Branching Out

Ursula has now spent a week in her new place. She didn't go very far - maybe 50-60 paces. From one end of the swimming pool to the other. But Nicki is still sorting out papers and boxes. Our garage has the furniture that wouldn’t fit into the slightly smaller room. Somewhere in the move some of Ursula’s warmer clothes have disappeared and the care level increased to the where laundries are more frequent, so some shopping may be in order. The walls are filled with her artwork and we tried to make the area around the outside of her door look familiar so she will recognize her place on the way back from meals. Photos from the move can be found on My Website.

This blogging thing is getting too easy. I’ve decided to branch off a second blog with a theme - a logical extension of this blog. Head here for Kayaking Across America. Probably an odd time to start a journal about kayaking - at the end of a season. But I decided to grab the name while it was available. Also I’m considering the use of verse. An experiment for sure. In the next few months you’ll probably read a lot about kayak maintenance and musing on places we can kayak in the future that are located beyond Ohio. Time to start a list - got ideas?

The Sound of Music

Nicki's sister Barb came in the middle of last week. She had been invited to do a presentation at Kendal Friday evening on her experiences with the Von Trapp Family Singers in the late mid-1950's. The program went very well. Large enthusiastic audience. Ursula sat in the front row with Nicki. She seemed to enjoy the music. I'm sure she recognized most of the songs. Not sure she heard much of the talk but that's okay. People at Kendal were still talking about it today. I think Barb should go on tour. Bob drove down from Lansing and made it for the last couple numbers.

Barb discussed her invitation to join the Von Trapp's, the travels throughout the world, and visits to the Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont (A little of Austria - A lot of Vermont). She sang songs learned from the Von Trapps as well as selections from "The Sound of Music." Barb also demostrated several different sizes of recorders and tricky maneuvers with poi balls. The Trapp Family added poi balls to their concerts during a trip to New Zealand. And Nicki well remembers the poi ball craze among the kids in her neighborhood after Barb returned from that tour.

Saturday we grabbed the opportunity of sunny weather (and temperatures in the high 40's - low 50's) to do a little kayaking. We also had Bob and Barb bring Ursula in their car so Ursula could watch us unload and launch the kayaks. She was bubbling with curiosity. After watching us they gave Ursula a bit of a drive throught the country. And later that evening we all got together at Hans and Norma's for pizza, chicken fingers, salad, and chocolate pie. I think we tired Ursula out with all the excitement and excursions.

As for our kayaking report. The paddling was fine. The water was probably very cold but we wisely or luckily didn't dip. We were just about ready to give up on wildlife when we spooked 3 great blue herons at the same time. They flow off in 3 different directions. Think we saw a couple small groups of diving grebes. I was just about to suggest to Nicki that we set the goal of taking the kayaks out at least once a month every month of the year - when we came upon a big batch of funny looking water. Of course, it was a large sheet of ice. So I played "ice breaker" for a while - interesting feel. However, the kayak doesn't turn or backup well in an ice field. There may come a point when the ice wins and the kayaks stay in the garage.

Deer in the headlights

Last night, after I chaired my monthly district technology committee meeting, I drove over to Kendal to meet Nicki and her mother for supper. As I was driving into the parking lot just outside Ursula’s room a deer walked across the drive right in front of me. A buck with 5-6 points on its antlers. Good thing I was driving slowly since I always worry about hitting a resident. And we had a nice supper with Ursula.

And have you checked out the luxury casino/hotel plans for Salamanca? Wow - a step up from the Dudley.

Yes Yes ... again

Amazingly both our levies passed. I figured it would be very close but the numbers were very positive. The replacement proposal passed 64% to 36% which I figured since there wasn’t much difference in cost. But the 5 mill new levy passed 55% to 45% which was respectable. This will give us financial stability for a while provided the state doesn’t do something screwy or GW doesn’t declare war on the economy. Click here for the campaign website.

Had our first opportunity to do the touch-screen voting. It was different but the process went smoothly. The only disconcerting part was when part of an issue would start on one screen and finish on another. Some precincts had machines that broke down or the paper back-up jammed. But I only waited 5 minutes and it was overall less worrisome than our usual punchcards. The voting results were slow to be reported. Turns out the board of elections always counts the absentee ballots first and then deals with the regular voting - and there was some problem with the absentee processing. And with the reporting pace it was hard to grasp a trend. I did a lot of reloading of the board of elections website while the levy campaign committee snacked and chit-chatted. But we got the same results at the same time as the radio stations and the TV. I gave up and went home to catch the final results. And now we start thinking about the technology levy that will need to be renewed this time next year. It never ends.

The Valley Goes Wireless

The pattern being established here is that I report on our events after some time to reflect - usually a week or so. Or I start the blog entry after I’ve had time to download our photos from the cameras and when I’ve found enough spare time to compose the text. In this case it took an entire week and now I’m sitting and watching the Cavs playing the Spurs.

Nicki and I drove up to Little Valley last Thursday (the 27th) night arriving just in time for a late dinner that Martha had prepared - pot roast. We certainly can’t say the oven isn’t being used. After that great dinner I did a little experimenting with the cable broadband connection. It wasn’t a matter of simply plugging my wireless router into the cable modem and being able to check my email. They just didn’t want to talk to each other which means the internet wasn’t accessible. Of course I was following the installer’s directions and not going with my experience. I'm sure I was great entertainment for Martha and Nicki. Gave up finally - looking for a fresh start in the morning.

Friday Nicki and Martha left me to do their thing in Ellicottville while I did my thing with the wireless setup. After a lot of frustration I finally did what I should have done first - basically unplugging and resetting the cable modem (the installer said not to do that) - and of course the wireless connection was instantly recognized. From there I tweaked the settings to get the best signal. Found we can receive a strong access signal outside the house at least to the garage - maybe further. So the dinning room table or the porch will be no problem. During this process I found at least one other access point in the neighborhood which is encouraging for Little Valley.

I’m not going to say anything about the level of openness. Any of the family wanting to access our connection shouldn’t have a problem. Your laptop’s wireless card should recognize the signal and the station’s name should be obviously ours. And I can always talk to the router and adjust the settings from Oberlin.

Nicki and I did a bit of a walk that afternoon. Started with the cemetary, then beyond the Fairgrounds to the bike trail, eastward past the old railroad station as far as the swimming pool, and back to the homestead. That evening we met Jim and Cindy at Tips Up Cafe. Not much of a wait. Good table. Good food. And afterward we all moved back to the house. At one point there were a bunch of laptops accessing our network round the dinning room table.

Next morning we left the Little Valley crowd and headed back towards home. Arrived at Sue’s Mom’s memorial service with plenty of time. Then did a little shopping and finally home. We did see the Wallace and Gromit movie at our local Apollo Theater that evening.

Sunday afternoon we took advantage of the very nice weather. Loaded up the kayaks and visited our Findley Lake. Kept running into people that were interested in our kayaks. Both when we were taking the boats off the Honda and later when we were getting them out of the water. We think there is some interest in the sport.

Beautiful day on the lake. Autumn leaves on the water. A ring of fall colors around the lake. Our usual herons. A couple hawks. The only disappointment was how early it is getting dark. We took the boats out of the water at 5:30 and 15 minutes later it was night. I don’t think we’ll get anymore kayaking trips on weekdays after school. Better get good weather on the weekends or that’s it for the season.

Halloween was a little better than usual for trick-or-treaters. We had around 20 - mostly very young kids. The past couple years has been very light. But that number doesn’t stress our dogs much. They bark and take a look at the costumes but Sam and Cricket weren’t on the alert.

This week has been focused on the upcoming elections. Tuesday evening was the local candidates night at First Church. Time to hear about the issues and an opportunity to see the school board candidates. Wednesday I had a levy committee meeting to discuss the final push. Thursday I attended a levy discussion at Kendal. And Saturday Nicki will be distributing leaflets in the neighborhood while I tweak the campaign website. Maybe Sunday we’ll kayak - but the forecast isn’t very promising.

Almost forgot - this week I've been trying to fix a PC at work. One of the secretaries computers had a browser hijacker "accidentally" installed which led to her getting endless annoying popups whenever she accessed her email or had to go on the internet. Needless to say it was disrupting the efficiency of her work. Took hours and hours of work to get her even partway back to normal. And the cures are as annoying as the problem. Please save yourself a lot of trouble and get yourself a Mac. Or if you can't, then keep your anti-virus definitions up-to-date. And don't click on any "free" offers or any notices that your computer has a problem and can be fixed by clicking on some flashy button. And whether you use a Mac or a PC stop using Internet Explorer and start using Firefox - a much better, faster, and more secure browser that blocks popups and has some cool features.

Traveling East

Talk about being slow. I’ll blame it on a short and busy week - coming back late from our trip, lots of school meetings, working on the levy campaign, open house meetings with parents, and so on. They say an indicator of a successful blog is quick and current entries. I’m not looking to expand my readership.

So Nicki and I did a little traveling. Left last Friday heading to Little Valley, stopping there just long enough to store the kayaks in the garage and do a beef on wick lunch at the Congregational Church. Lots of talk among the ladies about which Memmott I was - the bets were on Ed, of course. You time lunch right you get lots of attention and they toss in extra sandwiches and pie for free. Then we continued eastward along the southern tier with the jog up toward Albany until we arrived at Laura’s round eleven. Had plenty of rain the last couple hours of the trip but avoided the flooded or missing sections of highway. Laura and kitten Zoe were ready for us with pastries. Only 665 miles in one day.

Saturday morning we did breakfast at iHop, drove to Stanford, and caught the train into New York City. From Grand Central we subwayed to the World Trade Center area where we met Martin. Walked around the recovery site, down to Battery Park, up to China Town, and to Little Italy for supper. Wandered a little more to a park with break dancers where we split with Martin and caught the subway back to Grand Central. Another train ride, while reading the Sunday NY Times, to Stanford and a drive back to West Hartford. A long day but nice. Sorry we didn’t contact Will and Jen and Susanna but time was tight and we focused on the kids.

Sunday morning was breakfast at Mo’s Midtown of course. That was fuel for the road. A little work setting up a printer for Laura’s computer and playing with Zoe and then we were back on the road heading west. A beautiful fall day with lots of color going over the Hudson and through the Catskills and into the Alleghenies. Picked up rain just after nightfall and before arriving in Little Valley. Martha had an unbelievable supper ready for us - turkey breast, scalloped potatoes, with apple crisp for dessert. Weren’t expecting that - what a hostess!

Monday morning we met Ed for breakfast at Dina’s. Back at Little Valley I made the call to set up installation for broadband - so the homestead will have highspeed internet. (Give me a little time to add the wireless router - and picture us serving coffee to the locals with their laptops on the porch). We reloaded the kayaks and headed for Presque Isle near Erie. Beautiful park. Spent most of our time exploring a large lagoon area in the center of the peninsula. A few herons, lots of ducks, and one animal swimming just in front of us that we’re pretty sure was a beaver. Ended up in Misery Bay which was the temporary home of the fleet of ships commanded by Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry in the War of 1812. Not many people in the park. No other kayaks. No fisherman. Very quiet and scenic.

For the final leg of our trip we had supper on the east side of Cleveland and drove through a final bit of light rain as we returned to Oberlin. 1,500 miles total. A very nice trip. A compact but worthy vacation. And if you need your photo fix click on Travel Photos. In that collection is a photo Martha took of a broken hinge on one of the dining room cabinet doors. We’re trying to find a match. Keep your eyes open.

Fair Play

Nicki has been complaining that my blog doesn't feature enough photos of me. Seems she wants some balance considering I enjoy posting photos that happen to contain her. So since my last blog entry had photos from years gone by, here's one of me from the last century - maybe a little more than 25 years but close. Not much has changed of course.

You're probably wondering when I'll mention our kayaks. Learned today that duck season starts this weekend and that our favorite lake (see below) will have shotgunners in boats instead of guys with fishing rods. Hope they can tell the differences among ducks, herons, carp, and osprey. We won't be there to protect them.

25th

Yes - though time does fly - it has been 25 years - very good years! And to celebrate we didn't go out to a fancy restaurant. We didn't go out to a movie. Instead, even though it was a gray almost rainy day, we loaded up the kayaks and hit our closest lake - Findley of course. Since it is getting darker earlier and earlier we only paddled for maybe an hour and a half but we saw our usual herons and spooked a bunch of carp and even watched a pair of osprey circling the lake. And we had a chance to test out our new cold-weather wet-weather coats bought in Freeport this summer. And maybe our first taste of cool weather boating.

Once again we were putting our boats on the rack in the dark. With the clouds it gets dark very fast. We had the lake to ourselves and that means it was very quiet. I think we saw 5 walkers - no other boaters - no fishermen. As we drove out of the park we were watched by one lone deer. On the way home we dined at a Burger King. Kayaking was Nicki's choice though I approved. We can do fancy stuff another day - maybe this weekend? Oh yeah, I did do a bunch of roses delivered to Nicki at work. A good day. And, yes, I can do another 25 - easy.

Finding Fall in Findley

We are keeping to our mid-week kayaking schedule. Tuesday evening we made a dash away from work, changed our clothes, and headed for Findley. Made it there about 5:30 which gave us a couple hours of boating. We are beginning to notice the changing fall colors and the lake is getting a smattering of leaves floating on the surface. Started by visiting the shallows near the tall grasses. We’ve found the large carp wallowing in the warm waters. This time Nicki was leading along the shore and found herself in the middle of a pack (5 or 6?). When her boat was almost on top of the group they did their explosion thing - manic flippering on the surface until they get to deeper water. There is a slight concern that they might collide with a boat. So far they’ve managed to escape contact - but it has been close - and it is exciting. Certainly disturbs the tranquility. Things happen too fast for photos - sometime I’ll bring the video-camera cause it is slightly unbelievable until you’ve seen it happen.

The rest of the paddling was normal. We snuck up on a few herons. One old guy refused to get spooked by us and watched contentedly from his perch in a tree. And our thousands of little black birds were swarming and swooping into the tall grasses while a hawk hunted for dinner. There were more people in the park than we expected - might have been the warm evening that brought them out. Even shared the water with 3 other kayaks.

Monday evening Nicki and I did go to a Katrina Relief Concert held at Oberlin College. A real mix of music that was broadcast live by a Cleveland radio station. The audience was a little sparser than I expected but the music was impressive - all performed by students.

I’m also getting involved in our local school levy campaign by running their website - YesYes for Oberlin Schools. There are 2 Yes’s because we are actually asking for voters to approve 2 levy proposals. We did this before - about 2 years ago - but it didn’t generate the funds we expected so we are trying again. One big complication is that our superintendent just announced that she is leaving Oberlin in January to become superintendent of the Pitt County Schools in North Carolina. Our selling point for the levy campaign will now be that we need a financially stable system to attract worthwhile administrators. Right?

West Branch

Nothing like a weekend to complete a busy week. We really look forward to our time.

Friday evening was recovering at home and watching the sorrowful Indians game. They should have won.

Saturday Nicki worked on cleaning the house while I went into school to do tech work and to get ready for a big reading achievement test we are giving our 3rd graders Monday. And of course we watched/listened to the even more sorrowful Indians game as we worked. That evening we did a little shopping out of town and on the way home went to a jazz concert at the college - Purple Stuff - a student group of various musicians featuring two fantastic drummers. Of course it was free and amazing music. We were probably the oldest people there by 30-40 years (but I thought we fit right in).

Sunday afternoon after the most sorrowful Indians game we drove about 70 miles east to West Branch State Park which has the Michael J. Kirwin Lake (also known as the West Branch Reservoir). The maps said it was a scenic lake with mountain bike trails, campgrounds and lots of fishing. It has a great reputation for muskies up to 50 inches (but we didn’t see any). If you look real close you might see the ripple of one following Nicki's boat but I don't think so.

It is a very nice serene lake though the water level was way down. Lots of fisherpeople but the lake was big enough and they were spread out and there weren’t many powerboats that late in the day. A big enough lake that we had some nice wavy motion from the infrequent powerboats.

Had a very nice sunset. Not much wildlife - not sure why not since the migratory season has started. No geese or ducks and only 2 skittish herons. Might have something to do with the low water and the lack of trees right on the water’s edge. And again we were tying up the boats as it got dark. Either we need to start kayaking earlier in the day or mount lights on the boats. We are getting very good at putting the boats on top of the CRV by touch. Stopped on the turnpike for a late supper on the way home. Forgot that West Wing was on at 8:00 so we missed it totally. I much preferred having it on Wednesday nights.

And the Indians season is over so we can stop watching baseball. That will free up a considerable amount of time in our schedule. We are trying to do at least one evening of kayaking on Findley Lake during the week and discover a new lake on the weekend. That will work until the days get too short and the temperatures too cool.