Kincaids Offers $20 Certificates for Free

"Another fine dining chain, Kincaids at Carmel's Clay Terrace, is offering free $20 gift certificates, a promotion the restaurant's offered for five to sx years that's paying off for customers pinched by the economy.

"It's a way to infuse a little energy and guest counts into the restaurant and to get new people into the restaurant to see what we do and then let what we do bring them back," said Danny Dirscher, Kincaid's general manager."

[full article at WTHR-TV]

[Visit Kincaids.com]

Grace in Our Communities

Just wanted to highlight a church in the Carmel/Noblesville area (Grace Community Church) that is canceling its normal set of weekend services this week, in order to go out into the community and 'worship' through acts of sacrifice & kindness. This is the 2nd major church in our area recently to conduct such an innovative weekend in the community -- Northview Christian Life did a very similar 'Life On Loan Weekend'.

Neither of these churches are the one we attend, but they certainly are ones that are impactive in our community. In fact, Grace Community Church started right here in the general Clay Terrace area years ago.

[look down their long list of community projects this weekend]

Oops, There Goes Another....

....rubber tree plant. Or dog fence.



The Amazing Houdini Collies have once again performed their feat on a brand new fence... in less than 30 minutes.



Thankfully, we had yet another set of caring neighborhood citizens to thank for rescuing Scout & May from becoming a traffic accident statistic. Thanks so much to our friends at the Old National Bank in Clay Terrace.

[Collies' previous adventure]

A Special Note of Thanks...

by Neil Cox

I wanted to specially thank in a public way, Kera Slowitsky and her (unnamed) friend who rounded up one of our 'escapees' today.

[Scout, the hurricane collie seen in previous posts here on ClayTerrace.org, had managed to chew his way through our wire fence in order to go on Pee-wee's Big Adventure.]



Kera is the owner/operator of Club Canine, on 3rd Avenue here in Carmel. It's a neat place to visit -- here's a description at her website...

********
Club Canine, Doggie Daycare has over 5,000 sq. ft.of indoor,
climate-controlled play space. The playroom space is covered by
1/2 inch rubber flooring to provide cushioning for dogs' joints, and
to give them better traction to prevent slips and falls.

Dogs are ALWAYS supervised by dedicated, highly-
trained and caring staff. This allows us to redirect inappropriate
behaviors before they ever have a chance to escalate.

[Check out these photos to get a feel for how she'll treat your dog while caring for them.]

********

Again Kera, thank you. And please thank your friend who found Scout on his wild adventure at Clay Terrace.

Ordering Angel Food in our Community...

Hey is anyone else struggling to even make it INTO this 'middle class' that the politicians keep talking about? Up to $250,000/year??? LOL. That's just crazy-talk. If you're making $250,000, my friend, you are in the 97th percentile in the richest country in the world!



For the rest of us though, here's a great opportunity to save on your family's food bills. Angel Food is NOT a commercial venture or scam -- it's a nonprofit initiative comprised primarily of a lot of faith-based volunteers working together to reduce the collective overhead cost of food. And a new program location has just been approved for the Carmel area, at The ROCC (131st x Old Meridian).

If you'd like to be able to get appx $60 boxes of food for $30, click for details. Orders for the next monthly opportunity must be in by October 10th.

First-Saturdays Coffee-time... Oct 4th

'Sharing Life Together'... that's our goal here.



And one of the ways we propose to do that better and better... is by getting together for our neighborhood coffee on the first Saturday of the month. So join us...

October 4th
8:30am
Paradise Bakery -- Clay Terrace

We're increasingly getting to know one another, and 'catch up on the latest' here in the general Clay Terrace area of Carmel. We not only have a good time together, but typically someone brings something spiritually inspirational to discuss with the group as well.

And we're interested in what the needs are in our community so we can be praying... and helping if possible. So let us know if you have needs here, or you know of someone who does.

Everyone is welcome. Come & go as practical for you.

Sharing Life Together... LOCALLY...

***************



Question: Who can impact our neighborhood the most?

• John McCain
• Barack Obama

Answer: Apparently, neither.

Surely each of us is more likely to positively impact our own neighborhood... than Washington can. Or for that matter, even the Indiana Statehouse. Or the courthouse in Noblesville.

