The "Not All Bats Are Scary Creatures.....You Know!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a Lancaster Newspaper column titled "Creature Comforts" written by Ad Crable and found that there is a woman in nearby Marietta, Pennsylvania that loves bats.  Not the kind that you play baseball with, but the kind that fly!  You know...the spooky kind.  The column told of a local woman who devotes her retirement years to rehabbing 'Misunderstood', vital bats.  Her name is Rosemarie Curcio and she lives in a bungalow in Marietta, Pennsylvania.  

Her bungalow is used to help orphaned bat pups or injure adults by bringing them back to health so they can stretch their wings and flit around before being released back into the wild.  Can you picture doing that in your home?  Me neither!  Well, the newspaper story said that with the devastating white-nose syndrome disease nearly wiping out Pennsylvania's colony bats in the past 15 years and the Hollywood relegating the flying mammal to fearful bloodsucking creatures, we need more bat rehabilitates like Rosemarie.  She is one of only three in the state that specializes in keeping bats alive.  For more than 13 years as a bat rehabilitator, working with  the nonprofit Raven Ridge Wildlife Center in nearly Washington Boro, the retired special education teacher from New York has gone all in, providing around-the-clock care for an unpopular, but important species.  She does so...since most people hate them!  Do you?  Do you think they are ugly?  You do know that bats have a propensity for devouring insects that is necessary for food production!  You like to eat?  Well, you can't hate bats and eat....too!  Hey, bats offer free labor by eating biting insects to spare you pain while lounging in your yard.  Its can eat up to 1,000 bugs in a night.  Bet you can't do that!  Partly with funding from Raven Ridge and partly with her own money, Rosemarie has transformed her home's underground floor topiary lab, part exercise gym for the flying mammals that come out at night.  Year-round, people from Lancaster and surrounding counties bring her bats.  Bats that have made it inside homes and are not welcome there, injured bats, baby bats that have fallen from colonial roosts.  The pups, another name for the baby bats, take the most devotion to get back in the skies.  Curcio has to arise every two to three hours around the clock for hand feeding.  The worst and most heartbreaking part for Curcio are the bats that get plastered to that sticky tape that is wrapped around trees, in so many neighborhoods, to catch bugs.  Curcio estimates she has treated more than 1,000 bats to date.  But, not all humans hate bats!  There was one human who last month was walking around Penn Square in downtown Lancaster and was horrified to watch an object flutter from the sky like a moth and land on the concrete sidewalk at the base of Lancaster's Griest Building.  He straddled the creature to keep it from being stepped on.  With a carryout container provided by the Shot & Bottle Store, he carried off the bat and found out about Curcio.  She speculated that the adult female big brown bat was rousted from hibernation by a spell of warm weather, then became too sluggish when it got cold again.  She administered a parasite treatment and rabies vaccination, something she does for every incoming bat.  She nursed the bat back to health shortly afterward and released it into a bat colony.  It is necessary for bats to be released into a bat colony where they can find an existing maternity colony because the adult females teach others how to hunt and other behaviors.  "Humans can't teach bats how to be bats," she said.  Many of the bats that she releases are in a barn in Chester County.  Until they are put back into the wild, she cares for them with a steady diet of live mealworms.  The individual bats stay in hamster cages and pet carriers that are kept in the dark, under towels.  In 2022, she took in and treated more than 100 bats.  At times she coordinates with Bat World Sanctuary in Texas if she has too many bats on hand.  "The best thing for bats is to be rehabbed offsite in a quiet area with one person.  That's why we have been able to rehabilitate so many bats.  Rosemarie is a wonderful and caring person who treats her bats at her Diamond Rock Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic in Chester county.  She is hoping to build a new outdoors flight center for bats in her backyard.  If you care to make a donation you can send it to "Raven Ridge Wildlife Center" website at ravenridgewildlifecenterorg.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

  

The "I Know Something about 'The Know Nothings'" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Catchy title in my morning newspaper's "The Scribbler" column which read "Know anything about the county's 'Know Nothings'?" Seems that the Scribbler knew nothing.  But, fortunately, other people knew something!  The Know Nothings created a flash-in-the-pan political movement in the mid-1850s.  The party was, first and foremost, nativistic.  Primarily, its members believed that America should be for "Americans only" - which would exclude all foreigners, especially German and Italian immigrants.  The name of the party officially was the "American Party", but it was a secretive group, like the Masons, and when outsiders asked members about the party's purpose, they answered, "I know nothing."  Well, Lancaster county's own U.S. Rep. Thaddeus Stevens briefly was a "Know Nothing" in transition from Whig to Republican.  Another Lancaster County native, Simon Cameron, led in early lobbying, but didn't receive the "Know Nothing" nomination for U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania in 1855.  Seems the peak season (notice that's singular and not plural) for the "Know Nothings" political party was from 1854 to early 1855 when the party candidates performed well in municipal elections in Philadelphia, Lancaster and other cities in Pennsylvania and some other states.  Mr. Christian Kieffer, who had been elected mayor of Lancaster as a Whig in 1851, joined a "Know Nothing" lodge, but was expelled from membership in 1854.  "Why" I don't know, but the "Know Nothings" withdrew their support from Kieffer and helped elect Jacob Albright as a "Know Nothing" mayor in 1855.  By 1856 the party had declined, and following James Buchanan's election to the presidency as a Democrat in 1856, most "Know Nothings" joined the emergent Republican Party.  The never-say-die contingent held a state convention in Lancaster in 1857, but all candidates faltered and the never-say-die's died.  Mr. Jeremiah Black, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court during this time, said of the "Know Nothings":  "They're like the bee, biggest when it's born; it will perish as quickly as it rose to power."  By 1858, the America-first party had finally died.  My information for today's story came from "The Scribbler" column in my morning newspaper as well as from local newspaper stories and articles written by Warren Hewitt from Pennsylvania History magazine in 1935 and Mark Dash for The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography in 2003.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - I must add that I do usually "Know Something." 

Pat Principe, Channel 8 Newscaster Lists His Top 5 Most Memorable Events

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about one of my all-time favorite broadcasters at Lancaster PA's Channel 8. Guy's name is Pat Principe who started at Channel 8 in 1983 and has since covered eight Super Bowls and four World Series.

He also reported on 24 Penn State bowl games since 1990, including four Rose Bowls.  But, we will remember him just as much for all the sporting events he covered in and around Lancaster and surrounding counties.  Pat recently listed his top 5 moments in Lancaster sports history that he remembers and cherishes the most.  They are: 

 #1 - The 1995 Rose Bowl because that was Penn State's Nittany Lions' first Rose bowl as a Big 10 member.....  It was notable for Ki-Jana Carter breaking an 80-yard run on the very first play of the game.  Penn State was undefeated at the time and finished the game undefeated.  However, the Nittany Lions didn't win the national championship.  Back then, it was done in a vote.  Nebraska also finished undefeated a day before they got the vote over Penn State.  Coach Joe Paterno got a ride off the field from his players.  "It was special for the Susquehanna Valley natives like Kyle Brady, the Cedar Cliff High grad, and Kerry Collins, the quarterback of the team who grew up in Lebanon and played football at Wilson High School.  He was the team leader, and it was great to see them go out like that with a win in the '95 Rose Bowl, one of four Rose Bowls that I got to attend.  Penn State sports has been a lot go fun to cover," Pat said.

#2 - Cal Ripken Jr. breaks record for consecutive games played.....  Principe was in Baltimore two nights - when the Orioles shortstop tied the record and when he broke it on September 6, 1995.  "This was a tremendous moment when they finally rolled down the 2,131 banner, and what I remember most about this night was a 45-,mute standing ovation that Cal got.  He did a victory lap around Camden Yards," Pat said.  "It's always fun to witness history.  And to be ale to witness it firsthand, that makes it even more special."  

#3 - 2003  Snow Bowl..... Manheim Central played Pine-Richard for the state football championship during a blizzard at Hersheypark Stadium.  The game was 9-3 at the half, and as the snow fell harder, the teams kept racking up the points.  The Barons scored a touchdown to get ahead nd kick the extra point.  Then it was Sean Wilt with the "Block Hears Around Manheim". That gave Manheim Central the 39-38 double overtime win for their first-ever-state-championship.  It was also the 400th win in Barons' history.  "I love covering high school football.  Football Friday's been a great passion of mine," Pat said.  "It was so good, though, to see Manheim Central finally get that state title. Coach Mike Williams certainly deserved it.  What a game.  It was probably the best game I've ever see - high school, college or pro."

#4 - The first event Pat covered in June 1983 was the Lady Keystone Open.  It was one of the bet-aattnded events on the LPGA tour during its nearly 20-year run.  Crowds of up to 30,000 to 40,000 people lined the fairways on the final day.  Greats like Nancy Lopez, Juli Inkster and Betty King all competed.  The most successful women's tournament of ll time was the 2015 U.S. Women's Open at Lancaster Country Club.  "Golf and women's golf in particular has been very important here in the Susquehanna Valley, and I enjoyed my years at th LKO and at the U.S. Women's Open," Pat said.

#5 - Hershey Bears win the 2010 Calder Cup.  This was notable for several reasons: 1. It was just the second time win team history that the Bears won back-to-back Calder Cups. 2. It was only the third time ever they were able to raise the cup on home ice.  They did it in 1959 and 1969.  3. This was the team's 11th Calder Cup championship, which move them two ahead of the next closest pursuer.  "And Brian Helmer, the captain - great friend of mine and he's now the president nd general manager of the Bears - it was great to see him hoist the cup," Pat said.  "Hershey Bears have been one of the great things to cover in this area.  They are one of the oldest pro sports franchises in the entire country.  They've been great to work with as well." 

Thank you Pat for all you have done for the sports fans of Lancaster and surrounding areas.  You made it exciting and memorable for all of us.  Hope you have a fantastic retirement.  You certainly do deserve it!  Perhaps I'll see you at another sporting event in the near future, sitting in the stands just like the rest of us!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.    

The "Spinning Up Just One More Story For Ya!

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about...of all things...the science of spinning tops!  For some reason I opened my Mac and there on the screen was a link to spinning tops which featured close to 100 different spinning tops.  I have no idea why or how it found my desk-top, but I thought there must have been a reason...and that reason was so I could share the story with you!  The spinning top is a toy unlike any other, having been played in some of the world's oldest cultures yet still beloved by people and collectors today.  Historians aren't sure exactly when or where the original spinning top came to be, but they suspect that small, top-heavy objects found in nature, such as acorns, were the first to be spun for play.  But, why have these toys fascinated both children and adults alike for thousands of years...myself included?  The answer is, of course, is in the spin!  Compared to modern toys, spinning tops may seem simple, but the physics behind them is anything but rudimentary.  Tops have quite literally defied gravity since long before Newton coined the term, and for those of you interested in just how they are able to do so and what it is that makes them topple.  Seems that when you spin a top into motion you are applying a force that causes the top's potential energy to turn into kinetic energy.  As the top spins, it turns on an invisible vertical axis.  According to Newton's third law of motion, also known as the law of the conservation of angular momentum, the top would continue to rotate on this axis/stay in motion as long as no external force acted upon it.  But, as we know, no top can spin forever on its own--at least not on earth--because even the most perfect of tops are not perfectly balanced, nor are the surfaces on which they spin.  Even though the amount of friction between the toy and the surface below is minimized by the top's tiny bottom, the force of friction becomes too much for the top, and its spin starts to slow.  As this "other force" of friction acts upon the top, along with gravity, momentum is lost, and the toy begins to wobble.  This wobbling, known as the scientific precession, tilts the top's axis to the side, allowing gravity to exert torque, another force, on the top as well.  In response to the torque, the top spins a bit more and precesses outwards.  This wobbling only gets faster as the top's spin gradually slows, an attempt to conserve the top's overall angular momentum.  Soon, the top finally falls over, coming to a stop.  So, maybe spinning tops aren't so simple after all!  Making a top that spins at-length requires precision, artistry, and a keen awareness of the science that makes the world go 'round....pun intended!  Interested in testing the physics for yourself or owning a top of your own?  Check out some of the photos I have posted with this story.  I'm sure a toy store somewhere can help you find that special top that will give you hours of fun,  no matter how old...or young you may be.  Hey...I have to stop typing now so I can go try my latest top!  They really are fun...so they are!  And...in case you were the one who sent me the information of tops...Thanks!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - the following are a variety of types of tops for your entertainment.

The "It's Still Possible To Live The American Dream!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading my morning newspaper when I came across a full-page column written by syndicated columnist Tom Purcell titled "It's still possible to live the American dream."  Found it so moving that I thought I would share it with you.  So...here is the entire column as it appeared in the Monday, March 25, 2024 LNP Lancaster Online Newspaper.  

A growing number of Americans think the American dream is out of reach, but I think they are wrong.  According to a recent poll in The Wall Street Journal, only 36% of voters said the American dream still exists, way fewer than the 53% who believed so in 2012.  Half of the poll's respondents believed that America's economic and political systems are "stacked against people like me."  These are troubling findings, but I think more of our native-born nonbelievers need to start dreaming - and acting - like American immigrants.  Many immigrants still believe hard work will help them get ahead in America and ensure that their kids will have the opportunity to truly flourish in the land of the free.  I met many such wonderful people while living in Washington, D.C.  I knew one fellow who came to America from a small Irish village to work as a butler.  He married and started a family.  To improve his income, he began selling insurance.  By his 40th birthday, he had raised enough capital to start his own highly successful Irish Pub - one that afforded him a fantastic living.  I knew two brothers from India who owned a convenience store and sandwich shop.  The older brother had been a professor at a technical school in his homeland.  But because his English was not yet strong enough, he had trouble finding similar academic work in America.  He didn't complain.  He took what-ever job he could -- busboy, cook, janitor -- and saved every penny.  He used his savings to bring his wife here, and then, one at a time, his five siblings.  He and his brother eventually saved enough to buy a convenience store, then a motel.  He was in his late 50s when I met him.  The last time I saw him, a decade ago, he'd been offered $6 million for the land upon which his convenience store sat.  But here's how he really achieved his American dream: Both of his sons became doctors.  I rented an apartment from another fellow who had been born in Beirut, Lebanon, where his father had two businesses and his family was well off.  Then civil war tore their country apart.  His family lived in a bombed-out building for three years before they were able to make their way to America.  We were the same age, and our childhoods could not have been more different.  When we were both 14, I was enjoying long bike hikes in the quiet suburbs - and he was dragging dead bodies into a pile to burn them, because the stench was unbearable.  When his family was finally able to escape to America, they were broke.  He took a job as a janitor.  His siblings took on menial work.  The family saved $20,000 and used the money to open a bakery.  He is now the president of a bakery that, last I checked, employs more than 150 people.  Despite inflation, high interest rates and anti-entrepreneurial regulations, the American dream is still alive and well for anyone willing to work for it.  In fact, The Washington Post reports that more Americans than ever are starting their own businesses.  I'm one of those dreamers, who, at 61, just started another business - creating humorous cybersecurity education content.  This is on top of another thriving business in the short-term apartment business and, of course, the column-and book-writing business.  Business is good,  and my American dream is alive and well.

The column was written by Mr. Tom Purcell and is very interesting and thought provoking.  So be it!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Memories From The Past Of My "Radio Flyer" Wagon Story

It was an ordinary day.  Came across a story in the magazine "Good Old Days" that was titled "Wagons for Easter."  It brought back memories from the 1950s when I was a child who wanted a Radio Flyer wagon for Easter.  I knew Santa wasn't going to appear during Easter, but perhaps the Easter Bunny might be able to bring me a wagon instead of candy.  Well, I must have pleaded well, since I got my Radio Flyer for Easter in 1950.  I'm not sure any more as to whom might have bought the wagon for me, since I had to go to my Nannan's house to pick up my long-awaited wagon.  My guess is that my Aunt Doris, who lived with her mother, my Nannan, on North Pine Street, in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania was the one who bought it for me, but it really didn't matter since I loved that bright red wagon.  I can remember hooking it to the back of my large tricycle so I could take my dog for rides up and down the 900 block of North Queen Street in Lancaster, PA.  When I got a two-wheeled bike from my Aunt Doris the following Christmas, I hooked the wagon to the back of my bike so I could ride up an alleyway about a block from my house to the nearest Acme Supermarket to pick up boxes of excess lettuce leaves that they would save for me.  That Radio Flyer was easy to hook to my bike and served me well for many years.  I can still remember towing my brother around the neighborhood in the Radio Flyer as well as loading it with toys when I would head to a neighbors' house to play with our red bricks and toy cars.  I later found that I owed my gratitude to a guy named Antonio Pasin, who was born in Venice, Italy in 1897.  He came to America at age 16 and ended up in Chicago, where he invested his savings in woodworking tools and made his first wagon in 1917.  He never had a wagon of his own when he was young, and he wanted to make a wagon that was affordable for every child.  In 1927, he took a risk and invested his savings in a small factory, calling his first wagon the Radio Flyer, because he was fascinated with both radio and flight.  The wagons were later named according to size and style.  The most popular color was red, but the wagons were also available in green and blue.  Don' know what I would have done without that Radio Flyer wagon!  Every time I see one in a neighborhood in Lancaster.....I think back to those days, many, many years ago, when I hooked my wagon to the back of my bike and headed to the Acme to get lettuce scraps to feed to my guinea pigs.  And....if it hadn't been for those guinea pigs and my raising them and saving the money from the sales, I wouldn't have been able to purchase my first car...a 1953 Henry J.  Now, that's another story that perhaps you already read in the past!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "A Sleezy Tale About Lancaster That I Never Knew From The Past!!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  And then I opened my local newspaper to page F1 and all hell broke loose.  The title of the story on page F1 read "SEX AND OUR CITY."  

How can that be....in Lancaster, Pennsylvania?  As I searched the page for pictures of all this vice, I saw the little black box with reverse printing that had the title LANCASTER VICE in bold letters.  Come on now...this can't be a newspaper from good ole Lancaster...can it?  And...there was a photo of a woman...mind you...named M. Alison Kibler who was going to tell me the story about sex in my city of Lancaster.  Well, she said that..."You can learn a lot about the history of commercial sex in Lancaster city from one house."  Boy...was I in for a shock!  Today the attractive home on the 200 block of West Lemon St. has a painted brick exterior with a shade tree out front;  a reading room of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, is down the block; the Lemon Street Market is nearby.  110 years ago, this house was a brothel owned and run by Mayme Carman with her business and romantic partner, Charles Bates.  Nothing about the block today hints at it's history.  Undercover investigator Minerva Mullen spoke to Carman and Bates here several times during the first week of November 1913.  Mullen was working for the American Vigilance Asso., an organization devoted to closing down commercial sex operations in cities across the country.  The minister of my church, St. James Episcopal, The Rev. Clifford Twombly, and other leaders of the Lancaster Law and Order Society had invited Mullen and three other detectives to investigate the workings of commercial sex for one month in 1913.  Rev. Twombly and others were trying to put the lid on vice in Lancaster.  The investigators produced a report that was designed to shock the city: There were 189 "professional women" who worked in brothels, rooming houses and hotels.  This was a very large number compared to "wide open" towns, where vice was an open secret, and the report admitted that this count was not complete.  Well, one such woman, Minerva Mullen, who was 36 years old and a mother of five, had traveled to good 'ole Lancaster from Brooklyn where she pretended she was interested in buying a brothel in Lancaster.  Her conversations about potential purchases revealed details about the operations, profits and legal problems of brothels.  She kept detailed notes about all these conversations.  And these notes are now preserved in the Lancaster Law and Order Society Collection at LancasterHistory.org.  Mullen pretended that she wanted to buy the brothel on West Lemon Street.  Bates explained how buying and selling brothels worked in Lancaster.  He further explained that Lancaster was a good town for vice because it attracted a lot of travelers.  "We get them going and coming, just dropping in for a day or two, get their money and send them on their way, rejoicing."  He revealed what Mullen surely already knew; that police and elected officials allowed the existing brothels to operate freely, but discouraged the opening of new ones.  The cooperation of police and elected officials during that era made Lancaster a "wide open town" - where commercial sex was a lucrative business, attracting both travelers and locals.  Carman affirmed that mayor Francis (Frank) McClain "knows everything that goes on."  Franklin & Marshall College students were known to come to Lancaster's brothels.  Once they tried to bang the door down at the brothel at 252 N. Prince St. And they hung out around the Wheatland Hotel on North Queen Street and around the concentration of brothels on North Water Street.  Lancaster's vice scene attracted people from all economic levels, from college students and traveling businessmen to laborers.  Expensive brothels, with plush furnishings and art on the walls, charged $2, while cheap brothels, which often lacked indoor plumbing, charged only 50 cents.  Mullen asked about the "vice crowd " in town, referring to the Law and Order Society.  Bates dismissed them as "a bunch of old ministers too old for tricks."  Bates said they tried to pass the curfew law.  Well, council scuttled it, but they were so damned persistent they got it through, so there is no telling what they will do.   They closed all the music in cafes, took out gambling machines, stopped a hell of a lot of dances."  By 1913, the society had won the passage of a curfew for those under 16, removed some gambling machines, and shut down some dances, but it had not convinced the city administration to crack down on brothels.  At least not yet.  A Republication machine ran the City of Lancaster then, elected officials appointed police and factory inspectors, who lined their pockets and their bosses' pockets with bribes.  Importantly, the Law and Order Society saw the campaign against vice as a fight against the corrupt city administration and the exploitative conditions of industrial capitalism.  Its members were fighting more of a political and economic battle than a crusade over individual morality.  The basics of Lancaster vice were all revealed in these conversations between investigators and brothel keepers at one house, in 1913.  Commercial sex was profitable for property owners and brothel keepers; it was encouraged by city officials; while a new group of clergy and civic leaders was starting a political battle to put the lid on vice in the early 20th century.  There is much to learn, however, from other conversations in many other places.  The article went on to say that they invite you to email them your city address to find out if it was linked with vice in the past.  A century ago, it might have been a brothel, a gambling den or an unlicensed bar.  Well, the story ended at this point and I can hardly wait for the next edition of the story in my local newspaper.  I learned so much about my little town of Lancaster just reading this story titled "Sex and Our City."  Perhaps I may be surprised about what else might have gone on in following years.  I can hardly wait for the next story in my newspaper.  I promise I will share it with you when I read it in my newspaper.  But don't count on it to be anytime soon.  It took nearly 100 years for this information to surface.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "Are You Ready To Be Serenaded" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the trillions of evolution's bizarro wonders, the red-eyed periodical cicadas that have pumps in their heads and jet-like muscles in their rears, and are about to emerge in numbers not seen in decades and possibly centuries.  Digging out from underground every 13 to 17 years, with a collective song as loud as jet engines, the periodical cicadas are nature's kings of the calendar.  These black bugs that have bulging eyes, differ from their greener tinged cousins that come out annually.  

They stay buried year after year, until they surface and take over a landscape, covering houses with shed exoskeletons and making the ground crunchy.  This coming spring an unusual cicada double dose is about to evade a couple parts of the United States in what the University fo Connecticut cicada esparto John Cooley called "cicada-geddom."  The last time these two broods came out together was in 1803 when Thomas Jefferson was President of our United States.  Mr. Cooley said, "Periodic cicadas don't do subtle!"  Hey...if you were excited about the recent solar eclipse, the cicadas are weirder and bigger!

 We've got trillions of these amazing living organisms that come out of the earth, climb up on trees, and it's just a unique experience, a sight to behold!  It's like an entire alien species living underneath our feet and then in some prime number years they come out to say hello."  Periodial cicadas are more annoying than terrible.  They can hurt young trees and some fruit crops, but damage isn't widespread and can be prevented.  The largest geographic brood in the nation - called Brood XIX are coming out every 13 years - is about to march through the Southeast.  They emerge when the ground warms to 64 degrees.  Soon after the insects appear in large numbers in Georgia and the rest of the Southeast, cicada cousins that come out every 17 years will inundate Illinois.  They are Brood XIII.  "You've got one very widely distributed brood in Brood XIX, but you have a very dense historically abundant brood in the Midwest, your Brood XIII," said University of Maryland entomologist Mike Raupp.  "And when you put those two together...you would have more than anywhere else any other time," University of Maryland entomologist Paula Shrewsbury said.  The numbers that will come out this year average around 1 million per acre over hundreds of millions of acres across 16 states -- are mind-boggling.  Easily hundreds of trillions, maybe quadrillions.  Can you envision a number that high?  An even bigger adjacent joint emergence will be when the two largest broods, XIX and XIV, come out together in 2076.  This is called the cicada-palooza.  It can be hard on the eardrums when all those cicadas get together in trees and start chorusing.  It's like a shingles break with the males singing to attract mates, with each species having its own mating call.  Wow! I can hardly wait!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

"The Swans & The Goose" by Charotte Edwards

It was an ordinary day.  Reading s short story written by Charlotte Edwards titled "The Swans & the Goose."  Story began with...On the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where we live, the gentle waters run in and out like fingers slimming at the tips.  They curl into the smaller creeks  and coves like tender palms.  The Canada geese know this, as do the fat, white swans, and the ducks that ride an inch above the waves of the Chesapeake Bay as they skim their way into the harbor.  In the autumn they come home for the winter by the thousands.  In hunting season, the air is filled with the sound of guns. The shores are scattered with blinds; the creeks and rivers with duck and goose decoys.  The swans are a different matter entirely.  Protected by law, they move toward the shores in a stately glide, their tall heads proud and unafraid.  They lower their long necks deep into the water, where their strong beaks dig through the river bottoms for food.  Between the arrogant swans and the prolific geese there is indifference, almost a disdain.  Once or twice each year, snow and sleet move into the area.  When this happens, if the river is at its narrowest or the creek shallow, there is a freeze that hardens the water to ice.  It was on such a morning, near Oxford, Maryland, that a friend of mine set the breakfast table and poured the coffee beside the hugh window that looked out from her house on the Tred Avon River.  Across the waters beyond the dock, the snow laced the rim of the shore in white. For a moment she stood quietly, looking at what the night's storm had painted.  Suddenly she leaned forward and peered close to the frosted window.  "It really is!" she cried aloud.  "There's a goose out there."  She reached to the bookcase and pulled out a pair of binoculars.  Into their sights came the figure of a large Canada goose, very still, its wings folded tight to its sides, its feet frozen to the ice.  Then from the dark skies, white against its lackluster, she saw a line of swans.  They moved in their own singular formation--graceful, intrepid and free.  They crossed from the west of the broad creek, high above the house, moving steadily to the east.  As my friend watched, the leader swung to the right.  Then the white string of birds became a white circle.  It floated from the top of the sky downward.  At last, as easy as feathers coming to earth, the circle landed on the ice.  My friend was on her feet now, with one unbelieving look and against her mouth.  As the swans surrounded the frozen goose, she feared that what life he still had might be pecked out by those great swan bills.  Instead, amazingly, those bills began to work on the ice.  The long necks were lifted and curved down, again and again, as deliberately as a pick swung over the head of a fisherman cutting a free space for his winter rod.  It went on for a long time.  At last the goose was rimmed by a narrow margin of ice instead of the entire creek.  The swans rose again, following the leader, and hovering in that circle, awaiting the results of their labors.  The goose's head was lifted, its body pulled.  Then the goose was free and standing on the ice.  He was moving his big, webbed feet slowly.  And the swans stayed in the air over him, watching.  Then, as if he had cried, "I cannot fly," four of the swans flew down around him.  Their powerful beaks scraped the goose's wings from top to bottom, scuttled under its wings, and rode up its body, chipping off and melting the ice held in the feathers.  Slowly, as if testing, the goose spred its wings as far as they would go, brought them together, accordion-like, and spread them again.  When at last the wings reached their full span, the four swans took off and joined the hovering group.  They resumed their eastward journey in perfect, impersonal formation to a secret destination.  Behind them, rising with incredible speed and joy, the goose moved into the sky.   He followed them, flapping double-time, until he caught up, until he joined the last of the line--like a small, dark child at the end of a crack-the-whip of older boys.  My friend watched them until they disappeared over the tips of the furthest trees.  Only then did she realize that tears were running down her cheeks, and she had no idea as to how long she had been crying.  This is a true story.  It happened.  I did not try to interpret it.  I just think of it in the bad moments, and from it comes a hopeful question:  if so for birds, why not for us?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "Did You Feel The Earthquake In Lancaster, Pennsylvania? Story"

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with my wife about the earthquake that allegedly struck our home town of Lancaster.  We were both sitting in our living room when we saw a notice on the TV screen about the earthquake that was being felt in parts of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania at present.  The headline on the front page of our newspaper later read...."Natural Phenomena - 'This is just not normal for where we live.'"  Sub-head also read, "Locals react to effects of rare earthquake felt in Lancaster County on Friday."  Seems that a woman, Emilie Ash, in the nearby town of Terre Hill, was working in her home when her house been to shake.  Now, that would scare me, too!  But, it's not uncommon for tractor-trailers to blow through the eastern Lancaster County borough of Terre Hill and rattle the buildings from time to time.  But, she said that she had never experienced anything like that before and it just wasn't normal for where she lives.  She, and thousands of Lancaster County residents felt the effects this past Friday morning of what the U.S. Geological Survey said was a 4.8-magnitude earthquake centered in Lebanon, New Jersey, about 50 miles west of New York City and about 100 miles northeast of Lancaster County.  I live on the West side of the city of Lancaster and no one in our neighborhood of Woodcrest Villa felt any shake, but residents across the county, from nearby Columbia Borough to Gap and everywhere in between, were calling police, neighbors and the self-report system on the USGS website.  A woman living in Conestoga, Deanne Moore  said she was sitting at her kitchen table, on hold with her doctor, when she noticed vibrations in her hand which was resting on her kitchen table.  Can't imagine what her doctor must have thought when the nurse on the phone with her told the doctor that her house was shaking.  People in New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border and other parts of the mid-Atlantic regions were calling in seismic activity as well.  The USGS estimated the earthquake was felt by more than 42 million people.  I guess everyone but those living at Woodcrest Villa felt the earth shake!!  The seismometer at nearby Franklin & Marshall College' seismometer, housed at the Millport Conservancy in Warwick Township, registered the quake around 10:24 a.m.  F&M Geosciences professor Zeshan Ismat said it is no surprise county residents felt the vibrations 100miles from the epicenter.  Depending on the type of earthquake, seismic activity can be felt over very long distances.  Prof. Ismat said if a fault in New Jersey moves, the consequences of that shift will ripple out to any subsequent faults across the area, a sort of domino effect.  Luckily, Lancaster doesn''t sit on any fault lines and is not a place where earthquakes are common, but it is the most active seismic region in the state.  Ismat said significant earthquakes are uncommon for Lancaster County, pointing to studies showing that since the mid-1700s, the county has had about two dozen earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.5 or higher.  The county last experienced a significant earthquake are in 1984, when a 4.1 magnitude quake hit Marticville in Martic Township.  According to the USGS, there have been 400 earthquakes of magnitude 3.5 or greater in eastern North America in the last 50 years.  A 5.8 magnitude quake centered about 40 miles northwest of Richmond, Virginia, in 2011 is among the most powerful in recent years.  No damage was reported to USGS from Lancaster County residents using the agency's self-reporting system this past Friday.  One local woman said she thought the rumblings created by the earthquake were the rumblings of her neighbor rolling their trash cans home.  The tremors were minor, and her cat didn't even wake up.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.    

Are You Prepared For The Eclipse? Please Be Careful!

It was an ordinary day.  Anxious for the eclipse to arrive in the USA.  Can't remember the last time that we had an eclipse that passed by us in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where I call home.  Well, my local newspaper has had several stories in the newspaper telling about the arrival of the eclipse as well as how to prepare for it.  Lancaster County will experience a partial eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024 with 91.7% of the sun covered by the moon at the height of the eclipse.  The eclipse will start at 2:06 p.m. and reach the point of maximum coverage at 3:22 p.m. and end at 4:34 p.m.  Just about every newspaper, radio and TV station has been warning us about viewing the eclipse without having some type of eye protection since viewing the eclipse without protection can cause permanent blindness.  Pretty scary, so it is!  So, I have purchased a pair of North American Eclipse viewing glasses at my local Lowe's Hardware Store for my wife and myself so we can be protected from the bright light of the eclipse.  

They cost a few dollars each, but my eyesight and vision is worth just about any price that I might have had to pay if I want to view the eclipse.  Please don't try to view the eclipse without some sort of eye protection!  Regular sunglasses will do no good and are dangerous to wear.  There are fake glasses that I have seen, but they will cause eye damage.  A currently unidentified company based in China has been selling potentially unsafe glasses imprinted with the name of a Chinese manufacturer, Cangnan County Qiwei Craft Co., that creates real eclipse glasses.  The unsafe glasses are reported to be no darker than regular sunglasses, which would cause damage to the cornea if used to view the sun during the eclipse.  Solar eclipse glasses are important because they are used to block out all but a meager percentage of the sun's light making it safe to view.  Due to the safety concerns, eclipse glasses are nearly 1000 times darker than everyday sunglasses.  I tested my new lightweight cardboard glasses by looking at a 120w lightbulb and even when I got a few inches from it, I couldn't see anything but darkness.  Couldn't believe that a cheap pair of cardboard glasses could do that, but they really worked.  Genuine eclipse glasses will be branded with the code "ISO12312-2."  This designation comes from the International Organization for Standardization and meets the worldwide standard for looking at the sun from an unmagnified perspective.  If you happen to have eclipse glasses from a previous eclipse, make sure that no obvious damage has occurered in the time since that eclipse, if you want to use them again.  If you don't have the money to buy a pair of suitable glasses you can make a pinhole projector by taking a manila folder and cutting it in half, poke a hole in one half and set the other half down on the ground diagonally against something so that it is facing toward the sun.  Then, with your back toward the sun, hold the folder up so that the small light passing through the hole you punctured is now projecting onto the second piece of folder.  Watch then as the small light reflecting through the hole in the folder hanger as the eclipse occurs.  Do not look directly at the sun through the hole in the folder. Some people think they can look at the sun no mater what they are told, but after a few seconds of that bright sunlight, they may never be able to see again.  Why take that chance?  If you have small children who don't know any better...make sure you keep eye on them so they don't look at the eclipse.  You'll never forgive yourself if you you allow them too look at the eclipse without protection.  I can hardly wait until this coming Monday so I can view the eclipse with my new viewing glasses.  I will still be a little reluctant to look for any length of time, since I have had surgery done to my eyes so I don't have to wear glasses anymore.  The last thing I would want to happen is for my sight to disappear!  I don't even want to think what might happen it that would occur.  Please be careful with your vision this coming Monday.  It isn't worth the short time of looking at the bright light.  You will regret it the rest of your lifetime.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.   

The "Iconic Cherry Trees to be Chopped Down! Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the iconic cherry tree "Stumpy" that sits along the Tidal Basin in Wanshinton, D.C.  The weakened tree is experiencing its last peak bloom before being removed for a renovation project that will rebuild seawalls around the Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park.  The sun is setting on Stumpy, the gnarled old cherry tree that has become a social media phenom.  The cherry blossoms will be gone soon and will be the last for Stumpy and more than 1000 other cherry trees that will be cut down as part of a multiyear restoration of their Tidal Basin home.  In early summer crews will begin replacing crumbling seawalls around the Tidal Basin which is the area around the Jefferson Memorial with the highest concentration of cherry trees.  

Stumpy the mascot dances around the cherry tree at Tidal Basin

If you have been to the area in recent years, you more than likely have noticed that the rising Potomac waters have regularly surged over the barriers.  The twice-daily floods at high tide not only cover some of the pedestrian paths, they also soak some of the cherry trees' roots.  The $133 million project to rebuild and reinforce the sea wall will take about three years.  It is said that it will benefit the visitor's experience when completed, but most of all, it's going to benefit the cherry trees who right now are every day, twice a day, seeing their roots inundated with the brackish water of the Tidal Basin.  Entire stretches of trees, as wide as 100 yards, have been lost and can't be replaced "until we fix the underlying cause of what killed them in the first place."  At least "Stumpy" remains alive, but in rough shape.  Plans call for 140 cherry trees...and 300 trees total...to be removed and turned into mulch.  When the project is completed, 277 cherry trees will be planted as replacements.  The mulch will protect the roots of surviving trees from foot traffic and break down over time into nutrient-rich soil, "so it's a good second life" for the trees that are being cut down.  If you have every been to the National Cherry Blossom Festival, it is widely considered to be the start of the tourist season in the nation's capitol.  Organizers expect 1.5 million people to view the pink and white blossoms this year, the most since the coronavirus pandemic.  Large numbers of cherry blossom fans have already been drawn to the area as the trees entered peak bloom on March 17, several days earlier than expected.  "Stumpy" became a social media star during the pandemic fever dream of 2020.  Its legacy has spawned T-shirt, a calendar and a fanbase.  News of Stumpy's final spring has prompted people to leave flowers and bourbon and had one viewer threaten to chain themself to the trunk to save the tree.  But, the good news on Stumpy is that the national Arboretum plans to take parts of the tree's genetic material and crate clones, some of which will eventually be replanted at the Tidal Basin.  Perhaps signs may stand next to those special trees!  Seems that the regular flooding at the Tidal Basin has risen about a foot since the seawall was built in the early 1990s.  Warmer winters have caused peak bloom to creep earlier on the calendar.  This year's peak bloom was predicted to start around this coming Saturday, but it ended up being declared on March 17.  Another weather side effect: A mid-march cold snap in the D.C. area should actually extend this year's bloom past the predicted April 9 ending.  If you have never seen the trees blooming, you better get here soon, for they may never be the same again in our lifetime....at least for a long while.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.       

The "Is It A Big Deal Or Not?"

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about losing a second in time in 2029.  Think you'll miss it.  Well, it seems like earth's changing spin is threatening to toy with our sense of time, clocks and computerized society in an unprecedented way...but, only for a second.  For the first time in history, world timekeepers may have to consider subtracting a second from our clocks in a few years because the planet is rotating a bit faster than it used to.  Clocks may have to skip a second - called a "negative leap second" - around 2029, a study in the journal Nature said Wednesday.  And, I say...so what!  You know what that means?  It means that I might miss a button on my keyboard and no one will know it.  Maybe I'll say a word that my wife might not hear.  But, it's said to be a BIG DEAL.  It will make a change in the earth's rotation that's going to lead to some catastrophe event!  Nah!  You won't even know it when it happens!  Story said that we are headed toward a negative leap second.  The Earth takes about 24 hours to rotate, but the key word is about.  For thousands of years, Earth has been generally slowing down, with a rate varying from time to time.  The slowing is mostly caused by the effects of tides, which are caused by the pull of the moon.  This didn't mater until atomic clocks were adopted as the official time standard more than 55 years ago.  That established two versions of time - astronomical and atomic - and they didn't match.  Astronmical time fell behind atomic time by 2.5 milliseconds every day.  That meant the atomic clock would say it's midnight, and to Earth it was midnight a fraction of a second later.  But...suppose you were asleep at the time!  How awful will you feel it that happens?  Then I found out that the earth's speeding up because its hot liquid core acts in unpredictable says, with eddies and flow that vary.  Do you really care?  For decades, astronomers had been keeping universal and astronomical time together with those leap seconds.  Funny...but my science teacher in high school never told me that.  Of course it could have been that pretty girl to my right that was keeping my attention.  So, do we need to make an adjustment to handle that mini-second?  In 2022, the world's timekeepers decided that starting in the 2030s they'd change the standards for inserting or deleting a leap second, making it much less likely.  Tech companies unilaterally instituted their own solutions to the leap second issue by gradually adding fractions of a second over a full day.  So, you will never know about that second!  Then add in the "weird" effect of subtracting, not adding a leap second.  It's likely to be tougher to skip a second because software programs are designed to add, not subtract time.  Are you totally lost yet??  I am!!  I say that we just blink twice on November 17 and everything will be OK.  But...I just know that someone will make a big fuss about that.  If they would just shut their mouth for an instant...it would all be over!  Wouldn't that be much easier?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary day.  PS - Did you see that I added an extra . in my last sentence so we are all OK with current time.  But wait...I added yet another one...so now we are all screwed up again!  Why can't life be easier than all this crap?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.    

The "My Alma Mater Suffers A Catastrophe!"

It was an ordinary day.  Reading in the local newspaper about what is perhaps the final part of a story that will tell about the fire that struck the high school from where I gradated 52 years ago and then returned to teach in the Industrial Arts Department for another 35 years.  It was this past Monday that a fire broke out in the wood shop's sawdust collection system.  It all happened when the blade of the wood shop's table saw, that was been used by a school employee, struck a screw that was buried in the piece of wood that was being cut, and sparks flew into a dustbin in the table saw's exhaust system, sparking a fire in the outdoor unit.  A freak accident that could happen to anyone at anytime.  During all the years that I taught in the Industrial Arts Department, I only remember two accidents; a high school boy who lost part of a finger while using the table saw and a shop teacher who got his hand caught in a printing press while demonstrating the proper use of the press and now has to use a pointer finger on his right hand that points in the wrong direction....and boy did that hurt when it happened!  Well, the employee in the school called 911 and the building was immediately evacuated.  There were no injuries and the cause was ruled accidental.  At first, the school was to be closed for two days, but as of today...it was determined to keep the building closed until next week.  Virtual instruction will be used in all classes that don't require in-class instruction such as Industrial Arts.  Five adults, which included the staff member in the woodshop classroom, and a small number of students were in the building at the time of the fire, but evacuated when the school's alarm system was activated.  Damage seems to be isolated mainly to the dust collection system, which is located outside the building, but the cost of the damage will be unkown until the school district is able to get the equipment assessed and back in working condition.  Students should be able to enter the wood-shop classroom when they return, but won't be able to operate any equipment as the dust collection is inoperable.  The fire was extinguished in 10 minutes, with the only problem being having to clear the smoke from the school.  At first, they had planned to reopen by Thursday, but changed their mind due to the smoke, and will reopen next Monday.  Outdoor activities are allowed, but indoor activities will not be allowed until next Monday.  That is the first time since I began school in the Manheim Township School District back in 1950 when I entered 1st grade, that I can remember their being a need to close any school building due to a fire in any of the school buildings.  Quite a record for a large school district.  Hopefully there won't be too strong a smoke odor in the high school when school opens again next week.   One thing that the school district did get was plenty of newspaper coverage.  Not the kind of coverage that you would hope for...but at least some coverage.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.   

The "A Well Deserved Rest That Was A Long Time Coming" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The main headline below the interesting photograph on the front of my morning newspaper read...FARM FAREWELL!  The photograph that accompanied the headline seemed familiar to me.

View of Brook Lawn Farm Market from Route 501

It was a photo of Brook Lawn Farm Market which is a few miles from my home and less than a mile from where I taught Industrial Arts for 35 years.  And there...underneath the headline was another photo of a fellow whom I had as an Industrial Arts student at Manheim Township High School many years ago and who eventually came back to teach the same courses at the high school from where he had graduated...many years ago.  Jim Erb was an Industrial Arts student of mine many, many years ago.  He was a natural in the woodshop and metal shop and loved the course that I had him in...Graphic Arts/Photography.  He decided to give up farming with his family and went to Millersville State Teacher's College, later known as Millersville State University, to become a teacher.  After his first year as a teacher at his alma mater, he thought it over and decided that he loved farming more than he loved teaching.  But, the best part of his one and only year as a teacher was meeting the love of his life, Romaine, who also taught at Manheim Township High School.  Not long after, they married and began to take over the family farm known as Brook Lawn Farm.  The Industrial Arts Department head at Manheim Township High School was a fellow named Dean whom had a Christmas tree farm in northern Pennsylvania and sold his trees along the Lititz Pike...on the site known as Brook Lawn Farm Market.  All three of my children worked at Brook Lawn Market for Dean when his Christmas trees were for sale on the site.  It is the same building that was shown in the morning paper.  Lose you yet?  Well, the story in today's newspaper told of Jim and Romaine Era finally deciding to give up farming and selling their goods along nearby Lititz Pike at their farm market.  

Some of the many fresh items they raised and sold at their stand.

I recently drove past the market and wondered why it was still closed, since certain crops they used to sell were in season right now.  Brook Lawn was opened by Jim's parents, Roy and Ruth, in the 1950's.  It was a unique farmer's stand because of the location in a developed residential neighborhood.  It is located about three-quarter miles south of Neffsville and made a convenient source for fruits and vegetables fresh from the farm - apples, peaches, pumpkins, Heirloom tomatoes and squash where available in many varieties.  

View of one of their peach trees in bloom

Jim and Romaine decided to simplify their lives.  And....to do so, they have given up the amount of farming that was needed to operate their market stand along the Lititz Pike in the Neffsville neighborhood.  No two people worked harder than Jim and Romaine during the growing and selling seasons.  I will surely miss my visits to their stand along the Lititz Pike,  but, after being totally retired for a few years now, I can surely see why they need a bit of year-long rest for once in their lives.  

Jim on his phone asking what produce he should bring to the stand

I wish them the best and thank them for all the fantastic produce that we have purchased that they raised on their property.  Good Job to both of you!  You are certainly ready and deserving of a few years of peace and quiet.  Now...if only you will take advantage of it and not feel obligated to go back to farming again.  Enjoy your new life!  I know I certainly am doing so!  We all so much deserved it!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Final shot showing the interior of the farm market.

The "Is Witty & Wise Really Funny?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a section of my latest Bulletins titled FOOLISH HISTORY.  Thought I just had to share the "Witty & Wise" paragraphs with you since I couldn't see what was witty or wise in most of them.  So...if you too think they aren't real funny...well, I'll feel a bit better!!  Now...if you think all of the following are hilarious...well...I'm in trouble!!  So...here goes.....

FOOLISH HISTORY - April Fools' Day dates back over 400 years; it's even older than Thanksgiving (true! no joke!).  Which means there have been lots of chances for good mischief.  Here's a history of the day.  

#1 - 1582 - FOOL'S GOLD - In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar, moving the start of the new year to January from April.  Those who kept celebrating the old new year were ridiculed as "April fools," which led to a new unofficial holiday, historians suggest.

#2 - 1698 - A WILD START - The first documented April Fools' prank took place in London.  A clever Brit announced a special event at the Tower of London:  "See the Lions washed."  No such public cleansing of jungle cats was planned, but the announcement drew a crowd of rubes.

#3 - 1796 - NEW JOKES IN THE NEW WORLD - The earliest recorded American April fools' prank took place in Middletown, Connecticut, where a handbill promised a marketplace for "fool's coats."  It said sellers should bring coats of various colors, yellow to "predominate," with lots of tin bells and tassels.

#4 - 1974 - AN EXPLOSIVE PRANK - When residents of Sitka, Alaska, awoke to see smoke rising from Mount Edgecumbe, officials responded to a possible volcanic eruption.  But really, a group of people had piled hundreds of tires and greasy rags in the crater and set them on fire--and spray-painted "APRIL FOOL" on the snow.

#5 - 1980 - A NEW MEANING OF HAT HAIR - The magazine of the British army reported that its guards' fur helmets needed trimming because the bear pelts were so thick that the hair continued to grow.  The London Daily Express reprinted the prank story as fact -- perhaps because it suggested a bear hormone could be a baldness cure.

#6 - 1983 - SOME META MISCHIEF - When an Associated Press reporter asked Boston University history professor Joseph Baskin about the origins of April Fools' Day, he jokingly cited a fictitious King Kugel - the name inspired by a noodle dish.  He was shocked that the reporter had run the gag as fact.

#7 - 1985 - A FALSE PITCH - A pitcher who can hurl a baseball at 168 mph?  That's what writer George Plimpton claimed about supposed New York Mets prospect Sidd Finch in Sports Illustrated.  Fans fell for the gag, which some called the greatest April fools' prank in sports history.  Really??

#8 - 2001 - A GROUNDBREAKING HOAX - For earth-shattering impact, few pranksters can beat the British DJs who said a replica Titanic could be seen from the cliffs of Beachy Head, in East Sussex.  Crowds flocked to view the made-up ship, and part of the fragile cliffs cracked-then later crumbled.   ***Now that one is half-funny!!

I'm hoping that most of you didn't laugh out loud after reading every one the #1 thru #7 "witty and wise sentences."  If you think they are hilarious...or just funny...I need to rethink what I think is funny, since what I think is funny isn't anything like these "witty & wise" ones!!!  Maybe cute, but not all-out laughable!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.   

The "A Cherry Tree Named 'Stumpy'" Story

"Stumpy"

The cherry tree nicknamed "Stumpy" stands in high tide water at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC.  The National Park Service announced that it will begin to cut down over 140 Cherry Blossom trees around the Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park in anticipation of construction for an upgraded sea wall to guard against flooding.  My story today tells the story of "Stumpy," which may someday be a part of history.

"Stumpy"....Thank You For The Memories

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about a special Cherry tree nicknamed "Stumpy" that stands in high tide water at the Tidal Basin in Wahington D.C.  The National Park Service announced that it will begin to cut down over 140 Cherry Blossom trees around the Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park in anticipation of construction for an upgraded sea wall to guard against flooding.   But, to do so, Washington D.C.'s most famous cherry blossom tree, "Stumpy," is set to be cut down as rising floodwaters imperil the iconic tidal basin.  The short, grizzled survivor is among the roughly 158 cherry blossom trees that D.C. will eliminate to raise the seawall and walking paths above it by at least two feet.  The National Arboretum is taking clippings of Stumpy so its genetic legacy can live on.  The chief of communications for the National Park Service, Mike Litterist, says that the damage that Stumpy has sustained in the past from inundation on the Tidal Basin is what has given him this atrophied appearance. In an incredibly harrowing and deeply poetic way, it seems that the very damage that made Stumpy famous is also what is causing his demise.  Since the announcement about the trees' removal on March 13, people in the D.C. area have rushed to memorialize the tree before it is too late.  Stumpy's powerful imagery resonated deeply with many of the subreddit's users.  Instead of making people laugh, the tree prompted a sense of earnestness from the online community.  Seeking to uplift both Stumpy and Winfrey, users wrote comments like, "May you bloom like this tree ini the next few months" and "No matter how much they cut you down, let your light shine." Since then, Stumpy has amassed a cult following online.  Posters regularly submitted updates on his progress to the D.C. subreddit.  Each spring, images of Stumpy's full gloom during peak cherry blossom season flood social media sites including Twitter (now X) and TikTok.  Since autumn of 2023, the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 mile and 5K has worked on making 2024 its "Year of Stumpy."  The CUCB planning committee has gone all out with this rollout.  The group has unveiled an entire celebration of Stumpy's life, complete with 25,000 T-shirts for runners and volunteers, 15,000 medals for participants who. complete the runs, and an official 6-foot mascot.  Jessica Pascual is th local graphic designer who came up with the concept to use Stumpy as the focal point for this year's races.  She says Stumpy's story inspired her to create the design for the T-shirt contest.  "We were going around and looking at the cherry blossoms, and Stumpy was still alive," Pascual says.  "And I'm like, wow, this little tree by the Tidal Basin is still alive.  It's still flourishing.  It's resilient, essentially, and then I got the idea.  That resonates with a lot of runners because you want to be resilient when you run."  For Pascual, that kind of powerful persistence is at the heart of Stumpy's resonance.  "It's like an underdog story...you don't have to be the prettiest tree out there.  You don't have to be the fastest runner in this Credit Union Cherry Blossom race.  It's you drive to stay alive or survive and work through all of whatever is around you...so I guess that's why Stumpy has resonated with people."  Stewart agrees that this aspect of Stumpy's story is what has made him into such an important symbol.  "Stumpy represents the underdog in a wy:  fighting back from challenges and triumphing over adversity ... I've called him the little cherry tree that could," Steward says.  "He's a smaller.  He's just got those few little blossoms coming out at the top, but darn it, he's trying just as hard as those big, giant cherry trees that are all around him with a full head of bloom and so forth." While Stumpy will no longer grow in the Tidal Basin, he will live on in the hearts of the thousands across the D.C. area and the country.  The National Park Service has cuttings from Stumpy that may be cloned and planted once the rehabilitation work is completed.  And the CUCB has decided to adopt Stumpy's story for their races permanently.  "Stumpy will become our permanent logo.  He will continue to live on and appear this year and will appear next year and indefinitely.," Stewart says.  "So we like to think that we're providing a bridge for Stumpy to live on into the future."  The impact of this little cherry blossom tree will be felt for yers to come.  Stumpy's story of hope and trying has made him into a cultural icon.  Long life Stumpy the cherry blossom tree!  So Be It!  Amen!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

A last glance at "Stumpy"

The "Lancaster’s first official courthouse" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Walking through downtown Lancaster, admiring some of the oldest buildings in the state of Pennsylvania.  Lancaster's first official courthouse was built in 1739.  It served the needs of the community for 45 years before being destroyed by fire.  The building was a two-story brick building with a clock tower and cupola on top, a sizable brick-paved courtroom on the first floor, and several meeting rooms above it.  The coat-of-arms of the King of Great Britain was painted above the judge's chair until the Revolution.  The pillory, stocks, and whipping post stood outside the square, which was often a muddy duck pond in wet weather.  In those days, no one ever accused Lancaster's constables of being soft on crime as the pillory, stocks and whipping-post were in constant use.  The best description of the building was recorded by William Marsh in 1744:  It is a pretty large brick building two stories high.  The ground room was very spacious.  Fronting the justice's bench, and on each side of it, were several long steps or stairs.  

The Court House in the background

The Court House could hold, allegedly, about 800 people.  On top of the Court House was a kind of cupola.  You could reach it by ascending a ladder.  From the top of the Court House you would have had a complete view of the entire town, and the county several miles around it;  likewise a part of the Susquehanna River which was 12 miles away.  I'm not quite sure I believe that, but I read several articles that described the same view.  The original courthouse was the scene of the crucial Indian Treaty of 1744.  For two weeks, from June 22 thru July 4, colonial leaders from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia met with the brightly painted Indian chieftains of the Six Nations.  

The pillory or whipping post in Lancaster

Benjamin Franklin even attended the treaty negotiations as he was intrigued by the governmental structure of the Six Nations.  This critical conference had two primary purposes: to secure Native American land for English settlement and to receive a guarantee that these Native Americans would not join the French in the border war.  I would have loved to have had a chance to see this beautiful building before it was destroyed by fire in the late 1780s.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

Another view of Lancaster's original Court House