The "What's In A Name?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading an article in the "Lighter Side" of my May/June "The Saturday Evening Post" titled "What's In A Name."  Funniest article I have read in a long time and just thought I had to share it with you.  The author of the article was a fellow by the name of Philip Gulley who is a remarkable writer who had me laughing for at least a half hour after I read the article.  Story began by asking the reader if they ever wondered what they would have been called if they weren't called what people call them?  Lost yet?  Phillip goes on to say that all his life he has been called by his first name, Phillip, but now he wants to be called by his middle name, Henry, or better yet, Hank.  Phillip makes me think of someone from Connecticut who went to Harvard.  Hank, on the other hand, is reliable, steady, and down-to-earth.....the man you call when your car won't start or your plumbing springs a leak.  Some names pretty well determine your destiny.  If your parents named you Jeeves, you're meant to be a valet.  If you were christened Bambi, you'll probably work at Hooters.  Hank's work in hardware stores!  People are changing their names all the time.  A lady in our town named Pat vacationed in India and came back a Taylor, which doesn't sound Indian at all, but that's her business.  I know a Mark who became a Mary, so going from Phil to Hank isn't that big a deal.  If I had a child today, I'd give it a name that covered all the bases....like Feather or Ocean, perfectly serviceable hippie names that defy categorization.  History has ruined some names.  I know a man born in Germany in the early 1940s whose parents named him Adolf, which was apparently a big thing back then, but isn't so much now.  In fact, it's illegal to name your child Adolf Hitler if you live in Germany.  In France, it's against the law to name your child Nutella, the nectar of gods.  If you live in Malaysia and want to name your child .007, you can't.  The same goes for naming your child Burger King in New Zealand.  The story went on to say that if they were the President, they would make it illegal to give your child a stupid name.  They would create a list of acceptable names with approved spellings.  There'd be no more Megyn's, Korbins, Leigh's or Nevaehs if they were in charge.  They think that all can agree that the United States was better when people had simple names spelled correctly.  Ditto!  He said he knew that Nikki Haley wasn't going to win the Presidency the moment she declared her candidacy. Her name is working against her.  Doesn't sound presidential!  Our first woman President needs to have a distinguished name like Elizabeth or Eleanor or Louise.  No Barbie's or Bambi's, since they sound like they might also have worked at Hooters.  I belong to a motorcycle group called the Quaker Outlaws.  One of the members is named Harold, but goes by Mike.  Another member is named Nelson, but wants to be called Ned.  Hey, if your name is Spike or Mad Dog, give us a call.  We'd make you a member right away.  So...as you see...names mean everything...allegedly.  And...some names are extremely stupid, so they are!  Now...that's according to yours truly, LDub!  You do realize that is short for Larry W., don't you?!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.   

The "How Could This Have Happened? Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the three generations of the Gibbons family who ran an Underground Railroad station near Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania.  They helped move hundreds of freedom-seekers toward safety.  It was on April 22 that the National Park Service recognized this contribution to anti-slavery history by naming the burial site of Quakers Daniel and Hannah Gibbons to its National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.  The Gibbons family is buried in the 1728 graveyard at Lampeter Friends Meetinghouse in Bird-in-Hand.  The National Park Service designation resulted from a yearlong effort by members of Lampeter Meeting to gain recognition for the role some of its former members played in the Underground Railroad.  The designation honors the graves of the most significant Quaker Underground Railroad operators in Lancaster County.  Daniel Gibbons and Hanna Wierman Gibbons processed nearly 1,000 freedom-seekers.  Daniel took charge of the logistics while Hannah was a full partner in her husband's work.  The Gibbon's stone and brick Underground Railroad house, built in 1815 along Beechdale Road was destroyed nearly four decades ago by a temporary owner who believed he could obliterate a historic building without consulting anyone.  Lancaster city has ordinances to stop or at least slow demolition of historic structures.  So do several other county municipalities.  But most rural townships have no rules and do not regulate what new owners do to old properties.  Well, in 1984, James Cason, a Fresno, California, businessman and carriage collector, purchased Beechdale.  Coson and his wife, Angie, stayed in a large, early 20th-century stone house during their periodic visits to the place.  They restored the exterior of the Underground Railroad building.  But then the Cosons reversed course.  One morning in the summer of 1986, Angie Coson woke up at Beechdale and decided the view from the stone house would be improved if the Underground Railroad house were removed.  Workers demolished the building by day's end.  A few years later, the Cosons sold the farm. Should someone who does not live here full time have destroyed part of this county's heritage on a whim - and without a whimper from Upper Leacock Township?  So, now we are left with Daniel and Hannah's tombstones. Kudos to Lampeter Meeting and the National Park Service for recognizing their significance. Let's hope that nothing like that ever happens again in Lancaster County.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The Gibbons family's 1815 home which was used as an
Underground Railroad station, but was demolished in 1986 
due to lack of knowlegdge and extreme stupidity. 

