welcome 2024

Happy New Year! It’s been a busy few days leading up to today, so fortunately today has been a quiet mostly uneventful day. I never make New Year’s resolutions (as a retired old goat, I feel no need to mess with perfection). I suppose if I DID, I would resolve to write on this website at least once a day (nope), maybe once a week (wrong again), once a month (don’t be silly hughes), okay, then once a season. But since it’s not a resolution, if I do do get a seasonal posting done, great, if not, that’s groovy too.

Our New Year’s Party last night started out around 5-ish with feeding cats, then eating … I had some fresh home-made vegetable soup that my sister-in-law made (yummy!). The Mrs had pizza, which looked and smelled good, but that is not within the parameters of my dietary universe. My endocrinologist has forbidden pizza (way too many carbs, and cheese). I use to eat pizza a lot, both in frequency and in quantity. Now a days, I might nibble a bite once a year. Anyway, sometime before our feeding frenzy, we played an online game competition for 45 minutes, then chowed down (I’m not sure if soup CAN be chow-downed), and then popped in our personally owned blue ray disc (into the BR player) of “When Harry Met Sally”. Seems appropriate since the grand finale takes place on NYE. After the movie finished, I tidied things up a bit, then went to bed. I am not a midnight kinda guy these days. Guess I got plenty of midnight shifts when I worked in a steel mill back in the late 70’s and later while a public servant from the mid 80’s through the early 2000’s. I am still an early riser, usually about 5 am, which thrills the cats who get to eat an early first breakfast, then nap, have a 2nd breakfast a couple hours later, then take a nap, 3rd & final breakfast when the Mrs gets up….

So, that was my NYE, 2024 style. The Mrs did stay up until midnight I think, but I was out for the count so not sure if she sang, and banged pots and pans, and lit off fireworks. At least she didn’t awaken me if she did any of that in the house. 

Hope your 2024 is happy and healthy. I am going to do everything I can to make sure it is here in OUR household!

JAVP #2

1970 Volkswagen Type 1 (aka BUG). Circa 1976.

Just Another Vehicle Pic

This was my First Volkswagen, a 1970 Bug with a 1500cc air-cooled engine in the back. This was shortly after I rolled it, hence the Bondo and primer on the driver’s side fenders & panel just behind the door. This was a great little car, I could fill the gas tank for just over $3. I traded it in on a 4 door Mazda RX3 only because I was “promoted” to Assistant News Director at the radio station I was working at (WIXN FM/AM) and thought I needed to “upgrade” my car to add some creds equal to my title…

A Tease-spoon bit of snow…

This winter here in central Illinois has been snow-free probably 98% of the time. We had measureable snow twice. The first on January 19th. There was approximately 3 or 4 inches at our house.

This was followed-up a couple days later with an ice storm, to add “icing to the cake” I guess.

Then on February 15-16th we had about 6 inches drop in our area.

Now for my sad story… after the first snowfall, I called my buddy Glenn to tell him to pack up his cross country skiing gear and head on over, that we were going to tear up the park and soccer fields near our house. While he was getting his stuff together, I went into the attached garage and grabbed my skis and poles. My boots were not in the garage so I started rummaging through the front hallway closet (found snowmobile boots, and waterproof insulated “muck boots”, and hiking boots, and steel toed work boots…) but no ski boots. Back to the bedroom closet where I found The Mrs’s ski boots, but not mine. Down to the basement and man cave where I found cowboy boots and motorcycle boots, but no ski boots. After a short discussion with the Mrs, it dawned on me that after last winter, I discarded my old ski boots because the uppers were splitting and the soles were cracking. I was thinking I would buy new ones over the summer when they were on sale. Oooops! So Glenn went skiing on his own. In the meantime, I found some nice NEW boots online and ordered them. Of course by the time they arrived, the snow was long gone.

And then, overnight of the 15th to the 16th it really and truly snowed, so when I got up in the morning I shoveled a path in the driveway to get to my truck to move it so I could snowblow the drive later, and to make a little path for the outdoor kitties to get to their yard spot reserved for kitty bathroom privileges. Then contacted Glenn and told him to get over whenever the roads were cleared enough to make it cross-town. By noon-ish he was headed over so I got out my new ski boots and grabbed my old skis & poles and set them by the front door. I figured I would clip the boots in the bindings to admire the whole setup and made a horrifying discovery… The new boots use a different clip in system than my 30+ year old skis have! When my mother passed away a few years ago, I inherited hers and my father’s cross country equipment, and both those sets had the old outdated 20th century hardware… Anyway, Glenn got here, went skiing solo for almost 2 hours, then we he returned, he let me borrow HIS skis with the fabulous 21st century bindings, and I did get to ski around the park for about 20 minutes…

So the next morning I started researching NEW ski&binding sets and found some nice ones with poles included and ordered them. They arrived within a week, but by then, no snow. So I put them in the garage…

Now, last evening on the TV weather report, the weather lady suggested a possibility of a little snow overnight… Maybe I would get to try out all my new equipment after all!

So when I was taking out a couple bowls of nice fresh warmed up cat food for the outside kitties this morning, I saw some white spots on the front walkway and driveway. I reached down to touch one to see if it was bird poo, or maybe… SNOW! woo-hoo! Yeah, but just an occasional few flakes drifting around. Just enough to TEASE me with visions of skiing… barely enough to fill a teaspoon, or even a tease-spoon.

JAVP

Just Another Vehicle Pic

this one circa 1975… My very first car, a 1964 (or so…) Opel Kadett station wagon!

1965 Opel Kadett Station Wagon. Circa 1975

President Lincoln’s Birthday – 2024

In honor of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February 12, 2024, I was a part of the honor guard with the 114th Illinois Volunteer Infantry – Reactivated at an annual wreath laying ceremony held in Springfield, Illinois at the Lincoln Tomb.

Flashback to 1980…something

Probably doesn’t count

Did you know that I have another website? It is based on my research of the historical origins of the Illinois State Police. I originally intended it to be, first, an avenue for me to make my paper/thesis available to anyone who was interested. I also planned for it to be a venue to publicly celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Illinois State Police. April 1, 2022 was the centenary date. I was working with a couple active ISP sworn personnel early on. I had grand plans, and being retired, I had time to conduct some big things. I envisioned a series of videotaped oral histories of some of the oldest living retirees (sworn and civilian). I envisioned contacting families & descendants of some of the earliest department employees to see if they had artifacts, or diaries, or photos, or old ISP related materials that I could copy and catalog. My ISP rep & I discussed a yearbook, but then a dedicated coffee table book of historical significance showcasing, significant photos, artifacts, events, etc. 

Best laid plans and all that… I did post the first chapter of my thesis, but support and enthusiasm from the ISP side evaporated. I guess I was “ghosted”. No explanations, no “thanks but no thanks”, no “sorry we do not have the time, resources, nor human resources to undertake such an involved project.”

Nonetheless, I am suddenly fired up again and have been talking to my buddy Glenn about how much I enjoyed digging through the State Archives when I was in research mode working on my thesis. He did point out that despite my INCREDIBLY busy old retired guy schedule, I could spend even 2 mornings a week digging in the archives and libraries, and still be able to drink coffee, listen to records, pretend to be restoring a couple old cars, etc… Any way, not making any resolutions, just bumbling along doing stuff that sounds fun in the moment.

https://illinoishighwaypatrol.wordpress.com/

Noteworthy…Confusion

I am almost always awake long before The Mrs, and usually before the sunrises. Sometimes, The Mrs leaves me notes on the kitchen counter by the coffee pot because in my early morning routine I feed cats and make coffee right off. The notes could be information about something that occurred after I went to bed the night before, or a reminder about something important about to happen in the new day, or maybe a task or favor she would like for me to accomplish. So this morning there were 2 notes waiting for me.

This first was an informational note about someone who stayed up much later than she wanted to last night…

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But the second was a stickie note next to her tea infuser with the command, “WATCH!!”. I watched that tea infuser for what must have been 20 minutes, but it did nothing… NOTHING AT ALL! So I am not sure what I was watching, but obviously I have already failed the day.

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<sigh>

On the Cusp of 2020, and 13 years ago!

Happy New Year version 2020.  I hope anyone who reads this has nothing but Happiness, Health, Love, and Freedom all year long!!!

And, I wanted to share a flashback photo from the start of 2007 of my Honey! (And Abe, too…)

Thursday Doors – Archival Edition

I started cleaning & reorganizing the Man Cave this week, and in the process unearthed a box of my old photos. The “real kind”, like printed on photo paper from negatives! So of course, since old photos are more interesting than cleaning, I had a sit down and had a rifling-thru. In the process I found a small handful of pictures that I thought would work for a lame Thursday Doors entry (since I have been too lazy, I mean, too BUSY to go photograph new ones!)

1965 Opel Kadett Station Wagon. Circa 1975

My First Car. It sounded like a sewing machine when it ran….It had 3 doors….

1970 Volkswagen Type 1 (aka BUG). Circa 1976

My first Volkswagen. I bought it for $999.00. It even had a cassette player!!! And only 2 doors.

1972 Volkswagen Type 2 (Transporter Van). Circa 1980.

My First Volkswagen Van. Notice the sunroof? I installed that. Notice the peace sign/bunny fingers poking up out of the sunroof? Those belong to my youngest sister, Ann!! This had 4 doors.

1985 Dodge Diplomat Squad Car. Circa 1986.

This was my first NEW squad car, issued to me in late 1985.  (4 doors). But there is more to point out in this picture. The red car in the driveway to the right was my landlord’s, and I eventually bought it from him (2 doors). And the beautiful Italianate house in the background was my landlord’s house (and you can even see a House Door in the front!). And if you look to the left side of the house, you will see a small outside staircase, which was my entrance to my 2nd story efficiency apartment! Only 1 door to the apt.

1980 Volkswagen Pickup. Circa 1990.

My First VW Pickup. I was actually able to fit in the cab and drive it!! I installed the sunroof myself… 2 doors, 3 if I can count the tail gate…

1974 Porsche (VW) 914 Roadster (foreground) & 1967 VW Bug (background). Circa 1991.

My First Real Sportscar! I loved this little firebreather!!!

The Bug was a Sunroof version, something I had always wanted… I paid $650 for it!

2 doors for each.

1974 Volkswagen Type 181 – The Thing. Circa 2019.

My current Volkswagen. I have owned at least one VW since I bought my 1970 Bug back in 1976! 4 doors!!

You can see more doors, like even REAL Buildings’ Doors, if you visit Norm at the following link, and check out everyone else’s doors in the links in the Comments!

NORM 2.0