Traveling for Easter

 Chris and I are off to the Houston area for the Easter holiday this afternoon. 

It will be good to see my sister and her family and my Dad. It had been a while since we made the trek to Texas. 

We are flying on United, since they have a direct flight from PBI (Palm Beach International) to HOU (Houston George Bush). All of the other airlines had layovers and flight changes that, as we all know, can become a problem. It has been a while since we flew United, but the direct flight from PBI is worth the few extra dollars to not have to drive to Fort Lauderdale (FLL).

Finn is not traveling with us. He is spending the weekend with another family and will enjoy himself getting reacquainted with their cats and meeting their new puppy. 

It should be an exciting few days for all of us.

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL 

Tax Day 2025

Blowing Rocks Marina
Tequesta, FL
April 15, 2025

Did you survive Tax Day?

 We are experiencing some absolutely fantastic weather. I remember other South Florida Aprils where the temperatures were already in the 90s and the humidity was oppressive. These days, however, the humidity is enjoyable and the temperatures are only now beginning to reach into the 80s.

I rode almost 22 miles yesterday and did not even really break a sweat because of the pleasant humidity. I did a longer ride through some areas that I only infrequently visit. It is nice to note the changes and the route I rode has a very nice wild area which is not unlike the trail I rode last summer on the Great Allegheny Passage. 

For the evening, Chris and I headed off to Tiki52 and $2 Tuesday. I think I am writing too much about Tiki52 because it seems to be getting busier even as the snow birds are departing. After enjoying some adult beverages and wings, Chris and I walked out onto the dock at the marina and stared longingly at the ICW. It has been too long since I was out enjoying it from a boat. 

Well, the big event was Tax Day--and while I had already filed my taxes the small fortune I owed the government was withdrawn from my accounts yesterday. Ouch! I did a little too good in my investments, of course that was before the tariff nonsense which has negated all of the gains on which I just paid taxes. I am pretty sure 2025 will not be a repeat of 2024--we have a long way to go to get back to where the previous president left us. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Can't Be Bought

 I was encouraged about Harvard University's response to Trump. No--we won't be bought. 

According to Reuters:

April 14 (Reuters) - Harvard on Monday rejected numerous demands from the Trump administration that it said would cede control of the school to a conservative government that portrays universities as dangerously leftist.

Within hours of Harvard taking its stand, the administration of President Donald Trump announced it was freezing $2.3 billion in federal funding to the school.

What the Trump-led Executive Branch is doing to private educational institutions is wrong! Using the power of money to stifle freedom of education goes against the very core of what makes us Americans--education free from political dogma to foster diversity of thought. 

Freedom of education is what made America great. Yes. we may not agree with everything being taught, but that is a good thing because being exposed to diversity of thought helps us better understand and appreciate the freedoms that we have especially when we see such freedoms stifled in other countries.

Maybe money can't buy everyone?

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Monday Musings - April 14, 2025

 

1. It is the 2nd Monday of April. Welcome to Holy Week! There are 37 Mondays remaining in 2025. 

Rino on the Road
Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa
February 25, 2025

2. Chris and I are finding it hard to believe that we were in South Africa two months ago! It seems like yesterday that we were sampling wines and enjoying the wildlife while riding through a National Park in South Africa. 

3. In the land of tariffs and confusion we are not too sure what is and is not going to be exempted from tariffs. 

4. Congratulations to Rory McIlroy on winning the Masters on a sudden death hole and completing a career Grand Slam! It was exciting to watch. 

5. Today in History. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865. The assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth, shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis! (Ever thus to tyrants!) The South is avenged,” as he jumped onto the stage and fled on horseback. Lincoln died the next morning.

Booth, who remained in the North during the war despite his Confederate sympathies, initially plotted to capture President Lincoln and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, the president failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth hatched a desperate plan to save the Confederacy.

Tariffs on imported semiconductor chips coming soon, Trump says - Reuters

Russian missile strike kills 34 in Ukraine's Sumy, Kyiv says - Reuters

Rory's time! McIlroy wins Masters to complete career Grand Slam - Reuters

Trump administration says it is not required to help wrongly deported man return to US - Reuters

White House's new policy to ignore reporters who share their pronouns sparks debate - FoxNews

Five missing and one dead after boat capsized off coast of Florida, authorities said - CNN

No evidence linking Tufts student to antisemitism or terrorism, State Dept. office found - The Washington Post

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Do we have to do it all over again?

 

Chaos and confusion. That pretty well sums up the week we just managed to live through. 

It is apparent that there is no master plan, the White House is just throwing stuff against the wall and hoping it will stick. And if it doesn't, they are denying that it happened.

One of the most concerning occurrences this past week was the refusal, in court, to correct the injustice done to the Maryland father illegally sent to El Salvador AND the continued refusal to find a way to allow those deported to the prison in El Salvador their due process. 

Wait--destroying the world trade markets without a cogent plan--or any plan is a close second. 

One writer sums up some of the week's happenings as follows:

On Friday, China imposed 125% tariffs on goods from the U.S. A spokesperson for the Chinese Finance Ministry said that Trump’s tariff machinations “will become a joke in the history of the world economy.” At 9:20 a.m. President Trump posted: “We are doing really well on our TARIFF POLICY. Very exciting for America, and the World!!! It is moving along quickly. DJT.” The new tariffs had badly threatened Apple Inc., and at 10:36 p.m. the U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted a notice that various electronics, including smartphone and computer monitors, are exempt from the tariffs.

When economist Justin Wolfers commented: “I just want to tip my hat to the crack team of White House economists who were able to discover—in just a few short days—that the U.S. is dependent on China for smartphones, computers and semiconductors.” Dr. Soumya Rangarajan noted that “a basic medicine we use 1000x per day in the hospital, heparin, is also dependent on China, and people will die without it.” As Sabrina Malhi of the Washington Post explained, about 12 million people hospitalized in the U.S. need heparin every year, and it is only one of the many medications that will be affected by Trump’s tariffs on goods from China.

(Letters from an American)

It is clear that there is no plan and that we are living at the whim if a president who has visions of grandeur, but has no comprehension of the second and third order effects from whipsawing leadership. 

Sadly, the week ahead looks to be as turbulent and unconstrained as the week past. Maybe the Easter holiday will bring redemption and sanity. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Weekend Arrival

 Well, Saturday definitely arrived. At least the weather is good.

It was rough yesterday. I had to cancel a hotel room after the designated cancellation time. That meant that I paid for a hotel room in which we did not stay. That sucks! And it was an expensive room as well. 

Well, that is how things have changed. I did save money on gas by not driving to Tampa; so I guess it almost works out. 

Wait--I also paid for seats and parking at a MLB game that I did not attend. I hope the empty seats enjoyed the sound of the bat hitting the ball and the cheering of the crowd.

These things sometimes happen on short notice. It just sucks that the fiscal downside is so steep.

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

At the Precipice of the Weekend

Moon Setting
Tequesta, FL
April 10, 2025

Another Friday has arrived, just as expected. Whew!

My weekend plans changed dramatically this morning--but I always say that plans are made to be changed. 

I guess I needed a quiet weekend anyway. Next weekend, hopefully, we will be in the Houston area visiting my Dad and enjoying Easter. 

I caught an interesting image of the moon setting behind a home last night. It was really interesting because depending upon where I stood, I could either see the moon or it would have already be behind the house. I tried to get it right at the roofline with the palm in front. 

So, with the radical change of plans, we will see what the weekend brings. 

I guess I'm at the precipice hoping not to fall. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Another Beautiful Florida Day

Crossing the Loxahatchee River
Tequesta, FL
April 9, 2025

 It was a cool 63 degrees as I headed off on my bike yesterday morning. Having been away, it always feels good to get back out on my bike. Yesterday was no different. The wind was cold even with a sweatshirt, when I started the ride. I finally warmed about 4 miles into the 14-mile ride I had planned.

It was great to be out on the bike after driving over 2500 miles during the previous 9 days. What a trip! Tequesta to Elkridge to Ithaca to Elkridge and then back to Tequesta! Whew. And that does not include the travel around Maryland.

We are off to Tampa tomorrow for boating, a ballgame, and an overnight. I am excited to boat Tampa Bay for the first time. I hope the weather holds. It is supposed to be pleasant and sunny!

Today we have a few house projects that need attention and so I will be skipping my bike ride., It is amazing how things seem to go awry when we are gone. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Wednesday Wandering

 The "Hands Off" protests this past weekend struck a chord in me. I was encouraged to see such widespread concern about the direction that our country is headed. The Supreme Court decisions of yesterday continue to concern me as the justices seem more concerned with procedure than addressing fundamental constitutional questions.

Liberty is hanging in the balance. 

I was reminded of something Thomas Jefferson wrote:

“The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”― Thomas Jefferson

I never thought that refreshing the tree of Liberty would be required in my lifetime. It is frightening. The path we are on is sooooooo wrong!

I am NOT advocating insurrection, but rather that we must make a stand for the Constitution, freedom and liberty. There may be a cost involved! Working through the legal avenues is a start as is protesting and showing the depth of concern that people have across our country.

Some random thoughts: 

A nation should not do harm to its friends. 

A nation devoted to a constitution should not allow its leaders to depart from the principles espoused within.

We are a nation of immigrants--who is to say who is better or more deserving? 

One person should not have the power to upset the economies of the entire world. The situation was likened to a Roman emperor who with the flick of his finger could cause markets to rise and fall. 

One my my presidential heroes defined America as follows:

“[I]n my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.” 

He continued later:

“For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.”

Ronald Reagan

The eyes of the world are upon us!

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Out the Hotel Window - Brunswick, GA

Out the Hotel Window
Brunswick, GA
April 7, 2025

 Staying the night in Brunswick, GA, may become our stop of choice for our journey south from Maryland. It just seems like a good stop and it leaves only a few miles in Georgia before we pass into Florida. And it just seems as if the trip is almost over when we cross the Florida-Georgia line even though there are still four hours of driving ahead of us.

We have experimented with stopping near Savannah and even a bit further north in South Carolina--but the second day trip from there just seems too long. Also, given that we generally leave about 4 AM from Maryland, we arrive too early for our hotel room to be ready. Brunswick seems perfect and when we arrived at 2:30 PM our room was ready. An additional factor is the ready availability of gas and food options. The downside to stopping in South Carolina is that we will need a gas stop before making it home. Brunswick is comfortably within a tank of gas for the truck. 

Out the window last evening was a restaurant, which apparently is closed on Mondays. In the distance is I-95; the highway home. 

We experienced some severe weather last evening. When Chris and I took Finn out for his evening walk we were confronted with gale force winds and driving rain! Ugh. Needless to say, Finn found refuge under a large bush to take care of his bio needs. Hopefully today's travels will be rain free, although we are expecting showers as we get closer to home. 

Looking forward to getting home!

-- Bob Doan, Brunswick, GA