Chappy just couldn’t wait this weekend. Yesterday morning, we took him to Cooper Mill for a walk in the woods. It’s been a year and a half since we’ve been there, but it was just as nice for a walk. I love this picture of him, too.

This tree had fallen across the path and I figured it was a good place to stop and rest a little, but he just wanted to keep going. Doesn’t he look eager and interested, looking onward down the trail?

It was a beautiful day, too. We went early enough in the day that it wasn’t TOO hot yet. Because, it was pretty hot this weekend. Especially for April. Ninety degrees is just ridiculous for Spring.

The trees don’t even have leaves yet, so there’s no shade to be found, and by noon yesterday, it was definitely feeling pretty warm. Now, I know, there are a lot of you who are delighted that the warm temperatures have arrived, but my personal feeling is that anything above 80 is too hot, and for it to be 90 in April? Absurd! Those are Summer temperatures, not Spring temperatures.

Mom was busy taking pictures, too. And then, after our walk, we stopped for some coffee in Chester and then came home and tried to stay cool.

Today–because you have to admit he was looking kind of shaggy (look at those toes!)–I gave Chappy a haircut. He complained, but I told him that the rest of the goats and sheep at the MVFF were sheared yesterday, and he could consider it a solidarity thing. Of course, then he reminded me that it’s been four months since he’s seen the goats and sheep, so how much solidarity could he be expected to feel, but, well … he needed the haircut.

Otherwise? I baked a fast cake this morning–I got it mixed and in the oven even before I ate my breakfast, so that I could get the hot part done as early as possible. I did some writing for a client (w00t), published a book review at Knitting Scholar, and made homemade tomato sauce for supper.

Oh, and obsessed on Chuck.

Now, before you roll your eyes and say, “Again with the Chuck, Deb?” let me just make two very important (to me) points.

1. Tomorrow is the season finale, and by all accounts, it’s going to be mind-blowingly good. The critics who’ve been lucky enough to see it have announced that it is incredible, and the people who make the show have said that not only is it great–which, yes, of course they think so–but that you don’t have to be a fan to appreciate it. That it really works more like the first episode of Season Three by rewriting the direction of the show. So, first, you should WATCH IT.

But, (2) Even if you don’t want to watch the show … and I suppose I can understand not wanting to start watching with the season’s final episode, kind of … but even if you don’t plan to watch … Do me a favor, and stop at Subway for lunch or for dinner tomorrow. Because, you have to eat, right?

One of the easiest campaigns to participate in to save this, my absolute favorite show, is to buy a $5 Footlong sub at Subway on the day of the finale. That’s tomorrow, April 27th. Subway is one of the show’s biggest sponsors and it’s an easy way to put your money where your mouth is. And even if you just wanted to, say, humor me and make me shut up without giving up an hour of your time on Monday night? (Though, as I say, the show is well worth your while.) This would be an easy way for you to help out my favorite show. Even the show’s star, Zachary Levi, took 600 of his closest friends to a Subway in England to support the show.

(And, um, if you wanted to leave a comment card while you’re there, saying “Thanks for supporting Chuck on NBC,” that would be nice, too.)

Still don’t believe me, when I tell you this show is good television? Check out all the links. I mean, when you’ve got mainstream TV critics,  The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Entertainment Weekly, Time Magazine, even NPR, for goodness sakes, all rooting for the same show, not just because it’s a “Rabid Fans Go Nuts” kind of story, but because the show is GOOD, well … if eating a Subway sandwich can help … why wouldn’t you?

Because–not just counting this specific show–I have to tell you, the trend in television entertainment toward more and more reality shows and fewer scripted shows–especially fewer GOOD scripted shows–worries me. If people are only watching the dreck and not supporting the good stuff, the networks are going to stop making the good stuff. And that just terrifies me. I don’t watch sports. I hate reality shows. I don’t like game shows. And I don’t watch television that makes me feel stupid or relies on lowest-common-denominator humor.

I like television that makes me think (no show was better at that than The West Wing), or shows that make me feel good (Gilmore Girls, Friday Night Lights), or just keep me entertained (Big Bang Theory, Burn Notice). We don’t get premium cable channels, and I can’t watch the Sci-fi channel anywhere but our living room because I don’t have a cable box in my bedroom. So there are all sorts of shows I can’t watch. (And, with the violence and bad language, I have to admit that even the “good” shows on HBO and Showtime don’t really appeal to me anyway.) There are more and more nights every week where Mom and I put in DVDs of shows from years past–Quantum Leap, Early Edition, Remington Steele, Joan of Arcadia–because there’s simply nothing being broadcast that we want to watch.

Chuck on NBC is one of the few exceptions. It’s funny. It’s well written. The acting is fabulous. And it bends genres by covering action-spy stories just as well as it does the funny comedy. It does it all well, and that is NOT an easy balance to hit. It’s miles more entertaining than the dark and confusing Heroes, and it’s just GOOD. And in this economy, with bad things happening to everyone left and right, I really need some good entertainment in my life.

So, um, eat at Subway tomorrow, huh? And, honestly, try watching CHUCK! Watch it live tomorrow night, but also check out the episodes on Hulu.com. Because, well, you should!

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