There is an air of desperation in the Nation’s capital, and it has nothing to do with the thick gray skies and the persistent chill rain and the stubborn refusal of the temperature to climb out of the fifties. The miasma of charge and counter-charge is so thick that it is palpable, and I think […]

(The NATO logo and the flags of its member states.) So, this awful month is finally coming to an end. There were record low temperatures this morning, the major airports in the 20s under partly cloudy skies. They tell us the winds will back around to the south, and the gentle breezes will bring the […]

(ADM Bobby Ray Inman, USN. Naval Intelligence legend, he was the first intelligence specialist to ever make four stars. His national career went from Director of Naval Intelligence, to Director of the National Security Agency, and retired as an Admiral as Deputy DCI on my birthday in 1982. Photo CIA). OK- black ice out there […]

    (Jon-without is surprised by new technology. Vic indicates “thumbs up.” Photo by Jamie.) All righty, then. The month that comes in like a lion refuses to turn into a lamb and continues to growl at us. At the moment there is a blizzard in progress outside the window of the unit at Big […]

It was raw and gray and chill yesterday, snow in the forecast for this week, so a good day to light a fire, put on the basketball madness in the background and churn through the yellow trays of 35mm slides. The pictures project has gone in fits and spurts. Dad- Raven in his later years- […]

It was nice yesterday down at the farm, and the reality of people working to get things done: Andrew, the proprietor of Croftburn Farms and a glass of wine while picking out the local food on which I subsist down here, Junior the pert high school senior with the dreams of college swirling- why she […]

Q: What is the Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag? A. (1775): A banner designed by Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden, using colonial rattlesnake imagery popularized by Benjamin Franklin, that accompanied the first-ever mission of the nascent U.S. Navy. A. (2009): According to law enforcement officials “the most common symbol displayed by militia members and organizations,” […]

They tried their best to get me going this morning. Slow news day- no update on the possible aircraft wreckage in the southern Indian Ocean. Russia is consolidating its annexation of the Crimea, and there doesn’t appear to be a darned thing that will be done about it. Don’t get me started on Venezuela- thankfully […]

    Spring arrives here on the East Coast at 12:57 today. I may still be on the wrong side of the Anacostia River, but I am confident that this will signify the official end of this awful winter. It was something to hope for through this last storm. I have a pal back in […]

I was sitting in the Bluesmobile, looking up the slight rise from the barn to the circular drive next to the fence around the farmhouse. “I am a Michigan-trained driver,” I said. “Why did you do this to yourself?” I had been driving around the property to put tire tracks in the pristine snow to […]