Before our recollection of our remarkably warm winter melts totally away, let’s reflect on our relative lack of snow over the winter of 2011-12.
My friend, Craig Smith, runs a snow-plowing operation. As owner of Yardsmith Groundskeepers, 308 Burnet Ave., in Syracuse, he profited handsomely this winter even though his customers rarely needed their driveways cleared.
“About 98 percent of my clients paid a fixed price for the winter,” Craig told me. “Nobody got upset about paying, though I’m still trying to collect from a few clients.”
Craig compares his seasonal contracts to an insurance policy.
“In a way, you know, our contracts are like insurance in that you pay for protection that you may not need,” he said.
Snow no, grass yes
On the other hand, the March heat wave has put Yardsmith behind the eight ball.
“The lawns have sprouted up so that we’ve begun mowing two weeks earlier than normal,” he said. “And, yes, most of my lawn clients pay a fixed price for the mowing season.”
Though the mowing contracts stipulate mid-April as the starting point, Craig couldn’t let things go any longer without taking a whack at the growing grass.
In any case, Craig celebrates spring.
“Personally, the snow season to me, I dread more than anything,” he said, “but I look forward to the lawn season, the green season, much more.”
Springtime blizzard
Meanwhile, winter reared its ugly head again just last week, more than a month into the season of spring. I saw more than a few snow pellets in the air here, and our neighbors in Ithaca were blanketed by a solid six inches of the white stuff. OK. Enough’s enough.
Godzilla at ABS?
At the end of April, former N.Y. Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui was preparing to sign a contract with the Tampa Bay Rays, who planned to assign him to the International League’s Durham Bulls in order to get into playing shape.
The Bulls stampede into Alliance Bank Stadium next week for a four-game series against the Syracuse Chiefs 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, May 7-10.
Matsui, a 37-year-old left-handed power hitter, is expected to shore up the Rays’ lineup as a designated hitter after his stint in the minor leagues. In his last of seven seasons with the Yankees, the Japanese ballplayer known as Godzilla was named the MVP of the 2009 World Series after hitting .615 with three home runs and eight runs batted-in to help beat the Philadelphia Phillies.
In 2010 Matsui, who still resides in Manhattan, played for the Anaheim Angels and last year he played for the Oakland Athletics.
Field-level ticket prices range from $9 to $20, while upper-deck seats cost $8, and $4 for kids and seniors. Parking costs $5 per vehicle; 474-7833; syracusechiefs.com.
Dick Ford honored
Syracuse pianist/educator Dick Ford turns 75 years old this year, and to celebrate his diamond jubilee Signature Music Studios hosted an open house on April 14, at the Delavan Center, 509 W. Fayette St; signaturesyracuse.com; 478-7840.
Live music was performed at the open house by Signature students. Ford founded the Signature program, a non-profit organization that provides free music lessons, free instruments and free college counseling for urban youth.
With his genial personality and visionary approach to music education, Ford is one of the unsung heroes of the Syracuse music scene. He’s also a terrifically talented musician, equally at home entertaining on solo piano or anchoring a combo. While standards are his specialty, he also improvises effortlessly and plays some of the most sublime jazz you’d ever want to hear.
Ford will be presented with a Post-Standard Achievement Award at a noon luncheon on May 9, at the Holiday Inn, on Electronics Parkway in Salina. Rhea Jezer, the keyboardist and leader of the Syracuse Klezmer Orchestra, will also receive an achievement award that day; 637-4647.
