Always a debate, I always get one…knock wood, I never get the flu.  They are usually covered by insurance, but some places only take some insurance.  They are at a lot of locations, and what have you got to lose?

According to doctors, you cannot get the flu from a flu shot…for adults, at least, I think it’s a good idea.  Kids?  That’s your call.  This year the H1N1 is combined with the normal flu shot.  That was new to me.  Still gonna do it though!

I’ve seen shots available through VNA (visiting nurses association) CVS stores, Rite Aid stores, Walgreens and Tops.

Here’s to a healthy winter!

Speaking of Winter, do you get the feeling its going to be a rough one?  I don’t know, it just seems like summer was extra nice, but the squirrels started building nests in my yard early, and burying nuts earlier than usual.  I think we will be well into winter by Christmas instead of the January storms we normally get.  Hope I’m wrong…..

When the first snow hits, it’s easy to get out there and shovel the driveway and sidewalk down to the bare pavement. It gives you an early sense of accomplishment.

“I’ve beaten the elements! Winter? Bring it on!”

This foolish enthusiasm lasts for the next few snows.

Then the hump of packed snow and ice at the end of the driveway starts to grow, deposited there lovingly by the snow plow guy every couple of days.

Before long, the driveway pavement disappears, and you’re just skimming the loose snow off the surface.

By February, snow weariness sets in, and a set of tire tracks in the driveway are sufficient, just so you can pick up enough speed to get the car over the snow mountain at the end of the driveway. The rationalizations begin:

“Keeping the porch and sidewalk shoveled is the important thing.”

By March, the hard-set yellow stains of ice everywhere (thank you Rocky – pictured) begin to melt away, and the pavement returns.

The shorts come out when it hits 40 degrees, and to quote Carl Sanburg, “The Wind Sings Welcome in Early Spring.”

As I write this in the dead of winter, here’s to renewing our spirits sooner, rather than later.

–Brian

I finally got around to looking at our “Spring Storm 2008″ shots, and here’s a cool one. Halfway to our 25 inch snow total, Rocky and I wonder what the heck happened to our driveway. This is after I shoveled! I called the plow the next morning.

Check out more amazing snowshots here:

And here’s a plate of delicious Demay Easter eggs, long unsafe for eating, but very artfully decorated nonetheless.

More here.

–Brian

As I watched the Grammys last night, the wind was shaking the house, the temperature read “2″ and the wind chill was 20 below zero. This is the kind of cold that people from the South just can’t comprehend.

Pull on some snow boots, put on a cap, and you’re ready to go out!

10) You can actually use your fireplace. How often can you use a beautiful gas fireplace in the Carolinas? We have ours on 6 months of the year here!

Lockport got quite a lot of snow last week (about 16 inches) for the first time this year.

I’m a little freaky in that I actually enjoy a little shoveling. Believe it or not, I also like splitting logs with an axe. (I used to do a lot of both as a kid in rural Michigan.) Anyway, as I have about 5 times so far this year, I got up at around 6am the morning of the “storm,” and shoveled the walk and driveway so Heather and I could get to work. That night when I returned, it looked as if I hadn’t shoveled at all! Rather than pull on my boots and get at it again, I called a snow-plower.

Let me just say that after slaving for almost an hour on your driveway to generally mixed results, watching a truck pull up and easily push all that snow away in minutes is a breathtaking sight. I gave the guy an extra 5 bucks because I was so happy. It’s weather like this that makes me yearn for the new Ford F150 I used to drive in Virginia – I could hook up a plow to that truck and make a lot of extra money!

Today the streak of 22 days below freezing was broken. As I was driving in to work it was 41 degrees, and snow was actually melting for a change! At this rate we may not have snow in the yard for Connor’s snow fort, but I’ll take that trade-off.

Details on our Toronto weekend to come!

–Brian

I have a good friend who lives south of Hamburg, New York. She got over 3 feet of “Lake Effect” snow this week. Buffalo, by comparison, got probably 6 inches or so. Hamburg is about 15 miles south of Buffalo, by the way.

Footage appeared on the Today Show this week from Eden, New York, but Al Roker referred to it as Buffalo. Eden is 20 miles south of Buffalo.

Is it any wonder Buffalo has this national reputation for being the “Snow Capital” of the World? I got so many calls from friends who wondered if I was OK, after seeing horrific footage on national TV. Lockport, where I live, hardly got any snow at all!

I guess my point is this: Al Roker needs a lesson in geography.

The Buffalo forecast today, Al, was sunny, with roads relatively snow-free. Now, in what we call “The Southtowns” up here, that’s another story entirely…..

–Brian

Kevin O’Connell’s Channel 2 forecast is calling for snow every day for the next week and a half straight! In Virginia this would have been cause for bringing in the National Guard to keep order, and police to direct the screaming hordes in and around the grocery stores. Here, it’s no big deal. (Have I mentioned it’s great to be back in the Midwest?)

Above is a poor, iced tree that normally stands straight and tall in our backyard. It’s bent over completely at the moment. You can also see the ugly new building they have put directly behind our house, where a lovely forest used to be. (sigh)

We pulled the kids on tobaggans in the field behind the house over the weekend. You forget what great exercise trudging through an icy field is – especially dragging a child behind you!

I had been eyeing the hill behind the house since we moved in for some sledding adventures; but for a 6 and 3 year old, it’s a little too steep, especially with the jutting branches and brambles still sticking up. Ultimately it wasn’t as much fun for Connor and Darcy as they expected, but they did enjoy the hot chocolate we had when we got back inside.

On the air Friday I talked about being locked out of AMC last weekend at 10pm on “Date Night” with Heather. 10 degrees, late movies still in previews, but we and three other couples stood watching from the outside-in while concession workers and ticket takers ignored us. Not the best customer service technique!

So….on Saturday Heather and I went to Regal Cinemas instead, and saw Children of Men. I had read good reviews about it, and really: who doesn’t love a dark, depressing story about the Apocalypse, right?

Well acted, great story, just very very intense. I wouldn’t recommend it as a “date movie,” but we have been talking about it every day since we saw it. This is one of those movies that truly transports you to a different place; and one terrifying scene in particular gave me a pretty good idea what our poor soldiers must be dealing with in Iraq right now. I don’t know what kind of training could ever prepare anyone for that kind of combat.

So thumbs up on Children of Men, starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine. Rated R, don’t bring the kiddies.

Take them sledding instead.

–Brian

Ice makes everything beautiful…..except for the roads.

Click the picture for an icy slideshow. (I guess that would make it a SLICE-show…heh heh….)

Our freakishly warm and muddy Buffalo Winter changed to the more normal, frosty variety today. Rain changed to ice, ice is now snow, who knows what tomorrow may bring, although I would imagine the plague of frogs is still a ways off.

Happy MLK Day!

–Brian

I am one of the lucky ones. Despite a freak Lake Effect snow storm, the biggest October snow storm in history, my house did not lose power, or water; unlike some 300,000 of my fellow Buffalonians.

The previous record for snow in October here was 6 inches, but by the time the snow had more or less ended on Friday morning, more than 24 inches of wet, heavy snow had devastated the area. At first, it was interesting to watch the thick heavy flakes come down, then when it continued on and on, it quickly became a catastrophe.

It is now estimated that up to 90% of the beautiful oak, maple, and ash trees in the city of Buffalo have been damaged. Their full green leaves caught the weight of the snow – certainly not what nature intended – and if their heavy laden limbs didn’t break off, many trees’ trunks split in half. When I drove to work Friday morning, it looked like a bomb had gone off. Today, most of the snow is melted, but the arboreal damage will be felt for years.

Thankfully, the generator at the radio farm in Amherst kicked in this time, and none of our stations were off the air.

Still, with only half the complex powered up, it was eerie to be doing the show in the dimly lit surroundings.

In desperate situations like these, when power is out and all people have is radio for information, the importance of my career becomes clear. It’s not about the music anymore, it’s about helping people, making neighbors feel connected, being a friendly, calm voice in the midst of chaos.

It’s a nutty career, but again, after 24 years, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

–Brian