No time machine

Having a little trouble with the website, so the "old" version is appearing (party like it's 2009!!). Speaking of time, sad to hear of another great actor passing...Steve Landesberg of Barney Miller. He had so many great quotes, including passing a lie detector test by saying he was born long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. Between him and the great Leslie Nielsen (makes one want to watch Airplane over and over), it has been a tough stretch for straight-faced comic actors. Just in case time passes quickly between now and Christmas, a Merry Merry wish to all our friends and campers!

Holiday Happenings

With less than 10 days until Christmas, noticed that the new gas station/car wash is now open near exit 85 on RT 164. Surprised they did not utilize a "self serve" car wash design, which would have attracted many RVs. Although the Dunkin' Donuts sign is up, I don't think it is open yet. This will make 8 stores within 7 miles, if my count is correct...and will be the closest, just edging RT 2 near Foxwoods. The others are at the Mobil in Voluntown on RT 165/138, the one on RT 138 Griswold (back road short cut), the 2 across the street from each other at Lisbon exit 84N, the one in Walmart at 84S, and the one in Norwich, just before Seafood Etc. Although I don't drink coffee, I do enjoy the breakfast sandwiches. I may have mentioned earlier, but the new Panera Bread is open in the Walmart plaza, next to the pet store (Pet Co or Pet Smart or Pet Something). Speaking of pets, was happy to see that the dead skunk at the bottom of my driveway at home was removed after 3 weeks. Other road kill gets better treatment from scavengers, but notjing was taking this carcass. Did not intend to start such commotion on facebook (congrats Mr. Zuck on MOTY) by mentioning that the basketball nets had been clipped. Not a big deal, just odd. Even if you are not a hoops fan, be sure to watch the highlights from the Celtic's win over the Knicks, simply for the celebration by Nate Robinson, as he tries to jump on Paul Pierce, misses, and bounces his face off the floor of Madison Square Garden. Jen laughed until she cried, and started over every time they replayed the clip. Speaking of Boston fans, condolences to Marc G on the recent passing of his grandmother. Been a couple of years since mine passed away, but she would have been 98 yesterday. Stay warm, and maybe the Sunday storm will now miss us (Geoff Fox on channel 8 has been waffling lately).

Surviving the wind & rain

Despite some heavy rains and nasty wind, looks like no major trees or branches came down at the campground. The warm temps mean that the crazy guy we saw ice fishing in Preston on Saturday is either back at home or at the bottom of Hallville Pond. I know it was cold last week, but I would think a few more chilly nights were needed for safe ice. As noted on the main web page last week, the haunted hill is not yet dismantled in the Rec Center, so there will not be a New Year's Eve Party. Sorry for the inconvenience. Congrats to the Pats for qualifying for the play-offs, and hope that Jets fans don't start leaping from bridges. Nice that the Giants have a neutral site game vs Vikings, but it won't be on TV around here. If you have not gotten your tree yet, there are a few fine places to cut your own out this way, including Maple Lane Farms and Oakwood Farms right here in Preston. Still waiting to hear if the Yanks will get Cliff Lee, or if the Rangers will snatch him up again, just like last year around the trade deadline. Congrats to the Sox on their pair of big-time free agent signings. Not quite sure whose line-up is more home-grown these days, and which team could be accused of trying to buy a ring. Hopefully, Tampa Bay can stay competitive in the division, and look out for those Orioles. Just a reminder that although January 2 is usually "opening day" for reservations, since reservations can be made a year in advance, the office will not be open on New Year's Weekend, but will re-open on Monday, January 3. If you are one of those folks who a traditionally in the parking lot at 6am on January 2, give a call to make your reservations so you can sleep in that day.

Back from the Road Trip

Covered over 1300 miles and many states on our 6 day whirlwind tour of the mid-Atlantic region, and returned home with a few questions. First, I am not sure that the alligator snapping turtle on display at the National Zoo in DC is actually alive. Second, if you go to see the Holiday Lights display at Hershey, and there is still a big buck deer standing there on the left just after the entrance, maybe he was not real after all. Lastly, why would a stupid GPS device take you THROUGH New York City and all the tolls and traffic. The boys were excited to see 3 zoos (Bronx, National and the Zoo America at Hershey), with the best part being the overhead rope course for the orangutans in DC. Had a little trouble finding that zoo, which prompted Brock to say it looked like our house in the woods as we approached it. Did not realize how large Gettysburg actually was. Headed into the cave at Luray, VA, but the boys favorite day was the indoor water park in VA. Having not stayed in many hotels the last few years, would have to say that if I owned any stock in shower curtain rings, I would sell, since everyone has those 1-piece curtains with the built in loops. I guess all the mammals at the Smithsonian are actually works of taxidermy, but was not too sure when looking at them. The weather was fairly good all trip, with not much rain and a temp that always aeemed to be 53 degrees when we were driving anywhere. I did get a few odd stares from the Christmas folks at Hershey on opening night, since I was the only one there in shorts (seemed like parkas and mittens were all the rage, as it was in the mid-30s). Maybe next time we will try to pick one spot to stay at more than a single night, as the kids did get a little confused sleeping in a different hotel every night...but they were quite good in the car. If it was not nap time, the portable DVD player was well worth bringing along. Good to be back home in CT, with a full house expected for Thanksgiving (an early thanks to Jen's dad for helping replace our broken dishwasher, as I was not looking forward to doing dishes for 19 by hand on Thursday, as there are actually some interesting football games on tap). Here's wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday!!

To know, or not to know...that is the question

When Jen and I attended our first round of pre-natal classes, we were amazed at the vast majority of expecting parents who knew the gender of the impending child. In fact, we may have been the only ones in the group who were waiting for the surprise. Granted, it was a small sample, but it does seem that most folks find out early. We took the same approach for Reed, and it also brought a little extra joy to the nurses in the delivery room, as they don't get the chance to be surprised as much as they used to. In terms of probability, you hear many different interpretations of data for what is pretty much a 50/50 coin flip. In cases such as ours, with 2 boys already, some believe that the odds of having a third boy greatly exceed the chances of a girl, but science and data do not support this theory, with only a slightly greater chance of the 3rd child being of the same gender as the first two. Excluding any "old wive's tales" (such as those featured on "How I Met Your Mother" a couple of weeks ago, with pickled herring and lemons), there may be some correlation to temperatures (sounds like how the sex of alligator eggs are determined). Back to the original question, which is...does it make sense to know the gender in advance? With 2 boys, there would be very little needed in terms of clothes and toys and anything gender-specific. A little girl, however, would need stuff that we just don't have...but she would not need any of that for quite some time, since we have plenty of gender-neutral infant clothing (and I have been outvoted on yellow being a "girl" color, with most thinking it is neutral). The plan right now is to remain surprised. I think it is a good test of willpower, as well as preventing the worst-case scenario of having an ultra-sound misread, and delivering the opposite of what was expected (sounds somewhat traumatic to be expecting a boy, and have a girl pop out, but even more likely to cause some confidence issues down the road if the opposite happened, since in the first example a "leg" could have been misread, but what do you tell a little Johnny about not being able to see "it" with a high-powered microscope?). While it is unlikely that Brock will need to share his birthday, it is possible, since we have a due date of June 13 (timed it right after the music festivals). Both boys have been about a week early, so we expect the same this time--although maybe girls prefer to be fashionably late, to better prepare them for adolescence. While we usually try to get away for a week in March, not sure how up for travel Jen will be at that time, so maybe we will try to do a short trip between Thanksgiving and Christmas, visiting some zoos within a day's drive. So the new poll question is posted...if you have 2 kids of the same gender, would you find out ahead of time? Just curious.

Guest Editorial Published Regarding School Calendar

The region's school have been discussing a "unified calendar" for upcoming years, and for an area that is so tourism-based, it is troubling that so many are starting before Labor Day. I wrote a letter to the editor of the Norwich Bulletin, but was told that it was too lengthy (imagine my surprise--I guess more than doubling their 200 word limit was not going to fly). Figured it was worth asking that it be printed as a special editorial, and they were kind enough to do so. If you would care to read it, it can be found at www.norwichbulletin.com, where you can search "school calendar" or "Strawberry Park" or "David Nowakowski".

Halloween Wknd #4 Costume Photos

So many great costumes once again. Site winners were announced on Saturday night, with weekend winners announced (site 434--Dugan, site 322--Lepage and site 107--Bull) and long term winners also crowned (Wonka 110, Dunkin' 14 and Scary Tent 328B were the top 3, with honorable mentions for site 119D and site 289). Just a reminder that we expect the water to remain on at least through this upcoming weekend (despite the chilly temps these next few nights), and maybe even for Veteran's Day Weekend...but the last day for pump-outs will be Monday, Nov 8.

Congrats to all the pumpkin, costume and site winners, and thanks to all for participating!!

Halloween #3 Costumes & Pumpkins

Great job at the costume parade, with some wonderful multi-age groups. Congrats to our site deco winners, with 1st prize in the weekend division awarded to site 277, while 429 was 2nd and 59 was 3rd. The "long term" site battle will probably come down to "Dunkin' Donuts" vs "Willy Wonka", both of whom did a terrific job (see blog poll). Also, have posted a missing photo from HW #2 (the Empire State Building costume, which had been a winner, was left off last weekend). Pumpkin winners included Dunkin', Humpty Dumpty (also a costume winner), Pac man & Snow Man, with more pumpkin entrants than ever before.

Halloween #2 Photos

See some notes at the bottom of the photos...

Congrats to the Costume Winners, the Site Decorating Winners (1st Place Site 280--Sponge Bob Bikini Bottom, 2nd Place Site 277 Rock n Roll, 3rd Place Site 134 Pirates), where there were some nicely decorated sites that did not get honorable mentions who would have placed in the top 3 on HW #1, and the Pumpkin Winners. Special thanks to the teen costumes--sometimes lacking, they were strong this week (albeit lacking some clothing). Still a couple of sites left for HW #3, and decent availability for HW 4 (Oct 29-31).