King Arthur and the Old Woman
as Performed by Nate
Friday, November 16, 2007

Hair Line Fracture
by Rob

Nate and Phys Ed haven't always gotten along with each other. In the latest chapter of his journey through middle school "gym class" comes this one -- a hair line fracture in his wrist.

On the x-ray it appears to be a tiny little break in a tiny little bone. And yet, the best the orthopedist could tell us is that this should heal well, "considering his size and age," but in order to be sure that it heals correctly, he'll most likely be in a cast for "at least six weeks."

In the mean time...

- No more PE
- No more wrestling
- No more piano
- No more oboe
- No bongo solo in the Holiday chorus concert

Before and After

by Rob

Some people have been asking for some "before and after" kinds of photos from our recent renovations. This is what I was able to come up with...

Thankful
by Rob

Thanksgiving remains one of my favorite days of the year. Our day was laid back and full at the same time. Roger and Linda came for most of the afternoon. The meal was GREAT. We had way too much food. Later, we went to the Barnes' estate for a few hours. We ended the day by watching a few episodes of Alias together (we're into season two now).

It was a great day.

Soccer Star
by Rob

Yesterday, Abbie's soccer team, the self-titled "Orange Crush," had their next to last game for this season. Both teams had been undefeated. Although Orange Crush has rolled over almost every other team this season, it was clear from the start that yesterday's game would be a bit more challenging.

The final outcome? A 1-0 victory for Orange Crush. The winning goal was scored by Abbie Hileman! (Her first ever).

Sheep Island

By Rob

Today we spent several hours on Sheep Island. It's the island directly across the channel from our cottage, here on Hendrickson's Point.

One of the neighboring cottages is the year-round home of the McCartneys. Their 11 year-old grandson, Ian, has been here for nearly our entire vacation. It turns out that Ian and Nate have been good for each other. They haven't been together constantly, but have spent several hours together each day.

This morning Ian came to our cottage before our own kids were even out of bed. Did we want to go to Sheep Island? Ian's dad, Peter, had arrived a couple of days ago, and he was going to take Ian out in the boat. Nate, Abbie and I decided to accept the invitation. In all of our time here at Owls Head, we had never been out in the water on a boat, and we were all very interested in exploring one of the islands.

The McCartney's boat is moored at the Owls Head Harbor which is very close to our cottage. It's not a big boat, but it easily accommodated five of us and our picnic lunch.

After circling around the back of Monroe Island, we landed the boat on one of the beaches at Sheep Island. The beach is like most in the area, mostly covered in smooth, rounded rocks of every size. We unloaded, set down our stuff and headed out to explore. Abbie and I walked around the perimeter of the island with Peter. It probably took us about 4o or 50 minutes to make it around. We traveled over the rocks during most of our walk; only passing over a trail through the woods for a very short time.

After our walk, everyone helped to gather wood and we started a fire. We ate hot dogs and whoopie pies. After lunch, Peter and I relaxed near the fire on the beach and the kids ventured off to explore and play for awhile longer.

By the time we started back, it was after 3:30. Peter suggested that we take the time to circle back around the island and head back to the harbor through the channel right in front of our cottage. Nate got to drive the boat for much of this time. He did a great job following Peter's instructions and navigating around the buoys.

One of the things that seems to be happening as we return here each year is that we seem to meet more and more people and feel less and less like we're visiting. Peter knows this area very well, and spending time with him made me feel more like an insider than ever before. Not only do I hope that we'll be able to come back here for many, many years, but I'm also hopeful that as we do, we'll be able to have more experiences like we did today.

You might be on vacation if...

... you go out for ice cream twice on the same day.

As of Wednesday

by Rob

Mom and Dad left us today. Actually, we followed them to Bath this morning. They will be staying with Uncle Jim and Aunt Susan for the next few days. We decided to head down with them for the day. It gave us an opportunity to check out one of Kim's favorite flea markets. After picking up a few things there, we headed to Bath for lunch.

We spent the better part of the afternoon with Uncle Jim and Aunt Susan. We had a chance to go for a tractor ride and see the tree fields. It's been a beautiful day, and we really enjoyed our mini-hayride through the Christmas trees. Kim even picked one out for us. I figure that we'll pick up another tree in New York, a little closer to the holidays.

Leaving Bath meant saying so long to Mom and Dad (sigh). I don't know when we'll see them again, but I know that we don't have any specific plans to be with them before next July. That's a bit too far off, in my opinion. It was great to have them hang out with us here on the coast. That's all that we really do on this vacation -- which, I suppose, is why it really is a vacation. It seems that everyone got to do just about as much or as little as they wanted to while Mom and Dad were here. I expect that we won't have any trouble carrying on the same over the remaining couple of days.

A is for Abbie

Crescent Beach
Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Summer So Far
by Rob

I find myself surprised that during the summer it has been more challenging to document our lives through this blog. It seems like it should be easier now than the during the rest of the year when we're so busy at home. I guess that's one of the biggest differences of this summer; we have spent barely a week living in our house. The rest of the time we have been traveling, or staying at "Chez Barnes," because of the renovations taking place at our house.

As is always the case, it's been a good summer, but it hardly has felt relaxing, at least until now. As of today, we are beginning our second week in Owls Head, on the coast of Maine. This place is so special for us. It's hard to understand how we can work at such a pace at home, since when we are here we have no problem slowing down and just hanging out. Once again, I'm not only recharging here, I feel as though I'm healing. And I'm grateful.

The weather is just like I like it; cool and clear. This evening, I walked out and stood on the rocks next to the cottage. It was a perfect evening. No humidity. Calm. Temperature in the low 70's. The sky was a constant shifting of blue, pink, and lavender. Osprey were circling and scanning the water for food. We saw several dive for fish, and others flew by, carrying their catches in their talons. It was the best show I've seen in ages; presented in surround sound and high definition clarity. Unbeatable.

I'm probably not going to go back and document the whole summer in detail at any point, so I'll do a week by week summary for the record books.

• June 23: Right after school ended, we headed for West Virginia with 13 others from BRC for the Workcamp Mission trip. The kids went to SC and stayed with Mom and Dad for the week. Meanwhile, at home, Roger and George gutted our kitchen and the wood floors were revived.


• June 30: After the camp ended and we brought the youth group kids back to NY, Kim and I headed down to SC ourselves. While we were there, we got to see all of my siblings, and a couple of our nieces and nephews. Back at home, the kitchen work continued.


• July 10: We came home from SC and moved into the Barnes' house. By this time, the plumbing was replaced at our house, but the bathroom floor needed to come out so that the final pipes could be accessed and replaced.


• July 15: Abbie went to Camp Fowler for the week. Kim, Nate and I stayed in Schenectady, and spent a lot of time at the house. We packed and worked on the bathroom floor.


• July 22: Kim, Nate and I went up to Speculator to Camp Fowler for the week. Nate was a camper. Kim and I volunteered. Abbie was a "tag along."


• July 29: Back in Schenectady. This week was spent finishing the bathroom and getting back into the house so that we could be out of the Barnes' house for the week of Camp Bellevue. Downstairs the cabinets were being installed, the appliances arrived, and the counter top template was made.


• August 5: We were finally back in our house. Camp Bellevue began at BRC. Kim and I volunteered. Abbie was a camper. Nate was a wandering nomad. At the house, the counter tops were set and appliances hooked up. We finally had a working kitchen on August 7.


• August 12: We came to Maine. On Wednesday, Mom and Dad arrived for a week.

It won't be long 'til school starts. I'm not ready, but then again, when would I be? It would have to be a terrible summer, I suppose, for that to happen. For now, I'm grateful for all that this summer has held, and that we live lives where we can do all of this stuff... and be together so much.

Mowing
by Rob

It's a rite of passage, and today it happened. Nate helped mow the grass. I say "helped," since I did all of the trimming and the first half of the yard myself. Then we had lessons on how to stop the mower, how to start the mower, and how to follow the path. Then I stood back and watched. It was a much bigger deal for me than I expected. Watching him and thinking about how big he is was something for me to process. And it made me remember something of my own experience -- being 12 and mowing yards in our neighborhood. This all led to thinking about much more of what it's like being that age. Ready or not, Nate, here it comes.

When he was finished, he stopped the mower, turned and looked at me, raised both hands over his head and let out a "Woo-hoo!"

"Well, I mowed the grass!"

Yes, Buddy, you did, and you did a good job.

I wonder how long it will be before you can do the whole lawn. I wonder how long it will be before I can just tell you it has to get done and not even go outside to check on you. I wonder how long it will be until you think, "Oh crap, I have to mow the grass."

Former Neighbors
by Rob

Yesterday was one of those days with two events that seemed especially poignant together.

In the morning, I was shopping when I ran into the son of our former neighbor, Angie. She lived downstairs from us when we lived on Shannon Street. We first moved there in 1992. At that time, Angie was 86 years old. When I spotted Joe yesterday, and we first started talking, I had difficulty figuring out the best way to ask about Angie, since I hadn't heard anything about her is several years. Well, she's 101, and doing well, although she's moved into a nursing facility. Joe says that she's happy there and enjoys being around other people. He said that he would be seeing her later this week and that he would tell her that we had asked about her. He expects that she will remember us.

In the afternoon, Nate and I went to Albany Med. to visit one of his friends, Kevin. Nate and Kevin became friends in elementary school. For about a year, Kevin, his sister Amy, and his mother Holly, lived here on Schermerhorn Road in a house that they rented from one of our neighbors. Kevin was hit by a car while he was riding his bicycle about 10 days ago. Although we knew that he was at Albany Med in ICU, we didn't know much more about his condition. Holly was there when we arrived. She met with us and talked to us, telling us about Kevin's condition. He's still unconscious. They have him heavily sedated, and although they had wakened him about 48 hours ago, he was in too much pain, and so they resumed the medicine and put him back to sleep. His right leg was severely damaged in the accident. He wasn't wearing a helmet, and he also suffered head injuries. They are not sure about the extent of his brain injuries at this point, since he hasn't been awake for any length of time since the accident. When he wakes up, they don't expect him to remember anything about what has happened. They don't know what else he'll have trouble remembering.

Mr. Vice President Elect
by Rob

It's official. After a second school-wide vote today, Nathan Hileman is Schalmont Middle School's Vice President Elect for the 2007-2008 school year.

About two weeks ago, he came home with news that he had decided to run. He described the process of becoming a candidate; it sounded daunting to me. He was required to get the signatures of 3 faculty members and 30 students who would support his candidacy. All of the signatures on his petition had to be exclusive. I was impressed when he completed the process, but discouraged when I found out that he was in a field of 7 seventh grade students running for the position.

Last week was campaign and voting week. As is often the case around here, his fliers and speech were prepared at the last possible time. It was a late night on Tuesday, which wrapped up around 10:00 PM, when I sent him to bed and got in the car to drive to Kinkos to copy fliers. He read his speech on the announcements the next morning, and then voting took place on Friday. At the end of my day on Friday, I ran into Mr. George, Nate's English teacher. He had come to my building to pick up one of his own children. He told me that there was going to need to be a second vote. Four of the seven candidates were eliminated as a result of the first vote. The second vote was to take place this morning.

At 2:55 this afternoon, as my chorus was leaving, I got paged to the office for a phone call. It was Nate: "I won." There was a hint of "Can you believe it?" in his voice.

When I arrived home this afternoon, there was an email waiting from Mr. George. He just wanted to share the good news with me. He wrote, "woohoo!" I couldn't agree more.

Mother's Day

by Rob

This day has been beautiful. The weather is perfect and the flowers are in bloom all around the house. I'm especially loving the cherry tree today. It's covered with blossoms.

This morning when she got up, Abbie was so excited about giving Kim the Mother's Day gifts that she had created. She painted a picture. She made a bracelet. She made some origami frogs. She wrote two poems.

Mom

by Abbie

When you make me steak,

I know you really care

When you play "Life" with me,

I know you love me

When you say you love me,

I know you don't lie

When you bake me cookies,

I know you know my taste buds

When you teach me what peaches to buy,

I trust you

When you take me out to dinner,

I know you don't want me to starve

Everything you do has a reason.

Happy Mother's Day, I (heart) U!

How Do Mothers Take Care of Their Children

by Abbie

How do mothers take care of their children?

Do they hug them and snuggle them in warm fuzzy mittens?

How do mothers take care of their children?

Do they love them and sing them songs at eleven?

How do mothers take care of their children?

Do they save them when they say, "S.O.S." and after dinner, "Clean your mess"?

How do mothers take care of their children?

Do they cook them dinner and say, "Don't be a sinner?"

