Seen Around Town, June 19 - 20

Joe Tichy performs at the Bowie Town Park as part of the Saturday Old Town Bowie Summer Concert Series. Click here (PDF file) for the 2010 concert series schedule, and click here (PDF file) for the 2010 Music in the Parks brochure.

The stairs to the second floor of the railroad tower at the Bowie Train Station Museum were repaired about two months ago. Visitors were unable to see the room on the second floor of the tower for several years. My son and I checked out the contents of the top floor on Saturday afternoon for the first time. The next time you visit the museum, ask the person on duty to let you in to check things out.

Farm stand on Old Chapel Road between Route 197 and Highbridge Road. It's still a little early for the corn, but you can get tomatoes, beans, zucchini, cukes and more.

City of Bowie's In the Park After Dark program. A park ranger reads a story to children at Allen Pond Park Saturday night.

Farmers' Market Sunday morning in the library/high school parking lot.

Simple Pleasures Ice Cafe mobile unit at the Farmers' Market

Abandon home endorses Michael Jackson

Seen Around Town

Progress is being made at the new Bowie City Hall construction site. I expect it will look good when it's finished.

The pond at Bowie Town Center Park was looking terrible the other day. I took this picture on Tuesday, June 8th.

New speed camera on Belair Drive

New right turning lane on Kenhill Drive at Route 197

Baby geese at the Governor Bridge Natural Area in Bowie

Seen Around Town #5

We previously posted this picture of a prank seen on Stonybrook Drive. According to an article in the Bowie Blade, someone driving by dialed 911 because they thought that there was a real emergency, and the fire department responded. If I thought that someone was really stuck in the snow like this, I think I might try to pull them out myself before dialing 911.

I stopped in at MOMs Organic Market again last Saturday, and the parking lot was packed once again. I overheard a customer say to one of the cashiers something like, "I'm so happy that you're here in Bowie!" There seems to be a lot of excitement about the new Bowie store.



I also noticed that the McDonald's building is now gone from Hilltop Plaza. The restaurant closed the location last November.



Volunteers shoveled the sidewalk along Old Chapel Road in Bowie on Saturday. Parents and some children from Whitehall Elementary School and Samuel Ogle Middle School participated.

The Snowstorm Chronicles - More Post-Storm Scenes

More post-storm scenes from around Bowie.

Seen Sunday on Superior Lane

WELCOME
TO ANCHORAGE
POPULATION: STIR CRAZY

Crews continued to remove snow from Route 197 on Sunday near the Bowie Town Center. Most lanes on Route 197 in Bowie are now clear of snow.

Prices resumed falling at Walmart Sunday. The store closed Friday after the County declared the building unsafe due to fears that the heavy snow on the roof might cause a collapse. A crew with a crane worked to remove snow from the roof as customers shopped inside.

Workers take a break from removing snow from the Walmart roof.

A Bowie Christmas

The City of Bowie recently held the 28th Annual Holiday House Decorating Contest. I took pictures of some of the winning entries and some other Christmas sites around Bowie.

The list of addresses for the winning entries can be seen in this PDF file on the City Of Bowie's Web site, and pictures of all of the winning entries can be seen in this large PDF file.

Tony Begenwald received a Best of Bowie Award for this display on Medina Lane. Tony is a repeat winner.

The Norris Family on Moylan Drive received a Spirit Award.

The Galentine Family on Gradys Court received a Best of Bowie Award.

The Robey Family on Gradys Walk received a Spirit Award.

The Gradys Walk neighborhood in Bowie had more than their share of winners. The Westbrook Family on Gradys Walk received a Spirit Award.

More holiday decorations in the Gradys Walk neighborhood, although this house wasn't one of the contest winners.

Christmas decorations in the Whitehall neighborhood.

We came across this Santa on a motorcycle in the Whitehall neighborhood. This was my son's favorite.

