Extreme Heat is Here, is your A/C perfoming well???

We are under extreme heat, and the weather service says it may persist well into August. So, how well is your A/C keeping up??? Just a couple of quick tips here for you to consider.

If you live in a home with an outside compressor unit, are you starving your unit? Often, units are found to be severely blocked by trash, weeks, pools, the trash cans, and other personal belongings. The outside unit moving air through the coils is how your A/C gets rid of the heat it has drawn out of your home. If it can’t move enough air through the coils, this heat starts building up in the system and will eventually damage your A/C as well as making your Minol bill excessive, and your home uncomfortable.

Keep all items at least three feet away from all side of your unit, and in particular, make sure nothing is blocking the top where the hot air is ejected. Also, keep in mind that this time of year the top of the unit can become very hot. Keep the  children off of the units for their own safety.

Please also note that if your outside unit is in the direct sun for any length of the day, especially those with open westward facings, or facing south, that your units performance will drop quite a bit while the sun is beating down on your unit.

Most important of all, including for those homes with geothermal units, WHEN WAS YOUR LAST FILTER CHANGE?!? Maintenance will check your filter if possible when maintenance is done in your home, but generally, filter changes are the responsibility of the tenant. IF YOUR FILTER HAS NOT BEEN CHANGED OR CHECKED IN THE LAST THIRTY DAYS, YOU SHOULD DO IT NOW! A dirty filter is the leading cause of poor performance of housing A/C units at Ft. Eustis. You can either change it yourself, or if you are unable to do so, call Megan at 369-8344 to have a change scheduled. If you don’t have replacement filters, they are available for FREE at bldg. 1405. Come in and see Megan or Gina between 9:00a (0900) and 3:30p (1530) for the best times.

One final note, for homes with low return grills, (1900s, 2100s, 2500s, some 2700s, some 2900s, some 1100s) make sure you are not starving your inside unit of air. Placing furniture tight against the return grill blocks air flow and will act the same as a dirty filter. If the air in your home is not moving, the air in your home is not being cooled.

As always, if you have any questions, please call 369-8344 for Megan or Gina at the Work Order desk, or 369-8335

Spraypark CLOSURE and Community Center Playground Damages….

Attention Residents

Due to misuse and abuse of the Spray Park and playground area by unsupervised children, damages have occurred that will require extensive repairs.

BECAUSE OF THIS WE MUST STOP ALL OPERATIONS OF THE SPRAY PARK EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

The video surveillance of the area is being reviewed in efforts to find the parties responsible for the damages, so that we can hopefully expedite the repairs of the damaged items (damages were caused by balloons – water balloons, paint brushes, rocks, toys, and clothing articles).

REMINDERS FOR USE OF THE SPRAYPARK/PLAYGROUND:

• This spray park and playground is for residents and their accompanied guests only.  If you are not a resident or escorted guest, you will be asked to leave.
• Any party caught purposely damaging the equipment or facilities will be reported to the Military Police, their parents and their parents’ chains of command will be notified, and they will be charged with the damage costs for repair and will be banned permanently from the community center and amenities (including the Splash Park and playground on the community center grounds).
• There is 24 hour video surveillance of the spray park/ playground and there will be increased patrol of this area by the police and investigators in an effort to identify the parties that are unsupervised and that are vandalizing the amenity areas.
• If you are a parent, and observe vandalism or unaccompanied children at the spray park/ playground areas, please notify the clubhouse attendant immediately.
• Children that are under the age of 12 will be asked to leave if not accompanied by a parent. If unaccompanied children are identified, we are required to contact the Military Police. This is for the safety of the children.

This Community Center and Amenities (Spray Park and Playground) were placed here as a benifit to those residing on post….therefore, these areas are for our residents and their escorted guests only.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact the community management team at 757-369-8335.

UPDATE: Problems with the Waterpark….21 June 2011

As most people know, there were some serious problems with the water park last week resulting in a shutdown for a few days. This is a brief report on the issues, what the status is now, and some safety and behavior issues that have come to light.

The Waterpark was shutdown due to a failure of the main water line that supplies water to the park tank located under the pump house. Repairs on this issue and a minor modification should prevent this from being a problem again in the near future. Currently, the Activation Bollard near the pump house is not working properly. Repairs on this piece of the park are underway, but may take a few more days to complete. During repairs, the park is still active, but please note that the three Water Cannon features and the Water Square will not activate normally. One other Sprayer feature is not working currently either, parts are on order, and a short (hopefully) shutdown will be required to install them when they arrive.

Many of the children using the Waterpark, have also been using the showers in the restrooms of the Community Center. This is NOT allowed and has been damaging the building. Children found using or attempting to use the showers will be asked to leave. Parents ARE responsible for damages.

Some children have been found trying to play with water balloons on the Waterpark. This is NOT allowed. Water balloon bits flow with the returning water back into the pump system and damage the filtration units. PLEASE if you see children using water balloons on the Waterpark, ask them  to stop. Water balloons can be fun and can be used OUTSIDE of the Waterpark area.

Please, have fun, and stay safe.

Please, Don’t Feed the Wildlife….

Sign seen at a public Zoo....

In the last week, it came to the attention of Environmental and Maintenance, that some of our residents have been feeding the wild animals on base. This is NOT recommended as it does create dangerous situations, both for the resident doing the feeding, and for their neighbors who may not be aware that somebody has been feeding the wildlife. This can lead to “wildlife mooching” where a wild animal approaching to ask for food could be mistaken to be attacking.

In the case last week, a resident has been feeding a racoon. Unfortunately, raccoons regularly carry rabies and there is one on base Environmental is trying to find. Ft. Eustis also has several foxes that live here and recently foxes have been found to have rabies in the Tidewater area.

This is also “baby season” for much of the base wildlife. Please don’t assume a small “critter” by itself is an orphan. Also, do NOT refer to somebody in your command to handle the base wildlife. NO MILITARY MEMBER OR DEPENDANT IS AUTHORIZED TO MOVE, FEED, OR OTHERWISE DISTURB WILDLIFE. Please refer all such situations to either Environmental or the Maintenance work order desk, who will contact the appropriate personnel. Birdfeeders are of course the exception to this, but please know what you are doing with them as even an improperly used bird feeder can kill hummingbirds.

The City of Hampton has a good resource for more information on their website, you can find it HERE.

As always, if you have any questions feel free to call 369-8344 for more information.

Ft. Eustis teams with Terracycle and Colgate to go Green….

Recently, BBC Communities teamed with Terracycle to help increase our participation in the “Go Green” initiative on bases to try to reduce our impact on the environment. Terracycle takes those items which we don’t normally associate as being recyclable, and “upcycles” them into new innovative products. This can be things like oral hygiene packaging and products, mylar candy wrappers, plastic food wrappers, etc. . Upcycling is when the product is reused in an innovative way, making a new product, without being completely destroyed in the process. This saves impact on our landfills and saves energy from the normal recycling process.

To help introduce this program on Ft. Eustis, this week, on May 25th, Wednesday, bring your items for “upcycling” to the Community Center, and drop them off, for collection. Colgate has teamed up with Ft. Eustis and BBC to donate $.02 to a non-profit or school chosen for every Colgate brand oral hygiene product or packaging item brought in for Terracycling.  Please drop these items off inside during normal hours.

If you have further questions about this new program, or would like to get more information from the internet, please contact Heather or Jana at the Community Center at 757-369-8335, or visit the Terracycle web site at www.terracycle.net/brigades.

Good News, the Waterpark is now Open….

Good News! As of today, the water park is now open for the season. The water park is set up on a timer system and will come on automatically daily between 10am and 7pm Monday through Friday and until 9pm on weekends. Please note that children 13 and under should be under adult supervision while on the water park. Also, as with most pools, food and drink items are not allowed at any time on the water park pad area. Please also note that any person with any type of open cut or wound should not use the park either.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to check in person with the desk in the Community building or call 369-8344.

