I wish to honor and humbly thank all our veterans, past, present and future, for their sacrifice, courage and service in the United States Armed Forces, securing freedom and justice for all.
I find it fitting to publish my eleventh post in my Thirty Days of Thankfulness series at exactly the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year of the twenty-first century also known as Veterans Day. As noted in an excellent post by a fellow blogger (ProSe), in less than three years we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, misnamed ‘the War to End All Wars.’ If you ever get a chance to visit the Liberty Memorial, a memorial to the fallen soldiers of WWI, in Kansas City, Missouri, I highly recommend you make a visit to the National World War I museum housed beneath the memorial. Our modern day Veterans Day grew out of Armistice Day which commemorated the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany, ending World War I, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.
That Special Veteran in My Life
Ron promoted to Colonel during Desert Storm
I am especially thankful for my uncle and his service in the United States Air Force. Thanks to his various deployments around the United States (and the world), I got to see most of the lower forty-eight states before I turned sixteen. Nearly all our family vacations ventured to various Air Force bases in Montana, Arizona, Florida, Virginia and Colorado. I remember when he was deployed to Thailand during the Vietnam War. I caught pneumonia when we visited Ron in Panama City, Florida, because it actually snowed in Florida that year and was warmer back in Kansas and my mom didn’t think we would need any heavy winter clothes. I also remember corresponding electronically with him while at college in 1984 via the university’s Digital Equipment CorporationVAX while he was deployed to Aviano, Italy, years before most of the world even dreamed about the Internet or e-mail or instant messaging or text messaging. I received Christmas cards from all over the world, including Saudi Arabia before the first Gulf War. I worried about him then and during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I attended his retirement celebration held at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Even though Ron wasn’t a pilot, I grew up wanting to be a jet fighter pilot or an astronaut. I didn’t find out until my teens that women weren’t allowed to do the former (because it involved combat) and the latter involved way more science than I wanted to tackle then, although the math would have appealed.
For the last dozen years, Ron has enjoyed his retirement as a watercolor artist, a writer and a grandfather to five grand children with a sixth on the way (two girls and twin boys recently born to his son Wendell and his wife Kristin; as well as a girl from his son Eric and his wife Cayla, who is expecting their second child early next year). When he’s not painting or writing or bouncing grandchildren on his knee, he reads much more than I do. We discuss and debate shared reads and flip books each other’s way either by media mail postal rate or electronically via our Nook Colors. When we actually get together for a family visit, I love to hear his stories about his father Ralph’s service during WWII and after as well as his own adventures around the world.
Yesterday, in his daily e-mail to family and friends, he remembered how much tougher military personnel have it today than when he was on active duty. Ron did two years of nastiness (amid eleven years of overseas duty) out of his thirty year military career. Soldiers today will spend half of their enlistment or career getting shot at.
Epilepsy, which affects between two and three million people in the United States, is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures.
Today, Friday, 11/11/11, my employer is accepting donations for the Epilepsy Foundation as our ‘jeans day’ fund raiser. This foundation works to ensure that people with seizures are able to participate in all life experiences; to improve how people with epilepsy are perceived, accepted and valued in society; and to promote research for a cure. The Epilepsy Foundation is funded primarily through individual donations from the general public and receives restricted grant support from the federal government, foundations and private industry.
Please join me in in supporting this charity, to help raise awareness and support those afflicted with epilepsy.
On the tenth day of my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I wish to express my gratitude for my home, my abode, my sanctuary, my castle. Since February of 1999, my family has lived in the house pictured at the left. For the last two years, only my husband and me and two Rottweilers rattle around inside.
For the past several months, we’ve been repairing and remodeling, mostly on the exterior, but we’re starting on the interior now. We initially had the roof replaced to fix a few leaks, but the major leak near the fireplace remained unresolved, even though every roofing contractor claimed they could tell right were the leak was and swore it was the roof that was leaking. We finally called a chimney expert who determined our cap was leaking as well as needing some cracked fire brick replaced and some of the brick tuck-pointed. After waiting nearly two months for a torrential downpour (which we received two days ago), we are very happy to report we are completely waterproof around the fireplace. The hole we’ve had in the great room ceiling for the last ten years can now be repaired in confidence.
I am blessed. My entire life, I have always had someplace to call home, shelter from the storms of nature and life. From a small farm house in rural Leavenworth County, to a dorm room at Wichita State University, to a duplex in south Wichita, to my husband’s family home in north Wichita, to another farm house in Benton, back to Leavenworth County, splitting my weekdays in my brother’s attic and my weekends either at my parents, where my daughter lived for a year, or back in Benton to visit Terry and Derek, to a rental house in Lansing and finally to our current home. I never left Kansas, except to travel. Depending on what the real estate market does in the next few years, that may change. I hope to follow my daughter to wherever she is accepted for graduate school so I can finally attend her vocal performances in person.
