The intersection at 191 and Main Street in Stroudsburg is just waiting for an accident - although I’m sure there have been plenty in the past but the question is how many or how severe do they need to be for changes to be made.

If you’re not familiar with that intersection its a 4 way intersection with a light but is not a perfect crossroad which can make any intersection hazardous as is.  The main issue that I can see is that if you are driving on 191 towards 80 with the KFC on your left the arrows that distinguish what lane will be going in which direction are on the ground and faded.  It is a high traffic intersection so on a normal day if you are from out of town you would have a hard time figuring out if you’re in the correct lane or not.  My personal suggestion - and mind you I’m no expert - is to place HANGING signs that clearly mark which lane you need to be in to go the proper direction.  Here’s a yahoo map of the intersection: http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=40.986494&lon=-75.190688&zoom=18

From 191 facing 80 there are 3 lanes - the far left lane is meant for traffic going to the left onto a two-lane one way street.  The middle lane is for traffic going straight across the intersection, slightly to the right, towards 80.   The far right lane is for traffic turning right onto main street a two-way street.

The biggest danger comes when traffic that should be going left or right ends up going straight - moreso from the far right lane straight across the intersection(when they should be turning right) - this causes problems not only from the traffic trying to go straight but from anyone making a right off main street.  I have seen this happen more times then I can count, am always cautious and treat it as if its a 2 lane crossover to not get blindsided by someone else trying to go straight.

I would estimate at least 90% of the time I go through that intersection people are using the incorrect lanes - on one hand I really can’t blame them, especially if they’re not familiar with the area.  On the other hand every time I see an accident almost happen I think ‘why isn’t this getting fixed?’.  Now, I’m not exactly one to talk since I have yet to formally address a complaint but I do plan on doing it in the near future.  I found out recently that the intersection there is technically a penndot road and therefore up to them to make any changes.  I will investigate this further and post any updates that may shed light on the situation. 

There’s plenty of dangerous intersections and roads in the Poconos, but I can’t say that there’s anymore then everywhere else, there are so many back roads that have severe drop offs and no guard rails and I shudder to think what would happen if you ever ended up off road.  My suggestion is to take your time when you can and keep an eye out as there are more out of towners then usual this time of year.  If you know of a dangerous intersection or road that you’ve reported or have been meaning to report like myself let us know as I’m curious what changes can actually be made.

Last night was fun(I’m saying that sarcasticly but I’m sure its not coming across that well in text form).  We had some scattered thunderstorms roll through the area last night with intense rain and high winds - fortunately or unfortunately for us all we got was a slight drizzle.  The fortunate part was that we avoided any potential damage, the unfortunate part was that our power decided to cut out anyway.  I would have to guesstimate that our power goes out at least 10-20 times per year and although it is mostly out for maybe an hour max there are occasions like last night where it cuts out for at least a few hours.

There was a really bad snow storm about 5 years ago when we still lived about 10 mins outside Stroudsburg that knocked power out for over a week - luckily the in-laws are close by and we had a place to stay - I can’t imagine what you would do in a situation like that if you didn’t have friends/relatives close by.  The issue that comes to hand is when you use well water well (pun intended) you’re in a bad situation since you’re unable to use it without power.  Flushing the toilet, washing your hands, taking a shower, getting a drink…it makes it pretty much impossible to stay for an extended period without power. 

Last night at about 7:30PM the power went out - call me crazy but I would have liked to have gotten the more intense part of the storm so it felt a little more justified.  When the storm simply passed by with nothing more then a sprinkle I was disappointed.  When the power was still off at 10:30 I was a bit restless - the first few hours you can manage to catch up on perfecting your shadow puppet skills, telling ghost stories(or gossiping), even calling people to catch up.  When it heads past 2-3 hours the worry sets in about the food - it never fails, Monday we had done a large grocery shopping so of course it would be 2 days later that the power goes out for 4 hours so I get to sit and worry if we’re going to need to get rid of it all.

Long story short, we made numerous calls to PPL during which we couldn’t even report the outage ”due to strong storms that have passed through the area we are experiencing high call volume and are unable to take your call, please try again later”.   Finally when we got through to report the outage and we didn’t get an estimated time until about 10:30 we were told that the power would be back on by 1:30am.  Ugh.

 Luckily at 11:30 the power popped back on, we were able to turn the air on(even though the 95 degree weather had cooled off it was still incredibly humid) and get everything in order with minimal damage.  Sad to say the huge bowl of potato salad(that was in the fridge) I had made just prior to the power going out was lost - I just don’t trust mayo that looks discolored like that.

 So some tips:
1) Keep your power company’s phone number and your account number in your cell phone.  We have all cordless phones so they obviously will not work when the power is out.  It can get quite frustrating to rummage through bills to grab the electric company’s number as well so do yourself a favor and keep it either in your cell or by the phone.

2) Flashlights and candles - always the obvious but I know on any given day we have 10 of each lying around but either a) they’re missing batteries or b) the lighters are out of fluid.  Make sure to keep at least 1-2 of each in a “storm only” spot for both summer and winter and check them occasionally to make sure they’re working.

3) Water - its always good to keep at least a few bottles and/or jugs on hand regardless but they really can come in handy - whether its for drinking or a quick wash of the hands its amazing how much use you’ll get out of them.

4) Activities - luckily for us last night our son went to bed at 8:00 and it was light enough out that we could leave his shades open as a ‘night light’ but for outages in the winter it really helps to have some kiddie flash lights, toys with lights, etc. to have on hand to keep the kids occupied.  For tus older kids we tried doing crosswords by candlelight - I can’t say I recommend it since the light was so dim I had a headache from all the eye strain.  So come up with some creative ideas ahead of time - games on your cell phone(be careful of battery life) or laptop, shadow puppets, a friend nearby with power - the 5 minutes it takes you to come up with some ideas in the light of day will save you hours of frustration unprepared in the dark at night.

For anyone else that lost power, I feel your pain, I can’t really complain since there are definitely millions of other things more tragic in life but it is inconvenient.  Typing this all out is a good venting method and now I can let it go - until next time… 

Panera Bread
Today we had lunch catered from Panera Bread in Stroudsburg which is part of the new set of stores located on Route 611.  If you haven’t driven by recently the new shopping center consists of Panera Bread, Best Buy, Borders, Old Navy, Petsmart and…I forget the other one :\

Anyway, lunch was terrific - it was a meal for 5 but could easily feed 10 people - their sandwiches are huge and made with fresh bread, the salad was extremely fresh, the unsweetened ice tea was a great drink choice(I know personally I’m trying to shy away from soda), and they provided all cups, plates, utensils, etc.  I have had their bagels before(which were great) and didn’t know about all of the other food options they had so I was happy to have a new local place with healthy and fresh food.  They also have a wide variety of other food options including soups, cookies, frozen coffee drinks & smoothies, pizza and more.  If you’re looking for a new place to try I definitely give Panera Bread a thumbs up.  You can visit their website at http://www.panerabread.com or just http://www.panera.com for locations, menus, information on catering and more.

Another Shopping Center to mention
If you haven’t been down 611 in a long time you might be shocked to see that the truck stop(crossroads) is gone and across the street a new shopping center with a Lowes, Kohls(I think), Red Robin, Longhorn Steakhouse and Chilis has gone in.  I can’t find anything to confim this so don’t quote me on it…but a little birdie tells me that an Olive Garden and Red Lobster will be going in soon down the road soon enough as well.

Personally if I could pick and choose what goes in I’d love to see a Wegmans, an Outback Steakhouse, a Papa Johns and an Olive Garden…but that’s just wishful thinking :)  We do already have plenty of eateries in the area and you can reach any of those by either heading up to Scranton or down to Allentown/Easton.  With the way things are getting built up now adays I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few or all of them pop up soon enough.

 One last place to mention…a Texas Roadhouse went in by the Stroud Mall not to long ago - so there’s something else to check out!

I haven’t kept up too much over the past few months but hope to get back into some sort of steady blogging because I do enjoy being able to share our view of the Poconos with you, the reader

Here are some pictures from an ice storm from this past winter, not to out of the ordinary I just love to go outside once its settled and look around at how the ice has effected all of the trees and surroundings.  This winter has been unusual, but living in the Poconos I’m not sure that there is ever a ‘typical’ winter that you can expect.  We get our waves of highs and lows - there was one point this winter it literally went from 6 degrees one day to 60 the next!  Its never fun to get a bunch of snow then have it all melt and be left with a muddy mucky mess during what should be a completely winter time.

Its now the beginning of March and we’ve had a series of flooding, high winds and power outages but I can’t say that differs too much from what we’ve seen going on in other parts of the country.  What I can say is typical from my experiences of the Pocono winters is that just when you think winter is over another snowstorm or two catches you offguard.  I have learned to wait until about the end of April to be sure we’re not going to see any additional snow falls or freezing so I know its safe to start planning spring planting and trips.

While the snow was piling high this winter we made a trip over to the Monroe County SPCA and adopted a dog who we managed to find at just the right time and has been a perfect addition to our home.  There are plenty of other shelters in the area and I encourage you that if you’re looking for an animal to consider adopting one that is in need.  Its not just cats and dogs - but rabbits, guinea pigs and more!  Although the Monroe County SPCA is a “low kill” shelter, there are animals there and at other shelters that are always in need.

In other news Bill Clinton is in Stroudsburg today at Stroudsburg High School to campaign for his wife.  If anything the Poconos never have a shortage of happenings and things to do!