Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - March 16, 2014

Good morning, world! It's Sunday. You know what that means. It's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. At 8pm ET tonight, I'll be posting The Amazing Race blog party post. C'mon by and enjoy the show with us!

This has definitely been the winter of my discontent here. It just won't stop! Even though we haven't had any more snow lately, we go from a warm (relatively speaking) day in the 50s to windchills below zero, up and down every other day. Yesterday it was around 50, tonight we're expecting a coating of snow by morning. The storm is supposed to be south of us, but we're due a dusting. Sure, the sun will take away any snow now that the snowpack is gone. But I want SPRING!

On Thursday when the windchills were below zero, all of the NJ Transit Raritan Valley line trains were delayed, canceled, suspended or whatever. That was due to a gasoline-filled tanker trailer which rolled over and exploded near the Newark Penn Station. Thankfully, I had heard about it as I have the early morning news on as I get ready for work. I then watched the website and managed to catch the ONE TRAIN they let through that morning. All of the folks who had been heading to the city for work were on that train, heading their way right on back home. No one could get through.

The only good news other than I really lucked out time-wise and spent little time in the cold, no one was hurt in the truck fire. The tracks, signals and overhead electrical wires were hurt, but no people.

With no additional snow this past week and the sun melting most of our snowpack, I was finally able to go to the Target store nearby my workplace this week. No, I wasn't boycotting the store as they compromised my card and I had to get a new one issued. I was boycotting it because snowplows blocked the sidewalk at the crosswalk with a ten-foot high snow pile and no way was I going to trudge through snow up the Target "hill." My friend Donald broke his leg on that hill! Sure, I could walk all the way to the Home Depot entrance. But ... no.

Because I did get to Target, I'm having an actual corned beef and cabbage dinner today for St. Patrick's Day. I always get cabbage from Peapod as I make some other dishes with it. But I wasn't enamored with the price of their corned beef when I last ordered. Target had it on a decent sale. Yay!

I don't have a ton of photos this week. I was too cold and the weather was irking me. But, here's what I got for you --

Just waiting on a train

If my morning train is just a few minutes late, the skies go from totally black to a pre-dawn beauty. Well, at least since the clocks lost us an hour this past week. Eventually it will be lighter for my early morning commutes.

NJ Transit train in the sunset

However, due to the time change, my Saturday later working day is now just past sunset as I wait for my train home. This is last night at the Bridgewater Train Station.

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As the sun set last night

Also at the Bridgewater Train Station last night. By the time I got to Plainfield it was dark.

Getting the goodies

The squirrels are thrilled not to have to dig through snow anymore! But, now that the snowpack is mainly gone, it shows the detritus left behind. On a positive note, none of the big now melted snowbanks revealed hidden dead bodies.

I'm late, I'm late ...

This is the morning of the train fiasco. Other days this week, it was still darkish as I arrived. Bridgewater, NJ

Have snow / have no snow

While most of this snow is gone now, earlier this week one side of Berckman Street in Plainfield had substantial lawn snow. Across the street, it was all gone with the exception of a decrepit nasty snow pile here and there.

Yellow and black

This was what my early morning arrivals at the Plainfield Train Station looked like this past week. That black is the night skies. (Grr.)

Big Apple Circus in its final days

I think the Big Top will probably come down tomorrow. Last Saturday I arrived to work just as attendees were arriving. They had a good crowd that particular day and the weather was nice. I think the extreme cold temperatures took their toll on the circus run in Bridgewater overall, though.

Standing at attention

Squirrels are such fun to watch!

Just a couple of gulls

With the snowpack mostly gone, the robins in Bridgewater have abandoned the berries and I only saw a few this week. I don't know what they're getting as the ground is still frozen, but there must be something there.

The end of this tail

Guess who this is!