Road work

In his monthly roadmaster's report, West Marlborough Township Supervisor Hugh Lofting said that the road crew spent 19 hours clearing snow and spreading salt in March. They also worked on the township's gravel roads, replaced a pipe under Covered Bridge Road that was destroyed by fire, and worked to get the road equipment ready for summer: "Hopefully, it'll come," he said. Mr. Lofting also said that the township's police officer, Bob Clarke, issued eight speeding citations and seven parking tickets in March.

Resignation

Michael Ledyard, chairman of the West Marlborough Township Board of Supervisors, announced at the board's April 2 meeting that he will be stepping down effective the end of April after 15 years of service. He singled out for thanks and praise the township secretary/treasurer Shirley Walton, solicitor Dwight Yoder, engineering and zoning consultants Al Giannantonio and Russell Yerkes, building inspector Eddie Caudill, the township road crew, and the township planning commission and zoning hearing board. He called his fellow supervisors Bill Wylie and Hugh Lofting "rock solid" and said he knows they will appoint "a good person" to fill his spot.

Tiny pieces

Well, I wish I'd known this before I gave my own shredder such a workout last week!
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, the Bayard Taylor Library in Kennett is hosting a shredding truck, which will be parked in the lot behind the library. Citizens can bring their sensitive documents to be destroyed for free. (No business documents, please!)

On a roll

I lunched at Hood's today (BBQ pulled chicken, yum!) and Larry told me that their spring/summer hours have started. They're open Monday through Saturday 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Today I shared my table with a Chester County residential real estate appraiser who was on his way to a job in Kennett borough. (By the way, he said business is really picking up this spring.) He told me he'd often passed Hood's but had never stopped in until now. I told him I hoped I'd see him back again!

Family values

Well-known local residents Megan Bushnell and Laura Florence and their two children, Wylie and Mavis, starred in a "Wall Street Journal" video on March 27! The family was in Washington DC to show their support for same-sex marriage. Megan got a little choked up as she told the reporter that she and Laura had been together for 28 years and "we want to get married." She said she had high hopes that they soon would be able to.
Thanks to my pal Melissa for posting the interview on Facebook.
Here's the link to the video: http://stream.wsj.com/story/world-stream/SS-2-44156/SS-2-198423/?mod=wsj_streaming_world-stream
Megan and Laura are also featured in Wilmington photographer Barbara Proud's "First Comes Love" project, which profiles same-sex couples from all over the country who are in long-term relationships (firstcomeslove.org).

Baby chicks!

On Monday morning at 8 a.m., I got a frantic call from a friend: her baby chicks had arrived at the Unionville Post Office, but her contractor's truck was blocking her driveway and she couldn't get out! I calmed her down and dashed over to her farm to pick her up.
First stop was the Embreeville Mill to buy two bags of chick feed (medicated). Then we went to the Post Office, and as soon as we walked in we heard the high-pitched cheeping noises coming from the cozy box they'd traveled in from Texas. As soon as Choon Ok handed us the box, we took the little guys (n = 4) and girls (n = 24) home.
My friend had already set up in her garage a big black tub, lined with shavings and newspaper, and had rigged up a heat lamp over the top. One at a time she gently removed the chicks from the box, dipped their beaks into the water feeder so they'd know where it was, and then set them down on the newspaper.

They immediately started bustling around, pecking at the feed and trying to fly. My friend said in a short time she'd have to put a screen over the top of the trough to keep them from flying off.

You'll notice on the shipping label that they included a "free rare exotic chick." We had fun trying to figure out which one it was and burst out singing "One of these things is not like the other..." We settled on a gray one that didn't seem to have a twin.

The Cheshire Races

I spent Easter Sunday afternoon at the 68th running of Mr. Stewart's Cheshire Foxhounds Point-to-Point Races at Plantation Field, and despite the drizzle and gusty wind I'd wager that everyone had a fantastic time. I know I did!
The races seemed especially exciting this year: it's amazing watching the horses thundering right past you. The jockeys are magnificent riders and, like the great athletes they are, make it all look so easy.
Early on in the afternoon an acquaintance of ours stopped by and urged us to cheer for Class Classic, a horse owned by her and some foxhunting friends who call themselves "The Pod." Sure enough, Class Classic, with Jody Petty up, won his race! It was fun to see all of them posing for a photo in the winner's circle.
It was great to say hello to so many friends and neighbors, including several I see on Facebook all the time but rarely in person (Andie, Gordon, Amy and Mark, I'm looking at you in particular). Some tanned folks had recently returned from spending the winter down South, and I'm afraid Sunday's weather was something of an unpleasant shock to them.
Heavy jackets, boots, jeans and warm hats were pretty much the uniform of the day. I saw several photographer friends shooting the action, including Jim Graham (who has a photography show opening Friday, April 5, at the Hardcastle Gallery in Centerville, Delaware) and former Kennett Paper editor David Yeats-Thomas, who now edits "Mid-Atlantic Horse" (and already has his onions planted).
What's any equestrian event without food? For our tailgate party one of my pals brought "Walking Tacos," which were a huge hit. What's a walking taco? You take a snack-size bag of tortilla chips (Doritos Nacho Cheese in this case) and, without opening the bag, crunch the chips up. Then open the top of the bag, ladle in chili from a crock pot, and add cheese and sour cream to taste. Then just take a spoon and eat out of the bag. Delicious ("painfully good" was one description I heard), tidy and even ecologically sound (well, except for the fact that we kept the Jeep running so that we could plug that crock pot into the 110V outlet). My hostess says she got the idea from some clever pony club kids at the recent Andrews Bridge Paper Chase in Fair Hill.
Getting our party -- four humans, two dogs, a table, folding chairs, a large cooler, and plenty of food and drink -- packed into the Jeep Liberty was pretty funny; it was like Tetris, or one of those vexing 3-D wooden puzzles that you have to assemble in exactly the right order. On the way to the course the dogs were bouncing off the windows, they were so excited; fortunately, on the way home at about 4 p.m. they were so exhausted they immediately fell asleep.
And I have to say: I went home, dried off and warmed up, cleaned off the mud and took a brief nap myself.