Caribbean Disturbance, Cecilia Speaks Spanish, TOAD HUNTERS return!

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
First of all, Centerpoint has completed the main pass at restoring power. Here is an excerpt from the web site:
As of 9 p.m. last night, 18 days after Hurricane Ike passed through the area, CenterPoint Energy concluded its emergency operations plan, having restored power throughout its system, meeting the company’s initial projection to have service restored to its customers within two to three weeks. Restoration work continues for about 4,600 isolated cases including customers needing customer-owned equipment repairs. Many of the remaining outages involve customers unable to receive electric service due to damaged electrical equipment or flooding.

“I’d like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding during one of the most challenging restoration efforts in the history of our company,” said Tom Standish, group president of Regulated Operations. “Hurricane Ike mowed down 50-foot-tall trees and caused massive damage to the company’s 27,000-plus miles of distribution electric wires. With the help of more than 11,000 mutual assistance workers from all over the country and our own dedicated workforce, we reinstalled tens of thousands of feet of power lines that took us decades to build.”
Crews are continuing to respond to individual customer outage calls. Some of these outage cases are not expected to be resolved soon because the structure was severely damaged or destroyed. Over 93 percent or 2.15 million of the company’s 2.26 million customers lost power as a result of Hurricane Ike’s 110 mile-per-hour hurricane force winds.

Standish said that over the next few weeks the company will continue to maintain a mutual assistance workforce of about 3,000 to help the company’s own employees make long-term repairs on lines that received temporary fixes during the restoration process.

Those are the main points. From now on, if you have trouble with your power, call 713-207-2222.

Pressures have fallen in the western Caribbean and there is an area of disturbed weather. Will keep an eye on it. The latest a hurricane ever hit Texas was October 15, 1989. That was a storm named Jerry.

Our high pressure will begin sliding eastward on Friday...western trough will send a couple cold fronts toward us, but they probably won't make it as they glance off to the northeast. I do think our temperatures and humidity levels will increase and look for some thunderstorms starting the middle of next week. It was nice and cool this morning. I caught a chill walking Sarah to school. Conroe had a low of 49!

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Yesterday, I told you I would give you a link so you could hear me speak Spanish. Well here it is:
http://www.radiobilingue.org/audio/ednl/mp3/ednl_081002_02.mp3

You will have to open the file and play it. Thanks to my friend Raul Feliciano Sanchez for doing the story about benefits of bilingualism. From that interview I am taking the word for knowledge or cognition -- conocimiento, pronounced coh-no-see-me-ein-tow. With conocimiento, any problem can be solved.

There is still widespread belief that bilingualism can cause more harm than good.
Here is some research that refutes that:
The idea that bilingualism causes cognitive damage to children is no longer held by researchers, but it lingers in popular belief. More recent reserach has compared the performance of "real" bilingual children, those with roughly equal language skills, with that of monolingual children and found the former group to have superior performance, especially in metalinguistic ability. There is now data suggesting that even language minority students in bilingual education programs who are in the process of learning English can benefit from some of the advantages of bilingualism. These studies contradict the argument that bilingualism in itself might cause cognitive confusion in the child, and support the idea that bilingualism can lead to higher levels of metalinguistic awareness and cognitive ability.

This came from: Hakuta, K. (1986). Cognitive development of bilingual children No. ER3). U.S.; Connecticut.

So, now that you know all of this, you should be highly motivated to purchase our award winning DVD, recognized by Dr. Toy as a Top 10 Educational Product of 2008? You can help all the youngsters in your world have fun while reaping the benefits of language learning!!! Order through http://www.frankandpaco.com/, Ventura's Educational Supply, Dolo Publications, Carlex Inc., The Curious Mind Store, amazon.com, bestbuy.com, and barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE
We have a new episode of TOAD HUNTERS! Check it out!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLCeJhwLGeQ. There are now 14 episodes on youtube.com. You can see them, by going to youtube.com and doing a search for TOAD HUNTERS. Share this link with all the toad lovers you know.

Our new fence is almost in place!!! I'll have photos in tomorrow's blog!

Be safe!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Power Work Crews --- Pats on Backs All Around!!!

