Momma Duck Returns!

As I drove down Shady Brook on Wed Dec. 22 at 7:15 I was shocked to see not 2 but 3 ducks in the usual place. I grabbed my camera and have now compared today's photo to the ones from the summer. Momma Duck has returned!! The identification was confirmed when the ducks were spotted in our yard and the new lady was in the tree -- just where Momma used to sit.

Three ducks in a tree

Three ducks roosting in our mesquite. Momma used to sit here and watch over her young ones. Now the two sons have joined her.

Icy Ducks

Well the duck guys made it through the cold. I spotted them Friday morning. Thank you to all the neighbors who help with their care!

From an August duck posting -- not to worry about our ducky guys. They are hardy to -15 deg C, which is 5 deg F.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/Musc/BRKScobies.html
This site tells us Muscovies are the only domestic ducks that are not derived from Mallard stock. They are a South American species. They are intelligent and the males(drakes) will be much larger than the females (ducks). This site tells me they are "tree birds" so they don't need water! They are also great mothers and expert foragers, which I think we would all agree with now. They are even hardy at -15 deg C which is way below freezing.

Cold and icy in Bedford

These pictures were taken about 9am on Thursday the 8th. See the "feels like 1 degree" on the Yahoo site! It shows about 18 degrees. On Friday the 9th we actually hit 14 or 15 degrees during the early hours.

Driveways and roofs are white but the center of the street LOOKS clear -- until you hit the surprise icy patch. At 8:30am today KRLD reported that there had been 2145 accidents in Fort Worth since 4pm yesterday. The overpasses were treacherous yesterday afternoon even at 5mph.

Mailbox problems

This picture shows two things. One is the extent of the ice we had -- a dry street and then an icy patch. The grass looks bare, but it is crisp to walk on. Roofs sidewalks and driveways are also white with ice, not snow.

This photo also shows we've been having mailboxes damaged. During the past couple of months I've noticed 2 that have been destroyed.

Fall Colors

Nov. 27 - fall colors

Neighborhood Improvements

One of our neighbors just added a new gate! 

Voluntary Water Conservation

The city website is supporting the Trinity River Authority and Tarrant Regional Water District by requesting that we participate in voluntary water conservation.

Specifically, that means the public is asked to reduce or eliminate outdoor watering between the hours of 10 A.M. and 6 P.M.

I was walking at the Colleyville Nature Center yesterday and the water in those ponds is dramatically low. I have only measured about 1/2 inch in our raingauge in the last few months.

Ducks

Early morning preening and breakfasting.

Duck Report

White Nose and The Twin seem to be happy to hunker down at the far southern edge of the neighborhood, watching cars go by in numerous directions. Their heads seem darker now and their size hasn't changed in a long while, so I guess they have reached maturity.

Neighbors Decorate for the Fall

Some of our neighbors are sharing fall spirit, with a happy pumpkin scarecrow display and a Veterans' Day tribute.

Fall is in the Air on Shady Brook

Even though we haven't had very cool weather yet, the amount of daylight is decreasing and the leaves are starting to turn. I spotted one tree in the neighborhood with some pretty fall color. We are expecting lows in the 30's later this week, so maybe we'll have more color by next weekend.

Be Sure to Vote - Locations and Times

Early voting continues through Friday, Nov. 4, for the Nov. 8 election. It is available every day. Today voting sites are open 7am to 7pm, on Sunday 11am to 4pm, 8am to 5pm Monday through Wednesday and on Thursday and Friday 7am to 7pm.

Sites nearby include the Euless Public Library and the Hurst Recreation Center on Mary Drive. The Northeast Subcourthouse and North Richland Hills City Hall are also sites. The complete list is on the Tarrant County eVote site.

The Nov. 8 Election Day Polling Place for Precinct 3200 is the Bedford Boys Ranch, Mapsco 54A.

Tarrant County Voting Website

The Tarrant County Elections website is very interesting. You can find out where to vote, see a sample ballot and even see your own record so you can tell which is the next election to vote in. They include a day by day absentee voting count by location.

Bedford Boards Need You -- Applications Due Oct. 28

Notice from the City website:

Boards & Commissions
The Mayor and City Council are seeking residents interested in serving on a citizen board or commission. Currently, over a hundred (100) people are participating on the various boards or commissions.

In order to be considered for appointment, all applications must be received by Friday, October 28 at 5:00 p.m.

Contact the City Secretary's Office at 817-952-2101 for more information.

Time to Vote - Constitutional Amendment Information

We have 9 state Constitutional Amendments on the Nov. 8 ballot. Early voting has already started. Here is a link to a 64 page state document prepared for the Legislature. It is called "Analyses of Proposed Constitutional Amendments,Nov. 8, 2005, election" and was prepared by the Staff of the Texas Legislative Council, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker Tom Craddick, Joint Chairs. The Texas Legislative Council is a nonpartisan group that supports the Legislature.

Ducks Now Number 2

We are down to 2 ducks. Early one morning last week a neighbor saw that White Face had been killed in the street. White Nose and the remaining Twin now seem to mostly hunker down and not move around quite so much. If anyone knows for sure that the mom was killed I would appreciate that information. We may find out in the spring if she reappears to start the process again. And not to worry about the cold -- see the post from Aug. 20 (but scroll down) if you want some links about Muscovy Ducks. "They are even hardy at -15 deg C which is way below freezing, so I think they are with us for the winter."

HEBISD School Board 7th National DIgital Winner

from an HEBISD Press Release dated 10/25/05

"The Center for Digital Education and National School Boards Association
has named HEB ISD one of the top 10 ranking school boards
of their 2005 Digital School Boards Survey.

The study examined how school boards and their districts are applying information technology to improve the delivery of services and quality of education to public schools, and to better engage their local communities and constituents.

Survey questions and criteria centered on school boards' online presence, technology applications that allow the public to interact with school board members, access to information such as school board calendars, policies and agendas, and technology advancements in the school board chambers. ...

The Star-Telegram published an article 'Districts honored for technology use' (on Oct. 25 p. 3B) "which explained how the District's web site is used to publicize board election information and school ratings. The article also mentioned use of the web site for school calendar voting, for parents to email their child's teachers, and for parents to receive online report cards."

Note: the article also mentioned Mansfield was number 4 and another Texas ISD (Northside) was tied for 6, but no other Texas schools were in the top 10 of this national survey. Yay, HEBISD!

Duck Crossing Signs ... but down to 4... then 3

Good news and bad. "Duck crossing" signs have been installed in our area, probably Monday, thanks to a call to the City. However, one of the twins was hit Tuesday, and on Wednesday afternoon there was no sign of Momma Duck.

Mayor Story Inaugurated

Mayor Jim Story, a Shady Brook resident, was installed as Mayor last night.

Mayor Story; Wine Sales Approved

The Star Telegram reports unofficially that
Jim Story won the mayoral race by 50.9% of the votes. The sale of wine was approved by 87%. The swearing in ceremony will be Sept. 19.

HEBISD Hurricane Relief Efforts

The HEBISD Clothes Closet can use your donations of clothing. I understand the school district has already enrolled about 20 kids from the areas affected. The Clothes Closet is open 10am - 2pm M-W-F and is located near the intersection of Pipeline and Raider, at the FEW Center, behind Central JH.

Bedford Hurricane Relief Efforts

Bedford Police & Fire Departments have been out at Pennington Field and the intersection of Hwy 183 Access roads and Central Drive collecting monetary donations for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. They will be out there today (Saturday, Sept. 3) from 11 - 5 pm accepting monetary donations as well.

In addition, the Fire Department is accepting donations of NON-PERISHABLE food donations at Central Fire Station, 1816 Bedford Road. If you can provide any items, please drop them off at Central Fire Station.

Hurricane Katrina information

Do you need to find out about a particular area in New Orleans? A site based on Google Maps* is collecting data that may be helpful:

www.scipionus.com

Here's an article in WIRED Magazine about the project. My son knows the young man who came up with the idea.

If you need other Hurricane Katrina information, including more message boards, the Dallas Public Library is compiling an online
Hurricane Katrina Disaster Resource

You can also get to it from their home page
Dallas Public Library

The resource guide has links to vital information for those who have been displaced by the storm. The first part is Dallas-related but scroll down and you will find much more that would be useful to folks anywhere.

*Google Maps

Includes both regular maps and the corresponding satellite picture - check out your house!

Duck Identification

Well, it may not be a good thing to now be able to identify individual ducks, but each is different and here is how:

Momma -- the smallest one with all the red around her eyes

Her 4 sons (my guess since they all turned out much bigger than Momma). At a glance they look identical, but actually two are slightly different:

White Nose -- you will notice that only one drake has a white beak tip
White Face -- the other 3 guys have black "noses" but one has white around his eyes
The Twins -- the other two have black noses and look very similar but one has more black markings on his beak than the other

Sorry, duck count now 5

Sorry to report another down. At the corner by Shady Grove, probably around 1pm Monday. Tuesday morning I called Animal Control to please, please come move them. I think the 4 big ones are drakes and I doubt they would find their way back here. I'm afraid they will cause an accident. I've already requested "Duck Crossing" signs for the area (last week) and it sounded like they would act on the request, but who knows how long it could take.

Budget and Tax Rate Hearings

Two public hearings are required before the City Council can finally approve the 2005/2006 Budget and tax rate. You can speak at the first two meetings. Let them know your opinion! All meetings are at Bedford City Hall (Council Chambers) at 7pm.

Tuesday, Aug. 30th -- 1st Reading & 1st Public Hearing

Tuesday, Sept. 6th -- 2nd Public Hearing

Tuesday, Sept. 13th -- 2nd & Final Reading - Council will vote and set the rate

Mexican petunias

My ruellia "Little Katie" Mexican petunias only bloom in August, my bet is they require more sun than they get in our planter. A wonderful perennial plant in this area, great for the lazy gardener.

Momma Duck

Thought you'd enjoy this cute shot of our star momma duck. The current count is 6. The link area will take you to more duck pictures.

Mayoral candidates

I thought we had only 5 mayoral candidates. There are 8! I hear (unconfirmed though) that the city has budgeted for a runoff election because the person who is elected must win by a majority and with 8 candidates, that is unlikely to happen on September 10th. Here are the names (alphabetical order) and the websites I am aware of.

Todd Burgart www.toddburgart.com
Meg Gould
French Haralson
Philip Hatfield
Bill Lea
Herb Miner, Jr.
Jim Story www.bedfordtogether.com
Roy Turner www.royturner.com

OK, this is a complete list now and they were all present at the forum on the 25th. Please be sure to study the candidates and vote.

Candidate Forum Thurs. Aug. 25. 7pm

Notice from the city website:
League of Women Voters Candidates’ Forum

The League of Women Voters will have a candidates' forum for the Special Election to fill the Mayor's vacancy, August 25 at the Bedford-Hurst Senior Center at 7:00 p.m.

If you cannot attend the Forum, it will be re-broadcasted on Comcast Cable channel 15, on the following days:

• Monday, August 29 at 6:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, August 31 at 6:00 p.m.

Note, the League of Women Voters website does not yet include any statements from the candidates for this election.

Early voting starts

Early voting starts on Wednesday, August 24th at the Library

We will be electing a new mayor to serve until May 2006 and also will vote on allowing sale of wine in city grocery stores. You can't complain if you don't vote. Please vote.

Do you know this cat?

Last night I heard by phone that this is JoJo and she belongs to a family that feeds her and gives her shots. The people they got her from told them she had been spayed. She is a friendly cat other than occasionally grabbing at you, and she likes to hang out on the diving boards of two neighbors on the east side of Shady Brook Drive. Since I forgot to ask for a name and number of the man who called, I hope to confirm this information in person.

Do you know this cat?

Welcome To Shady Brook!

I thought I would start this online newsletter to gather information relevant to the residents of the area at the southern end of Shady Brook. Please contact me if you want to share anything -- see the link in the column at the right. I would prefer to keep us somewhat anonymous, not using full names or addresses for privacy, since we should all be able to figure out who we are!

Duck update

Today we lost 5 of our duck family. By my count we should now have 7, but I have only spotted the mom and 4 youngsters. Two seem to be sticking with the mom and two are being more reclusive. To see more on the history of the ducks during the summer of 2005, see the web page http://miscfrommp.blogspot.com/