Author: Jennifer Vanderau

As the world keeps turning and the sun continues to rise and set, I become more and more amazed by technology. Although, maybe alarmed might be a better word, because my gosh, think of how far we’ve come. Even I remember a day when in order to watch television, I not only had to physically get up to change the channel, but if I wanted a clear picture, I had to adjust the aerial on the roof of our house on a little box on the television. See how old I am? We certainly didn’t have streaming services or, heck,…

HARRISBURG – It’s the week a lot of Pennsylvanian’s have been waiting for – the PA Farm Show. The 107th Pennsylvania Farm Show will be held Jan. 7 through 14, at the Farm Show Complex on Cameron Street in Harrisburg. The one-million square foot complex will be packed with animals, food, competitions and exhibits. The event draws scores of visitors to the capital of PA every year for a mid-winter celebration of Pennsylvania agriculture. It’s the largest indoor agriculture exposition in the nation, featuring nearly 4,000 animals, 12,000-plus competitive events and exhibits, plus 245 commercial exhibits and hundreds of educational…

She has a nice house. A reliable car. A steady job. She knows she’s got a great life. Yet, still. She feels as though something is missing. She watches Dr. Phil and checks out the dating websites, but somehow, in her heart, she knows that isn’t it. It’s something else. It bugs her sometimes at night when she’s trying to sleep. She watches out the window as the moon passes by, clocking the hours she’s not at rest, and she feels somehow incomplete. It’s an intangible thing and it drives her crazy. She’s always been told she’s too analytical. She…

It may be possible to take the woman out of Waynesboro, but Waynesboro is never truly gone from the woman. That is definitely true with writer Rosemary Willhide, who based her most recent trilogy of mystery books on Waynesboro. Willhide now lives in Las Vegas, NV, but she was born and raised in Waynesboro and graduated from WASHS in 1984. “I graduated with Bill Kohler who runs Main Street Waynesboro and the revitalization of Main Street was something that played a big part in the series that I wrote,” Willhide said. Willhide’s three latest books, “Killer Fiction, Killer Deception”…

I must tell you about an incredibly sweet girl named Magpie. Magpie came into the shelter in March 2022 as a stray. She is a 3-year-old pitbull mix who had a bit of a rough time when she first came in – she was just so scared. Of pretty much everything. One thing I’ve discovered over the years about pitbulls is they are some of the most sensitive dogs on the planet. I’d even go so far as to say they seem almost slightly prescient in their ability to pick up on what’s going on around them. As a result,…

Christmas. Christmas. Christmas. Christmas. Christmas. Okay. Okay. Okay. I’m going to try to calm down, it’s just. It’s almost CHRISTMAS! Whew. Hi. My name is Charlie. I live with this awesome family who adopted me from the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter a few years ago and see, I’m a lab. I’m kind of young and I get…well, excited sometimes and… It’s ALMOST CHRISTMAS! See for the last few years it has come to my attention that Christmas is a pretty exciting time of the year in the human world and in this house, it’s a no holds barred event. Mom…

For many years, I’ve been surprised at how often we end up with adorable, lovable, obviously well cared-for dogs in this shelter who come to us as strays – found wandering the streets. And the kicker is, we never hear a word at all from an owner. Believe me, I understand that there are people who don’t care much about their four-legged friends, but if your dog got away from you, wouldn’t you make some kind of effort? When my mother had animals, she would have contacted every media outlet in the tri-state area if one of her babies had…

I remember watching a comedian years ago who compared cat people and dog people. He said that dog people don’t let their dogs go to the bathroom in a box in the kitchen; it doesn’t make cat people bad, it just makes them more tolerant of crap in a box in the kitchen. After I laughed for a good long while about this, it made me think. Mostly about tolerance. The comedian is absolutely right about cat people. We are able to tolerate so much more than most people because, well, we have cats. My wild child, Loki, will use…

It is with a whole lot of excitement I am writing to tell you our annual Christmas Open House will be in person for the first time in two years! We are all just beside ourselves. We are going to deck the halls and anxiously welcome visitors for all kinds of holiday festivities on December 3 and 4 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the shelter on Letterkenny Road West in Chambersburg. We’ve already emailed Santa (heh) and old Kris Kringle has agreed to stop by for photos. There’s a rumor he may even bring his wife along with…

We are quickly approaching what I think is one of the most important times of the year: giving thanks. Gratitude is so critical in our world right now and to have a holiday centered around the concept is truly a gift. Working in animal sheltering really makes you aware of how meaningful and paramount thanks-yous truly are. I hope that every time I express it the sentiment is sincere. For everyone who has ever, during the existence of this organization, donated anything – time, money, treasures or talent – thank you. We wouldn’t be where we are today without you.…