Eclipse

Pete commented yesterday after hearing some TV report on yesterday's eclipse of the sun across Africa, etc that we couldn't drive north to Roundup and see this one. Several years ago I took him and Paul out of school and we drove that route so that they could experience a full eclipse. I had seen a few in my lifetime, and this was not be be missed even tho' school was in session. I continue to be amazed at the silence which occurred when the final phase of the eclipse took place. There were many people at the place at the time. Every noise stopped. Even the sounds of animals and birds were silenced. It was a remarkable experience. Some might say Holy.

Bill and Ann drove further north in Montana that day and we have a picture of the corona which Bill took and give us, I believe at Christmas that year. The picture was taken 2/26/1979

Long Distance

The Technology columnist in the local paper has written recently about is wife’s use of her TracPhone. This is a cell phone service where one buy units as needed. Cards for this service can be bought at various stores including Radio Shack and Wal-Mart. A couple of years ago daughter Ann gave me a Nokia with minutes available. Later I added 300 units so that I could use the phone on a cross country trip. I had used a phone from a motel in Bismarck once to report on son Jim’s surgery and it cost the proverbial arm and leg. Calls on the TracPhone cost around 33 cents per unit. One unit local and two units long distance. I called Portland last night from my basement office and the connection was very good.

The reason for this Blog is to report my recent experience in loading new units. I get an e-mail from TracPhone occasionally offering a deal to add units. One needs to do this in order to preserve one’s call number - not that I expect people to call me using that number. It MAY come in handy someday. Anyway I went through the procedure from my G4 dial-up as previously, but nothing was added to the Nokia. I decided to give it another go, but was told that the Promotional Code granting additional free units had already been used. I did a few more operations, but still no more units.

I regularly check my credit card accounts and found that TracPhone had charged me twice at $99.99 for units not received. I e-mailed them twice at about 5-7 day intervals and got no response. Yesterday I called their 800 number and got a very pleasant lady with the typical accent (thing India) who said that her name was Cynthia. She walked me through the process (time consuming) and lo and behold there are the additional units. She then transferred me to their credit card section and I talked with another lady who said her name was Lisa. She asked a few questions, assured me that the second charge would be removed and gave me a confirmation number. I have to say that I was pleased with the response I got with the phone call, but I still wonder if they every answer their e-mail.

Enough already. I’ll talk more about the flat world we live in later.

That Phone # by the way is: 208-3279. Not that it is turned on with any regularity.

The threat of death

I was just reading in USA Today about a time a film-star, singer was threaten with death before a concert in Central Park. Of course the news is full of the Iraqi who converted to Christianity and who has been threaten with execution on the one hand and now that he is released he had been condemned by the Islamic Clergy and has to be protected.

Several years ago when I was on the Billings School Board I moved to take the name "Christmas Holiday" out of the Calendar. I believe that I've told that story in my blog on Fiddler on the Roof. At any rate the town was in an uproar. People accused me of taking Christ out of public life, etc., etc. AND I got a letter through the US Mail threatening my life. I took said letter to the Billings Police Department and then acknowledge it and assured me that this sort of thing seldom had any real meaning. As far as I know there was not followup on their part as to who had written the letter. And nothing did come of it. What got me to thinking about this episode again was that fact that the last two Sundays I've gone by Billings Senior High School on my way to Church there have been many cars in the parking lot as if something was going on and the people there were not in Church. I know that at least on one of the Sundays the lot was filled to capacity and a wrestling program was going on. Not to many years ago the School in Billings were even careful about scheduling events on Wednesday nights because many of the Churches had traditional Wednesday night activities. So much for public outrage over a simple change in a calendar to give credence to the fact that Billings is a multi-ethnic, multi-faith based community.

The threat of death

I was just reading in USA Today about a time a film-star, singer was threaten with death before a concert in Central Park. Of course the news is full of the Iraqi who converted to Christianity and who has been threaten with execution on the one hand and now that he is released he had been condemned by the Islamic Clergy and has to be protected.

Several years ago when I was on the Billings School Board I moved to take the name "Christmas Holiday" out of the Calendar. I believe that I've told that story in my blog on Fiddler on the Roof. At any rate the town was in an uproar. People accused me of taking Christ out of public life, etc., etc. AND I got a letter through the US Mail threatening my life. I took said letter to the Billings Police Department and then acknowledge it and assured me that this sort of thing seldom had any real meaning. As far as I know there was not followup on their part as to who had written the letter. And nothing did come of it. What got me to thinking about this episode again was that fact that the last two Sundays I've gone by Billings Senior High School on my way to Church there have been many cars in the parking lot as if something was going on and the people there were not in Church. I know that at least on one of the Sundays the lot was filled to capacity and a wrestling program was going on. Not to many years ago the School in Billings were even careful about scheduling events on Wednesday nights because many of the Churches had traditional Wednesday night activities. So much for public outrage over a simple change in a calendar to give credence to the fact that Billings is a multi-ethnic, multi-faith based community.

Lewis and Clark

Interesting morning and early afternoon. I had breakfast this morning with brother John and his family. John mentioned several weeks ago tht we ought to go to Pompey's Pillar and have our pictures taken wearing our Marshall University hats. I mentioned it again today and the decision was made that this was the day. John drove us out - about 40-45 miles from Billings. The gate at entrance was shut so we walked back in. It could be 3/4s of a mile. Maybe a bit less, but it's been so long since I've been for a long walk it seemed that far. Then to get to the signature which Clark carved into the rock we had to ascend a long multi-level staircase. We did that and had pictures taken in front of the glassed in signature. I got a picture of the signature which can be read if blown up enough. Then there was another series of steps and ramps to the top of the pillar. John and I went that route and saw the whole valley which Clark would have seen and he deterrmined their futher route to the Missouri River to meet up with the rest of the party. It is one magnificant valley and well worth the climb. The only "pain" I felt was to the knees. The heart behaved itself.

The picture will, hopefully, be published in the Marshall alumni news at some point. I graduated a couple of years ahead of John since I was discharged early from the Air Force in WW II. I graduated in 1946 and was the first grad to receive a diploma from the hands of the new President, Stewart H. Smith. This resulted from a mix up between the Registrar's Office and the Dean's Office when an Incomplete which was made up and not recorded prevented me from participating in the Spring Commencement. When Dr. Smith heard of this he promply invited me into his Office and presented me with my diploma with due ceremony. I then went on to take a Master's Degree in Psychology and was invitedto stay and teach in the Department the Fall of 1947. But that is another story.

A day in the life of . . . .

As I sat in front of the TV last night I began to wonder what I had accomplished during the past few hours. What is a day like in the life of an 81 year old widower?

I got up around 7:30 a.m., dressed, went to the kitchen and took my pre-breakfast pills. Then it was a half-hour spent reading the comics and looking at the obituary page. At this age one does have a tendency to check on one’s friends. Then it was time to get breakfast (a bowl of shredded wheat with banana and coffee), and finish reading the paper. By this time one can check to see how the financial markets are doing, check the weather channel, and then get some cleaning up done. Like, run the sweeper. Nothing like a little exercise. I Then remembered that there was laundry to be done. I went to the basement, made my bed and did two loads of laundry. My usual pattern is to make sure that I am around when the dryer stops so that the clothes can be folded and put away with a minimum of wrinkles. Ironing is not my thing so most of the shirts, etc. are permanent press. Since the computer is in the basement there is time to check a couple of out-of-town newspapers, e-mail, and some financial records. Then it is time to get my lunch and take a short nap. The mail came with the latest copy of my news magazine so time is spent reading that, then checking the market close. That is 2 p.m. local time. Time fritters away. I check my mutual funds at 4 pm and then watch Lou Dobbs for a while. By this time it is time to begin thinking about supper. In the past Betty took care of that while I watched the local and national news programs. We sat down for supper in front of the TV and watched Jeopardy together. Last night I watched the news and during commercial breaks prepared a broccoli soup from a mix. When it was nearly done I added some frozen broccoli spears. A couple of large bowls of that and some ice cream and a cookie filled me up. The rest of the evening was spent watching the aforementioned TV. Actually I usually skip Tuesday night TV until Boston Legal comes on.

