Emerald Ash Borer

We have seven Ash trees in our yard. How many do you have?
With all the news about the Emerald Ash Borer, I've started to become increasingly concerned about the health and cost of maintaining or removing our Ash trees.

The Emerald Ash Borer has arrived in Minnesota - the St Anthony area of St Paul, Hwy 280/I94 area specifically. It's suspected that the arrival was due to the transporting of trees or tree limbs, such as firewood.

We have many experts and professionals in our neighborhood. To get some tree and Emerald Ash Borer advice, I spoke with Dave Strootman, Consulting Arborist, ISA Board-Certified Master Arborist with Rainbow Treecare and neighbor.

To arrange a consultation or an estimate -- dstrootman@rainbowtreecare.com or call (952) 922-3810.

Dave's Recommendations:
1. Evaluate the Ash trees in your yard.
Determine which, if any, are worth saving and the lifetime commitment of treatments which are required to save the tree.
Some considerations
Is the tree key to your landscape? Too large to realistically replace? Otherwise healthy? Does it give good shade to your home?

2. Determine how to treat.
Treatment is a lifetime commitment (an avg tree costs around $100/yr to treat).
Treatment options are:
(a) the ground-application method - administered annually and for smaller trees, can be done by the typical home-owner (look for Xytect)
(b) the boring method - administered every two years and is only performed by professionals

3. Remove trees not planning on treating and replant - this can be done now to start the replacement tree growing before the target ash gets too large or can wait to remove until the target tree gets diseased.

How do you determine if your tree is sick?
Woodpeckers are the most obvious sign of an EAB-infested Ash tree. One or two woodpeckers once in awhile isn't necessarily an indicator. If your tree starts looking like Old Country Buffet on BBQ ribs night - lots of woodpeckers all the time or "blonding" of the bark -- that is, large patches of the outer layer of bark being peeled back by woodpeckers, exposing the lighter under-layer or the tree - this could indicate an infestation. Once the tree progresses in sickness, around 3 years, the canopy will start to decline, and once it is 30% or more decreased, the infestation and damage have likely progressed to the point of needing to remove the tree.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/issues/eab/
www.RainbowTreeCare.com

Eden Prairie Light Rail Line

A 3rd light rail line may be coming to the Twin Cities -- The Met Council voted Wednesday to approve the $1.25B 14 mile route which is proposed to travel between downtown Minneapolis and Eden Prairie and pass thru Minnetonka, Hopkins & St. Louis Park. In Mpls, it would hook-up with the Hiawatha line at the Target Field Station.

http://bit.ly/EdenPrairieLightRail

Kitchen and Bath Tour

The neighborhood remodeled kitchen and bath tour went GREAT this past Saturday! We had five homes on the tour and had a good turn-out of from 4-15 families/groups visiting each house.

We started out with the host home-owners gathering before the 1 p.m. tour started. We met at one of the homes and talked about the kitchen re-model -- material selection, color choices, timeline, and Q&A time. We then went to each additional house in series. Lots of variety hickory, oak, enameled, maple and cherry cabinetry -both custom and modular (i.e., what you can get from the big box stores) and a variety of countertops, flooring, wall-removal or partial wall-removal, ...

We also had nice visits with each other and also with the visitors on the tour. I heard from all the other participants that it was a nice, relaxed event and a great way to meet some of our neighbors. We're all excited for up-coming tours!

Coming up:
July 8-10 – Park Reserve Neighbors neighborhood garage sale
- I'll provide signs at the entrances to the neighborhood and will also publicize the event in the Press and other places (Channel 12?, Caribou, other suggestions?...)
September 25 1-4 p.m. – Park Reserve Neighbors remodeled home, home addition tour

Next blog posts: (based on suggestions during the tour)
- disc golf in the Park Reserve
- Emerald Ash Borer

Disc Golf

Living next to Elm Creek Park Reserve offers plenty of outdoor activities. One of the newer activities offered at the Park is Disc Golf.

Many courses are 18 holes as is the Elm Creek Park Reserve course. The sport offers exercise and a chance to walk thru the trees and the park's scenic landscape.

In frisbee golf, the object is to "tee off" by throwing your frisbee as far as you can down a fairway. To answer the question my wife asked, no you don't want to use your Frisbee from the garage.

As in golf, there are drivers, putters, etc. used to get to the green.
In Disc Golf, there are various weights and sizes of discs you use from the tee to the farway to the rough to the green. The different discs make a HUGE difference as you traverse the course.
The green is a basket made of chains as seen in the lead-in picture of this article and the goal is to get the disc into the basket to complete the hole and move to the next.

The holes at Elm Creek vary from 211 feet (par 3) to 778 feet (par 4)


The Elm Creek Park chalet has a pro shop but they are only open on the weekends (10 a.m. to noon).
For discs, you can also try:
- Gotta Go, Gotta Throw in Golden Valley
- REI
- Dick's
I spoke with Charlie at Gotta Go, Gotta Throw (763-593-7690) who was very helpful with recommendations on disc selection which he said will vary quite a bit from user to user.
Most beginner discs cost around $7-15 each and you'll probably want 1 or 2 discs to start with -- a mid-range and/or a putter.

Cost to play:
$3 for a day pass or $35 for an annual pass.

Elm Creek Park Reserve
Other courses in the Twin Cities:
http://www.discgolfdirectory.com/minnesota.php

Replacing Brick Molding

I see rotted brick molding around doors and windows on over 1/2 of the homes I show as a Realtor®. Today while staining my own house, guess what I found?

