Foothills Sentry May 2023

Foothills Sentry Page 6 May 2023 Family. Friends. Community. We’re all in this together. State Farm, Bloomington, IL 1801073 Ron Esparza, Agent Insurance Lic#: 0C79663 827 S. Tustin Ave Orange, CA 92866 Bus: 714-505-3400 ron@ronesparza.com (714) 832-0750 462 El Camino Real • Tustin, CA 92780 WWW.IVYS.COM IMPROVE HEALTH NATURALLY! • Iridology Consults • Wellness Tips • Awesome Lunches • Organic Cofee & Tea Old Town Tustin $10.00 OFF* Iridology Consult *NEW CUSTOMERS ONLY WELLNESS SEMINARS 2 ND SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH Cold, soggy clouds in the can- yons gave way to sunshine for Easter this year. At Silverado’s community pancake breakfast in the park, even people without a single birthday to their credit could join the first egg hunt of the day. Ten egg limit. Ability to walk helpful. Don’t dawdle, or the three-year-olds will plow right over you. While a visiting vintage fire engine served as an additional climbing structure for younger attendees, uniformed firefighters, vintage and otherwise, manned griddles instead of hoses at this incident. First-responder action was limited to handling emergen- cies like empty syrup bottles and full trash cans. One of several former volun- teer firefighters wielding a spat- ula was John Learned, who grew up in Silverado, joining the Fire Explorers and then Station 14 before being hired by a fire de- partment in Colorado. So his visit here could be viewed as mutual aid. Or, since his parents Steve and Linda still live in Silverado, he could have just felt the same urge that ocean-going salmon get to swim back up the same creek where they were born. For eggs. Circulation How our local economy works: Every summer, the library spon- sors a summer reading program so that canyon kids don’t forget how to read while they are on va- cation. The Silverado and Modjeska fire stations provide rewards for the program. The firefighters raise money for the prizes by staging Easter pancake breakfasts. The park district provides space for the breakfasts, and donates mon- ey for Easter eggs. Money for the parks comes from taxes. The next time you have to pay your taxes, you may pick up forms at the library or use one of their computers to pay online. You can probably do that when you come in to register your kids for the summer reading program. Bug war update Oak-killing beetles fromArizo- na have been found past the forest gate in Silverado. Likely arriv- ing by accident in firewood, the goldspotted oak borer (GSOB) can overwhelm our oaks here, unlike in its native environment where the trees and climate are different. Signs saying “GSOB BUGS KILL OAKS” and “DON'T MOVE OAK FIREWOOD” have been deployed to publicize the threat. Heavily infested trees should be removed, but licensed arbor- ists can spray nearby oaks in ear- ly spring to kill larvae emerging from tiny D-shaped holes in the bark. Some Hillside Lane neigh- bors in Silverado pooled their money to have that done. Some tips from experts who spoke at a March 27 community meeting organized by Silverado’s Springing forth Wild sweet pea vines American Legion Post 132 reports that its April 1 open house had a good turnout. Among the guests was Miss Orange Madeleine Chocholaty, seen here with the Orange chapter of the United Mexican-American Veterans Association. Mike Boeck: (1) Oak logs at least eight inch- es in diameter, unless debarked, should not be moved except to someplace like the Baker Canyon Green Recycling facility for pro- cessing; (2) Dry, debarked store-bought firewood is OK. Other oak wood should be seasoned for two years under a plastic tarp or fine-mesh screen, or the bark should be chipped into three-inch pieces or buried at least five inches deep to kill GSOB larvae; (3) Suspected GSOB infesta- tions can be reported at gsob.org . Said UC Cooperative Extension specialist Dr. Beatriz Nobua- Behrmann, “I love false alarms.” Fine arts See canyonartists.net for May 6 art studio tour info. Come to Silverado on May 20 for this season’s first concert in the park. See if the last remaining canyon cleanup dumpster is still there. Maybe it’s like making sour- dough—starter trash for the next cleanup event. Tradition Longtime Modjeska resident John Gannaway retired from OC Parks this spring. But fol- lowing in his footsteps, John’s daughter Annelise also became a park ranger, currently stationed at Santiago Oaks Regional Park. In other words, John’s Gannaway but Annelise is still around. Pea-rennial Since March, a couple of bush- es along the road into Silverado Canyon have been sporting small clusters of purplish flowers. Those belong to wild sweet pea vines, which climb up and over bigger plants to show off their blooms. Wild sweet pea, also called chaparral sweet pea, canyon sweet pea, hillside pea, and com- mon pacific pea, is native mostly to California, but its flower shape is common to all pea family members. The upright rear petal of each blossom is called the standard, and the two horizon- tal petals in front are the wings. When a bee lands on the wings, they move to expose pollen hid- den inside the two lowest petals, called the keel. After germination, sweet pea flowers morph into seed pods re- sembling green beans, which then turn brown, dry out, and split open to pop out seeds. Eating those seeds is not normally rec- ommended since distinguishing this plant from similar toxic spe- cies can be difficult. Besides cul- tivated peas and beans, the large pea family also includes clover, alfalfa and the purple lupines that pop up here every spring (note the seed pods). But despite what you might have concluded from Pop- eye cartoons, sweet pea and olive are not related.