Just now at dusk I opened the front doors and looked up the wall. Nothing. Went down to my study and looked out and a blue jay had heard me and come to the stairs, up high. I went back up and went out and waited patiently with kibble in my palm. He or she came down and very precisely ate the 5 bits and then a few minutes later came over for another three or four. I am a little uneasy about giving kibble, but we have given all the canned cat food away and the birds seem to be surviving our occasionally throwing a few pieces out for them. This bird eats very precisely, not touching my flesh. It's not Scalini, though.
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Saturday, June 29, 2019
I got up at 5 not to fondle the LEVIATHAN issue but to look up the early uses of Stampede
Daniel Ellis described my cousin William Sparks as a stampeder, so I used Amazon "Look Inside" as a concordance to look up occurrences elsewhere in his book. Amazon has a different edition than mine (different pagination), and mine online did not allow searches. But thank you, Amazon. I got 2 dozen or so occurrences and looked at them early this morning. Usage started in the 30s (1830s) with the word stampede italicized to indicate that it was more or less foreign. In 1842 the Hartford Courant printed this:
A STAMPEDE.-- The Picayune, in one of its sketches of the Santa Fe Expedition, gives the following account of a Stampede, which means, we suppose, a drove of scared horses" . . . .
By 1861, Ellis used it somewhat ironically to refer to the bands of northern sympathizers he escorted through the mountains to Union lines. They did not go very fast, but he pretty much kept them rounded up together. The particular stampeders at Limestone Cove in November 1863 were a group from the Union sympathizing Wilkes County, NC, where one of the Sparks cousins chaired a Peace Meeting. Two of the young Sparks men were in this stampede which was attacked by a remarkably brutal rebel colonel, Vincent Witcher, who delighted in dashing brains out, actually dashing brains out, among which were the brains of my 20 year old cousin John Sparks. His brother William survived, with damage from breathing smoke and from witnessing horrors so awful that my Cousin Fred Slimp who wrote much of the 13th Regiment history simply would not write them down. A lot of cousins who were not kin to each other, at that place. Small world, or especially ornery people?
I set out three or four days ago to find another family story and found this . . . .
A STAMPEDE.-- The Picayune, in one of its sketches of the Santa Fe Expedition, gives the following account of a Stampede, which means, we suppose, a drove of scared horses" . . . .
By 1861, Ellis used it somewhat ironically to refer to the bands of northern sympathizers he escorted through the mountains to Union lines. They did not go very fast, but he pretty much kept them rounded up together. The particular stampeders at Limestone Cove in November 1863 were a group from the Union sympathizing Wilkes County, NC, where one of the Sparks cousins chaired a Peace Meeting. Two of the young Sparks men were in this stampede which was attacked by a remarkably brutal rebel colonel, Vincent Witcher, who delighted in dashing brains out, actually dashing brains out, among which were the brains of my 20 year old cousin John Sparks. His brother William survived, with damage from breathing smoke and from witnessing horrors so awful that my Cousin Fred Slimp who wrote much of the 13th Regiment history simply would not write them down. A lot of cousins who were not kin to each other, at that place. Small world, or especially ornery people?
I set out three or four days ago to find another family story and found this . . . .
LOOKING BACK 67 years from being a communicator by telegraph--NN Edition Finished and Memorialized
The July 2019 issue of LEVIATHAN came yesterday.
67 years ago today
What does not Exist Any More
67 years ago today, a month after I finished the 11th grade, someone who is not alive any more drove me to a town that does not exist any more (Howe, Oklahoma) to a gigantic depot that does not exist any more on a railroad that does not exist any more (the Rock Island) for me to take a train to carry me part way (to stay overnight with someone who was killed in 1958) so I could take another train to a station that does not exist any more to take a job that does not exist any more, my first dead-end job, that of railroad telegrapher.
Alma MacDougall's piece in the July 2019 LEVIATHAN and my Diary
"I did not get to work with G. Thomas Tanselle in person and only once with Hershel Parker, but my experience with Hershel was very memorable. The press was anxious to publish Moby-Dick since the text had been set in type for years, but the Historical Note was proving difficult to finish. So Harry and I flew to Wilmington, Delaware, and spent a weekend with Hershel and his University of Delaware graduate students to pull things together: the effort involved all-nighters, disappearing files (retrieved by an IT savior), learning a new word processing program, and in the midst of it all, gourmet meals and homemade bread. . . ."
This was Thursday April 14,1988 through Saturday morning, April 16.
Harry had been in Wilmington since Friday the 8th, having flown into Philadelphia.
On the 14th I left at 10 am to pick Alma up in Philadelphia.
Later, "DISASTER." A student reformatted my hard drive. "30 mins+ of hysteria, tears gushing. My saintly behavior. Harry's saintly behavior. Larry here within an hour. Here 2 hours. Near total recovery of files. Great joke during elaborate meal [which I made during chaos]."And I whipped up a soufflet." Alma [archly]: "When did you find time?" Work all night in Kitchen. Astonishing persistence. We were up all night--not even lying on floor [i.e., for 10 minute nap]. About 4 or 430 I said to hell with prose, let's try for English. We got 9 or 10 pages printed out. . . . on Mark's printer. Alma printing off and on all night on 3rd floor. Off to airport at 545--could barely drive. Mark drove bk. Crashed for 2 hours. Mark slept here till 12 then put kitchen file on my computer.
Sunday 17th. Call at 9 am from Harry. "Rolling in clover" about his section.
