1) First Saturday Breakfast at 8:30AM Saturday the 4th!
2) Monday 13th- Neighborhood Watch 6PM- CMMA Board meeting 7PM
3) USDA Food Distribution is on Monday 20th!!!!!
4) PotLuck is on Saturday the 25th at 4PM
Check our Calendar below for Birthdays, Special Events, and Astronomical happenings :)
Our little Community congratulates our most recent Tuesday night Bingo winner! Our very own Ruthie Malton’s sister Linda, visiting from San Diego, won the Powerball. WooHoo Linda: come play again soon and yay to Ruthie too! Earl Wilbert, Ray Foyil and Steve Tuttle served those delicious mini-Pizzas for Supper, with a choice of regular, supreme and cheese. Chris Jonas and Mary Helen Tuttle ran the whole Bingo show and a jolly good time was had by all! Maybe we’ll see you next Tuesday 5:30pm ‘til 9-ish?
The USDA Food Give-away is this Monday, May 20th, from 8:30 ‘til 10:30-ish. Apparently, the Lady who used to run the USDA Food program at the Joshua Tree Community Center has resigned for medical reasons and no-one has stepped up to replace her. Food recipients from JT will be divided between Yucca Valley and Copper Mountain Mesa Community Center. So, it might be a bit of a mad rush up here on Monday morning; traffic jams and all that sort of thing!
Our C.E.R.T. classes start this Thursday, May 23rd at 6pm: running for 6 consecutive Thursdays, plus Saturday July 13th. Any Neighbors interested in participating, please e-mail me. Thank You Vern Fowler for all your marvelous co-ordinating skills!
Our monthly Potluck Party will take place next week, from 4pm on May 25th: the last Saturday of the month as well as Memorial Weekend. Neighbors have been bringing some wonderful Desert Cuisine lately; you might want to join us and bring your own culinary creations; or simply donate $2.00 and scarf down mucho grub!
Once again, I will not get to join you. I have been gainfully employed recently…gasp! This encompasses my Weekends, so I have been missing out on all the local Fun! Bob Deloyd has been kind enough to fill us in on all the mouth-watering Potluck Party treats.
Heads up: Mesa Neighbors Katie Bachler and Stephanie Smith are organizing a “Homestead Today” all-day Conference; to be held in the Community Center on Sunday, June 16th. More info soon. Also, Jim is Hep C Freeee! Stay well!
ONE YEAR AGO THIS WEEK The Year 2012
05/19/2012
By Annelies Kuiper
Our little Community held “Meetings Monday” at the Center last week. I arrived late for the Neighborhood Watch meeting, as Jim and I had lingered over our leisurely sunset Supper on the Porch. I have been concocting all sorts of deliciousnesses to entice his appetite and we have been eating at the table, with place settings, napkins and a tablecloth! Quite civilized and much more enjoyable than wolfing down our meals, glued to the telly!
The Board meeting was lively and constructive. Vern Fowler filled us all in on his progress with Emergency and Disaster preparedness and asked if anyone wants to receive CERT Training. If at least ten people sign up, we will receive training at the Center.
Robert Peterson – a Mesa resident for 35 years – joined us at the meeting. He and his Dad helped build the Center and the adjacent fire station. Robert’s suggestion to start a Community Garden at the Center was met with initial disapproval by some Board Members, but Mary Helen suggested that Robert and I come up with a plan to present to the Board. Starting small, setting reachable goals, I believe a Community Garden would be a lovely way to feed and bring the Neighborhood together and very nutritious in times of disaster.
Happy Birthday to all celebrating their special day in May: Tim Herrera, Jackie Johnston, Cal Myers, Karen van Noort, Eva Stokes and Mary Moowea. We fondly remember Bob Nelson and Ruth Ruffin.
Fifteen people attended the Tuesday Night Bingo and Supper party last week. Ray Foyil served mini-Pizzas with lettuce and potato salad. No big winners, but Carole Miller’s Grand-daughter Cassie won the Bingo draw for next week.
Responding to my comments about refusing to have a ‘smartmeter’ installed on my property and being informed that I would have to pay fifty dollars a month to have my meter read, or be cut off at the pole: Mad Mac e-mailed: “Dude's LYING!! Hope ya didn't fall for it, you should warn others. SCE is still dealin' w/CPUC.” Thanks Mac: nope, still no ‘smartmeter’ for me. Stay well!
FIVE YEARS AGO THIS WEEK The Year 2008
By Bob DeLoyd 05/17/2008
Our little community: There’s been a red car sitting in front of an unfenced house for several months now and folks been thinking that both were abandoned. Somebody was now there working on the car as I pulled unto the driveway to have a look see. He is US Navy Corpsman HM3 Matthew Clupper and was stationed at Al Taqaddum Air Base in Iraq for the last ten months.
His unit was helping the small village of Al Kabani with medical assistance, security, rebuilding a school, and furnishing the children with shoes and school supplies. They even built a water purification system so that the residents wouldn’t drink the water from the lake, which gave them worms. When he left the village was safe and the folks there could walk around without feeling threaten, grateful that Americans were there and their children being happy; sounds like Matthew made a big difference at Al Kabani.
Matthew was putting new speakers in the red car: a little reward, he said, for coming back safely from Iraq. Waiting for his carpeting to dry out after a pipe broke flooding his house, I told Matthew that he was lucky that nobody messed with his car; some folks around here may have started to eye it for parts. Matthew told me that he’d be lost if his car was stolen. He said that it would have cost him to store the car at the base so he just parked it here at the home he rents and hoped for the best. That totally sucks, I said, that you have to go over to Iraq and the base charges you to store your car! Incredible! I told him that the next time he has to go overseas that I’d be honored if he’d park it at my home.
A week ago Friday our neighbor Mike Villarreal accidently bumped into the back of a school bus as it came to a stop on Lear Avenue and Valle Vista Road to unload children; receiving minor injuries to himself, the driver of the bus, and an eleven-year-old child.
TEN YEARS AGO THIS WEEK The Year 2003 By Bob DeLoyd 05/17/2003
Our little community has heard that Rick Seeley had been ill last week and was in the hospital for a few days. Rick is at home and doing better now and we all hope him a fast recovery.
Priscilla Drew has written an interesting story about restoring her Grandfather’s desk and I am happy to present it to you: Recently I worked hard to remove coat after coat of paint on a desk that had been my Grandfather's. Originally it was a built-in piece, a rather unrefined bit of cabinetry. I went to live with my grandfather when I was four and remember him sitting at that desk as he paid bills or wrote letters. When he died, my aunt took the desk and used it in her home. There, I remember her sitting at the old desk, by now repainted several times. She would be paying bills or writing letters. I lived with her, and loved her very much.
As I began to scrape paint off the inner workings of the desk, above the "pigeon holes" I came upon a line of yellowed newspaper clippings, carefully cut and glued in a long row. They could be seen only, at eye level, if a person were sitting at the desk. I had never seen them before. There were ten "sayings" pasted end to end. Below are three of them, messages from Aunt Marci. I worked hard to leave all of them intact.
Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements. Be just as enthusiastic about the successes of others as you are about your own. Thanks, Aunt Marci!
Thought for the week: Spam! I hate it! I am not talking about the meat product, but the unsolicited email kind. I now receive hundreds of them a day. I even get Spam that tells me how to fight Spam. Now I am forced to change my email address for this column because my inbox is inundated with stuff that would make a Marine blush. I think I’ll forward all to those meatheads in Washington who have procrastinated so long in fixing this problem. Tip: NEVER OPEN UNSOLICITED EMAIL!
Copper Mountain Mesa's Neighborhood Watch April Neighborhood Watch and ORV Watch Meeting
By Bob DeLoyd
Taken from my online Journal:
Monday 15- The Neighborhood Watch meeting: Looks we’ll shoot for a September date for the community cleanup. We’ll coordinate this activity with the CMMCA board of directors.
We are thinking of having a get together potluck where we are going to make our own watch signs to put up; this is all tenitive and will be discussed at future meetings. All members agreed I’m to ask Annelies to write a piece about the diaper dumper.
The Cert Training will begin in May 23 6PM and continuing every Thursday evening from 6-9PM (except for the 4th of July) with the last class on July 13 being at 8AM until Noon. The Training is free and graduates will be provided official documentation and equipment at no charge. Anyone who is interested is welcome to attend; just notify any CMMCA board or Neighborhood Watch member to get your name on the list.
Our little Community Breakfast ‘happened’ last Saturday; despite a serious
shortage of Volunteers. Board President, Kathy Quinn experienced a very
worrying medical emergency and I was going through one of my allergic, ‘in-
flames’, skin things. Patrick Whalen and Indy Amos stepped up to the plate and
manned all stations; taking care of almost 50 Guests. Thanks Guys and a
resounding woohoo to the whole Breakfast Volunteer Crew!
The Copper Mountain Mesa Meetings take place on Monday, May 13 th: the
Neighborhood Watch group will gather at 6pm, followed by the the association’s
Board of Directors meeting at 7. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join
us. It’s always lovely to visit with Neighbors and the meetings are often quite
lively!
Jim and I are struggling with pesky pests in our Garden. Despite encaging
some tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, everything’s been stripped down to the
nub, except the tomatoes. A large rodent appears to have overwhelmed our half-
inch aviary wire cage by digging underneath it! I’ve heard of this phenomenon
before, but never experienced the problem personally.
Of course, we’ve always had herds of cats, who efficiently kept the
Garden Plunderering population down. Since our last Kitty, Oreo, was grabbed by
an opportunistic Coyote underneath my bedroom window a few years ago, the
California Ground Squirrel population has reached alarming proportions around
here. I have been too terrified to adopt more felines; afraid of the heartbreak
that inevitably comes when you have outside, ‘hunting’ cats on this wild Desert
Mesa. Sooner or later, your precious little predator, becomes someone’s delicious
little prey!
It’s been a busy few weeks and I neglected to send my beloved Cousin
Wilmy in Amsterdam heartfelt Birthday Wishes for April 30 th. Wilmy is an avid
reader of our Column and has been our Desert Guest several times: we definitely
consider her a Mesa Neighbor. “Van Harte Gefeliciteerd, Lieverd!”
There are whispers on the breeze that we may be doing a remount
of ‘Julius Caesar’ around the Summer Solstice; both in Joshua Tree and more
rural venues, perhaps. Hope to see you bumping down the dirt roads; stay well!
A Video Blog or Some Such by Bob DeLoyd May 2013
Lots of stuff going on this past week!
There was a fire about a mile northwest of my home on Tuesday May 14 at 5:30pm at Coyote Rd and Daisy Lane. In the video I said it was 6:30PM but I guess I was just excited :)
I called 911 when I saw first saw the smoke and flames....
CopperMountainMesa.Com MAY 2013
Anniversaries Birthdays and Events
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
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2
3
4 CMMA Breakfast 8:30
5 eta Aquarid Meteor Shower: predawn sky on Sunday morning! Look East after midnight.
6
7
8
9 Bob Nelson Remembrance
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11 Tim Herrera Jackie Johnston BDay
12
13 Neighborhood Watch 6PM CMMA MEETING 7PM
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15
16 C. Myer BDay
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18
19
20 USDA Food Distribution??
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23 Ruth Ruffin Remembrance
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25 Karen Van Noort BDay POT LUCK Starts 4:00
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27
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29 Mary Moowea BDay
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TIPS, STORIES, AND SUCH SECTION:
COPPER MOUNTAIN MESA
Community Association
Community Center located 4 miles east of Border Ave, 5 miles west of Lear Ave at:
65-336 Winters Road (760)362-5212
So a little update on the no digging technique I began using a
couple of years ago is due as I have seen enough to now describe my
observations.
The technique is helpful as it keeps the soil sheltered from wind
erosion. And adds organic matter with all it's benefits. Attracts a
mix of beneficial insects and their opposites [though I have not
experienced any pest epidemics by growing lush greenery in the
summer]. Also it is not a problem to scratch in a row for seed
planting; I simply move the debris away for planting the row then rake
it back into place. I did notice that the termites ate a significant
portion of the material though the remainder still resisted erosion
and kept the soil damp. So.... I did find myself digging in bags of
compost this year nonetheless. There are not the worms out here to get
a year round digestion of vegetative matter process going. When the
heat comes, the worms go. And when the black-eyed pea and buckwheat
cover crop gets tall enough, about a foot minimum, I will cut it down
with hedge shears and let the plants regrow through the trimmings.
Probably a good time to place your compost, manure, and or plant food
on the surface, cut down the cover crop and then simply let it lay
including a GOOD flooding to get the trimmed plants growing again and
wash some nutrients down into the soil profile. I have tried this once
this year and am pleased enough to make this a standard practice
during the summer months. By mid August or thereabouts, shut off the
water. You can leave the dried out cover crop standing, I would think,
though the peas are very hardy and slow to die. One might want to pull
them out along the planned planting row and leave those not in the
way. Leaving the dead crop standing does reduce the wind's erosive
impact on your soil and provides a bit of shelter for young seedlings.
And of course, their eventual decay provides nutrients for your
growing endeavors. In time though, you'll need to clear a seed row to
get the fall crops planted. This shouldn't disturb much; a row taking
up several inches in width at the most.
This is also a good method to get green matter into your garden. I
gave up collecting lawn clippings when down below when I realised
there is an ag chemical problem with material from yard cuttings and
trimmings. The cover crop supplies this and decomposes well during the
cooler times out here.
Anyway, that's about it for this missive and the no digging method.
It probably should be named the dig less method. Ya think?
Pleasant gardening, Roger
SPECIAL NOTICES:
Shati has been FOUND! Ok, I know this has been here for a long time Shati been home for many months now So dog dang it! give me something else to post!
The time has come to take a bold jump into the unknown and fight the beast with yer bare hands. To go the way of yer ancestors and build a fire for warmth, to slay a critter for food. To understand the meaning of hunger in a time of plenty. To spit in the eyes of yer antagonist! To howl at the moon... And enjoy life! LIVE!
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Our little community: There’s been a red car sitting in front of an unfenced house for several months now and folks been thinking that both were abandoned. Somebody was now there working on the car as I pulled unto the driveway to have a look see. He is US Navy Corpsman HM3 Matthew Clupper and was stationed at Al Taqaddum Air Base in Iraq for the last ten months.
Priscilla Drew has written an interesting story about restoring her Grandfather’s desk and I am happy to present it to you: Recently I worked hard to remove coat after coat of paint on a desk that had been my Grandfather's. Originally it was a built-in piece, a rather unrefined bit of cabinetry. I went to live with my grandfather when I was four and remember him sitting at that desk as he paid bills or wrote letters. When he died, my aunt took the desk and used it in her home. There, I remember her sitting at the old desk, by now repainted several times. She would be paying bills or writing letters. I lived with her, and loved her very much.
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