Just a Few Poems

      More Letters From Paradise
         Just a Few Poems

         Walking on the beach
         he found in the sand
           a G.I. dog tag
          bending with his
              camera
           the sea came
            claimed it
              as its
               own     7/7/14

             Numbers
      I find it impossible
   to understand the deaths of
          six million
I have a little better understanding      
    regarding the deaths of
            77,297 Jews
             in Prague
     But I fully comprehend
         that there were
     15,000 Jewish children
           and only    
             94
          survived
                    4/15/85
              Teotehuacan
          The Aztecs named it
         The place where all go
          to worship the gods
         Standing on top of the
          Pyramid of the Moon
       dark clouds being pushed
        by the on rushing wind
     it is easy to understand why
       the Aztecs named it so
                        4/25/78
       Aloha
       Grant  
         

Playing Chicken

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          Playing Chicken
Once again suffering from "writer's block." The last time, I was forced to write about cabbage.This time I'm going to write about chickens. I know something about chickens.

There are many different breeds, some really funny looking ones such as the so-called Polish, with wild feathers on the top of its head. Then there is the Aracana breed from South America, which lays blue or green eggs. Then there is the Banty breed. Small birds, good mother hens and roosters full of fight. My friend George once had some Banty chickens, and a rooster that used to fight with cars. Note the use of the past tense.

My favorite two breeds are the Barred Plymouth Rock and the Rhode Island Red. They both lay brown eggs. I think that brown eggs are better than white, but I can't prove it. I have raised chickens from baby chicks to adult laying chickens.

When baby chicks arrive you first dip their beaks into some water so that they will know how to drink. Finely ground feed and grit is fed to them. They are gathered under a wide hood with a heat lamp in the center. They soon begin to grow feathers, and in six weeks they are large enough to become a frying chicken. Left to grow they will first produce pullet-size eggs. Then as the chicken ages and continues laying, you now have medium-size eggs, and even later large eggs.

It is not necessary to have a rooster with your flock of chickens, unless you want fertile eggs and baby chicks. There is a pecking order in the flock. The top chicken pecks all the flock. The next chicken below him pecks all the others, and so on down the line. The poor chicken at the end of the pecking order gets pecked by all the others. Sometimes if there is a rooster in the flock, he may become troublesome. My oldest daughter was, as a small child, knocked down by a rooster which then got in her face. I grabbed a 2x4 and made a home run with him.

There are wild chickens here in our state. Not so many here on Oahu, since a guy was paid to catch and dispose of them. On some of the other islands, there are many wandering around. There is an old law here in Honolulu that each household is limited to having only two chickens. And as I once asked in an other entry, "Where are my two chickens?"

And there are few things that smell as bad as a dead chicken  pulled  from a pail of hot water, or a plucked chicken held over a flame to burn off pin feathers.

Have you ever wondered where the chicken in chicken noodle soup came from? Probably not. When all those chickens who have spent their days in cages, and are no longer laying, they end up in soup.

I could go on and on about chickens, but I think that this is enough. We have a house rule in our building that residents can have only one dog. I wonder how they would feel about my two chickens?  

          Aloha
          Grant

Talking Trash

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            Talking Trash
Everybody has some trash. This is so very true as we have become a "throw-away" society.  In the building where we live there are some 900 people, and that causes a lot of trash. We live on an island,  so what to do with our trash? That's what we are abut to find out this Saturday. We are going on a "Tour de Trash 2014." We are required to bring a photo ID. Long pants and closed-toed shores are REQUIRED, NO EXCEPTIONS. This writing will continue following the tour.

Well, the trip is over. We were provided with two large air-conditioned busses.  Two groups per bus. The first stop for our group was the H-Power station where we were shown a film about how the old and the new power plants produce electricity. It was fun to see in the film a refrigerator chewed into bits of scrap metal. Following the film we  were each given hard hats and safety glasses. Our tour took us up three flights of steel stairs to a control room. The room contained a great number of dials and a man enthroned on huge chair with controls in each hand. Looking through the window you could see garbage trucks backing up and dumping their loads onto a giant pile of garbage. The operator in the chair used his controls to cause a giant claw to grasp a load of garbage, and raise it up and over to be burned, causing steam to drive a turbine, to  produce electricity. Material that failed to burn was sifted on a shaker and metals (iron, copper, etc) would be recovered. We were told that one ton of garbage would equal one barrel of oil saved for power. Burning trash amounts for producing 7 percent of power on our island. An interesting fact learned is that limestone for "scrubbers" to keep exhaust clean, comes from Wyoming.  Other plants on the island use some coal and oil.  Photovoltaic and wind are also used to an extent, but it is very hard to control, and power surges can short out an entire grid, we were told.  Batteries are needed to keep up the wind turbines.  Batteries die and need to be replaced.  Cloudy days prevent sunlight from being used and there is no adequate way to store the energy produced as of yet.

Our next stop was Schnitzer Steel, a plant devoted to recovery of steel from cars, white metal(refrigerators etc.) The metal is shredded and cut with giant shears that can cut metal a half-inch thick. Larger metal such as rebars, used in concrete building, is cut with torches. Fairly interesting, but we did not leave the bus because of liability. We had all signed forms earlier, but it would have been too dangerous, and we would have only have been in the way of trucks and fork lifts.

Our third stop was a Hawaiian Earth Co. It is here that all green waste from the city is turned into compost mulch. Everywhere were piles of scrap wood pallets, logs, and compost.  The wood is finely  ground and becomes compost. We have a new unwelcome visitor to the islands called the coconut beetle. This new threat can be killed along with fire ants, when the compost creates heat to 155 degrees, over a period of 15 days. The piles are turned frequently.  The nice reddish compost you buy in the store is compost which has been dyed with a water dye. Interesting information.

Our final stop was a noisy and dusty redemption center for plastic and glass. The owner spoke to us and said that his family had been in garbage for over thirty years. The Roll Off company garbage trucks around town gave the present owner the idea to open a glass recycling business. Not only glass but also plastic containers and aluminum cans.

As we watched, trucks would arrive and dump their loads which would then be sorted on conveyer belts, with some trash falling through holes. Some of the larger trash would be removed by a few people as the belt moved by. The remark was made that this would be a good incentive to stay in school. Dusty, dusty. We climbed up and over the moving belt on a straight up and down ladder. Keeping in mind some of us are senior citizens and one lady was on a crutch. OSHA would have had a fit to have seen this. All the sorted glass, plastic, and metal would be bailed into large bails and stacked in piles to be sold.

The entire tour started at 8:30 and ended at 12:00. Very interesting trip. Very little is being done on the other islands, mainly land fill. We emerged dusty and very thirsty. Some beer would have been a nice touch.  So we went to Chili's and had one!

        Aloha
        Grant  


 

While on Liberty

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         While on Liberty
The elevator came to an abrupt halt several floors from our designated room. The elevator operator , a short stocky man with a fringe of white hair, asked "Are you guys thirsty?" That was a silly question, we were on liberty and looking for some booze. He then unbuttoned his gray double-breasted uniform jacket. He was a walking liquor store. There, inside in neat rows were half-pints of popular brands. "Five bucks each," he said. We had only to send down for some ice and mix.

This was she scene in the Hotel Black, in Oklahoma City in the year 1956. The state was a  dry state, and the only way to get a drink was to belong to a club, or know a bootlegger. Three-two beer, sometimes called "near beer" was found a Sweet Leona's Bar and Grill. And we consumed a fair amount.

The Naval Air Station located in Norman, Oklahoma was our home when we were unable to escape. Locker clubs were located in Norman where sailors should shed their uniforms, in favor of civilian dress. This service was for a price of course. Even in civilian clothes we were all betrayed by our block uniform shoes.

The sights of Oklahoma City had been explored throughly, and the oil wells on the lawn of the capitol were found interesting. But soon it was time to return to the hotel. Only two sailors checked in,and four others sneaked in later. A party got underway, and it became necessary for me to go to the bathroom. I was holding one of those short glasses with thick bottoms over the toilet bowl. It slipped from my grasp and plunged straight down to the toilet bowl. A loud crash was heard, and a softball size hole was in the bowl. You could look through the hole and see the tile floor below. None of us had ever heard of something like this happening before. This toilet was made of white china. I made a call down to the desk and explained the situation. We were visited by the proper authority. We were relieved when we learned that we would not have to pay for the damage. It was a good thing too, as we didn't have that kind of money.  

Anatomy of a Slingshot

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        Anatomy of a Slingshot
First you looked for a tree with a "Y-shaped" branch, necessary to create your slingshot. Box Elder trees were a good choice, as the wood was soft and easily yielded to dull jackknives and saws.

The bark would be stripped off, and the white wood soon dried. Then you could either carve a groove around the top forks of the Y, near the end, or make a slit in the end of each branch. Both methods were used.

Next, a search was conducted for a used inner tube. When found, it was cut into strips about an inch wide. Two strips of rubber were needed, about six inches long. One strip of each end of the rubber was tied to the end of each fork with a bit of string.

Then came the hard part. You had to find the tongue of an old shoe. When located, it was cut into a three inch piece, a slit was cut
on each end of the tongue. This was where the other end of the rubber strips were tied with a bit of string. The result made a small pouch. That was all there was to it.It soon became a prize possession. Your slingshot could launch small stones, marbles, clay balls, and even ball bearings.It was understood by all boys that you never shot at a person. It was against the code.

Alas, today you can buy a ready-made slingshot. These are cut out on a band-saw,and use rubber surgical tubing  instead of inner tubes. There is one called a "Wrist Rocket," for hunting small game. These are real killers. Not for small boys.  Oh well.
        Aloha
        Grant

Uncle Ed

     
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             Uncle Ed
The first time I met my uncle Ed, was at my father's funeral. After the service we sat and shared a six-pack of beer and talked. "I have known about you for years," I said. "I was given your name for my middle name."Yes, he replied, I knew." "You realize you are the only one alive who knows anything about our family in the West?" Uncle Ed then said that he would tell me what he knew, but that Grandma Beth would have known a whole lot more. " She died some time ago." "Yes, she is buried in L.A."

"I divorced your Aunt Alice in Chicago, and went to California." "This is the first time I have been back." "I'l tell you what I know, but it isn't much."

"Our family went to Montana, and settled in the Bitter Root Valley." " There they raised horses and sold them to the Union Army, during the Civil War." "They were a rough bunch, probably sold and broke mustangs too." "What about Great Aunt Jane," I asked. " I remember your Grandmother telling me how she used to shoot off the heads of rattlesnakes from horseback." "She was a crack shot and was in Bill Hitchcock's Wild West Show too."

I recalled to him about the story I had known for years about how one of our women had branded an Indian on his chest when he grabbed her hair." "I knew that story too." he said.

"My mother, your grandma was one of those tough Western women." "She went West in a covered wagon with her sister." "I'll bet you didn't know that she played a harmonica, a big four decker one." "No, I didn't, but I do know she wrote and published a song called "A Prairie Honey Moon." I said.

"How about your own father, what did he do for a living?" I asked. "Worked as a conductor on the Northern Pacific Rail Road." " He died in 1918, in the great flu epidemic." "Grandma had four or five husbands, I think." I said. "I think it was five,but your father would have known them." "I'm sorry to have so little to tell you." "When I get back to California I will send you your Grandma's Bible and a photograph album." "It's full of all the old family pictures, and I will put the name of the people I remembered on each picture." "That would be just great," I said.

That was the last time I ever saw him. A few months later I received a package in the mail. Inside was a note from the woman he lived with. She wrote that Ed had died and wanted me to have the Bible and photograph album. In the box was Grandma's Bible and the photograph album. I opened the album and stared a all the faces, men on horses, men with long beards and  women in wide dresses. But, not a single name under any picture.

     Aloha
     Grant

Mai Times

      More Letters From Paradise
             Mai Times
           Vol.1 issue 2

 OFF THE ROLL
Toilet paper all
across bathroom
floor again. Usual
suspect interviewed.
story p. 5

PLAYING ALONE
Small subject
very fuzzy, enjoys
chewing very old
bone. Flavor called
into question.
story p. 2

HOPE FOR ROPE
Small fuzzy subject
will bring thick
rope to person
wanting a play
partner. Requires
prompt action.
story p. 3

INVESTIGATION
CONTINUES
All palm trees
along Ala Wai
Canal subject
to scent us by
fuzzy subject.
   more p.3

SNIFF THIS
Small fuzzy subject
greatly surprised
by Boxer placing
nose on rear.
story p.2

        Aloha
        Grant

       

Roundhouse

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            Round House
My great-grandfather worked in the locomotive round house Chicago, in the 1880's. I do not know what job he had, but I do know that he was very well known for the use of his fists.

Sometimes the dark night- filled round house was lighted by a pool of light from the head lamps of silent locomotives. A circle of men surrounded two fighters. The rules were simple, no eye gouging and fight until one man quits, or is knocked out.The fights were brutal. Each man was stripped to the waist,and fought without gloves, bare-knuckles. Money was bet and money was lost.

My great-grandfather would often arrive home with red bruises on his body and arms, and less often a red cheek or swollen lip. But never a black eye. He would give a few dollars to his wife, while keeping the majority of his winnings to himself.

But where could he hide his winnings? He was helped in this problem by his wife. She was not very much interested in house cleaning. So Grandpa began hiding his winnings under the living room rug.

This situation continued for some time until the day when Grandma decided to do some house cleaning. The moment came when she lifted a side of the carpet and found the money. There were ten and twenty dollar gold coins and many large paper bills.

I know what she did when she found the money. What do you think she did?
Did she A. confront her husband
        B. put the money back
        C. take the money and go shopping
I would also note that if you would gently shake our family tree, a Heavy Weight
Champion of the British Isles would fall out. I think that my Great-grandfather is that man.

         Aloha
         Grant