It was 42 degrees when I woke up.  In the house.  The tropical fish had died.  The gecko was in a coma.  I looked around the giant mass of quilts, sleeping bags, and mattresses on the living room floor.  Dog, cat, 2 kids, and wifey … steam coming out of my son’s mouth on every breath….all survived the Ice Storm of 2008.  The winter camping has begun.

Roof damage.  4 inches of water in the basement from the rain…and because the sump pumps aren’t operating with no power.  The power went out Thursday night.  It’s still out.  Friday and Saturday nights were very cold.

For food we either use camp stoves.  Or we eat out.  When we eat out…and when the waitress comes….the kids now know the tricks…we say “I can’t decide what to order, give us a few more minutes”.   Hey, it’s warm at restaurants…stretch it out.  Or we visit the shelter in town for a hot meal.

On Sunday we borrowed a generator.  This helps a great deal.  But it’s off the gas station every day to fill the gas cans that keep us warm for 12 hours at a time.

It’s a little challenging, but we’re doing pretty good (except for the fish).  The gecko is out of its coma and moving around again.  The kids don’t seem to mind to much. 

Except my friend who lent me the generator needs it back tomorrow.  The power needs to come back ....now.  The next few nights the temperature is dropping into single digits. 

It is always interesting to read other people's writing, especially when it is your own son.  This is an essay he wrote on a story he was writing at home.  Note: he is in 2nd grade.

The Man Who Never Lived

The man who never lived.  They say he died on a ship.  Some say he died in vain.  They sent to researchers to see.  Then they saw the man who never lived.  So they saw a bit of glass hit them so it hit their air tanks.  So then they died too.  Now nobody knows about the man who never lived.

Interesting.  I wonder what it means.  I mean, I know what the story means.  But the throught process....hmmm....  Interesting!

I was just rummaging through my sound files and I came across my collection of audio recordings of Thanksgiving 2004 in West Virginia visiting the great matriarch Grandma Mac.  Pictures are nice memories...but the sounds are nice too.  I have various conversations recorded, impromtu jams, and sing-a-longs.   What a nice memory, I am going to do this again.

• Introductions -- Everybody stand in a circle. Throw the ball to someone. Whoever catches it says their name and one thing that they like, an interest, or that makes them special. I learned everybody's name. Their interests: Star Wars, owns a dog, I'm weird, I can hold my breath for a long time, etc.... Note to self: No more open ended questions.
• Pledge of Allegiance: We said the Pledge of Allegiance. Then I had flash cards for all the words. Every kid got a word and had to explain the word. Then we said the pledge again.
• Map Reading Exercise: I had Google Maps of everybody's neighborhood. They had to find their house and three landmarks.
• Stitched Kerchief Holders: stitched up these leather kerchief holders
• Community Acitvity: We had met at the library so we helped break down boxes and sort books for the book sale.

• Find a beach with giant waves.  Virginia Beach, VA or Plum Island, MA are two such beaches.  Nantucket has some good beaches for body surfing.  You want big waves that rise up and break viciously.
• Idenitfy your start location.  Generally you need to be standing, not floating as with regular surfing.  You want a location about 5 feet past where the wave really wells up. 
• Choose your wave.  Wave selection is important.  Some waves look big but then peter out.  Look for patterns, such as "every 6th wave"...or "the 2nd wave of a 2 wave series is bigger than the first".
• Jump and start swimming.  My jump is not a vertical jump, but a diagonal jump to try and get some horizantal velocity.  I dig hard with a few Australian Crawl strokes and kicks.  This is where fins are an asset as fins can greatly assist in developing that horizantal velocity and catching the wave.
• Riding the wave.  Riding the wave is a weird sensation.  On one hand, your relative speed vis-a-vis the water around you does not seem to be moving.  You feel a giant welling up.  You're upper body may come out of the water ...still horizantal...but the wave is getting vertical.  If you're upper body feels like it is coming out of the water....you have pretty much nailed it.
• Signs of a good ride
• Upper body coming out of the water.
• Being pummeled by the surf 30 ft. from where you started. 
• Water receding leaving you on the sand like a beached whale.
• Swallowing water, coughing, and being totally delerious....being unable to get up....and then getting hit by the next wave
• Crawling away with the pockets of your bathing suit filled with sand.

Perhaps my best body surfing experience was in Cancun Mexico.  The waves were absolutely enormous at this beach...perhaps 6 - 8 foot.  The waves curled into a pipeline.  And I had fins and a mask (which I later used for snorkeling in an underwater National Park, which was unbelievable...but that's another story).    One wave I nailed ...the wave was nearly vertical...and only my lower body from the waist down was in the wave...it felt like I was sticking out of the wave horizantally....I have a fleeting memory of a glimpse into the mystical "tube" or "pipe" that surfers seek.   And I was completely and utterly destroyed by the surf...left gasping...delerious...unable to get up...pockets filled with sand...and then hit by the wave after it.  Heaven.

Virginia Beach has some monster waves.  They were big for me.   I can imagine how big and powerful the waves must have seemed to my kids at half my size.