Archive for the ‘History’ Category
How many of you live in the northeastern United States and have never gotten up close and personal with a desert. I assume most people only have that opportunity if they live or visit the southwest. I found out his week that my assumption was wrong. Who knew I’d find a desert right here in Maine.
Yesterday my better-half and I were as usual out roaming around the state taking photographs. As we were cruising south on the interstate we saw a sign that said Desert Road. Never hesitating to explore we exited the expressway and drove a few miles west into the woods. What do we find? This!
Right smack dab in the middle of a huge pine forest is a fifty acre desert with sand dunes and everything. We couldn’t resist checking it out and immediately coughed up $20.00 for the grand tour. Of course the better-half was off to the gift shop to buy postcards and other weird items for her family members. I was finally able to drag out of there, through the building, and out the backdoor to the tram.
‘This is a tram.’
It’s amazing to me how this desert was initially formed and the sand is still forty feet deep in spots with dunes as high as ninety feet. There’s even a sign along the tour route where an old Spring House once stood before being buried by the shifting sands. Here’s an old photo showing the final days of that building.
‘Then’
‘Now’
The visit to the desert was fun and informative but as always the better-half was irritated that there were no live camels to ride. She’s never happy! I found this one but we couldn’t come up with a workable solution to get her in the saddle.
Then it was back on the road, stopping for a decent lunch, and then home. I’ve finally made my first and hopefully last visit to a desert. I really do hate the heat but fortunately this desert was a moderate 85 degrees and even I could handle that.
I also have to tell you that sitting on the tram can be treacherous. Some little darling left a gob of gum on the seat that stuck to my ass like glue all day. Just “be careful out there . . .”
The day after the night before. Happy Birthday America! Another Fourth of July celebration under my belt but you know, it just doesn’t feel the same as it once did. Things in this country seem to be a little out of kilter these days and I’m not too happy about it. In my opinion this posting at this time is an absolute necessity. I never thought it would come to this but here goes.
I suppose I could blame the Obama’s for everything bad that’s happening but that’s a little too easy. In reality they’re just a symptom of this countries problem, not the actual cause. Unfortunately in a representative republic (incorrectly called democracy) the will of the people rules and therein lies the real problem. It’s obvious to me and others that most people in this country no longer give a damn. The evidence is shoved in our faces every day if we’d only pay just a little attention. I could spend twenty more paragraphs explaining all of the dirty little details but everyone admits to knowing them so what’s the point. The United States is slowly turning into a much larger and richer version of Europe and if that doesn’t frighten you just a little bit then there’s really no hope for us.
Wide open borders . . . Ignoring dangerous enemies . . . Loss of respect in the world . . . Corrupt politicians . . . Lying and corrupt media . . . And a total waste of precious money, energy, and time on ridiculous social issues like gay marriage. Try to imagine the millions and millions of dollars spent on this nonsense and to what end? Just more inane and unimportant issues to further divide the country into arguing factions of passionate idiots. This country has lost the ability to create a consensus on any given topic, important or otherwise.
Maybe I’m slowly turning away from the lies and BS of the Republican and Democratic Parties and morphing into some sort of borderline, militant, and angry Libertarian. It’s going to take a powerful third party to rise from the ashes in this country with the ability to pull the strongest and smartest members from all of the other parties. They can then create a cohesive majority with good common sense goals for the country. That party must have no fear of the political correctness crowd and all of their liberal hangers-on.
So a great big happy birthday to American, a once powerful and respected nation. I’m beginning to wonder for how much longer it’ll be worth celebrating.
U . . . S . . . A U . . . S . . . A U . . . S . . . A
I’m still in bed. I don’t want to get up. I’m actually bored with this day already and it hasn’t even begun. What does that tell you? Nothing I’m willing to bet.
Today is one of those days where it’s been raining for 36 hours, the sky remains cloudy, everything is drenched, and I’m once again stuck indoors. I have a few things on my mind I’d like to accomplish but concentrating on them is problematic.
I seem to have painted myself into a corner. No that’s not really correct. I feel as though I’ve been forced into that corner and had it painted around me. I’m in the throws of a dilemma concerning of all things something that I’ve come to love over many years. I’m just a few days away from canceling my Dish Network affiliation. I have the same feelings as I had when I made the decision to eliminate my home landline telephone years ago and to convert to cellular once and for all. I’m a little uneasy because as we all know, change is sometimes difficult.
I’ve gotten to this point because cable television as it currently exists is nothing more than a scam. When I had my old telephone removed it was for the same reasons. I dislike being manipulated and lied to. We have the technology to do miraculous things these days but I’m supposed to believe that no one within the television industry can figure out how to set up a system where I can choose those stations I constantly watch and not the hundreds of channels I’m forced to accept as part of their bundle. Then add on a few surcharges and taxes and all of a sudden it’s costing me $70.00 a month to watch those twenty channels I actually frequent. That’s money I’m forced to pay because their basic bundle is being rammed down my throat leaving me just two options. Keeping paying and shut or get the hell out completely.
I’ve been working on my own bundle for TV which I suspect will be in place sometime this summer. The first thing I’ll do will be to cancel the Dish Network and have their equipment removed from my house. I’ll then sign up for Netflix and Hulu Plus which will supply me with all the movies and TV programming I could ever want to watch. Total cost for those services will be no more than $25.00 a month. I will have an additional one time cost for two ROKU devices that allow my second and third TV’s to connect with my home network with access to the Internet. Total cost for the two devices is $100.00.
I’ll end up with access to thousands of old and current movies, more television than I could ever watch, and a monthly cost that will save me $50.00 a month for a total yearly saving of $600.00. That’s enough money to pay for my entire car insurance bill for the year.
After all of my time spent researching and the possibility of major savings I’m still uneasy. I need to suck it up and make the change but for some reason I hesitate. It requires that I shake off more than forty years of brainwashing where I’ve been constantly told I can’t live without TV and the ever increasing costs they keep shoving down my throat. I’m slowly working through this situation much as I did with the telephones and very soon I’ll have more of my money in my pocket and not in theirs.
If and when they again figure out a way to continue increasing my costs I’ll be forced to do away with TV watching entirely and resort to movie watching and TV programming from my vast DVD collection.
I can only assume that many of you are in the same situation and I wish you luck. Land of the free and home of the brave? Not so much anymore.
I’m spending this rainy morning in bed for at least another hour because watching old reruns of Sports Night has become part of my morning routine. It was a show I enjoyed watching back in 2000 even though I’m really not a sports guy. The show still holds up pretty well and the inane patter between the characters still makes me smile.
Have any of you noticed just how many of the old shows seem to be resurfacing on such a large number of channels. It started two years ago for me when I stumbled upon reruns of Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. I never missed that show as a kid and thoroughly enjoyed watching all of the episodes once again. Is it a little lame? Absolutely! Is it an easy and relaxing half hour? Absolutely! Then followed Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, Dragnet, One Adam 12, and a host of others. I began to wonder why it was happening so frequently.
Can it be that the networks are beginning to see a change in viewing habits? Is it possible that the ratings for these old shows are higher than those of the half hour long commercials that seem to be on every channel? Is it more fun to spend a relaxing half hour watching a show where the good guys always win and the bad guys always lose? Can it be that people are sick to death of watching hour long shows about corrupt politicians, corrupt police officers, heroic serial killers like Dexter or pedophiles who aren’t responsible for their criminal behavior and blame everything on society? It’s a politically correct "No-No" watching those old shows where it’s celebrated to be patriotic, honest, religious, and a responsible citizen.
God forbid anyone should love their country and voice it out loud these days. We wouldn’t want to piss off the media elite who decide what we should be watching and how to think. How can the Mainstream Media possibly maintain control of the masses and continue to dictate our politics, morals, and outlook on life when we’d rather watch Joe Friday or the Lone Ranger doing the right thing no matter what. I think our kids would certainly benefit from a stream of positive role models, don’t you?
I find myself drawn to those simpler and more honest shows even though they aren’t up to speed with all of the politically correct crap we’re being fed these days. Maybe it’s time for the people of this country to once again hear some positive messages instead of the constant in-your-face drumbeat of commercials, reality shows, and just plain crap that’s filling the airways.
Find that cable channel that’s decided to step back and regain some simple and positive programming and support them. When their ratings begin to climb the advertising money will soon follow. More money begets more of the same type of programming and all of us and our kids are the winners.
I love the Spring of the year. It rejuvenates me like no other season can. I can’t wait to get out of bed in the morning, go outside in the garden, and just mellow out. I’m sorry if I sound a little like a hippie or a New Ager but it can’t be helped.
With the better-half still out of town I decided to get as much done as possible with the garden before she returns home. I traveled a few miles down the road to my favorite nursery yesterday. It’s rather small and family run but the plants and seedlings I purchase there always seem to do better than the stuff the big box stores are peddling. This small nursery takes a great deal of pride in supplying their customers with the healthiest and happiest plants they possibly can.
I arrived at the nursery the day after Mother’s Day and the place was cleaned out. The staff was busily restocking the greenhouses and repotting seedlings as fast as they could. The owner who’s become a friend of sorts over the years told me that this Mother’s Day weekend was the best weekend they’ve had since opening the nursery almost fifteen years ago. I love hearing things like that. It seems people are once again finding a home garden something they want to do and do properly.
I can thank my parents for my interest in gardening. My late Mother was really into growing a large assortment of flowers and her knowledge of herbs was amazing. She passed that knowledge on to me and I thank her everyday. To me she’s always seems to be hanging around my garden talking with the plants and checking things out as she always did.
My Dad was more into growing vegetables and I picked up a lot of information and tips from him over the years as well. He also educated me on the proper curse words to use when describing deer, groundhogs, and rabbits. His war with them was epic and never-ending and it gave the rest of the family a lot of laughs over the years. Just as a point of fact, he never won that war.
‘Culpeper’s Complete Herbal’
This is my favorite book on herbs. I’ve had my old copy for more than thirty years and for me it’s a real connection to the past. Some of the information is outdated but in it’s day it was the ultimate source for herbal facts and remedies.
I purchased a few dozen marigolds yesterday that I intend to plant around the perimeter of the garden. They seem to magically keep the deer and other pests away and it something we’ve done for years. Many of my neighbors complain constantly every summer about the wildlife that comes to visit and damage their gardens. I’m not sure just why marigolds keep them away but they do. I’ve been told it has something to do with their fragrance but who really knows?
Tomorrow my garden work continues with a general clean up but I won’t be planting anything else for at least the next two weeks. The fear of a hard frost remains a real possibility until sometime after Memorial Day.
I can’t wait to get up and get going.
I just finished allowing the federal government and the IRS to peek into my business as they so love to do. The only people worse than them is Google. I figure in just a few years Google will take over the entire earth and make information slaves of us all. But that’s a topic for another day.
Each and every time I file a tax return I become moody, disrespectful, and rebellious and today is no different. I’m not motivated to do do much else so you will be inundated with a truckload of useless crap. I haven’t done this for some time so all complaints will be trash-canned.
Here goes nothing . . . .
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The first name of of TV detective Lieutenant Columbo was Phillip.
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The Flintstones lawyer who never lost a case was called Perry Masonry.
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Rita Hayworth’s real name was Margarita Cansino.
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Spencer Tracy said he would only take the part of the Penquin in the Batman TV series if he were allowed to kill Batman.
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Sylvester Stallone used to sweep the lion cages in New York’s Central Park Zoo to pay his way while trying to break into acting.
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Sean Connery once worked as a coffin polisher.
Are you captivated yet with this stream of meaningless nonsense. Don’t get up and walk away because I have a few more tidbits.
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After Harrison Ford’s brief 1966 appearance as a bell-boy in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round he was told, “Kid, you aint got it.”
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Johnny Mathis dubbed Miss Piggy’s singing voice in The Muppet Movie.
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Liquid Paper was invented by the mother of Mike Nesmith of Monkee fame.
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Don McLean’s song “American Pie” is not named after the plane in which Buddy Holly died – the plane had no name, only a registration number: N3794N.
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Popeye’s girlfriend, Olive Oyl, wore a size 14A shoe.
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The Muppet Show was banned from TV in Saudi Arabia because one of it’s stars was Miss Piggy. Pigs are forbidden to Muslims.
And in keeping with the upcoming tax day . . .
Americans Use Sixteen Thousand Tons of Aspirin Each Year.
More light snow through the night last night but we’re expecting warmer temperatures today. As we drove through the surrounding towns this morning it became fairly obvious that Spring has officially sprung. It seems as if every maple tree in Maine is in the process of being tapped for their sap. It’s one of the best indicators that Winter is on it’s way out finally. These first two photos are examples of the old time way of tapping.
‘Old School – Low Tech’
Many of the local farming families have been doing this since just after the Pilgrims landed and like doing it the tried and true way of their predecessors. Others have succumbed to the more modern ways and now use multiple plastic tubes from multiple trees that flow into a central container. Take a look.
‘New School – High Tech’
The results are the same but there’s something really comforting about seeing it done the old way. You can almost picture the pilgrims and their ancestors tapping trees in these same areas in the mid 1600’s. History is just too cool.
As we made our way home I snapped this final picture of what looks to be a very lonely horse. He’s just hanging around and watching the world go by. I think he’ll be just as happy as the rest of us to see Spring arrive.
With the crappy weather continuing to keep me housebound I settled into my chair last night to rejoin the Lewis and Clark Expedition as they traveled through the wilds of the Louisiana Purchase (based on their journals). As you may not be aware they began their journey on May 14, 1804 and as of July 3, 1804 they arrived in the vicinity of Cow Island (now Montana)and made camp.
‘Then’
‘Now’
Cow island is located in an area called the Missouri Breaks and at that time it was a rather desolate area. In later years it became known as Cow Landing because it was one of a few places to easily ford the Missouri River. The area had been named by groups of nomadic fur traders and was the first time that Clark climbing a nearby ridge saw the Rocky Mountains in the far distance.
During the Nez Perce Indian War in 1877 the Nez Perce forded the Missouri at Cow Island, and it became the site of the Battle of Cow Island. After six days of fighting, and with Nez Perce men, women and children suffering and dying from wounds and exposure to freezing weather, Chief Joseph surrendered to the U.S. Army commanders.
From the journals of Clark:
"Our hunters had killed two of the Bighorned Animals since I had left them. we also passed another creek [Cow Creek] a few miles below Turtle Creek on the Stard. 30 yds in width which also had running water bed rocky. (we called it Windsor Cr.) late this evening we passed a very bad rapid which reached quite across the river, [NB: water deep channel narrow gravel &c. on each side] the party had considerable difficulty in ascending it although they doubled their crews and used both the rope and the pole. While they were passing this rapid a female Elk and its fawn swam down through the waves which ran very high, hence the name of Elk rapids which they instantly gave this place, these are the most considerable rapids which we have yet seen on the Missouri and in short the only place where there has appeared to be a sudden descent."
Checking current maps places them in the vicinity of The Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge near the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument east of Great Falls, Montana. It’s taken the expedition almost two months to travel from St. Louis to this point.
I’ll be back with them later tonight and I’m looking forward to their first contact with the local Indian tribes and their entry into the Rocky Mountains.
. . . To Be Continued . . .
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