Poochie Williamson's Page

Beautiful Ohio

2011-10-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

I recently found a button made in Columbus, Ohio. It is about 2 1/8 inches in diameter.

Although it is not a campaign button, it does mention the names of 5 presidents from Ohio. That helps to date the badge between 1900 and 1908, since the names of Taft and Harding do not appear.

What is interesting, is that by 1901 there had been 6 presidents from Ohio. Two of them were named Harrison (William Henry and Benjamin). Maybe the badge designer figured every one knows about both Harrisons, and used the name only once to save space. Or maybe he decided not to count William Henry, as he held office for only a month. I guess we will never know.

The badge has a picture of the State Capitol at the top, the State Seal in the center, and a picture of the Battle of Lake Erie on the right side.

The picture on the left side is the scene of a land battle. The question is, which one? My guess is it may be the 1794 “Battle of the Fallen Timbers," in which General “Mad Anthony” Wayne defeated a force consisting of Blue Jacket's Shawnees and Buckongahelas's Delawares, Miamis led by Little Turtle, Wyandots, Ojibwas, Ottawas, Potawatomis, Mingos, and even some Canadian militia.

The music at the bottom is “Home Sweet Home.” It seems strange to me that the designer did not use “Beautiful Ohio,” which became the official state song in 1889, before William McKinley became president.

Figuring out the history associated with the old buttons is part of the fun I get from collecting them...

Post Cards with Flags

2010-03-27T18:29:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of old post cards from my collection. The first one was cancelled in 1909. When you know that, the picture of the flag presents 2 problems. Can anyone figure out what is strange about the flag?

The second one has a fanciful flag, and is an embossed card. I posted it just because it is attractive.

Captain Rob

2009-10-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I had another 'Before the Mast' program aboard the Pilgrim at The Ocean Institute. The students were 5th graders from Our Savior Lutheran school. I was the Captain on their program last year as well. Their photographer took lots of pictures of both programs, and he brought me a disk with the pictures from 2008. This one shows me standing on the quarterdeck of the Pilgrim.

We give the students lots of hard work and challenging tasks, but we sprinkle the program with sea chanteys, a jig, and a few humourous moments as well. Few things are as satisfying as the expressions on their faces.

A Second Grandchild

2009-10-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

My elder daughter, Amber, and her husband, Ron have blessed us with a granddaughter, Briana Carlotta Gill.

Brianna was born on September 22. Because she is adopted, we held off on the announcements for a week or so until all of the adoption paperwork was complete. I sent out emails to family and friends, but I did not get around to writing in my blogs until today.

Bonnie and I are happy, of course, to have a second grandchild.

Quinton at 6 Months

2009-08-01T13:25:00.001-07:00

Our grandson, Quinton Thomas Dale, was 6 months old in June. He sure is growing fast. Our daughter, Heather, had some great photos taken. I just had to post a couple of them:

Quinton and the French bulldog, Nick, are getting along well, too:

Rare Cactus Flower

2009-07-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

When bought this cactus about 40 years ago. It was about 2 inches high and 2 inches around. Today, about 1 foot tall, the cactus bloomed for the first time. The nursery owner told me it is called Ferocactus Gatesii, discovered in the Baja California desert by Professor H. E. Gates at California State University of Fullerton. My cacti and succulents handbook does not mention it, but some internet research revealed that it is a subspecies of Ferocactus Gracilis, sometimes called "Fire Barrel Cactus."

Since this cactus blossom is probably seldom seen, I decided to celebrate by sharing the picture.

Cell Phone Saga

2009-07-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

I read somewhere that 30% of telephone users in the U.S. have abandoned their land lines completely in favor of cell phones.

I'm pretty "tech savvy" for a guy my age, but I don't embrace new technology until I find either a specific need or an economic reason for doing so. That's why I did not even purchase a cell phone until a year ago. My reason was a need. I bought it primarily so Bonnie can reach me in an emergency when I'm not home. We also observed that public pay telephones have essentially disappeared, and we occasionally find ourselves wanting to call somebody when we are on the road.

The cost for my AT&T land line did not seem excessive at the time, so for the overlapping service I opted for the provider that appeared to be the cheapest (and to require the least commitment), that is, a TracFone. The service cost about $10.00 a month, and I did not expect to use the 400 minutes allocated for the one year of air time.

When Bonnie had to relinquish her company-provided cell phone, I bought her a TracFone as well. Her package includes "double minutes for life," so she has a budget of 800 minutes. At first this move seemed to be a mistake because her phone took two minutes or more just to acquire a signal. That proved to be a defect in the phone. TracFone replaced the phone and transferred both her number and minutes to a good one. Their technical support is a little less than perfect, and requires a little patience, but it is there.

It worked out so well, in fact, that when I purchased another year of air time for my phone, I also bought a "double minutes for life" ticket. I figure the time will cost between 12 cents and 15 cents per minute. It's the same, of course, for local and long distance calls, and there are no "access" or"roaming" charges. I am assuming that Bonnie and I both use all of our minutes, which may not be the case.

I have noticed that the monthly bill for our land line seems to have increased by almost 50% over the last couple of years. Just for fun, I figured out what my land line cost me last month. It worked out to almost 35 cents per minute for local calls. Long distance was even worse--since we only made two one-minute calls, long distance cost $3.84 per minute! Because we are relatively low volume users, we could probably tinker with the options and reduce those costs.

But it looks like I had an economic reason for trying cell phones all along, and did not realize it. For us the cost of the two cell phones is comparable to the cost of the single land line. Bonnie and I decided to make all of our long distance calls by cell phone. I plan to see if I can drop the long distance coverage on the land line altogether.

At this point, I am not even sure we want to hang on to the land line.

One thing that bothers me is that when a call is "cell-to-cell," both the caller and the receiver are charged for the time, which is not the case with land lines. So I will be paying for incoming calls as well as outgoing, and I have no data on what that cost will be. I guess I will just try to keep track for a few months and estimate the impact.

Of course, some sort of disaster could wipe out cell service altogether without affecting land line service. But that is not very likely. To keep the land line for that reason seems almost as "survivalistic" as buying a firearm or building a bomb shelter, and I don't do either of those things.

The day may not be far away when the statistic for "all cell, no land line" increases to 30% plus 2 people...

Welcome, Paolo!

2009-06-25T11:59:00.001-07:00

We had to say final goodbyes to Lucy last December, and to Bogie on Memorial Day weekend. The losses of her friends left our other shar pei, Jazzy, without a playmate, and thoroughly bored. Well, that all ended on June 15, when Apollo came to us all the way from Tamaqua, Pennsylvania.

Apollo is a 7-month old springer spaniel with tons of energy. He is blind in one eye and has limited sight in the other, but that does not keep him from playing with great enthusiasm and vigor. Neither Bonnie nor I care for the name Apollo, but he had such a strenuous transition that we did not want to add to his confusion with a name change. We decided that if we call him Paolo he will probably not notice the difference.

Paolo and Jazz took to each other immediately. Paolo, Bonnie, and I are still undergoing our "period of adjustment," but we see improvements everyday.

My Favorite Campaign Badge

2009-06-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

My collection of campaign items numbers around 1,700. Of those, nearly 200 relate to my favorite presidential candidate, Theodore Roosevelt.

I never thought about what may be my favorite badge, but beyond a doubt this 1 1/4 inch Theodore Roosevelt badge is the one:

It is neither the rarest nor the most expensive of Theodore Roosevelt buttons but I have sought it for years. My good friend, Neal, recently decided to sell a good portion of his TR collection. He gave me first choice as well as a bargain price for this one. The badge is not actually in my collection yet--Bonnie bought it to be my Christmas present this year.

I posted a picture of my second favorite, a 7/8-inch button, a while back.

This one is much rarer than the first; I have only seen 3 others like it in my approximately 57 years of collecting. It was a gift from my father.

Fix my own car? I think not

2009-05-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

I love my 2004 Nissan Maxima. Although it is approaching its 5th year in my garage, I still consider it my new car.

I decided to replace the engine air filter last Tuesday. I did that regularly on the '51 Chevy I drove in high school, but recently I have just let the dealer do things like that at oil change time. It was pretty easy on the Chev. There was a big metal cylinder at the top of the engine. I would just remove the wing nut that held the top on, remove the top, pull the old cylindrical filter out, plop a new one in, and replace the top and wing nut.

When I read the owner's manual, the task looked almost as easy on the Maxima. The filter is flat and rectangular. It is housed in a plastic box. The box lid is molded to the hose that feeds the air into the intake manifold. First, I loosened the clamp that secures the hose to the manifold. Then I removed the connector for the temperature sensor from the hose. Next I unfastened two spring clamps that held the lid on the box and rotated the lid and the hose until I could slide the lid off. Then I exchanged the new filter for the old one. I put the lid back on, fastened the two spring clamps, reattached the temperature sensor (I thought), and tightened the hose clamp.

The engine started fine. But when I shifted into drive, it seemed like the engine had no power at all, or perhaps like the transmission was slipping. I knew it wasn't the transmission. I had done something wrong when I replaced the air filter.

I turned off the engine and checked my work again. Aha! That temperature sensor was not snapped securely into place. After I fixed that and re-started the engine, everything seemed to work fine.

Then the "service engine soon" lamp lit on the dashboard. Now that usually comes on when you forget to put the gas cap back on. The lamp indicates problems in the pollution control system. When you put the cap back on, the lamp goes off after a few minutes of driving. I assumed the same would happen after I replaced the air temperature sensor--WRONG--it remained on.

So, off to the dealer I went. They attached their computer to the Maxima. They determined that the temporary lack of an air input temperature sensor "confused" the engine's computer so that it could not set the engine idle correctly, and so that it lit the lamp. The technician let the engine cool down a little, and then reset the computer for proper idling and to turn off the lamp. All of this was done in just two hours for a fee of about six times the cost of the filter.

My '51 Chevy worked fine without a computer or an air intake temperature sensor. When I started the car, I pulled out the choke, and when the water temperature gage showed that the engine had warmed up, I pushed the choke back in. I was the computer. And I could replace the air filter without collateral damage.

Now I know the correct way to replace the Maxima's air filter. But I will probably not do it again. I won't try to replace the spark plugs or adjust the timing either.

I also understand why the manufacturers place a big shroud over most of the engine and its parts. It looks fancy, but a little intimidating. They don't want putterers like me confusing their computers. They win.

Farewell, Bogie

2009-05-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

BOGIE [Chu Hill's Bogart Hisata Inu]

August 4, 1994--May 23, 2009

Of the several dogs whose companionship we have enjoyed, Bogie was the happiest, the most loving, and the most devoted. One could not ask for a finer friend than Bogie.

Bogie would 'guard' the door to the kitchen in the evening when I washed the dishes. If Bonnie and I were at opposite ends of the house, Bogie would lie in the hallway half-way between us. When we got into bed to watch television, He used to jump up on the bed and lie as close as he could to one of us. As arthritis set in, he had to forego that pleasure, but he would lie in his own bed at the foot of ours.

He overcame more than his fair share of problems. Once he was bitten by a neighbor's dog. He swallowed some prescription pills for high blood pressure. He came down with a case of 'bloat.' He got a fragment of a rawhide chew stuck in his throat. Each time, he recovered quickly and continued his loving companionship for Bonnie and me.

Bogie enjoyed his daily walks to the fullest. As he grew old, the walks had to be shorter and much slower. But no day was complete for him without one. It seemed like the high spot of his day was when Dad put on his walking hat and got the leash out.

Recently, Bogie became almost completed deaf. But his heart and mind were still strong. The constant pain and stiffness from severe arthritis, combined with what appeared to be a severely abscessed tooth, however, made us decide to release him from his earthly burdens.

Bogie will be sorely missed...

Quinton Update

2009-04-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

Our grandson, Quinton is almost 6 months old, so this update is probably overdue. He seems to be getting along fine under Heather's constant care. He is still a little small for his age, so Heather has started to supplement his diet of mama's milk with some rice cereal and vegetables. Like most folks his age, he has some difficulty getting it into his mouth.We sure are glad we decided not move to Washington state. In Yorba Linda we can see Quinton on a regular basis.

Earthquake Again!

2009-04-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

This time it was a cluster of 7 small quakes that occurred Thursday and Friday the 23rd and 24th of April.

They ranged in magnitude from 4.0 down to 1.8. They were centered in the Chino Hills about 2 miles north and east of Yorba Linda, roughly 5 miles from the Williamsons' house. They were all very short in duration, and caused little damage. Some of the pictures hanging on our walls were tilted a little.

The quake we had last year was also centered in the Chino Hills, but a local seismologist believes this group appear to have originated from a different location. An article in the Los Angeles times stated that the number of quakes in our area that are magnitude 3 and above has increased in the last year, but they are not sure what it means.

I think it means there are a lot of geologic faults in the area--that's about all.

Welcome, Quinton!

2008-12-14T20:51:00.000-08:00

Bonnie and I are grandparents! Quinton Thomas Dale was born on December 2nd to our daughter, Heather, and her husband, Josh.

Quinton weighed in at 5 pounds, 15 ounces. He and his mom are doing fine. Bonnie and I were fortunate to visit Quinton just a few hours after he was born. We took our video camera to capture the happy occasion. These pictures are frames from the videos.

Naturally, Bonnie and I are anxious to help Heather as much as we can. She is very busy these days.

Quinton has his own web site: http://www.quintondale.com/

Farewell, Lucy Dear

2008-12-12T17:04:00.000-08:00

Lucy

(Sept. 19, 2003 - Dec. 12, 2008)

Bonnie and I said goodbye to Lucy for the last time today.

For about a month now, Lucy was battling cancerous mast cell tumors on her liver and spleen. Steroids mitigated the symptoms some, but chemotherapy apparently had little effect on the tumors. It got to the point where the discomfort was making life miserable for her, so we put her to sleep today.

Bogie, now 14 years old, is still with us and faring well considering all he has been through and his progressive arthritis. And, of course, we have little Jazz, our bouncy red puppy, too.

But we are sad to see Lucy pass at the relatively young age of 5 years. She was lively and lovely. We will miss her very much.

Sunsets

2008-11-26T08:49:00.001-08:00

Few sights are as familiar, and at the same time as emotional, as an evening sunset. The anxieties of the nastiest days can be calmed and forgotten during a few minutes of relaxed contemplation as you watch the sun slide below the horizon.

My nephew, Greg, sent me a lovely picture of a recent sunset in Key Largo, Florida.

I immediately remembered a very different sunset that I photographed from my patio in 2006, and sent it to him. If you look closely, you can see the evening star, Venus, near the center about 1/4 of the way down from the top.

Each of these vastly different settings brings a wonderful feeling of peace and tranquility.

Fire!

2008-11-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

We have one!

Yorba Linda made the national news Saturday, when a fire came blowing in from Corona. The media eventually named it the Freeway Complex Fire. It has burned 23,722 acres of land and destroyed or damaged 211 homes.

The burn area came within about 5 or 6 miles of the Poochie Williamson residence. That's just a little too close for comfort. We were not asked to evacuate our home, but on Saturday, it looked like we might have to go. The place looked like a scene from operation Desert Storm. We could see flames to the east, and a red halo of flames to the north. The smoke was so thick it nearly blotted out the afternoon sun. What little light we had was an eerie brownish yellow color.

We packed up 3 car loads of paintings, prints, collectables, photographs, prescriptions and vitamins, dog food, leashes, clothing, etc. Sometimes there were hard choices between 'take it' and 'leave it.' Heather & Josh took one car load for us, Amber and Ron took a second, and I put the rest of the stuff in our Maxima. I saw several other families in the neighborhood packing too, but many did not bother to. We knew, though, that if things got bad we could be on the road in a few minutes and many of the most treasured and irreplaceable of our possessions would be safe in nearby Fullerton.

Bonnie and I alternated shifts during the night watching the TV coverage for word of any change.

But we did not have to evacuate. The wind shifted Sunday morning, and the fire headed way north and west of us. Our skies were sunny and clear nearly all day. I unloaded the Maxima Sunday afternoon. The evacuation orders for Yorba Linda were lifted Sunday evening. Heather and Amber brought our stuff back today, and Bonnie and I have nearly everything put back in place.

The fire is about 30% "contained," but is still burning. I expect it will take the firefighters a week or more to extinguish it.

Packing and unpacking the valuables was an ordeal, but when we hear how much was lost by those who had to leave in a hurry we are glad we did it.

New Buttons, Old Designs

2008-10-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

We who collect campaign buttons are busy this year, gathering Obama and McCain pins for our collections. The big difference these days is that the buttons are larger, anywhere from 2 1/2 inches in diameter to 3 1/2 inches or even larger. Large buttons were made in the "golden age" of buttons (1896-1916), but they are less common than the 1 1/4 inch and 7/8 diameter buttons.

Generally the graphics on buttons from the "golden age" are more colorful and better executed than on the buttons from the 1920's forward. Variations on the red, white, and blue stripe pattern became a common standard for many years. The 2008 campaign items have a lot of color and many attractive new designs. Some button makers, though, have reverted to the designs that were so popular during the golden age. As examples, I have posted pictures of two buttons from the 2008 campaign, and two from the 1904 (Theodore Roosevelt vs. Alton B. Parker) campaign.

The older ones are smaller, of course. Also, note that both of the 2008 buttons contain the candidates' names. In 1904, names appear only on the pin for Alton Parker and Henry Davis. Everyone recognized Theodore Roosevelt's image. Personally, I like the sharpness and refinement of the 1904 pins. But the 2008 buttons make their statements loud and clear. And the candidates smile for the portraits!

Henderson for President

2008-09-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

On occasion a collector of political badges will encounter an item that is puzzling. One such item is the Henderson for President badge. I first saw it in 1968, when a lot of reproductions and fantasy badges were being produced. I wondered what the origin of the badge was, but I bought it and kept it, hoping that I would some day learn the story behind it.

Nearly 40 years later, the personal computer and the internet would help me find the facts behind the Henderson badge. It is indeed an authentic campaign item. It was about 20 years old when I first found it.

Leon Henderson (1895-1986, b. Millville, NJ.) was an economist and an official of the Russell Sage Foundation (1925-34). Henderson held several posts as economic adviser in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt before his appointment to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1939. Henderson was the first director of the Office of Price Administration (1941 -42). He played an important role in inspiring the country's massive economic mobilization for World War II and wielded enormous power as overseer of Government rationing and price ceilings. After leaving the OPA, he followed a career in business. He was a Democratic presidential hopeful in 1948.

I decided to post the information on my blog, and make it available to other collectors who may be asking my question.

Earthquake!

2008-07-29T12:02:00.001-07:00

We just had one.

The TV news says it was a 5.8, centered near Chino, just a few miles from my home. As far as I can see, we have no damage to our house. I do have a lot of pictures on the walls to straighten. There was a small aftershock a few minutes later.

It was a first for our little puppy, Jazz, I looked for her right after the shake, and found her in my bathroom. She is totally confused, of course. Bogie and Lucy seem to have taken it in stride. They are begging for their lunch. I guess I should feed them, then straighten some pictures.

Bogie Is Home

2008-07-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

Bogie came home from the hospital this afternoon. When the vet removed the sting ray chew from his esophagus, she also attempted to insert a catheter in his right leg. Unfortunately she nicked a vein in the attempt, so his leg has a bandage on it. They put one of those plastic cones on him to keep him from licking the leg or chewing on it. It looked really ugly, and limited his peripheral vision. So we exchanged it for a cloth one. Bogie will be looking like a clown for the next week or so.

We have trashed all of those "edible" chews. It was an upsetting and costly lesson to learn. At least he will be ok from now on.

Period of adjustment

2008-07-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

Bonnie and I are so excited about our new family member, Jazz, that we decided to catch her puppyhood with a camcorder. So as Jazz, Lucy, and Bogie go through that period of adjustment to each other, I am trying to adust to making home videos with the new toy we just bought. This is my first attempt to capture their period of adjusment:

Jazz and Lucy are, of course, slowly warming up to each other. They are playing much more enthusiastically now, just a couple of days after I made the video. Bogie is accepting it all, or perhaps tolerating it--he's more than a little past the puppy play stage.

A Real Survivor

2008-07-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

Bogie is almost 14 years old. Since the average life of a Shar pei is about 10 years, that is impressive.

But Bonnie and I wonder that he has made it this far. He has had at least 4 narrow escapes so far: One day we came home to find that he had swallowed a handful of Bonnies presription pills for high blood pressure. Vets at the emergency room induced vomiting, and he came out just fine. Then, he had an attack of "the bloat," in which his stomach virtually tied a knot in itself. Emergency surgery fixed that, and he again recovered just fine. Not too long ago he started to choke on a piece of rawhide chew--Bonnie's quick application of the Heimlich maneuver saved him. Today, he was chewing on a large piece of dried sting ray tail and, of course, tried to swallow it. The Heimlich did not work; we rushed him to the emergency vet, who extracted it. So Bogie survived again. We are, of course, relieved and thankful. Bogie survives to continue a long and happy existence.

Bonnie and I have learned our lesson, though. Chewing is the natural precoursor to swallowing. Swallowing is the natural consequence of chewing. You cannot count on a dog to reduce a piece of rawhide, or anything else to a digestable size before he tries to swallow it. So all of the 'edible' chew toys are now banished from our house. Other dog owners would be wise to follow the same course of action.

Welcome, Jazz!

2008-07-18T13:39:00.000-07:00

The Poochie Williamson clan has a new Member. Her name is Jazz.

Jazz was born on May 18, 2008. On July 13, she left her home in Charlotte, NC, to join us in Yorba Linda. She is as loveable as she looks, and she is getting along well with the other members of the pack, Bogie and Lucy.

Bonnie and I are not getting quite as much sleep as we did before she came, and there are a few damp spots on our carpet. But we are really enjoying our new family member, and she seems to like us, too.

Another Card

2008-06-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

I just received another hold to light post card today. The photographs don't do it justice.

Some of the lights on the ships are yellow, others are orange. These cards are just plain fun to have.

"Hold to Light" Post Cards

2008-06-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, I started collecting post cards that have images of warships on them. I have between 300 and 400 cards depicting battleships cruisers and destroyers from many countries. Most of them were published between 1900 and 1920.

As I built the collection, I encountered several cards that are of a type that is prized by many card collectors--"Hold to light" cards. These cards were printed with a translucent layer and often with cutouts that let light shine through from the back. When you hold them up to a bright light, parts of the image light up, for a spectacular effect. These cards bring premium prices, in the neighborhood of $50.00, for post card dealers. If they depict Santa Clause rather than ships, the prices can go well over $100.00.

Only one of the hold-to-light cards that I found depicted war ships, but I bought the ones with merchant ships just because they are so much fun to look at. I was able to photograph mine with and without the back lighting, so I will share the images here.

The last card depicts "Le combat naval, Porte Des Ternes." When the card is backlit, one of the ships appears to explode. Of all the gimmicks used to make post cards more dramatic, "hold-to-light" is probably the most effective.

On the Leading Edge

2008-06-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

For most of our lives, Bonnie and I have been on the leading edge of changes in society. We got a waterbed when they were still considered "weird hippy things." We took La Maze classes when they were recommended by only a few OB/GYNs. We bought a VHS recorder shortly after they first came out. And while the "in crowd" was still extolling the virtues of white wines, I was sampling merlots.

But one bandwagon that I did not jump on until this week was that of the users of cell phones. My problem was not an aversion to technology, but rather one of simple economics. As long as I was paying $30.00+ per month for a land line to my home, I saw no value in signing a contract to pay an additional $30.00 a month for a cell phone.

I counted up the situations in one year in which I might need to make a call when no land line was available. There were maybe two or three--once when on the way to a retail store, and unable to locate it, once when I was at the grocery store and forgot one of the items Bonnie wanted me to buy, once when I was stuck in traffic, and would be way late getting home. It hardly seemed worth $360.00 per year.

Besides that, many folks who already have cell phones really anger me. They take a call while dining in a restaurant. They check their messages in a movie theater. They gab on the phone while shopping for groceries (I am sure there is nothing so urgent that it could not wait until they get home). And, most aggravating of all, the yak into the little boxes while driving down the freeway at 40 mph, instead of the posted 55 mph. I do not want to become one of those crass inconsiderate jerks.

This week, though, I finally decided to get a cell phone. The main reason is that the "pay as you go" plans make more economic sense. I bought a Trac Phone and one year (400 minutes) of cell time. The whole package ends up costing about $10.00 a month--less if I subtract the cost of the phone. Not only that, if I have not used the 400 minutes when I renew next year, the excess rolls over. The benefits I get for the $10.00 a month seem worth the cost. First, the phone will be there in the 3 or 4 situations that I expect I will need it for. Second, since I will turn it on virtually all of the time I am away from home, Bonnie knows she will be able to reach me if an emergency arises. Now that the telephone companies are phasing out pay telephones, the cell phone becomes almost a necessity.

So far, the Trac Phone experience has exceeded my expectations. When I activated the phone and added the minutes from the card, I received 510 minutes instead of 400. Although I signed up on June 3, the renewal date is August 3, of next year, so I get 14 months instead of 12. That's hard to beat. In the 4 days I have had the phone, I have not used any minutes yet.

Some may say that 20 cents a minute is not a bargain rate. However, these are emergency minutes; they are worth more to me. Moreover, the big companies advertise 10 cents a minute, but they add a $1.00 surcharge for each day that you access the service. That means one five-minute call can cost 30 cents a minute. With the Trac phone there are no "roaming" charges, and long distance calls within the continental US and to some foreign locations are charged at the same rate as local calls. So for the usage I expect, the Trac Phone is a good buy.

Talking about the economics, have you noticed that most cell phone calls are "double-billed?" When you make a call from land line to land line, only the originator is charged for the call. But when a cell phone is the receiver, both originator and receiver are billed for the minutes. In the long run, it would seem the telephone companies would like us all to use cell phones, and eliminate land lines completely.

So I have arrived in the 21st century with respect to telephone service. But I am not giving you my cell phone number. I only want to receive those urgent calls from immediate family and very close friends. Everyone else should just call my land line number. If I am not there, leave a message on my machine. But don't look for my number in the telephone book; it's unlisted. Most of the time, I view the telephone as an intrusion.

Get Ready To Call Me Grampa

2008-05-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

Bonnie and I received some wonderful news today. Our younger daughter, Heather, told us that she and Josh are expecting a baby in early December.

We were preparing to drive to San Bernardino to celebrate some family birthdays (mine, Bonnies, her dad's, and Josh's). Bonnie's was in February, and I was sick; mine was in March, and Bonnie was sick, Josh and Bonnie's dad have theirs in June. Our other daughter, Amber, her husband, Ron and Bonnie's dad met us at the restaurant. Heather and Josh drove to our place so the four of us could go the rest of the way in one car. Heather presented Bonnie a pair of booties with LA Lakers logos on them as she made the announcement.

The booties have the logo because Bonnie is an avid Lakers fan. In fact, she is watching a Lakers/Spurs playoff game as I write.

Bonnie is thrilled, of course, and I am excited, too, about the prospect of becoming grandparents. Watch for some pictures in December!

The Period Beauties

2008-05-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

Collectors of political campaign items encounter a lot of pins that were manufactured as advertising premiums. Like most political collectors, I find them less desirable. Some of them, however, have such beautiful graphics that I find it hard to resist collecting them.

The "Period Beauties" pins were produced by the Whitehead & Hoag Company between 1905 and 1910 for use as advertising premiums. Collectors today refer to them as "Tobacco Ladies," "Cracker Jack Ladies," or sometimes just "faces." Two sets were made: one, for the Perfection Cigarettes Company, comprised 27 pins, all 7/8 inch in diameter; the second set comprised 25 pins, all 1 ¼ inches in diameter, used by Pick Plug Cut Tobacco, Napoleon All Tobacco, Chesterfield Cigarettes, and Cracker Jack. Three of the designs are unique to the large set, and five are unique to the smaller set. This collection includes all of the 25 known designs in the larger size and the unique designs from the Perfection Cigarettes set. Most of the pins are fairly common, but as with most sets like these, one or two varieties are extremely difficult to find. The current value of the pins is in the $12.00 to $35.00 range for the pins that have no paper insert, or that have a tobacco company paper insert. Some collectors, however, have paid $85.00, or even more, for an identical pin with a Cracker Jack paper insert.

The Whitehead & Hoag Company used some of the images on other advertising premiums of all kinds. On the larger items we can see more of the images from which the faces on the pins were taken. Two that were used on oval pocket mirrors are shown here.

None of the collectors with whom I have dealt has ventured an opinion as to the sources of the images. Some of them look like they may have been taken from painted portraits, or from scenic paintings with several people in them. Several artists and illustrators of the period, among them a man named Angelo Asti, produced portraits of real or imaginary women in classical and sometimes revealing garments. The portraits appeared on china plates, tin trays, post cards, and all sorts of things generally used for advertising products. We seldom find modern items that display nearly as well as these pins from the "golden age" of advertising pins.

Teddy Roosevelt's "Square Deal"

2008-04-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

On my Bullmoose Journal blog for October 2, 2006, I posted a picture of one of my favorite Theodore Roosevelt campaign items. This pin is 7/8" in diameter, but at least one exists that is 1 1/4 inches in diameter. The pin is pretty rare; I have only seen 2 or 3 in over 55 years of collecting. This one has it all--the picture, the date, the slogan, and even a carpenter's square to emphasize the slogan. In his 1912 Progressive Party campaign, Roosevelt offered "a square deal for every man and for every woman in the United States."

About six years ago, another pin with a carpenter's square on it showed up. It is also 7/8 inch diameter. This one bears the name Parker. Alton B. Parker was Roosevelt's opponent in the 1904 campaign. The phrase "square deal" has always been attributed to Roosevelt. But Alton Parker apparently used the carpenter's square first, albeit without the slogan. Except for the handful of these pins that appeared in 2002, to my knowledge it has not been seen before or since.

This "square deal" pin is a lot more common. It is 7/8 inch diameter, and was used in the 1912 campaign. Almost every collector of TR campaign items has this one.

Here is a fourth "square deal" pin. It is also 7/8 inch diameter. I found it on eBay a while back. It is the only one like it that I have seen. The seller probably did not even see the meaning, let alone consider it a campaign item. It can only mean "square deal," and is probably a Theodore Roosevelt campaign pin.

If you have a "square deal" pin that is different from these, please post a comment about it.

Admiral Nelson Again

2008-04-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

In my other blog, Bullmoose Journal, I posted an entry about a character jug, depicting Admiral Horatio Nelson, that I acquired. I have been fortunate enough to win another item, an antique Staffordshire pitcher, relating to the Admiral.

The pitcher is about 7 inches tall. The images on it depict both Lord Nelson and Captain Hardy, who commanded HMS Victory at the battle, although the crude depictions bear little resemblence to the famous officers. It was probably made in the early nineteenth century.

It's not hard to find items commemmorating the achievements of Admiral Nelson. Many were produced in 2005 in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the famous battle. But I prefer the older ones. That's why I was attracted to this pitcher.

I may be able to date the piece more accurately if I can identify the pottery mark on the bottom of the pitcher. It looks to me like a stylized "JC."

If someone knows something about the pitcher or the pottery mark, please post a comment.

Return to "Our Boarding House"

2008-03-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

When I was very young, I enjoyed the comic strips in the daily newspaper about as much as every youngster did. They were all different back then. We had Dick Tracy, Lil' Abner, Mutt and Jeff, Smokey Stover, and a host of others that are long gone. Probably the only one that is still around is Blondie.

At first, I paid little attention to "Our Boarding House." On week days it was just a single panel, although it was a full sized strip in the Sunday edition. It had too many words, and folks just seemed to be standing around and talking. But as I entered my teens I began to read the strip daily. Maybe it was the fez that he wore around the house that caught my eye. I became fascinated by the interaction of Major Amos B. Hoople, his boarders and friends. They all seemed so human, in an exaggerated way.

Major Amos Barnaby Hoople

Our Boarding House was syndicated as a daily cartoon in hundreds of newspapers from 1921 until 1981. During the 1920's and 1930's, boarding houses were an institution in our society. The boarding house was the home away from home where men lived to save money until they got married and moved into a home of their own. Women in the same situation usually "took rooms" with a family. Boarding houses were often a second source of income for a family struggling to support the household.

Our Boarding House told the story of wizened homeowner Martha Hoople and her quirky stable of boarders. It appeared for four months in 1921 before the Major ambled obnoxiously back into estranged wife Martha's life after a ten-year absence.

Major Hoople's disagreeably daft personality was quickly embraced by readers. Aside from his affinity for cigars and the weathered fez donning his balding head, Hoople was best known for stretching the strip's text bubbles to the bursting point with his long-winded speeches, littered with colorful non-words like "harumf," fap," and "egad," about the astounding ten years he spent away from his wife. He considered himself an expert on every subject, and was always on the lookout for a new get-rich-quick scheme.

I searched the web for Major Hoople images, but I had only modest success. This cartoon seems fairly representative of the style.

I did find, however, a Canadian company that sells a book of Our Boarding House cartoons. The company is Lee Valley Tools. Here is a link:

[http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=52679&cat=1,46096,46100&ap=1]

I ordered a copy, and look forward to experiencing once more the remarkably colorful speeches of the good Major. My wife just told me that I am starting to look like him--fap!

THE MCKINLEY CRUISER

2008-01-16T10:50:00.000-08:00

I have been collecting postcards that depict battleships, cruisers, and destroyers built prior to 1920 in all navies. It took a while, but I finally obtained cards with photographs of each of the battleships that were commissioned in the U.S. Navy. After that, I started to search for postcards that depict Navy cruisers.

On one of these searches, I located a card depicting the Warship “McKinley” at anchor in Whalom Park, near Fitchburg, Massachusetts. A close look at the card reveals that the “warship” is really just a big model. Although it resembles a cruiser of the ‘great white fleet,’ it has no guns.

The pseudo-warship puzzled me, so I decided to see what I could find out at the Fitchburg, Massachusetts web page and other sources. The Fitchburg Historical Society has a photograph of the cruiser proceeding from the upper common. I also found an archived article in the New York Times of October 29, 1896, that provided some more details about the cruiser.

The “McKinley Cruiser” was built in Fitchburg in 1896, for use in the Republican presidential campaign of that year. It was made from a flat construction car of the Fitchburg and Leominster Street Railway Company, and transported on streetcar trucks. The cruiser was forty feet long and carried four guns in sponsons, two turrets on the deck, boats, an anchor, and other fittings. It carried a 125-man crew composed primarily of members of the Fitchburg Athletic Club and prominent young Republicans from Fitchburg and vicinity. There were two companies of sailors in full uniform carrying oars with torches, a company of engineers carrying the sailing light colors, a company of marines with torch guns, and a drum corps of twenty men. The crew was led by a captain, a lieutenant commander acting as executive officer, a full staff of lieutenants and ensigns, a chief engineer, and marine officers.

The cruiser took part in torchlight processions in Fitchburg, Leominster, Lancaster, Clinton and other towns. The McKinley supporters even attempted to take the cruiser to Boston and then to Salem for a parade. The plan was thwarted when the West End Street Railway Company refused to handle the cruiser, claiming that the company had no legal right to transport the car, and expressing concerns about liability in case of an accident.

After the campaign, the McKinley cruiser was placed in Whalom Lake. Since it was not seaworthy, it could not be floated, and was not at the shoreline. It was installed on top of pilings, similar to an offshore oil rig, but with its hull partially submerged so as to appear to be floating. It was placed far enough out in the lake that the various steam launches (Naiad, Margaret, and others) used by the park to carry passengers on scenic lake tours would pass between it and the shoreline. Strings of electric lights were strung upon it, and it was illuminated at night.

On July 4 of 1908, the cruiser was set afire by pranksters. It burned down to the water line, leaving a platform almost flush with the water’s surface. Almost immediately after the fire, plans were made and executed to replace it. A floating replica was made and put into the lake, apparently during 1908. There are some subtle differences between the original and the replica in appearance. The first picture in this posting shows the replica; the others, I believe are all of the original cruiser.

Unfortunately, the replica fell into disrepair. It sank in either 1915 or 1922, and was never replaced. Visitors to Whalom Lake today, I am told, can see the cruiser lying on the bottom of the lake. If we could re-float it, the McKinley Cruiser would probably be the largest McKinley campaign item of all.

Philosophy--It's questions, not answers.

2008-01-12T17:13:00.000-08:00

I have decided to find my own “inner peace.” I’m toying with the concept of meditation, and I have also started trying to see “the big picture” through an informal study of philosophy.

I began to read The Secret, just because it was on the best-seller list, but it turned out to be full of B.S. It’s folly, of course, to expect to find a “secret answer” to life’s conundrum in a single book by a babe who’s after a buck. I have to learn to ask the right questions in order to pursue meaningful answers.

I found a great “starter” book that is helping me to do just that: Why Is There Something, Rather than Nothing? 23 Questions from Great Philosophers, by Leszek Kolakowski. In about 200 pages I am sampling ideas of the big thinkers from Socrates to Nietzsche. It’s available on Amazon.

Silver Apples of the Moon--Irish Classical Music

2008-01-04T19:08:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, while riding in my car, I heard a Suite for Strings, by Joan Trimble, on the local classical music radio station. The suite, based on traditional Irish melodies, was delightful. The announcer stated that it was on a CD entitled Silver Apples of the Moon. If you like the folk music-inspired compositions of Ralph Vaughn Williams and Gustav Holst, you will find this recording truly enjoyable.

On this CD, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Fionnualla Hunt plays:

Meath Pastoral, by Arthur Duff
Mac Ananty's Reel, by John Larchet
The Dirge of Ossian , by John Larchet
O'Carolan Suite in Baroque Style, by Thomas C. Kelly
Suite for Strings, by Joan Trimble
Irish Suite for Strings, by Arthur Duff
Elizabeth MacDermott Roe, by Aloys Fleischmann
Three Pieces for Strings, by Thomas C. Kelly

I searched for the CD on Amazon.com. There is another CD with the same title, containing electronic music by Morton Subotnik, but I already own that one.

I found only 3 copies of the Irish Chamber Orchestra audio CD, released as Black Box Classics, BBM1003, ranging in price from (can you believe it?) $80.00 to $120.00. Apparently it is out of print. My pocket book cannot stand the $80.00+ price, so I did some more research on the recording.

I learned that the Irish Chamber Orchestra has its own web page (http://www.icorch.com/). Better yet, I found that under the tab, "Orchestra," sub-tab "Recordings," three ICO recordings are listed as available, one of them being Silver Apples of the Moon. It's not the Black Box Classics disk, but a release on a label called The Arts Council Chomhairle Ealaion. The good news is that it can be ordered directly from the Irish Chamber Orchestra web site at the much more reasonable price of 16 Euros, or $23.00 U.S. They accept payment via PayPal.

So, I now have my own copy. If you want one, go to the ICO web site.

Happiness Is An Audience

2008-01-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

If happiness is having an audience, I am happier today. Some new guests visited my other blog, Bullmoose Journal. Not only that, they posted comments.

The entries that seem to have caught attention are the one in which I challenge the concept of the "fair tax," and the one in which I dispute the existence of a consensus on global warming.

Everyone is quick to form opinions on those subjects, yet few people have a formal education in the underlying sciences, or even a solid informal understanding of those sciences.

Before anyone can tackle concepts such as global warming and fair taxation, he needs to understand more fundamental concepts such as supply and demand, cause and effect, and the difference between climate and weather. Most people don't have a clue. They cannot distinguish between sound science and faulty.

The politicians and the media take advantage of this ignorance by inundating the public with (often irrelevant) statistics and (usually convoluted) mathematics.

People get caught up in all the emotionality; they don't stop, analyze, and do the simple arithmetic.

Je crois entendre encore

2007-12-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

Another aria from Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers," this time sung by another great tenor, Jussi Bjorling. Compare his performance to the one by John McCormack.

I really enjoy these arias from "The Pearl Fishers." I may just have to get a recording of the entire opera.

Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming

2007-12-29T22:06:00.000-08:00

Written by Stephen Foster, and sung by John McCormack.

John McCormack was one of the finest tenors ever. Like most of us, I have only heard his voice in recordings that were made before the advent of high fidelity sound recording. Even so, his superb technique and the remarkable beauty of his voice are totally captivating.

This is a fine performance of one of Stephen Fosters most beautiful songs. I hope you enjoy it.

a maja mantra

2007-12-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

Om
Namah Shivāya Gurave
Saccidānanda-Mūrtaye
Nishprapañcāya Shāntāya
Nirālambāya Tejase

I bow to the goodness within myself
known as Lord Shiva, who is the true teacher.
This essence inside takes the form of truth,
consciousness, and bliss.
Always present and full of peace, this essence inside
is completely free, and sparkles with a divine luster.

NOT an Accident

2007-12-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

A young man got drunk. He climbed into his car to drive home. On the way, he lost control of his car, ran over and killed a young woman, within sight of her young children. Afterward, he said he regretted the accident.

It was NOT an accident. The young man chose to get drunk. Knowing that he was drunk, he chose to drive his car. He knew his actions were wrong, dangerous, and illegal. He intentionally created the circumstances that led to the mother's death. The results were totally under his control. Neither he nor anyone else should refer to this event as an accident. The man committed a crime, and he should be punished.

But many more events are truly accidents as I discussed in an earlier post. To deal with accidents in the same way as the crime above should be handled is wrong.

No More Accidents

2007-11-28T07:32:00.000-08:00

Accidents used to happen every once in a while. A person, not watching where he was going, slipped and fell, perhaps breaking an arm. A railing or a step broke because a piece of wood was weak. A tree branch fell on someone's car. A tire picked up a nail in the road, and blew. A driver's foot slipped off the brake pedal and hit the accelerator pedal. All of these things were the result of simple errors or minor neglect, but no one was considered to be at fault.

These days, such occurrences are considered accidents much less often. When something bad happens, someone must be blamed. Someone is "grossly negligent." Somebody intentionally created a dangerous situation. Someone is at fault. Whoever he is, HE MUST PAY. This has created what we call "a litigous society." When what was formally considered to be an accident occurs, we feel compelled to find a person to blame, and to make him pay for the damage or injury. We are encouraged by our insurance companies who never want to pay for anything. We are encouraged by trial lawyers who lust after a share of the payments.

Why can we not step back and accept the fact that bad things happen from time to time? Why can we not accept the fact that the broken railing or step has just become old, or had a defect that the owner was totally unaware of? Why can we not acknowledge that we ourselves may have been careless, or made a mistake that precipitated the damage? Why can we not repair the damage or injury at our own expense, and just move on? Because we are driven by our own anger and our desire for revenge. Our anger, greed, and selfishness are gradually destroying the concept of accidents.

In a gracious and civil society, people are more cautious. They also have more understanding, more forgiveness, more self awareness, and, unfortunately, a few more accidents.

Turkeys

2007-11-26T20:29:00.000-08:00

Did you notice that all of the turkeys made their annual appearance on schedule, just a day or two before Thanksgiving?

The turkeys I am talking about drive cars. They show up in hoards just before Thanksgiving day, to clog the roads and shopping mall parking lots. They are the ones who zip into that parking space you were about to enter. They run stop signs and red traffic lights. They make left turns from the right hand lane, and vice versa. They zoom up alongside you, cut in front of you, and then slow down.
Many of them wear baseball caps, backwards of course. Others look deceptively normal. Some of them offer the one finger salute as a holiday greeting. This year most of them are using cell phones while they pull their rude and inconsiderate stunts.
Then, just after New Years Day, the turkeys go back into hiding until the next Thanksgiving. During the rest of the year, only occasionally will one appear.

The Beginning

2007-11-25T23:58:00.000-08:00

Someone told me that the pseudonym for a porn star is made by combining the name of his first pet with the name of the first street he lived on. My first pet was a dog we called Poochie. We lived on Williamson Road. Although I am not a porn star, I still like the name.

I started this second blog page in the hope of assembling an Andy Rooney-like collection of musings on various topics that catch my fancy (mostly in the nature of gripes). Maybe, if I publish them, I will be less likely to bore folks with them in daily conversation. The page will probably be found only by people who read my profile, or who stumble on it with the 'next blog' button, but I guess that's ok.