Posting this as a public service…

January 9, 2010 — Saturday (snow date:Jan 10)
Boy Scout Troop 76 Annual Christmas Tree Disposal Fundraiser
Will pick up clean tree (NO trims) at curbside for recycling
Cost: $6 for 6 feet and under, $9 for over 6 feet
To schedule pick up: email Troop76trees@aol.com or
call 508-429-2810 — Holliston Residents Only
Provide name, address, phone number

I take advantage of this every year. Everybody wins.

The New York Times has written an ambitious application where you can enter in a zip code and get all the water polluters for the town. Holliston looks clean, which is reassuring.

The rest of Massachusetts is a little more troubling.

Everything that went into the Lost panel at Comic-Con
It was quite an effort to do the Lost panel at Comic-Con. A lot more than you’d expect.

What would the grownup do?
Interesting article throwing a parenting-book writer into a challenging family.

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version
What if you had the song describe what was happening in the video? Very entertaining.

Bomb exploded in Holliston
All sorts of excitement. Holliston Reporter has the pictures of the unexploded bomb that was found in a Holliston backyard. State Police and the Military Bomb Squad were called in. It ended up being blown up on Marshall Street.

What to do about the tweens/teens hanging out downtown?
Interesting article in the Holliston Reporter about how the kids hanging out downtown are impacting local business. Do we need a youth center here in town?

Looks like the new Holliston Police Station is pretty snazzy
Memo: Children: I do not wish to see the inside of this station in reference to anything you end up doing.

Update on the Congregational Church
I can’t wait to see when this is all done.

Don’t forget, Serendeputy can pull together and personalize all your Holliston news for you. Check it out! (Other towns are coming soon – I’m waiting to see how to do it well before I spread it out…)

The semi-annual posting of the fallen-soldier memorial signs in Holliston happened this weekend. The Holliston Reporter has the pictures and the writeup.

It’s always a chilling reminder of what’s happening in the mountains and deserts far away. I hope we don’t need too many more Memorial and Veterans Days with these signs.

Apparently, Holliston has submitted its list of shovel-ready projects to the state.

Some of the items:

- Roadway and drainage improvements on Washington Street, from Locust Street to Brook Street
- Sidewalk and drainage repairs on Norfolk Street, from Franklin Street to Medway
- The front stairs at the Senior Center

I also like that “building a new playground at Goodwill Park” made the list. I’d love to be able to bring the girls down there more often in the summer.

Separately, I’d like to add “fixing my stone wall” and “replacing my gutters” to the list of projects the government should fund.

Out here in the heart of Suburbia, inflatable monstrosities swarmed, devouring front yards all up and down the road. Some polar bears, some Santas, even one merry-go-round.

Turns out it’s not just here.

Dear Internet:

I want to find someone who can plow our driveway (in Holliston) this winter. Google has been useless for this task.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Jason

The early results for 2006 are in. Holliston ranks 63rd out of 337 school districts in 10th-grade English and 31st out of 337 districts in Math. This isn’t a huge difference from last year, so it’s unlikely to affect our home’s value.

Complete Holliston results are up on Boston.com. More MCAS results.

Here’s my shill for the week

We just launched a new blog covering MetroWest, complementing the west section of the Globe. The reporters post updates throughout the week. It’s organized by town, so you can see all the Holliston posts if you’d like.

If you want to keep track of Holliston news, you should also subscribe to the Google News search for Holliston. Along the left-hand side, you can click “news alerts” to get emails, or click “RSS” to subscribe to the RSS feed.

[tags]Holliston[/tags]

Early last year, we moved to suburbia and found ourselves pregnant. A few months later, I was beginning to show.

So, A. and I have joined the new Gold’s Gym down the road in Millis. We’re lucky to find a brand-new franchise with sparkly equipment, clean locker rooms and daycare for babies at least 10-weeks old. We’ve gone a few times, and I had my complimentary hour of personal training this morning. A. and I both had gyms in the city; we’ll see how well we can keep it up out here in Suburbia.

Today’s helpful hint: never take Milliston Road back to Route 109. The light cycle at the end of the road is at least 4 minutes long, an eternity when you’re dripping sweat. If you’re not travelling at rush hour, you can avoid this by cutting through the Roche Bros. parking lot and turning left out of there. [Updated 1/9/06: Ok, so you actually can't do this. It's one way the other way. Oops. Guess you have to sit through the light now.]

[tags]Holliston, Millis[/tags]

I found an unwelcome surprise while driving down Alden Road this morning: two coyotes strolling down the street. We’ll have to keep the baby and the cats inside from now on.

[tags]Holliston[/tags]

I just heard Randy Horn from my hometown of Holliston on WEEI. They won the Granite City Electric contest to light up their little league field!

That’s great for Holliston, the home of the original Mudville. The little league kids in Holliston will be able to play under the lights, something I never got to do: