Snow in my Truck

Snow in the Truck

The snow continues to cover everything in the region like a bad dream that won't end.

I want the snow to leave! It has been here too long and overstayed its welcome.

The ground here has been covered now for almost two weeks. The snow is still in the bed of my truck! Usually it goes away pretty quickly, but not this year. 

Plymouth & Brockton busses are running between
Provincetown & Boston. Picture taken on Rt 6 Cape Cod

The situation is not a bad as the Boston area. The image of the bus on a road with two stories of snow around it is stunning and sobering. Fortunately, it is not so bad here. 

Deer in the Yard
February 27, 2015

The deer are getting confused by the snow. Last evening four deer thought they were birds and checked out the bird feeders. At one point they were lined up eating from the ground under the feeder, but I was having a hard time getting a good shot and I was left with them realizing that they had been discovered and departing the area. 

This is the last day of February. It has been a month to remember, or rather a month to forget. I'm hoping that the arrival of March will turn the weather around. Temperatures are forecast to touch 60 on Wednesday and along with the expected rain, it is possible that the snow will depart and not return until long after summer come and then gone.

I know springtime will arrive when the snow melts from my truck.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Congress on the wrong path--Again

I have been watching drama play out in Washington, DC, because the city is on the verge of decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana according to an article titled, Republicans Warn Washington to Think Twice About Legalizing Marijuana published in the New York Times. 

It is immaterial whether I agree or disagree with the decriminalization of marijuana--but that the Congress, which has legislative authority over Washington, DC, can override and threaten the elected officials of the District is wrong! Since when did congressmen elected from districts across the country presume to represent the citizens of DC? It is one of the interesting paradox's of our representative form of government. Washington, DC, truly is without representation.

Voters in Colorado, Washington State, and Alaska can vote to change their marijuana laws--but voters in DC cannot. Congress has the ultimate oversight and therefore the people living in DC do not have representation as the lawmakers in charge of governing them are not elected by the people.

The District of Columbia is a lot more than federal land and landmarks. The people living there deserve responsive representation. Congress should recuse itself from meddling in this and most other issues affecting the District.

The incredible tale of this issue is reported as follows in the article: A few weeks after the marijuana ballot initiative passed, House Republicans placed a provision into a large federal spending bill prohibiting the city, which is overwhelmingly Democratic, from spending tax dollars to enact the initiative. But district officials argue that the marijuana law had already been enacted and certified by the Board of Elections before Congress passed the spending bill, so there was no “enacting” for the House to prevent.

I think the Mayor said it best and succinctly, Ms. Bowser [the Mayor] said Wednesday that the city would carry out its own law and that Congress should “not be so concerned about overturning what seven out of 10 voters said should be the law.”

Congress needs to stick to the bigger issues of running the country and let the people of DC govern themselves--perhaps they need to gain statehood in order to truly achieve representation. But that is an issue for another day.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Hardest Places to Live in the US

I ran across an article titled, Where are the Hardest Places to Live in the U.S. in the New York Times.  It ranks the counties in the United States by quality of life and focuses upon the hardest counties to live in. That was a new twist on the way I look at the United States. The interactive map is very interesting.

I usually look at the best places to live and never even consider the counties at the bottom of the list.

I was amazed a what the interactive map in the article revealed about some of the places live or visit:

Howard County, MD is 9th best county in the US out of 3135 counties.
Albemarle County, VA is 16th.
Tompkins County, NY is 170th.
Palm Beach County, FL is 344th.
Sarasota County, FL is 391st.

But at the other end of the list--Clay county, KY is 3135th.

The article is very interesting. I never really thought about how great the difference is between the top and bottom of the lists. When I look at the interactive map, I was amazed at the poverty and difficult living conditions along the Appalachians and especially in Eastern Kentucky.

Other observations. Wyoming, Connecticut,  and Hawaii do not have any counties in the doing worse category. 

From the article: The 10 lowest counties in the country, by this ranking, include a cluster of six in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky (Breathitt, Clay, Jackson, Lee, Leslie and Magoffin), along with four others in various parts of the rural South: Humphreys County, Miss.; East Carroll Parish, La.; Jefferson County, Ga.; and Lee County, Ark.

Personally, I found it amazing at the disparity between counties in some states. Maryland has Montgomery (6) and Howard (9) counties (9) while a short distance away is Baltimore City (2419) and Somerset County (2518). The biggest disparities seem to be in New Mexico between Los Alamos (1) and McKinley (2793) counties or South Dakota between Lincoln (8) and Shannon (3080) counties.  There are a couple of counties in Alaska for which there is no data--which I found interesting. 

The U.S. is a land of great diversity and I know that I rarely consider the quality of life of the people outside the region in which I live or visit. There is a great disparity in quality of life and despite taxes and social programs, I'm not convinced the needs of those living in the counties near the bottom are being adequately addressed. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

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