Picture Perfect Day
last update: 05/08 @ 23:09

The river was just about 3.0, low for spring but I was quite happy with it. I was a bit busier than expected this morning, but really glad I jumped at the chance to get out.

Friday afternoon, no problem with parking, few other folks out — I did see a couple SUPs and a couple kayaks — and 75 degrees with sunny skies.

This is the Maryland Chute. If I’d been less busy in the morning, I would have paddled up the gorge. Next time.

I remain a huge fan of retirement!

Closing King Street
last update: 05/02 @ 11:05

Last night started the first of three weekends we’ve been warned of when the are closing down the street for the bridge construction.

I went to go take a peek just as the drizzle came in.

Clearly, they are getting ready for substantial work — and that getting ready requires a lot of standing around.

For this weekend, King Street is closed, Commonwealth will come later. And they promise to keep Sunset Drive open for local traffic.

Glad we’re not due to be trapped on the street.

The plans I’ve seen talk about two year, so it will be interesting to see what all get’s done this weekend.

Also, I’m curious how Monday’s rush hour goes: they plan to keep King Street closed through 10pm Monday. That’s going to be rough.

Phew …
last update: 04/30 @ 16:38

… It’s been a busy month and as I made plans for that quick trip to Seattle last week, I realized I’d not been on the river in April yet this year.

I just made it.

Today was a perfect spring day: about 70 degrees, water level 3.2 (a bit low for spring, but I’m not complaining) and mostly sunny.

The Maryland fire departments had the same idea: when I pulled up, they were still getting off the river from training runs. My fav: Cabin John plus Montgomery and Howard Counties had their swiftwater rescue teams out.

Beyond that excitement, it’s great to see the shore greening out nicely.

If you allow the James river in August last year, and ocean kayaking in the Galapagos in January last year, I’ve been able to get out at least monthly since May, 2024. (I’m enjoying the new tagging option and Sarah’s advanced tag filtering idea to find things like that out.)

(Hmmm, last time I just made it for a month — June 2025 — I spelled it “whew;” I think I got it right this time with “Phew.”)

Quick Seattle Trip
last update: 04/28 @ 18:57

I took a quick trip out to Seattle to be the “responsible adult” to get Robert to and from the oral surgeon who was extracting his wisdom teeth.

We knew this was coming, both his Alexandria and Seattle dentists had said they would need to come out sooner rather than later.

Fortunately, he is class-free on Fridays this quarter and so scheduled the extraction then (otherwise, he is a classy guy).

While Friday afternoon was really rough on him, by Friday evening, he was able to get back into his whimsy with the propeller hat.

Brooklyn has a propeller hat too, but was not wearing in when they took this photo to share with Robert’s Seattle support group showing he was doing better.

(As we waited for the Lyft to the appointment Friday morning, he got a great compliment on the whimsy of his hat from a passerby. I think the dental folks at least smiled if not laughed when he showed up wearing that.)

And I had to get out and enjoy the fantastic weather when he was clearly on the mend. I did help to make sure he kept up with pain meds the first 24 hours or so before he headed back from the hotel to his apartment and I stepped out to enjoy the U District in perfect weather.

Another good idea from Sarah
last update: 04/19 @ 15:42

Sarah mentioned it might be interesting or helpful to be able to find blog entries tagged with this or that term but not the other term.

That sounded fun…

If you click the “Topics” section on the left now, you’ll see a little form to filter by topics. You can copy and paste in or retype topics from the list above the form to filter entries. For example put Canoe in the include box and Potomac_River in the exclude box.

At the moment, the pulls up canoeing on the James River.

That user interface is sub-par, I know. Asking you to type in the topics (and type them in exactly) is not ideal. But it does fit in the limited left side-bar space. (And will likely see little use, I expect — feel free to tell me otherwise.)

I’m from the government again (sort of) …
last update: 04/18 @ 20:09

… and I’m here to help (on a limited number of days).

I took this early morning photo of the cranes this morning on my way to special election early voting in Alexandria.

I volunteered to be an election officer and was trained up late last month. Sarah voted in the early voting line last weekend and reported the line was long.

There was a call out to volunteers to try to staff up this weekend. Which turned out to be a good thing as it was Alexandria’s record for single polling place turnout: 2351 votes cast today.

I’m curious to see how Tuesday goes. That’s the regular voting day for this special election. And I’m curious to see if I’m up for working in November after having worked a regular voting day.

Better view
last update: 04/16 @ 10:42

I was heading in to DC and so took advantage of being on the metro platform to get a better look at the construction.

They are clearly jamming some steel pretty far down into the ground — which explains the shaking house.

I’m curious just what will become of these. I think this is going to be a temporary retaining wall so they can excavate the foundation for the new bridge.

But when I was standing around waiting to see what the welders were up to on the way home, someone also wandering by on the sidewalk wondered if the new bridge was going to be that high.

That would make for some impressive grade for the train tracks!

I wonder if they are going to “get a bigger hammer” to push those deeper of if 20 - 25 feet deep is enough (I think that’s what the numbers mean on the side of the beams).

A little bit early …
last update: 04/14 @ 20:35

… this year’s tax day letter is in the mail. You can find them all on the list page (along with a very brief explanation of why tax day). Or your can jump straight to 2026’s edition.

And if you’d like a hard copy and don’t get one in a few days; let us know and we’ll add you to the list for next year.

While lot a shakin’ going on
last update: 04/14 @ 14:42

They are not using (not yet?) a pile driver so we don’t get the Bang… Bang… Bang… We’re getting more of a constant GGRRRRR as these steel beams go into the ground.

And it’s impressive to feel: much like a massage chair. Our next door neighbor, Laura, shared a short video clip of her dishes shaking on their shelves.

We took a walk by this afternoon and Sarah and I are still wondering exactly what this part of the construction is about.

Final note of the day: While we have three cranes on site, so far it’s really only been one them doing any work. We’ll see when that changes.

Moms!
last update: 04/05 @ 22:19

With Nanette as inspiration, we had Sue and Marjatta over for wine and cheese. Nanette laid a great spread for everyone and the stories of the kids (now 21+ years old) and the times since then flowed.

It is great to hear about Taylor, Evan, Romeo, Miles and Robert all doing so well in their early adulting.

It was a fantastic gathering.

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