Wednesday, July 29, 2009
 I want to thank you all on behalf of my family for your emails and calls. My Dad died Tuesday morning July 28, 2009 as we were in the second day of our drive back to Virginia. My Dad's last hours were spent at home, and my brother and oldest daughter joined the family Monday night at his bedside. My brother spent over an hour playing tunes that my dad, a lifelong musician loved - jazz, pop, country, classical, hymns, jigs. There were moments of cognition and words of assurance. They returned to his bedside Tuesday morning. The official obituaries have not been published, so for those who may have been searching through Google, here are a portion of the details: Andrew L. McCaskey, Sr., 93, 83 Brendan Lane, Weyers Cave died on July 28, 2009 at his home. Mr. McCaskey, an Air Corps veteran of World War II, and an avid musician, was an advertising and copy writer and announcer at WSVA radio in Harrisonburg, Virginia, for most of his life. He was also employed at Dunham-Bush, Inc. as a technical writer. Mr. McCaskey produced a daily column from the age of 16, and was was published in the National Observer, the Shenandoah Herald, and from2002 to 2007 he published over 1500 columns on his blogsite http://ttopicanize.blogspot.com/
The link has also been aliased at http://tinyurl.com/andrewmccaskey A member and Elder of the Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church, he was also a longtime member of the Weyers Cave Ruritan Club, and amateur radio operator KA4WSI.
Family Visitation will be at Lindsey Funeral Home Chapel in Weyers Cave Thursday evening July 30 at 7:00PM, with Funeral services at Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church in Fort Defiance, Virginia Friday July 31 at 10:00AM. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donation to the Ruth See Foundation of Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church or the Hospice of the Shenandoah, POB 215, Fishersville, Virginia. 22939 Online condolences to the family at http://www.lindseyfuneralhomes.com
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 14, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Here is a new post - back after a few months with confusion about passwords and account names. Labels: account, password
Thursday, August 30, 2007
LITTLE THINGS You can experience of wonderful sense of accomplishment when you re-discover how much you can help others in need by doing things for their betterment. Due to illnesses in recent months, we have found it to be not easy for us to express our gratitude for the countless friends and neighbors - even few outright strangers we had not known before - have been doing things on our behalf. We continue to find it difficult to show proper gratitude and in appreciation of all in their giving or time , effort and true appreciation for such personal gifts. When we moved a year we, purposely selected a house with much less yard to keep "up" as the expression goes, while keeping the grass down is a common chore. To deal with that we kept our riding mower. Our daughter Barbara enjoys riding the machine as do our grand children when visiting. There's a small area about two-car size front of the house; a bit larger grassy area in the back and side stripe are every bit of six or feet wide. Barbara had minor surgery on her elbow and she wore a white supporting bandage on her right arm for a week or so.That was sufficient notice to cause the young man who mows the large lawn of the large Covenant Community Church to included our yard in his mowing work. He uses on of those those stand-and-ride super rigs and it takes perhaps two passes to do our hard as well as the grass covered borders of the church parking lot and joining our scrape of land borders the church's parking lot. He also returns to which overflows into the car-parking area when it gets too full. Foodstuffs and phone calls have also been abundant;notes, letters and cards, too - have been frequent and most welcome. Right now, while we are marking the second anniversary of the Katrina flood emergencies is an especially appropriate time to give some special thought and serious attention to the ways in which might allay much of the pain and suffering. Many such conditions never make the news headlines or excite political or governmental actions other than idealized talk with little genuine actions to combat the basic evils. Much is to be led and even accomplished by concerned individuals and the groups into which they so easily form to build stamina, strength and confidence. Andrew McCaskey Sr. amccsr@comcast.net [c415wds] 8-30-07
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
JOBS As you get a few more years you must ,sometimes, "take stock" now and then and wonder it, perhaps,you may have been more successful in some other line of work. I rather doubt that many of us born during the years following Word Year I. Our years of employment in so many cases, coincided with the rigors brought about by the Great Depression many boys and girls had to accept pretty much what they could get. Prior to that, I recall parents determining, in too many cases, perhaps, that their son was going "to study law",or "be a medical doctor" or lead his generation in some industrial firm; a commercial business of some sort or active in investment or banking fields in such a manner as to provide a cushiony income for his family. Careers for girls were often concerned with the proper match making needed to make such successful family units a sure thing. Young women were, however, showing more and more interested in entering various fields of business with career ambitions in mind. Parents were, as a rule quite active in seeking the proper employment area for there sons and daughters. During the less prosperous times the parental push was to properly launch a son or daughter into lucrative fields of work at executive levels rather than a common worker status. The current condition of rising educational cost has made it necessary for many parent to extend or facilitate added support. Once the youth is in possession of a diploma, he or she often does well to land a debt-paying "job" while awaiting the dreamed of "position." Very often that becomes his or her career choice. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@comcast.net [c295wds] 8-22-07
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
DIVERSITY NOW There is probably no better time for us to observe the many ways in which we are different - one from another - than Election Time. That is one of the few time in which are asked to state some indication of our feelings openly and show how we feel about certain subjects which are of which are mutual concern to all of us. We tend to see single subjects in rather strange, mystifying lights and realize we each have individual personalities which cause us to be in disagreement with friends and family. Days, weeks and months such as we are presently living within present us with choices which, when decided by our actions, are critical the very life of our nation. We are choosing leaders who will be called upon to make proper choices for our nation to walk the the best paths. Some ways will promise potential good while other may place us all in danger. It is important that we, during this election period in particular making much more detailed demand on voters to commit themselves on themes, philosophies, of widely extended and re-defined situations we have avoided in the past. Excessive off-shore suicide by American industry, manufacturing, business, plus various desecration of the Arts and Culture. You are to take part in this national re-construction. You are being called upon to cast your strength and courage into a host of activities relative to fundamentals of our national way of life. As yet, in its "primary" phase, it seems evident that we voters are going to be asked if we, for instance, can accept a woman as president; a black man, or someone who adheres to a religious faith other than ones on the so-called approved list or the "None" route. You will be asked how you feel about continuing the "wars" currently in progress or seeing them expanded into new areas. Obfuscations on moral matters and educational concerns are apparent at every level of our society. Yet remaining in the "Convention's stage" the yet to be designated "smoke-filled rooms" await us as a critical point in our ship-of-state design and construction where so many seemingly pacesetting campaigns have been adjusted and modified in the past to be workable in the voting booths of our nation. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@.comcast.net [c398wds] 8-7-07.
Monday, April 02, 2007
ONE BY L’AMOURIt seems to me that I have been reading so-called “western novels” written by Louis L’Amour all my life. His prolific pen, along with that of Zane Grey, account for a sizable chunk of such literary production for the larger part of our generation. I finished one such book this morning - one called “The Broken Gun”. It drifted into my zone with a box of twenty-seven other plus some Grey. They came to me assort of an inheritance. The original owner received copies of "westerns" at Christmas season and on most birthdays. That was the genre we read in our youthful years of discovery and we saw at the grand daughter passed them along to me - twenty seven of them, I think, and, as a I read them, they will be cycled to other family members or friends. They are each inscribed as having been received on his birthday or Christmas Day l998 and the "Wild West" movie was in again on TV and in new films. A common theme in many of such novels is about the threat of a family falling apart or facing ruin and the need of a younger son to prove himself worthy to defend the family honor from factions. That's the plot of "The Broken Gun" and it could have happened in almost section of the country. It is told about an area in which and author knows the people he writes about first-hand and with all their natural traits active. For too long, perhaps, we Americans have tended to shift all such books to and authors such as Louis L' Amour have improved them in many ways. They are, in truth, very much like the romance novels written for women, but they have become more virile and like. It is time for readers to scan some of the older ones and to follow through by reading the newer ones on the news stands today. There are quite a few differences. They are better than the re-runs of re-runs facing you on TV. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@comcast.net 4-2-07 [c402wds]
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
TOO MUCH OF I remember an expression which used to be in favor with a great many people who where, at times, critical of others who lived a prosperous, active interesting life style yet seemed never to be content or satisfied with their pathway - however splendid it seemed to others. We used to hear a motherly, loving, generous mother who could be critical of rich relatives or friends as a warning to her children of letting desire become a prime guide to life accomplishments "She, He or They..." "was") ("were") often scorned some what when they seemed to be spending money and time in frivolous living; say, a two-weeks cruise in the Carri bean area, or a longer trip among the Greek Island. They were point out as being someone who was having too much of good thing! I have heard it used against persons who are, by their inquisitive nature, permanent students - always attending classes of some sort of class in or out of a formal college setting. Many of them had too much of a good thing and it was sure to lead them to utter ruin. I think most of us could cite a situation of that nature where the most learned individual in the community; the richest or the one with too much of anything - such as too many children - was said to be a target of such a critical analysis. The philosophy kept us, I suppose, from becoming lottery ticket addicts, from chasing the pay-off nags or dogs at the nearby or far away pits, ovals or tracks where super-rich persons are created with reported regularity. Your trips to Las Vegas could cause you to be such a pointed-out person. Just show up and win too many prizes at your local, church Bingo "party for a worthy cause" if you would like to feel a flight of such a flight of darts of damnation. We see and hear the expression in action in political life today - in society in general sense, in religious aspects and in business and industry. Failure seem to stem from Congress people when too many good things come their way . It is an interesting sidelight on our native culture to see the lesser winners on the "good" selecting "American Idol" become the ones who win out as entertainment worthies. Give even a potentially good talent the glare of too much good publicity and ruin is assured. Too much of a good thing can prove to be costly. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@comcast.net 3-3-07 [c432wds]
Saturday, February 24, 2007
MIL. ED.It just may be that the “high tech” knowledge has, over the years, been rather slow in getting a firm foothold in our military groups. Among the technical papers I have among a collection of such writings I have saved is a half-page, typewritten, mimeographed sheet which detailed “DIRECIONS FOR CONNECTING STANDARD TELEPHONE”. I quote the entire missive so you can get a good grasp on the fundamental method of instruction used by the army back when the telephone was "in." "1. CONNECT: Red wire from telephone to red wire of telephone line. Yellow (or white) wire from telephone to yellow wire of telephone. Green (or black or blue) wire from telephone to green wire of line. If your telephone does not ring when your number is called, reverse the red wire from telephone green wire of line, and connect the green line (or black or blue) wire from telephone to red wire of line. IF THE ABOVE DOES NOT WORK, THEN: CONNECT: Yellow (or white) wire of telephone to the red wire also of telephone. Connect these two wires to red wire of telephone line. Connect green(or black or blue) wire of telephone to green wire of telephone line. ( The yellow wire of the telephone is not used.) If you are unable get the telephone to work as per above instructions , return phone to: TELEPHONE ENGINEEERING COMPANY, SIMPSON,PA. 18407. Give also the markings on bell from inside of your original telephone and the state the name of the manufacturer." Certainly, that qualifies as a "colorful" piece of technical writing. and I have to say how grateful I am that was never called upon on install many telephones using such guidance. Business, industry and our military services all need qualified technical writers today. The proper functioning of a product is of the secret of prosperity in that it retains old customers and develops new ones. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@comcast.net 2-24-07 [c335wds]
Friday, February 23, 2007
NEW WAYS Some years ago, I recall, I needed a blotter and said so urgently. I had spilled a bit of art-coloring on the desk surface. My fellow worker, young and innocent, in the ways of office routine, looked puzzled and quickly replied: "What you need is a paper towel!" She turned away and promptly returned with several paper towels and hurriedly wiped way the stains. "There!" She said proudly. "Like new! You didn't hurt a thing. It won't show at all." She glossed over the area with a clean towel and held it up to reassure me. I had no idea she, and most of the other young workers in the area, would not know what I had meant when I demanded a "blotter." I, suddenly, realized they were gone! Blotters no longer exist in offices anywhere today. Not too ago the blotter was an essential part of the office setup, along with rubber bands and thumb tacks. We used pen and ink for many office jobs before typewriters and, then, ball point pens came into style. The blotter was usually about the size of a dollar bill - which was a tad larger than those in use today, as well. Most would have been, oh, perhaps 8-1/2 by 4 inches, as I recall. They were mainly made of a thin sheet of very absorbent paper covered with a slicker sheet on which advertisements were printed. Most towns had small print shop which specialized in such advertising, match book covers, calendars, key chain tags of heavy cardboard and a stock of signs for utility purposes. I have seen the working side of some blotters take on a design of reversed writing in blue, red and black which formed a pattern such as Jackson Pollock, the painter, might well have been proud. But the use of the blotter went out of existence with Penmanship, I suppose. The pencil, for some reason, was always there and it has been vastly improved but the fact that its work could be so easily erased and edited made it useless in keeping company books and other records. Occasionally, the stained blotter would turn up as clue in detective stories. The sleuth and present a written confession from the vile criminal. There must be, somewhere, a museum of blotter designs. They had other not-intended uses, as I remember. I have used them as bookmarks and know of others and during the days of the Great Depression I can remember them being used as inner shoe soles where a hole had developed. If any blotters exist today the must be treated as curios more-and-more as the years go by. Andrew McCaskey Sr. amccsr@.comcast.net 2-23-07 [c448wds
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
LIFE'S CONTRASTS Unless he or she choose to make it so, no one's life need be completely “blah.” Much of what our lives turn out to be can be cataloged as being "acquired" rather than "native". If you find your advancing years weighting more toward the dull side you must remember who may have engendered much of such a fault. We should expect contrasts and changes on our lives as part of normal growth leading toward to better conditions. Rather than any attempt to quell them; trying to prevent history from happening, is wind mill you tilt against with unlimited futility. Changes are going to come into your life regardless of what you may do, and you need to be prepared, in a way, as they arise. You need to be prepared to activate them properly, as well and as soon as they arrive. I think of this situations so often during the month of June when our newspapers seem to almost overflow with specifics concerning engagements and weddings. Many of them are based on promises made one to the other. Promises, I feel, are properly shared - not given. Turn to any other page in the same newspaper reporting all those wedding reports and you will find l - far too easily, that promises, agreements, binding words, and such are not listed among merits in newsworthy events of the day. Promises are not exactly what one might call "negotiable securities". They are treasures to be shared with your future progeny not your immediate "now" of your. You are not the sole person on Earth who has creation-given plans, hopes, hopes ,intents - aims and aspirations. Your share in their leaps forward, too. It is your lifetime job to glorify your Creator. If you should choose to make all of life your very own you make it a "task", a deviant duty of-a-down-bound type, a weird worship of a false God - almost totally of your own making. Share your many blessings. Life in such a manner that you can stand in front of a mirror; look into your mirrored eyes and say - aloud : "I am what I am!". If you find you have to close your eyes to get away from that examination spot -some changes are in order. Now. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@comcast.net 2-20-07 [c392wds]
Saturday, February 17, 2007
RETURN TRIP Even with all of the countless nostalgia magazines and papers now appearing on news stands and make positive favoring a return of our national culture base we seldom see any more photographs or at work showing letters from readers and correspondent asking what has become become of them. To many Americans the "barns" early settler's built to store their native-grown wealth in whatever particular phase of the burgeoning economy they chose to compete. More and more barn were built when we were a growing nation barns of many styles of many of occupationally specialized barns were built in just about every section of the nation. They were often symbolic of how the world was to be led to see the success an individual seemed to have made of his holdings. The number and size of barns a man could afford to build told the world of that time who had the money in- hand and was willing to spend it to enhance his social standing. That's one way in which the barns have become such fine story-tellers describing how human lives were both helped and harmed over many years...living, loose-ends poorly tied, and entire dreams of large family groups - men, women and children - entire generations - forever destroyed. Very often, today you can learn a great deal more about how a man lived by visiting his barns rather than his house. The home environment reflected some of elements and sentiments of other members of farm family of those days. It was larger, more comprehensive group than we might find it to be today although that, too, can be fantasized in even more colorful ways today. The one barn with which I have had a close relationship was a more practical one as was the family farm on which it was located. The barn was, to me, of the finest types of such structures in this Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It had both English and Germanic features in it, as did the family who lived in the nearby, native-made brick brick home nearby. It could have been said the barn had "just grow'd" there - like Lil' Eva in"Uncle Tom's Cabin". It was built of coherent pieces over years of dreaming and planning and the total cost - a remarkably styled bridge barn a dream realized by farmer Irving Driver when he was just a lad. I have the paper on which he liked the total cost of materials and of labor hired at less than five hundred dollars. I might have been a good thing that he died before the boom of the wreaking rig took it away from us - the old 1844-'45 brick house, as well, to make room for the housing development in which we, as some of his descendent's, now live. It's foolish, some people would tell you, to waste your time even thinking about a building which is no longer in existence. That barn on I. D. Driver's old "Lofton Farm" just west of Weyers Cave, Virginia, on the historic Keezletown Pike, was a dream a young farm boy brought to practical perfection in his own lifetime. What kind of structure are you building today in which you might plan to store your accomplishments and achievements for others who follow you? Yes, and for those who will stand in their shoes! Those buildings we used to call barns are disappearing fast these days; getting more and more scarce. Where and how are you saving the good things of your life? There are far more of them, too, than you have thought there could be. Build big. Build to preserve such wealth for others, not to brag about having it. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@comcast.net 2-17-07 [c628wds]
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
ABSENT WITH LEAVE A vacation can be a good thing. I have taken a few days from these in recent weeks and I like to think they are happening because of my "advancing age level" bringing widely accepted "slow down!" notices - some of them, purposely turned in my direction. I can take a hint. I am not one of those persons who needs to be beaten over the head with a wide board to be reminded o take better care of myself. I've been told to "get more sleep." Playing it sly, I try to comply. I, immediately find how difficult it can be to shift from a well-established habit of arising at six o'clock each morning to a "more civilized hour". Years of office schedules taught me that I had to get up by six to get my outside "farm" chores done, feed my face, shower, shave and hie myself off on the daily commute. That travel-time routine served often as a personal "quiet time" - both early morning and, again in a kind of "Thank You, Lord", or ,"Now, what do I try to do next?" session as the sun seeped into the colorful strip along the western edge of the world. The advice, now that I think about it, was largely: "Sleep on it!" I usually did. I found that as television programming declined it was far easier to lop an hour or so from one's evening plans than morning. And - I must, at least, mention another inroad which has been taken on my way of doing whatever it is I am not, at that moment, doing "correctly." This new-found trait of "going to sleep early" became..."always sleepy"..."sleeping his life away!" ..."can sleep standing up!"..."sleeps too much" was the point of packaging me up for two nights of "sleep studies" at a nearby snore center. I, more or less, flunked. I haven't been invited back and hope that condition might continue. Meanwhile...back as the keyboard - I will be writing erratically. I still write daily but I do so in long-hand emulating J.K. Rawlings, no doubt. If my keyboard happens to be out of it's usual whack I depend on long-hand writing. It can be said that is is just a matter of typing those scribblings...right? Partly. My handwriting (now that I am said to be aged) has changed somewhat and not for the better, I will concede. Typing my hand-written copy is not all that difficult. The translation from some form of ancient Urdo street language seems to be somewhat more troubling. A soon as I get my bits and bytes back, I'll fill in the holes. Okay? Time for a short nap on this end. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@comcast.net 2-13-07 [c470wds]
Sunday, February 11, 2007
WITHOUT HATE Is it possible for Man to live in times of war and not to hate his enemies? Our religious faith demands that we “love our enemies” and, I suppose, other faiths set forth a like urging. Fortunately or unfortunately there are several useful definitions of the term “love”.One such use,in particular, can be used to justify some rather cruel patterns of demonstrated “love”. The domineering Father of fictional families - and far too many in real life – is often shown as a vicious tyrant who beats his wife and children with the strap he ,normally, uses as a belt during his steadier moments. Often. As he does so while proclaiming his love for each one of them. He beats them to drive out the sin which is condemning them to endless shame and agony. He cites precedent showing how previous believers had been made to suffer before they won through to blessing untold! Any time of War is a time when it is not at all difficult for one to learn to hate. Right now is a special time because so many people have not yet decided to approve of the idea that the present, unusual conflicts in which we are engaged are, indeed, to be called “wars”. They do occupy a place “outside the envelope” used to contain definitions of usual warfare, but the victims – nearly four thousand of them in the Twin Towers tragedy alone. Our basic principles of life have been denied. Each, added day we spend trying to decide petty points to define “war” our men and women – whom we have placed in harm’s way are dying or being maimed. It is a common tactic to some groups to stress this idea of urging peace above all else...including our integrity, honor and common sense. I am sure we can sustain our good concepts of good wishes to the many “peoples” led astray by their amok leaders. Think back over the times we have been asked not to hate our enemies: "Do not let yourself hate the British during our Revolutionary War; the Native Americans, the French, the English ,England again in 1812 who actually burned our capital city. Then ,how about the pirates off of Tripoli or the members of own families during our Civil War, Mexicans on each end of it, and the Spanish as a new century of fears came to be. Then, "Kaiser Bill's" Germany and Hitler's tragic re-run of the whole mess, aided and abetted by Russian, Slavs and others by names out of the of the Balkan Mountain area and the Japanese on the other side of the Pacific rim. That's a pretty long list, for a bare four hundred years. It could be even longer by including those little wars Panama, Granada, Whiskey, and a few familial set-taos in the Appalachians and other areas from time to time. Hate was an active part of each of them. I have been amazed at how much dislikes endure, too. If you look for them, you can find remnants almost anywhere. Maybe it is time we issue some proclamation or writ or bulls..whatever it might require to soften, delineate or legally obscure our present definition of "war" to allow "hate" to exist. After all, the abiding strength of the Christian faith has been the ability of adherents to hate all sin. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@comcast.net 2-11-07 [c574wds]
Saturday, February 10, 2007
THE OTHER WAY We are, being American, often accused of somewhat piously claiming that we always give fair and equal treatment to everyone concerning our political differences. Most individuals who have never taken a meaningful role in a major election would, I think, agree with that statement and see our participation in political affairs more as if it were a sportsmanlike interlude in our normal activities, rather than a dog-eat-dog , life-or-death confrontation. I have been in a foreign country during a major election period and I can be pursued ed to agree it is not a pleasant time to be around persons who, otherwise, meet average criteria for being worthy friends and associates. I witnessed to people to be understanding, fair, loving, appreciative human beings upon which one might depend in social and in business affairs. In politics? No. With us, I thing, we are convinced we are willing participants in a series of meetings, demonstrations, innings, quarters or turns or whatever terms we might wish to use to describe our actions as to both quality and quantity, a time. I have never, really, come to understand how an individual ,of his desires, so places the finer elements of living at jeopardy by entering into a political confrontation of any large size or scope. Certainly sufficient evidence exists at ,or near, the point of entrance for such an extravagant departure from saner pathways. To put all that one has gained at such risk is not exactly a recommendation concerning personal management, much less , any attempt to do so for an entire nation of people such as yourself. The affirmative view can take over if you promise to run a clean campaign in the race ahead. You feel that, if you are proper, an opponent will be forced to accept such a level of conduct for his own actions. Anyone who believes that could be the case is far to busy tracking down astronauts asking why they brought back moon dust and rocks from the Moon rather than some of that good, usable green cheese! We have many possible candidates in the field at the moment. Dark Horses" are reported to be stomping around in the backwoods, too. All - save one - will be going home. Years from now a few of them will insist they could have made it had they just been given give half a chance. Some will tell of how much better they could have done than he actual winner had done. In their view, that's where our future candidates come from - because some people believe events which never happened can be those of our future. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@comcast.net 2-10-07 [c455wds]
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Wanton Winds It does not seem proper to speak of "high" winds when we are viewing the intense devastation wrought by malicious, uncontrolled tornado- style winds which pounded the middle portion of the State of Florida this past week-end. We tend to associate tornado type storms exclusively to Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and other parts of what we call "Tornado or Cyclone Alley." There are many types of such storms, too. They do not follow set p;patterns or put on the same wild stunts a every place they choose to visit. The can come in complex packages too. A number of vicious storms can be grouped within a large 'some times rather slow-moving cover cloud.. We have witnessed such a compound set of storms - each pounding away on its own hellish course under, over, beside, within or wrapped around others of the same style. The usual rule books can be set aside. As each such storm descends it may well impede one already in place or it can assist in the destruction under way. The path of the cannot be estimated; torn, as it may be, between two or more dominant influences. Such combination storms can be even more devastating than Single ones. The debris you see after the storms have passed will have, literally, been torn to shreds and smaller pieces will have been thrown far from their original placement. Such storms afford less time for study and evaluation. They have some characteristics of single storm but when they do move their path is even more erratic. Due to the warmer climate found in Florida it is only natural they might favor architecture which, many of us in other geographic areas might call "flimsy". The house trailer as been a favorite mode of household for a long time from a simple box-with-mattress on wheels, to elaborate exaggerations of the same concept today. Not all of Florida , however, is sub-standard. Builders have learned a great deal from hurricane studies of the past, and much progress has been made. I noticed one church pictured on TV this last week built thirty years ago to "withstand winds up to 150 m.p.h.". The only comment was a super-imposed card showing that the official wind velocity the previous Friday night had been "155 m.p.h! Very little of the church remained. Right now, at a time when large areas of Central Florida are available for new construction we have a special oppotunity to see that the building which is done are in tune with tempests which are likely to strike at any time. The prospects of a steady real estate growth here are different from those we encountered along the Gulf coast. Many of these were "second" homes and retirement "Get-a-ways. One such owner when interviewed concerning his rather complete loss said: "I've got another one just as good, or better on a lake in Michigan!" He, and others, are looking for profitable real estate opportunity rather than new homes in which to live. They are going to be constructing home to sell to thousands of people - such as you and me - people who have never lived in Florida and think they could enjoy years of serene retirement in "The Sunshine State!" Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@comcast.net 2-6-07 [c590wds]
Thursday, February 01, 2007
KEY WORD Most certainly the one word which is going to control so much of the current presidential election in which we are currently becoming involved. The actual "forthcoming" voting event is set for well in toward the end of 2008. The key word, it seem, is going to be: "elect-ability." That seems to be the critical term in use at the moment. One's ability to get a majority to favor their views. It tells us it may be more important to affect a "landing" in the political area as a prelude to the actual campaign or the office at stake. It is being given attention at two levels: conventions where party people make the nomination and name a candidate they can be assured will prove to be best at pulling votes to their party's banner. Only after that choice is made do the actual voting citizens - usually just a bit over one-half of our eligible voter population - will take part in the choice to be made. This question of just who can be nominated with real confidence in their ability to garner in majority votes in the national election. Imagine yourself to be a V.I.P. in the coming Democratic Party convention. You realize, by this time, that it is no longer a monolithic organization but that you may well be- as are the others - a member of a group - even a minority segment. within what you may think of as being a firm entity with immutable guidelines. Take, for instance, tonight's poll favorites. There's Hillary Clinton - Senator, New Yorker- with undertones of Chicago and Ozark elements, perhaps, and she is very much a former First Lady with an ex-President as sidekick and manager. Is the Democratic Convention ready to name a woman as their main candidate? You have watched her moving gradually to the political center and admired her skill in doing so, but will the public buy such a modification? It is important to remember, too, that the name used f now is "Hillary", but the ballot will hit them with the cold word "Clinton." The others, quickly and then I'm going out and sit on my limb. Barack Obama - Senator, capable, eager,a good speaker, a people person and, obviously one we will,hear from in the future. The fact that is black does not disturb me, but I a not at all sure of the attitude of the nominating panel nor of that of the voters. I don't think they are quite ready to accept an Afro-American in the nation's top office. I think we can skip the others...with one exception. That brings me to my very own, personal opinion: If the nominating group has courage enough to name him and commonsense enough to support Senator John Edwards (D) of South Carolina when he names Senator Joe Lieberman (I)of Connecticut as his Vice-Presidential running mate..their problems are on their way o being solved, at at least, lessened in severity. Andrew McCaskey Sr. amccsr@comcast.net 2-1-07 [c513wds]
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