Tuxedo-moon: July 2010

Hummingbird Moth

July 26, 2010: This hummingbird moth was all over our garden Monday night and fairly oblivious to our presence. [UPDATE: Doug Tallamy says it's a sphinx moth! Apparently same family but different genera.]

Storm

July 25, 2010: After several weeks of sweltering heat, temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and high, unrelenting humidity, a cold front arrived about 4 p.m. dropping temperatures by 25 degrees, with high winds and gusts upwards of 90 mph. We saw the storm coming and decided to get in the car and head home.

No sooner did we leave Bowie than we found ourselves in a wooded area with flying tree branches, fleeing deer and lanes blocked by fallen limbs. We quickly got through that to the main highway which was more open but where the rain was so heavy that we turned on our flashers and pulled off to the side.

As the rain calmed a little, we proceeded down the road.

Eventually we came upon a small shopping center where we could pull off and park away from building, trees and signs and wait out the deluge.

When the storm abated we headed home. It was dicey going as the traffic lights were out at most intersections and not unusual to find a lane blocked by a fallen tree. We headed back to the Baltimore Washington Parkway but found it a parking lot inbound. So we quickly exited onto the Capital Beltway which was moving very slowly so we quickly exited onto Kenilworth Avenue While everybody else was backed up on the parkway, Kenilworth gave us a speedy way home!

Detour to Bowie

Maryland, July 25, 2010: We headed out the Baltimore Washington Parkway on our way to Montpelier Mansion near Laurel, but just after the Capital Beltway, the parkway became a parking lot. So we bailed out into territory incognito and wandered into downtown Bowie, where we came upon its railroad museum.

Before the Civil War, the Maryland legislature gave a charter to William Duckett Bowie to build a railroad from Baltimore into Southern Maryland. Construction stalled during the war. After the war, Duckett cut a deal with the Pennsylvania Railroad which had been excluded by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad from serving Washington DC. Bowie's charter gave him the right to build a spur and that "spur" became the mainline for the Pennsylvania Railroad to reach Washington DC. It remains the mainline today for Amtrak trains between DC, New York and beyond. Bowie was the railroad town that grew up at the spur.

As we were among the few out and about on this extremely hot and humid day, a guy from the museum came out and gave us a private tour:

The railroad museum in the depot was small, but quite good.

We had a bite to eat at the Grill and then wandered through some antique shops.

The Goodbye Girl at Screen on the Green

July 19, 2010: We skipped Goldfinger on July 12 because rain was threatened and, as predicted, we had a rain storm about 10 p.m. that night. So we were quite surprised to find that city is so poor that it has raised the meter fees to 8 quarters an hour and operates the meters until 10 p.m.! This is taking what little fun is left out of "Our Nation's Capital" and we are seriously reconsidering Screen on the Green. [Indeed, parking has become so expensive in the city that we are doing almost all of our shopping in the suburbs.]

The forecast was better for The Goodbye Girl, but nevertheless rain threatened and, indeed, we had a brief shower.

But, the skies cleared, we had a rainbow, and the show went on.

A Eastern kingbird waits for the show:

What a Difference a Week Makes

Davidsonville, MD, July 17, 2010: A roadside farm stand--tomatoes, a green tomato (for frying), bell peppers, cucumbers, peaches, watermelon and corn on the cob: