El Rancho S-OH-S Part 14 by KimB

Episode Counting Rocks

Between a Rock and ...  Water?

One of the interesting aspects of having unimproved land is that it is UNIMPROVED. Meaning: there isn't anything there that hasn't been there since the dirt was invented. There maybe the occasional leftover of some prior attempt at making nature better but for the most part It Is What It Is and You Get What's There or Not.

A long time friend gave me a wonderful gift last holiday season, something totally unexpected and the surprise just about knocked me over when I opened it up. The gift was funding for a project on the lot. A small project, something easily accomplished. Something to make the lot a fun destination. Something to help the us enjoy the lot during the hot summers after COVID-19 lock downs end and going up the mountain can be a more frequent occurrence.

I spent a good amount of time mulling over which of the many projects would be a good target. The majority of projects are Big Number Projects. They require a large amount of investment and can become complicated quickly, requiring additional funding. Everyone who has attempted to do such development has found out quickly that the amounts needed can expand faster than Harry Potter's Aunt Marge.

I decided that a small concrete patio sitting area would fit the budget and the needs. Something not too large, but usable. Designed with the potential to do more later but would be more than sufficient for having a nice picnic on the mountain, enjoying the view, the trees, the smell of sages and watching the birds, hawks and wild turkeys as they make surprise appearances swooping across the sky, stalking through the grasses or, as Chaucer put it, smale foweles maken melodye.

After playing more than a decade of a video game that has detailed simulated crafting as a primary activity, you learn that what in the USA is called interchangeably Concrete or Cement, is really 2 separate items: Cement is the powder base, to which you add gravel and then it becomes Concrete, ready to use by adding water.

You can remember which one is which because:

CONCRETE has an R in it for ROCKS and READY TO USE.

One of the unexpected aspects is that small projects do not mean easy projects. Since the budget is small, you also have to find someone who will do small projects too. While finding a good contractor for big projects is sometimes a challenge; finding one for small projects can be equally challenging. Fortunately my contacts on the mountain, all know each other and a referral was made to someone who didn't mind doing smaller jobs.

We met (socially distanced and masked) and given the limited budget, we spent a good while reviewing possibilities. We settled on a perfect location, and suggestions were made about the layout of, what is in fact, a very small patio and some items that could be included for the next project.

Act 1 Scene 14 Rocks and Water
sound effect: birds chirping

Moi	Are you planning on using concrete?
Stone	Yes it's the fastest way to get the patio.
Moi	How do you plan to make the concrete?
Stone	I will rent one of the concrete mixers and buy bags of premixed concrete.
Moi	The bags with the gravel already in it?
Stone	Yes
Moi	You know there is no electricity here?
Stone	No problem, I will bring a generator to run the mixer.
Moi	You know there is no water either?

End Act 1 Scene 14 Rocks and Water
sound effect: smale foweles maken melodye

Picnic Patio

MrsB: 99 Years and More to Come! by KimB

MrsB: 99 Years!!!

and More to Come!

June 15 marks MrsB's 99th Birthday and WE could not be happier! It is a milestone for sure and MrsB has been having an entire weeklong celebration with family and friends. Lots of cards, letters, flowers and hoopla all week. Special presents of trees, cakes and more chickens for the farm-in-the-backyard along with the requsit sing alongs and cheers entertaining both MrsB and the neighbors!

MrsB has seen a lot of goings on during her lifetime and here is a summary of some of the world events that have happened.

MrsB June 2021

Presidents

• Presidency of Warren G. Harding #29, March 4, 1921 - August 2, 1923
• Presidency of Calvin Coolidge #30, August 2, 1923 - March 4, 1929
• Presidency of Herbert Hoover #31, March 4, 1929 - March 4, 1933
• Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt #32, March 4, 1933 - April 12, 1945
• Presidency of Harry S. Truman #33, April 12, 1945 - January 20, 1953
• Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower #34, January 20, 1953 - January 20, 1961
• Presidency of John F. Kennedy #35, January 20, 1961 - November 22, 1963
• Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson #36, November 22, 1963 - January 20, 1969
• Presidency of Richard Nixon #37, January 20, 1969 - August 9, 1974
• Presidency of Gerald Ford #38, August 9, 1974 - January 20, 1977
• Presidency of Jimmy Carter #39, January 20, 1977 - January 20, 1981
• Presidency of Ronald Reagan #40, January 20, 1981 - January 20, 1989
• Presidency of George H. W. Bush #41, January 20, 1989 - January 20, 1993
• Presidency of Bill Clinton #42, January 20, 1993 - January 20, 2001
• Presidency of George W. Bush #43, January 20, 2001 - January 20, 2009
• Presidency of Barack Obama #44, January 20, 2009 - January 20, 2017
• Presidency of Donald Trump #45, January 20, 2017 - January 20, 2021
• Presidency of Joe Biden #46, January 20, 2021 - ''Incumbent''

Events

• 1922 – Lincoln Memorial is dedicated
• 1923 – Teapot Dome scandal
• 1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• 1925 – Scopes Trial
• 1926 – The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is published.
• 1927 – Charles Lindbergh makes first trans–Atlantic flight
• 1927 – Babe Ruth hits a record 60 home runs in a single season
• 1928 – Disney's Steamboat Willie opens, the first animated picture to feature Mickey Mouse
• 1928 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1929 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets a record 68 points over a two–day period, setting off the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and triggering the Great Depression
• 1929 – The Great Depression starts
• 1930 – Frozen vegetables, packaged by Clarence Birdseye, become the first frozen food to go on sale
• 1931 – Empire State Building opens in New York.
• 1931 – Japanese invasion of Manchuria, start of World War II in the Pacific.
• 1931 - “The Star-Spangled Banner” becomes official U.S. national anthem
• 1931 - Hoover vetoes Veteran Bonus
• 1931 - Pearl Buck publishes The Good Earth
• 1932 - Son of Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped and later found dead
• 1932 – U.S. presidential election, 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president
• 1933 – Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak killed during a failed assassination attempt on President-elect Roosevelt.
• 1934 – John Dillinger killed
• 1934 – The United States Great Smoky Mountains National Park is founded
• 1935 – The F.B.I. is established with J. Edgar Hoover as its first director.
• 1936 - Hoover Dam
• 1936 - Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals at the Olympics in Berlin, Germany
• 1937 – Hindenburg disaster, killing 35 people and marking an end to airship travel
• 1937 – Golden Gate Bridge completed in San Francisco
• 1939 – Nazi Germany invades Poland; World War II begins
• 1940 – World War II: Operation Ariel begins
• 1940 – Oldsmobile becomes the first car maker to offer a fully automatic transmission
• 1941 – Regular commercial television broadcasting begins; CBS and NBC television networks launched.
• 1942 – Casablanca released
• 1944 – World War II: The United States invades Saipan
• 1944 – D-Day (also known as Operation Overlord)
• 1945 – Germany surrenders, end of World War II in Europe
• 1945 – Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Days later, Japan surrenders, ending World War II
• 1946 – President's Committee on Civil Rights
• 1946 – RCane
• 1947 – Polaroid camera invented
• 1947 – Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier in baseball
• 1947 - World Series is broadcast live on television for the first time
• 1949 – Germany divided into East and West
• 1950 – Senator Joseph McCarthy gains power, and McCarthyism (1950–1954) begins
• 1950 – Korean War begins
• 1950 – The comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz, is first published
• 1952 – Kimosabe
• 1954 – The Tournament of Roses Parade becomes the first event nationally televised in color
• 1954 – Joseph McCarthy discredited in Army-McCarthy hearings
• 1954 – President Eisenhower proposes the Domino theory (Southeast Asia)
• 1954 – First Indochina War ends after the U.S. kept sending aid to the French. France was defeated by Ho Chi Minh and his army at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
• 1954 – Brown v. Board of Education
• 1954 – NBC airs The Tonight Show, the first late-night talk show, originally hosted by Steve Allen
• 1955 – Ray Kroc opens a McDonald's fast food restaurant
• 1955 – Rosa Parks remains seated on a bus
• 1955 – Disneyland opens at Anaheim, California
• 1955 – Jonas Salk develops polio vaccine
• 1955 – Rock and roll music enters the mainstream, with "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets
• 1956 – Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.
• 1956 – "In God We Trust" adopted as national motto
• 1957 – Civil Rights Act of 1957
• 1957 – Soviets launch Sputnik; "space race" begins
• 1957 – Little Rock, Arkansas school desegregation. Eisenhower recruits the U.S. National Guard to escort the Little Rock Nine
• 1958 - The Affluent Society written by John Galbraith
• 1958 – NASA formed
• 1958 – Jack Kilby invents the integrated circuit
• 1959 – The NBC western Bonanza becomes the first drama to be broadcast in color
• 1959 – Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th U.S. states
• 1960 – U-2 incident
• 1960 – Author Harper Lee publishes To Kill A Mockingbird
• 1960 – Civil Rights Act of 1960
• 1961 – Eisenhower gives celebrated "military–industrial complex" farewell address
• 1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion
• 1961 – Alan Shepard pilots the Freedom 7 capsule to become the first American in space
• 1961 – Vietnam War officially begins
• 1962 – Andy Warhol becomes famous for his Campbell's Soup Cans painting
• 1962 – John Glenn orbits the Earth in Friendship 7
• 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis
• 1963 – March on Washington; Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have a Dream" speech
• 1963 – Assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas
• 1964 – The Beatles arrive in the U.S.
• 1964 – Tonkin Gulf incident; Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• 1964 – President Johnson proposes the Great Society
• 1964 – Civil Rights Act of 1964
• 1964 - The Ford Mustang is introduced
• 1965 – President Johnson appoints Thurgood Marshall as the first African-American Supreme Court Justice
• 1965 – Medicaid and Medicare enacted
• 1965 – The Watts riots in Los Angeles, California
• 1966 – Miranda v. Arizona established "Miranda rights" for suspects
• 1967 – The first Super Bowl
• 1967 – Detroit race riot precipitates the "Long Hot Summer of 1967", when race riots erupt in 159 cities nationwide
• 1967 – The "Summer of Love"
• 1968 – Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
• 1968 – Tet Offensive
• 1968 – Civil Rights Act of 1968
• 1968 – Apollo 8 and its three-astronaut crew orbit the Moon, Earthrise photograph taken
• 1969 – Author Maya Angelou publishes I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
• 1969 – Stonewall riots in New York City
• 1969 – Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the Moon on the Apollo 11 mission
• 1969 – The Woodstock Festival
• 1970 – Kent State and Jackson State shootings
• 1970 – The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) begins operations
• 1970 – Singer-songwriter-guitarist-musician Jimi Hendrix dies
• 1970 – Singer Janis Joplin dies
• 1971 – Singer Jim Morrison dies
• 1971 – A ban on radio and television cigarette advertisements
• 1971 – The landmark situation comedy, All in the Family, premieres on CBS
• 1971 – The 26th Amendment is ratified, allowing 18-year-olds to vote
• 1971 – In New York Times Co. v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Pentagon Papers may be published
• 1972 – President Richard Nixon visits China
• 1972 – Watergate scandal
• 1973 – Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling overturns state laws against abortion
• 1973 – The Paris Peace Accords ends direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War
• 1975 – The movie Jaws is released
• 1975 – The Vietnam War ends
• 1975 – Fall of Saigon
• 1975 – President Ford survives two assassination attempts in a 17-day span
• 1976 – Americans celebrate the Bicentennial of the United States
• 1977 – The first home personal computer, the Commodore PET, is released for retail sale.
• 1977 – The television miniseries Roots airs on ABC
• 1977 – The science-fiction space opera film Star Wars debuts in theaters
• 1977 – After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the first democratic elections took place in Spain
• 1978 – The Camp David Accords
• 1978 – Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone are assassinated in San Francisco, California
• 1979 – The Three Mile Island nuclear accident
• 1979 — Facing bankruptcy, Chrysler receives government loan guarantees
• 1980 – The United States boycotts the Summer Olympics in Moscow over Afghanistan
• 1980 – The Mount St. Helens eruption
• 1981 – 1982 United States is part of the global recession
• 1981 – Sandra Day O'Connor becomes the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court
• 1983 – Chrysler unveils its minivans
• 1984 – Most of the Eastern Bloc boycotts the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
• 1986 – Iran–Contra affair breaks
• 1986 – The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes
• 1987 – During a visit to Berlin, Germany, President Reagan challenges Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" (referring to the Berlin Wall)
• 1989 – The tanker Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound
• 1989 – The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
• 1989 – President HW Bush declares a "War on Drugs"
• 1990 — Hubble Space Telescope launched
• 1991 — The Gulf War
• 1991 — The World Wide Web publicly debuts as an Internet service
• 1991 — The Cold War ends as the USSR is dissolved
• 1991 – Mount Pinatubo Philippines, erupts in the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century
• 1992 — Los Angeles riots resulting from the beating of black motorist Rodney King.
• 1994 — "1994 Northridge" earthquake
• 1995 — Oklahoma City bombing
• 1998-1999 — Clinton-Lewinsky scandal
• 1999 — Y2K computer bug
• 2001 — September 11 attacks
• 2003 — Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates upon re-entry
• 2004 — The social networking website Facebook is launched
• 2005 — Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita
• 2007 — Democrat Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
• 2008 — U.S. oil prices hit a record $147 a barrel
• 2008 — A global financial crisis begins as the stock market crashes
• 2010 – The Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico explodes
• 2011 – A tornado devastates Joplin, Missouri
• 2011 – End of the 30-year shuttle program
• 2012 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to successfully tightrope walk directly over Niagara Falls
• 2013 – Edward Snowden leaks highly classified documents from the National Security Agency
• 2013 – The Supreme Court strikes down the Defense of Marriage Act, which banned the federal recognition of same-sex marriages
• 2013 – Black Lives Matter
• 2015 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in all 50 US states
• 2017 – Trump fires FBI director James Comey, precipitating the Mueller investigation
• 2017 – Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria
• 2018 – Death of Stephen Hawking in Cambridge, United Kingdom
• 2019 – All the works published in 1923 except for sound recordings (2022 scheduled events) enter the public domain in the United States
• 2019 – Large portions of the United States are hit with a polar vortex
• 2019 – The first image of a black hole is taken
• 2019 – The U.S. House of Representatives impeaches President Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors
• 2020 – January 21, 2020 – The first patient in the United States is diagnosed with coronavirus
• 2020 – March 11, 2020 – The World Health Organization officially declares COVID-19 a global pandemic
• 2020 – May 25, 2020 – George Floyd is killed by police officers
• 2020 – December 14, 2020 – The first COVID-19 vaccine shots are given
• 2021 – January 6, 2021 – Trump-supporting rioters storm the United States Capitol, forcing Congress to evacuate and interrupting the Electoral College vote count that certified Joe Biden's victory
• 2021 – January 13, 2021 – Trump becomes the only president to be impeached for a second time
• 2021 - June 2021, Juno spacecraft performed a second flyby of Ganymede, a satellite of Jupiter, the largest and most massive of the Solar System's moons taking more detailed images

MrsB Birthday Wishes Galore

More Interesting Cars I've known by Anno Nymus

More Interesting Cars I've known …

by Anno Nymus

Our extended family has had some wonderful cars over, lo – these many years ! Let's take a trip down nostalgia lane here, and revisit some of these mechanical marvels, and style wonders !

* * *

Growing up in Hollywood, California in the 1950's was a wonderland of exploration and excitement every day – cars were the centerpiece of our daily doings. Car culture a-borning !

A car was mandatory – distances were far – time becoming too precious … Time saving tips every where – freeways were being invented – get there faster – get more work done – to have more free time ! … quicker and easier cooking .. TV dinners … drive thru fast food was coming into the scene ... The weekend getaway was a ritual ! Tourism, and of course 'profiling ourselves and strutting' … displaying your status to the world by what make, model, year chariot you sported !

A car for everyone was the goal ! Gas was cheap, and the the wide open spaces beckoned! We heard Dina Shore singing a catchy jingle, and urging us to “ See the USA in your Chevrolet !” (did you hum it mentally just now ?? .. giving your age away ! ). In the 1950's we were on the move! .. and it was steadily getting faster and faster every year.

Our family returned from Europe in 1950 … and after time with family in the east … and a side trip to Kentucky for a few years .. the trek to California was made … in a Woody Station wagon. We traveled … “on the highway that’s the best … Route Sixty-Six..” California here we come !

Ford 'Woody'

*  * 

The land of Milk and Honey .. but ya need to have a car !

After rambles and stops in various towns and places .. we landed in Northern California.. San Francisco and the Bay Area. Redwoods - Stanford !

I have vivid memories of Uncle Chuck's Mercury .. I wrote a ditty about it here** … it was a car to remember and all my uncles envied it .. and borrowed it any chance they could .. it was a hot fast ride .. and about the most envied car in the area .. my uncles were very into cars and did a lot of engine and mechanical work .. Grandad had several Gas Stations – the Flying A notably – but they guys were all into tinkering and 'souping-up' – y'know … just to go a bit faster .. :D

Hot 'n Fast Mercury

*  *

Los Angeles ! City of Angels ! “Hollywood!”

We finally landed in Southern California .. and wound up in the movie capital of the world: “HOLLYWOOD” … we lived almost in the shadow of the big sign – it hovered over us like a benediction … me 'n my buddies climbed up to it a few times – badge of honor to 11 year olds .. we were in West Hollywood awhile , and then moved a block away from Sunset and La Brea !! – The Heart of Hollywood ! 

I walked past the old Charlie Chaplin movie studios on my way to the bus stop (or nearby Fosters Freeze -for a cone or banana split :D ) - seems we ate a million times at the Tiny Naylors drive in – right across from the movie studio!

Chaplin Studios became home of Kermit the Frog! 

*  *  * 

Tiny Naylor's Drive In

This was literally our back yard … we lived on the street behind the houses in this picture !

Tiny Naylor's was a great and famous place – directly across from the Chaplin Studios, it was one of the original car hop drive-in's .. you could show off, and talk with other cars whilst eating from a tray in the window – you could actually eat in your car... with the radio playing your favorites stations .. mostly KFWB – channel 98.. the original LA rock station with Kasey Kasem - Rock 'n Roll baby !

Stars would pop in for a burger and shake – show off and profile for us. Rumors abound, that it was the model for the Happy Days car hop set :D

 * *

Imported English cars and California !?

1949 Hillman-Minx – English Import

We had a Hillman-Minx for a while – and this one was 'special' <wink nudge> .. designed for the UK, it did not like the heat of Southern California  nor driving on the LA freeway ! It would overheat at the slightest excuse;  stuck in a traffic jam, or on small hill.

The radiator was tiny –made for English weather. On I-10 ..going east from LA – the hill from West Covina up and over – past Forest Lawn – and down into Pomona was just too steep for the Hillman-Minx. That hill was a mountain to that car! My 12 year old memories are vivid:  Sitting on the verge of I-10 with Semi- Trucks blowing us almost off the road, whilst Volkswagen's passed us like we were snails – which we were -- barely creeping along under the required speed - trying not to overheat ... chanting “... I know you can! I know you can! I know you can! …

Alas, it did always overheat and boil over .. or, we got stuck with 'vapor lock'. All we could do is pull over - open the hood (bonnet?) ,  wait for the engine to cool enough so it could start again. Once a sympathetic trucker stopped to help, and showed us how to pour water carefully on the carburetor to cool it down! Thank you Mr Truck Driver!!

This was a unique car, and since I was the one to do all the cooling and engine bits .. I was quite happy when it went away .. as I recall ;-)

.. The history of the Hillman-Minx is interesting in the car nerd sense .. but the car was a lemon by California standards of the time .. it could not beat the heat or tiny hills ! Buh-bye!

*  *  

Next up - we acquired a 1957 Plymouth - Belvedere – with the big fin tail lights ! My folks bought it from a friend that had won it in a contest:  “Describe an earthquake in one word”. Dad's friend won the car using the word “Tumultuous!” .. and I have loved, and used that word as often as I could find a place to put it - ever since !! hahaha !

Note the novel and Avant-garde Push Button Transmission .. just left of the steering wheel!

Speaking of style and fins in the 50's … The Arizona bunch had kewl cars that were all top of the line .. snazzy and futuristic … check out those tail lights ! This was the height of luxury and style!

Chrysler Imperial snazzy and iconic 50's design !

* * *

Later on .. we came into a tank of a vehicle .. a virtually indestructible 1950 Plymouth Station Wagon, that ultimately got nicknamed “Bonaparte” .. because no matter how things went,  it never met it's 'Waterloo' :D … It was an ever stalwart, 1950's Plymouth Station Wagon – (car nerd note: the original 'Suburban')

Our particular car made numerous treks all over the American Continent … notably … quite a few treks, and back country excursions, throughout Mexico. The car became well known by every shade tree mechanic within hailing distance of any place it traveled, or was parked !

Reliable but needy for constant attention  .. it always needed tinkering or fussing. It once notably had 4 blow-outs simultaneously .. but that’s a story for another time ;) .. and I digress.

Ol' Bonaparte was indestructible! Anyone could fix it with bailing wire and chewing gum! .. sometimes just a good “word” would do it – trying not to be late for work - hoping it would kick over nicely, you would repeat whilst petting the dashboard gently – “ OK .. now pleease … start... THIS time .. can't be late !!” ..

I found this photo online in vintage car ads – for sale – and appears to be a clone of our dear Ol' Bonaparte ..!? who knows, that car was a TANK ..  this might even BE .. Bonaparte !?!

1950 Plymouth Suburban

More tales soon - from the family annals of car culture madness ...and some nifty vintage vehicles that I have enjoyed over the years .. the 1965 Corvair Van tale is worthy of tuning back in to catch... 

it will be tumultuous ! 

More tales to follow .. stay tuned !! 

*  *  *  *  * 

Footnotes

photos by permission – and/or public domain

** Kings Mountain Wild Ride -

https://mrsbizzybsayshello.blogspot.com/2020/01/kings-mountain-wild-ride-true-story-by.html