Take Me Out To The.......

So......got the computer yesterday and it works. We are very happy. As promised, I put together a little piece of film from our latest visit Modern Woodmen Park (aka John O'Donnell Stadium).

The reason I requested the company suite last Monday was because the team was honoring a friend of ours who was recently injured while on the job. Davenport fire fighter Bob Juarez was injured the night the storm came through town and leveled us with rain that led to the second flood of the year. If you recall, I blogged about that storm, with some video of the clouds and sirens going off, almost 2 months ago. Bob, a twenty year fire fighter veteran, was on a ladder with a hose fighting a fire at the building that is next to the Front Street Brewery.

In unstable conditions, Bob fell about 20 feet off the ladder into about a half foot of water on a sidewalk. He was air lifted to Peoria where he was operated on a few days later. He is unable to move his legs and his recovery has been a slow process. Bob's son AJ is one of Gabe's best friends and Bob and I have coached teams together.

Bob was moved to Davenport a couple weeks ago and continues to be a news topic in the area. There have been several fundraisers, including a poker run and a big photograph taken with 600 people in it that was turned into a birthday card for Bob. More functions are being planned, like a golf outing and a silent auction. Bob and Nancy and their kids Lindsey and AJ are good people who live near us. We are proud to know them. 6200 fans showed up for the game, with a lot of 'I Love Bob' shirts on.

In the film you'll see AJ getting to throw out the game's first pitch, a strike. Then we chatted about the pitch when he came up and sat with us in the suite for a bit. David saved Elli getting hit by a foul ball as he showed off to the camera. We invited our good friends Brent and Lisa Pearson to enjoy the suite with us, with some of their kids as well. Lisa was Abbi and Elli's kindergarten teacher and Brent will be the head sophomore coach (Gabe's coach) this upcoming season at Central. We also invited Sara and Kyle Gott and their son Anthony. The Gott's are good friends of Ally and David's, Sara is an assistant dean at Central. Gabe was in and out of the suite, each time he came back it seemed he brought a friend or two with him! By the end of the night the suite was full with everyone having a grand time. That's us on the video screen at the stadium singing during the seventh inning stretch. Gabe stands out in his black t-shirt.

With the power out at home due to the devastating storms that rolled through the area that morning it was a great diversion! Can't beat fun at the old ball park!

Tough Times

Well.......we received our computer back last Thursday after two weeks without it. We got it all plugged in and started it up and................... nothing happened. Spent an hour on the phone with technicians yelling and screaming, but in the end it was determined I had to ship it back to HP. So we are still without a home computer as I update this blog from work.

Luckily our old computer was still hanging out in the dungeon part of the basement, so Saturday I hooked it up and we were able to enjoy some web searching! But that ended first thing Monday morning.

A little before 6am on Monday we were awakened by a quick but powerful storm that rocked the QC's, especially Rock Island and Moline. No tornadoes reported, just a lot of heavy wind and rain. It knocked power out to a large part of the region.

Our power remains off, it's been tough. There is a tree hanging on some lines in the alley across the street from us. Power crews have been by to look at it and put some yellow tape up to keep people away from it. Luckily our water is on.

We did not make it to the grocery store over the weekend so food we need to get rid of is not new. The weather is not stinking hot like it was over the weekend, which is a plus and no rain is forecasted anytime soon. Power crews were on the scene at 5:30 this morning, but then were called else where. Hopefully we'll get power sometime today. Looks like we will be firing up the grille tonight!

Life is really completely boring without power. If I had not reserved the company suite last night at the River Bandits game I don't know what we would have done. More on that game will come, I have some video of it to post once the computer returns.

*******UPDATE*********
After nearly 29 hours without power, the power was switched on around 10:30 this morning. Life is back to normal.

Post 4th of July

We had a very nice long fourth of July weekend here in the Quad Cities. Everyone got to do some cool things.

On Thursday, Davenport/Rock Island's annual Red White and Boom took place on the river outside of the baseball stadium as fireworks started on time at 9:30pm. Last year Jamie took us to the Bill's Moving and Storage offices which is near the Centennial Bridge in Rock Island for a great view. We did the same this year, made a fire, cooked some 'smores, had a few drinks, set off our own fireworks and stayed for a couple hours. We had a real good time. Ambrose came with us, he pretty much slept through the fireworks.

