Just Another Sunrise?

 

Our neighbor's dog went into attack mode this morning when she saw me standing in our common driveway taking pictures of the sunrise. Fortunately, she has enough tags around her neck that I heard the jingle as soon as she broke into a run. And...the minute I called her name, her demeanor went from "attack" to "Oh, it's just you." Pleasantries ensued...

 

Hopefully, today will be good day for everyone.

  

Nighttime on the city of New Orleans

Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee

Halfway home and we’ll be there by morning

Through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea

But all the towns and people seem

To fade into a bad dream

And the steel rails still ain’t heard the news

The conductor sings his song again

The passengers will please refrain

This train has got the disappearing railroad blues

Good morning America, how are you?

Saying don’t you know me, I’m your native son?

I’m the train they call the city of New Orleans

I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

 

A Bazillion Scoville Units

I'm taking a little bit of a break from any lengthy posts. I should be back in a few.

The super-hot pepper seeds I planted a few weeks back are doing quite well. The average germination rate among all four varieties was ~95%. I will have quite a few Trinidad Moruga Scorpion ( hottest ) and Bhut Jolokia "Ghost" pepper plants ready to put in the ground in the next week or two, along with two other varieties that are habanero-level on the Scoville Scale.

When the growing season is over and I sample the (supposedly) two hottest peppers on the planet, I'll give you my opinion on how hot they really are.

 

 

Later.

 

 

Advice from a Mechanic: Part II

 

A commercial from decades ago has stuck with me all these years. From what I recall, it played out something like this:

The backdrop was a sparkling-white auto repair garage. A very handsome young man with an overload of Brylcreem above the ears was holding a clipboard. He was dressed in a spotless blue, form-fitting coverall with a red & white name patch on his chest - David, or something like that. As a car with its hood up and an engine that was rattling and sputtering was running next to them in the left foreground, David explained to an attentive young housewife with a Donna Reed hairdo that he was going to put her car through a series of the latest diagnostic tests - a 12 point checklist or something similar - to find out what the problem was.

As David continued his lengthy hi-tech explication, a grizzled old mechanic wearing a tattered blue coverall blotched with grease and oil spots - and forearms even dirtier - walked by the car. As he was just about to go off-screen, he stopped for a few seconds, turned around, and went over to the young lady's car. He grabbed his toolbox, took out a screwdriver, and placed the metal end against the engine. After briefly touching his ear to the wooden handle, he stepped back, pulled out a fairly large hammer, and gave the engine a solid whack. 
 
The engine immediately stopped knocking and started purring like a finely-tuned Ferrari, while David stared in disbelief.

Of course, this was a commercial designed to sell something. Here's but one example from real life that I recently grabbed from a discussion board:

"I did have an oil breather blockage once on an IO-360 Lycoming in my Fuji. That blew out about 5 qts. in an hour. The shop told me I had 'back compression', remove the cylinders, put on new rings, scored the pots, put it all back together whereupon it still blew out 5 qts on the test flight. An old grizzled mechanic who happened to be passing by said to check the breather tube. Lo and behold we found a blockage and the problem was solved. Legal action ensued over the $5000 bill and in the end the shop backed down. If your oil breather is blocked you will know it and it won't be intermittent. - Stephen."

I am constantly amazed at the growing number of internet-educated Marcellus Shale "experts" out there. I am even more perplexed by the number of people who actually hang on to their every word as if these self-proclaimed "experts" actually understood what the Hades they were talking about. I'm not sure who I consider more clueless.

When it comes to understanding the complex web of the Marcellus Shale formation, drilling, hydrofracturing and how it is connected to and impacts, directly and indirectly, everything above and below ground...a little dab of online education here and there just won't "do ya."

One of the most valuable lessons I've learned in life is that, regardless of the setting or subject, there is no substitute for a lifetime of hands-on experience.

None.  

    

  
  

Advice from a Mechanic: Part I

My Uncle Charles "Chic" G*l*n** was a mechanic. More accurately, he was an auto collision repair specialist. He would restore cars that had been darn-near totaled, i.e. the cars that would probably end up in the junkyard today. He worked on cars and trucks all his life, and in his younger days, had forearms like Popeye and reminded me of a smaller version of Ivan Putski. 

Uncle Chic & his son Charles circa 1954

 

I have no doubt whatsoever that, back in his working years, if someone took any auto or truck apart down to the last bolt, belt and wire...and left everything in a pile in the middle of the garage floor, Chic could put it back together without needing a diagram or instructional manual.

 

Chic spent most of his adult life living and working in CA. Every so often, he would drive back to PA - even well into his 60's - and spend a few weeks visiting family & friends. I remember one extended visit, in the late 70's or early 80's I think, where he bought a home near Falls, PA and actually opened up a small repair shop to "tinker" with cars to keep busy and make a few bucks.

 

Sometime between 1983 and 1986 - on his way to visit family in Buffalo NY - Uncle Chic stopped by our home near Rochester to have dinner and stay overnight. He had driven in, by himself, from CA to the Wyoming Valley a few days earlier.

 

I remember the following as if it were yesterday. After dinner, we were sitting on our front porch when he pointed to his Toyota truck parked in our driveway. "Donnie", he started, "I've been working on cars and trucks all my life, and I've never seen anything built as well as that Toyota." I truly do not recall much beyond that statement, but coming from him - it definitely stuck with me.

 

 A few years later, when it came time to buy a minivan to accommodate our growing family, we bought our first Toyota; a 1992 Previa.  About fifteen years and ~220,000 miles later, I sold the Previa after we purchased our second Toyota, a 2007 Prius. The van still had plenty of miles left, and it was my "haul-it-all" vehicle for kayak trips and just about everything else, but it was time to let it go. I sold it privately in less than a week, and I later found out the new owner totaled the van in an accident just a few weeks later.

 

 

 

 

 

During our last trip to CA in May 2012, I made it a point to stop by and see my Uncle Chic, Aunt Rita, and their four sons. Uncle Chic will be turning 90 soon, and while I was there, he made darn sure I sat in his pride and joy - one amazingly-long Cadillac - that he purchased over thirty years ago.

 

 

 

Uncle Chic  - May 2012

 

Many years ago, a seasoned auto mechanic shared his wisdom with me.

 

And I listened and learned.

 

Today....?

 

 

      More to follow.

  

History and the Living Hope Farm

The picture's heading says "1772" and the narrative below it says 1886. Either way, there was a ferry across the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County near the present-day State Correctional Institution @ Retreat  dating back well before Rte. 11 was paved...or even called Rte. 11.

 

I found this article in one of the many boxes I am still slowly wading through. It appears to be from February 25, 1973...or possibly 1978. 

  

Yesterday was "flower planting" day at our home. It was also the day that a local Mennonite Church has their semi-annual yard ( actually - parking lot ) sale, which we never try to miss. One of the stands was selling early season herbs from a local organic farm. I started off our conversation by stating I was only interested in buying some plants if the seeds were produced by Monsanto. The young woman behind the table thought I was serious, and once she realized I was kidding, I redirected the conversation to the Marcellus Shale zone, which she was fully aware of.

I then asked her if she was familiar with the South Newark Basin Shale formation, the current moratorium, etc.

She was not.

I did a two-minute brain dump, and I'm guessing/hoping that when the time comes, I won't be alone at the microphone at the public hearings in southeastern PA down the road. For lack of a better word, the owner of this organic farm has a presence that many other self-proclaimed "experts" on the Marcellus Shale public-speaking circuit sorely lack.

Anyway...I'll be stopping by Living Hope Farm's produce stand when it opens soon. If you are ever passing through Harleysville, hope you'll do the same.

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

     

And His Eyes Danced...

  
Lots going on right now, including some extra P/T to deal with an old back injury that has flared up recently. As my legs were not responding to therapy equally, I developed a pronounced limp for a few weeks, which we believe triggered the return of some lower back problems dating back to my many years in the gym. The last time I can clearly recall it being this bad was in 2005 during a trip to Toronto. Trying to keep up with my wife and three teenagers, I could not walk more than a block or two without having to stop and stretch and wait for the pain to subside. It wasn't pretty.

Otherwise, the rehab for my leg injuries is progressing and I now can flex both legs to 120 degrees or more. My main focus is to get them stronger...and I have a long way to go.

Thanks for the continued well-wishes.

Last weekend, I took the pocket watch featured in this post, along with three others, to a semi-retired watch repairman in Edwardsville. I left the three needing work with him, and when we were done discussing those, I pulled out the watch below.

I intentionally looked at his face as I first held out the watch.

His eyes danced.

Using his multiple eyepieces, he told me that the "Williams" I thought I saw inscribed on the inside back cover was actually Wilkes-Barre, and it was next to a date of D 10, '57.  Now, that begs the question; was it a repair date of December 10, 1857, or 1957, or did it memorialize some other important date in the history of this timepiece? There are dozens of questions that will never be answered about the ownership timeline of this still-functioning family heirloom, but I at least know that my father gave it to me, and that it was in the Wyoming Valley in " '57 ". Both my great grandfather and great-great grandfather can be seen in multiple pictures at various times in their lives with watch chains dangling from their vests...so I'll always believe this watch was in one of their pockets so many years ago.

Edward C. and his son, Samuel L. Williams @ Nicholson, PA

Circa 1927

One other interesting & supporting piece to the puzzle: it was always evident to me that the watch chain was also fairly old and of very good quality. Upon close inspection with a magnifying glass, the name "KREMENTZ" was found engraved on the chain's clasp. The Krementz Jewelry Company was founded in 1866.
  
 

THE EPA & DEP: Send in the Clueless

Sunrise on May 1st, 2013

 

As frequent visitors know, I recently started a blog to chronicle my father's side of our family. Over the weekend, I started a second blog to do the same for my mother's family. Conceptually, both have been in the works for awhile and are long overdue.

 

Those two projects are taking up an incredible amount of time and, from my personal perspective and for the immediate future, are far more important than what I'm doing here.

 

As a prelude to wrapping things up, a few days ago someone brought yet another issue to my attention which I feel deserves comment and action, that being the EPA's latest revelation that (oops!) they were wrong in their original estimates about the amount of methane being released into the atmosphere by the natural gas industry.

 

If you wish, you can read about it here .

 

I'm sure everyone will catch the following quote:

 

"Oil and gas drilling companies had pushed for the change..."

 

And the EPA complied with their wishes. Go figure.

 

Anyway, I'm not going to rehash prior posts in great detail. When I received a call from a friend in Bradford County last May (2012) about some major drilling-related "events" along Rte. 414, I took the three hour trip as soon as I could to see things firsthand. My initial post about these "events" is still, by far, the most frequently visited/commented post on this blog. 

 

 

 

 

Once I made the 350+ mile round trip and saw what was going on, I dropped a grand of my own money to help commission this scientific study of methane emissions in the region. And true to form, the industry attacked the credibility of one of the financial backers of the report ( not me...I'm just a blogger ) instead of the data itself...because they could not refute the facts presented.

 

I have once again been contacted, within the past few days, about the continued "events" along Rte. 414 in Bradford County. Livestock are dying. The ground is still belching methane 24/7 over multiple square miles, while at the same time, the EPA says methane emissions caused by the NGI are 20% less than previously estimated.

 

Not in Bradford County, they aren't.

 

Looks like I'm heading north again.

Back in a few.

   

Susquehanna Song: Now through Labor Day

Check out the details here.

 

I'm hearing this exhibit is superb, and plan to stop by Heinz Rehab the next time I'm in Wilkes-Barre.

Thanks to RXF for bringing this to my attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Touching the Past...

As stated in a recent post, I am wading through a lot of family memorabilia these days. Among items I've known of for many years are several pairs of glasses that are at least 80+ years old, with two that I felt were much, much older.

Yesterday, I took those particular glasses to some local experts who have been in the business for 40+ years to get their opinion. They went through a battery of tests with all of their high-tech optical equipment and poured through their reference materials.

I was pretty close.

 

Their best estimate: between 1780 and 1830.

 

That begs yet another question: if accurate, these glasses were worn by folks who lived as much as 100 years before my great grandfather Edward Charles Williams was born in Danville, PA in 1880.

 

Who were they?

 

Anyway...we spent hours yesterday working outside. Time to enjoy a beautiful Sunday morning.

 

Sunrise through blooming cherry tree on Sunday, 4/28/2013.

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

       

The Tell Tale Watch

 

 

 

Folks, the Elgin pocket watch pictured above has been sitting in a small jewelry box for at least 6 years, if not more. The glass cover is missing, as is the minute hand. I have never attempted to wind it, and considering its condition, never bothered to open the back cover.

 

Yesterday, I spent time going through some more "stuff" when I opened the jewelry box and briefly perused its contents. I picked up the watch, looked at the front & back for a few seconds, and just as I was about to put it back...it began ticking. For those that have old watches like this, you know that in a quiet setting, you can hear them from several feet away.

 

As most older Elgin watches have serial numbers, I opened the back and found serial # 11135411, went to the Elgin website, and discovered this particular timepiece was manufactured in 1905.

 

 

 

 

 

Based upon a recent conversation with a local ( Kingston, PA ) jeweler about the practices of old-time watchmakers and repair specialists, I checked the inside of the back case and found, clearly inscribed in letters large enough to read without a magnifying glass:

 

E. C. Williams

6/1/08

1908

 

So, this watch belonged to my great-grandfather, Edward Charles Williams, and was (guessing) given to him in 1908 when he was 28 years old. He passed away in 1961. It's been sitting in a box in my garage cabinets for close to six years - unattended - and when I held it in my hands yesterday...it began ticking.

I guess I should mention that I had already arranged to take the other old pocket watches I have to an 80+ year-old watch repairman on Monday. I had not planned to take this watch.

My plans have changed.

As I sit here and proofread this post, my great-grandfather's ~107 year old pocket watch  - unwound for over 6 years - is still ticking.



The Tell Tale Watch from Don Williams on Vimeo.


Have a good weekend. Ignore any ticking noises coming from strange places. 

Then again...