Before the Storms

Chris in the Bow
Manatee Pocket, Port Salerno, FL
September 29, 2023

Storms have filled the afternoons and evening every day this past week. Most days have been gray and overcast, but we got lucky yesterday because the morning was more Florida-like: the sky was blue and the sun was hot. 

Chris and I were lucky because I had reserved a boat after cancelling our usual Wednesday reservation due to storms. We decided that, based upon the best weather forecasting available, we would be able to enjoy some boating in the morning if we returned to the marina by about 2 PM.

It was a beautiful day as we boarded Sea Bean, our 21 foot Cobra dual console deck-boat, and headed out. We were introduced to the effects of the King Tides--the dock was about 2 inches underwater. A King Tide is an exceptionally high tide--and this one definitely was and we were heading out right about high tide. The downside? Well, one of the beaches that I enjoy most was underwater and there was nowhere to beach the boat. So we spent some time looking for an entry, but another boater had placed their boat blocking the walking path to the ocean from the intracoastal waterway and there was not a spot to anchor and be able to carry our chairs and beach items to walk the 100 or so feet to the ocean. There was no beach!

We decided to head out towards the St Lucie Inlet and anchor on one of the beaches there. The sandbar, we figured, was likely totally submerged. We enjoyed a short time on the beach, but the small flies were overpowering and we decided to go exploring and traveled up the St Lucie River and into the North Fork. I had planned on exploring some of the smaller parts of the river, but we began to see bad weather building and decided to return the boat to the marina earlier than planned. 

It was, however, a great morning and we were able to salvage outdoors activity during what turned out to be the best part of the day. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Magic 100

 Last evening the Orioles clinched the American League East Division for the 10th time in the history of the team. 

It was a hard fought game with the O's winning 2-0. 

There remain three games in the season, but the Orioles faithful can take a deep breath knowing that the team has made a statement to the baseball world--from worst to first in two years!

Reportedly yesterday the O's also signed a new 30 year deal to remain at OPACY! 

With the win last evening the Orioles get to skip the Wild Card round of the playoffs and so their first playoff game will be Saturday, October 7th. At OPACY.

I am going to take the day to celebrate!

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

One--it is the Magic Number!

 With four games remaining in the Orioles regular season, they begin a series against the Boston Red Sox at home tonight. 

The team's Magic Number is 1. 

That means the Orioles need 1 win or 1 Tampa loss during the remaining games of the season to claim the AL East Division AND the best record in the entire American League for the season. 

And remember, two years ago the Orioles lost 110 games during the season. This year they will, hopefully, win 100 games or more! Their record is currently is 99-59.

Tampa is off tonight and a win by the Orioles gives them the division and first place for the playoffs.

The celebration could begin as early as tonight at OPACY. (Orioles Park at Camden Yards)

Do not expect the Red Sox to roll over and allow the Orioles to win. There is history between the teams in that the Orioles helped to prevent the Red Sox from making the playoffs at the end of the 2011 season by winning 3 of the last 4 games and thereby allowing Tampa to make the playoffs. That season ending series win meant the Red Sox finished 90-72 and suffered through the 2011 Boston Red Sox September Collapse.

The Red Sox will be sending one of their best and most experienced pitchers, Chris Sale, to battle the Orioles tonight. It will not be a cakewalk!   

This year marks the first season since 1966 when neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox made the playoffs--this excludes 1994 when there were no playoffs. 

Should the Orioles notch their 100th victory, it will only be the 6th time in their history that the team has won that many games in a season!

American League East Standings
Including Games through September 27, 2023

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Completing the Day

 

Thanks to all who wished me a Happy Birthday. I appreciated hearing from you.

Looking Alongside the Boathouse
Stuart, FL
September 26, 2023

Today was supposed to be a boating day, but given the morning rain and thunderstorms, I had the good sense, with some prodding form both Chris and the marina, to cancel the outing. Ugh. I love boating. 

Continuing on that theme, last evening, to complete the celebration, Chris and I along with friends enjoyed dinner at the Boathouse in Stuart. It was a great Happy hour and dinner. We were supposed to be outside, but the passing thunderstorms moved us inside and we enjoyed sitting at a corner table surrounded on two sides by windows looking out at the water. 

After dinner, we came back to the house for birthday pie, Key Lime of course, and drinks. It was the perfect ending for a great birthday. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Reflections

 I guess I am going go introspective today--it being my birthday and all. 

What a very unexpected year it has been since my last birthday. 

Chris and I completed our first full year living in Florida full-time at the beginning of September. What a year it has been punctuated with joy and sadness! The separation from family has been challenging. But living in Florida has been everything that I had hoped it would be--and that includes going to the beach almost whenever I want to go.

Horseback Riding
Saint Anne, Jamaica
November 9, 2022

Highlights:

 - Travel: 

  -- Caribbean cruise on Holland America in November

  -- Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean in January

  -- Alaska cruise on Royal Caribbean in August-September

  -- Weekend in Key West during October

  -- Spring Training Trip

  -- Visiting Charlottesville, VA

Graduation Day
Odenton, MD
June 6, 2023

 - Family:
  -- Ethan, graduated High School and is off to college.

  -- Jax made the JV baseball team

  -- Lucas became a smart 8th grader!

  -- Patrick got married to Jen, a wonderful woman and companion, that was during the January cruise

  -- We visited Dad in Houston

  --  We enjoyed the holidays in Maryland with our family and friends

 - Recreation:

  -- We joined a boat club

  -- We went to a few concerts

  -- I biked over 2,000 miles

  -- Chris got a bike and we bike a lot together

  -- We bought new furniture for the living room

  -- We played golf a lot

  -- We saw fireworks on the 4th of July

  -- We survived multiple hurricanes

Alaskan Cruise
Juneau, Alaska
September 1, 2023

Difficult things:

  -- Jodie passed during July

  -- Makayla, my dog of 14 years, passed during October

  -- Riordin, my cat of 14 years, passed earlier this month

  -- Dad was hospitalized twice--but is doing great

 

I am not sure what the next year will bring, but I am thankful for family, friends, and the health to enjoy being retired. I hope we can all continue the ride.

Be well!

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Monday Musings - September 25, 2023

 

1. It is the last Monday of September! Ugh. The month is almost gone. Summer is gone, Autumn has arrived and there are only 13 Mondays remaining in the year. 

Orioles Magic Number is 3

2. Even though Sunday has become football time, the Orioles magic number is down to 3 to clinch the AL East AND first place in the American League! Clinching first place assures the Orioles of a first round bye in the playoffs. There will be October baseball in Baltimore!

3. Family NFL Report. It was a difficult weekend in the NFL for most of the family teams who had some definite problems. 

    Ravens (2-1) were trampled by the Colts (2-1), 19-22

    Commanders (2-1) were buffaloed by Bills (2-1), 3-37

    Cowboys (2-1) were shot down by the Cardinals (1-2), 16-28

    Steelers (2-1) bested Raiders (1-2), 23-18 

    Dolphins (3-0) obliterated Broncos (0-3), 70-20

4. Failure to understand and respect the Constitution is becoming rampant among vocal Republicans. I read that a Republican Representative, Paul Gosar wrote about retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley, "In a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung. He had one boss: President Trump . . . " (This Week with Paul Gosar) The fact is that Milley's bosses are the American people and his loyalty is to the Constitution, not to any one person. And, btw, his use of the word quisling is totally incorrect as the United States is not occupied by an enemy force. 

5. The sun is shining at this moment. I am feeling a bike ride about to happen. 

6. Today in History. Under escort from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, nine Black students enter all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 25, 1957. Three weeks earlier, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had surrounded the school with National Guard troops to prevent its federal court-ordered racial integration. After a tense standoff, President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent 1,000 army paratroopers to Little Rock to enforce the court order.

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that racial segregation in educational facilities was unconstitutional. Five days later, the Little Rock School Board issued a statement saying it would comply with the decision when the Supreme Court outlined the method and time frame in which desegregation should be implemented.

Russian children as young as 7 are getting military training - CNN

6 people dead, including 3 children, after a train hit an SUV, Florida sheriff says - CNN

A sample from an asteroid that may be on a collision course with Earth has landed in the US - CNN

Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenians start to leave en masse for Armenia - Reuters

North Korea says cooperation with Russia 'natural' for neighbours - Reuters

US government shutdown: What is it and who would be affected? - Reuters

McCarthy Takes Final Shot at Avoiding Shutdown - The Wall Street Journal

How U.S. ATACMS Missiles Could Help Push Ukraine Back Into Crimea - The Wall Street Journal

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Danger Lurks There

Caution Sign
Weston Lakes, TX
September 22, 2023

 Walking around the Weston Lakes community was an enjoyable experience. The houses are opulent and the lawns, for the most part, are immaculate. 

But, we noticed that in some places when the facade is peeled back that real danger lurks right in people's backyards. 

Alligators!

We had Finn on a very short leash at this point. We did not want him to become alligator bait! But I was astounded at how close the houses and lawns were situated to the alligator infested bayou. 

Of course, here is Florida alligators are a fact of life, but who knew that an hour outside of Houston alligators were also causing problems?

Danger lurking in the back yard!

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta ,FL 

Traveling Finn-dog

Finn in a Sunbeam
Weston Lakes, TX
September 22, 2023

Happy first day of Autumn! 

It began while you were sleeping.

Finnegan Outside
Weston Lakes, TX
September 20, 2023

 Finnegan, our Yorkie, is a true traveler. I think he even likes traveling because he knows that he will not bet separated from Chris. 

But, he is very adaptable and generally accepting of new environments. He is even getting used to being parted from Chris for short periods of time. 

Now that he is the only pet in our home, I expect that Finn-dog, as I call him, will have even more opportunities for travel. Most times it is easier to take him with us than it is to find care for him at home. In the past there were other pets at home that could not travel and so they would be cared for together, but now--bring on the travel!

Today is a travel day. I am sure Finn will be happy to get home.

-- Bob Doan, Weston Lakes, TX

Embarrassed by the House

 Embarrassed, that was how I felt about the reception that the President of the Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, received from the House of Representatives yesterday. 

It is in my mind a very simple and, believe it or not, binary choice. Support Ukraine defending itself against unprovoked Russian aggression, or support Russia in its territorial expansion. There is no middle ground. 

That House Republicans seem to be supporting Putin shows how far off the rails the party has gone. I was, however, encouraged by the bipartisan support that Zelensky received in the Senate.

The budget battle demonstrated the disjointed, chaotic, and harmful forces at play in the Republican caucus. 

As part of their demands, House extremists want to cut funding for Ukraine’s defense. This would, of course, work to strengthen Russian president Vladimir Putin’s hand in his war against Ukraine. Earlier this month, former Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan told MSNBC that it is “absolutely essential” to Putin that Trump win back the White House in 2024. “I think it is Putin's main lifeline in order to find some way to salvage what has been a debacle in Ukraine for him," Brennan said. "If Trump is able to return to the White House...Putin could have a like-minded individual that he can work with, detrimental to U.S. interests certainly and detrimental to Western interests overall.” The intelligence community assesses that Putin worked to help Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections, and is pushing pro-Russia and anti-Ukraine propaganda now. (Letters from an American)

I cannot imagine any Reagan-era republican providing an ounce of support to Putin! Look how far the Republican Party has been destroyed my the Trump-era MAGA thugs.

And I want to refute those who are worried about a war with Russia. The United States has already fought and won a war with Russia, although back then it was called the Soviet Union then. The state of Russia actually was born out of that great victory in 1991. 

And what was that war called? The Cold War!

And why did we fight it? To prevent exactly what is happening now in Ukraine.

-- Bob Doan, Weston Lakes, TX

And the Market Fell

 

I noted that even though the Fed decided not to raise interest rates yesterday, the markets fell. 

That seemed weird to me. I thought the good news would cause the markets to rise.

But then, I read the news about the budget crisis and the looming government shutdown. This is that reason that the U.S. credit rating was reduced some months ago. We have leaders who are working to instill chaos into the markets and the world to work for their own delusional personal advantage. 

One writer summed the budget crisis up as follows:

Extremists in the House Republican conference are refusing to acknowledge the deal worked out for the budget last spring by President Biden and Republican speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Instead, in order to pass even a continuing resolution that would buy time for Congress to pass an actual budget, they are insisting on cuts of up to 8% on discretionary spending that Senate Democrats, as well as Biden himself, are certain to oppose.

The White House has noted that the cuts the Republicans demand would mean 800 fewer Customs and Border Protection agents and officers (which, in turn, would mean more drugs entering the United States); more than 2 million women and children waitlisted for the WIC food assistance program; more than 4,000 fewer rail inspection days; up to 40,000 fewer teachers, aides, and key education staff, affecting 26 million students; and so on. 

House speaker McCarthy cannot corral the extremists to agree to anything unless they get such cuts, which even other Republicans recognize are nonstarters (those cuts are so unpopular that Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News reported today that Republicans are somewhat bizarrely considering changing their messaging about their refusal to fund the government from concerns about spending to concerns about border security). (Letters from an American)

Until the House Republicans can get their stuff together, we are in for a bumpy ride. 

And the markets, likely, will continue to fall. 

My answer would be for the speaker to try to find 5 or 6 republicans to work with the democrats and keep the government running. But, I guess that would be political suicide. That would be an incredible picture of bipartisanship. 

-- Bob Doan, Weston Lakes, TX