Sherwood Sprinklers 101

Welcome to Sherwood Sprinklers 101. If you are reading this it is because you saw a news letter, my Facebook post pointing you here, or you reported sprinklers not working and were referred to it me or our management company.

From time to time, I'll get a call about a sprinkler head spraying the driveway instead of the lawn. That person observed the problem, reported it, and a fix can be scheduled.

From time to time, I get a call about a sprinkler head that looks like Old Faithful. That too, is an observed problem that can be addressed

On the other hand, the most frequent and most frustrating calls I get are the ones that say with great conviction, their sprinklers are not working.  I've been working with our sprinklers since 2010 and during that time I would estimate that the people who said their sprinklers weren't working were wrong 9 times out of 10, and I knew it when they called.

Unlike the first two examples, which are based on what they person saw, the report of sprinklers not working are based upon what they have not seen.

When I was teaching, I would hand back assignments marked incomplete, only to have a student say, "You never told us to ______."  My usual response was to ask them to tell me some things I DID say. After failing to do that, I would say, "If you can't remember any of the things I did say, how can you remember all the things I didn't say?"

My sprinklers are not working fall into that same category.  Sprinklers not on every day and are on for only 20 minutes. On top of that, the majority of the development is watered between 10PM and 6AM. This is only one small part of the complicated system.  Here's the rest of the story.

At Sherwood Glen, we have about 1500 sprinkler heads divided into about 100 zones, and controlled by seven different timers that begin at different times ranging from 6:00 PM to 11:30 PM.
Additionally, starting times and days change during the summer depending on conditions.

Things like power outages can put one or more controller out of sync, if the controller's battery back up is down.

To complicate matters even more, when controller are schedule for every other day. Different controllers handle that differently. With 7 days in a week, it's actually three days on one week and four on the next.

If your neighbor's sprinklers are on and yours are not, you probably don't have a problem, because you may be on a completely different controller and your lawn will be watered about five hours after your neighbor.

If your one part of your unit is active, but another is not, it is probably in a different zone or on a different controller.  For example clubhouse zone 1 is in the front and zone 16 is in the back.

Oh, and somewhere along the line, people have gotten the idea that placing a stone on top of a sprinkler is a good test. It's not. If the sprinkler head was installed properly, the stone will still be there the next morning. At best, it's an indicator that the head is not perpendicular to the ground.

If the irrigation company is called out because of a false alarm, it may cost all of us a $50 charge. So before reporting that sprinklers are not working, please make sure you have done what you can to confirm that to be true.

Scary Stuff from the Harvest Festival

What Does the Resignation Mean for the Annual Meeting?

I've been contacted by at least a half dozen people since receiving word of Bob Moorehead's resignation, about what will happen on Thursday. I'm not on the board, so I have no idea of what they might do, but based on everything I know, there is only one thing they can legitimately do; namely nothing.

The by-laws make it clear that when a vacancy occurs, the board shall assign someone to fill that position until the next annual meeting. The timing of Bob's resignation would lead some people to think that meeting is on Thursday, but I don’t believe that is the case.

Off the top of my head, we have had no less than six board members resign since I've come to Sherwood Glen. Resignations happen with all boards and any board can function if there are enough members to make a quorum. We all know that especially here at Sherwood, with some board members being snow birds, meetings are often held without board members present.  

NH law HR-353 makes it clear that all board decisions must be made a properly advertised and conducted meetings. The only exception is emergencies. Being a member down is certainly not an emergency situation. Therefore, there is no time to do this before Thursday. 

All previous resignations were handled in basically the same way.

1. ·        The board put out a call to the community asking for applicants interested in filling the seat.
2. ·        The board reviews the applications and in many cases, interviews the applicants.
3. ·        The board appoints someone to fill the vacancy.

All of this must be done during properly advertised and conducted meetings.

There are at least a half-dozen other reasons involving the advertisement of the election in the annual meeting package, the printing of ballots, the disenfranchisement of people who submitted proxies based on three seats being filled, and the inability of other candidates to come forth. 

Finally, can ANYONE tell me how having the board throw out past practice and proper procedure to select someone to fill a vacancy for one meeting serves the community interest?

