the savvy floridian
DESCRIPTION
The Art and Science of Living Somewhere Between the Juno Beach Pier and the Indian River!TRANSCRIPT
1 Jan. / Feb. 2010 Somewhere
between Juno Beach and
the Indian River.
The Art and Science of Living…. Somewhere
between the Juno Beach Pier and the Indian River!
The Savvy Floridian
Content in this Issue:
Palm Beach Art Colony-
“Fun with Paint, Paint Dancers”
“The Hobe Sound Arts Festival”
Shooters! -Local Photographic Arts- “Peer Into the Local Talent Pool”
The Savvy Floridian Gourmet-
“Fishin’ for Good Seafood”
The Savvy Homeowner-
“Watch Your Neighborhood Value”
“Local Savvy Experts“
Ozzy’s Dog Pack- “My Dog’s Funnier than your Dog!”
The Savvy Parent- “Unforeseen Trends in Education”
“Kids are People Too!”
Email:
[email protected] Photo by Don Atkinson
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The Savvy Floridian Gourmet
Fishin’ for Good Seafood? Our advice is to visit
Tasha’s Seafood. Tasha has a wide assortment of fresh
fish packed on ice, still in the coolers, and you didn’t
have to go to sea and catch and fillet it yourself. This is
fresh seafood as good as it gets. Tasha’s Seafood is
located 3848 S. Dixie Highway, Stuart, FL 34997,
North of Hobe Sound and South of Stuart at Country
Club Plaza.
Fishin’ for a Good Bottle of Wine? Just north in the
same strip center, 3836 S. Dixie Highway, Select Wines
has a wide variety of interesting wines, but also has an
owner well versed in teaching and answering questions
about wine.
We recommend some fresh seafood of the finest order
and having the wine expert at Select Wines provide
advice on which wine would compliment your seafood
selection.
“Canned Crab” - oil on Canvas by D. Atkinson
Palm Beach Art Colony—If you are a painter, send us your art!
“Jupiter Lighthouse” - oil on Canvas by D. Atkinson
If you like getting together to do art, party and make a
group paint project, contact Carolyn Nelson and find out
about her art meet-up group. Use link Below.
”Paint Dance Meetup Group”
The Savvy Floridian
E-mail [email protected] to join our art group.
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The Savvy
Floridian
The Hobe Sound Arts
Festival is the One of the
Greatest Little Arts
Festivals in Florida!
The Festival is Supported
By All of the Savvy
Members of the Hobe
Sound Chamber of
Commerce.
Just Do it!
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Shooters -Local Photographic Art
“Peer into the Local Talent Pool”
Jonathan Dickinson Park - Naomi Phillips Digital
D. Atkinson
Submit photography work, and ask about our photographic art group at
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Shooters -Local Photographic Art
“Peer into the Local Talent Pool”
Join our Photography Group : [email protected]
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The Savvy Homeowner
There is an old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times!” All of us who have felt the
stress of rough economic tremors know what they meant by this curse. These are interesting
times. To be a savvy homeowner, you may benefit by closely monitoring the value of your
property & the value of similar homes in your neighborhood. You can do this each month by
using the link: “Monitor My Property Value (Free Information)”
Each month you can
access an update sent to
your e-mail that shows an
aerial view of your house,
in your neighborhood,
with the latest updated
sales and listing prices of
homes located all around
yours. The neighboring
houses are flagged, with
address and financial
information attached.
UNBELIEVABLE CUTTING
EDGE TECHNOLOGY !
You should check this out!
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Home Prices seem to have bottomed out, excess inventories have shrunk, the financial gurus expect that
when interest rates start upward (as they must), there will be a sudden rush of buyers who try to catch the
rates and prices at the low point.
If you share this mode of thought, think again, If it takes 30 to 60 days to buy a house & close a loan,
you better have your contract written and financing locked in before the market turns. Rates can’t get a
lot lower, and when they do start up, the rush of buyers will cause increases in mortgage rates and house
prices. You are likely to be caught with slightly higher interest rates and rising home values. Also, if you
qualify as a first-time homebuyer or a long-term resident, you may have up to an $8,000/$6,500
refundable tax credit available. You do not have to repay this money! Contract deadline is April
30, 2010. and the closing deadline is June 30, 2010.
If the expected time of home ownership is several years, taking advantage of current low rates and
simultaneous low prices is the savvy move. Trying to time the exact low point in the cost curve will be
irrelevant five or six years from now when we will see higher home prices and higher interest rates. We
may say 2010 was during “the good old days”
to buy homes.
To get more savvy information,
Contact: [email protected]
The Savvy Homeowner
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The Savvy Homeowner
If you are hunkered down and have no plans to buy a new home when the prices are low, and
don’t want to sell your home, even if you’re paying more for the house than it’s worth, you
should think about whether your home has deterioration of finishes, structural problems, design
deficiencies or even whether to renovate or add-on to your home. The savvy homeowner who is
staying put should think about the fact that the current state of the economy presents an
opportunity to get a fair deal on any contracting your home needs.
If you need home services, here’s a short list of savvy experts to contact:
Archetype Engineering— Structural problems, planning & design, hurricane resistance, problem
diagnosis, repair specifications: [email protected]; 772-245-8079
Lori Feller Design—Interior Design & Renovations; [email protected]
Trailwinds Farms— Landscape plants, design and More; 772-220-4560;
10601 SW Pratt- Whitney Rd. Stuart, FL
Freedom Construction General Contractors—Building Repair, Structural and Finish Construction
Property Accounting, Evaluation & Brokerage— Is remodeling or improvements cost effective?
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Ozzy’s Dog Pack
”My Dog is Funnier than Your Dog! ”
Claude and Rita own a large agricultural property west of Hobe Sound, Florida. Their wonderful
homestead was invaded by large packs of destructive and dangerous wild boar. Elaborate traps
constructed to trap the beasts failed, as it turned out the beasts were savvy to the traps from previous
experiences. Local hunters had limited success, but wounded boar were extremely dangerous and did not
solve the problem.
One day, the couple’s two tiny Chihuahua-Pomeranian dogs escaped from the house and raced out into
the thick brush and everglade grasses, charging toward the massive wild boar. Claude and Rita were sure
their tiny dogs would be killed.
The palmetto palms and saw-grass shook while
the high-pitched barking of invisible dogs and
frightening squealing of the wild boar rang out
throughout the surrounding thickets.
The tiny dogs survived! None of the tusked
behemoth herd of wild boar has ever returned!
True Story: Giant wild Boar may be afraid of
Chihuahuas!
Share your dog stories, please!
[email protected] Photos shown are not the actual participants.
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The Savvy Parent ”New School Facilities Created From Empty Commercial Space”
Because of the slow economy, many industrial, retail,
and other commercial buildings are being creatively
adapted for re-use as educational facilities.
This can include now vacant big box stores, non-viable
shopping malls and even vacant industrial or
distribution centers. With the shrinking tax base, public
education, libraries, museums and community centers
can be creatively and economically adapted.
“Turn lemons into Lemonade” is the advice of Don
Atkinson of Archetype Engineering., who has first hand
experience. He turned a vacant industrial building into
a large private school and a dance training center in
North Carolina. Mr. Atkinson also has experience
utilizing pre-engineered buildings for economic
provision of public school classrooms, cafeteria/
auditoriums, and gymnasiums. We need to get creative!
If your are interested in creative adaptive reuse projects,
there is much more information available.
e-mail: [email protected]
This map shows projects where retail
facilities have been turned into educational
facilities! Public, Private, Charter School
educational facilities can be provided by raw
ingenuity. Other community functions such
as libraries, senior centers, community centers
can also be accommodated. Cash strapped
State and local leaders should take note and
get creative!
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The Savvy Parent ”Kids are People too!!!”
Did you know the Stuart YMCA has roller hockey,
gymnastics & roller-skating at their Willoughby Road
Facility? Also, there is a special training program for
young kids that will qualify them to use the
gymnasium Facilities at the Main YMCA facility. This
compliments all the great opportunities for youth
soccer and swimming at the YMCA.
Did you know the number of home schooled children
is growing? There are more numerous options for
parents to select web based curriculum opportunities,
webinar and teacher interaction technologies and
flexible course selections than ever before? Parallel
course curricula are available on-line that stay in sync
with the public schools in Florida, and kids can
participate with extra curricular sports and afterschool
activities. When kids home school, taxpayers save big
bucks! Nationally, this can be in the neighborhood of
$10,000 per student. Do you think home school
support centers which allow socialization and support
home school educational needs might make sense?
Kids Are Artists Too!
Send Kid Art to us, we may publish it
in future editions!
THE
END!