WALDEN WOODS OF GRANITE BAY

September 2001 Email News Update

  ATTENTION:  Final changes for next printing of Directory

The last solicitation of Walden Woods Directory changes before the next printing will be September's Annual Homeowner's Meeting (see below.)  Please provide any new changes at the meeting or before.   A copy of the near final directory will be available at the meeting for your review.

 What information is included in the directory?

• Owners First and Last name(s)
• Children living at home in parens
• Street address, lot number
• Fax and normal phone numbers
• Email address(s)

Also included are kids interested in baby sitting, pet sitting, house sitting, yard work, and tutoring.  

  News on the Email News

We've hit 107 in Walden Woods.  No that's not the temperature, it's the number of homes on our Email News Update distribution lists.  Pretty impressive share of the 124 homes in the association.

If you wish a second or third email address to be added to either the directory or the Walden Woods Email News Update, let me know.  Apparently some recipients have not been very good about passing information to spouses, much to their dismay.

 

  Neighbor to Neighbor

This section is for broadcasts by homeowners offering something to their neighbors or asking a question.  This is not a debate or discussion forum (which we actually have on our Walden Woods Web site - click here.)  All items submitted for this newsletter are subject to my arbitrary discretion for inclusion and editing.

If you send me an item, tell me if you want your email address or phone number included (one or the other or both please.)

• Guy and Victoria Hall have pears available.  
• Cynthia D'Anna has a children's swing set and fort available.  If you disassemble and take it, it's yours.
• Charles and Vickie Gewalt are selling a pellet stove in good condition for $900. 

 

Great News from Ron Talbot & Theresa Bandula.  They are getting married on Saturday October 6th  (1:00 pm to 6:00 pm or later) in their backyard. 

They wanted let us know that they will be having live music and a lot of cars parked on the street. They've asked neighbors to work with them if there are any special concerns on either the parking or the noise.  If you have any questions or concerns Theresa or Ron asked to be called.   Also feel free to call Denese Holden as well.

We wish them all the best and a wonderful celebration.

   Board Vacancies

There are some vacancies on the board coming up this Fall.  Volunteering for the Board is a great way to meet people, help the community and make a positive difference.  Especially for those of you that are new in the neighborhood, this is a terrific opportunity to join in the community.  Elections will be held at the Annual Meeting for the open board positions.  Specific roles each board member takes on (Secretary, Treasurer, etc.) are decided within the board at their first meeting.

  Annual Meeting:

It's almost here.   Don't forget to join the Annual Homeowners Meeting for Sunday, Sept 23rd at 1PM (this is earlier than usual)  We meet at the end of Mimus Lane.  Preliminary plans for the agenda are:

• Gail Sellers' committee on the house footprint and related CC&R topics has submitted their proposed changes to an attorney for a legal review.  She'll provide an update to the association on their progress.
• An Arborist, Kevin Kemper, will talk about the care and feeding of oak trees.  Bring your questions!
• Presentation on Common Area improvements (Bridge, Fire Protection, Picnic Bench on Sunset Hill, Poison Oak eradication and more.)
• Maps, maps and more that will answer:.  Where is Sunset Hill?  Where are the best trail routes?  How long are the trails?  Where are the nice viewing spots in the common area?   Where can I pick blackberries in the summer?  
• A Common Area guide and map handout will be available at the meeting.
• Board election - openings exist for those who want to help out the neighborhood.
• Directory Review - a near final version of the new directory will be available for your review and changes.

Bring your own chair.  Refreshments and snacks will be provided.

Regrettably, I'll be in China during the meeting, but I'm counting on our neighbors to set up a plan for a great next year.

The board will be soliciting proxies if you can't attend the meeting.  Please make sure you have someone represent you.

Block Party - RESCHEDULED to Saturday, Sept 29th - Rain date is Oct 6th

Calling all barbeques!  Cindy Fuzie is doing it again!  The next Walden Woods Block party is Saturday, Sept 29th at 5:00 PM.  You will find it at  the end of Calypte Lane.  We'll have the basics - hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and sodas. Bring your utensils and anything you'd like to share, barbeque or drink along with chair to relax with.  We'll provide the plates and napkins.

If it decides to rain, the alternate date is: October 6th.

Party on Cindy!!

 

  Garage Sale Scheduled

It's time again to clean out the garage, closets and your kids rooms.   Stephanie Kenney will be setting up the annual Walden Woods Garage Sale for October 13th.   For those interested, the Garage Sale committee will also arrange a Monday pickup by the Cancer Research Foundation of leftovers.  If you're on the Garage Sale committee, Stephanie will be contacting you shortly to plan this. For the rest of you, it's not too late to volunteer!

The rain date is Saturday, October 20th.

  Children's fund raisers

Well it's that time of year for the kids to be raising funds for school activities, clubs, sports, etc.  Soon we will have Entertainment books, Christmas cards, cookies, magazines, chocolates (my favorite) and such available.    To help support this, if a child is planning to sell these type of items, they can send me a note and I will forward it to the WWHO distribution list.  To avoid daily messages, and make it easy on myself, I will group these together twice per month.  Submission deadlines will be the 1st and 15th on the month and the messages must be created by the kids selling (maybe with a little help from Mom or Dad.)  However, it must come from the parents email account, or at least copied to the parent's email account.   I will include as much of their message as I can.  It should include:

• Name and contact info of the child selling the product
• Product the child is selling
• Organization and activity being promoted
• When product is available
• Any sales pitch THE CHILD wants to create

Note we will not endorse any item.

Any suggestions and comments in this area will be welcomed.

  Internet Connections:

Thomas Washburn reports that he is using a variant of DSL based on ISDN call IDSL.  It has DSL's advantages of being always on - no dial up required, but it's not as fast as true DSL.  IDSL run at 144K which is about 4 or 5 times faster than normal modem connections in Walden Woods.  Thomas reported his costs were about $89 per month which includes the Internet Service Provider (ISP) services and $17 per month for the phone line.  I don't know if you can share the phone line with a regular phone.

If you have any questions about this service drop him a note.

 

Message from the Water Board

Water Pressure has stabilized to a point where we should not see a complete loss of water pressure. Please report any loss of pressure to Barry Hale, our water master at 652-5259.

Your continued help at reducing water usage and restricting outside watering during the hours of 5 AM to 10 AM and 6 PM to 10 PM is benefiting all of the members with increased water pressure.

Walden Woods Web Page (www.waldenwoods.org) Online information about FLMWC can be found at the WWHOA web site.

Members annual meeting will be November 13th at the Granite Bay Library meeting room at 6475 Douglas Blvd.   Starting time is 7:30 PM.  Key topics on the agenda:

• Board member elections (one year terms)
• Year in review
• Financial statement and hopefully a budget

The Oct/Nov water bill will include a final agenda and end of year fiscal statement.

  Common Area Work:

Mapping:   Maps are now on the web.  Check them out at http://www.waldenwoods.org/waldenwoods/page2.html.  We will have presentation on the mapping project at the Annual Homeowners meeting in September (see item above!)  This will include a 3' x 5' map of the common area.

Flora Mapping: Marion and Stan Faustman made the first pass to identify plants in the common area .  These are being marked on a special common area map. Our plan is build the flora map over the next year letting you know what's out there and where.  If you like what you see, take seeds or clippings and start some in your own garden.  We'll try to get this up on the web shortly.

Improvements:  Improving and opening up of the Common Area Access easement to Walden Woods Way is a long term project.  The initial phase is complete.  Come take a look at it across from Mimus lane.  The project will restart next spring.  Activities before then will shift to preparing the Common Area for winter.   The Common Area funding is primarily directed towards fire prevention, so come on out and lend a hand with the improvements.

Come pitch in a hand - the next Common Area Improvement Volunteer day is Saturday, Sept 29th.   Show up at Bill Furnas' house (8345 Walden Woods Way) at 9AM.

Poison oak: Last weekend was the end of the Poison Oak spaying and cutting this fall.  Victoria and I have been working this for most of the last 20 weekends, with a lot of progress.  We prepared a report for the Homeowners meeting with maps of the areas cleared.   We'll re-start again in the spring.  This is part of our effort to make the common area an asset to be enjoyed by all families.

Star Thistle:  Notice those bags of star thistle in the common area?  Yellow Star Thistle is classified as one of California's most obnoxious weeds.    Its presence in our common area is still limited, if we didn't start to control it now, we will be locked out of our common area by this spiny barrier.  Thomas Hall and Matt Gillum have spent hours and hours pulling up Yellow Star thistle trying to keep that obnoxious weed at bay. 

If you're out on a walk and see some, pull it up and throw it away when you get home.

Safety Committee Chairperson Sought

The board is seeking someone who would like to lead up a Walden Woods Safety committee.  This committee would address various issues relating to the safety of the neighborhood including speed and fire issues.  If you're interested in improving the safety of the families, please contact Denise Holden at 652-0351.

 

  Viruses

With all this communication goes some cautions.  We all fear viruses and damage they can create.  So here's what I'm doing with regard to this concern.

• I use Norton virus detection scan all my files every few days.  The virus definitions are updated daily with any new virus definitions.  
• All incoming mail to me is checked by virus detection software.  
• All outgoing email to Walden Woods is sent by BCC which means the recipients don't get the distribution list.
• If I see a virus attempt coming in, I'll contact the sender immediately.

Directory Updates :

If you need a 2001 Walden Woods Phone Directory, contact Denese Holden at 652-0856.

Corrections or additions can be sent in via email for the next printing.  See the note at the top of this message.

 

News Updates:

If you have something you would like to include in the WW News Update, drop me a note.

 

Do you know ...

Q: Where is Sunset Hill?
A:  Read backwards - pooL cinciP eht fo pot eht tA

This distribution is going out to people on the Walden Woods email information update list. If you would like to be dropped from this  list, reply back indicating so and Guy Hall will personally remove your name from this list.  If you know someone who would like to add their name to this distribution list, forward this message to them and have send their information to directory@waldenwoods.org.