Milestone

I have to brag a little...my best score ever, and the back side was my best nine ever. That double bogey on number 8 still bothers me. I missed the green, and then 3-putted. The bogey on number 16 was due to a 3 foot par putt that I misread. I had to make a birdie on 17 or 18 to have a par round, and I missed the birdie putt on 17 by a fraction of an inch.

Next time...

Thirty Years of Clean Living

A few months ago, after many years of searching, I tracked down my friend Stanley Hanks.

I had last seen Stanley in Tucson, Arizona in September 1979, where we went to visit him, Nicole, and their infant daughter Jessica. For various reasons, I could not retrieve his address or phone number, and I simply lost track of him.

But the internet is a great thing, and I finally found him. We've had a few phone conversations over the last few months, and last week, I made the trip to Salem, Oregon to visit him.

I flew into Portland on Wednesday. My plan was to visit Mount St. Helens, site of the biggest volcanic event in American history. But the weather did not cooperate, so I turned around and headed south on Interstate 5 toward Salem.

I was southbound, going past central Portland, where a sign warned truckers that it is illegal for them to use the left lane. Just a few hundred yards later was a sign telling slower-moving traffic to keep right. I thought to myself: this is great. I have some pet peeves, and people hogging the passing lane is one of them. Interstate 5 around Portland is hilly, and there are many tight turns, so keeping the left lane open for people who are actually able to drive the speed limit was a welcome sight.

But it was not to be. I passed about a dozen semis loaded with raw pine logs, and they didn't seem to have read the sign. They were quite content in the left lane, which of course led to other drivers trying to zip around them to the right, and the result was mayhem.

I eventually got to Salem, where a sign informs you that you are crossing the 45th parallel - halfway between the North Pole and the equator. Once I arrived, I had some time to kill because I wouldn't see Stanley until Thursday at lunch time. We were to meet at a Denny's restaurant about 200 yards from my hotel.

I knew he drove a pick-up truck, and I saw one pull into the lot, and sure enough, it was Stanley. I started walking toward him, and he looked up at me, and then looked straight past me to the restaurant. I yelled out a greeting, and he looked at me and after a few seconds, he erupted in laughter. Then he laughed for the next ten minutes as he kept looking at my hairline. As demonstrated in the photo to the left, I once had a full head of hair.

So we spent the next two days reminiscing and catching up. He gave me a quick tour of Salem, including a stop at the Oregon Statehouse. Anytime I'm in a capitol city, I try to see the Statehouse, and I've managed to see about a dozen of them so far. I still think Ohio has one of the best.

Now, to get to the reason for the title of this post...

The picture at left was taken in 1976 or 1977 during one of our quasi-karaoke performances in the apartment in Luxembourg. I don't remember if Charlotte and I were still living there, or if Stanley and Nicole had already moved in, which is one reason I can't date the photo exactly. The picture at right was taken last week. Pity me, I didn't have an umbrella to use as a prop, so I had to use a bottle of Bud Light.



See the title of this post, and then you'll know the answer to the question: How did this happen?




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New Link

Katherine from New Zealand stopped by to comment on the Hummingbird post. She has 3 blogs, but my favorite was The Last Visible Dog. A very colorful blog, and since the seasons are opposite of here, it will be nice to see wintery pictures in the summer and summery pictures in the winter. I also like the name. So that blog is now officially added to the Golden Hill blog roll.

These are NOT hummingbirds

Thanks to Natalie for sending me the link to this classic rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Too bad there was no such thing as You Tube during my developmental years.

The Hummingbirds of Ohio

About 2 months ago, I was out watering my flower bed when I saw a hummingbird fly through the stream of water. I mentioned this to Dorothy, and she told me she had never seen a hummingbird. I had seen some as a kid, and I also saw some while on vacation in Costa Rica a few years ago, but they are not something you see every day. So we decided to get a hummingbird feeder.

Hummingbirds are remarkable animals. They are everywhere, but they are elusive. Part of the problem with seeing them is their size. They are not much bigger than some flying insects. Only one hummingbird species nests in Ohio - the Ruby Throated hummingbird. In fact, it is the only hummingbird that breeds east of the Mississippi River, and it's the only hummingbird species you will see regularly in Ohio, although there are reports of other hummingbirds stopping by while on their migratory routes.

Some interesting facts about hummingbirds...

They are found only in the Americas. Their heart rate is around 1200 beats per minute. Their nests are the size of walnuts and their eggs are the size of peas. Everything about them is small except their appetites. They spend a lot of time feeding, and various sources state that hummingbirds consume 2 to 5 times their own body weight every day. Because of their metabolism, they are always just a few hours away from starving. When they settle in for the night, they go into a state of torpor and their heart rate can slow to as little as 50 beats per minute. The Ruby Throated flies south for the winter, to Mexico and Central America. That such a small bird can make the trip is fascinating. Their wingbeat is about 50 per second. Look here for a slow-motion video of a hummingbird in flight. Amazing.

It took about a week for the first sighting, but they have found the feeder, and now they are here every day. We regularly see females at the feeder, but I've only seen one male (identified by the ruby throat) so far. This morning, I was out on the porch reading the Sunday paper, when I saw three hummingbirds jockeying for a place at the feeder. Hummingbirds are very territorial, and these three were fighting over the feeder. It was something to see...they would charge each other in mid-air, and bat their wings into the other birds' wings in an attempt to keep the others from using the feeder.

These pictures are not the highest quality, but they are the best I have. The top picture is one of the females that was fighting over the feeder this morning. The bottom three pictures were taken in quick succession as the bird approached the feeder. This one is probably an adult female, and I think the top picture is a juvenile female. All are at 1/1000 second shutter speed.

I'm going to get out my telescope, connect it to my Nikon, and try to get some better pictures of the hummingbirds that are going to war over my hummingbird feeder.

Chicago

Chicago is a great city. I was there last week for an overnight visit, and as many times as I've been there, I never tire of it.

When I arrived downtown on Thursday, the first thing I noticed was a very attractive, very tall building that was under construction. I made my way to the hotel (Hyatt Regency on East Wacker) from where I had a good view of the Wrigley Building and the new building.


The Wrigley Building is one of the most eye-pleasing buildings in the world. It does not look particularly tall, but in fact rises 425 feet above the street. In Columbus, Ohio, it would be the 10th tallest building, but in Chicago it does not stand out for its height.

As it turns out, the new building is the Trump Tower, a 92 story hotel that will be the second tallest building in the United States when completed. The tallest, the Sears Tower, is just down the street on South Wacker.

In the second picture, you can see the difference in size of the two buildings. The Wrigley Building is dwarfed by the new Trump Tower, which I'm guessing is pleasing to Donald Trump.

Say what you will about his hair and his ego, but Donald Trump knows how to get things done. About 30 years ago, my Dad gave me a copy of Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal," and I can't say that it inspired me much. Not long after I read the book, Trump was bankrupt. So much for the art of the deal, I thought. But he came back, and I have new respect for the man. Getting kicked to the ground can happen to anyone, but it takes some character to get back up.

Having arrived mid-day, I needed to eat, so I trekked up Michigan Avenue to the Billy Goat Tavern. This is the place that was made famous on Saturday Night Live -- "Cheezeborger, cheezeborger, Pepsi, no Coke!" This was my third visit to the Billy Goat, and I'm really not sure why I keep going back. The cheeseburgers are not good at all -- the buns are stale, and the choice of condiments leaves something to be desired. If you sit at the bar, the bartender will not serve a cheeseburger, you have to walk over to the counter to order it. And the price is steep, at least by my standards. I paid $4.95 for a "double" cheeseburger that had probably 5 ounces of meat on it. The good news is that, even though they have no Coke, they did have a cold Bud Light.