrels don't eat first.

 That's it from NW 12th Rd,

Glenn, 

for the RCG Club

305 299 5607

      

     

BEACHED BEAUTY

  

It started simple enough. A guy bought a leaky old boat and dragged it ashore for repairs. Like a high tide, those plans and the owner eventually went away.

  

  The much-admired "Point Reyes" has been sunbathing on the shore of Tomales Bay ever since. 

The Point Reyes Peninsula juts out into the Pacific 40 miles north of San Francisco. On the west side thunderous waves crash against craggy headlands and on the east, all is tranquil on Tomales Bay. It's a perfect place for retired boats and the people who love them.

 

 .

 

The fading Point Reyes is a magnet for photographers, tall and curvy. Her distinctive lines  get better with age. My wife had to pry my camera and me from the wreck.

You see her on postcards, wedding announcements, and the refrigerator-posted Christmas card in the house we are visiting.

I think every seaside town should have an old funky boat predominately displayed. It brings to mind the glories of fine craftsmanship, days gone by, and the romance of the  seas. We could all use more of that.

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BYE BY BIRDIE

   It's not easy being a golden-crowned

kinglet in Bolinas, California. One minute you're weaving though the woods, then WHAM! 

You're caught in a huge nylon net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately you will not be eaten today. "Hope", the young scientist, will untangle your tiny feet, place you in a pouch and walk you back to the Point Blue Conservation Station.

 

                        

    She will show people like us how to measure a diminutive songbird. 

We watched it being   weighed ( 6.1 grams, a little more than a nickel), and perused it in every possible way (I''ll blow its crest feathers apart so I can see her age by cranial development").

When its stats were recorded and a leg was banded she let it fly away.

 

 

 

      That's how scientists collect bird information. We walked by 16-foot nets strung through the woods. Every half-hour they're checked for catches.

      I asked another birder if the aluminum leg bands (they're covered with tiny numbers) made it difficult to fly. Naomi held up his decorated wrist and said, "Oh no, its just like wearing bracelet, just 3% of their body weight".  "Gosh", I thought, "If they put one on my leg I'd be a seven-pounder. I couldn't fly anywhere".

      That's okay, I can't fly anyway. 

    I asked Hope what research like this has revealed. She told me we've lost billions of birds due to increasing human population, declining habitats, climate change, and hungry house cats.

      That's sad and shocking but not surprising. Greed, ignorance, and the never-ending quest for power are unraveling North America's ecosystems at an alarming rate. 

   Still, we can help birds. Here's how,

 

    After considering these seven simple actions, consider the most un-simple one, limiting the growth of human population.

We are destroying bird habitats every time we build another mall or housing development. We increasingly erect the windowed buildings that birds slam into. And one last numbers check, since 1970 our population has increased be 2.3 billion while the bird population has decreased by 2.9 billion.

We're not just killing birds but almost every other specie of plants and animals so there can be more of us. 

Welcome to the road to Nowhere.

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TOUGH CHOICE

       My wife and I spend a couple of weeks every summer in a gated community on Monterrey Bay. The family beach house is surrounded by very nice people. Most are retired. Much of their time seems to be spent playing golf, tennis or other activities in which we do not indulge. Yes, there is The View but how long can you bay watch? 

 

      I decided to interview my neighbors here in Bahiavista. To make things interesting, I started with the same question,

    "Given that the sea level is rising, Congress can't do squat, and many people in our county lack adequate food, housing, and medical services, which would you choose, the end of capitalism or the destruction of the planet?" 

        I first knocked on the door of Kiki and Konrad Yelvington. These two had a Buick dealership in Phoenix (where it's 112 degrees today) before moving here where the temperature never rises above 70.

       I quickly got around to the big question which surprised them a bit. Kiki asked if I was serious and Konrad wanted a third choice.  "No", I said, "Our country and the planet is in big trouble. What we've got doesn't seem to offer the necessary solutions".  

       While they pondered the question I could see endless fields in the distance. Dozens of workers were hunched over as they picked strawberries. They had no time to think of golf or tennis.

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    As you probably guessed, everything but the first paragraph is fiction. Our annual west coast sabbatical makes me think more about ourselves, the planet, and the pickers next door.

      The views are incredible and I never tire of the bay watch.

 

                  The endless fields in Santa Cruz County

        

      

NO NEWS IS THE NEWS

    "A man called to report a bowl of fruit in the road".  That's typical of the local news in West Marin County.  

     We're visiting relatives in northern California as we do every summer. 

     I love their little local paper, the Point Reyes Light. Page three has "Sheriff Calls", a list of every incident  reported to the local gendarmes the previous week.

 

      How many times have you called 911?  I did four years ago when I came upon a dead neighbor. My grim discovery was not mentioned in the Miami Herald but here, someone will call the sheriff if they hear "grunting in the bushes". A week later it's in the newspaper.

      It's all very charming. Maybe no news is good news. It is certainly amusing to me. Here are a few examples,

 

 

 

 

         It's beautiful here where not much happens. Two deer just wandered into the yard. 

 

              Maybe I should call the sheriff.