Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - March 5, 2017

Good morning! Since it's Sunday morning, this is my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I took along the way. I will finish posting cast entries for Survivor: Game Changers over the next few days -- you can find any Survivor posts I make at this link right here.

If you want in on the blog's Survivor pool, you must sign up before noon on Tuesday ONLY on the pool sign up post which you can find at this link. If you try to sign up on this post, any other post of the Facebook page, your request might be missed. The two-hour season premiere will be live-blogged here on Wednesday evening (along with a blog party!).

Okay, that's out of the way.

We continue to have whacko weather around here in the NJ/Greater NYC Metropolitan Area. We had those spurts of weather with temperatures in the 60s and 70s to bitter cold with windchills in the single digits. That wind just won't stop blowing! We continue to remain quite snow-free around here. Heavy blinding snow squalls passed through the area on Thursday evening. But the wind ended up blowing away almost all of the snow overnight into Friday morning. The wind was also responsible for spreading some fires throughout the area making the flames go from one building to the next to the next, etc. Thankfully, none of those tragic fires were in the immediate Plainfield area.

My health issues have not improved. That's all I'll say about it at this time. I don't really like public whining. But ... WAH! Woe is me!

Ahem.

Oh! I know a good thing! I finally got a new toilet in my apartment after complaining about my old one for nearly 18 years! It was ancient when I moved in here, never looked good, never functioned really well and its tank decided to crack on its own (probably due to age). I swear I didn't take a hammer to it! Although, in retrospect, a tap from a hammer would have gotten me a new toilet years ago! I know it seems like a little thing. But it's heaven to have a toilet that looks sparking clean -- something the old one never did no matter how much I cleaned it -- and one that doesn't take ten minutes to fill the tank after flushing. The only bad thing about the whole ordeal this week is that I flooded the downstairs neighbor's bathroom. Oops. But, how would I know that the tank would decide to crack overnight?

Onto the photos I took this week. I really didn't feel well and the weather was uncooperative. So, I don't have a heck of a lot. Clicking on an image will open it in a larger gallery window.   

Cold little bird

I think the birds are as confused about the weather as we are. 

Reflections on a train

At night, the reflections in the train windows come to life. In the daytime, not so much.

The Chotola Building is under siege

The birds are taking over the upper floors. It's obviously part of their nefarious plot to take over the world.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

Bridgewater Train Station

That's a sunset-lit snow squall going on in the background. Thursday evening as I headed home from work.

Vincent would be freaking out!

Herds of blackbirds never gather on my fire escape!

Not art

The doors to some sort of mechanical room at the Bridgewater Train Station have been hit by graffiti. Now, I do like actual artistic graffiti. But, this is just an inept mess. I'm thinking drunken Devils fans. As for the room itself, I just don't know. Over the years, I've heard an occasional alarm sounding from within it and every now and then, I see workmen going in and out. In other news at the Bridgewater Train Station, there is a Wal-Mart shopping cart abandoned there. The nearest Wal-Mart is about ten miles away. Very odd.

Last night's moon

Bitter cold with windchills in the single digits, the moon was a perfect thing to shoot. However, not long after this shot, the cold killed my camera battery. 

Winter again

The blinding snow squalls which passed through Plainfield on Thursday evening were debilitating to motorists and pedestrians with zero visibility. But, by Friday morning after heavy wind gusts all night (and all through Friday), only traces of the snow remained.

Look! It's a whale cloud!

The bitter cold on Thursday caused some odd weather. Many areas were clear and just plain old frigid. Then there were these clouds, this one lit up by the sun's rays -- they're actually snow squalls blowing on through.

Thursday's sunset

As seen from the Bridgewater Train Station looking out over the Field of Geese.

Not a minute later, it was like this.

You woke me up for this?

What a grouchy cat when it comes to photo shoots lately! That Vincent ... he doesn't mind being awakened for food, catnip, cat treats, cuddles ...!