When I stopped to think about it the day wasn’t all that different from most days in the past few years. For a long time now Betty and I have gotten our own breakfasts and lunches, and done our own laundry. It just worked out that way. And it certainly was no big deal. I (along with my siblings) grew up doing laundry and house keeping. We had a wise mother who made sure that her sons would be “good” husbands.

History lesson - don't be bored!

History often takes a strange twist. I have recently finished reading “Team of Rivals” which relates the history of Abraham Lincoln’s succession as President of the U.S. and of the Civil War. The following is excerpted from a document entitled “The Tragic Fate of Guyandotte”. This area was a part of Huntington, WV as I was growing up. It’s history is that of a separate community with secession tendencies as a part of Virginia. The raid spoken of below was not a major battle of the War, but it certainly has an interesting history in my own family. The Colonel John Clarkson who led the raid was a Great Uncle of my wife, Harriet Elizabeth Clarkson of Ceredo, WV. The Baptist Church which was burned by Union troops was pastored by my Great Grandfather and my mother’s father, Grandpa Petit, sued the federal Government long after the war and got recompense for the damage. How interesting! My wife’s relative is a Confederate Army officer and his action results in blatant destruction by Union soldiers of a Church which has a long history in my own family. And neither of us had any knowledge of this until many years after our marriage. Not that it would have mattered.

“Although Confederate cavalry raids were frequent and discouraging to Union supporters. One such raid, carried out on November 10, 1861, targeted the town of Guyandotte, Virginia, which served as the hostile host of a Union recruit camp. While successful, this action precipitated the burning of the town by Union troops and sympathizers in one of the Civil War's early acts of retaliatory destruction. These events foreshadowed the increasingly harsh nature of the Civil War, reflecting the hardships suffered by the soldiers of both sides, as well as the civilian population and local communities. Guyandotte's fate was a result of the residents' suspected collaboration with the Confederate raiders and the town's established reputation as a "hot bed of secession."

“In 1857, Eli Thayer, a United States congressman from Massachusetts, unveiled his plans for founding a colony in the region. After a brief visit to the area in May 1857, Thayer selected a site ten miles west of Guyandotte for his fledgling community, which he named Ceredo.

“Regional tension was exacerbated as a result of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, which strengthened support for secession in Guyandotte. Although few of the town's citizens were slave holders, they protested against Northern sympathy for Brown and vowed "to repel at all hazards" any further encroachment upon their right as Virginians to own slaves.

“In the first week of November (1861), Confederate General John B. Floyd ordered a cavalry force to "proceed in the direction of the Ohio River, and to strike the enemy a blow. . . ." The raid was led by Colonel John Clarkson, whose force numbered about seven hundred horsemen from the Fifth and Eighth Virginia Cavalry regiments. . . The Confederate cavalry charged into town at full speed, capturing several Union sympathizers before crossing the Mud River and moving toward Guyandotte.

“As the triumphant Confederates withdrew from Guyandotte with their prisoners in tow, the steamer SS Boston appeared, moving slowly up the Ohio River. Aboard were approximately two hundred Union soldiers from the Fifth Virginia Infantry, who had advanced from their camp in Ceredo after learning of the attack.

“The business section of Guyandotte was completely gutted, purportedly to prevent the Confederates from returning for supplies. The Buffington Mill was burned, as was the Forest Hotel. Even churches were not immune from the torch. The Guyandotte Baptist Church was burned after two unsuccessful attempts when Union soldiers tore off the shutters and stuffed them with straw before setting them alight in the church belfry.

“In 1909, the Guyandotte Baptist Church was awarded $2,500 by the United States government for wartime damage.”

Memories

This Blog is getting to be more of a personal diary that I anticipated it would be. Today I was looking through a bookcase and found a book with the signatures a and memories of many people who attended our 50th wedding anniversary gathering at First Baptist. All of the children and most of the grandchildren were present and took part in the Morning Worship Service with David doing the sermon. The ladies of the Church had a great reception following the service, There are over 100 names signed in the Memory Book. As of this date (less that 7 years later) over 10% of those who signed have died. Two long time members of the Church passed on just this week. Their spouses now share my sorrow. The caption on the first page reads:

“Do you not see that you and I are as the branches in one tree? With your rejoicing comes my laughter; with your sadness start my tears. Love, could life be otherwise with You and Me?”

It doesn’t take much to “start my tears” these days. A lovely Niece calls this “joyful sorrow”, and I guess it is. The memories of ones love are so precious that there are tears of joy for having shared ones life with her for so many years.

This has been a week of joy as four of our seven have been present at one time or other to share our time together. Peter and I took David to the plane this morning for his return trip to Texas. He got to share some Montana Spring snow as he left since we had about 5 inches on the ground over night. The roads were slick so I ducked out going to Church and did some cleaning up after the visits. And, of course, there were some basketball games to be watched.

Fiddler on the Roof

Last night son David and I were watching the 1971 movie of “Fiddler on the Roof”. He along with Pete and Will were in the Billings Studio Theatre production with me back in January 1980. I played the Rabbi. At the time I was the Representative of the Big Sky Area Baptists on the national board and was a member of the Billings School Board. (This is an aside.) The Calendar for the coming school year was presented to the Board during the production and I moved that the year end Christmas Vacation by deleted and that it be called “winter break” or something similar. The Conductor of the orchestra for the play was Jewish and many of the kids in the cast were also Jewish. As “Rabbi” and as an American Baptist Clergyman I felt that the seperation of Church and State is important. The motion Passed and the Roman Catholic Education reporter for the Billings Gazette made a big issue of this in the paper the next day. Later my collegue at Rocky Mountain Colleger who was also on the Board labelled me as the Grinch who stole Christmas. That appeared in a bold headline on the story the next month that that some of the Board were going to move to rescind the previous action. The Chairman of the Board stopped me one day at the local Osco Drug Store and implored me to reconsider. I knew that I had at least 3 votes on the Board to retain my motion and a local Congregational Pastor spoke to one of the members who belong to his Church and she agreed to vote to sustain the previous action. Needless to say I was not re-elected to the School Board the next year, but a woman who was a member of the local Temple Beth Aaron was. The Superintendent dealt with the whole question by listing “holidays” at the end of the Calendar rather than throughout the list.

I’m not sure that it is right for me to share my grief with my readers, but there is something I have to share in some way and I have not been able to speak it to anyone. And sitting her at the keyboard it is not easy.

When Tevya learned of one of the daughters desire to marry he finally relented and in a following scene speaks to his wife that they love each other. I anticiapted the next line from my memory as he began to sing the lovely “Do you love me?” I could not keep the tears away as I thought of the many years Betty and I were able to speak our love to each other, and when her heart was near its last beat she looked up at me with eyes wide open as if to say - “I love you.” and “Good-bye.” We never really got that last chance to say out loud to each other “I love you.” But I find myself remembering that last moment and say again and again - “i love you, Dear. Sweetheart, I have loved you so much.”

Security problem??

I suppose one ought to be thankful that Banks are very careful with their customer accounts. Nevertheless, I am truly upset with the recent action of USBank in regard to my ATM card. I last used it on March 1st without problem. Today (3/13/06) I went to the ATM to get some cash and the maching returned the card with a notice - “This Card is not valid.’” I, of course, thought I’d entered the wrong pen so started over with care. Same result. When I went into the Bank I was informed that the Card had been cancelled. Further exploration indicated that when I had reported Betty’s death that her card and mine had the same number so the card was cancelled. Never mind that for the last several years the Account has been in the name of the Taylor Family Trust, and that only one of the Trustees had been reported deceased. I let the Branch Manager know that I was thoroughly upset with the action of the Bank and that I hoped she would let the home office know. Betty Sanderson (Phil’s wife) said that she would certainly do so. They did give me a temporary card and will expidite a regular card in my name only. I only hope that successor trustees will not have this kind of problem in the future.

