Sunday March 23, 2025 All-Community Meeting

Topics: community work during the coming months for landscaping, maintenance, common house, Farmette, fundraising

Present: Ben, Coleman, Kerry T, Jorge, Lila, Robin, Laura, Kellie (fac), Lynda, Michael A, Vicky, Joe, Scott, Kay (notes), Cheryl, Linda R, Alex 4:00

Events

Saturday, March 29 and Sunday March 20, probably 10:00 to noon or 1:00, Open House showing #17

Wednesday, March 25 at 7:15 pm, test irrigation.  Learn how the community's watering system works!

Saturday, March 29, 10 a.m., learn to use a weed whacker. Bring gloves & safety glasses.

Saturday, April 5, Yard and Plant Sale

Saturday, April 12, 10 a.m., weeding

Saturday, May 3, National Cohousing Open House

Saturday, May 10 work party cleaning drains

Saturday, June 7th & Sunday June 8, Gutter cleaning party

October 18. Wedding: Tysic & Kellie are getting married!

Announcements

Jorge has been stuffing holes in posts on common house with steel wool to prevent wasp nests.  Once it is done, the steel wool will be in a box in the garage with the wasp spray for people to do their own porches.

Joe & Lila will be replacing light bulbs in west carport.  Need a volunteer to do east.

Eliza & Vinnie are listing their house Thursday on MLS, cohousing.org and the WCCA FaceBook, 10,050 sq ft. Open House Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to noon or one.

Welcoming. When you meet people who express an interest, get their name & contact information.

National Cohousing Open House the 1st weekend in May.

Community Work

As we move into warmer months we have more work parties and events. 

Landscaping

Big three :  Turn on water, keep weeds in check, maintain & plant especially trees & shrubs.

Water Set Up.  Usually we have turned on the outside water once the threat of a freeze is passed.  Unfortunately we usually discover repairs are needed. This year we will try testing the water system before we need it.  Will hold several evening work parties lasting about an hour each.

First work party to start testing/repairing water system on Wednesday March 25 at 7:15. No knowledge of irrigation necessary, just a willingness to learn a little.

Weed.  Chelsea Davis will be arranging chip drops for us to spread on berms for weed suppression 

March 29 and April 12 after cafe Kellie will lead a group. Bring gloves & weed whackers. Teach people to use weed whackers. Great if we can get a regular rotation after cafe that hits the weeds. 

Need a volunteer to mow lawns in July.

It increases safety and keeps the mower in repair if, before mowing, the area to be mowed is thoroughly cleaned of twigs, sticks, and rocks, which can be thrown by the mower and/or damage the blades.  Person doing that doesn't need to be the person mowing (good job for someone mobile but not strong).

Areas that will need to be weedwhacked later can be mowed this time of year, which is quicker and easier.  Especially important to clean area of debris before mowing in non-lawn areas.  Mow at highest setting.

Trees.  Sign up to hand-water vulnerable trees. Will be planting a tree in Carol's memory, funding donated by Kathy Albury.  Amy told Kellie she can get trees any time; Kellie is thinking mid-April. Planting parties to be scheduled.

Maintenance

Cheryl provided a list of maintenance tasks that community residents can do.  Some are things a single person can do and others are better for work parties. Starting with the work parties:

Gutter cleaning party June 7-8.

Drain scoping and cleaning.  We are not connected to the city's storm drain system and must retain storm water on-site. We have fourteen drains that are interconnected and feed into the three swales, one by each parking lot and the bigger one up north.  We want to scope the drains to look for blockage. 

May 10 Saturday work party cleaning drains. Pry bar to pull up grate, buckets, shovels, wheelbarrows, gloves, eyewear, ventilation equipment for the deeper drains, sump pump. (Sunday is Mother's Day.)

Anyone capable of walking around could make notes of the locations of utility boxes, stop-and-waste valves, yard hydrants, other controls.  Someone capable of graphics could then put them on a map.  We do have the locations of drains documented. 

Gutter Downspouts.  Some gutter downspouts don't have extensions to move the water away from the unit.  This may be a fall project.

Common House Dryer Vents.  The two dryers vent to the outside wall.  The ducts need to be cleaned every three months (job for a couple of people), and the basket at the end of the ducts need to be emptied every month.  There's a wire brush hanging in the laundry room to clean the ducting just below the lint catcher.

Jobs for single people or small teams.  Treat Beams with Linseed Oil.  Wood that is exposed to sun or is out in the weather needs it more often. Will be evaluating which trestle-wood beams need treatment.  Other wooden items also: benches, posts for water faucets, dumpster enclosures.

Joe & Lila will replace lights in west carports.  Ask Mike W if he is interested in doing east.

Replace broken slats on dumpster enclosures.

Install/replace door sweeps on common house doors. Measure door to get size, buy them (turn in receipt), and install.

Site lights.  Many of site lights have been changed to 'corncob' fixtures. If a light is coming on and going off, that's indicates an original fixture with a bad ballast.  Get them changed too (Steve Harris 385 242 8470).  Poles and caps need spray painting every couple of years.  Jorge will do bi-weekly reprogramming of lights' on/off times.

Farmette

Work parties June through November Wednesday and Thursday evenings usually 5:00 to 8:00 and Saturday 8:00 a.m. to noon.

Common House

Most larger projects are done during winter. 

The monthly cleaning teams have been re-assigned.  Kerry will try to schedule a work party for each month and have cleaning supplies and tools ready. 

Encourage people using the common house to lock doors as they leave, especially later in the evening; take a minute to check other doors.  Have been better in the past year, yay!

Had a mouse problem recently. Kerry & Robin cleaned everything (wearing masks and gloves!).  Whenever you use anything in the kitchen, including a cutting board, please wash it. There were droppings where the boards are stored.

Kerry will be creating covers for the stacks of dining room chairs that aren't in use and pillows for the set of outside chairs from Carol. 

Jorge replaced the faucet in the bathroom. Ben 3-D printed a bunch of things, such as hooks to hold doors of white board open.

The open/close shafts of some c.h. windows have rusted through, so the window can't be closed without being pushed from outside.  Should take the cranks off.  Ben will print caps for the screws.

C.H. front porch light isn't coming on by itself; fix.  Back porch lights get left on; change to photo sensor.

Fund raising

Yard and Plant Sale April 5.  Robin needs small pots; plants sell better in the ceramic ones. Let fund raising know if you have things to donate that could be sold.  Sale at Cohousing Open House Day. 

Wedding October 18. Tysic & Kellie are getting married!

The Cohousing Board paid us $1620 for use of the common house and guest rooms, plus sales of Ben's earrings etc., $2,048 total. Lots of intangible benefits.

Emailed 3/23/2025.