seem to congregate in masses
(NAPSI)No matter how
thorough your home inspec-
tion, the odds are your new
house will reveal a surprise
shortly after you move in.
Thats why one young
woman, Andrea, was prepared
the second time she bought a
house. Andrea is a digital
marketing manager who
relocated to Wisconsin from
Michigan. Although she had
enough saved from the sale of
her home, she opted for a 10
percent down payment and
financed with a conventional
loan and private mortgage
insurance.
She explained, I wanted to
have some cash on hand for
unexpected expenses. After all,
if I wanted to, I could always
pay down the principal on my
mortgage later with that cash.
The inevitable unexpected
expense was a surprising one.
Andrea closed on her house in
March, and when the snow
melted later that spring, it
revealed a yard completely
bare of landscaping. It never
occurred to me to ask for
photos of the house from
another season, she noted.
Consequently, Andrea used
some of her cash for a retain-
ing wall, bushes, flowers, patio
pavers, gravel and a fire pit. It
was a blessing in disguise,
she said. Building it up from
nothing gave me the chance to
make the outdoor space
completely my own and
perfect for my two older
dogs.
Renovations were the main
reason she wanted to make a
smaller down payment. It took
her five months to find the
1950s ranch home of her
dreams. It is a fixer-upper, but
I am using that chunk of
savings as my own revolving
line of home renovation
credit, she said.
If youve been planning
onor just dreaming
The members of the Warren
Garden Club are celebrating 60
years of the club's commitment
to preserving and enhancing
the beauty of Warren County's
environment. As a non-profit
organization, we are involved
in many garden and floral
related activities:
Creating holiday tray favors
for Meals at Home; organizing
floral workshops at Abilities
Center, Chelsea Assisted
Living, Warren Haven, The
Karen Nash Butterfly Garden
and Warren Youth; maintaining
plantings/containers at Ship-
pen Manor, The Blue Star
Memorial and several county
library locations; presenting
our Civic Beautification Award
aboutbuying a new home,
you can explore your options
with a calculator that shows
you how much you could save
(or lose), depending on how
much money you put down, at
mgic.com/buynow.
feed our feathered friends,
who will surely leave plenty to
for outstanding landscape
design to local homeowners
and businesses; providing
garden tools and planting
instructions to families select-
ed by the Warren County Habi-
tat for Humanity.
Our members look forward to
continued involvement with
our Warren County communi-
ties and local organizations
through our newly formed
Public Education Committee
and pollinator garden
campaign.
At our November meeting,
our current president, Charlene
Loux, presented floral
bouquets to all of our past
presidents who were in atten-
dance at the meeting.
this time of year, perhaps
fall feeding frenzy with the aid
Hello fellow readers,
I am thankful for the dormant
perennials with seed heads that
fall to the ground and germi-
nate come spring. I marvel
over the structure and bark of
statuesque trees, more visible
now, as the leaves theyve
dropped decompose and
provide nourishment for our
dear earth. I treasure the
evergreens that we can adorn
with twinkly lights and the
branches of hollies and other
broadleaf evergreens that can
be gathered to garnish our
window boxes, outdoor pots,
and mantels. Plus, the dry
hydrangea flowers, stems of
butterfly bush, branches with
berries, and other garden
leave behinds to add to the
seasonal display. This years
late growing season then a
deep freeze, before some
plants went dormant, may
have put a damper on our dry
flower pickings. Not to worry
though, plants are resilient and
will bounce back come spring.
I am grateful for the pump-
kins to decorate that can be
made into yummy pie or soup
and toasted seeds for a salty
snack. What fun to watch
critters scurrying around
hoarding nuts in preparation
for the winter months ahead.
And the flocks of turkeys that
taunting the fact that they will
not be on the dinner table.
Thank you, deer, for staying
clear of my hollies during your
of Deer Out, a natural pleas-
ant-smelling deer spray, and
Miss Ellie who loves the
chase.
Well enjoy the winter break
from pulling weeds, deadhead-
ing, and other garden chores,
while dreaming and planning
for the growing season ahead.
Meanwhile, well have plenty
to chat about while our plants
are sleeping. Which brings me
to the gratitude I have for your
participation and kind encour-
agement over the years and for
The Press for inviting our
exchange which we began 285
weekly columns ago. Hard to
imagine weve been sharing
garden dilemmas, delights,
and discoveries in this garden
of life for over five years!
Proof of the sense of commu-
nity our newspaper nurtures,
thanks to all of you.
Wishing you a joyful time
with family and friends, warm
memories of loved ones forev-
er in our hearts, and healing
love and light for those work-
ing through grief, illness, and
recovery. Happy Thanksgiving
and Blessings to all!
Garden dilemmas?
Askmarystone.com
 If an active shooter or other local school. The main including a makeshift
emergency struck at a Warren message is to stay away and teleprompter, recorded the
County school, what should refrain from interfering, two men, and then edited the
parents do to avoid making coming to the school, or even multiple takes from three
the situation worse? The calling their child, as doing camera angles into the
answer is in a public service any of those things can finished video, while others
announcement video hamper the official response produced the brochure that
produced by students from or even put their child in accompanies the video.
Warren County Technical graver danger. Though the video seems
School. According to Seugling, simple and straightforward,
A team of students from the Riley and Burke provided an they really did a great job
county-run high school is outline of the points they with what was not an easy
winning praise for its project wanted to make, which she task, Seugling remarked.
creating the video and a turned over to the students The video can be seen on the
brochure for the Warren who then formulated a script, Warren County Prosecutors
County Prosecutors Office chose fonts for the graphics, Office website, www.wc-
on the role of parents in a and found stock images or po-nj.us, in the Prosecutors
school lockdown or shelter in took still images to be used in Blog section at www.wc-
place event. the video. For the video shoot po-nj.us/wordpress, as well
The assistance of students the students traveled to the as on the websites of many of
at Warren County Vocational prosecutors office where the school districts in the
Technical School has been they set up their equipment, county
invaluable in our efforts to
secure the schools, Prosecu-
tor Richard T. Burke said,
adding, Their expertise has
helped us get an important
message out to parents so
they can stay informed about
the safety of their children.
Burke was recently joined
by Warren County Freeholder
Director Richard D. Gardner
and Freeholder Edward J.
Smith at the high school for
an unveiling of the video,
which runs just under three
minutes.
The students did such a
tremendously professional
job. It was really exciting to
see the work come to
fruition, Gardner said.
The project took about four
months from initial script
discussions to completion
and involved a lot of hard
work from the students,
according to Patti Seugling,
who teaches TV, Radio and
Digital Media at Warren
Tech. Seugling said seven of
her students Dana dePoort-
ere, Kyli Engle, Sylvie
Errickson, Matthew
Figueroa, Anthony Godlews-
ki, Sean Miller, and Julia
Soares created the video,
while two students from
Warren Tech teacher Vincent
Fattorussos Graphic Arts
program Mary Kate Linn
and Talia Wright worked on
the accompanying brochure.
The video includes Burke
and retired Independence
Township Police Chief
Dennis Riley, past president
of the Warren County Chiefs
Association, discussing what
parents should and should
not do if they hear about an
incident unfolding at their

