Goodbye Sears

What was that Billy Joel song, Say Goodbye to Hollywood?   A sad song.   Well, say Goodbye to Sears, also sad.

This particular store was located in the West Oaks mall on the west side of Orlando.   It was very convenient for me because I liked their tools.   Who doesn't like Sears tools?   But if our economy is suppose to be doing better then why is this large Sears store closing?   Or should I say closed since the store closed its doors for the final time on January 27, 2013.

The first part to go was the Sears automotive sectuion some time in December.   Or at least I think that it was in December.   I went to get an oil change and this is what I was greeted with, locked doors and papered and darkened windows.

It was kind of sad to see all of the bays for the cars closed and wondering how many mechanics got laid off.   Does everyone know the difference between a recession and a depression?

A recession is when the other guy is out of work.

A depression is when I am out of work.

That analogy is probably truer than it seems.

Look at the signs on the doors, even the fixtures and equipment were for sale.   What is it they say, "A sign of the times"?   I guess that these signs say it all.

Inside the store about a week before "the end" it looked so empty with so much of the inventory gone.

Goodbye to Sears as another store bites the dust.    Lew

 

Barbara Lee

This is the ship Barbara Lee, a genuine paddle-wheeler.   You can see the name on the front of the wheel-house at the very top of the ship.

And let me say that the paddle-wheel really is the means of propulsion.   Those paddle-wheels sure churned up the water like a giant kitchen egg-beater.

The Barbara Lee sails out of Sanford, Florida which is northeast of Orlando.   The ship cruises Lake Monroe and then up the St. Johns river which feeds water to Lake Monroe.   It's a three hour cruise.   Yeah, I know,  the S.S. Minnow on the television series Gilligan's Island was on a three hour cruise.   Remember the lyrics from the theme song Ballad of Gilligan's Isle?   The cruise is a dinner cruise (or luncheon cruise)  and both the luncheon cruise and the dinner cruise serve prime rib as one of their meals.   My wife and I love the prime rib and we always get it.   The meals really are very good.   Plus the ship is quite elegant inside.

We were fortunate enough to have a table next to the window so that we could watch the world go by at a leisurely pace.

Did I mention the appetizer buffet before the big meal?   Yummy!

See those papers and pencils on the table?   Those are for selecting which meal you would like to have.   And yes, that is real butter and half-and-half creamer on the table.

Oh yeah, my choice was easy, the prime rib.   The cheesecake for dessert was a nice finishing touch to the meal.   The cruise was just a nice relaxing trip with a fine meal.   I enjoy it and I go often and am a "frequent floater" as they say.   There were many more amenities but this blog has gone on long enough.   Let me say that I don't work for the Barbara Lee but rather I am just a satisfied customer who sometimes just likes to sit back and relax rather than going on a roller coaster ride in a theme park.   Sailing on one of these dinner cruises is one of my favorite things to do to just relax and calm whatever stresses that I might have.   Here is hoping that everyone has a great day wherever they may be and that there is a similar dinner cruise near you.     Lew

 

 

riverboats

When I got married 9 years ago we went on a dinner cruise on a boat called Rivership Romance.   Very romantic name.   It sailed out of Sanford, Florida.   Sanford is a community on the northern edge of Orlando, Florida.  The meals were fancy gourmet-style meals.   Our favorite meal was the prime rib.  So flavorful and tender.   Making you hungry?

It was great.   A nice leisurely cruise on a large lake (Lake Monroe) and up the river (St. John's river) that fed the lake.   The river was slow moving and the banks were covered with jungle vegetation which made it seem as though we were going up the Amazon river.   Can you see the Spanish moss draped from the limbs of the tree on the right hand side of the picture?   I always loved seeing Spanish moss hanging from the tree limbs.  

There were alligators and white heron wading birds to see also.   As the boat went up the river there was a crew member who gave us a talk on the river, the lake and the wildlife.   

The fabulous meals that they served were included in the price of the cruise.   We always got the prime rib.   And so we always returned each year for the cruise on our anniversary.   A year ago they put the ship into dry dock for repairs and discovered that there was too much damage to the hull to repair (probably rust) and so that was the end of the boat cruises.   Unknown to us there is now a replacement boat (a paddle-wheeler).   It brings to mind that Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens at the time) was a master riverboat pilot of paddle-wheelers on the Mississippi river.   Could that be Mark Twain standing in the pilot house?   After we go on the dinner cruise I will check the pilot house and let you know.

A stately dining room and how anxiously I am at savoring the flavor of the prime rib and finishing off the meal with their signature cheesecake for dessert.  

I liked these dinner cruises because they were very slow and very relaxing (not like the rollercoaster thrill rides at the theme parks).    Sometimes a person just wants some peace and leisure.  

So as we sail off into the distance (or should I say paddle-wheel off into the distance) it is time to close this blog.   What fun it is living here in Florida.    Lew

The Atomic Man

The Atomic Man.   That was the destiny awaiting this young man seen here in his high school graduation picture.   I think that it's true what Forrest Gump's mother said that, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get".     I don't think that this young man knew what life's "box of chocolates" had in store for him.   Later in life he would become known as "The Atomic Man" as the result of a terrible radiation accident involving massive contamination.    

It was August 30, 1976 and he was working the midnight to 8:00 am shift at the Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant located in the state of Washington.  

He was 64 years old and had been working at the Hanford plant as a Chemical Operations Technician since the 1940's.  

He was a seasoned veteran at his job.   Working with glove boxes to extract radioactive Americium-241.   It was a very large glove box.

It might be hard to visualize just what a glovebox is and how it is used and so here is a picture of what a typical small one looks like.

The glovebox isolates the material that you may be working with if it is hazardous.

Harold McCluskey was working as a chemical operations technician at the Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant and more specifically in the Americium Recovery Facility.

             Hanford plant

At 2:45 am on that early Monday morning of August 30, 1976 when there was an explosion inside the glove box that Harold McCluskey was working at.

He was blown backwards and his gas mask was ripped from his face.   Pieces of metal and glass contaminated with Americium-241 were embedded in his face as well as breathing in Americium-241.   He also received a blast of nitric acid to his face which temporarily blinded him.   In a few seconds he had received 500 times the amount of Americium that was considered safe.   He was placed into isolation in the medical unit where they tried to decontaminate him but he was still radioactive, and thus became known as The Atomic Man.   He received free medical care for life and a settlement of $250,000 for his injuries.   He also received a life of radioactive contamination causing some of the townspeople to shun him.

There had been some speculation as to whether or not he might die from his radioactive contamination.   However, he lived another 11 years dying at the age of 75 from heart trouble.  An autopsy was performed and no cancers were found in his body.   He was buried in the cemetery of the nearby town of Prosser where he lived.

 

His wife Elladale lived for another 16 years after his death and passed away in 2003.

 

It is amazing how much an individuals life can change in a matter of a few seconds.   I was glad that I could find some pictures of Harold McCluskey to include in the blog to remind us that Harold McCluskey was not a fictional character but a real person who undoubtedly had the same ambitions and hopes that we all have.   Let's not forget this individual and his story.

For a similar story of another individual do an internet search on The Radioactive Boy Scout or David Hahn and an absolutely fascinating story (real life) will be revealed.

                 David Hahn

              David Hahn

Have a good day of surfing the internet for interesting articles to read.    Lew

 

 

Merry Christmas to all

It is Christmas morning and we have had breakfast and opened our Christmas presents.   Here is one of the gifts that I wanted, a 32 GB memory stick (you can never have too much memory).   I was surprised to see so much memory in such a small device.   I find this degree of  miniaturization absolutely amazing.   I just can't imagine filling this memory stick with 32 GB of files, but pictures do seem to use up the memory of my 1 GB memory stick pretty fast.
We got lots of presents including our princess of a cat, Tammy.

Here she is looking bored, trying to decide whether or not to jump up on the couch and take a nap.   Yes, very pampered.   Some would say spoiled but I prefer the word pampered.   To entertain her we got a remote controlled mouse.   She should have a lot of fun with it.

I will let you know in a future blog how Tammy the cat reacts to her toy mouse running around all over the place.

Christmas just isn't Christmas without a Christmas tree.   Mary did a fine job on decorating the tree.   The tree is really pretty at night when the bulbs are giving off their rich colors.

And did I mention Mary's Christmas Cake.   It was a chocolate cake and she added maraschino cherries inside the cake (yummy) as well as walnuts.   Then for the coup-de-grace she put more walnuts on top of the red frosting as well as Christmas sprinkles.   And what a nice deep red the frosting is.

Merry Christmas to all with hopes that you got lots of presents.   And for those of you living up north in snow country instead of down here in warm Florida I must end this on a bit of not-so-funny humor.     Lew

Armed Forces Reserves

Armed Forces Reserve

This stamp was issued on May 21, 1955.

I found one of the uniforms in this picture perplexing.   I know that the individual on the far left is a Marine.   And the individual on the far right is Air Force and the fellow next to the air force is Navy.   And in the middle is Army.   But what about the individual between the Army and the Marine?   Looks like Navy to me.   I went on the internet and researched the stamp and found that it was issued on May 21, 1955 (armed forces day).  I also found out that the individual between the Army and the Marine was the Coast Guard.   Here is a picture of an individual in his Coast Guard uniform.

His name is E. J. Jarvis II and the picture was taken in the spring of 1963.   He was in the Coast Guard and his uniform matches the picture in the stamp perfectly.  

Here is a group picture of some men in their Coast Guard uniforms.

Yep, their uniforms match also.   So now we know the services represented on the stamp: Marines, Coast Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force.   But isn't there one service missing?   What about the Merchant Marine?   Would the term United States Maritime Service be more appropriate?   They wore uniforms and a lot of them got killed in World War II when their ships were sunk by U-boats.   Perhaps there isn't a Merchant Marine Reserve like the other five services.    Anyone have any ideas on this?   Have a good day and please post any thoughts that you may have on this in the "comments section".   Lew  

atomic hand grenade

The Atomic Hand Grenade.   Is this for real?   Is this a joke?   I had heard about the nuclear hand grenade years ago but didn't find much information on it.   It was said that a soldier could throw a hand grenade for about 100 feet.   Unfortunately, the kill radius of the atomic hand grenade is suppose to be around 300 feet.   So the soldier who throws the nuclear hand grenade will get killed by the blast or radiation.   To see a larger version of any of the pictures, just click on them.

No, the above explosion is not from a nuclear hand grenade.   I never did understand how you could pack a critical mass of uranium into something the size of a hand grenade.    That is probably why I took the stories of a an atomic hand grenade "with a grain of salt".

With this recent round of talk of the development of a nuclear hand grenade it is proposed to use hafnium-178m.   What is hafnium?   It is just an element much like oxygen, carbon, or your other elements.  

It's atomic weight is 178 atomic units (protons + neutrons) which means it is heavy.   But what about the "m"?   That is the "kicker".   The "m" stands for metastable meaning that the nucleus of the atom has absorbed some energy and is now in an excited state,   It has too much energy for the nucleus to handle and it has to get rid of some of this excess energy.    It does this by giving off a gamma ray to carry away the excess energy and becomes hafnium-178.   No fissioning of the nucleus like in uranium and no fusion of nucleii like in the hydrogen bomb.    The nucleii of the hafnium-178m just slowly give off the gamma rays with not that many atoms giving off the gamma rays at any one time because it's half-life is 31 years which is the amount of time it takes for half of the hafnium atoms to give off a gamma ray and return to the Hafnium-178 stable state.   By the way the excitation energy of each Hafnium-178m nucleus is 2.4 million electron volts.  Wow!  But what if you could get a chunk of hafnium-178m to cascade and dump all of its excess energy from all of its atoms at once.   It is claimed that this can be done and the intense radiation would be lethal.   Would there also be a blast effect?   I don't know.   Perhaps someone reading this blog may know or have an opinion and post it in the comments section for all of us to read.   So would a nuclear hand grenade be possible?   Could be.    Pity the poor soldier throwing it.  

Sometimes the Davy Crockett atomic bazooka is referred to as a nuclear hand grenade causing some confusion over the nuclear hand grenade controversy.   Now this atomic bazooka was actually developed and test fired.

Yeah this had a nuclear warhead.

Well perhaps the nomenclature of bazooka really isn't appropriate.   I think that atomic recoilless rifle would probably be more appropriate.

This is the warhead.   It really isn't very big in size but it sure packed a whallop.

The warhead weighed 51 pounds and had an explosive power of 20 tons of TNT.   And it was actually test fired at the Nevada Atomic Test Site twice.   One test was called Little Feller I and the other test was called Little Feller II.   Here is a couple of websites where you can actually see the Davy Crocket nuclear being test fired.
This is the Little Feller I.

Here are some websites with videos of the test firing of the nuclear bazooka.

http://www.sonicbomb.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=56

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv_q8q6Z9_I

Have a good day and enjoy life to its fullest.    Lew