Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Is that brush and wild fire threat over yet?

Hi there.  I love it when after a winter of cold, snow, ice and then early spring mud season, you have a week or two of nice weather and we have an increased threat of wildfires.  I would love to have that declared just once during winter.  It's the middle of January and a lack of snowfall has put us under an increased threat of wildfires.  On to other things.
First up is the garden update.  I am hoping either Wednesday or Thursday to put plants in the ground and in their containers.  I go to a local retailer Sunday to buy natural soil enhancement products.  O.K it was 8 to 10 bags of cow manure.  They didn't have any in stock.  I go to another place Monday and problem solved!  Driving the 25 miles home gave the SUV a nice earthy smell to it.  I would love to see those little trees air fresheners come out with a scent like that to go along with pine, wild cherry, lavender, coconut and new car smell, lol.  Finally got the soil ready, now its a couple of warm days I need.   
Those mid 40's highs we had Friday and Saturday with heavy rain could have been worse.  Whiteface Mountain ended up with 32 inches of snow!  
Went to see Star Trek, "Into Darkness" and to all those Gene Roddenberry worshippers who have dammed J.J. Abrams I have one question.  What is your problem?  Star Trek was basically dead.  Abrams has brought it back to life without sacrificing Roddenberry's vision.  I thought the movie was great.  If you haven't seen it, I won't give anything away or criticize it.
The gear head, hard core racing fans must have thought Sunday was Christmas Day.  First you have breakfast and watch the F1 cars race through Monaco.  11am grab an early lunch and tune into the Indy 500.  Finally dinner time and while the grill is fired up the Sprint Cup 600 miler from Charlotte.
Sergio Garcia got a case of "athletes foot in mouth" disease with his comments about Tiger Woods. Not a bright thing to say.  If you remember it was Fuzzy Zoeller who said the same remarks first after Eldrick won the Masters and was commenting on what would be served at the Champions dinner.  Stupid is, is stupid does, Sergio.
Just when you think things have died down in Piscataway NJ, it has gotten worse for Rutgers.  They hire a former player who took them to a Final Four as head coach and in the press releases said he graduated from his alma mater when he didn't.  Now we find out that the new A.D. 16 years ago as head volleyball coach at a D1 school was accused by her entire team of doing some of the same things that the former head basketball coach did on the video we saw that lead to the whole mess to begin with.  Talk about drowning in quick sand.
There are way too many "so you think you can sing, dance, or have any real talent" shows on television these days.  Make them stop!
Finally from the Jeff Foxworthy, "You might be a redneck" category. A "3 is a magic number of just plain crazy."  First a couple who had too much to drink stabbed each other while having a fight over who would win American Idol.  Second is the Florida woman who attacked her neighbor with a New Orleans Saints lawn statue; and finally there was the North Carolina mom who had her son arrested for stealing and eating her Pop-Tarts.  None of those top what happened in Tasmania Australia where a ghost hunter set up cameras to record paranormal activities in his home only to find his younger live-in girl friend getting it on with his 16 year old son.  I can't and don't make those up folks...Leccese out.

Monday, May 20, 2013

It's tough to win from the inside post position

Hi there.  So here we are on the verge of another 3 day weekend.  Lots to get caught up on.
Leading off is Oxbow winning the Preakness.  Orb finished a disappointing 4th.  I knew the horse was doomed when it drew the inside post position.  Pimlico is a lot different than Churchill  Downs and trying to navigate a skinnier track with tighter turns and the shorter distance made it tough for Joel Rosario to get Orb where he needed to be to compete in the end.
When you're in the business of entertainment or sports, what attracts the casual fans?  Those big names who can get the occasional people that may not be normally interested either watching or listening because of the name factor. Often times I get sick of seeing or hearing about Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Sidney Crosby.  The big name stars in their sports who will attract the occasional fan into watching and drive up the ratings points.  From a loyal sports fan point of view, it makes them out to be bigger than the game itself.
Last month it was Pat Summerall, last week golf lost one its special individuals in Ken Venturi the long time golf analyst for CBS.  He was one a heck of player in his day and came this close to winning 2 Masters championships.
While on the topic of golf, got that first round of year in over the weekend, and for a change I was generally pleased with the results.  Hit the ball off the tee really well and my irons and short game will round into shape.  My putting however is like my luck with members of the opposite sex. Bad, and I struggle with with both, lol.
Mirrors lie, but shadows don't.  After seeing my shadow on the golf course Saturday it meant only one thing.  Three long months of going to the gym, working out as often as possible so I can see less of it.  I might have something coming up towards the end of summer and I want to look my best. 
Ever wake up from a nap and one leg is still asleep?  It can be very painful, but not as painful as  it was when both legs were still asleep like mine were Sunday after taking a nap.
I want to know who were the judges and what was their criteria in choosing Miley Cyrus as #1 on Maxim magazine's hot 100 list?  On a lighter note, it was kind of funny yet sad at the same time when Manti Te'o's made up girlfriend was number 69 on the list.  Can we finally let this kid concentrate on playing football?  I didn't think so.
The SNY network produced a great hour long documentary on the 15 days of the Rutgers football team spring practice.  It was missing one key element and that being with all the controversy surrounding the Mike Rice video and the handling of it followed by the media storm that came on campus, how was it affecting Coach Kyle Flood and his players.  At times it seemed like a recruiting video to show perspective players.
Being a sports radio junkie and now it seems every lettered network has their own syndicated radio sports talk network, if I were the folks at Bristol Tech I would be worried about the programming they put out.  CBS has a better product in many time slots.
The garden is this close to being planted and I've already received a gifted tomato plant from a friend.  Now I have 10 that have to go in and it will be a late start.  I did all this digging in my raised beds the other day only to find out the landscaper is coming and will tear up and rebuilding them. My garden is definitely like Thanksgiving dinner.  You plan to cut back but what happens?  You end up not cutting back but instead cooking, or with the case of my garden growing more.  10 tomato plants instead of 6; and now I've added a 3rd type of potato.  
Finally we have this weeks sign of the apocalypse and credit goes to my sports broadcast partner John Pratt and friend B.M. for pointing this one out.  At last night's Billboard Magazine Music Awards show, Justin Beiber received a Milestone award!  For what?  What's next?  The Kardashian family or Ozzy and Sharon getting the Lifetime Achievement Award for television excellence at the Emmy's?...Leccese out.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Catching up a variety of stuff

Hi there.  Hope you're enjoying the nice weather.  After seeing what Denver and Minneapolis and other parts of the mid west got recently, I was wondering when we were gonna a see late April early May storm that would drop a foot of wet snow here in the Adirondacks.  I'm not complaining though.
So the garden is looking good as its getting the soil ready for the plants time.  The indoor veggies I've started are looking real good, but I wish the pepper plants would grow a little more. One thing, who would have though that 32 foot long, 6 inch wide and 4 inch deep area of dirt be a pain in the tuchis to clear and move.  I took out this area behind the home to widen the path so a car or small truck could drive up to our garage which is off the back of the house.  The good part was that the soil is going into the potato bags.
Rain or shine, the Kentucky Derby will always be a must watch for me.  One thing I found fascinating is how few starts many of these horses have going into the Derby.  The horse I was rooting for, Verrazano, never ran as a 2 year old.  Winning the Triple Crown is harder and harder.  It's a tough six week stretch with 3 races of 3 different distances.  The money is now in stud fees.  If a two year old or even a three year old wins a couple of Grade 1 stakes races, cha-ching off to the courting barn, turn up the Marvin Gaye and start making future champs!
My boycott of the NHL has officially ended and there's nothing better than the Stanley Cup play-offs.
I made it through the year without seeing the Phantoms play.  For this hardcore hockey fan I go to watch the game.  The other activities I have no interest in.  Bringing in some guy to make a fool of himself, dancing and throwing t-shirts to everyone in attendance is not my idea of a good time.  It makes it even more painful to go when the team isn't competitive. I understand that not every team will be a winner on the ice, but if you show that extra effort fans in this town will show up and watch.  Glens Falls is so desperate for play-off hockey and the one thing the Icehawks/Frostbite could never do was win a play-off series.
Like my garden, the golf game is being worked into shape for the year.  Hit a couple of buckets of balls.  I wish I had an answer for the hook I have off the tee, though.  Can't figure out why I'm closing the club face on impact.  
Yesterday I went into Lake George dressed like an eskimo compared to everyone else who with long pants and a windbreaker on and met some friends at SJ Garcia's for a Cinco De Mayo type get together.  I'm stealing this one and making it for myself at home.  I had this seafood quesadilla that had shrimp, crab, and talapia in it.  It was scary delicious!  I even channeled Mike Dubray and was dropping habanero hot sauce on it.  
I had my Bizarre Foods, Andrew Zimmern moment Saturday when a co-worker made chili with the family jewels from a cow in it.  It was good and if I hadn't known what was in it, I would have never guessed what that was.  It reminded me of the time I went to the Bahamas and had Conch chowder.  I wasn't a spicy food fan at that point in my like and my Dad got a laugh out of that one.  I thought it was gonna be like a New England clam chowder.  Boy was I wrong.
One more thing before I end this entry I want to mention that I joined a new gym.  I left the freaks over at Core at the end of 2012.  I was unhappy with things there and the membership became a burden.  It's hard to be motivated to go in when the class you love the most is available to you only once a week and when you can workout out the two classes you least like are offered the most.  I felt for the longest time I let my friends down.  At times I still do.  Do I miss it? Sometimes.  Their is a short of list of about 5 or 6 people I really miss at Core.  It was for the best and the new place is small and I felt right at home when I stepped on a treadmill for that first 20 minute workout.  Sending out the freak love...Leccese out.