NPR: After the Storm

After the Storm

So we come in this morning and we're doing our usual Monday morning thing (excited about the show; hating life for having to get up so early - who are we kidding?) and Ivan Burketh, our technical director is standing at my door. And he does not look happy. The look he has on his face is not the "I'm going to Starbucks do you want anything look" or the "My wife made coffee cake do you want some" look. Or even the lights/air-conditioning/et al do not work in the studio look. No, this is the "there's water in the control room look and it has flooded the board" look.

Wha--what? There's...water....where? See, this is not a good thing. You do not want to put your hand on your mouse or touch the console and get water in a room full of electronic equipment. And this would not be a blow-dryer, this would be the very equipment we need to get on the air.
So, here I was, all weekend, with heavy rains ... and my biggest issue was how to persuade my kids not to be afraid of the thunder and lightening. In other words, to sleep in their own beds ... and all the while I should have been running down here with a bucket or a tarp. Sigh.

If I sound different on today's show it's that we broadcast out of 3A, which is home to Talk of the Nation, which thankfully does not go on the air until after we are clear. Different mike, different studio. Really does sound different, at least to me. Ah me.

But I am not complaining. I am not complaining in part because I saw Chris Rock's show over the weekend and he had a long riff about how if you have a career you like, keep your mouth shut, especially if you are talking to people who may have jobs they hate. Or no job. Because if you are, then there is not a damn thing you have to say about your career that they want to hear. Needless to say he was funnier about it than I can be (the extended riff involved scraping shrimp shells into a bucket, nannies and phone sex. But, well, you really did have to be there.)

But otherwise I thought it was a very fun show (his and ours - but I was talking about ours). First, a very fun look at the very serious fight for the Democratic nomination, which has now hit Pennsylvania. We talked to two fine political reporters. And more to the point - on Friday we had two senior practitioners; today we visited with two rising stars. And then back to our Pennsylvania voters whom we met with a month ago - white voters, all of them, because it's been pretty clear that the African-American vote is consolidating behind Obama. (And remember I said consolidating. Let's not have to go through the revisionist history about how this was preordained. Because it was not. Black voters favored Clinton at the beginning of the process. Don't get it twisted.)
Also, a very ODD couple. So cute! And the drive to save August Wilson's house.

Douglas here... with breaking news about bugs ...

Every so often, we get an email from a listener that's completely unexpected. Today I was sorting through our mailbag and found this request:

Could one of your programs tell us what those little bugs are that look like ladybugs. They infest our home ... at this time each year clinging to the windows on the sunny side of the house. How long do they last? How to get rid of them?

I sent the listener's email around to the Tell Me More staff (I'll admit it, I thought it was hilarious)... And while I don't think we'll be doing a segment on ladybugs, Michel did have some advice...

Amazingly enough, I can tell you. They are BOX ELDER BUGS. They swarm on areas that are both sunny and have a certain scent that they like. You can call terminix but throwing hot soapy water works just as well. They are harmless and non-toxic but unsightly. They give off a faint odor of citronella.

And one of our editors Beneva Schulte also replied ...

Box Elder Bugs. They're attracted to certain trees ... box elders in fact and they will always be on the sunny side of the house, even if the box elder is in the back of the house.

Beneva also included this helpful link about box elder bugs.

Who knew our staff knew so much about ladybugs ... um, I mean ... Box Elder Bugs!

Michel Martin

1:30 PM ET | 04-21-2008 | permalink

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