The Sandhill Crane

Not too far away from me they tore down an old elementary school to put in a small subdivision.  They only have one model home built, but I thought I would drive past yesterday to see the layout of the sub.  Imagine my surprise when I was driving through to see these glorious sandhill cranes.

It is not that I have never seen them around here before, but it has been many, many years.  I would occasionally see them along the creek bank behind my home.  It is much more common to see snowy egrets and blue herons.  I only have to wonder where they will go once the development commences in earnest.

West Bloomfield from the Air

I was online at my community's website looking to see if garbage pick-up was delayed.  It was.  

I am figuring that if a seven-inch snowfall on a Sunday cannot be handled by Monday, when everything is shut down or cancelled, god forbid it should snow on a weekday. 

Anyway, whilst on the site I saw this link to a video produced two years ago.  It is an interesting overview of the community I live in.  While the subdivision I live in is not seen, the hospital where I do my yoga is along with the country club where my middle son works and the high school they all attended.

When you have more than a few minutes, you might want to watch.

The Day of the Great West Bloomfield Tornado

March 20, 1976. That was the day of the great West Bloomfield tornado.  It has been almost 40 years since it happened.  I really haven't thought about it too much in recent years, but I saw an article in the local paper last week that brought the memories back.  The local historical society is having an open house on Sunday, March 13 featuring photos from the disaster.

I lived in West Bloomfield when it happened and it was just a stroke of luck that my husband and I were not driving through the intersection where it hit that night.  On that fateful Saturday in West Bloomfield, my husband and I went to an early dinner at Victoria's Station in a nearby community.

My husband had recently returned home from a three-week business trip to Denver, Colorado.  I had gone out to see him while he was there.  One night in Denver we went to dinner and after dinner I had a drink that had alcohol, cocoa and coffee.  It was very good.  I don't remember what it was called.

After dinner at Victoria's Station I asked the waiter if they could make the drink that I'd had in Denver.  My husband was surprised because I almost never ordered an after dinner drink.  At best I would have a glass of wine with dinner. That drink may have saved our lives.

We left the restaurant and started to drive home. We drove up Middlebelt Rd. in West Bloomfield and were making a left turn onto Maple Road when we noticed that there were people in the street and a lot of commotion.  A little ways down the road we found we couldn't get through and people said a tornado had come through.  We saw a house with the roof missing.

We turned the car around and decided that we would try and come home on another one of the north-south roads. We went down to 14 mile and headed west. We tried to go north on Farmington Road which was still a dirt road and not something that we normally would drive on.  Halfway up the road there were power lines down and we had to turn around and go south again.

Meanwhile I'm getting concerned because our dog is at home alone and I'm wondering if our home is still OK. (This was before we had any children)  We went on further west to drive to one of the other north-south roads. I can't remember which one we ended up taking but we were able to get back to our neighborhood, which was not hit.

Had we left the restaurant and driven home right after dinner it's quite likely that we would been driving through the intersection of Orchard Lake and Maple Road when the tornado was coming through.  I think that's the only time in my life when the phrase 'I need a drink' paid off.

Several years ago a book about West Bloomfield history was written, ending with the tornado.  It includes the comments of a young doctor who was on duty that night at the local ER.  She just happens to be my personal physician. Next time I see her I'll have to ask her about her memories of that night.

Dear Ms Turkey

Dear Ms Turkey,

Granted that I do not know whether you are really a female, but let's go with that.

I have lived here for a very long time and am quite used to the crazy drivers in West Bloomfield.  Many of them think that the rules of the road do not apply to them and that somehow turn signals are optional.  Many of these same people are busy talking on their cell phones and certainly not looking for 'small fry' crossing the road.

So, my suggestion to you is to stay in the neighborhood.  I know you may be tempted to see what life is like in the zip code across Walnut Lake Road, but trying to cross during rush-hour is not a good idea.  Don't take the road's nickname of God's Highway too seriously.  Even with a temple right on the corner.

Besides, you nearly gave me a heat attack when you strolled out from behind the bush headed for the street.  I would never have forgiven myself if I had hit you with my car.

Welcome to the neighborhood.  Stay in it if you want to be around for the holiday fireworks.  Walk a little farther down and cross with the light if necessary.

Sincerely,

Ms Hammond

Can You see me Now???

You are backing out of your drive way.  You look to the left and see this:

 

You look to the right and see this:

 

 

If you have any sense at all, you make sure your lights are on.  If you live in West Bloomfield, you somehow believe you are invincible and say 'what the hey'.

 

Good visibility is only about 200 feet.  Then there is nothingness.  It has been like this all day.  But I would bet that close to 50 percent of the drivers out there did not have their lights on.  I came close to being hit twice and I did have my lights on.  Folks pulled right out into the highway, seemingly oblivious to traffic.  I guess they thought if they couldn't see any cars, there weren't any cars. 

