The Amazing Race All-Stars: 'The Gladiators Are Here!' Blog Party - April 13

Last week the country music award show preempted TAR, this week we're competing time-wise against a big golf tournament. I do have a golf channel on my cable line-up. I've watched it never.

Amazingly, tonight's episode is only going to be delayed about twelve minutes here in the NYC viewing area. Once it starts, I'll update this entry with the major happenings. Refresh this page to get the latest! Of course, as always, the real party is in the comments area. Come watch the show with us!

The latest blog pool standings from the Magnificent Margo. Remember, last time it was a the second non-Philimination --

Flight Time & Big Easy - Laurie, Donna in FL, nicklepeed
Jen & Caroline - Lynn1, Buzzmaam, DLA
Dave & Connor - Becky, Auntie Leigh, Rochelle
Brendon & Rachel (Brenchal) - Terry in TX, Brian
Jessica & John - Sharon S, David, Rbennie
Cord & Jet (Cowboys) - ML, Nana in NW, Delee
Leo & Jamal (Afghanimals) - Jackie, Jennamom, Merrilee

Philiminated --
Mark & Mallory - SueGee, jonMD1627, Margo
Joey & Meghan - Brenda, Zoetawny, Dusty
Margie & Luke - Donna in AL, Monty924, PDXGranny

Teams must fly from Sri Lanka to the "Eternal City." The Eternal City is Rome, but they need to figure that out. All the teams are on the same flight.

Detour - Gladiator or Charioteer. Done with the Coliseum in the background. The first is successfully learning gladiator moves, the second is by remote control.

Caroline and Jennifer have to complete their Speed Bump, retrieving a typewriter, finding where it goes and placing it on a pedestal. Yawn.

Brendon and Rachel are in the lead, starting off the Roadblock first. Lots of thinking, calculating, Roman numerals, etc. It's good thing Brendon is doing it, not Rachel! Brendon nailed it on the first try and they're heading to the Pit Stop. Dave and Connor are starting the Roadblock. The other teams are mainly lost.

Pit Stop --
1. Brendon and Rachel - won a trip for two to Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the Cayman Islands.

Dave/Connor are working with Caroline/Jennifer on the Roadblock.

2. Caroline and Jennifer
3. Dave and Connor (let the girls take second)
4. Jet and Cord

Leo and Jamal gave the Globetrotters and John/Jessica the answer at the Roadblock.

5. Leo and Jamal
6. Globetrotters
7. Jessica/John Philiminated after losing the foot race to the Pit Stop.

Next week teams will face a Double U-Turn. Eep.

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - April 13, 2014

I hope everyone is having a great Sunday morning! The weather here today is perfect -- dry, clear skies and an expected high around 70 degrees. Now, THAT is my kind of weather! Since it is Sunday morning, it's time for my off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way.

Yet, I must mention a television bit first! Although I expect tonight's The Amazing Race show to be delayed due to the Master's Golf Tournament (whatever), I'll be posting the blog party post at 8pm EDT. If you watch the show, please come by and watch with us!

It finally turned spring here this past week. No winter temperatures, even the chill of the night time was no lower than the 40s. It's about time! The horrid winter this year wreaked havoc with my health. I can't believe a four-month bout with sciatica. Gah. My allergies are running rampant now. But that's a lot more bearable than sciatica and over the counter medicines actually can control it.

Spring fever seemed to affect co-workers with many calling out sick this past week. I really didn't feel well myself with the allergies and the lack of sleep caused by such. But I wasted too much of my paid time off this winter. So, I worked. And worked and worked. Sigh.

I'm not seeing the multitudes of snakes at the Bridgewater Train Station like I did when they first emerged, but there are still some hanging out. I shot a video hoping to catch the tongue flickering action. Being the curious person I am, I looked up why they do that. It turns out that garter snakes flick their red with black tips forked tongue as a sensor -- it picks up pheromones from other snakes, prey and food from the air. When they return their tongue to the mouth, they insert it in a Jacobson's organ (similar to what cats have) to "read" the results. Huh. Cool. Here I thought they flicked their tongues to look tough.

Here's the video -- no snakes or people were harmed in the filming --

How's this pose?

Perfect, Mr. Squirrel. Hold that pose for a moment, please. Thank you. You're dismissed now. Plainfield Train Station.

It's FINALLY SPRING!!

Heck, this week's spring weather made me use excess exclamation marks, something I rarely do. I don't believe we dipped below freezing not a once this past week, even in the overnight hours. Woot! The daffodils are in bloom on Berckman Street in Plainfield.

Yellow and white daffodils

Also on Berckman Street in Plainfield.

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

Survivor: Cagayan - 'Mad Treasure Hunt' Blog Party - April 9

Come one! Come all! It's a mad treasure hunt ... or so they promise us, anyway. It seems from the promos that everyone is out searching for the hidden idol. Since both idols in the game were absolutely wasted last week, albeit displaying loyalties, getting the idol is better than a feather in your cap.

Huh. I really don't understand the worth of a feather in your cap myself. Maybe it's just me.

As the show airs here on the East Coast, this entry will be updated with the major happenings. Refresh the page to get the latest! However, as always, the real party is in the comments area. I hope to see you there!

The latest blog pool standings from the one and only Lifeguard Laurie --

Jefra Bland - David, Sharon S. 
Jeremiah Wood - LostChyld 
Kass McQuillen -Delee, MikesGirl 
LJ McKanas - Lorraine, ML 
Morgan McLeod - Donna in Alabama, ORKMommy 
Spencer Bledsoe - Becky and Monty924 
Tasha Fox - DKNYNC, Rochelle 
Tony Viachos - Lynn1, Zoetawny 
Trisha Hegarty - Jackie 
Woo Hwang - Laurie, SueGee

On with the PARTY! Er ... show ...

Okay, Morgan thinks Kass is jealous of her because she (Morgan) is cuter than her. Oh my gosh, shallow water alert!

The Reward Challenge has them split into two teams, swimming, dragging chests, puzzles. The reward is a Survivor Outback Steakhouse product placement trip. The split was random -- LJ, Spencer, Morgan, Jeremiah and Jefra win!

At the Outback, Spencer had a clue in his napkin. He went out in the rain to read it after they returned. Woo's suspicious. Woo stole the clue from where Spencer left it with his pants. Uh-oh. Pandemonium is surely to ensue.

Woo ran to camp and told everyone about the clue. Even though all searched, it was Spencer who found it.

The Immunity Challenge has them standing on their toes on a platform with a wood block on their heads they must hold against the frame. It was down to Spencer and Tasha ... Spencer wins immunity!

Spencer wants to flip Kass back. Tony wants Morgan out due to her uselessness around camp. Spencer wants to target Tony. Kass tells us she loves the ambush and she loves the blindside. Eep.

Sarah indeed is the first member of the jury.

The tally - Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, Morgan, Morgan, Morgan, Morgan, Morgan, Morgan.

She's out and Tony dodged a bullet. 

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - April 6, 2014

Good morning, folks! Rise and shine! Up and at 'em! It's Sunday morning. You know what that means ... it's time for my weekly off television topic post reflecting on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way.

Remember -- The Amazing Race will NOT air tonight! Instead, there's a country music award show.

In other news:
This week was a bit springish at times. I've had to rotate between my lightweight spring jacket and my least winter jacket. We had a lot of rain. We had some sunshine. On the really beautiful spring days with the sunshine, it was so windy that it felt cold. So far our April showers seemed more like November showers -- cold and unforgiving.

Today is supposed to be nice. We'll see about that!

It was another week of work, home, eat, sleep and spend a lot of time being a sofa for a certain cat. The weather must have been a real aggravating trigger for the sciatica problems as I've only had a few occasional twinges as the temperatures have finally gotten above freezing on a daily basis. Mind you, the evenings still dip way down.

I heard my downstairs neighbor was burglarized once again this week while he was away. I think this makes the third, possibly the fourth, time. I tried to tell him it has to be people he knows. He's allowed riff-raff friends in his place over the years. They know when he's gone as his car is gone. I don't believe he ever learned that you're not only known by the company you keep, but that riff-raff has no loyalty. The old upstairs neighbor was the same -- he let his street-ish drinking buddies in and, next thing you know, he ended up burglarized one day.

Without a car, no one knows if I'm home or not. Well, unless I have the stereo on. I also have a habit of not responding to knocking on the door when I am indeed home. If I'm in my pajamas or it's evening and I'm not expecting people, I don't answer the door. If I haven't buzzed someone into the building, they shouldn't be knocking! Any friends I have had over are certainly not of the street or burglar ilk. Most of them are the sort I would trust with the key to my apartment. So, I have no real fears of burglaries here. I'll admit I do keep the window that leads to my fire escape locked when I'm not home. That's just common sense.

While I know that more "innocent" burglaries happen, I can't help but wonder when a person is repeatedly targeted. It has to be the company they keep. I also don't allow Vincent to hang out with cat burglars! (Heehee)

Oh, well ... onto this week's photos. If you click on an image it will open up in a Photobucket page. Clicking on the magnifying glass at the bottom of the photo will make it larger. Then there's one more magnifying glass you can click on to make it even larger. To return to the blog, just close out the Photobucket window.

Dusk at the Plainfield Train Station

With the days getting longer, it was dusk when I arrived home from work yesterday. It would certainly be nice if they fixed all the burnt out lamps there. But they have worse things they're not fixing or, at least, not timely fixing.

Let sunning snakes lie

The garter snakes at the Bridgewater Train Station continue to catch my interest (as you'll see later in this post). What cool and intriguing critters they are! I've tried to catch one for a closer photo shoot. However, they've been much too quick for me. I really must be getting old. When I was a child, I could catch garter snakes with ease.

Look! Spring is finally HERE!

Of course, it felt like I needed my winter jacket coming home from work last night and I don't think the high on Friday got above 42 degrees. But, it seems the snow and real winter is finally behind us. I took this shot on Berckman Street in Plainfield.

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

Survivor: Cagayan - 'The Head of the Snake' Blog Party - April 2

Aha! The episode title is 'The Head of the Snake'! Perfect! I took a photo a couple of days ago to go right with this one --

How's that? Of course, it's just a garter snake, not any sort of huge predator. And, since he was kind enough to pose for me, I'd rather he not be beheaded.

But it does sound like heads are going to roll in tonight's episode. The merge is one and it's each castaway for themselves ... or for the greater good of their alliance. Or, they might switch things up alliance-wise.

Here are the latest blog pool standings for that Lovely Lifeguard Laurie --

Aparri
Kass McQuillen -Delee, MikesGirl
Spencer Bledsoe - Becky and Monty924
Tasha Fox - DKNYNC, Rochelle
Sarah Lacina - Buzzmaan, Tammy
Jeremiah Wood - LostChyld
Morgan McLeod - Donna in Alabama, ORKMommy

Solana
Trisha Hegarty - Jackie
Tony Viachos - Lynn1, Zoetawny
Woo Hwang - Laurie, SueGee
Jefra Bland - David, Sharon S.
LJ McKanas - Lorraine, ML 

As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll update this entry with the major happenings. Refresh the page to get the latest! However, as always, the real party is down in the comments area. Come watch the show with us!

Aparri decided to make a final six pact. But is the trust really there?

Whoa! The merge is ON. They're all moving into Aparri. The celebration includes food and wine ... and suspicions. They also got a note reading that another idol with "special powers" in hidden in the camp area. Tony wants to sway his ex-buddy cop friend Sarah back into the alliance to flip the numbers.

Sarah creates problems for herself with her six by arguing who they should vote off.

Immunity challenge -- the necklace is on a pole awaiting its first winner. They have to balance on triangular platforms in the water, moving up to smaller platforms. Last one standing wins. When they get to the top, few survive. It's Tony and Woo.

Woo wins the first individual immunity!

Sarah decides she's with the six and wants to vote out either LJ or Tony -- the latter being her cop buddy. She is really pushing the Tony vote. Kass is NOT happy about Sarah in charge. When Tony fails to get Sarah to commit, Trish tries for Kass to come aboard.

Ah, Solana agreed to vote for Sarah to go to get Kass aboard. Interesting indeed.

Tribal council time. Tony admits he has an idol and will use it for his tribe if needed. He claims it's a community idol.

Tony gives his idol to LJ (who has his own idol, but no one knows). Ah, LJ gives Tony his idol!

The tally -- Jefra, Sarah, Jefra, Sarah, Jefra, Sarah, Jefra, Sarah, Jefra, Sarah, Sarah.

Kass flipped and Sarah's gone. Spencer is shocked and bitter. Her tribe is stunned.