Dogs and cats are living together, out on the mean streets of H-Town. Well, maybe they aren't living "together" exactly. They insist they're just roommates. Still - what's the procedure if your pet makes a break for his gang banging buds? And what do you do if you find a domesticated animal? Search your surrounding neighborhood and ask your neighbors if they've seen the animal. Call the police (911). The animal control officer will keep an eye out for your pet. They can also lend you humane traps to lure a stray cat. You can also call Haverford Animal Control at 610‐853‐1298 ext. 2205. (Scroll down to see a .pdf from the township site. It has info about various pet issues.) Go to the DELCO SPCA and CHESTER SPCA pages and call or fill out information. Grab a recent pic and write up a great description. If you can, make a .pdf flyer. Think twice about posting flyers to poles. Doing so is actually prohibited in H-Town: "Posting notices upon utility poles, trees and/or public structures and buildings restricted. No person shall post or affix any commercial or political notice, poster or any other paper or device calculated to attract the attention of the public to any lamppost, public utility pole or shade tree or upon any public structure or building, except as may be authorized or required by law." If you do decide to "go rogue" and paper the neighborhood, make sure no identifying info or your home address is on the flyer. An email address or cell number is sufficient. Don't stick any flyers on US Postal Service receptacles. Mail slots on doors are OK to put flyers through. Outside mailboxes are not. USPS does not want you to put any materials in mailboxes, but if the residence has a door mail slot, you can put your flyer in that. Avoid houses with a "no soliciting" sign. From the USPS site: "If you have a curbside mailbox or a mailbox on the outside of your house, Postal Service regulations govern what can and can not be placed in … [Read more...]
Biting Back at Mosquitos in H-Town
I love my town. And its mosquitos love me. Endless Love H-Town is a fantastic place to live. The people are great, the lawns are all squared away (for the most part) and we’ve got plenty of good bars lying around. The only thing I hate are the mosquitos. When I say they are a pain in my neck or they come back and bite me in the ass, I mean it quite literally. _____________ Summer Nights I’m not one of your typical bug-bite getters. After a 10-second step out to our standard-issue minivan, welts the size of dimes, nickels and sometimes quarters appear like Dementor magic on my skin. The swelling usually subsides in a day or so but the itching lasts for weeks. We’ve attacked this itchy invader problem with aggressive and defensive strategies. I’d baptize myself in DEET. We had the lawn guys put down pellets in the grass. We set up Citronella Torch Stonehenge around the patio table. We ran through the must-be-true-because-they-were-on-the-Internet bug-beater commands: carry a dryer sheet (like Bounce) daily dose of Brewer’s Yeast & Vitamin B Dab on Tea Tree Oil on light (or dark?) clothes wear long pants and long sleeves, but don’t sweat. Or breathe. Or be human. We also made sure to empty gutters clear any pooling water get rid of certain weeds dump bird baths and kiddie pool water at least once weekly (we have neither) perform ancient Celtic Rituals while dressed in plaid lederhosen. Nothing worked (not even the lederhosen, which is usually so powerful). So inside we went and there we stayed, watching the summer nights pass us by. But even indoors I wasn’t safe. I am so-well-loved by these Biting Creatures of Minuscule Mass that I had to spray myself with DEET before I went to bed. If I didn’t, I’d wake up with itchy welts not only on my body but on my face. I'm too old to look like I'm stressed out about the SATs. (For the amateur scientists who are surely wondering: Eau d’ DEET repels more than just insects in a human … [Read more...]