There's no reason to keep our sunshiny 80-degree afternoons to ourselves. Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe it's important to share. So I called one of my brothers. He works in St. Cloud, Minn., and if by some remote chance you're not familiar with St. Cloud, it makes Green Bay look tropical and Nome look balmy.
How's the weather?
"It's 9 degrees," Pete says. "But it was 3 (degrees) when I was driving to work. So it's warming up."
"It's warming up here, too," I tell him. "I'm not sure of the temperature but I have the top down on the car and I'm wearing a T-shirt. I think it's pushing 80. It's weird, though, to listen to Christmas music when the weather is so warm. For some reason, it sounds even better."
In news unrelated to the weather, I have a favor to ask. Does anybody know of a store with an electric train set-up in front of which we could take a picture for a story? All we want to do is take a picture of a subject with the train. We'd like to do this Thursday. If you know of such a place, please send me an email at tsorensen@charlotteobserver.com. And thanks.
I never pass a bell-ringing Santa Claus without dropping a dollar in his pot. By now I feel as if I know two bell-ringing Santa's, especially the bell-ringing Santa in front of the Harris-Teeter on Providence Road.
I know -- which Harris-Teeter on Providence Road?
The one way out past Ballantyne Commons Parkway and I-485.
The Santa is a cool guy, full of humor and life, and when he sees me drop the money in, he always says, "You're a good man."
The last time I dropped the dollar in, however, he didn't see me.
What to do? I couldn't pull it back, obviously. This is not a Seinfeld show. Plus there is honor involved. Plus my hand was too big.
On the way out of the store I dropped another dollar in.
"You're a good man," he said.
"No," I told him. "You are."
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