Thursday, April 30, 2015

May 2015 Newsletter

Some like it Hot, some Not...

Thinking we just went straight from Winter to Summer this year.  If you love hot, humid days, you are in luck, but for those who like it a bit cooler, well, the wait is on for Fall.  During the next six months, we can expect our temps to remain high along with the humidity.  A/C units will be working overtime everyday and your electric costs are sure to reflect it.  Approximately 46% of the energy used in the average home goes towards heating and cooling to keep you comfortable and another 14% to heating water.  There are ways to keep your costs down while still remaining comfortable in you home.


Check/change air conditioner (furnace) air filter. Check and change your air filter on a regular basis. This should be checked monthly, especially during high usage months. A dirty filter lowers the efficiency of your heating/cooling system and increases your utility costs.

Thermostat setting  Thermostats should be set at 78° to maintain a comfortable home when you are there, raising the setting when you leave will save you cooling dollars while you are away.

Water Heater Temperature Consider setting the thermostat on your water heater to 120° or "low", in the summer it is nice to take a cooler shower and you can save a little money at the same time. 

Mosquitoes and other Summer Pests...

You may have noticed an increase in the number of Mosquitoes around the area lately.  This is the time of year when they just seem to come out of nowhere.  The Spring rains help to bring them to life and they will be with us for the warm months.  You can help to control Mosquitoes by making sure there is nothing in your yard filling with rain water and giving them a place to breed and hatch.  Mosquitoes are most active at dawn and again at dusk each day.

Yellow flies are out and about too, they can give you a nasty bite that is both itchy and painful. These flies hunt their victims by sight, so if they see you, they will try to bite you.  Only the strongest of insect repellents will work against these tough little creatures. 

Wasps and hornets are active again, to help control them and keep you from getting stung, remove any nest from around your home.

No-See-Ums, well what can we say, they are here, mostly in the early morning and the early evening hours.  There does not seem to be any way to control them, so preventing them from biting is the only answer.  There are many remedies for keeping No-See-Ums at bay, but since these are determined little bugs, not one thing is guaranteed to work!  Test them all and use what works best for you!  




Water Costs Soaring...

That drip, can you hear that drip?  Pasco County Utilities water rates continue to rise.  You can help keep the costs of water down by repairing dripping faucets and other leaks around your home immediately.  Leaking or running toilets can raise your water usage by 200 gallons per day. Please do your part to keep water waste at Aripeka West to a minimum.



Feral Cats & other Kritters...


Tis' the season for the "wildlife" at Aripeka West to give birth to their young, so expect to see the young families out and about soon.  While these little ones are just as cute as can be, please do not feed them.  It is important for them to learn to hunt their food so they can continue to live in the wild.

If you are feeding a stray or feral cat in Florida, you are considered to be the owner, harborer, or keeper. As such you must comply with laws requiring rabies vaccinations and to provide medical care if the animals become sick or injured.

Intentionally placing food or offering food in such a manner that it attracts black bears, foxes, raccoons, or sandhill cranes and thereby creates a public nuisance is prohibited.


SunWest Park...

Beautiful white sugar sand and sparkling blue spring water, it is a welcome sight to those of us in northern Pasco County.  SunWest Park is scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend, will you be there?  A white sandy beach near Aripeka West is pretty exciting.  If you plan to go, get there early, the parking lot will fill quickly only about 250 spaces available.  There must certainly be provisions for walk-ins and for those on motorcycles and bicycles, but there is nothing in the news release that explains that or the cost of admission or parking.  It is a shame that Old Dixie Hwy is closed from the Aripeka Road entrance, but it is and it looks like it is a permanent closure.  A determined walker could still get through, but it is blocked by a dune and the road is very rugged with many potholes that quickly fill with water with even a little bit of rain. The main entrance is off US 19 across the street from Venom's, the road winds back and crosses Old Dixie at the lake.  For those of you who went last year to the park for their weekend special events, a lot has changed, all for the good to the beach and the amenities!  It is very pretty, with paved parking, restrooms, palm trees and a beautiful white sandy beach!  The sand has been trucked in, it is not sand and limestone from the mine.

RVer's...

There are vacancies in the RV Park at this time, but please refrain from parking your cars or placing your belongings on these sites.   During the summer months we have many RVer's that stop only for a night or so and they will be unable to get into a vacant site if your belongings are there.  If you have guests, please have them park on your site or in the park where their vehicle does not interfere with other sites, whether vacant or occupied.  Overnight guests must be registered with the office and there is a $5/person/day charge for these guests.  Children and Grandchildren (under age 12) may stay FREE for a visit, but must be registered.  Children or Grandchildren who stay longer than a week or become full time residents will be added to the site and there will be a $5/person/day or a $50/person/month charge for any persons exceeding the 2 person limit.  Our RV Site Rentals are based on 2 persons /site.

Mobile Home Residents...

Please do not park your vehicles or place your belongings on any adjacent sites.  The MH sites are 50 feet wide and 100 feet deep.  Please respect those boundaries.  Clothes lines must be either retracted when not in use or be the "umbrella style".  Under no conditions may they be strung between trees.  If you have any questions about what is allowed and what is not, please contact the office.  If you have guests, please make sure that they are parked on your lot.  Overnight guests must be registered in the office, extra person charges may apply.  



Aripeka Community Club...

The Aripeka Community Club Pot Luck Dinner will be on May 4th at 6PM.  Please bring a dish to share and enjoy spending some time with your neighbors.  Catch up on what's happening in Aripeka!







Mother's Day...


Mother's Day is Sunday May 10th, so don't forget your Mom!  Make her dinner, take her to dinner, buy her flowers or candy or jewelry if you want, but the most important thing you can do for your Mom is to spend the day with her, she will like this so much more than any gift you can buy! If she is far away, call her and talk.  By the way, don't forget the Mother's Day Card, they don't cost much and Mom's really love them!


What do people do on Mother’s Day?
Many people send cards or gifts to their mother or mother figure or make a special effort to visit her. Common Mother's Day gifts are flowers, chocolate, candy, clothing, jewelry and treats, such as a beauty treatment or trip to a spa. Some families organize an outing for all of their members or hold a special meal at home or in a restaurant. In the days and weeks before Mother's Day, many schools help their pupils to prepare a handmade card or small gift for their mothers.
Public life
Mother's Day is not a federal holiday. Organizations, businesses and stores are open or closed, just as they are on any other Sunday in the year. Public transit systems run to their normal Sunday schedules. Restaurants may be busier than usual, as some people take their mothers out for a treat.
Background
The origins of Mother's Day are attributed to different people. Many believe that two women, Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis were important in establishing the tradition of Mother's Day in the United States. Other sources say that Juliet Calhoun Blakely initiated Mother’s Day in Albion, Michigan, in the late 1800s. Her sons paid tribute to her each year and urged others to honor their mothers.
Around 1870, Julia Ward Howe called for Mother's Day to be celebrated each year to encourage pacifism and disarmament amongst women. It continued to be held in Boston for about ten years under her sponsorship, but died out after that.
In 1907, Anna Jarvis held a private Mother's Day celebration in memory of her mother, Ann Jarvis, in Grafton, West Virginia. Ann Jarvis had organized "Mother's Day Work Clubs" to improve health and cleanliness in the area where she lived. Anna Jarvis launched a quest for Mother's Day to be more widely recognized. Her campaign was later financially supported by John Wanamaker, a clothing merchant from Philadelphia.
In 1908, she was instrumental in arranging a service in the Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia, which was attended by 407 children and their mothers. The church has now become the International Mother's Day Shrine. It is a tribute to all mothers and has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.

Mother's Day has become a day that focuses on generally recognizing mothers' and mother figures' roles. Mother's Day has also become an increasingly important event for businesses in recent years. This is particularly true of restaurants and businesses manufacturing and selling cards and gift items.

Cinco de Mayo...


What is Cinco de Mayo?

Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday full of rich history and Mexican pride. This day commemorates the Mexican Army’s astonishing triumph over the French that took place on May 5, 1862. The Mexican Army was greatly outnumbered by the French, who had also not lost a battle in over fifty years!
In hopes of slowing the French’s advancement toward Mexico City, General Ignacio Zaragoza and his troops attacked the French Army in the small village of Puebla. This attack resulted in the unlikely victory for the Mexican Army. On September 16, 1862, President Juarez declared that the date of the Battle of Puebla would be made an annual holiday. Hence, Cinco de Mayo became a popular holiday in Mexico and in areas where there is a large Mexican population.

How Do People Celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

There are various Cinco de Mayo traditions that are celebrated around the world. In Mexico, most of the Cinco de Mayo celebrations that take place occur in the town of Puebla (where the battle took place). There are large parades that feature people dressed up as Mexican and French soldiers. Vendors sell traditional Mexican foods as well as patriotic clothing and accessories for people to wear during the celebration. There is also sometimes a reenactment of the Mexican’s victory over the French troops that takes place in Puebla for visitors and residents to attend.
In the United States and some parts of Canada, people often host Cinco de Mayo parties with their friends and family. The colors of the Mexican flag (red, white, and green) often appear in costumes and party decorations. People decorate for Cinco de Mayo with balloons, streamers, and flowers. Mariachi bands or other Mexican folk music is also played at these celebrations and there is often traditional Mexican dancing. Another common Cinco de Mayo tradition that takes place is a feast of traditional Mexican dishes such as tacos, enchiladas, and salsa and tortilla chips.


Other parts of the world also have their own Cinco de Mayo traditions, though they are not as notable as the traditions in Mexico and the United States. In Vancouver, Canada there is an annual skydiving event and in the Cayman Islands there is an air guitar competition that takes each year on May 5. Furthermore, residents of the island of Malta in the Mediterrranean Sea are encouraged to drink Mexican beer on Cinco de Mayo.

Memorial Day ~ May 25th...

Memorial Day History

Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.
The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
The ceremonies centered around the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns.

Local Observances Claim To Be First 
Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in various places. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.
Today, cities in the North and the South claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, Ga., claim the title, as well as Richmond, Va. The village of Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two years earlier. A stone in a Carbondale, Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the first Decoration Day ceremony took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale was the wartime home of Gen. Logan. Approximately 25 places have been named in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South where most of the war dead were buried.

Official Birthplace Declared 
In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the “birthplace” of Memorial Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-staff. Supporters of Waterloo’s claim say earlier observances in other places were either informal, not community-wide or one-time events.
By the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities.
It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May, as were some other federal holidays.

Some States Have Confederate Observances 
Many Southern states also have their own days for honoring the Confederate dead. Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on the last Monday of April, Alabama on the fourth Monday of April, and Georgia on April 26. North and South Carolina observe it on May 10, Louisiana on June 3 and Tennessee calls that date Confederate Decoration Day. Texas celebrates Confederate Heroes Day January 19 and Virginia calls the last Monday in May Confederate Memorial Day.
Gen. Logan’s order for his posts to decorate graves in 1868 “with the choicest flowers of springtime” urged: “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. ... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”
The crowd attending the first Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery was approximately the same size as those that attend today’s observance, about 5,000 people. Then, as now, small American flags were placed on each grave — a tradition followed at many national cemeteries today. In recent years, the custom has grown in many families to decorate the graves of all departed loved ones.
The origins of special services to honor those who die in war can be found in antiquity. The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War over 24 centuries ago that could be applied today to the 1.1 million Americans who have died in the nation’s wars: “Not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men.”
To ensure the sacrifices of America ’s fallen heroes are never forgotten, in December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed and the president signed into law “The National Moment of Remembrance Act,” P.L. 106-579, creating the White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance. The commission’s charter is to “encourage the people of the United States to give something back to their country, which provides them so much freedom and opportunity” by encouraging and coordinating commemorations in the United States of Memorial Day and the National Moment of Remembrance.
The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation. As Moment of Remembrance founder Carmella LaSpada states: “It’s a way we can all help put the memorial back in Memorial Day.”


 Armed Forces Day ~ May 16th...

Many Americans celebrate Armed Forces Day annually on the third Saturday of May. It is a day to pay tribute to men and women who serve the United States’ armed forces. Armed Forces Day is also part of Armed Forces Week, which begins on the second Saturday of May.
What do people do?
Many events across the United States take place on Armed Forces Day to honor Americans in uniform who served their country in times of war and peace. Those who are honored on this day include people who serve the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard. National Guard and Reserve units may celebrate Armed Forces Day/Week over any period in May because of their unique training schedules. Events and activities may include:
Multi-service military displays in areas open for the public.
Various educational activities that teach children about the armed forces.
“Support the Troops” themed motorcycle rides.
Large parades and other local celebrations.
Certain types of music are also played at Armed Forces Day events, including at memorials and at cemeteries, as a way to respect those in the armed forces who died for their country. For example, buglers have played a bugle call, known simply as Taps, on Armed Forces Day in recent years. Taps is usually sounded by the United States military at events such as flag ceremonies, memorial services and funerals.
Background
On August 31, 1949, Louis Johnson, who was the United States’ Secretary of Defense, announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy and Air Force Days. The event stemmed from the armed forces’ unification under one department – the Department of Defense. The Army, Navy and Air Force leagues adopted the newly formed day. The Marine Corps League declined to drop support for Marine Corps Day but supports Armed Forces Day too.
The first Armed Forces Day was celebrated on Saturday, May 20, 1950. The theme for that day was “Teamed for Defense”, which expressed the unification of all military forces under one government department. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the day was designed to expand public understanding of what type of job was performed and the role of the military in civilian life.
Armed Forces Day was a day for the military to show "state-of-the-art" equipment to Americans. It was also a day to honor and acknowledge Americans in the armed forces. Parades, open houses, receptions and air shows were held at the inaugural Armed Forces Day.  Armed Forces Day is still celebrated nationwide today and is part of Armed Forces Week.

May Calendar...

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