The vacancy can only properly be filled by new board. Anything other than that will at best, result in more animosity and confusion, and at worst, it could result in the invalidation of the entire election.

Facebook and Website Changes

As of September November 14, 2017 board meeting, mysherwoodglen.com and the Sherwood Glen Facebook group were no longer have any official affiliation with the Sherwood Glen Board, or the Sherwood Glen Condominium Association. All content on the website will represent the views of the owner/webmaster, Art Wolinsky, and those of you who contribute..

On September 20, 2017, I resigned from the Communications Committee, in order eliminate any confusion between personal and board related postings and to begin to facilitate discussion within the community in forums where everyone sees everything that is posted. 

Great North Connect is and should be the site of record for the community.  Some of you may remember that back in 2013, as president, I attempted to get people to utilize as the official business site and to use MySherwoodGlen as a community site, but simply wishing it, does not make it so.

MySherwoodGlen was the first and only online access to information from the board. Training and information was provided to the community about its use. It was created well before Great North Connect was introduced to the public. Unlike the necessary one size fits all Great North Connect, MySherwoodGlen was custom designed with our residents in mind. As a result it was, and still is the site of choice for residents.

If you have any questions and concerns about Association business, please direct them to Great North. Great North Connect will be the official site for minutes, financials, correspondence with the board, maintenance requests and other business.

Mysherwoodglen.com will remain much the same, but there will be some subtle, but significant changes, some of which will revolve around this blog.  While it is titled MySherwoodGlen, I want you to think of it as OUR-SherwoodGlen.

The Facebook group will also be changing. There is where there will be significant change. I will open the group to discussions on community topics, guided by community standards which will be posted.  

I was a teacher for 40 years, and as such, I set the same standards for Facebook Group as I did for my classroom.  My classroom was focused on problem solving and communication. There was only one rule. USE COMMON SENSE AND COMMON COURTESY. There will be no personal attacks or bitching.  If you have a question or a problem that you need addressed, let's come answers and come up with a win-win solution for the community.

I realize people are often hesitant to post things in public. Keep in mind, the Facebook page is a closed community and only members can view the items there, unless a member of the groups shares it outside the group.

If you are not already a member, I urge you to visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/SherwoodGlenRaymond/ and request membership in the group. I'm looking forward to moving forward!

Green Trash Bag Price Increase

It looks like it's time to stock up on green trash bags.  Tonight, the Raymond Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to increase the cost of green trash bags. There will be a 30 cent increase in small bags and a 35 cent increase in large bags. Read more at the Town of Raymond website...

Small bags were $1.50 each and as of July 1, they will be $1.80.

Large bags were $2.00 each and as of July 1 they will be $2.35

The Power of Water

Think about a pinhole in a pipe seven feet below the surface of the road. Is it significant? Is it noticeable? Does it even matter? The answer is YES, YES, and YES.

The evidence is the steady stream of water that bubbled out of the driveway this past weekend and the pictures you see here, which reveal the source of the water and the forces of nature working over time.

It all started with a pin hole leak in a coupling seven feet below the surface of the road. As I looked at the coupling, I couldn't help but think of a Taoist teaching that has guided me since college.  It advises up to strive to be like water. Water doesn't compete or confront.  It flows around obstacles. The seeks the lowest level, but it wears down mountains, or in this case, copper pipe.

Spring, a Grape Arobor, and a Kayak

Today, Jessie, Rachel, and Art build a natural grape arbor to train the wild grapes growing on the pond trail.  Once things begin to green up, the vines will be guided to grow up through the vertical branches. The question remains as to whether the vines will bear fruit and whether they will fill the bellies of birds or a mason jar or two.  Time will tell.

  

Meanwhile, on the other side of the lower pond, Jeff was taking Rachel's Kayak out for its maiden voyage.  I guess it is safe to say spring is officially upon us.

Fitness for Seniors

During my first 40 years on this planet, I was pretty active physically, I played a number of sports and was lucky enough to land a wresting scholarship while attending Temple University in the 60's.  After graduating, I coached wrestling and track in high school.

