A man is driving down a steep, narrow mountain road. A woman is driving up the same road. As they pass each other the woman leans out the window and yells: “PIG!!” The man immediately leans out his window and replies with: “WITCH!!” They each continue on their way, as the man rounds the next corner he crashes into a pig in the middle of the road and totals his vehicle.

It's speed demon Tuesday here on February 12, 2013. Welcome. Recently on a late afternoon Friday I was presented with an unexpected need to be in a certain place at a certain time before they closed. It was important. To get there required traversing the freeway system at the ramp up time for evening rush hour. When I am out and about I typically keep a low profile, but duty demanded that I become one of the crazies, at least for a short period of time. I was driving like there was no tomorrow. In and out of lanes. Up one side and down the other. It reminded me of the old joke. "We couldn't fix your brakes sir, so we made the horn louder." I did everything but turn my cap backwards and I even thought about doing that. I did make it and my guardian angel dude along with myself needed some CPR before we had to get right back into it for our return. Later I had this thought about having one of those signs on the back, you know, How am I driving?, along with the telephone number. There are days when you are so very glad you don't have one of those. And, we all need a little excitement on a late Friday afternoon. Right? They likely looked up and saw that white hair flying by and they thought the ghost of Christmas, Past, Present, and Future all flew by at the same time. I was kind of glad when it was all over and I couldn't help but wonder what my over/under blood pressure was tracking at different times during this little excursion. And, just think. There wasn't anyone riding with me to ask are we there yet.

A few days ago I told you. And, here we are and according to the most recent weather forecast, we are looking for some mid 30's for morning lows later this week. That may not be winter as defined by those digging out from that huge snowstorm up east, but, for us, it's enough to make a jacket feel real handy. I know that's teeth chattering to those who are very sensitive to the cooler temperatures but I'll take it any day compared to these rather humid and hard-to-catch-your-breath days we've been having. I mean it's like here we are in early February and we tune in to the weather previews and they are already reminding us of summertime. We can wait on that. Right? I know. Some people are just like the 1959 movie, they too like it hot. (Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon.) I did see quite a bit of the footage from that blizzard up in New England. How could anyone miss it? Right? They even gave it a name. Nemo. When did they start naming snowstorms? I heard the mayor of a small town saying they had to hire some outside front end loading equipment folks to remove the nearly three feet of snow they had on the ground. Just one problem. They had filled up every open area available but they still have a whole lot more snow to remove. He was wondering out loud how they could find somewhere to put it. That's okay folks. I'll just keep my jacket handy and say a prayer for all those who are dealing with issues like that. And, we should remember those families mourning the loss of loved ones who died as a result of this storm.

I later learned that it was the Weather Channel that named the storm. It was not an official named storm but one chosen to make it easier for viewers to follow. Other meteorologists are not pleased with this commercial naming venture. Since most weather reporting agencies don't name winter storms, they believe the potential for confusion is greater. Perhaps we will eventually see some type of throw down between meteorologists or maybe a reality TV series where they duke it out to see who is the king or queen of the snow hill. Or something like that. I looked at a list of the top 20 fights that have taken place on reality shows. I scored 100%. I had not seen and I don't think I even heard about any of them, not a single one. I'm not gloating but to tell you the truth, I'm kind of proud of that. I know. Someone does watch them or they wouldn't be on. The good news is that most of them are no longer on but that doesn't mean there's not more like them or even some that are even more ridiculous coming down the pike. I suppose it is whatever floats your boat or whatever sells cornflakes, even if it is for a short period of time. As it relates to reality television, I will admit that we do watch a lot of the cops/crime types of shows. Like the COPS series itself, Alaska State Troopers, or the First 48. We also enjoy the different Coast Guard series, and, yes, we also like NCIS. I guess when it comes down to it, it's a matter of choice but I'm still glad that I did not see one of those reality show fights. Have a great Tuesday and may God bless each one. Amen.    ....More later.