Winners, winners, chicken dinners!

The Floras did pretty well at the Hoosier State Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest last Saturday.

Maria, The Lebanon Reporter’s assistant editor, earned first place for best news coverage under deadline pressure in both divisions, with “Warmoth removed” in Lebanon and “Family sues man charged in son’s death” in Zionsville.

Working as a freelance correspondent, I won a first place for best portrait with “Double Portrait” and a third for best multiple picture group for “Dog day at the Christmas tree farm,” both for the Lebanon paper.

Here's the portrait:

40 years ago today

Forty years ago today, I got my first taste of real disaster reporting.

At 3:29 p.m. Sept. 9, 1969, a student pilot from Indianapolis named Bob Carey, flying a Piper Cherokee, collided with Allegheny Airlines flight 853 southwest of Indianapolis. Carey and the 82 passengers and crew aboard the DC-9 jet airliner died in the resulting crash.

The jetliner came down in a soybean field about 100 yards north of the Shady Acres mobile home park near London, in Shelby County just as a school bus was unloading children. Even though debris peppered the mobile homes and some aircraft parts punched holes in trailer sides, no one on the ground was hurt.

I was a couple of years into my career at The Indianapolis News at the time. I got a call at home almost immediately and was at the crash site within an hour of the impact.

The authorities were slow to control the crash scene, making it possible for me and several other reporters and photographers to roam at will, including through the soybean field which was drenched with kerosene jet fuel.
The sight was grisly beyond imagining. The plane disintegrated upon impact and the force of those thousands of pieces of metal shredded everything it their path. I walked that field for at least a couple of hours. The sun set at 7:04 p.m. and I finally left the field when it became too dark to see where I was stepping.

In all that time, I didn’t see a single intact body – just scores of arms, legs, feet still in shoes, hands, the back of a man’s head, the contents of luggage and hundreds of dollars in cash. I touched nothing. Neither did any of my colleagues.

As I drove to the scene, I’d wondered how I would react to the carnage I was sure to encounter. Would I be overwhelmed? Would it get queasy, or worse?

As it turned out, I felt a cautious kind of detachment. Looking at those body parts, I couldn’t conceive of them ever having been part of living, breathing human beings. It was as if someone had strewn a truckload of plastic body parts through the bean field.

It was estimated that 12 seconds elapsed between the collision and the jetliner’s impact with the ground. The passengers had a full 12 seconds to notice the jolt of the collision, the rolling of their plane to the left into an inverted attitude and the plunge to earth. That’s the horror that creeps me out the most.

Their deaths must have been virtually painless.

I think about the crash and that soybean field every September and every time I fly.

I’ll think about it in a couple of weeks when I fly to Portland for my son’s wedding and realize that I’ve seen something none of my fellow passengers will never see – what happens when an aluminum tube full of people falls out of the sky.

Dan McGlaun, a private pilot, has an online analysis of the crash and its circumstances, including several of my photos. It’s at http://www.mcglaun.com/1969.htm
Going strictly by the statistics, flying is still safer than driving and nowhere nearly as risky as motorcycling. But I much prefer the measure of control I have on my bike to the helpless feeling of being a passenger on a jetliner.

Mystery solved

I've had this certificate for several years and always supposed my grandfather Irvin M. Flora was appointed Carroll County Treasurer to fill a vacancy through death or resignation.

Turns out he was elected in November, 1928 and this is a document signed by Gov. Ed Jackson certifying the results of the election. Thanks to Carroll County Historian Mark Alan Smith for tracking down the details for me.

Grandpa Flora died in June, 1945 at the age of 72. He died about a month before I was born, so I never knew him.

Never again. Maybe.

Maria and I spent last Saturday photographing the wedding of one of her brother's older daughters up in north central Indiana.

We started about 9 a.m. and shot about 1,800 images by the time we quit at 4 p.m. We were in action almost constantly except for about a 15-minute lunch break. We did it for free as a wedding gift to the couple. Maria is also finishing up a quilt for them.

The church and reception hall were very dark. We refuse to use flash during the ceremony, so it was a bit of a challenge getting sharp, properly exposed images. I ended up having to correct the color balance in most of the ceremony photos.

We've both out of practice and a bit out of shape, so we were pretty worn out by the time we finished the reception. (See photo)

And we both agree that this is the last wedding we're going to shoot. I thought I was done after we shot the wedding of a neighbor's son in Arkansas about 5 years ago, but I was wrong.

I have a sneaking feeling Maria will commit us to photographing the wedding of the girl's twin sister.

My memory card reader malfunctioned a day after I successfully downloaded my Compact Flash card's 850 wedding images. I lost some photos I shot for a newspaper story, but was able to re-shoot a couple of days later. It would have been a major disaster to lose those wedding photos.

Not worried

I planted morning glories all along the fence in late May expecting them to form a privacy screen.About 1 seed in 5 sprouted and I saw the first two blooms yesterday morning. I posted a picture and explanation on Facebook and got a flurry of comments from horrified friends who warned that morning glories grow and spread like crazy and are very hard to get rid of.

We had morning glories on our fence in Arkansas and they seemed pretty well behaved, so I'm not worried.

Remembering L.T. Browm

Larry "L.T.” Brown was a copy editor at The Indianapolis News who created and wrote The Bar Beat column in the late 1970s.

L.T. was a world class eccentric and, like most good copy editors, was a storehouse of obscure and arcane knowledge and talents.

Always friendly and helpful, he made every reporter look a little better through his careful editing.

His hobby was raising exotic chickens and he was a regular competitor in Indiana State Fair poultry shows.

Back when Roselyn Bakeries was having problems meeting health department standards, he kept a rubber rat in a Roselyn bag on his desk.

Since Brown is a common name, he distinguished himself in the Indianapolis telephone directory by having his home phone listed as "Xanavana Brown."

I seem to recall that he was a Vietnam veteran. He died of a heart attack at a convenience store on a Memorial Day holiday weekend in the late 1990s.

One more reminder of the renters gone. Good riddance!

When we moved back into our Thorntown house in August, 2017, I was annoyed to see that the renters had left this satellite TV dish attached to the south side of the house.

It was particularly annoying because we tried a year of satellite TV back in the early 2000s and dropped it when the introductory rate expired, mainly because the signal always crapped out in heavy weather. I used my dad's old wooden extension ladder to unbolt that dish from the house and put the dish out for the trash guys.

I would have done the same when we found the new dish attached, but my dad's ladder - which we left in the utility shed - was nowhere to be found. Thanks again, renters.

But thanks to my son Steve's generosity, I now find myself with a cool collapsible aluminum ladder that is plenty tall enough to reach the dish mounting. So I undid the three 13 mm bolts yesterday afternoon and, voila, the dish tumbled to the ground. Here it is, ready to be hauled away tomorrow morning when the trash guys come.

Thank you Steve and Austin!

The green mossy crud on the north side of our house has been a constant source of embarrassment for me ever since we moved back to Indiana two years ago.

I rented a pressure washer and cleaned it off a few weeks before we moved to Arkansas in 2007, but it came back with a vengeance over the next 12 years.

I acquired a pressure washer in Arkansas, but found the renters somehow made my dad's big wooden extension ladder disappear during their ruinous time in our house.

So when Steve gave me a $150 Amazon.com gift certificate for my birthday, I ordered this nifty ladder. (Turns out Steve has one just like it.)

My stepson Austin consented to pressure wash the side of the house for a reasonable fee and accomplished a cosmetic miracle in 90-degree heat this afternoon.

Now I don't have to cringe when I come home and see the side of the house.

There is still much to be done, but it's a good start.

Steve and friends

Here's my son Steve (on the right with his bass) and friends at Microsoft's 2019 "Inspire" conference at the Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas on July 19.

Two observations: Steve is looking very fit and trim and it looks like thin neckties are back. I haven't had occasion to wear a tie for years, so I've been out of the loop for that part of men's fashions. They were thin when I was in high school and college, then widened substantially over the next couple of decades. I wish shawl collar sweaters would make a comeback.

Wow! That was fast!

A little more than a week after I completed the final step in my Indiana Concealed Carry Permit application process, my CCW card is in my wallet.

My Arkansas CCW permit hadn't expired yet, but since I am no longer an Arkansas resident, there is some question about whether it would stand up to police scrutiny here, even though Indiana has reciprocity with Arkansas.

A new Indiana law providing for the issuance of lifetime CCW permits went into effect July 1, so I began the online application part of the process that day and got fingerprinted at the sheriff's office the next day. The final step was an interview with my local town marshal, which occurred July 8 and - wonder of wonders - my permit was approved four days later and it arrived in this morning's mail.

Other people who applied earlier this year for the 4-year license had to wait weeks.

Now I can go back to wearing my NRA vest with the holster pockets.

OK, but not audiophile quality

Anyone who knows me or follows this blog knows that I love music and I'm a sucker for good headphones. I have been since high school.

The Amazon Vine Program has allowed me to indulge this passion somewhat extravagantly. Thus far, I've reviewed five Bang & Olufsen models, culminating in the new H9 3rd generation 'phones, along with headphones from ZIK, FILI and this week the new Sony WH-XB900N wireless headphones with EXTRA BASS. They retail for $248 - not cheap but not terribly expensive either.

First and foremost, the sound: Not bad but not great either. As I suspected, the Extra Bass seems like a gimmick that will appeal to some listeners. It can be tweaked with a graphic equalizer in the supporting iPhone and Android app. In my case, I prefer to boost the high end and suppress the low end. Even so, they sound muddy to me, especially when you let the bass loose to grotesquely dominate the music.

They have some nice features, like ambient noise canceling, the ability to receive (but not make) smartphone calls, and the ability to use Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa via the built-in microphones. The packaging also says you can use them with Apple's Siri, but the enclosed documentation and the app give no clues how to link with Siri. I posed the question online and got instructions from Sony that I can't seem to make work. That said, I accidentally found myself talking to Siri once, but was unable to replicate the experience. So I know it can be done, it's just a trickier proposition than with the Google and Amazon helpers.

The advertised 30 hours of battery life and the ability to get a quick 10 minute charge for 60 minutes of listening time are nice features, especially for a long travel day. I also like the ability to instantly lower the volume and turn off noise canceling by covering the right earphone with the palm of my hand - very handy when you have a conversation thrust upon you.

I thought the sound quality was reasonably good until I did a side-by-side comparison with my Bang & Olufsen H9 3Gs. It became immediately clear that these are not audiophile headphones - OK for travel and walking around, but disappointing when it comes to serious listening. They can't compete with the B&O headphones for balance and clarity. Granted, they're only half the price of the H9 3G 'phones, but they're also only half as good, in my opinion.

The retired writer in the sun

Here I am enjoying my morning coffee and my digital music library with my Bang & Olufsen H9 3G headphones on the back deck.

I'm testing a pair of Sony headphones for the Amazon Vine Program. They're half the $500 price of the B&O 'phones and about half as good.

Happy, healthy dogs

Thanks to the windfall escrow refund check, Jack and Dora are now caught up on their vaccinations, passed their heartworm tests and got their nails clipped.

That is a huge relief. They last saw a vet two years ago in Jonesboro, Ark.

Thank you, Lord!

Last night, I prayed for some kind of sign that God is working to ease our financial burdens.
I got the answer in today's mail.
It came in the form of a new mortgage coupon book lowering our monthly payment by 18.25%.
And a substantial check refunding escrow overpayments.

B.C. flashback

Marathon Oil Co. gas stations gave out B.C. comic strip-themed glassware and Fire King bowls and casseroles as premiums back in the late 1960s and early '70s.

My stepdaughter and her husband were cleaning out his house with the aid of my wife and this was among the castoffs that was just too cool for the dumpster.

The third of June

"It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty delta day..."

So begins the haunting Ode to Billy Joe by Bobbie Gentry, released about this time in 1967.

It still holds up 52 years later and, as I discovered yesterday, Bobbie Gentry is still with us - 76 years old living in seclusion in a suburb of Nashville, Tenn.

There are several bridges over the fabled Tallahatchie River in Mississippi and I've ridden a motorcycle over a few of them. None seemed high enough for a successful suicide.

The photo is from 2014.

4mm! Really!

I requested some new reading glasses from the Amazon Vine Program and they arrived this morning.

I was not prepared for how amazingly compact they are. The ThinOptics Brooklyn Computer Glasses + Milano Anodized Aluminum, Magnetic case are officially now my go-to reading glasses.

The lenses are polycarbonate with a light yellow tint to block harmful blue light radiation from computer monitors and cell phone screens. Mine are a +2.0 magnification, just like the readers I bought at the Walmart in Gillette, Wyo. in July, 2008 when I rode to the BMW MOA National Rally without packing my prescription reading glasses. Those Walmart readers have stood up to daily use for 11 years and are still like new. But they are big enough that they need a clunky hard shell case that makes an inconvenient lump in the front pocket of my pants or in a jacket pocket.

So here's why I love the ThinOptics readers - the anodized aluminum case is ONLY 4mm THICK! Really! And the case has a very strong magnetic base so I can park it on any ferrous metal surface.

They cost about $70, but the difference is well worth the investment.

Happy birthday, Lisa

My beautiful, brilliant granddaughter Lisa is 15 years old today. She'll be driving soon. Good luck, Steve.

O, frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!

If you've followed this blog very long, you know that I'm kinda crazy about Bang & Olufsen audio products, especially when they're offered to me for review by the Amazon Vine Program.

I got my first set of B&O headphones - the H8 on-ear model - in February, 2015 and was instantly overwhelmed by their clarity, imaging and comfort. Then, in late 2017, just in time for Christmas, they sent me the H9 over-the-ear model, which was every bit as impressive as the H8.

Over the years, I've received and reviewed the wired H6 and Form 2i headphones, and the Beosound 2, Beoplay P6, P2, and S3 speakers.

When Bang & Olufsen introduced the improved H8i and H9i headphones, I was disappointed that they didn't offer either of them to me. I wondered if I was no longer a desirable Bang & Olufsen reviewer.

I shouldn't have worried.

I was overjoyed about 2 a.m. one night recently to find an offer for the H9 Third Generation headphones when I scanned my Vine offering list. I jumped on it and they arrived this morning.

They are every bit as impressive as their predecessors. They also have a button on the left earpiece that summons Siri on my iPhone and lets me give voice commands, like "where is the Orinoco River?" and "what is the weather forecast?" I didn't think I would use that feature, and then I started having a text message conversation with my wife and quickly became a believer.

O, frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!

Ferris Fain from out of nowhere

Ferris Fain’s name popped into my mind sometime after midnight last night.

He played first base for the White Sox in 1953 and 1954 and I distinctly remember having this Topps baseball card.

My dad and I were White Sox fans in those days and my dad hardly ever missed listening to a game on the radio. Somehow the name of Ferris Fain stuck in my memory and reappeared an I lay half awake and half asleep.

I picked up my iPhone and Googled him to make sure it was a real memory. It was.

After he retired from baseball, he had a career as a homebuilder in California and did time for having a substantial marijuana growing operation in his home.