Happy Father's Day 2012

So, what to do here? I've written years ago some memories of my Dad, a simple link to that old post here shall suffice, if you want to read, or re-read what I wrote. That was focused and personal, fond and happy memories.

Father's day can be many other things though. I'm a father of four great kids, and the three local ones helped me celebrate this evening with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce in waffle bowls. I also had a wonderful conversation with my eldest daughter in California; I always enjoy it when she calls.

There's also the realization of other men, perhaps friends at church, or uncles, cousins, brothers-in-law, and other relatives, and seeing their relationships with their families (I thought of going family-tree-style, and posting photos of several of my male relatives with other family members. I'm thinking I'll still do that, but getting those photos organized will take longer and go later than I want tonight). So there may be a part two to this.

On my way here to post, I happened to notice on my Blogger Dashboard that my Cousin Mike had posted some neat memories and photos of his Dad, my Uncle P. J., on his blog "Central Standard". Mike also posed a question that was raised by one of his friends...

 "If you could spend one day again with your Dad, which day would it be"?

That's a great question, and my first thought was of an afternoon when I was sitting in the radio room (now the computer room), in fact, within a foot of where I'm sitting now. Dad was telling stories of when he was a boy and watched an air show in, I think, Detroit. I don't quite remember all the details, so I might well want to revisit that time and get Dad's stories on my tape recorder. And maybe ask a few more questions.

Or, I might want to go back to a quiet family moment in Poppy's living room, which I've written about here. Not a word was spoken for a while but I was young, we were all in reasonably good health, it was so peaceful, and I had not a care in the world.

Then again...there was the time we had traveled down to the farm to visit Poppy (my Mom's Dad, if you're new here and wish to keep score). On this trip we had brought along some floor tiles as the old linoleum was getting really worn out. I was in my Uncle Bud's room reading comic books for quite a while, so the project was already under way when I walked into the hallway. Dad had started to glue down the new tiles in the living room, which surprised me. I said, "Oh, so you don't scrape up the old linoleum first"? With a straight face Dad replied, "No, we'll just add a new layer every time, and eventually we'll have to scuttle around like this"! He then demonstrated the "scuttle" by hunching his back over and taking a few steps at about half running speed. That was, far and away, the funniest thing I ever saw and heard him do, it totally cracked me up!

Dad's good humor was of the dry sort, delivered unexpectedly. I didn't hear him laugh often. But...there was the one time when I brought my (then) girlfriend home and announced to Mom and Dad that we were engaged. Dad's face just lit up, and that was a laugh of joy. That might be the day I'd re-visit, for a number of good reasons.

Boy, it would sure be hard to pick just one.

The Evening Rambler for April 27, 2009

Happy Samuel Morse birthday!

The way my computer is set up now, on my way to my Yahoo page, I first go through the Google page. I use Google sometimes, but being the creature of habit that I am, I'm used to my Yahoo setup.

Here's how the Google logo looked today.

Well I thought it was neat, anyway. I was reminded of the times I studied Morse Code with my dad. For those who don't know, he was an amateur (ham) radio operator.

So I could read "GOOGLE" right off (and if I close my eyes I can imagine hearing it at five words per minute). So, what's the occasion, the anniversary of the invention of the telegraph? A quick roll of the mouse, and the comment Samuel Morse birthday appeared.

Let's all say some "dits" and "dahs" for Mr. Morse.

Leavenworth County Tornado

The weather turned severe two counties to the west of us on Saturday afternoon. I happened to turn on the tv as one of the news helicopters was showing live video from near the storm. No luck finding that clip to link to here, unfortunately.

The rotating wall cloud was evident, and the funnel was already starting down, then it would appear to stop, raise back up, pause, and then head down again. What I'm told is that usually the funnel is twice as far down as it looks, as the condensation darkens the upper part from the top down. The funnel continued to lengthen when suddenly in the blink of an eye, there was the tornado all the way to the ground. Just that quickly.

I got excited "You oughta see this", which brought my son into the room (I'm sure he was thinking "What's with dad?"). I told him, "See, that's just how they look!".

Well, duh. Now that I think back on it, that was a bit obvious.

The tornado persisted and tracked through a rural area, damaging some houses and destroying a few barns. As a precaution, people were evacuated from the Kansas Speedway and some of the local shopping areas in Kansas City, Kansas. Thankfully, no serious injuries or deaths due to the tornado (I heard there was one lightning fatality, though).

But...the ability to watch live coverage of a tornado forming two counties away...what a world.

"To save them, we have to eat them."

A strange statement, that. While I was trying to find that tornado video, I came across this, and found it interesting. I wasn't aware there were endangered breeds of chickens.

I'm all for clean air and water, not littering, that sort of thing. But I've never been all that gung-ho for environmentalism for It's Own Sake; when it's the be all and end all of some political movement or a religion of sorts.

But it would be a shame for some of those breeds of chickens to go extinct. Another quote:

"At least 19 heritage breeds, such as the white Delaware with the mottled neck, the white-egg laying Holland and black mottled Houdan, have been designated as critically threatened, which means there are fewer than 500 left. Dozens of others are in danger of disappearing without a market to sustain them." (italics mine)

That reminds me of something I heard of Rush Limbaugh's radio show once. Something to the effect that if you want to protect an endangered species, the best way to do that would be to allow the endangered animal to be raised for food. The market would make sure there was a plentiful supply.

Finally...

Hats off to cousin Dolores, who had the correct answer for the latest music lyric game challenge. Check back on The Porch soon for a new challenge!