Outdoors

It is difficult to find something worthy of writing about every day. The goal is a blog post a day this year. Here we are in January and already the pressure is being felt. Hanging around the house today scanning pictures and wondered what the hell will today's topic be. It was time to go out and get the mail when inspiration struck. It is cold today and, at least for guys, a trip from a warm house to the cold outdoors makes the urge to pee sudden and urgent. It isn't just me who is affected this way, is it??? Anyway off to the mailbox I go. It isn't a long trip, maybe 75 yards each way but it isn't like in town where you reach out the front door and never really leave the house. As I walk to the mailbox the urge to pee grows with each passing step. Growing up on the farm you tend to look at the world as your personal urinal. I mean you would like a bit of privacy but I admit I have been stared at by a variety of farm animals. They don't appear offended and often are not even mildly interested. Today the temperature outdoors is about 15 degree F with a light wind from the west. When peeing outdoors wind is a consideration if you want to keep your shoes dry. It is also a consideration when aiming at a target. Yes ladies I know, we can't hit a toilet at knee level so how do we expect to hit something on the ground. I could argue that if a supreme being did not want us to pee on ants or spiders he wouldn't have us standing up and them crawling on the ground. Clearly with today's weather there is no chance of having an insect target. The other thing that is obvious to me is that I don't want to expose my delicate parts to this kind of weather. Peeing outside will wait for more temperate conditions. My thoughts then went to having 6 granddaughters. The logistical aspects of girls peeing outdoors is much more complicated than it is for us fellas. It would seem that there should be some way to make it easier. Then I happened across this fine invention.

 

It seems to level the gender gap in outdoor peeing. The young lady appears to have the technique mastered. Feet apart, back straight, eyes on target. She appears to be using the two hand grip which may be necessary when using an assist device. You would hope at some point the ladies could graduate to one handed technique and have the other hand available to wave at passerbys or swat at annonying insects. They will need to remain cognizant that if the person next to you starts talking you should turn your head only, not your body. They may not want you peeing on their shoes. In a strict interpretation of man law there is no talking during peeing and certainly no head turning. Eyes straight forward looking at something as though it has the formula for turning lead into gold. You ladies advance to one handed then you will have a hand free to scratch whatever itches. Try it, you might just enjoy the experience. Until there are advances in peeing assist devices it appears unlikely you gals will be able to utter those famous words, "Look Ma, no hands!!!" 

Giant Arrows?

Today's post is thanks to Dan Roberson. He posted a link on Facebook which lead to an article about giant concrete arrows that dot the American landscape. Dan has a curious mind. He wants to know about everything. His interests change constantly but when Dan finds something and shares it anyone who is thinking tags along to see what has caught his attention.

So here is a picture of one of the arrows. What is it for? Where is it pointing toward?

Here is a bit closer view of one.

The rest of the story is part of the fabric of American life. On August 20, 1920 the United States opened the first coast to coast air mail delivery route. There were no good aviation charts at the time and pilots had to eyeball their way across the country using landmarks. Bad weather made flying difficult and night made it impossible. The concrete arrows shown above were placed about every ten miles and paint a bright yellow. Each arrow had a 51' steel tower with a one million candle power rotating beacon. A generator shed at each tower powered the beacon. Mail could now cross the United States in about 30 hours. By 1924 just one year after Congress funded it the concrete markers stretched from Rock Springs, Wyoming to Cleveland, Ohio. The next summer it reach New York and by 1929 it spanned the continent. New technology, radios and radar eventually made the concrete arrows obsolete and the beacons were decomissioned in the 1940's. The steel was used to support the war effort. Hundreds of the arrows remain, their yellow paint long ago worn away, a reminder of a bygone era.

This is one of the surviving airway beacons and stands in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

This is one of the preserved sites with beacon tower, generator shack and caretakers cabin intact.

An overhead view of the way the towers and arrows were set.

Air mail plane from the 1920's.

The main air mail route across the continental United States.

The air mail system memorialized in a postage stamp.

So, thanks Dan for opening our eyes to an almost forgotten piece of our American heritage.

1926 World Series

Yesterday I posted about my Grandmother Byrdis and her letters home about the 1926 World Series. I want to take a little time today to talk about that World Series.

The 1926 New York Yankees were a great team. They won the American League Pennant with a record of 91 wins and 63 losses. They were lead by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. It is interesting to look at current salaries for baseball players and the look at Ruth and Gehrig in 1926. Babe Ruth was paid $52,000 in 1926 and Lou Gehrig a mere $6,500.

The St. Louis Cardinals won the National League Pennant with a record of 89 wins and 65 losses. They were lead by Rogers Hornsby who was the manager and played second base. It was his only year as manager. He had a good year with a batting average of .317, hitting 11 home runs and 93 RBI's. The St. Louis Cardinals in 1926 were celebrating their 45th season in St. Louis and their 35th in the National League. They had one previous world championship in 1886 which preceeds modern day major league baseball. The 1926 World Series was the first meeting between the two teams that lead their respective leagues in World Series Championships. The Yankees have won 27 while the Cardinals lag far behind with 11.

The 1926 World Series opens in New York with the Yankees winning the opener 2-1 on October 2,  1926. Game two was played the following day with the Cardinals evening the series winning the game 6-2.

The teams then travel to St. Louis and play game three at Sportsman Park on October 5, 1926. Somehow the Cardinals manage to shut the powerful Yankees out winning by a score of 4-0. The teams play a game for the history books on October 6, 1926. The Yankees win the game by a score of 10 to 5 but history is written when Babe Ruth hits three home runs in a single world series game. A record he now shares with Reggie Jackson and Albert Pojols. Seems fascinating the three players who share the record played for the Yankees and the Cardinals when the feat was accomplished. Babe Ruth's home runs were as follows. In the first inning with two outs and no one on base a drive to deep right field. In the third inning again with no one on and two outs a drive to deep center field. In the sixth inning with one out and one on base another drive to deep center field. In addition Babe Ruth played left field and threw out Taylor Douthit at home plate. Don't feel sorry for Taylor Douthit as he managed assists from center field throwing out Tony Lazzeri at third base and Joe Dugan at home plate.

The teams meet again on Thursday, October 7, 1926 with the Yankees winning the game in 10 innings by a score of 3 to 2. The 10th inning for the Yankees went as follows. M. Koenig, single to left field. Babe Ruth at bat, wild pitch, Koenig to second. Ruth then receives a walk. B. Meusel, bunt groundout, sacrifice, Koenig to third, Ruth to second. Lou Gehrig is given an intentional walk. T. Lazzeri hits a sacrifice fly to deep left field, Koenig scores. M. Gazella is hit by a pitch, Ruth to third, Gehrig to second. Severeid pops out to second base to end the inning. You almost feel sorry for the pitcher having to face Ruth and Gehrig in the 10th inning with the game on the line.

The series returns to Yankee Stadium on October 9, 1926. The Cardinals open the game with a three run first inning and never trail in a game they win by a score of 10 to 2.

Game 7 is played in Yankee Stadium on October 10, 1926. There is nothing in sports more exciting than game seven of the World Series. The Yankees open the scoring in the bottom of the third inning scoring a single run on a home run by Babe Ruth. It would be his only hit of the day. He would be walked at all his other plate appearances. The Cardinals respond with 3 runs in the top of the 4th inning. The Yankees score a single run in the bottom of the sixth inning. The ninth inning proves interesting. The inning opens with two quick groundouts to third base. Babe Ruth comes to bat and draws a walk. Bob Meusel comes to bat and in an attempt to get into scoring position Babe Ruth is thrown out stealing second base. The tag applied by Rogers Hornsby and the Cardinals are World Series winners.

 The final play of the 1926 World Series.

The 1926 St. Louis Cardinals.

Baseball, Byrdis, and 1926

This morning I woke up with baseball on my mind. It wasn't on my mind for a good reason. I was thinking about Alex Rodriguez and his 162 game suspension, the history of steriod use in baseball and the effect it has had on some time honored records. I thought about the line from the best baseball movie ever, Field of Dreams. While I cannot quote it exactly the just of the line was that though all our trials and troubles, in good times and bad in America, baseball has been there, our constant companion. That got me thinking about my Grandmother Byrdis Oyler Sutor. She was born in Ohio but spent her formative years and graduated from high school in St. Louis, Missouri. My dear friend Mike is a diehard Mets fan, Pat Johnson lives for the day the Cubs will be World Series champions. I bleed Cardinal red. In 1926 Byrdis leaves her dear parents in St. Louis and comes to Galesburg to attend Knox College. In her early letters home she writes of the lonliness of being away from loved ones, attending classes and finding somewhere to attend church services, meeting new people, making new friends. It is all the things each of us experiences as we venture forth into a new world and try to find our way as adults. What does this  have to do with baseball?

Byrdis writes home in a letter postmarked September 26, 1926. "Isn't it a shame I cannot be home when the Cards win the pennant? How the excitement would appeal to me. I bet you have heard nothing but baseball and fights for the last week, have you mother? Daddy, I should love to see 'world series' with you. When is it? I never see a paper." Good to know college life hadn't changed much. Never sees a paper, wounds like something I would have written in the 1970's.

Byrdis writes home again on October 4, 1926 and makes the following comment. "There is a play score board out on the street so I see the big league games played when I have any time." She lives at Whiting Hall at the time. The Knox County Courthouse is across the street to the south. The Galesburg Public Library now occupies the area to the north. What was there at that time, I have no clue. The area to the west was the home of the old Galesburg High School. Perhaps the score board she refers to was there. It displayed scores and some play by play information. Good job Grandma, stating you see it when you have time. Keep the home folks thinking you are too busy with your studies to pay much attention to trivial things like baseball. Well played Byrdis.

Byrdis writes home again on October 7, 1926 with the following. "I wish I could be home now during all the excitement. They would win the penant the year I was away!"

Byrdis makes her final mention of the Cardinals in this note from a letter dated October 11, 1926. "Yes I hear all about the Cardinals, from my window I can see the scoreboard that shows play by play. They won the World Series too."

So, even in my family, through good times and bad baseball has been a companion. It is why we can be so hurt and offended when those who have the privilege of playing choose in any way to dishonor the game we so cherish. Alex Rodriguez received an arbitrator's ruling that his 162 game suspension should stand. He now threatens to go to federal court to fight that decision. He has detracted from the real news of the week in the world of baseball. The election to the Baseball Hall of Fame by Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas.

The 1926 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals ring.

They Humored me

Humor is very subjective. Maybe you like these, maybe you don't. Either option is okay.

I certainly hope that wasn't taken at WalMart. There would most likely be a "touch me" line at the Customer "Service" area.

Dogs

Dogs are amazing, wonderful, loving companions. Yet many feel from time to time it is necessary to use them for their personal amusement.

So we humiliate them by wrapping them up in Christmas lights and posting pictures of them on the internet. They all seem to have an appearance of bored tolerance. Ok, take the fucking picture and get this shit off me. They have dog things to do. You know, guard the house, annoy the cat, lick themselves, really important stuff. When people do things like this to their noble, loving best buddy is it any wonder they respond by doing things like this.

Yes, even the lovey Lily will make you pay the price for any perceived indignity.

Atomic Wedgie?

Somewhere there is a book or a TV show or a movie about a thousand ways to die. Pretty sure this one probably didn't make the list. The headline on MSN today was: "Okla. man accused of killing stepfather with 'atomic wedgie'". Seems surprising to me that wedgies have a nuclear option. Here is the rest of the story. Brad Lee Davis got into a drunken fight with his stepfather. He grabbed the underwear of Denver Lee St.Clair, pulled them over his head and suffocated him with the waistband. The affidavit says the defendant: "grabbed St. Clairs underwear and gave him an 'atomic wedgie'". Apparently St. Clair and Davis were drinking when St. Clair made offensive remarks about his wife, who is Davis' mother.

A few things come to mind. First, is anyone surprised alcohol was involved? Anyone? Anyone? Buehler? Second, it seemed to be a somewhat effective method of killing. Is this part of Army training? Special Forces only? A Navy SEAL tatic? We didn't really shoot Osama Bin Ladin did we? It was an atomic wedgie that took him out. We are afraid to let this previously unknown self defense method out. Some governments might look at it as an inappropriate use of "atomic" energy in modern warfare. What do you put on the tombstone? How is the deceased displayed in the casket?

It would appear that leverage is key. Seems there would be some rule in warfare that you can't do this to an enemy. Cruel and most assuredly unusual comes to mind.