Stupor Bowl Weekend

I'm not a huge fan of Professional Football and won't be until the teams pay for building their own stadiums instead of us taxpayers. If they can afford pay salaries in the millions for players that work on a few hours a year, they certainly can afford to build their own places of business.

That said, this week's game is the big one though, and anyone with a pulse in the United States has to know Super Bowl Sunday will soon be here.



Supported by fans waving yellow and black "Terrible Towels" thought to bring them good luck, the Pittsburgh Steelers are returning to the "big game" yet again. The Phoenix Cardinals will be appearing for the first time ever.



Perhaps they will make a new Super Bowl edition of the Terrible Towel. I hope so, sort of, kind of... :)

I'll be watching the cheering ladies and thinking about Lainie and George myself and being silently wishing them the best of luck on their new life together!



Yes, this is definitely the best part of pro football...

Photos from the Attic

While looking at photos to share with you folks at random - I found these three. They are so very different from each other.



My niece enjoys Tigger the Christmas gift I gave her when she was about 4 years old. I didn't date the back of the photograph - I remember her bouncing, bouncing, bouncy around the living room of my brother's then brand new house for hours.

My mom is in the background with her head cut off wearing a Christmas sweatshirt, my niece has one of her feet trimmed off, and I think those are my brothers toes sticking out on the right. I've gotten a little better taking picture and much, much better at using the computer to "fix" up the worse of my shots.



My brother's toes weren't cut off because he is shy - as this picture attests. His toes (and feet) remain cut off...perhaps I should paste them in from the first picture?

I didn't take this picture. This is his Halloween costume the first year he went to college were he decided to be a playboy bunny. Those MIT guys are a strange lot. My mom asked him about the fake boobs and stockings when she found them in the laundry bag he brought home from school and that was the last time he "let" mom do his wash.



The year is 1937, and my Dad's parents left my dad with his Aunt and Uncle and went to Kentucky on a road trip. Here they are with their guide and tour group after seeing the Mammoth Caves. My grandparents are sitting in the upper right wearing dark colored clothes. This picture is dated on the back - but although the woman sitting on the bench to the right-front of my grandparents is the splitting image of my great aunt Mary - there isn't any way to prove it is her.

Random Photograph IV

As I looked through some random photographs on my computer the bright colors of the one shown below stood out. Now I've no idea why I took this picture of Oly (I think?) and Bill (who is the main character and the one with the red bow tie) and from the Qubo TV show cartoon called Sitting Ducks.



I do admit to watching this show when SpongeBob SquarePants is not available.

Random Photograph III

I visited London, England for the third time in 1996.

While I normally take the "tube" (the underground subway system is excellent) I was enticed to take a cab ride near Marble Arch - a white marble monument near Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, at the western end of Oxford Street in London, England, near the tube station of the same name.

The name Marble Arch also refers to the locality of west London where the arch is situated, particularly the upper half of Edgware Road. Historically, only members of the royal family and the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery were allowed to pass through the arch in ceremonial procession. Today, the arch is open to pedestrians.

The entire country was enamoured with the ongoing the 1996 European Football (Soccer) Championship being hosted by England. The tournament's final stages took place between June, 8th and June 30th, 1996.

Germany beat the Czech Republic 2–1 in Wembley Stadium, London to win the championship after having previously beaten England in the semi-finals.

But football/soccer and its rowdy supporters weren't on the forefront of my mind as I waited to cross the very busy Oxford Road. For some strange, unaccountable reason, I wanted a chocolate bar with peanuts.



Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park is the greenery behind the taxi. The local artist try to sell their paintings along the iron fence here. Edgware Road is home to the elegant buildings you see in the background on the left. Some of them are foreign embassies and some of them are very elegant hotels with very classy toilet facilities.

Nutty Buddy...

A squirrel lies on a couch and tells his Psychologist (or is he a Psychiatrist? - I can't read his dipolma), "When I learned, 'You are what you eat', I realized I was nuts!"

I guess I got to lay off eating peanuts.

Random Photograph II

I enjoyed pulling a photograph out of the hat at random so much I thought I'd do a few more!

Tucked in a shaded grove under some palm trees along side of US Route 1 (known locally as the Overseas Highway) in the Florida Keys is a place called Robbie's Marina. This is a tourist spot (some might call it a tourist trap) that offers the visitor the opportunity to feed the Tarpon!

These semi-tame fish eat a lot of food to support their 100+ pounds covering 4-5 feet lengths. Mullet, a small bait fish, is their most favorite food in the whole wide world and they eat them with much vigor - leaping high out of the water to grab a fish dangling from a small child's hand.

The squeals of fear and delight are as entertaining as the cute little smiles that nearly all the little ones have by the time they are done feeding the fishes.

When I'm in the Florida Key, I almost always go there to watch the BIG FISHES being fed.



There is a slight downside to all the fun - sometimes the mullet intended to feed the tarpon gets swiped by some very crafty, and rather fearless, Brown Pelicans. While them stealing the little fishes isn't really that much of a big deal, the mess they make a short while after eating is...

So the small 2-3 person white rental boats with the blue canvas tops need a good washing before you get in to go fishing or swimming for awhile!

Random Photograph

ChicagoLady over at "I Don't Care What You Say Anymore, This Is My Life" tagged me to do this photo thing. Here are the rules as posted by her:

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag four people to do the same.

Since that's too complicated, I just picked a picture I haven't blogged about at random. :)

Along the old Magnolia Road that skirts Lake Pemberton, in the middle of central-New Jersey, are a number of blueberry and turkey farms - most notable amongst them is the F. W. Bush Blueberry Farm and the F.W. Bush Turkey Farm.

This short stretch of road "that time forgot" is on the back route to the Jersey seashore beaches, most directly, Long Beach Island, the home of Barnegat Lighthouse.

In the early autumn months, huge white turkeys can be seen in the sheds behind F. W. Bush's roadside blueberry, corn, and produce stand. In the early summer months, back when I was a little boy growing up, a large number of buses full of "migrant workers" would pull into the blueberry fields and pick blueberries under the hot merciless sun, swat mosquitoes, and in general suffer away in the humidity. When this employment practice was "outlawed" many of the blueberry fields fell idle and were left to fade away into the overgrowth.



The picture is of a "homemade" mechanical blueberry picker that is currently for sale. I do not know if it was successful or not; I do have my doubts; nor do I know what the asking price is! I do think it might be cool to take this for a test spin - the seat looks to be about 15 feet off the gound.

Today most of our store bought blueberries come from foreign countries where the pickers are basically paid next to nothing to perform backbreaking labor legally. I guess that they get to live at home though...

I'm going to tag AusGrl, Punkn, YellowDogGranny, and Karla and modify the rules to "pick any photograph at random" and write about it!

I got interviewed by Tori Z!

...and such neat questions too!

1. What was it that made you become so fascinated with things like OCHAs? Did someone point them out to you and make a comment that started your mind working? Or was it just a random thought that popped in?

One cold winter day when I was out walking around the neighborhood I saw some strange lines painted everywhere, on the road, the curb, the sidewalk, on front lawns and out of idle whim started taking pictures of them. Not long into the walk, I started to imagine what the lines and things I was photographing 'might actually be'. Walking 5-7 miles takes a bit of time, and the blood running in my head starts the creative juices flowing. By the time I was done walking, I nearly ran to the nearest piece of paper and started scribbling feverishly the story that became "The Scary Real World".

While the orange traffic safety cones played only a small role in this demented saga, they caught the eye of a lot of people that read the entry and making up stories about OCHAs blossomed like the Squirrel Chronicles. In fact, people e-mailed me their photographs of OCHAs in unusual settings or positions and when I had time to think about what "might be going on" in those pictures I wrote about them. Later, a group of photojournalist like Alice Kay, ChicagoLady, LadyStyx (who has taken hundred of pictures for me!), and most recently, Yellow Dog Granny (the originator of the word buttroy!) formed. I thoroughly enjoy making up stories about what these badly misunderstood critters are doing - and even more enjoy "hearing / seeing" people laugh about them.

2. When you're not working or planning your next blog post, what do you do with your time?

Like I said before, I do walk a lot. It helps both with the diabetes and with coping with work and life-related stress. I am a computer consultant that usually works within the pharmaceutical (drug) business, specifically designing, implementing, and testing data capture and data basing tools for new drugs being testing in clinical trials. That said, mostly I work for the weekend when I get to go boating, swimming, walking in new places, looking at historical sites, dining at new places, as well as photography, reading and writing.

3. Have you ever visited any place outside the US? If so, what was your opinion of the place(s) you visited? If not, is there anywhere you would like to visit?

I have visited a lot of places outside of the USA.

I’ve been to, in no real order, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Burma, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, England, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Greece, Crete, Turkey, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Austria, Italy, and Germany.

The Scandinavian countries as a group were my favorites, followed closely by the UK and Ireland. I would like to go to the Isle of Man and Wales someday.

I was pretty young when I went to the Pacific Rim countries (Japan, China, Taiwan, the colony of Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore). Being young, I walked across a small bridge from Hong Kong into China where soldiers holding machines guns motioned, using their guns that I best return to Hong Kong immediately. I saw more of China on the Burma (now called something else) side when I saw the Burma Road into and over the Himalayas. The bridge over the River Kwai was another place I remember vividly and I have pictures I took of it and the cemeteries filled with dead British POWs surrounding it.

I missed out going to Cambodia since they closed the border to American tourist due to fall out from the Vietnam War. I was telling someone fairly recently, that one of my vivid memories of Bangkok was of the filth and squalor in the canals there – people rinsing their teeth after brushing with water they had just defecated in.

Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Luxemburg were all very nice – I could easily move to Switzerland or Austria. I went and saw the majestic splendor of the Alps, including the breath-taking Matterhorn.

Greece, Crete and Turkey were all hot and dusty, but the Mediterranean Sea is beautiful. I was awed by the ages old Parthenon and places like Kusadasi and Ancient Ephesus were I stood where some of the biblical Apostles stood. I felt so incredibly lucky to be able to just stand there and look at the ancient ruins with my own eyes.

But all in all – having been to 45 of the 50 US states, I think the USA is as nice as, or nicer than just about anywhere I’ve ever been.

4. If you could go back in time and live through a certain time in history - be it permanently, or just for the purposes of studying a certain historical event - would you? If yes, which time period would you return to? How long would you stay? And why? If no, why not?

I have always wanted to go back in time to see historical events. I would never stay permanently (I think) because of things like wearing glasses and a hearing aid that I would not be able to maintain (e.g., get new batteries) or worse new ones if I should break either. If I could get around that, I think I might stay somewhere before mankind came and destroyed it (they call it develop, I call it destroy). I think I would be comfortable staying about as long as any given event took – a day, a week… a month would be pushing things. If I were “invisible” and not able to participate and change things, I would stay longer, other wise, I would be afraid of changing things for the worse, by accident. Think about it; say it was a time traveler that took the last available room in Bethlehem in the days around Jesus’ birth? What impact would such an innocent act have?

As for which time period, any and nearly all of them! I want to see everything from cavemen hunting a wooly mammoth to the inauguration of President Obama in Washington DC on the 20th. I think I would only skip the most ugly and brutal events – such as the guillotining of folks in France during their revolution or hanging of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. I’d be rather squeamish in that case.

5. If the predicted houses on the moon happens in your life time and you were one of the ones who were offered the opportunity to move up there, would you go? If no, why not? If yes, why? And what would you take with you? Why those particular items?

At first I thought, "Oh yes! I'd love to move there!" I thought it would be really cool, losing a bunch of weight in a jiffy - what's not to like about weighting 1/6th of what one does on Earth?

But then I got to thinking - the moon will probably not even be a nice place to visit, let alone live there. The food available to eat up there would probably get you weighting 1/6 as much for "real" being it would probably be really limited in variety and probably taste pretty bleah.

There would also be little in the way of river or ocean side walks and next to no human history - history that gives a certain rich texture to places on the Earth, there would be no places like Valley Forge, the Kremlin, the Tower of London, and the Eiffel Tower. I suspect living on the moon would be confining and rather dull on the whole. If I did go though, for a visit, I would take a golf club, a tee, and a golf ball and hit the longest drive I'll ever hit!

I do suspect there will be OCHAs on the moon.

So, there you have it. That was my interview.

If anyone wants me to interview them, then leave a message saying "interview me" in the comments section of this post. Don't forget that if I don't have your e-mail I'll need that too.

If you want to take part then the rules are as follows:

1. Leave me a comment saying "interview me"
2. I will respond via e-mail with five questions (I get to pick the questions - and they may be very strange ones like "Would you ever consider making love to an OCHA?")
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed you will ask them five questions via e-mail

Volendam, Netherlands

Approximately 10-15 miles northeast of Amsterdam on the Markermeer (a large lake in the central Netherlands) is the lakeside town of Volendam (located just left of the little blue "m" in Marker-meer on the map).

The Markermeer was not originally intended to remain a lake. It used to be part of the Zuiderzee, a saltwater inlet of the North Sea, that was dammed off by the Afsluit-dijk (Closure Dike) in 1932, turning the Zuiderzee into the freshwater IJsselmeer (Ijssel Lake).

The following years saw the reclamation of extensive tracts of land in a massive project known as the Zuiderzee Works. One of these, the Markerwaard (Marker Land), was to occupy the area of the current Markermeer (Lake Marker). Part of the construction of dikes to dry out this bit of land was the building of the Houtrib-dijk which was finished in 1976, and hydrologically splits the IJsselmeer in two, the southern section being the Markermeer. Markermeer is very shallow, ranging from 3 to 5 feet in depth. The Houtrib-dijk is now topped with a busy highway.

The existing ecological and recreational value of the Markermeer was considered by many to be equal or superior to any potential such value the Markerwaard (that is, land created by drying out the lake) would offer. Years ago, doubts began to surface about the overall cost-effectiveness of the project and it is now on indefinite hold.



The day I was in Volendam enjoying the sight of the many sailboats at the dock and in the lake, I saw this little girl being treated to an ice cream cone while her brother (equally little) pushed around a little toy car on the stone walkway. It was a windy and chilly day, but as you can see, the afternoon sun was warming things up.

I wonder what has become of this little girl and her brother. I'm sure she has no idea some American tourist saw her, took her picture, and remembers her enjoying her ice cream with such relish.

:)

Where's Iggy?

A while ago my step-grandmother, for god knows what reason, wanted a "nice picture" of me. So while at a Philadelphia Phillies game, I told a friend of mine to take my picture... but I told him...



...to wait until I got all the way around the other side of the ball park before pressing the shutter.

My step-grandmother, for god knows what reason, wasn't amused.

What Would Davy Think?

Colonel David Stern Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was a celebrated 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician; referred to in popular culture as Davy Crockett and often by the popular title "King of the Wild Frontier." He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo.



He was also noted for his coonskin hat. Due to fanatical anti-fur lobbying and ever growing scarcity of raccoons - the price of a nice coonskin hat is now running from $250.00 to $500.00 or more!

So, as you know, the folks in Texas are ever resourceful and creative and have found ways to combat the coonskin hat shortage. Roving Photojournalist Yellow Dog Granny captured the latest fashion craze in the Lone Star State.



The Coneskin hat. I hear its also a pretty good hangover cure too.

Shipping Snow We Go

Snow should be mailed in a sturdy mailing box. It can be kept frozen and packed with a cold source.

Snow will stay at a safe temperature longest if frozen solid first. Pack it in a container with a cold source such as a frozen gel pack found at supermarkets, or purchase some dry ice from a local ice supplier listed in your telephone yellow pages. I recommend using Mutt Mitts to put the snow in. They are great for controlling any leaks when sealed.

Pack your snow and cold source in a heavy foam container or corrugated cardboard. Fill up an empty space with crushed paper or foam popcorn. Any air space in the box in contact with outside will cause the snow and cold source to thaw faster.

Label the package clearly as "Keep Frozen." Arrange a delivery date with the recipient and ship the package and prepare to duck the snowball when they throw it back at you.

Notes: This works for entire snowmen too, just scale up the sizes and use Elephant Mitts. On my mailing list of eager snow recipients are Tori_Z and LadyStyx!

History Begins at Home

The city of Wilmington, Delaware lies on the Christiana River a short distance from the Delaware River. Wilmington, settled in 1638 by the Swedish, was joined to Baltimore, Maryland, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by railroad in 1837. Its proximity to both the water and rail as well as resources such as coal and iron ore made it a natural place for businesses to build iron, and later steel, steam-powered ships as well as rail cars.

Firms like Harlan and Hollingsworth (later a part of Bethlehem Steel) and the Pusey and Jones Corporation began building iron ships around 1840-1850. Today, the huge towering cranes on the riverfront, seen from Interstate 95, that once lifted materials into the ships as they were being built is about all that remains of the once thriving ship and rail car building industry.



Built in 1928 for the Baltimore Steam Packet Co. by the Pusey and Jones Corporation, the S.S. President Warfield carried passengers and freight between Norfolk, Va., and Baltimore, Md., for a decade before being acquired by the War Shipping Administration at Baltimore in July of 1942, and converted into a transport craft for transfer to the British Ministry of War Transport.

Manned by a British merchant crew led by Capt. J. R. Williams, she departed St. John’s, Newfoundland, September 21, 1942, with other small passenger steamers bound for the United Kingdom. Attacked by a German submarine 800 miles west of Ireland on the 25th, she evaded one torpedo, and, after the scattering of her convoy, safely reached Belfast, Ireland. In Britain, she served as a barracks and training ship on the Torridge River at Instow (near Bideford).

Returned by Britain, she joined the U.S. Navy as the President Warfield on May 21, 1944. In July 1944 she served as a station and accommodations ship at Omaha Beach, France. Following duty in England and on the Seine River, she arrived Norfolk, Va., July 25, 1945. Struck from the Naval Vessel Register in October, she was returned to the War Shipping Administration in mid-November 1945, a year later, she was sold to the Potomac Shipwrecking Co. of Washington, D.C., agents for a mystery buyer.

Loaded July 12, 1947 with 4,500 Jewish refugees bound for Palestine, she departed Sete, France, but came under the surveillance of British warships ordered to prevent further immigration into Palestine. Upon arrival in Palestinian waters, she was conducted by British warships into Haifa Harbor where she later sank. Her port side had been damaged by ramming by a British warship, and her passengers were denied entry into Palestine.

The damaged former President Warfield remained moored to a breakwater at Haifa harbour as a derelict until it burned to the waterline August 26, 1952. Later towed to Shemen Beach, Haifa, the wreak was raised in 1963 and scrapped by an Italian firm.



This ship, of course, is better known as the "Exodus 1947" and the wrenching story of the Jewish passengers told in a riveting novel written by Leon Uris titled "Exodus".

More on the Exodus 1947 story

I wonder what this was about?

It's too cold to even blog (much) today...



I also wonder if Jeff's mom appreciated the irony of her calling Jeff a rotten SOB?

The Mutter Museum

The Mutter Museum located at 19 South Twenty-Second Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was founded to educate future doctors about anatomy and human medical anomalies.

Their one-of-a-kind treasures include:

• The plaster cast of the torso of world-famous Siamese Twins, Chang & Eng, and their conjoined livers


• Joseph Hyrtl's collection of 139 skulls from Central and Eastern Europe


• Preserved body of the "Soap Lady"


• Collection of 2,000 objects extracted from people's throats


• Cancerous growth removed from President Grover Cleveland


• Tallest skeleton on display in North America

On May 20, 1856, Dr. Thomas Dent Mutter wrote to the College of Physicians that he was retiring from teaching because of ill health and wished to offer the guardianship of his personal museum to them as they were the "body best qualified by the character of its members and the nature of its pursuits for undertaking the trust." A professor of surgery at Jefferson Medical College, Mutter had amassed a unique and valuable collection of anatomical and pathological materials for use in his classes.



In 1859, two months before he died at age 48, Dr. Mutter's collection of bones, wet specimens, plaster casts, wax and papier-mache models, dried preparations, and medical illustrations - over 1700 items in all - joined the 92 specimens from the College's earlier collection in the new quarters. Many of the items which today`s visitors find most memorable date from that time: the bladder stones removed from Chief Justice John Marshall; and the skeleton of a woman whose rib-cage was compressed by tight lacing.



In 1874, the museum made several noteworthy additions to its collections. The autopsy of the 63-year-old Siamese Twins, Chang and Eng, was performed in the museum. Their bodies were returned to their home in North Carolina, but the College was allowed to keep their connected livers and a plaster cast of their torsos showing the band of skin and cartilage that joined them at the chest.

If want to go, let AusGrl know...I think I'll skip this one!

Dowd's American Museums Guide

Ever think to yourself, I wonder if there is a cool museum I could go to while I'm traveling through some place I've never been to before?

If you are into Classic Cars, Buses and Trolleys - you might want to head here! It lists places like the Penske Racing Museum in Phoenix, AZ, the Chicagoland Historical Bus Museum in the Windy City and the Mifflinburg Buggy Museum in my home state.

If you are open to just about any sort of Museum - you might want to head here! I peeked at some of the many, many entries and thought "Wow! the Air Mobility Command Museum at the Dover (Delaware) Air Force Base, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum in Mansfield Missouri, the Bradford Landmark Society in Bradford County, Pennsylvania (where the above picture came from), and Immokalee Museum in Naples, Florida might be neat to visit.

Where would you go for a visit if you had a free afternoon?

Out and About Town

This weekend, I went "down the shore" as folks say in these parts - and "down the shore" of course means the New Jersey beaches centered around Atlantic City. I took my big blue foam hand that proudly proclaims "something or other is number one" and waved to those that live across the pond. I hope they saw me waving and grinning like an idiot, if not I will do it again some time soon. I don't mind being an idiot.

There was (will someone please cover LadyStyx's eyes?) absolutely no snow on Long Beach Island. I did some walking and went to see the lighthouse that got it's light back (Old Barnegat Light). According to the local newspaper, over 8,000 people attended the New Year's day relighting ceremony.

Mostly I just puttered about - I'm sorry the pictures of mine haven't been all that great lately, I broke my camera just before going to Longwood Gardens - clumsy me had it in his pocket and laid down on it while working under a desk on my Dad's home office computer. I wasn't a terribly happy camper. I've sent it in to get it repaired - hopefully I'll hear soon how much my stupidity will cost me and when it might be sent back. Hopefully it won't cost as much as a new one.

Anyway, I saw some sights while puttering about and captured them on the cell phone camera...the first reminded me of the froggy lovers I know.



Even the sidewalk lamp looks like a mushroom. I'm not sure what it is that causes kermit-envy, but it sure seems like a lot of folks have it.



I spotted this neat little Volkswagon Beetle vanity plate outside the Alliance for a Living Ocean's headquarters building (More on the ALO) Move over, Herbie...it's the Surf Bug!



The cold seashore air really fires up one's appetite nearly as did the aroma coming from the Distelfink Bakery. I returned to work on Monday morning after an early morning physical therapy session, well rested (and newly achy) but really mentally out of it. All morning long I thought it was January 8th and only after I missed a meeting with a client and got a phonecall from them did I realize it was the 12th.

The shoulder is healing (slowly) and I no longer sit in teeth gritting agony. I can once again put on my own winter jacket and get things out of my back pockets - the simple things in life that really make things so much easier.

The Squawker

Sometimes I enjoy searching high and low for things on the Internet. Yesterday, I took a walk and mulled over something Tori had said about monsters and not knowing if a light was on or even if it was working. I made it a mental game - thinking what would it take to know if I had a light on (or off) if I couldn't see it?

I have enough of a mechanical - electrical engineering background to work out a rough description of a rather simple (and very inexpensive) electronic device that if I had some talent with a soldering iron I could assemble it - but I seem to have four left thumbs on my right hand (and vice versa).

I thought to myself, surely someone must sell something as simple as this?



It took a while but I found an article. As far as I can tell - no one manufactures this thing. I wonder why not? There are 1.3 million blind people in the United States alone.

So I spoke to my brother and he knows a guy from college that owns a company makes things electronic... We will see if it goes anywhere.

In the meantime, I'm going to put up the "Help Wanted" shingle. Anyone that can handle a soldering iron and read circuit diagrams, please apply.

:)

Bea Authur Monday

Bodacious!

Photo Source

Super Sunday Commerical Preview!

The commercial begins with a long shot view down the subway tube of the Washington DC subway, called the "Metro" where we see trains speed by in a whizzing flash.

A high-pitched, squeaky voice of Harold O. Conehead saying, "You know Delores, I'm so glad Kimberly-Clark has invented these new Depends!"

Delores responds, "Yes Harold, it's wonderful! We can go places again without worrying about your...umm...spilling perfume!"

Camera pans to a view of a very proud, shiny-eyed and excited Harold O. Conehead...



And then the commercial ends fading to black, with the deep resonate voice of James Earl Jones saying the traditional, "OCHA Depends...Get Back Into Life!"

or in version two...

"OCHA Depends...the Quicker Dripper Picker Upper!"

or, in version three...

"OCHA Depends...Good to the Last Drip!"

or perhaps you have a favorite version of your own?

Well, Gee...

Thanks to a very Funny Man at My Side of the Story I'm tickled pink, blushing, and embarrassed all at once. I enjoy writing things that, hopefully make you folks laugh or stop to ponder the picayune.



Meme Love -- A young woman with a raw, artistic talent blended with a zany taste of the macabre and poe-try. I've had the good fortune to discover many phenomenal artistic talents through blogging, two others that spring immediately to mind are Whimsical Brainpan and Gyspy-Heart. I wish Meme, Whimsical, and Gypsy Heart many years of artistic output - the world is a nicer place, canvas by canvas, because of them.

Twaddle everyday rubbish -- If you never been to MarmiteToasty's blog, you haven't lived. This childminder's antics with her nippers, her sons, her neighbor, and her remarkable view of the world are enough to lift heart, mind and soul of anyone that spends too much time looking at their feet. There are so many awesome folks dealing with adversity, be it bum knees, blindness like Tori, burn trauma like Whim, Multiple Sclerosis by Merely Me, trauma from spousal abuse like LadyStyx in uplifting and inspiring way that when I need a pep talk, any one of their excellent blogs will provide it.

Punkn's Place -- This wonderful woman has a marvelous blend of class, humor, a beautiful house, and most importantly, a family that makes that lovely house - a warm, inviting, and fun home - when I get reincarnated, I want to come back as one of punkn's punkns...

I never like having to pick out anyone for special attention - because I think all of you are great friends and wonderful to be around - I hope your blog will be the blog of the year.

Its not a Bridge or a Culvert!

The structure I thought was a culvert in the previous entry has been identified. My thanks to Harry L. Rinker for the heads up.

Its a stone aqueduct built for the Schuylkill Canal! Here is a very similar aquaduct that is in the same locality - I'll have to find this one! (Note to self: take GPS - 40°07′44″N 75°28′02″W) No wonder I couldn't figure out what road used this "bridge"!



This picture was taken by J. Clear on January 13, 2008 and included in Wikipedia! This puts the age of the structure, which was built no later than 1825 at 184 years old.

Someone Lost a Nut!

While walking on the now completed, "new" Oaks to Phoenixville portion of the Schuylkill River Trail, I noticed this tree growing out of a bridge/culvert.

Several questions came to mind.

Is it a bridge or a culvert and when does one become the other and vice versa?

How old is the bridge and how old is the tree?

Did a squirrel lose a nut? Or did some other animal drop the nut down the outside of the bridge into a crack? Could a bird have done this?

Why was the bridge built?



You know me, I had to know...

Asking a civil engineering pal of mine, I found out that a culvert usually is either circular or rectangular in cross-section and has an all-enveloping structure. For instance, a large diameter pipe under a road can be called a culvert. So long as the cross-section is complete (i.e. a roof, 2 walls and a floor), it's a culvert.

Thus this is a culvert - I think... :)

As for the purpose and age of the structure, (see how I deftly avoid calling it a bridge or culvert?) outside of the folks that built the trail I don't think there has been a road here in decades. This bridge is not part of the trail although the trail used to detour over it during its construction.

I suspect the structure was built around the time of the Perkiomen Railroad around 1874 since it appears that the wagon trail was used to bring building supplies and laborers to the railroad bridge site in order to build the where the railroad crosses the Schuylkill River. Furthermore the stone used here matches the stone used in the older part of the railroad bridge (it was obviously rebuilt at least once).

I'm just guessing but the tree looks like a 30-40 year old one to me.

As for how the nut got lodged in the bridge, its anyone's guess!

I don't know what will become of this structure - it has a certain grace - but no modern purpose.

Longwood Gardens 2009

Here are some pictures and a couple videos I took while at Longwood Gardens. I hope you enjoy. The prose is mostly just nonsense.



If I were a moose and you were a cow
Would you love me anyhow?
Would you introduce me to your folks
Would you tell your friends, "No moose jokes!"
If I were a moose and you were a cow

Would you invite me to your club
And risk a cruel bovine snub
Would you lead me down the receiving line
And boldly boast, "This moose is mine!"

Would your parents watch us graze
Shake their heads, "It's just a phase"
Or would they thank the stars above
Their precious heifer's found her love?



Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh



As the deer panteth for the water,
So my soul longeth after you.
You alone are my hearts desire
And I long to worship you.

You alone are my strength, my shield.
To you alone may my spirit yield.
You alone are my hearts desire
And I long to worship you.



Percy the puny poinsettia
Is hanging his bloom in dismay
If they had just kept him wetta
He'd be a houseplant today
Folks liked the other plants betta
Now he's alone on the shelf
Even a plant with no uncle or aunt
Shouldn't spend Christmas Day by himself

Holiday shoppers would stop by the counter
And pick up a plant to take home
Until one by one all his friends were adopted
And Percy was left all alone



We're flowers, you and I.
We share a light.
I need you.
We're Orchids.

But I long to love you like flowers do
Just to feel your sweet perfume
I want you.
We're Orchids.

Will we never get to be?
Will I ever get to be?
Will I ever get to feel you in me?

The seeds lie unaltered
But on some planet, on some other moon.
We bloom still.
I love you.
We're Orchids.



This is 1,100 pounds of cranberries laid out in a shallow fountain pool...



Inside the conservatory...this is the main building and it is huge and always breathtaking, no matter what time of year.



Just outside the gates of the gardens, there is an old Quaker meeting house (Longwood Progressive Meeting of Friends) with a cemetary. This very old grave is being displaced by a old tree. The grave stone was just about illegible - the year of death was 1858 - I think. More on the meeting house can be found here.

A couple videos for you to enjoy:



Music, lights and cascades of water. I don't know if you can hear the music.



Inside the conservatory there are waterfalls and turning Christmas trees. You might hear the waterfalls.

Looking at My Subaru

A while ago, I was looking at my Subaru and was curious about the logo and what it might mean and where it came from...so, you know me...I couldn't sleep nights until I tracked it down.



Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), the parent company of Subaru, is currently partly owned by the Toyota Motor Corporation, which owns 1/8th of FHI that Toyota in turn, bought from General Motors in 2005.

Subaru is the Japanese name for the star cluster Pleiades, which roughly translated into English means, "to govern", "unite," or "gather together".

The company logo is influenced by the star cluster. The large star in the logo represents Fuji Heavy Industries, and the five smaller stars represent the current five companies that are united under the FHI group.

FHI started out as The Aircraft Research Laboratory in 1917 headed by Chikuhei Nakajima. In 1932, the company was reorganized as Nakajima Aircraft Company, Ltd and soon became the primary manufacturer of aircraft for Japan during World War II.

FHI (Reorganized) was established on July 15, 1953 out of the war rumble when five Japanese companies, known as Fuji Kogyo, Fuji Jidosha Kogyo, Omiya Fuji Kogyo, Utsunomiya Sharyo and Tokyo Fuji Sangyo, joined to form one of Japan's largest manufacturers of transportation equipment.

Bonus points to anyone that can properly pronounce and say those five names, five times, really quickly! And I hope Tori's computer reader doesn't faint or pass away on her!

So now what I really want to know now is, who actually won WWII?

The 12th Day of Christmas

Today is Epiphany, a Christian holiday celebrating the visit of the Magi (the wisemen) to the infant Jesus in the Manager in Bethlehem. It is also known as the 12th and last day of Christmas - and is the traditional day that folks take down the Christmas decorations and put the Christmas tree out for pickup.

For me, the Christmas holiday isn't over until I get to see the Christmas display at Longwood Gardens.

I'll do a more complete entry on this year's visit to the gardens later - physical therapy has been brutal of late, and its a struggle for me to type much at one time.

However, here's a sneak preview...



Inside the conservatory - the theme is red and white flowers. Breath-taking...visually, aromatically, aurally and when you get to the hot chocolate stand, tactilely and gastronomically.



Its easy to get dazzled by the lights, music and sheer beauty of the gardens. The outdoor fountain display is magnificent. The traditional holiday music is played in the outdoor theater and a computer runs the lights and fountains to the beat of the music.



Dazzled by the show, and confused by the signs, here we see traffic leaving the gardens, literally, stacking up.

New Years Resolution

Ever since the ill-fated New Years resolution that left me sleeping on the sofa at night, I've been a little leery of making them - but I promised someone this year I would at least make one of them - for "them," although I know its really for "me." I'm not real good with resolutions - but promises to others - well, I do try to keep my word.

For those that don't already know - several years ago (I should almost say "once upon a time" its been so long ago) I made a New Years resolution to sleep on my sofa until the time came I had company in bed. The "intent", which badly backfired, was to prod me to "get out there" and starting dating people again - something I had given up as a lost cause. Well, it sort of turned out to actually be a lost cause since I've gotten rather used to sleeping on the sofa - even in a house with four bedrooms, three of them with beds (the other has a sleeper sofa).

So, anyway, here it is...



...this year I resolve to put some people in these pictures, people I am walking and talking with.

I used to belong to a walking club, the Brandywine Walk Club, and even walked across the state of Delaware with them in one day. Sounds impressive doesn't it? Crossing the whole state, and in a day, no less, but Delaware is only 8 miles wide and one point and it is only 16 miles wide where we walked, on the flat and level Chesapeake and Delaware canal. I even joined them on a couple other walks but these people were roadrunners...or at least I nearly had to run to keep up with them! I'm talking about "8 month pregnant moms pushing twins on a baby stroller passing me" slow...so I didn't get a whole lot of pleasure out of those walks.

So, I'm going to ask at the next Physical Therapy session if they have a walking club for the folks doing hip, knee, and/or ankle rehab - and if so, I'm going join up...and if not, I'm going to keep looking for a local "sedate plodders" club to join. Any helpful suggestions (or even heckling or catcalls) are welcomed.

By the way, the trail in the picture is on the Schuylkill River a little west of Phoenixville, near the closed Pennhurst State (Mental) Hospital which is now being turned into - you guessed it - more (bleeping) housing developments. I may have been among the last ones to walk this trail...

Getting Around

I was rummaging through some old pictures a few days ago - and I wanted to share some of them. I think they have a general theme to them - how folks got around back in the day, as well as today. I also noticed I too, have been getting around.



This wooden bridge spans the Delaware and Raritan Canal in Griggstown, New Jersey. The canal used to connect the Delaware River near Trenton, NJ to the Raritan River and the New York City harbor. Today, the canal towpath is a walking and biking path, the canal used to carry coal from the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains to New York City.



More of the Delaware and Raritan Canal - now being enjoyed by canoers, it used to host steamboats plying trade to and from NYC and points north to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and points south after its coal carrying days were ended by the railroad.



The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal follows the Potomac River from Washington DC up into the hinterlands of Cumberland, Maryland. The canal was the brainchild of none other than George Washington. Its 164-mile length has been preserved and is a mecca for walkers, backpackers, and bikers. This lock house is about mid-canal at milepost 70.



A rare feature when it comes to canals, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal has a tunnel. The Pawpaw tunnel located in Pawpaw, Maryland saved a half dozen miles off the route but was a brutal building endeavor as its construction was through solid granite and predated the invention of dynamite. I've walked about 1/3 of the way through this tunnel - but not having a flashlight, I had to turn around and come back to where I started.



Speaking of tunnels, here is a picture of my younger brother peering into the 1,931 foot long Black Rock Tunnel, Phoenixville, PA - built by the Reading Railroad in 1835-1837, this is the second oldest railroad tunnel in the United States and the oldest still in use today. It is now owned by Norfolk Southern. The tracks go from Philadelphia to Pottstown to Reading and then on to Pottsville, PA.



Imagine the fury of the pounding drive wheels of the steam locomotive! This is the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad's locomotive pulling into the Cumberland, Maryland train station. All Aboard! You can get a ride that goes into the wild mountains of West Virginia.



This is much more modern (but still old!) diesel locomotive sitting in the Central of New Jersey's train station in Jim Thorpe, PA. Jim Thorpe, renamed from Mauch Chunk (American Indian for "sleeping bear") to honor the great native American athlete, is on the Lehigh River and is also called the Switzerland of America.



Its fall foliage season in the Pennsylvania mountains! The perfect time to take a train ride.



Lots more modern and certainly more stealthy than the steam locomotive, this is a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk. This stealth ground attack aircraft was formerly operated by the United States Air Force and has now been retired from service. I saw it up close and personal at the Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware during an air show a few years ago.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures - I'm sure there are more where these came from.