The heavy stuff

Good Morning and, the temperature doesn't matter, it's nice to see the sun.

Way back in the day, I can remember my Dad telling me to take the shovel and help an older neighbor clear the driveway. Being young and stupid, I balked. I still did it, but grumbled all the way through it.
When it was done, I felt very good. When I saw how much he appreciated the help, I knew the complaining was wrong. Sometimes, you just have to do.
Well, anybody who was out there last Thursday and Friday knows that was some heavy snow Mother Nature dumped on us.
I barely got through it Thursday, wondering why I didn't get the snow blower at that yard sale last year.
After clearing off the driveway and sidewalk, I was ready for a nap. Two hours later, I was ready to drive to Arizona.
After shoveling again Friday, clearing my drive and helping the neighbors on either side, I was ready for another nap (maybe a hibernation?). I looked across the street and saw an older man and his wife getting ready to shovel.
So, I grabbed the boys off the computers and told them to go help.
Of course, they balked. We argued. They went over.
An hour later, after helping clear two cars and a that stuff the plow left blocking the street, they came back in dog tired.
"Thanks Dad," one said, "that felt great."

Rise and Shine -- To Rain

Good Morning and welcome to U.S. Open week!

Not a very good start to things this morning. Noboby made it out to for an early practice round. Want to know why? Check this out

Or how about this:

Rise and Shine --- Sun and rain

Good Morning and how are we all doing today?

I don't know about you, but I think I've had enough of this spring rain. Rainy days are nice once in a while (preferably the ones my alarm doesn't go off at 3:30 a.m.), but every day is a bit much.
Sure, it's nice the flowers are growing, but so is the grass. I felt like I needed a guide to get through the front yard this weekend.
I know, there's not much that can be done about it. It's going to rain. It's not like my complaining will do anything about it.
Ah, but, if nothing else, complaining somehow makes it feel a little better. Or, it makes for some great music:

Rise and Shine --- Looks out a window

Good Morning and keep the heater on!

So, for all you Eagles fans out there who were dreaming about going to a Super Bowl this year, uh, your team wasn't nearly as good as the four who played yesterday.
How's this for an early prediction: Expect another parade in Pittsburgh in a couple of weeks.
Speaking of predictions, let's get on these weather yahoos a little bit. Now, we know they like to pump up the possibility of snow. Nothing brings in ratings (or page views) like the prediction of a storm.
"Be Careful," they tell us. "It's going to a be a nasty commute. The morning is going to be a mess. Snow, ice, snow, snow, snow."
People get caught up in the craziness. Last week, we had it twice. There was supposed to be a lot of ice and snow Tuesday morning. OK, there was some, but it didn't cripple the area.
Then it was supposed to come again Thursday. This time, it was nothing more than a coating on the sidewalks.
Then the schools get caught up. Parents (rightly) want to know about closings or delays as early as possible so they can set up the day (either take it off from work or try to find some kind of childcare). So, a dire prediction doesn't give the officials much time to react.
Last week, most schools called for Thursday delays even though it turned out to be much ado about nothing.
There's no way to get away from all the weather, so the best predictor is your own eyes. Unless, of course, Grandma has a trick knee.

Rise and Shine --- Rain, snow, oh no!

Good Morning and welcome to a wet, wild Tuesday!

Maybe it's just me, but when a violent thunderstorm hits in October, I'm thinking there may be something wrong with our weather patterns. Meanwhile, a major hail, wind, rain storm (there was even a mention of wet snow) is supposed to hit us Thursday. Sounds like I should have spent more time outside yesterday.
Then again, it probably would have meant cutting the lawn, so maybe inside was better.
Speaking of inside, one thing I hope to never have to do again is watch both the Phillies and Eagles games at the same time (it was for a live blog on the website). It made me feel like I had ADT or something.
I wanted to watch the Phillies clinch, but didn't want to deprive the readers (by the way, thanks you two) of their Eagles update.
So, I went back and forth and back and forth. Fun, it was not. For some reason, it seemed like both games went to commercial at the same time, all the time. I saw Chase Utley's home run, but missed LeSean McCoy's touchdown. (Still saw enough of the Eagles/49ers to say they both stink as does the whole NFL).
So, at least for now, it looks like that double won't hit for the rest of the playoffs.
Then again, I'm sure they'll find something else for me to do.
In case you missed it, here it is again:

Rise and Shine --- What weather?

Good Morning and once again I wasn't chosen for Dancing with the Stars!?!

Once December hits, there's no doubt (thanks to last winter) every chance of snow will turn into a big deal. There will be warnings. There will be panic. There will be plenty of ratings for TV news.
This week, we are hearing about hurricanes. They are coming up the coast. They are threatening to wash out Labor Day weekend. They are conspiring deep in the ocean like two tea party members deciding how a Glen Beck/Sarah Palin presidential ticket would look.
Really, though, it's tough to understand all this weather talk. It's not like we can do anything about it. Just pull out the rain slicker, snow boots or whatever and deal.
Then again, if there were no weathermen we wouldn't have this classic (worth repeating whenever):

Rise and Shine --- Curse the rain

Good Morning and welcome to the final stretch of summer!

As we sweated through June and July, the one call was always for a little bit of rain. The grass needed it. The flowers needed it. Heck, our psyche needed it.
The rain, though, never seemed to really come. Sure, there were showers here and there, but not enough to keep the ground wet.
So, with summer winding down, Friday seemed like a good day take a little day trip.
With the little ones buckled down in their seats, it was time for a drive to Lancaster for a day at Dutch Wonderland.
As a youngster, our family seemed to go to Dutch Wonderland every year. Eventually, we would grow out of the 'Kingdom for Kids,' but it was always a fun place.
Driving up Route 30, it started to become obvious the day wasn't going to go as planned.
"Uh, it looks like it's drizzling," I announced.
A few miles later, after driving through some sizeable puddles, it became obvious it was going to be a little wet.
By the time we got to the park, the drenching had started. We pulled into the parking lot and watched it get harder.
Now came a dilemma. It's not like you can turn around and go home after the children had seen the park. Do you wait in the car? Do you wait in the (horrors) gift shop? Do you bang your head on the steering wheel?
They wanted to go in, so we took the gift shop option. A few hours and a few (hundred?) 'No, you can't get thats' later, the rain slowed and eventually stopped.
Now, if it can stay off the softball fields tonight.

Rise and Shine --- They lied

Good Morning and welcome to the rain followed by the heat!

"It's not raining! Who said it was going to rain?"
Well, the weather experts keep saying we are going to get a lot of rain tonight.
"But, I don't see any rain," continued the precocious 5-year old. "It's sunny. I don't see any black clouds."
I'd love to take a nice, long bike ride, but I don't want us to get caught if there is a thunderstorm.
"It's not going to rain. I don't see any rain."
Let's just wait until tomorrow. If it does rain, we would get caught trying to scramble underneath a tree for who knows how long.
"Whoever said it was going to rain is stupid. Just look out the window. There's no rain."
Looks like I have a new weather forecaster. Who needs all the radar and fancy computers. It turns out a 5-year old has a little more insight.
So, for all you who waited for it to rain yesterday (after the morning deluge of course), here's an oldie but a goodie:

Rise and Shine --- Rain and the polls

Good Morning and welcome to a perfect day for ducks ... or political candidates!

You know, they say when it rains about half of those who were going to vote, will stay away from the polls. When it's 'just' a primary election like today, the best we can hope for is about five percent of eligible voters to hit the button.
So, is it much ado about nothing? Well, let's ask the people in Iraq if there is a 'meaningless' election.
Speaking of Iraq, the Daily Times award-winning Iraq correspondent has graciously accepted the challenge trying to follow Joe Sestak around today as he tries to unseat long-time Sen. Arlen Specter. You can follow the progress by CLICKING HERE.
She's doing all her coverage with an iphone. It should be really interesting.
On another completely different subject, I heard this song last night and thought I would put it on here. Songs don't usually bring tears to my eyes, but this one does:

Rise and Shine --- Things to do in the rain

Good Morning and welcome to another Wednesday!

The good thing about Wednesday is you can almost see the end of the week, but you know there's still some work to be done. Plow through it and you'll be rewarded. Well, at least you have to have hope.
Speaking of hope, after a long winter of sitting inside, the last thing a child wants to do in April is look out the window at rain falling.
They want to get out. They want to run around. There's a little clock in their hearts that goes off once May rolls around. Enough of playing board games, we want the bikes. We want the balls. We want the Frisbees. We want the ... ice cream?
That's right, why wait for the heat of the summer, it's spring, which is close enough, so it's time for ice cream.
Now, none of that low-fat stuff. No, it has to be real ice cream. It has to be full of fat and milk and chocolate and goodness.
Since the frozen banana ice cream just won't cut it this week, it's time to head to the store.
That's where the fun begins. Now, not being a huge ice cream fan, I usually by-pass that aisle in the store. This trip, there was no stopping (after all, it was a trip primarily for ice cream).
So, the orders came in: I want mint. I want cookie dough. I want peanut butter chocolate. I want candy and ice cream and whipped cream and chocolate sauce and more candy.
So, with two small ones to help, we stopped at the ice cream aisle. I want that one and that one and that one and that one.
OK, just one. There's not enough room in the freezer (not to mention the bank account) for one of each.
With so many choices, it was information overload. It takes an adult to step in. Well, here's chocolate peanut butter and, look, there's a baseball one. It's baseball season let's get that.
NOOOO. I want the football one.
NOOOOO. Get the baseball one.
NOOOOOOOO! Football! NOOOOOOOOO. Baseball!
Executive decisions don't work when a little girl wants ice cream with little chocolate footballs inside.
Or, maybe I'm not the executive anyway. That's why we end up with too much ice cream jamming up the freezer.


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com

Rise and Shine --- Thanksgiving Series?

Good Morning and welcome to the longest game in the history of the World Series!

Anybody who was watching the annoying Fox broadcast of last night's World Series Game 5, or if you were actually at the game, know it should not have been played.
Heck, as the rain started pelting down on the hood of a 6-year old boy while walking the dogs at 6:30 p.m., it was obvious Game 5 should have been pushed back.
Instead, Major League Baseball loves money. The powers that be would rather pack a stadium two days instead of one, sell a lot more junk and extend the coverage.
Think about it, this World Series, as much as we are loving it here, is the lowest rated World Series in history. Outside of the tri-state area and possibly parts of Florida, it appears everybody would rather watch the Greatest Race.
So, how do you pump up interest? Hey, let's do something new! Let's play in ridiculous weather, then stop the game halfway through.
We can get a lot of coverage and come back for a second day. Great Idea.
By the way, the Phillies say if you have a ticket stub for last night's game you will be allowed in the stadium tonight (if it resumes tonight).
Now, the tickets are made of paper (OK, heavy paper). Which, when it gets wet, has a tendency to become a pulp. So, a ton of those ticket stubs were gone by the second inning. Can I just show up at the gate, say my ticket disintegrated in the rain and I want in?
HMMM...Sounds like an idea.
So, while waiting for the raindrops to stop, get ready for Halloween by whistling:


Here's a good movie to check out: