The Family

December 26 2005

Between the Holidays

This week between Christmas and New Years is very quiet businness wise. It gives me a chance to catch up on some things.

Ted and Peggy are headding home today. We had a great time with them over the last couple of weeks. It has been sort of a whirlwind month.

Christmas Eve

It is Christmas Eve and we are waiting for Seth to wake up from his nap so that we can go over to the parent's for the evening.

This December has gone buy so quickly with the Cresses here, and the wedding and now Christmas. It seems like the time between Christmases gets shorter every year.

The Wedding

On Saturday Joe and Maureen got married. We had a really good time. Lots of my Aunts Uncles and cousins were there and Peggy came along to take care of Seth, which made things easy.

I drove up to Philadelphia on Thursday to take Joe out to dinner and stayed through Sunday Morning. The Happy Couple is in Costa Rica now and will be back on Friday (I think).

Fun in the Leaves

Seth really enjoyed the leaf piles this year. It has been too cool for him to spend much time outside lately, and now we have snow on the ground. Grandma and Grandpa C arrive next Tuesday for to spend Christmas with us. Joe get's married on Saturday. Things are about to get busy.

A little not a lot

We did get a little bit of snow last night. A couple of inches. It was very wet and heavy. The trees were icy this morning so we must have had some sleet and freezing rain as well. Seth and I went out to shovel. He doesn't seem to be too interested in the snow.

More Snow Tonight

Well, this time they are serious (as usual!). We have a 100% chance of snow tonight forecasted by the National Weather Service.

Dad sent this picture today of the Grandparents with the grandkids. I think it's pretty good.


Left to Right: Grandma R, Will, Seth, Grandpa R

We Got a Little Snow

We did get a little snow on Monday. About 2 inches. The best things was that the sidewalks and roads were still warm, so the snow didn't stick except on the grass. No shoveling. I swept the little bit of snow that was on the sidewalk with a broom.

Debbie too Seth out for a while, but it sounds like he was ready to come in from the cold fairly quickly.

Will it snow??

The meteorologists are forecasting the first snowstorm of the year for the Washington DC area. I am sure this is creating a huge milk/bread/toilet paper panic. It really looks like a light forecast. I am guessing 3 inches or less.

Of course every local tv news show will have some poor reporter standing on a street corner waiting for the first flakes to fall.

Thanksgiving Recap

Thanksgiving was very enjoyable this year. We went to Fairfax on Wednesday evening and were there all day Thursday. The whole family was home. It was good to see everyone.

We went home on Thursday evening and then back again on Friday for more quality time.

Saturday I got to spend the day with Seth while Debbie went shopping with her friend Mary.

Yesterday I did some work on our washing machine. More about that later.

Holidays Begin

We are starting to get ready for the holiday season. Some christmas decorations are already up. The candy schedule is planned. I am looking forward to a little turkey and pumpkin pie.

Home again

I've spent a lot of time in NC lately. Last week I was in Newbern Wednesday through Friday and this week I was in Raleigh Monday and Tuesday. Debbie and Seth went along to Raleigh. It was good to have company in the car.

Happy Halloween

A cow says Moo!

Halloween

Last evening the Spears's came over for dinner. We had the traditional Halloween chili. It was so good that we at it all and now I have none for tonight! Oh well. I suppose I can live. Debbie picked out a Cow Costume for Seth. I'm sure I'll have a picture tonight.

A day with th boy

Debbie is off to Alexandria for the day to spend a little time with her friend Mary. Seth and I are on our own. A little later we ill head over to Fairfax. Right now he is sound asleep.

Traveling in November

It looks like I will be traveling more than usual in November. I have to be in Newbern NC a couple of days next week and in Raleigh again the week after that. Originally all of this was supposed to happen next week, but meetings get moved.

I don't expect to travel much in December.

Seth has cut his first top tooth (number 3). It is jut poking through the gum. I suppose the next one isn't far behind.

In Raleigh

I am in Raleigh for the next couple of days. It looks like the weather will be warm and sunny, which is unusual because it usually rains when I come here.

I have a lot of business to get done. Already three meetings set for tomorrow morning.

Weekend Summary

We had quite a good weekend here. Yesterday we went to a wildlife festival at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. We got to see a great reptile show and a bird banding station. The refuge is at Woodbridge just to the South of the Occoquan River and east of Rt. 1.

We also stopped by Mason Neck NWR to see what might be there. We had a nice walk on the Great March trail.

Today we were around home in the morning and got Peggy off to the airport in the afternoon. We all enjoyed her visit.

Birthday Pictures

Birthday Wrap Up

Well the first birthday was a lot of fun. We had a little party last evening with the family. Seth had his cake and ate it too! It was good to have everyone over to celebrate.

This morning I was watching Seth sleep a little and I realized that when he is sleeping he still looks about the same as he did the day he was born.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SETH!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Seth,
Happy Birthday to you!

One Year Old Today!

A little historical comparison

Dad sent me this picture of my first birthday (1967) today. There is also a black and white photo of this birthdya. It looks like Dad finished off the Kodachrome and popped in a roll of black and white. (or the other way around) I posted the b+w photo once before: click here to see it

How about that look. It's like I never saw a cake before! I also really dig the sunflower bib.

He also sent over this photo of his first birthday - 1938. Looks like a nice warm July day there.

Seth's First-Birthday-Eve

A year ago I was wondering when the baby would come. I looked back in the blog and there is an entry for the 11th of October where I talked about waiting. Little did I know that Debbie would be waking me up a 5:30 the next day to let me know it was time. A year seems like so little time.

Columbus Day

In fourteen-hundred ninety two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

The federal government is on holiday today, so it will be quiet in the office. I will probably work from home in the afternoon because not much will be going on. In the meanwhile, it will be easy to get things done here because there will be few, if any calls.

A good visit at home today

We went over to Mom and Dad's today for lunch and dinner. It was a really good visit. We also went to the Fall Festival in Fairfax, which was postponed to today because of rain. Lucky us!

I turned out to be kind of a long day for Seth. He got his morning nap, but really didn't get one this afternoon. He was completely worn out by the time we left to come home.

Rain, Rain, Rain

After a very dry late summer we finally have rain. We have had a steady, soaking rain continuously since yesterday. It is the remnants of a tropical storm that is working it's way up the east coast.

I am feeling a little stir crazy because I've been inside all day. Seth had a nice long nap while Debbie and Peggy went out to do a little shopping.

Get Him Started Early

Seth took a coffee break with us when we were downtown last week. I'm sure the folks at Starbucks would like this picture. (it is actually my coffee, not his)

No travel to Raleigh

This month Raleigh is coming to me. For some reason Ben decided to have the monthly manager's meeting in DC rather than Raleigh this month. That means that I don't have to travel!

Tonight we are having dinner on the cruise ship Dandy which sails up and down the Potomac. Tomorrow we meet all day in Rockville. Whoo-boy, what fun!

A visit to the National Gallery

We made a visit to the National Gallery on Sunday to see their exhibition of prints by John James Audubon. The prints are outstanding. Seth was really excited by them. I was surprised that he would show as much interest as he did for as long as he did

Here is the print of ivory-billed woodpeckers that we saw.


To learn more about the exhibit click here.

Nationals Finish at .500

Well the end of the 2005 baseball season has arrived and Washington took us for an interesting ride. After holding on to first place for a while mid-season they slowed down and slid to an even 81 wins and 81 losses and last place in the NL east. Here is how things shaped up:

NL East	W	L	PCT
Atlanta	90	72	.556
Philadelphia	88	74	.543
Florida	83	79	.512
New York	83	79	.512
Washington	81	81	.500

Now I start waiting for spring training. Meanwhile the Redskins are 3 and 0. That's a good start.

Paint Branch Bike Ride

We Went for a little bike ride this morning along the Paint Branch trail. Paint Branch is a tributary of the Anacostia river.

Seth thought the bikes needed a safety inspection before we left.

Tires are ok..


Rack is tight..


Let's Go!

Tybee Island Light

Here are your intrepid travellers at Tybee Island Light. Later we climbed the tower and then had lunch at the North Beach Cafe. This photo was taken on 9/23/05

Lunch on Tybee Island

9/23/2005

Heading for the Weekend

Fridays are always good. For some reason they tend to be quieter than other days of the week, so I can usually catch up on stuff that has been ignored because of putting out fires elswhere.

Tomorrow Peggy arrives at BWI. We will pick her up in the afternoon.

Back in the Saddle Again

I am back to work after the vacation and getting settled into the rhythm of working. It's amazing how quickly I can get used to not being in the office.

Seth is really walking a lot more the last couple of days. He seems to be more confident and is going longer distances. It is fun to watch!

Hilton Head 3

Hilton Head 2

Hilton Head - Settled In

We arrived in Hilton Head late this afternoon after stopping at Santee NWR on the way down. They have quite a good dirving tour, which would be better during the waterfowl migration.

Jo Ellen and Wayne's place is very nice. They have got it fixed up well. Here are some pictures of our unit from the resort web site.

Click Here to see pictures

We had dinner at the Juniper Cafe. I had Chinese Chicken Saled and Debbie ahd Peppered Tuna. Both were good.

Hilton Head in Transit

We are in Fayettville, NC tonight on our way to Hilton Head. We had an easy drive to get here. Seth had about all of the driving he could handle for one day. We spent some time at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden this afternoon. It is pretty nice. We had a good little walk and Seth was glad to be out of the car.

Almost Ready

The bills are paid. Things are generally packed. I'm getting tired, so we must be almost ready to go.

Poaching Bandwidth - Again

I am waiting for my 9 am meeting and having a cup of coffee, so I decided to turn on my laptop and see if I could pick up a wireless network. I hit about 20. So, right now, I am posting this while sitting in a cafe at 17th and L Streets in DC.

I am really ready for a week off. We leave on Friday. If you don't count today, that means I only have one day left this week! Whoo-hoo!

Hilton Head and Ophelia

We will be leaving for Hilton Head on Friday so I decided to check on the status of Hurricane Ophelia to see if she will effect us. It looks like the storm won't be an issue except, possibly, for making a rainy drive on Friday.

Here is part of the National Weather Service report:

HURRICANE OPHELIA INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 24A
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
8 AM EDT MON SEP 12 2005

...OPHELIA NEARLY STATIONARY...
...OUTER RAINBANDS VERY NEAR THE COAST OF THE CAROLINAS...

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING AND A HURRICANE WATCH ARE IN EFFECT FOR
THE SOUTHEAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES FROM NORTH OF EDISTO BEACH
SOUTH CAROLINA NORTHEASTWARD TO CAPE LOOKOUT NORTH CAROLINA.

Here is a map showing Edisto beach to the Northeast and Hilton Head to the Southwest:


And this is a link to the projected storm track as of this morning:
Click here to see storm track

Happy Birthday to Beth

We had quite a good weekend. On Sturday we drove up to Hopewell NJ to surprise Beth for her Birthday. Joe went up as well. We wandered around Princeton in the afternoon, had dinner at the Inn of the Hawk in Lambertville and came home mid-day today.

Seth seemed to really enjoy everyone's company.

He is sound asleep now.

The House is Calm

I just put Seth to bed. Debbie has gone to the grocery store. And I am sitting on the couch with some classical music playing. The house is very calm. I used to have quiet evenings like this a lot. When Debbie was working, before Seth was born, I had at least two nights a week like this. That wasn't always easy, but it was nice to have the time.

Presenting - The New Teeth!

Here they are! Two little teeth. Ta-Da!

(for a closer look click the picture)

More changes for Seth

This morning I got my first clear view of Seth's two new teeth. Yep, that's right, two new teeth. The bottom ones in the front. Mom and Debbie could feel them over the weekend and I tried to get a look several times, but the boy wouldn't show them to me. This morning I noticed that he is aware that they are there too. He kept rubbing his tongue on them.

I'll try to get a picture of them. That will be a challenge.

Interesting Day

Today we resumed work on the Smithsonian inventory. It had been on hold for about 5 weeks so that the data entry folks could catch up with us. Once again I got to see some things that I did't expect, and didn't realize were there. Most of out time today was spent in what SI calls the Quad, which is almost entirely underground. It is behind the Smithsonian Castle and includes the Freer, Sackler, and African Art Museums, as well as the Castle itself. In addition there is a huge, and I mean huge, three story office building and conference center under the ground behind the Castle. I was shocked at how big the complex is. It must have been a huge hole.

We had lunch in the "Boiler Room" which is a cafeteria that has been built in the basement of the Castle in the original boiler room. It's a pretty typical lunch counter, but not someplace that your average tourist gets to see.

Seth Walks!

Seth has been taking a step here and there over the past few days. We finally got him to put several together in a row.

Click here for the video! It talkes a little while to download so be patient.

In other news, we went for a hike to day at Black Hill regional park in upper Montgomery county today. It was a beautiful day for a walk.

Flat Tire

On our way to Fairfax yesterday to visit the parents we heard a weird sound coming from the back of the car. After getting off of the highway we discovered a flat tire. Ok, no problem, just put the spare on, right? Right! Except that the key for the wheel lock was at home in the basement. Ugh!

So I called the parents and they came and rescued us. I changed the tire and went to get a new one. We ended up having a nice afternoon and evening at our house instead of Mom and Dad's. It was a pretty good recovery for a day that started out badly.

Now the key for the wheel locks is in the trunk where it belongs. Hopefully we won't need it again.

Lost in the Translation - 2

Ok, everyone got that?

Click the picture to enlarge.

Ready for a long weekend

I am ready for Labor Day weekend. This week hasn't been particularly hard, but there have been a lot of "squeaky wheel" issues. Sometimes they are more draining than the really important things.

I feel like I haven't really taken any time off in a while and I need a little break.

Heat Miser

I'm Mister Green Christmas
I'm Mister Sun
I'm Mister Heat Blister
I'm Mister Hundred and One
They call me Heat Miser,
What ever I touch
Starts to melt in my clutch
I'm too much!



Link to full lyrics

Cancelled Flight

My flight to Nashville has been cancelled. I guess I won't be going into the storm today.

Hurricane Katrina

Once again it appears that I am travelling into the path of a hurricane. I did this last year with hurricane Ivan on my trip to Asheville, and now I am headed to Nashville for hurricane Katrina. It looks like we will probably get soaked tomorrow. Hopefully Katrina will have slowed down some so that the aiport stays open and I can come home tomorrow evening.

Here is the projected storm track as of 4 am today.

All in all, a good weekend

We are just wrapping up a good weekend. Seth is busy finding things to do so that he doesn't have to go to bed. Debbie is folding laundry. I am not doing much. Tomorrow I go to Nashville in the afternoon and return Tuesday. Other than that, it looks like a normal week ahead.

Great Falls

I took the afternoon off today and we went for a walk at Great Falls. We walked out to the overlook to see the falls; the river was really low. On the way back Debbie spotted a black crowned night heron fishing, or looking for fish. It didn't seem to be seeing much. We also saw a great blue heron and several kinds of turtles.

Seth rode in the backpack and had a great time. He really likes to be outside.

black crowned night heron

The New Look - Once Again

As you can plainly see I have changed the blog template once again. Good Lord! Will it ever stop? I think this one is sort of Ralph Lauren-ish, or maybe Sophia Loren, or Lauren Hutton, or maybe even Lorne Green. We'll see how this goes for a while.

I'll probably keep working on it. Thoughts?

Poaching Add Space

Well, some smart-alecks have figured out a way to plop adds into people's blogs. They leave comments with links to their websites. That's not a problem if it links to another personal blog, but when it's an un-solicited un-paid for ad for a business, it's just like painting a sign on somebody's house without asking. I've had a couple pop up here, and I will delete any that appear in the future.

I'm happy to have comments from readers by the way. I'm just grousing about people trying to market their junk on other sites for free. If you want to advertise, pay me!

The Stove Has Arrived!

It's a Kenmore radiant range. That means it has a flat top with no coils. As you can see from the picture Debbie and Seth are very happy with it. Seth really liked the delivery truck the best though. I was home for lunch when it was delivered.

It makes good brownies! (Are there bad brownies?)

We're Getting a new Stove

Over the weekend we ordered a new stove. It will be delivered tomorrow. Tonight we are going to pull the old one out and clean under and behind it. That should be interesting! Debbie has been wanting a new stove for a while.

A family day

We spent the afternoon over at Mom and Dad's today. Things are good over there. Seth's teething seems to be a little better so he was pretty happy all day. After dinner we decided to go over to Ede and Ed's for a little visit. They haven't seen Seth very much, so it was good to go.

All in all we have had a very family weekend. Not exceptionally busy, but nice just the same.

Panda Cam

On August 2nd a baby Panda was born at the National Zoo in Washington. You can't see Mama and baby at the zoo yet, but can check out the Panda Cam. This is a live feed.

I also added a link to the panda cam over on the right side in the "Cool Stuff" Section. ---------->

New Vacuum Cleaner

Today we did something I've never done before. We bought a new vacuum! All of the ones we have had in the past were either second hand or belonged to Debbie when we got married.

Debbie was so excited she had to put it together right away.

Thanks to Ted for the Consumer Reports analysis. This one was a "Best Buy"

Unusual Activity Burst

I am not sure why this happened today, but I have had an unusual amount of traffic on the blog. Usually I get 4 or 5 visitors a day. The interesting thing is that it is not only a high number of page loads, but also a high number of unique visitors. Click the graph to enlarge it.

Drooling and Teething

Seth has begun drooling a lot, so I think he is trying to cut some teeth. Last night he didn't sleep very well, and consequently, neither did we. I suppose this is just the beginning. Of course this morning Seth was cheerful as usual. It was like he had slept all night. I don't know how he does that.

One Year of Blogging

I just realized that I have had this blog running for a year now. The original post was on August 6, 2004. I looked back at some of those original posts. My intention was just to capture my thoughts or moods at the time I was writing and I think I have succeeded in that. In fact, when I looked at the post for August 19th it reminded me how exciting it was to be expecting a baby. I suppose I will continue blogging for a while longer.

Quiet House

Debbie and Seth have been visiting Friends in PA the last couple of days. They are coming home tomorrow. Although it has been nice to have some completely free time, my house is too quiet. I am ready for them to be home.

The Boys

Dad sent me a picture of Will and Seth.

Interplanetary Internet

NASA sent another orbiter to Mars last week. It is going to work with the existing orbiters to collect data and transmit it home. It looks like they also have big plans for an interplanetary network.
Here is a breif article from Federal Computer Week
Mars orbiter takes broadband to space

Click here to go to the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter home page

Party Recap

Well, the party was a lot of fun. I went out sailing with Tom R right after we got there. We sailed out to the bay and then came back. Seth did well with everyone. He was completely worn out when we got home. Debbie had a good time too.

All in all it was a fun afternoon.

Mt St Helen's - Eruption Update

Mount St Helen's continues to erupt. It is extruding a new dome at a rate of several meters per day. Here is a cool time-lapse video that was made between July 31, 2005 and August 12, 2005. Click here to see the video It takes a little while to load, so be patient.

A Party Today

Today we are going to a party at my cousin's house in Annapolis. It should be fun. They have a very nice place on Mill Creek. There will be lots of people and food. Seth will even get to see some kids.

Quality Time

Seth is sleeping, Debbie is puttering, and I am playing with my new computer.

2003 UB313

It appears that there may be a tenth planet out there; way beyond Pluto. On Monday a couple of astronomers announced that they have found a Kuiper Belt object that is apparently 3 times as far away from the sun and larger than Pluto. There will be some discussion, of course, about whether it is a planet or not. Some folks don't think Pluto really qualifies.

Here is the BBC news article:
BBC NEWS - Astronomers detect '10th planet'

New Laptop

Well, I'm trying out my new laptop. My little Vaio was getting a little out of date, so I got a brand spanking new ThinkPad. It weighs less than 3 pounds! And it has a bigger diplay than my last one.

In Raleigh

I am in Raleigh today and tomorrow. Debbie and Seth rode along and are visiting with Jo Ellen in Durham this afternoon. I will go over there this evening and have dinner with them.

They were Yellow Jackets

Some dead guys on the window sill.

The Bee Hunter

Today I had to get rid of a bees nest under the eave of our house right outside our bedroom window. Sounds like a big deal doesn't it? Actually, all I did was climb up on the ladder and spray hornet and wasp killer into the hole that the bees were traveling in and out of. Four or Five hour later the bee traffic seems to have stopped. Rah!

Pitching and Defense

The Nationals have been on a losing trend for the last couple of weeks. I attribute this mostly to pitching and defense. I suppose an argument could be made that because many of the losses have been by one run, that a little offense wouldn't hurt either.

One encouraging sign is that John Patterson pitched 13 strikeouts in a complete game on Thursday night. If he can keep that up it will certainly help Washington's play-off hopes. Unless Atlanta slows down, a wildcard race with Houston is coming up.

The chef at work

Daylight Saving Time

As part of the energy bill approved last week, Congress included an extension of daylight saving time for four weeks. At first glance, it sounds like a good idea. Who doesn't like longer evenings.

However, there is a hidden problem here. Every PC in the country is programmed to automatically adjust for daylight time in the last weekend of October. That means that everyone's computer will be wrong twice. Once when the computer changes itself in October and has to be reset, and once when the computer doesn't change itself in November, and has to be reset again.

It looks like a lot of extra man hours for the IT staff of any business or federal agency. Did nobody point this out?

There are other issues as well. Here is an article from the Washington Post.
Some Parents Worry About Daylight Change

Monday, Monday

It's Monday again and I am back in the office. Actually this is only the second Monday that I have been here since the last week of June. Hmm, not bad! Now if I can just get it so I am out on Fridays as well!

My travel schedule is lightening up a little. This month I go to Raleigh on the 8th/9th and Nashville, TN on the 29th/30th for a national trade show.

Happy Thursday From Seth!

Back From New Jersey/New York

We had a great weekend in New Jersey. I played golf twice at Lawrenceville with Will and Lou, and Miniature golf once. Seth and Debbie had a great time as well. I don't think Beth was ready for us to come home today.

My two days of commuting into NYC was enough to convince me that I wouldn't want to do it every day. It wasn't difficult, but it took two hours, door to door, each way. That's too much time to spend every day.

On the other hand, the New Jersey Transit and New York Subway systems are efficient and easy to figure out. Both have good web sites and a little prep ahead of time made my trip fairly simple.

Smithsonian Inventory Continues

On Monday and Tuesday I have to be in New York to do some more work on the SI inventory. It looks like there is only a small amout of stuff there that we have to find so I expect no real problems.

Debbie and Seth and I are going to go to stay at Beth's house and I will ride into the city on the train. It will be good to visit the Youngs for a few days. We are going up there tomorrow.

Template Change

Well, I've decided to change the look of the blog once again. It probably won't be the last time. I wasn't happy with the previous version. So I've gone to something simple again. We'll try this for a while. Or at least until I change my mind. :-)

Seth is reorganizing his cupboard.

Lot's of room in here!

9 Month Doctor Visit

Seth had his 9 month doctor visit today. Everything is OK. He weighs 20 lbs 7 oz and is 28 inches long. He got two shots, hepatitis B and polio. Debbie said he only cried for one of them.

Good To Be Home

Well I am home from Panama and glad to be here. The trip was really good and I saw a lot of interesting things. I think the Barro Colorado hike was the high point of the trip.

Things at home are good. Peggy is having a good time with Seth. She is trying to teach him how to talk on the phone right now. I think she's got her work cut out for her.

Final Day in Panama

Today we will finish our work here at STRI. It has been a very interesting trip. Aside from the work, which has gone well, I have had the opportunity to see some interesting things. Nine days is a long time to spend in one city, but it really allowed me to get a sense of the way things are laid out and how they operate.

I feel like I have done what was resonable to do in the time we had. If I were to come to Panama again I think I would try to venture out into the interior a little more. Away from Panama City and the Canal Zone. However, considering that we had work to do, I have seen much more than I thought would be possible.

Now I am ready to go home.

Barro Colorado Island

Yesterday (7/13/05) I had the opportunity to hike across Barro Colorado island. As part of the inventory that we are taking we decided to visit the seven radio telemetry towers that are used to track animals on the island. After a 20 minute boat ride to the far side, we hiked through the rain forest for about 4 hours going from tower to tower and then ran out of time so we only got to 5 of the seven towers. We had to catch the return boat to Gamboa at 3:40.

It was an amazing trek. I am going to get a map from the person I was traveling with so that I can calculate the distance we hiked. It was very rugged, sometimes muddy, sometimes rocky, and always tricky. The climbs and descents were generally steep and slippery.

We saw some very cool animals:
Howler Monkeys
Capuchin (white face) monkeys
Agoutis
Coatimundi
Snakes
Lizards
Toads
spectacled owl
white tailed trogon
snail kite
puma (cougar) tracks - very cool!

I am really glad I did it and was really tired when it was over.

This is a cougar print that we saw in the middle of the trail on Barro Colorado. I enhanced the contrast in the center so you can see the track better.

Parque Natural Metropolitano

Today I went for a hike in the Parque Natural Metropolitano in Panama city. It is a great example of a tropical dry forest; about 655 acres worth. I hiked the El Roble, La Cienaguita, and Mono Titi trails. At the top of the hill, which is about 500 feet high, there are a couple of great views of the city and the entrance to the Panama Canal.

This is a Bat Falcon that I saw sitting on a concrete wall right along the path. He was about 5 feet away from me and waited to have his picture taken .


Immediately after I got back to the hotel a big thunderstorm came through and the rain poured down.

Sunday Morning Panama City

So far my trip to Panama has been at least as good, and in some cases better than I expected. The business portion of the trip has gone very smoothly. All of the people that we have worked with have been prepared for us. That has allowed us to get ahead of schedule and to free up a little extra touring time.

Of the past few days I have gotten a pretty good overview of Panama City. It is very lively and busy with a lot of traffic at rush hour. The driving is a little crazy: I am glad that I am not doing it. The city itself is a varied mix of very old and brand spanking new. Part of the city that we have to travel to for work is pretty rough with lots of run down buildings and apartments. The financial district, where our hotel is, is upscale and shiny.

Yesterday I went on a bird watching tour and had a great time. I was lucky to get an excellent guide who really new what he was doing and was very excited about finding birds. He enjoyed the trip as much as I did, I think. We identified 75 different species of birds in about six hours. Most of those species are new to me, so it was a really good day.

Today I have some more free time, so I am trying to figure out what I will do. Maybe go to the Metropolitain National Park here in the city.

Travelling to Panama

5:34 am - I am sitting at Dulles Airport waiting to board my flight to Miami for the first leg of the trip to Panama. Debbie dropped me off at about 4:30 or so. The line at the check-in counter was long,but there was no line for security. They are pre-boarding my flight now.

10:02 Waiting in Maimi. My flight leaves at 11:15. I got a little something to eat, called home and now I am typing this to fill a little time. I checked at the gate to see if I could change my return flight next Friday to avoid a 5 and a half hour layover here, but there are only two flights from Miami to Dulles and I am on the earlier one. There are also only two flights from Panama City to Miami and the later one gets in too late for the early flight to Dulles. Oh well.

Fourth of July Weekend

We spent the Fourth of July weekend in Pennsylvania visiting relatives, going to the Lucinda Church Picnic and genreally having fun. On Monday night we went to the Wolf's Corners horse pull. (more info about St Joseph's Church)

Mom and Dad rented a cabin near Cook Forest State Park. Joe and Maureen came up and stayed for the weekend as well.

A Good time was had by all.

Seth and Grandma at Seneca Point

The whole crew. Debbie, Seth, Joe, Maureen, Dad and Mom

The Family

Buddy and Big D pulling at the Wolf's Corners heavy weight horse pull. These guys weigh in at about a ton each.

Long Weekend

I am wrapping up a few things today before heading off to Pennsylvania for the July 4th weekend. Washington will be slow next week I expect that a lot of people will be out of town. Of course that won't make much difference to me because I will be in Panama starting on Wednesday. I am relaly of two minds about that trip. I am excited to go, but I don't want to leave Debbie and Seth.

Panama Plans

I have decided to hire a guide to visit Soberania National Park and go birding on the pipeline road. Apparently the bird watching there is supposed to be really good. I will have to pick up a field guide when I get there because my books don't have the right birds!

Today we did a little hike at Lake Needwood near Rockville. Our trail is marked in Red. We started near the Dam at the lower end of the lake and walked All the way around. Seth slept part of the way. He seems to be very comfortable in his new pack.

Seth and Mom after a fun journey!

Seth Sleeping, Dad Hiking

Seth Getting A Drink

Seth's First Blog Post

//M; OSKOBFFA4G

Immunizations

Ok, my immune system is about to go to war with itself for a few days. Boy, does that sound dramatic?

I got my travel innoculations for Panama today:

• Yellow Fever
• Hepatits A
• Typhoid
• Tetanus

Plus Loriam (mefloquine) to prevent malaria and a 14 day dose of Cipro for any odd cases of diarrhea or fever. The Cipro I won't take unless I need it. Hoo boy, it's fun to do business overseas!

Hairy Woodpecker

This morning Debbie spotted a Hairy Woodpecker on one of the maple trees in front of our house. We both got a good look at it. It's bill was clearly larger and heavier than the downey woodpeckers that we see regularly, which look similar but are smaller. This is the first time I have seen one of these around our house. I'm pretty sure it was a female because there was no visible red on it's head.



In our yard we have seen these woodpeckers:

Downey (most common)
Hairy
Red Bellied
Pileated
Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker
Norther Flicker