Sunday, May 10, 2020

Chores in the time of CORONA

Dick Miller and I rode up to Jay to take care of some chores getting the cottage completed for sale. Steve Spray, who is a superb contractor, has put on a deck and sealed in the windows. Progress. But had to stop by Pittman Lumber too and do some bookkeeping. While there, we ran into Frank Lowry and Waylon Nowling. I explained to Dick that Frank is a peanut farmer and Waylon's daughter is the one with greenhouses that grows the Easter Lilies and the Poinsettias . (Wendt Farms) Dick likes that because he likes to propagate trees and shrubs. Greenhouses inspire him.

ON the way back South out of Jay, we saw the sign for Lowry Farms. I wanted to show Dick, where it was so he could find it for future boiled peanut supplies. We drove up to the barn and Ipointed out some of the equipment and then turned around to leave. A wisp of a girl ran out of the barn and told us to come back and Frank showed up and directed us to park under the barn. A wonderful visit ensued (See the ending discussion of fish at the end of this album).

I tried to encourage Presley to quit school and go into 12 hour days of cleaning fish at a factory. She would do it - regardless of a straight A record in the 6th grade. A friend dropped off these fresh fish earlier and was going back to the same spot on the Escambia River to get more for a benefit fish fry.

Presely has her own youtube channel for FISHING stories. Dick and I were impressed with her can-do attitude and with Frank's wide knowledge of the natural world. Presley is also a champion softball player. She mainly plays the position of catcher. Turns out Dick is "The Father" of the modern softball - baseball - and golf-ball. He had a career as a serial inventor with polymers - primarily rubber based polymers - and one of his early projects was to improve the softball - in the late 1950's - early 60's.

All this followed his near disastrous time with the Marines in Korea (google "Chosin Reservoir).

Dick has a grandson that has a popular youtube channel on fishing Presley has watched it. You can find it under youtube at FISHING WITH Yak Pack .

At the end, I delivered Dick back home, North of Milton and then came home to Karen and had a shower to wash off all the Corona from the day. Ate and napped and then got ready for a productive online ZOOM meeting with interesting military history buffs and writers who are exploring the possibility of taking reins of this "Military Magazine" that needs to find a new team.

 ZOOM is a fascinating and useful tool to hold meetings in the time of Corona but also anytime. This meeting had some brilliant people in it from a wide area of the USA. I'm amazed at the utility of this World Wide Web that I invented.

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