My First Car....51 Plymouth...(281)

The first car one owns is usually not the dream car but the opportunity car but still it is a car. Yep back about 1955 my dad got a new 55 Plymouth and he allowed me to purchase from him from my saving account his dark blue 51 Plymouth 4 door sedan. It was exciting as it had 4 wheels and ran down the road pretty good. Gosh I washed and waxed it at least once a week. Added turn signals from Sears that it did not have...added some other stuff too not sure what all, some fender skirts and mud flaps I remember with reflectors on them no less...I think new shock absorbers even though it probably did not need them at all it was fun sticking them on there anyway. Oh and "lowering blocks", with these babies mounted just under your rear leaf springs you could lower the rear of the car maybe 4 inches...wow what an improvement that was I was sure...almost laughable now the stuff we used to do...I remember one kid took a blow torch to his leaf springs in the front and heated them up and then we all jumped on it and lowered the front of the car....road like a log wagon after that...I did not do that, I knew my dad would be real mad if I ever did anything really stupid to my car...lowering blocks were pushing the envelope about far enough...he just shook his head and said looks goofy to me...

It had but a 6 cylinder engine with a manual transmission...not a real hot car but it got me to ball practice and even my first date or two was in this "blue goose" I called it then...I remember some of the others had chevy's and fords with V-8 engines and would leave me in the dust..why they could even make their tires burn a little rubber on take off...Mine would not do that, just not enough engine for the squealing the tires sound....I did finally figure out a way to make the tire squeal though...


If I would put it in reverse and get it going maybe 10 MPH backward and then slip it into low and "drop" the clutch quick I could get a little squeal out of it....but not too long after learning how to do that I did develope a clutch that slipped just a bit....After a bit my backward then forward routine did not work anymore....After a year maybe or so can not remember for sure but I needed an Oldsmobile I was sure...next post moving from the opportunity car to the first dream car...

The rest of yesterdays story...(280)

Love is in the Air Chapter 3 The Salvadorian Gringo Harvest

The bill comes to the table, it reads $160.00 US dollars for 8 drinks. One of Bill's new acquaintances say's "there ain't no way we are paying this bill". The bar tender is summoned and the bill is challenged. He looks at Bill and the other four men, and then glances over his shoulder at the couple bare machetes and now about 10 more Salvadorians between them and the door and says "you pay this". Bill, the oldest of this group, gets their attention and reasons that yes this is going to be an experience to learn from and remember, and then thinks to himself that it would be an experience to tell the grandkids about someday, not too proudly, but at least would be best for them not to read in the papers about. Bill reasons that they were maybe 5 miles inside lawless territory and that they could be skinned and quartered here in the next 5 minutes and never heard from again. The money is paid with no gratuity. They move toward the door. The bartender tells the Salvadorians something in Spanish and they allow the gringo's to pass through their ranks and out the door. The cab is there and away go the freshly harvested seed men back to town.

The next day the owner of the cattle ranch and processing plant tells Bill and a few other of the group, things are not looking good in his country these days. He say's civil rights lawyers from the US have messed things up pretty good for him and his family who migrated here a hundred years before. He said he now spends his time at the plant, always carrying a sidearm. And his home is now guarded by 4 towers of guards with shotguns. That afternoon as they return to town much gunfire is heard in a couple parts of the town. By the next day the revolutionaries have taken over the Red Cross building and a couple other government buildings. The guide tells the group that the police he has talked to say it will be OK and that they feel it safe to stay the full 5 days. The following day the city is more quiet and the group loads onto an old narrow gauge open air wooden passenger train with a steam engine for a trip about 30 miles into the mountains. It is 90 plus degrees and all aboard would love a cold drink. And lots of coke is on board, but it is 90 plus degrees also! The train stops to pick up some Salvadorians and someone throws a huge block of ice on the train floor. Oh boy! Bill say's, "get those cups and cokes open, we have ice", and the ice is chipped into small pieces enough for all to enjoy a really cold drink. Bill notices as he enjoys his coke that most carts are pulled by oxen and light loads are on the tops of the women's heads. He also notices and remarks how happy these people seem to be having nothing. "I bet they don't know what a migraine headache is down here", he laughs.

That night another great banquet with lots of drinks is enjoyed and goes down easily it seems and helps to at least ease the tensions of the guest. A few guest notice some diahria setting in. One guest becomes a wild man and throws a couple women into the pool. His name was Bill, but not our Bill, this was Wild Bill. The wives move away from the pools edge, but this does not stop Wild Bill, he simplly scoops them up and runs to the pool and goes in with them! Bill is glad that Jane is back in Chicago fighting snow not wild Bill.. The next morning at the breakfast buffet one could look up at the 10 stories of balconies behind the crescent shaped hotel, and see the five evening dresses and wild Bill's suit drying out on the railings. After breakfast, plans were to visit a coffee plantation, but before the buses could be loaded more people started making very often and very quick visits to the restrooms. Those 90% that had enjoyed the cold drink on the train had seen the "Revenge of Montezuma", that had been hidden in that nice cold ice, including our Bill. It was not a pretty sight. The fifth day finally rolled around and the "gastorically wounded", moved onto the buses for the ride to the airport. After a long debate between the tour guide and the military, the passports were exchanged for some of the items they had purchased for souvenirs that was declared contraband and possibly even some corporate money Bill suspects. Three of the group were carried on and then off the plane again on stretchers. As the plane lifted off a huge cheer that would have eclipsed the one in Chicago went up, probably heard back at the airport. Arrival back at O'Hare found the airport only open for a day and at least an hour of about 3 or 4 levels of circular holding patterns before landing. A year later Bill was reading Newsweek and saw a familiar face. The cattle ranch owner had been charged for walking into a bar and shooting two US civil rights lawyers to death.


Love was in the Air........#4 Recountance, Recovery and Romance

On the flight north from El Salvador Bill recounts his experiences and thinks to himself what a 'gold mine' the Salvadorian people are setting on as a great prospective tourism industry. Who could beat dry 90 degree warmth in January days and 60 degree nights for great sleeping, and not bar hopping. This unrest in the country would surely kill the tourism that had been started, but the friendliness of the commoners on the "day time" streets and workers around the hotel, would surely some day again make San Salvador a good winter haven he thinks. He has a couple of the "machetes" he slipped out of the country that will surely be "memorable" to him for quite sometime to come.

Bill's arrival home is good, the kids are glad to have him home, and get rid of the older couple sitting them and get back to normal as normal goes with this household. And Bill having thanked the Lord, is very glad to be home. Bill tells the family of the really nice gal he met at the local airport, the real nice weather, the nice people and all of the excitement, except the "big lesson" trip he and 4 others took into the country side. He figures maybe in 25 years from now he could put a better spin on that story. He calls his local doctor and tells him he needs big time help getting rid of the severe case of "Montezuma’s" that has stayed with him and shows no sign of giving up. A strong prescription and maybe another week of staying not far from the house, and Bill finally kicks the bug that joined him on the train ride into the mountains. He comes across that phone number he had gotten in Chicago and calls the blonde in the black coat named Jane. He leaves a message on her answer machine and a few days later Jane returns his call. She has been on the road with her job of promoting window glass for auto's for her employer. She had been traveling the state that week calling on insurance agents and auto body shops, dropping off golf balls and info and keeping the company name fresh in their memories. Unbeknown to Bill she had visited his little town and inquired of him at a local insurance agency. She had found that he really was "not married," as she had suspected that he was probably married . Had found out he was a "working farmer" as declared; and as far as was known, a decent guy. She shared with Bill that she had as it turned out gotten a five day stay in Chicago instead of 2 because of the closure of the airport and storm. A date was made for the next weekend as she was pretty tired and needed to rest up and do her housework, but would maybe not be as tired then. The Friday night arrived and Bill showed up in his "family" car a Chevy wagon, as the '79 T-Bird he had told Jane about had not arrived yet. Jane said, "no problem, you probably need this thing anyway with your five kids". Jane looked pretty attractive to Bill as he helped her into his passenger seat and drove her south on the River Road to a favorite restaurant. He asked for a corner table overlooking the river, and with good food and conversation he and Jane recounted their meeting by chance and life as it had been for them, to that point. The night ended with a walk to the door and agreement to probably do this again sometime soon and a kiss good night.

Bill was attracted to this lady, good looking, no children to wonder about how the blending would go if blending ever needed done, and she was street smart it seemed. Her ideas and ideals seemed very compatible with his. Who knows but at least for now he was content to get to know her better. Saturday evening was approaching and Bill was thinking why didn't I ask, but then he knows it is not best to have two dates in a row, not sure why, but that is probably the law of the dating jungle, so he relaxes at home. The kids retire for the night and Bill gets an idea. He loads up his blender, 7-Up and some Kool-aid and heads the wagon to town. He knocks on Jane's door hoping she is home with blender in hand, the door opens. Bill say's, "Hi Jane, I was just in the area and thought I would stop by and see if you cared for a new treat I have learned of. It is orange Kool-aid, 7-Up and ice, if you have the ice and the time". Jane seemed a little cautious, but finally kind of laughed and said something like "what an approach", and let Bill in. Bill fired up his blender and they enjoyed the drink and another couple hours of conversation and another couple good night kisses and Bill was headed back to the farm. Bill felt good, he liked this lady even more than the night before. Time would tell, but he had a couple months here to "cultivate" this relationship before the spring farming begins.

Cultivate he did, and and after a few more dates, the words "Love" were used now and then. Time moved on, it was a good summer for Bill and Jane. An engagement took place after about 6 months of dating. When would they marry was a topic for a few days and then the two agreed that what would be better than getting married on January 12, 1980? And what would be a better time for this wedding but 3:45 in the afternoon exactly one year to the minute that they had met with Bill's winning retrieval of the knitting stopper at that local airport. Thank God he had moved fast. It had been quit a year.

A day to remember Jan 12, 1979 (279)

Today is Jan 12, 2011 on another Jan 12 1979 at 3.45PM I met my deceased wife Linda...Taking a break today but did want to honor her with a reprint of how we met and then a year later married. We try and not dwell on sadness of loosing a wonderful mate, and I am getting better at it...but then all of a sudden the date hits you right between the eyes, which is just in front of the grey matter that holds all those memories....I wrote this story in 3rd person, like I was an observer but sure you will figure out that "Bill" is actually me and "Jane" is Linda...


Bill had been divorced a year or so. He had been out there visiting a few night spots when time allowed from his duties as a father. Blind dates had not yielded much more to fill the emptiness than the night spots. Oh,family life and work is the main thing anyway he thought and besides maybe he just needed a short vacation that was being offered to him by his employer. A short 5 day trip to El Salvador would be fun he thought. He signed up, never been there before, why not. Nice break from farming and seed sales and this hidden quest for a new companion, he thought. His employer Northrup King Seeds would be flying an entire plane load of seed salesman there. What could be any safer or more fun than a peaceful little country like that?.

January 12, 1979 came and the day to fly off for Bill's vacation. His brother Bob took him to the annual Purdue Ag Alumni Fish Fry before dropping him off at the Purdue University airport for a short flight to Chicago late afternoon, and then the next morning he will be on his way to sunny San Salvador, El Salvador. He sat waiting after checking his bags for the flight, maybe 15 minutes to go till the 4 o’clock flight time. A blonde "looker" comes through the door and hits the check-in counter. Bill scans her but thinks not a lot about her, but did notice that only a couple empty chairs remaining were near him. He would get a good look at the "looker" as soon as she needs a seat. The gal checks in and turns to look for a seat and then sits down only two chairs from Bill. Not bad he thinks, too bad this chick is not going to El Salvador his mind dreams. He notices her nervousness as she sets down and whips out some knitting work. A rubber stopper flies off the needle and Bill thinks quick. Retrieve this you idiot before some other bozo does, why not, no one knows him, take a chance, go for it. Three men go for the stopper but Bill has the quickness and drive needed to recover the fumble. He brings it back and hands it to the lady who smiles and say's, "thank you". "Your welcome", Bill say's, and settles back into his seat.

Only flight leaving that afternoon is to Chicago but Bill finally musters the courage to get the lady's attention and asks, "are you flying to Chicago"? The reply is "Yes", as Bill knew it would be. Silence sets in, as Bill assumes others in ear range have assumed him an idiot. The flight is called and all in the room walk out to the small prop plane. Bill just happens to get himself in line behind the "blonde looker" in the black leather coat. The plane is small, so small in fact that one must bend over at almost 90 degrees to walk down the aisle to the single seats on each side of the plane. All Bill sees now is the rear of that leather coat. Oh, heavens, he thinks as he follows the coat that rides up quite a bit with the bending over, this gal also has legs, and they are running from her shoes all the way to, well to where the coat stops the peep show.

The gal sits on the port side of the plane and luck seems to be liking Bill as he molds himself into the empty seat on the starboard side. The roar of the engines require more volume as Bill ask her, "Are you staying in Chicago"? "Well yes" she says. Silence finally breaks again when Bill says, "well I am flying to El Salvador in the morning". "Wow, that's sounds like a warmer place to be going", she says. "Yeal, they say its 90 during the day there", "Are you married", Bill asked. "No are you", she reply's?

The noisy flight finds them exchanging where they live in their home town, what they do, what kind of cars they have. And of course her name, he finds is Jane and lets her know he is Bill. She figures he is really married but not sure. Bill is figuring with his luck so far this gal will be staying in the same hotel, why not? The plane lands, Bill gets up the nerve to bring up the possibility that they could maybe have dinner together, "Where are you staying he ask?" She tells him, and Bill has not a clue where that is or where his hotel is either. He thinks fast and says, "do you maybe have a phone number at your hotel that after I find out where I am etc., that maybe I could check and see what your plans are"? Jane tells him that she may have here meals included in her package. But Bill gets the phone number and bids her goodbye and promises to call in an hour or so if things work out OK after his hotel check in. He thinks, hey, the main thing here is getting checked in for my little vacation but after that, well who knows love may just be "in the air".

Bill checks into his hotel and asks the hotel clerk about where Jane's hotel would be. How much would it cost to take a cab over there Bill asks? Twenty Five dollars plus, say's the clerk, as Bill look's into the bar and see's that some of his fellow seed sales people are starting to arrive there and get a little noisy. It looks like maybe fun to save all that money and hang there and plan the attack on El Salvador that evening. Bill calls Jane's hotel and finally hears her voice on the line. "Hi Jane, how are you doing?", he asks. "Real good", Jane say's, and then proceeds to tell Bill that she has found out that since she is traveling alone, that she has been able to change her package deal from a Romantic Dinner for two for one night to a Romantic Dinner for one for both nights she will be there. Bill wanting to stay out of the brewing snow storm, impress her with his practicality, and not risk missing his flight in the morning just for a long shot on love, say's, "Oh, Jane that is great, because I found out that a cab fare is 25 bucks over to your hotel and for 50 dollars round trip, why Jane I could take you out twice after we return home". Jane seems not overwhelmed with that prospect, or his practicality, and makes no promises about even a future date. Bill tells her it was great to have met her and hopes when he gets back to be able to at least meet for a cup of coffee and is able to pry a local home town phone number from Jane.

Bill meets that evening about 4 other men who are also traveling alone, single or otherwise. The rest of the plane load were couples who are going to enjoy the trip together.
Everyone turns in at a decent time to rise early for a 8 am charter flight direct from O’Hare 5 hours due south across the Gulf of Mexico to sunny El Salvador. The next morning all are on board at 8 am, but the storm has intensified and the plane is deiced for the second time about 9:30 am, and finally is allowed to leave in a heavy snow storm and is the next to the last plane to leave O’Hare for a couple days. Cheers when up as Bill's plane lifted up out of the storm and into the sunlight and the mood stayed high for all the next 5 hours. The plane slowed for landing and all that could be seen were some pretty green mountains below, everywhere one looked, nothing but mountains. How could this plane land in all these mountains?, Bill wonders. Finally the plane dropped down on what looked like a mountain with the top half missing on the edge of this rather large city. They deplaned and walked through the 90 degree heat which was 100 degrees warmer than they had left just 5 hours before. It was nice, as they approached the customs everyone was told to surrender their passports to the military authorities who seemed to be almost everywhere with rifles and the officers with side arms. Surrendering the passports was strange, but they had no choice. They just hoped they would get them back in 5 days. The corporate officers and travel guides put a good light on things and they boarded buses to the hotel. The driver thrilled Bill all least once per block as they worked their way at high speed through town on whichever side of the street seemed to be less crowded.

That night a gala banquet with drinks got everyone off to a festive mood. The travel guide warned to never drink the water or even eat the salad washed in water. Coke and beer was the name of the game they said. After the dinner they were told to stick in the hotel and rise early for a visit to a cattle ranch the next morning. Bill was about to do that when his 4 single or otherwise acquaintances suggested that they were going to sample the night life a little and if he wanted to tag along. They hailed a cab driver who spoke only Spanish and said to him, "Bar, drinks, women music". He understood and said something like, "good spot" and with two in front with driver Pedro and three in the back, they were off. Bill and the others had been told that night that the city of San Salvador was almost as modern and large, as say Indianapolis, but 5 miles out of town you would progress backwards two hundred years as quickly as batting your eyes. Soon they were in the countryside, no more city and Bill started to feel a little uneasy, but the rest of the crew in this flying missile just figured it was going to be worth the trip. The cab stopped before a rather dim lit bar with Hollywood style swinging doors going in, and in they went, but not before pleading with the driver to not even think about leaving them there.

The bar had four large tables with about 30 Salvadorian men and maybe a half dozen very attractive women occupying three of them. Most of the men had the machetes with about a 24 inch blade attached to their belts. They all 5 sat at the spare table close to the bar and ordered a drink and before they even came, about 3 of the women left the tables with the Salvadorians and moved in amongst the five Gringo's. They brought their empty glasses with them and of course were offered drinks since being so nice as to come over to get acquainted with the seed corn Five. Bill was not really alarmed at all of this, as a couple of his younger companions looked like they had worked with weights forever and who would mess with guys like that. Twenty minutes later Bill noticed that about a half dozen of the less friendly looking Salvadorians had gotten up from a table and positioned themselves in front of the door. They were facing the table of the Americans and a couple had removed their machetes from the belts. Bill suggested that the situation had deteriorated, and after looking around the room, all Five were in agreement that maybe it was time to at least try and say good night. They called for the check!

Story to be continued in a day or two....

Me and Smitty (278)

Well as we all know, Smith is the maybe most common used or better put there are more Smiths than there are other last names. I guess Smith and Jones maybe last I heard were neck and neck but for now I go with Smith's. Sooner or later there is gonna be a Smith in your life maybe as you get older and grandchildren get married and start to have children. It's surely happened to me and there he is in the picture to the left here with his one year birthday cake. Sunday was the event in Greenfield Indiana. Grant Michael Smith in picture to the left with his cake..The kid hit the jackpot, lots of people showed up, more grandparents and great grandparents than one can imagine. And gifts wow he had them, but he took it all in stride, unwrapping with mom's help each and every one. Looking at them, smiling and then playing with them a bit, as if to say "thank you". He did good and I am sure this week back in Georgia he is enjoying all those balls, workbench, animal pillows and I have forgotten most of them, but I know he is having fun.

Now to the right here is another probably one year old kid taken maybe 69 years and 24 months ago. You know he does look a little like.....ha, I think he probably looks a little like his Mom and Dad mostly and then a little like his grandparents and then well sure a little like his great grandparents. Which I would be one of eight handing him genes down through the linage. So 1/8th may have come from me, not much so I am just comfortable that most babies just look kind of like babies maybe.

His mom, Mandy sure is proud of him and she should be..As is his grandma Sherry Stair. He is a dandy kid for sure and will some day grow to be a fine young man like his Dad. By the way his dad is deployed with the Navy in Spain but he was at the party in Greenfield via the internet with a computer picture that we could see him and he could see and talk to us. That was great he was able to watch his son Grant unwrap each gift and throw balls and look at a picture and say "duck"...he has duck down real good let me tell you. Eric is a naval officer and does some type of secret surveilance work from high speed aircraft. I don't ask too many questions, don't want to be on the list of, "sorry you know too much we may have to kill you". But I have heard mention of flying at mach 3 and mach 5, where they are going that fast and what they are doing I don't think we need to know. But anyway grateful for his service and admire his opportunity to serve the nation in such a way. Semper Fi to Eric Smith in Spain.... Happy Birthday to Grant Smith enjoy your gifts and your genes.......

My Affair with Starbucks (277)

It has been ongoing now for maybe 5 years. I just love the stuff and always buy it on sale at my local grocery store. Usually grind my own Starbucks beans and then brew up my passion each and every morning.

But for a very special treat the last year or so I see on the Starbucks bag that I could take it into one of those really cool Starbucks outlets and get a free "tall one", for just taking the bag in. So about a year ago I started putting those bags into my storage area in the door of my Silverado, just in case I get the impulse to pay a visit to a Starbucks real honest to goodness store....

I always buy something when I get my free coffee so as not to appear to be a cheapo-spoungebob when I cash in my empty bag. Today I had an outrageous Oatmeal cookie with my tall Pike's Roast coffee. It cost me $1.61, but I figured it a small price to pay to be able to be in the company of such upscale people as those that habitat Starbucks. Even the help in the store appear so totally "chic", meaning stylish or very smart of course.

I usually don't go in there unless I have on some decent clothes, never in my old work duds or when my hair is not lying down properly. I notice the cars in the lot are usually upscale Honda's or Toyota's maybe a Mercedes or Saab now and then. But usually the only Chevy truck out there is mine... So I like just kind of hanging out there and watching the families get out of those cars and stroll into the place and hear what they order. The families are always just the right size too like a boy and girl or two of one and one of the other...never a car load like you see at McDonalds or Burger Bob's....

They order really cool stuff like Caramel Brulee's, which by the way come in Tall, Grande or Venti, or maybe a Caffe Laite or Caffe Mocha. Someday I may just throw caution to the wind and order one of those. Maybe when sweet pea is with me and I am not carrying an empty coffee bean bag. Maybe I will try a Caffe Americano, that surely would be good and maybe go for a Cranberry Bliss bar that I have admired now and then in the show case. And for Susan maybe I will suggest a Vivanno Smoothie or a Caramel Machiato, yes I bet she would like either of those.

And maybe I will take my laptop in with us and a newspaper and mold into the crowd that is doing those things also while enjoying the special treats that only Starbucks can provide. I do like to watch some of them on the computers as they probably are making huge stock trades of IBM,DELL or maybe even Starbucks in their E-Trade accounts. Netting them huge profits to maybe even take a few Cranberry Bliss bars with them for the road as they load their little families back into the car and head on out to wonderful places they are no doubt in route too....

Well back to the real world of Jack working on a nice ladies kitchen floor and wishing you all a very Happy New Year tonight...Drive careful and if you get "overserved", maybe stop by a Starbucks...tellem Jack sent ya...

The Tree is down and New Years comin...(276)

Sweet Pea and me took down her tree last night. It is lying in the back yard waiting on its next phase which will probably be cremation. My tree is still up but it will probably come down in a day or so. I had a real good Christmas as per usual, got lots of nice things from my kids and Susan. Lots of nice clothes, a new printer, office chair, starbucks coffee and bean grinder, lots of gift cards to my favorite restaurants and a magnificent kiss under the misletoe. Add all that up and it was yes another very successful Christmas. I did do some equal giving though which is really the best part of it all, not wanting you to think I forgot that..Did my usual for the kids and grandkids. Got SP a "going steady" ring for her right finger with chocolate diamonds in it. Some white and yellow gold ear rings, luggage for our in style traveling we may do someday, and some surprises...everyone gets some surprises, they sometimes get re-gifted but sometimes they are very useful too...And did my giving to my favorite missionarys and churches with funds that I applied with grain during harvest to my Jacks Giving Fund....That works so slick and increases my amount of giving by avoiding taxes on that amount of money. I will put a link to that site here if you are interested in doing something similar by clicking on the title above of this post.

But next year we hope to have a change up maybe and instead of all this gifting each other maybe take a trip somewhere...that might be fun, but who knows by the time it rolls around again we may just do the same stuff we all do each year.

Well New Years will soon be here. Wow 2010 sure was quick it seems to me like just last month or so it all happened. I swear time does speed up as we age and that means the finish line is ahead out there somewhere. Well I remember my mom always telling me to put on clean underwear every day cause you never know when you may have to go to the hospital she would say. And so that fear of getting caught with dirty underwear stays with us and even gets more important as our odds rise of it happening as each year passes now so quickly.

I want to wish you all the Happiest of New Years coming up this friday evening. I guess we are headed to Chalmers for a party with some old friends. Maybe its Brookston, its one of the two, they are like Dayton and Mulberry just a few corn fields between leaving one and getting to the other. Anyway it will be fun and I guess if 2011 has to get here well bring it on, let get it started...sure it will have it good times and some trials along the way but it will all be life as we find it each day...Well I have a tile floor to lay today at a nice lady's house so I better get crackin....Happy New Year...

Merry Christmas to All (275)

My Christmas Card to all...Could not wait to send it. Isn't she gorgeous? Three years ago last October I met her in a grieving class provided by Hospice for those who had suffered a loss of a spouse. We both had. She was shy as was I...Took me several weeks to approach her first with an email..which came back because her address uses a l(L) that I thought was a 1(one) instead... How was I to know that, so that was a bummer have it bounce back after taking several weeks to think of something to say to her.
But me being the rocket scientist that I am, I just printed off the email and mailed it to her home explaining what had happened...Took two weeks to hear from her but she finally did respond by email, not excitingly at all just saying maybe we could be email friends. By that time I had taken my motor home south to Naples Florida, but I have to tell you it was just a wee bit exciting hearing from her.

I flew home for Christmas for a week, emailing her that I would be home for maybe 5 days and maybe just maybe. She finally emailed back that her Christmas was just too busy to do anything to get together at all. A couple days before I was to return I decided that I needed to at least drop her off a gift so she would know I for sure really did want to get to know her a little better. So finally got up nerve to try and see her. Figured I only had maybe one shot at this so I decided maybe a nice gift bag with flowers, candy and maybe a book would be a good ice breaker. Purchased some nice chocolates, Williams Flowers on south 18th Street made me a special arrangement and for a book I figured maybe a copy of the book I had helped author with 11 other short story writers, titled "Is this the way it happened? I think So".
So there I had it, my three super gifts in hand, I got driving instructions off the internet, and set out about 5ish maybe to make by bold last ditch effort.

Well her son answered the door and said she is not here...I must have looked disappointed, as when I asked when would be a good time to maybe come back, he said," well you could just go by the nursing home where she works if you want to....So I did, and there she was at the desk when I came in, and this guy was about as nervous as one could get.
So I said "hi, I know you have told me you were too busy during these holidays to get together, but I did just want to bring you these things and maybe if you read my stories in this book, you will get to know me better and next spring when I come home, well maybe then"...

We chatted just a bit, she fielded some phone calls, I busied myself looking at the birds in the cage, made one more attempt at converstation, and then I was out of there. A couple weeks went by and then an email came that she had read my stories and she said, "your good"....That started a somewhat exciting email exchange that winter...Spring came and we did finally have that first date.

I am a lucky man, her good looks are only equaled by her caring, generous, and loving characteristics. Not sure how it will all wind up but we are as facebook calls it "in a relationship", and it is a great one. We both still miss our mates we lost deeply, but also growing in a relationship that has made life once again not just bearable, but exciting...

So I can wish you all now a Very Merry Christmas and also wish all of you a very healthy and prosperous New Year ahead....And think of all the money I have saved on postage here....It's beginning to look and feel like Christmas..........

My Little Christmas Tree (274)

I like my little tree. I got it at the Making Memories Tree Farm on 600 South near where I live. As you see it's only about maybe 4 feet tall, and I got it for 20 bucks, cut down and loaded into the back of my pickup truck. It was a really cold night and while this was happening I was across the street in my daughter Sharla's house drinking coffee with she and her husband Jeffrey. I used to own the property where it is located. The owner of the tree farm looked at the 2 acre parcel and said I only need one acre for my home, well and septic, what would I ever do with the whole extra acre? I gave it about a 30 second consideration and said, "you know you could make a lot of money and have fun growing and selling Christmas trees here".

And he does, every year now my daughter buys her tree there and this year I started to do the same. Have to talk him into selling such a small one though. He becomes quite attached to the little trees caring for them for 4 or 5 years and just don't like wacking them down until he feels they are at their peak. I heard last year he totally refused to sell some people small trees...Well that's up to him but if it were me and the price was right I'd not hesitate at all...But that's life, guess I was lucky. Probably did not have the heart to refuse the guy who put him onto the business maybe. Last year I just cut a red cedar out of a fence row that was kind of about this size. It cost me nothing of course, but they are not as nice a these short needled pine trees he has. But on the other hand, thinking back it is hard to beat the smell, the aroma from a fresh red cedar tree in the home. Especially if you can find one that has those little blue berry like things hanging on it. I remember many as I was growing up the only trees we ever had were these red cedar trees and when they are trimmed out and decorated with the lights turned on and the house lights out, wow, it just don't get any better.....

I used to set and look at those trees the nights before Christmas for hours on end. Walk over near them and smell the aroma from those little blue seeds, it just all smelled like Christmas to me...So like I say last year I was content as could be to just drag in the little cedar as messy as they are and string on some lights and bulbs and bingo the magic was back....

One thing I like about a small tree is it only takes one small string of lights and a few bulbs, last years candy cane's and your in business. Susan Claus helped me last year and this year attach these items to the tree... It is a lot more fun with two doing it than just one, not sure why, but it sure is....Merry Christmas.....

Christmas the Opportunity (273)

Well it is about 2 weeks till Christmas 2010. I have good and bad memories of Christmas past. Most of them good, the bad ones I really try and block out, but the older I get I really am starting to look at Christmas each year as an Opportunity. And I think a lot of people also look at it that way. An opportunity to reach out to others, family and friends; and even strangers, and try and make their lives a little better even if for just a minute or two. Christ of course set the example for us and of course His gift of belief of eternal life could never be duplicated or equaled but it is the example of how we can in small ways renew this happening of over two thousand years ago. It is funny as about October as the time nears I sometimes do not welcome it at all, wishing almost I could just fast forward into the new year and just skip it this year. But then, I finally get the spirit as I listen to the music of the season and it finally soaks into me that it is good. And that even though one may have blown it a few times it keeps coming back each year and the opportunity to embrace it and enjoy the season is here with us again.

For some of us, we may need an excuse to show love and kindness to others and it does offer that, the opportunity knocks each and ever year for us all. Yesterday was the get together for my family. Some could not make it because of the weather here in the midwest. The best part is just cooking up a nice meal to be enjoyed by all. Some special dishes, a glass of special wine, candies, like some bourbon balls we made that turned out really good. And then people showing up and greeting them with a Merry Christmas. Knowing we are carrying on a tradition that has been around for a long time and will be around for centuries to come. Gifts are exchanged and its the thought that counts no matter what the gift. I like small, thoughtful things just as much as other larger things. Larger things usually have to be put together and instructions read....So simple is good with me..I usually find a bargain or two that I snap up that I figure someone will like, but money is my old standby when it gets down to it. I figure everyone likes to give gifts and money sure helps them do just that so I know it is appreciated and utilized probably this Christmas season...

Also donation to missionaries, churches, Salvation Army, Red Cross and many others help with my getting into the Christmas Spirit of things each year. Giving is more fun than receiving, but receiving is part of it for sure..but the giving is the part that makes you feel a part of Christmas and how you think it maybe should be...
I wish each and every one a Merry Christmas this year, hoping it is a good one and that Christmas seasons to follow will be as good and maybe even better....It should work that way as we practice it each year, year in and year out....

Hey I think I am done.....(272)

For the most part, I think my home is finally complete of the remodel job that was started almost two years ago..at least the planning phase of it and then the work actually in the spring of 2009. Yep, the fireplace mantel got installed a couple nights back. It took my son in law Jeff and his son in law Ryan and myself in the middle to lift it to its permanent, (I hope) spot on the fireplace. It was really heavy, I'd guess way over 200 pounds for sure. Jeff and I thought we could handle it, and carried it from the barn to the house. But then the height of it's resting spot was just more than we could muster so we had to bring in the young and strong to help us out. It has now been bolted down into the brick so that it poses no major threat of falling and injuring someone, maybe me....And then to the left here with the help of sweet pea's touch, we have the finished product. Stockings for Susan and I and Buddy who is looking forward to lots of treats in his stocking. Hobby Lobby just has lots of good stuff that made the mantel finally in place and complete....

The remodel job with removing walls, doorways, a window, enclosing the back porch, where the fireplace is now located took lots of time and effort...Some of it mine, some Susan's and mostly Randy Denham and company. Some hardwood floors by Randy, and the ceramic floors by me, painting my sweet pea and me, kitchen redo with granite tops, its been a long project but a fulfilling and satisfying one..Susan adding ideas and efforts along the way that has made a house a home...It has been fun, but glad to report this day that it is finally done...

Deceptive Practices and the Mantel is coming.(271)

Yes it has been a lot of work but soon the mantel will be done and mounted on the fireplace...Can't wait to post the story of a finished mantel and a finally finished home remodel job...I think it's the last chore of this long event, but you never know?

About 15 years back, I voluntered to be part of a prostate cancer study...it was a blind study where you either got vitamin E or Selium or both or nothing(placebo), but you did not know what. I still don't know and I guess it matters not......also I got a free vitamin supplement all those years which was the only actual benefit...it was halted a year ago when it was finally learned that neither of these supplements helped in the prevention of prostate cancer...

But they do still keep track of me by mail and today I recieved this notice of Deceptive Dietary Supplements marketing practices that I felt duty bound to share with you all...Here it is below..also will try and allow you to go to the government site by clicking on the title above......



Herbal Dietary Supplements: Examples of Deceptive or Questionable Marketing Practices and Potentially Dangerous Advice
GAO-10-662T May 26, 2010
Highlights Page (PDF) Full Report (PDF, 28 pages) Accessible Text

Summary

Recent studies have shown that use of herbal dietary supplements--chamomile, echinacea, garlic, ginkgo biloba, and ginseng--by the elderly within the United States has increased substantially. Sellers, such as retail stores, Web sites, and distributors, often claim these supplements help improve memory, circulation, and other bodily functions. GAO was asked to determine (1) whether sellers of herbal dietary supplements are using deceptive or questionable marketing practices and (2) whether selected herbal dietary supplements are contaminated with harmful substances. To conduct this investigation, GAO investigated a nonrepresentative selection of 22 storefront and mail-order retailers of herbal dietary supplements. Posing as elderly consumers, GAO investigators asked sales staff (by phone and in person) at each retailer a series of questions regarding herbal dietary supplements. GAO also reviewed written marketing language used on approximately 30 retail Web sites. Claims were evaluated against recognized scientific research published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). GAO also had an accredited lab test 40 unique popular single-ingredient herbal dietary supplements for the presence of lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, organichlorine pesticides, and organophosphorous pesticides.

Certain dietary supplements commonly used by the elderly were deceptively or questionably marketed. FDA statutes and regulations do not permit sellers to make claims that their products can treat, prevent, or cure specific diseases. However, in several cases, written sales materials for products sold through online retailers claimed that herbal dietary supplements could treat, prevent, or cure conditions such as diabetes, cancer, or cardiovascular disease. When GAO shared these claims with FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), both agreed that the claims were improper and likely in violation of statutes and regulations. In addition, while posing as elderly customers, GAO investigators were often told by sales staff that a given supplement would prevent or cure conditions such as high cholesterol or Alzheimer's disease. To hear clips of undercover calls, see http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-662T. Perhaps more dangerously, GAO investigators were given potentially harmful medical advice. For example, a seller stated it was not a problem to take ginkgo biloba with aspirin to improve memory; however, FDA warns that combining aspirin and ginkgo biloba can increase a person's risk of bleeding. In another case, a seller stated that an herbal dietary supplement could be taken instead of a medication prescribed by a doctor. GAO referred these sellers to FDA and FTC for appropriate action. GAO also found trace amounts of at least one potentially hazardous contaminant in 37 of the 40 herbal dietary supplement products tested, though none in amounts considered to pose an acute toxicity hazard. All 37 supplements tested positive for trace amounts of lead; of those, 32 also contained mercury, 28 cadmium, 21 arsenic, and 18 residues from at least one pesticide. The levels of heavy metals found do not exceed any FDA or Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations governing dietary supplements or their raw ingredients, and FDA and EPA officials did not express concern regarding any immediate negative health consequences from consuming these 40 supplements. While the manufacturers GAO spoke with were concerned about finding any contaminants in their supplements, they noted that the levels identified were too low to raise any issues internal product testing.

Desilting the pond (270)

This is the finished product, I like it and I know the fish are going to like it even better...This picture taken from the new this year, "bridge to nowhere", but as usual I forgot to take a before picture of all the silt in the pond. When I built the pond in 1995 it was just an open field, I harvested the wheat in July and immediately went to work on digging out the pond. That fall we had a lot of rain and I had not established any grass around the perimeter yet. So it washed into the pond to the tune of about 8 to 10 inches deep..It made me sick that it happened, but nothing I could do.
I got grass established the next spring and no more came in after that but the damage was done. But this current drought that has lowered to pond about 4 feet has exposed this silt maybe 25 feet in some places from the bank. It was time for action and action happened here the last two days and friends of mine who own a small excavator came to my rescue, after I agreed to pay them of course.....

They did an excellent job of it. It was money well spent and now I am happy and I know next spring the fish will be glad to see the clay bottom instead of the silt, yucky, mushy stinky black silt that had washed into the pond from field run off....they have a small dump truck the one ton variety but we were able to remove 80 loads of this stuff and place it places where it will not come back into the pond, ever again...We probably in some areas removed 8 inches of the stuff and other areas maybe only 4 but it is great to see a red clay bottom in most areas around the perimeter of the pond. The center of the pond, the deeper water probably has silt also but there is no way I will ever be able to remove it, but what the drought has offered me in the way of opportunity, I took it and, well let me say, Mr. Opportunity, thanks for knocking...............

My contractor "Excavations Plus", Chris Brown and Randy Denham...good folk...

Making a Fireplace Mantel (269)

A few years back we took 3 grand kids to visit the Lincoln Boyhood home near Santa Clause Indiana. It was great seeing and walking in the woods that our own Abe Lincoln used to work and play in. Seeing his mothers grave there on a small hill in the woods.
But my best remembrance was watching two young men cut and shape big logs into square logs that were to be used in rebuilding the Lincoln home on the exact spot it had been many years ago. I had always been interested in how they did it and there it was happening right before my eyes. Well as you know a year ago I added a fireplace to the home here and a provision was made to attach a mantel. A makeshift mantel was found in the barn but not nearly what I really want. I want a rather rustic looking 5 inch think 10 inch wide piece of wood the width of the fireplace. Only that will do and I just feel although a ridiculous amount of work involved that I must at least try to do this. Thus the picture above Susan took of me as we started this project Saturday. In clearing the fence row where I am cutting firewood I happened on a 18 inch Walnut tree. So it will be the first effort and I really hope it turns out suitable as I really don't want to do this again, it is way too much effort. But I guess if it turns out OK as I set before the fire and admire it and I know I dam sure will appreciate it...

I borrowed a cross cut saw to make the cuts into the log with to the depth desired then the fun begins and also I borrowed from Phil Burket a wide hand powered chiesel of sort that makes smaller chips fly off the log. Some how through all of this effort I hope to have a Mantel soon....A good action shot on the top photo as the large chip of wood is in the air and the axe has recoiled backward from the blow I gave it to chip it off....good shot there sweet pea....

Click on the title above and it will take you to a site showing the Lincoln boyhood home in Indiana....

America Stood Up Yesterday (268) Yippeee

It was a good election yesterday, America fed up with current policy in DC and elsewhere went to the polls and cast their votes. They did send a message to the President to "change course". Will be interesting to hear Obama's take on this message at 1 PM when he has a news conference. I doubt that he will get it though. We will see.
I only lost one vote that I had cast and that was the Democrat for the Assessor's office. So I guess if I was to lose one that was the one to loose for sure. I doubt if Obama will be able to swallow enough crow to allow the healthcare bill to be changed.
Hope he does but this guy is probably still thinking that he knows best for all of us.
But the election did bring back hope for a lot of people. Hope that the voters do still have the ultimate power with the ballot box. Hope that future government will be smaller in size and expenses. Hope that if Obama is not willing to work out agreements with these people's choices that in two years we can make him a one term President.
I would like to see either Huckabee or Mike Pence emerge as the Republican choice for 2012 White House run...Pence could be our best shot...He is such an upright guy and I believe him to be a good Christian. Huckabee is also and would make a great President I believe. But my choices usually don't make it to the top...

Cutting fire wood these days cleaning fence rows that have been let go for maybe 50 years. Recouping maybe 20 feet of farm land and getting warm twice from the wood. Once when I cut it and then will again when I burn it in the fireplace. Old wood cutters joke, but so true. In my case my son in law Jeff Plaspohl and I actually will get warmed three times when we burn the huge brush piles later on after the burn ban is lifted. I rather actually enjoy cutting firewood. Falling big trees, notching them on the side you want them to go and then slicing through from the back and watching these monstorous trees pop and fall in a huge crash to the ground. Then trimming off the small brush followed by cutting all the remaining wood into 16 inch pieces of firewood. The large ones we split up some several times with Jeff's excellent splitter...That is actually a lot of fun also turning them into manageable peices of wood for the fireplace.

Some of the wood seen here being burned last evening in celebration of a really excellent election...I remember writing about the T party rally I attended in DC on 8/28 and saying I felt we may have gotten our country back that day..I could just feel it and I think the whole country felt it and did it....Semper Fi....

Be sure and Vote it is your duty Citizens (267)

Just a reminder here that next tuesday is our day as voters in this nation. It is the day we can actually take part in doing something about our government. We have the power to elect who will represent us at local, State and National levels of our government. We can make it what we want it to be, but we must do our duty as citizens of this land and make sure we make our votes count.

LET US HAVE FAITH THAT RIGHT MAKES MIGHT, AND IN THAT FAITH, LET US, TO THE END, DARE TO DO OUR DUTY AS WE UNDERSTAND IT.

These words were from the speech in New York that propelled Abe Lincoln into the Presidency in 1860. That was 150 years ago but his words are good for us today also.
Our country was not built on handout programs, our country was built on hard work and a will to be free and out from under the heavy hand of too much government. We must remain vigilant and true to that cause of staying free and not allowing government to spend us into debt that we will not be able to emerge from. We are close to that I fear, and so I for one will watch what our elected officials do after they get into office. If they vote for things that we as a nation can not afford, I will work hard to vote them out....Right now we have a lot of them that need to go as comprehensive government of everything for everybody is about all they know. We need representation that gets us back to basics of smaller government, that provides for a strong national defense but starts to wean us off of the many programs that we can not afford....I hope you will also vote your wishes for the nation on election day....

But in simpler terms, let me say that free ice cream for everyone as is the goal it seems of our current government, is just not practical. You see to have free ice cream you have to have a cow and to have a cow giving milk you need hay and then you need someone behind the cow cleaning up the mess...you get the drift, freedom is not free and free stuff is never free, it all cost money, big money that we do not have and can no longer afford to borrow....Let us be about getting it right on Nov. 2nd.

Voting early, Another Wedding and The Kentucky Bourbon Trail...(266)

Picture at left is the reception behind the Tutt home, huge tent first class all the way...loved it....











Picture above taken at the rehearsal dinner at the Hunt Club in Lexington. What a great setting an old corn mill probably 200 years old, no doubt used to grind corn for white lighting, now a great spot for special events like this. The wedding of Stuart Mercer and Rebecca Tutt seen here. I do love these big weddings in Lexington.. Lots of fun.....

Me and sweet pea voted early today at the Pay Less Grocery Store. It was fun to get it done and get it over with...Knowing our conservative votes are in the hopper waiting to be counted is a good feeling. Ronald Reagan would be proud, well I think he would, but I did vote for one democrat. Our county assessor had been doing a pretty good job of late and just to keep them honest at the court house I voted to keep her in office. But, now I have to wait till Nov. 2nd and the rest of you to cast your votes before I can pop a big batch of corn and relax in my easy chair and watch the returns come in...I saw a good sign today though. The line was long to vote and they were all older generation people. This could bode well for the conservatives I am guessing. Young people bought into the all the wonderful free shit that Obama was promising last time. I think they helped the Democrats put their miracle worker into office. Now that we all realize the free shit is none existant and we actually have to pay for all that non-sense the dreamer promised, maybe they will all just stay home. I hope so, there has never been a free lunch and never will, but people do swallow hallow promises hook line and sinker as we saw in 08....Let us hope we have learned a lesson that reason has to be assessed with golden promises. That golden miracles, promises of wonderment, are just that, pure bullshit to get one elected...every good politician knows that you can fool a lot of the people some of the time...Lincoln said that once remember, you can fool some of the people some of the time but you can not fool all of the people all of the time, something like that, but anyway you get the drift...some people can be fooled, now and then...

Attended another great Lexington Ky. wedding...sure was fun, Lexington is a great town, no doubt the most upscale of all cities in Kentucky for sure....And then Yesterday we visited the Woodford Distillery and seen how they make that great Kentucky Bourbon whiskey...Clicking on the title above will take you to their website and get you a look at the old limestone building...The operation was started in 1812 by a guy named Pepper....forgot his first name so we will just call him Mr. Pepper...anyway interesting process of taking fermented corn and putting it into charcoaled white oak barrels for 7 to 9 years and out comes Kentucky Bourbon....Loved the taste of the stuff, even bought a 1 liter bottle and someday will become a maker of Manhattans....Hey maybe that is part of that new idea at Purdue...you know the "makers all thing"...Yeal I can be a Makers All of Manhattans....gee and I was just starting to finally feel a little bit like a boilermaker....now I am a Makers All.....wow, that is just so funny and maybe a whole lot lame....see ya later....

I will be voting again on Nov 2nd (265)

I have never understood people who sometimes do not exercise their right to vote. To me it is a civic duty that we support our governing system by making good choices in those that serve us in public office. I guess I will always think that way, that to do otherwise is showing disrespect for the nation in which we live. I felt that way about military service when I was young also, it just seemed like I owed that to the great nation I was fortunate enough to be born into. I guess I still feel that way, but especially so for voting in every election, primary's and general elections. They are all equally important to the health of our nation.

And I fully understand that one voter staying home refusing to vote probably changes nothing. Their voting that day will not get someone elected that would not have been nor would it not elect someone that could have been elected. That is fully understood but to me it does not lessen the obligation to vote for who you think is the best possible candidate that will improve the government that we all live under. Just as a worker staying home from work does not change to production of our nation very much if any. But what if 100 workers stay home or 1000 workers stay home and not go to work. Then corporately things do start to change. And voting I believe works the same way, if a million people or even 100,000 people say my vote will not change anything, they are wrong, their lack of votes corporately do change things and the will of the people is not carried out. I really believe this and I guess is the reason I have never missed a vote in my life since becoming old enough to vote.

And even though I realize my single vote changes really nothing, I enthusiastically embrace the opportunity each time it presents itself. I feel good having made my choices and supported people who I feel are the best choices to serve us all.

I will try and chose candidates who will be somewhat conservative on spending of the peoples tax money. I like candidates who look at the governments business as they would their own business they could run or would run if they had a business.

I hope congress does come under a major change and I hope if this happens that they will be true to the task and turn government to be responsible. If it happens I will feel good about where we are headed. If it does not I will look to the next election for it to happen. Somehow soon it has to happen as we are headed for a cliff. How high the cliff or how far we could fall, I don't even like to think about nor do I know. I hope all of you are equally concerned and equally excited about doing your duty as citizen of this nation that was great and could be again.

Medical Alert and my new cell phone (264)

This breaking news of this new, but finally identified decease comes just in the nick of time and I felt it my duty to get the info out there...You may be afflicted and don't even know it. So read it and follow instructions and we will do our best to bring you back and stamp out this terrible infliction...Early voting has started so you can take your first treatment anytime you want now....Click on the annoucement to make it larger to read

And on a lighter note check out my new cell phone to the right here....man I love this thing..no more punching buttons for me...back to dialing and I have a really really loud ringer on it too...almost sounds like a fire drill, but by golly I don't miss any calls...it don't have missed calls and voice mail and all that nonsense on it but who needs it anyway....

On the farming front, everything is pretty well wrapping up around here...a few farmers still have a field or two that needs to be harvested but for the most part its done. My corn planter got new disc openers this week, and is field ready now, awaiting April in Indiana...currently I am repotting "rain lillies". I had 3 pots of them...they bloom you know about 24 to 48 hours before it rains..I do like them and I look at them as a revelations of God's sense of humor...he had to have chuckled when he came up with these things...knowing it would absolutely drive the atheist and evolution folk up the wall trying to explain it...seldom do they miss it...if it don't rain for a month you don't see a bloom...all of sudden one day there they are and you better keep the umbrella handy...anyway I think they may have went 5 years without being seperated and re-potted. I now have about a dozen or so pots of these guys...I will give them to friends next spring after they spring to life.....

If you want to read about Zephyrathes grandiflora (rain Lillies), just click on the title of this post...it will take you there...it will also tell you that they bloom after a rain....oh really, not at this house...Ok, maybe God has a bigger imagination than I thought...maybe he makes them bloom before the rain, for believers and after for non believers...I don't know but I got my guesses....

Pittsburgh's Rick and Linda (263)

Old friends are the best kind and that is what we have here...Met these folks in Hawaii in 1980 so we have 30 years under our belts....We are still friends and when ever I pass through the Burg of Pitts I try and see what they are up too...On our recent trip to DC for the Marine reunion we had the chance to meet at Cracker Barrel on I 70 near Washington Pennsylvania on our way back to Indiana....close to Pittsburgh a place we usually meet up when we have these opportunities.

My wife Linda and I were on our Honeymoon when we met them. They like us had booked into a two week tour of the islands, but can not remember the name of the tour, its on the tip of my fingers here but not popping up just yet...Carlton maybe that was it, Carlton Tours maybe....anyway both of us were the youngest on the tour...all the rest had white hair like we almost do now, but we were in the younger years and so we kind of gravitated to spending time together on this two week tour of I think four of the islands maybe....

Anyway we stayed in touch and began to visit back and forth when time and circumstance presented itself. I remember once while in Pittsburgh helping Rick who had a repo business at the time repossess two semi tractors....it was somewhat scairy as the drivers had hid them behind a flea bag motel and knowing these guys carry guns sometimes it was a little scairy to be opening these trucks up and getting them while these guys slept in the motel...not something I would want to do on a regular basis...And then on one of their visits to Indiana, I enlisted Rick into the farming trade...Had him working ground for me ahead of my corn planter...lots of dust, you should have seen him...Both Linda's could not believe I got Rick to do this...I can not believe I got Rick to do it either, but he did...I remember I later sent him a "citation", declaring him a "farmer extrodinaire" with a bunch of fancy words to accompany such non sense....sure he kept it for a few hours at least...actually have never seen it hanging in his office so I think it may have not had the affect I had inteneded....
Rick was very good at the repo business...I remember many a time maybe on our way to eat at a restaurant in the evening maybe and Rick would suddenly do a U turn in the street no matter where we were and follow a car he had recognized...a couple times it was a car he wanted and he would follow and find out where it was being "hid" at night... the next night he probably had it...
He had other businesses now and doing well I believe...
Anyway this trip I had the opportunity to introduce them to Susan as you can see in the photo...They liked her and she liked them so we will see if things continue....

OK on another subject, I am looking forward to the elections coming up next month...As Mrs. Palin said in a recent speech, "we can see November from here"....I hope an pray the people of the nation will respond to the dire need we have to get responsible good government...I look forward to voting my choices and then watching with interest that evening to see if we are serious to move our nation into a path of responsibility....Both parties have failed us miserably...now it is a time to shitcan the ones from both parties that have not taken this work seriously...and to instill good Americans who will move us in the right path...I hope we can make a major move in that direction...and away from nutsville we have had the last few years.

Great weather but we need rain....

The Corn Shucking Champion (262)

In 1930 my father Lawrence C. Lahrman at the mature age of 40 won the Tippecanoe County Corn Shucking contest. Done in those days all by hand, not as a sport but a way of life, the way corn was harvested in those days, the old fashioned way one ear at a time, by hand. Well saturday afternoon I relived that era for a short time. I walked along side the wagon pulled by horses at the State Park with the Historical Farm here in Lafayette, and I tossed long large ears of open pollinated corn into the wagon. I kidded the driver of the wagon to let me know if the ears were coming too fast and bouncing from the bang boards and falling into the wagon that I would "slow up". I made sure he knew that the son of the 1930 corn shucking contest was on site tossing this corn, along with a couple high school age girls who by the way were staying right with me. I tell you right now I am no Lawrence Lahrman, when it comes to shucking corn. I break them over my hand which in a days time would probably just about do ones hand "in", for sure. My dad used a metal hook rivited to a piece of leather that straped around the base of his hand. It could rip the shank off the ear of corn and at the same time the shucks that were attached also. He showed me a couple times how to use it but to be honest I really did not want to know how to use it. Mechanical corn pickers had been invented and were become numerous and I knew it was a era, a trade that was to be short lived, so I just know this for sure, it was interesting to watch him use the hook and to see the ease and the confidence he had as he grabbed an ear of corn made one pass across it with the hand with the hook attached and then tossed the ear into the air toward the wagon and immediately grabbing the next ear. Maybe even ripping it with his hook and sending it airborne toward the wagon before the first one had completely hit the bank boards and fallen into the wagon. I got to see all of that and I am glad I did and glad I was asked to help out and to see how talented and hard working a man I had for a father.

It was about 57 years ago that my dad purchased a used one row corn picker. And I was honored and elated to hear him say you know I really don't like running these things would you want to stay home from school and do that for me...like asking a 15 year old if he wanted to skip school for 10 days? Man I jumped at that opportunity for sure. I loved it and did it for about 3 years I think before graduating from school and joining the Marines. But back to hand shucking, before we could start harvesting the corn in a field with that picker we had to shuck 3 rows of corn around the field, and make a few 3 row cuts through the field also. Reason being was that the tractor and picker straddled or knocked down three rows of corn and then picked the 4th row.
So Dad and I would need to shuck out by hand the first three rows...The operation went like this....Dad would take two rows and I would take the third row. His abilities with his hook being what it was and I breaking the corn over my hand to dislocate the ear he would start to pull away from me and I would fall behind. Then I would be surprised when all of a sudden maybe 15 of my stalks had no ears to harvest. Dad had reached over and was harvesting all 3 rows to allow me to "catch up" so I would again be up and abreast of where he was shucking....I would fall behind again and the same would happen. He was totally amazing in his ability to harvest corn by hand. And to top it off he "loved it", he told me many times that his favorite time of year was 'corn shucking time'....Can you imagine getting up in the dark doing the chores feeding your livestock, eating breakfast and then taking a team of horses and going into the corn field to harvest and try and get a wagon load by noon...going in scooping it off into the crib eating lunch and going back into the field all afternoon to get the second load, scooping it off, doing chores, eating dinner and falling into bed?????? and loving it????????

Well I believe it, he did love it, and the corn shucking contest did become huge events in each county, farmers would come with their teams of horses and wagons and they would compete for a specified period of time and then the corn was weighed and a winner was declared. In 1930 at the age of 40 my dad was that winner in this county. And he proceeded in a week or so to Elwood Indiana for the Indiana State Corn shucking contest....In that contest he did place 10th....His name appears so in that ranking in a book titled "The battle of the Bangboards" I have a copy, it is a good history of these contest from the 20''s and 30's and then it all ended about 1941 with the world war and then mechanical pickers...But these state winners also went on to compete in National contest usually held in Iowa or Illinois. These event pulled thousands of spectators..they were huge all day events and the forerunner of todays "farm progress shows".....with crowds almost as large as today's yearly events.

Ok the picture to the right was taken at Elwood the day my dad competed there and placed 10th in the State contest. He was standing by a new mechanical picker of that day, wishing I suppose....the large picture above is of my Dad's family...Dad is the handsome dude sitting staddle the chair on the left...His dad on the right holding the book and his brother Albert standing in back...his sisters and mother also...As I look at the picture I kind of see a little of Danny Moore in my Dad...just a fleeting glimpse but I see it....The youngest sister beside him I see my granddaughter Monica Cole....again just a fleeting glimpse but it is there...it is just amazing how genes stay around through the generations...Maybe others will see similarities from their own families...Maybe my face book friend Thomas Lahrman will see something from his great grandfather Albert Lahrman seen in this pic....

OK I have probably bored you long enough here, but just in case you want to read a story I submitted and had printed to Reminise Magazine a few years back about my Dad and Shucking corn here is how to get to it on this blog....in the upper left corner you will see a search box by the orange B....just type in Bang Boards and it will come up below this story....try it...I just know a couple of you will....
Oh one more thing if you click on the title above will take you to a great site about old time corn shucking contest and other stuff.

Lovin the Harvest (261)

The harvest is going well and the harvest is good. Without a doubt the finest year in farming I have seen in my farming years. The yields in corn and beans are among the top I have produced...Bean yields are equal to the best ever about 15 years or so back. That is a nice change, and corn maybe is not the best but it is close. I had a National Corn Growers Contest entry, that checked in at 191 bushels per acre. Naturally you put that on your best ground but I think my overall average was around 170 bpa, not bad at all. The moisture on the corn is the lowest I have ever seen, especially for early harvest in September. It has run between 14 and 15% for the most part. If corn is over 15% the processor or grain terminal charges the farmer a fee for drying the corn to 15% moisture. So with this phenomenal drying of the corn in the field there was not drying charges. The other extreme was last year when corn just did not dry down good in the field and my harvest moisture was 20 to 24%...lots of drying charges last year.

Of course the reason farmers love the harvest is it is "pay day" for them...the rest of the year we spend money on seed, fertilizer, equipment, chemicals and the like, but harvest hopefully and prayerfully, there is enough to cover all these expenses and some left over for profit, to provide for ones living....this year that looks good as grain prices are above average also, I guess caused by concern for lower yields in many parts of the corn and soybean belt of the nation...

GOD kind of blessed North central Indiana where I live with a very early planting season, timely rains all year long...But as close as 60 miles to the south the farmers experience the driest August on record...not good, we were a little dry but we did squeak out a couple one inch rains that month and helped a lot...maybe two more inches would have been even better but lets not go there, a lot of farmers experienced a less favorable year...I feel for them as I have been there many times..

I am broke down right now in the middle of soybean harvest, parts are ordered and all will be good again someday soon but for now, I have time to make this post, about the harvest in general...One thing, you will see at the right here is the first pie of my season..Chestnuts are ripe and falling from my tree, down the road Mrs. Schrock has apples falling from her tree...Pillsbury pie crust were in my freezer and I love Apple/Chestnut pie...It is about gone already, it is as good as it looks...Just take a Apple pie recipe and take out 1/3rd of the apple and replace with fresh sliced chestnuts...Chestnuts/free...Apples/free, pie crust maybe 3 bucks, taste of the pie/PRICELESS

Oh, click on the title above to see all you need to know about chestnuts maybe.

Cheerleader Watchin (260)

I got better things to watch than the "anointed one" Obama, yep I got Cheerleaders to tell you about, a lot more exciting to watch than the current occupant of the white house...

Yep seen here is granddaughter Tabby Russell who is a member of the 7th grade cheerleaders at Wainwright Middle School...and also seen here to the right is another granddaughter Paige Russell who is a member of the 8th grade cheerleaders...Got these pictures at a recent Football game last week...And low and behold I spot a grandson out on the field playing center and blocking out would be terrorist trying to get to his quarterback...His name is Caulin Post old number 77 seen in the picture...Not pictured here is another granddaughter Ashley Russell who is multitasking as the cheerleader coach at Wainwright and my hair dresser also....
The girls are great cheerleaders as was Ashley when she also was in school...must get in their blood as here is Ashley now back teaching others to RAH RAH RAH as best they can...
Paige and Tabby have both had a lot of classes on tumbling doing all those flip flop things that cheer leaders are so good at...I suspect these two girls will advance into cheerleaders at the high school level as well...Caulin Post takes his football equally serious and works hard at the game...understands it far better than the writer here who just last night watched a whole 5 minutes of Monday Night Football before moving on to a boring but more interesting movie....
And lastly I want to talk a bit about a new car a friend bought recently...A Volkswagen EOS Retractable Hardtop Convertible...It is, I feel a kind of a "classic" as the German Engineers held nothing back in designing the workings of this top, it is a marvel to watch as it goes down and folds away or comes out and goes into place when the top is needed...Also a Sunroof makes this vehicle actually as advertised "three cars in one"....A Coupe, A Sunroof and a Convertible...when painted red with a beige leather interior like the one Susan purchased last week, it makes a good choice. I think this car will be not only a lot of fun to ride in but will have also a high resale value in years ahead...So Click on the title above about the cheerleaders and you will go immediately to another picture of a EOS automobile...
And lastly, good news, my remodel job on the house is FINALLY complete. I have moved back into the master bed room and the master bath...absolutely love living in the whole house again, it feels so good and soon I hope my crops will be ready to harvest and I can bore you with crop reports or huge problems that I was able to solve, with either cash, or brains, or brawn....

Oh gosh, I almost forgot, the mother of all those cheerleading gals above, my daughter Shirley, well she was a great Wainwright Cheerleader in her day also....

Obama Watchin (259)

Ever feel like your in an airplane and maybe the pilot is very inexperienced? Maybe not even have a license, maybe just learned enough to get us in the air? You take quick turns from side to side, up and down...I get this feeling watching this President. Now for a little fun click on the title above Obama Watchin and give a listen.

Probably a wrong feeling, but never the less one I have these days. Like yesterdays coverage of him offering over generous tax breaks to small business owners to expand their plants...100% tax write offs for a couple years...Maybe even a good idea here but such an about face on his part and the timing tells me, he is really not inexperienced at all, but a master at politics. It is interesting to watch as politicians on both sides scramble with elections coming up to stay in power.

At times I wish we could change all of them in the house all at one time, but I know there are a few like Mike Pence for instance and many others that are worth keeping in office. I guess the choices in each congressional district across our land will just be comparing who is running and listening to what the stand for. And then picking the best one...I hope the majority that win in this election has the country's well being foremost in mind and politics way down the list...

I do like Obama's offer yesterday of making tax cuts permanent for the lower 97% of the taxing base and only allowing taxes to raise back to Clinton era levels on the top 2 to 3%...I could live with that for sure and I think the wealthy of the nation have been protected and have not paid taxes in proportion to the way they have been blessed being in this nation...

So even though I know that this President is a con artist to the inth degree, I do like some of his ideas...Hillary Clinton yesterday stated the debt load of our nation is a national security threat...she is correct and I am glad she said it..Her boss is probably not glad she said it, but that is OK it is the truth and a little truth now and then from a politician is refreshing...

OK I have a front door to paint today, and one of these days I need to think about getting started on harvesting this years crops...Hearing reports of corn in this area planted early like mine as low as 17% moisture..Hard to believe, but it has been a near perfect year and now near perfect drying conditions. So my fellow Americans, let the farmers go forth, keeping one eye on the crops and the other on the President. What will he pull out of the hat today?

8-28 Rally in DC (258)

While in DC a week ago, luck, fate, whatever, but we had Saturday off from our reunion commitment and were thrilled to be able to take part in the Rally that happened on the DC Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The picture here of the subway and of the happy couple at the Rally kind of portray the excitement of the day. First off the Metro ride in from Franconia/Springfield station was fun..normally a jam packed subway would not be fun, and too allow it to get over crowed to the point ours was would normally tax ones patience and hospitality for sure. I think it was the big story of the day in that long lines were at all the metro stations and when our train made the 5 stops before we got to the Lincoln memorial it just got more crowed and more fun as the trip progressed.

We were accompanied by our friends Jon and Courtney Dermott from Joplin Missouri who also attended the Marine reunion. They had told me a month before that they would be attending this on Saturday, but I did not realize just what it was all about...When Susan found out about it she said she for sure wanted to attend, and I love the idea of restoring our nation to what it used to be as much as the next person so we were on...

So back to the subway ride in, after the second station the train was full with every standing room taken. But three stops to go before the Lincoln memorial..doors open maybe 15-20 people were standing there...the crowd willingly just tightened it up, without anyone saying a word and in they came...Doors shut were off, total full for sure now I thought...next station, same situation, doors open 10 to 15 people in front of each door..The crowd shifted tighter and in they came...and the last stop the same thing...Absolutely no one complained one time, everyone on these trains were going to the rally and we all knew the more that showed up the better chance we had of accomplishing what this rally was all about...

We got off the metro at the Foggy Bottoms station which is 3/4 mile from the memorial mall..Not to mention in all the excitement we lost Courtney for 15 minutes...she had walked a little ahead of us without knowing it and then all of sudden Jon missed her and the hunt was on...we figured we had walked ahead of her so Jon went back looking and Susan and I waited...Just as he came back empty handed and maybe quite worried here she came back in the other direction...all that kind of stuff just makes good memories after it is said and done, but we were glad to see her and proceed to the excitement ahead. We were an hour late because of the huge subway crowds but quickly caught up with the excitement of the day...Susan remarked at one point how there was no litter anywhere to be seen at all. She asked a few people where they were from and they were from a lot of different states all around. I read a guest editorial today in the Journal Courier, from a Karen Hatke about this rally...it was well written, and dead on with content..If you have not read it click on the title above, and it will take you to her editorial .It was an exciting event, not neccesarily by who was there to speak, or by what was said, but I think the key thing is who was there to support this rally, like Us. the Dermott's, Karen Hatke, Tom and Susie Null from Dayton In. and all the rest of the 500,000 people who came to show their concern for our nation, and where it is headed. That want to pay more attention to future elections and how we vote. And pay more attention to the way congress spends money in the future, and what they spend it on for sure. I think we truly have reached a turning point for our nation...I think enough people have "gotten it" so to speak, I think that day, WE DID INDEED GET OUR COUNTRY BACK......

I guess we will know that for sure in the next two or three elections that lie ahead...