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Dan - I hope everything turns out okay regarding the Covid scare in your workplace. I'm with Norm, it doesn't sound like too safe an environment with that many folks in one enclosed area and all those fans blowing.
Norm - I'm pretty surprised you've heard of Albion College and know where it is. Most folks have never heard of it if they aren't from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, or Ohio.
Well, just got done cleaning, waxing, and winterizing my 442. I've been working on it all morning and I'm pooped! Going to do the Indian tomorrow morning, and leave the Yamaha for now in case I want to get out for a ride another time or two. We can get some really nice days into the beginning of December. It's sunny and mid-70's today and is supposed to stay that way through Monday. Monday may be one of those days to get out and ride again.
Chris - I'm from Northern Illinois (born in Chicago). I've owned property South of Grayling/******* 40+ years. I know where Albion is located, I've driven through Albion.
Chris - I'm from Northern Illinois (born in Chicago). I've owned property South of Grayling/******* 40+ years. I know where Albion is located, I've driven through Albion.
Norm - It's pretty up in the *******/Grayling area. The town of Albion sure isn't much to look at, but the campus is beautiful. The college was founded by the Methodists in 1835 and there are several beautiful old historic buildings that are well maintained and still see daily use as classrooms. Probably the neatest two buildings are a really old observatory and Wesley Chapel that contains an enormous pipe organ that covers one entire wall.
Good morning guys,
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Yesterday I posted a little info regarding some of the historic buildings located at my old college, which is Albion College, in Albion Michigan. One of those buildings is a functioning observatory that was completed in 1884. I think I remember it being Dan who shared pics taken of, and from, his telescopic equipment, and a few other members mentioned they were also into astronomy. It has now been over 40-years since I went to school there and I didn't remember any of the details about the observatory, or how special and unique it really it. Apparently the primary telescope was built by the most prestigious American telescope maker of the 19th century, Alvin Clark & Sons, and is the only remaining major telescope built by them that is completely original. For those of you who are into astronomy, here is a link to a good history on the telescope. Although I don’t believe they are going on right now, I believe in normal times they have scheduled tours and viewings at the observatory for those of you in Michigan that might want to check it out. https://www.albion.edu/academics/dep...cs/observatory
Well, it's pretty warm out already this morning, about 62. Headed out to the garage in a minute to clean and winterize the Indian. Maybe a little football watching later this afternoon. Hope everyone has a great day.
Chris, My alma mater Emory was also started by the Methodist in 1836, Coca Cola money relocated the school from Oxford to Atlanta in 1915, Soooooooooooooo my ring [wherever it is] has 2 dates
There was a secret society name BRA [Bell ringers association]\, That knew how to get into the bell tower [pic above] and pull a certain pin in the clock mechanism and the bell would ring constantly until someone got a new pin a shut it off. Naturally to aide in escape, It was always done at midnight
Chris, I'd like to say it was me, but I don't have the star gazing equipment. My best is a 150-600mm lens for my camera. Jamesbo, love the architecture of Emory.
James - Nice pic. Pretty cool both colleges were founded within a year of each other, both by the Methodists. Something tells me you were a member of that secret society!
Dan - Sorry about that. The more I think about it, maybe it was Kenneth that has the star gazing equipment. That would make more sense, with him having clear skies most of the time out in AZ.
Here's some pics of Albion College architecture with captions. It always reminded me of what I picture an Ivy League school would look like.
Wesley Chapel Pipe organ pipes on back wall of Wesley Chapel Organ in Wesley Chapel Robinson Hall, classroom facility Wesley Hall, freshman dorm Gymnasium Observatory College Administration Building Library
Last edited by Dream67Olds442; November 8th, 2020 at 12:12 PM.
Does Mike cook for his Mom, does Mike's Mom cook for him, or does Mike take his Mom to the local Awful House? Inquiring minds want to know.
Norm - The more I thought about it I realized it was probably Kenneth that had the telescope, thanks for confirming it! Nice round today, keep hitting em straight!
Norm - The more I thought about it I realized it was probably Kenneth that had the telescope, thanks for confirming it! Nice round today, keep hitting em straight!
Out to the man-cave I must go to prepare a new front porch step railing wooden newl post which isn't that old but I'll be damned if it wasn't eaten from the inside out by pesky ants of all things. I couldn't believe when I began looking at it a couple months ago and I'm still amazed they could have made so much destruction to a 6" diameter wooden newel post. They burrowed a hole into the wood directly at the height where the post meets the concrete. The post is set 2' below the concrete surface and it's practically completely hollowed out by the damn ants. Anyways, I picked up a new newl post and cap today, I'll get the post painted and prepared for R&R. I'll need to cut the old one out from the banister rails, cut out the concrete and then set the new newl post and attach to the banister rails. Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance...
I know I've tried to get Mike to have breakfast here, I can remember if he went and didn't care for it or never went. It's a wondaful art deco dinner in Pensacola that has fabulous Nassau grits [sausage, tomato, bell peppers, onions] It's been there for 75 years so somebody likes it
Speaking of telescopes and astronomy, here are some of my backyard pictures.
Celestron NexStar 127SLT Maksutov-Cassegrain computerized telescope. It's amazing what you can see with basic equipment.
Pictures were taken with an iPhone 6 and would be much, much, much better quality with a REAL camera.
Last edited by Fun71; November 8th, 2020 at 01:44 PM.
Does Mike cook for his Mom, does Mike's Mom cook for him, or does Mike take his Mom to the local Awful House? Inquiring minds want to know.
I thought I'd look to see how many Waffle Houses there are in Pensacola, FL. Not surprising there are tons of them.
But wow, get this - the first one I found on Maps Google, sure enough there's Mike front row & center. Sometimes you get lucky.
I thought I'd look to see how many Waffle Houses there are in Pensacola, FL. Not surprising there are tons of them.
But wow, get this - the first one I found on Maps Google, sure enough there's Mike front row & center. Sometimes you get lucky.
Norm you're too much. Yes we go to the Awful house when I'm in town. Not that one, though. The one we go to is on 9th Avenue. Don't know where this one is. Yes Mom cooks a lot for me and I don't cook for her. It would be like singing for Pavarotti. She only had a couple days notice, so all I got to bring home this time was vegetable soup, chicken soup, meatloaf, and chocolate pudding.
Nice visit this weekend. No issues driving down or back. My big thing was to hang a bunch of pictures in the house, pictures I hadn't seen in years. Mostly family. Got some lessons in family history as well, always glad to hear about the old times.
Jamesbo we did eat at the Coffee Cup restaurant one time. There's a period picture of the place with about a 53 Cadillac parked out front hanging on the wall. It looks the same then as now. My Mom doesn't seem to want to go back, I think because when we were there the table we were sitting at wobbled, and Mom's coffee spilled and splashed some old goat next to us and she bitched to the waitress. It was busy in there and not a lot of room. I might duck in there for lunch next time, I have some things to do on that side of town.
Kenneth those are really cool pictures. My neighbor gave me a telescope and I've never set it up. Too bad I don't have any hot looking neighbors.
Okay. Glad to be home. Got everything put away and had a bite to eat, so now I'm gonna think about going to bed. I'll be in inspection next week, fun. Hope everyone has a good evening.
PS Jamesbo is that you standing at the front of the bell tower? Chris what organ is that in the hall, a Moller or a Wurlitzer maybe?
Last edited by slantflat; November 8th, 2020 at 04:12 PM.
I could be a very wealthy person if I had not gone through several hundred perhaps a thousand Topps Baseball Cards placed on my bicycles with clothes hangers while I had my paper routes as a teenager. Who would have thought!
Where was it you could buy that See-Through-Walls binoculars? Was that Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum or was it Mallo Cups? Something like that. I wish they made a real telescope that could see through walls.
Why does it say "Barton" on both sides on the front of the organ?
EDIT: Oh I get it. The one that says "Barton" is probably the original one which isn't played any longer since I can see an iron pipe rail in front of it and it is probably just a museum piece?
Last edited by Vintage Chief; November 8th, 2020 at 04:50 PM.
Why does it say "Barton" on both sides on the front of the organ?
EDIT: Oh I get it. The one that says "Barton" is probably the original one which isn't played any longer since I can see an iron pipe rail in front of it and it is probably just a museum piece?
Norm - You're probably right there. I didn't know what brand it was, and I went out to search and find an answer for Mike and found this article:
Kenneth, great pics, I didn't know that you could zoom that close to the moon. Norm, my laugh for the day. Chris Nice pics of Albion College. Been downloading music to a personal player, A FiiO 6. 2 GB isn't enough storage for my music, so I may have to get an add on card to increase capacity. Now I have to figure out how to get it's bluetooth to work with the Klipsch portable speakers bluetooth.
I went to bed early, sort of, ~9PM - that's early for me. I generally can't sleep any longer than 6-7hrs. Last night I applied one coat of primer to the entire newl post, and managed to get one coat of final paint on 1/2. I just finished applying a second final coat to the first coat I applied last night. It's a tad humid even in the man-cave, so I slowly applied a heat gun to dry it up. I should be able to get a third coat on w/in the next 1/2 hour before the sun is up and I can move the saw horses into the sunlight; but, alas I hear a small amount of misting rain just starting. Oh well, time moves on.
Chris, Albion is a WHOLE lot bigger school than Oxford, When I was there [sixties] They had a little over 100 students summer quarter and maybe 500 fall, winter, spring quarters, Now they have 1000 and the tuition is about 10 X what it was when I was there. It was a fun place But Big Emory not so much Big Emory has around 14,000 I've been told there are more graduate student than undergrads
The 1st time I went into Big Emory's library and saw where students could rent a glassed in cubicle to store their work, I knew I was in the wrong place
What a Hoot!! Mike your story about your Mom reminded me of a story about mine. We went to a Chinese Buffet in Houghton Lake. There was a young( maybe 14) Asian girl who asked what we want drink. Mom wanted Coffee, this place didn't have Coffee and then we found that this little girl really didn't know english, other than Pessi, Diet Pessi, Mountain Dew, etc. Mom got a little huffy, afterall what restaurant doesn't have Coffee? Young girl had to go ask other older woman in their native language to come talk to Mom- well Mom got more Huffy. So she finally got Ice water and then wanted to order off menu- she doesn't like all the stuff on Buffet... So she orders what she wants and waits for it as wife and I go fill up at buffet. Mom has a few samples off our plates and loves it all, shes gets filled up and then when her order comes she doesn't eat it but takes it to go. So Funny now but was sort of embarrassing at the time. Oh I wish I could go back and get embarrassed again! Enjoy your time with your Mom while you can!
Chris, Albion is a WHOLE lot bigger school than Oxford, When I was there [sixties] They had a little over 100 students summer quarter and maybe 500 fall, winter, spring quarters, Now they have 1000 and the tuition is about 10 X what it was when I was there. It was a fun place But Big Emory not so much Big Emory has around 14,000 I've been told there are more graduate student than undergrads
The 1st time I went into Big Emory's library and saw where students could rent a glassed in cubicle to store their work, I knew I was in the wrong place
James - As State and Federal funding support to private colleges has decreased over the past 40-years, Albion's tuition has skyrocketed 10X just like Emory's. As a result, their enrollment has decreased from about 3,700 when I was there in the late-70's to about 1,700 today. I think the only reason they're still in existence is several wealthy alumni (not me) benefactors.
Ah, the pressure is off. Monday is over. My workwith is on vacation this week so I had to work with the bad guy. He messed up paperwork all day long, and when we were done he was gone like a shot. I said, you gonna finish cleaning up? I'll do that tomorrow. He left a whole two minutes before the rest of the group. He's just a slickboy.
Beautiful out. The gas company was supposed to turn on the gas today. They said they'd show up between 8 and 4. I told them I worked and would be home by three, but it didn't matter because there were no gas appliances in the house, and the furnace is outside and pilotless anyway. So the guy left a note on the door saying since I wasn't home he couldn't turn it on. I swear, we've gone through this 14 times already, why must it persist? If I knew we'd have a mild winter I wouldn't turn it on at all. I don't want Tiger to get too cold when I'm not there to keep the stove going. This may be the year that I actually come up with an alternate heating source. This gas company is getting ridiculous.
Jamesbo I heard on the radio once that there is enough money in college endowment funds to fully pay for today's students and students forever more. Seems like a stretch but maybe for awhile. Why are the colleges so insistent on getting so much money? Do the people who run them keep the money? Where is RW's 500 million?
Getting dark already. Think I'll have a bite and call it a night early. Tuesday awaits. Have a good evening everyone.
Mike, I used to be a big alumni supporter I was even on the alumni Board [ But since I hate meetings and Malls, I said" See ya "
Now, I think they are doing a real disservice to students and using tuitions as they please. Tuitions are skyrocketing because the students can borrow so much. At the end of the day, The student is saddled with high debt.
I have a friend that eats and sleep Emory He has more alumni awards than Carter has Little Liver Pills. His wife [that went to Kentucky even has alumni awards [Something like the Worlds Greatest non alumni alumni " I tell him to Phuque off several times a year I think he's being used but whatever cranks your tractor
That plus Emory has gotten so Green/liberal that I've found other eleemosynary causes toss my very small bone to
Good evening guys,
Spent a good part of the morning doing one of my least favorite things, doing bills and other financial business. Ugh!
Did some cyphering today to determine how much I rode my bikes this year, turns out it was about 5,200-miles. My mileage was way down from approximately 7,500-miles each of the previous two summers. I think a combination of more bad stretches of weather, Covid, and having my car to take out and mess with were the primary reasons. I put about 950-miles on the 442. I always hate going into the winter months and not having the toys to play with.
I think I'm going to talk with my wife about possibly purchasing a small to medium size "toy hauler" type travel trailer so we can get away to a warmer climate for a month or so at a time and be able to take one of my bikes and the dogs with us. I'd probably need to invest a little more money in my truck, but with it already having the 5.4L Triton V8 and tow package on it, it's more than enough truck to haul a medium size trailer. Dreams!!!
I hope everyone had a great day and has a relaxing evening!
Good evening guys,
Pretty slow day around here. Overcast all day but it still got up to 75. A storm is going to hit anytime now, and it's supposed to rain all evening. It's cold on the back side of the front, dropping to 35 by tomorrow morning.. I'm betting today might be the last day we have in the 70's for a long while.
Work was trying today. The bad guy was irritating all day long. He was either trying to beat me in doing everything, or trying to make me look like I couldn't keep up, but he was the one who mixed up wheels and paperwork, not me. The lead had told us in the past that when we were done we could leave, and we finished about 1230. This guy trucked out the door like a shot, and I wasn't even done cleaning up. So much for being a team.
So even though I got home early I didn't get anything done. Sat down and napped. It was overcast and misting when I got home so nothing to do outside anyway. Tiger must not have been feeling it either because he curled up on the floor next to the couch and we both had some Z's.
Well tomorrow is the hump day. Hope it's a good one. Have a good evening everyone.
November 7th, 2020, 11:57 AM
