The "Expecting 7-10 Inches ....... and We Have No Milk" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Watching the snow fall!  Started just after daybreak and is expected to accumu- late for at least 12 hours.  Could bring up to 10 inches before it stops.  Gonna be a boring day!!  And, the cookies that Carol baked for me will not be eaten, since the milk we have in the fridge has a rather rank odor and I have nothing to dunk them in today.  I know ... I could read; I could watch TV; I could help Carol clean the house; or I could .... take some photos.  

Our stray cat, Inky, who was sitting on our rear mat while
it was snowing and finally moved when we put a dish of
food out for him.  You can see his outline on the mat,
including his tail.  Click to enlarge.

After snapping a few of our back deck I got the bright idea that I would take some photos around the house and see if Carol could tell me where I took the photos.  She'll love doing that!  I must have taken close to two dozen shots and put them on the computer for Carol to view and try and guess where I took them.  Well, she guessed most of them rather quickly and then I got the bright idea that I would post them on my blog, not to see if you knew where they were in our house, but just to see if you might have a clue as to what they might be.  Could be tough, since we tend to have some rather unusual items in the house.  Take a look and see how well you do on the photos.  The first 11 are the photos to guess while the last 11 tell you what I photographed.  At least it gave me something to do.  As for me, I'm gonna have to wait until tomorrow to get some milk for my cookies.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

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And now, the answers.

1 - Stained glass window in our laundry room.

2 - Flowers on our kitchen table.

3 - Window frame which holds four glass panels on which an artist painted a beach scene in acrylics.

4 - Picture frame made of small sea shells.

5 - 10" square plate of fused glass that features a beach scene.

6 - Hand-carved wooden Santa Claus.

7 - Another fused glass piece made by artist, and former student, Mike Bovie.

8 - Banana tree.

9 - Suitcases covered with decals and stickers showing locales we have visited.  The  suitcases were my gift to my wife when we got married.  We no longer use them to travel.  They sit above our front entranceway.

10 - Small palm fronds that I brought home from different islands, painted then hung.

11 - One of the ceramic bowls we have in our master bathroom.  We purchased them when on the island of Cozumel. 

The "The Sweetest Shoppe In Lancaster: Part II" Story

It was an ordinary day.  My wife and I are standing in the Miesse Candy Company factory watching the 42 1/2 foot enrober send the last of the peanut butter dollops coated with fondant through the chocolate bath.  The smell is heaven to our senses and our taste buds seem to come alive just watching the candy pieces pass under the cascade of milk chocolate.  The factory employes eight people who manufacture candy the old-style way ... by hand, using all natural ingredients such as pure vanilla, real butter and fresh cream.  

The last of the fondant-covered peanut
butter dollops pass into the chocolate
coating section of the enrober.

The enrober seems to be the life-blood of the factory, producing all the different types of candies that have to be chocolate coated.  The lead end of the enrober features a feeding system that forces the "filling" or center of the chocolate piece through a variety of molds by way of a series of serrated rollers, onto the enrober belt which in turn takes the "filling" across a station where it will receive a coating of chocolate on the bottom.  It then travels to the next station where it is once again coated on the bottom and as well as a coating from above.  After exiting this unit a worker can add a twist with a hand tool to the top, if desired.  Then it enters a cooling system that will harden the chocolate coating until it exits the enrober belt 17 minutes after it started.  Packing into boxes is hand done and then the candy is placed in a refrigeration unit until it is needed for packaging for the customer.  The packing takes place on a large wheel called the Packing Wheel.  Our tour guide for the day is Tracy who started working for Miesse in April of 2010 and purchased the company on January 1, 2011.  She worked as a part-time employee before she heard that the company was struggling and decided to buy it.  A devastating fire in 2006 took it's toll on some of the equipment as well as the building on Lafayette Street in the city where the company was housed at that time.  

Owner Tracy stands next to the Packing Wheel which is where
 the candy boxes are filled with a variety of candy treats.

Much of the equipment Tracy is using has been with the company for years. The enrober, copper kettles, chocolate melting pots, dipping bowls, caramel cooker and marble-cutting table all survived the fire and are still in use.  The enrober was purchased in 1962 with only one of the cookers purchased since that time.  The chocolate that is used comes from nearby Wilbur Chocolate Company in Lititz, PA.  Their 10 pound bars are used, but in a variety of different formulas.  The fondant, or sweet icing, that is used in some of their candies is an in-house recipe rather than a purchased product.  Miesse's Candies has over 1,000 candy molds which they use to make their solid animal shaped lollipops and hollow chocolate treats such as bunnies, peeps and footballs.  

Some of the many items that are made in the candy molds.
These decorated boxes are cast in either metal or plastic
molds and then the tops and bottoms are placed together.

Miesse's makes close to 175 varieties of candy, many being the chocolate coated candies that come from their enrober such as chocolate coated pretzels, chocolate covered caramels, chocolate coated bacon, chocolate coated cherries, chocolate coated licorice … get the idea?  After Carol and I finished our factory tour we were given a small box of treats to take home and share.  Our favorite was the sea-salt chocolate coated caramels.  The sea salt added another dimension to the chocolate caramel treat.  I'm going to have to make a trip to the new Miesse store that is within walking distance of my home for more of the caramels.  The store is located at 2065 Fruitville Pike in Lancaster, PA.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

PS - I must admit that the chocolate coated licorice was mentioned by Tracy's cousin Ron whom I went to Millersville University with and is the handy-man around the factory.  He relayed to my wife that he at times lays a piece or two of his favorite licorice on the enrober to have it chocolate coated just for him.  Following are the photos I snapped during our tour of the Miesse Chocolate Company's factory. Enjoy!

This is the head of the enrober where raw material can be forced through the patterns by means of the serrated rollers.  The heart shaped pieces in this case will drop onto the cream colored belt. 

Here Tracy stands at the first coating station where the bottoms of the candy will receive a coating of chocolate.  

The candy travels by belt through the next coating station where it gets a second coating on the bottom and is draped with a coating from the top.

As the chocolates come through the coater, Becky places a slight twirl on the top of each candy.  This is one of the many processes that is done by hand in this factory.

Here Sarah removes the candy from the cooling end of the enrober and stacks it in boxes.

The candy boxes are stored in this storage area where the temperature is 55 degrees with 50% humidity   From here the boxes of candy are placed on the Packing Wheel for filling boxes of candy for customers.

This is a Savage Bros. caramel cooker.  A large copper kettle is placed on the circular unit on the left and ingredients are placed in the kettle to make the caramel.  The beater bars are lowered to stir the ingredients.  Natural gas is used to heat the ingredients when being made.  In this photo there is a round stone over the place where the copper kettle would be placed.  It would be removed when the caramel is made.

The result is trays of caramel.

This marble stone is where the caramel is placed for cutting into pieces for the enrober machine.  It at one time was housed in the Conestoga Wagon that was used to deliver candy throughout Lancaster (pictured below).  The marble is extremely heavy.

Miesse Candies used to deliver their candies to customers using this six-horse pulled Conestoga Wagon.  Inside was the marble slab pictured above that was used to place the caramel on for cutting for the customers.  This photo was taken in center square of Lancaster, PA.

Here Sarah drains chocolate from the melting pot where the chocolate is formulated.  

She uses that chocolate to fill the coating part of the enrober.

This is Becky putting fondant on the peanut butter dollops.  The fondant is a sugary coating that is placed on certain candies.  The fondant is heated to make it liquid for coating purposes.

Some of the pieces that were poured or cast in molds.  The mold is sealed, liquid chocolate is poured into the mold and allowed to harden for a specified time, then the excess is poured out. After the chocolate has hardened, the mold is taken apart and the candy is released from the mold.

Here is a white chocolate bunny that has been poured into a plastic mold.  It is hollow, but a bottom is added to this one.  Liquid chocolate is poured on a slab and the mold, after being formed, is placed on top of the liquid chocolate so it hardens to the bottom of the mold.  The two sides of the mold will then be removed. 

Here Jayne is decorating chocolate lollipops with ribbon.  Labor intensive procedures makes Miesse Candies a true treat.

Some of the packaged molded chocolate pieces in the store next to the factory at 118 North Water Street in downtown Lancaster, PA.

This box was filled with sample treats given to us by the factory.  We finished them within an hour of returning home, before I had a remembered to take a photo of them.  Our favorites were the sea-salt chocolate-coated caramels in both dark and milk chocolate.  Unbelievable!!

The "The Sweetest Shoppe In Lancaster: Part I" Story

The original Miesse Candies picturing owners Daniel Miesse, Cathrine
Miesse his wife and Charlotte C. Miesse their daughter.  Taken in 1878.

It was an ordinary day.  Watching the peanut butter dollops covered with a white fondant travel down the belt of the 42 1/2 feet long enrober to be covered top and bottom with milk chocolate then receive a slight twist from a small hand-held tool by a young girl before they go through the cooling part of the enrober, then packaged and off to a candy lover.  Carol and I are standing in the center of the Miesse's Candy factory at 118 North Water Street in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Couple of weeks ago I stopped in the brand new Miesse's store at 2065 Fruitville Pike at the Overlook Town Center for a box of chocolates for my wife for Valentine's Day.  While in the store I noticed a flyer that said I could make a visit to the factory in downtown Lancaster to see how the candy was made.  

This photo shows Daniel and Cathrine's son Roy.  He is on the
right and was serving in France when the photo was taken.

Called the owner Tracy and she was more than willing to take Carol and I on a tour of her operation. Upon arrival we were quickly ushered into the factory to see the last of the peanut butter ball candies go through the line, than taken into the store for some background into the business that Tracy purchased in 2011 after working part-time at the candy manufacturer for about a half a year.  High above the candy cabinets in the store are photos telling the history of the company that was started in 1875 as a grocery store on Chestnut Street in the city.  Miesse candies became so popular that Daniel and Catherine Miesse, three years later, moved their business to 48 North Queen Street  in downtown Lancaster.  A photo of the store at 48 North Queen proclaimed across the top of it "Ice Cream & Water Ice", but the sign visible on the sidewalk stated "Miesse Candies".  Another photo was of Daniel and Catherine's son Roy who had traveled throughout France during WWI while serving in the military and had brought back the candy making skills that were put to use in the store.  

This was the Conestoga Wagon that traveled throughout
Lancaster making deliveries and selling candy.

Another photo showed the covered Conestoga Wagon that was used throughout Lancaster to deliver the confection- 
eries that were made by Miesse's.  Then I saw it … the bright red Miesse candy box.  Immediately brought back memories from over 50 years ago.  When I was a child I would often visit with my grandmother who lived at 145 N. Pine Street in Lancaster city and sample the candy that she always seemed to have on her kitchen table.  Can still see that shiny bright red box that held the neatest variety of chocolates that she would buy at the Miesse's Candy Store that was located by that time at 31 North Queent St.  Tracy told us that the candy made at her factory is all made by hand in the traditional manner.  

An old candy mold stands in front of an early R.C. Miesse
candy box.  This was the style of box I remembered my grand-
mother having on her kitchen table when I would come to visit.

Most of the equipment is either from the original Miesse's factory or purchased in the early 1900's with the exception of the enrober which was purchased in 1962 and the cooker which replaced the one that broke during moving to the new factory on Water Street last year. Well, enough of the history of the company.  The sweet smell of chocolate tells me it's time to head back into the factory and see more of how the confectionaries are made.  Tomorrow will give you a look at how candy was made in the late 1800's before a man by the name of Milton S. Hershey opened his caramel factory on nearby Church Street and sold his confectionaries from a cart along the streets of historic Lancaster.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Old Homestead" Story

944 Janet Ave., long time home of Dottie and Paul Woods.

It was an ordinary day.  Just stopped for a photograph at one of the houses I lived in as a teenager and young 20 year old.  Day was cold, but there was  a bright sun shining on the property at 944 Janet Avenue when I snapped the photograph.  My mom and dad purchased the single home on October 23, 1964 from Miss Frances A. Coventry.  The house was in the Grandview Heights development of Manheim Township on a beautiful tree lined street.  At times it was tough to find a house for sale in Grandview since it was, and still is, one of the nicest and most desirable developments in which to line in Lancaster County.  I grew up in a row home on North Queen Street in Manheim Township, just one block over the city boundary to at the north end of the city.  Mom, dad and I moved into the Queen Street home when I was about 4 years old and made the move to Janet Avenue when I was a junior at Millersville State Teachers College in October of 1964.  These two homes were the only homes that mom and dad ever knew.  They liked their home on Queen St., but when they found they could afford the place on Janet, they were ecstatic.  The house on Janet had a fairly brief history to it being that it was built sometime in the very early 1950's.  I found documentation that the tract of land for the house was conveyed from Grand View Heights to John Smith for $1.00 on October 23, 1950.  

This is a miniature reproduction of mom and dad's home
at 944 Janet that Carol and I gave to them when they had
finished paying off their mortgage in 1978.  This, along with
all he old Deeds, will be given to the current owners.

I assumed John Smith was a builder and sold the home he built on the tract of land to William and Eleanor Van Horne on March 6, 1951.  I could not determine the sale price for the home at that time.  Then, on September 23, 1957 the Van Horne's sold the house to Stanley and Barbara Welty Jr. for $16,000.  They in turn sold the house to Frances A. Coventry on June 2, 1961 for the sum of $16,750.  They must have wanted out real bad or the housing market was very weak at the time, since they only made a $750 profit after living in the house for four years.  On October 23, 1964 mom and dad bought the 944 Janet Ave. home for $17,500, $1,000 above the sale price in 1961.  How do I know all this?  Well, recently I was going through the last of mom and dad's belongings, discarding what wasn't necessary and either filing or passing on that which wasn't discarded.  I found all the old Deeds and history for the home on Janet Ave. which was mom and dad's pride and joy.  The small single home had a living room with wood burning fireplace, dining room that was small and a very small kitchen.  The second floor had two medium sized bedrooms, one very small bedroom and a small bathroom.  What was the selling point of the home when mom and dad bought it was the large screened-in porch which was used most every day, weather permitting.  The grounds around the home were landscaped very nicely with large, mature trees lining the street and an apple tree in the back yard.  Along the boundary between the neighbor to the rear was a row of bamboo which caused my dad many problems because it's growth was hard to control.  All the deeds as well as the original mortgage that mom and dad took out on the home were in an envelope which I found.  But, the letter from the National Central Bank in Lancaster, PA was the pride and joy for mom and dad.  It stated that they had satisfied the payments on the house and it now belonged to them.  Dad drilled a hole in the top of the post of the railing at the bottom of the stairs and placed a stone or jewel of some sort in it to show to all that they owned the home outright.  I'm not sure, but mom, dad, my brother Steve and I probably celebrated with a party on the back porch.  I have now decided that I will make one more stop at 944 Janet Ave. and drop off the Deeds that give the history of the house to the current owners.  I could see them gathering at their living room window when I stopped in front of the house this morning to take the final photo.  Probably scared them that I was taking a photo of their home for no good reason.  I'm sure they will enjoy reading the history of their home they purchased a few years ago from mom and dad.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Treetop Sanctuary" Story

View from the eagle cam on a snowy day.

It was an ordinary day.  Can't take my eyes off my computer screen.  The nest is swaying from side to side and much of it is covered in a layer of snow.  I have my entire 21" screen covered with an Eagle's nest located 75 feet from the ground in an Oak tree in York, Pa's Codorus State Park.  This past December the Pennsylvania Game Commission placed a web cam in the tree to allow the world to experience the perilous mission of two bald eagles while raising their family.  

You can see the two eggs in this view from the eagle cam.

Last week two eggs were laid in the nest in weather that combines temperatures well below freezing as well as heavy snow and freezing rain.  The Game Commission has set March 21st as the due date for the hatching of the first egg.  I was watching one afternoon when the eagle sitting on the nest took flight and saw the first egg.  Temperature was well below 0 degrees Fahrenheit at the time.  

Large crane used to hoist the eagle
cam into the tree bearing the nest.
Photo from Lancaster Newspapers.

Not sure if it was the male or the female that left the nest, since you really can't tell the difference.  You cold see the buildings and roads below it moving back and forth as the wind blew at over 25 MPH.  Had to be five minutes or more before the bird returned to the nest to continue sitting on the egg.  The birds have been named Liberty and Freedom by voters in an online poll and continue to add to their nest.  The nest is a architectural marvel weighing in the hundreds of pounds with a width of 5 to 6 feet wide and 4 to 5 feet deep according to the Game Commission and birdwatching experts.  The nest had been at the same spot for over six years and is comprised of large branches and enough grass to that it would make a bale.  This pair of eagles have continued to add to the nest to make it their own.  The wife of a nearby farmer said that she saw one of the birds grab a beak full of high grass and begin to fly into the air pulling the grass until it came out by the roots.  Another local farmer said he saw one of the eagles perch on a manure pile on his farm and grab a clump of steaming manure and fly back to the nest.  When it snows the grass provides warmth to the nest.  I am amazed watching the pair meticulous place the many twigs and grasses that I have seen them bring to the nest.  Last year two eagles were born in this nest, but only one survived long enough to fly away.  Five times since the nest was built in 2006 have  young eagles have been raised in this nest.  The web cam that was installed has no moving parts, makes no noise and doesn't emit any light.  

Another view from the eagle cam showing both the
male and the female in the nest with the two eggs.

Any other way probably would have spooked the pair into leaving for another nest.  The camera is a high-definition camera and is run by an electrical connection for uninterrupted live streaming, even during the night.  As I write this I can see the nest on the other side of my computer screen moving in the wind.  At present I hear no noises, but hope that can be corrected so I can hear the screeching of the eaglets when they start to ask for food.  Some of the photos I have posed here were taken of the nest from my computer screen.  The eagle population has been growing in the past few years, due primarily to the Game Commission, and has now been taken off the endangered list in Pennsylvania.  Since the eagle cam has been placed a few months ago over 1.6 million online views have taken place.  Approximately 20,000 people are viewing LancasterOnline.com every day now.  If you care to take a gander, click on this link, lancasteronline.com/eaglecam/ and enjoy it with me.  It can be addictive!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Loss of History" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking through my 40 plus CDs of vacation photographs to find a particular image that I know I have, but can't quite remember where I filed it.  All my CDs are stored in a leather covered notebook for safe keeping.  Many of them I have used in stories I have written, but very few of them have I ever made prints of during the 15 years that Carol and I have been traveling.  Just don't do it that way anymore.  Quite different than when my parents traveled and filled photo albums with 3"x5", 4"x6" or even Polaroid photos of their travels.  

Polaroid camera from my mom and dad.

I actually have a few of those albums stored in a second floor closet.  Also stored in the closet are three large plastic tubs of photos taken during the first 65 or so years of my life as well as photos taken of Carol's early years.  While our children were growing up I took an unbelievable amount of photos.  Many were black and white photos that I made myself in my basement darkroom or at the high school darkroom where I taught photography.  Don't do any of that anymore and I suspect very few other people do that either with the advent of affordable digital photography about 15 years ago.  I was talking to my niece's husband who also files many digital images of his family, asking him about my storage method of my digital photographs.  He advised me to back them up with an auxiliary hard drive, since the life expectancy of a CD with photos on it is slightly over 10 years.  Wow!!  I have hard copy photos from when I was born 70 years ago and now he's telling me I better do something about my CDs or my photos from 15 years ago are in jeopardy.  What's going to happen to an entire generation or two of people who have never taken anything but digital photographs.  They might never be able to view photos of their youth or their children if they forget to backe up their CDs and the CDs disintegrate.  Same goes for the written word.  Who writes letters anymore?  I have letters that my dad wrote to his mom almost 100 years ago.  Physical letters you can hold in your hand.  What's going to happen to all the emails that you write to your mom or dad?  Will they be lost in space, never able to be shared with anyone ever again?  The digital world is wonderful, but we live in a time when history may not survive.  If someone decided to create a section in a museum dedicated to the history of 1995-2015, where will they get the photos and written memoirs?  And, how about this story that you are now reading.  I only have a copy of it on my computer, the same as you do.  These are stories of my life.  If this blogger website decides to close, where will my stories be?  Lost in space!  Tell you what, I have decided to print out all my stories as hard copy on acid free paper so my children, grandchildren and their children can share them for years to come.  And, I plan to buy a desktop hard drive to back up all those photos I have on CDs.  Here's hoping that the hard drive will be able to be plugged into the computers of 50 years from now.  Or will it be like the box of VCRs that I have that I can't look at anymore, since my VCR was thrown out.  Isn't planned obsolescence wonderful?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.