BIG Fun

Wally recently took Ward on a birthday outing. I didn't go along, so I'm going to let Ward tell you about it.

Wally and Ward at Heavy Metal Playground. Ward says to notice the stack of tires in the background. He is especially proud of his stack.

Wally got you an unusual gift for your birthday. What was it?

Ward: He took me to the Heavy Metal Playground, where you can operate heavy equipment.

What did you operate? Have you ever operated heavy machinery before?

Ward: I have never done anything bigger than my riding lawnmower, except, of course, a regular truck. I drove a Bobcat backhoe.

What kind of instructions did they give you?

Ward: We had a walkie-talkie instrument in the Bobcat's cab, and the instructor talked us through the controls and then gave us tasks to practice. This was, of course, after we had safety instructions—mostly, don't tip yourself over. He was pretty good; he'd say, "Ward, left hand forward, right hand left." You really have to know your right and left; you don't have time to think about it.

What kind of tasks did you do?

Ward: Most of them involved heavy truck tires and a basketball. We stacked the tires and tried to get the basketball in them in various combinations. We also had an obstacle course with traffic barrels we had to drive through.

Ward stacking tires.

Was it hard? What was the most challenging part?

Ward: I shouldn't have been, but I was surprised there were so many controls. And so many different combinations in which they could be used. We had two joysticks that also had buttons or thumb wheels (rotate the cab, open/close the bucket, open/close the bucket grapple, move the forearm, move the big arm, honk the horn), plus foot pedals (drive) and a lever to raise/lower the grading blade. By the end of my hour, I could mostly remember which motion did what action, but I couldn't get to the point where I could do combined motions, such as opening the bucket while extending the forearm while turning the cab while driving forward.

Was this a big place? 

Ward: There were three Bobcats in total in a field where we tried the various tasks. I think the whole thing was associated with Goodwill next door. During the week, they do job training with the equipment. If you are a veteran or former felon, the training is free. On the weekends, they open it up for people like me.

Were there other people there?

Ward: There was one other person, Colin. The experience was a birthday present for him, too. Colin and I competed in doing various things. He won one race, and I won another. 

Would you recommend Heavy Metal Playground to others? Would you go back?

Ward: A resounding YES and YES! Take a friend.

Thanks, Ward, for sharing your experience with us. Maybe next time I'll go--at least to watch. 

Until next time...

Chuckles and Aliases

 Most days, I get up and watch the news crawler on one of the national morning shows. Occasionally, Ward will join me, and we will discuss the world's happenings. Most of what is reported is difficult to process because either it is an unavoidable tragedy or because of the stupidity of one person or another. So, after getting a quick overview of the world, I turn to my antidote, a Leave It to Beaver rerun. The Beaver may get in a jam, but it gets solved in 30 minutes with kindness and wisdom. It's the "palate cleanser" I need to start the rest of my day.

If you haven't been reading here for a while, you may not know that the aliases I use on the blog are characters from Leave It to Beaver. I'm June, my husband is Ward, my older son is Wally, and my younger son is Theo, short for Theodore, Beaver's Real name. Others with reoccurring rules are Miss Landers, Beaver's teacher, Aunt Martha, Uncle Billy, and Mary Ellen, Wally's girlfriend. 

Below is the original post on my blog where I explained the names. It goes into a little more detail and has a few facts about the TV show.

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Leave it to Beaver or the Family We're Based On

You may have noticed that my family has the names Ward, June, Wally, and Theodore. Some of you may have thought that those were our real names. However, some of you may have realized that those are our aliases based on names from the TV show Leave It to Beaver. Leave It to Beaver was a situation comedy that aired from 1957 to 1963 and is still in reruns today. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leave_It_to_Beaver

The show revolved around the Cleaver Family—Ward and June, the parents, and Wally and Theodore (also known as the Beaver), their sons. The premise was that Beaver and Wally got themselves into scrapes that frustrated their parents but from which, ultimately, everyone learned a lesson.

When I chose these aliases for my blog world, I didn't think much about the significance, except there were the correct number and gender in the Cleaver family, and they were from a show that made me smile when I thought about it.

In this post, I had planned to discuss the details of the Cleaver family and compare and contrast them with my family. However, that's too much work, so I'm just going to tell you a couple of things I found interesting about the making of the show that resonates with me.

--The makers of the show wanted to get gentle laughs. If anything got a really big laugh, they changed the script to make it more of a chuckle or smile. While I love a good belly laugh, the gentle laugh fits with my basic philosophy of life: Everything in moderation.

--June often wore pearls and heels when cooking and cleaning around the house. This is often made fun of because it was so unrealistic. However once I heard an interview with the actress that played June, and she explained why those wardrobe choices were made. Apparently the hollow at the bottom of her neck looked strange on film, so they had her wear pearls to fix the problem. Also, as the actors grew that played Wally and Beaver they wanted her to be taller than them to still look authoritative as a parent. Thus, they had her put on heels. While you'll never find me cooking and cleaning in either pearls or heels, this reminds me that snap judgments are often wrong. Many times, you just don't know all of the facts.

-Leave It to Beaver was the first TV show in which the kids were the main focus, not the parents. I don't have anything meaningful to say about this except that I find it interesting.

Another time, I may go into individual episodes, but for now, you know where our blog names came from.

But Wait, There's More:

 If you read here very often and you've been paying attention, you may have noticed that several other major and minor Leave It to Beaver characters show up in my posts.

Until next time...

Pondering

When Ward and I checked out at Lowes the other day, the cashier asked how long we'd been married. I'm not sure what prompted her question. We were on a mission buying fence boards, not really talking to her or each other. I was impressed when Ward immediately said, "43 years." (I've been married long enough that I've stopped keeping track, although I can figure it out if I think a bit.) She said we looked so peaceful and asked what our secret was. She said she had been married for 7 years, and her husband drove her crazy. I wasn't sure how to answer other than, yeah, that happens sometimes. 

We're almost to the 10-year mark here.

Her question has had me pondering what our "secret" is or why anyone's marriage succeeds or fails. I think there are probably as many answers to that question as there are couples. Certainly, no simple saying or formula comes to mind for why Ward and I have been together for all these decades.

Ward and I met in grad school, started dating, and married about two years later when we finished school. Our marriage began with love and commitment but little real-life experience. In the early years, we were learning about real jobs, a new city, and each other. For example, it took the longest time to figure out our different discussion arguing styles.

 Eventually, the kids came along with a whole new set of experiences. We delighted in Wally and Theo, but they were not the easiest children to raise. Many stressors came with these challenging boys, and their early years were not always easy for Ward and me.

We've also dealt with serious illnesses, career changes, moves, and aging parents. All of these things have changed who we are in some way. And I feel very fortunate that with each experience, we have grown closer instead of apart. I can understand how that might not always happen.

I guess that underneath it all, Ward and I have mutual respect and know we can always depend on each other. Throw in similar ideas about money, family, and leisure activities, and you've got a winning formula—at least, it seems to be working for us.

Actually, I think any relationship, whether it lasts a long time or a short time, is too complex to explain in a few paragraphs. So maybe I should just say I've been married for a while. I'm not sure why, but it seems to be working. I think I'm just going to enjoy it and not try to figure it out. 

Note: I asked Ward how he would answer the cashier's question, and he said it was complicated, and he didn't want to talk about it. He was too busy figuring out counting to the quick step. That's a new dance we're trying to learn. I thought his time was better spent at that so we wouldn't look so confused at Monday's dance class, so I didn't question further. 😀

The Panhandle State

https://www.mapsof.net/west-virginia/west-virginia-county-map

Back in June, when I did a post for West Virginia Day, Kris asked the following question in one of her comments: "I am curious as to how the boundaries were made--in looking at a map, the panhandles seem to be oddly placed and like they should be part of a different state." I gave a vague answer because I wasn't really sure how we ended up with two panhandles myself. I've done a little research, so now I'm going to try to answer her question. Better late than never, right?

First of all, it's complicated and confusing, but I'm going to try to simplify it so it makes sense. 

As you all know, West Virginia was once part of Virginia. In the early times, Virginia had a far western boundary. After the Revolution, Congress encouraged the donation of land to the United States. So, Virginia gave up Kentucky and everything west of the Ohio River. However, they still wanted access to the Ohio River, so they kept the Tug Fork and Big Sandy Rivers since those rivers flow into the Ohio. That forms some of the western boundary—the non-panhandle part. 

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania and Virginia had overlapping land claims and had a big dispute about the western border between them. The border ended up just west of Pittsburg, leaving the little silver of land in the north - The Northern Panhandle. BTW, Pittsburg is where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers come together to form the Ohio River. If you haven't figured it out by now, the Ohio River was very important in the country's westward expansion. It was a navigable river that flowed into the Mississippi River.

The eastern part of Virginia, the Tidewater and Piedmont regions, had rich farmland and plantations run on slave labor, which we have all heard about. The western, mountainous part of Virginia had subsistence farming and few, if any, slaves. There was no need. However, representation in the legislature was based on population, which included the slaves in the count, even though they had no rights and were considered property. So, using these numbers, the western part of the state had little say about what went on. Western Virginia tried to secede a couple of times to no avail.

Then the Civil War happened. Virginia was a Confederate State, but the western part had mixed loyalties. In 1861, Union troops crossed the Ohio into Virginia, attacked the Confederate forces in the mountains, and eventually occupied the area. Western Virginia saw this as an opportunity and seceded from Virginia to the Union. The extent of the Union occupation at that time determined the state's eastern border. 

That is, except for the end of the eastern panhandle, which was still loyal to the Confederacy and did not vote to secede. Congress recognized the new state of West Virginia and voted to give it three additional western Virginia counties: Morgan, Berkley, and Jefferson. These counties had rich farmland and the B & O Railroad, which Congress thought the new state needed to support itself. Of course, Virginia was not happy about that and protested, but lost when the Supreme Court ruled against them in 1871.

There. Does that make sense to anyone but me? My apologies to the historians out there who are cringing at my simplified version of the state's history.

Until next time...

Notes:

Most of this was summarized from Wikipedia and Mark Stein's book How the States Got Their Shapes.

Happy Halloween This and That

Well, because I know everyone wants to know what I've been doing, (😁) I'll tell you. Nothing much. But that's not going to stop me from sharing.

Today was a day off from work because of an eye appointment. Unlike most of these appointments, this one didn't take hours and hours. I was back home in fewer than three hours—a record, maybe, and a welcome surprise.

We've been having unseasonably warm weather, so we expect more trick-or-treaters than some years. However, we usually don't get more than thirty. We bought candy last night. I didn't want to buy it too early because of the temptation. If it was in the house, I would have just one piece, then another, and end up needing to buy more. Sometimes, the best way to have willpower is not to have temptation. :)

On the way to buy the candy, I turned in my early voting ballot at one of the ballot boxes. I don't know what will happen on Tuesday and beyond, but I've had my say. It's going to be interesting. 

Last weekend, Ward and I took a morning visit to Washington Monument State Park. The park is named after the stone monument on top of South Mountain. It was the first one completed that was dedicated to George Washington, and it was built in 1827. Another one was built in Baltimore two years later, and the iconic obelisk one located on the National Mall was finished in 1885.

Normally, you can go up into the monument,
but it was closed last weekend because of migrating birds.

The trip was a good way to start the morning. The sun was shining, and the leaves were beautiful. However, we were not the only ones out and about visiting the monument; we ran into a big birthday party, Appalachian Trail hikers, and a very active pack of Cub Scouts. Watching the scouts' random motion did NOT make us yearn for the days when Wally and Theo were those ages. After a short hike, we headed back home.

We drove through Boonsboro on our way home and saw various "creatures" lining the streets. The dozens of figures lent a fun, festive feel to the town. Some were silly, some were scary, and they were made by various local civic groups and businesses.

The doorbell is starting to ring with trick-or-treaters, so I better go.

Until next time...