Blackout strikes again!

Tonight, Entertaining Lucy was to play outdoors again at Oakley After Hours. However, when they showed up, after setting up all of their gear, they realized there was no power feeding the outlets on the square! After a couple of hours of waiting around, playing a few songs acoustically, and explaining to passers by and friends who came to see them why they weren't playing, they packed up and came home. The word was, due to the recent blackouts, the timers on the power outlets had been out of sync. Ugh! I had been looking forward to seeing the band play with a drummer and enjoying the fall weather. This is one of the few venues that I can take Charlie to and see them play.

Charlie had a pretty good week. On Sunday, the Kramers brought Cora over for a play date. They played well together and Charlie had a great time. We will definitely have them over again.



We're off to Chicago tomorrow, to attend Chris Jackson's wedding and act like tourists for our anniversary. Better finish packing and get to bed!

Blackout!

Well, Cincinnati still has almost 200,000 without power as of today. The windstorm on Sunday knocked out about 90% of Duke Energy's customers in the area (or about 700,000). It is taking them all week to get it all restored. As it turns out, we were some of the lucky ones, to only be out an hour and a half or so on Sunday afternoon. John's mom is still without power as of this afternoon.

At work, I've been holed up in our Emergency Control Center, working on getting supplies and motor vehicle service for all of our technicians working on repairs out in the field. Every day has brought a new challenge.

At home, we've had several folks come through our house, borrowing internet access, freezer space, or even just a few hours in electric light for their kids to play and watch DVDs. Luckily, in addition to having our power on, I had just been to the grocery on Saturday morning. It's been madness out there with people trying to get supplies. Unlike down in Houston, where my folks had days to prepare and stock up, people here were caught by surprise with the storm. If you had been counting on doing your grocery shopping or filling your car with gas on Sunday night or Monday, you found yourself out of luck! Most stores had no power, either, and it took long enough for it to be restored that any perishable foods were destroyed. Lines for gas were as long as 20 minutes or more on Monday night.

Then, on top of all of this, there was a water main break under a major interstate here in town on early Tuesday morning (I-71, which we both usually take to work downtown). It was not repaired until right before the morning commute on Wednesday. So we took a very long route around town to get home that night, just to avoid the long line of traffic that had backed up all day.

I am looking forward to a nap at some point this weekend. I will need it before we go to see Amadeus at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company on Saturday night. Charlie, who I have now personally heard say "duck" and "quack," will have one of the ladies from daycare over to watch him.

Is this a hurricane?

We are getting gusts of wind here up to 60 mph. You'd think we were in Houston! Our power has gone off and on several times today. I just turned the AC completely off because I didn't want it to get damaged with all the surges. About an hour ago I was thinking, how crazy is it that Mom and Dad have power down in Houston and we don't!

Maybe the power outages were a blessing-- I didn't have to watch the Bengals lose.

Charlie has not taken a nap today, except for a 30 minute catnap while the power was out. Last night he was up about 2 hours past his normal bedtime, and then he was up again in the middle of the night. I don't know what has offset his sleep schedule, but I wish it would go back. I know we want to try and get him on 1 nap a day before he moves up to the toddler room, but this is ridiculous!

Mom and Dad had no major damage to their house due to hurricane Ike. None at Grandma's, either. They had power restored very quickly-- it was back on last night-- and have had just a few problems with phones today. We are all very thankful.

Tracking Ike

Tonight I am sitting at home, watching news coverage on Hurricane Ike in the Houston area. Mom and Dad and Grandma are "hunkered down" at home, waiting for it to hit. I feel so helpless here, miles and miles away and unable to assist.

Entertaining Lucy is off playing at a new place tonight. I am disappointed that we did not have a babysitter so that I could go to watch.

Charlie is doing well. After a rough end to last weekend (he went on a 24 hour temper tantrum on Sunday) he seems to be doing better now. I suspect he was either bothered by his teeth, allergies, or a bit of a cold (maybe more than one of those!). We received his pre-transition progress report from daycare and he's right on track with his development. I met the teachers in the Busy Bee room this week as well. Getting ready for his move up to toddlers is so exciting! He really is starting to be bored with where he is-- just as he gets bored with us at home on the weekend if we don't take him out to play somewhere.

We're gearing up for the big game tomorrow-- Ohio State and USC. I hope, for John's sake, that it goes well for the Buckeyes! (Who am I kidding-- I'm the one who has to live with him the rest of the season!)

Football time

John is getting ready to enjoy the Browns game this afternoon via NFL Sunday Ticket. He is very excited.

Charlie has two more teeth poking through on top, bringing him to 14 total. He's getting to be such a big boy. His latest words include "baby" and "go."

We now know that Charlie's transition to the toddler room at his daycare will be mid-November. Charlie and Oscar will both be moving up to the Busy Bee room. We are glad that they can move to the same room, since they have become such good friends and playmates.