I'll take you step-by-step thru the process of replacing brick molding -- it's easy and it's inexpensive!

Tools needed:
- pry bar or other tool to pry the old brick molding from the house
- a piece of scrap wood to pry against so you don't damage the surrounding wood
- razor blade to cut the caulk or paint from the brock molding
- hammer or pneumatic nailer and 1 1/2 " finishing nails
- drill (to pre-drill the holes if you're not using a pneumatic nailer)
- counter sink
- caulk and caulking gun
- paint and brush

1. Cut along the old brick molding with a knife to separate from neighboring trim or siding
2. Insert the pry bar under the old brick molding and gently pry it away from the house, starting at the bottom and working toward the top
--note that there may also be a nail holding the vertical molding to the horizontal piece at the top (and the bottom for windows)
3. Once the old piece is removed, save it if necessary for a template
4. Bring it to the store (I went to Lowe's) to compare to the new piece to ensure the sizes are the same

5. Measure the old piece or use the old piece as a template to mark the cut for the new piece. Dad always told me to measure twice and cut once so make sure you're mark is accurate!
6. Cut a 45 degree miter cut ensuring the cut goes the right way -- the taller stepped portion of the sculpted molding is always on the outside edge once the molding is installed.
7. Hold the new piece in the spot to be installed. Is it the right size? Does it fit?
8. I'd recommend painting before you install it since it may be difficult to paint without getting paint on surrounding surfaces once it's installed
9. Two coats are ideal. I used latex paint and it only took 15-20 minutes between coats.

10. Hold the piece in place and drill holes for the finishing nails -- every 18-24 inches should be sufficient. Make sure the holes are drilled so the nails will go into the wood behind the molding but angled such that the nail's tip won't come thru the exterior of the backing wood.

11. Pound the nails in until they are almost flush with the surface and then use a counter-sink to sink them all so they are approx. 1/8" below the outer molding surface.
12. Caulk the seams - especially where the brick molding meets the door sill (for a door brick molding) and also the nail holes

13. Once the caulk dries (approx. 24 hours), touch up with paint

Voila! Total cost - $10-15 (plus tools)

Neighborhood Remodeled Home Tour ---> Saturday 1-4 p.m.

Do you ever want some ideas of how to remodel your home?
Curious how others have remodeled similar homes?

Our neighborhood remodeled kitchen and bath tour is coming up!
Saturday, May 15th from 1 to 4 p.m.
The homes on tour are:
11967 101st Ave N
11867 101st Ave N
12030 101st Ave N
11878 100th Place N
11481 99th Place N

This will be a nice opportunity to meet some of your neighbors and also to hear about what they like and don't like about their remodeled kitchens.
Just look for the signs around the neighborhood.

Also coming up:
July 8-10 – Park Reserve Neighbors neighborhood garage sale
September 25 1-4 p.m. – Park Reserve Neighbors remodeled home, home addition tour

610 and 169 Update

I attended the townhall meeting at Osseo Sr High last night and I would guess there were 200 +/- in attendance.

169 (Devil's Triangle)
7/15/2011 - Expected completion of 169
6/2010 - Both north and south-bound 169 will be diverted up onto the south-bound lanes of the new bridge over the RR tracks, 169 and 85th Avenue. Construction will now be on completing the bridge's northbound lanes.

610
7/15/2011 - estimated completion of 610
7/30/2010 - Hemlock Lane will re-open (the new Hemlock bridge over 610)
7/15/2010 - Revere Lane will re-open
7/15/2010 - Pedestrian bridge at Nathan Lane will open
7/15/2010 - Jefferson Hwy will close between Osseo at Cty Rd 30 and 109th Ave with the detour onto 169. Closure will be for "120 days maximum"

Construction of the new Zachary Lane to the west of current location near Zachary Square Mall will continue thru summer 2010. Zachary Lane will be closed "for 60 days" approx. May-July 2011 while the new Zachary Lane is tied in. We will still have access to our neighborhood from the north and south on Zachary via 97th Avenue during this closure.
Note that there will be round-a-bouts at Zachary and 97th and also at Zachary and 101st (see attached pictures)


picture of 169 overview


detailed view of new devil's triangle interchange


picture of 610 overview


aerial view of 610-Zachary interchange


aerial view of 610 looking west


round-a-about at Zachary and 101st


detailed view of 610 interchange at Zachary Lane

MN DOT 610 info: bit.ly/DOT610
MN DOT 169/Devil's Triangle info: bit.ly/depeNZ

Bank-owned Homes in Neighborhood

I've had several of you ask me how many bank-owned properties we have in our neighborhood.
I think having the park reserve adds value and stability to our home values and we're in a pretty healthy condition in our neighborhood with:
Actively for sale:
"normal" - 9
short sale - 1
bank-owned - 1
range of prices: $80,000 to $264,400

Since the beginning of the year:
Sold or pending:
"normal" - 8
short sale - 0
bank-owned - 2
range of prices: $154,900 to $254,500

610 Meeting (Thursday 5/6 6 p.m.)

The 610 and 169 work continues at a rapid pace -- I've heard ramps may be opening this summer at "The Devil's Triangle".
Reminder that the public informational meeting is tonight - Thursday, May 6, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Osseo Senior High School Cafeteria (317 2nd Avenue Northwest in Osseo).