Carl
C. Fields
{Redacted}
{Redacted}
24 November 2004
Dear Family and Friends:
Aiken and Vicinity
Attended the US Figure Skating Championships in Atlanta in January. It was held in two separate ice arenas – one
downtown and the other in Gwinette, a northeast suburb (a third arena was used
for practice sessions on at least one day).
Had tickets for the entire competition (January 4-12), but didn’t get
there until late Tuesday night (and didn’t attend anything until Wednesday, Jan.
8 – the major events are later in the week).
They now discourage people from throwing flowers onto the ice following
performances – stuffed animals and “stuffed” toy cars are the preferred “throw”
objects (the cars are supplied at the
Chevrolet booth in the arena; Chevrolet is one of the sponsors for the TV
coverage). It is impressive to see a blizzard of stuffed animals (and cars)
coming down on the ice after one of the well-known skaters competes (it’s also
neat when a stuffed bear occasionally lands in an upright sitting
position).
Aiken had an impressive ice storm (freezing rain) in late January. The electric power at home went off about 7
pm and stayed off for about 27 hours (except for one “tease” -- power came on
for a few seconds at about the 24-hour mark).
The house has electric heat (a heat pump), so it was pretty cold by the
second night, even with the fireplace (I’ve since purchased a small indoor
kerosene heater – I’m ready for the last emergency).
Aiken has lots of pine trees, especially in my neighborhood, which is
built on the site of a ~100 acre stand of pines planted by the Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) in the mid-1930s (many the pines in this neighborhood
are VERY tall). Pine trees suffered the
most damage because they had “leaves” (clusters on pine needles) that time of
year – these provided the surface area to collect ice. Limbs fell throughout the night (and well
into the next day). There would be a
loud crack as the limb broke from the tree, and then, about a second later, a
crash when it struck the ground (this second sound -- the crash -- often also
included sort of a breaking-glass sound from the ice coating the limb). Sometimes a falling limb would strike lower
ones on its way down, causing a chain-reaction cascade.
Had to saw through the trunk of a small tree that had fallen across my
driveway to get the car out to the street to get to work the next morning. Since it wasn’t yet daylight when I left for
work, I came home (about 3 miles) at lunchtime to look at the damage in the
yard. The top ~30% of two ~100-ft-tall
pine trees behind the house had broken off.
Two others were bent over by an almost unbelievable amount by their
accumulated ice loads. By then the
freezing rain had stopped and the ice was melting. I thought these two bent-over trees would be
OK, but, when I got home at the end of the day, the tops of these two had also
broken off. I was sawing pieces of trees
into lengths small enough to drag to the street (where the city picked them up)
for several weekends after that.
Power had apparently gone off at work at about the same time it did at
home (~7 pm). We have emergency back-up
batteries at work that provide service to some lights and some other systems,
but these batteries apparently ran down after about 10 hours, so the building
was dark when I got there around 7:15 the next morning (the power there came
back on around 10 am). I hadn’t realized
that the phones at work need 120-volt power (they went down when the backup
batteries were exhausted). Apparently
the power is used to run the phone system’s advanced features (like the memory
that keeps logs of the most recent several calls); I never learned to use most
of these features.
Went to what is called the annual reenactment of the (Civil War) Battle
of Aiken in February – they actually reenact sort of a generic battle. The Battle (or, perhaps more accurately,
Skirmish) of Aiken was on fought on the “city” streets (Aiken’s current
population is around 25,000 – it was probably more like 3000 in February
1865). They don’t try to reenact the
“city streets” aspect of the battle – they use a large open field.
The Aiken reenactment has apparently become so well attended that the
organization that conducts it (the Bernard Bee chapter of the Sons of
Confederate Veterans) was said to have purchased a permanent site for it
(having “outgrown” three or four sites used in earlier years) – although I read
something recently suggesting the purchase may have fallen through. There are clearly few, if any, actual “sons”
of Confederate veterans still active in the organization. Now men with any ancestor who “helped” the Confederacy in any way are eligible for membership – the organization has
African-American members -- I’m not sure
if they have women members (but I’m
not eligible, my only known ancestor who served in the Civil War was on the
Union Side -- Missouri Home Guard – the word “served” is intentional, my great
grandfather was in the home guard for about 100 days starting in June 1861; I’m
not aware of him being in combat of
any kind, although it’s possible, the Battle of Wilson Creek, near Springfield,
Missouri, was fought in August
1861). Some of the leaders of the “Sons”
are involved in what seem to me to be odd political controversies. However, the reenactors I talked to seem to
be mostly interested in camping out, shooting their muzzleloaders, and (perhaps
most important) showing off their uniforms and equipment to one another. (The camping seems to be in family groups,
rather than a military style. Several of
the uniformed reenactors were young teenage girls.)
The vendor or concession area adjacent to the “battlefield” included
about 15 “stores” (set up in large tents) that sell reproductions of various
kinds of equipment to the reenactors (in addition to having books and souvenirs
for “day visitors” like me). The
equipment and clothing was interesting, I noticed one vendor had what appeared
to be hand-sewn shoes, with all shoes of a given size being identical (no left
or right). I wonder what several days of
marching in those would be like! I
suspect these reproduction shoes are really sewn on a special machine that
makes them look hand-sewn. When I was at the Aiken reenactment a few
years ago, one of the food booths had “period food” (such as sarsaparilla and
“johnnycake”). However, this time all
the food vendors appeared to have only “modern” carnival-type food (at least, I
don’t think pizza was common in the U.S. during the Civil War).
Most of the reenactors dressed as Union troops are southerners (many of
them have uniforms for both sides). I
did talk to a group who came from Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia). One of the Union units (not sure where they
were from) had a large artillery piece drawn by a stunning set of matched
near-white horses (six horses pulling the gun and an officer riding the
seventh). Saturday night (after the
Saturday battle, which the Union wins, they have a second battle on Sunday,
which the Confederates win), there was a real wedding (on the Union side, with
period uniforms for the men and vintage dresses for the women). I didn’t stay for that, but it was covered in
the local newspaper the next morning.
Bernard Bee was a Confederate solider from this area who was killed in
the First Battle of Bull Run. I believe
he was a colonel, but he was posthumously promoted to general (we should do
this for everyone killed in action). He
is best known as the person who “gave” the name “Stonewall” to Stonewall
Jackson at First Bull Run. The
traditional story is that Jackson (then a major, I believe) had his battalion
drawn up in a secondary defensive line, well to the rear of the initial phase
of the fighting. Bee’s unit had been
overrun at the front and was retreating.
Bee is said to have referred to Jackson’s brigade as standing “like a
stone wall,” while he attempted to get his (Bee’s) unit regrouped near
Jackson’s location. HOWEVER, one of the
more interesting things I read this summer speculated that Bee might meant the term as an insult. This alternative theory is that the term
“stone wall” was intended to point out that his battalion was standing in the
rear (like a stone wall), when they should have been in action at the
front. Jackson’s unit did get into action
later in the day when the front fell back to their position; the Confederates
eventually won the battle. Since Bee
was killed later in the day, no one can be certain what he meant, although
Jackson and his unit obviously took it as a compliment. (When I mentioned Bee in one of these letters
several years ago, I incorrectly called him Beauregard Bee – “Beauregard” was
the last name of a different Confederate general.)
Went to a minor league baseball game in Augusta (GA): the Augusta Green
Jackets vs the Charleston (SC) River Dogs.
I love the name River Dogs. Minor
league hockey and baseball teams have some really great names. One of the hockey teams in Florida (a phrase
that probably had no meaning 20 years ago) is named the Solar Bears. The name Green Jackets comes from the green
blazers worn by members of the Augusta National country club during the Masters
Golf Tournament held in Augusta each year (one is presented to the winner, who
is made an honorary member of the club, in addition to receiving a gazillion
dollars). The baseball team’s
mascot-cheerleader wears a wasp-like costume (a “yellowjacket” wasp, except
that the costume includes a green jacket, of course).
Also went to a minor league hockey game in Augusta: the Augusta Lynx vs
the Gwinette (GA) Goliaths A lynx is a
type of wild cat – they too have a costumed mascot, who, among other things,
ice skates between periods of the game.
(The Goliaths’ home arena in Gwinette had been one of the venues for the
US Figure Skating Championships.)
These minor league games are interesting in that the crowds are small
(1800 at the baseball game), and they use the public address system to
recognize each individual group in attendance (church groups, scout troops,
etc.)
Also, went to a couple days of the Masters Golf Tournament in April and
one day (plus a practice round day) of a Ladies Professional Golf Association
(LPGA) tournament held near here in the fall.
The two were very different – the Masters is very crowded (you have to
“stake out” a spot early in the morning if you want to be near a green), while
the LPGA event, very lightly attended, was uncrowded, low-key, and relaxing –
probably the way all the men’s professional golf tournaments were 50 years ago,
before the big money and TV coverage came into the picture.
The local LPGA event was actually too
lightly attended, it didn’t get picked up for 2005 (but, it was clear to most
people there that something was going
on – they didn’t seem to try to sell
tickets; I suspect the sponsors had a clause in the contract that allowed them
to drop future years if the attendance fell below a certain point -- they seemed to be just going thru the
motions, meeting minimum requirements, while making sure attendance stayed
below that cutoff point). The course,
Mount Vintage, is quite attractive (and cleverly designed – more holes that
play downhill than uphill).
Retirement
I retired at the end of May.
Since then, I’ve run almost every morning (and lost perhaps 15
pounds). Have also cleaned and organized
the garage. Most of my tools and
equipment are now hanging from racks on the walls (I “found” a propane camp cookstove in the
garage that I’d forgotten about – something that would have been useful during
the ice storm earlier in the year). I
have all kinds of planned projects (like starting to play golf again) that I’ve
put off until retirement (when I would have more time, but I still don’t seem
to have any time).
Read about 70 books during the year, although that slowed down after I
partially “unretired” (see next paragraph).
The most interesting of these was probably Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. It’s an examination about why civilizations
in different parts of the world developed technologies at different rates (and
why, when they eventually met, some societies were able to overwhelm others –
such as when the Europeans came to the Americas).
I came out of retirement (part time) starting in October to support some
work being done to resolve U. S. Department of Energy comments on a safety
document that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) submitted in
October 2003. I’d helped write portions
of the document during 2001-2003. I
made four trips to California for this (1-2 weeks each) between October and
December. Expect to also be there for
two weeks in January and again in February.
Travel
Haven’t been on any “big” trips this year. Did see the Lewis and Clark exhibit at the
Missouri Historical Society Museum in St. Louis. Interesting because they had several original
artifacts of the 1803-1806 expedition – and several other possible artifacts – these are things that are known to have been
in the possession of members of the expedition, but it isn’t known if these
things actually went on the trip (Clark’s stuff in many cases, he lived in St.
Louis for most of the remainder of his life after the trip – he was the
governor of Missouri Territory for a time).
The museum had a special gift shop just for Lewis and Clark stuff (in
addition to the normal gift shop). This
special shop seemed to sell every book, puzzle, poster, game, map, and action
figure “in print” concerning Lewis and Clark.
My favorites are the seven (children’s) books about the dog that went on the trip. The dog, named Seaman, belonged to Lewis, who
may have purchased him in Pittsburgh
– the dog is apparently first mentioned in Lewis’ journal when he (Lewis) was
in Pittsburgh overseeing construction of a boat. Seaman is referred to as a Newfoundland, but
that breed name may have meant something different then.
That same museum had a special exhibit for the centennial of the 1904
World’s Fair (a plot element in the 1944 Julie Garland movie, “Meet Me in St.
Louis,” which is also the name of a 1904 song).
I hadn’t realized until seeing this exhibit that the 1904 St. Louis
Olympics were a minor sidelight at this fair (Olympics weren’t a big deal back
then).
I later read a biography of Charles Lindbergh. Turns out that he donated most of his
memorabilia (such as trophies and medals) to this same museum (the financial
backers for his trip were from St. Louis, hence the name of the airplane
“Spirit of St. Louis”). His stuff was
taken off display for 2004 to make space for the special exhibits, so I didn’t
see it.
Also spent part of a day at Kahokia Indian Mounds, which is a state park
in Illinois, perhaps 10 or 12 miles east of St. Louis. It is very
impressive, for both the size of the largest mound (my memory is that the base
covers 14 acres) and the number of them.
Perhaps 70 or 80 are clearly visible.
Many other small ones have been obliterated over the years as the land
has been repeatedly plowed (agricultural activity has probably also reduced the
size of some of the still visible ones).
I was surprised this place isn’t better known.
Also went to Grant’s Farm near St. Louis. The Anheiser Busch company owns it. They use it breed and train the Clydesdales
that pull their Budweiser beer wagons.
It also has a large fenced-in area where they have a collection of “free
range” animals (elk, deer, horses, buffalo, donkeys, and – if I recall correctly
– zebras). They also have a small, more
traditional, zoo with elephants, camels, kangaroos, some exotic birds, and
(most of all) goats (many of the smaller goats are in a petting zoo). And, of course, a snack bar, a tasting room,
and several gift shops. The Clydesdale
stables are on one side of the parking lot and the “zoo” area is on the
other. Visitors go thru the “free range”
area on a tram, which lets people off in the zoo-like area. When I was there, things were arranged so
that only 8 or 9 Clydesdales were visible to visitors (a few in stalls and two
mother-and-colt pairs in two separate small pastures). One of the colts was really enjoying the
attention from visitors. He pressed
himself against the fence so that as many people as possible could pet him at
the same time (with his mother about 35 ft away, grazing and watching).
The name “Grant” comes from U.S. Grant, the civil war general and
president (his term was 1869-1877). The
relationship between him and the current Busch property is complex (and
tenuous). His wife’s father owned a
~1700-acre plantation in this area when they met in the early 1840s -- he was
then on his first military assignment after graduation from West Point. The plantation included much, and possibly
all, of the current Busch property. A
small portion of the family land (40 acres, I believe) was given to Grant and
his wife as a wedding president. The two
of them lived at various places on the property from about 1853 to about 1860
(a period when he was out of the army).
During part of this time (after her mother died) they lived in the main
house with her father. After the civil
war, they purchased (and may have inherited) more property in the area, but
lived there only intermittently – the main house may have been served as a
“vacation White House” during his term. The main house (and about 6 acres
around it, including a few farm buildings) is a US National Park Service site.
The Busch family started acquiring land in the area around 1900.
Made several trips to the Washington DC area this year – stopping at
Civil War battlefields in Virginia on a couple occasions. Was there on one of the trips when President
Reagan died. Took the Metro downtown one
evening to see the procession as his horse-drawn casket was taken to the
Capitol Building. I had expected this to
be just a drummer and a small honor guard, but it turned out to be a large
parade, with perhaps 25 military marching units, including about 6 bands. Went to the new Air and Space Museum annex
near Dulles Airport, outside the city, on another trip.
Was in Las Vegas for several days in the summer, staying at the Paris
Resort on the “strip.” Instead of
running, I walked on the strip almost every morning around 7 am, eventually
going into almost every hotel and casino on the strip south of Treasure
Island. Not much is going on at 7 am, of
course. Also saw the Star Trek
“experience” at the Hilton (which had some surprises). I heard that the Hilton was the largest hotel
in the world when it was built (early 1970s, I believe), but now it is about
the 8th largest. All but one
of those that have passed it are also in Las Vegas.
In late November was in Pittsburgh to attend the 80th
birthday party for Ruth Smith (mother of Donna, my ex-wife).
Family and Transitions
My dad and his brothers and sister (three brothers and one half-sister
survived into my lifetime) always said they were part American Indian. I had (perhaps incorrectly) understood that
it was my dad’s father who had the “Indian blood”. During 2004, I learned that around 1903 my
dad’s parents applied for a land grant in Oklahoma based on his mother’s ancestry (her maiden name was
Sarah Clementine Johnson – if I have the story straight, one of her
great-great-grandmothers, probably born around 1760, is said to have been an
American Indian, as was, maybe, one of her g-g-g-g-grandmothers from a
different line of descent). I understand
the application is on microfilm in the National Archives as (file number) MCR
6644 (“MCR” stands for Mississippi Choctaw Rejected; they didn’t get the land
grant). I haven’t seen this application,
but apparently it is in the Dallas/Ft. Worth-area branch office of the National
Archives (that branch holds federal records for the region of the country that
includes Oklahoma). I’m planning to
check at the main archives building the next time I’m in Washington DC to see
if a copy of that set of microfilm is also there.
Skrudland Photo Service, a mail-order business that has been developing
my film since about early 1966, went out of business this year. They were in the Chicago area. My college roommate, George Krebs introduced
me to them. This is probably God’s way
of telling me to buy a digital camera, but I haven’t – yet.
On September 30, I tripped (on a cat toy) and fell flat on my face (a
term that now has new meaning for me) onto a hardwood floor at home. I thought I had a broken nose and would have
a black eye – those were the areas that hurt at first. However, the only real damage was cuts on my
lower lip that required stitches. It’s
mostly healed now.
Lucille Smith (Donna’s sister in law) died in January. She had been on dialysis for two or three
years. She became even more seriously
ill around Thanksgiving 2002, just a few days before she was scheduled to
receive a kidney transplant (with the new kidney to be donated by Mary Jane,
another of Donna’s sisters-in-law).
Phone: {Redacted} E-mail: {Redacted}
Have a Great 2005 --
|
