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March Fox Talk
Digest
VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2 2004

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Articles:
Electricity
Website
Computer Club
Board
Computers

Events:
Fish Fry
Valentine's Dinner
St. Patrick's

Social:
Care Committee
IN TOUCH
Quilts
Poem
Volunteers

Notices:
Woodworkers
Library
E-mail

. FUTURE EVENTS

Marion's Country Kitchen April 1st

Care Committee Co-ordinators

CC #1 - Barb Koerber/Norma Fisher

CC #2 - Marg Macdonald/Helga Stamm

CC #3 - Faith Mundy/Marion Koehler

CC #4 - Audrey Euler/Ellen Bowring

Members At Large Eileen Fairweather/Shirley Thom

KEEPING IN TOUCH
Marg Macdonald
We extended sympathy from the community to Julie Rice who lost her mother. A donation was made to the Kidney Foundation. We sent Moira & Bud Lawrence flowers following the loss of their daughter.

Carol McGrath was given a card and a plant, and Betty Moody received flowers and a card following surgery. Peter Dugdale, Paul Snell and Bill Congdon all received chocolates following illnesses and surgery. Bruce White was given a planter following his operation.
Marilew West and Beryl Boughey received a card after their unfortunate accidents. (Both slipped and fell on the ice).

Members of our community continue to support their friends in need. All winter long, men of Foxboro have driven Ted Tibbles to his therapy at Freeport, thus giving Pat some free time. Thanks go to Charlie Connell, Gord Gardner, Doug Grischow, Tom West, Bill Hall, Al Keith, Jack Koehler, Jim Arbuckle, Ross Fairweather, Graham Macdonald and Doug Wendland. Thank you so very much.

Audrey Euler was overwhelmed by generosity and thoughtfulness during her hospitalization and after her return home. While in hospital, Lil Good and Joanne Brodie took all of Audrey's Christmas decorations down and put them away. Audrey should have a great time finding things next year! Dale & Ron Bleier cared for her dogs and Dale arranged for meals after she got home. Ken McGrath and Jim Brodie cleared her snow every day and sometimes twice a day. Thank you!!
These two small examples illustrate the warmth and caring in our community. Many of these helping actions are taken without any request from anyone. There are people helping their neighbours every day in Foxboro Green. Thank you all!

Attention Woodworkers
Fred Rastel
We have added a 7 inch Block Plane and a 1� inch electric Brad Nail Gun to our inventory. On Tuesday March 9th at 10:00 a.m. there will be a cleaning bee of the wood working shop. We will need some volunteers. It should not take more than an hour of your time..

Thank You Volunteers
Sandy Moore
Once again we had another successful season of decorating Foxboro Green for the Christmas Season and it was so successful because of each and every one of you who came out and participated.

I would like to share with you some of the background on how we came to decorate our beautiful community. It all began back in 1995 when a few early settlers (Dick & Doreen Dean, Don & Rita Hill, Jim & Nancy Arbuckle, Russ & Wendy Wilson, Doug & Marg Wendland to name a few) gathered together and decorated the pillars and railings of the presentation centre (Sales Office) with garland and bows. Lights were put on the gatehouse and two large trees outside the presentation centre. Rita Hill to this day still decorates the gate house area each year. In 1997 our rec centre was completed and was decorated for the first time. A Christmas tree was put up inside the centre. Lights were put on the large tree outside, down the driveway, and on three or four small trees near the rec center. Pillars around the front door were also decorated.

We have come a long way since those early days. We are decorating many outside trees now, as well as lots of decorating inside. Each year Dick Dean organizes this event along with Don Hill. Dick & Don have spent many hours testing lights, shopping for replacement lights, decorations and doing whatever needs to be done, in order that we are ready to decorate our community each year. Thank you Dick & Don, all of your time and efforts over the past 8 years are greatly appreciated. Special thanks to Doreen Dean and Rita Hill, who have been decorating since day one and are always working alongside Dick and Don. Thank you to Ken Hoffman, who looked after the inside decorations this year. Thank you Helen Lumby, for bringing your keyboard to the centre and leading us in the singing of Christmas carols again this year. It was lots of fun and enjoyed by all.

Thank you Beryl Boughey, Val Grant, Marilyn Hoffman, Judy Nussey, Pauline Tickner and Pam Wrzesniewski, for preparing and serving the food. It was a great job girls and very much appreciated by the hungry volunteers.

Once again, on behalf of the community and Special Events, thank you to each and every volunteer - where would we be without you - our volunteers?

Website Report
George Walker
In February, a Computer Club meeting was devoted to getting more people involved in our Website. The Website has a new tailored look.

We are about to start a modest series of ads with CARP to bring to the attention of retiring people the merits of Foxboro Green. The Board is aware of the advantage to all of us if there was a waiting list of buyers for homes in Foxboro Green. The work of creating a fine Website to showcase our community, now will be shared by a number of people.

Gord Gardner will be looking after the Homes For Sale part of our Website, and Arnold Muma will choose new pictures to keep current and interesting, the twenty five pictures in our picture gallery. Don Hill, our unofficial photographer, will help both Arnold and Gord with picture taking. Build your own collection of interesting pictures by contacting Don for a high quality version of your favorite pictures. If you take a picture that others might be interested in, show it to Don Hill or Arnold.

Maureen Potvin has been helping out for many months by keeping the Rec Centre Reservations up to date.

The Board minutes and monthly financial statement are now on the Website in the Homeowners section protected by an ID and Password.

Computer Club
Ron Bleier
During March, Arnold Muma will be continuing to lead us and any interested visitors into the wonderful world of digital photo editing.

March 02 Moving music from tape cassette to your computer.
March 09 Moving music from your favorite CD to your computer
March 16 Background music for albums - adding, editing
March 23 General review - bring your questions, get answers
March 30 Computer problem solving - some things to try before you call the shop.

Board Of Directors Report
Jerry Elias
As we did not have a February Fox Talk, I will update you on what has happened at the Board meetings during the past two months. The last two meetings have been very quiet without too many issues to discuss but I would like to bring you up-to-date on three subjects: wastewater, snow clearing and the chlorine smell from our pool.

You may have noticed that work continues to be performed by the Foxboro Inc. staff at the wastewater treatment site. This is as a result of the Waterloo Region's request to improve the ventilation flow in plants 1 and 2 in addition to improvements to the odor scrubbers that are located in the plants. This work has now been completed, but as far as we know, the Region has not yet made its final inspection of the facilities prior to handover. Members of your Board have also met with the Region at which time the Region provided us with a copy of a Draft Agreement between the Region and WSCC #365 with respect to the Wastewater. Your Board has some concerns with the document so it has been turned over to our lawyer, Mr. Art Morscher, for review. He has indicated that he too wishes to discuss the document with the Regional lawyer and that should take place shortly. One of the items in the Draft Agreement with the Region is the requirement to handover the tile fields and some surrounding land to the Region. This is in accordance with the Disclosure Statement that was signed by homeowners when they purchased their home. It states in part, "The foregoing is subject to the proviso that the tile fields will likely be conveyed to the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, subject to the right of pedestrian traffic and reasonable recreational use in favour of the Home Occupants of Foxboro Green." Our concern is not that it is being turned over, but how much land is included in addition to the tile fields. Your Board will stay on top of this issue to ensure that your best interests are looked after.

There we were, enjoying a green Christmas and New Year only to have the weatherman drop tons of snow on us in a very short period of time, which created a very difficult task for the snow-clearing operator. There had been complaints from the residents with respect to the snow clearing, but the Board was already well aware that the situation was not what we have come to expect and that the S&E Committee had already called the company to come out and correct the problem. Once the company was called, they responded very quickly and sent in heavy equipment to take care of the situation. There were several factors that came into play which caused our roads to get as bad as they did. One, the company did not monitor the clearing of the snow the way they should have; and two, we were not quick enough to bring it to the company's attention once the driving conditions started to deteriorate. Consequently, there have been initiatives put in place, which should prevent the roads from becoming as slippery and snow packed in the future. One thing that should be mentioned here though, is the sanding and salting policy that has been in place for a few years now. Salting and sanding only occurs at intersections and on downhill grades. This was a decision taken when the present contract came into place two years ago and it has saved the community at least $20,000 per year. The estimate given by the contractor to sand and salt all the roads in the community was approximately $500 per application and that could mean between 40-50 times per year depending on how often it snowed. It is anticipated that with the changes made to the snow-clearing mandate we should now have improved road conditions and we will continue to save money.

At the last Board meeting on Feb 16th a point was raised from the floor during question period about the strong odor of chlorine that was present when one entered the rec centre. After much discussion and further talks between Board members, a Committee, headed by Bob Price, has been struck to investigate the cause of the odor and determine what actions could be taken to eliminate the smell. You will be kept informed of their progress.

The next Board meeting is March 15th at 7:00 pm and all are welcome.

Fish Fry
Maureen Potvin
Although this event has been noted on the Special Events Calendar, it is with regret that we have to advise the community that we will be unable to host the fish fry scheduled for May 29th. I have contacted our source, Knechtel's of Port Dover, (the restaurant not the food store) and they have advised me that unless we can guarantee 500, dinners they cannot do this for us. If anyone knows of another source that we may approach to have an event such as this here at Foxboro, please let me know and I will follow it up.
I have been advised that the communities of New Hamburg and Stratford do hold these events during the year and we will post notice of these on the board, to make the community aware of when they are taking place.

The Wonders Of Electricity Explained
George Jones
(Tongue in Cheek!!!!!)
Mankind has long been puzzled by the complexities of electricity. After a great deal of study I am confident that I have finally unraveled much of the mystery surrounding this phenomenon. I must admit that it was no easy task and, to this day, there are still some aspects of electricity that, even I, don't understand.

Electricity is made up of three elements, positive charges, negative charges, and neutral charges. The more positive charges you have the greater the "strength" of the electricity. When the electrician says that something is "wired for 110", he means that he is using wire that has 110 positive charges to every 100 negative charges. "Wired for 220" means he is using wire that has 220 positive charges for every 100 negative charges, thus creating stronger electricity. Neutral charges are immature and don't know whether they want to be positive or negative. Neutral charges have no effect on the strength of the electricity.

Electricity is stored in the wires that run throughout your house. The electricity escapes through the holes in the wall plates. You can prevent this "loss of electricity" by simply plugging the holes with gum, duct tape, caulking compound, or with the little plugs you can purchase at the hardware store. This is what is meant by "conserving electricity".

The factories that make electricity simply store it in wires. Most of the electricity they make during the day is used that day. Since the factories continue to make electricity at night, when most electricians are not working, I was puzzled by how they stored it. I finally figured out that they use "expandable wire". This is simply wire that expands to store more and more electricity. Believing this to be a bargain, I tried to purchase some of this expandable wire at Home Depot but the clerk pretended he didn't know what I was talking about. Obviously, the electricity manufacturers and Home Depot have an arrangement where they won't sell "expandable wire" to regular customers. It's only sold to big users!

The electricity that runs you colour television has a dye mixed in with the charges to give you colour. This dye is not needed in such devices as radios, irons and coffee pots.

The electricity that runs your car is stored in millions of tiny wires that make up the inside of your battery. When you use up the electricity in these wires you have to purchase a new battery because the wires in the old one are now empty. Smaller batteries such as "A", "AA", "D" etc. are lined with fewer wires and, therefore, don't last as long.

Some things about electricity still puzzle me. For instance, the electric wires in a toaster will toast our bread. However, the wires or strings on my twelve string electric guitar don't do a thing to my bread. I believe the toaster and electric guitar must contain different types of electricity. I'm going to look further into this.

