Griswoldian Storm Sloth

Yesterday was spent in my snow globe of a family room as the first real snow storm of the season ambled through. As with any snow storm at this location my first priority was monitoring the driveway and figuring out how to best address avoiding a toboggan run into my cross street neighbor’s yard. It’s really amazing at the progress of meteorological science. I know I’m tough on New England’s meteorologists but they have a very tough job forecasting a few days out. On the day of the event they can give hour by hour predictions which are very accurate.

Back Yard This Morning

I used those yesterday. They predicted the snow would change over to freezing rain and then rain and then back to snow. I went out at the hour they predicted the change and used the snow blower to clear the driveway of an accumulated 5-6 inches of light snow.  By the time I was finished the freezing rain was just starting. I then waited for the actual rain to start and went out with a snow shovel to quickly and easily remove the ice. In a final act around 8pm I used the snow blower to clear the final two inches of snow that fell after the rain stopped. It all seemed too easy. One of my neighbors waited too long and when he tried to use his snow blower it wouldn’t work because the rain soaked snow was too heavy. This is probably a lot of noise about a very small victory but anyone who’s tried to come up my driveway with even a little bit of snow cover will understand. Life is defined by the small victories more than the big ones. I’ll be able to put the revitalized driveway skills to almost immediate use as we’re supposed to get nearly two feet of snow on Tuesday. Mother Nature seems to be making up for lost time in New England.

Forecast for Tues-Wed - I'm Right in Middle of the 24-36" Zone
Wife and Daughter are Laughing

I used the day to eradicate my DVR backlog and check out a couple movies on Netflix my daughter recommended. The afternoon and evening though was spent with old friend Clark Griswold as I received a complete set of the Vacation movies for Christmas. It was interesting to see the evolution as both Clark and Ellen Griswold aged but a new set of kids were brought in for each movie. The best of the series remains Christmas Vacation although the first one was a lot funnier than I remembered. The original was also a lot raunchier than I recalled and it was easy to see that they tried to sanitize after the series became successful and therefore removed the edge that made it so popular. Beverly D’Angelo was smoking hot and it’s sad to see what plastic surgery has done to her in recent years. Cousin Eddie remains the most inappropriate character of all time.

The Griswolds

The other escapes yesterday were daughter recommended. She called yesterday to report 80 degree heat in Los Angeles and I could hear her smirking when I talked about the snow. Black Mirror was a British series that was vaguely reminiscent of the Twilight Zone. It was very entertaining and had some interesting things to say about modern life and technology. 

The other was Los Angeles Plays Itself which should be required viewing for any movie nut. The movie maker, a Los Angeles native, bemoans how his beloved hometown has been used and portrayed in the movies and spends nearly three hours showing clips from nearly sixty years of cinema L.A. (an abbreviation he hates). It was a fascinating look at the different places used and reused over the years. The only downside was the narration which ranged from overly political to pretentious, which was the lasting impression L.A. made on me when I visited.

So you can see that except for the time spent out on the driveway my activities yesterday probably went a long way towards earning my sloth merit badge. It did turn out to be a day of almost complete rest which my wife has been haranguing me to pursue and I do feel better today – maybe she’s on to something. Buddy was a great companion as usual although he campaigned relentlessly to go out and play in the snow.

Buddy in the Snow

Some great news came across the wires this weekend. The Keene Friend has accepted a new job and extended two week notice to the job from hell. The new job is a shorter distance commute, regular hours, and will actually allow him some free time to pursue a social life. He’ll no longer be working third shift for 13 days out of 14. He seemed extremely pleased with the decision, as am I.

Finally I decided to include a photo of what the Mohs Surgery site looks like on my nose. My wife wanted me to text one so she could consider whether she needed to look for greener pastures (I’m going to pay for that one). If you’re overly squeamish don’t look but I don’t think it’s too bad. My hopes for a career as a nose model, while never a serious option anyway, have certainly been dashed. Once again – very impressed with UMASS dermatology.