I should point out I have no direct proof this grandson of Bill Houston developed an extra tiny limb from his shoulder or one eye 6” higher than the other as a direct result of inbreeding. Could it have been Thalidomide? A combination? Kid playing bango (Deliverance) appear to have a normal phenotype? Of particular noteworthy significance, if you follow the research a majority of children born from inbreeding have facial anomalies which are ‘peculiar’. Look it up yourself.

 

And very, very lastly (I’m watching a movie) MANY times inbreeding anomalies don’t necessarily occur in one reproductive event in ONE generation of inbreeding. These ‘events’ are more common (not less common) after several generations of inbreeding. It has happened throughout history of all animals, it is not relegated to Homo sapiens.

 

Oh I believe you on the inbreeding severity, I was just confirming you were not exaggerating what you saw.

I think you can still see something like the Habsburg jaw in Appalachia. Of course, mountain folk are usually rail thin, so that exaggerates it.

 

Norm - Very nice summation of how combinations of like chromosomes/genes may lead to the manifestation of physical abnormalities/defects. Well done Professor! 👏

 

Steve Chaney, NPS resource officer for the Buffalo National River (BNR) at the time (~1982) [who later retired as Superintendent of Redwood National Park (~2010)] knew the entire history of the Houston family & told me where one of Bill's children were living. One of my off days I went cruising the old abandoned logging trails outside of the park boundaries. I stopped on the abandoned road in front of this ram shackle of a home in my 1968 red Opel Kadett Rallye, a couple walls made of chicken coups, a couple walls made up of old abandoned refrigerators, tin sheets & plywood for a roof top, chickens & goats everywhere, etc. I could see a gardening hose ~300' long laying on the ground draped up & over a shallow ravine from the back of the ram shackle to what I assumed would be a natural spring - there was a small stream of water coming from the hose. I could see a couple or several people. This young boy (~7 or 8) wearing only pants (no shirt) saw me, walked up to my car driver-side window w/ an expression of complete curiosity and looked at me. As stated one eye (left eye) ~6" higher than the right eye w an under developed limb (~ 12" long) protruding from his left shoulder. He didn't speak when I said "Hi", but I can't forget to this day the bewildered look of curiosity expressed on his face. I was no further than 50' from the ram shackle now drawing attention. I felt like someone staring at a display in a museum & slowly drove away. I wasn't horrified yet I do recall some tears to my eyes as I drove away.

Thanks. Yeah, you get one copy (chromosome) from Mom one copy from Dad. If a gene combination doesn't align (two alleles) correctly during genetic recombination/replication of the chromosome e.g. point mutation or frame shift mutation (most frequently a frame shift mutation) it can lead to an abnormality. NOTE: These are rare events - DNA/RNA replication machinery continually repair these events >99% of the time for all cells in the animal. Yet, some mutations cannot be repaired yielding to anomalies/abnormalities.

 

Quite the story Norm, I've been there, and I think I know how you felt. In the summer of '74 we took our last extended vacation as an entire family traveling to areas around Knoxville (Mom's family) and Dayton, TN (Dad's family). Four or five families related to Dad lived along the same unimproved gravel road off of the Dayton Mountain Hwy about 30-miles northwest of Dayton. I vividly remember approaching the first small, rundown home, with lots of abandoned vehicles strewn around the property. I think the place was supposed to belong to some of Dad's 2nd cousins. Dad pulled in and went to the door, then came back to usher us in. I remember the place had electricity, but no running water, just a hand-pump in the kitchen sink. They made a point to let us know their outhouse was out back if anyone needed to go. I tried not to show it, but I was absolutely aghast that I had relatives still living in these conditions in 1974! I was deeply saddened also. It was a real eye opener for me as to how good we actually had it and it has stayed with me to this day.

 

 

Good morning (barely),

Slow morning here. Overcast and has been raining steady all morning until just a few minutes ago. More coming this afternoon though, and more tomorrow.

The most excitement this morning was clipping Maggie's nails. None of us like it, but I think Maggie tolerates it better than Dawn or I do. I have to hold her sitting on my lap with her legs pointed out while Dawn does the clipping. Not an easy task holding 60 lbs of muscle still while Dawn tries to make sure she doesn't cut a nail off in the quick. Dawn's always a nervous wreck that she's going to do that again. She did it once to Monty when he was only a couple years old and it wasn't good. After that we have always made sure we had styptic powder in hand, but thankfully we've never had to use it.

I've gotten an old buddy I worked with that is coming in from Maryland on Wednesday. He worked at our Headquarters in DC in one of the two Branches I remotely managed from StL, in addition to the seven Branches I managed here. He and his wife are coming thru StL on a bucket list RV trip to Alaska. They've planned a get together at 3pm at local pub in the south city near where I used to work. Dawn and I are only planning on staying about an hour and a half and then we're going straight from there to the hockey rink where both grandsons are playing in back to back games that evening. There should be several people there I haven't seen since I retired 7-years ago.

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

Chris - Sounds like an enjoyable time - hope it is.

 

Thanks Norm, I'm really looking forward to it. I helped him get the info out to many of the retirees since he didn't have personal email addresses or personal phone numbers for alot of them. I hope alot of them show up to see him. I think they will, he's a super nice guy.

 

How could he not be....he's your friend.

 

Thanks Norm.

 

Spent entire morning resolving two issues: (1) Billing from my dentist. Check mark in win column for me. Have to keep a watchful eye on everyone; (2) Filed a warranty claim for front door custom Andersen (EMCO) storm door installed in 2016. The actual 'process' wasn't bad, pretty good honestly. Had all I could handle w/ a terrible Indian (Patel) accent representative in a room full of other Patels blabbering in the background - outsourcing at its finest - very annoying. Uploaded a bunch of images, responded to numerous hurdles (URL links, emails, SMS text messages) but recorded another check mark in the win column. A brand new door will be sent - it ain't going to be soon though. Hope I'm on this of the grass when it arrives.

 

I'm having a Jack Handey moment...think I'll head to the store for a treat.

 

I saw Al Franken at my alma mater. Of course, the average lefty rich college student lapped him up. This is before he groped that chick, or whatever he did.

I have been reading about Betelguese and it going supernova, or will, or has already. It will affect animals and plants being too light at night occasionally, but, from what I can tell of orbital mechanics, it won't make a difference during the day, and the times we will face it at night will be much less than 50% considering Earth and Sun's relative position to the that arm of the galaxy. It should last a few years, I think, whenever it kicks off and the light gets to us.

My new property was assessed high. I will appeal.

 

My property was recently assessed very high, but it's because of a county-wide re-assessment. I'll wait until our Town/County determines whether they're going neutral assessment in tax rate or an increase in tax rate.

Well, Jack Handey idea turned to $hit real quick when I tried to start the truck - batteries nearly completely dead. Adding insult to injury it just started raining - I hooked up the battery charger. I've been noticing something 'funky' past several times. Ugh....I'll do some diagnostics & see what's up. Just replaced both batteries 2 years ago and replaced ALT at same time. Maybe a parasitic draw somewhere. Hard to imagine on a 22 yr. old truck.

 

Briefly discusses Betelguese but provides a great dialogue regarding what's happening to Betelguese relative to all other stars.

 

Norm - Glad you chalked up two wins, but sorry the jubilation was short lived due to the battery issue. Good luck with the diagnostics and repair. 🤞

 

Frickin tax collectors try to squeeze every single penny out of ya. Best of luck with the appeal, I'm rooting for ya all the way!

 

I was able to start the Beast Of Burden diesel tractor pick'em up truck after ~20' on the (old school) charger.
Output voltage at each of the two batteries 13.1VDC truck running.
Drove to store for Jack Handey treat.
Pulled truck into man-cave.
Outuput voltage at each battery 13.1VDC truck running.
Measured voltage of each battery truck turned off 12.27VDC.

However....
(1) CHECK GAUGE illumination on instrument cluster dash panel;
(2) Transmission Temp & Cooling Temp gauge inoperable;
(3) Radio does not turn ON but radio light illuminates;
(4) Driver's door side panel instruments: No windows operate, electric door locks operate; exterior heated mirror adjustments (L&R) operate. Interior dome light does not operate. Forgot to check electric seats.
(5) Both headlamps illuminate;
(6) Under hood lamp does not illuminate

Properly functioning charging system should demonstrate an ALT capable of producing at a bare minimum 13.8VDC at the battery (engine running) - most generally an output of 14.1 - 14.6 VDC; I'm measuring 13.1VDC (not good);
Measured battery voltage is low (12.27VDC engine off) and I'm betting it's far below this by tomorrow morning. 12.27VDC = 65% battery voltage (not good);
CHECK GAUGE lamp, whacked out electric switches & lighting (not good).

I have an OBDII reader to pull codes.
I'll get to more diagnostics tomorrow. Thankfully, I've something to do because if not I'd be bored to death. Ey Yi Yi.

 

I should buy a little itty bitty car, Toyota or something similar - this is getting annoying.

 

 

You see the wiring I have is old with frayed ends.

 

On a more serious note, computers Do Not Like low voltage. We have lists in my department of what can be done while communicating with ECUs. Any power draw is a no no. Like moving the seats.

 

Fantastic singer song writer taken far far too early in life.

 

I think that's a great idea. A primary around town or trip car with better gas mileage. Keep your truck for hauling or other work projects. If something on the car or truck breaks you can work on it at your leisure without it impacting your fun. I say go for it!

 

You're both cracking me up.

 

He sure was. Without actually looking it up, it seems like we lost Croce, Cat Stevens, and John Denver all in a short period of time.

 

Very glad you mentioned this. It helps to analyze/consider the entire gemish of possibilities. Agree, certain items ECU/PCM/FICM require a minimum voltage to communicate.

Stepped outdoors into man-cave: 11.8 VDC (currently) batteries connected engine off. That = 35% state of charge.

After I pull code(s) in the morning. I'll charge both batteries hopefully >12.6 VDC, leave them disconnected from the truck & measure their voltages over a 12 hr. time period to see if they can maintain voltage. Inability of the ALT to produce measured voltage >13.1VDC at the battery while engine running is concerning. Eh, troubleshoot/diagnose one piece at a time.

 

Man is my brain all out of whack! Cat Stevens is still alive, and Jim Croce died +20-years before John Denver! Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad!

 

Well, Cat Stevens is still alive, he just found Islam and left the country and the life.

Norm, if you charge the Moses out of the battery, the truck should fly right, briefly, even without the alternator, then start acting up, I would think.

Toyotas are good to work on. Other than a dealership overtorquing a lot of bolts, they come loose well and there is generally room. I find they need maintenance, but just at about double the time of the domestics, so at 300k, I am seeing stuff my previous Ford needed at 150. They're reliable and they go. The radios and interiors are bleh, and the paint is weaker than Ford's. But, if you are ok with parking inside and don't need fahrvergnügen, you should be fine.

 

Once truck starts it runs fine - the engine runs fine, the truck moves (flies right), I took it to the store left it running while I went inside. Yeah, it should start acting up after some time w/o the ALT when the batteries takes a $hit and none of the modules can communicate w/ each other.

 

Beat ya to it immediately above by just a couple minutes. I always knew he had left the entertainment world for awhile when he joined Islam, but I also thought he had passed.

 

I bet I listened to the entire album Tea For The Tillerman a hundred times.

 

You need a piece of your wife's cake & a cup of hot coffee.

 

Thanks Norm, that would probably make me feel better, but some of the brain farts I've had lately are starting to make me 2nd guess my recall abilities. Many more and it might be time for some kind of cognitive test. I'm not feeling very confident in my memory recall lately.

 

Speaking of (brain) farts. When I opened the man-cave side entrance door a little while ago a tiny house wren started squealing yapping at me immediately when I opened the door. Startled me, but I clamped the cheeks shut - no shart residue.

 

😆 🤣 😂 LoL

 

I enjoyed your stories, Norm and Chris. Norm, check out your grounds on the tractor/truck. Seems like whenever I have multiple oddities on a vehicle it is bad ground... Yeah voltage should be higher when running. I wonder if there is a bad cell in one of your batteries taking down voltage in whole truck? I know you'll get it. Wow I am almost done with dash/radio project on Olds- finally. Now its time to give it a really good thorough cleaning- engine comp, trunk, interior, wax it really needs it.

 

Great story Norm, I had an Opel Rallye also. I thought they only came in silver 67 and gold 68. Ive never seen a red one