When I got up this morning, I was just stock full of good intentions. I was going to post in both of my classroom threads, do at least 1 of my 2 labs on networking, and finish reading last week’s assigned chapters, since it’s been a crazy week, and I hadn’t been able to quite get them all in. Well, I’m starting out with a constipated school week … all of my schoolwork is backed up the wazoo.

But … I have an excuse a reason …

I booted up my computer, good and early. I was going to get right in there, and attack my schoolwork with a vengeance. Networking is such an interesting subject! I just couldn’t wait to get into it!

The road to a warm area is said to be paved with good intentions … I just added a mile’s worth of asphalt today!

But I can explain how it all happened! It was Vijay’s fault …

I decided that it would be OK to check my email before I headed into the classroom … and when I did, I got a super email from Vijay! It had all sorts of neat photos from India. I was mesmerized! Of course, I had to write back and thank him … and while I was at it, I had to comment on his poor lap top, which he’d just gotten repaired after a misadventure with a hyperactive coffee cup.

Of course, he wrote back to me, and aimed me at the post he’d made about the poor little computer, and of course, I had to go and read it.

While I was reading it, I noticed something at the bottom of his post that I’d never noticed before …

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Like any other normal nerdy person, I asked myself: “Hmmmm … now what is that?”

Of course, I had to go take a quick peek … and not for the first time, I was so impressed with one of Vijay’s nice toys, that I just had to get one for myself. That meant going to my blog, getting into my WordPress so that I could get the sweet little plug-in installed!

Well, when I got to my admin panel, the first thing I saw was a bunch of incoming links. Of course, I had to check those out. (Come on now! You don’t expect me to not snoop when someone is talking about me someplace, eh?)

Fat Doctor and Patient Anonymous were the top links … and they had both awarded me with the Schmoozer Award! Double whammy!

Here’s a description of the award which I hijacked from Fat Doctor, and which she hijacked from Lois Grebowski:

“As it goes, schmoozing is the natural ability “to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.” Good schmoozers effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship…. […]”

So I’m a Schmooze!!! w00t! I want to thank both of you for thinking of me! That’s definitely one I’ll have to add to my resume! I can think of a few people to pass it on to myself … Vijay (who’s indirectly responsible for my even finding out I was a schmooze to begin with!) … Pattie (when she gets back home from RI) … JMB (whom I’d love to sit and have a loooong chat with!) … Wandering Visitor (who is a sweet, deep and wise lady!) … Ipanema (that one goes without saying! *LOL*) … Chrysalis Angel (a kind, gentle spirit, spreading love wherever she goes) and Dr. Schwab (who has an amazingly addictive blog!) There are a lot of others I could put down, including a few who’ve already been schmoozled! (Cathy! ;o)

Okay … now, where was I? Oooh yeah! I got Schmoozled while I was checking out my incoming links, before installing my plug in, which I was going to do, quick-like, before doing my school work. On to the next link …

The next incoming link was from the Curmudgeon … and in a 400th post “link fest”, he said something so sweet that I’m thinking of putting it in my sidebar:

All Blogged Up: A Moof’s Tale — As near as I can tell, Moof is kind of a Den Mother for the entire Blogosphere….

I really like that! I think you’re pretty neat too, Curmudgeon! :o)

After I finally stopped strutting all over the house, crowing about my new title - schmoozing den mother for the entire blogosphere - I got down to business, and installed that neat plug in.

With all of my little side trips done, I finally headed back over to my classroom …

Just about then, Doug hollered from the other room that there was a real snappy looking storm heading right for us. I dutifully dropped what I was doing, and he and I headed out the door to bring in all of my potted herbs before they got drowned by a gully washer.

That took a few minutes, because as you’ll see in a later post, I have a load of them! With the herbs safely tucked away in the living room, I headed back into my classroom. Just then, the storm hit with a ferocity that took me aback!

I quickly unplugged my lap top, and none too soon - the lightning was pretty snappy. Before I could put my attention back on my work, the power went out - and the internet connection went with it.

Ayuh. No school work.

We hunkered down while it lasted. Once it began to ease up, I convinced Doug to go “power hunting.” I wanted to see just how widespread the power outage was. We went for a long way before we saw any houses that had lights on … and as we surveyed the areas we went through, we could easily see why that was so. We saw several trees which had been hit by lightning, and were split right in half. One of them had come to rest on some poor family’s roof. Several areas we went through looked strange to me at first - the trees reminded me of springtime, when the leaves are really tiny. It took me a minute to realize that the leaves looked “tiny” because they were shredded to little bitty bits. The streets underneath the trees looked as if they were coated in green confetti. Apparently … there’d been some serious hail in those areas.

Before we lost power, an Emergency Emails Network email warned about quarter sized hail, and winds in excess of 70 MPH. They weren’t kidding.

The power didn’t come back on until about 9 PM; it had been out over 6 hours.

Well, I finally did get into my classroom, and posted to my classroom threads … however, I still have all of my networking labs to do, last week’s reading to catch up on, and this week’s reading to do …

And now, before I quit … a bit of news.

My mom-in-law is home, and feeling better, however she’s still having some serious ups and downs. She called here at 3 AM two nights ago - her blood sugar was in the 30’s. Doug heard the phone ringing, and ran up to the house to make sure she was OK. It’s going to be a bit before things are balanced out, but now that she actually knows what to do for herself, she at least stands a chance of getting on top of things.

Yesterday, Dougie, Magnus and I drove down to Connecticut to see my daughter. She’s still on TPN, and is fighting some sort of raging infection. The antibiotics aren’t getting on top of it, and if they treat her Crohn’s, it will hamper her immune system even further. She’s a very, very sick young woman.

Some people asked for an address to send her a card:

Deneen Jardstam
5 Osprey Dr.
Groton, CT 0630

And now … I’m heading off to dreamland. I’ve been working on this post for hours! It’s 1:30 in the morning!

I’m going to try to blog again on Tuesday late in the day, or early on Wednesday … with a surprise … :o)

See you then!

Lightning Photo credit

All of the Blogsplot.net domain will be down for about 1/2 hour on Thursday, June 29, at 9 PM eastern time.

We’re hoping that the promised 1/2 hour actually covers it. The last time these jokers went down for maintenance, I lost everything but my mySQL databases.

So … hang on tight! Hopefully we’ll be back online by 9:30 PM eastern time.

The warmth and sunlight belied the scene before me … devastation! Twisted concrete, buckled asphalt … huge rocks strewn in odd places … tree limbs along the sides of all the roads, or hanging like limp, sodden bodies with outstretched arms, clinging without volition to those branches which were still attached to the trees. Every few feet, there was another silent testimony to the violence of nature - the stark white of a broken tree, too recently ravaged to look weathered, too recently dismembered to mourn its own death - now cut off from its sole source of nourishment.

The winter has been long, and very, very hard. Yesterday - April 22, was the first day that the temperatures rose into the 70’s. Today, amazed and befuddled people all over the area made their way out of their homes as if drawn by a piper’s flute … the temperature climbed to 85 today. Brief and fleeting … since after this tantalizing taste, we have only 60’s and 50’s in store for the foreseeable future, but still - it was a glimmer of hope for what is sure to come if we are only patient for a while longer …

Drawn to the outside and the warmth like a moth to a flame, I decided to use the opportunity to take a brief tour of the area; I wanted to assess the damage done by last week’s storm … all the while soaking today’s long awaited warmth and blue skies. I was stunned by what I saw.

Here are some photos, taken today, of the damage done by last week’s rain. You can view them as a slide show by clicking on the first photo, and running your mouse over it until you see “Next” appear near the top right, or “Prev” near the top left. You can go through the entire set of photos that way. If you’d rather, you can click on “Read the rest of this entry” at the end of this post, and see the photos inline. Clicking on them allows you to see them in a much higher resolution, with clearer details. Descriptions are beneath each photo inline, which a briefer description included in the slide show.

Both sides of the bridge over the ironically named “Little River” were completely washed out in last week’s storm. The now placid waters were raging beyond their banks in the April storm, claiming the lives of a 50 year old grandmother and her 4 year old granddaughter.

With echoes of May 2006 reverberating in our memories, New England faced another round of major flooding yesterday.

Power was just returned to our street at 9 AM this morning - it had been out since 5 AM Monday.

Less than a 1/2 mile away, locals had to use a row boat to get from their car to their home, and less than 5 miles away, a grandmother and her grandbaby were lost in Little River when they tried to cross what they thought was shallow water to get to their home. A man who made an unsuccessful attempt to save them nearly drowned as all three victims were washed downriver. He was later treated for hypothermia, and released.

I know that what we’re experiencing doesn’t hold a candle to the nightmare lived by Dr. Hébert, but with our 3rd major flooding in two years, and our second extended local power outage in two weeks, we’re a getting a little ragged around the edges.

Husband and son were both out in the last 48 hours, and reported seeing some pretty amazing sites. Newmarket NH residents were being evacuated from their homes into the backs of 18 wheelers; parts of the town soon became completely unreachable, as it did last year. Dozens upon dozens of local streets were rapidly vanishing underneath quickly flowing water, and my son reported seeing a gazebo in Exeter, NH which was flooded to its roof. Getting from point A to point B began to be a race against the rising waters as street after street became impassable. The bridge between Berwick, ME and Somersworth, NH was closed, with the water reaching and flowing over the bridge.

Here in York County, Maine, January has been the warmest and most pleasant month of 2007 … that’s pretty sad, considering we’re in mid-April.

We’re ready for a bit of warmth and sunshine! More than ready!

And now that I finally have running water again (inside of the house, that is) … HOT water … I’m going to go luxuriate in the shower before having to leave for my doc’s appointment this afternoon. Actually … the last appointment I had scheduled with him also found me without power … hmmm … I begin to see a pattern here … 0.o

Leaving those of you who are interested with a few articles to read. I hope to get to a few things which I’m behind on when I get back home from my doc’s appointment today … like the piled up dishes and laundry, the emails in my backed-up inbox, and a live classroom lecture which I need to attend this evening, especially since I missed yesterday’s due to the power outage. It’s amazing how quickly a body can fall behind …

The midterm is behind me, and the assignment is passed in. My grades for both came back … and I somehow managed to keep my score in spite of everything. With that week behind me, the new one presented with a whole new set of challenges … a new (even gnarlier) assignment, a follow up with my brand new primary care, and trying to get caught up on what I hadn’t done last week …

Well …

I managed to get out and get my bloodwork done, and take care of a few other loose ends - and I was all set to go! However, the day before the appointment, it began to snow. We got reports of people dying on the roads because of the traveling conditions being so dangerous. Throughout the day, the snow looked more and more like a white sheet of lace flowing past my windows, and I wondered how well any of us were going to weather this one …

At about 1 AM, I sent off my last email, and started quietly playing some Enya on my lap top to fall asleep by, however it wasn’t too long before I had to shut it down, because we’d lost our electricity. The electricity was still off when I woke up in the morning, and as the time for my appointment drew near, I wondered if I would be able to get the car out of the yard … moot point, actually, since I wasn’t going anyplace without a shower anyway. So - I called the doctor’s office (they had power) and explained my situation. I have a feeling that I wasn’t the only one they’d heard from! The area had only isolated pockets of power … although the hospital and large medical buildings were apparently running on their own generators.

Since I couldn’t keep my appointment or log into my classroom, or … well, do much of anything at all, I decided to get bundled up, and go out into that frosty tableau and snap a few pictures. So, here is a new Snow Study I’d like to share with you …