Plea to Slow Down

A neighbor on lower Canyon Crest Road here in Altadena posted two large signs this past weekend pleading with drivers to slow down. A small, young fawn was presumably struck and killed by a driver. It’s another reminder for all of us to slow down. We’ve lost a beautiful creature to someone’s reckless driving.

Power Outage Energy Savings Tips

After our power outage on Saturday from 2:30 p.m. to approximately 2:30 a.m. (or that's when I woke up and found that the power was restored), I thought this article from the Star News on Sunday had some good ideas to help reduce power consumption and in turn help the planet.

Under the Home Electronics section:

• Unplug DVD players and TVs, or plug them into a power strip that you can switch off. Sixty to 80 percent of the electricity they use is consumed while they're idle, powering light displays and "instant on" features.
• Unplug "wall warts," or plugs attached to a black transformer box (like a cell phone charger). If they are plugged into an outlet, they suck up electricity whether charging another device or not.
• Ideally, unplug or turn off your computer when it's not in use. If you can't do this, use it's power-saving sleep mode, which uses 60 to 80 percent less energy than full-power mode.
• Turn off printers, copiers and fax machines when they're not in use. Don't rely on sleep mode.

Potential savings: As much as $137 a year.

Using power management on your desktop computer could save 900 kilowatt-hours a year. That amounts to 1,500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of driving from New York to Salt Lake City.

One of Our Own in The Star News!

Dave Doody, a Meadows resident, was featured in today's Star News page A4. Dave, with the Jet Propulsion laboratory's Cassini project talked about the ways controllers on Earth communicate real-time with the spacecraft Cassini, which is orbiting Saturn nearly a billion miles away, during a lecture at Pasadena City College on Friday. Real-time for Cassini is almost an hour and a half away using speed-of-light radio transmissions. Doody's lecture dealt with Cassini's latest observations from Saturn. He also discussed how the busy spacecraft obtains and then transmits data to Earth.

Way to go Dave!

Altadena National Night Out

The Altadena Sheriffs Station will hold its annual "National Night Out" on Tuesday, August 1, 2006. This year they will honor all of their Neighborhood Watch groups by having a barbecue at Farnsworth Park, pot-luck style, from 6-9 p.m.

And remember, The Meadows does have an established Neighborhood Watch, although we probably need to update our information.

For the National Night Out, the Sheriffs will provide the burgers and hot dogs. They're requesting that other groups bring chips, sodas, salads and desserts.

Altadena Community Gardens Annual Picnic

The Altadena Community Gardens Annual Garden Picnic is this Saturday, July 15 from 12 noon to 4:00 p.m.

This delightful annual event brings friends and neighbors together to enjoy the bounty of the gardeners. There's great food, fun, garden tours, raffle, and the Brown Mountain Jazz Band. Several of our Meadows neighbors will be participating.

The Garden will provide the meat and drinks. Each Garden Member brings a dish to serve 40.

Garden member and one guest attend free with the donation of a dish. Children under 5 are free. Children 6-12 are $4.00 each.

Other guests, including Garden Associates are $7 in advance and $8 at the door.

Neighborhood Night Out

From the Altadena Sheriffs:

Preparations are being made for National Night Out, August 1, 2006.

This year we'd like to honor all of our Neighborhood Watch groups by having a Barbecue at Farnsworth Park, potluck style from 6pm-9pm. A National Night Out presentation is to begin at 7pm in the Amphitheater. Altadena Sheriff's station would provide the burgers and hot dogs, and would like a commitment from each group to bring either chips, sodas, salads, and desserts to share with your fellow Neighborhood Watch groups.

Thanks Marjo!

Marjo, a Meadows resident, donated over two months worth of money for upkeep of the Meadow's sign and garden. She added that it is a pleasure to drive past it daily and appreciated it very much. We thank you bery much, Marjo.

FireSafe Council Receives Another Grant!

Meadows FireSafe Council has been awarded another grant! AllState Insurance selected three FireSafe Councils and awarded each $5,000. The money is to be used for non-brush clearance activities. Once we get final approval of our application, our FireSafe Council is considering using the funds for setting up our own non-profit, funding the educational materials we’ve provided and helping defray costs of the anticipated public events.

Speaking of which, the check from Allstate Insurance will be presented on Friday, July 14th in Sierra Madre. Then, on Saturday, July 15th from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., we’ll participate in a community outreach event with Allstate, L.A. County Fire Department, the Forest Service and various other fire prevention organizations. The event will take place at Parking Lot I at the Rose Bowl, just outside KidSpace. Volunteers are needed to man the booth. Please call Margaret Bridwell at 626-798-0489 to help support the council.

Neighborhoos Watch July

This past month, there have been several disturbing incidents in the neighborhood:

Two suspects attempted to break into a home on El Prieto in mid-day while the owner was at home. The suspects rang the doorbell a few times and when it wasn’t answered, one began climbing through the kitchen window. Thankfully, the owner scared them off and they ran on foot up El Prieto Road. They were not apprehended as had been earlier thought.

There was possibly another similar incident on Canyon Crest, although it hasn’t been confirmed.

Another neighbor reported that food had been stolen out of a spare refrigerator in her garage.

And yet another neighbor reported that she had a couple of instances of young adults ringing her door as if to solicit something. It was found that a few churches (and they may be from out of state) have been dropping off young adults in the neighborhood to sell magazine subscriptions.

Please don’t wait to report unusual activities and crimes to the sheriff. They need to be fully informed of activities in our neighborhood. In addition, we want strangers to the area to know that we watch out for our neighbors and our welfare.