Carmen Sevcik joins the neighborhood

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Griff Wigley

Carmen Sevcik Carmen Sevcik's school bus mobile
I met Carmen Sevcik a few weeks ago during the controlled burn of Hidden Valley Park. She had just moved into one of the townhomes along Hidden Valley Drive.

Norman and Carmen Sevcik profileCarmen’s known to many in the area because she and her husband Norm collected high crop tractors, especially Farmall, Case, and International Harvester. (Her dad, Palmer Fossum, collected vintage Ford tractors.) The Sevcik farm in Wheatland Township was known as High Crop Hill and many of their tractors were featured in the book, The Big Book of Farmall Tractors. See the screenshot of the profile from the book on the right. Norman died in 2008.

Carmen’s a club officer for Rice County Steam and Gas Engines and is also well-known to many Northfield kids, as she’s driven a school bus for many years for Benjamin Bus. That’s a school bus mobile on her porch.

Welcome to Valley Pond, Carmen!

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Storm Water Ponds! Could this be us?

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Robbie Wigley

The Star and Tribune  has long article in today’s paper that some metro areas have storm-water ponds that are chemical soups of pesticides, fertilizers, pet wastes, oil, grease and other contaminants.  Driveway sealants play a big part in this contamination.  Click on the red headline to be taken to the entire article.

Metro storm-water ponds are chemical soups

By TOM MEERSMAN, Star Tribune
Last update: April 27, 2010 – 12:30 PM

White Bear Lake’s proposed ban on some driveway sealants is a first step in keeping contaminants out of storm-water ponds.  The local neighborhood pond fringed with spring green looks attractive, but its muddy bottom is loaded with contaminants.

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Arbor Day Tree Giveaway of Native Tree Saplings

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Robbie Wigley

Arbor Day Tree Giveaway of Native Tree Saplings April 30 & May 1 @ Just Food

Friday, April 30, 3-6p.m. AND

Saturday, May 1, 10am-1pm (or until they run out of trees)

in the front of the store, 516 Water St S.

Cost: FREE

To encourage the planting of native hardwood trees in our community, the Northfield Tree Advisory Group of the Environmental Quality Commission (in collaboration with the Rice County Forestry Board, the DNR and Just Food) will distribute 1000 native tree saplings to Northfield residents who agree to plant and care for the trees on private properties in Northfield. The tree saplings will be distributed on a first come first serve basis at Just Food Co-op (516 Water Street South) on Saturday, May 1, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Just Food.  Experienced tree handlers will be on hand with advice on tree selection, planting and ongoing care. The tree saplings are bare root stock, native tree species cultivated from Minnesota seeds by the MN Department of Natural Resources for Spring planting, and measure approximately 8- 12”. Choose from Red, White or Burr Oak, Sugar Maple, and Norway or White Pine saplings (limit four per household).

Similar trees will also be given away by another group at Just Food Co-op on Friday, April 30 from 3-6 p.m.

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Photo album: spring burn

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Griff Wigley

I woke up from my nap to the smell of smoke this afternoon. A crew hired by the City of Northfield was doing a controlled burn of Hidden Valley Park.

See the album of 16 photos (8 fire, 8 post-fire), the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:

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Egrets pay a visit to Hidden Valley Pond

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Griff Wigley

Egrets in Hidden Valley Pond Gene Bauer snapped this photo of two egrets in the pond yesterday morning. One was in motion and he took the photo through his window and thus, it’s a little bit blurry… but cool nonetheless!

An egret is any of several herons, according to the wikipedia.

Heron Island in Shields Lake is a Rice County park:

The Heron Island Bird Sanctuary was acquired by Rice County in 1968 and serves strictly as a bird sanctuary area. At one time Heron Island was one of the largest rookeries for the Great Blue Heron and the American Egret in the Upper Midwest. The park does not provide for public access.

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Photo slideshow: Hidden Valley Park in Winter

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Griff Wigley

I took half of these photos in early January after a big snowfall and the rest in mid-February during one of our many hoar frost mornings.

See the album of 49 photos, the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:

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Cross country skiing, snowshoeing, sledding around Hidden Valley Pond

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Griff Wigley

Hidden Valley Pond in winter Hidden Valley Pond in winter Hidden Valley Pond in winter 
People cross country ski around the perimeter of Hidden Valley Pond each winter. And kids go sledding on the hill on the north side. But this year, with all the snow we’ve had, there have been people snowshoeing, too.  Cool! It’s like having a mini Carleton College Arboretum in our backyards.

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Snowplowing for our driveways

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Griff Wigley

Valley Pond Assoc. driveway plowingI’ve been really pleased with the snowplowing service for our townhouse association thus far this year.  Not only is the plowing done promptly in the early morning (usually before 6 am). But they return to plow again after the city streets have been plowed and the edge of the driveways are filled with the heavy stuff from the streets.

A nice plus over Xmas: we had kids visiting us for a few days and had two cars parked in the driveway, thereby preventing it from being plowed.  After they departed, the service returned to plow our driveway, just in time before the slushy stuff turned rock hard with the cold snap.

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The snow is piling up

Posted on December 28, 2009 by Griff Wigley

heavy snow, December 2009Robbie is barely visible in this photo in our driveway, taken last week when we got about 8 inches overnight.

It’s sooooooo nice to not have to shovel a driveway. ;-)

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Fall colors

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Griff Wigley

Fall colors, Hidden Valley Pond Fall colors, Hidden Valley Pond Fall colors, Hidden Valley Pond
Alas, I missed the peak of the fall colors this year. Here are three from our backyard overlooking Hidden Valley Pond.

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New paint

Posted on September 18, 2009 by Griff Wigley

Valley Pond Association - new paint
Robbie picked out the colors and after a thumbs-up from the Valley Pond Association board, our unit of four townhomes got a paint job this fall.

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Skunk in a raccoon trap

Posted on August 15, 2009 by Griff Wigley

Skunk in raccoon trap  Skunk in raccoon trap
We trapped a pesky raccoon a few weeks ago but kept putting the trap back out as we thought there might be another one raiding our bird feeders. Alas, a skunk found it’s way into the trap instead. It was a delicate removal operation that ensued, thankfully without, um, incident.

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Full pond

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Griff Wigley

Hidden Valley Pond Hidden Valley Pond
Plentiful rainfall this summer has filled the pond to its highest levels since we’ve been here.  And unlike many other storm water retention ponds around, Hidden Valley Pond retains the water much longer.

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Sealcoating Driveways!

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Robbie Wigley

sealcoatHarvey Reynolds will be here tomorrow morning, Monday July 20th, to sealcoat our driveways.  Please make sure to keep your cars parked in the garage or out on the street.  You might want to close your window too!

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More wildlife at the pond

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Robbie Wigley

Adeer-resized few weeks ago Griff posted about the deer around the pond. This is an afternoon picture of a young doe; she was bumping the feeders with her nose to get the seed to spill.  I was just barely quick enough to catch her leaving the yard.

We also have one or now we think more than one raccoon that loves grape jelly.  He has been raiding my Oriole feeder every night and is quite messy.  Sticky grape paw prints everywhere!  Well we celebrated his capture and subsequent release many miles away…  he/she was not a happy camper.  We had put a rug down so that it didn’t tear up my outdoor rug on the deck.  That worked but it took half an hour to get it out of the bars on the cage…  it had pulled it through every little hole on the bottom of the cage.

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