Happy Holidays

Things that occurred in the last week, both great and not so great. Let's start with the latter.
Standing at a funeral Thursday morning. Everyone deep in thought. A cell phone rings. A loud, shrill ring. Was the man embarrassed? NO. He took the call.
Sitting in mass on Christmas Eve. Everyone deep in prayer. A cell phone rings. One of those goofy ring tones. She took the call!
Cell phones are the greatest invention ever but customers should have to take a test to find out if they have enough common sense to set the phone to vibrate.

We finish 2007 with an ongoing drought. But the weather did cooperate for the most part as folks traveled for the Christmas season.

From my family to yours, may 2008 be a year of great joy and good health.

--Robin

50 Big Ones for Troop 236

Saturday, October 6th I had the rare privilege of serving as master of ceremonies for the 50th anniversary celebration for BSA Troop 236 out of Windsor Hills United Methodist Church. Both of my sons became Eagle Scouts in this Troop. In fact, this organization is approaching 100 Eagle Scouts, 40 in the last ten years alone. To acknowledge that accomplishment, past Eagles chipped in and purchased current Scout Master Don Sipher a brand new lake canoe. Don would rather be in the Adirondack Mountains and the many lakes in upstate New York than any other place in the world. He will be able to add this fine craft to his fleet. Congratulations to all the leaders and young men in the troop!

The "Server" is in charge

It's a well organized rack of wires, hard drives and noisy fans. It saves information. Lots of information. Terabytes of information. And our professional lives are entirely organized by it. You are looking at the News 7 server. As we continue to move toward the high definition news world, we needed to get everything digital. You probably did not notice that on Wednesday, we went on the server. No more video tape. And you should not have noticed. After all, it's just a TV picture to you. But to us, it's the equivalent of a printing press at a newspaper. If the server decides to crash, you will be seeing a re-run of Andy Griffith instead of News 7. So keep your fingers crossed for us.
Otherwise things have been quiet. The weather has been delightful if not too dry. Fall starts on Sunday even though temperatures will be well into the 80s. Due to the drought, the fall colors may not last long or be very vibrant.
Cheers - Robin

"Hey Y'all" Paula Deen stopped by

Well it's been quite a busy time recently. Brent Watts graduated from Mississippi State with his meteorology certification. Since then, Roanoke has seen several record high temperatures. More meteorologists, more hot air, you get the idea !
Leo and Karen Hirsbrunner welcomed their first child into the world, Ayden Michel Hirsbrunner. Leo never slept much before. This guarantees he'll not sleep much during the next few months.
On Friday, Food Network Star Paula Deen zoomed into town for a cooking demonstration. As a fellow foodie, I was pleased to get a chance to interview her. The video of that interview can be found on our web page at WDBJ7.com. Here is a shot of Mike Stevens, Paula and me . Paula also welcomed everyone to the first Friday Football Extra of 2007.

Here is the recipe for Lady and Sons Fried Pork Chops. Enjoy!

Servings: 1
Cooking Time: 10 Minutes
Smithfield Product: Fresh Pork

Ingredients:
6 Smithfield Pork Chops
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups vegetable oil
2 teaspoons House Seasoning, recipe follows, divided
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Steps:
Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle the seasonings on both sides of the pork chops, rubbing them thoroughly into the meat. Pour buttermilk over meat and turn to coat on all sides. Season flour generously with House Seasoning, roll each chop into flour, and shake off the excess. Carefully place the chops, 2 at a time, into the hot oil, and cook until the outside is golden brown. Take 1 chop out and make a small cut at the thickest part to check for doneness; adjust time accordingly for the rest. Drain on paper towels before serving.

Serving Suggestions:
Serve with hearty potato casserole and fresh vegetables.

Meet Maggie Your Searchdog

If you have logged on to wdbj7.com recently (and you should be logging on every day!) you may have noticed our new local search engine. vasearchdog.com is your fast choice for local information. I like the page for another reason. That's my dog! Magnolia Mae Reed turns 2 this month and boy has she been a delightful handful. Here she is at 2 months. Her first night at her new home.

As you might guess, she has grown quite a bit and now is very skilled at getting treats out of her dad. The next time you see the TV ad for vasearchdog.com watch how Maggie seems to be "searching" hard as she walks across the screen. The truth is my wife had the great idea of smearing mozzarella cheese on the table. That's why her nose is so close to the ground.

Oh no Mr. Bill. They blew up the thermometer!

This past week has been a tough one with many severe storms in the region. As Friday arrived I was really dragging and looking forward to some time at home with less humid air this weekend. Then we ran the following story about state police blowing up some weather instruments. It really made me laugh!! Oh the humanity.

The suspicious device blown up by a State Police Bomb Squad Thursday evening turned out to be a weather station. It happened outside the Medical Office Building on the east side of Lewis Gale Medical Center. We were told a visitor contacted authorities after seeing a suspicious object hanging from a tree. Authorities brought out a robot to check it. The device was blown up around 7:00 p.m. At no time was the hospital or any other buildings at Lewis Gale evacuated. Friday afternoon, Salem Police said the package was actually a remote weather station. A hospital employee had attached it to the tree and used putty to weather-proof it. Police say no criminal charges will be filed.

Scanning the weather news

Big storms on Tuesday. Lynchburg picked up more than 2.5 inches of rain at the airport but only 0.2" at our WeatherBug station in Dunbar Middle. The atmosphere is dripping wet and "nature is putting on a big show" according to my mom. As I came across two items in the Roanoke Times this morning it reminded me to mention the dew point. Kevin Myatt's excellent Weather Journal had this entry:

You might be surprised to learn that a day we would consider brutally humid would probably only have a relative humidity of about 50 percent. The true measure of the amount of moisture in the air isn't the relative humidity but the dew point. The dew point is the temperature at which the atmosphere would be entirely saturated, or have 100 percent relative humidity. Air can hold more moisture as it gets warmer, so the higher the dew point, the greater the amount of moisture in the air. Relative humidity represents the percentage of the available space in the air that is filled with moisture. If your gas tank holds 10 gallons and it has nine gallons in it, it is 90 percent full. But if it holds 20 gallons, it is only 45 percent full, even though it is holding the same amount of gas. A dew point of 62 represents the same amount of moisture in the air whether the temperature is 70 or 100. But at 70 degrees, the humidity would be 76 percent, while at 100, the humidity would only be 29 percent. On an extremely hot, humid day locally, our temperature might be 95 with a dew point of 75. The relative humidity would be 53 percent.

Well put Kevin. Thanks for letting me cut and paste. The other item was in the letters to the editor section. One reader wrote that global climate change was a huge left wing conspiracy. What a waste of paper and ink. Planet Earth's climate has always changed, and changed dramatically. The only question now is how much are we involved? Most TV meteorologists don't have that answer, this one included. But take politics out and ask yourself, have you done anything today to keep our planet green?