vastateofmind

Totally understand, I grew up in one of those households, too -- and also vowed that my wife and I would not live like that, and we never have. Like your daughter, I took a couple HS classes in psych and loved it. Was never smart enough to major in it (and to boot, wasn't sure what I'd do with that major), but took a psych class every semester of my undergrad years and loved them all. (Well, most all -- I nearly failed abormal psych!) I ended up with a psych minor that, honestly, provided a skillset that served me well in the various forms of marketing, PR, communications type stuff I did over the years. I'm sure your daughter would, too. Hope you're enjoying those continued college investigations with her.

With you 100% there -- we didn't sustain any damage in the March 2018 wind event but neighbors all around us did (as evidenced below). We generally follow the same rule...but I've got a 100' plus tall oak in the corner of the backyard that, if it fell, would likely do so into my neighbor's yard, but still. Pics of two different neighbors' situations in the aftermath of the March 2018 event. The right side second floor of the beige house was nearly bisected by the pine tree, which snapped off about six feet up the trunk. The white house avoided major damage to two cars in the driveway when their carport caught the weight/brunt of that fallen pine.

You're a great mom to help her screen that kind of stuff. I'm sure she'd like Evil Genius, with the usual "mature content" caveats -- as with most of these situations, there were wronged lovers, a bit of prostitution, and, ummm...a body stuffed in a freezer. Not to mention the semi-graphic news footage of the poor Pizza Bomber. You just can't make this stuff up. Absolutely -- The Keepers was SO well done, and I loved seeing/learning more about the Baltimore city/county areas, though not necessarily under those circumstances. Thx for the HBO recommendations -- we did watch the Adnan Syed doc (after I listened to the first season of Serial podcast), and both were excellent. You also just reminded me -- we watched an outstanding docu last year about Aaron Hernandez and the legal troubles leading up to his death...I think it was on Netflix? EDIT: Even after all of the media saturation....I'm still not quite convinced that Adnan Syed killed Hae Min Lee.

I like your maps better than DTs....

Made a recommendation last week for "Nomadland" starring Frances McDormand just released on Hulu...stand by that, best flick I've seen in many years. My wife and I then switched back over to Netflix the past several days to start cleaning out our watchlists there and started a several- years-old documentary called "Evil Genius," about the 2003 "Pizza Bomber" bank heist in Erie, PA. Very compelling. Only four episodes long, but don't miss it if you like the true crime genre -- conspirators highlighted in the series definitely fit the title. BTW, best documentary I ever saw on any of the streamers was "The Keepers" on Netflix, about the late 1960s disappearance/murder of Sister Cathy in Catonsville, MD.

That surprises the hell out of me...you of all wx fans on here would've LOVED seeing/hearing it!

This is really interesting...and obviously enough to catch your attention. Did the turf look like it was boiling all of a sudden? Being totally serious, as I've never actually SEEN the cicadas emerge from the ground during the 2-3 times there have been mass brood emergences in my lifetime.

OMG, we took the dog on a 4-mile walk late yesterday afternoon...it was glorious weather. Gonna do a repeat this afternoon though it may be a tad cooler (maybe, maybe not...we busted high here yesterday).

We annually lease our share in the neighborhood pool these days, but I do know they did the Sign-Up Genius approach to offer pool attendance in blocks last summer, with mixed results. Lots of complaints, obviously. I felt the worst for the NVSL summer swim/dive teams -- that was such a great source of fun, camaraderie and excess-energy burning for our two sons for well over 15 years. Never served on our pool board (and to your point -- THANK GOD), but my wife and I each held down at least once all of the major roles/positions for the NVSL summer swim team (except refereeing)...and that was bad enough. My wife served as a team rep for a few seasons, which next to being a pool board member, is probably one of the most thankless and soul-crushing volunteer jobs someone can take on. My favorite was serving as S&T judge...best seat in the house, and that's how I used to recruit others to it.

Got to a low of 41 overnight...currently 44 and clear. The windchimes out back are already starting their dance for the day..

Best time to go to the beach, at least on East Coast. My wife and I went to OBX for years, pre-kids, during the 3rd week of September...when the seasonal rates dropped, businesses/restaurants were still open, and the wx was still perfect down there.

Oh, man, now that does suck. I've heard of this happening with FiOS -- folks just missing the cutoff by a block -- although in our subdivision of 700+ homes, I don't believe the "newer" half (built with underground utilities) got access to FiOS until a year or so after the "older" half where I live...and which has above-ground utility poles/wires. Didn't make sense to me. Congrats to you! Forgot you mentioned a local move last week, I usually see your pics of western MD and think of you there first. And sorry you can't get FiOS in Alexandria...that seems like an odd omission so close to the District, but if I recall, Verizon has cut back on expanding optical fiber infrastructure in recent years. It's a shame they can't figure out a way to take the FiOS show on the road nationally...they're the only internet provider that's provided me the download/upload speeds that I actually pay for.

Sorry, that's a PITA. If you're able to consider other options, do you have access to Verizon FiOS at your address? I know lots of folks hate Verizon, too, but I can tell you in over 15 years of having FiOS, I can count on three fingers the amount of times we ever lost internet, TV or our landline (or any combination of them).

That sounds great -- post a pic later if you can. I'm trying a new marinade for pork loin on the grill tonight -- we were going to have pasta, and then I thought, WTH, I'm not going to waste great late-winter grilling weather this afternoon/evening.

65 with a cloudless sky.. #WhatADay

While the huge snowstorms from a decade ago and the March 2018 severe wind event here in NoVA have ranked near the top of weather events for the three decades I've been in NoVA, the hands-down winner for most extreme weather I experienced here was the June 2012 derecho. That was the first time I heard the wind approach like a freight train and push a huge cloud of dust/debris out ahead, and the first time I saw mature 60-70 foot mature trees bend at 45 degrees (or more) when the line first struck. We lost power about two minutes into the worst conditions...and the power stayed off for the next week. We never before, nor never again lost power for that long...and of course, it was sweltering leading into the July holiday the following week. It was a great experience, though.

Thank you -- I got the reaction I was fishing for.

Currently 28, light frost. With today's forecasted high of 64, the last few sad, small sleet piles that remain in the shadows will be toast.

Yes, but -- when will LWX issue the cicada watches/warnings??

High of 59 this afternoon. Nice day, wind didn't seem as bad as what the advisory called for in these parts.

Three berry varieties. Hazelnuts. Smoothie-ness. I'm trying to reconcile those three inside one beer can and just can't imagine it. I'll bet it's interesting though...

To your earlier point, and as evidenced in the videos you just shared -- whether crawling or flying, these cicadas are some of the clumsiest insects I've ever encountered.

Those are two great videos that @Hank Scorpio shared, @SomeguyfromTakomaPark -- during this brood's last emergence, I worked at Fort Belvoir where there's wide swaths of mature trees and the thing I remember most about the experience is that underlying, alien trilling sound. At the height of emergence, yes, it was loud -- but I found the noise of the 17-year cicadas was far less grating and almost soothing...as opposed to annual cicadas which can instantly ruin any relaxing downtime in your backyard with their ear-splitting racket in the July-September timeframe. Oh, and if you or your kids are squeamish about molten cicada skins all over the ground, sticking off of trees and buildings, etc., well...you might not like that part of the drill. I kept finding discarded cicada "husks" months after the last emergence. Finally if you have a dog, we found that ours liked to binge on the 17-year cicadas...to the point where he'd eat TOO many, and then we'd occasionally find gelatinous piles of half-digested cicadas in the backyard. Forewarned is forearmed.

55, variable sun/clouds, winds starting to pick up a bit. Not gonna lie...feels good in the sun.

Looks like Canada just upended the cold pitcher to funnel down between the Rockies and the Appalachians on that map. I'm still surprised that deep winter conditions reached that far into TX.