Living in the Neighborhood

Late-Summer/Early-Fall Lawn Maintenance

Don’t Panic! Residents will begin to see some changes in lawn appearance around townhome and common areas over the next several weeks. In mid-August, Contemporary Landscapes applied herbicide to many areas for weed control. Several days later, patches of Bermuda grass were sprayed in order to eliminate that growth throughout the desired Fescue grass. The obvious outcome will be patches and large areas of dead grass. This process is part of normal maintenance for this time of year. In several more weeks, all lawn areas will be over seeded and fertilized for early fall growth. Residents should then see the desired green effect.

Contemporary Landscapes inspected all trees in the neighborhood for evidence of bagworms and caterpillars. The problem was not as bad as originally anticipated and spraying of affected trees has already occurred. As noted in previous articles, replanting of dead or dying shrubs will occur in October or November.

At the regular August meeting of the Council of Stewards, approval of tree trimming in front of single-family homes was requested by the Landscape & Grounds Committee. This will not be an annual expense, but, due to low hanging branches, was felt to be both a visual and strong safety issue. If approval is granted, this work will occur in early-September.

As a reminder to all single-family homeowners: Yard maintenance of the area between the sidewalk and the street and mulching and care of trees is the responsibility of the homeowner.

Please let a member of the Landscape & Grounds Committee know if you have issues that should be addressed this fall. This is an important time of year to plant new shrubs and to prepare for next season’s growth.

Yard-of-the-Month Winner – September, 2006

The Landscape and Grounds Committee congratulates Greg and Lesley Swartz of 310 Fairview Lane as the September 2006 winner of the “Yard-of-the-Month.” The plantings and color choices combine to make their yard a very appealing setting. The salmon colored hibiscus plants framing the front gate provide an excellent symmetry to the entrance to their front yard. The varied hues in the window boxes become the icing on the cake for this outstanding yard this month. Stopping at the 3-way STOP at this corner lot will be a pleasure for all in the neighborhood.

The Star of Excellence sits proudly on another corner lot. Fairview Lane is finally in the running! Please ride by this house for a good look.

If you have questions or suggestions regarding this program, please call Shirley Fischer at 704.894.0222.

Children's News and Activities

At the Annual Members Meeting on August 8, one of our neighbors made the suggestion that we include a section highlighting children’s news, accomplishments, and activities. It would also be fun to have a young emerging writer edit such a feature. Such a series would not be designed to include birthdays and honor roll awards, but could focus on noteworthy accomplishments at school or in the community. Did one of our neighborhood children help Katrina victims in a particularly touching manner? Did a student receive a special county or state academic award? Who is our latest neighborhood Eagle Scout?

Please send me your thoughts and suggestions and the name(s) of potential junior editors. If you know of interesting accomplishments among our neighborhood children, please let me know. [Dave Smith 704.987.1472 or e-mail davidbsmith@bellsouth.net]

Some Thoughts about Stewardship and Global Warming
Installment 2

Last month, we looked at the causes of global warming. In summary, burning hydrocarbon fuels such as petroleum, coal, natural gas, methanol, ethanol, wood, and any other organic material produces carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming. As the leading energy consumer, the United States is the leading producer of greenhouse gases and bears a large part of the responsibility for global warming . . . and the responsibility for fixing it.

In the months ahead, we will look at some simple things that each of us by ourselves can do to reduce global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. And we can save money while we are saving the planet. This month we will look at our electricity consumption and at lighting in particular.

Our electric bill last year was $1,700, just above the national average of $1,500. To produce the electricity for our house alone, Duke Energy burned 17,000 pounds of coal, which in turn produced 63,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. Multiply that by the hundred million or so homes in the USA, and you can see why we have a problem.
Of the $1,700, $720 went for appliances, $320 for lighting, and $600 for air conditioning. This month we will look at lighting. Next month, we will look at appliances and air conditioning.

I didn’t think lighting was a big deal until I looked into it. Like many modern houses, we have lights everywhere. And if one is good, six is better. Altogether, we have 134 lights in our house. No kidding! No wonder we pay so much for electricity . . . and for light bulbs. For example, we have six 65-watt flood lights in our kitchen ceiling which burn about 6 hours a day. It costs $69 a year to run these six lights. Duke Energy burns 700 pounds of coal to power these lights each year, producing 2,600 pounds of carbon dioxide. One room in one house. Scary!

To reduce energy, we are replacing our highest use standard incandescent light bulbs with the new florescent replacement bulbs which use only 23% as much energy. We found florescent flood lights at Lowe’s that look the same and produce the same amount of light as our standard 65-watt kitchen flood lights. But they only need 15 watts. Replacing the six flood lights in our kitchen will save us $53 a year on our electric bill. More importantly, it will reduce coal consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by 77%.

To date, we have replaced the 34 most heavily used light bulbs in our house with fluorescent bulbs at an average cost of about $6.30 a bulb. The florescent bulbs cost more than standard bulbs, but they last 4 to 8 times longer. On a per hour basis, they cost about half as much. Since they will last 4 to 8 years, it will be a long time before I have to haul the ladder out to change them.

By changing these 34 bulbs, we expect to reduce our electric bill for lighting from $320 to $110 a year, a savings of $210. And we expect to save another $50 in bulb replacement costs. More importantly, we will reduce Duke Energy coal consumption by 2,100 pounds and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 7,700 pounds per year.

Some things to think about:

• Turning lights off really is a big deal. Remind your children that it is their planet that you are trying to save. It’s a really good lesson.
• The florescent bulbs come in many shapes. In addition to the usual curlicue, there are the more traditional globes, spherical, and floodlight shapes. You don’t have to go ugly to go green.
• Florescent lights don’t work on dimmers. Don’t try it.
• Florescent lights don’t work well on electronic switches such as ceiling fan remote controls, electronic timers, and motion detectors. They work, but they never are fully on or fully off so they flicker.
• Lights generate heat. For every $10 you spend on lighting, you spend another $3 on air conditioning to get rid of the heat. We did not include this in our $210 savings, but it is really there.
• Florescent replacement bulbs take time to come up to full light output, perhaps 30 seconds. It was odd at first, but now we quickly get used to it and don’t notice anymore.

Switching to florescent replacement bulbs is a simple change that every household can easily make. The payback on the purchase cost is less than a year, so you will save money the first year. The reduction in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions is a significant contribution to solving global warming.
Just do it!

Mike Stenhouse
Concerned Resident of New Neighborhood

Mike Stenhouse has written a series of articles that will discuss the causes and some solutions of global warming. “Is global warming fact or fiction?” You may be surprised to hear what Mike has to say and the impact that we can make as individuals.

Newsletter Delivery Volunteers

Many thanks are due our newsletter delivery volunteers. The August volunteers included Adria & Woody Appleby & Brandon Burrows, Barbara Doster, Sherman Kahn, Norm Reid, Norman Richards, and Dave Smith.