Cats and dogs

We have now snapped both of the streaks Nolan's baseball team had going this season. They finally got their first win last weekend -- and we got rained out tonight.

We've been lucky and have had reasonably good weather for most of his games, but the luck ran out tonight.

The sky looked pretty ominous as the kids were warming up. Then just before game time, the heavens opened up. We had thunder, lightning and hail.

Oh well. One more game to go. We wrap up the season Saturday afternoon.

The Rainbow Connection

A nice rainbow appeared beyond left field at Nolan's baseball game tonight. Kris wondered if that was Pop showing up to watch the game.

Vile Varmint

I'm none too pleased with Punxsutawney Phil...

Four days

My biggest concern last Thursday afternoon was whether or not I should brave the sleet and freezing rain to attend a farewell gathering for my co-workers at a bar in Troy. I eventually decided to heed the advice of Bob Kovachick, who suggested maybe it wasn’t the best night to go out.

Later that evening Kris and I were happily enjoying “30 Rock” when the power went out in the middle of the show (btw, watch the episode here on Hulu). The ice storm cometh. The power came back an hour later, but was cut off again in the middle of the night.

That night we could hear ice crackling and branches snapping outside the window. But since there was nothing I could do about it, I did my best to ignore it and go back to sleep.

The next thing I knew there was a cell phone ringing. It was 7 a.m. and work needed me to come in early. I looked out the window and saw branches down everywhere – including on top of my neighbors’ car.

Kris and I mainly communicated through text messages that day in order to conserve the battery on her phone.

We ultimately decided to flee town and spend the weekend with her parents. I picked Kris and the kids up after work and we headed north – although just getting out of Niskayuna was easier said than done. Seemingly at every turn we kept running into roads closed due to downed branches and power lines.

We eventually made it to Moira. While I was grateful to have heat and lights, after a couple of days I was very anxious to get back and see what was going on with our house and neighborhood.

On Sunday morning we spoke to one of our neighbors on the phone. She told us she had talked to one of the National Grid crewmen and that he told her we’d have our power back that day. So we headed home!

We were greeted by a dark, cold house. About 38 degrees cold. It turns out it was a different part of our street that went back online Sunday. There was still no juice for us.

But my mom had her power back. So we borrowed her generator and used it to fire up a couple of space heaters in the basement. That night we huddled by the fire until the basement was warm enough and then we all slept down there.

I had to wake up once in the middle of the night to put more gas in the generator. It was eerie to hear the crackling ice dropping off the trees all around in the now above freezing temperature.

The next morning, after coffee brewed on the camp stove, the kids went to school and I went to work (after first taking some time to survey the damage around the neighborhood and at my mom’s house). At about 12:30 p.m., four days after the lights went out, Kris called me to report we were back to normal.

It was so great to come home to a cozy, well-lit house and sleep in my own bed!

All total, power was knocked out to more than 200,000 homes and businesses in the Capital Region. As of tonight there are still about 40,000 in the dark. My hat goes off to the National Grid folks working around the clock to get everything back to normal.

Baby, it's cold out there

Man it's cold out today! Cold and windy. Right now it's about 23 degrees -- 10 degrees with the wind chill.

Aren't you glad it's spring?

If you don't like the cold then you probably have me to blame. Last week I got a little antsy for the warm weather. I decided to tempt fate by zipping the fleece lining out of my jacket and putting the snow brush and ice scraper in the trunk.

That's what I get for jumping the gun!

Bummer

I was supposed to bring Nolan and his friend Danny to see the Harlem Globetrotters tonight at the Times Union Center. Mother Nature had other ideas.

We had such a great time seeing the Globetrotters last year. Nolan was really excited to see them again.

Kris started bringing the kids out to meet me at work, but called from the road to say how bad the driving was thanks to the snow storm we were in the middle of. She wound up turning around and heading back home.

Nolan was very disappointed (I was too). But we're going to try to come up something else cool to do with Danny.

April showers

We took the kids to the Bronx Zoo on Saturday. I hope to youtube some highlights are at least post some photos at a later date. But for now, it will have to wait because:
A) my computer at home has died.
B) the weather is the more pressing concern right now.

As most of you know, the northeast is getting hit pretty hard. We spent the night in Tarrytown Saturday. I was optimistic we would get home before the worst of the weather hit. That didn’t work out. The trip up the Thruway was a little hairy at times. We saw seven or eight accidents—mostly cars slid off the road. Fortunately we were not involved in any of them.

When I left the house this morning, Kris was still in the basement, armed with a bucket and trying to bail out the water. Our pump just couldn’t keep up with the water as it was coming in. The water never got over an inch deep and it looked like it was slowing down when I left. But with more rain in the forecast for the next 24+ hours, I’m a little concerned.

One of the highlights of the day: I was in the midst of dumping out a bucket of water when the alert sound went off on my cell phone. I checked it and, what do you know, it was a message telling me there was a flood warning. Wow! Thanks for that tip! I would never have guessed!

My brother, a much better man than me, is getting the real raw deal from the weather day. Within the hour, he will be starting the Boston Marathon (I think this is his ninth) despite the horrible conditions there. Good luck, Tim!

UPDATE: Tim's finish time was 3:42:14.

Snow dog

I hope you’re all surviving the “Great Blizzard of 2007.”

I wound up working from home today. I started driving to work and only got about a block away before I thought better of it. Since I have the capability to work from home, then why would I want to be out driving today?

After that I only ventured out twice to clear the driveway. But everyone else enjoyed the snow—including Chester…

What people will do for their Jack Bauer fix

Al Roney on WGY was discussing the recent ice storm that knocked power out to nearly 80,000 homes and businesses in our area.

He took a call from one guy who said he ran out to a “major discount store” to buy a power inverter, so he could run his TV of his car battery and watch “24.”

Now that’s a loyal fan!

Meanwhile, we were fortunate we didn't lose power. However, I did have to scrape about a quarter-inch of ice of my car yesterday morning. One chunk broke off and hit me in the eye, which I suppose could have been pretty dangerous. Fortunately it just stung.

Rain, rain, go away!

Ok, everyone, start praying for a break in the weather.  In about an hour, Nolan and I will begin heading down the Thruway for tonight's game at Yankee Stadium.   However, I have the sneaking suspicion we're just going to wind up turning around and coming back home.

 

The forecast for the Bronx right now, much like the Capital Region, is calling for rain, rain and…um…oh yeah, more rain.   We're packing our rain gear just in case the game is on.

 

Last night's game was rained out.  That's means that if they do play tonight we'll be seeing Curt Schilling go against Jaret Wright.   If they had played last night, then tonight would have been Tim Wakefield vs. Randy Johnson.

 

As much as I'd like to see Schilling pitch in person (hopefully getting a loss), I think the Wakefield-Johnson match-up would have been more interesting.

Winter wonderland

The boys enjoyed playing out the backyard this afternoon in something we haven’t seen too much of this winter—snow!

After romping around in the snow for awhile they eventually started climbing into the kiddie pool that’s stored away in the back corner of the yard. Thomas kept asking me to put water in it. I tried to explain that there was water, but I don’t think he was counting the snow.

The snow wasn’t all fun and games. We had a little fender bender while we were out and about today. An idiot woman stepped out into the road right in front of us. I hit the brakes and wound up sliding into a gaurdrail. No one was hurt, but the car is a little banged up.

I can’t wait for summer.