Tis The Ugly Sweater Season! Advent 2021: Day 23

Day 23- what a perfect day to look at some snowman themed ugly sweaters!

Happy Birthday!

I'm Having a Meltdown.

 

Holmes & Watson snowmen.

Sadly, because of el Nino, global warming, climate change or fate, it doesn't look like much of the US is going to get a white Christmas unless you take matters into your own hands. So, here's a video on how to make your own snow. Enjoy!

A Classic TV Christmas- Advent 2017 Day 11

I'm playing hard and loose with the time line today. While I am now progressing into classic TV Christmas episodes of the 1970s, I am also going back in time to the 1950s. If you've guessed that happy days are here again, then pat yourself on the back. We are going to spend the holidays with the Cunninghams of Milwaukee for a Happy Days Christmas.

Happy Days was an extremely popular TV show on ABC. It was set in the 1950s and focus on the life of Richie Cunningham and his family. Well, that is until a certain greaser named the Fonz became the de facto star of the show. 

The series ran for 11 seasons from 1974-1984 and had several holiday episodes. But my favorite was from Happy Days' eighth season. Titled White Christmas, the episode aired on December 19, 1980. 

It's Christmas Eve and a major blizzard has crippled Milwaukee. Mr. Cunningham and his daughter Joanie are stranded at Cunningham hardware. Mrs. Cunningham and Richie's pregnant wife Mary Beth are at home where the power has gone out and one of the upstairs windows has broken mysteriously (don't worry, it was just a bird...) Meanwhile Fonzie and some of the gang are stuck at Arnold's Drive-In thanks to Potsie screwing up and getting everybody snowed in thanks to a snow plow. 

It looks like everybody is going to be spending Christmas away from each other. But thanks to a Christmas miracle of either the snow clean-up crew of Milwaukee being able to plow through 2-feet of snow or a stroke of coincidental genius by the writers, everyone is able to make it home in time for Christmas. Well, except for Richie who can't fly in because of the blizzard. (Although in reality, actor Ron Howard had left the show prior in order to become a big time door-to-door shoe salesman or something, forever forsaking Hollywood and it's wantonous beckoning call.

On paper, this isn't really be one of my favorite episodes. In terms of a Christmas episode it's rather sad. Mr. Cunningham laments how soon Joanie will moving away for college. Mrs. Cunningham and Richie's wife are all sad that Richie got delayed. The only funny things are the scenes at Arnold's with Potsie getting on Fonzie's nerves. 

But what I love so very much about this episode is the snow! I am a winter weather junky. I am a Northerner born in a Southern state. As I write this post, it's snowing in North Carolina and it's not officially winter yet! And I could not be more thrilled. I just love getting snowed-in and this episode is all about being snowed-in! 

Since this post is all about snow and my love for it, I am forgoing a clip of the episode and instead giving to you for Advent a video of holiday tunes set to falling snow. It is 3 hours long, so if you don't sit through the whole thing, it will not hurt my feelings. So enjoy and until next time- Merry Christmas!

1977: A Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 33

  It's Groundhog Day. 

  So, of course, I went online to find out what the Groundhog saw (or didn't see back in 1977.) 40 years ago, Mr. Groundhog saw his shadow. That meant 6 more weeks of winter in a year that saw both some of the coldest days on record and an energy crisis because of all the massive snow that hit the Northeast.

   On this same day, in upstate New York, it fell a record 31 degrees in just 4 hours! On top of that, more snow fell adding to the epic totals that had already fallen a week earlier. I'm telling you, 1977 was cold- darn cold! 

    It's gotta be why I love snow and the cold, and yet from the Old North State. I hope Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow this year. I really want some more snow! I'm addicted!

    Until tomorrow...

    

1977: A Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 26

Postcard detailing the Blizzard of 77, Buffalo NY.

 The Winter of 1977 was cold- darn cold!

  It's got to be why I love snow. 

A record is made.
Chicago Tribune, January 26, 1977.

   40 years ago yesterday, Chicago wasn't able to get above freezing and that marked a record 30-consecutive days that the thermometer's of Windy City weren't able to rise above 31 degrees F. 

     To make matters worse, 40 years ago today, an arctic wave of air began to make it's way into areas of Toronto and the Northeast. Over the next couple of days, wind gusts over 40-69 MPH were documented. On top of that was snow. Lots and lots of snow. As a result, by January 28th, Buffalo would see over 100 inches of snowfall. It was and still is a record. On top of that, snow drifts were measured of up to 40 feet! That's 4 basketball goals high!
    In this day and age, states governments will wait until the last minute to request federal help. But on this day in history, Congress actually was on top of things. Seeing how bad the weather had been and was predicted to be, Congress signed the Emergency Natural Gas Act. Signed the same day it was passed, President Carter allowed areas to declare emergencies that would normally hamper relief efforts. Thus if an area experiences a shortage of fuel, companies and the government can rush in supplies without being charged for transportation taxes and interstate fees.

It snowed so high, in places, kids could actually touch the streetlights.

    But in the case of Buffalo, this act really didn't do very much good. Plows weren't equipped to handle this much snow.  Plus the strong winds blowing off the Great Lakes made it to even when the snowing stopped, any progress made was immediately covered up again. Temps staying below freezing for about another week didn't help either and it would be a solid month before things in the region got back to business as normal.

A home in upstate New York,
almost entirely covered by snow.

    Fun Fact for your geeks out there- this crippling storm is cited as a major reason that DC Comics suffered from a huge sale slump. The publisher was unable to receive artwork on time and it was also late in publishing books to stores nationwide. Another blizzard a year later, didn't help sale any. Thus, by the summer of '78 DC cancelled over a third of it's titles in what is called the DC Implosion.

Firestorm: The Nuclear Man.
A victim of the blizzard and eventual DC Implosion.

    

This sort of thing still happens today. Late last year when a pipeline exploded in Alabama (TWICE!), companies were allowed to make extra deliveries of fuel without penalty as pumps were running out of gas faster than you could count. Just a couple of weeks ago, my state of North Carolina had below freezing temperatures and snow for several days, marking the closing of businesses, cancelling of events and school, and the need for shelters and emergency service reserves being activated. It was actually pretty early for us to get snow this year and I hope that wasn't our only dose of it! 

   Come On Blizzard!!!

     

1977: A Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 19

 
  40 years ago today, the city of Miami, Florida saw it's first ever observed snow fall. Tampa got a blizzard of .2 inches and in Pensacola, the thermometer fell to 10F! 

     This cold spell also resulted in the only recorded account of snow to fall in the Bahamas.
   
     Now you might think this is a joke, but this kinda of thing is a big deal, especially to places that don't get snow. I have relatives who live at the beach of North Carolina and if just 1 little snow flake falls, they cancel school because they just don't have the road clearing resources we do farther away from the coast. Since snow fell on a weekday in Miami, I am sure schools were closed.
  
     Nowadays, experts say that it's the hottest the earth has ever been. I'm not going to get into some debate over global warming or climate change. But ever since I was a little kid, I've been in love with cold weather, ice, and snow. Just last week, we got a really early one and I loved it. I'm sure the people of Miami enjoyed this freak weather pattern and I'm sure I would've too. But I just have to have more than a once in 40 year episode of snow. 

     The cold of 1977 was murder on the American economy and it wasn't just due to this 5 day blast of arctic air. Winter of '77 was cold, really cold! Crops in the deep south were destroyed by frost. Over the next several months, shipping delays and loss of sales would result in higher prices and businesses to scale back or shut down. I'll talk more about this later in the month in another posting of A Madman Turns 40. Until then, enjoy these photos of the Miami Winter Wonderland.

Something you don't see everyday, snow on palm trees.

I wonder how often this lady had to use an ice scraper in Miami
before the snow of 1977...

The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

   I actually waited a full-scale year to read this book. My wife gave it to me for Christmas. But since we had traveled to St. Louis to visit her family, we didn't exchange gifts with each other until after we got back a few days after Christmas 2015. So I added this treasury to my collection database, put it on my 'To Read' shelf and I waited... and waited... and waited until it was Christmas time 2016 to finally read this volume.
    The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories is just that; it's over one hundred and seventy pages of classic Christmas themed comics from the 1940s up till 1960. It features the work of comic book legends such as John Stanley (Little Lulu), Walt Kelly (Pogo), and even an Al Fago yuletide yarn starring his creation Atomic Mouse. Added to the holiday fun is a rare comic story from children's book master Richard Scarry (Busytown.) 
    Some of these stories are quite dated, either in appearance or conventional mores. A few are quite silly and there were a couple of duds. But this was a pretty enjoyable read. Plus, not liking every story is to be expected in a collection such as this and as long as the majority of the stories are gems, it still makes for an overall favorable read.
    This treasury was co-published by YOe Books, in cooperation with IDW Publishing. YOe has been building a reputation with it's massive editions of comic works featuring Steve Ditko, Dan DeCarlo, and Jack Kirby and the level of quality and detail in this treasury shows. 
     A really awesome Christmas present that was worth the wait. 

    Worth Consuming

    Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
   

Baby, It's Freakin' Freezing Outside!!!

Folks, in case you just don't keep up with the weather, it's supposed to be really nasty on the Eart Coast. I live in North Carolina where the weather forecasts have been all over the place. Some say 3-6 inches, a couple has said over a foot if frozen precipitation. But the big thing that keeps popping up is the word ICE.

   Some weather people are predicting about .25-.5 inch of ice. I saw one report call for 3/4 of an inch near where I work. Regardless, with lots of ice come power outages.

   I'm planning on keeping up with my reviews. However, if the power goes out, I can't get online and I'm not going to drive on slick roads to find WiFi. If I missed my deadline for Family Comic Friday or can't post for a couple of days, blame it on the weather. But if the power stays on, I'll be posting.

  So for the time being, be safe, stay warm, and keep reading...

Baby, it's Cold Outside...

Life slowly seems to be getting back to normal around here. On Thursday night going into Friday, it began sleeting and snowing for what seems the umpteenth time. We woke up to no power and the sleet was turning into freezing rain. As my wife and I were getting dressed and headed off to work, we saw flashing of light at least twice- meaning transformer were blowing. Outside walking to our car, I counted no less than a dozen trees exploding in the far distance, losing the fight against the ever growing ice.


After work, I decided to make tracks back home to access that damage in the day light. It was really weird, once you go from Durham County into Orange County you went from soggy landscape to frigid tundra. Hundreds of trees were snapped like toothpicks, power lines were strewn across the road. Occasionally, you had power lines performing some weird yoga move as a tree was lying across a line that somehow had the strength to hold the massive plant dangling in the air.


When I got home, I counted 15 trees down in our yard. Thankfully, none of them hit our house. There were two "structure killers" that miraculously fell in bisecting angles between our house and the neighbor's house behind us. One of those trees had a root system deeper than I am tall, with tap roots 8 inches in diameter. When it fell, to the north, it uprooted the other tree and sent it tumbling to the south. Currently a bunch of pines are holding that tree up in a 45degree angle but it needs to get cut down soon!


Our house was without power for about 36 hours. It finally came back yesterday around 2:30pm. I did a terrible job on my diet, eating cookies, chips, and canned goods since most of the restaurants in our town were powerless as well.


Not having power meant I couldn't go online. So, I couldn't update my comic collection or my reading blog. That does not mean I didn't catch up on reading. If anything this power outage means I am even further behind in posting my reviews on this site. Plus, when you don't have power, you sleep a lot. When you don't have power or your C-Pap machine (I snore and have sleep apnea), you don't sleep well. So with the power back on, I caught up on good sleep.


But, I am back. Reviews should hopefully start back up tomorrow. Thankfully, I already had the day off tomorrow since my wife has an MRI tomorrow and needs a chauffeur.  I also have a lot of cleaning and laundry and dishes to catch up on too! So, stay tuned! I'll be up and writing in no time!