Snow Day

Snow Falling on Makayla
March 13, 2014

Happy Pi Day!

The storm of the season, for this region, blew in overnight. 

It is snowy, wet, and cold outside. The freezing rain is making life a mess.

Schools are closed.

First Snow of the Storm

it is a storm of contrasts. The temperature this morning in Ocean City is 50 degrees and in the far west of Maryland near Grantsville it is 23 degrees. In the Baltimore area it is holding right at freezing.

The news reports that the paltry amount of snow that this storm has provided changed the characterization of the winter form the least snowiest on record moving into a tie for the fourth least snowiest on record. Total snowfall for the season is less than 3 inches. Just north, however, near the Pennsylvania border this storm is delivering 12 inches of snow!

The snow, rain, and freezing rain is making things very messy.

The storm is not over and up to three more inches is expected as the storm moves along up the coast. It should be a very interesting day.

Happy Snow Day!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - March 13, 2017

The Room This Evening 

The Room This Morning

1. The flooring project is complete. Chris and I, with a lot of help from Patrick and Tina, took the remaining bedroom from carpet to wood floors in one day. Now it will get a fresh coat of paint! It is funny how we didn't paint the room, yet, but the color looks so different in the photos.

2. March Madness is underway. Sadly, Syracuse did not make the big dance. Maryland is the 6th seed in the West.

3. The world baseball classic is underway. Go USA!

4. Daylight Saving Time has arrived. I am already feeling the loss of sleep.

5. Springtime is taking a break this week. A major snowstorm is headed up the east coast. Hopefully it is Winter's last gasp!

6.  “Daylight saving time: Only the government would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.” -- Anonymous

Headlines

7. As Far as Debt Performance Goes, Barbados is Now on the Same Level as Greece - Caribbean 360

8. Toddler dies in first U.S. fatality linked to a hoverboard fire - Los Angeles Times

9. Ethiopia rubbish landslide kills 48 in Addis Ababa - BBC News

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Room One Done

Chris Tightening in the Last Boards

Working inside on a Saturday when the temperature barely crept above freezing, the first room of the flooring project was completed. 

Not being distracted by weather outside calling me to a golf course or to perform needed Springtime yard work meant that I was able to be totally focused upon finishing the room. Chris was equally focused. 

The room looks great. I need to give a big shout out to Patrick, Corey, and Jeremy for their help! It takes a team to be successful!

Part two of the project will begin today. The flooring boxes are residing in the dining room and they need to get out of the way. Fortunately it is a much smaller room and I hope we can knock it out in a couple of days.

Home improvement projects, always something to do.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Daylight Saving Time Arrives

That time of the year when everyone gets to experience sleep depravation arrives tonight when the clocks skip over an hour to adjust for Daylight Saving Time (DST). 

Sunlight in the Tree Tops

I appreciate the extra hour of daylight in the evening when I can best use it, but I will miss seeing the sunlight kiss the tops of the trees as I leave the house and head to work. It will be dark on Monday when I drive out onto the highway, sadly.

I have enjoyed watching the sunrise for the past month or so, but DST's arrival means that I will have more fun outdoor activities in the evenings. Except of course for the next week due to a major winter storm which is in the forecast and temperatures which will not see 50 degrees for the next 10 days!

Maybe the actual arrival of Spring will bring a welcome change in the weather--for the warmer. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Projects Continue, Spring Teases

Patrick and Corey at Work
(errr Play)

Patrick and Corey Consulting with
The Project Director -- Chris

The Springtime project is the primary activity around the house with the flooring project being the centerpiece of evening activities for three nights now.  The first of two rooms, also the largest, is about 3/4 complete thanks to the continued help of Patrick and Corey. 

Last evening we laid 14 rows of flooring and added to the 7 rows that Chris and I laid the night before, there are now 31 of an estimated 40 rows of flooring installed in the room. It is a large room, 11' X 18' and therefore takes a lot of time. Jeremy even provided some assistance last evening helping to get some of the rows installed. 

The weekend is coming and I am hopeful completing  the project, including moving onto the last room which is significantly smaller coming in at 10' X 13'. And it is smaller than that since the closet, which I included in the total width, does not run the length of the room.

Springtime Flowers in the Garden

Springtime toys with my affections while I labor on the flooring. Yesterday the afternoon sun and warmth called to me, but I was dedicated to the project and did not even hit a golf ball to continue getting my swing ready for my first sojourn to the golf course. I am a bit depressed because the forecast for the arrival of Spring looks more like a mid-Winter festival. The temperature will not crawl back to 50 degrees until next Saturday! Who came up with that plan? 

Well, I guess it gives me a chance to finish the indoor projects before beginning on the outdoor living projects. Any thought I had of opening the pool early have clearly vanished into the forecast for cold, rain, and some snow and ice!

Winter's last gasp, hopefully.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Wishing for February

Thus far into the month, March has been a bust. I am wishing for February's return and its 70 degree days.

10 Day Weather Forecast for Elkridge, MD

March has been sporting weather too much like the season and my hopes for an early Spring have turned into thoughts of just getting to Spring.

Program Note: Spring begins on Monday, March 20th at 6:29 AM EDT when the sun crosses the equator arriving back over the Northern Hemisphere.

I have a sense that there are more below freezing mornings forecast for the next 10 days than we experienced during all of February. And then there is the major snow weather event on the forecast for Tuesday! Who dreams this stuff up? Should it materialize with 1-3" on snow, it would be the biggest storm of the season and arrive the week before Spring officially graces the calendar.

Today's expected high temperature of 66 degrees will not be repeated or exceeded during the next 10 days if the forecast is correct! That is a depressing thought.

Weather!

Well at least the following quote made me smile.

Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.

Kin Hubbard

It gives me something to blog about.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

New Floors

Flooring in the Ready

For some reason, Chris and I have inaugurated a major flooring project at the house. The upstairs is in complete disarray as the remaining two carpeted rooms transition to hardwood flooring. 

This is a DIY project and I am feeling the impact of the first night's effort this morning. The first room to be transitioned was stripped of its carpet over the weekend and the flooring was retrieved from Lowe's on Monday evening.

Patrick and Corey Laying the Floor

Thankfully, Patrick and Corey were available to help get the flooring started. It took a long time to get the first line right--but the first lime is the most important. Because the flooring transitions in from the hallway, that added a great deal of complexity to getting everything set up correctly. Patrick also bought over a really nice compressor with two outlet ports, which meant that the flooring nailer and the finish nailer could stay attached and at the ready all of the time. 

End of Evening One - 10 Rows

I just realized that at the end of this project, I will have no need for my flooring nailer because there are no other floors which need transitioning from carpet to wood flooring.

The garage has a table saw and a finish saw both set up and ready. There were a lot of cuts to get the first row laid since it was not a complete board width in length. That was because it had to integrate across the threshold from the hallway.

By the end of the evening, and after a great meal fixed by Chris, 10 rows of flooring had been laid and everything was beginning to get into a good rhythm. According to my calculations, the room will be 40 rows wide and therefore, the room is 25 percent complete. It doesn't look it.

It will be awesome when the project is completed. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Travel Ban Redux

The New York Times labels it Travel Ban 2.0. 

Old Ban vs New Ban
Countries

Whatever it is called, the travel ban is back via Executive Order! It has been changed and may even, mostly, comply with the law.

The measure limits the numbers of immigrants and will be phased in over the next couple of weeks. 

While I am not a huge fan of the order, at least this one is being done in a way that allows the enforcement to commence in a rational manner.

The Washington Post in its article titled What Trump Changed in the New Travel Ban, provides a nice side-by-side comparison. 

I wonder what will the be the next Executive Order of the day?

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - March 6, 2017

1. March has dawned and it has been really cold. I am looking forward to a warm-up this week.

2. The Orioles are 5-5-1 in Spring Training games through Sunday. Yes, there are ties during Spring Training.

3. I tried to start my tractor and do some Spring lawn work. It wouldn't start. Ugh. It is going to need some more work.

4. When is reality fake news and when are false claims reality? Is real even real anymore? I'm so confused.

5. Why did the mammoth's die out? Lack of genetic diversity may be one reason according to a New York Times article the Woolly Mammoth's Last Stand. 

6. One bedroom is fully demo-ed waiting for the wood floor installation that promises to be my existence for the next two weeks.

Headlines

A woman in Seoul walks past a television broadcasting
 a news report on North Korea firing ballistic missiles.
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

7. Factions fight for two Libyan oil terminals - Aljazeera

8. North Korea fires four ballistic missiles into sea near Japan: Abe - Reuters

9. Trump Expected to Issue New Travel Ban Excluding Iraq on Monday - New York Times

10. Trump’s ‘evidence’ for Obama wiretap claims relies on sketchy, anonymously sourced reports - The Washington Post

Quote of the Week

Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid - Ronald Reagan

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

False Claims - Fake News

I have a hard time determining the difference between fake news and false claims.

Fake News

I guess, if stated emphatically and often enough false claims become true, or believable. 

Both fake news and false claims contribute to the circus which is becoming the legacy of the 45th President--the blurring of reality with fiction.


The latest false claim about the previous President wire-tapping telephones. It is a mess. 

I found an interesting website that tracks the falsehoods. It is sponsored by the Washington Post and is titled 100 Days of Trump Falsehoods. Of course, the website is probably fake news.

We have always had fake news and some of it makes for humorous reading. 

False claims are more disconcerting because they are presented under the guise of being true to intentionally distort the truth.

Both fake news and false claims are concerning, but when the leader of the free world persists on distorting reality, I become concerned.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD