Thawing Out

Well I was out doing live shots all morning in the snow and let me tell you, I am freezing and wet.  I was running it all myself so that caused a few other "inconveniences."  I was at the Marketplace Express just off of 741 in Springboro.  Well they were more than generous in letting me set up my live shot there and also offering me coffee.... well I drank too much so in between live shots I had to run inside to use the facilities...  I put the camera in the live truck because if that is stolen, my job would have a vacancy....  Anyway, I come back outside, the tripod is freezing and now the camera is warm... the tripod`s locking mechanism is frozen, so all I can do is try to warm it up with my hands and breath because if that camera falls my job would have a vacancy....  So I take off my gloves, set the camera on the ground and work on the tripod, you know how in Dumb and Dumber how his tongue gets stuck to the pole...well my hand did that too the tripod, I had to breathe hot air and pull it off... I finally get it fixed and warmed up.... forgetting there was three inches of fresh snow on the ground, where I just put the camera, I try putting it back on the tripod.  Nope, the snow re-freezes the locking mechanism and jams snow where it doesn`t belong.... I fix what I did wrong the time before, continuing to use my hands on the sub-freezing metal and finally get the camera up and ready to go for the live hit.... regardless, the next live hit I take off my glove and explain what I did and show my pink hand to prove it.... long morning....

I got home and shoveled the five inches of snow and part of the road so the mailman can get to our box, and now I am taking a little break before heading back in to fill in for Jeff Booth, who has the day off.  Another, possibly more potent, system will roll in here late Monday and Tuesday, I will jump back on here this evening from the weather center and give an update on that, until then, stay inside and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael