Sunnyside Family Swap Shop and Play Space

Know Your Neighbor – Spring cycling

scott — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:16:01 +0000

Spring in the Northwest isn’t like anywhere else in the U.S. Oh, we have some of the same signs of spring . . . trees leafing out, flowers blooming . . . but more so than anywhere else I’ve ever lived or visited, we have what I’ve learned to call the April through June spring tease.

As much as we all wish it would, the weather doesn’t just shift and then stay in one way for the whole season for us. This is the Northwest schizophrenic season of sun and then rain and then rain and then sun back and forth like a rollette wheel. At every sunny spell we get our hopes up that spring will come and stay put for a while. It doesn’t.

In other places, people say, “Plan for a rainy day.” This is a post about planning for a sunny day. They do come and when they do they are extra glorious for the waiting. They are also extra busy at the local bike shops as everyone suddenly puts attention into their bikes or the bike they want to have.

We have three great local bike shop Roost sponsors - Veloce Bicycles, Clever Cycles and Crank, each with their own niche that they fill for all of us needing a commuter bike, a great form of exercise or a real, viable replacement for the family car.

I’m impressed with how many local and made (or at least designed) in the US options there are for commuter bikes and bike accessories these days. Crank – just off 28th near Burnside – just landed the role of exclusive distributor of Public Bikes - an American company making more affordable European style super upright bikes (for those of us that don’t like to hunch over the handles) with a really comfortable saddle for $500 – $1000 depending on the features you pick.

Brent at Veloce is proud of the Jamis line which is American and woman owned, making infinite gear commuter bikes that men and women really like. Clever Cycles is looking forward to the arrival soon of a Portland company’s Metrofiets front loader cargo bikes.

You can certainly spend thousands on a bike in Portland with all sorts of amazing bells and whistles. All three of these shops work hard to provide the models that are in the hundreds instead of thousands to give you lots of value for your dollar. If you’ve ever priced out a really sturdy, meant-to-last, long tail bike (the family friendly bikes with a long flat panel on the back that all sorts of seat options can be attached to as your child grows), you’ll know that the $750 model at Clever Cycles is a very good deal.

This is not everyone’s year for getting brand new gear. These shops all do a lot of repairs, fittings and modifications for the bikes we already have. $50 and up can get you back in the game with that bike you’ve had tucked in the garage since last fall or ridden hard in the rain and the cold all winter that now needs some TLC.

The farther we get into the spring the more people in the repair queue so pick that wet and cold and rainy day to bring your bike in (you didn’t want to ride on a day like that anyway) and let the bike experts tweak your ride so it fits you better and rides smoother. Time it just right and you can even get it fixed while you wait in some cases and watch and learn while they work.

There are fittings and then there are fittings when it comes to paying someone to adjust your bike so it suits you just right. Brent took over ownership of Veloce from its original owner who went on to specialize in fittings for really serious bike racing enthusiasts and I understand he makes a great living off of the effort. Me, I don’t need to shave seconds off my race time, I just need to make sure that I’m not unnecessarily torturing my knees on a long ride. A fitting at Crank is $60 and well worth the dollars you give to two local young guys running a great shop.

There are a few things that all bike shop owners know are easy mistakes to make: beware of pumping up your tires in a cold garage and then going out riding on the first 80 degree day of the year. You’ll have the pressure just right on your tires when you start out and the warm sun and hot pavement will expand the air in your tires well beyond where they can safely be.

Also, Chris and Justin – the hard working owner/operators behind the counter at Crank – want us all to know that WD40 is not the duct tape of the bike world. Many people think of it as a good lubricant and attempt to use it on bike chains. It’s not actually a lubricant but more of an anti-lubricant chasing away what lubricant you still have and doing an excellent job of attracting lots of dirt to your chain.

Bikes aren’t just for big kids and I get questions all the time about the pedal-less scoot bikes for toddlers. I think Clever Cylces has hit the sweet spot in price and functionality with the KaZam balance bikes that have a little built in rubber ledge right at the spot where kids lift their legs to coast so they can really get the riding a bike balance that they’ll need for the pedal version of a bike when they’re ready (and you are ready to see them careening off at top speed).

Because of CampFire’s Camp Namanu in the City being in our building this summer, we’ll have a little shared gym time over the sunny months too so all year round you’ve got options for learning to bike ride that don’t include driveways and bumpy sidewalks and cars.

Guests in from out of town? Both Veloce and Clever Cycles rent bikes by the day and week so everyone who has heard great things about bike-able Portland can live the life.

Live well and live local with our friends at:

Veloce Bicycles – Brent Engstrom

3202 SE Hawthorne Blvd

(503) 234-8400 www.velocebicycles.com

Mon, Wed, Thurs, Friday 11am-7pm Saturdays: 10am-5pm Sundays: 12-5pm

Clever Cycles- Dean and Todd

900 SE Hawthorne

503.334 1560 www.clevercycles.com

Monday through Friday: 11am -6pm Saturday and Sunday: 11am-5pm

Cránk Bicycles- Chris and Justin

2725 SE Ash Street

503.610.8356 www.crankpdx.com

Monday through Saturday 9am – 6pm

Know Your Neighbor – Introducing Eco Laundry

Karen Hery — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:47:54 +0000

This is a story of an inspiring neighborhood attracting an inspiring business person.

Laundromats are not generally known as the highlight of a neighborhood. So, when most of us get past our young adult, small apartment dwelling years we do our best not to need them anymore.

But, if you have that sleeping bag or big bedspread that needs a bigger washer and dryer, you’ll be in for a pleasant surprise at Belmont Eco Laundry up past the food carts at 47th and Belmont.

Connie spent the majority of her working years in corporate America as a super busy division manager in the banking industry. After a stint helping two big banks merge, she was done. Rather than let the corporate grind burn her out, she took a step back and went looking for a business opportunity that she really cared about.

When she settled on the idea of an eco-friendly laundromat her friends and family applauded her mission but shook their heads at the idea of this woman who was used to a corner office with a beautiful view entering into the so-much-less- glamorous life of coin-op laundry.

She went where she thought she’d be most appreciated: to an eco-friendly neighborhood that cared about clean energy and community. She tells some great stories about all the neighbors she met as she and her husband did most of the renovations themselves. They surprised the laundry machine distributor with how quickly the were able to gut the space completely and change out the 20 year old machines that were barely ever cleaned with the new high efficiency washers and dryers that now fill the floor and line the walls of easily the cleanest, most well run laundry facility I’ve ever seen.

How far will people travel for a clean, efficient, well run laundromat? Luckily, we all don’t have to go far but I talked with a couple who tried out over a dozen laundromats in SE and NE before befriending Connie (they are cheerful regulars now) and also a man who comes in from 82nd and Hollgate because the facilities here are so much better.

And Connie is definitely not the kind of absentee laundromat owner who comes in just once a week to collect coins. More often than not you can find her humming around the place, wiping off machines, recruiting kids to “help” clean lint screens (just to give their parents a break) and talking with everyone she meets.

She’s created a great sense of community in a place that is so often cold and off putting. She knows who’s just back from vacation, who just got a new job and it’s great to see everybody who’s a regular so happy to see her and chat.

If it’s been a good long while since you used coin laundry, I took a mini tour so I could pass on the highlights before you pack the kids and bedding in the car or on your bike to take advantage of the 8am-10pm hours (last wash start at 9pm.)

You don’t need to dig up all your stray quarters but, for now, you do need to bring cash. She plans to have credit card laundry by the end of the year but for now, the change machines can spit out your quarters for you from dollar bills.

Most of your cost will be in the wash and very little in the drying. Her high efficiency machines spin out much more of the water than our home machines (while being gentle on your clothes) so that there isn’t as much to dry. Her smallest washers and dryers have double the capacity of a full size home washer or dryer and there are plenty of larger machines that can take your biggest loads with ease.

You can bring in your own laundry detergent (high efficiency or regular – the machines work on both) or buy 75 cent packets near the coin changer. If you’ve brought your own detergent, you can be in and out with your double sized load washed and dried for as little as $3 – more for larger machines.

And you’ve got plenty of social options while you wait. Wash and dry cycles are both under 30 minutes and the machines will text you when they are done so you can do loads between other errands pretty easily. This is one of the very few laundromats in town with a bathroom (and clean enough you would actually want to use it) so you can just sit back and hang out with her little kid’s library of books, if your kids are with you, and watch the wash go round.

Or . . . the Brass Rail just down the street (fun family pub with darts and good grub) gets so many people passing time there while doing laundry that they won’t be surprised at all if you ask them to hold your table or hold your drink while you run up the street to switch loads.

The food carts and Movie Madness are good diversions as well. My suggestion . . poke your head in Absolute You Salon right across the street. This beauty salon is in the location of an old neighborhood bar and the original bar is still there with it’s funky bar stools as the place to sit while you get your nails done. A fun way to get pampered while the laundry gets done.

Rain or shine, good times or bad, everyone needs to get their laundry done.

If you don’t see Connie when you come in (just look for the busiest and chattiest woman who seems to know everyone), you’re still likely to be very well met. She’s been so nice and friendly to everyone that her regular customers are like eco-laundary spokespeople now. If you stand in front of the washers for too long looking perplexed, someone will likely lend a hand and help you get your first load going.

We’ve got lots of great eco friendly businesses going in Sunnyside, many of them listed as Roost sponsors on our web page: www.sunnysideswapshop.org.

You can find great, friendly laundry facilities at:

Belmont Eco Laundry

4725 Belmont Street

goldensource©msn•com

Campfire Day Camp at the Swap Shop this Summer

Karen Hery — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:09:36 +0000

DAY CAMP AT THE SWAP SHOP THIS SUMMER: We are sharing space with Camp Fire’s Camp Namanu in the City being held at Sunnyside Methodist this year for the first time (it’s been over at Sunnyside Environmental School up until now).

Day camp sessions in July and August are 40% full already so it looks like it’s going to be a busy camp. Whether you have a pre K or older child of day camp age or a babe or toddler looking for great summer fun, our Swap Shop space will be for co-op members and guests only during our busiest times 10-noon each morning and there will be added camp friends to play with at other times, gym time for all of us (which we normally don’t have in the summer), weekly skits to watch on our swap shop stage and special things going on in the back yard that we can all join in with our kids in tandem with the camp kids all through July and August.

Spring Open House April 7, 10-4

Karen Hery — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:35:09 +0000

Swap Shop open houses are a great time to play for the day, tour all our play spaces and fill out paperwork to become a member.

Our Spring quarter open house is:

Saturday April 7th, 10 am – 4 pm

Come in to play in our indoor and outdoor spaces and open gym. If you’d like to try your hand at swapping while you play, bring in an Easter stuffed animal (bunny, chick, bear or any other stuffie) and trade it for another you like even better. Take your favorite stuffy into our arts and crafts room to decorate it for spring. Bring small trinkets with you that fit inside plastic Easter eggs and go egg hunting geo-cash style. Keep the trinkets you find and replace them with what you brought, then hide the eggs for the next families to find.

Want to check out the swap shop but can’t make or missed our open house . . .

Click on the Play Pass Schedule for other dates to play for the day and take a tour of the Swap Shop.

New Babysitter / Nanny available

Karen Hery — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:04:41 +0000

NEW BABYSITTER/NANNY: If you are looking for some extra help here and there or a first or next regular nanny for your family, Eliot, who I know from my work with our sponsoring non-profit at Windward in Washington, recently moved back into town from traveling to the East Coast. Eliot was the main clown at our carnival (the clown with the cane and the marionette) and is just starting to get the word out for providing child care long and short term.

Here’s Eliot’s info:

On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 12:09 AM, eliot fiend <afiendstra©gmail•com> wrote:

I have been entertaining and taking care of kids for the last 6 years. I have cared for children from several months old to early teens. I am available as a short-term (and possibly short-notice) babysitter for a parents’ night or brunch out on the town, or for more regular longer-term part-time positions. I do not drive but I am an excellent bicyclist and bike mechanic. I also am computer and hardware savvy, a good cook (raised by a nutritionist), know lots of good games, have experience tutoring in English, Math, and SAT prep, and speak German and some American Sign Language.

