Florence, Creation, Hoosiers

On our way to another locum, a few things are stringing together in my "stream of consciousness" thinking. We decided that on our way to Knoxville to work at the uTk vet school, we would swing by the Creation Museum south of Cincinnati. http://www.creationmuseum.org/ Although there is a west coast version of this facility, Rod, Blaine and Jack Kneller volunteered their labor to help build this one. Here is a picture of them with the worker group a couple of years ago. Perhaps, I will share more about this after we've visited the place courtesy of Rod's guest passes. While we are here we are missing the annual woodcutting on Stephenson Lane in Springfield with the Hogan Clan. That's a bummer, but with my nearly healed intercostal muscle and both hands not quite recovered from carpal tunnel release surgery, I would have probably embarassed myself trying to keep up with 80+ "uncle Bob".

On the way here, coming down I-74, we passed Batesville and Sunman where my vet school lab partner, Lloyd Koester grew up and practices veterinary medicine. Then out of the nite came a green and white sign that said "Milan"... Whoa! Milan, Indiana is the little town whose basketball team won the IHSAA basketball tournement in 1954. http://www.sportshollywood.com/hoosiers.html This is the team that the movie "Hoosiers" was based on. You'll never know how from 1954 to 1960, how many times my imaginary team mates and I (from little Silver Lake, Indiana) played as the Milan Indians against the larger powers of Indiana high school basketball out in our toolshed on rainy days. I shot jump shots over the likes of Jimmy Rayl from the Kokomo Kats and 6'4" Pat Porter from Noblesville, and completed reverse lay-ups around that brute Larry Heistler from Etna Green (Not such a large school, but a Kosciusko County power during the time.) Of course, there was no one to see all that except at times my cousin Monica who still claims that she spent her youth rebounding the ball and throwing it back to me so I could practice... Surely it wasn't that bad.... was it???

So what about Florence??? Several years ago, Georgia had the opportunity to travel to Europe. One of her favorite cities was Florence, Italy. You may remember the dairy commercial that featured Florence, the Holstein cow by that name also. Then while in Oregon, (Check blogs from last March.) One of Georgia's favorite places to shop was "Bon Jour" in Florence, Oregon. So here I sit in a really modern place (Hyatt Place) in, you guessed it... Florence, Kentucky. Oh, and there was Florence Williams, my beloved first grade teacher at Silver Lake School, where I grew up a Hoosier during a time when Creation was allowed in grade school curricula.

sports, bulbs, and strippers

I thought that title might grab your attention. What do these things have in common? Nothing really, except that they have consumed my recent days. We'll start with sports. For me the baseball season is over. The wheels fell off the Cardinals a few weeks ago. The Cubs flamed out, and last nite, the White Sox sputtered out. So on to football. The lopsided victory of the Illini over Michigan on Saturday was such a joy to watch through orange and blue glasses. The Bears were simply dominant over Detroit under the hand of fellow Boilermaker Kyle Orton. And..... did you get to see the miraculous Colt comeback???? Wow! I give all the credit to the Colts rather than bashing the Houston quarterback. So for me, football in the midwest is all good right now. Bulbs: If you remember last spring, we were victorious over the rabbits and got to enjoy the many tulips we planted before. That gave me the drive for more bulbs. Last Saturday, the "I heard it on the radio" special at Prairie Gardens was 1/2 price bulbs. So off we went to Prairie Gardens (Aidan and Ava were with us overnite.) Aidan helped me plant while Ava and Georgia did "girlie things". Aidan got to experience progress in my bulb planting technique. Many of the tulips were planted with the help of older grandkids in years past using the "typical" bulb planters. First there was the simple hand planter that works well, but takes hand strength which neither Aidan and I were ready to to show off. A couple of years ago, I graduated to the "step on" model", hanging with the shovels. Well, while we were shopping, I heard someone talk about the augers, which I had heard about before, but felt it was not necessary. Since I'm still recovering from carpal tunnel release surgery and my strained intercostals, I decided it was time to "go modern". The auger is run by a drill, but really sucks the juice out of rechargables. After cycling my 3 drill batteries several times, I decided it was worth it to bring out the corded 1/2 inch drill and power cord. With this new experience, if you have lots of bulbs to plant, I recommend the auger, and a corded drill. So what did we plant? 24 alliums and 345 crochus bulbs. So if you are in the neighborhood, trusting that I did it right, I can keep the rabbits off them, and God is willing, you can watch with me early in the spring to see just where we put all of the bulbs that will hopefully be the first sign of spring. If it all works out, I will probably post pictures next spring.

Stripper time! As you know, we are presently helping Georgia's mom, Bea, move out of her appartment and in with Georgia's sister Nan. In that process, there are several things being "passed on" to family members. During this process, many of the things moved out of Bea's appartment are now in Nan's garage. Nan has a goal of being able to garage her car this winter. In Nan's garage, was a "kitchen cupboard" that I remember being on the enclosed carport at the lake cottage (yellow at the time), then at 316 East North A street in it's turquoise state. It has been sitting in Nan's garage for the past several years. My mom had one just like it in the "back room". There is a roll top in the upper component along with a metal flour bin. Mom's was white and I will have to check with my sister, Barb to see what happened to it... my memory has lost it. Maybe we left it with the house?? Well, to get to the point, the turquoise one from Nan's garage apparently belonged to Bea's grandmother. I brought it home and am now in the process of stripping the many layers of paint off it to get to the beautiful oak. One interesting thing is that somewhere betwen the layers of paint, there appears to be a fruit decal on each door. I though maybe it was on the oak, but it seems to be nearer the "surface". I'm tempted to press Bea to find out when each of the layers of paint that she remembers were applied. The light tan one seemed to be the first after the varnish, and really sticks. Some of these pictures show the decal on one door. So you guessed it. the strippers are to remove the paint. At my age, this is the most exciting stripper I can deal with. A good thing, I guess.

As Georgia left to go back to Gas City, she left me with a few projects. One was to fill the kitchen windowbox with a fall collection, since the flowers we had there have run their course. So here are pictures from outside and from the kitchen. I put them here primarily for her benefit, so she can let me know if I have "dun good" or if I need to change it immediately. A woman's work is never done, expecially with a husband who is trying to be a decorator. Oh. One more thing to share. The irises we planted last fall were great this spring, but guess what. They are blooming again this fall... Who knew?

deja vu again and again

In my last post, I mentioned the Ducktail Run in Gas City, Indiana this weekend. I also mentioned that the classic and customized cars had started showing up in town last Monday. This morning, I decided to take a "run" by the Gas City park to check it out. Actually, I had forgotten my caps and didn't bring a jacket for these cool mornings, and thought I might find something "cool" (so to speak). Be as it may, I paid the $5 to someone who lived close to the park so I wouldn't have to walk a half mile just to get there (although I'm sure I could use it.) This reminded me a lot of the Covered Bridge Festival in Rockville, Indiana which we will most likely miss this year for the first time in ages. The difference is that although there were the "italian charms" tents, and the like, many were related to auto restoration and customizing. As I rounded the first tent to enter the main site, I ran into a 54 Ford police car that had been restored including the large bubble light and siren on top. Although I'm sure the engine was much larger than the straight 6 that was in mine, it did bring back memories. I found the tent with the hats and Jackets and outfitted myself like it wasn't my first time there. (Of course I'm sure it was obvious to the veterans that I was a newby, 'cause I kept saying "Wow!.) I wandered up and down rows of cars that were in no particular order. Sorry, It was about here when I remembered that I forgot to bring the camera. If you want to see pics of these cars you can go to the ducktail run website I posted in my last post. Lots of 55 to 57 Chevys and 51 and 57 Fords with nearly everything represented. the few that caught my eye were the restored Studebaker Silver Hawk and the 50's Fordolet. This was a candy apple red vehichle whose rear parts were Ford and front end was Chevy. Speaking to the builder, seems it isn't all Ford and Chevrolet. The grill is a 55 DeSoto among other various "orphan" pieces. On the back was a sign with musical notes saying "one piece at a time" relating to the Johnny Cash song about the Cadillac he brought home from the factory in his lunch pail, "one piece at a time," resulting in a "hybrid" vehicle. The parts I recognized were from the 50's and there was no manufacture date on it, so I guess I have to call it a "50's vehicle. The last one that caught my eye was a simple 46 Plymouth that had be restored beautifully. The reason I was taken by it was that it reminded me of the car Uncle Charlie drove. We had a particularly interesting evening, parts of which I remember, when I was maybe 8 or 10. It was night and for some reason, we were riding with Uncle Charlie. In those days, the gravel road was the rule in northeastern Indiana. It seems we were in a hurry but all of a sudden, the oil pressure gauge (yes gauge) went to zero and we either stopped because of that or because the engine ceased. It seems that while traveling down that gravel road, a rock flew up and knocked out the oil plug, allowing the engine oil to drain out. Don't remember if Uncle Charlie saved a lot of money by stopping or had to pay a lot because he ruined the engine. Sorry, no punch line here, just someone who seems to be getting beyond some old memories. My advice to all: write it down in some form while you remember it. At some point some generation will be glad you did. Speaking of advice. If you have any interest in old or customized cars, make the Gas City Ducktail Run a priority. In my short jaunt around the park, I saw cars from Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Tennesee, Florida, and Canada, in states from complete restoration to rustbuckets for sale in wait for someone to love them. Although I would never consider myself a gearhead, listening to low rumble of those V8 engines makes Vroom Vroom a joke. And people wonder why both of our Explorers have V8 engines. I guess part of me will never modernize. I still like that sound.

Bronco Lane

This week, I feel like Bronco Lane. Who is Bronco Lane, you ask? We got our first tv about 1957 -58, so the plethora of westerns that graced the airwaves during those years made a big impression on me. They were pretty much cookie cutter programs, but each had memorable theme music. This week as I run back and forth across Indiana and east central Illinois, The theme to Bronco keeps running through my mind. "Bronco, Bronco, tearing across the Texas plain"... As the theme plays in the beginning of the show, there is Bronco Lane ridin' hard. That's pretty much the way I feel. Here is a link to acquaint you with yet another western hero. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051261/ Let's see, Georgia came back to Gas City a week ago today. I stayed til after anatomy class Wednesday, then came over so we could spend some time together. Saturday, we ran "home" for Aidan and Ava's baptisms. Had a really nice time with the family at Greg and Mel's after. Sophie asked if she could stay over. Understanding that we were rushing out Sunday morning, we agreed. During this time, we are in the process of emptying Bea's apartment since she is moving in with Nan. We brought the Grandfather Clock home on this trip. When Bea moved into the apartment she didn't have room for her dining room table. Georgia loved that set, so it came to our house (I think when we moved to Mahomet.) We had a set, that we bought when we graduated from vet school (40 years ago) but since sold the table or gave it away. Who knows? Here's an aside. Remember I went to Gas City Wednesday. On Thursday nite in conjunction with the Purdue Vet School Fall Conference the Class of 1968 met for a 40th class reunion. We think that we were back for one reunion a long time ago, but only one. There were 3 of my classmates who didn't recognize me and one of my best friends from those days, I couldn't recognize. (Graduation class size - 43.) It was great catching up and renewing. (And another episode of Bronco.) Back to the dining room sets. Bea did keep her china closet to store some the cut glass her dad made. (He was a glass cutter and made some beautiful glassware.) This seemed to be a good time to reunite the china closet with the table and chairs in our dining room. So the plan was to trade china closets. We would again have a matching dining room set (which had belonged to Georgia's mom.) and our cherry china closet would look better in Nan's house than the more ornate maple one. I spent Saturday afternoon working out the details of making this trade. It seemed the best plan was to rent a cargo van in Champaign, bring our china closet to Nan's on our return Sunday, then load Bea's china closet in the van to return to Illinois on Monday. Greg and Jeff helped me load (actually they did it) our china closet in the van which Greg had picked up for me on Saturday before the baptisms. After "convoying" our 2 explorers to Illinois on Saturday, Georgia and I "convoyed" back with the van, leaving the green explorer at Gregs. We got to Nan's where her son Richard helped me load Bea's china closet. At this point it was decided that a bedroom dresser and coffee table were going to Illinois, so Richard and I tipped the china closet on it's side to make room. Now I am loaded to return to Illinois (Monday) where I will unload the stuff in the garage before returning the van. Greg will pick me up there and drop me off at his house to pick up my explorer on his way from his office to a meeting on the west side. Tuesday, I will mow the yard (sans rain), teach in the vet anatomy course on Wednesday, then back to Gas City to help finish emptying Bea's apartment this weekend. Which by the way is James Dean weekend in southern Grant County. http://www.jamesdean.com/community/festival/index.htm So all the small towns in southern Grant County, Indiana (including Gas City) will be filled with people and their old classic cars. Specifically, Gas City holds a "hot rod show" called the "Ducktail Run" http://www.jamesdeanducktailrun.com/DucktailRunPhotos2008.htm . This morning at breakfast at the local "B & B restaurant, the place was invaded by "old" guys in their Ducktail Run T shirts. It seems they gather in the Gas City Park all week long. After breakfast, as I left, there were several classic cars in the lot, including a customized purple 48 Hudson, and a 57 red Plymouth with a white stripe. A mixed blessing. We will have to work around the people, but it will be cool to see all of the old cars. I assume our explorers will be filled with "stuff" but hopefully everything too big to fit in the explorers is now in the cargo van ready to head west. Whew! So here I go again, "Tearin' across the midwest plain." No duck tail, no classic car, just memories of those days when the coolest car was the one where all of the "bling" had been removed, leaving a smooth rounded contour, riding low (especially in the rear) and rumbling, not from a stereo system, but from a kick-ass V8 with dual glass pacs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJWGJ0qSkVY

inteface; intercostal; intervention

If you have been reading these posts (and not just looking at pictures), you will know that the title "interfaces" relates to the basis of radiographic interpretation as well as that interaction between people which points out the differences between each of us. Intercostal; that is what I damaged while wrestling 3/4 inch treated plywood from atop our green explorer. Now that I know what was damaged, it makes sense. I was trying to get each of 3 sheets (4' X 8') off the vehicle without damaging the edges or Nan's flowers. So picture a short pudgy old man with arms spread over his head "easing" a 100 - 150 pound object to the ground from it's 6 foot high perch (3 times). OK, you can stop chuckling now! I never said I was very bright. Of course when I had my appointment made, it started feeling better, but not that much better. Here is an image depicting my damaged right 10th intercostal muscle. This explains why it hurts in front and in back. After the exam and diagnosis was finished, the bottom line came: can't do anything about it; it will hurt; for a while (6 - 8 weeks). By that time, our yard needed mowing badly and I wasn't up to it, so I enlisted Grand-daughter Sophia who was glad to do it (for a price of course). We discussed mowing patterns and she came up with what she called "SP" Sophie's pattern. After spending essentially a week in bed, I was able to get out and deadhead flowers and other light duty as long as I didn't stay at it too long. Friday night, Georgia came home for a couple of days of R & R and to meet a couple of appointments before heading back to GC today.
In the meantime, Ike hit Texas and we had flash flood warnings here Saturday morning. Here, I need to recap the water issues in our basement. When we bought the house, there was no sump pump. The house was about 2 years old at that time. Having dealt with basement water in our "Main Street house", I located the builder and asked his advice. He said, "I would never tell you not to put one in, but we didn't feel there was a need at the time". Having spent considerable funds to make the basement a place for the family to watch movies, etc. together, we decided to go ahead. Also installed a back-up battery system. That worked for 3-4 years. The sump did work (thus was needed). Then one rainy nite, the sump failed and the battery had "run down". After $3000 to Serve Pro we recovered from that disaster. We since heard about the "water driven" back up sump pumps. Just before leaving for Oregon last January, we had one of these installed along with an upgrade on the primary sump. That problem solved. Well, so to speak. Over the years, when there was severe rain, I had notice slight dampness on the floor in my workshop on the east side of the house. (Sump is on the west side.) This summer when I was all wired for my first sleep test (during a rain storm), Georgia had to call me home because water from this side was getting into the carpet in the "main" part of the basement. That was puzzling, but passed. Then a few weeks ago, we had the deal with leak in the water supply. OK, now Ike comes and we get a deluge. It looked like an Oregon mountain stream coming down the hill between our house and the Patterson's. The water was boiling where it dumps into the "lake". The sump pump was again working nearly constantly, and sure enough there was seepage in the east side. I spent the morning dumping the wetvac and sopping up water. While at it, I pulled out the workbench from the east wall, hearing water "trickling". There at the entrance of the water supply (Yep, the damned water supply again.) they had poked a hole in the poured concrete wall for the water entrance and the water was coming in around the pipe. Guess they didn't seal it well enough when the house was built. I found an old can of plumber's putty which I jammed in the hole to slow it down enough that I could keep up. Like the leak at the other end of the water supply, it seems this opening slowly eroded to a crisis point. Are houses only built for 12 year life these days??? After spending the morning intervening between Ike and our basement, I was pretty much whipped for the day. Will have to come up with a permanent "plug" for that hole. Also after the Cardinals got swept by the Pirates, I pretty much have to become a c-c-c cub fan for the rest of the season, of course while doing my best to make it a Chicago world series this year since my SOX are hanging in there. What's this about a no-hitter just when I thought "Z" was all washed up???

Just a quicky

This will really be short cause I am in a really unusual position for myself. This is the second day in a row of which I will have spent the majority in bed. Seems that when I am on my feet, my back gets really pissed. I am still trusting it is a spasm, just a different muscle than in the past. The plan was for me to go back to Gas City for the weekend... But if this doesn't change, that won't be happening. The main stimulus for this post is the University of Illinois basketball schedule. You may remember that my cousin Monica Earlywine and her husband Thom have a son (Kirk) who is the basketball coach at Eastern Washington University. You can see his picture at: http://goeags.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/ewas-m-baskbl-body.html
His team played a game in Portland while we were in Oregon, but our schedule didn't permit us pursuing attendance although Monica said she could get us tickets. Well, this year they are in the Assembly Hall for the season opener with the Illini on November 14. http://fightingillini.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/090308aab.html
However, again my "locum business" will interfere. Georgia and I will be in Tennessee that weekend after 2 weeks at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. It is amazing how small this world is, but just as amazing is how complicated it is.

What a Tuesday

Trying to not do much physically since the ramp because I believe I strained some oblique muscle on my right side... Surely it's the same one Albert Pujols pulled this summer. If so, I see why he laid out some games. It feels like a knife both in my chest and back. Advil is helping, but.... Monday, Georgia's birthday, we met Barb, Gary, Bart and Lindsey for lunch at the local Cracker Barrel. We agree... Lindsey seems to be a keeper. We gave them a hard drive with mom and dad's old movies so they can copy what they want and Barb gave us a bunch of mom's diaries. That will be interesting reading. I planned to leave early Tuesday morning to come home, but didn't get up til about 7:30. We needed to get another grab bar for Nan's bathroom, so I decided to wait around til the Home Health store opened to pick one up. Now I hadn't taken a shower 'cause I thought I'd be going home by myself, so was feeling a bit "gamey". Gabe's 8-year-old Rottweiler, "Snoop", who lived with Nan had been limping since I'd been there (and apparently a bit before that). He got to where he didn't want to get up. Gabe and Mandy came to get him Tuesday morning while I was picking up the grab bar. They took him to one vet practice which was severely busy, then went to another practice on Western Avenue. I told them that if the vet wanted me to look at x-rays, I wouldn't charge for it. By the time I got the last bar installed, they called back and said there was something in Snoop's elbow and a large mass in his chest. That of course changed the picture. After discussing it, I asked if the veterinarian minded if I came out to look at them. In the meantime, I had looked him up on the internet to find that he graduated from Purdue 3 years after we did and practiced for a short time in North Manchester where we had interviewed at graduation. In addition, he knew the Sommers brothers who had been dad's vets while he had livestock in his latter years. As another addition, another veterinary radiologist who I know pretty well had actually practiced at the very place where we were standing. The vet, Dr. Durkes is a widely known practitioner of gold bead implant, acupuncture, and other homeopathic veterinary medicine. While I was looking him up, I checked my e-mail to find that the business office at Purdue still didn't have a form I had signed... (so I could be paid). I answered by saying that I was coming home from Gas City, so I would stop by their office to sign another one. Off to Western Avenue. Dr. Durkes was correct, there was at least one big mass in the chest and some abnormalities in the elbow. I found however that there was also a problem with the shoulder. Not to brag (OK, to brag) the average veterinarian (including Dr. Durkes) wouldn't have noticed it, but after I pointed it out, Dr. Durkes completely agreed with my diagnosis. Snoop had a bone tumor in his shoulder. That is why he was limping. The tumor is called an osteosarcoma. Veterinary Oncologists all over the world are working on treatment for canine osteosarcoma. The best they can do is hold it off for a few months. Here is a radiograph (x-ray) of a shoulder that looks very much like Snoop's and one of a normal dog. Although very difficult, Gabe made the best decision for Snoop, himself, and his family. I stayed to help, allowing Gabe and his family to leave.

