A Great Time
I think this is the most exciting time of year. Of course many will disagree, but allow me to make my case. Just as some gleefully welcome winter’s first snowfall, I look forward to what is happening with the weather now. Before proceeding, I must confess that enough pejorative adjectives do not exist to express my loathing of cold weather generally and snow particularly. Thus, whereas the first snowflakes of the winter elicit delight in some, the first evidence of daffodils pushing up through the heretofore frozen ground has a similar effect on me.
Soon thereafter the daffodils will bloom almost simultaneously with the forsythia, and the bright yellow blooms on both of them are the harbingers of the imminent spring foliage. Locally the daffodils decorate many lawns, and some even appear alongside the road in various locations, but in this area one of the most impressive displays of daffodils is in the heart-shaped bed adorning the Spiedel golf course in Oglebay.
After the forsythia and daffodils have announced that spring finally has arrived in the Ohio Valley, things really get rolling as myriad spring trees and bushes burst into glorious bloom, and all at once everything on the Valley’s rolling hills has begun to turn green. And this greening occurs at about the same time as the Oglebay tulips open into a spectacular sea of brilliant colors.
Although April in this area can sometimes be a bit stingy with the warm temperatures, we usually begin a serious warm-up during the last week of April and into the first week of May. By this time the wooded areas boast trees beginning to sprout their summer leaves, and the local golf courses beckon to the men and women eager to break out the clubs after a long winter. Summer finally is coming back to the Valley, and there really is nowhere I would rather be.
I know other locales may be more exotic, but if you live in this area, make it a point take a leisurely drive through Oglebay Park and actually look around. Stop in the Par 3 parking lot, get out of the car, and take in the surroundings. Is there anything more beautiful than these gorgeous hills? I think not!
Yes the East and West coasts have their beaches, but they also have their share of tropical storms, hurricanes, and wildfires, but we are enveloped by our beautiful hills. Go ahead and laugh at this ranting curmudgeon, but even when I was much younger and running every day, I never missed a day of training during vacations to the beach. But I couldn’t wait to get back to running on the hills around here.
Here’s one last thought. Well, maybe two. Take a drive. And look around.
The Question
This is absolutely sick! When I woke up the other morning, the first question I asked my wife was not, “What’s for breakfast?” or “Do you want to go somewhere for lunch?” or “What’s on your calendar for today?”
No. Such questions are much too mundane for these times. Before my eyes were completely opened, I asked her in a sarcastic jest, “How many people were shot last night?” I was thinking of the protests in Minneapolis. But she answered, “At least eight…,” and I said, “I think it’s going to get a lot worse there when the jury in the Chauvin case comes in. “…at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis,” she finished.
I was thunderstruck! Another mass shooting! How did things get so out of hand? These days when we leave home for a trip to the grocery store, the questions swirling through our heads should be the following: Do I have my list? What can I find for dinner tonight? Do I have my mask with me? Will they have some fresh rye bread? And so on. Instead the single question beginning to face anyone going shopping or going anywhere else for that matter is this: WILL I MAKE IT TO MY DESTINATION AND BACK WITHOUT BEING SHOT?
The foregoing may bea bit hyperbolic, but when you stop to consider the statistics, maybe it’s not. Since Jan.1, 2021, there have been 150 mass shootings in which 188 people were killed, and another 579 were injured. In a recent statement President Joe Biden called the mass shootings an “epidemic,” and anyone would be hard pressed to disagree with that sentiment. And I certainly don’t envy him in trying to solve that problem. Are we headed back to the days of the Old West, where a lot of people wore guns?
What’s In My Salad?
So there’s this guy named Alexander White in Sydney, Australia, who went shopping at Aldi’s, and among other things he bought a bag of lettuce. As he and his partner were unpacking the groceries, a small poisonous snake slithered out of the lettuce bag. The snake, which was only eight inches long, is formally named Hoplocephalus bitorquatus, and a bite from it can inflict severe headaches, blurred vision, and abnormal bleeding on human beings. White called a local wildlife organization to come and get the snake and send it home. He then proudly proclaimed that he ate the lettuce in a salad wrap for lunch. If I were White’s partner, I would watch him carefully to make sure he doesn’t begin crawling along the floor while flicking his tongue in and out.
A Different Kind of Score
Answer: He recently scored a touchdown as the guest host on “Jeopardy.”
Question: Who is Aaron Rodgers?
If you watched “Jeopardy” when Rodgers was the guest host for the past two weeks, you saw that the Packers’ MVP quarterback could do more than throw touchdown passes. He really settled into the job, and he was particularly good at establishing rapport with the players. He has my vote (even though I don’t have one) for the permanent hosting job.
Ponder This:
A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to the hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was a nurse said, “No change yet.”
