Entered September 22, 2010

Hello, again!

I hope you had a lovely summer.  The weather here has been mostly spectacular ... for months!  It started in early May and continues through this week.  Oh, it got up around 90 degrees (F.) a few times and we had maybe two week’s worth of humid days altogether, but the rest – all five months of it – has been outstanding, with just enough rain to keep everything green without needing to use the sprinkler system very often.  Today’s high temperature was in the upper 70s with lots of sunshine.  And I’m writing this on September 21!  In Canada!  Does that shatter your image of this part of the world?

Y’know, I’ve had a feeling for several years that the day will soon come when a lot of people who moved south because of weather are gonna feel like they made a mistake.  Climate change is having a wonderful effect on places like southern Ontario but not so much in the southern U.S.  People who couldn’t stand two or three months of winter with its colder temperatures and periodic snowfall up north are now down south trying to cope with the annual half-year of continuous, oppressive heat and humidity.  What a bargain!  They’ve traded three months of unlivable weather for six months of unlivable weather!

In the meantime, our pleasant, comfortable summers seem to be getting longer while the winters are getting shorter, less severe, easier.  Other forms of severe weather are something we watch on the TV news.  We don’t live with the threat or reality of hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or flooding.

Can you tell I like it here?

Good thing, too, because this is where we’re going to stay.  I looked over the radio landscape during the past year and saw nothing of interest, nothing I fit or that fits me.  Nobody cares about the audience that's over the age of 45.  Well, I do, but most advertisers do not and, as a result, neither do advertising-supported businesses like radio, especially music radio stations.  If an opportunity arises to do some liners or shows from here for a station somewhere, that would be something to consider, but we’re not moving again.  I calculate that I’ve moved 38 times during my 50-year radio career.  That’s about enough, doncha think?

Mary Ann continues to gain back her strength and energy.  We had a couple of little scares and setbacks over the summer but nothing of lasting consequence.  She’s even got enough hair now that she can blow-dry it!  That may not mean much to you, but it felt like a great achievement to her.  She is so very appreciative of all the support and prayers she's received from family, friends and my former listeners -- terrific people like you who she doesn't even know.  Thank you for helping her through this ordeal.

I’m still not sure what I want to do with this blog and, frankly, the Almanac has been keeping me plenty busy on a daily basis.  It’s been well received and continues to slowly grow a loyal following.  Also it keeps me from thinking I've given in to the dreaded "R" word, retirement.

Not much else to report.  I just wanted to say hello and bring you up to date while wishing you a beautiful autumn.

Bob