The "Historic Preservation Trust Announces Award Winners"

It was an ordinary day.  The Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County recently announced the 2024 winners of its annual C. Emlen Urban Awards.  The awards, which are named for Lancaster's prolific architect who created some of the county's most beloved buildings, recognize historical preservation projects and honors the people whose efforts made the projects possible.  The recipients of the C. Emlen Urban Awards were honored during a ceremony on June 20 at the Lancaster Country Club, but due to limited space, the event is not open to the public.  The following are the winners of the 2024 C. Emlen Urban Awards are:

Quarryview Building Group Headquarters, 2603 Lincoln Highway, Ronks, received the Adaptive Reuse Award for a historic structure, site or portion of a building that utilizes the space for purposes other than what it was originally created for.  Owner Ben King accepted the award.                                                                                                                                       

The Sprecher Hardware Building, 24 E. Main St., 24 E. Main St. Ephrata, also receives the Adaptive Reuse Award.  Joy Ashley, executive director of Mainspring of Ephrata, accepted the award.                                                                                                                                   

Historic Poole Forge, 1940 Main St., Narvon, is honored with the Community Revitalization Award for projects that enhance a historic district or community with historic buildings and add to the quality of life or the area.  Dawn Ekdahl, executive director, will be presented with the award.                                                                                                                               

REO Manheim Marketplace, 51 N. Main St., Manheim, also receives the Community Revitalizaton Award.  Owners Bernard and Suzanne Reiley will be honored.                                                             

Elaine Bowman will be honored with he Haubert/Heisey Award, which goes to an individual who has supported the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County in an exemplary manner.  Bowman is the former Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County secretary and board member and led the Lancaster County Barn Tour project, a collaborative effort between the Historical Society and the Historic Preservation Trust.]                                                                                                                                       

S. Dale High, chair emeritus of the High Foundation, will be recognized with the Leadership Award, for his leadership skills and restoration and preservation of historical artifacts in Lancaster Counth and for his overall goodwill in the community.                                                                                                   

Longview Structures LLC will be presented with the Master Cfraftman Awards for eamplary efforts to ave a historic structure though budding skills and knowledge, for work on the new shake roof at Wrights' Ferry Mansion, 38 S. Second St., Columbia.                                                                                             

315 Locust Street Project, 305-315 Locust St., Columbia, will be recognized with the Neighborhood Preservation Award for projects in compliance with local, state or national standards for the preservation, rehabilitation or restoration of historic structured that add to, and postivelyimpact the surrounding neighborhood and community.  Don Murphy, president of Cimarron Investments, LLS, will accept the award.                                                                                                                                                     

Garden Spot Vilage-Farmhouse Office Renovations, 433 S.. Inizer Ave. in New Holland, will be honored with the Preservation Award, given to projects that are in compliance with local, state or national standards for preservation, rehabilitation or restoration of a historic site or structure.  Garden Spot Village COO Steve Muller and Conerstone Design-ARchitects will be honored.                                                                                                                                

154 Wilson Drive, Lancaster, will be honored with the Preservation Award.  Owners Allen and Wanda Miller will be presented with the award.                                                                                             

"Urban Legend: The Life and Legacy of C. Emlen Urban" will be honored with the Preservation Publication Award, presented to authors, designers and photographers who've helped educate the public on historic preservation in Lancaster County through publications.  Author Gregor Scott, the design and production team from Fig Industries and photographer Matthew Tennison will be honored with the award.                                                              

"The Mills of Lancaster County" is honored with the Preservation Publication Award.  Author Donald Kautz will receive the award.                                                                                                                 

Jean-Paul Benowitz, professor and director of Pretigious Scholarships and Public Heritage Studies at Elizabethtown College, will receive the Smedley Award, which is presented to a journalist or educator who has shown support for historic preservation in Lancaster County.

The previous names, businesses and locations were winners of C. Emlen Urban Award.  Congratulation!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

   

The "Underground Railroad Notes Local Quaker Graves" Story

It was another ordinary day.  Reading about the Underground Railroad and three generations of the Gibbons family who ran an Underground Railroad station near Bird-In-Hand, Pennsylvania.  They helped move hundreds of freedom seekers toward safety.  It was on this past April 22nd that the National Park Service recognized this contribution to anti-slavery history by naming the burial site of Quakers Daniel and Hannah Gibbons to its National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.  The Gibbons' are buried in the 1728 graveyard at Lampeter Friends Meetinghouse in Bird-in-Hand.  The National Park Service designation resulted from a yearslong effort by members of Lampeter Meeting to gain recognition for the role some of its former members played in the Underground Railroad.  "It was a very uphill battle," says Saving Morrison, a Lancaster lawyer, meetinghouse member and early leader in the effort.  Lori Cabirac assembled information for the application.  The designation honors the graves of the most signifiant Quaker Underground Railroad operators in Lancaster County.  Daniel Gibbons (1776-1853) and Hannah Wierman Gibbons (1787-1860) processed nearly 1,000 freedom-seekers. Daniel took charge of the logistics of the operation while Hannah was a full partner in her husband's work.  One might ask why the family's small limestone grave markers in the meetinghouse cemetery have been designated part of the Network to Freedom instead of, or in addition to, the house where they lived and sheltered freedom-seekers.

The Gibbons family's 1815 home which was used as an
Underground Railroad station.  It was demolished in 1986.

