February 7, 2009

Views of the great Saturday melt.

There were great pools of water at the base of every driveway:

DSC_0212

Nothing's going to stop the ice fisherman from fishing:

Melting-ice fishing

And the boys see the chance to break out the shorts:

DSC_0188

When these teenagers passed me on the trail, we had dialogue:
Boy: Taking photographs?

Me: Wearing shorts?
Shortly — yeah, shortly — thereafter, I went to a cafĂ© to download my photographs. Sitting next to me: a girl wearing flip-flops. February flip-flops.

22 comments:

Jason (the commenter) said...

Aw, I wanted to see pictures of melting snowmen. Do people make them anymore, or are they all inside, busy being addicted to technology?

Meade said...

Taking of photographs
Wearing of shorts
Flip-flopping flip flops
Downloading indoors

Ice-fishing men fish
Fish-eyeing on ice
Su'cides dissuaded
Melting ice tho is nice

Is occidentalis Platanus
on purpose and/or
is Platanus accidentalis
just a tree sick amore?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

February flip-flops.

Obama started in January.

Rick Lee said...

In November in NYC I started noticing girls wearing flip-flops in oddly cold weather. Since then, I see them everywhere. It doesn't matter what the temperature is.

jayne_cobb said...

I went for a 16 mile run this morning and it was funny seeing all the people who had been hiding in their homes all winter suddenly trying to get back in shape.

Jason (the commenter) said...

I've seen girls wearing pajama bottoms to school. But then I've always thought it was the goal of the fasion industry to see us all wearing sacks (cuts down on production costs).

Wince said...

I just ate a tuna melt.

I'm A Feline said...

“As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
"The breath goes now," and some say, "No,"

“So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.”

from
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne

George M. Spencer said...

An eight-mile wide slab about the "D Word" in Barrons.

"From the U.S. point of view, we want a devaluation. A devaluation gets your pricing in line. When there is a deflationary environment, you want your currency to go down. When you have a lot of foreign debt denominated in your currency, you want to create relief by having your currency go down. All major currency devaluations have triggered stock-market rallies throughout the world; one of the best ways to trigger a stock-market rally is to devalue your currency."

He says a lot of other stuff, too, like "in the bear market from 1929 to the bottom, stocks declined 89%, with six rallies of returns of more than 20% -- and most of them produced renewed optimism. But what happened was that the economy continued to weaken with the debt problem...Just as now, countries couldn't get dollars because of the slowdown in exports, and there was a dollar shortage, as there is now. Efforts were directed at rekindling lending. But they did not rekindle lending. Eventually there were a lot of bankruptcies, which extinguished debt."

Like melting all over it, so let's get melty and be done with it, America, my newfound indebted land.

Kev said...

As a longtime reader, I'm well aware of the Althousian aversion to men in shorts. But the person in the picture is labeled as a teenager, and I was trying to remember where your cutoff (pun intended) age was for men to stop wearing shorts. In other words, were you questioning his choice because of his age, or because of the temperature? (And I'm well aware that the answer to that question could be "Yes.")

As for February flip-flops, we can pull that off here in Texas on occasion, but I don't usually see it on our rare snow-melting days.

Ann Althouse said...

"I was trying to remember where your cutoff (pun intended) age was for men to stop wearing shorts"

Well, for most men, I'm concerned about them preserving their masculinity so that women can still find it in ourselves to be attracted to you. But for kids, I just don't want them to be cold. I'm maternal, and I want to be sure they're okay. So there is no cutoff point, just a shift in perspective. If some 40 year old man is cold, I really couldn't care less.

Meade said...

What about a 50 year old man with long pants but who is still cold? shivering in fact... going numb and even nearly comatose from iciness and subzero frigidity...

Ann Althouse said...

Well, let's snuggle up under this comforter.

Meade said...

Okay, but no funny business.

I've heard about cougars and just how predatory they can be.

I have my reputation to protect you know.

Ann Althouse said...

I'm just trying to stay warm.

TWM said...

I secretly suspect that Ann has a weakness for men in short pants and doesn't like them because they make her think naughty thoughts.

Or not. But now I have people talking.

Meade said...

"I'm just trying to stay warm."

Sure you were, ma'am. That's what 7 out of 10 sexual predators say. Now please, be cooperative and get into the patrol vehicle so we don't have to use the cuffs.

Ann Althouse said...

@TRO I really think I'm trying to help men be attractive to women. It's not that I'm in danger of becoming inflamed by seeing your thighs. I'm in danger of thinking this whole thing is just impossible!

TWM said...

Oh, Professor, you would never, ever been endanger of becoming inflamed by my thighs. I would never put you through that punishment. LOL

I was just messing with you on a Saturday night.

Forgive me.

Beth said...

Well, for most men, I'm concerned about them preserving their masculinity so that women can still find it in ourselves to be attracted to you.

I realize I don't have the right credentials, not being primarily heterosexual, but I do enjoy men's looks, particulary masculine men. And the right shorts can be very appealing. I see a lot of contractors - carpenters, electricians, and such - wearing khaki shorts, or cargo-style shorts, cut just above the knee, with workboots and crew socks and I find it handsome, rugged even. These are working guys, with a nice tan and sturdy, muscular legs. I like men in kilts for the same reason.

Ann Althouse said...

@Beth Hence my approval of this guy.

Compare this one.

I also liked the guy I photographed at this link -- but caution: You will encounter and old chipmunk dispute.

And btw, one of the teenagers responded to my "Wearing shorts?" but instinctively appealing to one of my rules. He said they had been running. (One rule is that shorts are fine when you're doing a sport where the standard clothing is shorts.)

Beth said...

Good examples; the illustrated primer to Althouse rules of shorts.

In addition to fulfilling the sports exception, don't teenagers meet the standard by just being teenagers? Maturity - not an issue. Masculine attraction - not an issue, yet.