Alachua Together

One of my tenants applied for a free garden this year and had it installed in the back yard. It’s part of a county program called GIFT Gardens. If you meet the income requirement and have a place to put it, you can have one installed for free. Volunteers will come put it together for you and give you the initial supplies. After that, you just keep it watered and follow other instructions for tending it.

After this recent week of sub-freezing temps, I expected to see a lot of dead plants. As you can see, the thing is actually flourishing! I took this photo of one of the 3 box gardens, and they are all equally healthy looking. Anywy, for more information about this program, click on this link.

We had a forecast of severe weather on Wednesday, and at about 8:15 it seemed to be coming true. I  was having breakfast at Perkins on Newberry Road when the storm swept through. The wind was whipping the flag so fiercely that the manager feared that it may be damaged, so a couple of employees were dispatched to haul it in

The flag at Perkins must be the biggest one in town, or at least one of them. So it is  a bit difficult to handle in good weather, let alone high winds.

Although this is not the way I learned to fold a flag in the Boy Scouts, it’s the best way it cam be done by only two men in inclement weather. The bad weather did not last long, however. The whole storm was pretty much over with in 15 minutes, but it was so ugly out that I was convinced that we were not through with it. But, this is Florida, and this can be the start of a perfectly lovely day, and it was.

Good thing he is behind a fence!

Some enterprising person with a lot of time on his or her hands created this festive holiday monster for the amusement of drivers on Millhopper Road. He can be spotted on the left if you are going west, and past the Interstate. I wonder if this is what those people wanted to “Save Millhopper Road” from?

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday, and I hope some of you will participate in this blog in the coming New Year. It’s free. People do come here. and more people will come here via Google searches if there are more things to find in different categories. This is a very busy time for me, so I am not able to go about taking pictures of all local businesses and writing about them. I really need them to do it themselves. It’s more convenient for me, more certain for them that they will get some benefit, and it is FREE. These are hard times right now, and the idea that a local business would just blow off this free local venue is hard for me to fathom.

This is how you get started. Register by clicking on the “Register” button. Fill out the fields that are required. Wait until I send you an email letting you know you have Author permissions so that you CAN blog here. (I have set up this cumbersome step to keep out Viagara and fake Rolex spammers, among others.) After that, you come to the site, click on “Login”, use your username and password, and choose to write a Post. When you are done, click “Publish”. That is how it gets on the site.

Good luck!

Don Marsh

Someone has donated a hat collection!

This week I want to call attention to our local waste collection centers. I am surprised how many people don’t know about these places, so I thought I would share them and their usefulness with you.

Besides being a good place to haul your excess trash and hazardous waste, you can find things that people have brought in to share. You never know what you  are going to find there. Sometimes there is furniture, appliances, old machinery. There is almost always a coffee maker that someone is giving away.

You used to be able to bring construction waste, but they no longer take it. You can bring all kinds of recyclables, like flattened cardboard, old phone books, magazines, and plastic. You can also bring old paint, computers, monitors, and used motor oil.

The junk you don't want in the landfill

Below is information taken directly from the Alachua County Public Works section of their web site:

The five Rural Collection Centers are rural, regional facilities for the collection of recycling, solid waste, yard trash, bulk items and household hazardous waste. These facilities are for residential use. The centers are staffed by Waste Collection employees during all operating hours.

Commercial entities are not allowed to use these centers.

Collection Centers’ Locations

Viewable/printable map

Alachua / High Springs – (386) 454-2563
- Midway between Alachua and High Springs on U.S. 441

North Central – (352) 334-3875
- 2 miles north of FL Highway Patrol Station on St. Rd. 121 (Lake Butler Road)

Fairbanks – (352) 334-3873
- 6 miles north of Gainesville on State Road 24 (Waldo Road)

Phifer – (352) 334-3874
- 6 miles east of Gainesville on State Road 20 (Hawthorne Road)

Archer – (352) 495-3257
- 2 miles west of Archer on State Road 24