Weathergasm, weathergasm, weathergasm! Part Deux
"Batten down the hatches, secure the jibs, throw things over the stern, shiver me timbers and now I've run out of nautical terms. But you get my drift. It's weathergasm time. I'm not saying we're going to die here, but I'm not saying we're not either. "
Do I sound like any weather people you might know?
Hey, we're one for one so far this season on the big winter blows and looking over the forecast for the weekend, we may be in for another interesting ride. In truth, I hope the forecasters are in error because unlike snow which is pretty and causes a few headaches, ice is a bad thing. Ice knocks down tree limbs which knock down power lines which knocks out electricity which makes life miserable.
During the last big ice storm which hit Memphis February 11, 1994, stately Larksmith Manor was without electricity for 6 days. It was like Hurricane Elvis but with ice and the damage was more widespread. If I remember correctly, the area around Clarksdale, MS was really hard hit with miles of utility poles and line brought down by the ice. Some say ice was six inches in diameter on some utility lines in that area. I'd hate to see any kind of a repeat of that kind of mess.
I will admit to one thing that occurred during the ice storm. I was working early morning news and I was sound asleep when I heard the house go quiet as the electricity went off. I sat up in bed to what sounded like gunfire outside the house. It was the sound of tree branches cracking and breaking. I told my wife that I might as well jump into the shower and get ready for work. Since we have a gas powered water heater, warm water wasn't a problem and my wife had lighted a candle in the bathroom so I had some illumination for shaving. It was about halfway through my shower that I realized I had no way of drying my hair. I thought about trying to get to work with "wet head" but with the temperatures below freezing, I knew it would be pretty rough. Besides, I didn't know if the station would even have power.
So, like any reporter who has learned to improvise, adapt and overcome, I got the hand-bellows from the fireplace. I had my wife pump the bellows while aiming it at my head (please no coarse comments, this is my wife) and I dried my hair. Hey, it worked. I walked into the station with my usual coif! My wife is such a sweetheart.
But getting back to the weathergasm. This is one time I really hope the forecasters are wrong.
I promise I won't give you too much grief if you are.
Do I sound like any weather people you might know?
Hey, we're one for one so far this season on the big winter blows and looking over the forecast for the weekend, we may be in for another interesting ride. In truth, I hope the forecasters are in error because unlike snow which is pretty and causes a few headaches, ice is a bad thing. Ice knocks down tree limbs which knock down power lines which knocks out electricity which makes life miserable.
During the last big ice storm which hit Memphis February 11, 1994, stately Larksmith Manor was without electricity for 6 days. It was like Hurricane Elvis but with ice and the damage was more widespread. If I remember correctly, the area around Clarksdale, MS was really hard hit with miles of utility poles and line brought down by the ice. Some say ice was six inches in diameter on some utility lines in that area. I'd hate to see any kind of a repeat of that kind of mess.
I will admit to one thing that occurred during the ice storm. I was working early morning news and I was sound asleep when I heard the house go quiet as the electricity went off. I sat up in bed to what sounded like gunfire outside the house. It was the sound of tree branches cracking and breaking. I told my wife that I might as well jump into the shower and get ready for work. Since we have a gas powered water heater, warm water wasn't a problem and my wife had lighted a candle in the bathroom so I had some illumination for shaving. It was about halfway through my shower that I realized I had no way of drying my hair. I thought about trying to get to work with "wet head" but with the temperatures below freezing, I knew it would be pretty rough. Besides, I didn't know if the station would even have power.
So, like any reporter who has learned to improvise, adapt and overcome, I got the hand-bellows from the fireplace. I had my wife pump the bellows while aiming it at my head (please no coarse comments, this is my wife) and I dried my hair. Hey, it worked. I walked into the station with my usual coif! My wife is such a sweetheart.
But getting back to the weathergasm. This is one time I really hope the forecasters are wrong.
I promise I won't give you too much grief if you are.
posted by Joe Larkins at 7:33 AM
4 Comments:
Sounds like a great tip for the Survivor castaways. Someone should bring bellows as their special item!
Wow, Joe. You're the no. 2 search result on Google for "weathergasm." As always, keep up the good blogging!
Hey Joe, another blast from the past: "Base to Charlie, what's it doing?" (Charlie Caldwell, videographer at 5) "Bunch of Snow and Ice, better ask Bernie!" (Bernie Mintz, another videographer at 5) "Better tell Trent to adlib I'm in a ditch!" (Trent Wood)
Henry Slavick(5) had kittens and Mr. Wooten (3) would have a laugh.
How come Sid Link (WHBQ-AM) had it on radio before anyone else? Because he listened to his homemade scanner! Alas! Alack! The very good old days!........JD
Memphis WMC-5-NBC News Director Peggy Phillip, the first local television executive, to our knowledge, ever to pen a blog, has shut down her site again. This time after a hailstorm of personal attacks from another blog called "Peggyblues"
Phillip closed shop in mid-October, saying, "Stick a fork in me, I may be done." But she resurfaced a month later with softer, less frequent posts.
The recent appearance of the vitriolic "Peggyblues," which spawned a series of personal attacks on Phillip, her family, and station General Manager Howard Meagle, finally caused her to back down and, admittedly, quit.
"I can handle personal attacks on my appearance, my demeanor, my management style which is admittedly strident at times," she told us. "Once they started with my GM, my co-workers and my family, I had to back down. Once the threats of a letter-writing campaign to the CEO was raised, I had no choice. Raycom has always barely tolerated the blog. Believe me, it's not in my nature to step aside, but these people were distracting and anonymous."
Terry Heaton among others, rose up in Peggy's defense. "And so extortion has won a victory, and the blogosphere has lost a pioneering voice," "Peggy is brusque and competitive and has made her share of enemies, but nobody deserves the kind of personal attacks this site apparently distributed.
"This is one of those times when bloggers need to rise up and, as a group, condemn this pathetic and slanderous Website. Google should fully cooperate by releasing the IP addresses of those who've posted, and WMC's competitors should publicly renounce those who've done this.
"We cannot let anonymous and irresponsible criminals taint the whole blogosphere in this way."
Cory Bergman agrees, writing in The Lost Remote, "They're cowards, pure and simple."
After Phillip took down her blog, Peggyblues also went dark, leaving behind the message, "We will never be exposed. We are not scared."
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