Friday, November 2, 2012

A week late

Each year a wonderful pal of mine who is a globe-trotting wildlife photographer makes a custom calendar for me featuring his astonishing photos. So on Nov. 1, I eagerly flipped over to the new month's photo, which shows a polar bear shaking off the water from his fur, the spray making a graceful arc around his head.
Then I looked at the month's holidays: Daylight Savings Time ends on Nov. 4. Veterans Day is Nov. 11. And Election Day is -- Nov. 13??
Now why on earth did he postpone Election Day by a week? An innocent error -- or could it have something to do with the fact that he and I have diametrically opposed political opinions?

New Costco

The new Costco store in the Brinton Lake shopping center on Route 1 in Concord Township is set to open on Saturday, Nov. 10. Thank you to a faithful Tilda reader and Facebook friend for this excellent tip!
(And if you're interested, Costco stores will also be opening in Leicester in the United Kingdom on Dec. 1 and in Gwangmyeong, Korea, on Dec. 15.)

New clothes

After being closed for two days during Sandy, the Kennett Square boutique Chantilly Blue sent out an email to its customers offering a 20% "Cabin Fever" discount on one item. I'd been meaning to get in there anyway and help the economy, and this was all the incentive I needed.
What a great store! Beautiful clothes and unbeatable service. The owner, Lisa, knows her merchandise and her customers and has a great eye for what will look fantastic on each woman. She nixed one pair of jeans, pointing out they weren't as flattering as they could be, and called one black top "boring" as soon as she saw it on me. In 45 minutes I walked out of there with a new pair of jeans, a cozy Pink Lotus top and a festive silk top that I predict will get much use during the upcoming holiday season. So simple! Such fun!
Yes, online shopping is wonderfully convenient for basics, but Lisa's professionalism and pride make a strong argument for actually going into a brick-and-mortar local store.

Deer vs. vehicle

One recent evening I spotted a deer carcass along Route 82 in Doe Run (appropriately enough) and a lively conversation ensued about how deer don't just run out in front of vehicles; they also hurl themselves into the sides of cars, even stopped ones!
One friend had an especially unpleasant drive to work before sunup on Wednesday:
"Appears that Sandy has freaked out a bunch of wild things. Had a raccoon run right in front of the car, then moments later (just after my eyes unwidened) his tag-team partner deer ran right into the side of my car. Never saw it before, during or after the collision. If it's alive I hope it learned its lesson and told all its friends. That's the SECOND deer around here that's been so stupid it ran into the SIDE of my car!
"A quick inspection showed no real damage to the car (had to unfold the mirror and readjust it), except that it's in dire need of a washing now that it's covered with deer-deposited mud. Will now blow my horn early and often while driving to work."

Heads up, marketers!

Never stereotype people. I was changing in the locker room at the Jennersville Y this morning and a group of senior citizens were discussing electronics as they dried off from their water aerobics class. They'd all already experimented with the brand-new Windows 8 software and the latest iPhone model and had definite, vigorously defended opinions about them. They were experts as to which manufacturers offered the best laptop warranties (Dell), and they tossed around terms like "gigabytes" and "cloud storage" like they were teenagers.
What's that saying about you can't teach old dogs new tricks? Not true.

Apple Grove

Best wishes to the brave souls who are renovating the crumbling, long-abandoned farmhouse and giant barn on Apple Grove Road, east of Tapeworm Road. I thought it was way beyond repair, but the owners have been clearing the brush and vines that have accumulated over the years -- there's even a large pumpkin perched on the farmhouse porch! I think we'll all be eager to watch the progress of this challenging project.
Township historian Don Silknitter says back in the late 1970s this was the home of Charlie Elvin, who at that time was the oldest living resident of West Marlborough.
Speaking of Apple Grove Road, this morning I saw an artist stopped along the roadside, painting the view. I slowed down and told her that in my opinion Apple Grove is one of the prettiest roads around. She agreed: "It's unbelievable!"

