Brookville, Ohio

Honeybee and Mosquito and Poppy

2012-01-27T13:29:00.003-05:00

honey_bee_mosquito_poppy_070107_8118_filtered, a photo by oldmanlincoln2012 on Flickr.

The honeybee, on the left side, and the mosquito on the right side, are approaching this red poppy that is loaded with pollen. I watched the couple share the meal and fly away and more came. It was a busy poppy all day.

Dwight's House Fire

2012-01-26T00:01:00.012-05:00

This still is Dwight's House. It doesn't look like much. I think the yellow tape is still hanging there. I go by the house, once every couple of months. Maybe there will be some cleanup progress, but there never is. Dwight Ressler lost the house he was born in and all of his possessions on February 14th 2009. Dwight and I have been friends from day one. We are the same age and went to school together. I ate some fabulous meals that Bonnie, his mother, fixed and was always eager to get some of her sugar cured ham. I helped Milbert, his father, pick tomatoes and got ten cents a hamper. Now, however, the house is gone and about all we have left are memories from an earlier and happier time when the barnyard was alive with the sounds of farm animals.

Waiting out the snowstorm

2012-01-25T06:35:00.001-05:00

I think all living things enjoy a lust for life with friends or others like themselves. When life or death is on the line, birds will sometimes perch very close together to live or die together. Starlings are the most raucous birds alive but when times are rough and they stay close together—if one freezes to death—they all are found frozen to death.

Cold Windy Day

2012-01-24T00:35:00.002-05:00

Starlings Perched on Thermostat, a photo by oldmanlincoln2012 on Flickr.

It is cold and windy here. Had warmed up a bit today but it is now going back down and the birds are a bit on the frosty side. I took this photo several years ago. It is the only time the birds posed like this on the thermometer just outside the window.

Young Abe Lincoln

2012-01-23T00:35:00.001-05:00

Sarah Bush Lincoln recalls her stepson, young Abe Lincoln
© by Abraham Lincoln

"Abe was a good boy. He didn't like physical labor. He was diligent for knowledge and wished to know, and if pains and labor would get it he was sure to get it. He was the best boy I ever saw.

"He read all the books he could lay his hands on." Mrs. Lincoln said. Abe read histories, papers and other books. She said he had no particular religion at that time, and if he ever did he never talked about it, but he did read the bible though not as much as was claimed. He read diligently and studied in the day time.
Abe was a constant reader of newspapers, and when he could get copies he read the Louisville Journal. He went to bed early and got up early and then read. After reading he would eat breakfast and go to work in the fields with the men.

His stepmother remarked that he ciphered on boards, when he had no paper or slate, and when the board would get too black he would shave the black off with a drawing knife and begin again. She said he put his "sums" down on paper if he had any.

Mrs. Lincoln said that Abe was silent and attentive when older folks were at their house, but when the visitors left, he was busy asking questions about whatever they had talked about. He wanted to know everything in minute detail.

Abe would stand on a stump or log and repeat sermons, word for word, to the children. He frequently made other speeches and sometimes his father would make him quit speaking because the children and men would stop to listen to him when they should be working. Abe's father never made Abe quit reading, though, and if something needed to be done, Thomas would do it himself instead of asking Abe to stop reading.

Mrs. Lincoln said Abe never gave her a cross word or look and never refused in fact, or even in appearance, to do anything she asked him. He was kind to everybody and to everything and always accommodated others.

More information about Abraham Lincoln is available in:
Pages 106-107. Sarah Bush Lincoln interviewed September 8, 1865. Herndon's Informants, Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln. Edited by Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis. Copyright 1998 by Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis. University of Illinois Press.

Dogs at Work, New Postage Stamps

2012-01-22T00:33:00.018-05:00

In today’s world, dogs are more than just best friends — frequently, they’re also superb coworkers. The U.S. Postal Service celebrates the enduring partnership between dogs and people with the Dogs at Work issuance.

This set of four stamps depicts four hard-working canines: a guide dog assisting a woman who is blind, a tracking dog on the trail of a scent, a therapy dog visiting an elderly woman in her home, and a search and rescue dog standing in a field, ready to tackle the next assignment.

For thousands of years, dogs and humans have shared a special bond. While the earliest dogs helped human hunters bring home prey, today’s pooches excel at a variety of jobs. Currently, some 10,000 guide dogs in the U.S. and Canada serve as an extra set of eyes for people who are blind.

Therapy dogs, chosen for their friendly dispositions, bring comfort and joy to the elderly and the ill. Dogs that work with police and military personnel are trained to detect drugs, guns, and explosives. Search and rescue dogs speed up search efforts, increasing the odds of survival for disaster victims.

Artist John M. Thompson created original paintings for the stamps, which were designed by art director Howard E. Paine.

The Dogs At Work stamps are being issued at a 65-cent denomination, which is the price for single-piece retail First-Class Mail weighing more than one ounce and up to and included two ounces.

Scribe License Plate

2012-01-21T19:27:00.002-05:00

1024-my1998licenseplate-P1070295, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

I used to buy a vanity license plate and since I was a scribe and had a business doing scribal work, including manuscript work, the idea of having a license plate with what I do, appealed to me. I kept the name for several years, but then thought I was spending too much money for special plates and I quit. This was the last plate I got in 1998.

Replacing Hail Damaged Roof

2012-01-20T19:24:00.001-05:00

Publish Post

Replacing Hail Damaged Roof, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

We had a hail storm in our city back in May 26th, 2011. We had a tornado warning for that day and the clouds swirled and got darker and darker. All of a sudden it sounded like someone was shooting canon balls on the roof. We saw these softball size, round balls of ice bounce off the roof and land in the yard. It sounded awful. First time we had heard anything like that. And then the crash of one skylight as a large ball of ice went through it. Every building in the city had roof damage and it took the rest of the year for different insurance companies to come around and eventually replace the roofs. This couple were working to replace the roof on our neighbor's house.

Trucks on Interstate 70

2012-01-19T16:27:00.004-05:00

1024-trucksonI70-4470, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Nuclear Waste
By Abraham Lincoln

Problems still exist in cleaning up nuclear waste sites. The U. S. Department of Energy is offering hundreds of new nuclear site cleanup jobs to southern Ohio workers and a second chance for USEC to win a $2 billion federal budget loan guarantee after department officials said on July 20, 2009 that a planned uranium enrichment plant in Piketon was not ready, according to an article in USA Today, on January 18, 2012.

Cast Transportation, out of Denver, Colorado, is in the business of hauling with a focus on special services. Cast has been transporting both nuclear and hazardous materials since 1977. Their website claims they have transported hundreds of thousands of truckloads of these materials over 20 million miles with no reportable incidents.

What a shame it will be when one of these hazardous waste haulers spills its load or damages the countryside with nuclear waste materials. I feel it is my responsibility to know what is on the highways passing my house or coming close to the city where I live.

Before you get too upset about trucks hauling waste materials of all kinds, remember the trucks also haul everything we consume. The days of trains hauling loads of goods by boxcar after boxcar are past. We have no trains coming through Brookville and a bike path is the only evidence that trains once passed through town.

I like the bike path. I can no longer use it but I rode my bike from Brookville to Verona nearly every day for several years. I didn’t realize it then but I was huffing and puffing because my lungs were beginning to wear out. I thought coming back to Brookville from Verona was all uphill. Now, my Schwinn Mountain Bike that I paid a lot of money for at the bike shop is slowly going downhill – I am sure the tires are unsafe.

My nephew drove an 18-wheeler for several years. He drove from California to New York City taking loads back and forth. His father, my brother-in-law, rode with him several times and said he didn’t like the big cities. He seemed to think New York City was the worst city to drive a big rig in.
Sitting at the local McDonald’s one morning, waiting to pick up an order of coffee for a “Senior Citizen,” I happened to notice a large semi truck pulling into the truck parking lot next door. The truck whipped in and turned to stop facing the road.

In an instant, it was in reverse backing up nearly as fast as it had pulled in. After it stopped and I heard the air brake, “pssssst!”, out jumped the smallest lady I ever saw. She was riving a big rig and I don’t think she was tall enough, standing beside one of those 18 tires, to see the tread on top.

Chris at art show

2012-01-18T10:40:00.002-05:00

artshow, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

Years ago, when Chris was about 10, he did go with me to the art shows that I attended. We had some quality time as father and son in those days. Now, he is an art director, and lives in Florida.

Local Pharmacy

2012-01-17T18:47:00.001-05:00

720_pharmacy_4103, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

This building was originally built for Bill Hubler's new hardware store. After Bill died, it was sold to McMaken who used it as a movie rental. That went out of business and Clark's Pharmacy is now well established here.

Birdfeeder we use

2012-01-16T17:04:00.002-05:00

980-birdfeeder_0001, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

I jazzed the picture up quite a bit but this is the feeder currently being used to feed the birds that fly in. Sometimes a squirrel comes down the bungee cord and gets on. But, we just let him or her eat. They are probably going to have babies and should get good food now. Also the food that spills is eaten up by starlings and squirrels and anything else that comes around, including the Pepper Jax. He eats bird food, especially peanuts.

Available Light Photography, 1954

2012-01-15T15:51:00.003-05:00

980-smokingavailablelight-, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

The new Kodak, Tri-X film had come out and we were testing it in Japan. Some of us had tried using 120mm square film that worked in the twin lens Rolliflex and several Japanese knock-offs. And I think, though I cannot specifically remember, that this is an example from either a Yashica.

Samuel Spitler House

2012-01-14T08:23:00.010-05:00

"Samuel Spitler House" Brookville Ohio, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

The Samuel Spitler House, in Brookville, Ohio belongs to the Brookville Historical Society and Wayne Watkins has been very instrumental in keeping the building looking its best and hosting all visitors from whole classes of school children to the people who just want to see what living used to be like in Brookville, Ohio

Houston, Texas fruit market, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

I am most appreciative of the fact that the Samuel Spitler House is only a museum and not a market house like the photograph taken in Houstin, Texas fruit market. What a difference location makes.

Spectrum Eagle

2012-01-12T17:36:00.000-05:00

America’s national emblem, the majestic bald eagle is a symbol of strength and longevity. With Spectrum Eagle, the U.S. Postal Service issues six new stamps celebrating the grandeur of this magnificent bird.

The eagle’s powerful profile is depicted in white set boldly against a sequence of six varying shades of reds, yellows, greens, and blues. Each color subtly blends with the one following, resulting in a gradual spectrum from left to right across six stamps.

On June 20, 1782, an Act of Congress officially adopted the bald eagle as America’s national symbol. The bald eagle—which is native to North America—is sacred to many Native American cultures and is the focus of numerous myths and legends. After years on the endangered species list, the bald eagle has made a remarkable recovery and is no longer considered endangered or threatened. In 2007, Congress designated June 20 as the first “American Eagle Day” to celebrate the recovery of this national treasure from the brink of extinction.

Designed by art director Ethel Kessler, this Presorted First-Class Mail® stamp features an original illustration by Michael Osborne.

Sendai City Museum of History and Folklore, My photos exhibited

2012-01-12T09:26:00.002-05:00

Sendai City Museum of History and Folklore, My photos exhibited, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

The photographs that I took in Japan are all houses at the Sendai City Museum of History and Folklore. The museum has featured my photographs in exhibits like this one the photo shows.

Abe Lincoln in 1955

2012-01-11T07:02:00.003-05:00

sgtlincoln6, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

Me, for sure, a whopping 57 years ago. Can you believe that? Fifty-seven years ago I sat down on the grass outside my barracks in Camp Sendai, Sendai, Japan.

Black and White

2012-01-10T08:18:00.004-05:00

Though this doesn’t look anything like the real sunflower in all of its sunshine yellow, I like to think of it as just that but seen in black and white. Then I get to use my mind to put the proper colors in their proper places.

Technorati Tags: sunflower,black and white

Big Turkey

2012-01-08T10:11:00.005-05:00

Me, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

You have to admire the creativity of my kids. At Christmas time, they all donned this hat (?) and had their picture taken. I didn't volunteer but got it anyway.

Garden of Eden?

2012-01-07T10:08:00.001-05:00

By Abraham Lincoln

The Garden of Eden was opened for business—like a new Hard Disk is formatted. The Start button began to glow – pulsed – invited anybody to push it.

A lady, naked as a Jay bird, pushed the button—a red apple, sealed in a bag, popped out of nowhere.

There were Top Secret instructions in the bag and she opened the bag and read about all the bad things in the world and she read all about the good things in the world. "Wow!" she said.

"Wow," she said again as her naked soul-mate came strolling along. He barely noticed her so she gave him a peek into the Top Secret bag; and he reeled back and was amazed to see her.

She was naked, possibly a virgin, no doubt; and he took her right there under the banana tree in the Garden of Eden. The Hark Disk whirred. She swooned.

Still reeling in delight, she stripped leaves off a bush and fashioned them into a belt to cover his delight that made her swoon.

But the Chief Programmer saw some porn on his new hard disk, he had just formatted, and he had to reformat the hard disk all over again.

The Garden of Eden incident has been lost among other myths on iPhones, iPads, tablets and computers.

The Flag

2012-01-06T10:07:00.000-05:00

This is the first story in the book, My Life as Abraham Lincoln. You can buy it in three forms from download to printed edition.

I must confess that I get a little bit emotional when I see guys or gals marching down the street carrying the American flag—they are the “Color Guard.”

The last parade I attended (not counting the last Fireman’s Parade) in Brookville was one that came from somewhere around Boose Chevrolet and marched down Wolf Creek Street to somewhere else—I assumed the downtown area (They usually come from the other direction and that’s one reason I remember this parade. They were going in the wrong direction).

We stood around the corner of Wolf Creek and Durwell. Both sides of the street were littered with people of all ages, sizes and descriptions.

Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and most smiled at each other and pointed at something they liked that was passing by in the parade.

The parade participants were smiling a lot, some waved at familiar faces but a lot of them were looking bored, and I would have bet they were wishing they had worn their “other” shoes.

The thing that bothered me was when I noticed the Color Guard coming towards us.

Four old soldiers with VFW hats on their heads all shouldered old rifles from the case at the VFW were marching in step.

I noticed nobody on either side of the street stood up when the flag they carried passed by. I saw nobody salute the flag or even acknowledge it was there. People were too busy or just didn’t know what they were supposed to do.

I wondered what in the world our school teachers were teaching our students. It surely wasn’t how to act in the presence of the American Flag. But I can’t blame all the students, because there were many more adults along the street than students. And they didn’t stand up and I never saw one hand over any chest or anyone snapping to attention and giving the military salute.

I wondered what these guys must have been thinking. Nobody seemed to care about them or the flag they carried. I suppose they thought, like I did, that somebody needs to sit these people down and explain the facts of American Life to them.

Somebody needs to take them to Iwo Jima and climb Mt Surabachi like I did and see the pieces of bones still weathering white in the sand and sunshine. They need to visit Poland and walk down the streets where the Nazi boots marched in the Jewish Ghetto.

Or maybe we are a nation of disbelievers. What’s past is history— don’t rub my nose in it.

Well I said to myself, ‘piss on the rest of you people.’ When the Color Guard got close, I stood up and I saluted the flag of the United States of America and acknowledged the men who carried it.

You know what? They saw me do that.

They quietly said, “Right Turn,” and marched over to me with my hand still saluting, and they lowered the flag they could lower (nobody lowers the US Flag) and saluted me. I was stunned and tears formed in my eyes. Damn. What a parade that was. Those old guys made my day. I never will forget it.

Use iTunes to have this read to you. I did and got all emotional.

Brookville, The Last Post?

2012-01-05T08:07:00.002-05:00

Nope! No. The opposite of Yes is "_ _" but you might not like what is going on here. I might show you some things you will not want to see. Not nudity. Certainly not porn. And nothing real religious. If you don't want to take a chance of what is coming up, you are invited to visit Writing 26 Letters and see if you want to be a Follower or Subscriber to it.

http://writing26letters.blogspot.com/

Sunflower

2012-01-04T18:29:00.001-05:00

Sunflower. I love sunflowers. I hate it when it is winter and I cannot see sunflowers and birds eating sunflower seeds. Look to Writing 26 Letters to see what I am doing these days.

Plumbing Outlet

2011-12-25T12:09:00.003-05:00

Plumbing outlet, a photo by Honest Abe Lincoln on Flickr.

Brookville does not have a store quite like this one. I don't remember them ever having a store selling anything that was like this one. But then I have only lived in Brookville since 1962. Who knows what happened before I got here?

Steve Jobs

2011-12-24T00:35:00.015-05:00

My watercolor drawing reminds me of Steve Jobs. I got his book and have been reading it. My drawing doesn't look anything like he looked—Steve was balding, Tiger isn't but he has a nice studded collar and Jobs didn't.

When I came to the dirty part in the book I copied some of it down: He smelled bad and while working for Atari, Jobs was routinely put on the graveyard shift. From tangled hair and body odor beginnings, Jobs went on to be a highly respected artistic designer whose computer s are considered the best in the world. We have three of them and so far they have all worked perfectly.

Double-D cup size

2011-12-23T15:54:00.002-05:00

I decided I need a new clip board. One of those man-made things that holds lot of papers you may or may not be working on at the moment. I like them because I do a lot of writing and writing down ideas while my rear end is in the recliner and the sturdy clip board rests on my leg and enables me to write without too many gross mistakes.

So with my oxygen tank in tow, I boarded our Toyota and headed out Westbrook Road, bound for State Route 49. The road was filled with places that need repair but until our fiscal house gets in order (remember to vote the Republicans out as they voted, "No!" on everything) we will suffer worse than this is. I did get to Salem Avenue, and the shopping center and to Office Depot. I was surprised at the number of people out and about on this 23rd day of December. But Office Depot seemed anxious for me to buy something and two people asked if they could help me find something.

"Clip Boards?" The reply was aisle 11 at the end. Sure enough they have clip boards there. I wanted the cheapest kind and the most old-fashioned kind, and not the modern kind with the Cup A size clamp. I want the Double-D cup size clip that can, in a pinch, be used to cut little fingers off; decapitate mice, de-claw cats, and substitute for a wax-job on chest or neck. That Double-D cup is one big-ass pincher, and I only wanted one, but they only come in a package of three. So for the price of the one I wanted, they gave me three. This is Christmas?