THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Its Slurpee Season

Cleaning up today I noticed there were two emply Slurpee containers in one of our waste baskets. Then later in the day I saw G with another one.

"What's the deal with this?" M asked.

"Its Slurpee Season." G responded.

Well he has been doing a lot this week with Ann out and since he doesn't drink alcohol, I guess it will be OK.

The Deer Strike Back

Sometime during the end of last week something, I presume a deer, ate all the tomatoes and the tomato flowers off my back yard tomato plant.

For good measure it ate the buds off my lilies also.

This required the creature to move the poultry wire that was protecting the plant which it did.

Housing Code Inspector Visits the Weiss House

When a representative of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs visited I wasn't here but G was. Evidently, one of my neighbors doesn't like the hydrological changes I've made in the past year or so. He evidently called the county and complained. These changes were prompted by a major flood we experienced in late June 2006. The problem is that there is a hill to the northeast of my property (a house is at the top of that hill) and the torrential rain flows down the hill and floods my property. The hydrological changes (some channeling using naturalized trenching) delay the discharge slightly and move the flow of water from my neighbor's yards away from my house (toward the middle of the back yard, around the perimeter of the pachysandra patch and then near the base of the black walnut trees that lie between my house and my neighbor to the west. The delayed discharge slightly increases the time when standing water lies within my complaining neighbor's property near the boundary between his property and my property. That is, it's at the outer perimeter of his property and only exists for a few hours after a heavy rain (up to 30 to 40 hours if the ground is already saturated).

I spoke to the inspector from the Department. It turns out that the neighbor did have one valid claim; that is that part of my fence was broken. I removed the broken section (the fence issue has nothing to do with the drainage but, as I understand it, the neighbor said it did and perhaps it prompted his complaint).

With respect to the drainage, I don't think the county enforces anything. The State does recognize that there is no 'right' to change the natural flow (G points out that he can't find any permitting exception although it seems to me there must be because every construction project does that) but given that this is a minimal change, I doubt any rational court would side with my neighbor.

I did, however, alter the drainage again to return it to the hydrological status quo ante. I'll call the inspector in a few days.

Yes I was Asleep When the Winning Run Scored

It was about 2am on July 16 when Michael Young's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 15th inning scored Justin Morneau (both play for Minnesota, Morneau is sliding in the image with Altlanta's Brian McCann attempting to tag him) with the winning run in the AL's 4-3 victory at Yankee Stadium. I had fallen asleep in the 14th inning, woke up in the top of the 15th but fell asleep in the bottom of the 15th with two out. The game began about 9 pm on July 15 (it lastest 4 hours 50 minutes).

Each team used 20 non-pitchers. The NL used 11 pitchers, the AL used 12 pitchers (both teams were on their last pitcher by the end of the game). The 63 players used sets a new record. The two teams had 27 hits between them and left a total of 28 on base.

Some other footnotes: Morneau had won the home run derby the day before the all star game. Also, back in 1967, the NL won a full 15 inning all star game (the AL batted in the bottom of the 15th). However that game (the NL won 2-1 with neither team scoring from the 7th inning through the 14th inning and there were only 17 hits total - that game is not even the 2nd longest in time) was played in under 4 hours. The AL won their first extra inning game (they were 0-9-1). The NL hasn't won an all star game since 1996 (the 2002 all star game ended in an 11 inning tie 7-7). Notwithstanding this recent losing streak the NL leads the AL 41-36-2.

USDOT Wins Battle of the Cafeteria

The USDOT HQ moved to its current location beginning in Jan of 2007. Sometime in the summer 2007 (I didn't find out until late July - see my July 26, 2007 entry), the Commandant of the Navy Yard was annoyed that Navy personnel were not allowed to use the USDOT cafeteria without being admitted through a USDOT official. His subsequently closed the Navy Yard to all persons without DOD IDs (in USDOT, this was assumed to be retribution). Of course this was damaging to lots of non USDOT persons including the people who wanted to see the Navy Yard museum. Today we received the following mail,

---------------------------

TO: All U.S. DOT Employees and Contractors in the Washington Metropolitan Area

FROM Linda J. Washington Assistant Secretary for Administration

RE: Access to the Washington Navy Yard


Effective immediately, the Washington Navy Yard has granted DOT employees and contractors access to use their food services and other amenities. Employees must enter through the Isaac Hull Gate located at 6th and M Streets.

In addition, employees and contractors with valid DOT identification badges will be permitted to use the Post Office, banking facilities, Navy Museum, Display Ship Barry, Subway Sandwich Shop, the NEXExpress Food Court and Shops, and the William III Café located behind Bldg #101. Access will be granted from 10:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Monday through Friday (excluding holidays).

In other words, the US Navy has surrendered (or partially so).

Two Balks and Ejection

Last night I was at the Nationals game vs. Arizona courtesy of Stanley Cohen.

Odalis Perez (left) pitched well for two innings. In the third, a runner got on base because of an error (by All Star chosen shortstop Guzman). Then Odalis was charged with a balk. One run scored on a hit and then Odalis was charged with another balk. Odalis charged the plate and was ejected. The Nationals gave up another run on an error and lost the game 2-0.

According to the baseball almanac, 5 pitchers have committed 3 balks in an inning and the all time record for a season is 16. I personally can't detect balks. They happen fast, I'm pretty far from the action and I don't remember the rules. Also, one of the most experienced umpires of all time, Ron Luciano, supposedly said, upon retiring,

"I never called a balk in my life. I didn't understand the rule."

After looking at the wikipedia site on this, it seems there are over a dozen separate motions the pitcher could make which would result in a balk.

Cristian Guzman (shown at left) was selected yesterday as the Washington Nationals representative to the 2008 All Star Game. At this point in the season (90 games), he leads the NL with 119 hits and has a .315 batting average.

Back in 2005, it looked like his career was over. He hit .219 (and had a slugging average of only .314). He didn't play at all in the 2006 season due to a shoulder injury. However during 2006 he had Lasik surgery. He played in 46 games in the 2007 season (hamstring, thumb and ankle injuries limited his play) and hit over .300. It apparently wasn't a fluke.

CBS sports news took notice of this a month ago.

The Crepe Myrtle Trees planted near the US DOT building are already starting to bloom (July 1). This while the ones I planted last year are probably at least 3 weeks away (maybe more). The ones downtown near the building have the advantage of getting a lot of heat from the urban setting and may be better trees (mine were the 6 trees for $60 kind)