Oliver B. Habicht

Cady handles family medical emergency with aplomb!

2010-10-21T20:49:00.002-04:00

Cady exhibited confident composure, self-assurance, and poise (you know, "aplomb") last night during a medical emergency which sent Amelia to the emergency room. Peter and I were at a Scouting event when all this transpired. Here's Cady's remarkable story:

Last night, while Cady and Amelia were preparing an elaborate dinner and dessert alone in the house, Amelia collapsed, unconscious. Cady tried catching Mom, but alas, the size and weight of an adult is a bit too much for a 9-year-old to catch! Cady sprinted from the room, looked back from the dining room, screamed, then cried. Rapidly composing herself, she hurried through the living room to get to the phone because Mom's body blocked the shorter route through the kitchen.

Cady picked up the phone and dialed 911. She answered all their questions, and hung up after they hung up. She then looked up Talia and Haim's phone number (parents of her friend, Abigail) in the school directory and called them, speaking to Talia, who sent Haim immediately to our house in their car. Then Cady heard the oven beeping, so she turned it off. Next, she went to Mom and felt for her heart beat, but couldn't find it. So, she listened and heard her breathing, which seemed OK.

After all this, Cady unlocked the front door, opened and left it wide open, and put on the outside porch light. Haim then arrived, followed by his son, Edan. Cady watched Mom leave in the ambulance, then Cady walked with Edan to his house for the night.

[We're all pleased to report that Mom checked out fine at the hospital, returning home around 1am with Dad, but Mom will now work even harder to keep from being dehydrated!]

Cady's 5th Birthday Party

2006-09-09T17:36:00.000-04:00

Cady prepares to blow out her five candles, as Peter looks on. Eastlake's ball pit entertained the kids for most of the party, at which we celebrated two birthdays in addition to Cady's, all ECC friends. Now that Cady has entered kindergarten, when will she next get together with these friends, most of whom go to different schools in Ithaca?

Oliver's trek to the BWCA, Minnesota

2006-08-27T14:44:00.000-04:00

(Left) I'm starting off on a portage with our super-light rental kevlar canoe.

(Right) Tom, Dan, and me floating along.

Our trip to Minnesota's Boundary Water Canoe Area this August was a gift from Amelia and her sister, Aunt Laura, to Dan and me. Tom (Amelia's nephew) and his cousin Mike were our very capable guides. Super time, great weather, and a truly special place!

Pedro's bicycle pump.

2006-07-09T11:35:00.000-04:00

A couple years ago Glenn Swan recommended to us the Pedro's Pretige bicycle pump and we have been very happy with it. Easy-to-use Presta/ Shrader valve and excellent gauge complement this sturdy metal pump.

Bought locally in Ithaca at Swan's Cycles (directions) for $28 about two years ago. EMS currently sells it for $45.

Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools, which is loaded with good recommendations for tools like this, doesn't seem to have a bicycle pump listed- just the Fix-A-Flat product.

Amelia's Birthday Celebration

2006-07-08T13:40:00.000-04:00

Amelia's 40th birthday was July 3rd, and we celebrated a third time on Saturday, July 8th, this time at Taughannock Park.

[We also celebrated her birthday in Maine (before the 3rd), and again on the 3rd during which we enjoyed pinapple upside-down cake, her favorite birthday cake.]

Here, Amelia is giving us her famous swan statue pose, complete with water springing forth from between her teeth. Cady did a pretty good reproduction herself.

Family Triathlon at Camp Kemah

2006-07-02T08:50:00.000-04:00

Amelia and two of her sisters (with families in tow) convened at the Habicht's Camp Kemah on Kezar Lake, Maine (near Conway, New Hampshire) last week, where we had one of "Amelia turning 40!" celebrations. In this picture, at the Triathlon's starting line were (l to r) Anna, Cady, Oliver, Amelia, John, Dan and Laura. Kevin joined Cady as a spectator, along with photographer and record-keeper Joyce. [Ellis and Tom Neufeld were in Alaska that week.] We had teamed canoe paddling instead of biking for this fun event.
During our stay in Maine, Dan and Laura's van got totalled (no one hurt, thankfully), so they ended up driving home in a new car. Joyce's car was not as badly damaged, but the bikes it was carrying were.
More Camp photos in our Picasa Web Albums.

We're selling our house!

2006-06-19T21:39:00.000-04:00

http://www.warrenhomes.com/index.cfm?action=detailed_listing&mls=121984&menu=0

Kid's first skating excursion.

2006-01-22T18:31:00.000-05:00

Peter and Cady skating for their first time, at Cass Park's skating rink. Peter quickly learned to skate, keeping close to the wall, and Cady zipped along as well!

Christmas on Mexico's Pacific coast

2006-01-15T17:45:00.000-05:00

Cady and Peter enjoying Christmas morning in Zihuatanejo, Mexico this past December. They are just outside the tent they slept in, which was right next to beach. Thoughts of snow were very far away! Amelia, Pat (my mom) and I slept right next to the tent, under the stars. Beautiful!

Carving out a spooky Halloween night!

2005-11-13T15:38:00.000-05:00

Our family's pumkins, starting at top, going clock-wise: Peter's scar-face, Oliver's flying ghost, Cady's triangle-eyes, and Amelia's forlonged friend. As we learned a few years ago, having the right carving tools makes all the difference!

Guatemala Crew

2005-08-14T07:27:00.000-04:00

Habicht family and friends who met in Guatemala, convening during my Dad's and Gretel's "Milestones" party (August 13, 2005), celebrating my Dad's 70th birthday party and his and Gretel's presumed forthcoming retirement.
Left to right: Bill Butz, Christopher Habicht, Heidi Habicht Brownlie, Jean-Pierre Habicht, Pat Habicht, Charlie Yarbrough, Pat Engle, Oliver Habicht.

Oliver's first triathlon

2005-08-12T08:26:00.000-04:00

Here I am recovering from my first triathlon, the 3rd Annual Cayuga Lake Triathlon, on August 7th. Super great weather for a swim/ bike/ run! I ran the "short" or "sprint" version, which was a half-mile swim, 14 mile bike ride (I averaged 19.8 mph), and a 5K (3.1 mile) run. Results are available in a PDF formated file. Also, you can order action photos of me from Brightroom.

Peter jumping in over his head.

2005-06-26T22:35:00.000-04:00

Here's Peter enjoying a jump into Tristan's pond! Lovely dinner and dessert at Tonya, Adam, and Tristan's following our water wallowing ways.

Cady on Alaskan shingle beach.

2005-06-22T04:06:00.000-04:00

Cady on an Alaskan sea beach at 8:30pm. Bed time? I don't think so!! Resurrection Bay, Alaska. The "grains" of sand on this beach are more like cobblestone, and Alaskan's refer to such a beach as a shingle beach.

Great family vacation to Colorado and Alaska this June. See more pictures and some of the other things we did at our family's photo web site. In addition to myself, Amelia, Peter and Cady, we joined Amelia's sister and her family (Laura, Dan, John and Kevin), my mother, Cronie Pat at my brother's house in Anchorage (Chris, Penny, Beth and Karen).

The four of use who entered (myself, Amelia, Dan and Laura) all finished the Anchorage Mayor's Midnight Sun marathon, too!

Hybrid and Vegetable-powered cars

2005-06-02T23:38:00.000-04:00

The Ithaca Festival parade's new automobile entry this year was the "Hybrid HoeDown". In addition to half a dozen hybrids (two showing in the foreground), the next three cars and the bus were all vegetable oil-powered. Neat!

A better heated mattress pad?

2005-01-23T09:17:00.000-05:00

We've been trying out this heated mattress pad, and it's been working great. Particularly since our bedroom's outdoor thermometer read a low of -17.1F recently!

We didn't have a heated pad before, so I don't really have a recent comparison. However, this one seemed particular good since it uses DC, not AC (wires are imperceptible; <19v), Queen size) at Ithaca's new Bed Bath & Beyond store. For me, a mattress pad heating from below always made more sense than a blanket heating from above.

Other features we like: When you initially turn it on, this one initially goes into high heat, regardless of the heat number setting, so bed is comfy when crawling in even when set to a low number. Also, has a 10 hour automatic shut-off, and controller makes absolutely no clicking sounds noise I've heard from others. Can apparently can be washed regularly (without changing its shape), but we havn't tried this yet.

New home office space.

2005-01-23T09:01:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, we turned our "formal" dining room into a study. This required Oliver re-routing the coaxial cable, which provides us broadband Internet access. The cable was just long enough, fortunately.

Ridding house mice.

2005-01-10T23:40:00.000-05:00

We've been having a bit of a mouse problem. We now believe some of Indy's (our dog) psychotic behavior may be triggered from mice within our home, perhaps from their squeaks. We got rid of our 22 pound cat, Marbles, a while back (thanks for taking him, Keene!), largely because he introduced as many wild animals (both dead and alive) as any domestic mice he might have caught. :-)

While shopping for anti-mouse paraphernalia yesterday, I had Peter describe how he would design a "better mousetrap", and as luck would have it someone already had. So I obviously had to buy it [Victor Tin Cat repeating mouse trap, $16.]. Peter's idea was a trap with one-way doors. We placed this all-metal trap (with some peanut butter as an attractant, apparently optional) under our oven last night and caught two mice! Amelia and I had seen one under there this past week during a frantic morning chase, and I had only expected a single mouse. I guess we saw only the tip of the iceburg.

Once you live-trap mice, what do you do with them? We decided to release these two mice several miles from our home, but I recognize that this transporting thing may get old. Let me know if you have any better ideas, please.

Also, I got another live trap [Tomcat Multiple Catch Mouse Trap, $16], this one all-plastic, that sweeps mice into a chamber with a clear plastic cover. This is the type one must wind up, so in some ways not as elegant as Peter's passive one-way entry design.

The third type of trap I bought is more cruel. It's sticky paper [Tomcat glue boards, 2 small boards for $3] , and apparently the trap basically suffocates because as a stuck mouse attempts to escape, the glue gets over its face. It's non-poisonous, so that's a plus. I haven't tried this one yet. I guess when you catch mice with this trap, you put the mouse and stick paper in the trash.

The last product I bought to help address our mice problem was some mouse poison [Just One Bite pellets, $1/small bag]. When bought in the form of pellets within a sealed paper bag, one can lay out the bags and they will be opened by any hungry mice around giving one feedback on whether there are any mice around. Apparently the ingestion of the poison results in mice getting thirsty before it kills them. The idea is that the soon-to-expire poisoned mouse will go find water, and one hopes that they try doing this by heading outside and not by crawling up within the walls. Since it's winter now, I'll try this one at our lawn tractor in our shed. In the spring/ summer, we may try this indoors. However, our basement is perhaps too wet to make this a good solution for use within the house, especially considering our concern for our kids and dog.

Peter's preschool.

2005-01-06T01:58:00.000-05:00

Two items of interest related to Peter's preschool. First, they took and posted a picture of me showing Peter's preschool mates what a "real" firefighter looks like up close! (I did this on December 9th.)

http://www.gurus.com/eccpix/ecc041204.jpeg

Second, at the above web site, they have posted photos of Peter's class wearing various capes. Here's the context, per one of the teachers:

By clicking onto www.gurus.com/eccpix/ this week you will be able to see photographs of the children engaged in one of the research studies conducted last semester. This research was part of an ongoing project that explored the relationship between children and the clothes that they wear. The children were observed during multiple outdoor playtimes to determine whether the cape that had working pinwheels integrated at the wrists inspired the children to get more physical exercise during outdoor playtime. Their physical exercise was measured by pedometers. Although the photographs provide no scientific data in regards to the study one can certainly gain the impression by looking at the photographs that the children enjoyed the play that came from wearing the capes.

Blog: This is a blog. Really.

2004-12-03T23:54:00.000-05:00

OK, many people have been blogging for some time now. You are in fact now reading a blog, a.k.a. a web log. (Start your own right now!) Turns out that more people looked up "blog" in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary in 2004 than any other word, according to an NPR article I heard this morning. So we can probably all agree it's a darn good thing Merriam-Webster has finally decided to add it into their dictionary!

Next word they need to look up: Wiki or Google. They best look now, because these kind of tools might very well put them out of business.

Jingle Halloween song

2004-12-03T23:47:00.000-05:00

Here is Cady's first published (and most original!) song: Jingle Halloween. It's an MP3 format file, so hopefully you won't have any problems playing it. The lyrics are, "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Halloween." Imagine Amelia's and my surprise when we originally heard it this morning!

In this recording, Peter is singing to a completely different drummer in the background. Hey, at least it's not me singing! We recorded this in the mayhem of getting our morning cereal, so it's not studio quality. To record this track, we used our recently aquired MP3/FM radio/USB flash drive/audio recorder gadget that is the size of two or three fingers.

Regarding Cady's original lyrics, I couldn't help but think of recent talk I've heard on NPR of greeting cards merging various holiday sentiments, such as Christmas and Hanukkah: "Merry Chrismukkah!", "Merry Mazeltov", and "Oy Joy." Even large card makers like Hallmark and American Greetings are making such cards. And here's Cady, at three years old, managing to neatly bridge seasons and thus going beyond the limited, tiny thoughts of those adults who think they're really breaking new cultural ground!

Grumpy old troll.

2004-12-03T23:13:00.000-05:00

In the morning, as I get dressed, Cady will often take my belt and form a gate between the bed and wall, trapping me on my side of the bed. She stands guard at the gate and declares, "I'm a grumpy old troll". Where does she get these ideas?!

Torres del Paine, Chile [1988]

2004-11-13T22:45:00.000-05:00

My Mum recently let me know she's planning on visiting the south of Chile, and asked if I had any ideas. That question got me looking through some old photos of mine, where I found this one I chose to scan.

While in this area, I was struck by the number of flamigos I saw within a couple days hike from where I took this photo! I took this photo in June of 1988 while in Torres del Paine, Chile, when I found myself backpacking through this very desolate area. I had arrive in Punta Arenas, off the Straits of Magellan, by merchant boat (this one?) from Puerto Montt. (Flying is a civilized alternative!) The distinctive rock formation is very typical of this area. Here's what National Geographic has to say about travelling in this area.

VVFC Extrication Training.

2004-11-13T20:54:00.000-05:00

New idea for Detroit: Articulated doors!
See more photos of our training at the Habicht's photo website. You can also read Simon's related blog entry.

Peter gone fishing.

2004-11-08T01:50:00.000-05:00

While Amelia and Cady were visiting Grandma in Florida, Peter created this fishing station by himself- very impresive, if I may say so!

Butterflies!

2004-10-19T18:26:00.000-04:00

Butterflies from Natural Butterflies. Colleen and Wilmer Reyes, 302-659-5706.

Pumpkin Fest!

2004-10-17T21:19:00.000-04:00

Cady's and Peter's pumpkins. OK, both done by Amelia! See more pictures of the results from Sunday's pumpkin carving party.

Amelia and Peter in PawPrint

2004-10-01T01:07:00.000-04:00

From Cornell's PawPrint, PP_Sept_23_web_04.pdf

2004-09-19T22:58:00.000-04:00

Stick with his Champ, at the EHFC's Fall breakfast.

Cady and WKids!

2004-09-12T19:43:00.000-04:00

Cady ecstatic to finally be old enough to enter WKids, Wegmans grocery store's childcare for shoppers. Sunday shopping.

AIDS Ride For Life

2004-09-12T11:18:00.000-04:00

Oliver and Amelia after completing over 100 mile bike ride around Cayuga Lake on Saturday (yesterday) in support of AIDS WORK's AIDS Ride for Life fundraiser. And here are more pictures, with a focus on our Team Gimme! group.

House drainage

2004-09-07T21:07:00.000-04:00

House excavation done today to try to pull the water away from the house. We're hoping for a drier basement now!!

Cady turns three!

2004-09-06T23:48:00.000-04:00

Cady technically turns three on the 7th, and what does she pine for now that she's three? (Aside from the gummy worm she's gumming on, freshly extracted from her pot of dirt, obviously!) A: Going to W-Kids, Wegman's (grocery store) playroom/ kid-sitting room! But first, the birthday party photos!

Tioga Scenic Railroad ride

2004-09-05T01:33:00.000-04:00

Peter and Tristan getting ready to enjoy a 2.5 hour train journey from Owego to Newark Valley and back. Joined by Chris, Elaine, Adam, Amelia, Cady, and Oliver's mom, Pat. Nice food and a great trip!

Kitchen armoire

2004-09-03T23:50:00.000-04:00

MacKenzie-Childs Ltd's minimal kitchen, complete with microwave and fridge. And of course, the kitchen sink! My mom and Amelia found this $14,500 armoire inspirational.

Peter the film analyst

2004-08-19T14:05:00.000-04:00

Talking to Peter this morning about the Peter Pan (2003) movie we had completed last night, I had shared what the movie meant to me (something about "growing up"). He shared with me that he thought the movie was about "close things". Trying to understand what he meant by "close things", he explained how lots of things almost happened, like Captain Hook's close calls with the crocodile (until he finally got eaten), and the close calls during all those sword-fighting scenes!

2004-08-17T22:24:00.000-04:00

Two mowing swaths for the price of one! This gentleman was mowing this area just within the Village of Dryden, but says this system saves him a lot of time on his 2,000 foot runway he maintains in Etna!

Tivo for dreams?

2004-08-14T11:33:00.000-04:00

The other morning, Amelia asked Peter how his night went. He reported he had some dreams, which Amelia asked him about. He replied, "They were OK, but had mostly ads." Total dead-pan delivery- just priceless!

Note that we don't have TV in our house!! Got me thinking we need to get him a Tivo in order to help him zip past those ads so he can go back to his regularly scheduled dreaming. :-)

2004-08-07T10:58:00.000-04:00

Christopher in Switzerland, 2004, enjoying the view after a hard-earned cog-train ride up from Geneva Lake.

2004-08-07T09:53:00.000-04:00

Peter picking a flower "love gift" for Mommy.

2004-08-07T02:27:00.000-04:00

This July 2004 photo shows me standing in front of the Château de Chillon in Switzerland with Cady on my back, Peter at my side, and my two nieces (brother Christopher) from Alaska, Beth and Karen.

2004-08-07T02:24:00.000-04:00

Cady enjoying the thrill of a 3 hour Swiss train ride, on the second story of the train, //and// playing on a playground, all at the same time!!

2004-08-07T02:20:00.000-04:00

Cady at the Habicht Family Festival in Schaffhausen, dressed up and still active.

2004-08-07T02:19:00.000-04:00

Peter making friends with a Swiss fire hydrant on the walk to the Habicht (Colbs) Family Festival in Schaffhausen.

2004-08-07T02:02:00.000-04:00

Peter enjoying a playground "zip line" this summer in Switerland, while we await our boat to Germany.

2004-08-07T01:59:00.000-04:00

Amelia piloting the family to the U.P. in Michigan, a 600 mile flight requring one fuel stop in Mt. Pleasant, MI. Would have been an 800 mile car ride!

Family in Switzerland this summer.

2004-08-05T03:30:00.000-04:00

http://habicht.photosite.com

Our Swiss vacation was lovely! This photo was taken near the end our 3 hour walk at the base of the Eiger's famous "North Face".

Vacation photos on-line.

2004-08-04T17:42:00.000-04:00

I finally found a great way to post our family photos at photosite.com. Last night, I paid for the "Plus" service for the year so it is now add-free to viewers.

If you have digital photos, this is a great service to use to share them (Windows only).

http://habicht.photosite.com/

Or, get to them from our family web site.

http://www.habichts.net