Meeting February 12th. The Annual Budget Meeting is 6:30 - 8:30 PM on 2/12/09. This is one of two meetings annually for all of Bent Tree. If you have not already received the announcement and proposed 2009 budget by USPS, please see the material at www.btpoa.net and reply to this email with a current mailing address. If you cannot attend, please complete the attached proxy form and hand it to a neighbor who is attending. See you there! (For record of the discussion and vote that re-introduced proxy voting into BTPOA, see the proposed minutes from the annual meeting on 11/13/08 at www.btpoa.net/mtg/meetings.htm.)

Dues. Chris Patterson, BTPOA Treasurer, reports that about 200 of our 249 property owners have paid their 2009 annual dues which were due on 1/1/09. If you are one of the remaining property owners, you have until the end of the month before incurring a late fee. If you cannot find the dues notice mailed on 12/10/08, then send a check for $120 per lot made out to BTPOA to BTPOA, P.O. Box 2631, Monument, CO 80132-2631. Include lot number or address on the check. Assure your envelope is postmarked in January to avoid the late fee. If you need to confer with Chris, you can reach him at 488-8257 or c-tpatterson@hotmail.com.

Email Communication. Several of you provided email addresses with their dues payment. Thank you! We are now up to 210 property owners receiving Bent Tree email. That's 84% of us--we're getting there.

Covenants Review. The covenants for Filings 1 and 2 are coming up for renewal. That's the “open season” to review and update them. This is important for all of us because the outcomes for Filings 1 and 2 will set the direction for the remaining filings as their turn for renewal comes. To serve on the committee that will propose changes for consideration by owners of Filings 1 and 2, please contact Mike Mastrodonato, Director, 481-0332, mmastrodonato@hisg.org. For more information about covenants renewal see the proposed minutes from the annual meeting on 11/13/08 at www.btpoa.net/mtg/meetings.htm and Paragraph 24 of the Covenants at www.btpoa.net/cov/Cov12.htm.

Directory. The Bent Tree Family Directory will not be printed in 2009. The Board of Directors, based upon member comments at the last annual budget meeting, decided to print the directory every other year. This is a reasonable balance between those who prefer hard copy (and want the printing and mailing part of the BTPOA budget) and those who prefer soft copy (and want the money spent on other things). Also, the number of changes has gone down now that the neighborhood is almost built out. I’ll send an update sheet in by email later this winter.

Pet Alert – Roller Coaster Dog. Bill and Linda McDonnell, 17935 Queensmere Drive, submitted this report last week after uniting a friendly dog that showed up on their deck with her owner: “Just want to let you know that the owner for the dog was found. Please let the neighbors know the dog's name is CICI and she lives on Roller Coaster. She is a short haired German Pointer, very gentle and affectionate. If she gets out from her yard again, please have them bring her by our house and we will contact the owner, who is a flight attendant and may be away for a few days. We have agreed to take care of CICI until her owner returns.” Thank you, Bill and Linda!

Pet Alert – Mushroom Poisoning. Bruce Temkin, 17450 Colonial Park Drive, reported this information September 2008 (perhaps not applicable in January, but something for pet owners to keep in mind during mushroom season): “Our golden retriever, “Truffles,” came in at night and was crated for bed. He woke up in 20 minutes, howling and barking. When we let him out he ran through all our floors howling, screaming and exhibiting frightening behavior. We had to restrain him and take him to the night dog emergency center on North Tejon. The vets said it appeared to be mushroom poisoning, which had been endemic the few days after the rains. He was placed on a catheter, intravenous fluid, and sedation for about 48 hours. He has since recovered. He had apparently eaten some wild large puffy mushrooms that popped up after a rain. We cannot identify the mushrooms exactly responsible, as a few varieties of the puffy white ones where found chewed up.” Thank you, Bruce!

Take care,

Steve Fuhrmann

BTPOA Communications Committee Chair
488-0544

This mailing list is operated by Bent Tree Property Owners' Association (BTPOA), P.O. Box 2631, Monument, CO 80132, www.btpoa.net. Users are the elected Board of Directors and their designees, such as committee chairs. Use of this mailing list will be occasional news and announcement from your Board of Directors.

Your email address is available only to those involved in management of BTPOA and not shared inside BTPOA unless you elected to include it in the Bent Tree Family Directory. Your email address is not shared outside BTPOA except with those under contract to help manage the Association. To add or delete service from this mailing list, please contact Bent Tree resident Steve Fuhrmann at benttreesf@msn.com. Thank you.