MCPS: Two Hour Delay (Fri. 2/1/2008)

>Montgomery County Public Schools are opening two hours late today, Friday, February 1, 2008:

Montgomery County Public Schools will open two hours late today, Friday, February 1, due to weather conditions. Bus service will be provided on a two-hour-delayed schedule. Morning prekindergarten, morning half-day Head Start, other half-day programs and field trips are canceled. Other activities and programs that begin at 10:30 a.m. or earlier are canceled. Administrative offices are open on time. Day care programs in school buildings will remain open as scheduled.

Favorite Sledding Hills in Rockville

I did not get many responses to my >query in December for favorite sledding hills, but I got a few.

Thought you might want this information now, before the rains come tonight and wash the sledding joy away.

Here they are.

Email me with more, and I will add them.

You’re welcome!

POTD: Winter Wonderland

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This photo is by Rockville Central reader Alain Menguy. This recent cold snap has got me thinking of snow, and this photo, taken during The Big Snowfall in December, seemed both beautiful and appropriate.

Want to have your photo included as a Photo Of The Day? Easy! Send it to me and I will consider it. Rules: Must be original (by you); must be taken in Rockville city limits; must not be published or offered for publication elsewhere; must be generally contemporary (no photos from six months ago . . . this one was OK!).

Rain, Rain

Looking out my own window, it’s been raining for a day or two now off and on. Seems on when I have to leave the house, off when I don’t. But, in Georgia they’ve been wishing for rain. Well, actually praying for it. In fact, the whole state is going to pray for rain today, and at 11:45 am (to get it out of the way before lunch?) Governor Sonny Perdue plans to meet with state religious leaders on the steps of his state’s capital to discuss th ematter.>

I don’t ordinarily follow all that is going on in that fine state, but this situation is different. A local Rockville resident, Rockefeller “Rocky” Twyman, appears to be playing a role.

Our neighbor leads off a story in the well-respected Atlanta Journal Constitution:

When you pray for rain, says Rockefeller “Rocky” Twyman, be specific.

Earlier this month, the former Atlantan flew south from his Rockville, Md., home to help organize a prayer vigil and gospel concert for drought relief at the Berean Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Atlanta.

Hundreds showed up. And their prayers were answered. After the service was over, heavy showers came down — on the green fields of Rockville, Md., that is.

“I guess we prayed for rain and it came up here,” Twyman said from his home up north. “It was raining when our plane touched down.”

Rocky’s previous brush with fame came when he played a lead role in founding a group seeking a Nobel peace prize for Oprah Winfrey. Here, he appears with MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson explaining the movement.

Weather Update on Haunted Happenings

Some of the events scheduled for the City of Rockville’s >Haunted Happenings tonight have been cancelled. The drive-in movie Bettlejuice and the Rockville Cemetery tour, which were listed in Weekend to Weekend yesterday, will not be held due to the rainy weather.

However, the activities scheduled from 6 PM – 8 PM at the Croydon “Creep” Nature Center, are still going to happen. They’ll be lots of indoor games and hands-on activities for the kids. There will even be a reptile show featuring Reptiles Alive, which is ALWAYS great entertainment!

Everyone should also be advised that the National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for Montgomery County until Saturday Morning. The NWS states that “A stalled frontal boundary is expected to initiate heavy rainfall in MC. Heavy rains may have the potential to cause severe and unexpected flooding within the next 24 hours. 1-3 inches of rain is expected, and some of it may fall within a very short time frame leading to potential Flash Flooding.”

You can sign-up for the free Montgomery County, MD service to receive weather advisories by going to Welcome to Alert Montgomery.

Be careful as you go out to enjoy your Friday night activities!

Maryland Task Force One Headed To Texas

>According to sources inlcuding ABC, Montgomery County’s urban search and rescue team Task Force One is being dispatched to Texas in anticipation of Hurricane Dean. They are slated to leave tomorrow, Tuesday 8/21:

At FEMA’s request, the task force will be sending 35 people. A rolling caravan of at least seven vehicles, including a tractor trailer, passenger vehicles, pick-up trucks, and several other support vehicles that the team will use in Texas, is leaving at about 9 a.m.