Our Family
5300 Still in Dark
According to an article in the Midland Daily News, 5300 Midlanders were still without power as of Saturday night. It's Sunday night now, and we're glad to see that our neighbors across the street have had their power restored.
Neighbors Still Powerless
It's Saturday night, 48 hours after the ice storm, and I just realized that our neighbors across the street must be without power because they're running a generator. The current temperature is 8 F.
Ice Storm 06
During the day on Thursday and overnight from Thursday to Friday, freezing rain caused "...up to a half-inch of ice accumulation and high winds approaching 60 miles an hour led to widespread power outages across the state and in the Midland area" (from an article in the Midland Daily News). From a second article in the Midland Daily News:
The number of customers still without power as of Friday night included:
- Bay City: 6,900
- Clare: 1,100
- Gladwin: 1,100
- Midland: 13,400
- Saginaw: 1,300
We didn't lose power except for a few seconds, but it seems like most folks we know were without power for at least a few hours, if not a few days. With temperatures in the teens and single digits, that's bad news. We did have a big tree in the back yard drop a few huge limbs. Connie and David Sitter came over and spent the day at our house on Friday because they had no power.
David, Elliot, and the trees down in the backgard
Downed trees, photo taken from the roof (I had to clean ice and snow off the satellite dish)
A tree limb smashed Elliot's "pitch-back"
On Nelson between Rodd and Ashman
Elliot and David in the backyard
Hope it Rains
Before coming to Midland, Jack Bobo had a cut over one of his eyes. While in Midland, it appeared to be infected with the infection spreading, so Julie took him to urgent care to get some antibiotics. Jack made the comment, "Mom, if I go blind, I hope it rains." Julie replied that he wasn't going to go blind and asked why he hoped it would rain. Jack replied, "I hope it rains so that I can make some mud and put it on my eye." John 9
Finn, Elliot, Anna, Evan, and Jack
Bobos Visit Feb 06
While Jonathan was in New Jersey, the Bobos (Julie, Anna, Jack, and Evan) came to Midland to visit. One of the big events of the visit was a trip to the Midland Center for the Arts for the "A T. rex Named SUE" exhibit. SUE, standing 16 feet tall and 42 feet long, is an identical cast of the original T. rex fossil housed at The Field Museum in Chicago.
The scientists uncover ancient dinosaur fossils.
Flight Canceled
Last Sunday Jonathan was supposed to fly to New Jersey for a couple days of business meetings. He flew to Detroit planning to make a connection to Newark, but the North American blizzard of 2006 interfered. From the Wikipedia entry:
The Blizzard of 2006 was a nor'easter that began on the evening of February 11, 2006. It dumped heavy snow across the Northeast United States from Virginia to Maine through the early evening of February 12 and ended in Atlantic Canada on February 13. The major northeast cities from Baltimore to Boston received at least a foot of snow, with an all-time largest amount of 26.9 inches (68.3 cm) in New York City (the most since at least 1869, when records started being kept).
A car buried in the blizzard in NYC
Jonathan spent most of the day in the Detroit airport until the last flight of the day to Neward was cancelled. Then the Birdwells picked him up, and he spent the night at their place. On Monday he caught a 5 PM flight to Newark.
Snowshoe Hike
Saturday evening Grandma and Grandpa B and Coby came up to babysit and spend the night. Saturday night, Lisa and Jonathan went on Chippewa Nature Center's Valentine's Snowshoe Hike and Dessert. It was fun to go snowshoeing, but I'm sure it would have been more so if there had been more than just a few inches of snow on the ground. We had cheesecake and cookies for dessert. From an article in the Midland Daily News:
...14 couples participating in the Nature Center's Valentine's Snowshoe Hike and Dessert, where couples donned snowshoes and traversed the trails around the center.
Couples trudged through a small amount of snow cover on a twilight hike. The shoes weren't needed for navigation, just for fun.
On the hike, the full moon obscured by clouds emitted a soft glow onto the white trails. Guides and hikers tried calling owls, but the nocturnal birds seemed otherwise occupied, and didn't respond.
Indoors after the hike, candles took over for the moon, providing a romantic atmosphere for a quiet dessert.
Steelers 21 Seahawks 10
The Wanous and Sitter families came over tonight to watch the Super Bowl. Lots of blunders by both teams, but the good guys won. They capitalized on most of their opportunities, and the Seahawks didn't.
photo from http://media3.steelers.com/
Beat, Drum, Rattle, and Hum
Tonight we went to "Beat, Drum, Rattle, and Hum" by Lois Hartzler at the Creative Spirit Center. "Join in the music with floor clapping, singing, drumming, and playing games! This program is designed to encourage basic music competence with high interaction." The Sitters were there too.
The boys remove their shoes after returning from the Creative Spirit Center.
Finn stretches with dad.
Lisa and Connie at the MOPS table at last Saturday's "Kids Day" at the mall.
Get Away Car
The most popular activity of the weekend was "Get Away Car," a game James invented. The kids run around and try to avoid getting bumped by the remote-controlled car that James is driving. If you get bumped, you have to sit in the cowboy chair and count to 10 before you get up and start dodging again:
