While snow is beautiful there is a limit to our appreciation for even beauty can be overdone. This past weekend is a case in point! As the snow continued to fall throughout the eastern area of the country it became a challenge to maintenance workers everywhere and the Pine Run community workers met the challenge. They kept walkways cleared.

In the meantime, the Quince tree in front of my cottage became a thing of beauty as clumps of snow gathered on it branches sparkling in the sun of a new day. While this will not last it gave me a moment of pleasure.

— Phyllis Cassidy 1.24.16

Our Board, and its role, was reorganized about two years ago after adopting a Task Force report, which looked at how we were managing ourselves. The major and initial change was opening up Board Meetings to greater Villager participation. Other important changes involved expanding the responsibilities of the six Directors and, more recently, initiating full Board participation with management in informal Leadership and Planning sessions.

To understand why a Village Board exists, it is first necessary to look at the role of management and our staff. We pay our monthly fees and, in turn, they provide the services that are necessary for the Community to function. But just feeding us, maintaining our living spaces and their total package of services doesn’t really fill the active quality of life that we, collectively, would want – living here in a collaborative community. The Board exists to serve and represent the Villagers and to support activities Villagers desire. I see our major functions as:

• Communication. We act as a voice both to and from management. It is critical to inform Villagers what’s going on and equally important to keep Management in the loop so they can respond to our needs. In addition, through speakers at Board Meetings, bring information of interest and value to Villagers.
• Coordination. The Board coordinates and supports our 50 committees and budgets funds to run them. That requires that we maintain our own funds and manage committee budgets and collect annual dues.
• The “all other” category. This is hard to define. Things come up that need doing – discussion, decisions, reports and appearances. Some are known in advance and some just happen. These tend to be spread out as assignments to Board members.

Even after having been a Board member for three years, I find coming up with a nice, clean explanation of what we do is difficult. We clearly are there to represent the interests of all the Villagers and to try to act as both a focal and a doing point to help the Village thrive. We are all here with 100% freedom as to how we manage our lives. We’ve elected to make the change from individual living – as most of us did in our homes – to community living as part of our Village. We also all know that it is a significant adjustment. It can also be seen as an opportunity quite simply to be part of our Village and contribute your part to our totality. Again, I’m having trouble finding the right words but I think that you get it.

So, at the end of the year 2015, I hope you had a good one plus a happy holiday season. My wishes for a healthy and happy New Year.

— Dick Neiley

One year, early in the morning in mid-September, I heard six deep hoots, answered a short distance away by another six or so. This serenade went back and forth for about twenty minutes. The performance was repeated that day about 6PM. This was the Great Horned Owl,
a common resident here and one of our largest owls.

The male selects the territory and then calls to attract a mate. The female then selects her lifetime mate and she will also select the final nest site.* Mated pairs may occupy territories year-round and the territories are established and maintained through the hooting serenades. While they remain in the same territory throughout the year, they only roost together during the mating season.

The Great Horned Owl does not build its nest but will use the nest of others such as the Red-tailed Hawk, crow, or squirrel. They usually have one brood with one to four eggs (usually two). The female does almost all of the incubating and brooding until the young are two weeks old, while the male brings food for her and for the young.

Another owl that may appear familiar is the Barn Owl.
It does not give a hoot but gives a rasping hiss or snore.
It requires open areas and cavities for nesting, tree cavities or man-made such as abandoned buildings or nest boxes.

— Ken Kitson (Illustrations also by Ken Kitson)

* Intriguing Owls: Tekiela

My brother, Ted, was having trouble “finding” himself. We were still in the Depression, jobs were non-existent, he was dating a girl who lived 45 miles away, he had no car, no money so – he joined the Navy. As a college graduate, he qualified for their Officer Training Program and was assigned to a training ship in New York harbor. Life was looking better but his love life flopped. She returned his engagement ring. After several months, Ted received a commission as Ensign in the US Navy. He got orders to report to the USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor on December 1, 1941.

Enroute to Hawaii, Ted stopped in California and ordered a new Oldsmobile to be picked up on his return to the States. Little did he know that would be years later. We got a letter from him that first week in December. He was ecstatic. His world had turned around. He was on a major ship in Hawaii and even had a “Side Boy” assigned to him. Life was his oyster!

I was dating Ellen (my wife-to-be) and on December 7th we went to the Fels Planetarium at the Franklin Institute. We heard the news on the trolley going home, “The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.” We went to church. Everyone did.

After a few agonizing days, we received a telegram. It said, “I’m O.K. I’m in a pup tent on the bank of Pearl Harbor. I have a change of underwear. That’s all. I’ll write later. Love, Ted.” We learned that Ted’s ship was sunk and his quarters were under water. Some time later the ship was raised sufficiently enough for Ted to get to his locker (which was still underwater) and he retrieved the engagement ring.

Later in the war, Ted was assigned to Atlantic submarine duty out of Boston. He reconnected with his girlfriend in Reading. She again accepted the much-traveled engagement ring and they were married. Today, Ted and Anna Mae Burchill, both 98 years old, live in a retirement community in Florida. He is in nursing care and she is in assisted living – but they are still together.

— Charlie Burchill

Editor’s Note: God bless them.