Book 2 Volume 2
Founded December 17,1912 Ceased Publication Thursday February 1, 1951
First and foremost these pages make absolutely no attempt to be a real newspaper. For that one must read the Times News at http://www.tnonline.com/news/ . I write this for my own enjoyment. I hope others will enjoy it also.
I want to acknowledge the deep debt of gratitude to all those who have supported me in this endeavor. My wife Queen is my inspiration and greatly augments my efforts. She is my proofreader and censor and the one that attempts to keep me on the straight and narrow! Ha! Her love support, and help, have been indispensable. She surely has a way of cheering me up when I get too discouraged.
As things are set up now, this is the only "url" you will need with the advent of the new Palmerton Press site. http://www.thepalmertonpress.com/ Please bookmark it and save it in your computer favorites.
My web master will post the newest additions as they become available. The time frame may be different now. There is a Hell of a lot more work involved in this new operation and the old schedule of Friday may at times not be possible. However I will still try to send individual e-mails to those on my list.
I am particularly interested in reaching not only current Palmertonians, but also former Palmerton residents, who may still find the old town a source of comfort and the remembrances of happy days. Comments are welcome.
My son George, grandsons Andy, and Jason, have been instrumental in making these things appear at all. They supply the technical expertise to put and keep it on line. I can type the words and insert the pictures, but they keep the press running! In addition we are trying to put older web pages on line as seen in our index page.
Don’t expect much in the way of earth shattering events to appear here. This is how Queen and I live. To many it is dull and dry as dust but hey for a pair of geezers at 87 and 78 years what do you expect?
Oh an occasional “Bobby’s” rant will appear. This is run as an autocracy not a democracy. There is always the delete key.
At least with the addition of pictures, these pages don’t have to stand on their literary merits alone.
I also thank God for my mentors. They all suffer a now 78-year-old fool well. I wish to express my thanks to everyone.
I deeply appreciate the responses from my readers who seem to enjoy our view of life as well as the pictures of our town and home. Grandson Andy says this is basically a letter with pictures. Actually it is more of a diary with pictures.
There is one thing I want to stress very much. It is the excellent input from you readers that permit me to put this thing out and on line every week. I very much appreciate the articles and pictures my readers send me. Please keep it up.
With the gracious co-operation of Prolog we now have an up and running web page. This will eventually permit a lot more to be accomplished. My thanks to everyone.
Son George is web master. He and I can be contacted through the main Index page.
You may note that this is the second volume of the second year of these epistles therefore, at my web master's behest, we are naming it Book 2, Volume 2.
Saturday, November 27, 2004 7:09 AM 35.8 at Slatington E.S. and 35.9 in the bus stop
Here it is Saturday morning and the beginning of a new week of our "adventures". It looks like a clear but cloudy day this morning. Shortly Queen and I shall be heading out for our walk.
This morning we drove to Walnutport to Super-Fresh for some 8 O'clock coffee that was on sale. Then we went to K- Mart. The stores were quite full but not jammed with people.
While
we were at K-Mart we got a Christmas wreath
from Martha.
The wreath and our gallery
This evening Queen made homemade vegetable soup. We had the Elliston's here to dinner. Tomorrow they must return to the big city.
George, Andy, and Jason all worked hard at changing the entire look of this web page. For one thing thanks to some script that Jason wrote it now opens full size. Therefore it makes a much easier entryway to the site. Other changes were made to remove any confusion with a more straight forward index.
Many more past issues have been added as I have gotten them resurrected from the archives. Sometimes it is necessary to remove outdated links and stuff no longer valid but they are basically the same. Some of the God awful ones will never be seen. It takes a lot of time to do but I have fun doing it.
I got this from Lee Bollinger. It is good!!
Subject: smart parents
A man in Phoenix calls his son in New York the day before Thanksgiving and says,"I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough."
"Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screams.
"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the father says. We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her."
Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone.
"Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this,"
She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then,don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up.
The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "they're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way."
This also from Lee
The Joy of Parenthood
A mother passing by her daughter's bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then she saw an envelope propped up prominently on the center of the bed. It was addressed, "Mom".
With the worst premonition, she opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:
Dear Mom,
It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new boyfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Dad and you. I've been finding real passion with John and he is so nice-even with all his piercings, tattoos, beard, and his motorcycle clothes. But it's not only the passion mom, I'm pregnant and John said that we will be very happy. He already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. He wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams too.
John taught me that marijuana doesn' t really hurt anyone and we'll be growing it! for us and trading it with his friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so John can get better; he sure deserves it!! Don't worry Mom, I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Some day I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren.
Your daughter, Judith
PS: Mom, none of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbor's house I
just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my
report card that's in my desk center drawer. I love you! Call when it
is safe for me to come home.
Golly but we certainly have a lot to be thankful for. Not the least of which are wonderful kids!!
Sunday, November 28, 2004 7:44 AM 52.9 at Slatington E.S. and 52.7 in the bus stop
It must have rained hard last night. The street is full of debris and it is still raining. I slept like a rock through the whole thing. Wonder of wonders! I was only up once last night. Queen said about 1 or 1:30 AM it rained like the dickens. I didn't awaken until almost 7:30 this morning.
It wasn't raining as hard when I took this picture but it was coming down steadily. The street lights were still on at 8 AM. This morning my blood glucose is 136 and the weight is 194.
Now at 10:57 AM the rain has almost stopped. The radar shows the wost of the rain in New Jersey and headed into New York state.
I was very pleased to receive a phone call from Walter Guyer last evening. I gave him very specific instructions as to how to open these pages on his computer. I told him to simply type these words into his browser www.thepalmertonpress.com . He was able to view them in full color for the first time. I am very glad.
Since it was raining hard this morning we had to forgo our walk. So this afternoon after our nap we walked down to 5th Street across and back home. I took the camera along and the park run was really moving today.
The
street and
sidewalks were still littered with small tree branches and twigs.
Monday, November 29, 2004 7:04 AM 34.9 at Slatington E.S. and 34.5 in the bus stop
It is a clear day for the deer hunters this morning. We shall be heading for our walk soon. It will be nice to get out with my sweetie on our morning exercise routine.
Today is the dreaded sheet day. I changed my bed yesterday after my nap so it was done.
We went for our walk earlier than usual. I did take the camera. The sun had not as yet risen above the mountain but I took them anyway.
I was out in the yard when I happened to glance over at the Park bench "glider" and saw that the wind had completely blown it over and detached the seat. I had to remedy that. I got several of the tent stakes I use to support the tent and fastened a row on them along the back and secured the frame with bungee cords to the tent stakes. Hopefully that should secure it. It must have really blown. I walked right past it when I got the car out and never saw it. Gee!!
Here is an interesting site http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/common_cents/index.html
This afternoon the UPS man stopped and left us with this beautiful wreath from Mary and Jim Hill
Monday, November 29, 2004 7:04 AM 34.9 at Slatington E.S. and 34.5 in the bus stop
It is a clear day for the deer hunters this morning. We shall be heading for our walk soon. It will be nice to get out with my sweetie on our morning exercise routine.
Today is the dreaded sheet day. I changed my bed yesterday after my nap so it was done.
We went for our walk earlier than usual. I did take the camera. The sun had not as yet risen above the mountain but I took them anyway.
I was out in the yard when I happened to glance over at the Park bench "glider" and saw that the wind had completely blown it over and detached the seat. I had to remedy that. I got several of the tent stakes I use to support the tent and fastened a row on them along the back and secured the frame with bungee cords to the tent stakes. Hopefully that should secure it. It must have really blown. I walked right past it when I got the car out and never saw it. Gee!!
Here is an interesting site http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/common_cents/index.html
This afternoon the UPS man stopped and left us with this beautiful wreath from Mary and Jim Hill
Today was a big one
for Queen. It was a big wash but she managed to make spaghetti for
supper. It was among her very best efforts.
Late this afternoon I got an e- mail from one of my photographer readers , Steve Jensen.
I shall quote it here.
'Subject: Bakery in Shinsec Realty 'Store'???
Bob:
I have this really vague memory of accompanying my mother into the storefront currently occupied by Shinsec Realty [the store on the left in the picture] and that it was a bakery at the time. Do you recall what was in this shop in the early 50s?
When I asked Dennis Smith about this recollection, he thought that there had been a bakery in the brick apartment building beyond the left edge of the picture."
/Steve
Late this afternoon I got an e- mail from one of my photographer readers , Steve Jensen.
I shall quote it here.
'Subject: Bakery in Shinsec Realty 'Store'???
Bob:
I have this really vague memory of accompanying my mother into the storefront currently occupied by Shinsec Realty [the store on the left in the picture] and that it was a bakery at the time. Do you recall what was in this shop in the early 50s?
When I asked Dennis Smith about this recollection, he thought that there had been a bakery in the brick apartment building beyond the left edge of the picture."
/Steve
Here
is the photo he sent.
I do know there was definitely a bakery in the building seen in the extreme left. That was Diehl's Bakery but that was when I was a small kid. I also know that Paul Pupak had his Tailor shop on the east side of the building in question. But I don't remember what was in the Shinsec property. George Ashman will probably know!!
I got these pictures from Queen's cousin Bob Greenawalt of his granddaughter and her husband in Iraq. It must have been set to Bob from his son, also Bob. Here are the photos:
Hello everyone,
I got the pictures of my daughter, Kristina and her husband, Thomas from Iraq this morning so I forwarded two attaches to u. Let me know if u can open two attaches. Patrick, will u mind to show this picture to ur mom when u have time and also show ur son Brian, the picture of my little wee Rambo, too. She is doing fine with Thomas so far and pray for them, too. Have a nice
Thanksgiving weekend.
Bob
Tuesday, November 30, 2004 7:11 AM 33.7 at Slatington E.S. and 34.5 in the bus stop
Golly this morning the weight was 198, but the blood sugar was good at 120. Too much holiday pig out!!
Queen called me to see the color of the sky this morning. It was very red. Apparently tomorrow is to be a washout.
We went for our morning walk and got home about 7:50 AM. It is increasingly cloudy which does not portend good things weather wise. We saw George Ashman was up with his reading lamp beside his chair illuminated. It was quiet as we were out. We didn't meet a soul as we walked. I took the camera but nothing was worth photographing on our walk.
This morning Queen wants to make a short trip the Aldi and Wal-Mart for a few things.
<Later> We were up and back. The stores had a pretty good crowd of folks shopping. I found the Giant parking lot full again. Inside we met Norman Eckhart who was also shopping. I didn't realize his sister is Clarance Heydt's wife.
After we got back I went to Dr. Nicholson's office and deliver the paper and got a slip for Queen for an upcoming blood test. Then I stopped at the T.N. office where I saw Pattie and Linda.
I enjoyed Linda's column about her husband's birthday. Apparently after a scare from the doctor on some unfavorable medical readings he "got the religion" in taking care of himself. She writes a very interesting column. The ability to interject their personal lives in their stories give the Times News reporters an extra punch. I like her stuff very much.
I also read the weekly column of the Reverend Doris Bray who publishes her column every Saturday. Unfortunately I am unable to link to it as I can some of the others. Her writing has come a long way. She makes her point and at the same time keeps it very interesting with a touch of humor. It is very refreshing good stuff.
Tonight for supper Queen is having beef Chow Mein. She sent me downtown for some La Choy Beef Chow Mein mixture in the two cans fastened together but neither store had beef. They had two kinds of chicken and shrimp but no beef. After I called Queen from the parking lot I was sent back for chicken. This should prove interesting!!
Golly it was one of the best ever. The all beef flavor comes on pretty strong while the chicken softens the flavor a bit. It was really good. She can make that again!!
Yesterday I cooked up the smoked pork shoulder and put it in the bus stop.This afternoon I skimmed off the fat took the meat off of the bones and broke it up into small pieces. Then I cut up the veggies added the beans and put it all together and now it must cook slowly for quite awhile. Then after seasoning it will sit in the bus stop for several days to let the flavors blend. It should be damn good.
I got this from Steve Jensen,
Hey Palmerton Nostalgia Fans:
Just found on ebay. I never even knew there ever was a Forest Inn Park--- just a Forest Inn restaurant [now the Jack River Steak House]
/Steve
Golly I remember that
place well!! My Dad and Mom picnicked there with the family
often. As I
recall, there were swings, see-saws, a sliding board, and a
concession stand there also.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004 7:05 AM 43.1 at Slatington E.S. and 43.7 in the bus stop
It is raining hard this morning. Queen is scheduled to go to the hospital for a blood test. I will walk with her. My blood glucose was 118 and my weight 195.
<7:39 AM> We are back. It rained hard the entire walk up and back. Of course I took some pictures.
The entrance and waiting room
Queen being processed for her insurance info.
The gals in the lab and the TV in the waiting room
Here she is the" vampire gal" about to draw blood!!!
This morning Queen has been going through the closest at the bottom of the stair steps. We are weeding out a lot of old stuff that does not fit or we simply don't want. This will be another bag to take to the church clothing bin out at the end of Columbia Avenue.
This is a site for a live web camera of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller center. Also a picture that I took at dusk of the live Christmas tree.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004 7:05 AM 43.1 at Slatington E.S. and 43.7 in the bus stop
It is raining hard this morning. Queen is scheduled to go to the hospital for a blood test. I will walk with her. My blood glucose was 118 and my weight 195.
<7:39 AM> We are back. It rained hard the entire walk up and back. Of course I took some pictures.
The entrance and waiting room
Queen being processed for her insurance info.
The gals in the lab and the TV in the waiting room
Here she is the" vampire gal" about to draw blood!!!
With
all the rain
they had very few customers today. So there was no
waiting to
speak of at all. Usually at that hour all the folks that must fast are
there for blood tests as was Queen. She is having blood glucose as
well as cholesterol tested.
This morning Queen has been going through the closest at the bottom of the stair steps. We are weeding out a lot of old stuff that does not fit or we simply don't want. This will be another bag to take to the church clothing bin out at the end of Columbia Avenue.
This is a site for a live web camera of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller center. Also a picture that I took at dusk of the live Christmas tree.
http://www.earthcam.com/events/christmastree/main.html
http://wnbc.feedroom.com/iframeset.jsp?ord=364843
At 6 PM I really enjoyed these live video shots. The Zamboni came out on the ice dressing it for the skaters. Cars can be seen moving in the background and on the windy night one can see the lighted boughs of the tree swaying in the wind. It is just remarkable! There is so much good that technology can do. I never cease to be amazed!!
Thursday, December 02, 2004 7:12 AM 34.6 at LVIA and 33.6 in the bus stop
Golly the weight is OK at 196 but the blood glucose is an astounding 117!! We will be heading for a walk as soon as I have had my morning jump start for my heart. My cup of 8 O'clock coffee!!
<8:10 AM> We are back from our walk. It takes us about 1/2 hour to walk our mile but we do it. I got two pictures this morning.
Today Queen
wants to finish our shopping so that will keep us busy.
We are back from that trip. On the way up we stopped at the dry cleaners for me to drop off Queen's L L Bean green winter insulated coat that had gotten grease or some bad stain on it. I had a chance to speak with Fred Shanstine who was in charge of this particular outlet store. I haven't had a chance to speak with him for a long time. He is a good man!!
The stores were not too crowded so we were home by 11:15. We did most of it the other day anyway. We got a beautiful poinsettia at Aldi this morning. It was very full and bright red. The amazing thing was that it was less than $3.00. They had an entire rack of them. They will go fast at that price and that quality. As Alfie Davies used to sa,"It was the unbeatable combination of cheap and good"!!
Tonight for supper we are going to have some of my ham and bean soup. At Giant we got two boneless salmon steaks that we shall have tomorrow night.
Golly but that ham and bean soup turned out very well. I got some ham soup base at Giant and added some of it to the mixture. It really helped a lot. It was damn good!!
I got these picture from my brother-in-law Walter Guyer. I think they are astounding!!
Subj: Pictures from the North Pole
Date:11/30/04 6:01:18 PM Eastern Standard Time
Shot from the USS HONOLULU
(Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine) at the Arctic Circle, 280 miles from the North Pole.
Friday, December 03, 2004 7:02 AM 24.3 at Slatington E.S. and 25.2 in the bus stop
It is mighty chilly this morning. We will be going for our walk soon. It was mighty cold out there, but with no wind it wasn't bad walking at all. As one can see it was very frosty this morning.
We cut our walk half a block short but it was still a good walk. It looked like Gail Nonnemaker and Shirley Neff walking ahead of us. They were soon out of sight for us geezers.
After retrieving my morning E-mail I sat here looking at the live camera of Rockefeller center's magnificent Christmas tree with the skaters on the ice. You could also see all of the traffic moving in the background.
Folks milling about probably headed for work now at 8:21 AM. All of this is in real time!!
We went downtown to pay the water bill and also to get a few items at IGA that we forgot yesterday. As usual we stopped in to see our friends at the Times News for a moment..
The Borough Hall decorated
I was sitting here watching the ice skaters at Rockefeller plaza skating around the rink. I watched it in full screen mode. One can't make out detail of the individual skaters but some of them were very good. Of course the guy who may never have had skates on in his life was there also. Lots of spills were evident. !!
It is time to end this weeks epistle. Queen and I proofread it and it is ready to be put on line.
Please love one another, Mom and Bob {Queen and Bobby}
We are back from that trip. On the way up we stopped at the dry cleaners for me to drop off Queen's L L Bean green winter insulated coat that had gotten grease or some bad stain on it. I had a chance to speak with Fred Shanstine who was in charge of this particular outlet store. I haven't had a chance to speak with him for a long time. He is a good man!!
The stores were not too crowded so we were home by 11:15. We did most of it the other day anyway. We got a beautiful poinsettia at Aldi this morning. It was very full and bright red. The amazing thing was that it was less than $3.00. They had an entire rack of them. They will go fast at that price and that quality. As Alfie Davies used to sa,"It was the unbeatable combination of cheap and good"!!
Tonight for supper we are going to have some of my ham and bean soup. At Giant we got two boneless salmon steaks that we shall have tomorrow night.
Golly but that ham and bean soup turned out very well. I got some ham soup base at Giant and added some of it to the mixture. It really helped a lot. It was damn good!!
I got these picture from my brother-in-law Walter Guyer. I think they are astounding!!
Subj: Pictures from the North Pole
Date:11/30/04 6:01:18 PM Eastern Standard Time
Shot from the USS HONOLULU
(Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine) at the Arctic Circle, 280 miles from the North Pole.
Friday, December 03, 2004 7:02 AM 24.3 at Slatington E.S. and 25.2 in the bus stop
It is mighty chilly this morning. We will be going for our walk soon. It was mighty cold out there, but with no wind it wasn't bad walking at all. As one can see it was very frosty this morning.
We cut our walk half a block short but it was still a good walk. It looked like Gail Nonnemaker and Shirley Neff walking ahead of us. They were soon out of sight for us geezers.
After retrieving my morning E-mail I sat here looking at the live camera of Rockefeller center's magnificent Christmas tree with the skaters on the ice. You could also see all of the traffic moving in the background.
Folks milling about probably headed for work now at 8:21 AM. All of this is in real time!!
We went downtown to pay the water bill and also to get a few items at IGA that we forgot yesterday. As usual we stopped in to see our friends at the Times News for a moment..
Two
very nice people, Pattie and my Queen
The Borough Hall decorated
I was sitting here watching the ice skaters at Rockefeller plaza skating around the rink. I watched it in full screen mode. One can't make out detail of the individual skaters but some of them were very good. Of course the guy who may never have had skates on in his life was there also. Lots of spills were evident. !!
It is time to end this weeks epistle. Queen and I proofread it and it is ready to be put on line.
Please love one another, Mom and Bob {Queen and Bobby}