Editors: Chris Weegar, Vicki Rudegeair

“For the Residents by the Residents”

JULY / AUGUST VOL 16, ISSUES 7 & 8

The Highlands Highlights Our website is:

www.floridahighlands.com Our e-mail is :

newsletter@floridahighlands.com

Newsletter Editors’ Summer Break In spite of its short length, this newsletter edition covers both July and August. The regular calendars are missing from this edition because no activities were known to be scheduled as of June 30th. Look for September’s newsletter in late August. Hopefully some of our activities will have resumed in some form

by then. Meanwhile, have a safe and healthy summer.

Chris Weegar and Vicki Rudegeair, Highlands Newsletter Editors

Barb Geiling, Faye Broughton,

Anne Traub, Joan Clapper, Betty Thibault,

Barbara O’Neill, Joan & Rich Shaia, Donna Hills,

Chris Weegar, Diane Sabatine,

Nancy Meech, Lynda Chynoweth, Gloria Klotter,

Sharon Proue, Terri Pawlicki, Marty Taylor,

Carol McCaslin, Carolyn Fuller, Marie Garfinkel

The Sunshine Committee lends support and a helping hand to residents experiencing health challenges or dealing with grief. We are prepared to make hospital and home visits, send cards, bring home-made soup, provide transportation for doctor visits, and help with pets in absences due to crises.

If we missed you, we’re sorry, To ensure that you are remembered, please submit your birthday and

anniversary information to either newsletter@floridahighlands.com or Terry Pawlicki.

Maureen & Perry Russo 7/8 Faye & Randy Broughton 7/11 Judy & Ed Vesely 7/11 Chris & Phil Lear 7/12 Joan & Al Rodier 7/16 Gail & Barry Berghold 7/21 Linda & Glenn Bowman 7/29 Jan & Donald Curtis 8/2 Dianne & Allen Brown 8/6 Lynda & Marvin Chynoweth 8/10 Sharon & Bill Davis 8/12 Nancy & Greg Anderson 8/15 Suzanne & Randy Bahr 8/15 Marty & Chuck Taylor 8/20 Susan & Glen Hammerling 8/21 Roberta & Ed Cifelli 8/27 Pat & Lee Koepke 8/29 Sandra & David Neil 8/29 Joan & Chuck Clapper 8/30

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Sherry Hadd 7/3 Gloria Klotter 7/3 John Marr 7/3 Mary Hardt 7/5 Stephanie Bettencourt 7/6 Norma Laseter 7/6 Francis Manyen 7/6 Lorie Maseda 7/6 Faye Broughton 7/7 Nancy Rine 7/7 MaryAnn Shaughnessy 7/8 Dean Cook 7/10 Lucille Kraepel 7/10 Dianne Brown 7/12 Denise Hamilton 7/14 Jim Sullivan 7/14 Susan Ellis 7/15 Colleen Anderson 7/16 Steve Glass 7/18 Al Higgins 7/18 Gil Heiland 7/21 Pat McCaslin 7/21 Duane Slavik 7/21 Tom Suarez 7/24 Sandra Neil 7/25 Bob Wren 7/25 Chuck Davis 7/26 Donna VanWieren 7/26 Nancy Anderson 7/27 Barbara Lepp 7/27

Andrea McDermott 7/27 Raymond Tuday 7/28 Lorraine Ceglia 7/29 Steve Reynolds 7/29 Bruce Allen Roshka 7/30

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Joan Clapper 8/5 Hank Haynes 8/5 Steve Impson 8/5 Ivan Hathaway 8/8 Michael Macier 8/8 Cindy Wren 8/8 Joanne McLaren 8/12 Geanne Raker 8/13 Maureen Russo 8/14 Nancy Roshka 8/17 Leland Conley 8/18 Jack Doherty 8/19 Cheryl Pflugh 8/19 Karyn Liberty 8/20 Sharon Davis 8/21 Mark Magoon 8/21 Christy Hughes 8/22 Pam Davis 8/24 Joan Imburgia 8/24 Marvin Chynoweth 8/25 Bill Hoff 8/25 David Rennie 8/29 Brenda Ottoman 8/31

Let’s celebrate the 4th together!!!

We’re pleased to be able to hold our golf cart parade again this year. Everything will be done outside and with care by adhering to social distancing guidelines. We ask that everyone keep safe, don't share food products or get closer than needed to any other people. If you don't feel well PLEASE stay home and enjoy the parade from the

safety of your windows.

With that out of the way… Get Ready For The FUN!

Make your decorating plans! Dress the part and show your love for this beautiful country we are so blessed to live in!

To keep a bit cooler than last year we will meet a little earlier.

Line up on July 4th near the Highlands entrance at 9:15

Parade starts 9:30 sharp. Get ready to make some NOISE!!!!!

(Any unforeseen last minute changes will be announced via our facebook “Highlands Chit Chat Lounge” and by email.)

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Our chit chat lounge is a place where residents of the Highlands share photos, ask and receive recommendations, and remind each other of upcoming events. While dealing with the Corona virus

restrictions we have come together to add virtual games, dance lessons and brain teasers! Virtual safe socializing

with neighbors is always fun!

Our marketplace is a interesting place to visit on a regular basis! You can post items you have to sell as well as items you are in search of!

Safe Shopping and Selling within our Highlands community!

The Helping Hands page was created to help our neighbors with any needs they have. If you need a hand with anything please reach

out to us.

Our recipe exchange is a great place to share dishes you have enjoyed and a FANTASTIC

place to find new recipes to try!

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Trash Pickup and Recycling

Trash Pick-up: scheduled for Mondays and Thursdays. Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day are holidays when pickup isn’t scheduled. When there is no pickup, customers may put out double the amount of trash on the next scheduled pickup day.

Recycling (curbside program): Aluminum & metal cans, NO glass, all plastic (except #6), paper, and cardboard may be left in labeled, rigid, reusable containers at the curb very early every Wednesday morning.

Highlands recycling option for printed materials only: A recycling bin stands outside near the clubhouse kitchen for recycled paper, newspapers, phone books, catalogs, and hard cover and paperback books. Cardboard from boxes is also acceptable as long as the box is broken down so that it lies flat.

Yard refuse: Call the Highlands Management office if you wish to have HTA staff do a Monday or Friday pick up of lawn refuse you’ve created during a yard clean-up. If you’ve had professionals clean-up your yard, they should remove the refuse as part of their service. Please, do NOT put yard waste in the dumpster by the clubhouse.

The Stray Cat Project

Some Highlands residents are participating in a trap, spay/neuter and return program.

This program has proven to be the ONLY successful method of controlling feline

population which is out of control.

Pasco County, in conjunction with Planned Pethood runs a low cost program aimed at

reducing the number of stray cats by spaying, vaccinating, and returning the animals.

Simply removing the animals does nothing as new cats will replace the removed cats quickly.

This program creates a small, sterile, vaccinated population that KEEPS OUT NEW STRAYS and greatly reduces chances of disease and eliminates new kittens. We have a group of volunteers who will help with trapping, vetting and return, and others who are donating the ten dollar fee for the service.

We need more help.

If you are interested in having a cat that is sheltering near your property brought in for treatment, or you wish to volunteer or donate, please contact Resident volunteers. Just $10 will sponsor dealing with one Highlands cat. Please help us get this problem in our community under control.

Contact Pauline Lambert 813-783-4131 or Julie Wegener 207-450-4857.

Together, we can make this a successful program and reduce the community cats to a small, sterile, healthy group that will prevent new strays from moving in.

This approach is quick, humane, and effective.

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Close Pool Umbrellas Before Exiting the Pool Area

We are moving into the height of hurricane season so we need to be diligent about protecting items left out around your home and in the pool area. If umbrellas are going to be kept by the pool for your comfort, we need your help in protecting them. Even if you didn’t open them, please take any open umbrellas down before you exit the pool

area. Our daily afternoon rains and winds can be very destructive. Thanks for your cooperation.

Thanks go to Hometown America for sponsoring our newsletter. HTA pays for all printing and web publication charges.

Current Directory in Our Format Available On our Website or Via E-Mail

The Hometown America supplied annual Highlands directory, distributed with the 2019 November newsletter, and referred to on the last page of this emailed July-August 2020 newsletter as the “2019 Fall Directory”, is based on data maintained by Terry Pawlicki who supplies it to Hometown America in mid-September. A spring 2020 version of the same data, containing all updates posted to date on the last page of newsletters is now available in our formats -

which is one alphabetic listing and one street order listing designed to print on 8-1/2 x 11 paper.

In June a copy of this new spring directory was emailed to every resident for whom we have a valid email address.

The new directory is downloadable from a secure section of our website. The URL is specific and appears on the next (last) page of this emailed version of July/August’s newsletter.

or Call Chris Weegar with a working email address and she will email a copy to you.

Mahjongg Players

When the clubhouse is open to all residents there is normally open organized mahjongg play on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Players meet at 1:00 PM on Monday and Friday and at 9:30 AM on Tuesday. On the first Monday of each month a marathon is held. All mahjongg players are welcome. If you are interested in learning to play mahjongg, contact Nancy Meech.

Since the closure of the clubhouse, over a dozen of our regular players have moved on-line to play with one

another at realmahjongg.com. When they start a game, they search for each other’s pseudonyms in the "Active

Games" section (or they can search for you if you are playing). By simply pressing on their name and asking to join you could be playing with some of our mahjongg players. It's that simple!

You can play with up to 3 other friends at the same time, or mix and match with computer players, or simply play against computer players only. If a game is in progress, others can jump in and replace a computer player, and if somebody leaves, the computer will take over. There's also a chat feature so you can message other players at your table while you are playing by simply pressing the chat icon on the bottom right of the screen.

RealMahjongg offers a two week free trial which provides an opportunity to discover whether you are comfortable playing in an on-line environment. Currently you can play with either the 2019 or 2020 cards. If you choose to continue to play beyond the free two weeks, there is a monthly fee of less than $10. If you decide you want to learn the pseudonyms of Highlands players, give Chris Weegar a call and she’ll direct you to some of those who are playing.

Marathon’s are suspended as long as the clubhouse remains closed. A sign-up sheet will be posted to resume play on the first Monday of the month after the clubhouse is open once again and table games are allowed.

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