An evening on the deck by The Lake.

Our friends Bob and Ann came to dinner last night. A rare treat. They brought a bottle of red wine made from organically grown grapes which we drank with dinner on our new deck. They seemed to be suitably impressed with the deck, who wouldn't be, it is big and new, sporting a table and chairs shaded with a big green umbrella, surrounded with cushioned easy chairs and overlooking a Lake that is without a doubt the most beautiful in Anne Arundel County. In addition there is shade from some lovely evergreen trees and a view of a different sunset every night of the year. Last night produced another good sundown. The two trio's of Goslings put in an appearance, a flotilla of our fine feathered friends, visiting briefly along with their parents. They came late and we had hoped for a longer stay - maybe even one of their frequent forays up onto our lawn for one of the Lake Treats where they tend our lawn as they lovingly remove the weeds and graze the more delicious stalks. It is a picture indeed and much better than me having to push the noisy mower around. While "mowing" they also fertilize. But this was to be a short visit, a 'sail by' as it were, as the two flotilla's appeared on the horizon, came fairly close and then disappeared while we were distracted with something else - maybe it was the blueberry pie, ice cream and whipped cream - or maybe I was distracted by the two beautiful women.
But the sun went down, the mosquito's came out, and found us, and we were forced to retreat to the cool interior where we continued our visit until it was time for the inevitable parting. They roared off in their bright red Mustang, Ann's blonde hair flying in the wind and Bob's grey hair doing the same.
We went in to finish the wine, but it was all gone. After a few minutes of checking the "news" we decided to have an early night.

I was thinking . . .

Just about the time that I realized that maybe my father was right I had my daughter Sarah who thought that I was wrong. I think she realized that I might be right about at least a few things somewhere around the time that she had her son Bradley, who undoubtably thinks that she is wrong. Now Bradley is 16, has a girlfriend and it occurs to me that sometime in the next 5 or 10 years he will have a son/daughter who will think that he is wrong - right about the time that he realizes that his mother was right after all. Twenty years after that . . . . .

Water, water everywhere.

While our friends in San Antonio, Texas are suffering from the heat and a drought, we in Central Maryland are under a flood warning. Our esteemed weather forecasters called for a 1/4 inch of rain today. However, I have been up since 5.00 am watching The Lake level rise and can assure them that they are wrong, wrong, wrong, as of now we have had almost 2 inches of rain this morning and it is still raining like crazy. The weather channel is frantically issuing flood warnings for our area every five minutes and The Lake level is about a foot higher than it was when I got up this morning. (The water level in The Lake is of course not just dependant on the rainfall, the runoff accounts for more of a rise than just the 2 inches of rain on it's own.) I just called one of my neighbors to warn him that the boat and chairs on his pier are about to become floating boats and chairs. I watched from the comfort of my easy chair as he came out with his umbrella to rescue his nice white Adirondack chairs. So far he has left the boat. Maybe it is tied to the pier or maybe the lightening is too scary for him! I don't blame him. Our "boat" - an 8 foot long aluminum jonboat is safely on land. Unfortunately I did not turn it over, so it is probably half full of water. I use the term 'land' loosely as it is getting harder to separate our lawn from the water of The Lake, they look just about equally wet.
I'm sure that our friends Tom & Martha in Texas would be happy to observe what I am looking at now! But it is not to be Tom, sorry, you are going to have to put up with 100 degrees plus temperatures and a dry as dust lawn. In this modern day and age I think we should be able to do some swapping between States - rainfall for sunshine etc. But as wonderful as our technology is in some areas, Wii, cell phones that blow up your tires, barbecue your hamburgers, cut your hair and mow your lawn, not to forget Sexting and even making phone calls, we still can't do a simple thing like moving rain and heat around. Lets get on that as soon as we fix the economy, health care, put a solar car in every garage, and a robot in every home.
Back to the present, it is still raining. Gotta go and get more coffee.
David.

Being wrong, and right.

I f you don't say anything and don't do anything you can never be wrong and you can never look stupid. But on the other hand you can never be right either!

Bang, bang, bang

We went to bed quite early last night, at about 10.30, as I have a busy day today. At about 10.45 we heard some strange sounds like loud pops and bangs. Gunshots? Fireworks? At 1/4 to 11.00? A few minutes later it happened again, minutes later, again. I got up and went outside, nothing, came back inside and it happened again. I went out and waited, after five minutes there was still nothing, but as soon as I came back in it happened again, I went out again and this time waited 10 minutes. Again nothing, until just after I came back in. I never did see any fireworks and never determined what it all was. Back to bed and sleep.
At a quarter to 12.00 I was a woken by an awful, loud wailing sound. Our smoke detectors, we have 5 of them in the house, were all going off together and the sound was deafening. I got up again and toured the house, no sign of any fire or smoke but the detectors continued to wail. I waved a tray under them all, no good, they continued. I had no idea what to do, I was reluctant to take the batteries out of 5 smoke detectors, especially as there could be a fire somewhere and in any case I think that they are on the regular electric too. I had no idea how to turn them off. After about 20 minutes they stopped, although one or two went off on their own for a few seconds. Then they all stopped. Again no idea what set them off. Back to bed and sleep.
At 2.30 we were woken by a tremendous flash of light and an almost simultaneous explosion. Thunder and lightening. The storm continued unabated for . . . about 5 minutes! That was it, about a half dozen flashes and bangs and it was over. Back to sleep.
Now it is time to get up and go to work.

An exciting day at The Lake.

I got up at 6.00am 0n Tuesday to a fine clear day. The sun was just up, both the sky and The Lake were a lovely pink color. I went down and sat on the pier to look and listen for any signs of a repetition of yesterdays splashings of the carp spawning in The Lake, but there was none. Not a sound, not even a ripple, The Lake was perfectly smooth and quiet. So I went back to bed. Less than an hour later it was raining, heavily, which was quite remarkable as there had been hardly a cloud in the sky an hour earlier. We got ready to go to Annapolis and got there in the afternoon after a couple of stops on the way. By now the day was so glorius that we took a harbor cruise, visiting Annapolis Harbor, the Severn River and the Naval Academy. The sky was clear and it was very sunny and hot. Next stop was at The Red Lobster Restaurant to get Lobsters for Margaret & Ed. While in there Sarah called to tell us that the boys ball game had been cancelled, "Due to the storm." Apparently they were having a really bad storm but there was sign of a storm where we were. However when we left a short time later it was clouding up fast and by the time we got to Trader Joe's a few miles away the sky was looking very black. Just after we got into the store it started and we couldn't get out for almost an hour. The rain and wind were some of the heaviest I have ever seen anywhere. Eventually a man from the store escorted us out to our car with an umbrella. It rained all the way home. When we got home there was no real damage, except for a few small branches down but the big heavy bench on the pier had been blown into The Lake and was nowhere to be seen. With thick heavy cloud covering the sky we could see no chance of a nice sunset for Margaret & Ed's last full day here. But to out absolute amazement as the time of sunset approached the sky started to clear and we had one of the best sunsets ever. It got better and better as the clouds cleared away and were replaced with blue that turned to a wonderful gold.
The next day, Wednesday, Ed and I went out in the kayaks to look for the bench and found it only a couple of hundred feet away at the edge of The Lake in the bushes. We towed it back and put it on the lawn.
So we went from clear sky to storm, back to sunshine, back to storm and back to blue sky and a great sunset.
All in all a very eventful and exciting day.

Two things that never come back

Two things that you can never get back are the words you speak and lost opportunities. So, be sure to think carefully before you speak those words, escpecially if you have any thought at all that you may regret them someday!
Lost opportunities - if you make a wrong judgement they could get you into the same trouble as those words you might regret - but I am thinking now mostly about more mundane opportunities, like taking that photo, like getting up to see the sun rise, like complimenting a friend, or a stranger, like telling someone you love them. I've missed chances in life, we all have. The house you should have bought, the girl/guy you let get away, the investment you missed, there are dozens of these biggies that are gone and we regret, but I am not talking about those opportunities now, I am talking about the little ones. Don't forget to tell your little grandson what a great job he did on the ball field today, to thank your wife for the special dinner she cooked, your parents for anything, friends - for being your friends. When you hear of something unusual that is going to happen take the trouble to witness it, meteor showers - ever seen one? It's worth watching - when one is announced in the paper take the opportunity to watch. The space station going over - get up and watch it. Is the sun going to come up tomorrow? Take the opportunity one day to check and make sure that it does! Your grandchildren's graduation, ballgame, science project, school play, first . . . whatever, don't miss the opportunity because it doesn't come back.

More adventures from The Lake.

Last night we had another full moon, it was big and beautiful, hanging in the sky above our small and beautiful Lake.
I awoke at about 5 o'clock this morning and looking out at The Lake through the 10 floor to ceiling windows of our bedroom I saw a huge red moon hanging just above the trees across The Lake. A ribbon of red lay on the water all the way up to our bulkhead. I got up quickly, slipped on my shoes, got Ed's camera (Our English friends Margaret & Ed are staying with us for 3 weeks - Ed is an extraordinary photographer and has a much better camera than I do!) and stepped out onto our deck which is barely 100 feet from The Lake. I quickly snapped a couple of photos. While I was standing there admiring this lovely sight I heard some splashing and thought that it must be my neighbor getting his boat out to do some early morning fishing. But the splashing sounds increased, it sounded like waves, which I knew it wasn't because The Lake was quite still, could it be someone swimming? Surely not, my curiosity got the better of me and I walked across the lawn and down to our pier. As I approached the water the splashing sound got louder and I could hear it coming from several places. Even in the near darkness I could see the water churning on both sides of the pier as well as in front of my neighbors properties. I stepped onto the pier and almost fell over as the silence, apart from the splashing, was torn apart by a crashing and banging sound from right under my feet. By now it was apparent to me that the churning and splashing sounds were fish. But the huge apparition that rose up from under my feet could not be a fish surely? No, it was a Great Blue Heron that must have been feeding under the pier and had been disturbed by my feet over his head. He struggled noisily out from under there with wings flapping against the decking, poles and water and as soon as he was clear, rose gracefully into the air with a few hoarse squawks and flew off. Meanwhile, the water all around me was churning with the sights and sounds of huge fish. They were so big that their backs were out of the water at times, they were bumping into the bulkhead and the pilings of the pier. I estimated them to be between 2 and 3 feet long although over by my neighbors beach the disturbance was so great that they could have been bigger, or maybe there were just more of them. After watching for a few minutes I went into the house, woke up my friend Ed, told him to get his shoes on and follow me. Together we watched fascinated for another 10 minutes until the mosquitoes discovered us and we decided to go back to bed. Instead of going to bed I brewed my first coffee of the day and wrote my blog to tell you about this new adventure from my lovely Lake.
Added later - Oh, by the way, they are Carp and vary in lenghth from one foot to four feet - there are hundreds of them! We have all been watching them thrashing aorund in two's, three's and yes, even foursomes!! They come right in to the edge, so close you could literally touch them, if they weren't so fast.
Enjoy life, I do, Love David.

Favorite cities.

How could I possibly have forgotten Copenhagen? And having mentioned Copenhagen - one of my very favorite cities because that is where I proposed to Julia - it follows that I should also mention Stockholm, what a lovely city that is, and of course Oslo, Helsinki, Vienna, Bratislava and almost any city in Switzerland. Returning to the US I have to mention San Antonio. Are there any more recommendations?

Drama on The Lake.

I awoke at 5.30 this morning to the sound of a mosquito buzzing around my head. Looking out the windows at The Lake I saw the most amazing sight - pink water! The entire lake was the most beautiful shade of pink. I got up and looked out at my most favorite view (Except for julia). Harry The Heron was stationed strategically by the pier searching the water for an early breakfast morsel. There, he got one. Suddenly, I saw and heard the most terrifying sight and sound on The lake - the male swan. He was running across the water, his neck stretched straight out in front of him and his huge 7 or 8 foot span wings smashing into the water on either side of him. He was in attack mode! And what was he attacking? Two Canada Geese that he apparently perceived as a threat to his future family and who were at least a quarter of a mile from his mate and their nest. He continued across the water closing the distance to the two Geese fast, when he got about 50 feet away from them the Geese took off and flew away. The swan stopped and settled onto the water, his work done, for the moment. Other "threats" would arise throughout the day and he would be ready to face them all. It is remarkable to me that the Geese, Ducks and other birds return after his scary behaviour. But return they do, only to be seen off again and again.

When a Man is Tired of London -

- a Man is Tired of Life. I think Samuel Johnson said that. He said a lot of great stuff, I'm going to have to read some more of him. What made me think of that? Well we have some English friends staying with us for a few weeks.
I really don't see how anyone could ever get tired of London, if you've never been there I would suggest a visit. A year would be a good start! Think I'm kidding? I'm not, a year there would only be a start.
I think London is the greatest city in the world. Now that may be because I know London better than any other city, having been there more times than any other city. (Not counting Baltimore - who is not even in the running - and that shows that it is not simply familiarity that makes a city great.) Thinking about it, I've been to quite a few cities around the world, some great and some not so great. Why don't I list some of my candidates for great cities of the world and then you list yours? After London would come Sydney, Australia, The City of Paris was nice - but when I think about that it makes me realize that the people also have to figure into the equation, and because of that Paris drops well down on the scale, Washington DC is OK but not what I would call great, New York definitely makes the cut, as do Bejing and Shanghai, I liked Vancouver and Ottawa too. There are a lot of small cities that fit, and there are a lot of cities that I have visited but not stayed long enough to form an opinion. I think generally big cities fit the old adage "It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there". Using that adage, the only big cities that I can think of offhand that I don't think I'd mind living in are London, Sydney, Vancouver and possibly New York. I don't know any others well enough.
What is your take ? Do you have a list?
David.

There's still life left in the old man yet.

Yes I am still here, and feeling fine, right outside my windows nature paints a picture. And what a picture, there for me to feast my eyes on is the Bluest Lake you can imagine, under the Bluest sky.
In spite of having lived here for 10 months now we have not, until yesterday, bought a boat. It's a long story and one that I won't bore you with now, but it involves a builder who stole a considereable sum of money from us, bad timing with building the house - the economy that leaves us with no buyer for our previous house, even though we have cut it's price almost in half - and on and on - - - . But yesterday we finally broke down and bought not one, but two, bright yellow Kayaks, from Dicks, dear Dicks, they had a 50% off sale on some of their Kayaks, Wow, thats almost half price isn't it? Our friends Margaret and Edward are coming to visit us from England for 3 weeks and it just doesn't seem fair to have this beautiful Lake to explore and no boat to explore with! Dicks also had folding chairs at two for $12. As luck would have it one of our chairs broke yesterday, while watching the grandsons playing baseball (They won - again!), so we decided to invest in some chairs. No doubt Margaret & Ed will be coming to watch some top class American baseball - our grandsons are 8 and 9 years old - so we went all out and got two chairs for them to use and as we needed another one and one was $9.99 we decided to go for broke and get the two for $12.00! Now we are all set to sit.
I went out in one of the Kayaks this morning and it worked just fine, the first time that I have seen the house from so far out on the Lake, except this winter when the Lake froze over and we were able to not only walk all over the Lake but also build a fire on it! A nice big fire that did not burn through the ice. In fact a lot of people built fires, and rode their bikes, and skated, and played ice hockey.
Well it's time to prepare for our visitors, bye for now, or as we used to say in England - just practising for our visitors - "Ta ta for now."

David, XXX

Blue.

Blue. No, not Old Blue Eyes, although I am old and I do have blue eyes. (A beautiful young girl with beautiful brown eyes once told me that I had 'the most beautiful blue eyes') No, I am referring to Blue skies, Blue water, Blue birds and Blue flowers. I arrived home at 5 o'clock today and as usual went straight to the windows to look out at The Lake. And what did I see? I saw the most amazing Blue water reflecting the Bluest sky you ever could imagine and in the big green maple tree were no less than 5 BlueJays. I went outside, to enjoy it all the more and walked across, well not exactly a carpet, but through quite a lot of tiny Blue flowers. Blue is my favorite color - except when there are a lot of Yellow flowers! I was about to say that there are no yellow skies, yellow water and yellow birds, but I had no sooner thought it than I realized that there are indeed yellow birds. We see then flitting aorund here quite often, they are finches, the American Goldfinch to be precise. And a lot of birds have yellow legs too. Trees, well in the fall there are more yellow trees than you can count. That just leaves yellow water. Sounds gross doesn't it, reminds me of the old saying "Never eat yellow snow!" Hmm yellow water, got it, this morning I saw pink water, the pink morning sky was reflected in The Lake, so it follows that when we get a yellow sky reflected in The Lake I'll have my yellow water, and sure enough we had one of the most wonderful sunsets ever (Each one is more wonderful than the last, and when you get old you'll notice it more and more too. The older you get the more you realize the fewer of them there will be. So that helps to sharpen your senses and helps you notice them.) It was a golden sky and the water was a golden color, but I'll take it, gold is yellow right? Yellow gold. Golden yellow hair. Golden skin.
But I digress, as my Golden Girl tells me quite often. Maybe that is why I like Yellow, or Gold so much, because of My Golden Girl Julia, that is what I used to call her when she had golden hair, gold, suntanned skin and her favorite colors to wear were golds, yellows, tans, coppers, browns, all the colors of Fall. Or the Colors of Julia. Now I am Silver, but Julia is still My Gold.
Anyway, The Lake and everything around it was Blue today.
Let me just emphasize here that does not include my mood, which is good - whatever color that is!
Love and kisses to everyone today, Teach Tolerance. David XXX

Selfless behaviour.

- in the animal world. I would have pooh poohed this story if someone had told it to me, but I have just witnessed this selfless act with my own eyes, played out right before me, just yards away from where I sit and observe the Birds of The Lake.
First let me set up the scenario.
This beautiful, approximately 50 acre Lake, with it's miniature Bays and Inlets, an Outlet to The Chesapeake Bay and yes its very own Island, sits just 100 feet from our bedroom windows. The ten, floor to ceiling windows give an unparalleled view of The Lake and its inhabitants. My beautiful wife Julia and I spend many happy hours watching the Lake and it's denizens.
Two of those denizens are a pair of nesting Mute Swans, their nest, resembling a huge volcano of twigs, grasses, leaves, branches and other debris, sits magnificently on the Island, with the female positioned beautifully on her eggs. Meanwhile, the very aggressive Mr Swan patrols The Lake searching for dangers. These perils to his future issue, are apparently everywhere on The Lake, because he can be seen at almost any time pursuing such risky hazards as a pair of ducks, Bill the canoeist, Herb in his Kayak, a pair of Canada Geese with their own three Goslings to take care of and, not to my mind, but apparently to his mind, other Lake occupants that jeopardize his offspring.
Today it is raining, a nice soft much needed rain for the seeds that I have just planted, not good weather for working in the garden, but The Lake's water birds see no discomfit in it, in fact they revel in it. There are a plethora of birds out there today, from a very bedraggled looking Harry The Heron, to a trio of male Mallards (No doubt their mates are seated on their future offspring too) and four Canada Geese.
The drama that is taking place right now before our astonished eyes involves the Canada Geese. Our neighbors lawn slopes gently down to The Lakes edge, giving easy access to their grass by all the Birds of The Lake and enjoyed most often by the Canada Geese. There are two pairs of Geese on The Lake right now, one pair as I mentioned earlier has 3 delightful babies, the other pair are "childless", but the pair without babies seem to stay fairly close to the Geese with the babes. All seven geese - the four adults and the three Goslings - are on the lawn right now, the two groups separated by maybe 50 feet. They are all plodding around, poking their beaks into weeds and under logs and nibbling at the grass, the parents watching their progeny carefully and seemingly proudly. Suddenly, they start to honk, all heads are up and looking out at The Lake. Following their anxious gazes we see the male Swan approaching. The geese honk louder and get closer to the little balls of feathers who still don't sense any danger. The Swan moves relentlessly closer, I get my shoes ready in case I have to intervene on behalf of the helpless chicks. The Swan has reached the shoreline, I've never seen him come up onto the land to chase the Geese before and he doesn't this time either. Instead, he stands uncomfortably close, in the shallow water, alternately preening himself and eating the underwater weeds. When he moves closer to land the Geese become even more agitated and the childless pair take the initiative and move towards the Swan, putting themselves between the family and the Swan. Now this is no silly little gesture, because the Swan killed one of the Geese last year and one of this pair has a badly twisted leg that it hops about on, possibly the result of another run in with the attacking Swan. Suddenly one of the Geese goes into the water, not attacking the Swan - he wouldn't stand a chance - but seemingly to draw him away from the others. The Swan takes the bait and terrifyingly begins to chase the foolishly brave Goose. And it is terrifying, if I were smaller than the Swan I cannot imagine putting myself at the receiving end of his anger. And believe me, he is angry, the Goose swims away from the Swan as fast as he can, the Swan swims after him, the Goose swims faster, the Swan starts flapping his wings and running across the water. The six or seven foot wingspan of the Swan is scary even to me (I think I would run if he chased me!) but the sound of the wings and the huge feet crashing against the water, the loud grunting, and the long neck extended way out is dreadful indeed. Finally, with the Swan getting too close the Goose takes off, the Swan takes off too and continues the chase, but the Goose no doubt helped by his fear, gains on the Swan and eventually the Swan lands on the water, now well away from the baby geese. He does not head back that way, not for now anyway. In my mind this was an act of heroism in the animal world.

Enjoy your day, love, David XXX

To read more of my stories about The Lake, and other things, please go to my Blog at www.davidthesilverfox.blogspot.com

Puddles

Every path has a puddle. Into every life some rain must fall. But this is ridiculous, We're walking around in waders and rain gear all the time! And wearing a lifejacket. When will it end?

The Night Herons are back.

Yes the Night Herons that we saw on our pier yesterday were back this evening, two of them, Julia thinks it is a male and a female, but I'm not sure, it was getting dark so I couldn't see them very clearly. I hope to see them tomorrow before it gets too dark. I'll let you know.

Tax Changes.

My understanding of the proposed Obama tax changes are that 91% of us will pay less taxes, 1% will pay more taxes - but that is only the people making over $250,000 a year, and they will only go back to what they were paying before the Bush Administration cut their taxes. (Why did he cut their taxes and not ours?) The other 8% will be paying the same.
This is good because I will be paying less! Even better is that the Obama Administration intends going after those who are evading taxes. (Not avoiding - evading.) Avoiding is legal, even encouraged - it is OK to change things around in your financial life to avoid taxes. It is evading taxes that is frowned upon. There are a lot of people who have set up tax havens in places like The Cayman Islands for the express purpose of evading taxes. This is cheating. Or to put it another way, it is stealing. Stealing from you and me, because if they don't pay the taxes they should be paying, you and I have to pay more to make up for what they are not paying. This I don't like. A lot of people may say "Right on" or "Way to go", hold onto your money, don't give it to Uncle Sam. But they might not say the same thing if they realized that same person has his hand in their pocket - you are paying more taxes because he is paying less! How do you feel about that? Especially as most of these tax cheats are making millions. You, maybe like me are struggling along on $50,000 a year while John Smith is making $4,000,000 a year and because he doesn't want to pay taxes you have to pay more! Does that seem fair to you? It certainly doesn't to me! Tell me what you think. Do you think he should pay less because he is rich? Remember a few years ago some people were saying "Greed is good", well we are not saying it now, greed has almost destroyed us. (I think rich people should pay more taxes not less. The chances are if you are making millions you are making them at the expense of others. A lot of people work hard for $20 an hour, how can someone work a thousand times harder than that? Tiger Woods and Oprah Winfey for example each make around $120 million a year, do you think they work 3,000 times harder than the guy who makes $20 an hour? Yep that's right $120,000,000 a year is about $60,000 an hour. I'm sure they pay their taxes, but there are others out there that make similar amounts and pay hardly any taxes, so you pay them for them! Even Warren Buffet says that the rich should pay more taxes! He said that he legally pays less taxes than his secretary! He also said that it is wrong, but if he is legally able to do that - well. I think he makes up for it by giving huge amounts to charity - he recently gave $31 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation! But there are other greedy ones out there who are shielding their wealth in tax havens while you pay their taxes. As you can probably tell I'm upset about that and hope that Obama can get them to pay Their Fair Share. Don't you?

Sunshine.

Sunshine, that would be my daughter Sarah, and also my wife Julia. Sarah also means Princess. So on those days that the sun does not shine I have my wife and daughter, so every one of my days is full of sunshine! What more could any guy want? Life is good.

Update on the Harry/Julia Controversy.

I am informed by My Julia that the Heron is called Harry not Julia, she is my one and only Julia. I don't think that she wants to be supplanted by a Heron. So it shall be, the Heron is hereby relegated to his former name of Harry thus it shall always be.

QED.

New Bird on the Block.

We were enjoying our new deck last evening, the sun was doing its wonderful evening thing as it sank slowly into the trees on the other side of The Lake. The sky was turning its usual mix of golds and yellows, ho hum, prior to turning to red and then purple and every other imaginable as well as unimaginable color. When all of a sudden a new bird landed on the pier. We watched, fascinated, there were already a plethora of birds on, in and around The Lake, but this was definitely a new one. He looked a bit like a Heron, but not the Great Blue Heron, with it's long legs, neck and bill. Instead this guy was smaller, chunkier, with shorter legs and a fatter neck, but still very heronesque looking. a quick trip to our Bird Bible - Birds of North America - revealed it to be a Black Crowned Night Heron. Scientific name, Nycticorax nycticorax, and confirmed our observation that he had a heavy body, short thick neck and short legs. (Well short for a Heron I guess, they still looked pretty long to me, not quite Betty Grable legs maybe, but quite presentable) his size was listed as 20" long with a 44" wingspan, quite a bit smaller than the 38" tall and 70" wingspan of the Great Blue, but again a very respectable size for a bird. By the time we got back from the book and trained our binoculars back on our new visitor, he had been joined by another Black Crowned Night Heron. Yes there were now two on our pier, in our 10 months here we had not to our knowledge seen even one before. These both appeared to be female, but who knows there might be a male out there somewhere. We can only hope.
I have always found size, in birds, to be interesting. Here at The Lake we have birds that range in size from the tiny Wren to the Great Blue Heron, the Swan and the Bald Eagle, quite a range of sizes, but out there in the rest of the World, bird sizes range even more, from the Bee Hummingbird at about 2" long and less than 1/10 of an ounce to the Wandering Albatross at 25 pounds or more and an 11 foot wingspan. If we were to go back thousands or millions of years we would have found even bigger birds, but maybe not smaller.
Today promises to be another beautiful day on The Lake, already the sun has lit up the trees on the other side with its unearthly morning rays and Harry the Heron has found his place on our pier. His stance is one of eerie beauty, he (she? Because with the long neck, long legs and beautifully slim body Harry is certainly more evocative of a female.) reminds me of someone, and I am trying to remember who. I'm running some long legged, long necked film stars through my mind but can come up with none more beautiful than my very own Julia. So should I rename Harry, Julia? Would she be flattered? I hope so and I think so. Julia it is. Well Julia just took off and flew to one of her favorite hunting grounds for breakfast about 200 feet to the left of the pier. Some unfortunate minnow or sunfish is about to become breakfast for Julia.
Meanwhile back at Sunset Cottage it is time for me to take my Julia her morning cup of tea, after which she will serve me up a nice breakfast, not a Minnow or Sunfish I hope.
Have a wonderful day,

Love David XXX

That Would Be Me.

Husband of Julia, Father of Sarah, Grandfather of Bradley, Zachary and Jonny, Son of Percy and Joan, Brother of Mary, Brother-in-law of Tony, Uncle of Lucy and David, wow I don't even know how the say the rest - Great Uncle, Grandson etc. Friend of ...gosh how could I name them all? What a lucky son of a gun I am!

David.

Bias.

We all have it, and if you don't think you do, well lets face it, you are biased.
One of Murphy's laws states that, "Enough research will confirm your theory." OK. so I made that up. But it works for me.
You , or I, might give more weight to some evidence, or ignore other evidence, if we are embarrassed about it, or if we are stubborn, or for religious reasons, or superstitions, or traditions, or different views of the world or some other ideology. Or maybe you just don't like to admit making a mistake. I've met people like that! And so have you, we all have.
I might have a bias based on geography - I'm from the UK. "The UK can do, and never did do, any wrong."
We will point out any details that support our theory and ignore any that are contrary to it.
It's hard to be impartial. My Grandfather was on jury duty once, I'd hate to have had him on my jury, he said, "I could see as soon as they brought him in that he was guilty."
Tolstoy cleverly said, "The most difficult subjects can be explained to even to most slow witted man if he has not formed any idea on that already, but the simplest thing cannot be explained to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already without a shadow of a doubt what is laid before him."
I think we have a "gatekeeper" in our minds, this gatekeeper lets in beliefs and facts that we already agree with and shuts out those we don't.
An example - Hostile Media, you hear about it all the time, you expect the media to be hostile to your view, and it is, no matter what side you are on, if anything differs to your views, they are hostile.
A Republican will be biased toward a Conservative view, a Democrat will be be biased toward a Liberal view. And never the twain shall meet.
Or how about the placebo effect, if you have a smart doctor who acts as though the treatment he is giving you will work, it probably will. On the other hand if your doctor says "Try this, it might work, if it doesn't we'll try something else." Guess what, it likely won't work!
Bias, unfortunately we have to live with it, it is in all of us. Some more than others, it goes without saying that we should try to reduce those biases, and at least TRY to listen to the other persons point of view. Well that's my opinion anyway!
David, I love you anyway. XXX (But then I'm biased because you are lovable - because you read my blog)

Back to "If a man is tired of The Lake he is tired of life."

I have talked about the weather of The Lake including the sunsets going from yellow to gold to red to purple. I have also touched on the wildlife - mostly the birds, from the Eagle and the Ospreys to the Geese, the Swans and the various Ducks. Now I'd like to just mention another aspect of The Lake that makes it unforgettable and impossible to tire of, the fish. But first, Ratty the Muskrat gets a mention. Ratty comes out of The Lake from time to time, and when he is out he likes to wander around on the lawn near the water, chewing and poking around in the grass. He looks like a little Beaver and is in fact in the same family. It is a pleasure indeed to watch him. (Or her?) But back to the fish, I guess a list of the fish that I have caught in The Lake would be the first order of business, and here it is, the most common is the White Perch, but I have also caught Yellow Perch, Catfish, Carp, Sunnies, Minnows and even a Bluefish once. A new fish has just appeared on the scene - The Shad, I'm pretty sure that they are Shad, I have looked them up on the Internet and they look just like the pictures, so I'm pretty sure they are Shad. As The Shad is almost extinct on the East Coast I have put them all back (I have caught three so far) so maybe they will make a comeback, we can only hope. the only other catch from The Lake that I can think of now and one of the most important, is The Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab! Yum!

Happy Mothers Day, Love David XXX

Rain.

Yep, it rained again today, I think that is either the 10th or 11th straight day with rain. Did the Earth turn on it's axis? Have we changed positions with the UK? We just had someone here from the UK, she said that the weather in the UK has been great this year, day after day of sun, and it has rained every day since she has been here (for a week and a half.) She goes back in a week and says she can't wait to get back to warm days and sunshine!
Something is wrong somewhere, Global Cooling, Global Warming, Global Repositioning?

Confused Dave

Guns

Wow, surely you are not going to critisize guns are you?
Am I?
Well, I just saw this story that said that over 250 CHILDREN have been shot in Chicago this year. That is just children and just Chicago and just this year!!!
Tell me again why it is so important for there to be so many guns?
And why do children have to have them?
I know "Guns don't kill people, people kill people," and all that BS! But it would be a heck of a lot harder to kill people if there wern't so many guns. It would be especially hard for kids to kill other kids without a gun to do it. I know, I know, it's our right. What does it matter if a few kids die, as long as we can have our guns?

Terrorists

This post may be disliked by some, but it is not intended as a criticism, more like an observation.
Terrorists are financed in large part by Americans and Europeans. Huh? Yes terrorists are financed by illegal drug production & sales and as the US probably buys more illegal drugs than anyone - terrorists are financed in large part by Americans, much of it by teenagers. The drug money buys weapons and pays the terrorists. This amounts to substantial financial support.
The same thing goes - to a greater or lesser extent - for anyone who uses oil! And by our unwillingness to be in any way inconvenienced in the slightest. That's all of us. That is because oil revenues support regimes that hate us, Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria and to a lesser extent Russia. The only thing we can do to mitigate this danger is use less oil.
So when you decide to buy that bigger house or bigger car or make an unecessary trip or leave the engine running or turn the heat up or turn the A/C down, remember the extra gun or ammunition or bomb that extra oil revenue will buy the terrorist who has someone we love in their sights!
Yes, it's nasty, but think about it, it's also true isn't it? I'm not the nasty one here, just because I'm saying something you don't like - they are - and it IS in our power to cut them off from at least some of their revenue.

The now Unpopular Dave. (But think again about what I said, it is true, and it is possible for us to hit them where it can stop them, in their bank accounts.)

I Love You, David XXX

Bumper Stickers.

Bumper Stickers, remember them? I saw one the other day and realized that they are virtually extinct! When was the last time you saw a bumper sticker? Some people used to have their bumpers virtually covered with stickers. Now it is a rarity to see one.

When a man is tired of London - - -

Yesterday, I gave a description of 24 hours weather on the Lake. Today I would like to tell you why "When a man is tired of The Lake he is tired of life." This time I will tell you about the wildlife - and I don't mean parties! I saw Harry The Heron on our pier with a HUGE fish in his beak. I mean it was huge, I don't know how he was even holding it and there was obviously no way that he was going to be able to eat it. After a while he took off, the fish was so heavy that he could hardly fly, just barely keeping himself above the water. He landed a couple of hundred feet away in the shallow water and stood there for a while. And stood, and stood. I was watching with another man and we disscussed what was going on in his mind. First, it was very apparent to us that he would be unable to swallow such a huge fish, we decided that having caught it he was reluctant to let it go, maybe he was waiting for it to die when he would TRY to eat it. Eventually he did try, and tried and tried, and then Wow, he swallowed it, he really did, we could see it in his throat, his whole throat was bulging out, he just stood there looking real stupid and real funny with this huge throat. slowly it went down and then it was gone, he had swallowed the whole thing! We could not believe it even though we had seen it with our own eyes.
Next, there are the little Diver Ducks, the cutest little things. Then there are the Osprey, the Sea Gulls, the Canada Geese - who have just yesterday had three little babies! We saw them proudly watching three little balls of fluff bouncing around on the lawn. And of course don't forget the Swans, I guess we'll soon have little Goslings. Then there is the Alligator - no just kidding, no Alligators.
Untill tomorrow, David.

An Amazing Moon . . .

I was going to tell you about this amazing sight, but then I got to thinking about the weather and sights of the last 24 hours or so. You may have heard that saying of Samuel Johnson, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." Well I could say the same thing about The Lake. Yesterday dawned dark, cloudy and brooding. Today the sun is already up and bright, it is obviously going to be a beautiful day. Yesterday it rained, and what a rain, we had 3 inches of rain within a couple of hours, at times I could not see the Lake, sometimes it was so loud it was almost deafening, all the time it was at least distracting. Our bedroom looks out over the Lake, we have ten floor to ceiling windows, it is better than living in front of a huge movie screen. As I sat there I had intended reading a book, but instead I could not take my eyes off of the Lake. The rain was pelting down, and then it was softer, there were patterns on the water surface, then there would be a load roar as a heavy squall would dump itself onto the surface of the water and then against the windows. Then the sun came out.
Earlier - just before the rain started I had put down some grass seed on some bald areas of the "lawn" and covered it with straw. When I went out to check after the rain I could not find a single seed, and most of the straw had washed away too! Then it rained again. Then the sun came out again. At the end of the day Sunset Cottage lived up to its name with another wonderful sunset. By now the Lake was like a sheet of glass.
Then came what I had intended telling you about when I started, The Moon. I awoke at 3.30am and the Lake was lit up almost like day with a huge very bright full moon, there was a "pathway" of silver right across the Lake up to our pier. I went and got our camera, but it is one of those digital things and all I could get was a little dot of white and a thin line of white, nothing. Sometimes the new digital age doesn't live up to its reputation. Oh for my old camera, I could have taken some wonderful shots. I fell asleep and then woke up again at 4.30am, now the moon was very low, just a few degrees above the Lake. It was huge and red and this time there was a red "pathway" across the Lake. I watched fascinated as it dropped further and became a very very large red ball, then I fell asleep again.
Now I have to get going or I am going to be late for work. I just wanted to tell you about that.
Bye Love David XXX

A little fun thing -

When Julia and I went up the Empire State Building in New York, New York, I took a couple of sheets of paper with me and folded up a few paper airplanes. They flew rather well! Sometimes I wonder if they are still up there riding the updrafts.

More rain

This is Maryland, for the first three months of this year we had the least amount of rain in 138 years! Officially and undoubtedly a drought. Well today we are officially out of the drought. And there can be absolutely no doubt about this at all. I had to work outside to get some stuff done yesterday and got soaked. If anyone comes to visit us on The Lake today I think I will have to hand out Life Vests! And that won't be for going out on The Lake, it will just be for walking around in our yard! It has been raining almost non stop for 3 days now and the forecast is for rain on and off for the next 15 days - unheard of -is this the US or the UK?

Rain rain PLEASE go away!

It is STILL raining here, and it is forecast to continue all week! My grandson Bradley says it is going to continue for TWO weeks, I don't think I believe him, BUT I just checked the forecast and he MAY be right, it is indeed calling for very cloudy, rainy weather for the next 15 days!!!! Have we changed places on the globe with the UK? It is just unbelievable that could happen, it is very unusual for rain to continue for more than a day or two here. I need to get outside and clear up the mess out there from the winter. With Spring/Summer about to arrive I want to get rid of the dead things, a pile of dead branches by my outside fire pit, building materials for the deck, the lawn needs mowing - the grass is as high as a miniature elephants legs. A clear up is definitely needed of all the winter debris. Well time to get out the raingear I suppose, being a Brit I should be able to handle working in the rain. As I used to say to my employees when they didn't want to work in the rain, "You're not made of sugar, it won't dissolve you, get on with it. If we didn't work in the rain in the UK we would never have worked!"
So I gotta go and work in the rain now I guess.
David.

Rain rain go away,

Yes, it is still raining here, the contractors came to finish off the deck, but after a couple of hours of working in a steady downpour they gave up and went home.
As the old childhood nursery rhyme says ; -
Rain rain go away,
Come again another day.

(When they have finished the deck would be nice!)

David.

I need a lawnmower.

I am in need of a used push motor mower, so if anyone knows of one in this area available for a good price, please let me know about it. Requirements are that it be working, inexpensive, not self propelled and have a grass collecting bag.

Appreciate it, thank you.

Going Around in Circles.

The Ducks that is! Looking out the window this rainy morning I see a bunch of Ducks in the water just outside of our windows who are literally "Swimming around in Circles!" Why is that I wonder? I don't have an answer, do you? Maybe they are more like us than we realize!

Just a thought, David.

My friends Bill & Jane are heading out today - -

Today, they leave Baltimore, City of Ravens and Orioles, and head first to Detroit, City of Industrial Ruins, then to Amsterdam, City of Bars - and other stuff, finally arriving in London, City of Everything. You name it, London has it, everything - Shopping, such as you have never seen anywhere else, try Harrods for any kind of food, I would bet they even have Elephant steaks. Afternoon Tea. Restaurants with every imaginable cuisine. Shows, the best, we saw The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, The Woman in Black and The Mouse Trap during a 4 day visit. Awesome Transportation - Big Red London Buses, London Taxis, The Underground. Truly as Samuel Johnson once said, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of Life."
I am sure that William & Jane will have a wonderful time, I even wonder if they will want to return to us in Baltimore. Now there is something new for me to worry about! (I am the World's Champion Worrier.)

David

No Ordinary Girl,

That would be Julia of course!
No Ordinary Deck, that would be our new deck, which I hope you will visit soon, it is even better than we had hoped for.
No Ordinary Lake, if you have read any of my past Blogs you already know this to be true. If you haven't read them, please go on and read an assortment and get a feel for The Lake and the Birds and Animals of The Lake.
No Ordinary House, in spite of still being unfinished, this is definitely No Ordinary House, please come and see us and see it for yourself, we'd love to show it to you.
No Ordinary Guy, well THAT is debatable. Feel free to leave a Comment on me!

Leaving a comment is easy.

If you would like to leave a comment on one of my posts it is easy to do. Go to the word 'comments' just at the end/under the Post and click on it. Type your comment in the empty box. Click on the box under and a drop down list appears, select and click on Google if you have a Google Account, if you don't have a Google Account or don't know, select Anonymous. (If you select Anonymous please leave your name in your comment so I know who you are.) Then click Post Comment. It should go, occasionally it will say 'try again', if it does just click Post Comment again and it should go.

Thank you. David

The Eagle has landed . .

. . . a Carp! Yes you read it right, the Bald Headed Eagle that occasionally graces us with it's presence landed a Carp, a big one. I checked it out after he had finished eating and it was 26 inches long. There did not seem to be much point in weighing it because some of the fish was gone - including "The good bits", - ask the Eagle what the good bits were! It is amazing that a bird was able to catch a huge fish like that, drag it struggling, I'm sure it struggled, up out of the water, and carry it to land. Onto my lawn to be precise, where it "had its way with it". When he had finished, an Osprey had a go at it, and then the Buzzards moved in to finish off the remains. Whatever was left disappeared overnight. I later located the remains - by smell - they had been dragged under my shed, presumably by a Raccoon or a Possum. A perfect example of the drama of "The Circle of Life." right here in my own backyard.

Conservatives/Liberals

I'm reluctant to do this post, and I should take time to think about it and develop it, but I'm not a Conservative, although I am in some ways, we all are. My Conservative genes say "Don't do it", but my Liberal genes tell me "Do it.". Which will win? Bush once said "I'm a Conservative, but I'm not a nut about it." I've always liked that statement, one of the few things I've liked about George. If I think about it more, it implies that he thinks Conservatives, or at least some of them, are nuts!
It seems to me that Conservatives always expect disaster, but on the other hand Liberals always expect Nirvana. They can't both be right, in which case they must both be wrong!
I guess there is just no way to join them/us, "Never the twain shall meet", as someone once said, although I don't think he/she was referring to Conservatives and Liberals. But, if we/they don't meet or come to some understanding or agreement then I'm afraid that I fear for our survival.
Our/their differences are great, but if we don't close those gaps, they will only widen and we all know what happens to walls with cracks in them - they fall.
United we stand, divided we fall, then let us unite, join hands with your brother Conservative/Liberal, try to understand them. It is easy to exaggerate our differences - "Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives think they deserve everything they've stolen.", "We can all be thankful for something, I'm thankful that I'm not a Liberal / Conservative.". Platitudes, smart sayings, but not at all helpful in cementing the cracks in our society.
I think that I have decided not to do this posting, it would be too divisive, the very thing that I am trying to avoid among us all. So I won't do it. Don't read it!

David, Love, XXX

Curiosity - Grandchildren, curiosity, your, and our, salvation.

Curiosity is one of the most important traits of a genius. I don’t think you can find an intellectual giant who is not a curious person. Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Michaeangelo, Albert Einstein, William Weber, Richard Feynman, they are all curious characters. Richard Feynman's adventures in particular came from his curiosity.
But why is curiosity so important? I'm going to list four reasons:-
a) It makes your mind active instead of passive.
Curious people always ask questions and look for answers in their minds. Their minds are always active. The mind is like a muscle which becomes stronger with use, the mental exercise caused by curiosity makes your mind stronger and stronger.
b) It makes your mind notice new ideas.
When you are curious about something, your mind expects and anticipates new ideas. When the ideas come they will be recognized. Without curiosity, the ideas may pass right in front of you and you may miss them because your mind is not prepared to recognize them. Just think of how many great ideas have been lost due to lack of curiosity?
c) It opens up new worlds and possibilities.
By being curious you will be able to see new worlds and possibilities which are normally not visible. They are hidden behind the surface of normal life, and it takes a curious mind to look beneath the surface and discover these new worlds and possibilities.
d) It brings excitement into your life.
The life of curious people is never boring. It’s never dull or routine. There are always new things that attract their attention, there are always new ‘toys’ to play with. Instead of being bored, curious people have an adventurous, more exciting life.
Now, knowing the importance of curiosity, here's how to develop it:
1. Keep an open mind. Wide open. Don't reject ideas. Don't be closed to anything.
You should be open to learn, and relearn. Some things you know and believe might be wrong, and you should be prepared to accept this possibility and change your mind.
This is essential if you are to have a curious mind. Be open to learn, and relearn. Some things you know and believe might be wrong, and you should be prepared to accept this possibility and be prepared to change your mind.
2. Don’t take things for granted.
If you just accept the world as it is without trying to dig deeper, you will lose your curiosity. Never take things for granted. Try to dig deeper beneath the surface of what is around you.
3. Ask questions relentlessly. Like you used to as a child.
A sure way to dig deeper beneath the surface is to ask questions: What is that? Why is it made that way? When was it made? Who invented it? Where does it come from? How does it work? What, why, when, who, where, and how are the best friends of curious people. I don't necessarily mean just ask people, do that too, but "ask" books, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, libraries, the internet, any reliable residence of learning and information.
4. Don’t label something as boring. This is too common nowadays.
Whenever you label something as boring, you close one more door of possibilities. Curious people are unlikely to call something boring. Instead, they always see it as a door to an exciting new world. Even if they don’t yet have time to explore it, they will leave the door open to be visited later.
5. See learning as something fun.
If you see learning as a burden or a chore, you won't want to dig deeper into anything. That will just make the burden heavier. But if you think of learning as something fun, you will naturally want to dig deeper. So look at life through the glasses of fun and excitement and enjoy the learning process..
6. Read diverse kinds of things. Different, unusual, not what you "normally" read. Spread your self out - and your mind.
Don’t spend too much time on just one world; take a look at other worlds. It will introduce you to the possibilities and excitement of the other worlds which may spark your interest to explore them further. One easy way to do this is through reading diverse kinds of reading. Try to pick a book or magazine on a new subject and let it feed your mind with the excitement of a new world.
One more thing, don't just listen to "music" for hours on end, read, learn, enjoy life. Do something, anything, else.
Oh, yes and One More Thing, Remember I Love You. Grandy XXX

Liquid Sunshine.

We seem to have been getting a lot of this years rare commodity lately. The first three months of the year it was very rare, with a 138 year low, but although April appears to be making up for it, with almost double the normal amount, we are still low on liquid sunshine for the year. Enjoy it little flowers, as the heat of a Maryland summer approaches and threatens to dry and shrivel you up along with all of us. Maryland summer arrived last week when temperatures suddenly soared to 90 degrees for 3 days and we were all sweating and looking for summer clothes to put on. Julia started frantically putting winter clothes in boxes and asking me to bring down boxes of summer stuff. Now Maryland has done it to us again, from a high of 92 on Tuesday to a high of 58 on Wednesday, as usual we don't know what hit us. Julia has stopped putting winter away and doesn't know whether to get winter stuff out again or not! The contractors were shivering out there yesterday in their T shirts and shorts whereas only a day earlier they had been frantically downing Big Gulps loaded with ice, pouring ice water on towels wrapped around their heads and bemoaning the lack of sunburn lotion and their burned necks and shoulders. Ah, Maryland, yes this is Maryland, where, "If you don't like the weather, hang around for 15 minutes and it will change." is our Mantra.

Enjoy, David.

Whirled Peas!

With our new President making such a positive impression on Countries and Leaders around the World it seems to me that the time may be right to take advantage of this new found friendship and idealism for him to invite Representatives of every Country in the entire World to meet and try to work out some form of co-operation in at least a few of the problems common to the whole World. He could make some suggestions for discussion, such as Climate Change, Pollution, Energy Use, Etc, and invite the other Countries to make suggestions. Maybe a committee of a few representatives from each Continent could meet to select a list of things to discuss. Each Country could be invited to submit say 5 topics to be considered. Obviously only a limited number of topics could be discussed, there simply would not be enough time to discuss every subject put forward by every Country, but a number - say 20 or 50 - could be selected by the selection committee. (Surely many Countries would have the same choices.) So that there was at least a chance for every idea to be chosen, all of the subjects not chosen by the committee could be put in a barrel and 10 more pulled out at random - in front of witnesses - on TV. These 10 could then be added to the subjects already selected.
In this way every Country could join in with their ideas to solve or improve the Worlds problems. This would not mean that any ideas hammered out had to be put into effect, just that countries come together and pool their best ideas.
Some ideas may be so obvious or so good that they could be implemented right away by some people. Some countries might want to implement some of the ideas to solve their individual problems or combine and solve each others problems by working together. May be one country has something to dispose of and another country is looking for it. (A real simple example, I had 20 bags of cement that got wet and I needed to get rid of, how to get rid of 20 bags of cement? Take and put them in someones dumpster? I told everyone that I saw and lo and behold a neighbor had a hole that they needed to fill in. Two problems solved at once!) (One person has a huge pile of leaves he wants to get rid of, someone else wants something to make compost with for their garden. Instead of a trip to the dump for one person and a trip to get compost material for someone else, the two are combined and two problems solved.) Small examples of what can happen if we talk to each other. There is no reason this shouldn't happen on a global scale- if we would only talk to each other. Any success would get World Wide attention and encourage even more co-operation.

Just an idea from a simple man with Liberal ideas who thinks that simple ideas like Co-operation and Tolerance could go a long way to making this world a better place to live in, even if it were practised unilaterally. Good often rubs off on the people around you - ever noticed how you tend to go out of your way to see the girl or the guy who always smiles at you and says something nice and try to avoid the one who is always sulking and complaining?

Love from David.XXX

Good Morning Grey Day.

Yes it is a grey day here today. (Or should that be gray? When does one use Grey and when Gray, or are they totally interchangeable?) The Lake is very wet looking! In fact it has started to rain.
An update on the Birds of the Lake. The two Canada Geese continue to be highly visible, the big male Swan continues to chase them off almost continually. The Osprey are conspicuous by their absence. The egret(s) are still here, I am actually only seeing one but as there were two initially I am going to assume that the female is sitting on the nest somewhere. The ducks are here, but not as many as I have often seen, the Swan also chases them off, so maybe that is the reason. I expect things will return more to normal once the swan cygnets are born. I know where the Swans nest is now and if the rain stops Bradley and I could row down there to see it. Larry came today with the railings for the deck and they are installing them in the rain! Well the rain is welcomed by the garden anyway, the lawn, trees, bushes seeds and everything else will be happy to see it.
Time for breakfast. Bye. David.

Good Morning Sunshine.

Up early today as Bradley has to be at school by 7.00. Is it just me or does that seem rather early? I shouldn't complain though because I would probably advocate something like this if I had the choice, "To make them lazy teenagers see what the real world is going to be like when they have to go to work." Oh boy does that ever sound like my Grandparents! Now I KNOW I'm a Grandfather!
When I looked out at The Lake this morning I saw a very raw, grey sky and a slightly rippled grey Lake surface. Harry The Heron was standing just to the right of my pier - Harry is an early riser - and a 'piece of wood, that looked to be about 10' long' was floating the the left of the pier. Wait, it was floating very fast and within seconds had floated under the pier. It did not emerge from the other side, I think it must have been a Muskrat. I saw him last week swimming away from the pier, the last time I saw a Muskrat here was maybe 20 or 30 years ago when we used to come here with Sarah at weekends. I'm pretty sure it's not the same one! Well gotta go and get Bradley off to school.

Late post

I had to run that last post even tho it is late and I have to get up early to take Granson Bradley to school because I got so many e-mails asking me where my Blog for the day was.
I promise to try not to miss agin. I have some more news about The Lake but it will have to keep until tomorrow. Good nite everyone.

GPS

A very short Blog today, I worked all day and our Grandson Bradley is going to be staying with us for a week while Sarah, Roy, Zach and Jonny go to Disney World.
The GPS, how have I survived for 67 years without it? If you don't have one and have resisted getting one, as I did, thinking "I know how to read a map, I don't need that", well I am now officially a convert. It is not perfect, but like me, it is close! I have only had it for a couple of months but it may have paid for itself already in saved gas and saved time, by not being lost. Also you don't have to keep stopping to look at a map. Working in and around D.C. as I do now, there are not a lot of places to pull over! It will even direct you to the nearest Starbucks!
In short, the GPS is the best thing to come along since sliced bread.

Today dawned bright and clear.

I woke late today, it was past 6.00 and the sun was already up. The Lake was bathed in it's bright light and there were four ducks splashing and paddling around right in front of us. Most of the larger birds seem to have gone, I haven't seen an Osprey in a week or two and it's been at least a week since the last Great Blue Heron graced our pier or the waters around it. Where do they go? The Cormorants also seem to have abandoned us, I miss their little heads and necks moving around the Lake disappearing as they dive and reappearing 20 to 30 seconds later. Much nicer than the pop ups we get on our computers! I was concerned when there were so many of them that they would eat all of 'our' fish. But it would appear they know how it works better than we do. I was especially intrigued the way that a flock of them swimming on the Lake would usually all be facing the same way and would often almost all dive together, and the way at least one would stay up - a look out? Well at least the ducks are still here, and I did see one of the pair of Egrets yesterday. And of course the big male Swan is still patrolling. I must do some research and try to find out where the birds go, when the baby Swans will appear and a host of other things that I would like to know. Julia just wants to know when those baby Cygnets are going to be here.

Don't forget - -

The world is not just given to us by our Fathers, it is also borrowed from our Children. Would you cheat your Children? I thought not, I want to keep "our" World as nice as I can for my Children and Grandchildren. And hey, Grandchildren, that applies to you too! One day you will have Children and Grandchildren, make sure you leave the World in at least as good a condition as you found it. Start NOW!
Hows this for a thought - if you make the World better in one way, you make it better in every way. I bet you can think of a way to make the World better. Now all you have to do is do it!

The Greatest Show

Yes it's a great Show on The Lake again this morning, the blue sky and the white clouds and the peach and pink colors of the sunrise are all reflected in the not quite perfectly still water. There are some small ripples ruffling the surface.
But the Greatest Show was last night, we had the most fantastic lightening show I think I have ever seen in my life - and I am 67 years old (I know, I know, I don't look it do I?) - I watched sheets of lightening lighting up the sky over and over again. There were some 'lines' of light going from clouds to ground, or ground to clouds, whichever way it is they go, some of which were huge, but mostly it was sheets. There were even some lines of light that went horizontally. The really eerie thing about the show was - there was no sound! We never heard even a slight rumble, it was just light, like a TV show with the sound turned off. I watched for more than an hour before I fell asleep.