Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Happy Halloween from us to you!

Halloween at PetSmart!
This year for Halloween our three kids were all Sharks!  
We bought the costumes for the boys, Tyler and Franklin, and Dolly got to take hers out of the closet (Rob made it years ago).  

Wishing you a Happy Halloween from our house to yours.
We took the kids to Cozy Canine Camp's Halloween event (where they board whenever we go away). Dolly and Franklin went in first, since they don't bark at other dogs, while Tyler stayed in the truck with Daddy Tom. Then  Tyler got his turn to go to the celebration and bark at all the other dogs. :) 
  They also went to Petsmart for photos, and Tyler didn't bark at one dog! It was amazing!



Franklin and Dolly stopped in at daycare (Tyler was in the truck)


Annapolis Ghost Walk Part 3: A Ghost in Our Photo!!

During a recent historic Annapolis Ghost Walk in Maryland we wound up getting a GHOST in a photo we took with the tour guide.  
  "A Special Historic Haunting tour of Annapolis" was a 90 minute tour put on by Watermark and Historic Annapolis. It included a rare tour of the historic Sands House and we were led by an amazing tour guide. 


THE BEST TOUR GUIDE-  We were fortunate enough to get a guy dressed as a pirate and named "Saggy Boots" because his 2 foot high boots would sag. Not only was he handsome, but he put on a great British accent (we think it was put on), and he memorized and recited long poems he composed about two hauntings. He was amazing (and cute).

THE GHOST IN THE GRAVEYARD - Ghosts don't usually haunt graveyards, but there is a well-known ghost who walks around a graveyard in Annapolis that circles a church. The church is St. Anne's Episcopal Church. It's an historic Episcopal church located in Church Circle, 199 Duke of Gloucester St, Annapolis, MD 21401. The first church in Annapolis, it was founded in 1692. A man in all black has been seen walking around the cemetery literally for hundreds of years. Our tour guide, "Saggy Boots the pirate" said that the ghost is known to a Sexton named James Simpson. A Sexton is a person who looks after a church and churchyard, sometimes acting as bell-ringer and formerly as a gravedigger.

THE PHOTO - Our tour guide's wife took my cell phone to take our picture with him. She only had my camera in her hand, and there was no one else taking pictures. We were standing in the dark cemetery and there was no light source within 100 feet or more (across the street). There is no explanation for the bar of white light that appeared in the second photo taken immediately after the first photo. I knew we were in the company of someone who had passed on and was roaming around as a ghost, so this may have been the ghost who was standing between us. What do you think? 




Monday, October 30, 2017

Annapolis Ghost Walk Part 2: The Ghost We Met at Sands House, Annapolis

The Sands House
During the historic Annapolis Ghost Walk, we got to visit the historic Sands House for the first time ever! It's a 300 year old house that was opened to the public for the first time, and we didn't expect to run into a ghost, but Rob got his name and more! 

"A Special Historic Haunting tour of Annapolis" was put on by Watermark and Historic Annapolis. It included a rare tour of the historic Sands House.
Room lit by candles where James Allen was

WHAT IS THE SANDS HOUSE? - It was a private residence for three centuries and is considered the oldest frame house in Annapolis. It is located at 130 Prince Georges Street and was built around 1700. It was named for John Sands who bought the house in 1771 and seven generations of his family lived there. 


OLDER FINDS BENEATH THE HOUSE - During a 1988 renovation, archaeologists who were working beneath the house found evidence of an older house from the 1600s! A number of Colonial artifacts were found including pipe stems, pins, a flintlock, coin, toothbrush and thimbles.  Even further were marks of a structure by Native Americans about 1,600 years ago!  Native American pottery was also found under the house.  

THE GHOST REVEALS HIMSELF TO ROB!  Once we entered the Sands house, we turned and entered the first room on right. It was dimly lit with only a dozen or so candles. As we walked in, I looked to the back of the room and I saw a dark horizontal long box about 6 feet long. I wondered if that was a table or some weird piece of furniture.  Once everyone got into the room I looked again, and there was nothing there! The long black box had disappeared and there was nothing but a solid wall.  It was then that the guide said "This is the room the family would bring in coffins and have viewings." I thought "Oh my gosh!  I was sensing residual energy from wakes that happened in this room!" 
left-hand room where Rob felt pain.
  Immediately after I realized that, I heard the voice of a male ghost shout "I am James Allen!" I felt nervousness and anxiety in that room. I realized that James Allen, whomever he is, was making me feel those emotions. I assume that "Allen" is either his surname or his middle name and he was part of the Sands family. I didn't get any more information, because the tour guide took us into the adjoining room. 

GHOSTLY PAIN -  In that next room, I was walloped with physical pain from a ghost. I'm unsure if it was from James Allen or someone else that was haunting the Sands House. As soon as I walked over the threshold of that room to the left of the front door, I experienced severe pain in my right shoulder, so intense that it actually made me bend over toward the right (the pain was in the right shoulder). Apparently, a ghost was sharing the pain he experienced before he died.  I was unable to get information from the ghost because, once again, we were ushered out of the room (it was a quick 6 minute tour). 


NEXT - PHOTO OF A GHOST WITH OUR TOUR GUIDE! 

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Annapolis Ghost Walk Part 1: Funny Saggy Boo_s? & Haunted Mann's Tavern

L to R: Tom, Sterling, Rob, Sean
The perfect way to get in the "spirit" of Halloween is to take a ghost walk through and old, historic city like Annapolis and that's what we did with friends Sterling and Sean. In this blog, first we'll share a funny situation and then a haunted tavern story. 

ABOUT THE TOUR - "Watermark" and Historic Annapolis Tours created a new tour for 2017 that includes a walk through the historic "Sands House" that was a private residence for 300 years. It was walking tour of the city for 1 hour and 45 minutes with a costumed guide. It was great! Sadly, the tours ended on Oct. 28.


L to R: Saggy's wife & tour guides: Saggy, the coordinator, 2 female pirates
THE FUNNY INCIDENT OF "SAGGY BOO_S"! - When we were waiting inside the first floor of the Historic Annapolis Museum several of the tour guides were there, except for ours as it turned out. A woman in costume was assigning visitors to tour guides. When I checked in and gave my name there were two other costumed female tour guides standing against the wall next to me. 


Saggy Boots, our tour guide
The coordinator said to me "Your tour guide is "Saggy boots"" and I thought for a minute she said "saggy boobs." Apparently so did the 2 other costumed female tour leads because  when I looked over at them to figure which one of them it was they laughed.  One of the women said "There is nothing sagging on us. Don't look at us."  Then the coordinator repeated, "I said the name is Saggy BOOTS."  We all got a good laugh. Of course 5 minutes later the only male tour guide arrived and it was indeed "Saggy Boots." 


Mann's Tavern Sign
HAUNTED MANN'S TAVERN - One of the stops that Saggy Boots took us to was a place formerly known as "Mann Tavern." It's now a Mason lodge. The story he told was about an electrician who went to work in the basement of the building before the Masons took it over. It was the daytime, but since the electrician was working in the basement, he had to use a flashlight. He put the flashlight down on a box and put his tool bag beside him. The flashlight rolled away so he picked it up. He went to reach for his bag and it was suddenly 10 feet or so behind him instead of beside him where it he put it. Hmmm. He went back to work on the electrical box and the flashlight rolled by itself again. He put it back. He reached into his bag to find it was again 10 feet behind him. He pulled it back again. Both things moved again and when he looked up he saw the shadow of a man at the door!  That's when he quit!  Wouldn't you? 

NEXT: OUR GHOSTLY ENCOUNTER AT THE SANDS HOUSE

Saturday, October 28, 2017

A Haunting Truth About England's Royal Burials

Jane Seymour, Queen of England 
Here's a creepy and true story from Tom (being the amateur historian on the English Tudor period that he is)  about how British Royalty buried people, so you'll get in the Halloween frame of mind!  

On the evening of October 24, 1537, Jane Seymour, Queen of England and third wife of King Henry VIII, died. Only 11 days before, she had given birth to a son, Edward. While England was celebrating the birth of the young prince, everyone had thought Jane was going to be just fine. But late in the day on October 23, she developed a fever. And just 24 hours later, she was gone. There is no consensus on the cause of death: puerperal fever, massive bleeding, or was part of the placenta accidentally left inside her causing an infection. We just don’t know.

There’s a blog that I regularly follow that discusses all things Tudor. On the anniversary of Queen Jane’s death, there was the usual posting, but something about this year’s entry caught my attention. It said that after Jane’s death, Henry ordered that her heart and entrails be removed and buried separately under the altar in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace. Now, why I never knew about this little useless factoid before, I don’t know. But in this month where we like to read about such gruesome things, I thought I would do some poking around and see how common this was for British royalty.

The Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace
What I found out is, this practice was rather typical, not just for British royals but for virtually all European royal houses. Because royals were not immediately buried, but rather paraded around the country or often would lie in state for weeks after death (Edward VI, Henry's son, wasn't buried for an entire month), embalmers had to be creative and would have to do certain things to slow down decomposition just a bit.

The practice involved cutting open the body, cleaning out the insides of the corpse, removing all the internal organs and such, wash the resultant body cavity with disinfectant, and then stuffing it with clean linens soaked in herbs, spices, and fragrant oils so the bodies wouldn't smell. In Queen Jane’s case, the heart and entrails were saved and buried separately. After three weeks of mourning, her corpse was buried in the choir at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

The choir at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.


After the prescribed time of mourning had passed and in preparation for burial, the corpse would be wrapped in a wax cloth shroud and the seams sealed with wax. Then the body was placed in a lead liner which was then placed inside an outer wood coffin.



The burial vault of St George’s Chapel was opened in 1813. This engraving shows the coffins of King Charles I (left), King Henry VIII (center), Queen Jane (right).


Links to further reading:
https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/rip-queen-jane-seymour/
http://queryblog.tudorhistory.org/2009/06/question-from-kristian-jane-seymours.html
Coffins of King Charles I (left), King Henry VIII (center), Queen Jane (right).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherhowse/3557176/The-burial-of-the-heart.html
http://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/resources/tudor-tombs-and-burials/
http://royalcentral.co.uk/blogs/a-royal-burial-st-georges-chapel-25426

How's that for a Halloween story?

Friday, October 27, 2017

In the News; Parents Leave Child At Corn Maze -Overnight!

We kept track of each other carefully in the corn maze
 We went to a corn maze this year for the first time, and were horrified to hear this story out of Utah earlier this month. The family said "there were many kids from multiple families with them, so they lost track." They also didn't notice the 3 year old kid was missing that night!
  Even I (Rob) tuck our dogs in bed each night!!! What kind of parents don't even say goodnight to their kids? UGH.
 People should be spayed and neutered and given IQ tests before having children!
Here's the story:

Parents Leave Child At Corn Maze, Don’t Realize It Until Next Day:
A visit to a holiday corn maze turned into a truly scary scenario for a 3-year-old boy after police say he was left behind by his parents, who didn’t realize until the next day.
A good Samaritan is being credited with escorting the child to staff members at the Crazy Corn Maze in West Jordan, Utah, after finding him alone and scared around 7:40 p.m. Monday, West Jordan police told HuffPost.
“He was upset and crying and really scared,” the maze’s owner, Kendall Schmidt, told local station Fox 13. “It was a roller coaster, but you try not to panic. You try not to think of the worst.”

Employees walked around with a bullhorn, calling out for the child’s parents. The child eventually was taken to an off-duty officer’s car where he was distracted with a movie, Schmidt said.
To the staff’s surprise, the maze closed but without the boy’s parents coming forward. He was eventually taken to the Division of Child and Family Services. Roughly 12 hours later — on Tuesday morning — the child’s parents called the police, reporting him as missing.

Sgt. Joe Monson with the West Jordan Police Department said many questions remain unanswered but they’re thankful that the good Samaritan took it upon herself to make sure he was OK.
A 3-year-old boy was accidentally left behind at this corn maze in Utah.
“It could have been a different story,” he told HuffPost, while noting that temperatures in the area can dip into the 30s at night.
As far as what happened, the child’s parents were described as living in a dwelling with multiple families and several little children.
“They left with so many and came back one less,” he said.
Asked if he had heard of anything like this happening before, he said it’s not uncommon to get reports of missing children at big events, though the kids usually aren’t missing for that long. 
He confirmed that an investigation is ongoing as of Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Utah’s Department of Child and Family Services, reached by HuffPost, was unable to comment on the current whereabouts of the child or his condition, citing privacy laws.

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Weird News: Man Claiming To Be From The Year 2048 Says He’s Back With A Dire Warning

 I saw this on HuffPost and had to share. I love the description about what aliens did to him! haha! Rob


Man Claiming To Be From The Year 2048 Says He’s Back With A Dire Warning 
A Wyoming man accused of public intoxication allegedly told police he traveled from the year 2048 to warn mankind of an impending invasion by extraterrestrials.
Casper Police Department
Bryant Johnson was arrested for public intoxication on Monday, but allegedly not before attempting to warn the people of Casper, Wyoming, that aliens are coming.
Bryant Johnson issued his grave warning to Casper police Monday night after officers were called about the man and his out-of-this-world message, according to an arrest report obtained by HuffPost.
Johnson, who police said smelled of alcohol and spoke with slightly slurred speech, allegedly told officers that “the aliens were coming next year and we needed to make sure to leave as fast as possible.”
According to the report, he didn’t specify an exact date or time for the aliens’ arrival.
He refused to speak with nurses or doctors and instead insisted on meeting with “the president” of the town, police said.
Johnson informed the officers that he was able to travel through time because the aliens filled his body with alcohol. He also claimed he stood on a “giant pad” which then transported him to the year 2017 — though he said he was supposed to be sent to the year 2018.
Johnson, who was allegedly found with a blood alcohol content of .136 percent, was eventually transported to the Natrona County Detention Center without further incident.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

In the news: The Radioactive Puppies Of Chernobyl Are Finally Getting The Help They Need

Although the northern Ukranian nuclear powerplant had a meltdown in 1986 and over 1,000 square miles were abandoned because of radiation, dogs still lived there, and live there now. At least now, they're getting some help. 

The Radioactive Puppies Of Chernobyl Are Finally Getting The Help They Need

The dogs are descendants of those left behind after the 1986 nuclear disaster.

To avoid radiation exposure, humans are heavily restricted when it comes to where they can go and what they can do within the exclusion zone. But there’s no way to enforce those regulations on free-roaming canines.
“The rules of man mean nothing to the world of dog,” Hixson said. “They lay, they dig, they roll around, they drink puddles.”
The result is dogs with radioactive particles on their fur and inside their bodies — though researchers don’t know exactly how much.



Employees at the plant technically aren’t supposed to interact with the dogs, but many have grown strongly attached to the animals, feeding and playing with them.
“Many of these workers have adopted some of these dogs almost as pets,” Hixson said, though they aren’t permitted to bring the dogs out of the area.

Sean Gallup via Getty Images

Workers with a stray dog at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in August 2017.

Hixson said there probably aren’t “immediate health hazards” related to radiation from petting the dogs, though he would “definitely suggest washing up afterwards.”
However, the dogs pose another risk — rabies, which they can catch from encounters with local wildlife. Rabies, which is fatal if untreated, is a particularly scary threat in Ukraine, since the country depends on its supply of human rabies treatment from Russia. After years of conflict, supplies are dwindling.
Vaccinating the dogs and shrinking the population via spaying and neutering will reduce the rabies risk, Hixson said.

Sean Gallup via Getty Images
A stray dog stands at a monument outside the new, giant enclosure that covers devastated reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in August 2017.

Clean Futures Fund’s work also involves trying to gauge just how much radiation is present in the dogs’ bodies. The findings could open up the possibility of Ukrainian officials allowing some of the dogs to leave the exclusion zone and ultimately be adopted.
Regardless, Hixson said he hopes his group’s work will improve life for the area’s dogs and safety for the people around then.
“I think there will always be a population of dogs in the area,” he said. “But hopefully, we can get down to a manageable population where they can have a good quality of life.”
You can learn more about the Dogs of Chernobyl initiative or donate here.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

THIS AFFECTS YOU: Bad Changes for People Saving for Retirement: In New Tax Plan Proposed

The New York Times just published an analysis of the Republican Tax plan, and it adversely and severely affects people (who are not millionaires) trying to save for retirement. 

To understand the magnitude of this, let's look at the numbers. Currently, workers may contribute a maximum of $18,000 to a 401k plan per year, another $6,000 if you're over the age of 50. Republicans want to reduce the maximum contribution to just $2,400 a year, which means an additional $15,600 in taxable income per year. That's how they plan to pay for their tax cuts for the wealthy.

According to Robert Reich, "Meanwhile, top executives continue to take part of their compensation as “deferred income” – often amounting to millions each year – on which no taxes have to be paid until they retire. 

A recent study of industrialized nations finds that income inequality for retirees in the United States is already among the worst in the world. Republicans want to make it even worse."







Here's the article:
Republicans Consider Sharp Cut in 401(k) Contribution Limits
WASHINGTON — House Republicans are considering a plan to sharply reduce the amount of income American workers can save in tax-deferred retirement accounts as part of a broad effort to rewrite the tax code, according to lobbyists, tax consultants and congressional Democrats.
   It is unclear if Republicans will ultimately include a cap on contributions in the tax bill that they are expected to release in the coming weeks. Such a move would almost certainly prompt a vocal backlash from middle-class workers who save heavily in such retirement accounts and from the asset management industry.
   The proposals under discussion would potentially cap the annual amount workers can set aside to as low as $2,400 for 401(k) accounts, several lobbyists and consultants said on Friday. Workers may currently put up to $18,000 a year in 401(k) accounts without paying taxes upfront on that money; that figure rises to $24,000 for workers over 50. When workers retire and begin to draw income from those accounts, they pay taxes on the benefits.
   Rumors have circulated for months that negotiators were debating including a cap as a way to help offset the revenue loss from a reduction in business tax rates that Republicans have put at the center of their plan. Reducing contribution limits would be, in effect, an accounting maneuver that would create space for tax cuts by collecting tax revenue now instead of in the future.
   Such a move would be likely to push Americans to shift their savings to so-called Roth accounts, where contributions are taxed immediately, and not when they are drawn out as benefits. That would increase federal tax receipts for the short run.


Changes at our Favorite Restaurant: Dunkin' Donuts

We go to a Dunkin' Donuts almost daily, and when we don't, Dunkin' Donusts coffee is brewed at home. I (Rob) grew up in Quincy, MA, the home of the first Dunkin' Donuts and have been drinking their coffee since I was ten (for decades, enough said). It's the BEST coffee ever. Tom drinks their unsweet iced tea, and we agree there are no better.
  We also LOVE their sandwiches- Bacon,egg (no cheese for us) on a bagel is the best. In fact, we eat that sandwich for dinner once a week. The bagels, muffins and of course, donuts are great, too - and if  you eat them in moderation and exercise daily, there's no worry about weight gain and you get tasty treats. 
   Recently, Dunkin' Donuts announced a couple of possible changes!
1) Dunkin' Donuts May Drop the "Donuts" from their Store Name
Sue Ogrocki / AP, File
NEW YORK (AP) — Dunkin’ is thinking about dumping “Donuts” from its name.
A new location of the chain in Pasadena, California, will be simply called Dunkin’, a move that parent company Dunkin’ Brands Inc. calls a test. The Canton, Massachusetts-based company said Thursday that a few other stores will get the one-name treatment too.
The chain wants people to think of its stores as a destination for coffee, although it will still sell doughnuts. Dunkin’ Donuts said it won’t make a decision on whether it will change its name until late next year, when it expects to start redesigning stores.
2)  Dunkin’ Donuts is reducing its doughnut menu at 100 Mass. locations

Dunkin’ Donuts is testing an abbreviated doughnut menu at 1,000 locations nationwide.
A minimum of 18 “core” doughnuts will be available to customers at the chosen spots during a period of testing meant to simplify the menu and improve service. Then the company will analyze customer feedback to decide whether the move will be permanent, according to an emailed statement from the company.
“This test does not impact any Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in Boston at this time,” the statement reads.  A company representative would not expand on which stores are considered part of that Boston market. However, the representative did confirm that the test will include about 100 restaurants in Massachusetts’s Bristol County and locations in the Providence, Rhode Island, market.

Monday, October 23, 2017

5 out of 5 stars: A Fun Dog Rescue Story! A Tail of Two Doxies A Skeeterville Cozy Short Sto

I just finished a great novelette on Kindle called "A Tail of Two Doxies A Skeeterville Cozy Short Story: Seniors To The Rescue! (Skeeterville Senior Mysteries Book 3)" it 's by Teresa Quill. It's only available as an E-book, and it was such a great read. Such wonderful characters!

This is such a fun Dog Rescue Story!  There is nothing better than a dog rescue story and this one had lovable senior citizens, a great message about caring for pets correctly and great characters!   5 out of 5 Stars!

ABOUT THE BOOK: Irene and Gretta dognap two abused dachshunds in the dark of night only to find that one can't walk and the other is pregnant. Their apartments only allow one pet per apartment. Mean Eugene is on a mission to get rid of all of them. But why is Eugene so mean? And what about all those puppies? Enjoy this special Skeeterville short story between the novellas.There's no dead bodies in this one, but hang on, there will be in the next one!

Biography

Teresa Quill writes with two dachshunds at her feet, a parrot on her shoulder and a world of characters in her head. Her personal hero ignores the voices she hears and enables her to enjoy her writing trips to Skeeterville where the senior citizens are ornery and active, and the deputy scratches his head in wonder at their antics.

As a longtime member of Romance Writers of America and Maryland Romance Writers, she was writing a lovely contemporary romance when the secondary characters took over. Instead of fighting them, she let them run the show. Sometimes it's surprising where the seniors take her. They know that death happens, but they always want to know why. Teresa just follows them on their adventures.

Teresa asks if you read her books, please leave a review or visit her website. She loves to hear from readers. www.TeresaQuill.com

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Cool Wedding, Fun Reception, Special Cake

L to R: officiant, Greg and Rich
Here in Maryland, the weather was perfect on Oct. 21, which marked the wedding reception for our friends Greg and Rich (who were married this past January in New Mexico). They held their reception outside in 76 degree Fahrenheit sunshine - a perfect and unusually warm October day here (average high is 62F). Oct. 21st marked 14 years together - an appropriate day to celebrate. 
  I (Rob) counted backward and remembered that I met them 10 days after their first date in 2004. (Tom met them in 2005 when he and I started dating).   
Rob and Tom 
CEREMONY AND READINGS - Not your average ceremony- Much more memorable!
  The ceremony had three readings (by Victoria, Jeff and Julie), and they were a mix of native American and Buddhist sayings. We loved the Native American references to Mother Earth and Father Sky. The ceremony was special and touching. 
  Their reception was held on their long front lawn (they live in a country-area) surrounded by a long drive. They rented a tent and hired a caterer, and a friend acted as a deejay. We enjoyed a great barbecue meal.
Wedding cake with 4 birthday names


Wedding cake w/photo of Rich and Greg January 2017 N.M. vows

3 birthdays on the cake: Rob, Judy and Jeff

Greg and Rich












A SPECIAL CAKE - The cake was fantastic. It  was three layers, and using fondant frosting was made in the design of an Aspen tree. - Since they plan on retiring in New Mexico years from now, and go there often,  they love the local aspen trees. Cool idea. What we didn't expect was that they purposely had 4 names of friends written on the back of the cake, because this week marked 4 birthdays: Rob's (mine), Jeff (Greg's brother), Judy (their long-time friend) and Mike (whom we didn't know). How thoughtful and special of them to do that. 
the big tent for the reception
  





CHEROKEE WEDDING PRAYER
God in heaven above please protect the ones we love. We honor all you created as we pledge our hearts and lives together. We honor mother-earth and ask for our Marriage to be abundant and grow stronger through the seasons;
Kevin and Jeff
We honor fire and ask that our union be warm and glowing with love in our hearts. We honor wind and ask we sail through life safe and calm as in our father's arms; We honor water to clean and soothe our relationship - that it may never thirst for love; With all forces of the universe you created, we pray for harmony and true happiness as we forever grow together. 


NATIVE AMERICAN BLESSING  - 
The officiant
Above you are the stars, below you are the stones. As time does pass, remember,  Like a star should your love be constant. Like a stone should your love be firm. Be close, yet not too close. Possess one another, yet be understanding. Have patience with the other for storms will come, but they will go quickly. Be free in the giving of affection and warmth. Make love often, and be sensuous to one another. Have no fear, and let not the ways nor the words of the unenlightened give you unease. For the Great Spirit is with you, For now and always. 

Nice fall decorations in the yard
more fall yard arrangements 
Jeff doing a reading






Saturday, October 21, 2017

In the News: Hiring freeze shrunk National Weather Service staff before hurricanes hit

Hurricane Harvey's  Devastation in Houston  Cr: Elite daily
If you think that you're being served well by the Trump Administration, did you know his hiring  freeze shrunk National Weather Service staff before hurricanes hit?
  It's true. We need MORE scientists, more science and better satellites and more people at FEMA to help with recovery efforts.. NOT LESS.
  REMEMBER:  YOU can change things for the better by voting for Independents and Democrats.
FACT:  The Republican party does not support science (or emergency response personnel, so keep that in mind... ESPECIALLY if you live in Hurricane-prone areas.  Oddly, Texas and Florida voted for Trump. When tornadoes ravage the southern states, they will also be wishing for more scientists, forecasters and emergency responders. Something they won't get if they keep voting for the Republican Party. That's a fact.


Source: Washington Post
Ahead of what would turn out to be a potentially record-breaking hurricane season, the National Weather Service had 216 vacant positions it could not fill due to a governmentwide hiring freeze imposed by the Trump administration, according to a recently released document.
Some of those Weather Service vacancies listed in the document, obtained by the Sierra Club through a Freedom of Information Act and shared with The Washington Post, were in locations that would be hit by the major hurricanes that barreled through the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.
Staffing levels at the federal government’s weather bureau, responsible for tracking hurricanes and warning the public about hazardous weather, have fallen since 2010 when the agency employed more than 3,800 nonmanagerial and nonsupervisory employees. Staffing had declined so much that the Government Accountability Office wrote in May that employees were challenged in their ability “to complete key tasks.”
The Weather Service’s head count finally stabilized in 2016, with the forecasting agency starting and ending the year with about 3,400 on-the-ground workers.
But the staffing dip resumed in 2017, falling from 3,425 in December to 3,368 in August, according to data from the National Weather Service Employees Organization, a union representing meteorologists and other NWS employees.
“There's no question that the hiring freeze had an effect,” said Dan Sobien, NWSEO president. “But really it was the straw that broke the camel's back.”
He added, “The camel was already weighed down to the ground.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Weather Service’s parent agency, said the hiring freeze played a part in the recent decline in the agency’s ranks ahead of the triplet of intense storms — Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
“Yes, the hiring freeze was a contributing factor” for renewing that decline, NOAA spokesman Christopher Vaccaro wrote in an email.
But NOAA said its forecasting ability was not hampered by the shrunken staff.
“As already demonstrated during Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria, NOAA is prepared for the hurricane season and is operating at full tempo,” Vaccaro said. “Our forecasters at NOAA's National Hurricane Center, local Weather Service offices, and river forecast centers and elsewhere in the agency are fulfilling the agency's mission of protecting lives and property as they issue timely and accurate forecasts.”
The Weather Service vacancies that could not be filled because of the hiring freeze, which ended for the agency in April, include two meteorology positions at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Those posts remained unfilled as of mid-August, the agency said, right before Hurricane Harvey struck Houston.
The freeze also prevented the Weather Service from hiring for two meteorology positions in Jacksonville, Fla., one meteorology position in Tampa and an electronics technician in Key West. 
   NOAA said all those posts, each in cities hit by Hurricane Irma, have been filled.
Ahead of the storms, the Weather Service readied “preselected backup offices” to handle forecasting for offices in the path of hurricanes in case communication was severed, Vaccaro said. For example, the field office near San Antonio covered the duties of the Key West office when Irma hit. The Miami office stepped in for the San Juan office in Puerto Rico when Hurricane Maria struck.
The Weather Service said that 248 positions remain vacant at the agency. Six of those vacancies are at offices in Florida. 

   "I continue to be deeply troubled by the number of unfilled positions at the National Weather Service and fatigued employees working overtime to compensate for these vacancies," Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.) said in a statement. Crist, who served at Florida's Republican governor from 2007 to 2011, added that he shared his concerns with the president earlier this year.
The empty desks are not limited to low-level employees.

The National Hurricane Center, a Weather Service division, has been led by an acting director since May. An acting career official is heading NOAA until President Trump nominates and the Senate confirms a permanent replacement. Trump has waited longer than any other president to fill that role.

The union, however, contends there are actually 665 vacancies at the Weather Service as of July, far more than the agency claims, based on its own Freedom of Information response.

In either case, the vacancies at the Weather Service were numerous enough, even before Trump was inaugurated, for the GAO to audit the agency's hiring practices.

In May, it concluded that managers and employees “have experienced stress, fatigue, and reduced morale” because of the staff shortages. Because NOAA higher-ups make only “limited information” available on the status of hiring requests to those running Weather Service field offices, managers cannot “effectively plan and distribute workloads,” the internal government watchdog office found.

“People were literally getting sick from the workload,” Sobien, the union president, maintained.
GAO counted 455 open jobs as of September 2016 at the Weather Service, excluding headquarters positions, adding that worker data the agency provided "did not provide an accurate reflection of vacancies."
In July, the Senate Appropriations Committee wrote in a report that lawmakers are “very concerned with the continued number of employee vacancies” even though Congress has provided enough money to fill them.

"Morale is at an all-time low and these dedicated public servants are exhausted," said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who is not a member of the committee. "The president's hiring freeze only further compounded the vacancies."
But if the new administration gets its way, the Weather Service’s budget will not remain as flush. The White House has proposed cutting the agency's funding by 6 percent, which would include the loss of $62 million being used to update weather models and enable the agency to predict changing weather further out.
So far, the federal government has received positive marks from the public for its hurricane response. Seven in 10 call the overall response as “excellent” or “good," according to a Post-ABC poll conducted Sept. 18-21.

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I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob

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