My parents owned about 40 acres of "bottom land" in SE Ohio at one time. Perfectly flat. About 200 yards from the house was one large lone tree near the bank of the river. One night the fireflies landed in that tree and you could see the outline of the entire tree against the side of a dark hill on the other side of the river. I won't ever forget that. Can't find a similar picture. More fireflies here this year, probably because of an unusually warm winter. I think it only got below freezing two nights, and that was only down to the upper 20's. Plus a lot of rain so far this spring. I guess they only last a few weeks. I should go out and check again tonight. A funny gathering, in the Great Smokey Mountains, Tennessee, just to watch fireflies. HERE
I had pull into an old sugar and banana shipping port in Jamaica it was no longer used. So we pulled up to the dock and tied up. The care taker came over and said we could stay free as long as we wanted. At night I got a big shock it looked like kids running through the woods with flash lights they looked about three inches in diameter light beams. Never heard any noise so I figured it must be some kind of lighten bug. It was a sight to see.
Part I There were 2 follow ups to the Kent State / Memory Test post. It was one of those, "Do you remember what you were doing at the time..." events for anyone at Kent then, so I got carried away describing things. I've had time since to "cut that out." lol PART II - Monday In summary, I was in class in a room on the top floor back side of Merrill Hall. The shots started about half way through the period (67 rounds, 13 seconds, they said). Everyone ran to the windows to look, then most ran out the door. All buildings were on immediate lockdown, and we were stuck there until late afternoon. Then orders were given that All students should leave town ASAP, the University is closed! From then on I don't remember a thing except that classes for the rest of the quarter were completed by snail mail, and you needed that picture ID to get back on campus. View from Merrill Hall, possibly taken by someone on the roof. Clip from a PBS documentary, The Day the 60's Died (1 hour). I think the documentary is a fair presentation. continued...
Part III I didn't realize the significance until years later, and I regret that. Not much has changed in 50 years. The country was divided almost as badly as it is now. I didn't pretend to understand enough about the political situation to take a "side" either way in 1970, and neither did my family or friends as far as I know. There were stories of parents of students who told their kids they wished more students had been shot... EXAMPLES. .. I think remarks like those from one of my parents, or a friend, would have been hard to ever forget. We had our politician, Gov. James Rhodes, calling in the National Guard when it wasn't necessary, and stoking the fires with his rhetoric, all aimed to help win a primary election 2 days later.. "They're worse than the Brown Shirts and the communist element and also the "night riders" in the Vigilantes. They‘re the worst type of people that we harbor in America. And I want to say that they're not going to take over the campus. And the campus now is going to be part of the County and the State of Ohio." -James Rhodes, May 3, 1970 The recent incident in Lafayette Park in D.C. with mostly young protesters was eerily familiar. At least they don't carry loaded M1 rifles now, or even bayonets. One more photo from 5/3/70 which has special meaning (long story). Btw, why would you need armored personnel carriers for crowd control?
I was on a roll getting special projects done, but ran into a snag about a month ago with Fence Man and the spillway, and lost momentum. Now I'm just keeping even, wasting too many hours doing nothing useful. Routine maintenance is depressing. Most of it isn't even very good exercise. I was surprised to find this Tuesday. Happens quickly when you have a lot of rain and no goats: It would grow up in tall brush and small trees by the end of the summer, so I attacked it Tuesday with some weed killer on the spur of the moment. At least that's doing something useful. I used to use this thread to shame myself into doing things I didn't particularly want to do. If I put it in writing I would do it or bust. Haven't tried that lately because I'm afraid it won't work anymore. Got to get out of this rut.
Here goes.. Baby steps. I found a tiny project that doesn't require thinking, so it won't balloon out of control, and it's good exercise. This is a pile of 18 granite blocks under the deck stairs. They were hidden behind the sweet shrub I took out. The ground squirrels like to hang out in there. The goal for today is just to move these down to the back property line. They are too heavy to lift. I got 2 moved yesterday using a small dolly, but the wheels are so small it isn't easy in the grass. Will try the wheelbarrow today. Forecast today is 93 so it may be slow going. At least it's all downhill. Then the question is what to do with them when I get them there. I'll think about that tomorrow.
A cubic foot of granite weighs 175 pounds! Most of these stones were about a half cubic foot. Used only the dolly. Seventeen trips. It was hot. When I tried to lift one of the smaller stones into the wheelbarrow, it tipped over sideways in the opposite direction and I went tumbling over the top of it. Scraped off a little skin. No one was looking. Removed another stone that's been up near the driveway for decades, and brought an old log up from the back yard and loaded it in the truck to haul off Saturday. Trying to think up another small job for tomorrow. Feeling better already. What I really should do is go by the Ford dealer, but I'm dreading that too much to commit just yet.
Just learned that Christopher Dickey died yesterday (7/16), of heart failure, only 68. I always enjoyed his reporting over the years. Sad to lose him.
Predicted high temps for the next 3 days:. 96, 98, 97. Although it usually never gets quite as high as they predict, it's still not gonna be efficient working outside. Since last time, other than routine housework, I filled 6 more new ground squirrel holes in the front yard with used cat litter. Why don't they like the back yard? The grass is starting to die in another patch. Could that be ground squirrels too? I'm going to keep spreading cat litter out there until they move. I know it will work eventually. The cat litter is good fertilizer, so it's a win-win situation. Yesterday I planned to check the perimeter fence and spray it as much as I could, but it rained in town, and looked like rain out there, and frankly the temps were stifling. Maybe give it a try Wednesday, predicted high only 95. Project for today. There is a utility room in the house where I put everything I don't know where else to put. The goal is to draw a line down the middle of the room and get rid of the stuff on one half of the room, by either throwing it away, or finding a better place to put it. I'm drawing the line because I never set unachievable goals and I'll be lucky to do this much, and bottom line, I can always just move everything from one half to the other half. There are no YouTube videos on how to do this, so I'll have to improvise. There will be no pictures for proof. . . Progress as of 2:20 pm This is going better than I thought. A lot of the boxes were nearly empty. Everything on one half, plus some on the other half, are now in piles: throw away, belong upstairs, belong downstairs, belong on the same level, recycle. Now the tedious job of moving them to where they belong, or make a new place for them. I'm tempted to move most of the smaller tools to the attic instead of the basement. The humidity in the basement in summer is detrimental to all things made of steel. Some of the things that have to stay in the basement maybe could be covered in plastic? I wonder if that would help.
(7/19/20) Things didn't play out quite like planned yesterday, but an equivalent amount of work got done, so it was all good. A big distraction was finding things I was looking for before, and stopping to do whatever it was I was going to do with them. Bigger items were moved to where they belong, but now it's down to sorting small stuff. I need to buy some small plastic boxes with lids first. Everything is now out of there except things that will go back, plus (1) a dismantled bed (foot, head, and side boards) leaning up against a wall (2) a hand made wall mirror I took down because it makes you look fat. I may remount it sideways. The goal for today (not optimistic, but hoping for a second wind): Move remaining recycle and trash piles to the front porch. Scrape some peeling paint off the walls and vacuum that room. I didn't think this project could possibly balloon, but it would make sense to repaint now. Not gonna do it.
7/20/20 I really enjoy tearing things apart. Got distracted again today. Moved more stuff into the basement. Scraped one wall and realized the bed had to be moved out (up to the attic). Needed to make room. Useless corner shelf sitting in attic taking up space for decades. Time for it to go. Took it apart upstairs and removed the nails on the porch. It kills me to throw away those plywood squares, but I will. Bed now in attic. Takes up almost no space. This bed has sentimental value. I slept in it from age 5 to 22. Still using the matching chest and dresser. I bet General Contractor Man would haul away junk. Will text him when I get a pile of stuff ready. Or maybe I'll text him tomorrow and that will make me get a pile ready faster. Goal for Tuesday: More of the same. Maybe things will get back in order by Friday?
7/21/20 (Tuesday) The walls and ceiling of "The Green Room" I'm cleaning out are tongue and groove planks. The lumber shrank leaving cracks. The cracks would not have been noticeable if someone hadn't painted it. The first coat of paint is what's peeling. Until it is completely gone there is no need to repaint. Sometimes it will peel more overnight right after you scrape it. I thought one time about covering the walls and ceiling with vinyl siding. My father did that to a utility room at the farm. Most people would probably think that was tacky, but I think it looks good. During the closet project I considered covering it with drywall, until I got to the sanding part. The dust is a mess and breathing it was awful. Hope to never deal with that stuff again. Now I'm thinking about plywood paneling. They say wood paneling is back in style, but sideways instead of vertical. I could still do the ceiling in white vinyl bead board. You really can't tell the difference between it and wood unless you touch it. Porch ceiling in vinyl bead board This would be relatively easy because the solid wood behind would allow you to attach anything anywhere, and you wouldn't need real heavy plywood. The windows have no facings and there are no baseboards. Easier to add them after the paneling than work around them or remove them. Balloon:. But what about new carpet while I'm at it? The carpet is in good shape except one patched place in front of a closet. I really should do this project while the room is almost empty. Probably wouldn't finish before Christmas and it would mean months of junk sitting around. So that is the ... Goal for tomorrow (Thursday):. See if I can find another place to put everything that was going to go back in that room, and throw away some more stuff.
7/22/20 (Wednesday) Unexpected rain Tuesday cooled things off. High only 91. Waited until 5 pm and it cooled off quickly after that. Loaded enough water and supplies in the cart to spray the perimeter fence out in the country. Around the very first corner, 2 trees down, one across the road, one on the fence. Cut out the one across the road and then the saw quit working. Plan was to keep driving to the first tree I couldn't remove, then turn around and spray on the way back. I figured this was it, but it was so rotten it wasn't very heavy. Fiddled with it and it finally came down and split in the middle. Damage to the fence from the neighbor's pond upstream, apparently from the same storm that washed out the spillway. There had to be heavy water and debris to bend the fence over that much. Ended at the two trees that have been down for a year. I forgot all about them. I think I can get them if the saw is working well. There wasn't that much that needed to be sprayed on the way back. There is now a map template to keep track of things. Red line is how far I sprayed. Almost half way around, and should be the worst half. Still waiting on Fence Man to remove one tree and deliver more spillway gravel. I want to get away from working with him. He is too undependable lately. Maybe he is sick. I need to get the saw running and sharpen the chain. I'm amazed that thing runs at all. I don't take very good care of it.
7/23/2020 - 7/24/2020 Sorted a lot of stuff and moved more things to other places, but didn't finish and got sidetracked. Remembered the RoboCut vacuum hair cutter advertised on TV years ago. Tried cutting my hair with a vacuum cleaner and scissors. It worked great in the front, but still can't do the back. There is zero mess afterwards. They still make the RoboCut but want $149, and the reviews are bad. I'm going to figure out a way to make this scissors/vac combination work in the back. Maybe with duct tape.