Rice Military News 1208

R ICE M ILITARY N EWSLETTER December 2008

Your source for neighborhood news

NEXT QUARTERLY MEETING FEATURING GEATER URBAN PLANNING IDEAS FROM SWA GROUP’S SUMMER INTERN PROJECT AND “BETWEEN THE BAYOUS” PRESENTATION OF ARCHITECTURAL LANDSCAPE DESIGNS WITH EIGHT PROJECT MODELS

7 PM, TUESDAY JANUARY 13, 2009 DORIS MILLER CENTER 5216 FEAGAN ST

Our Rice Military Neighborhood by Phyllis Thomason, President ho are all of these people?!? I hope you know that they are some of your neighbors who celebrated National Night Out on Tuesday, October 7, at Doris Miller! Over 300 folks in Rice Military came out, in the much cooler evening, to greet one another and meet local business owners and representatives of the City of Houston Fire Department and Police Department. The children enjoyed the ever popular petting zoo, sponsored by Wabash Antique and Feed for the third year, and the new addition this year of the pony rides! We are always so grateful to the Houston Mounted Police for the time they give to educate us about their role in protecting citizens. Representative Ellen Cohen strolled through the event, meeting many of you and commenting on the fact that the Rice Military event was one of the best attended events she has ever visited! The brisket from Hickory Hollow was superb, and it was made complete with the outstanding contributions of those who prepared side dishes and desserts to accompany it! Thanks to all of you for your support of this neighborhood event! With contributions from local businesses and the money raised from our raffle, Rice Military is very pleased to announce that we, as a neighborhood, have adopted an esplanade on Westcott to continue the planting program that began this summer. We will keep you informed on details, as they become available, of the planting schedule we are formulating with the Houston Parks and Recreation Department. Many thanks to those of you who helped this project become reality. The National Night Out organization is surveying Texas groups who celebrated this event in October instead of August. We have certainly sent our response to their questions and are in hopes that this cooler time of the year will become the official time for National Night Out in Texas and maybe even the southern part of the country.

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It doesn’t seem possible, but December is right around the corner and it will be time for us once again to celebrate the holidays with our Third Annual Holiday Celebration benefiting DePelchin Children’s Center on December 2, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. We have moved our event to the United Way Building at 50 Waugh since Urban Living offices were damaged by Hurricane Ike. Just drive straight down Feagan to this beautiful building with lots of free parking attached. Again, we will do our best to meet the needs of the children of DePelchin with unwrapped gifts for boys and girls. You can visit www.DePelchin.org for a full listing of wants and needs of the children this holiday season. Come share your good fortune with the children of DePelchin and share a glass of cheer with good neighbors! I hope that all of you will become members of the Rice Military Civic Club for 2009! Our membership dues are minimal and can be found on our website. Won’t you join us this year? Either mail a check to P.O. Box 130311, Houston, 77219-0311, or pay by credit card at www.RiceMilitary.org.

If you would like to start receiving the newsletter by email only, please email [email protected] with “PDF NEWSLETTER” in the subject line along with your name and home address in the email.

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Hurricane Ike in Stories and Pictures Well, I have to say, Mike and I spent most of our days sitting on the front porch. We felt like the Clampets (I could hear the Beverly Hillbilly's song in my mind). A great benefit from this was we had time to do a lot of reading. We also got to know and meet a great number of people who walked by our house and shared their frustrations about no power, water to bathe, hot food, waiting in line for gas, generator noise or house repairs. A lady came by and offered us water and ice (when one couldn't find it anywhere) while we were cleaning up debris. We also saw neighbors hand over cables from their balcony to their neighbors to share electricity. It was a nice time to experience bits of kindness and money out of their pocket to make others comfortable, like The Daily Grind staying open (while they were still in the dark) and making coffee for those in the neighborhood on a generator. People came by with their cups and waited for coffee early in the morning. The guy at Gelato Blu allowed me to plug my computer to his small gelato cart to look at my email. This was very much welcomed since another coffee shop down the street had plugged up all of its outlets. Along with these experiences, we were blessed with the passage and migration of many hummingbirds who came to our front yard. I put up about five feeders and Mike and I sat to watch a symphony and ballet take place before our eyes. It was wonderful and memorable. Ike gave to us more than it took away. Juanita Egan What I will remember from the storm is how it drew neighbors together. Peggy Moore never lost power and invited neighbors over to share her power in the evenings. People gathered for a potluck meal contributing what they could with whatever resources they had and shared stories. My husband and I were working long days at the Houston Arboretum to help clean up trees after the storm and enjoyed going to Peggy’s for supper after a long day of working outside. It was nice to see neighbors gathering on driveways and having communal “hurricane celebrations” as we walked the streets of the

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neighborhood. Most of the time we all live in our own little worlds once the garage door goes down, so it was nice to see neighbors getting to know each other. Lisa Murray I think Ike was still raging through Rice Military when I had an urge to get outside and see what had happened to our neighborhood. After feeling my bed move every time the wind blew all night, I just knew that major damage would be all around me! So I wrapped up in a waterproof parka and off I went into the streets. To my surprise other neighbors were out inspecting the hood as well. I checked Nellie Keyes Park and found that the playground equipment was totally covered by the large trees that had once shaded it. Sad, but moving on, I found many trees down, which had pulled down utility lines, but none had landed on houses! A group of us banded together and looked for things needing immediate attention. As we walked down Asbury, we found that another neighbor had already began to cut up a tree that had fallen across the entire street. We stopped to offer help since we were armed with saws and pruning shears. As we worked and talked, we found that this neighbor was not working on a tree that had fallen from his yard – in fact he didn’t know whose house or tree it was! He was just being a good neighbor and helping – besides he said he was bored and needed something to do! We are truly thankful for those who came out and helped others. And although we may have been without electricity for days, we were truly blessed to have had very little serious damage in Rice Military. Phyllis Thomason After nine days, we decided to borrow a generator and small AC unit from a friend who no longer needed it. Will needed the power in order to work, and I wanted a reprieve from the heat. And wouldn’t you know, after all the time and energy we used to get and set up the generator, our power came on the next morning. Wendy Wilkinson These and other pictures may be viewed through www.RiceMilitary.org.

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The Third Annual Holiday Reception of Rice Military Civic Club benefiting DePelchin Children’s Center

Children’s Garden Now Open at the corner of Lester and Rose

Tuesday, December 2 6:30 until 8:30 The United Way Building 50 Waugh, corner of Feagan at Waugh

Join us for a glass of cheer and bring a new unwrapped toy for a girl or boy. Let’s make this holiday a great time for all! Visit www.DePelchin.org for a list of suggestions and needs.

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A section of the community garden has now been set aside for children to plant and tend with their parents and grandparents. Pictured here is Ryan Few, grandson of Ruth Becker, planting flowers that will add beauty and feed the pollinators. If you are interested in being a part of the community garden or the children’s garden, please contact Lisa Murray at [email protected].

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Queen of Green says,

Rice Military Calendar

“Limit Frustrations When Going Green!”

By Laury Adams

Check for times, places, & sign up for email updates on www.RiceMilitary.org

We have all heard of the advantages of replacing our incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL). But transitions in life often have unexpected outcomes. Why won’t these new bulbs work on my dimmer switch? Why does the fluorescent bulb in my closet fixture keep burning out when it was supposed to have a life of 7 years? And when they do burn out, how should we dispose of them? GE Energy Smart Dimming Spirals are specially designed for use with dimming switches. There are also CFL bulbs made for use in 3-way lamps. Check the package for the appropriate application. CFL bulbs work best if they are left on for over 15 minutes. Frequently switching them on and off will shorten the life and you will not reap the benefits. Therefore, closets and storage spaces may best be lighted the old-fashioned way. Do not throw burned out CFL bulbs in the garbage. For proper disposal, you can drop them off at a Home Depot at Ella and Shepherd or 610West Loop at 59. Information can help us deal with frustrations when we change our lighting. Go to www.GELighting.com and check out their Environmental Information Center.

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DECEMBER 2008

December Tuesday Monday Monday

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Holiday Party recycle, heavy trash recycle

January Monday Friday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Tuesday

5 9 12 13 14 20

recycle Wine Club heavy trash Civic Club Meeting Book Club recycle

February Monday Monday Monday

2 9 16

recycle heavy trash recycle

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Last Month’s Social at Cáceres We would like to thank Cáceres for hosting our last social.

And congratulations to Joyce Laudry who won the the Cáceres contest for dinner for four at Molina’s. For information of upcoming socials, check www.RiceMilitary.org. To schedule a social, email Peggy Moore at [email protected].

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National Night Out Sponsors Thanks to all the businesses and organizations who participated and made this one of the best National Night Out events in Houston!

The Long Lived

The Native Mesquite, Continued

Texas Pecan Tree

Patriot Bank

Cáceres

Quiznos Room Redo

The Sturdy Live Oak

Sign-A-Rama, Durham

Hickory Hollow

Spec’s

Joy Yoga Center

Sterling Bank

Wabash Antique & Feed

Velvet Lounge WD Engineering

The Cool Cottonwood

Zushi Japanese Cuisine

The Amish Craftsman Integrity Bank

Non-Profit Partners

InnerLoopLiving.com

DePelchin Children’s Center

Star Copier

Go Green Houston

West End Bicycle

Houston Arboretum & Nature Center Houston Bikeway Program

The Native Mesquite

Memorial Park Conservancy

Adam Blustein Realtor

WOW Roundabout

Bamboo Bodyworks Prize Winners Phyllis Anders — Joy Yoga Tim Bammel — Joy Yoga Wanda Baptista — Joy Yoga Wanda Baptista — Mardi Gras Grill Sarah Cotting — Rainbow Lodge Barbara Cowan — Candelari’s Barbara Cowan — Sterling Bank Danny Frederick — Patriot Bank Donnie Hall — Texadelphia Craig Harris — Zushi Lisa Hoffman — Patranella’s Diana Light — Finish Strong Sports Christopher McCarty — El Tiempo Pamela O’Brien — Great Frame Up Becky Rodriguez — Quiznos Brian Sandoval — Cova Will Wilkinson — Spec’s Kathy Zimmerman — Los Cucos

Blossom Massage Brando Chiropractic Sherry Parker Citihomes Crew Health & Fitness Darke Gallery El Tiempo Cantina Finish Strong Sports Gerald Franklin Agency The Great Frame Up J & T Tool and Supply Kicks Indoor Soccer & Gym Les Dougherty, Jewerly Los Cucos Mexican Cafe Mara’s Baltic Linen Mardi Gras Grill Massage Envy Patrenella’s Italian Restaurant

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Rice Military Civic Club Offices Elected Offices President

Phyllis Thomason

[email protected]

Vice-President

Jack Hardin

[email protected]

Secretary

Will Wilkinson

[email protected]

Treasurer

Kathleen Zimmerman

[email protected]

Non-Elected Offices Social Coordinator Peggy Moore

[email protected]

Newsletter Editor Wendy Wilkinson

[email protected]

All officers are volunteers. Please contact them with any questions, issues, or compliments! We would like to thank officers and all other volunteers for their work to make this one of the best neighborhoods in Houston!

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Rice Military Civic Club PO Box 130311 Houston TX 77219-0311

SUPPORT YOUR CIVIC CLUB AND BECOME A MEMBER! PAY DUES AT WWW.RICEMILITARY.ORG SHARE YOUR NEWS We welcome your news, photos, and comments on items published but reserve the right to edit for clarity, style, and length. For the March newsletter, articles are due February 6, 2009. Send items to [email protected]. Articles and ads do not necessarily reflect the views of the Rice Military Civic Club, nor does the Civic Club take responsibility for errors of fact that may be expressed by the writers and advertisers. Thank you, Wendy Wilkinson, editor

PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID HOUSTON TX PERMIT NO 1678