Bottom line... doesn't it all come down to local, very local, and my-neighborhood-local?

Y'know, it reminds me that Jesus really MIGHT have meant... 'neighbor-neighbor'.

Just a thought.

Hurricane Ike 'Hits' Clay Terrace

Hurricane Ike quickly makes its way north, and right through the middle of Indy...



Notice as we zoom in on the lower portion of the pic...



Scout the collie... acts as if the wind doesn't affect him at all.



But wait...Now a few seconds later, the 'hurricane' winds reach ground level...



Is he a cool dog, or what? Gotta love him!

Business Week: Most Affordable Housing? Indianapolis-Carmel

[from Business Week...]

Stacy Williams owns a three-bedroom house with a full basement and central air-conditioning in a quiet neighborhood on the upper west side of Youngstown, Ohio.

Williams, now 33, was earning $8.05 an hour as a manager at McDonald's when she moved into the house with her husband, a laborer at a construction equipment manufacturer, and son back in 2004. The couple's combined annual salary was $33,000. But the purchase didn't require much of a financial stretch: The house cost $48,000. "If you have the credit score to do it, there's nothing that can stop you from buying a home in Youngstown," said Williams, whose plans for the house include a second bathroom.

More from BusinessWeek.com:

• Where the Rents Are Higher—and Lower—This Year

• The Best- and Worst-Performing ZIP Codes

• The Cheapest Second Home Markets

A fallout from the real estate slump is that once again many homeowners are forced to look for homes that are within their budget. Access to cheap adjustable-rate mortgages gave many Americans the chance to live in homes that under normal circumstances they could have never afforded. People such as the Williamses are lucky that their income matches up well with the average home prices in Youngstown, but if they had lived somewhere more expensive, they might not have been able to buy their own home or would have spent too much, and now could have been facing the prospect of foreclosure.

So what metro areas are most and least affordable?

[continued]

Hog Roast.... Saturday, Sept 6th

Saturday, Sept 6 on the grounds of TheROCC (Old Meridian & Main... Carmel).

Free. Food will start serving between 5:00 - 7:00pm.

Live music provided until 8:00pm.

Anyone bringing dessert who wants it to be entered in our annual dessert contest MUST have it entered and on the "official table" BEFORE 5:00pm.

Let's reach out to our neighbors and invite someone!

First Saturdays Coffee-time... Sept. 6th

Just a reminder for everyone in the general Clay Terrace area...

8:30am, Paradise Bakery @ Clay Terrace Mall

Everyone welcome. Come share life together with your neighbors.


ClayTerrace photostream

Here's one family that lives on ClayTerrace Mountain. LOL.

'Faith Hope & Love Week'.... A Mission Trip Without Leaving Home

'Faith Hope & Love Week' is coming up in the metro-area July 20-26. It's a week of intentional community service and acts of kindness and mercy. Some have described it as a 'mission trip without leaving home'.



*************

Now's the time to be thinking how you might benefit YOUR neighborhood community, perhaps even by discovering NEEDS that might be met that week. Example: Do you know of home-repairs or maintenance needing to be done on behalf of seniors or others who cannot do it themselves? Or people who would LOVE to have someone just come and visit with them? Or other needs that YOU know of, that need to make it onto the list? If so, drop us a line.

And set aside some time during that week that YOU would be willing to volunteer your time on behalf of others who really need you.

First Saturday of June... but still not (really) 'summer'...

Hi everybody. Suddenly we go from a cold May, to tornadoes, to heat. But like the mail-carriers... we prevail. It's coffee-time again.

Tomorrow we're going to meet at 8:30am. The sun's coming up early (and so is the heat)... so we're wanting to get going a little earlier now. Let's see how this time-slot works.

As a part of our time together, Pat asked that perhaps we be thinking of anything we might like to share: Either ways that God may have been working recently in your life; or ways that you cause you to wonder "what's up with that?". It should make an interesting time of interaction, as we continue to 'share life together'.

Btw, the metro-wide "Faith Hope & Love Week" is coming up quickly (July 20-26). It's a week of community service and acts of kindness & mercy. So if you know of particular needs in the community that need a handful (or ton of) volunteers for, let us know that too.

