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“Uh, pardon, but your roots are showing”

Posted on September 30th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in politics

OK, I don’t really color my hair. My hair is double-G (glorious gray) and I love it that way. No, in this case, my roots that may be showing are my conservative roots. To pacify my two kids who read this  blog (maybe), I will endeavor to make this post as apolitical as I can.

There were some disturbing articles and letters to the editor in my “hometown” newspaper today. That would be the Stars and Stripes, the military version of a daily newspaper. In fact, it’s not a bad paper to read. Anyway, I was disturbed by some of the articles today. In the first one, a young wife and young son of a fallen Marine are about to be deported from the USA and sent back to the mother’s home of Okinawa. Now don’t get me wrong, Okinawa is not that bad of a place to live. I spent 6 years there, and I’m sure that it is MUCH improved since the 1970s. Nevertheless, this young woman and her son deserve a break. Here’s the story in a nutshell. This young Okinawan woman fell in love with an American Marine and they had a son together. The Marine deployed to Iraq and was tragically killed on August 10, 2008, about a month after they were married by proxy by separately signing papers in Iraq and Okinawa. OK, I know that the traditional practice is to get married first and then have kids. In fact, that’s my personal bias, but let’s give this young woman a break. Her 22-year old late husband’s wish was that their son could grow up in his hometown in Tennessee, as an American, surrounded by friends and family. The woman and son have been living there with his family. But she is facing deportation because of a provision in the US Immigration law. The US State Department does not recognize the marriage because it was not consummated. Good grief!!! The guy was serving his country and gave his life doing so. How about some compassion, Congress? Why am I pleading to Congress? It seems that the lady’s only relief is the passage of a private bill, and only a handful of those get passed every year. If you think this is an outrage, ask your congressperson to vote for the bill sponsored by Representative John Duncan, Jr (R-Tennessee). The fallen Marine’s name is Sgt. Michael Ferschke, Jr., and his widow is Hotaru Ferschke. Let’s see if we can see justice done here.

The second story involves troop levels in Afghanistan. A year ago, we were bombarded on radio and television with “Change is coming to America,” and “Yes we can!” That’s pretty typical for an election year. We hear lots of promises. And, yes, I’m picking on our current president because he’s the guy who won. Had the other guy won, there’d be plenty of campaign promises to pick apart as well. In this case, however, we heard much about a complete withdrawal from Iraq and a different focus in Afghanistan. We were pretty much told that if we voted for McCain, we’d be bogged down in an unwinnable war. I am taken back to the election of 1964. The candidates were President Lyndon Johnson and Sen. Barry Goldwater. Goldwater was the leading conservative of his day and despised by the liberals. We were told over and over again, that if we voted for Goldwater, we’d get mired down in Viet Nam in an unwinnable war. Goldwater inexplicably chose General Curtis Lemay (former commander of the Strategic Air Command) as his running mate (anything sound familiar there?). The cynical anti-campaign slogan was “Bombs away with Curtis Lemay”.) Well, a few people voted for Goldwater (in fact, he lost in one of the biggest landslides in American political history), and the pundits were right. People voted for Goldwater and we got mired down in an unwinnable war in Viet Nam. The only difference was that it was Johnson, not Goldwater, who got us there. His fault? No, not really. The circumstances of the day got us there. The problem is that politicians can say anything during a campaign, even outright lie, and the public seems to have a selective memory. Remember, “Read my lips….no new taxes.”?

Well, now the new president has fired one commander in Afghanistan and brought in a highly respected general to replace him. GEN Stanley McChrystal is very well though of in military circles. Yet he said in an interview recently that he has spoken to the President only once during his tenure. (I think that they might be talking personally in the very near future if news reports are correct). But is the White House listening? Supposedly, the general has said in a classified report that we need more troops to keep from losing the war (and if the report is classified, how come it is being reported in the press? But I digress). What about earlier promises? That’s the problem, once a candidate gets into the White House, reality sets in. Campaign promises often go out the window. I just hope that someone can decide what’s best for the country and not what’s best for the politicians and do the right thing.

Finally, there was a letter to the editor that disturbed me. This is from a woman who is the wife of a military member. They came to Germany on what is called PCS orders. That’s Permanent Change of Station orders. The term “permanent” is relative. It usually means three years. This family, because of the current economic situation, found themselves “upside down” on their mortgage. Because the value of their home had declined, they owed more on their mortgage than their home was worth. But they could not wait out the storm; they were ordered to Germany. They can’t sell their home because the lienholder will not accept less than the value of the unpaid balance on the mortgage. They are stuck with a home that they can’t sell and are nearing foreclosure. Isn’t there help? Well, there should be. President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 back in February. According to the letter writer, there was a provision for $555 million in a Homeowners Assistance Program to help military members and their families. Again, according to the letter writer, the government is holding on to that $555M and not helping the very people whom they are supposed to be helping. This is disturbing. How about we get it right?

OK, I’m climbing down off my soapbox now. I just hate it when our military members and their families are getting screwed by our government. It just doesn’t seem right to me.

Retired-Ed

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Why Do They Do That, Part II

Posted on September 29th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in Daily Life

It’s a dark and dreary day here in northern Bavaria today, and I guess the weather suits my mood, or vice versa. But more about my mood  later. First, it’s time to visit another chapter in “Why do they do that?”.

Yesterday, I was involved in an incident that almost cost someone serious injury or even his life, and almost cost me a monumental fine and a probably loss of my driver’s license. I was driving home from running an errand and made a left turn onto a street called “Im Tal”, which literally means, “in the valley”.  The road runs along a flood plain that separates the road from the Wern River, the sometimes small stream and sometimes raging river that runs through our village. Upon making the turn, I noticed a bicyclist making the same turn in front of me, and there was a parked car directly in front of him. To understand what happened next, you need to understand the facts of life surrounding driving in Germany. Over here, the streets are often so narrow that a parked car will take up a driving lane. Cars on that side of the road (the right side, silly) are expected to wait until oncoming traffic passes and you then have an open lane through which to maneuver past the parked car. It’s instinctive to us by now. The cyclist needed to pass the parked car, and I was behind him. There wasn’t enough room for him to pass the parked car and for me to pass him at the same time. He looked around at me, and I motioned for him to go ahead. I waited for him to get past the car, and then I began to pass him.

Just as I was about even with him, and we were less than 2 feet apart, he decided to make an abrupt left turn DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF MY CAR, in order to take a walking/bike path down onto the flood plain. I was still going slowly enough that I could slam on my brakes and miss him. By less than 2 inches! I swear that that is not an exaggeration. There was a witness to this madness. Some guy up the street was trimming his hedge. He looked at me and just shook his head. I went home and changed my underwear.

In my heart, I would not have been at fault. But I have no illusions about what the law would say. The law would say that I should have taken every precaution to avoid the cyclist and to anticipate that he would do something stupid. Well, I didn’t anticipate that he would do something stupid, but I did take every precaution to avoid him. Thankfully, I succeeded. But why do they do that?

Well, back to my mood. I suppose that I am not adjusting well to retirement yet. There are so many things that I thought I could do, but circumstances just don’t seem to permit them. I sit around every day and watch my liver spots grow, and that isn’t much fun. I need to find some focus to my life. I thought that this blog would provide that focus, but there has been nothing interesting to write about lately. Of course, there is plenty of work to do around the house and I could focus on that. I really, really need to get some things done around here, and I will. Meanwhile, I’ll have to let you know when all of the fun begins.

Retired-Ed

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I Wonder Which One it Was

Posted on September 23rd, 2009 by Retired-Ed in History

I read a news story yesterday that was reported in several outlets about how President Obama is spending the night at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel’s presidential suite. It’s a 4-bedroom room suite  that goes for $7000 per night! Wow! I was already planning my blog post which would read “Your Tax Dollars at Work” and would bash Obama’s ease at spending our tax money when I read on. The article states, “Every US president since Herbert Hoover has either stayed at or lived in the Waldorf Astoria.” (emphasis added).

I have to admit my age. I’ve been around on this earth since the Truman administration. (Give ‘em hell, Harry!….a good Missouri boy), and I can’t remember any president who actually lived in a New York City hotel. I need help on this one, readers. I know that the Trumans lived in Blair House while the White House was being remodeled. President Truman almost was assassinated there when some misguided Puerto Rican nationalists stormed Blair House and shot and killed a Secret Service agent. One of the two attackers was also killed.

Ike lived in the White House and vacationed at his Gettysburg farm. Kennedy probably had several “safe houses” around the country when Jackie was gone, but he spent his public vacations at Hyannis Port. Johnson had his ranch along the Pedernales River in Texas. I don’t recall him ever living in New York City. Nixon had his “Western White House” in San Clemente; but he may have been the one who lived in a NYC hotel. I can’t recall where Ford spent his time away from the White House. It was probably back home in Michigan, but I just can’t recall.

Carter went to Plains, GA for his R&R away from the White House. Reagan went to California, while Bush 41 went to Kennebunkport or Texas. Clinton spent his time in the Oval Office with interns. Did he have a home away from the White House? I can’t remember him going to Hope, AR for his vacation. I think he visited with celebrities like golfer Greg Norman at their homes. I don’t remember him actually living in NY until Hillary decided that she wanted to be a senator from that state.

Bush 43 went to his ranch in Crawford, TX, so that brings us to Obama, and he hasn’t been in office long enough to have “lived in” the Waldorf Astoria. So who the heck was it? My guess is that it must have been FDR. It could have been Hoover, but my money is on FDR.

Does anyone know the answer to this question? I’d really like to find out.

Retired-Ed

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Rothenburg, Part II

Posted on September 17th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in Travel

There is so much more to Rothenburg than the churches, but they really stand out. The Rathaus (city hall) is in the center of town, surrounding by a “Marktplatz” (marketplace). Its front steps make for a convenient place to sit and rest for the many young visitors to the city. The front of the Rathaus is shown here. A vegetable vendor is shown at the bottom left. The “Platz” or town square is a popular meeting place and the “Night Watchman’s Tour” starts and ends here every evening. The tour guide is very personable, and the tours are given both in German and in English.

The other half of the Rathaus complex, to the left in the previous picture, houses the Glockenspiel. People will hang around the square as the top of the hour approaches. Then, at the appointed time, the bells will ring, the little windows will open, and our friendlybeer drinkers will do their thing. It isn’t quite as involved as some other big clocks (such as Munich), but is it still quite a sight to see. As you can see in the picture, it was straight-up twelve o’clock when we were watching and waiting for our lunch to arrive. While we were enjoying a delightful lunch at an outdoor cafe, my cell phone rang, and the caller asked for my friend. She said that the lady’s husband had told her how to find his wife. Since I was nosy, I asked (I knew the caller) if she was about to offer my friend a job. The answer was yes! So the day was doubly good. We had a nice time touring the city and she got hired into a teaching job. Not a bad way to spend a jet-lagged visit to a new country. I guess she had a good time. Her husband tells me that they are going back there again this weekend! While we were watching the clock do its thing, we ran into two American ladies from Texas who were having the time of their lives traveling around Germany. I helped one of them find a bank with an ATM so that she could buy more Euros. Yes, those Euros go quickly in this day and age. I definitely miss the more favorable exchange rates of years gone by.

And speaking of years gone by, it is possible to get a ride in a “Kutsch” while visiting Rothenburg o.d.T. A “Kutsch” is a horse-drawn wagon. This probably isn’t such a big deal to many people because you can get carriage rides in many cities. Still, it is a unique way to see the city. Can you see how this would be fun to check out the sights in an old medieval walled city? One of the sights to see on anybody’s tour is Kathe Wohlfarht’s Weihnachtsdorf, or Christmas Village. This is frequently the highlight of anybody’s visit to Rothenburg. Photography, if I remember correctly, is forbidden inside the village, but you can see the exterior here. You can read about the store here. It is very difficult to explain all of the treasures that can be found inside. You need to experience it to believe it. Imagine one large Christmas store selling ornaments from all over, lace, food, nutcrackers and smokers, all year long. It is amazing, and is truly deserving of its fame.

Even great days have to come to an end. As we reached the far end of the city, we came to a garden that hung over the valley. From our vantage point, we could look out over the countryside and also look back to the main part of the walled city. Here is one of our views. I’m sure that you have figured out that this is the view of the surrounding countryside. It was a bit hazy that day, but that didn’t stop us from soaking in the beauty of the place. At one time, I worked not 30 minutes from this location. In fact, I recently retired from that job. I wonder what it would have been like to have lived here in this area and commute to my job. I’ll never know, but I think it would have been very nice.

Looking in the other direction, we had a view of the buildings and the wall, along with some of the city gates. I feel so fortunate that I can come here time and time again, while other visitors get just one shot at it. And I still haven’t visited all of the museums. I guess I’ll just have to go back again and again.

To help me remember that I’d like to do just that, I’ll have this final picture to help me visualize what I want to see. So there you have it. I took over 70 pictures that day, but I will only bore you with about a dozen of them in two separate posts. If anyone wants to come to Germany for a look at some of the scenery and tourist attractions, I can offer an “Edventure” at very low rates!

Retired-Ed

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Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Posted on September 16th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in Travel

(Note to my readers: I have been trying for two days to make this work properly. I have tried and tried to get the text to wrap around the photos. It appears to be just fine in the visual editor, but when I preview the actual post, well, it just isn’t working. Do I have any readers who are WordPress experts? I’ve decided to post as is in order to keep this somewhat current. With any luck, the thumbnail pictures can be expanded to their full size. That’s one small victory. This trip will have to take up more than one post. It was amazing in many respects and I don’t want to load the post up with too many photos. Thanks for your understanding. By the way, by the time I had posted the third photo (of St. Wolfgang’s), I had already made 66 edits. You can see why this *&%$ thing has me frustrated.)

Addendum: Woohoo. I think I found the solution to the problem. And I found it by accident. In case you are wondering, if you want word-wrap, you can’t have any caption or title to the picture. Seems strange, but it worked.  - Ed

I’ve been away from the computer for a few days. It has been my pleasure to serve as “sponsor” for a new teaching couple that has recently arrived in Schweinfurt to begin their overseas careers. Since they arrived after the school year had begun, it was easier for this retired guy to serve as sponsor instead of a working stiff. And I enjoy this kind of stuff anyway. A sponsor helps newbies get their ID cards, drivers’ licenses, get registered at the housing office, and the like. In addition, I also got to pretend that I was more fluent in German than I actually am. They seemed to think that I knew what I was doing. Little do they know! After getting the male half of the couple squared away, I had a couple of days with his wife before she was actually hired to her own teaching job. I got to play tour guide, and we went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, an old medieval walled city which I believe just might be Germany’s most popular tourist attraction. It’s about 45 minutes away, and I’ve been there many times, especially when I was working in Ansbach and I’d go there for dinner. Oh, did I happen to mention that my new friend is cute and very charming? That and the beautiful scenery to go along with the gorgeous weather that day made for a very enjoyable trip.

Although I’ve been there before, I was always just a tourist or a diner.  This time, I had to pretend that I knew what I was doing. First, we drove around the city to get the lay of the land from outside of town. As you can see, the area surrounding the town is very lovely.

Another view of the same stream is just as lovely. The city itself sits up on a hill, and these pictures were taken down in the valley. Needless to say, the views all around were exquisite. After touring the countryside surrounding the city, we drove up to one of the many parking lots and walked in through one of the gates in the wall. I have gone on several Volksmarches in this area, but I had never entered the city through this particular gate. By entering at this location, I was able to see another church in the city — one that I had not seen before. This one is called St. Wolfgang’s Kirche. It is also known as the Shepherd’s Church. Inside the church was a beautiful sanctuary with a small shepherds’ museum on the upper level. This particular church is at one corner of the city. Here is a picture of the exterior. The interior was ordorned with a beautiful chancel with a rather ornate altar. On the first upper level was a shepherds’ museum. As in many churches and other buildings of the era, the stairway was very narrow and uneven. I’m glad that I didn’t make a mess of things by falling. On the top level was a picture gallery.

There are several other churches in the town, and one of the largest and most famous is St. Jacob’s Kirche. This church dates to 1311, when construction first began on the east chancel. Of course, the church was Roman Catholic at that time. Construction continued until the mid-1400′s and was consecrated in 1485 by the bishop of Wuerzburg. I do not have a photo of the exterior, because renovations were ongoing (and have been for quite a while). The nave and chancel are very ornate, but not as much as some other churches that I have visited in Europe. This is a picture of the interior. The stained glass windows are 56 feet high and are dedicated to the Virgin  Mary (left), the life of Jesus (center), and Christ’s work through the sacraments (right). The tabernacle can be seen on the left of the high altar, with the baptismal font in the foreground. Remember, this church began as a Roman Catholic church. It became Protestant in 1544 with the coming of the Reformation.  Another view of the high altar area shows some detail in the artwork of the era. Gorgeous, isn’t it?

I’m leaving out so much, but I did want to show some photos of the balcony of the church at the opposite (west) end. This balcony is the site of a Riemenschneider altar. Never heard of Tilman Riemenschneider? He is a “local boy” who made good. He lived much of his life  in nearby Wuerzburg, and his sculptures are renowned for their beauty. To have a Riemenschneider altar in your church is a rare honor. In fact, in driving around the area, many roadsigns will point you to a site where a Riemenschneider altar can be found. This particular altar is known as the “Altar of the Holy Blood”. It was commissioned by the Rothenburg Council to be a worthy site for the “Reliquary of the Holy Blood”. Work began in 1499 and lasted until 1505. Keep in mind that this is before the Reformation. I doubt if my Lutheran brethren (yes, I trace my religious heritage back to Martin himself) would now house any “relics”, but this one is very special and dates back 5 centuries.

A closer view will show the crystal vial in the center of the cross. This vial is reputed to hold a drop of the blood of Jesus. Oddly, the crystal was placed in the cross in 1270 or thereabouts, lwhile the Apostle John leans on Christ’s bosom.

That will have to be enough for this post. I vowed to stay away from religion, but this is not about religion. It’s history and tourism, and a link to Germany’s past. There’s more to come on our adventure (my friend calls it an “Edventure”) to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Stay tuned.

Retired-Ed

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Hassle-Free Travel is About to Get Scarcer

Posted on September 6th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in Travel

Are you an American citizen? Do you like foreign travel? I certainly do, and I’ve been doing just that for more than 36 years now. Our government is about to make it harder on the wallet to do that, as if the airlines haven’t done enough already. There is a bill before Congress that will establish a $10 fee for visitors to the United States in order to receive a “Travel Authorization”, and this fee would have to be paid every few  years in order to keep one’s authorization current. Well, guess what! The European Union is not happy about that prospect. Although the fee supposedly would be used to promote travel to the US, our foreign potential visitors view it as a hassle. Ya think?

Good grief, in this economy, we can use all the tourist dollars that we can get and why make it more difficult for our visitors? How does this affect you? Well, as you might imagine, the Europeans are talking of retaliatory measures against American tourists to Europe. All of this is something that we don’t need.

(An aside to my one Canadian reader: Suel, I don’t know how this would affect Canadian citizens who cross the border). I wonder if this fee would also apply to the thousands of “visitors” from south of the Rio Grande who come across on a daily basis by skulking about at night. Hell no, they are already illegal, so avoiding a $10 fee is small potatoes.  Anyway, legitimate visitors from Mexico would probably be exempt if Canadian visitors were exempted.

In any event, I think that this is a terrible idea. If you are an American citizen, I urge you to contact your representative in Congress, and ask him/her to vote against this bill. It will hurt tourism, not help it and will backfire against Americans who want to travel overseas.

There are 61 co-sponsors to this bill in the House of Representatives, and you can find out who they are here. Aw nuts! My Congressman is one of the co-sponsors, and I’ve already donated money to his campaign for the US Senate. Maybe if I had added a few zeroes to my donation, he might listen to me. The bill has some good points, but the $10 fee is the galling part of it. Maybe they will eliminate that portion. Please contact your representative and request that the bill be killed or amended. The bill is HR 2935, and you can read about it here.

Maybe my Retired-Ed readers will be the ones who can protect our pocketbooks when we want to travel to Europe or other locations around the globe. Please help.

Retired-Ed

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How Times Have Changed!

Posted on September 4th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in Daily Life

I saw an op-ed piece in our local newspaper, Stars and Stripes, today. The piece, which orginally appeared in The Washington Post, was written by one of their reporters, Petula Dvorak. I gather from reading the article that she is a mother, probably in her later 30s. (Just a mere youngster, right?) She was commenting on the recent discovery of Jaycee Lee Dugard who was kidnapped 18 years ago in South Lake Tahoe, CA, Ms. Dvorak’s hometown. She mentions how she was already in college at the time of the abduction (hence, my lightning quick deduction that she is probably in her late 30s now!) and wasn’t very much affected by the aftermath of the kidnapping. Her younger brother, however, was in junior high school, and he relates how parents all over town suddenly became much more protective of their children. Kids who previously could walk to the bus stop (Jaycee was taken at age 11 while she was on her way to the bus) were now being escorted by their parents. Late evening bike rides in the summer were curtailed. Stickball and baseball games were forbidden without adult monitoring. And that was just 18 years ago!

Think what it was like when we were kids. Heck, I rode a city bus to school when I was in kindergarten. My mom and my dog met the bus at the bus stop when I came home. It was nothing to ride our bikes to various parks and playgrounds all over our city which then had maybe 85,000 people and lots of criminals (it’s the state capital and has politicians living there!). We played baseball in our vacant lot or in the street and walked all over to go to the store to buy candy. My dad quit smoking when I was about 8 years old, but I remember him sending me to the store to buy cigarettes for him and I was only 5 or 6 years old at the time. By the way, smokers, cigs cost 25 cents a pack back then and they weren’t filtered. There was no sign saying that you had to be a certain age to buy those items. Booze? Yes, you had to be 21, but not for cigarettes.

We just didn’t worry about stuff that worries us today regarding our kids or our grandchildren. Things have changed for the schools too. Long before I retired, our schools had to start calling parents if children were not in school that day. Parents want to know if their child is safe. Not a bad thing, but it certainly a marked difference from the days in which parents KNEW where their children were…or at least thought they knew. The schools where I worked are all on secure military bases, and we still have to contact parents if Little Junior isn’t there. That’s because not everyone lives on the secure base, and the bases probably aren’t that secure anyway. Crimes against persons are committed on the base as well as off.

Another area that shows a striking difference is in advertising. I was looking this morning for my cereal box and a commercial from perhaps 50 years ago came flooding back to me. It was a commercial for a cereal called “Sugar Jets”. Can you imagine today a product even being named anything with “sugar” in the title if it is targeted at kids? Anyway, the jingle went like this (sing along if you like):

I’m hungry. I’m hungry for good food to eat/For Sugar Jets…Sugar Jets/ Good oats and wheat.

Wow! Would soccer moms today scream bloody murder if a company used that tactic? You bet. But advertisers are much more sophisticated today, yet they still probably target kids with products that are absolutely bad for them. And how about adults? Has advertising changed for us? You bet! There hasn’t been a cigarette commercial on television since the 1960s, but can you remember the commercials? Of course you can. Which brand featured the cowboy on his horse? Marlborough, wasn’t it?

How about gas-guzzling cars? Can you remember Dinah Shore singing, “See the USA in your Chevrolet./America is asking you to call? Drive the USA in your Chevrolet/ America’s the greatest land of all.” The company was telling you to drive your car all over the country. Of course, gasoline was oonly 19 cents a gallon back then, if that, but that’s not the point. The point is that today we emphasize conservation and non-polluting vehicles. Driving your car all over the country would not be politically correct in today’s world.

Remember when TV dinners were considered a novelty? Normally, entire families sat around the dinner table and talked about their day. “How did school go today, Johnny (or Susie, or whatever)?” That’s how parents would find out how their kids were doing. Today, it’s the teacher’s job to post the grades on the internet on a daily basis. The kids bear little or no responsibility for telling their parents how they did on an assignment or a quiz. And, should they not do well, it’s the teacher’s fault. But I need to get off that particular soapbox.

Yep, times have definitely changed. When President Kennedy was killed in 1963, it gripped the nation. For about 5 days, there was nothing else on television, and rightly so. He was a young, popular President cut down long before his time. But the television saturation didn’t extend much beyond the public funeral on November 25th. Today, a popular entertainer dies, and it’s all over the news for weeks. All Michael, all the time.

As I write this, his burial ceremony is probably winding up at Forest Lawn. What’s up with that? Is it normal in California to hold burial services after dark? Or is it just a Jacko thing because of his celebrity?

And speaking of old commercials, one keeps going through my head today, and it wasn’t even a real commercial. It was part of the plot on a sit-com. Can you remember Lucy trying to say “Vita Meata Vegamin”? An all-time classic, in my opinion.

As I grow older, it’s just harder to keep up with the times. I guess that’s life. I think I still have a polyester leisure suit somewhere, but I doubt if it still fits.

Retired-Ed

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I’ve been Scooped….by Wikipedia

Posted on September 2nd, 2009 by Retired-Ed in History

I had planned to write a historical post today, but that won’t happen the way that I had planned. A little background music please….

OK, here is the background. I was born and raised in Springfield, Illinois, in the Land of Lincoln. I was in high school in the early 1960′s, which coincided with the Civil War Centennial. In fact, my chemistry teacher, Mr. Carroll C. Hall, was the chair of the Civil War Centennial commission in Springfield. He was quite interesting in himself. He taught for $1.00 per year because he was a director (and perhaps the chairman) of the Horace Mann Insurance Co. He taught for the love of it and not (obviously) for the money. He was a heck of a chemistry teacher, too. Anyway, during that time, as you might imagine, our city was focused on all things related to Lincoln.

About that time, a story came out in a national magazine. I remember reading it, but I wasn’t sure if was Time, the Saturday Evening Post, or Life. Actually, it could have been something else altogether, but I do remember reading a story about the last living person to see Abraham Lincoln. When I Googled the phrase “the last living person to see Abraham Lincoln”, I was surprised to see so many hits. I went to the Wikipedia site and my recollection was confirmed, but then shot down.

Here’s the story in a nutshell. After Lincoln was murdered, his casket was borne by rail to Springfield. The train retraced the route that Mr. Lincoln had taken on his way to Washington to be inaugurated four years earlier. It was a sad time for the nation and must have been particularly sad for the citizens of Springfield. The only home that Lincoln ever owned was there (and still is), and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln came from there. As an aside, Lincoln’s girlfriend from his time in New Salem, Ann Rutledge, lies in a grave just a hundred yards or so from my parents’ graves in the cemetery in Petersburg, Illinois.

When Mr. Lincoln’s body was laid to rest, it was in a temporary facility. A more permanent tomb was constructed and the body was placed in it. In 1876, some graverobbers attempted to steal the body and hold it for ransom. They were foiled because one of the gang was with the Secret Service, or so one story goes. The determination was then made that a more permanent monument should be constructed. This one is the famous one that you have probably seen or at least seen pictures of. The final resting place was not established until 1901 because of various concerns. In 1901, the decision was made to encase the vault holding his remains in concrete. A “Guard of Honor” (the same men who were around in 1865 for the original burial) was present for the re-burial. At that time, the men decided, against the wishes of Robert Lincoln, the sole surviving relative, to open the casket one final time to make absolutely certain that Mr. Lincoln’s remains were in the casket. One of the men present brought his young son along. The boy, Fleetwood Lindley, was about 13 at the time. The casket was opened, and the men peered inside and determined, once and for all, that it was Abraham Lincoln who was lying in the casket. The casket was then sealed and Mr. Lincoln’s body was encased in concrete.

Mr. Fleetwood Lindley was still alive when the article was written. He died in 1963. However, Wikepedia points out that Mr. Lindley was not the last person to see Mr. Lincoln’s body. (Yes, I know that Wikipedia is unoffical and contains unverified information). The last person to see his body was a Leon P. Hopkins, a plumber, who had opened the lead-lined coffin so that Mr. Lincoln’s head and shoulders could be seen. He then re-sealed the coffin and was thus the last person to view the remains.

Since Mr. Hopkins was also the plumber who had sealed the coffin in 1865, it is very unlikely that he would have been alive still in the 1960′s, which makes the claim that Mr. Lindley was the last living person to see Abraham Lincoln correct. And that’s your history lesson for the day.

But wait, there’s more. Just a bit of Lincoln trivia for you. I mentioned Robert Lincoln, Abe’s son. Robert Lincoln holds a place in trivia lore as well. He is the only person to have been present at the assassination of three presidents. He was present when his father was shot. Later, he was present when James A. Garfield was assassinated. In 1901, he was serving in the administration of William McKinley and, as bad luck would have it, he was present when McKinley was shot. So there you have it. Two doses of trivia in one post. Just keep Robert Lincoln away from me!

Retired-Ed

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Two Degrees of Separation

Posted on September 1st, 2009 by Retired-Ed in Daily Life

We’ve all had them: brushes with a celebrity. My two daughters may chime in and tell you of some of theirs. Child “A” recently left her dentist’s office and saw a famous movie celebrity sitting in the waiting room. This was in Austin, TX, and the celebrity is a resident of Austin and is NOT Lance Armstrong….that’s my story below. If you have read CityWendy’s blog for any length of time, you’ll recall her stories about working in a NYC coffee shop and her encounters with famous people (especially the ones who didn’t tip well!). In addition, her husband (Wendy’s “Mandrew”) works with celebrities on a daily basis at 30 Rockefeller Center, so it’s old hat to him.

My favorite encounter happened way back in 1987 when I was having lunch with the Queen at the 8th Army Officers” Club at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, Korea. Some of the St. Louis Cardinals were on a promotional tour for Anheuser-Busch, which then owned the team. And was still an American-owned company (sigh!), but that’s another story and still a sore spot for some St. Louisans. Anyway, I walked out of the dining room to use the restroom and ran smack into Ozzie Smith the Hall of Fame shortstop. We shared a few St. Louis stories and he told me that “Whitey is right around the corner.” Sure enough, I rounded the corner and there was the manager, the famous Whitey Herzog. Whitey accompanied me back into the dining room to greet the Queen. Man, heads were on a swivel when this guy walked in with Whitey and he went up to the Queen and gave her a big hug. It was really cool, but couldn’t compare to what happened later that day.

There was an assembly scheduled at Seoul American High School, where the Queen was teaching. I went over to the school wearing my Cardinals cap. The door opens and in walks Stan “The Man” Musial. He walked right up to me, shook my hand, and put his arm around me for pictures to be taken. I still have that picture along with the autographs of the above mentioned persons and Vince Coleman as well.

But that was more than 20 years ago. I have a more recent brush with celebrity, although with two degrees of separation. While I was in Austin this spring, I took the time to have some cysts removed from my scalp. They had been bothersome, and I had the time, so I made the arrangements. I had to have the procedure done at an outpatient surgical clinic, and of course, they have their protocols to follow. One of them is that you must have an “escort” when you leave. Someone who will be your “responsible party” for twenty-four hours. Well, shoot, the only person I knew was my daughter. She’s a nurse, so that made it easy. But wait! The reason I was in Austin was because that she was injured and confined to a wheelchair. Since I wasn’t permitted to drive OR to take a taxi, we had to come up with a different plan. Finally, we got it figured out. She was receiving special transportation from the local bus company. A handicapped-access van was taking her around to various places. She was permitted to have an escort on these trips, but she really didn’t need an escort. On this particular occasion, I became her escort while she was serving as my escort. Weird, huh?

Anyway, as with many medical centers, the patient must leave via wheelchair. I don’t know the reason for that, but somehow I have to think that avoidance of lawsuits has something to do with it. I had to wait for the special van carrying my daughter to arrive, and a nurse was hovering around waiting with me. He had not been my nurse during the procedure, but just happened to be nearby when I got permission to leave. As he was wheeling me out, people were greeting him with words like, “Hey, I saw you on TV.” Or “Wow, you’re a star now.” I wondered what that was all about. It seems that he was the guy who, on the day before, wheeled Lance Armstrong out of the same facility following surgery on his broken collar bone. They were met by the press outside the door and the cameras were rolling.

Funny, there weren’t any cameras when I left. I guess those two degrees of separation just weren’t enough to make me famous, even for a day.

Retired-Ed

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