Frustration

After a good day working at the library, it ended very frustratingly trying to get satisfaction from Verizon and Google. My new Pixel 2 XL is not working properly. I have been to the Verizon store twice; talked to the support center twice, and the Google Support Center once.

I'm not going to deal with it here; just know I am not in a very good mood.

No new news on the Robin story. Hopefully, by the end of the week, we'll see something.

My brother sent me a picture of us when we were very young. How old were we? I'll have to ask Jerry.

This is a good way to end the day.

Peanut Butter, Blanton's & Robin

Our youngest daughter posted on Facebook yesterday that our four-year-old granddaughter finally likes peanut butter! It's taken all this time. She is not a picky eater; she just never liked it.

Her favorite foods are mac' and cheese, of course, broccoli, shrimp, and goat cheese! But she hasn't taken to French fries. Go figure!

Yesterday I was finally able to find Blanton's Bourbon in an ABC store in nearby Staunton. It wasn't the normal size bottle, but a 350 ml bottle. So I bought two. I wasn't greedy; I left the other two for someone else.

No changes on the Robin front...mom still sitting on the eggs...

  

A Lost Friday

Yesterday kind of got away from me. I had some chores to do in the morning and then volunteering at the museum all afternoon. When I came home I was too tired to go up to the loft; I said to myself that I would go up after dinner, but of course, that didn't happen. So, in the end, no blog.

On the Robin Front, Daddy Robin showed up with some food for Mommy and some overall support since she is mainly "bed-bound" for the most part. We still think she has only four eggs, but haven't been able to get close for a look-see.

It's hard to see her in the above picture, but this next one shows her better; she has actually turned around from her normal position - I guess so that Daddy could give her the food.

I am reading four books currently, but one I have only gotten into about ten pages. That's normal when I add books to my current reading. With four, I try to alternate days with two each day. Sometimes it doesn't work if I have a deadline on a particular book, as for a book review for the Jackson House, or a library book that is coming up for return. Currently, one has a deadline - it is our book group selection for May 8 and I have plenty of time.

An artificial deadline is the end of the month. I count how many books I read each month. So naturally, I am pushing a little to finish a couple.

Speaking of books, I am making a little progress in cleaning out my library. Each day I try to segregate what books I want to give away or donate. I feel like I am making progress, but when I wake in the middle of the night for a bathroom break, before I can go to sleep I lay awake thinking of the impossibility of the task.

Allie and the Robin

Our indoor cat, Allie, does not like that the robin is in our hanging plant on the edge of the porch. We open the sliding door from the kitchen for her to get the morning and evening air for a few minutes, but she can't go out on the porch until the robin is gone from the area.

Allie is used to going out when the weather is nice. We put a gate up across the steps so she can't get off the porch. She hasn't been tempted to jump up on the railing to get out - yet - but with the robin out there, who knows. Even if she wouldn't try, her being out there would cause the robin to leave the nest.

Speaking of the robin, as you can see from the photo above, she appears to be trying to push out another egg. By tomorrow we'll know.

Robins and Geese and Deer, Oh My!

Well, the rain finally left us after almost two days and the sun came out. The robin went out foraging for food so we took the opportunity to sneak a picture of the nest - there are FOUR EGGs! She was waiting on the fence just after we took the picture, and went right back to the nest!

ON my walk this morning in the mist/shower, I passed some deer but didn't want to take my phone out in the rain. Besides, I was wearing cotton gloves and would have had to take them off to handle the phone/camera. Even though it was 55 degrees out, with the rain it felt cooler and my hands get cold very easy.

I also encountered two geese, a couple most likely. They were walking in the field close to the road, and as I passed them, they were squawking like mad. Actually, it was the male goose I think. It looked like they were hunting for something. I made up a story that Mama Goose had lost her nest and Daddy Goose was berating her. It sounded good.

On my next trip around, I realized that they were just upset with me walking on the road near them - even though I had crossed to the other side.

I liked my earlier story better. 

Bell Labs Redux

My 3 February post was about my high trip to Bell Labs in New Jersey. I got some of it wrong. I flew United Airlines, not American. And I was a senior and went in April, just before graduation. I could have sworn I did it in either my sophomore or junior year.

Besides the boarding pass inside which clearly showed the April 11, 1962 date - two days before my 18th birthday - and a picture postcard of Bell Labs, it also had listed telephone numbers of the various reservation centers in the U.S. 

Back then in 1962 we must have still had names for the different exchanges. I don't remember when it changed to all numbers. I still remember my family's home number: BAldwin 2-6419. Before Area Codes even.

We got our T-shirts for winning Trivia Nite when it was sponsored by Studio Brewery in Bristol, VA. As a rule, I don't like a tee with anything on the back, but this one feels OK.

No new photos on the Robin front. Both the Mom and the Dad have been taking turns sitting on them, and it's been raining all day. We're very careful to even open the sliding kitchen door for some air since this has scared the birds once.

Another Egg!

Our robin had a second egg yesterday! She is now sitting on the nest almost all day today. We can't use either the front door or the sliding porch doors because it scares her off the nest.

We have to use the garage door (the big one, we don't have a separate small one). I hope it is not as long as Wikipedia says- up to four weeks! You can barely see her in the picture below.

Did some file work in the loft yesterday. I went to Walmart yesterday and bought another plastic file box. I have one already but have outgrown it. Now I just have to do the filing!

I was watching TV commercials this morning and was reminded of something else about them (Those of you who have been following me have hopefully read my rant about how the people in them always exaggerate their frustration and incompetence on getting something to work until they try the item being advertised.)

Today I was watching an ad for a motorized lawnmower - it was either a John Deere or Husqvarna - and was riding over grass that had grown over a highway. In small print, it said, "Do not attempt. The lawnmower is not made to drive on the highway." As if we wouldn't know.

My wife told me of one she saw about a pizza - she couldn't remember which one. In small print, it said, "Do not attempt to eat pizza before opening box". Okaaay?!

Did my volunteer work at the library today. Also babysat the daily book sale for the last day; my friend returns tomorrow. All the Hillaries were safe. I guess it was a one-off.

I wish I had taken a picture.

A Robin's Egg

Our Robin has laid an egg! Just one, mind you, but it's here. It took her the greater part of the day, then she flew away in the late afternoon.

We'll see what happens tomorrow. Usually, it takes up to two weeks to hatch and then another four weeks to leave the nest. 

Spent a greater part of the day cleaning up my loft: sorting papers, filing, putting books away, sorting books to stay and leave (hardest part of day), and getting rid of old magazines. It looks better, but I'm still not done. I am going to Wal-Mart today to buy a plastic file box. I have filled my first one.

I was reading our weekly paper last evening and saw that a teacher I volunteered for back in 2012 was selected to be a principal at one of our local schools. I only helped her one year in math and then she transferred to another elementary school. Since then, she has been working and getting more experience and schooling. She will make an outstanding principal. She has a way with children.

Beautiful day today; I will try to get a walk in along with some chores. I have to go to the library this afternoon to babysit the daily book sale shelves for a friend; I'll check to see if Hillary is still facing out.

Return to the Jackson House

Friday was my return to volunteer at the Stonewall Jackson House. It reopened this past Sunday, but I didn't have to work until yesterday. We weren't very busy, what visitors we did get were mainly VMI related. The college was having what it calls Reunion Weekend when many classes return on one weekend.

While I was working the gift shop, several interesting things happened. The construction crew that this digging on our not-yet-opened-and-the-reason-for-the-delayed-opening brought in a broken teacup they found. One of the directors is going to research it. It doesn't appear to be connected to Jackson, but one never knows.

One of my first visitors yesterday afternoon was a young couple from Lynchburg, just over the mountains. They were in town celebrating their 11th wedding anniversary. After their tour, they asked for dining recommendations. For their anniversary, which is actually today, I recommended Zynodoa's in Staunton. It is fabulous; very much like the NYC restaurants we used to eat at when we lived in New Jersey and went into the city.

Thirty minutes later, two ladies stopped in for a tour, but they were between tour times. They were traveling from Florida to Massachussets and had to be in Staunton for a special dinner that evening. As one of them said, "We're eating in the best restaurant we have ever found", and I promptly said. "Zynodoa's, right?". They were flabbergasted that I said it, but It was. Small world.

Finally, as I was talking to one of the tour docents, a young woman who recently graduated from nearby W&L, somehow the discussion turned to ghosts. She told me of a one called The Ghost of Payne Hall. It seems there has been spotted in the English building a Civil War soldier in the evening after classes. He brandishes his sword to the male professors, but only tips his hat to the female professors, hence only the female professors work after-hours in the evening. Go figure! I'll do some research on this and post an update.

Finally, an update on our robin; she didn't show up and do any more work yesterday; she had done this the day before;

but she is here this morning. I'll have another picture tomorrow.

Odds & Ends

I took a few days off to get some other things done; also was thinking about the way the blog has been going, and how it might continue. I haven't made any definite decisions yet, but there will be some changes. I'll let everyone know.

Yesterday I went to a volunteer luncheon at the local library where I spend a lot of my free time. It was a very nice affair with good food and nice people. I even met a prospective new volunteer who might take a critical position from someone who is retiring this September.

I finished the latest Maisie Dobbs mystery by Jacqueline Winspear. It's called "To Die But Once". Of course, it's a murder mystery, but it advances in time just like the others in the series. The backdrop is 1940 Dunkirk. I haven't seen the movie yet, but this book convinced me that I had to watch it soon.

Reading a past copy (19 March) of The New Yorker today. I always read the review column about a restaurant and one about a bar. Anyhow, the bar is called Lucy's and is near Tompkin's Park in lower Manhattan. It's been owned by a Polish woman - called Lucy - and runs a cash-only bar.

The point I am getting to is that they serve a Polish rye vodka called zubrowka, a flavorful apple juice color, with a long piece of grass that comes from the Bialowieza Forest near the distillery. It's called "Buffalo" grass since that is who eats it.

Why is this fascinating? Because I have had a bottle of this vodka in my freezer for years! you just can't find it very easily here in America. 

I went to the library today to take some paperwork in that I printed for volunteers and I checked the Daily Book Sale for a friend who on a short vacation. Though strictly speaking another friend had already checked it, I wanted to see if something had been changed since yesterday when I checked it.

I was checking the bookshelves and noticed five books in the biography section next to a bio on Bill Clinton. All five had been reversed so you could not see the spine covers. I pulled them out to reverse them back and found each one was about Hillary! I guess someone has it in for her. They were not molested today.

Finally, we have a new tenant on our porch. A mother robin is building her nest in a hanging plant we just bought. Eight years and nothing like this has happened before.

I'll try to post a daily picture of her progress if she will let me.

Presidential Books

I am going through my library and beginning to choose which books to keep and which to part with in one way or another. An early decision has to be made about all of the books I have about the presidents.

Most of my “Presidential Library” is made up of volumes about Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington, Reagan, and T. Roosevelt. I have the odd book about Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Grant, and Eisenhower, but I’m wondering whether to keep all of them.

One of my favorite reads this past year was “Destiny of the Republic”, by Candice Millard. It’s about the attempted assassination attempt on James Garfield, his lingering sickness, and ultimate death. It’s also about Alexander Graham Bell developing an early machine before X-rays that could find the bullet, only to be deterred by professional jealousy to fail.

A more recent favorite was another library book I read about Reagan. Actually, it was about both him and Nancy. Written by one of his speechwriters, Mark Weinberg, it’s called “Movie Night with the Reagans”. 

It’s about a small selection of the 350 some movies that the President and his wife, along with staff and other aides at Camp David weekends. It related the movie to the events of the time during Reagan’s presidency as well as his early life as an actor and governor.

I have several that I have not read yet, but am not sure that I should keep all of them. In my mind, I kind of have a total number (of books) that I should keep, but it is a moving target. The number gets larger by the day. And that is not what I really what.

It’s going to hard to make a decision on the books I have on the various presidents – these two I mentioned are both library books – but maybe that is the answer: if I want to read one, I’ll just have to take it out from the local library.

I’ll be interested in what decision I make.

(Arial 12)       

Not Blogging Today

Very  busy today so no blog. Will post tomorrow evening. Have a great weekend everyone. BTW, Trivia night on Tuesday when we will defend our first place finish twice running!

April 13, 1944

It's not a typo. It's my birthday. Yes, I am 74 years old today. Born on President Jefferson's birthday, and named after President Reagan. It doesn't get much better than that.

I was born in Culver City, California. Pop was in the Army Air Corps and was assigned to a Ferrying squadron. He would fly the good planes, mostly B-17's and B-24's, over to the combat areas, and then fly the damaged ones back. He had a few close calls and interesting stories, but on the whole, he didn't talk much about them.

Mom would travel to wherever he was based. They had only been married since July - yes, nine months earlier - so they wanted to be together whenever they could. Before California, Pop was assigned to Miami. Mom loved both locations.

Anyhow, Mom's favorite actor at the time Ronald Reagan. She would often sit outside Century City Studios in a car with her girlfriend waiting to get his autograph. Sometimes, they would even try to follow him, but never with any success. So she did the next best thing; she named me Ronald (personally, I'm glad I wasn't called Gip. One of Pop's brothers, Ira, was called Dutch by everyone, so that wouldn't have been too bad.

Six weeks after I was born, Mom and I had to travel back to Pensylvania to live with her mother (The same grandmother who would give me a crisp $2 bill on my birthday every year). Pop had contracted tuberculosis and was being sent to a hospital near Denver. We traveled on a train that was mostly Army and other military veterans. Mom had her girlfriend along for company. 

After we got on the train and it left the station, Mom realized she had lost the diaper bag. She had left it in the station. When it became known what happened, the soldiers kept providing her with white T-shirts for diapers during the entire three-day trip. Maybe that's why I became a soldier.

Pop stayed in Denver for about nine months and then was discharged to Pennsylvania. He had a collapsed lung, but it never bothered him or kept him from doing what he wanted (He was almost 81 when he died of complications from the flu).

Happy Birthday to me!

(Arial 12)

LAIC - Tank Driving

Going through some files today, I found several pictures of from college to post-Army. I'll find a way for some of them to show up on this blog but wanted to post this one today.

It's a group shot of my section during the summer of 1971 when we were learning to drive the various tanks and other tracked vehicles.

Left to right, they were: Back row - Aussie armor officer; Household Cavalry; me; Household Guards; Front row - Royal Tank Regiment; enlisted tank school instructor; Royal Artillery.

Books & Brews Book Club

Our book group meets the second Tuesday of each month except December. We are into our second year. Currently, we have 11 members that attend regularly. Each of us has already chosen a book for a particular month.

Yesterday’s meeting discussed a book I mentioned in an earlier post; “if the creek don’t rise”, by Leah Weiss, a local (Lynchburg) author. Yesterday we had a treat – she accepted our invitation to come and talk to our group!

She spoke and read for the first hour and then left to get ready for a talk at the local library. That left us to discuss it amongst ourselves. But the best part of the meeting was listening to her talk about the book and her writing.

Leah said the book began over 10 years ago when she submitted a 1,500-word short story for a writing competition and won! That story formed, she said, the first and last chapters of the book. All she had to do, she said, was to write the 300 pages in between!

Since each chapter was written from a different point of view of a person in the story, it was interesting to hear the author tell us how she researched each and how she tried to get into the mind of each.

She is working on her second book now, set in 1944 eastern North Carolina, and it involves German POW camps. A sequel to “creek” is planned after that.

I told Ms. Weiss (she is married and brought her husband, Dave, a quiet gentleman, who went off to the library to read its copy of “1776”, by David McCullough, our February book, while we had our meeting) that I found the book depressing. She remarked that towards the end of her writing, it gave her some very strong emotions as well, as the story reached its climax.

I think we were all in agreement that we enjoyed having an author come and would like to do it again.




(Arial 12)

Reducing My Library...Again

We moved here almost eight years ago from Pennsylvania. Before we moved I sorted out about 800 books that I reluctantly decided to part with.

I sold some of my library to a second-hand book dealer. The rest I gave to a used bookstore in Chambersburg near where we lived for credit. Not my credit mind you, but for my daughter who lived nearby.

When I moved here my library had a little over 2,000 books. Most were nonfiction. There was about 50-50 split between hardbacks and paperbacks, with the paperbacks divided about evenly between trade and mass market.

Working as a volunteer at the local library has not been good for my habit. Or maybe it has, depending on how you look at it. The library has a very good monthly book sale and an outstanding on-going book sale. Lexington also has two bookstores, one that sells mostly used books, and the other mostly new.

But the real culprit has been ordering online; Barnes and Noble to be exact. To be honest, B&N hasn’t been guilty, but really the American Express card. It has a program where points are earned for dollars charged. Every 2,500 points earned will get you a $25 gift card for B&N. 

And I won't even discuss the Green Valley Book Fair. It's an operation that opens for two weeks about every 4-6 weeks, selling remainders that are picked up from bookstores up and down the East coast. And it is only about 45 minutes from us on I-81. 

Actually, the AE points can be used at a variety of stores – Amazon, Williams Sonoma just to name a couple – but we chose B&N because then the books were “free” and both of us love books.

Anyhow, my library has grown again. And grown. I now have about twice the library I had when I arrived in Virginia. It’s time to do some whittling. The photo above is just a small portion of the whole.

I know I will never read all of my books. None of my daughters are big time readers, and what they do read is not really seen in my library. Maybe my grandchildren will develop into serious readers.

So I am developing a plan to reduce my library. I will explain it in another post.

(Verdana 12)

Monday

We had an early morning snow today. Hopefully, it will be the last of the season. But I am not taking any bets.

It was so pretty, but it was gone this afternoon by the time I left the library.

Yes, that’s another horse like the one I discovered in the library a couple of weeks ago. This one is a little more “out there”. And I don’t think it was done by another horse.

  

And my wife’s cookies came out great. White and dark chocolate chipped. I didn’t want any nuts this time. I still haven’t decided what I want for my birthday on Friday.

(Arial 12)

Time

I decided to go without a wristwatch today. Don’t get me wrong; I love wristwatches. I have over a dozen, both modern and some classic; like over 70 years old classic.

It’s just that sometimes the band bothers me by getting in my arm hair, or it’s just too tight. I have wondered what it would be like to go without a watch. I have lived most of my life according to schedules. Before high school, it was not as much, but once I became a student with competing requirements, juggling time was always a priority.

College was worse, then a career in the military where time is everything. The military even has a special way of writing it and saying it. New words become second nature to you; deadlines and suspenses and the like.

Suspenses are my favorite. Most civilians don’t know what it really means in the military. It actually is nothing other than a time when something is due, usually a report or an action.

But I digress. I had time constraints in my civilian careers after the Army as well. And now that I am retired, I still have times that I must be somewhere or the other. I’m not talking about doctor appointments and such, but I volunteer. I have to be at certain locations on certain days at certain times.

So today I am not wearing a watch and pretending I do not have any time requirements. Though I really do. Washing clothes, packing up an old modem to return, and writing this blog are still around.

But I am pretending. The only thing I am watching the clock for (besides the clothes dryer) are chocolate chip cookies my wife is making for me.

(Arial12)

My New Wi-Fi Modem

Well, this was a wasted day for everything I wanted to do unless I count that I wanted to connect my new Wi-Fi modem up to my computer, printer, and smartphones.

The actual connecting up with the physical cable and electrical plug took very little time; maybe a whole ten minutes and eight of those were spent going into the garage to get a wrench to disconnect the cable from the old box.

Once I got things connected, the changing of IP address and new password didn’t take long as well, maybe five minutes. All lights were on. Then things began to go downhill from there.

It took me some ten or fifteen minutes to connect my smartphone and another five to get my wife’s connected. I then said to myself I was done. But something was nagging me that I wasn’t.

After a trip to Wal-Mart and a late lunch, my wife needed to type up a letter on the computer and print it – Oh, My! I now remembered I hadn’t finished. My e-printer was not hooked up. That took another 30 minutes.

But I still wasn’t done. Now I had to get my e-printer to recognize and print from our smartphones. Mine only took about ten minutes. One hour later, I got my wife’s to work. I hope.

Now all I have to do is pack up the old modem and ship it back (free, at least) within 30 days to keep from being charged for it.

Why does it feel like I have not gotten anything done today?

(Arial 12)

Army Breakfasts in the Field

I never really liked Army food. Not even after a concerted effort was made to improve the way it was cooked and ultimately presented. There was one exception, however – breakfast in the field.

Whenever we went to the field for exercises, we would have to eat C-rations for lunch, but we got hot meals for breakfast and dinner. Breakfast was always my favorite. Food was cooked back in garrison and then brought out by the company or troop first sergeant. It was in Mermite cans. These were nothing more than slender insulated cans that slightly resembled tall coolers, but narrower.

Each can had three containers that would fit inside so a can could hold three different foods. One would hold scrambled eggs; a second would be bacon; and the third would have toast, from which one could make a great sandwich!

Sometimes, the mess hall (later in my career the name was changed to dining facility) would surprise us and also send out pancakes or French toast, complete with maple syrup. We usually got small pint cartons of orange juice along with coffee and milk.

I enjoyed the field breakfasts when the weather was more on the cool side of things rather than warmer. Everything tasted better. I can still remember the smells of the cooked bacon wafting through the air, mixing with the diesel of the tanks as they were running in the early morning mist (civilian for fog).

Officers ate after their men; the rationale was because if the food ran out then the leaders were deprived as well. When I became a company commander I often didn’t have time to get my meal. I was usually briefing platoon leaders or coordinating with headquarters on the radio. So my M151 Jeep driver would usually bring me a plate of something. We often used paper plates and plastic utensils. It cut down on the work for the mess personnel once they had to return to the post. I never really liked to stand in the chow line in the field anyhow.

I actually find myself still missing some field exercises; especially TEWTS in Germany, where it was just my driver and me. We would then supplement our diet with meats and bread from the local German shops. Oh, My!

But then, memories are selective, aren’t they?

(Arial 12)

Afternoon Tea and Slosh at the LAIC

If you have been following for awhile, I have been posting (3/18, 3/28, 4,3) about memories of my year and a half in England when I was an exchange student officer at the Long Armor Infantry School in Bovington Camp, Dorset, England.

A large part of our instruction after that first eight weeks of more or less typical college classes in the sciences was traveling to the various military branch schools to learn how these were applied. For example, we went to the Signal School to learn about electrical engineering and optics; the Royal Artillery for ballistics; and the Royal Engineers for strength of materials and applied construction design just to name a few.

These trips away were usually from Monday to Friday, returning by dinnertime Friday back at Bovington. While we away we would usually stay at the officers’ mess which was a combination hotel and restaurant affair. While I will post about the evening dinners in a later blog, I want to continue on my “coffee and tea” theme.

After the day’s classes at the particular service school around 1530 (3:30 pm), we would return to the mess for the afternoon tea. These teas were more elaborate than the simple tea breaks back at school. We usually found the tea set for us in one of the game or library rooms of the mess at about 1600 (4:00).

It was impressive. In addition to the tea – coffee was generally not served – there were an array of small sandwiches. Cucumber and egg, cheese and pickle were favorites. There were also pastries galore. Not just simple doughnuts, but small bite-size cakes and tarts that could be grabbed up very easily with one hand.

We didn’t want to hurt our appetite since dinner was at 1800, starting with drinks in the mess bar, so we usually worked it off playing Slosh on the mess billiard or Snooker table.

Slosh (also called Crud) differed from the first two mentioned in that you played with only two balls, usually the cue ball and a striped ball, but no sticks. The object was to hit the striped ball by throwing the cue ball along the table top either sinking it in a corner pocket before it stopped rolling. 

Holding and blocking of opponents were encouraged. This variation was called Combat Slosh where junior officers and senior officers were equal. This was the form we played though we were all captains except one Australian major who never played anyhow.

The game was supposedly invented by the Royal Canadian Air Force and was very popular throughout the services of the British Commonwealth as you can well imagine. 

(Arial 12)