Auntie Ann

My mom's sister Ann passed away yesterday from complications from diabetes. She was 72.

Bear Hugs

We had the most awesome adventure today. We traveled three hours to White Mountain in the Ozarks to visit a bear den. This trip and others like them are donated by AGFC and auctioned off for up to $2,000 for charities. Steve "Wild Man" Wilson, our Public Affairs Coordinator and host of "Talkin' Outdoors" tv show coordinates the trips. I have been wanting to go on one of these trips since I first started working at AGFC and Wild Man told me late Thursday there were some open spots.




We met at the office at 6:30 am and made the trek up to the Ozarks. We left our vehicle and had to get into one of AGFC's trucks with 4-wheel drive to go up the mountain on a dirt road with a severe drop off on either side. At about 11 am we arrived at our destination. Myron and Kevin our bear biologists talked with us and explained that we would be hiking another 500 yards or saw up the mountain to get to our staging area. There we would wait while they went ahead and darted the mother bear. We waited almost and hour for the dart to work because they could not get her in the preferred neck shot and had to hit her in the hip. It takes much longer for the drug to enter her system when it has to go through all of her fat.



We trekked another 50 yards to the bear den when they were ready for our group to join them. It wasn't an easy hike but well worth it. Nico road on Phil's shoulders the whole time.


Last summer the mother started showing up in a couple's yard, so they called Myron, our statewide bear biologist, to see what could be done. Myron had trapped her, put a radio collar on her and released her a few miles away. They have been tacking her and new she had bear cubs. The couple who discovered her got to name the mama bear, so they named her Gracie after their granddaughter. All of them were in attendance and Gracie got to hold her namesakes cubs.


(Phil had to stick his head in den and get face to face with Mama Bear.)



Myron told us the cubs nurse so loud you can hear them outside the den. He went into the hole (talk about occupational hazards!)and brought out each bear cub one at a time. They were about four weeks old and the eyes hadn't fully opened yet. They can easily get pneumonia so they kept them in fleece blankets or let us hold them in our jackets. They weighed them and took measurements before passing them to the group for pictures. Our AGFC photographer was on the trip so I was able to get copies of some awesome shots.

(The cubs were 4 week old females, 45cm long and weighed about 4 lbs each.)

Stock the Rock Trout Outing

AGFC had a special event called "Stock the Rock" where they stocked trout at Rock Creek in Boyle Park in LR. Phil took the kids because we needed footage for TV and photos of kids trout fishing to promote another fishing event, Totally Trout. Philip was shown on Fox 16 with Nico and Oksana in the background that night.

Blue & Gold Banquet

Philip's Blue and Gold Banquetfor Cub Scouts was tonight. Grammy and Pop Pop joined us for corndogs and chicken provided by the scouts along with various salads and appetizers each scout brought. He had made placements for the family at his last meeting.

Remembering Vinnie

I can't believe it's been 14 years since we lost my brother Vinnie to pancreatic cancer. 35 is too young to leave this world. He is missed and thought of each and everyday. I know he watches over my daughter Jadelyn and he has taught her to send dimes from heaven to remind us they are always with us.

Snow Creatures- Big and Small

Snow arrived again on Sunday and kept the kids out of school through Thursday this week. These are some of the snow creatures created by Daddy and the kids. Mommy had a bad cold and stayed warm inside Monday and Tuesday before going back to work on Wednesday.





These are some more pictures of the kids playing and sledding in the snow.

Hail Queen Elizabeth I

Oksana's Girl Scout Troop participated in a Thinking Day Event at Sherwood Forest. Each troop had to make a booth to teach the other troops about countires arounf the world. Her troop did Great Britian. Each girl dresses up as a character found in that country/region. She picked Queen Elizabth I and luckily a good friend of mine had a queen costume her daughter wore for Halloween. We decided we would serve tea and scone at our booth. I said I could help and make half of the scones--thinking I would have to make a few dozen. Then the leader said thanks, 120 should be half. 120?I didn't realize there would be close to 200 girls at the event. So Friday night I made 120 chocolate-chip scones. They came out good--but I hope I never see another scone for awhile. Oksana had fun and learned a lot about other countries as she got her "passport" stamped as she "traveled around the world." Next year we are doing Italy and serving pizza!

A loving uncle and godfather passes

My mother called me at work on Wednesday to tell me my godfather, my Uncle Ollie, had died. It came as a quite a shock. My aunt and uncle were supposed to leave for a cruise to the Panama Canal this past weekend, but he went into the hospital to have a new pacemaker put in. He died the next day. Luckily my mom was able to visit with him the day before in the hospital. He was the 2nd oldest (mom's the oldest) of seven children. He will be greatly missed. I wish I was closer so that I could have gone home for his services. Below is his obituary.

Oliver Finan, 74, of Bayville died on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010, at Community Medical Center, Toms River. The family will receive friends today, Thursday, Feb. 4, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Timothy E. Ryan Home For Funerals, O'Connell Chapel, 706 U.S. Hwy. 9, Bayville. Funeral services will be on Friday, Feb. 5, at 11 a.m. at the funeral home. Condolences may be sent by visiting ryanfuneralhome.com. Born in Newark, Mr. Finan came to the Bayville area five years ago from Roselle. He founded Finan Sheet Metal, Roselle, in 1979, and was a member of Local 22, the Lacey Moose, and both the Knights of Columbus and American Legion Post 229 in Roselle. He proudly served his country in the Army National Guard. Mr. Finan is survived by his wife, Mary Clare (nee O'Donnell); seven children, Judith Finan of Clinton, Nancy (Tom) Goodstein of Allentown, Teresa (Vic) Matthews of Union, Michael (Lynne) Finan of Somerset, Bobby Finan of Union, Patrick (Nancy) Finan of Scotch Plains, and Timothy (Jennifer) Finan of Roselle Park; his siblings, Marge (Vincent) DeFalco of Toms River, Dorothy (Michael) Duffy of Cedar Grove, Ann Finan of Cedar Grove, and Richard Finan of Lyndhurst: 12 grandchildren, Christopher, Courtney, Erin, Kevin, James, Sean, Daniel, Emily, Michaela, Hannah, Blake and Jillian; sister-in-law, Alice Hannah of Whiting, and a brother-in-law, Roland (Mary) Hannah of Edison. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to Hunterdon Development Center, P.O. Box 4003, Clinton, N.J. 08809.

100th Day of School

This was Philip's shirt he made for the 100th day of school. I'm sure his teacher loved seeing 100 Philip's walking into class. Oksana made one with 100 peace signs on it.