Category Archives: Walnut Creek

Halloween Tipsy Toe Offers Free Ride Home

Posted on October 31, 2014 | Leave a comment

aaa-tipsy-tow

AAA’s “Tipsy Tow” initiative will be offering Halloween partygoers a free ride home tonight in the hope of getting people home safely on one of the biggest party nights of the year.

Anyone who has celebrated Halloween with a little too much to drink will be able to catch a free ride with Tipsy Tow rather than risking more dangerous ways to get home.

The Tipsy Tow program is open to everyone. You do not need to be an AAA Member to take advantage of this service to the community.

AAA typically offers the service to drinking drivers from 6 p.m. on the holiday to 6 a.m. the following day in Northern California, Nevada and Utah. For specific dates and times, see the list below.

During the period Tipsy Tow is available, drivers, potential passengers, party hosts, bartenders, and restaurant managers can call 800-222-4357 (AAA-HELP) for a free tow home of up to ten miles. Just tell the AAA operator, “I need a Tipsy Tow,” and a truck will be on its way.

The service will provide a one-way ride for the driver and vehicle to the driver’s home. If there are additional passengers who need a ride, they will be taken to the driver’s home as long is there is sufficient room for them to be transported safely in the tow truck. You cannot make a reservation.

AAA provides its Tipsy Tow service for the following holidays:

Halloween: 6:00 p.m. October 31st – 6:00 a.m. November 1st

Whatever you do, please don’t drink and drive. Take the Pledge! Join AAA’s commitment to driving only while drug and alcohol-free.

AAA offers the following tips to stay safe and keep others safe on the roads:

Drive only while drug and alcohol-free
Plan ahead and designate a non-drinking driver before a celebration begins
Don’t let your friends drive impaired. Take their keys away
Never ride in a car with someone who is impaired
Plan to take a cab or stay with a friend

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Posted in Clayton, Concord, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek

$25 Spay/Neuter for Pits & Chihuahuas

Posted on October 25, 2014 | Leave a comment

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ARF has opened its clinic’s doors owners of Pit Bulls & Pit mixes as well as Chihuahua and Chihuahua mixes. They are offering spay or neuter appointments for these breeds for only $25! This service is available to all Bay Area residents.

If your interested in this program there’s a few things you should know first! ARF is a non-profit made up of volunteers. With that being said they do the very best they can but they have a limit so it may take up to a week to get a call back from them. Appointments for this service fill up fast! So don’t be surprised if they schedule your appointment a few weeks out. Also pain medication ($3.25) and recovery cone collars ($10) are optional and are available for an extra fee. They are worth the wait and an offer an incredibly low price! You will not find it cheaper anywhere else.

Scheduling
To schedule an appointment, please call 925.296.3125 and leave a message. One of our scheduling volunteers will call you back to set up an appointment.

Appointment Hours
Wednesdays & Fridays
Drop-off: 7:30 – 8 a.m.; Pick-up the same day: 4 – 5 p.m.

All services are provided by appointment only – NO DROP IN SERVICE AVAILABLE

Animal Eligibility Requirements

Healthy dogs and cats between the ages of 17 weeks and 6 years old and weighing at least two pounds.
Dogs or cats must not have any signs of disease.
Dogs and cats must have a current rabies vaccination.
Dogs and cats must have a current distemper combo vaccination within one year.
The clinic veterinarian may disqualify any animal if, in his/her opinion, the animal is not medically sound for surgery.

For more information on ARF’s spay and neuter programs, please visit their website.

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Posted in Walnut Creek

Partial Solar Eclipse – Happening Right Now

Posted on October 23, 2014 | Leave a comment

eclipsepic

We are in the midst of a partial solar eclipse and there will not be one seen like this again until 2023.

What you see above is a simulation of the October 23, 2014 solar eclipse – at greatest eclipse (5:44 p.m. EDT) – from the vantage point of Canada’s Nunavut Territory near Prince of Wales Island. Notice that it is a partial eclipse. At greatest eclipse, from this prime location, the solar disk is 75% covered over by the moon. Everyplace else within the eclipse viewing area sees a shallower partial solar eclipse on October 23.

