It’s an epidemic. This is being proposed on a historic site in Montgomery County in Limerick and there’s a meeting tomorrow and I guess they broadcast live on Facebook as well.
Just a crazy idea, but perhaps people should tune in to this meeting, because apparently a lot of us across Southeastern PA have a similar issue, and the more people who object to these warehouses the better off, we will all be.
Location: Possum Hollow Road Review Phase: Preliminary Plan
CB Limerick LLC proposes to subdivide the 117.9 Acre tract fronting W. Lightcap Road into five lots and construct four storage facilities totaling 1 Mil SF and one 30,000 SF and one retail space with associated loading, parking and stormwater facilities. The project also proposes to construct private road connecting W. Lightcap Road (at the light at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets) to Sanatoga Road. Project will be serviced by public water and sewer.
This is being proposed by I think some people from New York. A subsidiary of the Iconic Group (whomever they are.) I will note as a related aside to Chester County residents that apparently the old Saint Gabriel’s Hall is something Audubon has their paws in.
And Limerick isn’t that far from the Chester County border and there is a lot of development being planned there. It’s pretty frightening but it’s also Montgomery County, which is where the head of Chester County Planning Commission hails from – and you know I think Brian O’Leary is a carpet bagger and too pro development.
So back to Limerick. What is so atrocious is once again a historic property is at risk because of a mega warehouse plan.
Hood Mansion located in Limerick, PA was built in 1834 by John M. Hood, an Irish immigrant. He built it as a summer home for his wife and his thirteen children.
The Hood’s son, Washington, was the 500th graduate of West Point in 1827. He then went on to become Captain of the Corps of Topographical Engineers in the US Army and mapped out most of the Oregon Territory and Northwest. After he died at the age of 32 of Yellow Fever, his father erected a monument in his honor. The monument is still located on the estate, as well as the original family crypt.
The Hood Mansion would be demolished. It would be replaced with mega warehouses. So this beautiful historic structure with ties to national, local, and cultural significance with a retaining pond would be lost forever along with more open space. Please note the Hood family also advocated and helped enslaved persons reach freedom during the Underground Railroad. So there is that too.
This is not a structure to just be bulldozed and forgotten…. this is just as horrible and egregious as what’s being proposed for Lionville Station Farm and Happy Days Farm in Chester County.
All of these pieces of land have historic import. And while we can’t save every old house, there are some we should just save. And the way Hood is being left at present to rot is just as bad as Lloyd Farm in Caln. Why can’t we ever have adaptive reuse in part with any of these proposals? It’s just demolish and build and it’s like mega warehouses have become the new apartment building plans. They’re all bad. They all suck. They’re not anything to do with our communities or the people that live there let alone our history.
In Southeastern, Pennsylvania is seems any open space with serious history that isn’t being turned into ugly ass apartment buildings and townhouse developments is being proposed for mega warehouses now.
I swear I used to think it was just Chester county where we had to band together. I think we have to band together in multiple counties.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS PUBLIC MEETING 19 SEPTEMBER 2023, 7:00 P.M. – LIMERICK TOWNSHIP MUNICIPAL BUILDING
646 West Ridge Pike, Limerick, PA 19468
I don’t usually curse in my posts but this is bullsh🤬t. Just like Lionville Station Farm and Happy Days Farm.
Ahh development. This is Greystone in West Goshen. One word: HIDEOUS.
Living cheek to jowl. No real gardens. No individuality.
This was once a glorious estate. Of course, while it was a glorious estate in recent memory, there was a failed eminent domain attempt. So then after a few years the owners sold to developers. Was one action a direct result of a prior action? We’ll probably never know.
One of the things I love about this development is if you look at the last little bit at the edge of the road it looks like bad military base housing.
It is just too much development. It stresses the infrastructure in West Goshen.
Of course, in West Goshen there is a lot we will never know because everything is a state secret isn’t it? And there is still the questions about the recently deceased West Goshen employee by suicide, but has anyone else notice how no one is talking about that or what the cause was?
Sorry about that little segue, but it was kind of necessary wasn’t it?
OK back to bad development. Another amusement yesterday occurred as I was being horrified by the side of it is the giant Catalyst billboard on Lancaster Avenue in East Whiteland. It shows a giant photograph of lavender or maybe a salvia. Which is perfect for all of these people in these hideous developments, who can’t plant a flower pot full of flowers in their Welcome to Stepford plastic development. All they have to do now is gaze upon the giant electronic TV along Lancaster Avenue.
And this is what we’re becoming: just one bad development after the other. And if it’s not bad residential development now, we have to fear mega warehouses.
So class, where are the origins of these development woes and ills? The very greatly outdated Municipalities Planning Code. I mean it hasn’t been comprehensively updated since 1969, so don’t rush Harrisburg.
If you really want another shock, drive Ship Road in West Whiteland from King Road through to Lancaster Avenue. Try not to run off the road when you see the land laid bare and stripped for apartments and townhouses and other bullshit before you hit the corner.
This is Chester County. Is this what we really want?
I’m going to show you some photos next. They will remind you of all the ugly apartments being built here in Chester County, including next to Will and Bill‘s along 202, or dwarfing the Berwyn Tavern on Lancaster Avenue, or along 29 in East Whiteland. These photos were taken as a passenger driving along 95 towards the Betsy Ross Bridge. Essentially, it’s all the same ugly crap everywhere you go. Cheap to build, charge a fortune. Municipalities and residents left holding the bag.
We need to collectively as a county full of people demand better from our elected officials. And every state election, we need to make overdevelopment everywhere an issue, and we need to demand, not ask, but demand state reps and state senators remember for whom they actually are supposed to work for. And it’s not the largest donor or unions or construction lobbyists, it’s all of us.
Politicians should no longer be allowed to say how they love our area and it’s so beautiful. Or say look at all of the open space because all of the open space is disappearing. The ratio of what we’re saving as open space and farmland compared to development is a very unequal balance.
Pick a municipality. No one is immune from this.
Yes, I hate all of this development. Yes I say it out loud, and for those who think I hate all development, that’s actually not true, but we don’t see any thoughtful development anymore.
People wherever they live, need to take a stand. We need to stop the madness.
I know you’re a busy guy. There’s Tesla and making Twitter into X Marks The Spot and all, but not all of us enjoy spammers and budding Internet porn stars and all their fake accounts and whatever on the bot front.
Now I am a Twitter OG. I actually joined Twitter more than two years before you did. I was amused at Twitter even when it was 140 characters or less.
I’m not leaving Twitter, but Twitter in the end could leave all of us if you drive it all of the way into the ground correct? Unless there is a Twitter revolution and people take over and put you out of your company or something? I mean where is Gordon Gekko when you need a fun corporate takeover, right?
So I’m going to sit back with the popcorn and see what happens, but I thought as a good longtime resident of the Twitterverse I should point out these lovely accounts.
One of the topics of conversation this summer all over our area has been trash pick up. The formerly always reliable AJ Blosenski went off the rails.
There is no need to rehash all of our missed pick ups and all of our piles of trash and how hard it is to get them on the phone. Today I only waited half an hour. And waiting half an hour is utterly ridiculous.
A few days ago, I wrote the post to see embedded below.
I really wanted things to work out with Blosenski. I really kept hoping that they would fix their issues but when we had to start again this week with streets just arbitrarily being skipped for pick up with no prior notice and not getting notice until two days later after you had left multiple messages and filled out a missed trash pick up request online. This is why we decided we had been patient enough. We’re paying for a service and trash is stinky. So when you have a couple of weeks where the trash is fine and then the exact same problems start to repeat themselves and you’re the customer. the aggravation point isn’t worth it anymore.
So three days ago I called Opdenaker. I did not sit on hold forever before I spoke to a customer service person, and when that customer service person answered the phone, they were polite and friendly, and wanted to speak with me and wanted to be helpful. Essentially everything you want a customer service person to be.
This morning they dropped off our two new cans. They apologized profusely because they were actually a day late from their normal schedule of giving new customers cans but apparently they’ve been getting a lot of new customers because of the mass exodus from AJ Blosenski. And the man that drop the cans off was just so nice.
My husband had called to break up with A.J Blosenski formally. I had called the very nice regional person from Waste Connections that I have been dealing with to let him know. I wanted to extend that courtesy to him because the regional people have been so nice to us, trying to fix our missed deliveries. The Blosenski office told my husband that they would not be picking up our cans until August 28. Yes, almost a month from now.
I couldn’t believe that was true. So I sat on hold today to find out if it was and it was and I was told by the “customer service”person that arguing with him wouldn’t get it picked up faster I mean really? I wasn’t arguing I was however somewhat incredulous that they could have already charged us for the next quarter of service on an account we had canceled. Oh and we have to wait for that to be refunded, and they haven’t yet refunded the missed pick ups that they owed us for previously.
I’m not trying to be a difficult customer on the way out the door, but this is ridiculous. It’s like they are going out of their way to be as unpleasant as possible, and make this as difficult as possible. And it is indeed, a shame, because the regional person I had been dealing with from Waste Connections couldn’t be nicer.
So this is almost closing the door on A.J. Blosenski for us.
The trash photos you are seeing are all different examples of missed pick ups all over the area. There are some corporate acquisitions that go smoothly, this isn’t one of them. I am kind of shocked actually because prior to this we had a great service from them. But I guess the people that work there can’t handle being part of a larger, corporate structure. I hope it gets figured out. But we are moving on.
On April 20, 2023 residents who live in the Mt. Pleasant section of Tredyffrin started talking about cameras on trees in Mazie B. Hall Park.
At first people wondered if all of the parks in Tredyffrin were getting some sort of security cameras or if this was something to do with Mt. Pleasant? No one had any answers.
Well, reliable sources now tell me that the cameras have been removed by Tredyffrin, and apparently neither Tredyffrin Township public works nor the police mounted those cameras on the trees and how creepy AF is that? I mean after all, weren’t those trees facing the tot lot in that park?
A couple of residents apparently were also told that there is some sort of investigation going on? So maybe Tredyffrin should talk to the residents about this?
Sorry, not sorry but somebody randomly mounting cameras in a park facing a tot lot is kind of creepy is it not?
Can they track the camera owners somehow? Where were cameras transmitting to and why? What exactly was being photographed or recorded and why?
Just saying.
Calling Nancy Drew or even Scooby Doo. Where are you?
Hate has a home here. A few days ago, literally in the shadow of Valley Forge.
These folks, yes, are expressing their First Amendment Rights, but why are our rights more and more subjective? Why do their rights feel like they matter more than others?
(Objective rights refers to the legal norms in general and subjective rights are the power that citizens have as holders of the rights granted by the objective rights to proceed on these rights for the satisfaction of their own interests.)
What kind of country are we becoming? What would our forefathers think if they were here to see this?
And then there are the questions of are offensive banners and signs like this covered by First Amendment Rights or are they hate speech?
“Jews Will Not Replace Us” is on the banner. It makes you shudder doesn’t it? And Nazi symbolism? The Nazis not only tried to eradicate the Jewish people via the Holocaust, but they also went after those who were not Jewish but wouldn’t sign on to their message and mission. Family friends of ours who were not Jewish watched as Nazis took their father’s business for not complying with their edicts and sent him to the Russian front to his ultimate death when they were small children in World War II. They spent the rest of the war hiding in the German Alps with their mother. And there are lots more of these stories of whom the Nazis persecuted and murdered in addition to over 6 million Jewish people.
This is the kind of hatred I don’t understand. And it’s part and parcel of the extremism in belief systems and feelings in this country that I also don’t understand. Hate and vitriol in this country have existed almost as long as we have existed as a country. I’m not exaggerating, and it’s kind of super sad considering this country was founded to give people freedom from religious persecution etc.
OK I’m white and according to some, it’s bad for me to be white and heterosexual and Catholic, even if not particularly devout as a Catholic given the sex abuse scandals covered up in this region by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. But I don’t understand this whole “White Lives Matter” of it all.
Inequalities in this country exist. I’m not going to say they don’t exist but I don’t know how this has turned into being Jewish is bad. I don’t understand the rise in antisemitism, and perhaps I haven’t been paying attention. I mean there’s so much going on in this country that is hateful, that some days it’s hard to keep up isn’t it?
But this incident this past weekend was at the Valley Forge exit of the turnpike or the turnpike over Valley Forge Park. (I’m not sure which it is there.) This is in Tredyffrin Township which has had a lot of problems with antisemitism since March, I think it was. There were all these swastikas and horrible things being graffiti spray-painted everywhere. Eventually one person was apprehended, but then there was more graffiti, so I don’t know where that stands. I do know that the first person apprehended with a middle school student which blew my mind. A 15-year-old kid did part of this. According to the Jewish Exponent, he hadn’t been interviewed yet by police as if their June article.
So here we are again in July with more of this. And I am left with a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach because this is just not right.
Sociologically what I also find interesting is a lot of people saw these gentlemen with their banner over the turnpike. That’s how the photos were taken and sent to me and others. but the thing is this no one seems to be talking about this. So are we as a nation or a region becoming more conditioned to messages like this?
Anyway I don’t have anything particularly profound to add. I just don’t understand why. Sometimes stupid human tricks make me very sad and upset.
Apparently ROOSTERS were conducting this morning’s crazy train in Chester County. You know, I probably WASN’T going to talk about ROOSTERS in Willistown AGAIN, until the Rooster Mommy left a comment on this blog this morning identifying herself, and opening the door to further discussion and opinions. I had not identified her previously as a courtesy, even if I kept receiving lovely (yes I am being sarcastic) messages from her friends since I wrote the first post. But she outed herself name and all, so in the effort to be accurate I am going to show you dear readers the clucking (you may have to click on the screenshot in order to read it):
Comment received 2 hours ago which would be approximately 7:20 A.M. today
So this is “Mr. Roo’s” owner. She is a realtor given her email. I don’t know, maybe some clients would like a rooster as a closing gift? (Just asking for a couple of friends on her street.)
Here is what she said when she wrote to the blog this morning in case you can’t see the screenshot. I will note it is copied exactly the way it was written so here you go rooster fans:
Time to start the day with a few facts – and not just ramblings. 1. When Mr ROO was rescued, he was disoriented and unfamiliar with histerritory and crowed early. He has since started around 6:45 – and is a “country alarm clock” for almost all of us that can hear him. He can’t crow non stop- it’s a 2 second crow, and another but not non stop. The rooster has been doing this since the start of the world. 2. When the person was bothered – instead of calling the owner, they called the police – as “anonymous” so the owner thought it was the original complainer from years ago who was trying to get her land to build another Mc Chateau. Then the person being bothered went to social media – who not only didn’t have their facts right about the situation, but they blasted the fine police and people of Willistown. So to answer your question – who needs attention? I may be old school, but what happened to calling someone and discussing ways to make things better? 3. The Rooster is put in his little barn every nite. The owner of MR ROO has done many things to muffle the crow- like stuffing towels in the window cracks, covering the door with a towel and 2 comforters, and is looking into other ideas. 4. You don’t live in Willistown – we do ! For reasons like we can grow our own food and flowers, crack an egg for breakfast and share eggs with people who care about what’s in their food. @ 35% of this area is under some kind of conservation easement, deed restriction, or parkland. You all come here to enjoy our views and walk our trails. And another fact – There are many levels of “residential” neighborhoods. The area where this rooster is on is almost 3 acres, has a 14 acre property, 8+ acre property and 10+ acre property in a stones throw. The rooster is not free ranging and right outside her window. Do you want to know how far away her window is? The only person complaining may be having trouble sleeping because of other problems in their life, and may need to evaluate the real cause of not being able to sleep? As I write this at 7:30 am, I can hear chain saws and leaf blowers, but was awakened by just birds loudly chirping – Long before the rooster crowed to announce the start of a new day. Could I close my window- sure, but then I would miss the best part of the day – for me- When the phone is not ringing and people don’t need my help …. A cup of coffee, a rooster crow – starts my day the best way.
Facts are important, I agree. So if you call someone on June 9, 2023 and it’s now June 22, 2023 and rooster is still LOUD A.F., is that being a good neighbor?
Since facts are important, I offer up the rooster confessional shared with permission from “person” being woken up:
Facts include the public comment at the most recent Board of Supervisors meeting about Mr. Roo:
So Mr. Roo has his “own little barn?” And regarding like “like stuffing towels in the window cracks, covering the door with a towel and 2 comforters, and is looking into other ideas.” So many mental pictures there, so many.
Ok first there is that visual of towels and blankets. Sorry not sorry but that sounds like the Clampetts thought that up? And I have checked with people who live on LARGER properties who do own roosters. Some have essentially like extra large dog crates for them inside their barns that they cover with a thin breathable cover that blocks the light much like people do with parrots etcetera to tell them it’s time for sleep. And if “Mr. Roo” is crowing THAT loud through “his own little barn” with the Clampett arrangement of comforters (are they Laura Ashley so he at least looks at little flowers?) and what is the thread count on the towel, maybe Mr. Roo is just complaining about the linen choices? Maybe try blackout shades or rehoming the rooster like you indicated you would in your voicemail message?
And in your message (recording above), you reference wanting to be “a good neighbor” or something along those lines, yet you say something this morning that is a little less than nice? This:
The only person complaining may be having trouble sleeping because of other problems in their life, and may need to evaluate the real cause of not being able to sleep?
~Mr. Roo’s Mommy 6/22/23
Wow just wow. That’s really being a good neighbor, huh? Clap, clap for 10 on the Bitch-O-Meter, right?
So if said rooster is being put inside (although no one can actually see that or they would be trespassing) and if Mr. Rooster is still being loud enough to wake your neighbors, your chickens, your goats and your donkeys, what does THAT tell you, Rooster Mommy? That your neighbors must all be horrible people? So because a rooster keeps waking up any neighbors THIS time around, they have problems in their life? Really? Wow. Are you so perfect?
Facts from last time:
I will remind everyone that Rooster Mommy opened this door by identifying herself by leaving a comment. I have not said her name personally, I only identify her as Rooster Mommy.
Roostergate 2 continues yet, I am a bad person for commenting about it? And wait, my favorite next to the bucolic marketing spin about fresh eggs (which of course begs the comment of wow that is some rooster if they can lay an egg), is that I don’t live in Willistown. Well Rooster Mommy thank sweet baby Jesus for that because there is something in the water and y’all didn’t even sell the sewer. You know what draws people’s attention to Willistown? How about how nasty people can be to their neighbors?
And oh yes the condescending talking down to me is so special and I feel so loved:
You all come here to enjoy our views and walk our trails.
~ Rooster Mommy 6/22/23
Oh my gosh can I carry your parasol too? Lady, I come to Willistown to visit my friends. And you would be surprised to know whom I know besides your two neighbors who would prefer your rooster NOT CROW SO DAMN EARLY EVERY SINGLE DAY. They let me into polite society and into Willistown shocking as that might seem to you. I get it I am a peon, a peasant. Whatever. That’s pretty funny actually.
Shared with permission from “person” being woken up
You say:
The area where this rooster is on is almost 3 acres, has a 14 acre property, 8+ acre property and 10+ acre property in a stones throw. The rooster is not free ranging and right outside her window.
~Rooster mommy 6/22/23
But you aren’t on 3 acres are you and what does that have to do with the proverbial price of eggs? How much pasture do all of your animals have? How many animals do you have? I don’t really care and I like goats and chickens, just curious. And while you have larger properties a stone’s throw away (you dropped your apostrophe by the way), you aren’t disturbing them because they have larger properties. That’s the point you seem to be missing.
2. When the person was bothered – instead of calling the owner, they called the police – as “anonymous” so the owner thought it was the original complainer from years ago who was trying to get her land to build another Mc Chateau. Then the person being bothered went to social media – who not only didn’t have their facts right about the situation, but they blasted the fine police and people of Willistown.
~ rooster mommy 6/22/23
After the last time Rooster Mommy had a rooster and the kerfuffle that ensued, can you blame “person” for just calling the police? Sadly since it’s Rooster Groundhog Day over on your street maybe they felt there was no option? And given the tone of this comment towards a woman who yes is a friend well hmmm I don’t know?
Also when you call the police you are not anonymous. They take down your name and address and phone number. When the police come out to address a situation like this they are trying to de-escalate and find a solution, so perhaps they just didn’t feel they had to tell you her name at that juncturet?
Not to put too fine a point on it I was on the Zoom side of the recent Board of Supervisors Meeting and heard public comment. Your neighbor neither blasted the police or people in Willistown. She calmly discussed what she felt were the issues, and even Willistown will tell you this is not the only poultry issue cropping up. AND SHE THANKED THE POLICE.
And I am amused that you view me as all of social media. This is a topic that interests me and and I followed Roostergate 1 but didn’t say much, but well, since it’s Roostergate Groundhog Day and the issues is also in other places of the same township, I am following this. There is no crime in that and again, my opinion is roosters belong on farms.
Well I could go on, but I have things to do, so let’s move along with this next part of your comment (I want to ensure you feel “heard”):
Could I close my window- sure, but then I would miss the best part of the day – for me- When the phone is not ringing and people don’t need my help …. A cup of coffee, a rooster crow – starts my day the best way.
~ rooster mommy 6/22/23
I get it, I get it, I am a horrible, terrible person in your eyes because I think roosters belong on actual farms. And while you don’t like my opinions, I am entitled to them. Even if I do not live in Willistown.
Your email indicates you are a realtor, and I looked you up but won’t mention your firm, but let’s look at it from a realtor selling a property. If you were selling a house next door to yours how would you make a prospective buyer, purchasing a house in a residential neighborhood, see your property? As a realtor when people want a suburban vibe, does that fit it? And would you tell them about that Air B-n-B that is supposedly there on your street? If you had identified your property as being larger than not quite 3 acres, honestly I wouldn’t have even written about the rooster most likely. But my opinion is you are asking a lot of your neighbors.
I will go further and point out that your personal Waterloo over keeping roosters when you already went through this once is WHY keeping chickens gets a bad rap in many municipalities which I think is a shame because again, I like chickens and find their laying songs both happy and oddly soothing. But this whole thing? It will eventually cause Willistown to stop being an ostrich and enact an ordinance over chickens and such, which may not be to the liking of a lot of people in your township. And maybe you can’t hear your rooster over your phone ringing all of the time with people asking for help, but what about those neighbors you want to be a good neighbor to? Don’t they matter at all?
Lots of people around me have chickens, they are lovely animals. Lots of my friends have chickens, goats, horses, cows. But anyone I have even known that has had a rooster has had them on actual FARMS, and the properties are 5 acres or more….and the roosters are kept inside the barn and do not crow until let out into their runs or whatever in the morning.
Here’s a thought: you could just be a grown up and rehome the latest rooster to an actual farm and visit it. If you really want to be a good neighbor, that is. I mean why put yourself through all of this again? But hey, just my “rambling” thoughts and opinions, right? In the meantime, cluck off sister and have a wonderful day, bless your heart.
The cavalry arrived in my neighborhood yesterday a little before 6 PM
A few days ago I wrote about the problems we’re having around here with A J Blosenski. They used to be like clockwork, no problems, and for whatever reason since they were acquired by their new corporate overlord Waste Connections, there have been growing pains. And staffing shortages and you can’t get people on the phone easily anymore and people are having a hard time all over the region getting their trash picked up.
Now, I think part of this has to do also with Covid and when Republic Services dumped our area. And when Republic left, some of us got notice, maybe a week to 10 days in advance that they were leaving, others got no notice whatsoever. And you couldn’t get anybody on the phone to talk about it and that has been a problem for months leading up to this decision by Republic Services.
I still remember the day when Republic came through after hammering us that we had to return their cans. They told us they were taking their cans back. I guess to move them to other areas but literally we watched as their trash truck picked up our trashcan garbage and all, and just threw all of it into the big back mouth of the truck. It seemed so wasteful to me, especially since a lot of us at very new cans that they had given us not that long before.
And then, even though Republic Services dumped all of their customers in various parts of our region, it took months to get them to stop sending bills which was extraordinarily frustrating. They told you they were breaking up with their customers. You had to find a new hauler and scramble to do so, yet they were still sending you a bill…for services no longer rendered.
So then post Republic break up, we all settled into a nice routine with A.J Blosenski. Then we heard about the corporate acquisition, and since spring hit, it’s been difficult at times to get the trash picked up. Some neighborhoods it was recycling like mine, other neighborhoods, it was trash, and then there were other places all together where everything was missed.
It’s been bad in East Whiteland and I know it’s been even worse in Tredyffrin, and there have even been issues in West Whiteland where they are that township’s designated hauler.
As I had indicated in my prior post, it’s very frustrating to try to get somebody on the phone. And feeling less than satisfied after another missed pick up on Monday I’ve decided to take action on my own. So I literally did Internet research until I came up with a corporate phone number for Waste Connections who acquired A.J. Blosenski.
After I looked up the corporate phone number, I researched to some of the officers of Waste Connections. I researched what their emails were and how to format them. And then I called and had a really nice conversation with a woman down south in the executive offices. After my conversation with her I sent my email outlining all the things that had me going wrong in my neighborhood. They told me that they would make it right.
Yesterday at a little before 6 PM, Waste Connections and AJ Blosenski made good on their promise. They cleared the trash in my entire neighborhood.
I also learned today that hideous Whitetail Disposal has applied for soliciting permit in my township and I’m sure many others. Here’s hoping they know what no soliciting means this time around.
I don’t like Whitetail and I wasn’t the only one that had problems with their door-to-door soliciting. They completely ignored another friend’s no solicitation sign and then when she said no, they came back another day and that was part of their M.O. the last time around. I also remember they asked someone else I know if her husband was home to make the decision. Yeah just call all us ladies Donna Reed, Whitetail (said with major eye rolling.)
Since Whitetail Disposal first broke into this area, what I have noticed, is they leave cans in the middle of the road and they often leave bits of trash in the middle of the road. I always hear about people complaining that they have missed pick ups, and that they are sloppy and inconsistent. Their average rating on Google reviews alone is 2.6 stars out 5. On the Better Business Bureau website also bad reviews. I also found a curious thing on the Attorney General’s website for PA:
Whitetail Disposal is only applying for permits to solicit around here again because of the problems A.J. Blosenski is experiencing which is kind of like what Whitetail Disposal reviews are like all of the time. My opinion is they are like opportunistic parasites.
So today A.J. Blosenski was featured on NBC10 news with Deanna Durante. It was an honest reporting job of what consumers are experiencing.
I will continue to give A.J. Blosenski a chance. I am not going to say I am not frustrated by the issues that they have been having. But I’ve been reading about people talking about Whitetail disposal for a couple of years now and they have these problems all of the time, so I will stick with who I know at this time.
My Aunt Connie showing the suits at PGW in Philadelphia a new hot water heater circa 1953.
Being a stepmother is not for sissies. I have been one for quite a bunch of years at this point.
Being a stepmother means that you literally step into a role of being the mother figure to a child or children who you did not give birth to. You married their father. You are a parent yet you don’t parent because you aren’t their mother, although you are a parental figure.
It’s a tightrope at times. Wonderful. Rewarding. Sometimes magical. Sometimes frustrating. You have, as a stepmother, a biological disconnect. So there are things that might not be a big deal to a biological parent that will totally get to you.
I realized the other day when my cousin Kevin posted he had seen some of his mom’s family that his mother was the first stepmother I ever knew. His mom was my Aunt Connie. She was my Uncle Jack’s second wife. His first wife Millie died of an aneurysm when two of my cousins were very little.
Aunt Connie was the first stepmother I ever knew except to me she was just my aunt. And she also had a stepmother because I learned through Ancestry research that her birth mother died when she was two from tuberculosis.
After her mother died, Aunt Connie’s father remarried, and she gained a stepmother. Then, a few years after that her father, who was a Polish immigrant and a relatively young man in his early 30s, died of sudden heart failure as per my research. So then her stepmother remarried, and she then had a stepfather. That also meant siblings from every marriage.
That is a lot of crazy change for a kid, during a time when change like that was I imagine, rather hard. My Aunt Connie helped take care of her stepsiblings, because both parents worked. And when she started working on her own until she married my uncle, my cousin said she was expected to hand every paycheck over to her stepmother. She went from that situation to becoming the stepmother of a 9 year old girl and a 19 month old baby boy.
As an adult, now, well into middle-age, having been a stepmother for a bunch of years now I am truthfully in awe, of what my aunt did. I actually can’t imagine doing that. That’s a lot of love to give to be able to do that.
I remember when I was little that, my cousin Suzy had frequent flyer miles on my parents’ sofa. Her relationship with her stepmother, my Aunt Connie, was tempestuous at times. When she married the first time the wedding was at our parish church and reception was at our house.
I do not pretend to know, or to have understood the intricacies of the relationship between my two cousins from my uncle’s first marriage and their stepmother. I don’t really know what it was like for any of them. I do remember that the relationship settled out when my cousin Suzy became an adult and had her own children. Then I remember going to my cousin Suzy‘s house on the weekends and often my aunt and uncle would be there.
But now, as an adult, being a stepmother, I know that it couldn’t have been easy a lot of the time for my Aunt Connie. And my two cousins from my uncle’s first marriage, lost their mom when they were really little due to a tragedy so it was hard for them too. It’s not like today, where there are resources to help create and foster the growth of blended families. And grief counseling.
I remember my mother was crazy about her brother’s first wife. Almost seemed to idolize her. And I never realized until I was doing this Ancestry research that when my uncle and his first wife were married, they lived with my mother and her parents. So they were all really close then, I guess. Of course, what I never remember growing up is ever seeing any of the family of my cousin Suzy’s birth mother Millie. It’s like they kind of disappeared after their daughter died.
Things I remember about my Aunt Connie was her laugh, and she had a great smile. She was also a very talented crafter. She taught me how to make paper flowers out of tissue paper when I was little. And things like paper chains for Christmas trees. I also remember when everybody was making those ceramic Christmas trees with the little lights she made and gave us one. I love those trees. I don’t know whatever happened to ours.
I’ve actually learned more about my Aunt Connie as an adult from my cousin Kevin, and from Ancestry. I didn’t see her a lot as a child. We lived in different areas, so it was holidays mostly. As a child I was also quasi oblivious to the relationships between all of the adults.
But now that I am an adult, I am thinking about what it was like for my aunt to be a stepmother in a time when stepparents weren’t really supported, especially if they were women. You got married, sometimes you worked, sometimes you stayed home, you took care of the kids from the first marriage, and then you may or may not have had your own children in addition . But nobody talked about creating a blended family or what it was like.
Being in a blended family does take work. And it’s not simple. I can tell you there have been moments of incredible self-doubt and panic on my part wondering if I could do it, if I could even be a stepmother. I wonder if my aunt had those moments in a time where she probably wouldn’t have told anyone she was having those thoughts even if she had them.
A big difference between the two of us is I married later in life and was unable to have children. She married my uncle the day after her 29th birthday. The next photo is her wedding photo with my uncle that my cousin Kevin gave me to use. She was a beautiful bride and they looked so happy.
I wonder if she was still alive what she would have said about being a stepmother starting in 1960?
Anyway, just some food for thought and a little grist for the writing mill. And many thanks for my cousin Kevin for letting me pepper him with questions and ask him for photos.
I love Willistown, don’t misunderstand me, but the way things happen and the way things are done sometimes makes a person wonder about life’s little conundrums, doesn’t it?
One of the weaknesses and Willistown has to do with their zoning department. They have made a few missteps there and will leave it at that and that includes personnel. I’ll be polite and not point them out, including from past mistakes.
I started wondering about zoning there again when Wildflower Farm opened. They invited the zoning officer to come make sure they were doing everything right. And then we all know what happened there after that, yes? It was a couple years of round robin and when it’s zoned a farm but it’s not supposed to be a farm yet it is a farm, right? And this was over growing flowers. It was not all the NOFIMBY neighbors was it?
So there is this agricultural zoning, right and there are 2 acre lots, correct? A couple of years ago there was this hullabaloo about chickens that really wasn’t about chickens at all it was about roosters. And roosters can be a pain in the ass if you’re not on a really big property because they’re noisy birds it’s in their nature to crow.
But when you’re living close to other people, it would be common sense to make sure your rooster stayed inside until a reasonable hour every morning, and I know people that do that they keep them in large pens, and they even keep them in areas where they put covers/curtains over things, so the roosters still think it’s dark outside. It actually works. I was talking with someone who has had to do it and another person remarked how this is the time of year where they have to figure out if they have hens or roosters and if they have roosters, they get rehomed to larger properties.
So there is this rooster in Willistown again. He kinda starts before 5 AM some mornings, and before 6 AM other mornings. He also wakes up other animals where he lives as well as neighbors. Goats and chickens don’t bother me particularly, but wow donkeys are also noisy!
Maybe the rooster owner is a heavy sleeper. Or maybe the rooster is far enough away from their bedroom window that they don’t hear it. Next I have to ask are they actually a farm or they just a residential property? Because in this township it does get confusing, doesn’t it ?
Willistown actually has a rooster ordinance and this stood out:
adding a new §139-97.D, as follows:
139-97.D The keeping of guineafowl, peacocks, or roosters is prohibited except in the RU Zoning District on lots of ten acres or greater when associated with a farm use pursuant to §139-12.D. Any structure or building for the housing of guineafowl, peacocks, or roosters shall be no less than 500 feet from any occupied structure on a neighboring lot. Non-conforming animals may not be replaced and the non-conformity must be resolved no more than 5 (five) years from the date of enactment of this Ordinance.
So if this isn’t a 10 acre property why does it have a rooster at all? I would hate to say this is a case of it depends who you know, but is this a case of it depends who you know? I will note someone else said this ordinance with the 10 acre thing didn’t actually pass and apparently roosters are allowed on 4 acres or more in this RA or RU zoning? (I get confused because it seems like both are in play here and I could be wrong about that but that’s what it seems like?) And this is yet another slightly weird thing here?
And again, I really love Willistown, but there are all these conundrums aren’t there? Come on, Willistown level the playing field maybe like maybe you need a new zoning officer again? Willistown seems to go through zoning people don’t they?
Since I wrote this post I have been accused of bullying and told to “stay in my lane”. This is about a loud rooster. Not about disliking chickens, donkeys, goats, other farm animals, etc. Or any people in particular. And as always, I am only golden if I have an opinion on what people want me to have an opinion on?
Chickens are a weird thing on their own in PA as a whole. Some municipalities want to forbid them but instead ignore them. Some municipalities just say no altogether. Some municipalities limit the numbers of chickens depending on property size. I actually have an opinion that loud roosters are what stirs the pot against chickens in municipalities.
I like chickens and their sounds and their laying songs, and have neighbors all around who have them but guess what no roosters, so it’s all very pleasant. I also happen to like goats. Donkeys I have no real opinion on other than they always sound indignant and like goats they smell kind of rank at times. I have friends that have all of these animals, but interestingly enough, never roosters. Hope that clears things up.
The last time roosters came up it wreaked havoc in this township, didn’t it? So excuse the hell out of me wondering WHY there is Groundhog Day over roosters again? And is it wrong to feel for people who don’t wish to be woken up super freaking early every day? Isn’t there that reasonable expectation of quiet enjoyment thing?
