Your Weekly Antics, Old Man Winter's Not Done Yet Edition 3-2-2023

Well kids we are plugging a long, have made it through what some may consider the meat of the winter, and have hit March. Just remember what we were taught growing up in New England, just because March has rolled around doesn’t mean that we can kiss Old Man Winter farewell. Just 18 days away from our first day of spring, a rookie New Englander may tempt fate and start putting away their shovels and ice melt…for the rest of us, we know better. Unless you want to jinx us all, you don’t put that stuff away until at least May 1st if you’re lucky, because let’s face it…if you’ve lived here long enough you know when it comes to the weather the weather doesn’t care what month or season it is. It’s going to do what it wants, when it wants. Mother Nature holds the power people, we’re just along for the ride. Here’s what I’ve got…

1. March - the month without holidays that won't provide us with any days off from work or school. Often it feels like the longest month of the year as we never know what we're going to wake up to...could be snow, could be rain, freezing rain, a wintery mix of all of the above, sun, temperatures ranging from below zero to 70 degrees. One day you may see someone walking around in shorts, another dressed like they're heading out in to the frozen tundra. In like a lion, out like a lamb...hopefully out like a lamb that is...April notoriously can't be trusted either.

2. You guessed it…let’s start this month off with a full moon, shall we? The next full moon is the Worm Moon. The Worm Moon will shine its luminous beams of light across the night sky starting on March 7th. I myself am a bit concerned with this upcoming full moon because I don’t feel as though we ever truly recovered or got out of the last full moon cycle. The universe is a bit off kilter these days enough so that it makes you not want to leave your house. According to The Old Farmers' Almanac, which first began publishing the names for the full moons in the 1930s, it states, some southern Native American tribes referred to the full Moon in March as the "Worm Moon" because earthworms were thought to appear around this time as the ground thawed from winter… Good luck and Godspeed to any earth worm who thinks they’re going to resurface here in the 02 in the next week or so – it’s been too damn cold out. Do yourself a favor friend, stay underground.

3. There are all kinds of fun and interesting facts about this final full moon of the winter season. It will grace us with its presence on the nights of Monday, March 6th, and Tuesday, March 7th. Specifically, this full Worm Moon will reach its peak of illumination at 7:42am on Tuesday, March 7th here in our neck of the woods. Now don't get all worked up people, you have options. You don’t have to wait until the middle of the night to see the Moon - Look for the spectacularly bright Moon as it rises above the horizon on Monday evening. The Farmers Almanac tells us if your weather is poor on Monday night, try again on Tuesday...if we should get a bit of rain on either of these nights don't despair, you may even get to spot a rare phenomenon called a moonbow. A moonbow is just like a solar rainbow, but is created by moonlight (rather than sunlight) when it is refracted through water droplets in the air. Moonbows only happen when the Full Moon is fairly low in the sky, so look for one in the hours after sunset when the sky is dark. Interested in learning more about moonbows? Check out this link... https://www.almanac.com/moonbows

4. Driving - speaking of not wanting to leave the house and people losing their minds...driving has been treacherous. I understand we are all lacking patience these days, myself included. Do you ever look around at people who are driving right a long side of you? Next time you're at a red light, ever so cautiously if you dare, try to take a nonchalant glance at the driver next to you...tell me if I'm wrong. Do 95% of people out driving think that the rest of us on the road can't see them in their cars? Eating their lunches, doing their make up, brushing their hair, texting, talking on the phone, doing their nails, reading, you name it. It's as if everyone thinks they're sitting around relaxing in their living rooms rather than driving a piece of machinery at high speeds down Park Ave.

Get it together.

5. HIPAA – Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 – you’re all familiar with it. We’ve all been handed a sheet of paper when going to our Doctors offices, asked to read and sign it, letting us all know that they’re going to keep all of your private and confidential information private. Working for an agency that handles and manages consumers sensitive and private personal information, we are required to have regular trainings and reviews of HIPAA policies, standards and expectations. We get the email with the link to the training with more than enough advanced notice to get it done. We get gentle reminders. Then friendly reminders. Finally we get the gently worded what is your issue, get the damn training done emails … I tend to wait to get the last email before getting myself together and completing the training. Can you all guess who’s in charge of making sure we complete these trainings? You guessed correctly again folks, it’s our friend Amy Bullett. Why she still speaks to me after all these years of torment is beyond me. Today’s response to my reminder to get my act together and complete my training was met with what I feel was a valid suggestion and was worded as such...I will be the first person to complete the next HIPAA training if it is narrated by Morgan Freeman. Sounds reasonable to me.

6. Exhibit 1, take a gander at this. If you look around at your surroundings when you're out and about you can find things that peak your curiosity and add a little humor to your day. On this particular day that felt like the 7th Monday of my week this was brought to my attention by the youngest Kap kid...you think this guy was drunk when he painted these lines?

7. I’ll be spending my weekend with Michelle Whiting – lifelong friend of 30 years and former college roommate. She has about as much patience for me now as she did in the 90’s, so if no one hears from me by this time next week, send help. I’ll be somewhere in New Hampshire.

8. Anyone who knows and loves my Mother knows she has a sweet spot for cinnamon rolls and/or sticky buns. She makes them, she shares them, she loves them. I was out and about and passing by one of my favorite places, Mykonos Bakery and decided I'd grab her one of their sticky buns for a taste test comparison - see how she thinks Chris and his professional bakers rate up against her tried and true cinnamon roll recipe. I'm happy to report Chris and his bakers earned much praise. Exhibit 2 - text proof the sticky bun was a big hit.

9. In case you're curious, the trash wars continue, and not just my Mother's. There's been a lot of talk about the recycling, the new rules, residents not knowing what can and cannot go in to the recycling bin. Word on the street amongst the elderly community is, they're not happy. One guy told me. just because I'm retired and old doesn't mean I've got all this time to be finicky about my trash. Sometimes the recycling bin is emptied by the trash guys successfully, other times they leave the bins with all sorts of stuff left inside. I'm telling you right now...you don't mess with our elders and their trash. They do have time to spare and with that time they will make it their lifes mission to mess with the city, the city trash guys, and the city's trash laws. Don't make more work for yourselves trash people.

9a. Another fun fact about our elderly community - just because they're retired, bet you're ass they have places to be and people to see. Just because you have stylish scrubs and a fancy lab coat embroidered with your name and all those fancy letters on it, doesn't mean you'll get away with letting them sit around waiting for you when you're late for their scheduled appointment. You give an elder an appointment time you should know in advance that they will be at least 15-30 minutes early for that appointment. You know, just in case you may on the off chance be running ahead of schedule, and because if you're not early, that means you are in fact, late. If you're a few minutes late you're going to hear about it. If you're really dumb and arrive after your patient arrives leaving them sitting around waiting for you - you're going to hear about that too - let me know how that works out for you.

10. Big announcement and addition to the Miller/Kapacziewski Clan this week. I'd like to announce the arrival of my newest nephew. He's dark, handsome, a bit lanky but they're confident he'll grow in to his legs eventually, he drools, but no worse than Rosie, and according to Kiley, he doesn't always make it to the bathroom on time.

Exhibit 3, George Miller.

And last but not least, heed the good advice given to you this week and do not put away those snow shovels just yet. Old Man Winter is all fired up and not quite ready to be done with us. Stay safe and stay warm!

Have a good weekend!