If you want to watch the eclipse directly, eye safety is of the utmost importance. That said, North America has a ringside seat to the partial eclipse of the sun on October 23. This eclipse is almost exclusively visible on land from North America.

SAFELY VIEW THE ECLIPSE

Permanent eye damage can result from looking at the disk of the Sun directly, or through a camera viewfinder, or with binoculars or a telescope even when only a thin crescent of the Sun or Baily’s Beads remain. The 1 percent of the Sun’s surface still visible is about 10,000 times brighter than the full moon. Staring at the Sun under such circumstances is like using a magnifying glass to focus sunlight onto tinder. The retina is delicate and irreplaceable. There is little or nothing a retinal surgeon will be able to do to help you. Never look at the Sun outside of the total phase of an eclipse unless you have adequate eye protection.

One safe way of enjoying the Sun during a partial eclipse–or anytime–is a “pinhole camera,” which allows you to view a projectedimage of the Sun. There are fancy pinhole cameras you can make out of cardboard boxes, but a perfectly adequate (and portable) version can be made out of two thin but stiff pieces of white cardboard. Punch a small clean pinhole in one piece of cardboard and let the sunlight fall through that hole onto the second piece of cardboard, which serves as a screen, held below it. An inverted image of the Sun is formed. To make the image larger, move the screen farther from the pinhole. To make the image brighter, move the screen closer to the pinhole. Do not make the pinhole wide or you will only have a shaft of sunlight rather than an image of the crescent Sun. Remember, this instrument is used with your back to the Sun. The sunlight passes over your shoulder, through the pinhole, and forms an image on the cardboard screen beneath it. Do not look through the pinhole at the Sun.

Did you see it? Have you seen one before?

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Posted in Antioch, Brentwood, Clayton, Concord, Danville, El Cerrito, Hercules, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Oakley, Pinole, Pittsburg / Bay Point, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, San Pablo, San Ramon, Walnut Creek

Free Admission to National Parks on Sept 27

Posted on September 20, 2014 | Leave a comment

NPS

Anyone looking to explore a national park for free in 2014 should mark his or her calendar. The National Park Service has nine fee-free days on the calendar in 2014. On the dates, all 401 national parks will offer free admission, though only 133 usually charge admission, according to the National Park Service (NPS). See the list below for this years dates and plan a trip to your local park. If you’re active military or family, you can also get a FREE Annual Pass to the National Parks.

Mark your calendar for these free fee days in 2014:

Sept. 27 for National Public Lands Day
Nov. 11 for Veterans Day

*Fee waiver includes: entrance fees, commercial tour fees, and transportation entrance fees. Other fees such as reservation, camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties are not included unless stated otherwise.

For more information, visit www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm.

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Posted in Clayton, Concord, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek

WC’s New Plastic Bag Ordinance Begins

Posted on September 18, 2014 | Leave a comment

Bag_Outreach

Walnut Creek’s new plastic bag ordinance goes into effect today. Start today retailers can no longer distribute single-use plastic checkout bags and must charge a minimum of ten cents for a paper bag. To avoid the bag fee, shoppers are encouraged to bring their own reusable bags. Click here to read the Ordinance.

Data obtained from conducting trash hot spot assessment and cleanup since 2010 along the City’s creek bank showed that single-use carry out plastic bags were among the most commonly found litter. The littering of plastic bags is an increasing blight on land and poses water quality problems. Most plastic bags do not biodegrade but instead persist in the environment for many years. These issues prompted Walnut Creek City Council to adopt the Plastic Bag ordinance on March 18, 2014.

Starting on December 18, 2014, all public eating establishments (such as restaurants, delicatessen, cafeterias and food trucks) cannot distribute single-use plastic checkout bags to customers for their take-out food. Customers can opt for no bag, paper bags may be provided to customer at no charge and reusable bags can be used at the discretion of customer and restaurant. Individual paper or plastic product bags without handle may be used around container of soups or stews to prevent spilling.

While supplies last, a free reusable bag is available on the 2nd Floor of City Hall at the Permit Counter. City Hall is located at 1666 North Main Street in Walnut Creek.

Please call (925) 256-3503 or email to bringyourbag@walnut-creek.org for guidance on unique situations.

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Posted in Walnut Creek

FREE U.S. Constitution Booklet – Read Yours Today

Posted on September 17, 2014 | Leave a comment

US_Constitution

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!” ~Sam Adams 1776

It is our Constitution and those that believe in it that keep us free and out of servitude. Lawless leaders and individuals have attempted to destroy the U.S. Constitution which is the very foundation of OUR country. Very few know this, but the Constitution wasn’t written for everyone, in fact it was written only for a select few.

John Adams in a speech to the military in 1798 warned his fellow countrymen stating, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

In a day of Miley Cyrus twerking, there are signs of our society losing moral ground daily. However know that all hope is not lost. In the days of unprecedented wickedness, there is a glimmer of hope arising from the chaos. All across our nation, true countrymen are pulling back to their roots and dusting off their U.S. Constitution.

Since Obama’s election in 2008, there has been a resurgence of America patriotism in which hasn’t been since in decades and is spreading like wildfire. The IRS targeting groups that use the term “patriot”, “American” and “tea party” hasn’t stopped the spread either. The gun laws that were passed unconstitutional back fired making Obama the best gun salesmen in America. Gun shops had record-breaking sales men and women flocked to stores to take up arms.

Why are we talking about the Constitution?Because today is Constitution Day. It’s a day that commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by thirty-nine brave men on September 17, 1787, recognizing all who, are born in the U.S. or by naturalization, have become citizens.

On September 17, 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document they had created. We encourage all Americans to observe this important day in our nation’s history by attending local events in your area. Celebrate Constitution Day through activities, learning, parades and demonstrations of our Love for the United State of America and the Blessings of Freedom Our Founding Fathers secured for us.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ~Edmund Berke

The best thing we can all do, to help save this great nation of ours, is to pick up and study our Constitution. To vow to protect and preserve this priceless gift for generations to come.

If you don’t have a Constitutions and want one, there are many groups that offer FREE U.S. Constitution booklets. Check them out and show your American spirit with these other patriotic goodies listed below:

★ FREE Pocket Constitution (Scroll to the bottom of the link) – Requires SASE.

★ FREE Printable Constitution PDF

★ FREE Downloadable Pocket Declaration of Independence and Constitution

★ FREE Downloadable Book: Pocket Catechism on the Constitution of the United States

★ FREE Copy of NRA’s Essential Second Amendment Guide

★ FREE Firearm Safety Education DVDs

★ FREE Printable Firearm Paper Targets

★ FREE STICKER NRA Armed Citizens – Defend Your Right to Defend Yourself

★ FREE Tea Party Patriot Bumper Sticker

★ FREE STICKER Patriot Act: Repeal It

★ FREE American Flag Decals (Scroll to the bottom of the link)

★ FREE American Flag Window Cling

★ FREE Square Inch Of US Land

For more information on Constitution Day, visit ConstitutionDay.com.

What do you think of our Constitution? What do you think about what’s happening to this country? Have you read your Constitution today?

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Posted in Antioch, Brentwood, California News, Clayton, Concord, Danville, El Cerrito, Hercules, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, National News, Oakley, Orinda, Pinole, Pittsburg / Bay Point, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, San Pablo, San Ramon, Walnut Creek

McD’s Offers Free Morning Coffee – Until 29th

Posted on September 16, 2014 | Leave a comment

freecoffee

From September 16th – 29th, you can score a FREE Small McCafe Coffee from McDonald’s during breakfast hours. That’s 2 long weeks of FREE coffee! No coupon or purchase necessary. They always offer free Wifi too.

McDonald’s announced a second national Free Coffee Event, an opportunity for even more coffee lovers to enjoy a freshly brewed, rich and smooth tasting McCafé coffee.

McCafé fans will soon be able to enjoy their coffee whenever they want, including at home. McDonald’s recently announced a collaboration with Kraft Foods Group, Inc. to offer a variety of McCafé ground, whole bean and single cup coffees in grocery stores and other retailers nationwide starting in early 2015.