I live in Southeast and am willing to commute within the city. Rates are negotiable and I have references available upon request.
Feel free to contact me by email (afiendstra©gmail•com) or by phone (4126086904)

Know Your Neighbor – Dental Resources

Karen Hery — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:44:02 +0000

Once a quarter I sit down at the computer to send out information on local resources for dental care. Whether you have dental insurance or pay for dental services out of pocket (as more and more people do these days), Sprout Pediatric Dentistry, Belmont Family Dentistry and Parkside Orthodontics are three great places to know about for your kids and for yourself.

I get great feedback from our members who have gone their way and, you may be amused to know, great feedback from these dental offices that swap shop families are their favorite patients. Maybe the temperament it takes to seek out our co-op and become a member makes us all good medical patients too and maybe someone reading this can enlighten me on why that’s true.

While we are on the subject of enlightenment, I have many reasons to be glad I live in the inner SE and one of them is what I have learned to think of as ”The Middle Way.” I’m not the first to come up with the idea. I have only a loose understanding of Buddhism but I understand the middle way gets center stage in its core practices and, it turns out, whether people are conscious of it or not, it seems to be center stage in most of our most successful and appreciated businesses around Sunnyside.

There are swankier dental offices in other parts of town to be sure- parts of town filled with fancy houses and manicured lawns. There are places, unfortunately, in every town where medical services of quality are hard to find and then there’s the middle ground where we sit and walk and do business every day. Dr Milot and Dr Tinkle and Dr Kuperstein get to see patients and offer them great service for less than you would pay in some places and more than is advertised on a billboard from a corporate dental chain, but it’s money well spent for dental care that lasts a lifetime.

First appointments at Sprouts or Belmont Family Dentistry for toddlers and preschoolers are low key affairs meant to reassure and educate us as parents while leaving our squirming little offspring with a, pardon the pun here, “good taste in their mouths” about visiting the dentist. If your own dental care has lapsed over the years and you pretty much need a “first” appointment for yourself, Belmont Family Dentistry does an amazing job of easing you back into dental care both so your pocket book doesn’t go into sticker shock and so you don’t go running from the room on your first visit back.

Portland is a leader in many things having to do with community but, for what ever reason, has been very slow to adopt fluoridated water. I understand the only city larger than ours without fluoridated water just voted to add it in. What ever your opinion of fluoridated water, our unfluoridated water means the fluoride we get through dental care is all that more critical. I’ve discovered many times that just because the fluoride tablets or rinse get into my house and onto the bathroom counter does not mean they get onto my kid’s teeth.

Dr Jenna Milot and Dr Aaron Tinkle can explain the benefits of fluoride varnishes and all our options for coaxing kids to care about flossing and fluoride. I can say from personal experience that whatever Dr Rebecca Kuperstein does to coax middle schoolers to abide by their orthodontic protocol, it works like a charm!

I have some pretty vivid memories of my showdowns with my parents over the pain-for-gain benefits of braces. My oldest is, so far, is just sailing along in her second year of orthodontics and I think it’s Rebecca’s calm and soothing way of helping her understand what’s going on and keeping her in the decision making process so she don’t feel so put upon.

First orthodontic appointments with Dr Kupperstein are no-charge evaluations so if you are wondering if it’s time to think about braces, just call and ask. Her staff will have some great guidelines on when it’s best to come in.

Best guideline I’ve heard so far about how long to stay involved in teeth brushing (and not just simply send everyone into the bathroom to do their own thing) is to consider our kids to be proficient teeth brushers once they can write in cursive. Before that, they’ll have a hard time bending the brush around and need our help to get all the sides of back teeth and back of the front teeth.

