Cup o' Joe
Food, travel, and news on the Chesapeake Bay
Herndon Monument Climb: Out with the Lard, in with the Soy Sauce!
Does everyone agree that the Herndon Monument climb was a bit of a letdown this year? Those hard-charging plebes reached the Dixie cup hat on top in a lightning-fast two minutes and five seconds! I imagine the whole thing was a bit anti-climatic for the boys, too. You wait the entire year for this and it’s over faster than Bill the Goat can eat a plate of oats.
I can understand why top brass wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt, but it all seems a little ironic to me. Although I’ve never climbed a 21-foot-tall phallic symbol greased with lard, I imagine it’s one of the least dangerous things a midshipman will do during his time at the academy—or certainly after. Remember what these guys are trained for.
So here’s my suggestion: If greasing Herndon with lard is too dangerous and slick, then let’s try a different lubricant next year. How about tomato sauce? Everyone could celebrate afterward with a big pasta dinner at Bancroft Hall. Or maybe a nice horseradish mustard—just enough grit to ease the climbers’ efforts. Is honey too sticky? Yeah, maybe. How about Thousand Island dressing? Really, the possibilities are endless…(Not to mention much lower in fat than lard.)
Comments (0)
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 05/26/10 at 01:38 PM
Last week was a big one for the Bay. At least that’s what everybody was saying. First, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation settled its 16-month-long lawsuit with the Environmental Protection Agency and then the Obama Administration released its long-awaited plan to restore the Chesapeake.
As I write this, it’s been nearly an entire week since the plans were announced. Is the Bay cleaned up yet? What’s taking so long? Forgive me for being impatient, but I think I’ve waited long enough.
Right now, I’d like to go for a swim in the Severn River—without having to take a very long shower afterward. And then I’d like catch and eat a whole boat load of rockfish—many more than the government says it’s safe to eat per month. Then I’d like to go out with a waterman friend of mine and dredge so many oysters, he’ll be able to support his family for a month.
But I guess I’ll have to wait a little longer to do these things.
When CBF’s settlement with the EPA was announced, Naval Academy prof and longtime CBF critic Howard Ernst weighed in with typical skepticism: “I for one will withhold my excitement until the EPA actually follows through on its threats. [Until] they prove they are willing to deny permits to polluters, this is all bark and no bite, and it is all too familiar.”
Yes, Howard, maybe we’ve heard this all before. But as EPA point man Chuck Fox (and dead ringer for rocker Ben Folds) told writer Rona Kobell in our current issue, he thinks this time will be different. This is a binding agreement, after all. The CBF could bring another lawsuit if the feds don’t follow-up on their promised enforcement. But lawsuits, as we know, take many months or years to settle. And even the Obama plan calls for purifying 60 percent of the Chesapeake Bay’s waters within 15 years. Fifteen years!
In the meantime, I wait; my bathing suit as dry as Eastern Shore cornstalks in October.
Comments (0)
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 05/18/10 at 01:33 PM
Yes, the Obama Administration has decided to “examine” the plan to allow oil drilling in Virginia waters near the mouth of the Chesapeake. And I imagine offshore oil drilling will be delayed here as well as elsewhere in the country due to the Gulf spill. But we Americans have very short memories.
Several readers have written to me wondering what they can do to prevent the government from moving ahead. As CBF blogger Tom Pelton points out in a recent post, writing to your Congressman may not be the most effective outlet in this case. There is no “drilling bill” that needs to be passed. Instead, he suggests writing to the federal Minerals Management Service regarding “Lease Sale 220” zone, which establishes drilling rights for 2.9 million acres about 50 miles off the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Virginia Beach. According to Pelton, the agency is also considering leasing a larger swath of land from Maryland south to Florida. To make your voice heard, you can e-mail MMS at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or write to U.S. Department of Interior, Attention Leasing Division, 381 Elden Street, MS-4010, Herndon, Va. 20170
Comments (0)
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 05/06/10 at 09:35 PM
Masthead Photo by