Manager
Steve Susman

Harold Davison, President
Marcia Helfant, Vice-President

8300  Fairmount Dr., #J-101
Denver, CO  80247

Frank Parker,  Treasurer
Glen Olmstead, Newsletter Editor
Bud Lehman, Secretary

Our first  social event for 2012 is the annual  Chili  Dinner  on Sunday, February 26,
from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at The Lighthouse.   Look for an evite

invitation  or you can RSVP
with June Hanley  at 303 955-0904 or hanleyjune@yahoo.com.

Book Club.
6:30 p.m. , at the home of Mary Mulholland,  EE101. To be discussed:  Crooked Letter,

Crooked Letter, by Tom Franklin.  A girl’s  disappearance  in rural Mississippi  forces two
boyhood pals, one black and one white, to confront  the turbulent  past they had long

Lunch Bunch.
at Andre’s Restaurant and Confiserie Suisse

Wednesday, February 8, 2012,  at 11:30 a.m..  Treat yourself  to a good meal and
sparkling  conversation.   RSVP to Susan Million  at (303) 316-7190.

2012 Social Events at Pelican Pointe:
calendar;  a Day-Timer;  an electronic  calendar; a calendar  in the digital  “cloud”;  or a

laundry  marking  pen on your forearm.  Our Social Committee  will  be sponsoring  four
events of fun,  food, and fellowship  this year.  Keep track of them.  Plan to attend:

--
--

Chili  dinner,  on a Sunday in February, at The Lighthouse.
Happy Hour, TGIF, on Friday, June 8.

Annual  picnic  at The Lighthouse  on Sunday, September 9.
Annual  Homeowners  Meeting  in November (tentatively  on Thursday,  November 15).

--
You’ll  receive more details  as these events approach.

More than navel lint.  Your clothes dryer can be a major property and personal  injury  
hazard.  According  to the U.S. Fire Administration  (a division  of the U.S. Department  of

Homeland  Security),  clothes  dryers were involved  in an estimated  15,600 U.S. structure  
fires, 15 deaths, 400 injuries,  and $100 million  in direct property damage, annually,

during  a recent two-year measuring  period.
lack of maintenance  (lint  build-up  in the exhaust  system).   

backing  on throw rugs introduce  potential  for fire if the appliance
heads can be ignited  from the cleaning  chemical  residue.  

Ventilation and ducting.  As the dryer heats, water in the load evaporates.  What is
left is the familiar  lint  created from the clothing  material.    Venting  of dryer air and lint  is
sent out to the atmosphere  by ducts.  Wire-imbedded  foil-type  flex  ducts and wired-

efficient  with  reduced airflow,  leading  to high  operating  temperatures,  possible
overheating,  and ignition  --causing  lint  or other materials  in the dryer to ignite.

Signals.  Are your clothes  still  damp or hotter than usual after the cycle is
finished?   Are your clothes taking  longer  than usual  to dry?

pipe for lint-build-up.   You probably won’t be interested  in disconnecting  the ducting  
from the dryer and re-connecting  it.  Consider having  that done for you by a competent
commercial  firm.   I am investigating  a possible arrangement  with  one of our trusted

subcontractors  whereby he would perform that vent-cleaning  for you at a “group rate.”  
Stay tuned.

Put on that funny-looking apron that you received as a gift on Father’s/Mother’s Day;
get out your meat thermometer; check your propane level --

and create a dramatic
Outdoor barbecuing  is quintessentially  American.   It is also the cause of

conflagration!  
disastrous  explosions  and fires.  Common  sense can prevent most of these disasters.  Here

blockage from food grease, insects  (gross!).  Use a pipe cleaner or wire to clear
blockages.

--
can’t move the hoses, your appliance  should  have a heat shield.

--
not be feasible  on our patios, but at least provide some distance.

--
attempts, wait about 5 minutes  to allow gas to dissipate.

--
under or near the grill.   Never store a full  container  indoors.  

You’re inviting the burglars into your home.  Well, not quite.  But how
adopt the following  habits?:

recommended  that you purchase one or two inexpensive  timers,  and connect each of them
to a lamp.  If you have a second story, a lamp should  be on in that upper story --

because
it’s harder to determine  if someone is home when an unreachable  window shows light.

line  to a central monitoring  station.   If the alarm  is tripped, the phone is pre-empted, and
sends a signal  to the station.   The other type is passive, without  a monitoring  station.   

However, both types emit a loud, disturbing  noise when tripped.  We’ve had experiences  
in our complex  in which  we believe  that the intruder  was spooked by the unexpected  
sound, and fled without  fulfilling  his mission.   Every townhome  in Pelican  Pointe was

wired for an alarm  in its original  construction.   Some alarm companies  can utilize  that
wiring  (and keypad, if still  in place) to activate  a system  for you, without  having  to begin  

Review  Committee  and Board to install  motion-activated  light(s)  on the outward side of
their home.  That location  will  not disturb  other Pelican  Pointers if the light  is aimed  

correctly.   Those devices do have some drawbacks, but are worth investigating.  A recent
burglary  of a perimeter  townhome,  combined  with our prior statistics,  indicates  that such

--
common  sense.

This isn’t an assisted-living facility, but our primary  insurance  carrier has reasonably  
recommended  that we install  metal  hand-railings  on the descending  side of all townhome  
entrance sidewalks,  if that sidewalk  has three or more steps.  Presently,  we are accepting  

proposals from reputable  iron-railing  fabricators.   Each railing  must be custom-made,  
since the lateral  measurement  of each of the affected  stairways  is unique.   We have

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow
installing  new LED light  fixtures  on every porch has generated (besides much light)  

considerable  praise from most of the recipients.   About 75 of our 190 townhomes  are
awaiting  this installation.   Our electricians  will  continue  with  this program, weather

permitting,  in early February.  As you recall, part of the installation  requires  the
electrician  to enter your living  room (for a maximum  of about 13 minutes)  in order to de-

activate  your wall-switch  controlling  that fixture.   We will  continue  with our plan to
schedule  these living-room  admittances  with a view  to maximum  efficiency,  as well  to

your convenience.   That is, we generally  offer a series of two-hour windows-of-time  on
several Saturday mornings,  asking  that you select one of them as your 1st
another for your alternate  choice.  In extraordinary

circumstances,  we will  try to be
sensitive  to your plea for an appointment  that is outside those parameters.

The primary rule of dating (and other socially-acceptable situations):  You have only  
one chance to make a good first  impression.   Our after-dark entrance at Pelican  Pointe is
somewhat  gloomy.   This is not the fault  of purchasing  bulbs from technologically  inept

on our white  tile walls,  our name/address,  and our flags,  are almost obsolete.  In any
event, they don’t satisfactorily  do the job.  The Board will  soon consider proposals to

upgrade portions of these lighting  systems,  with a view to providing  a bright,  cheerful  
ambiance  after dark.  By the way, such improvements  should  be implemented  for safety,

Your piggy-bank may earn more interest on your funds than we can earn on federally-
insured bank accounts.  The Federal Reserve announced  that it intends  to “keep” interest  

rates very low --
attractive  opportunities  for borrowers, but it doesn’t do diddly-squat  for our Pelican  

Pointe reserve funds.   In fact, rates offered on commercial  savings  plans are so low that
your Board, in its budgeting  deliberations,  doesn’t plan to receive any significant  

sums from interest  for the next two-three years or so.  We invest  our reserves
and money-market  funds.   The latter deposits earn interest  for us at better rates than CDs

currently,  but we are limited  in the amounts  we can retain in such investments  by FDIC
account-insurance  limitations  on interest-bearing  accounts at any one institution.   We do
spread our largesse  among institutions  other than our primary  bank.  We are reluctant  to

enter into longer-term  maturities  because of residual  uncertainties  in the financial  
markets, and for other business  reasons.  As you know, our reserve funds, by definition,  

are aggregated  solely  for “capital  expenses.”   These are expenses for non-recurring  items
not properly  included  in our operating  budgets (such as painting;  concrete replacement;  
stair-railings;  perimeter  fence rehabilitation;  asphalt road remediation.)

Good Help is Hard to Find:
homeowners:   All-Ways  Flooring  & Furniture  Care.  Attn:   Brian.  (720) 352-1269.

trouble again.
--Money does not buy happiness, but it’s more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes than

--Forgive  your enemies, but remember those scoundrels’ names.
--An invisible man marries an invisible woman.  The kids were nothing to look at

--Deja Moo:  The feeling that you’ve heard this bull before.
--I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day, but I couldn’t find any.

--We have enough “youth.”  How about a fountain of “smart”?
--It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you place the blame.

February Board Meeting.  This Meeting  will  be held at 7:00 p.m. at the Lighthouse  
Clubhouse,  on  February 20.   ALL RESIDENTS  ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND.