My Epic Weekend In Pictures: Animals. Lots Of Them!

Well this was certainly a memorable weekend! This was a classic summer New Jersey kind of weekend. This was definitely very different from the previous weekend where I was in Punta Cana for Jasen and Brendan's Wedding. While there was definitely interesting wildlife there and I saw dolphins jumping around at one point, Punta Cana didn't have any BEARS while I was there visiting. We'll start with Friday.

Friday afternoon the weather was pretty decent, so naturally I found myself inside The Cottage in Franklin enjoying happy hour with some of my friends. I was getting all wound and pumped up to later watch my Boston Celtics in the NBA playoffs. They may have earlier swept the Brooklyn Nets, but they now found themselves facing elimination down 3-2. It was rather frustrating the way they lost the previous game, they basically kept making silly basic mistakes repeatedly. Either way, it's just like the Celtics admitted there wasn't anything they could do to go back in the past and fix those mistakes, all they could do was keep moving forward. The more I think about it, that's such a great life motto to go by too.

I enjoyed several laughs at The Irish Cottage with my dear friends, Artie, Tim, Kenny, Buckeye Paul and Mayor Paul. We were then joined by even more of our dear friends, Teresa and Ed. They had fun live music there too which can have a way of helping things up on a warm Friday afternoon happy hour. On my way home I got a call from my bestie Nate. Nate was on his way to a bar meeting his buddies to watch the New York Rangers try to continue their playoff season, just like he knew I was en route to watch my Celtics try to continue their playoff season. It was one of those classic best friend phone calls where we were catching each other up on everything within minutes and then both sincerely wished each other good luck with our sports teams (which we of course wouldn't be doing if we were playing against each other.)

After I got home, there were a few minutes of down time. I decided to relax and reflect on my deck, taking in the nice weather knowing that I would be in my living room screaming at my tv like a maniac for the next several hours. (I know, almost sounds like football season for me, lol.) I then looked to my right and saw a bear walking around our neighborhood.

9 years ago before moving here to New Jersey I probably would've screamed and ran back inside quickly, hiding under furniture. Now I just stayed calm on my deck taking a couple quick pictures of the bear from a safe distance. The bear walked right by my deck without even looking over at me. I stayed out of his way, lol. He then proceeded to the dumpster where my neighbors did a great job locking our dumpster like we are supposed to do. This is the part that really had me laughing out loud. Many times over the years, I've seen bears go on top of our dumpsters and try to rip them open even when locked. I've seen some bears on top of these dumpsters for 5-10 minutes still trying. This bear? He walked by the dumpster, swiped real quick at the lock, saw that it was locked and just kept walking right by it. I called up my Dad in New England and said "Padre, this bear was definitely just mailing it in!"

I then spent the next several hours screaming at my tv like a maniac cheering on my Boston Celtics. I was so happy we won. By late Friday night we could start looking forward to their Sunday afternoon game since they forced Game 7 at The Garden. Can you believe that on the same day Sunday, the New York Rangers won their Game 7 hockey game at Madison Square Garden, just hours after the Celtics won their Game 7 basketball game at TD Bank Garden. Most probably don't find that as interesting as I do.

This is your warning that while there may or may not be bears in my Weekend In Pictures next week, there will definitely be cats. Saturday morning I started off by visiting one of my besties, Brad. He asked me to cat sit for him this week into next weekend. How can I turn down helping a friend and helping his kitties? They were very friendly when I met them immediately. This will be fun as long as I can keep those guys inside LOL. My head will be on a swivel when I'm over there on his side of Campus. Time for more animals!

I then made my way over to make a quick appearance at Father John's Animal House at Kittatinny Valley Park in Newton. I joked with Steve Andrews I didn't know Newton had a park, let alone such a nice one. The weather cooperated and all you could see were smiling people and pets. Don't believe me? You can see my video Facebook Live tour right here below.

One of my favorite parts during Saturday came separate from the event. A gentleman spotted me from across the parking lot and he approached me. He said "hey Steve Allan! Remember when you did your Pet Of The Week at the shelter and Garrett was able to keep that contractor who helped renovate the shelter for free but wanted to remain anonymous? That was me, and I just wanted to thank you." He then hugged me and thanked me. To that generous, sweetheart contractor? Thank you.

After a successful event, I then celebrated by doing a quick lunch at O'Reilly's in Newton. I know. Me doing buffalo wings and a Guinness at an Irish Pub. Shocking. LOL.

I then swung by ShopRite Liquor in Sparta. One of my favorite things to do with work bestie Shawn is we love to try different craft IPA beers. When we find one we like, both of us can't wait to show it off and try them out together. I totally fell into the trap of buying a beer just because of a cool title / label. The beer is called The Jersey Boys IPA, and had a picture of The Jersey Boys on it. I'm in Jersey, how can I NOT try it?

Quite often with craft beers, the cooler or funnier the packaging, the grosser the beer is. I remember years ago with my friend JG trying a beer called "New Beer, Who Dis?" We couldn't even finish the beer it was so gross, and we poured it into separate glasses.

Saturday night despite the rain forcing us indoors, we had a great time celebrating work bestie Kim's birthday party. She looks great for 29, right? (LOL since her daughter and friend of mine Alex is in her late 20s maybe I should change that age a bit lol.)

Sunday was project day before The Celtics Game 7. I asked one of my besties, Artie to help me with a project. As you may have noticed not only am I not handy, I'm a freakin hot mess lol. Last week, one of my bathroom sink faucets broke in half right off of the sink. It was like a projectile. I bought Univeral Fit Faucets. Guess what? Instead of fitting "any faucet," it Universally did not fit my faucet at all. Artie let me take us on a quick road trip to McAfee Hardware. They're fantastic and so helpful. I love going there because it always brings me back to my Wallpaper City days. I worked at that independent mom and pop paint store in Mansfield, MA as my first job and was there for 7 years. Same vibe at McAfee.

Unfortunately, we have a little problem. The water valve pipes under my bathroom sink have major corrosion issues stemming from our hard water that we have in Vernon. UGH. Currently my bathroom sink water we have turned off. Not the end of the world it's only temporary until my plumber friend helps us. I still have my kitchen sink only a few feet away from my bathroom.

The weekend ended in a nice way, with my Celtics winning Game 7, and then Bar Rescue was my lulabye.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Time to start planning next weekend!