Neutralized

An energetic friend of mine who is well known in the community was asked to help out at her East Marlborough polling place, as an especially large turnout was expected. She agreed, but only reluctantly: it meant she had to appear strictly nonpartisan, which meant she couldn't wear her earrings, hat or shirt emblazoned with the name of her chosen candidate!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Burned out

One of those new-fangled twisty CFL light bulbs burned out in my laundry room the other day, and I wasn't sure what to do with it. You're not supposed to throw them in the trash because apparently they contain a smidgen of mercury (another reason to dislike them, in my book). I looked online and found out that Lowe's on Route 41 in Avondale has a recycling bin for them; it's just to the left of the main entrance. As directed, I put the bulb in a plastic bag and dropped it into the slot. Done!

Farmshine

A neighbor passed along his copy of "Farmshine," a weekly periodical for dairy farmers; he told me I would appreciate the strongly worded editorial about politics, which I did. But while leafing through I also noticed that dairy farmers seem to be quite a witty bunch. The newspaper's email address is "cowsrus2@ptd.net," the T-shirt reads "Dairy Farmers Squeeze to Please," and the slogan of the Pennsylvania Holstein Association is "It's as Plain as Black & White."

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

After the storm

We totally lucked out with Sandy.
The giant storm brought about 4 inches of rain and some howling winds to Unionville on Monday, but (unlike the Jersey Shore and New York) damage seemed to be minimal. Homeowners will be picking up a lot of sticks for sure, but the downed trees that I saw while I was out and about on Tuesday looked like they had already been dead or pretty close to it (like the big one along Route 82 at Chesterland).
During Hurricane Irene last fall, the little creek in front of my house went way over the road; this time it wasn't even close to overflowing. The Brandywine Creek, of course, flooded at Routes 926 and 100, to no one's surprise.
A lot of people lost power; we did twice, but it came back on promptly, nothing like the week-long outage that was being predicted. A friend in Kennett admitted he was actually a little disappointed he didn't get to use his tiny camp stove. Some friends who live on more remote roads, though, reported extended outages.
A high-school friend who was out of power until Friday reports that her husband was on his way home when an electric company employee flagged him down and said his truck was stuck in the field; did he by any chance have a tractor to pull it out?
"Long story short: David pulled the truck out and then they came and reconnected our power! One good turn leads to another."
Friends with horses were relieved that the creatures fared perfectly well during the storm. One friend said she was so busy preparing for all of her animals' needs that she forgot to stock up on food for the human occupants of her house until the last minute. The Giant, she said, looked pretty much like it usually does on any other Monday morning. (I was there on Tuesday and everything looked pretty well stocked.)
I spotted a few segments of post-and-rail fence that had collapsed, and at one Unionville house along Route 82 a chunk of wooden privacy fence was definitely askew. An East Marlborough friend was concerned that the Buddha statue in her garden might go airborne, but true to his nature he stayed perfectly grounded.
I didn't hear much about flooded basements. One friend was reminiscing about the basement of an apartment house where he used to live: "It was viable frog habitat down there, because there were viable frogs living there."
Our West Marlborough road crew did a fantastic job; in fact,. I took them some cookies on Tuesday to thank them for their hard work and for keeping us so well updated online. Via Facebook they let us know the status of roads and repeatedly asked residents to report any power outages so they could help. Great customer service, guys!
I was reminded of how badly people elsewhere were hit by the storm when a Facebook friend posted that she is weary of seeing campaign commercials on TV. Commented a friend of hers from Branchburg, N.J.: "At least you are seeing ads...we still have no power....wondering how voting is going to happen when we have no electricity and no gas."

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Waiting

I'm writing this on Sunday afternoon, but by the time you read it in print, you'll know whether Sandy really was a disaster or was just another over-hyped storm ("Last Chance for Millions to Prepare for Sandy!" the Weather Channel website is screeching). I have every confidence in the performance of our newly installed, all-inclusive generator, although this might be its true first test.
On my way to breakfast at Sinclair's in Kennett this morning I noticed that a lot of people have removed their political yard signs so they don't blow away, and I've taken down my bird feeders and wind chimes for the same reason. Now I think it's time to bake some cookies.