THAT'S A WRAP

Start Date:                  6-July-2012
Penultimate Date:      4-August-2012
End Date:                 21-August-2012

On the sixth of July, sister Kay and her daughter Anna, spouse Rhonda and I started sorting and packing at Ed & Mary's home on Kentfield Way in Goshen.  We knew that it would be a big job - an accumulation of 'stuff' over the course of 73 years of marriage, and Mary is a well-known "keeper."  That's several ticks short of hoarder!!  During the three full days that Rhonda spent at the house, she made it through all of the contents of the sewing room, which ended up filling several large boxes and several smaller ones - material, thread, yarn, and virtually every other sewing supply item that one would need.  And this was literally the tip of the iceberg - Kay and I spent 28 straight days sorting and packing, the results of which are summarized in the Sale Bill here.   I call these days 'the lost month' - every day I got up at six and went to bed at 11, with some diversions for exercise, visiting with mom and dad and relatives, and occasionally going out to eat.  A few things went to the Depot, others to the recycle bins, and some things were saved for friends and relatives [e.g. a birth announcement for cousin Jim Anklam who is approaching 70!] but most everything will be at the sale.  I cordially invite one and all of you to attend on September 19 - it will be most interesting!

The penultimate date is when most things were taken care of and I departed Indiana, driving a 17-foot U-Haul truck loaded with 'merchandise' as the Chupp Auctioneers refer to people's 'stuff' before it is sold!  And the ultimate date is when Kay wrapped up the final details at the house and when the Chupp folks came to load everything up to cart to Shipshewana for the sale.  Here are a few photos:

A Garage Full of Boxes

[and the house was full of furniture]

Ed Surveying The Progress

"The Boss"

Workin' Hard - Almost Done

Success!

PACKIN' AT CU



Spent a bit of time at the biology and philosophy departments at CU today, and forgot my revolver!!  Hard to tell who's carryin' and who's not - actually it did not cross my mind even though the whole fracas has been in the paper quite a bit lately.  This from the NYTimes sums it up pretty well, IMHO:

New Man on Campus, Armed

For more than 30 years, the University of Colorado has enforced a sensible policy banning guns from its campuses. The ban worked well until March, when the State Supreme Court agreed with a student’s complaint that it violated a state law allowing citizens with “concealed-carry” permits to carry guns in public places.

This has left the university resorting to a new twist on its in loco parentis responsibilities — designating segregated housing this fall for students with gun permits. Gun-toting students 21 or older will be assigned to special housing on the Boulder and Colorado Springs campuses, where they must have safes to store their weapons when they are not carrying them. Or they can check them with the local police, Dodge City style. They will not be able to live in dormitories with younger students, but they will be allowed to carry their weapons around to classes or anywhere else, except to certain sports and cultural events.

This is true for students at all other public campuses in the state. No one knows how many might go packing in college halls, though estimates run into the hundreds.

The new dorm arrangements would not have been necessary if the State Legislature had not caved to the gun lobby and passed the irresponsible concealed-carry law in 2003. Similar laws are now in effect in 35 states. But the law seems particularly threatening in Colorado, which has had more than its share of shooting horrors, most recently the massacre in Aurora last month where 12 were killed and 58 wounded by James Holmes, who had been a graduate student at the University of Colorado, Denver.

Colorado citizens as a whole do not seem in thrall to the gun lobby. In a state referendum in 2000, 70 percent of voters approved closing the notorious gun-show loophole that permitted unrestricted gun sales beyond the reach of state registration. Would that the Legislature had exercised the same good sense and spared the public the threat of concealed weapons.

1968

The number stood out as I read through today's Boulder Daily Camera.  It was not on page one, and it was in a short news section that runs every several days.  It was not about the year 1968 [which I wrote about here] but rather it was the heading for the number of military deaths in Afghanistan.  The number seems to be at odds with other statistics, but that is nearly irrelevant.  This is the longest 'war' in US history but certainly not the most deadly - however, it does rank right down there with other 'what-in-the-world-are-we-doing-there' military excursions.  While Washington diddles and most Americans don't pay attention, it is a good reminder that folks continue to die in a conflict that most of us do not understand.

