Quincy's World

I have decided to change the way that pictures are viewed on Quincy’s site. Basically, the new way is much easier for me and the beta testers (dial-up users) have reported a much faster load time for the images. So, for the year 2008, all the photos are still in the old format and the new format. Starting with 2009, however, I will be using just the new format.

I am still tweaking settings and whatnot, but you can still view the photos. The year in pictures link will still be there and be active – it will just take you to the photo album in the new section (for 2009 right now). If you have any issues or problems, please let me know before the year gets too far along. I can easily keep double-posting the images, but don’t really want to continue doing that – it eats up storage space.

Just go to the Year in Pictures page and click the sole link for 2009 and you should be redirected into the new gallery space. Feedback is always welcome.

Even though I am not very musical, Quincy loves playing the keyboard and singing various songs. He knows a lot of kids songs because they play in the car constantly. He never sings in church, but loves to listen to the music every Sunday.

We felt Quincy needed a nap today and put him down accordingly. He, however, was not convinced he needed a nap, so he spent the time telling stories to his animals and singing songs. Skip to My Lou was the first song we heard, and then we heard, to our surprise, one of the praise songs from church this morning:

Dara asked him why he didn’t sing in church and Quincy said that he was listening. Near as I can figure, he memorized those lines today as I can’t recall the last time we sang that song in church. We knew he was pretty sharp and good at remembering things, but this was even good by his standards.

To top things off, Dara told him that his singing was really good to which Quincy said, “God likes it when I do that.” So, a 3 1/2 year old is getting some basic theology down. There’s hope for the rest of us.

You might have wondered if Quincy’s Playground had run its course. Well, yes and no. Updates are few and sporadic, but, in time, things get added. For right now, there are a few items on the timeline and the pictures from Christmas.

Should Quincy cooperate, I have a couple audio clips I want to record. Other than that, not much else going on. The reason for this post is to direct people to the pictures.

Once Quincy is old enough, I’ll turn the site over to him – probably sometime after he turns four.

Okay, it was an odd morning, followed by an odd day.

We had our first real winter storm this year. It didn’t amount to much on the ground, but it was enough ice to cause problems all over New England. You may have heard or read about it today.

I was awoken at 5:37AM by the sound of Quincy’s monitor being all static. This happens when power is lost on the other end. I got up, turned it off and looked to see what time it was, but the clocks were black. Uh-oh. I wondered where Dara was – caught in the bathroom, thankfully not the shower.

Power outages bother me for a couple of reasons. One: our basement. There are two sump pumps in the basement that keep it dry. If there is a prolonged outage, the water starts to creep in from all directions. While the drainage system is excellent it is wholly dependent on power to get the water out. And Two: losing food in the ‘fridge. Okay, Three: no coffee.

Quincy woke up early today too, probably due to the commotion of us lighting candles and doing other things in the dark. I took Ashby outside and the whole world was encased in ice – very pretty. Now, as I type this, it is in the 40s and things look normal, just very wet everywhere.

Dara left for work (I manually lifted the garage door) and found that she had power at work. The outages in Hampden were sporadic, so I was hopeful we’d get it back on soon. Quincy and I hung out for a while by the propane fireplace – never got below 64 in the living room. Finally, I had an idea – watch a movie on the new portable DVD player, since the battery was charged. We did that and that killed some time. I then realized that I needed to check the basement.

Water had started to make a few inroads in places. We have been prepared for events such as this and that is why things are either on shelving units or in plastic bins. However, we have been lax lately and there was much to be done. Our basement only has two tiny windows, so I had my flashlight and got to work getting everything up off the floor. Quincy helped by walking around carrying another light. I felt a lot better when we got that done. Also, I was glad that I installed a new pump the other day.

Dara kept calling throughout the AM to see how we were coping and such. The next battle plan was for the ‘fridge – it was getting dangerously close to going south. I was going to transfer items to our cooler with freezer packs and stick it outside in the garage. Quincy was eating lunch when the power came back on – scared me to death ’cause the furnace made a loud buzzing noise before starting up.

So, the ‘fridge was good and that new sump pump got quite a workout. I was down there earlier and the water on the floor has retreated back under the foundation. We were lucky to get our power back on and it really makes me happy for the things we take for granted every day. I also got to use the snowblower today to get the slush off the driveway. With the temps dipping, I didnt’ want our driveway being an ice rink.

Quincy weathered the outage fine. He knew the power was out and that’s why it was dark and the computer wouldn’t work, but that didn’t stop him from wanting Christmas music. On our list: lots and lots of batteries of all sizes! For those of you reading this in New England, I hope you have power. Of course, if you are reading this, then you do have power. Have a great weekend eveyrone. I know I’m feeling better.