Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks

Pollen Update

Look for or should I say “smell for” high tree pollen levels all week long, so my first Pollen Alert for the season is in effect. The high levels are a by-product of last week’s rains and this week’s warming sunshine. As trees and flowers get into the business of photosynthesis, the season for sneezing is shifting into high gear!

Finally Spring!

There’s something special in the air this Monday afternoon. The cardinals are chirping, the sunfish are feeding, the lawn mover is humming and the temperature is rising! Spring has sprung across the region.

One look at the Bradford Pear and Flowering Crab Apples in bloom and there is an even deeper sense that we have finally shoved winter behind. The dogwood buds too are swelling, so we should be in dogwood heaven by next week (actually we will have a spell of dogwood winter by then, but I digress!).

Tonight, it’s time to “Play Ball” at Appy Power Park as the WV Power begins its third season in the friendly confines on the East End of Charleston.

Pre-game tailgaters will enjoy 70 degree warm sunshiny temperatures in lots near the Clay Center. For the eclectic set, a dinner on the veranda at Soho’s in the shadows of the Farmer’s Market will be add a cozy touch to the night’s action that follows.

Inside the park, the aroma of hot mustard on a fresh frankfurter will remind us how America’s Past time is still baseball on a warm spring or summer day. The call to “Play Ball” for the Augusta Green Jackets and Power will be on as nice a spring night as you can hope for in early April.

As always, a word of caution is in order. It is still April and after the 7:05 first pitch, the temperature will drop first into the 60s then upper 50s by the 7th inning stretch. So wrap a light jacket or sweater around your waist before heading out else you will experience a “goose bump” alert for the late innings. And by all means, stand up and sing when the organist leads the playing of “Take me out to the Ball Game”. It’s one of the truly unique pieces of Americana in our great country!