RDM

Looks scrumptious Mrs. J. My wife is Asian-born and makes all kinds of curry. She has curry from Japan, Thailand and India. It's so darn good I always overindulge. What you have there looks like some of the curry my cook in India used to make. He had about 20 kinds of curry powder in my kitchen. Ranged from medium to beyond hot. He used to get a read on how I was feeling before cooking to get the spicy right. India has the best carrots in the world too (they are red, not orange), which go great with all curry. Same thing when we lived in Thailand. Our cook had all kinds of curry powder. They have various kinds of green, red, yellow, brown and orange curry - and some of it will light you on fire. What you have there in the picture just looks fantastic.

Wow - already up to 76 here with 68dp.

Don't recall ever seeing anything like this in May. There's a lot of navy blue there... Interesting that the border of NY and PA is not under a warning too... https://www.weather.gov

That's sad Mappy. So close, but so far away. Looked at the fiber coverage map and there's a sharp cutoff up towards the M-D IVO Parr's Ridge. Similar situation my brother had near my home in semi-rural Ohio just north of Dayton. He lives just outside ATT DSL coverage (less than a mile). Was on DISH for years with very slow data rates. With no sign of fiber coming anytime soon folks in his area generated a unified campaign and lobbied for better service. After a couple years ATT deployed a cellular upgrade that now provides the option to go with a fixed cellular AP option. Provides Mbps speeds to fixed APs which is light years ahead of what he had with DISH. Those fixed cellular options for semi-HSI can be setup fairly quickly if pushed. Surprised MD doesn't push for the same in under served areas. Not sure we could ever live without fiber again. Just checked our FIOS speed and we're at 82/79Mbps (down/up).

Oh my, really? One would have thought the school districts would have raised this up the chain. With a coordinated response the technology exists to tactically establish hotspots and the associated linkages to major trunks quickly. The large providers and elements of the USG have those capabilities. Hopefully this will be part of the lessons learned that are documented and improved upon for the next time. (perhaps wishful thinking on the latter) Didn't realize parts of BaltCo are not yet connected. The Dulles Corridor is singularly THE most connected data spot on Earth, yet our fellow citizens so close by have no Internet at all? Sad.

Hey - hat head hurts too! In 9th grade two of us needed the 1 XL helmet in the inventory. (my hat size is around 9.5) We flipped for it and I lost. (no joking, that's how we decided). Had to wear a mere large that crushed my skull when I pulled it down to normal position. Couldn't stand it more than a couple mins. Most of the time the bottom of the face mask was around my nose. It looked every bit as goofy as it sounds. Never been able to wear normal baseball hats. Looks like a beanie cap up top.

It has happened, albeit I'm referring to the infamous year without summer in 1816, and this ain't 1816. None the less, snow is snow, no matter when it falls and if we do get anything this weekend, even snow TV, we'll all be jumping for joy. We need something to release the tension in the COVID and Banter forums. There's a limit to what yeast, malt, barley and hops can do alone.

Nice job on the deck. Just a thought... Our deck is about 900 sq feet and the annual power washing is quite a chore even with a 3000 psi gas powered pressure washer with extension hose. For years I just used a wand with adjustable nozzle. Slow and tedious at best and when adjusted to a fan spray pattern the pressure is not equal throughout the pattern. The result is stripes on the deck boards that look fugly. Bought a power broom attachment and tried that, but the 3 nozzles dilute the pressure just a bit too much. (looks like this - https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200747603_200747603 ) Because of the reduced pressure on each nozzle, ended up having to slow down and/or do repeated passes to get the boards clean, which takes too much time. Three years ago we bought the ideal power washer accessory everyone with a deck should have. Is called a Rotating Surface Cleaner attachment. There's various sizes and designs. Ours looks something like this - https://www.homedepot.com/p/MTD-Genuine-Factory-Parts-15-in-4200-PSI-MAX-Quick-Connect-Rotating-Surface-Cleaner-for-Gas-Pressure-Washers-490-245-V003/310449923 It really works well. With two nozzles that rotate around inside the housing, the pressure is diluted, but not too much like with the power broom. The nozzles rotate around very fast under the housing and really do a great job. It cuts down the time needed to do our deck boards by at least half. Still have to use the adjustable wand on the railings, which is tedious at best. If you and/or anyone else does not have a rotating surface cleaner, highly recommend one. They are well worth the expense in saved time and energy. Much easier to move around than a power wand because it rests directly on the boards. The consistent distance between the nozzles and the deck boards also provides much more consistent results than a wand. Good luck.

In 20 plus years here and on Eastern before we've all seen a lot of things. There's some thin lines on certain topics that are subjective in content and context, such as what is construed as politics or not, with a focused effort on avoiding the same. The one thing that's never been a problem before nor tolerated is racist comments. You've crossed a very clear line here now twice with the mere innuendo. Does not matter if you are a red tag or some other perceived elevated title in the hierarchy, your comments, whoever you are, have no place here.

What does race have to do with anything? Ignorance does not know race or gender and the profound lack of civility and objectivity being displayed here today is sad. Don't need to throw kerosene on a bonfire.

Yep - and for some the protection comes in the form of one of those nice white jackets with no sleeves. They come in any color you want as long as you like white. After they put one on the protected, they put em in a round room with padded walls and tell them to stand in the corner. Keeps em occupied for a while...

That poster has significant issues. You did well by not trying to address any of them. Less is more with some...

Concur. A pandemic is also not like the Mississippi and its levies, not even remotely so. The science behind the mitigation strategies are going to save an untold number of lives, if we have the patience as a society to sustain the same. Had we done nothing and just "let nature take its course" the results would have been cataclysmic. Remain concerned that many areas are prematurely pulling the plug, but I'm also empathetic to those who are in a dire state financially.

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.

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.

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

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...

Just a thought... A potential alternative to normal chicken wire would be something stainless. Here's an option you may find interesting. https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/126/2045 Middle left of the page. For about $200 you'd have a 304 stainless steel mole proof foundation that would never rust. If you've dealt with McMaster Carr before, they are great. Excellent online catalog and fast service. I buy all my stainless hardware there for less than what you can get zinc plate at Home Depot.

Been wondering the same thing. Many of the recent events since early Dec that went N of us did so in a way we were 2-300 miles from the action. (which is a world away, I know). Realize from I-81 N and W there's another entire climate at play, especially from mid-PA N in latitude. But in some cases one could see if the setup of the ridges and troughs over the Pac and CONUS was shifted some we could be closer to at least in the game (assuming also the WAR stays out of play). Perhaps wishful thinking here, but the boundary has often been in eastern Ohio diagonally down through western KY and SRN MO. My relatives in SW Ohio have already had multiple 4"+ events, which is a bit rare for them this early.

Fantastic Bob - no doubt you are doing a lot of things the right way beyond being part of the foundation here. That's great. Can only imagine how proud your son is going to be too. Real life learning opportunities like this are too infrequent these days...