Greybeard The Hobo?

When I was VERY young, an older cousin had a serious argument with her husband and, wanting to get away from him as quickly as possible, ran to the rail yard to hop a freight out of town.
She had apparently been enjoying a few adult beverages and somehow lost her footing while trying to board the train, fell beneath the wheels, and was killed.
The story has always fascinated me, partly due to the grisliness of it, and partly due to the idea that she intended to escape an ugly situation by hopping the train. I wish I had gotten the chance to know her.
I imagine she'd have been "interesting" to know.

Trains and helicopters... Aren't they pretty much opposites as to what they do and how they do it?
"Simplify and add lightness" is the aeronautical engineer's credo. Make a part BARELY heavy and strong enough to do what it must do without failing and killing people.
With trains, seems to me, the opposite is true. The weight of the locomotive is absolutely critical to the machine's ability to do what it must do.
Weight? Schmate!

My fascination with trains has lead me to the guy in the video below... "Hobo Shoestring".
He looks like a bum. He's got a Southern twang to his speech that would make someone from one of the coasts dismiss him as a "rube".
He's neither. He owns an apartment in Johnson City, Tennessee, and refers to himself "houseless, NOT homeless". He has produced and published LOTS... maybe hundreds, of videos about how the rail system and components of trains work, and he ain't dumb... to me he's VERY interesting.

If you, like me, have an interest in how trains do what they do, I think you'll find taking the time to watch his stuff worthwhile.
Start with this one, and lemme know what you think:

 

L.B.D.

"Lewy Body Dementia".
Ever hear of it?
We had not.

It's what drove Robin Williams to kill himself. He was initially misdiagnosed as having Parkinson's Disease, as some of the symptoms are similar.
L.B.D. is probably the second major form of Dementia, just after Alzheimer's.

There's a LOT of dementia happening in our world these days. Part of the reason for that is that we are living longer lives. Part of it is that we are exposed, more and more, to some pretty extraordinary chemical compounds in our lives.
Dementia runs in our family, so there is also a genetic factor. Whatever... when you notice you have "C.R.S. Disease", you begin to wonder if it is normal, or the beginning of a long, rough road ahead.

More on all this in the future.

Those Poor Palestinians

Palestinians-
The would LOVE to wipe Israel off the map.They cannot do it because their most efficient weapon is a rocket they cannot guide to it's target. So they must launch them and hope they hit right in the middle of some elementary schoolyard.
Their next most potent weapon?
A sling and a rock.

IF they would put their money and efforts into improving the lot of their people, the lot of their people would improve.
Duh.

Biden? He's this generation's Neville Chamberlain, trying to appease Iran.
Thank you Biden voters.
You've proven the truth to the old Chinese proverb-
You've made life "interesting".

Cracker Barrel

We used to like Cracker Barrel.
Used to.

The food there was uniformly "fair",  sold at a moderate price.
Breakfast was available anytime the restaurant was open.
The Country Store was an interesting place to peruse.
But for us, the thing that we valued most about Cracker Barrel was their "Books on CD" program.

We frequently take long trips in our car. We'd stop at Cracker Barrel and get a bite to eat, then find the Books on CD carousel, buy a book we found interesting, and listen to it during our drive. When we finished with it we could stop at the next Cracker Barrel we passed and return the book for a refund, minus a couple bucks for "handling". We used this service a LOT, and recommended it often to others.

On our drive home from Arizona this Spring we stopped and ate at Cracker Barrel. Finished with our meal we strolled around the store looking for the CD carousel and couldn't find it. When I inquired as to where it was I was told, "We discontinued doing that some time ago."
I'm heartbroken.

The TSA and Covid-19 restrictions have made flying a very unpleasant experience these days, so we'll be in our car for most future trips.
The Cracker Barrel Books on CD program could have been an important part of those trips.

But I won't miss the unexceptional food.

"We're From France."

Coneheads.
Something about their appearance makes them pretty easy to identify.
I have to be careful about stereotyping individuals of their group, but DAMN it is hard sometimes!

1. We watched the cop-cam video of an incident in Minnesota. Five or six Coneheads were congregated around a car in a drive near the street. One of the Coneheads, a female, had a big knife. A policeman disembarked his car and his camera picked up the sight of a scuffle. The Conehead with the knife was trying to "cut" one of her fellow Coneheads. The Law Enforcement Officer shot and killed the knife-wielding Conehead, and the incident made National news.

2. My wife and I just returned from an excursion to Chicago via Amtrak. Shortly after we had settled in for our trip a group of recently released Conehead prisoners joined us in our car. Obviously elated about being set free, they were really feeling their oats and apparently they wanted to share their excitement with everyone else in our car. One of the Coneheads intermittently stood up and, addressing some of his fellows looked around to make sure everyone could hear his comments-
"F*** this."
"I F***ing told him..."
"That Motherf***** thought he was bad."

This public display continued for 20 minutes or so. I started to reach for the Conductor call button and Sara Jean said, "Please don't. It'll just cause trouble."
And then we sat through another five minutes or so of Conehead celebration and loud exposition. I once again started to reach for the call button, and SJ stopped me once again. "I'll take care of this" she said. She went to the cafe car and told the attendant there what was unfolding in our car.
"If you don't get this under control, my husband will try. I don't want him to get hurt."

Five minutes later the Conductor appeared.
"Sit down and be quiet or I will remove you from this train."
He came and told us IF he removes Conehead prisoners from the train... they go back to prison.
Our Conehead suddenly found a way to be a quiet Conehead.

3. We reserved a room for the weekend in a nice motel close to the Memorial Service we would attend. At 1900 hours or so we began to hear what sounded like children running and screaming up and down the hall. When I investigated the activity I found three Conehead children, without Covid-19 masks, using the hallway as a way to stretch their legs. Now and then their Mother would come out of her room and scream at her young offspring. They ignored her.
I made the decision to not call the front desk until 2200 hours, hoping by then the halls would be quiet. Kids are suffering mightily during this Covid-19 stupidity.
The kids settled down, thank Heaven.

But the next night at about 2000 hours we heard a female screaming that sounded something like "Get the mouse out of here!" We eventually figured out the dialect and realized the scream was saying, "Get HIM out of here!"
When I went into the hall to investigate I sighted a large female Conehead standing in the hallway pointing and looking at someone in her room.
She wanted to share her emotion with all 30 or so rooms that adjoined our hallway. Once again we retreated, hoping the dust would settle. Again, thank Heavens it did.

4. In Union Station waiting for our train we were in the Food Court eating at Chick-Fil-A. Sara Jean noticed a fellow passenger, a pretty Conehead, wearing a beautiful dress. As we departed to head for our train SJ walked near her, got her attention, and complimented her on what she was wearing.
Her eyes became daggers. No response.
I can only assume this Conehead truly WAS from France and didn't understand the compliment.

Some Coneheads claim their like are discriminated against when it comes to housing, job opportunites, and life in general.
I know there must be Coneheads amongst us who are embarrassed by the behavior displayed by their obnoxious brethren. Are those Coneheads actively trying to instigate change?
I hope so.

We are a divided Nation.
In some areas that division is palpable... uncomfortable.
And I am worried about where we, as a Nation, are headed.
I know this post might get me in trouble, but I love my country and hope we can once again be "E Pluribus Unum".
ALL LIVES MATTER.
Can we work toward making the world a better place for everyone?

"ART" Comes In Many Forms

"C'mere... I wancha to try somethin'!"
My Mother was standing in her kitchen with her hands full of stuff that looked just like the photo above.
She was fashioning a rose out of cake icing.
It was absolutely beautiful.
"This is really easy for me to do and I want you to try it so I know if I just have a natural talent."
I took the tools in my hands and gave it a shot.
The result of my efforts looked like a hot cookie fresh out of the oven.

She was motivated to take a cake decorating class. Actually, the class didn't teach her much.
She baked a wedding cake for a member of our family.
It looked wonderful.
It tasted like a home-baked cake.
She left the reception with orders for three more cakes.
Word of mouth took off. She started baking a wedding cake and several cakes for parties and receptions each week.
Her "Hobby" was making pretty decent money.

My Dad was in charge of deliveries.
After a while the responsibility of producing and delivering something SO important to a once-in-a-lifetime event began to weigh on them both.
So they stopped taking orders, and disappointed LOTS of people.

And every time I go to a wedding and see a beautiful work of art I'm reminded of my Mom the decorator and my Dad the deliverer, and the fact that someone went through a lot of stress to get that cake delivered, intact, tasting like something others would want to put in their mouths.

It's a good memory.

Taxation Without Representation!

Washington D.C. voters say they're being cheated-
They're citizens, but they have no real say in Congress.
They want to be our 51st State so they'll get two U.S. Senators and representation in the House.
I have a better idea.
Move the Nation's Capitol to Kansas City. Give the D.C. Real Estate back to Virginia and Maryland.

This solves at least two problems:
It makes our seat of government less susceptible to enemy attack, and,
It gives D.C. residents new representation in Congress via their new State residences.

And we don't have to worry about designing a new 51-State flag...
Yet.

Frontier.com

Fifty-Nine minutes, 12 seconds.
That's how long I spent on the phone with my Internet Provider.
I woke yesterday and tried to watch some YouTube videos on our Roku System...
No workee.
We got a connection to our router, but no internet connection.
I reset everything that had a "reset" button.
I unplugged the router for 20 seconds, then plugged it back in.
Still no dice.
None of our neighbors have a connection.
Oh well... give 'em a little time to fix the problem.

I tried two hours later...
Same result.

So I called Frontier.com's service number and, as usual, got someone with an accent that made it difficult for me to understand.
"Go unplug your router."

I made three phone calls yesterday and spent maybe an hour on the telephone. I finally got the person on the other end to admit there was a technical problem at their end. She assured me they were working on it and the problem would be resolved soon.

I woke today with hopes she wasn't blowing smoke up my delicate tush.
I now understand why my tush was irritated.
We still have no internet connection.
I can complain if I just email them at "Frontier.com/service". I may do that just as soon as I have an internet connection.

I spent an hour this morning, mostly on hold, waiting on someone to tell me when I'll begin to get the service I am paying for.
Instead I'm informed a new router is being drop-shipped to my address because my router is more than a year old and MAY be my problem.
I'm now at the Public Library writing this.

So, you tell me...
What are the chances the new router will fix what ails us?

My 200,000-Mile Checkup

"Have you registered with the VA?" my friend asked.
"No. Why? Should I?"
"Well, we were exposed to Agent Orange and they're now finding LOTS of health difficulties associated with it popping up in our peers. You need to register with 'em just in case you have problems later."
And so I registered. And they've given me a pretty extensive semi-annual physical ever since.
My latest was yesterday.

Height/weight/blood pressure/heart rate.
Cholesterol levels.
O2 saturation.
Blood work.
Pee in the bottle.
Take a peek at the eyes and ears.
Stethoscope listening to various functions.
And more.

My VA Doctor is a Pakistani female, complete with head scarf and now... wearing TWO face masks.
With her heavy accent and "muff murf stamig?" through the two masks, it's almost impossible for me to understand her questions.
But we muddle through.
She's VERY efficient.

My weight is down a little. My tinnitus is worse. PSA is okay. Cholesterol, Vitamin D, Sodium... all okay.
Neutrophils, auto... Neutrophils, absolute... Eosinophils and several other "Phils"?
Who is this "Phil" guy and why are they watching him so closely?
But apparently  all my "Phils" are fine.
The only Clinker in the closet?
My blood sugar. Thank you Mom. (Or maybe this is MY Agent Orange problem?)

My glucose level and A1C are both off the chart. I know why.
And we've all heard "Denial" is NOT a river in Egypt.
My glucose problem is caused by COUPONS.
Yeah, that's the ticket!

Burger King. Culver's. Little Caesars. McDonald's. Taco Bell. Wendy's. And tens of other fast food joints...
All send out coupons to tempt me.
And "Cheapo Me" takes complete advantage of 'em.
That's a LOT of carbs. And I think "Phil" is an expert at turning carbs into blood sugar.
I think Phil also loves the BIG nightly glass of Merlot.

But my relationship with Phil has to change.
My Pakistani overseer is now pointing a bony finger at me, promising me insulin shots if I don't get this glucose situation under control.
Her finger is a scary thing... reminds me of Halloween.

Retirement was supposed to be easy, relaxing, and enjoyable.
This is beginning to look a lot like WORK.
Where did I take that wrong turn?

George Floyd

Don't we already know the outcome of this trial?
If Chauvin is found guilty, many will be outraged. But the only bad thing that will happen will be he will go to prison.
If he's found not guilty, cities will burn, and people will die.
Black lives matter.

Yesterday I learned something I had not heard anywhere in the "News"...
Before he was even on the ground, Floyd said, "I can't breathe".
So he was an ill man, already suffering from respiratory trouble before Chauvin laid hands on him.
He also had a bad ticker, and was under the influence of several drugs.
None of that matters.
Black lives matter.

Do you see any way short of Civil War to get our country back to sanity?

"It's not fair..."

Sara Jean says, "It's not fair. Women get old, wrinkly and ugly. Men get older, more rugged, and handsome."
But that's only true with some-
We watched "Executive Suite" with Barbara Stanwyck this morning.
A WONDERFUL, talented actress, she got prettier as she aged. In "The Big Valley" I thought she was beautiful.
And Errol Flynn certainly did not die a "rugged, handsome" man.

Genetics play a huge hand.
But environment and attitude also play a major role, don't they?

Dolly Parton - He's Alive (The 23rd Annual CMA Awards)

My annual Easter post-
Dolly still gives me chills.

 

                  

Shot

Covid vaccinations-
The rebel in me pretty much said "Let 'em shove it up their ass."
But my wife is a "Nervous Nellie" and worried about things like needing to get on an airliner if the vax is required.
So I acquiesced. We scheduled and got our shot yesterday. Part of the reason I agreed was because the vax was the Johnson and Johnson single-shot vaccination.
So... done.

And now it seems there are questions about the J&J vaccine that will impact some 15 million people.
Our "experts" have struck once again.

What a load of feces.

Mice Eat Mice?

Six weeks in the Florida Panhandle... wonderful. But that part of Florida can be cold, windy, and wet simultaneously during Winter, so... BUG OUT TIME.
Fourteen weeks in Phoenix... great. If you spend time there you can easily understand why old farts like me spend Winters there. In the 3+ months we were there it rained three days. Temps this year never dropped below freezing. Normal days we experienced 65 degree highs; 45 degree lows, with humidity generally running 20% or so.
Nearly perfect weather, but we Midwesterners began to yearn for a raucous thunderstorm about the beginning of March!

We rented a Toyota Corolla for the trip home and decided to take an extra day in hopes we'd not be so exhausted when we reached our destination. I also decided to take different route home.
In the past we have driven South via Tucson/Deming, NM, El Paso/ Dallas-FTW/ Little Rock/and home.
We've also traveled via Holbrook, AZ/Albuquerque/Amarillo/Ok City/Tulsa/Springfield/and home.
Both those drives are long and, for the most part, boring. This time I decided we'd head North out of ALB and drive up the East face of the Rockies, hoping they'd be snow-capped and beautiful.
We were not disappointed.

The Corolla was comfortable. It drove nicely, got about 35mpg at 75mph, and had "smart" adaptive cruise control, (which henceforth will be a requirement for any future rental choice!)
We did NOT order a GPS option, and that turned out to be a mistake when I depended on memory as we headed North out of Colorado Springs...
Thank God I realized I was lost early on; stopped at a Fire Station, and a fellow Public Service worker got me back on the proper path home!

Motels we stayed in:
A "Comfort Inn", a "Super 8", and a "La Quinta". Since all we require in our temporary housing is a clean place to sleep and bathe, (and breakfast of some sort is also nice), we generally go the "budget" route for accommodations. All our stays were satisfactory, but I was surprised our normal choice, the La Quinta, had NO breakfast offerings at all.

The trip was uneventful. After gratefully spending the night in our own home and bed we returned the rental car and came home to resume our normal routine.
Scooter and truck started without fuss. But while I was sitting in my pickup allowing the battery to get it's first charge in months I caught a glimpse of movement to my right and saw either Mickey or Minnie sitting transfixed on the passenger seat. After a few seconds, MM decided to beat a hasty retreat into the bowels of my Ram/Cummins pickup somewhere. It was after a little searching that I noticed the roll of toilet paper we leave in the truck for emergencies had been well-used for nesting material.

Last night I set the trap... on the passenger-side floorboard, with peanut butter as bait. Investigation this morning found the trap gone!  I searched beneath the passenger seat... beneath the driver's seat...
Nuttin'. But further investigation beneath the extended-cab jump seat revealed the trap with a half-eaten mouse lodged against the rear bulkhead of the truck.

So the question now is-
Did Mickey get a bellyful of Minnie...
Or Vice-versa?

Road Trip Random Thoughts

-Topeka Kansas is the home of Harry W. Colmery. Who knew?
-Kansas is windy. Fifty knot gusts made me thankful I wasn't driving an 18 wheeler.
-Anyone that thinks Kansas is flat has never been to Ft. Riley.
-Renting a car without GPS is a big mistake.
-But having a "seek" function on the FM radio proved there are LOTS of  "classic rock" stations out there.
-Four cylinder engines are buzzy and irritating in mountains but get GREAT mileage.
-Buzzy rental cars help you realize how much you love your non-buzzy car.
-Windmill farms are majestic and simultaneously an eyesore.
-In fifty mph winds, windmills feather. (Shut down.)
-Cell phone coverage on Interstates is nothing short of amazing.
-There is NO comfortable way to drive more than 700 miles in one day.

Care to add to my list?

Driving Miss Sara

We're two days into our trip home from Phoenix. We spent the first night of our drive in Albuquerque. Experienced a HORRIBLE traffic jam on Interstate 40 near Gallup, NM, nearly dead-stopped for almost two hours. This is the seccond time we've had terrible traffic there and WILL NOT be coming home that way again. 

Decided to take a different route home from ALB this time and headed North on I-25 toward Denver- up the Eastern face of the Rockies. The peaks were snow-capped and GORGEOUS. 

Spent the night in Limon, CO in a tacky little motel room. Since we only spend a few hours in the motel we've always felt so long as they are clean and have basic "necessities" like a TV and microwave, why pay a fortune for those few hours? 

There's just no way to make a 24-hour drive comfortable. But flying, more and more, is becoming such a burden I no longer want to do it. Our rental car, a Toyota Corolla, is a pleasure to drive.
It's getting 35 mpg at 75mph and has something I will NEVER again be without-
"Adaptive" (Smart) Cruise Control. It takes much of the stress out of driving long distances on the slab.

Home tomorrow night, our neighbors inform us our wild onion crop is ready for harvest.
That's a smell/experience I always enjoy in the Spring.

I'm homesick.
And ready for Spring storms and home "Honey-do's".

"It's Snowing!"

We set out from Phoenix yesterday with a GREAT plan-
Leave comfortably around Noon +-. Drive North to Hwy 74, then go Westbound to Wickenburg. Just Northwest of there, hang a turn onto Northbound 89. Make our way through Yarnell where the "Hotshots" lost their lives in the fire some years ago, then continue to Prescott. Just East of there take 89A through Jerome and Cottonwood, then on through Sedona to just South of Flagstaff and spend the night at the Air Force recreational facility at "Ft. Tuthill" County Park.
Beautiful.

All went exactly as planned. Weather was "Clear Blue and 22", and we drove through Sedona as Ol' Sol was getting low in the sky, casting intense red rays on the already red stone cliffs there.
Breathtaking.

The "Best Laid" plan was to spend the night at Ft. Tuthill, rise at a comfortable hour and have breakfast, then drive a couple hours North to "Horseshoe Bend" near the AZ/CO State line. Time permitting, I wanted to also hit the South Rim of the Canyon to take in the view there. At that point I intended to take the pulse of both Sara Jean and Big Bubba to see if they wanted to pound the pavement back to PHX, or get a room for the night in Flagstaff and head back to Phoenix rested on Wednesday.

The Air Force facility at Ft. Tuthill was a BIG disappointment. The problem MAY have been partly due to the WuFlu virus. The place was... umm... Spartan, to put it kindly. We slept fitfully.

Morning dawns. Sara Jean opened the draperies to the room.
"It's snowing!" she says.
And indeed it was. Four inches of the stuff on the ground.
Not just flurries... big, wet flakes coming down, limiting visibility to about a mile.
The chances of seeing anything at Horseshoe Bend or the Grand Canyon?
Zip.

So we leisurely lolled in bed until checkout time, then drove and had Brunch at Denny's, after which we all agreed to point the car South to Phoenix where our phones said it was 65 degrees with a chance of rain.

Sara Jean's first view of the Grand Canyon will have to wait for another day.

How Much Longer Can We Afford this?

Got a "safety recall" letter last month on the Yamaha Super Tenere... the front brake switch might be faulty, and lots of things could possibly happen if it acts up- brake light not illuminating, cruise control suddenly disengaging... other bad stuff. That bike is now 7 years old with almost 30,000 miles on it, but the repair including parts and labor was free.

When the bike was finished the service manager came to me with forms that needed a signature and showed me a few things that he felt needed attention. Front fork seals are leaking. A cover over the ignition parts is also leaking. And the right saddlebag that needs replacing? A steal at $500 !
My question- "How much to fix the fork seals?"
The hardware- $75.
Three hours labor?- $495.

No thank you. I'm sorry, but that sure seems usury to me.
And I'd feel not QUITE so bad if I knew the mechanic was receiving the vast majority of that charge.
But he/she/they will not.

We'll probably ride the thing until the wheels fall off.

Fastest Way To Lose A Pound!

The entire Greybeard family gave blood yesterday.
It was Big Bubba's first time to donate.
Sara Jean has donated a few times. I've lost count of my donations.
There are many good reasons to donate. Most of 'em you already know. In addition to the instant 1lb. weight loss, I've read that donating will make you live longer and look better...
Something about lengthening telomeres? You can look it up.

Anywho, we increased the supply of A+ blood in the system by three pints yesterday.
Consider donating. It'll make ya feel better and maybe regain some of that "youthful glow"!

"If You Could See Me Now..."

You'd be lookin' at a guy who just passed his Amateur Radio "General" license examination.
Whew!
I WAS NOT sure of the result when I turned my test in for grading.
This one had my head swimming. When they grade it they only tell you if you passed or failed, so I may have passed by the skin of my teeth.

No matter. The ticket will arrive in a couple days, and I can now RELAX.
For a while.