The Joy (?) of Feeding the Birds

I got this one via an email and thought it sounded about right:

The Joy of Feeding The Birds:


I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed.

Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.

But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop - It was everywhere: on the patio tiles, the chairs, the table... everywhere.

Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket.

And others birds were boisterous and loud. They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore.

I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone.

I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio.

Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...... quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Now lets see....... our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen.

Then the illegal's came by the MILLIONS!!!!!

Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartment's are housing 5 families, you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor, your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English.

Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box, I have to press 'one' to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than 'Old Glory' are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.



Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder??

Icy at the Aerie

"Ice, white ice, like a winding-sheet, sheathing each smoke-grimed wall;
Ice on the stove-pipe, ice on the bed, ice gleaming over all;"
--The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill by R. W. Service

Okay, it might not be that bad, but there is a thin sheen of ice on every branch and every horizontal surface. The temperature has hovered just around the freezing mark and the drizzle that fell during the night (and continues off and on this morning) has frozen where it fell. Small icicles hang from the edge of the roofs of both the house and bird feeders.

Birds trying to land on the deck railing have slid like 747s on icy runways. (One of the more comical scenes this morning was the sight of a mourning dove trying to land on a branch that was sloped at about 15-20 degrees. Poor thing slid 8 or 9 inches before coming to rest against another twig that branched off from the one it landed upon.) Seeds in the tray feeders have become frozen in a bed of ice. I had to be very cautious when I went out to place some fresh seed on top of the ice.

Conditions are not going to get much better this morning but there's a chance that the temps will rise a degree or two and that might lead to something of a thaw.

This is Hillar(y)ious

SwiftKids for Cookies



There are more from the SwiftKids of 23/6 over at the YouTube site so click on through.

(h/t Jo's Cafe and The Pirate's Cove)

Almost!

So close, and yet so far.

Earthquake strikes near Bali climate conference

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Bali on Friday, where it rocked a conference centre hosting more than 10,000 delegates for a key UN climate change summit.

The earthquake struck southwest of the Bali resort of Nusa Dua, where nations are meeting to craft a strategy to combat climate change, Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres and there was no threat of a tsunami, the agency said.

"This is too small to trigger a tsunami," geophysics agency head Suharjono told AFP, adding that the agency had received no reports of damage.

A near miss. Come on, try again.

(h/t Tim Blair )

An interesting question:

Is global warming just the latest Salem witch hunt?

(h/t Tim Blair )

One Year Ago this week…

December 7-13: Work continued on the construction of our log home—exterior work as well as interior. We were incredibly lucky in having very fair weather throughout the fall and early winter construction process. While we had a few days that were quite cold, most were of the Indian Summer variety that allowed Don and the rest of the crew work outside as well as in.

Terry was still up in the Bolt Hole but we were getting closer to the big move into the Aerie. Right now there’s more than a foot of snow on the ground about the Bolt Hole. If it had been there last year things would have been much more difficult.

A lot has changed in one year!

Flip-Flop

Fox News is reporting that NBC has changed its mind about airing the Freedom’s Watch ads. I don’t suppose it had anything to do with the many, many blogs that pointed the finger at their decision or the tons of emails and phone calls they probably received. Perhaps, next time, they might think before they jump the shark.
NBC REVERSES COURSE, AGREES TO AIR TROOP 'THANK YOU' AD

Can we question their (MSM) partisanship now?

This might go a long way to explaining the idiocy at NBC. Red State reports , you decide.

NBC Lawyer who nixed troop ad gives generously to Congressional Democrats...at least $45,000 to a host of Congressional Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, New York Senator Hillary Clinton and the campaign committees of House and Senate Democrats.

According to a Fox News report, Richard Cotton, the general counsel for NBC/Universal, was one of two network officials who decided not to sell ad time to Freedom’s Watch, which describes itself as “a nonpartisan movement dedicated to preserving, protecting, and defending conservative principles and promoting a conservative agenda.”

At least Freedom's Watch is willing to announce its conservative agenda (although the ads don’t display it or flaunt it in any way and are strictly thank you notes to the troops and their families). Richard Cotton and NBC...perfect together. Jerks!

Shame on NBC

NBC has refused to play this simple ad from FreedomsWatch.org extending thanks to the troops who are in harms way this holiday season.



We've come a long way from the days of Bob Hope's USO tours, nearly all of which NBC aired. The 1970 and '71 Vietnam shows are reported to have been viewed by 60% of American households. But now NBC won't air a 30 second commercial saying, "thanks."

From The Devil's Kitchen: Diary of a snow shoveller

The Devil's Kitchen: Diary of a snow shoveller

Go ahead. Read it.

GLOBAL Warming

If it’s a GLOBAL problem, doesn’t it require a GLOBAL solution?

Blue Crab Boulevard links to a report that suggests that that is never going to happen.

China To West: Get Bent

(As linked at Maggie’s Farm. )

The Sunspots Are Missing

Ray of hope: Can the sun save us from global warming?

Something is happening to our Sun. It has to do with sunspots, or rather the activity cycle their coming and going signifies. After a period of exceptionally high activity in the 20th century, our Sun has suddenly gone exceptionally quiet. Months have passed with no spots visible on its disc. We are at the end of one cycle of activity and astronomers are waiting for the sunspots to return and mark the start of the next, the so-called cycle 24. They have been waiting for a while now with no sign it's on its way any time soon.

And if the sunspots don’t return soon, we could be in for a period of dramatic change. But not in the direction the Global Warming alarmists are predicting. Instead we could be on the threshold of a mini ice age.

Following the discovery of the cycle, astronomers looked back through previous observations and were able to see it clearly until they reached the 17th century, when it seemed to disappear. It turned out to be a real absence, not one caused by a lack of observations. Astronomers called it the "Maunder Minimum." It was an astonishing discovery: our Sun can change. Between 1645 and 1715 sunspots were rare. About 50 were observed; there should have been 50,000.

Ever since the sunspot cycle was discovered, researchers have looked for its rhythm superimposed on the Earth's climate. In some cases it's there but usually at low levels. But there was something strange about the time when the sunspots disappeared that left scientists to ponder if the sun's unusual behaviour could have something to do with the fact that the 17th century was also a time when the Earth's northern hemisphere chilled with devastating consequences.

Scientists call that event the "Little Ice Age" and it affected Europe at just the wrong time. In response to the more benign climate of the earlier Medieval Warm Period, Europe's population may have doubled. But in the mid-17th century demographic growth stopped and in some areas fell, in part due to the reduced crop yields caused by climate change. Bread prices doubled and then quintupled and hunger weakened the population.

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want, but could this be why there is such a push by the believers in anthropomorphic global warming to commit to a course of action to cut greenhouse gases (notably CO2) now, “before it’s too late”? If their movement is slowed or delayed a few years, we could well see a reduction in temperatures without having done a thing. If they (the alarmists) get their way and push through their agenda they can take credit for those temperature changes EVEN WHEN THEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DROP IN TEMPERATURES.

Just a thought.

RU Men defeat Lafayette 90-79

I missed this earlier this week, but on Wednesday, the Rutgers Men’s Basketball team defeated Lafayette 90-79 at the RAC in Piscataway. Any tie your team shoots 19 of 21 (90.5%) from the free throw line, 30-65 from the field (46.2 %), and 11 of 25 (44%) from beyond the arc as the Scarlet Knights did Wednesday, you should win the game.

JR Inman had a career high 26 points and freshman Corey Chandler came off the bench to score 19 to lead the Knights. Starters Mike Coburn (15 points), Anthony Farmer (14) and Jaron Griffin (11) also scored in the double digits for Rutgers.

Lafayette also had five players in double digits lead by Andrew Brown with 17 points.

Rutgers improved its record to 6-2 including a perfect 6-0 at home. They travel to Lincoln, Nebraska to play the Cornhuskers on Sunday afternoon.
Lafayette falls to 5-3.

The full story and stats can be found here.

Rutgers 1, Michigan 0

Michigan is now 0 for 2 in their coach search.


Schiano turns down Michigan football job

Good news for Rutgers football and Rutgers in general. Coach Schiano has built a mini dynasty on the banks of the old Raritan. He no doubt would have done well at Michigan but it’s a stretch from his New Jersey roots.

A New Jersey native, Schiano orchestrated one of the most impressive turnarounds in college football during his seven seasons at Rutgers. When he took over in Piscataway, N.J., the program was one of the worst in the Division I-A.

The Scarlet Knights have enjoyed three straight winning seasons and will be making their third consecutive postseason appearance at the International Bowl against Ball State on Jan. 6. They went 7-5 this season, a disappointment after starting the season ranked No. 16 in the nation.

It’s not the first time he’s been approached by another school and it won’t be the last. Here’s hoping he realizes just how important his continued success at Rutgers is to both the school and the Big East. Rutgers has made it known just how much it appreciates what he has been doing and the class he brings to the program.

Schiano turned down a chance to return to Miami last year. He was the Hurricanes defensive coordinator before coming to Rutgers. After pulling out of contention for the Miami job, Schiano signed a four-year extension through 2016 that will pay him $1.7 million annually.

What most college teams need is character and stability in the head coaching position. With Coach Schiano at the helm, Rutgers has both.

At least we won’t have to send Tony Soprano and company to convince him to stay at RU.

Here we go again.

Noted forecasters see 7 hurricanes next year

Long range forecasts like this one are just a crap shoot. In betting parlance we have the establishment of an over/under line here. It’s based upon averages of years past. Not tat the article admits that this team has been wrong in each of the past three years. I assume it was once by forecasting not enough storms and twice for forecasting too many. (It’s a short item from Reuters on Yahoo News this morning, so I’m posting the entire thing here.)

MIAMI (Reuters) - The noted Colorado State University hurricane research team predicted on Friday that 13 tropical storms will develop in the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, of which seven would strengthen into hurricanes.

The team formed by forecasting pioneer William Gray, whose long-range forecasts have been wrong for the past three years, said three of the hurricanes would be the most dangerous Category 3 or above hurricanes, with winds of at least 111 miles per hour (178 km per hour).

(Reporting by Michael Christie; Editing by Jim Loney)

Dang, that was quick!

We had one day of glorious (but quite cold) sunshine yesterday and today we're back to snow showers. The forecast seems to be stuck for the next week, too. Snow showers and overcast 'til at least next Thursday. At least the temperatures have "warmed' to the upper teens at night and upper 20s--maybe even 30s--during the day. While the lows match the daily averages, the highs are still nearly 10 degrees below the average for this time of year.

I blame all the jet contrails from those 15,000 folks who flew to Bali for the UN Climate Change conference.

Congressional Limbo, or How Low Can You Go?

This would be funny if it weren’t so damn sad.

Republican Congressman Eric Cantor’s office has put together a little video report card on the first year of the Democratic Congress.



(h/t Betsy's Page Actually I saw it there and shamelessly stole the whole thing.)

Cold morning at the Aerie.

Well, the clouds cleared away during the night and left us with a clear sky that has continued into the daylight hours. That turned out to be a mixed blessing as the clouds acted as a heat blanked and kept the snow covered ground a bit warmer. When they disappeared, all bets were off and the mercury fell faster than congressional approval ratings. It was 9 degrees when I looked at 7 AM and that was on the way up from a low of 7 at 5 AM. We're into double digits now and may even reach 30 degrees with brilliant sunshine.

Average low for this date is 22 degrees while the high is 40 degrees.
Record low was 6 in 1976 and the record high was 68 in 2001.

Farts for a healthier world!

Eco-friendly kangaroo farts could help global warming: scientists

Australian scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, researchers say.

Thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, kangaroo flatulence contains no methane and scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep who emit large quantities of the harmful gas.

Now, wouldn’t that require something akin to genetic manipulation? There’s got to be some sort of quid pro quo between the bacteria and the ‘roo for them to coexist. If the cattle and sheep that were brought to the continent had the same stomach environment as the ‘roo, wouldn’t they have the same bacteria by now? Just asking.

Evening Grosbeaks

The Evening Groseaks showed up again today. A flock of 12, with about an equal number of males and females, landed on the deck feeder. They surrounded the tray and chirped and ate for several minutes. Then they would retire to the poplar trees across the yard. A half hour or so later they would return for more sunflower seeds. I believe they may have been filling their crops at the tray and then leaving for the trees to digest their bounty. When the crops were empty, they'd come back for a refill. They stayed in the area repeating this process several times over the course of two hours before they left.

I managed to take several pictures using my digiscoping set up and shooting through the glass of the doors as they were feeding. This is the best of them:


Male Evening Grosbeak

For more about Evening Grosbeaks try here and here.

Ho-Hum.

Yet another cold (18 degrees), snowy morning here at the Aerie. At least the winds have died down to calm. The Clipper that swept through Chicago yesterday is passing to our south and we on the northern fringe are scheduled for no more than 1-2 inches of fine powder before it wends its way out to sea. There's some hope for a thaw with temperatures surging above the freezing mark all the way into the 40s once this system passes. Still going to be int he low teens tonight however.

I'm reminded of a trip my church youth group took to Holland, Michigan back in the mid to late 60s. It was over the February school break and we were in town for three of four days. It was gray and overcast with an inch of snow every day we were there. When we asked about the weather we were told it had been that way since mid December and was expected to be exactly the same through the end of March. They didn't need a weather forecaster as they simply used the same forecast day after dismal day.

Another new visitor.

We had a new visitor at the Aerie this afternoon. Three or four Common Redpolls showed up at the feeders to take advantage of our largesse. They seemed to like our offering of sunflower seeds.

This is a small bird which usually inhabits the far north. They come south in the winter but the maps show their winter range isn’t much further south than Pennsylvania although they may not come this far every year. Weather conditions and food supply play a big role I determining how far they will migrate. We’ve had strong, cold winds out of the northwest for over a week now and the temperatures have been quite low. Snow to the north has also pushed these field feeding birds south searching for seeds.

More can be found here and here.

Move over Lucy, you’re getting company.

Two counties in Sweden are building a tourist attraction: a really, really big wooden moose.

When completed, the 148-foot tall, 155-foot-long moose will have a restaurant in its belly, as well as a concert hall, conference rooms and a shop, according to Thorbjorn Holmlund, project coordinator and local tourism promoter.

Now that is one huge moose!

(For those who are not in the know vis-à-vis the Jersey Shore, Lucy refers to Lucy the Margate Elephant. She was 126 years old this year.)

Their Back.

Some push for hunts as grizzlies surge

Nearly extinct last century, grizzly bears are back in a big way in the northern Rockies — rising in numbers, pushing into new territories and mauling hunters who stumble across them in the wild.

While state and federal officials laud the bear's comeback, others say it's time to lift the remaining protections that helped them recover. They point to recent grizzly encounters as evidence.

Protection of the species has worked in increasing the numbers of bears. Now there’s an increase of the number of bear/human contacts. Some of these contacts have proven that the grizzly may be quite dangerous to man, but that man can turn the tables pretty darn quickly.

Workman's close call was the latest in a string of bear attacks and near misses this year in Montana and portions of Idaho and Wyoming near Yellowstone National Park. While there is no comprehensive data on grizzly-human conflicts, an Associated Press tally shows at least a dozen grizzly bear attacks reported since April.

Seven people were injured, some severely. At least five grizzlies were killed, either during the attacks or later by wildlife agents.

First, why the hell isn’t someone officially keeping track of these conflicts? I would think the data as to where and how often they take place would be vital to making any decisions. The establishment of a hotline to report any interactions at campsites, around homes, on ranches, while hunting, etc. would seem the least that could be done.

And second, things don’t seem to work out too well for the griz when the conflict involves human injuries. If there is concern for the bear population, why then go out and search for and kill the bears after the attack is over? (I know the reason—the bear has become a threat to humans by its success in attacking—but it does seem counter to the protectionists’ argument for hands off.)

You can expect the PETA and HSUS groups to get their panties in a twist as soon as someone officially proposes a hunt. The majority of those making the biggest noise will have spent little or no time in the woods and have only a meager knowledge of wildlife biology or ecology.

Whew! That was close!

We seem to have dodged the bullet of some very nasty weather in the form of snow, sleet and ice here at the Aerie. As the system moved through yesterday, there was a skinny little channel of non-weather between two comma shaped bands of yuckiness. As it slid northeast over us, we were in that skinny central band. Yeah, it was windy as all get out and cold but there was little to no precipitation. We ended up with just the four inches of snow that was on the ground yesterday morning and a little drizzle early today that remained wet and not frozen as the temperatures rose above the freezing mark during the night. It's still windy and raw and overcast and the weather gurus aren't ruling out any flurries but that's about all they are forecasting--flurries.

Further north, west and east of here things appear to have been much worse. Lake effect snows are falling southeast of Erie and Ontario and when (if) it stops they could have two to three FEET of snow on the ground. The hills of the Poconos and the Adirondacks got hit pretty hard too. In the area of the Bolt Hole they're calling for 1-3 inches of snow today, 1-3 inches tonight and 1-3 inches tomorrow and more on Wednesday. Winds up there are currently 30-40 mph and are going to continue in that vein until tomorrow when they "drop" to 20-30 mph. At least the temperatures are to be in the upper 20s to low 30s and not the single digits you can expect in late January and February.

I like snow but, damn, it's too early for it to fall in quantity.

UPDATE: 10:30 AM One-and-a-half hours have past since I posted the above and all I can say is I should have kept my mouth shut! The temperatures has dropped below freezing, and the winds continue to howl. Add snow to the mix and you've got a freakin' blizzard raging outside at the moment. This is nuts! When I wrote the above post, the sun was about to break through the clouds and I could see blue sky in the northwest. *sigh* Too early for the Glenlivet so I guess it will be another cup of coffee.

Less than the time it takes to warm up a big mug of coffee and--abracadabra, presto chango--the snow has stopped and the sun burst through the clouds--for a moment. It's going to be one of those days.

It's Final!! (Sorta.)

The regular college football season has come to a close but on the 20th of December the one month long, one game long Bowl season kicks off. The full Bowl Season Schedule with whose playing whom, when and where can be found here.

Now, on to the Polls. Once again, I’ve taken the AP Writers’/Coaches’/BCS in that order. If a team is not ranked in the top 25 you’ll see and “NR” in the appropriate spot.


1/1/1 Ohio State (11-1, 7-1) Last Week: #3/3/3 Their baaack! The Buckeyes haven’t played since November 17th, but they will be playing for the National Championship on January 7th in New Orleans.

2/2/2 LSU (11-2, 7-2) Last Week: #5/7/7 The Tigers will face off for the National Championship on January 7th in New Orleans.

3/3/4 Oklahoma (11-2, 7-2) Last Week: #9/8/9 The Sooners will be playing in the Fiesta Bowl on January 2.

4/4/5 Georgia (10-2, 6-2) Last Week: #4/4/4 The Bulldogs play in the Sugar Bowl on January 1.

5/5/3 Virginia Tech (11-2, 8-1) Last Week: #6/5/6 The Hokies are going to the Orange Bowl on January 3 as the ACC Champions.

6/6/7 Southern California (10-2, 7-2) Last Week: #8/9/8 The Trojans will be the PAC 10 representative in the Rose Bowl on January 1.

7/7/6 Missouri (11-2, 7-2) Last Week: #1/2/1

8/8/8 Kansas (11-1, 7-1) Last Week: #7/6/5 The Jayhawks will be in the Orange Bowl on January 3.

9/12/12 Florida (9-3, 5-3) Last Week: #10/11/10

10/10/10 Hawaii (12-0, 8-0) Last Week: #11/10/12 The Warriors will make the long flight to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl on January 1.

11/9/9 West Virginia (10-2, 5-2) Last Week: #2/1/2 The Mountaineers will be representing the Big East in the Fiesta Bowl on January 2.

12/11/11 Arizona State (10-2, 7-2) Last Week: #13/13/13

13/13/13 Illinois (9-3, 6-2) Last Week: #15/14/15 The Fighting Illini are heading to the Rose Bowl on January 1 as the Big 10 representative.

14/14/14 Boston College (10-3, 6-3) Last Week: #12/12/11

15/16/15 Clemson (9-3, 5-3) Last Week: #16/17/16

16/18/16 Tennessee (9-4, 6-3) Last Week: #14/15/14

17/17/19 Texas (9-3, 5-3) Last Week: #17/18/20

18/15/18 Wisconsin (9-3, 5-3) Last Week: #19/16/18

19/19/17 Brigham Young (10-2, 8-0) Last Week: #21/19/19

20/23/22 Cincinnati (9-2, 4-3) Last Week: #20/24/23

21/20/20 Virginia (9-3, 6-2) Last Week: #22/21/22

22/21/23 Auburn (8-4, 5-3) Last Week: #23/21/24

23/25/21 South Florida (9-3, 4-3) Last Week: #25/NR/21

24/22/24 Boise State (10-2. 7-1) Last Week: #24/23/25

25/24/27 Arkansas (8-4, 4-4) Last Week: NR/25/NR

NR/NR/25 Connecticut (9-3, 5-2) Last Week: NR/NR/NR

Gone from the Top 25: Oregon (8-4, 5-4) which last week was #18/20/17.

Snowy, Cold Sunday

Four inches of fine, powdery snow on the ground about the Aerie this morning with the temperature around 18 degrees again. The wind is blowing much of the snow off the roof and deck and making it feel much, much colder. We are currently in a lull between storm systems with some freezing rain/snow forecast for this afternoon and throughout the night.

The birds were all upset that the snow had covered over the sunflower seed on the platform feeder I have on the deck. They showed up just before sunrise looking fro some food and it was buried. The little ledges where the birds perch on the hanging feeders also caught some of the snow last night and blocked access to the seed. I went out to clear them and refill the suet feeder for the woodpecker just as the wind started and got a face-full of cold snow from the roof for my effort. At least the juncos, chickadees, nuthatches, mourning doves, downy and hairy woodpeckers, and, yes, squirrels appreciate it.

Could be worse. I could be at the Bolt Hole were there's six inches on the ground and maybe a foot to come.

RU Downs Princeton, 54-50

Saturday, the Rutgers men’s basketball team faced off against the Princeton Tigers at the RAC in Piscataway. After falling behind in the first half 30-25, the scarlet Knights came storming back in the second half behind the play of Junior JR Inman to defeat the Tigers, 54-50. Inman scored RU’s first six points of the second half to knot the game at 31 and inspire the comeback victory. At the end of the game, Inman had 16 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Teammate Jaron Griffen had 13 points and 5 rebounds while Hamady Ndiaye had 5 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.

The Knights are now a perfect 5-0 at the RAC and 5-2 overall. Princeton falls to 2-5.

Full story and stats here.

If you Expect the Unexpected...

...does it then become the expected? The norm?

In a most fitting conclusion to regular season play and for the second week in a row and the third time this season, both the #1 and #2 teams in the nation were defeated. #1 Missouri dropped the Big 12 Championship game to #9 Oklahoma, 38-17, while #2 West Virginia lost its “Backyard Brawl” to Pittsburgh, 13-9.

#1/2/1 Missouri (11-2, 7-2) The Tigers rolled over and played kitten in the Big 12 Championship against #9/8/9 Oklahoma this weekend. They dropped their second game of the season 38-17 to the Sooners who took advantage of every little mistake Missouri made. Missouri lost the previous meeting this season 41-31 making a very good case for Oklahoma t be moved up to at least #2.

#2/1/2 West Virginia (10-2, 5-2) I said, “I don’t think the #2 Curse will strike White, Slayton, Devine and Company.” That might well have been true, but who were those guys in the gold and black uniforms in Morgantown Saturday night? The Mountaineers got an old fashioned whupping by the unranked Pittsburgh Panthers (5-7, 3-4) 13-9. And it should have been worse. While WVU’s Patrick White had to sit out the better part of two plus quarters with a dislocated thumb on his non-throwing hand, they couldn’t seem to run the ball against the Pitt defense. White finished with 14 carries for 41 yards while Steve Slaton was 9 for 11 (11 freakin’ yards!) and Noel Devine was just 7 for 11 yards (I repeat: 11 freakin’ yards!). Dave Wannstedt could have gained more than 11 yards using his crutches. On the other side of the ball, Pitt Freshman LeSean McCoy carried the ball 38 times and gained 148 yards. Actually, the game shouldn’t have been this close. Two questionable holding calls against Pitt wide receiver Oderick Turner negated first a TD and then a critical first down late in the game. Pitt went on to a) miss the field goal attempt and b) punt the ball. Pitt, having to punt again with just 2 seconds on the clock and the score 13-7, had their punter run around and then out of the end zone for a safety which made the final score 13-9. WVU, by reason of being the Big East Champs will still play in a BCS Bowl game—but it won’t be in New Orleans. Pitt ends its season on a very positive note having come t h i s close to defeating Rutgers and South Florida in their two previous games and then knocking off the arch rival Mountaineers and putting them behind the wall on their “Pitt Stop” to New Orleans.

#3/3/3 Ohio State (11-1, 7-1) The Buckeyes haven’t played a down in three weeks and they are still winning? Go figure.

#4/4/4 Georgia (10-2, 6-2) The Bulldogs should get more respect than they are likely to get. Not being in the SEC Title game will hurt.
#5/7/7 LSU (11-2, 7-2) The Tigers defeated #14/15/14 Tennessee (9-4, 6-3) this week for the SEC Championship 21-14 and are now politicking to be back in the National Title game in New Orleans. They were #1 twice already this year and lost both times. If they move up and it’s against Ohio State, maybe they win. If it’s against Georgia…. But it won’t be because that would pit two SEC teams against one another and the howls of the fans from other conferences would be heard far and wide.

#6/5/6 Virginia Tech (11-2, 8-1) The Hokies beat #12/12/11 Boston College (10-3, 6-3) for the ACC Conference crown, 30-16. Sharing QB duties with Tyrod Taylor, Sean Glennon completed 18 of 27 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns for the Hokies as the defense managed to “hold” Matt Ryan to a 33 of 52 for 305 yards but no TDs and two interceptions.

#7/6/5 Kansas (11-1, 7-1) The Jayhawks are another team that could benefit from the loss of the top two but their chances of moving up are slimmer than some since they lost to Missouri last week.

#8/9/8 Southern California (10-2, 7-2) The Trojans beat cross town rival UCLA (6-6, 5-4) rather handily, 24-7 to become the PAC 10 Champs. (Yawn.)

#9/8/9 Oklahoma (11-2, 7-2) The Sooners downed #1/2/1 Missouri for the Big 12 Championship. The second time this year they have beaten Missouri. They deserve to move up, but how far?

#10/11/10 Florida (9-3, 5-3) The Gators’ sat on the sidelines this week and wondered where they might end up. Probably right here.

#11/10/12 Hawaii (12-0, 8-0) The Warriors, WAC Champs, played an out of conference game against Washington Huskies (4-9, 2-7 Pacific 10) this week ad came very close to losing their perfect season. The Huskies jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first 9 ½ minutes when they forced three fumbles. Then Colt Brennan went to work. When he was finished he had completed 42 of 50 passes for 442 yards and 5 TDs. He was a perfect 6-6 on the final drive that ended in a TD pass to Ryan Grice-Mellon with 44 seconds left in regulation to put the Warriors up for good 35-28. Grice-Mellon caught 10 passes for 121 yards and that all important final TD. Jason Rivers caught 14 balls for 167 yards and the other four Warrior TDs.

#12/12/11 Boston College (10-3, 6-3) The Eagles lost to #6/5/6 Virginia Tech 30-16 to see their shot at the ACC Crown evaporate.

#13/13/13 Arizona State (10-2, 7-2) The Sun Devils edged intrastate rival Arizona (5-7, 4-5) 20-17. Unfortunately, they saw the PAC 10 title and, possibly, their shot at a Rose Bowl berth slip away when USC downed UCLA.

#14/15/14 Tennessee (9-4, 6-3) The Volunteers dropped their SEC Title game to #5/7/7 LSU (11-2, 7-2) 21-14.

#15/14/15 Illinois (9-3, 6-2) The Fighting Illini were observers this week but will probably see their position improve due to the Tennessee and Boston College loses.

#16/17/16 Clemson (9-3, 5-3) The Tigers’ season ended a couple of weeks ago but they too could see their position improved by others’ misfortune.

#17/18/20 Texas (9-3, 5-3) The Longhorns were on the sidelines this week.

#18/20/17 Oregon (8-4, 5-4) The Ducks dropped another one since Dennis Dixon’s injury. This one was to intrastate rival Oregon State (8-4, 6-3) by a score of 38-31 in double overtime.

#19/16/18 Wisconsin (9-3, 5-3) The Badgers, like the rest of the Big Ten, sat on the sidelines this week yet will likely see their position improve.

#20/24/23 Cincinnati (9-2, 4-3) The Bearcats were idle this week.

#21/19/19 Brigham Young (10-2, 8-0) The Mountain West Champs defeated San Diego State (4-8, 3-5) 48-27.

#22/21/22 Virginia (9-3, 6-2) The Cavaliers were observers this weekend.

#23/21/24 Auburn (8-4, 5-3) The Tigers were another team on the sidelines this week.

#24/23/25 Boise State (10-2. 7-1) The Broncos were idle this week.

#25/NR/21 South Florida (9-3, 4-3) The Bulls were idle this week.

NR/25/NR Arkansas (8-4, 4-4) The Razorbacks were idle.

Utility Room Door is In

My shoulder felt 8-% better yesterday so I worked it out some by hauling the joiner down to the basement just in case I needed to use it to shave the door panels for the utility room door. The tolerances for that door were a bit tight. I realize now that I didn’t take into account the second set of hinges the door required. I measured everything as though it was a four-foot wide door with hinges on one side. Having the door formed as two two-foot wide panels and a second set of hinges makes a difference as the hinges actually bump the door a tiny bit away from the jam. In any event, I removed about ¼ inch from each panel’s center edge to give me some slack and then with Terry’s help, the jam and panels were put in place.



All that is needed now is to purchase suitable latch hardware (I was thinking of something along the lines of a black wrought iron gate latch) and install some trim.

Oh, and my shoulder feels great today. My foot doesn't hurt either.

December enters as a Lion

It was 18 degrees and quite windy this morning at 8 AM here at the Aerie. Steady 10-15 mph winds out f the northwest were accompanied by gusts up to 35 mph for very low wind chill numbers. Terry and I had planned to go to the Dickens Holiday Festival over at Wellsboro today but one look at that thermometer made us alter our plans ad opt instead for the warmth of our home and some hot chocolate.

The forecast for Sunday into Monday is getting interesting. Snow, sleet and freezing rain are all mentioned to various degrees but no one is putting any numbers on the table for our area yet. Not so for the Bolt Hole. Mark reports there's already four inches on the ground (Thursday night) with five or six expected last night and, perhaps, a foot or more Sunday into Monday. Some of that is lake effect snow. The Bolt hole is located southeast of Lake Ontario's eastern end and when the wind blows hard out of the northwest.... It's also at an elevation of nearly 1600 feet so any borderline rains that may occur down in the Mohawk Valley (Utica area) become snow at the Bolt Hole.

About those tropical storms/hurricanes...

Seems there is some disagreement about the categorization of depressions as tropical storms/hurricanes.

Decisions to name storms draw concern (Emphasis added.)

Some meteorologists, including former hurricane center director Neil Frank, say as many as six of this year's 14 named tropical systems might have failed in earlier decades to earn "named storm" status.

"They seem to be naming storms a lot more than they used to," said Frank, who directed the hurricane center from 1974 to 1987 and is now chief meteorologist for KHOU-TV. "This year, I would put at least four storms in a very questionable category, and maybe even six."

I made mention of this a short time ago (What the hey!?). Several of this year’s named storms were outside the tropics when they formed or far out to sea and quickly moved northward in to the cooler waters of the North Atlantic where they rapidly lost energy. One or two existed for just a couple of days.

Most of the storms in question briefly had tropical storm-force winds of at least 39 mph. But their central pressure — another measure of intensity — suggested they actually remained depressions or were non-tropical systems.

Improved technology has allowed meteorologists to make observations outside of shipping lanes and flight paths where they might have missed previously.

A case in point is Tropical Storm Chantal, a short-lived system that formed in late July south of Nova Scotia and moved toward the northeast, out to sea.

Some meteorologists say the storm was never a tropical system at all, because it formed well out of the tropics. Others say it wouldn't have been named before the 1999 launch of the QuikSCAT satellite, which measures surface winds and alerted forecasters to Chantal's organization.

"Without QuikSCAT, Chantal might never have gotten named," said Jeff Masters, a meteorologist and founder of The Weather Underground Web site, a popular resource for tracking hurricanes.

As the technology to observe storms has grown better, the definition of a tropical storm has remained unchanged. Such systems have a center of low pressure with a closed circulation, organized bands of thunderstorms and winds of at least 39 mph. Storms are upgraded to hurricanes when their winds reach 74 mph.

There has also been a change in the procedure for naming storms.

In earlier years before widespread satellite coverage, the hurricane center placed more emphasis on measurements of central pressure than wind speeds in designating tropical storms and giving those systems names, Frank said. Central pressures and wind speed are related, but the relationship isn't absolute.

Frank said he prefers using central pressure, because it can be directly measured by aircraft dropping an instrument into a tropical system.

If a reconnaissance plane had measured a wind speed above 39 mph during Frank's tenure, the system would not automatically have been named. His forecasters might have waited a day to see if the central pressure fell, he said, to ensure that the system really was a tropical storm.

That practice probably would have prevented some systems, such as Tropical Storm Jerry, from getting named this year, Frank said. After being upgraded, Jerry remained a tropical storm for less than a day in the northern Atlantic.

These changes have made comparisons of current numbers with those of the past virtually impossible. Yet those who espouse the Global Climate Change continue to predict increased intensity and frequency of hurricanes and tropical storms as a result of Global Warming. If you don’t know where you’ve been and you change the rules, how do you know where you are going?

The apparent change in the philosophy of naming systems has rankled some longtime hurricane watchers. Jill Hasling, president of Houston's Weather Research Center, said comparing the number of tropical storms and hurricanes today with the historical record is almost impossible.

But Read, of the hurricane center, believes wind speeds are the true indicator of a tropical system's status. Now that more accurate wind measurements are available, it only makes sense to use the best technology to quickly determine if a system has reached tropical storm strength, he said.
…
Inconsistencies with the data have plagued scientists trying to determine whether global warming has increased the number or intensity of hurricanes.

In fact, there are reasons to believe that historical storms have been overcounted as well as undercounted, said Judith Curry, chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Before satellites, scientists had few ways to tell the difference between tropical systems and non-tropical storms. As a result, some non-tropical storms probably were named.

"The bottom line is that, yes, we do have errors in tropical cyclone counts," said Curry. "But it is not clear whether this adds a net negative or positive bias to any trend."

It’s a crap shoot folks. As Mark Twain once said, “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.”

When some group or organization starts touting the number named storms as proof of climate change take their data with a grain--no, a shaker--of salt.

Louisville stuns RU 41-38 on late FG

It was a tale of two games. The first 29 minutes belonged to Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights built a 28-10 lead over the Louisville Cardinals when Ray Rice waltzed into the end zone from 6 yards out to cap a 6 play, 51-yard drive. It was Rice’s third rushing TD of the night. But, Brian Brohm had one minute in the half to work some magic. He needed only 49 seconds and five plays to get the ball into the end zone for the Cardinals and reduce the lead to 28-17 at the half. Worse, the 52 yard scoring pass to Patrick Carter shifted the momentum of the entire game.

In the second half the Louisville defense stiffened just enough, held RU to just 10 points, and allowed the offense to exert itself and get the Cardinals back into the game. In the second half, the Rutgers defense seemingly collapsed and the offense stopped opening holes for Rice. The Cardinals scored the final 17 points with Art Carmody kicking a 33-yard field goal with 20 seconds left to win the game 41-38.

RU Offense:
Rice ended the game with 120 net yards rushing on 30 carries and the three TDs. He had almost 100 yards in the first half. Mike Teel proved his thumb problem was heeled as he completed 21 of 32 passes for 265 yards and 2 TDs. Sophomore Kenny Britt (12 catches for 173 yards and 2 TDs) and Junior Tiquan Underwood (4 catches for 63 yards) surpassed the 1,000 yard mark for receiving for the year.

RU Defense:
The defense looked inspired in the first half. In the second they just looked tired. Missed tackles and containment assignments on the edges allowed some big running plays by the Cardinals. They did sack Brohm five times and made several tackles for losses, but the big plays were killers.

Louisville Offense:
Freshman Bilal Powell rushed for 103 yards on 13 carries and Junior Brock Bolen had 117 yards also on 13 carries for the Cardinals as they ran through and around a suddenly porous RU defense. Brohm was 12 of 22 for 227 yards including that 52 yard strike to Carter to end the first half scoring. Senior Art Carmody set a NCAA record for career points by a kicker when he booted a 41-yard field goal early in the first quarter and won the game with a 33-yard kick with 20 seconds to play. It was the first time in his four years that he had kicked a game winning FG with time running out.

Louisville Defense:
Much maligned during the season and beaten badly in the first half, they came out and played some very good football in the second half. They left nothing on the field and stopped RU from scoring too many points giving the offense a chance to win the game.

Rutgers falls to 7-5, 3-4 in the BIG EAST, as they head to Toronto for the International Bowl on January 5th. Louisville evened its record at 6-6, 3-4 in the BIG EAST.

The full story and stats here and here.

RU is Bowl Bound and Terry and I are going, too!

The Rutgers football team will be playing in the International Bowl at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on January 5th. Their invitation and acceptance was announced this evening prior to the final game of the season against Louisville. I saw this on the internet during the first few minutes of the game and went to the RU web page to read the press release and immediately ordered a pair of tickets. No one is sure who the opponent will be except that it will be a team from the MAC. The current thought is that it will be Ball State (7-5, 5-2 in the MAC), but the invitations await the conclusion of the MAC Championship this weekend.

Theo Spark: GOD LOVE THE COWBOYS....

So a cowboy, an Indian and a Muslim are sitting in the airport...
Theo Spark: GOD LOVE THE COWBOYS....

Ouch!

So, I mortised in the 12 hinge plates for the “French” doors going into the utility room yesterday. I stood on my feet for 3 hours to do so I felt some pain in the left foot that has been bothering me for a couple of months now (plantar fasciitis?) and the right ankle that has pestered me off and on for close to a year(sprained during construction when I missed a step on the work site). I used the utility knife to score the outer edges and the chisel to remove the necessary wood to fit the plate in flush with the edge of the door. There was plenty of pressure on the arms and wrists while I did this but I never felt any pain from anywhere but my lower extremities—until I was finished.

As I tried to don my coat to go outside I felt a stab of pain in my right clavicle. That’s the one and only bone I have ever broken (if you discount the nose) and that happened back in the winter of ’66-’67, senior year in high school. I’ve always had a tiny lump where the healing occurred but yesterday that area felt inflamed. Touching it would create shooting pains. I couldn’t lift my arm up to put on a hat let alone put my coat on the way I normally do. I gulped some ibuprofen in the hope it would help. It didn’t. I had trouble sleeping during the night because every time I turned on my side the pain would jar me awake.

The shoulder pain remains with me this morning but something curious has happened. I have no pain in my left foot at all today—or in my right ankle. It’s as though I have a limited quantity of pain within my body and right now it’s all centered in the shoulder. If it doesn’t clear up in a day or so I just may have to go see the doctor, but I’m holding out as long as I can. I won’t baby it and if it’s just a muscle problem, it may work its way out with only the ibuprofen as an aid. The only thing I won’t be doing is shouldering my rifle to fire at anything…unless it (a deer) happens to walk into the yard, then all bets are off.

The Doors.

I mentioned the other day that I was constructing doors for the basement. Yesterday Terry and I hung the 3-foot wide door the leads into the workshop. Hanging doors was one of the tasks I did not participate in while we were constructing the Aerie and I can think of only two doors that I hung in our previous home. I installed those doors when I finished the basement about 25 years ago. They were both “prehung” jobs that I picked up at Channel (remember them?) and were hollow core to boot. Here I had to create the jam, or frame, as well as the door. This sucker is made from inch and three quarter pine flooring material and weighs a ton. It does swing nicely on the three hinges.

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out so far. All that’s left is to install the trim around the frame, add a door stop trim around the edge of the door and then sand and seal it.

Meanwhile, across basement is what I’ll call a double door that will lead into the utility room. It will be constructed of the same material but will consist of two 2-foot wide panels that will swing like French doors. One side will have a blot to keep it stationary unless it must be opened to get something in or out while the other will be the primary swinging door. Everything for that door as been cut and the hinges mortised in place on both doors and frame. Tomorrow I’ll find out if I left myself enough wiggle room to fit it in the rough opening. If not, it will either mean a trim to the joiner or the belt sander. (I think the sander is the better bet. The joiner is in the garage and even at 2-foot wide, those panels are heavy and don’t want to haul them up to the garage and back for an 1/8 of an inch or so.)

Morning!

It was 35 degrees and rainy when I woke this morning so I decided to go get myself a hole saw, some 6d finishing nails and a few other odds and ends to finish the doors. I had to go to Wally World (hole saw but no 6d nails) and two hardware stores before I got almost everything I needed. I opted out of making the drive to Painted Post (Home Depot) or Horseheads (Lowes) since I didn't want to burn up the fuel to get the few items I still need.

By the time I got home, the temps had dropped and it was spitting snow. Now there are clear skies and a cold north wind blowing. I checked the rain gauge and found there was 1.25 inches of rain in it since Sunday.

I was amazed at how empty the parking lots at the stores were until I remembered every able bodied male and quite a few women were probably out looking for a deer. They will be happy to have the clear skies, I'm sure.

Me? I'm headed back to the basement for the afternoon. Maybe tomorrow I'll go sit in the woods.

Woodworking: Lost Tool Corollary to Murphy's Law

So this afternoon I spend a few hours in the basement putting the hinges on the larges door; the one that goes into the workshop. Lots of chisel work was involved and it got a bit detailed because I chose a hinge with a rounded "corner" instead of one with a squared off corner. But I got that done. Only six more hinges to go!

I then went looking for my hole saw so I could drill out the opening for the doorknob and latch. No luck. I can't remember if I chucked the cheap POS I had or if it's still at the Bolt Hole. In any event, I'll probably be heading over to Sears tomorrow to see if they have one on the shelf. If they don't, I may have to swing up to Lowes in Horseheads. to look for something like this:

hole saw

If I do buy a new set (a good one can go up to $80-90) you can be sure I'll find my usable, but cheap POS hole saw when I go to put the new set away. It's part of Murphy's Laws.

Post Week 13 Polls and Opponents for Week 14

Well, the latest polls are out and as expected there has been a shakeup at the top. I mean, what would you expect when both the #1 and #2 teams lose. I therefore present the Top 25 (plus a few) from the AP Writers’/Coaches’/BCS Polls plus their opponents in this week’s contests if any. (An “NR” means the team was not ranked in the top 25 of that poll.)

#1/2/1 Missouri (11-1, 7-1) Fresh off their victory over Kansas, the Tigers will be playing for the Big 12 Championship against #9/8/9 Oklahoma this weekend.

#2/1/2 West Virginia (10-1, 5-1) The Mountaineers have wrapped up the BIG EAST Title but still have a game to play against Pittsburgh. For some reason, I don’t think the #2 Curse will strike White, Slayton, Devine and Company.

#3/3/3 Ohio State (11-1, 7-1) The Buckeye season has been over for two weeks and still they climb in the pools. I hope they do not go any higher than #3 after this weekend, however. I really do not want to watch them in National Title game when there are so many more exciting teams out there. Let them go to the Rose Bowl and be happy about it.

#4/4/4 Georgia (10-2, 6-2) The Bulldogs are one of those exciting teams. Yeah, their season is done and they’re not even playing for their own Conference’s Championship, but right now they could be far better than OSU.

#5/7/7 LSU (10-2, 6-2) The Tigers should have fallen further in the polls in my opinion even if both loses were in triple overtime. They play #14/15/14 Tennessee this week for the SEC Championship.

#6/5/6 Virginia Tech The Hokies beat Virginia fro the ACC Coastal title and will now go up against #12/12/11 Boston College for the ACC Conference crown.

#7/6/5 Kansas (11-1, 7-1) The Jayhawks were #2 last week before Missouri shut them out in the first half. Their season is over…for now.

#8/9/8 Southern California (9-2, 6-2) The Trojans will be playing UCLA this weekend. If they win, they will be the PAC 10 Champs.

#9/8/9 Oklahoma (10-2, 6-2) The Sooners will be playing #1/2/1 Missouri for the Big 12 Championship.

#10/11/10 Florida (9-3, 5-3) The Gators’ season is over which means we will have to wait for a bowl game to see Mr. Wonderful, Tim Tebow, in action again.

#11/10/12 Hawaii (11-0, 8-0) The Warriors, WAC Champs, will be playing an out of conference game against Washington Huskies (4-8, 2-7 Pacific 10) this week. They’ll need the win to complete their undefeated season and possibly get a BCS at-large bid.

#12/12/11 Boston College (10-2, 6-2) The Eagles take on #6/5/6 Virginia Tech for the ACC Title. BC defeated Virginia Tech in Blacksburg 14-10 on October 25. Since then the Hokies have won four straight while BC is 2-2.

#13/13/13 Arizona State (9-2, 6-2) The Sun Devils will be playing intrastate rival Arizona this weekend. Should they win and IF (it’s a big “if”) UCLA manages to defeat USC then ASU will be PAC 10 Champs.

#14/15/14 Tennessee (9-3, 6-2) By defeating Kentucky for the scaty-eight millionth time, the Volunteers were able to edge out Georgia (whom the beat earlier in the year) for the SEC East title and will, therefore get to play LSU for the Conference crown.

#15/14/15 Illinois (9-3, 6-2) The Fighting Illini are couch potatoes again this week.

#16/17/16 Clemson (9-3, 5-3) The Tigers’ season has ended. They will await the bowl committee’s assignment.

#17/18/20 Texas (9-3, 5-3) The Longhorns have dropped quite a bit on the heels of their loss to Texas A&M. They will now be playing in one of the lesser bowls.

#18/20/17 Oregon (8-3, 5-3) The Ducks play intrastate rival Oregon State (7-4, 5-3) this week. Unless Brady Leaf can get it together real soon, expect the Ducks to disappear from the Top 25.

#19/16/18 Wisconsin (9-3, 5-3) The Badgers will be sitting it out along with Illinois and Ohio State. Seems to make a good case for a Big Ten Championship Game to me. All they need to do is add one more team but I don’t suppose they would invite the Northern Iowa Panthers (12-0, 6-0 Gateway Conference, and currently ranked #1 in the FCS Coaches Poll) to join any time soon.

#20/24/23 Cincinnati (9-2, 4-3) Te Bearcats ended their season with a 52-31 victory over Syracuse (2-10, 1-6). They now await their bowl assignment.

#21/19/19 Brigham Young (9-2, 7-0) The Mountain West Champs will play San Diego State (4-7, 3-4) in a game that was postponed by fire earlier this year.

#22/21/22 Virginia (9-3, 6-2) The Cavaliers’ season came to a halt with their loss to Virginia Tech this weekend. They will await the phone call telling them where and who they are playing in the bowls.

#23/21/24 Auburn (8-4, 5-3) The Tigers will be on the sidelines this week as they wait for their phone call from the bowl committee.

#24/23/25 Boise State (10-2. 7-1) The Broncos are a victim of a weak WAC and a very strong armed Colt Brennan (Hawaii). They await their phone call. Personally, I would love to see them matched up with either Illinois or Wisconsin. I really think they could take either.

#25/NR/21 South Florida (9-3, 4-3) The Bulls finished their season in Pittsburgh with a 48-37 victory. They will be watching from the sidelines this week waiting for the phone to ring.

NR/25/NR Arkansas (8-4, 4-4) The Razorback knocked off LSU last week but it may have been too little too late to save Coach Houston Nutt’s job . The rest of the team will be on the sidelines this week waiting for that phone to ring.

No Hunting Today.

It's 35 degrees and raining here at the Aerie. The cloud ceiling seems to be at around 2400 feet and since the Aerie is at 2100 feet that means the clouds appear to be right above your head when you step outside. Some stray wisps are even swirling about below the Aerie.

With two deer in the freezer, I've no desire/need to go courting pneumonia so I believe I'll be sitting this opening day out. But the rifle is sitting next to the door with a box of ammo, just in case.

If I get the energy, I may head to the basement to finish hanging some doors.

Now, this looks like it might be fun to watch.

`Tin Man' re-imagines `Wizard of Oz'

No dancing down the yellow brick road for Zooey Deschanel, star of Sci Fi Channel's new Emerald City adaptation, "Tin Man." And no warbling "Over the Rainbow" a la Judy Garland, either.

"It's postmodern, more like Indiana Jones than a fairy tale," said Deschanel, whose Dorothy — the role immortalized by Garland in "The Wizard of Oz" — is a disaffected, motorcycle-riding waitress called DG.

Based on L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," which inspired the 1939 film classic, Sci Fi's six-hour "Tin Man" is not a musical but a brooding, special effects-driven fantasy.

As a kid, the flying monkeys scared the bejesus out of me more than the Wicked Witch ever did.

The miniseries will be airing Dec. 2 through Dec. 4 on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Oops!

Japan launch 'prince fish' catch-and-eat drive

Fifty years ago Mayor Daly of Chicago presented the Japanese Crown Prince a gift of the Illinois state fish…the bluegill. The Crown Prince brought them home and began a breeding program in the hope folks would have a new food source. What could go wrong? How about the prolific little buggers are eating up many native species. That’s really quite a common occurrence in such situations.

Emperor Akihito, a fish expert, brought the bluegill from the United States a half-century ago when he was crown prince, hoping to offer a new source of food to Japan.

But the bluegill, once celebrated as "prince fish," has turned into a nuisance in Japanese rivers and lakes by feeding on native species, leading the emperor to offer unusually personal comments of regret earlier this month.

They are trying to encourage people to eat the bluegills they catch. A web site (not linked in the article, possibly because it’s in Japanese) offers tips in filleting and cooking what is called a “pan fish” in the USA for obvious reasons. Simply gut and scale the little buggers and put them in a cast iron skillet with a bit of oil and you’ve got some of the sweetest tasting fish you’ll ever have. Yeah, you can fillet them and make fish cakes out of the meat and maybe a dozen other recipes, but a pan fish was meant for the pan, gol darn it!

Now, about that horrid economy…

Retailers buoyed by strong holiday start

It would appear that another doom-and-gloom story circulated by the MSM has fallen by the wayside. Soon the “experts” will be dragged out and questioned as to how the consumer can be so dumb as to be out there purchasing things and driving the economy onward and upward in such dire times…and they will never see the contradiction in that meme.

And it’s not just the US consumer that’s doing the shopping. Folks are flocking from all over to take advantage of the "weak" dollar.

Forget the climate! Britons scent U.S. bargains

Along those same lines, the Canadians are crossing the border in droves to shop in the US malls. I forget where I saw the story yesterday, but the locals are complaining about the lack of parking in many shops along the border because all those Ontario plated cars are taking up the spaces. I’m sure the retailers are ecstatic about that little development.

Despite the dire predictions...

...it would appear folks had a much easier time traveling this holiday than expected.

Thanksgiving travelers face little delay

But of course! After a week of hearing how bad things were going to be people either cancelled their plans (but only a few appear to have done this) or built in the extra time needed to clear security before their flights departed. Oh, there were a few weather delays but the vast majority of travelers seem to have gotten where they want to go with little difficulty. (Except for that one guy they found at the end of the article who was upset about having to wait an extra 12 hours for a flight from Atlanta to San Jose because he missed the check in time by 1 minute. )

Disc World on TV.

This is the movie on TV that I gave up watching football to view.

Cetainly different than watching Christmas Story...again.

It's a half hour in and we've met Susan, Lord Downey, the Auditors, and Mr. Teatime. And the story line is incredibly close to the book. Love it!

Only one problem: It runs for 4 hours on the tube.

UPDATE: They followed the story nearly word for word. It was great! The fella, Marc Warren, that played Mr. Teatime did so in a manner that allowed you to see him for the twisted psycho he is.

RU Men's BB went 1-1 this week.

This week in Rutgers’ Men’s basketball was one of mixed results.

Tuesday they played Dartmouth at the RAC and came away with a 55-50 win. RU had to overcome a 9-point halftime deficit to do so, however. Juniors Jaron Griffin and Anthony Farmer led the Scarlet Knights with 11 and 10 points respectively.
The full story and stats can be found here.

Sunday afternoon, the Scarlet Knights traveled to Jersey City to play St. Peter's in the JC National Guard Armory. It was the first time a game had been played in the armory since St. Peter's played there in 1974. The Knights couldn’t find a way to slow the Peacocks’ Wesley Jenkins and Todd Sowell who scored 26 and 22 points, respectively, as they lead the Peacocks to a 65-58 victory. Freshman Corey Chandler lead Rutgers with 16 points, while JR Inman had 11 and Hamady Ndiaye had 10 for the Scarlet. Inman also had a pretty good day on the boards picking up 13 rebounds.

The full story and stats can be found here.

Rutgers is now 4-2 on the young season. Their next game will be against Princeton Saturday, December 1 at the RAC.

More Deer Huntin'

Oh man! Tomorrow is opening day of rifle season for deer here in PA. Hunters have been streaming into the camps around the area while some have stayed over from the bear season of last week. You can hear them sighting in their rifles all day yesterday and again today.

The weather tonight is supposed to deteriorate with freezing rain turning to all rain by morning. I’ve got tags for two deer—a buck and a doe. While I don’t have to travel anywhere—I’ve 17 acres at the Aerie (most of it's very, very sloped) and another 20 adjacent acres that I’ve been told I could hunt on. Then again, I’ve already got two deer in the freezer and I’m feeling no pressure to even carry my rifle outdoors.

If I do go out, I’m hoping pressure on surrounding lands will push a deer or two my way. Pennsylvania requires at least three points on one side for a buck to be legal. That’s one of the reasons I picked up a doe permit. If I don’t fill either tag, I won’t feel badly.

Week 13 Results

Yet another wild weekend in college football. The schedule makers had to be pleased with all the Top 25 matchups that occurred and all those pre-title game title games that were played. You had teams playing for division titles so they could play for Conference titles. You had intrastate rivalries and a few interstate ones as well. Teams had a great deal to play for and, realizing there were a limited number of games (if any) left they went all out. There were upsets and barn burners. Numbers 1 and 2 lost, as did numbers 7 and 9. Only one team remains undefeated--Hawaii but they have one game left on their schedule before Bowl Season begins. Guys set personal records, team records and NCAA records. What a weekend!

#1/1/1 LSU (10-2, 6-2) The Tigers got beat by the Arkansas Razorbacks (8-4, 4-4) in triple OT 50-48. Did anyone check to see if Darren McFadden was wearing red and blue tights? I know he had a cape in there somewhere. McFadden ran the ball 36 times for 206 yards and 3 TDs. He completed 3 of 6 pass attempts for 36 yards. (But he didn’t catch a pass. THAT must be his weakness!) The Razorbacks compiled 513 net yards (385 on the ground) to LSU’s 413 yards. It was the second game this season the LSU Tigers have lost and both went into triple overtime. LSU’s national title hopes got crushed but they still will play for the SEC title having clinched their division’s crown prior to the game.

#2/2/2 Kansas (11-1, 7-1) The Jayhawks lost their undefeated season AND their chance for a Big 12 title 36-28 as they were totally out played by the #3/4/4 Missouri Tigers (11-1, 7-1) in the first half of their matchup. Todd Reesing led a strong Jayhawk comeback in the second half and finished the night 28 of 49 for 349 yards and 2 TDs. Unfortunately, he threw two interceptions in the first half that led to Missouri TDs and got sacked for a safety in the final minutes of the game. The Tiger’s Chase Daniel proved to be the better quarterback in this game. He was 40 for 49 for 361 yards and 3 TDs as the Tigers used short passes to control the ball and eat up the clock. Kansas became the sixth #2 ranked team to be defeated this year. They’ll be no rest for the victors, however, as Missouri moves on to play in the Big 12 Championship against Oklahoma on Saturday.

#3/4/4 Missouri Tigers (11-1, 7-1) were winners over #2/2/2 Kansas (11-1, 7-1) 36-28. (See above.)

#4/3/3 West Virginia (10-1, 5-1 BIG EAST) routed the Huskies of #20/21/20 Connecticut (9-3, 5-2) by 66-21 to clinch the BIG EAST title. The Mountaineers’ Patrick White was 9 of 13 for 107 yards and a TD but he also ran the ball 16 times for 186 yards while freshman Noel Devine ran 11 times for 118 yards and a TD. (I don’t know whether to love his parents or hate them. But I do wonder when he celebrates his birthday.) Steve Slayton only ran for 54 yards but scored 2 TDs. The 54 yards pushed him over the 1,000 yard mark with 1,042 for the year. White also surpassed the 1,000 yard mark finishing the day with 1,144. As a result White and Slaton became only the third pair of teammates to surpass the 1,000 yard mark in consecutive seasons. WVU rolled up 517 of their 624 net yards on the ground. The Mountaineers will finish their season this weekend against Pittsburgh but, while they should hope NOT to be ranked #2, they seem destined for a shot at the National Title.

#5/5/5 Ohio State (11-1, 7-1) Sat home and watched TV this week and saw their chances of a shot at the National Title improve. Personally, I don’t think they’ll be moving into either the #1 or #2 slot and will probably be leapfrogged by Georgia.

#6/7/7 Georgia (10-2, 6-2) Beat Georgia Tech 31-17 but lost their chance t battle for SEC title when Tennessee proved victorious over Kentucky. (More on that later.)

#7/6/6 Arizona State (9-2, 6-2) dropped their Thursday night game to #11/12/11 Southern California (9-2, 6-2) 44-24. In doing so, the Sun Devils also lost their chance for a Pac 10 Title and a trip to the Rose Bowl. The Trojans came to play and you really had to feel Rudy Carpenter’s pain as the USC defense teed off on him time and again sacking him six times. Carpenter managed to finish 21 of 30 for 240 yards and a TD but his counterpart, John David Booty, was 26 of 39 for 375 yards and 4 TDs.

#8/8/8 Virginia Tech (10-2, 7-1) beat #16/15/16 Virginia (9-3, 6-2) 33-21 for the chance to meet Boston College in the ACC Title game this weekend. Sean Glennon was 13 of 19 for 260 yards and a TD while his partner in the Tech QB slot, Tyrod Taylor ran for 2 TDs. Tech’s Brandon Ore ran 31 times for 147 yards.

#9/10/9 Oregon (8-3, 5-3) The Ducks dropped their game to UCLA (6-5, 5-3) 16-0. Their bright season has fallen apart since Denis Dixon tore his ACL. Neither team mustered much offense as the Bruins had just 220 net yards and the Ducks a pathetic 148. Strange as it seems, however, should UCLA upset USC and Arizona top No. 7 Arizona State the same day, the Bruins (6-5, 5-3) would get the Rose Bowl bid. That’s an unlikely scenario but this season…well, you never know.

#10/9/10 Oklahoma (10-2, 6-2) beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys (6-6, 4-4) 49-17 behind the running of tailback Allen Patrick. Patrick carried the ball 29 times for a career high 202 yards and 2 TDs. The Sooners’ Freshman QB, Sam Bradford, was 11 of 15 for 150 yards and 4 TD. He now has 30 TD passes for the season and sets a new NCAA record for a freshman. And there’s still the Big 12 Championship game against Missouri to play.

#11/12/11 Southern California (9-2, 6-2) defeated #7/6/6 Arizona State (9-2, 6-2) 44-24 putting themselves in position to win the PAC 10 title should they defeat UCLA next week.

#12/14/12 Florida (9-3, 5-3) The Gators beat up on Florida State (7-5, 4-4) 45-12 behind Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin. Harvin carried the ball 16 times for a career high 157 yards after missing the last two games due to migraines. Tebow ran for 69 yards and 2 TDs on 13 carries and was 19 of 28 for 262 yards and 3 more TDs. How did these guys lose three games?
#13/11/13 Texas (9-3, 5-3) The Longhorns lost to Texas A&M (7-5, 4-4) 38-30.

#14/13/15 Hawaii (11-0, 8-0) The Warriors’ perfect season remains intact after a win over #17/17/19 Boise State (10-2. 7-1) 39-27. Hawaii becomes the WAC Champions and the only team that is undefeated. Colt Brennan was 40 of 53 for 495 and 5 TDs—and he ran for another. Brennan has now thrown for 125 touchdowns in his career, a new NCAA record which he will surely add to against Washington next week and in whatever bowl game the Warriors appear. It took Brennan 36 games to set the record, surpassing Ty Detmer’s 122 TD tosses. It took Detmer 46 games to set that mark. Hawaii’s Devone Bess caught 15 of Brennan’s passes for 181 yards (a school record) and 2 TDs. He and Brennan have hooked up 39 times for scores—tying another NCAA record which seems doomed to fall in the coming weeks. If Hawaii is left out of a BCS game, someone’s head should roll.

#15/16/14 Boston College (10-2, 6-2) hadn’t beat Miami (Fla.) since Doug Flutie threw a “Hail Mary” pass back in 1984. That’s 15 losses to the Hurricanes in a row. Well, that streak is over. In a warm up for the ACC Championship game against Virginia Tech this week, the Eagles downed Miami (5-7, 2-6) 28-14. Matt Ryan was 26 of 43 for 369 and 3 TDs but threw 2 INT and the Eagles lost 2 fumbles. The turnovers kept the game close. BC defeated Virginia Tech in Blacksburg 14-10 on October 25. Since then the Hokies have won four straight while BC is 2-2.

#16/15/16 Virginia (9-3, 6-2) lost to #8/8/8 Virginia Tech (10-2, 7-1) 33-21 and thereby has been relegated to the ACC sidelines and must wait until the bowl play begins.

#17/17/19 Boise State (10-2. 7-1) The Broncos travelled to #14/13/15 Hawaii (11-0, 8-0) and became a 39-27 victim of the Brennan machine. Boise State is now 52-4 in the WAC since joining the conference in 2001. They had won 17 straight WAC games, with their last loss coming in 2005 at Fresno State. The Broncos had won five straight WAC titles and appeared in a BCS bowl game last year when they went undefeated.

#18/18/17 Illinois (9-3, 6-2) The Fighting Illini, like their Big Ten brethren sat this week and watched TV. Some movement in the polls will likely result in Illinois moving up a slot or two.

#19/19/18 Tennessee (9-3, 6-2) The Volunteers and the Kentucky Wildcats (7-5, 3-5) played in what seemed like “The Game That Never Ends” to determine who will face LSU for the SEC championship, Tennessee or Georgia. The Volunteers blew a 17 point lead in regulation allowing Kentucky to tie the game 31-31. The teams then played four overtimes to decide the outcome. They traded TDs in the first OT. Neither scored in the second (Tennessee’s Ainge was intercepted, Kentucky’s Lones Seiber had a field goal attempt blocked). They traded TDs in the third OT but neither made the 2-point conversion. And finally, in the fourth OT, Erik Ainge threw for a 40-yard TD to Quintin Hancock and a 2-pt conversion to Austin Rogers and, while Kentucky got a TD from a Derrick Locke 2-yard run, they failed to convert. The final score was 52-50. Erik Ainge was 28 of 45 for 397 yards and 7 TDs. Andre Woodson was 39 of 62 for 430 yards and 6 TDs. (They really should put the OT stats in a separate category.) Anyway, Tennessee gets to play LSU for the SEC Title.

#20/21/20 Connecticut (9-3, 5-2) The Huskies took it on the chin (in the case of Rudy Carpenter you can take that literally) 66-21 as #4/3/3 West Virginia (10-1, 5-1) tried to prove it belongs in the National Title game.

#21/22/22 Clemson (9-3, 5-3) edged intrastate rival South Carolina(6-6, 3-5) 23-21 on a last second 35-yard field goal. It was the fifth straight loss for the Steve Spurrier coached Gamecocks who had been 6-1 at one point in the season.

#22/20/21 Wisconsin (9-3, 5-3) The Badgers are another Big Ten team that sat back and relaxed this week.

#23/23/25 Brigham Young (9-2, 7-0) The Cougars beat Utah (8-4, 5-3) 17-10 as BYU came from a 10-9 deficit in the closing minutes on a Harvey Unga 11-yard TD and a 2-point conversion. It was the Cougars 15th consecutive victory in Mountain West play. The win also clinched the Mountain West title for the Cougars who still have one game remaining against San Diego State.

#24/NR/24 Cincinnati (9-2, 4-3) The Bearcats beat up on hapless Syracuse (2-10, 1-6) 52-31. Ben Mauk threw for a personal-best 431 yards and four touchdowns in the victory. It’s the first time since 1953 that Cincinnati has had a nine win season. Last year, while playing for Wake Forest, Mauk broke the humerus of his throwing arm trying to recover a fumble in the opening game of the year against Syracuse. Syracuse’s Andrew Robinson helped make a game of it for three quarters finishing 29-for-47 for 419 yards and three TDs. Cincinnati had allowed just 10 touchdown passes all season. But Robinson was sacked 11 times. This is the second time in three years that Syracuse has had ten loses and just the second time in school history. The Bearcats got their 39th turnover (they lead the nation in that statistic) in the third quarter on a fumble returned for a touchdown that boosted their lead to 42-31 with a bit over six mines left in the period.

#25/25/26 Auburn (8-4, 5-3) downed Alabama (6-6, 4-4) 17-10 when Brandon Cox scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak with 3:58 left in the game to go ahead 17-7 and then recovered an onsides kick after a Leigh Tiffin 49-yard field goal closed it to 17-10.

NR/NR/23 South Florida (9-3, 4-3) roughed up Pittsburgh (4-7, 2-4) in a wild affair that ended 48-37. After a slow start that saw the Panthers take a 14-10 halftime lead, Matt Grothe ran 80 yards for a TD on the first play from scrimmage in the second half and then the Bulls defense went to work. They returned two interceptions for touchdowns and returned a third 60 yards to the 1-yard line. That too resulted in a TD. Pitt QB Matt Bostick threw for three TDs and freshman running back Lesean McCoy ran for three TDs for the Panthers. It was Pittsburgh’s third straight losing season under coach Dave Wannstedt. With one game to play (West Virginia), Pittsburgh’s McCoy now has 14 touchdowns, breaking Tony Dorsett's Pitt freshman record of 13 in 1973. McCoy is 20 yards away from joining Dorsett (1,686 yards in 1973) and Curvin Richards (1,228 yards in 1988) as the only Pitt freshmen to gain more than 1,200 yards in a season. McCoy had 55 yards on 18 carries and has 1,180 yards, 81 yards off the Big East freshman record of 1,261 yards by Rutgers' Terrell Willis in 1993.

Colder than a witch's...

The thermometer took a nose dive last night. The sky was crisp and clear with not a cloud to shroud the full moon or to blanket the earth and hold any sort of heat close to the surface. As a result it was down to 15 degrees this morning at 7 AM. It's still quite cold as noon rolls around. Even the sun isn't warming things much and it's just 30 degrees on the covered porch.

Holy Moly!

Friday afternoon #1 LSU dropped an exciting game to unranked Arkansas by a score of 50-48 in triple overtime. So much for the national title hopes and aspirations of the Tigers. Twice this season LSU has been in the #1 slot. Both times they were shot down in in triple overtime. Kentucky did it the first time 43-37. (The Wildcats were ranked #17 at the time.) Luckily for the Tigers, their lead in the SEC West is such that they will still play for the SEC Championship. The question is which team meets them in the title game. Georgia is currently atop the SEC East but it's conference play is over. Tennessee has one more conference game to play and if they win, they get to play LSU; lose and the Bulldogs are it. Who do the Volunteers have to beat? Why Kentucky, of course.

#13/11/13 Texas lost to Texas A&M 38-30. The loss gives the Longhorns a 5-3 (9-3 overall) record in the Big 12 and eliminates them from division title hopes...I think. Oklahoma leads the division with a 5-2 (9-2 overall) record. They beat Texas earlier so even if the Sooners lose tomorrow they will still be judged to have a better record than Texas. But the Sooners play Oklahoma State which has a record 4-3, 6-5. I'm guessing that should the Cowboys prevail, the Sooners are still in the title game on the strength of their better overall record. But it could be time to look at the second, third and even fourth tie breakers. All three teams would be 5-3 in conference. Oklahoma would have a 9-3 overall record and victory over Texas. Texas would have a 9-3 record overall and a win over Oklahoma State. And Ok. St. would be weak 7-5 over all but would have a victory over Oklahoma in its pocket.

I almost forgot, we still have #14/13/15 Hawaii (10-0, 7-0) against #17/17/19 Boise State (10-1. 7-0) coming up tonight. They are playing for the WAC title.

That’s one.Upset that is.

The Thursday night upset bug bit #7/6/6 Arizona State in the butt last night as the #11/12/11 USC Trojans mugged Rudy Carpenter and crew 44-24. Carpenter got knocked to the ground time and time again as the Trojans’ defense recorded six sacks and limited the Sun Devils to just 16 yards on 35 attempts.

With the win, USC puts itself in position for a Rose Bowl berth. All it will take is a win over UCLA next week and one Oregon loss. The latter seemed unlikely a few weeks ago but with Dennis Dixon out for the year, the Ducks will have a tough time against both UCLA and Oregon State. Either or both could take Oregon out of the picture.

Mein Gott!

I sure do hope that all those foolish brave souls who headed out to do their shopping on Black Friday bundled up last night for their camping in the parking lots. As I mentioned, a cold front swept through yesterday afternoon and the temperatures plummeted in its wake. Yesterday morning at the Aerie it was nearly 50 degrees at 7 AM today it was just 20 degrees.

Those pushing (yeah, like in drugs) Global Climate Change said their would be dramatic swings in the extreme ranges but this is ridiculous.

The little birds and the grey squirrels are hitting the feeders hard. And I'm thinking of lighting a fire.

Groan.

The nephew (Brian), his girlfriend (Vicky) and my Mother-in-Law are on their way back to NJ after a very filling Thanksgiving dinner. I sincerely hope they have an uneventful drive. I'm too stuffed to do much except watch some football on TV and maybe take a nap. They plan to drive down to Atlantic City tomorrow for a view of the boardwalk and a visit to the casinos. Vicky is from Tempe and, while she has lived in Charleston, SC, she has never experienced the Jersey Shore. (Not that Atlantic City is representative of the Jersey Shore or anything.) I would take her to Long Beach Island or maybe Wildwood. But, Brian and my Mother-in-Law have an established history of going to AC for a little gambling on Black Friday and they want to continue in this vein.

This morning there were clouds and showers sweeping through the area and early in the day we spotted a full rainbow to the northwest of the cabin as the sun rose behind the Aerie.

I took them everyone on a little road tour of northern Tioga County as Terry prepared our feast showing them the town of Wellsboro and then going up to Ive's Run on Hammond Lake, and the overlook at the Hammond/Tioga connector. We saw Bald Eagles at both spots. For Vicky, this was the first time she had ever seen an Eagle in the wild. I had just mentioned to them that there were eagles nesting in the area when I spotted the first one on a tree limb overhanging Crooked Creek at Ive's Run. The other two were soaring over the waters of Tioga Lake and we spotted them from the overlook.

below us in the channel between the lakes was a huge raft of mergansers. When I looked down, they spooked and all of them churned up the water and beat their wings in quick retreat out of the deep canyon like channel into Hammond Lake. A very impressive display as there must have been a hundred or more birds down there.

Weather today was -- changeable. The day started with a scattered shower or two but lots of blue sky peeking through the clouds. Then the wind started increasing. We had some showers around two PM but if you didn't like the weather you only had to wait a few minutes. A cold front was moving through and that accounted for the changes. The temperatures that reached as high as 57 degrees at noon had dropped to 38 degrees by 3:30 and are forecast to drop into the low 20s tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving.

Here at the Aerie we are looking forward to turkey and venison with yams, stuffing, mashed potatoes, string beans, corn and carrots, cranberry sauce, cole slaw, and rye bread. Dessert will be apple, pumpkin and pecan pies toped with whipped cream and/or ice cream. Wine and champagne will be drunk with diner. Glenlivet for afterwards.

Weather Report.

before I left yesterday, a good portion of the snow had melted in the Aerie yard but there was still some in the woods. Today it is all gone as the temperature reached 54 degrees this afternoon. Mix that with a little light drizzle over the past 36 hours and it goes along way toward explaining the fog.

We had 0.5 inches in the rain gauge yesterday from the melting snow. We're rapidly making up for the poor performance of summer. October was wet and now so has been November.

Whew!

Made it back to the Aerie after a night in NJ at the Mother-in-Law's. I hit the road at 7 AM and traveled a short distance up the Parkway to the I-78 exit then headed west to Route 24 'til I got to I-287. Took that north to I-80 and headed back to PA. The beginning of the trip was during the height of rush hour traffic and congestion was the rule but once on I-80 west bound I was headed against the flow and almost all the congestion ended in the vicinity of the Rockaway Mall and Route 15. From then on it was just tractor trailers, long distance drivers (Ohio, Maine, Maryland, Virginia, DC, etc.) and me.

Here's one of the reasons I made the trip:

It's my daughter's "new" "used" car: a 2007 Yaris with approximately 6750 miles on the odometer.

If my truck had an 8' bed I could probably haul the little Yaris home. As it is, it almost would fit in the 6.5' bed of the Tundra.

It took us nearly three hours to get all the paperwork done and get out of the dealership. Way more time than was needed and almost a full two hours more than it took fro me to dot all the 'i"s and cross all the "t"s when I bought the Tundra last month. I'll blame part of that on NJ vs PA, but part just seemed to be too many people involved: car salesman, financing person, warranty salesman, cashier, etc. I think we talked with five different people and had to sign the same papers twice on several occasions. (They also had to "inspect" her trade-in--a 1996 Cavalier--even though they were giving her next to nothing for it. It still ate up 15 minutes of our time.)

Oh, the dealer is on the east bound side of Rt. 22 just west of the Parkway. And we drove there at 4 in the afternoon. I forgot about the madness (and it is near total) along that stretch of 22 not having been on it at that hour for about 8 years. But I survived! (Although I did have some concern about being rear-ended while I waited to make the U-turn to the east bound side of the highway. My brand new truck's ass end was sticking out into the fast lane and despite having my signal on I could imaging some yahoo thinking he was driving the Indy 500 creaming me.)

I probably saw more cars yesterday afternoon and this morning than I would see if I parked my butt on the stop light at THE corner down in Mansfield for a week.

The other reason for making the trip was, of course, to see my daughter. because of her work schedule she won't be able to make the drive to the Aerie with her cousin and their Grandma this afternoon.

In NJ *sigh*

I survived the drive into NJ and am currently at my Mother-in-laws house (which is where my Daughter resides) between Routes 27 and 1. Everything was fine coming east on I-80 until I got around Stroudsburg. Then things started to build slightly but it was still moving until I hit the hills in Allamuchy. There, for some reason, there is always one tractor trailer that doesn't know how to use the truck lane on the far right. Invariably a slightly (but not much) faster semi pulls out to the left of slowpoke #1 and they block two lanes of the four lanes. Today I hit the jackpot. Three semis and a charter bus from Peoria were strung across ALL the lanes of traffic and creeping up the hill at 40 miles an hour.

Once passed the blockade, things went well for a bit until I fell behind a truck laying down a smoke screen that would have done my Dad proud. (He drove a smoke truck in the North Africa and Italy campaigns during WWII. His smoke obscured the movements of the allied troops from enemy eyes.) When I finally caught up to this "smoker" I saw it wasn't exhaust but a locked up axle or something. So much smoke was coming from one of the rear axles that I felt sure that if he stopped he might have burst into flame.

Once at Mother-in-Law's, I met up with my daughter and we drove over to the car dealership on Route 22 to close the deal on a used Yaris. Of course it was at 4:00 PM in the afternoon and the rush hour had begun. The traffic was moving but very heavy and we had to make a U-turn across the broad island of Rt. 22 to change direction from westbound to eastbound. The number of cars I saw in the 5 minutes I sat at in the U-turn lane far surpassed what I see in a week out in PA or even in the four hour drive between the Aerie and the Bolt Hole.

We succeeded in making it to the dealer and spent nearly three hours filling out paperwork. That was both a bad thing and a good thing. It was bad because I can't believe it takes that long for them to finalize all the paperwork involved in selling a car and taking one as trade-in. Yet taking so long was a good thing because it meant that most of the traffic was over when we left to return to the Mother-in-Law's for dinner.

Tomorrow I get to make the 4 1/2 hour drive back to the Aerie but I'll be doing it as soon as the sun comes up and I can get a cup of coffee. With luck I'll avoid the heavy traffic from the holiday goers. The Mother-in-Law has to await the arrival of her grandson (my nephew) and his girlfriend before they can drive out to the Aerie. They should be able to head west around 1 PM. My daughter will be unable to come out for Thanksgiving dinner because of her work schedule.

On the road to *spit* NJ today

Fog or no fog, I'll be saddling up to drive into that hell-hole of congestion known as New Jersey today.

The daughter's 11-12 year-old Cavalier has terminal transmissionitis and so she has picked up a 2007 Yaris. Things being what they are, she needs me to provide a down payment. The only way to get it to her is for me to hand deliver it. So, I'll take the 250 mile ride down I-80 but I'm staying overnight which means driving back on the day before Thanksgiving. *shudder* The Delaware River toll booth should be backed up to Morris County. Yeah, my nephew, his girlfriend and Grandma will be taking that same drive later in the afternoon but he's young and foolish. I should know better and except for my daughter's emergency I WOULD know better. Hell, I'd much rather be at the Aerie with a tumbler of Glenlivit on the rocks or even helping Terry clean up for company than be on the road the day before Thanksgiving.

I'll probably swing past my sister's place for some furniture while I'm there. I'd hate to have to go back too often.

Morning Weather Report from the Aerie

The temperatures have been climbing all night and have soared to 35 degrees as of 7:00 AM. Despite considerable winds the snow that fell on Saturday-Sunday has been rotting and producing a thick fog. Visibility is pretty low at the 2100 foot elevation but if it weren't for the wind, it would be pea-soup fog for sure. (Reminds me of the time my sister-in-law and I had to walk from Lake of the Clouds to the train depot atop Mount Washington. We tag teamed the rock cairns that marked the trail. One would venture out to spot the next cairn while on would stay within sight of the previous one. In that manner we leapfrogged our way to the peak to catch the first--and last--train on the cog railway heading down that day.)