Weather Matters

Man Your Weather Stations!

By J.E. Szech

               The area around the basement door is wet. Again.  It’s a familiar tale in northern Anne Arundel County.  The basement is waterproofed but the tiniest of drains in the basement stairwell is clogged with leaves, or lint, or whatever critter has decided to make a home for the season.  Sure I could get one of those moisture alarms, which is fantastic if you’re home to hear it.  I guess I could install something that connects to my phone? Meh, I’m too connected as it is.  I finally decide my best bet is to start monitoring my own weather system in Linthicum.  I’ll miss you Bob Turk.  You’re moustachioed face and pleasant voice have guided me for years, but I’m going on my own.  I’m buying a home weather station.

               Full disclosure, for years my best friend has been a ‘weather nerd’.  I was relentless in my teasing him over the hours he would spend monitoring The Weather Channel.  He spoke of pressure systems and fronts. Millibars and knots. Accumulation. Oh yes! There will be accumulation!  I paid little attention, I wear shorts when its thirty degrees and I am not sure that I have ever owned an umbrella.  Who am I? The Penguin?  Something changed this winter though, maybe it was above average rainfall or the thought of being out of work for a few days shoveling snow, but I decided that weather was my new thing.

               Doing your research on a weather station is relatively easy.  I jumped on the web and quickly established a budget of $200.00.  Some home models can easily exceed $1500.00.  I’m looking to monitor the local storms, not send reports to NASA, but it is nice to know that upgrades are available.

               After weeks of in-depth research and discussions with other local weather aficionados, I decided on an Acu-Rite 01500 weather station.  It’s blue backlit screen offers a multitude of functions, is simple to operate, and even saves data that you can track through the year if you feel so inclined.  I mounted the receiver unit on a fence post in the back of my yard.  Placement is critical as the area should be free of overhead shade, and trees which could clog the rain collection cup. That’s right! You can measure your own rain!  My wife was not nearly excited as I was over this discovery, but she feigned excitement, so that I would leave her alone and go back outside.  The unit uses AA batteries to power the fan motor and transmit the data to the receiver inside your home.  Once connected your system will go through a two week learning period that calibrates and adjusts to the environment.

               Most home units are transmitting data using your home’s Wi-Fi connection.  What made the system so appealing was the fact that I could purchase a bridge unit from Acu-Rite that allowed me to take the data from my backyard and send it directly to the site Weather Underground.  This crowdsourced weather service has allowed me to monitor the weather in Linthicum from my phone with accurate wind speeds, rain totals, and approaching storm cells.  On more than one occasion this more detailed forecast has given me the time to run home from work to make sure the basement was and stayed dry.

               The detailed readouts on falling and rising pressure systems have also been critical when making decisions about outdoor projects, as well as letting folks with sinus issues know when they may have a rough day ahead.  The Monitor also keeps tabs on the pressure, humidity and high and low temperatures in your home.  Installation is simple, and I was up and running in about thirty minutes.  Sure you can go to any website and get a weather report, but like home baked cookies, some things are just more fun when you do it yourself.  Within a few minutes of activating my Weather Underground account I received a text from my friend informing me of what I already knew…I was a weather nerd.  As we enter hurricane season, the weather watching should be interesting.  Check back to the LSIA Facebook page for updates and storm preparedness tips regarding incoming storms, I’ll continue to get the best information to you from Office of Emergency Management as well as the national Weather Service when the major storms rear their heads.  See you in the troposphere!

LSIA Election Information and Candidates as of 4/26/16

Bylaws Regarding Elections:

Article VI: Executive Board

Section 1
The Executive Board of this Association shall be the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, and eight (8) members of the Board of Directors, and as many as four (4) senior advisors, making a total of sixteen (16) members.

Section 2
Any member of the Association in good standing shall be eligible to hold office, providing they are residential property owners and reside in the area designated in Article III, Section 1.

Section 3
Not more than one member from an immediate family may serve on the Executive Board during any fiscal year.

Section 4
At the Board's discretion, the President may appoint a "senior advisor" to the Executive Board. A senior advisor will:

• Be an LSIA member with at least 10 years’ experience serving within the Linthicum community in some volunteer capacity.
• Provide insight and guidance to the Board on matters related to all issues affecting the Association; serve as the "corporate knowledge" for the Association to ensure that past issues are not overlooked by current and future Association Board members.
• Be invited to attend all Board meetings to serve in an advisory capacity, but not have voting privileges as a full Board member.

Article VII: Nominations – Elections

Section 1
A Nomination Committee consisting of three (3) members will be nominated by the Board of Directors, subject to the approval of the general membership no later than the month of February. The Nominating Committee shall present nominations to the general membership at the April meeting and/or publish the list of nominees and their proposed office in the Association’s newsletter for the May meeting.

Section 2
Further nominations may be made for any eligible member in good standing by a member of the general membership from the floor at the April and May meetings.

Section 3
Elections shall be held at the monthly general membership meeting in May at which time the Nominating Committee’s report shall be entered in the May minutes. The President-elect shall become resident agent of the Association during his/her tenure of office.

Section 4
The terms of office of President and Vice-President shall be limited to no more than four (4) consecutive one-year terms. This does not preclude a candidate from serving four (4) consecutive years in one office followed by 4 consecutive years in the other office.

Section 5
The order of succession of officers is as follows:

President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary

In the event of death, resignation, or removal of an officer or director, the Board of Directors, by majority vote, shall elect a successor.

Section 6
A member of the Executive Board shall be an Association member (see Article VI, Section 2) and shall not concurrently hold a public office. Those who become candidates for public elected office shall be given a “leave of absence” until after the election. If elected, they shall be expected to resign from the Association position.

Section 7
The Officers and Directors so elected shall assume their duties at the first regular general membership meeting, or at the first monthly meeting of the Executive Board, held subsequent to their election.

Candidates

(As of April 26, 2016)

For President:

Suzzie Schuyler

For Treasurer:

Charlie Mannion

For Secretary:

Kevin Plessner

For Vice-President

Celeste Riddle

Board of Directors

Jim Blankenship

Shawn Murphy

Dale Townsend

Jonathan McGowan

Derick Dallas

Kim Solloway

Glen Haller

Justin Szech

Fitness and Exploration Meet in Linthicum

By Glenn Haller

I am a relative newcomer to Linthicum, having moved here about 21 years ago, shortly after my second child was born.  I live on the west side, on White Ave off of Andover.  We are a quiet community of one acre or more properties.  My wife and I bought the property to have some space for us and our kids to enjoy and to still be close to major highways.  I have since discovered an extra bonus, the joy of walking in this area.

I used to do a lot of volksmarching which involved driving often an hour or more, walking for about two hours and returning home.  Pre-kids and other responsibilities this was a great way to see the larger area from Northern Virginia to Southern Pennsylvania. These days I prefer to start and end my exercise at my front door.  For a while I biked the trail but decided to stop a few years back. These days I stick to walks with a little running.

A few years ago I started using one of the wrist-born step counters. I have switched to one that also measures heart rate and stair flights, and even tells time. Combined with the app on my phone I get some good information about how far I walk, how fast, and how many flights of stairs I climb. They don’t call this place Linthicum Heights for nothing. I can’t go anywhere around here without climbing some hills. 

Most days I get at least 5 miles (for me that is about 11,000 steps) and 20-25 flights of stairs. On weekends I usually get more.  This includes walking around work and around the house as well as walking more briskly for exercise.

Places around here I enjoy walking:

Nursery/Elkridge Landing/Winterson – from my house around this loop and back is about 2.5 miles. One way is a steep downhill with a long slow climb back up. The other way is a long slow descent followed by a steep climb up Nursery.  I have worked in a number of buildings along this route.  Not much nature here but it is quiet in the evenings and on the weekends. 

White Avenue to the BWI Trail – when I need a quick walk with a lot of stair flights I walk down to the end of White. If you have an old map you might think that White connects to Elkridge Landing but it stops at the bottom of a hill just short of the trail.  Over time more houses have been built between my house and Main Ave and between Main and the dead end, with each neighbor improving the road a bit. When the weather is dry I enjoy the steep climb up the hill to the trail. After it rains though water collects at the dead end and I have to take another route nearby to the trail. I can get a quick mile or more just doing this. 

If I turn left at the BWI trail I can work my way to where the trail comes out by the school, turn left past the LFYAA fields, left on Main and back home.  At some point we expect that Andover will be widened and it will be safe to take Andover back to White – today that would be suicidal.  A shorter option is to climb the large hill over-looking the airport (there is a slight path there) which comes out by the Andover pool, back to Main and back home. 

If I turn right at the BWI Trail I have several options.  If I cross over into the airport I can go climb the steps at the parking garage (lots of stair flights but it slows the pace down considerably).  The view from the top of the garage is great.  That is about another 2.5-mile route. I recently found a safe pedestrian path to the airport terminal along this route. It is not well marked.  On Sunday mornings I like to kick on the after burners and do a walk/run to the Amtrak Terminal and climb to the top of the garage there.  Also a nice view.  Along the way I pass a good example of the storm water bay conservation effort (as opposed to the effort by Hammonds Ferry and Andover).  This is about a 4-mile journey.

Most of my walking is done alone, which I prefer.  It gives me time to think and explore.  I do like to join others occasionally for a walk/eat/walk.  We will walk to a local restaurant, enjoy a guilt free meal and walk home.  The most distant restaurants I have walked to are Los Portales and Olive Grove, each about 3 miles away.  More likely choices these days are Chili’s and Ruby Tuesday.  The Ruby Tuesday walk takes me along Winterson behind the movie theater which gives me a chance to monitor the progress of the new apartments. 

I also walk into Linthicum proper from time to time.  I walk up to the middle school for LSIA meetings. It is about 1.25 miles each way so I get half of my days’ miles this way.  I have walked into town to pick up my car from the service station, to the Linthicum fall festival, to the post office, etc. 

So what do I get from all of this walking? Over the past five years or so I have dropped and kept off about 60 pounds, lowered my blood pressure, resting heart rate, A1C, and LDL, and raised my HDL sometimes to a level higher than my LDL. I have cholesterol to live for!  I also get to talk to neighbors I would not otherwise see that often.  Walking calms me down when I am stressed and elevates my mood.  In this last year my watch has recorded over 2500 miles and 8000 flights of stairs.  Walking is a low impact way to get and stay healthy.

IRS SCAM WARNING

Be advised, this scam is often targeted at seniors and those who may be new to the United States. Sread the word and be cautious with your personal information.

IRS-Impersonation Telephone Scam
An aggressive and sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, has been making the rounds throughout the country. Callers claim to be employees of the IRS, but are not. These con artists can sound convincing when they call. They use fake names andbogus IRS identification badge numbers. They may know a lot about their targets, and they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling.

Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting.
Or, victims may be told they have a refund due to try to trick them into sharing private information. 
If the phone isn't answered, the scammers often leave an “urgent” callback request.

Note that the IRS will never: 1) call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill; 2) demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe; 3) require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card; 4) ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone; or 5) threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.

For more information please visit: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Tax-Scams-Consumer-Alerts

Community Resources Night

Learn more about Services and Resources available to you! Join us for a Community Town Hall… March 15,2016 Brooklyn Park Middle School 200 Hammonds Lane Brooklyn, MD 21225

Doors Open: 6:30 pm

County Executive Opening Remarks: 7:00 pm

On-site representation from  all County Agencies & Departments to answer your questions.

Sponsored by: The Office of County Executive Steven R. Schuh For additional details contact Nancy Schrum at 410-222-1527 OR VIA EMAIL AT nschrum@aacounty.org

ANYONE NEEDING ACCOMMODATIONS SHOULD CONTACT AT LEAST 7 DAYS PRIOR TO THE EVENT.