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Happy New Year and welcome to the January 7th edition of This Week@CA
Your source for weekly updates on what’s happening at Columbia Association.
Today we are at Lake Kittamaqundi in Downtown Columbia.
Let's start this week’s episode with the latest updates:
Several fitness classes are being offered for free to Columbia Association (CA) members
And non-members this week during CA’s Open House Week.
The free classes will run through Sunday, Jan. 13.
The classes, which typically require fees, include Hip-Hop Line Dancing
Piloxing and Express Piloxing, SharQui Bellydance, willPower & grace, Zumba Circuit and several types of Pilates.
Sign up for all but the Pilates classes online at ColumbiaAssociation.org/login.
You can sign up for the Pilates classes and the other classes in person or via phone at any of CA’s three fitness facilities.
Auditions are being held this Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Columbia Gym for the first-ever Starlicious Talent Show.
The competition will give kids from Howard County between the ages of 8 and 13
The chance to find their inner superstar and to shine in front of their friends and family.
The event, hosted by Columbia Association’s (CA) KidSpace, will allow youth to show their stuff, whether they are singers, dancers, musicians or have other talents,
including hand clapping/feet stomping, extreme hula hooping, double-dutch jump roping,
gymnastics, native dance, and collaborative performances such as bands, singing groups and dancing groups.
Space is limited but walk-ins will be allowed at auditions.
What percentage of Columbia residents have a college degree?
Which village has the highest rate of households that own their homes, free and clear?
Which village has the largest average household size? And what percentage of Columbia households include children?
The answers to these questions, and many more facts about Columbia, can be found in “Characteristics of Columbia, Maryland: a demographic and socio-economic profile,” which was recently released by Columbia Association.
The report provides a basis for understanding the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of Columbia and its villages.
The report can be found online at bit.ly/columbiacharacteristics
Winter is here, and that means a few months of dealing with snow and ice.
With that in mind, let’s hear from CA’s Watershed Manager, John McCoy, who will talk about the different kinds of salt that can melt ice while still being environmentally friendly.
Hi, I'm John McCoy. I'm the Watershed Manager for the Columbia Association.
It's winter, I see surfaces are an issue here in Maryland during the winter.
And we're here today to talk about the various products that you can use to melt ice whether it's your front steps or it's a parking lot.
Okay. We have a number of different products on the market that you could use to melt ice.
I think the first thing you got to understand is that everything you put on the surface during a storm, before a storm
Which is when it's appropriate - ends up washing off that surface into our StormWater system into one of our lakes and streams.
And that's not good because these products have side effects.
So don't ever use a fertilizer - nothing with nitrogen in it - to melt ice.
Use these products from the market. We have various different salts.
Now, you have to be careful with what you use and how you use it because they do affect concrete and medal, steel and they do affect plants.
Okay, the first two products that we have - and I'm talking right now about single salt type products - this is sodium chloride an NACL.
This is just rock salt. This is basically table salt.
The chemical elemental symbol for that is NaCl. It's just table salt. This is a factor down to 18 degrees.
This is fairly *** plants, and fairly *** concrete and steel.
The second product here is calcium chloride. The symbol for that CaCl.
This is very good in very cold temperatures much colder than what we see here in Maryland.
It is also very *** concrete. It's very *** steel.
It's corrosive and both of these products as I said are very *** the plants.
This next product is potassium chloride. It's a good ice melter.
Doesn't work when it's really cold out. This is good for work on concrete.
This is fairly safe, not quite as corrosive as the other materials.
This is a good relatively fast acting product. Not quite so corrosive on concrete and steel and not so harmful to plants.
Our last product here is magnesium chloride. The symbol MgCl2.
This is a fast acting de-icer which is also a good fast acting product.
Good in relatively cold temperatures and not so harmful or corrosive in neither concrete, steel, and plants.
So when you go out to buy a salt there's a couple of things to pay attention to.
One, it's actually a little difficult to find single salt products.
Most of everything we're seeing on the market today is a mix. So you need to read the labels on the bags.
Now we're not endorsing any products and we're not evaluating any products
I just want to show you how a label is set up so when you go to the store to buy salt you can actually figure out what you're buying and you have some idea of how it's going to work and what's the impact is going to be.
The label is right here and it's a product label and it's going to tell you what salts are in it.
This product actually has all four of these salts in it and the products are listed in descending order of quantity.
So magnesium chloride is on top.
It's the highest quantity. Then calcium, then potassium and then sodium chloride.
And this is what you're going to find in the market - most of the products
Now you can buy rock salt and you can buy calcium chloride as individual products but you got to read the labels when u go out and do that.
Once you're done, and you have your product in hand, I think the most important thing is you put it on sparingly before we have a storm, before we have ice, before we have snow
Listen to the weather. If the weather says we're going to have a wintery event
You go out and put a thin layer of this in areas where you are concerned about ice build up.
For more quick and easy tips for small actions that make a big difference in Columbia's WaterShed, visit ColumbiaWatershed.org.
And now for what’s up soon:
CA will be hosting a ski and snowboard trip to Wisp Ski Resort in Western Maryland on Tuesday, Jan. 22, for youth between the ages of 12 and 18.
Schools are closed that day, so send your teens away.
The cost, including instruction, transportation, admission, equipment and dinner, is $75 for members, $85 for non-members.
For more information, call 410-715-3165 or email camps@ColumbiaAssociation.org.
CA will be offering mixed martial arts classes starting in February.
For a great sampling of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai Kickboxing
Come to our mixed martial arts Open House on Saturday, Jan. 26, at 1 p.m. at the Supreme Sports Club Youth Arena.
Participants do not need any prior mixed martial arts experience.
To reserve a space, call 410-381-5355.
That’s it for this episode of This Week@CA.
For more updates on what’s going on in Columbia, check out our blog, CA Today, at ColumbiaAssociation.org/CAToday.
From Lake Kittamiqundi in Downtown Columbia, this is David Greisman.
Have a great week, Columbia!