How do mothers take care of their children?

Do they play ball and buy you clothes?

Yes, I say mothers rule!

Kitchen Update

by Rob

As of today, May 5, we have begun to move to a more detailed stage of the planning. We have a plumber working on a bid for us. Roger and his friend, George, will do the rest of the job. We have not ordered cabinets or appliances yet, but the plans are very close to be finalized.

These images are from the kitchen planner.

Brace Yourself
by Rob

Nate got braces on his top teeth today. He chose to have orange and purple fasteners. He came home from the appointment armed with information about eating "dos and don'ts," and a small kit of cleaning supplies.

A few things have changed since I had my braces. He's allowed to have soda occasionally, as long as he brushes right away, and popcorn is no longer on the forbidden list; although, it does come with a warning about trying to eat the hard kernels.

Tonight we'll have mac and cheese for dinner (Mimi-style). Tomorrow, probably eggs or soup or yogurt.

Impulse Bye
by Rob

This vacation has flown by, but they always do. When it started last Saturday, we didn't have any plans to go anywhere during the break. I wanted to be sure that we got out of here for at least a little while, so I went to the Internet to create a last minute New York getaway.

We set out from here on Wednesday, heading first to Westchester County and the home of our friends, the Barkats. Laura and Kim have been life-long friends. Laura met her husband, John, at The King's College, which is where both Kim and Laura did their undergraduate work. It had been two years since our last visit with them, but this is one of those friendships where that doesn't really seem to matter. They have two girls, and in very little time, all the kids were having a blast -- especially the girls. Although we were with them for a little less than 24 hours, the kids played instruments, did craft projects with clay, played games, had dance lessons, played in the snow... I'm sure that I'm leaving something out. Nate wasn't always interested in the same things that the girls were doing, but he didn't seem to mind spending time with the adults instead during those times.

We left our friends on Thursday afternoon, and headed for the city. Even though we didn't make our reservations until last Saturday, we had managed to get a room in the same hotel that we had used in December. The "Travel Inn" is on West 42nd Street, just a few blocks from Times Square and the theatre district. The hotel isn't fancy, but it's clean, easy to get to, includes parking and is very inexpensive (by New York standards). We arrived at the hotel just before 5:00 PM, with plenty of time to get some dinner before heading to the theatre.

We decided to take the easy way out for dinner that evening. Obviously, New York is full of good restaurants, but we went to Applebees. Actually, the food was predictable and adequate, and the service was great. The prices were shocking. Fortunately, when Kim and I realized that we had both decided on the same salad, the waitress cheerfully agreed to bring us some extra plates so that we could split one, rather than ordering two. We sat at a table on the second floor, overlooking 42nd Street, and we had a great time.

After dinner, we were off to the theatre. Ironically, February 22 was the one year anniversary of our family's Phantom of the Opera experience at Proctors here in Schenectady. When I started "browsing" the ticket sites online last Saturday, I never expected to find anything. When I found 4 of the cheap seats for Spamalot, I jumped at the chance to buy them. After all, I'm the only member of the family who had ever been to a Broadway show, and I felt that the rest of them needed to start catching up (not that they have much of a chance of that). We had also been talking about this show, because Nathan recently discovered the film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and he loves it. We knew that the show was based on the movie, so I was pretty sure it was a safe bet.

As it turns out, it wasn't such a "safe" bet. Yes, it was fun and we all enjoyed it a lot, but the new material that was added for this stage version was quite a lot racier than the movie. I sat next to Abbie during the show (our seats were split between two locations in the upper balcony), and at one point she turned to me and said, "Daddy, they're using the 's-word' a lot!" She was right. I suppose that I shouldn't think that it's funny, but every time that they used "the s-word," she would cover her mouth and her eyes would spread wide open. Then she'd look at me and giggle. I lost track of the number of times that she turned to me and said, "I don't get it," but I know that on several of those occasions I was relieved, and glad that the performance wasn't going to give us an opportunity to have any discussion about it.

Nathan loved the show. Since I wasn't sitting with him, I have no idea how he reacted to the language or the racy bits, but I suspect what he really enjoyed was seeing the comedy that he knows so well, adapted for the stage. A great many of the scenes were taken directly from the film -- word for word. I know this, because Nathan has memorized several of these scenes, and we have heard them -- word for word -- often during the past several months. Another part of the staging that was fun was the gore. The film includes a duel scene and a killer rabbit scene, both of which are very funny, but bloody. In the stage version, they managed to work out these two bits, complete with dismembering and beheading. The blood was replaced with red streamers, and it was very, very funny.

On the way home from the theatre, Abbie made it clear that we needed dessert. On our December visit, we stopped for ice cream after the Christmas Show, on our way back to our hotel. Well, it was a lot colder this time, so Kim and I said that there wouldn't be any ice cream. But within a block, we walked by a pastry shop that had cheese cake and cookies. Abbie thought that this would be okay instead. We got our food to go and finished our day, watching the evening news and eating cheese cake and rice pudding back in our hotel room.

This morning, we were in no real rush to get up and going. In fact, last evening, the weather report didn't sound so great, and we half expected to get up to ice on the streets. Fortunately, the sun was shining and the streets were dry. Unfortunately, the wind was howling. The wind chill was probably in the teens. Once we had figured out what the weather conditions were, we decided that we'd head to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. None of us had been there before, and although museums and kids are not always a great combination, we figured there would be plenty to look at for the afternoon.

After eating breakfast at the deli next to our hotel, we checked out of our room, and loaded our stuff into the car. Then we set out on foot for the subway station. I know this sounds strange, but I love subway system in New York. I haven't been on a subway since I lived there, so I was a little apprehensive about the money part of it. The system has switched from tokens to swipe cards. I was afraid that I would have to wait in a line, and then be unsure about what to buy. Sometimes, during the rush, people in the lines (and the agents) expect you to pay for your fare and get the heck out of the way. Fortunately, there was no line, and the agent was very helpful. She put all of our fares on one swipe card, which even saved us some money.

The museum was even larger than I imagined, and it was amazing. I can't believe that I have never been there before, and I can not wait to go back. Nate was less patient with Kim and me than Abbie. Both Kim and I had a hard time moving fast enough to suit him and the word "boring" was heard at least a few times. None the less, I know that both of the kids saw things that they really got excited about. Looking at the Van Gogh paintings was a highlight for Nate. I think that Abbie was impressed by the paintings in general. She wants to know what she needs to do to have an opportunity to paint on canvas. I didn't realize that there is so much more than painting and sculpture there, and although I really enjoyed the paintings the most, I was also glad to see the Frank Lloyd Wright room, and the Tiffany windows, and the Egyptian artifacts... In all, we spent about three and a half hours there, which I think is a pretty good amount of time, when you have a 9 and a 12 year old.

Although the kids hadn't said much of anything about the subway since we left the hotel, as we were leaving the museum Abbie asked if we could go back on the subway. She was excited when I said, "Yes."

The drive home to Schenectady was smooth and uneventful. The kids slept part of the way. When we pulled in the driveway this evening, it was about 8:30. Actually, when we got home, I almost didn't pull in the driveway, because it was full of snow! The weather that didn't seem to happen in NYC, happened in Schenectady instead. Oh well, at least we escaped it for awhile.

By the way, I forgot to use the camera during this getaway. But as you can see, I have discovered that if you forget to use your camera on your trip to New York City, some other nice people have already taken plenty of pictures for you, and thoughfully left them on the Internet for you to "borrow."

Mommy's Clean Closet
by Abbie

This is Abbie's drawing of the way that Mommy's closet should look, once she cleans it out. Mommy's friend Jen is coming today to help with this project. Abbie and Mommy have been watching "Clean House" on the Style Channel, which as become the inspiration for this effort. Jen will be playing the role of "Niecy Nash." Look for an inspiring update soon.

Abbie wishes that Mommy could have a "walk in closet."

Tired
by Rob

I'll admit, when schools were closing this morning, I thought that we were just getting lucky. Even though at this point, I still feel lucky that we didn't go to school today, I have a very different perspective.

I'm tired.

I wasn't surprised to hear the front door slamming this morning at 7:30. I was still in bed. The kids were already suited up in their snow gear and headed outside to play. It was great to think about them starting their day with such excitement.

This morning looked completely different than yesterday. Blue sky. Sunshine. Blinding white snow everywhere. As I stood in the kitchen making breakfast, I felt lucky to have the whole day ahead of us. I figured that we'd play outside. Perhaps we'd spend some time playing the Wii in the basement. Perhaps we'd watch another episode of "Alias." Well, the kid's got to play outside, but that's about the only part of my early notion that came to be.

I didn't head outside to clean up until about 11:30. Actually, that was the time that I walked the kids down to the neighbor's house so they could slide on their hill and play with friends. I knew that once I dropped them off, I'd come back and finish clearing out the driveway and then get our cars dug out.

When I got to the neighbor's house I could see that they were much farther behind than we were. Kim, the mom, was outside trying to dig their van out. The driveway hadn't been touched. Their driveway is several times larger than ours. And the worst part of it was the entrance from the road. The plows had left a packed heap of snow about 5 feet high and 10 feet wide. Jim, Kim's husband, has been away on business all week and she's been fending for herself. I told Kim that I'd be back to help, just as soon as I finished up at our house. It sounded simple enough to me.

I can't believe I misjudged so badly. It took me two hours to finish at our house.

I decided to head back to Kim and Jim's right away. Nothing had changed in the two hours. Kim told me that her neighbors from across the street had noticed her situation and called to say that they'd be over with a snow thrower once they had finished working at their rental properties.

I started working on the plug. I figured at the very least I'd be able to find the reflector markers that indicate the boundaries of the opening. Within a few minutes, the lady from across the street came over to say that I was welcome to use another thrower that was sitting at their house. I was able to get it started and she worked with me, giving me directions to clear through the plug. In awhile, her husband came home. The thrower that he had been using at the rental had died and he needed to take this one back to his other work site. He said that he'd come back later to help Kim finish up.

So I picked up my shovel and kept working on the plug. In a fairly short time, I had it completely open. Then I helped Kim to clear out some more of the drive so that she could move her van. I announced to Abbie and Nate that we'd be heading home soon. When we got home, it was 4:00 PM.

At that point I felt lucky that we'd had the day off, but for very different reasons.

Dinner was pizza. It sounded good to me, but it was also the only meal that I felt I could prepare -- meaning, I knew the phone number. When I headed out to pick it up it was about 5:00. Much to my surprise the driving wasn't very good at all. I thought that the roads would be well treated and cleared, and for the most part, they looked okay, but there were several patches of snow and ice and the CRV didn't handle them particularly well. It's strange, powdery snow. Now I was really glad that we hadn't had to drive anywhere today.

At this point, we're watching "Survivor" and laying low. The kids will head to bed in about half an hour. I think I'll be right behind them. I think that we'll all sleep well tonight. We're all tired.

Two Days for Three Schools
2/15/2007 -- 5:18 AM
by Rob

Kim's school announced that it would be closed last night. This morning, when I got up at 4:45, the kids' school was already closed. My school has just appeared on the TV. Closed.

Phew.

We got about 27" here. Cobleskill and Schoharie both got more than 30". I'll dig us out later this morning.

Now I realize that I shouldn't complain, but when we go back tomorrow it will be the last day before a vacation. A day of Valentine's Day parties. Useless.

Instant Winter

2/14/2007 -- 7:45 PM

by Rob

It's still snowing. I have been out to shovel three times, and each time there's been more snow than the time before. At this point, we have about two feet in the front yard. The kids, of course, are thrilled. They're also tired, because they've been outside playing most of the day.

Kim's school has already announced that it'll be closed tomorrow. The rest of us aren't so lucky. Even if my school or the kids' school isn't closed tomorrow, our day will still be easier now that Kim will be home. Selfishly, I'm happiest that whatever happens, I won't have to drive the Saturn; the CRV is definitely better for this weather.

The weather forecast says that the winds will be kicking up in the next few hours as the snow is winding down. The "Blizzard Warning" will be in effect through 6:00 AM tomorrow. A state of emergency is in effect in Schenectady County.

At the very least, I think that schools will be delayed in the morning. I haven't decided if this is a good thing, since a delay would mean that I would still have a concert in the evening, and I'd have to go to school and adjust the schedule for the rehearsal. A cancellation would be so much easier. I'm also concerned that I may have to be out shoveling at 4:30 in the morning to get out and get to school on time to set up for the rehearsal.

I should let it go, and be ready for anything. I guess I'll go iron some clothes.

Stay tuned.

Snow. Finally.
2/14/07 -- 12:30 PM
by Rob

This has been the winter without snow. For awhile, it was the winter without cold. Now we're getting caught up. This is one of those rare occasions where we were able to go to bed last night confident that today would be a snow day. Thank goodness it is. The roads are terrible.

As of 12:30 PM it's still snowing hard and we have at least a foot. The news says that there are 6 to 8 hours of steady snow left in the storm and that the winds will pick up this afternoon. We are actually under a blizzard warning for the rest of the day.

I was supposed to have a concert this evening. Tomorrow's the snowdate. I wonder if that's going to work.

In the meantime, we're relaxed and warm. The kids are out a neighbor's house playing and having a blast.

Check back later for an update.

Nate's 12

by Rob

Nate hasn't been excited about this week. He told me this again today. It seems that he would prefer that school be canceled, and we all engage in an extended celebration of his birthday. It seems to me that he's beginning to see birthdays a little differently, and perhaps he feels a little let down.

He turned 12 on Tuesday. Typically, Tuesday is one of the busiest days of our week. After school, the kids have about an hour to finish homework before we head out to piano lessons. We usually don't arrive back until about 6:40. By the time we finish dinner, it's often close to 7:30. It usually seems like there is very little time between dinner and bedtime.

This was a typical Tuesday, except for one minor detail. Kim was "out of commission." Actually, she injured shoulder on Monday, and between her limited mobility and the "muscle relaxers," she was pretty much a couch potato. While the kids were at their lessons, I took the opportunity to go to WalMart to buy Nate a gift, the grocery store to buy him a cake, and I placed a call to order take out for dinner. We swung by the mall after the lessons to pickup dinner and headed home. This instant birthday party went well enough, but was over fairly quickly. Not before long, the kids were getting ready for Wednesday and heading to bed.

When I arrived home this afternoon he told me, "This week sucks." In spite of his choice of vocabulary, which is decidely more "middle school" these days, I was sympathetic. It seems that his birthday really did come and go in a blur. I say this, even though last Friday evening he had friends here for a party. He had been planning the event for weeks. They had a great time, but the party took place at the end of another very busy day, and like his actual birthday, seemed to come and go very quickly.

Boneless Chicken
Nate to Dad, in the car

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yea, Nate."

"You know 'boneless chicken'?"

"Yea."

"Does that mean that the chicken doesn't have any bones, or do they take the bones out?"

"They take the bones out."

"Oh. ...Eww".

Wii Had a Great Weekend
by Rob

It's been an interesting weekend here. The weather has finally turned towards winter, and we have been housebound since Sunday morning. But it's been okay.

On Friday our new "Wii" system arrived. Kim and I got to use one at Christmastime and decided that it would be so much fun to have one. Then we went looking for one. Yikes. I'm not proud of this, but I bought "it" on Ebay. Never mind what I paid. So far, I don't regret it.

I tracked the shipment online, so I knew that the box would be waiting when I came home from work on Friday. The kids knew that something was up, and Abbie's guess was that it was a Wii. I wish we had video taped the moment when they opened the box. Abbie screamed. Not squealed. Screamed.

We had a family bowling event in our living room. Abbie won the first game with a score of 164.

Later, Nathan set up for the boxing game. He went three rounds and won by a last minute KO. I was fairly impressed.

Then Abbie boxed. She knocked out the computer opponent in 15 seconds. And then she did it again. Then Nate went three rounds again. And then Abbie got another KO in the first round. Should anyone be surprised?

After I had closed on the Wii deal, we decided (okay, I decided and Kim went along with it) that we need to get some more remotes. The system only comes with one, but can handle up to four. Of course, they're sold separately, and like the game systems, are nowhere to be found. So when I found one online last week, I ordered it. Then on Saturday morning, I walked into a store at the mall that had two. Shouldn't have done it, I know, but I did. So now we have four.

But it's not over. We had been keeping a secret from the kids. Chad, a young man who was part of our youth group recently moved to Utah. He couldn't take his TV with him, so he gave it to us. Actually, the TV I'm talking about was one that Chad had picked up at his job, installing high definition TVs for a local store. He delivered a new set to someone who wanted this one taken away, so he told Chad to keep it. Chad paid to get it repaired, gave it to us, and then moved to Utah.

The delivery truck arrived in our driveway at about 4:00 on Saturday. I dialed the phone to reach Chad, and then put Nate on the phone with him. Nate and Abbie had no idea what was going on. When the kids figured out that it was a 46" HD TV set being delivered, they were in shock. I'm sure that they didn't think things could get much more surprising after the Wii arrived. It was fun to shock them again.

So on Saturday afternoon, the four of us played tennis in our basement. And we had a blast.

By the way, Abbie also has a mean serve. I still can't return it.

Power and Dark
by Rob

Where were we when the lights went out?

In the dark. But not just literally.

I was in the office at school at about 2:30 this afternoon, when one of the secretaries answered the phone. I knew that it was for me, just by the way that she looked at me. “Rob Hileman? He’s right here.”

It was the transportation office at Schalmont, the kids’ school. They wanted to let me know that they had received word that Schermerhorn Road was closed and they would be dropping Nate off at the Schonowe building, an old elementary school at the end of our street. They wanted me to know that he would be walking home from there.

I needed more information. “Why is the road closed?... Where is the tree down?... Do you have anyway of finding out?” They didn’t, so I said, “no.” After I made it clear that Nate was not allowed to walk down the closed street where trees and power lines down, the nice woman agreed to have Nathan taken to Abbie’s elementary school. I said I’d pick them up there.

After I picked them up, we navigated our way to my 3:30 doctor appointment. It wasn’t as easy as I hoped it would be, since there were several major traffic lights that were not working. The kids helped me through the tough spots and we made it on time.

When we finally were able to head home from my appointment, we watched the houses very carefully. As we turned off Rice Road onto Schermerhorn, we could still see lights on in all of the houses and so we all thought things would be fine at house. Our hopes vanished pretty quickly though, as we soon came to a section of the street where the houses were dark. Then, we were greeted by what has become a familiar sight, traffic cones placed across the road just beyond the section that heads to our house. Closed.

Ahead there were all sorts of trucks and flashing lights. We parked in a neighbor’s driveway and made the rest of the way to our house on foot. As we got closer, it was clear that the tree had come down directly across from our house. There was tree and power pole debris everywhere. When I reached the edge of our yard I could finally see the worst of it; our power meter lay in the middle of our front yard. The falling tree snapped the power pole at the edge of our yard, and the force had ripped the entire service line off of our house. Crap.

The men working on the situation took immediate notice of us and wanted to know if this was our house. They explained that they were waiting for us, since they needed to get inside to assess if any damage to the breaker box had occurred from the force of the line being ripped off the house. Fortunately, there wasn’t any damage. They explained that we would need to get an electrician to come and make permanent repairs, but they would be able to give us a temporary hook up in the meantime.

At that point, Kim showed up, and like me, she was pissed. You see, the folks who own property across from our house, know that the trees on their land are sick. I know this for a fact. Yet, for the nearly eight years that we have lived here, even though this sort of thing has happened time and time again, they continue to allow these incidents to be treated as “acts of God.”

At this point, darkness fell. Not just the fading light in the sky, but Kim and I began to feed off of each other’s anger. We swore. We talked about calling a lawyer. We raised our voices. And we whined. All the time, Nate and Abbie were there, listening. It didn’t take long for me to regret my response. Our kids take so many leads from us. As of tonight, I’m sure that they must both think that when these things happen, someone else is to blame, someone who should be punished. At least that’s what we have led them to believe.

I keep hoping I’ll reach a point in my life where I stop saying things I’ll regret later.

Even though the lights have come back on during the time that I have been writing this, I’m still in the dark. Tomorrow I have to figure out how to get everything fixed. And how to pay for it. Yes, I assume that our insurance will cover it. And, yes, I expect that any electrician worth his or her salt will know the repair process from beginning to end. But still, I decided I’d have to take the day off just so I can deal with it.

Which brought me to my most sobering moment of the day. I called my supervisor to explain the situation and request an emergency personal day off. She wished me well and told me that she hoped that things would be okay. “It’s only stuff,” I said. It was at that point I remembered that her son is critically ill. Just yesterday she told me that she and her husband live from day to day knowing that he could die at any time. Right now they’re hoping he’ll be well enough to face another major heart surgery at the end of this month.

Not only is the power is back on, but none of this was ever a real problem in the first place.