Community Corner

Green Winners, Host a Ballplayer for Dinner (and More)

It's the 'mow, blow and grind' edition of 'The Rundown.'

I've lived in Rockville for about half of my life.

My family moved to Olney (against my wishes) when I was 9 years old. I spent nine years there, followed by four years when I lived in State College, PA while I attended school and four years when I lived the final days of my bachelorhood in downtown Silver Spring.

Otherwise I've lived in various ZIP codes in Rockville: I grew up in 20852, lived for five years with some buddies after college in 20850 and now live outside the city limits in 20853.  

Find out what's happening in Rockvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This is by far the noisiest place I've ever lived. The proximity to downtown Silver Spring and the raging apartment keggers thrown by Penn State students in downtown State College are nothing when it comes to the sounds echoing through my neighborhood on a Saturday morning.

The buzz starts early. Spring and early summer are lawn mowing seasons. Fall is leaf blowing season. Winter is snow blowing season—and this year was punctuated with a special kind of noise: The tree chippers and grinders. All those limbs taken down by the snow and ice storms? Shredded to mulch by a grinder towed behind the tree service trucks, a small army of which deployed to my neighborhood for weeks after the storms, shredding limbs into mulch and creating a sound as deafening as sticking your head in a jet engine. Oh—and the engine is grinding trees.

Find out what's happening in Rockvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This, I am learning, is the real reason why as people get older they beginning rising earlier. It's not so that they can make the 3 p.m. "early bird" special. It's not that they're out of energy. It's that they moved to suburbia. And their neighbors own a wood chipper.

Here's the "BUZZZZzzzzzzzzzz—putter-putter—CRACK!, BUZZZZzzzzz!" edition of "The Rundown":

  • The Rockville City Council on Monday recognized winners of the city's Environmental Excellence Awards and Photo Contest. The winners were selected by the Rockville Environment Commission and included a homeowners association, a Rockville High School student organization, a stream advocate and . For a complete list of winners click here.
  • The city's Planning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at . The agenda includes a second work session on the Rockville Pike Plan that will focus on the plan's transportation recommendations.
  • We're a little late to buzz in on this one, but we wanted to congratulate the Rockville High School "It's Academic"/"Quizmaster Challenge" team. 
    We when they won their regular season appearance on "It's Academic." The team lost in its playoff match on April 9 on the final question. But the Rams rebounded the next week, defeating Montgomery Blair High School in a "Quizmaster Challenge" contest on April 14, before defeating Walter Johnson High in  the final on April 27 to claim the championship.
    Congratulations to the team of Asena Acar, Tomas Breach, Thomas Keating, and captain Kelly Reeder, and to their coaches David Goodrich and Rockville High alumnus Michael Smith. You might recognize Dr. Goodrich from .
  • There have been a lot of rainy days this spring. While we truly hope you're out and about enjoying the perfect weather we're having around Rockville this week (and are reading Patch on your iPhone or laptop while sitting out on the veranda, of course), Redbox gave us a glimpse of what some of you might be watching on those days that call for battening down the hatches and curling up with a movie, with .
  • What do you like about Rockville? Got a favorite family restaurant, auto repair shop, hair salon or place to stay fit? Let us hear from you in the last week of . You could win movie tickets.
  • Love baseball? Want to help a potential future major leaguer on their road to "the show"? The boys of summer are coming to Rockville.
    The Rockville Express baseball club is looking for families to host players on their roster this summer. The Express plays in the Cal Ripken Collegiate League, a summer wood bat league that attracts some of the most talented college baseball players from across the nation. These players have been recommended by their college coaches and recruited to play by the Express. Many are pro prospects.
    Host families must be available to host a player from June 1 through July 31, while providing a clean, safe, and pleasant environment for the player, including a private room or private area for the player to sleep, access to food and/or meals and a place where players can do their laundry. (Players provide their own transportation.) Families get free admittance to all home games, have the opportunity to make a positive impact on the life of a young man and might get to one day look at a major league roster and say "we knew him when."
    For more information contact Tina Campbell at 301-315-9008 or tinacampbell@comcast.net.
  • Follow Rockville Patch on Twitter @RockvillePatch. "Like" Rockville Patch on Facebook.


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