Enter The Weather

Got a great raised garden started this year …

Veggies grew fast, flower buds abound …

Then …

The bees left, the critters ate the flower buds, and my new raised garden slowly became a wilting weed box due to the drought.

So, what happens now, you ask????

Rain …. lots of it.  Right at the end of the garden growing season that allotted me two tomatoes, one green pepper, and five micro-miniature carrots (think eating with tweezers).

So, WTF?

I mean I realize I live in Pittsburgh, but I’m a descendent of Italian and German immigrants that farmed any of the land in Pittsburgh they set foot on and usually ended up having way to much to eat (which became compost for next years crop).

A few peppers, tomatoes, and some carrots …. that’s what I got. Now I have to go buy my crap.  I feel cheated, my ancestors owe me at least a few bushels of veggies.

…. and enter the weather … rain … can’t even cut the grass (which was dead most of the summer).

-SWB

P.S. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…….

We Got It Backwards

does this look right???

Ok, let’s give you a better pic of the situation:  The picture is of one of the warmer days in January.  Notice the lack on sun.  The last time the sun came out, it was in the single digits.  Even in Pittsburgh we get the weather backwards!

Pittsburgh winter weather summary: SUN = COLD, CLOUDY = WARM

Actually we’re pretty sure this weather situation is actually controlled by those old weather guys that were traded in for the newer, sharp-looking, fancy weather people.  We investigating at this point, but we feel we’ll prove that those old weather guys are ticked and disgruntled about not getting enough TV time and they’re taking out on the residents of this city by employing some of the technologies that the military discovered in WWII from weather control experiments.

Yep, they told us all those tests were a farce, and didn’t work.  SWB’s theory is that the weather forecasters of yesteryear bought that weather control technology from the military to use for their own gain in job security – and just to mess with people.  Since Pittsburgh basically started broadcast TV, we’re just the testing zone.

…. and then again it could be the pharmaceutical companies using the weather to trigger a city-wide depression to up their drug sales getting the stock holders higher dividends.

If you have a good conspiracy theory as to why the weather generally sucks in this city, print this blog entry out and write it on the bottom of the page:

-SWB

 

Catching up with life and Penn DOT

Ok, we’re back from catching up with life.

At least for one day a week, until school starts.

Like many, in the summer people like me (ones with kids we actual acknowledge) start to get a little caught up figuring out how to entertain a child we can’t afford to have in full time daycare (to give the cluelesss and idea of cost … we pay $320 per month for two days a week of daycare – full time would be over $600 in the summer).  So with entertaining a child, trying to make some money (my new job only starts at the end of August (but at least I know I have one – many don’t)), keeping up with yard work, etc – not much time is left for blogging … so my sarcastic self is getting pent up about being caged it.  Just ask my wife.

BTW … raising and caring for a child has carries huge rewards, so those of you that vow to never have children in your life may want to think about that.

Anywayz (this is the PROPER Pittsburgh spelling of ‘anyways’), that’s why I’ve been out a bit. I didn’t over dose on ice cream, or get depressed, or anything like that. I’m not that lucky to get to the point where I can file for disability and be a slacker for the rest of my life. I’m destined to be a hard worker (or sucker – whatever you call us types these days).

K – on to the Penn DOT issues (at least I think it’s Penn DOT –  correct me if I’m wrong):

I get to travel scenic RT65 almost every day to either the city or the South Hills for work and such.  Right now, like every place, there is road construction with lowered speed limits.  I actually try to watch the speed I go and attempt to watch out for the workers.  Considering I wouldn’t want to do a job where I can get easily picked off by a typical ticked off PA motorist engulfed in road rage, it’s the least I can do.  Admittedly I’m not perfect at it, but at least I try. Soooooooo, when you run into (not literally) to a road worker that more or less ‘eggs on’ that motorists, he deserves a ‘clueless idiot’ spot in my post:

Yup, driving through the road construction on RT65 near Bellevue (I think) at about 22mph (8 mph under the construction limit), one of the workers was giving the finger to at least three of the cars ahead of my, and almost completely sticking his face in my car as it passed, yelled “SLOW DOWN!!!!”

Now, to the complete idiot that did this (realizing you are lacking in brain cells), you may want to think about the following:

• Startling ANYONE like that sets them up for veering off the road and killing one or a few of your co-workers. If you are low enough of a human being to live with that, I hope you have a big enough savings to support all of their families.
• Giving the motorists the finger IS NOT good P.R. for any road worker that actually wants to be safe.  ie. The petroleum companies overcharging for add ins to gasoline that make it safer for the environment doesn’t work well when spilling millions of gallons into the ocean killing off our food supply (ticking off motorists doesn’t make them want to keep you safe while you are working).
• Treat people the way you want them to treat you … and even though you are really screwing up their lives with your work, they will blow that off and keep you safe realizing that you have a family too.

That’s it … for now.  We may be back tomorrow morning.

-SWB

PS – Just because road workers smell like asphalt, doesn’t mean they aren’t people too … and that coating of tar keeps them warm in the winter – envy them.

Fight Tha’ Change … c’mon now, Fight Tha’ Change!!

Well, writing about typical Pittsburgh again … scream with me now “Fight Tha’ Change … c’mon now, Fight Tha’ Change!!”  – I JUST KNOW we can make this the new Pittsburgh hit tune.”

This isn’t one of those SWB postings where we rant about Burghers that are against stupid things like planting roses instead of tulips in front of government buildings … nope.  We’re going much further!!!

It’s Mother Nature!!!

Lots of changes are happening in the city …. some good, some bad, some political … but the big deal is the fact that not only do Pittsburghers now fight back against even the good changes that are happening to our city … Mother Nature is doing it too!

How?

Well, look at the debilitating snow fall … it’s depleting our Spring funding that is used for changes, it stopped construction, travel came to a halt, and more.  Now the earlier than normal 80+ temps are threatening to cause heat illnesses in our elderly, construction workers that are out in the heat, and later I’m sure the asphalt roads will buckle.

So Mother Nature even fights change in Pittsburgh … somehow I feel we’ll never get to move on.

{{groan}} It’s the never ending Pittsburgh cycle, “Fight Tha’ Change!”

-SWB

Two For One: Waived Snow Days and Pitt Anarchist

First … Happy real St Patrick’s day to y’all.

Now, on to the gripe … it’s two for one idiots in the news article day, so feel special.

Snow Days:

This is just a joke … the state (or county) is deciding who gets waived snow days.  Now, when I went to school you just made them up.  There was no question about it.  Family vacations and other things did not take precedence over the importance of being in school or making up days.  This is just dumb, but what makes it worse is someone after the level of storms we had is deciding who gets waived. I’m sure they will quickly forget that we were in this together.  You can almost guarantee that certain areas will be waived over others, and not due to the level of winter issues in that area … use your imagination, you can dream up the reasons. We’re not going to highlight any articles to go to, just check out the Tribune-Review, Post-Gazette, KDKA, WPXI, etc as there will be enough stories to just catch one.

The Pitt Anarchist:

What do you do if you are a popular college in the area to get news coverage and perk up your income?? … that’s right!!, you got it!! … you invite the guy that was affiliated with the group bombed your city in the 70’s to come speak on his anti-US views.  Real winner, Pitt.  Maybe you should fire all of your American teachers, put a ban on them, and outsource your school, since by inviting an anti-Pittsburgh, anti-US speaker to the city he helped bomb (11 buildings by the way) you’ve proven your views.  Click Here to check out the article from the Tribune-Review by Chris Togneri.  Free speech is one thing … but this is another thing.

-SWB

PS – Oh well, at least our top universities and politicians prove they can consistently work at the same level of stupidity.

It’s Spring!

Birds are singing.

Snow is melting.

Potholes are blooming.

Green shamrocks are growing in the potholes.

You get the idea … it’s turning Spring in Pittsburgh.

—————

So what other signs of Spring do we have in this wonderful city of ours?

Let’s see:

• The pirates are starting spring training with aspirations to actually become a baseball team again.
• The waters are threatening to crest and carry Pittsburgh’s Primanti sandwiches out to sea.
• The Cultural District smells like a well tuned engine with the performances of Grease (or could that be the oil leaks from the buses?).
• Orange pylons are emerging from winter storage as Pittsburgh’s roadway obstacle courses are set for the Spring and Summer seasons.
• In The Strip, dogs howl as the sweet voices of the Opera blend with the musical tones of the local bird song.
• The aromas from the open doors at Pittsburgh Popcorn enlighten the senses (and unfortunately distract the drivers … that kitty never had a chance).
• Vendors in the strip finally shed their winter garb, thaw out, and begin wakening from hibernation (it was sad how people just stole their stuff when they were sleeping over the winter).
• Oh, and did I mention the potholes?  Well, we’re not going to make fun of the city crew, since this is really going to be a sucky Spring for them … although they fill all probably end up fitter than a fiddle (until St. Patty’s Day … along with everyone else).

-SWB

PS – Yup, Spring is in the air … so is the job market, fuel prices, home values.  Such appropriate crisis’ for the Spring 😉

Don’t Panic!

I realize this is the second day we’ve seen this strange thing in the sky this week … and I’ve made numerous posts about it previously when this anomaly has happened.

It really is the sun!

Pittsburgh is privy to occasionally seeing the burning orb that heats our planet … really … not jesting here.  Although, I’ll admit that two days in a row is odd.

Don’t scream, don’t panic … other people will soon start realizing it is the sun and start calming down … if you are the one still screaming they’ll probably just send you away with the guys  in white (I guess, depending on what’s going on in your life could be good thing).

Although this is abnormal for Pittsburgh (no clouds), it is not unheard of.  Call The Weather Channel … they’ll explain it.

-SWB

PS – Amuse us all … give getting a tan a shot today.

Getting a tan

Yup, the sun is out.

Yup, the snow is going away.

Yup, I finally remembered to get the food dye and spray bottles so the wife and kid could paint in the snow.  Oops, a little late.

I’m still waiting for the sun bathers to show up on local lawns … I mean us Pittsburghers should be well enough acclimated to the cold that we can catch a few rays during the winter.  I know hypothermia is a slight issue, but that’s till gotta be better than skin cancer from the bed bulbs.

Think about it … if we can jump in the rivers at the climax of winter for the Polar Plunge, I think out natives are though enough to take some shivers to get golden naturally in the winter time.  The new swim suit lines are already out in the stores – if you’re going to buy this early you might as well wear them early before everyone else gets seen in your pattern.

-SWB

PS – We’re not serious, we just like seeing people turn blue.

I miss the snow

I Miss The Snow

I miss the snow, with it’s golden white glow.

I miss the snow, giving the back pains that make me realize that I am alive.

I miss the snow, the sounds of wheezing old men that have replaced the song of the birds that have flown.

I miss the snow, the creeks of the old house as it folds into itself below.

I miss the snow, the sleds racing down and the kid’s faces just before they hit the trees and scream, “OH NO!!!”

I miss the snow, the pristine softness of the white blanket fallen from the sky as I admire it after falling on the ice down low.

I miss the snow, the men all in white with the carrot snouts and black charcoal eyes …

Oh wait … crap … those are actually the guys from the insane asylum.  They must have read my post and found out I escaped again ….

gotta run ….. and run ….. and run …..

-SWB

PS – Enjoy the snowball fights until Sunday.

Pittsburgh Dreary

The Strip on a Dreary Day – click the pic to go to our Flikr low res camera photo stream.

Nothin’ like a typical Pittsburgh dreary day to make you feel like you’ve moved to London … at least that what the people from London living in Pittsburgh tell me.

Maybe we should change out unofficial city motto from “Partly Cloudy” to “Partly Dreary”.  I mean, were not like some other places with so little daylight that people are waiting in line atop of tall building to jump to their death … we just have people with constant “hangdog” looks to them.

Unfortunately makeup doesn’t help that a bit.

I’m old, so it’s even worse.

Pittsburgh adds a uniqueness to “dreary”. We create some fairly good dark poets, have produced (and sometimes still do) some great industrial bands, and of course … we make heavy use of “the blues” here.

Although we got the dreary stuff back, I’m glad the snow melted (I finally found my dog).  I think she’s a little ticked we didn’t try to search for her a little harder. We lost her the day of the big snow storm. When we realized that, we opened the door to go look for her, but in the typicalness (is that even a word??) of the Pittsburgh dreary took hold … we took one step, didn’t see her … and just figured she’d come back at some time.

… don’t go runnin’ to call PETA, we didn’t actually do that.

-SWB

PS – It’s partly dreary ‘n at (yep, that sounds cool)

The World Has Returned To Normal

Is it proper to title a post during the natural disasters that are happening (the earthquakes in both Chile and Haiti and the Tsunami in Chile, etc)?

Yep, definitely (and NO, we are NOT poking fun at any places like Haiti and Chile.  Actually we ask you to help Chile where you can, but don’t go into fad mode and forget Haiti … Chile is a little better off financially.)

So, why are we making a title like “The World Has Returned To Normal”?

Well, that’s because this is one of the FIRST days in about a month where you don’t have a scrolling line at the bottom of your TV with school delays and cancellations that takes 45 minutes to run through. If you are a parent (or step-parent for that matter), you know that you don’t get to return to the “real world” until the kids turns 18 … or you have the guts to kick them out of the house (which could be much later in life for some parents). So, having the kiddies home so much gets you into a mode where the things happening on the news seem more like a reality show than reality.

At this point this kids are even tired of being home, bosses are tired of people not showing up, and even with free speech … we can’t print what the parents are saying. I love snow, but this was a bit much.

So, the world has returned to normal for a while … but then again St Patrick’s day is coming up, so we’ll probably get dumped on with 36 inches during the parade … which will turn green.

Here is an idea for a great back to school after school activity for you and your kids … teach them how great it is to take a bit of their allowance and donate it to Haiti and Chile to help them out.

BTW – We want to shout out a kudos to Chile for having good building codes in place … that in itself probably saved thousands if not hundreds of thousands.  Pray that Haiti is someday in the same place where it can do that for itself.

-SWB

PS – I bet the  school bus drivers aren’t happy 😉

The “Pittsburgh Winter” is officially back

If you think we are a little late on this post … read on.

A “Pittsburgh Winter” is only official once the car damage starts.  I’m not talking about the damage from mindless idiots trying to drive 65 during one of the worst storms we’ve had in years … I’m talking about the other damage.

Think about it … come on, you can figure it out ….

That’s right … the potholes.

So far we’ve had to spend $270 on front tires for our 2008 Fit due to rapid fire hits from potholes.  Even if the belt in the tire was going bad, the potholes helped it bite the dust.  The 12 year old I own Civic just got the windshield taken out from a loose asphalt cannon ball hitting it.  That’s another $210.

Yup we now have an official, down home “Pittsburgh Winter”.  Yay!!!

The thing that makes it even worse than the ones I used to remember when I was young is that the 2010 storm was bad enough you can’t even chew out the road crews.  If you handed every Burgher a 5 gallon pail of cold fill asphalt, they’d never be able to keep up.  That just creates more stress when you can’t blame another human.

-SWB

PS – I guess I shouldn’t complain since I survived an ice hit from the bridges … but I’m a Pittsburgh, so I’m required to complain.  What about these out of town folks moving here?, can’t we force them to earn their Pittsburgh citizenship status by filling potholes during lunch???

It’s Back … The Orb

Beware, but try not to be too scared. The Orb is back.

Click Here to read one of our past posts on it.

Well, I guess it’s time to figure out if the world is ending before 2012 … or at least watch out for the falling icicle daggers coming off the building you are walking next too.

Since it’s getting so hot out because of The Orb, we’re probably going to head off the Sarris for ice cream (if that part of the store is open), then to the Science Center to investigate The Orb a bit more.  We’re a little scared and a little worried – not because we haven’t seen The Orb in a while, but simply because the weather guy was worried too.  Then again, maybe he was just starting into a heart attack from the last bit of snow shoveling he did.

Enjoy the days, it looks to be back to freezing drizzle for a bit tomorrow …

-SWB

PS – Remember don’t shoot the messenger, shoot the weatherman (or weather person if you need to be PC)

Them Leaking Homes

We haven’t done an “In The News” highlight lately.

Not because there hasn’t been any notable news, but more simply because we’ve been lazy about it.

SWB did spot an excellent article in the PG about the current winter condition of ice damming.  Not on the river, but in your gutters and on your roof.

Click Here to read it. The article gives the excellent advice of “do nothing”.  That’s right do nothing.

Having previously owned a home that was built on 1905 and now being in a home that was built quickly for returning veterans of  WWII (that’s around 1945/46 if you don’t know your history) I’ve learned a few things, and I’ve heard everything, including the following:

• Shovel the snow off and get the ice out of your gutters by going up on your roof (after you wake up in the hospital in a body cast from trying that one, your roof will most likely still be covered). If you have a lower roof -they do make roof rakes.
• Use hot water to melt that ice and snow (remember, hot water freezes faster than cold water and gets into cracks further, so if you already have leaks down the walls, boards and gutters pulling way from your house, etc prepare for that to get worse after the hot water freezes back up. Also remember, if there is a sign that you did that, there is a very good chance your insurance company will no longer cover the incident).
• Get roof warming and gutter warming tape / units / systems professionally installed.  Yep they make those, although can expensive to run.  Click Here for an example.  Although DYI is a requirement for homeowners, the commonsense of when to say “professional install” is also necessary for properly maintaining your home (and sometimes not burning it down).  In other words … realize when you don’t have the required skills to get something accomplished.

Enjoy the article.

-SWB

What irks me the most with this storm?

What irks me the most about this endless snow storm we are experiencing?

The roads being crap? No.

The power being out? No.

Being cooped up in the house? No.

Shoveling about a thousand pounds of snow just so I can find my car? Nope.

Nope. Nope Nope. Nope.

Here it is … it’s a BIG issue … hold you breath now,

I haven’t been able to get to Market Square to buy and consume my weekly Dunkin Donut.

Yup, that’s it.

It’s bad enough that Krispy Krap pushed Dunkin out of the area, then went head first into the brown feces abyss itself, leaving us high and dry on edible morning confectionery products (along with decent cheap coffee) – I can’t even get down to my favorite shop to curtail my cravings.

That’s it, that’s my main complaint and irk from this storm.

If you think it’s stupid and shallow … well, eat the snow drifts I’m throwing on top of your car right now!

-SWB

PS – Do any Dunkin’s deliver?