Sights And Sounds; October 2014

Here are some photographic odds and ends from last month.  First, and best:

OK, I'm cheating here.  This photo was taken on September 30th.

The thinking is that this squirrel attempted to leap from the ash tree, behind him (background), onto the roof of The Ranch.  As they so often do.  And, this time, came up a little short.

On October 1st, My Dear Elderly Mother and I spent the day at the Clark County Heritage Center in Springfield, OH doing some intensive genealogical research.

I spent six hours examining their War of the Rebellion collection:

All 8,000 [+/-] volumes.  There is an index for this 9-shelf volume of books which I've referred to on a previous visit... but I could not locate it on this day.  So I went through the index of each individual book.  I found a lot of useful information, a portion of which may appear here sometime in 2015.  Stay tuned.  I abused the copy machine with remorseless abandon that afternoon, making more than 200 copies.  Boo-yah!  Although the helpful and friendly staff assured me that it wasn't a record (yes, I asked).

There are some cool architectural features to the Heritage Center:

It's a lovely place to spend the day.

On the 5th of October I snapped this pink and purple sunset:

It was vastly more spectacular in person.  My Android GalaxyS9000 didn't adequately capture the full spectrum of color.  Where is Bob Ross when you need him?

I caught a rare sighting on the 13th:

 

A Ford Pinto!  As you may observe, I kept a safe distance.

Three nights later, following a spaghetti dinner with Mr B, I rocked out to a great tune on the Jeep Main Battle Tank's satellite radio:

One of the great, unknown Pete Townshend songs off the 1980 Empty Glass album.  I have a cherished, vivid memory of cruising around town one rainy springtime afternoon senior year of high school, just a month or so before graduation, cranking this song out the Tank's [1979 Ford LTD] six-speaker stereo system.  It was exactly the kind of day I used to like; persistent, heavy rain, the blooming flowers and verdant green of new leaves tempered by some minor degree of fog.  A Quadrophenia kind of day.  I had characteristicly blown off school that day, and this scene unfolded during the school day.  I was by myself, youthful and full of life.  Each time I'm in the car and this song is on the radio, I think back to that halcyon day of twentieth century yesteryear and I feel transported in time.  I can hear the rain, sense the brisk chill in the air, observe the smooth power and easy speed of the Tank on those wet streets and feel Pete Townshend's power chords reverberating throughout every fiber of my being.

On October 22nd, Miami University was graced by a visit from syndicated columnist George Will:

Naturally, there was a ridiculous protest.

Even more ridiculous, and sinister, is the visit domestic terrorist Bill Ayers is - allegedly - clandestinely making to Miami's campus.  At Buddy LaRosa's last week I couldn't help but overhear the obnoxious Ivory Tower-type on her phone, exuberantly telling a colleague about this pending event.  The joy in her inflection obvious.  My interwebzzz investigation into this purported visit initially failed to turn up any corroborative evidence that might support this claim.  A search of the local newspapers revealed nothing (as usual).  A search of Miami's own website did not return any results for "Bill Ayers" or "domestic terrorist" or "communist subversive."  Funny, that.  Paging through the university's published calendar of upcoming events, I found this (scheduled tentatively, pending the forecasted 3" to 5" of White Death for tomorrow):

If this is in fact the event, isn't it interesting that nowhere mentioned is this nationally-recognized figure.  It's almost as if nobody wants to advertise his presence in the event because, you know, some on-campus group(s) might like to organize a protest.  Right Wingers are fair game for hectoring, but don't you dare stir up trouble over our heroes of anti-Americanism!  And the fact that Miami offers a course tiled "Social Justice and Transformation" is likewise repulsive (yes, I am confident Miami is not alone among institutions of higher learning in this odious offering).  Social Justice is code for communism and Transformation is code for communist revolution.  Thus, the non-code worded title for this course is "EDL 782; Communism and Communist Revolution."  Just imagine what kind of caustic (yet always respectful) philosophical and rhetorical disturbance I would create in that class, and just imagine how low a grade the KomIntern agent professor (who, I am certain, is a kind and thoughtful individual - see?  Respectful!) might assign to me as a semester grade.  The number low enough to represent my grade hasn't yet been discovered by mathematicians!

Roll the credits!