Beating the Snow and Cold

I have been exploring ways to cope with the snow and cold. 

The view out my window is white, bare trees, and no signs of Spring. In a word--monochromatic! Or, boring.

How to cope with the snow and cold?

Colorful flowers and grilled food
to imagine being warm

1. Plan a trip, in my mind, to someplace warm, like Key West or the Caribbean.

2. Watch the Golf Channel showing a a tournament from a warm and green location.

3. Sit in the sauna at the gym and dream that it is summer in Florida.

4. Watch replays of old baseball games.

5. Get excited about Spring Training in Florida.

6. Go on a cruise to someplace tropical!

7. Get a reservation for a beach house somewhere.

8. Buy some colorful flowers.

9. Grill a steak, even if it is snowing.

10. Drive to work with the heat so high that I want to open the windows to cool off.

11. Sign up for golf lessons.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Tuesday Comes Round Again

Tuesday is a tough day of the week for me. 

Tuesday is too far from the weekend to get excited about and it is so close to Monday that the bulk of the week remains yet to be completed.

Think about it. Monday is the first day of the week and many of my friends and coworkers mourn the loss of the weekend and bravely face the challenges of the week ahead. I have a friend who made Monday his favorite day of the week just to help with the transition from the weekend to the work week.

Wednesday is hump day and we have the camels to add some levity into the middle day of the week. The concept of cruising over the hump of the week makes me smile.

Thursday is the day before Friday and the promise of the weekend charges everyone up. 

Friday is, well Friday with many people looking to leave work early even though I usually wind up working longer on Fridays than many other days.

Tuesday is a day of mixed meanings. From Wikipedia I discovered the following about Tuesday: In the Greek world, Tuesday (the day of the week of the Fall of Constantinople) is considered an unlucky day. The same is true in the Spanish-speaking world. For both Greeks and Spanish-speakers, the 13th of the month is considered unlucky if it falls on Tuesday, instead of Friday. In Judaism, on the other hand, Tuesday is considered a particularly lucky day, because in the first chapter of Genesis the paragraph about this day contains the phrase "it was good" twice.

I do admit, one Tuesday per year is special--that would be Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent when the celebrations get crazy in New Orleans. I've never been there, but the TV coverage makes them seem like a lot of fun. 

Tuesday needs something to get charged up about. Even the mail deliveries are smaller on Tuesdays than other days. The Huffington Post reported in 2009 that if the Post Office went to five day per week mail delivery it was possible that Tuesday might be the day cut rather than Saturday due to the light volume on that day. 

Tuesday needs to work on its image. 

I guess I need to work on my attitude. After all, it is not Tuesday's fault that is follows Monday and precedes Wednesday. It is just another day full of promise and challenges.

Happy Tuesday.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings: February 23, 2015

1. In the movie The Imitation Game, I was taken with the following statement--made twice: Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.

Ready to Shovel

2. How cold was it last week? Here is an image of me as I headed out to shovel on Tuesday morning with temperatures in the low single digits and wind chills of 20 below. I survived without frostbite!

3. Heard during the TV weather forecast yesterday: It's hard to remain optimistic, but Spring really is coming!

4. I spent the weekend watching a couple of the Oscar nominated movies. I was especially moved by Boyhood--what an interesting concept and movie. 

5. I was excited to see the temperature the 40's yesterday. Maybe the grip of winter is loosening?

6. I guess I kind of skipped over hockey on my way to MLB Spring Training. Oops.

Louis in my Lap

7. I am reveling in the knowledge that MLB Spring Training is underway. 

8. Overheard in Macy's while shopping for wine glasses: The wine glasses are too big, they hold 17 ounces!  I was thinking, 5 ounces is still a full serving the rest of the space is to allow the aromas to gather. Please don't fill the glass to the rim.

9. When the white cat jumps into your lap, be afraid. Be very afraid!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Something to Warm-up My Thoughts: Orioles Update

Ed Smith Stadium
Sarasota, FL

Stuck in a frozen snowbank that is generally called the mid-Atlantic Region of the United States, it has been hard to remember that Spring Training has started in Florida and Arizona for the upcoming Major League Baseball season. 

It is a pleasant respite to the frigid weather, snow, and ice that I face right outside my door. 

But just about 985 driving miles away in Sarasota, Florida, where the temperature yesterday topped out at 75 degrees with 78 the expected high today, the Orioles are gathering and preparing for the season.

Here are some of the highlights.

First, the baseball glove that was used to give Derek Jeter a homer in 1996 and defeat the Orioles in the playoffs on an incredibly controversial and poorly umpired play that shall live in infamy forever has been sold at auction for $22,705. 

Second and beyond, the Orioles are still getting the team together. About five players are finalizing contracts or lost arbitration hearings and preparing to arrive at the facility. 

According to Roch Kubatko, The Orioles have 14 pitchers throwing in the bullpen today, six more than yesterday.

Also as reported by Roch:

Manager Buck Showalter shared some observations from today's bullpen sessions, including how new left-hander Wesley Wright is effective because of the way he hides the ball behind his back during his delivery.

Reliever Darren O'Day will be brought along slower than other pitchers in camp because, as Showalter quipped, "He's going to make the team."

Left-hander Brian Matusz will be stretched out again in camp so he can work on his changeup.

Ubaldo Jimenez has been "very engaged" in camp, according to Showalter. "He's got a little burn."

And of course, it goes without saying that every Orioles fan is watching the progress of all-star catcher Matt Wieters and his return from surgery. 

Baseball is back and at least the thought of it makes me feel warmer. and maybe the snow will melt faster.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

What to do on a Snowy Day

It is snowing--it has been snowing. Five inches of snow already and more falling from the sky every minute.

About the only thing I have been doing is watching movies and golf on TV. Well, I have been watching the birds at the feeders, too.

At one point there were six female cardinals on my back deck chowing down. Feeding birds can be a lot like taking a $20 bill out of the wallet and lighting it on fire every time more seed is required. 

But, on a snow day they provide some comic relief.

I need some comic relief. 

I need to head off on a Caribbean vacation  and it has only been one month since my last vacation.

The snow has been falling steady now for six hours.

The driveway has been cleared once but the street is impassible by the vehicles I currently have in my stable.

The roads are bad and supposed to get worse as the snow turns to freezing rain and sleet and who knows what else?

The storm continues--no end in sight at this point.

The birds are feeding, there is a fire in the fireplace keeping the room toasty warm.

A great down day.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

As the Sun Rises

Minutes before Dawn
February 21, 2015

The sun is rising--I can just begin to see the shapes of the naked trees silhouetted against the clear, frigid sky.

Another "it's gonna be too cold" day begins. It is forecast to be (and I quote) "much warmer" today than yesterday. There is something fundamentally wrong when much warmer equates to a high temperature of 29 degrees!

Sunrise is set for 6:51 AM and I am not sure that I really want the day to begin given the forecast for an afternoon and evening full of snow to the tune of possibly 8 inches. It will be another day spent with a shovel in my hand and the promise of Spring slipping further and further away from reality.

I am not just complaining about the weather in my region--but all across the nation it is cold and snowy. Denver, Colorado, is forecasting up to 20 inches of snow in some areas. I was reading that Syracuse, New York, has received almost 49 inches of snow in February alone! The low in Miami, Florida, was 42 degrees yesterday missing the record by a scant 1 degree. I want to live somewhere where the record low is in the 40's. 

In Baltimore we set a new record low of 1 degree besting the record of 7 degrees set in 1885! The high was 18 degrees and when added together they still don't get to the 42 degree low of Miami! The high temperature in Anchorage, Alaska, yesterday was 32 degrees! Go figure.

Optimistically--maybe this is the last big storm of the season?

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Cold and Disappointment

The weather is the topic that most everyone seems to be talking about these days. And with good reason because the weather is harsh! 

There is talk in the region of setting record low and of hitting temperatures not seen since 1996. It is that cold!

I worry about the grapevines in the region. I wonder if they can handle the sustained cold? According to some of the models that I have been looking at, bud and vine damage could begin to occur. 

The disappointment that I refer to is the 10 day forecast for Elkridge on the first day of March. Presently, and the forecast changes wildly between now and ten days from now, March 1st is forecast for a high of 34 degrees and 5-8 inches of snow! Ugh! That of course ignores the forecast for tomorrow of 5-8 inches of snow and temperatures achieving a balmy 31 degrees.

I think tonight I will curl up next to a roaring fire and enjoy a bottle of wine while watching a sappy movie. Tomorrow, well, I will face tomorrow after surviving -20 degree wind chills of today.

I am really writing this to document that yes, I am looking forward to the first 80 degree day of the year and it will not be too hot for me. I got so excited the other day when the temperature achieved 23 degrees that I wanted to put on shorts and sandals and run outside to celebrate.

Warmer weather is coming. Take care of yourself. Stay warm and be happy.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

In Search of March

The temperature this morning is 10 degrees and there is about three inches of snow on the ground! Next month has got to be better. February has become a snowy, cold month that deserves to be forgotten as soon as warmer temperatures can be found.

Wherever they are! The grip of cold is pretty tight!

As the deep freeze continues, I almost hate going outside. I've dodged frostbite--narrowly, and kept my fingers warm enough to shovel snow and put air into the tires of my truck.

I looked at the extended forecast and there are only two days between now and the end of the month where the temperature is expected to exceed 32 degrees! We are in a deep freeze of epic proportions!

The ornamental grasses around the pool are cut and ready for warm sunshine to signal rebirth and begin growing. I long to remove the cover from my pool and see the water again. And don't even talk to me about leaves on the trees--the naked gray trunks swaying in the gale force winds are not a vision I care to remember. 

Blue skies, 80's, leaves, grass, and the feel of a lawn tractor underneath me--these are the things I long for. 

On the good side--Orioles pitchers and catchers report today. I wish I were in Sarasota where the expected 52 degree high today seems cold unless compared with our expected high temperature of 18 degrees. That is an important 34 degrees of difference. I long to live in a place where 52 degrees is called: cold!

I have never wanted a month to end as much as this one--but February 2015 has earned it all across the nation!

Did someone say that baseball season is getting under way? I think I will focus on that and stay warm.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Dog in the Snow

Makayla in the Snow

I am not a fan of snow and there was three inches of the white stuff waiting for me when I woke up yesterday. Someday, I want to live someplace where I only have to read about snow and not experience it first hand.

I had already coordinated with the neighbor to start up the snowblower about 8:30 AM and as a result, clearing the driveway was a fairly short event aided by the fact that the snow was very fluffy. It almost took longer to clear the frozen newspaper from the blades of the snowblower than it did to clear the entire driveway. I really wish people would pick-up their newspapers.

Makayla loves the snow. She especially likes the freshly fallen snow and she likes to roll around and run through the snow. She is very cute about everything associated with snow. I'm so cold that I don't even remember to take pictures of her antics. But, I snapped a few yesterday as I was clearing the snow from the driveway and sidewalk.

She has been weird the past couple of days with the cold. She runs outside and seems amazed at the weather. She accomplishes her task and quickly returns to come inside. Then, in a few short minutes, she wants to go outside again hoping the weather will be different. Sadly, it isn't. I should have made a movie of her with my GoPro, but I haven't.

Keeshonden (yup, that is the plural form of the name) seem to really like the snow and cold. It invigorates them--but at the same time I think they get cold, too. They are house dogs, after all.

Makayla is really a kid in disguise the only big difference is that I do not have bundle he up on coats, mittens, hats, and boots to have her sojourn outside for only a few brief minutes.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

A Holy War Expands

The Christian Crusades

Like most civilized people around the world, I was appalled at the ruthless murder of 21 Christians by the adherents of the Islamic State (a/k/a IS, ISIS, ISIL) in Libya. The murderers attempt to legitimize the act by calling it an execution, but what crime was committed? They were innocents and this was persecution! What I noticed in these medieval acts, however, was the direct attack upon Christianity and the globalization of the jihad.

In one Fox News article, an analyst calls it a "a major, tectonic shift."

Another interpretation of the beheadings reported that after beheading Coptic Christians, Islamists say they will ‘conquer Rome’ next. Is it any coincidence that the seat of Catholicism, Vatican City, is located in Rome? I think not.

I have been reading a number of articles about the threat posed by the IS, but one trend I see is that the group is being successful in areas that are susceptible to chaos because of a weak political structure. The Egyptians were taken in Libya which has been in the middle of a civil war for the better part of a year--but the western powers are steering clear of that area providing a ripe region for the infiltration of IS adherents. The US evacuated its Embassy and personnel on July 26, 2014. 

For historical perspective, I read an article published in the New York Times titled, The First Victims of the First Crusade, which provides some background on crimes visited upon the Jews by the Christians during the First Crusade almost 1000 years ago. 

Note to self: Turning our back on the problem and running away is not going to make the situation disappear or resolve itself.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD