Out the Hotel Window - Denver, CO, April 2019

View of Pikes Peak on Wednesday Morning
Before the Weather Event
April 10, 2019

Unbelievable!

That is all I can really say about the weather I have faced during the lat 24 hours between Colorado Springs and Denver. 

Out the Hotel Window - Denver
April 10, 2019

Yesterday morning, I awoke to temperatures in the 40's with cloudy and an apparently beautiful day ahead--well, if I could forecast weather by liking at the sky. But then there was this thing called a Bullet Vortex! I decided to rain a blizzard down upon the region and drastically change everyone's early Spring plans. Well, we are almost a month into Spring.

The Road Ahead of Us
On the Drive to Denver
April 10, 2019

Well, the storm changed everything and I an my traveling party were lucky to get out of Colorado Springs as everything was being closed and make our way to Denver where we are staying the night in advance of our flight this morning.  

When I got to my hotel room, I snapped a picture out my hotel window--it was of snow and the gathering blizzard.

I hate snow--I just want to get that out there and make sure everyone knows. The scene out my hotel window last evening was not one of my preferred scenes--it was of snow and blowing snow. And cold!

I am happy to be leaving this out the hotel window scene behind!

I need some palm trees and blue skies.

Bob Doan, writing from Denver, CO

Bourbon Brothers Southern Kitchen

Sometimes, I run across unique places when I am traveling, and last night was one of those evenings. 

Lights in the Bourbon Room

We went to a Bourbon Brothers Southern Kitchen complete with a Bourbon Room for after dinner enjoyment. It was a different experience for me. 

Unique and different places give me ideas for decorating, like the lights in the bar which I found to be unique. 

Dinner was good, the conversation was wide ranging. It was a good evening out in a new location. 

The place was decorated in a fun a visually stimulating manner and I definitely enjoyed the bourbon barrels ad decorations and the rustic old barn boards used to cover the walls in part of the restaurant.

I recommend this restaurant as an enjoyable place to share a meal.

-- Bob Doan, writing form Colorado Springs, CO

Out the Hotel Window - Colorado Springs, April 2019

Out the Hotel Window - Colorado Springs
April 8, 2019

Pike's Peak from Near the Hotel
April 8, 2018

It is springtime in the Rockies! While there is a great view of Pike's Peak from near the hotel, my room has not such a grand view. I wonder why I always get the "no view" side of the hotels that I stay in?

The view is not bad--it just isn't. Although the blue sky is refreshing after seeing clouds for the past day. Like I wrote before, I want to live somewhere where I grow tired of seeing blue sky!

The travel day came to a conclusion about 6:30 PM and then it was off to dinner. Fortunately, there was a place close that also had the National Championship game in the tv's to watch as a distraction. 

I was so tired that when I returned to my room I fell into bed and only barely saw the end of the game with Virginia winning in overtime. Then it was lights out--my eyelids closed and sometime during the night I woke up to turn the tv off. 

Today begins another day on the road. It will be an interesting day and I am looking forward to meeting a lot of people. 

It has been a while since I was able to add to my out the Hotel Window series, and I hope to have a couple more entries during this trip as I will be in a couple more hotels before the week is over!

But, that written, I am already looking forward to getting home.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Colorado Springs, CO

Monday Musings - April 8, 2019

1. The second Monday of April has arrived. The month is off to a strong start!

Carroll Park Hole 5
May Second Shot Came up
 a bit short
April 7, 2019

2. Busy days pass too fast.

3. Despite my thoughts to the contrary, I did make time to play a 9 hole round of golf yesterday at Carroll Park. I actually did pretty well finishing 8 strokes over par, which for me is a fantastic round since I'm more of a double-bogey player. 

4. The crisis of having multiple homes is that when there is a problem in one and I'm not there, it becomes a crisis out of proportion.

5. Why do things break when we are not looking? Why do plugs come unplugged when no-one touches them?

6. The weather is in a seesaw pattern right now--Cold/Hot . I'm pulling for the cold.

7. Today is a travel day, beginning another week of travel for me. At least I will have some additions to my occasional Out the Hotel Window series.

8. Question of the moment. When did my pets learn to tell time? They awaken me every morning just before my alarm clock goes off. 

9. Today in History. On this day in 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s legendary record of 714 homers. A crowd of 53,775 people, the largest in the history of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, was with Aaron that night to cheer when he hit a 4th inning pitch off the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Al Downing. However, as Aaron was an African American who had received death threats and racist hate mail during his pursuit of one of baseball’s most distinguished records, the achievement was bittersweet.

Headlines

Cheap Antibiotics Help Fuel Deadly Drug-Resistant Infections in the Developing World - The New York Times

Kirstjen Nielsen Resigns as Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary - The New York Times

A path back from the ruins of ISIS - The Washington Post

U.S. urges immediate halt to military operations in Libya - Reuters

Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week

“If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.” 

 Excerpt from Ronald Reagan's 1964 speech to the Republican National Convention

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Watching the Dawn

Sunlight in the Trees
Elkridge, MD
April 7, 2019

Another day is dawns and I am fortunate to be sitting in my chair looking out the window as the sunlight makes it way down the still too bare trees. 

The tops are illuminated in bright light, but the ground is still in relative darkness as the sun has not fully risen. 

I see the jets out in the distance making their way to BWI as passengers who began their travels hours ago are nearing the end or a mid-point of their journey on this relatively weather-quiet Sunday morning and landing on Runway 10. 

I am not on a golf course and that bothers me a bit, but that is how it plays out sometimes.

I chatted with Chris and found it weird that we are both at home but we are separated by over 800 miles. I am still trying to get used to the idea of geographically separated homes. Chris returns to Maryland on Tuesday after enjoying an additional week in Florida without me. 

So I am sitting here watching the dawn and before the sun could grace the earth with its warm rays, the clouds covered it for a bit. But the day seems as if it is off to a great start.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Diving from the Sky

Pelican Diving into the Atlantic
Carlin Park, Jupiter, Florida
April 1, 2019

I began April in Florida. I had been there for a couple of days, but on April 1st, I was finally able to spend a couple of too short hours on the Carlin Park Beach in Jupiter, Florida. 

Pelicans on Patrol
Carlin Park, Jupiter, Florida
April 1, 2019

It was a beautiful day, I thoroughly enjoyed being on the beach with Chris after settling on our Florida home. 

But on the beach, that day, the real stars of the show were the birds--mostly pelicans. The must have been schools of fish just offshore because the pelicans were flying above us in formation and then diving into the warm waters.

Sitting under an umbrella on the beach watching the birds,  provided a perfect ending to my short trip to Florida. I will be back, however, because I now own a small piece of paradise have a place to stay whenever I need to visit. 

And the pelicans will be there, too. Patrolling the waters just off the coast looking for dinner.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Flowers and Trees

Local Tree in Bloom
Elkridge, MD
April 3, 2019

Springtime is finally taking hold in the region. The trees are flowering and I enjoy seeing their blossoms along my route to work. 

It is refreshing after the grays of Winter to have Spring infuse color into the world and my daily drive to and from work. 

I am always amazed and encouraged at the rebirth of the Spring.

Bring it on!

--  Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Making it Ours

The Dark Room Before Transformation
Sample Colors on the Wall

The joy of buying a new house is decorating it to meet our needs and tastes.

I am back in Maryland, but Chris remains in Florida making the house our own and putting her special touches on our new vacation and future retirement home. It has become our new and biggest project. 

Same Corner First Coat Mostly Painted
Thanks to Fran and Mary for the Help

We were fortunate to be able to buy the home mostly furnished. That means we only need to find furniture for one bedroom, the dining room and a small sitting room. So we have been focused decorating and not furnishing.

The house was dark! The walls were painted in a very nice dark gray/blue paint. The problem was there are not many windows and so the house seemed dark. Solution for darkness? Lighten the color on the walls and change the lights. All of the lights have been changed from old-style incandescent soft white to LED daylight--it is like the sun us shining from every corner of the house now.

And we have transformed the biggest and darkest walls with a new bright white color. 

The place is really coming together.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Who Are These Guys?

It is amazing how the MLB season has begun. 

The Orioles are 4-1 and a half game out of first place in what may be the toughest division in the major leagues. 

My prediction that the Orioles would arrive in town for their Thursday home opener with a record of no better 2-4 was clearly wrong, thankfully. The can arrive with a record of 5-1 or 4-2!

Who are these guys?

I watched my first Orioles game last evening and I was impressed at how the team fabricated two runs with timely hitting. That was something they were unable to accomplish last year. And they are winning one-run games. Another welcome change from last year. 

As i watched the game last evening, the announcers noted that the Orioles had not had a four-game road win streak since 2014. They now have tied that event. 

On the down side? Chris Davis remains hitless in 12 at bats posting 3 walks and 7 strike-outs with only 1 RBI. 

Yes, I am still watching! 

Let's Go O's!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Heading Home

Pelicans
Carlin Park, Jupiter, Florida
April 1, 2019

I am sitting on a stool at a terminal in the Palm Beach International Airport this morning at the conclusion of my week away.

It was hard to leave Chris and my new home behind to begin the trip to return back into my Maryland life. 

The new house is really coming together and leaving Chris behind is tough, but she gets to enjoy the pleasant weather for another week, lucky her. I have a coat in my hand and am looking forward to temperatures in the 30's when I arrive back in Baltimore. 

Sandpipers
Carlin Park, Jupiter, Florida
April 1, 2019

Yesterday, despite all of the work we have been doing to get the new house set up, we took a much needed beach break. I enjoyed the sun and the surf and the birds. We were accompanied to the beach by our friends and enjoyed a great lunch. Sadly, it ended when Chris and I had to depart to meet the air conditioning repair person. Yup, you guessed it, we had a problem with the air-conditioning unit. Seem the air filter had not been changed in over two years and it was causing the unit to freeze over. I changed the filter yesterday morning after a 6AM run to Home Depot. But, the repair person finished the job by defrosting the A-coil, and not it system is purring and he checked it out so it is fine!

I didn't really need that yesterday. Four days in the house and already a service call!

Seems the old owners did not believe in changing filters, the refrigerator water filter also needed changing.

The birds were a welcome respite.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Palm Beach International Airport, Florida