We also discovered Thursday morning that our computer crashed again....the one I bought in November. It is still under warranty, HP is sending a box so we can ship it somewhere so it can be fixed. It should take more than a week, a real bummer, I was not happy on the phone!!!! Saturday I went into to work to check my home e-mail and set my fantasy baseball rosters. My normal routine will be thrown off a bit for a while. This time I did manage to save a few things, like contacts and photos, unlike 3 months ago when we lost everything.

Friday we worked on yard, mowing the lawn and cutting some branches off the trees. The weather was outstanding. We grilled some chops for dinner. Gabe hung out with some friends and attended the Bettendorf fireworks display. We had some left over fireworks from the night before so we made another fire for more 'smores and I did the honors of lighting some the rest of the stuff off. Abbi and Elli ran around with sparklers, again Ambrose just didn't care too much for it.

Saturday Elli had a birthday party for her good friend down the street Carly. At 4pm we left home and headed to Tiff's Aunt's place in Davenport, Cheryl and Terry's. They cooked out and we drank a lot and hung out with them and some of Terry's grand kids who live here in Davenport. Ally and David and their kids also attended. They have a very big back yard, so all the kids had fun chasing Jamie and David. We stayed for 5 hours, the time went pretty quick, the food and drinks were good on such a beautiful July Saturday.

Sunday we cleaned the garage out and did some more work outside, it was very humid. Later on I decided to jump in the pool for my first swim of the season. The water was a little more chilly(73 degrees) than the normal 80 degree water temperature I require, but it was refreshing and water looked very clean and clear. Ally and David came over for a meatloaf dinner, every one's favorite! After dinner Tiff broke out her new toy, a chocolate fountain, you know, like the kind you see at weddings and parties. She received a gift card a while back and saw it and had to have it! She melted some chocolate and we all made a big mess dipping pineapple, angel food cake, bananas and strawberries in it. It was very tasty!

Oh and......happy anniversary to this blog, found July 4th 2007. I have fun sharing things and posting videos and photos to everyone who tunes in!

Ambrose At Home

Here is some more video of Ambrose playing at home and in the yard. He made his second visit to the vet yesterday, all is well, in the 16 days between visits he has gained almost 6 pounds. He is getting a little feistier too, nibbling at things and people and such. He has not been sleeping well at night, which is annoying. So last night the girls and I took him for a long walk around our block. That did the trick, he didn't make any noise all night.

Gabe and Grandma Marcia flew to Denver several days ago, so this week as been very quiet around the compound, which Tiff and I like a lot. We made smores a couples times for a night time snack and got to spend some quality time with Ambrose. The girls even slept in Gabe's room a couple times.

More Pooch

Week number 1 with Ambrose was certainly entertaining. He was very shy for the first few days but the last couple he has really come out of his shell.

Tuesday we visited our vet to introduce Ambrose, they ran some tests and did some shots that he needed. The vet didn't like the fact that Ambrose wasn't being very playful, for a puppy. They gave us some pills and a liquid medicine we have been giving him orally, the vet said he had something that he caught on the farm he was living on, probably from another animal.

Those symptoms have seemed to clear up, in the last 48 hours he has really been a handful, but fun to have around the home and yard. Sure, he is not house broken just yet and it is frustrating when you see him pee and he is looking right at you. We take him outside and we try and wait till he goes again before we bring him inside. That's time consuming and sometimes he doesn't want to go.

Sleeping has been tough too. We have a kennel in our living room for him at night and when we leave. We discovered he can get out of it, so we made some modifications to it. But with the recent increase in his physical activity, we expect him to sleep more at night. He truly enjoys being around Abbi and Elli, whenever they walk by he follows them.

Since he spent all his time outdoors on the farm, he loves being out in the front yard. We noticed that he can fit his head through the bars of the fence. A few times, when people walked by on the sidewalk, he has easily fit his whole body through the fence, getting out of the yard. Hopefully he grows up fast here in the next few weeks and that will be the end of that!

Here are some scenes in the yard playing with some toys. Cousin Riley also makes a funny appearance. Notice the similarities between Ambrose and Riley, young and very interested in everything and anything that catches their attention.