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| Recently a local radio station had a contest for Father's Day where 3 dads (nominated by their kids) had a dance-off at the corner of Washington and Meridian. The dads had to dance 30 minutes while passers and drivers-by voted. The winner and the offspring who nominated him would be flown to LA for a taping of the show "So You Think You Can Dance".
One of the nominated dads was our very own Jim Sharp. Jim shook his booty and sweated, and, yes, he won!
Fortunately for us, at least for now, the radio station has a clip of his winning ways on their web site. Just click HERE to watch the booty-shake-and-brief-pole-dance. (It's not as bad as you think.)
Here are some photos from the dance off as well, including Jim and *both* his daughters. Our winning dad is going to end up purchasing a ticket for the other daughter so she, too, can go to LA.
Congratulations, Jim!!! |
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| The rain really handicapped our garage sale Saturday and Sunday, but in spite of it, we had 8 houses participating on Saturday. Sunday's continued chill and rain pretty much made a bust of any garage sale attempts. In spite of the rain, though, residents reported a lot of traffic coming through on Saturday. I know that the Strawberry Festival over at Faith Church brought a lot of people into the area. I think between that and the LN Rummage/Plant Sale, people kind of detoured through the neighborhood.
Reportedly one garage saler made (are you sitting down?) $800!! Another said they made $200! Cleaning and clearing out stuff obviously pays pretty well! Maybe next year the weather will cooperate and we can get our 15 participants. I'd like to think that we would have had that many on Saturday if the weather had been decent. Still, 8 houses in a steady rain isn't too bad.
The second dumpster we got late on Friday is full. Obviously, we needed it!! It seems we made the right decision on spending the money for it. I'm going to try to find out how much it would cost to have it emptied and put back in place. For the money we spent, we can have it until this coming Friday, and maybe with better weather, people will be a little more inclined to do some cleaning, so emptying it may be worth it.
The Ice Cream Social was this afternoon. At least the rain stopped, and although it was slightly chilly, we had a number of people come over and get their strawberries and vanilla ice cream. Thanks go to Libby Stiles who handled feeding the huddled masses! I've posted some new photos on the web site. Click on "The Neighborhood" and then on "2006 Tri-Funathon". Again, the weather probably deterred some people from coming by since it wasn't exactly swimming weather, but those who came enjoyed chatting and catching up. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed for next year, I guess.
We'd sure like to have you comments on the weekend... You can use the web site or click below on "Add Comment" under this blog entry.
Next up... the Fourth of July parade!!!
-Holly |
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Boy, do we know how to dump or what?!
The dumpster provided by Keep Indianapolis Beautiful was full at 8:30 this
morning! That's good news... and bad. They only provide one dumpster
and since it's one that belongs to the Parks Dept, we had no way to
get it dumped and put back in, so, I made an executive decision to
spend some money to get us a 2nd dumpster since we had several
homeowners who still had things to dump, not to
mention there may be garage sale leftovers to go in it.
On the kind of good news side is that the place we're getting the 2nd
dumpster from "ran out" of dumpsters in the size we wanted, they're
sending us the next largest size (which would have run us $100 more
had we actually ordered that size).
When I drove around the neighborhood this morning (around
10:30-11:00) we had 8 houses participating in the garage sale. For a
Friday, I consider this a moderately good turnout. I hope we have
even more participation tomorrow. (I expect Sunday to be lower, and
indeed, most of the homeowners to whom I spoke today weren't planning
on doing Sunday.)
Even by 11:00, most of the homeowners said they'd had 25+ people stop
by already. Not all of them bought things, obviously, but that's
still a fair bit of traffic for a Friday. Pat reported that she had
gotten about $100 in sales. I hope others did as well!
The one comment I heard was that they wish there was
more/better/flashier signage out advertising the garage sale.
(Remember that our 82nd St sign was stolen.)
Soooo... I made another executive decision, and I found a sign place
that made us a banner to hang at the corner of 82nd & Hague that says
"Shadow Ridge Garage Sale". John Fishman (thanks, John!!) is going to
be hanging it (it may even be hung by now!) for us. I hope to be able
to draw in more traffic from the Strawberry Festival and the Lawrence
North rummage sale that way. The sign will be able to be re-used
every year since it does not have dates/times on it.
We're also going to be putting some balloons out at each entrance and
a couple other signs to aid directing garage sale traffic into the
neighborhood.
So far I feel pretty good about our "Tri-Funathon" weekend. Thanks
(and Happy Birthday!) to Pat for her work on organizing things and
working with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful getting the dumpster.
