Kokomo's Korner

It Fell Down!

The other morning I went down the hill to get some breakfast at Hardee's. I was having a biscuit and gravy attack. As I went past the Wood River bowling alley, I noticed the big old building was laying on the ground. Only a big pile of rubble was left. In the midst of the pile was this huge track hoe. Sitting there it seemed to be proud of it's work, "See what I did?"

When I came to this area in 1967, the Wood River Bowl and it's Brass Lamp Lounge with live music and dance floor, was a popular attraction. Right across the road was the Wood River Moose Lodge. Close to the intersection of two highways, together they stood as a landmark in the area. Both have now been demolished to make way for progress. The Moose built a new lodge up on the hill to make room for a new Walgreen's Drugstore. And of all things, a Mc Donald's. The Wood River Bowl combined it's business with the Airport Bowl in another location a few miles up the highway. A new full service branch banking facility will be built where the pile of rubble is now.

That's progress. . .

Friday the Thirteenth - A Black Cat 'n All That

Funny how a little alarm goes off when these super-silly-stitious things come about. Even though I know it has nothing to do with anything, I still get a creepy case of the better watch it Bub syndrome until it's safely Saturday the fourteenth.

It's a trick that adults amuse themselves with. They tell little kids that stuff and then sit back and watch the poor little ones creep around half scared out of their wits believing something bad is going to happen to them.

Of course the big equalizer is that some adults actually believe it themselves.

I was thinking about going to the store today. Maybe I'll put it off until tomorrow. Of course that has nothing to do with it being Friday the thirteenth; I just don't want a flat tire or something weird today.

Weather or What?

Yesterday it was 74 deg F. Then came thunderstorms with wind and hail riding through on a cold front.

Today it's been wintertime. At noontime, only 38 deg F and windy. The forecast says winter through the weekend. Strange...

New Washer and Drier - Finally

Yesterday the delivery truck and installers came and put in my new washer and drier. Also they hauled away the old ones. Pretty cool, huh?

Now all I gotta do is con somebody into actually doing all this laundry thats been piling up.

The Summer of '56 - I Was Ruined

During the summer of 1956, I was just out of Miller Park grade school where I attended grades K through 8. We didn't have Junior High School yet where I lived, so I went from Miller Park school to become a freshman 9th grader at North High school. It was that summer that the Andersen family gathered at our house in Omaha to visit. The way it went was the folks from the South drove up and the folks from the North came down and all met in the middle for a visit. I don't remember a lot of the details of how that all worked out, but I do remember this part.

I was just 14 years old then, and everything was a big deal to me. I was all excited about seeing all the Andersen folks. Some, I hadn't seen in a long while. But I just wasn't expecting my cousin Lewis Andersen, (better known to most as Andy) to come driving in the driveway in a shinny red 1954 Corvette! That, was just beyond my imagination. I was afraid to even touch it. I didn't know anyone who drove a car like that... This just wasn't normal in the Andersen family. What if the driveway should cave in? The little corvette could get damaged or something!

Before it was over with though, I was in it, under it, and all over it. Cousin Andy had me out there with a can of wax helping him get it cleaned up and I was happier than Mr. Wagtail with a new bevel fetcher.

And riding in it? Oh yeah! Better than PB and J.

I found pictures of Andy and his dad going out for a spin. His dad is driving. He's got on this hat... You gotta have one of those when you drive a red Corvette.

Click pictures to enlarge.

Click back button to return.

I went on and started North High in the fall, but my mind was on that Vette. I was ruined forever and ever.

It took a very long time to get those experiences out of my mind. I guess that's why I'm writing about it now.

I never really got over it at all. 

-dale

Two Short Beeps or Three Long Ones

Back in 2001, when I bought this home, I moved in with a new micro wave oven. My other house had a micro wave that was quite large and didn't really fit into the new kitchen. The old one was one of the first models to come on the market. I remember I bought it at Sears; mainly because I had a Sears charge card. In those days if I had cash in my pocket it was because I had forgotten to pay something, or was executing some sort of insane rob Peter to pay Paul plan. Only thing I can say is, it took me forever to discover my plans never worked longer than a few seconds and then I was empty handed again. But that's a whole horror story by itself. It gives me the willies just thinking about it. This story is about the new micro wave oven that I bought to better fit into my new house.

This oven was more compact, and weighed a whole lot less than the old one. It fit nicely on the new kitchen counter top without hanging over the edge and all that. One thing I noticed about it was the sound the door made when I closed it. The door on my old oven had the sound of a fine luxury automobile when it went closed. This new one sounded like closing the door on a 1951 Henry J. It had a distinct sound to it. Much like throwing a tin can into an empty metal garbage can, only louder.

Anyway I was all thrilled with it; I plugged it in and tried it out. When the time was up, the thing let out 3 long and very loud beeps. I think they designed it for use in a 64 room house. No matter where you would be in the house when it timed out; it would be audible. Even in the farthest room away from the kitchen; or in the outdoor kennel section where the guard dogs would be kept to patrol the property at night. I made a mental note to post warning signs. WARNING! Do not be startled by loud timer beeper on micro wave. If startled; check around the yard for your socks.

I was always going to get into the task of disabling that beeper; but never got around to it. In the meantime I started giving the ' stop cook ' button a couple of very quick short presses. That way the beeper goes a fast "be-beep" instead of BEEEEEEP...BEEEEEEP...BEEEEEEP... and I don't have to wear ear protection anymore. Pretty good deal eh?

-dale

Cubs 6 - Mariners 5

Sorry Seattle fans,

I couldn't resist...

-dale

MLB Spring Training 2007

Today was the first of the spring training games I have watched this season. Major League Baseball is cranking up for 2007. The dreaded Chicago White Sox beat my Chicago Cubs 13 - 2 in the Cactus League's game played in Mesa, Arizona.

Tomorrow the Cubs will play the Seattle Mariners at Peoria, AZ. (too bad for Mariners fans... heh, heh, heh.)

-dale

What About March?

What is it they say? In like a lateral run for a septic system; out like lemon aid? Nope, it's more like this:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/weather/2006/02/origin_of_in_li.html

Thanks Weather Guys for clearing that up for us.

When the news on TV mentioned that Caulfield, MO had a tornado; that got my attention. That's getting very close to my cousin's neck of the woods. Sadly the news reported one fatality and four injuries at Caulfield today.

-dale

Inventions Pending

I need two things:

1) Handy places to secure my trashcan for windy days like the last couple of days. It has to be a spot that is accessible for the waste management people on trash pickup days. For the other five days a week, a second location would be out of site from the curb and in a location handy for me to deposit bags in the can. The two locations would be joined by an overhead mono-rail with can positioning device to push or pull can along the mono-rail and automatically secure it at either end appropriately, so it can't blow over.

2) A device for my truck. It would be controlled by two, driver activated, buttons. One button would be the "Shrink Truck" button. The other one would be the "Return to Normal Size" button. Some ATM machines have a screen and buttons at a height designed for go carts and midget racers. That forces me to hang out the window like an old mop head hanging over a porch rail. With this invention, I could just push the "Shrink Truck" button to put me at a lower level for ease of operation of the ATM. When finished with the transaction, I'd just push the other button to "Return to Normal Size".

-dale