Poppy's Front Porch - in the Missouri Ozarks

Poppy's Front Porch - in the Missouri Ozarks
This photo was taken in 1949. My cousins and I remember the porch after our grandfather walled it in, added a door and big screen windows.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

The New Year's Eve Evening Rambler

My last post of the year.

Christmas update, part 1

Well, Christmas Eve the power stayed on, the dimming of the lights was caused by an infrared heater cycling on. In fact, the sleet quit just a few minutes after I posted, and it snowed the rest of the night and pretty much all day on Christmas. We got five inches of snow here, and I heard mention that some parts of the metro got as much as 11. Another inch and a half fell on Sunday the 26th. That's a bit misleading if you expect I could measure 6 1/2 inches of accumulation out there now...since then, the snow's blown around some and compacted some. And Tuesday (or was it Wednesday?) it got up to 34 briefly, so some has melted. It's colder now, and it may get down to the teens or even single digits tonight.

I took a lot of pictures this week, and I planned to transfer some of them from my camera to the computer earlier in the day, to post here. But that didn't work for some reason, and I'm not sure what I was doing wrong. So for now, allow me to back up to late November, and show you a few older pics...

Lights!



It was a reasonably temperate day the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, when I finished putting up my outside lights and tested them.

A few days after that, we had a visit from my Sister and Brother-in-law. They gave me the address of a good friend of theirs who lives on the Kansas side, and who is seriously into decorating.



This display really has to be seen in person to be fully appreciated.



This is an actual show or program, computer controlled, synchronized to music which is broadcast by a low power FM transmitter to your car radio. There was the effect of motion; different segments of the tree would change color in synch with the music, at times a star on top of the tree appeared to spin, there were "leaping arches" around the tree, the lights outlining the roof would change color and so on. Planning for this year's display started months in advance, and I understand there is a group of people who put on these elaborate displays in different locations all across the country. My Brother-in-law helped set this up in October, and mentioned a big, thick three ring binder with page after page of detailed instructions, and custom made wiring tagged with numbers or letters to keep the assembly in the proper order while hooking it all up.

By the numbers:
5 - days to set up and test
14 - minute program
47,000 - lights.

More Christmas stories and photos to follow. Also, I plan to start January with a few blogs with some highlights of 2009 - things I should have posted months ago but somehow didn't get around to.

For now, have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! And remember...it'll be 90 years before we have two zeroes together in a year again. I don't know what that bit of trivia does for you, but there it is.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

The Christmas Eve Evening Rambler

This has been a pretty good day, I managed to get everything I had to get done, done. And at a reasonable pace, too.

Only one problem. The much anticipated Winter Storm began to make itself known right at 4:30, when we were going to leave for the 5 PM Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church. Right as my kids were getting into the car and I was about to close the garage door, the sleet began in earnest (it had been raining on and off all day).

I don't like snow, but I'd take a foot of it over any amount of sleet any day. My wife and I hadn't gotten in the car yet, and we looked at each other and briefly discussed the pros and cons. We decided we'd stay home and have a last Advent devotion instead. After an hour and a half of sleet, who knows...it might be difficult to walk from church out to the car, much less drive home.

That's been three hours ago, and even though this is supposed to change over to snow any time, I still hear sleet hitting the window. Four to Eight inches of snow predicted...and while four isn't that uncommon, eight is pretty rare around here. At least we haven't lost power yet.

Well, I really shouldn't have typed that last bit; the lights just flickered. I've already rounded up candles, flashlights, and batteries. This could get interesting.

Years ago in similar situations, adults would joke about too many kids praying for snow. But I wonder if kids do that much these days.

Anyway, If any of my readers are traveling in this mess tonight, you're in my prayers. A safe and Merry Christmas to you.

(Man, that was kind of loud...something bigger than sleet just twanged off a window or the siding. Tree branch, maybe. Hopefully nothing big.)

Think I'll shut this down now.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Return of the Lyrics Game - three songs

I've been meaning to get back to this for quite a while. Recently I heard one of these on the radio, just thought of another lyric out of the blue for no apparent reason, and was reminded of another when I looked over my music list project.

Hints: three different decades, two genres (in other words, two of these songs you might hear on a classic rock station, the other you won't). And as always, it's more fun to guess if you resist the urge to "Google".

So here they are, in no particular order:

#1:
"Every day when I get home from work,
I feel so frustrated, the boss is a jerk,
And I get my sticks and go out to the shed..."

#2:
"He didn't say much, he kinda quiet and shy,
And if you spoke at all, he just said "Hi"..."

#3:
"I have never met Napoleon,
But I plan to find the time,
'Cause he looks so fine upon that hill,
They tell me he was lonely, he's lonely still,
Those days are gone forever..."

Can you guess? Let the game begin!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Thanksgiving -> Advent -> Christmas

Seems like it’s been difficult to sit and write lately, and I’m not sure why. It is a busy time of year, but I’m not as busy as a lot of people I know. Maybe I’m not satisfied with what I have in mind before I get to the keyboard and I hope to come up with something better, so I tend to put it off.

It’s best then, to sit down and just begin. In fact, I’m toying with the idea of starting the year with a post a day, no matter how slight. Well, more on that if it happens. Stay tuned!

So to catch up, we had a small, quiet Thanksgiving, just the five of us with daughter number two home from college. My son ushered for the Thanksgiving service, then we returned home to a good early afternoon dinner and family time. We had turkey and other traditional side dishes – cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and the like; all on the good dishes. But we didn’t knock ourselves out over-preparing each and every possible thing, the goal being to keep the stress to a minimum. I had the good sense to not interfere with the cooking, and after dinner I did dishes. The rest of the afternoon and evening we relaxed. When it got dark, I turned on our outdoor Christmas lights, and after a while turned on the TV to watch the ceremonial lighting of the Plaza lights. I suppose you could ask for more, but I’m not sure why.

I had been keeping my eyes and ears open for comments on thankfulness. I got an email from a friend, somewhat of a lengthy but good list. Here’s a few that resonated with me:

“I am thankful…

…for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

…for all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that we have freedom of speech.

…for the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.”


And I especially took note of this one:

“I am thankful…

…for the lady behind me in church that sings off key because it means that I can hear.


And I appreciated what Cousin Mike had to write on his blog about Giving Thanks, and…well, click here, the whole thing’s worth reading.

Now, on to the first Sunday in Advent, November 29. When I saw the Advent wreath, I made a point of saying to my kids, “Happy New Year”, being as that day marks the beginning of the Church year. The thanksgiving theme was repeated in the first two verses of our Epistle Reading for the day (1 Thessalonians 3:9-13):

“ 9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God,
10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?”


That stuck with me the whole service.

Advent is a special time of preparing our hearts as we approach the celebration of the birth of Christ, a time that will reward us if we’re not in such a rush that we ignore it entirely.

A friend of mine has blogged a series of 13 posts on his journey from his early memories of Christmas as a boy, to his current celebration of a scaled-down, Christ centered Christmas. Most of his entries are short, and if you click here, you’ll go to his last post where you can link to each of the previous 12 posts. His Advent comments start with his seventh post, but I found it worthwhile to read them all in order starting with the first; perhaps you will too. I couldn’t have put it better.

I got out our Advent wreath and candles late, the second week of Advent. Hopefully next year I’ll be organized from the first, well, it’s a work in progress. I do enjoy lighting the candles and having a devotion…there have been years where I’ve skipped that entirely, I’m sorry to admit.

And as for the Christmas decorations, I guess I decorate more than some and less than others. I do get a great joy out of decorating, especially putting up the lights. For what it’s worth, I guess my personal rule of thumb going into this season is:

1. Keep the faith – don’t neglect gathering as believers.
2. Decorate as much as you enjoy, but if you start to stress out, stop. It’s good as it is.
3. Shop early, not the last few days…definitely not Christmas Eve.
4. Keep the Christmas meal simple, sandwiches, finger food and snacks, a few simple desserts. Don’t make it a lot of work (unless your family has a tradition of a big gathering and feast that you all enjoy – your mileage may vary, as they say).
5. Relax, enjoy, make memories, and take photos to look at later, if you wish.

Well, I’m in more of a writing mood now, so it’s likely I’ll post again before Christmas (though probably on other topics). But in case I forget, I’ll say it now. I hope and pray you all have a blessed, fun, stress-free and safe Christmas season.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Evening Rambler for November 15, 2009

This rambler will be short...

I meant to put this in my last post, in response to Cousin Mike's comment:

"A lot of warehouse-type places are named for Crazy Dave or Crazy Joe or some other guy who is crazy. Sure you can buy an end table...from Crazy Bill, but your fireworks? From a crazy man? No."

Actually the best fireworks warehouse around here is...

wait for it...

Mike's Fireworks in Riverside (okay, technically Kansas City north, but right on the edge of Riverside). They're kind of hard to find...unless you live right in that area or happen to be driving along Vivion Road and notice it, you'd have to find out how to get there and drive a bit out of the way.

They pride themselves on storing their stock properly. Other places may be cheaper, but if you buy from those other places you may have more duds; if you buy from Mike's you'll have more of a chance of everything working. At least, that's what I heard a salesman there say several years ago. It could be that some of the new places are now up to speed and equally good.

I do wonder about the place out east with the inflatable King Kong on the roof. Buy fireworks from a gorilla? Let me ponder that for a while.

Here's another post on Strange Maps...not a map actually, but a flowchart of The Lord Of the Rings. Click on this link right here, and you'll notice it's the movie version (Look at "Isengard Flooded" and you'll see the flowchart has both Saruman and Wormtongue die there).

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Bob Day...the report

Cousin Mike's post was one of the highlights of the day. Can Bob resist making a few comments? Let's find out...

"No Bob Day Festival would be complete without fireworks, of course."

Well said; there's really nothing to add here.

"A lot of warehouse-type places are named for Crazy Dave or Crazy Joe or some other guy who is crazy. Sure you can buy an end table made of thick, heavy, dark wood in a style that matches nothing you own with a floor lamp sticking up through the middle of it for $39 from Crazy Bill, but your fireworks? From a crazy man? No."

I saw one of those heavy, dark end table lamp combination thingys at a garage sale for only $15, and I passed it by. I'm still kicking myself (figuratively speaking).


"Go to the garage and look for a box that used to have fruit drinks in foil pouches in it that you got from the bulk place (Crazy Egbert's!), but now has left over fireworks from the summer and you can use those for Bob Day. You may have to look behind the grass seed and some plastic device that came from an oscillating fan or an appliance or the car..."


Mike, how did you know where I keep my fireworks? That almost gives me the jibblies.

"...and you can't throw it away because you might need it some day."

Hey man, once it's gone, it's gone! Know what I'm sayin'?

"Anyway, light your left over fireworks for Bob Day and grab a Mountain Dew and raise a toast to Bob. If 78 percent of the fireworks go off, he'll be pleased."

Of course you realize that 78 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Actually it was a good day. Kind of quiet, but that was what I had in mind. My lovely young wife took me for breakfast at IHOP (okay, second breakfast...I was working on a bowl of cereal when she told me her plan). Throughout the day I got three birthday phone calls, from my Stepdad, my Daughter in California, and my Sister. She sang the birthday song to me, and we had a nice long conversation. At some point we got into the subject of lightning somehow. Sis had seen a program (Discovery Channel maybe) where they showed a lake or a river in South America which has the most lightning of anyplace in the world. So I got curious and did a search and found this. Interesting.

Back to the birthday. Earlier in the week I decided I wanted to spend some time on my day, at the Midwest Genealogy branch of the local library. Any of you readers who are into genealogy at all (hi, Trish!) have got to come here. It's like a candy store.

So I went there Thursday afternoon. They have lots of neat databases on their computer system, but the only downside is that you're limited to an hour. That's an automatic thing though, and I probably should have asked for an additional hour since there were plenty of empty terminals. Next time. Anyway, I found a couple of old census records, made a copy of one, and after my computer time ran out spent an extra hour browsing the periodicals and the rack after rack of family tree books. I've decided that in order to really use that resource and make additional progress on the family tree project, I need to schedule time to go there on a weekly, or at least bi-weekly basis. That and I need to take time to make a detailed list of what I might want to look for, before I go.

The rest of the evening was a traditional, small birthday party; just the four of us at home.



Ice cream cake from one of the local supermarkets. Delicious!


And presents.

And yes, earlier in the day I had Mountain Dew. Of course, that's like pretty much every day, but hey.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

It's Bob Day

Lest you get too carried away by all the Columbus Day and Veteran's Day celebrations (I swear it seems you just get the Columbus Day tree put away and they start playing Veteran's Day music at the dime store! Sheesh), don't forget that Bob Day is upon us.

As I write, in fact, it's Bob Day Eve. I hope all the baking and shopping is done and you've got your kilt back from the cleaners, for the Presbyterians among us.

No Bob Day Festival would be complete without fireworks, of course. But since the fireworks stands have long since disappeared, you'll have to wander out to the warehouse outside of town that has the word 'crazy' in the name of the store. A lot of warehouse-type places are named for Crazy Dave or Crazy Joe or some other guy who is crazy. Sure you can buy an end table made of thick, heavy, dark wood in a style that matches nothing you own with a floor lamp sticking up through the middle of it for $39 from Crazy Bill, but your fireworks? From a crazy man? No.

No. Go to the garage and look for a box that used to have fruit drinks in foil pouches in it that you got from the bulk place (Crazy Egbert's!), but now has left over fireworks from the summer and you can use those for Bob Day. You may have to look behind the grass seed and some plastic device that came from an oscillating fan or an appliance or the car and you can't throw it away because you might need it some day.

Anyway, light your left over fireworks for Bob Day and grab a Mountain Dew and raise a toast to Bob. If 78 percent of the fireworks go off, he'll be pleased.

Happy Birthday, cousin!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

One change at a time

Well, I've been wanting to expand the comic strip links here on the porch for a long time. I finally got around to it (you know Bob, Poppy's Front Porch won't update itself).

Anyway, check the list at the right and down a bit. Feel free to comment...let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

All Hallow's Evening Rambler for October 31, 2009

I'm not one of those people...

who are Really into Halloween. You know, those people...the ones who spend money and put up a whole lot of decorations in their front yard. Fake tombstones, fake bats, fake ghosts and the like. Or the adults who go to costume parties. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as long as it's all in good fun and you're keeping things in perspective.

It's just not all that big a deal to me. My Christian faith likely has something to do with it - I've never totally understood why people feel the need to turn the spotlight on the Enemy one evening of the year. Let me hasten to add though that I am Not on a crusade against trick-or-treating.

I think it's more my reserved temperament, I've never had much interest in costume parties or big crowds. Also the neighborhood I grew up in didn't have many kids, and the houses were on pretty big lots spaced kind of far apart. We would buy candy and turn on the front light, but even on our busiest Halloween, we only had 11 trick-or-treater's, and some years none at all.

Of course there was always candy left over for us, and that was usually the highlight of the day. All that said, I have some Halloween memories...

Punkins of the past

Yes, I know it's pumpkins. I just like saying punkins.

We'd usually buy a pumpkin, cut a hole in the top and empty out the seeds and wet stringy stuff (what impressed me the first time I did that was how cold all that gook was). Then I'd draw the face I wanted on my pumpkin, and when I was little, Mom would carve it. Later when I was trusted with a knife, I'd do that. My jack-o-lanterns had the typical triangular eyes and nose, and always a smiling mouth; usually with square teeth, but at least once with pointed teeth.

Once as an adult while working at a mapping company, I entered a pumpkin carving contest. I carved a pumpkin globe, the natural creases on the pumpkin made dandy longitude lines to help in spacing and figuring the shape of the continents.

Fun stuff all that...a temporary sculpture that doesn't have to be perfect. And as a bonus, you get to put a candle inside and set fire to it!

One thing I'd like to try, out in the middle of the yard of course, is to replace the candle with a sparkler, or a cone, or a roman candle. Can you imagine?

My last trick-or-treat outing

Earlier this week I recalled the last time I went trick-or-treating, when I was in Junior High (when I was a boy we didn't have "middle school").

First, let me set this up a bit. My best friend lived three blocks away, in a neighborhood with more kids; Halloween was a bigger deal over there. It seemed he could engineer and build anything, and his younger brother had quite a lot of artistic talent. I don't recall how many years they did this, but they would come up with really elaborate spook houses in their basement. The lights would be out, my friend would be the guide, and at some unexpected point his brother would jump out and like to scare the wits out of me.

So one day my friend said, "Robert, let's you and me make our own costumes and go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood". That sounded like fun, and we both agreed it was now or never. The next year we knew we probably wouldn't want to do that.

Our costumes weren't quite like the ordinary, which was the idea. His started out as an old sheet with eye holes, the basic homemade ghost outfit. His added touch was a battery powered blinking red light from Radio Shack, which he had on top of his head under the ghost sheet. Why a blinking light? Well, why not? It was neat.

I was a walking television set. My Dad had a glass face plate for an actual television, and I found a cardboard box big enough to cut a hole for that glass plate. I attached a couple of knobs on the front of the box for on-off and the channel selector, and I used half a Styrofoam ball and a couple of soda straws for the "rabbit ears" antenna on top.

Right after sunset on the 31st, we each grabbed a bag and started to make the rounds in his neighborhood. Once or twice we'd get the look - you know, "aren't you kids a bit big for this?" - but people were nice and we did get some candy.

More often than not people thought I was trying for a robot costume ("no, I'm a teevee"), and my friend's flashing light earned some puzzled looks. We got our picture taken at a house or two. Still a fond memory, to this day.

Trunk-or-treat

We went to "trunk-or-treat" for the first time this year, at our Church parking lot (they held it last year too, but this was a first for us this year). The weather cooperated, and there was quite a turnout. About two dozen cars and trucks parked, and some were decorated elaborately. We got out lawn chairs and sat down with our bucket of candy. A lot of kids came in from the neighborhood around the church, and everybody had a good time.

Next to our car was one of the Elders, who was dressed in an old fashioned black and white striped prisoner's uniform. Possibly the highlight of the evening for me was when a family came to our car with a nine year old (or maybe ten?) daughter dressed as a policewoman...an excellent costume. After my wife gave her some candy, I pointed over to our elder and said, "Officer! Arrest that man!". She and her whole family smiled at that.

(Well, my family's downstairs watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas" DVD. I'd better go down and see if there's any candy left.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Your baseball wish has come true

That is, the one about me writing about baseball playoffs. And I have dawdled over this task long enough to ensure that I can predict the winner of the World Series with at least 50 percent precision.

Or not. I'm not 100 percent sure if guessing the wrong team out of 2 would entitle one to 50 percent.

By now many people who live east of Dayton, Ohio are aware that Philadelphia and New York are in the World Series. New York of the Yankee kind, that is. As for the rest of us, we are aware that the Rams are really, historically bad. But I digress.

First the bad news: the Royals and the Cardinals have no chance of winning the World Series this year, though, St. Louis did get to play beyond the regular season. For about 23 minutes. The good news: the Cubs still have no idea what just happened.

Seriously, now. Murderer's Row has been reconstituted in New York and the Yankees led all the Major Leagues in home runs. They have the best closer in baseball history, Mariano Rivera, the defense is tight and the starting pitching has been serviceable.

The Phillies, last year's champs, are back to defend their crown and, though underdogs, have a decent shot at doing so, in my opinion. I like their pitching a wee bit better, they have a great offense, led by Missouri St. alum Ryan Howard, and the middle relief has been solid. Their closer, though, has been unreliable, and that weakness may be enough to give some games away late.

I'll say this will be a real battle of two fairly even teams with similar, slugging styles. Look for a lot of offense, I think. In the end, it will come down to the end and I think the Yankees closer will be the difference.

New York in seven.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

MLB postseason 2009...Mike, any comments?

The playoffs are upon us, and this year it was a situation of "flyover country" need not apply. All four teams are from the coast, though I'm not sure how far the Philadelphia Phillies are from the Atlantic. Close enough for this casual fan, anyway.

Unfortunately, Mike's St. Louis Cardinals didn't advance to the championship game, and here I was all set to root for them. (And think of it this way Mike, it could have been worse...at least "The Team Who Will Not Be Named" isn't in the playoffs.)

I've not followed baseball that closely this year, so I'll admit my ignorance about the four teams in the hunt for World Series fame. My inclination is to root against the Yankees, that's an old rivalry here in K.C. But that would be more out of habit than anything, and certainly isn't based on any current knowledge on my part.

So this is a call to cousin Mike. Would you care to share your baseball insights here on the porch? Who do you think will meet in the Series, and who will go all the way? Now, for all I know the teams might be equally talented and evenly matched. So Mike, who do you want to be the Major League Baseball champion for 2009? Who deserves that honor?

Saturday, October 17, 2009

This must be my week...

...to find strange animations, that is. Click on the link here, then select any of the ones shown. They're all fun, but I'd say #5 is my favorite.



Oh, and by all means have the volume up on your computer speakers. Gotta have the sounds.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Strange enough to post on The Porch? Why, yes!

Last night I was up late. I had a project to get ready for a presentation for our rocket club this afternoon (payloads for night launches). Daughter number two was home from college and everyone else was up late too; the family was watching "The Prince of Egypt" on DVD in the living room.

All that preamble to explain that I turned on the bedroom T.V. after midnight out of curiosity to see what was on, and I saw some really bizarre stop-action animation on 16-5. I watched long enough to appreciate the creativity, but I still had no idea what was going on, and closed captioning was hit and miss...it didn't help much.

My digital converter remote has a "tv guide" of sorts built in, so I pushed the appropriate button to find it was something called "The Legend of the Sky Kingdom" (click here for a trailer from Youtube). I searched for that on the internet, and Wikipedia had an entry. This is the first stop-action animation movie from Africa (Zimbabwe), and it was released in 2003. It's probably the lowest budget movie you've ever seen or ever will see, you might even say it was close to "no-budget". The characters (who I took to be robots at first) were all made from junk, as were the backgrounds - old broken computer keyboards in one scene. Apparently the camera they used was also home made from "junk" parts.

Maybe I should look around and see if it's available to rent so I can see the whole thing. I was entertained for the few minutes I watched, though I still can't say I get what was going on. It's impressive what you can make out of next to nothing when you put forth the creative effort.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Astronomy stuff, part 2: What's on Earth tonight?

This isn't what I'd planned to post for my second installment in the Astronomy stuff series, but I just came across this and I couldn't resist.

It has stars! It's a map! It ties into pop culture! It involves broadcasting! I suppose you could ask for more, but how much do you want in one place?


This is from a site I just discovered, called Strange Maps. If you go here, you'll see the image along with some comments below. As a couple of people noted, the power of TV broadcasts shrinks to next to nothing beyond our solar system. It might be possible to pick up one of our broadcasts on a planet around another star, but it would be exceedingly difficult and require Much patience.

Sure an interesting idea and a neat image, though.

Hey Mike, it might be fun to come up with a version based on the dates of famous baseball highlights.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Avast, Mateys!


I bring this up again because the whole idea makes me chuckle. There ought to be more made up fun holidays like this.

Tomorrow, Saturday September 19th, is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Assuming you read this today, you'll have a few hours to make plans.

(And I've heard that people who went to schools whose mascots were pirates or buccaneers really get into the pirate thing.)

Ya can be sure I'll be practicin' my Arrrhs today during my garrrage sale.


I pulled the above image from Snorg Tees.

Friday, September 11, 2009

9-11-09

Today being the eleventh, I naturally recalled the terrorist attacks of eight years ago. Not that I have anything really new to write on the subject, but I can't let the day pass without some comment.

I still feel sorry for the families of those killed, and hope and pray each year brings at least some more healing.

The firefighters and police who ran in risking everything to save lives - both those who survived and those who gave all - still the truest of heroes.

The terrorist attack still remains as much a monstrous evil as it was on that day.

There are still terrorists who want to kill us and destroy America.

Sadly, there are many people here in our country who deny this.

I remember that for a short time, maybe three weeks that September, people paused, connected with their loved ones, and thought of life issues with deeper meaning. For those whose faith in Christ was strengthened for the long run, I salute you. We need His grace daily, as much on 9-11-09, as on 9-11-08, etc.

And yes, I still give thanks to God for President George W. Bush and his administration. Was the response perfect? No, no human project is perfect. But necessary steps were taken in a measured way. It's neither coincidence nor blind luck that we haven't had another attack anywhere near that magnitude in eight years.

So, I'll close with this link, if you want to read again my recollections of 9-11-01.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

It's past time I should have posted this


Ira Moore, 1942 or 1943

I've wanted to keep The Porch a mix of things that I find either fun or interesting or important at the moment; cousin Mike does the same when he posts. That's why I've resisted getting fully into the family tree here, and just kept it to the occasional story or photo. Though I have an interest in genealogy, it can take on a life of its own and take over the content here. I am actually thinking of starting a separate genealogy blog; I haven't decided for sure yet. We'll see what happens.

Anyway, I've had a great time lately e-mailing cousins Trish and Ed, we've been sending each other scans of old letters, family photos and the like. We've each had "oh wow" moments when we've seen something for the first time.

Which by the way, I highly recommend if you have relatives separated by the miles, that you take advantage of this modern connected world and share copies of old family photos and letters with them. Find out what stories you had wrong, and fill in the gaps, so to speak. I'm having great fun with that.

So I came across this today; it's one of my favorites and it definitely deserves to be here.

My sister, the first of Ira's grandchildren, called him Poppy and that stuck with all of us. I'm not sure exactly when this photo was taken, but I think my grandfather was either 40 or 41 at the time.

He built the entire house, including the front porch.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Astronomy stuff, part 1: 150 years ago today


This probably didn't make the news most places, but today marks the 150th anniversary of the Carrington event, the most massive solar flare and coronal mass ejection in recorded history. Not only was the sunlight noticably brighter for a short time, but later when the charged particles reached the earth's magnetic field, the northern lights were brighter than anyone could remember, and seen as far south as Cuba.

Space.com posted an article on the anniversary today, but I chose to dig and find some other articles that had impressed me when I came across them months ago.

An article on nasa.gov from October 23, 2003 explains what happened. Some excerpts:

"...the Sun released a mammoth solar flare. For almost an entire minute the amount of sunlight the Sun produced at the region of the flare actually doubled. With the flare came this explosive release of a massive cloud of magnetically charged plasma called a coronal mass ejection...Not all coronal mass ejections head toward Earth. Those that do usually take three to four days to get here. This one took all of 17 hours and 40 minutes,"

"Not only was this coronal mass ejection an extremely fast mover, the magnetic fields contained within it were extremely intense and in direct opposition with Earth's magnetic fields. That meant the coronal mass ejection of September 1, 1859, overwhelmed Earth's own magnetic field, allowing charged particles to penetrate into Earth's upper atmosphere."


Translation: we got slammed. The article goes on to speculate what would happen if such a "perfect solar storm" were to happen today; damage to satellites, interruption in communications worldwide, etc. Back then, the cutting edge electronic technology was the telegraph. The strong aurora induced currents in telegraph lines in the US and in Europe, causing sparks to fly and setting some fires. The induced currents wreaked havoc with the battery supplied current in the wires, and made it difficult to impossible for the telegraph operators to handle traffic. This exchange between two telegraph operators was recorded for posterity; I pulled the quote from the Wikipedia entry. They tried the obvious solution...

Boston operator (to Portland operator): "Please cut off your battery [power source] entirely for fifteen minutes."
Portland operator: "Will do so. It is now disconnected."
Boston: "Mine is disconnected, and we are working with the auroral current. How do you receive my writing?"
Portland: "Better than with our batteries on. - Current comes and goes gradually."
Boston: "My current is very strong at times, and we can work better without the batteries, as the aurora seems to neutralize and augment our batteries alternately, making current too strong at times for our relay magnets. Suppose we work without batteries while we are affected by this trouble."
Portland: "Very well. Shall I go ahead with business?"
Boston: "Yes. Go ahead."


According to the Boston Traveler, they continued without battery power for about two hours.

The aurora were bright enough that there were reports of people being able to read watches and reasonably large type at 1 a.m., and there were instances of fire departments being called out to investigate what appeared to be red flames on the horizon.

A web site called solarstorms.org has a fascinating list of newspaper entries. It's interesting to see the range of emotions...

from the factual:

…Large print could no doubt have been easily read, for we can testify that the time on the face of a watch was easily legible…[Washington Daily National Intelligencer, September 3, 1859].

to amazement (again a reference to telegraph difficulties):

…Never in my experience of fifteen years in working telegraph lines have I witnessed anything like the extraordinary effect of the Aurora Borealis between Quebec and Farther Point last night. The line was in most perfect order, and well skilled operators worked incessantly from 8 o'clock last evening till 1 this morning...and at the latter hour so completely were the wires under the influence of the Aurora Borealis that it was found utterly impossible to communicate between the telegraph stations...{Rochester Union & Advertizer, Tuesday Evening August

to alarm:

…Half-past eleven. The appearance now is positively awful. The red glare is over houses, streets, and fields, and the most dreadful of conflagrations could not cast a deeper hue abroad…[San Francisco Herald, September 5, 1859].

and to the poetic:

The Aurora Borealis : The Brilliant Display on Sunday Night, The present generation have listened with wonder and admiration to the stories their fathers and mothers have told them of auroras and meteors. They have opened their ears and mouths and eyes as they heard of stars falling from the heavens like rain, of the sky at night becoming read as with blood...Few have had the opportunities of witnessing these sublime displays; but on Sunday night the heavens were arrayed in a drapery more gorgeous than they have been for years…Many imagined they heard rushing sounds as if Aeolus had let loose winds…[The New York Times, ]

I've studied enough astronomy to have a basic knowledge of the northern lights, but I can only try to imagine what people - worldwide - experienced 150 years ago tonight.

Friday, August 28, 2009

The Evening Rambler for August 28, 2009

Goodbye analog television

A few months back - June I think it was - the switch to digital tv happened. We had applied the government coupons we got in the mail to the cost of two Zenith converter boxes, weeks ahead of the deadline. I didn't know if the picture would be that much better, after all, it would end up on an old analog tv picture tube anyway.

What I hadn't taken into account were all the additional sub-channels. Instantly we went from 10 local channels to 22, and a 23rd channel, a free movie channel, was added later. (And no, I won't buy cable or satellite. Thanks for asking.) Two of the channels show the local weather radar, and that has come in handy more than once. Also, the image is noticably better.

One thing I'll miss though, is those times when odd atmospheric conditions would allow long distance stations to skip into my tv. When I was a kid, it wasn't all that rare to pick up channel 6 from Sedalia Missouri, 7 from Pittsburg Kansas, and the two 13's, Topeka Kansas and Columbia Missouri. I recall watching the old black and white movie, "The Fly" on 13 out of Topeka one night. Every so often the picture would dissolve in static - interference from Columbia 13 maybe - then come back. That made an already scary science fiction / horror movie even more intense. We'd rarely get the Springfield Missouri stations though, their channels 3 and 10 were usually clobbered by "bleed-through" from our local channels 4 and 9.

Years later, I made a game of it when I noticed the atmospherics were especially good. In the 1990's we had a small portable color set that was excellent at picking up those weak signals. If I could spare the time, I'd set down with paper and pen and channel surf, noting all the unusual channels. Then I'd try to make out where the broadcasts were from. That little tv would pull in stations, not only from other parts of Missouri (Columbia, Springfield, Joplin, St. Louis), and Kansas (Topeka, Pittsburg, Wichita), but also from Oklahoma, Iowa, Illinois, and I think Fayetteville Arkansas once. Not all at the same time, of course. The long distance champ...channel 55 out of Springfield ILLINOIS, of all places. I have absolutely no clue how that high of a UHF frequency could have skipped that far, but it did...briefly.

Digital tv is definitely an improvement, but it's a whole different animal. Pulling in long distance television signals will never happen again.

I have questions for my readers

Speaking of missing things, here's the first question...

1. If you could travel back in time to the 1960's, what modern thing that didn't exist then would you miss most? (It doesn't have to be just one thing, list all you want)

2. If you knew you could Not fail at something, what would you attempt?

3. Phooey, there was a third question...maybe it'll come back to me. For now I'll turn it around...What would you like to ask me?

Ah, I've got it, the third question was...well, I guess it has to be number 4 now...

4. What's the oddest tourist attraction you've ever seen on vacation? (Again, list more than one if it's a toss-up.)

I'd really like to get comments from you all. I'm curious what thoughts I've jarred loose with this.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

This is classic.

Hey, if you need a laugh, link over to this post on Cousin Mike's Central Standard blog.

The only thing I can add is that I did know a daschund once who could sing...he'd carry the tune right along.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

One for the southpaws

This is almost too late, but I just found out a few minutes ago. This was national left-handers day.

I hope it was an enjoyable one.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Happy Birthday, Mike!

It’s Mike’s birthday again, and boy did that year fly by! I spent some time earlier trying to think of something extra clever to post, but had a bit of writer’s block; other than to say that we got no mail today. So Mike, how did you get your birthday to be a postal holiday?

Anyway, instead of trying to come up with something new, how about something old.

I have good memories of the times my family and I would travel to Poppy’s farm in the Ozarks. Usually we’d stay a week, a few times almost two. Always there would be a day or two when Mike’s family would drive over from Branson. If the weather was good, and it usually was, we’d divide our time inside the house and outside in the yard. We could always come up with something to do, even if it was just to look at comics and crack each other up with jokes.

One year we came up with a club, the Human Bean Club. We tied a rope between two closely spaced trees and put an old blanket across the top, weighted down with a few rocks at the bottom; that was our HBC tent. A flag was hastily made with a sheet of paper, colored with crayons (probably from that box of smoky crayons I'd bought at a dime store in Forsyth that had a fire sale). This was - I think - 1964 or 1965. We agreed that having a club had merit, and eventually play money was made and I think membership cards (I can't prove the latter from the archives though). The HBC club lasted over a year, maybe almost two years.

Sometimes I was invited to Mike's house to spend the night, and the hours would fly by. Paper, pens and pencils were an absolutely necessity, and the "creativity" (silliness) would begin. The cartoons I'd draw would usually involve characters I'd make up with oval shaped bodies, hastily drawn hands and odd eyes, big honkin' tennis shoes and messy hair. The plots usually involved trying to outrun a tornado, or were a setup for some pun or play on words. In later years, I came up with one truly odd attempt to build a storyline combining elements of Star Trek, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hogan's Heroes (hillbillies hiding from the rev'noors in underground tunnels, firing a phaser-like weapon to freeze an approaching tornado). If it was late enough and you were sleep deprived, it almost made sense. Kind of.

Mike had his own character, Fuzz-Man, whose special power was that he could attract lint and expand to giant size. Useful when dealing with his arch-enemies, Captain Endust, and the giant vacuum cleaner. Sometimes Mike would draw an already established super hero, usually Batman. Most of my stuff was just odd humor, but Mike's superhero themes inspired me to come up with Jello-Man. That character had worked in the Jello factory and one day had accidentally fallen into the vat of grape Jello (I had a purple pencil). Now that he was a shape-shifter, Jello-Man could thin himself out and ooze under the door when he accidentally locked himself out of his apartment. And he could also...hmmm...well, what else? I'll get back to you on that one. Someday.

Later and later it would get. We'd try to keep the laughter to a minimum as we passed the cartoons back and forth. We'd always get shushed once or twice from Mike's mom or dad. The stuff they put up with.

Once we got into foreign languages. Mike knew some German, and I had learned some French in class. We'd write the foreign words, then the translation. The sillier the better; things such as "I don't understand the beach", and "When will the potato sing"?

Once in a while we'd get philosophical. I had realized something that had troubled me a bit. At the time, M&Ms came in red, orange, yellow, green and brown. We'd been on a completely different subject, so I sprang it on him.

"Mike, why are there no blue M&M's"? We had a good laugh over that and pondered what we could do. We decided we ought to send the company a telegram:

DEAR M AND MS STOP WHY NO BLUE STOP

I wish we'd followed through and actually sent that, but neither of us quite had the nerve. But as we all know there have been blue (and purple) M&Ms for some years now, so they must have gotten the message somehow.

Once or twice we stayed up late enough that we heard the newspaper hit the front step. Mike would go out and bring it in, and we'd head straight for the comics page.

We had to be among the first in town to read the days comic strips in the Branson Beacon. Got a jump on most everybody else. That felt good. Then we'd finally get a few hours sleep, and pretty much be worthless for the rest of the day.

Mike, I hope you had a great day and made more fun memories!

(I'd like to read a response to this...I know I left stuff out.)

Don't you give me those dirty looks...

That begins my favorite lyrics from Yakity Yak, just before the clue given by Mike.

Don't you give me those dirty looks,
Your father's hip he knows what cooks...


That's a fun memory. I'd guessed 1958 when I figured out it was Yakity Yak, performed by The Coasters, but I was prepared to be off a year either way. Then I looked it up and found it was 1958...bonus. I don't always get the year right.

I even remember hearing that song on the radio "back in the day", but I'm sure I didn't appreciate it until some years later after hearing it repeated as a "blast from the past" or a "golden oldie".

Friday, August 7, 2009

Thanks for talking back

It's Friday night and I figure that's a good time to give the answer to the most recent Lyrics Game.

The quote was:

"Just tell your hoodlum friend outside
You ain't got time to take a ride"

It was indeed, as one commenter suggested, from the song Yakety Yak and was written for the Coasters.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Re: Taking up some slack / lyrics game

Hey Mike,

I think I know this one. I'll wait, what do you think - a couple of days, and see if anyone chimes in with the answer first.

Hopefully I'll have my computer back soon, as good as new.

Until then, here's some random thoughts from the library computer, to pad this out a bit...

My friend Duane (one of the rocket people) checks this blog occasionally, so here's a message. Duane, I got the newsletter today, and I enjoyed the articles. Don't know yet if I'll make it to FFFF this year, but I hope to. Oh, and those high school era photos of Ron are priceless.

Local news: I noticed something kind of sad yesterday, the old Blue Ridge Cinema building has been almost completely torn down. It had stood vacant for years, not a good thing. Hopefully something good will be put up in its place. And that explains the loud crashing noises I heard the other day when I was out back working in my garden (I had blamed the auto body shop, perhaps I was mistaken).

Speaking of gardening, yes I planted tomatoes and cucumbers again this year. This time around I used chicken wire instead of plastic netting, and so far it's working much better. The evil squirrels can still go over the top (but as far as I can tell I've only lost one tomato; a green one at that). There are no holes chewed through low down, so I'm keeping the rabbits out. The plants* are big and healthy, and we've gotten quite a few tomatoes. Many more to come...if they all ripen at once, we may have to open a stand.

* What varieties did I plant? Glad you asked. Two Large Red Cherry tomato plants, three Jet Star, two Early Girl, one Super Beefsteak, and one Better Boy. The Cucumber seeds I planted a bit late, so we'll see how that goes.

And I saw a fun bumper sticker today, something to the effect of "It's too early in the morning to slay dragons".

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Taking up some slack

While Bob's computer has the crud, I'll jump in with another installment of the Lyrics Game. To review, I'll post some song lyrics and you astute Porch Heads name the tune. Try ever so hard not to Google for the answer.

Also, this is for fun, alas, we have no prizes to award. It's mainly amusement for me as I like to read the song lyrics for humor, creativity or other qualities. In other words, they are not necessarily difficult, though we can't rule out the possibility.

And now today's lyrics:

Just tell your hoodlum friend outside
You ain't got time to take a ride

Enjoy!

Friday, July 31, 2009

Even more computer woes

That's right, more Bad Stuff(tm) on my home computer, but it will be in good hands and set to rights soon. Until then, I go online to check my email and "surf" at the local library.

I could do more posting to my blog from here, and I have a few things in mind. Most of them either involve posting photos or include text I've already composed in a Word file at home, so I choose to wait until I'm back up and running there.

In the meantime Mike, if you have anything you'd like to add here, please feel free.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Feathers: 1998 – July 21, 2009

We’ve always had parakeets (budgies) in my family, one at a time starting with my sister’s parakeet Pretty Boy in the 1950’s. I don’t remember him, but somewhere around here is his picture. I’ve heard stories of how he could imitate my cry as a baby and get my mom on a run while I was sound asleep.

The ones I remember:

Peppy (1958? – 1962?) – I picked him out at a local dime store. I found out later that I’d chosen an old bird and he never became friendly, to say the least.

Budgie – (1964? – 1968?) – We found him in our back yard, obviously an escaped pet. No one claimed him, and after we cleaned the parakeet cage and got him seed, water, and peace and quiet for a while, he became a good companion.

Budgie II – (1971? – 1976?) – Bought from a local breeder at a young age – we had to feed him oats soaked in water for a while. He quickly became another good friend and companion. (Nowadays I wonder if I confuse some of the stories about the two Budgies. They both had similar playful personalities, were friendly and finger tame, both learned to say “Budgie”, “pretty bird” and “good bird”, and either one would sit on my shoulder as I walked around the house. They both loved bells.)

Chipper (1983 – 1990) – My sweet wife surprised me with the gift of the old family parakeet cage all cleaned up, so we picked a young budgie from a pet shop. I almost named him Sidney (after the city in Australia, where parakeets are from). We joked that his real name was Sidney W. Chipperman II and we called him Chipper for short. We also called him our track star; he would run back and forth on the cage floor. He was also curious, and would lift up the corner of the cage paper and get underneath it to explore. I got him to sit on my finger a few times, but he never learned any words. He was a fantastic singer though, he would sing on and on; beautiful. We also had a cocker spaniel at the time, and Chipper could imitate the sound of one of Mindy’s squeaky toys.

Chipper II (1990 – 1998) – Maybe not quite as adventuresome as the first Chipper, but he was lively as his name implied, and seemed always to give a cheerful chirp to any of us as we’d enter the room. He learned a few words, his name and I think “pretty bird” or “good bird”.

But I’ve got to say that Feathers was extra special. We never successfully finger tamed him, and his cage was his home; he never showed any interest in getting out and flying around. He had such a sweet nature though, and if I came up to his cage and put my nose against the bars, he would come right over, talk to me, make kissing sounds, and nuzzle my nose with his beak. Feathers would do that for any of us, but he was especially fond of our first daughter. He would also let her gently scratch his throat under his beak.




Feathers learned several words, including his name. After a while the kids sometimes took to calling him Budgie, and he picked up on that too. I tried to get him to connect our uncovering his cage in the morning with the words “good morning”. My wife and I thought we may have heard him say that back a time or two, but I was not quite sure. We also said “thank you” to him over and over right after we’d give him fresh seed or water. I’m sure I heard him say something like “thank you” – as close as he could get anyway – once, right after we had taken care of him in some way.

We were able to teach him “bird” (he heard that in a lot of combinations: “pretty bird”, “handsome bird”, and “good bird”), “what’s up?” and “what’s you doing?” (I thought it would be neat if when one of us entered the room, he would immediately ask, “What’s up?”, but that didn’t work out quite that well). Early on when we were actively teaching him words, we would repeat the same word over and over. I sometimes would pause a bit in the hopes he would repeat the word back, but almost always he would just wait and listen for me to say the word again. Later on when he would sit and entertain himself with singing, he would mix in the words he knew and sometimes throw in a new one. He also learned to imitate a laugh, and that was a joyful sound to behold.

He came up with one odd thing; a while after the DVD’s of the Lord Of the Rings movies came out. We noticed that once in a while he would say “precious”. The kids swore they hadn’t deliberately taught him that, that he must have heard it when we watched the movie and liked the sound of it. I wonder if one of us said the word “precious” out loud along with Gollum’s dialogue, and that’s what caught his attention when we said it.

Aside from Feathers’ sweet, friendly personality, what really amazed us was his use of our names. He learned two names for sure, that of my oldest daughter and my son (my youngest daughter says he also said her name, but I didn’t hear that). The neat thing was he was consistent with connecting the name to the right person, well most of the time anyway; more often than you would expect by chance. When he wanted my first daughter to come over and give him attention, he would call her; when he wanted my son, he would call him over.

Feathers also had a little plastic toy penguin on wheels. He loved that thing, and once after daughter number one had gone off to college, I came into the room and saw him looking down at his penguin and heard him call it by my daughter’s name, three times in a row. He never figured out my name though, I guess being called both Bob and dad was confusing, and I didn’t try to teach him my name like the kids taught him theirs. But knowing that parakeets can easily imitate a kissing sound, I would often make a kissing sound towards his cage. So he took to making an excited, loud combination of chirps and kissing sounds whenever I walked in the room. Of course I would oblige and come right over to him. He soon had me trained…that was his signal to get my attention from then on. I loved that bird.



Fascinated by "Uncle" Feathers.

Feathers was quite the climber, he was all over the inside of his cage. One thing he obviously liked to do was climb up to the top of the cage and hang upside down; he would do that quite a while, turning his head to look back and forth. When he did that (and he did, often), we’d call him bat-bird. He would also let us know if we’d overlooked something, like his gravel cup. He’d sit on his perch and lean towards it and stare at it, until we added gravel. During hot weather we’d sometimes try to get him to bathe in a little plastic tub we’d sit on the floor of his cage. For years he would sit and ignore that, and would go over to his water cup, grab it by his beak (it would move a bit), and rock it back and forth until he’s splashed himself and the newspaper on the cage floor. A little over a month ago I finally got him to get in the parakeet bathtub a couple of times.

Another thing, parakeets love celery, and Feathers was no exception. I would wash a leafy piece of celery and get - maybe - half way across the living room when he'd get obviously excited; he knew I had a treat for him from at least six feet away. I don't know if he could smell it, or if his eyesight was that keen at that distance.


Our blue bird of happiness.

You can tell a young parakeet by the black and white striped feathers that cover from the back of his head all the way over the top to his beak. As they mature, the feathers on the head turn a solid color, usually yellow or white (in Feathers’ case, a very, very pale yellow, almost white). The eyes also change from a solid black to a black pupil surrounded by white. Feathers stayed youthful and active and “kept his stripes” for a long time, and his eyes stayed solid black his entire life. He gave us 11 good years of companionship, which is remarkable in itself. Before, I never had a parakeet live more than 7 ½ - almost eight - years. In these last couple of months I noticed he’d slowed down, but he was still climbing around his cage and we saw him do his bat-bird thing.

Sunday we returned from a wonderful 10 day trip out west (I’ll post some about that later), and we’d had my wife’s parents “bird-sit” Feathers. They took good care of him, but I think while we were gone he had a mild stroke. When we got him back he was sitting on the cage floor, not moving much. He would climb up his ladder, but his right foot wouldn’t close on the rung; he could kind of balance, but was not steady enough to climb up the cage or get in his swing for the night.

Monday was pretty much the same, he looked unable or unwilling to do much. I was in the kitchen when I mentioned to my wife that I thought Feathers must have had a small stroke while we were away, and that it would be kind to put a seed and a water cup right on the floor for him.

Shortly after that a remarkable thing happened. I walked to the living room, looked in his cage and there he was up on his perch. I went right over, put my nose against the bars, and slowly, haltingly he came right over to me and nuzzled me with his beak; one last act of affection from one friend to another. I don’t know how he managed the climb to the perch, but it seems like he wanted to be there for me. I have tears in my eyes as I write this.

That evening we covered his cage up, and I told Feathers the usual, that I loved him, good night, and I’d see him in the morning.

Tuesday morning and through the day he was still with us, quietly sitting on his ladder or on the cage floor. My wife and I had meetings to attend at seven p.m. Sometime between then and 9:30 or so, Feathers died while we were away.

We’ve said our goodbyes, and Feathers’ body now rests beneath the magnolia tree, near Chipper II. I already miss his cheerful greeting, and every time I walk into the living room I automatically look over to the now empty cage. I’m remembering the good times along with these sad days…I recall how much Feathers seemed to enjoy it – how he would sing, talk, bob his head, swing in his swing and climb around his cage – when his people were all in the room with him. We will have another parakeet when the time seems right, though I don’t expect another one quite like Feathers. But that’s okay, I still remember all my birds, and I expect we’ll find another young budgie who will brighten our days and give us companionship.

Feathers, thank you so much for 11 good years. You were a big part of our family, and I will always remember you. Rest in peace, my good friend.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

I was 10

I always liked the congruence of 4th of July and fireworks with the Apollo 11 moon landing. It just seems appropriate. Why don't we launch a rocket every July 4? I mean NASA, not me and you necessarily. But feel free.

I was happy to read Bob's memory of the lunar landing. I know I've heard the story before, but it's a good story and I am glad that my dad had a hand in making it possible through his whole rural electrification routine. Let's hear it for the boys at White River!

While I do remember the moon landing, I don't remember much. I can vaguely recall seeing the black and white images on the TV, but I was a bit young to grasp the gravity of it all. I probably got about a sixth of it. (Ahem) I do have a Saturn V memory to share sometime, maybe soon, since we are having this great anniversary.

In the meantime, I read a great story about another man's memory of 20 July 1969, and it is well worth your time. I won't try to recap it here but please go and read it, you'll be glad you did.

Monday, July 20, 2009

When I was 15 we went to the Moon


I can't let today's 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, the first manned landing on the Moon, slip by without at least a brief comment here on The Porch. Just before I logged on to my blog, I visited James Lileks' The Bleat. I thought there was a good chance that he would have mentioned the anniversary, and I was right. I left my comment about what I remember about that day, and instead of re-typing all of that, here's the link.

(Mike, Dolores, Trish, and Dave, I mentioned how your dad restored the electricity to Poppy's farm in time, so we were able to watch the broadcast - scroll down to the fourth comment - and you may have to click on "prev." or page 1 first.)


What a proud moment.

After America made it to the moon, the ability to do so became a catch phrase, as in, "Well if we can land a man on the moon, why can't we _____" (fill in the blank with whatever we ought to get done). Some years passed, the Apollo program came to a close, Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project came and went, and even with the (then) upcoming Shuttle flights, we wouldn't send a man out of Earth orbit again. Then I heard the saying this way, "Well if we can land a man on the moon, why can't we land a man on the moon now?" Earlier today I read an article on space.com which addresses that.

As worthwhile as the Shuttle program has been, and as impressive as the International Space Station is, I sure hope I live long enough to see someone either return to the Moon, or attempt a voyage to Mars or to one of the close approach asteroids. I hate to think we've been ripped off, but sometimes it sure seems that way.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Independence Day celebrations, part 3

Okay, near the end of my last installment I kind of left you hanging...

"So after I got everyone home, I drove back out there and purchased a handful of bargains. More about that tomorrow."

Well, I've been busy and much has happened since. But I feel I ought to finish my report, so here goes.

Sunday, July 5th: I still had most of my fireworks, and since it was still legal, the weather forecast was reasonable, and I had no pressing plans we went to the backyard to celebrate again.

Fireworks...check! We're ready.

During the day we sent up a daytime parachute, and used up more of the smoke bombs...






...and lit a few snakes and glow worms.



(Family members plus a cousin of a neighbor girl)


That evening out came the sparklers, a few more roman candles, and some ground bloom flowers. At the risk of repeating myself, I'm not sure If I mentioned that I'd bought a couple of pinwheels at the tent near Lake Tapawingo. Before it got dark, I hauled an old wooden stepladder out of the shed, and nailed one of the pinwheels to it. Absolutely beautiful...so good to see a pinwheel again.

We finished off the cones, and fired a nighttime parachute (or "Coloured Aviation Lamp" as it said on the label). We lit the fountains in mixed order, some of the small inexpensive ones along with the slightly bigger - and better - Black Cat fountains from the "Ammo Clip Six Shooter" package.


These Ammo Clip fountains were one of the pleasant surprises of the night. A little more expensive, but not like the really big stuff. Anyway they're worth every penny. Each one is a different color, they have names like "Red Star Crackling Flower" and "Gold & Silver Crackle Green Star". They last longer than the tiny fountains and are a real quality item.

The other pleasant surprise were the extra long "Neon" sparklers, made in Japan actually. They are each dyed a different bright color in the package, which is kind of misleading...I couldn't tell any difference when they were lit (a mix of silver and gold sparks). But they were bright and lasted longer than the regular sparklers.

About the only disappointments of the day were earlier when we tried "Colored Snakes" (from an assortment package of Black Snakes, Colored Snakes, and Glow Worms). When you took the colored snake pellets out of the box, some would have a kind of green cast, some a red cast. But when lit, we couldn't tell any difference between them and the black snakes.

Also, some of the newer Ground Bloom Flowers left something to be desired. Still a good firework, but the old ones lasted longer. Still...no duds, and no injuries. A fun time was had by all, but after a while the back yard got real smokey (no wind to stir the air).

So we had some fireworks left over to put in the ammo box and store for next year.

But you probably already guessed that.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Independence Day celebrations, parts 1 & 2

I love this holiday, always have.

So far this year though it's been more preparation than activity, pyrotechnics wise, that is.

Yesterday we chose a tent to shop at, and my wife and two youngest children and I found some favorites and kept within a reasonable budget. (That tent sold Black Cat brand almost exclusively, which are quality...but I noticed their stock leaned heavily toward the bigger, more expensive items.)

The third of July being my sweet wife's birthday, she called the shots as to what we did. Right after buying the works, we walked across the parking lot to our local supermarket (HyVee), and bought a French silk chocolate pie. Not long after we got home, daughter number two arrived from work, so there were five of us for supper and pie.

After that, a trip to our backyard to shoot just a few fireworks: five ground bloom flowers, a few snakes and glow worms, some sparklers, a couple of those "chickens laying fiery eggs", a smoke bomb, a small pack of firecrackers, a cone (Solar Flare), and a couple of 8 to 10 year old (I guess) Roman candles I'd taken out of an ammo box. The flaming balls didn't gain great altitude - maybe 18 feet - but other than that they worked fine. In fact, the Roman Candles (Horse Brand) were marked as 8 shot, but they actually gave 10 and 11 shots respectively. Bonus!



For many years I've dreamed of running a fireworks tent...

Saturday, July 4 - much of today was spent getting things done around the house, and preparing for a get together and cookout at a friend's house in Blue Springs. My wife made a flag cake (Jello cake with blueberries, and with strawberries for the stripes on the flag). We took that to the party, along with our fireworks. After the cookout and dessert, we all walked to the neighborhood fishing pond, and watched while a few people made the attempt. Some time went by and eventually two fish were caught almost simultaneously, on opposite sides of the pond. My son, daughter number three and I walked over to look at one of the fish.

It said, "Hey, I'm unhappy" (Okay, I said it for the fish). Happy ending, the rules were catch-and-release, so back into his element he went. It had been a really pleasant afternoon / evening, with occasional refreshing downdrafts from cumulonimbus clouds moving through. But about then the cold front moved in, and got much cooler quickly. None of us were prepared for that, and daughter number three got chilled enough to be uncomfortable. So we left early for home, and on the way saw lots of fireworks...a few big ones in the distance, and many smaller fireworks in backyards.

Near the turnoff for Lake Tapawingo, we noticed a tent with a sign "6 For 1 or Half Off". My wife was amazed that I passed that by and said so.

So after I got everyone home, I drove back out there and purchased a handful of bargains. More about that tomorrow.

Oh, by the way Mike, I remember your sister telling that story about when she realized the old Dr. Pepper logo "10, 2 and 4" lined up with your ages at the time.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Light 'em if you got 'em

The time is nigh for the High Holy Days at Bob's house, for it is the time of fireworks in our land. Whether it is model rockets (another passion), or fireworks, Bob is more than a little pleased when there are propellants to ignite.

You may wish to keep him out of your garage, should he come to visit.

And we are pleased to rejoice with him over his hometown's decision to allow fireworks this year and, yes, Bob, you should by all means join in when you can, as if you need my encouragement.

I, for one, while I enjoy the fireworks, prefer not to trouble myself with them. When all is said and done, I get too sweaty and too gobbled by mosquitoes to enjoy myself. We will, though, haul our lawn chairs across the street and watch the display put on by a large church in the area. After I lather myself with bug repellent.

Speaking of summertime activities, I, for some reason, was remembering an episode from my childhood today. This would have been the summer of 1963 and my older sister and my younger sister and I were enjoying some Dr. Pepper. And you recall Dr. Pepper's logo of those days, with the 10, 2, and 4, which suggested a clock face and the times of the day to drink Dr. Pepper. Well my older sister pointed out that the numbers also coincided with our respective ages at the time.

We thought that was neat in '63. I still do.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

YES!!!


"This year for the first time, the purchase and discharge of consumer grade fireworks will be permitted this July 4th holiday within the city limits of Independence."

Click here to link to the entire article.

This year on the fourth, I'll be celebrating with friends in Blue Springs, where fireworks have been legal for years. But I just might set off a few in my own back yard on the third and / or the fifth.

Legally!

Thank you, Independence!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

How do I work this?

I had planned on changing the subject for my next post, but I just saw this. Well said, and it ties in with my aforementioned interest in maps.

My two cents on GPS navigation for your car can be summed up in six words, don't throw out your paper maps. These GPS units are fun gadgets, and are great at what they do - giving turn by turn instructions while you're under way. Just don't throw out your common sense, and understand they have limitations. You'll never see the "big picture" with one of these. For instance, if you want to plan a vacation, including side trips...get a map.

Monday, May 18, 2009

May Travels, part 1: The Old Roads

Five days ago, my wife and I drove to Springfield and back to bring Daughter number 2 back from Missouri State University. We each drove a car in order to have enough trunk and back seat space to bring back all her stuff. Loading the cars was uneventful. As I got my car loaded first, the three of us agreed there was no pressing reason that I had to hang around.

So I started home early, and did something I had talked about for years, but never felt I had the freedom to do. Since I wasn't on a tight schedule, I drove the old roads. I hadn't thought about this ahead of time, so I didn't have my DeLorme's Missouri atlas along; otherwise I could have found more miles of the original alignment. As it was though, I re-created the trip along what was old Missouri 13 highway through Bolivar, Fair Play, Dunnegan, Humansville, and Collins. I also got off the "new" 13 at V highway and took the old route through Vista and Osceola.

Scan from 1958 Phillips 66 Missouri map (Central Ozarks inset)

Well, you no longer have to stop in the above mentioned towns. Since 1962, a new 16 mile stretch of Missouri 13 has been open, a diagonal cut-off from three miles south of Bolivar to one mile west of Humansville. Not only did this cut-off nine miles, the inclines are much more gradual and you don't have the limited sight distance or occasional tight curves of the original route. Also, in the last ten years or so this entire stretch has been made a divided highway; the last section to open was the Collins bypass last year.

A scan of part of the 2008 Official Missouri map, for comparison. Also notice that the stretch around Osceola has been straightened over the years.

I suppose I ought to mention that I've been fascinated with maps since I was seven years old. My mom, bless her heart, had almost no sense of direction. If my dad wasn't driving, getting lost on long trips was a distinct possibility. On one of our many trips to Taney County, mom handed me a map so I could help her while she drove.

Now, the term epiphany has been overused, and I want to resist cheapening it further here by using it to describe the simple act of handing a map to a kid. But I've got to tell you the result was anything but simple; it was like a switch was suddenly flipped on in my mind. I'm sure I'd seen maps before but had taken no notice of what they were until that moment. Somehow I comprehended that These Real Places That Are - and how to go from one to another - were displayed in pictures, words and numbers. Right before my eyes. An all-out wonder, indeed. And the fact that the houses and people weren't shown didn't bother me at all. I "got" right away that it was symbolic, though I doubt I knew that word yet. I had many miles of the real world shrunken down so I could hold it in my hand and learn it. Truly an odd feeling.

So last Wednesday, I drove from Bolivar west on Missouri 32 to Fair Play, then North on Missouri 123 through Dunnegan and Humansville. I haven't seen this scenery in 47 years, and much to my delight, there were things I saw that I remembered from way back when. True, much I didn't recognize, but once in a while I'd see an old barn or old stone farm house that gave rise to an "oh yeah" moment of recognition. Sometimes it was just the lay of the landscape, or how the intersection of 32 and 123 in Fair Play is laid out. The way the town of Dunnegan is arranged - 123 highway is elevated a bit and you drive along the edge of town. You have to glance off to the left (as you drive north) and down a bit as you drive, to notice the houses.

As I mentioned, north of Collins I turned West to drive through Vista and Osceola. There's not much left of Vista, but it never was a big town. That's kind of a tight curve combined with a hill there, so I concentrated on my driving. But I think I noticed only three houses. Maybe four. And I enjoyed seeing the town of Osceola again. Kind of a pretty area that you miss entirely if you're in a hurry and stay on "new" 13.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Another Mays Blast

Save your eyes.

I remember the same Public Service Announcement (PSA) that Bob mentioned in the previous post. I, too, thought it an odd announcement. It seemed to me that it didn't make sense, that it wasn't relevant in my world. Blasting caps? I had never seen one. I almost felt deprived and wanted to go and actively search for blasting caps. Then I could tell the police where I found them and I would be a hero, 'The Boy Who Found the Blasting Cap'. It would probably get in the Branson Beacon and you could never get in the Branson Beacon enough.

The other thing that always caught my eye was the baseball action, of course, featuring Willie Mays. I was young, but I knew who Mays was. I seemed to understand that this blasting cap issue must be a big deal because Mays was telling us about it.

But mostly I noticed the halting and stiff delivery of his lines. I wondered if Willie Mays really talked like that and, if so, that was strange. Now I know that he was obviously reading his lines and it was probably filmed in about two takes. It's hard to tell color on the old footage, but Mays is wearing a uniform that says 'San Francisco' instead of one saying 'Giants', so I would guess it was before a road game. The presence of a significant crowd in the background would also suggest that it was nearing game time and they were just trying to get Mays to say the lines. I would say Los Angeles or New York would be likely spots for filming.

Anyway, the cadence for "but you protect your arms and hands and legs, and save your eyes" always struck me a really odd and I remember listening for it, especially 'save your eyes', as if it was the highlight of the spot.

Say hey.