Snow On By

At press time, we STILL haven't gotten snow. It was cloudy all day, but it never snowed once. Not one flake. I heard that it snowed in Delaware and in Atlantic and Cape May Counties, but never here in the Philadelphia/Camden area. It wasn't even that cold; mid 30s, same as yesterday.

I did my laundry today and watched my favorite cartoons. Baseball was the theme of Dora the Explorer. Dora's buddy Boots can catch and throw well, but he's not much of a hitter. You have to get him and Dora past the Grumpy Old Troll (who is hitting balls instead of spouting riddles), a pond shaped like a mitt, and Swiper the Fox in a hot dog costume (don't ask) and get them to the game. A cute "Catch the Explorer Stars" arc episode; I loved the very useful "Baseball Explorer Star."

Go Diego Go! covered something a bit more delicate. The animal rescuing sibling pair chase an elusive Blue Muto Butterfly after Diego's buddy Baby Jaguar accidentally scares it away. A typical episode with an atypical animal. I've seen pictures of the real Blue Muto Butterfly, and it is beautiful but apparently just as hard to find in real life as it is here.

Today's Backyardigans was a repeat, but it was a fun one. Tasha the bossy hippo learns a lesson in manners from Uniqua and her guy friends when, as Princess CleoTasha, she and her retainers (the boys) must bring Uniqua the Sphinx gifts in order to find out why the Nile's dried up. I'm reminded here of why Uniqua and Tasha are my favorite members of the Backyardigans. Tasha is smart, logical, and a born leader...but she can also be one rude little girl, not only here, but in other episodes, and a tad lazy. I suspect Uniqua and Tasha are best friends partially because, unlike the boys, Uniqua has enough sense not to put up with Tasha's bull.

It was still cloudy and cold when my laundry was done, so I ended up getting a ride to work. Work was steady when I came in during the usual after-work rush hour, stone-cold-dead by the time I finished at 9.