A whole cold hole

It was a bit surprising when Sandra's parents reported that they didn't have any running water this morning. It's been this cold before (-4°F) this winter and certainly much colder in the past few years. Their kitchen and bathroom sinks are on outside walls, but, even so....
Woody had a small electric heater that he put under the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink. The heater warmed up the pipes nicely, but still no water. Hmm.
Their apartment was added on to our house when we moved in together in 1982. The core house itself dates back to 1816. There are lots of little cellars and crawlspaces, reflecting the history of adding-on, a kind of stone soup housing project. One of the little cellars runs the length of the house. You get in there via a trap door under Marley's bed in the laundry room. Most of the cellar is about three feet high, stretching out to maybe five feet at the far end.
A plastic pipe runs from our water main, through this mini-cellar, back into the ground, and then around back to the MacGregor's apartment. It's worked fine for more than 25 years.
What's new this winter is a hole in the foundation, perhaps a foot in diameter, dug out by some animal or group of animals. We've heard some noises under the family room and suspected that some critters had moved in. Indeed. This hole let in the sub-zero air which fell to the bottom of the mini-cellar and froze the pipe.
We talked with Mike and got the name of plumbers who'd worked with him, good guys, all. Plumbers are busy on days such as this, however, because lots of folks have frozen pipes. Luckily, we had a portable hair-dryer.
With care, I warmed the pipe enough to get the water flowing again. Sandra could tell my comings and goings by the thumps under the floor which resulted from my hitting my head on another water pipe or floor joist. We brought a small heater into the cellar to raise the temperature above freezing. In the meantime, Sandra stuffed an old pillow in the invaders' tunnel.
Mike and Michael Francis came by a short time later and, with a bit of magic cement, patched the hole. We'll have to come back to in the spring when we can get at the foundation more easily. I was able to tie up the pipe, getting off the lowest part of the cellar floor, away from whatever other cold air falls in.
We suspect that some critter(s) will be quite surprised when it comes time to go out for a bit of fresh air, but we'll all deal with that another day.

Crime in suburbia

From The Landmark (subscription required):

Holden

Monday, January 5

7:37 a.m. Ammunition to be destroyed
9:00 a.m. Complaint about detail working at Worcester-Holden line
1:53 p.m. Large hole and bridge joint separating; MassHighway informed
2:20 p.m. Suspicious large truck on South Rd. with Mississippi plates
5:45 p.m. Repo agency spoken with
8:35 p.m. Caller reports person in reflective vest struck telephone pole with vehicle then left scene

Tuesday, January 6

1:57 a.m. 911 Shrewsbury St. resident reports hearing noise outside house; no footprints or vehicles noted
10:24 a.m. Citizen reporting large amount of water coming up from the street on Kendall Rd.; natural spring, no water problem
2:40 p.m. Individual walking on the ice on Salisbury St.

Wednesday, January 7

4:47 p.m. Walk-in to talk to officer regarding issue with comic books

Thursday, January 8

3:06 a.m. Three broken windows, alarm going off and footprints in snow at Holden Hills; window damage is from golf balls this summer, alarm an ongoing issue
9:49 a.m. Report of solicitors on Newell Rd.
11:26 a.m. Caller regarding accident; didn't happen in town; referred to state police

Friday, January 9

7:46 a.m. 911 Caller witnessed motor vehicle accident; accident is in Worcester
8:13 a.m. Dog in road on Malden St.; owner took control
9:18 a.m. Well-being check on Oak Crest Rd.; resident hasn't shown up for work in Princeton; resident arrived at work
9:24 a.m. Debris in yard at Jamieson and Lovell making it difficult for drivers to see
1:35 p.m. Solicitors in neighborhood reported by caller
5:33 p.m. 911 Caller reports contractor refusing to leave on Main St.
7:43 p.m. Three youths wrestling in parking lot on Main St.

Saturday, January 10

5:02 p.m. Caller complaining about church goers parking on Eagle Terrace; vehicles parked on both sides of road; church will be contacted to post it in newsletter and at church
7:01 p.m. Illegal burn on Bailey Rd.

Sunday, January 11

10:21 a.m. 911 Tailgate missing from truck on Quail Run
11:26 a.m. Neighbors shoveling snow into pile that may obstruct view of traffic on High St.

Paxton

Monday, Jan. 5

6:03 p.m. Male with a broken arm hanging around Paxton Liquors, appears to be intoxicated.
7:38 p.m. Cell caller advising tenant is trying to break into his apartment; drill heard in the background, Asnebumskit Rd. Tenant was installing a lock on the common door. Not a violation.

Tuesday, Jan. 6

10:29 a.m. Wounded deer wandering around Marshall St.
3:55 p.m. Resident in station says his smoke detectors will not silence since his power was restored

Thursday, Jan. 8

3:56 p.m. Woman returned to strange odor at her house, unsure if her cat is alive, Nipmuck Rd.; odor determined to be boiler problem

Sunday, Jan. 11

4:30 p.m. Walk-in requesting vacant house form, due to burst pipes
4:44 p.m. Vicious dog in the area of Camp St. Negative contact.

Princeton

Monday, Jan. 5

12:43 p.m. Suspicious incident, Mountain Rd.

Sunday, Jan. 11

12:46 a.m. Suspicious person, Westminster Rd.

