Sunday, March 30, 2008

Watch Teddy Lose!

Here are two movies of the Presidents' Race I shot with my digital camera last year. I got a better angle on the second one. Enjoy!

This one was shot on Teddy Roosevelt Bobblehead Night. The other presidents won on their bobblehead night, but not Teddy.


The second one was shot towards the end of the season.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Will Teddy win?

Tomorrow evening, the Washington Nationals celebrate opening night at the brand new Nationals Park. Learn more about the park HERE.

The visiting team will be the Atlanta Braves, but many fans will be focused on who wins the promotional Presidents' Race in the middle of the 4th inning. Read about the history of this fun race HERE and HERE.

Given that it is opening night, and George Washington was the nation's first president, I predict that George will win tomorrow night. Who do you think will win? Who do you WANT to win? Post a comment to this thread!

Will Teddy ever win? My guess is, yes, Teddy will win a race this year. We'll see if I'm right.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Bird Report

It must be mating season, because the birds are downright raucous these days. This morning, it was a chorus of multiple birds. New birds sighted at the feeder include the goldfinch, tufted titmouse, and dark-eyed junco. The sparrows, cardinals and mourning doves come often. Haven't seen much of robins at the feeder, and just the occasional blue jay.

Annoying woodpecker rat-a-tats on the house at times. There's a small hole in the siding. Hopefully that will end soon. It's not like there aren't enough trees around here... HELLO!

The daffodils and tulips are coming up, and garlic is shooting up from the garden. It won't be long before I'll be mowing the lawn.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Saturday's Storm

For those wondering what happened last Saturday, March 8, a severe thunderstorm raked through Frederick County. I was in downtown Frederick coming from the YMCA that afternoon, and saw very small hail (bb to pea size) and one cloud-to-ground lightning strike. It was very gusty. On MD 144 (Old National Pike) near Terra Firma Road, I saw a cop car sitting in the westbound right lane where a tree had fallen, blocking that lane.

Also, on my way to work on Sunday morning, I saw a line crew working on Ijamsville Road near MD 80. The FNP has written a few stories on it. There were numerous power outages.

New Market, MD Wind Damage
Mount Airy Horse Farm Wind Damage

Friday, March 7, 2008

The Bag Bill Sponsors

Below is the list of bill sponsors for the ridiculous plastic bag bill. Take note of the names.

Delegates Schuler, Barnes, Barve, Beidle, Bromwell, Cardin, DeBoy, Dumais, Gilchrist, Guzzone, Hecht, Hucker, Ivey, Krysiak, Kullen, Lafferty, Morhaim, Olszewski, Ramirez, and Walker

Hecht is the District 3A House Delegate (Frederick County).

Bill 967
House of Delegates

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Don't Ban Plastic Bags!

The Maryland legislature was supposed to debate a bill today that would ban the use of plastic shopping bags. The bill would require stores to use only paper or reusable bags. Stores giving out plastic bags could be fined $100. I don't know about you, but those plastic bags ARE reusable!!!

Plastic shopping bags are perfect for bathroom trash cans and picking up dog poop. This bill never made it to a vote on the main floor last year, so here's hoping that it dies in committee again this year. And if it makes it to the main floor, I hope it is RESOUNDINGLY voted down.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Power Outage

Last night, the power went out at about 8 pm. Darn, that means I didn't get to watch the second TPIR Million Dollar Spectacular! Oh well. Anyway, I called a friend who looked up Allegheny Power's website, and over 900 customers in New Market lost power. I also knew it was pretty extensive by looking around the neighborhood.

Based on my clocks this morning, the power was restored about 12:30 AM. I know there had been line work along National Pike in recent weeks, so I'm wondering if this was related to that. Weather wasn't particularly bad... just a bit breezy. Maybe one of the newer connections broke loose?