Byrd's Eye View

I know it's not a new way of gathering information, but this election cycle seems to have brought poll after poll to news outlets.  We can see how voters of every race, gender, creed and economic level are voting.  We can even speculate on what people think about one candidate's chances against another.

My question to you, the voter and the viewer is, does any of that matter to you?

My personal theory is that polling reflects more than the bare statistics that are passed along.  They also reflect what the media is presenting and how the people in the media are doing their jobs. 

I suspect that polls don't have a great deal of influence over voters other than to let them know if their preference is in the majority or the minority on a certain day.  More than anything, I hear voters explaining their choice in candidate by pointing to policy, values and ideas -- not the polls.

So... do polls matter to you?  How do you use them (if you do)?  Do they influence your decision about who will get your vote?

It was "one of those days", as they say, and I didn't have the cord to download these pictures for our newscast tonight.   Terribly frustrating on my end, and I've heard that the kids were also very let down.  I'm very sorry that I couldn't show your beautiful faces on the news tonight, but I will have them on Monday morning between 6:40 am and 7:00 am if you can set your VCR's.

Thank you for the warm welcome that you gave me when I visited!  Franklinville is a lovely town and your hospitality was greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Oh, Mom's fine.

For those of you who live near her, she'll be out tomorrow morning (and the next and the next), walking her usual route and picking up trash.  She's called the Trash Lady by some who don't know her. 

No, today Mom took my brother and I ahead to a time that neither of us want to think about.  You see, she's at that point in life where she wants to make plans for her last days.  She went to several attorneys who specialize in estate planning, and settled on an attorney in the Guilford College area who she really connected to. 

Today, Mom arranged for Jon and I to meet with Cheryl and take a look at some of her arrangements for her Last Will and Testament, Powers of Attorney, and her Living Will.  I was prepared for some stuff, but that last one, the Living Will, had me unglued. 

You see, my mom and her sisters had to make a decision about my grandmother about 15 years ago.  They were told that Mommac was in the last stages of Parkinson's and that she was not going to recover.  They had to decide whether or not to feed her and hydrate her through tubes.  Unfortunately, Mommac's mind was still good... it was her body that failed her.  She couldn't speak anymore and her expressions were fleeting.  She was so tired...

It took two weeks for her to die.  It was awful.  We don't know if she suffered since they probably didn't administer pain medications or morphine back then, but I know that her daughters suffered every minute of every day knowing that they decided to essentially starve her to death. 

Mom wants to protect Jon and I from that decision, if it comes, but she didn't know whether she wanted to sign anything with specific instructions.  I didn't want to be at a big, shiny wood table with pages of legalese -- jargon that became almost comical to read.  Pages with initials, signatures, witnesses, notarizing... but they all represent my mother's last days.   My mom and her care.  Her death.  Those are the days that I will only want to be next to her, holding her hand.  Or feeding her.  Making her comfortable.  Watching "Monk", "Columbo"  and "Harvey" on DVD over and over again.  Reading the latest children's book to her (she was a children's librarian for over 20 years).  I don't want my mother's sacred last days reduced to pages of paper.

I must say at this point that Cheryl and her assistant, Kent, were smart, professional, and extremely patient through the entire process.  They stayed to answer every question for as long as it took, and showed great sensitivity to the grave subject at hand.  And they assured us that we're doing paperwork now so that we don't have to do it (and more) at a later time when we'd rather be sitting with Mom, watching DVD's and making her comfortable. 

Mom's a trooper.  She's even trying figure out what to do with her ashes.  I think that's a great idea since Mommac is still in a shoebox on a shelf.  Really.

But now that we've signed everything, Mom can relax.  She'll be out tomorrow morning marching around the neighborhood just like she does every morning.  She was recently "clipped" by a minivan which left her laying in the road and limping for a week.  I like to say Mom got hit by a truck.  And she keeps on going.  I figure she still has six or seven lives left, so hopefully I won't have to pull out those "Columbo" DVD's anytime soon.

Barack HUSSEIN Obama is a Muslim terrorist who was sworn in on the Quran, trained in radical Muslim schools, refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance, is endorsed by the president of the Ku Klux Klan, belongs to a radical church that excludes non-blacks and has a non-negotiable commitment to Africa.  He said he wants to change the greatest nation in the world (that would be the U.S. in case you're wondering) and his campaign is being funded by Hugo Chavez.  Oh, and he's still trying to learn how to hold a telephone correctly...

Come on, people.  How dumb does a person have to be to believe this bunk?  It's all lies.

Or do you think that 70% of voters in Illinois are stupid?  Obama won the Senate seat 70% to 27% over Alan Keyes in 2004.  That's 3,597,000 people who were apparently snowed into thinking this "radical Muslim" was the best person to represent them in the Senate.  13.3 million Americans have voted for him as their presidential candidate.

From the Clinton side of things, 12.6 million Americans support Hillary as their presidential candidate, and I won't even go into the hate and discontent that's directed towards her.

Luckily, I haven't seen any falsehoods about McCain, but I'm sure they're out there. 

