Some Random Stuff...and a Very Weird Experience

The "Barrel Man" , Tim McKernan, is dead. He's been sporting an orange-painted barrel and a cowboy hat for years at Broncos games. Football fans will miss his enthusiasm.

Safeway is offering a free five-pound box of clementines if you become a fan on Facebook. (The offer says good today (12/7), but my coupon's for use on December 8 only.) I also grabbed a $5 gift subscription to Good Housekeeping for Mom. (Other mags, including Country Living and Redbook, are available for this rockbottom price for a short time on Amazon. Thanks so much for passing the word, Coupon Cravings!)

An interesting post on low-cost and fast evening meals.

And recipes for Gluhwein (German-style hot mulled wine) and Christmas Glogg.

See...I told you it was random!

Went to see the movie 2012 last night. According to director Roland Emmerich, "I said to myself that I'll do one more disaster movie, but it has to end all disaster movies. So I packed everything in." He keeps his word, all right -- you've got everything from Los Angeles to Yellowstone to India being crashed into, breaking off/apart (I lost count of all the airport runways splitting juuuuust behind Our Heroes' taking-off planes), blowing up or (Emmerich's favorite) being inundated by ocean waves. It was fun in a weird sort of way, though I found myself rooting that the Hero would eventually be toast. (I still like Emmerich's Day After Tomorrow better, though it's also got plenty of hoke.)

The strangest part, though, came after the movie. We'd been having this whispery, heavy snow all day. The roads were slippery. Only a handful of people were at the 8 p.m. showing. We stayed to watch the credits -- alone, as usual -- and by the time we walked out, about 11 p.m., the lobby was deserted.

No one at the ticket counter. No one in the halls. No one in the office. No one at the popcorn counter.

Three cars in the deserted parking lot -- including ours. Lights gave a spooky, surreal glow. A light but impenetrable curtain of snow fogged the sky. Dead silent.

Only two people at King Soopers, where we stopped on the way home. (And they were clerks.)
Since 2012 ends with only a handful of people being saved, I started to wonder...did the rest of the world know something we didn't??

But then we saw a sheriff's patrol car at the stoplight, using his flashlight to trigger the green 'Go,' and I figured -- hey, if he's still around, probably all's well.

And it was.