Democracy in Action

Voting in Virginia

 Fall is in full swing in Northern Virginia, which means it is the home stretch of the election season.  Virginia is one of two states (the other being New Jersey) that have a gubernatorial election this year.  Fun Fact:  Virginia is the only state that limits its governor to a single consecutive term.  This year Virginia will elect its first female governor (both candidates happen to be female).  Anna appears to be the targeted voter in the household as she receives reminders to vote at least 4 times a week, including handwritten postcards.  Ironically one of the post cards was postmarked from Columbus, Ohio and another one was from Long Island.  Will she get a postcard from Massachusetts next?

Thanks to early voting in Virginia and in an effort to make the postcards stop, the family did their civic duty on October 29 and voted.  It was a festive atmosphere at the local polling location with both parties and the election workers handing out candy (we did not analyze what type of candy each party was handing out).  Now we wait.

No Kings march in Vienna

In other news, the Federal government shutdown continues.  While other parts of the country may not have noticed that much yet, it has a big impact in our neighborhood and community with numerous people furloughed or contractors cut. Theresa's retirement from Federal service was effective September 30; however, the paperwork is currently not being processed as human resource staff are furloughed.  We will see how much longer this goes on.

In the meantime, here are some other highlights for the month: 

• Anna is currently training as a barista, which means she will soon be making all the fancy coffee drinks with the espresso machine.  She is enjoying her job and Theresa is enjoying the family perks of discounted coffee (Joe is happy with Folgers, but if Anna is happy and Theresa is happy then he is also happy).
• Anna & Theresa went out for the adult skate at the local roller rink.  This is a Sunday night event that features 80s and 90s music.  They both concluded that they need to work on their skating skills, which are good but nowhere near the level of some of the folks there.  Anna has been practicing.

  

  Our new yard sign (found all over DMV)

• There have been many gorgeous fall weather days, which means lot of time at the parks on local trails for both Joe and Theresa.  Theresa stopped by Meadowlark Botanical gardens one day with Benny for the "pup stroll," where they got to watch the Christmas light installation (not necessarily what you would think of as a fall activity, but the Christmas decorations are in all of the stores).  Benny is always a bit suspicious of car rides and was relieved when the trip ended at a park with new scents.
• Anna and Theresa joined neighbors for the local "No Kings" march on October 18.  Over 3,000 people were at the Vienna event, and many went into DC afterwards.  It was a peaceful and energizing event.

  

  Benny stops to smell the flowers

• Theresa did a quick trip to Ohio to visit Grandma and Grandpa October 25.  As luck would have it, that was also trick-or-treat night in town (in Ohio the towns have it on different nights).  It was a lovely fall evening, and the neighbors set up at the end of driveways, complete with music.  They had just over 400 trick-or-treaters!  One topic of conversation among the neighbors - the increases in candy prices (if you have bought any chocolate recently you know what they mean).  Future more cost-effective treats may be the return of the popcorn ball.
• After nearly 17 years of warily eyeing the large oak tree in the backyard and calculating the risk that it would come down on top of the house, Joe noted the large dead branches at the top (after smaller branches fell last week) was not a good sign.  Following a couple of assessments that the tree is dying, it was time to take it down.  Due to its location near the house, this was a major operation that involved a crane and tree climbers.  Alas, the tree is now gone.  As luck would have it, we have 35 mph winds today so that was good timing.  Ask Joe about the tree.  He has videos.

Today is Halloween and we have trimmed our budget so that we can afford candy for trick-or-treaters.  Costumes are still TBD, although Benny has his.   Anna is headed to Richmond to celebrate Halloween with her VCU friends.  Happy Halloween!

Waiting for trick or treaters in Ohio

Goodbye to the oak tree

You need a crane to lift the tree