May 2, 2005

Thank you to a few good souls who turned up on a rainy Saturday morning armed with shovels and rakes in hand to help spruce up the Community Park a couple of weeks ago. This wonderful warm spring weather and occasional rain has brought a serious need to clean up the downtown park. Planting hedge plants and doing some basic clean up were Joan and Bud Hall, Jim and Pat O'Laughlin, Bill Shearer, Irv Tiessen and Ario Ysit.

The Sunol Business Guild does a great job with the help of many town volunteers to maintain the park for its many uses. Regular maintenance to keep the park looking great is always needed, so if you are interested in helping maintain the park by raking leaves, weed control or just litter cleanup, please contact Jim O'Laughlin at 925-862-2550.

Make sure to stop at the park and take a look at the new beautifully ornate iron gates that were designed by Tom Harland and welded by Dan Reasor.

Jim O'Laughlin's private home garden has been selected for a home garden tour on May 15 from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Bay Friendly Garden Tour will showcase 30 public and private gardens throughout Alameda County. The self-guided tour is free and to receive a tour guidebook with directions to the gardens and garden descriptions you must pre-register by calling 510-444-SOIL or go to www.stopwaste.org.

Alameda County Waste Management Authority offers the Bay Friendly Gardening program as a way to teach residents how to use a more environmentally friendly approach to gardening in the bay area, such as water conservation, soil treatment methods and ways of reducing pollution.

Jim's garden tour will focus on his vegetable garden and soil building using mulch, cover crops and drip irrigation. He recently built an owl house to catch those pesky gophers; is using a beehive to help with pollination; and has purchased a chicken tractor and 10 baby chicks. What's a chicken tractor you may ask? (I learn something new all the time by writing this column). It's a chicken pen that you can move to different parts of your yard and is good for soil fertilization and insect control, plus you get some good fresh eggs too.

Ok, they're calling it "Throw Momma on the Train"! Try something new and take your Mom on an exciting train ride courtesy of The Niles Canyon Railway this Mothers Day. The trains depart every 45 minutes from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. from the Sunol Depot and there will be a special treat for all Moms. The suggested donation is $4.00 for children, $7.00 for seniors and $9.00 for adults. Then swing by Bosco's, Bones and Brew for a scrumptious Mothers Day brunch from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. or dinner from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Joan and Bud Hall are the proud grandparents of the newly crowned Livermore Junior Rodeo Queen, Keeley Hall. Sixteen-year-old Keeley attends Livermore High School and is the daughter of Miles Hall and Nancy Silva.

Sunol Glen School News: Volunteers are still needed to assist at the school this Friday for the annual Exploration Day. If you would like to help out please contact Lisa Harper at 925-862-0426. Also on Friday is the annual student council car wash fundraiser held after school at 3:00 p.m. on the school grounds.