Bfth's Boring Blog

One year ago today, my husband and I purchased our very first home. You may say, wait Beth, haven't you been living in New Jersey together for nearly 30 years? The answer is yes we have. But for most of those years we were renting that home from my mother. Several months before she passed away, she gave me the house. Technically you could say that I purchased it but it was really more of a gift to me.  This house in the Poconos came as somewhat of a surprise. My husband and I were not ready to buy what I hope will be are forever home but sometimes things just happen. We sold my parents’ house at the New Jersey shore after finding this wonderful home in the Poconos. The timing was not great but we both felt that this was what we needed to do. And so we did. And it was scary. It's still a little scary. But here we are.  I remember walking through the house prior to the closing. The previous owners had packed up and moved away two days earlier. There were a few things that th...

  I don't know what it is about refrigerators and me; we just have issues.  Lots of issues like: 2011:  in the midst of a bitter cold and icy winter, my fridge starts "smelling" funny.  I have to transfer most of the contents of the fridge to my parents’ house.  Because the house was built prior to fridges being at thing, we have a freezer and a small fridge in the basement which helped. 2018:  a kid doesn't shut the freezer all the way and:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2018/07/rainy-days-and-mondays.html 2021:  another fridge bites the dust:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2021/08/chaos-on-summers-day.html 2023: The fridge at the shore dies:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/big-box-bs.html 2024/2025:  We purchase Poconos house, which has 3 refrigerators and one stand-alone freezer.  The "main" one is in the kitchen.  It's big....

 Today would have been my brother's 53rd birthday.  While I am wistful and I miss him, I'm actually feeling pretty hopeful today.  Hope is a feeling that is easily lost these days.  When I see the way the world, in particular, the United States of America (we are so NOT united), it's easy to give up hope.  However, several things happened over the weekend that not only gave me hope, but reminded me that I can encourage and nurture hope for others. My husband and I left the Poconos on Saturday morning to head to NJ to help our son pack up and get ready to return to college.  (His junior year!  How did that happen?)  We got home just before he headed out for a scheduled haircut.  The day before had been the last day for both of his summer jobs:  working at a summer theater camp (which he has done for years) and acting as a sexton at a local church.  He did both on Friday; running the soundboard for the last show of the season and ...

  But it's still August!  I know!  I KNOW.  But it is a perfect fall Friday, even if it isn't fall yet!  And I KNOW it isn't.  Today is that perfect Sumtumn day.  (And if you don't know what that is, read:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2025/08/summertime-blues.html  where I coined the phrase for the first time...has anyone trademarked it yet?). Summer IS wrapping up.  I hate to say it, but...There are plenty of signs of it.  Signs like: The first hurricane of the season.  (I'm looking at you Erin).  She raced up the eastern seaboard.  As far as I know, the storm didn't land anywhere specifically (yet...or I could be wrong...I don't watch too much news any more for my mental health.  I'm still in the fight of trying to be informed but not hearing all the crazy BS that is coming out of the current administration.  Even when I just think of the horrible an...

Dear Andy, It's your birthday.  We, as a community/family, didn't get to celebrate last year, so I'm so glad that is not the case this year.  We need to celebrate your birthday.  We need to celebrate you because we love you.  We LOVE you.  You are not family by genetics, but you ARE family.  You are part of more families than I can imagine.  And it's all because you are loved by so many.  Why?  Because you have given love, kindness, compassion and caring to everyone you know (or at least that's how it seems to be) and you've done so for more years than I've been alive! You've been a part of my family's life since before I was born.  I'm pretty sure (although I can't be certain) that you were present at my parent's wedding.  I'm guessing you were there the day I was baptized, as well as the day my brother was baptized.  You weren't there for my wedding.  (A big regret on my part, but that's what I get for not having it at t...

  It's been a busy summer.  Summer always seems to fly by.  (Winter, on the other hand, does NOT.)  Next week my son will be wrapping up his summer jobs and we will be taking him back to college for his 3rd year.  (Talk about time flying.)  Labor Day weekend is two weeks away!  (How the heck did that happen?)  On this summer Friday, I'm thinking back to things that have happened already this summer and providing updates and observations (Is this really necessary Bfth?  Probably not, but...) Bats :  Since that one appearance, we've had no other sightings.  Hopefully that continues.  We had a pest control guy come out on Tuesday who thought he figured out how the bat got in.  (Through an exhaust fan).  We had the pest control company's bat expert come on Thursday and he disagreed.  He thinks that it came in through the chimney and squeezed its way out through a very small opening in ...