Pushing in the button on an electric drill will make the electricity change direction and run backwards, thus making your drill go into reverse and turn in the opposite direction. However, I wouldn't recommend doing this too often because the electrical charges might get totally confused.

I've explained all of this to Sheila and she seemed very impressed. In fact, her exact comment was, "George, were you the brightest light in your family?" I must admit that my brother is also quite smart.

I'm sharing this with our Fox Talk readers because I'm sure that many of them have often wondered about electricity and will appreciate having much of it explained.

New E-mail Address Changes

Len and Mary Anne Martin
[email protected]

Marilyn & Ken Hoffman
[email protected]

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

Just a reminder, tickets for the St. Patrick's Day Dinner will be on sale Tuesday and Thursday March 2nd and 4th, between 4:00 and 5:30 p.m.

Cuddle Quilts
Sandra Snell
In October, June Davies asked me to take on the awesome responsibility for the "Cuddle Quilts". For those of you who are not familiar with this volunteer program, Foxboro residents offer their time, fabric and sewing skills to make these quilts for the Family Resource Centre in New Hamburg. The cuddle quilts are then distributed to needy families who use the Centre's Safe House.

I would like to take the opportunity to "thank" a few people who have been involved with this project since I have taken over. Thanks to Eileen Fairweather for sewing the many toppers. To Nancy Arbuckle and Sybil Dugdale for the donation of fabrics. To the Social Committee for donating $300.00 to purchase supplies that are required for this worthwhile project.

We still need help with the sewing of the toppers; donation of fabric (cotton and/or flannelette) for the squares; flannelette for the backing and batting for the middle of the quilts. Anyone who is interested in sewing quilt toppers, offers of materials or monetary donations are welcomed.
Please contact me,. Sandra, at 634-1125.

Community Computer Facility
Ron Bleier
It is once again time for members of the Computer Club to pay their annual dues. Membership entitles users of the computer in the Rec Centre to their own private desktop and work area.

Those currently enjoying these facilities are advised that at the end of March all data belonging to non- members will be moved into the publicly available area known as Guest where it will be subject to "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".

In order to pay your dues, please contact Marilyn Hoffman or bring $10 to any Tuesday evening meeting.

Library News
Rosemary Schaaf
We would like to thank everyone for their donations to the library. Unfortunately, we cannot accept magazines and hard cover books at the present time. Space is at a premium and we find that the hard cover books are not as popular as the soft covered books. At one time we had 31 videos (adult and children). At last count there were only 8 videos on our shelves. If you have borrowed any, please return them so that others may enjoy them too. Video donations will be gladly accepted

For Auld Lang Syne
May Aquilina
Wasn't it a party!
Sure 'twas. We all agree
Wasn't it a great way
To say "Good-bye 2 thousand 3"?

Chats with friends and neighbours
Mingling on the dance floor
Joined with ribbons, balloons or balls
Waiting for 2 thousand 4.

We salute the Wilsons
Wendy and her husband Russ
They organized and worked so hard
Again, thanks from all of us.

The food was good and tasty
But we didn't eat a lot
Perhaps New Year's Resolution
Said, "lose the pounds you got".

We enjoyed the prizes
Mine will make me sweet
The musing kept us moving
Never mind 2 left feet

No one got inebriated
In case someone's keeping tab
No designated drivers
No need to call a cab.

As everyone was leaving
This is what you'd hear
"Hope this weather does continue"
And, "All the best in the New Year"

P.S. That balmy weather left us
But we kept some of the good cheer
To warm us thro' the freezing cold
And snow right up to here.

Valentine's Dinner

Thirty two residents of our fair community gathered at The Home Style Diner on Albert Street in Waterloo for a just before Valentine's Day supper on the preceding Thursday. Good food and good company made for a most enjoyable evening. Thank you to our hosts Jim and Mary Ainsworth.

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