Retirement planning??

When I first came to Rocky Mountain College in August 1961 I had been under the Ministers and Missionaries retirement plan of the American Baptist Churches as well as their health plan. Betty was pregnant at the time so M&M agreed to keep the medial plan current until Peter was born in late October. Since RMC was not a ABC organization I was not eligible to remain on that retirement plan, and the rubric at Rocky was 3 years of employment before one was able to enter their retirement plan with TIAA-CREF. Under the circumstances Dr. Phil Widenhouse, President, decreed that I would be immediately eligible for the retirement program and the medical insurance as soon as the M&M was no longer available. I have been eternally thankful for Phil’s thoughtfulness. Today’s PARADE magazine made be again grateful. I toted up my income from TIAA-CREF and Social Security and to falls in the mid range of the income of currently employed Americans. This does not include some minimal income from various bonds and a lifetime Annuity with the College which will become the Jim and Betty Taylor Scholarship program at my death.

I can only encourage those who read this blog to be thoughtful of the future as you reach retirement age. I retired just short of 70 and have already been retired nearly 12 years. It is well to think ahead since over half of our 7 children are already over 50. And I am looking forward to a visit from the latest half-century kid later this week. The article in PARADE is fascinating and can be read on the WEB at parade.com after Wednesday of this week.

Voices in the night!

When was the last time you changed the batteries in your smoke/carbon monoxide alarm? I hadn’t thought about that for a long time. If someone had asked me I would say that it probably needed changing, but I didn’t have a 9-volt battery handy. A few years ago I had bought a combination smoke/monoxide detector and installed it just outside the gas furnace and near the downstairs bedroom. (That is where I am sleeping now since the bedroom upstairs still contains to many memories.) Around 4:30 a.m. I heard a strange sound and could not place it. Cats? What? It was sort of: “sptt, blabber, blabber” , and no yowling followed. I finally got out of bed and began to explore and listen more carefully. Turned out to be the Alarm saying “low battery”. I took it off the wall and removed - not a 9 volt, but 3 double A’s. I thought to go on back to bed and became concerned that the thing wouldn’t be any good without batteries in case something unfortunate happened. I did have a package of double A’s so went upstairs, got them, and things are now back in quiet working order. I guess that I finally got back to sleep since I didn’t get up again until 7 a.m.

I guess I can be thankful for an expensive, talkative wall fixture.

Cell Phone appears

When we returned from the family reunion last summer I somehow misplaced the cell phone Annie had given me. I looked high and low for it. All the places I had "stored" it previously. Yesterday I dropped something and got down on the floor to find it, took a flashlight and looked under my desk. I had looked under that area before for dropped peanuts, etc., but not finding what I was looking for I shone the light clearn back. There was the cell phone back against the wall. How it got there will remain a mystery. It still had nearly 360minutes on it as it is a Tracphone where one buys the minutes instead of having some sort of contract. It works. I talked with son Jim in Dickinson this morning to cancel plans for a visit there next week. Other visits have somehow gotten in the way. I'll be going over there the end of May for Jon's high school graduation.

Son Ken was in on business yesterday. He works with the State Department of Health and Human Services. He called around 6 pm and we went out to dinner at The Outback. He came by this morning early so that he and Pete can get their plans in order for going over to St. Paul in April for Stephanie's wedding. Grandfather will not be going. Next week we are looking forward to David's visit. Ann will be in Friday (St. Patrick's Day) so we will all probably go out to dinner that evening.

Erin go bragh!

Dental Visit & Shopping

It’s been kind of a strange day weather wise. When I took the garbage out early this morning it was comfortable to have on a jacket and cap. Later in the morning I went to the hardware store to get a light switch in a failed attempt to fix the basement steps light so that it would work at both levels. When I came out I took the jacket off an it was comfortable as I went to the Credit Union to deposit a dividend check from one of the Bonds. I then had an appointment with my Dentist. Called this morning due to the fact that over the weekend one of the lower right molars was giving me some pain and I wanted to make sure that there was no infection in process. An x-ray proved negative, but Greg still ground away on the tooth to do some alignment. It isn’t still perfect, but there is no “ache”. Just some sensitivity. By mid-day it had warmed up quite a bit. Pete was doing some yard work at their house. He talked about taking clothes off as he worked and by putting them back on gradually as the afternoon wore on.

