October is here and brings about a special time in our Morgan Hill lives. October is a month of balance. The kids have settled into their school routines, holiday madness hasn’t yet begun, and the weather is often just about perfect here in Morgan Hill – not too hot, not too cold, not too dry, and not too wet. All this blissful balance creates a little space in our lives to think about three important issues: safety, scheduling, and sharing.
Safety: On the safety front, fire departments nationwide encourage their residents to test their smoke alarms and change their smoke alarm batteries when we “fall back” at the end of daylight savings time. By spending 15 minutes changing out your batteries, you’ll get a whole year of peaceful sleep during which you’ll know that you and your family will be alerted in case of fire. If you don’t have a smoke alarm in every bedroom and in the key hallways of your home, now is the time to purchase some piece of mind. When you think about it, is there really a more important way to spend your time and money this weekend. (As a reminder, the last day of daylight savings time is Oct. 28.)
Scheduling: Research shows that a significant amount of water is wasted in the fall on irrigation. While it seems like the classic no brainer that our plants require less water in the fall than they do in the summer, many of us have yet to adjust our irrigation schedule to match these reduced water needs. Now is the time. If you haven’t done so already, you can probably cut down your irrigation by 50 percent for the months of October and November and then shut it off entirely for the Winter in December. Naturally, use your brain to adjust these general guidelines appropriately for the particular weather we get this fall.
Sharing: It’s nearly November, do you know where your old Halloween costumes are? If you are like most of us, they are probably languishing in a closet taking up space and cluttering your life. To help you lighten your storage load, I am pleased to announce our third annual Halloween Costume Collection event. From Nov. 1-4 you can bring your used Halloween costumes to the Community and Cultural Center and exchange them for a small prize. The costumes will be donated to a local nonprofit organization that will provide them to less-fortunate youth next year. This program gives you an opportunity to responsibly eliminate clutter, make a donation, and get a small prize in return. It’s also a great way to help local families without having to dig into your pocketbook. Look for the big orange can inside the Center.
Eco-Fact of the Week: You can recycle your batteries via our curbside recycling program. All batteries (except automotive) should be placed in zippered plastic bags and placed on top (not inside) of your recycling cart. While any zippered bag will do, you can pick up one of our free special bags with instructions any time at City Hall during normal business hours. It is now illegal to dispose of batteries (and other wastes that contain mercury) with the normal household garbage.
Eco-Web Site of the Week: Instead of having to remember to adjust your irrigation meter, it is also possible to get an irrigation controller installed that is smart enough to adjust itself. That’s right, controllers are available that know the weather. (If only we could find a weatherman on local TV who knew the weather.)
For more information, go to www.valleywater.org/Water/Water_conservation/In_business/WBIC.shtm. There you will learn about the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s program to subsidize the cost of purchasing and installing one of these smart controllers.
Anthony Eulo is a program administrator for the City of Morgan Hill who has a “smart controller” for his irrigation system. He welcomes your questions, comments, and thoughts. Reach him at (408) 779-7247 or
en*****@mo********.gov
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