> > This post has no purpose but to gloat and vaunt and flaunt and so forth. I've met Steve Smith. Leen and I got a Polaroid taken with him. He came out to the local PBS station as part of a pledge drive tour. The evening he came was one of the worst snowstorms of the season, and so only the HARDCORE fans made it to the station. The weather made him an hour late.
> >
> > He was garbed in his Red Green gear, but he spoke with his regular voice, which is a gentle tenor. Nice guy.
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> Cool! But I want proof. Can you show me that polaroid someday?

Don't show it, post it! I'm sure other people want proof. Personally, I don't know who Steve Smith is, but as Sam found out, you meet a lot of nice people in storms.

The worst storms we have in this area are ice storms. We get rain when the ground is frozen or when the warm air that produces rain has a cold layer of air under it. Everything gets coated with half an inch or more of crystal clear ice. You can't drive on it and the only place you can walk is a grassy area.

We had one a number of years ago and sideways trailer trucks blocked the interstate. One big white limo slipped off to the sholder and wouldn't move, so the two guys in it got out and walked across a field to our house. I found myself face to face with Sammy Davis, Jr. and his manager whose name escapes me.

We invited them in, offered them food and a place to sleep, and had some very interesting conversation. They had a snack, but a neighbor came by in a four-wheel drive truck with chains, and took them to a motel. I told Sammy that he was in Dixie, so he would have to sleep in the barn, and he laughed his head off. He also did his most famous line for me: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of me? The Shadow do." I should have asked him to sing.

Anyway, the next time the weather gets rotten, just keep your fingers crossed. You never know who you will meet. And if you don't meet anybody famous, you can just make up a good story like I did.
Howard