Welcome to the unit14 information service. Contact us at havard14@optonline.net

June 29, 2008: I decided to remove the unit14 forum, mostly because it wasn't getting any action. It has been replaced with a page of links. The links page can take you to other pages run by members of the unit14 information service, including band pages, photo galleries, blogs, and information service pages such as this one. Membership is free, open to anyone, and requires no registration. If you are reading this, you are a member. If you've got a link that you would like to be included, just email me with it and I'll take a look. One place I suggest you check out is Todd's blog that shows, among other things, my niece, Emma, running some very impressive 100 meter races. Also, happy 70th birthday to Uncle Al!

June 18, 2008: Congratulations are in order to the 2 happy citizens in the picture at right. Jim and Jackie the mystery babe are officially engaged to marry each other. Can't wait to meet her!

June 1, 2008: Tonight my Mom requested, in an email, a photo of Quinn on his razor scooter. I haven't taken one yet. He's currently asleep, and I won't wake him for that, but I do have some video.

May 23, 2008: The weather around here was very odd yesterday, going from sunny to dark and dry to rainy in minutes and in random intervals. Corina captured this double rainbow shot from our front yard.

May 15 , 2008: Tomorrow is the Family Fun Fair at the PCH. The forecast is for rain, which is unfortunate, as the "fun" part of the fair disappears indoors. Quinn got a razor scooter today after trying one out at his classmate Caleb's house. He just loves it, went to sleep talking about it, and wants to ride it tomorrow right after breakfast. Nate will probably pull the wagon around the driveway during that time. Odie likes to catch small mammals like short-tailed shrews and chipmunks. We recently put a bell on his collar which doesn't seem to curtail his hunting success. Quinn extracted pterosaur bones from a brick.

May 1 , 2008: Welcome to May. Richard Shindell started a blog a few days ago, and the first topic is called "busking - part one". It's pretty interesting. He talks about digital music, "illegal" downloads, and how the music business has changed. He doesn't feel the way to go is to prosecute or threaten the music stealers, but instead appeal to their good side by asking for donations. He's asking for money to finance his upcoming record, and there's a spot on his website called the "open guitar case" where he's flat out asking for money. Sort of strange, seeing a guy this talented resort to opening his guitar case, but he sounds upbeat about it as the best way to go.

April 24, 2008: I noticed today that Jim posted more old slides at his photo site. So here's an updated link to the home page for all of his galleries. It appears from his recent photos that cousin Christine visited Jim at some point, and a ballgame was attended with Jackie also in attendance. But you can draw your own conclusions, including who that funky-looking car belongs to.

April 13, 2008: Quinn and I hunted down our most challenging geocache yet today, in Brett Woods Conservation Area. Quinn also attended his friend Caleb's birthday party yesterday. I posted photos from both. The new R.E.M. album, Accelerate, sounds great. A review might be posted soon. Jim recently posted some photos scanned from his parents' (and mine) old slides here.

April 8, 2008: I posted some photos today. Some go back to before Easter. The boys are asleep, but the birds are not. Time to put the cover on. Nathan celebrated his 2nd birthday like a 2 year old should back on April 1st. He is becoming such an independent little boy, with his climbing, sliding and building. He's very proud to show off his skills. With the (slightly) warmer weather that's arrived, Quinn has been riding his bike again. He crashed it yesterday and suffered some bumps and bruises, but he's determined to get back in action soon.

February 23, 2008: The biggest snowstorm of the season arrived on Friday, February 22, 2008. CD's birthday? Maybe 9 inches of snow fell. Quinn did the first sledding of his young life at Osborn Hill School, in a debut described with phrases such as "that kid is flying!" and "that boy moves like a bullet" by onlooking strangers. We returned to the hill today for more of the same, in icier, even faster, conditions.

February 10, 2008: Word is that Elena got home from the hospital last night at 8pm. Jim went to a couple of great concerts in January and sent me some very entertaining reviews, complete with photos! Check out these reviews of Richard Shindell and Lori McKenna in the music reviews section.

February 9, 2008: We got news from John today that Elena was admitted to the hospital yesterday and had her appendix removed. She might be able to go home as early as tonight, but we're still waiting word from John. I'll post news when I get it. Max and Nicole had a baby girl born on Monday, February 4th! Get more information about her at their blog page. It seems this web page is becoming a baby announcement page of late, but that can't be bad. Today we adopted a 4 month old kitten from the Westport Humane Society. His given name is Odie, and I think we will keep that name. So far he seems like an ideal cat, and already seems quite comfortable here. Right now he is sleeping close to Quinn's head.

January 5, 2008: Happy New Year from the unit 14 information service! We all had a wonderful Christmas down in Virginia, and now we're back home. Melody is here visiting for a week. Sometimes it's hard to choose photos to post when so much is going on, so I just picked 9 of them. We are supposed to be putting a family photo album together showcasing Christmas 2007. One of Quinn's favorite Christmas gifts was a rock with dinosaur bones inside, and we had a great time extracting them. I posted a few photos of that project.

December 11, 2007: A late Happy Birthday to Sophie Yvonne Dott, born on or about November 25th of this year to parents Paul and Christi Dott. Chris told me this. Sophie's in the photo gallery with the bear.

December 6, 2007: This week Jim sent me some photos from the late October breeder's cup weekend, so I posted those in the photos section. There's also a picture of Amelia Dott, and a newly posted picture of the boys from Halloween. I guess I'm catching up before Christmas.

November 19, 2007: Very big news today! Congratulations go out to Chris and Stephanie Dott on the arrival of their baby girl, Amelia Madigan Dott, born today at 10:21am. She's 8.6 lbs, 21 inches and PERFECT according to the Dad. The family is healthy but exhausted. An early picture of Amelia can be found in the photo gallery wrapped in one of those towels you see in the maternity wards.

November 9, 2007: As of Monday, November 5th, Nathan is officially a walker (Texas Ranger). He's walking all over the place, which is great to see. Here is some video from his first day of walking.

October 29, 2007: Jim and I spent Friday and Saturday of this past weekend at the Breeder's Cup, this year held at Monmouth Park, NJ. Despite the relentless rain, we had a great time watching some fast horses. We had opted to sleep in a yurt as opposed to a tent site, which turned out to be the correct decision. I didn't take a lot of photos, but I did get one of Jim in the yurt. Maybe he'll send some better ones along. Quinn and Nathan are very excited for Halloween.

October 19, 2007: I'm late in posting this, but back on October 7th I brought Quinn and Nate up to Otter Pond to celebrate Henry and Sam's birthday. It was a beautiful day up there. We took a walk down to and around the pond to the playground, and spent some time with family. Thanks, Mike and Judy, for hosting, and thanks Brian, for sending the group photo.

October 6, 2007: Happy 4th Birthday Quinn! Quinn celebrated his 4th birthday with a party that included a botanic scavenger hunt and a huge chocolate cake. He received a brand new 14 inch 2 wheel bike courtesy of his grandparents!

October 5, 2007: The Mets' season ended terribly, but we managed to get a game in at shea in the middle of the collapse. It was a beautiful day, anyway. Thanks for the tickets and pictures, Jim. There's really lots of news. Sometimes I get so far behind that it becomes harder and harder to post something here. Quinn loves his preschool. He goes 4 afternoons a week, and so far it seems perfect for him. Lots of neat projects and activities. He goes on his first field trip tomorrow, to Sasco Hill Beach here in Fairfield. Nathan is getting very talkative and does a little bit of walking under the right circumstances, for him. My Mom and Dad and the Minos just got back from Dublin, and Mom found out a lot of information about her grandfather and grandmother, Peter and Emily Byrne. Much of the it came courtesy of the Guinness Brewery, where they both worked early last century. We were happy to find out that Emily's mother's maiden name was Anna Quinn. Our son Quinn's name now carries more family significance, knowing that his great, great, great Grandmother shared his name. Quinn celebrates his 4th birthday tomorrow.

September 6, 2007: On Friday, August 31st, Corina's brother, Luke, started his first game as quarterback for the Silverton Foxes. He had a HUGE game, passing for four touchdowns and 194 yards in the winning effort. Congratulations, Luke! Here's a link to the newspaper article in the Silverton Appeal Tribune.

July 26, 2007: Yesterday was Theatre Day at Purchase Day Camp. The theme this year was a Country Western Jamboree, so the Polliwogs chose the Billy Ray Cyrus classic, Achy Breaky Heart. Quinn's pretty easy to pick out in this quicktime video. He's sort of near the middle, 11th from the right, the only one lifting his feet. I'm so proud of him.

July 23, 2007: Only (unit)14 days left of camp. The season sure has flown by. Yesterday Quinn and I walked to Butkus Pond, right here in our neighborhood, to do some fishing, drown some worms, as they say. I think somebody says that. We each caught 2 sunnies.

July 1, 2007: We've had a busy week. Quinn started Purchase Day Camp, and he says he likes being a polliwog. Today we went to a pick-your-own strawberry farm and picked 12 lbs. worth. Corina picked most of them, as she had prior experience.

June 17, 2007: Happy Father's Day to my Dad. And myself. We had a wet weekend, although the weather wasn't too bad. Quinn starts Purchase Day Camp as a polliwog a week from tomorrow.

May 30, 2007: We had a busy Memorial Day Weekend. On Saturday I took Quinn fishing for the first time, out on Dad's old rowboat on Rye Lake. The boat's a bit beat up, but still floats. We didn't land any fish, although we did have a bass on the line that got loose when it swam into the oar. On Sunday we all took a walk along the water from Pine Creek Beach in Fairfield. Quinn and I camped out in the backyard that night. Dad had hand surgery this past Friday, and reports are that it went well.

May 8, 2007: Quinn and and Nate's Nana and Grandpa stopped by on Derby Day on their way home from Cape Cod. The favorite, Street Sense, won the race impressively, coming from 19th place to win. Jim placed his losing bet from a sailboat. Mine was placed from my kitchen.

May 2, 2007: I returned from BWBB on Sunday, but still haven't gotten back into the routine yet. Thanks, CD, for a perfect hosting job, and the pictures. We missed Austin, but it was great to see everyone else. 2008 is a ?