Updates on This and That

Less than a week after the pool was opened, the water temperature was into the high 70s by Wednesday afternoon. That made it perfect for a dip after I rode home from work on my bicycle. (Obviously, I had also ridden the bike to work Wednesday morning, but there is no pool at the office end of the trip.)

Snorkleduck emerged as the most optimistic with a reading of 79, followed by Swanee at 78 and Ducky at 77. Even Tommy Turtle reflected an increase in temperature, moving all the way up to 66 degrees.

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The bags of leaves, clippings, et al, which had reached five in all by Sunday, were finally taken on Monday by the recycling truck.

From the start of the program, they have been tossing the newspapers into the same truck with the cans, bottles and plastic containers. Now, it appears, they also toss in the bags of "garden waste." One has to wonder what happens at the other end when they empty the truck; does some poor soul have to go through and sort it all at the dump?

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You may recall that in last November's elections, the candidate who ran on a "tax revolt" platform was elected to the county legislature. Last week we received a newsletter from him, proclaiming that he had procured $46,000 for the renovation of the baseball diamonds at two of our elementary schools.

These fields are used by various Little League teams during the spring and by adults playing pickup games on Sunday mornings. They have been in the same condition -- all dirt on the infields and scrubby weeds in the outfield -- since before Chuck played t-ball two decades ago. I have no idea what $46,000 will buy in terms of ball field renovation, but I'm sure there are better ways to spend that money in light of all the cuts being made in the funding for the education of the children in those elementary schools. "Sorry, kids, we couldn't afford math books this year, but let's get out there and play some baseball. We can add up the runs!"

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Speaking of school budgets, the local school board announced that this year's increase is only 1.96%. One can only presume that they worked really hard to make sure that number ended up below 2% because, as we all know from shopping, $1.96 is a lot less money than $2.00! Psychologically, anyway.

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And, finally, in the "What do critics know anyway?" Department: Despite negative reviews from every corner, "The Addams Family" appears to be pulling in the big audiences -- and the bucks.
But one really does have to wonder how the totally lackluster score managed to get a Tony Award nomination. Are the rest of the musicals on Broadway this year even worse?