When we were passing through Gap, PA, we were behind, in front, and along side several Amish buggies. The photos I am about to show you were cropped in, as we give buggies and their drivers the space and distance they deserve.
These photos in a series as it occurred show amazing horsemanship – you see this horse was a mite skittish and had the Amish gentleman not been so proficient this might have turned out differently…and he never raised his voice.
Someone must be protesting something being built at Immaculata.
I hope it doesn’t have to do with the Camilla Hall project as that is the place where there is the Convent Home and Healthcare Center of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Translation, this is like a nursing home and medical center. They take care of their own and that is an amazingly good thing.
I think these sisters do a lot for the community at large and I was left feeling very uncomfortable that someone was seemingly protesting them or someone working for them along King Road.
I do not object to unions, I don’t want anyone to think that, but I just don’t think people should be unkind to the sisters.
So please, whoever this is, if you have a beef with a non-union company doing work for the nuns, take your protest to them wherever their business is actually located, and leave the sisters be.
The sisters are good to our community. And trust me, it is also rare that an academic institution is also good to the community. I used to live near a couple which weren’t and trust me, if they were the ones being protested I would not have said a word.
We have an awesome mail carrier. But I think the actual post office he is out of has issues. Frazer, PA in the shopping center to be precise.
We have had packages opened and resealed when they ended up being boring things like the vitamins I sometimes have to get delivered by mail because as a breast cancer survivor of a hormone driven breast cancer I need to take vitamins that don’t contain soy or other phytoestrogens and it is hard to find them at chain drugstores regularly. We have had things just not get delivered. We got a Christmas card written shortly after Thanksgiving the first weekend in March.
When something is damaged our delivery guy makes sure he speaks with us and doesn’t just leave it. Again, he is awesome and conscientious. But when we have to call Frazer and speak with Cranky the office manager it’s a different story.
Cranky is the perfect civil service type. He has his little fiefdom there and extends himself to no one, especially women. I used to think my difficult experiences were just me, except if you call the Malvern Post Office to see if they can help you and avoid Cranky they laugh almost…even they get it.
The first time I had to deal with this Cranky on a misdirected package, the first thing out of his mouth was not how can he help but rather did I try the USPS.com website. And every time I have to call, he is the only one who ever answers the phone and he always says the same thing, or occasionally he says something borderline rude or even sexist. Bottom line? He never goes out of his way. If you can get to the actual postmaster you can get help when you need it and he is very nice, but this Cranky is just perpetually cranky.
I find that frustrating. My old post office wasn’t perfect, but they actually attempted customer service at the post office branch level. Face it , after you try to either get a live person if you call the toll free number of the United States Postal Service or attempt via their convoluted website how to send an e-mail if you have a problem, you would naturally think it would be so much simpler to just call your local post office, right? Face it, most of us operate under the delusion that the postal service is still that folksy place where people who live in your neighborhood work.
Wrong.
They lose and mutilate mail. Stuff gets pinched and when you have the temerity to actually call them, you get attitude. It’s not just things that come through Frazer Post Office, it happens all over. I don’t get how we can have nice actual mail carriers and the office people aren’t . They aren’t out in the elements, they are in the offices. They aren’t the one delivering mail when the rain is beating down.
Today I realized something I had ordered had not arrived. So I tracked the package. The tracking said it had been delivered March 13, only I was home and I never received it. So where was it? And guess what happened when I called the post office actual office and got Cranky for a change? He asked me if I had used the website to track my package!
I had had enough today so today I pushed back. Yes I was snippity because I had checked the website and THAT is why I called. You know to see if I could file a lost package report or something?
So I just have to ask: when the United States Postal Service runs their multi-million dollar advertising campaigns stressing customer service and that slogan “We Deliver for You” I always think it should be “USPS, They Deliver for Who?”
And again, I want to make it abundantly clear that our regular letter carrier is awesome. It is the office Cranky and the problems with packages and mail I am less than enthused with.
I don’t order much. I don’t order super expensive or frivolous things. I think I should get what I pay to have delivered and also get packages that are un-opened.
Northumberland County was formed in 1772 from parts of Lancaster, Berks, Bedford, Cumberland, and Northampton Counties and named for the county of Northumberland in northern England. It’s pretty darn rural.
But they apparently also shoot dogs first there and ask questions later.
I don’t know anyone in Northumberland County, certainly don’t know this family named McNett who just lost their dog to a trigger happy gent named Wayne Van Blargan, but I am going to post about it anyway. The similarities between this and what happened to Argus and Fiona at the hands of Gabe Pilotti are just too creepy.
And this Van Blargan guy doesn’t even have the excuse of livestock, he just mowed this dog down and shot her in the back from 15 feet away. No reports of the dog attacking anything or being a menace. Just shot in the back which means much like the late great Fiona, this dog, named Rayne, was probably running away from this guy.
Rayne, a rescue German Shepherd, and family pet to four little children was only out 15 minutes. You know, pretty much like Argus and Fiona?
I am sick over this. I am tired of dogs just being shot basically for the hell of it in Pennsylvania. Only up there in Northumberland County is truly Pennsyltucky and I am afraid if there is not a public hue and cry that the judge might not care so much.
This poor dog doesn’t sound like she got out much and she deserved better. This poor dog triggered the outside lights at this house where this Van Blargan stays so he can’t say he did not know what he was shooting, can he?
They say charges will be filed against Van Blargan before District Judge Richard Cashman of Milton, PA . Milton PA is 50 miles north of Harrisburg, PA. The name of the town where this German Shepherd named Rayne was shot is called Watsontown and at the time of its formation this tiny borough was named for brothel owner John Watson. I don’t even think they have 3000 residents. It is supposed to be served by this local paper called Standard Journal but apparently this isn’t newsworthy to them.
However, other media outlets are interested and I think Argus & Fiona would like it if people paid it forward to now get Justice for Rayne. Pilotti gets sentenced later this month in Chester County, and you know how long it took the Bock family to get there. So if you are an animal lover, please pass this story along.
This shows the GLARING and ABSOLUTE need for better dog laws in PA. And this is not a gun rights issue, it’s a time to deal with fools who shoot dogs issue.
While Governor Tom Corbett is wasting our taxpayer dollars running around Pennsylvania in a homophobic anti-gay marriage snit, he could actually be doing productive things like protecting our dogs in Pennsylvania.
I also urge everyone to contact Attorney General Kathleen Kane and demand her office get involved in helping protect dogs in PA. And contact your state representatives and state senators to write the bills that could become laws to protect PA dogs.
Lynda Schlegel Culver is the state rep that serves the township (Delaware) where Rayne was shot. John R. Gordner is the State Senator. Follow the hyper links for their contact information and flood their offices with a demand for action. And contact your own elected officials. There are too many parents having to explain to kids why family pets who were in perfect health aren’t coming home.
Posted on: 6:00 am, September 25, 2013, by Jim Hamill
DELAWARE TOWNSHIP – A family in Northumberland County does not understand why their neighbor went to extremes and shot and killed their dog.
The German Shepherd wandered into the neighbor’s yard near Watsontown when it was shot.
The McNett family took in Rayne a few months ago as a rescue dog.
Not until early Wednesday morning did they have a problem with their neighbor who police said shot and killed Rayne, leaving the family heartbroken.
Kristy McNett remembered the last moments she saw the family pet before Rayne was shot and killed overnight near her home in the Watsontown area.
“About 15 minutes later I heard a couple of gunshots, and I heard the dog bark. I knew it wasn’t good,” said McNett.
Rayne got loose and wandered into a neighbor’s yard…. The dog set off motion lights, and investigators said Wayne van Blargan shot twice from a distance of 15 feet, killing the McNett family pet.
“I don’t know why. I don’t know what went on in his head to make him do that,” said McNett
September 26, 2013
Kristy McNett’s affectionate German shepherd accidentally slipped out of the family home on Wednesday near the Watsontown area of Pennsylvania and was allegedly shot by the next door neighbor according to a report by wnep.com.
McNett’s family, which includes four children, are absolutely heartbroken after Rayne, a dog they rescued just a few months prior, was shot at close range from a distance in the back, from not more than 15 feet.
Family Dog Shot, Killed Created on Wed, Sep 25, 2013 by Britt Swartzlander
I am not one for those milky pastel chalk paints and I think chalkboard paint should be banned as a decorating idea. Sorry but I am sick of seeing every piece of vintage and antique furniture looking like it was attacked by kissing cousins of Pepto-Bismol. not everything needs to be in pastel or a chalkboard.
And while I do think that white milk paint look has it’s place in beach houses, I just think it has been too done. And done again. As a matter of fact my sole criticism of dealers who go to Clover Market in Ardmore, PA is not only their pricing at times leaves a lot to be desired (I mean let us get real a lot of those people pick at places I haunt so I really know some of the mark-ups) but there is soooo much of the same stuff and it is all candy coated for lack of a better description. Show me the wood once in a while! Don’t make it all look like a French meringue cookie and think that will hide the fact the piece wobbles.
Mind you I was a long time fan of Rachel Ashwell shabby chic and loved it when she had her TV show. She used to go to flea markets and show you how to repurpose vintage finds. kind of like what Cari Cucksey does on her HGTV show Cash & Cari. But not everything was coated in paint. Moderation.
Do I like some painted furniture? Very much so. My mother for example has a piece I have loved since it came to be. She found an antique country armoire easily 25 years ago and had an artist faux paint it and a carpenter convert the inside so she could store china, crystal and serving pieces. It definitely makes a statement and is useful storage. And the painting is beautiful – and not milk paint or pastel chalk paint. You can appreciate the artistic side of it and the lines of the piece aren’t whited out and it is sturdy enough to survive the apocalypse.
My personal approach to painted furniture is if it didn’t start out life as a piece of painted furniture chances are I will not paint it. It’s just not me in the long run. Maybe my tastes will change on this, but I do not think so.
As far as furniture goes I am definitely of the school that believes older is better. But I want pieces that can be used. I don’t want to live in a mini Winterthur or the Modern Museum of Art.
I make no secret of the fact that I haunt picking barns, resale shops, consignment galleries, flea markets and garage and church sales. I will barter, swap, and hondle. It never hurts to ask if a better price is available. One reason I like places like the Smithfield Barn in Downingtown and Resellers Consignment in Frazer is the prices are not only unbeatable but OMG there is a constant turnover of variety and really cool pieces…and I can see the wood.
Yesterday when I went hunting for my garden bench, I saw this crazy slipper chair with a matching foot stool. The piece was probably late Victorian but a prior owner had reimagined it in yellow leather. The chair was usable as is and under a $100 if memory serves and the foot stool was around $50. The pair was so fun and quirky that if I had the room they would have been a total impulse buy. Oh and the chair wasn’t painted in pastels, an added bonus.
The thing about buying from Resellers that is fun is the listed price of an item will automatically decrease based upon number of days on the sales floor. But the prices are already old school estate sale prices so if you like it when you see it, buy it because chances are it won’t be there when you go back. And I have seen many furniture and antique dealers cruising the aisles of Reseller’s giant warehouse too. IF items last there more than 60 days they go to 50% off.
Some people can’t believe people will go to secondhand stores and picking barns for items for their home, yet amusingly enough if the same items show up at fine furniture dealers and antiques dealers they are “darling” and “must haves”.
When you buy a piece of gently used wood furniture, treat it right. Don’t rush to cover up its natural patina with paint, try cleaning it and polishing it. I am a big fan of Williamsville Wax – it is a blend of beeswax, lemon oil, and other natural oils and supposedly the company uses a recipe for this that has been used since Colonial times.
And don’t be afraid to have fun with your furniture. It can still be fun and comfortable and not look like you picked it all out from Ikea and Raymour & Flanigan. And believe it or not, you can have nice things around kids. You do not have to live with plastic. That is an added bonus of some of these furniture finds- the prices are so good that say an accident occurs you can actually afford to have the piece recovered or repaired and it is actually worth it to do so.
The other thing is this – educate your own eye- go to antiques shows, check out design magazines and Pinterest boards and create your own inspiration. Face it, while many would love to say they had an interior decorator or whatever, the reality is most can’t afford that and when you connect to your own rooms in your own home it is far more satisfying. And it really is home.
Courtney Rozsas, Owner of Farmer’s Drive Thru (center)
Today we were invited to the grand opening celebration of Farmer’s Road Drive Thru. It is located in the Painter’s Crossing Shopping Center at 210 Wilmington Pike in Chadds Ford. It used to be a KFC there.
Anyway, this is the brain child of Courtney Rozsas and Executive Chef Ryan Sulikowski the fine people behind Lotus Farm to Table in Media.
It was a beautiful afternoon to take a ride down to Chadds Ford and well worth the trip.
The decor is total reclaimed chic. Old barn wood and other recycled materials. Simple, open and pretty. Terrain at Styers provided the landscaping – which is also eco-friendly including carbon reducing plants in the outside cafe area. There is also a drive thru.
The staff was pleasant, knowledgable and well spoken. Inside on the wall was a giant chalkboard listing the farmers and purveyors (and all farms are ones you know or wish to patronize and we’ll leave it at that! I like them ALL). All the meat is locally produced, and 80% or everything else will be locally sourced as well.
Farmer’s Road takes the locavore movement and marries it to a healthy alternative to fast food. There will be traditional fun burgers and hot dogs as well as heart healthy, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options, along with seasonal offerings to highlight what is available depending upon the time of year.
Chef Ryan Sulikowski
I admit it, I am a carnivore so I loved the little slider version of their grass-fed beef burger they served at the grand opening – their grand opening featured mini sizes of their menu items – more than an amuse bouche, so I can’t say that.
They also have sodas from New Hope Soda Fountain. They will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner six days a week. Sundays they will be open for breakfast and lunch only. Breakfast will include an oatmeal bar and fun things like french toast sticks.
Their menu is one of clean and fresh flavors – nothing overly complicated 
and a fresh taste we crave when dining out. This is fresh food served fast, a far cry from fast food as we know it now. I mean think about it, ever known a McDonald’s or KFC that had fresh flowers? Sells local honey? Uses fresh herbs? Uses non-toxic cleaning products and has a recycling station?
They open tomorrow for a regular day at 7 a.m. They are open until 9 p.m.
I think they will be a welcome addition to the local food scene, and I wish them much success as that could mean expansion into other areas. It’s a great idea – and their food tastes as good as it looks! Kids and adults alike will love this place!
You can like them on Facebook too!
For months I have wanted to write about this. Even before what happened to Argus & Fiona. But friends of mine asked me not to, they wanted to pursue this through proper channels in the legal system. They were afraid they would not see justice for what happened to them and one of their dogs. So they did things the “right” way and basically got screwed by the legal system in my humble opinion. It is my opinion if the laws were different, maybe the outcome would have been as well.
This, therefore is a cautionary tale and since April is prevention of cruelty to animals month, I am also posting.
So there was this couple. They fell in love and bought this crazy gorgeous house in Mt. Joy in Lancaster County. I was at their wedding. I photographed their wedding. Not so long after they tied the knot in December 2011 they rescued a puppy. They named him Porter.
I know everyone says all puppies are adorable and cute and sweet, but Porter seemed to have all that going on and more. Just a nice dog. He survived a horrible bout of Parvo after being rescued. As he recovered, he settled into his new family and started to grow up.
Everything was going along swimmingly until mid-January. My friend was in her kitchen accepting a delivery from a local farm called Breakaway Farms (and they deliver clear down to Washington, DC and you can bet I will never patronize them after this or knowingly patronize a business that buys from them, and I am entitled to that opinion aren’t I?)
So I will let my friend tell it in her own words:
….so here we are in the kitchen with all this gorgeous chicken and lamb freshly delivered. And there was the deliveryman. Without getting into too much detail, it was perhaps the strangest thing I’ve seen in many years. And since it was happening in my own kitchen, it was quite surreal.
Within a flash of a second, this man had our Porter pinned the kitchen floor, hands on his neck, full weight of his body on top of the 49lb dog. Porter screamed out for help,
lost complete bowel control yet still did not bite this man (although he would have been welcome to at that point). The man picked Porter up, opened our back door – and threw him out. Porter stood quivering in the backyard, curled into a protective ball, tail tucked between his legs. He was covered in his own urine and feces.In my rare stroke of good luck, I was able to be calm with the man. Did I want to gut him like a fish? Oh hell yes. But being able to maintain some calm in an otherwise insane scene, I knew what I had to do was be calm and get him out
before he hurt Porter more, or turned on me…. I made a quick call to one of the business owners. I’ve done business with these folks before and I liked them. I expected nothing other than a very reasonable response.After that, we waited to hear from the other half of the ownership, and waited, and waited. We watched Porter’s demeanor and could clearly see the effects of the assault. He was afraid to even go into his own kitchen. It was clear we needed to contact the police….A call to the police doesn’t always “pack the same” punch (no pun intended) of
going Walking Tall on someone. But it was the right thing to do. People who so easily do things like this to an animal are capable of just as easily doing this to a human being. And animal abuse isn’t something to glaze by “just because
it’s an animal.” No. Not in this house, and not in yours either we’re guessing. Hoping. This guy needs to be prosecuted.We live in Mount Joy Borough, PA. I’m not sure how big, or maybe I should say how small this place is. It’s tiny.
When we all learned what happened to their dog, we wanted to shout it from the roof 
tops. But our friends said they wanted to play it safe in a small town in Lancaster County and let Lady Justice deal with it. Well apparently, Lady Justice isn’t a dog person, because this is what happened next again in my friend’s own words:
…..there was the underlying stress of this morning’s court date against our beautiful dog Porter’s attacker, Dale Burns. Until today, we had not released his name wanting to give the judicial system its fair shake first. I was not
actually feeling stressed about the event, more looking forward to staring this beast in the eye and listening to his account of that day’s events. The details of that day are still exceptionally fresh in my mind.Closing my eyes, or looking into Porter’s, I can see the brutally of what was probably only just a few minutes, and still hear his screams. I’ve been clear about the facts of the story, consistent. And exceptionally clear that Porter in
no way provoked this man into grabbing him by the neck and slamming him to the floor…..In court, we saw the “cleaned up” version of Dale. Maybe there were a few less inches of beard. There was some sort of button-down shirt, button at the top and bottom only, with the grungy farm garb clearly visible underneath. But there we finally were, face to face. There was his “attorney,” equally disheveled in an attempt to clean up and present for the day. And there was our “prosecutor.” In this tiny town, your reporting police officer is often your prosecutor….I told my side of the story. Clear, concise and factual. He told his story,
which at points read more like a fairytale. Officer Cook asked his questions. Dale’s “lawyer” asked his, hinting at how absurd the entire story sounded – a deliveryman coming into my home and playing with one dog, then mentally snapping and slamming another to the ground. The judge, a local Mount Joy attorney, took it all in before calling Officer Cook and the lawyer back into his quarters.
When they returned, the judge explained how all four charges were being dismissed. He first explained that the animal cruelty charge was being dismissed because according to PA state statutes, Dale had to have a “duty to care” for Porter, which he did not. I heard next something about the disorderly conduct charge being dropped, my elderly neighbor not being there to testify about the
screaming she heard from Porter that day. And then I just didn’t hear anymore. We had lost. For the second time, I had failed to protect my dog. There was no justice for Porter in that court…..
And so people do not think this is made up, here are the court dockets: MDJReport 1,MDJReport 2,MDJReport 3,MDJReport 4
I am still sick to my stomach every time I hear about this. There are way too many cruel humans around. And this illustrates yet again why dog laws and animal cruelty laws need to be improved, need to change, and additional laws need to be created.
And the irony that this incident occured and was kicked to the curb in Lancaster County. After all Lancaster County is known as what? Puppy Mill Capital of PA, right? All that glorious farm land, scenery, and antiquing hides the dark underbelly of something doesn’t it? A place where dogs are no more valuable than an ear of corn, and twice as disposable.
The horse is out of the barn, and now my friend has a young dog forever tainted by the brush of violence. It is like this dog has post traumatic stress syndrome. Seriously, read on (again in my friend’s own words):
For the last two plus months since Porter was attacked inside our our home by a deliveryman, many of you have been kind enough to continue asking how he is recovering. Every day,every encounter with someone outside the immediate family, has been a test for Porter. One month ago, there was a ray of hope when someone came to the door and he suddenly ran right up to him. A few nights later, he was back to cowering in a corner and shaking, despite efforts to get him to come over to get his head scratched or belly rubbed…..Nearly three months after being attacked, we’d have to say that it looks like our boy is changed forever. Porter is no ordinary dog. In fact, he’s more human than dog. Porter, a gorgeous red aussie shepherd, is extremely smart and sensitive…..The downside of Porter’s intelligence in light of this attack is that he has
learned not to trust everyone as he used to do. He now knows humans can be capable of some very ugly behavior. He knows this first hand. Porter was a rescue dog. He was part of a litter dumped on the side of the road in North
Carolina. We adopted him hours after his arrival in Philly after he was saved by some pretty incredible people, only to find out the next day he had parvo virus and a host of other potentially lethal bugs. He has cheated death twice already
– and certainly deserves to live a life of nothing but happiness at this point.
The Porters and Arguses and Fionas and Zoes and Izzys of this world deserve better from humans. I am not a lawmaker, but maybe all of us, together, peacably, can make a difference. This is why it is important you contact your lawmakers and ask them to change more laws and protect Pennsylvania’s dogs. Useless people like Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz are already doing the coy dance for governor, so let us make this an issue in Pennsylvania every election until this is done.
Our dogs are part of our families. I have had rescues who were badly abused, abandoned, even one that was in a horrible house fire and then abandoned before I rescued him.
My heart is heavy because this is so unfair, so unjust. What if this happens again in Mt. Joy or some area serviced by this farm? Then what?
Say a prayer to St. Francis and hug your dogs and keep them safe. You just never know what will happen. Look what happened to Porter. In his own home, in front of his humans. And why? For what? He was just a puppy.
Don’t know where Bruno’s is, but would never go find out after all this visual spam that makes them look super desperate to say the least.
Their signs are EVERYWHERE and East Whiteland should consider limiting the amount of signs of this kind that can go out like this.
Signs like this cheapen an area. Just my opinion of course, but some municipalities do build rules for signs like this into local sign ordinances.
Anyway these signs for Bruno’s are EVERYWHERE – this was just a small snippet of one location (which had many, many more signs). Whoever these people are could have bought an ad in the local paper or on Malvern Patch for the money they spent on these UGLY signs.
Ok, I am sorry but it is a little freaky amusing to discover that Immaculata has its OWN zip code.
I used to joke about Hershey’s Mill being the retirement Vatican of Chester County because it is like its own city-state with its own roads, security (complete with sirens), personal entrance to the mall where the Giant is, etcetera.
So I read a blip on Malvern Patch about Immaculata and their acceptance letter tweets and went to check out their twitter page. It says:
Immaculata, PA? HUH? It might be Malvern, some call it Frazer, but is Immaculata in fact Chester County’s true Vatican? In Chester County do all institutions get their own zip codes? Wow Cabrini College and Eastern University, which are in Radnor and St. David’s PA respectively are going to get jealous and make demands on Delaware County! Do we think Cabrini, PA and Eastern, PA have nice rings to it?
Immaculata lists their legal mailing address as: Immaculata University | 1145 King Road, Immaculata, PA. 19345
So does that mean that people who live in the residential neighborhoods along King Road adjacent to the school don’t live in Malvern, PA (zip code 19355) they live in Immaculata, PA (zip code 19345)? So does Immaculata have their own post office and police force and fire departments and all the other services that create a city-state, borough, township? Where is their town hall? When do they have supervisor meetings?
Is this because Cheyney has their own zip code too?
I find this all VERY confusing. Hope the schools have paid for this privilege as opposed to taxpayer dollars funding their independent zip code. With the U.S. Postal service in such a shambles is this in fact just a way for them to generate revenue? But again, what about those people near Immaculata, on the same road and in the same area as Immaculata who think they live in Malvern, PA East Whiteland Township?
Are they in fact living in Immaculata, PA?
But hey, maybe if they are handing out zip codes I can apply for one and we can all live in chestercountyramblings, PA? It might be fun and there would be lots of great recipes and photos of barns!!
Are we to assume vanity zip codes are the new vanity plate?
Happy Friday people!