Andrew's View of the Week

As The Pizza Cooks – Episode 4

Posted on 01/08/2023 by Andrew Reynolds

What happens after the snow storms? Snow melts. Now there are a bunch of ways you can go with that image, but there is just something about just watching snow melt that is just plain — satisfying, intriguing, meditative … there’s no deep message here, just frozen water, turning to liquid and flowing away.

Some of you are thinking that watching snow melt is about as interesting as watching paint dry. I’m here to tell you that is not true. I did some research here (okay two searches on YouTube), and I found more videos showing snow melting than paint drying so I’m not alone in this thought. It’s hard to see paint actually dry, but you can quickly observe how much snow has melted.

Have you ever looked at your snow covered street and wondered why a certain area starts melting before another? Have you wondered why some areas are dry while others are still wet? No? Well, I’ve spent sometime this week contemplating those questions. I’ve noticed that the street first started melting near the manhole covers over the sewer line. My driveway started melting from the shoveled parts to the edges and the snow over the lawns started melting in the footsteps I left. It’s also interesting that all the concrete paths have melted before the lawns or flower beds.

It should be no surprise that areas in the sun melted first or that where the snow was thinest melted faster. If you really break it down, it’s really a field demonstration of the laws of thermodynamics or how heat moves through … things. After a storm, the air warms, the sun shines and you need to shovel the driveway so you can drive to the store for more pizza.

Yeah, but when you’re stuck inside all week, well this is the kind of stuff that fills your brain.

Okay, my brain. You might not be as interested in thermodynamics or the properties of snow as I am. I’d say more on the subject, but the timer just went and the pizza’s done.

Friday Wisdom – Cats

Posted on 01/06/2023 by Andrew Reynolds

We’ve been mostly snowed in here the last week so what do you do when snowed in? Drink tea, read books and let the cats sit on your lap, so here’s everything I know about cats:

Cat defined: A small furry mammal who is always on the wrong side of a door.

Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

There is a special kind of cat that likes to go bowling – alley cats.

My cats like sitting by my computer watching the mouse.

I just read that a woman was removed from a flight because she let the cat out of the bag.

It was terrible, my neighbors cat lost it’s tail. They had to take it to a re-tail store.

What did the cat say after it ate a clownfish? That tasted funny.

My local police department just hired a bunch of cats for a claw enforcement squad.

Did you know that the Cheshire Cat’s favourite drink is evaporated milk?

I discovered that you have to be carful when it’s raining cats and dogs – you might step in a Poodle.

I went to the library and asked for a book on Pavlov’s dog and Schrodinger’s cat. The reference librarian said, “Rings a bell, but I don’t know whether it’s here or not.”

Is it true that a cat’s favorite song is The Three Blind Mice?

I saw a cat running away from a tree. I think it was afraid of its bark.

Well, enough of all that, I just feel fur-tunate to be a cat owner.

This week a bonus – actual pictures of my cats:

Spotty Kitty – small and ferocious little madam

Boots – large lovable lap cat but she only has two brain cells and no ability to use both at the same time.

Mr. Socks – thinks he’s in charge of everything and this is his favorite bed.

Posted in wisdom | Tagged cat jokes, humor, wisdom | 33 Comments

As the Pizza Cooks – Episode 3

Posted on 01/01/2023 by Andrew Reynolds

It’s 2023! New Year’s Eve here was snowy. Lots of snow. Well, not Buffalo New York amount of snow, but for the desert, it was a lot of snow. We’re talking between 9 to 12 inches, depending on who was shoveling the driveway. I know, some of you are saying, “That’s nothing, we get three feet in a typical storm.” Well, here in the high desert, we normally get an inch or two, two or three times a year. Scraping two inches of snow from the driveway is kind of fun. Nine inches is work, a lot of work.

No, I don’t own a snow blower. They’re expensive and in the three winters we’ve been here, I could have used one, twice. Maybe three times, but Murphy’s Law states that at the three times I would have needed the snow blower, it would break or I’d be out of gas or something. Happened to my neighbor today. He’s got one of those fancy quad off road things with a snow plow attachment on the front. He would have plowed my driveway, except – yup it was broken and every time I looked out my window he was either in the garage getting a tool or lying under the thing with a tool. I thought about loaning him one of my shovels, but somehow that seemed insensitive.

I have to say that the snow is pretty to look at – from the inside of the house while standing in front of the fireplace. Standing in it while wearing snow boots and holding a snow shovel, it doesn’t look as nice. It’s cold, wet and heavy. You have to remove quickly because tonight it’s predicted to drop to nine degrees and anything not removed will be ice tomorrow and just that extra level harder to remove or walk on or drive over. Which would be fine as long as you don’t need to leave the house, but we’re down to three pizzas in the freezer and only have half a package of pepperoni left.

Driving in snow isn’t fun either. I am prepared for driving in the snow. I’ve got a fancy car with all wheel drive with snow tires, but it doesn’t travel well in nine inches of snow. I did drive my grandson’s Honda Element out in it today (had to drive over to our daughter’s place). It has all wheel drive, snow tires and a higher ground clearance than my Subaru, but there were moments that I wondered if this was a good idea. The drive did convince me that my Subaru would have required a tow truck to get anywhere in that deep snow.

Tonight we’re having our pizza and hoping that the county might actually plow our street this week. Likely just a false hope as so far I haven’t found a neighbor who recalls the county ever plowing our street. So I’m just hoping that my neighbor gets his plow fixed before I run out of pepperoni.

Pepperoni moment: Next house I buy will have a smaller driveway.