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Saturday, August 07, 2004
MY VERY OWN
Do you own the mailbox in front of your home?
I have been told that we do not, because said item is something you agreed to provide so the federal government might have a place to put the mail they gather and distribute on your behalf. They make use of the equipment you provide and will let you know with a terse note therein, if it falls behind in any way and needs repair or replacement. In most area you must clean away snow, ice, sleet and flood sludge and other such hazards or the motorized mail-person, is not required to deliver mail or to pick up dispatches at your mailbox.. That seems to another be one of the few times you seem to have actual possess it.
Try painting your mail box some outlandish color and you will hear about such a mis-deed. Try decorating in keeping with the passing holidays or special times of either the religious or secular year and, again, there will be frowns awaiting. Did you know it is illegal to plant flower beds around the post of your mailbox in some areas? If you plant flowers there is a possibility that such blooms may interest bees which will happen to coincide with a mail person's visit and surely cause trouble. No flowers, please. Mail persons have been known be subject to the miseries of hay fever , as well and you should anticipate such possibilities and decorate accordingly.
If the mail container is made of metal or has metal or sharp plastic attachments, it is your responsibility to be sure such hinges, hooks, buttons, connectors, latches or decorative attachments are suitably smoothed over, oiled and made safe for handling. Many less used boxes will be, at times, havens for spider infestation, as well as a prime site for the construction of mud-daubers tubular mud huts, even nests of wasps and other winged foe of all mail people. You are to keep the box cleansed of such vermin visitors. Hose the box out when watering your lawn, and spray the interior to take care off bugs and thing at home in hinges corners.
Seldom does one see religious symbols on mailboxes except during the Christmas holidays, and it might be wise to avoid such decorations as much as possible. Mail boxes are everywhere and so are people who delight in seeking out silly little cases can drag into our court system.
I have never really searched for any printed legal document on the matter, nor do I intend to do so, but I have wondered, at times, if I own my mail box. I have been told both ways. I have decided it depends on circumstances. If all is going well, “they” own it as a part of their delivery system. If something goes amiss , it reverts to my sole ownership until it is repaired or replaced.
A.L.M. August 6, 2004 [c496wds]
Friday, August 06, 2004
ROAD REPAIR
There was once a time when the average citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia found himself to be a member of the local “road gang” - charged with keeping the public roads in passable condition.. Potholes, it is understood, were plentiful.
It has not been too many years since the strip of the old Keezletown Road near the town of Weyers Cave where I now live, was cared for on a regular, year-round basis by those families who lived along the historic old road. Originally, those named to the task were those selected for the road work were those physically able who were listed among the areas “titheables” which was fancy, semi-political talk of the early days for any “taxable” persons. Such work was, in a sense, payment of a public debt. Keeping the areas roads and trails open. The term most frequently used was, to be exact, keeping road and trails “passable” and there was great variance in what that condition.
The system work well enough.
The road of the time were in poor condition at their best, in our view, but it was the only means of movement for both people and produce . It was mark of local pride to keep roads in good condition. I remember quite well hearing stories of older residents about days spent working on the road. Many of the families still living along the historic old Keezletown Road near Weyers Cave, in which family members recall their days of working on the roads. They often quarried and hauled rock from several small quarry operations set up for just that purpose, crushed them by mallet, to firm up roadbeds. .Old records indicate the presence of a low, water-troubled spot just south of what is now the town of Weyers Cave. It posed a problem for many years but eventually it was filled in to become stable and dependable.
Earlier, in building the only east-west passageway across the Blue Ridge Mountains, called “Three Chopt Road” from South of Richmond to Staunton, Virgina, instructions were posted requesting those who made use of the “road “ - which we would now call a “trail” maintain the road as they used it. They agreed to re mark the trees along the way which designated it as “Three Chopt Road”- three deft blows of the ax or hatchet to tree trunks along the exact route. Travelers agreed to clear away shrubs and overgrowth which had alter the path across the high mountains.
When we experience road troubles today, we call VDOT and turn all such problems over the those qualified and equipped to make repairs or changes needed. We, far too often, seem to of forget how important our highway system remains concerning the stability and well-being of our nation's millions of citizens.
We often fail to remember that our highways are vital connections linking many elements of our complex society together for mutual benefits. We must maintain our network of road at all costs.
I often think of a particularly bad road my Grandfather met with in his logging days in Michigan. Someone had set up a short stick on which was attached a note reading: ”This road not passable! Not even jackassable!
A.L.M. August 5, 2004 [c546wds]
Thursday, August 05, 2004
SHARE, OR SHUT UP?
I haven't experienced too much severe illness in my lifetime, for which I am duly grateful, but I have seen it often as it has afflicted other people about me.
There is a time in some stage of the natural course of such when the individual concerned take a stand. One type will feel perfectly at ease in talking to other people about their disease, malfunction or sudden change in physical condition but others will refuse to even mention the subject as if such a thing stood as a mark of personal failure which is best forgotten. Either they will talk about their illness with others or they will refuse to do so, or work around the the subject only in general terms. I have found there is a middle ground, but it is a rather thinly populated area.
There are extremes on both sides. Each can prove to be obnoxious in his or her own insistent way, and the purpose of pointing all of this up is that we would be wise to make an study of our own thinking about what we should about either sharing our bad-times or keeping it to ourselves. I personally, find it easy to come down on the side f sharing. But, that, for me, is limited is well and seldom, if ever, allows for a full recital with all the trimming and embellishments.
I have had three phases of illness in my eighty-eight years. I had an appendectomy in 1936 which, at that time in medical knowledge, special are and a great deal of time. Just three years ago, in 2001, I underwent anuryism of the abdominal aorta – and re-construction thereof . That was a fabulous piece of surgery and the doctors who did it at the University of Virginia Hospital are ever to be lauded in my mind for the miracles they worked that day. Then, just this past week in July of 2004 surgeons at Rockingham Memorial Hospital found I had a malfunctioning Gall Bladder which was extracted forthwith..
That's all. Not a great deal to talk about and yet when people ask I will gladly respond dwelling longest on those points they seem to feel most demanding. The aorta operation was, I understand, a most unusual one. It has been said to have been rather unique one dealing with a distended aorta which far surpassed those usually treated successfully. In truth, I feel I am lucky to be here at all, and that I, in turn, owe it to those men and women who made up the Team and pooled their knowledge to my benefit made it all possible to let me know an can and well do in the future for others. I'm am ready willing to talk about “my operation” would be to deny the significant achievements of genius exemplified by Dr. Nancy T. Harthun and her associates at the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville, Va She and her team brought to one place at the precise time we all needed, the exact scientific knowledge and natural common sense which made it possible for me to be sitting here years later trying to express how best to expressed gratitude and thanksgiving for all that these people have done me and for others..
That event, naturally, can be seen as a sort of bridge over some very troubled waters in my life and it is, I feel only natural that I talk about it when asked to do so. I seldom do, as I am at this moment, more or less on my own, and I firmly believe I have been fortunate. If some sort of classification could be set up, I would be seated in the back rows. I feel I have survived thus far because of the many people before me. I speak for them as well as for myself.
I am saying ”Thank you”, in a way, to all those who prepared the way for my moments of passage.
A.L.M. August 5, 2004 [c678wds]
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
THINK GLOBAL
Everything seems to be giving way to universalism these days.
Many long-distance trucking firms, for example, have prospered well for many years with relatively simple names. It has become evident in recent years, however, that this relatively simple procedure was about to come to a screeching halt as we obviously running out of names for such trucking firms which appeared in ever-increased numbers.
Many such trucking services have prospered over the years with simple names such as “Acme”, “Overnight,” “Atlas” ; historical and geographical names such as ”Mayflower” and “Long Island” and many of them relied on the family name of the owner. In my particular area , Virginia, there were several which fit this group: “Smith's Transfer”, Houff Truck Lines, Cosby and several others. Such names made up the bulk of those you saw on the nation's highways regardless of where you might travel.
Gradually we began to see some strange names from time-to-time, some slanted toward brevity and others staying with elongated family designations. We began to have more versions of spaced-oriented names. ”Global;” became an obvious favorite, and ,from time-to-time we would be meeting with something called “Orbit”, “Moonwalk” or almost any of NASA project names and some pseudo-science tags such s “Planet 6”.
One such name change was impressive because it went “all the way” - almost in a simple, unadorned generic format. Someone name a trucking firm by making use of just three letters. This letters G. O. and D. were painted in large, block letters in sleek black on a white surface. When painted as large as truck side would permit it was generically clean and clear. The first time I came across this truck line name, I was rather shocked and turned for a second look to see if I had seen what I thought I had seen.. I had some real doubts. As I came closer to the rig I saw, printed beneath the three, towering letters:“G.O.D.”. As I came near to the rig, I realized there was additional print below the towering threesome of letters. It offered an explanation of the large letters: “Guaranteed Overnight Delivery.”
Since this meeting with G.O.D. on the Interstate, I have been somewhat less eager to seek out new names for our trucking firms.
A.L.M. August 2, 2004 [c388wds]
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
LOCAL OPINION
Very often many of us place special value on what we continue to call “local opinion.”
We sometimes overlook the fact that, as with the case of “the Old Gray Mare” of one of yesterday's song, “ she ain't”, by a long shot, anything at all like she used to be said to have been.
In the current electronic news-fed phase of ours, with it's ever-widening awareness of the news which fills ever moment of our days and nights, local opinion has been warped somewhat go become an amalgam of news covering a larger area. To some extent, many the basic down-to-Earth, at-home evaluations, and the ideas leading to action from other sources not so closely related to the grassroots of our being.
We mis-quote our selves.
An example of what has taken place can be seen in many areas where there are three or more successful TV stations in operation. An additional station, or one of the group, decides to center on “local news” and the change works well for a time. Suddenly the viewer finds the world to be a much faster, much more violent place than he ever thought it to be. With a local news format in place, air time seems to be quickly taken over by a string of violent acts which seem to comprise the major portion of the news day after day. It will seem to be even more distrubing when the viewer realizes other station's news departments have minimized such stories to the very edge of existence or have simply ignored them. After a month or so, it is ofter turns out the the very individuals who wanted the local news approach, found themselves opposed to it. The station becomes one with a reputation for shadowy facts about social and sex crime, vandalism, carjacking, robbery's as well as the use of bad language and the sort of conduct which goes with such living. Local news, of such fundamental importance to us not too long ago, comes to seem always turbulent, uncertain and endlessly violent even unto death. That feeling , which seems to grow with attempts to center on local and local opinion. Many viewers are offended and believe their community o be pure and upright in all things - at all times.
It may well have been that the concept of local news went out of style with demise of the traditional American weekly newspapers. The editors of those papers, held a great deal of what has proved to have been good for Our Land.
A.L.M. August 3, 2004. [c445wds]
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