Boog's, Baseball, and Beer

Orioles Park at Camden Yards
September 26, 2013

I love Boog's barbecue, baseball, and beer. Last evening I made my last sojourn of the 2013 baseball season to Orioles Park at Camden Yards. It was a great evening, but there was a tinge of sadness in it. The finality of a baseball season that began with so much hope and is going to end with the Orioles just a few games short of qualifying for a post-season playoff spot has set in.

Chris snapped the awesome panorama of me in my seat for the game as a memento.  I was imagining last season as the Orioles closed in on their first playoff spot in 15 years and how the loud the crowds were then--this year, the finality of the the imminent end of the season made both the crowd and the team seem listless as they played through the innings in an eventual 3-2 Orioles victory. There wasn't much for either team to play for, it seemed. The Orioles already had wrapped up their second consecutive winning season and are playing to stay ahead of the team from up north which shall remain nameless.

Last night I enjoyed eating Boog's barbecue for the last time this season. Boog Powell was a great Orioles player from the past and I have had the honor of meeting him a number of times outside his barbecue place in the stadium. I watched some great baseball--OK, not so great, at times with all of the late season call-ups it looked like a spring training game complete with two errors. And, I paid way too much for a beer! Stadium prices!

I stood for a few moments after the game absorbing the atmosphere. I am already preparing for next season. A trip to Sarasota for Spring Training and another playoff run which will culminate in me being able to actually attend a World Series game in Baltimore. But, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. There are three games left before the Orioles' season is officially in the books. 

Let's Go O's!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Out the Hotel Window - Denver, CO, Late September 2013

Looking towards DIA on September 23, 20013

A return trip to Denver resulted in a different view on out my hotel window on two separate days. 

The first view is of the evening and the setting sun behind me in the west, hence, I am facing east towards the spired of Denver International Airport (DIA). 

It is a stunning scene in its starkness.

Dawn over DIA on September 25, 2013

The second view is the sunrise, with the rays of the sun gracing the clouds. I angled the shot a bit different to capture the clouds but DIA remains hidden there on the horizon.

I enjoy watching the changing day and knowing that I when I head out, I will experience life on the other side of the hotel window no matter the time.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

My favorite caution sign

I saw this sign on the access road to Pearmund Cellars in Virginia. I thought it was funny and too true. 

 I need one of my own for my driveway on Friday nights after my friends have been partying.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

The Colors of Autumn

I was struck by this scene yesterday morning as I walked across the hotel parking lot to my car. Autumn had arrived and with it the green colors of summertime have already begun to change to gold. 

I had seen this field of sunflowers on previous trips and I was struck by the green foliage and the large flower heads of gold chasing the sun as it traversed the sky. 

Now, however, the greens were already fading into brown and the scene was becoming monochromatic. The mountains provided a stunning backdrop set against the blue sky--but the scene was still mostly yellow and gold.

Perhaps the colors were accentuated just a bit by the golden hues of the rising sun, but I think that it only served to highlight the scene.

On previous trips, I have had this view out my hotel window and been able to enjoy the openness, but on this trip my window faced a different direction with a different view of the just as stunning sunrise.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Denver, Co

Sunrise to Sunset

With the available daylight down to less that 12 hours per day (from sunrise to sunset now counting twilight) it is fun to see the different sights along the path of the day. 

Yesterday, I saw sunrise over the Baltimore Washington International Airport, or BWI as we affectionately call it. It was pretty looking out of the terminal while walking to my gate for my flight. The dawn was breaking over the field and it made me stop for a few moments. The field was already alive with activity as planes were arriving and departing. People and equipment were everywhere in the predawn light going about their business on the first full day of autumn.

And then, later in the day, I was walking into my hotel and I spied a small rabbit--totally terrified, less than six feet from me. It did the usual rabbit thing--it froze. The rabbit sat there, terrified, while I got my phone out and snapped his image.

I didn't snap an image of the sunset--although I probably should have. But, then, I really didn't get to enjoy it.

Another travel day filled with transient memories captured digitally.

-- Bob Doan, writing from ?

Monday Musings - September 23, 2013

1. Autumn has officially arrived, even though it has been around for weeks already it seems.

2. I am feeling the hope of baseball season slip away as the Orioles continue to lose critical games. It may all be over except for the math.

3. What do you do about a driver in another car driving with no lights on at night? Scary!

4. Birthday season is in full swing with the arrival of Autumn!

5. Why does the NFL start football games involving east coast teams 8:30 PM? Who watches the end of these games anyway? The only time I see the end of those games is when I'm traveling in a different time zone.

6. Rain, when needed is a wonderful thing. Rain in excess is a catastrophe, like the rains in Colorado right now.

7. Why can't we as a society understand that some people will always be operating outside the established norms?

8. Some people like the cool autumn days. I long for the warm days of summer and the smells of the fields baking in the sun.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Season of the Pumpkin

Autumn begins today at 4:44 PM EDT (8:44 GMT) and with its arrival, summer departs leaving only its memory behind.

The season of the pumpkin has already arrived. Yes--called Autumn, or Fall by many people, in my house it is actually the season of the pumpkin. I mean, think about it--pumpkins are everywhere. Even in front of my fireplace (or should I write, hearth?).

Pumpkin Muffins Straight from the Oven

Before long, pumpkins, real and artificial, will be everywhere. I will be strolling through cornfield mazes with grandsons, buying pumpkins, eating pumpkin pie, and making jack-o-lanterns. Just this morning Chris made pumpkin muffins for breakfast to celebrate the first day of autumn.

We celebrated the last night of summer by heading out into Baltimore for some evening enjoyment. And it was awesome. Even with the much needed rain complicating the traffic patterns, we rang in the autumn and the family the birthday season which sees a continuous stream of birthdays from now until mid-April.

After yesterday's rain the morning has dawned bright and crisp. Autumn is definitely in the air and swimming in the pool had become a memory of the summer passed. 

The season of the pumpkin has arrived and the season of the surf and sun has departed.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Here Come the Rains

Rainstorm over Stuart, FL

Sitting here this morning listening to the weather report, I was encouraged about the prospect of rain before the end of the day. Unlike some areas north of us, we have been in drought conditions since early August and things are getting really dry.

We need rain--even if it is going to fall on the weekend. I remember the daily afternoon rainstorms while I was in Florida earlier this year. They were little more than a nuisance--but a necessary replenishment of the water that we have seen little of here for more than the past month.

Things are very dry--everywhere. I think the significant stream behind my house had gone nearly dry which is why the wildlife is encroaching on my lawn more and more. 

The woodchuck paid an extensive visit to my yard to eat acorns yesterday. I considered loosing the dogs to chase it away, but decided to deal with it another day. What would I do if they actually caught up with it anyway? That would be a strange situation. And, if the woodchuck eats the acorns, I don't have to clean them up from the yard! 

Bring on the rain!  Maybe the lawn will green up and I will have to mow again.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

More Congressional Inaction

Another fiscal year is coming to an end--on the 30th, and Congress has yet again failed the American people who elected them by not doing their job. For the I don't know how many years in a row the fiscal budget year will end and there is no budget. The country is racing towards its debt ceiling and there is no action there, either.

 USA Today reports, in the article titled House heads to showdown over budget. Obamacare, that "President Obama will not sign the bill funding the government through Dec. 15 because "it advances a narrow ideological agenda that threatens our economy and the interests of the middle class," according to a statement from the Office of Management and Budget."

The threat of a government shutdown looms large, yet again. It should't be that way. It is not what is supposed to happen--Congress is holding the country hostage while attempting to implement policies professed by a minority of people. 

The article concludes with the following: "Treasury Secretary Jack Lew cautioned this week that waiting until the eleventh hour to raise the debt ceiling "could be very dangerous" and warned Congress not to "gamble with the full faith and credit of the United States of America."

Gambling!  Interesting thought.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Moon at the End of the Street

 After enjoying a heated 5-year old game of organized flag football last evening and then retrieving one grandson from soccer practice as evening fell too early it seemed, I paused for a moment and noticed the moon hanging at the end of the street. 

It definitely seemed to be a harvest moon--but maybe that is because it is September. 

But there it was--in the sky at the end of the street, laughing at me it seemed knowing that it was only about 7:20 pm and already darkness was beginning to envelop my life as the day slipped into the past.

I had noticed the trees along the roadside beginning to transform from the summer green into the golds and reds of autumn the other day. I snapped a quick image just to remind myself of the scene along my drive home before the trees lose all of their leaves in preparation for winters cold. 

I feel it will be a hard and cold winter this year. I want to remember the scene, before the green is whisked away from view, hiding until the springtime heralds its return to dominance.

That harvest moon though, it just seemed to laugh at me as I looked at it. It seemed that it was telling me to just go with it and find the joy in each season and not continually try to find a way to live in perpetual summer.

I don't know--traveling from the northern hemisphere to the southern to experience springtime followed by summertime then springtime again does not sound so bad. Maybe I could then laugh at the moon.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD