Day of the Turkey

Welcome November! 

And what does the arrival of November mean? It coincides with the arrival of the Day of the Turkey season. In the vernacular it is known as Thanksgiving! The Thanksgiving season has arrived. 

The Thanksgiving season is short, only four weeks, and it is often lost in the anticipation of Christmas. It is sad that the stores are already pushing Christmas--everyone is going to be burned out before December even arrives. 

Halloween passed quietly last evening. The torrential rains held off and we were able to give out most of our candy. It was fun as we were at home for the first time in about 14 years to enjoy the costumed kids in our own neighborhood. 

But now, bring on the Turkeys!!!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Halloween 2019

The day has arrived. Halloween, the day of candy and goblins. 

Sadly, the weather report is making it seem as if this year's edition in the Baltimore region will be a washout. 

This will be the first year that Chris and I are not going Trick or Treating with the grandsons--they are getting too old to want grandparents tagging along as they visit the houses in their neighborhood with their friends. 

Chris and I will sit in our house, watching the rain, waiting for the doorbell to ring with the kids in their costumes asking for a treat.

I am looking forward to the evening. Everyone be careful out there.

Tomorrow is November!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

A Series for the Ages

This World Series is a one of a kind. The last time the home team did not win through six games was--never! This is the first time that it has happened like this in all of the World Series that have been played. Tonight is the concluding game seven with no wins thus far at home for either team.


An ESPN writer puts it this way: No team has won a World Series without winning a home game, but several teams have won Games 6 and 7 on the road: the 1926 Cardinals, 1934 Cardinals, 1952 Yankees, 1958 Yankees, 1968 Tigers, 1979 Pirates and 2016 Cubs. The Nationals will look to make a unique kind of history in Game 7, while the Astros will try to cement their legacy as an all-time great team. 

Matt Kelly at MLB.com wrote:

The Nationals’ season-saving 7-2 victory over the Astros in Game 6 on Tuesday night made road teams a perfect 6-0 in this year’s Fall Classic. It’s the first World Series in which the road team has won each of the first six games, and it’s also the first time in 1,420 best-of-seven postseason series across MLB, NBA and NHL in which the road team has won each of the first six contests.

And then of course, last night's game had the controversy with the runner being called out for interference running to First Base. There needs to be some drama in every World Series. 

Personal Trivia


One year ago today, I completed my 16th of 44 radiation treatments for prostate cancer. Wow! What a difference a year makes. I have had two follow-ups with the radiation oncologist since completing the treatments and everything seems great!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

We the People--A Scary Revelation

We the People--

I read a very scary statistic the other day about Americans. Here is a headline from The Daily Mail:

Majority of Americans want to change the First Amendment: Study found that people want JAIL TIME for hate speech as they call for updates to 200-year-old law 'to reflect cultural norms of today'

This is a very concerning report. 

The Washington Free Beacon also carried an article, extensively quoted in the one above titled:

Poll: Majority of Americans Want First Amendment Rewritten

Why would we want to willingly give up our right to Free Speech and a Free Press? 

These seem to me the two major items in the article. 

I am very concerned.

Too many Americans have fought and died for our freedoms, and among them are the rights to Free Speech and a Free Press. I do not understand why we believe that because these freedoms are abused by a minority of people that these rights should be abridged. Who will then become the anointed protector of the rights and the ultimate decision maker regarding approved Free Speech? 

China is an example of a place where the freedoms that we enjoy and take for granted are not allowed. The government controls all access to the news and the internet. People are not allowed to freely express their views and especially cannot openly disagree with the government. These freedoms are what the protests in Hong Kong are futilely trying to protect.

Just because we don't agree with something that someone says or writes does not mean that we should legislate against freedom of speech or the press.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, Md

Monday Musings - October 28, 2019

1. Welcome to the last Monday of October. Friday begins November and Daylight Saving Time ends next Sunday morning at 2 AM. It is going to be a busy week. There are 64 days remaining in 2019.

2. It is a tough Sunday when all four of the family NFL teams are not playing. The Cowboys and the Ravens were on a bye, the Redskins played Thursday, and the Steelers play tonight. 

3. What an interesting World Series, the home team has yet to win a game. Wow. The Astros, with three wins,  are one win away from a the championship, but the series now returns to Houston. They will need to win a home game to win the series. The 1996 World Series between the Yankees and Braves was the last that saw the home team lose the first five games. The Yankees won that series by winning game 6 at home. 

4. Sadly the rains yesterday morning meant the GORC Wildcats 12U baseball team did not get to play the third game of the Field of Screams baseball tournament in Hershey. They really needed the experience. 

5. Driving long distance in an intense rainstorm is really exhausting. 

Me, Mike, Jim
Watching the World Series
Hummelstown, PA
October 25, 2019

6. What do you do on a Friday night in Hummelstown, PA? Go out to the local watering hole and watch the World Series, of course. 

7. Once the rain stopped about noon, yesterday became an idyllic autumn day. Bright blue sky highlighted the trees adorned in the autumn finery.

8. Family NFL Results:

    Cowboys had a Bye
    Ravens had a Bye
    Redskins lost to Vikings 9-19
    Steelers play Dolphins tonight

9. Today is National Chocolate Day--which is great since I was just un Hershey, PA. 

St Louis Gateway Arch

10. Today in History. On October 28, 1965, construction is completed on the Gateway Arch, a spectacular 630-foot-high parabola of stainless steel marking the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the waterfront of St. Louis, Missouri.

The Gateway Arch, designed by Finnish-born, American-educated architect Eero Saarinen, was erected to commemorate President Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and to celebrate St. Louis’ central role in the rapid westward expansion that followed. As the market and supply point for fur traders and explorers—including the famous Meriwether Lewis and William Clark—the town of St. Louis grew exponentially after the War of 1812, when great numbers of people began to travel by wagon train to seek their fortunes west of the Mississippi River. In 1947-48, Saarinen won a nationwide competition to design a monument honoring the spirit of the western pioneers. In a sad twist of fate, the architect died of a brain tumor in 1961 and did not live to see the construction of his now-famous arch, which began in February 1963. 

HEADLINES

‘No Water, No Power, No Anything’: Fires Push California to Its Limits‘No Water, No Power, No Anything’ - The New York Times

1.5 Million Packages a Day: The Internet Brings Chaos to N.Y. Streets - The New York Times

Hong Kong protesters hurl petrol bombs after police fire tear gas to clear rally - Reuters

‘Many’ dead as Myanmar military sinks boats carrying kidnapped troops: Arakan Army - Reuters



Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week

Two of our Founding Fathers, a Boston lawyer named Adams and a Virginia planter named Jefferson, members of that remarkable group who met in Independence Hall and dared to think they could start the world over again, left us an important lesson. They had become, in the years then in government, bitter political rivals in the Presidential election of 1800. Then, years later, when both were retired and age had softened their anger, they began to speak to each other again through letters. A bond was reestablished between those two who had helped create this government of ours.

In 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, they both died. They died on the same day, within a few hours of each other, and that day was the Fourth of July.

In one of those letters exchanged in the sunset of their lives, Jefferson wrote: ``It carries me back to the times when, beset with difficulties and dangers, we were fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man, his right of self-government. Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us, and yet passing harmless . . . we rode through the storm with heart and hand.''

Well, with heart and hand let us stand as one today -- one people under God, determined that our future shall be worthy of our past. As we do, we must not repeat the well-intentioned errors of our past. We must never again abuse the trust of working men and women by sending their earnings on a futile chase after the spiraling demands of a bloated Federal Establishment. You elected us in 1980 to end this prescription for disaster, and I don't believe you reelected us in 1984 to reverse course.

  -- Inaugural Address, January 21, 1985

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

The Tournament

The Team Between Games
Hummelstown, PA
October 26, 2019

The team played in its first tournament yesterday. I must confess, there is a special excitement about playing in a tournament and meeting other high caliber teams. Our team is making the jump from being a recreational league team to becoming a travel team. Every time we play, the boys get better and see what is expected of them as they play at a higher level.

Jax and Jack Chilling at the Hotel
Hummelstown, PA
October 26, 2019

While the outcomes of the games are still not what the team desires, there are more and more positives that we can focus upon coming out of every outing. Sadly, the Sunday game got canceled because they believed that they were going to win that game decisively based upon the strong performance in the second game yesterday. The boys are gelling as a team and it is truly sad that the season ends next week--with a doubleheader on Sunday. 

Singing Cars
Hershey's Chocolate World
Hershey, PA
October 26, 2019

It was fun to get out of town to a tournament and spend the weekend with the boys and their families in a hotel. I truly hope that we can play in more tournaments next year to get the boys ready for the weeklong Cooperstown Tournament that we will be playing during late-June 2020. 

Chris and I did get out with Ethan to Hershey's Chocolate World for some enjoyment yesterday morning before the first game. It was very different from the lat time I visited, which was during the 1960's. I must say--there was a lot of chocolate and the singing cows were just a bit over the top. It was a moo-ving performance.

A great weekend so far and since there is no game today, we will be heading home soon.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Hummelstown, PA

Out the Hotel Window - Hummelstown, PA

Out the Hotel Window
Hummelstown, PA
October 26, 2019

It is not a very beautiful sight. Looking out onto the parking lot and the semi-industrial area beyond. The window is dirty and clouds the scene. The awning for the hotel blocks much of the view. I suppose that this should be considered a restricted view room. But then, the view isn't much to look at.

Chris and I are here with the GORC 12U Cooperstown Team for a baseball tournament. It is the next to last weekend of the season and, sadly, the weather is supposed to be rainy. We were hoping to enjoy Hershey Park this evening, but it is likely that the weather will be wet and cold and make an evening at the park something to avoid rather than to embrace.

Sadly, the view out the hotel window does not make it any better.

Well, at least there will be baseball, if the rains hold off.

— Bob Doan, writing from Hummelstown, PA

Getting Ready for the Winter

Winter is coming, of that I am sure. 

Firewood for the Winter
Stacked Lovingly by Chris
October 24, 2019

Last evening our neighbor reminded Chris and I that Thanksgiving is only about four weeks away. In reality it is five weeks until Thanksgiving, but the message was clearly received. During the time between now and then the leaves will completely fall from the trees, darkness will arrive earlier and earlier, the temperatures will plummet, and we will have a killing frost, or more. 

Not a very pleasant period to anticipate.

We are getting ready for the dark and cold days. We ordered our firewood for the season. Split and ready for stacking. Chris took it upon herself to stack the entire half-cord herself rather than waiting for me to come home from work. She did a great job and while I am very thankful that she did it, I would have preferred to help her. But it is done and a big thanks to Chris for her hard work. 

While we do not burn wood as our primary heat source during the winter, we use it in the fireplace to heat the family room and kitchen up to toasty warm temperatures. There is something nostalgic about a roaring fire on a cold and snowy day. 

Did I actually write that word? Well, as least we are ready, because we all know that it is coming.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

World Series Update

As the MLB season draws to a conclusion, I can state that it has been an exciting World Series, thus far. 

While I picked the Astros to win the series in six games, and they technically could still do that, it certainly does not look as if they brought their "A" game last night during their 12-3 loss. The Astros are now two games down in the best of seven series. 


Remember--it is Baseball! There are still five games possible and anything can happen!

Here are some World Series fun facts from CBS Sports. 


The Nationals have outscored the Astros 17-7.

Road teams who take a 2-0 series lead have won the Series 77 percent of the time.

The last 11 MLB teams to take a 2-0 lead have gone on to win the title, including the 2018 Red Sox.

A total of 17 runs from the Nats are the most by road team in the first two games of the World Series since the 1960 Yankees (20 runs vs. Pirates).

Just three of the previous 25 teams to lose the first two games at home under the current 2-3-2 format have come back to win the World Series. It hasn't been accomplished since the 1996 New York Yankees came back against the Atlanta Braves.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

And the Rains Arrived

The news reported that we have received more rain in the past week than we had received since the beginning of August. 

That was an astounding revelation. That is how dry that it has been. 

The Team After Practice
GORC Park
October 12, 2019

But, today is supposed to be a beautiful day. And it is working out well because we have baseball practice tonight. The team is preparing for a big tournament in Hershey this weekend. We are guaranteed three games and hopefully will play more. We have a double header on Saturday beginning at 12:30--hopefully the weather will be kind to us. Right now it looks like Saturday evening showers and Sunday rain--we might not get to play on Sunday. But, the weather can always change. 

Hopefully, it will. But, then, we need the rain. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD