Memory & Mammary Lane

 

I checked my stats the other day and was amazed at the number of hits here on the old blog the last few days. Friday I had over 5000 views which is about twice the number I get in a normal month. Don't know what prompted the radical increase but it's all good. I scrolled down on the stats page to maybe get a clue as to where all the activity was coming from and while I didn't really come up with an answer, I did take a look at several of my posts from back in time that showed up.

The photo above was when I "raised the roof" on the partially completed new barn that went down in the 80-90 mph straight-line wind storm that came through ten years ago. I've been plying my trade for well over 50 years now and have built and or repaired a little bit of everything. Most of it was just run of the mill stuff that most welders with a bit of machining skill could have done equally as well or better.

However, rebuilding that barn is one of the jobs I'm most proud of. I got a bit of help with some of the muscle work, like raising the new walls and the door header, but engineering the job, moving the roof section out of the way, building the lifting cradle and the spreader bar was all me. And I can guarantee you that that building won't be coming down in my lifetime. A tornado might pull the skin off of it but if one does come, more than likely the barn will spin off the foundation like Auntie Em's house and be set down somewhere in a farmer's field. 

Since I was employed as a high school teacher much of the time while blogging, I never posted much "Rule 5" stuff but I did sneak in a little something every once in a while. Now that I'm no longer employed, I suppose I could post a few more photos of a mature nature. Might help the page count but that's not all that important to me. I do enjoy seeing B&W photos of the classic beauties, though. And Sophia defines the term classic beauty in my book.

This was also in one of the posts that came up in my perusing of the post list. I had forgotten all about this shirt - must have worn it out since it's not around here anymore. Special 79 used to have a blog I enjoyed reading. The blog is gone but he does have a page of merchandise now. The tee shirt is on the page but it's sold out. However, that shirt got me looking in the "tee shirt tub" to check the inventory. Most everything in the tub has never been worn, with a couple of exceptions. Most of them are from a walking, running or cycling event I participated in but I do have some others that should bring top dollar when the grandsons set up the tee shirt stand at my funeral. I'm thinking of running a Tee Shirt Tuesday feature here on the blog. I imagine I can come close to stretching it out at least until next summer, maybe a year. 

I also took the time to read several of the old posts on the topic of education. While I'm still a staunch defender of education in general and technical education in particular, I'm no longer involved so I don't feel qualified to comment on what's going on currently - in spite of the asinine nature of what's actually transpiring that I am aware of. I'm going to get in touch with my buddy Kevin and offer him the opportunity for a guest post occasionally since he's back in the classroom again. I do miss being informed but I don't miss the job. I still have nothing but respect for those that are in the trenches fighting the good battle day in and day out. God bless each and every one of you.