  When we bought our house in the Poconos, it came with a pond and fish.  It is beautiful.  It is calming.  But... Like everything else, its work and it has its issues.  I've written about some of those issues. ( https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2025/01/cold-hearted-b.html  for example.)  But I haven't written about all of them or the costs.  (Yes, there are costs...more than I thought...isn't that always the case?)  Earlier this year when we (and by we, I mean the pond guys) "opened" the pond for the season, the waterfall (which recycles the water) pump was replaced (because the waterfall kept "turning off" and I'd have to adjust the float to get it running again and eventually even that didn't work), the falls themselves were adjusted somewhat (so that there would be less water evaporation) and new fish and 2 turtles were put in. Over the past several months, the small goldfish have grown.  The turtles have disappeared.  (...

  Summer is one of my favorite times of year. It's almost my favorite season.  Actually my favorite season is one I've kind of made up:  Sumtumn…which is that part of the year when summer is ending (or starting to end) and autumn is just beginning.  I'd say autumn is my favorite season, but the end of the season, as we start to transition to winter, is almost as bad as "false spring."  Sumtumn brings cool mornings, warm days and nights that only require a fan and not a/c.  Things are still green and blooming, but there's also a hint of the change of colors.  (Like yesterday when I was heading back to NJ from PA and as I was coming down the mountain, I could there was a sea of green trees and one red/orange one.  I wish I could have taken a photo, but that wouldn't have been a good idea as I was driving down a steep incline at the time.) Although I LOVE this time of year, I'm also feeling a bit blue.  Not quite sad...well maybe slightly sad?...

When we first "found" our home in the Poconos, one of the things that drew us in was the yard.  (Both front and back, but mostly the back.)  I am NOT a gardener.  (I have a black thumb)  However, both my husband and I were drawn in by the beauty of all the variety of plants that blossomed in the area.  There is not just one kind of tree or flower or plant, but many different ones.  The yard is not boring or bland; its diversity makes it stand out.  Having grown up in a suburban area where all the yards were lawn filled and similar, the variegation was enticing. Different colors, different sizes make it a perfect refuge for birds and bees, as well as us humans.   How could we not love it? But what I didn't know is how much "weeding" I would have to do.  At the end of last summer, when we moved in, everything had pretty much been taken care of.  There was a fall clean up and one in the spring.  Then the warm weather and rain took...

 When my son was in kindergarten there was a what do you want to be when you grow up day/event.  My son dressed in a shirt and bathing trunks and carried a bucket with a stuffed squid in it.  (I think...my memory may be wrong.)  He wanted to be a marine scientist.  Or maybe that's just what my mother told him. Back then he spent a week or two with my parents at the NJ shore and would spend weekdays from 10-2 (or maybe it was 9-2) attending a marine science camp.  They were “headquartered" on the bay and went to the ocean once or twice a week.  They learned all about life in both bodies of water.  My son really took to it.  (Again, I think my other helped with this.)  He may be the only kid who had stuffed sea animals like a turtle, a squid (he might have had two...he still might), a swordfish, a horseshoe crab...well you get the idea.  He was obsessed with giant squid and chamber nautilus.  By the time his tenure with the marin...

  The next line should be "Sgt Pepper taught the band to play," but it's not.  It was 20 years ago today that our son was born!  As any parent would probably say:  it seems like yesterday, but it was also a lifetime ago!  It goes by so quickly.  But sometimes it doesn't. There's so much I remember from that day.  There's so much I've forgotten.  It's funny what sticks in your mind.  Like... Upon being informed late the night before that he was on his way, trying to get sleep and not being able to.  Watching "Frasier" on channel 11 into the wee hours before finally getting some sleep. Having to wake my husband up around 7 so that we could get on the road.  How did he manage to sleep?  (Or why couldn't he sleep until just about the time he should have woken up?) Calling my mother as we gassed up the tank and telling her that her grandson was on his way Driving, driving and driving. Driving and getting the call that our son had be...