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For lawns in spring time, fertilize them with commercial lawn fertilizer according to the directions on the label. If crabgrass is a nuisance, apply a pre-emergence herbicide in midspring. (If you live where forsythia grows, apply crabgrass preventer when it blooms.)

There are lots of great resources in the Quantico area for expert advice on your lawn.  Including:

Meadow Farms Nursery on Garrisonville Road

Corner Garden Center  on Garrisonville Road

Sunnyside Nursery on Jefferson Davis Highway

Dumfries Nursery and Garden Center  on Waetshington Street

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Northern Virginia is still reeling from the 24-30 inches of snow that was dumped over the region last week as it braces for another 6-12 inches expected tonight.  Where is this weather coming from? There is a great source to really drill down into local weather, forecasts, histories, stats and predictions on a much deeper level than any of the nationally based weather web sites. 

 Check out the Capitol Weather Gang a resource provided by the Wasington Post.  It’s the best local resources for weather info and has tons of fun gadgets, maps, and forecasters to explore.

Quantico Live is brought to you by Militarybyowner Advertising, Inc.  your resources for houses near MCB Quantico.

During military move season, it is becoming a more common site to see white PODS storage containers sitting in driveways.  Base housing and military neighborhoods are filling up, loading up and shipping with the newest tool to make a DITY/PPM move more efficient… PODS.   

Military members that do not want to drive those overstuffed rental trucks, dragging their motorcycle or boat behind it, can have their PODS picked up, stored and delivered.  The PODS are dropped back off into the new driveway or parking lot when they are ready to receive them into their new home.  So, if you’re not going “door to door”, your stuff can wait in the packed PODS for you to find your new home.   Perhaps one of the best benefits of the program is that the PODS can sit in the driveway while the packing is done at the individual’s pace. 

 PODS provides a stress free storage solution for servicemen and women who may be deployed overseas. PODS storage containers provide security and flexibility. Upon returning, PODS will move your moving or storage container to your new base, installation or home.

Here are some tips to ensure that your next Military move goes smoothly with PODS: 1.    Every DITY / PPM move requires visiting your Traffic Management Office (TMO) or Joint Personal Property Shipping Office (JPPSO). You estimate the weight of your household goods and they will assign you a Personal Property Entitlement, which is like a budget.

2.    Next call PODS and mention you’re in the military. PODS will send your moving container to your door on the day you want it, plus you are provided with a military discount.

3.    You load everything at your own pace and control the way it is packed.

4.    PODS obtains DITY weight tickets for you when the moving or storage container is picked up. They arrive in the mail about a week later. With PODS, you eliminate the weigh stations, paperwork, and driving - PODS takes care of it for you!

5.    PODS can store your stuff for the first month at no extra charge or move you locally or around the US, Canada or Hawaii.  PODS, a better way to move, store and renovate.PODS appreciates the commitment and sacrifices of our military service men and women as well as their families. PODS offers discounts for military serviceman and veterans.

The US Department of Defense has released the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) rates for 2010. The BAH rates for permanent-duty troops increases an average of 2.5% on January 1, 2010. The BAH is alotted to servicemembers for whom govenrment-provided quarters are unavailable. Check BAH rates in your area here.

Around one million full-time servicemembers take advantage of the BAH program, whose benefits vary based on duty location, pay grade, and number of dependents. Checking the rates against ZIP codes where I’ve lived, it looks like, if you don’t have any dependents, you could get an average one-bedroom apartment. However, personal experience tells me that rent tends to increase more than 2.5% each year.

 In the DC area, housing rates, increased across the board. Locations increased by just a few dollars up to a couple of hundred dollars.  How will these rates and changes effect housing prices and rental rates in the Northern Virginia area?  Home owners and landlords are hopeful that the housing market in Virginia will continue its steady recovery…. opinions??

Whether you were cheering on the broom, sweeping across Virginia last night, as the GOP rushed back into office, or bemoaning Creigh Deeds failure to align himself with the political clout that President Obama offered, you must agree that Virginia has returned to the spotlight in a bipolar battle for its constituents.  So recently shocklingly Blue in last year’s presidential election, Virginia raged in screaming red yesterday during its governors race.  Is it Obama backlash? Is it left wing apathy?

 One thing is for certain, Virginia is no longer a certain RED and may have lost it’s new shade of BLUE.  Independents are out in force… perhaps just dressed up in their Halloween custome covering their crimson ties.  If you are a resident, or soon to be resident it will be an intriguing next few years as the blue counties to the north and the red counties to the south collide in some crazy shade of purple somewhere along Route 234. 

Whether Red, Blue or Purple all of us Virginians should be taking part in the process.  Get involved! Register to Vote now so you are not missing out next time.  Get involved with your party and know their platforms… not just the sound bites from FOX and CNN.  Here are links to the the local party sites. Repulican Party of Virginia    Democratic Party of Virginia and Independants….. you have the entire internet at your fingertips to Independantly determine your position!!

Last weekend I drove my daughter for a college recruiting visit at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.  What a beautiful drive! Spectacular scenery that can only be describedd as trees like a “bowl full of trix”.  At every turn I expected to see a regiment straight out of Glory come charging out of the woods.  The Blue Ridge Mountains and lower Shenandoah valley are some of the most historic and beautiful parts of Virginia to visit during this season. 

However, on the way home……. we diverted from our cultural and historical journey and detoured through Charolottesville to hit the mall.  NO Blue and Grey there. We decided to try this short cut that a friend had told us about and headed diligently up Route 29, to an obscure country road, all the while ignoring our GPS “recalculating”.. or “recalcalatinn” if you’re south of Richmond.  Our trusty GPS girl Gi Gi worked herself up almost into hysteria as we diverged again and again from the path she had laid. In her most frenzied computer generated voice she repeated……”‘Make legal UTurn as soon as possible”… with a Big Red Uturn flashing on the screen.  Alas, we did not head her advice and found ourselves heading further and further west toward West Virginia and places unknown.  Some short cut.  I was just beginning to consider the fact that we had diverted almost 50 miles in the wrong direction when GiGi screeched… “You are not on a road”.  Well, yes we were. There was the road underneath the car.  “You are not on a road”, she repeated.  We were lost but we were definitely on a road. 

All of this to avoid traffic on 95, 64 and 66!  If only we had checked Trafficland.com and realized that it was a clear and undelayed path to home.  After getting old fashion directions from a map, we made our way home.  Trafficland.com is a fantastic web site to see the congestion, accidents and construction in realtime that might impede your trip. The Washington DC system has hundreds of cameras along the most popular routes that you can click on through your computer or phone.  Don’t leave home without it.  

Have we possibly reached the beginning of the end of the glut of reality shows that have overidden any other type of programming in the last decade? The lengths that the Heene family went to last week to try and secure a fat reality show paycheck smacks in the face of the rubble that most of these shows leave behind. 

Does anyone think Khloe Karsdashian should be arrested for creating a hoax media event  after her new 13th hour mariage to an NBA star?  When Paris Hilton’s dog Tinkerbell was allegedly lost…. were viewers shocked that she would fake an event to lure the press back to her door?  And let’s not forget nipple-gate at the Super Bowl… did anyone really buy “wardrobe malfunction”?

 Of course, the Heenes were supposed to be a “normal” middle class family.. not a plastic papaarizzied, pampered Hollywood clan.  Of course, they did thrust their children into the spotlight… hmmmmmmmm a la Jon & Kate?  Yes, the guy has some weird science experiments in his garage, but I am growing a biology experiment in the left over Chinese containers in my fridge.  Are the Heene’s the new reality? Is this the new normal?

So where does one turn to get reality in the bustling metropolis.  Practically the only answer for commuters is WTOP!  Most commuters could identify Lisa Baden’s dulcide tones giving the traffic reports before their own mother’s.For any new comer to DC… WTOP at 103.5 FM, 103.9 FM and 107.7 FM is the one source for traffic, news, weather, sports.  Formatted to circulate every ten minutes with updated programming you can count on traffic and weather ” on the 8’s”. In two short minutes, Lisa Baden or Bob Marbourg detail the traffic situation for the crazy complex of the DC commute… sometimes even Baltimore!  Headline news thought they had a great 30 minute formula… the gang at WTOP will have your traffic plan, weather wardrobe, sports scores and news updates secured for the day in just ten minutes.  What a great source whether you’re going to the mall or headed to the Pentagon… don’t leave home without it. 

Do you think that Miley Cyrus wrote “The Climb” with the NYSE in mind. 

There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody’s gonna have to lose

Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb, yeah!  (traders on the floor break into spontaneous dance led by pop princess in wall street garb)

The stock market briefly and wonderfully eclipsed the 10,000 mark yesterday, revisiting an apex that we first accomplished ten years ago.  WE are all sooooo excited, to be back in the stock gain levels of ten years ago? ..?

 Honestly, those of us who are homeowners here in Virginia and DC are hopeful that the resurgence of the market could indicate a resurgence in the market. 

Fellow Zillow watchers.. what do you think?  We have watched our homes peak at irrationally high heights just 5 years ago to only go on a sickeningly steep Busch Gardens like drop.  Indicators are that there is a leveling off and that this summer we may have even seen a slight bounce back to values of a reasonble time.  Which begs an important question for DC newbies…. RENT… or … BUY?  Many a Virginia resident has made a killing on selling a home they owned for three years before moving back to an obscure base in Texas.  Conversely, some have been strapped into mortgages that do not hold up to the housing crash and are forced to rent their homes for a percentage of their value when the FBI, DOD or GS job ships them off to Asia.

Schools of thought vary about where the market hit bottom this year, or if it did hit bottom.  Interest rates have been remaining steady at the lowest rates ever seen.  There will be a magical moment when interest rates and housing prices begin to rise again.  How to catch that perfect moment just before “The Climb.” ? What would you tell a new Virginia resident.. RENT or BUY?  Have we recovered?

Anthropolgists believe that the term “slugging” can be traced as far back as  334 BC as traffic on the Appian Way busted the seams with the expansion of the Roman Empire . But it wasn’t until the discovery of a fossilized Starbucks cup along the Oregon Trail and later an ipod case along the Burma Road, did the slugging structure evolve into the current model utilized in Northern Virginia.  Obviously great lessons needed to be learned from major slugging catastrophies of these earlier systems.  Reportedly, the Donner party tragedy was the result of a slug refusing to end his cell phone call which brought the entire HOV line to a halt in a blizzard. 

 So what is slugging and why would anyone partipate?  Essentially, it is legalized hitchiking.  The images of guitar bearing, poncho wearing, weed smoking, beard growing hippies from a prior generation may jump to mind. But rest assured, your most common hitchhiker wears either blue Air Force polyester, the khaki of the naval forces, some new suit from the Men’s Warehouse that the recently retired serviceman just purchased or a smart outfit from Ann Taylor.  They come bearing brief case.

The objective of a Slug is to get into a stranger’s car and ride to work in the DC metro area without paying a penny for gas, insurance, or train fare.  The objective of the “Slugee” is to cram enough slugs into his car so that he/she can drive in the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes into the DC Metro area…. and so that he/she can be in control (we all know the type).  It is a symbiotic and codependant relationship that the state of Virginia encourages to try to minimize the overwhelming traffic congestion churning into the city each day.  The HOV lanes are two lanes segregated from the general population for use by cars with three passengers or more.  They are SUPPOSED to be faster… most days they are. 

  Need more information, or just entertained… “How to Handbook” coming soon

NOW OPEN IN STAFFORD

101 Shenandoah Lane, Stafford, VA  22554                540-720-KIDZ

To maintain a safe and enjoyable learning experience, class space is limited to 8 students.

Sr./Jr. ChefsProgram

There are 2 class sessions available to choose from:

Fridays (6:45-8:15pm)- 1 seat left for this class          -or-        Saturdays (12-1:30pm)- 3 seats left for this class

The Sr./Jr. Chefs classes are designed for students’ ages 7 to 16 and offer a well-rounded approach to teaching students the skills necessary to develop their love of cooking.  Sr./Jr. Chefs Classes are designed to allow creativity to mesh with culinary techniques for exciting results! 

KinderCooks Workshop-

KinderCooks is a Young Chefs ® Academy program designed to accommodate our chefs ages 3-6. It incorporates recipes, age-appropriate culinary skills, basic nutrition, literature, and movement into a 1 ½ hour class, paced for the preschool attention span.  The curriculum is prepared by our highly trained staff in monthly units and will consist of age appropriate themes such as:

• Shapes, Community Helpers, Numbers, Colors, etc. 

KinderCooks Workshops are held once a month and is a great way for your little one to experience hands-on activities and spark creativity.  Listed below are upcoming KinderCooks events (class seat is limited, so call 540-720-KIDZ for availability):

October 3rd- 12-1:30pm - Fairytale Adventure Part 2

Cooking Camps (Now registering at Young Chefs Academy or through the Stafford Parks and Recreation).

Cooking camps are a great way for your child to get introduced to the culinary arts.  Kitchen Safety, Nutrition, and more are presented.  Each camp is 6-weeks long.  (There is only 1 seat left for the current camp session.  Call us today at 540-720-KIDZ to register).

Don’t Forget The Birthday parties.

Hurry there are just a few seats left for there 209-2010 school year program.