What a week in the UpperBVille!

Bring on the Superheroes!

The town is divided in many ways now. Like all small towns, it mirrors the world. The haves, have nots. Those that love the winter, love summer. The new people (formally known as the carpetbaggers) and the establishment. It is not good however, to be so black and white (no pun intended). Going to see the Avengers. Some good escapism with Superheros is just what one needs in these scary times.

Swine Flu-What's the REAL deal?

What better way to end 100 days than to start everyone talking about a respiratory epidemic AND show the need to place the Health and Human Services member of the cabinet in tomorrow because of an international health crisis.

Avian flu is dangerous as it is the same one that killed in the early 20th century and it is just sitting there, waiting to jump to humans. (birds, pigs and humans have been sharing the flu virus for many years, and we are being vaccinated against the vestiges of those early strains).....We had a Swine Flu scare in the 70s with mass immunizations.
The only thing that MAY BE SCARY is that with 24hour newsfeeds, twitter and the internet it seems like we know the very instant another case has been tallied. So why don't we just cook up the illusion of a pandemic. The State Department has just issued a "Do Not Travel to Mexico Warning".....What is next, quarantined states?
Wake up everyone: if the next step is to have "mass distribution of Tamiflu" watch out. Under the "guise" of safety another two freedoms (travel and our private health information) in the interest of public safety by our all-knowing, patronizing do-gooder government will be gone (anyone awake out there?).....
Common sense needs to be used here, not panic.
What YOU SHOULD DO right now:
Wash your hands! If you are sick with some type of respiratory illness (and it's hard to tell with the tree pollen allergies at their peak) stay HOME from WORK and recuperate. Unless you have a chronic illness you will be fine.
And because of this cooked up hysteria the silver lining may be that we have seen the high tide of Mexican immigration. Ok, I take it back, this may be a good thing after all :)

End of an E.R.A.

The last of my dad's generation is dying......every Sunday afternoon, at night after 9pm when the house was dark. The radio with the familiar Phillies' game, the voice.
Harry Kalas

Byron Sahm: worth at least a generation....
Richie Ashburn: worth at least 2 generations......
Hearing Harry Kalas say at the 2008 World Series Game "the Phillies are the World Champions of Baseball"
.....priceless.
Let's hope a new one will be able to find their voice.
But no one can say "It's outta here" like HK.
Sad day in philly.....

Just Shut Up

I signed my tax forms today.....we paid over 23,000 in taxes last year.....not that I am totally complaining because we are getting some back. But wow, how much infrastructure and public safety can that buy :)
That was in 2008, and it seems surreal. And it's now 2009, so I am supposed to feel good:

• because I am seeing about $15 more each week in my pay?
• because my taxes are lower now that the Democrats are in control (make us think that we are not being fleeced)?
• because things will be right now that the left knows what is good for the country?

I think not.

And I also think that there is something brewing and it's not those whopper of spring storms that are popping up over the plains...

Finally the "non-leftist, non-hippies" have found their voice. TEA PARTIES!

I am going to the Bucks County Tea Party at Washington Crossing Historic Park on Saturday, April 18 at 1pm. http://www.tea4change.com/

I am not going to shut up......It's UN-AMERICAN......and I hope that makes someone listen.

It's not spring in Upper Bucks until the peepers sign!!

Finally the spring peepers, the Gray Tree Frogs, are singing. They used to sing at the end of our street, but there are houses now and so you need to find them behind St. Lawrence in the greenway. Thank the Lord that the Borough decided to purchase that strip of land. But the frogs are in the wetland below it.....It is funny to hear them during the day, I remembered them as dusk or night time singers. They were so loud today it was like noise pollution, but this is a good kind of noise pollution.

The grass has also greened up in the last 2 days.....soon it will be time to start the mowing process.

Easter is next week--time to eat peeps! No, not the tree frogs, the marshmallow ones :)

The winds for change are not always a good thing

It is so windy today our garbage cans almost blew away.....
It was gusting all night, I woke up to the small limbs crashing on the roof. I looked out at the church parking lot and there were headlights on (after midnight). That is not usually a good thing. While we have alot of newcomers who have moved in......and they are good people, just a little clueless and a tad not into diversity. Some of the newcomers are taking advantage of the fact that there is no or little police presence.
If something happens you have to wait until the State Police come in from Dublin or wherever they are patrolling. Don't get me wrong, we do see them from time to time (and we always wave at them, they are a good thing) but alot can go down here because most of the "in people" are clueless about the parking lot. I mean, what bad things can happen across from a church :). And by the way, the parking lot for the Sunshine AA Group was especially large today---a sign of the times I suppose.

There is a new tattoo parlor/artisan gallery opened at the only traffic light in town. It seems funny that we have one now, as most people are trying to have them laser-removed. They seem to be busy when open. And the art work from the window looks interesting.
Have to check it out. I say that but it probably won't happen, folks in Riegelsville don't always support their own as much as they should. If they did, we wouldn't have the school controversy that we have right now. We take alot for granted until it is gone. Change is not always a good thing....be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

The osprey are nesting again.....

It's been a steady drizzle so far this morning. Thanks to the warm temperature it still feels like spring. If it were colder it would really be a downer.
The ER finale last night was great. I liked the first hour with the actors giving their thoughts better than the last hour of the 2 hour episode actually. Seeing the Mark Green dying in Hawaii episode made me cry (especially when Alex Kingston did as well) and his telling his daughter to do something responsible with her life was awesome (and I don't remember this when the episode originally aired). It still was a surprise when she shows up as a Med Student. They tied up the loose ends nicely. It was also great to see the old staff (on the night shift where the hospital lifers usually end up :) Very nicely done!
I drove past the First Savings Bank on 611 last night before dark. Our resident ospreys were hanging out on the cell tower, probably had a long day spring cleaning the nest. I know most of the new people don't even look up there, and if they did, wouldn't know an osprey from a turkey vulture. These fishhawks are still a symbol that Upper Bucks still has a wild side. Let's keep it that way!