Friday, December 31, 2010

Close, but no cigar

lisa me bikeGranddaughter Lisa checks out the view from the seat of my K1200GT in her garage in Las Vegas.

This being New Year’s Eve, it’s time to record the odometer readings from our two BMW motorcycles.

I knew it was a better-than-usual riding year, what with my three-week ride to Oregon, California and Nevada and other lesser travels, but I had no idea I would end up with 9,343 miles – just 657 miles short of the 10,000 to qualify for the Indianapolis BMW Club’s 10,000-mile award. The last time I earned a 10k award was in 2004, which was my 13th consecutive 10k award.

If I’d realized how close I was to the magic 1ok number, I would have ridden more. In fact, I’m fighting the temptation to saddle up and ride to Valdosta, Ga. to get the needed mileage. Of course that would be completely insane, given the fact that I’d be racing a cold front that spawned tornadoes this morning and killed three people in northwest Arkansas. And I’d be stuck in Georgia for several days while I waited for a warmup in the Mid-South. I’d have to find something to occupy my time, like maybe a ride down to Key West, which would give me a headstart on my 2011 mileage total. Hmmmm.

But it’s 11:30 a.m. already and there is no way I could ride 657 miles before midnight, especially since I’d lose an hour crossing into the Eastern Time Zone. So there it is. A mathematical impossibility.

But even so, 2010 was the best year for riding that I’ve had since 2004. I started keeping track of my BMW mileage in 1986 when I did my first ride to the West Coast with Tim and Linda Balough. Here’s the record so far:

Personal BMW Mileage
2009 - 8,522
2008 - 6,212
2007 - 6,432
2006 - 6,093
2005 - 6,476
2004 - 10,163
2003 - 10,003
2002 - 10,849
2001 - 13,548
2000 - 11,593
1999 - 11,912
1998 - 13,115
1997 - 13,122
1996 - 13,862
1995 - 11,378
1994 - 19,621
1993 - 21,928
1986 -15,735

A hard rain’s gonna fall…

Issued by The National Weather Service
Memphis, TN
9:22 am CST, Fri., Dec. 31, 2010

... SEVERE WEATHER LIKELY LATER TODAY ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE MID SOUTH...

A STRONG STORM SYSTEM MOVING INTO THE AREA TODAY WILL SET THE STAGE FOR A SEVERE WEATHER EVENT ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE AREA. A WARM FRONT POSITIONED ACROSS CENTRAL ARKANSAS INTO NORTH CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI THIS MORNING WILL LIFT NORTHEAST TODAY. THE AIRMASS TO THE SOUTH OF THIS FRONT HAS BECOME WARM... HUMID... AND UNSTABLE. THIS UNSTABLE AIRMASS IS EXPECTED TO OVERSPREAD THE WESTERN HALF OF THE MID SOUTH BY EARLY AFTERNOON PRIOR TO THE PASSAGE OF A STRONG COLD FRONT. THE INCREASED INSTABILITY COMBINED WITH STRONG ATMOSPHERIC WINDS WILL SET THE STAGE FOR SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS AREAS ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE WARM FRONT AND AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT.

THE GREATEST SEVERE WEATHER RISK WILL EXIST ALONG AND WEST OF INTERSTATE 55 THIS AFTERNOON INTO EARLY EVENING... INCLUDING NORTHEAST AND EAST ARKANSAS... THE MISSOURI BOOTHEEL... SOUTHWEST TENNESSEE... AND NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI. IN THESE LOCATIONS... SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP BY EARLY THIS AFTERNOON AND MOVE QUICKLY EAST THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. ANY SEVERE STORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS AND A FEW TORNADOES. THERE WILL BE A SECONDARY THREAT FOR LARGE HAIL. THE BEST TIMING FOR SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS THESE LOCATIONS WILL BE BETWEEN 2 PM CST AND 8 PM CST.

FURTHER EAST... INCLUDING NORTHWEST TENNESSEE TO THE EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER... THE TENNESSEE RIVER VALLEY OF WEST TENNESSEE... AND NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI... THE OVERALL THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE LOWER. THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY WITH RESPECT TO HOW FAR EAST THE UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL SPREAD. IN ADDITION... THE LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS SHOULD LIMIT OVERALL INSTABILITY. THE SEVERE THREAT IS MORE CONDITIONAL HERE... BUT IF IT DOES OCCUR EXPECT THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREAT TO BE DAMAGING WINDS WITH A SECONDARY THREAT OF ISOLATED TORNADOES. THE BEST TIMING FOR POTENTIAL SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS THESE AREAS WILL BE BETWEEN 4 PM CST AND MIDNIGHT.

HEAVY RAINFALL AND LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING MAY OCCUR ACROSS EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA TONIGHT AS THE COLD FRONT SLOWS ITS EASTWARD PROGRESSION.

RESIDENTS ACROSS THE MID SOUTH ARE URGED TO REMAIN UPDATED WITH THE LATEST FORECAST INFORMATION AND PLAN NOW FOR THE POTENTIAL OF SEVERE WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE LATEST SEVERE WEATHER DETAILS AND GRAPHICS CAN BE FOUND IN THE GRAPHICAST SECTION ON THE MEMPHIS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE. BE PREPARED TO SEEK SAFE SHELTER IN THE EVENT SEVERE WEATHER WARNINGS ARE ISSUED AND SEVERE WEATHER BECOMES IMMINENT.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

It may be my last ride of the year

Sometimes you don’t need much of an excuse to go for a motorcycle ride.

Today is was a combination of no rain, a temperature in the upper 50s, a need to pick up the mail and buy a new pair of bootlaces, a need to put some juice back into the K75S battery and a desire to remember a BMW motorcycle friend whose funeral is today.