Check out the website photos if you haven't already. They're under
the "The Neighborhood" tab in the navigation bar.
One other nice thing... I heard a couple comments this morning that people who had come through the garage sale were complimenting how pretty Shadow Ridge is (I agree!). One woman even asked about houses for sale in the neighborhood as she is looking to downsize a bit from her Carmel home. (There are 4 houses for sale that I know of at the moment... one on Stonebranch S Dr, and 3 on Wind Run near the cul-de-sac.) I think we should be really proud of ourselves!!
More pictures to come as the weekend continues!
-Holly |
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| I'm excited for the prospects of our big "Tri-Funathon" weekend!
Besides our advertisements in the Star and the local Topics, that weekend (NEXT weekend!) Lawrence North is having a rumage sale and Faith Presbyterian is having their Strawberry Festival. There will be lots of people in the area and our garage sale participants should benefit from the extra traffic.
The goal is to have at least 15 houses participate in the Garage Sale weekend. We had 15 last year, and I would like to at least meet that. (And, yes, I'll be driving around the neighborhood counting houses... and taking photos to post up here on the web site. So if you see a middle-aged fat chick casing out your house with a camera, don't sweat it. It's only me. :) )
A brief note about the 4th of July Child ID program... Pat says she has only 4 spots left of the 18 we had available. This leaves a little room for "walk-ins" that day, but not much. If you want to have the kids in your life fingerprinted and photographed and receive a CD with the information, please call Pat at 842-8228 to get your name on the list.
Also, we're going to be posting event items in the information box on the cabana, so when you head over that way, check it out!
Enjoy the beautiful weather they tell us is in store this week. Hope it holds for the entire Tri-Funathon weekend!
-Holly
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| I ended up having to put the Garage Sale sign back in at the Hague Road entrance today. Someone had removed it and leaned it up against the brick pillars there. I decided to come in the 82nd Street entrance this afternoon only to discover that the sign there is completely missing.
It's a shame that someone would think this was fun or funny or ... whatever. What's even more a shame is that those signs are reusable (and have been reused for the last couple years). The pair cost us about $100 originally, and we just paid $25 to have the date updated in the vinyl lettering, so it also has cost us. You may not think that's a lot of money, but given our budget and given the amount of money we've had to spend on repairs this year, it is. We've not been as lucky/successful with getting donations for our Special Events either. Many corporations (Marsh, Lowe's, Kroger's, etc.) have dropped "small" donations totally.
We still think it's important for us to have community events like our garage sale and parade. That sense of comraderie is important. We'll just have to be more creative about finding ways to fund them.
For those who've noticed the painting of the brick pillars at the Hague Road entrance... well, it was to give the impression of "used" brick, like the brick patterns in the houses of the development. The result (at least for the moment) kind of seems to be more painted than used. (I've been referring to them as the Dalmatian Bricks.) We're going to get them sanded down some to help tone them down a bit.
I got a call this morning from a resident who has health problems and needed some assistance with some yard chores. (This person is limited financially at the moment.) We managed to get some help for this particular chore, but as our neighborhood ages, so do many of our homeowners. (I'm one of them!) If you are willing to spend a little time helping those who are limited physically or financially, please let us know! Send email or call Monon to volunteer.
Two updates in two days... what is the world coming to? -Holly |
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| Well, it wasn't a minute too soon given the hot weather over Memorial Day weekend! But the pool is open, and, given the number of people over there yesterday when I visited for a bit, our residents are happy!
I just posted the 2006 Pool Rules on the web site, but we also need to make some comments about the rules and courteous use of the pool. These have changed just a tad in order to clarify some things, one of which is that there are 4 guests allowed per LOT, not per resident. (To leave it "per resident" might mean that a family of 4 living in Shadow Ridge could have up to 16 guests!) If you're really wanting to host a party, please contact the Board (see the "Contact Us" tab) for special permission. Just remember that the pool is for our residents to enjoy. Be courteous.
When I was at the pool, I was a bit... ummmmm... concerned about some of the language I heard, This wasn't bad language from teenagers, either. It was from some adults. Now, I've used some R-rated words myself, but PLEASE remember that there are young children there. Keep your language G-rated around the pool!
Remember that when it's quiet out during Adult-Swim, voices travel. Unless you really want the neighbors to know what your Aunt Tilde is doing with the mailman and "Special Delivery"... use your inside voice around the pool. :)
The life preserver is NOT NOT NOT a toy! Please let your kids know that it shouldn't be taken down from the wall (nor should the catch pole or skimmer.) If you see someone take it down and start playing with it, SAY SOMETHING! It would be a tradgedy if something should happen and the life preserver couldn't be located easily.
I saw some kids doing backflips into the pool from the pool deck. This really isn't safe. It's considered diving, and diving isn't allowed for safety reasons. Don't rely on other people telling your kids the rules. Make sure they know, and that they understand safety around the pool.
If you have a toddler at the pool, please WATCH him/her! I saw a couple very young kids right at the edge of the pool with no adult in grabbing range. Don't let something awful happen. and don't expect others to watch your kids. Remember that anyone under the age of 14 must be accompanied by 16+ year old, but the younger the child, the older the responsible person should be.
One last "please"... Floaties (those arm band inflatables) are NOT a substitute for a proper life jacket or proper supervision. Sometimes it's downright scary to watch. If you truly want your child to be safe, get a real life jacket for them.
Okay, enough of that... :)
Yes, we know that there are still some issues with the pool (like the water fountain) that need to be addressed. We're going to make sure the restrooms are marked for hims and hers, and other fairly minor things... but we wanted to make sure it was open on time, and with almost 90 degree temps, it was good to see the crowd making use of it. If you have a comment or question about the pool, please use the "Contact Us" tab on the Navbar.
And don't forget the Garage Sale/Clean-up and Social the weekend of June 9-11!
Holly |
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Lots of little things happening this morning (results from things we've been working on), so I just figured I would catch everybody up.
The pond fountain: Affordable HOA removed the fountain at the end of last season, and they still have it in their possession. Bernie (Monon) had talked to Jesse (Affordable) a couple weeks ago (just after Matt's accident), and Jesse had promised to get it in for us. I told Bernie this morning that it wasn't in yet, so he was going to call Jesse again to find out when it would go in. One of our homeowners heard a rumor that Jesse was going to refuse to relinquish the fountain, but he has no reason to do so, so I'm just treating that as a rumor unless proved otherwise. If worse comes to worst, I will drive down to Affordable myself and pick it up. (But please don't ask me to install it!)
The pond scum: Yes, the common pond is starting to look a tad scummy (in part because there's no fountain to move the water). Bernie is going to contact the company with whom the contract was signed in January to see what's going on with that.
The pool repairs: They're underway. Word is that they will indeed be finished for a Memorial Day opening. The gentleman doing the repairs is someone with whom Matt has dealt many times, and Matt trusted his work completely.
The pool itself: Affordable Pool (NOT to be confused with Affordable HOA Management) picked up the keys this morning in order to start checking out the pool and the pool equipment, also keeping in mind a Memorial Day opening.
The Hague entrance sign: The layout for our Hague entrance sign is done and approved, but the color was off. (The previous sign was actually too orange when compared to our original 82nd Street sign -- the Hague sign had been replaced once already due to vandalism.) I've asked the sign company if they can somehow sample the color over at 82nd Street in order to replicate it more closely. I'm waiting to hear back on that.
The garage sale: I picked up our updated entrance signs for the garage sale today and got them up at both entrances which will give people driving by (as well as potential participants) a month's notice.
Heavy trash: We had a couple residents who had put out what is labeled "Heavy Trash" for pickup yesterday, except it didn't get picked up. The Mayor's Action Center (327-4MAC / 327-4622) has been called to complain, but at least one of the houses had multiple "Heavy Trash" items. That house is a rental and the tenant has moved now, so we'll have Monon contact the company that manages that rental.
There are some things you need to know about trash pickup with regard to "Heavy Trash". Fortunately, the indygov.org web pages have everything you need to know, including dealing with toxic waste and items that contain freon that need to be disposed in a special manner, but items such as hot water heaters (one of the items left out for pickup), TVs, stoves, furniture, etc. are allowable.
Briefly, you can put out two items of Heavy Trash within any given 4 weeks time. Heavy Trash goes out with your regular trash on your regular day (the Government Profile page confirms this, even though we're under Republic and not DPW). It also counts as one of your allowed 10 bags of trash.
For more in-depth information, check out these sites. If you want to check the Government Profile site and live on one of our Stonebranch Drives, don't include the South, East or North direction... just use Stonebranch. The resulting profile also includes information about township, local and city-county offices that service your address.
And, last, but certainly not least... Matt. Bernie saw Matt on Sunday and had spoken with him this morning. He's in decent spirits, though he does have pain still, obviously. He is in therapy 4 hours a day, 2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon. He wheels himself around the rehab without a problem. He and his wife go outside on the grounds of the hospital for walks/wheels. Lucky that the weather has been so cooperative with that!
Though Matt won't be in the office, Bernie expects that within a few weeks, Matt will be back working part of the time, making phone calls and tracking things again. How fortunate for us! And how grateful we all are that Matt's recovery is going well. He still has a long haul, more operations, skin grafts... but it could have been so much worse. Matt is one of those genuinely nice people, and this all makes you wonder why "bad things happen to good people". It has been such a pleasure to work with him. I look forward to his return.
I don't know about you guys, but I am loving this weather... warm, but not too warm, and low humidity, sunny, breezy... just lovely. I'm in the process of picking out some annual flowers to get out in the yard to brighten it up until the perennials get into full bloom. My only problem is that I tend to go overboard and buy more plants than what I really have room for. They're all so pretty! And it's truly amazing how just a little bit of color in your flowers can color your whole attitude.
Holly
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Hi, everyone.
I've been very remiss the last couple of weeks because of things happening in my own life, but that doesn't mean things haven't been happening in the community.
The first and most important news is regarding our property manager from Monon, Matt McQuiston. Two weeks ago (April 21st), Matt was in a very serious accident. He is lucky to have survived, but has a very long road ahead of him in terms of repair and rehabilitation.
As I understand, he had attended a breakfast Bible study and then gone to donate blood. On his way to his first meeting, he had a flat tire on I-70. He pulled over, stepped out of the car and became light-headed, stumbling into the driving lane, where he was first hit by a semi, thrown forward and then the semi ran over his legs. The semi stopped as did another driver who was a nurse. He was taken to Methodist which has a great orthopedic department, the same one that has worked on many an injured race driver over the years.
He had surgery on one leg on Monday (April 24th) and the other on Wednesday. I visited Matt in the hospital on Tuesday in-between for a few minutes. (If you've never been in a hospital, let me tell you that getting any kind of rest or peace in the hospital is next to impossible, so short visits are the best.) He's had several since and will be facing many more in the months to come.
Matt was moved to a rehab late last week where he will remain until he's ready for the next round of surgeries. I've tried to call him to check in to see how he's doing, but I haven't been able to catch him.
I have spoken to one of our homeowners who also happens to work and attend the same church where Matt and his family are active. The church is accepting directed donations to help cover Matt's out-of-pocket expenses. (Thank goodness he has insurance!)
If you would like to donate, you can send a check (or even just a Get Well card if you want) made payable to East 91st Street Christian Church to:
East 91st Street Christian Church
Att: Kevin Hibner
6049 East 91st Street
Indianapolis, IN 46250-1398
Kevin will make sure the donation makes it to Matt and his family. (Unfortunately, donations directed to an individual are not tax-deductible.)
We'll keep you up on Matt's progress over the next months. In the meantime, Bernie Eggener (the owner of Monon Management) will be our acting property manager.
Which brings me to what's happening...
Pool repairs are underway in order to get the pool ready for opening. We don't have the exact date yet (it depends on how quickly the repairs go), but stay tuned here and to our next newsletter. We had lots and lots of things to do at the pool, including replacing the gate to the baby pool.
The next newsletter and billing will be out very early (like the middle of May rather than the middle of June) since we have a number of things happening in the upcoming weeks. I'm working on the newsletter now and hope to have it done so it can be mailed the 15th. We'll be sending the billing for our dues at the same time in order to save postage (a not-insignificant amount of money) from a second mailing.
We're getting bids on weed control in the public areas. It seems the dandelions had a meeting over the winter and chose to move into our common areas.
The downed street sign has finally been replaced by the city, and the masonry has been completed for the entrance sign. We should have the sign itself soon.
We have several upcoming events besides the pool opening. June 9-11th will be the "Tri-Funathon". Pat Villas, our Special Events co-ordinator, has put together a weekend that will join together our annual garage sale, our annual ice cream social and a neighborhood clean-up project (held with the support of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful that supplies bags, gloves and even a dumpster!).
The garage sale will be a 3-day event this year, held 8am-3pm, Friday June 9 through Sunday June 11th. We hope to have more participation than we have in the past (usually around 10%). We'd like to see 15-20% participation, so the 3-day event will give people more "bang" for their time and effort. You can have your garage sale any or all of the days that weekend. The Board will advertise the sale in the local papers as well as the Star, and our signs will be going out at the entrances today or tomorrow to give drive-bys a month to get the sale on their calendars as well. As you do your spring cleaning, set aside the stuff you want to get rid of and make some money from it!
That same weekend we hope you'll donate an hour of your time to help make sure the neighborhood and common areas are prettied up. You can pick up bags and gloves from Pat's house at 7815 Hollow Ridge (2nd house on the south side of Hollow Ridge), and beautify your little corner of Shadow Ridge. These items are free. (Free is good!)
