Revive us again ....

Two high points of last week's Democratic National Convention --- beyond the fine speeches of President Obama, Senator Clinton, Michele Obama, Bill Clinton and others --- will stay with me long after other details have faded.

One certainly was the incredibly moving appearance of Gold Star parents Khizr and Ghazala Kahn, whose son U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Kahn, was killed in Iraq and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

So proud and humbled to stand on the same soil as a U.S. citizen with such fine Americans as these --- and to have served in the same U.S. Army, in a different time and place, as their son.

The other was the eloquent address by the Rev. William Barber II, a Christian (Disciples of Christ) preacher from Goldsboro, North Carolina.

He reminded me, among many other things, of the reasons why --- after many bitter years and the loss of anything that might be remotely considered orthodox Christian faith --- I still rise every Sunday morning and go to church.

Here are some excerpts from the Rev. Mr. Barber's address, lifted from Janell Ross's piece at The Washington Post, "The Rev. William Barber dropped the mic."

"I am worried by the way that faith is cynically used by some to serve hate, fear, racism and greed."

"Listen to the ancient chorus in which deep calls unto deep."

"Pay people what they deserve, share your food with the hungry. Do this and then your nation shall be called a repairer of the breach."

"Jesus, a brown-skin Palestinian Jew, called us to preach good news to the poor, the broken and the bruised and all those who are made to feel unaccepted."

"Some issues are not left or right or liberal versus conservative. They are right versus wrong."

"We need to embrace our deepest moral values...for revival at the heart of our democracy...When we love the Jewish child and the Palestinian child, the Muslim and the Christian and the Hindu and the Buddhist and those who have no faith but they love this nation, we are reviving the heart of our democracy."

And then, Ross wrote, "When Barber had said his piece, he turned to a portion of the hymn, 'Revive Us Again.'

"Revive us again;
Fill each heart with Thy love;
May each soul be rekindled
With fire from above.

"Hallelujah! Thine the glory.

"And with that, Barber walked away."

Amen!

Bill Engebretsen & a Ryan flying machine ....

This snapshot, small and somewhat faded, turned up yesterday when I was filing photographs at the museum and caught my eye because of the familiar look of the aircraft in the foreground.

The photo came to the museum during 1969 along with others from Stanley Fletcher (1907-1988) and the subject, standing beside the plane, is identified as his friend, William H. "Bill" Engebretsen (1906-1989).

The bonus is a typed three-paragraph jokey message from Engebretsen to Fletcher on the back, which reads:

"Stanley: I am doing a bit of aviating, or was going to when this picture was taken. My first time up and I hope not my last. The plane is one of the Ryans, a sister ship to Lindbergh's. Rides pretty fine.

"That binocular case is in my grip. Just what makes you so dumb anyway? I have often noticed a slight vacuum where your brain should be but could never quite figure out what caused it. You know, I have decided that you must need stamps pretty bad.

"Life is too easy here and is beginning to pall on me. Guess I will have to take to the open road again. Write and give me all of the lowdown. What do you ear from Stag, or did you get a return of your letter?"

Although Engebretsen is blocking some of the lettering on the side of the plane, it appears to read "Ryan Flying Service, San Diego, Cal."

The photo probably dates from the late 1920s, when both Stanley and Bill were in their early 20s, and not long after Charles A. Lindbergh had captivated the world by crossing the Atlantic from Long Island to Paris solo and non-stop on May 21-22, 1927 --- flying a single-engine monoplane built by Ryan Airlines in San Diego.

The Lindbergh plane was a modified version of the 1926 Ryan M-2 mail plane --- kitted out for a transatlantic flight --- so the plane Engebretsen is standing by most likely was indeed a "sister" to the Spirit of St. Louis.

+++

Bill Engebretsen, although he apparently did experiment with life on the "open road" as a young man, spent most of his life in Chariton, where he was born and where his dad, Henry J., was serving as sheriff during the late 1920s. 

He operated Hawthorne Hills Game Farm for a number of years in partnership with is brother, Paul "Tiny" Engebretsen, as well as operating a restaurant and ice company. He also served as executive director of the Lucas County Conservation Board during the years when the Cinder Path was developed. He died at 82 during March of 1989.

Stanley Fletcher, also a Lucas County native, operated several businesses in Chariton before moving to Florida where he worked as a pharmaceutical salesman. He returned to Chariton during 1979, after retirement, and died during 1988 at the age of 80. Bill Engebretsen was one of his pallbearers.

Sidewalk superintending the new gas line ....

Preparing to drill.

There's been so much sidewalk superintending to do this week, I'm surprised anything else got done --- although I did get the garlic dug and laid out to dry in the barn while it still was cool Thursday morning.

After lunch, the crew from an Alliant Energy subcontractor stopped by to install a new gas line from street to house --- and keep me entertained.

Tracking (and directing) the drill.

The really annoying thing here is that some time within the last two weeks, these guys managed to install a new gas main all along the east side of my block --- and no one noticed. (The goals of the current project in the neighborhood include replacing all of the lines in this block, moving the main from a long-vacated north-south alley to streetside.)

Awaiting the arrival of the drill bit.

They managed that neat trick by digging a big hole at the intersection of South 12th and Linden and another at the intersection of South 12th and Armory --- then drilling horizontally under the block between. No more trenches. Only a line of painted "x's" on the grass to mark the route of the pipe beneath.

Preparing to pull the conduit through the new hole back to the street.

They've been doing a variant of the same thing this week when connecting the new main to houses along it --- drilling horizontally under the lawn from streetside into holes dug alongside buildings, then drawing the yellow gas tubing back through it to streetside. Others will be along at other times to make the connections and it will be some time before the old gas lines are abandoned and the new gas lines activiated.

Tethering the conduit.

Another job done.

Hot mix asphalt on the side ...

This is not an especially good week to navigate my neighborhood --- the hills south of Court Avenue around Columbus School. We're being repaved.

On the other hand, it's good week to celebrate folks who work hard for a living at jobs --- like hot mix asphalt paving --- we couldn't live without, but couldn't do ourselves. The days have been a little cooler this week --- but that asphalt's still hot, radiating as it goes down and then for a while as it cools. It's hot and dirty work.

The crews this week are from N.A.P. Co. (Norris Asphalt Paving Co.), which operates in partnership with Douds Stone LLC, headquartered in Ottumwa.

The asphalt itself is being trucked down from one of the company's plants --- located this year at Knoxville.

I'd just gotten to the museum after lunch Wednesday when my neighbor, Virginia, called and said, "Uh, you'd better get home if you're going to get home," or something to that effect. So I turned around and threaded my way back around barricades, trucks and pre-paving patches of concrete just before the paving began.

My side of this block got a preliminary lane of paving because this is where the big buses line up before picking up students at Columbus --- and they're hard on it. A couple of hours later, the guys were back to pave the entire block.

I was happy to be parked be in the driveway, mow a little lawn and watch the paving process.

Others were not so happy.

One of my neighbors, whose house faces 11th Street (also being resurfaced), blockaded temporarily for one purpose or another, decided he'd just drive down the alley and exit on 12th --- but when confronted at this end by fresh asphalt could do little more than turn around, go home and sit it out.

Our block was done by about 5:30 p.m. and the barricades came down about 9 p.m. --- so now we have a freshly paved surface and it should be smooth sailing in and out of this part of the neighborhood for the rest of the week.

Unless it rains a lot --- the neighborhood should be repaved and ready to go by late Friday.

Vegetables, flowers & genealogists

Although it's a kind of hard to discern the personality of a giant cabbage or a plate of green beans, I always enjoy the vegetable entries at the Lucas County Fair. Department superintendent Jim Secor was scrambling this year to find room to display all the entries --- a very positive development.

The entries were judged by Jill Beebout (left), of Blue Gate Farm, and Jim (right) had enlisted the help of two of his stepdaughters, including Dana Gall-Secor (center), to help him corral all of that vegetation.

This was the year of the giant cabbage --- really giant cabbage. There were at least four of these beasts. Here's the winner in the youth division.

I was gratified because my favorite pumpkin, at right in the first photo and standing alone in the second, was judged best of show.

I enjoy the floriculture division --- and there were lots of entries here, too.

Here are the two top entries in the arranging class, the first in the adult division and the second, in the junior.

The rest of the arrangements --- I just admired.

I would have taken some of the house plant entries home with me, but most likely would just have killed them off --- so it's a good thing that they'll go home with their developers when entries are released tomorrow morning.

Down in the middle of the open class building, Jay DeYoung was judging genealogical entries on Monday as Suzanne Fordell Terrell and other members of the Lucas County Genealogical Society looked on.

And here's a puzzler that won a ribbon but stumped everyone down in the antiques division. Anyone know exactly where Leonard Lumber Co. was located? John Pierce didn't know. Dave Edwards didn't know and I didn't know.

You've got one more day to catch the fair before entries are released on Thursday. This is a big day for beef in the judging venues and there will be plenty of pulled pork, beef and lamb sandwiches --- plus homemade pie --- in the 4-H stand.

Briley Atwell, her birds & the poultry parade

Beef is king (or queen) I suppose of the Lucas County fair --- there will be four classes of judging on Wednesday. But I'm passionate about poultry, so Monday morning's judging in that category was more to my taste.

The first person I ran into at the poultry barn, awaiting her turn with the judge, was Briley Atwell of the Russell Reivers 4-H Club --- or rather her granddad, Richard. The whole Atwell family was there to cheer on Briley and her birds.

Years ago, I started growing up just down the road from a lovely couple named Clara and Merrill Atwell. Briley is their great-granddaughter. How's that for continuity?

The birds shown here are of the Welsummer breed. They won blue ribbons and Briley herself, a showmanship award. She knows a lot about her birds and, among other things, was able to tell the judge when he asked how she could be certain that the eggs produced by her pen of three would be brown.

Here's the judge a little farther down the line working his way toward Briley.

And a whole bunch of other birds that I fancied. I wish I could tell you who won the top prizes, but the barn was too busy at the time to absorb that information. There were lots of entries this year, each as far as I'm concerned of championship quality.

There's more to poultry than chickens and I was quite taken by these two bobwhite quail entered by Grant Goering of the Liberty Flyers.

There were pigeons, too. This fine Homer was entered by Ruthie Storey, also of the Russell Reivers.

Here's an African Fantail entered by J.R. McDonough of the Shooting Stars.

Ruthie dominated the category that quacked.

Here's her Mallard hen and pen of three.

And a fine Muscovy.

These are a few other birds that caught my attention, including Zeb DeZwarte's (Chariton FFA) Americana rooster.

I don't think this Leghorn rooster won an award, but I liked him anyway. He did keep falling asleep, but I'm not sure the judge took that into consideration.

How could you not love a turkey with a face like this?

 A fine layer, but I'm not going to venture a guess on the breed.

One of the happiest birds at the fair, a Silver Spangled Hamburg.

I think this is one of Madallyn Gunzenhauser's prize-winning Red Stars, but am not exactly sure about that. Madallyn is a member of the Derby Blue Ribbon Winners --- and she won several.

This is Evan Langford's (Derby Blue Ribbon Winners) mixed-breed rooster: Buff Orpington and Crele Old English.

It was a great day at the fair --- vegetables and flowers another day. Here's lookin atcha ...