Oy vey! What a day!

When we woke up this morning to Chester’s insistent caterwauling—insistent demand for breakfast, that is—it was already lightly snowing outside. It wasn’t supposed to do that until this afternoon. That by itself would not be bad except for the fact that Terry had to attend an EGA (Embroiderers’ Guild of America) meeting over in Wellsboro. She would have to take her little Aveo and I would have to go get the mail (the post office is only open 9-11 on Saturday) and run a few other errands down in Mansfield.

She left at 8:30 and I went down the hill around 9:30. There was already about an inch of snow on the ground around the Aerie. Upon descending 3-400 feet however, I found there was no snow on the road or grass. What the heck? Apparently, like that little character in the Lil Abner comics that walked around with a tiny rain cloud over his head, it was only snowing above 1900 feet and the Aerie was at 2100 feet.

Well, I ran my errands and retreated back up the hill confirming that it was indeed snowing over the Aerie and on the slope directly below. I sat and watched it snow and grew increasingly concerned about Terry’s chances at getting back up the hill. Turns out I was right to be concerned.

Her meeting ended around noon and she drove back toward the Aerie along Route 6. The road was wet but there was no snow. She left Route 6 and headed up, and up , and up toward the Aerie. She never made it. About 200 feet from the driveway, the accumulated snow—all 2 inches of it at this point—packed down under the front wheels of her Aveo and became so much ice. Her “all season” tires spun on that ice and that was all she wrote. Once they began spinning and she lost momentum, forward progress ended. That’s when I got a phone call.

“I’m stuck,” she says.

“Really? Try turning around and going down the hill. Then try again.” And I hung up.

I got my boots on and headed for the road to see she was easily within sight (and sound) and was spinning her wheels as she attempted to back out of a neighbors drive and head down the hill. She succeeded and disappeared around the bend before I could get far enough down the road to intercept her. I waited to see if she would try to make it up the road one more time.

After a few minutes, I grew concerned that she might have put the little yellow car in the ditch so I called her cell.

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the log cabin…the other log cabin down the hill. I’ve met the neighbor and he’s going to drive me up the hill in his Jeep. I’ll leave the Aveo here until later.”

“Okay, I’ll try to keep Molly out of the road.” (Molly is a lovable shepherd mix that belongs to another neighbor just below us. She’s quiet as anything and a talented escape artist. When she first wandered into our yard early last summer, I put a rope around her neck and tied her to the front porch railing before I took the telephone number off her tags and called her owner. Molly’s owner apologized and said she would send her husband up as soon as he returned from the post office. He showed up about 45 minutes later and Molly was still curled up on the front porch. But she wasn’t tied to anything anymore. She had chewed through the rope and was happily napping when her owner showed. He laughed about her chewing through the rope saying she had done the same thing to a seat belt in his car ad about a dozen ropes in the yard. I suggested he get a chain—a very thick chain—but since she is so loving and quiet…well. I guess no chain was ever bought.)

A few minutes later a Jeep Wrangler comes up the hill in 4-wheel drive and deposits Terry on the doorstep. I got to meet the new neighbor (he moved in to his place a little after we moved in here) and we showed him around our log home.

After he had gone, Terry and I decided it was time to see about getting some real snow tires or studded tires for her little car. If I had been at the Bolt Hole (where, by the way, there may be a foot of snow or more this weekend) she would have been SOL.

Of course the local tire place in Mansfield is closed by the time we get there and we just managed to find the garage where we take our vehicles open. So, rather than traipse all over, we stopped and told the mechanic what we needed (one pair of rims and snow/studded tires to go on the front) and, “oh, by the way,” could you do an oil change and 35K mile check up on it while you’re at it. We’ll just leave it here, okay?

Did I mention that it was not snowing down on Route 6 or in Mansfield? It didn’t start again until we passed where Terry had been stopped earlier. It lightly snowed all afternoon and when I looked at the radar I could clearly see it was only snowing along the mountain ridge. I would guess it was snowing only above 1800 feet.

Now, with her car in the shop, I’ve got to ferry her down to church in the morning. Oh well, I’ll stop at the Goose and get an apple fritter, coffee and the papers and search the ads for a gently used 4-wheel drive vehicle. Something with reasonable weight and that’s able to climb that last 200 feet of hill. I don’t really want a third vehicle, but it was nice to have Rick’s Blazer here for a while. Hey, it’s only money.

Global Warming ain’t what it used to be

2nd coldest January for the planet in 15 years

And that's GLOBAL not US or Asia or Europe or the Arctic or ... but all over.

And there’s this:
Sun Stays Sluggish as Weathermen Fight for Anti-Ice Age Funding


(via Maggie's Farm)

He's just a dumb ole boy...who keeps winning

Love him or hate him or something in between, but for a lame duck with a minority stake in the Senate and House, that dumb ole boy from Texas sure seems to get his way an awful lot. Congress sends economic aid plan to Bush

Congress, facing the prospect of an election-year recession, passed an emergency plan Thursday that rushes rebates of $600 to $1,200 to most taxpayers and $300 checks to disabled veterans, the elderly and other low-income people. President Bush indicated he would sign the measure.

House passage by a 380-34 vote came a few hours after Senate leaders ended a drawn-out stalemate over the bill.

This is essentially the plan laid out by President Bush during his State of the Union Address a couple of weeks ago. Before it was passed, however, the Democrats in the Senate attempted to load up the bill with extra spending.

But it bogged down in the closely divided Senate, where Democrats were determined to exact a political price from Republicans by forcing them into tough votes on whether to add popular items such as $14.5 billion in jobless aid for those whose unemployment benefits have run out, $1 billion in heating aid for the poor and tax breaks for energy companies, including coal producers.

Senate Democratic leaders paired those items with rebates for older Americans and disabled veterans and threatened that Republicans would have to accept them or risk being blamed for leaving those politically powerful groups out of the stimulus plan.
In the end, though, Democrats couldn't draw enough support for their $205 billion alternative to break a GOP filibuster blocking it.

Yep, the Dems wanted to take a $168 Billion plan and add another $40 Billion. Both amounts are ridiculously high amounts to be adding to the deficit (that's why 16 Republicans voted against the final total) and yet it neither would do squat to boost the economy. (Better to make tax cuts permanent and to simplify the tax code. IMHO)

The turnaround in the Senate came after Democrats on Wednesday fell just one vote short of overcoming the Republican objections and pressing ahead with their more costly plan.

They relented Thursday and allowed a vote on a more limited proposal that included the rebates for the elderly and veterans, plus language designed to prevent illegal immigrants from getting the checks.

"I could have played around with this and tried to pick up that 60th vote, but I made a commitment to get this bill done before (Feb. 15), and we did that," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Sure, Harry. If only you hadn’t promised to get it done by the 15th. Right.

The retreat came after Pelosi sided with Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and urged the Senate to stop its infighting and pass the bill.

Thirty-three Republicans joined 46 Democrats and the Senate's two independents to pass the measure. Sixteen Republican senators voted against the plan.

The two Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, skipped the vote. The Republican front-runner, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, cast his first vote of the year on the bill, voting "yes." McCain had missed the vote the evening before.

From the first sentence in that quote, I’m guessing that Harry was given an offer that ran along the lines of get the heck out of the way, or you will be removed from the path. And it may not have come from the Republicans. Harry Reid has become a non-entity. He can’t lead and he’s having a tough time following.

What’s interesting here is not that 16 Republicans voted against this stimulus package (many feel it is not needed and will serve no purpose), but that the two presidential hopefuls from the Democrat Party didn’t bother to show up and cast a vote. Now that’s leadership!

From the category of Oops!

Biofuel Crops That Require Destroying Native Ecosystems Worsens Global Warming

The carbon lost by converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands outweighs the carbon savings from biofuels. Such conversions for corn or sugarcane (ethanol), or palms or soybeans (biodiesel) release 17 to 420 times more carbon than the annual savings from replacing fossil fuels, the researchers said. The carbon, which is stored in the original plants and soil, is released as carbon dioxide, a process that may take decades. This "carbon debt" must be paid before the biofuels produced on the land can begin to lower greenhouse gas levels and ameliorate global warming

Doggone! And we were doing so well in our search for alternative fuels to cut CO2.

