With Plenty of Money and Snow

I really, really had to get to the bank and deposit my tax return today. My rent was way overdue. I went out this morning...and am very glad I did. It was a gorgeous February day. Yes, it was still cold and there's still a foot of snow here, but all of the streets and most of the sidewalks had been cleared. Some sidewalks were still icy, especially on the White Horse Pike, but I didn't really have much of a problem running errands. I delivered my rent to my landlady and paid more of my debt to the dentist next-door to the bank.

Dad drove me to work and back. Work was very busy. It was far busier than yesterday, but still not nearly as bad as Friday. People must have heard the reports for the next storm on the morning news. Thankfully, there were no major problems, and my relief was on time.

(And since the roads are so clear, I may end up walking to work tomorrow. They're still too messy for the bike, but I hate relying on other people's schedules.)

My landlady Miss Ellie was just coming home when I arrived. She had her own mail and something in a tube for me. I helped her spread salt on her front stoop, then took my tube upstairs. Turned out to be the first part of my order from Rhino Records, home of the Monkees. They finally put out the Deluxe Edition of one of my favorite Monkees albums. The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees features one of my two favorite Monkees songs, "Daydream Believer," along with another big hit, "Valleri," and their last top-20 single until 1986, "DW Washburn." The big "Deluxe Edition" that was supposed to have appeared today includes 12 previously unreleased songs.

The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees: Deluxe Edition

Rhino was selling posters with the first 500 orders and 45 singles of Mike Nesmith's "St. Matthew" and Peter Tork's "Lady's Baby" with the first 1,000 orders. Guess which big fan ordered early enough to get both? I really love the poster I got, too, a shot of the group performing Mike's "What Am I Doin' Hangin' 'Round?" in the early second season.

(Alas, at the moment, it looks like it's either sold out, or they've had so many problems, they've stopped selling it. It took Lauren and me forever to order the darn thing. First, the site wouldn't show it, then it wouldn't show up in the cart. At least it seems to have gone through.)

It was such a nice day, I went for a quick walk in the neighborhood after I checked out the poster. I went down Goff Avenue to take pictures of the river. I'm not sure how well my shots came out. Turns out the landing that leads to the river had been plowed over. I almost went tumbling down the hill trying to get around the snow bank to get some shots!

Walked over to West Clinton Avenue after the batteries on my camera ran out. Visited the Dorias at Doria's Deli and bought a Diet 7-UP. They were fine. Unlike a lot of people around here, they don't mind doing a lot of shoveling and seem to have enjoyed the weather.