Ok, hope to see you in the morning:
8:30am, Paradise Bakery, Clay Terrace Mall

Dairy Queen held memories

[from the Indianapolis Star]

A Carmel landmark went up in flames Thursday, but the community won't be deprived of its Dilly Bars, Blizzards and other goodies for too long if the owner has his way.

The 48-year restaurant remains Carmel's oldest fast food restaurant in its original location, its owner said.

Around 6:35 p.m. Thursday, Carmel firefighters went to the restaurant, 951 N. Rangeline Road, and found a fire had started in a back shed and spread to the adjacent restaurant.

The majority of the building's shell still stands, but the inside was gutted and part of the roof collapsed. The restaurant's equipment was destroyed, the building is a total loss, and the site will have to be bulldozed...

[continued at IndyStar.com]

Access Points for Route 31?

[from the Indianapolis Star...]

Providing the easiest access to the cluster of commercial establishments and busy roads near 146th Street is proving to be a key challenge for engineers designing a project to renovate U.S. 31 into a limited-access highway.

Project managers from the Indiana Department of Transportation and two engineering firms met Tuesday with Hamilton County Commissioners to discuss options for interchanges between Range Line Road and 151st Street...

[continued at IndyStar.com]

Reminder: 'First Saturday Coffeetime'... May 3rd

May 3rd is our 'First Saturdays Coffeetime' here in the neighborhood.

Everyone in the general area is welcome at this informal coffee time together. [And the only valid excuse is 'running the mini'. **smile**]

Hope you can join us.

9:00am, Paradise Bakery, Clay Terrace Mall.

Topic: Hoping we can settle on a particular candidate for Tuesday's primary. LOL

With the politicians showing up everywhere else in town, who knows but what we'll have a surprise guest (or two?). [**justkidding**]

'First Saturday Coffeetime'.... March 1st

This month we'll be trying a new time-slot... starting at... 9:00am.

[We're giving ourselves an extra hour to sleep in a bit.]

But as always, we'll be at the Paradise Bakery at Clay Terrace. And it's for anyone & everyone from the general Clay Terrace area. We're getting to know one another better and sharing life together the best way we know how.

Btw, we may be shooting a little video footage for use in our 'community tv' (internet tv, that is) show. So come join in with your neighbors & friends.

Circuit City store closing

[from the Indianapolis Star...]

Circuit City at Clay Terrace mall closed this week because it failed to meet sales performance goals, said a company spokesman.

The Carmel store is one of three that were closed nationwide by the national consumer electronics retailer. The others are in Commack, N.Y., and San Angelo, Texas.

"These were three underperforming locations, and this is part of our ongoing effort to try to ensure that our stores are in locations that are profitable,"

[continued at IndyStar.com]

Tinsley's coat drive turns out to be hot ticket

"Tinsley held his third annual coat drive at Dick's Sporting Goods locations in Plainfield and Carmel on Sunday. Fans were given up to two tickets to Tuesday's game against the Boston Celtics for donating new or gently used coats. Tinsley said the coats will go to those in need."

[continued at IndyStar.com]

Snowed-out for Saturday coffeetime

Sorry folks, it looks like we're going to have our hands full (of shovels) tomorrow a.m. ...instead of coffee-cups.

We'll try again in March (3/1/2008).

In the meantime, let us know of anyone who needs help with snow removal... we'll see what can be done.

****************

"Go Manning!"

ChaCha: The little search engine that might...

[from Chicago Tribune...]

When you think Internet innovation, a shopping mall in the Indianapolis suburbs is not the first place that comes to mind.

But in just such a spot -- in a storefront that might, in other circumstances, have held a Talbot's -- a team of engineers and developers is trying to take on Google with a search engine that relies on people, rather than automated computer probes, to provide results.

The idea is that one expert human "guide," working freelance for ChaCha, can home in on what another person wants with more efficiency than a search engine and its blunderbuss of 7 million results per query.

The company employs about 55 people in the upscale Clay Terrace shopping mall in Carmel, a suburb north of Indianapolis where company co-founder and CEO Scott Jones, a civically active maverick who spearheaded Indiana's move to adopt daylight-saving time, also lives.

[full article at Chicago Tribute]