Today was part one of a two part event. Sandbags and sand were available at the cemetery today for those that proved residency. Keith Ross, head of Wildomar's code enforcement team, was there checking in those that came. Which numbered 85 cars as of 12:30pm. A couple of cars from other cities had to be turned away.
The line up started before the official start time of 8:00am and there wasn't a break until approaching 1:00pm.
In the photos above you can see some of the volunteers. They were missionaries from the LDS Church and other than during their shift change, when the morning crew left and the afternoon crew came in, there were always at least six there ready to help fill bags or load them into vehicles.
There were 34 tons of material and each resident could take up to 25 bags, which weighed in the 25 to 40 pound range depending on who filled them. Basic math tells you that as many as 2,100 bags were filled and carted off.
This is what was left of the sand pile at noon. It started more than four feet tall.
Also on hand from the city was Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore. She wasn't just there for a photo op, she worked filling bags and helping lug them to cars for hours... in addition to going out and getting water and pizza for the volunteers.
I showed up just to take some pictures and found myself helping out a few ladies that lived off of Union Street, which morphed into helping in general until close to 1:00pm. It was a great morning for it, though I'm sure my back will remind me about it later on.
If you missed this chance to get sandbags, they are still available at the cemetery during the week. It's best to contact Les Chapman first, and make arrangements with him on times, etc.
Saturday December 5th will be another event like today, where volunteers will help you.
Key word is help → you.
Unless you're on the disabled list, then please be ready to work with the volunteers that are on hand.
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I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them.― Ed Helms as Andy Bernard
Wildomar Rapis more into sand castles at the beach than sand bags at the cemetery, but you can't have chocolate ice cream for breakfast everyday... right?
Tonight's CERT safety session was about Ham Radios in times of emergencies.
Karl Gronbach and Tim Crowder of Golden Triangle Amateur Radio Club gave the presentation after being introduced by Wildomar Public Works Superintendent Les Chapman.
Les Chapman (L) speaking about the importance of CERT training while Karl Gronbach (R) looks on.
CERT members were encouraged to get their Ham Radio Lic. The license is free, but the test is $15. There is a study book that costs about $30 but you can get all the same info online. There are sites dedicated to getting you ready for the test (HamExam link).
I enjoyed seeing the different radios that Karl had in his Go Box. A lot of expensive gadgets to be sure, though he was mentioning a good hand held that you could get for $50 too. Like with any other hobby, if you get the bug, you'll probably end up with an array of items that cost a pretty penny.
This Go Box is battery equipped and ready to go to work even when all power in the world is out.
The next CERT safety session is the second Tuesday in September (9-15-15). If you're a CERT member, please make a point of coming.
Also for CERT members, Saturday June 27th, from 9am to 2pm, is the City of Temecula Annual CERT Exercise (read flyer for more details). It'll be a good refresher course and if you've been through CERT training, I'm sure you don't want to forget it... right? ☺
For more information on Golden Triangle Amateur Radio Club please visit their website (link).
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People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
You may have noticed that the signal has been out at Central and Cervera. It's been five days now and when I saw the repairman on site I thought I'd ask him about it.
Last week the controlling unit got a surge of electricity and the worker was telling me that they've been trying to isolate the bad sector (my wording). They've narrowed it down but want to make sure that's the only issue, and that if by replacing the piece in question it doesn't then knock out other components at this point.
A case of measure twice and cut once.
I gave Wildomar Public Works Superintendent Les Chapman a call to get some input from him about it.
He was telling me that it's a pretty significant situation and they're trying to repair this without having to replace the whole shebang. I asked him if this was due to something the electric company did and he told me "No, they did things according to the book" (my paraphrasing) "we just have old equipment."
Les was telling me that in other cities it's not uncommon to replace the entire unit from the start, and that still may end up being the final verdict here, but he wants to try other avenues before jumping to that step.
I asked him how much something like that costs to replace and his response was that he's trying to be optimistic and that tomorrow Siemens' Top Gun in SoCal will be there in the morning to make any final determinations on the health of the unit. His final thoughts on it were "It's going to be tough news no matter what." Surely a reference to an unplanned big ticket item hitting Wildomar.
For a cloudy morning in May, a lot was going on in Wildomar.
Ace Hardware all decked out for a community barbecue.
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Over at Ace Hardware they were having a community barbecue with free food for those that stopped by. Included were hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, chips and salsa, flautas donated by Los Reyes, and cookies.
One person was remarking to me how generously filled the flautas were with chicken. Very good stuff, especially with some of their salsa on top.
The event was also a chance to donate to the Wildomar Chamber's restoration project. They're looking to put a fresh coat of paint on the Chamber building, which is basically an old house, and to get new furnishings for it too.
Here is a look at the line up at the Ronald Reagan Elementary location as of 12:30pm.
The other event going on this morning was waste clean up. There were two locations to choose from. The lucky ones went to Elsinore High School, where the reports are that the lines were never long. If you went to the location at Ronald Reagan Elementary School, you probably got held up in a line.
I was asking Municipal Services afficionado Les Champman about it, and he was telling me, that by 10am they had already collected as much as they normally would for a full event for that location.
The prediction was that there was going to be five times as much collected by the time it was over. We'll get a complete accounting at the next city council meeting.
A look into the containers.
