Monday, August 25, 2008
Batty, batty, bat!!!!
For all you Sesame Street devotees out there...we had a batty, batty, bat in our house last night!!! Ugh!!!! I went up to bed at 11 pm and after checking on the kids headed into our bathroom. All of a sudden I noticed some shadows moving in the hallway. When I took a closer look I realized it was a bat and screamed - which caused the bat to head toward me in the bathroom. I ran out the door as he flew in. I had the presence of mind (not quite sure how!!!) to slam the door shut behind me. We deliberated quite a while in front of that door about how handle this. I wish I had taken a picture of Pat suited up in his jumpsuit for work at dangerous plants and holding one of our All Clad sauce pans (why couldn't he have grabbed the farberware)!! We weren't quite sure how to get Pat in the bathroom without the bat getting out and I wasn't sure I would be a good second line of defense...so we called the PG Police. When I told them "we have a bat in our bathroom - can you help us with that?" The officer's response was, "Boy, I hate that." Sums it up for us too! So, Officer Owen Duff came over and was a HUGE help. After, more deliberation and Officer Duff suiting up in his fighting gear too... Pat and he finally entered the bathroom. After about 10 mins they found the bat hanging upside down off of my conditioner bottle. Needless to say, the bat is no longer with us (well, he is double bagged in our fridge but no longer of this world). Animal rights for cute furry animals - not bats that come into my house! Today he'll head to Bernardsville Health Department for rabies testing. And, I'll probably never sleep well again!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Summer Travels
Our blog has been a bit... empty. Maybe everyone is taking a break for the summer? Why not post some photos from all the amazing trips I've heard about - Maine, Adirondacks, Vermont, the beach??
Here are some photos from our August trip to Nantucket. Great family vacation spot. On cloudy days we hit the museums and shops; sunny days we biked to the beach (Elliot is now turned on to the boogie board!). And sometimes we just hung out at the house. Nice way to get away from the normal routine.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Future major leaguers
and their popcorn, cracker-jack, nacho eating; beer and coke swilling parents
italian pork sausage fried chicken steak burrito anyone?
Friday, July 25, 2008
The Birds and the Bees
School is out.
Vacations are in full swing.
About the only inhabitants left in PG are the critters!
One of several robin nests found in the yard
A hungry mouth to feed
Carpenter bee off to find a tasty facia board
Who knew they were so fuzzy
A bluebird box...
...before Mr. Treefrog moved in
Breakfast at the bird feeder
Resident alien
Still waiting for this year's brood of piglets
Vacations are in full swing.
About the only inhabitants left in PG are the critters!
One of several robin nests found in the yard
A hungry mouth to feed
Carpenter bee off to find a tasty facia board
Who knew they were so fuzzy
A bluebird box...
...before Mr. Treefrog moved in
Breakfast at the bird feeder
Resident alien
Still waiting for this year's brood of piglets
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Going Postal
(note: sorry this is so long, but sometimes blogs are about getting views out there and off our chest, right?)
I am so lucky to live in Gladstone. Not that Peapack isn’t just as pretty and the people are very nice. But by living in Gladstone I do not need to frequent what I now view as one of the most contentious, unfriendly and miserable places called the US Post Office. Yes. I used to view the post office – and especially the one in our small town – as one of the last pieces of Americana. Just a traditional, friendly little place to pop in, do your business, take a candy and leave with a mutual, “have a nice day” (especially from two very nice women in Gladstone). Maybe today it is the heat and humidity, lunchtime hunger, or maybe it’s that the US Post Office has become a marketing haven where consumers (postal patrons) need to know their ‘flat rate’ from ‘priority’ and ‘certified’ from ‘confirmation’ or risk postal robbery. Yes, the price of stamps keeps rising, but I never took issue. .32, .41 and now I don’t even know what still seems reasonable to take a letter from East to West coast.
But packages, as I experienced today, are a whole other ball of wax. I walked into the Peapack post office today (after camp with a hungry 4 year old in tow) to mail three packages to friends in CO that just had babies. Of course, I didn’t think of the challenge in finding the right size box when I stacked the gifts under ribbon, but there are so many box options, I knew I would find something. Not today. I could either use a flat rate priority box for $8 or buy a box. Nothing in between except flimsy tyvek envelopes. I looked high and low and finally asked about the other boxes. I guess no one else had mailed boxes or just took the flat rate like the high price of gas, but it took searching and a phone call to realize, “we’re out of the other boxes”. Out?? It’s the post office. It’s an option on the menu. This is like walking into McDonalds, looking at the menu on the wall and being told, sorry, no fries today only the McFish. Come on. No boxes? He cited back-order issues, inventory and all other words intended to make me fog over, forget it and turn to the more expensive options. Nope. I packed up the gifts and headed to the Gladstone post office.
Have you ever seen a detour on the highway and thought, “hmmm maybe I’ll cut off here and take a side road that I think will be faster?” Right, the Gladstone P.O. was big mistake. They did have more box options and the one I needed, but I encountered such a strong customer service and personality issue that I, in my own manner, went postal. My first mistake was to mention the lack of boxes in Peapack. Maybe postal workers sign a pact to not throw colleagues under the bus and I wouldn’t expect her to do exactly that, but compassion and solutions are my ideas of great customer service. Maybe she is actually the inventory manager for the P-G offices. I don’t know, but I got a lesson on why I shouldn’t expect to see the boxes that correlate to the wide-range of services offered by the USPS. Still confused, I attempted to ask a few more questions, and provide comment. It was getting hotter inside than out. Then, when one of my packages wouldn’t fit (a baby gift, tied in ribbon, to a good friend but a gesture nonetheless) she suggested I take the package apart and just put all the pieces in a box. It’s a gift! “Whoever gets it will understand,” she said. Yeah, they'll get that I just threw pieces and parts in a box and called it a gift?? Then, I had the panic that I might need to take a bullet for my son who piped up with, “hey mom, you could just put tape over the holes in the plastic bag (the Target bag I carried into the post office) and mail it that way.” At that, I stuffed the oversized package back in the Target bag, paid for the others and left. It was a losing battle. Please, if I’m ever given authority such as an ear phone, uniform or a job behind a counter, don’t ever let the power go to my head. From now on, I will shop online, mail online and maybe even order my stamps online just to save myself from the aggravation of visiting the United States Postal Service.
I am so lucky to live in Gladstone. Not that Peapack isn’t just as pretty and the people are very nice. But by living in Gladstone I do not need to frequent what I now view as one of the most contentious, unfriendly and miserable places called the US Post Office. Yes. I used to view the post office – and especially the one in our small town – as one of the last pieces of Americana. Just a traditional, friendly little place to pop in, do your business, take a candy and leave with a mutual, “have a nice day” (especially from two very nice women in Gladstone). Maybe today it is the heat and humidity, lunchtime hunger, or maybe it’s that the US Post Office has become a marketing haven where consumers (postal patrons) need to know their ‘flat rate’ from ‘priority’ and ‘certified’ from ‘confirmation’ or risk postal robbery. Yes, the price of stamps keeps rising, but I never took issue. .32, .41 and now I don’t even know what still seems reasonable to take a letter from East to West coast.
But packages, as I experienced today, are a whole other ball of wax. I walked into the Peapack post office today (after camp with a hungry 4 year old in tow) to mail three packages to friends in CO that just had babies. Of course, I didn’t think of the challenge in finding the right size box when I stacked the gifts under ribbon, but there are so many box options, I knew I would find something. Not today. I could either use a flat rate priority box for $8 or buy a box. Nothing in between except flimsy tyvek envelopes. I looked high and low and finally asked about the other boxes. I guess no one else had mailed boxes or just took the flat rate like the high price of gas, but it took searching and a phone call to realize, “we’re out of the other boxes”. Out?? It’s the post office. It’s an option on the menu. This is like walking into McDonalds, looking at the menu on the wall and being told, sorry, no fries today only the McFish. Come on. No boxes? He cited back-order issues, inventory and all other words intended to make me fog over, forget it and turn to the more expensive options. Nope. I packed up the gifts and headed to the Gladstone post office.
Have you ever seen a detour on the highway and thought, “hmmm maybe I’ll cut off here and take a side road that I think will be faster?” Right, the Gladstone P.O. was big mistake. They did have more box options and the one I needed, but I encountered such a strong customer service and personality issue that I, in my own manner, went postal. My first mistake was to mention the lack of boxes in Peapack. Maybe postal workers sign a pact to not throw colleagues under the bus and I wouldn’t expect her to do exactly that, but compassion and solutions are my ideas of great customer service. Maybe she is actually the inventory manager for the P-G offices. I don’t know, but I got a lesson on why I shouldn’t expect to see the boxes that correlate to the wide-range of services offered by the USPS. Still confused, I attempted to ask a few more questions, and provide comment. It was getting hotter inside than out. Then, when one of my packages wouldn’t fit (a baby gift, tied in ribbon, to a good friend but a gesture nonetheless) she suggested I take the package apart and just put all the pieces in a box. It’s a gift! “Whoever gets it will understand,” she said. Yeah, they'll get that I just threw pieces and parts in a box and called it a gift?? Then, I had the panic that I might need to take a bullet for my son who piped up with, “hey mom, you could just put tape over the holes in the plastic bag (the Target bag I carried into the post office) and mail it that way.” At that, I stuffed the oversized package back in the Target bag, paid for the others and left. It was a losing battle. Please, if I’m ever given authority such as an ear phone, uniform or a job behind a counter, don’t ever let the power go to my head. From now on, I will shop online, mail online and maybe even order my stamps online just to save myself from the aggravation of visiting the United States Postal Service.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Summertime!
a tad busy at saturday's picnic/pool party to take many photos, i nevertheless captured a few moments in time. thanks to all for coming and sharing a few yucks.
a general spattering of the gathered
ciao, baby!
girls gone wild
a few of the reasons why we live
the fosina girls scare the children(and who's that really scary dude at the edge of the photo?)
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Curb Your Enthusiasm
That's tough to do when the end of the Old Chester Rd. sidewalk/storm drain project is in sight. The final stretches of curbing and landscaping are in progress and hopefully the road will be milled and paved smoothly over.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Father's Day Lost Tooth!
Father's Day brought a new experience for us...Matt lost his first tooth!!! The beginning of new era...
Monday, June 16, 2008
Happy Father's Day Indeed
It doesn't get much better than celebrating your first father's day watching your son stuff his face with his first birthday cake!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
Hope all you pappys had a fine day today. Elizabeth and I did stickers this morning. Hoping y'all might share a few shots of your kiddies from this day set aside for the other gender.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Dinner Discussion on Immigration Issues
The Peapack Reformed Church is hosting an evening of dinner and discussion on Thursday, May 15 beginning at 5:30 p.m. Dr. Jacqueline Lapsley of Princeton Seminary will be leading the discussion on "An Old Testament Perspective on Current Immigration Issues."
Dr. Lapsley is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. She is interested in literary readings of the Old Testament narratives, the prophets, Old Testament ethics and theological anthropology in the Old Testament.
Buffet dinner will be served beginning at 5:30 p.m. There is no charge, but there will be a donation basket. Come join us for an evening of interesting discussion and dinner. Call the church office at 908-234-2733 to reserve your spot.
Dr. Lapsley is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. She is interested in literary readings of the Old Testament narratives, the prophets, Old Testament ethics and theological anthropology in the Old Testament.
Buffet dinner will be served beginning at 5:30 p.m. There is no charge, but there will be a donation basket. Come join us for an evening of interesting discussion and dinner. Call the church office at 908-234-2733 to reserve your spot.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Pancake Breakfast - May 10th
Pancake Breakfast and Family Fun Morning to Benefit Heifer International
This Saturday, May 10th, the Peapack Reformed Church (PRC) is hosting a pancake breakfast and petting zoo to raise funds for Heifer International, a humanitarian assistance organization that works to help individuals and communities create a living cycle of sustainability. Please join us for breakfast, a
petting zoo and other family activities.
Date: Saturday, May 10, 2008
Where: Peapack Reformed Church, 13 Mendham Rd., Gladstone NJ
Time: 8:00 – 11:00 am
Cost: $6 adults; $3 children; $5.00 seniors
About Heifer:
Founded in 1944, Heifer International is a humanitarian assistance organization that w
orks to end world hunger and protect the earth. Through livestock, training and "passing on the gift," Heifer has helped more than eight and a half million families in more than 125 countries improve their quality of life and move toward greater self-reliance. Heifer helps build strong communities because each project participant agrees to pass on the gift of animal offspring, training, or skills to another family in need.
http://www.heifer.org/
This Saturday, May 10th, the Peapack Reformed Church (PRC) is hosting a pancake breakfast and petting zoo to raise funds for Heifer International, a humanitarian assistance organization that works to help individuals and communities create a living cycle of sustainability. Please join us for breakfast, a
petting zoo and other family activities.Date: Saturday, May 10, 2008
Where: Peapack Reformed Church, 13 Mendham Rd., Gladstone NJ
Time: 8:00 – 11:00 am
Cost: $6 adults; $3 children; $5.00 seniors
About Heifer:
Founded in 1944, Heifer International is a humanitarian assistance organization that w
orks to end world hunger and protect the earth. Through livestock, training and "passing on the gift," Heifer has helped more than eight and a half million families in more than 125 countries improve their quality of life and move toward greater self-reliance. Heifer helps build strong communities because each project participant agrees to pass on the gift of animal offspring, training, or skills to another family in need.http://www.heifer.org/
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