April 18. Alma [in Illinois] wi very sick child.
This was Thursday April 14,1988 through Saturday morning, April 16.
Harry had been in Wilmington since Friday the 8th, having flown into Philadelphia.
On the 14th I left at 10 am to pick Alma up in Philadelphia.
Later, "DISASTER." A student reformatted my hard drive. "30 mins+ of hysteria, tears gushing. My saintly behavior. Harry's saintly behavior. Larry here within an hour. Here 2 hours. Near total recovery of files. Great joke during elaborate meal [which I made during chaos]."And I whipped up a soufflet." Alma [archly]: "When did you find time?" Work all night in Kitchen. Astonishing persistence. We were up all night--not even lying on floor [i.e., for 10 minute nap]. About 4 or 430 I said to hell with prose, let's try for English. We got 9 or 10 pages printed out. . . . on Mark's printer. Alma printing off and on all night on 3rd floor. Off to airport at 545--could barely drive. Mark drove bk. Crashed for 2 hours. Mark slept here till 12 then put kitchen file on my computer.
Sunday 17th. Call at 9 am from Harry. "Rolling in clover" about his section.
April 18. Alma [in Illinois] wi very sick child.
Friday, June 28, 2019
Geocache Game where Cousin John Sparks was Killed and his brother William escaped. Desecration or Tribute?
I take it as a Tribute.
William escaped from the burning house and hid in brush and though 6 feet tall was brought a woman's dress in which he slowly walked away. Cousin Preston Pruitt partially recovered from his wound. One of the 8 killed was Dr. Bell's brother James. A very cautious story is told by Cousin Fred Slimp in HISTORY OF THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT TENNESSEE VOLUNTEER CAVALRY U. S. A. --Fred thought the details were simply too gruesome to be recorded. Fred wrote a great deal of the HISTORY.
Eight Civilians were killed at the home of Dr David Bell in November, 1863 Enroute to Kentucky to join the Federal forces, they were found by a detachment of Col. W.A. Witcher's confederate cavalry, while waiting for breakfast.
William escaped from the burning house and hid in brush and though 6 feet tall was brought a woman's dress in which he slowly walked away. Cousin Preston Pruitt partially recovered from his wound. One of the 8 killed was Dr. Bell's brother James. A very cautious story is told by Cousin Fred Slimp in HISTORY OF THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT TENNESSEE VOLUNTEER CAVALRY U. S. A. --Fred thought the details were simply too gruesome to be recorded. Fred wrote a great deal of the HISTORY.
Geocache Description:
Here lies the Eight Civilians who were killed at the home of Dr David Bell in November, 1863. You are looking for a small camo covered pill bottle. Contains only log. BYOP
This is a sign only micro in a small container. BYOP!
Be discreet.
Be discreet.Eight Civilians were killed at the home of Dr David Bell in November, 1863 Enroute to Kentucky to join the Federal forces, they were found by a detachment of Col. W.A. Witcher's confederate cavalry, while waiting for breakfast.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Will There Ever Be a Toxicology Report on Cal Poly's Nicole Scalone, Wrong Way Driver?
2 weeks now the San Luis Tribune has not said another word about the wrong-way driver they glorified in first reports (she wanted world peace), although she had killed a driver who was not in any way at fault. 2:30 in the morning! He was driving to work as a cook. Will Cal Poly have the power to keep a toxicology report from being released? Is the sheriff's office just overworked?
The alliance of the county newspaper with Cal Poly seems very strong some times.
The alliance of the county newspaper with Cal Poly seems very strong some times.
Jun 13, 2019 - Her Ford Fiesta collided with a Honda Civic driven by 43-year-old Anthony Scott Au of Los Osos. Both Scalone and Au were killed in the crash. Scalone was a Cal Poly student who was in town for graduation. CHP is still ...
Monday, June 24, 2019
Sunday, June 23, 2019
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Just listening to Johnny Cash singing about the shoe-shine boy
And remembering 1962 when you could always go into the New York Public Library with polished shoes because of the shoe shine boys at 5th Avenue and 42nd. What mix of race and age where they? They were so inexpensive that I could afford them on my $265 a month. Living high in NYC!
Gene and Alice's children
Elbert, Euna, Ona, Mary, Alice, Gene
In the back--Andrew, Ethel, Martha, Helen, Lee
Saturday, June 1, 2019
I was not going to write anything. HAR wrote this obituary. We had her 18 1/2 years.
She arrived at a few months old as a stray.
My Dougherty cousin in Indiana kept her alive the last months.
Scalini,
named for the endless stairs in Brunelleschi’s dome over the cathedral of
Florence, was a brave and resourceful hunter: she brought home and
devoured mice, voles, gophers daily, for years, lizards, the occasional
hummingbird, and even, once, a California kingsnake. Before her habitat
was built over by a house to the north, she was Queen of the Juniper Avenue
Hill. Scalini was an agile jumper and climber, fence posts being a
specialty, but never once jumped on a counter or tabletop. She was intelligent—she
knew “point” and which elevator door would open on which floor and learned to
use her cat door to the shed in twelve minutes flat! For several years she went
down in the morning with Hershel and jumped on his Mission Chair and stood up
until he covered her with her Serengeti sheet so she could have a three-hour
nap. She enjoyed excellent health until she was fifteen, and then bravely
endured the indignities of old age. She is survived by Heddy and Hershel
who are bereft and look for her in every corner.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)