Why I ♥ Maryland

[dawn_felagund]

On Wednesday, it was a beautiful sunny day like summer. It was nearly 90F/32C and I spent the afternoon strolling around in short shorts and a T-shirt, training Alex outside.

Thursday, it was a mere 80F/26C when I went out for lunch around noon, still gorgeous and sunny ... a perfect day.

Thursday, four hours later, I came out from work and the temperature had edged down to 50F/10C and it was cloudy and windy. WTF??

This morning, Friday, I woke up and it was 35F/2C and was raining. It was miserable.

And the moment, there are about 2 inches/5 cm of snow and ice on the ground.

So, in two days, we went from summer weather to ice and snow again. How I ♥ Maryland and its crazy-ass weather!

And next week, it is supposed to be like summer again.

But, in a strange turn of events, we now have reason to be consoled for having to cancel our Bermuda trip. We were supposed to fly from Baltimore to Boston to Bermuda last night. Well, if the trip had gone as scheduled, we would be stranded in Boston right now. The flight we were supposed to take to Bermuda was canceled, so we wouldn't have ended up in Bermuda anyway. I'd much rather have expected to lose the trip than to get my hopes up and end up stranded in a strange airport in the middle of a nor'easter.

On a completely unrelated note, yesterday was Alex's six-month birthday, and I got a funny and somewhat painful reminder that he is no longer the little guy we picked up at nine weeks of age. Every morning, my and Alex's routine is as such: I give him some food (which he never eats) and change his water. I set up his baby gate in the kitchen. The baby gate comes to about my waist. I get some treats and Alex jumps onto the futon so that it is easier for me to pick him up. I lift him up, lean over the baby gate, and plunk him on the other side. Then he gets the treats, and I leave for work.

Well, yesterday, all went as usual, up to the point where I (theoretically) set Alex on the other side of the gate. He's so heavy now and the gate so high that, leaning over to place him on the other side, the weight of the top half of my body + Alex caused me to topple over the gate with him. Luckily, the gate fell over with us, so all I ended up with was a scraped up and slightly bruised knee ... and wounded pride! Bobby and Johnny the Boss, when I told them about it, thought that it was hilarious, however. Alex thought that it was quite exciting that Mommy decided to join him in his room prior to leaving for work.

Speaking of Alex, he just farted, and it smells like rotten melons. Gross. It smells so bad that he got up and moved and left me with the stink. Thanks, Alex.

Comments

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

*grins* This is why I stick to bumblebees. They do the cute puppy things of carrying stuff around in their mouths, digging, chewing everything, and randomly peeing all over the place. But they're also less than an inch long and easier to mop up, and a lot lighter! Hehe! :D

I'm guessing Alex still has plenty of growing still to do? Eep!

Our weather is currently nearly as bad - it's been sunny and warm for spring all week (15C as opposed to your 26C, however, but I'll happily take that) and we're due for snow showers on Monday. The poor flowers will be dreadfully confused!

[dawn_felagund]

I thought of you on Thursday because I ran down to the mailbox at work, and there was a bumblebee on the front steps. I knelt down to touch it, but it was dead. :(

That made me sad. Bumblebees are a lot of fun.

And yes, Alex will still grow quite a bit more! He won't get too much taller, but he should gain about 30 lb more before he's fully grown. I've given up on lifting him over the baby gate!

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

Bleh--I'm surprised that animal farts aren't considered WMD's yet!

And I'm jealous that you got 80 and 90 degree weather! It was about 60 here (65 tops). And now we're being buried in sleet. Yay, northeast. *waits impatiently for summer to get here*

[dawn_felagund]

I'm waiting right beside you ... here's a nice icon of sunny, beautiful southern Puerto Rico for both of us.

*happy sigh*

But then I looked outside and there is snow everywhere. Boo.

And animal farts ... yes! We can't let the terrorists figure out the formula! We'd all be doomed. :^D

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

You know, since you hate cold so much, you should move down here. *nudge nudge* ;)

You know, you should try herding the dog into the kitchen, and then securing the gate. Or else you'll end up killing your back or shoulder or hip and end up laying on the couch for four days. Honestly, darling. ;P

[dawn_felagund]

You know, since you hate cold so much, you should move down here. *nudge nudge*

Well ...

Actually ...

Bobby and I have talked about moving south, if he could get a position at another CBP office. And this looks like a good possibility. And ... Texas is one of the places on our list.

\O/

Also, I will be luring Alex into the kitchen and then putting up the gate. My mother-in-law has been doing it that way for months now with great success, but you know me. Big, tough Dawn, lifting her massive dog over the gate each morning. :^D

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

Heeeeey...it's a good place to live!! ;) I can even point out all the good Mexican food places!

You could also teach Alex some word meaning "go in the kitchen". I also recommend "get out of the kitchen!!" for when Alex tries to help you cook/make candy/etc. ;)

[rinnor.livejournal.com]

Did you ever get your passport? Not that it matters too much since you postponed your trip. I keep seeing stories on the news that processing is taking twice as long as normal and everything is backed up.

[dawn_felagund]

Yes, we canceled the trip on Friday and got the passports the next Wednesday. According to Hubs, they're telling people up to four weeks for expedited; for the record, it took five for ours.

Yet my parents were at the post office the other day and the people in line in front of them were there for passports, and the PO officials were still telling them two weeks for expedited. My parents warned them that it would probably take longer and told them what had happened to us. The people's trip was only three weeks away; they'd never get the passports in time.

To me, that's just irresponsible to tell people two weeks when the guv'ment knows it will be longer. At least if they tell them now, they'll have time to cancel the trip and get at least a partial refund.

[nienna-weeper.livejournal.com]

Weather. March 1st it snowed. Today it was 70F and the flowers are blooming. Can we say Global Warming?

Once I babysat a boxer named Chelsie. Chelsie slept on the bed with me. She snored like a chainsaw. And the farts? O.M.G. Worse than my hub after he eats bean soup.

[dawn_felagund]

Glo-bar ...

Okay, let me try again.

Glo-bal War-mer ...

Nah, that wasn't it either.

Glo-ball-ing War-ring ...

Eh. No, we can't say global warming. Because that would piss off the oil companies and the religious fundamentalists, who think we're all going to be sucked up by the rapture in a few weeks anyway. (Well, I doubt that I'm on that list ... >;^D) And we can't have that!

;)

Noticeable weather quirks aside, when the ice shelf detached in Canada? That was all the proof that I needed.

On dog farts ... LMAO!!! My aunt used to have a Mastiff. The dog was huge and when she farted, it could literally clear the room.

For some reason, Golden Retriever farts smell like rotting melons. Honestly, I gag at the though of cantaloupe!

[angelica-ramses.livejournal.com]

What's the rapture? (I get the picture on oil companies and religious fundamentalists. We don't have too many of those here but we have our own crop of ... well, let's say , nasty people. Global warming is taken for granted. We see the consequences all around)

[dawn_felagund]

I'm not evangelical (or even Christian!) but I understand the rapture to be the belief that all Christians will simultaneously be transported to heaven to be with Jesus Christ. There is a Wikipedia article that might explain it better! But sinners/non-Christians get left behind on Earth, according to this belief; there is even a popular book series in the U.S. called Left Behind that follows this very idea.

But because certain very conservative Christian factions in the U.S. believe that the rapture could come at any day now, they tend to base their political choices on the notion that they could be sucked up into the clouds at any moment. Global warming (or any conservation issue) isn't a concern for them because, in a few years, they believe that they'll be sitting in Heaven. So why not exploit the Earth to the greatest extent possible?

So these people make it their business to fervently deny global warming as much as possible. After all, until the rapture comes, they want to enjoy their giant SUVs as much as possible!

[angelica-ramses.livejournal.com]

I guess there will be a whole lot of us left behind.
As I said, we have our own variety of weirdos but these would win any contest hands down. My God! (just to continue with the religious imagery). The problem is that they seem to have a big say on the way things are run in your country (and hence in the rest of the world).

[trekqueen.livejournal.com]

eeeeeeeeeeew puppy farts are soooo nasty! *hugs* Happy Bday to Alex! :D he's such a cutie!

[dawn_felagund]

Alex just came over, yawned, and made a squeaking sound. I think that meant "Thank you!" :^D

[noliel.livejournal.com]

Hee hee. The weather is very confused here (i.e. Canada) as well- four days ago, it was 15C, couple days ago, it dropped to -11C and it snowed again, and now it's 1C. >.> But no summery weather yet. :(

And the Bermuda trip thing...wow! Talk about silver lining...

Haha, Happy Half-Birthday to Alex! (when I was little, my family used to celebrate my Half-Birthday ^^ Ah, the perks of being the youngest!)

[dawn_felagund]

Alex thanks you! For his half-birthday this weekend, he got a bath, his teeth brushed, and his ears cleaned, and tomorrow, he goes to the vet. Happy birthday, indeed!

Bobby just read to me to that people are still stranded at the Boston airport and so not being able to go to Bermuda really was the best thing that could have happened. How often do you hear a person say that ... and mean it? :^D

I would also like to note that it took me five minutes to write this itty-bitty comment because Alex came over halfway through with his stuffed octopus and wanted to play The Kracken Game. During The Kracken Game, Alex holds one of the Kracken's tentacles and I say, "Iiiiitttt's ttthhheee KrackentheKrackentheKrackentheKrackentheKrackentheKrackentheKrackentheKrackentheKracken!" while waving the swatting him in the head with the remaining tentacles. He just stands and takes it; in fact, he really enjoys this particular game. I have a weird dog. :^D