Helping the Homeless
The world’s population reached seven billion people recently. Seven billion people, many of whom do not have the assurance of a roof over their head or food to sustain them. In America, it is so easy to become complacent and blinded to the plight of the poor, the homeless, the huddled masses right under our noses. You don’t have to look farther than the street corner you just drive by to see the writing on the cardboard. And it’s only gotten worse during the ‘Great Recession’ despite all the political posturing in Washington that does little to provide relief for their suffering. But I’m not one to wait on the government to do what I should be doing in the first place.
What’s the biggest problem and solution facing the world today? I am. If I made more of an effort to support charities and volunteer my time, then surely I would make a difference, however small, in someone’s life. I encourage you to embrace that concept.
Here are a few of the charities I actively support as I am able (from local to international):
Habitat for Humanity (Kansas City metro area) – Their vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live.
Heifer International‘s mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth. By giving families a hand-up, not just a hand-out, we empower them to turn lives of hunger and poverty into self-reliance and hope.
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
Samaritan’s Purse – Operation Christmas Child – You still have time to pack a shoebox and track it worldwide!
On the ninth day of my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I am grateful for the discovery of radio waves by James Clerk Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz way back in the mid 19th century, which I benefit from abundantly via multiple wireless communications arrays and devices. I personally use on a daily basis a cell phone, a Nook Color and a laptop, all of which connect me to the Internet and ultimately my family and friends all without wires. I subscribe to satellite television and I listen to local radio stations via my car stereo system. I setup my own wireless router with appropriate security and even added a guest wireless network for visiting family and friends. I am a licensed amateur radio operator who can communicate with other operators with the right radio equipment, antennas and atmospheric conditions (for some frequencies). Who you gonna call to get the word out during the next zombie apocalypse? Me and my amateur radio buddies, that’s who!
Amateur Radio
The international symbol for amateur radio.
I followed my dad around as much as I could when I was little. Truth be told, there wasn’t much else to do way out in the country with no neighbors close enough to have any kids to play with. Poor Dad! Stuck with a daughter in tow while he visited friends, or did electrical wiring, or help raise an antenna tower, or change the light bulbs for the local baseball field, or … you get the picture. I earned the nickname ‘go-fer’ fairly early on. It came naturally that I would end up studying to take the test to become a licensed amateur radio operator. If I remember correctly, I earned that license before I got my permanent driver’s license. Back then, you still had to learn Morse code.
Emergency Communications
In the U.S., during an emergency, amateur radio operators can provide essential communication to help preserve the immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available and may use any frequency including those of other radio services such as police and fire communications. Similarly, amateurs in the United States may apply to be registered with the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS). Once approved and trained, these amateurs also operate on US government military frequencies to provide contingency communications and morale message traffic support to the military services.
Which brings me to the top news story for today. For the first time ever in the United States the Emergency Alert System will conduct a nation-wide test. The test will occur at two o’clock Eastern time (that’s one o’clock for me and all my neighbors here in the Heart of America). EAS provides a national warning system, as well as local weather emergencies, and allows the President of the United States to speak to citizens within ten minutes in the event of a national emergency.
And in case you’re wondering what the title of this article means, CQD was one of the first adopted distress calls. CQ is familiar to most ham radio operators because it means ‘calling all hams’ but CQD expands on that and means ‘calling all distress.’
View from my backyard, directly overhead, facing west/northwest at 12:30 am Tue 08 Nov 2011
The first thing I do when I exit a building is look up. The only time I don’t do this is during inclement weather (usually defined as rain or snow or just overcast, but even clouds can be interesting). I try to locate the moon, if it’s supposed to be visible. If I can hear a flying vehicle (helicopter or prop plane or jet), I search the skies for them as well. I’ve given myself a crick in my neck and no few twisted ankles gazing skywards instead of watching where I was going. And my family just thought I was klutzy growing up. I decided to feature astronomy and telescopes for my eighth day of ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ series. The graphic to the left displays the skies above my house as they should appear the moment this post is published. If you’re reading this soon after it’s published, you’re either an insomniac or living down under. I will be sound asleep.
Asteroid Close-Up
Best seen from North America, the little asteroid 2005 YU55 will race far across the constellations in just 11 hours. Sky & Telescope illustration
The big news for today is an asteroid visitor flying close to the Earth, inside the perimeter of the Moon’s orbit. The Sky & Telescope web page article includes a chart and instructions for observing the asteroid (best seen from North America and the instructions even mention Kansas and Kansas City by name!). Look for it late in the day (near sunset).
Sun, Moon, Planets, Stars, Comets, Meteors
I am still blessed with good eyesight, at least of the far-seeing variety. My ability to read without assistance ended about five years ago thanks to my aging lenses in my aging eyeballs. Growing up with the space race in the 60s and 70s gave me not so much the astronaut bug but the astronomy one. I remember the first moon landing in 1969 and the first space shuttle launch in 1981. I still have the National Geographic magazines that featured the stunning photographs of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Neptune and Uranus from the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM). My grandfather, Daniel, worked for NASA‘s Ames Research Center as a glass blower and some of his work now rests on Mars from either the Mariner or the Viking missions.
Telescopes
I received my first telescope in the mid 70s as a Christmas gift from my dad. It was a three inch refractor that allowed me to view the moon, the planets and even a solar eclipse (by use of a clip-on white metal plate to project the image of the sun onto and avoid any eye damage). My parents stored the telescope while I was at college and while I started my family. Eventually, they brought it down to our home in Benton, where it sat neglected for the most part thanks to raising kids and working full-time. Sometime during the 90s, or during the move back to Leavenworth County, the telescope was either damaged or lost or both.
Last year, as a birthday present, my father purchased a very nice Meade ETX-90 with several accessories and eyepieces, including an SLR digital camera (Pentax K100D – sans lenses). After a few months of fiddling and fine-tuning, I decided I could benefit from the wisdom of others and became a member of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City in the spring of this year. I tend to participate virtually and silently (for the most part) by following the group discussions and reading the monthly Cosmic Messenger newsletter I made it to two meetings this year and have not visited the Powell Observatory or tried the dark sky site, mostly because the cost of gasoline remained high and the weather for most of the summer did not cooperate by providing clear skies for optimal viewing opportunities.
Astro-Vacations
Provided the world does not end next year, I plan to take a vacation involving astronomical observing and camping. We might attend something like the Texas Star Party or just spend a week near Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. I even thought of finding a camp site in the Flint Hills, because when we drove back north through them in early October, the skies were crystal clear and very dark,, with few trees to obstruct the horizon.
My brother, me, my grandmother and my cousin (Photo taken by my father, developed and printed in his darkroom in the 70s)
On my seventh day of ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I am thankful for cameras and photography. I was exposed to photographic equipment (in more ways the one) from an early age. My father had a dark room and quite a bit of photographic gear. He did weddings and local school functions (for Homecoming and the prom) and helped out the yearbook staff with snapshots from sporting events and music department concerts. I learned to take direction (how to tilt my head, where to focus my eyes) at an early age. Naturally, I inherited this fascination with capturing electromagnetic radiation.
Second Generation Shutterbug
I am a poor excuse for a photographer, even an amateur one. I like to think I have a good eye for spotting a great photograph, I just don’t always have the right equipment with me, or remember how to use said photographic equipment to it’s fullest potential. I really have no excuse, considering I am a second generation shutterbug. For years, I’ve heard stories from my dad and uncle about my grandfather’s photographic exploits before, during and after WWII. I sent them each an e-mail requesting more detailed information and they gladly provided the following tidbits:
My father told me my grandfather, Ralph, became a photographer while attending Leavenworth High School during the 1930s. He also worked and learned from a local Leavenworth camera shop and portrait studio called Star Studio. My uncle added that photography during the 30s was still an arcane, complicated and a very hands-on hobby/profession.
Even with film purchased from commercial sources, photographic developing and printing (separate processes) involved the precise mixing of chemicals and control of temperature and humidity to develop and fix the image on the film, and to develop and fix the image on the paper. Both processes—plus the actual exposure of the photo-sensitive paper to the projected image from the developed film—required rigorous control of environmental conditions. Ralph took pictures for the Leavenworth High School year book. In 1937, Ralph won statewide (Kansas) honors as the top (or one of the top) science students in public high schools.
Both my dad and uncle confirmed that after graduating, Ralph also worked for the local newspaper, the Leavenworth Times as well as continuing at Star Studio. Some of his work appeared in the paper.
Ralph Andrea, WWII Army Photographer
My father remembers Ralph being stationed in the Pacific, specifically, New Guinea, during WWII as photo support of air corp operations. For a short time, Ralph stayed in Japan as part of the Occupation forces. During the Cold War, Ralph returned to active duty in the Air Force for Korea, but conducted his work from here in the U.S. Ralph stayed in the Air Force until retirement in 1968, being stationed to various sites around the world, working as tech and photo resource.
My dad remembered Ralph’s equipment best. Ralph had several cameras including a 4×5 Speed Graphic; an Argus C3, an early 35mm; and, he did some early color work during WWII, before the film was available to the public. Ralph held a patent on a modification to the old flash bulb to keep them from going off when in close proximity to radar equipment.
My uncle relates more detailed information regarding Ralph’s military service: With the onset of World War Two, Ralph volunteered for duty in the US Army Air Corps, enlisting at Sherman Field on Fort Leavenworth. Because of his experience with highly technical photography, he was elected for further training both as a photographer and as an officer (despite his not having a college education).
Ralph resting his arm on his Speed Graphic camera
During World War Two, photography units, such as Ralph’s in the Pacific theater of war, performed all the various functions of photography. They took the pictures: aerial photography was in its infancy, ground combat photography, plus the more traditional documenting of people and events. They developed the film and prints, and they also interpreted the aerial reconnaissance pictures. Ralph was the supply officer of his small unit, which included responsibility for maintaining the necessary chemicals as well as support for their mobile, air-conditioned dark room tents.
After World War Two, Ralph earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering at the University of Kansas, followed by a master’s in photographic engineering at Boston University. His Air Force work included collaboration with General George W. Goddard, the “father” of modern aerial reconnaissance, developing concepts and systems for both air-breathing and satellite reconnaissance.
In his later years with the United States Air Force, Ralph worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency, Headquarters USAF and HQ Air Force Systems Command to identify and procure future reconnaissance systems. During that time, Ralph was involved in the development of computerized systems to record and transmit photographic systems. He retired in 1968, before the advent of micro-computers which revolutionized the capture and processing of images but his work brought the USAF to the cusp of exploiting those digital systems as they developed.
I wish to express my deep gratitude to my father and uncle who provided, at the drop of a hat, the scanned photographs and commentary for this section.
Family Vacation Slideshows
My dad took us (mom, my brother and I) all over the continental United States, following his brother’s military migrations and also to visit my mother’s relatives in Montana and the Pacific Northwest. Consequently, before I had graduated from high school, I’d been to all but three of the lower 48 states and at least two Canadian provinces. We visited nearly every National Park, massive hydroelectric dams, a few nuclear power plants, a meteor crater, caves, mountains, deserts, a rain forest and historical sites from coast to coast. Once we returned home, and the slides were returned from the developer, we’d gather with local friends and family for a re-cap slideshow of our latest vacation adventure.
Annual Christmas Card Family Photo
My mom, me, my dad, and my brother (circa Christmas 1974)
Every fall, my dad would gather us together in the kitchen or the living, which he had converted temporarily to a portrait studio, complete with tripods, flash units, reflectors and light meters, to take that year’s family photo to be used as our family Christmas card. My cousin, Wendell, still follows this tradition, although with a Star Wars-ian twist some years. I prefer to create a Christmas letter or newsletter, similar to a blog post, where I can include more than one photo, and usually of a more casual nature (as I prefer candids to posed snapshots). At the risk of dating myself (more than I already have), to the left you’ll see the Andrea Family Christmas Card from 1974.
Recording My Own Family
Rachelle 'climbing the mountain' that was our storm shelter.
Film still ruled the day when both my kids were born in the mid to late 80s, so photos of my fledgling family are scarcer but all the more precious. I used mostly disposable cameras, since I didn’t own a single-lens reflex (SLR) camera. Once my kids started participating in sports and music, I invested my limited funds in a camcorder and now I have boxes and boxes of VHS-C videotapes in my basement. Whether or not I ever get them converted to digital format remains to be seen. By the time my children reached high school, I made the leap to digital video and photography. Now, instead of magnetic tape storage, I’m archiving family memories to DVD. I upload some of these videos to my infrequently used YouTube channel.
Sunrise, Sunset
Sunrise (Mar 2011)
I always seem to be in my car or the van when a spectacular sunrise or sunset occurs. So I’m reduced to the capabilities of the embedded camera in my cell phone which has a lens smaller than the eraser on a pencil. Occasionally, though, I’m prepared (or I forgot and left all my photographic equipment in the trunk of my car) and I plan a session from a local park or cemetery. My library has an east facing window, so I can catch the sunrise in the late fall and winter while sipping on my freshly steeped tea. I captured the sunrise to the left from that room in early March of this year. Sunsets are more difficult from my home, because it sits lower than K-7/US-73 to my west and on the other side of the highway is a large hill. So sunsets usually mean packing up everything and hopping in the car to West Mary Street, near the new Elementary School, or to Mount Muncie or Mount Calvary Cemeteries.
Astrophotography – My Final Frontier
Crescent Moon (Apr 2011)
I hope to merge two of my favorite hobbies once I retire: Astronomy and Photography. By then, I also hope to have moved to a location with darker night skies, a higher altitude and minimal obstructions (no close large trees, streetlights or hills). For now, I make do with an occasionally moon shot using either my telescope or just the telephoto lens and a tripod. Someday I plan to photograph Jupiter, Saturn, a galaxy and a nebula.
For the first Sunday of my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I wish to lift up the names of John Wesley, and his brother, Charles, and thank God for inspiring both of these great men. Yes, I’m biased. I was raised a Methodist and my great-grandfather, the Rev. John Hodge, was my first pastor. He baptized me and I learned discipleship at his knee. I sang Charles Wesley’s hymns Sunday mornings. Later in life, as a Lay Speaker, I studied grace (previent, justifying and sanctifying) for the journey of Christian perfection.
I won’t even attempt to summarize the lives of the Wesley brothers. Primary sources for both men are freely available via the Internet with a simple Google search. I will share my John Wesley favorite quotes and my favorite Charles Wesley poem/hymn.
John Wesley Quotes
“Having, First, gained all you can, and, Secondly saved all you can, Then give all you can.” —from a sermon in the Works of John Wesley
“Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.” —from a sermon in the Works of John Wesley
I look on all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation. — Journal (11 June 1739)
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put met to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by you or laid aside by you,
enabled for you or brought low by you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
you are mine, and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen. (Wesley Covenant Prayer)
Charles Wesley Poet
Charles wrote the lyrics to my favorite Christmas carol, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” and the familiar standards “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” and “Love Divine All Love Excelling.” But nestled near the center of the United Methodist Hymnal rests “Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown.” Two weeks after his brother’s death, John Wesley tried to teach this hymn at Bolton, but broke down when he came to the lines “my company before is gone, and I am left alone with thee.”
Come, O thou Traveller unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see!
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with Thee;
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.
I need not tell Thee who I am,
My misery and sin declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name,
Look on Thy hands, and read it there;
But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou?
Tell me Thy name, and tell me now.
In vain Thou strugglest to get free,
I never will unloose my hold!
Art Thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of Thy love unfold;
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.
Wilt Thou not yet to me reveal
Thy new, unutterable Name?
Tell me, I still beseech Thee, tell;
To know it now resolved I am;
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.
’Tis all in vain to hold Thy tongue
Or touch the hollow of my thigh;
Though every sinew be unstrung,
Out of my arms Thou shalt not fly;
Wrestling I will not let Thee go
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.
What though my shrinking flesh complain,
And murmur to contend so long?
I rise superior to my pain,
When I am weak, then I am strong
And when my all of strength shall fail,
I shall with the God-man prevail.
Contented now upon my thigh
I halt, till life’s short journey end;
All helplessness, all weakness I
On Thee alone for strength depend;
Nor have I power from Thee to move:
Thy nature, and Thy name is Love.
My strength is gone, my nature dies,
I sink beneath Thy weighty hand,
Faint to revive, and fall to rise;
I fall, and yet by faith I stand;
I stand and will not let Thee go
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.
Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquered by my instant prayer;
Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if Thy Name is Love.
’Tis Love! ’tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear Thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Pure, universal love Thou art;
To me, to all, Thy bowels move;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.
My prayer hath power with God; the grace
Unspeakable I now receive;
Through faith I see Thee face to face,
I see Thee face to face, and live!
In vain I have not wept and strove;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.
I know Thee, Saviour, who Thou art.
Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend;
Nor wilt Thou with the night depart.
But stay and love me to the end,
Thy mercies never shall remove;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.
The Sun of righteousness on me
Hath rose with healing in His wings,
Withered my nature’s strength; from Thee
My soul its life and succour brings;
My help is all laid up above;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.
Lame as I am, I take the prey,
Hell, earth, and sin, with ease o’ercome;
I leap for joy, pursue my way,
And as a bounding hart fly home,
Through all eternity to prove
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.
Methodist Character
In closing, I wish to share the seventeenth paragraph from John Wesley’s “The Character of a Methodist,” the reading of which often brings tears to my eyes:
These are the principles and practices of our sect; these are the marks of a true Methodist. By these alone do those who are in derision so called, desire to be distinguished from other men. If any man say, “Why, these are only the common fundamental principles of Christianity!” thou hast said; so I mean; this is the very truth; I know they are no other; and I would to God both thou and all men knew, that I, and all who follow my judgment, do vehemently refuse to be distinguished from other men, by any but the common principles of Christianity, — the plain, old Christianity that I teach, renouncing and detesting all other marks of distinction. And whosoever is what I preach, (let him be called what he will, for names change not the nature of things,) he is a Christian, not in name only, but in heart and in life. He is inwardly and outwardly conformed to the will of God, as revealed in the written word. He thinks, speaks, and lives, according to the method laid down in the revelation of Jesus Christ. His soul is renewed after the image of God, in righteousness and in all true holiness. And having the mind that was in Christ, he so walks as Christ also walked.
— From the Thomas Jackson edition of The Works of John Wesley, 1872.
I am truly thankful to be a part of a vanpool. Five days a week, we unite together to divide and conquer rush hour traffic along K-7 in Leavenworth County and I-70 in Wyandotte County. For my fifth day of ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ series, I will introduce you to the benefits of a better way to commute to work.
Background
When I returned to the Kansas City area in the mid 90s, I knew I wanted to live in Leavenworth County. The driving force behind our choice of municipalities centered on the quality of the public schools, since our children had many years ahead of them before graduating. I could have returned to my home town in Easton, Kansas, where class sizes are small, but curriculum is limited as a result. Or I could challenge them academically, building character and arming them for pursuits after graduation by moving them to Lansing, an accredited and highly rated school district in the Kansas City metro area.
While the commute from Lansing is easier and shorter than from Easton, I knew I would miss the solitude and dark night skies available in the northwestern corner of Leavenworth County. For the first few years, I didn’t mind the twenty-five mile daily commute to midtown. Then my biggest concern was getting back home in time to pickup Rachelle from after-school day care. I could never fathom the conspiracy among day care providers in the Leavenworth/Lansing area. Lansing is a bedroom community – nearly everyone either works on post at Ft. Leavenworth or somewhere else in Kansas City. Yet all the day care providers required child pick-up by 5:30 p.m. If I left work at 5:00 p.m., I could not hope to reach the child care facility by closing time without breaking multiple traffic laws. I was blessed with an understanding manager who allowed me to adjust my hours to accommodate my situation.
Until Rachelle reached her teens, I dared not carpool. Besides, back then, gas prices were around $1.30 or $1.50 per gallon, so I didn’t worry much about carpooling. Also, before my husband became disabled, we carpooled together when we could.
Carpooling
Eventually, I found various carpool buddies to share the ride from Lansing to Kansas City. I liked the simplicity of ride sharing, which reduced the wear and tear on my vehicle by at least fifty percent. I enjoyed reduced insurance rates as well, since I could inform my insurance agent that I had reduced my annual mileage by half, which all reduced my risk and decreases my premiums. When gas prices spiked above three dollars for the first time, I even enjoyed a three-way carpool which further reduced the wear on our vehicles.
Vanpooling
In May of 2010, my carpool with my pastor’s wife dissolved because of his re-assignment to a church near Topeka. I needed to find another carpool partner, so I visited the Rideshare Connection database web site looking for a new match. I got a hit on a person who actually drove an Advantage Vanpool van nearly full of Hallmark employees. I immediately contacted her, and she directed me to call the contact at KCATA to get the details on the fare and the other forms I would need to complete and return.
I ran the numbers after speaking to the vanpool coordinator and determined that while the fare seemed expensive, it actually made good economic and environmental sense to participate in the vanpool. (For great page full of information on vanpooling, visit this web page). I researched the true cost of owning and driving a vehicle and discussed the results as compared to vanpooling with Terry. I joined the vanpool in July 2010 and never looked back.
I am relieved each month when I write the check for my vanpool fare. That amount does not change from month to month. The only time it is adjusted is when a rider leaves or joins the vanpool. Then the vanpool coordinator re-figures the fare based on the number of participants (obviously, if you have more riders, your fare is lower). I find it interesting when I have a casual conversation with a coworker or friend and they start talking about the price of gas and I draw a blank because I don’t know the current cost of a gallon of gasoline. The volatility of gasoline is no longer a driving force in my budget. I might fill up one of our cars once a month, and that’s usually when I cash in on my reward points accumulated that month by shopping at Dillons. The only driving Terry and I do is strictly for pleasure, on a weekend or vacation to Texas to visit our kids. And, since the Pontiacs languish in our garage nearly every day, my insurance premiums fell even more.
Backup Driver
The vanpool had the primary driver and a backup driver. Without a backup driver, if the primary driver were sick or on vacation, the van cannot be driven or used to transport the other riders. After a few months of enjoying the backseat of the van, where I could read books, listen to audiobooks or my own music, I was asked to become a backup backup driver. This involves more forms, more documentation, a physical (similar to what a commercial driver undergoes and paid for by the KCATA) and annual driver training. I finally completed this process earlier this year (with the exception of driver trainer which occurs in October each year). I gradually got back into the habit of driving in rush hour traffic, but still preferred the passive pursuit of riding.
Plunged into Primacy
I received a belated birthday gift in early October from the primary driver. Due to a shift change and a recent move from Leavenworth to McLouth, she gave her thirty day notice to the KCATA and withdrew from the vanpool. By the end of that week, a second rider withdrew, probably in anticipation of retiring within the next few months. By the end of October, the backup driver also gave his notice, as he too was moving out of the Leavenworth area. Suddenly, I inherited the responsibility for the van and it’s remaining rider, a person unable to drive herself anywhere because she is blind.
The vanpool coordinator provided me with a flyer, which I edited and printed for distribution to various bulletin boards in the Lansing and Leavenworth areas. I also provided several copies to the remaining rider to post in Basehor, where she lives. I sent out several emails to contacts in Leavenworth and among my peers who I know either live or work on the van’s route. I created a Craigslist ad. For the first time, I used a QR code, placing it next to my contact information on the flyer, so that a person with a smartphone could snap a photo of the QR code from the printed flyer and be taken to an electronic copy of the flyer.
I also inserted other clickable links in the flyer:
This Bitly URL to the right of my name links to the Craigslist ad I created.
This QR code allows smartphones to download the flyer PDF which I uploaded to my DropBox public folder.
My e-mail address is clickable and should pop-up an e-mail message for interested people to contact me directly.
Getting the Word Out
If you live in Leavenworth, Lansing or Basehor and you work near either Crown Center or the Country Club Plaza (or you know someone who does), please send them to my flyer or to this blog post. A full van removes five or six other vehicles off the road during rush hour, not only reducing traffic, but emissions as well. Riding the van helps prevent further global warming and your blood pressure. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!
Today, and every day, I’m thankful for the companionship and unconditional love of my Rottweilers. I’ll focus my fourth ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ topic with a walk down memory lane with Baron, Roxy and Apollo.
Roxy and Apollo (Nov 2011)
These two are not our first Rottweilers, and probably won’t be our last. Only Heaven knows why all dogs adopted by the Moss Family select me as their favorite family member.
I grew up a cat person. Yes, we had a dog, once, but it’s the cats I remember. I adored them; they put up with me. Ironically, I married a dog person and spawned more dog-loving offspring. At least my daughter had some affinity for cats, but gave equal time to dogs. In fact, Rachelle rescued Roxy from our local animal shelter back in 2004 or 2005. At least we had a fenced back yard. A good friend we knew from church also loved Rottweilers and helped train dogs, so Rachelle and Roxy went to obedience school together for the first few months. Roxy learned the commands well and even learned how to track and speak on command, not always an easy command to teach a Rottweiler.
A year or so later, my husband conspired with Rachelle to rescue Apollo, using the excuse Roxy suffered from loneliness. They took Roxy to the same animal shelter she was rescued from to meet Apollo, to see if she would like him and could get along with him. Apollo followed the pattern or all previous dogs we’ve adopted and looked up to me, but he really connected with Rachelle. Perhaps he was just playing along with the established canine hierarchy previously established by Roxy. When Rachelle left to attend college in North Texas, Apollo accepted his lot in life and transferred his loyalty, temporarily Rachelle hopes, to Terry. Apollo will get his annual Rachelle fix at the end of December, which she returns for a two week visit during her between-semester holiday break.
The only photo we have of Baron (early 90s)
One of our previous Rottweilers, Baron, came from champion stock and weighed in over one hundred and twenty pounds (I don’t remember exactly, it could have been up over 130). He exhibited the typical male Rottweiler traits — grumpiness, protectiveness, aggressiveness, insatiable appetite — and still followed me around with puppy dog eyes. Because he was full blooded and registered, we never neutered him, so that probably contributed to his Alpha-dog antics; although King, an even larger, but older, Malamute, did not suffer foolishness. We lost Baron tragically to stomach torsion in the early 90s, leaving King alone again until he passed away peacefully at the great old age of fourteen.
King, Derek and Terry in the mid 80s.
We took more than ten years to adopt another Rottweiler. I blame Rachelle completely for the rescue of Roxy. I never dreamed I’d be buying (and hefting) forty and fifty pound bags of dog food again. Or annual trips to the vet to the detriment of the leather seats in my cars. Or finding dog toys that last more than five minutes (Tuffie Toys or a variant of the Tiger tested toys found at my local hardware store).
But for all my grunching, I enjoy walking either dog (rarely together, as they outweigh me and have incredible torque). Trips to the local dog park are a big hit with both Rotts, although Roxy, being older and slower, tends to flag sooner than Apollo, who can run and play all day long if given the chance. I come home each week night to wagging tails (or nubs in Roxy’s case) and greeted to a fresh round of snuffling and drooling.
Some breeds can self-regulate at meal time. In my experience, the Rottweiler is not one of those breeds. I often refer to the resident Rottweiler as a walking stomach. Therefore, I feed them both sparingly: a cup in the morning and a cup in the evening. Otherwise, Roxy would look like a beached whale in a week. Apollo, on the other hand, who is not a full-blooded Rott, often skips a meal because he’s not hungry and not driven by the need to consume anything that even looks remotely edible. When I board the dogs at the local kennel, I have to remind them to not leave any food lying around in a convenient dish, or Roxy will find it and consume it. She inhales her food. Seriously, I’m not joking, and I worry about her choking. Someday, I should post a YouTube video of Roxy at breakfast time, but it might be too short to believe. By the time I place the food in her dish, turnaround to scoop out Apollo’s portion and drop it in his dish, she’s usually done. Apollo then starts growling at Roxy to warn her away from his dish and I shoo her outside to the back yard, leaving him in peace to finish his breakfast in a leisurely five or ten minutes.
Roxy Listening to the Neighborhood (Nov 2011)
Once Apollo finishes his breakfast, he bounds up the stairs, prancing and bouncing around the great room in an effort to get my attention. I proceed to the other back door and let him out, provided Roxy doesn’t burst through the door as soon as I open it. Roxy hates being outside, especially if it’s raining or wet. Apollo loves the outdoors and gladly spends hours and hours exploring the backyard and keeping an eye on the neighbors and the frequent joggers, walkers and strollers. If he’d let me, I’d never let him back in the house, not because I don’t love him, but because I hate his non-standard issue long hair, which sheds continuously wherever he goes, wherever he lies down, even wherever he stands.
Apollo Surveying His Domain (Nov 2011)
I am thankful for all the years we’ve enjoyed with our Rottweilers. I look forward to many more happy years of fun with Roxy and Apollo.
Roxy (also affectionately known as 'Bear-Pig' and 'Ditzy')
For the third day of my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I wish to express my appreciation of reading books. I can’t remember of a time when I didn’t know how to read, going clear back to when I was three or four years old. By the time I finished second grade, I believe I had finished all the Laura Ingalls Wilder Prairie books and started working through my mom’s old collection of Nancy Drew novels (printed in the 30s or before), as well as a few Hardy Boys and Trixie Beldon mysteries. I also remember reading Black Beauty and Little Women several times. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass come to mind as well as some Jules Verne. I loved (and still re-read) C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia and own a large hardcover omnibus edition, which I place prominently on my Shelf of Honor.
As I approached middle school age, I became exposed to other genres, including science fiction and horror. During my early teen years, I couldn’t read enough Stephen King. I still consider The Stand to be one of his best novels and a great example of post-apocalyptic fiction. But there came a point when the thrills paled and the terror became predictable. I did an about-face, a complete one-eighty and dived into epic fantasy. I have rarely, if ever, looked back.
Epic Fantasy Tomes
Why did epic fantasy appeal to me? The size of the books. Yes, I prefer tomes. The longer the book (or series), the happier I am. I read fast (not as fast as I did during my young adult hood, but still no slouch). Of the three novels shown in the photo above, the Janny Wurts novel on my Nook Color is the longest, weighing in at 749 pages. The classic, by Twain, and Vinge’s Rainbow’s End are actually approximately the same size in length: between 350 and 400 pages. If I put my mind to it, had few distractions, and really enjoyed the novel, I could finish either of the paperbacks in a day. Janny’s writing, however, is dense, rich and full of revelations and layers that require concentration. I will enjoy her prose for a minimum of ten days, and again in the future, because there’s always something new to find in her work when you re-visit it.
While Janny’s latest publication, the very recently released Initiate’s Trial, seems long to the casual reader at nearly twice the size of a normal paperback, to me it is a good sized epic fantasy novel.
The longest books I’ve read in the last three years include:
For more of my book stats, visit my stats page at GoodReads.
Book Clubs
I spent most of the 90s and the first half of the 00s raising children and helping my chronically ill husband all while working full-time. So basically, for a decade or a decade and a half, I stopped reading. Not completely, of course, because I read technical manuals and references guides for work and I occasionally picked up a novel off the new release shelf at the library. But I had blinders on and wasn’t taking advantage of the wealth of information available via the Internet.
About three years ago, a friend on Facebook invited me to join GoodReads, a social network site for bibliophiles. I felt like I’d found the keys to the gates of heaven. I quickly found online book clubs that aligned with my readings interests, signing up immediately with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club. That quickly followed with Beyond Reality (which seems to be my favorite place to hang out for the moment). Eventually, I joined (and now help moderate) the Fantasy Book Club and the sister group Fantasy Book Club Series.
My awareness of reading and reviewing skyrocketed and pushed me to branch out in the ‘real world.’ Conveniently located in the building I spend every weekday in is a branch of the Kansas City Public Library. I participated in reading challenges and seasonal book clubs, some of which I’ve written blog posts about here (including: ‘A Taste of Victorian Literature‘; ‘Altered States‘; ‘Readers in the Rue Morge’; and, ‘The Big Read‘ featuring Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer).
Accessible Authors
As if reading, reviewing and discussing novels wasn’t wonderful enough, the real icing on the cake comes from the authors themselves. Unlike in the 80s when I had to write a letter on a manual typewriter and snail mail it to one of my favorite authors with a question (I did this with Barbara Hambly, Piers Anthony and Stephen R. Donaldson – all of whom replied courtesy the self-addressed stamped enveloped I provided them), today’s authors write blogs, tweet via Twitter and participate eagerly at GoodReads either as discussion leaders or via dedicated Q&A topics posted for the chosen Book of the Month they wrote. Without their talent, imagination, perseverance and passion, I would have less to read, both in quantity and quality.
I still love the heft of a heavy hardcover edition of a treasured classic epic fantasy … for about five minutes. I may have turned the final page of my last new hardcover. Any future purchases will be made solely to support a favorite author, with the hope of meeting the author and asking for their autograph on the title page. For the lion’s share of my reading, and to preserve both my weakening eyesight and the strain on my hands and arms, I will peruse the hundreds of novels and thousands of pages on my Nook Color ereader tablet, which is smart enough to turn off the light and mark my page when I doze off to sleep each night. Thanks again to my husband, for gifting me with this amazing product.
