Chatham Chatlist Highlights

Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:49:46 -0400
From: Debbie Roos
Subject: PYO strawberries!

Jean’s Berry Patch in Apex – call for opening date (any day now!)

Oakley Farm in Chapel Hill – open now!

Visit Cooperative Extension’s Growing Small Farms website at http://www.ces..ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/pyofarms.html for details.

You can also find pre-picked local strawberries at our local farmers’ markets starting the week of April 26 (possibly sooner but it’s not a sure thing): http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/marketinfo.html

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Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 08:58:52 -0400
From: “Gaby Fornari” <gabyfornari@chathamhabitat.org>
Subject: Call for Volunteers:  WOMEN BUILD, May 4-7, Chatham Habitat

Women Volunteers!  Please join us in building affordable housing in partnership with families in need!

Habitat for Humanity International, Lowe’s Home Improvement, and Chatham Habitat are promoting a week in which women from the community come together to support each other in service work and in home construction.

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Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:26:38 -0400
From: Kira Dirlik
Subject: Continuing Tree Saga

As I continue to observe the elms, I see that it is something  entirely different from the dropping leaf skeletons going on.   A  different predator from the past two years.  The leaves are slowly  being completely consumed, not skeletonized.   And I also noticed that  under the elms is my Hamamelis tree, about 10 feet tall.  The tips of  about 10% of the leaves were rolled up like a carpet, and inside were  little green caterpillars (now no longer of this world) and a few  grown ones out and eating the leaves all up…. green inchworms.

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Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:37:54 -0400
From: Mia Munn
Subject: Monday’s school board mtg

I got to the mtg late, so I missed a lot of the student recognitions, but there were a very good presentations on AVID, the 1 to 1 laptop initiative, and the Algebra I study.

Other info:
The NC Dept of Transportation and the NC Dept of Public Instruction are currently arguing over who will fund drivers ed. For years, the $33M has come from transportation funds but the classes have been delivered through the public schools. For next year’s budget, Transportation wants DPI to pick up the cost. The result may be that the state stops providing free drivers ed classes to teenagers.

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Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:29:41 -0400
From: Marina C Long
Subject: Re: Chatham Chatlist #3705

I don’t know if the crackling sound you hear is related to the cut Maple leaves you see all around.  However, at my house, LOTS of Maple twigs get cut by hungry squirrels.  I’ve watched them go to the very tips of Maple branches to get to the seeds that are growing out there, but in order to avoid even more outrageous acrobatics, they just clip the whole end of the branch and then retreat up-branch to pick off the seeds more comfortably.  They leave a carpet of cut maple leaves behind them.  However, I haven’t seen our maples suffer much.  They just seem to grow very slowly, and maybe we’ve discovered the reason why.

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Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:31:50 -0400
From: Al Cooke
Subject: Mysteries in the trees

It’s often misleading to identify insects or other mysteries based on general descriptions.  But I recently had a call about a small caterpillar and black fecal pellets falling from a tree – oak I think.  And there are reports across the state about fall cankerworms, small inchworms that hatch in the spring and are fond of oak and maple but may also feed on ash, boxelder, black cherry, and elms.  For reasons entomologists do not understand, Charlotte has been a major center for this population since 1987, perhaps because of the large number of willow oaks that create a canopy for much of the city.

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Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:16:43 -0400
From: Robert Britson
Subject: NC 87 traffic detours

Signage for new Hwy 87 detours will be reevaluated on Tuesday, April 20, according to a DOT worker.  First day was amazingly confusing since Old Graham Rd and 87 S are both affected.  Impt information: Camp St. area of Old Graham Rd.  is accessible from the south only — via 15-501 and around courthouse to Hwy 64 business.

Local traffic on from 64 bypass and 87 means Senior Center and residences only on southern end.  Roadblocks begin at Senior Center!

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Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:13:28 -0400
From: Gwen Overturf
Subject: Lee Pollard – Helping Dreams Come True

Just this afternoon I picked up one of Lee Pollard’s refurbished computers for a student of mine.

Neither this child nor her family have the funding or connections to obtain a computer for her. (This is Lee – owner of Computer Therapy.)  He cleaned it and armed it with several programs free of charge.   Actually, my young friend is no longer a student but a proud graduate as of January 2010.  As a result of her determined self-advocacy this new graduate now has her first real job.

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Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 10:19:53 -0800
From: Tom Glendinning
Subject: Subject: Slippery Elms dying

Kira;

Decline of elms, slippery or Chinese, is a common occurence.  Elms do not seem to live long in the Piedmont.  Root rot, trunk cankers, borers are more likely invaders.  The  variable oak leaf caterpillar, green striped maple worm, the elm leaf beetle and the gypsy moth have a taste for elm.  However, observations of this genus indicate a general weakness in NC.

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Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:25:29 -0400
From: Ann Kaiyala
Subject: YMCA Healthy Kids Day on Sunday, April 25th from 1:00-5:00

Chatham YMCA presents its Healthy Kids Day from 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 25th at Camp Royall.

YMCA Healthy Kids Day is a free,fun-filled day of activities designed to promote healthy kids and families in spirit, mind and body.  Join Woods Charter and the YMCA as they celebrate
making fitness fun, and introduce kids to an array of YMCA and community programs designed to provide children with tools that teach healthy behaviors.  This event will feature informational booths from many community health and family advocacy agencies, as well as a giant inflatable side and obstacle course, hula hoops, line dancing, carnival games, paddle boats, face painting, balloon animals, crafts and much more.

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