By age 45 my coaching days were over.  While I still enjoyed the outdoors, I started getting "soft".  In my 50's I decided to get back in shape, but my mind was younger than my body and it seemed that each time I tried to get serious about getting into better shape, I managed to hurt myself.  It seemed as if I was taking one step forward and two steps backward.  This patterned repeated itself more times than I would like to admit.

Then, three years ago things changed. I attended a workshop put on by Peter and Nona Hubbard.  Peter and Nona are long time residents of Sherwood Glen who have annually shared generously of their time and knowledge with their neighbors.

Thanks to their efforts, a reality check on my part, and a little dedication I feel like I am in better shape now, than I was 20 years ago. 

Last week with the assistance of Nicole Hurley and Jennifer Crosby, they conducted a two more workshops for residents.

I filmed the workshops and since I'm now doing volunteer work for RCTV, I turned it into about a half hour program that Peter and Nona have agreed to share with the community.  It will air this week and will be available at the RCTV streaming video site online.  I've also uploaded it to YouTube and embedded it below. I hope it can help others the way it helped me.

Please check it out, and before you begin any program or exercise, make sure you consult your doctor to make sure you are fit enough to begin.  Take things slow and let your body be your guide.


Air times on RCTV CHANNEL 13
Wed. 7:30 AM and 3:00 PM
Thurs: 5:30 AM
Fri. 9:30 AM
Sat. 1:30 PM
Sun. 5:30 PM
It will also be available 24/7 at http://raymondtv.pegcentral.com/player.php?video=2bfa137b46b3e1de473bbcc762b37c81

Connecting wth the Community and Exciting Things on the Horizon

Wow! My head is spinning. I to tell you about an amazing chain of events that took place over the last 6 months. Many of them took place in the past few weeks and will continue into 2015 and beyond.  Most took place outside Sherwood Glen, but will work to bring us and the community at large, closer together.   Here's the Reader's Digest version of what transpired.

Some of you may know that while researching the history of our conservation land, I had the help of folks from the Raymond Historical Society.  They needed a lot of help with their website, and in July I rebuilt the Raymond Historical Society website, and became the webmaster.

In August, I connected with Dave Hoelzel, another community volunteer.  He was managing the very active Raymond 250th Facebook page, which had over 1800 followers.  We agreed that once the 250th celebration was over, it would be a shame to see the activity end, so Dave worked with Facebook and arranged to turn it into the Raymond Historical Society Facebook page, which we both now manage.

In December, Dave was named Raymond's Volunteer of the Year   by This Week in Raymond.com. The historical society asked me if I would speak on their behalf, which I did. At the ceremony, I met quite a few people around town, including Kevin Wood, who runs Raymond Community Television.

You already know, I make YouTube and Animoto videos with my cell phone and little Flip Mino camera.  Dave asked if I would be interested in volunteering with the TV station, and I jumped at the chance to get my hands on professional equipment.

Less than two weeks ago, he gave me a tour of the studio housed in the high school. I was blown away by the facilities.  Though they do a tremendous amount of work taping and airing government meetings, church events, and town celebrations, but creative programming was in short supply.

Incidentally, they will be having open house on January 24th and 25th, from 11AM to 5 PM. Please come over to the high school and check it out.  You'll be impressed!

I agreed to edit about 5 hours of video shot by three volunteers during the First Annual Ring it in Raymond, our town's version of First Night.  I made three videos from the footage.  Two were of performers at the Congregational Church and the Ray-Fre Senior Center, and the third, which you can see here, was footage from other venues around town.

Kevin liked the job I did and is encouraging me gave me to produce any kind of creative programming I like.  You know me.  It doesn't take much encouragement to play with digital toys.  Hell, you  have to hold me back!

We were discussing making a documentary about beavers, which led me to watch this week's Raymond Conservation Committee meeting where by coincidence, beaver deceivers were discussed. While there where were varying opinions of how to deal with them, I was pleased to see there was no contentiousness.

The committee was unaware we were already co-existing with beavers, have done the research, and walked the walk.  I contacted the vice-chair person Lorraine O'Connor asked for the opportunity to  present to the committee and let them know about the beavers of Sherwood, how they have helped our wildlife flourish, their positive impact on the environment and the cost effectiveness of co-existing.  We both feel the committee will be open to the opportunity.

If I present to the committee, I will invite them to watch the installation of a pond leveling device that will take place here as Sherwood this spring.  That installation will become part of the Sherwood Beaver documentary. Mike Callahan, the beaver expert who will be installing the device, is helping me with information he presents at national conferences.

I've also offered to take a look at an area near the fire house that has been a problem in the past.  I know that Mike will provide advice and with our experience here at Sherwood with the culvert cage we installed and the pond leveler that will be installed, we can build the necessary solution at a small fraction of the cost of bringing someone in to do the job.  It would be a great community project and be a win-win situation for the community, not to mention the beavers.

The snowball effect kept on building and in March I will  be working with Dave, the Historical Society, and the Library to help plan document scanning to turn their print archives into searchable digital format.

Kevin as also suggested contacting some of the more senior residents of Raymond to get some of their stories of  Raymond video while we still can, and editing them down the line. I guess that's a project for my free time.

Putting a professional camera in my hand and turning me loose could result in some serious insanity and I'm looking for others to join me in my trek. As I alluded to in today's email and the survey, I think the residents of Sherwood Glen can contribute a great deal.  We have a lot of creative, enthusiastic people here in Sherwood. I think we can have LOT of fun while connecting with the rest of the community and making a positive impact.

... and that's the Reader's Digest version.   Stay tuned for more!

Sherwood Glen Update - December 20, 2014

Families in Need – Thanks to Deb Albee for taking point with Raymond Welfare to adopt needy families for the holidays. While Deb took the lead, it is the generosity of all who fulfilled the wishes of the children and spread the spirit of the season. Thanks to everyone!

Holiday Tree Pick-up – If you have a live tree for the holidays, be aware that they are not picked up as part of our trash collection.  However, each year the association arranges to have trees picked up.  Tree pick up will be on January 5.  Sometime before the 5^th you should drop off your tree near the beginning of the access road for the electric lines next to the clubhouse.  Please make sure the tree is free of all decorations and stands.  If you miss the pickup, you can
dispose of the tree yourself at the Raymond Transfer Station on Prescott Road. 

Clubhouse Capacity – The certificate of occupancy stated that maximum capacity for the clubhouse was 50 people, but a different furniture arrangement could change that level.  After having to turn folks away from our last two events, I visited the Raymond Fire Dept. to seek clarification of that number.  Since the certificate had expired, they revisited the site. After discussions, the new certificate was issued to allow for 60 people in the main room, 20 people in the TV room, and 20 people in the gym, which should allow us to include anyone who wants to attend future events.

Committees – Last month I asked for volunteers to form a number of committees.  The response was less than enthusiastic.  As a result, the board will continue to assume the roles of Rules and Finance committees.  However, we would still like to seek additional volunteers for The Clubhouse, as well as Buildings and Grounds committee.  Since there will be areas of overlap between Social, Clubhouse, Conservation, and Buildings and Grounds, the board would like to invite anyone interested in any of the committees to attend a meeting sometime in January, to discuss committee situation in more detail.  Attending the meeting will in no way obligate anyone to participate.  Watch the website and bulletin board for more information.

Beaver Update – Over the past four years, our work with the beavers has resulted in a significant increase in pond life and improvements to the ecosystem. It has also resulted in a rise in the pond level. A continued rise could threaten the road.

Last night, the board voted to have a pond leveling device installed at the pond.  More details will be forthcoming in a presentation at the January18 board meeting.  If you attend, I promise, I won't follow it with a septic presentation.

Open Board Meeting -  You are invited to attend the January 18^th board meeting at 6:30 in the clubhouse.

Have a happy holiday and a wonderful New Year!

AmbitEnergy, and a New Twist to an Old Concept

Yesterday, I became aware of an email from our management company, about AmbitEnergy.  Had the email come directly from AmbitEnergy, you might not be reading this today.  It would have been just one of many such emails I have received about switching energy providers, and it is a topic I have covered in other posts.  I would have simply trashed it as I do the others.

However, coming from our management company, many residents thought this was something the board has acted upon or at least discussed.  Neither is the case.  We got this the same time you did. Additionally, AmbitEnergy, is not your typical energy supplier.  It uses a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) business model that made the matter more concerning. (More on this later.)

