How sweet it is! The Pens are heading to the Playoffs. And how great is it that this treasure trove of young talent, sprinkled with fabulous veterans like Recchi and Roberts, has the fourth best turn-around in the history of the NFL? Remember, in the midst of the strike, some were sounding the death knell of the NHL? Ha! Now pundits are pointing to the Pens as generating a whole new level of interest. And winning new fans, like these ladies.
A friend of mine sent this to me. These are three sisters from Little Sisters of the Poor, and my friend took them to the Sabres game. None of them had seen hockey, and she said they were thrilled. They took their eyes off the puck only to read the penalty explanations in the program.

Thanks to everyone who donated to the Animal Friends Telethon on WTAE-TV on March 31. The final tally-$186,000!! Kudos to our production crew and all the AF staff and volunteers. The show was seamless, and great fun– with Jim Krenn, Kelly Frey, Kris Winters, host, Stephen Cropper, and me, working the mikes for four hours.

Watching kids, like these Girl Scouts from the North Hills, come in with donations of pet necessities was touching. And talk about touching–Jim Krenn, and his gorgeous wife, Hedy, adopted ANOTHER dog!

Tatia was a Beagle scheduled to be put down at the Greene County shelter, when she was scooped up and brought to Animal Friends the night before the Telethon. We were opening the show, and the volunteers were scurrying around, trying to find a dog for us to hold..It was Tatia, and she was trembling, just ever so slightly. That stopped after Hedy held her for some time, and when Hedy finally put her down on the ground, she was all Beagle–wagging her tail, sniffing everything. So cute, and the Krenns changed her name to Olive! Perfect! Val Porter and her boyfriend also showed up to support the cause.

Olive was just one of the topics of conversation when I got to sub for Mike Prisuta on WDVE last week. I’ll confess I was a little nervous, and I made it worse by writing illegible notes all over the copy.( I can never read my own handwriting).

Jim Krenn, Randy Baumann and Val Porter were, as always, gracious, welcoming— and screamingly funny! You just lose all your inhibitions there. Not inappropriately, of course. I just wish I didn’t sound like a braying donkey when I laugh at them. They also know music–today’s and yesterday’s (that sounds like a slogan for an oldies station). Val actually programs the music for DVE. Talented bunch…

And this…well this is just a really big bunch of bear.

1300 pounds of bear. His name–Rocky, of course. He is one of two Kodiak bears at the Pittsburgh Zoo. And I can not tell you how big his head is. It’s like three of mine–and I have a large head. His paws and claws are huge, also. I kept wanting to reach my hand through the bars and touch those claws, but thought better of it. I was behind the scenes for a TV piece last week about one of the veteran keepers, Mo Brown.

He has been at the Zoo for over 30 years, and is absolutely doting when it comes to all the bears in his care(that would be the Spectacled bears, Rizzaro and Roxanne; and the Black bears, Sue and Stanley). To get this photo, he called to Rocky, who moved down closer, so I could get a shot of both of them. Mo has an identical twin, Ed, and they came to work at the zoo on the same day. Identical twins truly have a connection quite different from normal siblings.

And in a Southwest Airlines “Want to get away?” moment. I was in line in the ladies room in Heinz Hall, during the intermission of “Sweet Charity.” A long line. There was a cup dispenser on the wall, near the sinks, and I was thirsty. So I left the line for a minute. When I pulled on the cup, about five came off, so I tried to put four of them back by shoving them back into the dispenser. Shoved a little bit too hard, you idiot. The dispenser flew up into the air, and several dozen cups spilled out all over the floor. The line of ladies cracked up, and I looked up to see a friend standing there, laughing hysterically–then I started laughing so hard I was crying, and making a mess of trying to pick up all the cups. By the way, I thought the show was quite entertaining, even though Molly Ringwald isn’t much of a dancer.