Timex Trivia

Our October journey to Paso Robles and the All-60s Reunion has left wonderful memories to muse. The only regret and misfortune was misplacing/losing my favorite wristwatch, a super-lightweight Timex Expedition Camper with a worn and grubby band and badly scratched (plastic) crystal.

We scoured the house for the little ticker to no avail. I retraced my steps, tried to remember anything that would give a hint or clue as to its hiding place and finally gave up, hoping it would turn up after we left.

I've bought another, more expensive Expedition which I don't like and a cheap $10 backup for knock-around use. Both stare at me in the bedroom, vainly trying to tick, tick, tick their chronometric way into my heart.

Life has gone on now for six months. Six months of finally losing all hope of seeing my old friendly timepiece. Six months of fading memories.

The story ended this morning as I got dressed for church and found what had been tucked into my pants pocket so many months earlier.

Do you have the bill of materials/estimate from the house you're living in? Probably not. It was most likely built by someone you never met (or now wish you hadn't). In the old days, you bought the materials yourself and built your dream home with your own two hands, along with your brothers and sons and friends.

We don't work on our own cars anymore, either. Unless we happen to have a pre-smog clunker.

People had a great advantage in the past --- the art and ability to make and fix their own stuff. May God have pity on us!

Oh, this is a bill of materials for one of my grandfather's houses on Lawrence Drive in San Luis Obispo.

Not A Drought Year in California

"Rain in California. --- A rain gauge carefully kept and registered by Dr. Snell, of Sonora, shows that from the 11th of Eleventh month, 1861, to the 14th of the First month, 1862, seventy-two inches of rain fell at that place."

From the publication, The Friend.

California Earthquake on October 21, 1868

"On the 21st instant an earthquake was felt throughout a large part of the State, and in some places considerable damage was done to property. In San Francisco several of the public buildings suffered severely. The U.S. Marine Hospital and City Hall have been condemned as unsafe, and will have to be rebuilt. The total loss in this city is supposed to be between one and two millions. Alameda county suffered the most. Near San Leandro there were numerous fissures in the earth, from some of which came clouds of dust, and from others volumes of water. San Leandro creek, which had been dry for months, is now a rapidly running stream. At San Leandro and various other villages, the brick buildings were thrown down or rendered uninhabitable, and many of the wooden structures much damaged. At San Jose and Brachear City also, the destruction of property was great. No loss of life is mentioned. Slight shocks were felt in San Francisco on the 23rd and 25th inst., the last was of considerable duration, and caused alarm to the citizens."

From the publication The Friend.

Licking The Scorpion

All granddaughters share a number of things, including the ability to be cute no matter what they're doing. Some granddaughters love the wild and woolly, especially this one who wears a laminated scorpion necklace and is currently sucking on a real-dead scorpion sucker. Can you see the foreleg sticking out of the candy? Yummy!

"O, LORD . . . You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!" Psalm 139:13-17