The Amazing Race: May 4, 2017 Episode Blog Party

I'll be live bloggig the show's events as they air here on the East Coast. The real party is in the comments area -- come join in on the fun!

Lifeguard Sharon C has made the random match-ups for the blog pool:

London/Logan - Delee, Sharon N
Brooke/Scott - Chrob61, Becky
Tara/Joey - SueGee, Willie J, Monty924
Becca/Floyd - Janice, Brian
Liz/Michael - Judi Sweeney, Dolores in Hollywood, Ed in Ohio
Matt/Redmond - MerriLee, Jackie

PHILIMINATED:
Jessica/Francesca - Brenda, David, Sharon C
Seth/Olive - ML, Cheryl in NC
Shamir/Sara - Indiana Jane, Jenna's Mom
Vanck/Ashton - Nickelpeed, Donna in FL

Are we ready? Yes, we are! 

Liz and Michael are missing their families. He's especially missing his daughter and is in tears. But they can't sit around because the teams are going to be heading to Venice, Italy. There are two buses, a four-hour bus ride. From there they need to take a water taxi and it's finding a clue held by a sweeping worker next. Scott is bummed that he's stuck with Brooke because she's a "glass half empty" pessimist type person. I don't blame him.

Detour -- Sing It or Bring It. They have to learn and perform an Italian song or lug much luggage up into a hotel. 

Matt and Redmond took the physical detour and are now the first team to complete the Detour. Joey practically hauled the luggage by himself. They're running in second.

Who has Masked Intentions is the Roadblock. They have to pick an actor and recreate the mask. There is a demo going on, so they're not totally clueless. 

Finally, Becca and Floyd finish singing. They're on the way to the Roadblock.

Brooke is fussing once again. 

Redmond finishes his mask just as Joey and Tara are arriving. Redmond and Matt are headed to the Pit Stop. Floyd arrives at the Roadblock and follows the painting instructions which he mentions to us that Tara isn't doing.

Michael called out LoLo (London/Logan) for not helping him find an earlier clue after they had helped LoLo a lot before.

Pit Stop order:
1. Matt and Redmond, won a trip to Grenada 
2. Becca and Floyd
3. Tara and Joey

Brooke is running around asking so many others and no one wants to help her. Liz is doing the mask wrong. But it's getting so it's every team for themselves a bit. Tara finished her mask.

4/5 Logan and London, Brooke and Scott
6. Michael and Liz -- NON-PHILIMINATION LEG

All teams are still in it. Michael and Liz will encounter a Speed Bump in the next leg.

Survivor: Game Changes - May 3 Episode Blog Party

Everybody ready? Got your snacks? Got your tasty adult beverages? As the show airs here on the east coast, I'll be live-blogging with all the major happenings. Refresh the page to see the latest news! But, as always, the real party is in the comments area. I hope to see you there!

Here's the updated pool from the Lovable Lifeguard Laurie:
 
Andrea Boehlke - Indiana Jane, ML
Aubry Bracco - Ed in Ohio, meb
Brad Culpepper - Brian, Sharon N
Cirie Fields - Leonia Hart, Terry is a Texan
Michaela Bradshaw - David, Jackie
Sarah Lacina - Delee, Rbennie
Sierra Thomas - Becky, monty924
Tai Trang - Cheryl in NC, Sharon C
Troyzan Robertson - Donna in Alabama, Lifeguard Laurie
Zeke Smith - Janice from GA, Paula Bell

JURY
Hali Ford
Ozzy Lusth 
Debbie Wanner

 Survivor fans ready?

The blindside of Debbie hit Brad. It's a subdued group back at camp after the Tribal Council. Cirie knows they can't get complacent.  

Straight to the Reward Challenge. Two teams of five, one person race to a chair, team will lift chair, person will retrieve numbered blocks, 30 bats in all, solve puzzle. A helicopter ride to a luxury resort with a feast, overnight in a real bed. It's a schoolyard pick. It's a very tough puzzle. It's taking forever.

Reinventing how the game is played is the answer. Zeke, Aubry, Andrea, Brad Sarah win.

Uh-oh. Zeke and Brad are bonding. That raises Anrea's eyebrows. She and Zeke just worked things out before on the Debbie vote. Aubry is leery now of Zeke. too. Heck, even Cirie seems to be on the Oust Zeke Train.

In order to tell Cirie why and how she wants to keep Zeke right now, she tells her of the advantage she has. She thinks Zeke could be useful now and eliminated easily with her advantage to steal a vote later. 

Zeke notices the mood at camp seems to have changed. Sarah tells us it's Zeke she trusts, not the girls. Zeke tells her that he wants to make a final five deal with her, Brad and Troyzan. He tells Troyzan and Brad. Oh my. The plot thickens.

It's time for the Immunity Challenge. Stack blocks on a beam while avoiding a trip obstacle, the blocks to eventually fall like dominoes. Brad is the first one to hit the obstacle and have to start over.

Andrea wins Immunity! 

She wants to go after Zeke. She thinks her plan is brilliant because he won't see it coming. She goes to Cirie. Cirie tells her she doesn't know if Sarah would go for it. They go to Sierra.  

Time for them to talk to Sarah. Sarah isn't too pleased with it -- she needs Zeke for a few more votes, but doesn't want to push the issue and put the target on herself.Michaela isn't too keen on the plan. She talks to Sarah. Hmm.

It's to Tribal Council. Sarah tells Jeff she owned up to flipping last week. Tai is worried because he feels like he's on the bottom. He thinks he might be going home tonight. 

The tally --
Tai, Sierra, Tai, Sierra, Tai, Zeke, Zeke, Zeke, Zeke, Zeke

Tai is stunned. Michaela cries. Yet another blindside for the season.

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - April 30, 2017

Good morning! Welcome to my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I took along the way. If you're here for Survivor -- you can find any Survivor posts I make at this link right here.  You can find any posts I make about TAR at this link -- The Amazing Race.

Yup, yup ... it was certainly a week. 

The landlord/management company has indeed REALLY cracked down on the children running amok in the hallways. It's been so peaceful that I had forgotten what real peace outside my apartment door was like. Another long-term tenant shared that she was told that parents of one of the kids are being made to pay for the security glass in the broken door down on the first floor. Good!

But they're still not being good parents. (I should note that some parents here are good parents -- it wasn't their children creating the chaos.) Now the same bunch of kids who were unchaperoned in the hallways and staircases are now hanging out unchaperoned in the parking lot -- outside my windows for the most part. It turns out that my neighbor downstairs is one with one of the ringleaders of the Kid Crew. Last night they were out there past 10pm. That's dangerous! The oldest kids in the crew are about ten or eleven! It's a PARKING LOT. People drive fast through there sometimes! No parent is out there with them. The youngest kids are about four or five years old! Have these people no parenting skills? Do they not care about their kids as long as they're not bothering them in their apartments? Have they no common sense? I decided if they were still out in the lot at 11pm I'd call the police to have them round them up. It's dangerous for unsupervised children to be out there that late at night. It's child neglect if nothing else.

But it's not as loud when they're out there as when they're in the hallways.

I can sympathize that rents are high and many probably cannot afford larger apartments. I know that's why people are cramming kids into one-bedroom and studio units. I don't really have the answers other than, if they do that, they can't just let their kids run loose. They need to spend time with them, take them to parks, get them involved in some of the low-cost or free programs offered by the city of Plainfield. They need to be PARENTS. I never lived in apartments as a child. But my parents didn't let us go crazy in the house, had set bedtimes and taught us to be responsible in public.

Oh, well. Nothing much else going on this past week. I'm tired. But I'm always tired these days. I worked and then worked some more. I'm tired of working but don't see money falling from the skies.

In today's photos I'm posting, it's a lot of squirrel pictures. Y'see, once again this year, a squirrel family has a nest up under the eaves of the overpass at the Bridgewater Train Station. Kind of like the apartment kids, the young squirrels were left home alone and decided to have adventures. I took many shots as their antics were so entertaining. I hope the photos entertain you, too.

Clicking on an image will bring it up in a larger version ... 

Starling with nest fodder

Bridgewater Train Station -- the birds and squirrels share nesting spaces under the eaves of the two overpasses.

THE SQUIRREL CHILDREN HOME ALONE

(continued after the jump, don't miss it!)

Yes, Sis ... there's a world out here!

Y'know, I want to explore!

What's up there?

I really want to go up there to see!

I know I can climb up there!

What Mom and Dad don't know won't hurt them! I'm BIG now!

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

The Amazing Race: Blog Party April 27, 2017

Thankfully we're back to just an hour episode tonight! I'll be live bloggig the show's events as they air here on the East Coast. The real party is in the comments area -- come join in on the fun!

The Lovely Lifeguard Sharon C has made the random match-ups for the blog pool:

London/Logan - Delee, Sharon N
Brooke/Scott - Chrob61, Becky
Tara/Joey - SueGee, Willie J, Monty924
Becca/Floyd - Janice, Brian
Liz/Michael - Judi Sweeney, Dolores in Hollywood, Ed in Ohio
Matt/Redmond - MerriLee, Jackie
Vanck/Ashton - Nickelpeed, Donna in FL

PHILIMINATED:
Jessica/Francesca - Brenda, David, Sharon C
Seth/Olive - ML, Cheryl in NC
Shamir/Sara - Indiana Jane, Jenna's Mom

Are we ready? Yes, we are! 

The teams were given the clue to the next destination as they arrived at the Pit Stop. They're heading to Italy and going in the order they finished last at the Welcome Mat. Caution: Double U-Turn ahead. 

Liz and Michael hugged it out. We'll see how long that lasts! Brooke and Scott started the movement to oust Vanck and Ashton on the U-Turn. Supposedly, all teams agree. Plus they want to blank out the second option so that Vanck and Ashton couldn't U-Turn another team.

Roadblock: Who's hungry for the next clue? Teams do a lap around the city in a roaming restaurant trying to locate three signs and eat the meal at the same time. Logan has to wait for the next tram.

They're next on the way to Lake Como, a cruise across the lake. 

Joey and Tara are in the lead, but are indecisive about whether to U-Turn or not. Into commercial. They don't use it.

Make a Move or Grab Ahold - Make s ghost appear or climb up a vertical rock wall. Michael and Liz U-Turn Vanck and Ashton. Becca and Floyd U-Turn Michael and Liz because they know that those two can't be U-Turned. Becca is excited about the rock climbing because she's a rock climbing instructor. She gives Floyd a quick rundown.

Matt/Redmond and Becca/Floyd have taken over the lead and are heading neck in neck to the Pit Stop. Brooke is freaking out that she won't be able to do the climb. She certainly can be annoying.

Pit Stop:
1. Becca and Floyd - won a trip to Argentina
2. Matt and Redmond 
3. Tara and Joey
4. Liz and Michael
5. Brooke and Scott
6. London and Logan 
7. Vanck and Ashton -- Philiminated

Survivor: Game Changers - April 26 Blog Party

Everybody ready? Got your snacks? Got your tasty adult beverages? As the show airs here on the east coast, I'll be live-blogging with all the major happenings. Refresh the page to see the latest news! But, as always, the real party is in the comments area. I hope to see you there!

Here's the updated pool! Lifeguard Laurie is rockin' as always!
Andrea Boehlke - Indiana Jane, ML
Aubry Bracco - Ed in Ohio, meb
Brad Culpepper - Brian, Sharon N
Cirie Fields - Leonia Hart, Terry is a Texan
Debbie Wanner - Glenn, tbc
Michaela Bradshaw - David, Jackie
Sarah Lacina - Delee, Rbennie
Sierra Thomas - Becky, monty924
Tai Trang - Cheryl in NC, Sharon C
Troyzan Robertson - Donna in Alabama, Lifeguard Laurie
Zeke Smith - Janice from GA, Paula Bell

JURY
Hali Ford
Ozzy Lusth

 Survivor fans ready?

Debbie thinks she and her allies are six strong and will systematically vote the other five out one by one. Zeke knows Andrea is targeting him. Is Sarah still on his side? It's hard to say in this game. It's everyone for themselves.

Reward Challenge -- Two teams of five, each individually race through series of obstacles in water, ring toss. Schoolyard pick, one will sit out. Michaela sits out and can't be eligible for reward -- a trip to an island and picnic. 

Brad, Sierra, Debbie, Aubry and Andrea win Reward. Cirie did terrible and they're letting her complete it. Michaela really should have been chosen over Cirie. They're making a big deal over Cirie pushing her way through it. 

All the time Michaela sat there, she had a secret advantage at her feet. She never noticed it, but Sarah did. Sarah snagged it. It's an extra vote at Tribal which can be used only until the final five.

cirie tries to convince Sarah that she (Sarah) is at the bottom of the Brad/Sierra, etc. alliance. Cirie has her thinking. But she is wondering if the time is right for a big move or not. 

Immunity Challenge time! Pull on a rope balancing wobbly table, stack letters spelling "Immunity." 

Troyzan wins Immunity! 

Sierra is glad part of her Power Six won. She is sure Andrea will go home. (So it probably won't be Andrea going home!) 

Brad is annoyed by Michaela, as is Debbie. But they agree Andrea is a bigger strategic threat. Sarah takes being left out of the decision as another hint she's at the bottom of the pack. She talks to Zeke. They need to bring in Zeke's nemesis Andrea.

Uh-oh. Sierra tells Sarah that she wants the final three to be them along with Debbie. Now, will Sarah flip or not? Debbie still wants Michaela out. 

Now they're all turning against Debbie. 

What a quandary!

It's time for Tribal Council. Lots of talk of the six at the top. Andrea and Michaela's names have come up. Debbie is being too smug. 

The tally:
Andrea, Debbie, Andrea, Debbie, Andrea, Debbie, Andrea, Debbie, Andrea, Debbie, Debbie.

Debbie is voted out! Troyzan looks stunned as was Brad!