I let an anniversary get past me this week – Monday was the 50th anniversary of the Delphi High School Class of 1963 commencement.
That’s me on the far right, adjusting my gown in the school auditorium before we lined up and filed into the gym next door for a mostly forgettable ceremony. It was one of those days when I was happy to be an underachiever because that meant I escaped having to come up with valedictorian or salutatorian remarks.
What a long, strange trip it’s been.
Every now and then I come across a photo that makes me exclaim, “Dang! I wish I’d thought of that!”
This is just such a photo, called to my attention by the witty dinosaur aficionado and blogger Laura Ledford who writes fetchmyflyingmonkeys.com.
She calls it the “best wedding photo ever.” I agree.
I’m back at the new Starbucks for a second impression.
It’s still kinda noisy and the baristas are clearly new to the job and acting like spastic puppies. And the cheese Danish isn’t as good as what I can get across the street at Panera.
But I did get a primo parking place for my K1200GT (see photo) and they are doing a pretty brisk business.
I broke out the FirstGear MeshTex jacket this morning after doing some heavy sweating on the bike yesterday afternoon in my German Polizei leather jacket. The difference is dramatic. The MeshTex feels like riding in a t-shirt and is perfect for humid temperatures in the 80s. It lacks the visual impact of the Polizei jacket, but that becomes a secondary concern on a hot day.
Our neighbor Sophie Holland is the 101.7 KISS FM “Rockin’ Apple Award” Teacher of the Year for 2013!
Sophie teaches advanced placement history at Greene County Tech Junior High School in Paragould.
Here she is with her award and some radio station guy.
I love being the first to break a news story. Always have. Always will.
Dora had her first bath this morning and got her nails trimmed. The breeder sent us these photos.
Oh, Dora. What blue eyes you have!
As far as I know, this is the first free-standing Starbucks in town. There are two inside the Mall at Turtle Creek – in Target and at Barnes & Noble.
I wondered if this Starbucks would pose a serious threat to Panera, which is just north. I really don’t think so. It only has indoor seating for about 35 and the outdoor seating will become useless once the heat of summer is upon us. They do have free Wifi (which I’m using right now) and a pleasant ambiance.
My only complaint is with the jarring clatter the baristas are generating as they go about their work. I don’t recall noticing that at a Starbucks before, but there doesn’t seem to be anything acoustically unique about the place.
So I got myself a grande frappuccino, fired up my netbook, logged into the Wifi and here I am.
My granddaughter Lisa turns 9 on Thursday! Pictured here with Emmy (Bichon) and Skippy Joe Jones (Cocka-poo).
I was sitting on the patio with my dog a few minutes ago when I suddenly flashed on a memory of the first real gun I ever got my hands on.
From the time of my birth until the spring of my third grade year, we lived at 609 East Franklin Street in Delphi, Ind. There was a big brick double across the alley to the east of our house that was occupied at one point by the Taylors and the Kents.
Jay Taylor had been a bombardier in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II and his government issue M1911A-1 semiautomatic pistol lived in the top right drawer of a desk near the back door of the family’s apartment.
His daughter Jeannie, who was the same age as I was, showed it to me when we were probably five or six years old. I thought it was pretty cool, even if it wasn’t a revolver like Hopalong Cassidy carried. I was also puzzled by its single-action design because nothing happened if you pulled the trigger.
I have no idea if it was loaded, but it’s a good thing I didn’t know you had to cock the hammer to make the trigger function. I’d like to think Jay kept it unloaded, but there is the possibility that it had a full seven rounds in the magazine. I knew nothing about the safety lever, so it may or may not have been on.
I guess it made a big impression on me because I’ve had a version of the Colt 1911 for several years. Mine is the Combat Commander with a shorter barrel than the military version and is equipped with a CrimsonTrace laser sight.
I think Jay would have been impressed.
It’s hard to believe that Memorial Day Weekend is upon us already. As usual, we have no plans other than to help Morgan prepare to move her stuff from our house to her new home.
She’s been with us since October and it will feel strange to have so much space available again, but we’ll find a way to cope.
My Indianapolis BMW Club compadre Rich Nathan is in Los Angeles this weekend, having ridden his R1100RS out to attend his daughter’s wedding. He invited me to ride along, but I had to pass because I have my own West Coast ride planned for July.
Rich left last weekend, spent Monday night with our friends the Baloughs in Alma, Colo., and checked in on Facebook yesterday morning while breakfasting at the Mad Greek Cafe in Baker, Calif. on the edge of the Mojave Desert. I’m envious, but I’ll get my turn.
This was the back cover of the September, 1954 Popular Science.
Given what we know today and current attitudes about smoking, it’s hard to read these testimonials and believe these people weren’t complete morons.
But they weren’t. The just believed what the tobacco companies told them about health and their addiction.
I started smoking in 1961 – my junior year of high school and continued for about 15 years off and on – mostly on. Smoking-related cancer of the larynx cost my dad his voice when he was in his 60s. Happily, both of my parents were able to quit and spent their twilight years smoke-free.
I smoked the occasional pack of Camels, but my preferred brand from college onward was Viceroy. I was up to three packs a day when I quit around 1978.
Smoking is a brutally stupid habit. I was reminded of that last evening when the prospective buyer of my del Sol and his daughter returned from a test ride and appeared in the driveway, both smoking cigarettes. I don’t know if they smoked in the car or not, but I’m glad I sent them off on their ride with the roof panel stowed in the trunk.
Just got the latest photos of our little blue merle Aussie girl Dora from the breeder.
Looks like she has blue eyes, but I understand that can change as she matures.
It’s time for my 1994 Honda del Sol to go to a new home.
My neighbor has a coworker who is coming to look at it this evening with an eye to buying it for his daughter. I just checked the Kelley Blue Book value online and determined that it’s somewhere between Good and Fair condition, which puts its value between $1,835 and $1,335. I will point this out and offer it for $1,000.
If he doesn’t want it at that price, I’ll donate it to charity where I can deduct at least the Fair condition value on next year’s income tax return.
I cleaned all of my junk out of the cabin and trunk, ran it through a $4 car wash, vacuumed and Armoralled and, other than the blasted out paint job, it looks pretty decent for a 19-year-old car with 228,000 miles on it.
I loved this little car and it was a pleasure to drive. I made a couple of trips to Florida, one to Colorado, another to Long Island, and hundreds of trips around the Midwest in it. It still drives and handles like new.
Hmmmm. Maybe I should keep it. It sure was fun driving down to the carwash with the top off this afternoon…
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
LATER:
The guy and his daughter showed up about 6 p.m. and took the car for a spin.
When he asked me what I want for it, I showed him the Kelley Blue Book numbers and said I would be willing to sell for $1,000. Calling it a “northern car” with probably lots of undercarriage rust, he offered me $800 and then asked what my bottom offer was.
I stood fast on $1,000 and they left. He said I could contact him through my neighbor if I change my mind.
I won’t. Truth be told, I prefer the anonymity of donating the car to charity to the knowledge that it’s in the hands of an inexperienced young driver. With its fat tires, it’s extremely treacherous on snow and ice and almost certainly above the skill level of a novice driver.
I saw one of these in a cheesy 1950s sci-fi movie the other night. I remember seeing “Technical Associates” on the dial.
This ad is from the September, 1954 issue of Popular Science – a time when a lot of Americans had dreams of striking it rich prospecting for uranium.
I seem to recall my chemistry/physics teacher having one of these – or something like it – in his classroom.
I’m back at my regular table at Panera for the first time in several days.
It’s raining. Again.
We were awakened by a thunderclap about 3 a.m. by a storm that dumped an inch of water into my rain gauge. The rain abated long enough for me to ride the K75S to the post office about 12:30 p.m., but fired up again around 3 p.m. I left the house about 4 o’clock and noticed we had another half-inch of water in the gauge.
There are storms lined up all the way out to Oklahoma City, so I’ll be curious to see what’s in the rain gauge tomorrow morning.
Setting up my netbook, I found myself listening to the worst cover of Rhiannon I’ve ever heard. I fired up the Soundhound app on my iPhone and it identified the perpetrators as a group called Best Coast from an album of Fleetwood Mac cover songs. The background music here is usually okay, but this song wasn’t.
I hope someone is collecting shoes for the victims of yesterday’s tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. When Joplin, Mo., was hit two years ago this week, our friend Susan checked with relief organizations there to find out what they needed most and the answer was shoes. A lot of people lose their shoes when a tornado hits and it’s hell trying to walk barefoot through the sharp, pointy debris. Susan organized a shoe drive and we took about three trailer loads of shoes to Joplin a couple of days later.
Moore is about 6 1/2 hours from here. If Susan does another shoe drive, I’ll go along to document it, like it did the last one.
Dora, our 20-day-old Aussie pup is getting plenty of loving and socializing from her breeder’s family.
Here she is being cuddled by little Alivia and again under one of her siblings at naptime.
Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, passed away today at 12:31PM PT at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany after a lengthy battle with bile duct cancer. He was 74. At the time of his passing, he was surrounded by his wife Dorothy Manzarek, and his brothers Rick and James Manczarek.
Manzarek is best known for his work with The Doors who formed in 1965 when Manzarek had a chance encounter on Venice Beach with poet Jim Morrison. The Doors went on to become one of the most controversial rock acts of the 1960s, selling more than 100-million albums worldwide, and receiving 19 Gold, 14 Platinum and five multi-Platinum albums in the U.S. alone. "L.A.Woman," "Break On Through to the Other Side," "The End," "Hello, I Love You," and "Light My Fire" were just some of the band's iconic and ground-breaking songs. After Morrison's death in 1971, Manzarek went on to become a best-selling author, and a Grammy-nominated recording artist in his own right. In 2002, he revitalized his touring career with Doors' guitarist and long-time collaborator, Robby Krieger.
"I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today," said Krieger. "I'm just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him."
Manzarek is survived by his wife Dorothy, brothers Rick and James Manczarek, son Pablo Manzarek, Pablo's wife Sharmin and their three children Noah, Apollo and Camille. Funeral arrangements are pending. The family asks that their privacy be respected at this difficult time. In lieu of flowers, please make a memoriam donation in Ray Manzarek's name at www.standup2cancer.org
From The Doors official web site
I just finished my first book on my new Kindle Paperwhite – “The Second World War” by Antony Beevor.
Beevor has written several books about the war that were full of fascinating stuff. This book had some interesting insights into the thinking that shaped the post-war world.
And there were little gems I’d never known, like the fact that the Confederate Battle Flag was raised by U.S. Marines who captured Shuri Castle, a strategic high point, during the Battle of Okinawa.
I did an internet search and found a more detailed account, along with this photo.
You can read it here: http://www.confederatedigest.com/2012/01/planting-confederate-flag-at-snui.html
Here are three Wallace China Co. Westward Ho Pioneer Trails dinner plates and three saucers in the same pattern that arrived this morning from Las Vegas.
I bought them a week or so ago in two separate Ebay auctions from the same vendor. After a little back-and-forth discussion, he agreed to combine the purchases to save on shipping, which still came to $27 and change, plus insurance.
They were packed with a bizarre jumble of bubble pack, FedEx mailers and medical adhesive tape. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen adhesive tape used for packing. WTF? Maybe the guy works in a hospital.
Anyway, this gives me a set of four Pioneer Trails dinner plates and saucers for my two recently acquired Pioneer Trails coffee cups.
We’re expecting lots of company over the Independence Day holiday, so I expect my cowboy china collection will get some use.