After my mid-day nap I went to Sears and bought a rug cleaner. They had some of the better Hoover’s on sale. Pete has the job of putting it together. Tomorrow I’ll run the sweeper and then later give the steamer a try.

It was good to talk some with Irene and Lee this morning her birthday being tomorrow. Lee said there was some talk about their coming west this summer. Do hope that they are able to follow through. It will be great to see them. Ken is coming in tomorrow as far as I know. Then David next week. Maybe we will be able to have some sort of family gathering a week from Friday with Ann, Pete, David and myself. Ken will need to be in Helena on the 17th for the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Not much else from here. I’ll send this to Generation One on my list and then post it on the Blog where the younger generation can read it.

Love to all readers. -J-

Long ago relatives

It was interesting to read in today’s paper that cousin Zachary was inaugurated as President of the United States on this date in 1849. Back in those days inauguration was set for March 4th, but that being a Sunday it was delayed to Monday. According to my Reunion software President Taylor is a first cousin four time removed. We are both direct decendents of The Rev. Rowland Taylor of Rothbury, England who was born 10/6/1510, and who died a martyrs death in Feb. 1555 under the reign of Bloody Mary. Known to his troops as “Old Rough and Ready”, General Taylor was a major figure in the war with Mexico which resulted in the addition of Texas to the Union. He was nominated by the Whigs. Millard Fillmore was his Vice President,and was probably less well prepared to be President that Taylor. The Party refused to nominate him for President the next time around.

So much for history.

Lazy Saturday

I was up early this morning to turn on the oil heater in the basement so that it would be warm when the gals came to help box up stuff for a pending Spring Garage Sale. Janie came around 10:30 and was alone. I let her go to work and she boxed up a lot of the stuff. Maybe the others will be able to join her come next Saturday. Pete has brought a lot of boxes from the restaurant - Jakes - mostly beer and wine containers.

I read and watch TV. On one of the news programs a couple of guys were discussing the Anna Nicole Smith hearing before the Supreme Court. They couldn't help themselves laughing and and taking about the "large ASSets" and the "Bottom line" related to the case. One should be so well endowed.

Tonight I have listened again to a CD Mark made of Mom and me on her 80th birthday. There are such wonderful memories and I love to hear her laugh again and again. I know that that is one of the things I will always cherish about my memory of her.

Memories

Last night I finally decided to look through some letters to my high school sweetheart that I had written after I was drafted out of my second semester in college in April 1943. Somehow when we finally “broke up” I talked her out of the letters she had saved so that I would have some record of those days away from home. I was going to try my best to arrange them in chronological order and then read them. What I found was a lot of letters from various people over the years which I had stored away. Mostly from girls, but also from various members of the family - even brother Bill’s first wife, Helen.

The find of the night was a group of letters that Betty had written to me while I was doing graduate study at the U. of Cincinnati the summer before we were married. I have often thought about that night of our first date when I blurted out “you are going to marry me, aren’t you?” And she did! I’ve wondered from time to time what the date of that “engagement” was. One of the letters answered that question. Dated August 24, 1948 it began:

“Happy Anniversary, dear Jim, Happy anniversary to you. July 25, 1948-August 25, 1948.” She went on: “A month ago I scarcely thought I’d be writing you. Scarcely thought that so much could happen in one short month. . . . Last month, I never dreamed I’d be planning a wonderful new life with you. A life of joy and happiness with our share of sorrow. But together, even sorrow can be sweet.”

But we are not “together” and now the sorrow is not sweet. In another six weeks we would have been married 57 years. Shakespeare had it wrong. Parting is not “such sweet sorrow.” But the memories of such precious years together are, and they bring their tears from time to time. Please know that I am growing stronger in those memories, and am doing well.