Cup O' Cheer

Our annual holiday party will be December 5th, 2004 starting at 4:00pm at the home of Jim and Anne Murlin, 6252 S. Blackhawk Way. This year's party is going to be more fun than ever and is a good time to connect with neighbors again. The Social Committee will be responsible for the "cheer" so come up with an appetizer to share and join us for the evening. Your response to one of our committee members is very much appreciated in helping us plan just how much "cheer" we should provide. We sincerely hope all you good neighbors will be there!

Annual Homeowners Meeting Our Annual Homeowners Meeting of Sanctuary on the Park will be held December 8, 2004 starting at 7:00pm at Valley Country Club. The agenda includes electing one new member to serve on the Board, and approving the budget for 2005. Our management company, Caron Realty, Inc. mailed out the minutes of the 2003 meeting, along with the 2004 agenda and proposed 2005 budget, to all homeowners earlier this month. A proxy was also sent and if you are unable to attend the meeting in person, please fill out the proxy and return it to Caron Realty or give it to any Board member. For additional information please contact Joe Dirks, President, 303-699-9439.

Cookie Bake Party

If you are interested in getting together and baking cookies, then sharing the finished product so you get a variety to take home, please call Marilyn Fitzgerald, 303-690-5040. Several of us got together last year to participate in this fun time and the results were delicious! We prepare the cookie dough in advance, then bake the cookies together. It makes a sometimes tedious chore a lot of fun. Please join us!

SYLVILAGAS FLORIDANUS

That's rabbit to us unwashed ones. They're "cute" (ask any woman), they're fun to watch (thanks to the myriad of cartoonists and children's film makers) AND THEY ARE NOW EVERYWHERE! Maybe it's time to have a closer look at our ever-present little friends.

Biology: Known also as a cottontail, their life expectancy is only 12 to 18 months. To counter this fate, though, they have an extremely high reproductive potential reaching up to four litters per year. The first appears usually in March. Gestation period is only 28 or 29 days and there may be as many as six young per litter. The young are usually born in a shallow nest in the ground with their eyes closed and with little hair. They leave the nest in two to three weeks. Predation, weather, disease and encounters with cars and hunters contribute to the annual death rate. Up to 35% of the young die within the first month, and 65% of the remaining animals die over the winter.

Habitat: They tend to concentrate in favorable habitats such landscaped backyards where food and cover are suitable. Natural cavities or burrows excavated by woodchucks or other animals are frequently used. Underground dens are used primarily in extreme cold or wet weather and to escape pursuit. In spring and fall, they use grass or weed shelters called "forms" to create a nest-like cavity on the surface of the ground for protection. Population levels are directly linked to the quantity and quality of the habitat present. Rabbits spend their entire lives in an area of 10 acres or less.

Diet: Rabbits will devour a wide variety of green vegetation especially in the spring when young succulent plant material is present. I found an extremely long list of perennial and annual plants listed as either "Heavily Damaged" or "Seldom Damaged" by rabbits in a report by the Ohio State University Horticulture and Crop Science Department.

Space permits just a few mentions:
Heavy Damaged - Woody Plants -
Forsythia, Sand Cherry, Rose and Miss Kim Lilac
Ornamental Vines - Clematis & Morning Glory
             Fruits - Strawberry, Apple
             Perennials - Baby's breath, Garden Phlox,
             Johnny Jump up
             Annuals - Snapdragon, Impatiens, Cosmos,
             Moss Rose, Pansy and Zinnia


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