The point I'm trying to make here is that desperate people write terrible things when they're ignorant and scared.  They cut and paste when they're ignorant, scared and lazy.

I'm getting very tired of partial "facts" and flat-out lies being passed along through e-mail and in blogs.   It's not just for the presidential race, it's present at all levels of politics. 

If you disagree with a candidate's politics and philosophy, that's completely fair.   Choose the person who represents your values, your outlook, and your vision for this country.

Check everything out on every candidate.  Stop with the cuts and pastes and please make an informed, intelligent decision when you vote.   

www.snopes.com is a pretty good resource for sorting through the muck.  Enjoy.

After years of watching tulips and daffodils bloom in the yards of my neighbors, I finally remembered to plant some bulbs last fall.  Some of them have pushed through the soil and are showing off in my front yard.  So what happened to the ones that I so lovingly planted in the back yard?

The answer:  the dog.

After kneeling, digging, positioning, covering, patting down and watering about 50 bulbs in a lovely, meandering pattern across my back yard, I stiffly stood to survey my hard work.  What I saw was my dog, Morgan (who I call Divot when I'm particularly exasperated with her), sitting happily at attention next to me.  Behind her wagging tail was a trail of freshly unearthed bulbs. 

I patted her on her smart little head and walked back to the house.

What have you planted and what are your favorite springtime flowers?

Here is a transcript of a voicemail message that I received today:

"Hi Emily, this is Miss Simmons.  I, uh, watch you every morning on, uh, FOX 8 weather and being as that we, my husband and I, were discussing how totally disgusted we are with your silliness over the music in the mornings, antagonizing Cindy to join in your dancing and whatever, we're going to have to block you.  Sorry!"

Now, aside from the ring-and-run aspect of this message, (she didn't leave a return phone number or any way to contact her), I was a little surprised.  The observation that I hear most from people is that they really enjoy the music and shots of all of us dancing in the morning.  Furthermore, it is very rare that I ever appear on-camera dancing.

I would like to know what you think.  Do you like the 10-20 seconds that we have music and show our crew enjoying it right before weather in the morning?  Would you rather not have that as part of the morning newscast?

Sound off!

This was a HUGE snowstorm that dumped snow by the feet in western North Carolina.  I remember having a competition with a neighbor up the street to see who could come up with the most creative snow sculpture... she made a giant snail, my mom and I sculpted SPRING in huge letters across the front yard and colored each letter with food coloring.  We actually made the front page of the News & Record!

What do you remember about this historic storm?

 

Our friends at the National Weather Service are offering a Severe Weather Spotter/ Advanced SKYWARN training class in Greensboro:

• Guilford County Emergency Management Facility

          1002 Meadowood Street, Greensboro

• March 12, 2008 
• 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
• FREE!

These classes are designed to help spotters better understand the meteorology and dynamics behind all types of severe weather.  The class will provide insight into the thunderstorm spectrum and how and why different types of storms develop.  Prior SKYWARN Basic training is advised.

Topics include:

• relation of instability to updraft intensity;
• wind shear impact on storm behavior and severity;
• processes necessary for tornado development;
• weather patterns conducive to severe weather outbreaks.

 For more information, please contact Steve Marks or Jeff Orrock:

Steve.Marks@guilford-es.com 

(336) 641-2278

Jeff.Orrock@noaa.gov

(919) 515-8209, ext. 223

The forecast for today still looks good for cool and rainy weather through sunset. 

Looking at the latest discussions, outlooks and model data though, I have to consider a good chance of thunderstorms that could be strong to severe overnight tonight and into the early morning hours on Saturday.

The Storm Prediction Center has the eastern half of North Carolina under a Slight Risk for severe weather, with our extreme southern and eastern counties (Chatham, Randolph, Montgomery) coming close to the highlighted area.  This Slight Risk area may be pulled westward later today.

Here is the tricky part of the forecast... 

• The Triad will be in a cool, stable wedge of air today.  (We sometimes refer to this as the Appalachian Wedge.) 
  
• A low will be moving northward from the Gulf coast.  It will come through North Carolina later this evening and overnight. 
  
• Where will that low end up traveling?  If it comes through the eastern Piedmont,  the cool air stays put and no thunderstorms for us.  If it moves through the mountains or foothills, the cool air gets mixed out by warmer air overnight, and it could provide a more unstable environment for thunderstorms to develop.

The latest models indicate that the low will be lifting northward, up the Appalachian mountains.  With that in mind, we're going to have to prepare for the chance of strong to severe thunderstorms later tonight.  The primary threat will be once again for wind damage and isolated tornadoes.

As before, please feel free to post your observations and storm reports in the comments section of this blog.  Don't forget to put the time of your observation and location.

Many thanks in advance for your documentation!

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We did a story this morning about the proposal to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18.

Do you think this is a good idea or a bad idea, and why?

Click to play video

What a lovely sight in our eastern sky this morning, (March 5, 2008)!  Mercury is barely visible but Venus was big and bright.

If you look to the east in the evening, you can see Saturn.