CARSON, Sean P., 32, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Petty Officer Technician First Class, Navy; Des Moines, Wash.; Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit, San Diego.

COPES, Gregory T., 36, Staff Sgt., Marines; Lynch Station, Va.; Third Marine Special Operations Battalion.

DEBOSE, Coater B., 55, Sgt. First Class, Army; State Line, Miss.; First Army Division East.

DEMARSICO, Michael R. II, Pfc., Army; North Adams, Mass.; First Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, Third Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

ENOS, Darrel L., 36, Hospital Corpsman Petty Officer First Class, Navy; Colorado Springs; Third Marine Special Operations Battalion.

ESSEX, Richard A., 23, Sgt., Army; Kelseyville, Calif.; 25th Infantry Division.

FEEKS, Patrick D., 28, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer First Class, Navy; Edgewater, Md.; Naval Special Warfare, West Coast.

GALBREATH, Luis A. Oliver, 41, Sgt., Army; San Juan, P.R.; 25th Infantry Division.

HORNSBY, Brian D., 37, Chief Warrant Officer, Army; Melbourne, Fla.; 25th Infantry Division.

JUSTICE, James A., 21, Specialist, Army; Grover, N.C.; Second Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

KRAUSE, Suresh N. A., 29, Chief Warrant Officer, Army; Cathedral City, Calif.; 25th Infantry Division.

WARSEN, David J., 27, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer Second Class, Navy; Kentwood, Mich., Naval Special Warfare, West Coast.

SKAKEN, NOT STIRRED

I recently heard one of the theme songs from an old James Bond movie, and I had to think that for me, there is only one James Bond - Sean Connery.  I have seen some of the latter Bond movies, but it is just not right.  I mean, really, a blond Bond?

Before I add a couple Bond theme songs and a nice medley, I will touch briefly on Bond's martini - the full story can be found here, but this is a tidbit:

"Shaken, not stirred." The very phrase conjures up images of Sean Connery, natty in his tuxedo, about to break the bank at baccarat before bedding the beautiful double agent, doesn't it? James Bond has probably created more martini drinkers than all the gin joints in the world.


The reason the debonair Bond wants his martini shaken is that he is an iconoclast. He's not drinking a martini at all! He's drinking a vodka martini. There's a difference, as we shall see. Pay close attention--we will not use the terms interchangeably but it's easy to get confused.

Let's start by looking at Bond's drink. He takes vodka and gin in them. Ian Fleming gives a recipe for his Bond's preferred libation in the first Bond book, Casino Royale (1953), chapter 7:

"A dry martini," he said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet."

"Oui, monsieur."

"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel. Got it?"

He calls this a vesper, after the beautiful double agent from the book (n.b.: Kina Lillet is a brand of vermouth). In other appearances, Bond requests a "medium vodka dry martini," sometimes ordered shaken not stirred. From his vesper recipe, I take "medium vodka dry" to mean he wants a "medium" amount of vodka mixed in with his gin, but who knows? Thanks to John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation for digging up the vesper recipe and Bond's other (vodka) martini orders.



SWARTZENDRUBER



I just came across the envelope on which I have cut-and-pasted the various permutations of Swartzendruber spellings - so this is an update of a previous post but now with complete and accurate info.

There are different accounts of the origin of the Swartzendruber name.  One source says that the name is Swiss and may have been derived from seller of black grapes.  Another version is related to the Drubba family name in the Black Forest, where one of the Drubba families lived near a stream that occasionally turned black due to coal content - hence - the schwartz Drubba family.  Makes for an interesting story at least.  However, the main focus of this post will be some of the misspellings of Swartzendruber that I have received over the years, beginning with the one that got me started:

Schwaljeindruber
Swarzcworuber
Swartzender
Swartzenbruder
Swartzenbruber
Swartzendrubeer
Swartizendruber
Schwarzenberger
Schisartzendruber
Swartzedurber
Schwartzebury
Zwartzendruber
Schwartzedruber
Swartzendruken
Swartzendraber
Schwarzendruber
Swaitzendrubber
Swartzen
Swartzendrvber
Swartzeber
Swartzend
Swartzyendruber
Swartzerub
Swatzendruber
Swartzendrubber
Schwertzenguier
Schwartzentroper
Schwarzendrubber
Szartzendruber
Swartsendruder
Swartzendruher
Swarkendouker
Swarjzendruber
Swaqrtzendruber
Swartzenbeuber
Swartzendrumbe
Swartzendrumber
Swartzendrumer
Startzendruber
Swartzendrduber
Schwastyeuduber
Swart-Zendruber
Fwarteendruber
Endruber, D.E. Swartz
Ber Swartzenoru
Lendruber
Hwartzendruber

And my first name is not immune:

Dug
Dough
Dougras [from Japan]
L

My all-time favorite - a note from a young girl to her father:

Dad - call Dug Swotwitwope

And my favorite story while working in Los Alamos:

Los Alamos National Laboratory is a big place, and thus the lab operates its own taxi service to cart staff members from site to site.  When you need a ride, you call the central dispatch and soon thereafter a driver arrives.  After making a call and then hopping into the van, the driver did not budge.  I said "We can head out now" and he calmly replied "Are you Swartz or are you Druber?"  I chuckled, said that I was both, and we hit the road.

TRAVIS TRAVAILS/TRIUMPHS

I am not a big fan of country music, nor am I one who follows the comings and goings of the glitterati, but it was hard not to notice the troubles that country star Randy Travis has been having lately.  From a nasty divorce to an arrest for public intoxication to a DWI [with the very unflattering mug shot], Travis has been in the news.

However, these are not the focus of this post, but rather it is to highlight his talents.  Travis' performance at Pepperdine University was exceptional.  First, the sound folks truly understand how to maximize the acoustics of a country band in a relatively small venue.  Second, the talent, from Travis to each of the band members, was first-rate.  Third, there was little chit-chat between songs and the emphasis was clearly on the music.  An enjoyable evening was had by all.  Visit here for the top 10 Randy Travis songs - a few of good ones are below.



SAVE THE DATE!!!



In due time, the auction will show up here.  If you would like a jpg that is easily readable, leave a comment with your email.

DIVISION I-AAA ALL-SPORTS TROPHY



There are many aspects of Pepperdine University that I appreciate, as well as a few that I don't, and one of the former is the University's approach toward intercollegiate athletics.  The University competes in Division I, which is no small challenge for a school with less than 3000 undergraduates, and by-and-large, the participants are truly scholar-athletes.  Admission to Seaver College is highly selective, and there is no allowance for accepting any athletes who clearly could not handle the competetive academic program.

A testament to the quality of the student-athletes at Pepperdine is winning the 2011-2012 Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association All-Sports Trophy which is awarded to the Division I school without football that has the most post-season success over the course of the school year.  This is the third time that Peppedine has claimed the title, with a recent highlight being a National Championship in women's sand volleyball.  I believe that this is Pepperdine's 20th National Championship and the first for a women's team  - quite an accomplishment for a small school.  While a few Pepperdine student-athletes go on to succeed in pro sports, the vast majority use their degrees to pursue careers in medicine, law, business, etc.  Kudos to the Waves!!!

TORNADO AT 12,000 FEET

Mount Evans Tornado

 

Mount Evans boasts the highest paved road in North America.  The road actually goes to 14,130 and the summit is at 14,264.  It now can boast the second highest tornado on record with a touchdown at 11,900 feet, with the highest recorded being above 12,000 feet on Rockwell Pass in Sequoia National Forest. [some great pictures at the link]