Today in Morro Bay

No beach today; retreat to the dunes.

An old document by one Costner about another Costner--absolutely terrifying to any would-be working Costner like me.

"I HAVE NEVER KNOWN A PERSON WHO KNEW SO MUCH ABOUT A SUBJECT & YET USED IT SO LITTLE."

This subject has an ability which I feel you should know about. He has always been an avid reader of books and newspapers. He reads for information and facts and never forgets them. Usually he never discusses them with any one else unless he likes them exceptionally well. He is very well informed on all matters of interest today but few people know it.

Another thing he has studied for years, 30 or more, is geography & History. He knows every city in the U. S. & I believe in the world of over 10,000 population & where it is, why it was founded, what railroads go through it, industries in it, and what highways go through. He has studied the topography of the U. S. until he knows every mountain—river—average rainfall—kinds of crops in each locality—He knows all the leading newspapers in the U.S. & much of their history. There isn’t a hamlet in Okla. that he doesn’t know where it is, population, industry, roads—railroads—mountains—average rainfall, all the former governors & when served. He has completely worn out several large atlases and has written thousands of pages memorizing the above things. To my knowledge they have given him great personal satisfaction but he has never shown any desire to take advantage of this knowledge. I have never known a person who knew so much about a subject & yet used it so little. I have never seen a person his equal in these subjects and believe he has no equal in Okla. Had anyone else possessed this information they would have been called a genius.

I felt this was information you should have.

The End--No More Coffee from Costco

Our Costco is important to me because it provides me all I get of social contact besides greetings on the beach. Every trip I get to ask six or eight people directions because every trip Costco has played the Cache Game, hiding the pecans under the Kirkland jeans and stashing the mixed nuts under the sugarless cough drops. Then we agreed that I would give up socializing, grab 2 or 3 plastic bags from the meat counter, take Starbucks coffee up and check out all by myself, saving the receipt for exiting, and grind the coffee beans in one of the two machines, one of which says FLAVORED and the other of which is disgustingly FLAVORED because of contamination by other buyers. The coffee containers are then bagged and the top safely taped shut. REGULAR GRINDER is out of order half the time. We put suggestions in the BOX: Please increase number of Grinding Machines and please stop stocking HONEYSUCKLE HAZELNUT COFFEE. Nothing worked. I was stuck there grinding from polluted bins and making what friends I could while the other got to exercise by running down cottage cheese hidden under white socks and then left and unloaded solo with the help of strangers and if she remembered waited for me. It was stressful. So, we made a big decision. We are buying coffee at the Cookie Crock in Morro Bay, SLO Roast. Better, anyhow. More expensive, but not stressful. Costco here is 12 acres, interior. 2 Grinders. Both flavored, one OUT OF ORDER. Enough. My social life will improve.

Living in the Late 18th Century--Taking "News" off the Toolbar

I don't know how long I can living in complete denial but I'll keep trying. For all I know Rachel Maddow has retired since the last time I saw her, at 8 pm November 8.

Never be flippant when your dermatologist wields a Taser

Morro Rock Christmas Day 2016 Christmas Card

The rain slackened for a moment; wind hard from South. No one else around.

Was it Captain William Copeland who Was Overactive around 1820?

Well, there is poor Obidiah Merritt having a son whom he names Allen, and living in Pendleton, how near?, was Wm Copeland, and little Allen was a Copeland. I don't say it is suspicious but I do say to any living meritorious Merritts that you could do a lot worse than being a Copeland, cousins.

Today in Morro Bay

How you know for sure what jealous husbands always suspected of your Copeland men

Just look at our group of two dozen. In among the Copelands are Crowley, Merritt, Wilkinson, Maples, another Merritt. Well, at least they know they come from a great virile line.

End of daily 2-mile run on Empty Beach

Nicole Hawkinson, Mother of 5, Grandniece

Maybe the only sane octogenarian in Morro Bay--the ONLY one on the beach in the rain

Not a solitary soul in sight for 2 miles in a pretty hard rain driving from the SE. It makes you wonder about the people who don't know enough to go play in the rain.

Vocabulary building by talking to geezers on the beach

Every day a new word.
Yesterday's word (from a 76 year old) was neuropathy.
This is a faster way of increasing my word power than Readers Digest (where does the apos go if anywhere) ever was.

Was General Gates a Coward at Camden? Dead Horses Tell No Lies

In 2014 I gathered comments by the men on Gates’s behavior at Camden but figured my Butler debunking was enough. However, I still have the pension applications in a file and see that many of the surviving men remained contemptuous half a century and more later. Here are a couple of comments by veterans (not checking to Fold3) and a comment by that great equestrian-historian, the late Christopher Hibbert.
Henry Marsh: “He recollects well that General Gates killed three horses in traveling back to Hillsborough, he Gates having left the troops shortly after the commencement of the battle.”
Peter Francisco: “the British charged upon us and in a few moments dispersed the great Gen’l Gates’ army & he himself (the Genl) killed two horses in making his escape to Hillsborough.”
Christopher Hibbert in the 2002 Norton paperback of REDCOATS AND REBELS:
“[Gates] himself escaped and fled nearly two hundred miles on a panting horse.”
The rider may have been sufficiently praised, but not that marvelous horse.

"Inbreeding" as a slur--and comments by Parker and Harris

On the webzine JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION a recent post on a Ten Eyck in the Revolution prompted letters from a woman happy to see a relative celebrated. It was clear that she did not know what I considered the best part, that she was a cousin of Herman Melville's. The author of the article replied using the word "inbreeding" about the Albany Dutch families. I commented, as you see below, but the best part was C. Leon Harris's comment. Some of you know that Leon along with Will Graves is a heroic transcriber of 1832 Pension Applications. I had corresponded with him for a couple of years before he realized that we are Cockerham cousins.

Hershel Parker says:

December 1, 2016 at 8:36 am

Phil, “inbreeding” strikes some of us as a little harsh. Us North Carolina Scots-Irish prefer to say our folks are keeping the bloodlines pure or else that some cousins are on a branch that does not fork.

C Leon Harris says:

December 1, 2016 at 4:26 pm

Count me along with cousin Hershel Parker as being among those whose ancestors preferred to play in the shallow end of the gene pool.

Am I proud to be called cousin on this webzine? You bet. And as far as we know we are not double or triple cousins.