Founded
December 17,1912 Ceased Publication
Thursday February 1, 1951
Book 1 Volume
31
Our
Butternut
This is copy of Volume 31 re-worked
with Nvu
At this time I
want to acknowledge the
deep debt of gratitude to all those who have supported me in this
endeavor. My wife Queen is my mainstay and greatly augments my efforts.
I realize that I sometimes must drive her nuts with my ravings and
antics. Her support has been my backbone.
My son George,
grandsons; Andy and Jason
have been instrumental in making these things appear at all. They all
suffer an old fool well, my thanks to them all. I also deeply
appreciate the responses from my readers. I regret that some still have
problems opening the pictures. The responses from readers have been
wonderful. I appreciate you all. Bob
Saturday, June 19,
2004 7:15 AM and it is 70 Deg at LVIA and
70.1 in the bus stop.
It looks like a
great weekend weather
wise coming up. Last night Fritz called to inquire about a potential
visit and swim today. It sounded great to us. We promptly invited Tommy
for dinner. He is going to Portland, Pa today to dig for Indian
artifacts with his friend Don Kline, the noted archaeologist.
This morning the
blood glucose was 129
and the weight 200. We went for our walk this morning. It was
the first in three days. The humidity precluded that for the last few
mornings. It was wonderful to be able to get out. The hot humid weather
makes Queen a virtual prisoner in our house with the air conditioner in
full time use.
Queen wants to go
to Super-Fresh this
morning to look for the strawberries they will be having on sale.
It was beautiful
up in the tent this
morning. This has been a marvelous growing season. The flowers that we
planted up near the “tent”[park bench area] are really beginning to do
what we planned for them. They look great from up there.
I
really don’t know what these yellow flowers may be, but they are
growing in profusion this year.
I sat up there in the tent this
morning with my first cup of
morning coffee contemplating life. I remembered one of my early lessons
in “obscene profits”. Back in the late 1950’s my bother Dick and I were
out at the cottage that used to be Dr. Rosenberry’s summer retreat at
Fernbrook servicing a TV. After his death it had been sold to a man
from Philadelphia who ran a metal products company. He and his
“friends” came up here weekends. We were out there repairing the
television set. One of his cronies noticed the cigar in my uniform
pocket and was obviously dying for a smoke. He offered to buy it from
me for $5.00. My God it was a Philly cigar that I paid a nickel for in
the first place. Had he phrased it differently I would have given it
to him. Of course I sold it to him!! I learned a valuable lesson as
another part of human nature.
We just got back from Super Fresh
with our strawberries and a small
turkey breast that Queen is planning to have tomorrow for dinner.
Sharon Minnich was there also shopping for a Father’s Day dinner. The
store was busy with shoppers.
After lunch I went up to the park
bench with my cinnamon tea. Queen
later joined me and we just were able to sit, rock, and talk. Life is
indeed good.
Today is the big car cruise downtown,
except that the cruise part of it
was canceled due to behavior problems of some unruly entrants. The town
is inundated with cars of all descriptions. It is a big thing with car
lovers. Me, I could care less. I have my own foibles.
This afternoon after 3 PM, Belva and
Fritz arrived and we all went to
the pool. The water was 76 degrees and the swimming was superb. Queen
and I water walked and it was like old times walking with her there.
Fritz’s
broken arm swim style is unmistakable
The
mushroom and basketball court
Our
lifeguard
Tommy, Queen and Belva
When we got there
George Ashman was
talking with Doc Cyr. We all joined in and had a great conversation. I
went for a swim and was followed a bit later by Fritz. George and
Howard left. I saw Tommy arrive as I was swimming my laps.
Then we all had
dinner in the bus stop
and were able to converse with dessert on the front porch. Queen and I
really enjoy these times. This is family and all enter in the
conversation. Tommy was here also, Hey he is practically family
anyway, whether he likes it or not!
Sunday,
June 20, 20047:21 am, 54 deg at LVIA and 54.3 in the
bus stop
I is a beautiful
Father’s Day this
morning. But the best part was the families get together yesterday.
Father’s day is fine but it all hinges on family.
The blood glucose
this morning was 127.
I am a lucky man and I know it. I enjoyed my coffee at the park bench
and Queen took her shower.
Now at 11:24 AM we
are back from our
walk and will be going to Walmart soon for a few items.
We were able to
accomplish our objective
and were back in about an hour and a half.
About 3 PM I went to the pool for my
swim. George was there. He was
shortly followed by Doc Cyr. Tommy came and we all sat around and had a
great time. Doc and George solved all the borough’s problems as well as
Doc supplying George with a few “suggestions” for the “enrichment” of
his life and reducing his wealth all at the same time. Doc is always so
understanding in looking out for George’s well being!! Ha!
Tommy was over for
supper part of which
he supplied and then we all sat on the porch and had our dessert and
talked.
Monday, June 21,
2004 64 deg at LVIA and 50.9 in the bus stop
It is a sunny cool comfortable day
today. This morning the blood
glucose was 112 and the weight 202.
This morning up on
the park bench I
could hear the beeps of heavy equipment’s back up warning signals. The
men arrived in force to start up at the Duris lot. The company is from
Syracuse, N.Y. Now I suspect they do not drive down here every morning.
I do not know who owns the lot . Some of the men had white
uniforms and
looked like environmental protection suits. Who knows working here in
this dangerous "Superfund" site must require extreme measures to protect
the workers! Golly how I survived 77 years right here is beyond me.
Sheez!!! By mid morning in full sun the suits disappeared. Ha!!
We went for our
walk and I took these
pictures. Later I went for my swim. It was marvelous.
I got this from Russ Howell in Texas.
I am not a big golf fan, but I do
occasionally watch it and like anything else, it is difficult to do
well.
The
following is not intended to offend fans of tennis, basketball,
football or baseball. It is, rather, an attempt to put everything in
its proper perspective...
Ever
wonder why golf is growing in popularity and why people who don't
even play go to tournaments or watch it on TV? The following truisms
may shed some light:
Golf
is an honorable game, with the overwhelming majority of players
being honorable people who don't need referees.
Golfers
don't have some of their players in jail every week.
Golfers
don't kick dirt on, or throw bottles at, other people.
Professional
golfers are paid in direct proportion to how well they
play.
Golfers
don't get per diem and two seats on a charter flight when they
travel between tournaments.
Golfers
don't hold out for more money, or demand new contracts, because
of another player's deal.
Professional
golfers don't demand that the taxpayers pay for the
courses on which they play.
When
golfers make a mistake, nobody is there to cover for them or back
them.
The
PGA raises more money for charity in 1 year than the NFL does in 2.
You
can watch the best golfers in the world up close, at any
tournament, including the majors, all day every day for $25 or $30. The
cost for even a nosebleed seat at the Super Bowl costs around $300 or
more, unless you buy it from scalpers, in which case it's $1,000+.
You
can bring a picnic lunch to the tournament golf course, watch the
best in the world, and not spend a small fortune on food and drink. Try
that at one of the taxpayer funded baseball or football stadiums. If
you bring a soft drink into a ballpark, they'll give you two options --
get rid of it or leave.
In
golf you cannot fail 70% of the time and make $9 million a season,
like the best baseball hitters (300 batting average) do.
Golf
doesn't change its rules to attract fans.
Golfers
have to adapt to an entirely new playing area each week.
Golfers
keep their clothes on while they are being interviewed.
Golf
doesn't have free agency.
In
their prime, Palmer, Norman, and other stars, would shake your hand
and say they were happy to meet you. In his prime, Jose Canseco wore
T-shirts that read "Leave Me Alone."
You
can hear birds chirping on the golf course during a tournament.
At
a golf tournament, (unlike at taxpayer-funded sports stadiums and
arenas) you won't hear a steady stream of four letter words and nasty
name-calling while you're hoping that no one spills beer on you.
Tiger
hits a golf ball over twice as far as Barry Bonds hits a
baseball.
Golf
courses don't ruin the neighborhood.
And
Finally: Here's a little slice of golf history that you might
enjoy:
Why
do golf courses have 18 holes - not 20, or 10, or an even dozen?
During
a discussion among the club's membership board at St. Andrews in
1858, a senior member pointed out that it takes exactly 18 shots to
polish off a fifth of Scotch. By limiting himself to only one shot of
Scotch per hole, the Scot figured a round of golf was finished when the
Scotch ran out. Now you know.
Bottoms
up!
This article certainly makes a lot of
sense to me. Watching someone
like Tiger Woods play is a real treat. I would never last at the game.
My fuse is too short. Hell I can get angry at home without going out
on a golf course and making a complete A-- of myself.
