Family, friends, fellowship, food and football. Thanks be for those, Amen.
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Culture
Veterans Day
There are many veterans who deserve credit for keeping our nation safe and free by putting themselves in harm’s way. Not all such “harm’s way” scenarios require combat or the battlefield. Sailors who work on the dangerous decks of aircraft carriers, Soldiers who prepare ordinance and test weaponry, Marines who carry out firefighting missions, Airmen who crew patrol and transport aircraft and Guardsmen who patrol our coasts in aircraft and on the sea.
Special thanks go out to combat veterans as well as those who have risked their lives in training and support roles. God bless them all.
Model Train Show
This is the second year we took in the model train show at our local Botanic Garden. I love all trains – full size and models. Had we known about this annual show earlier, we would have started coming to them a long time ago.
We saw live steamers, electric trains and streetcars, realistic models and a lot of toys and whimsy. The layouts were intricate and nostalgic since most were set in the great train eras up to and including WWII.
The video starts with some stills of the indoor exhibits and then some video of the outdoor train sets. This was a family event and the kids loved watching the trains as much as us old guys.
The outdoor exhibits were set up near the cactus garden. I ran into a former colleague of mine, also retired, who was an exhibitor in the outside displays. We talked about how good it was that everyday was Saturday except for Sunday these days.
I would love to take up model railroading as a hobby, but I seem to have enough expensive pastimes as it is. You know, the cost of ammo and vacationing take their toll. We’ll just have to vicariously enjoy the train hobby at these shows.
Tombstone Territory
Other than a few anachronisms, this is pretty much how Allen Street looked in the days when Doc Holliday Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp got into it at the OK Corral, seen on the left. Click on the panorama below for a closer look.
Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, and Doc Holliday fought Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, Billy Claiborne, Ike Clanton, and Billy Clanton. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne (who later claimed that he had been unarmed, though some reports credit him with shooting one or more times) ran away from the fight, unharmed. Both McLaurys and Billy Clanton were killed; Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, and Doc Holliday were wounded.
Halloween 2009
We would like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!
Halloween (also spelled Hallowe’en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints.
Click on the Halloween greeting below to hear our special little message.
Mission San Xavier del Bac
Taken near Tucson, AZ. The photo says it all about its beautiful mission . . .
Helldorado Days in Tombstone
This weekend is “Heldorado Weekend” in Tombstone, AZ. The costumes and pageantry are in celebration of the 128th anniversary of the famous “Gunfight at O.K. Corral.”