Happy viewing!

 

The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has the eastern Piedmont to the Coast of North Carolina in a moderate risk  for severe thunderstorms today.  The rest of the state is at a slight risk for severe thunderstorms.  What does that mean?

A moderate risk means that severe weather will affect 5 to 10 percent of the outlined area.  

A slight risk means that severe weather will affect 2 to 5 percent of the outlined area.

The timeframe for severe weather today is roughly between 4:00 pm and 9:00 pm.  The primary threat from these storms is damaging winds, though isolated tornadoes aren't out of the question. 

Just a reminder, a severe thunderstorm produces winds of at least 58 mph, penny-sized hail or tornadoes.  All thunderstorms produce lightning, and the frequency of lightning strikes has nothing to do with whether or not a storm is severe.

Post your storm reports here, in the "Comments" section so that we can keep up with the action in your part of the Piedmont.  (Don't forget to tell us where you are!)

Stay tuned to FOX 8 and myfoxwghp.com for severe weather coverage.

 

 

For the first primary vote in my memory, North Carolina's delegates MIGHT actually matter. 

After Pennsylvania's primaries on April 22, the Old North State has the most delegates of any state left to have a primary or caucus, (134 for Democrats and 69 for Republicans), on May 6th.

So I'm curious... are you planning on voting in the North Carolina primaries?  Do you feel our state will have a notable impact on the nominees for the 2008 Presidential election?

Yikes! 

If the meat recall doesn't have you thinking twice about chomping into that burger, the graphic video showing animal abuse at Westland/Hallmark Meat Company might.

This isn't a blog to convince people to give up meat.  I think that's an individual's personal decision.   With that said, if you want to take a break from eating meat for a day, a week or just cut back your consumption, it's really easy to find meat-free foods to satisfy your appetite and your taste. 

People cut back on or stop eating meat for any number of reasons.  I've met folks who just don't like the taste anymore.  Not me!  I love (to my core) cheeseburgers.  My mouth waters whenever I smell a cook-out or a pepperoni pizza.   I became a vegetarian solely because of the way animals are treated.   Unfortunately, I'm not always good at being a vegetarian and sometimes allow myself salmon or tuna.  It's rare, but sometimes I just need the protein.  Someday I hope to be disciplined enough to eliminate those two foods from my diet.

Choosing a vegetarian way of eating doesn't necessarily mean eating a salad for every meal or learning to tolerate mushy tofu.  Heavens, no!  These days there are lots of creative and flavorful choices.  Not only do vegetarian foods provide ample protein, but some taste so much like meat you probably won't miss a thing.

I'm not kidding!  I've shared my vegetarian sloppy joes and chili with avid meat-eaters and they have unanimously said that they were delicious and close enough to the real McCoy that they wouldn't have noticed the difference if I hadn't told them ahead of time.  

Some brands you may want to try:  Morningstar Farms, Boca, Amy's and Gardenburger.  (There are others, but these are the ones that I've tried).  These products aren't just about burgers (though they are very yummy), they also provide sausage, corndogs, hot dogs, "ground beef", chick'n patties, chick'n nuggets and bacon.  I've tried them all and they are wonderful!

Nuts are staples of a good vegetarian diet.  How yummy is that??  You can snack and get healthy fats in your diet.  They also provide great long-term energy.  Fruits and vegetables will not only provide big nutrition and fiber, but they are often locally grown, so you support your local farmers. 

Finding vegetarian choices in restaurants is easier than ever.  Sometimes it takes a little extra investigation when ordering in a restaurant.  Depending on how strict you are, you may want to ask if the chef uses chicken stock for flavoring (mashed potatoes, marinara sauces, etc.) or gelatin in recipes.  

Asian and Middle Eastern foods are also incredibly flavorful and often are meat-free.  Try hummus, couscous, falafel, and vegetable spring rolls.   If you're cooking a recipe that calls for chicken or beef stock, you can substitute vegetable stock as a delicious alternative. 

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was  to "eat a rainbow every day".  If you have lots of color on your plate, you're getting some great balance in your diet.

Just to make sure the bases are covered, it's important to consult your physician if you're going to change your diet, simply to make sure that any underlying health issues are addressed. 

I can only speak from my own experience.  I feel great on this diet but I understand that it's not for everyone.  Consider it though if you're even the least bit curious.  You may find that you like it!

 

 Purses Help Homeless Critters

 

Your gently used, and new, purses, pocketbooks, handbags, backpacks and wallets can help homeless puppies and kittens in 2008!  It’s time to go through those closets and drawers and donate to a worthy cause.  Your gently used purses can help reduce a growing problem.  Hundreds of puppies and kittens are abandoned each year in our community.  Funds are needed in order for these animals to receive the medical care and food they need until permanent homes are found.  The Animal Rescue & Foster Program will be collecting gently used purses during the month of January to resell at an upcoming fundraiser.

 

Donations can be dropped off at the Next Step Adoption Center, located at 705 Milner Drive in Greensboro.  Call 336-323-0850 for more details or go to www.arfpnc.com .