Gooooood Moooorning Lower Providence!!

With all due respect to the movie 'Good Morning Vietnam", no one will ever mistake my voice for that of a manic Robin Williams first thing in the morning. Anyone who knows only the most basic details about me is well aware that I am a creature of the night. I'm probably one of the deepest sleepers EVER, and I.hate.mornings.

Seriously, it's like I'm in a coma. I've often said someone could break into my house in the middle of the night and rob me blind, and I would be none the wiser (one more reason I'm really glad we are now Rottweiler owners). My family loves to regale me with tales of crazy things that have happened while I slumbered - stuff that should have had me standing straight up on my bed, like the time a squirrel somehow got in the house and everyone was chasing it around with brooms and jumping on chairs - but which I had no knowledge of until told the next morning.

My biorhythm is such that I have a really hard time waking up, MUST start the day with a strong cup of coffee to even be somewhat coherent, and I don't really mentally wake up til around 11 am.  This does have its advantages, however. I'm just hitting my stride around 4 pm when everyone else is dragging, and I really get wind in my sails around 9 or 10 pm.  Many people I deal with on a regular basis know they may awake to emails from me sent at 2 or 3 am. And, this anomaly of nature - being a night owl, that is  - was definitely a plus as a candidate, when a lot of the work of campaigning - knocking on doors, strategy meetings, fundraisers, meet & greets etc. - is done in the afternoon or evening.

I've had periods of my life wherein I had to be a (very) early riser. I didn't really like it, but I did it for long periods of time when I absolutely had to. It's definitely not my preference  though.

So, when my good friend and newly elected Upper Providence Township supervisor Lisa Mossie asked me to consider taking over her slot doing the 7-8 am shift of our local Fox affiliate radio station, co-hosting "Live and Local" with Barry Papiernik, I was both excited and torn. I've been in full night owl mode for some time now, like having time to myself late at night while everyone else is sound asleep, and I wasn't sure I wanted to give that up.  Life had just gotten back to normal after last year's bruising campaign for supervisor.

If you don't know, "Live and Local" is conservative-oriented talk format which focuses primarily on local politics, issues and current events, but also touches on state and national concerns, especially if they'll have a local impact. Some mornings it's silly; some it's serious business.

Sometimes, we interview guests, such as elected officials or candidates for local office so you can get a better feel for who they are and where they stand (I was a guest about a year ago to talk about improvements to the 'Bud's Bar' property that I was able to accomplish during the primary). Just last week, county commissioner Bruce Castor joined us to talk about how well things are going with his new co-commissioners down at the county courthouse.

While Lisa did the show five days a week, Monday through Friday, I initially committed to two or three days a week, and given my disdain for early mornings, reserved the option to do the show in my pajamas (just kidding). We've now fully transitioned, and I've enjoyed it so much that I've willingly and happily gotten up at the crack of dawn every day to be there and will continue to do so as long as they want me. It's proven to be a GREAT way to wake up and start the day, and I hope you'll think so, too. Even better, Lisa will continue to join us from time to time.

I remain a staunch advocate for Lower Providence, and I'm sure to mention the fine institutions, landmarks and businesses of my hometown whenever appropriate. I hope you'll tune in, consider taking out a reasonably priced advertisement block, or pitch an idea or topic you'd like us to consider or community event to mention. Find us online at http://www.1180wfyl.com/.

Disclaimer: my appearance on WFYL and any comments made by me on-air represent my personal viewpoints and are in no way intended to be representative of any of the employees or elected officials of Lower Providence Township, the Times Herald or my employer.

"Don't You (Forget About Me)"

...and I won't forget about you! (with apologies to the 80's band Simple Minds and their song of the same name)

For all those folks who have reached out to let me know my voice has been missed: yes, I know I haven't updated in a while (over 2 months at this point!). It's not that I don't have anything to write about, or that I've given up; it's that after spending the majority of last year campaigning, I took some time away to catch up with old friends and family, and to get back to normal life and some of my favorite hobbies and activities that had languished for awhile.


Of course "normal' activity for me would give most people a heart attack; I've hardly been sitting home. There are some really fun things I've been up to, one of which will hopefully give us folks in Lower Providence a unique perspective into the upcoming presidential election. I expect to write about that shortly.

Also, soon I'll have an announcement about something else that's new and fun that will give those of us in LP another place to weigh in on things.

And, there are a few topics that for all sorts of reasons (political and otherwise), I simply CAN'T write about...yet. But I'm keeping my eye on them, and will as soon as I can.

So...till I post again....if you haven't registered to vote, you have til March 26 to register for the Pennsylvania primary (set for April 24)...get cracking!

Dog Days

As I mentioned back in the Spring, I promised my kids that if I won the primary election, we could get a dog. And, true to my word, I did let them get one (we already have a couple of cats and a chinchilla). Perhaps I should have put some restrictions around the kind of dog they could get, but it didn't cross my mind. I reasoned that with approximately 150 breeds out there, surely the odds were good that they'd pick something I could live with, and we'd discussed breeds often enough over the years that I thought I had a good idea what types of dogs appealed to them. There were really only two breeds I wasn't interested in...Rottweilers and Pit Bulls.

Well, sure enough, one day they came home with a purebred Rottweiler puppy. And, I have to say, even though there have been some bumps in the road (she has a tendency to chew on things, for example), she's really growing on me.

In fact, I credit Keira (Gaelic for 'little dark one') with making me stop and smell the roses a little bit. I've been more diligent about making time for walks or jogs in the park (at this point, with Keira at about 50 lbs and growing rapidly, I'm not sure who's walking who, but I digress). She loves to run, and can keep up with me when I jog.  

One thing owners of dogs such as Rottweilers are told is to socialize them often and early with other dogs. I recalled hearing that neighboring Upper Providence Township had recently opened a 4-acre dog park off of Longford Road (a left turn off Egypt Road), something a few other surrounding townships have and which are growing in popularity. I'd driven by it a couple of times, so, one day that Keira was bouncing off the walls with energy to burn, I decided to take her there and check it out.

We've been there a few times since then, and I have to say I'm really impressed with Upper Providence's execution of the idea. While they had a few hiccups early on ---some residents weren't diligent about picking up after their pets; the park was closed temporarily for sanitary reasons, but residents now understand they will lose this park if they don't comply -- it's been clear sailing ever since. And, the park connects directly to the county trail system, so you can walk your dog on the trail if you want.

If you haven't been, it's immensely popular. There are two large fenced-in areas for larger dogs, and two smaller fenced-in areas for smaller dogs. There are plenty of stations and supplies for disposing of dog waste. At any given time dogs are coming and going with their owners. The last time I was there, there were 13 dogs in the large dog pen. Owners obviously must remain with their pets.

I love going there. It's like the new water cooler. How often do we go about our business without seeing or having time to chat with our neighbors? In this environment, everybody's happy and anxious to talk about anything, especially their dogs, but politics and current events has come up too. I've even run into folks from Lower Providence there. The dogs are so happy to hang out with their furry friends and are well behaved. It's so neat to see them run together and play and chase balls and frisbees. And, the best thing is, when Keira comes home, she's exhausted and sleeps for a good while.

The Upper Providence park was able to come into being because a former Montgomery County attorney had a provision in his will leaving $100,000 to Upper Providence Township for creation of the park...and the park had to be created within six months or they'd lose the money.

From the first township budget meeting I attended last week, I realize that 2012 is going to be extremely challenged financially, and there simply is no money for open space anytime in the near future (and we have no similar benefactors to provide funding). Perhaps we can do what Conshohocken is in the process of doing, funding theirs with entirely private, non-taxpayer funds.  However, whenever we possibly can, one thing I think our community in Lower Providence could really benefit from - and that we don't currently have - is a similar spot for our residents with dogs to visit.