Recycling Pickup Date Moves to Thursdays on Sept. 13

Recycling pickup will be changing the week of September 13. Weekly recycling pickup for the Shady Brook neighborhood will move to Thursday.

Contact information for Allied Waste Services:

www.AlliedWaste-DFW.com

www.RecycleItDFW.com

817-332-7301 option 7

Source: City of Bedford website accessed 8-14-2010 http://www.ci.bedford.tx.us/

NAVTEQ Traffic Map

The NAVTEQ Traffic site provides a great visual resource for real time traffic conditions. It shows the DFW Metroplex with red, yellow, black, and green lines based on status.

To locate and use the map, select the "Traffic" tab at the site, then select Dallas-Fort Worth,TX. In the upper left corner of the map you will see a faint circle and squares that become active and let you move and focus the map for more detail on your area of interest.

Resources cited: www.navteq.com

Freeway Construction Update Page on City Website

The city website now includes a freeway construction update and lane closures information for the DFW Connector and North Tarrant Express.

Rose Bush April 25 -- Well Over 400 Blossoms

I have passed the last couple of weeks in astonishment as the rose count continues to climb. On April 6 I was pleased to see 5 roses. but knew there were more to come because it was loaded with green buds. By the 13th I counted 36 blooms and only 3 days later it was 100! After that it became too hard to count, but on the 20th I made an effort and hit 235! Today I decided since they are mostly in clumps of 6 I'd just count clumps -- and hit 70 without even counting individual ones. So well over 400, probably 500 if I had some real way to manage!

The bees have discovered the bush, too. They have a nice, rose fragrance, although not very strong.

I don't see very many green buds now, so it is probably at its peak.

235 Blooms

Climbing Pinkie Earth-Kind® Rose

For Mother's Day, 2009, I was given a Climbing Pinkie Earth-Kind® Rose by my children. Now, almost a year later you can see it has grown really large! It had spots in November, but I ignored them. It wasn't bothered by the snow and temperatures in the 20s. I have not pruned it nor given it any special watering or fertilizing. I do mulch the entire bed. Now in April it is bursting out with beautiful, fragrant pink roses about 3 inches wide when fully overblown.

The Earth-Kind Rose Program was developed by Dr. Steve George and Texas A&M University. This is an excellent article about the formation and initial findings of the program, and this is a PowerPoint from A&M.

I was thinking I might need to prune it but from reading more it sounds like I don't need to, so perhaps this year I will just let it go and see what happens! It has just begun to reach the top of the fence, so hopefully my neighbor will get to enjoy them, too.

Links cited:

http://www.walterreeves.com/landscaping/article.phtml?cat=7&id=890

aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkind/roses/media/EKRoses.ppt

Census Day, April 1, 2010

Every 10 years we participate in the U S Census and this year was the year!

Solar Energy -- Monthly Leasing Now Available

Have you considered solar energy but the upfront cost was just too much? TXU has announced a leasing program with free installation of panels. They estimate that a 3- or 4-bedroom home might initially cost about $35 a month on the 15-year, transferable lease, increasing 2.5% annually. However, the end result should be an energy savings, so hopefully the lease would pay for itself. TXU customers can sell TXU Energy the surplus electricity produced. Actual lease prices run $20 - $100 per month.

Homeowners in the Metroplex can qualify if they have broadband Internet service and good credit -- and sufficient south-facing roof space. Your roof should be in good condition before installation. SolarCity provides the solar panels, installation, maintenance and insurance.

Documents needed are a copy of your bill and a record of your kilowatt hour usage for each of the past 12 months (available from your electricity provider).

Learn more and sign up for a quote at www.txu.com/solar or call 877-TXU-SOLAR.

Record breaking snow hits DFW

On Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010, the snow began to fall in the early morning. By 8pm at DFW Airport it had broken the previous record and hit 7.8". The final record-breaking total was 11.2" and an amazing 12.5" in a single 24-hour period. Here are some shots of the neighborhood around 6pm Friday.

Channel 5 reports on record breaking snow storm

David Finfrock at Channel 5 TV reports on the snowstorm around 8pm Thursday night just as the one day snowfall record was broken.

Heavy snow caused damage

Trees and metal roofs were damaged by the weight of the snow.

Fun and life in the snow

Snowy signs of fun and life -- building a snowman, signs of spring and watching the flock of robins that came through. All an appropriate setting to remind us that the Winter Olympics are beginning in Vancouver, Canada!

Train Station Snow Shots

The Hurst-Bell TRE train station parking lot was a snowy sight early Thursday and just before dark on Friday. Due to the snow this car had to remain there overnight but during the day some probably melted off. The snow was fluffy and not difficult to remove.

Previous Bell High School Teacher Wins Teaching Award

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-starteacher_26met.ART.State.Edition2.4bd712c.html">Mr. Chris Bruhn was the physics teacher at L. D. Bell High School when my kids were there. They thought Physics was a really interesting course and he is why. Today we learned that he has just won the O'Donnell Texas AP Teacher Award and a $30,000 prize. He currently shares his love of science at the Dallas ISD Magnet School for Science and Engineering.