Terrace gets a trim and a cleanup

As you drive around the Terrace, you'll note things are a lot neater.

That's because a small but energetic band of Terrace residents took things in hand Saturday and, after several rainouts, carried off the annual Terrace Cleanup Day.

With the unstoppable Harvey Bailey and Tom Chichester leading the way -- without these guys the Terrace wouldn't be in half as good a shape as it is, April Dowd and Kay Duclos hand-scrubbed the mailbox gazebo, a huge job in itself; Bill Dowd buzz-cut the shrubs around the gazebo, then joined Harvey to trim the shrubs in the island near the gazebo, much to the consternation of the feathered residents of No. 36.

Harvey, Tom and Lorraine Bailey worked the entranceways to the Terrace, trimming, raking and fertilizing.

Manning, or womanning as the case may be, the rakes and cleanup were Ginny Chichester, Betty Looney, Russ Golino, Jack Coyne, Julia Austin, and Tom and Jack hauled away the debris.

We had 17 people signed up to help for the first cleanup date, but that was rained out along with the subsequent date. Today, we had a mere 11 out of a Terrace population of more than 50 people.

Here's a camera's-eye view of what went on today. Missing from view is Bill Dowd who took the photos.

About that cleanup ...

Our twice-rained out Terrace cleanup day is morphing into a catch-as-catch-can project.

Our stalwart outdoors guys, Harvey Bailey and Tom Chichester, plan to do whatever chores they can throughout the week as the weather permits. Harvey has posted an optimistic new date of Saturday (June 17) for the formal cleanup day.

Helping hands still are needed any day, so if you have a little spare time call Harvey (233-8579) or Tom (235-9216) to find out what needs doing.

Red threads among the green

Look familiar? Those brownish-red patches infesting lawns all around the Terrace and elsewhere are caused by something scientists and lawn care specialists call "red thread."

It won't ruin the lawns, except esthetically. A shot of high-nitrogen fertilizer will allow the grass to reclaim itself because the disease is only in the upper part of the blades, not at the roots. We're checking with our lawn service about that.

The cause? Big surprise. An excess of rain and some unseasonably cool temperatures.

The Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic at Cornell University advises lawn owners to avoid overwatering, especially in the late afternoon or evening. So, it makes sense to turn off those automatic sprinklers until the problem is resolved.

If you want to read up in detail on the red thread problem, just click here.

Diamond Ridge not on this week's agenda

The Troy Planning Board tells me the Diamond Ridge expansion project is NOT on the agenda for this Thursday's board meeting.

If you're curious what is (I can assure you there's nothing that impacts the Terrace), just look on the list of links at the right, click on the city Web site, and go to Planning & Zoning to get the agenda.

Cleanup day set for June 10

Now that we've entered what seems to be a more settled spell of weather, it's time for the annual Terrace Spring Cleanup Day.

Harvey Bailey, Lord High Commissar of Grounds, has decreed this Saturday, June 10 (we were rained out last weekend), the day. We'll gather at the mailbox gazebo at 9:00 a.m. and get to work weeding, trimming, picking up, and doing whatever else Mr. Bailey deems in need of attention.

Bring comfy shoes, work gloves, sun hats, bug spray, pruning shears, plastic trash bags and anything else you think may be helpful. Music is cool, too, although we suspect this won't be a crowd that appreciates hip-hop or rap.

If you haven't already put your name on the signup sheet at the mailbox, please do so. We'd like this to be an event that involves everyone at the Terrace rather than the same core group of people doing all the work all the time.

See you Saturday.