Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is still alive and well. His lower back is aching a little, but otherwise he is fine. As you may know, about 18 inches of snow fell on the Villainschloss over the weekend. As our good friend Skippy points out, he’s had less snow in Toronto than your Maximum Leader’s had in Fredericksburg VA. (NB to Skippy: Damn you Skippy! Having snowless sex with your girlfriend in Canada!)

At this point your Maximum Leader is sick of the snow. In fact he was sick of the snow on Sunday. He was sick of it after a few hours of shovelling. He is extra sick of it now. Your Maximum Leader’s street is now plowed or treated in any way. And the roads leading to your Maximum Leader’s street are not plowed or treated in any way either. It makes for fun driving!

There is not much else going on. Almost all of the Christmas shopping was done before the storm, so no worries there. We have made a run for some groceries, but we could have made it if we needed to.

Hanging over the whole holiday is what is going on with Kevin’s mom. It is not good news and it has me rather depressed. I have known how her story was going to end. But I find that perhaps I’d not mentally prepared myself for a sudden change in her situation. It is a sudden change that seems to have occured now. I don’t know what to hope for in terms of her health. I feel hollow and fake in saying that I hope whatever is “best” happens. I don’t know what “best” is in this case. I hope for strength for all of us who love her.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been invited to come to a close friend’s bachelor party.

In Vegas.

This event might take place next month. Possibly in February.

Bachelor party… Vegas…

He’s never been to Vegas for a bachelor party.

He has seen “The Hangover.” (And he has it on good authority that “The Hangover” will be under the tree in Blu-Ray this Christmas.)

Your Maximum Leader wishes he could say more. But if he did he’d likely have to kill you all. Then himself… Secrecy must be assured.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has survived the holiday and he hopes you have as well. He feels particularly fat and slothlike. He’ll need to get out and exercise or something to try and counteract the urge to remain idle…

Apparently the sloth affecting your Maximum Leader is keeping him from writing a full blog post. So he’ll give you some banalities to occupy this space…

With some of the oysters left over from Thanksgiving your Maximum Leader made “angels on horseback” to have with dinner last night. They were a big hit. The kids kept trying to figure out if the oysters were the angels or if the bacon was. Tough call that one.

Your Maximum Leader must admit a certain fascination with the whole State Dinner crasher story. He’s not interested in the couple per se. Indeed, he couldn’t care at all about them personally. He is interested to know how exactly they got in. It continues to boggle your Maximum Leader’s mind. He’s attended presidential functions both at the White House and away from the White House. He knows that security isn’t perfect (certainly not away from the White House). But you figure that one would have to do more than just show up in a tux and act upset when your name isn’t on the guest list and act your way in. Your Maxium Leader is curious to learn how this happened and who is going to lose their job over it…

Your Maximum Leader thinks that Mrs Villain got him a Blu-Ray player for Christmas… That is a very exciting prospect. But it also means that he may have to get a new tv. His 46″ Sony HDTV is a rear projection job and doesn’t have an HDMI jack on the back. He suspects that he’ll live with the standard component connection for a while… But the urge to upgrade will be strong…

A close friend of your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain will be getting married in March. It is likely that they will be celebrating the joyous day in Key West, FL. Your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain are excited to go. But last night your Maximum Leader realized that March in Key West is sort of spring break time… Hummm… That adds an interesting (and often drunken) wrinkle to this trip.

Your Maximum Leader has been getting headaches with some regularity over the past 10 days. He thinks that the problem are his glasses. It has been about two years since his prescription has been adjusted… It might be time.

Your Maximum Leader wonders if a healthcare bill will actually get passed before the 2010 elections. He is beginning to doubt it. That is a good think all in all. If some bill must be passed he hopes it will be a stripped down one containing some insurance company reform and perhaps some minor tort reform. He realizes that such a bill is highly unlikely; but he hopes nonetheless.

What is up with Dubai? Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure if he should be concerned, worried, really worried or start to go crazy over what is going on with Dubai missing their loan payments. It seems like it isn’t a good thing no matter how you look at it.

Your Maximum Leader is also thinking about buying another turkey and cooking it up this weekend. He has left over gravy and needs to put it on something…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wanted you all to know that his water bill was adjusted down to the expected level. The meter reader could not acutally read a meter it seems. All is well and the overbilling is a memory now…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader apologizes for his absence from this space. Life has a way of sometimes overtaking you and requires that you put by the wayside those pasttimes you would like to partake in more frequently…

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader figures he’ll share a little story with you all. If you happen to read your Maximum Leader’s twitter feed you might already know this…

So, your Maximum Leader opens his water/sewer bill today. The total of the bill… $112,818.64. Yup. You read that correctly. One hundred and twelve thousand eight hundred and eighteen dollars and sixty-four cents. Well… Your Maximum Leader assumed that there was a problem with the bill. He couldn’t have consumed a few million cubic yards of water in a month. (Afterall he just got one of those high-efficiency front loading washing machines… And cleaning the dungeon doesn’t require THAT much water…)

So, he called the Utility department. They confirmed that the bill seemed wrong, given my past usage. But the meter reading supported the bill. Your Maximum Leader actually walked out to the meter and read what it said to the person on the line. They then started to dispute your Maximum Leader’s ability to read a meter. He informed them that it was their professional meter reader who was evidently not able to read a simple dial meter. They eventually agreed to send another meter reader to check the meter and get a new reading.

The new meter reading is supposed to take place tomorrow (Saturday no less). Your Maximum Leader will keep a sharp eye out for the person and check up after them… Crazy…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t have time for a lengthy update right now but he wanted to let you all know what is going on. His father is home from the hospital (he came home Friday night) and is doing well. He will be seeing various specialists on an out-patient basis this week to confirm that all is well. He looked good (all things considered) when your Maximum Leader and his progeny visited yesterday.

Again, many thanks for the well wishes and prayers from all of you out there. It means a great deal to us.

Carry on.

Hello everyone. I wanted to thank all of you who wrote to me and inquired about my Dad. I thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I appreciate it. I also hope to take a moment to respond individually to all of you who wrote.

If you have been reading Kevin’s blog you will know a bit of what has been going on with me (and with Kevin’s mom) over the past few days.

As it stands now, my Dad had a heart fibrillation that lasted for about 12 hrs. His treatment was complicated by the fact that he’d had a minor out-patient surgery requiring a skin graft. The graft bled very badly and prevented some cardiac treatment. The bleeding is stopped and the graft is healing as it should. He has been getting tested in the cardiac department today and we are awaiting results.

I can’t thank Kevin enough for all he has done to help and comfort my Dad and me.

Hopefully I’ll be back in character next week.

Carry on.

I wanted to alert any family and friends that might read this space and haven’t heard yet from me that my dad was hospitalized last night after suffering heart-attack-like symptoms. Initial reports seem to show that he has not had a heart attack, but has been suffering from a severe cardiac fibrillation (or irregular heart-beat). There are yet many questions to answer. I’ll report back as I am able.

Many thanks to my bro Kevin for all his support. I can’t express how much it has meant to me.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is one tired guy. He hasn’t stopped since Friday. He wishes he could have a day just to relax. Let us recap shall we…

On Friday night the formal ball your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain attended was great. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Your Maximum Leader worries a little that Mrs Villain didn’t have the best time. He feels this way because this year (and last) your Maximum Leader was responsible (with another gentleman) for planning and execution of the dance. Your Maximum Leader took this duty really seriously and spent a significant amount of time attending to the smooth operation of the dance. This left his lovely wife alone for some stretches of the night. He feels miserable about this. He will not be planning the dance again for quite a while. He hopes to make next year’s dance more enjoyable for her…

Sadly there will be no picture of your Maximum Leader bedecked in his tux. Alas, Villainette #2’s attempt at taking a photo failed because she had the camera set to some wierd setting that made us all out-of-focus… It is probably better anyway. Your Maximum Leader needs to take the tux to the tailor. He needs it taken in about a half-an-inch around the waist. His pants were drooping all night. Not a good scene.

Then on Saturday there was much yard work done in the morning. Your Maximum Leader’s hands have a blister to show how hard it was to get the leaf mulcher started. Eventually your Maixmum Leader excused himself from yard work and got to putting the finishing touches on his speech to be delivered on Sunday.

Saturday night was fun. Villainette #2 and your Maximum Leader went to Tony Cheng’s for dinner and then the Capitals game. We had shrimp toast and Peking duck for dinner. Your Maximum Leader loves Tony Cheng’s, but he should remember that their Peking duck isn’t the best in town. They put something on the skin that changes the taste. The skin is very crispy and has a sweet taste with an undercurrent of citrus. It is a flavor that is different from the ususal taste of Peking duck with which your Maximum Leader is familiar. In his opinion the best Peking duck in town is to be found at the Peking Gourmet on Route 7 near Bailey’s Crossroads (and across from St. Anthony’s Catholic Church).

The Capitals game was great. The Caps played soft during the first and second periods. They were outshot by the Florida Panthers. The Caps looked tired. Very tired. Then they turned it up in the third period and scored 5 goals in the last frame. They won 7-4. It was lots of fun.

Then yesterday your Maximum Leader went down to Longwood University to deliver a speech to members of the Freshman class who were being recognized for their early contributions to the school. The recognition dinner was being sponsored by a secret society that your Maximum Leader helped to establish 20-odd years ago. He made the 2.5 hr drive down to the school in about 2 hours. Then he had the pleasure of meeting a few of the current members of the society before the speech and dinner. They were gracious hosts who indulged him as he blabbed on about how things were long ago… Your Maximum Leader thinks the speech went off well. The students seated at this table were full of questions. He had to deflect the questions about the secret society; but he was happy to indulge them in reminescences about life at Longwood before they were born…

NB to Robbo: Your Maximum Leader is not your hero for ever. Sadly, he couldn’t figure out how to work in the material from the Market Snodgrass speech. He did try to tell an Irish joke to the students at his table and ramble a little bit. But it didn’t come off as well as it could have.

Then on the drive home he missed a turn that he has been making for decades and wound up in Goochland (rather than Richmond) before he knew it. So that added about 25 mins to his return trip that he’d not bargained for…

All in all, it was a good weekend. A bit on the tiring side… But very good.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is pleased to report that it appears as though the various renovations to the Villainschloss are completed. It is now just a question of moving some stuff around and getting everything back to normal. The renovations have caused the summer to be a bit tense among the whole family. So we are looking forward to a quiet long weekend to get our wa back.

Your Maximum Leader has, for the past few weeks, been storing up items upon which he wanted to comment at length. Alas, he couldn’t find time to do so. Rather than just discarding these items he’s decided to just dump some ideas in one post.

First up… Have any of you been following the abomination that has become the America’s Cup? Your Maximum Leader had some links that he’d planned on sharing. Alas, many of them are no longer functioning as the pieces have moved or changed or expired. To hit the high points… Basically the America’s Cup will be held in the Persian Gulf. The yachts will be trimarans. TRIMARANS! They will also allow motorized winches to be used on board. WTF? Really now… WTF? Your Maximum Leader thought that the requirements for the boats were determined a long time ago - and called for monhulled boats. Your Maximum Leader has only been marginally interested in the America’s Cup at best… And now all these changes have just set him off. It is crap.

Did you happen to notice this bit on the Washington Post concerning the possible discovery of a portrait of William Shakespeare done during the Bard’s lifetime? Fascinating stuff. Your Maximum Leader has seen the “forgery” portrait at the Folger Shakespeare Library and knew about it’s history. That said, these new researches and attempts to establish that the portrait actually shows Shakespeare are pretty interesting. Your Maximum Leader imagines that there is a National Geographic special in this story… Your Maximum Leader’s favorite passage from the article:

The hunt for a likeness of the bard in his heyday has turned up various candidates over the centuries, almost all of them illegitimate. Up to now, the painting with the most credible claim as a life image is the Chandos portrait, the star of London’s National Portrait Gallery. It shows a dusky, writerly-seeming man with receding hair and an earring. But its provenance is unclear. The search is complicated by the fact that a 1770s mania for Shakespeare souvenirs resulted in a spate of good forgeries. The Janssen portrait held by the Folger was thought to be one of those. The “Searching for Shakespeare” exhibit was therefore really a show about likely and, mostly, unlikely contenders. Cobbe and Laing wandered through the viewing, looking at bogus bards, until they arrived at a far wall, on which the Janssen portrait hung, on loan from the Folger. The oil-on-wood is legitimately dated to 1610, but it was discredited in 1937 when new X-ray technology showed the brow had been over-painted to make the sitter bald. It fell from grace under the supposition that it was altered to look more like the Droeshout. In 1988, the Folger restored the original hairline and exhibited it as an interesting mistake.

The Janssen showed a close-bearded man in a scallop-edged lace collar — in almost every detail, a replica of the unnamed courtier on the Cobbe family’s wall. The one who was not Sir Walter Raleigh.

After a moment, Laing said, “Don’t you have one of those?”

“Yes,” Cobbe said, nonplussed. “Rather a better one, actually.”

Your Maximum Leader will have to get to the Folger and see what he can. Of course it would be better to travel to Stratford upon Avon and see the whole exhibit…

Did you see the piece on Yahoo news about more people making their own bacon? Nope? Your Maximum Leader saw it. You can clicky here to get it yourself. The money quote:

“There is nothing bacon does not improve. Bacon is the new black,” says [San Francisco Chef Ryan] Farr, whose charcuterie company produces 4505 Chicharrones, the pork snacks favored by several San Francisco bars and restaurants. “I have five vegan friends who close their eyes when they eat them and pretend they are potato chips,” Farr says. “Bacon is the gateway meat.”

Bacon is a gateway meat… Wonderful! From experience your Maximum Leader can assure you that it leads to ham. If the Lord hadn’t wanted us to eat pork he wouldn’t have made the pig so darned tasty and easy to domesticate…

Your Maximum Leader is growing more and more tired of the “health care debate.” He should put extra emphasis on the quotes around the word “debate.” As your Maximum Leader mused earlier, there is no debate. There is only shouting. There is no meaningful discussion. Normally at this point the ossified battle lines either decide to actually battle or just decided to forget to fight. Your Maximum Leader hopes that the battle will not be joined at all in Congress and the bills will just die off until some other time. Republicans could show some real leadership in promoting a market based solutions along with legal reforms. Tort reform for malpractice and allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines would be a nice start. Also, one might as well consider the plan that your Maximum Leader blogged about in June of 2004.

Those are the big items on your Maximum Leader’s mind right now. Alas, there were some other bits he thought might make interesting posts, but they were too topical and their time is past…

More later.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader got some bad news today. The ongoing renovations to the Villainschloss that he’d hoped would be concluded tomorrow or Thursday now look to be going on until at least next week.

Trim is the culprit… Apparently the rather plain baseboards found along the floor of the Villainschloss are no longer manufactured. Thus, it is impossible to replace some sections. It appears as though the entire basement will get new baseboards now. That adds time this week to the repairs. Also, the specific carpet that Mrs Villain chose for the basement is still on order (and a week delayed).

Your Maximum Leader’s wa is very disrupted. He was hoping to become undisrupted this week… Alas, it is not to be.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been meaning to write a little bit about his wonderful weekend with Mrs Villain. Alas, the minor flooding in the Villainschloss caused your Maximum Leader to write less than he wanted while taking care of the situation.

So…

Last weekend your Maximum Leader and his loving wife, Mrs Villain, had a great visit to the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa. This visit was to celebrate your Maximum Leader’s 40th birthday and our anniversary. Let your Maximum Leader tell you that Nemacolin is one of his favorite places. The accomodations are great. The food is great. The people who work there are superlative. There are so many things to do there that you’ll never be bored. He cannot commend it to you all enough. If you can, you should visit.

So, your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain arrived last Friday (mid-day). We settled into our room in the Chateau which was wonderful. (Mrs Villain booked rooms in the Lodge but thanks to a little Maximum Leaderly charm we got moved over to the Chateau.) Then we meandered over to the Shooting Academy.

Once we arrived at the Shooting Academy, we picked up our shotguns (Berretta 12 ga for your Maximum Leader and Berretta 20 ga for Mrs Villain) and went out and destroyed some clays. During a previous visit your Maximum Leader went after 100 clays and got 85 of them. He was hot that day. Alas, during this visit he was not as sharp. He did 50 clays this time and probably only got about 30. He had some real trouble at some of the stations. He didn’t hit one of the “mini” clays. (Which are, as the name suggests, about half the size of a regular clay and faster.) He also had trouble at the station with the “rabbits.” In case you do not know, when you shoot clays they are often released in a way that resembles the flight of an animal. Sometimes a pheasant, or pigeon, or even a rabbit. Your Maximum Leader had trouble picking up the rabbit as it skipped across his field of vision. It was disappointing. Perhaps it is a sign of age. Perhaps a sign of needing to check his eyeglass prescription.

After shooting clays we returned to the room and freshened up and dressed for dinner. We went to dinner at the one restaurant at the resort where we hadn’t eaten in our previous visits. We went to Aqueous. It is a steak and seafood place. We split a bowl of soup (a creamy mushroom soup that was a special that day) and some of their smoked salmon apetizer to get started. Then Mrs Villain had the Seasame Ahi Tuna (with shitake lo-mein, some tempura veggies, and yuzu). Your Maximum Leader had the New York Strip with a broiled lobster tail, with bearnase, aparagus, and their special Mac & Cheese.

Okay… Your Maximum Leader can absolutely hear Basil rolling his eyes from the midwest and declaring “Dear God! Mac & Cheese with dinner. What is Maxy now a four year old?” In his defence, your Maximum Leader wasn’t thinking of Mac & Cheese at first. But he remembered that during a previous visit he was told by a friend that the Mac & Cheese was fantastic and that if given the chance it should be gotten. Well… Your Maximum Leader can say for sure that this is the third best Mac & Cheese he’s ever had. The best is (of course) his own that he makes at the Villainschloss for the Villainettes upon request. The next best is the Mac & Cheese he’s had at both Nob Hill restaurants (the one in San Francisco and Las Vegas) The one at Aqueous was quite good. The chef used a mix of smoked cheeses that was very appetizing. So if you are dining at Aqueous, try the Mac & Cheese.

Oh yes… The view from our table across the golf course…

Clicken to embiggen in all cases…

The next day Mrs Villain awoke and got a spa treatment. Your Maximum Leader, not being much for spa treatments, went out for a little walk. He spoke to the tennis pro for a bit (about baseball actually) while passing by the lovely grass courts. Then your Maximum Leader went back to the room and waited for Mrs Villain to return. Upon her return we both went for a walk. We walked up to the menagerie and saw lions, elk, mountain goats, hyenas, and bison among others. In fact while we were walking by two of the bears decided to “get jiggy with it.” Photographic evidence:

The most interesting animal on the trip was the white Bison known as “Snowball.”

After our walk we got an early lunch and then spent a little time by the pool. Then we took a little trip. Mrs Villain, knowing your Maximum Leader’s love of baseball took him away to Pittsburgh for the Pirates/Royals game at PNC park. Your Maximum Leader hadn’t seen a baseball game at PNC (although he had seen games at the old Three Rivers). We had great seats.

And not only that! The Pirates won the game. (Woo hoo! Way to stick it to the American League!) It was a great experience. Your Maximum Leader was reminded of how great the Pirates fans are. They know their team. They know the game. They were a great group of people to mingle with.

Since you might be thinking it… Your Maximum Leader has visited a number of ballparks. In his mind the ranking of the best ballparks goes something like this: 1) Wrigley; 2) Fenway; (both of these are highly ranked due to their history and atmosphere - if not the amenities of the park itself) 3) PNC Park; 4) Camden Yards; and finally 5) Nationals Park. (Okay… Your Maximum Leader admits that Nats Park only makes the top five because he is a fan and loves his team. If push came to shove he’d say that AT&T park is probably nicer… But Nationals Park is right up there.)

After the game there were fireworks fired off barges in the Ohio river. That was great. Then we drove back to the resort.

On Sunday after a wonderful breakfast we checked out and went to visit some of the local historical sites. This was your Maximum Leader’s fourth or fifth visit to Nemacolin; and he’d never stopped to see some of the very historical sites that are within 5 miles of the resort.

Robbo… Are you paying attention to this? Your Maximum Leader was thinking of you during these visits.

We first went to the grave of Maj-Gen Edward Braddock. We walked down the remains of Braddock’s road to the site were Braddock was buried by George Washington.

Seen here with Mrs Villain’s gams:

Then we walked up the hill to the current gravesite.

Some details of the plaques on the monument:

Here is a view from a distance away. You can see the current monument to the left of the photo. Your Maximum Leader is standing in the remains of Braddock’s road looking down the hill towards the site where Braddock was first buried. If you look carefully you can see the ruts of the road in the grass. Look to the bottom of the photo and you’ll see two wooden beams. These beams mark where the ruts were before they paved the path. If you follow them into the darkness you can pick up the roadway.

(NB to all embiggening clickers: Sorry for the crappy quality of photos. We forgot the good camera and were reduced to using your Maximum Leader’s cell phone camera.)

After the Braddock grave site visit we drove on down the road to Fort Necessity. We looked through the visitor’s center and then walked out to the reconstruction of the fort itself.

Your Maximum Leader was surprised during his visit. The fort was about as big as he’d always pictured it in his mind. He also remembers reading a letter of Washington’s describing the construction and size of the fort. What surprised him was the size of the meadow in which the fort was located. The US Park Service is has been kind enough to mark where the tree line was in 1754. In many cases the trees were a lot closer to the fort than he’d imagined. Thus, the meadow didn’t seem all that big. The Wiki article linked above says that the tree line was within 100 yards of the fort. This is a little tidbit that your Maximum Leader never remembers reading. He visualized that the tree line was well further than 100 yards from the fort. While the trees are now more than 100 yards from the fort, they weren’t in 1754. Now seeing the site your Maximum Leader has a better understanding of why Washington’s physical position in the fort was untenable (especially considering the rain and lack of supplies). Your Maximum Leader wouldn’t want to try and defend that position from attack…

Anyhoo…

After visiting Ft Necessity your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain returned home. It was a wonderful trip. Again, if you happen to be looking for a great place to spend a nice weekend, you should give Nemacolin and the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania a try.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has had a rough week. Well… That isn’t entirely true. Perhaps there is some hyperbole in there…

Your Maximum Leader needed to spend Monday recovering from his weekend celebrations. He was able to spend the weekend with three of his good friends (The Smallholder, The Minister of Propaganda - erstwhile bloggers in this space - and Polymath). Spending time together requires drinking copious amounts of alcohol, eating the roasted flesh of a huge hog, and “solving the worlds problems.” In many cases the whole “solving the world’s problems” part involves one or more of us determining that Mr/Mrs/Miss So-and-so be “dragged out and shot.” Needless to say… It is safe to keep firearms away from us during this time…

It was funny that the Minister of Propaganda should comment about this blog. He noted that the infrequency of updates over the past few months was “more like letter writing than blogging.” That struck your Maximum Leader as funny and true…

More “letter writing” over the summer one supposes…

Tuesday’s prime bloggy time was spent working out a SERIOUS PROBLEM!!!! VERY SERIOUS!!!!!

Your Maximum Leader’s iPod locked up and just kept flashing the black screen with the silver Apple logo on it over and over again. Since 2005 your Maximum Leader’s iPod has been a rather constant companion. It is his absolutely favorite piece of personal electronics. This was the first time that any malfunction had occurred. Your Maximum Leader couldn’t imagine going ONE FRIGGIN DAY without an iPod. He was so paniced that he contemplated going to Best Buy and buying a new one right before they closed - just in case he couldn’t restore his first.

Your Maximum Leader was able to get his iPod into disk mode and reinstall the OS on it. Then he had to reload all of his content back onto the little black iPod. He was pretty scared for a little bit there… But it is okay now. His iPod has been chugging along all day now and all seems well…

Thank God for small mercies. Like a functioning iPod.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader visited his sainted in-laws a few weeks ago. While visiting, he and his father-in-law took a little boat ride. Along the way we passed this new home situated on the river near the end of the creek on which his in-laws reside.

This is a nice piece of new construction. Your Maximum Leader is told that they are just finishing the interior work. He isn’t sure if you can clearly make it out from this low-res phone camera picture… Allow him to describe some items for you… The big glassed in porch facing the river is in fact a big glassed in patio with large pool and hot-tub. On the extreme left side of the house in the photo there is a round tower (that looks like a silo) with a small silver dome next to it. That is a circular staircase that terminates at its peak with a door leading to a private roof-top observatory (the small sliver dome). Your Maximum Leader understands the house is at least 8,000 sq. ft. and probably closer to 10,000 sq. ft. He is not sure of the bedroom count but he’s been told it is five or six.

All in all not too shabby a domicile. Perhaps your Maximum Leader will need to check it out as a summer Villainschloss. Sort of like the Kennedy Compound at Hyannis… Only in Virginia… And without all those Kennedys…

Carry on.

A view from the Masonic Cemetery in Fredericksburg, VA looking towards James Monroe’s law office.