the hancock herald Hancock Neighborhood Association June 2015 Heroes Sought Everyone is invited to help with a post-flood clean-up of Waller Creek from 32nd to 41st streets at 8:30 a.m., Saturday, June 27th. The creek flooded out of its usual banks and left pieces of trash at the high water points. We will meet at the SW corner of the Hancock Golf Course at the corner of 38th and Peck. Wear your old clothes and join us. Kids and dogs are welcome. INSIDE Hot Topics El Nino Arrives The Talent 2 7 Front row: Mallory (canine) Heinrich Back row: Tom Carlisle, Ron Heinrich, Kathleen Strong, Don Murdock, Dave Bench, Michael Tay, Dustin Averitt Not pictured: Matthew Maxwell who was taking the picture and Ryan and Scott Edgar who were out working instead of posing Waller Creek Clean-Up Day is a Natural Experience While golfers lobbed golf balls like white bullets, fearless neighbors trooped into the brush of Waller creek to purify it of the dreaded discarded plastic which dots the water and riparian zone. Through the dense forested area, the group discovered a plethora of organisms known to inhabit the creek. Strapping on overalls to pave a path to the water, the initiative was driven and led by Kathleen Strong. Each clean-up day, whatever the number of helpers, Kathleen has tirelessly ventured into the creek and the environment surrounding it has begun to show results. Neighbor in the Street 9 Continued on page 5 HOT El Nino Arrives TOPICS The month of May has been a soggy, mostly welcome, mess. Our gardens are lush and the lakes are up. Flooding has tempered the joy, but, for most, El Nino has been a good thing. Lake levels as of 5/27/15 http://hydromet.lcra.org/lakevolume/systemprofile.aspx 5/25/15 Man carries child across Waller Creek bridge at 41st Street as cars turn back (photo by Carleen Edgar) 2 This issue's contributors: Snow White Sarah Edgar Tony Beckwith Carol Moczygemba Kathleen Strong 5/25/15 Scott and Ryan Edgar view the flood waters at Waller Creek bridge at Ave G near 45th (photo by Carleen Edgar) 3 www.ATXfloods.com provides low water crossing information, including pictures! The site is maintained by the City of Austin Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) team. FEWS monitors weather and road conditions 24-7 on an on-call basis. You can also access atxfloods.com via your cell and get notifications via twitter (see below). Recent low water crossing status and road closures. Watch Lake Travis Rise See an incredible transformation in the lake levels courtesy of time-lapse photography from webcam images at the Oasis restaurant: https://youtu.be/nZtNJXO4IZ4 4 https://twitter.com/atxfloods Thank you to Elzy & Betty Cogswell for volunteering to take the Red River/Waller Creek route! There was a mass-changing of the guard for many newsletter distribution routes in the last quarter. Many thanks to those who delivered the newsletter in the past and those who stepped up to take over this year. Waller Creek Clean-up Day is.... Continued from page 1 This trip, one member of the team, Ryan Edgar, said excitedly "I saw multiple frogs and I got a T-shirt!" The burgeoning wildlife driven by the oncoming spring and plentiful water has spurred a flurry of life including majestic herons and a plethora of frogs and snakes, who rid the area of pests and promote a health miniecosystem. Scott Edgar says, "The wildlife we see while we're down there is a big part of the reason we're doing it." So the next time you'd like to help out, meet Kathleen at the corner, grab a bag and prepare to reap the rewards of our new, cleaner backyards. Sarah Edgar Austin Energy Tree Trimming In Progress Reprinted from AE website - posted Mon, 05/18/2015 - 11:51 Austin Energy will be working in the Hancock Neighborhood pruning and, if necessary, removing potentially hazardous trees from high-voltage electric transmission lines. Work planners will evaluate each property to determine if tree work is necessary and, if work is required. will make every effort to contact each property owner to discuss proposed work. Contact: Carl Schattenberg, Utility Forester 512.322.6931 or Ray Henning, Line Clearance Superintendent 512.322.6930 10th grader, LASA High School Austin Resource Recovery Begins Storm Clean Up Call 3-1-1 to request pick up of large limbs from the flood. Austin Resource Recovery crews began responding to customer requests for storm debris removal early Monday, May 25th. Customers should call 3-1-1 to request pick up of large limbs or household items damaged by flooding. Customers should place items at the curb for collection. Items should be separated into three piles: 1. Brush and yard debris 2. Bulk items such as furniture 3. Household Hazardous Waste, such as paint, cleaners or pool chemicals. Due to the significant impact from the weekend storms, it likely will take a few weeks for crews to complete the removal. Staff is working to complete the clean up as soon as possible, including seeking help from contractors. Staff is prioritizing areas that were impacted most heavily by the storms. Please, only request a pick up if your property was affected by the storms. Published on HNA Website by administrator Friday 05/29/15 Herald Ad Assistant Needed Qualifications: Good organizational skills Time Commitment: Approximately 1 hour per month Contact: ads@hancockna.org 5 Hancock Native Plant Swap Large Turn-out The Spring 2015 Swap turn-out was much bigger than in previous years. We saw the parking lot at Mother's Café and Garden at capacity! The Swap is a way for neighbors to exchange plants and spread great performers around the neighborhood. There may be a small Fall gathering just to distribute Milkweed seeds. A donor has contacted me to say that they are harvesting and saving Tropical Milkweed seeds for donation to the cause! Milkweed is the only egg-laying host for the endangered Monarch butterfly. Thank you to Hancock residents who came out to support the event. Like us for updates: fb.com/NativePlantSwap 6 THE talent Editor's Haiku Editor requests submissions from talent pool be sent next quarter Editor is not a talented writer. Please send yours to editor@hancockna.org Like, A Foreign Film They chatted on beside me as boys and girls will do and I'd love to tell you what I overheard But their speech was unfamiliar not your usual parlez-vous and I barely understood a single word: He went Oh and she was like Whoa so he goes Awesome and he's like Totally but she's like Get Out! and he goes Huh? then he's like No Way! but she goes Way! then he's like Forever? and she's like Whatever so he goes Bummer I hate for it to end Then they lapsed into a silence I could totally comprehend tony beckwith 2015 7 TOP REASONS TO JOIN HancockNeighborhood_forsale GROUP To get rid of stuff without driving To obtain stuff without driving To make your neighbors very happy To get a great deal or even free stuff To reduce, reuse, recycle To encourage more people to post #1 REASON Advertisers will see value in the list and post there happily. To subscribe, send an email to: Hancockneighborhood_forsalesubscribe@yahoogroups.com 8 Neighbor in the street When neighbors meet in the street, fascinating tidbits can be revealed. The next time you run into someone in Hancock, ask them a few questions, take a pic with your phone, and send it (with permission) to the editor at editor@hancockna.org Eva L. (Miller) Mohrlok East 44th Street How long have you lived in the neighborhood? So far, 68-1/2 years. What brought you to the neighborhood? My parents, Annie and Carl Miller. I was born in the old Seton Hospital which was located west of the UT campus at that time and was torn down about 1975. By then the current, main Seton Hospital was in use on 38th Street, west of N. Lamar Blvd. My parents brought me home from the old hospital to my current and continual home at 1018 E. 44th St., Austin, Texas. Do you have close friends in the neighborhood? I have several friends from days long ago (my childhood years) and currently. When I was a child, the Hancock Neighborhood as it is now known was fairly new. When my parents bought their house in 1939 on 44th St, there were not any houses behind the property. I have a picture of my father and a friend sitting on the low rock wall in the back of the property without any houses built behind them. Back then, the neighbors were mostly young adults with children and they owned their homes, which meant there were plenty Eva Miller Mohrlok of East 44th Street of kids to play with outside. We did not get a TV until I was about seven years old. What a big surprise that was! Of course, it was black and Continued on next page 9 Continued from previous page white pictures and there was only one channel to watch (Channel 7). Anyway, the kids did a lot of playing outdoors and we all had fun. Even after "supper" we would meet outside to play again until one of the parents (usually mine) called us in. I still have contact (now via E-mail) with some of my closest neighbors back when we were kids. One of them says he fondly remembers the time he lived on 44th St. He and his family lived at 1021 E. 44th. Still keep up with the "kids" who lived next door at 1020 E. 44th, also. I value these long-term friendships. (near Guadalupe and 40th) and S. F. Austin High School at the old location on Rio Grande, currently an ACC location. After Austin High School, I attended and graduated from The University of Texas at Austin. After college, I worked as an accountant for the U. T. Office of Accounting for over thirty years. Childhood memories I remember one of the neighbors who then lived at 1014 E. 44th put together an evening of entertainment in their back yard. The entertainment was the various talents of the kids in the neighborhood. I remember reciting a funny little poem which my dad taught me while we were fishing on the Colorado River the afternoon of the event. I remember when our streets in the area were unpaved and then when the city paved them. It was a nice addition to have paved streets and it sure cut down on the dust. After the streets were paved, the neighborhood kids often played in the street which was usually in front of our house in the middle of the block. Another fond memory occurred at Easter time. Before the current Hancock Shopping Center was built, the land was vacant and had at one time been used as the second nine holes to the Hancock Golf Course. For a couple of years when the property sat vacant, some of the older neighborhood kids put together an Easter egg hunt for the younger ones. We hid the eggs and watched the smaller kids have fun finding the goodies. The neighborhood almost had a park there on the second nine holes of the golf course, but the people who wanted a shopping center triumphed. It was rumored at the time we almost got what is now located at Bartholomew park, including a pool now located at 5201 Berkman Drive. How did you meet? Back then most of the neighbors got acquainted with the other neighbors. Most of the kids attended Robert E. Lee Elementary School in its current location at 3308 Hampton Rd, Austin, TX. The other schools I attended were Baker Jr. High Thank you HNA Officers: President: Mark Harkrider Vice President: James Harkrider Treasurer: Bruce Fairchild Secretary: Mary Sanger Historian: Vacant Position Newsletter Editor: Carleen Edgar editor@hancockna.org Newsletter Ads: Kathleen Strong ads@hancockna.org Continued on next page 10 Continued from previous page Shipe Pool In my early teen years, I spent weekdays riding my bike to Shipe Pool and helping the life guard teach swimming lessons, offered free by the City of Austin. Monday the pool was closed for a day of drying. Back then, the pool was drained every night after close and refilled for the next day beginning about 3:00 AM. Someone actually had to come to the pool each night and turn on the water to fill the pool. Occasionally, some hoodlums or "hoods" as we called them would throw glass bottles over into the pool during the empty time and the bottles would break. This would cause the pool to close so it could be drained again and thoroughly cleaned before it could be refilled. Big loss of swimming time, lessons and lots of water whenever that would happen! Hancock Recreation Center Early in my life, the Hancock Recreation Center offered various dance lessons for children. My mother had me participating in tap, ballet, baton twirling, acrobatics, square dancing, and crafts. Made for a lot of fun, but also a lot of work for my mom. Important Dates Post-flood Creek Cleanup June 27 8:30am Corner of 38th & Peck Big Shipe Pool Opens June 8 ­ Aug 22 Weekdays (Closed Tuesdays) 8-11am Lap Swim Only 11am-8pm Recreational Swim Weekends (Sat & Sun) 11am-8pm Recreational Swim What do you value most in this neighborhood? The fact that other than the obvious Hancock Shopping Center, the bulk of the streets in the neighborhood have managed to remain relatively non-commercialized. And, so far, there has been a limited number of mini-mansions built in our immediate area, which tends to keep the ambience of the smaller homes. Also, it seems to be a relatively safe area and the neighbors tend to watch out for unusual activities in the area. We truly value the friendships formed with our current neighbors. I think the communications in the Hancock Neighborhood Association e-mails are very important for disseminating information. Shipe Wading Pool Opens June 16 ­ Aug 16 Closed Mondays Tues-Sun 11am-8pm HNA regular meeting July 15th 7pm ­ 8:30pm Hancock Rec Center Continued on next page 11 Continued from previous page What is an Austin-y memory that you will always treasure? Christmas time! Congress Avenue always had decorations along the street and some of the stores had rather elaborate window displays. Scarbrough and Calcasieu Lumber Company were two stores that went all out in their decorations. At the time, most of the shopping occurred downtown in and around Congress Ave. Usually on Christmas Eve, we would take a ride to see the lights downtown and in the neighborhoods and then come home to gifts from Santa under the Christmas tree. etc., in Austin's oldest cemetery, Oakwood. It would be nice to see that project completed. Also, we both are into genealogy and that consumes a lot of our time. I also enjoy photographing flowers and have been seen taking pictures around our neighborhood. Both Hal and I enjoy taking pictures at family functions like birthdays. Submitted by Snow White When have you felt a sense of loss or longing in the neighborhood? Other than the personal loss of each of my parents in 1970 and 1974, a great loss is when good neighbors move away, especially if they move out of the city. Luckily we have been fortunate, mostly, to have new, nice neighbors move in and blend into the neighborhood. The occasional neighborhood party makes a good opportunity to meet the neighbors we may not know and for them to get to know us. Do you have a dream in life that you haven't been able to achieve yet? To be able to live out my days in the home where I grew up, just because it is home. Realizing that may not be possible, it still is my desire. Not having children of my own, I have enjoyed my husband's grandchildren and other children of my cousins, friends and neighbors. My husband, Hal, and I volunteer with an organization, Save Austin's Cemeteries, in which we are documenting (photographing) all the gravesites, 12