There’s a lesson here: A little thinking beforehand about human nature (or nature in general) can go a long way toward avoiding colossal mistakes. (A second lesson might be to never let politicians make science decisions.) Unfortunately, neither messianic proponents of the environmental movement nor government bodies around the globe are likely to learn from it.

Maybe the coral won't die either...

just as the polar bears are doing just fine, thank you. ( Polar bears 'thriving as the Arctic warms up')

Apparently, coral reefs aren’t being harmed by global warming as predicted.
(Coral Reefs May Be Protected By Natural Ocean Thermostat)

Seems there’s some kind of feedback loop in the oceans that’s mitigating the problem as it occurs. (IF it’s occurring at all. Hard to tell if a problem is occurring when it…never occurs.)

Natural processes may prevent oceans from warming beyond a certain point, helping protect some coral reefs from the impacts of climate change, new research finds. The study, by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), finds evidence that an ocean "thermostat" appears to be helping to regulate sea-surface temperatures in a biologically diverse region of the western Pacific.

Okay, that’s one more disaster averted. Let’s move on, shall we.

Exercise

This is about my current level of activity:


moar funny pictures

Just curious...

So, Shillary had to loan her campaign $5 million 'cause it's tapped out. Am I the only one wondering what the interest rate on that "loan" will be?

Humility

Prairie Biker posted this some time ago. I just came across it and thought I’d share it with some of you.

Call it A Lesson in Humility.

Hoary Redpoll

I’ve become almost blasé as to whether or not there are Hoary Redpolls among the huge flock that arrives here daily. Compared to the Common Redpoll, any Hoary would be quite rare. However, I continue to see one or two individuals that are much lighter than the rest of the flock and those are the ones I suspect of being Hoary Redpolls. Today I got a couple of excellent (for the weather conditions and the fact that I shot the pictures using my digiscoping equipment through the front window) photos of one individual that seemed downright snowy in comparison to the others. If this is not a Hoary redpoll, then I don’t know what is.





Now compare the two: Hoary on the left; Common Redpoll on the right.



And another shot of a Common Redpoll male having some red on his breast.



From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds:
Hoary Redpoll
Common Redpoll

Heroes: Just for One Day by DarkSyde

Normally I wouldn’t go near DailyKos with a ten foot pole. But occasionally, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit or one of the other blogs I read will link to something from DailyKos and I’ll go see what all the fuss is about. This time, Mr. Reynolds gave no indication the link led to DailyKos and for that I’m thankful. The linked post (Heroes: Just for One Day by DarkSyde) is a story about a service for veterans developed by a veteran and is worth the time to read.

Callahan’s fellow soldier not only saved his life but also his knee, by getting him in the humvee and to a field hospital in record time. Five long months of extensive physical rehabilitation and seven intense revision surgeries later, Callahan walked out of Walter Reed on a prosthetic leg. Even so he was fortunate; he quickly found a job. Many of his fellow soldiers walked or limped or wheeled their way out of WR and straight into unemployed civilian limbo. That’s when Callahan, encouraged by the person who had hired him, got a brilliant idea: Hire Heroes USA.

The Hire Heroes USA link above works. Both the Heroes: Just for One Day post and Hire Heroes USA are worth the time to read. Heck, even the comments on the DarkSyde’s post are respectful and give some idea of what you could do to help. If you’re an employer or have the ear of an employer, you might want to think about acting on this need.

Flori-duh, indeed!

Ace posts this little tale that might go a long way to explaining what happened in 2000.

Flori-Duh: Confused Floridians Want To Know How They Can Vote on Mega Tuesday

Millions of Americans in 24 states are turning out vote to in Super Tuesday presidential primaries from Georgia to Alaska today. Meanwhile, some dedicated if confused Florida voters are trying to, as well.

Elections offices across the state are reporting hundreds of calls from voters wanting to know where they can vote today. The answer is that Florida already had its presidential primary -- last week.

Love the polisci Prof from UCF who tries to explain the confusion as heightened interest in this year's presidential campaign. If the folks were so damn interested, how did they NOT know the primary was last week?

Oh well, doesn't matter anyway. The Floridian delegates won't be seated at the Dem or Rep conventions because of the earlier vote. Right?

What the hey?

Okay, now I'm confused. Phil predicted six more weeks of winter on Saturday. Today it reached 50 degrees at the Aerie and 54 down in Mansfield. We had heavy rains overnight and nearly all the snow and ice has melted away. The creeks and rivers are running nearly bank full with brown, muddy water held back in places by ice chunks. Thunderstorms are forecast for tonight and I'm sure the remaining vestiges of the recent ice/snow storm will be gone by morning.

I just stepped outside to enjoy the spring-like air and spotted a Robin singing from the tree tops. Sure, some Robins will remain around during the winter even in these areas, but this is the first I've see since October.

All the other prognosticators have been wrong (whether they be political pollsters or weathermen), could Phil have been frightened by all the camera flashes? Could one of the Inner Circle corrupted his true message? Is spring going to come early? Mud Season, Part Two, has arrived (Part One was here for just a few days from January 6th to 10th). Will this one last any longer than Part One? Perhaps right through till the trees bud? I doubt it, but it would be a welcome event.

Last year, Phil predicted an early spring and we got our heaviest snowfalls in late March and early April.

I guess the science isn't settled at all. Neither is the weather.

February 5, 2008

Tomorrow is Tuesday, February 5, 2008 and we all know what that means don’t we? No, it is not just Super Tuesday, damn it!

It’s Pancake Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday (officially known as Mardi Gras). It’s the day marks the beginning of the Lenten Season which starts on Ash Wednesday. It’s the last day of Carnival. The final chance to blow off steam, eat drink and be merry.

Now I’m not much of one for all that partying to excess of Carnival, but I do like me some pancakes. Nothing like a nice stack with melting butter and real maple syrup or strawberry preserves and a cold glass of milk. MMM-mm good!

Lent starts with Ash Wednesday and we’ll be forswearing meat on that day and every Friday through Easter as per Terry’s Catholic upbringing. (I was brought up in the Protestant Dutch Reformed Church where it was okay to eat meat…but hey, she’s the cook. And a damn fine one I might add.) We’ve already got some salmon in the freezer and Terry’s talking up Friday’s Church dinner for their fish plate. Cod, Haddock and Shrimp will be on the menu sometime during the next forty days. I think I can survive that even if there're no planks around for the salmon to be done outside on the grill. (I’ve also got to get the propane tank refilled.)

Halftime Show Rocked

For the first time in a long time, I sat through the entire halftime show. And it was pretty good.


Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers did a nice job on the four songs they performed. But you could see they’ve aged a bit. But, hey, they Won’t Back Down.



I was a little sorry they didn't do this one: Don't Come Round Here No More
(This was back when MTV actually showed videos. Really. Yeah, they did!)



One thing I noted, however. The girls and boys they had surrounding the stage were probably in diapers (if that!) when the songs were first released.

Upon further review.

After a visit to the replay booth, I’ve just a few more comments on the Super Bowl ads that aired last night. (View all the Super Bowl XXXXII ads here.)


Here are a few that I failed to mention earlier yet at least had me smiling last night:

The Sobe add with the iguanas dancing to Thriller.

The Bud Light wine and cheese party. (The breathing fire one? Huh, not so hot. And the flying one left me grounded. Also Bud Light foreign accent as a pick up/turn on wasn’t much of one. You expect more from Budweiser.)

Pepsi Stuff with Justin Timberlake. Loved it when Justin met the mailbox post. Twice.

Charles Barkley and DeWayne for T-Mobile. Chuck has some issues. Funny though.

Pixar’s promo for Wall-E with Buzz and Woody was really cute.

The two Career Builder commercials: follow your heart and cricket meets spider, were pretty good.

Super Bowl Commercials

Now to the important stuff: The Commercials.

Nothing truly great was on display last night but there were a few that got my attention.

The two e-Trade commercials with the baby at the keyboard were cute. Loved the little urp! at the end of the first one and the reference as to how the little tyke found the hired clown a bit...well, disturbing.

The play on The Godfather scene (front end of the car found under the sheets) took a little thinking. But the message was there at the end! “We’re out to control the luxury sports car scene. And don’t you forget it.” Audi division of VW?

The play on Rocky in which Hank, the Clydesdale is trained by the Dalmatian to become a member of the Budweiser team was cute.

The two tire commercials where the handling of the vehicle was demonstrated by 1-avoiding a squirrel while all the animals (and the wife) are screaming and 2-avoiding in order a buck deer, Alice Cooper and Richard Simmons were cute. (Although, I have to confess, I was screaming at the TV during the second one. Something about, “Hit him!, Hit him, godsdammit!” And it was it the buck or Cooper I was screaming about.) Don't remember the product, however. Bridgestone! It was Bridgestone Tires.

Go-Daddy commercials were lame. Don't remember much about them at all.

The Giant Mouse in the Doritos commercial was…predictable.

The Thanksgiving Parade balloons (Under Dog and the Kid from Family Guy?) fighting over the Coke was imaginative. But that Charlie Brown would actually win something…. Totally unrealistic!

Almost as unrealistic as Bill Frist and James Carville, sharing a Coke and a smile. Actually, that is plausible. I have to imagine some political critters do have a meeting of the minds outside the political arena and may even be friends and (as in Carville and his wife, Mary Matalin) lovers.

Those are the ones I remember the morning after. I figure, if I can’t remember them today, they must have really been...well, blah.

17-14

Way to go Giants! 10-6 in the regular season they had to play all four playoff games on the road—and won them all. The G-men were the 2nd Wild Card team to go all the way and become Super Bowl Champs.

Great defense! Five sacks of Brady…WOOT! The two Pats TDs came on a pass interference in the end zone that set up a 1st and goal on the one (damn near impossible to stop) and a fallen defender that left Moss all by himself in the end zone.

Great game Eli! Even the one interception (the only Giants turnover in the playoffs) was on a perfectly thrown pass that the receiver tipped Upward into the air where the defender could grab it. And was followed by a 3-and-out defensive stand.

No run game? No problem! Smith, Tyree, Boss, Toomer and Burress came through. Did anyone check Tyree’s helmet for stick-um? Unbelievable play!

Hey, Tom, Plaxico said you'd score 17. What happened?Guess he gave your offense too MUCH credit, heh?

Who knew you could challenge a non-called penalty? When Chase Blackburn ran to get off the field on a New England punt, the officials didn’t call a penalty for 12 men on the field, but Belichick and staff challenged the non-call. Blackburn was at the sideline when the ball was snapped, running like hell for the bench, but apparently hadn’t touched his feet down out of bounds. The challenge was upheld, the Giants were penalized 5 yards and the Pats got to keep the ball. It didn’t help as they failed to score on the drive anyway. One more reason to admire/dislike Bill Belichick.

Oh, and nice of you to stick around for the end of the game. (Okay, the 1-second-to-go-and-a-play-must-be-run thing and a stopped clock were kind of silly, but those are the rules. Just appeared a little less than classy, shall we say.)

In Memoriam

In the years prior to the fatal crash on February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson, Jr. (The Big Bopper), and Ritchie Valens sold over 10 million records. Below are just a few samples that might help to explain why.

Buddy Holly & The Crickets





J.P. Richardson, Jr., aka: The Big Bopper


Ritchie Valens

February 3, 1959

I was only nine years old, but, my God, the talent that was lost that cold night in Iowa.

The Day The Music Died

Sunday Morning Blahs

I was supposed to meet up with a friend to go birding over on the new rails-to-trails on the other side of Route 287/Wellsboro this morning, but I woke up late, aching in half my joints and am thoroughly congested from the top of my head to my neck and from ear to ear. Yeah, my head feels like a block of concrete and about as porous. I'd roll over and go back to sleep (if I could breath) but that would screw my inner clock for the rest of the week.

I'm going to go make some oatmeal (so I can try to breath the steam) and a fresh pot of coffee.