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Oof. WOWWWW! Check this out. Trained spotter in #OrchardPark at 77" of snow from the this storm! #LakeEffectSnow @wkbw #BuffaloSnow2022 pic.twitter.com/o220CSGN0X — Aaron Mentkowski (@AaronCh7Weather) November 19, 2022 I don’t measure our snow, because…meh, I don’t need numbers. You reach a point where they’re not helpful…but here’s a sobering bit of numerical reflection. I just Googled Orchard Park’s average annual snowfall, and apparently it’s 114 inches, according to one site. So, in the space of about 36 hours, we have received two-thirds of what we average for the entire year, in terms of snow. Oof, indeed. Luckily, we’re in goodDown the rabbit hole….

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At last report, a trained weather-spotter in our town reported snowfall of 54 inches to one of the local news stations. This is what it looked like out my front door this morning: That was nearly twelve hours ago. It has been snowing continuously since, dumping multiple inches an hour. We’re not due for any relief for another five or six hours, apparently. I’ve never seen anything like this. Not even “Snowvember”, the big event that socked us for a week back in 2014, was like this. Or maybe it was…but Snowvember unfolded over two or three days. This is like thatDown the rabbit hole….

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My friend Shaun Reiter, who puts up with more of my crap at work than he probably deserves to, was at a social function at Highmark Stadium the other night. When he left, darkness had fallen and the first flurries of snow were coming down, and he took a fantastic picture from outside the stadium on his way out. I saw the photo and asked if I could post it, and he graciously consented, so here it is. If you’ve seen anything about the impending weather in this region, this particular vista may look very different in the next fewDown the rabbit hole….

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I saw this on County Executive Mark Poloncarz’s Twitter feed this evening. It’s a beautiful shot of post-sunset over downtown Buffalo. Our city has sunsets over water. Just like Waikiki! (I know that this is a reach…but really, our sky does beautiful things.)   Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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If the attitudes in Ancient Rome had anticipated attitudes on 21st century America, I suppose they would have razed the Coliseum after just a few decades because the rich and powerful–Brutus and Cassius, say–could have made more money on a newer venue farther out from the city core. But no, the Romans built a sports venue that would last them for centuries and whose stone guts would still be standing over 1500 years following the fall of their Empire. Meanwhile, in the US we have absurd situations like the Atlanta Braves and Falcons, both of whom are playing in spiffyDown the rabbit hole….

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I promise that even as the local football club, the Buffalo Bills, may possibly be enjoying their best season ever, I will not turn this blog into a place for frequent football-ish commentary. For one thing, I’m not watching the games anymore; for another thing, football opinion often turns out to be dead wrong, and I’m wrong enough without tempting the Wrong Gods. But…well, the Bills played at Kansas City the other day, and that is a matchup that many see in today’s NFL as being possibly equivalent to Patriots-Colts back in the 2000s, when those two teams always seemed toDown the rabbit hole….

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Today we took a fall train ride. There’s a train that does scenic rides out of the depot in Hamburg, NY. We did this a year ago and greatly enjoyed it, so we did it again today. It’s an out-and-back ride, covering maybe twenty miles out and twenty back, or maybe less; the train slows way down when going over two trestles that cross the two branches of Eighteen Mile Creek, mainly so people on board can go Ooooh and Aaaaah and take pictures. First, when going on a train ride, one dresses appropriately. Bring on the hickory stripes! It was also coolDown the rabbit hole….

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One hundred twenty one years ago today, President William McKinley was shot by an anarchist while visiting the World’s Fair in Buffalo, NY. Eight days later, President McKinley died of his injuries, and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt became President. Being the scene of a Presidential assassin certainly colors a city’s local lore. Years ago the Buffalo News ran an annual short fiction contest, and in 2007 the contest theme was a story surrounding the events of the assassination. This is the story I submitted. And…it won! *** Ernest Knight tried to conceal his wheezing as he pushed Hilda’s wheelchair up ontoDown the rabbit hole….

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So, the NFL season kicks off next Thursday! And playing in the 2022 season’s very first game are the Buffalo Bills, taking on the defending Super Bowl Champion LA Rams! Wow! It’s been an interesting ride with the Bills in the last five years or so. The fifteen or so years before that were pretty much of an unending era of bad football. Somehow every year the team would manage to do something in the offseason to make fans think “Hey, maybe they’re turning the corner, maybe they finally won’t be crappy this year,” and yet…every year another terrible season. Records like 6-10 andDown the rabbit hole….