I n s i d e o f t h i s i s s u e :

Building & Roads……..…1 & 2

Clubhouse Comm ………..….2

Social Committee …………..3

Newsletter Comm ..…….... 3

Pool Comm………..……..…...4

Knit & Crochet ……..………..4

Cookie Recipe………………...5

Power Surge…………………..6

S p e c i a l p o i n t s o f i n t e r e s t :

Ladies Night Social ..……9th

Board Meeting …………...23rd

Memorial Day Picnic …..27th

Villas of Arden Mills

VILLAS EXPERIENCE Volume 12 , Issue 5

May 2019

Sunday May 12

Buildings & Roads… Ron Richards

Cement Surface Maintenance Program Item 1 – Ron Belensky, a community

volunteer has again contributed his time and labor to power wash the swimming

pool surface and apply the sealer. This is a scheduled event before the pool

opens every 3 years. Ron B did the first application of sealer in 2010 and has

done it each scheduled year just prior to the pool opening. The Community

thanks you for your service.

Cement Surface Maintenance Program Item 2 – Ron Richards & Dave Cicconi

performed the safety inspection of the pool area. This action is taken each year to

insure the safety of our residents and to satisfy any insurance requirement. We

reported to the Board that we reviewed the entire swimming pool area and found

no safety issues. We inspected the cement surface. The minor cracking that is

present on the north end of the surface area has not changed from last year. The

cracking does not present any issues with regard to raised cement surface that

may be a tripping hazard. There are no rough edges associated with this cracking

that would cause issues with bare foot traffic. No repair to this cracking is recom-

mended as this will cause appearance issues. The sealer coat applied by Ron

Belensky this month looks good and will protect the surface for the next 3 years.

Gerry Phipps had previously measured the retaining walls and found only a slight

increase in lean, which is well within our acceptable range. Continued...

Replacement Sidewalk – Swimming Pool – SalCo installed the new concrete side-

walk that replaces the paver sidewalk from the mail house parking area to the pool

entrance. This is an improvement for the safety of pool attendees and eliminates a

continuing maintenance situation.

Water System Documentation – Buildings & Roads completed the several year

long Project to complete the documentation of our private Water System. This will

be stored on the web site and join the curb box locations and pictures information. In

addition to the physical description of the various elements, including pictures, we

have included all required maintenance and leak detection & repair procedures. All

members of the Committee contributed to this massive effort. The Community has

little appreciation for the responsibilities that a private water system brings to our

Community. If you were required to call a plumber for many of the issues handled,

the impact on our maintenance fee would be substantial.

Buildings & Roads — Cont... Ron Richards

Clubhouse Committee… Donna Sweet

It’s Spring and time for showers and flowers plus the ritual of spring cleaning. During the

month of May the Clubhouse is scheduled for its annual Spring Cleaning on Thursday,

May 9th and the Clubhouse will need to be closed from 9am to 2pm. On Monday, May

13th the window cleaning will take place from 9am to 11am but the Clubhouse will not be

closed or off limits as there shouldn’t be any interruption of activities. Finally the carpet

cleaning will occur on Friday, May 17th. The Party Room will be closed all day to allow

for drying. We appreciate your cooperation for these scheduled cleanings.

SPRING CLEANING – 9AM – 2PM MAY 9TH CLOSED WINDOW CLEANING – 9AM – 11AM MAY 13TH NO CLOSURE CARPET CLEANING – ALL DAY - MAY 17TH PARTY ROOM CLOSED

Clubhouse

Spring Cleaning

P a g e 2

Once again thanks to all of those who helped with the setup and cleanup for the

Pasta Night Social. It is greatly appreciated by the women on the committee. Also

thank you to those who called and advised they would not be able to make our

event after signing up. This is a great help to us so we know how much food to

prepare without being wasteful. It seemed a good time was had by all and though

we had no games for this occasion people appeared to be relaxed and enjoying

everyone’s company. Or maybe that was the wine consumption! Haha. The fifty-

fifty was won by Joe Ranallo. Thanks to all who participate in this fund raiser as it

enables us to continue to fund our socials for the community. Hope to see you all

at our Memorial Day Picnic on Monday, May 27th at 4:00PM. As usual there

will be a sign up sheet at the mail house as we get closer to the date. While we

have not firmed up our meat menu at this time, as usual we will be asking that

residents bring a side dish or a dessert.

Social Committee… Valerie Cicconi

Ladies Night

The Social Committee is sponsoring Ladies Night, Thursday, May 9th at 7:00PM.

Appetizers, Sangria and wine will be provided. Hope to see you all there as it

seems we always have a lot to talk and laugh about during our ladies night. This

year we are going to have a silent auction for a lovely basket. Please RSVP to

Noreen Ranallo at 724-514-6077 by May

Newsletter Committee… Jan Farrington

If You want to receive a printed copy of the newsletter please call Jan Farrington

at 724 916-4603. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THE NEWSLETTERS THAT ARE

PUBLISHED WITH PEOPLES NAMES ON THEM. This is the only newsletter

that these individuals receive.

If you want to submit an article of interest to the community please send them to

jlfarrin@aol.com or via snail mail to 512 Fair Meadow Dr.

May 27th

Picnic—4:00pm

P a g e 3

Please

review the

Pool Rules

to be

Safe!

while having

Fun!

It’s that time of year again where the weather is getting warmer, the flowers are

coming up and yes the pool will be opening. The official day for the pool to open

is on Memorial Day weekend. If we can have it open sooner than that date, we

will post it in the mail area. This year

the Pool committee has a busy

year. We are overseeing the pool

liner replacement. The concrete

area around the pool is scheduled

to be sealed. The fence around the

pool pump is to be replaced. Last,

but not least all pool furniture, grille

and fire pit have to be inspected, cleaned and repaired for your safety, comfort

and enjoyment. The pool area will also be cleaned and flowers will be planted

around the pool area. The pool committee does a great job with this every year.

They do this to assure all residents have a safe, clean and enjoyable area to

swim, catch some sun or just relax. As chairman, I am very lucky to head such a

great committee. They enjoy the work and quite frankly, we all enjoy the pool

season. So, if you’re new to the community or just have nothing to do on some

sunny day, come down to the pool and enjoy the fruits of our labor. We will be

glad to see you because most likely we will be there. One last note, please take

the time to review the pool rules posted between the men’s and ladies restroom

entrances of the building. These rules were created by your community so resi-

dents and guest can enjoy a safe, clean, and fun time at the pool. Here’s to

hoping for a sunny warm/dry summer and to meeting new friends at the pool this

year….

Pool Committee… Dave Cicconi

Knit & Crochet Group … Karen Neubauer

Come join us as we continue to serve our community

with our Knit/ Crochet group. Come to learn how,

work on personal projects or work on pieces for Do-

mestic Violence, Grandma’s Lap, etc. The fellowship

is great and the rewards are everlasting!! We will be

meeting on Tuesday, May 14 at 6:30 pm at the home

of Karen Neubauer, 537 FM. Call if any questions:

(724)229-6977

P a g e 4

“By Popular Demand”

Recipe for

Noreen’s Cookies

Served at

Spaghetti Dinner

Social

Ingredients: 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder A pinch of salt 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup ( one stick) butter, softened to room temperature 2 eggs 8 oz fresh whole milk ricotta (drain excess liquid, if necessary) 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Zest of one large orange (about 2 teaspoons)

Glaze: 1/4 cup orange juice 1 teaspoon orange zest 2 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 325°. Shift flour, baking powder and salt together into a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of a standard mixer, place sugar and softened butter and beat on high until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the first egg to the mixing bowl and mix well. Then add the second egg, and again mix well. Add the ricotta, vanilla, and orange zest and mix to combine. Add the flour mix-ture and mix on low until all ingredients are just combined being careful not to over mix. Using a small scoop or tablespoon drop the dough onto the baking sheet - about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies for 20 to 22 minutes -until they are puffed and light golden. Remove from the oven and cool completely on wire racks before glazing. When ready to glaze, in a small wide bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, orange juice and orange zest and mix into a smooth glaze. Add more powdered sugar if needed to make the glaze thickened enough to coat cookies when dipped. Holding the cookies with your fingers, dip the tops of the cookies in the glaze and then immediately turn back over and place on a wire rack to dry. Allow cookies to dry for about two hours until completely set before serving.

ORANGE RICOTTA COOKIE… Noreen Ranallo

No Littering!

When walking down the “Road to Nowhere” on one of the sunny days, at the end

of the road, you notice a bit of litter laying there. Much of it is flower containers

with dirt still in it. These pots can be put out for garbage pickup, without any

problem. Let’s keep our community beautiful, even the areas that cannot be

seen.

P a g e 5

If you listen to the Power Company, you are led to believe that all power surges are a result of Mother Na-

ture events. However, there are also issues with their power system that can cause surges. In either case,

we get to suffer the consequences with little recourse. So, our only choice is to be defensive. This involves

the installation of whole home surge protection device. The device is installed by a licensed electrician into

your electric panel with the other circuit breakers. When a surge occurs, this device gets destroyed, but not

your appliances. Power remains on until you choose to replace the device. The tradeoff is the cost of the

device & installation (estimated to be less than $200) versus the cost to repair or replace your appliances

(estimated to be several hundreds of dollars). You probably are aware of the surge protection strips you

can buy for appliances such as TV’s and computers which plug-in to an outlet. These are effective but will

not help the direct wired appliances such as your dishwasher or dryer. The only way to protect all at the

same time is to install the whole home surge protection device. If you wish to take your chances with a

surge getting to your direct wired devices, at least install the surge strips on your plug-in appliances. These

are very inexpensive ($6 - $10 each) when compared to the cost of the appliances they protect. These can

sustain damage during a surge but are easy to replace. The power company offers surge protection insur-

ance for which you pay a monthly amount ($6.99), for limited coverage for a loss, which means you must

repair or replace your appliance(s) and then make a claim for reimbursement. This takes time and you are

without the service of that appliance until it can be repaired or replaced. Hope this helps you deal with the

Issue of Surge Protection. We also, investigated whether we or the power company could install some de-

vice on our power feed, but were informed by electrical experts that this would be cost prohibitive.

Buildings & Roads - Power Surge Information… Ron Richards

P a g e 6

Power Surge Information Pictures

P a g e 7

Amazon’s Choice for Power Strips with Surge Protector

Belkin F5C048-2 6-Outlet Power Strip Surge Protector with 2-Foot Power Cord, 200 Joules (2-Pack)

$10.99

Sign up for Surge Assist and help get peace of mind.

West Penn Power

A FirstEnergy Company

P a g e 8

P a g e 9

P a g e 1 0

P a g e 1 1