Dog vs. Sofa

Rex Under the Sofa 1
March 26, 2019

The other evening, before we departed Maryland as as we were dropping Makayla off at Patrick's, we were treated to a welcome diversion of Rex looking for a ball. 

Rex Under the Sofa 2
March 26, 2019

As we were sitting together chatting about the cares of the day and the impending trip, Rex lost his ball under a sofa and we were able to watch his problem-solving skills. 

It was creative watching Rex, the Bull Terrier, try to retrieve the ball from under a sofa.

He twisted and turned every which-way bring to get small enough to get under the sofa. At one point I though he was going to raise the sofa up off its feet to get enough room to get the ball. 

Rex Under the Sofa 3
March 26, 2019

It was fun to watch the antics continue for quite a while as we were chatting and preparing to leave to begin our journey south. 

Rex is a very cute dog. 

He is much like a wrecking crew sometimes. In this instance, however, the sofa won and finally a human had to intervene to retrieve the lost ball.

I am sure that Makayla, my Keeshond, is enjoying her mini-vacation with Rex and Patrick's other dog, Chewie. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Home Near the Beach

Bob on the Beach
Intracoastal Waterway, Jupiter, Florida
March 30, 2019

OK, so it is true, and a dream come to reality.

Bob and Chris finally, after more than 20 years of visiting the Jupiter/Tequesta area have purchased their dream vacation and potential future retirement home in Tequesta, Florida.

Housewarming Gift

Where is Tequesta, you may ask? It is sandwiched between Jupiter, Florida, where many famous golf pros live, and the northern boundary of Palm Beach Country. If you click on the link, you will see that Tequesta is a small village with fairly irregular boundaries and a population just over 6,000 people. 

But, enough of the location and the town. Chris and I, along with Finnegan who is also here with us, are having a great time playing house and moving nearly every piece of furniture that we now own. We were fortunate to buy a place mostly furnished. That is good because we only need to buy a few things to complete our new home. Finnegan still hasn't figured out all of the good places for him to do his thing outside, but he is continuing to explore.

What is the most important thing about the new home?

Well, I have a palm tree in my front yard! I was going to take a picture, but it is raining. I'm kidding, of course. The most important thing is location, location, location in a place that I love to visit and long to live.

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

As the Trip Finally Ends

Finnegan Thinking: "Are We There Yet?"
Somewhere on I-95 in Florida
March 28, 2019

Day 2 of the trip to Florida dawned with us heading our from Hilton Head Island headed for Tequesta, Florida. Call it an early Spring get away.

Georgia Line
I-95
March 28, 2019

For some reason, day 2 of the trip seemed longer than day 1. even though it was three hours shorter. We had the constant thought on our minds of, "Are we there, yet?" But we were not there. I was a full six hour travel day and we started a bit later.

The day started by quickly crossing into Georgia from South Carolina and following I-95 south. After about an hour and a half in Georgia, it was onto Florida. Fortunately, the road work in Georgia was not too significant. I wonder who decided to put the road work sign right in front of the "Welcome to Georgia" sign? The hardest part of the trip is Florida. While cruising through the other states takes just a couple hours, Florida goes on forever--almost four hours. "Are we there, yet" becomes a real statement.


We finally pulled into Tequesta about 2:30 PM and put an exclamation point on the trip. I am very happy that I will be flying home as we are leaving the car at our new home--which we settle on today. 

The walk through yesterday went well with only some minor things that are nothing more than annoyances as the sellers did not fully uphold to the agreement on which items which were to be left behind. Minor stuff, but annoyances. The place, however, is clean and we actually wound up with a brand spanking new, never used, dishwasher because the one that was there broke as they were clearing out. There is a silver lining in almost every rain cloud. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Hilton Head Island

Hilton Head Island Beach
March 26, 2019

The trip south continues this morning after a fantastic visit with friends on Hilton Head Island. It was our first visit to the island and we now understand why it is so popular.

I was impressed with the beach, even though I only briefly viewed the broad expanse of sand running to the ocean from a distance. It was a beautiful vista that stretched out in front of me. I do so enjoy beaches and sand and of course palm trees.

The area is beautiful and, well, full of golf courses. I kept wishing that I had brought my clubs with me, but then there would not have been enough time to play a round. But the courses were beautiful. As was the area.

We enjoyed a great wine dinner at Michael Anthony's where we experienced some very creative wine pairings. The most interesting was a Chardonnay paired with an eggplant and tomato-based sauce dish. I marveled that the Chardonnay held up against the tomato sauce.

We also ran across a Pinot Noir from a Willamette Valley winery that we visited a couple years ago, Elizabeth Chambers on their opening weekend. They were hanging the sign on the door as we walked into the tasting room. We ordered a glass to share, and it was every bit as good as we remembered.

And now, we are back on the road for Tequesta. We will arrive this early afternoon. I will be ready for some beach time and sunshine.

— Bob Doan, from I-95 somewhere in Georgia

North Carolina by 7:20am

Travel by car. Sometimes you just have to do it. We are headed to Florida with a car full of supplies and household items and of course Finnegan.

We left early to miss traffic in the bigger cities along the way and are making a stop in Hilton Head for the evening.

It was fun to see the sunrise from the highway this morning. We. Made it almost three hours before our first coffee/fuel/ bio stop. Yay!

— Bob Doan, writing from somewhere on I-95 in North Carolina

The Seven P's

5 of the 7 P's

Preparing to travel is an event that relies upon proper application of the 7 P's to ensure success..

Lists become critical. There are lists of things to take, lists of actions to accomplish, lists of appliances to turn off before leaving the house. What are we doing with the dog and the cats?

And then there is loading the car! Or, packing the suitcases. Did I remember the pillows?

All 7 of the P's

I wish I could just have a "ready bag" sitting in a closet somewhere that could just grab and go. It would reduce the packing part of the preparation.

Buy as the phrase correctly says, proper prior planing prevents piss poor performance! Some have apparently tried to gentrify the 7P's of life, but it loses something in the translation. 

When preparing for a trip, all seven of the planning "P's" come into play.

The worst part is the poor performance if proper prior planning is not accomplished. 

I hate getting lost along the way or arriving at my destination to discover that something critical has been forgotten. 

And so, in addition to dreaming of palm trees in the sand, I am running checklists through my head to ensure success and most of all, happiness at the conclusion of the adventure!

Wait, don't forget the chargers for the electronics!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - March 25, 2019

Willow Springs Golf Course Hole #3
From the Tee Box
March 24, 2019

1. It is, believe it or not, the last Monday of March 2019. Where has the month gone? The first quarter of calendar year 2019 is about to come to a close.

2. Chris and I managed to break away yesterday for a 9 hole round of golf. It was nice to get out in the warm afternoon weather and enjoy some time not the golf course. Some of the holes were very soggy from the rains, almost swamp-like.

Blue Sky up the Drive
Elkridge, MD
March 23, 2019

3. Chris and I are packing and preparing for our trip. We depart Wednesday for Florida with a stop along the way to see friends. We are actually driving this time! The last time we drove was during 2017.

4. Blue skies! I want to live somewhere that I grow tired of seeing a blue sky every day. They happen so infrequently that i take pictures looking up my driveway of the blue sky to remind me what it looks like on a typical gray and rainy day. We were lucky in that there were blue skies for both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Sadly, though, Sunday ended with the typical gray overcast.

Lowering the Pool Water Level
Elkridge, MD
March 23, 2019

5. We have received so much rain that I had to remove water from the pool for the second time this year.I lowered the water level a good seven inches in preparation of April's showers.

6. The temperatures finally warmed into the 60's yesterday and Chris and I were able to celebrate the weekend and the ending of the day around the fire pit with our trusty dogs in attendance.

7. I am finding that I enjoy watching the news less and less lately. The same themes keep coming up: murder in Baltimore, ineffectiveness in Washington, fires and flooding, and the Mueller investigation. Well, maybe the Mueller Investigation will fall out of the top three finally. 

8. Traffic in this region on Sunday's is more noxious that traffic on a normal weekday. At least on a normal weekday everyone seems to know where they are headed and how to get there. On Sundays everyone seems lost on the highway. 

9. Today in History. In one of the darkest moments of America’s industrial history, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burns down, killing 146 workers, on this day in 1911. The tragedy led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of factory workers.

The Triangle factory, owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, was located in the top three floors of the 10-story Asch Building in downtown Manhattan. It was a sweatshop in every sense of the word: a cramped space lined with work stations and packed with poor immigrant workers, mostly teenaged women who did not speak English. At the time of the fire, there were four elevators with access to the factory floors, but only one was fully operational and it could hold only 12 people at a time. There were two stairways down to the street, but one was locked from the outside to prevent theft by the workers and the other opened inward only. The fire escape, as all would come to see, was shoddily constructed, and could not support the weight of more than a few women at a time.

Headlines

Mueller Finds No Trump-Russia Conspiracy, but Stops Short of Exonerating President on Obstruction - The New York Times
‘A State of Emergency’: Native Americans Stranded for Days by Flooding - The New York Times

Six spots where you can enjoy the cherry blossoms around D.C. — without big crowds - The Washington Post

'Flashing amber': Global stocks tumble, bonds rally on U.S. recession risk - Reuters

Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

• (Reagan during his gubernatorial campaign in 1965)

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD 

Leaving it Blank

Driving home from baseball practice yesterday, I passed a sign in front of a in church in Odenton that caught my eye and made me think.

Usually the sign has some interesting statement or Bible verse on it which I believe relates to the weekly activities or the message for the Sunday services. 

I wish I had stopped to take a picture of yesterday's sign. 

I typically look at the sign,  note what it is trying to tell me and drive on thinking no more about the message.

Yesterday, however, it was very different. 

The sign said: "This space intentionally left blank."

That got me thinking. I have seen that phrase, or a similar one, "This page intentionally left blank" in a lot of places.

Here's the rub--if it says that it was intentionally left blank, and the words are written there, is it really blank?

I think not!


If it were really blank, then the page or sign would have not words on it. It would be, well, blank.

What a concept.

So the sign if the sign in front of the church was trying to be blank, but wasn't really blank, then what was the sign really saying? 

Perhaps it was trying to tell me that nothing is really ever blank as there is always something there, we need only to discover the substance. 

Deep. Very deep.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Blue Skies and Cold Giving Way to Political Heat

The weekend dawned clear, bright, cold and windy!

It sounds like a recipe for fun. But, I will shortly sojourn outside to begin work around the house. I actually need to drain the pool again. The water level has become critical due to the continuing excessive rain. Yes, excessive. We received another roughly two inches this week alone. 

The excitement in the country has risen with the completion of the Mueller Report. It is nice to have that behind us and ready to move forward, finally. We will see, finally what are the true contents of this much expected report. I anticipate the volume of political rhetoric will increase to drown out the sound of jet engines before the weekend is through.

I wish we could get past the election behind us and get on with running the country. There are too many hanging "chad" issues out there. We are, as a nation, rapidly becoming irrelevant in the ever changing world because of our political logjam. 

So the blue skies and cold to start the weekend may give way to excessive political heat!

Ride the wave and let the fun begin!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Spring Training Update

I freely admit that my excitement level for the upcoming Orioles season is far below usual for this time of year. I am one of those people who enjoy the start of the MLB season because anything can happen and there is always a World Series in the possibility as the umpires call "play ball" for the first time.

The Orioles have done well this Spring Training season. They are currently in the middle of the pack with wins and losses at  12-13. I've long since lost track of the ties, I know there were at least two. But their record is very respectable for a Spring Training campaign. The team has shown moments of excitement--but there are still some glaring problems, also known as elephants in the room. 

Chris Davis has picked up where he left off the regular season last year by posting a .148 Spring Training batting average and Mark Trombo is not far behind with a .200 average. Davis is the most egregious with 27 at bats while posting 4 hits, 6 walks, and 15 strike outs! Ouch!!

On the pitching side, Dylan Bundy has posted a 7.98 ERA in 17 innings pitched.

The highest paid players are definitely the bottom feeders of the club right now. It must be nice to have guaranteed contracts so high that the club can neither trade nor cut the lowest performers. 

The one encouraging statistic is stealing. The Orioles have 35 attempts for better than one attempt per game. They had 103 stolen base attempts during all of the 2018 campaign for less than one attempt per game.

Well, opening day is next Thursday in New York City. As I predicted, the Orioles will either arrive on Baltimore for the home opener on April 4th at 0-6 or the best could be 2-4.

Let the season begin!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD