A Lovely Day at the Beach

/in /by

Every year, for the first few Sundays after the Super Bowl, McCaffrey the MilleniaLab starts sulking at about 3:00 because for some reason we won’t turn on our weekly football game. (Last year we actually resorted to watching basketball the first weekend after the season ended.)

So we decided to try to tire him out before the sulk hit with a nice walk on the beach (it was a very balmy 39 degrees out).

I’ll let you know whether this effectively pre-empted the first post-football sulk of the season or not.

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  2. Neil says:

    That’s a great photo of you and McCaffrey the MilleniaLab. I didn’t know the eastern beaches of Lake Michigan were so wide in places or that you lived close enough to go there for a walk with McCaffrey.

    Co Celtics!

    • emptywheel says:

      Ah, remember, I moved. This is W MI. This was taken at Grand Haven, MI, about due east of Milwaukee.

      I’m not actually sure whether we were standing on ice or sand at that point–it was the last major ridge of ice formation before a long plain of ice reaching out into Lake MI.

      • Neil says:

        Now I remember you mentioning DeVos and Grand Rapids. On google satellite, it looks like the beach is especially wide near the breakwater.

        Even with a cold wind blowing, a walk on the beach reminds me of the promise of the new season ahead.

        Shoveling out from under this years’ frequent and substantial snow storms (including three thunder-snows) has been a good workout but I’m ready for mud season.

        • emptywheel says:

          This is a beach, not a sand dune (our favorite sand dune park wouldn’t be great fun right now bc all the stairs would be under 2 feet of snow). I’m just not sure where the beach ends and the water (now ice) begins. Now that I’ve looked at the satellite picture, I think that the ridge we were on–the last one before teh ice flattens out for maybe a mile–is probably where teh waves normally start to break.

          Dunno–I’m new to these beaches in winter.

  3. Rayne says:

    All melty here on the eastern-ish side, too sloppy for a walk with a dog if we had one.

    But getting rid of the ice on the driveway means some kids can go outside and shoot hoops for the first time in months.

  4. scribe says:

    Ah, signs of the season to come: spring.

    Earlier this week, we had a flock of robins foraging through the crabapple trees in the neighborhood, leaving below a gawdawful mess on the snow below.

    The second sign of spring coming: this morning, one could easily note that the skunks were out singing their songs and, especially, leaving their scents of luuuuuuv. They tend to go out looking for love come Valentine’s Day, a useful reminder for those of us for whom the days tend to run togther.

    And, without derogating McCaffery’s merits, I will say there’s nothing – nothing – that romps like a happy setter.

    And it was a balmy 14 here this morning, up from -6 Friday morning. I didn’t even need my gloves….

  5. PJEvans says:

    On the other hand, here in Los Angeles we have something moving in with cloud cover.
    However, it was comfortable outside and the wind wasn’t blowing.
    (I have a grapevine that’s waking up. It seems to figure that if it isn’t freezing at night, it’s time to grow. The others are at least a month behind it.)

  6. MadDog says:

    …it was a very balmy 39 degrees out…

    This is not your usual February in Minnesota. Tis 47 here on the tundra right now and we even had a wee bit of rain. May have to break out the swimming trunks.

  8. skdadl says:

    Ah, Lake Michigan — that’s the one we let you have to yourselves (*rrrr*).

    North shore of Lake Ontario (which Janet Napolitano considers fair game for her drones): where I am, winter isn’t usually all that tough, given the Canadian norm, but we’ve had an unusually sustained cold spell, not that much snow but rilly cold, just breaking now. We do temps in Celsius, so I won’t tell you what they are b/c you’ll think we’re aliens or something.

    My furnace has died. Well, it would, wouldn’t it. I have to clean the cat boxes before I call the furnace man. This may take some time.

  9. skdadl says:

    My wee huis is a storey and a half and it’s easy to keep the half-storey up top warm with a space heater, so I’m ok when I’m being a DFH nerdy typist in my office or when I’m sleeping. The worry is the pipes: cannot let pipes freeze and burst, so … stop typing! clean cat boxes!

  10. shekissesfrogs says:

    Looks like Elliot Abrams has been reading you. How often do you see the adjective “unforced error?”
    EA: Feb 8, 2011

    There has been considerable criticism of the Obama Administration’s handling of the Egypt crisis. One telling complaint in my view is that they’ve been all over the lot: seeming to back the protesters one day, then saying Mubarak is stable (Clinton) and isn’t a dictator (Biden) the next, then back to saying the transition must begin right now, then suggesting that perhaps a slow Mubarak-and-Suleiman-led transition would be the best outcome. The decision to send Frank Wisner to Egypt was a disaster, and was an unforced error.

    EW:Feb 7, 2011

    By and large, the Obama Administration response to this admittedly difficult challenge has been not-horrible. But both Wisner’s selection as envoy (which would have been horrible even without the Patton Boggs connection, given his ties to his daddy’s coup-happy CIA, Enron, and AIG) and Hillary’s outspoken support for Omar Suleiman were unforced errors.

    I’m glad he knows who to read to help him form his opinions (and expand his vocabulary) :)

    • bobschacht says:

      Good God! Eliot Abrams? Here? I wonder if he bothers to read the comments. Well, as a Christian, I believe that no one is beyond redemption. He could start by getting out of bed with the neocons.

      Bob in AZ

  12. WilliamOckham says:

    We are just coming out of a cold snap here. It was down in the 20’s last week. However, this week will be back to normal with the lows in the 50’s and highs in the 70’s. If you want visit Houston, this is the week.

    We have dozens of goldfinchs and even one cardinal at the bird feeders. If you’re into that sort of thing (personally I just see more bird poop on the patio.

    • bobschacht says:

      You live in Houston? For how long? I used to live there, for several significant years. Houston has many fascinating subcultures, and who knows if any of mine overlapped with yours?

      Bob in AZ

  13. JohnJ says:

    No irony intended but….I miss the snow.

    I spent 5 years in Lansing as a kid and had a football field/skating rink a block away with designed sledding hills next to it.

    DC suburbs was just as good; only 4 big snows a year means no clearing equipment so everyone goes home for a few days after the first 1/2 inch falls. Since I was in my 20s then, it was a half gal of SunnyD with a significant portion replaced with Rum and a real Flexible-flier at the steepest, iciest hill we could find.

    Now it’s real hot, not as hot, “freezing cold” at 49 F and trees that can’t figure out what season it is so they dump pollen every time the temp goes below 50 degrees. And crappy jobs. Ahh Florida (just finished my 3rd week without a day off averaging 68hr/wk).