The Evening Rambler for the last day of 2008

It's interesting what you can find when you clean out a drawer.

I went through a desk in our kitchen today. It had been my mom's, and beside the stuff I had recently put in there, I knew there was a stack of loose, blank paper...including some tracing paper and some carbon paper, of all things.

(As an aside...for a fun experiment, ask a child or a teenager what carbon paper was and what it was used for. Let me know what you find out.)

So you might ask, "Bob, how did they package things for sale before they started putting everything in clear plastic shrink wrap?


Well, sometimes they used a paper band. And not to change the subject, but while I'm thinking of it, does anyone know what year they stopped punching notebook paper with five holes? Not that that's important...but I do vaguely remember that a few notebooks had only two rings.

I'll bet you're itchin' to know what the Useful Premiums were. So, here you go.


Okay, it says Valuable Premiums on the back. I guess they were both Useful and Valuable. Or some of each.

Let's look at the list...hmm...

Only three of the item used electricity*. Two were battery powered (Flashlight and 6 Transistor Pocket Radio), and only the Electric Wall Clock plugged in. Many houses back in the day had an outlet high up on a kitchen wall, to plug in a wall clock. This was before battery powered clocks were common, much less any digital clocks.

I was told once that one reason that power companies took great pains to keep the Alternating Current at exactly 60 cycles per second was so electric clocks would keep the proper time. Even if you lived near the end of the line and the voltage would sometimes be allowed to drift up to 130 or 135 - and you'd burn out a few light bulbs that day - well, by golly the frequency would stay true and you'd be on time anyway.

(*Why, when I was a boy, we didn't have computers or even electronic calculators. No one had heard or even dreamed of video games, VHS tapes, DVD's, CD's or iPods. I tease my kids with talk like this...my youngest daughter's response "Oh dear, not again". Too much fun.)

I digress. Back to the list...

I'm thinking that if this promotion happened today, they wouldn't offer the Jack Knife.

Actually, I doubt that saving up a bunch of 25 cent** coupons would go over with kids today (In fact, I wonder how many coupons were sent in back then). How exciting would it be to save up for a fountain pen, a box of stationery, a stapler, or a pencil sharpener?

Yeah, I thought not. The Wrist Watch might be of interest...if it was digital. And for those who played sports, the Baseball, Softball, Basketball, Football, or Volleyball might be wanted. Notice that "Soccer Ball" hadn't appeared on the radar of our collective consiousness yet. At least not here in the good ol' USA.

And how about this interesting description "Beautiful Teenage Doll". Not a Barbie or any other recognizable brand name. Just a generic doll (not that we were familiar with the term generic yet).

The only item that really caught my eye (so to speak) was the flashlight. I could use another good flashlight. One of these days I'll go to the store to purchase one with some hard earned money. Serves me right for not saving up coupons for 45 years or so.

Anyway, I'm guessing pre-1964 here. At least, there's no ZIP code in the address...and I think those were first used in '64. Oh and Mike, did you notice this paper came from Springfield?

(**And where's my cent key gone? We used to have those on our typewriters - at least, on the old ones. Not to be found on modern computer keyboards. That's inflation for you, I guess. And now that makes me wonder how many young people today know what the lower case c with the slash through it means.)

Here it is again

Happy New Year...here's my wish for a good and healthy 2009 for all of you. I may post more thoughts on that, and some reflections on this Christmas season tomorrow.

Merry Christmas 2008

Here's my hope that all of you reading this had a blessed Christmas today, and a good time with family or friends. And, that you're all looking forward to a good and healthy 2009.

And that's about it for this blog entry. It's kind of like taking photographs; and I did take a fair number today. It seems like you can go hog wild with the camera (or with the blog site) or you can participate in the day's events and enjoy.

So no long rambling entry, but in short, we went to a good Christmas Eve service yesterday evening, and then enjoyed family time at home today. A lot of good moments.

Christmas humor

A few days ago, my son's composition teacher handed out copies of a short essay, written by David Sedaris, for the class to read.

Is it on the internet? Why yes, right here.

Not to nit-pick, but there was a Saint Nicholas of Myra, in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). And I suppose the Dutch didn't intentionally come up with their traditions, with the goal in mind of giving us twenty-first century Americans a laugh.

But it is funny. Enjoy!

The Evening Rambler for December 11, 2008

Genealogy

I've enjoyed hearing family stories and looking at old letters and photographs about as long as I can remember. In 1979 I found out that one of our local libraries has one of the best genealogy collections in the country, and there were a couple of librarians who specialized in the study. I read a couple of books, looked at a lot of forms, learned how to view the census records on microfilm, and in the early 1980's took an adult education class on the subject. Genealogy has been one of my hobbies every since, but in a kind of half-hearted, on again, off again way. I would go through a phase where I would research and write down a lot of stuff, but not record the source.

Word to the wise: Don't do it that way. Always record your source for every bit on information...right from the start. That way, you don't have to do almost everything over, like (ahem) someone I know.

About a year ago I decided to stop worrying about my family tree not being complete, and go ahead and compile everything I had up to now, and get it word processed and scanned all in one place. Then, I'll make CD's for whoever in the family would be interested. Later I could continue my research when I could, and make corrections and updates as I went along.

But I did want to organize the information in the proper format, so it would make sense and not have to be done over again. I checked out a small book on "Numbering Your Genealogy", and learned that of the many numbering systems, four are currently used most. Of those four, I already was familiar with "Ahnentafel" numbering. You start with yourself (or with whoever you make the chart for), and that person is number 1. Then your father is number 2, your mother is number 3, your father's father is number 4, and so on. The more generations back, the larger the number. This is probably the most common system, and works great for ancestry charts, which often show six or seven generations on one page.

What I wanted to learn was a system where you started with the earliest ancestor you had information for, and numbered forward from him or her. I decided to try the "NGSQ" numbering, and started on my father's side, with my great-great-great-grandfather, John C. Wingate. That project is going well, and I really appreciate word processing software for this use. I know some of my information is still scattered about, and I will be adding and editing for a while.

Stories

A list of names and dates can get boring after a while, if there are no stories or photos to go along with the data. So I've started to word process what I can remember hearing about my ancestors. All I know about John C. are names, dates and places...no stories. All I heard about his first son, Isaac E. Wingate, was that his first marriage ended in divorce, and he re-married. I do have a few stories about Isaac's first son, Jacob Wingate, my great-grandfather. Here's part of what I know.

Jake and his horses

Jacob Wingate leased a farm near Beaverdam, in Allen County, Ohio. At one time he had two horses named Tom and Jerry. The photo below, taken on that farm shows Jake with two horses.


(I don’t know if these horses were Tom and Jerry, or two other horses.)

Jacob married Emma Yoakam, and Jake and Emma’s first child was Harry Dale, or as I called him, Grandpa Wingate. Harry had an interesting and exciting life, and there’s much I could say about that, perhaps at a later time.

The musical saw

One talent Harry had was that he could play the musical saw. I was told a story once that he started with a bow made from a piece of lumber the size of a yardstick – or maybe it was a yardstick – strung with hair from the tail of one of the horses. In later years he used a real bow…


Harry playing the musical saw, at his home in Lima, Ohio. Cousin Ron looks on.
(I’m going to guess 1971 here, but I may be off a year or two either way.)

The tie-in with Poppy's front porch

Harry could play entire songs. One summer, Grandpa Wingate came to our house, and then we caravanned south to Poppy’s farm (Grandpa Wingate preferred to drive as fast as he could keep his car on the road, and had little patience for riding with people who kept to the speed limit…people like his son, Albert. Dad didn’t want to ride with Grandpa; hence the two car, 212 mile caravan.)

One day, we were sitting on Poppy’s front porch, and Grandpa got out his saw and bow. We were all an attentive audience as he played. I was just a young kid at the time, but in later years my Mom talked about Harry playing an old hymn, “In the Garden”, and said “It brought tears to your eyes”. I think Mom meant this in a good way, that Harry could really put some emotion into it. What little I remember is that while I didn’t know the song to recognize it, I thought Grandpa’s saw music was nice.

Somewhere along the years, my sister Connie came to find out that our Dad also knew the basics of how to play the saw. In the late 1970’s (maybe 1980), she gave him a bow, and he got a saw and showed us how to play it. Dad made some different notes, but I don’t think he got a whole song out of the saw like his dad did. I then gave it a try and got a note or two, but I didn’t quite have Dad’s skill. And neither of us could play as well as Grandpa Wingate.

Not to change the subject, but...

...after all, this is the Evening Rambler. We had a beautiful sunset here yesterday, so I grabbed my camera. Enjoy...



And finally, here's a clever advertisement.


This came in the mail yesterday. It's a coupon from AMF for one free game of bowling for up to 10 people.

Keeping with the subject of kids and department store Santas, James Lileks posted a fun video on his blog today. Here's the link. Enjoy!

Musical note

Sorry about the headline, but I'm in a hurry.

Over at my blog, Central Standard, I posted about some music that I'm enjoying these days, so if you are inclined to read it, here you go.

And since I'm in a hurry, I'll go no further than this about your post on the Macy's parade, Bob - I'm intrigued by the balloons you suggested and I think I will write a longer post later, but you conjured some nice memories.

Happy Saturday night!

Giving thanks 2008

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

Or, Thappy Hanksgiving, if you prefer.

This year we kept close to home. Daughter number two was home from college, so there were five of us around the table. Early in the day I switched on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, just long enough to see the beginning (Tom Turkey, a marching band all in white uniforms, Snoopy, and Dora the Explorer). I figured that none of my “out of the ordinary” cartoon characters would make an appearance, and I had things to do, so I didn’t stay with the program.

It was really a nice day outside, so I finished connecting extension cords to the Christmas lights I had put up along the gutters and around the front door. They all light nicely, and most of them are the new LED lights, gifts from daughter number one (who just called), and my son-in-law in California. We had a great dinner, but we ate enough that we haven’t gotten into dessert yet. It’s 9:15 now as I write this, so there’s still time for pie. And I think I left enough room, though just barely.

I always try to remember the real reason for the holiday, and keep a thankful attitude. This year has been a challenge, though I can mention the basics. I am thankful to be alive, to still have most of my vision and half of my hearing. I have a wonderful wife, great kids, and a sweet granddaughter. Most of all, through no effort or merit of my own, I am redeemed by the grace of God, through Jesus Christ - “But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, Revised Standard Version).

Now here’s something I just heard of today, and I think it’s a neat idea. Tomorrow is the National Day of Listening (details can be found here). The idea is to counter some of the excess busyness of the day after Thanksgiving, and take an hour to interview a loved one. This could be a family member, a close friend, or anyone you admire or who has made a positive impact on your life. You might find out something you didn’t know before about that person, and make a memory that will last a lifetime. There are directions to get you started, including lists of suggested questions you could ask.

Thanksgiving approacheth

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade is only hours away, and what a production. I don’t watch it as often as I did when I was younger, but it is a part of my childhood memories. A week ago I thought about the big, helium filled parade balloons (and I wonder how much all that helium costs) and all the people who hold onto the lines and walk the balloons down the streets. I’ve got to think they practice many hours, and I wonder if Macy’s hires as many of the same people as they can who have worked with the balloons in previous years.

I expect most (if not all) of you reading this have seen the parade, or parts of it more than once, and you know most of these balloons look like well known cartoon characters. Snoopy has been in the parade the most, I think five times, maybe six; and I think there was a Charlie Brown balloon once. I don’t know if any of the other Peanuts characters have been in the parade (I think they ought to at least have a Linus balloon, or maybe Lucy, Sally, or Peppermint Patty). And I remember once that Rocky and Bullwinkle were parade balloons.

Okay, I’ll admit I’m going to sound like an older guy here, but it seems like the balloons were better back in the 1960’s. No offense, but some of the more recent entries seem to lack something by comparison, and I’m not sure how to describe it. Hello Kitty? Pokemon? Nothing wrong with including those, but I can’t quite relate to them. I guess they’re not part of my personal pop culture. All of this is a long setup to the question I asked myself at the kitchen table a week ago…

Which new and different Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons would I like to see?

I’ve been pondering this on and off this week, and I couldn’t narrow it down to 10. Anyway, here’s my list in “top-ten-style”.


19. Bat Boy (Weekly World News tabloid)
Wait, cancel that; can’t have everyone running through the streets in panic.

Okay, let’s start over…


18. Reddy Kilowatt (Old advertising mascot)



17. Sharky (Eek! The Cat tv cartoon)



16. Happy Beaver (Pixar animator, Jeff Pidgeon)



15. Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo (Mystery Science Theatre 3000)



14. Trogdor (Homestar Runner - Strong Bad email Dragon)



13. Chicken Boo (Animaniacs TV cartoon)



12. Mr. Toast, Joe the Egg, and Shaky Bacon (Dan Goodsell's The Imaginary World)



11. Alfred E. Newman (MAD Magazine mascot)



10. Rat and Pig (Pearls Before Swine comic strip)



9. Mr. Peanut (Planters Peanuts advertising mascot)



8. Boris, Natasha, and Fearless Leader (Rocky and Bullwinkle)



7. Yosemite Sam (Warner Brothers Looney Tunes)



6. Pinky and The Brain (Animaniacs / Pinky and The Brain TV cartoons)



5. Howland Owl and Churchy LaFemme (Walt Kelly’s Pogo comic strip)



4. Fester Bestertester (Don Martin books)



3. The Geico Gecko (Insurance advertising mascot)



2. Foghorn Leghorn (Warner Brothers Looney Tunes)



1. Bubs, Strong Bad, and The Cheat (Homestar Runner – Strong Bad email Colonization)

The Evening Rambler for November 23, 2008

Something new, well new to me anyway.

In looking through a bookshelf a few months ago, I came across my dad’s four paperback Zane Grey novels. Westerns aren’t my main interest when it comes to reading for pleasure, so I don’t plan to keep all four; there’s just so many books in this house as it is. It’s time to edit and get organized. I do want to keep one though, after all, these were dad’s. I gave him at least one for either his birthday or Christmas, though I don’t recall which one…and it might have been all four. So, which one to keep? I figured eventually I’d read them all, and probably I would like one more than the others.

A month or so ago, I picked up the oldest of the four stories we have here...”The Heritage of the Desert” (original copyright 1910). Then on to “The Rainbow Trail” (1915), which I got part way into, then put down. It wasn’t quite working for me, though in fairness I probably ought to finish it. A day or two ago, I finished “The Man of the Forest” (1920), which I guess I’d call a western romance. The relationships and conversations between the characters seemed to be more developed; I’ve liked this one best of the three I’ve read so far. And yesterday I started “To the Last Man” (1922).

I won’t pretend to make this into a book review, I’m really not qualified to judge western novels (ask me about science-fiction sometime). I will say I was surprised these were written that long ago. Had you asked me before, “Bob, when did Zane Grey write his novels?” I probably would have answered, “Oh, I dunno, 1940’s maybe?”.

These have been easy to read, though there were some words and turns of phrase no longer in common use. There were some regionalisms like “I reckon”, or “savvy” for understand. Also some spellings to emphasize the western drawl (“Wal,” at the start of a sentence for “Well,”; also “shore” for sure and “pore” for “poor”. Sometimes it was “horses”, unless spoken by an outlaw in a gang, when it would be “hosses”).

One thing I liked was how the curse words were edited. A few times one character or another would get agitated and I’d read a “h---“ or a “d---“. I knew what was meant, and I appreciated it was a time when you just didn’t publish words more explicit and put them in front of the readers faces. They were fans of your novels, and the last thing you wanted to do was offend them. (Then again, It’s possible Mr. Grey spelled the entire words and the publisher said, “No, that won’t go”. I don’t know.) In one particularly angry confrontation, a sentence began with the word “----!”.

I’ll never know for shore what that cowboy “said”, which is just as well. I reckon it was a powerful bad word.

The other thing I’ll say is that Zane Grey was very descriptive, he could, as they say, paint a picture with words. Enough so, that I wonder if he ever tried his hand at landscape painting. In these novels he showed a love for the deserts and forests of southern Utah and northern Arizona.

Anyway, it’s been good for me to read something different from my usual. It may help me develop more of a general feel for how novels are crafted.

Travel memories.

I’ve been out west a few times. To me, “out west” is kind of a flexible definition which could mean west of Hays or Great Bend, Kansas; or in or west of one of the panhandles (Nebraska, Oklahoma, or Texas). My first big western vacation was our family trip to Colorado and New Mexico in 1957 – July, I think. Then in 1968 a big road trip through the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, New Mexico, Arizona (Meteor Crater, The Petrified Forest, and The Grand Canyon), Utah (Bryce Canyon), Colorado, and back through Kansas. We were chased by a tornado for a while, just out of sight but according to the radio it kept pace about half a county behind us until about the time we stopped at WaKeeney, Kansas for the night. We chose to stay at a motel that night. Dad pulled a Starcraft pop-up camper behind our Thunderbird for that trip.

Then in 1972 another camping trip, this time with a Holiday Rambler travel trailer, to Colorado, Wyoming, and back through Nebraska.


(I'm just lazy enough tonight to keep my searching for photos to a minimum, but I had this one close at hand. An old church or school building somewhere in Colorado, 1972.)

In May of 1976, twelve of my college friends and I caravanned two cars and a pickup through Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana. We made it as far as Glacier National Park, a truly beautiful place; then came through South Dakota and stopped at Mount Rushmore on the way back.

Almost a year after I got married, my wife’s insurance job at the time sent her to a branch office in California. I flew out there (yes, on an airplane) to join her for the better part of a week. I rented a car and we drove up and down the coast and saw parts of Los Angeles, visited friends in Laguna Beach, went to Disneyworld one day, then up to Edwards Air Force Base (or as close as they’d let us get) to witness a night landing of the Shuttle. Of course, all the lights were off for security so we saw nothing, but did hear the sonic boom as the shuttle decelerated and landed. Then we drove north to see the Monterey Peninsula (Monterey, Carmel and Pebble Beach), and spent much of a day in San Francisco (Fisherman’s Wharf, Lombard Street – the famous winding back and forth drive down the hill, the Ghirardelli Chocolate factory, and across the Golden Gate bridge to Muir Woods).

Since then, most of our trips out west have been return visits to Colorado. Once we flew out and rented a car, and spent time in the Denver and Colorado Springs area. Another time we drove out through Denver, up the mountains with a stop at Georgetown, then through the Eisenhower Tunnel, then down to Vail. Rode the alpine slide there twice. The last time our whole family has been in Colorado at the same time was a trip in late July and early August of 2000.

So more and more lately, I’ve been thinking how good it would be to take a trip out west again. Part of that may be from reading those western novels, but mostly it’s been such a long time since I’ve seen that interesting country. That and I would like to go see our eldest daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter at their place in California.

One thing that’s kind of funny. That time in 1968 when we traveled through desert areas of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah I was aware that roadrunners supposedly live there. So I had it in mind to take notice as I was watching the scenery pass by while dad drove. Never saw one that trip. A few years later in northwest Arkansas I saw two of them. Go figure.

Along those lines, I’ve been up and down I-35 and I-45 in eastern Texas several times, and have seen a few dead armadillos. Never a live one though, at least in Texas. I did finally see a live armadillo in Florida once.

The most surprising thing I’ve ever seen along the roadside was on one of the Texas trips. We had left Houston heading northwest on I-45, and were maybe 20 miles past the northernmost edge of the suburbs. Off to the right, just in the grass off the side of the road was a huge black cat. A panther, sitting pretty as you please, just watching the traffic go by.

Re: Batman sues Batman

What you are referring to here, Bob, is, of course, the famous Bat Suit we've heard so much about.

Marty's autumn

(This is an unofficial Marty story. Cousin Mike writes the official Marty stories, so if you want the real thing, click here. But, once in a while I hear from Marty too, so I offer this story for your enjoyment. Just so you understand it’s unofficial. Now you know.)

Marty had been anticipating a colorful fall, what with all the rain they’d been getting all year. Or was it that too much rain made it less colorful? Now that he thought if it, Marty wasn’t sure; and isn’t that just the way? Sometimes you can just think your way into more confusion.

Fall turned out kind of unusual, though. There were some dandy trees all right, red and orange maples, and those yellow whatchyacallums. He saw a nice deep red one down the block, actually almost purple; whatever it was. Some years Marty was drawn towards the most pure red trees, but this year he decided his favorite was a maple (he thought), that still had green edges on the orange leaves. He liked that effect, pick up one leaf and you had all the colors right there; the whole story. But the thing that was odd was these nice trees were scattered, and in between were a whole bunch of green and brown trees – those were mostly what he saw. It wasn’t anything to write home about. The leaves seemed to hang on a long time too, until in early November most of them fell within 48 hours.



Now the wind had blown enough that Marty had several leaf piles to contend with. He has his choice of tools, a leaf-vac, a couple old rakes, and even a few leaf bags left over. But it was kind of cold and was starting to get dark, so he chose speed over finesse. His mulching mower started with some effort (any later in the year and any colder, and that wouldn’t be a given).

So Marty started along the ditch, back and forth. It wasn’t perfect, but the leaves were mulching up into small bits pretty well. Then he turned a corner and prepared to do battle with a big pile along the side of his driveway.

He just about had it done, and was pondering which part of the yard to mow next. He never saw the hidden rock, but he did hear the POW! Marty did what any of us would do, he let go of the handle and the mower stopped.

Marty was confused; he knew from the sound that something substantial had been hit, but where was it? He looked along the base of the garage door, and didn’t see any damage. He thought, “Well, check the car, then”, and walked around kind of bent down looking at the tires. He looked underneath the car to see if he could find the offending object. Nothing…wait, that rock wasn’t there before. He picked it up; it was about the size of his fist, with maybe a chip knocked out of it. Straightening up, he saw where it had hit.

Shattered auto glass has an interesting look to it, but what a mess anyway. There was nothing for it but to go inside and call his insurance agent. They would probably cover the repairs, but he would have to pay the deductible. All in all, kind of a tough and expensive way to get out of lawn work.

Marty called his agent, who gave him the 1-800 claims number. He then called in the claim…oh, they’ve heard that scenario before. Yes, the repairs would be covered – minus the deductible; and three estimates were needed. And Marty now had a claim number in case he needed to call back.

The next day Marty made the rounds of the local auto body shops. The first guy pointed out the crack in the door panel where the rock first hit, before shattering the glass. That would have to be replaced and painted too. Then it was on to the second shop, and the third. All the estimates were close, so he decided he’d use the closest shop.

First, a call to the insurance company to report the estimates…but it was Friday afternoon and was it that late already? Everybody at the headquarters had apparently gone home for the weekend.

Monday, Marty got through to the insurance people again, and asked if an adjuster had to come out to look at the damage. No, the rapid response team could determine what was needed if Marty took the car back to the shop and had them send photographs. He was told an email address to give to the man at the shop.

At the shop, the man used a digital camera and a computer in the office to do exactly that. Marty could see the images on the screen and assumed all was well with the email. Help was on its way. The man at the shop said he would call Marty when he heard from the insurance people.

One week later, Marty still hadn’t heard anything. So he called the insurance company and talked to someone else. That man opened the computer file…no, no photos had been received…

Back at the shop, he had the shop man double check the email address, and oh…it was exactly right. Well, he sent the photos again, and Marty said he’d wait an hour and call the insurance people back. The man told Marty, “You’ve been really patient”. Well, at least there was that.

One hour later, at home, Marty had the same insurance guy on the phone again. He said he’d opened the new email from the shop, and no photos. He asked Marty for the number to the shop, which Marty gladly gave. Let them figure it out. That was yesterday.

This morning, Marty got a call from a lady at the insurance company, and they had agreed to an amount for the repair. Marty was glad to hear it, and wasted no time taking his car to the shop. A work order was made, and he handed over the key; then a short walk home on a beautiful, unseasonably warm November day.

So now Marty awaits the call that his car is ready. It may be Friday, or it may be Monday; for sure before Thanksgiving. Speaking of which, Marty’s really thankful he wasn’t standing in the way of the projectile the other day when the glass broke. And at least he’s got a kind of interesting story out of it. He thought, “What I ought to do is put this on the internet somewhere”. But he wasn’t sure how he felt about having his name connected to this mess. Well that was easy enough, wasn’t it? He could use an assumed name…call himself Bob, maybe.

Extra, extra! Read all about it! Batman sues Batman!

You just can't make up stuff like this.

Your test results are back...

"I'm responding in a different order, from highest confidence to least."

Mike, you did pretty good, considering two or three of these were obscure…and you probably didn’t get up in the morning expecting a pop quiz anyway.

"July 20, 1969 - This was the day Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the moon."

Yes indeed; an easy one for a fan of space exploration like me. I wonder if the knowledge of what that date represents is starting to be forgotten by a lot of people.

"April 18, 1906 - I think this is the day the Titanic sunk."

No, I hadn’t thought to look up the Titanic sinking until now (April 15, 1912). It was the great San Francisco earthquake.

"May 6, 1937 - Hindenburg Disaster?"

Yes, complete with the famous, emotion packed recording from the news reporter “…oh, the humanity!”

"December 17, 1903 - Orville and Wilbur's first flight at Kitty Hawk?"

Correct.

"December 24, 1877 - No idea. Let's try Alexander Graham Bell's invention - the phone."

You’re close to the right track. I was going to use Bell’s invention of the telephone, but found when I looked it up that the exact date wasn’t clear (at least, the article wasn’t clear enough to me to pin down one date). So I went with Thomas Edison’s patent application for the phonograph.

"November 19, 1863 - Still don't know, but assume it's Civil War related. Gettysburg? Vicksburg?"

Civil War related yes, but not a battle. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

"That was fun, regardless of the outcome."

I enjoy this trivial stuff. At least, now that I’m out of school and there’s no grade riding on the outcome of the test.

Where were you in '62?

This post's title was the tag from the film "American Graffiti" and is an appropriate rejoinder, I think, to Bob's history quiz in his last post.

Being slightly anal (I think. Maybe I should look it up.), I have decided to try the test without Googling anything. No Wikipedia, either. If you do them both, is it Gooki?

I'm responding in a different order, from highest confidence to least.

July 20, 1969 - This was the day Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the moon.
April 18, 1906 - I think this is the day the Titanic sunk.
May 6, 1937 - Hindenburg Disaster?
December 17, 1903 - Orville and Wilbur's first flight at Kitty Hawk?
December 24, 1877 - No idea. Let's try Alexander Graham Bell's invention - the phone.
November 19, 1863 - Still don't know, but assume it's Civil War related. Gettysburg? Vicksburg?

That was fun, regardless of the outcome.

I just don't test well.

Maybe it will come to you

I understand that one of the perils of aging is, uh, . . . One of the perils is, . . . well something or other.

It reminds me of this song I heard, which you can watch right here. I tried to embed it, but it didn't work, so you'll have to leave the post to see it. But it applies.

Anyway, I'm wearing happenin' britches and so, Happy Birthday Bob!

November in history

Yesterday, November 10, was the 33rd anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Hard to believe that happened all the way back in 1975.



I saw that reminder on the internet yesterday afternoon, and I got to thinking about that more at the dinner table. I wondered if either of my two youngest kids had heard of that. So I asked, and sure enough, the reply was "I don't know what you're talking about".

Then again, I only know about it for two reasons. I did see an exhibit at the Valley Camp Museum in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan once. But even so, I wouldn't have paid attention if it hadn't been for the famous song by Gordon Lightfoot.

Along the lines of the question "Where were you when you heard about _____ ?" (usually in reference to the Kennedy assasination, the Challenger explosion, or 9-11), I wonder how many people these days could identify the historic event connected with the following dates?

November 19, 1863

December 24, 1877

December 17, 1903

April 18, 1906

May 6, 1937

July 20, 1969

I left out the obvious ones, July 4, 1776, December 7, 1941, November 22, 1963, and September 11, 2001. And admittedly, the second and the next to last ones are kind of obscure. Can you guess?

Today, November 11, is Veterans Day. I had a quiet day at home, but if you were out and encountered someone who is or was in the military, I hope you thanked him or her for his or her service. If not, that's okay...every day is a good day to do that.

Tomorrow, November 12, happens to be the birthday of my pastor's wife. Also that of former Olympic gymnist Nadia Comaneci, and Canadian rock guitarist & songwriter Neil Young. And it seems like somebody else has a birthday on the 12th...

Oh well, maybe it'll come to me.

Congrats from one small voice in the opposition

Cousin Mike’s latest post on his blog congratulates Barack Obama on his historic election victory as the first African-American President of the United States. (A quick aside before I continue, I sincerely hope we can now put the hyphens away once and for all and simply be Americans from now on).

Mike started his post with the famous quote from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, and continues with personal comments and a good selection of quotes from Powerline, Townhall, and Weekly Standard Blog. Nicely done.

Mike continues…

“I was nine years old when King was killed in Memphis, April 1968. Anyone who remembers those years remembers the turbulence that bedeviled our country because of tension over the war in Vietnam and over issues of equality and justice for black Americans.”

Having a few years head start on you Mike, I remember it well.

Not that it changes anything you’ve posted, and it’s perhaps not relevant, but there’s something else I’ll never forget. The fact that I have this memory came from where I live, in a suburb of a fairly big metro area. Almost immediately after word got out of Dr. King’s assassination, rioting broke out in some of the inner city neighborhoods in Kansas City Missouri, one city to our west. Houses and businesses were being burned in those neighborhoods and we feared that could spread. About two miles north of our house is a National Guard Armory, and this was my first (and so far, only) experience watching armed soldiers drive past my house. It was reassuring that they were there to protect our community, but still, a very scary situation. Eventually the situation came under control and calmed down.

Mike:
“…it must be said, prejudice or racism, is sin. It's a heart problem and anyone of any national origin is perfectly capable of despising anyone else for the most petty issue, including the color of one's skin. We must constantly guard our hearts against this kind of hatred and ask God for grace to offer others.”

Well said.

Mike:
“And though the USA is not perfect by any stretch, she has come a long way…We have elected a black man president of the United States. It is no small feat for Barack Obama, a man with whom I have many honest disagreements, as far as I can tell, and he is to be sincerely congratulated.

There will be time to review the election (in another post) and to cast a critical eye toward a thoroughly liberal government. For now, however, consider what has been accomplished.”

(Mike then posted four quotes; I’ll offer three short excerpts here)

”It is an extraordinary thing, an achievement that will be recognized a hundred years hence, that Barack Obama has won the White House. Even those of us who opposed him, and who will no doubt be opposed to many of his policy objectives over the next four years, must pause and say congratulations on an improbable, amazing rise…”. - Hugh Hewitt of Townhall

”You will be my president too, and while I am filled with trepidation, I congratulate you as sincerely as I am able, and I wish the very best for you and our great country.” - Bill Dyer of Townhall

”…Racism and xenophobia were background buzz in a clean campaign, existing largely in liberals' nightmares rather than in real life. It is a testament to both candidates and the American electorate that, even if the wrong man was elected, he was elected for right reasons.” - Mary Katharine Ham of Weekly Standard Blog

Congratulations are indeed in order, even from us who voted against him and who continue to be alarmed by his far left ideology and proposals.

I don’t mind that an African-American is the President elect.
I just had hoped it would be a different man.

I had hoped the President elect, regardless of race, would be someone who is pro-life.
I had hoped he would defend traditional marriage, instead of catering to the extreme left fringe.
And I wish he was less anxious to get his hands on more of our money, increase spending, only to run the risk of increasing unemployment at the worst possible time.

But enough people were angry about other issues, so that’s not what we got.

Mike:
“Do you find it as interesting as I do that, come this January, we will celebrate King on one day and inagurate Obama on the next?”

Yes, I did notice that.

I was going to stop here, but I read this today…

From Associated Press writer Stephen Ohlemacher:

WASHINGTON – President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.

So, for those of you who thought Obama would “bring us all together”, or “govern from the center”…not likely.

Further down in the article, one possible bit of hope…

Two top House Republicans said there is a willingness to try to work with Obama to get things done. But they said to expect Republicans to serve as a check against the power held by Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress.
"It's going to be a cheerful opposition," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. "We're going to carry those timeless principles of limited government, a strong defense, traditional values, to the American people."

I felt I needed to post this to "tie things up", but now I hope to take a break from this topic for a while; at least, here on The Porch. I really want, and need, to get back to writing something that I enjoy.

The day after, with 1,537 to go

Yesterday, I received an email from my friend Dan Kirk who lives in Wisconsin, regarding election day. I appreciated what he wrote and liked how he wrote it so much, I asked for and got his permission to post it here.

I voted.

Remember the last time we had a presidential candidate with this kind of charisma? One who ran on charisma, rather than ideas? I do. He just stood there oozing charisma and spouting gibberish, and people practically bowed down and worshipped him. That distressed me greatly. Even people who didn't support him couldn't understand why that bothered me. "What's wrong with him?" they asked, and wouldn't accept the idea that that kind of charisma came with risks. If I pointed out any of his questionable dealings, they said, "That doesn't count because you can't prove it." In time, every accusation against him
proved not only true, but less outrageous than what he had actually done. But he continued to distract people with his charisma and acting ability, so that by the time the truth came out, nothing came of it. Even after his impeachment, instead of having the decency to resign, he got his cronies in the Senate to keep him in office for the remainder of his second term.

As soon as he was inaugurated, his wife began calling congressional hearings. The last time I checked, the First Lady was a member of the President's family, not his cabinet, much less a member of Congress, let alone a member of the standing required to call hearings. But anyone who questioned her authority to call these hearings was considered a chauvinist, an enemy of children and the poor, and a threat to progress. She almost railroaded her whole socialist program through Congress, and many pieces of it ended up in later legislation. Then she trotted off to China to congratulate them on the way they upheld the rights of women. Apparently, the best way to uphold women's rights is to force them to have abortions.

Her husband, meanwhile, was issuing Executive Orders like a Caesar. Can't convince the armed forces or the American people that bunking up with homosexuals is a good idea? Then end the debate by ordering them, "Don't ask, don't tell." After eight years under this regime, the American people had had enough. Their home state knew them too well to want them back; even his church didn't want him around. So she bought a house in a liberal-leaning state and convinced enough gullible people she lived there to elect her to the Senate.

When she later ran for President, even her own party didn't want her. They kept changing the rules. Even Time and Newsweek examined the evidence and decided that she routinely exaggerated her accomplishments, and hadn't achieved nearly what she claimed to. She was cheating and still losing. So they found someone with even more charisma and even fewer good ideas. Someone didn't care what happened to the country, as long as it hadn't happened before. (Apparently, he's not very familiar with the book that says there is nothing new under the sun. But I suppose if you usually have forest fires, a tsunami would be considered "change".)

I guess this all goes to show that you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but it takes a village to fool all the people all of the time.

Then, earlier today I sent an email to another group site, and I listed my reasons for yesterday’s defeat of the USA as we know it:

There are probably many causes, but three things stand out this morning.

1. Members of the liberal teachers unions (NEA especially) years ago abandoned teaching civics to the most recent generations of students / now voters, in favor of a big steaming pile of "new age" socialist indoctrination.

2. BHO's campaign whipped up enough people into an emotional frenzy ("life's not fair, stick it to 'em"). Not that all of the blue staters actually trust Obama either; factor out the voters who still have reservations about him - but who hate George W. Bush more - and John McCain would likely be the president elect. Yes, Obama is a charismatic speaker (much like Slick Willie was), but make no mistake. This was "revenge of the Bush bashers". And it wasn't even President Bush who was running. Incredible.

3. And you've got to give the Obama campaign credit. They actively courted new voters and increased the voter registration greatly, and we Republicans did not.

I’ve since thought to amend point number 1 a bit. What I meant was to point out that the younger voters are by and large ignorant of the dangers of socialism, why it kills incentive, brings down economies, makes strong nations weak and has never worked anywhere – even in watered down form – nearly as well as free market capitalism.

Capitalism? You know, where government for the most part gets out of the way – and people are actually free (there’s a concept) to achieve all they can and choose* for themselves what to do with their own money they have earned. (Where to invest, where to support the local economy, which charities to donate to, etc.)

(*Choice: A concept applied selectively by liberals to apply only to abortion, perverse lifestyles, and the use of drugs in “small” quantities. In all other areas of life – achievement, ideology, philosophy, religious faith, speech, assembly, the right to own guns and defend ourselves and our families – we are to be controlled by a big government who “knows better” how we are to live, and who will “take care of us” by making our choices.)

No one has the right to tell you when you have earned too much. (Except Obama, apparently.) Thanks a whole h—l of a lot, libs. Let’s just see how well you like it when you notice your hard earned money is being confiscated too.

Then it occurred to me that some of the voters may have been aware of this danger, but didn’t believe the warnings that Obama’s tax proposal was actually socialist redistribution of wealth. Well, we will find out soon enough, eh? Regardless of your political affiliation, we will all have to cut back severely. And you thought your financial situation was bad now?

My initial reaction was fear. I’ve not feared my government this much, since B**l C*****n and Janet Reno killed the Branch Davidian cult by fire, near Waco, Texas. Not to defend that cult, but don’t forget at that time that Ms. Reno described dangerous religious people as (my paraphrase) “people who take the Bible seriously, attend church more than once a week, and distrust government”.

Well, many weeks I’m only in church once, but the other two apply.

Then again, I don’t know how much fear I should have; I tend to worry first. A lot. Sometimes things don’t turn out as bad as I first thought.

Options range anywhere from “he’s an empty suit who won’t be able to change much”, to “there will be fundamental change to our constitutional rights; you can kiss many of your individual freedoms goodbye”. Likely things will turn out in between, in other words, Bad Enough.

Since this afternoon though, my emotion has turned to anger. But I’m mostly mad because of how wimpy my Republican party has become.

The whole “reach across the aisle”, build consensus, and work together thing. It never works, and here’s why. Liberal democrats who propose reaching a compromise with conservative republicans never concede anything (unless they really have no choice), but wait until the right throws away its principles. I knew early on that President George W. Bush was going to have a long, hard time of it when he caved in to Ted Kennedy on an education bill. And all this talk of being able to work across the aisle with democrats ultimately doomed John McCain too. You really can’t appease and attract liberals and moderates. They will vote for the democrat anyway, no matter what you say or do.

Whatever you think of Rush Limbaugh, he’s right on this. When you have a clear conservative choice, it wins. (Most recent example: Proposition 8 in California.)

The dems grew their party this year by seeking people who weren’t yet voters but could be. They courted them and got them registered.
Apparently we republicans didn’t see the importance of this.
If we are to take our country back, we must register new republican voters.

One more thing I would say to my republican party. As much as I respect John McCain and his service to our country, never, Never again run an “old” guy. I don’t like to say that, but it Just. Will. No. Longer. Sell. Up to about 55 or so, sure. Older than that and unfortunately, we lose. It’s time for a new generation of conservatives to step up.

There are only two small, silver linings around today’s dark clouds.

One, this lurch to the left is not sustainable, and eventually the crap will hit the fan. Then I will get to say “We tried to warn you”. (That is, if the politically “correct” thought police don’t come for me and my family before then.)

And two, I’m so, So glad this political campaign season is finally over. I plan to ignore B.O. and his anti-capitalist, anti-American ilk as much as I can, and have as good a life as I can in spite of them.

Lots of luck to us all, and may God help us.

Vote! (I hope this isn't our last free election)

I don’t believe the polling data that has Obama way ahead, I think the race is actually so close the election could go either way. I would like to say I’m optimistic about a McCain win tomorrow. Not that I’m pessimistic, but I think it’s just too close to call.

And that’s a shame. Obama can give a good speech, but that’s all. Nothing he proposes will strengthen our economy or our security, and if you think about his empty rhetoric, the race shouldn’t even be close; John McCain should be way ahead.

Item 1: The fact that the race is this close shows that many people don’t understand the importance of reducing the size of government spending, and of encouraging people to be as self-reliant as possible.

God bless Joe the plumber. He gets it.

Obama may not be an all-out socialist. But, who is to say? What do we really know about him, other than he’s whipped up a lot of people with the desire for change…any change?

I’ve heard people argue for change in this manner, “Well, he can’t be any worse than the guy we have now”. With all due respect, that’s nonsense.

If you believe nothing else I write here, please trust me on this. It can be much, much worse. Especially if far left politicians take over all branches of government.

Obama’s plans for the tax code are socialistic. What I hear from his camp sounds like the same old class warfare rhetoric, you know, the “It’s not fair, stick it to ‘em” stuff.

Now, are there people who know more about economics than I? You bet. But I’ll tell you one thing, in fact I’ll pose it as a question; and the subject is jobs.

Have you ever been hired by a poor person? I’ll bet in most all cases the answer is no. Successful business owners are people who create wealth and move into higher tax brackets. In normal times they provide jobs for many, who (if they’re wise handlers of the money they earn and don’t spend themselves into debt) prosper, invest, spend, and support the economy. Not to say all that is easy, or that it happens overnight, but it works.

So if you’re a politician (Obama) who thinks he’s right to lower the limit on how much a business can profit by taxing abnormally huge amounts away, Then the “rich business owner” (not having unlimited deep pockets) has only three choices:
1. Jack up prices dramatically, so consumers buy less goods or services,
2. Relocate to another country (US businesses don’t all have to remain here), or
3. Cut jobs. Many jobs.

On a personal note, I’m out of work now and I need a job. I would have to be stupid (and I’m not, I’ve taken the tests) to vote for Obama.

Even a watered-down form of socialism has never worked anywhere, not nearly as well for people – all people – as free market capitalism. And it won’t magically work here if people fall for Obama’s “charisma”.

Item 2: The fact that the race is this close shows that many people are reacting emotionally due to their hatred of President George W. Bush. Not to mention their hatred of Republicans, conservatives, traditionalists, Bible believing Christians who are pro-life and pro sanctity of marriage, etc.

Therefore, my second personal note follows, but first, a disclaimer. I don’t expect everyone who reads this to agree with me on all points of faith and belief. So I won’t try to “make” you do anything; I’ve found that approach usually fails anyway. While I ask you to consider my words and see if you agree, I’m putting this on myself. This is where I stand.

My Lord Jesus Christ, my God and my Redeemer, is the giver and sustainer of life who while He walked among us on earth, lived a life according to moral standards so high, His was a life of sinless perfection. (God requires the same impossibly high standards of fallen mortals like you and me, but thankfully, in our place Christ took our sins upon us on the cross and then was raised again. Those who believe in Him are saved by grace through faith, and are now reconciled with God for eternity. Much more can be said, a whole sermon’s worth, in fact.)

God also established marriage as a commitment between one man and one woman. We tamper with that perfect arrangement at our great peril. Historically, any society which has “normalized” homosexuality has fallen, and we would not be the first society to beat that trend.

Should our nation turn back to Christ and seek this much higher moral standard? I think so. But the point here is that I’m convinced that if I ever gave my vote to the current day democrat party I would be aiding and giving comfort to abortionists, radical feminist lesbians, and homosexuals who practice anal sex, just to mention the most outrageous examples.

That would dishonor my Lord and Savior who died in my place so that I might live in His Kingdom. Okay, none of us honor Christ completely, and I have need to confess my sins, daily.

But my vote is almost, perhaps is, a sacred statement. I cannot vote for Obama and pretend I’m serving two masters.

I don’t hate Barak Obama, and I’m resisting calling him names. And while I’m not – quite – to the point of being terrified of an Obama presidency, I am scared, very scared, of the damage and destruction he would do to our great nation.

(Don’t forget, democrat v.p. candidate Joe Biden has already promised – and I’m paraphrasing here - that within six months Obama would be tested, and that they would be forced to make decisions that we’re sure are wrong, but “just trust us” anyway. I think the six month time frame is about right. I predict that if the worst happens and Obama is elected, that six months from now even his most ardent supporters will say, “What the h—l have we done to ourselves?”)

Contrast my concerns / fears to the rhetoric from the left. I challenge you, if you have the stomach for it, to find a left leaning blog. I won’t tell you where to find such, but here’s a hint: major media (T.V. networks, newspapers). I did so and was amazed by the intense hatred directed towards President Bush, republicans, conservatives, Christians…people like me. No logic to their arguments, but they hate us.

So, will the haters win on November 4th?

You’ve noticed I haven’t said all that much about John McCain. I guess I had to get all that about the opposition off my chest, a sort of “wake-up call”, if you will. Obama would have to move way to the right to be just a liberal democrat.

Obviously I support John McCain.
He’s a war hero who’s ready to lead. He knows the dangers we face and we will be stronger with him as president.
He has a better understanding of economics and the role of government than Obama ever will.
He’s more pro-life than Obama, or any democrat for that matter.

The media has been beating the drum to discourage us and keep us home tomorrow. Ignore them. Instead of discouragement, I think a bit of righteous indignation is called for.

Time is short, but if you agree with at least most of this, pass it along. Encourage those you send this to do do the same.

Get fired up! Drive like minded people to the polls. Remember, the only poll that counts is the one Tuesday the fourth.

Do the right thing, and be of good courage.

- Bob Wingate.

Music discussion - another verse

(Disclaimer - This is a double post, or some other such phrase - what's it called when you use stuff more than one place? Anyway, I posted this at my own blog, Central Standard.)

I’m generally a happy person, so when I listen to music, I want music that, at a minimum, does not drain my happiness.

Until recently, I put a great deal of stock in ‘styles’ of music or ‘types’ of music I liked or didn't like. Something like “I hate country” or “I hate disco”, and I would use these 'opinions' to guide my music selection. But this approach is often informed merely by peer pressure or the ever fickle culture and is so insufficient as to almost always miss the point.

What is most important is my heart, the furnace of my soul and source of all my outward action, including my mood and attitude. Obviously, my heart’s health is primarily dependent on being happy in the Lord each day and then, as the day goes on, I will encounter stuff that either aids my happiness or doesn’t, like music.

That said, I’ve decided that ‘genres’ of music is just not enough information alone for picking music and I suppose that's not really groundbreaking. But the motive is the happiness of my soul no matter what the alleged 'genre'. Where I can get fooled is by the memories that some music evokes and sometimes that's enough to trick you into 'liking' a tune, but not because you really like it, but because it reminds you of a time or a place or people. And that's not the point.

The point is, does the music cooperate with my current happiness or drain me of it?

Now, what's really interesting is my wife wrote about this very topic on her blog today and neither of us knew what the other was doing!

Stuff like that makes me happy, too!

A little slow on the uptake

I don't look at the old posts here often, but I wanted to go back and look for a couple of things today. On my way I noticed a post from mid August, and - Hey, it looks like I got a comment I don't remember...

Cousin Dolores (Mike's sister) left a nice comment to "Mystery solved...maybe", and reminded me of an old story. (The original post was in response to a picture I posted on Mike's 50th birthday, and to the question where it had been taken - I'm pretty sure it was in my back yard, as it looked in 1961.)

So, welcome Dolores! I'm sorry it took so long for me to reply to your comment. Without further ado...

"I think your right Bob, that was my other guess, I remember the asparagus and I remember the other picture being taken as well> I remember that whole visit, we went to Fairyland remember?"

You may be right, but the way I remember it is that we went to Kiddieland, a smaller amusement park east of Independence. In either case I do remember that we went and we rode rides…here’s proof:



"And I went to the zoo with Dad and Uncle Al. Bob wouldn't go because "it stinks",I believe you meant literally."

Yes indeed, and that stemmed from memories of a trip to the zoo in 1958, give or take a year. We went with our friends the Muzzy’s, on a cool day in the winter (maybe late fall or early spring, anyway, no green leaves). We had our coats and caps on, and it started out okay. I remember seeing ducks or swans on a pond. We walked.

And we walked.

And we walked some more.

Eventually we came to a place that, to borrow my wife’s phrase, stank out loud. I don’t remember for sure what the offending animals were, but I have a very vague recollection of my sister Connie, or maybe our friend Melody, trying to cheer me up or get my attention by pointing and saying “Look at the funny monkeys”. Something like that, anyway.

All I knew was that I was tired, getting cold, there was this awful stink in my nose, and I really wanted to go back to my toys. With tears in my eyes, I kept saying “I wanna go home!” over and over. To no avail it seemed, though after a while we did go home. I don’t think I was overly stubborn or selfish as a four or five year old kid, but it came out that day.

I was a quiet kid at times and didn’t volunteer a whole lot of information. It could be that as the years went by, I was asked, “Why don’t you like the zoo”? But the conversation never got to a solution, like, “Oh, we can work it out. If some of the cages are stinky we’ll go look at other animals. We’ll go on a warmer day. You’re bigger now, the walking won’t tire you”.

Or, maybe I was more of a selfish kid than I like to think I was. I look back on it now as an early lesson I wasn’t quite ready for; not enough maturity. Things aren’t always going to suit me, but making a fuss and ruining the outing for others isn’t right.

Anyway, It wasn’t until 1973 that I visited any zoo again. Our college Astronomy class took a field trip to St. Louis to see the McDonnell Planetarium, and while we were in the area we also went to the St. Louis Zoo. I realized I’d been missing out all those years. The animals were interesting, I got a few pictures (of course I had my camera along), and I had a great time. Since then I’ve revisited the St. Louis Zoo at least twice, the new Kansas City Zoo, and zoos in Topeka, Omaha, Colorado Springs, Detroit, San Antonio, Austin, and Houston.



(Another lawn chair photo from your 1961 visit)


"I have been enjoying reading your memories"

Thank you so much! I’m really pleased about that, and I want you to feel free to comment anytime. I’m also glad I decided to heed your brother Mike’s advice, and started this blog. More and more I’m finding out how much I enjoy writing. That and having a digital camera and a scanner and being able to post images…well, it’s just way too much fun.

So Dolores, have you ever considered starting a blog? I’d really like to read your stories.

One more quick comment. Looking at the picture of Poppy's front porch reminds me of the times you and I made mudpies and "cooked" them in the sunshine on those concrete block steps, on hot July days when we'd both be at the farm. I seem to recall we also had an old plastic cup or glass that we'd squeeze those purple polk berries in, and maybe add some water. Of course, we were warned right away not to drink that, because the berries were poisonous. But we had "grape juice" to sit there and look good with our pies.

Outdoor gal at Outdoor World

Bob mentioned seeing Kenny Hulshoff, who in turn mentioned the Sarah Palin rally here in Springfield Friday. (I started to write Governor Hulshoff - is that Freudian Prophecy?)

The Palin rally was held in the parking lot at the Bass Pro Shop's headquarters at Sunshine and Campbell. I didn't get to go, but our local paper, the News-Leader, hosted a live feed and I was able to keep up with the speech while at my desk at work.

It was pretty standard campaign fodder that Palin has been using for a while, with the customary local references that make everyone cheer. By no means am I being critical, but rather saying it was a typical campaign stop. She did well and the crowd ate it up.

We heard she was coming about a week ago and at the time the event was planned for the McDonald Arena on the campus of Missouri State. Now I love McDonald Arena. It's an old, Great Depression Era arena that was the long time home of Bears basketball and hosted many concerts. It's seen many legendary games and talent over the years. That being said, it's small. When I heard McDonald was the venue I thought, what are they doing? They'll fill it and there will be hundreds or thousands trying to get in. I heard 4,000 tickets would be available and that sounds about right. I thought, well, maybe they just don't want to have an event somewhere that doesn't fill because that would look bad.

Well, the day after all the tickets were snapped up they announced the appearance would be moved to Bass Pro's parking lot. The ones with tickets would have seating close to the platform and everyone else could come and stand, first come, first served.

I saw the local news before work, around 6:30 am or so, and there was already a long line for a noon appearance! I did not see any photos of the whole scene, but it was huge. The Springfield Fire Department estimates the crowd at 15,000 and Springfield Police estimates a more conservative 10,000.

Anyway you slice it, it was a big deal.

Hulshoff for Governor

I'd originally planned a quiet saturday spent at home, other than a quick trip to the post office and a gas station. In the early afternoon a friend of ours called, and informed us of a Kenny Hulshoff rally scheduled for 4:00 p.m., at a park nine miles east of us. Our youngest daughter returned home from her first babysitting job in time that my wife could also go along.

Republican candidate for Missouri Governor,
Kenny Hulshoff, in Blue Springs.


There was a small but enthusiastic crowd of campaign volunteers and guests, maybe 70 or so. I was close enough to get this photo (we were in the shade of a shelter house and my camera was working against a fairly bright background, but I've managed to improve the image some.

Representative Hulshoff gave a positive speech, and I was impressed that he seemed an average, down-to-earth guy. More so than any of the few politicians I've met before. And during a brief question and answer session he seemed very sharp, at ease, and gave good answers. I was pleased to shake his hand and tell him "You have my vote".

Oh, by the way, he mentioned that Friday he had been at a rally in Springfield with Sarah Palin. (Mike, just curious, where was that rally held?)

He was open that his campaign was coming from behind, and indicated that all would be won or lost in the western half of Missouri.

The bottom line: voter turnout. Kenny Hulshoff said we have the people and the votes, we just need to get everyone to the polls.

I think he'd make a great Governor, and I sure hope he wins.

Silly (creative?) doodling

Blame it on insomnia. Blame it on sleep deprivation. Both.

Ten or eleven mornings ago I woke up at 4:30 or a little after. Couldn't get back to sleep. I wanted to keep the noise down so as not to disturb the family; so tapping on this keyboard was out. I thought about reading, but couldn't think of anything I had any enthusiasm starting at such a crazy hour. So I went to the kitchen and thought about it some more.

It seemed something creative was wanted, and I recalled a suggestion from years ago. Whether it's writing or drawing, grab a sheet of paper and with pencil in hand just start. Give it some time and patience and see what develops. Being in an artistic mood, I looked for whatever pencils, pens and colored pencils were nearby.

First, I started doodling an abstract design, with no particular purpose I was aware of. Part of this is across the top of the scanned image below, and there's a seperate box-within-a-box thingy. After a while I could see this wasn't going anywhere.

Then, I had the thought, "What would a dog wearing glasses look like"? I really, *Really* did Not like how that turned out. You can see part of doggy on the left (I spared you the nose).

I waited a bit, I didn't want to give up.

And then...the odd duck came forth.



That's what I was looking for. First the duck Christmas ornament, then the Christmas tree branches, then the horn ornament in the background. Lastly, I found a purple pen which worked nicely and added the explanation, the time I finished the doodle, and for some reason just my first two initials.

Yeah, it's silly (maybe it made a bit more sense at 5:18 a.m.).

On second thought, naah. I knew it was silly then. But, I do like the technique of just getting started and keeping at it. So I post it here as the first in a series. A rough beginning to compare with later efforts.

A glimpse from 66 years ago

I still have Photoshop issues, but my scanner does still work and I have another program I can use to make images into .jpg files.

I found this photo finishing envelope while going through a box of old pictures, and thought it would make a good scan to post here. My dad got his pilot's license when he was 16, which would either have been late 1936 or early 1937. He and his family lived in Detroit, Michigan at the time, and in the late 1930's he gave flying lessons at the Detroit City Airport. Apparently you could drop off film to be developed by Hite Photo Service, at Baker's News Stand at the airport.



It's a neat image, but I haven't decided what's most interesting...the reminder that they were using rolls of Verichrome 620 film back then, or the lady's hair style of the day, or the old camera she's holding, or...that on January 16, 1942 it cost a grand total of 70 cents for developing and printing 12 prints!

On the back...




Hey! Didja know you could take pictures at night now? Don't forget your photo lamps and Kodak Handy Reflectors. Don't forget additional prints to share...and your favorites can be enlarged at a moderate price.

Don't get me wrong, I love the ease of modern digital photography; I can take so many more pictures now. I am still considering buying a new, quality film camera, that is, before they stop making them. The SLR still appeals to me, in that I can change lenses and capture images that are still difficult for my digital camera...subjects moving fast, sharp closeups, astrophotographs, that kind of thing.

Flashbulbs now, I think I'm safe in saying that's in the past. A grand old technology that worked well for decades, though.

Some memories stay clear, others fade

I had hoped by now that I'd have a new image or two to post here. My scanner still works, but unfortunately my copy of Photoshop LE is acting up. It hangs up as soon as I try to open the program. My guess is that there's a link broken somewhere, whatever that actually means.

No problem, just uninstall Photoshop and re-install it. I thought I'd better find my backup disk first, and it's a good thing I've held off doing the uninstall. It's been a couple of days and I still can't find the disk. It's in this room somewhere...well, I've been needing to clean and sort anyway.

I could post about music, as I have been working on my 1969 list. Holy crow (as James Lileks might say), that was one busy year in rock music. A lot of stuff I like about equally well...this might take a while.

Instead, here's a short true story - not to be confused with a true short story, I guess.

I sat down in my reading chair a couple of evenings ago, and looked in my bookcase...what should I browse? Well, I haven't looked at that in a long time. I pulled out my college yearbook from my Junior year. As I turned page after page, I started to notice something. It's been enough years now that there's really a distinct difference between friends I knew well and have lots of memories of, and faces and names that sort of ring a bell. I think as recently as two or three years ago those two groups of people would have blended together, that is, I would have had stories to tell about everyone I recognized. Now I still have lots of stories about my close friends I ran around with, but the others whose faces I kind of recognize...I couldn't recall stories about them. I don't think I'm having any special memory problems, at least, no one's pointed out any concerns to me. I still remember lots of stuff from last week, last year, last decade, my childhood, etc.

Maybe remembering lots of faces and names is more of a challenge than remembering events; it seems that way to me anyway. I could say to myself, "That's sad" (and it would be if I started to forget people I was really close to). But actually, I think it's normal. Some friends are friends for a lifetime, some are friends for a season, a year, four years. Others were casual friends or acquaintances, and that's all okay.

Yeah, that wasn't all that profound, but it was bloggable (and if that wasn't a word, it is now).