New Trail Cam!

I bought a Bushnell trail cam in the spring of 2011 and mounted it on a tree in our side yard.

It worked OK, but I thought the functions were needlessly complex and the on-off switch was wonky. So wonky that it only lasted a few months before I sent the camera back to Bushnell for a replacement.

The replacement only lasted a year or so too before its on-off switch quit working.

So I put this Moultrie MCG-12589 5 megapixel trail cam into my Amazon.com wish list.

And, thanks to my son Steve’s generosity, it showed up on my doorstep yesterday as a birthday gift.

Thanks, Steve!

You can’t hit a home run every time at bat

“Weird Al” Yankovic is releasing eight new videos in eight days.

Yesterday’s release was the second in the series of videos from his new album Mandatory Fun and it was one of the funniest, smartest WAV videos ever.

I hung around the house this morning to see today’s release and it turns out I needn’t have bothered. “Foil” is vaguely amusing, but just vaguely.

So now I’m sipping coffee at Panera waiting to take Maria to a late lunch at 1 p.m. (Her office breaks for lunch from 1-2 p.m.)

The weather here is deliciously cool for mid-July. For the second day in a row we have temperatures in the 70s and sunny skies, thanks to a high pressure cell loaded with cool Canadian air.

Riding in to town, I met a guy on a BMW R1100RS loaded for touring and heading north, almost certainly bound for next week’s BMW Motorcycle Owners of America national rally in St. Paul, Minn. I can only hope the weather will be this nice when I leave for the rally next week.

Red Gold!

We love Red Gold tomato products because they are delicious and they’re from Indiana.

Here’s a link to their online merchandise: http://redgold.mpisecureordering.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=105&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=53

Absolutely hilarious and long overdue

Watch it full-screen and turn up the volume.

That’s loyalty

Longtime Indianapolis BMW Club friend Martin Radtke recently put out an email request for a copy of the original club logo, not mentioning why he wanted it.

Having edited the club newsletter for ten years, I still have lots of club-related graphics in my archives, so I sent him a high-res image of the emblem that represented our club for many years until BMW Motorrad decided to dictate logo style to BMW motorcycle clubs.

This is what Martin did with it. Martin was an early member of the club and has many fond memories of the men who founded it back in the 1960s.

I hope he and Darlyne don’t need this monument for a long, long time.

The ranks are thinning…

I just got word that a third member of my high school graduating class has died, all within less than a month:

Francis Edward (Frank) Merson died July 3. He was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana to Nola Litton Merson and James Edward Merson. He graduated from high school in Delphi, Indiana and attended Purdue University, where he met his wife, Mary Merson. They had two daughters, Anne Merson Stevens and Julie Merson Martinez. Retiring from the US Air Force as a MSGT after 20 years of service, he worked as a military contractor, then a handyman. He was his mother's caretaker and loved her very much. Another love was animals and he regularly rescued them. One of his greatest joys in life were his furry friends. The family wishes to thank Hospice of San Angelo for all of their help and loving care. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Concho Valley PAWS or Hospice of San Angelo, Texas. He is survived by his mother, Nola Merson; wife Mary Merson; Anne and Walter Stevens; Julie and Aramis Martinez; seven grandsons; one great-granddaughter; brother John Merson of San Antonio; and sister Linda Perkins of Olympia, Washington. No services are planned. Arrangements are by Johnson's Funeral Home.

Robert T. Moore of Delphi passed away on Sat., July 12, 2014 at IU Health Arnett in Lafayette. Robert was born on Dec. 19, 1944 in Lafayette to the late Morris T. and Roberta H. (Bowman) Moore. He was a 1963 graduate of Delphi High School.
Mr. Moore was a retired sheet metal fabricator.
He married Shirley K. Shaw on Aug. 11, 2001 in Delphi and she survives.
He enjoyed hunting mushrooms, camping and loved the outdoors.
He is survived by his wife and step-children: Michael Hines of Delphi and Ginni Ramsey (Marcus) of Noblesville; 5 grandchildren; sisters: Julie McMahan (Nigel) and Judy Glover (David) both of Texas. He was preceded by his parents and brother, Jim Moore.
Visitation will be from 1:00 p.m. until the 3:00 p.m. service on Thursday, July 17, 2014 at Davidson Funeral Home in Delphi. Pastor Jeff Kibler will officiate. Burial will be in I.O.O.F. Memorial Gardens in Pittsburg, Indiana.

Richard L. Bell of Colorado Springs, Colo., passed away on Tuesday, June 17, 2014. He graduated from Delphi High School in 1963. A U.S. Army veteran, Richard owned a glass company in Colorado Springs. He was passionate about restoring old automobiles, especially Hudsons.

Frank and Bob were pals in high school Dick was class president in our freshman year.

Trip stats

For what it’s worth, we drove 1,219 miles during our Indiana adventure last week and the Lexus RX330 averaged about 27 mph – 29 and change during the drive up. The fuel cost was about $163.

Not bad for a vehicle that size.

And since we did an inspection of our Thorntown rental house, the trip is deductible.

We drove some new (to us) roads while there. The GPS route from Thorntown to my brother-in-law Kerstan’s house near Amboy, Ind., involves several miles of two-lane highway from Thorntown to U.S. 31 and more two-lane after exiting U.S. 31 near Kokomo.

Wanting to avoid nighttime two-lane driving as much as possible, I took an alternate route back to Thorntown, taking Ind. 18 to U.S. 31, north on U.S. 31 to four-lane divided Ind. 24 to Logansport where it connects with the brand new four-lane divided Ind. 25 that runs all the way to Lafayette. Ind. 24 and 25 are great, fast roads with little traffic which will almost certainly have a negative impact on the cities and towns (including my hometown of Delphi). From Lafayette, I took I-65 south a few miles before cutting over to U.S. 52 for the run down to Thorntown.

Kerstan and his wife Kim have seven kids, which explains the backdoor coat and shoe rack pictured above.

69 years ago today

On this date in 1945, the first atomic bomb – seen here with Los Alamos Director J. Robert Oppenheimer – was hoisted to the top of a 100-foot tower in the New Mexico desert.

It was a Saturday. At 5:29:21 (plus or minus 2 seconds) a.m. on Monday, July 16, 1945, the device exploded with an energy equivalent to around 20 kilotons of TNT. It left a crater of radioactive glass in the desert 10 feet deep and 1,100 feet wide.

But I digress. I drew my first breath on that Saturday the bomb was raised to the top of the tower.

Consequently, at the age of 69, I am two days older than the Atomic Age.

I am still puzzled to find myself at such an advanced age. I don’t feel like I’m pushing 70, but that’s how the numbers add up.

Birthday cherry pie!

Tomorrow is my birthday, but since Maria is working late tomorrow, she whipped up a delicious birthday cherry pie for me today.

At my request, she substituted Splenda for sugar. It was delicious with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Every bit as good as from the Cherry Hut in Beulah, Mich., which is the benchmark for cherry pie a la mode.

The maple leaf crust gives it a nice Canadian feel.

Easy reader

This is what I’m reading right now. Well, not right now, but currently when I’m actually reading and not doing something else.

I’ve read all or part of 17 books since I got my Kindle Paperwhite ebook reader in April of 2013. It has completely transformed my reading habits.

There was a time, not long ago, when I barely averaged one book a year.

I chose the Paperwhite because it lets me read text in any lighting situation from direct sunlight to total darkness – something tablets and the Kindle Fire can’t do.

Yes, it doesn’t play video, its internet browser sucks and it doesn’t display images well, but it has no rival when it comes to being a reader for text.

And, it has exceptionally long battery life.

Another one gone

I got word this afternoon that Delphi High School classmate Bob Moore has died. I assume someone will post his obit so we can learn more about his passing.

I got an email from Bob just eight days ago, so I’m guessing he didn’t see it coming.

I chatted with Bob last fall at our 50th anniversary reunion and noticed he was lugging around an oxygen tank, but I didn’t question him about his health.

One other classmate, Dick Bell, who was president of our freshman class, died last month of a stroke. Dick was also at the reunion, but I didn’t get a chance to catch up with him.

Looks like we’re not immortal after all.

Back from Indiana

This is the famous Frozen Custard next to Columbian Park in Lafayette, Ind.

It looms large in my childhood memories because my parents used to drive me from our Delphi home to Lafayette so I could swim in the big oval Columbian Park pool.

Afterward, we would repair to the Frozen Custard where I would usually have one of their insanely thick chocolate malts.

We stopped by the Frozen Custard Thursday afternoon after meeting Maria’s parents and her brother Kerstan and his wife Kim for lunch at Don Pablo’s.

I had a Purdue-inspired Black and Gold (chocolate and caramel) sundae topped with a handful of peanuts. I shoulda got a malt.

We closed out our whirlwind visit to Indiana with breakfast this morning with Indianapolis BMW Club friends at Shapiro’s deli in downtown Indianapolis.

Other than BMW Club folks, we spent almost all of our time with Maria’s family, along with brief chats with a couple of our former neighbors.

The time flew by and we left wishing we’d had time to visit Skip and Gloria Hess and Jim and Lauri Shillings and a whole bunch of other people who are dear to us.

We drove more than 1,200 miles from Monday morning until we rolled into our driveway at 6:15 p.m. today.

Hee haw

My brother-in-law Kerstan's donkey Jessie.

Good boy, Indy

My Indianapolis News colleague Skip Hess and his wife Gloria are dog lovers who have adopted several strays to give them good loving homes.

I got this text message on Monday from Skip:

I am going to send you a photo that I took while mourning my golden whom we had to euthanize a couple of weeks ago.

I was sitting, along,  drinking coffee at the kitchen bar and had just said a prayer for Indy. His hips couldn't hold up anymore.

Anyway, I was telling Indy how much I missed him and what a good companion he was for years and how much I missed reaching over and scratching his ears every morning and how I wished he was still at my side in the morning and I looked over on the refrig handle where I had quickly draped over a kitchen towel minutes earlier and what I saw was nothing short of a miracle, my friend.

There was Indy, sure enough. I can't possible make this up. just can't.

Chicken on a Chain

Chinese fireworks manufacturers come up with some pretty bizarre names for their products, including this gem that we found at Boomland in Carothersville, Mo. on Monday morning.

We finally figured out the new Wifi password for my father-in-law’s new router and can get online for proper communication. I hope to blog something more informative later today. Sorry about the blogosphere silence.

If a school corporation is judged by the quality of its communications, Delphi fails miserably.

I went to grade school, junior high and high school in Delphi, Ind. and find it embarrassing and alarming to see the gaffes posted on the Delphi Community School Corp. Facebook page.

Here are some examples:

• Mrs. Israel & Mrs. Theobald as Grand Marshall's for the Delphi Lion's Club Annual Independence Day Parade!
• Mrs. Gasser is very proud of all the students that chose to participate in the summer math program at DCES!
• ATTENTION: DCSC Parents, Students, Families and Friends please be very cautious when traveling near the school corporation. INDOT has removed the traffic light that was put in place to assist with the Hoosier Heartland construction. It has only been down for several hours and there has already been an accident. We wanted the light to remain in place for the safety of our community however INDOT felt that the criteria was not met and therefore it was removed earlier today. Please be advised that traffic north and south bound on 421 has the right of way and does not stop.
• Our outing going 8th Grade DCMS students leaving a wreath at the Challenger Memorial during their trip to Washington D.C.
• Congratulations to all the Seniors that are being honored this evening at Senior Awards Night!
• Each of our Faculty & Staff Members that work throughout the school corporation were surprised with a treat from an anonymous tax payer! Thank you to the community member that recognized all of our staff members!
• Our Camden Early Childhood Center Kindergartener's had a great time yesterday on their field trip to Columbia Park!

And the “anonymous tax payer” characterized himself/herself as being “greatful.”

This dovetails nicely with an earlier blogpost about some of my classmates who can’t write a simple declarative sentence on Facebook without a spelling, grammar or punctuation error.

Fourth of July fireworks at our house

Ben and Maya came over with a huge bag of fireworks last evening which made for a couple of hours of front yard fun.

Here’s Maria’s best shot of the evening – Maya with a sparkler. Flash with rear sync makes for a great painting-with-light photo.

Breakfast at IHOP

I'm having breakfast at IHOP this morning while the Lexus gets an oil change and lube across the street at Gateway tire.

The heat wave has broken for awhile and it's a sunny pleasant 70 degrees.

I registered for the BMWMOA rally this morning, so it's official - I'm going.

This will be a busy month with a car trip to Indiana and a bike ride to St. Paul, Minn.

Brats and banks

Our neighbors on the other side of the woods are David and Cheryl Head who operate Nine Oaks Farm, a beef cattle ranch that specializes in raising antibiotic, hormone and steroid-free cows.

They sell some of their beef at the Arkansas State University Farmers Market on Saturday mornings and we bought a dozen of their bratwursts – six regular and six Italian – last weekend.

I pulled out a couple of the regular brats this evening and grilled them for dinner. Maria isn’t much for bratwurst or any kind of sausage, but she’s running late and I have to eat early, so there it is.

I was sitting on the K75S, waiting for the teller to process a check I was depositing in our bank account this morning when I glanced up and noticed a big poster advertising the bank’s iPhone app and its ability to make deposits by photographing the check to be deposited.

Maria gave me her paycheck when we met for lunch and, since I didn’t have anymore deposit slips with me, I brought it home and used the app to make the deposit. I’ve been coveting that capability ever since I saw a commercial for Wells Fargo Bank and its smartphone app.

Back online!

The technician from Fusion Media showed up about 10:40 a.m. and by 11:20 we had our phone and Internet service restored.

Life without Internet connectivity is, well, different.

Now I have to decide what to do with the rest of the day. Should I saddle up and ride down to the fitness center in extreme heat and humidity, or should I wait for the cold front expected tonight and ride in relative comfort tomorrow?

How long can I procrastinate about working out?

I got there once last week and had hopes of making it two or three times this week.