When you're done with your cleanup projects, you can dump your stuff in the dumpster that will be in the common area at the 82nd Street entrance. (Please note that no construction, demolition materials, tires, refrigerators or air conditioners will be accepted. No toxic materials. If you have a refrigerator or air conditioner that needs to be picked up, call the Mayor's Action Center at 327-4622. No household hazerdous waste (motor oil, bleach, detergent, etc.). If you have household hazerdous waste please call the Tox Drop program at 327-4TOX.)
To round out the weekend, the Shadow Ridge Ice Cream Social will be from 3:00-5:00 on Sunday, June 11th at the pool cabana. Come by, bring your suit if you want, and get to know your neighbors. It'll be a relaxing way to end the weekend.
Also upcoming is our 4th of July parade! Decorate those bikes, and get out your best red, white and blue gear. We'll have a fire engine, a clown and some cold treats for you. Pat is also working on trying to get the Sheriff's office out to do a Kid ID program, which we hope to make an annual event. The parade will start at 11:00am. If you are a veteran, call Pat at 842-8228. We'll put you in the parade!
Put these dates on your calendar now! And as soon as we can, we'll let you know when the pool opening will be. (We're aiming for Memorial Day weekend, but the repairs have to be finished first.)
This wil teach me to procrastinate on the blog!! :) Bad Holly! Bad Holly!
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| Hi!
It's April, and it's been a couple weeks since I wrote anything, so it's time.
Just a reminder that if you haven't done so already, please sign up for the neighborhood discussion list (ShadowRidge) on Yahoo! groups. If you're not sure how to subscribe, go to the mail Shadow Ridge website (www.shadowridge.info) on the Contact Us link and click on the Mailing List Request tab.
The new Board had its first meeting, and I think we got a lot accomplished, especially since we had to bring Matt and Monon up to date. We're looking at trying to finish off the repairs to the pool area, at neighborhood security and planning a couple special events for the community.
One comment here about neighborhood security... we are going to try to get the Neighborhood Crime Watch folks to meet with us (over at the Library). I truly hope we have a good turnout for the meeting. It will be in May, though we don't have a solid date on it yet. Please attend this important meeting. Also, if you see a someone just sitting in a car in the neighborhood or acting in a suspicious manner, don't approach the person yourself. Call the Sheriff's office. Let them handle it. More than likely it's nothing, but on the off chance, they're trained. We're not.
Look forward to the Annual Garage Sale (June 9-11) and Ice Cream Social (June 11) as well as the Fourth of July parade! We're going to be posting flyers on the mailboxes and dropping off information to each house soon.
With regard to The Accident, the city has sprayed the street sign post green... that says the city knows they need to replace it. IPL has taped the street light with red. That says they know about it and need to replace it. Matt has gotten pricing on replacing the sign, and he's getting bids on the mason work needed to replace the pillars. Unfortunately this will be going through our insurance since the driver of the car no longer lives at the address listed on his license, and the insurance policy he listed was cancelled last September. Our insurance company will pursue him via their means in order to get reimbursed for the costs involved. Most likely the police will be pursuing him as well. We hope that the other driver who got hit (a Shadow Ridge resident) is finding some resolution via the same method.
Matt is out of the office this week, but if you have a concern, just call Monon (251-9393). We hope he and his family enjoy their spring break.
Get involved! Get to know your neighbors! Let's keep Shadow Ridge a true community. |
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| Hi again, everyone...
Matt tells me that the driver responsible for taking out our sign apparently no longer resides at the address listed on his driver's license and that his insurance was cancelled last September. I wish I could say I was more surprised by this news than I am. I guess I'm more jaded than I want to admit.
As a result, we're going to submit the cost for replacing the sign to our insurance company (Nationwide) and let them go after the driver. The new sign will cost over $3000. Matt is still getting bids on the mason work for the brick pillars.
You should have received your newsletter, welcome packet from Monon, and the dues statement. We're still having an issue with a few homeowners who are being assessed a late fee that really don't owe one. This became an issue while we were still with Affordable when the payment due date was miscalculated, and then checks were not processed in a timely manner. Though Affordable told the Board (twice) that the problem had been resolved, we have already received reports that it was not corrected before the accounts were handed over to Monon. We will be addressing this with Monon.
We have a Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday at 6:30pm. The meeting is held at 7815 Hollow Ridge and is open to all homeowners. Please feel free to attend, or, if you have something you would like discussed at the meeting, please send email through the Contact Us page or call Matt at 251-9393.
Holly |
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