Findlay Flooding

Here is some video of the flooding in Downtown Findlay. At the 1:04 time mark you are looking down the street toward my office.

Stale as a box of Cheese-Its left . . . .

in the garage since the last camping trip. That is how I would describe this blog. I had lots of intentions for the summer but then work came along and I found that I wasn't even home this summer.



I spent most of the summer in the Delaware Ohio area working at a Datacenter. That job is coming to and end and I am beginning to start on another data center in Chicago. I think this one will be better. Enough work talk.


We are headed out with some friends for some camping fun this Labor Day weekend. We are headed to Maumee Bay State Park. I have heard that this is a nice park. It is located just East of Toledo on Lake Erie. I am looking forward to a lack of rain and semi cool nights.



Speaking of rain. Wow did we get some in Ohio last week. Bluffton was flooded out on Tuesday, Findlay crested on Thursday and Ottawa crested on Friday. Severe flooding in all areas. Findlay is calling it the highest flood in history. Ottawa will top out as the second highest. I am not sure what will be said about Bluffton as there aren't a lot of records for our little creek. It is surmised that Bluffton was saved because a dyke around some stone quaries, outside of town, collapsed and filled up with water.

Well I think that will do for now since I suspect there are no more people left reading this blog.

Moose

I found this on YouTube today. This is mostly a test to see if I can embed the video here.

Beep . . . . Beep . . . . Beep . . . . . . .

We are still alive and there is an active pulse.

Let's have a quick rewind of last two years.

• I was in Houlton for Easter the first time since 1991. (Spring 2005)
• My sister's husband announced that he was leaving. :-( (Spring 2005)
• We made a trip to Maine for my brother Nathan's wedding. (Summer 2005)
• My company, Power Measurement was acquired by Schneider Electric, some of you may know this company as SquareD. (2005-2006)
• I was elected Deacon at our church. (Dec 2005)
• Mom and Dad visited for a short trip while on the way to pick up Gram Foster in Michigan and move her to Florida Maine. (July 2006)
• Kelli has some surgery, sorry no pictures! (Oct 2006)
• We made a trip to Maine for Christmas. This was the first time I had been in Maine for Christmas since 1996. (Dec 2006)

There now will be regular posts even if there is nothing going on.

Our Snowy Sunday late in April. Snowed all day and was gone my 10 the next morning. 

The new addition to our family. I should have taken a picture of the old ones that came with the house. 

Storm Damage

I didn't think that we had any real storm damage. Upon closer look, I was wrong. Ended up finding two broken boards in the roof, and a couple other damaged areas. It's a good thing that there was already a plan to re-shingle the roof this spring.

Ice Storm

For years the last week will be referred to as "The Ice Storm" No year will need to be used.
The following conversation was repeated many time all over town:

"Ya got any power?"

"Nope, you?"

"Yup, just lost it for a few hours. I'm going to be pickin' up sticks 'till the Fourth."

"Yup, Go Bucks"

This was our story:

1/5/2005 07:09

Kelli: "There is ice on my car!"

Marvin: "Didn't you watch the weather report?"

Kelli: "I'm not going to work"

Marvin-to-self: "Wimp"

14:58 Lima

Ice starts forming on the parking lot

22:22 Home

"Where are the flashlights?" "I wonder if the Buckeyes will pull it out." "What lights were on so we can turn the switches off?"

The lights went out without a flicker. That means there was no reclosure. Might as well get ready for bed, cause it's going to be a while.

After evaluating the situation outside I decided to move the Jeep into the lawn to a safer location. The Grand Prix looks like it will be fine where it is.

The car is fine came through without a scratch.


The book I was reading was begging to be finished so I was glad that it was on my PDA. So I laid in bed reading until 1 AM when I finished the book"

Side note: The book I was reading was "To the Last Man" Great book by Jeff Shaara. The style is historical fiction. You may be aware of his work if you have seen "Gods and Generals" which was based on his book of the same title or "Gettysburg" based on "The Killer Angels" written by Jeff's dad, Michael. To the Last Man is set around WWI. He started writing books around his dad's book. He wrote two Civil War books that were bookends to his dads book. Two Revolutionary War books and one on the Mexican War. All very good and entertaining.

1/6/2005 03:15

"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS"
"I think the TV is still on"
"I think I only fell asleep 20 mins ago."

The light came on and we turned them off and tried to go to bed again. By this time there is a tree laying on the cable line and it is beginning to look like a war zone.

"Bang"
"Crash"
"Boom"
"Is the cat hiding in the closet?", "Wimp"

It's possible that there was more sleep but I don't think so.

05:02 Home

maybe a walk around the block will give me something to do since i am not sleeping. What a mess.

07:22 Home

Kelli: "Are you going to work?"

Marvin: "Yes"

Kelli-to-self: "Idiot!"

Checked out the office, T1 lines laying in the parking lot. (Update: 6 days later, still laying in the parking lot.) No power at the office so grabbed the laptop to head home. Took the country roads home. Roads were in good shape and successfully avoided the sheriff's department. (State of Emergency had been declared) Went by the Fair Grounds which was being used as the staging ground for the utility. There were probably 200 utility trucks in the yard getting ready for a week of 18 hour days.

I don't have a saw so I called a friend. He came over and we sawed up the big stuff and made the rest manageable.

We also cleaned up the street. The village had set out cones but had not opened the street up and traffic was a bit of a problem.

Late in the afternoon a limb from our neighbors tree fell into our garden. On the way it snapped one of the distribution lines in our backyard. This sent the line whipping through our yard before the fuse opened. Luckily this did not affect our power. Several of our neighbors were not luckily, it was almost 48 hours before that line was repaired.

1/7/2005

Kelli went to work and I worked from home. In the afternoon I decided to start clean-up. There was coming snow and there is no way I was going to pick up branches and twigs after 4 inches of snow. I spent the afternoon gathering the major stuff and creating a brushpile next to the street.

Good thing I did!

By Sunday evening most of our friends and neighbors had their power restored and things were starting to get back to normal.

As soon as the flood waters recede from the thunderstorms, we will need to rake the lawn to get rid of the thousands of small twigs and branches.

As I right this on Wednesday, there are some in Lima with out power. AEP is working hard to replace a half a dozen 150' poles and wire that cross a quarry. It's taking a while to get that section fixed.

One finial note. I would like to thank all of you for contributing to the cleanup effort here in NW Ohio. You may not remember contributing and no the contribution was not tax deductible. It was your taxes. There is a good chance that this little event will be declared a federal disaster and then we can have access to all those hard earned pennies that you have already freely given to government.

If you want to see more pictures or larger copies please stop by our Photo Gallery. Click here now! No work was done on the pictures. Everything straight out of the camera.

Winter in Ohio

One week it's snowing and 0° and the next it's 55° and raining. The next two pictures show this extreme. The first one was taken on Monday December 27th 2004 and the second was taken on Monday January 3rd 2005. One week a part and a little bit of rain.

Marvin Foster's Photo Galleries at pbase.com

I plan on putting most of my pictures on this website:

Marvin Foster's Photo Galleries at pbase.com

I will still put a few on the blog site but I am not sure how much space I have on the Blog site.

The gallery is in the beginning stages. Mostly testing and figureing out the best work flow and organization of the photos.

A nice Christmas gift 

I guess it's better than using a shovel! 

Bluffton Snow Removal

This is how we remove snow in Bluffton!

Well, I have a camera now. Now I am learning how to play in photoshop and figure out what I am doing as far as post processing. I'll have plenty more later. 

Nope, We haven't left the country.

It's been a busy month. We had missions conference for a week at church. A trip to Central Indiana for a baby shower and the usual pre-holiday stuff. This weekend there will be some time set aside to fill in the details.

The biggest news is that there is no news. More importantly no new camera. My shop didn't get any of the fist batch to roll out of the factory. I am hoping that it won't be too long. I just might go crazy!

Election Thoughts

As I sit here and watch CNN I thought I might as well put some thoughts down.

• What is Larry King doing on TV. He is embarrassing the guys he is with. They have to keep correcting him.

• I'm hooked on the results even though I didn't vote for a major candidate.

• I voted for Peroutka. Constitutional Party

• We can get into the whys later.

• I was joined by 61 others in my county and 1 person in my home town

Ohio Elections

If you look on the bottom of this page you'll see the Ohio results as they come in. (Like there is anybody out there reading this site in real time)

On the presidential list you will see Joe Schriner on the list. He walked in the building behind me this morning to cast his vote. I am assume that he was one of the 19 votes he got. You would think that he would know more than 18 other people and get their votes.

Camera Update

On of the first posts I made, I made mention of getting a camera. I don't have the camera yet. The reason I don't have it is that it isn't in the store yet. Should be only a few days to a few weeks. I am just waiting for my camera shop guy to give me a call. I am first on the list so if he only gets two, it shouldn't matter.

Comments

I have replaced the default comment engine with a different one. This should allow you to make comments easier and without registering into the blogger.com system.

In the future I will work on the design of the comment section to make it mesh with the theme better.

For now it is up and functional. That will have to do for now.

On a Sad Note

As I watched the comeback against the Yankees I reminisced some about other Red Sox fans that I know.

I didn't grow up in a house that revolved around sports. Dad was a transplant to New England. As a transplant to Ohio I fully understand not pledging allegiance to the local teams.

I have three uncles that are big fans. Cousins Ron and Darren. I thought of these people but it was a fifth grade teacher that came to mind. She was the one that I remember as my first experience with "fan". It may of helped that I really enjoyed her as a teacher. Her oldest daughter was in my class so there was some connection there was well. We were both Capricorns, this didn't mean anything to me but it was a point we had in common. She helped me begin my enjoyment for Social Studies that has now become my obsession with history. She was a Red Sox Fan. I remember trips down to her class room during the 86 series.

She was who I thought of during the Yankee series. Her husband had passed away, suddenally this August. I assumed that it was a hard fall.

I didn't realize how hard. While I was celebrating a 2-0 lead in the World Series, I got an email from Mum. Mrs Gricus had died on Monday. It's sounds as though she died of Grief.

Becca and Justin losing both their parents in 2 months. The heartache of sports doesn't compare to that.

Becca, I hope you can connect with your students like your mother did.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is there any other comment to be made?

exhale.

Glad to see a columnist that realised that Maine stretches a little further north than Kennebunkport. Dan Shaughnessy starts his victory column with:

"They did it for the old folks in Presque Isle, Maine, and White River Junction, Vt. They did it for the baby boomers in North Conway, N.H., and Groton, Mass. They did it for the kids in Central Falls, R.I., and Putnam, Conn."

For you non-mainer, first I say, "I'm sorry", but after that Presque Isle is a comfortable 320 mile drive from Kennebunkport.

As a sport addict, emotions are often wrapped up in sporting events. I don't know why but often the losses are more lingering than the wins. There seems to be more emotion tied to losing than winning.

As I reach back into my childhood, the first sporting loss with emotions tied to it was 1986. I know, everyone from my generation in Red Sox Nation points to '86. I'm not referring to the World Series.

In the spring of 1986 I was a 7th grader. Because we were a small school, the junior high band members were integrated into the high school band for home basketball games. We weren't very good, but we had fun. The boys made the playoff and romped through the Eastern Maine Tournament. It was on to Augusta for the State Championship. As a band member we were allowed to tag along, stay in the hotels be part of the motorcades that started in Smyrna. Well we lost and we lost big. Something about a 22 year old, 8 foot Jamaican ringer. Or at least that is how I remember it.

That was a painful lost. Although I wasn't vested in the Red Sox, I felt the pain continue later that fall. Redemption was planed for the next spring.

The 1986-1987 was a magical year for the Hodgdon High School Boys Basketball program. Finished the regular season 18-0 including a finial home game that included the star getting his 2000th point and two more players getting their 1000th points before the end of 3rd quarter. A complete letdown in the 2nd game of the tournament meant that there were no hotel stays, no motorcades. This completed a 8th grade sports year where we played soccer and only scored an own goal. Now that's low.

I would be in college when the Hodgdon Boys brought home a couple gold balls to put in the trophy case next to the one the girls brought home a decade earlier. I was happy but it was not redeeming.

Matt Bahr's field goal in January 1991 killed a chance to win three in a row for the Niners. Another low point.

Watching the Cowboys winning 3 out of the 5 years I lived in Texas. Another low point.

Caity Matter spraining her ankle early in the state championship game in 2000. I missed two games of that team's finial year. Watching five girls that had played together since they were in grade school and not being able to celebrate a state championship, that was low point.

In recent history, Maine's losses to Minnesota and Denver in the Frozen Four in '02 & '04.

Boy this has become a bit of a ramble.

There are a few emotional wins that I remember: The 1999 Frozen Four win over UNH, The 1995 Maine win over Michigan, Ohio State's National Championship, The 1999 comeback against the Tribe.

I think this win will ring a little longer.

How long before we get to raise the banner with that other team in the visiting dugout?

Everyone start the chant:

2000.......2000.......2000......2000......2000

Red Sox

I have debated if I should make an entry concerning the Red Sox or not. I'm sure that if I had this site up and active last week, there would have been many posts.

Now I feel as though I should well enough alone.

I wasn't around for the 'Impossible Dream.' I can only live those experiences through video and print. I don't know if that loss was painful or not.

Everything looks good: ALCS comeback; beating the Yankees; 8 errors and a 2-0 start.

I've watched Celtics win the title a few times. I've watched the Niners win 5 big games and the Pats win 2. There was even that year that I rooted for 77 in a Colorado sweater. Two years ago I sat through two overtimes as my adopted Buckeyes won the national championship.

I'm not sure what a Red Sox win would feel like. I'd sure like to get rid of the media hype about 'curses' and destiny-to-fail. On the other hand those trips to the edge of victory only to meet the agony of defeat are what bonds sox fans together.

Well, halfway there. Out of the corner of my eye I keep looking for the other shoe to drop. If it does drop it sure is going to hurt.

World Series Gaffs - Slaughter scoring on Pesky, a broken down pitcher taking the mound when he was supposed to, errors in 75 & 86 and more importantly strike 3 in 86.

2004 counter points - Pesky's Pole gives a game one victory, Curt Shilling takes the mound in game 6 in the ALCS and game 2 in the WS. Foulke has a 0.00 ERA over 12 innings in 9 games.

Great Band

The Official Website of Alathea

The above linked group was at our church this weekend. Great group of girls with great sound. As is typical of most Rockettown artists, I enjoyed them greatly. I ran the sound board for the concert so I got to know them a bit.

I am not going to sit hear and describe their sound. Check out their website and see/hear for yourself.

Presidential Elections

I'd like to know how much money is spent on presidential elections.
It's easy to find the numbers spent by the candidates and parties.
How much has been spent by Conservative organizations. Focus on the
Family, Eagle Forum, etc. This is a little harder to determine.
Normally this money is spend deriving voter cards and issue orientated
information drives.

I would love to have half of this money to spend at congressional
primaries. What a difference could be made if we turned over the
House of Represenaves!!

During the following days, weeks and months you will get lots of
'political' views and opinions (read truth) of mine.

Getting into the game late, but most of my opinions and thoughts are
not wrapped around a canadiate or race. I could post my thoughts from
the fall of 2000 and they would be just as relevant today as then.

Florida Football

Some of you may know that I am not a big fan of Florida College
Football teams.

Kirk Herbstreit (for family in Maine, Kirk is a former quarter back
for The Ohio State Buckeyes and now is an talking head for ESPN) is
announcing that Ron Zook has been fired by the Florida Gators.

There is a large smile on my face. The University of Maine Black
Bears (4-3) contributed to this loss in a major way. Maine (1-AA)
beat the team that beat Florida. Lots of teams have beat Florida that
last few years, so maybe it would be better stated; Florida lost to
the team that lost to 1-AA Maine.

Draft picks since 1982:
Florida - 124
Maine - 5

Back in the saddle

My plans of getting this website off the ground has hit a few bumps in the road.

I think I know have time to spend on this and get it off the ground.

I'll be adding several new posts over the next few days to catch up on
items that are on my mind.

We have arrived in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. On Sunday we spent some time being tourists. We visited the first West Coast Canadian Lighthouse and a late 19th century costal battery.

After that we spent some time at an observatory. When opened in 1918, this was the largest telescope in the world.

We finished the afternoon off at the Bochart Gardens. A former cement mogal decided to reclaim an exhausted quary for nature. 2004 is the 100th Aniversity of the garden. Lots of flowers and design. I would say that it was better than Biltmore gardens.

Places we have ate since we got here. Saturday, when we arrrived, we at Nactical Nellies.
Sunday, we met up with the US crowd and ate at a downtown resturaunt, Harold St Cafe.
Monday, the US crowd took the standard 44 hour dinner at Spinikers.

Kelli spent Monday shopping and burning in the sun. :)

This is where I grew up. 

First Post

I plan on trying to keep this current. There will also be a bunch of customizations here soon. Once I get my digital camera in the fall then really watch out.