We can’t all plan ahead and make appointments for our dental care. Kids will be kids and crazy things happen. If you find yourself in a dental emergency, even if you have never come to Sprouts or Belmont or Parkside before, all these doctors will very willingly take emergency, after hours dental calls from Swap Shop families which is a huge relief for all of us, especially if you are new to town and wouldn’t know yet who

Here’s a dental resource list you can tack to the fridge or bookmark for when you need it most:

BELMONT FAMILY DENTISTRY

Front desk: Paula

5935 SE Belmont

(503) 234-1218

SPROUT PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY

Dr. Jenna Milot

Front desk: Amanda

1401 SE Morrison Street, Suite 120

503.477.9911

PARKSIDE ORTHODONTICS

Dr. Rebecca Kuperstein

539 SE 39th Street

503-236-3800

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Winter Carnival 2012 February

Karen Hery — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:56:53 +0000

BEST OF THE WINTER CARNIVAL :

We had a blast swinging and playing, tossing and munching, bouncing and spinning. Join us next year in the heart of the winter when we do it all again. All our carnival prizes are recirculated toys and stuffed animals. You can win it one year and bring it right back during the year to delight another child next winter. Thank you to Staccato Gelato, Fizz and Historic Hawthorne Rentals for great donations that make this event possible.

Know Your Neighbor – When it all comes together in one place. ..

Karen Hery — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:42:51 +0000

About six years ago I made a promise to myself that I was going to “live local” in all the best ways I could think of . . . I knew I wanted to move into a neighborhood where I didn’t need a car just to go get my groceries and, in searching for that, I found more walkable neighborhood features than I could have dreamed of.

So here it is these six years later (years that went by really fast by the way) and I find myself writing a Know Your Neighbor piece that brings it all home for someone like me and maybe for you too.

This email is about a yurt, a cart and a cafe. They each represent something that make so much sense to me now but that I couldn’t have even thought of on my way into this great experiment in co-operative community.

First there is the yurt. Our featured Roost sponsor this weekend is Open Field Acupuncture. I don’t think I would be exagerating to say that there are about a hundred great healing places and services in walking distance from our co-op. There’s a couple of things that make Open Field special and I’ll do my best to share those so you can decide if this is the place for you.

The cart is just floating around in my mind for now but, like many other things that used to be just in my mind like the Swap Shop, The Roost, and our annual big Exchanges,I’ve learned that spectacular things can happen when dreams get shared.

Then there’s the cafe for the park . . . done well, it has a chance, like the Swap Shop and Roost to bump up the livability of our corner of the planet another notch.

So, one at a time, here are the things I’d love us all to know to help make a yurt, a cart and a cafe do their magic for us as we grow our families and our community . . .

Axi and Cealila have been swap shop members for several years with a two block commute from their house to our play and share space. During that time, Axi has been completing the intensive experience of becoming a master of classical Chinese medicine – something we in the United States don’t automatically call a doctor and end up licencing as an acupuncturist.

Calling Axi an acupunturist isn’t inaccurate. It’s just such a small part of what he has to offer which is really, first and foremost, a safe, grounded and amazing place to be well met and well cared for.

Axi wasn’t just learning someone else’s way of practicing medicine when he did his time learning Eastern medical practices. He was also finding ways to offer what he already knew to be true about a well combined approach to healing. Have you ever had that experience where you aren’t exactly sure which healing service to seek? Does that shoulder need a chiropractor, a good massage or a physical therapist? Who’s the best resource for your insomnia, digestive issues, fertility.

What if you could combine your own personal tea house with an hour “at the spa” with medical advice and treatment? I’ve often thought my spa time (massage, hot tub or otherwise) was some of the most medicinal treatment for me and I am always better served when my medical services are set someplace peaceful and relaxing. When I labeled this post as being about where it all comes together in one place, I was thinking back on my hour with Axi as he shared a sample session of his care with me.

Was there acupunture involved? Yes. But that’s not always the case. Was there conversation and tea? Yes. And you can count on that for your visit too. The way he combined massage, acupuncture and cranial sacral therapy and then led me through it all so seamlessly was a real treat. Did I feel much better when I walked out than when I walked in? Definitely and I can’t imagine how you wouldn’t feel better too.

I don’t know if this will do for you what it does for me . . . but every appointment with Axi takes place in a yurt with a round skylight in the center of their family’s back yard (which is beautiful even in the Portland winter blahs and even more beautiful in the spring and summer). I’ve discovered I rather like my healthcare with the wind blowing in the trees above me, hearing the raindrops on the roof and the sounds of the neighborhood. I’m just tickled that my “commute” to this care is just a few blocks from the Swap Shop and one block from my house. The $75 for an appointment is well worth it (each appointment is less if you are doing a series or have special circumstances and need to work out an accessible rate).

Making appointments, whether it is for a hair cut or a medical treatment, often gets bogged down for me in phone tag and then lost in the shuffle of my life so I am grateful that I can sign up on line for any appointment listed as available on his schedule or just walk back to the yurt and sign up on a calendar by his front door. Soon Axi will have classes and gatherings listed too so we can benefit in many different ways from his knowledge.

We will get to see a whole other side of his knowledge and talents as we all edge closer and closer to “Perks in the Park.” If you get the Sunnyside neighborhood newsletter, you may have read the news that the Sunnyside Neighborhood has been awarded a grant through Southeast Uplift to start a Park Equipment Sharing Program through Sunnyside Methodist Church for Sunnyside Park. Axi, has long history in New Orlean’s style street theater. He and I have had many great conversations about what will inevitably happen in a park when people really reach out to make it special.

Money has been awarded in the grant for a storage shed to be placed on church property and the purchase of all types of equipment (balls, toddler bikes, juggling equipment, chess sets, etc) to be loaned out for use in the park after school, on weekends and in the summer time starting this upcoming summer. Just think of our great equipment share in the gym of the church building happening out on the park grass and black top as well.

To make this work splendidly we’ll need some volunteers to bring the equipment in and out of the shed. To do that, I can just see in my mind’s eye the cart we will need. It’s not just any cart, but something whimsical, filled-with-wonder, built-from-recycled materials with colorful wheels, a fold out awning and facinating nooks and hooks for everything from jump ropes to juggling equipment (and enough dangling ride on toys for sharing so that we don’t have to ever lug the Skuut bike our kids got tired of back home again).

If we are lucky, there is someone, or a group of someones, reading this email who would love to make such a cart for community. I can’t wait to see what we create and who steps forward to help. Since the less money we spend on our cart and our shed means the more money we have for equipment to share with everybody, if you have a shed that needs to move out of your back yard or the start of a spectacular storage cart, you know I’ll be thrilled to hear from you.

You can reach for your yurt experience as early as next week and we plan to have a cart full of park toys by the end of the spring but we’ll all have to wait a bit longer for the community cafe that is coming our way. Next time you come to the Swap Shop take a detour by the park and stand at the playground looking towards the church building. You’ll be staring at a two story tan building with white trim that started its life as the original grocery store for the neighborhood back in the early 1900s.

One of the fabulously community minded master minds behind Hall of Records on Belmont, a little experimental cafe that was recently sold, is going to work with the church and community members to lead another experiment in sharing and caring very akin to the uniqueness our co-op. The hours and menu and style of this cafe have yet to be set, but something clever and affordable for all of us that spend time in this part of Portland is the general plan with a target date of being open to serve everyone who comes to the park and to our block of community by next fall.

If you have suggestions for the cart, shed, park equipment or cafe, a web site and blog are coming along soon. For now you can send your input to sunnystorefront©gmail•com (sunnystorefront©gmail•com) .

You can reach Axi (pronounced Ah-shee):

in person at: 3735 SE Yamhill, (walking back to the yurt on the left side of the house) 971.678.6839

Axi’s web site says: Treat local, heal global. Happy to be a part of that effort and glad you all are too.

__._,_.___

Know Your Neighbor – Reunion Apparel

Karen Hery — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:33:35 +0000

When I last wrote about Reunion Apparel Resale in November, Tara and Will were just getting started as young business owners taking on the Portland clothing scene. I’m grateful for their sponsorship of our Roost program and more than happy to spread the word every few months about their hidden little gem of a place near Buckman School.

As you travel down Belmont and it splits in to two one way streets, keep an eye out as you pass 18th street towards downtown. If you blink, you’ll miss the simple black and white sign one shop in from the corner of Morrison on 18th.

If you do find your way there, you’ll be walking into a sweet and eclectic collection of clothing treasures at great prices. When a shop is this small, every piece counts and it’s all about really unique, comfortable and vintage bits of bygone eras.

We may all have to work to find them, but that also means that the rent is low and the prices affordable (while they can still afford to make a living). Every item I’ve fallen in love with so far was less than $20 for great quality clothing that I really love.

Everything started on ETSY for them before they opened a retail shop and you can still read this post at midnight, hop on their ETSY shop www.etsy.com/shop/ReunionShop or the shop-on-line section of their web site and live local on your own schedule.

I have to confess, I’m no good at shopping on line. Gotta see it to really want it.

Truth be told, Will and Tara know they can make more profit just selling on ETSY alone without a storefront, but seeing people get all jazzed about the clothing they are recirculating is half the fun and the most gratifying part of what they do.

If the most gratifying piece for you – when you part with your hard earned dollars – is knowing that you’re helping the fabric of our local economy go full circle . . . please add Reunion Apparel to your circle of clothing resources.

Will does the clothes sourcing too so it’s not just a women’s boutique. If you’ve got a style of guy wear that really suits you, let him know what it is and he’ll probably be able to keep you in great threads all year long.

Brings new meaning to the idea of personal shopper, now doesn’t it?

Know Your Neighbor – Hankins True Value Hardware

Karen Hery — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:46:55 +0000

Too late to run to the hardware store tonight, but if something started dripping, seeping or leaking around your house during this last bout of snow and rain, you may be happy to know what I found out from Lois Hankins (long time owner of Hankins True Value Hardware store on Hawthorne and MLK) this week. . .

Yes, it is a lot easier to stop a leak before it starts but once it starts, it’s good to know I won’t always have to wait until everything dries out to address the new, fantastically inconvenient problem that greets me when I come home from a long day or wake up to when I have plenty of other plans for my morning.

Believe it or not, there is a sealing paint to apply while those walls are actively seeping moisture and a hydraulic cement that you can push right into an active, even gushing, wet spot.

I’m not really sure who thought building so many houses with basements was such a good idea in this climate, but Lois also has all sorts of solutions for bringing rain gutter water much farther from your house before it starts seeking a way underground (and the patience to walk around with you picking out the things that will work best for what you need to do).

I don’t know how your place is faring but this is the rain storm that helped Scott and I discover that the “drain” at the bottom of our cement steps leading down to our outside basement door isn’t really a drain connected to the sewer system. Most likely it’s a very short pipe leading to a drain field that has gotten plenty overwhelmed and it’s only January. It’s not just refusing to drain but has become a really effective conduit for water to come back up and seek a level field in among the stuff stacked in our basement.

Sigh.

If you, like us, are seeking a wet/dry shop vac, call Lois and her staff before you come over. True Value put the $120 model on special for less than $50. She has sold them all and is back ordered until later this week but what she gets in soon will still be a great bargain if you can wait.

The real bargain is people that answer the phone and give great advice, a quick stop close by for most of the things we might need and an order and pick up (with no shipping cost) for the big stuff.

Thank you, Lois, for being a Roost sponsor (she has a soft spot for our teens having helped two grand kids through Sunnyside Environmental School) and a big thank you to all our swap shop members for giving support to great local businesses.

Lots of great, local, community businesses on our web site www.sunnysideswapshop.org and our favorite hardware store at:

Hankins True Value Hardware Store

1720 SE Hawthorne Blvd

M-F: 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM; Sat: 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM; Sun: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Second location: 3942 NE M L King Blvd

To call ahead and see if they have what you need: 503-236-2372

On line ordering: http://ww3.truevalue.com/hankinshawthorne/Home.aspx

FYI: When I checked on line, the print-out coupon was buy one get one free deal for getting keys made.

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