Unwelcome visitors

It's bad enough to walk into a room and smell that foul stinkbug odor, but isn't it even worse when you can't spot the culprit? You just know it's lurking nearby, ready to emit that nauseating stench again... but where??
Although the stinkbugs seem to be making a comeback the past few weeks, in my house at least, they are nowhere near as numerous as they were two years ago, when they covered the walls and got into your drawers, your pillowcase, your medicine cabinet. Their favorite spot this winter seems to be my coffee maker. Whether it's the warmth or just the aroma of Dunkin' Donuts Original Blend, I now am careful to check the carafe and the spout before flipping the "on" switch, lest I brew a flavorful mug of Brown Marmorated.
The other morning I was pouring myself a glass of our delicious West Marlborough well water and noticed that the stream coming from the kitchen tap was oddly bifurcated. Sure enough, there was a stinkbug clinging to the underneath of the spigot. What a way to start the day.
As a short person I've found Hal Lewis's "Stik A Bug" to be both helpful and fun for capturing stinkbugs that are walking across the ceiling. It's essentially a Swiffer-type mop with a sticky pad at the end for trapping the bugs. Hal, who until recently owned a garage in Kennett, is a mechanic and entrepreneur. His Stik A Bug works so well I'm glad he threw in a spare sticky pad! And I can attest to the fact that it also works well on hard-to-reach cobwebs. 

Kennett is Cool ... and Strict

Don't forget that you have to feed the meters in Kennett Borough even on Saturdays!
On the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 9, I was having a post-Nemo drink with a pal at the Half-Moon (a gin-and-tonic, so very inappropriate to the season) when I spotted the meter guy on his rounds, ticket book in hand. I raced out to my vehicle, which was parked nearby on State Street, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I hadn't been ticketed. It turns out that the meter still had someone else's time on it when I parked!
For safety's sake I put in another quarter, which gave me a total of 28 minutes, and I returned to the bar to finish my drink. But as they tend to do when you're with pleasant company, the first drink turned into a second, and before I knew it the meter guy returned! Fortunately I was sitting near the window and spotted him approaching. Once again I ran out, wallet in hand, dashed past him, and inserted another quarter JUST before he got to my car. 

Feb. 14th

When you read this in The Kennett Paper, it'll be St. Valentine's Day, so here's a shout-out to the Young Relative, who is always my favorite Valentine. He's kind, smart, funny, clever, creative, competitive, and athletic. He's a great writer, speller, and storyteller (well, what can I say...), an amusing companion, a remarkably quick study, a loyal friend, and a joy to be around. And he'd better not try to charge me $5 for being featured in this item.

Shouldering the blame

Rokeby Road is "a potential disaster" and "an accident waiting to happen," two residents who live near it warned the West Marlborough Township supervisors at their Feb. 5 monthly meeting.
The women said the pavement is literally crumbling away and slipping down a steep bank into the waters of the Buck Run below. The supervisors replied that they are well aware of the ongoing problem and have tried to get money from the state to stabilize the bank to prevent further damage, but it has to be done in accordance with strict environmental regulations and will be a very costly endeavor that the township can't easily afford.
The next day I decided to see what they were talking about and took a drive along Rokeby Road, which has a "Road Closed Ahead" sign where it joins Route 82 to discourage traffic. A quarter-mile along the scenic road, just across from the intersection with Richard Wilson Drive, there's a sheer drop down to the creek, just inches off the westbound lane of travel. It's pretty dramatic. There are warning barricades in place, but I doubt they'd provide much protection.

Break-ins

A recent rash of vehicle break-ins and burglaries in the Embreeville area has Newlin Township residents on edge. Frankly, I think the thief is pretty foolhardy: I know quite a few Newlin residents, and they are a self-sufficient bunch who don't take kindly to having their property messed with in any way. Police are advising residents to take the precaution of keeping their car doors locked, even at home in the driveway.

From Kennett to Cameroon

My friend Ellen, who used to live on South Broad Street in Kennett, has been traveling the world with the U.S. State Department and is now based in Cameroon. She shared this item from her embassy newsletter:
"House for rent in Damas: Living and dining room area, 2 internal bedrooms, 2 external bedrooms, 1 dressing room, 2 internal toilets, 1 external toilet, 1 external sink. Forage: water connected in the house. House is fenced in and comes with a very large parking area big enough for 5 cars. Two free dogs included."
Comments Ellen: "The exterior toilet and sink refer to what the guards use, but the funny part to me is the dogs."
The next post for Ellen and her husband is in Kabul, Afghanistan. They have four children, two in college and one at boarding school here in the States and one just finishing her senior year of high school in Yaounde.  

A good deed

Bill, the postmaster at the Unionville Post Office, had a new assistant this afternoon: a stray dog awaiting his master!
A Unionville resident picking up her mail spotted a loose yellow Lab in the parking lot. Worried that he might run onto Route 82, she took hold of the friendly canine by the collar and phoned the Delaware number on his ID tag. The owner, who lives near the post office, answered and was understandably quite upset to hear the news. He said he was about 20 minutes away and would leave for the post office immediately.
My friend took the dog into the lobby, prepared to wait until the owner arrived, but Bill said the dog was welcome to stay behind the counter with him. Unionville had a deputy postmaster for a little while!

Who needs manners?

At the Y this afternoon two surly-looking elementary-school boys were at the front desk asking the attendant if they could borrow basketballs. They didn't smile at him. They didn't make eye contact. And they certainly didn't say "please."
The attendant asked if they had their Y membership cards.
"No," they said. (No apology.)
Would they be sure and bring them next time? he asked politely.
"Yes," they replied, pro forma.
The Y employee (who was much, MUCH more tolerant than I would've been) then gave them basketballs.
Not good enough: One of the boys said he didn't like the one he was given; he wanted a particular one. Again, no "please."
At this point I left, despairing for the future of civilized society. Let's just hope these rude kids learn that saying "please" and "thank you" is not only the right thing to do, it will make your life easier in the long run.

Order here

I joined some friends at Applebee's on Baltimore Pike for a late dinner on Tuesday night and got to use the restaurant's new self-ordering system for the first time. There's a wireless touch-screen device at each table that has all the menu items listed on it, and you just scroll through, decide what you want to eat and drink, and punch in your order. It's pretty cool. At the end of the meal (which is still brought by a real and friendly human server), your check appears on the screen and you can swipe your credit card through.

Cold comfort

Thank goodness for all of my alert sources out there. I got this chilling e-mail on Feb. 5:
"I was driving down Spencer Rd. just west of Stroud Water Research and there on the road was a man in a bathing suit with a towel over his arm and a bar of soap. He was walking to the stream and, yes, he walked right in stream and started to wash! I was so stunned I kept driving but did look at my temperature guide and it was 32 degrees outside! Balmy!"
I asked around, and it seems that this hardy fellow is often seen bathing there in the White Clay Creek, no matter how cold it gets.

London Grove update

After 3 weeks, the pile of trash in front of the twin house at Route 926 and Newark Road -- the one I griped about in last week's column -- has finally been removed! I don't know who did it, but this is good news. I was surprised at the number of people who came up to me and said that they, too, were fed up with seeing that mildewing trash heap.
And just steps away, the corner of the old blacksmith shop that was smashed by an errant vehicle during the snowstorm on Feb. 2 has been covered over with green and blue tarpaulins.

Cornered

The southeast corner of the old blacksmith shop in London Grove village took a hit from a Land Rover during Saturday night's snowstorm. I drove through that intersection maybe an hour before the crash and can attest to how slippery the road was.

A spicy item

I have written before of the Nomex-lined digestive system that a Kennett friend of mine possesses. He loves spicy food, the more potent the better. He can down fiery, pepper-laden soup that temporarily robs me of the power of speech (a good thing, some would say).
His favorite is El Yucateco's green habanero sauce -- not the red, milder stuff, mind you. It is so strong that even an eighth-inch-wide line of this stuff added to a sandwich makes him very happy indeed.

He went to his local tienda to buy a bottle and the clerk gave him a quizzical look, as if to appraise whether this Anglo really knew what he was getting into. My friend had to assure him that he was fully aware of its hotness quotient and could indeed handle it.

To the dump

For the past few weeks there's been a pile of junk sitting in front of a house on Route 926 (Street Road) at the Newark Road intersection in the village of London Grove. There's an old sofa, other junk and plastic bags of trash. It's unsightly and I wouldn't be surprised if creatures have taken up residence in it. I don't know who the property owner is, but I hope he or she sees that it's hauled away soon.