For those of you wondering, as I have been lately, when exactly Daylight Saving Time starts, it’s Sunday, March 9 at 2 a.m. That’s when the clock springs forward for some inexplicable reason and, voila, an extra hour of daylight appears magically and the days grow longer marching toward summer. Leave the clock alone would be my preference. It’s just a weird cultural fluke from days gone by at this point.
At this point, my favorite pet supply store in South County is An–Jan in the Vineyard Town Center near Nob Hill. The small, family-owned “chain” is staffed with nice, helpful people and the products are fairly priced. Plus, they carry the favorite chow for my two hounds. Rocco and Roxy happily munch the Fromm Family Dog Food which has been made in Wisconsin since 1904 and is now operated by the family’s fifth-generation.
Mark Hoffmann is generating some cool and creative ideas – the kind that could be a hit on Pinterest. We featured the Morgan Hill postal carrier slash artist on our Lifestyles section cover last week and what really caught my eye were the wedding shoes he painted for his goddaughter. They were what Miss Jenny and youngest daughter Mariah would call “way cute.” The left painted shoe had an “I” embossed on the heel, the right shoe a “Do.” Call me crazy, but I think personalized wedding shoes, tastefully painted by MH (that’s Mark Hoffmann, not Hiram Morgan Hill), would sell like champagne at a wedding toast.
Toast: May I recommend Dave’s Killer Bread, the green labeled 21 whole grains variety, with a 4.5-star rating from consumers on Yelp. (Who knew Yelpers rated bread?) Anyway, the feel-good story of David Dahl, 50, the ex-con turned bread empire entrepreneur, took a sad twist in November. He was arrested for second-degree assault after ramming sheriff’s deputies during a wild chase. Dahl, court records later showed, was on leave from the company due to stress related to the business and “self-medicating with alcohol.” Hope this story ends well and the company keeps making that “killer” bread.
It would be “killer” – the colloquialism we used back in the day to describe something that was “cool” – if the libraries in Gilroy and Morgan Hill were open on Sunday, too, and there’s forward progress on the possibility. Derek Wolfgram, the Deputy County Librarian for Community Libraries for the Santa Clara County Library District, estimated the annual cost to open the library from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday would be $150,000 per year. Shortening the hours from 1 to 5 p.m. would lower it to $100,000 or so. The library district, Wolfgram says, has a practice of absorbing infrastructure costs in other communities that pay for extended hours. So there would be no utility costs, for example, to either Gilroy or Morgan Hill. Given the heavy use in South County, that sounds like a well-worth-it deal.
Not sure why Gilroy isn’t following Morgan Hill’s lead with regards to fire department protection for the community. Morgan Hill has its own department and stations and equipment, but contracts with CAL FIRE for personnel. That saves about $800,000 per year, according to Morgan Hill City Manager Steve Rymer. That’s a tidy sum indeed that can be put to use for plenty of quality of life improvements.
Yet another improvement announcement from City Hall this week. There’s a new entity being established called Fire Exploring Post 810. Writes Maureen Tobin, the city’s engaging and delightful new public relations director, “Fire & Emergency Service Career Exploring is open to young men and women ages 14 (and completed the 8th grade) and not yet 21 years old with an interest in learning more about careers in the field of fire and emergency services … a hands-on program that exposes participants to many career experiences, leadership opportunities, and community service activities. The primary goals of the program are to help young adults choose a career path within fire and emergency services and to challenge them to become responsible citizens.” Details: MH Fire Department at (408) 778-3259. Homegrown volunteers and eventual firefighters. Imagine that. Makes way too much common sense.
Sense and humorous sensibility did Mayor Steve Tate display at the annual State of the City address. Hopefully, while he’s enjoying his annual spring training baseball-centered vacation, he will decide to run for one more two-year term. It would be a good time for him to stay on to enjoy the forthcoming peace and prosperity as well as to see a few odds and ends to conclusion. In his presentation, the slide showing an animated 800-pound redevelopment agency gorilla in the rearview mirror was enough to earn all 120 or so votes in the room.
Elephant on my desk in my home office is the PG&E bill. Holey moley, what in the world is going on? I understand the Christmas season bill with the lights up, but that’s supposed to drop precipitously, not inch down. Think I’ve had it paying the Pompous Gouging & Elite Company. It’s time for the Solar Super Hero to rescue me from sending my entire retirement savings to the energy thieves.
Reach Editor Mark Derry at
ed****@mo*************.com
