Announcements

The Parkinson’s Support Group meets 1 p.m. Friday at the Homer Senior Citizens Center Conference Room. The speaker is Jessica Powell, a speech language pathologist for South Peninsula Hospital. For more information, call Daniel Weiser at 235-4555 or visit the group’s website at HomerPDSG.wordpress.com.

A spaghetti feed to raise funds to help with medical costs for John and Mary Ellen Ulrich is noon-4 p.m. Saturday at St. John’s Catholic Church, 255 Ohlson Lane. For more information, call 235-8436.

Hazardous Waste Collection Day is 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday at the Homer Transfer Facility. It’s free to households with fees charged to commercial disposers. For more information, call Emerald Alaska at 877-375-5040 or the Kenai Peninsula Borough Solid Waste Department at  907-262-9667. This event is for households and small businesses. All businesses must preregister with Emerald Alaska. Only households with more than 55 gallons of waste must preregister. Emerald Alaska manages this event and the Kenai Peninsula Borough Solid Waste Department provides the location.

The Kachemak Emergency Service Area Board holds its regular meeting at 6 p.m. May 14 at the new Diamond Ridge Fire Station, 65705 Diamond Ridge Road. The public is welcome to attend. The agenda will be posted at the McNeil Fire Station and the Kenai Peninsula Borough Annex building. For more information, call 235-9811.

SPARC (South Peninsula Amateur Radio Club) is providing no cost amateur radio license testing from noon-2 p.m. May 9 and 2:30-4:30 p.m. May 16, at the Homer Library Conference Room. You may take your technician, general or extra license exams. For more information, call 907-775-4638 or Pat at KL3DB or Shan at KL5ALK for more information.

Burn permits are required year round inside Homer city limits and can be picked up at the Homer Volunteer Fire Department during normal business hours, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Burn permits are required from April 1-Sept. 1 anywhere outside Homer city limits and can be acquired by the Alaska Division of Forestry at www.forestry.alaska.gov/burn.

Anchor Point Alcoholics Anonymous offers meetings at 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays and at 2 p.m. Sundays above the Anchor River Inn Store. For more information, call 299-3317.

The Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival seeks volunteers to help with registration during the event from 8 a.m.-7 p.m., May 6-9. Gratitude, snacks and a fun work environment provided. Please call Robbi at 235-7740 or email shorebird@homeralaska.org

Sandhill cranes arrived in Homer on April 22. Please report sandhill crane sightings to Kachemak Crane Watch at 235-6262 or reports@cranewatch.org or visit www.cranewatch.org. The date, time, location and number of cranes seen is helpful. Leave a name and number in case more details are needed. 

Angie Nelson holds an Equine Assisted Learning and Natural Horsemanship Clinic July 25-26 at Cottonwood Horse Park. Bring your horse and come for a great time of fun, learning, and connection with your horse and other horse savvy people. This clinic will give you resources to bring your horse-human partnership to a new level. You will also gain new understanding of horse behavior and communication, while learning what your horses’ behavior could be telling you about yourself. Angie Nelson has a master’s in education and is Equine Assisted Learning. certified through the OK Corral. She has many years of experience studying natural horsemanship, and her influences include horse trainers such as Pat Parelli, Monty Roberts and Mark Rashid. To sign up or for more information, contact Angie at 949-294-3702.

Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST)

The Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team, or COASST, will deliver a free training session from noon-5 p.m. Saturday at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center. 

To reserve a spot, call COASST at 206-221-6893 or email coasst@uw.edu. The website is www.coasst.org.

COASST volunteers help make a difference for the environment by collecting data on beach-cast carcasses of marine birds on a monthly basis to establish the baseline pattern of beached bird mortality on North Pacific beaches. Data collected helps address important marine conservation issues and protect marine resources.

Through an interactive, hands-on workshop, trainees will become acquainted with the custom COASST field guide, “Beached Birds,” and have a chance to try out their newly acquired identification skills on seabird species common to the North Pacific. The COASST training provides volunteers with the tools to monitor for potential changes in the marine environment and promote stewardship of local marine resources.

COASST is a citizen science project of the University of Washington in partnership with state, tribal and federal agencies; environmental organizations and community groups. 

Friendship Center

Friendship Center Adult Day Services is open between the hours of 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday with extended hours for special situations. Programs are offered daily, including story time, crafts and musical performances. Call 235-4556.

Homer Senior Citizens

Homer Senior Citizens lunch is open to seniors and guests and is served noon-1:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. The lunch menu for this week is: today, country style roast pork; Friday, battered cod; Monday, pork chow mein; Tuesday, chicken pot pie; Wednesday, mustard and rosemary roasted pork chops; next Thursday, roast beef and mashed potatoes.

Strong Women classes are 1:30-2:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Homer Senior Center. The cost is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers per class.

Zumba Gold classes with Maria are 11 a.m.-noon Tuesdays and 1:30-2:30 p.m. Thursdays at the Homer Senior Center. The cost per class is $4 members, $6 nonmembers.

Duplicate Bridge meets at 1 p.m. Thursdays. Tai Chi classes are Thursday at 3 p.m. The cost per class is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers. Call Daniel Weisser at 235-4555.

Caregiver Support Group meets 2-3:30 p.m. the second and fourth Thursday in the senior center conference room. Call Jacquie Thaute at 299-2924 or Daniel Weisser at 235-4555.

Kachemak Bay Campus

The deadline is May 13 to register for Landscape Painting with Asia Freeman, held May 18-19, June 8-9, July 3-14 and Aug. 3-4.

To earn your GED or improve basic reading, writing and math skills, call 235-1606.

Early bird registration for the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference ends 5 p.m. Friday. The conference is June 12-16 at Land’s End Resort. 

The Student Art Showcase is on exhibit in the Pioneer Hall Commons through May.

Kachemak Bay Campus commencement is at 7 p.m. May 6 at the Mariner Theatre. The keynote speaker is Kachemak Bay Campus and University of Alaska Anchorage alumna Francie Roberts. The commencement student speaker is Michael Tupper. University of Alaska Board of Regent Lisa Parker and UAA Vice Chancellor of Administration William Spindle will confer degrees.

Pratt Museum

Gallery hours are noon-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Business offices are open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Faith Revell’s exhibit, “Bird Dance,” is now on exhibit. The annual Jubilee student art showcase is on exhibit in the lower museum gallery.

The Pratt shows a series of prototype exhibits in the lower galleries. These are works in progress and opportunities to collect feedback on text, design and interactive components. There are questionnaires available to provide direct input. Currently, visitors can see a small prototype, “Community Connectors — Radios, Telephones and Pathways.”

SVT Health & Wellness

SVT Health & Wellness offers classes covering all aspects of wellness every Thursday at 6 p.m. Today’s class is “To the Core of Your Experience, Part One.” Robert Bornt, licensed marriage and family therapist, speaks about the internal regulating systems of the body and mind which organize on-going emotional experience. Practice using mindfulness to track the sequences of experiences and begin the process of change. There will be an opportunity to volunteer in demonstration of deep emotional process.