4 Minutes of Magic!

Please, if you can spare just under 4 minutes...



A while back I listed one of my favorite films as being "The Black Imp". When most think of Georges Melies they think of his "Trip to the Moon" but for me, this and "The Cook in Trouble" are both delights. Made less than 10 years after the Lumiere Brothers first films; made before there were computers or even a standardized camera/film system, his feats are amazing!

When I had my first VCR many years ago I recorded a PBS show called "Matinee at the Bijou" one afternoon on a whim. I was lucky enough to end up with a Harold Lloyd film called "Dr. Jack". The next week, even luckier, I discovered "Safety Last".

I was so impressed by these I unwired my VCR and took it to my Dad's to show them to him...to him they were just things he'd seen growing up...

A few weeks later I was treated to "The Thief of Bagdad" in a print restored in Britain by a gentleman named Kevin Brownlow.

A trip to the local library turned up "The Parade's Gone By", Brownlow's book on the "silent era" (the movies were never silent and a good many weren't black and white) and cinema became an ongoing love that continues. Some of you remember me posting about watching Mary Pickford movies just after we joined Netflix, things I couldn't rent locally. That local library has a cinema buff working in it's AV department who has made a point of acquiring things through the years; through him I first saw the films of Georges Melies on VHS many years ago, mostly unrestored as that is something that costs much less now in the age of the computer and DVD's than it did even 15 years ago.

I've spoken before of how easily I fall in love, not only with each of you who find your way here, but also those who have touched me through the magic of film. Abel Gance, Chaplin, Keaton, Pickford, Mabel Normand, Roscoe Arbuckle, Louise Brooks...the list is not only most likely endless but still growing.

This all comes up now because just before I retired I heard a piece on NPR about a book: "The Invention of Hugo Cabret". The book, about an orpaned boy living in a Paris railstation who meets an old man running a toy store there...Georges Melies! In the interview they said that when it was nominated for a National Book Award a whole roomful of normally very staid librarians stood, clapped and cheered!

It was the last hardcover book I bought before I retired, hoping it might set my grandchildren on a course to love those same films that I have so dearly. (They have already watched Chaplin's "The Kid" spellbound and talked of it for days after.)

Dillon was already reading the Harry Potter books at the time, but since his parents hadn't heard of it, they said one of them had to read it first. Since neither of them had, I borrowed it back when they were on vacation last week and on Friday I started it at about 3:30 as we left to go to Lawrence for my nephew's last musical program before he graduates.

The book, written by someone who has illustrated other things, combines the illustrations into the narrative in a manner he compares to film. You read "scenes" then scenes are illustrated over the course of 10 pages or so, then the narrative picks up again from the last frame of illustration.

534 pages, by the time the program started at 7:30 I was down to the last 25...sitting in a room full of students and parents along with my wife and sister, having to raise my bifocals to wipe tears from my eyes. An amazing book!

A teacher I met through ICQ many years ago told me that "The Little Prince" is not really a children's book, though everyone thinks it is. I went to the library and found it (in the children's section) and read it for the first time since kindergarten or 1st grade...Ana was right!

This one, "The Invention of Hugh Cabret" may be a children's book to some, but if you've ever loved film...if you've ever had your heart stolen by someone in print or on the silver screen then perhaps it's not a children's book after all, or perhaps you have enough child inside to give your heart once again!

So as I wish you all and warm and kind "rest of your weekend" and a Monday that is kind as well, I'm off to pop a restored collection of Melies films in the DVD player courtesy of Netflix...

alan

P.S.- For those who may wonder, I didn't put a link to Melies "Trip to the Moon" because I couldn't find a YouTube or Google version that was the full 13:48 runtime that didn't have someone narrating it. I don't need someone to explain to me what I can see (unless perhaps it's "Memento" or something similar) and the narrative is so distracting I just couldn't...

36 years ago today...

I enlisted. I was 17, 2 months short of graduating high school and knew that there was no way I was staying home another minute.

Having been told by my Dad that I couldn't accept the full paid music scholarship to a university 180 miles from home because it was too far for me to be from home at 17, the Navy recruiter that had been picking me up to go play "Taps" at the Navy funerals for 2 years had a pretty easy time of it. Originally I had planned to enlist for 4 years and go to the Navy's music school, but at 17 I had to have my parent's permission for that as well and Dad wouldn't sign for a 4 year hitch.

So I ended up signing up for 2 years active duty and 4 years as a Reserve, intending on re-enlisting at the end of 2 and trying to get in the music school then. Christmas of that year found me in the Phillipines.

Things changed of course! The freedom to "be" I found led me through a lot of changes, a lot for the better, a lot that weren't as well. None I regret, even those that probably cost a few brain cells.

Though "the path not taken" always beckons, I can't look at my sons or my grandchildren and have regrets about the one I chose!

May Monday be kind and the week as well!

alan

Outnumbered!

When Bill moved we took in Laura's cats, two 8 year old males, until they can afford a house. In D.C..

We of course, already had an old dog and a 2 year old male cat of our own.

Last week one of my projects was putting a screen door on a bedroom because it was that or buy another 110 window unit air conditioner for that room and pay the bill. The door was cheaper...

Because one of their cats will eat anything in sight, cat food, dog food, the trash. The other one likes to hide and we feared him getting in the basement and not being able to find him.

Also, Frankie doesn't much care for either of them. So he has the run of the house, they have the run of the front bedroom and in the evenings while Frankie's napping on our bed, we let Alley and Willow run loose after we cover the dog food and shut our bedroom door (keeping Willow out of the basement).

I pan for cat turds twice a day now because her cats are huge and they are sharing a litter box...and feed them twice day, holding Alley's food dish so he doesn't eat too fast and make himself "yak".

So, I was about petted out to begin with.

John is taking Noel on a trip for their 10th anniversary. My sister has all 3 kids right now, we'll have Dillon over the weekend and Cindy will be moving to their house on Sunday to get the kids off to school on Monday (they're on break this week).

So he brought their two dogs over this afternoon. A full grown shepard and a knee high something-or-other. So now in addition to the screen door I have two kiddie gates on either end of the kitchen to control who gets to Angel's food and to control who is near the back door to go outside. (One lead and the yard isn't fenced.) Of course that means we get to put them up and take them down each time we need through, or we get to vault them...

And we get to drive to their house twice a day to feed their two cats!

I'm glad I'm already pretty much bald!

May Friday be kind and your weekends be wonderful!

alan

The day after...

the only thing better than St. Patrick's Day is the corned beef leftovers!

:o)

In trying to tighten things up where we can, we hadn't been to the store since the 1st and didn't buy corned beef on that run. Yesterday, with Dottie off after working the weekend, we needed milk and Sam's had corned beef in the cooler. She kept saying no, but knowing how much her heritage and the holiday both mean to her (she makes a point every year of sending cards to the kids and grandkids; she still has a grocery store shamrock I bought for her 20 years ago that goes out in the summer and comes in in the winter) there was no way I could not, so I told her she could pick or I would. Of course I was told where my taste is...but at least she picked what she wanted.

The rest of the day was spent with her cooking and me puttering. It was 80 Farenheit yesterday, the windows were not only open all day but all night. Now it's 55 and cloudy and I've closed the windows and re-lit the furnace, happy that they aren't predicting another freeze!

And to loop back to my opening, besides the corned beef sandwich I ate for lunch, I'm truly looking forward to it and leftover potatoes for dinner!

Dillon is supposed to spend the weekend this week and he's very ready to have some time away from his siblings. They are so close in age (2 years apart) I can't blame him, everything is a compromise when he's at home.

I plan on getting another post up before then, but just in case I don't, I'll hope that the rest of the week is kind to each of you and that your weekends are warm and wonderful and turning to thoughts of spring!

alan

Sunday musings...

Uncovered the tulip bed for what I hope is the last time this morning. Yesterday I drained and cleaned the humidifier so it can dry for a few days before I bag it and put it away. The grass is starting to green up and the dog wants to spend every minute she can outside as long as someone else is out there; I don't know if she's worried about her hips or that she can't see well enough to know if she's safe or not. Going on 14 and not a small dog, we know we're on borrowed time and my heart aches thinking about it!

I've spent some time yesterday and today trying to dig my bench out from a winter's accumulation of things it was too cold to sort or put away because I need to make use of it. (Things to work on that are too messy for the kitchen table, lol.) I've been filing job apps and soon enough someone is going to call then all the hours I spent doing other things I'll wish I'd spent making better use of!

I did pick up the county lake permit for our boat on Friday, so that's the last of the state and county licensing for the year. Hopefully I get enough time to make it worthwhile...

So, with that, time for a latte and pb&j then back to the garage!

I hope you are all having wonderful weekends and that Monday is kind to each of you!

alan

Better lucky than good!

We've been trying to use some of the older stuff out of the pantries and for the first time in a long time I'd felt a bit like experimenting with new things. I'd had a jar of oil-packed sun-dried herbed tomatoes hanging around for a while; the jar of capers that went with them had been purged in one of Dottie's "if it doesn't have a date it's going" rampages.

I went through my recipes and couldn't find the one that I originally was going to make...searched on-line and found something close. Modified it a bit, fixed it on Sunday and it was OK enough Dottie wanted it again last night (so the tomatoes that weren't used could go in the trash today since they were dated '07). Last night I hit it pefect:
____________________________________

Baked chicken and sun-dried tomatoes

For two:

Two thawed chicken breasts

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (original called for marjoram, didn't have it...)
2 tablespoons water
10-15 oil-packed sun dried tomatoes, sliced or chopped

Line a 9x9 glass pan with foil (because this burns a bit) then rub the foil with olive oil.

Place chicken breasts in pan

Mix vinegar, seasoning, water and tomatoes in a small mixing bowl; pour or spoon over chicken

Bake 25 minutes at 425 degrees or until chicken reaches 160 internal temperature.

Serve with the tomatoes spooned back over chicken...
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Sunday night I sided it with some angelhair pasta and garlic bread; last night it was baked potatoes, which bake at the same temp, so it was an really easy meal.

The original recipe called for using a 9x13 pan with the 1/4 cup mix but that cooked up a bit dry; using the 9x9 last night it came out moist and perfect!

I hope the week is being kind to each of you!

alan

“Not Women Anymore…”

A friend posted this story on her blog and I had to borrow the link...you can click on the header above or here to read the story

So many times in bygone days I would hear a story on NPR or the BBC or one of the international magazine shows on my radio at work, all the way back to the 80's when we were first allowed radios, that would reduce me to tears. A lot of verse was written back then fueled by those stories. Occasionally someone would make the mistake of asking what I was upset about and I got to share something they probably hadn't heard of; that the never dreamt existed.

We all become so focused on our own little world, on what we have to deal with in our own lives that it's very easy to forget that there are those who have less...that the dark powers that control parts of this world would rather we forgot...that only when raise our voices together and say "no more" will it be stopped!

Please click the link...write a Congressman or Senator if you are blessed with one who will listen...please?

May the rest of the week be kind to each of you and may your weekends be filled with joy!

alan

Awhirl...a swirl...

Some of you might remember the plumbing issues that were ongoing until I dug up the sewer line and we had a massive amount of tree roots cleaned out of it. Before that they had pulled the toilet to try and clean it out; afterwards there had been a slight leak and I changed the "wax ring" at the base, which seemed to take care of it...for a while...

Last week we noticed a few drops on the basement floor again, I tried tightening the base bolts again, but didn't get much of a turn on them. I thought I was going to have to pull it and replace the ring again, figuring I had damaged it when I tried to swing the toilet into it's space by myself.

Over the weekend, while cleaning, I figured out that the back of it was wet below the tank. At 43 years old, I didn't figure there was much chance of getting parts, so I started doing some research, as I have heard too often of problems with "low flush" ones.

I learned of a rating system that's only been in place a few years, "MaP units" that I then went back to try to use as I narrowed my choices.

One that professed to be "high efficiency" and was less than $100 only rated 475 on the scale; the articles said you should consider 500 to be a minimum. I found two for under $200 that rated 1,000, the maximum on the scale. One was actually just under $150, but I sprung for the one that was just under $200 because it has a better finished porcelain that is supposed to stay cleaner...

Dottie was off yesterday so after breakfast we went and bought it, brought it home and took the pieces (it was unassembled) out and found the directions. After one last round through the bathroom, we pulled the old one, assembled the new one and had the water back on in just over an hour. Though it doesn't seem like it could possibly use enough water to work (it is 1.6 gallons, the old one was somewhere around 5, being 1966 vintage) it has each and everytime so far. It will refill before you can get in the shower and turn the water on...the old one you were waiting what seemed like an awfully long time!

By then it was past lunchtime; we ate and then did the shopping together. Since my retirement checks come once a month, we've been trying to buy most everything for the month in one trip, that way her checks (bi-monthly) can pick up the bills that come in later in the month. It also helps cut down on the impulse buying.

I'm beginning to think I'm going to have to give up on finding a part-time job and take a full time one, at least for a while. I have passed over ones I could have probably had because I didn't want to screw up our time together, but I'm almost out of options.

I hope the week is being kind to each of you...

alan

The heat of the day...

from earlier in the week when we were pushing the 70's (almost 20C.), to right now it's 20 Farenheit (-7C.). Last night it was 6 above O on the old scale, or -14C. without the never-ending wind.

Added to that is the 4-5 inches of snow that fell between Friday night and yesterday afternoon...

Dottie was off on Friday, working the weekend. John needed a babysitter for all 3 kids on Friday night so we kept them, one in here on the bed, one on the couch, one on my exercise mat on the floor (made up with "Cars" sheets, of course). He came and got them about noon yesterday and I spent my afternoon shoveling and transcribing family military service history back to the "Civil" War for my nephew who is applying for a VFW scholarship. Getting all of the oral things I was told through the years written down was probably a good thing, so I printed an extra copy and tucked it away for future generations. I know it's not complete, but the families have spread out so widely through the years that I have no idea about anyone beyond "first cousins". I have a letter one great-uncle wrote my grandfather about the "old soldiers home" he was living in in the early 60's telling him horror stories and that no matter what happened he didn't want to end up in one; I found out yesterday that great-uncle's oldest was a Japanese POW aboard an "exchange ship" in 1944 when it was accidentally sunk by the Americans.

I can't imagine...

Today I'm running laundry and catching up other odds and ends here. Like the proverbial rabbits, they never seem to diminish.

It seems our Governor is the next choice for a cabinet post; she's done very well for us on so many fronts, I hope she fares well and can do the same for our country!

I dread losing her, though because of term limits we'd have lost her in 2010 anyway!

May Monday find you warm and dry, employed if you need to be and happy no matter what!

alan

Invasion of the cookie snatchers!

It was strange having two of the grandkids here together after several months of taking them one at a time. The younger sister and brother who used to be inseperable are growing apart it seems and much less understanding/forgiving/accepting of each other!

I've been very glad we saved the SuperNES and the original Nintendo machines, as when sharing the games they usually play together becomes impossible, one of them can usually be tempted by playing a game that Daddy had when he was their age, lol!

If only to say "wow, that's awful"! (The "Intellivision" actually gets that more often than the SuperNES.)

It got warm enough they played outside some yesterday afternoon and helped Grandma cleaning up the yard while I puttered at other things. After some fresh air they seemed to get along a bit better, plus by then it was dinner time and time for her to go home as she had school today.

The youngest is still here, as his Dad was off again today and they had one last day together to celebrate their 10th anniversary. So far it's a been a day of "Boomer" and drawing and playing with stencils...very quiet by comparison.

Time to fix him a glass of Quik for dessert!

May the week be kind to each of you!

alan

Friday falling...

rapidly towards dusk.

I've spent the last two days doing some early "spring cleaning". When Bill and Laura's cats moved in with us the took over one bedroom, as one of them can't be trusted to stay out of the trash or any other food he can find; the other has a penchant for hiding and we fear if he gets in the basement we won't see him for a week.

The things that were stacked up in one corner of that room awaiting shelves and sorting hastily moved into the 2nd bedroom and in the throes of whatever has been dragging me down of late, I hadn't felt like dealing with it.

This weekend is John and Noel's 10th anniversary, my sister is taking Dillon and we have Talia and Caleb, so I needed to finally "caffeine up" and "get to it". I'm done now except for the final vacuuming and waiting for my sinuses to settle a bit before I start.

No good news concerning my last post; I don't really expect any and am assuming I'm just going to be "out of pocket" and grateful I'm not there going through the misery those I left behind are. If I don't hear from the apps I put in this last week by Wednesday I'll start putting in some others.

I read a piece about "surivivor's guilt" associated with lay-offs and such a few months ago. I never thought I'd understand it, but I do! As the young still there lose their jobs and the older ones do more work on the same jobs for less, knowing I got out and (so far) am collecting my pension and retaining some semblence of health care gives me great cause for gratitude and guilt.

I don't know where this will all end up; perhaps with a collapse worth of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", perhaps with those smart enough forming their own collectives or co-ops to survive. An underground economy of barter, perhaps?

I do know I'm not going to "go" quietly! I'm not going to just "lie down" and give up...

So for what it's worth, may you each have a lovely weekend and may life somehow be kind to each of you!

alan

Death and taxes...

(other considered titles: "The Sword of Damacles", "Gnawing my leg off...")

Friday, Dottie's day off as she worked the weekend, we had our annual appointment with one of H&R Block's associates. The wife of a former coworker, downsized out of her job when a national chain bought the local bank she had worked in for 20 years, she is very good at what she does and has helped steer us in a "better direction" several times through the years.

It wasn't a good day to begin with, as it would have been Dad's 82nd birthday and it's still very hard going into this 26th year without him not to be a bit resentful thinking of all that might have been.

Nonetheless, since we finally had the last of the paperwork Dottie really wanted to get this done. We expected about $1500 back from the Federal and were hoping to use it to pay what we knew we were going to owe the State...

We knew we were going to owe them because when I took the "buyout" from GM last year they took out the Federal taxes they were supposed to, but conveniently and despite my having asked them to, forgot to withhold the State taxes. I caught the error and figured out the proper amount, opening our first savings account in 30 years with it.

What I didn't know until Friday was that since the "buyout" was paid out of our Union retirement fund, the Fed treats it like an IRA and since I'm not 55 I was liable for a 10% penalty for "early withdrawal"! So not only was I not getting back the $1500, but owed another $3000 besides! To go along with that, the lines that transfer to the State return meant that instead of owing the $2400 I had figured, I owed them an extra $700 as well. My former co-worker's wife is now very worried about what they may have in store for him because he along with many others are considering taking the current buyout!

When my son moved last fall he had two households going at the same time and there was a "limbo" period between his last check from his old job and his first on a twice monthly pay period at his new one, plus moving and start-up expenses, etc.. I lent him most of what was in the savings account on condition that I needed it back by April 15th. We had hoped to pay the State with what we got back from the Federal and what was left in the savings account and take the pressure off him...

I had used that buyout money to pay off 4 credit accounts, one of which we kept for the unexpected. The unexpected plumbing bill last fall...most of Christmas...now the big "hit" for this Federal tax penalty as there was a discounted "transaction" fee for paying it through Block, or so they thought...right up until you click "send"!

I always knew I was going back to work, in fact I had tried to pick up a job late last summer though for some reason it "fell through". Dottie kept telling me to wait until after the holidays, etc., because so many other things pop up and each day something unexpected still seems to arise.

Now it seems it's time to begin a job search in earnest, in fact I filed an app on Saturday I haven't told her about yet for fear it will fall through like that last one did. After I start some laundry I'm going to read up on a couple more and perhaps file them. I'm trying to avoid her days off so we don't lose our time together, which may be overidden by the necessity to start bringing in "some green" sooner rather than later.

Things are still "tight" for my son and his wife, especially now that she has moved back to D.C. with him and enrolled in graduate school. They are hoping she picks up a job soon and things will ease for them. If it doesn't, that card will be maxed again soon.

The lady at Block sent me home to make phone calls before she filed that, hoping that between the people that handle our benefits, our Union and GM someone would have decided they needed to do something about this. Fidelity said they told GM there was a problem before it was ever done; the Union said that there were rumors that GM was going to do something about it and gave me a GM number to call; GM says they will issue information in March or April...

I'm not holding my breath!

We had already agreed, knowing that we needed to "tighten our belts" anyway, that we weren't doing anything for each other for Valentine's Day. Friday we splurged and bought a "cheap" tray of steaks ($10 for four) at Sam's and a small tray of mushrooms when we bought milk for the week. While she was at work on Saturday I dug out a heart-shaped baking pan I had bought years ago and made a tray of brownies for her.

We will get through this, somehow, though it never seems like it in the beginning.

Don't know why George and Paul are echoing in the back of my mind now...

"Let me tell you
How it will be.
There's one for you,
Nineteen for me,

'Cause I'm the taxman.
Yeah, I'm the taxman.

Should five percent
Appear too small,
Be thankful I don't
Take it all..."

May the week be kind to each of you!

alan

"La Bete Noire"

Many years ago I read of a "Locomobile" racer called that ("La Bete Noire") in "Autoweek". Having a daughter-in-law who likes to name vehicles and knowing I had to beat her to the punch or she would name my truck for me, I chose that moniker and spent hours on-line looking for the original that I had seen so many years ago. Today I tried once again and happened to luck into not only her history but some photos of her. (It's nice to know I didn't dream the whole thing up!)



There are 20 more photos of her and a bit more of her story at ConceptCarz.com to whom I am very grateful for saving this beautiful machine's history and these photos!

I'm looking forward to browsing through the rest of both of these sites, most likely sooner than later!

Reading that she had gone up for auction and not met reserve 2 years ago, I hope she is somewhere warm and dry. Apparently she has an older sister in the Henry Ford Museum and the sister has a running replica that was built for the '66 World's Fair!

The photo of my truck is from Saturday morning while we were waiting for Noel to be ready to go "antiquing" as I finished waxing it much too late on Friday for there to be light for a photo. Yesterday it was warm again, so I kept Dottie's Malibu at home and handwashed it and spent several hours removing "road oil" from it along with some yellow paint where "someone" apparently was too close to a line-striping truck on a windy day. Then I managed to get a coat of wax on it as well, finishing just as it got too dark to see.

Last night we got the upper end of the storm that dropped the tornadoes in Oklahoma and dropped from the 70's to just above freezing. Though the radar showed freezing rain and snow moving through this morning when I got up, the snow never actually hit the ground here and now the sun is out and things are dry enough that the roads shouldn't freeze tonight.

It's supposed to be warmer again tomorrow and my sawhorses (the ones I couldn't find last week) turned up at my son's under a door in his basement and found their way home, so perhaps I'll finally get that riser cut for this desk and be able to rearrange it. I saw one I really liked at Nebraska Furniture Mart the other week, but I've driven vehicles most of my life that weren't worth as much as it was...

I hope all of you are warm and dry if you're Stateside, or cool and dry if you're below the Equator given the terror that has rolled through Australia of late. May the rest of the week be very kind to each of you...

alan

Too lovely...

The respite in our weather has been amazing these last two days! I spent most of yesterday in the garage sorting and putting away things that hadn't found their way "home" when winter set in. As I have to rebuild the "stovepipe" out there before I have heat, I hadn't bothered until it was warm! I started out planning to build a riser for my computer desk, as I need a way to slip the keyboard under the monitor to have room to use the new graphics pad I picked up a few weeks back, but in trying to get to the things I needed to cut and build it, I got sidetracked!

Today it's even warmer, so my plan is to wash my truck and perhaps get a coat of wax on it.

Dillon is spending the weekend and tomorrow Dottie plans on taking his Mom antiquing as she never spent all of her "birthday money" the last time. If he feels like going then I will tag along, if not I'll stay here with him.

I "let my fingers" do the walking yesterday just for some fun, thinking I had seen photos of Harry Truman in the Oval Office working in shirt sleeves. When I "Googled" I came up with some of F.D.R. but since they said they were "rights managed" I didn't dare to post them, sorry! If you Google "Roosevelt Oval Office" and click on images all 3 come up on the first two pages...of course if I'm lucky I just set a link to the first one!

Needless to say, I have own thoughts about the "sour grapes" being thrown on Captol Hill right now and by those sent packing last month...be it someone trying to play a trump "Card" in their complaint about "the dignity of the office" being compromised by someone actually working for the people there, or the ones being tossed by the war criminal formerly known as VP!

I've heard Senators this week claim that creating jobs in the National Parks doesn't help our economy...excuse me, but if someone is getting a paycheck that wasn't getting one before, they are spending money they didn't have before...do you really think we are so stupid?

Basically, I think those who are decrying the spending are actually decrying the drop in their campaign coffers they foresee if their friends on Wall Street and in that top 1% of the income bracket have to pay their fair share of anything...

Sorry...I know many of you are "politicked out" at this point, or just plain "ticked". Forgive the rant...

May the weekend be kind to each of you!

alan

Postscript: 6:44pm...truck is handwashed and thanks to my son and grandson has a fresh coat of Meguiar's Paste Tech Wax on it, along with tire dressing, Rain-X and that new State Park sticker we picked up last week! C'mon spring!!!

alan

Glory Days!

Appropriate title given the evening's halftime entertainment...

Yet for me, the memories that surface today are of a different time...memories of childhood...



At the point of ancience I'm approaching, I remember the celebration of our new found fame as a football town when Lamar Hunt brought the Dallas Texans to Kansas City and renamed them the Chiefs. I remember weekends when everything led up to the game on Sunday and that was the most important place on Earth to be, in front of the TV. I remember Dad putting the largest TV aerial I'd ever seen in our attic with a rotater so he could pull the Topeka stations to watch the games if they were "blacked-out".

I remember watching #16 and his team give their all every week, win or lose in a struggle that seemed impossible at times!

Len Dawson...

From the Pro-Football Hall of Fame's website:

"Although Len Dawson ranks among the elite forward passers of all time with an 82.56 rating compiled over 19 seasons of pro play, he is perhaps best remembered for his courageous performance in leading the Chiefs to a 23-7 upset of the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. Dawson connected on 12 of 17 passes for 142 yards in the now-historic game, and his 46-yard pass completion to Otis Taylor wrapped up the surprise victory that evened the AFL-NFL portion of the Super Bowl series at two wins each. Dawson was named the game's Most Valuable Player."

I've heard Len speak on more than one occasion of that being the era where you played the game because you loved it, not because you could make a living at it. Bobby Bell, Hall of Fame defensive player in his own right, was a line foreman in the General Motors plant I hired into in the "off season". Len signed on as a sportscaster with the local ABC affiliate to make ends meet. I remember watching the sports report on the evening news while he broadcast with his hair still wet from the locker room shower.

He is still there! All through the years, this gentleman (and I mean that sincerely) has been there, a link from my chidhood to my present. Always involved in the community, in causes, I remember him starting a celebrity Pro-Am golf tournament as a fund raiser for a local children's hospital. Though it's since been taken over by a pro-golfer who can bring in the "big names" when Len brought Alan Hale, Jr. to town (you might know him as "The Skipper" from "Gilligan's Island") that was a huge deal...

This week they've been doing a series of interviews with him concerning the Chiefs and their "glory days" in the lead up to the game that starts in a few hours.

I'm putting two links here, one to a piece with him going through an NFL history of "the big game" (another Lamar Hunt dream, along with the AFL in the beginning, major league soccer and so many other things he had his hands in. It was Lamar that named it "The Superbowl".) and the second to him speaking of his fellow players.

1st video...

2nd video...

(Sorry about the Brinks commercials...especially since my younger son works for ADT!)

There are some other videos from these interviews on their website if any of you are interested. The one I was hoping to find was the one they showed with footage of Len playing, clear back to his Purdue days...All-American 3 years out of 4. It's not there. I don't know whether they couldn't get the rights to share it, or someone just forgot to post it.

Somehow, as I watch tonight, I'll be remembering all of these guys and the days when it was "more than just a game".



May the rest of the weekend be kind and may Monday be even more so!

alan

The old ways...

Ange and Becky asked what I was using to treat Dillon's new boots...

Up until now I had always used "mink oil" and still have a bit of it around, but I found out the other night that a lot of what gets sold now has synthetic things in it. Silicone, while waterproofing things for the short term, tends to do funny things to stitching, some sole material and also isn't really good for leather over the long haul.

So the lady at Cabela's encouraged me to try the beeswax treatment stuff her husband uses on his, working construction here year round. Invented by a forestry firefighter, it went on very easily and putting 3 coats on took about an hour. It did darken the leather of course, mink oil would have as well. It didn't seem to draw the cat and dog like mink oil did...




(A link for their webpage.)

The boots my son's wore when they got to the ages where they wore "real ones" went to my nephews and survived them and probably were given to other kids in the Scout troops they were involved with. Dottie has a set over 20 years old now, still going strong.

For myself, I bought an $18 pair of Wal-Mart felt-pacs (rubber boots with 3/8" felt liners) over 20 years ago and other than a small hole or two in the rubber (duct taped, of course) they are still going strong. When I replaced the liners after about 15 years I cut the bottom out of the old set and put it in the bottom of the boots with the new liners on top...a boon to my old feet!

I did buy another pair of slip on felt-pacs for myself last year, as I try to keep a set in the truck in the winter and was tired of going out to get them when I needed to shovel snow or something.

Someday maybe I'll buy myself a "good" set, lol!

May the rest of the week be kind to each of you!

alan

"But they're on sale"...

I've fallen prey to that so many times through the years! Usually my wife is the one trying to talk me out of it, or remind me that I'll find a better deal later, or there is some hidden cost I'm not figuring in.

This time it went the other way!

:o)

When we kept Talia the other weekend, the size T-shirts I had bought for Dillon the first time were also too small for her once they were washed, so we went to get the same size we ended up with for him. While there she saw a set of pink and white snow boots on a sale table...winter closeout, half off.

Of course Grandma said yes...then searched the rest of the table to find a pair for the two grandsons. Luckily she found some Spiderman ones for Caleb. $15 a pair for both sets.

My wife is one who always tries to even everything...her Christmas lists go back and forth between the number of items and the dollars spent until the grandkids are "even"...she used to do it with our boys as well. There are times I've truly despaired as the registers kept ringing in the name of "even"!

For the last two weeks she has checked every shoe department in every store she's passed to try and find snow boots for the older grandson. He is a "youth 6" meaning that next is men's 7's, probably sooner than later given his growth rate. No "felt pacs" to be found...not even 6's in most stores. Clerks keep suggesting a women's 7...the boy won't even watch Disney movies anymore because someone at school has him convinced they are "girl" movies!

Monday night she was out 'til 9 after she got off work! Dinner is hard to plan sometimes...

So finally last night we went to Cabela's. No felt pacs of course, I couldn't be so lucky! A set of Winchester 400 gram Thinsulate boots for $54, or a set of Cabela's labeled 800 gram ones for $66.

The Cabela boots won out because they are about 3/4 of an inch longer though they are the same size; we're hoping he can wear them next year as well, then someone will put them away for Caleb in a few years...

I came home and put the requisite 3 coats of sealer on them like I used to the boys boots 20 years ago and we'll take them to Dillon when Dottie gets home from work tonight.

When I go back to work I wonder how much of it will be to pay off "even"!

Of course, I guess better that than paying for Citigroup's corporate jet!

Not that I ever planned on "sitting" for the next 30 years, but there is a difference between wanting and having to!

Off to fix some breakfast and then take her Malibu to the dealer to see about a drip in a transmission cooler line!

May the rest of the week be kind to you all!

alan

4 days that shook D.C.!

So far I'm very pleased with the results of each of them!

The lobbyists have had a "warning shot fired across their bow"!

The doors to the Treasury are at least being watched now!

The Constitution is in the process of being restored along with the rights that have been trampled these last 8 years!

Sunshine has not only been allowed back into the bowels of the government (FOIA restored), but much is coming to light about our exchanges all having been recorded and archived!

The Fund-ublican-t claws in health care were just blunted a bit!

Not bad for 3 and half days!

______________________________

Caleb (the littlest grandson) is here for the weekend...he's happily waching "Boomer" cartoons right now and petting Angel. I spent 3 hours trying to brush her out yesterday while it was warm; got two grocery sacks worth of fur off her, and still haven't gotten her hindquarters brushed all the way out yet, though she and my back had both had enough by the time I stopped, lol!

I hope each of you is warm this weekend...the end of the month seems to be further and further away at the end of the money! May the weekend be kind to each of you!

alan

My good intentions aside...

I had planned to get here earlier today...

A few new photos from Vermont in the Flickr stream. Photoshop runs so much better on this thing with the extra RAM! I've been reading the "Dummies Guide" I bought and learning things I hadn't managed to find on my own in the years I've been playing with it...not surprising I guess, but I'd have thought I knew more, lol!

Should have bought the book long ago I guess.

We finished shopping for Talia's birthday yesterday. Her actual birthday was on Monday, but the family party will be on Sunday. Before they went to go take her birthday portraits John called to borrow a space heater as his central furnace had stopped and it was down to 50F. in the house. He also called the service people who had just worked on late last summer because the A/C had stopped working. It turned out to be a dead thermostat and since they were already there and he didn't want to take time to go get one and for us to change it he paid them to. I'm glad he had them diagnose it, because the idea of burning up his Lennox Pulse with me trying to jumper things didn't enthuse me much...

Bill and Laura have found a place to live for a while in Virginia, a house where they will rent one floor from a couple with a toddler. It won't be more than where he has been, with more room and they seemed to hit it off with the couple, unlike his current "landlord".

Of course, they still can't take their cats...

So that's the view from the Heartland for Wednesday!

May the rest of the week be kind to each of you!

alan

Too good to pass up!

There comes a point in your life when you realize

Who matters,

Who never did,

Who won't anymore ...

And who always will.

So don't worry about people from your past,

There is a reason why they didn't make it to your future.

____________________________________________

Borrowed from the blog of a friend...

A lesson that could have saved me much anguish in my 53 years, though it will still save me from even more!

Thank you, Liz!

Far too often I've wondered through the years what I had done, what was wrong with me...never realizing it wasn't me, it was them!

May the week be kind to each of you!

alan

90%...

maybe even 92 or so!

My back is finally better; I haven't taken a muscle relaxer or pain killer since I got out from under the hood of my nephew's Galaxie last Sunday. I was very still on Monday, but it has eased and the time has come for me to finally start going back downstairs to my little gym.

I call it "The Dungeon" sometimes because that's what the original downstairs gym in Venice, California was called by the guys who attended it in the early 60's. Bare minumum of equipment, lots of work to make up for the things that machines do now. No 20 minute workouts here, it takes that long to do one exercise because you can't rotate between machines...at least as things begin. Later in a workout I can do some supersets by rotating between multiple bars and dumbells, but it's still not the same.

I haven't stepped on a scale since I hurt myself, either. I fear it, since not only have I not been downstairs but the holidays interceded as well. Though my egg nog consumption was down this year, I fear it wasn't enough to save me!

So here's me resolving to get at least a half hour on the treadmill each and every day, and if I can't find 4 hours to lift on a 3 on/one off cycle, perhaps I can find two to lift every day with no off days...

Lesson learned, however, this time, instead of just doing things to strengthen my back I shall also remember to work on the abs and obliques I never got around to last time. The ones that would have strengthened the rest of my "core" enough to have not "done myself in" the way I did last month trying to help someone out of my yard!

I was told in therapy that anytime you build one side of anything stronger than the others you set yourself up for failure. I even kept telling myself I needed to make sure I made some time for those other muscles...but didn't!

Sometimes those little voices know best!

Dottie is off tomorrow, and Talia is spending the weekend, so I have no idea what is in store for me, except that she wants to make some T-shirts like Dillon did last weekend!

She's "into" horses now...I have a funny feeling...

May Friday be kind and your weekends be wonderful!

alan

P.S. I finally figured out after 3 hours yesterday how to add a Flickr slideshow; those photos going by are from the last two Vermont trips and I'll be adding more once I reduce their size to web-friendly. I hope you enjoy them!

Obsolete knowledge...

When my nephew turned 16 my sister found him a '67 Galaxie 500 for his first car. One owner, good body and driveline, $800. His older brother took it to school with him and reupholstered it in his classes at WyoTech and it's done well for the kid.

Just before Christmas he complained of it "dieseling", trying to run after the key was shut off. Before I could gather things and go take a look at it I "dinged" my back up and only got around to it yesterday.

In attending some classes in the early 80's they were talking about the electronic revolution in automobiles and stating that not only would electronic ignition and fuel injection soon become standard, but they would be doing away with the distributor as well. I couldn't believe it at the time, but most everything on the road now is sans both distributor and carburetor.

Which brings me to my "header"...

I dug out my "dwell meter" and a "timing light", "feeler gauges" and "plug gap gauges", "distributor wrenches" along with some other tools and went to tune his car before he went to work yesterday afternoon. It turned out Brett had put points, condenser, cap and rotor and plug wires along with a set of plugs in it somewhere along the way; the point gap was OK and I double checked it with the "dwell" part of my meter. The timing was way overadvanced, so I pulled it back to "stock" then reset the hot and fast idle speeds. In trying to readjust the idle fuel mixture (made passe by fuel injection in what is in most of your driveways) I discovered a vacuum line that was off and another that was plugged. The one that was plugged was the "main feed" for the dash with all of it's vacuum controlled A/C and heater doors and switches. Since Jordan had been complaining of no heat and no defrost, I'm hoping that is fixed now. The doors definitely work now and didn't before, so as long as the thermostat is the right temp and the heater core isn't plugged he should have heat. A good thing as they're predicting 17 for a high later in the week!

The "vacuum advance" in the distributor is also "blown" (another function that magic box now takes care of) and with it being 20-25% of the gas mileage, I told him on the next warm Saturday I will come up and pull it. NAPA seems to be the only source of them lately, and they will have to match up numbers and order it. Since he only drives a few blocks to school and work it's not such a big deal, but when he starts college in the fall it will become a much larger issue!

I wonder how many more times I'll use those old tools before I'm "gone"? Of course, I also have Dad's "flathead" valve spring compressor and special tappet wrenches along with his "flathead" Ford manual as well...I've never used them, but had always planned on it somewhere along the way.

Dillon spent the weekend with us. Friday night, since he's been digging through car magazines when he's here, I let him watch "American Graffiti". Saturday found me digging up some photos of the yellow "Deuce" coupe from the movie and we made him two t-shirts with the coupe on them and two from aircraft photos I've collected through the years, a B-29 and a B-52. He was delighted with all 4.

The "critters" all seem to have settled into "toleration" of each other. Throwing 2 8 year old male cats into a house with a 2 year old male cat and a 13 year old dog and having them all survive proves to me that humans have no excuses...none...for some of what we do to each other!

My back is doing much better, though it will still "complain" on occasion. Usually sleeping is the worst as after I doze off, I tend to roll into positions that make it say "Hey!" when I try to get up. Especially if the phone rings, lol!

May the week be very kind to each of you!

alan

The skies are gray...

but it's 55F outside, the freezer and the fridge seem OK, so things are looking better! Despite the snow in the forecast for the evening, despite the plunge back to 20 degrees by midnight!

My back wasn't very happy after wrestling the fridge out of it's assigned space and crawling around to vacuum under and through the back of it before it went back, but a few of the muscle relaxers and hydrocodone I had weaned myself from in the few days before it smoked it's circuit board and I'm feeling better again.

So it's off to make the shopping loop in time to be here when Dillon comes for the weekend. Chili for dinner, Dottie's off this weekend...I won't be around much 'til Monday.

I hope that each of you finds some brightspot in their Friday and their weeekend to particularly enjoy!

May the days be kind!

alan

________________________________________________

I put it here a long time ago, but for those who didn't see it:

Chili...

1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound Jimmy Dean Sage sausage (no substitute I've found will do)
2 cans dark red kidney beans
2 cans tomato sauce
1/4 cup (or one envelope) Williams chili seasoning
1 tsp. mesquite liquid smoke (sometimes a bit more depending on my mood)
Salt to taste

Pour your tomato sauce in a 5 quart pot along with one can of water. Rinse the beans and add them. Add the seasoning and the liquid smoke and turn on medium heat, stirring occasionally until it starts to simmer then reduce heat to keep it there.

While it's heating, knead the sausage and ground beef together. I make a huge patty out of it and start cooking it like a giant burger, turning it several times and pouring the grease off as it cooks before I crumble it. It's usually pretty well cooked through by the time I do crumble it.

To reduce the grease in the chili I place a strainer in the sink with about 8 layers of paper towel in it, covering the whole strainer. I work the crumbled burger out of the skillet into the strainer, then fold about 6 more layers of paper towel to protect my hand and "mash" the burger between the layers. It will pull 95% of the grease that's left in the meat out. I work it over the top of all of it, changing the towels under my hand as they soak through. Usually by the 3rd time there's no grease left.

Take the strainer to your pot and you can pour the meat into it by pulling on the upper edge of the towel...stir it in and let it come back to a simmer. If you like your chili thin, it's ready. I usually let it simmer down for 20 minutes or so.

This isn't a tongue roasting "hot" chili, but very flavorful. If I haven't eaten it for a while it won't make me "sweat" but just bring me to the verge of it...

alan

Tuck Foo thousand nine!

Refrigerator just died...

Of course, we just did part of the shopping today...

25 outside, half the food's in coolers in the (unheated unattached) garage, the other half on it's way to my son's, the freezer stuff we made room for in the deep freeze by culling what was in it...

Sure hope it's a defrost timer!

May the rest or YOUR weeks be kind!

alan

UPDATE: 2:45pm Wednesday-

I just kicked the circuit breaker back on after having changed the "Master Control Board" because the "defrost timer" that used to be a seperate component, a box a bit smaller than a cigarette pack that was less than $25 the last time I put on in 15 years ago in my last "fridge", is now on the circuit board. The $154 one.

I paid $24 extra dollars for a lifetime warranty on it; my last one went through 3 in it's of 26 years. I paid a service call on the 1st and watched them change it, then did the next two myself. The symptoms were identical this tiime; it was running constantly, the "reefer" wasn't cooling at all, and the freezer was up to around 50F this morning, though it was chugging merrily away.

When I pulled the circuit board you could see the burnt place on the back of the old one. (I've also seen that in voltage regulators in cars, and ignition control modules as well.)

So, it's running again...a thermometer sitting on the freezer shelf and in a half hour or so we'll see if it's dropping!

alan

Out with the old, in with the same old new!

Five and a half hours on the phone...we finally have prescription drug coverage again...

Dottie tried to call in her blood pressure med to Medco on Friday and was told we weren't covered. I called GM's benefits "broker" Fidelity, was assured that we did have coverage but it was a computer glitch and it would be settled by Saturday.

Meanwhile the doctor calls in an antibiotic for her as well, as the amoxicyllin she got for her sinus/lung infection wasn't killing it. It was denied as well.

When you have replacement joints, infections can settle in to your joint and cause all kinds of nasty problems. She was better, but still coughing stuff up, with one day of the other med left.

Saturday? No change...

Sunday? No change...

Today? At 9:30 I called Medco and played the wait game only to be told that GM had changed our coverage to a different company without telling us. I hang up, get a notepad and all of the PIN's etc. and call Fidelity. At 11:37-

I got a human at 2:13. At 2:17 they had forced Medco's computer to accept the new group number.

At 2:20 I called her BP med in and it worked! Then I called CVS and they put the antibiotic through again and it worked as well.

So for good measure I called in my eye drops to add to that order.

Finally I'm eating lunch and then I'm off to the pharmacy!

Not what I had planned for my first blog of the New Year!

I planned on raving about how much more cooperative my desktop is with the two 1gig ram sticks my youngest helped me put in (actually, he put them in and I held the light, lol) on Friday. About how when I picked those up at Microcenter this external dual-layer Lightscribe DVD burner also followed me home, along with a new slideshow program.

But that was before I spent 10-12 hours in voicemail hell over the last 4 days...

Happy New Year!

May the week be kind to each of you!

alan

Goodbye 2008!

May the New Year be bigger, better and brighter for each who visit here (and if I'm lucky, for myself as well)!

My birthday found us with Dottie juggling the books as is becoming common each month; I'll be hitting the bricks this next month or so to find a job. After she deposited some of the cash we'd saved for the weekend (what with Bill moving and all) I paid the last bill due for the month. Between my back and the cold she brought home from work, I didn't really feel like going anywhere, so after we finally ate breakfast we spent the early afternoon putting together a scrap wood riser to fit the new scanner I mentioned onto my desk as it's to a point the only way to go is up! I spent the rest of the afternoon deleting old software and installing new.

John, my nephew and a friend of John's dropped by to lend me an anime series I had read some good things about so I could watch all the episodes in order and not have to Netflix it. Dottie made me a pumpkin pie for a "birthday cake", since she's made pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas but we never ended up with any of our own except the cherry one I made a while back.

I got cards from Dottie's family in Vermont and phone calls from the grandkids and Noel. My sister sent a nice e-card; our New Year's Eve tomorrow night at her house will also be my family birthday party.

My mother didn't call, though last week she could find the phone each and every day for something inane. I'm sure she'd have wanted Galileo imprisoned as well for saying the world didn't revolve around her!

Since Bill and Laura hadn't paid to take their cats to the vet for the last 2 years, ours said keep them apart from ours until he could give them their shots and do bloodwork on them this Friday (after I get paid). Meanwhile, knowing they had "food issues" Dottie let them have full bowls of food anyway and the last two nights have been spent cleaning up gallons of cat puke. Thank goodness we covered the spare bed and love seat in the room they are in with plastic and old sheets first...

Bill called last night a bit after midnight; they made it to Alexandria safely. Laura called earlier to say that she had hung up Bill's heavy winter coat and an hour or so later uncovered another; mine. I guess it will be returning to me by parcel post; hopefully before we go back to zero again!

Bill was at work; tonight they planned to unload the rest of the stuff in storage and return the Budget truck. They have until Thursday, so hopefully if they don't return it tonight they will tomorrow.

As 2008 winds down I thank you each for your visits, your kind words, your support and for "being there" this last year!

May 2009 be kind to each of you!

Happy New Year!

alan

Life in a cat house!

Christmas went well- both days of it. Yesterday we ended up at my sister's to say goodbye to my nephew before he returned to western Kansas; the next time we see him will be his brother's graduation in May. The 2nd round of Christmas took place with her family then Dottie and I came home to try and get Angel and Frankie settled before Bill and Laura arrived with their cats.

Up until now Bill had been renting a bedroom from someone with plans to get an apartment or house when Laura joined him. He's not allowed pets where he is, so until they have a place Dottie and I are keeping her two male cats, 8 year old littermates. Both "large" for housecats, one a very "type A" personality, the other very not a type A (thank goodness)!

We shut our pets in the back of the house to let hers acclimate a bit, then let Angel in. Willow immediately hid; Alley immediately was hissing at her, bu tfinally started to settle down.

So then we let Frankie in. 2/3 their size, he has claws, they don't. It's his house, but Alley immdiately tried to put him in his place which Frankie wasn't having any of. Dottie squirted them both with a water bottle to try to convince them they didn't want to do this, which only irritated them both even more!

This all starting at midnight, finally Laura took them both to the front bedroom to go to sleep at 2, we put Frankie in the bssement; they haven't seen each other since.

Today Angel and Alley have seen each other, but there was no hissing, though Alley won't leave the front bedroom. The only time we've seen Willow is when the breakfast ham was frying.

John and my younger nephew Jordan are helping move Bill because I couldn't really deal with 6 flights of stairs to their apartment. Laura's Mom, Dad and brother are there and most of their stuff they sold or is books and clothes now. Bill's treadmill is the only heavy piece that has to come down the steps, and they should be able to handle it.

So, that leads me back to my header...I'm petsitting!

I keep thinking my back is better right up until I let the meds wear off, then it convinces me otherwise. I'm going to eat something and take the next round and start trying some of the stretches and therapy things they had me doing last time and see if I can loosen it up a bit.

Dottie is off until Tuesday, so I won't be around much in the next few days. Perhaps if I'm feeling better we'll slip out to a movie on my birthday, but we have more than enough things to watch here at home if we don't. One day next week John is going to help me put some more memory in this old Gateway (it's a 256) which should help with Photoshop and such...

Hopefully I'll be around to visit you each before New Year's Day but just in case, I hope each of you has a wonderful Happy New Year and that your dreams all come true in 2009!

alan

"I'm dreaming..."

and it actually looks like it will be a "White Christmas" this year!

My sister called a bit ago and despite the "black ice" on the two-lane last night my nephew made it home for his birthday (today) and Christmas. He won't be around to celebrate mine on Monday as he has to work on Saturday, but given the current job market, there are worse things than having to work on Saturday when you're 22!

We finished the wrapping last night, me stoned on pain-killers and muscle relaxers doing the "easy" packages and Dottie doing the ones you had to "think about". She is at work now but when she is done this evening she is off until next Tuesday. Most years I end up making my own birthday cake (except for the year I bought one at Costco) and fixing dinner. Perhaps this year I won't!

Tomorrow we'll go to the nursing home to take my Mom presents in the morning, then go to John's house to have Christmas with the grandkids. Bill is flying in from D.C. as we speak and this year my sister is coming with her family as well because Brett has to leave on Friday to go back to work, so there won't be a chance for the "family" Christmas party later.

New Year's Eve will be a combination New Year's/November-December birthday party at my sister's. Dottie works the next day, but said not to worry about it, because New Year's Day is actually rather quiet at the nursing home. I don't know whether that would have more to do with New Year's Eve or football, but I think I should just be happy for her!

As we speak I'm waiting on UPS to deliver what we're calling our Christmas to each other; a new flatbed scanner. The one I have is "Ok" but doesn't do exceptionally well dealing with anything but a "good" print. The few slides I scanned with it in the early days of this blog I was less than happy with the results.

I have every negative that Dad and I shot back to 1967, and slides back to 1950. He and I both shot a lot of larger format film (2.25 square, 6x7cm, 4x5; Dad even had an 8x10 view camera and I have transparencies he shot with it). This new Epson will scan all of those formats and has the "good" digital enhancement software with it for scratches and such. I've needed to sort through them all and cull the "unimportant" stuff and digitize the others for "posterity". Next will be breaking them into the right size packages to "burn" to disc and filling a file cabinet with hanging sleeves!

The 20% we saved on the scanner I selfishly spent on an "infrared" Hoya R-72 filter that had been on my wishlist for 4 or 5 years now, along with a stepdown ring to fit it to the telephoto as well as the normal lens of my Nikon. At almost $90 for the filter I really didn't want to buy two; the step down was less than $10. It will also let me put the "cross-star" filter I bought before Bill's wedding on the telephoto, since I hadn't thought about "not being able to" before and since I didn't get to use it at the wedding (I planned on a "starry-eyed" bride and groom shot that I was told wouldn't "look right") perhaps some icicles will find their way in front of it.

So, as the sun starts to drop behind the hill to the south and I start to contemplate dinner, I wanted to take a chance to wish each of you the Merriest of Christmases and to hope that tomorrow finds you close to someone you love, be it family, spouses, lovers or friends!

Under my "Christmas tree of life", you have each been a gift richly appreciated!

alan

Muscle relaxers and painkillers...

and suddenly things feel much better!

Dottie needed to get antibiotics for the cold she's been fighting for the last week, so she called at noon and got us in to the Dr.'s late this afternoon. I came home and took two of each and for some reason I'm not hurting nearly as much!

Perhaps tomorrow I can start trying to stretch things a bit and start doing the therapy excercises I got last time I went through this...longer ago than I thought, actually it was 5 years ago, as the Dr. was digging back through my chart.

Dottie is off now getting apples to make pies for Christmas dinner at John's and when she comes home I may try and sit at the table and do some of the wrapping so she isn't stuck with all of it.

Thank you all for the kind wishes!

May the rest of your week be kind, and may Christmas and the holidays be especially wonderful for you this year!

alan

Walking wounded!

Or, alternate title: The Price of Stupidity!

Last night: 11PM

Dottie and I just finished watching "Southland Tales" and as we got ready to settle back in to watch the "extras" there was a commotion in the street in front of out house.

In it's efforts to save money, the city didn't bother plowing for 4 days after the snowstorm; on Friday after they were predicting the subzero stuff we're in the middle of now, they laid salt on half the street. On a wicked hill, with two curves on it, in opposite directions...

The neighbor two doors up couldn't get in her driveway the other day and slid across her own front yard and through the next one before she managed to get back onto the street; she still did better than she did 3 years ago when I pulled her out with my nephew's 4-wheel drive Dodge I was working on at the time.

Another neighbor down the hill on the outside of the other curve had someone go down it and over their 3.5 foot railroad tie retainer wall, through the yard below them and back out, taking the top of the wall with them.

So when we looked out the window we saw a full size Ford 4 door pickup, long bed, "dually" stuck in the corner of our front yard. In their effort to get enough traction to drive out, they kept backing up until the hit the telephone pole between the neighbor's and us. Though I really didn't want to get involved, the idea of them totalling the neighbor's Continental (that I know she can't afford to replace, she's a widow on fixed income) and possibly knocking her gas meter over as well (right next to the car in the driveway) finally made me bundle up (it was 2 above 0F., or -16C. with a 25-30mph wind).

I drug the barrel of sand I keep for my driveway around to the front yard and started throwing sand under the tires on the street, the ones that were spinning. Dottie climbed in the bed over the spinning tires (no weight in a dually on ice...stupid people...)

It almost got out after the lady's brother got there and started trying to ease it out instead of just heating up the tires...between my sanding and his rocking it was one tire short of going over the curb when I started to push to help...

and I shouldn't have!

It still didn't make it out...I finally gave up and had Dottie pull her Malibu out so I could get my truck out, along with Dad's log chain. When I got partway down the driveway to my truck I knew my back ached...by the time I had the receiver hitch in and the chain out of the garage I knew it was pretty bad.

I pulled onto the other side of the street, where they had sanded, we hitched the chain from my hitch to the recovery hook on the passenger side of the dually. I locked my transmission in tow-mode and low, and pulled the truck that weighs half again more than it out without slipping a tire.

They thanked me...told me that they would get some weight in it today...the whole time the brother was chewing the girl out in Spanish...

I knew I ached last night, but thought I'd be walking it off today...

So far there's not a lot of walk to it. If I hadn't had Dottie dig the cane I used last time out of the closet I wouldn't have managed to get around so far today.

I'm dreading the idea that anyone might show up at the door because I really don't want to get dressed...

My Dad used to joke about "no good deed going unpunished". Hopefully by the time we need to load Bill's truck on Friday for their move to D.C. I'll be getting around a bit better!

I hope you all are warm and dry!

May the week be kind!

alan

1-2=5!

Just climbed out of the shower after spending 3 hours shoveling the inch to two of snow that is a lot more like 5 or 6, then spending another half hour cleaning off my truck and digging out my sandtubes and their safety box and loading them in it...

Now I know why I've been spending what time I can downstairs!

Hope everyone else is warm and dry!

May the rest of your week be kind...

alan

You know you're living right...

when you get up on the morning of your 32nd anniversary as your wife is leaving for work...

you trade her car for your truck because it's 59F (15C.) outside and you really need to change the oil in it.

You eat breakfast...

you drive it far enough to get it good and hot...

you come home and pull the drain plug...

and the wind that's been howling ceaselessly for the last two days swirls (20-30mph with gusts over 50mph) down the hill and under the car just enough to cover the side of your face with the oil, and give you a nice lingering taste of it. Though Mobil 1 is about $5 a quart, I can assure you it doesn't taste any better than regular motor oil!

You let it drain and drip until it's done...

when you go back out it's 25F (-4C.)...

Which is twice as warm as the high is supposed to get to tomorrow!

The wind is still howling...

The rain is due shortly, to turn into freezing drizzle and an inch of snow of course!

And after I take a quick shower I'm going to go trade her car for my truck so she has the car for the drive home, and so the truck is in the driveway first, before it gets any colder!

Never wonder why they say truth is stranger than fiction!

May the rest of your weekends be warm and wonderful, and may the work week be kind!

alan

Friday fly-by...

The Christmas box from Vermont just arrived; hopefully the one going will leave tomorrow.

The letter I still have to write; the shopping's at about 98% but the stuff isn't wrapping itself very quickly. Tonight we're keeping Dillon overnight and my sister is keeping Talia and Caleb so John can take Noel out for her 30th birthday. Tomorrow we're taking her "antiquing" for her birthday and perhaps part of Christmas, since we hadn't gotten a list from her yet.

I shopped yesterday and bought what I needed for Noel's "birthday dinner" tomorrow after we come back...she wants chicken breasts and mushroom and pepper skewers in Italian marinade off the grill.

A friend asked what I think of the bailout package...I had pretty much said my piece a few weeks ago but seeing the fiasco of the last few days has made me wonder...

Not very long ago the entire "raison-d'etre" for the GOP was "America First"..."Country First"...

Yet we have the "Senator from Toyota" (Richard Shelby of Alabama) and some others ready to flush not the 3 million jobs they count as UAW workers down the toilet, but also all the related ones, with the additional foreclosures and repos and everything else that will entail, to please their contributors from across the ocean who above all, beyond losing their tax breaks beyond losing their incentives, fear having to deal with a unionized workplace.

The payscales in the plants that Toyota, Nissan and others have scattered through the South are within a dollar an hour of what I made when I retired. In the last contract the UAW signed with the big 3, they agreed that new hires would come in at half that, and not only would they not come up to scale for 3 years, but if they are involved in anything except putting parts directly on the car (sub-assembly, material handling and delivery, sanitation) they never come up to that scale!

They also gave up pensions for anyone hiring in from this point forward.

Retiree health care, mine included, was no longer the companies responsibility after next year.

So the "wages and benefits" argument was already slain; it just makes nice soundbytes...

The thing that those other companies fear is being told "you can't"

You can't fire someone because you don't like them...

You can't fire them because of their skin color,

their gender,

their sexual indentity,

or their religion...

You can't fire them because they asked you to make something safer...

You can't fire them because they told you you were wrong about something...

You can't fire them to cover up your own mistakes...

You can't fire them because they needed to go to the restroom...

You can't fire them because they missed a day because they were sick.

You can't fire them because their parent, or child or their grandparent died!

It's sad that those who would like to wave the flag come election time don't think those are important things!

It's sad that those who would claim "Country First" as their mantra mean as long as it suits the shareholders.

I never built as "tight" a car, or well-engineered a car as the last ones I built. Finally, after 30 years of my banging my head against the wall, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel...all that was left was letting the last vestiges of "old management" retire and move out of the way.

Had the credit market not "locked up" like it did, there would have been no need for any of this discussion. The fault lies not at the door of the "big 3" but the door of Wall Street and the Treasury that did nothing except throw money at the problem and hope it went away!

Already the ripple effects had begun here...lay-offs, downtime, people knowing that by the end of January they will be drawing unemployment without any of those additional benefits everyone thinks we get because they don't have enough seniority...those were given up in that last contract as well for those new hires I spoke of.

Hopefully, the whispers of someone finally acting like a President and doing something about this are true and by Monday it will be "old news".

It won't save the 350 being laid off from my old plant, or the thousands across the country in the same shoes.

But that number will swell into the millions very shortly if something isn't done; and for every one of those others are going to lose their jobs as well.

The writing is on the wall for those who would care to read it...

Or even those who don't!

Sorry to be such a downer at what should be a happier time of the year, and on a Friday no less!

May your weekends be kind!

alan

My life in post-it notes...

Saturday morning-note on bathroom mirror:

"The floor feels wet, I think the toilet is leaking".

Sure enough, when the first plumber came last spring and pulled it to run his auger because there wasn't a clean-out in the front yard, he put it back down the first time and it still didn't flush right, so he pulled it a 2nd time and found the tree roots that had dropped out of his auger. Sadly, when he put it back down, he didn't use a new wax ring, because he had just put a new one down. That night the toilet "wiggled" so I tightened the bolts and thought all was fine.

Apparently not...

The underlayment was already screwed up and the tile was as well from the other times it had overflowed. I was planning to replace them this spring and had started looking at tile...guess that got moved up in the priority list, though at least for now a new wax ring seems to have solved the problem.

_______________________________________________

Sunday morning- note on mirror:

"The furnace smells like exhaust".

Years ago when I replaced the original Winkler "closet furnace" because I couldn't weld up the liner in it that kept splitting open anymore, I put in a Sears "wall furnace", as the house didn't have central heat and air and I had two new window unit air-conditioners and didn't plan to be here the next time it needed work.

To put a 50,000 btu furnace in a foot square 7 foot tall box, the burner liner in it narrows down very quickly at the top, and when it was about 5 years old it did this same thing. Turns out that it tends to carbon up the inside as it necks down for the flue. That time Sears came out, charged me over $100 to clean and check it because they had to do that first, then sent someone else out for another $80 to hitch a vacuum hose to it, string it out to something that looked like a parking lot sweeper truck, and vacuum it out.

Ever since I've cleaned it out myself every other year by running an old piece of steel cable up inside it and beating on the outside of the liner with a rubber hammer.

Sunday I went and bought a "flue brush" thinking it would be easier, got as much stuff out of it as I usually do, and all seemed fine.

_______________________________________________

Monday's note on mirror:

"It's going to be 50 today and you said you need to change the oil in your truck".

Yep, found out last week that I had used the last of my free oil changes from the dealer, so it was time to change it over to Mobil 1.

Did that and was getting ready to rotate the tires on it when some kind of commotion started across the street, and someone's brother I don't really want knowing what exactly I have in my garage showed up, so I pulled the door down until things settled down. Of course it was almost dark...I finished what I needed to do, put new "winter blades" on and put things away just in time for Dottie to come home, so I put new "winter blades" on her Malibu as well. (I love not having to knock the ice out of the tensioner arms all winter long...try a set, you'll love them unless you drive over 80 in the winter time!)

_____________________________________________

Tuesday...

Dottie was off...we went to "Australia".

One helluva good movie!

"Famous Dave's" had a sign out for a Tuesday special and it was too good to pass up, so we picked that up and eased our way home in the snow and ice, then settled in and watched "In Bruges". An odd, dark, unsettling comedy I guess I would describe it. A beautiful place, though!

_______________________________________________

This morning's note:

"The furnace still smells like exhaust".

So I just cranked it up to 80 to get it warm enough in here to shut it down for a few hours as it's only 20 degrees outside. Instead of just using the flue brush this time I'm going back to my old tools and try again...if that doesn't work I guess I'm going to try to call someone and figure out how to get one of those trucks out here again without having to pay Sears for the service call first. Being stupid, I didn't write down the name on the side of the first one...

I haven't managed to make it downstairs to my little gym in a week!

And I thought retirement would be "living the life of Riley"...

Guess I hadn't counted on "Murphy"!

Having been a Navy helicopter mechanic, I should know better!

May the rest of your week be kind!

alan

Into the sunset...

Metaphorically, at any rate!

It's taken me a while to gather my thoughts to write this post...since before Veteran's Day.

35 years ago, the day before Thanksgiving, I boarded the USS Kittyhawk at North Island. At 17, I had Thanksgiving dinner away from home for the first time aboard her, and soon after we departed for points west. I celebrated my 18th birthday aboard her.

I rode her all the way to Mombasa, Kenya visiting Hawaii, Subec Bay, Hong Kong, and Singapore along the way... with some time off the coast of Vietnam along the way. With over 5,000 of us on board, there were places we had to pass up that smaller ships would have been able to visit. We rode out a typhoon off the Phillipines with not only our own aircraft aboard, but more that they flew out to get them out of the islands because they were safer aboard ship! When we left Kenya we were the first carrier to ever sail into the current hotbed of the world's attention, the Persian Gulf. Along the way, I became a "Shellback", and somewhere lost my boyhood as well.

Not all of us that left on that cruise were lucky enough to come home.

The above photo is the Kittyhawk arriving in San Diego for the last time. The photo is from her archive...I don't think they'll mind me using it. The following is a snippet of the press release announcing her arrival:

"As the oldest active-duty warship and last diesel-fuel powered aircraft carrier in the Navy, Kitty Hawk made history during its return to the U.S.: it is the only aircraft carrier to have more than 100,000 launches from one of its waist catapults.

Throughout its lifetime, Kitty Hawk has had 407,511 arrested carrier landings and 448,301 launches."

Amazing numbers!

If anyone would be interested in more of her history, this link has a summary of the service of the first "super" carrier.

My Dad spent a lot of time through the years trying to convince me that I couldn't keep cars as pets; I realize that there is no way we as a nation can afford to keep a fuel-oil carrier sailing one minute longer than necessary. I also know that the sailors serving on the nuclear carrier that replaced her won't miss the fuel oil/jet fuel cocktail (in my day there was also avgas mixed in for flavor) that found it's way into our freshwater through the tank venting...



That photograph is her entering Puget Sound for decommissioning. I shall hope that not every city that wants a carrier for a museum has one yet! I shall hope that perhaps that although most likely she'll never launch another aircraft, that destiny has something else in mind for her besides being scrapped or sunk as a reef.

I have met men who served aboard before me, and ones who have served aboard her since. She is a touchstone in millions of lives at this point, and I shall hope that she finds a way to remain "alive" for each of us!

May the rest of the week be kind, and may your weekends be wonderful!

alan

Tuesday but it's Monday for me...

Took two buckets of cleaning stuff, a mop, paper towels, a gallon of Simple Green and a vacuum cleaner bag and spent 4 hours cleaning yesterday (not counting my travel time). I stopped by my sister's as I was leaving and she was on the phone with Dottie discussing how neither of them could imagine calling my Dad to come clean their house...lol!

Since it was the 1st and I did get my retirement check (thank you very much, GM!) I was supposed to make the shopping run yesterday, but didn't. I'm off in a few minutes to do that and if I'm lucky get my flu shot (finally)!

Bill coming home to surprise everyone for Thanksgiving was a treat, even though I ended being the one to pick him up at the airport with Laura because her car was "down". It also brought to light that she has been accepted at American University for her Master's program and will be moving to D.C. with him at Christmas. Yesterday came about because she is in finals right now, and trying to sublet their apartment so they don't have to break their lease.

So, except for possibly shampooing the carpet after their stuff is out, the apartment is essentially clean; time I wouldn't want to give up at Christmas!

I'm finally down one size, (about 30 pounds and at least 4 inches) after all these months, though I'm still not getting the time in my dungeon I planned or hoped for.
When I retired I never dreamed that there wouldn't be enough hours in the day! I had planned for those numbers to be at least double that!

Thanks to all who have left such wonderful comments while I've been "riding the whirlwind" and hopefully after CVS, GNC, the Chevy dealer's, Costco, Sam's and Wal-Mart I'll find time to visit a few of you before I start dinner...

Missing each of you very much...may the week be kind!

alan

Another day, another phone call...

"Alan, it's Laura...I have a chance to show our apartment this evening but have class 'til 3 and don't have time to clean..."

Off to Lawrence again!

I promise this "whirl" will cease soon and I will catch up with each of you...

May Monday and the week that lies ahead be kind to each of you!

alan

Together again!

In so many ways!

I couldn't really "see" what was wrong with Laura's car on Wednesday, only that there was a major coolant leak and I didn't have enough tools to be able to take it apart, a manual, or a light I could really see with. She had errands to run that afternoon, and as it turns out she and Bill were planning to surprise the family with his coming home for Thanksgiving. I ended up "in on it" as it was me that took her to the airport to pick him up.

Everyone else was completely surprised, though...Dottie, my sister, the grandkids...

When we picked them up for Thanksgiving dinner I copied down her VIN number and spent the afternoon deciphering it and reading up on 3800 Buick engines, then picked up a manual and a rechargeable "drop cord" yesterday. Bill and I (it took both of us to get it apart) managed to take it apart, put the $6 seal in and put it back together in about 4 hours in the rain/snow/sleet/drizzle, pressure test it and refill the coolant just before dark. I came home, and they drove it into KC for dinner last night, then left from here to have Thanksgiving with her family about 2 hours northeast of here this morning.

They are coming back through in a little while to say "goodbye" as Bill has to be at KCI at 5AM because they couldn't afford a later flight tomorrow.

Sorry about my lack of bloghopping of late! I promise to catch up starting Monday!

alan

My secret garden...

My better half returned to work this morning, leaving her lesser behind in comtemplation...

Though she knows nothing of my life "here", she benefits in ways she could never dream of. She, still in horror that my youngest and his wife actually travelled last summer to go meet and stay with someone they met through their guild in "WoW". She refuses to believe the connections people can make "through the ether".

How truly lucky I am!

Here in this "garden" of my soul, each of you who visit me, and each of you I visit are constant sources of fuel for my soul; fire for my imagination; beauty; inspiration; striking awe into my heart with your words, thoughts and deeds. Knowing my weaknesses in life, that you think of me as "good" drives me to become "better", knowing that each of you is on a plane far beyond my own.

I have said many times before that when I take stock "Counting My Blessings" I count each of you...

Tomorrow, at our Thanksgiving table, when the question goes around the table "What are you thankful for?" my answer, as always these last few years, will be-

"Being here".

What it will mean, among all it's meanings, is

"Being here"!

I thank each of you, for every word, every thought, every smile, and every tear...

I am honored that you share your lives with me!

May those who share our holiday tomorrow enjoy and travel in safety!

May those who aren't so lucky still find joy and happiness in their day!

May the rest of the week be kind to each of you!

(My plans for bloghopping and visiting my dungeon changed a few minutes ago with a phone call that Laura's car "smells like it's burning", so I'm off to gather tools and make a trip to Lawrence. Hopefully Friday will be more cooperative, as I miss each of you very much right now! Saturday my nephew plays in a state championship game, and we don't know what Sunday has in store yet, but Dottie is off work, so I may be "in limbo" 'til Monday, especially if Laura's car doesn't decide to cooperate! I hope you will forgive me!)

alan

Just a quick note...

while my keeper is in the shower to say all is well here...

I've gotten some of those things I needed to done; picking ones I needed help with from through the list, of course...changing the 56 year old "frostproof" outside faucet on the back of the house because it was too corroded to take apart to rebuild it...rearranging some more things downstairs.

Caleb came on Tuesday afternoon, and we traded him for Talia this evening to stay until Sunday.

Dottie's birthday was a good day yesterday, with phone calls and cards from the family, although there won't be a party until next weekend most likely. She goes back to work on Wednesday, has Thursday off, works Friday and then has the weekend off again.

I'll catch up with you all when I can!

May the weekend be kind, and the work week as well!

alan

GM and rainy days...

Robin Andrea asked about my thoughts on "the bailout". No, I haven't heard from any coworkers; Dottie was upset enough when I was getting texts from some of them after I retired that I have cut off all of them...

Until October, GM's sales had held at half the loss of the other automakers including the Japanese and Korean ones. Led by the Malibu and the Cobalt, there was hope of them making it to 2010 when more of the new products hit the showroom floor and "holding the line" became "turning a corner".

For those who don't realize, part of financing themselves until 2010 was GM selling 51% of GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation) several years ago. The company that bought that 51% bought DiTech and rolled it in with them. GMAC ended up dealing with it's share of "subprime" woes, and when all of that "hit the fan" they quit loaning money, just like so many other places.

So in October, if you wanted to buy a GM car, you either had to bring your own financing, or go to a dealership large enough to have banks backing it; GMAC lent no money for GM cars in October!

Sales dropped 47%...dealerships closed...thousands lost their jobs in support industries...this culminated in the assembly divisions cutting production, re-rating the assembly lines, and workers being cut in the plants.

For every worker in an auto plant there are 10 people in support industries, be it the modular assemblies (instrument panels, heater and air conditioner assemblies, seats, headliners, door pads, facias...) shipped in for us to install; the truckers hauling in those parts and others, the railroad workers handling the boxcars that bring in more of our parts; the truckers and railroaders that ship our cars all over the country; the people to thread the bolts; the ones that make the glass.

For each of those jobs above there are at least 10 more affected, be it the grocer's, or the department stores, the farmer, the textile worker...

The largest taxpayer in my county is the assembly plant I worked in. They are also the largest customer of our utilities. A friend who was a bookeeper for the power company told me once that "when things are tight we ask GM to pay a month ahead to get us by"...

So when you've given $750 billion to support Wall Street that may or may not ever be seen again in light of the news last week that they've decided not to use it the way it was intended, re-routing $25 or even $50 billion of it for use not as a "bailout" but a loan that will be re-paid, to an industry that supports so many, seems like a no-brainer!

Besides the Malibu and Saturn I was building, besides the upcoming Volt electric; the first generation of hybrid full size trucks had just come out last spring, and the next generations would be on the street by 2010 if they don't have to halt development.

To those who think of Detroit as dinosaurs as I heard a Senator say yesterday, you haven't looked lately. Dottie's Malibu averages 29.7 city, and I've gotten 37 out of it on the highway at 80 with the trunk full and the air on. Yes, it's a 4 cylinder, and if you think it doesn't run I'll happily put you in the passenger seat at freeway speed and watch your eyes open wide as it pushes you back in the seat when I step on it...

A piece I caught on Speed channel last night spoke of the "Smart Car" as getting 36 mpg. If Dottie's Malibu averages 29.7 with room for 5 and trunk big enough for a couple of bodies, is GM really so far off the mark?

My full size Silverado pickup? The V-6 is averaging 18 in the city; the only time I've checked it on the highway I was pulling my boat two summers ago and it was getting 24...

Yes; I think that loaning the auto industry what it needs to weather the financial storm created by Wall Street is a no-brainer. Throwing "the big three" to the wolves at this point will create a loss of jobs that will send unemployment well past the 7.5% they are already predicting for next month, and into the double digits. The losses created by not doing so will affect each and every person you know somehow, be it the loss of jobs, or the loss of tax revenue or payroll.

I also have no doubt that this "lame duck session" of Congress will find many already licking their election-day wounds using it as another soapbox, never minding the backs of the people that the soapbox is perched on!

I've probably prattled on quite long enough here...I'll just say the weekend went well, and that things are OK here. Dottie starts a week's vacation on Wednesday, so if I leave this up for a day or two I may have a hard time updating until she goes back to work...

May the week be kind to each of you!

alan