Many thanks to Eric Ellingson for his repair and corrective work on the Ramada counter tile. He reattached several tiles that had fallen off the edge, and matched the grout perfectly, while also re-grouting several areas where the grout had chipped off and been reapplied with the wrong color. This is the second time Eric has rescued us on tile work, and we are most appreciative for his help. He is not only an electronics wizard, but a fine craftsman in other areas as well.

A big thank you to the homeowners who are opening their beautiful homes for our 2010 Home Tour. The following homes will be on the tour: Terry and Donna Shay; Ben and Mona Sheffield; KD and Casey Thompson; Lois Blacker; Sam and June Simonson; Tim and Karen O’Brian; Ken and Kay Miller; Stein and Colleen Simonsen.

These owners have all gone to extra lengths to make their homes shine for us, and the chairperson for the Home Tour Committee is encouraging all to buy their tickets early. The tickets go on sale Saturday, March 6 at the annual patio sale at Sunset Ramada, and if there are any left (only 100 tickets are available) there will be another offering on March 9, at Hamburger Nite. Remember, you can buy a ticket or two for a friend--as long as they are well behaved! Tickets sell for only $10, and include a wine and cheese festival at the end of the Tour, also at the Ramada. In prior years this Tour has always been a sell-out, so act promptly to obtain your tickets!

Kudos to all of the excellent team of volunteers who have put the Tour together, including Donna Collins (Chair), Jackie Rautio (program and promotion), Lynn Raby (wine and cheese), Barb Cottrell (pre-tour), Cynthia Surprise (docents), and last but by no means least Lorna Kitchak (sponsors).

A new pump has been located for the Sunset Park fountain, and it is now operational. Lance Ewing and Jim Lindberg have been working on this for us, with a lot of help from our webmaster, Craig Surprise, as well as Stoney Brown.

Many thanks to Charl Petry for organizing and managing the distribution of this year’s Green Valley Directory this past Wednesday--and to Dean Hess for all of his help. Thanks go out as well to all of Charl’s team members who handled the actual distribution in their respective assignment areas.

At the last Board meeting, the Board voted to approve a proposal by the Enhancement Team to place some decorative tile on the Esperanza Blvd. Esperanza Estates sign, to increase its visibility. This should be very attractive when complete, so watch for it.

The Enhancement Team’s spring patio sale is coming up on March 6, beginning at 7 a.m., at Sunset Ramada. There is still time to donate items for the sale, by calling Sandi (625-0039), Bev (625-7741), or Barb (867-8067) for a pick up.

In conjunction with the patio sale, there will be a bake sale, and all types of baked items and goodies are solicited for this aspect of the sale. If you can help with baked items, you can bring them to the Ramada the morning of the sale (by no later than 7 a.m. please), or the day ahead of the sale, deliver them to either Tess Ewing (625-7353) 780 Ensalmo, or Sandi Oster (625-0039) 281 Napa. Remember, you can help EE greatly by helping to make the Team’s sale a success, as all money earned goes right back into our neighborhood for improvements to our comfort and enjoyment of our neighborhood.

These are the final details about the Lunar Party, planned for the evening of February 28. This is a freebee and a fun evening, so put it on your calendar. The party will begin at Esperanza Park on Holgado at around 5. There will be eats and drinks, desserts, a bonfire, and considerable merriment. Please plan to bring a chair, and dress warmly. This is the 9^th annual Lunar Party, held to howl in the moon. This is not a function of our Hospitality Committee, but instead is sponsored by a group of private parties known affectionately as “the Usual Suspects”.  In the event of inclement weather, the party will be moved to Sunset Ramada. If you have questions about this event, please call 399-0455.

Plans for the annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, to be held April 9, are progressing well. This is the annual dinner to honor all of our EE volunteers, without whose help our community would be in dire straights. Watch for further details.

Our new committee Bienvenidos a Esperanza (Welcome to Esperanza) will hold a welcoming brunch for EE newcomers (those who bought their homes since January 2009) on March 14 at Sunset Ramada.

On March 20, EE will have a special visitor in the person of Mitchell Miramonte. He was a Marine, fighting in Iraq, back in 2006 when Nancy Moore and some other EE volunteers conducted a drive to collect items for the soldiers and arranged for their transport to that country. Mitchell’s unit was among the recipients of the items sent, and it made such an impression on him that when he returned here, he contacted Nancy to say thanks. Nancy has arranged for him to visit here on March 20, and he would like to meet with as many of our residents as possible to thank them for the morale boost the collected items gave he and his fellow soldiers. Please put this on your calendar so you can stop by and speak with him and receive his thanks. He will be here at about noon on that day.

Here is a message about pre-emergent weed control from “Chemical Bruce”:

“There is a product called ’ Weed Impede’ which is a pre-emergence Herbicide.  It is available at True Value Hardware. You can also mix Roundup with it and instructions are on the bottle if you want to do that. Then the mix will kill existing weeds as well as those that are germinating.
If you use this product, you will not have any weeds at all in your yard, and you will not have to worry about weeds for 8-9 months.
I like it and have no problem with weeds any more.”

The book, “The Love Stories of Esperanza Estates” is now being published and will be available soon--hopefully by the date of the Home Tour. This book is the work product of a number of people in EE. The idea was conceived by Melodye Cooke. Most of the writing and editing was done by Sandy Reed. The stories were, of course, contributed by EE residents. Cynthia Surprise did the proof reading and made a number of suggestions to improve the text. Ed Lord is handling the book’s publication and other details incidental thereto. The book is an eclectic collection of stories about love between people, places, animals and things. You will enjoy it, so plan on obtaining a copy when it is available. The book will have a nominal price tag.

The Periodico should be out this week, so watch for it.

Have a good week. Hope you enjoyed President’s Day.