New Jersey Baby Boomer

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am always interested in new phone services, because the more services there are, the more competition, and the more competition, the better prices can become between services. SO when the opportunity presented itself to write about Boost Mobile, I immediately went to the website, and then the coverage tab along the top to see if our area was covered. Being in a fairly rural area, there were some breaks in the coverage, but the more populated area of the state had good coverage, and may be a viable option for those looking for a change. In fact, there’s coverage throughout the United States.

Like many things these days, much of your business can be managed online. You can pay using your debit or credit card, or set up automatic payments for your service. If you prefer, for whatever reason, you can pay in person…you can even pay by phone.

My husband and I have not ventured into the world of the Blackberry or iPhone, or any of the more advanced phones yet, but it is tempting as we do enjoy being online, and social networking with friends and family, which you can do with the phones offered.

You can also help a friend with a bill, or give a gift of phone service to a friend for a period of time through the Re-Boost program.

Maybe it’s time to take a look and see if it’s worth making a change in service for you, if you’re time is up on your present service and you will not be penalized for making a change.

We have had many visit from black bears this summer of 2010, and so have many others in Northern New Jersey and other parts of the State.

This year, there will be a bear hunt. I always have such mixed feelings about the bear hunt. I love animals, all of them, and as you can see from the pictures below, the mom and cubs walking through our yard are so cute.

We also have a young mid-sized bear that frequents the property…in fact our Yorkie, tiny as she is, yapped and chased it off the property and lived to tell…this time.

Every time we take her out, or walk to our cars at night, or walk out the door for that matter, we have to look both ways, and carry her in our arms until we are sure there are no bears. We see them on our property approximately 1-2 times a week, sometimes more.

Usually it’s the mom and cubs. Then there’s the HUGE bear, a gnarly looking old bear, that is the most intimidating bear of all. Our property…right up against the house and past the front door…are part of it’s pathway through the neighborhood. He occasions our trash, but we have things rigged now so that it is so hard for them to get at the trash, they don’t try much anymore. (I may eat those words in a day or two). And the “medium-sized” bear I told you about that my dog chased. These are our “regulars”.

I haven’t felt comfortable walking this summer…not because of the heat, but because of the bears. I never walk out my door completely relaxed, always have to be conscious of whether a bear is going to come around the side of the house…and believe me it happens.

Have we been attacked? No, not yet, but I’ve seen a threatening snort or two, especially from the Mom of the cubs…a Mom protecting her cubs is probably the most dangerous if you get near the cubs, or between her and the cubs.  In fact she came at the end of last week and tore down our bird feeder in broad daylight and enjoyed the seeds with her cubs, destroying the feeder.  Used to be that I could put out a feeder during the day and bring it in at night, then out again the next day.  But that isn’t working this year, it’s the second daytime feeder destruction of the summer, so I think I’ll have to wait until winter to feed the birds….disappointing.

So, the bear hunt seems like it’s necessary…even though I hate the idea.

Mom….

…and the Kids (Cubs) walking through our front yard after coming around the side of the house. Taken from the front door.  See how cute they are and why I am so conflicted?

These photos are have copyright and licensing restrictions, click through the image for details.

Opinions vary on our relatively newly elected Governor, Chris Christie. He is making headlines and media appearances not just here in New Jersey, but on other news stations as well because of the open and bold stands that he is taking.

What he is doing in our State is so very different from what the President is doing in our Nation…he is making everyone share the challenge of cutting back, something I wish was happening in our Nation.

I guess in my simplistic way I see this as a kind of experiment….what will be the outcome of what our Governor is doing in our State as opposed to what our President and his administration is doing to our Nation.

I don’t know if the experiment will work, because of concern about how what is being done on the National level will affect what happens to each State.

Time will tell, but I’m pleased for the most part with what Governor Christie is doing, even if sometimes it hurts.

I rarely share political opinions on here, but I’m just sayin….

This coming weekend is the annual Quick Chek Festival of Balloons in Readington, New Jersey, and a couple weekends later in very early August is the Warren County Farmer’s Fair Balloon Festival.

I have been to the Quick Chek event, but have yet to go to the Warren County, New Jersey event.

For more information about both of these events, plus videos and a slide-show that I put together, please visit New Jersey Hot Air Balloon Festivals.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NMEDA. All opinions are 100% mine.

It is really a pleasure to be able to write about something that is close to home for me…literally and figuratively.  I have a brother who is disabled, or physically handicapped…unable to do things that you and I may take for granted.   In his case, it is more than just a physical condition, but for many who are simply unable to walk, or get in and out of a car or van, NMEDA has excellent, easy-to-use solutions for you.  I was so impressed looking at the vehicles and seeing what they were capable of doing…not all of them are alike, there are different solutions for different needs.   I looked at the drop-down menus under the categories along the top of the site, and visited a few links, and got the feeling that this was a very supportive organization.

The next thing that I wanted to know was whether or not there were dealers in New Jersey that provided these vehicles, and so put my zip code in, a relatively rural, out-of-the-way part of New Jersey.  I found 2 within a reasonable driving distance…1/2 – 1 hour away, in Fairfield, Saddle Brook; others in New York; and one near where I grew up before moving to this area, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

If there are that many locations in my area, I’m sure you’ll find them in your area, too. Visit and check, and if you have a moment, let us know what your closest location is in a comment.

Last year my husband and I started Geocaching, we aren’t out there every weekend like some enthusiasts, but enjoy our times when we do go out.  It’s great exercise and not an expensive hobby.  All you need is a hiking or biking GPS (not the kind that you use in your car) and a way to find “caches” in your area.  You can find more information, and see what we do visit a page I put together called “Geocaching Baby Boomers” (I have new pictures that I have to add, but there are some there), and you can find out more about Geocaching at the MAIN site, geocaching.com.

Here are some pages devoted just to Geocaching in New Jersey:

• Geocaching in New Jersey (at geocaching.com)
• Northern New Jersey Cachers
• Central Jersey Geocaching
• South Jersey Geocaching (not sure how active this one is?)

Here’s a video put together by the North Jersey group…you don’t have to see snakes, get scratched up, and some of the other delightful things you’ll see here, because when you use geocaching.com to find and upload caches in areas you want to explore, you can set parameters ahead of time to avoid whatever you’d like to avoid. It REALLY IS a LOT of fun!