1. OG Harvest and Craft Festival on Saturday, October 10. 10 am to 4 pm; Main Avenue, Pilgrim Pathway, and Auditorium Square Park. Live music 11 am-4 pm. Over 200 crafters and artisans. Free admission. Sponsored by the Ocean Grove Area Chamber of Commerce.
2. Saturday, Oct 31. HALLOWEEN CHILDREN AND PET PARADE Prizes for best-dressed entrants; Firemen’s Park, 12:00.
3. Asbury Park Zombie Walk to occur on October 10. Details to follow.
4. Blogfinger reaches 2.5 million visits since its founding.
5. Five trucks showed up on Monday morning to replace a telephone pole at Mt. Hermon Way and New Jersey Avenue. The pole has a bent top and is in danger of splintering and breaking off. JCP&L arrived with a brand new pole.

Oct 5, 2015. Mt. Hermon Way Note the bent pole at the corner behind the stop sign. Blogfinger breaking news photo. © Click to make the pole more worrisome.
Recently we posted a photograph of a strange place in Chester, NJ. ( LINK: Telephone pole farm ) We didn’t identify that location, but now we can reveal that it is a property owned by the phone company where they test telephone polls by “planting” short versions into the ground and seeing how they weather. We used to drive by and tell our kids that it is “the telephone pole farm” where they grow their poles.
6. Sandy documentary to be shown on TV next week. Here is a link about it:
7. ETSY.com is an online handmade marketplace. Paul Goldfinger’s black and white photographs will be sold there. Go to ETSY.com and enter GoldfingerPhotograph.
Not just Ocean Ave for moving all cars and street sweeping, it should be for the entire town. Especially in the fall so the streets can be cleaned curb to curb. It will certainly help keep the drains clear and help the lakes. Make a dent in off season ‘warehousing’ so our streets can be cleared properly during snow events.
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Today’s Sign of the Times features a Labrador. He can make it to the fence in 3 seconds; then lick you to death.
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There’s another sign on Delaware Avenue, posted on a tree just a tad south of the sign shown in the “Wassup” section.
This “new” sign is the homemade variety–wordprocessed and encased in a plastic sleeve, with a message indicating that the corner is not a bus stop and to use it as such is illegal. “Undercover Cop” is indicated as the writer of the note. At first I laughed, then I thought, “This is kind of creepy!”
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The streets surrounding Francis Asbury Manor has seen an influx of possums and raccoons this summer also. A neighbor trapped a few possums and rehomed them. However a family of raccoons has been more elusive, visiting the garbage cans and the rooftops of various homes on Stockton and Franklin Aves. I bought a new garbage can this summer with a tight new lid, and always seal the tops of my recycling cans. Seems to have helped.
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We have an opossum family between Heck and Embury – they are good to have around, as they eat slugs and insects. And it is extremely rare for them to carry rabies.
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It feels like they are always digging up the streets. Our street — not one cited above, where the water pipes are being replaced — had cuts made here and there where they dug up the street and the street is all painted up with lines of different colors spray-painted showing where pipes and connectors are. They dug it up in May. It’s crazy….and ugly. The spray-paint will be there for years.
If they are going to dig it all up all over town for multiple reasons, the various diggers should coordinate their activities and then repave it all when done. In a town where I used to live, they needed to replace the pipes (including sewer) so they did it all at one time AND they buried all the utility wires when they did it. They replaced it all, repaved it, and it looked great. The current approach in the Grove will just tear the place up and make it ugly, spray-paint everywhere, etc.
Seems like there is a lack of overall vision. Someone in Neptune Twp. Planning should be managing all these projects holistically to assure that there is minimal inconvenience to citizens and esthetics are maximized.
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I’ve seen an opossum or 2 on Franklin over the years. We have a family of raccoons on our block. Early in the morning (before sunlight) we can hear the mama calling for her kids…they are noisy. A few times we’ve gone out on the porch and have seen the young ones waddle across the street to their mom.
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We have extremely friendly squirrels in my area of Mount Hermon Way. A resident on Main Ave leaves big bowls of peanuts out in front of their home for the squirrels to snack on. They are getting fed so well that they are storing their peanuts in the porch & yard furniture cushions, while marking their territory by urinating on cushions. The squirrels are also digging up our plants to hide their gifted peanuts, as we then find soil all over my Porch, furniture, ground. These squirrels are TOO comfortable here, while dining for free from our Main Ave Resident. They are making messes and taking occupancy in homes attics, as I spoke to the fourth neighbor in the last 2 weeks that has had the company of squirrels in their homes.
I love animals, as I would never want them harmed – but feeding the squirrels is doing more harm than good.
Please stop feeding them. It’s effecting me and my neighbors.
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I have seen many raccoons and opossums on Clark Ave. too. Unfortunately, a raccoon bit my cat two winters in a row. 😦 Squirrels are cute but annoying…they ran off with our sunflower heads!
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The street cleaner came down Mt. Hermon this morning with a Neptune Town vehicle – directly following it. Perhaps to jot down license plates of those who weren’t obeying the temporary parking laws.
Perhaps then the police/parking enforcement would then be notified to issue tickets…?
So, this led me to believe they are being more proactive – until the moment when I noticed the street cleaner going in the opposite direction down Mt. Hermon and driving on the other side of the street!
What a joke to clean the streets today and to not postpone it until after our expectant storms pass, including a possible hurricane.
Will they be coming to clean the streets after the streets are covered with broken tree branches/leaves/debris or worse?
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The street cleaning this morning was a joke and a total waste of money and time. Cars, trailers, motorcycles and other assorted vehicles were never moved. At about 40 bucks a pop the township could have made a small fortune in fines. The sweeper could only manage to cruise down the middle of the streets. All the debris and built up runoff is along the curbs which never got touched. So the whole purpose of this exercise in futility was moot. My little street didn’t even get a pass, very typical since half the time the garbage and recycle trucks can’t make it down anyway. The guy took one look and went elsewhere. Poor planning and implementation to say the least. Municipal ineptitude abounds! When all the leaves fall will we get another clean-up? Or will they just blow it off like last year.
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I have an idea that could augment the street cleaning efforts…how about some homeowners actually grab a broom and\or their hose and clean the curb area in front of their own homes? We regularly sweep up leaves and debris on the sidewalk and area near the curb in front of the house. I imagine some of the people who are too lazy to move their cars have an aversion to brooms as well.
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The condition of our roads are a disgrace especially Benson. We pay a lot of property taxes, I agree with the previous person. They mark up,dig up and never repave. There is no reason that this wonderful town should look so neglected. You can not expect people to move in fix up and take care of their house and property, and the town not do the same. There is no excuse . Any thing west of town gets neglected.
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There are those who just simply don’t care enough to clean up in front of their home, including the street. Some of these same people seem to not care to show courtesy to their neighbors, while leaving their grass clippings and leaves in front of home/sidewalk/street of which then blows all over their neighbors property. I am constantly cleaning my property and in front of my property/street – because I like it tidy, but it’s unfortunate that I then have to continually clean up after my neighbors neglect, as my property becomes filthy again!
I have heard these same residents complaining that they couldn’t wait for the town’s visitors to leave after the season’s end. The town’s visitors seem to be more respectful than these residents. I personally enjoy the visitors and the life the town breathes during their company. The town feels appreciated and adored by the visitors, while these same residents take it for granted and don’t care to maintain the front of their homes, as their neighbors are effected.
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I agree, I am always out there sweeping up, pulling weeds in the curb. It is called pride of ownership. If each person took care of just their property what a difference it would make. I pay someone to mow and fertilize. Then there are all the dog urine marks on the lawn. If I walk around and find cans in the street I pick them up and put them in the next can I see. It only increases everyone’s value!,,
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