Fall is such a great and beautiful time of year. Even though I live in a major metropolitan area, I am fortunate to be located in an older neighborhood that has lots of trees. I have been enjoying the color and the sunsets. Here are a few samples from a gallery called “Neighborhood Moods” in my photo album.
Category: Photos
Idoly Paddling With Myself, Uh Oh!
I had another great paddle in my kayak on the Potomac River yesterday. I launched at Algonkian Regional Park, one of my favorite local places to put in. There was minimal wind, the water was crystal clear, and the air was crisp. I saw about six or eight other people out paddling…making the most of the good weather before the winter settles in.
I did not see much in the way of wildlife just one Great Blue heron and a Bald eagle…both a a distance. The park itself was still doing quite a business with a number of people out fishing and barbecuing. I got out there on the water a little after two and after being on the water for about two hours, the light had already diminished considerably. I think I might be able to get a couple of more paddles in before I bring the kayak in for the winter.
Here are a few pictures from the venture:
Back to Work, Starting the Night Shift
Well, I start week five of my new job tonight. I did two weeks of normal business hours, two weeks of days (0600-1400) and now I am starting nights (2200-0600). I am working Monday through Friday night this week. Next week I think I am on Sunday to Wednesday so I will only get one day off in between. Then I go to Saturday through Thursday nights for the foreseeable future.
I think that I will be working on Thanksgiving night but should still be able to enjoy the dinner prior to going to work. Since I will work Thanksgiving, I should get Christmas off. I do not know how long this schedule will be in place but I will deal with it in hopes of better things down the line.
Today is the tough day since it is my first night shift. I have been getting up reasonably early and today I was up at 0730. I will probably have been awake for nearly 24 hours by the time I get to sleep tomorrow morning. I feel confident that sleep will come easily. I never had much trouble sleeping during the day when I was shift working in the Navy. Of course I am 16 years older but….
I did get out and get a nice paddle in on Burke Lake and walk on the treadmill for about 35 minutes. I would like to get more walking in but am having problems with my left leg. What I believe is a pinched nerve or sciatica is causes alternating numbness and achiness when I stand up for too long and/or walk. Nonetheless it was a beautiful day albeit very windy and a bit chilly. Not chilly enough to keep me off the water though I did use my splash skirt.
2010 DC Cherry Blossom Festival, Revisited
I never did wrap up my story and pictures from my trip down in to Washington, DC, to see the cherry blossoms. I am not sure that I will ever wrap up the story though the search for a glass of water and a cold beer still lingers obnoxiously in my brain. Nonetheless, I finally, five months later, finished posting my pictures from the day trip.
The pictures are accessible via the photo album link on my home page or if that is too much work, you can follow the links below to get you where I want you to go.
If you just want to see the late updates, here they are:
Pictures of My New Apartment
It is still a work in progress. Hamlet getting fleas didn’t help things.
Pictures from Vacation in Salvo, NC, on the Outer Banks
It took me longer than I had wished to get all these pictures together. The downside of digital photography is that we can take too many pictures and look at them before printing or publishing them with minimal monetary impact. Nonetheless, I spent the time and put together a set of pictures from our recent trip to the Outer Banks. Many thanks to my sister who made the arrangements and paid for the place!
Check out the pictures here on my photo album or browse to my photo album from the main page of my blog and look for the Salvo vacation pictures. The only real downer of the vacation, other than a couple of trips to Urgent Care centers, was the traffic. For one four hour stretch, we averaged 19 MPH!
I TP’d My Dryer
I have been a bit dysfunctional lately as regards washing my clothes and…my accessories. Not long after I got a new phone, I washed the phone along with my wallet. I constantly throw pants in the washer with tissues in the pockets. The other day I thought I was quite safe after having checked all the pockets in my pants prior to putting them in the washer.
However, I did not count on stupidity. While putting clothes in the dryer from the washer, a roll of toilet paper fell off the dryer. I thought that I put the roll back up on the dryer or on the shelf over the dryer. Not!!! When I opened the dryer to take out my clothes, I found a mass of what I initially thought were tissues in the dryer. “WTF” I said. Then I realized I must have thrown the roll of toilet paper in the dryer rather than on top of the dryer.
Fawning Over Falling Flora
We lost a few trees in the apartment complex due to the heavy snows last winter. I have been watching this one tree that was at the side of my building…just waiting for it to come down ever since early winter. Today we had some heavy rains with very strong winds. I had been at my sister Julie’s working on my job search when it all started. I commented to her that I was worried about the tree. I did not think it would take anything out if and when it came down but I was concerned.
By the time the storm abated and I headed home, I had totally forgotten about my concerns. I walked to my building, checked my mail, gave some packages to my neighbor that I had secured for him, and settled into my apartment. Then while grabbing Hamlet’s bowl to get ready to feed him I caught something odd out of the corner of my eye. It was the top of the tree that someone had cut off. The tree itself was down baring the few roots it had. Considering the lack of significant root ball, it is amazing the tree stayed erect as long as it did!
I am sad to see the tree go. It did block the view of the condos across from me in the winter. More importantly, it provided shelter for birds, particularly in the winter. Finally, it was a tree and trees are good. I did not even get the chance to see or hear it fall… Damn it Jim!
Greetings from the Outer Banks!
Trips to “Urgent Care” not withstanding (everyone is okay), we are having a great time at the Outer Banks (Salvo, NC). Thanks especially to Julie for getting the house. We have nice a house with pool and hot tub and are about a five minute walk from the, very uncrowded, beach. Of course we are BBQ’ing like crazy!
Traffic was hell getting down here. It took Kim, Don, and I 5 hours to drive the 125 miles down here. Julie, Ed, and Ryan had about a 9 and 1/2 hour journey from Centreville. Dave came down Sunday. He had the longest drive but made it in less than seven hours. Locals say the traffic was nearly as bad as they could recall it being.
Julie and Ed took a short trek down to the beach Saturday night but the rest of us didn’t make it out until Sunday. Unfortunately it was in the mid-90’s with a wicked wind blowing from the south. The wind was blowing major sand so we didn’t last too long on the beach.
Sunday night we had heavy thunderstorms, the wind switched to the north and abated considerably, and the temps dropped down to the mid-80’s. That made for much more enjoyable trips to the beach! This morning has been much of the same. I headed down to the beach with my coffee, watched the sun rise, and took some pictures.
Here are a few pictures from the trip so far:
My “Cat’s Eyes”
A couple of pictures of Hamlet. The color in his eyes is so weird. No Photoshopping going on here. I just took the picture with normal flash settings.
