Sorry for the slow posting, I promise to give everyone a complete refund. What? Oh, that's right. Nevermind...
I wanted to let anyone who's following the "Dearest Charles" letter thing know that I will probably be taking a day off tomorrow, as I haven't been feeling well. I know, I know...how will you get through the day? I suspect most of you aren't reading here on a Sunday anyway, and if you are Shame on You! Go watch "Deal or No Deal" or do something else equally productive.
The second thing I wanted to say is that after tonight's letter there are only seven left, and they really kick into high gear. I say "high gear" because Aquaman will finally make his appearance. What? Oh, sorry, I hope that didn't spoil anything. After the last seven letters I'll reveal what (little) I know about the whole story, and how I came to find out even that (little) bit. Some of you have suggested that I'm making up the whole thing - but we all know I'm not that clever. And I would probably have deviated from a normal plot around letter number eight, which is when I would have introduced the time machine and the fact that everything is the result of someone far in the future coming back in time in order to stop World War VI only to set off a chain of events that causes World Wars II through IX.
So, in any event you were all warned. About something.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
Something must have gone terribly wrong or we would have heard from you, June 11 to July 6 almost a month. There are pictures in to-days paper of boys on Okinawa surrounded by boxes from home. There is also reference to hard fighting for the First on June 12. We try to read between the lines and put news to-gether. We will still keep praying and hoping, wondering if you are lying terribly hurt in some hospital - or what has happened, but hoping for the best. I don't know how we will stand it, if it's the worst.
Your Dad had an appointment at Bethlehem Steel at one o'clock. They will pay more than Susquehanna Supply. I spent quite a time in the Prothonotary's office this morning, trying to find a copy of an agreement between Eva and Allie and Patty and Caroline about Grandma Gilmore's furniture but we couldn't find it. Perry wasn't in. Mrs. Houck died last night and he won't be in until Monday, when I will go down again. In the meantime I wrote Aunt Maude for more information especially the date when the paper was filed.
The folks told me that Liz was offered $0.70 an hour if she would take a night job. I wish I could have it - she doesn't want it. Maybe I can see her to-day when she goes off. I couldn't find her yesterday - she had been transferred to a nicer, cooler job. She evidently has what it takes for a job. I'm glad. You all have nice personalities. It makes me sick when I get to wondering about you. I can only hold on to my hope of God's mercy. I'm going over to church now - maybe a letter will come in the afternoon mail.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
No letter - we had so hoped that we would get good news to-day. Boy is this a schooling in patience. We got two other letters that will interest you. Aunt Maude wrote that they wouldn't be up now that Alvin had just got orders to report to some pool for shipping out - some place near Washington but I couldn't make it out - we are all poor writers. She says Bob is on Okinawa but they also haven't heard for a long time. The other letter was from Henrietta. They are coming next Wednesday if Carol doesn't have whooping cough. She has started coughing. They may be under quarentine by that time.
Eleanor and I went to church this morning. Wm. Berresford was there, just home from German prison camp. I never knew him. John Bricker was sweating under his heavy cassock. I went up to see Mrs. Israel after church. She is just home from the hospital after having a blood transfusion. You see she had cancer and just keeps going. However she hopes to teach next fall.
The kids are playing all of your old records this morning. It makes us homesick - but keep your chin up - it's a nice chin and can take it.
I brought a lot of old buttons home from Grandmas - the awfulest looking assortment. Mrs. Flock who lives with Guibord's asked for them. She has a daughter-in-law who is nuts on button collecting. She said even old pants and overall buttons were of value in collections. I would rather collect just one Marine. You know his number.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
No mail on the Fourth so of course no letter. I hope we get one to-morrow. Eleanor told me that a Stroup boy is on Okinawa. Their family live on the old Fessler place next to Fred Myers at the head of Queneshougheney. We took a picnic lunch out to Grandma's to-day. Eleanor, Bab and I walked up to Harry Fisher's to thank them for selling us a ham a few weeks ago. They were taking in hay - have a tricky new way of unloading with a rope and wood affair called a cradle which they lay on the wagon - pile on hay - lay on another cradle - pile on hay etc. until there are three cradles. Then with the tractor the cradles are hoisted to the mon and dumped. Three dumps and the load is in the mon. Ed and Ann went fishing and Liz, Mary and George tagged along. I put on old overalls and went down through the pasture to see about berries. There were lots down there last year but none this year. Dell Kline and Mrs. Ludwig live in the little house. He hasn't cut the grass except in front of his own place. Isn't that the way of all of them. The porches are nice and it's also nice to have solid steps. There is a square hole in the back porch and you can drop right down into the well. That will be fixed when they get the water pipes in. Clyde Wilmer plowed over the cut off and now they can't find it until he harvests his wheat - then they will have to dig for it.
We hear that part of the fleet has attacked Sakhalin. Probably that will help force Russia's hand before the conference between Stalin and Truman.
Tell us all you can - how you are - where - your food - rest (?) - scuttle butt etc. We are so anxious. Gran tells me a whole string of questions to ask you each time I write.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
Ed, Mary and I were on the porch at 12:30 waiting for the mail. I went down the steps to meet Mr. Gray. He said "None from Charles." So we wait another day. I didn't get to read Liz's letter from Anderson. The folks read it yesterday but couldn't find it this morning. He hasn't seen you for a long time. He is in a hospital in the Marianna's getting along all right now.
To-day is George's birthday. Eleanor and Ed got him swimming trunks and shorts to wear at choir camp. Bab gave him something on the order of a large pea shooter made of cardboard. It shoots a feathered stopper. I gave him a dollar for spending money at camp. He got that at noon.
To-night for supper he will get presents from the girls and have his cake. It's a store cake which he trimmed himself. Mary went up to the R&G this morning but couldn't start work until she got working papers from the school board. We didn't think she needed them having graduated from High but she has to have them. Eleanor went with her and got them. Now she is at Dr. Lehman's getting a health certificate - Red Tape.
Ed can have a job at Susquehanna Supply but at less money than at the Motors, but Mr. Lehman said that when restrictions are off then building will boom and they can pay more. I think he will be called back to the motors in the fall. An outdoor job would be nice for the summer. Aunt Maude didn't come yesterday. She may come to-day. It was cool working last night - the first cool night. Mrs. Shea and Doc asked about you this morning. We are all waiting to hear.
I should start out here by saying that I'm going to link to the National Geographic article that discusses the aforementioned "Dog Mummies" in a minute - but there is ACTUALLY A PICTURE OF A DOG MUMMY. I'm letting you know about this because I don't want anyone clicking on the article and not being prepared for a dog mummy picture.
Now that I have that out of the way, I have two quick observations to make about this. First, they've found these so-called dog mummies in Peru but not a single cat mummy. I'll let you draw your own conclusion; I'm not trying to say anything.
Second, wouldn't this make a great horror movie? Dog Mummies from Peru starring Russell Crowe, Richard Gere and Donny Most as Ralph Malph.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
Still no letter. Elizabeth got one from Anderson but of course we didn't open it. We hope he will say some good news about you. She will be home by five but I'll have to work until morning I suppose. Your Dad went over to Susquehanna Supply this morning and is sure he can get a job there but Mr. Lehman was out of town and Mr. Caldwell told him to come back Thursday. There are still lots of jobs to do around the here, for one thing there is a lot of junk in the cellar which ought to be disposed of, to some junk dealer. Gran sold a bunch of old eyeglass frames for $2.50 for old gold. Maybe they can find some pay dirt in the cellar. Eleanor and I cleaned this morning. Mary goes to work at R&G to-morrow morning.
Bill Levinson just arrived to have me help him with his history summer school. We are having quite a hard shower.
Everybody had a good time out at Grandma's yesterday. Lloyd took Dorothy and the children out but didn't stay - then came for them.
There is one thing that still needs fixing badly - the old outhouse. Ed said he heard Watson tell Mr. Greenaway to sit it straight but it needs a new cellar more than straightening.
We had a card from Aunt Maude saying they were leaving for Pennsylvania on Saturday and that she would come to Williamsport by train from Hbg. We look for her this afternoon.
The news is quiet about Okinawa - Burma, New Guinea and the Malay Penninsula are getting the headlines now - the oil fields of the Dutch East Indies. I hope you are having a quiet restful time. Maybe Russia will join after the next meeting of Truman, Churchill and Stalin. I hope so - then Japan ought to quit.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
No letter - I saw Mrs. Lloyd - she helps at the Drug Store. Hartley is home, on his way to the Pacific. I went out to Zella's to-night to visit, especially because Ruth Ann is in town. They have two boys over in the Pacific. They have been hearing regularly but she cried about it. War is terrible on you boys and pretty hard on the home folks. I won't give up - I'm hoping for a letter saying that the Seventh Marines are having a well deserved rest. The paper says that the Typhoon season is approaching Okinawa. Typhoons are terrible. I hope you won't be on shipboard during one, or on a low coral island. I've read about the sea washing right across those islands.
We are having very hot weather. Rolland and Elsie were here for supper. I went out to the hospital after supper with Rolland to see Ruth but didn't see the baby. They are both well. I took her two large boxes of Johnson's Baby Powder. Then our folks went up to Linden to a festival except Mary Louise. She is keeping the preacher's kids to-night. I saw her sitting in their living room all alone when I came back from Zella's. I'm going to mail this at the station and look in on her - only she came in just now as I was writing this. One of my co-workers told a joke the other night - she said it was an old one only it was new to me. A boy went off to college and earned a B.S. In a year or two he had an M.S. and soon a PHD. Phd. (Which spelling? I don't know.) His father showed the neighbors his name with the string of letters after it. The neighbors wanted to know what the letters stood for. Said Dad - "well everybody knows what B.S. stands for. I figure M.S. is More of the Same, PhD - Piled Higher and Deeper." I have a B.S. and an M.S. I don't want a PhD. They don't help with spelling or writing. Mamma is a better speller than I am and I'm a careless writer. I'm also not a flowery writer but I guess you know how we feel.
No, that's not something that Robin would shout right before a battle with the Joker's henchmen - that's actually something you might encounter on Madagascar. They're called Giant Jumping Rats because they can leap 3' in the air, and they're twelve feet tall. Learn all about these amazing creatures here, as well as what to do when mugged by a group of them.
Four amateur cave explorers have discovered what some are calling "one of the most significant finds in a generation" of cave hunting. The cavern, named "Ursa Minor," is located in Sequoia National Park and home to some of the most beautiful rock formations ever seen. (San Francisco Chronicle article. There are some neat pictures - much better than my photos of Luray Caverns.)
Officials are keeping the exact location of the cave a secret, and only a few dozen are expected to ever see it in person. This has lead to rampant speculation that an underground dwarven gem mine was found with diamonds as big as, well, a spleen, but everyone involved has categorically denied the rumors. But that just figures.
You know you have a problem when you open your RSS reader and there are 7,320 unread articles. And you convince yourself that you will still get to them. I may have to admit defeat though. I occasionally do and clear the entire thing, only to start all over again. One of the reasons I've subscribed to so many feeds is work related; I'm trying to keep up with all of the weather goings-on. Going-ons. Goings-ons. You know what I mean. The other reason is that I'm a news junkie and think I need to know what the next Prime Minister of Japan is planning to do. And the last reason is that I'm just brain damaged.
For example, I see here that QB Simms has had his spleen removed. Now, if I wasn't subscribed to the Spleen Removal RSS feed, I would never have known that. Clicking on the article, I find out that this is Chris Simms of the Tampa Bay Bucaneers who, just today, was hit so hard on the football field by the Carolina Panthers that his spleen was thrown clear. What? Okay, I made that up. He had his spleen removed after the game. Well, not right after but, you know what I mean.
Some of you are now wondering, "Doesn't he need that spleen? Or can he live with just one?" Unfortunately 90% of people have only one spleen. The remaining 10% of people have accessory spleens, which comes with the accessory backpack and grenade launcher. (You think I jest about the accessory spleen, but this is a Documented Medical Thing.*)
So what is a spleen? Wikipedia is happy to help: "The spleen is a ductless, vertebrate gland." I know what you're thinking - "I saw that movie!" It's the one where the last few people who escaped the spleen discovered that the only way to defeat the gigantic ductless, vertebrate gland was to shoot it with ultrasonic waves. The waves shrank the spleen to normal size and they put it back in the jar it escaped from.
In all seriousness, best wishes to Chris Simms for a speedy recovery.
*I know some of you are going to look this up. Let me just warn you now that the spleen is not the most attractive organ, being a ductless vertebrate gland. Okay there, you were warned.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
No letter to-day. I know you would have written if you could - that's what makes this waiting so terrible. I hope the world never has to go through it again but I suppose we will. When will human kind learn.
Well here's the record for to-day. Your Dad and George went to Linden to-day. Yesterday he cemented the cellar way - nice job. This morning a load of coal came - his bins are full now I think. He has been doing a lot of odd jobs this week.
I stopped right here. Eucie Elder came by to take me out to Zella's. Philip Autes was operated on this morning for gall bladder trouble and Ruth Ann called Eucie yesterday and told her to tell me, and Eucie thought it would be nice to go out to call but no one was home. Both at the hospital I suppose. I stopped at church on the way back and Eucie looked at the roses in Way's Garden.
Last night Montoursville had a terrific storm. We at Sylvania were herded into the cafeteria, then down cellar. The wind was so strong - like storms one reads about but never sees. It broke windows and sheets of water blew across the plant. Montoursville lost a lot of big trees. The county farm barn was partly blown down, two cows killed. A woman walking on the street was killed by lightning. It struck her umbrella. A new house just being started in front of Sylvania was a tossed heap of lumber. A ford in the parking lot lay on its side. Wires were down, traffic blocked. The young woman who works beside me was crying, because she was afraid her children would be frightened alone with her sister. When she was permitted to call home they had been having a good time with two neighbor girls. The wind cut only a narrow path. Williamsport escaped. So that's that. We will hope fate is kind to us in other ways also.
Is there an email subject line more miserable than that? Probably not. But to add insult to injury, the email goes on to say "Here are some other items that you didn't bid on but in your sorry dejected state might be tempted to otherwise purchase." Nevermind that I didn't win "C@@L Lego Star Wars Guy" and am now offered an opportunity to bid on "Antique Hat Box."
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
No letter yet - just so that we don't get one from the government saying you are a casualty. The radio announced to-day that there had been a landing on some new islands. I hope you don't have to do that. I hope they give you boys a rest. No news from Okinawa much over the radio except a revision (upward) of casualties.
The young woman who works besides me was almost in tears last night. She had received letters from her husband that day. The first three were not upsetting but the last one said he had unpleasant news but couldn't tell her and that his next letters would be censored, and she thinks that means the Pacific. She has a nine month old baby girl and a little boy nearly two and is working because her allotment hasn't been coming through on time and she is keeping up insurance on the children. The work won't hurt her, it's monotonous but not hard but she worries about her children left with her twelve year old sister. She plans to work only about two months to get caught up with insurance and such but she is so homesick for her husband. We are homesick too.
I went to church with Eleanor and Mary this morning. The Thomas' were there and asked about you - they knew where you were. Mr. Thomas led the service.
We had a letter today from Aunt Florence saying that Henrietta would like to spend a week or two at Grandmas and wondering when it would be convenient to the rest of us.
Your Dad was digging out the cellar way and some of the junk down cellar this morning. They are invited out to Verns' this evening. I can imagine what they will have - can't you? Just wait until you come home. I'm glad I'm missing it too - -since you aren't here.
I was speaking with Henry the other day - Henry now sits next to me at work due to some quirk of fate - and the subject of his snow-blower came up. I think it happened something like this:
Me: Henry, you're going to get rid of that snow-blower, right?
Henry: I brought a left-over hoagie today.
Sometimes we have trouble understanding each other. Once he finally understood me, he told me that the snow-blower had a recall issued for it. Apparently there's some sort of problem with the fuel line. So apparently the lack of snow in State College last year saved Henry's life, because if there had been more snow he would have used the snow-blower more often, and this would have resulted in the faulty fuel line dousing him with gasoline and BOOM no more Henry.
I told him that life was funny that way sometimes. And that he should just go back to a shovel.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
No letter yet - maybe one this afternoon. I hope so. Eleanor wrote this morning and I suppose she told you all the news. I'm writing out in the backyard, letting my hair dry. Mary put it up for me and it must dry before I go to work. I would like to be in the house. Seth and Mary Catherine, Betty and her husband and children are here. Seth leaves for the Phila. navy yard this afternoon and they are down to see him off. I stayed in as long as I dared then I sneaked out here to sit in the sun and write.
Your Dad worked at the coal bin into this morning - it had started to bulge. He is going to take a few days at such jobs before he hunts for other work. The clothes line needs to be put up also and screens fixed. There is plenty to do and sort of nice to work at his own speed around home too. Mary went up to the R&G this morning for a job. They couldn't tell right away but will call Mrs. Levinson if they can take her. Going to Central Oak Hieghts threw her off - all the High School kids grabbed off the jobs but she had a grand time - found a new boy - the last is always the best at her age. The week before she was having a grand time with Mrs. Baldwin's nephew. Mary likes them all but doesn't fall too hard for any of them. Liz elevates her nose at most. She's cute. They both comb their hair high in hot weather.
The kitten just arrived to sit in my lap and play with the pen. Are you having hot weather and rain, or is it nice now.
Please write as soon as you can. We are so worried.
Elliot Abrams of AccuWeather is having a snow contest - guess "when will New York City (Central Park) have its first inch of snow (1 inch or more in one calendar day)?" You have until September 30 to get your guess together. This is a great way to start out the snow-loving season. The winner gets some sort of wearable something from the AccuMall - which may or may not be the new AccuWeather.com Astronaut Suit™.
And speaking of snow, I have an interesting story to tell about Henry's Snowblower. More on that later...
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
No letter and we are getting panicky again. This waiting to hear is a terrible strain but not as bad as what you have to go through I know. Last night we had a very hard electrical storm. In the one end of the plant the girls said a ball of lightning seemed to come in and explode. I say "seemed" because you can't always trust your eyes. One of our workers was acting nervous and I said - what about Jap shells on Okinawa? She shut up.
Mary called Sylvania this morning and was tuned down. She went down to Darling Valve and was also turned down. Both places would have taken her for night work had she been eighteen but her birth certificate doesn't lie. Now she is after a job at the post office sub-station at Kelchners.
Ed is cleaning the car real well now that he has an enforced vacation. He is going to do that before he looks for a job. They washed it last night. This morning he is polishing it and then he hopes that Lloyd will paint it. Vern came by this morning and talked a long time. I didn't go out, my hair looked like a Fuzz Wuzzy - its my new permanent not tamed down yet.
Encie Elder liked her job real well last night and is so proud to think she landed it. I rode home with her but she wants to get a ride - not drive. She was going to call Zella and a couple others this morning and tell them to try for a job. They will hire old girls over eighteen on the night shift.
I'm going over to church now. I hope God says "yes" to my prayers. Mrs. Shea says Mr. Thomas will celebrate communion on Thursday morning. I'll go with Eleanor.
Please write as soon as you can. You must have a lot of paper and envelopes stored up.
This was almost an awesome news story. At first, I thought the following appeared in my news reader:
Confused by lights, rare birds that navigate from the moon are losing their way.
It turns out, though, that it actually said:
Confused by lights, rare birds that navigate by the moon are losing their way.
You can read the article here, and what folks are doing to help the birds. As soon as I found out that these are not rare moon birds I sort of lost interest. Not that they aren't really cute.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
No letters yet. To-days news report was awful. There are no traces of American prisoners on Oke. That's awful. You can imagine how worried we are. My but I hope we hear soon.
Your Dad was laid off at Motors on Friday. We went up this morning to see if he could do something else, but no, he hasn't any ideas yet but everything will turn out all right. Mary was at Sylvania this morning but wasn't put to work. She was told to call in about 7:30 to-morrow morning. I hope they give her a job since she wants one so. Eucie Elder came in at noon. She goes to work to-day on the night shift. It will be tough on her. She isn't used to hard work. I gave your mother a pair of nice stockings in your name, also one in mine. They are always acceptable for birthdays or any other time.
Harry Fisher had a ham for us yesterday just as he promised last summer. I hate to talk about food in my letters for fear yours is poor and it will make you homesick. But I thought you would like to hear about Harry. John Atkinson's mother is cook in the Sylvania cafeteria, and Mrs. Culver works in my department.
Eva has sold her house in Linden and wants to get Aunt Maude's furniture. I just wrote Aunt Maude to come up and tend to it. We don't want the responsibility. We haven't had a letter from them for a long time so we don't know where Alvin's brother is. He was on Guadalcanal. Time for me to get scrubbed and over to church or I'll be late for work.
My meager attempt to avoid typing eighteen or so more letters has failed miserably. I'm continuing with the story even if Aquaman Secret Government Agent Code Named Fish Man is not involved. Once I know that everyone is definitely hooked I'll have to stop the letters and have you all subscribe to Blog Hero Professional for the rest of the story.
It was inevitable, really. Today's question of the day: If these cars are an issue, why does California allow them to be sold? I think California should sue itself.
This interesting tree ring article comes from the National Geographic. Apparently researchers from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville have determined that rain from hurricanes contains a special type of oxygen isotope. You can read the article to better understand why that is; I tried to figure it out and all I came up with was that hurricanes spin so powerfully that they lose a lot of things, like their wallets, loose change, combs, and sometimes even their car keys. This relates to the whole oxygen thing in some way.
In any event, these special oxygen isotopes, code named "18" fall out of the storm early and get sucked up into Conifers. The Conifers use the 18 to create new cellulose, which makes them look really bad in that bathing suit.
So what's the net effect here? Researchers can now collect tree ring data and examine it for this special oxygen and determine how many hurricanes struck that area, going back 220 years. This is huge because our current technological hurricane record goes back 60 years, and a little more than that based on newspaper clippings, ship's logs and elves. Being able to collect more of this data may give us an idea of what hurricane intensity was like in the past, and from there we can draw conclusions about how global warming is in fact going to kill us all. Or something.
And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't point out the nominee for The Best Name of a NOAA Employee: Christopher Landsea.
Update: The Weather Guys do a great job of explaining this, although they don't mention elves.
I've received a few comments about the letters, and at least two personal visits, and most of these comments have been positive. Some of them, however, have asked for details about the ending. I imagine a few requests for this sort of info is natural curiosity. But many of you have shared some concerns that the story is not going to end well.
There's pretty good evidence that's the case. For example, the letters were returned unopened. That could be taken as a bad sign. Also, the battle front in question is Okinawa, Japan which saw heavy fighting and casualties during WWII.
"So are you saying." you wonder, "that Charles is not saved at the end by Aquaman or something?" I won't spoil that part. But those of you with back injuries, heart conditions, delicate stomachs, or who under 38" probably should not get on this ride.
However, given that this is a benign dictatorship, meaning you tell me what to do (in a nice way) and I do it, I will consider ending the letters here and leaving the conclusion up to the mind of the reader. This could then involve Aquaman, UFOs and Bigfoot, just like the official censored government report. Or I can forge ahead and publish them all as is, and let you draw your own conclusions.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
Sunday - and several things happened. We were just coming home from church when Rolland drove up - Ruth had a son born in the Williamsport hospital at eleven o'clock. He stayed with us for dinner and went back to the hospital and then home. Both were doing well. They have Kenneth chosen as a name.
After dinner Elizabeth and Babby went with Mary Jo to Mountain Beach. Gran wanted to go out to Fishers to see if they have a home for us, so Ed and George stopped off in Linden and Gran and Eleanor went on out. Mary stayed in bed all morning but is up now. She wants to go to Sylvania to-morrow. I went to early church - came home and washed out one dress and some underwear because I sweat so at Sylvania - went back to second church. Mr. Davis had six little boys, one being George, stand as he called their names and then a special prayer was offered for them because they have been promoted to the regular choir. George will go to choir camp for three days - all the little ones go to-gether at Beaver Lake - somewhere out in Eagles Mere territory. George says you can only go if you won't get homesick. There will be only about six of them. Mrs. Breary will go along to help care for them. We tell him he will have to eat regular meals because he can't run to the refrigerator at camp. Neil Davis will be worse. I guess if they get really hungry there will be no trouble about eating. How about your buys running to the refrigerator? I hope things are organized now so that you get plenty of good food. I'm going out to sit with Mary on the front porch. Things are rather slow here this afternoon. I hope you have a lazy peaceful Sunday.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
No news yet. The morning paper says there are still pockets fighting hard. I hope you are in a rest area, and safe, and out of it all.
There is very little interesting to tell you. I'm writing in the morning because after lunch I must report to Dr. Lehman to find out about the urinalysis. I think there is nothing much wrong or I wouldn't feel so fit. Physically I've had the best winter for years, no colds or sore throats.
I had a funny experience at the plant last night. I'm still green at their ways and terms. About twelve o'clock the boss stopped by and said, "you haven't had "relief" yet, have you?" I just looked dumb. He said, "you can take five minutes off now and then." I found that "relief" means going off the job - usually to the toilet, and everybody goes on company time - not as lunch or rest periods. Girls who are on machines must call the "relief operator" to take their places because the machines don't stop. I run mine at my own pace. Now I take "relief" when I get tired.
The news just came on - organized resistance has ended but pockets to be cleaned up. 90,000 Japs killed - over 40,000 casualties for our side. That's a high priced victory. Gen. Stillwell is on his way to take Buckner's place. Now maybe you will have time to write. I hope so. I'll take a bath now and go over t church and to Dr. Lehman. I'll bet you would would like a bath and clean clothes.
Just wait and keep your chin up. Some day you can take a good soak in Larry's Creek - Oh Boy.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
Still no letter and the news is that the fighting is heavy. We can only hope and pray. Anyway a new division went in - maybe that means rest for you.
I'm afraid I'll make you homesick if I tell you what Ed found last evening. He went out to Grandmas to show Watson where to shut off the water and he said the kitchen had a new ceiling of plaster board. All the plaster on the walls had been repaired and Mrs. Dell Kline had the place all swept and dusted - the porches are repaired and now a pump trough is to be built - well-well all ready for a honeymoon - or a rest cure - or anything you name. It will wait for you.
George brought Neil Davis home from choir practice this morning and he stayed for lunch. Now Adam came to play, and we said we had Adam and Eve and Pinch me. I took their pictures. You will get one if they turn out right.
My second night at Sylvania went much better. I have a ride with a woman who comes right by here and goes out Fifth to High. Easy for me.
Eleanor is cleaning the boys rooms this morning. Gran washed. I did some cleaning and got lunch. Now I must get scrubbed and ready for work. We had a letter from Aunt Florence asking about you and mourning that no one wrote anymore. I did write. The letters must have passed but I was waiting to hear from Okinawa. All our life is built around waiting to hear, waiting for mail, hoping, praying.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
We feel frantic. To-days paper said Gen Buckner had been killed. Its no worse for him or his family than for anyone else but it sounds as tho' almost all of you would be killed. I hope not, I pray and pray for you. No letter to-day.
Now I'm going to take Gran up to Dr. Rouse. I worked my first night, last night, got a ride home, otherwise I would have had to walk up from the square. One of the girls I taught my first year at Limber Bridge found the ride for me - eight in the car. The personnel dept. will arrange one for me to-day - I hope. She thought I couldn't walk up Third after two in the morning but I told her Third St. had no machine guns or knee mortars and no snipers behind the trees. My but I hope you are getting a rest.
I stopped here and took Gran to Dr. Rouse, stopped at Hivelys to buy some light bulbs and read two beautiful letters from Otto. He goes literary in his letters. Way behind the lines as he is he can sit down and pound out flowery epistles on his typewriter.
My work is to stick tiny wires in tiny holes. There is a little glass doughnut shaped gadget with five tiny wires at intervals through the glass about so large - wires about as large as this pen writes. If I poke them in right the machine barks - if wrong I bend the wire and ruin the gadget. There are two holes and two wires that fit, the other three go in slots. More monotonous than poking history in kids heads. I'm going over to church now and ask God to keep you safe.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
The news from Okinawa is bad for our boys. There are a lot of casualties in closing out the Japs on the southern tip of the island. To-days' noon report said the Second Marine Division was in the fight now. I'm sorry for them but I hope it means a rest for you.
I'm ready to go to work. My letter writing time will be changed now from evening to morning or early afternoon. I cleaned the third floor this morning and fixed a dress, then took a bath to be ready for work. I'm going over to church when I finish this letter, then from church to Montoursville. I go in an hour early to-day to get acquainted I suppose.
I won't see much of the daylight workers now from Sunday to Sunday.
The folks got home around ten o'clock last night. Liz stayed at the Heights while they drove on to Sunbury to see the furnace man. The furnace needs some repairs this summer. Then they called on Chet Herman, had a supper of hamburgers and picked up Liz and then called on Jack and Mary Louise. A little gas goes a long way.
Charles I could moan and moan but I guess I better get over to church and pray and pray, not that I don't pray at home. I do.
I'll not write more because I'm not just sure about busses and I have to stop at the doctors and then walk on to Sylvania which is at the other end of town and I mustn't be late my first day. God keep you safe.
Aside from getting to post the words "Weeki Wachee" which apparently is a real town in Florida, I get to write about a 13-year-old hero. I thought now that I have "bloghero.com" I should write about some real heroes who have the greatest super power I know: selflessness.
Mikey Evans and his friend Dustin Wright, (age 10) were hiding from some boys who were chasing them. Mikey felt a sting on his foot and realized he had been bitten by a snake. So he picked up his friend, put him on his back, and carried him out of the woods. He was bitten a total of four times. When paramedics arrived he was hallucinating and convulsing - the exertion of carrying his friend having spread the venom through his body more quickly.
National Geographic News is reporting that a stone tablet has been found in Mexico that contains an ancient writing system lost for 3,000 years, or at least twelve days. The article about this stone tablet can be found here .
Now, I'm not one to doubt this sort of thing, but if you follow the link to the large photo and take a good look at this thing - well what do you think? It looks like a freeware dingbats font I might have downloaded off of "ancientlostwritingsystemfonts.com" In particular, look at glyph 12. If that isn't an ice cream cone I don't know what is. I'm also pretty convinced that 57 is a beer, and I KNOW I saw 7 crawling around my basement.
At the moment Experts Who Know This Stuff seem split on whether it's real or not. They're still trying to answer basic questions, such as: what flavors of ice cream did they have? Were the cones those "cake" cones, or those hard-as-rock "sugar" cones? How far off was the waffle cone? Had these ancient peoples developed the two-scoop cone yet?
The Experts HAVE figured out an important distinction between three of the glyphs. 1 apparently shows the "icky bug" which would cause ancient 3,000 year-old wives to scream for their husbands who would summarily smash it with little thought. 23 was a clover mite, which as everyone knows you should never smash because it will leave a big orange stain on everything, including ancient people's drywall and is extremely tough to get out. 50 shows the "poisonous bug" which was also icky, and would probably stain walls and carpeting too, but was also poisonous and had to be killed from a distance, usually with a long club, a rock, or a can of RAID®.
Hopefully we'll know more about all of this soon. In the meantime I'm downloading the other 3,000 year old fonts from ancientlostwritingsystemfonts.com just so I have them before it's all the rage.
You get an email promising you a free coffee from your local Starbucks®. You think, "Free coffee!" and get up from your computer and dance a little jig, then print the coupon. You go down to your local Starbucks® and get in line, order your coffee, and then try to pay with your coupon. The suave goatee*-adorned pierced-eyeball cashier says "Sorry we aren't accepting those." You:
1. ...fumble around in your pocket for some money to pay for the drink, while glaring at the cashier.
2. ...say "I'm never shopping here again!" and storm out.
3. ...hire a lawyer and launch a $114 million dollar lawsuit.
Some things you just can't make up.
*gottee: of or having to do with gots; see also goatee. sigh.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
Sunday evening - Monday morning or Sunday morning for you. I always get mixed until I figure it out. I have to haul out a map and look for the international date line. We heard a broadcast direct from Okinawa this afternoon - army and air - not marine - tho' it was very hard to understand and there might have been a Marine talking too, but I think not. I wish it were over, but so do you and you boys are the ones that have to take it.
Eleanor and Ed and Liz and George took Bab and Virginia Johnson to Central Oak Heights this afternoon. Mary went with the preacher and Coney and Bricker and some other boys. They aren't back yet so I suppose they stopped to visit west Milton.
Watson stopped this evening to ask where to shut off the water out at Grandmas. Harry Fisher is working on the porch. I haven't been out since last fall. Ed will ave to call him when he gets home and maybe go out with him to show where it is, to-morrow evening.
I start my job to-morrow afternoon. I'm sort of anxious to see what I get. My permanent is pretty frizzy, make em sit up and look.
I spent the afternoon bringing your scrap book up to date. I hope you enjoy it when you are an old man and sit around telling your grandchildren what grandpap did when he was young.
I'll mail this over at the station to-night. We are having very warm weather. Yesterdays paper said Buckner had thrown every battalion into the final fight. We aren't very happy sitting here wondering how its going with you. God grant you are safe and well and that your guardian angels are alert.
I've noted with some interest several stories on the plunging of gas prices. This article predicts gas as low as $1.15. That would be fine with me, but what's the reason for this sort of thing? How do we go from $3 to $1.15? I'm certainly not an economic whiz (my closest related super power would be the Ability to Clip Coupons That Are Already Expired) but I think supply and demand have something to do with it. So has supply jumped that much, or has demand leveled off...?
This article does a great job of explaining the basics. And, as I read it, it's all about the gambling. Oil is traded in contracts for future delivery, and those contracts are going to be bought in a speculative fashion depending on the economic environment. Scary hurricane season? Rigs threatened! Oil will go up! Caribou nibble through an Alaskan pipeline? Supply hurt! Oil will go up! Civil unrest in Nigeria? Supply hurt! Oil will go up!
Of course, economics 101 suggests that at some level you can't have the prices rising constantly. Eventually people would cut their use of a product because there's too much pain in using it, or other conditions will change to impact the price. We're seeing that now with oil. Mideast tensions have (apparently) eased, the Anti-Hurricane Device created by the U.S. government using space lasers is working - even Iran is talking about ceasing enrichment of Uranium (for what that's worth). Oil inventories are actually high.
So is $1.15 really a possibility? I personally doubt it - investors aren't sure where the floor is, but while I think a run for the bottom is very possible, oil is too important a commodity for it to slide that far without people buying in. There'll always be reasons to convince people that oil will go back up.
The Farmer's Almanac predicts a very cold winter for the U.S. this year. Demand increases! Oil will go up!
You KNOW you have a problem when you wake up in the morning and think, "D'oh! I didn't post a new letter yesterday!" and you get your files and you go to Movable Type and begin to create a new entry and THEN you see a post made by you at 1:16 am and you have NO IDEA where that came from. I definitely need to go to bed earlier. Or stop drinking. But such is my dedication to you, the Alert Reader, that I will apparently half-rouse out of complete unconsciousness and blog, with surprisingly few typos for a half-roused unconscious person (thought there were a few whoppers), and then go back to bed none the wiser.
Sigh.
I think I'll post another letter today, sometime before midnight, so at least I remember doing so.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
Did you ever hear that song, "Saturday night is the loneliest night in the Week?" Well thats the way I feel to-night - tho' I shouldn't mention how I feel - its how do you feel? But I feel like crying, tho' I won't. We haven't heard from you, the reports are that the fighting is so hard and the casualties so high and we are so worried. I feel most at peace when I'm in the chapel at church.
This morning I went to Montoursville to the Sylvania doctor, Currant. He pass me for the summer, though he hesitated on the kidney test and told me to see Dr. Lehman and bring in another specimen. You had sugar, I have albumin, and always will have because of scarlet fever. Some times I wonder if it would have been better for you to have had enough sugar to keep you out of this.
This afternoon Gran and Encie Elder and I went to Jersey Shore. Encie's brother Henry Elder, one of the restaurant men, is assembly man from our district and he will get papers for us from Harrisburg that will be equivalent to birth certificates.
On the way down we went up to Homer Smiths, turned left for about three farms to see Mrs Reider. Ezra bought a place up on a hill. When we got home at five o'clock the family had left. Ed and Eleanor and George went down town to eat as a treat and went to the movies before six. The girls also were down shopping. Liz got her first whole check yesterday and she bought herself two cool dresses for work. They are all home now, before eight o'clock. Mary and Bab go to Central Oak heights to-morrow. I suppose Ed will take them. Gran got three gas tickets from the OPA for going out to the farm. We used one of them today and there is enough in the tank for to-morrow. To-morrow is fathers day and we will be thinking of you.
I recently obtained bloghero.com thanks to an extremely generous Pete Blackshaw who graciously agreed to pass it on so that I can continue battling super-villains such as Pimply-Faced Drive Thru Boy. This new URL super power is guaranteed to do... not a whole lot, except generate at least one blog post (always a good thing) and help Carl to remember how to get to his own website.
Of course, I suppose I shouldn't discount the powerful Word-of-Mouth Tsunami that will now ensue. Before, you would have to tell your friends, "There's this awesome website with very important graphics like the current Godzilla™ Track - just go to carlschaad.com/blog - no, Schaad like shod but spelled s-c-h-a-a-d. No, two a's. I mean, right together. S-c-h-a-a here GIVE ME THAT PEN." Now you can just say "Go to Bloghero.com!" Won't that be easier?
If you have any difficulties let me know. I'm still working on the bloghero.com email and plotting my Blog Hero world tour. More on that later.
Godzilla™ is a trademark of Japanese entertainment company Toho. Any references here to Godzilla do not imply an endorsement by Godzilla, Toho, Mothra or King Ghidorah. Thank you.
The tropics have gotten busy, although the U.S. coast remains relatively safe. Florence is on track to brush Canada. Gordon graduated to hurricane status but is widely expected to curve out into the vast unknown of the Atlantic, a harm to no one except the secret base of Atlanteans out there.
A storm with some potential, if you would call it that, is TD 8. It's waaaaay out there but should strengthen as early as today into Tropical Storm (dramatic music) Helene. To me, Helene sounds like a formidable name, like a Katrina or Carol, but then again I thought Fat Momma would be gone in two shows so you know what I know. Models take the storm west for at least five days without recurving, so it may be one to watch.
If feels, though, as if the hurricane season is over. The weather in Happy Valley is overcast, damp and very cool, and it feels like late autumn. I even heard Henry was dusting off the snow blower.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
The radio and newspapers aren't very reassuring to folks who have some one they love on Okinawa. The fighting must be terrible. We pray you come through it safely. The morning paper says the First is executing a pincers movement around the Japs. I wish they would quit.
This morning there was a bad train wreak between Montanden and Milton. The Washington-Buffalo flyer was derailed by striking some freight cars carrying ore that buckled just as the two trains were passing. The known dead were 18, I think, on to-nights radio. Not many compared to war but bad for railroading.
I had my permanent this afternoon, ready for work now on Monday night. I asked Mrs. Greensweight to scout around for a ride for me.
I just stopped writing here to listen to Lowell Thomas broadcasting from Iwo Jima. Its morning over there and evening over here. I always remember that when I say my prayers for you. Dr. Roy Chapman Andrews broadcasts for Lowell Thomas now while Lowell is travelling around and he, Andrews, quoted Maj. Gen. Pedro del Valle as saying that the Japs were broken now on Okinawa. That suits me if you are safe.
Ralph Clinger is entertaining the Sunday School teachers at his cabin to-night. Liz got home from work just in time to go with them.
I'm going down to McCoys now and ask them to go with me to a Justice of the Peace and swear to my being born in the U.S.A. I need that until I can get a regular birth certificate.
My but we have been having hot weather. I bet it is hotter where you are. We can stand the hot weather if you come safely home.
Yesterdays paper mentioned the Seventh Marines specially as having taken Kunishi Ridge, from which point they will be the right arm of the pincers movement.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
Thursday, Flag Day, June 14 and no word from you only terrible news from papers and radio. Is it so hot on Okinawa? I reckon you have no time or spirit to think of weather. Charles I'm so sorry you have to go through this. But remember you will be through some day and back home to stay. Mary Catherine just came in. She is going to meet Seth here. He took some boy to the train. They had a sale on Tuesday and sold all household furnishings. Now they want to sell the house. They are living with neighbors next door. Seth has until the 22 or 28 of June, I forget which.
Our folks drove down to the airport to see some navy planes that have been flying over Town real low, all day. This morning Watson filled a tooth for me, Adamy's went home, Eleanor, Gran, Mary, Bab and George drove out to the farm to look for wild strawberries but didn't find any. This afternoon Eucie Elder and I went down to Sylvania to see about jobs. They wouldn't take me for day shift but they did take me for night shift 4:30 till 2:15. I took it gladly. They hesitated because of my age. Mary can't have a day shift job - they are all filled and can't have a night shift because she is too young. She will have to hunt around. Darling Valve might hire her, some H.S. girls are working there. She is disappointed because they had promised her. I'm disappointed too but glad to get a job. Nothing much matters until you come home. A woman just brought a kitten to the front door and shoved it on me. She said it was out in the street and would get killed. George didn't go to the airport and was real glad to get the kitten. Kittens and sparrows count over here. Something isn't logical. You boys are worth more than kittens - but I'm not the boss. Who is?
TD7 has been declared by the NHC, you can find a position graphic here from AccuWeather.com. Most models have the storm curving much like Florence - although at least one takes it close to Bermuda this weekend. (Model run.)
It's thought that this storm could be over its depression by Monday and would become Tropical Storm Gordon.
I had a low tonight. A low being a blood sugar low, or hypoglycemia. Generally, a plasma glucose level of below 70 mg/dl is considered "low." The reason any of this is a problem is because the brain gets starved of fuel (glucose) and starts to freak out. In this regard the whole situation is very similar to Kryptonite*.
Lows are nasty. The insidious part of diabetes, which I have never read in any of the material that I've been handed or heard from any of the medical experts I've seen, is that you can have high blood sugar and feel almost normal - but if you have a low you'll feel horrible. And in life we tend to avoid pain. This leads to a lot of diabetics, I believe, having a few lows and then saying "Aw the heck with it" and staying high. Of course, long term the Really Big Pain sets in when your vision deteriorates or you have nerve damage. But that day is way down the road, and today is today right?
The symptoms of low blood sugar vary a bit from person to person, but for me usually involve: shaking, irritability, perspiration, fatigue, weakness, lethargy, hunger, and anxiety.
The worse recorded low I've had is 23, but that sort of thing is very rare. Tonight I was 46. When I hit the 40s something happens in my brain and the "hunger switch" is turned on. I feel a compulsion to eat until I feel better. On the one hand this makes perfect sense; my brain is starving (pause for jokes, continue) so the brain is going to make sure that it gets fed. On the other hand, if I eat until I feel better I will overshoot big time, because the food doesn't break down into glucose that quickly. The only way to mitigate this sort of thing is better blood sugar control to begin with, or for Alert Reader Tammy to watch my carbs and tazer me after I've had enough.
So I was downstairs, eating a PBJ sandwich and potato chips and this thought occurred to me: "What do they do with the unused portion?" You know, when you have a problem with some sort of food and you want a refund, they make you mail in the unused portion. This thought occurred to me because the potato chips were unusually salty. This may have been my problem, because I had a starving brain and who knows how things taste to a person with a starving brain. But that made me think - if I wanted to get a refund because my chips were too salty, I would probably have to mail in the unused portion.
So then I was wondering what the unused portion thing was all about. I could only come up with three possibilities:
1. There's a team of crack food scientists standing by whose sole job is to test incoming unused portions to find out what went wrong.
2. Corporate Lawyers won't allow any refunds unless unused portions are provided, for Legal Reasons, and these unused portions are stored in a vault somewhere in Idaho until/in case a legal challenge materializes.
3. The whole thing is just a ploy to discourage people from asking for a refund.
This is all I could come up with between salty chips, and was forced to conclude it was probably... 3. But just when I had reached that conclusion, I had eaten one chip too many and Alert Reader Tammy tazered me.
*No, the other doomed planet Krypton.
**If for any reason you're not satisfied with tonight's posting, return the unused portion to bloghero@carlschaad.com for a complete refund just as soon as our scientists and lawyers are done examining it. Thank you.
came back. When it really starts throbbing all I can hear is Arnold Schwarzenegger saying "It's not a tumor!" which is almost as bad as the headache. I suppose I'm going to have to do something about it at some point. I mean, beyond all of the male whining and my burgeoning ibuprofen habit.
I've gotten some email on the WWII letters thing. Not from Random House or the New York Times, but from Alert Readers. Some of you have asked for hints. At this point I can completely refute those rumors that there's a surprise appearance by any of the following: Superman, Godzilla, Fat Momma, a clown juggling flaming batons, Henry's snow blower, Fat Momma, or that giant wooden rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Some have asked if this is a fake marketing-type ploy, like that LonelyGirl15 thing, only not so well thought out and on a much smaller budget, that being $2.19, all conceived to launch my first book "Carl Schaad: Blog, Bug and Other Heroics." If you followed any of that, the answer is "no."
Some people have pointed out that the letters were returned unopened, and this has led to all sorts of rampant speculation. I can neither confirm nor deny any of that. This story does take place during the 40s, which as far as decades go wasn't terribly upbeat.
Finally, to close on a serious note: I've read these letters dozens of times over the years, and again recently as I've prepped them for posting here. And one of the themes that always strikes me is sacrifice. It's amazing the sacrifices made by that generation. It really seems like another world when you compare it to our lifestyle today. Even in the midst of dealing with an enemy that's prepared to hijack planes and fly them into buildings filled with civilians, we have the freedom to live our lives almost as though nothing is happening while an all-volunteer military fights and dies for that freedom.
Hopefully Charles' and Margaret's story will remind us of that.
Godzilla sightings notwithstanding, Bermuda is getting ready for a visit from Florence. According to "weather experts" Florence should make her closest pass around tomorrow at 10 a.m. (not certain if this is Bermuda time or Universal Constant Time) 40 miles to the west-northeast of the island. That's better than a direct hit, obviously, but not as good as a pass to the east. The size and strength of Florence is a concern too, with the storm expected to be a Category 2 and at least 40 nautical miles in diameter. (To review, a nautical mile is how far Godzilla can swim in an hour.)
As you can plainly see, the earthquake that occurred today in the Gulf of Mexico was indeed caused by Godzilla. Furthermore, Godzilla is quite angry and on the move. You should keep in mind that this Godzilla Warning Graphic features the Godzilla Cone of Movement™. While there is a line plotted here to show the most likely path Godzilla will take, people should not focus on the line. Focus on the cone - because even a slight deviation in the movement of Godzilla could result in landfall anywhere within this cone.
Currently the most likely landfall will occur in the St. Pete/Tampa area. Already the combined forces of Homeland Security and FEMA are being marshaled. As such, Governor Jeb Bush has declared a state of emergency and asked that everyone south of Gainesville save themselves and flee to Houston.
People are reminded that this is a dangerous monster. Damage to structures and power lines within the path of Godzilla is extremely likely and will be severe. Please DO NOT TRY TO BE A HERO and ride out the monster. Board up your home, secure your pets and leave the area as soon as possible. States beginning with the letters "I" "K" and "O" are designated safe states and are good places to ride out the monster.
Once Godzilla makes landfall, he's expected to continue north and east until he hits Daytona Beach, where he will pick up a "Life's a Beach" towel and an oval bumper sticker that reads "DB" before he returns to the ocean.
Further bulletins as events warrant.
*Usually Alert Reader Tammy just stopped by and took a look at the map and wanted to know when that happened, and what was going to hit Florida and why there hasn't been anything on the news. I tried to explain about Godzilla and the earthquake and FEMA not wanting anyone to panic, etc., but she just sort of stared at me. So, after a brief phone call with the Blog Hero Legal Team, I've been instructed to add this clarifying disclaimer:
Godzilla™ is a trademark of Japanese entertainment company Toho. Toho is not responsible for any damage or panic that Godzilla™ causes. Any warning information about Godzilla™ that this blog issues is provided "as is" and no warranty, expressed, instant, dehydrated or otherwise, is inferred, interned, chauffeured or bean curd. Thank you.
Possible Explanations for almost deadly Gulf Earthquake
September 10, 2006
At 8:56 a.m. Sunday, or 14:56:07 Coordinated Universal Time, which I think is only observed on Neptune, in certain offices at the United Nations, and in parts of Iowa, a maginitude 6.0 earthquake jiggledjimmiedrattled shook the Gulf of Mexico. Thankfully there are no reports of any injuries, damage, or tsunamis. In fact, the quake was not sufficient enough to even warrant a tsunami warming, watch, or panic.
The USGS site has a number of maps, including a link to a Google Map, so you can see exactly where this happened. Reuters has a good story here (albeit sans photos.) People in Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana felt the quake, and some actually Experienced Vibrating Buildings.
While this could be a completely natural event, there are also other - more serious - possibilities:
1. The Japanese Mafia, defeated by their ancient rival El Niño, have given up on the hurricane machine altogether, and have just scored a Russian-Made Cold War Era Earthquake Machine from eBay.
2. After drilling down 20,000 feet, Chevron broke through to the hollow center of the earth, and it's only a matter of days before the planet implodes.
3. As everyone knows, there is always a magnitude 6.0 quake before Godzilla appears and unleashes havoc on some coastal community.
I'm betting on... 3. Someone should notify Tampa that a Severe Giant Radioactive Lizard Watch is in effect.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
This morning's paper had a picture of First Marines counting Jap dead but we couldn't see you. To-days news said that Buckner had called on the Jap commander to surrender. I hope he does and saves a lot of misery.
Baldwins left right after lunch. I got home in time to see them off. We were excused as soon as we got our mornings work done, then we go back To-night. Mary and Bob spent all morning at High. Bob isn't home yet and its four o'clock. I suppose he is orating.
Eleanor, Ed and George went to Linden this afternoon. Ed didn't work To-day but so far he expects to work the rest of the week. Some parts of the Motors are slowing up considerably.
One of my little girls went to the hospital Saturday night for an appendicitis operation. I walked out this afternoon with her diploma and some of our white roses. She graduated ahead of the rest of the class. They get theirs To-night.
The news says the Japs are using phosphorous shells - wicked things. I hope they don't come near you. We haven't heard for quite a few days now. All we can do is hope and pray.
I won't see Bab graduate since I have a class of my own to tend to. Anyway she got only three admission cards. I don't know whether Mary got enough for me to go To-morrow night to High School or not.
Thursday morning I get my teeth gone over for their spring over hauling. Ed washed the car this morning. It needed it. Mary is over at church helping Mrs. Shea. To-night is the Auxiliary picnic which I will miss. Eleanor will wash the Baldwin's beds in the morning and the Adamys will occupy them to-morrow night. Write as soon and as often as you can if its only one line.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
To-night I will mail your letter from the R. R. Station. Watson, Marian and Bonnie came to call just as we finished supper and after they left I took the Baldwin ladies to call on Mrs. Baldwin’s niece, Mrs. Wilmarth, who was Helen Simon. Mrs. Wilmarth teaches at High but is leaving High to take the position of Principal at Duke Center. We stayed there too late for me to get this in the 9:30 pick up. Adamy’s stopped by to-day on their way to Binghampton but Bob didn’t go with them. He has to practice his speech. Mary, Liz, Mary Jo, Bab and the two Bobs (Wink & Adamy) took a picnic supper to Memorial Park to-night. George cried because he couldn’t go with them. I felt sorry for the little duffer.
Liz is home now and in bed. She is extra good about getting her rest. The others went over to Mountain Beach to ride the horses. I bet Mary doesn’t get on. Also I bet a steady job will set hard on her. She hates to go to bed and she hates to get up but does she have a good time.
The morning paper says the First Division is standing the brunt of the fight. I hope you are safe. We didn’t get an extra Grit yet to send you a clipping. Mrs. Armsby asked about you last night at Baccalaureate. She says George has been flying over Okinawa but is to come home now. She says she remembers you in her prayers. Lots of other people do. I hope your Guardian angels are constantly on the alert.
I heard about my cake to-day. Mr. & Mrs. Miller put it in the trunk of their car expecting to deliver it but forgot. They went to Sunbury to visit Mrs. Miller’s sister and didn’t open the trunk until Sunday afternoon. She was very apologetic. I get the sugar back. God keep you safe and bring you home soon.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
I didn’t write to you last night, Saturday evening. It’s the first I’ve missed for a long time. We had about twenty guests besides the Baldwin crowd. I was pretty well flustered. Here’s the story, the trials of a civilian. No one will sell ice cream for parties. Some places won’t allow you to carry it out, some will sell a quart to a person - so ice cream was out. We are short of sugar so I called the 20th Century Bake Shop, Home Dairy and others to ask about one of those sheet cakes that can be cut in so many pieces. They weren’t taking orders because of sugar scarcity. So I told Miss McGraw, our Home Ec. Teacher about my troubles. The Do-nut Shop in Newberry baked such a cake for our last P. T. meeting. They also said "no" but would do it if I furnished 4 lbs. of sugar. I said I couldn’t, but Miss McGraw offered to help me out from the Cafeteria. I paid her for it but didn’t give points. Well last night after supper the cake hadn’t arrived so I called the shop. The girl said Mr. Miller had left and had taken the cake with him. I called again twice, also called his home. He never did show up. At 10:30 Ed & George went over to the Pastry Shop in the block and bought some cookies and we sat our guests down to coffee and cookies to drink. The Pastry Shop man is his brother and he said Miller drinks and there was no telling what would happen to my cake.
Your Regiment was mentioned in to-days Grit. It said the Seventh Regiment led by Col. Edward W. Snedeker (Swedeken - not sure) reached the sea on a broad front. We will send you the clipping when we get another Grit. Our last letter was written May 28 and we are so anxious to hear from you. You know what we hope.
Mrs. Baldwin went to eleven o’clock with us. The preacher came over for dinner. He is alone while the Rectory is being finished.
I went down to Reno Post Thursday night to help fix rummage for Friday’s sale and came home with a dress, one of Mrs. Manson’s, paid sixty cents for it. Ed & Eleanor took the older folks out to Grandmas for a drive after dinner - the young folks went to a ball game - all but Bab. She helped me with the dishes. I was sorry for her. She thinks the girls don’t want her tagging along. They asked her real nice. She and Ann are cutting out pictures of movie stars now. Baccalaureate at High to-night. God keep you safe.
This will be a little confusing if you haven't read this intro here.
No letter to-day. Mr. Levinson asked me this morning what we had heard. I was standing over on the corner waiting for Lena. I hope you are still safe and well. I hope the campaign is soon over. We had two letters about company to-day. Baldwin’s are coming Thursday, for the week end I suppose. It means we will have to ask some of the Austin folks in. Then Adamy’s wrote that they were going to Binghampton to visit and would come here on Wed. to see Bob graduate Wed night. Evidently they will be here just the one night. They haven’t a house yet and their things are still stored in Williamsport. They are in the third place since they went to Richmond. This new place belongs to some one who runs a hotel at Virginia Beach during the summer time, and Adamy’s got in furnished, 30 acres, 3 baths, quite the country estate. We have been razzing Bob. He has been working instead of going to High as often as the teachers think he should. Four of them have been down to see about him. Clara Casner was here last night. He has written his speech three times, then they tear it up and he rewrites it - a tricky subject - juvenile delinquency - and the teachers don’t all agree.
Do you remember Virginia Beach? Those were the good old days. I hope we can take a trip again in the not too distant future. I bet you have a sufficiency of Okinawa Beach. Alice Pennington was telling us to-day about a letter she had from her nephew. He told her to guess what every Yank did when they crossed the Rhine. Your guess is as good as any. She didn’t tell us her guess. I’m going down to Elsie Williams to-night to an Auxiliary meeting. I hope the sun is shining for you. We are having rain.
When I was much younger and wore white socks I was a voracious reader. I even knew what voracious meant, because I read a lot and you can sometimes figure out what words like voracious mean from the context in which they're used. One genre I particularly enjoyed was the "Boy Detective." King of the "Boy Detective" stories would have to be the Hardy Boys.
I read every Hardy Boys book I could get my hands on, from the The Tower Treasure to somewhere around The Swamp Monster. Thanks to Frank and Joe I learned all about finger printing, secret doors, stolen loot, buried treasure, fast cars and Chet. I also learned that "voracious" meant "containing an unusual amount of grease or oil."
Or was that sebaceous?
Years later as a worldly teenager I was cleaning our basement one day and came across an old WWII era lap desk my father had bought. It was a heavy, wooden box a little larger than a milk crate. I had looked it over at least a dozen times before. It held a certain fascination for me. It was old, beat up and had been purchased by my father at an estate auction.
Even though I had looked through it before (it was empty) I paused and decided to open it up and look it over again.
I gave it a thorough study - worthy of either Hardy, I'm sure - and noticed with some surprise something I had missed before: The outside was much bigger than the inside.
Well, obviously, there was some compartment or something inside. After looking it over I found a loose panel inside that lifted up and out. I retrieved some pliers and managed to remove the panel. Apparently at one time it had a small knob on top for easy removal, but that had been lost. Behind the panel were three small drawers.
Now what were the odds of finding anything in here? After all, the owner and auctioneer had surely gone through this thing very carefully. Not terribly optimistic, I began opening the drawers, hoping to find a Michelangelo sketch or an uncut ruby the size of a large yam, but not really expecting much.
Pay dirt! The first drawer had an eraser and a pencil. Not quite the yam-sized ruby I was hoping for though.
The second drawer was empty.
The third drawer...well, what do you know? I pulled out a stack of letters. They were all sealed, wrapped with a red ribbon, and postmarked 1945. They all had the same purple stamp on them, too:
"USMC Reports Undeliverable Return to Sender."
I showed my mom and we quickly - but carefully - opened them. We sat there and read every single one.
The story the letters tell is fascinating. I'm going to post them here, one at a time, and add a category called "Dearest Charles" so that they're easy to reference. The "Dearest Charles" comes from the salutation used in almost every one. After I've shared the letters I'll try to answer some of the questions you'll no doubt have. Who wrote the letters? (They're signed "Margaret.") Why were they in the desk, returned and unopened? What happened to Margaret, and what happened to Charles? I have some of the answers, because I actually did some research and tried to find the people mentioned in the letters. For now I'll leave you in suspense.
Not unlike a Hardy Boys book.
Update:There are a total of 31 letters, dated June 05 - July 14. I've transcribed them exactly as written, although there are one or two places where writing is difficult to read. As I post them, I'll be titling the entries using the dates of each letter.
I need everyone's help. At what age do I begin wearing black socks?
I ask this because I was driving home through our development today and saw a gentleman out on his lawn, in shorts, black socks pulled up almost to his knees, and black shoes. It occurred to me then that I was looking into my future. As I drove by him in slow motion I stared and our eyes met, and he smiled and waved. Then I saw myself smiling and waving. Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin was playing. Somewhere a dog barked.
Okay, that's just how the scene will be shot for my biopic one day. But at some point I apparently will be seized with the desire (nay - yearning?) to get rid of my white, New Balance sneakers and white socks and go all black. At this point I can't understand why that would ever happen, but I also never knew that one day "the music these dang kids listen to is way too loud."
So what am I looking at here? 60? 50? 47? Leave a comment and let me know how much time I have left...
Obviously this makes a huge difference to some of our Canadian Friends. Most models also take the storm out to sea. Although it's generally accepted that it will miss the U.S., Florence is likely to cause high tides and the dreaded rip currents.
My headache, which started Sunday morning, is still hanging around. I think though that I finally figured out what might be happening. My suspicion is that it's caused by a neck-compression-thingy that I've had in the past. Tonight my neck feels like it's being crushed by my head, as if my brain grew three sizes too big and now my head is too heavy for my body. If it is some sort of nerve thing it would explain why taking enough ibuprofen to kill an Argentinosaurus hasn't done much. Incidentally, an Argentinosaurus is apparently the largest, heaviest, always-picked-first-for-team-sports dinosaur ever to walk the earth according to whomever wrote that Wikipedia entry. You can find a drawing of Argy here, which was created after they found two bones. Okay, I made that up but sometimes you have to wonder how they get these pictures.
Here's a size comparison between your average Argentinosaurus and the Statue of Liberty:
Size comparison between your average Argentinosaurus and the Statue of Liberty. Statue of Liberty appears at left, and your average Argentinosaurus appears at right. The Argentinosaurus is much bigger.
While we're on the subject, here's a size comparison between your average Argentinosaurus, the Statue of Liberty, and my headache - graphically depicted as an anvil:
Size comparison between your average Argentinosaurus, the Statue of Liberty, and my headache - graphically depicted as an anvil. Statue of Liberty appears at left, and your average Argentinosaurus appears at right. The giant anvil which graphically depicts my headache is in the background there.
I learned of Steve Irwin's death from an overheard cellphone conversation on Sunday. I was walking by someone in a parking lot and heard that he had been killed - I wasn't sure how at that point, but I gathered it had involved some sort of animal. I was saddened to hear of his passing. My first thought was for his children who would grow up without having their father. But I was also saddened because it felt like a great loss. Steve Irwin seemed invincible. I'm sure we all thought because he put himself at risk that an accident might occur - but those thoughts were easy to dismiss, because there wasn't a venomous snake, charging rhino or toothy croc that could fell our hero.
And that's what really strikes me about Steve Irwin - he transcended celebrity to become something much more: a modern hero. He was fearless, certainly - I can't imagine doing a fraction of the things he did - but that wasn't what made him a hero. It was his passion, his irrepressible joy on constant display and his larger-than-life enthusiasm for his work that made him a hero. He was truly incorrigible, and we loved him for that.
He will be missed.
I've seen a number of Steve Irwin clips in the last 48 hours, but this is probably my favorite so far. Enjoy.
That's probably the biggest question today - will Florence recurve or sock it to someone on the east coast? The storm has plenty of warm water and favorable conditions to strengthen, and AccuWeather.com is predicting it hits Cat 3 by the weekend. Models seem to suggest that the Anti-Hurricane Machine that the U.S. Government has been secretly working on is going to do its job. Stay tuned... and just in case, if you live on the east coast, make sure your stock of SpaghettiOs is replenished.
I checked my stats tonight (no, my web stats stop that) and put together a list of what people who end up here are searching Google for. Sorry that sentence was pretty poor but I have a headache and it's 1:35 a.m.
I'm fascinated by this sort of thing and apologize in advance if you're not. For those of you who aren't, just skip this entry and read the Superhero entry twice.
Here's the list, with some of my comments in italics:
accuweat, accuweather hurricane widget, hurricane widget, hurricane widgets, september 2006 farmers almanac hurricane predictions for southeast texas, joe bastardi column august 30 2006 Hurricanes and AccuWeather, always a crowd-pleaser.
how to throw a clothes hanger After seeing this I've made a note to do some research...you never know when this might come in handy.
danielle panabaker pictures Danielle's new photo gallery can be found here.
how to tell parents that the child has problms make a case study I can't even imagine what this is about.
henry's snowblower This is too funny. I have to think it's a reader of this blog trying to find the snowblower to put it out of its misery before winter...
I apologize for not posting this sooner - I'm sure all of you have had to go to other sites to find out the news. Oh, and I guess this is a spoiler, too - in case you have this TIVO'ed or are planning on buying the DVD set. (Who isn't, really?)
In any event, here's the final rundown on the series "Who Wants to be a Superhero" from the SciFi channel:
That means Feedback is the winner! This further demonstrates my omnipotence/dumb luck, as I said back in this post:
FEEDBACK
Pros: Just based on the profile I'm guessing Feedback is a huge computer/video game geek. This gives him a tremendous advantage. Even his catch phrase sounds like something a fanboy would come up with. And kudos for the Power Rangers-like costume.
Cons: Probably very easy to get dialogging. Could see him getting trapped by a PS3 offer, or maybe lured too close to the microwaves in the break room of his secret identity's place of work.
Handicap: I think he can go all of the way.
This of course is meaningless, because I didn't put any money down on it, and I also said things like "Fat Momma will be gone in two episodes." Ah, well, like any good reality show, there will be two or three sequels, so there's always next time.
Congratulations to Feedback and all of the contestants because you're all Heroes in my book! (And money doesn't grow on trees, you know!)
I know many of you were worried about my lawn, and have been checking the NEXRAD Doppler Radar repeatedly and waiting anxiously for news. The storm was not the apocalyptic deluge that was advertised, although I think we got somewhere between 2-3" of rain. Official Weather People will tell you that we got more like 14" of rain but they like to exaggerate these types of things. Henry was last seen paddling downstream in a local creek. (No paddle jokes, please.)
Besides watching and listening to the rain I've gotten very little done. Saturday Cassie appeared to have her first migraine. Any time Cassie gets sick it's a real problem, because she won't take any kind of medicine. In fact, she won't eat any candy and all she drinks is water. Personally I wish I could be more like that although I'm the first person to reach for a bottle of pills/capsules/tablets/etc. when I'm uncomfortable. She ended up getting sick (or, if you will, "hurling") Saturday evening but then felt better.
Sunday (today) it was my turn. I mean, with the headache. I never hurled, but the headache was awful. It was as if my brain had grown three sizes too big for my head. Now I'm exaggerating, as no one has ever accused me of having a too-large brain. I tried several things to get rid of the headache like ibuprofen, sleep, ice, poking my eye out with a sharp stick - but nothing worked. It's just sort of worn off. I still have it, but it's a much smaller and meeker headache. (Probably only capable of killing a small vole, as opposed to the rhinoceros-killer from the start of the day.)
I spent a little time "channel-surfing" today and came across "Lethal Weapon 2." It may have been part of some sort of Mel Gibson marathon, because Braveheart was supposed to be on later in the evening. While most of the language was "beeped" I was still struck by how violent the movie was. (Spoilers ahead, if for some reason you've never seen this and you're planning on renting it tomorrow and don't want to know crucial details, even if they are fairly predictable.) Mel's love-interest was summarily killed which sends Mel on a ballistic quest for revenge. That had me thinking about how much we, as Americans, love a great Ballistic Quest for Revenge. Then I thought about Braveheart, which is basically a three-hour Ballistic Quest for Revenge. And then I realized that many of Mel's movies are like that. Mad Max, Lethal Weapon, Payback (which I confess I haven't seen, but is apparently the quintessential Ballistic Quest for Revenge) - even Hamlet is fundamentally a revenge story (Hamlet seeks revenge for the murder of his father by his uncle Claudius.)
Hamlet: Alas, poor ghost! Ghost: Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing to what I shall unfold. Hamlet: Speak; I am bound to hear. Ghost: So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear...
Revenge movies like those of Lethal Weapon 2 ilk are a lot like Entenmann's Chocolate Chip Cookies. I mean, at the time they seem great, and you think you enjoy them, but afterwards - when you've had time to reflect - you realize they're a whole lot of emptiness. And you're left wondering - why'd I eat that whole box?
Of course, when forced to pick, I'd probably choose Hamlet over Lethal Weapon 2. But that Joe Pesci! What a card.
You can see AccuWeather.com's own Henry Margusity give all of the gory details on the coming deluge for State College on the AcccuWeather.com video player. All you need to do is the following (preferably while NOT chewing gum; I don't want anyone to get hurt.)
1. Go to AccuWeather.com.
2. Click on the "Launch Video Player" button on the left side, under "Weather Videos".
3. Click on the "Tropical Storm Ernesto" category on the right side of the player.
4. Click on "Ernesto Flood Potential" - the first video in the left in the upper right.
If, for some reason, this doesn't work - fully blame Henry's snowblower.
Well, okay, in Switzerland. But still, it's something. I figure if I focus on all of the cold and snow posts people will start believing that we actually will have a bitter cold (and snowy!) winter, and maybe our collective imaginings will count for something. All of this is, of course, directly attributable to global warming because we know that global warming causes extreme high temperatures, hurricanes, extreme low temperatures and asthma.
In terms of winter - are you looking forward to snow or dreading it? Do you have a favorite snowy memory? Leave a comment!
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