Gail Masson-Romano Ravi Romano Joanne Van Valkenburg

Broker-Owner-Sales Marketing-Owner Broker-Manager- Sales

Debbie Wiesing Phyllis Howe Janet Rasely Carol Paglia Kathy Kalish Carol Ruddy
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 Car enthusiasts of all ages
are invited to bring a new,
unwrapped toy or a $5 contri-
bution to the Chatterbox
Drive-In Restaurant and take
a ride in a monster truck on
Saturday, December 2nd,
between the hours of 11:00
a.m. 4:00 p.m. A rain date
has been set for Sunday,
December 3rd. All proceeds
benefit the Season of Hope
Holiday Toy Drive for Sussex
and northern Warren County
children. The event is
co-sponsored by Ideal Farms
and New Jersey Monster
Trucks. Patrons can park at
the Chatterbox Drive-In,
which is located at 1 State
Highway 15, at the intersec-
tion of Route 206. After
dropping off their toy or
monetary contribution,
visitors will be able to ride in
one of the monster trucks
through the unused fields at
Ideal Farms, which is located
directly across the street from
the restaurant. The vehicles
will be provided by New
Jersey Monster Trucks, a
company which specializes
in hosting monster truck
events throughout the state.
Hosting the annual event in
support of local families is
important to Don Hall, owner
of the Chatterbox Drive In
and a partner in the Season of
Hope Holiday Toy Drive.
Our goal is to help local
families. I am very familiar
with Project Self-Sufficiency.
It is a countybased organiza-
tion and they do a superb job
getting all of these toys local-
ly distributed to the ones that
need them the most.
The toy drive is a joint effort
which is driven and coordi-
nated by Project Self-Suffi-
ciency, along with its partners
The Chatterbox Drive In,
First Hope Bank, Gravity
DesignWorks, iHeartMedia,
Inc., Intercar Mercedes Benz,
The New Jersey Herald, Off
Shore Marine, Pass it Along,
The Printing Center, Selec-
tive Insurance Company of
America, Service Electric
Broadband Cable, Stocker
Bus Company, the Sussex
County Chamber of Com-
merce, Sussex Honda, and Gift items will be gratefully For more information, call
the United States Marine received Monday Thursday, Project Self-Sufficiency at
Corps Toys for Tots to benefit from 9:00 a.m. 8:00 p.m. or 973-940-3500, or visit www.
local families in need. The Friday, 9:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m. projectselfsufficiency.org.
group aims to gather thou-
sands of new and unwrapped
items to distribute to families
in need during mid-Decem-
ber.
We are extremely grateful
to the owners of the Chatter-
box Drive In, Ideal Farms
and New Jersey Monster
Trucks for the creative way
they have come together year
after year in support of the
low-income families in our
area, noted Deborah
Berry-Toon, Executive
Director of Project Self-Suf-
ficiency. Neighbors like
these truly will make this a
season of hope for local
children.
Those who wish to contrib-
ute to the Season of Hope
Holiday Toy Drive, but who
are unable to attend the Mon-
ster Truck event on Decem-
ber 1st, are encouraged to
drop off a new, unwrapped
toy at Project Self-Sufficien-
cy, 127 Mill Street, Newton.

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