Trials and Tribulations

 

Sun setting over Tequesta
Intracoastal Waterway
Jupiter, FL
September 4, 2020

What a weird day yesterday turned out to be.

In a break from tradition, I did not make it to the beach.

The primary reason for missing the beach was that the refrigerator at the condo died. Seriously died. We had an early morning appointment to have the refrigerator assessed for repair. The main board burned out and we had an appliance technician confirm that a new board was required. It seems like something always needs attention. Unfortunately, the board will not be replaced until Tuesday and we are using dry ice to keep the refrigerator cold.

Later during the day somehow the lights got left blazing on the car and the battery drained in the oppressive heat of the day while Chris and I were shopping. Ugh! Fortunately there was a guy in a truck who had jumper cables and we were able to get started and back to the condo where I put the battery on a trickle charger to restore its charge.

Strange things happening as our time away draws to a close. Is it Florida trying to keep me here longer than planned? 

I hope so.

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Did He, or Didn't He?

 

Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial 
France

The discussion rages regarding whether President Trump said something derogatory and insulting about our fallen military dead from World War 1 by calling them "losers and suckers."

Here is the disturbing part--because the president has demonstrated on multiple occasions that he has a fleeting grasp of the truth, I am having a hard time believing that he did not say those things. 

As a case in point, Trump says that he did not call John McCain a loser--and it is on tape that he did, in fact, call him a loser. 

Read about it in this Forbes article:

Trump Says He Never Called McCain A ‘Loser’—Here’s The Evidence That He Did

It turns out that Trump called John McCain a loser on multiple occasions and it is even on video. 

We have come a long way from the days of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, who spoke about our fallen military during his Gettysburg Address:

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."  (Gettysburg Address - Abraham Lincoln, November 13, 1863)

We have come to a low point, below most other low points, in the history of the United States. The president, the Commander-in-Chief, the leader of the free world, is alleged to have made insulting remarks about America's fallen military, men and women who responded to our nation's call, willingly or unwillingly as draftees, and made the supreme sacrifice. The allegation alone is damning enough. That it may be true is even worse.

That the body of evidence, despite denials to the contrary, suggests that it is even possible President Trump may have said those remarks is unconscionable. To even believe that it is possible that a president would think let alone say such things, based upon as review of the facts and evidence of previous behavior, is horrific.

Did he, or didn't he make those remarks? 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Work and Play

 

Garage Shelving
Tequesta, FL
September 4, 2020

Yesterday was a busy day. With the help of my friend, Fran, the shelving project in the garage was completed.

It took two days of work in the garage, with temperatures well over 90 degrees and the sweat pouring off of both of us, but the shelving is in place and ready to increase the available storage in the condo. That is one of the biggest problems in condos and many homes--not enough storage. The garage is so tight that there really isn't room along the sides for much storage and to still have a car fit into the space.

And we already have an expansion planned!  

Great White Heron on the Beach
Carlin Park, Jupiter, FL
September 3, 2020

But the real fun of the day was the morning beach walk that Chris and I enjoy. We go out every morning when the weather permits to walk the beach. It is something that we cannot do in Maryland and so we are sure to enjoy our daily sojourn to the beach.

Egret Stalking Prey
Jupiter, FL
September 3, 2020

Yesterday was a good day for birds and I was able to capture an action shot of a heron taking off. Those are difficult images to get because following the bird through the takeoff and into flight is difficult--fortunately, my cell phone has a feature that collects seconds before and after the moment I click to take the image and I can usually find a good image in there somewhere. And I did.

I am taking today off from big projects and doing some of the smaller projects around the house and planning on finally spending an afternoon. on the beach. The weather looks good--hot! I like it hot because it makes the beach that much better. 

I have to mix work and play!

-- Bob Doan, writing from Tequesta, FL

Physical Distancing at the Beach

 

Jupiter Island Beach
Jupiter, FL
September 2, 2020 

The holiday weekend is upon us and it seems that lots of people are planning on heading to the beach. Frankly, in addition to doing some work at the condo I am also planning on heading to the beach.

I went to the beach twice yesterday, to two different Palm Beach County beaches. I did that after being greeted by the following headline: 

Coronavirus Florida: These beaches are open, closed for Labor Day holiday weekend

Fortunately, the beaches in my area are not closing for the weekend. 

Carlin Park Beach
Jupiter, Florida
September 2, 2020

On my two trips to the beach, the first being about 8:30 AM to Jupiter Island, I can report excellent physical distancing.

The beach at that hour was devoid of others and Chris and I had a great walk.

For our second trip to the beach, in the afternoon about 5:30 for Happy Hour, I waded into the ocean to get a shot of our spot on the beach. It, too, was almost deserted.  There is one interloper walking into the images, but other than than that our spot is not near any other beachgoers. 

The beaches have less people on them than the grocery store--which we have managed to visit only once! I like that trend. Beach three times and grocery store once. Maybe we can keep the ratio like that, or even better!

Beaches are great places to get away from the crowd!

-- Bob Doan, writing from Tequesta, FL

Back to the Ocean

Carlin Park Beach
Jupiter, Florida
September, 1, 2020

Chris and I arrived back to one of our favorite beaches yesterday. It is the beach near Carlin Park in Jupiter, Florida. The beach has changed significantly since our last visit during 
November due to hurricanes and reconstruction. It is much wider now. I remember that last year there were places along the beach where at high tide the waves would be at the base of the dunes.  Now the beach is wide and open. 

Sandpiper in Post-Migration Mating Plumage
Jupiter, Florida
September 1, 2020

It was a great way to spend the first day of September. The water was fabulous--it was warm, probably about 84 degrees, calm and clear. I could see my feet on the bottom while standing neck deep. That does not usually happen. 

It was also good to see the birds on the beach. Their plumage has changed since the last time we visited. 

There is something nice about waking up in the morning in Elkridge and being on the beach in Florida by 1:30 PM after stopping into the house to unpack. We left home and yet arrived at home. And the house was in great shape and ready for us. Our friends even made sure that the air conditioning was on and the house ready for our arrival. 

Back in Florida! Back to the 
ocean!

-- Bob Doan, writing from Tequesta, FL

Step up to the Bar

Finnegan at Happy Hour with Chris
Elkridge, MD
August 28, 2020

The other evening we had friends over for Happy Hour. We had all planned to go to a restaurant, but the rain washed out those plans since we were planning on dining outside. 

As we sat in our basement, complete with the bar, we were enjoying each other's company it became clear that Finnegan wanted to become part of the action. The small dog crawled into Chris's lap and put his head up at the bar as if to ask the bartender for another drink. Of course, I could not serve him because he is only 3 years old and the minimum drinking age is 21. Well, I guess if I multiplied dog years by human years he would have been old enough for an adult beverage. 

Looking out the window behind Chris and Finnegan it can be clearly seen that the storms were passing in nature, but we enjoyed being together as a group. We all had stopped at local restaurants for a carry-in dinner and were preparing to feast upon Chinese food. Later in the evening, the rain and storms returned. 

Finnegan was a good sport about not being served at the bar even though he cruised for munchies. 

Another fun Happy Hour. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - August 31, 2020

1. Today is the last Monday and the last day of August 2020. Say good-bye to the Summer of COVID! I was up early yesterday and saw the constellation Orion rising in the east. Another sure sign that summer is ending.

2. Mantis update. Pete, our guard mantis, has departed. We miss having him there in the fern protecting the front door from bugs.

Moon from Behind a Cloud
Elkridge, MD
August 29, 2020

3. I took an image of the moon that made it look like the sun coming from behind a cloud the other night. It was in reality very dark. 

4. Autumn begins on September 22nd. 

Ikea Line
College Park, MD
August 30, 2020

5. Chris and I went to Ikea yesterday morning. We were amazed at the line to get in. Wow. We cycled through for over 20 minutes to get one item. Everyone was masked and practicing good physical distancing! Of course, we came out with more than we went for, but we had to make the entrance delay worth the wait.

6.  The Orioles have slipped significantly in the standings. They are now 14-19,  .424.  I am disappointed that they have fallen so far. They have not been playing very well as of late. Well, it is almost September and time for the season ending spiral into the bottom position of the division.

7. Next Monday is Labor Day. 

8. The political name calling has to stop, it clouds the the issues. Wait, that is what is wanted because the actual numbers and facts are pretty depressing.

9. Today in History. Shortly after midnight on August 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales—affectionately known as "the People’s Princess"—dies in a car crash in Paris. She was 36. Her boyfriend, the Egyptian-born socialite Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the car, Henri Paul, died as well. Princess Diana was one of the most popular public figures in the world. Her death was met with a massive outpouring of grief. Mourners began visiting Kensington Palace immediately, leaving bouquets at the home where the princess, also known as Lady Di, would never return. Piles of flowers reached some 30 feet from the palace's gate.

United Airlines Ends Change Fees for Most Domestic Flights - The Wall Street Journal

Iran Scales Back Religious Festival, but Some Rush to Holiday Destinations - The Wall Street Journal

Breonna Taylor’s Life Was Changing. Then the Police Came to Her Door - The New York Times

Big Oil Is in Trouble. Its Plan: Flood Africa With Plastic. - The New York Times

As confrontations between armed groups and protesters turn deadly, police face complaints of tolerating vigilantes - The Washington Post

Senior officials won’t brief Congress in person on election threats - The Washington Post

U.S. coronavirus cases top six million as Midwest, schools face outbreaks - Reuters

Protesters crowd Minsk as Belarus leader gets birthday call from Putin - Reuters

U.S. Records Smallest Daily Increase in Coronavirus Cases in a Week - The Wall Street Journal

Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week. 

"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness."



-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Search for truth

Found this on Facebook without attribution
Note: RNC is Republican National Convention

I am weary of hearing the current administration label opposing opinions and facts (and I mean verifiable facts) as false news that it makes my head hurt. Especially since the biggest source of false news, untruths, and warped facts come from the White House itself. 

Have you noticed that the Republicans are not asking people whether they are better off now than four years ago? Because we are not.

I read an insightful article in The Washington Post titled Nearly every claim Trump made about Biden's positions was false. 

The article begins as follows:

President Trump isn’t running against Joe Biden, not really. The former vice president may occupy the Democratic Party line on the presidential ballot, but it isn’t Biden that Trump’s rhetoric describes.

Trump is instead running against a straw man whom he describes as a Trojan horse for socialists and communists. Trump is running against someone who holds positions that aren’t held by Biden himself — and if Trump convinces enough Americans that Biden and that straw man are one and the same, he might just win more votes.

It is the same thing that I have seen from this president since he has been in office: if you do not like a situation then invent or create an alternate reality and sell that to the American people. How has worked for the 183,000 Americans who have died from Covid-19? 

The noise and confusion are designed to obscure the truth: "and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)

Too many Americans, I fear, do not search for truth and fact amid the noise and deception. It takes work.

I urge reading The Washington Post article as a place to begin sorting fact from lie and discovering the truths associated with the Democratic Presidential nominee. Recounting the falsehoods here would just serve to lend them credence through repetition--and that is a strategy, speak the untruths enough times and they become fact in peoples minds because they have heard them somewhere before. 

Search for truth--it will make you free.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Leaves on the Drive

Leaves on the Drive
Elkridge, MD
August 27, 2020

It is Summer!

August is the month of record for another two days. 

According to the calendar, Summer has 24 more days and does not relinquish its grip until September 22. 

Autumn, however, is arriving early. Yesterday I had to blow the leaves from the drive. These are leaves which are prematurely falling from the trees. The leaves are also filling the pool. 

Fortunately, the temperatures are more summer-like, in the 90s and I have been enjoying the refreshing feeling of diving into my pool, but I can see the advent of the Autumn. It is coming too soon. I feel as if we have lost the summer due to coronavirus. There was no week-long vacation, or trip to Florida. No cruise to some Caribbean island. Only one trip to New York! 

And the leaves continue to fall.

The remnants of Hurricane Laura are passing through the region today and there will be rain and thunderstorms--and more leaves to clear. Our encounter with the hurricane will be far less dramatic than the people of Louisiana and the south. We all need to pray for the people there and send assistance. The devastation is incredible and unfathomable. 

Enjoy the last three weeks of the Summer of COVID.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Truth will set you free

I use The Washington Post fact checker to gain perspective on the political speeches that I hear or read. I believe that it is important to try to find the truth amid the rhetoric. 

In terms of being loose with truth and facts, one person that intrigues me is Vice President Pence. He professes to be a very conservative Christian, by his own admission, with a very fundamentalist point of view. But, I cannot help but wonder as I listen to him.

His speech on the third night of the Republican National Convention, however, was riddled with untruths. I expected more of him. The Washington Post recorded seven false claims. 

One untruth that is particularly egregious is the following:

Pence made the following statement:

“When asked whether he’d [Biden] support cutting funding to law enforcement, Joe Biden replied, ‘Yes, absolutely.’”

— Pence

The Trump campaign is determined to spread the fiction that Biden supports “defunding police.” But that is simply false, according to Biden, his campaign and a review of his remarks. Pence is misquoting Biden, just as President Trump’s millions of dollars of campaign ads on the issue (which have earned Four Pinocchios) misquote him.

   (The Washington Post, August 27, 2020)

I found this video that makes me wonder about the vice president and what he truly believes. 

By the way, I know that some people believe that lying and untruth is expected of politicians, but comparing the third night of the Democratic Convention with the third night of the Republican Convention is insightful. The Democrats made 2 statements worthy of fact check note compared to 20 by the Republicans. Pence himself made 7 of the false claims. 

And yet, it is the Republicans who accuse the news media of Fake News. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD