Hand Me Down World

When I was a kid a morning like this with the fairly widespread frost that I saw just about everywhere on my drive in this morning would have our school teachers talking about squirrels scurrying around gathering twigs & leaves to line those huge nests high in the trees for warmth & looking for enough food to get them through the harshest part of the winter. I remember thinking that with my nine brothers & sisters it wasn't so much different than what my mom did to get all of us ready to face the winter ahead. The heavy winter clothes would come out in droves and the "hand me down" wars would begin! I never seemed to get exactly the coat or hat that I had my eyes on for a winter or two before. And I always ended up with the MITTENS!! The gloves were what I wanted....they looked so much better than those mittens! You could tell "guy gloves" but there was no such thing as "guy mittens". They could be hand me downs from one of my sisters for all anyone knew!! And the kids at school would remind you of that OFTEN! That must be why the 60's group The Guess Who sang "don't give me no hand me down world".... But not one of the 10 of us ever went to school cold...So the squirrels would get ready to keep warm for winter just like we did. A few things you don't think about as a kid though is how your mom & dad made sure the house was warm when you got home. In those days as the squirrels were scraping up everything they could find to keep warm, parents were scraping up every dime they could find to keep the house warm; we just either never knew it or never thought about it. Today though I think about it a lot. With the cost of heating oil & other fuels, keeping the home warm today may be even more difficult than during the days of my family "hand me down wars". Here's hoping that while the squirrels are rustling through leaves getting things ready to help them stay warm this winter all of us can rustle up ways to keep our homes warm too.

Give Peace A Chance

It really pisses me off...oh wait...I should try being more civil. It really angers me to hear the reaction of some this morning to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama. It's really laughable to hear the reasoning of some people as to why it was not deserved. Well thought out reasoning like "what a joke" or "he's an idiot", "the guys a moron" or "I'm no fan of Obama". Well, fan or not, as Americans we should all be proud of the fact that our president is viewed by the rest of the civilized world as someone who is deserving of the award. It's sad to think that we will hear more anti Obama sentiment over the Nobel prize here than anywhere else in the world. With all of the problems we have here at home & the questionable commitments we've made to other countries we should all take a moment to put aside "the reasoning" of some & think clearly about how important it is to have the world find our leader worthy of such an honor. In today's dangerous world the U.S. should never take its eye off the ball. But for those who want it...... maybe it's finally time to "Give Peace A Chance".

Where's My Trophy?

Well I'm just about dried out & warmed up this morning after yesterday's GT Outdoor Power Equipment Invitational to benefit the Christmas Fund. The golf tournament took place at Green Mountain National at Killington and I do have to say this: Even with the rain coming down & the wind whipping up as the temperature struggled to hold onto 50 degrees Green Mountain has got to be one of the most beautiful courses in the east. Even through the nasty weather the views really were incredible. It would've been so much better if the weather had cooperated, but with the Christmas Fund as the beneficiary it was all for a very worthy cause. Thanks to Cassella Waste Management & LaValley's Building Supply the entire $80 fee to play in the tournament went directly to the fund. The group I played in included Bruce Milo of Rutland's Vermont Home Theatre & Drive listener Janet Cole. All I can tell you is that the weather got the best of all of us. By the time we had hit the eleventh hole all of us were ready to throw in the towel (which, by the way, was soaking wet from constantly wiping off the seat of the golf cart). With the "best ball" format we started out the day hoping for at least a somewhat respectable showing, but with the rain & wind continually getting the best of us we gradually went from who was going to play the best to who was going to SUCK the most! By hole 9 or 10 all three of us had our run at that dubious distinction but when we finally got to the refuge of the club house I had only one question...where's my trophy?

Radio Forever! Except In The Fall.

Even radio guys look forward to the fall TV season. Last spring we were left with cliff hangers on Criminal Minds & Fringe (two of my TV favorites). Fringe kicked off its new season this week & so far it seems to be worth the wait. I hope the new season of Criminal Minds starts out with a good show as well. We'll see. Then there's those comedy shows I look forward to seeing; Big Bang Theory, Two & A Half Men & The Office still crack me up. And just where would we be without the baseball playoffs & the start of football season? Oh yeah, those we can listen to on the radio! So listen to a good ball game on the radio. In a lot of ways they're better that way, but take the time to check out one or two of my favorite TV shows....or just watch your own favorites....The new season is finally here.

It Was A Great Time To be A Kid

I was talking to one of our Drive listeners the other day who also happens to be a friend. Mike Kelly (no relation...and I think he's thankful!!). He mentioned that he had heard me say something on the air last week about the music I was playing that really hit home for him. It was a Stones song from the mid 60's I think and I mentioned, especially from a musical standpoint, what a great time to be alive that decade was. He heard me say that you were hearing all of this great music for the very first time. One after another; one from the Stones, then one from The Beatles & that would be followed by something from another great artist. As great as it is to be playing some of that music today on The Drive, being one of the lucky ones to be hearing that stuff for the very first time as a kid was a very special thing. Mike felt the same way. That got me to thinking about what kind of effect my favorite 60's group The Beatles had on not only my generation, but on a whole new generation 40 some odd years later. And though it really only scratches the surface of why that music is so strongly entrenched in our lifestyles even today, I took a look at some of the statistics concerning The Beatles music that has yet to be duplicated. Take for instance the fact that in the first week of April 1964, The Beatles held twelve positions on the record singles chart, including the top five positions. Neither feat has been matched by any other artist to date. Unless you include the first time their music was released on CD back in 1987. They held the top 5 chart positions again, but this time on the album charts. And now with the release of The Beatles Rock Band & the newly remastered Beatles catalog they are dominating the charts again for a third time. Four of those remastered albums made the top ten, with seven more in the top 40. They had 16 titles in the top 60, breaking a record set by Elvis Presley in 1977. As I mentioned earlier, all these numbers just scratch the surface. It's the reason for all those numbers that is the real story. And for that reason you just have to go back to the time I was a kid....that reason is quite simple: the music.

Division III Team, Division I Host

Although it's been 5 years since my son Kevin graduated from Castleton State, I was part of the crowd at the historic first football game at the college this past weekend. The weather was beautiful, the playing field looked great, & the football team looked pretty impressive with a 42-28 victory over Anna Maria College. Granted, Castleton's first game was against another team with a start up program: The AMCATS of Anna Maria College play their very first home game this Saturday in Paxton, Massachusetts. The Spartan's real first test will come this weekend when they travel to Utica to take on Utica College. I do have to tell you though that even though The Spartans are a D-III football team, the whole day felt like a page out of Division I. There was a group of about 20 of us who started our day together tailgating with the other hundreds of fans at about 9:30 Saturday morning. I heard someone say at one point that College President David Wolk wanted everything to feel like a Division I experience & if that's true, without a doubt, he succeeded. It was a day I was happy to be part of and if you missed the chance to experience a day of football at Castleton plan on doing that during their next home game on September 26 when they host Gallaudet. Do that & you'll get a taste of Division I football courtesy of a Division III team.

A Thousand Words

Today's post is one I wish I wasn't writing. Although I don't know them well, I met Martin & Betsy Fortin a few years ago when both of our daughters were attending college together. The one thing I can tell you about them is that they are two of the finest people I have ever met. I recall on "parents weekends" hoping to see them on campus so that we might be able to spend a little time together during a hectic couple of days. The day before our daughters graduated Martin & I spent a few minutes talking about what our daughters would be doing after graduation and I remember him also talking proudly about his son Joe and his plan to join the service. Then, the other day I read about the death in Iraq of 2nd Lt. Joseph Fortin of St. Johnsbury. As a parent, how do you put into words how you feel about the loss of a child whether it is your own or someone else's? Your heart aches. Then you see a photo like the one above & you realize that words aren't necessary. This picture truly speaks a thousand words.