04 March 2009

Nothing like the sun

Still pretty frigid out my way, but being Maryland, that will change soon. It's supposed to be in the 60's by Saturday. That's a happy number. I'm looking at the paper and it says our average winter snowfall, since 1888, is 15.2". The only time it's gone above that since 2000 was in 02-03 when we had 40.4". I remember that one well because we had a major blizzard and we were stuck at home. I kind of remember it fondly. All the neighbors banding together to help each other out, etc. Last year we had 4.9" and the winter just didn't seem right. I'm not saying I wish I lived in a snowy state; I just like at least one good one. Talking about numbers, here's a little trivia. The Pew Center on the States found that ID and GA had the highest percent of population in corrections system, with GA having the highest at 7.70% and NH having the lowest at 1.10%. Idaho? That's a real surprise. Do they transfer them in from other states? Maryland has a lot of 'correctional facilities'. I pass one of them on my drive to work. I'm pretty sure it's for the criminally insane. I had to take a detour the other day that took me by a complex of prisons. There's another one, huge with amazing architecture that I'd like to get close enough to see, but the road is off-limits. There's another town in the state that's known for the number of prisons. There's something about prisons I find fascinating, but not enough that I'd want to live in one.

As some of you may know, I've given up swimming because of my shoulder. I hope it's not forever, but it's left a mental void. It was such a stress-reliever and I really miss it. There's nothing like the feeling of being immersed in water and having the only thing on your mind being counting to take your thoughts away from what might be troubling you. After writing the above paragraph, a thought jumped in my head: go to the mall and walk. So, I drove the 10 minutes to Arundel Mills Mall and walked three laps. I believe one lap is a mile. I listened to Toby Keith's 'Pull My Chain' CD. I was back home in a little over an hour after I first left. Now I'm ready for my day (thanks Kit for the inspiration) with a new attitude.

I hope the sun's shining out your way.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cheryl, That is great!

Kit

KathyA said...

Good for you!
The place for the criminally insane is in Crownsville. Jessup still houses the Howard County Detention Center. I think the women's prison is closed. Interesting about Idaho???

Brad said...

I love architecture and some of the old prison do have really cool buildings, at least some of the older ones on the east coast do.

It's gray here so far today but it's early so 'fingers crossed'

Cheryl said...

I did a litle research. "The Patuxent Institute houses the majority of the incarcerated mentally ill offenders in the State". Yup. That's the one I pass.

happyone said...

I'm fascinated with prisons too!
Close enough to a mile around the loop at the mall but it's actually .8 of a mile. I've clocked it with my pedometer. :-)

Cindy said...

It's a balmy 42 here today, a few days ago it was 12 with wind chills below zero. My what a difference 48 hours makes the midwest.

josie2shoes said...

For some reason I am drawn to prisons too, Cheryl. Perhaps because there are so many stories within the walls, and so much human misery connected. I was once engaged briefly engaged to a guy in the State Penitentury in South Dakota. OMG, what was I thinking??!! At least that's one instance of temporary insanity that I quickly recovered from. :-)

Cindy said...

I am a nurse, we partnered with another nurse in our hospital to provide care for 8-10 patients every day. Her hubby was going to school to be an MD, his goal was to work with the extreme criminal insane, the Hannibal Lecter's of the world. I have never heard if he reached his goal.

Portia said...

The last big snow storm I remember here on the east coast was in 1989. I wonder what I was doing in 2002 that a blizzard didn't phase me. Even though we were trying to move this weekend, it was cool to get so much snow at once again! I'm with you, a real winter needs at least one good snow.

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