MemDay Weekend

I've drawn a complete blank about additional wisdom from my mother, and the WAG #25 assignment has left me uninspired to the topic, so I thought I'd post a photo I took this past weekend while chasing steam locomotives down near Chama, New Mexico.

This image was captured lying in a ditch near a grade crossing. Believe me, I checked carefully for rattlers and bullsnakes before settling in. Also, I was certain that a young man, who had set himself up by the RR crossing sign was going to be in my photos, but the train was kind enough to obscure him while still allowing the RR sign to be seen. Timing is everything. :)

WAG #21 - Message in a Bottle

“WAG #21: Message in a Bottle” It’s part of human nature that we sometimes wish we could communicate with our younger selves, our unreasonable selves, our subconscious selves, our self-destructive selves, our more innocent selves, or any number of other us-es that we all seem to have within. In this week’s WAG, consider the way we talk to ourselves, the tapes we play inside our heads, and write a piece: fiction or non-fiction, about yourself, a character, or someone else. As usual no limits and no rules. One-two-three Write! (This week’s theme suggested by Kate McIntire. If you have a theme suggestion, please write to me.)

When I read what the suggested topic was for Writing Adventure Group, I misunderstood that we were supposed to write about sending ourselves messages back through time to our younger selves. My first thought was "I'd tell myself to finish college." The second thought involved some rather personal stuff about my family relations and my childhood. The third was...

Well, you get the picture. It seems everyone wishes they had the same warnings 'way back when'. "If only I knew this, that and the other thing, my life would have been so much better," we tell ourselves, and it may or may not be true. It's nice to have insider information, but if you're not wise enough at that time to have the foresight on your own, what good will being given the advice do?

I am (if I understand the term correctly) an existentialist. I tried wishing that some of the things in my life haven't happened. Complaining about them certainly hasn't done much good - the opposite, perhaps. Things are what they are as they exist right now. I've gotten into the habit of dismissively shaking my head at some of my memories and mentally patting myself on the back for not allowing these things to completely ruin my future.

It is trite. It is cliché. It is ubiquitous.

It is what it is.

Happy Battle of Puebla Day!

Learned something today when I wiki'd Cinco de Mayo.

I knew May 5th wasn't Mexican Independence Day but was, in fact, the celebration of winning a battle with the French. I didn't know the significance.

Okay, okay, it was one battle. The French ultimately won the war in 1862 and occupied Mexico with a puppet "emperor" by the name of Maximilian I. The US put pressure on France to leave, which they did. This opened the door for Benito Juarez to depose Max I five years after the Battle of Puebla.

Here's the thing that's so noteworthy; the well-equipped, well-trained French Army outnumbered the Mexicans 2-to-1! It was 8000 soldiers up against 4000 unprepared and technologically deficient Mexicans. Absolutely amazing!

So, while you're sipping (or gulping or quaffing) your strawberry margarita, try to be as happy as those fighters back in 1862.

Oh, and make certain you pay your tab, since that whole thing started because Juarez declared he wasn't paying back the French a debt run up by a previous Mexican government.

Cave Wedding Photo, As Promised!

I still can't find the photo album containing the pictures of our wedding, but while I was looking for the backpacking hammock, I stumbled upon the photo printed in the local newspaper. It was part of an article set right above the photos from the watermelon seed spitting contest (I think a boy scout won).

The cave was Illinois Caverns. The newspaper was the Waterloo Republic-Times. The year was 1990.

Lewis and Clark

I received my daily email from The History Channel with the "This Day In History" information and was delighted to see acknowledgment of the great voyage of The Corps of Discovery.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?bcpid=1184539009&bclid=1213915745&bctid=1119234422

However, upon reading the text accompanying the video, I was disappointed to realize it was so incomplete and actually misleading. One example: "On May 14, the "Corps of Discovery"--featuring approximately 45 men (although only an approximate 33 men would make the full journey)--left St. Louis for the American interior." They never explain that 33 men made the journey (not 45) because at the Mandan Village in North Dakota, there were men sent back to take one of the big boats (along with some of the found specimens and new maps) back to Saint Louis in order to start the process of populating the newly acquired territory. Also, that beginning leg of the journey was a bit of a 'shakedown' run, intended to test the men to find out who would make the grade. The men sent back to St Louis either didn't want to or couldn't handle the trip. The History.com site could leave you open to assume these guys died. The truth of the matter is that only one of the expedition members died, Sergeant Charles Floyd, and it is suspected that it was from a ruptured appendix, something he would not have survived even if he had been a guest of the home of Dr Benjamin Rush, a leading physician at the time.

Can you tell I'm a big fan of Lewis and Clark?

I Love The Library

The local county library system is opening a new facility in the town that's a few miles south of us. Now, I liked the old facility just fine, but it sounded like they were outgrowing things pretty quickly, and like an indulging grandparent with a favorite grandchild, I can't deny pleading demands.

I just received an email from the library telling me that the new 'digs' will be opening on May 30th. Cool beans, in and of itself, but the email went on to say "will include the official ribbon-cutting, square dancing, a Western-style BBQ supper and ice cream social, trick-rope lessons for kids, storytelling, performances and more." The performances include "an acoustic jam session. Musicians from all around are invited to bring their fiddles, guitars and banjos to join in and play for fun."

Now does that sound like a great way to launch a library or what? I may even go and take pictures.

I Love Bouncing!

No, trampolines are not involved...

While I was looking around the web, trying to confirm my memories of visiting The Golden Spike Historic Site, I came upon an interesting and well-run website that would be of great interest to rail/train buffs. Or 19th century history buffs. Or Old West buffs. Or Utah history buffs. Oh, all sorts of people would like this site!

The Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum has a slew of information about not just the Wedding of the Rails (as the Transcontinental Railroad joining ceremony is often called) but lots of resources about train and US commerce history. I was especially impressed with the links offered to school kids who may be doing reports about the subject. Check it out!

http://CPRR.org

This Day in History-Transcontinental Railroad

Short explanation of the Transcontinental Railroad courtesy of History.com

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=VideoArticle&id=4989

Been There, Done That, Got The Soot

On this day in history in 1869, the Golden Spike was driven, completing the Transcontinental Railroad.

Okay, so in reality it was four ceremonial spikes and only the last one was gold. Well, really it wasn't pure gold; if you hit a small rod of gold with a sledgehammer, it would become the small pancake of gold in very short order.

How do I know this stuff? Because of my great education in the Chicago Public School system, of course! Didn't everyone get taught this stuff? Why would I need to travel to the middle of a God-forsaken desert in Utah to find out something that my grammar school teachers had already drummed into my head?

Because my teachers hadn't given me the whole story, that's why! Did you know that the president of the Union Pacific Railroad was so reviled, his trip to the ceremony site at Promontory Point was sabotaged by his own employees! And he (along with many of other celebrants) was drunk during the driving of the spike. On top of that, he missed!

David and I really enjoyed our visit to the National Historic Site. Apart from the titillating little scandals that make life interesting, it was simply a wonderfully alive park in the middle of complete desolation, with great displays (including reproduction, live operating steam engines), and very caring and knowledgeable park staff and volunteers. We can't wait to go back!