Grandma Spoils her Grand-dogs

Our dogs Dolly, Franklin,Sprite are super-spoiled by Grandma Ruth. Whenever she comes over she always brings their favorite treats. Either Pupperoni or Beggin' Strips. This weekend was no different. Of course, our kids never turn down a treat, even though Franklin and Sprite (the Dachshunds) are overweight!  Anyway it's so good to see the love they all share with Grandma, with or without treats! 

Rainbow Spotted

In the last 4 weeks, between a hurricane, tropical storm, stalled cold front, and persistent low pressure area, we've received about 24" of rain. That's about 6 months of rain (4" a month) in one month. Everything is soggy and we have a lot of fungus growing over everything in the region. Finally, though, we got a rainbow out of the deal this weekend.

A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines on to droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. It takes the form of a multicolored arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the sun.

In a so-called "primary rainbow" (the lowest, and also normally the brightest rainbow) the arc of a rainbow shows red on the outer (or upper) part of the arc, and violet on the inner section. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted then reflected once in droplets of water. In a double rainbow, a second arc may be seen above and outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colours reversed (red faces inward toward the other rainbow, in both rainbows).

Behind the Scenes Photos: from Upcoming Batman Movie

The 3rd Batman movie starring Christian Bale will introduce Catwoman, Bane and Talia Al-Ghul to movie audiences. I've known them for decades as I still enjoy reading the Batman and Detective Comics, and this sounds like a good mix. Below are some pictures from the filming courtesy of the website "Cosmicbooknews."
RELEASE DATE:July 20th, 2012
WEBSITE: http://movies.cosmicbooknews.com/content/dark-knight-rises-2012-movie-hub

Anne Hathaway as Catwoman

Batman fighting Bane

CAST: Christan Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Tom Hardy as Bane, Michael Cain as Alfred, Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake, Juno Temple as Holly Robinson, Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul, Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, Josh Pence as a young Ra's al Ghul, Joey King as a young Talia al Gulk, Matthew Modine as Nixon
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Kevin De La Noy, Benjamin Melniker
PRODUCERS: Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Michael E. Uslan
PLOT: TBA

Gay Buffalo Teen Commits Suicide After Being Bullied -by "Christians"

I'm FURIOUS. This 14 year old gay teenager in Buffalo, NY was bullied to the point of suicide.  He was harassed beyond belief. I looked at some of the videos on You Tube of this kid when he was struggling. After he died, comments from RELIGIOUS PEOPLE, people who are supposed "CHRISTIANS" wrote these HATEFUL comments on the boy's memorial video on You Tube:
 "Faggot lol" - posted by  tatis3 4 hours ago

"Poor kid he should have left that disgusting lifestyle alone it's against GOD and nature" - posted by

MrOnionn2 1 hour ago"

being gay is not ok L0L just disgusting and you are a sub humanoid that is missing the most important thing in human instinct and should be exterminated.
being gay should be a hint at exterminating and killing of weakened gene pools at the awareness of someone being gay their family must be mass slaughtered so that future generations have strengthened gene pools i mean generally those who are gay are weak minded scronny have low I.Q'S im on to somthing.

zezimafan99 4 hours ago

 

These are just THREE of the hateful, insensitive, Nasty, disgusting comments from "Christians."

I am done with Christianity. - I know that there are a lot of good, loving people who are Christians, but there are also a lot of weak-minded, hateful people who just follow what they want and use hatred and intolerance in the name of God.  If this is part of being a Christian - encouraging people who don't live like you do to take their own lives, there's NOTHING human in it. This is Barbaric. 
   I'm SICK of Republicans who use Religion to promote this kind of hatred. 
   I'm sick of churches and Evangelists encouraging and applauding this kind of barbaric behavior . There is nothing "Religious" about destroying innocent lives with intolerance, hatred, ignorance.  This has Nothing to do with Jesus and "love everyone."  - Rob
   

ABC News Story:     
Gay Buffalo Teen Commits Suicide on Eve of National Bullying Summi
ABC News-  Sept. 21, 2011- Jamey Rodemeyer sent out many signals on social networking sites that he was struggling with his sexuality, and although he encouraged others on YouTube to fight off the bullies, things didn't get better.
The Buffalo, N.Y., boy, 14, killed himself this weekend after posting an online farewell.
A student at Williamsville North High School, Jamey had been tormented for the past 12 months by cyberbullies who made disparaging comments with gay references on his Formspring account, a website that allows anonymous posts.
"JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND [sic] UGLY. HE MUST DIE!" one post said, according to local reports. Another read, "I wouldn't care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) It would make everyone WAY more happier!"
Friends reported the bullying to guidance counselors. But everyone, including his mother, thought he had grown stronger.STORY/VIDEO: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/gay-buffalo-teen-commits-suicide-eve-national-bullying/story?id=14571861

Hammond- Harwood House Tour- Annapolis, Md.

This weekend we went to Annapolis to visit an historic home that we had not yet toured.

The Hammond-Harwood House in Annapolis, Maryland, United States, is one of the premier colonial houses remaining in America from the British colonial period (1607–1776).   The house was designed by the architect William Buckland in 1773-74 for wealthy farmer Matthias Hammond of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. 

Rob and Tom headed to Harwood House

   The tour was interesting- we've learned a LOT about the furniture. Most of it was crafted by a furniture maker named "Shaw" who had a business in Annapolis. The architecture of the house was interesting (although it smelled musty in there). What's interesting is that the guy that built the home never lived in it and died in his 30s. It was last owned by three elderly sisters that never married and when the last one passed in 1924, the house went to the state of Maryland. 

  - There are NO GHOSTS in the house. I felt nothing through the entire tour. Of course, I was still getting over a cold/congestion etc. but I know that didn't interfere with my sensitivities to ghosts. There wasn't any residual energies there either, which I thought was really odd.  

 - Following are some of the pictures of our adventure (we couldn't take pictures in the house, only the gift shop), and we were joined by our friend Jeff. 

Rob Waiting for tourguide to start

Tourguide giving Rob & Tom a brief introduction

Jeff, Tom and Rob Enjoying Annapolis on the weekend.

This was the weekend weather... Overcast and cool.

3 Dogs in a Row

Front to back: Sprite, Franklin and Dolly

It's a cloudy, rainy week here in the Washington, DC area, and what do three dogs do when confronted with rainy days when they hate getting wet outside? Sleep!! and in our house, it's Three dogs in a row!

Military Ends DADT

Today is a proud day in our Nation's history as the repeal of the foolish law "Don't Ask Don't Tell"  becomes official and honorable gays and lesbians can continue making valuable contributions in our Nation's military without fear of being discharged.  

Over the last 18 years, tens of thousands of military men and women were thrown out of the military because they are gay or lesbian. So many other countries have gay people serving without issue. The repeal of this is long overdue. The military has educated their soldiers and there appears to be no issues, as there shouldn't be. We are all people. We all have a job to do, and whomever we love has nothing to do with how competent we are in our jobs. 

Anyone that supports the Conservatives like Michelle Bachmann or Rick Perry, that want to reinstate this stupid, hateful law are idiots.

When you Wish Upon a Star... it may be something else!

Thanks to our friend Merle in Canada for this video from NASA (you' d think I'd know about it). This is one of those curious questions that I have often wondered about but  never been able to find the answer. However via the miracle of the internet  here is the answer :- You may not Wish upon a shooting star ever again!
From the mouth of a NASA astronaut... the truth about a kind of shooting star... 

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Mom, Bob and Sprite

Today is Tom's mom's birthday! Yay!

As her son-in-law, I have to say that I really, really lucked out. Mom is awesome. 

Some people don't get along with their mother in laws, I LOVE my mom-in-law!  She's very loving and caring. She super-spoils our dogs and us. Often she'll have a little bag of goodies for us- either filled with dog treats, something superhero-related (for me), cookies, newspaper articles, Dunkin' Donuts coupons or something else. 

 We love calling Mom and Bob on the weekends during 6:30am breakfast and catching up on things. It's like having breakfast together over the phone. 

  I'll keep this short, but the sentiment is large - we love you, Mom!  Happy Birthday!

Top 20 states by foreclosure rate in August

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Banks have stepped up their actions against homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments, setting the stage for a fresh wave of foreclosures. The number of U.S. homes that received an initial default notice _ the first step in the foreclosure process _ jumped 33 percent in August from July, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday. The increase represents a nine-month high and the biggest monthly gain in four years. The spike signals banks are starting to take swifter action against homeowners, nearly a year after processing issues led to a sharp slowdown in foreclosures. Here is a list of the top 20 states with the highest foreclosure rates in August. The ratio shows, for example, that one out of every 118 households in Nevada received a foreclosure notice during the month. Also highlighted: The number of properties that received notices.

1 Nevada 1:118 9,677

2 California 1:226 59,383

3 Arizona 1:248 11,081

4 Georgia 1:346 11,743

5 Idaho 1:348 1,860

6 Michigan 1:349 13,016

7 Florida 1:376 23,569

8 Illinois 1:424 12,493

9 Colorado 1:439 4,933

10 Utah 1:450 2,119

11 Ohio 1:518 9,841

12 Delaware 1:606 654

13 Oregon 1:621 2,638

14 South Carolina 1:624 3,339

15 New Hampshire 1:638 940

16 Wisconsin 1:674 3,841

17 Massachusetts 1:718 3,826

18 New Mexico 1:735 1,195

19 Virginia 1:780 4,269

20 Rhode Island 1:828 546

Video of Hurricane Irene's Destruction of NC Outer Banks

This video was produced by a NASA-TV producer who was visiting the North Carolina Outer Banks when Hurricane Irene struck. It shows some of the damages done by the storm. 
 

A video to make your day: Historic flashmob in Antwerp train station, do re mi

This video from 2009 is one of my (Rob) all-time favorites. This ALWAYS makes me smile, and I put it on the blog last year, and just HAD to put it up again. ENJOY! Rob

More than 200 dancers were performing their version of "Do Re Mi", in the Central Station of Antwerp. with just 2 rehearsals they created this amazing stunt! Those 4 fantastic minutes started the 23 of march 2009, 08:00 AM. It is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of "The Sound of Music."