  

So, I am home for the rest of the day.  I'll enjoy what view I have out back.  Much safer.

 

 

 

 

Art in West Bloomfield

One of my goals when I became West Bloomfield Treasurer in 1988 was to clean up all the various bank accounts and the number of banks that we used for business.  We had more than 25 depository accounts in banks all over the township.  I got that down to three accounts in two banks by the time I left in 2008.

We had also had lots of money sitting in different funds in our internal accounting system.  They were mostly small balances that had not been cleared out and many were from donations we received for various purposes.

One of these accounts had money that was donated by a civic group of women, the Countryside Improvement Association of West Bloomfield.  The money had been sitting there for many years.  The Township was supposed to purchase something for the new Town Hall if and when it ever got built.  Well, that finally happened in October of 1989.

So, in the early 1990's,  I contacted the group and asked what they had in mind.  They suggested a painting for our new facility.  

I knew of a painter who lived in the Township, Heiner Hertling, and we contacted him.  Today, a beautiful oil painting of a woman (Heiner's neighbor) looking out across Orchard Lake to Apple Island hangs in Town Hall.

Most people walk past this picture and likely never notice it or know how it came to be there.  Next time you are in the Town Hall, I suggest you do more than walk by.  It is really a lovely oil.

Heiner Hertling also designed the Township logo.

The story of the logo is interesting because a developer actually threatened to sue us for copyright infringement. He claimed that he had copyrighted all printed usage of a heron.  We told him to sue us.   And we never heard from him again.

When you drive into Town Hall you will see a sculpture of two herons on your left.  These were also created by Mr. Hertling and were a gift from Herman Frankel in memory of Lillian Sue Warner, our longest serving Treasurer (she bested me by six months).

Here is a picture of the sculpture taken many moons ago.  It is difficult to see both herons, so stop by someday and see it for yourself.

 

 

The Great Blue Heron is the Township symbol, with a heron rookery in the Nature Preserve.  These birds are fantastic to watch, especially when flying overhead. 

It's the Deer Problem, Stupid

Early this summer I received my issue of the National Wildlife magazine.  I admit to subscribing for the beautiful pictures of nature.  I do not read every article. 

One article I did read was titled 'In Defense of Wildflowers'.  No pictures, but everyone knows how much I love flowers, so I read it.

Imagine my dismay when I discovered that the reason for the discussion was that feral hogs were destroying the native flowers and habitat.  Feral hogs are a problem?  What about the g-d- deer????  Come to Town Hall or our nature preserve in the Spring and you may notice that all the tulips and trillium have been eaten by the deer.

According to the article there are 5 million feral hogs.  According to my web search, there are over 25 million deer with a population that doubles every two years.  Ten deer today, twenty two years from now.  And it's not that we have invaded their habitat (I've lived here 40 years), it's that they have more food sources and no predators.  (Why did we not allow Ted Nugent to bow-hunt deer in our nature preserve????   And yes, in the early 90's I thought it was a bad idea.  Stupid me.)

Their only predator here is the car.  I live in a state that is in the top five for deer crashes.  In my community there are a little over 31 square miles.  About 14% of that area is open water, or about 4 acres.  Last year there were eleven deer-car crashes reported.  So far this year there have been 10.  Ten crashes across 27 acres and that's not all roads.  Last month there was a dead fawn right up at my corner on the main road.

My theory about folks being upset about feral hogs is because they are not 'cute'.  Oh, the deer are so cute, along with chipmunks and squirrels (rats not so much).  It reminds me of people who choose their mates based on looks and then realize they have married a complete jerk.

The deer are a serious problem.  While I was doing my web search I found this article from a year ago about a car-deer crash that ended in the death of seven family members.  What will it take to make people see that we need to address this issue locally?

This week I received my newsletter from Christopher Kimball at America's Test Kitchen.  He lives in Vermont and it is bow-hunting season.  Here is an excerpt: 

This year I used a camouflage face mask that fits over my cap and, to my surprise, it made a difference. I had a young doe walk no more than 20 feet away and then turn to look at me for more than a minute without spooking. I guess human faces really are what scare deer the most.

Human faces?  What kind of deer do they have in Vermont?  I have never scared a deer out of my yard by looking at it and I think I look kinda human.  They certainly do not see me as a threat.  And I don't think they would run off if I stood on the deck with the bow and arrow I have hanging down in the basement.

I am constantly asked when the Township Board will address this issue.  Well, these are the same folks who refused to get rid of the mute swans on the lakes.  Nothing like paying thousands upon thousands of dollars in property taxes to live on a lakefront and then not have access to your beach because some invasive species is chasing you away. 

Sometimes I think our whole world is going nuts in the name of saving the environment.  What about saving the people?