It is at this point where I want to take a moment to clarify that this post is coming partly on behalf of the board and partly on behalf of Art Wolinsky, school teacher, technlology consultant, Educational Technology Director of WiredSafety.org AND Sherwood Glenn community member.

From The Board

The board feels the mailing is inappropriate and may be a conflict of interest on the part of management company.  We in NO WAY endorse the mailing or AmbitEnergy.  We have contacted the management company and expressed our concern about marketing directly to residents.  The email of clarification from them came shortly after that. 

Please be aware that any information or offers of this type which have been acted upon by the board, will clearly be indicated in the message.  If it is not clearly stated or obvious that it comes from, or on behalf of the board, cavaet emptor!

From Art Wolinsky, Sherwood Resident

Let me begin by says during my five years at Sherwood Glen, I have had nothing but praise for our property managers.  The incident in no way changes that view and I look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with them.  I feel this is a learning opportunity for everyone.

A Little Background

I was a technology teacher and consulted for many years.  I served as the education technology director and online non-profits, and still volunteer as the educational technology director of the WiredSafety.org , an online charity devoted to protecting people and privacy online.  It provides me with a unique perspective.  WiredSafety is run by Parry Aftab, one of the top Internet privacy lawyers in the country.  I've watched Parry testify and work  with Congress on every issue that has involved the Internet, privacy and protection online.  I've had the pain of personally working with a congressional committee in the writing of at least one of those bills and dealing with the belt line BS.  It was a real eyeopener for me, but that a subject for another day.

Additionally, I have been involved with and done some consulting for friends and family successfully involved in MLM, I have a fair grasp of that concept as well.

It have NO ax to grind with ANYONE, but I think there are some lessons to be learned here and my 35 years in education want to make that happen. 

Multi-Level Marketing

You are all familiar with the chain letter concept.  It has been around as long as people learned to write.  You know what I'm talking about. Put your name at the bottom, send this to ten friends and and you will receive a flood of whatever the letter or email is promoting.  Depending on what they are promoting it can an annoyance or down right illegal.

As time passed, the MLM business model evolved.  You are probably familiar with this concept through Amway or Mary Kay cosmetics.  Many people make pocket money from these pursuits, many more get disillusioned as the promise of riches never materializes. Only those who really hustle can make money and only those who get in early AND hustle reap the big rewards.

With the advent of the Internet, things took a quantum leap and gave birth to technology infused MLM.  Before the Interent, people in MLM were limited by time and money needed to make the phone calls, send the letters and present their product.  With email, YouTube, Twitter and other online tools, individuals now had global outreach.  The money making potential skyrocketed and many new businesses were born. 

Some MLMs are fly-by-night scams in which the vast majority of folks suffer. Others are based on products or services that are less than top notch. Others are based on good products and have a clear plan for future growth.  In the vast amount of cases, these pyramids eventually collapse, sometimes over night with the resulting fall out.

Switching to AmbitEnergy

Ambit, from my research, is not a fly-by-night company and they do seem to have a plan, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.  There are just too many variables involved there are too many variables involved for me to make the switch to them..

Their ultimate success depends on their ability to sign customers and keep buying electricity from the big guy at a price that will support their business model and how efficient they are.   This is true of all alternative energy suppliers.  However, Ambit's MLM model is unusual among energy suppliers and for me, is at best an untested model and at worst,  leads to deceptive sales practices by AmbitEnergy Consultants at the bottom of the chain.

AmbitEnergy Consultants

Aside from offering an initial period of electricity at a lower price than the big providers, Ambit allows customers to further reduce their bills by getting others to sign up and/or getting others to become consultants, thereby making it a MLM company.  In many ways it is an opening technology frontier, and it IS an opportunity for a HUSTLER to make a killing (at the eventual expense of others).  The earlier you get in and the more people you can enlist under you, the more you can make.

I was a technology consultant, I taught teachers, school districts, students, parents, and community members how to us technology as a tool for learning. Before I became a consultant I had honed my skills over many years of work and education. As a technology consultant, I got my reward when I help others learn and grow. I made a living, but there was no way I was going to get rich.

It that different than being an Ambit Consultant?  Well let me put it this way. 

