“ Another One Bites the Dust! ” (to quote a Sander)

By 2017, the 20 or so benches surrounding green had fallen into serious disrepair. These benches dated back to the early 1960s and showed evidence of having been painted at least a half dozen times.. More significantly, the wood seats were rotting. So, the rotting seats were demolished and the steel standards sanded back to bare metal. New redwood seating and fresh paint on the standards made them good as new. Every few years the redwood is maintained with a light sanding and a new coat of stain.

Thanks to our enthusiastic crew of volunteers, our wonderful benches are stained and look great.  On Wednesday morning March 25 the Sanding Crew—Ben Corson, Patricia Erwin, and Ben Steinberg—under the tutelage of our in-house pro Janie Hillyer, finished all of the benches in an hour (a club record).

Not to be outdone on Friday March 27 the Staining Crew—Ann Brillhart, Ben Corson, Cathy Dinnean, Leslie Engler, Patricia Erwin, Stephen Harris, and Martin Kershaw—under the sharp eye of our other in-house pro Judy Hillyer, finished the staining in just over an hour (surely another club record). Another win for the volunteerism movement in the BLBC and for our beautiful club.

Staining Crew hard at work

On Sunday, March 15th , twenty-two dedicated BLBC volunteers participated in our euphemistically-titled Drill ‘n Fill workday. This was the spring version of the semi-annual operation that is a glorious manifestation of hard work, volunteerism, coordination, and teamwork that is required to maintain our green as the crown jewel of natural bowling surfaces in PIMD.

There are numerous articles on our website that offer a detailed description of the aeration, seeding, and sanding tasks; simply scroll down if you want to know more. As you can see from the photos, it was hard work but lots of smiles all around.

Many thanks to (in random order): Steven Kirby, Martin Kershaw, Lydia and Luis Zapata, Cris and Claudia Benton, Daniel Gorelick, Ben Steinberg, Ann Brillhart, Chris High, Chris Davis, Rolly Coe, Cindy Moss, Tom Birt, Mike O’Leary, Charles McFerran, Gary Samonsky, Cathy Dinnean, and an extra shout-out to our former greenkeepers
Patrica Erwin, and Judy and Janie Hillyer, as well as our new greens coordinators, Leslie Engler and Sarah Allday.

In our relentless effort to maintain our fabulous green, BLBC has purchased a brand new, state-of-the-art, electric roller to replace our ancient gas-powered one.  It was delivered last Thursday, and it was love at first sight.  It is a beauty.

Why an electric roller?  For the same reason many buy EV cars: economics, convenience, and eco-friendliness.  When we powered it on for the first time, we were stunned by how quiet it is; no more heavy, unsightly earmuffs and no more worrying about disturbing our neighbors.  Moreover, it is equipped with lights, so our greenskeepers can roll before sunrise if necessary.

Aside from the EV benefits, the new roller is about three feet longer than the old one so that it takes far fewer passes to roll the entire green.

We purchased the roller from an Australian-based company and ours is only the second electric roller currently operating in the U.S.  

If you are interested in learning more about it, go to:

https://www.truturf.com/digital_assets/BP60%20Lawn%20bowl%20and%20tennis%20roller.pdf

A huge collaborative success

On Sunday, September 19, BLBC volunteers showed up for our second semiannual greens maintenance workday.  The aeration (tining), seeding, and sanding is critical for maintaining our healthy and gorgeous green, widely acknowledged as the crown jewel of PIMD’s natural bowling surfaces. 

The weather was ideal: clear skies, modest temperature, low humidity, and a gentle cooling breeze.   Twenty members (including our 4-person greenkeeping crew) and Jose (our professional) worked together in perfect harmony.

The work consisted of three phases. Phase 1 started just after 8 AM, as four workers followed Jose’s tining vehicle to sweep up the extracted turf plugs and scoop them into wheelbarrows.  Two other workers replaced the full wheelbarrows with empty ones before wheeling the plugs off the green.  The coordination was extraordinary as the sweepers never had to wait for an available wheelbarrow.  After 90 minutes or so, a huge, motorized gas-powered blower was used to remove the stray plugs and excessive dirt, after which Jose spread calcium sulfate (aka gypsum) over the green to break up the compaction of dense clay soil.  

