whats up wheaton?
Wheaton, Kensington and the surrounding area
From Shady Grove to… Fort Totten
Sep 3rd
Just a quick reminder that this is the weekend where Metro cuts us off from the rest of the world
to replace a track switch. In fact our nearest Red line station after 9.30pm tonight is at Fort Totten. Yikes. That’s an early cut off and no doubt someone will get caught out tonight coming home from a Happy hour that ran too long.
I hope you can all drive or enjoy the bus.
Normal service resumes at 5am Tuesday morning.
Discovery Building hostage taker was neighbor from across the street
Sep 2nd
Gosh, its been quite the Thursday morning here in South Wheaton in the area known as Kensington Heights.
I walked outside my house at 10am and saw several police cars on the corner of Torrance Drive and Kimberly Street, just south of the Westfield mall. They’d come quietly, no sirens. In addition there were several black cars and a lot of men standing outside 2012 Kimberly St. I milled about and tried to find out what was going on only to be met with “Pls stay behind the line sir”. They had by now taped off the street to prevent anyone getting too close to 2012.
It was a sunny day and I enjoyed walking around watching the various shenanigans. The FBI arrived, the K-9 unit arrived, a team of FBI agents put on blue plastic gloves and went to work in the house. I had suspected it was drug related but of course it proved to be far different. All this time they were not giving out much information and people were being turned back who tried to walk up Kimberly towards Torrance.
Now Jack Bauer wouldn’t have stood for this wall of silence. He’d have been tunneling through the sewers and then coerce that information out of someone. Mild mannered me, however preferred to sip my cup of tea from afar and was happy to watch.
At 12:00 I heard the news I had initially discounted – the home contained a room rented out by yesterday’s infamous James Lee described elsewhere as a “homeless former Californian” who took hostages inside the Discovery Building before being killed by police. As such the police and the FBI were very interested in this house and took every precaution due to Lee’s proficiency with bomb making. Fortunately I did not hear or see any explosions and finally three hours later its all over and the street will now return to normal.
I did get to meet the lovely Taylor from Wheaton Patch and her account of the morning is here. She was the first to break that it was Lee who had resided on Kimberly Street.
Sneaking onto the Today show.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Sneaking onto ABC7
Where’s it at Wheaton? Landscapers…
Aug 23rd
Good morning everyone. We need a little help getting a tree stump grounded out and a lawn planted in its wake.
We had a guy promise to do it but he has mysteriously vanished when push comes to shove.
We are constantly getting people dropping their business cards on our doorstep but its hard to tell who is better than any other person, particularly when most are not listed on the Better Business Bureau website. We are looking for good value and someone who is reliable.
So if you have someone that you can recommend who will remove a stump and do some landscaping we’d love to hear about it. Its getting close to lawn planting season.
Montgomery County Agricultural Fair
Aug 16th
The fair is in town! Well, Gaithersburg but it is our county fair and a quick show up 270 to get there. It opened Saturday afternoon and remains open to the end of next Saturday.
The fair is close to central Gaithersburg and is just off of Diamond Road at Route 355.
Parking is available at the fairgrounds, but there is also free parking at Lakeforest Mall with free shuttle service to and from the fair. The fair opens at 10am and is open until midnight with an entrance fee of ten dollars for adults and children under 11 are admitted free.
It is pretty sizable once you enter the fair. At one end, you have arts and crafts with a few shops. In the middle, you have several animal barns containing cute rabbits, cows and llamas among others. At the far end is the carnival and umpteen rides that are designed to make you spin around as much as possible while kids scream with glee all around you. The rides are not free, most operate on a ticket system. Tickets are a dollar each, with the best deal being 24 tickets for 20 dollars. Most rides require 3 tickets per person, though a couple clock in at five tickets.
There is also a small arena. Each night, the fair hosts events such as tractor pulling and monster trucks. Next Friday and Saturday there will be a demolition derby. These events cost approximately 12 dollars to attend.
There are plenty of ATMs and food options. I had my first ever fried Oreo yesterday. Only in America would someone take a cookie and fry it. We bought 6 for 5 dollars and they actually tasted pretty good. I am told its typical fair food for Americans. There are also umpteen other carnival foods available (think cotton candy, Italian ice, gyros, chicken, nachos).
Admittedly, we did suffer a little after the rides. It turns out that I am not so well equipped to handle spinning around as much as when I was a teen. Good fun though. We are probably going back Friday to catch the demolition derby! Good fun and hours of entertainment for the whole family.
Tree trimmers left with plenty of work.
Aug 16th
Saturday afternoon we were driving across Dennis Ave towards Colesville Road on our way to Trader Joe’s for the monthly shopping trip.
On the way we saw several tree branches down and several wires down as a result of the crazy storm last week. North of the beltway really got hit hard.
Particularly along Colesville (Route 29) you could see line after line down and the utility companies certainly had their work cut out for them.
light still out at the Trader Joe’s entrance.
Big tree this one.
Not sure if this stop sign was always at this angle but I like the visual.
Storm and traffic
Aug 12th
What a morning. Woke up at 7, but it felt like 4am due to the pitch blackness outside. The thunder had started and then the heavens opened and it was a bad a storm as I can remember. We felt this one worse than the recent one that knocked out so many people’s power.
Then the Pepco outages and traffic reports. Forest Glen Metro station had closed, so I drove my wife to Silver Spring straight down Georgia Avenue as it seemed the best guarantee she’d reach DC. It was no trouble, most lights were working and we reached S.S. metro in about 10 minutes. Simple….
Then it all went to pieces. Trying to get back from SS was challenging. Just turning right onto E/W Highway took 10 minutes and then E/W was crawling with lights failing everywhere. Anyone who dared cross 16th Street can now handle any driving as there were no lights working. People were honking and gesticulating, but I got through and didn’t hit anyone. Success 
I then pulled out the GPS and snuck up Sundale through the back treets until I found Second and Seminary and then drove to Kensington, managing to avoid both Connecticut Avenue and Georgia Avenue. It only took me an hour and 10 to get home from downtown Silver Spring.
Thankfully, NPR’s traffic coverage was there to keep me company as was the sight of tree debris and blocked roads. I don’t envy the emergency services today.
How was your morning commute?
Maryland Tax Free Week
Aug 10th
Sunday marked the beginning of a tax-free week in Maryland, the first since 2001. From Sunday through Saturday August 15, enjoy paying no sales taxes on clothes and shoes, so long as each individual item costs less than $100. Perfect for back-to-school as well as stocking up on your fall wardrobe. We just may have to venture out to Montgomery Mall this week to take advantage…
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