We were at King Family in Crozet, VA, earlier.
Drink wine and have a dog to live longer.
— Bob Doan, Afton, VA
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| Geese and Dog Purcellville, VA May 21, 2023 |
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| Goose and Gosling Odenton, MD May 23, 2023 |
On Sunday, while we were at Maggie Malick Wine Cellars, we observed adult geese protecting their goslings from the occasional dog that wanted to play in their pond. One of the geese, we believed it was the gander, moved between the dog and the goslings to divert the dog. One enterprising dog actually swam around threw pond twice with the gander always just out of reach before the dogs owner finally managed to get the dog under control.
We never feared for the geese, although we wondered if at some point the dog would come under direct attack from the gander.
And so goes nature. Oh yes, we do have to avoid stepping in goose poop!
-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD
We worked hard, lowering our actual workout time from 55 minutes to 48 minutes to complete the 10.6 mile loop around the airport. That raised our average speed from 11.6 to 13.2 mph.
That was a fun way to begin an evening together that then moved to his basement where we talked for a couple hours and enjoyed some adult beverages together.
I am beginning to appreciate my Bikemap App more since its recent upgrade. The mapping is better and the stats are easier to access and are more complete. One of the upgrades added 10ths of a mile for distances over 10 miles. In the previous version once I pedaled over 10 miles, the app only showed miles and not miles and tenths. The app recorded the tenths, but did not display them. I generally ride using Bikemap and the Apple fitness bike app together. It has happened that one of them failed during the ride, like because I forgot to charge my watch or I hit a button and killed the Bikemap, and so I get a record of the ride regardless of my inattention to detail.
Before riding yesterday, I had to work on my rear brake. For some reason one of the disc pads had become loose and I was not getting braking power on the rear. That is a bad and dangerous thing since using the front brake only on hills could be hazardous. I stopped by a bike shop, but they could not see my bike until the 31st. So I did "Bob doing Bob things" and took a look at the brake myself. With the help of the internet, I was able to adjust the brake and fixed the issue in about 10 minutes--the hardest part being finding the correct sized Allen wrench.
Another day dawns.
-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD
1. Monday Musings is back after a week off due to travel! Say "good morning" to the fourth Monday of May. There are 31 Mondays remaining in the year.
3. It has been relatively cool in the region since our arrival one week ago. Some weather reporters advise that it is running about 10 degrees below normal! Morning temps in the 50s are a shock to my Florida lifestyle! I had to wear jeans instead of shorts yesterday. I still wore my sandals, without socks, however.
4. The biking has been fun. The honeysuckle blossoms are providing a sweet smell across the Mid-Atlantic forests right now. Riding is multiple sensory treat.
5. Today in History. On May 22, 1843, the first major wagon train to the northwest departs from Elm Grove, Missouri, on the Oregon Trail.
Although U.S. sovereignty over the Oregon Territory was not clearly established until 1846, American fur trappers and missionary groups had been living in the region for decades, to say nothing of the Native Americans who had settled the land centuries earlier. Dozens of books and lectures proclaimed Oregon’s agricultural potential, piquing the interest of white American farmers. The first overland immigrants to Oregon, intending primarily to farm, came in 1841 when a small band of 70 pioneers left Independence, Missouri. They followed a route blazed by fur traders, which took them west along the Platte River through the Rocky Mountains via the easy South Pass in Wyoming and then northwest to the Columbia River. In the years to come, pioneers came to call the route the Oregon Trail.
China reacts to Zelensky's participation in G7 - CNN
US economy heads closer to the brink as Biden and McCarthy meet today on debt limit - CNN
‘Uncle Roger’ jokes about China, and censors don’t see the funny side - CNN
Ukraine says it advances on Bakhmut's flanks to entrap Russians - Reuters
Meta hit with record $1.3 bln fine over data transfers - Reuters
Beijing rebukes Japan, Britain over 'anti-China' G7 summit - Reuters
Could Biden use the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling? - Reuters
As Preteens Ignore Social-Media Limits, Governments Push for Better Checks - The Wall Street Journal
-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD
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| 14 Mile Ride Odenton, MD May 20, 2023 |
What really amazed me, however, when I checked the stats for the ride was the elevation change. That is something I do not get a lot of in Florida. On this 14 mile ride I enjoyed 570 feet of descent and 560 feet of ascent while achieving a max elevation above sea level of 224 feet. I was pretty much climbing or coasting for the entire route. By comparison on a recent 22 mile ride in Florida, I experienced 71 feet of descent and 73 feet of ascent achieving a max elevation of 30 feet above sea level. So biking in Maryland is a very different type of riding from Florida.
Crossing the Patuxent River
Odenton, MD
May 20, 2021
I enjoyed the long gradual descent of the WB&A railroad bed. It is also not too severe to return. The mapping program recorded it fairly well. It looks to be over a 100 foot elevation change.
As I crossed over the Patuxent River, I noted some people down one the banks with a fire and playing in the water. I was able to get the smoke in the image, but the people had moved out of sight by the time I stopped my bike and managed to get my phone off its handlebar mount to take the image. This area is one of the most scenic along the path.
It was a great day and a great ride. OK, it was a bit cool.
-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD
The U.S. is about to melt down and a small group of Republicans in Congress are playing their fiddles like Nero as Rome burned.*
Meanwhile, the headline in the Washington Post read: “World watches in disbelief and horror as U.S. nears possible default.” The story by Rachel Siegel and Jeff Stein revealed that at the meeting of the G7 leaders in Hiroshima, Japan, this week, the finance ministers for the G7—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union—have been pulling U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen aside to ask her what is going to happen.
“Around the world,” Siegel and Stein write, “experts have been watching in disbelief as the U.S. flirts with its first default, fearful of the potential international economic ramifications—and astonished by the global superpower’s brush with self-sabotage.” (Letters from an American)
This is not a trivial matter. Failure to service the debt will destroy the U.S. as a world leader and potentially throw economies around the world into chaos. The crisis is already damaging the faith of borrowers around the world and could have very long reaching consequences which will affect every American in the future. |
| WB&A Trail Ride with Closed Area Marked Odenton, MD May 18, 2023 |
View from the End Point of my Ride
WB&A Trail
May 18, 2023
The trail, which mostly follows and old rail line, does not have severe hills but generally gradual and long grades. I picked up the trail up where it crosses Waugh Chapel Road in Odenton and followed it south, towards Annapolis. I had an enjoyable ride for about 4.5 miles until I came, abruptly, to an area where the trail is closed for both rerouting away from the railed and construction of a pedestrian bridge over the Patuxent River. I was bummed because the trail goes on for a great distance beyond the closed area, but I could not figure a route around the closed section.
In the end, I posted an easy 9-mile ride. It was an out and back ride, rather than the loop rides that I enjoy doing. The scenery along the way varied from forest and open fields to housing communities. At one point, I was perched on a small hill overlooking what seemed like rolling fields of houses. It made me sad to think about how the area used to be used for farming, but now was filled with houses placed too close together.
-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD
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| BWI from the Overlook Baltimore, MD May 17, 2023 |
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| The BWI Loop Ride Baltimore, MD May 17, 2023 |
Last evening, accompanied by Patrick and Jen, Chris and I rode the BWI Loop. It was not a long ride, compared to many we have done, but the nearly 11 miles of Maryland hills made it challenging. Even more exciting was the ride through wooded areas and then to the overlook where the entirety of Baltimore-Washington International Airport was observed.
We had a lot of fun, even with the hills. At one point I was going 25 mph down a long slope. I would have gone faster but I came upon some people walking and needed to slow to avoid them.
Chris and I will definitely do the loop again, in fact we are already planning it with Patrick and Jen for next week. But, there are some other trails in the area that I want to explore.
Looking forward to more fun on the trails.
-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD
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| Goose Family on an Outing Odenton, MD May 16, 2023 |
I check on the two families throughout the day, counting the goslings. Sometimes they come outside the fence surrounding the pond, as they did yesterday. There are actually four geese in the image. The two parents are close together.
We are careful not to disturb the families. The pond also hosts other visitors, one of which is a large groundhog. It is humorous to see him running up the hill when people approach. He gets to the top and then looks back to see if he is being chased, which he is not.
Today, we are planing our first bike ride. We will be joining Patrick and Jen and friends for a ride around the BWI Loop. Surprisingly, I never ride the loop last summer as I was too busy downsizing our house and selling it.
So we have another busy day planned and are already enjoying our time in Maryland.
-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD
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| Chris and Finnegan Driving South Carolina May 15, 2023 |
I decided not to try and publish Monday Musings because I had a car strapped to my bottom for roughly 16 hours.
The trip began at 11:58 PM on Mother's Day and ended at about 3:40 PM yesterday when we made our first stop to drop off Riordin, our cat, who is bunking with Jeremy while we are here in Maryland. I will endeavor to visit him almost every day. It took him almost two weeks to get back to normal after he stayed alone with only daily visits from a friend while we were last in Maryland.
Both Finnegan and Riordin were great travelers on the trip. Riordin only asked to be out of his carrier on one occasion, to relieve himself, and then was happy to curl up inside of his safe place for the remainder of the trip.
We made only four stops during the trip. Two were for gas (my truck has great range), one was for lunch, and the other was at a rest area for a break. We stocked the car with snacks and beverages to assist in minimizing stops. I figure the four stops totaled about an hour and we lost another hour from Northern Virginia around D.C. and on I-95 to Elkridge. Even in the early afternoon, traffic was snarled.
Well, the trip is done and we can begin the business of being here in Maryland to visit family, friends, wineries, attend graduations, baseball and whatever else comes our way. We are here until mid-June when we will make the trip south. We are considering a two-day return trip and if so, I want to stop near Exit 102 in Georgia for the night to visit the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force.
-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD
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