This holiday display can be seen every year on Chelton Lane in Bowie's Chapel Forge neighborhood. My picture didn't come out that great, but this decoration appears to be a single strand of lights that hangs in a straight line along the trunk of a tree. It looks like there may be a small ball at the top. I'm not sure if there is any meaning behind the light. It doesn't really look all that festive. I can recall seeing this display for at least the last three or four years.

Santa and Mrs. Claus can be seen each year at the Bowie Train Station Museum on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. That Sunday is known as Train Spotting Day in Bowie. The museum is located next to the train tracks that are used by Amtrak for runs between D.C. and points in the Northeast, and more train traffic can be seen near the museum on the Sunday after Thanksgiving than on any other day of the year.

This guy waves to people driving along the Crain Highway near Rips.

The Giant at Free State Mall on Christmas Eve afternoon. The parking lot was packed, and I had to park at the other end of the parking lot in front of Blockbusters.

I ran into this Christmas display on Good Luck Road in Lanham. Here's a little multiple choice test. Which one of the following was your first thought when you saw this?

A. Now that puts me in a holiday mood!
B. Where do they store all this stuff during the rest of the year?
C. How do the garbage men know what to take and what to leave on trash day?
D. I need to find a spot to pull over to take a picture for my blog.

Many Christmas trees remain unsold at this lot in Bowie Plaza on the day after Christmas.

Seen Around Town - v3

This house can be found near the corner of Routes 450 and 193 in the Bowie/Glenn Dale area. The sign says "EXPERTHOUSEMOVERS.COM." You be the judge.

Is it just me, or does anyone else see the image of a man on this pigeon's neck? He's got bushy hair, a thick mustache, a goatee and fashionable glasses. I found this guy hanging out over the railroad tracks in Old Bowie.

I saw this Canadian Goose at the Bowie Town Center Park. My daughter said, "Hey Dad. Look at the goose with one leg!" I stopped to watch him for a bit because I wanted to know how the heck he got around.

Doh! He was keeping his leg warm underneath his wing.

This is our neighbor's cat - Cookie. Some cats walk around like they own the house. Cookie is an outdoor cat who owns our neighborhood. Even though she's not our cat, she sometimes greets us at our front door when we come home. If you don't block her with your leg, she'll come in the house. Sometimes she'll nap in our garage if I leave the door open. Our next door neighbors have a doggy door, and they will sometimes come home to find Cookie relaxing on their kitchen counter.

I found this bird of prey near Gallant Fox Lane in Bowie. I'm not sure exactly what this is - maybe a falcon or a hawk. It was actually hanging out in a tree with a group of crows. This was as close as I could get before this bird flew away.

Another shot of the mystery bird.

Ya know, Sarah Palin said that this would happen during her lifetime, but who knew that the Messiah would be coming this soon - and to Bowie of all places. There's no point keeping any of my worldy pocessions. Does anyone want my Billy Ocean - Love Zone CD? Who am I kidding? I think it's going to be eternal damnation for me. Can I borrow your sunscreen?

We get three free papers each week in Bowie: The Bowie Blade News, the Bowie Star and the Washington Examiner. These papers are tossed onto driveways throughout the city. The papers will litter some driveways for days or weeks. I came across this driveway in Bowie's Amber Meadows neighborhood.

Billboard in Greenbelt. Did she convince you?

This sign was spray painted by a Ron Paul supporter (I assume) on a Capital Beltway overpass.

Free State Vultures

We headed over to the Free State Mall in Bowie for an early morning breakfast at IHOP today, and we saw about a dozen black vultures around Free State. I've seen them congregate in this area before.

Beware. This one attacks customers that bring back late videos.

A close-up of the Blockbuster vulture.

These two guard from on top of the parking lot lights.

The black vulture diet mainly consists of animals found dead. This one waits on the IHOP roof for a customer to keel over and die after too much bacon.

This one waits for the remains of a Breakfast Sampler to be thrown away out back.

Six black vulture share a pair of trees behind the mall.

These three vultures roost on a branch together.

Black vultures look graceful when in flight, but they look a little awkward when they walk around. Check out those feet.

Classic pose. If anyone were to put a replica of a black vulture on a building, this is the pose they would use.

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