If you have never been to our water park before, these tips will help you with your fun:

• To activate the park, touch either of the “actuators” in the park. One, is located on a red post near the gazebo. The second is located in the middle of the “water wall” square, close to the pump house.
• When activated the park will generally run for four minutes and then shut down until activated again. The park features are activated in a pattern by the computer system in the pump house. There are four different patterns so the same features may not activate at the same time.
• About four times an hour or so depending on usage load, the computer system may shut the park down for a “purge cycle”. This shut down normally lasts only a few minutes and then the park will resume operating on its own.
• In the case of bad weather, the park will be closed for safety issues. The safety systems may shut down the park automatically in case of severe weather being detected.

Please be safe and have fun!

Warning: Tick Season Arrives at Ft. Eustis….

It is that time of year again, Tick Season. Ticks become more active as the weather warms. Maintenance has already reported more than a half-dozen bites while on base. Also, be aware that this year we have a new tick variety to contend with in the area, the Gulf Coast Tick. You can read more about this new tick here for the report from the CDC and the new Tidewater Spotted Fever, or if you would prefer the ‘news’ version of the report, you can read that here.

The Virginia Department of Health has also put together a very good information package for our regular half-dozen or so ticks, how to identify them,  and the diseases they carry. You can view or print a tick identification poster here, it is set up for 11×17 printing format. You can view or print the information on the diseases they carry and their symptoms here.

Here are a few simple steps to keep ticks away from your yard. Keep your grass trimmed neat and low. If your house backs up to the woods, trim the grass between your fence and the woods also. Trim back overhanging undergrowth from your yard and fence. When going out, use a repellent containing DEET on clothing. For each 5% of concentration of DEET in the repellant you use, it will be good for about 2 hours, so for an 8 hour day use a repellant with a 40% concentration of DEET. Keep in mind DEET does cause adverse reactions in some people, including asthma attack and seizures. Wear light-colored clothes so ticks are easy to spot. If going into the woods, wear long pants, and tuck the legs into tight-fitting socks. When returning or going inside always check carefully for any ticks present and remove them.

As always if you have any questions about pest control or landscaping, please call 369-8344 during regular hours. Enjoy the warmer weather and be safe!

UPDATE: New information on ticks around Ft. Eustis….

An adult Gulf Coast Tick

The original posting about ticks at Ft. Eustis is not even finished yet, let alone posted, but this is new information. With the high incidence reported of infection from these tick bites, it was decided to rush this UPDATE out to posting first.

Gulf Coast ticks have become more prevalent in this area, and have established permanent colonies here. Over 40% of these ticks carry a newly documented disease called Tidewater Spotted Fever. Although it is not as severe as Rocky Mountain Spotted fever, it will still leave you very sick.

For more information on these new ticks, please continue reading at this link. 

Army Housing lists RCI Waitlist rule changes again on FB…..

Earlier today, the Army Housing group on Facebook relisted the changes to the RCI Waitlist Rules that were originally published as effective August 1st, 2010. For more information on this, read their posting here.

For any additional questions, please call or drop by BBC Community Housing Office in bldg. 126.

Don’t Kill Your Friends…. (A word about Dirt Dobblers….)

Dirt Dobbler or Mud Dauber Wasp

The weather is getting warmer at Ft. Eustis and the insects are here. The bees, flies, wasps, spiders, etc. etc. etc., have all started to make their presence known. One common resident is the “Dirt Dobbler”, “Mud Dobber”, or “Mud Wasp”. There ar three main types of Mud Wasp, of which the “Pipe Organ Mud Wasp” or “Tube Mud Wasp” is the most commonly found by residents on Ft. Eustis. These wasps are bright yellow and black with a long thin pinched abdomen. These wasps are NOT agressive to people unless disturbed by handling.

So, what makes this wasp special? Around your home it can be helpful by the number of other insects it eats, in particular, spiders that it collects to feed its young. Usually, you will find these wasp’s homes under the protected areas of the older homes eaves, the underside of the roofs of the smoke huts, or the older homes sheds. There have been a few found in the newer homes trash can nooks.

So, now that you know who one of your friends may be, don’t grab that can of spray just because you see one. You may be killing your only friend who is clearing your yard of all those woods spiders. If you would like more info on “Dirt Dobblers” check here.

As always, if you have any questions or need help with wasps or any other insect or critter you find in your yard, call 369-8344 during business hours.