Update, 4:30 p.m. Aug. 30

Power is restored to the Katonah pool, and it will re-open to the public Aug. 31 at noon.

The pool house is available Tuesday from 4 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. for residents to take showers.

For the remainder of the week, pool house facilities are open:

Wednesday, August 31st
Thursday, September 1st
Friday, September 2nd

9am to 12pm– Open for Showers
12pm to 7pm– Pool open for swimming
7pm to 7:45pm– Open for showers

If residents have questions, they may call the recreation office at: 666-7004

Bedford Hills and Bedford Village pools remain closed due to lack of power. 

First Story, 2 p.m.

If you stopped by Panera Bread in Bedford Hills Tuesday, you know an outlet is hard to come by. But now locals have another option—and you don’t need an iced coffee to keep your table.

Town Hall, at 321 Bedford Road in Bedford is now open to residents who want to charge up their computers and phones. Bedford Supervisor Lee Roberts sent an email alert to let folks now they can stop by for electricity, and water.

Residents are invited to bring containers to fill up with water which is being distributed at the court entrance. 

The town also received 40 bags of dry ice which is now available at the Bedford Hills Park on Haines Road. Town officials are working securing additional supplies when that runs out.

Roberts expressed her hopes that residents would pull together in the hurricane aftermath.

“We should all be helping our neighbors, inviting them in for a shower, checking on seniors, sharing a meal outside together,” she said.

Earlier today, David Gabrielson, town councilman, told Patch that town officials and highway workers were working around the clock to clear roads.

Some residents have been critical of the town’s response to the storm.

Amy Drucker, a Katonah resident, posted this to the Bedford-Katonah Patch Facebook page:

“I’m very disappointed with communication from the town of Bedford and NYSEG…Ms. Roberts – keeping us informed (even with bad news) is vital for our decision making abilities.”

Since the storm occurred on Aug. 28, the town of Bedford has sent at least 5 emails through their subscription alert service (users sign up from the town’s website) with information from NYSEG regarding power restoration and road closures, and today’s electricty and water notice.

The Bedford police department has also sent at least 7 emails regarding road closures and hazards through its Nixle service.

Riding out a tough real estate market

Cycling gives agent a fresh perspective on daily work

It all started off with a small announcement in the community activities paper: “First Annual Fondo.”

“A scenic journey through pine trees, mountain landscape and luscious lake country. Recreational bicyclists and professionals alike will enjoy this fun 85-mile ride through some of the most beautiful country Oregon has to offer.” I was intrigued. I love to bike! My 1988 Schwinn emerald-green-with-black-splatter-paint mountain bike has taken me lots of fun places: the video rental place, the coffee shop, the park. Why not majestic, scenic beauty?

Trending: The best mountain bike under 500.I imagined myself cruising past a clear blue lake and waving at the kids with fishing poles. I casually told my husband this Fondo thing would be a great adventure — like hang gliding or hiking K2. But he agreed with me. “Oh, but it’s next month,” I read. “We’d have to train pretty hard.” He agreed again. What? I was not actually expecting agreement, so this meant I better up-the-ante.

“If we are really going to ride in a bicycle rally we should ride a tandem!” Well … he agreed again! His friend has a tandem we could use. Oh my gosh.

Five hundred and fifty dollars later, I was a dedicated cyclist with a helmet, padded knickers, a “don’t kill me” neon-yellow jersey, and a tandem bicycle with new brakes and tires.

It is a far cry from my Schwinn; it has tiny tires and hooked handle bars because it is a genuine racing tandem. Who knew there was such a thing?

My daughters’ pediatrician heard that we signed up for the 85-mile Fondo on a tandem and his face spread into a wide grin, “This, my friends, will be epic. This is really going to test your marriage.” Ha-ha! Great.

But if anything, we are positive people. We’ve been riding bikes since we were babies. No big deal. I was sold. And this tandem, I thought, would be really fun! So who cares that I just had a baby six months ago? Or that my husband is three times heavier than Lance Armstrong?

This would be an adventure we can talk about for years, plus we’ll get in shape — immediately. And anyway, 85 miles isn’t that far. You just take them one at a time.

Training … our first day was dedicated to getting comfortable on the bike. With that in mind, we took our tandem racing bike, our new helmets, and padded shorts up a mountain and decided to ride around it — 20 miles.

Don’t ask me how we conceptualized going from zero experience to 20 miles on our first day. That would just take the fun out of it.

Well, we got on that bike and started rolling downhill, and let me tell you — you start communicating really fast once you realize you’re going 45 miles an hour and keeping pace with that Isuzu Trooper you thought was passing. And that’s going down a hill! Wait for the incline!

As the bike nosed up into the hills we were like two marshmallows, huffing, puffing and gasping up the highway. Where did all the oxygen go? We clicked through the gears, and cranked those peddles around in such a blur you couldn’t even see our feet!

And for all that energy, we moved about a foot every seven seconds. At that point I was sucking down water while the sweat poured down my face, across my back and into my adult diaper … I mean, through those nice new professional padded knickers.

But we made it! Yes, we did! And so today, I am writing this article standing up.

And yet, I feel really good. Encouraged. Bring it on — all 85 miles! So what if I don’t sit for a month? Ha! I’ve been there with childbirth!

I am learning to ride a tandem bicycle with my husband.

And with that in mind: Listing presentation? Ea-sy. Follow-up calls? Vanilla. Buyers want to see that house again? OK. Drop-bys? Maybe drop-bys ain’t that bad after all.

Alisha Alway Braatz is a buyer’s broker for Coldwell Banker Advantage One Properties in Eugene, Ore., and a real estate humorist.