Euros, Utility Pole, Yard work, and a sick cat

Sunday was a nice, quiet day. Lots of relaxation and movie watching while knitting.

On Monday, we went to the bank and ordered Euros for our trip. I was afraid the power company was going to show up to replace the rotten utility pole, but they never did appear.

Tuesday morning at 8am, the power company arrived in 3 huge trucks. They had a remote-controlled machine with tank treads on it. This machine picked up the utility pole and took it to the backyard. While it was in the yard, they attached the hardware to it before they raised it. The machine picked up the pole and moved it over the fence to put it in the hole on the other side. This machine also held the bucket so the guy could get up the pole and attach the wires. It took about 7 hours, but we were only without power for about 2 hours. All day, we sat in the yard and watched them work on the pole, which was very interesting.

On Wednesday, we went grocery shopping, which we had put off for the past 2 days. I’m so glad we only went to Aldi's, Walmart, and Gala Fresh (the meat market). In the afternoon, we worked in the yard. We cleared out the back of the back yard patio and moved the bushes in front of the screen room to the back. Then we spread out the “Moses in the bulrushes” and the amaryllis bulbs in the front flower bed.

I went shopping with Donna on Thursday, and she stopped at the bank so I could pick up the euros that we ordered. While Don took an afternoon nap, Donna gave me more “Moses in the bulrushes” to spread in the front flower bed. Little Bear was not her usual self, and we were worried about this little cat.

On Friday morning, Don noticed the front flower bed and thought all the plants had doubled in size on their own. At first, I let him believe it, but I was laughing so hard that he knew something was up. He was relieved to know that we added more plants. Then we trimmed palm trees, and Donna helped us drag yard waste to the street. Little Bear, the cat, is not doing well. She isn’t eating or drinking water, and Donna thinks she may have eaten a lizard. I hope she doesn’t die.

On Saturday, I attended a knitting class on Zoom at 10:00 a.m. However, we then had to attend the Postcard Club, so I took the class on my phone while we drove to the meeting. I was able to finish my class out in the parking lot before joining the rest of the postcard enthusiasts.

As soon as it got light out, I went looking for Little Bear, and I found her curled up behind my potted plants. I wasn’t sure she was alive, and I shone my flashlight on her. Thankfully, she moved her head. A little while later, she came to the screen door and wanted inside. I was able to get her to eat a little dry food. Then Donna came by with some canned cat food for her, and she ate a lot of the food. When we got back in the afternoon, she was asleep under our swing, and I brought her some water, but she wouldn’t drink anything. Before long, she came to the screen door and wanted inside. I was able to get her to eat a little dry food, but then Donna brought her more of the canned food, and she ate a lot. She even started to clean herself, which she hadn’t had the energy to do in days. I’m glad to see she is feeling better.

Original photos by Pat Hensley

Crowns, Stamps, and Antique Technology

After a physical therapy appointment on Monday, Don is almost back to normal. He still isn’t allowed to attend exercise class or walk with weights in his hands. He can put weights in a pack and wear it on his back, but not in his hands, which will throw his balance off.

Tuesday, I went back to the dentist and got my permanent crowns. I guess they were made from the 3D image, and they fit and feel better than any other crown I have gotten. They are nice and smooth, too. They fit so well that the dentist didn’t even have to grind or sand (or whatever he does) to get the bite right.

Wednesday, I helped set up for the Thursday tea, and everything turned out beautifully. On Thursday, I was going to help with clean up, but I worked in the yard and then fell asleep, so I didn’t get to go back up there.

On Friday, we headed to the North Georgia Stamp Show. We left home at 6:00 and arrived in the Atlanta area around 9:00. The stamp show didn't start until 10, so we had breakfast at Waffle House (it's been months since we've eaten at Waffle House), and it was so good! The stamp show was held at the Mimms Museum of Technology. When we got to the show, they had an area with a few round tables and comfy chairs, so I spent most of the day knitting on my sweater and reading a library book on my iPad. Since we ate such a big breakfast, we didn't even have lunch. Around 2 pm, I finished my sweater, and my iPad was almost out of battery, so I spent $15 and went through the museum, which was okay. There was a lot of reading, and the lights were too dim to really read anything. I saw lots of things I have used in my lifetime that made me a little nostalgic. I didn't realize so many of them belonged in a museum.LOL The best thing was the first 3D electric car. By 4 pm, my hubby was finished, so we decided to head home instead of spending the night. We got home around 8 pm.

It was nice and cool this morning, so I worked in the yard around 6:45 am to do some weeding. Now I feel okay about sitting and knitting all day! Today I need to wash and block my sweater.

Original photos by Pat Hensley

Postcard Show

Yesterday we went to the Postcard Show hosted by the Tropical Postcard Club. We got there around 10 am when it started and stayed until 1 pm. It ended at 4 pm but we had to get on the road before then. It was so nice to see our postcard friends. I thought there was a good turn out and I was glad to see a couple of our stamp club friends come to the show. 

Don found lots of treasures that he couldn’t live without. I surprised him and bought 4 boxes of postcards from another friend for his birthday. Of course, our car is packed to the gills as we make our way back to our summer home and I felt like I needed a shoe horn to fit anything else in the car! We will miss our postcard friends but we will be back in 6 months for the winter. 

The Vagabonds visit President Coolidge

President Calvin Coolidge is pictured here with his father, Colonel John Calvin Coolidge, Sr., Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison. The real photo postcard was taken in 1924 during one of the most famous visits to the President’s home in Plymouth Notch, Massachusetts. Pictured in the photo: President Calvin Coolidge (second from left) his father, Colonel John Calvin Coolidge, Sr., (far left), Henry Ford (second from right), and Thomas Edison (far right). After everyone autographed the sap bucket, shown in the middle of the photo, President Coolidge gave it to Henry Ford. The bucket was owned by the President’s great-great-grandfather. The sap bucket was on display in the barroom of the Wayside Inn (once owned by Ford) in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

Plymouth Notch was President Coolidge’s boyhood home. This was the third trip to Plymouth in the past year. During his first trip, his father woke him up to tell him that President Warren G. Harding had died and now Calvin was president. The second trip was to bury his son, Calvin Jr., who died of blood poisoning from an infected blister. This third visit was to escape the heat and pressures of Washington and get some much-needed rest. There wasn’t a lot in town except a few houses and a general store along with a set of buildings and a little church. The set of buildings became the temporary White House. President Coolidge sat around his father’s house reading or visiting during this time. One visitor complained that he had trouble harvesting because of illness in his family so the President volunteered to help.

Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Henry Firestone (not pictured) were on a camping journey together. Between 1915 and 1924, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs called themselves The Four Vagabonds. They took yearly camping trips from 1916-1924. Their camping trips are widely credited with initiating recreational car travel. The idea started in 1914 when Henry Ford and John Burroughs visited Thomas Edison in Florida and toured the Everglades. The next year the three of them went to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in California. Edison, Burroughs, and Harvey Firestone traveled through New England in 1916. In 1918, they traveled through West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. Other trips included the Adirondacks, the Catskill Mountains, northern Michigan, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Their caravan consisted of several heavy passenger cars and vans that carried the Vagabonds, household staff, and equipment. Also along with the group were Ford Motor Company photographers.

Class Activities:

• Find out more about The Vagabonds.
• Find a map and label the places the Vagabonds visited.
• Calculate how many miles the Vagabonds traveled each year.
• How long was Calvin Coolidge President and what were some important things did he do during his presidency?
• How is a sap bucket used?

Original photo by Pat Hensley

Original Postcard owned by Don Hensley

John Walker and the Summer White House

Recently my husband showed me a postcard of a proposed summer home of the Presidents. Neither one of us had ever heard about this so I decided to look for more information.

According to the Outbound Collective’s description on hiking Mt. Falcon in Colorado,

“If you’re looking for a little more adventure, or just wanting to extend your hike, then add on a trip to the Summer White House…This short trail (0.3 miles, 185 ft gain) will take you to a proposed site for a Summer White House. John Walker’s dream of building a magnificent summer retreat for the Commander-In-Chief never materialized, but the cornerstone remains as a reminder of his grand vision.”

John Brisben Walker was born in 1847 and served in the Chinese army, ran for congress and made and lost several fortunes in iron and real estate. In 1879, he came to Colorado to try agriculture and made a fortune by introducing alfalfa farming. He also developed real estate and an amusement park in Denver. He moved back east in the late 1880s to manufacture cars and stage America’s first auto race.

Walker had dreams of many projects in the early 1900s including Cosmopolitan magazine. He bought the failing magazine, improved it and sold it to Hearst Corporation in 1905 for a profit. Returning to Colorado in the early 1900s, he pioneered changes in farming and developed parts of Denver. He opened a casino, developed Red Rocks Park, and built Mount Morrison’s cog railway.

In 1909, Walker and his wife began building a mansion on Mount Falcon.  Walker also proposed a “castle in the clouds.” This was the proposed summer home for the Presidents.  The cornerstone made of Colorado yule marble was laid on July 4, 1914. The castle was to model European ones so that the President could enjoy the summer months here. It was supposed to have five floors built into a steep cliff and have 22 rooms, designed by Denver architect J.B. Benedict. Funding was a huge issue for this project though. Walker persuaded school children to donate dimes to the project and the foundation was laid.

After his idea for the summer White House took form, his life took a turn for the worse. His wife died in 1916 and beautiful home was destroyed by fire two years later. Stone ruins are all that remains there. Fundraising for the summer White House failed as World War 1 approached. Walker’s fortune was depleted, and tax debts increased so much that a lot of his property was sold, foreclosed, or condemned. So, he left Colorado to live with his son in Brooklyn where he died in 1931.

Activities for the Classroom:

·      Research The White House. When was it built? What President was in office when it was first built? How many rooms are in it? Name 3 interesting facts about it.

·      Research Roosevelt’s Little White House. Where is it? When was it built? How many rooms were in it? Why was it called the Little White House? When was it used?

·      If you were to build another White House, where would you build it? Why? How many rooms would it have? What would be special about it?

Original photo by Pat Hensley

Tropical Post Card Club

Last weekend we joined the Tropical Postcard Club. What a wonderful group! We met a lot of people who lived quite a distance from the club meeting. For 2 hours they looked, traded, or bought each other’s postcards that were brought and then had a business meeting. They discussed an upcoming postcard show that the club will be hosting in February. The show will be held at the Emma Lou Olson Civic Center in Pompano Beach on February 8.  

At the end of the business meeting, they had “show and tell” which I found very interesting. I can see how this “show and tell” would be extremely useful in the classroom.

One person had a framed exhibit which was wonderful. It was in a poster frame and he used photo corners so the postcards could be changed for a different exhibit. I could see this being done in the classroom. Each student could have their own exhibit and then share it with the class. Or the teacher can gather postcards for a specific topic to enhance the unit lesson.

Another person showed a license plate made from a postcard picture. He had the license plate and the postcard that was used. This would be a fun research project for students. Have the find ways that postcards are used other than for mail.

Someone had a collection of postcards signed by the artist, Ellen Clapsaddle. These are very collectible and expensive. Students could research this artist or find other people important to postcard collectors.

One man had his collection of the SS Eastland disaster that happened on the Chicago River in 1915. 884 people died when the ship rolled completely on its side while docked. This club member shared the postcards he had showing the disaster and the aftermath. There were postcards showing the removal of bodies. It was a very moving display of postcards and made me want to know more about this disaster. Students might enjoy finding historical events that interest them and sharing with the class information they find about the disaster.   

We really enjoyed this meeting and look forward to attending future meetings.

Do you belong to a postcard club? Please share?

Original picture by Pat Hensley