By now, you all know me well enough to understand that I love to play a round of golf. After all, “birdies” are good in golf, right? I may not be an eagle, but I’m definitely better than par.

The Canongate course here at Heron Bay is a great place to play. Even though I get reciprocal privileges at other courses in the area, I find myself flying back to my home club for my favorite holes. You’re not a member yet? Then I’ve got good news: there could be a free round of golf in your future.

If you register at www.heronbayinfo.com, you will qualify for a monthly drawing for a free round of golf for four at Canongate at Heron Bay. Drawings are held the first week of every month, and winners are notified by e-mail. Then, all you have to do is grab three of your favorite golfing buddies and pick up your passes at the Heron Bay Information Center. While you’re here, check out the homes and other amenities. You’re going to like what you see.

And if you’re having trouble making that foursome, give me a call. I’d love to play.

P.S. They tell me this is a limited time offer, so take a moment to register now!

April is the month when everyone turns green for the environment. It’s also the month of Heron Bay’s community garage sale. What a fantastic way to combine environmental protection and extra cash! By inviting others to reuse old clothing and household items, our neighborhood is also diverting tons of materials from the landfill.

You know, we birds have always been good about reusing things instead of throwing them away. Take dryer lint for example. Something you quickly discard would be used by my woodland cousins to soften their nests. Then there are the milk cartons children turn into feeders for hungry birds. Some birds even reuse nests that have been abandoned from the previous spring.

Reuse is second in the preferred methods of controlling the amount of waste we discard. Simply using less stuff, or reducing waste, is first. Then comes reusing what we can so we can avoid buying (and creating) more stuff. If we can’t reuse it, we should recycle it so it can be manufactured into something new. If there’s no other choice, then we can discard it.

If you’re not of the feather to have garage sales, be sure to take your reusable things to a place that will resell or recycle them, such as Goodwill Industries.  It’s the least you can do to help protect our environment.

It’s getting close to mid April and Helen is all a-flutter. It’s not about tax day (she leaves that worry to me), it’s about the pre-enrollment meeting for the neighborhood charter school, Heron Bay Academy. The first meeting is scheduled for April 17th at 7:00 p.m. She’s worked so hard on this school with other parents in the neighborhood, and she’s excited about having everything finally come together.

If you’re interested in having your kids attend Heron Bay Academy, you need to visit www.heronbayacademy.org and register to attend the pre-enrollment meeting. If you can’t be at the meeting, go ahead and download a pre-enrollment form and send it in. Helen says we need these for submitting a formal application to Henry and Spalding counties in May, then to the State of Georgia a little later.

I’m a bird of many words, especially when you compare me to all the other birds you’ve probably met, so allow me to tell you why Heron Bay Academy is so important. First, parents will be able to walk our children to school (or fly, in my case). Now, we all have to drive, and it’s causing congestion on the roads, pollution for birds like me to fly through, and headaches for parents. The school is even going to have a special gathering spot for parents who walk their children to and from school to hang around after drop off and wait for pick up.

Next, you’ll have the opportunity to become very involved with your child’s school. It’s harder to do at the public schools because of their size and the distance from home. You’ll also be able to take advantage of the playground and facilities after school and on weekends. The school will rely on Heron Bay community members to serve on the advisory board, too. It’s going to become a big part of our community’s personality.

Traditional schools are limited by what they can do architecturally, but we will have flexibility. The building will be constructed using “green” principles and will be connected to our community trail system. Plus, environmental education professionals are involved with developing the curriculum, lending an environmental focus to the children’s studies.

The best news of all is that the process is happening quickly. Our little nestlings could be at Heron Bay Academy as soon as August 2009. It’s going to start out as a K-5 school, but will be expanding one grade level each year up to 8th grade.

All we need now is your support, so go to that website and attend those meetings. Maybe then Helen will calm down!

Wait, Helen’s always a-flutter. What am I thinking?

“Number 1” has so many different meanings. It can be a Jackson Pollack painting, the loneliest number, or the sponsor of the day on Sesame Street. Haley thinks Miley Cyrus is number one, and Spalding hopes that the Braves will reclaim the number one spot in baseball this year. As for me, Helen will always be my number one girl. Helen, on the other hand, says that sometimes the only one I look out for is “number one.”

You’d better bet I was looking out for number one when we moved to Heron Bay. With all the golfing and water activities, it’s my kind of community. Maybe that’s why Heron Bay was Henry County’s number one selling community in 2007 for the fourth year in a row. SmartNumbers, Inc. says 110 homes were closed in the Henry County portion of our community. Eighteen homes closed on the Spalding County side. That makes us among the top eight communities for the entire Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area for single-family homes.

Of course there’s much more at Heron Bay than golf and water. A bird can find plenty to do and lots of friends to meet around here no matter how old he is. Good schools (plus the charter school Helen is helping to start), easy commutes and beautiful, well-built homes in a variety of price ranges are among the best reasons to live here. I’d love to hear from you and learn about your favorite things at Heron Bay.

Meanwhile, join me in the chant: We’re number one! We’re number one! We’re number one!

I just have to tip my brand new Easter visor to Carla Cooper (Events/Activities Coordinator for the Heron Bay Community Association) and the Neighborhood Association volunteers. The Spring Fling and the Easter Egg hunt were a soaring success – and as both a Heron and an airline pilot, I know soaring when I see it. Haley made the Easter visor for me in one of the festive arts and crafts activities at the Spring Fling. When I wear it, I look, uh, stunning. If only she hadn’t chosen pink. Haley made a bookmark for Helen (lucky Helen!).

Spalding’s favorite part of the day was lunchtime with hot dogs, popcorn and cotton candy. He enjoyed the egg hunt, too, for the first time in years. Usually, they’re for younger kids, but this egg hunt had a section for children up to 12. Teenagers even had a special area with activities just for them. I saw a lot of musical chairs and other games going on. That’s the way we are at Heron Bay. We include everybody in the fun.

It was great to see all the little ones dancing to the bunny hop, playing “Bunny Says” and running in sack races. It just reaffirmed for Helen and me that Heron Bay is definitely the right place to raise our nestlings in a close knit, community environment. I think I’ll talk to more of my friends about flying south here this spring.