ansplog

2011 Year End Letter

2011-12-31T10:06:00.000-08:00

12 31 2011

Dear Family, Relatives and Friends,

My 78^th Christmas is over. Of course I don’t remember much from the 1^st few years and most of the others are fleeting memories. I always do seem to remember one thing about some of those early Christmases. We lived on the farm down by Buffalo and dad would go to the small local grocery store and come home with a big stalk of bananas. It was pretty neat.

After receiving a couple of Christmas Letters I decided I should put one together this year. So let’s see what comes out.

I hope every one has had happy Christmas and End of Year days. And you have not eaten too much causing you to put on the pounds. I don’t want you have to write into your new years resolutions that you have to go on a diet. I hope you are ready for the big 2012 year. I read ‘2012 for Dummies’ . . . and know what is coming J.

2011 year started off nice and snowy. That seems long gone now, especially with not a single snowflake coming close to calling this a white Christmas. We did have a Christmas after snow, though. Gone now for the New Year.

The spring started off pretty sad with the passing of my brother Ken. He was the 4^th down the line of us 6 boys. He had been struggling for the past few years and passed away on April 8^th. He will always be in my mind and will be missed.

I tried, half heartedly, to get a garden going again this year, but failed miserably. The weeds flourished vigorously. Next year, 2012, I am going to try diligently to grow a garden. It is in a difficult location. On a sand hill, over a filled in foundation of an old barn. It grows weeds great so it ought to grow the stuff we want. We will see what happens.

Probably my biggest change this year is worded as, “I am, at least I think I am, retiring from Motorcycle Riding”. I went to 1 rally this year. In May. Buzzard Bottom 4 at High Country Motorcycle Camp near Ferguson NC. It is always great going there and seeing all my friends from the Poverty Riders in Tallahassee Florida, and other places around the country. Afterwards I stopped for a few days at son Tom and Susan, Canton NC, visiting them and my grand kids. On the way home I started having trouble with my Clutch. Using hindsight, it had been starting earlier. Bottom line is- after putting 220,000 great miles on it, it has so many little idiosyncrasies that it is just not worth getting it fixed. I could do a fix it up myself, but I have way too many ‘home’ things that need to be cared for to spend that time working on my bike. I may be able to ride it some with the clutch the way it is, but it will be dicey. I have been many neat places all over the country and Canada, and there are plenty more to go to, but retiring is what I am doing. Also I want to spend more time traveling to see my kids and grandkids in AK, OR, MN, NC.

A great time this year was visiting all of my kids and most of my grand kids for a week in Indian Rocks Beach FL. My daughter in law Linda’s family had invited us to share their get together at the beach in July. It was great visiting with everyone. Counting everyone we were from all over the country, Alaska to Costa Rica. We had a lot of fun. Also got to stop and see a couple of great friends from when we used to live in Florida.

Patty is still heavily involved in her Puli club of America. She has had several really neat puppies. She and my nephew’s son Cody have started a little sheep farm. They have 4 ewes, and a buck and expecting lambs this coming spring.

I am still involved in the Pahandle Pathway. Now 5 years or so. A rails to trail endeavor from Winamac south, 21 miles, toward Logansport. We had our grand opening this spring after spending about 3 ½ million dollars of grant money to convert this unused Pennsylvania RR to a paved recreational trail. Back in the old days, I took this RR to Chicago then went on to San Diego, joining the Navy in 1952. I can still picture my mom and dad and 5 younger brothers waiving good by at the local train station. Brother Carl also took it when he joined the Air force a couple years later. I like riding trains and was sad to see it, and the many others in the US, go out of service. However lots of people are now using it in a different manner.

The BIG thing in 2012 will be the 14^th,, week long, Anspach Family Reunion (A2012R), at Lakeside Cabins in Three Oaks MI. At the moment we have 12 cabins rented and about 58 people coming. It will be a grand experience. The Reunion happens once very 4 years, started by mom and dad many years ago to assure that the family maintained a togetherness.

Well that should be enough for now and for 2011,
so Happy New Year, good bye for now, see ya later.

Tom E Anspach

I Remember September 11, 2001

2011-08-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

September 11, 2001.

The local Library has asked patrons to write down their memory of that fatefull day. I did, and decided to post it on my blog.

In 2001, after spending about 40 years in Florida and after retiring in 1995 from Honeywell Clearwater FL, we decided to 'move back to the farm' near Winamac Indiana.

I, with the help of my brother, drove the 1st U Haul load of 'stuff' up on September 7th. We unloaded it that weekend, storing it in a covered semi trailer 'on the farm'.

Monday the 10th I took the U Haul to South Bend and turned it into the UHaul station. I caught a ride from UHaul to the airport and flew back home to Odessa FL.

The next morning as I was out in the yard, Patty called me, with heavy concern in her voice, "Tom come in a look at this on TV". We watched the 2nd plane fly into the tower. And all the stuff after that.

Had I taken the truck back on Tuesday instead of Monday. Who knows when I would have gotten home.

Having traveled to Europe a few times, I had always wondered when our airport security would become like theirs.

Then I knew. It was now. The world had changed dramatically for America.

And of course I will never forget it.

Tom Anspach, Winamac

My Motorcycle Dilemma

2011-05-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

My Motorcycle Dilemma

Tom Anspach 5/23/2011

Coming back on my MC, from Buzzard Bottom 4, May 12 2011, and my Son’s place in Canton, NC, I noticed a steady degrading in ability to shift. Coupled with some apparent clutch dragging. Thinking back, the symptoms had started earlier.

In my mind at the time- clutch or transmission?

Today, May 20th, I finally got around to looking at it. I loosened up the clutch cable stuff and adjusted per 'spec'.

Rear wheel would spin in any gear and obvious drag on engine when pushing the rear brake. And it took quit a bit of brake power to stop the spinning wheel. Way too much. Also I could not turn rear wheel by hand when in any gear and clutch pulled in. Moved clutch engagement adjusting bolt all the way in to see what happened. No change. Clutch cable movement is smooth and observed cable clean and no fraying at the exposed ends.

My conclusion, so far: Clutch.

I suppose there could be the possibility of excessive clutch cable stretch, but I did not notice any (observing clutch handle connection and clutch engagement arm) and turning the clutch push rod adjusting screw all the way end should have had an effect in that case. After all I changed the clutch cable about 200,000 miles ago!

My bike - '85 K100RT 220K - has many idiosyncrasies that need to be 'fixed'. Although I can work on some things, the clutch (and similar repairs) are somewhat above my desire and ability to get into it. My seat of the pants estimate is that it probably is not worthwhile spending the money to get it fixed up. It has given me 215K of good riding miles.

And I just put a new front tire on it.

This is my 'life is a series of compromises' and my decision dilemma at the moment

I have always had the motto, which goes 1st my bike or me. So my bike has won, so far.

Deciding what to do-

1- Retire from riding

2- Try to fix it, in my 'spare' time

3- See if I can scrape up the cash to replace it. (under $3K including taxes & transportation)

And if # 3, I would like to go to a smaller/lighter bike, and stick with a BMW, possibly K75.

I received many comments from my BMW Riding community. None recommended option 1 above. However it is still high on my list. As it would give me more time to work on stuff around here and travel to see my kids. I have found a K75 (92) in Kalamazoo MI, on cycle trader, listed at $3500 or so.

So my dilemma is still active.

Procrastination may win out to option 1 in the end.

My Annual Guinness Ride, the 7th, St Patricks Day 3 17 2011

2011-03-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

My Annual Guinness Ride, the 7th, St Patricks Day 3 17 2011

Tom Anspach

The weather for the 1st ride of 2011 opened with a ‘bang’ this year. The predicted temperatures were in the low 60’s, they actually reached the low 70’s.

A couple years after we moved up to the north, in 2001, to Winamac, IN, from Florida, I realized one of the things I missed from living in the Tampa Bay area was celebrating St Patrick ’s Day at a good Irish Pub. No green beer, good Guinness, Irish food and Irish music. In 2004 I found the Fiddlers Hearth in South Bend, http://www.fiddlershearth.com/. It turned out to be a great place. I called the trip my Annual Guinness ride. 3 years ago my brother John joined me. We would meet in Rochester, riding our motorcycles. It is about 60 miles.

This year the weather was predicted to be the warmest ever, low 60’s. The wx is usually in the high 30’s to high 40’s. On one of my trips it started snowing when I got there. Didn’t last though.

I dug out my Florida Gator gift St Patricks day sweater, and my old Hooks Drug Store green hat, and was ready to go. John and I met about 10:30 AM in Rochester. Took the usual US31 route up. We found a good parking spot in the city several story public lot across the street, taking up only 1 vehicle parking spot. In the ‘free for 2 hours’ area. Keep this in mind, as it is important later. As usual we arrived at the Hearth as the lunch crowd had the place filled up. Finally we worked our way to the bar area and finally found some seats at the bar. As you can expect everyone was celebrating and in good cheer. There were no ‘strangers’.

The Irish music was cheery

Food selection range was wide. . . what shall we have? Let's check the menu.

The fish and chips were great. Not many dishes to wash, served per custom on a newspaper. John had corned beef and cabbage, which he said was delicious. And, of course, the Guinness was fresh and just the right temperature.

A few days before Brother John had picked up some St Pat’s hats at a dollar store. He selected worthy people and passed them out.

We lost track of time a little and left about 2:30. Uh oh, a little more than 2 hours. Sure enough, we got back to the garage and we had the time marks on our rear tires and a ticket on the handle bars. We had overstayed our 2 hour welcome. The ticket was $10 if paid within 10 days or so, then bumped up to $20, and then there was a $35 fine. We walked down to the office where John could use his ‘used car and furniture salesman’ negotiation strategy “we were out of town guests, spent a pile of money supporting the local economy, only used 1 parking space not 2, etc.” to see if we could get some latitude. Nothing worked. As you would expect, the office people just work there. Once the ticket is created they have to follow the rules. A vehicle is a vehicle, using 1 space, apparently no different. Wonder what would happen if a vehicle took up 2 spaces? We could call next week sometime to the ‘bosses’ and talk to them. We finally decided, we just as well abide, and paid up each of our $10. Enough for a couple more . . . . ‘s. Oh well.

We took the usual ‘back roads’ US23, IN10, IN17 coming back. The weather had predicted brisk winds from the SSW, 15 mph or so with gusts to 30 mph or so. It was at least that. We were usually heading southerly. Sometimes we headed east and west. When that happened the cross winds coming across open fields had the bikes leaning at a good angle. You could feel the blast when coming from a protected wooded area into these open areas. It was good to be alert. By this time according to my bike thermometer the temperature was 75 degrees. According to TV weather later the official temperature was just a couple degrees below the all time high record. I had my winter coat on and was sweating.

Of course we had to stop at Kibtzers in Kewanna as usual. We told the Hearth barkeep that we stopped at Kibitzers, which of course they had never heard of, and the barkeep there would probably be expecting us. So they have us a green Guinness bead necklace, and John had save a hat for her. Which made her day. All of the local patrons were envious.

We made it home to Logansport and Winamac, after another enjoyable St Patrick’s Day and the beginning of a new year of riding.

I remember Pearl Harbor December 7 1941

2010-12-07T19:37:00.000-08:00

I remember Pearl Harbor December 7 1941
Tom Anspach 12/7/2010

I know I have written this story many times. I am unable to find it. Maybe it is on one my obsolete computers down in the basement. I will write it again and stick it on my Blog.

I was in 3rd grade, in the fall of 1941. Going to a 4 room school in Sitka Indiana. Located between Buffalo and Monticello about 1 mile or so east of IN39/IN119. It is no longer there.

We lived about 3 miles east of Buffalo, Just south of the big Liberty township land fill. Which, of course, was not there at that time. That is the place I (mostly I) and 2 of my little brothers set the woods/pasture on fire. Another fine story. The place where we 1st could turn on a switch and the overhead light (just 1) would come on - - magic. We took the bus about 10 miles or so to and from school.

I do not recall knowing about Pearl Harbor on Sunday. Dad and Mom may have as they listened to the radio regularly.

As I got to school I vividly remember looking up the stairs where the teachers usually stood waiting for their kids to get to class. There was something wrong. The teachers had this feeling that they were exhibiting. I have tried to search for the right word… I think aura fits it best. They did not say anything. It was just like they were excreting some sort of a ghostly atmospheric field. There was something drastically wrong. Later as the day wore on it became clear what had happened but, being so young the significance of it did not hit home.

That particular moment, when I realized something was drastically wrong, is still stuck in my mind. And of course that was the beginning of WWII. And we were ALL involved in it back then for the next 4 years. I should write down my stories from that time.

My Annual Guinness Ride, the 6th, March 17, 2010

2010-03-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

You could not ask for a better riding day than today in Northern Indiana. Very scattered clouds, sunny, temps in the 40’s going up and at 70 on the way back. Roads all good, not a lot of traffic. A gorgeous riding day.

Just 2 seeks ago the ground was covered with frozen snow and ice. That is when I start worrying about the conditions for my annual Guinness Ride.

Left home about 11AM, met Brother John at the US31 gas station in Rochester and headed north, to South Bend and the Fiddlers Hearth. Up on US roads (US31) back on Indiana Roads (IN23, IN17).

I started going up to the Fiddlers Hearth 6 years ago on St Patrick’s Day. While living 40 years in Florida, I always enjoyed the St Patrick’s Day festivities at the Irish Pubs. And especially the fresh Guinness. When we moved ‘back to the farm’ in Indiana, 2001, I realized I missed those annual festivities. There isn’t an Irish pub in the vocabulary any where near Winamac. I started checking around and came across the Fiddler’s Hearth. And it turned out to be just the ticket.

John and I parked across the street in the parking garage, which has free 2 hour parking. We were a little over when we left. Fortunately we missed the checker so the luck of the Irish was with us.

Arriving at the Hearth at the lunch noon hour on St Patrick’s Day means it is CROWDED, and it was. But that is part of the ambiance. We managed, as usual, to squeeze up towards the bar and rested back along the side wall.

Finally signaled a bar lady and she started drafting a couple Guinness’s. Started talking to the young man standing along the wall next to me and Lo And Behold, he bought our 1st round. I argued a little but to no avail. I guess he thought us old codgers could use some help... He and his buddy were from the ‘heart of Detroit’ they were electricians working 3rd shift on a major remodeling of a local Wall Mart. So the luck of the Irish was with us again. Thanks a lot guys and Happy St Patrick’s day to you. That was probably one of the best tasting Guinness’s I have had.

Finally the crowd started dwindling a little and we squeezed up to the bar next to some friendly people. I ordered a delicious fish and chips, John corned beef and cabbage. I managed to catch the attention of one of the owners, Sean, and ask him how it was going. Great, although we are getting a little tired, it has been going like this since last Thursday. The Fiddlers Hearth always have lots of festivities on St Patrick’s weekend.

This years T shirt had an interesting inscription on the back.

With some help from our friendly neighbor and her blackberry we were able to figure it out. It was appropriate. Now you will need to figure it out.

After 1 more Guinness (1 per wheel, is the rule of thumb), lots of conversation, listening to the live Celtic music and several glasses of water, we decided, reluctantly, that it was time to go.

Rode the State roads down to Kewanna, where we stopped at Kibitzers to use the bathroom, and, oh yes had a big glass of water and a nice shot of Yukon Jack. The lady bartender remembered us from last year, when we did the same thing. Is this getting old? Naw it is becoming a tradition. John and I parted ways here and headed home. Me to Winamac, John to Logansport.

TEXTING and me 11/27/09

2009-11-28T06:54:00.000-08:00

Some background.

I am not normally a textor. After all I am 76 years old. We never had texting when I was younger. Didn’t need it.

I believe it was my grandson Nathan who 1st got me into an extremely low level of texting. Maybe a year or so ago. My use of texting has been VERY LIMITED. And my cell phone has the old (I guess it is old for a cell phone now a days) numerical keyboard so to type the letters you have to be careful how often you hit the keys and the timing is critical to get it right.

From observations around town, watching the local youngsters, on previous trips, and the news, I realized that texting is BIG. Me, I am still very limited.

On my recent trip 1st or so of November, I became much more aware of it while spending a week with my grandson, Nathan, in Alaska. Texting is a way of life. My daughter and son in law use it as a primary method of keeping in touch with their son when he is not home.

I have watched the active textors, walking down the street, in the airports, all manuverhing while texting, navigating around people and obstacles without bumping into anything and ‘heaven forbid’ even while driving. I thought to myself; there has got to be a better way than this texting phenomena.

I could not picture myself, in any way, texting under those conditions.

The Story

On my way back from Alaska to home. My airplane left Juneau, at night, in a snow storm and I had a few stops and layovers on the way back to Indiana.

And of course my daughter was keeping track of me. Texting. And I answered with a short to the point text message.
Have you left? Ys at xx:xxPM.
Where are you? SEA all k.
etc..

Then the long flight from Seattle to Chicago. As we land and exit the airplane, there am I, like everyone else, turning on my cell phone. Did I get any messages? Yes, there is a text message from my daughter. How is it going? Or something to that effect.

So now, without even thinking. Here I am. As I walk down the crowded hallways, take the moving sidewalk, hindering the people behind me who want to walk faster, trying to keep my bag rolling, trying to keep aware and not running into anyone - - - - typing out a text message to her.

I am thinking WHY am I doing this? Shouldn’t I be struck by lightning?
OR
Have I arrived into the 21st century

My ‘No Slabs’ Motorcycle Journey, June 2009

2009-07-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Tom Anspach June 11 – June 23 2009

My plan for this journey: take in the Iowa BMW rally in Middle Amana IA, then up to son Bruce and Ruth’s in Bemidji MN. And to do it all without using the slab… i.e. the Interstate. I wanted to follow the ‘Blue Highways’.

And I made it, 1900 miles with no routes on the interstates. You can see my detailed route at the end of my story. My Motorcyle trip pictures are at: http://tomsjourneys.shutterfly.com/344. My Pictures at Bruce & Ruth’s are at : http://tomsjourneys.shutterfly.com/379

As I left home my rubber band theory was in full swing. My nephew David, in Flordia, had just passed away. It was very devastating. But the more I thought about it the more I needed to complete this planned opportunity to visit my son Bruce, who I had not seen in 2 years. And I knew that riding my MC a long distance was a very good way to feel David’s spirit. Read ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ by Pirsig, the long distance motorcycle riders bible, to learn more. Then a few days later my niece’s father passed away. Lots of people and things to think about while riding.

I started off on 6/11/2009,Thursday morning in the rain, riding west to Iowa. Took my usual route to Kankakee. I use this route when going NW or W to bypass Chicago. I then followed IL17 as far west as it would go. As I got near the western side of IL it had stopped raining and the sun was out. I had not seen many MC’lsts on the road. But as I neared the Mississippi, ‘what is that up ahead?’. Playing catch-up, it was 2 BMW’s loaded with travel gear. I followed them to the end of the road at the Mississippi river to a small ‘park like’ area next to the BIG River. Several grain trucks were waiting in line for something. I learned from talking to one of the truck drivers, that this location was a grain barge loading dock and they were unloading grain to a barge which hauled it down the river. I rested a while, removed my rain gear and was ready to head out into IA. My fellow rally’rs had left sooner as they were headed for lunch.

After crossing the Big River I headed to Middle Amana and the town park where the Pure Stodge riders were having the rally. I missed a turn right after I crossed the river, but with my compass, map and 1 stop to ask for best way to get back on my road it didn’t take long to recover. The campground was a neat area with lots of grass and trees. And the beer kegs were flowing. The IA Rally is known for its beer. And the Leinenkugels Porter was good.

The Amana area (West, Middle, East, High, and just Amana) is a pretty neat historical area. Check it out at http://www.amanacolonies.com/. As I rode in, a restaurant I noticed was called “The Rose and Thorn Public House”. Of course that sounded pretty neat. Ate there twice. Lunch on Friday and Breakfast on Saturday with Dan (Racine WI) and Paul (from nearby).

Got my tent set up for 3 nights, had a few beers, cooked my dinner and had a good nights sleep. Friday I needed to get a new battery for my bike.

Late last week, I had finally taken time to figure out what was wrong with my bike electrical system. The trouble shooting zeroed in on my, just over a year old, out of warrantee, battery. I didn’t have time to get a new one as there were none locally. So I called, with a recommendation from an IA club member, Ned’s Guzzit BMW shop, in Riverside IA and they had one.

Rode over to Ned’s on Friday. About 50 miles on nice IA roads and got the battery. Installed it in their parking lot and rode the neat back roads back to Middle Amana. A different route. Still off the I State. Stopping, of course, at the Rose and Thorn Public House for lunch. On both Thursday and Friday I passed the previous IA rally site in Marengo. It was amazing to me how that whole area was flooded last year. Flooding out the rally and nearly everything else.

Friday I started meeting friends from previous gatherings and making new ones. From Canada, MN, WI, IA, IN etc. I was looking hard for my friend Jerry from Florida. Jerry is a retired fireman. He is from MN originally. Every year he goes to MN this time of year and always stops at the IA rally on his way back to FL. When I lived in FL, many years ago, he kept trying to get me to go to this rally. I have met him there several times in past years. So I knew he would be there. Although 2 years ago or so, during the fall and winter, he was very sick and nearly died. But he made the rally that spring anyway. He rides a big Harley and pulls a ‘Taj Maj Jal’ of a camping trailer (I call it). I could not find him. Then an area in the park clicked in my mind. There was a BIG motor home with a MC trailer, from Florida, with several neighbors from MN. And it seemed like I recalled from somewhere that Jerry was traveling in a motor home. So I waited until they came back and sure enough Jerry is now pulling his motorcycle with his HUGE camping accommodations rather than the other way around.

Friday afternoon it started raining, lasted all night, well into the morning, which killed the Friday night campfires. Later Saturday turned out to be an OK day… little moist but not bad. After the rally meals, drinking my share of Porter (not too much, just enough), collecting a prize of a nice pottery beer mug and waking up Sunday morning, a fogy Sunday morning, it was time to head out. . . North to Bemidji. With my map and compass and talking to some riders from MN I figured out a route to Bemidji following the blue highways. The roads led me west and north, some ‘riding with Abe’ bypassing well away from the Twin Cities.

I had wanted to stop at the state park in New Ulm MN and ‘clean up’ Dennis W’s campsite. Dennis, from Florida had stopped at our place for a couple days a few weeks before, on his trip to Utah. He had stopped at the state park in New Ulm. I figured he had probably left a mess so thought I would clean it up ;-). Just kidding Dennis. However it was only 3pm when I got there and I only had about 200+ some miles to get to Bemidji. So I decided I would rather spend the time with Bruce and Ruth. I headed north. Arrived about 7 PM. 12 hours 550 miles. Pretty much a record for me. I was glad I did. It was good to see my son and daughter in law.

I had an interesting, somewhat ‘puckering’ experience late in the trip to Bemidji. It seems every time I go to Bemidji I am riding west into the setting sun. And it is blinding on a clear day. I was riding MN200 westerly. I came to a town (don’t know the name) and was squinting into the sun, trying to figure out the mysterious road shape change ahead. All of a sudden the road is NO ROAD!!. It goes into a parking lot by a bar. I slam on the brakes. I can feel the wheels start to loose traction and I let up somewhat. And rode calmly (although I was not calm) into a dirt/gravel parking lot where a Harley rider is heading out, leaving the bar. He glanced at me kind of curious but seemed to have no idea what happened. It was obvious that I missed the left turn sign because of the sun and I was trying to figure out the change in road conditions ahead. Luck was with me… It could have easily been a problem.

I spent a week, helping Bruce and Ruth with their remodeling project, canoeing up the Mississippi, near the headwaters, riding Bruce’s bicycle, eating, a few beers, fathers day at Ruth’s parents and relatives near Bagley, working Sudoku puzzles, talking and generally having a good relaxing time. Then it came Monday and it was time to head home.

It had been raining, starting Sunday afternoon and most of the night. Monday morning was cool, over cast, foggy, and misty. A ‘perfect’ day to start out. I had mapped out (MOL) a route home. As I rode the 1st 50 miles or so, ‘My Rubber Band Theory’ came into effect http://ansplog.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-rubber-band-theory-when-we-leave.html. Both directions, leaving a place that had a lot of meaning, and wanting to get home. The opportunity while riding, is there is time for continual thinking. Do I want to take the new blue highways route or do I want to take my known more direct, faster route… US2, US53, Interstates etc. and get home sooner and not have to study maps etc. I stayed on US2 longer than I had planned. Then in Grand Rapids I stopped, studied my maps… thought a lot…. Recited one of my favorite quotes several times, “It is good to have an END to a journey, but it is the JOURNEY that matters in the end’. Made the final decision and left US2 and headed back on my planned route. Once the decision was made, I was OK. I had snapped the rubber band. Even with the situation in the next paragraph, all was well.

As I was going merrily down MN65 through the beautiful MN countryside mixture of lakes and pine forests, I came to a sign ‘road construction ahead’. On a long journey you get to see lots of these signs. Usually they are no big deal. This one, though, when I reached the beginning of it was a ‘gripper’. The road had been stripped bare, down to the base. It was covered with a mixture of wet gravel and dirt. It was stop and go with flaggers and heavy equipment. Reminded me in some ways of a road in Montana many years ago. Although I was nervous, it was not too bad. As it was mostly hard packed with just a few soft spots and ridges. I made it though the 7 miles without mishap.

As I got about a 100 miles or so south of US2, the sky cleared, the temperature went up and it became HOT. And it kept climbing. Nearly 100 degrees as I got to the end of the day. I worked my way over to WI35 along the east side of the big River. The big River is a lot wider here than it was up by Bemidji. I had always wanted to take WI35 along the river, east side. I had been along WI35 south of La Crosse but not above La Crosse. The north section is not quite as nice as that distance just south of La Crosse. WI35 is called the ‘Great River Road’ along much of its length. It is a great road to ride. Unfortunately it took me up on the Interstate for a short distance. I did not count it.

I meandered along and got to my night destination, The Goose Island Campground, at 5 pm. Just as the lady was closing up. I managed to check in, pick up a couple cold beers to go with my camp cooked dinner and was ready to camp... This campground is a City (La Crosse) campground. I have stopped there several times going to and from Bemidji. It is reasonable cost, clean, shady, grassy and on the river. I took a couple showers to try to cool off and it worked pretty well. The campground was not crowded. One other MC there. A Goldwing, pulling a camper trailer. Talked to the man and wife a bit. They were from Ohio and on a long trip around the North Midwest. Mosquitoes were not too bad. A little spray helped. It started to cool down slightly. Enough to get a good nights sleep.

Tuesday morning I made my coffee, my breakfast porridge for eats, packed up and was on my way home. My 13th day. I followed WI35 a ways. It is a really nice road here, right along the big river. I pulled off of WI35 and headed SE on WI171. I had not been across this area of WI. I thought I was in NC or TN. Up and down, nice curves. A really good riding road. Kept heading S SE toward IL18. Even rode ‘US20 Rules’ a short distance in IL. On IL23 north of IL18 it, again, took me up on the interstate for a short distance. Again I did not count it.

I finally got to IL18 and headed east. About as near to a, MOL straight, direct line as you can find to home. IL18/IL17/IL114/IN10/IN110/IN231/IN14.

The tempeture was climbing. It had a higher starting point Tuesday compared to Monday. My bike thermometer was above 100 degrees. It was hot. It was wet scarves and T shirts time.

I made it home about 6 PM ET. About a 10 hour ride. I was tired but glad to be home. Fullfilling my goal a realtively long journey, IA BMW rally, son Bruce & daughter in law Ruth and No Interstate (I don’t count those 2 little anomalies).

Here are my route details:

Thursday 6/11:Local to, IN14 W, US231 N, IN110 W, IN10 W/\, IL114 W, IL17 W, CR14&Local N, IL92 W, IA22 W (I made a wrong turn getting to IA22, recovered after about 5 miles),IA149 N, Local V66 N (this took me through Marengo location of the flooded out 2008 rally), LocalF15 E, IA220 E, Town27th street N (to Rally campground).

Sunday 6/15: Town 27th St S, IA220W, Local F15 W, CR66 N, US30 W (Riding with Abe), US169 N, WI18 W, WI15 N, MN15 N (I decided at New Ulm to continue on to Bemidji), MN10N, US371 N,WI200 W, WI71 N, CR11 W, Bruce & Ruth.

Monday 6/22: CR11E, WI71 S, US2 E, US169 S, MN200 E, WI65 S (the WI65 road stripped bare at Lake Minnewawa), WI95 S, WI243 E, WI35 S (finally the Great River Road – to Goose Island Campground - a little piece up on the I state).

Tuesday 6/23: WI 35S, WI171 E (I thought I was in NC or TN, nice hilly curvey roads), US61 S, US18 E, WI39 S, WI23 S, WI11 E, WI78 S, US20 E (US 20 Rules), IL26 S, IL18E, IL17E, IL114E, IN10 E, IL110 E, Local E, IN143 E (I took these roads from IN110 as a short cut from IN14, saves about 5 miles or so, local county black tops, not too bad but probaby does not save any time due to limited speed), US421 S, IN14 E, local to home.

Some other statistics:

Average MPG-

Average cost of gas $/gal - $2.68

Highest gas- $2.86 Momence, IL

Lowest gas- $2.51 Taylor Falls, MN

Distance Home to Middle Amana- 380 miles

Distance Middle Amana to Bemidji- 550 miles

Distance Bemidji to Home- 864

Total Distance Rode- 1964

My Annual Guinness Ride #5

2009-03-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

The Tradition Continues My Annual Guinness Ride #5
May 17th 2009

This is getting kind of old. Or is it? The 5th year in a row since I started this tradition after moving back to Indiana from Florida in Dec of 2001. I missed not having a St Patrick’s Day place to go where they had real Guinness, maybe some Murphy’s Stout and some Irish whiskey although I don’t often sample that. Don’t have a DD for the ride home. Corned beef and cabbage, Irish stew, Fish n chips. Not that watery Green Beer…. Ugh!!. .

As the day approached, this year the weather was amazing. It was Florida weather. Temperature supposed to get to the 70’s. My brother John was riding with me again. We left home about 10:30AM, the temps were just above 60 degrees and sunny. Wow!! Neither electric vest nor thermal underwear needed this year.

East on IN14, met John on US31 Rochester, the up to the Fiddlers Hearth in South Bend. Had a couple pints, some great corned beef and cabbage several glasses of water, a big cup of coffee. Listened and watched the Celtic band and dancers, chatted with the revelers, then our couple of hours was over and it was time to head home.

Back to the parking garage and it seemed we had exceeded our 2 hours of free parking. Cost us 5 bucks, well worth it of course. Usually we park in an end painted off area. However this time a car in the adjacent slot had it half blocked off. Fortunately there was an open slot a couple spaces down. 1st time we got marked.

Headed home via IN23, IN10, IN17. Temperature in high 70’s. Then decided on a rest stop at Cooters in Star City. Missed picking up the Star City Black top south of Kewana (I nearly always miss it) and wandered around the back roads getting over to US35. I knew what had happened when we hit a gravel road. Ah, I have done this before. After a nice stop at Cooters we headed home, me north back to Winamac, John south to Logansport.

Another nice ‘Annual Guinness Ride’ on St Patrick’s Day.

This is a stitch of 2 photos, 1 guinness hat (mine from son Jeff a few years ago)

2008-11-22T08:17:00.000-08:00

The RA 2009 Rally will be in the Canaan Valley State park in West Virgina on July 23 to July 26 2009. I have 'fond' memories of the RA 2004 Rally in the same place. I decided to resurrect my story. I may add some pictures later.
TomEA

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is-

My Story about my MC trip to the
BMW RA (Riders of America) ‘Wild and Wonderful’ 2004
in the Canaan Valley Resort State Park in West Virginia.
16 - 19 September 2004

(I have since nicknamed it “Wild and Terrible Ivan”)
Tom Anspach 9/22/2004

First- this is a gorgeous place! Ski resort in the mountains . . . with a big Lodge, Lodge Rooms, Cabins (a misuse for the word cabin . . . more like ‘chalet’), RV campground . . . campground. (www.canaanresort.com)

I will write this story a little differently . . . . starting out with what I was looking forward to, what happened wx-wise while there. Then a little synopsis of the trip.

So you can readily find the place on your maps here are the directions-
From North: I- 79 South to Rt. 33 (West on). East on Rt. 33 to Harman. In Harman take Rt. 32 North to Canaan Valley. Except on the advice of the WV welcome station desk attendant I did I 79 south to I 86 east to US219 South to WV32 to Canaan Valley - great riding roads.

Here is the 10day forecast in preparation for leaving.
------
10-Day Forecast

High /Low (°F) Precip. %

Tonight Sep 13 Partly Cloudy 54° 0 %
Tue Sep 14 Mostly Cloudy 73°/53° 20 %
Wed Sep 15 Partly Cloudy 73°/56° 20 %
Thu Sep 16 Few Showers 75°/56° 30 %
Fri Sep 17 Heavy Rain 69°/58° 60 %
Sat Sep 18 Rain 71°/55° 60 %
Sun Sep 19 Showers 70°/56° 40 %
Mon Sep 20 Showers 71°/53° 30 %
Tue Sep 21 Partly Cloudy 72°/54° 0 %
Wed Sep 22 Few Showers 71°/49° 30 %
Last Updated September 13 09:3 PM EDT
----------
As you can see it looked like a rainy weekend ahead. and Ivan was potentially on the way. . . although drifting further to the west at that time. But what the heck. . . it might not rain much . . . and if it did, there would be hundreds of other people (riders tenters) there so wouldn’t be alone.

Lets get right to the heart of the matter, and include a couple of real-time emails that I sent out while there. (They had 3 computers hooked to the INet, so I could readily access my email via webmail, without standing in line very long ‘sometimes’). So I sent a few email/reports to the Florida contingent (and others once in a while) who could not make it due to Ivan.

Sent Wed Sept 15th.
Beautiful day here in the Canaan Valley Resort SP in WV.... how long will it last . . . . .
TomEA
---
Sent Thurs Sept 16th
what can i say except. what a beautiful day. of course it is after a Jane/Mitch dinner and some micro beer from the beer garden and a little vino. we miss you all from Florida. a few up here but not enough. we are trying to cover for you. . . . the best during all the rain you have been getting. . . down there. how long will the beauty last here. only time will tell. . after all it is only thursday . . . . .

from your poverty rider reporter . . . . . Canaan valley WV....cheers..
tom anspach .. .. . have conch horn will travel. . . .
---
Sent Friday Sept 17th noon
well the 'how long will it last is over' rain and wind are starting . . . . but what the heck. lots of nice people . . . . and socializing. . . . . neat place . . .

later

Tom Anspach
----
Sent Saturday morn about 9am
wowee, what a rock and role night. . . . . sitting at the campfire, light drizzle once in a while . . . calm . .looked like a nice night coming up . . then to bed . . . about midnight or so . . . . the wind shifted to the north . . . (right into the open face end of my tent where the door is zipped shut). VERY windy . . gusty . . heavy rain. . you could hear it coming roaring up the hill. MC covers, tarps, rain flys shaking and snapping like a leaves. . . LOUD leaves . . .

sometime during the night the airheads (Bones) high tech approx 10 x 20 foot 'cabin' with 2 inch steel posts blew completely away..... It was down the hill near a ditch about 1/4 mile away. Several of the 2 inch steel posts had snapped in two. How it missed hitting tents and MC's down wind we dont know (I heard later that a pole did hit a tent, punched a hole in it and broke a support . . did not injure the camper . . . don’t know any of the details). . . unless it lifted completely off the ground and flew over them . . . .WOW . . .

They are in the process of seeing if they can get something back together. . . . supposed to clear up today . . . with a crisp low tonight of 39 degrees . . . oh well free beer during happy hour . . even micro brew . . .

Marty headed home this AM

Your Rally Reporter

Tom Anspach
----------------------------------------------------

Now lets go back to the beginning.

I packed up my bike on Monday, left Tuesday morning about 8 EST. rode 388 miles US35 to Galveston IN local to US31 south of Kokomo to I465 to I70 to OH79 to Barkcamp State park. near Belmont OH.

Nice little park, nice night of camping. then up and left about 7 am EDT and 208 miles VIA I70, I79, I68 to US219 to WV32 to Rally site. total of 596 miles. Got there about noon.

Great riding wx and roads. Traffic OK, not heavy.

I was in a day early and the rules are to camp early you need to volunteer. So I found the first guy who looked like he was doing some rally stuff and introduced myself “Tom Reporting for duty”. It turned out to be ‘Bones’. He gave me a chair and assigned me a post at the top of a hill to help direct the vendors into the vendor area. So I moved my bike nearby and sat up on the hill for several hours, smoking my pipe, sipping my water, eating my snacks. Every once in a while when a vendor came in I would try to guide them into the vendor area. After it had dragged on long enough I gave Bones back his chair and found out where the Poverty rider camping compound was and the campground and headed there to set up camp.

It was a beautiful day, sunny with scattered clouds, mountains all around.

I set up my tent, helped the camping registration guy a little. By then some of the other Poverty riders, and neighbors (Airheads, and Chain Gang), and others on down the road started to show up. And the socializing started.
Did not start a campfire that night . . . it bothered me all night . . . the first one to a rally is always supposed to get the fire going. Made a camping dinner meal, then to bed.

Thursday was another gorgeous day. Did a short ride into a nearby town Davis to make some purchases. Some Free Beer, including microbrew . . . delicious, at the beer tent during happy hour. Got a nice campfire going this night. Then to bed. Light rain and winds started Thursday night.

Friday, it was rainy all day. Visited vendors and others . . . . kicked lies and told tires . . . . . . It was quite a hike from the camp area to the HQ at the Resort Lodge. They had a bus service running often, about every 15 to 20 minutes . . . worked very well. That evening I hiked up to the Lodge. Up a road, up a grassy hill to the tennis courts and ice skating rink, up a set of stairs and a up hill walkway into the beer tent then into the lodge.
When I came back down after dark, I took a short cut, to head for the campfire and add some more fuel. Even though I was careful and had my hiking stick (that I picked up out of WV woods) I slipped on the wet grass on a bank, bent my leg back at the knee, it was pretty sore for a couple days, and still a little. Fortunately it didn’t break.

Friday eve, at the fire, even though it would drizzle once in a while, it was calm . . . all appearances a good night. I went to bed well before midnight. Sometime after midnight the wind shifted from the SE to N right into the high profile end of my Kelty tent. And the WIND and RAIN started for GOOD. I still had my tarp up. I got up 3 or 4 times and tried to tie things down better. Blowing like hell in rolling gusts, raining hard once in a while. Finally gave up on the tarp and took it down. It was snapping a cracking like a gun. Some water was coming into the tent. It appeared to be blowing in past the zipper seal and in through the zipper. Sometime during the night the BIG walled canopy, which was about 10 feet away from my tent, lifted up, left the stakes in the ground, but broke the connectors on the guy lines, and flew and tumbled down the hill to near a ditch about a 1/4 mile away. Wow, what a rock and roll night.

Next morning, Sat, everyone one is getting up and going over and getting our stories together. Most everyone made out OK, amazing. A few people lost tent stuff. One I know of moved into the shower trailer. (There were 2 18 stall shower trailers in the campground .. . they were GREAT).

I should add that the camping area was a big grassy area, like an oval ridge. About a 1/8 mile wide and 1/2 mile long. There was a MC trail laid out in the grass along the top of the ridge with camping sites on each side. My guesstimate is that there were several hundred tents (200 or so) maybe. If the wx had been good there would have probably been a couple thousand tents.

A few of the Poverty Riders were involved in vending and had rented a cabin. At about 8 or 9 am, this Saturday morning, after the rock and roll night., some of the people who had came back from being up to the lodge, started talking about moving into the cabin. So that is what we did. Stan had his SUV there. We took down everything, dumped it into his SUV and with 2 trips moved up to Cabin 17. Overall there were about 16 people in the cabin. It was great, a great time and worked out great. This will forever be known as “Cabin 17 - Ivan”. We got our stuff dried out and packed up, slept on the floor and couches. This was a big cabin BTW. 4 bedrooms, 2 couches, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, fireplace, dishwasher, big TV, front and back porch. So that is where I stayed Saturday night. The temp got down into the high 30’s, but we were nice and cozy and comfy in ‘Ivan - Cabin 17’. Sunday Morn, I slowly got packed up and left about 1030 am.

Now the Ken C story. I had met Ken from Canfield OH near SW of Youngstown, at the MI Sturgis rally this spring. We were touching base when I was considering going to this Rally, and he was considering going. Although neither of us was sure until the last minute. ...I left on Tuesday, Ken left on Friday (working). So I was there, checking my cell phone once in a while. I did not realize Ken had to work till Friday and whether or not he was coming. So he took off Friday afternoon. Heading south into the rain. He arrived about 9PM (before the Rock and Roll), but still rain. The wed night before a guy had hit a deer and was in bad shape in a Morgantown Hosp. Ken managed to finagle a room at the lodge late Friday night. He spent all day Friday trying to find me. I had quit checking my phone after Thurs afternoon as I had given up on him, plus I was calling Patty on the hard phone. Turns out he was leaving messages on my cell phone and trying to call Patty on Friday (the few times he tried it was busy). Sat afternoon he saw my bike parked out in front of the lodge. The only time I rode my bike up there was Sat afternoon, when I decided to visit the whirlpool. . . it was great. . . just what I needed. While he was standing there waiting for me to show up a guy came up, spotted, my poverty rider sticker and stuck a dollar bill near my seat! Ken gave up. When I came back I wondered where the dollar bill came from!

Later in the beer hall during happy hour. Ken finally spots me and I him. He had been looking at all the gray beards without any luck. He had earlier, accidentally find out I was in a cabin from Carol one of the original cabin residents. They had, coincidentally sat at the same table when he was asking about me. And she knew I had moved up to Cabin 17. A monumental coincident with all those people milling around around. So we got together, he came up to Cabin 17 for a while, was inducted into the Poverty Riders. And we had to push his bike to get it started. . . low battery.

Saturday night, Ken had asked me to stop by their place in Canfield OH on Sunday night on my way home. I accepted. Sunday about 11 we met up at the lodge. Pushed his bike again to get it started and headed for Canfield Ohio, via WV32, US219, I68, I79, and US224 (MOL). We were going to ride some back roads, but with Kens battery giving problems decided to head straight back. After a good charging run. . . it seemed to be OK.

After 268 miles we got to his place. He and his wife Lisa, fixed a great meal, finished up the wine I had left over, had a lot of good conversation. I went to bed and slept like a rock. They had to get to work early Monday (left about 6 am EDT). I finally got up about 7:30 AM EDT, closed things up and headed out. Ken had given me directions to a neat old breakfast place a couple miles from their house. Unfortunately I did not spot it. I got on US224 and headed west.

Finally stopped for a breakfast at Travel America. They had Biscuits and Gravel and the coffee was good. What more could you ask for!

I experienced the importance of having headlights ON during daytime. While 224 was still in heavy shade from trees . . . I had a clear stretch (had been studying it for a while . . . .because of the shadows), so I pulled out to pass a semi. I just got out at his left rear corner and low and behold a dark car burst out of the shadows into a sunny spot. I got back in with a second or so to spare. . . . . the car got excited and moved half to the shoulder . . . so we would have been all right,. .had I not been able to get back behind the semi, I could have squeezed between the semi and oncoming car. . . . Had he had his lights on . . . I would seen him clearly.

A nice ride home. US224 overall was good. Few spots of trucks but traffic light enough to get around them. Brother John met me East of Peru. We rode into Peru and stopped for an ice cream cone. Then on home after 353 miles, via US24, US35. For a total trip of 1248 miles, 7 days 6 nights.

According to the closing ceremonies there were about 2100 MOL, registered. There were a little over 200 no shows. Thus there were about 1900 MOL (My memory is not good on the actual numbers) registered attendees.

Another great MC trip, with many memorable experiences.

Here is the story about the ‘pole throgh the tent’ from Jane.
From: JaneDate: Wed Sep 22, 2004 17:33:31 US/EasternTo: coonbottom@hcsmail.comSubject: Re: RA rallyOne of the poles went through a couple's tent at about 3 am -- ripped the tent, broke 3 of their 5 support poles and surely scared the sh*t out of them. It also scraped Stan's bike on the way over their tents. All in all, we survived, thanks to the PRI that shared the cabin.

Mo Bottom 2008 - A short motorcycle trip story

2008-11-17T16:37:00.000-08:00

Mo Bottom 2008 - A short motorcycle trip story
Tom Anspach 11/17/08

I wanted to go to Mo Bottom 2008, northern outskirts of Tallahassee. I tried, but I could not get the rubber band stretched enough to break. (For an explanation of my Rubber Band Theory go to: http://ansplog.blogspot.com/ Monday, November 17, 2008 My Rubber Band Theory) So I did not make it. Here is the story.

I wanted to see and rally with my ol' MC friends from Florida and elsewhere. The weekend before Thanksgiving. I always want to go. Mo Bottom- the sequel to Coonbottom then Beach Bottom, has always been one of my 2 favorite rallies. Had not been since 2000 when we lived in Florida. .The other being Rolling Broccoli.

I started tracking wx and home ‘obligations’ a week or so ago. Things did not look too bad. Of most concern was my aching jaw, therefore a dental appointment Monday morning November 17th. And of course the other major concern leaving Patty alone with all the ‘animals’ for 10 days or so, in snowy, freezing weather. Coupled with, risk of not being back in time for Thanksgiving. I started packing. Did a test ride in windy cold rainy wx, last Saturday. Dug all my camping stuff out of their spots and checked it all out and repacked. Started loading the bike. Kept waffling about a final decision to go or not to go. Driving Patty crazy. And me also. This morning, Monday, the Dentist prognosis was pretty good. He filled 1 tooth that had bad decay and we scheduled follow-up cleanings. So that was out of the way.

Back home by 10 AM. Did some odds and ends. Would need to get going by Noon or shortly thereafter. I wanted to be down there by Tuesday eve or Wednesday day to get the full benefit and enjoyment of Mo Bottom. I made several I am going, no I am not going ‘final’ decisions. Patty astutely commented, “If you are having such a hard time making a decision to go, that means you shouldn’t go”.

Finally, the last decision, finished packing the bike, got bundled up and headed out. About 1:30. Temp in the high 30’s. Wind blowing like hell out of the WNW. Overcast. No snow but predicted on the way. I started heading South. It was good to be on the bike.

As you can imagine, I was thinking in overtime. You get to think a lot while riding. Especially without a radio or other distractions. If you have read ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ by Robert Pirsig, you know exactly what I am talking about. The rubber band was stretching. Could I get it to break. Would I, could I, get into the mode of one of my favorite quotes: “It is good to have an END to journey toward, but it is the JOURNEY that matters in the end. / Ursula Le Guin. On my motorcycle trips I like to enjoy the JOURNEY not just the ends.

The question that came to my mind, after about an hour or so: “Would I rather spend 4 to 5 days out of the next 8 or so on the road, or would I rather spend the next 4 to 5 days at home?” Discounting, for the moment, being at the rally when the road would be mostly forgotten. The answer kept coming back- I would rather spend them at home. The rubber band wasn’t breaking. I wasn’t getting into the Journey. Although not needed badly, I stopped for gas at 50 miles out. It was convenient. Michigantown IN, 800 miles to go. Filled up. Pulled out of the gas station and headed North. The FINAL decision had been made.

Going northerly, heading more into the stiff wind. It was definitely cooler. The big trucks heading south threw up quite a wind blast. The parrabellum windshield that I have had on the bike since on my way to a Georgia Mountain Rally, from Odessa Florida, many years ago, rolled right through them. The northerly ride was, probably, similar to what I would have experienced on my return trip on about the 25th of November, 8 days later. Except there may have been snow on the ground.

I rolled back into the garage at about 4 pm. A 2 ½ hour, 100 mile MC trip, fully packed for camping. I was glad I had taken this short ride. I had demonstrated to myself that I could have made it, if I had broken the rubber band. I came in the house and Patty said “I knew you would be back today.’ She was right. . . again. I was glad to be home. A week early.

2008-11-17T16:26:00.000-08:00

My Rubber Band Theory
(1st written in about 1995)

When we leave some place that has lots of meaning, family, close friends, a family reunion, a neat gathering (i.e. a special MC rally e.g. BMW), or when they leave us, there is a rubber band between ‘us’ and ‘them’. As we (or they) leave, the rubber band starts stretching, wanting to pull us all back together. We have a feeling of depression, lonesomeness, missing the friends, the family, etc. . . . wanting to go back. But we must keep going.

We may think the rubber band will never break, but after a period of time and/or distance the rubber band snaps! The time/distance varies, sometimes long sometimes short. After the snap we realize we are back to normal. The great memories remain, the NOW and the FUTURE comes back into focus. And we are OK again. We are on the journey to a new end.

That is my rubber band theory.
Tom Anspach

My Beemers and Brats Story

2008-10-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

My Beemers and Brats Story

Tom Anspach (9/29/2008)

Since this is probably my last camping trip of 2008 I thought I would write up a little story about it.

This year the Beemers and Brats rally, Rockport IN, down as far as you can go on US231 in Indiana before you hit the Ohio River, had been delayed such that it fell on the same weekend as the Hoosier Beemer rally in North Vernon IN. I had been to the Hoosier Beemer Rally several times and enjoyed it. It is at a neat County Park. The Muskatatuk, named after the river that flows through it. I had never been in the particular area of Rockport, East of Evansville a ways. So finally decided to give it a go.
The Bemmers and Brats was a little pricey $25 rally fee, plus $15 per night per tent directly to the Oakridge Campground, for a total of $55. Quite a bit higher than normal for a weekend ‘small, local’ rally. The Hoosier rally was $15 for the weekend, including camping, for example. However since the Beemers & Brats included all the food you could eat over the weekend, maybe not too bad.

I packed up my bike Thursday eve and was ready to go.
I, messed around with odd’s and ends and did not leave Winamac, home, till about 10 AM Friday. I followed IN14, west; US231, south; IN66, west; for 278 miles arriving about 5PM. Was a little warm at spots, temp on my bike thermometer even approached 95 degrees at times. I missed my US231 sign in Lafayette around Purdue and wandered around the Purdue campus/housing area for a while before I figured out how to get back to US231. College students seem to get younger as each year passes. And I discovered something new to me, Purdue has its own airport.

I managed to find fellow riders Dick, Doug, Glenn & Linda from the Michiana BMW club and set up my tent nearby, so I could share their picnic table. I had picked up a bottle of Merlot (1.5 L) in Rockport. $8, cheapest I have seen for a while. Didn’t investigate the vintage much, but it tasted OK. Turns out the Bovarak Club had a keg on tap, donations accepted. So we were all set for the weekend.

Friday night we dined on Brats with all the trimmings. They were good. Saturday morning it was Biscuits and Gravy with coffee and extras. There was continuous coffee, tea, cold drinks, water etc all day. Saturday lunch was left over brats, sausage and hot dogs. Saturday night was BBQ with all the sides. It was very good. Sunday morning as we prepared to leave it was B&G, sausage, pancakes, sweet rolls. Plenty to eat.

It was a pretty small rally, with about 100 people or so, including the local club. Met a few other people who I had met over the years and forgotten their names. Much talking around the campfire. Only wandering into politics once in a while and did not last long. I think, people wanted to take a break from politics.

The campground was OK. The big RV’s were in sight but pretty much out of the way. Lots of trees, grass and a small pond. The HQ building had plenty of room, tables, kitchen, rest rooms and showers. Augmented by the standard portelets.

Saturday was a nice day of ‘kicking lies and telling tires’ as the saying goes. While Doug was reviewing the status of my bike he noticed the bolts on my front axle pinch clamp had threads showing and were finger loose. WOW, how in the heck had that happened. I know I torqued them to spec when I changed my tire a couple thousand miles ago. Or did I? Got out my tool kit and tightened them up. Re-torqued them when I get home.

There was an organized ride which I did not go on. But I did take a short ride across the new US231 Ohio River Bridge into Kentucky then west to Owensboro and back across the old US231 Bridge to IN161. I stopped at the neat River Park in Owensboro. They had several story board signs that covered the interesting history of the city originally named Yellow Bluff because of the foliage and the high bluff. There were pictures of the 1937 flood where water was standing in the street. All of the lower lying surraounding areas were totally flooded. There was a neat story about the start of the school system by a young lady (Aunt Sukey’s School) who had washed ashore on a plank from a wrecked Steamboat, in the early 1800’s.

Saturday night I managed to walk away with the ‘mature’ rider award. No luck on door prizes though. My luck had been used up at the Beemers in Bluegrass rally a couple weeks before where I won 2 door prizes.
In Rockport there was still a LOT of cleanup going on, cutting up trees, piles of brush, hauling brush, as a result of the very high winds, no rain, that came through 2 weeks before. There were lots of corn fields where the standing corn been been blown flat. It turns out the rally delay, for other reasons, was good. Had it been at the scheduled time, all the tents would have been blown away. There is also a neat little park in Rockport right along the Ohio river with a sheer rock wall on the opposite side of the narrow road. It was 1st gear climbing back up to the streets.

Come Sunday morning it was packing up, eating breakfast- more biscuits and gravey, sausage, pancakes, etc.- saying goodbyes and heading home. The dew was heavy Saturday night so the outside of the tents were dripping wet.

Taking some different roads to home, I left about 9:55AM, followed- IN66,west; IN161, north; IN62, west, IN61, north; IN57, north; US231, north; IN25, north; IN421, north; IN39, north; IN119, north; US35, north; IN14, east; home at about 4:40PM. Being from the rolling flat land of Northern Indiana makes me feel like I am in another state when riding the roads in lower (Southern) Indiana. The traffic was very light starting out, a very nice ride.

Just north of Greencastle there was a lot of activity going on, digging a long, deep trench and installing huge pipes (42 inch diamter, I found out later). Turns out it is a natural gas pipe line from Missouri to Ohio. It will carry about 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas/day from the western wells to the east and Midwest markets. Natural gas prices should go down?? What do you think??

Going home I wanted to find a little roadside rest park so I could stop and eat my left over brat sandwich for ‘lunch’. But could not find one. Finally stopped at a Dairy Queen in Lafayette, that had outside tables. So had an ice cream cone, a cup of coffee, some of my snacks and my left over brat sandwich, and watched the traffic go by.

Why doesn’t Indiana have roadside rest parks along non I State highways, like many other states do? Like the rest park along US35 in Thornhope, which I have heard that INDOT wants to get rid of.

The weather was great all weekend.

Statistics- Miles down-285, average MPH- 41, Miles back- 281, average MPH- 42, overall average MPG- 39.5, Total miles- 606.

My Kill Switch (Bike Broke) Story

2008-08-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

My Kill Switch Story (August 20 2008)

The Kill Switch thread (or close to it) resurfaced on the Internet BMW Riders list today. I decided to go back and find my story and put it on my Blog. It took me a while to find it as I could not remember exactly when it was. I searched my computer files without luck. Finally I went to the IBMWR archives and searched. I quickly found it, thank you. It is hard to believe it was almost 5 years ago. It seems like it happened yesterday.
Here is ‘My Bike Broke' aka ‘My Kill Switch Story’.(edited from Friday 9/26/2003)

On Tuesday (Sep 23 2003) about noon I started up the trusty BMW and rode up to Valporaso, about 60 miles. It was a nice riding day. Bike started and ran great.

I wanted to go to Menards to check out the prices for 250 feet of black plastic pipe and 10 gage 3 conductor w/ground underground electrical cable for my 'water and electric to the chicken house/sheep shed' project. But first I went to K mart to check out their sale on the Coleman Ascension tent and a new sleeping bag.

I parked up on the K mart sidewalk by the kiddy merry go-round and went into the store. It took me a while to analyze the tent and sleeping bag information and visit the rest room. I bought the new sleeping bag to replace my old thread bare 10 year old one. I came back out and strapped the SB on my bike.

Put my gloves and helmet on,
turned on the key
and ......
..... NOTHING.

Uh oh what happened? All was well when I parked and shut it down.

I started checking things with an appropriate puzzled expression.

1 Lights came on OK
2 No indicator lights
3 No starting sound
4 No fuel pump sound
5 Got out voltmeter
6 Got out schematic
7 Checked battery voltage - good
8 Checked fuses good
9 Checked for loose wires
10 It seemed like, maybe a wire had come loose
11 By then it was getting on towards late afternoon
12 I figured I had better get my options started
13 I called a BMW guy in my anonymous book.
14 He wanted to come over and did come over a little later
but did not have a trailer.
15 I called my wife to come and get me.
16 I called my towing service - too far away
17 I called a local Honda shop - could leave the bike there
but they did not have time to come and pick it up - they recommended a local towing service
18 I called the service
19 A Harley rider stopped by and consoled me for a while
20 The BMW guy came over and helped me. I used his cell phone for some phone calls and we looked things over.
21 Could not find anything wrong.
22 The Towing truck came over, we loaded the bike (the service was good - the operator knew what he was doing)
23 We unloaded the bike at the towing service garage (by then the Honda shop was closed) and stored it under cover.
24 My wife picked me up, from the towing company garage.
25 My plan was to borrow my neighbors trailer and go and pick it up Wednesday.
26 I wanted to go to the local theater to see "Open Range" it was the last showing of 4, my wife talked me into going anyway, even with this bike problem, so I did. (Great movie BTW).
27 Got home late, had a sandwich and went to bed.
28 As I lay thinking about what could be wrong, --

***At this point I suggest that many of you (MC'st in particular) would have had the answer to the problem at about number 2 or 3 no later than 10, if not go back and take another look)***

29 --Suddenly it hit me - - - - - - "KILL SWITCH"

Somehow I had forgotten the first thing to look at.

Next morning I called the storage service and asked them to check the position of the kill switch.

Sure enough it was in the KILL position. The counter guy flipped it on and it started right up purring like a kitten.

I mush have accidently hit it when parking (or some kid from the merry go round turned it?????)

It was a rainy morning, They said 'chuckling' they would not charge me extra storage, so I said I would pick it up Thursday.

The guy on the phone consoled me with a story about being out on the lake with his boat and it died. He troll motored in, loaded it went home and later discovered he had accidentally pulled out the kill switch, "So don't feel too bad." Thanks

I have tried to get in the habit, as recommended by some riding instructions, to shut the bike off 1st with the kill switch so you get used to knowing where it is. I have never gotten into the habit even though I have tried several times. I had accidentally hit it, turning it off, a few times in the 150,000 miles I have ridden it. But managed to come to my senses, with varying reasonable delays to check it and turn it back on.

Now a list of possible excuses, that go through my mind as to what happened….-
- -Heavy Ion through the brain
- -Senior moment
- -Brain fahrt
- -I was focused on the Tent/Sleeping bag analysis that I had just been through
- -I was thinking of the first use of my new sleeping bag
- -I was focused on the next stop, Menards
- -I was focused on what a nice day it was for riding
- -I wanted to do some electrical trouble shooting
- -I wanted people to see me there with my tools and schematic
out working on my bike on the K Mart sidewalk, maybe meet new people.
- -I wanted to see if I could figure out how to recover from a broken bike while away from home. (even though I had just been through that experience with my cracked sparkplug up at the Wisconsin Dells Rally).
- -Dumb Ass
- -Stupid
- -Just needed more experience in the trials and tribulations of life.

Take your pick.

Thursday, $70 later (the $50 towing was picked up by my towing company), was a beautiful riding day for the ride back home.

For all you Motorcycle Riders (BMW included) the moral of this story is obvious.

I give my wife LOTS of credit. Not once during the trip back home after picking me up, at home, or bringing me back up to pick up my bike did she say any thing nasty, that could have been easily said with regards to my stupidity.

2008 Anspach Family Reunion - the 13th”

2008-07-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

A summary of A8R the “2008 Anspach Family Reunion - the 13th”

7/14/08 Tom E Anspach

A story for those who were not able to make it and encouragement for those who were there to write their story. .

(I will place a copy in the log book and post it on the ‘2008 Reunion is over’ anspachs.com web site page . . . eventually)

For me it started early in the morning of Saturday July 5th ,, disregarding packing, as I boarded Patty’s little Ford Escort and headed to Townsend TN. This, after making the crucial decision of not riding my MC and deciding to move in with Earl and Carl in the ‘Taj Ma Hal’ – the KOA River Lodge. I placed Patty’s Audio Book “The Last Juror by John Grisham” in the tape deck and I was on my way.

The River Lodges were brand new. Sleeps 6, would be a little crowded but 6 could make it. For us it was 3 and each had our own room, MOL. Facing the Little River. Ours was the side door model. The others, Gene Rena, Josh Ashley, were the front door models. . . with a perfect view of the River. It worked out well, even with the finicky gas hot water heater, which worked some of the time. The campground was pretty typical. Not my favorite type of campground. But I will have to admit, even with all the RV’s, campers, River Lodges and cabins it turned out OK. I suspect that the Anspach Family Environment had a lot to do with it being OK. It was packed solid on July 4th weekend. It cleared out somewhat during the following week, and filling up again for the July 11th weekend.

The only tent campers were Nephew Jim and Barbra. Jerry, Becky, Drew, Jeff Calvin were in cabins. Tom Susan (Jeff Linda also) in their RV. The rest, Doug Kerry, John Diane, Kevin, Ken Judy, David Tammy, Mathew Charla, Scott Kelly, were off base, in Cabins, Becky G stayed wherever she happened to be when the lights went out. The term ‘cabin’ is a misnomer as they were pretty neat full featured ‘houses’ with multiple bedrooms, several bath’s, hot tubs, fireplaces, grand views and hilly curvy mountainy, sometimes gravel, roads leading to and from.

We ALL went up to Doug and Kerry’s place 1 night, after dinner. And it was pretty neat, lots of room, with a hot tub. We had a great time playing cards, talking and socializing. All the kids had a great time too, you could tell by the ‘noise’ and activity. . ahh. . . only to the have the energy of youth. Must have taken Doug and Carry many hours of clean up after we left. There should be some great pictures of this gathering.

The pavilion worked out great. KOA brought the brand new grill down from our Lodge #5 for our use at the Pavilion the entire week. The KOA staff were extremely accommodating and continually asking us if we needed anything. There were several scheduled activities at or near the Pavilion. The kids were invited to participate in many of them. They were not bashful and joined right in with the local kids. There were open grassy areas (only a little muddy after the rains) around 2 sides for the lawn games (corn hole and ladder golf), and the kids to play. A fire ring off to 1 side, around which we spent several late nights.

At the peak there were 50 people in attendance. All there for the evening meal. The rest of the time people were in and out with many varied activities - Bike riding, Local River rafting, Upper Rapids Rafting, Lower River Rafting, Cades Cove, Splash World (at Pigeon Forge Dollyworld), hiking, KOA swimming pool, Ripley’s Aquarium, River Tubing (several times), Laurel Falls, Tuckaleechee Caverns, Golf, Smoky Mountain Helicopter Ride, Previous Reunion Photo Album/Log book reviews and discussions, Checking the genealogy chart and the 300th John George Anspach (older brother of our Ancestor Johannes Anspach ) birthday reunion planning near Quad Cities in 2010, Socializing, Shopping, cooking, cleaning up, chasing after the kids, reading, some even working on their laptops using local WiFi hot spot connection, route planning using maps, Riding US119 in both directions, known the Motorcycle world over as Deal’s gap (Jerry A the only 1 to ride his MC down), etc.

It was great seeing all of the little kids getting to know each other. They certainly seemed to have a lot of fun. Most had seen each other 4 long years ago, and some weren’t around 4 years ago. I hope I didn’t teach them too many bad habits by blowing spit balls in the restaurant as we waited for our Friday night meal. And, unfortunately, or fortunately, I forgot to get the ‘spoon in the glass’ challenge going.

The wx was about as perfect as you can get in July. Maybe a little warm during some of the days, but not bad. Rained off and on a couple days, and couple times at night. The rest of the days were rain free.

And of course there were the GRAND evening meals. Prepared by the, by now world renown, Anspach chef’s. Followed by the usual boisturess Horse uchre games. We were only chastised by the campground management once for not observing the 10PM quiet hours. As I recall it was from Monday night. Usual shutdown time was around midnight or so. All though I heard there was 1 session lasting until the wee hours of the night, or is that morning. There appeared to be several empty bottles of red wine lying around in the morning. Apparently an attempt to keep the cholesterol lowered. And Alan where were you? . . The bottle of Yukon Jack lasted all week. The last sip taken on Friday Eve.

As most of us did I am sure, we looked at this new trend of reunion in an unknown location away from the historical known location of Winamac with uncertainty. For myself I was sure that once we all got going, it would work out. And of course it did. Maybe with a few small items for learning. And as usual, it seemed to go by too quickly, with that resulting exhausted feeling, missing those who were unable to make it, enjoying those who where there, leave with many memories, looking toward the next one, in 2012.

At some time I will convert the Anspach 2008 pages on Anspachs.com to past history. Some place we will have storage for digital photo’s from the reunion.

I finished listening to the audio book as I headed up the gravel road, ….and I was home. I had to drive pretty slow the last couple miles to hear the end of the book.

The 2008 Anspach Family Reunion was over; a great time.

The Ride, The Tradition Continues.

2008-03-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

3/17/08
The Tradition Continues.

My Annual Guinness (Motorycle) Ride (the 4th). The St Patrick’s Day god’s were kind again. My 4th annual Guinness Ride to the Fiddlers Hearth Public House in South Bend for a little Irish celebration was a success.

This year my brother, John, from Logansport went with me, adding to the adventure.

Starting temperature was about 39 degrees. The thermometer hovering just below 40 and sticking there. We were bundled in several lagers and looked like puff balls. At 40 degrees, although I had my electric vest with me, and John did not have one, I did not wear it. I was just trying to be fair. We were cool but not cold. Temps were supposed to get up near the 50’s, with a rain and sleet coming in the evening. Things were looking good. We would be back well before evening.

I had been watching the gravel road from the house to the black top all week. Thawing out, covered with pot holes, water spots, and muddy spots. Concerned, will I be able to make it out. This morning an hour or so before I left, the county gravel/scraper truck came by. Wow!, I had just talked to the County Highway Superintendant last week on another matter and mentioned my annual Guinness ride. So out they came just special for me, and dumped some gravel and graded in some of the muddy spots and pot holes. At least that is my story, and I’m sticking with it. So it was not bad getting out at all. Coming back later it was back to close to its usual shape. Grading and filling doesn’t last long. But I made it in OK.

I was to meet my brother at a gas station in Rochester. I knew which one I meant, but ‘which one’ he thought I meant was garbled in the planning conversation and he was waiting at a different gas station.. Fortunately he came looking and after a couple of ‘what do you means’ we took off up US31 heading north to South Bend.

Arrived at the Fiddlers Hearth, http://www.fiddlershearth.com/index.html about 11:30 or so, wearing as much green as we could find. (Don’t worry Gator, I was wearing your Irish sweater gift with pride). We received our shamrock as we entered the door. Found 2 side by side chairs at the bar immediately. From my past experience, this was very unusual. We enjoyed a nice lunch of Irish Stew (to ward off the chill), some fish and chips, Guinness, coffee, Irish and Celtic music, all blessed by the local Priest, and conversation. “Conversation’, especially with Jeff. Our bar neighbor Jeff only had to work a half day. His Irish wife had to work all day. So he was there celebrating for her. We all autographed a menu for her, wishing her a happy St Patrick’s day. I noticed that Carol ‘the lady of the house’ looked a year younger not older, said hello to Shawn bartender and musician. After a couple hours we were ready to head back home.

As we hiked across the street to the garage (free parking)- still overcast, cool wind from the east, thermometer still stuck on about 40 degrees. What happened to the high 40’s?. We headed south, nice ride on the state roads, IN23, IN10, IN17. I rode part way to Logansport with my brother. We decided to stop in Kewanna and break the chill. A little Yukon and a cup of coffee did it very well. After some more brotherly conversation we stepped out by the bikes right by the door. . . and low and behold. . . it was raining sleet!!. Fortunatetl the roads were still warm… and it was melting. . . and we were getting close to home. I headed home to Winamac, John to Logansport. I got a little damp but not bad. John said later that he got soaked. It had been and was raining harder in Logansport.

Happy St Patrick’s day 2008

Upgrade my Computer Capability - Chapter 5

2008-03-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this is the final Chapter of Upgrading my computer capability Who said that upgrading to a new computer and operating system was ‘easy’?

As Chapter 4 closed, about the last week in February, I had hooked up to DSL, my printer installed OK, and things were looking good. In a nutshell, things are still looking pretty good. But, there has been some turmoil. Let me tell you about it.

1st there is DSL. It was really neat to be able to get to web sites easily and look at stuff and download large pictures that people had sent me. Previously I had resisted checking referenced websites and downloading large files. As we all know time is relative.

I hooked the new Vista Dell up to DSL and wanted to filter the telephones. Also wanted to be able to connect and use the other computer(s) on dialup, at least for a while. No need to get a Ethernet router . . . yet. My 1st hookup resulted in a very noisy phone line when the DSL box was on. Especially the remote phone. After lots of disconnecting trouble shooting I traced it down to the fact that I had decided the fax machine should not be filtered and I had a filter on the fax extension to the hard wired phone. Under every case checked, just adding the filter to the fax extension (even without the phone connected to the filter) caused excessive noise on the other phones. It only went away if the DSL modem was powered off or the filter was removed from the Fax phone extension jack.

With a telephone call to my ISP I understood that I should filter ‘ALL’ of the stuff that usually used normal telephone dialing/connections, including fax machine. So I hooked everything back up with that in mind. Now line is quiet everything working normally. In fact better than expected. In fact we could connect the Dial Up computers to the Internet WITHOUT powering down the DSL modem. I had understood from my ISP techs that this was not possible. I would have to power down the DSL modem to do a dial up connection. So I called them back to talk about it. Below is the result:

“I talked to my ISP tech this morning (BTW all of the KCOnline techs are in the US and as far as I know, all located in Warsaw (Warsaw Indiana that is)). She told me, and repeated, what I thought they told me, previously, when I was researching DSL

- That I should not be able to connect with both the DSL modem and the Dial Up computer at the same time. I would need to turn OFF (power off) the DSL modem to connect the dial up computer to the ISP server on our 1 account.

This is how it is working now from our experience.

As long as I have a phone line filter on the Dial Up computer modem, we are able to connect the Dial Up computer AND the DSL modem computer to the ISP server and the same time. Connect to web sites in parallel, work Outlook Express email on at least 1 of the computers. I am not sure about both the DSL computer and the Dial Up computer accessing the email server at the same time.

When I explained this to the tech, she said.
-You are just lucky. It is not supposed to work that way. You should have to shut off the DSL modem power to connect the Dial Up to the ISP.

I asked if it hurt anything that it was working and would it hurt anything if we tried to connect to the email servers at the same time.

-She said it should not, but if something happened and it did not work they would not be able to help me figure out what was wrong, because it is not supposed to work in the 1st place. She again used the phrase, 'you are just lucky'. In fact she used that phrase several times.”

We are still lucky, because it is still working that way.

Virus Checking & Email. As I mentioned in Chapter 4, I did not want to do much email until I had installed a virus checker. I finally decided to stick with AVG FREE…. I was used to it and it seemed to still be getting good reviews. So I downloaded it. By the time I got it all installed (the program, the virus updates) it must have been around 50 meg. It sure was a lot faster than on the HP Win98 with dial up.
I imported my OE address book from the HP and I was in business. In Vista (don’t know about XP) the mail program is called Windows Mail. It is about, exactly the same as OE. I don’t know why they changed the name.
However there is, at least, 1 change. For my Panhandle Pathway Secretary job, I have an OE identity called Trails. The contact list on that identity consists of 50 MOL email addresses from people who have expressed some sort of an interest in the trail, but do not want to be totally involved.. . . yet. They just want to know, generally, what is going on. They get an email message about once, or twice, a month about monthly meetings and/or a summary of ‘accomplishments’ and ‘goals’. This separate identity keeps these addresses separate from my ‘regular’ contact list, avoiding a lot of confusion. Windows Mail eliminated this function. They said for ‘security reasons’ it was better to establish a separate account. I have not done that yet. In fact I am thinking of getting a separate email address for this task. panhandle@kconline.com My ISP says I can have as many email addresses as I want. I haven’t set it up yet. Maybe this week I will get it done.

Scanner. I connected my brother’s discarded Epson to the HP computer and the HP Flat Bed scanner. Since the Scanner uses a parallel cable hook up and the Epson had a parallel and USB cable hook up. It works well. This set up may be in use for a while, as I may be reluctant in loading the old (8 years or so) HP scanner software onto the Dell Vista. AND I don’t know how to hook its parallel output to the printer.

Data Transfer. The data transfer from the HP to the Dell has 2 options. 1 A Flash Drive and 2nd A hard drive/USB cable. I guess there is another, Ethernet capable and set up a local network. I could not get the Coby 1gig FD to work with Win98. I had email conversations with Coby. I was told that there were no drivers, there was no way it would work with Win98 without SE, I was out of luck. Anyone need a 1Gig Flash Drive? A few days later I was in Staples and found a 2 gig Sony HD that listed Win98 (as well as Win98 SE and others), as OK with a driver download. So I forked over the 18 bucks for it. Downloaded the SW using the Dell Vista DSL transferred the file to the HP vial the 128meg Simpletech FD. Installed it and BINGO, the 2 gig Sony FD works fine. I noticed the capacity under properties is 1.8 gig. They get the 2 gig by file compression SW that is installed on the FDrive. I removed this SW. Now I can move large amounts of info from the HP to the Dell, rather easily.

The other method, would be to buy a HDrive to USB cable. By removing the HDrive from the HP chasis and connecting it to this cable I should be able to plug it into the Dell Vista and get anything I want from the HP HD. These cables run about 20 bucks or so. I have been told that I only need the IDE HD interface since I am working with Win98 era hard drives. I haven’t implemented this yet. It could also be used as a back up drive.

Digital Camera. I do not like the Kodak Easy Share Software. When I loaded EZShare on my Win98 computer it ‘took over’ ALL of the picture files. It is cumbersome to use. I was reluctant to install it on the Dell Vista. 1 morning I took a snowy picture. I decided on the spur to connect the camera USB directly to the Dell. BINGO again. Vista recognized the camera and I could off load the pictures. No need to load the Kodak Easy Share software.

I installed my cheap 3 or 4 year old ArcSoft Photo Impression Photo editing softare that I got with my 1st digital camera 5 years ago or so (under $50). And low and behold it works well also. I can load pictures directly from the Kodak digital camera.

Now the BIG story. . . My HP 845c Printer. As mentioned previously my HP printer was working good. Except for a little quirk that bothered me. The neat 2sided printing function. I used it all the time on the HP. It was not available on the Vista ‘the 845c in the box’ install. I had to manipulate the odd-even, even-odd, front to back, back to front, options to get 2 sided printing. It was cumbersome.

A friend sent me a note suggesting that I, maybe, should try to load the printer CD, and install from the CD. Finally I decided to try it. Friday morning 3/7/08. First I loaded the XP CD into the drive. I figured it was a later version than the Win98 version and Vista would be more likely to recognize it. The computer would not recognize the CD at all. Even if I went to Computer etc properties. I loaded the Win 98 HP printer CD. It was looking good. I started the install process. It looked like files were being transferred. Finally I got a message that said, something to the effect, ‘this installation not recognized’ and further installation processing stopped. I was not able to make any further progress with it, so I quit the install. OPPS! Now my HP845c did not work at all.

I reinstalled from ‘the box’. Everything seemed to go ok, lights all good, no errors. Except for the print qeue would say “error” with no other information and no print. I tried all kinds of things, going to the MSoft, Dell, HP web sites for help. . . Nothing. Finally called the Dell tech.

The Dell tech took over the computer. An interesting method. I had previous experience with this on my brothers new Dell computer. The Dell tech said everything was good and it was HP’s problem. Call them they will fix it. He concurred with me that I must have corrupted a driver file in some way. I also tried the driver restore function on Vista. It did not seem to cover the printer drivers. However, I was not sure what I was doing. I had already found out from going to the HP driver down load site that the HP 845c driver web pages said “you don’t need to down load this driver it is in the Vista installed software”. I called the HP tech. He started telling me it was an old printer and I needed to upgrade. I told him that was unacceptable. It was a perfectly working printer, it was only about 5 years old, it had worked earler, I did not want or need a new printer. I said all I needed was to reinstall the Vista HP 845c driver. It must exist and I wanted it. He finally gave up, said he couldn’t help me any more. I had to talk to another tech who would solve my problem. I was placed in contact with another tech.

We went through the same thing. He quickly got down to the ‘you need a new printer’. I told him - that was unacceptable etc. The Vista driver had to be somewhere and I wanted it. If I needed a new printer it sure wasn’t going to be an HP. That I was totally disappointed with HP etc… He said something like ‘let me check to see what I can do’. A minute or so later he came back with an offer, of a discounted new ‘hot dog’ printer. About 90 bucks. That is way too much. I said I am leaving. Wait a minute lets see what else we have. He came back with another printer about 60 bucks. He wanted to add shipping, and tax. I said NO shipping, NO tax. OK.

We settled on a Replacement Model: PHOTOSMART DJ5160. From a (later) search this seems like a pretty good printer. New ranging from $120 to $160 or so. This one is refurbished. Which doesn’t bother me too much. According to the tech the refurbished list price was $89 or so. My bill $58.29, next day shipping, 1 year warrantee, no tax no shipping charge. I was not happy, but somewhat placated and I told him so.

I had been struggling for hours, on the phone with techs (in India? I forgot to ask where they were located, which I usually do) for seemingly hours. After I was done I had to have a shot of Yukon Jack to settle down. The HP customer survey I took later was not good. Lots of ‘unacceptables’

The printer should be here Monday. From reading the paper work (electronic). It appears that the tech called this an ‘unrepairable returned out of warrantee’ printer and it was replaced at a substantial discount. Another positive point is I, hopefully, can get a refund from Staples on my $35 ink cartridge for my Brothers discarded Epson. I won’t need it anymore. Net cost of my ‘new’ HP printer about $23.

The last Hurdle. The last hurdle which I have not started yet is moving my 98 Quicken Basic program and files for household accounting. 98 Quicken basic went away a l.o.n.g. time ago. Files are not even recognized by the new Quicken software. But I stll use it, it works good for me and I DO NOT NEED to change. Will it work on Vista? I haven’t taken the challenge, yet, of trying to load it from my HP Windows 98 CD. I have loaded it onto other computers (Win98) from the HP CD. So, it seems possible that it may work…. Only time will tell.

That’s my story about Upgrading my Computer Capability, aka moving from a 10 year old Win98 HP desktop to a New state of the art Dell Vista computer.

My dog Blaze is dieing

2008-02-24T14:01:00.000-08:00

My daughter, Marie, who lives in Juneau AK with her family, recently lost their loved dog Blaze. Blaze had been with them many years and was a part of the family. Marie wrote her feelings as he was succuming to sickness and passing away in January. Here it is, with her permission.

_______________________________________________________

My dog Blaze is dieing.

January 25, 2008

He struggled to lift his head. I didn't know it would be his last. He wanted to see out the window. He tried to be enthused about being in the car and going for a ride. He looked at me and then looked out the window as if to say when are we going out. His breathing was labored as he strained to hold his head . He wanted to see what was out the window.

He maintained his spirit to the end. The neighbor shoveling snow would put a spark in his eyes even if only for a moment then the stiffness and the labor just to breath would deaden the small spark. At the vet he was shaking incesantly and would press his stiff legs against me. It was the right thing to take him home he is more relaxed although he labors intensely to breath and he cannot move. We wait for the end. He is a stubborn one. He seems too young to die. I thought Beagles live to 15 or so. Every once in a while he looks out the window, then sighs, then goes back into that deadended state. He is much more relaxed than at the vet. That cold unfamiliar place filled with people who don't understand him. We understand. He doesn't like anyone to touch his toes. We understand he has some dignity. Although there is no we, there is only me. I am his favorite as long as David's not around. If son David were here, David would be his favorite.

One last ride to the vet. He looked very fearful when I put him in the back of the car. I carried him down the steps carefully. I didn't want to drop him. He always hated to be carried. Kiera and I drove to the vet again. He didn't seem concerned as much this time. His state was so grave. I think he barely knew. They shot him with the anesthesia and he responded. The doctor said it would sting him. His eyes seemed to relax some, but his breathing was still heavy. They injected the euthanasia in a moment one small noise than his breathing stopped. He was gone. The bridge vet picked up his body and will spread his ashes with the others out the road. He would've liked that.

On 3/3/2007 (last year) I wrote in my journal, "yes, Blaze is on his last legs. Enjoy his last days, yes, he's an animal without choice. He just is. Enjoy him, his heart, his passion, his faithfullness as much as he can be faithful, so he will be to the end."

Yes, he was faithfull till the end. Even though he wasn't feeling well he was still faithfully wagging his tail, eating his food, standing by. I love you Blaze. You brought much joy to our lives.

2008-02-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

Upgrading My Computer Capability
Chapter 4 Thursday 2/21/08

Today the theme of upgrading my computer capability relates to the saying "you can’t teach an old dog new tricks". Although it may not be true in total, it certainly is on the right track.
I fired up the new dell and started getting familiar with Vista. Loaded the MS Office for students software. Over all - wow!

I started transferring stuff using my 128meg flash drive. Right away I realized that 128meg was not near big enough. It was going to take a lot of mechanical moving to get it transferred. I did get my Rails to Trails Grant Implementation stuff transferred. Which includes the Construction Plan which I am working on.

I brought the CPlan up on MSWord 2007. Wow! Really fancy over MSWord 2000. What a difference 7 years makes with those guys at MSoft. You can tell that they have been working away these last 7 years.

I spotted a 1Gig Flash Drive in Alco for 15 bucks, so bought it. There was risk as the writing said W98SE (and up). I don’t have SE. I have run into this problem before and was able to work around it with an online download. The 1GB drive worked good in the Dell but the HP would not recognize it. After a couple phone calls and email to Coby Electronics I obtained a driver that should work. But after fiddling around for several try's I was unsuccessful. I called back, explained everything and was told I was ‘out of luck’, they had no other drivers.

I connected the Dell to my KCOnline ISP. Seems to be working OK. I am not doing email yet though, until I get a virus checker. Will probably wait until I get DSL as these downloads are quite large. I am planning on a FREE one.

Ah DSL. Yes I have finally broken down, bit the bullet and signed up for DSL with my ISP. $12 more a month, no activation fee, no contract, no modem cost, no add on’s. No change in my local phone bill. Only upfront cost was shipping the package, $8. The package includes the DSL box, 4 filters, a couple cables, and the instructions. In a week or so I should be high speed (768K down, 128K up). That should get me started on high speed.

I ran into some kind of a problem with the HP yesterday. The day before when trying to get my FD’s running something happened that locked the HP up. During the turn on after a lock up shut down (termed ‘bad shut down’), the scan disc program seemed to be running on the D drive. And it wouldn’t run there. I had not noticed it trying to run on D drive after bad shutdown, before. Windows would not come up. I could not figure out a way to circumvent the Scan Disc program. I was getting nervous. Finally after reading my BIG Win 98 book that I bought at a sale many years ago. There was a method to do just that- <<programs/accessories/system information/tools/system configuration utility/Advanced/Advanced trouble shooting settings - - - check the box that says --- Disable Scan Disc after bad shut down.>>.... I also did a HD (C drive) clean up, scan disc and defrag. After which it seems to be working just fine. Needless to say I was nearing the panic state yesterday morning, about ready to visit the local computer guy. I have lots of history on the HD computer, 10 years worth.

I moved the USB cable from to my HP 845c printer from the HP over to the Dell. The software was ‘in the Vista box’ so it installed pretty clean (after a couple of pilot errors). I printed out a page from my MS2007 word Construction Plan and it worked good. To keep from having to move the printer cable back and forth I will try to hook brother Johns discarded Epson printer to the HP, . . . . sometime.

I am still trying to figure out the best way to transfer data from the HP (it does not have an ether net card, but I may be able to take one out of brother John/s discarded ‘e machines’ computer). I can tell it will take a lot of work using my little 128MB Flash Drive. Maybe I should just buy a ‘backup’ Hard drive and move the whole HP (maybe 8 Gig or so of info) to that. Will just have to make sure it will connect to my Win98 system.

Maybe 1 more chapter after this, about hooking up to DSL and getting my data transferred. Time will tell.

Upgrading My Computer Capability Chapter 3

2008-02-17T18:58:00.000-08:00

Clear off the Dining Room Table - Chapter 3 Sunday 2/17/08

My objective today was to get my new computer gift OFF of the dining room table.

I started by installing 2 new 4’ shelves to help collect my ‘treasures’, to free up some space on my ‘desk’. 7 hours later (with a little time off for lunch) I had them both settled in, ‘power on’ and running. New Dell not hooked to Net, or printer yet.

Although I still have plenty of 'neaterizing' to do, which will at least, hopefully, partially get done, it should work OK for a while.

Disconected everything, wiping off as much dust as I could. I should open up the ol’ HP and dust off the insides.... but did not. Moving speakers and HP desktop, monitor, radio, scanner, odd’s and end's around I finally had a set up.

The 17 inch HP CRT monitor is very deep. Specially when compared to the new Dell 19 inch LCD monitor. Finally wound up having to stick in the corner. Did not like that too well, but appears to be an OK set up. I do not like not having the monitor right in front of the key board. I know many people have it set up that way, but it bothers me. Something left over from my typewriter days. Was finally able to get the monitor and keyboard in an OK position, all though backed into a corner.

Unless I can figure out how to hook up my HP flatbed scanner to the Dell I may have a 98 computer here for some time. The Flatbed scanner works very well, but it has a parallel output cable. And the Del does not have a parallel input connector. Anyone have any ideas let me know, besides buying a new scanner. May change to one of the spare 15 inch CRT’s I have though, so it doesn’t take up so much room.

Thanks again.....for the long term gift. Should last for many birthdays and Christmas’s.

The next step will be to hook the dell up to the Internet, 'dial up', first. Then I will probably start transferring stuff over to it. If it was just my home stuff, email, letters, pictures etc..... it wouldn't be too bad. However I have a lot of background Rails to Trails info and lots more stuff coming in all the time.... and developing lots of stuff....just like a job except, no pay. That move will be kind of tricky. Probably the best thing would be to network them. I think I have to have a router for that... will have to look into it. Any ideas let me know..... Meanwhile, I will use a Flash drive to move stuff back and forth.

Upgrading my Computer Capability Chapter 2 (or so)

2008-02-15T18:02:00.000-08:00

Chapter 2 (or so) Power On
Things from my computer upgrade started coming in this week. The MSOffice Student SW package came in Tuesday via DHL. Then on Wednesday the Computer came in. Then, finally, today Friday 2/25/08, the monitor came in. Got them plugged in and ‘on’ and ‘wow’. Just think about ‘do you know how it feels when you get rid of the old bald tires on your motorcycle and put on brand new tires”? But let me digress.

Among other things I have been working away on my ol’ HP, and studying how I would rearrange my little office. But not doing much ‘rearranging’. As things came in 1 by 1, on the DHL truck, I was excited with anticipation. When the computer came in I did not see any ‘computer manual’. You know, how to use it, how does it work, etc.?. This bothered me somewhat, specially when the big plastic fold out, ‘how to hook it up in 5 different languages’ said, look in your computer manual to see how it works (MOL).

Finally the monitor came in today, and still no manual. So - - - my 1st call to Tech support… ‘where is my manual, that is referred to in the set up card?’ After many pauses, out there in India, it was something like ‘well we don’t supply those any more, you can get them online, or they are stored on your hardrive’. But I am old fashioned and I like to flip through the manual before I do anything. Sorry. I end with, ‘well put that in your book’. And yes he would be glad to… and let the management know that I was not happy because I did not have a paper manual. So now Dell will have to think of cutting down another tree to for a manual.

I decided to set it up on the dining room table where I had plenty of room. I would not have to cram it into a corner when looking for places to plug things in. My wife happened to be gone, so I knew I had at least a few hours. It went together pretty easy, just the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

I turned on the power and bingo!. Just like there was a little robot in there getting things going. The pages coming to the desktop looked like a power point presentation, as the bar on the bottom progressed from left to right. After I accepted several ‘very legal’ agreements (you read all of those before accepting them don’t you?), things were looking really FANCY.

I wandered around quite a bit, getting used to the Vista differences in the desktop. And there are many. But seemed OK. So far I was picking it up pretty easy. It came to mind though, that someone not familiar with computers and Windows would have a lot of trouble without an instruction manual. Google was very strong on the desktop, wanting to put all kinds of sidebars and desktops on. I am still not sure which is where but, have decided it can be straightened out later. Lo and behold, the Computer manual was on the HD. Not just the help screen/menu, but the manual. At first glance it looks pretty good. Assuming, if you are having trouble, you can get to it. I found the Vista games, wow!!!!. I don’t know what games XP had, but compared to W98 10 years ago, wow!. Even chess. Wait till my nephew’s son Kendal comes over and fires this chess game up. He will be impressed.

As I suspected the Photo stuff seemed very powerful. So I loaded my 2007 Alaska Oregon pictures (178) stored on my 1998 HP Windows, onto my flash drive and plugged it in. . . to the FRONT of the Dell computer. . nice. And like magic, even though it was a folder down it picked them up and was easy to get into a slide show. On the 19 inch monitor, I thought I was watching TV from back just a few years ago.

Next I loaded the MSOffice Student SW (357 Meg or so whew!). Wow, will the Rails and Trails guys be impressed with this. Excel, Word, Power Point . . . and some other stuff I am not familiar with. The most trouble I had was opening up the MSOffice Student plastic box. The single CD was inside a box with 2 pieces of paper to buy more stuff. The box was a puzzle, to me, in itself. Before I got a hammer, I finally gave up, . I gave it to my wife. After fiddling around for some time she finally figured it out. Wow, such a fancy box for 1 lousy CD.

Overall, so far, it is a BIG WOW!. What a change from working along with my ol’ 1998 HP with Windows 98 and popping into this Dell Inspiron 530 with Vista. Like I said earlier… it is like that feeling you get from the feel of a new set of treads on your motorcycle after slowly wearing out the old set with many enjoyable miles of riding.

Now we are ready for the next step. Moving into my little office and hooking up to, printer, Internet. I am worried about the scanner, which has a parallel cable. As far as I can tell, there is no parallel connector on the Dell.

I am also trying to think of some sort of a special thank you to my kids for giving me this great gift. I have a few thoughts in mind.

Upgrading My Computer Capability

2008-02-13T17:59:00.000-08:00

Upgrading My Computer Capability
I have decided to place this story on my blog. Just because I want to.
My kids (I still call them kids, even though they now range in ages from about 50 to 45, and I will always call them my kids) have been subtly pressuring me to upgrade my computer capability for many years. Both my computer and connection speed. Lately the pressure has become insurmountable, and I will have to succumb. But first a little background.

Background
I have been involved with computers all my working life. When I was a senior at the Milwaukee School of Engineering in 1959, we received our 1st computer. I believe it was a Royal ‘something’ drum machine. MSOE required a thesis for graduation. I wrote my thesis on Boolean Algebra, the basic arithmetic and logic for all computers. I have always typed since High School (1952), through my tour with the USNavy and into work. My handwriting has always been atrocious. When Apple came out with word processors, with SPELL CHECK, I though I had gone to heaven. I even taught a few classes in microprocessors when they 1st came out. The bottom line is - I am well aware of the ‘high tech’ 18 month progression cycle. Buy it now, 18 months later it is outdated.

My 1st home Computer
When I retired from Honeywell Space Systems in 1995 and left my ‘work computers’ at work, I would use the library computers for email and bring one home once in a while when doing odd jobs for Honeywell.

Finally in 1998, Christmas we bought our 1st home computer. An HP Pavilion with 64Meg of Ram, a 6.4 Gig (extra large) Hard Drive and a 333 MHz processor with Windows 98.

As time went on we added a printer, scanner etc.... It worked well. 1 Power supply problem, and I had a used extra Hard Drive installed and another chunk of RAM. Still using dial up. And it is still working well. Finally it became a GOAL for me, to stick with the HP and Windows 98 and dial up for 10 years, - till December 2008.

My wife had given up years ago and purchased her own latest tech computer/monitor.

Meanwhile, my kids had all progressed to the latest tech computers, with high speed connections. It was with great difficulty that I tried to get them to realize that they were not sending pictures of my grandkids to National Geographic. I did not need a 4meg picture to see what they looked like. Now they are talking about video...... wow .. . dial up will never work. Also, I became involved with a local group converting an ‘out of service’ section of Rail Road to a nice Pathway. As secretary and working on construction plans etc., my dial up, slow processor and limited memory was becoming a problem.

Now my upgrade story can begin.
I finally decided that I should 1st upgrade my computer then succumb to high speed Internet.. I started talking to people about it and reviewing some (forums). I came to the conclusion that I could make a significant improvement if I went with a refurbished office leased machine (like a Dell Optiplex) with Windows XP professional. Or similar. I should be able to set it behind my 17 inch CRT monitor, my good keyboard, printer, scanner, etc. and be ready to go. Much higher speed, much more HD memory, lots of Ram. With Windows XP OS, since it had all the bugs out of it. I did not want to help debug a new OS like the memory hog Vista. All at a reasonable cost. Then the next step would be to step up to high speed Internet. Out here in the country that would be DSL.
I was watching. Bid on one on Ebay only to be out bid at the last moment. A thought occurred to me, my son in NC had worked in the computer network department at a large local hospital. I recalled that he mentioned that 1 of his buddies was thinking of refurbishing computers for resale. So I asked him to check it out.

Over the next couple weeks, he is talking to me about how he and his buddy are putting together a really neat computer out of ‘used’ components. Sometimes he used the phrase ‘junk parts’ just to keep me a little worried. This last Saturday he tells me to keep an eye out for the mail as it would be showing up. As soon as he could find a shipping box. Then Monday, a note that it was on its way. I am getting ready..... Ah lots of memory (over 500 gig HD, 2+ gig of Ram, high speed, economical. A cost had not yet been established but I was assured that it would be reasonable or very reasonable. I started watching for the delivery truck.

THEN, showing up in an email - a note from all of my kids (and grandkids) alluding to a ‘gift’ and the specs for a new Dell computer with 2+ gig of ram, 500 gig HD, 2+ gigs processor, 19 inch LCD monitor, that is being shipped from Dell.

What is going on here? Calls to my kids.... Yes, they are forcing me into the new hitech world. All this time, when I thought I was getting a computer kluged together in somebody’s garage with suspect parts, they had been dealing with Dell for a -good- computer for me. My son had been feeding a line of BS for the last couple weeks. They are giving me this new (refurbished by Dell Inspiron 530) computer as a gift to cover future birthdays, fathersdays, Christmas’s for an untold number of years. IN RETURN I must transition to a high speed connection (fortunately they did not say how ‘high of a high speed connection’). The Dell is loaded several goodies including Vista. Oh no not Vista, with all of its new bugs.

I promptly, checked out a Vista book from the Library. Finally, I got over it, accepted the fact and started planning and ‘getting ready’. That’s for the next chapter.

Getting Ready
My little room "office’ is cluttered with accumulated ‘stuff’ from over the last 5 years. Radio, pictures, books, notebooks, files, papers, maps, scanner, printer, pencils, software, music. Very disorganized, but I know where most everything is. And everything is saved for some future use. My transition to this new computer need not be a panic replacement, since my HP is still working well. So I need a nice slow, side by side, methodical transition.

1st I need to clear a space so I can set up 2 computers. Wow what do I do? Where do I start? Clear papers, move my radio, make a space on my writing desk top. Reorganize my Computer log book, which I have had for 5 years, and make a space for the new computer. Wipe up some dust. This could take a while, and it does. But I think I am about ready. It will take some last minute paper reshuffling. But close enough.

Shutting off the Engine in an Unattended Car

2008-02-03T08:37:00.000-08:00

The Click and Clack article in this morning’s paper about finding a car running, no one around, and the questioner wanting to shut it off, reminds me of a story.

Many long years ago, it seems, about 1957, I was going to Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee Wisconsin. One of my part time jobs was working at a downtown parking lot. My job was parking cars or telling people where to park them as they came to work, and then digging them out when they left. At the time I had a 1951 Buick. I did not drive it much as I lived close to school and had to keep my nose to the grindstone. But it did get me back home to Indiana once in a while.

Anyway, 1 day there was this car parked at the back entrance to a store at the edge of our lot. The motor was running. I kept watching it. No one came to check it. I was thinking the driver must have forgot to turn off the key when they got out. Finally, being the helpful person that I was, I decided to go over and turn it off. Which I did. The door was unlocked so I did not have take off my sock or find a potato and stuff it up the tailpipe.

After some time a man came out of the back door, yelling “Who in the hell turned off my car?” He was pretty livid. Of course I had to admit the deed. “Well get your car, because we have to push/toe it to get it started”. No one had a chain so ‘push it’ it was, with my nice ’51 Buick. It seem like I pushed him forever, several blocks before it started. The bumpers scraping and grinding. I remembered the scratches on the front bumper for a long time.

From that day on I have never turned of the engine in a car that I have seen running with no one around.

Ps- My boss was interesting also. Telling me stories about his escapades running bootleg whiskey from St Louis to Chicago in the roof of his car, during prohibition.

Tongue Twisters

2008-02-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

A day or so ago, was ‘groundhog day’. One of the news stations had a little clip of-

“If a woodchuck would chuck wood how much wood would a woodchuck chuck?”

It caused me to remember there was a ‘tongue twister’ that I used like. I tried to remember what it was. I could not remember. I kept thinking hard, yesterday, last night, this morning, but just could not remember. It was buried back deep in my brain and just would not come out.

Then this morning, when I was drinking my cup of coffee, it came back to me. Here it is-

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pecks of pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?”
Hope all your kids are able to recite it fast withoug getting their tongues all twisted up.

My Annual Guinness Ride (3rd)

2007-03-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

It’s St. Patrick’s day 3 17 2007
Here is the Story -
My Annual Guinness Ride (3rd)
Tom Anspach 3/17/07

All week I have been worried about getting the bike down the 5/8 mile gravel road to the black top. Because of last weeks few days of 60 degree and + weather, the road has been a quagmire. Pot holes, soft spots, water. But last night (and Thursday night) it froze so was good to ride. Just had to dodge the pot holes and extra rough washboards.

Left about 11:30 AM EDT (previous years we were on standard time), temp a brisk 33 degrees with a nice wind out of the NW. Headed up my usual route, that I like, local county roads to IN10 East of Bass Lake, IN23, slow way down for the RR tracks in Ober, sweep the nice double ‘chacain’ in Koontz Lake, watch for left over sand on the corners, to downtown South Bend. Heading to the Fiddlers Hearth Public House for some Guinness, and some corned beef and cabbage and hopefully some Irish Stew and some St. Patrick’s Day celebration. I also wanted to try out my ‘new’ green Ireland sweater given to me by my friend Gator from Melbourne FL. It has some kind of a story associated with it about Mexico. You will have to have Gator tell you about it, late at night around the campfire. It worked good Gator, thanks a lot. I owe you a beer.

I was worried that things could be very crowded with St. P’s day on Saturday this year. But I arrived at a good time. The place was packed as usual but I was able to elbow my way close enough to the bar. As usual everyone was very sociable. So had nice chats with the neighbors. People next to me were from Plymouth and Kewanna, ‘Southerner’s like me. Steve even bought a Guinness for me. Thanks Steve. After a couple hours or so, 2 pints, 1 coffee and a big plate of corned beef and cabbage (I was too full for the Irish Stew), lots of conversation, listening to the Irish music and watching the Celtic dancer, it was, sniff, time to leave.

Headed back home with the temp at a balmy 43 degrees. Took some sort of a round about way via IN4 and IN104 and US6 and US35. Wasn’t sure exactly where I was, but didn’t care. Made a special loop south of Winamac/Pulaski to check out roads we are adding to the Spring Fest ‘Tippecanoe and Bicycles Too’ bicycle ride (May 12), to make sure they were black top and not gravel. Nice loop. Should be a nice addition. Parked my bike at my Mother In Law’s house till the gravel road dries out. Anyone need a nice cozy house, 2 bedroom, with large detached 2 car garage, North side of Winamac? It’s for sale. By then the temps were lowering back into the mid 30’s.

Only used my electric vest a few times. Nice sunny day with clear sky and some scattered clouds, My ‘85 BWW K100RT with 192K miles ran great 2nd time out since 1st part of December.

A perfect 180 mile day for my Annual Guinness Ride. Thanks again Shawn who pours a nice glass of Guinness, and Carol H. the ‘Lady of the House".

http://www.fiddlershearth.com/index.html Fiddler's Hearth is South Bend's local public house -- a gathering place for Celtic artists and the public at large.

What do you do with your old Christmas cards?

2006-12-16T16:20:00.000-08:00

12/15/06

What do you do with your old Christmas cards? I would like to know. My friend Pete, North Miami Beach FL, sent me a picture showing that he hangs his up on a display, so he can keep the memories in the forefront through the year. Me, I hate to throw them away, but I haven’t been able to save them either as I already save too much stuff for another day.

Today I went down in the basement to clean up my xmas wrapping table mess and in the process decided to clean out the box I have my xmas paper in. It had been sitting on the floor all year. The bottom had been wet and was stuck to the floor. This was probably the result of the cat pulling the dehumidifier drain out of the floor drain last summer. Possibly looking for mice coming in through the drain from the woods. This caused a minor flood on the basement floor. Which I did not notice for several days. Anyway, I had placed several Christmas cards in this box several years (4 - 6) ago. It was interesting looking through them, even though most of them had been wet and stuck together. So maybe I should be more deliberate and save our xmas cards in a box to look at in later years.

Now comes the thought of a Christmas letter. Do or not to do, a Christmas letter, is the question. Do I really want to bore everyone about how many 4H turkeys we raised and butchered, how many chickens we have, how many motorcycle rallies and trips I took, how the sheep did, how many bales of hay we had, did I or did I not fulfill my beekeeping new years resolution, what my kids and grandkids are doing, etc. I had pretty much decided NOT. However, one of the water damaged ‘found items’ in the box mentioned above, was a Christmas letter I sent out in 2000. I read it. I liked it. Why not? Why not send this out again? Everyone has probably forgotten about it. Would it be sort of like ‘regifting’? Are there any rules against such a thing? I couldn’t think of any. If there are, I am sure it is not illegal.
So here goes. Verbatim from 2000. (next page)
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2007 and thereafter.
Tom Anspach

---------
Christmas Cards, excuses, tribulations, guilt, and other thoughts.
As you all probably know, I am not very good at sending out Christmas Cards. I have all kinds of excuses. The best this year may be my trip to Germany to surprise son Tom on his birthday (Dec 15th) and returning Christmas Day. But none is better than just simple procrastination waiting for time to pass. Lately I have been thinking that I should send out some belated cards. Those thoughts coupled along with pure guilt were pushed into action by the poem that we received from my daughter in law Susan’s’ parents. Which I like and am including along with this card.

Merry Christmas
I have a list of folks I know, All written in a book
And every year at Christmas time I go and take a look.
And that is when I realize that These names are all a part
Not of the book they're written in But of my very heart.

For each name stands for someone who Has crossed my path sometime,
And in that meeting they've become The "Rhythm of the Rhyme".
And while it sounds fantastic for Me to make this claim
I really feel I am composed of Each remembered name.

And while you may not be aware of Any special link
Just meeting you shaped my life More than you can think
For once you've met somebody, the Years cannot erase
The memory of a pleasant word or Of a friendly face.

So never think my Christmas cards Are just a rnere routine
Of names upon a Christmas list Forgotten in between.
For when I send a Christmas Card That is addressed to you
It's because you're on that list of Folks I am indebted to.

For we are but a total of the Many folks we've met,
And you happen to be one of those I Prefer not to forget.
And whether I have known you for Many years or few
In some way you have had a part in Shaping things I do.

And every year when Christmas comes I realize anew
The biggest gift that life can give is Meeting folks like you.
And may the spirit of Christmas that Forever and forever endures
Leave it's richest blessings in the Heart of You and Yours.

Added by me-------
I know it may be hard
For all to see,
Even though you may not get a card
You are listed in my book
And everytime I have a look
I know my memory of you is part of me.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Best Wishes for all of 2001 and beyond.

Tom Anspach- tom28.2n@att.net

The Massachusetts FFA Crowd Visit Again 2006

2006-10-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Massachusetts FFA Crowd Visit Again 2006

Here it is, October 24th, the day after nephew Jim’s FFA students visited us on their way to the convention in Indianapolis. Here is the story, as I can remember and piece it together.

This is the 3rd year that Smith Vocational HS Instructor, nephew Jim has stopped by with his associate teachers and their FFA students. They work all summer to scrape up the cash for the Planes, Trains and Automobiles (or buses/vans as the case may be) trip to the FFA convention. The Train from MA to Chicago, the highway from Chicago to the convention and the Plane home. The convention the past 2 years has been in Louisville. This year it is in Indianapolis. They did not have as far to go after leaving here.

Listening to the Train experiences, although apparently interesting, it was pretty bad. Not much sleep. Cars that were either boiling hot or freezing cold. The Chicago arrival was only about an hour or so late (The Amtrak system in the US is bad when ‘only an hour or so’ is used to describe the arrival time, really not right). Then a time consuming period picking up the 2 reserved rental vans. After a brief stop at Navy Pier in Chicago for some sightseeing, they headed south. One van missed an I94 Interstate interchange turn off and fell about a half hour or so behind the lead van. From Jim’s discussion of the itinerary on the phone, I surmised that they would be here around 4pm or so. And they would need to leave by about 6:30PM or so. I should know better by now, that surmising Jim’s schedule is risky.

I had previously decided to move the hot dog roast out to "The Hog Lounge" (appropriately named by nephew Alan and I several years ago) in the pig shed as the weather predictions had been ‘cold, high NW winds, possible rain/snow’. Actually the weather was not too bad. The cool winds were from the NW and brisk , but the snow/rain never showed. The pig shed, in the woods, gave us quite a bit of protection, while still remaining outside by the fires. The ‘pig shed’ was used 40 years ago or so by my Dad raising pigs. Now mostly used for storage etc. As should have been expected, the entourage was running late. At least we thought it was late, although it may not have not been late for them. As a result of cell phone contact, as the they neared, and clearly hungry, my brother Carl and I put on the hog dogs.

A big reason they like to stop here, besides the hot dogs and environment, is that the BIG agriculture fields and BIG harvesting equipment is much different then they are used to seeing in Massachusetts. In the past years they have had time to stop at the local John Deere dealer where Jim’s cousin Alan works. There they were able to see and drive one of the BIG tractors. This year they did not have the time for this visit. However the neighbors to the west and to the south of us were both picking corn. This is something that the FFA group had wanted to see for the last 3 years but it did not work out. This time they were in luck. As they neared our location they spotted the neighbor to the west of us. Ken G had just finished and was getting ready to drop the head on his BIG Case model 2388 cornpicking machine. So they stopped. And of course they were enthralled. And Ken G was enthusiastically explaining the workings of his big Case. Meanwhile the hot-dogs were done and cooling rapidly up at The Hog Lounge. But the cornpicker had priority. Hunger was forgotten.

They were just about ready to break free and continue on when the delayed, missed exit, van showed up. This caused a little more delay. Finally they all arrived at ‘The Hog Lounge’. It was nearing 5:30 PM.

Jim’s cousins Alan and his son Cody with his girl friend, and Jerry and his son Jeff showed up. After an initial surge of eating it looked like I had misjudged the amount of hot dogs needed, so I made a quick run to town for more. Meanwhile they had spotted Carl S picking corn in the field to the south of us. Wow, a BIG John Deer model 9610 corn picker in operation. I had previously warned Carl S that they might want to watch him at work. So down the hill they went. And Carl S was gracious in explaining and showing them the real live, big cornpicker in operation. Including taking the students for rides while picking. Again hunger was temporarily forgotten.

Back at the fire at The Hog Lounge, things started to slow down a bit so I got out the ‘steer horn’ horn and the ‘conch shell’ horn. That got everyone stirred up trying, with many successes to come up with a nice loud long blast. Several of the students scared up some deer in the neighboring woods and evidently chased them through the woods. Fortunately they did catch them or we would have been cooking deer meat on the fire in place of hot dogs. Because of the brisk weather, I had made a nice hot pot of Wassail (no alcohol) to help kill the chill. It was surprising to me that no one was familiar with Wassail (*see below). Everyone liked it though. It was nearly gone by dark.

By now it was well after 6:30PM. It was getting dark rapidly. There is no electric power at The Hog Lounge. There are usually no lights. Based on my surmised ‘Jim’ schedule I did not even bring a flashlight, let alone, our MG set and some electric lights. Finally my brother had to drive his pickup in with the headlights on so we could see to pack up all the left overs and ‘jam’ them into the vans with all the rest of their stuff. I did manage to keep out enough for a small lunch on Tuesday. Carl passed out the ‘travel’ goody bags made by Cousin Jerry’s wife Becky for their trip on south. After teacher Jim made sure they had all written in the Outhouse Diary, we all said our good bye’s and thankyou’s and come again’s they left.

It is always neat having them come to our little place in North Central Indiana They enjoy coming and we enjoy it too.

*Wassail From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wassail is a hot, spiced punch often associated with winter celebrations of northern Europe, usually those connected with the Christmas holiday such as Christmas, New Year's and Twelfth Night. Particularly popular in Germanic countries, the term itself is a contraction of the Old English toast wæs þu hæl, or "be thou hale!" (i.e., "be in good health"). Alternate expressions predating the term, with approximately the same meaning, include both the Old Norse ves heill and Old English wes hál.

Recipes vary, but usually call for a base of either wine or fruit juices (apple being popular) simmered with mulling spices, possibly fortified with spirits such as brandy. Orange slices might be added to the mixture. (In northern Europe, oranges once enjoyed the status of a novelty Christmas fruit. As oranges come into season in the winter, in pre-refrigeration days that might be the only time of year that they were available to cold climates -- provided they survived shipment from the warmer countries in which they were grown.)

A Nice Autumn Motorcycle, Camping, Saturday Outing

2006-10-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

With an invitation in hand (or at least in mind), via the Michiana BMW Club (MOL South Bend area), to the 4th annual Summit City BMW club (Ft Wayne area) Fall Outing. A little bit, SE of Silver Lake, IN early on Saturday afternoon (October 7th). It was a beautiful autumn day for the 42 mile ride over to the gathering site.

The site is at one of the SC members small family farm. And it is pretty neat. A nice, grassy area surrounding, a little pond with trees for camping. An operating windmill. A pavilion with fire place. And an outhouse.

A good chili and ham and beans lunch with deserts and some appropriate liquid refreshment was ready upon arrival. Followed by the usual tent space location and construction activities.

As evening neared a delicious Chili and Ham & Beans dinner with desert and appropriate liquid refreshment was ready (did it remind of us lunch?). As the beautiful fall harvest moon rose in a clear sky, the campfires came alive. And of course there was much stimulating discussion `kicking lies and telling tires' of motorcycle journey's and stories as well as solving world and national political, immigration, and religious issues. Followed by crawling into our tents as temperatures dropped into the 40's.

Along with the normal night sounds and a bunch of coyotes barking and howling and a distance train was the sound effects of the digesting ham & beans and chili. Unfortunately I had to get up before dawn to empty some of them in the outhouse. Very unusual for me. However with the bright light from the moon it worked out OK.

Later the sun started coming up on a crisp Sunday morning. The activities of breaking down, packing, good-bye's, see you around, thankyou's and heading out was under way.

I was planning on stopping for Biscuits and Gravy somewhere on the way home. I had vaguely recalled that their might be a place at the junction of IN114 and IN15. Since I came in via IN14 and IN15 I decided to head south and pick up IN114. It turned out that Ruth Ann's was there, at IN114 and IN15 and open and serving delicious B&G and coffee. Well fortified, I headed west toward Winamac, planning on riding straight home.

But then, it was such a nice road and nice morning and the coffee and B&G had me feeling good I decided to ride the rolling hills and take the "Rochester South By-pass" - IN19, IN16, IN17. A familiar route taken many times. Had I thought about it earlier I probably would have headed on south, from Ruth Ann's on IN15 and gone through the covered bridge in Roann on IN16.

It was about as perfect as you can get. Not much traffic, nice roads, sunny sky's, crisp temps but not cold. This route goes through the small towns of Akron, Gilead, turning west on IN16 before getting to Chili, Denver, Twelve Mile, Lucerne, and Royal Center.. Just west of Denver there are some 15 MPH and 25 MPH caution curves (watch for loose gravel). For a minute or so you think you might be in North Carolina. Since gas stations are sort of limited along this route I decided to head to US35 at Royal Center. This took me into Winamac from the South, a stop for gas, onto IN14 and east, a couple miles, to home. A nice 66 mile ride home. Temperature increasing about 15 degrees to about 70 by the time I got home at 11:30AM.

A nice Autumn MC ride, MC rider socializing and camping trip.

Antenna or Satellite Cable TV, which way to go?

2006-10-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

Antenna or Satellite Cable TV, which way to go?
Friday October 6, 2006 Tom Anspach

Our TV antenna electronics were zapped by lightning. The quandary- to replace the electronics on the TV antenna tower or belly up and subscribe to satellite TV. Here is the story.

Last Monday night a nice, typical, lightning, thunder storm (with rain) came through our rural area of North Central Indiana. Lightning was crashing all around. Not unusually spectacular, but loud, and close enough to keep a person awake. Along with one medium sized crash I heard a ‘sort of a snap’, although I thought ‘uh oh’, I did not get up to check anything out.

The next morning the phones were DEAD and the TV was very snowy. ‘Uh oh’, again, that ‘sort of a snap’ may have been ominous.

After checking the phones out, it was traced to the 2 phone line sections of the surge protectors on our 2 computers. Removing the surge protectors from the phone line fixed the phone line. The 110V portion of the surge protectors were OK (they will be good for Christmas lights). The electronic phones, the fax machine, and the computer modems were all OK. The connector portion of one of the phone line splitters I had on the line was charred black. The computers were powered off during the storm. After going to the local computer store and spending 40 bucks for 2 new surge protectors the phone line and computers were, again, protected.

Now the TV. First a little background. We are located about 80 line of sight miles from Chicago, and Indianapolis. About 40 line of sight miles from South Bend and Lafayette. We decided many years ago to stay on antenna TV rather than cable for as long as possible. We have a guyed tower about 30 feet high and we live on a hill about 20 feet high. I constructed the tower, 3+ years ago, so that I can lower and raise it myself to replace stuff at the top. With our medium gain antennas (UHF and VHF) we get good signals from South Bend and Lafayette and so-so from Chicago and Indianapolis some times. There is a preamp located at the top next to the antennas a distribution amp in the basement to drive all of our TV’s and a couple FM receivers. The antennas are on a bearing mounted rotor.

Now lets see what the problem is. After some unplugging and plugging of coaxial cables and amplifier power it was apparent that the tower preamp was capoot and probably the distribution amplifier. This meant lowering the tower and buying about $150 worth of electronics. So now the dilemma. Should we stay with antenna or go with satellite? Hard cable is not available out here. A trivial dilemma in the journey of life, but a dilemma none the less.

There were several considerations. There are several channels on basic satellite cable that we would like. Local channels are available. Both Dish and Direct TV have free installation, equipment, etc., offers to sign up new customers. They both seem to have very good customer reviews. Direct is a little more expensive ($5 or so a month) than Dish. Dish has a neat $10 per month discount for 10 months. Both require a contract. My wife likes to watch TV more than me, but I also like to watch at times. We could get about 6 months of cable for what we would have to pay for repairs. The consideration to switch to satellite cable was very strong.

There were several items bothering me about signing up for satellite cable. We had cable (hard wired cable) for several years when we lived in Florida. I recall how I hated to pay that bill, that kept increasing, each month. Even though I don’t watch TV much, I still think I watch it too much. So lots of available channels to watch was not very impressive to me. I recalled that, one of the happiest days of my life was, when we lived in Florida, I took the cable box into the cable store and said ‘I am canceling our cable’. I constructed our tower 3+ years ago just so I could replace stuff, up on top, myself if something broke. Now something is broke, and it needed replacing. My wife told me the decision was entirely in my hands. She would be OK no matter which way we went.

I slept on it a couple nights. Did a bunch of searching and talking about satellite cable. Wednesday night I decided: I did not want to be under the cable bill again. It was time to make use of the capability I had constructed in the tower. It was a good time for a nice autumn 120 mile round trip ride to Lafayette to the only electronics store that I know of this close that handles long distance antenna TV stuff. And I did not want to wait for Internet shipping, I wanted to ‘get’r done’. Thursday morning I dropped the tower. I pulled the preamp. It had a black powder on the pc board. It was probably toast. I motorcycled to the parts store and bought $170 worth of stuff. As usual my initial estimate was a little low ($150). This antenna preamp and distribution amplifier (Winegard) has a little higher (15% or so) gain than the old amps (Channel Master). It was a beautiful day for a MC ride, so the time and gas to pick the stuff up doesn’t count.

I, immediately, installed the preamp and turned the power on. The TV picture improved immensely with the tower still down. This morning (Friday) I pulled the tower back up, installed the stuff in the house, reconnected all the TV’s and FM receivers. And we are back in business with TV. Now if the lightning will stay away for another 3 years. . . . I’ll be happy.

Still remaining is the why, and how. Why and how did a surge of lightning damage the TV antenna amplifiers, blow out the telephone surge protector fuses but still not damage any of the other electronics in the house? All I can say is ‘lightning does weird things’ Once in Florida, actually this is a long story shortened to 1 sentence, lightning came in through a copper clad steel telephone line, spalling all the way, went down the water pipe, to which it was grounded, and burnt out the deep well submersible pump, leaving the electronic phones and fax machine intact! The copper clad steel cable, which is normally as stiff as uncooked spaghetti, was as pliable as cooked spaghetti. (OK it was 2 sentences.)

So that is my story for today.

Another little sidelight. I had wondered for the past 3 years why FM reception did not change no matter which direction the VHF antenna was rotated. It was very difficult to pick up any classical music stations. I know when I put the VHF antenna up I removed the FM trap shunts and I thought I had set the preamp FM trap to ‘Out’. When I pulled the preamp the FM Trap was set to ‘IN’. . . bummer! So I made sure this FM trap was set to ‘Out’. Now, I quickly found an FM station broadcasting Classical Music !!!!!!. Life is good.

A Sept 06 Rainy MC ride and Camping Weekend

2006-09-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a little story I pieced together about my MC ride last weekend (9/22 - 24/06)

Thursday 9/21- -----Planning----
Follow the rhumb line. Packed and ready to go. But haven't gone yet. Check in the morning.

To the 20th Annual Hoosier BMW Rally Vernon IN. I have never been. Wanted too but never worked out. This year, looking good. Only the wx looks bad. Only a couple hundred miles, nice ride.

Objective - follow the rhumb line. . . . avoid Indianapolis and interstates. Maybe stop and see my brother and sister in law on the way back. Will see how it works out.

Lets check the wx. -------------------
Vernon » 5 Day Forecast °
Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue
Hi: 69 Lo: 40 Hi: 68 Lo: 58 Hi: 77 Lo: 66 Hi: 69 Lo: 65 Hi: 67 Lo: 51

Winamac » 5 Day Forecast
Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon
Hi: 69Lo: 41Hi: 70 Lo: 55 Hi: 77 Lo: 64 Hi: 67 Lo: 61Hi: 65 Lo: 49

Temps weren't bad, but the, rain - wind - storm, looked pretty dicey ------------------
We would be better off if we did not have instant weather.. just look out the window and go... oh well that is why we have rain gear.

Sunday 9/24-------Back Home----
Made it to the Hoosier Beemer Rally and back. The wx prediction was not pretty, but I was packed and ready to go so I did. I waited till about 10 and the local rain was gone, overcast and brisk south wind. I went down US35, US 31 to I465 around east Indy, then I74 to IN9 to IN7 to Vernon. Compromised a little bit re: no interstates, and avoid Indy but I left home a little later than planned. No rain though.

Muscatatuk Park, a real nice county park. Got all set up., experimenting with a tarp (8x10) with no trees, (used a couple of my son's discarded tent poles, 2 sections each, along with my 2 nested Al poles).

Started raining about 6 pm.... rained off and on till sat night.... sometimes VERY hard with high winds. We managed to keep the campfire going. Tent did not leak a drop. Tarp did good too,.... will make some final adjustments then should be good. New blow up (battery blower) air mattress still working good.

60 people showed up... everyone won a door prize. Me a BMW oil filter (then a fellow rider gave he his as he couldn't use a spin on), wont have to buy PH6063's for a while. also won oldest male rider award . . plaque . . to hang on my wall (Joe from Florida, who usually beats me, wasn't there).

Stopped raining Saturday night and except for 1 instance of high winds the winds died down and Sunday was a pretty nice ride home. I came back via the IN roads on the west side of Indy..IN7 IN46, IN 135, IN252, IN44, IN39, IN236 (detour), IN75, local, IN39, IN28, IN29, US35, IN14.. got home about 330 pm.... left about 10 45 am. Was a little misty rain as I got near home but not bad. I didn't think I would know anyone there but knew 3 pretty well and others sort of. The small BMW rider world. With only 60 people got to talk/meet nearly all of them...

The area of southern Indiana between the Ohio river and south of Indy is pretty neat riding area... lots of hills curves roads were all good.

They know how to make good coffee. A BIG bottle of Johnny Walker right by the coffee pot on Friday with the hot dogs. .and . on Saturday a bottle of Amaretto right next to the coffee pot. . . made the coffee taste pretty good. Eggs, biscuits and gravy for breakfast on Saturday morn, Hamburger for lunch, BBQ & roasted chicken for dinner. Campfire hot dogs Friday night, and donuts on Sunday morn. Plenty to eat.

The attendees, particularly those who rode and camped, at this Hoosier Beemer Rally could all easily be called 'Rounders' (Those who ride year 'round'). Specially, to ride and camp, going into the potentiall dangerous predicted wx. The potentially dangerous wx did not occurr and the temps were not fridgid cold, however it did RAIN and BLOW. But fun was had by all. The campfire survived with continuous feeding and the rain encouraged much socializing. No pictures from me, but there may be some at a future date at -

----Winamac, IN-------41 deg 3 min N ------- 86 deg 36 min W-----
-Tom, '85 K100RT, 192K, MOA, BMWMOCF, PRI, RBI, PRUNE, Rounder, IBMWR-
-It is good to have an END to journey toward, but it is the JOURNEY that matters in the end. / Ursula Le Guin-
-I feel no pain, dear mother, now; But, oh, I am so dry? O take me to a brewery, And leave me there to die. -Annon.; The Everything Beer Book-

My Gall Bladder Story

2006-05-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

Part 1 of 2 parts-
My Gall Bladder Story - (May 18th 2006) Tom Anspach
(AKA The Lost Month of May 2006)

I know that many people have had their gall bladder removed. It is really not a big deal any more. Using today’s technique of Laparoscopic Surgery, named Lap Choly. Like a ‘Drive Through’ some say. But to me it was a rather large story. Not having been in the hospital, except for visits and to have my broken wrist reconstructed after hitting a deer riding Jeff’s motorcycle. Having my first organ failure after 73 years of pretty healthy living, under some sporadic unhealthy exposures. So here it is, maybe some parts of it will help others if they go through the experience.

On Tuesday April 25th I had a nice big lunch at home. That afternoon I had a little indigestion but thought nothing of it. That evening my wife and I met my brother and sister in law in town for dinner. I had a toasted tomato sandwich and a bowl of delicious potato soup. The soup was so good I had two.
Wed morning I woke up about 1 am with pretty severe indigestion. I progressed rapidly to WORSE. An initial heave. I had not thrown up for 40 or 50 years. Then some really bad, almost convulsive, dry heaves. There was no comfortable position. My whole abdomen was hurting from center breast bone on down. About 5 AM realizing it would be another 3 hours or so before I could call my Doctor and even longer to get in to see him, I gave up and asked my wife to take me to the emergency room. I never realized how nice it would be to have an emergency room, in a good local hospital about 3 miles from home, which is out in the country.

There they got right after me, as if they had been waiting all night just for me. They took x-rays, blood tests, gave me pain killers. In a couple hours I was functional and sent me home after which I made an appointment with my doctor for Friday. Wednesday and Thursday I felt like a truck had run over me. At this time the Emergency Room doctors and my Doctor were suspecting some sort of severe intestinal flue but toying with Gall Bladder problem. My Doctor scheduled an Ultra Sound for Friday morn. My wife was pushing for a gall bladder ultra sound from the beginning. For some reason it is not considered as strongly as x-rays. It should be as it is a simple non invasive procedure.

On Monday May 1st, my doctor received the results of the ultrasound. The gallstone term (cholelithiasis)) was circled. He made an appointment with the surgeon for Wed, May 3rd, afternoon. After the surgeon reviewed my records he scheduled me for surgery to have it removed 1 week later, May 10th. To me this was very fast. And of course by this time I was feeling pretty good. I had also asked and continued to ask questions about alternatives to surgery. And apparently there are. But I did not have time to investigate them thoroughly. And I had a busy summer schedule of family visiting coming up. And so - continued my appointment for surgery.

I attended a local BMW motorcycle rally in Sturgis MI on May 5 - 7. I tried to take it easy, but you could probably say that I did abuse my body somewhat. Few cigars, some whiskey and wine, a little fatty food, cold weather, short sleep etc. But it was fun. Afterwards and Monday I felt fine. Friday morning after going to the hospital for my pre surgery blood test I celebrated with my brother and his wife with some biscuits and gravy. That evening my mother in law and brother inlaw returned from Florida and we had some Pizza. I tried not to over do it.

Tuesday May 9th I started feeling funny. At first I thought it was indigestion, then realized the symptoms were the same as the week before but a lot less severe. Then I started relating back that I had experienced these kinds of symptoms previously, not often and don’t remember how far back. Putting 2 and 2 together, maybe I had this gall bladder problem before, not realizing it. By Tuesday night it was pretty much gone and I was ready to start the fasting for going under the knife on Wed, May 10th, for my ‘Lap Choly’. After signing all the papers to make sure I understood that this was major surgery, with the objective of being simple with just 4 small incisions, but could turn into major surgery even leading to death. Whew!

No food or liquid from midnight on. Into surgery about 2 pm. Out like a light. Woke up about 330PM. Wondering where I had been. Nice people all around coddling to my every need. Just a little groggy and some new bandages. Then home to recover. The word was that my gall bladder had won the prize for the biggest that day. They had to cut one of the small holes, the one next to my belly button, much bigger to get it out and had to do some additional flushing, therefore I needed to wear a drain bag for a week (till my surgeon visit the next week). My wife said the surgeon told her that 1 of the stones was the size of lemon and 1 the size of walnut. So maybe I had been having gall bladder problems for a long time, but had just attributed it to indigestion.

Because of the increased degree of my surgery my recovery would be more drawn out than would have been experience with just the 4 small incisions. Take it easy on activity and eating for at least a week or so.

The first few days were bad. Eating jello (I hate jello and never want to see another bowl), cramps, peeing every 1/2 hour, trying to get my vacuum drain bag to work. Taking pain killers and anti biodic pills. However. I rapidly started getting better. Learned to change my bandages. Started eating stuff other than jello.

Today Wed May 17th, went to see the surgeon. He gave me a small thumbs up. But don’t overdue it for a while. Pulled out my staples and cut off the plastic tube into my guts. He said the other end should fall out when I change the bandage. I kept the vacuum bag. It is a neat looking gadget and it may come in handy for helping change the brake fluid on my MC. It always requires lots of patience to keep from getting air into the brake lines. We shall see.

So 3 weeks from my BIG Attack I have had my Gall Bladder Removed and am well on the way to recovery. And I have a list of things to do a mile long..... including riding up to Bimidji MN for my Granddaughters HS graduation party on June 3rd. And I lost 10 pounds, now if I can just keep it off.

Part 2 of 2 parts-
My Gall Bladder Story - the sequel (May 28th 2006) Tom Anspach
(AKA The Lost Month of May 2006)
Reading the end of the first part - it seems sooo long ago, but only 10 days.

On Sunday morning (5/21), about 3 AM, my abdomen pain came back with a roar. The pain distribution was slightly different from before, but just as intense. Back into the emergency room. They got everything calmed down with pain killers. They took a cat scan. The ER doc’s, did not see anything significant except maybe some confusion in the area where the small intestine connects to the stomach. This is the general area, where the gall bladder was located. About 7AM they sent me home, with instructions if the pain returned to come back. At about 3PM it did and I went back to ER. 3 visits to the emergency room in 1 month. They admitted me to the hospital. A room with a bed and nurses and doctors. It is still Sunday 5/21.

They put me on a saline drip bag, clear liquid diet, and pain killers. They also inserted a tube vial the nose throat into my stomach to pump it out . . . ouch.

On Monday my surgeon made arrangements for me to go to a bigger hospital in Valparaiso, 60 miles way, for an ERCP test. By late afternoon the hospital had cleared the mounds of paper work and removed the drain bag - ouch again!. By then they had pumped a large quantity of ugly looking stuff out of my stomach. I managed to salvage a neat looking check valve from this set up, before they trashed it. Looked like it might help me bleed my brakes on my MC. Then, I was ready to go.

My wife took me up in the van, accompanied by my brother. I was immediately admitted to a room and attended to. On a clear liquid diet....! That evening I was visited by my new doctor who was a digestive intestinal specialist. She explained the test and what to expect. Scheduled it for Tuesday PM.

This test inserts a tube via the mouth to visually, with the aid of X-rays, see what is going on from inside. An inside view . . so to speak. They work it through the stomach, into the small intestine, into the bile duct. Trying to find any stones left behind, or suture clips, or leaks or ?.

Meanwhile I am on clear liquid diet and ‘Nothing’ 6 hours before the test. I am starving, and sick and tired of jello again.

The test went well, pretty easy actually. They put me on the edge of ‘out’. I could communicate but would not, and did not remember anything. I could not get the nurses to tell me what I had said. However the doctor met some unexplained resistance in the bile duct and could not complete the test to her satisfaction. She did not see anything that would have caused the problem that I was having on Sunday. She did, however, find 3 acute ulcers in my stomach.
Since she was not able to complete the test totally she scheduled me to go to a hospital, via ambulance, North of Chicago. There, an ERCP specialist with much more capability would repeat the test. This would require a 6 hour round trip, ambulance ride. I would go up on Thursday PM, undergo the ERCP, and return to my room. About a 7 hour or so undertaking. This did not look exciting. Meanwhile she signed me up for a low fat full dinner for Wednesday night. Then would retest my liver enzymes on Thursday morn and we would review the outcome.

Uhm - did that hospital food ever taste good. I ate, every scrap, at a table in the ‘solarium’ with big windows and a big TV, just like in a restaurant with personal service.

Thursday morning (5/25) my the liver enzyme test came back very good. They had been consistently high. This time they were significantly lower. The doctor was very comfortable with passing up the 2nd ERCP. Although she would like to see it done since she was not able to complete it totally. I decided to ‘pass’ on the long ambulance ride. The conjecture seemed to be that what ever had caused my ‘relapse’ had corrected itself, for example a lonely, left over, stone had passed on out.

As a result, the hospital immediately started working on my discharge. My wife had scheduled a trip up to Valpo anyway. So the timing could not have been better. When she got there I was ready to go. And on Thursday afternoon I was back home.

On Friday I had the final follow up appointment with my surgeon. He pronounced me good to go.

However on this my 3rd home day (Sunday May 28) I am still weak (I lost about 15 pounds overall), and my guts are still grumbling. And I am depressed from making an ‘unliked’ decision. I have reluctantly decided not to take the trip up to Bemidji MN for my granddaughters HS graduation open house, which I have been looking forward to for the past year. I just don’t feel up to it, and am ‘gun shy’ from what I eat and ever little nuance in my guts. <<"Life’s a series of compromises">>

Now to end the sequel, It is good to be home, I am hoping things will improve rapidly. I know hospitals have their place and in general I would have to say the local hospital and the bigger one in Valpo were very good. But I would just as soon stay away.

It was my first, first hand experience with the Nursing profession. I will have to hand it to these wonderful people. They work long difficult hours. How they ever manage to maintain their sense of dignity and humor and compassion is truly amazing. And their supporting staff of aids, attendants, technicians, house keeping etc. are truly admirable. I met a few young nursing school students who where on ‘understudy’ work assignments. Just their 1st few days. I congratulated them a wished them well and hope they keep at it and enjoy long successful careers in the nursing profession.

And of course the doctors do a good job also. But they seem distant and aloof. It is hard to tell when or where they will show up. I know they are busy, and that is probably just the way it is.

And the paperwork, wow, like everything else, computers have just seemed to generate more paperwork.

GPS and its influence on MEN

2006-05-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

GPS and its influence on MEN.

For the all of time, men have bitched and moaned when their wives/girlfriends have whispered sweet terms in their ears while driving. Turn here, go a little further then turn right. You need gas, your driving too fast. You turned to early, take the next left then double back. Men have been known to move the love of their life to the back seat, even throw them out of the car. This has been going on since men have started trying to find their own way.

But Now---

These same men will go out and spend $700 for an electronic box to hear this same sweet voice tell them where to turn, when to stop, how far they have gone, how to get back if they are lost, when to stop for gas.. . . ... and JUST LOVE IT.

It just doesn't make sense to me . . . what is the world coming to?

And they even do it while riding their BMW Motorcycle

Ride far, feel the breeze, see the trees, ride safe.

My Annual Guinness Ride

2006-03-17T15:35:00.000-08:00

My Annual Guinness Ride
It’s St. Patrick’s day. Last few days the snow predictions were 1 - 3 inches, then up to 5 inches. Wow, looking pretty dicy.
Friday morning. Nice and sunny. Just a dusting of Snow. I can smell the Guinness, taste the corned beef and cabbage, hear the Irish music. Wx guy was out in left field. Good place for him. It’s a go. Get my cold riding clothes on and head for the Fiddlers Hearth in South Bend (60 miles) at about 11:30AM.
Beautiful sunny, scattered clouds, temp hovering right at 40 degrees, nice balmy northern Indiana March day. Take the back roads. Roads all free from winter salt etc., blown off by the high winds last week. Local 200/700, IN10, IN23, through Ober, Koontz Lake, Groverton, Walkerton, New Liberty, IN2 (in South Bend), Colfax Ave., Main street into the parking garage (Free Parking) right across the street from the Fiddler.
Ah it’s definitely St. Patrick’s day. The place is packed. Everyone on extended lunch hours. Penny Whistles, Celtic dancers. Work my way to the bar. Socialize with the neighbors. A nice glass of Guinness, and some Murphy’s and some corned beef and cabbage. Maybe overshoot my 1 beer per wheel rule slightly. A few glasses of water. Met Carol the ‘Lady of the House’. Several of us jovially bitching because we didn’t luck out and get a free Guinness T shirt. Spend a couple hours plus. Wished I could have heard the Bartender play his bag pipes but. Ah, it would be nice to stay longer . . . my bike is waiting in the garage across the street.
Say good-byes and thankyou’s, and head South, US31 IN14 and home.
Another successful ‘My Annual Guinness Ridge’ and a very nice St. Patrick’s day ride.
IN Tom
-----------------------------
From the Fiddlers Hearth-
Shamrocks are in and our ladies will be pinning them to lapels all day on March 17 (while supply lasts)!
Join us for a full Irish Breakfast from 6:30-10:30 am featuring bangers, rashers, black & white pudding, (bacon, ham & American sausage also available) eggs, potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, beans, scones, soda bread, assorted juices, coffee & tea… all you can eat for $13.00 (including tax). A great way to start the Great Day!
Live Irish music & dance starts at 11am and runs until Midnight. Included in the line-up throughout the day are John Kennedy, Autumn Rhodes, the South Bend Metro Pipe Band, the Celtic Fire Irish Dancers, Michael Snyder, Soltre, & Kennedy’s Kitchen.
Bring your dancing shoes and celebrate the patron saint of Ireland with the Irish! (No reservations… we are open seating and sharing tables all day!)
Slainte!
Carol
Lady of the House
----------------------------------------
----Winamac, IN-------41 deg 3 min N ------- 86 deg 36 min W------Tom, '85 K100RT, 186K, MOA, BMWMOCF, PRI, RBI, PRUNE, Rounder, IBMWR--It is good to have an END to journey toward, but it is the JOURNEY that matters in the end. / Ursula Le Guin--I feel no pain, dear mother, now; But, oh, I am so dry?O take me to a brewery, And leave me there to die.-Annon.; The Everything Beer Book---email in/out scanned by AVG Free 7.1.374 http://free.grisoft.com/-----------------------------------------

Olympics Winter 2006 & Memories

2006-02-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

Although I like the Olympics I don't usually get real excited about them. But these Olympics have a special memory for me. It was in 1990, late June/a little in early July, that I spent about 3 weeks or so in Turino (Turin for English speakers) at the World Cup Soccer games. Watched all the games in Turino (about 6) and traveled to several other cities to watch games. Including Rome, to watch the US play Italy. The few American fans cheered and got all excited if the US team made it to midfield. That is about all the further they ever got that year against the powerful Italian team.

And watching an astounding crowd wave when Columbia played the United Emeritus at Beira (I believe was the city).

I think I will dig out my photo album and take a walk down memory lane.

That is the year that the 'mid family reunion' was at the Outerbanks. Which I missed.

Indiana Time Finally & My Sundial

2006-01-20T07:24:00.000-08:00

The USDOT has woke up from their Indiana Time nightmare and passed it on to Indiana. The question \"What time is it in Indiana\" remains confusing and comical. Pulaski County will be moved to the Central Time Zone.

Bummer. Now I have to change my sundial plaque. To get to our local meridian, instead of adding 46 minutes to the Eastern Time Zone standard meridian of 75 degrees, I have to subtract 14 minutes from the Central Time Zone standard meridian of 90 degrees.

But the positive side: we will not have to reset all of or clocks till next October. . . or is it November.
Back

My Sundial and the Winter Solstice (05)

2005-12-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

My Sundial.

Constructed during the summer of 04. It uses odd's and ends of left over wood. Indicator arm is 2 8 foot 1x4's separted by about 3/4 inch. The hour indicators are Indiana field rocks. It has been in my mind for many many years to build a large sundial. It has been a lot of fun. And is neat to explain it too people and go down and check it out often.

Here are the results of my winter solstice rock which I added last summer.
The cross bar shadow from the indicator arm should be on top of the rock, at local apparent noon at winter solstice. It looks like I had the rock sitting out about 2 inches (out of about 3 feet) too far. Oh well maybe next year, spring, I will go back over my calculations/measurements. A friend has suggested that it may be caused by my not taking astmospheric refraction into account. I will take a look at this also.

The picture was taken at high noon, local apparent time. Adding 46 minutes for longitude adjustment and subtracting about 2 minutes for the equation of time, resulted in the time being right on, 12:44 PM est.

Now, as the days get longer, the shadow will move back toward the equinox rock reaching it on March 21. Which is where it left last Sept 21. Will the snow be gone then. Time will tell.

As an additional comment. This sundial is not subject to the whims and whines of 'Indiana Time'. Just add the right correction.

If you would like more information about My Sundial email me at tomfortytwonatkconlinecom. fortytwo in numerals, symbol at, dot before com

The Old Bread Wrapping Paper Roll & Hoarding

2005-12-05T17:40:00.000-08:00

The saga of the ‘old bread wrapping paper roll’ and ‘Hoarding’.

Sunday morning (12/4/05) on "The Infinite Mind" (NPR) one of the subjects was ‘hoarding’. This is one of my better ‘skills’. It reminded me of a story which came into focus in the last few weeks. I thought, it might warrant telling.

People visiting the farm house probably remember, before we messed it up with remodeling’ in the back porch entrance, on the right hand side, behind the washer and dryer, on the self above the basement stairs wall, just before the sink - there was a long roll of old bread ‘waxed’ wrapping paper, mounted on a roller. If you needed a piece of this 'wax' paper you just pulled off a piece and you were in business. I have no idea when dad (probably dad) bought it. But it was always there as long as I can remember. When we were remodeling, cleaning out stuff, I debated heavily, should I throw this away? . Puzzled over it for days (probably did not get to the spread sheet decision process though). . . Finally decided out it goes.

In the past few years, I have thought about it a few times and maybe could have used it but not critical.

However

The last couple of weeks I have been working on a large map laying out the rails to trails pathway from Winamac to (near) Logansport. Printed out it was about 10 pages. I needed to tape these sheets together on a long sheet of paper. How I wished that I had kept that long roll of 'bread wrapping paper'. It would have worked perfect. I would not have had to used a roll of Christmas wrapping paper.

So there you see. . . hoarding pays.

Now the question is- does anyone know the story behind this roll of bread wrapping paper?
(From brother Earl a few days later)

The saga of the bread wrapping paper. One of the first families that befriended us after moving to Winamac was Burl and Zela and their boys. This would have been in the early 50;s. Of course, we met them at church. They lived along the Tippicanoe River going into town. They, in turn, introduced mom and dad to their neighbors...Art and Myrl who were actually nearer mom and dad's age. They became two of our folks' best friends. They loved coming over to the farm and the folks loved spending time at their place along the river. As I recall, Art and Myrl were flooded out of their home shortly after they had met. Mom and Dad did not hesitate to have them stay with us until the waters receded. That firmly cemented their relationship. Also, as I recall, the tree in front of the house (still standing) was transplanted from the Art and Myrl’s along the river. It's a poplar isn't it? I think you mean the sycamore /TomEA.

Oh, the paper. Well, Art and Myrl owned and operated a couple bakeries in Valporaiso. They gave the folks that huge roll one time. It was gigantic when new and was used for various things for years.
Never should have thrown that away Tom!! /Yes I agree Earl after reading your story /TomEA
So now you know the rest of the story.
Brother Earl

Free Cell

2005-11-25T17:08:00.000-08:00

Unfortunetly I have started playing Free Cell (solitare). Free Cell is, as far as I know, delivered as part of every Windows program. It is a very interesting game. It takes a lot of thinking ahead. It is unfortunet because I am spending too much time on the computer playing it. Even my wife is hooked on it. There is even a forum for Free Cell (there are probably more than this one) - [www.freecell.com]
I maintain a spread sheet of play's. Lets see how it comes across on this blog. The cell format did not come across very well. But, if you care, you can probably get the gist of it.

Tom's Free Cell Records - Statistics 11/25/05
Number of different games played 219 : % of total 0.68%
Number of Wins 119 : % of played 54.3%
Number of tries 426 : Average Tries per Game 1.9
:% wins/tries 27.9%
Average Tries per Game won 3.6
Games not won 100 : % of played 45.7%
Average tries per game not won 2.1
Wins 1st Try 72 : % vs/wins 60.5% : % vs games played 32.9%
Wins 2nd Try 28 : % vs/wins 23.5% : % vs games played 12.8%
Wins 3rd Try 9 : % vs/wins 7.6% : % vs games played 4.1%
Wins 4th Try 4 : % vs/wins 3.4% : % vs games played 1.8%
Wins 5 or greater Tries 6 : % vs/wins 5.0% : % vs games played 2.7%

Relaxing at Coonbottom 99

2005-11-11T06:25:00.000-08:00

The NEW definiton of Indiana Time is nearing

2005-11-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

Within the next month, or so, (Jan 06) the US Dept of Transportation will provide us all with the new definition of 'Indiana Time'. After this I will remove the Time comments from my blog. The article below is my input among the 6000 submissions to the DoT Indiana Time docket. You can check them out at http://dms.dot.gov then type the docket number in Simple Search and read the results to your hearts content.

=============

OST-2005-22114-1565 Comment(s) 11/07/2005 Tom Anspach TXT (2996 bytes)
PDF (36006 bytes)
1 Page

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Indiana and Time
Time, time, time, Indiana time. A year ago I wrote that the Governor should petition the USDoT to change Indiana’s time zone. I did not realize at the time that USDoT’s ‘charter’ was to base time zones strictly on the impact to Local Commerce.
("from DOT-156-05" Under the Uniform Time Act of 1966, the Secretary of Transportation is given the authority to set time-zone boundaries and requires that decisions be made based on the impact to local commerce.)
Commerce is not the only important thing that should be considered anymore. Maybe at the time USDoT was given the charter for Time Zones it was, but not anymore. Just read some of the horror stories of common, ordinary people living, working and schooling on community time zone boundaries. The involvement of the USDoT made the Indiana Time solution even more confusing. If we come anyway near the USDoT initial recommendation, Indiana time will be even more confusing, and laughable, than it is now.
The basic geographic Time Zone placement for Indiana is so simple that it is beyond me how the politicians can make it so complex. Indiana is a very fortunate state (compared for example to Kentucky and Tennessee) to be entirely and well within 1 geographic time zone. In this case the Central Time Zone. Not Eastern time, not split between communities, but Central Time everywhere in the State of Indiana.
At Time Zone borders there will always be difficulties. The best location for these ‘difficulties’, is at the political borders of States. The worst place for these ‘difficulties’ is to push them down to the borders between communities. With today’s electronic commerce, electronically controlled clocks, automatic DST/ST changes, computer networks, etc. commerce can readily adjust to Time Zone borders. . . . As long as they know where they are. And again, the best place for these Commerce boundaries is between States. Trying to satisfy some ‘figment’ of Commerce Hot spots by dividing communities by time zones boundaries is preposterous. The leadership for Indiana Time Zone(s) belongs at the State level, not at the coummunity level. It is a State ‘Commerce’ issue not a Community Commerce issue.
My solution: . . . . The State, Governor Daniels, should petition the USDoT, to let Indiana decide their own time zone boundaries for commerce purposes (to fulfill USDoT Commerce charter). The Time Zone options for the State to be in priority order: 1- Central Time Only, 2- Central Time or Eastern Time, 3- NOT restricted Eastern Time.
This will satisfy the USDoT charter to base their decsion on Commerce. In this case, Commerce of the State of Indiana. Then the State of Indiana should place Indiana totally in the Central Time Zone. And switch back and forth between DST/ST as the Governor has already done. The result everyone doing business with Indiana will know that Indiana is on Central Time. And the confusing, comical, term of ‘Indiana Time’ will fade into the past.

Capitalism

2005-11-06T07:31:00.000-08:00

Comment sent to SBT Voice of the People and unpublished. (updated 11/24 - Comment was published in SBT VOP on 11/22/05)
----- Original Message -----
To: "vop"
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 6:19 AM
Subject: Capitalism
We are Capitalists, we are not Communists, we are not Socialists. For example; the ability of the oil companies to make record profits during devastating national disasters and the sacrifices of war. Doesn't it make you feel proud? /IN Tom

History of 'Books I have read' List

2005-11-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

The main purpose of putting my book list data base on my Blog was to be able to check it while, if needed, at the library. To, hopefully, prevent me from checking out a book I had already read. Unless, of course, I wanted to read it again. I will add another post with my 'books I want to read' list at some time. A little history of this list. As you can see this list was started in 1981. I have read all my life. I can still remember the first book I read- Tarzan of the Apes. I recall it being in 3rd grade or so. About 1970's I started thinking that I should keep a list of books I've read. It took me about 10 years to decide to do it. I started on paper. Decided to just write down sequence number, date, title, author, whether fiction or non fiction. Trying to write a review, or even to rate the story, would be too much effort. I wanted it to be quick and simple. After several years, and pages, I finally put it on the data base program on MSWorks. It is very easy to update and search. And make specific reports if needed. I describe it as like keeping a diary. It is very interesting to go back over it once in a while. There are 3 categories occurring in the review. Books that I cannot recall the plot at all, those that are vaguely recalled and those that are vividly recalled. Some I have decided to re-read. A couple years ago I added the comment section to write a sentence that, maybe, would help remind me of the plot. I also added a note as to whether it was an 'audio book'. To enter an audio book on my book list. I had some controversial thinking about whether this was valid. If an audio book, why not video (movies)? I decided that an audio book like a written book made you mentally visualize the story as opposed to a video (movie) which made the mental visualization for you. Therefor audio 'novels' entered, video 'novels' not entered. I encourage people who read to keep a simple log. Try it, you will like it. /IN Tom

Books I have read

2005-10-29T10:14:00.000-07:00

format example
001 - number sequence
1981 007 01 - date finished reading
The Drifters - Title
James Michner - Author
F NF - Fiction, Non Fiction

Book List, Toms - Book List Brief
Number Year Month Date Title First Name Author F/NF
001 1981 07 01 The Drifters James Michner F
002 1981 07 01 The Crystal Cave Mary Stewart F
003 1981 07 01 The hollow Hills Mary Stewart F
004 1981 07 01 The Last Enchantment Mary Stewart F
005 1981 08 01 Gorki Park Not Recorded F
006 1981 08 01 The Lord Made Them All James Harriott F
007 1981 09 12 Shike - Time of the Dragons Robert Shea F
008 1981 09 18 Shike - Last of the Ninja Robert Shea F
009 1981 09 25 The Cradle Will Fall Mary Higgons Clark F
010 1981 10 02 The Rebecca Key Shea
011 1981 10 16 Congo not recorded F
012 1981 10 25 Suspicions Barbara Beacherman F
013 1981 11 05 Spy Master Donald Freed F
014 1981 11 18 Hidden Target McGinnes F
015 1981 11 21 Solo Jack Higgins F
016 1981 12 04 Mega Corp Johathen Black F
017 1981 12 12 Free Fall In Crimson John M Mc Donald F
018 1981 12 19 The Unborn David Shobin F
019 1981 12 26 Amazon Roy Sparkia
020 1982 01 05 Brain Robert Cook F
021 1982 01 18 Who's On First William Buckley, Jr F
022 1982 01 20 Wine of the Dreamers John MacDonald F
023 1982 01 30 The Tribe Bari Wood
024 1982 02 17 Night Probe Stephen King F
025 1982 02 22 Cujo Robert Elegant F
026 1982 03 05 Manchu Robert Elegant F
027 1982 03 20 Eagles Fly Sean Flannery F
028 1982 03 27 The Black Shrike Alastair Maclean F
029 1982 04 04 The Delta Decision Wilbur Smith F
030 1982 04 11 The Wind Chime Legacy A. W. Mykel F
031 1982 04 21 The Donors Leslie Alan & H. Harris Horvitz & Gerlard MD F
032 1982 05 04 Miss Fire Jonathan Evens F
033 1982 05 21 XPD Len Deighton F
034 1982 05 31 Raquela Ruth Gruber
035 1982 06 13 Cachalot Alan Dean Foster F
036 1982 06 18 Sphinx Robin Cook F
037 1982 07 01 Pilots Richard Freed F
038 1982 07 06 Liscense Renewed James Bond John Gardner F
039 1982 07 10 Random Track to Pekin Auston Ferguson
040 1982 07 16 Killer Peter Tonkin
041 1982 07 20 Final Harbor Harry Homewood
042 1982 07 23 81st Strike Tony Kenrick
043 1982 08 01 Fall Back Peter Niesemand
044 1982 08 16 The Prometheus Crisis Thomas & Frank Scortia & Robinson
045 1982 09 01 Azetec Gary Jennings
046 1982 09 25 Moscow 5000 David Grant
047 1982 09 30 London Calling North Pole H J Giskes
048 1982 10 10 The Montauk Fault Herbert Mitgang
049 1982 10 24 The Sunset Patriots Charles D Taylor
050 1982 10 30 The French Atlantic Affair Everest Layman
051 1982 11 04 Spear James Herbert F
052 1982 11 07 Apointment in Haiphong Nick Carter F
053 1982 11 17 Imperial 109 Richard Doyle F
054 1982 12 13 Space Jim Michner NF
055 1982 12 21 The Last Diagnosis not recorded
056 1983 01 03 The Deadly Frost Terrance Moan
057 1983 01 14 Pacific Vortex Clive Cussler F
058 1983 01 16 not recorded not recorded
059 1983 02 01 Alpha List Ted Allbeury F
060 1983 02 09 Night Probe Clive Cussler F
061 1983 02 14 Man on Fire A.J. Quinnel
062 1983 02 28 Air Scream John Bruce F
063 1983 03 05 Fever Robin Cook F
064 1983 03 11 Red Omega John Kruse F
065 1983 03 19 The Gold Crew T. N. & F. M. Scortia & Robinson
066 1983 03 22 River of Death Alastair Maclean F
067 1983 04 06 The Persifal Mosaic Robert Ludlum F
068 1983 04 26 For Special Services James Bond John Gardner F
069 1983 05 11 The Circle Steve Shagan
070 1983 05 30 Genesis W.A. Harbinson F
071 1983 06 03 Gold Mine Wilbur Smith F
072 1983 06 05 The Girl of the Sea of Cortez Peter Benchly F
073 1983 06 15 Sacketts Lonely on the Mountain Louis L'Amour F
074 1983 06 19 The Birds of Prey John Ralson Saul
075 1983 06 26 Tengu Wilbur Smith F
076 1983 07 16 Flight of the Flacon Wilbur Smith F
077 1983 07 26 Cry Wolf Wilbur Smith F
078 1983 08 02 Cinnamon Skin John D. MacDonald F
079 1983 08 08 Steel Tiger Stirling Silliphant
080 1983 08 16 God Player Robin Cook F
081 1983 08 28 In Search of Excellence Peterson NF
082 1983 09 07 Cathedral Nelson DeMille F
083 1983 09 22 Whale Jeremy Lucas
084 1983 10 03 The Glory Boys Gerald Seymore
085 1983 10 08 Master of the Game Sidney Sheldon
086 1983 10 12 Tree Frog not recorded
087 1983 11 08 The Hill of Summer Allen Drury F
088 1983 11 15 The Turqouise Lament John D. MacDonald F
089 1983 12 06 Of Wolves and Men Barry Holsten Lopez NF
090 1983 12 23 When the Lion Feeds Wilbur Smith F
091 1983 12 30 The Little Drummer Girl John Le Carre F
092 1984 01 11 Nerve Marshall Goldberg
093 1984 01 16 The Glow Brooks Stanwood
094 1984 01 30 Phoenix Amos & Eli Arictre & Landau F
095 1984 03 05 Lammas Night Katherine Kurtz F
096 1984 04 04 The Honourable School Boy John Le Carre F
097 1984 04 09 Hostage Tower Alistair Maclaean/ John Dennis F
098 1984 04 24 Winter Kills Richard Condon F
099 1984 05 24 The Valhala Exchange Harvey (Jack Higgons) Patterson F
100 1984 06 08 Cloak of Darkness Helen Mac Innes F
101 1984 07 01 Floodgate Alister Maclean F
102 1984 07 04 Run for the Trees James S Rand
103 1984 07 13 Icebracker James Bond John Gardner F
104 1984 07 20 Exocet Jack Higgins F
105 1984 08 10 Family Trades James Carrol
106 1984 08 30 Men of Men Wilbur Smith F
107 1984 09 14 The Wicked Day Mary Stewart
108 1984 09 24 Bale Fire Kenneth Goodard
109 1984 10 07 Red Square Ed & Fred Topel & Neznansky
110 1984 10 12 Rip Tide Donald Cheatham
111 1984 10 22 Chameleon William Dehl F
112 1984 11 05 Fire Fox Down Craig Thomas
113 1984 11 30 The Dangerous Edge Robert Daley F
114 1984 12 14 Monimbo Robert & Arovaud Moss & Deborcher
115 1984 12 30 Long Voyage Back Luke Rhinehart
116 1985 01 05 The Loo Sanction Trevanien
117 1985 01 20 Whistle James Jones F
118 1985 02 06 The Man from St Petersburg Ken Follett F
119 1985 02 13 The Prince of Berlin Dan Sherman
120 1985 02 20 The Brother Hood of the Rose David Morrell
121 1985 03 13 A view from the Square John Trenhale
122 1985 03 25 The Almighty Irving Wallace
123 1985 04 13 Once More Sunday John D MacDonald F
124 1985 05 09 Animal Farm George Orwell F
125 1985 06 05 Devil Horse Max Brand F
126 1985 06 25 Moscow rules Robert Moss
127 1985 06 29 The Nurses Story Carol Gino
128 1985 08 12 Armageddon Leon Uris
129 1985 08 19 Snow Flacon Craig Thomas
130 1985 08 30 Submarine John Winagate
131 1985 09 17 Yeager C & L. Yeager & Janos
132 1985 09 25 The Lonely Silver Run John D MacDonald F
133 1985 10 24 Ride a Pale Horse Helen Mac Innes F
134 1985 11 04 The Sunset Patriots Charles D Taylor
135 1985 11 26 First Loyalty Richard Lorie
136 1985 12 01 The Russian Woman Tom Hyman F
137 1985 12 09 Never Cry Wolf Farley Mowat
138 1985 12 29 The Angles Weep Wilbur Smith F
139 1986 01 18 The Hunt for Red October Tom Clancy F
140 1986 01 10 Mexico Set Len Deighton F
141 1986 02 20 Discovery Steve Shagan
142 1986 02 22 Mind Bend Robin Cook F
143 1986 03 17 San Andreas Alistair Maclean F
144 1986 03 25 Maxwells Train Christopher Hyde F
145 1986 04 03 One Police Plaza' William J Caunitz F
146 1986 04 08 Maxwells Train not recorded F
147 1986 04 13 Grand Master W & M Murphy & Cochran
148 1986 05 07 The French Atlantic Afair Ernest Lehanan
149 1986 07 15 Lake Woebegon Days Garrison Gelor F
150 1986 08 14 The Fourth Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders
151 1986 09 07 Shanghai Christopher New
152 1986 10 04 Jian Eric Lustbader
153 1986 10 31 Paladin Brian Garfield F
154 1986 11 19 The Fourth Protocal Frederich Forsyth F
155 1986 12 01 The Target is Destroyed Seymour M. Hersh F
156 1987 01 19 Red Storm Rising Tom Clancy F
157 1987 03 01 Get off at Babylon M. Albert F
158 1987 03 18 Terminal Colin Forbes F
159 1987 05 25 Iacoca Lee Iacoca NF
160 1987 06 20 Deep Lie Stuart Woods
161 1987 07 18 Full Fathom Fire Bart Davis
162 1987 07 26 Stallion Gate Martin Cruz Smith
163 1987 09 17 Winter Hawk Craig Thomas
164 1987 09 28 Jaws, The Revenge Hawk Searls
165 1987 11 01 Code Ezra Gay Couter F
166 1987 11 24 Suspects William J Caunitz F
167 1987 12 04 Lie Down with the Lions Ken Follett F
168 1987 12 12 Flight of the Intruder Steven Coonts F
169 1987 12 17 Night of the Fox Jack HIggins F
170 1988 01 10 Patriot Games Tom Clancy F
171 1988 01 13 Diaster at Sea Thomas Helm NF
172 1988 01 20 Stone 588 Geralda Browne F
173 1988 02 08 You Must Remeber This Joyce Carol Oates F
174 1988 02 20 Bright Orange for the Shroud John D MacDonald F
175 1988 03 16 The Rising of the Moon William Martin
176 1988 04 08 Zorba the Greek Nikas Kazantzakis F
177 1988 04 21 Super Carrier George C Wilson
178 1988 04 25 The Prophet Kahil Gibian F
179 1988 05 07 Flight of the Old Dog Dale Brown NF
180 1988 06 03 The Gree Passion Nicholis Kazantzakis
181 1988 06 24 Quiller not recorded
182 1988 07 14 The 2 Faces of Robert Just Jeremy Scott
183 1988 07 20 The Black Shrike Alastair Maclean F
184 1988 07 31 Recovery Steven L Thompson
185 1988 08 15 Tass Is Authorized to Announce Julian Sem Yonov
186 1988 11 01 Tales of the Greek Isles not recorded
187 1988 12 01 Spy Cather Peter Wright
188 1989 01 04 The Lemon Eaters Jerry Sohl
189 1989 01 05 Zero Eric Van Lsbedor
190 1989 02 15 Intimate Enimies Carry Rivers
191 1989 02 28 North to the Pole Will & Paul Seger & Shurke
192 1989 03 15 The Cardnal of the Kremlin Tom Clancy F
193 1989 03 28 Ordeal Linda Lovelace With Jim McGrady NF
194 1989 03 30 Sayonara James Michner F
195 1989 06 27 Tales of Old Florida F & T Oppel & Meisel NF
196 1989 07 13 Silver Tower Dale Brown F
197 1989 07 19 For the Defense F Lee Baily F
198 1989 07 20 Half Moon Street not recorded F
199 1989 08 23 The Cruel Sea Nicholas Monasarrat
200 1989 09 04 Dead Low Tide John MacDonald F
201 1989 09 09 White Cargo Stuart Woods
202 1989 10 01 Sole Anthony Schiano
203 1989 10 24 Monimbo Robert & Arnaud Moss & Deborcher
204 1989 11 13 Tennesee Williams Harry Rasky
205 1989 11 30 Stark J & S Rovin & Diamond
206 1990 01 04 Rage Wilbur Smith F
207 1990 01 13 Target Stealth Jack Merek
208 1990 01 21 Santorini Alastar Maclean F
209 1990 02 12 Oikapi Fever Phillippe Diole F
210 1990 02 22 Day Before Midnite Stephen Hunter F
211 1990 03 15 A Bush at Ostrak Herbert Crowder F
212 1990 04 06 One Watch at a time (Drum) Skip Novak NF
213 1990 04 12 Close Pursuit not recorded F
214 1990 04 30 80 Years of Yachting Bill Robinson
215 1990 05 26 The Russia House John Le Carre F
216 1990 06 30 Hunters Run Gayle Rivers
217 1990 07 20 Windtrack Bnard Cornwell F
218 1990 08 12 Polar Star Mrtin Cruz Smith
219 1990 08 31 Wild Cat Craig Thomas
220 1990 09 01 Down to a Sunless Sea David Graham F
221 1990 09 23 Bright Star Harold Gayle F
222 1990 11 02 Clear and Present Danger Tom Clancy F
223 1990 12 29 A Tan and Sandy Silence John D MacDonald F
224 1991 01 03 The Great Pyramid Piazza Smyth
225 1991 01 04 Legacy James Michner F
226 1991 01 30 A Watch for evil Carol Keith
227 1991 03 29 Earth David Brin
228 1991 04 14 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris F
229 1991 05 12 The Monkey Handlers G Gordon Liddy
230 1991 05 18 The Eagle has Flown Jack Higgins F
231 1991 05 29 Outbreak Robin Cook F
232 1991 06 14 The Clan of the Cave Bear Jean M Auel F
233 1991 06 24 A Dirty Distanct War E M Natanson
234 1991 07 01 The Minotair Stephen Coonts F
235 1991 07 15 Dragon Clive Cussler F
236 1991 07 23 Tango Key Alison Drake F
237 1991 08 01 Message from Nam Danielle Steel
238 1991 08 17 The Ardennes Tapes Timothy B Benford F
239 1991 08 28 Beast Peter Benchly F
240 1991 09 22 Valley of the Horses Jean M Auel F
241 1991 09 28 The White Jaguar William Appel F
242 1991 10 08 Countdown David Hagberg
243 1991 10 16 Loves Music Loves to Dance Marry Higgins Clark F
244 1991 `10 30 Eleni Nicholas Gage
245 1991 11 07 Sullivans Sting Lawarence Sanders
246 1991 12 19 Confessional Jack Higgins F
247 1991 12 21 Death Hunt David Thompson
248 1992 01 14 Disaster at Bari Glenn B Innfield
249 1992 02 17 The Secret Pilgrim John Le Carre F
250 1992 03 30 The Firm John Grisham F
251 1992 05 09 The Sum of all Fears Tom Clancy F
252 1992 05 27 Spy Sinker Len Deighton F
253 1992 05 31 The Mammouth Hunters Jean M Auel F
254 1992 06 13 North SAR Gerry Carroll F
255 1992 08 11 The Plains of Passage Jean Auel F
256 1992 09 17 Power of the Sword Wilbur Smith F
257 1992 10 02 The Delta Star Joseph Wambaugh F
258 1992 11 07 A Time to Kill John Grisham F
259 1992 12 08 Wind Chill Factor Thomas Gifford F
260 1992 12 20 Red Dragon Thomas Harris F
261 1993 01 11 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Dee Brown NF
262 1993 01 22 The Doomsday COnspiracy not recorded F
263 1993 02 06 Prussion Blue Tom Hyman F
264 1993 02 14 Bahamas Blue D C Poyer F
265 1993 03 13 Rising Sun Michael Chrichton F
266 1993 03 31 Principal Defense Gini Hartzmark F
267 1993 04 20 Rogue Warror Richard Marchinko F
268 1993 05 02 Expert Testimony Grif Stockley
269 1993 05 12 Compelling Evidence Steve Mortini
270 1993 05 26 Pretorian Thomas Gifford F
271 1993 06 12 Jurassic Park Michael Chrichton F
272 1993 06 20 A Gypsy Life Clare Allcard F
273 1993 06 27 Target Tokyo Gordon W Prange
274 1993 07 05 The Generals Daughter Nelson Demille F
275 1993 07 10 Hunger William R Dantz F
276 1993 07 19 The Red Horseman Stephen Coonts F
277 1993 07 25 The Gift Kirk Douglas F
278 1993 09 12 Great True Spy Stories Allen Dulles NF
279 1993 09 15 Oh - Oh Robert Fulghum F
280 1993 10 21 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M Pirsig NF
281 1993 11 23 Every Spy a Prince Don & Yossi Riva & Melman
282 1993 12 05 The Night Tokyo Burned Hoito Edoin
283 1993 12 13 Where is Jjoe Merchant Jimmy Buffet NF
284 1993 12 17 General Custers Final Hours Roger Darling NF
285 1993 12 28 The Fire Dream Franklin Allen Leib
286 1994 01 22 Without Remorse Tom Clancy F
287 1994 02 19 State vs Justice Gallatin Wakfield
288 1994 03 21 The Puzzle Palace James Bamford F
289 1994 04 16 Tainted Evidence Robert Baley F
290 1994 04 30 Deep Cover Michael Levine
291 1994 05 23 The Last Spy Bob Reiss
292 1994 05 28 Rogue Warrier II Red Cell Richard & John Marcinko & Weisman F
293 1994 06 04 Red Sky at Night John Barrington F
294 1994 06 14 Interest of Justice Nancy Taylor Rosenberg
295 1994 06 30 The Soul of a New Machine Tracey Kidder NF
296 1994 07 12 Fever Pitch Nick Hornby NF
297 1994 07 23 One Mas Law John Clarkson F
298 1994 08 15 The Feast of All Saints Ann Rice
299 1994 08 27 The Lost Contenent Travels in Small Town America Bill Bryson NF
300 1994 09 10 Criminal Seduction Darian North
301 1994 09 23 The Vets not recorded
302 1994 10 04 River God Wilbur Smith F
303 1994 10 24 Last Train From Berlin W T Tyler
304 1994 10 30 Bridges of Madison County Walla?
305 1994 10 14 River of Hidden Dreams Connie May Fowler F
306 1994 11 26 Siezing the Enigma David Kahn
307 1994 12 16 Disclosure Michael Crichton F
308 1994 12 18 Trail of Tears John Ehle NF
309 1994 12 29 The Day After Tomorrow Alan Folsom F
310 1994 12 30 Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe Fannie Flag F
311 1995 01 08 None To Accompany Me Nadine Gardiner
312 1995 01 17 The Dork of Cork Chet Raymo
313 1995 01 31 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angeou NF
314 1995 02 06 Powers of Attorney Mimi Lavenda Litt
315 1995 02 17 Due North Mitchell Smith
316 1995 02 24 Rocking the Babies Linda Raymond
317 1995 02 24 Sheba Jack Higgins F
318 1995 03 05 Gone K T Craig F
319 1995 03 12 Hour of the Manatee E C Ayres F
320 1995 04 05 Investment Biker Jim Rogers
321 1995 04 12 Sahara Clive Cussler F
322 1995 04 23 Beath by Education: Anatomy of Bill Wieser NF
323 1995 05 03 Final Approach John J Nance F
324 1995 05 07 Judgement Call Suzy Wetlaufer F
325 1995 05 20 The Americas West Dee Dee Brown NF
326 1995 05 22 Relativity Gerald E Tauber
327 1995 05 24 Leopard Richard La Plante F
328 1995 05 27 Mantis Richard La Plante F
329 1995 05 28 Prime Suspect Linda La Plante F
330 1995 06 04 The Ransom of Black Stealth One Dean Ing F
331 1995 06 11 The Bourne Supremacy Robert Ludlum F
332 1995 06 24 Shame of Man Piers anthony F
333 1995 06 26 Monster Truck & Hair in a Can Bill Geist F
334 1995 07 07 Courier Services not recorded NF
335 1995 07 15 Isle of Woman Piers Anthony F
336 1995 07 20 Butcher Bird Dean Ing F
337 1995 07 22 Rule of the Bone Russel Banks F
338 1995 07 25 White Shark Peter Benchley F
339 1995 08 08 The Mathematical Universe William Donham
340 1995 08 09 Trinity Leon Uris F
341 1995 08 14 Forosa Straights Anthony Hyde F
342 1995 08 23 Cry to Heavan Ann Rice F
343 1995 08 27 Every Living Thing James Harriot F
344 1995 08 27 The Night Nanager John Le Carre F
345 1995 09 07 Murder on the Aisle Mary Higgins Clark F
346 1995 09 08 Lie with Lions Ken Follett F
347 1995 09 08 Final Appeal Lisa Scottoline F
348 1995 09 16 Redemption Leon Uris F
349 1995 09 26 Cold Cold Heart James Elliot F
350 1995 10 14 Night Over the Solomons Louis L'Amour F
351 1995 10 15 China White Peter Maas F
352 1995 10 23 Beyound the Sea of ICe William Sarbande F
353 1995 10 26 Braveheart Randall Wallace F
354 1995 10 30 1968 Joe Holdeman
355 1995 11 05 A Dogs Life Peter Mayle F
356 1995 11 08 The Hot Zone Richard Preston F
357 1995 11 19 The Devils Backbone Jonathan Daniels NF
358 1995 11 21 Totch 'Life in the Everglades' Loren G 'Totch' Brown NF
359 1995 11 28 The Cuckoo's Egg Clifford Stoll F
360 1995 11 29 The Paper Men William Golden F
361 1995 12 03 Thief of Light David Ramus F
362 1995 12 16 Deep Black William E Burrows NF
363 1996 01 01 The Last Picture Show Lary McMurtry F
364 1996 01 24 Stormy Weather Carl Hiaasen F
365 1996 01 20 Einsteins Dreams Alan Lightman F
366 1996 01 30 The Code Breakers David Kahn
367 1996 02 05 Puerto Vallarta Squeeze Robert James Weller F
368 1996 02 12 The Last Leutenant John J Gobbell
369 1996 02 16 The Lost World Michail Chrichton F
370 1996 02 24 Charles Kuralts America Charles Kuralts NF
371 1996 03 07 Panama Eric Zancey
372 1996 03 18 Principal Defense Gini Hartzmark F
373 1996 03 28 Iron Gate Richard Herman Jr F
374 1996 04 05 The Voyage Robert MacNeil F
375 1996 04 25 Chaos James Gleick NF
376 1996 05 13 The Sevent Scroll Wilbur Smith F
377 1996 05 20 TheLlow End of Nowhere Michael Stone F
378 1996 05 21 The Mulching of America Harry Crews
379 1996 05 27 The Heat Islands Randy Wayne White F
380 1996 06 02 The Bloody Ground Bernard Cornwell F
381 1996 06 05 The Man Who Invented America Randy Wayne White
382 1996 06 20 After the Glory Helen Toping Miller
383 1996 07 01 The Black Yacht John Baxter F
384 1996 07 10 A Season on the Brink John Feinstein NF
385 1996 08 17 Dead Mans Walk Larry McMurtry F
386 1996 07 24 Armadillos and Old Lace Kinky Friedman F
387 1996 09 02 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving F
388 1996 09 04 Vertical Run Joseph R Garber F
389 1996 09 17 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry F
390 1996 09 26 Streets of Larado Larry McMurtry F
391 1996 10 05 River Thorp Thorp
392 1996 10 23 Fortune and Latour M A Mac Donald F
393 1996 10 30 Shock Wave Clive Cussler F
394 1996 11 02 Setting Free the Bears John Irving F
395 1996 11 03 Throwback Frank C Steunk F
396 1996 11 11 Karma Mitchell Smith F
397 1996 11 12 Seven Summits Frank K w/ R. Wells w/ Ridgeway
398 1996 12 18 Under the Black Flag David Cordingly F
399 1996 12 30 The Trail Blazers Time Life Books
400 1997 01 08 Yesterday I lived in Paridise Myrtle Scharer Betz Betz NF
401 1997 01 24 People of the Silence Kathleen Micheal Gear
402 1997 02 24 Snow Falling On Cedars David Guterson F
403 1997 03 21 The Bear Went Over the mountain William Katz Winkle F
404 1997 03 25 Executive Orders Tom Clancy F
405 1997 03 01 X Files Ruins Kevin J Anderson F
406 1997 03 01 If I Ever Get Bact To Ga. Lewis Grizzard F
407 1997 03 01 Riding the Brand Louis L'Amour F
408 1997 04 01 The Horse Whisperer Nicholas Evans
409 1997 04 02 Bre Ware K & M Lutzen & Stevens
410 1997 04 15 Red Roe Run Alan Frederiksen F
411 1997 04 23 Ghosts of the Green Swamp Lee Gramling F
412 1997 04 30 Extinct Charles Wilson F
413 1997 05 03 Geronimo Edgar Wyatt
414 1997 05 06 Like Judgement Day Da M & Rosewood D'Orso & Singleton F
415 1997 05 14 Elephant Song Wilbur Smith F
416 1997 06 01 The Navigator Frank G Slaughter F
417 1997 06 13 CIA Andrew Tully
418 1997 06 28 The Peking Target Adam Hall F
419 1997 07 26 Cauldron Larry Bond F
420 1997 08 20 The Paper Dragon Evan Hunter F
421 1997 08 25 The Quick Rdd Fox John MacDonald F
422 1997 09 05 Contact Carl Sagan F
423 1997 09 09 Ignition Kevin J & Doug Anderson & Benson F
424 1997 09 27 Birds of Prey Wilbur Smith F
425 1997 10 13 How to Become a Consultant not recorded NF
426 1997 10 20 A Dogs Life Peter Mayle F
427 1997 10 20 The Deep Blue Goddbye John MacDonald F
428 1997 10 26 Moby Dick, The Whale Herman Melville F
429 1997 11 24 My Brother Sam is Dead James & Christopher Collier F
430 1997 11 25 A Brief History of Time Stephan W Hawking NF
431 1997 11 25 Accidental Empires Robert Gringley
432 1997 12 21 Buzz Cut James Hall F
433 1997 12 24 Red Sky at Night James Hall F
434 1998 02 21 Angelas Ashes Frank Mc Court F
435 1998 03 01 How Few Remain Harry Turtledove
436 1998 03 21 Cold Mountain Charles Frazier F
437 1998 04 03 The Perfect Storm Sebastian Junger NF
438 1998 04 08 Whee the River Meets the Sky Greg Kleiner F
439 1998 04 19 Sole Survivor Dean Koontz
440 1998 04 28 The Clinic Jonathan Kellerman F
441 1998 05 17 Killing Mr Watson Peter Matthiessen F
442 1998 06 02 The Shipping News Annie Proulx F
443 1998 06 17 Lost Mans river Peter Mathiessen F
444 1998 07 14 Bright Orange for the Shroud John MacDonald F
445 1998 07 21 The Honorable Shoolboy John Le Carre F
446 1998 07 09 Gulag Sean Flannery
447 1998 07 21 Birdy William Wharton
448 1998 07 01 The Postman David Brin F
449 1998 08 10 The Ashley Book of Knots Clifford Ashley NF
450 1998 08 10 String Figures and How to Make Them Caroline Furness Jayne NF
451 1998 08 11 Post Cards Anne Proulx F
452 1998 08 13 The End of the Road Boddet F
453 1998 08 22 The Cruel Sea Nicholas Monsarrant F
454 1998 08 26 Under the Sweet Water Rim Louis L Amour F
455 1998 08 26 The Fortunet Pilgram Mario Puzo
456 1998 09 01 Rainbow Six Tom Clancey F
457 1998 09 05 The Last Farmer Howard Kohn NF
458 1998 09 07 The Witness Web Griffass F
459 1998 06 29 The Unsinkable Daniel Annen Butler NF
460 1998 09 24 Bright Shark Robert & Tony Ballad & Chiu F
461 1998 09 28 Monuement Rock Louis L Amour F
462 1998 10 13 Stalk and Kill Adrian Gilbert F
463 1998 10 20 Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M Pirsig NF
464 1998 10 27 Comet of the Century Fred Schaaf
465 1998 10 28 Hostile Waters Peter & Igor & Alan Huchthausen & Kurden &White
466 1998 10 30 Yes We Have No Neutrons A K Dewdney
467 1998 11 02 Trail From St Augustine Lee Gramling
468 1998 11 11 Barier Island John D MacDonald F
469 1998 11 26 Longitude Dava Sobel
470 1998 12 01 Deep Blue Goodbye John D MacDonald F
471 1998 12 02 Crossfire Trail Louis L Amour F
472 1998 11 27 Deep Sting Charles D Taylor
473 1998 12 06 The Acadians Robvert E Wall
474 1998 12 13 The Rape of Nanking Iris Chang
475 1999 01 19 A Pirate looks at Fifty Jimmy Buffett NF
476 1999 02 18 Leaning Toward Infinity Sue Woolfe NF
477 1999 03 07 Death of Outrage William J Bennett NF
478 1999 03 20 The Red Wind R Karl Largent F
479 1999 03 22 A Walk Through The Woods J Bryson NF
480 1999 04 04 The Master Mariner Nicholas Monsarret NF
481 1999 04 23 Merlins Kin Josepha Sherman F
482 1999 05 30 Cross Road Blues Ace Atkins F
483 1999 05 11 Payback Thomas Kelley F
484 1999 06 04 Quarrys List Max Allen Collins F
485 1999 06 16 A Man in Full Tom Wolfe F
486 1999 07 07 Rip Tide Douglas & Lincoln Preston & Child F
487 1999 07 08 Goudi Afternoon Barbara Wilson F
488 1999 08 13 Zeke and Ned Larry McMurtry F
489 1999 08 19 Silent Spring Rachel Carson NF
490 1999 08 28 Private Pleasures Lawrence Sanders F
491 1999 07 20 Journey to Jo'burg Beverly Noidoze NF
492 1999 09 15 The White Bone Barbara Cowdy F
493 1999 09 20 All the Pretty Horses- The Border Trilogy I Cormac McCarthy F
494 1999 10 03 The Crossing- II Cormac McCarthy F
495 1999 10 07 Cities of the Plain III Cormac McCarthy F
496 1999 10 11 Pioneer Family Michel Osterriecher NF
497 1999 12 04 Hunters Run Gaye Rivers F
498 1999 12 13 The Sorcers Stone Harry Potter JK Rowling F
499 1999 12 28 Bright Star (The Way to -) Dee Brown NF
500 2000 01 24 Deep Black William E Burrows NF
501 2000 02 12 The Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter JK Rowling F
502 2000 02 11 Single and Single John Le Carre F
503 2000 03 10 Bush Rat Govenor (Tales of) Jay Hammon NF
504 2000 04 10 Prisoner of Azkaban - Harry Potter JK Rowling F
505 2000 04 26 The Great and Secret Show Clive Barker F
506 2000 05 03 Witness to War Charles Clements MD NF
507 2000 05 16 Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen Larry McMurtry F
508 2000 06 01 Great Feuds in Science Hall Hellerman NF
509 2000 06 09 Striptease Carl Hiaasen F
510 2000 06 19 Sick Puppy Carl Hiaasen F
511 2000 06 28 Hours of Gladness Thomas Fleming F
512 2000 07 06 Spencerville Nelson Demille NF
513 2000 07 20 The Ugly American F
514 2000 07 28 They Call Me Agnes Fred W Voget NF
515 2000 08 15 Hannibal Thomas Harris F
516 2000 08 19 Red Dragon Thomas Harris F
517 2000 08 25 The Fire Theft Mark Graham F
518 2000 09 03 Blind Mans Bluf Sherry & Christopher Sontag & Drew NF
519 2000 09 19 At Play in the Fields of the Lord Peter Matthiessen F
520 2000 09 29 Seachange James Powlils F
521 2000 11 21 The Goblet of Fire- Harry Potter JK Rowling F
522 2000 12 01 A Time to Kill John Grisham F
523 2000 12 15 Biting the Moon Martha Grimes F
524 2000 12 20 Long After Midnight Iris Johansen F
525 2000 12 25 The Face of Deception Iris Johansen F
526 2000 10 01 Shiloh Autumn Bodie & Brook Thoene F
527 2001 01 19 In the Heart of the Sea Nathaniel Philbrick NF~
528 2001 01 21 The Terrible Hours Peter Maas NF
529 2001 01 29 Spy Catcher Peter Wright NF
530 2001 02 17 Sharps Fortress Bernard Cornwell F
531 2001 04 02 Nothing Like it in the World Stephen E Ambrose NF
532 2001 04 06 The Black Sea Richard Satlowe F
533 2001 04 17 Ring of Red Roses Eddy Shah F
534 2001 04 27 Capitol Punishment Ryne Douglas Pearson F
535 2001 05 09 Crows Parlimament Jack Curtis F
536 2001 05 15 Scorpion in the Sea PT Deautermann F
537 2001 05 31 Longrider Mark Edmonds NF
538 2001 06 08 The Seventh Scroll Wilbur Smith F
539 2001 06 14 Days of Drums Philip Shelby F
540 2001 06 21 Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser NF
541 2001 06 29 The Killer Angels Mechael Shaara NF
542 2001 07 10 The Trench Steve Alten F
543 2001 07 16 You Just Don't Understand Deborah Tanner PHD NF
544 2001 07 20 Death Train (Allister MaCleans) Alastair MacNeil F
545 2001 07 24 Prussian Blue Tom Hyiman F
546 2001 08 06 Dark Rivers of the Heart Dean Koontz F
547 2001 08 12 The Rainmaker John Grisham F
548 2001 08 21 Gost Solders Hampton Sides F
549 2001 09 10 Body of Secrets James Bradford NF
550 2001 09 27 Warlock Wilbur Smith F
551 2001 10 04 Leav'n Trunk Blues Ace Atkins F
552 2001 11 09 The Bretheran John Grisham F
553 2001 11 09 How Stella Got Her Groove Back Terry Mcmillan F
554 2001 11 16 Thunderbolt Lewis Sorley NF
555 2001 11 24 Cold Cold Heart James Elliot F
556 2001 12 01 Gold Rush Women Claire & Jane Murphy & Haigh NF
557 2001 12 06 Mayday Nelson & Thoma DeMille & Block F
558 2001 12 13 Patient Michael Palmer F
559 2001 12 13 The Apache Medicine Elmore Leonard F
560 2001 12 13 McNally's Chance Lawrence Sanders F
561 2002 01 14 Pale Blue Dot Carl Sagan NF
562 2001 12 18 Sole Survivor Derek Hansen F
563 2001 12 27 Day of Confession Allan Folsom F
564 2002 01 08 The Wild Blue Stephen Ambrose NF
565 2002 01 17 Under the Eye of the Storm John Hersey F
566 2002 01 18 Special Agent Candice DeLong NF
567 2002 02 05 Fatherland Robert Harris F
568 2002 02 13 The Lost White Tribes Orizio Riccardo NF
569 2002 02 18 The Last Day Glenn Kleier F
570 2002 02 20 Warrior Class Dale Brown F
571 2002 03 08 Lucky You Carl Hiaasen F
572 2002 03 12 Blood and Honor W.E.B. Griffin F
573 2002 03 29 Floaters Joseph Wambaugh F
574 2002 03 31 When The Elephants Dance Tess Uriza Holthe F
575 2002 05 04 Silent Night ? not recorded NF
576 2002 05 15 Esau Philip Kerr F
577 2002 06 01 Possessions Judith Michael F
578 2002 06 20 Crow Lake Mary Lawson F
579 2002 07 18 Some Can Whistle Larry McMurtry F
580 2002 09 12 The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien F
581 2002 10 27 The Fellowship of the Ring Book 1 LotR J.R.R. Tolkien F
582 2002 11 27 The Two Towers J.R.R. Tolkien F
583 2002 12 08 The Return of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkien F
584 2002 12 18 Fateful Harvest Duff Wilson NF
585 2002 12 20 Up Country Neson Demille F
586 2002 12 26 The Experiment John Darnton F
587 2003 01 11 Caramelo Sandra Cisneros F
588 2003 01 14 The Tower Gregg Andrew Hurwitz F
589 2003 01 18 Dutch Mans Flat + 4 others Lois L'Amour F
590 2003 01 28 Black Hawk Down Mark Bowden NF
591 2003 02 03 Blue Highways Least Heat Moon NF
592 2003 02 07 Gentleman Rogue Matt Braun F
593 2003 02 08 Slant of the Wind Garland Roark F
594 2003 02 12 Wings of Fire Dale Brown F
595 2003 02 15 The Sea's Bitter Harvest Douglas A Campbell NF
596 2003 02 21 North of Nowhere Steve Hamilton F
597 2003 02 26 Hornet Flight Ken Follett F
598 2003 03 03 See No Evil Robert Baer NF
599 2003 03 08 Death Roll Sam Llewellyn F
600 2003 03 09 The Lions Of Lucerne Brad Thor F
601 2003 03 19 A Painted House John Grisham F
602 2003 03 30 Whistlers Angel John R. Maxim F
603 2003 04 05 Lonely Trumpet Johnny D Boggs F
604 2003 05 07 Isle of Dogs Patricia Cornwell F
605 2003 06 16 Guns, Germa, and Steel Jared Diamond NF
606 2003 07 16 Avoiding Armageddon Martin Schram NF
607 2003 07 23 Basilica William D Montalbano F
608 2003 07 29 Along Came a Spider James Patterson F
609 2003 08 21 The Stainless Steel Rat Harry Harrison F
610 2003 09 14 Verdict The Chronicle of the OJ Simpson Trial Linda Michael Deutsch Fleeman NF
611 2003 09 22 Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix J K Rowling F
612 2003 11 11 The Battle for God Karen Armstrong NF
613 2003 11 13 The Big Dig Linda Barnes F
614 2003 11 15 Valley of the Wandering River Ray Hogan F
615 2003 11 23 North of Hope Jon Hassler F
616 2003 12 01 Hungry as the Sea Wilbur Smith F
617 2003 12 05 Blood is the Sky Steve Hamilton F
618 2003 12 14 The Teeth of the Tiger Tom Clancy F
619 2003 12 16 Eagle in the Sky F. van Wyck Mason F
620 2003 12 19 Stalking Moon David Cole F
621 2003 12 31 The Hornets Nest Jimmy Carter F
622 2004 01 07 Fool's Gold Ken Hodgson F
623 2004 01 16 A Grave Denied Dana Starenow F
624 2004 01 19 A Mighty Heart Mariane Pearl NF
625 2004 01 24 The Plan Stephen J Cannell F
626 2004 02 06 Air Battle Force Dale Brown F
627 2004 02 22 River Horse William Least Heat - Moon NF
628 2004 02 26 Women at Ground Zero Susan; Mary Hagen: Carouba NF
629 2004 03 01 One hundred yeas of solitude gabriel garcia Marquez F
630 2004 03 10 Dark Winter William Dietrich F
631 2004 04 22 We Alaskans Sharon Bushell NF
632 2004 04 27 Last Goodbye Reed Arvin F
633 2004 03 19 Ghost Riders Sharyn Mc Crumb F
634 2004 05 06 The Falcon and the Snowman Robert Lndsey NF
635 2004 05 10 Liar's Market Taylor Smith F
636 2004 05 13 The Master Book of Spies Donald McCormick NF
637 2004 05 27 The Mapmakers Wife Robert Whitaker NF
638 2004 06 05 A Death in Vienna Daniel Silva F
639 2004 06 11 English Assasin Daniel Silva F
640 2004 06 16 The Confessor Daniel Silva F
641 2004 06 23 The Kill Artist Daniel Silva F
642 2004 07 04 Mescalero Dawn Jade Logan F
643 2004 07 05 The Singing Fire Lilian Nattel F
644 2004 07 13 Bad Men John Connolly F
645 2004 07 19 The Unlikely Spy Daniel Silva F
646 2004 07 23 The Marching Season Daniel Silva F
647 2004 08 10 the Shining Badge Gilbert Morris F
648 2004 08 14 The Mark of the Assassin Daniel Silva F
649 2004 08 21 Basket Case Carl Hiaasen F
650 2004 08 28 Skinny Dip Carl Hiaasen F
651 2004 08 29 Ice Reich William Dietrich F
652 2004 09 05 Something's Down There Mickey Spillane F
653 2004 09 12 McNally's Dare Lawrence - Vincent Sanders -by - Lardo F
654 2004 10 01 Absolute Friends John Le Carre F
655 2004 10 16 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown F
656 2004 10 28 Tuxedo Park Jennant Conant NF
657 2004 11 13 Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas F
658 2004 11 23 Eygptologist Arthur Phillips F
659 2004 12 05 Saints Rest Thomas Gifford F
660 2004 12 09 Shock Robin Cook F
661 2004 12 13 A Day to Pick Your Cotton Michael Phillips F
662 2004 12 16 Transfer of Power Vince Flynn F
663 2004 12 22 The Cloud Atlas Liam Callanan F
664 2004 12 27 The Rope Eater Ben Jones F
665 2005 01 06 Close Range Wyoming Stories Annie Proulx F
666 2005 01 07 Fatal Harvest Catherine Palmer F
667 2005 01 12 McNallys Luck Lawrence Sanders F
668 2005 01 15 Hot Target Suzanne Brockmann F
669 2005 01 16 Cinnamon Skin John MacDonald F
670 2005 01 18 That Old Ace in the Hole Annie Proulx F
671 2005 01 21 the christmas train David Baldacci F
672 2005 01 27 Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer NF
673 2005 02 02 The Fighting Agents W.E.B. Griffin NF
674 2005 02 05 White Ted Dekker F
675 2005 02 12 Justice For None Gene, Daniel Hackman Lenihan F
676 2005 02 14 Ambush at Fort Bragg Tom Wolfe F
677 2005 02 15 Ice Run Steve Hamilton F
678 2005 02 23 Riders of the Purple Sage Zane Grey F
679 2005 03 01 Call for the Deal John Le Carre F
680 2005 03 07 Our Game John Le Carre F
681 2005 03 18 The Looking Glass War John Le Carre F
682 2005 03 27 Flashpoint Suzanne Brockmann F
683 2005 04 12 Metropolis Elizabeth Gaffney F
684 2005 04 22 In the Comany of Soldiers Rick Atkinson NF
685 2005 04 24 At Risk Stella Rimington F
686 2005 04 29 Prince of Fire Daniel Silva F
687 2005 05 07 Saving Cascadia John J Nance F
688 2005 05 26 Movig On Jane Candia Coleman F
689 2005 06 07 Angels & Demons Dale Brown F
690 2005 06 14 Light on Snow Anita Shreve F
691 2005 07 11 The Edge Catherine Coulter F
692 2005 07 12 Alibi Joseph Kanon F
693 2005 07 18 Sacred Rage Robin Wright NF
694 2005 07 29 Soldiers and Slaves Roger Cohen NF
695 2005 08 28 The Unknown American Revolution Gary B Nash NF
696 2005 09 06 Sandstorm James Rollins F
697 2005 10 22 Rising Tide John M Barry NF
698 2005 11 05 Dangerous Ground Larry Bond F
699 2005 11 16 Hawkes Harbor S. E. Hinton F
700 2005 11 19 Legion of the Lost Jaime Salazar NF
701 2005 11 30 The ForgottenMan Robert Crais F
--------------
The following did not fit directly into the list--
1996 08 17 Evangeline Henry Longfellow F
2002 08 14 The Shelters of Stone Jean M. Auel F
2005 01 26 In America Susan Sontag F
1997 02 04 Economics in one Lesson not recorded NF

Indiana on DST in 06

2005-04-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

Well they finally did it. Indiana to be on DST in 06. IMO the really good thing about it is, the requirement to petition the Fed's about the Time Zone. Indiana has no business being in the Eastern Time Zone. It should be in the Central zone. So next year we will be effectively on Double Daylight Saving time. EDDST!! Here is a blurb from the South Bend Tribune that I thought was very good.

South Bend Tribune April 29, 2005

Time after time
The General Assembly's preoccupation with daylight-saving time this year is nothing new. According to "The Centennial History of the Indiana General Assembly, 1816-1978," notable legislative actions occurred in 1949, 1957, 1961, 1969 and 1971.

Lawmakers nearly came to blows before outlawing daylight time in 1949, but only after "the first full-dress filibuster in state legislative history. "They allowed it again in 1957, but only under the rubric of Central Standard Time for the entire state. But they repealed that law in 1961, leaving every county or region to its own standard.

Addressing similar situations across the country, Congress mandated daylight-saving time with the Uniform Time Act of 1966, but allowed states to exempt themselves. Hoosier lawmakers exercised that option in 1969, but could not override Gov. Edgar Whitcomb's veto until 1971.

The override, effective 1972, created Indiana's current patchwork system of three effective time zones:Central Standard Time in five northwest and southwest counties. Eastern Standard Time everywhere else. But informal observance of Eastern Daylight Time in five counties proximate to Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky. -- Martin DeAgostino

Time

2005-04-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

I think the entire state of Indiana should be on Central Standard time and stay on ST year round. /intom

what did you say?

2005-04-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

Since everyone is now blogging, I wanted to make sure you all/we all were not left behind. so here we are say what you want. As we get going yo can invite who you want to add, maybe the whole 'family'. /intom