DEC-B-6
THE BEGINNING OF CHRISTMAS WEEK BEGINS ON
THE RUN, WITH SUNNY WARM DAYS,
AND SOME THOUGHTS AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE,
AS WE ENTER THE PRE-PROGRAMMED 2003
December 21, 2002
Greetings from the Autumnal Solstice, the longest coldest darkest day of the year, when the sun is stopped in its Southern Excursion at the level of the Tropic of Capricorn, 23.5 * south of the Equator. The earth will tilt no more this cycle, and will begin to start its wobble in the other direction which will have more of our Northern Hemisphere facing the sun, successively more each day, so that there is more of every day in the light of that sun—up until the wobble stops again on June 21, when the “sun stops” (Solstice) again, this time 23.5 * North of the Equator at the tropic of Cancer, marking the vernal solstice, or longest day/shortest night from the perspective of we Northern Hemisphere residents.
The geophysical facts determine many things about this season, such as my getting up in darkness, and returning in the same, with much of the evening still to go, even though it has to be “under the lights.” For a runner, it means it is cold and dark, and glove-requiring stocking cap pulled over the ears-requiring weather. For most of the runners, it means not running; and that has included me, until today. It was, of course, cold and dark when I started, but I had heard that the temperature would be up to 52* F today later, and it was, even with the rotting snowpiles in the corners olf the Derwood woods. I looked from my window upon return and saw bronze furry bodies bedded down on strategic places on the hillside looking upwind—a total of six of the same speices I had been hunting two weeks ago in the Eastern Shore of this same state. The meat-cutters at Jim’s Custom Cutting have called and the disassembled deer are already in the new freezer, and the first of the two heads is also in Parker’s Taxidermy—so already that recent adventure series is now receding into completed history.
I had returned to a walkway covered with branches and downfalls from the trees when I came home from my Michigan/Chicago travels, evidence from a big blow in my absence. So, after my twelve mile run this morning, I came back to rake the leaves and branches that are as regular a greeting for me as the big plastic bins of collected mail. But, I am through the re-entry process rapidly (my next leave for the Florida/Philippines will be five times longer—in both the absence and in the re-entry time required.) and am thinking of longer range plans beyond the pre-programmed itineraries of the first half of the year.
I have already deleted several travel commitments, canceling out of the two Central American anthropology lecture cruise trips to Yucatan and Belize on the basis of inadequate enrollment of the physicians who were supposed to sing up for it. I have a conflict in April when Ravi had wanted me to lead the Dharamsala tour (which would be my fifth time) so I told him “No Way.” Since I had just got two admissions to the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler, which is a classic run in the perfect time of the Spring, but this year also is the MCRRC hosting the RRCA national convention. That is the April 4—6, 2003 conflict that interferes with the Dharamsala tour, and it is a worthwhile reason to cancel my participation in the first of what looks like eight trips to India which I had already said I could do no more than half.
A USA HOST WITH THE MOST
I had also received a letter from Nga in Lukla Nepal who had begged me to rescue him and take him in to asylum in the US for health reasons: his health, meaning that the Maoists had written him a letter saying to close up the Lukla Health Clinic before they burned it down and telling him that he was going to be killed. I had a prior letter from a nephew of the exiled Kashmiri I had talked with in Ladakh, who had asked me to take him in as a recovering alcoholic and get him into medical school and a residency in the USA—it has been a good week for international asylum seekers who have been able to identify me from at least three removes of people who have heard of me or knew someone who had once called or emailed me. Then came the letters from Embangweni: could I get them into school, first in Africa as a way of me getting them into medical school in the USA—it will be no extra trouble, since they will stay with me in my Derwood home to minimize their cash requirements.
If the Maoists really ARE threatening to kill Nga and burn down the clinic I have helped to stock, then not only should Nga not be there, but neither should I along with a group of eager first-timers, who are keen on trekking up to Everest. I have already done that trek multiple times, and, besides, it was overlapped with the late September/early October Sikkim trek which I was going to lead as a first-time trip. So, I will do the latter, and not the former.
On the subject of overlap, it seems that I have been assigned to do the Ladakh trek, yet again, which is alleged to return around August 4 to Leh, whereas the second annual Lingshed Trek begins around the 31ST of July. So, again, I am committed to the latter, and will short change the former.
I had talked with an international visitor from Lund, Sweden, Dr. Myrhe, to whom I introduced Huda Ayas, and got both of them excited about the Ladakh trip, so that it might be possible to sign part of this Ladakh trip to my Swedish friend who found me by internet and recommendations of others.
LONG RANGE REAL ESTATE PLANS
I have had a meeting with Dee Rosenberg my realtor, and heard from her the surprising change in the real estate market, which was so over-heated just last month. It is probably got to do with the winter weather and also the distractions of Christmas, but the two month delay in getting my house repairs done and the second cleaning done, put it up on the market fifteen days ago. Dee had said that last month their staff meetings found that a newly listed house would be on the market one day, and there would be five bids, each offering above market prices; now, abruptly, the houses entering the market go five days with a single bid, under the market price. My house was shown before the cleaners got there, and the repairs were incomplete on each of the contracts. Dee said that since it had not sold immediately, I should come down in price, citing the house across the street (identical) which had been on the market for a 349 K price for a month was jus withdrawn from the market.
If the Aurora Drive house is not sold before I leave for Mindanao, (or possibly while I am there), I might withdraw it from the market rather than reduce the price, already heavily subtracted by the seller-borne closing costs. I have had a couple of new ideas about what I might use the house for on my own: I could either move into if and when the major remodeling at Derwood goes on, or as a place from which to look for a place to substitute for Derwood. The latter idea came from talking with a fellow named James Donnelly, a professional appraiser, who said that he thought that any appraiser would have to talk about the highest and best use of the property—forget the house—9.9 acres in Montgomery County has no “comparable” on which to base its worth in sale as a single family dwelling, but will be assessed only for the number of lots that greedy developers can hack out of it. So, since that will inevitably happen from the even greedier former housemates, let them run wild, and go find another small horse farm with adjacent woodlands and a stream running through it to start anew. Thanks! I thought. He said that the earlier assessment by Kindness was clearly a set-up for the lowest possible bid that they could make to buy me out, and they had asked to subdivide the property and take the majority for a reason, not to build their own house, but to plot out the only developable part and leave you with an isolated obsolete house in an inaccessible part of property they would have blocked in access.
He was a very energetic and excited fellow, who gave me a loot of time and had checked the real estate records to ask “How is it that they have not hounded you out already, and notified the Montgomery Advocate?” He described the latter as a fellow who scans the tax rolls, and finds properties that he considers undervalued for whatever maximum use the property might have and raise the taxes to the point that widows and children are evicted. I said that this is exactly what the former housemates were attempting to do to me. He said he did not think they would be able to kick me out of my own house, but the fuss stirred up by it would raise the attention as to the alternate uses of the property which they have been illegally flogging as development property would eventually make it unaffordable to stay her as a single family housing unit, whether expensively remodeled or not. Get rid of their claim” is his advice and also the single urging I get from two other sources—adding urgency from my side for what was their fire sale.
So, remodeling plans—the architectural plans themselves are now held hostage by one of the builders I had asked of r a competing estimate as a second bid—cannot go forward until they are cut out of my life in every way possible. After that, I can still go forward, but will have to know that it may have tax consequences, depending on how much blood money that they can wring out of me for my own house, and still that does not leave me with anything more than a house in need of remodeling, refinishing, re-furnishing and staring over after the market has devalued my funds, and they have run off with everything liquid in their ill-gotten gain on my investment. If you want a place to pout a horse, you can expect to “board” a single horse, but there is not good reason for boarding two or more horses. For that, you should do what Tom and Sheri have just done; acquire a property that can be modified to accommodate the livestock.
Within two minutes of the email telling me I should reduce the Aurora Dive house price if I wanted to sell it soon, since e the market has been tested, and just now, it is not there at that level (while it had been overbid as recently as last month), I got a second email from Dee saying a Long and Foster realtor had called her that a man from Florida had come in and wanted to return to take videos to send back to his wife, and planned to make an offer on the weekend. As Keith Carr said, “It only takes one.” So, either I sell it in this suddenly week market at the asking price, or we can take it of the market, and use it to be my dwelling during the massive remodeling project in Derwood, or as my fallback if I am kicked out of my own home in Derwood by whatever deviltry the greediest of Montgomery County’s most upright citizens are capable of turning on for the maximum squeezings of what I had worked so long, hard and carefully to preserve.
AFTER NOT RUNNING FOR TOO LONG
I AM RETURNING TO THE HOLIDAY RUNS
Joe has called and asked me to help him with a couple of last minute shopping mall purchases, and proposes that we start running at 5:30 AM tomorrow—in the darkest coldest pre-dawn second shortest day of the year. So, we will start early, and then go to buy the items he has “looked at”—but, obviously without his “seeing eye” family, since the presents are for them. I will get back to you for further fast breaking events.
SUNNY SUNDAY
FROM AN EARLY START TO A CLOUDY FINISH
Yes, I did start early with Joe, appearing at his door at 5:30 AM. At this time of year, compared to the times in later summer when I had an easy time of it since I was coming back from long distance travels and was still adapted to the time zones on the opposite side of that globe, it was dark when we started, and only a little less dark when we finished.
As we drove over to Ken-Gar, on Beach Drive, I encountered three deer standing at roadside, one a small buck, and then a few hundred yards further a very nice rack buck slowly and majestically walking across in front of my headlights. Joe had wanted to talk, and tell me more about the big troubles of his life while among them he has never complained once about being blind. He had called me when I was already on my way to Michigan and Chicago, since for the past several years I have brought their Christmas tree indoors and set it up for them, and that was what he had called for when I was already gone. He had a list of his blessings to recount, and high among them were the times I had taken the kids to Derwood to have picnics or swing on the tire swing, the canoeing expedition, and the fireworks and the pre-Thanksgiving trip to the Patuxent River for the Navy’s Recreation Center and our hike out to Calvert Cliffs. We had one more domestic chore to do which is why we were leaving so early today, and that was to get to what I had called Montgomery Mall, now renamed Westfield Shopping Village after it had been bought by a chain with the Westfield name. He wanted to do some Christmas shopping and buying, and this becomes a very daunting task for him, just in getting there, then in navigating the complexities that the average Mall Rat hangs out in daily. He needed a trusted set of Seeing eye shoppers” to find and compare the purchases and get bargains. Being a crotchety old skinflint has its under-rated joys, and now I could go through four stores and buy just what Joe had wanted and before the crowds came in. They are open at 8:00 AM at Christmas time, so we would be among the earliest shoppers, since we finished our run at about 7:40 AM, just in time to see dawn’s early light and talked with our futures in mind --running, racing, and personal commitments to help out a few others. We could also talk with our fellow runners who were gathering for the start of their run as we had finished ours, and at 8:01 we started our Mall Crawl, and finished that before the first runners came back from their twelve milers (the one I had done yesterday to the stables and back.)
I scurried home after completing our shopping foray, and showered up for church. There I met Elizabeth and Peter Heetderks who are here from Hawaii with their two boys including Keith who is about sixteen months old and a playmate of Devin and Jordan, who had cavorted with them when Michael and Judy visited this summer. Elizabeth reported that she had done her first marathon, the Honolulu, the first week of December, just before Christmas—her return to running after the birth of Keith. She invited me to come out and run it, and then added: “Michael and Judy are talking about coming out to run it!” I said that this was a surprise, since I had heard Michael say he had done his first and last marathon at the Austin Motorola Marathon. I told Elizabeth about the San Antonio Marathon, which coming up next November will be about the thirtieth running ( I had last done the 25th) which she did not know existed there. Who knows? I had talked with Virginia about doing the San Antonio Marathon at some time to met M, J, D & J in a race we could all run, but it may be an even more exotic locale for the first one. Peter and Elizabeth just bought a house in Kailua, and he is talking about moonlighting at Straub Clinic and seconding when he gets to the end of his term, whether he wants to get out, or stay, since he is concluding that either way (in Critical Care Surgery) that Hawaii is a good place to raise kids.
I came home to clean up the yard a bit more while the balmy winter interlude continued for a second day, after the early winter we had two weeks before Christmas, as we now have the more balmy weather often seen here at Christmas, with a chance of rain on the 25th.
I had heard from the Elwells with whom I had spent last Christmas, that I might possibly be expected back in upstate New York, as we try to work out whether they are coming down to Cumberland according to the license I have for them for the hog hunt in January. Christian has been very keen on doing it, but may be beginning a job at thee first of the year at Cornell, and he also has Ian from South Africa, the fellow I am supposed to meet who may arrange a hunt for me in conjunction with one of my African surgical safaris at some future time. Ideally, we could get out and meet Ian, and work out the scheduling of the hunts and visits in Africa in the 2004 future, and with Christian and Zack for the Alaska moose, black bear or mountain goat hunt and a bit of salmon and halibut dishing thrown in for late this next year.
On December 29, I will host a visit by Bob Killett from the Safari Club International who is the Master Measurer for SCI. He is coming on the postponed visit to measure the Kamchatka Snow Sheep Ram for the record Books of SCI. He has some ideas also about the design of a game room, and had just returned from Central Asia where he scored on a very magnificent Marco Polo Ram—a trophy I would like to see, but is probably out of my range to acquire.
Judy and the twins arrive in Virginia on Christmas Eve, and will be busy Christmas Day, when I have been invited to the gathering of the Aukward family. I will then go over to McLean VA to visit and perhaps run with the twins in the twin baby jogger, around the 26th through 29th. Michael arrives on the weekend, and they all come to visit Derwood on Dec. 30 and finish that by carrying me to BWI to take off to fly to Jacksonville. There, I meet Jennifer Curran, the CRNFA who will b e going with me to Mindanao, Philippines the next week, and go forward to Gainesville.
MY FLORIDA PLANS HAVE BEEN CHANGED FROM MY
HOPES
AFTER A CALL TO DONALD WHO TELLS ME OF THE
VETO
OF OUR FAMILY RETREAT TO CUMBERLAND
I will arrive late on the 30th at Donald’s house, and according to the most recent call, it may be that all of our careful plans for a good family visit to Cumberland and an opportunity for the kids to join us for a weekend at Nancy’s Fancy have all been vetoed. I had arranged for a ride-along with Donald on New Year’s Eve or Day, and then we could all go on the 3rd of January to Cumberland for a good weekend visit, following which whomever wished to return could do so on Sunday, and Donald could remain with us for the next three days of the Hog Hunt on the island in the Wilderness along with Craig and David Schaefer, Richard Reinert, Paul Gibbs, and the as yet unknowns, yet reserved, of Russell and Christian Elwell (and Ian if he would like to come along), Don King (doubtful, even if devoutly wished for), and Reg Franciose (who as ever, has been impossible to contact, since he does not return email, phone or postal messages.) We are coming close to the end of our exclusive rights to hunt in the only NPS that allows this, with the lease in short supply, so it is unlikely that those who say they will just pick up the next time around will ever have a chance to do it, especially since I have to designate those who care allowed in under the exclusive “Retained Rights” permit in August, and there is no last minute substitution of anyone at any time.
Gene Curletti had already known he could not attend as one of the names submitted, and next year I will try to add Bill Webster, and, for the last time, Donald. Donald really needs to get away on such an experience, since he is under a lot of domestic pressure and this would be the kind of relief that might be good to find a time and place for a really good hunt in an exotic location for the last of the “once in a lifetime” father and son hunt experiences I have been thinking of for him and maybe Tom and Drew---such as the caribou hunt of Quebec, or a Spring bear hunt, or the Alaska moose hunt. It is ironic that the likelihood of my taking Aubrey and Drew my grand nephew and niece, is much higher than the chance to take my own grandson and granddaughter on such a trip, since Kathy allows only excursions to her mother and her world is limited to Alachua County. Despite the fact that they are closest to Cumberland Island, we all come to converge from a long way away, and Paul Gibbs is inviting his two sons to visit for just the family weekend from still further away, while the short drive over from Gainesville is too far and dangerous to allow my grandkids to have a good outdoor adventure. This is not “pre-life” so we will just have to make the most of the experiences that are still open to us despite obstacles.
So, here comes Christmas week. At the moment, I plan to be right about here in Derwood, but it may also be the last time I will be likely free to travel away for this precious holiday also. Both the Bronco and I will probably be limited to shorter excursions and not for an absence on Christmas and its Eve, I had gone to Sheehy Ford to look at a big truck (which served to convince me that I had a very good deal on the one at Gary Pusey at Salisbury before), and I thought I should ask them if I could borrow a Power Stroke Diesel to take it out for a test drive of about 2,000 miles into Upstate New York?