I went for my afternoon swim about
3:15 PM. I didn’t see George Ashman
there at all. Romaine Beige was just finishing her laps so I availed
myself on the lane she just vacated. I swam 10 laps and rested before
finishing the second ten laps. By the time I was finished George had
arrived. We chatted for a time and then he had to leave for a meeting
tonight. He got a case of Poison Ivy while pulling weeds at the
Walnutport Canal Associations clean up last Saturday. I will not pull
it out anymore but I will use the gas powered weed whacker and keep it
in bounds.
We got a pair of solar powered lamps to place at the
steps leading up to the house. I put them in the ground but they were
too low with all the foliage. Today I rigged an extension on their
shaft holding them upright. It seems to be satisfactory now.
Today being washday we dined in
God’s restaurant this evening.
Wonderful!!!!
Here is a site one may find very
interesting. It is a site where one
can obtain information about all the museums of the world. It is an
excellent site.
http://www.museumstuff.com/
Tuesday,
June 22, 2004 7:22 AM 68 deg at LVIA and 66.7 in the
bus stop
The weight this morning is 202
and the
blood glucose is 126. With these new test strips, it is consistently
lower.
Due to the
increasing humidity we only
went for a short walk this morning. Now it is raining. I suspect the
entire day will be showery. We noticed in the course of our
walk that the people up at the Duris lot were cutting away an opening
from the street for a driveway.They removed the sidewalk in whole
blocks and stored them to be reused,
as needed.This was not the gang that was there
yesterday but a man with a blue
backhoe who had worked often there in the past.
We went downtown
this morning and went
into IGA for a few items. We stopped for a moment at the TN for a quick
“hello”. All were busy as beavers there.
George was out on the church bank
with the electric weed whacker. He
was driven in by the earlier rain but now is back finishing up the
job. I called the pool this afternoon and as I suspected it
was closed.
Now
he has it made!! It is nice of Fred to let us live here. Ha!!
Tonight we had our
supper out in the bus
stop in the rain. As usual it was first class.
After we ate we sat up in the “tent”
with our coffee and shared
dessert. During dinner Butternut is under the picnic table watching in
case something happens to fall his way. While we are up in the tent he
lies under the bench we moved over from the east side of the house.
This sheltered him during the light rain we were having. Now Queen is
washing the dishes and my turn will come soon to dry them.
Earlier I got an
e-mail from my Delaware
experts concerning the progress of the other computer. They are good at
keeping me informed as to the progress of the repairs. They found a ton
of obsolete files and useless stuff that they removed. It will come
back a much leaner machine. Oh it won’t take me long to fill it up
again. <Sigh>
Now the sun is out
and it looks
beautiful.
Wednesday, June
23, 2004 7:11 AM 64 deg at LVIA and 64 deg in
the bus stop.
This morning the blood glucose is 114
and the weight 201. It is a cloudy
morning today. It is still rather humid but better weather is
predicted as the day wears on.
I saw Lee
Bollinger on his walk while I
sat drinking my 8 O’clock coffee up in the “tent” this morning.
The men with the
backhoe are up in the
“Duris” lot working at cutting a driveway and foundation for the new
house being constructed.
This
morning I noticed the Gloriosa Daises are blooming now. They are just
beautiful.
There
are several varieties of Gloriosa Daises in our flowerbeds
We went for our walk this
morning and in the course of our travels we met Frank Johannes who
lives next door to the new construction site. Now it is clear what is
going on. Apparently an environmental test and remediation is being
done in the area. If a property is “contaminated,” a special
environmental company must clean it up before work can be completed and
certified as clean. This property was considered “contaminated” in the
front but not in the back thus the men in the
space suits for the last few days Geez!!
Here I am, a
medical marvel, having been
born and raised in the house we live in now and have lived here all my
life and still alive at 77 years of age. <Grin>
This living in a
Superfund site is a
double-edged sword. I know Tommy has spoken about people who he
has delivered furniture to who swear they would never live here in this
polluted environment. I suspect they are surprised he actually seems
normal in appearance. No extra arm or two heads. Ha!! I strongly
suspect someone is making a pile of money out of this clean up stuff.
Golly when I closed my doors of my
television service and repair
business in the 1980’s I had customers then who were dying to live
here in this area who were coming from New York City. I
recall a man who ran a small butcher shop in the Bronx who bought a
cottage on Kingswood Lake up near Kresgeville, Pa. That lake was about
the size of a postage stamp and he thought it was truly paradise. He
was a nice old man and I liked him.
I met and served a lot of very nice
people in my business. I really do
miss the contact with people. One can become quite a student of human
nature that way. For one thing when you are in their homes and working
behind the TV you almost become a piece of furniture as far as they
are concerned. This is the best way to view people as they really are.
Some put on “airs” but most were themselves, warts and all. It was a
great experience.
However some of the New Yorkers I
dealt with seemed to represent some
of the worst features of city life. They seemed to import a lot of city
problems. Those folks can think Palmerton is Death Valley for all I
care.
This was a great
morning to work
outside. Queen was busy trimming dead blossoms as well as her general
area clean up. She cleaned off the new potting table and now thanks to
her one can actually see and use it. She organized and put other
equipment into boxes and piles. It looks 100% better now.
I went down to
Shea’s and got some bug
powder to put on the tomato plants. I saw Tommy Ziegenfus, a retired
telephone lineman, there and we spoke. Some of the tomato plants were
developing curled leaves. I applied that stuff and then cut the grass.
As usual I took several breaks. At times I was able to sweet-talk
Queen into sitting with me. We both took rest breaks. After this I fed
the tomato plants for the week.
This afternoon I
went to the pool and
had an excellent swim. There was a goodly crowd there today. Larry was
installing the signal flags used in swim meets. Those will be
forthcoming soon. When I got there George was not there so I parked
myself on the near side of the pool and swam my laps. George arrived
while I was swimming and I went over to talk with him after my swim. He
still has his Poison Ivy but it seems better. There were lots of
regulars there swimming while I was there.
Tonight we had
dinner in the bus stop
and then had coffee and dessert up in the “tent”. We sat there for well
over an hour. We were just drinking in the beauty and having an
excellent conversation. Honestly since we got the tent I have spoken
with her more than I have in a long time. We both love it!!!
Thursday,
June 24, 2004 7:09 AM 59 Deg at LVIA and 60.2 in
the bus stop
The blood glucose
was 121 and the weight
202. It is a bit hazy this morning but otherwise seems OK. We plan to do
our shopping this morning.
I sat in the tent
for my first cup of
coffee and then Queen reminded me about taking the trash up to the
alley. After that we went for our morning walk.
There
is one of my first tomatoes as well as a Cosmo bloom
It was great just being able to walk
together. It was very comfortable
walking. Once again we met Frank Johannes as he was walking. He asked
if we went to the festivities at the fitness center yesterday. I forgot
all about it. They were having a first year party with refreshments.
Now that the pool is open that is my first love. I do feel better
since I have been swimming regularly. It is going better and better. I
have to put some more capital back in what I call the exercise bank. I
draw down on it all winter.
Apparently these environmental people
are all over town cleaning spots
deemed by the government as dangerous. Imagine that!
We are back from our shopping trip
well before noon. We got an early
start and kept out of Walmart.
I went for my swim
this afternoon and it
was an excellent swim. It is getting easier as time wears on. George
was there but had to leave for an early evening meeting. On the way
home I saw that they were removing the ground at what I refer to as the
Clayton McFarland property at 3rd Street and Princeton Avenue.
Here
is the scene at the Duris lot.
When I got back
Queen was busy still
going through old financial records and eliminating really old stuff.
So I made the supper. Afterwards we had dessert and coffee up in the”
tent” until about 7PM.
I came across some old pictures this
evening I shall share
with you all.
This
is a picture of how my Dad’s garden grew back in the 1940’s
Friday, June 25,
2004am 7:22 63 deg at LVIA and 66.2 in the
bus stop
Today the blood
glucose is 132 and the
weight 202. It looks like there will thundershowers today.
We went for our walk this morning. We
met Frank Johannes once again on his return home.
Before breakfast
and after our walk I
raked over the part of the garden in the upper end of the property
where I attempted to plant lettuce. I pulled it all out and planted grass
seed watered it and covered it with burlap, watered it again and am
now officially out of the “in ground” garden business. All my stuff is
now planted in containers. That has been a study in frustration.
For some time I have been told about
Dr. Cyr’s latest construction
project. It will be an entrance way into the property of Michael
Carty. His home can partially be seen as one goes up Sand Quarry Road,
next to Dr. Nicholson’s place on Columbia Avenue. Access is gained by
going all the way up 5th Street to the top and take a right turn and
follow it out. There is a complex of several lovely new homes there. It
is obvious that this is not exactly the low rent district of Palmerton.
Howard
is doing a first class job
Well it is time to end this
weeks page and send it to the proofreader.
Please Love one another, Mom
and Bob [Queen and Bobby]
"Actually,
a government bureau is the nearest thing to
eternal life we'll
ever see on this earth!"
"I
have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like
if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress."
Ronald
Reagan
