Where Is That Rodent?

“WOW!! This has been some week for here. Twignut's visit to the ER on Tuesday. A guy gets pushed in front of a subway in front of me on Wednesday. And the power goes down in multiple cities in the NE on Thursday. Yet one question lingers: Where is Pycho Squirrel and did his little nuts get fried at the Niagra Transformer, causing Blackout '03, the largest power outage in American History?


Trip Report - Manhattan/Brooklyn8/14/03

4:11PM - All power is out in New York City. As this realization set in, I set out to get home to my wife and kids and check on my mother (85 years old). It started with a 37 flight trek down the steps of my office building. After a little bout of hyperventiliation, I mde it out to the street. I was with Nadine and Zhanna, two secretaries that asked if I would try to get to Brooklyn with them. We decided to walk up to the big library at 42nd Street and 5th Avenue to see if we could get an express bus to Brooklyn, as the subways were completely shut down. We saw bus after bus loading Staten Island, but the Brooklyn buses were so packed, they couldn't get anyone else on. In reality, there is no way to effectively put the amount of people that ride the subway onto buses. I told the girls that this effort was futile and that we should try to get a regular city bus downtown to lower Manhattan so we can get to the Brooklyn Bridge to walk across or to the ferries at the power tip of the borough. We managed to get on a SOuth Ferry bound bus and spent the next 1 1/2 hours making our way downtown. Cell phone service was non existent and I was worried about Maple, my kids and my Mom. Well, we finally got down to City Hall and I asked the girls if they wanted to get off and walk thebridge or stay on to the ferry. Zhanna and Nadine were not equipped with suitable shoes for a trek like that, so we opted for the ferry. There is one that runs to Brooklyn. I was breaking in my new hiking boots and let me tell you, they are really good for walking, but standing on that bus was another story. We got to the ferry and walked down from Battery Park to the SOuth Street Seaport, where the Brooklyn ferry runs from. The line for this ferry was very long, but we were committed. But, a break was to ensue! The word came down that they were opening up a Circle Line boat for free for the Brooklyn people. BTW, they weren't charging anyone for any rides. It was just 'load 'em up' as much as possible. We were at the back of the line so wwe scurried back to Battery Park (a bit of a walk) to the ferry. It was actually the Statue of Liberty ferry that was waiting for us. No lines, board immediately and it took off about two minutes later. So, we sat on the top with a nice welcome breeze, and enjoyed the ride before having to deal with the final phase of the trip. The girls were real troopers throughout the whole thing. It was rough with the heat and all. I was telling them about going kayaking in Jamaica Bay the night before. Then, this guy and his girlfriend turned around and asked if they heard me corrrectly. I said yeah and they said they saw us as they were driving by. He said that there was about a dozen of us, right. I said, yeah. That's pretty a wild coincidence.We soon docked and it was very dark now. It was about 9 PM at this point and I still had about 4 miles to my house. We were going in different directions, so we said our goodbyes and I decided I was going to take the 5th avenue Brooklyn bus. It came after about 20 minutes and I hopped on. Finding what street we were at was a challenge, because the driver didn't think it was important enough to announce over the system. I got to my stop (about 80 blocks away) and walked in the dark (with the aid of my keychain flashlight) and got home at about 10 PM. I hiked the stairs to the top and found Mapleleaf had met up with Twinkle Toes and they were with the kids chowing down on Chinese food. I scarfed down a little and we all hopped in the car (enjoyed the AC as the apartment was an inferno) and went to check on Mom. She was ok, but glad to see us. Everyone was ok, so after a shile, we set Mom up good and went back to the house. We went on the roof as it was a good night in the city for sky gazing. I saw great views of the moon through the old telescope and even got to see one meteor. And not to mention that red planet, Mars out there too. We all went to sleep at (time unknown) and managed to get some sleep, even though the heat was almost unbearable. The power came back on at about 4:30this morning and I am enjoying the AC. As a side note, I was in 5th grade when on November 9, 1965, when the big blackout hit. My teacher gave a lesson that day on how we take electricity for granted. For that reason, I will never forget thet day (we labeled her a witch for the next six months). And I will probably never forget this one either!”

“Admit nothing
Deny everything
Cast aspersions.”

“Treebeard, I am so happy all of you are okay. While watching the news coverage last night, I wondered if the New York TT'rs were among the sea of humans moving down the avenue.

Great trip report!”

“WOW treebeard. glad to hear you and yours are ok! :)”

“So glad everyone is ok......life is an adventure.....glad to see Twinkle Toes is ok too.....we do take electricity for granted........how far is your work from where you live???....and I'll bet after 9-11 everyone was on the edge of Panic.....I sure would have been.....thanks for the story!!!”

“I heard it was caused by too many kayaks.”

“I saw on CNN that the guy survived, miraculously, with cuts, scratches and a broken leg”

“Yeah, and he hit the third rail, which caused a huge power outage throughout the northeast, then treebeard's car got towed while he was visiting his mother.



Well, at least that would have made for some interesting coincidences.”

“And JUST where was little miss pottymouth when all this started?! ;)”

“Tilt figured it out and posted it on another thread. Maple was in her kayak somewhere near Niagra Falls. She probably blocked the intakes to the Robert Moses generating plant.”

“great theories, guys! Any one of them could be true, but I think I will stick to blaming the Canadians...



...and that damned rat!”

“Gary the Rat? LOLOL

He's on "Spike TV", which used to be The National Network (TNN), which used to be The Nashville Network. I think they still have the wrestling, tho'...

BTW, I think the Psycho Squirrel is a lawyer, too. Who else but a lawyer would say something like:

"Admit nothing
Deny everything
Cast aspersions."

??



Glad to hear that the clouds cleared out and you were able to take advantage of the break in the light pollution... <G>”

“we currently have jelly the hamster...yes his names jelly...and diamond the mouse loose in our house”