These are adorable little houses that I pass on the way to the DC office in the morning. In some areas, it looks like the neighbors collaborated to coordinate their colors. It all looks very colonial.



I wonder how they mow their tiny front and back yards. It can't be practical to buy a lawnmower for five square feet. Communal mowers? Landscaping service? At least one of them took the,"you don't have to mow overgrown vines," approach to their lawn.

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This would make a beautiful quilt -- just make each mosaic square out of a piece of fabric.

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One floor down from the top of the Washington Monument, we saw a lesson in the democratic society our forefathers built:

At the monument, you're shuttled to the top floor, where you can stay as long as you like. When you'd like to return, you walk down a flight of steps and catch the elevator back down, which arrives every 15 minutes. There's usually a wait, so the Parks Service has put up signs directing visitors to wrap the line around the elevator in a clockwise direction. Even then, it might take one or two cycles for your turn to head to the bottom. It's all very clear and orderly.

We were waiting about 10 minutes for our ride down, when a family of three arrived to take the elevator as well. Like so many people today, they believed the rules did not apply to them. The trio gathered in front of the elevator door, clearly taking notice of the queue and avoiding it.

We reached a point where the people on the line started looking at each other, as if to say, "Are these people for real?" Oh yes, they were for real. The mother looked up at the sign (Please form line this way ->) and sighed heavily. She pointed it out to the father. He chuckled, and told her it didn't matter. The adult son looked up as well, then glanced down the line with a look of triumph that said, "I am not like you, I don't have to wait."

A Park Service employee came around the corner and asked if they were waiting for the elevator. "Why, yes," they preened, so flattered at being asked, blinded by their sense of entitlement, that they were shocked by what happened next.

"Please step into line over there then," said the Park Service employee.

The mother blinked and froze for a moment before she moved. The father shook his head at the injustice of it all. The son looked everywhere but at the people in line. Right after "all men are created equal," in the Declaration of Independence, I believe there is a line about "first-come, first-served."

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The National Geographic Museum has a new frog exhibit on display. These little guys look like toys, but they're poisonous -- the golden ones are even deadly to the touch.

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A sign in Washington, DC. I think you pronounce this time, "Six a. o'clock m." There were several of these signs posted at every entrance to the building.

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These lovely ladies are Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton immortalized in stone. The trio were relegated to the basement for 70 years, until 1997, when Congress suddenly remembered that women had been granted the right to vote and moved the statue up into the daylight.



I wonder what they would think of a woman running for president. And I wonder if they would vote for her.

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While the White House tour was underwheming*, the Capitol tour was excellent. We requested it through Rep. Peter Welch's office a few weeks ago -- and one of his staff showed us around the building for over an hour. The Capitol is filled with incredible workmanship tucked into every available space.



You can find uniquely American details everywhere, like the stalks and ears of corn on otherwise Roman-looking columns and statues memorializing important people and events from each state. Vermont's statues were Ethan Allen and Jacob Collamer. I vote we replace Collamer with Samuel de Champlain. Not an American, but hey... not many people were 1609.



Cameras aren't allowed in the House gallery, but we did see some suspension bills about memorializing Iraq War veterans being heard on the floor. Trevor enjoyed the artwork hanging in the tunnel between Longworth and the Capitol Building.

*We spent more time going through security than in the White House itelf. It was a self-guided tour; which essentially meant you wandered through velvet ropes as security guards glared. We reached the exit in about 15 minutes and looked around, bewildered, wondering if we had missed something.

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Dave and Trevor had a full week of sightseeing in DC while I was working.



Apparently, you only have to bring them up 490 feet in the air before they stop tormenting each other.

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