Usually the busier side is the west side. Guess a lot of people remembered hearing about that in the past and chose to go to the east side, or it was just dumb luck. I had no waste that needed to be dragged to one of the two locations, but I still wanted to see what was up. So I cruised over to Marna O'Brien Park to see the action. ERRRRRR (insert Game Show Buzzer here)
When I got there at about 11:00ish, there was no sign of anything like a Waste Clean Up event. Later I was clued in that it wasn't at Marna, like the Green Waste event after the snow, but at Elsinore HS. I guess I should start reading my own blogs because I reported that it was to be at EHS just a few days ago.
Funny thing, while at the Ace Hardware BBQ one of the council members was there, and telling me how there were several people complaining on FaceBook that the FREE service, wasn't worth their time. If you're one of those that likes to grumble about free things, perhaps you should shell out some greenbacks next time and don't expect more than you put in.
In reality, if you were to go to the dump, you'd still have to wait in long lines, and you'd have to drive to it first. If you can't be bothered, then hire a service.
STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT FREE STUFF
If you haven't been hearing about such events. I suggest that you sign up for the city's email blasts.
Or you can go to one of the popular Wildomar FaceBook groups by clicking → here.
It was a nice morning, hope to see you at the next event.
It must be because I was wearing my lucky WCoC hat. ☺
I had purchased some raffle tickets and then a couple of hours later I heard my name called... I'd won a bottle of wine... with that bow on it! Looks like Mother's Day is already taken care of (insert winky eye emoticon here) ;)
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Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining - it bores everybody else, does you no good, and doesn't solve any problems. — Zig Ziglar
Today speed radar signs were installed at David A Brown Middle School.
Savvy drivers [read: ego inflated jerks] will know that this is not a 'Red Light Camera' style sign with penalties attached, and will ignore them from the get go. Let's hope the number in that group is a small one.
Installation of the sign on the northbound side of Grand approaching the school.
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While out snapping some pics I bumped into Wildomar Public Works Superintendent Les Chapman. His concern is safety for the students.
As he was telling me, "If it isn't safe enough for my kids, it's not safe enough for anyone else."
Les Chapman speaking with one of the installers about the fine tuning.
We first heard about these signs when Council Member Bridgette Moore brought it up at the February city council meeting. Initially it seemed that the signs were dead in the water when the rest of the council didn't embrace the thought of adding anything to the budget. Then in March we received a PARSAC grant [Public Agency Risk Sharing Authority of California] thanks to diligent work by our City Clerk Debbie Lee. So we got these signs without adding to the budget.
While out taking these pictures I found that every single car was more than 10 MPH over the speed limit. Some were traveling in excess of 50 MPH.
I did notice that the speeds decreased from the first radar reading until the last per car. So, if a car first registered at 44 MPH, it was likely that they'd slowed to 30ish by the time they past the sign. However, one guy only dropped from 50 to 49. Hey, he had places to be and speed laws (stop signs included) are just suggestions... right?
When I was there, school was in session and there were no students present. Two of my three children went to this school and I remember how congested it would get during drop off and pick up.
Les was telling me about a time when school was being let out, he saw cars lined all the way up both sides of the street, with teenagers everywhere and some arrogant driver drove over the double yellow line to pass up a few cars before the crossing guard got to the middle with the stop sign. Come on people, would you like others driving that way when your kids are about to cross the street? (wait, don't answer that...)
I asked Les about getting a more visible crosswalk in front of the school on Grand, and there is one slated to go in. I don't think it's the lighted one, but one that has the large stripes in the direction that traffic flows, instead of the two narrower ones that cross the street. Let's hope that makes a difference.
I believe this is the style that Les was talking about.
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Now what we need are unannounced visits from the local sheriff's deputies, ticket book in hand and pen clicked, about every other week to keep the scofflaws in check.
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I want to thank Kenny Mayes for tipping me off about this installation. Though he and I have our differences, we both want the best for our community. He also writes a blog, and it can be found at this link: http://www.wildomarconnected.com/wildomar
Many thanks to John Garrett and Temecula Valley Astronomers for the enjoyable presentation and setting up their telescopes and allowing others to take a look at the night sky with them .
Looking at the Sun through a telescope was a first for me. They use special filters so you can safely view it and see 'bumps' around the edge of the Sun. I learned they are called a prominence.
A panoramic view of the inflatable screen that the presentation was projected on.
Manning the snack bar, selling pizza and sodas.
Ashley Fox chatted with me about her Girl Scout Silver Award project (click this link to read what a silver award is). I'm going to write up a blog about her project soon. In brief, her goal is to raise $3500 for a swing that will accommodate those in a wheel chair. Before tonight she'd already gotten half way there with $1800 raised. Tonight they added nearly another $300 to the total. The next fund raiser is at Stadium Pizza on Monday May 12th.
You couldn't ask for better weather and the temps were perfect for family time outdoors.
SunPro Solar donated 12 of these telescopes to be raffled off. All those in attendance were giving a raffle ticket, free of charge, and there were two drawings throughout the course of events.
Four of our Five City Council Members were in attendance for the evening event.
Here you see a live projection of the moon (below) and setting up the equipment (above).
It's hard to judge crowd size, but it safe to say there were more than a baker's dozen and less than 1,000. Ok, my real guess would be around 200 people. More thanks goes to city staffers that put in a long day.
As I was chatting with Public Works Superintendent Les Chapman, I like how he put it. That these kinds of events are what make us a community, and he'd like to see more of them. I was telling him about times I've driven to neighboring cities to listen to live music in the park while having a picnic, and he thought that would work well here too. We just need to get our parks department up and running.
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