RDM

Agree - fact is fact. No doubt there. Likewise, opinions are opinions, with some more objectively supported by facts than others. It's all relative and at times we must feel free to respectfully challenge what is presented as fact, which may not be. Otherwise, we'd all still believe the earth is flat; as it was once a capital offense to challenge the mere concept. The variables in the science of weather is one of the reasons why I've had a lifelong fascination for this obsession we all love. One of my first memories is of my first snowfall in Ohio when I was just past my first birthday. All I knew at the time was I wanted more of it, and nearly 60 years later still do. The same appeal for this science applied when my father taught me to solder so I could assemble my first Heath-kit weather station while still in elementary school. And it worked! I was so proud when it measured 70+ mph wind gusts during the great blizzard of 78, and kept on operating for years thereafter. I'm a systems engineer by education (or curse) so the basis of fact and science is ever presence in the daily grind. With a career where facts stand on their own merit and are accepted, but validated, supporting objective opinions still apply as a matter of necessity. Combining the two can be a delicate balance of content, context and objectivity. In my world, when the balance is off, the risk calculus quickly becomes untenable with the potential for disastrous consequences difficult to contemplate. None the less, when debate over opinion arises; which is often, even passionate exchanges must remain respectful and civil, regardless of the topic, and whether it is fact or not. In time, the fact could be proven to be just a belief, based on other facts to the contrary.

Just finished reading the banter generated since yesterday. Wow... This is not directed towards anyone, nor any group on "either side of the aisle" - just an observation from a long time lurker, occasional contributor and voracious reader going back to the days of Eastern... The intolerance generated on both sides of the liberal/conservative debate is saddening. I wish there was some way for us to assume a little more noble intent and extend more tolerance to each other regardless of which side of the aisle we're entrenched. (a LOT more noble intent would go a very long way). In the days of Eastern and early days here it wasn't nearly so edgy, ever. On matters of opinion, everyone has the inherent option to share one's views - at least we do here in the USA. Doing so should be presented with respect and consideration that others may not share in the same view; and that it's ok to disagree. Again; it is ok to disagree, at least it should be, provided it is exercised respectfully on both sides. Any conversation without mutual respect is hardly a conversation worth having. We must be able to disagree if we ever have the chance to learn from one another. If everyone else were to think the same way any of think as individuals, what a sad state we'd be in. As I used to tell my subordinates, none of us ever learn anything when we're talking. Likewise, a key characteristic of a great leader is those who can actively seek out and respect opinions from others who think differently in order to obtain the best vantage point from which to make an informed decision. We live in the greatest country this world has every known. Most of us don't fully appreciate the freedoms living in the USA provides us; and take the same for granted. Unless you've lived in another country for extended periods of time where the same freedoms are only dreams; it's just not possible to comprehend how great we have it here. I've had the honor of serving our country in multiple other countries for extended periods throughout in my 35+ year career. This included traveling to countless different countries and remote destinations where many facets of our freedoms are not only a pipe dream, but exercising anything remotely resembling our level of freedom will get you incarcerated or worse. One of the things my wife and I were recently discussing is the heightened level of intolerance in the USA that's grown in recent years. We are and will remain hopeful the potential existed for the current situation with COVID to serve as unifying force for our country. COVID represents one of the greatest challenges in modern history for the USA and for the world. We must find the courage to put differences aside and muster the best possible response and it starts with respectful dialogue and debate. Without the underlying premise of respect; it's difficult to build anything constructive. The eternal optimist in me has not dulled the hope the potential is still there to rise above whatever may divide us to bring ourselves more together; not apart. Somehow, I hope we're able to exercise the same unifying potential here in this forum to look ahead, be a little more tolerant of one another and extend the noble intent everyone deserves. Sincerely to all.

Some years ago when living in Germany we hit a hawk with our Toyota Van at 105mph on A8 by Ulm, Germany. Saw it swooping down and couldn't do a thing about it. Wife and daughter were asleep and woke up with the impact, which sounded like a cannon. Hit the top center of our windshield, bounced up in the air and then hit the windshield of the car behind us square in the middle of their windshield. By some miracle it didn't even crack our windshield. Probably because it hit near the edge. It destroyed the windshield of the car behind us. One of those things you never want to experience again and will never forget.

Don't forget the tapestry of dogs playing poker. That's always a favorite road-side seller!

Had a nightmare experience with an old abandon underground fuel oil tank. When we bought our current home in 2009 there was no sign of an underground tank. Our home was built in 76 and nat gas was installed in 86. Had a switch in the bsmt labeled "Emergency Fuel Oil Shutoff" but it did not run to anything and there was NFI regarding the old tank, which we assumed was removed when Nat Gas was installed in 86. NFI that is until 2011 when we excavated for our new garage and found the abandoned tank in the back yard. Was a 550 gal tank nearly full of sand to keep it from surfacing from frost heave. The tank disintegrated as it was removed, which spilt the remaining fuel oil residue. Not good... The contractor was obligated by EPA regs to notify the FFCO Fire Marshal who then had to personally oversea the remainder of the excavation and soil abatement (the Fire Marshal could not delegate to a subordinate). $3500 later we received the all clear from the contaminated soil test facility in Richmond (there are only 2 on the entire east coast). There was absolutely no reference to the buried fuel oil tank when we purchased the house. Looked to see if we had any recourse, but it's likely the previous two owners didn't know too (we are the 4th owner). Was an expensive lesson that turned into a learning opportunity I hope to never apply in the future.

Yea, the Germans loved to see a good ole American pick-em-up truck cruising am der Autobahn around 100mph. (It will do 114, but takes about 3 weeks to stop!). Had a number of people just ask for a ride around the block. If was like their first ride in an automobile. Drove the Silverado to the German double-marathon inline championships (yea, an 84 km inline race) in 2004. Was in the middle of no place in a little dorf (village) called Prezelle in what was former E. Germany during my first tour in Germany. Took a dc/ac inverter and a TV so our inline team could watch one of the qualifying matches for the Welt-cup. We must of had 50 Germans standing around the back of the tailgate watching, but a good number just wanted to look under the hood. At half time they asked me to start it up (needed to recharge the battery anyway). The group cheer in unison made some others nearby think Germany had scored a goal. Will never forget it. As far as the pit for a lift... Actually thought about that, then thought again. FFCO is, well, ahem, not very flexible about stuff like that. Been looking at a mid-rise lift, but I'm getting too old to roll around on a creeper. Friend of mine races Spec-Miyata and has a mid-rise - he loves his mid-rise. I've also given thought to buying a portable roll around single post lift (pallet jack style). Poured an 8" garage apron just outside one of the garage doors as a precursor to getting one. Maybe some day.

Thanks for the comeback. It's great you still have it. Hats off for the upkeep! Looks to be in cherry shape. Those particular 3.8 blocks were just about bullet proof. I hear stories of people boosting the output to 700+ at the wheels. My buddy chipped his GNX, but never put it on the dyno. He and his friends at GM had access to GM's proving grounds and specialized software/hardware. The chip he used was not publicly available. That car was a blast to drive. It's no where near as bad ass, but I still have my 91 Silverado I bought new July of 91 after my first overseas assignment. Would love to have a newer truck, but can't force myself to part ways with it. (it doesn't even have remote door unlock - haha). Still original paint and matching numbers and less than 200K on the Odo. Only thing I've done is replace a leaky intake manifold, the starter and radiator. No rust at all on the body - been garage kept most it's life except when I took it back to Germany in the early 2000s. The Germans would stop me and ask if they could just look at the "monster" motor (only has a 350). When I would start it up they would get giddy at the sound and torque. Maybe some day I'll get a newer truck... dunno when. I'm nearly 60 and have owned only 7 vehicles in my life. Still have 5 of them now. All are in a heated and air conditioned garage. Guess that helps with the longevity. Wish I had clearance for a lift. Someday...

Is that a Buick GNX there on the lift? If so, that 3.8L turbo was one of the best sleepers ever. One of my best childhood friends went to school at GMI (when it was still a great engineering school). He had one of the first GNX's way back in the 80's. He worked on the Gen-1 ABS control algorithm in the Corvette. That car was a beast.

Zugzwang (great to hear from you again) and Mrs. J - thanks for more memories of the great one of 78. It was a truly epic event! Was 16 at the time and will never forget the roar outside when I woke up about 6am that morning as the winds gusted over 70mph. Doubt we ever see anything like that again. Things got dire when the shelves in the IGA in our little town went bare because they couldn't get food shipments in. The snowblowers from Wright Patterson AFB opened up the roads again after a week so we could get into and out of town. Mrs. J - Loved Cedar Point - The roller coaster capital of the world! Hats off wrt teaching your girls how to drive in the snow. When our daughter got her permit 7 years ago I took her to the business parks along the Dulles Toll Road for family driver's ed. Great place to practice on weekends because there's nobody there and lots of wide open empty parking lots. After she got the basics down we turned off the ABS and practiced skid recovery in the rain/wet and then again in the snow. I taught her some reverse J turns just in case she ever needs to get out of a jam (and some other maneuvers I won't mention here). We practiced stalled engine coasting and neutral restarts (get the feeling what it's like to lose power steering and brakes while moving) and braking using only the emergency brake - things they don't train in Drivers Ed anymore (darn it). Also taught her how to parallel park! She still doesn't know how to drive a stick because it's hard to find one these days and there's no 63 International Rambers around with 3 on the tree to learn in. haha

Indeed - flat as Kansas and nary a thing to stop the wind up there. I miss Ohio, left in 85. It's a good place to be from.

Radar returns indicating sn and possibly sn+ along Rt 601 along the western border of Loudoun Co. 41F here just NW of Vienna. Ahhhh just a few degrees cooler.

Well said. I lived in India for 3 years in the early/mid 90's. Imagine the USA with 3x our population in an area equal to the USA East of the Mississippi - that's India. Factoring in nearly 25% of India is sparsely populated desert and mountains, and the result is a population density 5X the USA. The population density in Bangladesh is 2.5X the density in India.

Where did you grow up? I grew up just North of Dayton. A little town of about 5000 people a couple miles from where Ohio really flattens out all the way to the border with MI. Can relate to your optic about that picture looking like NW Ohio. As outlined in the picture, it is really flat up that way.

Ended up with 1.60" for this round. Not bad. Will be interesting to see what comes through with the next round. Some building in SW VA... and western NC. NWS just issued a FFW for our area of FFCO. Lawyers road a couple hundred yards from our home is flooded - again. Happens several times a year in the 10+ years we've lived here. Had a white water rescue a few years ago that was nearly fatal. Tributary of Difficult Run floods any time we get rates at more than 1"/hr.

1.28" so far here just NW of Vienna.

No question there. The only confirmed cases are those based on testing, which is only being applied to a small fraction of the population in every country. However, even if we were to test the entire population of the planet at one moment in time, that would only be an objective indicator for that exact moment. People could still become infected in the following minutes, hours and days through proximity contamination or non-contact transmission w/o direct contact with other people. Widespread testing would provide more data for the experts to use in analyzing the projected spread and where to deploy resources. However, the data has dependencies and will continue to be subjective so long as the virus remains asymptomatic in people who are positive carriers and capable of infecting others w/o knowing it (and because they are asymptomatic are not tested). What helps make the data more useful and objective is where robust analysis is applied to determine where a positive carrier has been and potentially infected others (again, without potentially knowing it). It's resource intensive, but if applied aggressively data analytics can amplify the relevance of any testing. So I'm certainly not saying to not test. It's just important to keep testing in perspective while applying ample analysis to squeeze as much out of each positive test as possible. Have to guess, the resources are not available to apply analytics as much as desired in all cases. Learned a lot about COVID from our daughter who is working shifts at the INOVA COVID field test sites. We're proud of her for being a trooper and working on the front lines knowing she is coming in contact with carriers daily. However, all of the people they test are symptomatic in one form or another. They need a referral from their doctor to get an appointment to get tested. We have a mitigation plan here at home, but my wife and I are likely at risk too. So far we're fine but have self quarantined as a precaution. We've not left our property for over a month. Too bad those who are positive don't turn purple so that everyone will know they are purple, including the individual themselves. aka Willie Wonka - or potentially myself. If I'm a carrier I want to know.

What few herbs and veggies we grow must grown on our elevated deck. Otherwise, the deer, possum or groundhogs gobble it up in no time. The deer are a real nuisance around here, which is why FFCO routinely sponsors targeted culling. In our area of FFCO all residences are zoned R-1 with at least 1 acre because there's no public sewer and you need at least 1 acre to have a leach field in FFCO. That means in general it's low density housing with a lot of wooded areas in between developments, which promotes cover for the deer to flourish. For the unwary, driving in the area around Lawyers Road and Hunter Mill between Reston, Oakton and Vienna can be dangerous night and day due to the number of deer crossing the roads. The threat of a bad encounter is year-round.

Awesome garden. Whatever you plant is gone thrive in that setup. Any issues with the deer? The fence looks about 4 feet high. We live less than a mile from Vienna and are infested with deer. Can't grow hardly anything the vile vermin don't devour at their leisure. Have had as many as 13 bed down in our front yard.

I've found a couple of spots where the carpenter bees were nesting, but not IVO where the woodpeckers are doing their thing. The peckers must love cedar, although it is a relatively soft wood and easy to penetrate. The peckers that visit our place are typically on the small size. On occasion we have one of the big pileated woodpeckers stop by. When he shows up everyone in the neighborhood knows it. He was hammering away in the woods behind our house the last two evenings. One of his favorite logs is a hollow tree that resonates like a large kettle drum. You can hear him 300+ yards away. Quite majestic creatures, but when he hammers on our siding you'd think the house is falling down.

That's a pretty nifty bee trap. Them bees can indeed do a number on trim. Any ideas on how to keep the woodpeckers off the cedar trim on our house? We have a couple pesky woodpeckers who think our house is their daily buffet.

Really hope it works out for you and your family. The Dutch REALLY like Americans and they like to have a good time too. They've not forgotten what we did for them in WW-II. Had a number of experiences skiing in the Alps when Dutch would hear us Americans in the ski lines and would ask us if they could shake our hand and say thank you. This was in the late 80's and some of the experiences were very emotional. Bike touring around Holland is great. If you have a chance to ride some over there, go for it. During my first stint in Germany in the late 80's I spent a couple of weeks around Mastrict in the "mountains" of Holland taking day bike trips with a group of friends. I'm an inline racer too and during my second sting in Fkt I spent one week every spring in Sardinia inline training with some of the Dutch long track Olympic ice speed skaters. They train hard and are a lot of fun to be around. Always wanted to see one of the big bike races live. Managed to do a century (100 miles) on my high-wheel in 1990 when I lived in Germany the first time (took my 1886 Columbia over with me). Rode the century with a group of Wheelmen that came over for an antique bike rally in Lenk, Switzerland. We had races on a Swiss AF runway. I made it through quarter and semi final heats and gave it a shot in the finals. 3 laps on a 1.5km loop was a load of fun. We had a guy from CA we tried to lead out for the final sprint to beat some SOB from GB (he was our version of Mark Cavendish). When the guy from CA and the Brit passed me on the final straight peddling their high-wheels standing out of the seat at 35+ mph I knew I was in over my head. Managed to get 4th, which I was very happy with. The experience was priceless. What part I remember anyway. We drank ourselves under the table that night to celebrate.

Sincere condolences to you and your family... Regret this is likely going to touch us all in one way or another.

Sorry to hear about your trip. If you've never been to Keukenhof it is a must stop on anyone's itinerary. Never seen natural colors like that anywhere before or since. Will never forget it. Need to time it right to catch the blooms around their peek. Hope you make it next year.

Brings back fond memories of my maternal grandpa. He used to sit on his porch in a rocking chair and watch his front yard for the vermin. Had a dog that would help seek them out. When one was detected, grandpa would saunter out with his trusty pitch fork and do the needy. If it came out dry, denoting a miss, he'd thrust it in again (with help from his dog on where). When it came out wet, he'd smile with his cigar sticking out the side of his mouth and resume watch on the porch. BTW, he never smoked his cigars. He chewed them like chewing tobacco, but never spit! Half a cigar in the morning and the second half in the afternoon...

Good morning. You are very welcome. I've been using McMaster Carr professionally and at home for 35 years. Used them extensively when I lived and worked overseas because they would ship to an APO box. I easily ordered a few million $ worth of hardware from them over the years and they've been infinitely reliable and have excellent customer service reps who know their products very well (this is NOT a paid advertisement!!!). MC's lineup of stainless steel hardware covers about anything you'd ever want. Fine thread, course, grade 8, exotic aircraft hardware etc... I have a decent supply of SS hardware at home from 6-32 up through 5/16" dia. If/when I run out, a simple online order shows up in 2 days max. Given them a shot, don't think you'll be disappointed. If you make a sufficiently large order, ask them for a catalog or two. They are loath to offer one, but I'm old school and like to have a catalog. Their catalog is like a Grainger catalog on steroids and MC lists prices for everything. Can't say enough good about them...