Existing In BFE

It's a different Tuesday Tidbit today.  It's Halloween!  Hey, those of you wanting the usual stellar carefully crafted bits of tid, well, sorry - I don't make the calendars. It's kind of neat the way Halloween has become a really big event.  When I was growing up the day was for the kids, now adults get into it, too.  Funny the number of people who say it is their favorite holiday.     +++++++++++ ++++++++++ Halloween Quiz (Answers below) (1) In 1931's Frankenstein , Frankenstein's fiancee, Elizabeth; her friend, Victor Moritz; and Frankenstein's mentor, Dr. Waldman, go to see Frankenstein in his abandoned watchtower-cum-laboratory. Why? a. They want to stop him from violating God's law. b. They know the townspeople are rising up, and want Frankenstein to stop before they do. c. They think he's overworking himself. d. They think he's dead, and are going to check to be sure. (2) In 1931's ...

We went up to LeClaire Iowa to do some shopping and sightseeing.  The Wombie and I went over to the Buffalo Bill Museum to see the barge Lone Star.  Why the old bage is with Buffalo Bill is anyone's guess but the place is a kind of conglomeration of interesting local stuff, like Indian relics, and even some inventor named James Ryan who invented the first flight recorder, seat belts, and crash bumpers.   But it was the Lone Star that we really were interested in. Lone Star Steamer was built in 1869 at Lyons, Iowa for Captain Sam Mitchell. He ran the Davenport to Buffalo, Iowa trade. The boat was not very fast, had limited accommodations, and was withdrawn at the end of the second season. In November 1876 Captain Mitchell sold her to Goss & Company, Sand Dealers in Davenport. They made a towboat of her. It originally was built as a wooden hull, wood burning, side-wheeler; worked as a barge pushing lo...

Originally posted on September 12, 2012. I recently returned to crowded, bustling, busy St. Pete from a week up North.  Besides the differences of sheer space, and congestion, and all the myriad things that make small towns small and big cities big, the ability to do certain things is limiting, as well.  Down here if you live in condos or many apartments, you are limited as to whether or not you can have a pet, and if you can, how big it can be.  Down here you can sag your pants to your knees and it seems to be mostly accepted (except at the Tyrone Square Mall), while if you did it up North you'd be arrested for lewd and lascivious, or some such statute. Another accepted practice up North, due I'm sure to farming, open spaces and the general necessities of nature, is to pee outside.  I'm not talking on the church yard 15 minutes before the sermon, but given enough privacy and lack of population, this can be done on a fairly regular basis.  The wome...

Road Trip! Iowa sure likes their structurally unsound bridges.  A ways down the road (is that even a structurally sound sentence?) from Bentonsport is this span at Oakland Mills.  There's a little café here known for their tenderloins and I so want to do this trip again.  But Mt. Pleasant and Jerry's pizza is just a ways down the road from here, so what is a fella to do?  Answer:  both, of course.    This view would certainly be better during the autumn when the leaves are turning.  Must put that on the "to-do" list. I wonder why bridges are fun to explore?  Must be some form of instinctual ability to get from point A over across treacherous waters to B.  Here one can grab one of those juicy loins and stroll down toward the picnic table. This is the bucolic Skunk River - a body of water I almost drowned in once.  As a young'un freshman I was riding on the Phi Delt frat raft we built for homeco...

Another set of pictures found on the World Wide Web I wish I'd taken. Proper credit should be given when I wantonly steal these and one of these times I will.  But not today.  I already have my name in to Largo police for one thing, damned if I'm gonna give 'em two.