That's because the Gibbons' stone and brick Underground Railroad house built in 1815 along Beechdale Road about a mile north of Bird-in-Hand, was destroyed nearly four decades ago by a temporary owner who believed he could obliterate a historic building without consulting anyone.  It is amazing that the conservative county - that has preserved more farmland than any other county in the United States and has belatedly, but enthusiastically, embraced conserving forested land as well - cares so little for its built environment.  The city of Lancaster has ordinances to stop or at least slow demolition of historic structures.  So do several other county municipalities.  But, most rural townships have no rules and don't regulate what new owners do to old properties.  The reason for the destruction of the Gibbon's home was quite different.  The Gibbonses and Brubakers, the Scribbler's family, are related by marriage.  The Brubakers eventually turned the Gibbons property, then called Beechdale, into a large duck farm.  After the Scribbler's grandfather sold that farm in 1961, a succession of wealthy, short-term owners used the place as a vacation destination.  In 1984, James Cason, a Fresno, CA businessman and carriage collector, purchased Beechdale.  Cason and his wife, Angie, stayed in a large, early 20th-century stone house during their periodic visits to the place.  They restored the exterior of the Underground Railroad building.  But then the Casons reversed course.  One morning in the summer of 1986, Angie woke up at Beechdale and decided the view from the stone house would be improved if the Underground Railroad house were removed.  Workers demolished the building by day's end.  A few years later, the Casons sold the farm.  Should someone who does not live here full time have destroyed part of this county's heritage on a whim - and with a whimper from Upper Leacock Township?  So...we are left with Daniel and Hannah's tombstones.  Kudos to Lampeter Meeting and the National Park Service for recognizing their significance.  If their tombstones had not meant as much as they did, they too might have been destroyed as was the rest of the property.  How sad!  And...it can never be replaced.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Twins Celebrate 21st Birthday With Uncle's Gifts From The Past" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading in my morning newspaper about 21-year-old twins, Cate and Alex Cardwell opening two small FedEx boxes that had rested in the back of their mother's,  Beth Cardwell's closet, for almost 21 years.  The boxes were addressed to her twin children and labeled with instructions to wait to open them until the twins' 21st birthday. So, on this past April 18th, Cate and Alex, now college juniors studying at different schools, finally had a chance to find out what has been inside the boxes all of those years.  Beth wasn't sure either since she stored the boxes, but it was her brother who had packed them.  Mark Sahm, also known as Uncle Mark, was a 20-something artist living in Manhattan when his sister, Beth was pregnant with twins in Lancaster.  He says he didn't have a lot of money for a gift for the kids, so he decided to make them each a time capsule, to be opened when they turned 21 years old.  Mark said he wanted to capture the essence of that day they were born - how the world was - as well as what was going on with me as their uncle!  Mark now lives in Stamford, Connecticut.  He is quick to add that the twin's time capsules are "just a little thing, and not Apple stock or a new car."  Darn!  The twins' birth was a joyful moment for Sam after a difficult time being a New Yorker.  When the twins were born, it was just a year and a half after 9/11.  Sham watched the Twin Towers from 35th Street and Madison Avenue.  "I'll never forget that feeling," Sahm says.  The day before the twins Cate and Alex were born, he had purchased a Polaroid camera and took pictures of Ground Zero from different city corners for the time capsule.  He says it was a windy, cold day, but he felt compelled to capture the historical moment, knowing it would be completely different in 21 years.  "I don't want them to see it as dark, but that the city rebounded," he says.  He hopes to someday meet up with Alex and Cate and the Polaroid images, to observe together how the city kept 'moving on,"  Cate, a biology student at West Chester University was excited to open the time capsule.  Alex, who is studying supply chain management and marketing at Kutztown University, says his uncle is "smart and artsy,"  and they both did wrestling in school so they both have "a lot in common."  The twins opening the capsules midway through their college careers is exactly what Sahm had intended.  He said he chose 21 instead of 18 years old because the twins would have a better sense of the world and have gone off to school.  Parents Beth and Ted Cardwell met with the kids to open their time capsules on April 18, their 21st birthday.  The twins' grandparents, as well as Uncle Mark and his wife Sharon, joined the party via Face-Time.  "My brother really knocked it out of the park for coolness," said Beth of the time capsules.  Each box had a newspaper from that day, a USA Today and a New York Times, and a pop culture magazine and a People magazine featuring Madonna, and Entertainment Weekly featuring Jennifer Anison and Jim Carey.  Cate was amused by the tiny 30-program TV Guide in the paper.  There was also a lottery ticket and a receipt.  Sahm was trying to include items with their birth date printed on it.  "How many things can you capture in a day with a printed date on it?  The time capsules also contained a heartfelt letter and a funny Happy 21st Birthday card.  And, those Polaroids!  They stood the test of time, from the site where the Twin Towers once stood to the joy on Sahm's face holding each the newborn twins in the hospital.  "It was a cool gesture," says Alex.  "It is investing reading the paper back from that time."  "I am so proud of them - they are good kids and will be good adults," says Sahm of his niece and nephew.  "It was worth the effort back then, and I'm glad I could share it with them."  Time capsules been in the late 1930s.  These days, there are even four galactic time capsules "buried" in space to possibly benefit space travelers in the distant future.  In 1990, the International Time Capsule Society was launched to maintain a global database of all known time capsules.  It was another Extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  Click on images to enlarge them and to better see some of the information that was in the time capsule.

  

The "Baby Octopi Are Harder To Get Rid Of Than Baby Guinea Pigs" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading in my morning newspaper a few days ago about a young boy who just had to have a pet octopus.  Now...I have had many a pet in my day from guinea pigs to rats and white mice, and my children have also experienced taking care of a variety of different pets, but not a single one of us has ever had a pet octopus such as a young boy named Cal Clifford had.  His story was in my morning newspaper a few days ago and I thought I would share it with you today.  The boy and his family lived in Edmond, Oklahoma.  Cal, a nine-year-old, wanted a pet octopus so bad.  His father, a 36-year-old dentist researched the idea and broke down and decided to encourage their child's interest in a pet.  Cal named his new pet Terrance.  But, Terrance really wasn't a Terrance...for you see HE was a SHE.  Within weeks, Terrance laid some 50 eggs which the family assumed were unfertilized.  Guess what!  Several weeks after the eggs were laid, teeny near-transparent octopus babies began to hatch.  Needless to say...Cal had to name all the new arrivals.  Now how anyone could name all those new octopi (spelling may not be correct), I have no idea.  But, father and son researched what was needed, deciding on a larger saltwater tank and water cycling system and ensuring they would be able to source food for the soft-bodied sea creatures.  A family friend who is a reptile scientist.... doesn't everyone have a reptile scientist as a friend?.... provided support and advice to the family.  Plus, Paul Clarkson, director of husbandry operations at the Monterey Bay aquarium in Monterey, California, said when he first heard about the Clifford family, he thought they had "no business caring for an octopus." But, after watching Clifford's TikTok videos, he was surprised.  Clarkson said it was a delightful story and commented on how good a job they did for home aquarium keepers.  Still, he cautioned that most pet owners are not equipped to care for an octopus...let along a octopus with a batch of young ones.  He said, "They don't make good pets and, as family documents in their story, the effort, the time, the money involved in caring for that animal is tremendous and is, at times, kind of a 24/7 job.  He also recommended that they don't try to do this at home.  Seems that female octopuses usually die after laying eggs, but Terrance was alive for months later.  Aside from the physical, financial and emotional requirements of owning a species such as a bimac, you will learn a lot about yourself in the process, Mr. Clifford told TikTok followers.  "There's always some valve or seal that's not completely closed, and your storm-resistant carpet isn't rated for gallons and gallons of seawater, and you learn that seawater and electricity don't always get along well.  "But, you learn new things and meet incredible people and will learn that wildlife is magnificent," he added.  "But, most of all, you'll learn to love a not-so-tiny octopus like Terrance."  Hey...I feel for you.  I can still remember when my grandpap bought me 7 guinea pigs at nearby Root's Farmer's Market when I as 8 years old and within two months I had close to 20 new baby Guinea pigs.  Seems like my dad and I were building a new cage every night after he returned home from work.  Luckily I found buyers for all my new baby guinea pigs, but I can't imagine having to find buyers for all those baby octopi.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "An Entire City Mourns One It Looked Up To....Literally! Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a story in my morning newspaper titled "New York City mourns one it looked up to."  All began with a story from the superintendent of an eight-story apartment building near Riverside Drive in New York City.  Superintendent Pjetar Nikac was returning home from a trip to the store around 5 p.m. when he noticed an object on the ground in the building's courtyard space.  He thought it was a rock, but when he got closer he realized it was an owl.  He knew immediately that it was not just any owl, but Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who just three weeks ago passed the one-year mark of living in the relative wilds of Manhattan after leaving the Central Park Zoo.  

Flaco

Someone had cut open the mesh on his enclosure at the zoo in an act of vandalism that remains unsolved.   Now, Flaco had apparently crashed into the building.  Although he was still alive when Kikac found him and, with Alan Drogin, a birder and building resident, rushed to get him help, Flaco was soon pronounced dead.  He was taken to the Bronx Zoo for a necropsy that will determine why he died.  So ended the improbable adventure for a large, fiery-eyed bird who captured the public's attention in New York and beyond by showing he could thrive on his own, at least for a time, despite having lived nearly his entire life in captivity.  Flaco would have turned 14 years old next month.  Even though the hazards that were presented by the urban environment almost guaranteed an early death, his life as a free bird inspired a passionate following that was obvious in the widespread grief that greeted news of his demise.  Saturday saw mourners throughout Central Park's North Woods section...some carrying flowers, others toting binoculars, a few pushing strollers, all walking back and forth among some of Flaco's favorite oak trees, searching for just the right spot to pay tribute in the chilly sunshine.  Offerings left beneath trees near the park's East Drive included a furry owl doll, an owl carved from a block of wood, a pencil portraiture of Flaco, letters and flowers.  One letter bid Flaco farewell to "eternal flight."Another thanked him for bringing "joy to the hearts of everyone who got to witness your magical journey."  This was an owl!!  Not many people would get this much attention in New York!  People got Flaco tattoos and wrote lyrics and poetry about him.  A documentary film is in the works.  Columbia-born artist Calico Arevalo, who  has painted eight Flaco murals, started a new one at Freeman Alley on the Lower East Side.  Alfonso Lozano, age 36, had come to Central Park with his wife and the couple's 3-month-old daughter.   Lozano said he had been miserable at his photography job when Flaco left the zoo last February.  That changed, he said, when he began to visit Flaco daily at one of the owl's regular roosting spots, in Central Park's ravine."He was my therapy," Lozano said, adding that spending time around Flaco had inspired him to quit his job and start his own company.  "Flaco helped me to find freedom," he said.  Marianne Demarco, who lives at a West End Ave. location adjacent to the one Flaco struck, said she had first seen the owl surrounded by about 50 onlookers in Central Park.  Little did she know that he would eventually make her building one of his regular hangouts.

Remembering a good friend in Flaco!

"It was like having a little thing that you could take care of and protect," Demarco, 50, said Saturday, tears streaming down her face as she walked her pit bull around the block.  She said she had met many of her neighbors in the building as a result of Flaco's presence."It is a little like the end of a dream that we were all hoping to hold on to."  Nikac, the superintendent, appreciated Flaco's presence not least for its effect on the building's rodent problem.  "Since he came here, no rats," he said.  "He was so beautiful," Nikac recalled.  Interviewed last month, Scott Weidensaul, the author of "Peterson Reference Guide to Owls," expressed regret about the position Flaco had been put into and echoed the opinion of other bird experts....that it was "just a matter of time before something bad happens."  On Saturday, Weidensaul said via email that he took no pleasure in hearing that Flaco had died.  "Sometimes," he said, "it sucks to be right." RIP FLACO!!  You charmed an entire city with your flights!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

A graffiti memorial to Flaco at Freeman's Alley in Manhattan

The "Happy's Mother's Day To All 'Mothers' In The World"

It was an ordinary day.  Nah!  Mother's Day is never an ordinary day...at least in our house it isn't ordinary.  My dear wife Carol is the mother of our three children...Derek, Brynn and Tad.  We named our first son Derek after the professional hockey player Derek Sanderson.  My wife and I enjoyed professional hockey on TV and she loved the name Derek, so....now she will never forget him!  Now, in case you don't recognize the name Brynn, it rhymes with SPIN and is a female name...at least in our house it is. I had a student in one of my Industrial Arts classes a few years before our daughter was born who was named Brynn, and both Carol and I fell in love with the name...hence the name given to our only daughter, Brynn Ann.  And, our third child Paul Thadeus goes by the name of Tad since my father's name is Paul and we always got the two of them confused when talking about one of them.  Paul Thadeus was named after his grandfather, Paul Henry.  Mother's Day in our house means we usually gather as many of the family together to share a meal and talk about all the "Good Ole Days" when our children were born.  Oh yeah...we usually watch the Phillies if they are on TV.....which they are today!  Both my parents and my wife, Carol's parents are deceased, but we will still talk about them when the family gets together today.  A few family members will be missing since they are traveling, but our villa at Woodcrest will be filled with fun and happiness today as we celebrate Mother's Day.  Hope all you MOTHER'S will enjoy your day and have a chance to visit with your children and other relatives.  Have to go now and prepare for the arrival of our family.  I try to keep my wife away from work on Mother's Day, thus a day when I take charge in the kitchen.  Gotta go now!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

To All The Mother's In The World

 

The "I'm Waiting To Catch A Photo Of This Sometime Soon!!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking at a photograph captured at NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory this past Friday.  It is a colorized ultraviolet image of a solar flare which is the bright flash toward the middle of the picture.  Seems that an unusually strong solar storm that is hitting Earth could produce northern lights in the U.S.A. this weekend and potentially disrupt power and communications.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated.  The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.  NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  "For most people here on Earth, they won't have to do anything." said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center.  The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the U.S. as Alabama and Northern California, according to NOAA.  But, it was hard to predict and experts stressed it would not be the dramatic curtains of color normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues.  "That's really the gift from space weather - the aurora," said Steenburgh.  He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye.  Snap a picture of the sky and "there might be actually a nice little treat there for you," said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center.  The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in Central America.  Well, I have my 35mm Nikon with my zoom lens ready for the weekend.  I'll try and catch a few photographs if possible and put them in another story.  Can't promise anything will happen, but sometime along the way something is going to happen and I'll get a few good photos.  I promise!  Hey, I never did get to see the North America Eclipse...and I even bought a pair of special glasses to watch it.  What a disappointment that was for me.  Will I be disappointed once again?  Im getting too old to be disappointed too many times without seeing something along the way!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this
colorized ultraviolet image of a solar flare this past Friday.

The "RFK Jr. Is Back In The News Again!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just turned the page in my morning newspaper and read the lead headline on page A8.  "How Did A Worm Get In RFK Jr.'s Brain?  Yeah...right.  And then I began to read the story!  It was a New York Times story that started with...Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s disclosure that a doctor apparently found a dead worm in his brain has sparked questions about what brain parasites are, the damage they can cause and how, exactly, they get there.  Brain parasites encompass far more than worms.  There are "legions" of organisms that can affect the brain, said Scott Gardner, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who specializes in parasites.  In addition to worms, common brain parasites include single-celled organisms such as Toxoplasma gondii and some amoebas.  The damage varies depending on the type of parasite and where it ends up in the brain.  "Some of them actively invade the tissues and destroy the tissues,"  said Dr. Daniel Pastula, chief of neuro-infectious diseases and global neurology at University of Colorado Medicine.  Others cause problems because of the inflammatory reaction that they trigger.  Humans are typically exposed to tapeworms through raw or undercooked food or through food contaminated with feces.  "A lot of these things are transmitted to humans through feces," said Dr. Edith L Graham, a neurologist at Northwestern Medicine.  Doctors consulted by the New York Times speculated Kennedy described symptoms of an infection with larvae from the pork tapeworm, Taenia sodium, one of multiple types of tapeworms that can infect the brain.  When a person accidentally swallows pork tapeworm eggs, the eggs hatch in the intestines, and the larvae can travel to other organs, including the brain.  There, they form cysts, causing a condition known as neurocysticercosis.  It can take months, or even years, for people to show signs of infection.  Symptoms vary based on how many cysts develop and where they are.  (Cysts can form in the eyes, muscles and spinal cord).  Generally, though, people with neurocyysticerosis experience headaches and seizures, and they sometimes feel confused, struggle to pay attention and have issues with balance.  The condition can be fatal.  Another type of parasite that can affect the brain is known as a brain-eating amoeba.  "Infections of this kind are extremely rare, but, can lead to a potentially fatal swelling of the brain or spinal cord," said Tajie H. Harris, an associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Virginia.  The organisms enter through the nose when people swim in lakes and rivers, and then travel to the brain.  People have also been infected through using neti pots or other sinus rinses with untreated or non-sterile water.  So, just how did a worm find it's way into RFK Jr.'s brain?  Will it ever be determined if it was in his brain...and if it is determined that it was, or still is, in his brain, well....just what can be done about it.   I guess that if the worm is dead, does anything need to be done?  The story that I read did not state what can be done or if it really needed to be done, since the worm was allegedly DOA.  This is a story that I will keep an eye on in hopes I can find what actually happened.  If I find the answer...I will let you know!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - ...and this is not a belated April Fools joke!!  I actually read this in my local newspaper!

The "Do You Know What They Make Baseballs From?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Leafing through my morning newspaper when I came across a story titled "At Pa. plant, dairy cows turn into major league baseballs."  Boy, did that draw my attention!  Baseball has been my favorite sport since I was born.  I played Little League, Jr. Midget, Midget, and Legion baseball thought my lifetime.  Also spent quite a few years coaching both of my sons' baseball teams and was successful enough to win a few tournaments, trophies and even a jacket or two along the way.  Today I follow local teams as well as my favorite Philadelphia Phillies!  Today I opened my LNP newspaper to page A4 and read the headline..."At Pa. plant, dairy cows turn into major league baseballs!" Wow!  Make that double WOW!  Sure enough...the story began with...Whether you're watching the Phillies, the Texas Rangers or the Seattle Mariners, the baseballs belted over the center field wall were likely make from cows that last chewed cud in and around northeastern Pennsylvania.  Dairy cows live a short life on large farms, typically just 3 to 5 years.  When their milk production drops off, the end is near.  Cargill, a beef-processing plant in Wyalusing, Bradford County, takes in nearly 550,000 cows from a 300-mile radius yearly.  Just one of those hides can make about 108 baseballs, and with 30 MLB teams using tens of thousands of balls each season, that's a lot of cows going from the pasture to America's pastime.  Seems that 7 out of 10 baseballs in the Major League had hides from the Bradford County facility.  The folks at Cargill like to think of beef processing as a circle of life, where no part of a cow is wasted.  In the processing world, that's called rendering by-products, and it's how cows become pet food, shoes or a four-seam fastball.  Cargill even harvests the cow's gallstones for herbal medicine.  My Phillies said they use anywhere from 144 to 180 baseballs between both teams in a single game.  Unbelievable!!  Over the season, including batting practice for home and road games, and bullpen sessions for pitchers, the team can use up to 54,000 baseballs.  No wonder it costs so much to go see a professional baseball game!  Baseballs don't have a long life in the big leagues: The average ball is replaced after just 7 pitches.  "Used baseballs are used for batting practice or defensive drills," said Kevin Gregg, the team's vice-president of baseball communications.  Gregg said that most pitchers are more concerned with the mud used to "scuff up" the baseballs before a game, not the actual construction of the ball.  That mud is even more of a local product, dug upon a secret tributary of the Delaware River in South Jersey.  Former Phillies pitcher Randy Wolf, who started the first game at Citizen's Bank Park 20 years ago, said not all baseballs are the same, even if they're made in the same place.   Baseballs in Arizona and Colorado, where it's drier, can feel "harder," he said, while balls in Atlanta or Florida can feel slick.  You don't want to know exactly how cows become major league baseballs.  At Cargill, it's a loud and hot process that involves a machine called a "hide puller," among other things.  Cows from Cargill's plant have ideal hides because of the climate.  "The more times a cow spends in cooler weather, the better it is for us," said Mike York, plant manager at Tennessee Tanning Co., where the hides go after Cargill.  "Our biggest enemy, for baseball leather, is bug bites, from big, biting flies and things like that.  Bug bites could leave marks on the skin and MLB has strict requirements.  The harder the winters, the less we have of that."  Dairy cows have a thinner hide too, which makes for a better baseball   The Minnesota-based Cargill inherited the baseball side hustle when it purchased the former Taylor Packing Co. in Wyalusing in 2002.  The plant, about 175 miles northeast of the Phillies stadium, processes approximately 1,500 cattle per day there.  Each year, Cargill sends 36,000 hides to Tennessee Tanning which is owned by Rawlings.  "If they miss a truckload of hides, baseball production stops," a Cargill spokesperson said.  At the tannery, York said the fur is trimmed and the hide is tanned and cut into two pieces.  From there the hides are sent to Costa Rica to be sewn at a Rawlings facility, east of San Jose, a long journey for a Pennsylvania dairy cow.  It all comes full circle in South Philly, where fans can catch a Kyle Schwarber foul ball, while eating a Schwarburger that's made of, well, you know!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

"Twangy Guitar Hero Of Early Rock Dies At Age 86" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about one of my all-time favorite musicians, Duane Eddy, who recently died at the age of 86.  Duane was a pioneering guitar hero whose reverberating electric sound on instrumentals such as "Rebel Rouser" and "Peter Gunn" helped put the twang in early rock 'n' roll and influenced George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and countless other musicians.  Duane died at the age of 86 of cancer about a week ago at the Williamson Health Hospital in Franklin, Tennessee, according to his wife, Deed Abbate.  Eddy sold more than 100 million records worldwide and mastered a distinctive sound based on the premise that a guitar's bass strings sounded better on tape than the high ones.

Duane Eddy

I learned to play the guitar back when Duane Eddy was my hero.  I took a few lessons and tried my best to play as well as Duane, but you can guess how that went!  I even had someone paint part of my guitar with "Little Twanger" on it.  Duane said that he had a distinct sound that people could recognize and he stuck pretty much with that.  He never claimed to be one of the best technical players by any means, but he could play with the best.  A lot of guys were more skillful than Duane, but some of it is not what he wanted to hear out of his guitar.  "Twang" defined Eddy's sound from his first album "Have Twangy Guitar Will Travel," to his 1993 box set, "Twang Thang: The Duane Eddy Anthology."  "It's a silly name for a nonsilly thing," Duane told the AP in 1993.  "But, it has haunted me for 35 years now, so it's almost like sentimental value...if nothing else."  Duane was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.  Eddy had a five-year commercial peak from 1958-63.  He said in 1993 he took his 1970 hit "Freight Train" as a clue to slow down.  Eddy recorded more than 50 albums, some of them re-issues.  He didn't work too much from the 1980s on, "living off my royalties," he said in 1986.  About "Rabble Rouser," he told the AP: "It was a good title and it was the rockest rock 'n' roll sound.  It was different for the time.  He scored theme music for movies including "Because They're Young," "Pepe," and "Gidget Goes Hawaiian."  But, Eddy said he turned down doing the James Bond theme song because there wasn't enough guitar music in it.  Eddy later toured with Dick Clark's "Caravan of Stars" and appeared in "Because They're Young" and "Thunder of Drums" among other movies.  Duane moved to Nashville in 1985 after years of semi-retirement in Lake Tahoe, California.  Eddy was not a vocalist, saying in 1986, "One of my biggest contributions to the music business was not singing!"  Paul McCartney and George Harrison were both fans of Eddy, and he recorded with both of them after their Beatles' days. Duane Eddy was, and still is one of my favorite Rock 'n Roll musicians.  I will always remember his 'twanging music which I often tried to duplicate on my guitar.  Never did work out for me!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.   

The "Dinner With A Side Of Mythology" Story

I recently read a story in the "World" section of my local newspaper titled "Dinner with a side of mythology."  Very unusual, but extremely interesting story that dealt with the excavations in ancient Pompeii that revealed formal lives of Rome's wealthy.  The two photographs that accompanied the story were very hard to view since they had been copied so many times and were never in perfect shape when they were discovered.  The story originated in Rome, Italy and told of archaeologists working at the ancient site of Pompeii when they recently unveiled their latest find: a formal dining room that offered a glimpse of how some of the wealthier denizens lived, or at least the art they could meditate on as they munched.  Painted dark black so soot from candle smoke wouldn't stain them, experts said, the walls are divided into panels.  Several of them are decorated with couples who are associated with the Trojan War.  The dining room is part of an insula, the equivalent of a city block, that has been excavated in connection with a project to shore up the perimeter between the excavated and unexcavated areas of the city, part of which remains underground.  The project will help better preserve the site.

Three interior painted walls that are extremely hard to tell what is on them.

People would meet to dine after sunset; the flickering light of the lamps had the effect of making the images appear to move, especially after a few glasses of good wine.  "The mythological couples provided ideas for conversations about the past and life, only seemingly of a merely romantic nature.  In reality, they refer to the relationship between the individual and fate." The couples include Helen of Troy and Paris, who is identified in the scene with a Greek inscription by his other name, Alexandros; while a panel on the same wall shows Helen's parents: Leda, queen of Sparta, and Zeus, depicted as the swan who seduced her.  Across the room, facing Helen, her handmaiden and Paris - and a despondent-looking dog - is Cassandra, who could see the future, along with Apollo, who had cursed her so her prophecies would not be believed.  

This shows details of one of the paintings

There is evidence that the room was part of a building that was being restored when Mount Vesuvius abruptly erupted, burying the city in pumice stones and ash in the year 79, Zuchtriegel said in a telephone interview.  "It seems like the entire insula was being reconstructed at the moment of the eruption," he said.  Zuchtriegel said the reconstruction might have been the result of an earthquake that had shaken the city "a few months" before Vesuvius blew.  In another recently excavated chamber adjacent to the dining room, archaeologists found stacked roof tiles, work tools, bricks and lime; discoveries that offered insight into ancient building techniques and the use of concrete.  Stories from the past always amaze me, but I love to hear and read of them.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "A New Northern White Rhino Is On The Cusp Of Life" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Checking out a Time Magazine story about a rhino with a future.  Perhaps you read the story if you subscribe to Time.  Story was about the two loneliest rhinos in the world.  A pair that consisted of a female known as Najin and her daughter, known as Fatu.  They lived in the Ol Pejeta wildlife conservancy in Kenya and are the world's last remaining northern white rhinos.  But they may soon have some company.  As I read that last sentence...I wondered how that was gong to ever happen if they were the last two of their kind on earth.  Well, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin announced this past January that a team of researchers led by Bio-Rescue, an international consortium of scientists and conservationists, has for the first time succeeded in transplanting a rhinoceros embryo fertilized in the lab into the womb of an adult female rhino.  If the methods the researchers used bear out, the northern white rhino could have a second chance at life.  The embryo transfer technique is well established for humans and domesticated animals such as horses and cows, but for rhinos it has been completely unchartered territory.  Seems it took years to get it right, but it is hoped that this technique will work perfectly.  Northern white rhino embryos do exist in labs, but they are a rare commodity.  Since 2019, BioRescue has produced just 30 of them, made of Fatu's harvested eggs and the preserved sperm of four deceased males.  That's to precious a store to risk squandering even one on an experiment that might not succeed.  Instead, the scientists worked with three southern white rhinos, harvesting eggs from a female at a Belgian zoo and sperm from a male at an Austrian zoo.  They

A northern white rhino

then produced an embryo and implanted it into a southern white female named Curra, living at Ol Pejeta.  How they do all this is amazing to me!!  Well, the next step is to wait the 16-month gestation period before Curra would give birth.  But that was not to be.  Just two months later, Curra died, claimed by sudden rainfall and flooding, which unearthed preserved Clostridia bacteria spores, infecting and killing her.  Curra was lost, but the experiment wasn't.  An autopsy found that she had been carrying a viable embryo in her womb.  "It's a miracle, this baby," says Hildebrandt.  He and the BioRescue team are looking forward to more miracles still.  Before the end to the year, they plan to implant Northern white rhino embryos into two southern white rhino surrogates.  "Advanced science," says Hildebrandt, "can help create a population that can be introduced and start reproducing itself."  And, that my friends, is one great story!  I still can't understand how they do all that, but that's OK as long as they know what they are doing.  Anxious to see if everything worked out the way they expect it to.  I'll be looking for the rest of the story in the near future so that I can share it with you.  Hope all goes well!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.     

The "A Visit With Long-Time Friends" Story

It was another ordinary day. Our friends Hal and Jeannie had just picked my wife, Carol and myself up for a trip to State College, PA to visit friends whom we have known for a long time. Not long before we pulled into the driveway of my longtime friend whom I had known since 1st grade. Guy by the name of Jerry Herr! Jerry and I lived about a block away from each other throughout our childhood, but never got to meet until we went to 1st grade at Brecht Elementary School in the Manheim Township School District. Even during elementary school we very seldom visited other each other since my mom didn't want me to cross Queen Street and Prince Street since they were two of the busiest streets in the north end of the city of Lancaster. I walked to school by crossing the Lititz Pike bridge while Jerry crossed the Manheim Pike bridge. When we entered Manheim Township Jr. High School we both rode on the same school bus, so we got to know each other a bit more, but didn't really get to know each other until high school when we both had cars. Jerry was a whiz with engines and helped me quite a few times work on my 1953 Henry J.  But, we tended to be in different social circles with Jerry having a girl friend who lived off the Lititz Pike while my girlfriend lived on Liberty Street.  We never became real good friends until be both graduated from Millersville State Teacher's College and both landed jobs at our alma mater....Manheim Township High School.  Jerry began teaching Metal Shop about a year or two after I began teaching Wood Shop/Graphic Arts. Jerry's late arrival at MTHS was due to a few years in military service; while I wasn't picked for the service for some unknown reason to me. It was at this point in time that we became friends with Hal whom also taught Industrial Arts at the high school. Jerry married his high school sweetheart Sue while I married the daughter of the woman who worked with my dad at Meiskey's Wholesale Jewelry. After teaching together for many years, Jerry took over the reigns of the Manheim Township School District Maintenance Dept. He was responsible for all of the maintenance on the dozen or so buildings in the district. Hal and I continued teaching until we knew it was time to give it up. All three of us retired from the Manheim Township School District the same year, being that we were close to the same age bracket. As soon as we retired from working for the school district, Jerry and I began to travel together with our wives to islands in the Caribbean. What a wonderful experience. We loved the warm sun, the refreshing waters and the Caribbean atmosphere. After every two to three week vacation I would put a scrapbook together of our adventures. Well, after my wife and I made a recent move to Woodcrest Villa, I now find I have almost an entire closet full of memories from vacations with Jerry and Sue. We are still trying to decide if we should take one more trip before we call it quits. And...we don't have an extended lifetime left to make that decision. Hal and Jeannie never traveled with us, but perhaps they might give it a try. Well....I will have to talk it over with my wife first and then decide if all six of us want to take one last vacation together to a Caribbean island. Life is short, so we can't wait another dozen years before we travel once again. It will have to be in the very near future if it is going to happen. Perhaps we might be happy just traveling to the Jersey Shore for a week-long vacation...or maybe a two-week vacation...or maybe even a month since it might be our last vacation together. I better give both of the guys a call and see what they think of our plans before it's too late. It certainly would be good to vacation with all of our friends. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

 Jeannie and Hal

Sue and Jerry

                                            Carol and Larry

The Historical Lancaster Pictures

It was an ordinary day.  Trying to clean my desktop of the myriad of old photographs that I have saved "just in case" I might need one or two for a blog story.  I have decided it is time to get rid of a few to allow me some more space to save a few more antique photographs.  Hope you enjoy the photos.  I have tried to place a location for each one and only hope I have picked the correct location for each one.  So........enjoy!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

I'm pulling a friend in my wagon with my tricycle

27 W. Lemon Street in Lancaster, PA - 1930

1980s Dirty Old Tavern

Strand  Movie Theater on Manor St.

Levick Gas Station at West James & Harrisburg Ave.

Lancaster County Courthouse

St. Joseph Hospital in 1944, the year of my birth

Young Woman's Christian Association.

S. Prince in 1980

The Wild Cat Coaster at Rocky Springs

House at 533 S. Queen built in 10 hours

Downtown Lancaster 1925

Downtown Lancaster looking south

Lancaster Square looking West

Lancaster Press operator Harry Radcliffe

Santa arriving at Watt & Shand

Hot air balloon landing in Center Square

Bowman Tech where my father learned watchmaking

Hagar Dept. Store on West King St.

Woolworth Building on N. Queen St.

McCroy's Department Store on N. Queen St.