The annual Alma Park Picnic is right around the corner. Please join us on July 1 from 10am to 2pm!

View this email in your browser JUNE 2023 EDITION, ISSUE NUMBER 32 Hello everyone, These overcast days make it hard to believe that summer is just around the corner. According to the farmers almanac, the summer solstice, which signals the start of summer, depends on when the sun is at its northernmost point from the equator. This year, summer officially starts on June 21 at 7:58am PST. What does “solstice” mean you ask? The word “solstice” comes from the Latin words, sol, meaning sun, and sistere, meaning to stand still. On this day, the Sun will travel its longest path through the sky. In case you are wondering, it falls on a Wednesday this year- a great day for the summer solstice. Here are some ideas to celebrate the start of summer: 1.       Take a hike 2.       Break out the lawn games 3.       Try paddleboarding 4.       Host an ice cream tasting party 5.       PICNIC IN THE PARK Oh wait.. that’s a great idea! The annual Alma Park Picnic is a PICNIC IN A PARK and is on Saturday, July 1st, 2023. Come celebrate the start of summer with us and our Alma Park neighbors by enjoying hot dogs, talking to vendors, playing lawn games, watching a puppet show, listening to local music and more! We will also have raffle prizes, a Taiko drum demonstration, fire fighters, and a radio scavenger hunt. It will be fun for all and we hope you can join us.   ALMA PARK PICNIC SATURDAY, JULY 1st, 2023 10am-2pm Location: Alma Park Here's what you can expect to find in this month's issue: Our Previous Meeting Our Next Meeting Emergency Prep Tip of the Month Pet Talk Upcoming Events How you can help Our previous meeting On Saturday, June 3, 2023 about 20 neighbors met in the park. To get people in the mood for our upcoming picnic, attendees were asked to share "What do you like to put on your hotdogs?" Much of the discussion during this meeting included an overview of the upcoming picnic and some of the items that were on the schedule. Our next meeting July 1 will be our picnic! As a result, we will not be hosting our regular 9:30am meeting. Instead, please come between 10 am and 2 pm to participate in the fun! More information can be found on our event page. For those who are volunteering to help out with the picnic, please be sure to arrive at the park at 9:30 am to get your assignments, and make sure you've signed up on our volunteer signup sheet. Our next meeting will take place on Saturday, August 5, 2023 at 9:30am. We meet in Alma Park by the picnic tables.  Coffee and light refreshments will be served. Please come join us!   Emergency Prep tip of the month When was the last time you changed the batteries in your garage door remote? How about your car key? These days, more and more of the objects we rely on everyday run on batteries, and they've been getting more and more efficient. That's great for budgets and the environment, but makes it harder to remember how to change things when the time comes. If your key fob battery died late at night, and you needed to change it quickly, would you know how? (Would you have the right battery with you?) Take a few minutes to practice at home, where you can look up instructions for tricky devices, or even watch a video on how to do it - channels like FobBattery or Key Fob Rob cover many types of key fobs and garage door openers. Make note of any special tools you'll need, like screwdrivers, and make sure you have those in your car, as well as your house. If the instructions are particularly tricky, consider writing them down and keeping it in your wallet (with those spare batteries!) Taking those few minutes to prepare that now may save you a lot of stress when your remote dies.   Pet Talk CATS! CATS! CATS! Continued from last month’s newsletter…and then a cat suddenly appeared in our backyard! I am startled at seeing a cat in our yard.  It’s a good size black cat with big yellow/gold-colored eyes.  I would not know its age or if it is a female or male. There is no collar on it.  I am frozen in place, nervous for myself and for my dog, not knowing what (animal) interactions might take place. Without hesitation, the cat casually brushes up against us on its way into the vegetable garden where it waits.  And then it hits me - the cat is here to rid us of the mice that visit our garden each tomato season; the gnawed or missing tomatoes seem to be their favorite fruit. To our pleasant surprise, over the days and weeks that followed, we began to see fewer and fewer mice until there were none - all thanks to that black cat. Now, a year later, we have mostly learned ‘all things cat’ with the help of our dear cat loving neighbors.  And we’ve experienced first-hand the tenderness and especially the joy and contentment they bring to our lives; and the unique oddities of cat behavior: curiosity born out of a natural instinct to assess their environment for prey or predators, their sometimes-antisocial interactions of independence, their ability to contort their bodies in such ways to fit into the smallest spaces and strangest places, and much much more! Unlike dogs, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), cats cannot be considered as service animals.  But did you know they are considered an emotional support animal (ESA)?  I have learned that cats can make ideal emotional support animals for such conditions as PTSD, depression, or chronic anxiety.  I am told cats can sense human moods as well as depression.  We know them to be observant and intuitive and perhaps this allows them to understand emotional cues from humans. Having a cat can prove to be a gentle and calming experience. So now for anyone wondering, this story has a happy ending. The cat, a male now named Muta, is officially (and legally) ours - having found the owner who can no longer provide a suitable home for him.  He tells us he is happy Muta found us, and has a garden of tomatoes to explore.  Upcoming events Here is a list of upcoming events taking place in our neighborhood: Saturday, July 1, 2023: from 10am-2pm: the Alma Park Picnic! Check out our event page for more information. Picnic volunteers, please meet in the park at 9:30 to get your assignments and help set up! Also, make sure you've signed up on our volunteer signup sheet Saturday, August 5, 2023, at 9:30 am: Alma Park Neighbors monthly meeting IN-PERSON! Join us at the picnic tables in Alma Park for some light refreshments. Saturday, August 5 AND EVERY SATURDAY! at 4:00 pm: Join us for our weekly neighborhood walking club! We will meet in Alma Park at the picnic tables! Saturday, August 12, 2023, at 5:30 pm: AlmaNet radio check-in! For more information on participating, please check out this article on our website. Be sure to check out our Events page for the latest information about the schedule. How you can help We need volunteers to help with the picnic, are you up for helping?  If so, please come to the park on Saturday, June 24 at 4:00pm to get an overview, and be sure to sign up as a volunteer on our volunteer signup form.   Please Donate :) Copyright © 2023 Alma Park Neighbors, All rights reserved.