HURRICANES AND MORE
Tropics are very quiet (at least in Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico). So much for the western Caribbean weather we mentioned yesterday.

It is October 1st...the mornings are crisp. The afternoons are warm and dry. But, the humidity will return over the weekend and increase next week. There will also be a few showers and thunderstorms mid-week. It doesn't look like the front will make it mid-week. So, we may have to wait a while for the next shot of dry air.

As of 9 pm this evening, Centerpoint is reporting 99.8% have power (only .2% or 4605 without). So, by the time you read this, they may be all done. It's been 2 and a half weeks and I think all the workers are to be commended. It could have taken much longer. Of course, Galveston and many of our coastal communities have a long way to go. But the progress in every facet of daily life has been amazing!!!

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
You will notice on the right, a gadget to learn (and hear) a Spanish word of the day. I will continue to put in my own, because I like to teach myself new words. And, I like to pick words which pertain to the news of the day.

Speaking of the news of the day, I was interviewed in Spanish by the Frank and Paco team's Raul Feliciano Sanchez. He is the voice of Paco the Rooster. I will be broadcast on Thursday morning and Raul sent me the clip so I could hear how I sounded. I will try to get a link to that for you on Thursday. The story is about the importance of bilingual learning and my quote is "Es muy importante para el desarollo del conocimiento y es muy importante para el desarollo mental de los niños." This basically means: It is very important for the cognitive and mental development of children. I know--I can't believe I said all of that in Spanish. But Raul helped me.

Anyway, with the power return almost 100%, Cecilia's Spanish word of the day is elation or euforia pronounced ay-oo-for-ee-ah. They ran from lighted room to lighted room in an overwhelming state of euforia.

Don't forget that your kids will love seeing, hearing, and singing Spanish words by watching our DVD which has been recognized by Dr. Toy as a Top 10 Educational Product of 2008. You'll help them and make them happy at the same time!!! Order through http://www.frankandpaco.com/, Ventura's Educational Supply, Dolo Publications, Carlex Inc., The Curious Mind Store, amazon.com, bestbuy.com, and barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE
Toad Hunting resumed tonight (well almost). We found a toad on the back porch. Sarah's friends Gabriella and Nathan were over. So, we will have the last Toad Hunters episode (until next spring) up and running on youtube.com very soon. We already have thirteen 6 to 9 minute TOAD HUNTERS on youtube. I have a link to the right or you can just go to youtube.com and search for TOAD HUNTERS. Be sure to watch the most recent ones...lots more information and our silly TOAD HUNTERS song.

Be safe everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Models Doing Their Job - And Sooooooo Close!

HURRICANE AND WEATHER
Very close now...Centerpoint reporting 97% have power...66,000 still waiting. I remember when a big storm would blow through and we would be concerned if 10,000 people were waiting.

Looking back on all of this now and reading some of the personal accounts, I think wow! Too bad some of these folks who died in the storm surge (or almost died) hadn't read Through the Night of Terrors or some of the other books about what can happen. Now these survivors will write their own books.

Anyway, getting back to the weather of the day...Tropical Storm Laura (but it won't be tropical much longer as it is affected by the cool waters in its way) may bring 50 mph winds to the British Isles in about 6 days. Stay tuned!

Ah ha!!! Some models have been suggesting that something would develop in the Western Caribbean and sure enough, there is an area of disturbed weather. Will watch this for signs of development.

Next cold front arrives a week from today. You'll notice increased humidity and temperatures starting Saturday. There could be a shower or two with the most likely time being on Tuesday.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY

No doubt the 3% still without power are filled with anticipation or expectativa, pronounced aches-spak-tah-tee-vah. There were filled with expectativa thinking of all the normal things they couldn't wait to do again, once the power returned.

Research shows there is a correlation between being bilingual and having higher verbal and spatial ability.

The...study investigated the develpment of verbal and spatial abilities over time within a group of Spanish (L1)-English (L2) bilingual children currently attending Kindergarten and First-grade bilingual education programs...The results firmly supported the claim that bilingualism fosters the development of verbal and spatial abilities.

This is from Diaz, R.M. (1982). The Impact of Second-Language Learning on the Development of Verbal and Spatial Abilities. (PhD, Yale University).

Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, our award winning DVD is going on the road next week!!! Patti Lozano of Dolo Publications is taking it with her to a conference. Have a safe trip Patti. Dolo Publications is in the process of adding us to their web site and they will do so very soon. I'll give you the link, once they are ready!!!

And the timing could not be better...how easy is this? You have a bunch of little ones on your Christmas shopping list but you don't want to get them some plastic toy. Why not purchase a DVD which has been recognized by Dr. Toy as a Top 10 Educational Product of 2008? You'll help them and make them happy at the same time!!! Order through http://www.frankandpaco.com/, Ventura's Educational Supply, Dolo Publications, Carlex Inc., The Curious Mind Store, amazon.com, bestbuy.com, and barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE
Have you heard of Longeberger products? I hadn't until my dear friend Kim Matthews started selling them. Well guess what? I am going to have a party at my home on Friday, November 14th. I will be happy to send you an invitation. Just send me an email to cecilia_sinclair@yahoo.com. I'll also give any party attendee a reduced price for our award winning DVD. This is so ideal as the timing before the holidays could not be better. So, mark your calendars!!!

I have to tell you that I am so grateful to the wonderful, dedicated people in the world of education. I met with Sarah's school occupational therapist for 45 minutes today. She wanted to give me suggestions on things to work on with Sarah. Keep in mind that she has 50 kids she keeps track of. Wow! And everyone I have worked with at Sarah's school has been equally dedicated. I appreciate this more than I can possibly say.

Be safe everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Power Return After Ike --- Almost There--Almost!!!

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Hurricane Kyle is history...after hitting Nova Scotia last night and moving northward and weakening. Early today, subtropical storm Laura formed in the north-central Atlantic and the 5 day forecast takes it toward the British Isles with 60 mph winds...interesting.

Our weather is just so pleasant and willl continue to be so...cool mornings and warm afternoons with low humidity...no big changes but the humidity will increase Saturday and Sunday and there could be a shower or two both days.

Centerpoint's 9 pm report this evening...95% have power and 5% do not (down to 114,000 without power). There are lot of people filled with joy this evening.


SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY

And so, joy is our Spanish word of the day...in Spanish it is alegría--pronounce ah-lay-gree-ah. We were filled with alegría when our power returned.

Speaking of joy, bring joy to the little ones you love by giving them a gift of education which is also entertaining. Our DVD called Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco Volume 1 has been recognized as a Top 10 Educational Product for 2008 by Dr. Toy!!! You can order through http://www.frankandpaco.com/, Ventura's Educational Supply, Dolo Publications, Carlex Inc., The Curious Mind Store, amazon.com, bestbuy.com, and barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE
Crews were picking up tree debris all over the place today, including our neighborhood. Walking along the Oyster Creek trail this morning, we noticed that the decaying trees were really starting to stink, especially around Oyster Creek. What a smelly job crews have ahead...and that is a really trouble spot because there are snakes and even alligators. But the trees will have to be moved because they are going to clog the creek with the next big rain. I'm sure other area creeks and bayous are in the same boat.

The Baines Middle School resource class is still ready, willing and able to do the laundry for anyone who needs it. Please contact Ms. Mitchell.

Thanks to all the folks working so hard!!!

Be safe!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Hurricane Kyle Close to Landfall & Finding Heroes

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Hurricane Kyle will make landfall this evening on the western end of Nova Scotia. It's movement now to the north-northeast...moving eastward enough that the Hurricane Watch was dropped for Maine.

Low pressure over Yucatan could become a rain maker for Florida by mid-week as it moves north-northeastward. Probably won't have time to become a tropical depression. We shall see.

Elsewhere, close to home...no tropical weather...just the influence of high pressure...pleasantly cool morning and warm, dry afternoons. No big changes for the week ahead. Lows will be in the 50s and 60s (depending on the day and location) and highs will be in the middle to upper 80s (a few 90s are possible). Enjoy!!!

SPANISH WORD FOR THE DAY
I am choosing hero or héroe, pronounced ay-row-ay. I will explain why I chose this word in my AND MORE section. Sometimes, you find an héroe in the most unlikely place.

Learning more than one language has been shown to improve memory. Here's one research study that proved it.
In this study, 60...bilingual and 60...monolingual children in three age groups...were compared on episodic memory and semantic memory tasks...and verbal tasks...Positive effects of bilingulism were found on both episodic memory and semantic memory at all age levels.

This came from: Kormi-Nouri, R., Moniri, S., & Nilsson, L. (2003). Episodic and semantic memory in bilingual and monolingual children. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 44(1), 47-54. from PsycINFO database.

And it doesn't have to be a chore to reap the rewards of language learning. In fact, it can be a gift in the form of a fun and entertaining DVD called Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco Volume 1. This is the DVD I produced and created, and it has been recognized as a Top 10 Educational Product for 2008 by Dr. Toy!!! You can order through http://www.frankandpaco.com/, Ventura's Educational Supply, Dolo Publications, Carlex Inc., The Curious Mind Store, amazon.com, bestbuy.com, and barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE
Trucks were picking up branches on Austin Parkway near Highway 6 this morning. They were using a small crane looking contraption to grab bunches and put them in the back of the truck. So, hang in there everyone...the branches are slowly starting to disappear.

Latest Centerpoint numbers...89% have power (2.0 million). This means 11% still do not.

And sometimes, getting power back doesn't mean you will keep it. Last night, we had the honor of meeting one of these unfortunate individuals. Barbara and her husband were at Dairy Queen, having a quiet dinner and looking for a power outlet. Their power had just returned the day before, only to be lost again. I found out that Barbara was trying to get some work done, because she had already reported back to work as a school teacher. And she still had 10 family members from Galveston crammed into her 1700 square foot home (and don't forget, they brought their dog too). She said it has been so hard trying to get food cooked outside before it gets completely dark. She said it really messes with you psychologically, especially getting the power back and then losing it. When she told me about her job as a teacher, her eyes lit up and she said, I just love it. And I'm so glad to be back as of last Monday. The kids were ready too!!! Well, Barbara is my hero! She keeps on going even in the face of great personal adversity and sacrifice. She is taking care of a lot of people (family and students)!

Have a good week everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Hurricane Kyle and Happy Birthday in Spanish

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Ooohh aahhh....so nice outside. And, there will be no big changes through the end of the coming week...lows will be in the 50s and 60s. Highs will be in the middle to upper 80s.

Kyle is now a hurricane...it will make landfall late Sunday near extreme eastern Maine. Not much more strengthening is likely as it raises northward.

Disturbed area that was in the southern Gulf Friday is now over the Yucatan. There are also 2 disturbed areas in the Atlantic...which are of no immediate consequence to any land area.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Since today is Sarah's 7th birthday, I thought it would be nice to learn how to say Happy Birthday in Spanish -- Feliz Cumpleaños - pronounced fay-leez coom-plee-ah-nyos. Feliz Cumpleaños to our dear Sarah. And thanks to big sister Megan for helping to her birthday so nice! You are the best Megan!!!

Another advantage of learning more than one language is improved grammar. Check out this research:

This study aimed to validate the effects of second language learning on children's linguistic awareness...The results showed an advantage for the children who attended bilingual classes since kindergarten: they were better at grammatical judgment and correction tasks and word recognition.

This came from Demont, E. (2001) Contribution of early 2nd-language learning to the development of linguistic awareness and learning to read...International Journal of Psychology, 36(4), 274-285. from PsycINFO datebase.

Heres's a way to expose children to more than one language. Purchase our award winning children's DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco Volume 1. It has been recognized as a Top 10 Educational Product for 2008 by Dr. Toy!!! You can order through http://www.frankandpaco.com/, Ventura's Educational Supply, Dolo Publications, Carlex Inc., The Curious Mind Store, amazon.com, bestbuy.com, and barnesandnoble.com. THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT EVERYONE!

AND MORE
We are now beginning the 3rd week with no power. Centerpoint reports that 85% of power has been restored (to 1.91 million)...leaving 15% still without power...no refrigerated/frozen groceries, no in-house laundry service, no lights, no a/c and possibly no fans, possibly no phone service, no ability to easily charge cell phones, no ability to easily access the internet, no ability to use any appliance that accesses electricity, sometimes no school to attend, sometimes no work place to go to. Imagine that for more than 2 weeks...no fun at all. We haven't forgotten those of you who are doing without so much.

Coming soon...our own Disney store...it's official. Sarah has more Hannah Montana stuff than any girl in the world. Just ask her Dad.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

New Tropical Storm Kyle - Weekend Looks Great!

HURRICANES AND MORE
Well, there are 3 areas of interest in the tropics today. The good news is none of them will be a direct player in our weather.

Tropical Storm Kyle formed on Thursday and is moving northward in the western Atlantic. Model forecasts are tightly clustered sending it toward Maine/Canada. It will probably be a rain maker for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It looks like it will miss Bermuda. The winds are up to 60 mph. So, it might just become a hurricane...but there has been enough wind shear to make its intensification a struggle.

In the southern Gulf of Mexico, there is an area of disturbed weather. This should move over the Yucatan peninsula over the weekend.

There is another area of disturbed weather in the eastern Atlantic...this may not hold together.

Our weather will be very pleasant this weekend...sunshine with lows in the 50s and 60s and highs in the 80s...humidity will be very comfortable. A few rain showers are possible late in the coming week as the winds switch back around to come from the south.

It has been such a break that Mother Nature has not brought us any big downpours since the Sunday after Ike. No doubt this is helping with recovery efforts. Centerpoint reports 81% (1.83 million with power as of 5 am today). For those 19% still waiting, it is very frustrating. Hang in there everyone!!! I am hoping the Pareto principle does not apply here...my feared application being that I fear it will take 80% of total time to finish returning power to the last 20%.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let us not forget those who are struggling to recover and those waiting for power to return. There remains much frustration due to the physical and financial hardship. So, frustration is the word for the day...not much different from the look of its Spanish counterpart, frustación--pronounced, froo-stah-see-own. Hopefully, the frustación will be relieved soon!

Knowing more than one language is well established in the research as an advantage in several major ways. Check out this research:

...use of 2 or more languages endows the language users with special awareness of objective properties of language and enables them to analyze linguistic input more effectively. A series of studies compared unilingual and balanced bilingual...children...These studies show that the bilinguals outperform the unilinguals on a number of cognitive, linguistic, and metalinguistic tasks, even when the differences in intelligence are controlled.

This comes from Mohanty, A.K. (1992). Bilingualism and cognitive development of Kond tribal children: Studies on metalinguistic hypothesis. Pharmacopsychoecologia. Special Issue: Environmental Toxicology an Social Ecology, 5(12), 57-66 from PsycINFO database.

We are continuing to move forward with our Frank & Paco series. Volume 2 to teach Spanish to English speakers is in editing. And, we have recently ordered our English teaching version of Volume 1 for Spanish speakers.

In the meantime, you, your friends and family can purchase our award winning children's DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco Volume 1. It has been recognized as a Top 10 Educational Product for 2008 by Dr. Toy!!! You can order through http://www.frankandpaco.com/, Ventura's Educational Supply, Dolo Publications, Carlex Inc., The Curious Mind Store, amazon.com, bestbuy.com, and barnesandnoble.com. THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT EVERYONE!

AND MORE
A very special Happy Birthday to our daughter Sarah, who is turning 7 on Saturday!!! We love you Sarah.

School is out in Fort Bend ISD because of the Fort Bend County Fair. There are lots of special activities for the kids today.

Ms. Mitchell at Baines Middle School is turning lemons into lemonade. She has posted a flyer inviting those without power to bring their dirty laundry for special laundering by the special resources class as part of their life skill work. But before you bring in your weekend's dirty clothes, make sure you check with Ms. Mitchell first. Go to the Fort Bend ISD web site and look up the contact phone number for Baines Middle School. http://www.fortbend.k12.tx.us/

P.S. If you automatically received this post halfway done, it is because Sarah published it while I was answering the door to get an estimate from another fence contractor. Ooops!

Have a great weekend everyone! Be safe!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman