SECRET'S FROM MOTHER NATURE

Our President, Dane Lucas, would like to pass on some


SECRET'S FROM MOTHER NATURE, PRETTY INTERESTING STUFF

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream and beat them up.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Reheat leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove. Set heat to med-low until warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs. Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it to mix thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg whites. Just throw bag away when done, easy clean up. And never use fresh eggs. Older eggs are much easier to peel.

Reheating refrigerated bread. To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper for planting. Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Put wet newspapers layers around the plants overlapping as you go, cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic. They will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass. Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes. Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away! To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum. To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get into narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling. Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- tada! -- static is gone.

Measuring Cups. Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glovebox of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope. If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Conditioner. Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it on your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies. To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass and fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants. Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," & can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS. The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something. He pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material. Well,...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh, and that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free -- that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!

CONSTANCE'S KITCHEN

I was at a deck party awhile back, and the bugs were having a ball biting everyone. A man at the party sprayed the lawn and deck floor with Listerine and the little demons disappeared. The next year I filled a 4-ounce spray bottle and used it around my seat whenever I saw mosquitoes. And voila! That worked as well. It worked at a picnic where we sprayed the area around the food table, the children's swing area, and the standing water nearby. During the summer, I don't leave home without it.....Pass it on.

OUR FRIEND'S COMMENTS:

I tried this on my deck and around all of my doors. It works - in fact, it killed them instantly. I bought my bottle from Target and it cost me $1.89. It really doesn't take much, and it is a big bottle, too; so it is not as expensive to use as the can of spray you buy that doesn't last 30 minutes. So, try this, please. It will last a couple of days. Don't spray directly on a wood door (like your front door), but spray around the frame. Spray around the window frames, and even inside the dog house.

MINUTES

PELICAN POINT CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC.
Board of Directors’ Meeting
February 25, 2008


Directors present: Dane Lucas, Chairman, Jeff Rolland, Colette Sellers, and Constance Stumin. Directors absent: Gerard Montgomery, Steve Bushman and Michael King.

Disposition of minutes from meeting of January 28, 2008. Approved by three directors. Rejected by Mr. Rolland due to untimely receipt.

Reports:

Treasurer Colette Sellers (in office) January income lower than budget. Ten owners are delinquent. Per Board consensus, call delinquent owners after ten days to remind them. Financial Statements sent to Monakey CPA firm for tax return preparation. Reserve interest is much higher than usual because five certificates of deposit matured in January and interest earned was recorded. Two owners have paid nothing on the special assessment and two owe a total of $3,000.

Manager’s Report – Florida Waterproofing Supply lien paid off. Another director to sign checks is needed. Suggest that Constance Stumin be that person. Lightning protection system inspected.

BlogMaster – Constance Stumin is looking for greater utilization of the site.

Building – Jeff Rolland reported that the contractor will start next week. Directors’ questions were referred to Attorney Whelan. Due to staleness of painting contract, parties should clarify the scope of work.

President’s Time – The lease with the Air National Guard is done. It will provide $2,000 a month income to the association. The garage planters were referred to the Building Committee for a recommendation. Everything else on the agenda has been covered previously.

NEW BUSINESS – The association will have a dinner social on March 17th. Please sign-up if you are planning to attend. This will aid in the food preparation.

The meeting adjourned.

MANAGER’S REPORT

February 21, 2008

UNITS FOR SALE – No units sold during this reporting period.

UNITS FOR RENT - #305 rented to Mr. Steve Reynolds…one year starting March #802 rented to Mr. Jeremy May…employee of Lee & Cates

PERSONNEL – Consider a pay increase for Ron…last increase a year ago.

ADMINISTRATION

1. Florida Waterproofing Supply check sent to our attorney who sent it to FWS…working with second lienor but no agreement as yet.
2. Letters sent to following owners regarding access:
#502 Favre #1106 Taylor #1706 Sigley
#604 Hojak – received a key
3. Letters sent to following owners regarding missing safety devices:
#302 Hinson #1102 Myers
#707 Pillar LLC #1301/1302 Buttner
4. Letters sent to 10 owners regarding non-payment of February assessment…late
5. Insurance renewed. The windstorm policy with Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is being paid in quarterly installments. This will add 3,293.91 to the cost.
6. We could use another check signer…someone who lives on site and available.

BUILDING AND PROPERTY

1. Pump spa motor replaced…2 motors taken for re-build…we have a chronic problem with motor bearings due leaking seals! I attribute it to bromine sanitizer.
2. Air National Guard installed equipment on roof…not easily visible from the ground. They need to install additional “stuff” inside the elevator mechanical room.
3. Barkoskie Electric inspected the lightning protection system on the roof. They were asked to submit a proposal to make repairs. United Electric was also called as a backup.
4. Minor electrical problems taken care of. Need to replace several of the bollard lighting fixtures.
5. Water leak in unit #1606 was a cracked waste line (cast iron) from unit #1706 above.
6. The strobe light that the government workers installed in 2006 is dead. New one ordered to be installed upon receipt.
7. The 19 inch monitor for security system died. Cost to replace with same is $300.
8. New gate fabricated and installed at north boundary wall. Old one fell apart. Additional brace added to the tennis court fence at north end.