Is there any reason that local news stations need to hype the wind? I mean, it was practically the same coverage they give a significant snowfall (which is also overhyped). They have a reporter on location near a flag so you can see the wind. If they really want to show the effects of the wind, they should send one of those female or male reporters who have hair that is so sprayed that it looks like it is carved out of wood.
Breaking news – Wind (no pun intended). Story at 11.
Hey, if there’s a rainbow when the sun comes out while there’s rain moisture in the air, how come there’s no “snowbow”? I thought of this yesterday as I looked out the window while the sun lit up the clouds and the snow kept falling.
There’s a pair of ducks who have taken up residence in my pond. It’s not the first time and I’m guessing that the pond is a kind of highway motel on their way to whatever winter haven they travel. But the weather has been so unnaturally warm off and on for the past few weeks, that I think they’re just waiting to see which way they should be heading. If they follow the wing of geese that went over yesterday, they’ll head southwest.
I wanted so much to like Carpoolers, the new sitcom on ABC Tuesday nights. I mean, I am one. A carpooler. I spend at least 90 minutes a day (most days) with two other guys driving to and from work. We talk about a lot of different things and it’s always amazed me how well we all get along given that our ages are each about 10 years apart (I get to be the old one). A lot of what goes on in our carpool (which will stay in carpool), is thought provoking, funny and mostly entertaining. We’re at our best when we’re inventing things, and you can find a lot of our best ideas in Kreblog’s excellent blog.
First, I have to admit I’ve only seen the first episode. A vacation during the height of premiere weeks has given me a serious case of DVR backlog. But I made it a point to watch the first episode as soon as I could and now I’m thinking I’d have been better off going to bed early. The four characters were broadly drawn, with some classic sitcom personalities (the philandering divorced guy, the p-w family guy, the insecure guy and the young newlywed guy). Done well, these personalities can lead to a successful run. But the Carpoolers all seemed shallow; maybe it’s the fact that it’s only been 22 minutes of TV so far and you can’t reveal much in the way of complexity, but I’m not holding my breath.
I think what disappointed me most was the scenes in the car. While we’ve been known to break out into song together (it’s a little hard because of the age differences – I can’t remember any words to songs written after 1979), we don’t cry. There’s no crying in carpool. And we don’t get real explicit about our certain parts of our private lives (who’s on top? Ewwww!). It also seems weird to me that these guys all work at different places and that there is special parking for carpoolers. That must be a California thing. Here in the east, we all work together and we park with the masses. It would be way cool, however, if the FE Everett turnpike would install a carpool lane. We’d be pretty lonely, but we’d shoot through.
What does work for me is the funny scenes of other carpoolers. Old carpoolers not moving with their blinker on. Rich carpoolers eating sushi. Chuckle. Chuckle. And the kid, Marmaduke, has his comedic moments, or maybe that should be moment. Interviewing on-line without pants. Nice.
I will give Carpoolers a few more rides before I kick them off my DVR list. They’d better develop some more creative plot lines and flesh out some interesting characters. I have read that Rebecca Romijn will be making a guest appearance later in the season. Wouldn’t mind having her in the carpool….
Angry weatherman continues: “Hey, why is it so friggin nice today when I have to be inside with all these damn computer models?” Or, “Earthquake and a hurricane in Hawaii? Can’t the weather gods arrange it so they only get one at a time? What the heck!”
Scattered showers today, like the thoughts in my brain. One thought I’m beginning to coalesce - we need angry weatherpeople. As in, “I can’t believe it’s going to rain today. What the heck? Haven’t we had enough rain?” Or, “You know, if the temperatures are going down, somebody better ante up for my heating bill.”
I realize I’ve been kind of a non-blogger for quite a while, but I didn’t want to let April 15 get too far behind me before I declared it the official “ice out” day for 2007. Yes, the ice on the pond is finally gone for good. We had a lot of melting the week before April 15, but at night, the ice was reforming. Finally, one morning, it wasn’t there, but a mallard duck was. So that was ice out. Unfortunately, ice out was followed by water in. We had worse flooding than last year’s Mother’s Day floods. This time the water completely covered the basement floor and was 3 inches deep in some places (yes, I used a ruler to measure). The only good news is that I was more prepared this time with my own surface sump and almost everything up off the floor. Two 100 year floods in two years. Hmmm, how long does that mean I’m covered for?
With the hysteria dead from the Daylight Savings Time change, the real takeaway is how the sky changed during the morning dog walk. I went from being able to actually see sun, to seeing the beginning of sunrise. Today, strawberry sky with blueberry clouds. Not unlike the fruit on my cereal.
I’m sure I’m not the first to observe this, but email is like a never-ending snowfall. If you don’t keep shoveling it into the “deleted” folder, it will bury you. And if get behind, you’re forced to use the electronic equivalent of a snow blower….the “delete all” button.
The birches bowed to the ground under the weight of yesterday’s ice. As the wind began to blow, the clicking of the tree branches sounded like hundreds of broken wind chimes. The crunch of the frozen ground underfoot drowned out all other noise. Winter has arrived.
Earlier this year, I was going to write something about how the pond at my house had frozen. I didn’t get a chance and by the time I did, the pond was no longer frozen. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen it start to freeze (skim coat of ice) and then thaw at least six or eight times. I’m not sure about this global warming stuff, but all I know is that I can usually walk on the pond by now. On the other hand, if the polar ice cap melts, I’m not thinking that the pond will rise.
The snow blower sits lonely in the garage waiting for the flakes to accumulate…. It’s December, right?
Fantastic news. Kreblog is now a recognized blogger in the annals of NH Blogging (http://nh-blogs.blogspot.com/2006/12/kreblog.html). I’m now prouder than ever to sponsor his link!
I'm still here. I'm out of the blogging habit but I'm still here. I often think of posting, but it's usually when the keyboard is not under my fingers. More later, maybe.
It was guitar frenzy at the Boston Garden last night as Eric Clapton and his axe-wielding sidemen attacked a bunch of classic tunes. Particularly noteworthy were the treatments of Got To Get Better In A Little While, Little Queen Of Spades (which was "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" with different words) and the encore, "Crossroads". You knew it was going to be a good concert when Robert Cray came out as the opening act. Moving quickly into his blues style, he got the crowd warmed up nicely for Clapton's opening "Pretending". Cray also joined the band for another song or two and was featured on the "Crossroads" encore.
Besides Cray, Clapton had Derek Trucks on slide guitar. Derek, nephew of Allman brothers original Bruce Trucks, now tours with the current Allman Brothers. With Clapton, he reprised the role of Duane Allman on the Derek and the Dominoes songs. The third guitarist, Doyle Bramhall II, played well too, but was mostly overshadowed by the other three.
Before the show started, we were trying to figure out how many songs Eric Clapton had to choose from for his set list. When we figured that he's released or been part of 50 albums (remember Yardbirds, John Mayhall, Derek and the Dominoes, Delaney and Bonnie all count) and you figure a minimum of 10 songs per album, that's at least 500 songs to select from. An Amazon search returns 463 results (albums) for Eric Clapton.
The songs were all extended versions of the originals with the guitarists trading solos as they lengthened the instrumental parts. As they played, the songs flowed seamlessly from one into the next, which I love. I think they are able to sustain the flow because they play the same songs night in and night out. The downside is that Clapton really didn't seem to be enjoying himself. As wonderful as his music is to us fans, maybe it's still a job to him. How about a smile, huh?
Anyway, the Clapton part of the night went on for over two solid hours. We left with a slight ringing in our ears and happy that we had seen the legend, about whom subway graffiti in London used to read: "EC is God".
Crisp morning, Simpson sky, fall colors….it doesn't get much better in New England.
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