Condolences to the Ryan Family

As a Boston Red Sox fan, it is only natural to be a fan of all those Red Sox pre-game commentators that I see on an almost daily basis from April to October every summer. One of my favorites is Bob Ryan, who is also a sports columnist for the Boston Globe. Bob's son Keith died at the age of 37 yesterday, while working for the U.S. Homeland Security Department in Pakistan.

I want to extend my deepest condolences to the entire Ryan family over such a tragic loss. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Snow, Snow, Snow

It seems like we have gotten a huge amount of snow lately. According to the local weather forecaster, Steve McKay, Maine has not had a December like this one, as far as snowfall totals go, for at least 10 years. We had more snow in December 2007 than each of the previous 5 Decembers combined.

Now, I love snow. To me there is nothing like sitting in a warm house and watching the snow fall out the window. But even I am starting to get tired of scooping the snow out of the driveway.

Using my snow scoop is a fairly simple way to clear the driveway. But when you have to push the scoop up a 4-foot snowbank every time because you've run out of places to dump it, that tens to be rather exhausting. Especially when you get two nearly-one-foot snow storms in 3 days.

Luckily, the forecast is calling for a few days in the 40's this week. Hopefully, some of the snow will not survive. I need to shrink the snow banks so I have a place to put the snow from our next storm. And one thing I know about Maine, if it is only January, then there will defeintely be a next storm.