More Than Just Feathers

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        More Than Just Feathers

Have you thought about ostrich lately? Probably not, neither had I until yesterday. My friend Gene told a story of how he had visited an ostrich farm in the western part of South Africa, and Oudtshoorn is called the "Ostrich Capital" of the world. Fairs are held with  ostrich races. Visitors are invited to race on an ostrich. Gene was selected, because he was small and light in weight. All others in his company were  bigger and heavier.

Men held the wings of the bird back, and he was lifted onto the bony back of the bird, and its wings folded around him. A leather strap was placed around the bird's stomach for the rider to hold with his left hand. Why the left hand? Because the right hand is used for steering the bird. The bird's neck is used like a joy-stick. Moving the neck forward the bird will go straight ahead. Move the neck left and the bird will go left, and to the right, and the bird will turn to the right. To stop, push neck back. And so it was. He was told that he had ridden really well. How many people can say that they have ridden an ostrich?

Gene's story caused me to do a bit if digging about ostrich farming and such. I found that the first ostrich farm was established in 1860 for harvesting ostrich feathers! The feathers could be harvested every six or eight months. The ostrich feathers were used to decorate hats for women. Long feather plumes, causing women to look more lovely. But in 1906, Queen Alexandra of England threw out all her feather decorated hats and feather boas. However, the use of feathers continued, and the boom years were the 1920's. But the decline in the use for feathers on women's hats was due to the fact that women had begun to cut their hair, and there wasn't enough hair to hold up a large hat decorated with feathers. The 1940's and 1950's saw further decline in the use of feathers. And by the 1960's most women were no longer wearing hats.

The ostrich has many more uses than feathers. The bird's meat is lean, red in color. Ostrich leather is used to make bags, belts, and shoes. And there is more.

Ostrich eggs have many uses. First, a fried ostrich egg will equal twenty-four chicken eggs, and will feed twelve people for breakfast! And ostrich eggs are decoupaged and sold around the world. The shell is also thick enough to be carved.

The ostrich is not always docile, but dangerous. A stick with natural barbs is sometimes used to get the bird's attention. They have large claw-like feet that can cause injury.

The ostrich is a bird worthy of admiration,  use, and respect.

     Aloha
     Grant  
               

Plan Bee

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              Plan Bee

A story from the Associated Press, in our local paper, caught my eye. The story was written by Vicky Ge Huang, and it was all about elephants and bees. You see, I like both elephants and bees. I was once kept bees, but I never kept an elephant.

According to the story it is estimated that there are 3,000 wild elephants roaming the   Thai countryside. The elephant's home has been the dense forests,but because of logging, leading to agriculture, the elephants are hungry.They travel in herds eating pineapples, a favorite food, and bananas. Distressed farmers planted pumpkins instead, knowing that elephants disliked them, but they ate them anyway. The farmers tried using firecrackers to scare the elephants away, and electric fences. Nothing seemed to work.

The Thai Department of National Parks found the solution to the problem. The answer was bees! Oxford University research found that elephants were afraid of bees. Bees have been used against elephants for several years in Africa.

Thai farmers would place a box of bees on stilts at an elephant's eye level,and connect the box of bees to another box of bees with a rope, and so on. The result was a rope fence connected at intervals with a box full of bees.

Once the elephants struck the rope, out flew hundreds of bees! Once stung the elephants never returned. The farmers now enjoy selling honey and beeswax.

So, now the farmers are happy, and can continue growing pineapples. Some are shipped to Hawaii. But what about those hungry roaming elephants? This reminded me of an old question. How do you get down from an elephant? Answer-You don't, you get it from ducks and geese.

     Aloha
     Grant

Across the Wide Lake

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         Across the Wide Lake  

During the Great Depression, FDR's New Deal found jobs for many people, including writers and artists. One such artist must have painted a picture I will always remember. The painting was in the post office of Frankfort, Michigan, and depicted the the open stern of a car ferry in a wild storm with a boxcar tearing loose, and going over the side. The subject and location was just perfect, as Frankfort, Michigan, was the hub of the Ann Arbor Rail Road, carrying boxcars and autos across Lake Michigan.

The Ann Arbor Railroad was not the only car ferry service, there were others. Boxcars full of freight could avoid the rail yards of Chicago, and the endless delays.

The Ann Arbor ferries, unlike ocean vessels, were numbered one thru seven, with one exception, one named "Wabash."

These car ferries sailed the entire year. The big enemy was ice. They could carry 32 freight cars or a combination of freight cars and autos. Loading was made using a switch-engine with a spacer car between the freight car and engine, because if the engine came aboard the vessel, it would cause the ship to sink.

These car ferries also carried passengers, for the 60 mile trip across Lake Michigan. The crossing time varied according to the weather at a speed of 14 mph, four to seven hours. Trips were also made to Wisconsin, with Indian sounding names: Manitoc and Kewaunee. Also in upper Michigan: Menominee and Manistique.

The ferry "Wabash," was the most beautiful of the Ann Arbor boats. It was 366 feet long, 58 feet wide and 19 feet deep. It carried a crew of 60 men who were involved in loading and unloading. the ship had steam-driven engines, using 70 tons of coal daily.

The Wabash had 40 staterooms with wood paneling, steam heat, electric lighting, a cooler for the galley, and an ice machine. There was also room for 360 passengers on deck in good weather.

The era of car ferries came to an end due to loss of profits, and insurance costs. The Wabash was retired in 1974, and was sold to a salvage company in Ontario, Canada. It was filled with scrap steel and sent to Spain where it ended its life.

The last car ferry from Kewaunee, Wisconsin, to Ludington, Michigan, was in November 1990. Today only one ferry named "Badger," carries only passengers, during the summer, from Ludington, Michigan, to Chicago.

I remember as a young boy living in Frankfort, watching the ice climbing the sides of the lighthouse, and wondering where my father was, working on the Wabash, somewhere out on the great lake.

     Aloha
     Grant
   

 

Homecoming 1945

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           Homecoming 1945

I awoke this morning thinking about my father's return from the war in Europe. This is how I remembered it.

The war was over at last. Mom had kept a large European map pinned to one wall of the dining room. There was a red colored pen which represented my father, and guessing where he was. All soldier's mail was censored. My father said later that mom was often right spot on as to where he was.

He had written to tell us to expect him any day soon. Our small four room, white-sided house with its tiny front porch and empty one car garage, was located not far from the brick two story school with its large windows.

My desk was located close to a window, and  I saw a yellow taxi pulling up to the front of our house! I simply couldn't contain my excitement, and waved my hand and asked to   to be excused. My teacher, understanding the importance of the moment, said that I could go! It had been a long three years since he had left us. I ran home faster than I had ever run before.

And there he was. He was in his uniform, his trousers bloused above jump boots, a chest with many colored ribbons, and corporal strips and division patch on the sleeves of his Eisenhower jacket. At his feet lay his duffel bag with dried mud on it. "That's French mud." he later said.

He had brought me a box containing plastic models of fighters and bombers. In his bag wrapped in clothing emerged three weapons. There was a German Luger, an Army 45, and a Walther PPK which was used by the German SS Divisions. The was also a German bayonet, British Commando knife, some Swastka armbands, and a handful of Iron Crosses. I  sometimes wonder how he managed to bring all of this home.

This all happened so long ago, but this is how I remember it.

      Aloha
      Grant

 

Search for a Better Baseball Bat

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   Search For A Better Baseball Bat

Most,if not all, professional baseball players are using maple wood bats. Formerly bats were made of either ash or maple birch. Why the switch to maple? It is because maple bats are lighter, a greater bat speed and great impact upon contact with the ball. But this has come at a great price too. Maple bats shatter, sending slices of wood, and causing many injuries.

A two-month survey revealed that there was an average of one multiple-piece bat failure a game. The causes were poor quality slope of grain and or splits in the bat caused by excessive bending. Officials cracked down on suppliers that produce maple bats. An agreement was signed with the Major League and the Players Association that no new players would be allowed to use low-density maple bats. Major leaguers who predated the agreement are permitted to use them. The agreement expires this December.

Three examples of injuries caused by maple bats will suffice. A catcher for the Milwaukee Brewers was hit in his mask by a broken bat, and he was lucky because it was the large end. A more serious case was when a player for the Chicago Cubs, running from third base, was impaled just inches from his heart with a slice from a broken bat. And in June 2005, a woman while leaning down to help her son with his hot dog, was clubbed by a piece of a broken bat.

But now there is some hope. Kent "Hawk" Williamson of Girard, Pennsylvania has received a patent for his new bat. It includes a special rubber handle and all-purpose natural thread inside the bat from below the label to the knob, that prevents the wood from flying apart. The grip also helps hold the bat t together. Williamson mixes tiny pieces of rubber with a high-quality epoxy resin to produce the grip.

The new bat has, and is undergoing testing in order for it to be accepted, and used by the major league. Meanwhile Williamson continues perfecting his bat and looking for investors.

All the above information came from an excellent story written by Jon Saraceno in Sports section of USA Today,Monday August 15 2016.
       Aloha
       Grant  

Five B

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               Five B
Honolulu is located on the lee, or sheltered side of the Koolau mountains that divide the island of Oahu. The windward side of the island gets most of all the rain. So, we here are most often free of rain. There are sometimes passing trade wind showers, like a fine mist or sprinkle of rain. This results in what some locals call "pineapple juice." Tourists are sometimes surprised by the sudden sprinkle of rain when no cloud is in sight. The wind has carried it from a far away cloud.

Okay, so it doesn't rain much in Waikiki.  Except some time ago when we had more than forty straight days of rain. Why am I going on about this? It is all about not having a wet dog.

You see there are 407 apartments in our building, and each one has an assigned parking stall. Okay, all I have learned from reading this is that it doesn't rain much and that has something to do with a dog not getting wet.

Well, at last getting to the point of the story. We have six floors of parking, and we park on level 5B, under the swimming pool. Well-covered in case of rain, and there is some other covered parking on the same level. And so now about the dog. Mai Tai is built so close to the ground that even if the sidewalks are not very wet, he still manages to get his underside and paws wet. There are fewer unpleasant chores than washing a dog's feet and blowing him dry.  (Teena's note:  I can think of a few!)

So, at last we come to the title of this short letter. If it has rained over night, or if it is raining, it causes me to have to forgo a nice brisk walk outside with Mai Tai, and resort to Five B. This simply means walking under the sheltered deck of Five B, in order to keep Mai Tai dry. Walking back and forth, again and a again for at least thirty minutes. If you are one of those who find soccer or a baseball no hitter as boring, you can relate.

Anyway, it is not raining now and the forecast is for rain for later in the week. It must be exceedingly difficult to predict the weather for all eight of our major islands. My fingers are crossed that there will be no 5B in the morning.  

     Aloha
     Grant

Chewing Gum

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             Chewing Gum
" My mom gave me a nickel to buy a pickle, I didn't buy a pickle, I bought some chewing gum." "Chew, chew, chew, how I love chewing gum." That's how I remember the song. And there was another ad : "Double your pleasure, double your fun with double rich Double Mint Gum."

It seemed that almost everyone chewed gum years ago. Customers had a wide choice of flavored chewing gum. The Clark company offered the following choices: Teaberry, Blackjack, and Clove. There also was Dentine chewing gum, good for bad breath, and supposed to clean your teeth too. My favorite was Beeman's Pepsin Chewing Gum. Wonderful taste, and was said to aid indigestion. Grandpa was always good for a stick from a  pack, which he kept in a  pocket of his vest. Due to popular demand, this brand was brought back a few years ago, and then it suddenly vanished.

Chewing gum came in several shapes: Gum balls from machines, single wrapped chunks which sold for a penny. And flat sheets that came with baseball cards. Baseball players were chewing tobacco from a pouch, and kids could could buy a pouch of shredded bubble gum. There were bubble gum shaped cigars too. I  almost forgot Chicklets, candy coated gum shaken from a box. Naughty boys would sometimes substitute Feenamint laxative for Chicklets, as they were similar looking.

Did we dispose of our used gum properly? Probably not, if you looked on the underside of student desks. There were some teachers who made students wear their gum on their nose when caught chewing gum in class.

Sometimes it was not so wonderful. People chewing with their mouth open, like looking into a cement mixer. And some people who were able to create a pocket in the gum and then crush it causing a snap or a pop. Very annoying.

Dentists must have been kept busy filling cavities, and nobody knew about dental
floss.  But things are better now, you don't see many people chewing gum.

And there is one place where chewing gum is illegal, against the law, and subject to a big fine. That place is Singapore. My friend, Gene, who has lived in Singapore for thirty years, told me so.

Gene said that this all came about when a wad of chewing gum prevented an electric connection of MRT subway cars. The response was swift. The Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew, ordered that all chewing gum would become illegal by the end of the week. This event took place on Wednesday.

The Wrigley Chewing Gum people were very upset as they were trying to gain a trade deal. So Lee Kwan Yew agreed for them to sell their product. But, after signing the deal, he informed the Wrigley people that the gum could only be sold with a  prescription  at a pharmacy. The gum would cost $5.00 a pack, and there would be a $20.00 co-pay.
And, if anyone was foolish to have gum on their person, or if spitting gum on the sidewalk, the fine was $350.00.
 
Lee Kwan Yew ruled Indonesia from 1959-1990. He died in 2015 at age 91.
Thanks Gene for a great story.

      Aloha
      Grant