After a very brief break, phase 2 began.  One group of workers stood in the sandbox and shoveled sand into buckets. A second group transported full buckets to the green so that a third group could dump the sand into Jose’s mechanical spreader as it travelled slowly across the green.  A fourth group carried the empty buckets back to the sandbox to be refilled and the process repeated itself until the entire green was covered in sand.  Once again, the coordination was perfect as the sand spreader remained in constant motion.

In the final phase, Jose dragged a metal mesh with his tractor to distribute the sand evenly on the green while a few volunteers swept sand into the corners.  

The entire workday effort was completed in just under five hours, allegedly the fastest in BLBC recorded history.  

A hearty shout out to our volunteers (listed in random order):

Douglas Frey, Mike O’Leary, Annie Brillhart, Ben Carson, Stephanie Upp, Chris Davis, Phil Watson, Rolly Coe, Thomas Birt, Phillip Andrews, Gary Samonsky, Cindy Moss, Leslie Engler, Cathy Dinnean, and Mo Shooer.

Rallying cry: Free the Agapanthus!

Update: Eleven hearty and willing bowlers gathered to clear the path to our old bowling green which runs behind several of our neighbor’s homes and Charlie Dohr Mini Park.  The path has not been cleared in recent memory and was buried in leaves from our magnificent oak tree and ivy.  We were cheered on by our neighbors with offers to help and much appreciation. All told, we removed two dozen large bags of debris from the alleyway.

Many thanks to Janine and Phillip Andrews, Cris and Claudia Benton, Annie Brillhart, Russell (Rolly) Coe, Leslie Engler, Patricia Erwin, Janie and Judy Hillyer, and Martin Kershaw.

Meanwhile Ethan Bortman, Glen Nunez and Gary Samonsky were hard at work making repairs on our sand shed to keep it dry in the upcoming rainy months.

All and all it was a very productive morning of work at the BLBC with even a little bowling afterwards.

Continue reading Clearing a path →

Ongoing efforts to improve the green

On 9 June, Jose Ramirez, our awesome gardener, brought his hollow tining machine and tined the green.  The machine put thousands of small holes in the green about an inch deep.  During the summer the green gets drier and drier. As we bowl and walk on the green, it compacts the soil making it difficult for water, oxygen and nutrients to reach the roots of the grass.  The tining allows for better penetration of the soil.  Tining also removes some of the soil from the green to help level it.  Jose made several passes with the tining machine over higher areas of the green. 

After the tining was done,  the green was cleaned by shoveling up the dirt/grass plugs removed by the tining machine and then lightly sweeping and blowing the green clear the debris.  

Thanks to a small group of volunteers this cleaning was finished in a focused 2 hour work session.  Thank you Janie and Judy Hillyer, Patricia Erwin,  Cathy Dinnean, Janine and Phillip Andrews, Steve Harris, and Claudia Benton.  

The next morning our fabulous greenskeepers Janie, Judy Hillyer and Sarah Allday  worked on rolling and blowing the green again to get it ready for bowling, while Claudia and Rolly Coe cleaned the ditch which was thick with debris.

 Ethan Bortman reports from 7.000 miles away

Once again, I am pleased to report that last Sunday’s drill and fill workday was a huge success.  I was amazed when I Facetimed Leslie at 1 PM to view the activity from afar and there was nothing to see other than a few munching on pizza.  The work was completed in record time.  Very impressive indeed.  It is this type of volunteerism and cooperation that enables our green to be the envy of PIMD.

A big shout out to the volunteers (listed in random order and including several who called in sick):  Alexandra Terninko, Rolly, Phil Watson, Leslie, the Bentons, Kern, Steve Harris, Annie, Gary S, Chris High, Glenn, Douglas Frey, Martin, Charles, Mike O’, Stephen Ng, Ben Corson, Marty Lorber, Daniel, Mark Baker, Cathy, Tom Birt, and, of course, our four terrific GKs…Patricia, Janie, Judy, and Sarah.  If I missed anyone, please let me know.

For those of you who were unable to participate, stay tuned because most likely there will be another workday in the fall.

Update: Janie and Patricia just sent a photo of the green from this morning (four days after sanding). The green has received a gentle watering compliments of a cold front and the sand is settling very nicely into the grass – by all accounts a quickly paced recovery is underway.

For more information on this annual maintenance ritual read on.

Continue reading Spring Workday shines →