Tornado aftermath

While trying to out run the tornado(which he agrees wasn't wise), Josh got a call from his friend who also has a house in Dexter who wanted to know what was going on. It turns out his house was spared too but the house next to his lost its roof. His yard is covered with debris from those not so lucky. Josh is helping him clean up today. Dexter is such a small village but still managed to get hit in at least 4 different areas. It made the national news. Storms are not new to Michigan but never has there been a storm so early. Global warming? The unusually warm air (80 deg) clashed with a cold front. At one point, the hail was so thick, all he could see on the ground were ping pong sized hail balls. He scooped some of them up in a baggy to store in his freezer. Back in Ann Arbor, there was such severe flooding that people had to be rescued from their cars. Fortunately for us, this happened on the south side and we live on the north side.

But we aren't even there. No unseasonably warm weather here..it has been in the thirties in the morning for the past three days.  Good for running though. I ran to Lexington and back the other day. Today I was running on several paths in Cambridge and Somerville. I came across Davis Square full of interesting restaurants. Tufts University is near it. We went back there by car to have a nice lunch at yet another crepe place.

No baby despite more contractions. Steve is going to NYC tomorrow. Baby hopefully will stay put while he is gone.

Beware the Ides of March..Tornado!!!!

No tornado in Boston...just drab weather but back home, all hell is breaking loose. A friend called to say that Josh's house was in the path of a tornado. About the same time, he looked out from his yard and saw it coming. He took his dog and jumped into the car and drove south to a clearer spot but then the skies were black there. The tornado touched down just a few blocks from his house flattening 6 homes. It headed south bypassing Ann Arbor. Our house will be safe from tornados but we are trying to figure out if our lower level is flooded . Once the storm dies down, Naomi will check.  Julia was at work huddled in the the lower level. The tornado turned southeast and headed to where she was but it didn't touch down again  until much later.

No injuries in Dexter but what a mess!!!!! When they were looking at houses, they were deciding between two in adjacent subdivisions. The tornado destroyed houses on the street
they did not choose. Lots of wind and hail too along with flooding. Hail, Hail to Michigan indeed!
I thought today will be the day for Baby Girl. More contractions..not very comfortable but still no action.

Concord

 Another pretty village. As a child, I loved Little  Women based on Alcott's life in  Concord.On Author's Ridge, Thoreau, Emerson, Alcott and Hawthorne  were buried. It was supposed to be in the 60s here but it was only in the 40s while we were exploring revolutionary warfields.

Where the first British soldier shot in the American Revolution was buried

Historic house along Battle Road restored to  look like it did  in 1775

Steve on the spot Paul Revere was captured

Window inside of cute restaurant we ate at

cute shops. Moving cars  turnout strangely in my scanned shots

Older cemetery than the one the authors were buried. Most people here died in the  1750s

North bridge: second battle of the war; first one in which there were casualties on both sides

Statue at North Bridge honoring the farmer soldier

The Playground of the Discarded Toys

I was going to title this Train Porn but I figured my Statcounter would go crazy.The little guys are endlessly amused by train videos: train couplings and decouplings, trains breaking speed records, trains leaving the station, etc.
 The playground of the title is not far as the crow flies but
the Mystic River is in our path. The boys call it the Diamond playground due to the shape of the play structure, Neighbors discard all the climbing and riding toys they no longer need. There is quite a bit of stuff there. I just returned from there  with Oliver trying to sap some of his
considerable energy. It was a beautiful day here again. Shanna and I walked to her last OB appointment. She now is 1 cm but not in labor. She is very eager for this to be over.

We did not plan to be here so long nor did I pack what was needed. I was just getting around to organizing things when I got the call. But I am glad I am here. I did not want to miss Baby Girl's first minutes.

Marblehead

More pretty coastal village houses on a beautiful day. Marblehead was misnamed by its first residents who failed Earth Science. The area is covered with granite,not marble.

Very polite  traffic signs. Underneath the speed limit signs were small  signs saying  "please"

Fancy houses

Steve

Part of 270 year old fort

I am experimenting with the scan feature of the camera. It takes some practice. These houses aren;t as colorful as the ones in San Juan but they still are pretty and almost as old

Increasing pleasure to reduce weight

Apparently it is a myth that overeaters obtain more pleasure from eating than non over eaters. Does that second piece of pie taste better than the first?  How about the third piece?  Does it taste better?

Recent research has found the opposite to be true. Food is a drug to overeaters that one develops tolerance for.  More and more food is needed to obtain the same amount of pleasure. Neurochemical pathways are involved particularly the dopamine ones. Recently a drug has been developed that increases the pleasure derived from eating by activating the dopamergic neurons. It is not a wonder drug as patients only lost 11% of their body weight. What is not mentioned in the WSJ article are the possible side effects.
In my former life as a medicinal chemist, I spent much of my time on various antipsychotic projects in most cases trying to decrease dopamergic activity. It is true that weight gain is a very common side effect    of antipsychotics. Will the converse be true? You'll be skinnier but crazy?

I seem to like food too much. I noticed this as a child  when I was going trick or treating. My friends did not seem all that thrilled about all the free candy and were content to collect it at a too leisurely pace for me. Time was candy! My children thankfully were similarly disinterested. After being a too chubby kid, I carefully controlled my eating (most of the time) as a teenager. As an adult, training for marathons and triathlons kept me at a normal weight. All hell broke loose when I was pregnant though. Various medical challenges (hello steroids in my chemo) in the past 5 years have made exercising difficult Though I run for a total  of 5 hours a week, I am still fat, firm fat, but fat. Like my yums way too much! But am I willing to alter my brain chemistry? No.

Baby Girl is still chillax' in utero.  We took the boys to the 'new'zoo(new to them) yesterday. Best exhibit: the gibbon family with a cute 7 month baby exploring his brachiating skills.

Grandma's in the Attic

We have our own space here in our Massachusetts exile. The attic had been converted to a large bedroom complete with skylights and dormers. My huge feet don't fit well on the 19th century stairs and I keep feeling I will fall.

We  took another trip to the hospital last night. Baby Girl's increased heft is putting alot of pressure against her old scar tissue causing pain and Shanna wondered if she was not slowly rupturing. The pain was getting worse. Baby Girl still is sealed up tight and is doing fine. The OB sees no reason why she won't stay put for the next 10 days, tougher now with this new pain.

In the hospital, they had Shanna and baby on various monitors. One we assumed was a pulse oximeter (measuring oxygen levels..Daniel always had one on during his 8 days in the Level 2 nursery) A good value is something close to 100%. Shanna's was reading 97, 98. I wanted to see what my values were: 55, 57 going up to 61. Levels consistent with heart failure!!!! Suddenly loud beeping occurred with a screen message No Pulse!  We quickly put it back on Shanna.

Steve and  I walked around nearby Brookline (not far but with this annoying traffic!it took forever to get there). We ate at a cute crepe place and explored. I found this beautiful designer dress n sale but alas,too small.In this paper store having 20 kinds of vellum alone (took me forever to find one kind in MI)we bought wrapping paper with old maps on them that we will frame once we get back.

When Wild Turkeys Attack
I wondered if the turkeys rushing us the other day with their fluffed up feathers was unusual behavior. No it wasn't especially since this is the beginning of mating season  Attacks have increased dramatically since the turkey population has soared. One woman in Michigan can't leave her house during the day without a gobbler laying in wait to attack her on the way to her car. When she returns,the turkey, who she named Godzilla,is there to attack as soon as she gets out of the car. They will attack their own images.Ramy says there is a shiny building in downtown Cambridge where turkeys charge their own reflections.  As said before, one of my thankless tasks as a child was to induce peacocks to display their feathers for my photographer father to get his money shot by flashing a large mirror in front of them.