Our Protesting Adventure

There was an article in the paper today about the collider in Europe about ready to be turned on, which reminded Grandma and me of the time long, long ago when we joined the protest movement in the town of Ontario, New York. Well, here's how it happened:

Back in the 1970s, our Government decided that we, the people of the United States, and more specifically, the scientists among us, needed a super collider to play around with, so they initiated a contest among all the states to see which state would have the best plan. Never mind that work had already begun in Europe to design and build a super collider, and that our scientists would be able to share in the work there. So the Powers-That-Be in Albany, New York appointed a commission to prepare plans for, not one, but two sites. One site had the southern arc of the huge circular collider running right under Hill Cummorah, the sacred hill where Joseph Smith found the plates that were used to found the Church of Latter Day Saints. Needless to say, the Mormons were not amused, and applied enough pressure on the commission that they moved the giant circle a few miles north, which put the northern arc right under our house. It was to run under the local cemetery, down our street, and under the local Methodist Church, which is on the national register of historic places. When the plans were leaked to the public, a massive protest was undertaken. Grandma and I, along with Grandma's mother, and many neighbors joined in the protest rallies and marches. There was an informational meeting of the residents with the commission members and the Lieutenant Governor, at which we were all allowed to speak for or against the project. I stood and informed everyone present that the work would involve digging up the cemetery where Civil War veterans, and members of Grandma's family among others, were buried. At that, the Lt. Gov. turned to the commission members and asked if that were true; they concurred. As I remember, only one person spoke in favor, and he was roundly booed. Not too long after that we learned that the project had been granted to Texas, and after several millions of dollars were spent on the Texas site, the project was dropped.

Grandma and I have fond memories of our days as civil protesters, when we made banners and placards and marched, chanting "No collider here", through the streets of Wayne County. One former neighbor still has one of the protest signs hanging prominently in their garage. We plan to salute it when we visit them in July.

Oh, My Aching Knees

Today, I have housemaid's knees, having spent a good deal of time yesterday on my hands and knees cleaning the tile and grout in our laundry room. We have a Hoover carpet/floor cleaner, which I used to go over the tile twice, before getting down to attack the grout. My neighbor showed me a special brush for cleaning grout, which works well. It can attach to a handle, so one doesn't need to get down and dirty, but I find that I needed to really scrub hard, so... After the two washes, I ran the cleaner over the floor again using clean water with no soap, before applying grout sealer, on my hands and knees, of course. It was well worth the effort, as the floor virtually gleams today.

What Happened, Jacob?

"What do you mean, there's no more Popsicles left? I was just getting started."

Pomp and Circumstance

Well, so much for Pre-school! Twelve more years and Corbin will be college material. And breaking hearts along the way!

Chase

"I can't believe I ate the whole thing."

Just Fishin'

The other day, Rick Watson, on his "Life 101" blog, told a fish story, and that reminded me of something that happened about 60 years ago in a far away place...

But first, a report on our weather. Last Sunday, we broke a record at 110 degrees, and today we'll top out at about 75, cloudy and rain. And we should be back in the 100s by next Wednesday. Some roller coaster, eh what?

Oh yeah, fishing. Well, I've written previously about Joe Maloney, who I believe is still wanted by Interpol. This is another Joe Maloney story.
South of Rochester, NY is a county park called Mendon Ponds. There are several ponds within the park boundaries, including one with a sand beach. At one time it was possible to rent rowboats there, which we often did in our pursuit of fish - Largemouth Bass, Strawberry Bass and Northern Pike. One day back in the 40s, Joe and I were at the beach area. I don't remember the time of year, but the beach was closed, so it was probably in the spring. Anyway, we were using worms and were casting out into the water to see what might decide to bite, when I heard Joe shouting "Bob. Bob. What do I do now?" I looked over to find Joe at one end of his line and a duck flying in circles at the other end of the line. It seems he decided it would be more fun to fish for ducks, and now he had hooked into a live one. I told him to reel in his line, and we unhooked the duck to everyones relief, especially the duck's and the rest of the flock that was all a-quack. Fortunately, there was nobody else around, particularly the game warden, so we packed up our gear and headed out.

I don't know what the moral of the story is, but I don't remember ever going fishing with Joe again.

Routine?

Last Friday, our canine alarm clock, Ginger, started "talking" to us at her usual time of 5:20 a.m., so we woke up and went through our usual routine: feed Ginger, eat breakfast, have coffee and read the newspaper. Sometime after all that, go for our walk. Monday, however, the routine changed. We still had our early alarm, got Ginger fed, but then we went out for our walk before anything else. Why? Well, it turned out that the temperature was predicted to be in the 100s, so we wanted to get out before it became too warm. Good thing, because a new record was set - 110! And it's predicted to be 105 today. A short taste of the summer then back down in the 90s tomorrow and maybe even in the 70s on Thursday. I'm not ready for the summer heat yet!

Chase

The only thing I could think of was Chase asking "Is it soup yet?"

Sam's Two Birthdays

Our good friend, Sam, celebrated his 70th birthday this month. He was a New York State Trouper, and has many funny stories to tell about his adventures there. He and his wife, Joy, moved to Arizona and enjoyed the good life until his heart began to fail. He was added to the heart replacement list, and was sent to Tucson where he received a slightly used heart in February 1991. Since then, he has been taking his many medications regularly, and has passed all the tests given to heart transplant patients. He lives on the other side of the Valley, so we don't see him and Joy as often as we'd like. So here's to Sam's 70th May birthday, and we're happy to see him celebrate his 17th birthday in February as well. We wish him many, many more of both!

Fifth of May?

Well, it's that time of year again when normally patriotic Americans go all out to celebrate a small battle fought in Mexico in the 1800s in which some Mexican soldiers beat some French soldiers before losing the war. Yes, it's Cinco de Mayo time. As it was explained to me yesterday in Watercolor Class, who cares that it's a Mexican celebration, it's a good excuse for going out and consuming copious quantities of marguaritas and burritos. I think I'll pass. I'm waiting for November 5th (Guy Fawkes Day) so I can fill up on English stout and Steak and Kidney Pie. Or maybe October 3rd (Unification Day) for some Liebfraumilch und Sauerbraten. We'll see.

Odds 'n Ends

We had a problem with flies in our vanity area. In the morning, there were 6 or 7 hanging around the skylight, which I disposed of via Hoover's cleaner. The next day, more of the same. So up on the roof I went to check the skylight. Surprise! It wasn't attached to the roof! I could lift it right off. Fortunately, Home Depot is right around the corner, so I drove over and bought a replacement unit. All OK except the replacement let in more light and was energy efficient. That's when Grandma decided we should replace the other 3 skylights. Now we have light, no flies and are more energy efficient. Turns out the others weren't fastened down very well either.

This political campaign season, unfortunately, is as devisive and uncivil as past campaigns. It would be nice if the candidates attacked the issues and not the people running against them. What many voters have lost sight of is that there will be change regardless of which candidate or which party wins. The large question is: Will the change you propose be for the better or will your change make things worse?

And don't forget that it is Congress that controls how our taxes are spent. If you don't like what happens to your money, go after your Congressmen/women. The President suggests and Congress spends.

Our neighbors are getting ready to leave this beautiful weather and head back to Omaha. Grandma and I can't even think of getting away from the Valley of the Sun. This is the right time of year to be using our evaporative cooler instead of the air conditioner. Unfortunately, it needs some work to repair or replace the water pan, which is all corroded. So the agenda for this week includes visiting a few shops to find what alternatives are available (low cost, we hope!).

I read an article recently that said the origin of the Olympics torch ceremony started in Germany under the Nazi regime. With all the problems with protests along the route it might be time to end another reminder of Hitler and his henchmen.

More Computer Stuff

I don't know what kinds of problems you've had in setting up a new computer, but I've had a bunch over the past few days. I already wrote about the iTunes problem. Well, since then,I've experienced a strange phenomenon: the PC would suddenly shut down, then start up, then shut down, repeating the cycle every few seconds, until I turned off the main power. When I turned on the power an hour or so later, it started up normally, then about 5 minutes later, it started the on - off cycle again. Not knowing anything better to do, I restored the system to Day One. That meant re-installing all my programs, and re-copying files from my external hard drive. This time I kept a log listing each step of progress. And I've been selective in copying files. So far, so good.

The problem with the duplicate iTunes music was overcome as follows:
I went into the external hard drive and deleted the complete music file. Then I copied the music file from my laptop into the ext. hard drive, then copied it into the new PC. Problem solved! It turned out that the ext. hard drive had been storing earlier versions of the music file, including some duplicate items.

It seems as though I almost know what I'm doing.

New Computer

Last Saturday, we bought a new HP desktop PC with Windows Vista Home Premium already installed, so I started to set it up on Sunday. But first I copied all my document files from the laptop to an external hard drive; it took over an hour just to copy all my music in the iTunes folder. Loading software went OK except for the Broderbund Print Shop 20, which is no longer supported by Broderbund. So I dug up version 15 and loaded that with no problems. I managed to get my mail working, but only one of the three addresses, so I need to get Cox involved in that process. (We use Mozilla Thunderbird for mail and Mozilla Firefox for Internet access.) The PC came with Norton security, which I un-installed, because we subscribe to McAfee. The surprise came when I opened my iTunes file and found more music than I had on the laptop computer. Somehow or other, some tunes were duplicated, others were there but with no data other than the name of the tune. And when I tried to delete the duplicates, I couldn't. They're still there. Anyone have any ideas?

An Adventure

The first school trimester at Michigan State College ended in the middle of December (1948), so Bill Cass, one of my 13 roommates, and I decided to hitchhike home. Bill was from Frewsburg, in southwest New York state, and I was from Rochester, so we could travel together to Buffalo before going our separate ways. Because of the cold winter weather, I was wearing a sweater, my ROTC winter coat covered by a top coat, with a scarf wrapped around my neck. As was the custom in those days, neither of us wore a hat.

We started out in East Lansing by riding with a family as far as Port Huron. Our good fortune continued as we were picked up by a trucker who took us to Hamilton, Ontario. It was early evening when he let us off. Shortly thereafter, we were picked up by a hockey player who was going as far as Buffalo. Bill hopped into the front seat and I settled into the back seat and promptly fell asleep, expecting to be awakened in Buffalo. Imagine my surprise when I woke up to a pleasant female voice telling me to wake up for breakfast. More surprise when I opened my eyes to find it was a nurse in the St. Catherine‘s Hospital. And I with my right arm taped to my chest. Bill was in an adjacent bed.

The story, as I found out later, was that the car skidded on some ice and slid into a steel light post, hitting about where my knees were. The ambulance crew thought at first that I was dead because of all the blood - caused by numerous cuts from window glass when my head hit. I suffered a broken collar bone; more severe injury was avoided probably because of all the padding I was wearing. I was asleep, then probably knocked unconscious by the blow, then sound asleep again in the hospital bed. I did have the sensation that I saw the lamp post coming at us, but it’s a very vague impression. The driver had a bump on his forehead and Bill had gravel in his hands as the result of being thrown out of the car when the door was flung open from the momentum.

My parents were notified and came to bring me home, where I went to visit the doctor for further treatment. He checked the x-rays, noting that the bones had shattered at the break, then left the room. I heard the sound from the basement of someone sawing wood, wondering what remodeling he was having done, when he walked back into the room carrying a piece of plywood. He had sawed it into the shape of a T and taped it to both shoulders and across my stomach. “There,” he said, “that should hold it while the bones knit.”

I wore the brace for a bunch of months, including a train trip back to East Lansing to turn in my ROTC uniform and pack up my clothes. Believe me, it’s not very comfortable to wander through life with a piece of plywood taped to one’s back. It eventually came off, and the break did knit, but to this day there’s a bump at the break.

Niemi

One of the shots on my home movies is of an engineer who I was working with at Haloid Xerox/Xerox Corporation in 1959 and 60. His name is Onni Niemi and the scene includes his wife and two daughters. He was dark complected; one of his co-workers asked him what his origin was and he said he was a Blackfoot Indian, at which he was asked to take off his shoe and sock and prove it. Well, he didn't, but he did admit to me that he was of Finnish extraction, and was embarrassed by his country's actions supporting the Nazis during World War II.

The reason this comes to mind is the recent news about Patrick Swayze and his fight with cancer. Mr. Swayze is married to a lovely woman named Lisa Niemi. I have often wondered whether or not she is related to Onni and if she might be one of the girls in my movie.

Love And Marriage

When I was in grammar school, there was a taunt that was used whenever a guy was caught talking to a girl: "First comes love, than comes marriage, then comes Robert with a baby carriage."

In my day, we understood the proper sequence. Anything other than that would result in an illegitimate child, that is, a bastard, or one born "out of wedlock”, which brought shame to the family. Usually, the parents would try to find a place out of town where the child could be born, to be adopted out, thereby avoiding the stigma of a bastard child in the family. Or an abortion could be arranged, again out of town. The girl would attempt to resume a normal life, despite the fact that practically everyone knew of her “predicament”, especially her classmates; after all, guys did like to brag about their conquests.

Somewhere down the line, things got turned around and now it appears that it's just fine and dandy if baby comes before either love or marriage. Of course, problems come right along with that change. In a one-parent house, the child suffers from the lack of two-parent guidance; one of the parents becomes a part-timer, regardless of the good intention to "be there" for her/him. As the child grows up and faces schoolmates, the inevitable questions arise about parents: “Where is your father/mother?”; “Why don’t you have a father/mother?”; “Why doesn’t your father/mother live with you?”; etc. Children can be cruel.

Lunar Eclipse

Last night was the night of the lunar eclipse and people hereabouts were frustrated to find clouds obscuring the eclipse. Instead, we had a good old fashioned desert thunderstorm roll through the valley. Lightning was flashing, thunder bouncing off the walls and a good downpour to wash the dirt away. Grandma was at a neighbor's house playing Scrabble and called to have me come pick her up because of the storm. (She won 2 out of 3.) It was well after 11:30 before the storm subsided. More on the way tonight, but we're not planning to go anywhere.

Friday, 10 February, 1978

It was cold and snow on the ground when Grandma and Granpappy said their vows in front of family. Daughter Gail was maid of honor and son Mark was best man. Daughter Chris had just had a son Jacob on Monday so wasn't able to attend. So on that date 30 years ago, Grandma became a wife, mother and grandmother all in one fell swoop. Grandma's parents and her brother and family were there to witness the blessed event. An article appeared in the Webster paper a while later relating an incident that happened during the ceremony: son Jamie was manager of an apartment complex at the time and half way through the ceremony his beeper went off and he had to get to the phone to answer the call.

And who knew when we went back to Bailey Road for wedding cake that 30 years later we would be living in Scottsdale and celebrating at Ruth's Chris Steak House. It doesn't get any better than that!

Taxing Our Brains

Grandma and I spent the better part of Saturday working on our taxes. This year, Grandma had everything all listed with supporting documents to make the job easier. Why did it take so, you may ask. It turns out that we were using last years Turbo Tax program and didn't realize it until we were about half way through the forms, having input a lot of information. When we discovered the problem, it took a while to find where I had hidden the new software and to get it installed. (We call that a "senior moment" around here.) Some information was copied automatically, but we had to go back to square one to enter our financial information. So now we're done and the reports have been printed, ready for checks to be written and returns to be mailed.

Gloomy Sunday

We're having what us former New Yorkers call a "Rochester Day" - gray skies and rain. The forecast is for up to 1 inch of rain, which means our law enforcement people will be applying the "stupid motorist's law", enacted to punish those motorists who think they can drive through flooded washes, but get washed downstream.

Because of the topography of the area, with mountains ringing the valley, rain water flows down to the Salt River through gullies, called washes. At times, the water flows at 20, 30 or ever 40 miles per hour. Over time, some of these gullies have been paved as roads to new developments crossed them. During the storms, some roads have been partially washed away; in others, the water may reach as high as 3 or 4 feet deep. But these stupid drivers "know" that their vehicle, whether SUV, pick-up truck or BMW, can get through, so on they go. Unfortunately, they wind up as a feature on the evening news when the emergency squad has to rescue them from the raging waters. So the legislators decided that enough money was being spent for the rescues that the rest of us shouldn't have to pay the bill, and enacted the law. Now the motorists pay the cost of their rescue. Does it stop them? Stay tuned to the local news tonight. (Answer: no.)