Tunnell Vision - March 2024

Please take time to consider volunteering your time to help Nancy & Kate and everyone else involved in our Pot-Nets Catnippers Volunteer Group. They need your help more than ever. To show your respect for The Catnippers group, and give a "thank you" to Nancy & Kate for all that they have done, please consider donating some of your time to the group. 

The Catnippers Group needs help with the care & feeding of the cats. Becoming a member of the group will help improve your community while giving yourself the satisfaction of knowing you helped the animals in need.

Lisa makes bracelets and sells them, using all of her profits to donate to Pot-Nets Catnippers. She is a vendor at different local events, so please look out for her and pick up a bracelet! We are so thankful for people like Lisa, who go out of their way to help their community, especially at a young age! We should all take a page from Lisa's book! Go Lisa! 

UPDATE: Since we last ran this article in December, Lisa has been awarded for her efforts in the community! Lisa received the Good Deed Award from the American Legion Auxiliary for making and selling bracelets to help Catnippers. She has always loved animals and wants to become a vet when she is older. She sees that many people leave their cats and kittens behind, so she really wanted to find a way to help them. Her mom told her about Catnippers and she decided to find a way to help get the cats/kittens what they need to be healthy and happy. She decided on making bracelets because it was simple, and people love them. She started selling them at the tag sale last year which was a great success. She was then asked to participate in a craft fair at the American Legion. She worked very hard to make as many bracelets as she could and ended up selling over 100! She is very happy every time she sells a bracelet knowing that the cats/kittens will have what they need. She will continue to do this as often as possible.

• Easter Egg Hunt 3/30/24
  • Pot-Nets Bayside Beach
  • Ages 1-12. Registration begins at 11AM. Hunt begins promptly at Noon.

• Poker Run 5/25, 7/6, 8/31
  • Registration 10AM - East Gate
  • Entry Fee $10

• Vessel Safety Check 5/18
  • 8AM - 12PM
  • Bayside - parking lot at the end of the Paradise Grill Guest Boat Slips
  • Seaside - Near Boat Ramp

• BINGO 3/21, 4/18, 5/16, 6/20, 7/18, 8/22
  • Doors open at 5:30PM BINGO begins at 6:30PM
  • Lakeside Community Center
  • $16 Per Packet

• Wine & Cheese Social 3/6
  • 6:30PM - 8:30PM
  • Join your neighbors in a get together & share some wine and gossip or any other libation you would like
  • Lakeside Community Center

• St. Patty Party/Dance 3/16
  • 5PM - 9PM
  • Corned beef & cabbage will be served. Tickets to go on sale soon.
  • Lakeside Community Center

• Delaware Boating Safety Course 5/18
  • Join our resident Coast Guard Auxiliary members at the Lakeside Community Center to obtain your Boating Safety Certification. 

Bocce has been around a long time. According to the Wonderful World of Bocce Association, “Traces of the game can be found among the early Egyptians, and graphic representations of figures tossing a ball or polished stone have been recorded as early as 5200 B.C.”  

When the landscaping department was tasked with installing our first bocce court in Baywood, we needed to decide what surface we thought was best. The choices were sand, stone dust, pea gravel, natural grass, clay, artificial turf, or oyster shells. All of these have their pros and cons regarding playability, maintenance, and drainage. We also learned that some options do better in certain parts of the country relative to others. It had just so happened that not too long before this time, Dogfish Head in Milton had recently installed bocce courts and had used an oyster shell blend for the surface. In talking to the person who installed these courts, we were convinced that the oyster shell surface was the best option for us as well. As a side note, the area at the back of Lakeside that has the bocce courts also has an area of lawn that is the official size of a regulation croquet court (100’ x 50’), a regulation sized badminton court, a sand volleyball court, and horseshoes. But as it turns out, the bocce courts see the most activity, which is why we added a second bocce court in Lakeside in 2012.

In case you are unfamiliar, the oyster shell blend is not just a bunch of shucked shells thrown down. Most of the “blends” are proprietary, but in all of them, the shells are crushed to a certain size after being cleaned thoroughly, and then either clay or decomposed granite is added to beef them up. There is also just oyster shell flour, which is what is recommended to maintain a blended mix after installation. A few years back, we tried to touch up the courts in the spring using only oyster shell flour, but the feedback was not good. Since then, we have been consistently touching them up with the blended mix.

As with all options for a bocce court surface, except turf and artificial turf, the maintenance required needs to happen immediately after play. For an oyster shell surface, it is recommended that the court be groomed after use with either a rake or push broom with coarse bristles. Loose material is moved around from higher spots to lower spots and the surface remains playable. When divots, dents, and roll marks are allowed to remain and then the surface gets wet, those areas harden and make it difficult to repair later. Typically, courts are groomed after each game or at least after every session. In fact, it is recommended that the court be broomed even if it is not getting used, at least once a week. This helps with overall maintenance as well as keeping weed seeds/moss from taking hold. We can really divide our maintenance tasks into two categories:  ongoing maintenance and periodic chores.

• Ongoing maintenance: after each game/session – brush the court with a drag broom, if needed wet the surface lightly and evenly to prevent the surface from blowing around
• Periodic chores: replace topdressing lost over the playing season, if needed patch larger depressions, tamping with roller

Our maintenance staff performs periodic maintenance and annual clean up of the bocce courts. However, if you are an avid bocce player at one of our courts, we ask that you groom the courts both before and after you play. This is common etiquette, just as a golfer rakes out a sand trap after walking through it. If you are a part of the bocce league and would like more information on how to maintain the surface or need something specific, please let us know and we can try to help. We have ordered a new oyster shell blend this year from a new supplier and will be installing it this spring on all our courts.

Finally, due to the shade created by the trees and plants that we love, some of our courts like to grow moss. I’ve seen moss growing in full sun if the soil conditions are right. And with the oyster shell blend, conditions are right. Anywhere the ground is compacted, moist and shady – moss will grow. Guess what, it also likes alkaline conditions which the oyster shells provide. So while we have experimented with acidifying the courts as a preventative, the best treatment we have found is bleach (two parts water). The problem is that once moss has been allowed to take hold, it is not a quick fix. If we are asked to clean a court up for an upcoming event and find moss has taken hold, it usually requires removing the moss completely which in turn removes a lot of surface material and requires additional material. The best way to deal with it is to not let it take hold.

Some of the benefits of working for Tunnell Companies include:

• Competitive Pay
• Paid Holidays
• Paid Vacation (after 90+ days)
• Medical Insurance Plan (after 90+ days)
• Dental & Vision Insurance (after 90+ days)
• Life & Disability Insurance (after 90+ days)
• 50% Boat Slip Discount (after 6 months)
• 50% Golf Discounts (after 6 months)
• 401(k) Retirement Plan w/ Match (after 1 year+)
• $3,900 Lot Rent Reduction (after 1 year+)
• plus more!

Note: Reduced benefits are available for part-time staff members.