Even though it’s shirtsleeve weather for walking around, 59 degrees can still be chilly on a bike. Sometimes I under-dress for weather like this, but I got it right today: turtleneck, windstopper pullover, BMW Savanna jacket, BMW summer pants and street boots and gauntleted Olympia Kevlar gloves.

It was also my first chance to try out the Wiley X Jake sunglasses some guy left in Charlie’s store more than a year ago. They had prescription lenses, which I replaced for $18 with bronze blue-blocker-type lenses. They also have a foam rubber gasket that keeps the breezes off of the wearer’s eyes. I augmented them with a pair of stick-on 2X bifocal patches. I was pleased to find that, unlike most other sunglasses, they slip right on and off under my Arai fullface helmet.

The Wileys worked splendidly and I’m looking forward to many miles behind them in 2011 and beyond.

Nothing particularly exciting in the mail except for the 2010 filing edition of H&R Block At Home tax software. I thought about buying a copy yesterday when I was in Office Max, but this is easier – just load it and pay for it online.

I left some money on the table when I filed our 2009 return – forgot some interest that might have gotten us another $100 or so on our refund. I’ll not make that mistake again.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Fun with electrons

I charged the battery on my K1200GT last week, then plugged the charger into the accessory outlet on Maria’s K75S.
After three days, the BMW Advanced Battery Charger was still flashing a red light where I expected a green light to signify a charged battery.bmw battery charger
Could it be that the charger, which has worked flawlessly on the GT’s glass mat battery, isn’t right for the K75’s gel battery?
I dug out the packaging for the charger and confirmed that BMW says it’s appropriate for all types of batteries – glass mat, gel, lead-acid.
Then my eyes fell upon the explanation of the indicator lights.
Flashing red means no connection has been established with the battery.
WTF?
So I plugged my Gerbings heated jacket controller into the K75’s accessory plug and turned it on. No monitor light or other indication that it was getting juice.
Aha.
So I’ll have to charge the battery with the charger’s accessory battery terminal clamps until I can troubleshoot the accessory outlet problem. (I pulled the left sidecover and inspected the fuses, but found them all intact.) It also means I won’t be able to ride the K75S in cold weather and use my Gerbings heated clothing until the accessory plug connection is restored.

Becalmed in the journalistic horse latitudes

Back when I was a Gannett wage slave, I always dreaded this time of year – the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

We used to hope for some kind of disaster because all of the usual sources of news were dormant. No government meetings, no athletic events to speak of, and all of the newsmakers out of town.

So with nothing happening, we turned our attention inward and conjured up endless lists of the top 10, 20, 50, etc. local, state, national, and international news and sports stories of the year.

It was a combination of narcissism and a response to lots of space to fill in the paper.

I hated writing these stupid stories because the choice of news events and their ranking was purely subjective. And I’m sure they were the least-read things I ever wrote for publication. Really, who cares what some editor thinks were the important events of the past year? It’s certainly not the kind of think that gets cut out and stuck on the refrigerator door. That’s where the really good stuff ends up.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Bad craziness on Craigslist

I was poking around on Craigslist this afternoon and wandered into the Rants & Raves section of the Personals. The first two are from the Jonesboro area. The rest are from the Memphis area. Other than removing the last name of the guy in the first item, they’re all unedited – just copy and paste:

  1. Mike X is a fat pill pushing s.o.b. that cheates on his wife every chance he gets. he destroyed my marrage by fuckin my wife and got her hooked on pills all of which i have prof. so hopefully he or his wife will contact me soon so this can be taken care of.thx
  2. You have to love when you are at home working on a project or trying to enjoy time with your family when you hear a knocking on your door. You think who could it be a friend a relative? After opening the door you see two people asking for your time away from your family so they can push their religious views into your face. I see this as a type of solicitation. Just my thoughts wonder if anyone else feels this way?
  3. Why would anyone park their car for days and nights on end in front of a neighbor's house blocking their mailbox and almost their driveway?
  4. I work at a bar where the owner TAKES tips from reglars who dont tip good by adding a beer or two to ther tab. But to him anything less than 25% is a bad tip. Andthen he does shit to ther food in the kitchen but is nice to ther face. This is the only bar manager I know that does it-most are ok. But you better tip good at OWT, or youll end up with piss in your pizza, REALLY!
  5. My faith in humanity has been restored! Having been unemployed for about 6 weeks, I was looking for someone to donate a bicycle so that I could expand my job search. Of course, I got the usual responses (i.e., people who, despite reading that I am unemployed, still offered to SELL me one--what's up with that? don't they teach reading COMPREHENSION anymore?) not to mention a ton of spam.
    Then, this lady named Patty, who works in midtown, contacted me and said that she had one her son used to ride. Not only did she offer to let me have it for free, but she even put it in the trunk of her car and brought it to work with her so that I could walk down and pick it up. She also brought a bike lock with it, and as I was going out the door, slipped a 20 in my hand.
    It's too small for me, the seat is uncomfortable as hell, and it squeaks.
    It's also the best Christmas present I ever got.
    Thanks again, Patty!
    When I get work, I intend to buy a bigger one and then find a kid whose parents can't afford to give him a bike and pay it forward.
  6. I heard that some people are registered sex offenders to the government and can't open their door to kids on Halloween, so I wanna register as a sex offender so I don't have to let kids in. I know some sex offenders, and I think it would be really cool to join their club!!! Do you agree, and how can I register as a sex offender? Do I have to pay a membership fee or do some kind of crazy initiation? I hope not. That's why I was never in any college clubs... So anyway, do sex offenders get any other special privileges? I gotta know!!! Tell me!
  7. Dear Sir:
    I am Bornfrxcz from Trillfid Nine.
    I apologize for the green light display the other night over Mud Island. My broodmates, I believe you would say, got into the gojop juice and got snookered very badly. They jettisoned the contents of our waste disposal unit and then destroyed it with the ship's laser. So the white light was the laser that caused the waste to phosphoresce the green color usually only available on a 1969 Volkswagon Thing. I am extremely sorry for this happening.
    I must now confess the following as a way to make amends for our unplanned fireworks.
    We have been visiting your planet for the past century or so, and it is we who run all the Nigerian email scams here on craigslist. We also like to post as 23 year olds who like older men in your Casual encounter section. So be warned and stop mailing your money to our PO Box in Skokie.
    Oh yes, before I forget, the spent radium containers we left on the curb in front of The Olive Garden on Poplar are now gone, but the clothes hangars and Mardi-gras beads are still there awaiting pickup. Do not ring the doorbell, just take the stuff and do not make a mess.
    Your friend,
    Bornfrxcz from Trillfid NINE
    PS Please remember, even though we do resemble your own planetary system's Neptunian lungsuckers, we are not from Neptune and none of us would ever suck your lungs out.
  8. as the previous responder said, the whole city is pretty much a toilet. but the area you are describing is usually on fire from the frequent drive by shootings and arson.

Godspeed, John Mohringer

John Mohringer’s obituary in the Lebanon Reporter:

Mr. John Phillip Mohringer, 53, of Lebanon, entered into eternal rest Sunday, Dec. 26, 2010, at Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis.
John was born on June 1, 1957, to Johannes and Johanna (VanDongen)
Mohringer, in Decatur, Ill. His parents survive.
Shortly after graduating Lebanon High School in 1975, John met his best friend
and love of his life, Sally Ayres. They were married at the Herr Cabin in a
traditional Indian ceremony on Jan. 20, 1979, officiated by his father.
John was a certified nuclear welder and had been employed as a welder for
several years at Commercial Filters, Amtrak, and most recently as a car man at
CSX Railroad.
He and Sally enjoyed traveling the country on his BMW motorcycle. He was an
mohrpanavid BMW motorcyclist and outdoorsman, and mastered everything he ever attempted. John was also especially fond of going up in his power parachute,
where he could get his own bird’s-eye view of God’s creation. John had several friends and never met a stranger. His smile, laughter and sense of humor were always present, no matter what life dealt him.
John was a member of several clubs, including the Indianapolis BMW Club.
Along with his parents and his wife, Sally, John is survived by his large family who will miss him more and more as every day goes by, including brothers, Peter Mohringer of Lebanon, Thomas (wife Shannon) Mohringer of Elizaville, James (wife Wendy) Mohringer of Darlington and Steve (wife Terri) Mohringer; sister, Maria (husband Louis) Shepherd of Lebanon; and several nieces and nephews, and great-nieces and great-nephews. One brother, Fred Mohringer, preceded him in death.
Visitation will be 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 30, at Myers Chapel of Memories,
1502 N Lebanon St., Lebanon. Services will follow visitation at 7 p.m. Thursday at Myers Chapel of Memories, with the Rev. Howard Barefoot officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation to the American Cancer Society, or to the donor’s favorite charity.
Online condolences may be made at www.myersmortuary.com.

I shot this picture the day John and Sally and I spent panning for gold in the Colorado high country. The stream was just west of Fairplay, Colo.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Raccoon drama

Not long after we went to bed last night, we heard a dog bowl being batted around on the back porch.

Since Pete was in his kennel and Ruthie was snoring on the carpet, we knew we had an intruder.

I went to the back door and snapped on the lights, startling a medium-sized raccoon who had come in through the dog door.

The raccoon shot me a look and then ambled out the way it had come.

I waited a few seconds to give it a decent head start – don’t want my dogs in any fights to the death with a raccoon – and then released the hounds.

The raccoon’s scent was fresh in the air, so they were properly indignant when they charged through the dog door and tore around the yard, barking murderous threats to anything that would dare to trespass in their domain.

When they came back to bed, Ruthie was still in a high state of agitation. Her senility makes her crazy restless sometimes at bedtime and she roams the house aimlessly and sometimes scratches on the bedroom door, even though it’s wide open. It’s like she’s looking for a portal to another dimension.

I drifted off to sleep, but she started whining, which woke us up and prompted Maria to give her a dose of Valium (as prescribed by the vet). It took about a half-hour for the drug to kick in, and then she was out like a light. I had to gently shake her for several seconds to wake her up this morning.

Looks like we’ll have to start bringing the dog bowls in at night.

Gone too soon

john mohringer ultralight

We were stunned this morning to learn that longtime BMW friend John Mohringer died yesterday.

John was a good friend and a solid member of the Indianapolis BMW Club. He consistently rode 10,000 or more miles a year and won the club’s high mileage award for 1999 with 22,945 BMW miles ridden that year.

Besides being an avid motorcyclist, John was an ultralight aircraft pilot. We exchanged waves many times when he flew over our house in Thorntown, Ind. I stole this picture of him cruising above his native Boone County from his Facebook profile.

John had been in poor health and had undergone surgery recently. He packed a lot of joyful living into his 57 years, but he deserved more.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Flakes!

stamps2aWhat better time than the beginning of winter to take a closer look at snowflakes?

Thanks to Maggie’s Farm, I discovered Kenneth Libbrecht’s fabulous web site snowcrystals.com. Libbrecht is one of the foremost experts on snowflakes. His pioneering snowflake photography was featured on this set of U.S. postage stamps issued in 2006. Austria also issued stamps adorned with his snowflake photos.

His Guide to Snowflakes page is particularly fascinating.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Day

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It doesn’t take much to make me happy.

In this case, it’s the last of the bagels that Austin brought from Shapiro’s Delicatessen in Indianapolis a few weeks ago and a well-stocked wine rack.

We watched Maria’s new colorized copy of “Holiday Inn” last night and we’re having a calm, low-key Christmas Day today.

We Skyped with Steve and Lisa yesterday and I had a nice telephone chat with Sean this afternoon, so I feel connected to my far-flung DNA on this Christmas.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve

I’m hanging out at Books-A-Million while Maria does a little last-minute grocery shopping next door at Kroger.

Judging from the crowded parking lot, it’s going to take her a little longer than usual.

We hit Sam’s Club first and I checked out the Samsung 3D LED TV. Yeah, it’s 3D. Kinda. I was not impressed. I certainly wouldn’t pay nearly $2,000 for the 46”, let alone about $2,500 for the 55” version. The technology isn’t mature yet, and I’m not sure it will be in the foreseeable future. Our 2D 42” Sharp Aquos fits nicely in our armoire and suits me just fine. I did notice, however, that they have at least one home theatre sound system with wireless rear speakers. I haven’t hooked up our rear speakers because I’m loathe to run speaker wire under the carpet or through the walls. Maybe next year…

This is a surreal feeling Christmas Eve. The temperature is 36 and there’s a light drizzle. The National Weather Service has issued a Special Weather Statement talking about light snow accumulation overnight and tomorrow, but I suspect it’s mostly just wishful thinking among those who fancy a white Christmas – kinda like the way forecasters in Indianapolis like to pretend the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race will have good weather, even when radar shows a storm front bearing down on Indy.

The Weather Channel was asking viewers to weigh in on how far they would drive to see snow. Most of the responses seemed to be coming from the Sun Belt, except maybe the guy who said, “I wouldn’t even drive to McDonald’s to see snow.” I’ve seen enough snow in 60-some Indiana winters to know that I’m perfectly happy without it. Snow in the high passes of the Rocky Mountains in July is one thing. Snow in the winter in Arkansas isn’t nearly as interesting.

We had a fun Skype visit with Steve and Lisa this morning. She showed us her new pair of goldfish and her electric Santa Claus who dances to Jinglebell Rock. Steve wondered out loud what would happen if he plugged a higher voltage AC adapter into it. Heh heh.

Maria doesn’t have enough time off for us to travel to visit relatives this year. Las Vegas and Portland and Arizona are out of reach and a drive to Indiana would involve almost as much time in the car as we’d have for visiting. So we’ll have a quiet Christmas at home watching movies on DVD and opening the back door for the dogs whenever they decide they want out or in.

Merry Christmas to all. Especially the ACLU.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Ghost of Christmas Past

floxmas2

Sixty Christmases ago, my parents gave me this really cool cowboy outfit – hat, shirt, pants, boots, Hopalong Cassidy jacket and cap gun and a length of rope.

I loved that outfit. The shirt was black, trimmed in chartreuse satin with pearl snaps instead of buttons. I was desperately sad when I outgrew each of the components of the ensemble.

If we lived in Arizona or Colorado, this is how I’d dress every day. Probably even down to the gun. Open carry is legal in Arizona and Colorado.

Well, I think I’d lose the rope. I never could keep it untangled anyway.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Just sayin…

If you have some money lying around that you can’t find a use for, you could always check out my Amazon.com wish list…

Doreen checks in

doreen

Original Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeers Sherry Alberoni, Doreen Tracey, Tommy Cole, and Mary Espinosa at Disneyland on Dec. 5.

My Mouseketeer friend Doreen checked in this afternoon to wish us a Merry Christmas and to catch up on what we and she have been up to over the past year.

Doreen finally retired from the corporate grind at Warner Bros., moved out of her place in Burbank and now lives closer to her son and grandkids.

She sounds happy and healthy and as full of enthusiasm as ever and talks of maybe taking a road trip to get better acquainted with the interior of America. I told her we have splendid guest accommodations, even though we’re stuck in a little-visited corner of Arkansas not on the way to anywhere.

A white Christmas in Arkansas? Not holding my breath…

The National Weather Service guys apparently haven’t gotten the memo explaining that writing in ALL CAPS is the online equivalent of SHOUTING.

Local Severe Weather Alert for Brookland, AR (72417)
...VERY RARE ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL EVENT LOOKING MORE LIKELY FOR CHRISTMAS EVE NIGHT AND CHRISTMAS MORNING...  LOW PRESSURE CURRENTLY OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES WILL TRACK EASTWARD ALONG THE GULF COAST SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT. MEANWHILE...AN UPPER LEVEL PIECE OF ENERGY WILL DIVE ACROSS THE MIDSOUTH LATE FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING.  IT APPEARS THESE TWO FEATURES WILL SPREAD A MIXTURE OF RAIN AND SOME SLEET ACROSS NORTHEAST ARKANSAS...THE MISSOURI BOOTHEEL..AND WESTERN TENNESSEE LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON. THE PRECIPITATION WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD FRIDAY NIGHT AND TURN TO ALL SNOW FROM NORTH TO SOUTH AS COLDER AIR ADVANCES ON THE MIDSOUTH. THE SNOW COULD PERSIST INTO CHRISTMAS MORNING MAINLY EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER WITH FLURRIES OR LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS POSSIBLE DURING THE AFTERNOON.  FORECAST MODELS ARE NOW BEGINNING TO CONVERGE ON A GENERAL SOLUTION... BUT EXACT DETAILS ARE STILL UNCERTAIN. AT THIS POINT...1 TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW COULD FALL ON MUCH OF THE MIDSOUTH FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING LEADING TO A WHITE CHRISTMAS IN MANY AREAS AND PRODUCING SOME TRAVEL PROBLEMS.  A WHITE CHRISTMAS IS VERY RARE FOR THIS PART OF THE COUNTRY. THE LAST TIME MEMPHIS HAD AT LEAST A HALF INCH OF SNOW ON THE GROUND MAKING FOR A WHITE CHRISTMAS WAS IN 2004. EVEN MORE RARE IS MEASURABLE SNOWFALL ON CHRISTMAS DAY. THE LAST TIME THAT HAPPENED WAS IN 1913.  THOSE WITH TRAVEL PLANS SHOULD STAY ABREAST TO THE LATEST FORECASTS. THIS IS A COMPLICATED SYSTEM AND THE FORECAST IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

No mention of an “off” button

Where did I put my hammer?

How did I miss this in ‘75?

Dogs and polar bears. Who knew?

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

We wish you a Merry Christmas…

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I heard voices outside my office window about 5:15 p.m. and went down to the front door to see who was there.

It was David and Cheryl Head, who own the cattle ranch on the other side of our woods and Chris and Kim Paslay, who live nearby, and their families serenading me with Christmas carols.

Utterly unexpected and charming.

“Bud” Cronk revisited

wwcronk_11

I’m sharing my photos of art knife giant W.W. Cronk with the Custom Knife Collectors Association.

I phoned The Star reference library and longtime friend Cathy Knapp hunted up the story on microfilm and emailed a .pdf of it to me, which I forwarded to Kevin Jones, president and founder of the CKCA.wwcronk_04

wwcronk_05wwcronk_07wwcronk_08wwcronk_09wwcronk_12

Monday, December 20, 2010

My son is on iTunes!

sean studioI just did a search for my son Sean Flora’s name in iTunes and came up with 14 songs.
Three credit him with mixing them and the other 11 are on John O'Mara's "Five Year Mission" album that he produced and plays various instruments on..
How cool is that?

Bang for the buck

ruger_lcp_2

I have a Colt Combat Commander .45 with a Crimson Trace laser sight, but I haven’t carried it since we moved to Arkansas and my Indiana concealed carry permit expired. And I haven’t felt any strong desire to get an Arkansas permit, mainly because the .45 is just too heavy and bulky to carry comfortably.

And I haven’t seen a gun that I’d be interested in as a daily carry weapon.

Until Saturday, when we went to the local shooting range to pick up a gift membership that a friend bought for her husband.

One of the guys there showed us his .380 Ruger LCP with Crimson Trace laser sight. The gun holds 6 rounds in the magazine and one in the pipe and weighs a scant 9.4 ounces. It’s only 5.16 inches long and you can get a finger extension magazine like the one for the Walther PPK. And the price is amazingly attractive, especially if I can find a used example in good condition.

No, it doesn’t have the knock-down power of a .45. Hardly anything else does. But the .45 is pretty useless if it’s at home in a drawer when you’re out and about and discover you need a gun.

I used to have a motorcyclist’s grudge against Ruger because the company denied health insurance coverage to motorcycle-riding employees, but that issue got resolved years ago.

Giving it some serious thought…

Holiday family portraits

JMF_2824We traveled to Memphis on Saturday afternoon to shoot holiday family portraits for BMW friends Deb and Charlie.

Here’s Deb with her granddaughter Bailey.

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And here’s the whole family group.

The glycerin report

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I soaked these four rubber stamps in glycerin for a week with no significant restoration of the hard, dried-out rubber.

So much for that solution.

Anyone have a better suggestion for rehabilitating old rubber stamps?

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Hard Workin’ Dog

From Sesame Street.

I love this video and song.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Meet W.W. “Bud” Cronk

cronk03 72
This is W.W. “Bud” Cronk, a giant in the art knife field.
I did a story about Bud Cronk for The Indianapolis News in late October, 1982, shortly before his death from cancer. I had no idea how important this guy was in the knifemaking world.
Mark Oertel, a knife collecting friend, was very excited when he learned I was going to visit Cronk in his Greenfield, Ind. home, which should have been a clue. To me, it was just another feature story about a guy who made interesting things.
I know better now.
The fantasy knife Cronk is brandishing in the photo is named The Eliminator and is currently offered by Nordic Knives for $45,000. Yes, forty-five thousand dollars.
cronk 16Here’s the listing:
  • 14" blade of 440C, mirror polished with 19 spikes protruding from three sides, 20 1/4" overall length
  • Stainless steel hilt with three spiked hand guards
  • Wood micarta handle with a stainless steel pommel
  • No sheath
  • Arguably Bud Cronk's most famous knife, this piece is prominently featured in Jim Weyer's "Points of Interest" Book I pages 120-122.
  • Made in the early 1980's, mint condition
Small wonder that the Knifemakers Guild presents the W.W. Cronk Memorial Award to the maker of the best knife at its annual show.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Dylan and The Band at Indiana University

Bob Dylan and The Band at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. on Feb. 3, 1974. The 40-show tour in January and February of 1974 resulted in the "Before the Flood" double album, released in June, 1974.

Bob Dylan and The Band at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. on Feb. 3, 1974. The 40-show tour in January and February of 1974 resulted in the "Before the Flood" double album, released in June, 1974.

Foreshadowing

old indiana01 72

This is Indiana Gov. Otis Bowen speaking at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the ill-fated Old Indiana theme park near Thorntown, Ind. back in the mid-1970s.

I didn’t notice it at the time, but the hard hat the Old Indiana folks gave Bowen misspelled “Governor.”

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This one time at band camp…

bandcamp

I shot this photo back in the ‘70s as part of a story I did for The Indianapolis News on the Smith Walbridge Camp at Syracuse, Ind.

The camp offered summer programs for marching bands, flag & rifle units, baton twirlers and drum majors. At the time, it was run by its founders Merl and Margaret Smith.

The Smiths’ son Gary is a retired marching band director from the University of Illinois and runs the Smith Walbridge Clinics at Savoy, Ill.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Moose crossing

mannweilermoose 72dpi

This is my former Indianapolis News colleague David Mannweiler with his giant moose head lodged in the sunroof of his Audi, en route to my house at 5009 N. College Ave. in Indianapolis.

It was on a summer day sometime in the mid-1970s and David was moving to a new home that had no space for such an enormous wall hanging. So I offered my house as a temporary moose sanctuary. We hung the moose head on the upstairs landing where it cast a glass eye over events in the living room for the next few years.

He eventually reclaimed it.

Clothing for the apostrophe-impaired

vest

Okay, call me naïve. I thought the biker types (as opposed to those of us on sport and sport touring bikes) decorated their own leather vests with patches they accumulated one by one.

Then I did a casual search for “biker leather vest” on Ebay and found tons of ready-to-wear, pre-patched vests.

They’ve even replicated the moronic punctuation that’s so common with these patches. Like this one that says, “Bad ass boy’s ride bad ass toys.” If the plural of toy doesn’t take an apostrophe, why in hell does boy?

Reminds me of a guy I saw last weekend who had a patch on the back left shoulder of his vest that proclaimed, “My other rides your wife.”

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

You can see it with your eyes closed

My son Sean shared this with me. I don’t think the commercial needs any more “flash” than what’s readily apparent, but the flash projection is an interesting gimmick.

I love that bike, but it would be a really stupid choice for the kind of sport touring that I do.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

1972 Rolling Stones flashback

rs6C charlie watts
Most transparency scanners have software called Digital ICE or something like it. I forget what the ICE stands for, but the purpose of the software is to recognize and remove dust and lint specks from the images as they are scanned.
It uses infrared light which works fine on color negatives and slides, but not at all on silver halide images, i.e. black and white negatives.
So a high resolution scan of a black and white negative necessitates a tedious and painstaking process of removing every speck in Photoshop. One. Speck. At. A. Time.
Back over Memorial Day weekend, I promised a friend some high-res scans of my photos from a 1972 Rolling Stones concert in Indianapolis. I’ve been searching, off and on, since then for my black and white Stones negs. I hadn’t seen them since we moved from Indiana and worried that they might be lost forever.
Not so. I found them yesterday and went to work last night scanning the best images and, of course, removing the thousands of dust specks and a lot of tiny scratches and some crazing that is a consequence of not storing the negs in ideal temperature and humidity for nearly 40 years.
Here’s my favorite shot of Stones drummer Charlie Watts from that July 12, 1972 concert at the Indiana Convention Center. Stevie Wonder was the opening act.
If anyone cares, it was shot on Kodak Tri-X with a Pentax Spotmatic and an Accura 200mm lens.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Lisa and her quilt

lisaquilt01

We had a delightful Skype visit last evening with Steve, Nicky and Lisa at their home in Las Vegas.

They opened our Christmas package that included a special quilt that Maria made for Lisa. The back of the quilt was a cheerful pink and yellow print that seemed to impress Lisa more than the quilt top. She’ll have plenty of time to examine that side later.

She wrapped herself in it and seemed delighted with her present.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

The great glycerin hunt and its aftermath

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I’ve got four age-hardened rubber stamps soaking in glycerin, so we’ll know soon enough how well the stuff restores rubber.

As you can see, I put a paper towel into the bottom of a plastic food container, soaked it with glycerin and plunked the stamps down on the towel.

The tricky part was finding glycerin. I used to buy it back in the ‘70s to formulate massage oil and it was easy to find at any drugstore.

So imagine my surprise when I found Walgreens doesn’t carry it. I spent several minutes looking in all of the likely and unlikely locations before I cornered a young employee and asked her where they keep the glycerin.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Deer-in-the-headlights blink. Blink.

“What is it?”

“It comes in a small bottle and, among other things, can be used as a lubricant.”

Girl calls the manager. Manager says they don’t have it, but they do have glycerin soap.

They have no clue what I’m talking about.

So I phoned my friend Charlie, who manages a Super D pharmacy in Paragould to ask if they stock glycerin.

“I do, but I don’t know if the stores in Jonesboro do,” he said. “I’ll check and call you back.”

Moments later, he calls back with an affirmative answer and, sure enough, they have four bottles on the shelf at the Super D at Nettleton and Stadium. So I bought two of them.

Charlie always comes through.

Besides restoring rubber stamps, glycerin is widely used in pharmaceutical formulations, personal care products and food products.

Friday, December 10, 2010

True believers

Back in the late 1980s, a friend who knew of my interest in World War II history, gave me a packet of letters she had received from her aunt when she was a child.

The aunt was Ruth Wampler, who was a high school girl in Bicknell, Ind., in the late 1930s.

The letters, with one exception, were from Gerhard Müller, a German teenager, growing up in Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Gerhard was a member of the Hitler Youth (Hitler-Jugend) and was a true believer in the National Socialist cause and the cult of personality that surrounded the Führer.

The correspondence ran from January, 1936 to August, 1938.

The one letter not from Gerhard was written to a friend of Ruth’s named Martha by a 17-year-old boy named Werner Mickenberger, who lived in a village southeast of Leipzig. Werner was a member of the Hitler Youth too and likewise worshipped his Führer.

Here’s what was on Werner’s mind in the spring of 1936, just three years after Hitler and the Nazis came to power:

 

Holzhausen, the 14th of April, 1936

Dear Martha,

A few days before the holidays of Easter a friend who is going in my class gave me your address. I was very gay, for I had already for a long time the wish to write with an American young lady. Now I must beg your pardon, that I was obliged to let wait you for such a long time without writing you. But you know, that on the 29th of March there was the electing of the Reichstag in Germany. The two weeks before that day I was little time at home because we had much to do in the Hitler-Jugend. And in the holidays the following two weeks I was off by bicycle. But in Germany there is a saying that means, “What lasts for a long time, that shall become good.” And I hope that our friendship only exercised by letters will become good. At first I shall give you some details of mine and of the surrounding in which I live.hj72

I am seventeen years old and go to the Liebnizschule in Leipzig. I go now to the U1 (the school is divided into the classes (VI, V, IV, UIII, OIII, UII, OII, U1, OI). I am in the Hitler-Jugend. I don't live in Leipzig, but in a little village with 4,400 inhabitants nearby called Holzhausen. The very environs of Holzhausen is not very interesting. No hills, no forests, no views are in the neighborhood. But I live on historical ground. Surely you know, that Napoleon Bonaparte had submitted nearly all nations of Europe, until in the year 1812, he was not successful in defeating the Russians. The emperor of Russia, the king of Prussia and the emperor of Austria had then made an alliance. The battle which followed now was struck round Leipzig. Napoleon was defeated and he had to (retreat) to France. In the environs of Leipzig, there are many monuments and boards that remind of this battle. And the most famous of all these ones is the Völkerschlachtdenkmal in Probstheida,(an eastern suburb of Leipzig), the photographic of which I send you. If you are interested in these things, I shall describe or send you the pictures of some of the most remarkable buildings of Leipzig in each letter. Now I will write you something of what I made and saw the two weeks before the 29th March.

As you know that German troops have reoccupied the Zone of the Rhine,which was formerly without troops. I would be bery interested if you would write me your opinion and the opinion of your surroundings about the resolutions of the 7th March. The 7th March, Adolf Hitler also (went before) the Reichstag to give the German nation the opportunity to show that she agrees with his politics and to prove all the world that a nation in his totality is fighting with him for the same rights, which other nations possess. Adolf Hitler himself and his contributors spoke in large towns to show the great meaning of the 29th March. In the school we collected all articles in the newspaper which referred to the electing. Nearly every evening we made marches of propaganda. Wednesday, the 18th of March, Reichminister Dr. Goebbels came to Leipzig. All the days before we lived in joyful expectation because we were said to see him. But we were disabused, for he came not through the streets where we were standing. But this little disabution should be indemnified. For a week later, Thursday, the 26th of March, the Führer, Adolf Hitler himself, spoke in Leipzig. A friend has related me that already since 12 o'clock people were standing in the streets through which the Führer should come (and he should begin speaking at 8 o'clock in the evening). In the evening we were standing in line along a road through which he should come. If we would see him? You can imagine how great our jow was when we heard at some distance the shouts of joy, a sure sign that the Führer was coming. And after a while Adolf Hitler drove slowly past. We were rejoicing and crying. He looked smiling towards us. We saw him a second time, when he came from speaking. That was a very great event for me. The 29th of March, 98.7 percent of the German people have put itself behind the Führer. How Adolf Hitler is loved by all the nation and how popular he is, that will show you the pictures I send you.

Now I come to the end of my letter. I hope that you will write me as soon as possible. (I hope that you can read and understand my letter.)

Your new friend,

Werner Mickenberger

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Merry Christmas, Newsies!

The News Christmas 1969 72

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of my former Indianapolis News colleagues.

This is the official News Christmas card from the paper’s centennial year of 1969.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Still stamping

I did some research yesterday and was encouraged to find it may be possible to restore my age-hardened rubber stamps to their former rubbery flexibility.

More than one stamper recommends glycerin – straight from the drugstore – as the miracle substance. One woman said she brought several stamps back to life by soaking a paper towel in glycerin, setting the dried-out stamps face down on the towel, and enclosing the whole shebang in an airtight container for a couple of days.
Others sing the praises of a product called Stampin’ Mist, which is claimed to clean and renew rubber stamps. Mine are far enough gone that I think glycerin is needed.

Also, my ink pads have all dried out. I have usable roll-on inkers in black, green, and red, but no blue, no purple, no other exotic colors. So I went to Hobby Lobby this morning, since that’s the last place I saw any rubber stamps or supplies. They have lots and lots of pre-inked pads, but virtually no re-inkers. WTF? Also, they have the biggest collection of lame, unimaginative, cutesy rubber stamps I’ve ever seen.
Hobby Lobby obviously caters to the unimaginative crafty Martha Stewart types who just want to decorate with rubber stamp images.

I come from a different direction, having been drawn into stamping by Joni K. Miller’s amazing Rubber Stamp Album, published in late 1978. I was inspired, in part, by the bizarre mail art created by Jerzy Kosinski, author of The Painted Bird and Being There. My taste runs more toward Dada than decorative and there’s nothing at Hobby Lobby that speaks to that perspective. I like my images to be edgy or anachronistic or enigmatic of just plain goofy.

Finding no inkers at Hobby Lobby, I drove over to Office Depot. I searched in vain for rubber stamp stuff and finally gave up and asked a salesperson. He showed me to a dusty little corner full of utilitarian self-inking stamps that say “Rush” or “Receipt” or “Approved,” some insanely overpriced tiny vials of red, black, and blue ink and a handful of pre-inked pads.

As a mainstream office or consumer product, rubber stamps are clearly going the way of sealing wax. (Actually, Hobby Lobby had a surprising inventory of sealing waxes. I can just imagine what kind of hell sealing wax would play with the Postal Service’s automatic sorting machinery, since it struggles to handle Netflix DVD envelopes without shredding them.)

My local postmistress was amused this morning when I presented a rubber stamp festooned package for shipping and I hope the recipients are similarly entertained.

Rubber Stamp AlbumThe Painted BirdBeing There

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Stamping

stamping I haven’t inked a rubber stamp in nearly a decade, but I felt moved by whimsy this morning and dug out my rubber stamp collection to decorate some holiday packages.
Indianapolis News co-worker Jane Judkins and I got heavily into rubber stamp art back in the 1970s and amassed an enormous collection. It had lots of stuff from All Night Media, one of the premiere stamp design outfits. Jane even invested more than $100 (which was serious money back then) in a set of All Night Media Alphabeasts – an alphabet featuring a different cartoon animal for each letter. We divided the collection up when she got married and changed her name to Stegemiller.
I was able to jam my collection of stamps, ink pads and inks into an old American Tourister suitcase and it sat in a variety of closets over the intervening years, most recently in the guest bedroom closet in our home here in Arkansas. I needed a pair of vise grips to unscrew the cap on the blue ink vial today and found it had turned into blue goo. Fortunately, the rollerball applicators of red and green inks were still good and, since this is the Christmas season, I contented myself to work in those colors.
I was also chagrined to find that the rubber has hardened on several of my favorite stamps. Most of the packages were bubble pack-lined, which made it tricky to get a good clean impression, especially with the larger stamps, so the recipients are going to get something that falls short of my best work. I need flat plain envelopes for that.
One of my favorite stamps is a custom-made job that features an arrow and tiny type saying, “The microfilm is hidden under the stamp.” I decided the humor might be lost on the folks at the post office, given today’s general paranoia and misplaced areas of security concern.
Rubberstampmadness - Rubber Stamp MadnessThe Rubber Stamper's Bible

Pearl Harbor day and the man who delivered the payback

flotib

This is the 69th anniversary of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, so what better time to revisit this photo of me shaking hands with Paul Tibbetts, the man who many of us believe won World War II.

Tibbetts, for the historically impaired, was the pilot of the B-29 Enola Gay (named for his mother) that dropped the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Tibbetts died in 2007 at the age of 92. He had no regrets about the mission, nor did he bear any animosity toward the Japanese. In his later life, his car of choice was a Toyota.

Monday, December 06, 2010

Here and gone

austinjen Austin and his girlfriend Jen just left for Indiana after a three-day visit.

He brought 2 and a half dozen Shapiro’s bagels and some Guinness Stout and took home his aquarium and a bunch of his other stuff from the garage, so we came out splendidly in that exchange.

The boy has turned into a man.

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Friday, December 03, 2010

Luger lore

Lugeranimation-Henrotin

I got a call from my Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity brother Oz Morgan in Indiana this afternoon who has a buddy who inherited a Luger and wanted to know whatever I could tell him about it.

I got out my Luger for reference and gave him a guided tour of the waffenamt markings, confirmed that all of the serial numbers on the parts match (including the magazine), walked him through the use of the loading tool and warned him against using any of the WWII vintage 9mm Parabellum ammo that came with it.

The holster was marked for a P38, so it wasn’t original to the gun, but it was still a genuine Wehrmacht issue holster.

I also referred him to Pistole Parabellum for reference information.

I kinda surprised myself with how much I know about these things, especially since I haven’t fired mine in more than a decade.

Company’s coming

My stepson Austin and his girlfriend are most likely on the road by now, heading down from Indiana for an extended weekend visit.bam dec 3

Consequently, Maria took today off and we’re doing our grocery shopping to lay in supplies for the visit.

I hung in with her at Sam’s Club but begged off of the Kroger experience, opting instead to get some coffee next door at Books-A-Million. It’s the first time I’ve been in BAM in months, but nothing much has changed.

It’s sunny and warm and I’m tempted to go for a motorcycle ride as soon as we get home and get the groceries put away. I’m eager to run out the 8-month-old gas from the tank on the K75S and replace it with fresh fuel. I think the guys at Grass Roots put fresh gas in the tank, but I want to be sure before I throw fuel stabilizer into the tank and let the bike sit idle for extended periods.

Maria wants some cooking wine for the weekend – something you can’t buy in this dry county – so I’ll probably ride over to the Missouri bootheel and Mr. T’s.

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Cheaper than making a new car payment…

I spent much of today just hanging out and killing time, waiting for Gateway Tire to finish the Subaru tune-up.

It’s done now and the car seems a bit happier for it. It ought to for $279. Merry Christmas, Subaru Forester.

Christmas past

channel master radioIt’s pretty primitive, compared with the cell phones and iPods we give our kids today, but this is the Channel Master transistor radio my parents gave me for Christmas in 1957. (It’s not the actual radio, of course. Just a picture of the same model.)

It was AM band only and had a substandard speaker and a single mono earbud speaker that lived in the little leather pouch attached to the strap on the leather case.

I thought it was about the coolest thing in the world because it opened up a whole universe of personal listening. On a good night, it could pull in stations hundreds of miles from my upstairs bedroom in Delphi, Ind. That was back when Randy’s Record Shop in Gallatin, Tenn. sponsored programming on WLAC in Nashville. I can still recall listening to Little Anthony and the Imperials doing “Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-ko Bop” on KOMA out of Oklahoma City.

I carried it with me on my evening newspaper route, shuffling down snowy Front Street delivering the Lafayette Journal & Courier while listening to WIBC in Indianapolis and thinking it couldn’t possibly get much better than that.

But it did, didn’t it?