Submarines Both Scare and Terrify Me...

I am absolutely terrified of submarined.

Two reasons...

1. I was fishing once, and the invisible wake from the sub shook my small boat so bad that I couldn't open a pepsi for a good 45 minutes. And I get an awful pepsi thirst when I'm fishin.

2. I always feel like there's some sort of sinister plot developing on board.

Now I've never actually been on or inside a sub. But I garner all of my knowledge of these things from my vast experience with submarine movies.

According to http://www.submarinemovies.com/ (it's a real site, just click it)... 110 movies about submarines have been made (dating back to 1916).

I've seen a great deal of those movies, and it always seems like Harrison Ford has to stop Sean Connery and Gene Hackman from flooding a compartment of nuclear material before President Denzel Washington hits the panic switch and starts a thermo-nuclear war.

But luckily, none of that's real... it just seems real because of the unbeatable and incomperable acting by each of those gentlemen. ACTING!!!!

So, without further delay (I don't know what ado means)... here's your Mike Lyons blog report, featuring a special guest:

There's a point to all of this, I promise. My story for tonight at 6 is about a special submarine homecoming. News crews are almost never allowed on Kings Bay so this will be cool. Nothing better than families getting back together, and it'll be especially cool to see the sub come back to port. It's the USS Florida... WELCOME HOME!!!!!

See you at 6...

Mahalo,
Lew

Cougars... and Outtakes... nuff said...

There's nothing more boring in the world than city/county council meetings. NOTHING!

However, as good stewarts (or stewards... or is it stuarts? i don't know, who cares?) of the community the news needs to keep folks in the know when it comes to issues in county/city council chambers.

And there's nothing I hate more than sitting through one of those meetings or going through those documents.

HOWEVER... every so often an issue pops up that totally kicks that argument in the shins. And tonight I get a good taste of one of those issues.

Here's the dollar version:

There is a woman in St. Johns County who has been running a non-profit animal rescue mission since 2000. And since 2008 a couple neighbors have complained about the noise one of her animals has been making.

I know what you're thinking... a noise ordinance issue is more of a sedative than a lavender bubble bath (which will come full circle in a moment, bear with me).

However, the animal the neighbors are complaining about is a lion, and the noise it makes is a roar.

The woman's name is Deborah and she runs the St. Augustine Wild Reserve. She takes in abandoned wild cats and animals.

Apparently every once and a while her lion will roar... which i didn't hear during my visit... and that upsets a couple people.

Though she insists most neighbors don't mind.

"Many of my neighbors actually come volunteer with me and help me do feedings with the animals," she told me during our interview today.

Her website is hilarious... i mean it's informative... but there's a funny section as well, which brings us full circle, as promised!

TIGERS IN BUBBLE BATHS... she gives them a nice relaxing bath... neat pics... click to see

So, apparently the lion is noisy... will she get fined when he roars... watch at 11.

I know that's lame, but it gives a purpose to my day I guess.

Anyway, here a quick anecdote:

Deb has a couple cougars. I assume many folks out there are aware of the new slang term "cougar" and what it refers to. If you aren't familiar, ask your 12-year-old son, your husband or the next guy you run into on the street.

So, Deb took me to see a couple of her cougars... and every time she'd say "cougar" I'd chuckle like a moron.
I'm pathetic.

Anyway... here's a little taste of what's going on tonight: some lion and tiger video: Sorry, no Mike Lyons tonight... he already left.

Mahalo,
Lewis

Is Vinyl Coming Back??

Judging by the pants I'm wearing today, I'd say vinyl never went anywhere.

Vinyl pants provide the support I need and the comfort I deserve.

....

But I digress... I'm actually talking about records, albums, you know the music thing. Apparently Saturday is national vinyl record day (or something like that) and that's what I'm working on today... a story about vinyl. Naturally any hometown, locally owned shop that still sells old fashioned records is going to contain some neat people... that have seen it all when it comes to music and recording, that's what I'm after today, something bizarre.

But this blog is never complete without embarrassing my co-workers with my roving camera. here's my loose poll on whether anyone actually owns a record player or not... not as predictable as you may think!

A. Mike Lyons is ALWAYS clutch. In everything... but especially in my video blogs. I'd like to use him in every story i ever do from now on.

B. I've heard that the store I'm going to visit today actually has X-rated soul albums and a rap record featuring Darryl Strawberry.

Letter B is reason enough to watch my story tonight at 6pm on First Coast News.

Mahalo,
Lewis

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