Sports Complex Progress.

The progress of the expansion of the Fair Acres Sports Complex was summarized in a report compiled and submitted to the City Council by Parks Director Alan Bull.

According to the report, approximately 85% of grading work required has been completed by the Nation Guard. Bull says the contribution by the Guard amounts to approximately $180,000 worth of dirt work. The City paid only for fuel costs.

The Guard has also installed a subsurface drainage system which saved an additional $50,000 for the project.

A detention pond for storm water runoff has been constructed and a sewer main and water service has been installed to the new multipurpose concession building site. Construction of the building has begun, but is running behind schedule.

Lights for the new softball fields have been delivered and are awaiting installation. Seed and fertilizer for the softball fields have been purchased and is in storage. An irrigation system is on order.

"We now have everything in place to make rapid progress on the completion of this project," says Bull.

With the first of November fallin’ on a Wednesday, Thanksgivin’ will come early in the month this year, the 23rd. That means we’re only a little over three weeks from Turkey Day. That will, of course, mean that there will be nearly a full extra week of Christmas promotion after the feast.

With Christmas and New Year fallin’ on Monday, there prob’ly won’t be any stretchin’ to a four day weekend.

None a this news is prob’ly anything urgent, but with the holidays on the horizon, the pace always seems to move up a notch or two. ‘Course there is also always the chance we might actually have a winter sometime durin’ the next couple a months.

Oh yeah, ya might start keepin’ your eye open for calendars, 2001 is creepin’ in.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Workman's Loan

The Super Handyman

by Al Carrell and Kelly Carrell

Did you ever stop to think that this is the only season of the year with two names? "Autumn" comes from the Latin word for the season; "fall," as you might suspect, is tied to the falling of leaves. It’s a shortened form of "leaf-fall," which is what the English called the season in the 16th century.

At any rate, it’s time to remove the leaves and other debris from the gutters around your home.

One common problem that people encounter trying to do that: Their ladder starts to sink into the ground while they are up on it. In many situations, the ground below a gutter is a flower bed or shrub bed, and the soft earth just can’t support a ladder with you on it. Rather than sink out of sight, you can rise above the problem by setting the ladder legs into aluminum cans.

Use empty cat-food, tuna or coffee cans, anything large enough to fit the ladder leg into. The weight of the ladder is spread over a larger area, and you will be less likely to sink while you are working. You can put the cans in place for a longer period of time with a glue gun. You "can" feel safer this way.

A SUPER HINT - If you have done a lot of gluing on a wood project and have trouble spotting any squeezed-out glue, rub a little mineral spirits paint thinner over the wood. It will highlight the glue without harming the wood.