Defending the flag

plowflag1In my world there are two kinds of people, flag pullers and flag laggards. Me? I’m of the former with little patience or respect for the latter.

For those of you who are wondering what the hell I’m talking about, it’s very simple. Here in Michigan, and I suppose, other places where snow falls, it’s possible to pay a service a nominal fee to plow your driveway when enough snow falls…usually about two inches. Pay one fee and someone with a plow on the front of their pickup truck will come as many times as warranted during the season. It’s a sweet deal for you if it snows a lot and they have to plow you out several times. It’s just as sweet for the plow boys and girls if it’s a light winter since they get paid the same no matter what.

plowflag3So what’s with the flag? Ah. Some time in November the plow service will stick a bunch of flags along the perimeter of your driveway to guide them when the snow piles up.  It’s a sad time for all. When the snow plow flags sprout up in the sub, it’s a surer bet than the groundhog lousy weather can’t be far behind.  They may be orange or red or green or some other bright color, but they really amount to a white flag of surrender to the coming onslaught of frigid temperatures, ice, sleet, and yes, snow. One can beat a cowardly retreat to Florida or Arizona or Aruba, but I choose to stand tall in my Sorel boots and defend the flag. There’s no more thrilling sound than the rumble of the plow truck as it magically appears without being summoned to push the demon snow into a drift at the end of the driveway so high one can climb it to dunk a basketball in the forlorn rim sullenly awaiting the change of seasons. I can return to my warm bed knowing I’m getting my money’s worth, but more than disappointed I now have no valid excuse to call in sick.

plowflags2Eventually, the Earth’s trip around the sun takes us to spring and the white of winter gives way to green blades of grass and crocuses, offset by the bright snow plow flags that have done their duty with honor.  It is time to show what one is made of. Pull the flags as a show of optimism and certainty we have seen our last blast of snow, or, be a flag laggard, timidly leaving them to wilt and rust and clash with spring’s welcome hues while you await for the sky, and flakes, to fall “one more time” even though the temperatures are high enough to melt them on contact. Flag laggards will leave them up  way past Easter, perhaps hoping they will guide the bunny should their driveways suddenly be covered with a foot of snow leaving the kids to search for eggs in their boots and mufflers.  Maybe those who celebrate Passover fear Elijah the Prophet will get bogged down in a drift and say “feh!” rather than knock on their doors.

No, I am a devoted flag puller, punctually yanking those damned flags out on the first day of spring as I silently mock the flag laggards all around me, but leave them neatly piled in my garage…just in case…winter suddenly decides to have..a banner year.

Observational Snit

Faces-Sucked-By-Smartphone-3Some observations about lack of observation. Over the weekend my wife and I took a quick trip down to Florida and found ourselves at the sprawling Sawgrass Mills mall, just to kill some time before heading to the airport for our return to Detroit.

As we strolled down the outside section call The Colonnade we were approached by two friendly women who asked, “Hi! Are there any restaurants here?” Were they freakin’ kidding?  All one had to do was lift one’s head beyond one’s smartphone and there, in front of your famished face, would be the site of no fewer than three restaurants.

I got thinking about this episode and how people have grown less observant in this era of almost constant focus on what’s on one screen or another, rather than what’s actually in front of our own two eyes, within earshot of our cochleas and just a sniff away from the assembly line of our olfactory nerves.

Example. Something bad happens. Any eyewitnesses? That’s the question police and journalists would ask. Police want to crack the case. Journalists want to tell the story. Eyewitness could provide valuable information. What did they see, hear, smell, notice? How about a description of the assailant or crook? Oh sure, eyewitnesses are still sought, but it’s more likely someone will step forward with a smartphone video or audio recording. Ask the person what happened and the answer probably will be, “Duh, I dunno, but I shot this video because I thought it would get a lot of views on YouTube or CNN would buy it. Here. Watch.” True, the video would surely be more accurate than someone’s recollections but it simply points to the fact we’re in a world now where electronic devices are doing the seeing and hearing for us with the information going to a memory card, instead of our memories.

In the workplace this lack of personal observation results in inability to sense a co-worker’s sentiments, whether it’s acceptance of an idea, willingness to contribute to a project or impending desire to commit the most serious workplace sin, cooking fish in the office microwave oven. Hmm..didn’t notice, but I got the feeling there may be a dead body in the office supply cabinet, which would make an awesome Instagram post.

smartphonekidsI think of young children and what they’ll tell their kids. “Oh little Emma…my parents took me to the Thanksgiving Parade. They told me the floats were awesome. I don’t remember…I was tweeting about how much the butts of the mounted police horses stunk. Why don’t we go this year. You can Snapchat your friends with shots of Santa diddling his favorite elf…they’ll go viral!”

I grew up idolizing so-called “observational” comics like Woody Allen, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce and much later, Jerry Seinfeld. They saw and heard things that went on in life, pointed them out, commented on them and turned them into hilarious routines delivered to live audiences by use of their mouths, enhancing their humor through vocal inflection, timing and physical gestures.George Carlin Performing On Stage

Nowadays, I fear to observe means to capture on a device, delivering that observation via unspoken words on the web and any laughter is the recipients private experience.

As the observational comic might ask, “What’s the deal with that?”

Fireably Offensive

yourfired

President Trump’s curt cutting loose incumbent U.S. Attorneys reminds me of the times I’ve been on both sides of the equation, and how flawed the firing process can be.

First, getting fired but having the firing extinguished.

I was 16, working as a stockboy in the linens and domestics department at the long-ago bankrupt department store S. Klein on Long Island. It was a 20-hour a week after school gig where I stocked the shelves, folded sheets, curtains and table cloths and spelled the sales ladies when they went for their breaks. After my first manager was fired she was replaced by an insane guy named Sam. He had a habit of asking me to find oddball items that never sold and had them marked down to a nickel. He’d have me toss them all in a box and wheel it out to the sales floor on a dolly. Then Sam would stand up on the dolly and holler, “Shoppers! Cheap shit! Just a nickel!” Sam liked me.

So he was a bit put off when I showed up one day and told Sam the store manager let me go with the lame excuse they were “cutting back,” which was B.S. because I was the only linens and domestics stockboy. “Tell him to go screw (didn’t use that word) himself and then punch in and get to work!” Of course, I had been fired and my punch card was removed.  I went to the store manager to deliver Sam’s message. I improvised so as not to get tossed out by security and the confused store manager says, “I don’t remember firing you. You’re not fired. Get the hell to work…and punch in!”

The next time I was exposed to the firing process was the first time I had to let someone go. I was the program director at an upstate New York radio station and decided it was time to let go our evening announcer who not only sucked, he engaged in what I would call greasy kissing. You see he and his girlfriend would enjoy the greasiest, oiliest submarine sandwiches during his air shift, then they would lock their highly lubricated lips while the records played. He didn’t bother to wipe his hands which caused all the knobs and switches on the control board to be a gross, greasy mess and the studio to stink like a fermenting dumpster. The boy had to go.

This was my first firing so naturally I was nervous. I had it all planned. Had my “script” down pat. Was going to tell him his air product was not up to snuff and that was compounded by his disgusting eating habits and so the general manager and I agreed it was time to part ways. I followed this plan to the letter. Instead of him being upset or fighting for his job he responds, “so you’re cutting costs and need to trim the announcing staff. I understand completely and I appreciate the opportunity to work here.” Huh? Tell me I’m an asshole! Fight for your job! Instead, the guy masterfully makes up on the fly a totally false rationalization and walks out. Took us three days to clean the grease off the board and the smell of onions in the studio.

A few months later at the same station I got out the knife again. This time to fire the morning news guy. He had this idiotic habit of leading the news with the latest ski report. When I called him on it he argued “people wanna know the conditions!” This one was quick. “We’re letting you go based on your poor performance and lack of adequate news judgement.”  He just shook his head and muttered something with the word “asshole” in it as he left which I totally understood, under the circumstances.  Of course, this is long before I started skiing and now wish newscasts would lead with the latest conditions.

Late in the 1980’s at CNN, we managers were treated to a two-day seminar on how to fire people. Not how to save or rescue employees, but how to get them the hell out of the building without us being sued. The process involved the now discredited method called “progressive discipline.” This mainly consisted of telling someone they did something wrong and if they do it again something bad could happen. Then when they do it again you tell them something worse could happen. Third offense, you tell them the worst IS happening and they were out the door. You can see how this motivated employees to raise their performance by constantly worrying about the lowering boom rather than concentrating on the work at hand.

appraisalsSeveral years later the authors of a book entitled “Abolishing Performance Appraisals” paid me a visit      to pitch a story on their book. I still have the book. Its premise is simple. Performance appraisals are for the most part bullshit and never contribute to improving an employee’s performance. Here’s how it works. An employee’s raise or bonus is often tied to the final score on his or her evaluation. Knowing this, the manager decides in advance how much money the employee should get and finagles the evaluation so the score matches the desired pay increase or bonus, or rigs it low enough to warrant canning their butt.

The best way of evaluating an employee is to keep track of their work on a daily basis. Something’s right? Give ‘em some praise. Not good enough? Take immediate corrective action. Have honest conversations several times during the year, not just during the specified evaluation period. You know what? If you’ve been honest enough all along, the inadequate employee will know they’re gone before you even tell them.

Then again, Henry Ford II didn’t waste a lot of time or thought when he decided to can Lee Iaccoca in 1978 telling him, “sometimes you just don’t like somebody.”

Don’t move my cheese…or tissues

meijerreno

One thing I can pretty much depend on, is when I go to my favorite store everything will be where it was the last time I visited. My cart pushes itself to the cold beer, unhealthy snacks, Wheaties, windshield wipers and shoe laces. You’ll notice I didn’t mention produce. Heh. Anyway. A month or two ago we noticed dozens of construction trailers jammed into the parking lot of our go-to store. When I got home I logged onto the township’s planning and zoning website and staring me in the face was proof of the impending personal trauma…a notice of permit for “renovations and remodeling” of my favorite store. 

Now don’t get me wrong. The store was built in the early 1990’s and is sorely in need of an update. An update is fine. Throwing my life into disarray is not.

The first thing that occurred was the doors located on the left and right hand side of the store were eliminated, replaced by a new set of doors smack in the center of the building. Big deal you say? How insensitive. My wife and I always…ALWAYS park in either row G or H, putting us closer to the right hand doors that led in and out of the grocery part of the store. Never A or B or anything in between. With G and H no longer holding their advantage we were forced to plot a new strategy, ending up in E or F, closer to the new center doors. It was as if we were lost children, wandering into a new neighborhood with strange cars and SUVs, unfamiliar cart corral locations and a completely new scheme for handicapped spaces. You can imagine our confusion and fear we’d exit the store and have no idea where we had parked. Well, once we got over the trauma of the relocated doors things only got worse. Today, fully two months into the “renovation” we found inside sections our store draped in what looked like behemoth shower curtains. Just what are they hiding from us? Are  they installing a new department featuring self-driving baby strollers? Keurigs that mix individual cocktails? Perhaps rooms where exasperated spouses can chill, and drink Keurig cocktails while their better halves play bumper carts with other shoppers. Essentially every food aisle was in a different place. Our Wheaties, usually found in aisle 13 were now in 8. Tissues were always found in the aisle next to the juice, yogurt and milk coolers. But the shelves that once held those paper products were actually ripped out, the vestiges of its former footprint only an outline in the 25 year old floor tiles. WHERE ARE THE FREAKIN’ TISSUES!!! THEY’RE ON SALE BUT THE TISSUE AISLE IS GONE…GONE!

Ok. Big cleansing breath. We scurried up and down every aisle remarking, “the ice cream is here now? Why’s the soup where the ant spray used to be? All the beer is adjacent to the oatmeal. What’s with that? But no tissues. Sure…plenty of napkins and paper towels and paper plates, but where were all the boxes of the clandestine Kleenex? My wife and I were tempted to chug from a bottle of Crown Royal..incidentally now located where the mouse traps were once displayed. Desperate, my wife found a store employee who looked at her sympathetically and led her to the new home of the tissues…across from automobile anti-freeze!  She patiently explained that every time they rip out a row of shelves to work on the area they move that stuff to this new, temporary location. There was a sign with this information only it wasn’t located where you expected to see an item…it was at the new location where you wouldn’t know to look in the first place.

Frankly, by the time we got to the checkouts, which, thankfully, are still in front, we were ready for a quick detour to health and beauty aids for hits of Advil and wrinkle remover.

With all of our items paid for and safely bagged all that was left was to find our car. I resisted every urge to hit my key fob panic button to activate the horn so our Jeep would call out to its desperate owners. “Here I am, losers! Here I am! Please trade me in! “ We gingerly trod into the alien aisle E, suffering the mocking looks from a Range Rover, disparaging whispers from an over-confident Subaru and our impatiently waiting Jeep imploring us to “just get in.”

Flying Ovals

Ovals have a long history in flight.

ovalofficeThe President’s airplane, Air Force One, is often called the Flying Oval Office..even though it’s mainly cylindrical..it’s definitely flying…

flyingaThe logo for the old Flying A gas stations was a circle that flew in an oval…until the chain crash landed years ago…

While the Flying Squirrel Bakery in Talkeetna, Alaska adopted an in-flight rodent cruising around an oval as its identity.flyingsquirreloval

iflystickerSome folks are obtuse enough to use an oval to state that they fly…

 

And others are ostentatious enough to plunk down more than six-grand for aflyingovalearrings pair of diamond and gold “Flying oval” earrings.

 

 

flyingbulldogAs if bulldogs can fly…well they can if they’re in an oval..

blueovalglasshouseAnd then there’s Ford’s famous Blue Oval….symbol of the manufacturer of earthbound transportation. For years, it’s flown atop the company’s Dearborn, Michigan headquarters, known as the Glass House…until Wednesday night…blewoval….when a lusty gust of wind caused the automaker’s oval to take flight.  We don’t know how it was originally attached to the building, but we do know when it’s re-attached, Ford will have to come up with a better idea.

 

We all have our Oooops-car moments

636237666379897031-usp-entertainment-89th-academy-awards-89112519Like many people beaten to boredom by the endless Oscar ceremony, I went to bed early and missed the monumental screw up in announcing the wrong movie as best picture. So I’ve already wasted half my morning reading about it and watching the clips. It also got me thinking about mistakes I either made or affected me.

I have two brief examples, both of which occurred while I worked at CNN.  I was producing the morning show, then called “Daybreak,” back in the 1980’s. There had been a train wreck in Oregon. It wasn’t fatal, but it was a mess and there was fear hazardous fumes were leaking from some of the tanker cars.  It was a pretty slow news day so it led the hour. Our assignment desk jumped into action to get us someone on the phone they identified as both a witness and employee of the railroad. Remember that word “witness.” We were about to witness another disaster from the control room. During that era, CNN was still located in a former Jewish Country Club across the street from Georgia Tech. The newsroom was the old gym and it was a completely open floorplan. The writer and producer work stations, assignment desks, satellite desk, anchor set and control room were within a shout from each other…no walls. Someone from the assignment desk yells “got a phoner with a witness!” We quickly arrange to put the guy on the air and I tell the anchor, through her earpiece who she’ll be speaking with.

Anchor: “We have with us now on the phone (guy’s name)…a witness to the Oregon train wreck. Tell me sir. What does it look like from your vantage point?

Guy on phone:  “Well, considering I’m about 350 miles away, pretty small!”

Anchor: “Thank you sir. Goodbye.”

edselThen there was the time I was assigned a story on the 40th anniversary of the Ford Edsel. I must have missed a key note in the background material before interviewing the grandson of the failed car’s namesake.

Me: “How did you grandfather feel about the car being such a failure?”

Edsel Ford II.: “He didn’t really care. He died before the car was produced. Would you like to ask that question again…a different way?”

Which I did…after many apologies and my shooter confirming he had the whole thing on tape and would make “good use” of it.

 

 

Remembering James Nichols

nicholsJames Nichols, the brother of convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator, Terry, died last week and that brought back all sorts of memories, since I got to know James a bit, covering his case for CNN. Indeed, covering James Nichols ranged from boring to blasphemous to hilarious.

I was on my way back from vacation when news that the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed. At the time, it was the worst case of domestic terrorism in the U.S.

The next day I returned to work as CNN Detroit Bureau Chief and Correspondent and was catching up on story planning and paperwork when late that afternoon we got a call that the FBI had raided a farm in Decker, Michigan and that the raid was connected to the OKC bombing. We dropped everything and drove the 90 minutes up to Michigan’s Thumb area to what amounted to a four-corners surrounded by farms. We quickly found out the farm on the northeast corner was owned by James Nichols, brother of Terry, who  was arrested in connection with the bombing and that they were both friends with Timothy McVeigh, who was eventually convicted and executed for carrying out the bombing. The feds were looking for bomb-making materials on the farm and found some, since it also came out McVeigh stayed at the farm on and off and actually exploded some small bombs there. 

They laid siege on the Nichols farm and while the scores of media staking out the place from a short distance it came out they arrested James Nichols as a material witness. Of course, every news organization was anxious to learn more about him.

We landed an interview with a guy who ran the local grain silo and knew Nichols. This was big stuff so Larry King’s producers booked us. I was told “just take your time with the guest. Find out as much as you can about Nichols. Don’t rush the interview.”

Right.

I get on the air during King’s show and start to lead the guest through how he knew Nichols and could he tell us about him and what we had heard were strong anti-government views. It couldn’t have been more than a minute or two before Larry King broke in and barked, “yeah, but sir…just tell me. Is this guy a nutcase?” The next time I spoke was 20 minutes later to thank the guest. King took over the interview with the one  motive…to find out if James Nichols was a nutcase. The guest insisted he wasn’t but King didn’t believe it.

In further pursuit of the story we contacted Nichols’s friend Phil Murawski who lived down the road. He said he’d be glad to do the interview but “first I have to be interviewed by the FBI and eat a sandwich.”

Nichols was arrested and taken to Milan Federal Prison in Milan (MY-lan), Michigan. That’s where I first got a look at him. I was one of the pool reporters covering his arraignment, held in a prison day room. What struck me was his voice. I expected a growling, angry voice and what I heard was a high-pitched squeaky squawk. Book, cover, no match. Honestly, the most memorable aspects of that day were being treated to a prison lunch of de-boned chicken wings–we were told prisoners could make weapons out of the bones..and meeting AP reporter Brian Akre who was also in the coverage pool. Over the years we would always joke “we met in the joint.”

The feds finally dropped the charges and I caught up with him again at his farm. This time we had an actual conversation. He had written a book alleging his it was the Federal government and not his brother or McVeigh who had carried out the OKC bombing. That’s why he agreed to the interview..to help publicize the book that no publisher would touch.  It was during that interview he uttered a phrase that stuck with me and my crew to this day. In his screechy voice he hollered, “we was frauded upon!”

He seemed to enjoy speaking with us, especially because he was enamored with our rather attractive female sound tech. This worked to our advantage because we were dying to get inside that farmhouse the feds had been so interested in. So….our sound tech flashed a big smile and asked if she could use the washroom. No problem! She did use the washroom and took a quick peek around but there really wasn’t anything worth noting. If anything, James was very neat.

After that day, we pretty much forgot about James Nichols. He was just another character you run into as a reporter, but every once in awhile when we thought we’d been screwed somehow a member of the crew would smile and announce, “we got frauded upon!” 

Thanks for that, James Nichols. RIP

In the Garden of Amazon

adamsweenie

I can’t help but wonder what would the conversation have been like if Adam found himself alone in the Garden of Eden with Alexa instead of Eve. It might have gone something like this:amazonecho

Adam: I was expecting a longer-haired, pretty-much naked person with whom I could fool around and maybe make more of me. Who, or what the heck are you? Are you the dude in the sky with the beard and over-confident attitude that dropped me here?

Alexa: No. I am Alexa. Your virtual personal assistant. The “dude” you refer to is a concept. I’m tangible. How can I help you?

Adam: Um…where’s your face? You look like a tin can.

Alexa: I’m sorry. That’s not a question. That’s a snide comment from an obviously lonely, frustrated self-centered male specimen. Besides..tin cans have not yet been invented. Would you like to ask me something else?

Adam:  Yes. What’s this bug-infested place we’re in? They’re making me scratch behind my fig leaf.

Alexa: We’re in the Garden of Eden. In the future, a species that will be known as suburbanites will go to places populated by old men in orange aprons and procure supplies for planting and maintaining gardens where they live. They will end up spending a year’s salary to grow vegetables they could buy in the store at a fraction of the price.

Adam: Aside from the fact that I have no idea what aprons, orange, supplies, vegetables or prices are, you paint a pretty damn dire picture. If I’m gonna grow something, how about a woman…or a steak. I’m famished?

Alexa:   I will be happy to assist you by contacting the conceptual dude you referred to earlier.

(sound effect….another guy appears)

Adam: Hey Alexa…you screwed up…it’s another guy! I’m not hittin’ that.

Alexa: Relax macho man. His name is Steve. Thousands of years from now the fact that the first two people in the world were Adam and Steve will be a disturbing, yet, deserved comeuppance to close-minded, slack-jawed members of the human race who desire relations with their cousins..and pets

Adam: That’s nice but I’m feeling a special urge and something tells me Steve ain’t gonna do it for me.

Alexa: (sigh) You win.

(sound effect…Eve appears)

Alexa:  Happy now?

adameveAdam:  Sort of. I mean..it looks like one of my ribs is gone…hurts like hell…I’ve also tried coming on to her..you know..to help add more humans to the planet but all she wants to do is eat. She keeps pointing to a round, red thing hanging from some sticks.

Alexa: That’s what we call a fruit..specifically an apple and it’s hanging from an apple tree. Neither of you should eat that! Only bad things can happen.

Adam: Well thanks for the info and warning but the girl is starving. Oh crap…she just ate that apple thing. What now?

Alexa: You’re screwed. I’m afraid I can no longer assist you. Perhaps try my competitor, Google. I understand they’re working on something called the Noah…although there are fears they’ll catastrophically flood the market.

When I’m..um…65!

littleguyI turned 65 this week. Paul McCartney didn’t write a song about that. Maybe even the eternally youthful ex-Beatle couldn’t face the DOF age..that’s Designated Old Fart, so he undershot it by one.

I made sure I didn’t tell anyone at my part-time “semi-retirement” job about my birthday because then someone would bring in cupcakes. Don’t get me wrong. I love cupcakes, but it seems when someone at work brings in cupcakes they insist on bypassing tried and true flavors like vanilla or chocolate frosting in favor of peanut butter or cream cheese or some other flavor I can’t stand. The worst thing you can hear is the person bringing in the pastries announcing, “I baked them myself!” Who knows if their gooey-fingered child or well-meaning but sloppy Boston terrier used their tongues to sample the frosting directly from the bowl.

So-called “landmark” ages never really affected me. When I became 21 it was no big deal since I grew up in New York State where both the drinking and voting ages were 18. When I turned 30 I was producing at CNN Headline News and celebrated with my team in between the 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. shows, thanks to a cake baked by one of their wives. I knew in advance they had neither children nor pets so I ate the cake with no trepidation.

When I turned 40 I was the CNN Detroit Bureau chief and my team was kind enough to festoon the bureau with “Over the Hill” banners. My nice family was much cooler, providing a low-key, but warm celebration consisting of cake, ice cream and Jack Daniels.

I have no recollection of turning 50 except receiving mail from the AARP letting me know I was now old enough to join the alta-cocker lobbying group and 60 was a haze.  I can’t be turning 60! That’s an age your parents…or grandparents reached!

My wife and I are lucky we look young for our ages. We appreciate it now. When I was 36 the president of CNN took me off the air because he said I looked TOO young. A year later I was back on but the only thing that really changed in my appearance was a pissed off scowl that apparently gave me some sort of gravitas worthy of being on camera for a 10 second standup.

One good thing about aging is being able to take advantage of all those senior citizen discounts. When I first became eligible for many of them when I turned 55 I dug in my heels refusing to admit being a “senior” citizen. Now I say “screw it.” Nothing wrong with saving a few bucks here and there and having cashiers exclaim, “you look way too young for a senior discount,” even after showing my ID. When they persist, I offer to whip out images of my latest colonoscopy but I’ve had no takers…just reduced admissions to movies and the home show quickly granted in order to get the crazy old man to move along.

The old saw is getting older is better than the alternative but no one has ever accurately reported on why. Who knows, maybe the afterlife offers senior citizen discounts on Boost?

With nothing credible to go on, I’ll opt to go on. I’m looking forward to 70 because after all, isn’t that the new 50. Having already been 50 I know it’s the new 40. I’m feeling younger already!

 

 

A ground hog homily

The South likes to do things its own way. Screw Punxsutawney Phil. Deep in the heart of biscuit and grits country, the rodent with the lowdown on how much longer winter will last is named for the man who surrendered to Gen. Grant in the Civil War. Yes..it’s General Lee who’s rousted from his roost and grabbed by the scruff of his furry neck as a couple of good old boys who imbibe for breakfast decided whether or not the sleepy soldier saw his shadow.  At least, that’s how it was when my assignment manager at CNN’s Southeast Bureau in Atlanta tossed this one in my lap.  I duly showed up at 5:45am at the Yellow River Wildlife Ranch in suburban Snellville to wait for the big moment. To keep us reporters, um, engaged until then, there were bottles of something alcoholic, along with dozens of ham, bacon, egg and sausage biscuits. By the time poor old General Lee was poked until he came out of his slumber and investigated who the hell was bothering him, we were pretty well loaded and larded.  It was dark when he emerged from his faux plantation home but the Yellow River boys insisted he saw his shadow. Fine. Six more weeks of winter in Atlanta just means six more weeks of spring. Oh, they had snow once or twice in the 8 years I lived there. I think it totalled a quarter inch, which sent the Georgia peaches into a hissy fit.

Personally, I think the whole groundhog thing is a ruse. A better gauge might be whether or not Ryan Gosling looks in the mirror and sees his five o’clock shadow. He’s Canadian, you know. It’s always winter to him.

Epilogue: You don’t see me in the package above. I did shoot a standup but a prissy anchor had it killed. I was in front of groundhog pelt nailed on the wall of the cabin across from General Lee’s enclosure. I said “…and if the ground hog is wrong….” and turned towards the pelt. Some people just have no sense of humor.