Single Blind
last update: 02/09 @ 11:55

Panzer is not really food focused.

While Sarah was in New York late last month, she talked with some of the pet professionals in that orbit of friends and came home with a recommendation for a different cat food.

Panzer did not seem to immediately take to the new food. So we conducted an experiment. Realizing he can’t read, we didn’t need to hide the labels :)

So now we know. Well… we know what he preferred for the two meals when we tested three flavors. He does seem to shift his preferences around over time. But we have no strong evidence to shift the food we buy: the top three (with *) are all the Fancy Feast we’ve been feeding him all his life — which could influence the results.

Doting pet parent? Maybe!

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Great Show!
last update: 02/08 @ 11:53

Sarah found the chance to support the Alvin Ailey Dance Group when they decided to move their show from the Kennedy Center due to the current administration’s illegal takeover. Last Thursday, we caught them at the Warner Theater without supporting that takeover.

It was a great show that we really enjoyed. And a nice trip to DC before the latest round of polar air came to town (16 degrees last night).

Highly recommended if you have the chance to catch their tour.

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Still cold!
last update: 01/31 @ 17:44

Sarah decided today was the day to check out the ice on river.

While it was about 20 degrees it was not windy.

Tomorrow we’re due for gusts to 35mph or so — making windchills that are formally wicked cold.

Today was cold, but we were well bundled.

And while we walk by pretty much every time we head down to the river, today we went inside an open house for the Alexandria Seaport Foundation. (Not pictured, their building is just to the left and a little ways back from the old propeller in the photo on the right.)

We know them as the wooden boat builders on the waterfront. (Before it got too cold, they were working on “Dave” outside.)

They seem like very nice folks and Alexandria is fortunate to have that resource (which we knew nothing about before today).

I suspect we’ll stay hunkered down at home tomorrow — and send warm thoughts to family further south where the next snowstorm is hitting.

Thank you Sarah for the nudge to get outside, and for asking if I got a shot of the Capitol — that spurred me to take off my gloves (again) and put on the longer lens so it might be visible.

(Now I need to pay more attention to the level in the viewfinder so that the photos are straighter.)

(For those with a long memory — we did not get out the canoe today.)

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Snow and Ice
last update: 01/29 @ 11:57

Last Sunday we got dumped on. I didn’t measure but I esitmate about 6 inches of snow then maybe a quarter inch of sleet, freezing rain and ice.

This was the view when I work up Sunday morning.

That was all snow and not too bad to shovel; though there was a fair amount.

As I was making a second pass shoveling, I felt the sleet falling and hoped that would be short lived.

Fortunately, Sarah decided to stay an extra day with Michelle in Long Island. They stretched out the Michelle’s birthday celebration for another day.

I shoveled and hacked at the ice a bit on Monday and made some progress. But in some spots, the solid ice is just too thick to really make an impact.

I did consider getting a bigger hammer — I thought the firewood splitting maul would work well — but I worried about the concrete and brick underneath the ice.

And I discovered a new injury: I managed to bruise the bottom of my foot by stomping on the shovel so much to break up the ice. It’s not painful but is a bit swollen, which makes walking and standing feel like there is something under my foot.

Sarah made it home Monday evening, reporting the roads were fine pretty much the whole way to the beltway. That’s as far north as the ice got.

We hacked out a parking place for her and then enjoyed beef stew (my other Monday project) in our cozy home.

The forecast says highs in the 20s for the next several days, maybe another round of snow (I really hope no ice) this weekend and then “warming” to the mid 30s next week.

In the meantime, I felt for the birds and refilled our feeder.

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Goldies!
last update: 01/19 @ 17:19

The goldfinches have discovered the Bird Buddy.

They just came back to the feeders a couple of days ago and we think we have gang of 7 now.

The woodpecker has also made a couple appearances lately, but so far not at the Bird Buddy when it’s ready to photograph.

And the most fun, interesting, impressive return is one of the Cooper’s Hawks, but it flew off before I could get a decent picture. Before I spooked it, it was on the porch railing (as it has been before).

I’m sure that explains why the bird seed is lasting a little longer this week and why we’ve seen a bit less of the birds.

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Back on the Potomac
last update: 01/13 @ 23:18

It was a little it higher (around 3 feet on the gauge) today; just over 50 degrees. And no ice to be seen; I’ll take it :)

I saw a surprising number of other boaters out today (including Robert Gue, from Asseteague) — pretty much all in dry suits, which made me feel a little under dressed. But I stayed conservative and just played around a bit in the sun.

12 months in a row with at least one day per month on the Potomac. I had fun and feel good about being able to get out on the river.

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I really miss precedented times
last update: 01/11 @ 17:06

Sarah and I added our voices and faces to this afternoon’s anti-ICE protest in Alexandria (again). It really is appalling to see what can happen in our country. I wish I felt like there was more I could control about the actions our government is taking; supporting and voting (for sane politicians who seem to understand the Constitution) does not seem like enough.

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Not Kansas
last update: 01/11 @ 11:07

We just came back from a Celebration of Life for David’s Aunt Betty in Phoenix. While there, we did a bit of hiking around in the desert. It was a beautiful, memory filled time and there are more photos in the trips section.

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Christmas photos
last update: 01/10 @ 14:08

We had a trip right after Christmas (more on that later) and so I’m a bit late in posting Christmas photos. It was a very nice, mellow, family-focused holiday in Alexandria. More photos in the trips section.

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
last update: 01/01 @ 11:47

The Christmas present that cried wolf:

Panzer did his job keeping all mice still. And we had a lovely Christmas at home.

However, the flu hit the next day and we’ve been slowly recovering for the last week. Fortunately, with all of us vaccinated, the flu has been only bad, not the super terrible that is making the news.

But back to crying wolf: I saw a news story which convinced me it really would be good to have a NOAA weather radio and so both Sarah and Robert got these Midland radios under the tree.

We might have taken heed when the alarms went off and the lights started to strobe the morning after Christmas. It seemed to be a test of the emergency broadcast system.

But we did not take heed, we took that as a sign that the emergency function works well.

However, we did not need to be alerted to the snow squalls in the foothills to the west of us at 3:00 this morning (as we were tucked into our cozy beds and getting the sleep needed to recover from the flu).

Nor did we need to know about the special marine warning at 4:15am.

So now, the radio is quiet, with the battery (which seems pretty beefy) removed. And we’ll have to think about when we want to be more aware of weather emergencies and when we think sleep is preferable to knowing what might be happening outside and unlikely to impact us.

It is reassuring to know the emergency function works, and it’s plenty loud and flashy to wake us up.

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