Christine O'Shea, Central NJ Real Estate Agent

Sunday, was a blustery low 40 degree day in Central New Jersey. Saturday had been a warm and sunny 70.

No, I am not a weather commentator, just a "Returning Jersey Girl" taking in the wonder of an early winter day after spending last winter in sunny Naples Florida.

Saw a bumper sticker there once it said "Jersey Girls don't pump Gas"

My blood is slowly thickening to the cooler Jersey weather, especially after the early snowfall in mid October.

Yesterday was a farm day reminiscent of past farm days in Central New Jersey from prior years. I spent most of the day and evening outside. I did some raking and mucking and laid down straw for the animals. Quality time with the horses feeding them carrots and doing some other chores before cleaning up to go out to one of my favorite restaurants in the Princeton Area.

Tigers Tail is a local favorite in Princeton, just over the Montgomery Township border on Route 206 and one of my favorites. It has a nice oval bar area with high top tables and televisions broadcasting Sunday Football Games.

The dining room is warm and inviting with the menus on the walls chalkboard. Families after soccer games and couples catching up with parents all frequent on an early Sunday evening. Casual Dining and great food with good portions and nice size "beverages".

The table in back of us had a party of eight male Princeton fraternity glee club members. After they received their bill and decided who was paying for what, they called the waitress over, sat her in a chair and sang to her. They were on their knees, different ranges and keys and THEY WERE GREAT. (if I was better versed I would have known what they were singing) Everyone clapped and the waitress blushed.

Central New Jersey, Mercer County and Hunterdon is a Great area to live, close to Princeton and the beautiful rolling hills of the Hopewells and Amwells, not to mention all the small towns along the way. There is so much to offer in culture, diversity, education, entertainment and housing; from townhouses and condos to estate homes and farms.

Later in the evening I was outside with the dog, cats and horses. There was an almost full moon with a beautiful star lit sky and I could hear the soft hoot of the Owl. Absolutely beautiful and magical it was so peaceful, to think I was the one that use to complain about the cold and winter weather (and that fresh cold air really made me sleep soundly through the night)

Thinking about moving to Central New Jersey or know anyone who is, contact me, coshea@nationsrealtors.com

Photos courtesy of Microsoft Clip Art and Christine O'Shea

Copywrite Christine O'Shea - 2008 - all rights reserved

Every month our Board of Realtors will email the members the Mercer County Foreclousre List.

I received the list yesterday with the following break-down per municipality:

• East Windsor - 11
• Ewing - 15
• Hamilton - 50
• Hightstown Boro - 2
• Hopewell Boro - 1
• Hopewell Township - 2
• Lawrenceville Township - 11
• Pennington Boro - 2
• Princeton Township - 3
• Robbinsville Township - 4
• Trenton - 97
• West Windsor - 8

206 properties for the month of October on the Mercer County Lis Pendes

Please feel free to contact me for a confidential meeting if you are on this list. The foreclosue process takes months and is not final until "the gavel goes down".

I had the pleasure of taking a foreclosure class thru the Mercer County Board of Realtors and will be happy to share what I have learned with you.

Christine O'Shea, Realtor-Associate coshea@nationsrealtors.com cell 609-433-4441

Nancy Lawson's recent Blog Post Sack Lunches has inspired me to post this letter of a solder in Iraq, Steve Webb, who is a Hopewell Fire Fighter.

Steve is asking for donations of school items for children, pencils, papers, crayons, ect. that cannot be obtained from the PX along with personal items for the men. These items can be donated locally at the Hopewell Fire Department in Hopewell Borough on South Greenwood Avenue.

The letter is long, but well worth the read. Here is Steve's letter:

Hi everyone,

Let me get you up to speed about what has happened to me so far here in Iraq. First off, let me fill you in about where we are. We are located about 65K North of Baghdad at a place called Ashraf City. Actually, we are located just North of Ashraf, at a place called FOB Grizzly (FOB stands for Forward Operating Base. Our FOB is small, but adequate (think of the old west Forts from the Indian wars---like Fort Courage from F-Troop and that is what our place is like.

We have a gym, DFAC (which is the Dining Facility), a laundry that does out clothes for us, a PX (which has almost nothing to buy its so small), coffee shop, small Hajji mart, a chapel, phone center and a MWR (which is the place that we go to watch TV, use the computers, get some books and just hang out). We have one fire truck (which was in poor shape when I got here so I took it upon m yself to fix it up, and now I'm in charge of Fire Protection here on the FOB), and a dental and medical clinic. We all live in what are called pods- basically trailers with small rooms. Depending on your seniority, you either room with two other guys, one other guy, or you get a room to yourself (like I have), which is about 10'x10'. After living in a big room, or tent, with 70 guys, this is like living at the Hilton! Th e food here is really good, and there are 4 meals (mid-rats is the 4^th one-from 2300-0100 hrs).

Our area of operations covers about 457 sq. miles, has 7 towns or villages and is in the Dyalia Province, which is the last bastion for the insurgents in Iraq. Three weeks ago, in one of the towns in the southern part of our operations area, the "mayor" was beheaded. The insurgents are all around us, and we work in what's called an "operating box", which is basically our jurisdiction. The insurgents know what our "box" is, and know that we cannot operate "outside the box", so the come in, do something, then high tail it out of the box. We are doing patrols 24/7 to try and hit them before they do something. When they do strike, and we are in the area, we usually end up in a chase across the desert, guns blazing.

We patrol in up-armored Humvees, that have thick armor sides, 3" thick glass, and the doors alone weigh about 485 lbs-each! We also trucks called MRAPs, which stands for "Mine Resistant Assault Protected", which are about 12 feet tall, weigh about 20 tons and cost one million

On my first night patrol, we where North of the FOB, traveling about 12 mph, when our front left tire hit an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) that had been buried in the road. We later found out that the IED was an HME (Home Made Explosive) that weighed about 70 lbs. the force of the blast blew the left front tire off of the truck, and caused the truck to flip over on its right side. The entire front of the truck was blown off, but the design of the truck worked because nothing entered the crew compartment and besides being shaken up, no one was hurt, but the truck was totaled.

Three days later, during a day patrol, just before we were to escort a water truck to deliver water to a village north of the FOB, we were met by an IA (Iraqi Army) patrol that reported that one of the patrols had hit an IED and they had 3 wounded soldiers. About three minutes, a cars pulled up with one of the wounded inside, we followed them to the gates of the main town that we are protecting (I can't go into details about the place, due to "Operational Security"-but I will tell all once I get home), and I got out to render first aid. The guy was in the back seat, and when I opened the door, I saw that he had suffered blast wounds to his entire front. I pulled him from the vehicle (which was not the one that had been hit-that one had been destroyed), and evaluated his injuries. He had no shirt on (it had been blown off in the blast), and he had shrapnel wounds over both arms, his entire chest and he had severe blast damage to his face. He was maintaining his own airway, but his face was very bad. I assessed his injuries, bandaged his wounds the best I could, and stabilized him. We called for a Medevac helo for him, and placed him in an ambulance and escorted it to the helo pad at our FOB. I later found out that he made20it and was in surgical intensive care.

Later, we did the water drop and when we entered the town, a bunch of kids came out to greet us! I mean there had to have been about 50+ kids, ranging from 2 to about 12, there. Most of the adults did not show themselves, except for the Muqudar, which is the Mayor of the village. I met him, and found out that he ran a small store in the town, so I asked if I could visit his shop, which he was grateful to show me. All of the building in this town is made with mud walls, and they try to farm the land around the town. The kids ask for things like pens, and ask to buy our watches with Saddam money. Seeing these kids almost broke my heart-most of them had no shoes, and the village has a school, but they do not have a teacher, so they don't go to school. They don't travel outside the village either, so we are the only outsiders that they have met. I plan to get some things, like pencils and pens, dollar store trinkets and candy to get out to these kids while I am stuck here. I will admit that I have been pissed because my guys and me have to be here away from out families for a year, but once I met these kids, I understand why we are here, and yes, our caus e is good. Beyond all the talk that you here from Washington, these kids are the future of this country and if we can do anything to help them and hopefully made their lives a little better and safer, then I guess being here isn't that bad. I fell that every person that I interact with, and make a good impression on, help with our cause. But, don't get me wrong; I know there are lots of very bad people here. We have a saying here, "Be friendly, courteous, and helpful, but be prepared to shoot them, if you have to!"

We work a 9-day schedule, were we go out on patrols everyday (day missions, night missions or QRF (quick reaction force) and our missions last about 5-7 hours at a time. Then, we go back to the beginning of the schedule, and start over again. Basically, we are working every day.

This place is amazing, and would be a nice place----if it weren't for the people trying to kill us. Some of the things that I have seen so far, I know will be with me for the rest of my live, and I will always=2 0appreciate what we have at home, and I know how lucky we are.

Sorry for being so long winded, but, I can't talk about this stuff over the phone, because we never know who might be listening. We might get a leave halfway through our tour, but we will see if that happens.

I must go know...its 1:20 am, and I have a mission at 6 am to get ready for. I will write again, when I can, and remember that you all are in my thoughts all the time. See you when I get home.

Yours truly,

Steve

A recent stroll down Library Place, Princeton Borough, camera in hand snapping photos of the beautiful homes with their individual architecture and leaded glass windows lead me to search tax records in our Trend MLS to see what has sold on this street of 31 houses.

On February 29, 2008 one property on Library Place sold for $3,100,000. The property had been in the same family for generations and featured five fireplaces and an elevator.

Prior to that in August of 2007 a similar property sold for $3,250,000.

Needless to say, properties in this elete area of town do not come on the market often.

However, if you are interested in finding a home in Princeton Borough or Library Place, please contact me at coshea@nationsrealtors.com and I will be happy to help you find the home of your dreams

Please note neither of these homes are the ones listed in tax records recently sold.

Photos courtesy of Christine O'Shea

Copywrite Christine O'Shea 2008 all rights reserved.

When I think of Witherspoon Street in Princeton Borough, I immediately think of Princeton Medical Center.

I did not realize that there was a real life John Witherspoon until I took a tour of the Princeton University Campus.

John Witherspoon was one of the signers of the Declaration of Indenpendence along with a being the sixth President of Princeton and from 1786 to 1782 a leading member of the Continental Congress.

Originally from Scotland where he was an ordained minister he came to Philadelphia in August of 1776 and then moved to Princeton.

Central New Jersey, Mercer County is rich in history and our founding fathers contributed to making this country what it is today.

A trip down Witherspoon Street, its shoppes, offices and restaurants will now remind me of the founding fathers of this great country.

This is a shop on the corner of Witherspoon Street and Nassau in downtown Princeton Borough. Once a dorm it is now the home of Hamilton Jewlers.