Invading Maryland

In September of 1862, the Army of Northern Virginia made its first attempt to invade the north, crossing the Potomac River into Maryland and clashing with Union forces outside of Sharpsburg. The twelve hour battle became the bloodiest day in American history, with 23,000 casualties. So in other words, it really wasn’t a good day for anyone. Since we’ve been to most of the other major battlefields (and a lot of the non-major ones as well), I figured we’d better drive up and check it out. It didn’t appear like the area had changed a whole lot in the last 150 years. There was even a sycamore tree standing by the bridge that had been there since the battle. The fight itself ended in a draw, but if it were fought today, the outcome would be a decisive Union victory, because I’ve driven in Northern Virginia, and it’s impossible to move more than 2 miles an hour in a car, let alone mobilize an army. And it wouldn’t matter if you were marching at two in the afternoon, it would be bumper to bumper single file through orange cones with nobody working on the roads. But I guess when you did finally get to Maryland you’d want to fire a cannon at somebody’s face. At least that's how I feel when I drive in Virginia.

Paul could care less where we go, as long as he gets to run around in the grass.

The Bloody Lane. In less than four hours, more than 5,000 soldiers were lost on this road. It's impossible to imagine what it would have sounded like, with as quiet as it is now.

The young historian.

The wind was pretty strong, but otherwise it was a warm spring day in rural Maryland.

Paul and Dad reflecting on the waters of Antietam Creek from the Burnside Bridge.

It was kind of a long drive to get there, through the back country of Maryland, but it turned out to be worth the drive (or at least I thought so anyway). And Becky is always thrilled to go look at cannons and hear me rattle off historical facts as I read them from the signs.

Just a little history trivia...

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to find a location to spend a weekday off, a decent respect to the opinions of my wife and her brother requires that I should declare the causes which impel me to drive to a random historical place in southern Maryland. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all national historical sites are not created equally, that among these are sites that no one has ever heard of, nor has ever thought to visit. But if its right down the road, I say… why not stop by and check it out? So here’s a little trivia for you, and someday when you’re waiting to answer the million dollar question on some game show, you can thank me.

Which of these men signed the Declaration of Independence as one of the four delegates from Maryland?
A. John Hancock
B. Barack Obama
C. Thomas Stone
D. Thomas the Train Engine


Well, we’re pretty sure what Paul’s answer would be, because the entire time he thought we were going to the house of Thomas the Train. But in truth, we went to Thomas Stone’s house. And his claim to "fame" of course, was signing the Declaration. And now you know this useless piece of trivia. Honestly, I couldn’t have named a single other person to sign it other than John Hancock… so I had to Wikipedia it. And now you all will have to do the same thing.


The Rangers at the site were eager to fill us with information about Thomas Stone... it was apparent that the site does not see as many visitors as say... Thomas Jefferson's house (he signed it too... if you believe Wikipedia).

I asked one of the lonely Rangers how this house became a National Historic site, and he said, "Honestly, I've asked myself that question many times..."

Either way, Paul enjoyed himself, even if he never found Thomas the Train. The house had an impressive yard, and even a few hills for rolling down, with Uncle Ted's assistance.

And here he is standing outside the tabacco barn, complete with real dried tobacco hanging from the rafters.

And just taking a break on the steps. It was overcast all day, but no real rain. So it all worked out. And now we're all a little more informed about Maryland's most famous signer of the Declaration. So if you're ever near La Plata, Maryland... be sure and stop by. The park staff will be more than happy to show you a video or give you a house tour!

The Sun is here!

It was almost 80 degrees the other day, sun shining, birds singing, cherry buds ready to bloom… its springtime in Maryland! Paul didn’t hesitate to break out the garden hose and fill up the… uh… swimming pool?

Oh yeah!! Fill it up! It's the redneck kiddie pool! Get one for each of your kids!

It's not easy being this cool. So don't even try it.

The water won't be that cold... will it?

Nah! On a day like today, it's just about perfect. We may need a bigger bucket though, maybe like a 50 gallon drum!

Spring Training...

It appears that winter is finally gone, and summer will be coming before long. It’s been nice to get home some nights and have the sun still shining. Last week we stepped out in the front yard to get Paul started on his Spring Training: swinging the bat at me, throwing the ball at me, and running around in circles.

He was actually able to make contact with the ball sometimes. I'm sure that's already good enough to play for the Indians. And look how tall this kid is getting!

Already thinks he's big enough to beat up his dad. When he's not swinging something at me, he's got his fists up saying, "Wanna punch? Wanna punch, dad??" And then he tries to "bring the giant down!"

And then there's pregnant mom. She didn't quite have as much energy as Paul to run the bases.

But she can still sit on the sidelines and be his number one fan. So you gotta love the arrival of Spring! 75 and sunny is a whole lot better than shoveling snow!

Is it Spring yet?

No not quite yet, but the sun was shining today. While I went to work on a Sunday, Becky and Paul ran around in the yard, now mostly free of snow. It was good to get outside in the sunshine for a while, the first time in a while. And what’s more spring-like than blowing bubbles in the yard? I can’t think of anything.


Well I remember back in my day if you wanted bubbles you had to blow through one of those sticky plastic circle things. Kids these days. Now you just push a button and the thing blows the bubbles for you. After that, Paul was able to use it to update the status on his Facebook page.

The boy is growing up. I guess it had to happen sooner or later. It seems like just the other day he was a crying newborn. What would it be like to have one of those again? Ha! Oh wait...

This bubble is just about ready to pop. The same could be said for something else around here. Just five weeks until the estimated arrival of Paul's little brother. Wish us all luck!!

Down by the Bay

On Thursday we took a drive over to the Chesapeake Bay. It was kind of like going to the beach, only not quite as warm. The wind was a bit brisk, but Paul didn’t mind. He spent the time running around a playground pirate ship with a little girl who was hanging out around there. The girl’s babysitter was a skilled shark tooth finder, because in just a few minutes she found half a dozen in the sand for Paul. I looked all over the place and only found one little pathetic tooth. So apparently there are a few sharks in the bay, but they didn’t appear to be large man-eating sharks like the ones on TV that Paul loves to cheer on. Either way, the temperature of the water probably would have been worse than the sharks.

Taking a walk on the Boardwalk. A sign told me that the Chesapeake Bay produces more crabs than any other body of water in the world. That's a lot of crabs. We didn't see any.

Ahoy! Let's check the traps! It's crab legs for dinner tonight!

We're not getting in the cage. The cage isn't going in the water. Sharks in the water. Little sharks. But still... sharks.

Adam is a little disappointed that his big brother was born near a much warmer beach.

Just running around in the sand. One of his favorite things. We'll have to take him back in a few weeks if Spring ever shows up.

Why won't it stop?!?

The average annual snowfall in DC is something like 15 inches. Last weekend, some parts of the area got 38 inches in a 24 hour period. Down in southern Maryland here, we must have gotten at least two feet. So we spent the whole weekend trapped in the driveway and trying to dig out. When we got out on Sunday afternoon after it stopped, the roads and parking lots were chaos. I've seen several cars flipped on their sides and others buried head first in the snow off the road. One building in Waldorf apparently caught fire during the storm and burned to the ground. Trees were knocked over, power lines were down, and some people went without heat or power for 30 hours. They’ve been calling it the snowpocalypse. The nice thing was that I didn’t have to go to work on Saturday. I did, however, have to work a seventeen hour day yesterday to make up for the missed work. But then last night, round two began. And now it won’t stop snowing again. Possibly another twenty inches. Oh well. At least Paul enjoyed the snow!

Aaaah!! The snow is eating me alive!

This will have to be our new home. We're just going to have to dig in and wait until someone comes to save us, or until Summer gets here.

At least we can eat some snowflakes if we run out of food.

And this is the fun that I got to have. Nothing better than continuous shoveling. And now we'll have to do it all again. The only problem is trying to find a place to put it all. Oh, the joys of winter.