December 13, 2013
Dear Everyone:
It’s beginning to look a lot like
Christmas.
Actually, my living room currently resembles a cross between
Santa’s
Workshop and a rather strenuous
obstacle course.
Enter at your own risk.
Numerous objects in varying stages of assembly.
Yarn, thread, fabric and fluff, swirling around in a kind of a
state of controlled chaos.
And, in the center of it all, my shiny, new
sewing machine, with its
myriad of computerized esoteric stitches that do God-only-knows-what.
Getting from one end of the room to the other is like threading your way
through a complicated maze.
Watch out for that iron! It
might be hot. (Did I mention
Velcro?)
A clear sign that Christmas is less than two weeks away.
It is so nice having plenty of time to work on all these Christmas
Projects, instead of rushing home from work and trying to get another
day’s worth of work done in a few hours.
Hand-crafted gifts for everyone:
Brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews and don’t
forget the hairdresser!
In the meantime…
My community has a
Homeowners’ Association.
There are four communities built around the top of a hill here
and each one has its own Association.
In addition, there is a kind of “umbrella” Association for the
four communities together.
It takes care of overall concerns like landscaping, the “Welcome Center”
(read: Gatehouse), upkeep on
the road that goes around the hill and connects the four communities,
and the tennis court. I’ve
never seen the tennis court, but I know it’s there and therefore
requires maintenance of some kind.
This Association meets once each quarter with participation from each
community. Our participant
is our Association president, but everyone is welcome to attend.
I’ve always declined, since I was working.
But now that excuse doesn’t fly.
So last Wednesday I attended the quarterly meeting, which took place in
a conference room at the Service Company that runs things for the
Association. Exactly two
other people showed up, aside from the Service Company representatives.
Our president and another person that I suspect is the
Association president for one of the other three communities.
The meeting was short, consisting primarily of an official count of
ballots electing a new set of representatives and a “proposal” to roll
the money in the account into the next year, rather than pay taxes on
it. But then the other
representative brought up the subject of
ground squirrels and what could
be done about them.
I couldn’t help asking what was the problem with squirrels.
After all, they’re cute and fluffy.
It seems there are “too many” squirrels living on the top of the hill
and steps need to be taken to remedy the situation.
They are threatening the stability of the hill and we don’t want
it to come crashing down on anyone.
Poison was immediately ruled out and one person suggested mounting large
“T” poles to attract hawks and such birds that like to eat squirrels.
This would placate the “tree huggers” (i.e., people with
environmental concerns.)
At this point I jumped in and suggested contacting some kind of
organization of people who actually know something about hawks and other
birds of prey. The Service
Company representative pulled out his cell phone and did a search on
“hawking”, but came up with too many hits having to do with selling
various (possibly “hot”) items.
Let’s try “falconry” instead.
While we’re on the subject, just what is the optimum number of squirrels
for the environment in question?
How many squirrels are “too many” and who gets to decide?
Did they commission an
environmental impact report that we can
consult?
I have a feeling the “umbrella” Association may not want me showing up
for too many of their quarterly meetings.
“Bah, humbug!”
Love, as always,
Pete
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