That done, I went back to Nan's to report in and say my goodbyes. In the back of my head, I was thinking... "I hope Sharon (at Purdue) is still there, but I'll bet she leaves at 4". So I headed out toward West Lafayette, arriving in the business office about 4:05. The lady said, "Can I help you?". I need to interject here that the AC isn't working in the old green Explorer. Remember, I was feeling "gamey" earlier in the day. The quart of iced tea I was sipping on from Gas City to Lafayette, kicked in just east of Lafayette. I did manage to find a men's room when I hit the vet school, but still didn't feel very "social".. I explained that I had worked there in July and needed to sign a form for "Sharon". She said, "Sharon just left for the day..." AAARRRGGGHHH!!! "but I'm her boss". Whew! She got out another form which I signed and was on my way home. All I had to do was to drive another 90 miles in 90 degree weather and stay away from people. Did stop at the Lindy Freeze to get a chocolate covered cherry flurry... mmmm good. (Oh yes, the rest stop just west of Danville.) Came home, watered the flowers (everything looked good except the new wisteria I had planted for the copper arch and forgot to tell the Pattersons about), came in, took a shower and crashed. While on my way back into Gas City in the morning, I had stopped to take a picture of the sign commemorating the "heros" of Gas City. Y'all know about nearby Fairmount and the famous people from there. http://www.jamesdean.com/community/festival/index.htm

Well just a few miles from Fairmount, is Gas City. As you enter Gas City from any direction, you can see this sign. Who are these people? Larry Heddon was a basketball star in the early 50's. Jack Colescot in the late 40's . http://www.hoopshall.com/inductees/1998/hedden.html http://www.hoopshall.com/inductees/1997/colescott.html You might notice that the website spells his name differently than the sign.... hmmmm. Don Foreman is in the Indiana baseball hall of fame as a reknown high school coach from the 60's to 90/s in the Indianapolis area. http://www.indbaseballhalloffame.org/inductees/foreman.htm

and Rick Atkinson also as a baseball coach , though they didn't mention the year. http://www.indbaseballhalloffame.org/inductees/ratkinson.html

So who is this Paul McPherson? He achieved basketball hall of fame status with his small college championship team in 1940 at Tarkio University in Northwest Missouri. He is number 99 in the photo at: http://www.tarkioalumni.org/AHoF.html. Oh! He is Georgia's dad who left us in 1985. I'm not sure why it isn't up now, but there used to be a sign entering Gas City acknowledging Jack Courtney, a world reknown figure skater (ice skating and roller skating). You will see him listed in both men's combined and pairs in 1968 at this site. http://www.usarollersports.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/11/26/4388ec658b69f . Let's see, Champaign, Illinois boasts Bonnie Blair and Urbana, Miss America Erika Harold. I'm sure there are some famous people from Mahomet, Illinois, but I'll have to check. I wonder if there is anyone famous from Silver Lake, Indiana. Guess it depends on what you mean by famous. I know that I thought David Kinsey, Dallas Fingerlee, Larry Caudill and Norman Roberts were pretty special along with Emory Brandenburg and Jim Haney, but then I guess my perspective was pretty limited. They were fun to watch play basketball. (Back in the days of short pants and duck tails).