As most folks (should) know by now, MFO is the Archivist for
the St. Mary’s County Historical Society, preserving and organizing documents
from our past. She also inherits boxes of “stuff” that get dumped on the
society when Gramma’s house is cleaned out by the kids and they find boxes in
the attic full of letters, pictures, etc.
She certainly learns stuff and sometimes finds some skeletons in
there. Anyway, another of her duties is
to be responsible for the Society’s Disaster Plan in case of fire, tornados,
pestilence and so on. I jest somewhat
but it is serious business.
In the world of historical preservation, a hot topic these
days is the whole spectrum of “water rise” and what to do when your collections
and historical properties go under water.
Places like Annapolis and the Solomons are very concerned. To deal with it takes years of planning. And, it is real. We have all seen those maps of what the
shoreline was in 1634, and what it is today.
Some of Jamestown’s buildings are now under water. So besides her personal interest in the
phenomenon, she is professionally concerned.
She’s been to several symposiums on the subject.
That’s the windup, and now the pitch! The Chesapeake Biological Lab on the Solomons,
which is part of the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental
Science. The have begun a series of
lectures called “Science for Citizens” (which somehow hits me as “Science for
Dummies”) on various topics (which you can look up), and last nights was a
presentation by Dr. Ming Li, entitled “Sea Level Rise, Changing Tides &
Storm Surge in the Bay”. So naturally
MFO was keen to go and had been looking forward to it for a while. Okay, you had to take a couple of pitches,
but here’s the fast ball.
We decided we’d have some cheese and crackers, and probably
skip dinner, so a small cocktail before leaving. We left the digs at approximately 6:15 for
the 7:00 program. Normally about a 20-minute
trip. Uh oh, a line of traffic in the
right hand northbound 235 lane (the one that peels off to the bridge), starting
about Town Creek Drive. Unusual, but it
was “rush hour”. Creep, creep, creep,
and by maybe 6:40 we were at the Olive Garden.
By 7:05, we crept around the corner onto 4 toward the bridge. We saw no emergency vehicles, cops or
nothing. Then we sat there without
moving for maybe 10 more minutes. Long (enough)
story short, at 8:15 we did a 180 in the MOMSTER and headed back to the
digs. We never got further than the “barn”
well before the bridge. Came home, and
drowned our disappointment with a couple of drinks. Watched an episode of an especially dour Doc
Martin, which somehow matched our mood.
During the ordeal, I tried in vain to find info. Baynet was telling me there was a serious
accident……..on Great Mills Road the previous day. Never could find any information save a text
from a friend who said there was a massive oil leak from a truck.
It’s nobody’s “fault” as such, but highlights what a choke
point the bridge in. I called the Lab
this morning and spoke to a very nice sympathetic lady who said the CBL videos
their programs, sent me a link and eventually it will appear. Hope so.. and since this is a food blog I’ll
hook slide a little food quiz here:
What are these, and what are they used for??
DFD
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