Friday, September 10, 2021

Facelift modernization

The New Look
Elkridge, MD 
September 10, 2021
A project which has been in progress for almost three long months was finally completed in our kitchen. 

We had the cabinets updated and I am amazed at how it changes the entire look of the kitchen--making it both brighter and more modern. I know I was amazed at how much brighter everything seems, and it is more modern--which is funny because I remember when I was a kid and my parents remodeled their kitchen to put in white oak cabinets--they were beautiful as are these remastered cabinets. 

Christmas Eve 2020
Elkridge, MD
The old brown look is definitely dated. I have included an image from Christmas Eve 2020 for comparison.

Chris is busy preparing Christmas Eve brunch ini this image and the dark cabinets can be seen. 

We are much brighter and that is important in a room which is very dark to begin with. 

Change is good, sometimes. It was just the nearly three months without doors and drawers that was a problem.


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Not in Last?


In an amazing feat of baseball, the hapless Orioles have been victorious in 4 of their past 5 games!

That includes taking a series from the Yankees in New York for the first time since early 2019 and now winning 2 of 3 from the Royals at home in OPACY. Tonight they go for the four game series win, but can do no worse than a split if they lose. 

Maybe September will new kind to the Orioles. They are 4-3 so far during the month. A 50 win season is definitely almost possible as they stand 45-93 and are no longer the worst team in Baseball. That honor has shifted back to Arizona who are 45-95. 

The baseball season is rapidly drawing to an end and the big question for Orioles fans is: when will rebuilding be complete? 

Soon, I hope. 

I am looking forward to driving to Sarasota for some Spring Training games in February and March and hoping to see a team ready for major league competition rather than trying out for a spot in the College World Series. 

Finishing 42 games out of first has become nauseating and does not encourage me to go to the park--although I did enjoy my visit to the Nationals last Friday. I miss competitive baseball. 


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD


Note - OPACY: Orioles Park at Camden Yards

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

9/11 - 20 years Later

It is of course Saturday: the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack. 

We are hearing stories of the survivors from ground zero and from the school children that were with President Bush as he received the news. But, I know that each of us have a memory, a story about that day when the world actually did stand still as we pored over the rubble and nationally collected ourselves. 

It is the stories of every American, no matter where they were nor what they did that day which are now part of our national fabric. The fear, the disorientation, the anger--those memories unite us because everyone over the age of about 25 definitely have memories of that day. 

I sat alone in a far away land watching NBC News in total disbelief worried about my family in Maryland. I felt helpless and small, safe in the truest sense of the middle of no where. My memories are very different that those of people who were living in the Beltway area and the rest of America on that day. I am told there was an eerie sense of quiet as all the air traffic quickly was grounded. My story included taking of of the first United Airlines flights from LA to Baltimore after that day and the security that was present everywhere. 

Chris and I had planned to journey to New York City this weekend, but we had not realized that it was the 20th annual remembrance of the day and have decided to avoid the crowds and the city and rescheduled our trip for another time. 

WE should each write our stories of that day down especially now with the end of Afghanistan so they are not forgotten. 

Remember! Do not let history be rewritten.


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

At Summer's Passing


The sounds of the summer are passing. 

Yesterday I enjoyed them for, likely, the last time this year. We gathered the entire family for the first time since Easter to celebrate the summer-ending Labor Day holiday. 

I made a mental note of the sound of my grandsons playing in the pool.

The sound of bean bags thumping on the Cornhole Game in the yard.

The sound of dogs playing/fighting in the afternoon.

The sounds of a family gathered talking, laughing, relaxing on a warm still-summer's afternoon. 

And those were the sounds of a holiday being enjoyed by my family in our yard. I wish I could have recorded the scene. And we forgot to take a family picture--I even charged up my drone to record the scene--but forgot to get it out because I was enjoying myself too much. 

Maybe next time.


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday, September 6, 2021

Monday Musings - Labor Day 2021

 



1. Welcome the first Monday in September. The 9th month of the year has arrived with more moderate temperatures. There are 16 Mondays and 116 days remaining in 2021!

2. Happy Labor Day! We celebrate the people who made ur country and the end of the Summer season. 

3. I will be closing my pool this week or next officially ending my summer around the house and transitioning into the Autumn season.

4. Summer is definitely ending. I spied the constellation Orion in the morning sky--a sure sign that the days are getting shorter and that the dark season is not far away.

5. Holiday Mondays are enjoyable. I am sure soon that I will not be able to distinguish a holiday from a normal day.

6. I am looking longingly at my pool knowing that moon the new cover will be installed and it will be seven months until it is open for swimming and fun again.

7. The Orioles amazed me by winning their first series in New York since 2019 yesterday. They took 2 of 3 from the Yankees, possibly dashing the Yankees hopes for winning the division. The Orioles now have 43 wins and need just 4 more to tie the worst ever Orioles team for fewest number of wins in a season.

8. Today in HistoryOn September 6, 1915, a prototype tank nicknamed Little Willie rolls off the assembly line in England. Little Willie was far from an overnight success. It weighed 14 tons, got stuck in trenches and crawled over rough terrain at only two miles per hour. However, improvements were made to the original prototype and tanks eventually transformed military battlefields.





Social Security Costs Expected to Exceed Total Income in 2021 as Covid-19 Takes Financial Toll - The Wall Street Journal

Business Travel Rebound Stifled by Covid Resurgence - The Wall Street Journal

Americans Stretch Across Political Divides to Welcome Afghan RefugeesAmericans Stretch Across Political Divides to Welcome Afghan Refugees - The New York Times

They Put Everything Into Their Homes. Not One Was Spared in the Flood.They Put Everything Into Their Homes. Not One Was Spared in the Flood. - The New York Times

The New Orleans power failure has disproportionally affected older residents, who are trapped in their homes. - The New York Times

Taliban claims victory over last pocket of resistance in Afghanistan - The Washington Post

Millions in U.S. lose jobless benefits as federal aid expires - The Washington Post

9/11 was a test. The books of the last two decades show how America failed. - The Washington Post

Sydney COVID cases seen topping 2,000 a day; Australia ramps up vaccinations - Reuters

Saudi Arabia slashes crude prices to Asia; US, Europe prices steady - Reuters



Presidential Labor Day Proclamation

After more than a year in which essential workers made extraordinary sacrifices and carried our Nation on their backs, this Labor Day we see more clearly than ever that we must build an economy that responds to the needs and aspirations of working people — an economy that deals everyone in and brings everyone along.  The pandemic has also exacerbated and revealed for all to see the places where our Nation has fallen short of its promise to deliver equal opportunity to workers of color and their communities.  To help address that long-standing challenge, my Administration is pursuing a comprehensive approach to advancing equity, as illustrated in the Executive Order I signed on my first day in office entitled Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities.


A Proclamation on Labor Day, 2021 - SEPTEMBER 03, 2021•


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD


Sunday, September 5, 2021

Seminoles on the Warpath


 Playing in the heat of a late-Summer afternoon, the Severn Seminoles 14U baseball team displayed grit and enthusiasm while coming from behind to overcome a determined Severna Park Hornets 14U team. 

It was the last pre-Fall Ball Season scrimmage, but the boys demonstrated solid fundamental baseball. The pitching staff did an admirable job getting out of jams as there were multiple times the Hornets had bases loaded and one or less outs. As the two teams combined for 22 walks and 2 hit batsmen, the game was slow and plodding. 

That the team scored in each inning was a great achievement. It showed that they are unselfish and willing to work together to score runs. And in the field, as well--the boys followed-up plays and looked for the continuation to get additional outs defensively. 

The season starts next week and the hope is that the team will continue to build off the success seen so far. 

I am very happy to be back on the dusty diamond.


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD


Saturday, September 4, 2021

Baseball--In the Park!

National's Stadium
Mets vs Nationals
Washington, D.C.
September 3, 2021

 I went to a Major League Baseball (MLB) game in person last night. 

It was my first in-person professional baseball game since Spring Training in Florida during February 2020. And it was my first regular season MLB game since some time during 2019. 

It was great to be out at the ball park with the crowd. We had great, no we had awesome seats four rows from the field behind home plate. I took the image in this article from my seat while sitting. We heard the crack of the bat, the whump of the ball bouncing off the plate, the sound of a 101 mph fastball smacking into the catcher's mitt, and we saw an incredible play at the plate which resulted in the Mets catcher leaving the game.

We were part of the action. I noticed how loud it is with all the other fans above and around us. 

The game went into the 10th inning, which was incredibly exciting as the Nationals scored two runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the game. Sadly, however, the home team gave up four unanswered runs in the top of the 10th and the Mets ended the evening with a 6-2 victory. 

The only downside was that we did not make it back home until after midnight. Even though the Nationals, like the Orioles, are cellar dwellers, it was fun to watch competitive baseball. Did I mention that Jeremy, our son, scored premium seats that included food, drink, and parking? That also added to the great experience. 

Baseball in person! Wow!


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD


Friday, September 3, 2021

When Simple Things Get Messed Up

The Chlorinator of my Nightmares
Elkridge, MD
September 2, 2021
Doing the weekly chemical check on the pool which includes filling the chlorinator and adding the appropriate cocktail of chemicals for the weekly shock to keep the algae at bay is not a particularly difficult task. I have been doing it for decades and have it down to about a 20 minute process which keeps my pool crystal clear and ready for use.

Until yesterday! Ugh.

The chlorinator would not open. I had to disassemble it and pry the top off to get chlorine into the chamber. And then it would not close. By the time it was done, I had managed to develop leaks around both the incoming and outgoing hoses. 

My 20 minute maintenance turned into an hour of pure frustration. Chris had to intervene to prevent me from assassinating the chlorinator. And of course it did not help that I had a longer than normal day at work.

I even changed the O ring--but all of mine are previously used and did not seem to work. I need to get this thing working smoothly again because fighting with a balky chlorinator every week is not my idea of fun! Of course, I can ignore the problem and close the pool and push the problem into next May--but that only kicks the can down the road and will provide additional frustration when opening the pool. 

Thank goodness a three-day holiday weekend is on the horizon. 

I fixed the leaky lines and did, in the end, get chlorine tablets loaded. I ended with it fully functional, at least for another week.

I get frustrated when simple things become problems.


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD 

Thursday, September 2, 2021

Return to School


 Here in Maryland there is a very staggered start to the annual return to the classroom.

Howard County, for example, has been in class since Monday yet neighboring Anne Arundel County does not return until Wednesday after Labor Day.

I have noticed a significant increase in traffic and I have had to adjust my morning departure to miss the school bus that pays my street at about the same time that I leave. I did not adjust on Monday and lost 8 minutes behind the bus. I am amazed at how slow the kids are.

I guess I would be slow as well. 

The return to the classroom is a big event every year and this year is no exception with the discussions about whether to mask, or not. 

We need to protect our kids and each other as much as possibly and so I still do not understand the opposition to wearing facial coverings--it is the right thing to do to protect others. 

Well, happy school days!


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Pummeling the Earth with Rain

 

Hurricane Ida Cell Dumping
Elkridge, MD
September, 1 ,2021

As the new month dawned, I was awakened to the sound of thunder and flashes of lightening along with the rain banging against my window this morning.

The fury of the remnants of Hurricane Ida were upon us and the house was standing up to ferocity. 

Makayla had to go out and so I was forced to open the door and experience the cool, damp air and peer into the pounding rain. There was a small river running down the drive, as it always does when it rains here. 

We have another day of this weather. We did need the rain, but it is too bad the storm could not be sent to California to quench the fires there. 

Thoughts and prayers continue to go out to everyone in the path of this storm and especially those without power suffering in the heat of Louisiana.


-- Bob Doan, ELkridge, MD


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