Intellectual Nourishment

The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don't know what you are doing, someone else does.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Ironman Donation

By Sara Laub
Jeff Gardner, spokesman for the Ironman, and Kevin Lewis, Washington County Tourism Office, came to the September GSSD meeting to present a donation from Ironman. As part of the contracts signed by the Ironman and the county to make the event function, the Ironman made a commitment to give back to the communities involved. The Gunlock Town Hall Association was presented with a check for $5,000.

GSSD in September

By Sara Laub
The GSSD board members are keeping up with the EPA order and have turned in paperwork and samples in a timely manner.
The water pressure continues to fluctuate at the spring and the vents have been cleaned as often as weekly to try to keep the pressure up. The system has to be “shocked” during the process to keep the water sanitary. The chlorine in the water has fluctuated because of this and the board is resolving this issue by fixing the air vents so they won’t need this constant maintenance.
The Smith Ranch disconnection is nearly complete. The water has been physically disconnected and now has to be completed on paper. The final paperwork should be finished in 60-180 days.
The 2011 election for the Gunlock Special Service District will not be held since there was only one person (Kip Bowler) who filed and there are two positions available. The board will appoint someone to fill the vacancy at the beginning of the year.
The board discussed that residents still need to conserve water since there are still a lot of summer weeks left.

Home

By Sara Laub
Home is a place we saw little of during the summer months. My children provoked this article since they have really missed their home.
The children were used to long days at our home playing in the yard, going to the splash parks and checking out books at the library in past years for summer activities.
Disappointment struck briefly as those past events were not to take place during this last summer. That disappointment faded quickly as the pursuit of the new and unknown came. The excitement of preparing and thinking of all the fun things to be done while on vacation, going to family reunions or just supporting their dad working on the farm, was special.
With each trip a new adventure unfolded, it created a summer that leaped by while time was flying just as fast. Packing and unpacking, doing laundry just to put it back into the bags. Doing dishes by hand, sitting in tractors, counting ladybugs and grasshoppers, applying layers of sunscreen. Collecting a hay cube to show off to mom so she could see the success of the day.
The return home was welcomed more and more with each trip. The door to the house would unlock and the children would disappear to be with the things they love most in their own home. Sighs were more and more heartfelt each time their heads lay on their very own pillow, in their very own room, surrounded by their very own belongings.
Although it is fun to be constantly doing things and going from one event to another, there is something to be said about being home. I believe my children have learned for themselves how special a home can be.

Comments

Thanks so much for putting Mom’s (Jesse Hunt) information in the Informer.
We wish to Thank everyone for their Kindness to us.
-Mary Ellen Strong

After Apple Picking

by Robert Frost

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still.
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples; I am drowsing off.
I cannot shake the shimmer from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the water-trough,
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and reappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
And I keep hearing from the cellar-bin
That rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking; I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall,
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised, or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

Aut-yum Leaves


Family Fun Magazine
Here's a treat no kid will leaf behind. Made with store-bought piecrust dough, these leaves are filled with chocolate and peanut butter chips -- but try jam and cream cheese, or chocolate chips, walnuts, and mini marshmallows, if you prefer.

Ingredients
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of water
• Prepared pie crust
• Mini chocolate chips
• Peanut butter chips
• Raw sugar
• Flour for work surface

Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 375°. Whisk one egg with a teaspoon of water and set it aside.
2. On a floured surface, roll out a prepared pie crust so it's about 1/8-inch thick. Use a large leaf-shaped cookie cutter (ours is 4 1/2-inches wide) to make as many dough leaf pairs as possible.
3. For each pocket, spread about 4 teaspoons of mini chocolate chips and peanut butter chips on a leaf, leaving a 1/2-inch margin at the edge. Brush egg wash onto the edge, place a second leaf on top, and press the edges to seal.
4. Brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle it generously with raw sugar. Bake the leaves on a parchment-covered cookie sheet until their edges are just beginning to brown, about 12 minutes. Let them rest on the sheet a few minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

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