Local "Earned Income" Tax!

I'm not too fond of this little tax that has been imposed for this area.  I just filled out the quarterly form that has to be done every quarter.  There is no notification - meaning they don't send you any notification/reminder of it being due.  You have to remember to do this on your own.

For those of you that don't know about this tax, it is a 1% tax on a person's earned income that has to be paid quarterly.  In most cases your employer will automatically take this tax out of your paycheck but if not then you have to do it yourself.  There is a $3,000.00 minimum but regardless of how much you make it has to be reported.

Someone's Very Happy!

It must be because of the gorgeous weather and temperture but somebody is outside singing.  It's a woman and boy is she in a great mood!

Gusty Winds!

Oh man is it windy! and cold!

It's not like the last time when the power went out a few months ago!  It happened sometime during the morning and was fixed by 1:30 in the afternoon.  Doesn't mean I wasn't freaking out though!  I was just bored!  There's only so much you can do without electricity!

Yes, the snow is HERE!

I was trying to find a webcam picture that I could put here but I couldn't find any. The closest I came was a beach in Point Pleasant NJ.

and a shot of Chestnut Hill that you can see by going to:

http://ChestnutHillCam.ww.com

Maybe I'll have to take this on as a project of my own and set up some kind of webcam view-thingie!

Well since its a Sunday the mood is a little bit more quieter than if it were a weekday. There are kids going door to door working to shovel snow. I saw a few neighbors clearing the snow off of their cars and I can hear a few snow shovels and the snow blower across the street.

I still haven't ventured out today but I have got a lot to do inside to keep me busy!

Yes it's snowing but........

some of the cars are still driving by like a bat out of heck!  Even with the dip that's on the corner they are still driving by so fast!  This is NOT the kind of weather that you want your car to get damaged in!  We're supposed to get a few inches of snow tonight but more snow tommorrow!  All together we could get about a foot of snow!

Where am I?

Inside drinking a hot cup of tea and typing on the keyboard.......

Broad & Stenton!

Kind of curious thing:

I noticed at one of the gas stations on one of the corners a guy asking people for 40 cents as they drove up to the gas pumps.

Saw a couple of guys out today.....

It was bitterly cold (at least to me) and on my way to the store I saw a guy who was having trouble with his car.  He had the hood up and it seemed like he was waiting for someone.  On my way back another guy had joined him and he was talking to someone on his cell phone.  Two girls had gone to the store to purchase a gallon of milk, a couple of people buying gas - all this before noon on this Sunday morning!

The Cheltenham Bus - Complaints?

I heard a few "snippets" of some very interesting information!  One particular day the Cheltenham Bus was late.  I later came to find out that the bus had broken down and another one was used in its place.  This of course made the bus late when picking up people.  I found out that some of the people complained!  To make matters worse the driver wasn't familiar with the route.  I say - SO WHAT!  Instead of just cancelling the route after the bus broke down another bus was used to carry out the route which (in my honest opinion) was a very nice thing to do.  Remember that senior citizen residents ride the bus for free and there was talk some time back about discontinuing the route altogether but fortunately a solution was had.

What makes this whole thing more irritating is that I myself was on that bus on the day in question.  Of course after waiting for it for a while I thought that maybe I had missed it or that it was just running late.  Just as I was about to go back home - here it came!  I saw that it wasn't the regular driver and just figured that the regular driver had the day off or something.  I found out that the bus had broke down and that the bus being used was a replacement one.  The driver wasn't familiar with the route and the route itself involved many turns and round-a-bout ways. 

This bus driver was very nice (and very nervous) but the people on the bus (me amongst them) weren't angry or complaining because we were just happy that the bus was there.  During the route to pick up a couple of passengers their doorman had said that they had went back upstairs but the driver was nice enough to come back and get them.  So the route was late but everybody got to where they wanted to go.  There was one man that seemed a bit annoyed that the driver wasn't familiar with his stop but (to me) he seemed to take it in stride.  So everyone got to where they wanted to go and I figured that that was the end of that.  But the next time I boarded I had found out that someone had complained.  I think that that is really a shame.  We are lucky to have this sort of local transportation and it was a Godsend during the last Septa strike.  And as much as this bus has been on time and accomodating - having one bad incident is not worth the fuss!  Just think if we didn't even have this bus route!  The driver(s) help the passengers with their groceries - both on and off the bus (something that Septa doesn't do) and they try to be accomodating as best as they can.  We should be very grateful for this service!

I hope we haven't lost our mailman

You know you get kind of use to your regular mailman and I noticed that a different one delivered the mail.  I could tell because they were using those new-looking white vans.  Besides our regular mailman is - well - a - man!  And the one that came today was a woman.  I have it on some very "inside" information that this route for delivering mail is a very desirable one and I know that there is at least one guy that wants the route.  But I like the mailman that we have now.

Whew! I made it!

Remember what I said before about me seeing them get the leaves while I was on my way home?  I got home and went back outside to rake the leaves to the curb so that I could catch them before they got there.  Well I did manage to rake the leaves to the curb but they didn't come and get them so I thought that maybe I missed them.  I saw the other leaves raked to the curb across the street so I thought to myself that I couldn't have missed them - could I?  I know I saw them getting the leaves and even the mailman told me that they were getting the leaves.  Oh well - there wasn't anything I could do about it right now.  But I'm happy to say that a few days later they did indeed come and get the leaves.  I would have captured a picture of it to post but I was too slow!  Oh well - maybe next time.

Christmas Lights?

I must confess that I'm one of the ones guilty of not having Christmas lights (or any other kind of Christmas decoration) on the windows or outside of the house.  On my last errand to the store I noticed that there are a lot of others who don't have them as well.

Personally I want to change this even if it only means having a wreath or something smaller.  I think people get a kick out of seeing Christmas decorations.  It may put them in the holiday mood or even brighten up their spirits.

I saw that someone had a great big giant Santa on their lawn and I have seen a few windows with the simplest of decorations.  I like that there is a variety and that not everyone has the same amount of decorations.  Variety is good!

Somebody is in a really good mood

as they whistle while walking down the street.  It's kind of dark right now and I really can't see who it is but I can definitely hear them.  Usually I will hear the mailman whistling while he is delivering the mail but the mail has already come so this could be somebody else.  But whoever they are they are certainly in a good mood!

Snow is in the forecast!

The weather channel is talking about snow for next week - Tuesday, Wednesday - there abouts........Of course I'm not ready - what else is new!  But I plan to be ready with the rock salt, the snow shovel and the hot chocolate.

I have seen some very interesting things happen in the area when the snow has fallen.  For instance (this was a few years back) but a car was stuck in the snow on the 1800 block of Graham Lane and a couple of residents came out of their house, snow shovels in hand to help get the stuck car out.

One of my neighbors said that we the residents kind of hibernate during the winter and he's right.  If we get a really big snow storm we'll have a hard time of it but I know that everyone will do their darndest to make it through!

Septa is on strike! Day 1

The first day of the Septa strike!

Here is a comment from a Septa Commuter:

Well I should consider myself very lucky in that I don't have to take public transportation to get to and from work every day but I did have to do some errands. So there's no bus so I walk! From around 18th & Cheltenham Ave I walked to Cheltenham and Ogontz and on my way I met a guy who was walking to work. He told me that he worked at the "Dollar" Store that is on the far side of the Cheltenham Mall. He told me it would take him about a half an hour to get there and he decided since the weather was nice that he would get an early start. So we walked and talked while walking the distance. He told me that him and his wife were moving down south - its not so much that he hated the philly area - he said his wife was from down south.

We parted ways when he had to cross Cheltenham Ave to get to his work place. I saw quite a few people walking and we kind of nodded to one another knowing that we each were "stranded" commuters making our ways to where we had to go.

It was pretty much a case of "oh well, Septa's on strike but we still have to go where we have to go!

Hopefully the strike won't last too much longer!

Signed

A Septa Commuter

About The Community Garden(s)

Across the street from where I live is the community gardens.  I know that it is very late in the season but I was writing about the gardens and so I decided to add an entry about them here.

There are people that still are out there tending their garden and its October.  They are a very nice bunch of people and it is really a shame that they are being taken advantage of when others go in there to steal their crops.  All they have to do is ask because a lot of the gardeners there grow a lot more than they will use and they don't mind giving away some of their crops if you just ask!

To All The Cooks In The Area!

You may not know this but one of the reasons why this area seems and feels so "homey" and comfortable is because the smells of those that are cooking can be smelled by everybody and anybody that just happens to be walking past.

Since the weather is warmer that means that when you cook we can smell it from the outside and sometimes it just makes our mouths water!  Mostly this is apparent during the afternoon when people are cooking dinner.

Okay its 8 o'clock at night and the grass is getting cut!

I have really got to hand it to Temple. Whoever that is that they have to cut the grass they are always there - day or night! I can hear them out there now and it occurred to me that "hey it's dark outside!"

Your exact name and address!

I suppose that there is no way to find out exactly how they got the information but I got an email from a company that wants me to sign up to get a lower interest rate mortgage.  This email had my exact name and the address of the property.

From what I can tell from the email there is no name for this company and the return contact information is to an account manager of their PA Branch.

Junk email is annoying and its especially annoying when they have your exact name and address!

Harvey Portner - Some basic information

There has been a lot of people searching for information about our area's Commissioner, Harvey Portner so I thought that I would include some basic information below:

Harvey Portner is Commissioner of Cheltenham Township and is also president of the Board of Commissioners of Cheltenham Township and is district representative of the LaMott district.

Ward 6 - Elkins Park

Harvey Portner, hportner@cheltenham-township.org

The Cheltenham Bus

I was going to start talking about our own little Cheltenham Bus at length but someone recently did a search about it so I'll talk a little bit about it now.

Currently the Cheltenham Bus runs 3 days a week - Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.  It travels through the Cheltenham area starting from the Rowland Community Center and ending at the Glenside Train Station and visa vers.  Roughly speaking there are 3 trips meaning 3 separate times to board the bus at any given stop.  Some of the stops include the Melrose Shopping Center, the Coventry House, the Fox Pavillion and the Cheltenham Mall. 

Of course the bus doesn't run on holidays and residents over the age of 62 can ride free with a Township Transit ID or with a PennDot Id or a Medicare Card.  Other residents can ride by paying a $4 fee but there are trip tickets available in quantities of 10 trips for $10 which comes out to a dollar a trip. 

More information about the Cheltenham Bus (and its routes) can be found at the cheltenham site at:

http://www.cheltenhamtownship.org

or by calling the Township's Administration Building at 215-887-1000