You probably won't be surprised if I tell you Ambit consultants don't teach you how to use electricity.  Unless you live in a cave, you know how to do that.  What do they teach you?  What is their expertise?  IMHO, they are simply salespeople with one objective, make money by getting others to do what they did, and many are very good at it.

Some Position Statements

Let's start with the board position.  Since anyone in NH can switch electric service providers, the board has no say in that matter and no position as to whether individual residents should switch. Cavaet emptor is the order of the day.

The only reason you were reading this is because the offer came through our management company and the board feels it was at inappropriate and possibly a conflict of interest.  We have hired them to be property managers. We have entrusted them with resident information and don't appreciate them using it for direct marketing purposes

My Personal Opinion

Since moving here, I have received dozens of emails and postal mailings from companies seeking to get me to change.  I have taken none of those offers and will not be taking Ambit's.  Taking it means saving money in the hopes that rates won't rise on renewal.   Sure, if they rise, you can always switch back to to another provider.  However, what do you do if you sign up and a consultant made and error or misled you?  If you think it will be easy to resolve, you have another think coming.  Just do some research into complaints about products or services in ANY MLM business, not just Anbit.

There is much much more to this whole topic and if some of my Sherwood residents would like to delve deeper, give me a shout.  As  a fellow resident (not a board member), we can get together at the clubhouse over a bottle of wine and have a good time discussing the ins and outs of technology and marketing, online privacy or technology in general.

A Change in Direction

I've rewritten this post at least a dozen times.  Each time I write it, I try to explain things based on our history, the economy, our drawn out construction timeline, and the learning curve attached to running a condo association. The result was an article that would put the average reader to sleep after the first three paragraphs.  So rather than to dwell on the past in this and upcoming blogs, I'll spend a little time there and try to explain why things are going to be changing, where we are, where I see us going, and how we can get there.

If I were to characterize the nature of the changes I would like to see at Sherwood, it would be systemic change.  We have lacked a systems approach to management and functioning as a community.  Interestingly, as a teacher and trainer for 35 years, I was trained in systems thinking and trained hundreds of administrators to use Peter Senge's approach in education administration, but never actually had the opportunity to practice what I taught until now.

In 1990, Peter Senge changed the face of business and learning in this country with the publishing of The 5th Discipline.  If you are interested, you can read this short summary.  If that interests you, the book, which is just a valid today as it was in the 90's, can be read in this PDF.


Up to this point, the Sherwood Glen Board, and particularly the President, was very hands on. The economy, our size, the drawn out construction timelines, and the inexperience and learning curve of boards were just a few of the factors. It is the details of these factors that I will leave out in hopes that you stay awake through the rest of this post.  Suffice it to say, we had owners, contractors, vendors, management, and board.  All were compartmentalized and fragmented without really realizing it.

The volunteer board was often forced into the role of a paid property manager.  Rather than focusing on the big picture of long range planning, budgeting, and putting association wide systems in place, the boards were dealing with individual home owner issues that should have  been the purview of the property manager.  This took a serious toll on board members, and is the first thing that will change.

For a better understanding of the differences between the duties of board members and the management company visit this page.  

Great North will now be the first point of contact for all individual owner issues.  The board will continue to communicate closely with the property manager, but the responsibility for handling the issue from initiation to completion will be in the hands of Great North. 

When you have an issue, rather than sending a message to me or another board member, contact Great North.  I know there will be gray areas and issues you may want the board to be aware of.  In these cases, feel free to cc. me or a board member on the email to Great North.  That will serve as an FYI to us, create a paper trail, make sure everyone is on the same page, and allow us to step in or give advice to the property manager if we feel it is appropriate.  The fact is that the management company will be communicating regularly with the president and the overall result should be IMPROVED communications, which will allow the board to focus on the big picture, while allowing the management firm to do the job for which they are trained and being paid.

Some Animal Life Pictures and Video from May 2014

Here's a video are a few pictures of animal life around Sherwood Glen. Bill H. offers us some wildlife from the International Dinner.

   

Here are two shots from Ed P. A robin took a liking to a porch decoration and build its nest there. Using a mirror, he took a shot of the egg. The second is a green heron that was fishing along the bank in back of his house.

 

Here's a short video I took of a groundhog walking across the beaver dam, followed by a shot of a beaver contemplating our culvert protection cage, now in it's third year keeping our culverts undammed.

New Treadmill Quick Start Guide

The new treadmill was installed on April 18th and is ready to rock and roll.  Here's a short quick start video to get you familiar with it.

Mardi Gras at Sherwood Glen

On Feb. 22, Mardi Gras came to the Sherwood Glen clubhouse.  Residents came from near and far (well mostly near), streaming down Arrow, Sherwood and Locksley Lane flanked on each side, by 8 foot snow banks.  The balmy 50 degree weather was unexpected, but very welcome.

The clubhouse was decked out in purple, green, and gold, as guests filed in bringing their favorite New England renditions of Cajun dishes. As always, there was good food, good drink, and good company!

Kris and Gary won the end of the night raffle and Ed and Beryl reigned as King and Queen of the Sherwood Glen Mardi Gras.

A big thanks is in order to all of the ladies of the social committees, led by Judy Mars.

Mark March 22 on your calendars for next month's function.  The wine flowed at Mardi Gras, and the social committee and Mary Mac are setting the stage for a wine tasting party that promises to be an event to remember (or at least try to remember).  Plan on bringing your favorite wine and a designated walker.

A Visit to Bilbiotech - Tom K.

On January 22 of this year, I had a wonderful visit to the first "bookless" library, located in San Antonio, TX.  One important goal was for Bexar County to improve it's less than 50% literacy rate among adults.  Adults are permitted to take out readers that speak.  They use chirldren's books that allow the user to hear individual words or complete sentences.  I was told that an elderly man was brought to tears as he began for the first time to see himself learning English!

Here are more images from the visit.

Read more here....

Tom K.

Christmas Stroll 2013

For the past few years since Jill and I moved here, we've enjoyed the annual Christmas stroll.  It's fun evening of neighbors, food, wine, and carols.  I took a few pictures of decorations at each house, and stitched them together to make this video.  The resolution doesn't do the decorations justice. In the coming week, I'll be posting the high res stills in the Members section of the website.

PSNH Alternatives

Hi Folks,

Here's a guest blog post from Sherwood resident, Tony C. 

If you're interested in saving a few dollars each month on your electric bill there is now a way to do so.  NH now permits you to select the company that supplies the electricity for your account.  PSNH remains your service company and you only get one bill.  Other than the name of the company showing up on your bill as the electricity supplier the change is invisible. It would be as if you could select where DiFeo bought their propane.

The advantage is that there are several companies offering cheaper rates than PSNH.  ElectricityNH (www.electricitynh.com) is the one I selected and I am now paying .0699 cents per KWhour versus .0954 from PSNH. With our usage from our last bill that meant a savings of over $15.

You can go on their web site and they have a FAQ section that will answer most of your questions.  Be sure and read their "Terms of Service".  The rate they offer is guaranteed until 11/30/2013 and you do have to sign a contract that will run until then. At that point you will be offered a renewal at the price then being offered.  Our rate was last years rate, the current one is slightly higher at .0728 cents per KWH.  Still a big savings over PSNH.  Signing up can be done on-line or over the phone and only takes a couple of minutes.
We did this for years with our electric company in CT and saved a good bit of money.  Check it out! 

Backyard Visitor

A day or two after the blizzard, I saw some tracks in the backyard, but that night has rained a bit. It was impossible to tell what they were.  Last night I set out the trail camera and got some shots of our visitor.

More World Records for the Hubbards!

Sherwood Glen residents, Peter and Nona Hubbard competed in Vermont this past weekend and Team Hubbard set more world records. 

Nona set three RPS World Records for the squat (250 lbs.),   bench press (155 lbs.), and total of 715 lbs. for three lifts.

In addition she was awarded the Sportsmanship Trophy.  This is given to the lifter that not only has great skills and power, but is a role model for the sport and inspires others with their attitude and work ethic. 
This award is not given at every meet and is considered a great honor.  Nona said it meant more to her than the records!

Peter also set a world record but as he said, "The day was Nona's"

Here Nona doing the 250 lb. squat. 

Congratulations Peter and Nona!