Ready for the day? Only (*counts on fingers*) something greater than 10 shopping days left before Christmas! Here's what you mighta missed this weekend.

FRIDAY, DEC. 5

The Tampa Bay Rays make Kevin Cash the youngest team manager in professional baseball. This is either gonna be a huge mistake or one of the most daring — nah, probably gonna be a huge mistake.

Part of the USF area experienced a blackout after a squirrel noshed on some electrical substation equipment — the second such incident in two days. Police are on the lookout for a rodent that looks like a member of '90s-era Rancid and might be trying to plug acorns into available outdoor sockets.

The staff at St. Pete's Boyd Hill Nature Park searched for a falcon that escaped during feeding time. The falcon is said to be large, feathered, blind in one eye and smarter than some people with knowledge of such things gave it credit for.

SATURDAY, DEC. 6

A St. Petersburg man stole a 20-ton front-loader and led the cops on a 90-minute slow-motion chase that never rose above 25 mph. The pursuit only ended when the construction vehicle ran out of gas, because no bikes or guys who can run fast were available.

SUNDAY, DEC. 7

Coast Bike Share launched its new Tampa bike-sharing service with a drizzly party and ride starting in Water Works Park. Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who was on hand for the festivities, said Tampa is now ready for a new golden age of environmentally friendly travel, just as soon as more people learn how to ride a bike and more drivers learn that a person on a bike is not "an opportunity for infamy."

(image of squirrel via Wikimedia Commons)

This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2014.