Rutland

Monday, Jan. 5

9:27 a.m. Caller wants to speak with officer about employee issue, Main St.
9:20 p.m. Snowmobiler and male party arguing near pond, Maple Spring Dr.

Wednesday, Jan. 7

12:24 a.m. Traffic safety hazard, Main St./Pommogussett Rd. Bottles fell off truck, in road

Thursday, Jan. 8

1:30 p.m. Unmarked cruiser making visits on Kenwood Rd.

Saturday, Jan. 10

9:42 a.m. Caller wants to speak with officer about failed inspection sticker, Main St.
2:35 p.m. Loose horses on Maple Ave. headed toward Paxton
3:43 p.m. Report of three young males darting across Rte. 122
5:21 p.m. Young child came home to empty house, Simon Davis Dr.

Sunday, Jan. 11

1:03 a.m. Traffic safety issue, snowballs thrown at motor vehicles, Prouty Ln.
6:25 p.m. Kids threw snowballs at vehicle, Main St.

Sterling

Tuesday, Jan. 6

5:25 a.m. Assist citizen who lost front tire of vehicle, Leominster Rd.
11:19 a.m. Large coyote in yard, Squareshire Rd.

Wednesday, Jan. 7

7:56 a.m. Animal, possibly hybrid wolf, seen in Trinity Ave. area; Shrewsbury caller reported same animal seen in that town
1:05 p.m. Stray dog, appears very cold, near overpass on John Dee Rd.
4:16 p.m. Report that "hybrid" wolf walked through yard on Worcester Rd. headed toward Mortimer/Bean Rd. area
8:10 p.m. Three dogs running down middle of Clinton Rd. towards Lancaster
8:19 p.m. Restraining order delivered, Clinton Rd.
11:45 p.m. Missing dogs from previous call spotted, heading toward Ashton Ln.

Thursday, Jan. 8

5:46 a.m. Caller advises three dogs have been found, in garage to keep warm, Redstone Pl.
6:31 p.m. Boxer dog found, injured front paw, Taft Rd.

Friday, Jan. 9

8:28 a.m. Person lost cell phone, Pineview Rd.
8:53 a.m. Boston terrier loose, owner requesting assistance, Princeton Rd.
1:20 p.m. Caller wants officer to listen to annoying phone message, Redemption Rock Trl.

Saturday, Jan. 10

3:40 p.m. Suspicious black SUV driving around property, Beverly Dr.
5:06 p.m. Report of German shepherd that appears injured, Meetinghouse Rd.
7:32 p.m. Stray cat hanging around home, Jill Ln.

Sunday, Jan. 11

1:38 p.m. Caller lost two Labrador dogs, Redstone Pl.

Why go to Bangalore when Dubuque is so close?

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that IBM is opening new computer-services center in Dubuque, Iowa. This is IBM's largest facility that the company has opened in 10 years, although Big Blue wouldn't say if this would result in a net increase of U.S. jobs.
The plan includes a package of loans and commitments from the state, including $10M that the state's community colleges will pay IBM to train new employees. Yep, the colleges will pay the company to allow them to train IBM's employees. (The colleges and state claim that the increased income tax revenue from the newly-trained employees will offset the $10M.)
A bit of subtext in the announcement also notes that some of IBM's customers would prefer to have state-side computer-services facilties.

Worcestershire Journal - What you see and what you don’t see

Worcestershire Journal - What you see and what you don’t see : Real Worcester - Worcester News and Blogs

Something better for everyone

On Sunday evening, we had a small birthday party in advance of Krista's 13th birthday on Monday. Just the family gathered around for pizza and conversation.
Cassie was vibrant with delight because she had picked out a present for Krista - a cupcake maker.
She was even quite eager to help Krista unpack the kit and make the first batch of cupcakes. We tried to explain to her that Sandra had brought a Wacky Cake with 13 candles for our birthday girl. Cassie reluctantly yielded to the promise of cake now, instead of cupcakes later.
At the other end of the table, a few of the adults concluded that everything is improved when bacon is added.
Well, thanks to the brilliance of the Interwebs, we find that we now can have it all: bacon cupcakes.

Oh, and, by the way, ...

Charter offers some tips on how you can save money on your cable, Internet, and phone bills. Then, in the fine print below, they mention that your data might spill out on the driveway, but they're not sure, but it's not their fault or problem:

http://connect.charter.com/cas/portal/content/Newsletters/2009/january/articles/list3.aspx

Joe the Plumber's First War Report [VIDEO]

Joe believes that the media should not be reporting about war.

"I think media should be abolished from reporting. You know, war is hell.... If you're going to say, 'Look at this atrocity,' why you don't know the whole story half the time. So, I believe that the media should have no business in it."

Joe the Plumber's First War Report [VIDEO]



Thanks, Joe. Now, go home and do some plumbing or something.

A month after the storm

Except for the stories that we tell, about all that's left from December's ice storm (and subsequent 11-day power outage), is a large pile of brush in the back yard. The pile is probably 15 feet tall and maybe 30 feet square. In addition, we've been able to cut up the larger branches as firewood.

The town will let us burn the brush, but we're not in much of a hurry. For one thing, birds, squirrels, and the occasional rabbit have found sanctuary among the branches. Also, because the wood is both green and frozen, it'll take a lot to get a fire going and keep it going. We're better off waiting for a couple of months or longer.