The Weather

Yes, it's absolutely dreadful in our Nation's capital today.  Temperature expected to be 103 with a heat index up around 115.  But before we all become hysterical, we must stop and consider one important fact:

IT'S SUMMER!  IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE HOT IN THE SUMMER!!!!

With the way people are around here, I would have expected a run on milk and toilet paper at the grocery store for fear that they would be trapped in their homes indefinitely because of the heat.  Geesh!

My Magnificent Mulching Weekend

All tolled, 8 cubic yards of mulch in 17 cart loads were spread on 5 beds.  This is why I don't post very often in the spring and summer.  Exhausting work, but the yard looks pretty darned good, though there is still more to do.

Freak of Nature - My Siamese Twins

I have decided to let them live out their entire lifetime as one.  Unfortunately for them, their lifetime will be short.  They have a date with the sautee pan very soon.

Mowed But . . .

Can anyone really say that this:

Looks any better than this?

Pathetic and actually quite sad.

I Haven't Gone Dark

Just super busy at both work and home. I have several posts half finished. Hopefully soon I will get to finish and publish them. For now, however, it's good night to one and all. Desperately need sleep!

The Joys of a Normal Commute

This morning was the first normal commute all week, and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I have had appointments near my home early in the morning all week.  As a result, I have been coming in to work later and have had to take I-95 to the dreaded DC Beltway to get into the office.

Honestly, I don't know why people drive the Beltway at rush hour every day.  Why do they find standstill traffic and a 50% longer commute acceptable?  I don't and never have.  I have been stressed out all week because of traffic, and I've burned a lot of $4/gallon gas just crawling along at 2 mph for miles.
So rather than sleeping in and having to deal with the worst traffic in the country, I come in really early, I leave early and I take surface streets to avoid the Beltway.  It's not perfect--I still have a long commute and I still have to spend plenty of time sitting at stop lights and pondering the societal implications of unkempt median strips--but it's far better than the alternative.  I know which lane to be in at every point on the trip.  I know where all the speed cameras are and so does everyone else.  There's a predictable flow to the traffic.  Everything has a rhythm.  It just feels right and finally today, so do I.

More on Montgomery County's Median Strip Madness

Two weeks have passed since I first commented about the sorry state of median strips in Montgomery County, Maryland.  As you can see, the descent into suburban blight continues unabated.  This particular median strip isn't even the worst one that I pass on my way home.  I try to pretend that they are amber waves of grain, but sadly, my surroundings remind me that I am in the former wealthiest county in the State of Maryland.  My, how the mighty have fallen, and there's nowhere to go but down.

P.S., As you can see from the dead stopped traffic, I get plenty of time every day to ponder the plight of Montgomery County's median strip woes.