D.C. Winter on Hold

The holidays are behind us and IT is here. Well, it's at least on the front porch and about to come in. Without knocking. Always rude and never welcome. Winter in D.C. just stinks. (Quite timely that the political plate is piled high with meat to gnaw on while stuck indoors.)

It's gray, it's wet, it's windy.
It's ugly and makes you want to stay in bed.
Darkness falls by 4:30p and it all just gets in your head.

When a respite presents itself, it's best to pause the whining and revel in the good fortune, soak it up and recharge. The sun broke out, sort of, and the temps climbed near 50F this afternoon and at the last minute I rolled out to snag a quick bike ride.


Very much a smell-the-roses ride on my regular route through a few federal plots in the vicinity.

One split second of excitement tho, courtesy of a squirrel on speed. I was the only traffic of any kind, but he just HAD to get to the other side of the road RIGHT #!%$* NOW!

This psychotic little wonder came out of nowhere. Moving like he was on fire, he covered a good 20yards of open ground on my right in a blurry gray flash. Not one of the typical dart-stop-dart-do-a-180 maneuvers they love to pull. This tweeker was committed, nothing but a straight shot all out was gonna cut it. I had barely moved for the brakes and he had somehow slipped under my front wheel by some invisible margin and was gone down the hill on the other side. I was awed, and, obviously inspired.

Anyway, I brought the camera with me...

Twists and turns leaving the nearby wildlife refuge.

Returning home through the USDA Ag Research Center
Damn. The sun is diving fast.
Not enough light to see the cows and geese scattered in the fields.

Gas is now up to $2.35 for the cheap stuff.

Holiday Week

This pic does not do justice to the monster manger.

Well. Made it through another year. Woohoo!

A very nice holiday week to finish out 2005.

• Soooo nice to have Bridget around for a few days, even if she is all about getting lights, lights and more lights on the tree. Sheeesh. I kid, I kid... really.
  
• Great food, and darn healthy overall. My foray into Yorkshire territory was balanced by completely additive free dishes like sweet potatoes, squash, asparagus, and spinach.
• Mom and Dad at the helm keeeping things humming like a well oiled machine as they juggled the usual Christmas activities with caring for every pet in the neighborhood. Many sweet animals abandoned for the holidays, not that I picked up any of the slack.

We got out to see The Family Stone. Not a bad flick. Holiday fare of the slightly deep thinking variety, served up with a solid dose of flawed family dynamics (the family on the screen, not the family in the seats, er, yeah) with a dash of tear jerker seasoning.

I managed a few pics from Christmas day, and one of my first crack at using the food processor from Bridget. The green stuff is a blend of chick peas and spinach with a little salt, garlic, turmeric and muchi curry spice thrown in. Call it Holiday Hummus I suppose.

I'm also throwing in a pic of the humble Christmas (or would it be "Holiday") Tree propped up by the City of Greenbelt. It's a Charlie Brown tree for sure. Not a single light Bridget! This rather blue collar and heavily liberal 'burb has it's spending priorities in order, or maybe just a limited tax base. In any event, campaign money directed here by any party is wasted.

Health, contentment and prosperity to all in '06.