I found Dick Cheney's egg sacs

We've been having some odd warm hurricane-like weather lately, and when the rain broke for a bit I went outside of work to test my new camera. Since this summer I've been keeping an eye out on the strange egg sacs shown below, and for the longest time I believed that baby Republicans might emerge from the cocoons:

But reliable sources tell me that these are eggs sacs from a golden orb spider. The hole on the side indicates it has hatched. I do remember seeing the adult orb spiders in the summer in the field adjacent to the fence where I photographed the egg sacs.

In addition to the field and woods near my workplace you can also see an empty NOAA "green" building in Riverdale, Maryland, near completion. The National Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (also reported to occupy the building is NOAA's Satellite and Information Service, Air Resources Laboratory and the National Center's for Environmental Prediction) will relocate from NOAA's Suitland and Silver Spring sites. This is a 10 acre site and part of the University of Maryland M-Square development. But apparently the contracts or something have been in contention for some time. The building has been empty for months.