Built-in Speed Regulator

I was living in Kansas City, Missouri in 1952. My brother, Ben, had joined the Navy and came to visit me leaving his 1939 Pontiac in my care while he was going overseas. So for most of my high school senior year, I had his car to use.

After graduation, a couple of friends and I decided to take the Pontiac on a quick trip to Colorado. After 10 miles of 65 mph driving, the car overheated. I picked up a 5 gallon can and filled it with water. Every 10 miles we had the same problem and had to stop and fill up the radiator. After several of these, we got behind a large truck and couldn't get around him. We stopped on our 10 mile mark and the radiator was full. Hummmmmmm. So we drove 55 mph for 10 miles and checked it again. Still full. It was determined that we need to keep the speed at 55 or under and that is what we did all the way across Kansas and into Colorado and back. Apparently the motor had rust in the water passageways and when the engine was going at 65 mph, it couldn't circulate the water allowing the water to spill out. Then the engine would get hot from lack of water.

In the fall, I drove this car to Pasadena, California to attend Pasadena Nazarene College. Yes, I drove all 1,700 miles at 55 or under and had no water problems. It kept me from speeding!

Forbidden Entertainment

In 1952 television was fairly new in Kansas City, Missouri. Having a set was a novelty. Most had small black and white round viewing tubes. During the summer when I was preparing to leave for college, I found an entertainment combination set which included a 7 inch B&W television, a 45 rpm record player, and an AM radio. It was about the size of a 21 inch table model today.

When I arrived at Pasadena Nazarene College in Pasadena, California, I found that TV was a no-no there. So I put the set in my closet and did my viewing quietly. Anyone coming into the room couldn't see the set and didn't know I had it.

One night about 15 of the guys were watching something on that 7 inch TV in my room and a knock came on the door. One of the guys opened it and there stood the dorm Pop who was in charge of the building. He saw the TV and told me I had to get rid of it. So ended my career as entertainment provider.

Big Hug From God

Today we have a Guest Blogger -- my daughter, Brenda. In January 2004, my wife and her mother, Ann, was in Cedar Sinai Hospital recovering from brain surgery. Brenda and I were in the room when something happened that is told in this story by Brenda. This is an actual happening in ICU with Ann.
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Dear Mom,

This letter tells the story of our Big Hug From God.

Today, January 26, 2004, you had brain surgery to alleviate the spasms in your right side of your face. We have all been anxious about this surgery, especially in the days just prior. We had many people praying for you.

Twice during the weekend I thought of sitting down and finishing my Bible Study homework but then I would think, no, I would complete it while I was waiting with Dad while you were in surgery. Now I know why.

My study is called Beloved Disciple by Beth Moore and is all about the apostle John's walk with Jesus. We were just starting our study of the book of Revelation. I had finished two and one-half pages of the study the Friday before. I started on Monday morning, at the hospital, with Revelation 1:7 which says, "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him."

I need to back up for a moment. Nearly two years ago, I started praying for "Hugs from God" when I especially needed to feel His presence and love in my life. I prayed that prayer before leaving for the hospital that morning.

The study further looked at other scriptures about the Lord and clouds. I read:

"While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud." Exodus 16:10

"When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud." Exodus 24:15-16

"The Lord said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover." Leviticus 16:2

"When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord." 1 Kings 8:10

"While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud." Luke 9:34

The study went on to say the following:

"God's glory is so inconceivably brilliant to the human eye that He often shrouds His presence in a cloud. One day the clouds will roll back like a scroll, and he will stand before us revealed. He has much to disclose to us in the meantime, and we'll be greatly helped when we accept that clouds are not signs of His absence. Indeed, within them we most often find His presence.

"In the July 29 entry of "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers wrote figuratively of clouds, "In the Bible clouds are always connected with God. Clouds are those sorrows or sufferings or providences, within or without our personal lives, which seem to dispute the rule of God. It is by those very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were no clouds, we should have no faith. The clouds are but the dust of our Father's feet" (see Nahum 1:3). The clouds are a sign that He is there. ....Through every cloud He brings, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in the cloud is to simplify our belief until our relationship to Him is exactly that of a child-God and my own soul, other people are shadows. ... Unless we can look the darkest, blackest fact full in the face without damaging God's character, we do not yet know Him."

We received the wonderful news from Dr. Shahinian that the surgery was a success. The spasms were gone. I was so happy that I hugged Dr. Shahinian.

We were able to go in and see you in ICU after lunch. You were having problems maintaining your blood pressure and temperature. You also had a headache and nausea. You would mumble something and we would place our ear near your mouth to try to understand what you needed.

About mid-afternoon, I was standing at the foot of your bed when you opened both eyes and looked over my left shoulder. Very clearly you asked, "Why is there a cloud in my room?" I said, "Mom, He's here. God is here. He is in the cloud. I read about it today in my Bible Study." You looked at me as if I was on Morphine and said, "I just want to know why a cloud is in my room." You closed your eyes and had a restful sleep.

I got a BIG hug from God. He let me know, through you, that He was with us and cared about us. The Alpha and Omega, the great I AM, the creator, knew what was going on with our lives and made His presence known in the seventh floor ICU at Cedar Sinai Hospital.

Two days later when I asked if you remembered the cloud, you said you did. You described it as fog up over the doorway. I shared with you the scriptures from my study.

It is no accident that I did not complete my study prior to Monday morning. The scriptures and comments in my study were freshly underlined and in my brain even with all the stress of that morning. It is no accident that you used the word "cloud" and not fog to describe what you saw which instantly triggered my memory of the scriptures. It is no accident that God revealed Himself to us in a cloud. He has been doing the same thing for thousands of years. It is no accident that God loves you, and I do too.

Brenda
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Ann had a rough time getting over the surgery as she received an infection while in the hospital. It took about 4 months to get over that including a couple of months in a nursing home before she came home on April 24th (Brenda's birthday). It was a struggle to get her strength back and in the process the infection went to her replaced knee causing two more surgeries to replace that knee with a temporary one and then with another permanent knee. So she needed a lot of "Hugs From God" to get her through. The only permanent problem she had was the hearing in her right ear is gone. Brain swelling caused that. But we are very grateful for bringing her out of the problems encountered and she is doing fine now.

The Good Old Days vs Modern Conveniences

From HolyCoast.com June 20, 2007
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As mentioned in this BLOG I subscribe to a magazine called Reminisce. It is written by it's readers and edited and published in Wisconsin. A topic is given out and anyone with any pictures or stories about that subject will submit their item for review. If accepted, it is put in the magazine. I have been in the publication three times. I currently have four items in for review. Hope at least one gets published.

This magazine brings back a lot of memories that lay dormant over the years. Lately I've been thinking of all the "modern" conveniences that have come about in my lifetime which we take for granted now. Just to name a few -- cell phones, television, air conditioning, digital camera, automatic transmissions in cars, computers, e-mail, CD's and cassette tapes, FAX machines, video recorders, watches with batteries, I-Pods, jet engine aircraft (no propellers) - the list seems endless.

I mentioned earlier that I lived with my grandparents in Ohio from age 8 to 15 years. My grandfather was a minister and was provided a parsonage. It was adequate with all the conveniences of the day. We did heat the house with coal and a forced air system. Then he retired from active preaching and had to buy his own home. He purchased a two story home with a lot of years under it's belt. This house had a water pipe that brought cold water to the kitchen. No bathroom. No hot water. The "bathroom" was in a little house out back -- the outhouse! Baths were taken in the kitchen in a tub after heating the water on the kitchen stove. And on Saturday night! Once a week bath was common for us then. Heat for the home was a coal stove in the dining room that funneled heat to the house including the upstairs bedrooms. We brought coal in from the garage which was a half a block from the house. Convenient? Hardly! My brother and I did that chore.

Grandfather was handy at most everything and decided to add a bathroom with shower next to the kitchen in the pantry. He added a water heater and piping to bring hot water into the kitchen as well. This served our needs for the remaining time we were in that house.

Houses were not air conditioned at that time. The summers in Ohio got very hot and you found the family out on the porch swing a lot in the evening. Sleeping was difficult if there wasn't a breeze.

Families had one (1) car for their use and it was pretty basic. Stick shift only. If it had a radio you had only the AM stations as FM hadn't come around yet. Now cars have CD players and cassette players for your entertainment. Of course most cars now have air conditioning and automatic transmissions. Gasoline was in the teens per gallon then and now we are paying in excess of $3.00 per gallon. Our disposable income is much higher also to compensate.

First Class postage was 3 cents. Now 41 cents (going to 42 cents in May 2008) to mail a letter. Letters are even becoming obsolete as a lot of us have computers with e-mail to keep in touch. Cell phones (with lots of minutes) make the voice connection when needed.

One of my favorite things to do as a teenager was to listen to the radio programs of the day. Radio - that's television without the picture! My favorite program was Fibber McGee and Molly. Who could remember what happened on every show when Fibber opened the closet? Remember Mert? She was the telephone operator which you had to go through to make a call. "Hello operator. Give me Wistle Vista 135 - oh is that you Mert? How's every little thing Mert?"

My home in Ohio had one phone and that was in the dining room. We had to go through an operator too. I can remember our phone number - 1528W. The dining room served most of the year as our living room. During the winter the parlor (front room) was closed off to save heat. During the summer the house expanded when we opened that room up. The piano was in there and the parlor was a better place for guests to be entertained.

At age 14 I thought I needed to get some of this down in pictures and bought an Ansco Box Camera. It got 8 pictures per roll (black and white of course) and had to be developed at the drug store. I was fortunate to have cash to pay for all of that from my paper route. I wish I had taken more pictures as there are many things that didn't get captured on film. Digital cameras now have the capacity of hundreds of images in color and many don't get printed on paper from your computer. You can delete a picture without cost and keep only the ones you want. Pictures can be enlarged, reduced, or changed in many ways to fit your needs. Ask my wife, Ann, what she does with them!

Such memories! My grandfather was born in the beginning of 1883 and passed on to his reward in December of 1984. 101 years and 11 months! Can you imagine what changes he saw in his lifetime?

YOUR COMMENTS ON POSTINGS

I have noticed that I haven't been getting any comments on any of the postings with one exception -- the 2nd one. I have 4 comments and all are from people who have set up a Google account.

Not everyone will want to set up an account in order to comment on anything I say. So I have made it possible for anyone to comment by using the "anonymous" part which is located just below your comment. Identify that when you want to post your comment on any item I have written. Then click on "Publish Your Comment". It will then be shown on the left and I will be able to read it along with anyone else reading the post and comments.

I really want to hear from you. Did you like what I wrote? Do you have something to say concerning the topic? One think I will ask you to do is to identify yourself at the end of the comment. Those with Google accounts will be identified with their name but anyone using "anonymous" will be identified as anonymous. So please sign your name.

Please re-read any of the previous Postings and comment if you would like. Perhaps you tried before and was unsuccessful and just gave up. Please try again!

It takes some time to figure out all the situations that occur on Blogging. I'm new to this so bear with me. Any help from those of you familiar with Blogging would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading my BLOG

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

From HolyCoast.com July 4, 2007
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Ann runs an e-mail prayer line called "Prayer Partners". She sent this message out 7-4-07 in honor of our country and holiday. I thought it was worthy of sharing with the BLOG.
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Dear Prayer Partners,

Since 9-11 I have signed off the Prayer Line messages with, "God Bless America!"

I do not write those words lightly. I know that if God does not bless America, we will be facing a life such as people experience in many other countries.

The news of the past few days makes us realize that we are truly in a fight for our way of living and our lives.

We cannot afford to sit back and allow the powers of Satan to overtake us in our complacency. Prayer is a tool of great power given to us by our Maker.

May we never take for granted the freedom we have to worship God without fear of incarceration or death. Many, many people the world over, are not allowed that freedom.

Our children and grandchildren will need to be very strong in their faith in order to withstand the pressures that they will face in the future.

May our flag be free to fly and may we accept the responsibility of prayer that will protect all that we believe in and hold dear.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Thank you for being there.
Ann Moore

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You can tell that I am very proud of her and the work she puts into the Prayer Line.

Is OLD In The Numer of Years Or In How You Feel?

From HolyCoast.com July 4, 2007
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I've often wondered what it takes to be "old". Is it the passage of time and the remembrance of days gone by so soon? Does poor health make you old? Does seeing the calendar year passing in what seems to be a couple of months declare you an old person?

I have been blessed with pretty good health over the years but even I have had surgeries and health events that 50 years ago were considered a miracle if you lived through them. Heart attack at age 52 was the start of some health issues that finally came to a head with a 4-way bypass operation at age 62. Since then, the old ticker has been keeping me upright --has it really been over 10 years since that happened?

Which brings me to the next point - the passage of time! The clock and the calendar seem to be working against me as I can remember a lot of things that had happened in my life over 60 years ago! I remember in 1949 at the age of 15 when I left my grandparents home in Ohio to live with Uncle Ray and Aunt Edith in Missouri. At that time, my grandmother was 63 years old and I thought she was an old woman. Isn't it interesting how the older we get the younger that seems. Maybe I would have appeared too old if I had 12 kids to raise and then had two grandchildren come to live with me for seven years.

Now that triggers a thought as to why I am writing this piece. My first born grandchild has graduated from high school and will be attending college in the Fall. WOW! I REMEMBER college! It really hasn't been over 50 years since I graduated, has it? Where did the time go? But you know the time was filled with many wonderful memories of our marriage, our two children growing up, their marriages, and the births of our four grandchildren. Now the first is heading off to the world of adulthood.

I still do not feel OLD! I wonder when that happens. Maybe it never will. I will continue to stay young as long as the good Lord gives me breath.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

UPDATE: Emily is now in her second semester of Sonoma State University and majoring in music education. She plays the flute and piccolo having soloed with both instruments many times. Her orchestra is going to Italy next month during spring break to play 4 concerts. Pretty exciting for her.

As stated above, I went to live with an uncle and aunt in 1949. They had one child at the time who was 18 months old. Kathy will be 60 YEARS old this month! This is where I see the passage of time -- in children growing up. Happy Birthday, Kathy!

GLOBAL WARMING BACK IN THE 1930'S

From HolyCoast.com July 20, 2007
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As I have stated before, I subscribe to a magazine called "Reminisce". A Contributing Editor named Clancy Strock writes a monthly column called "I Know ... I Was There". His topics mainly relate to the days of the 1930's, 1940's, or 1950's. This article titled "Hot Enough For You?" from July 2007 was especially timely as it relates to the weather and the "global warming" issues of today.

During the 1930's heat records were set in 15 states that stand to this day. In 1935, even Duluth, Minnesota topped 100 degrees. Meanwhile, both Kansas and North Dakota racked up record 121 degree temperatures.

In Detroit, 364 people perished from the heat, in 1936. The Salvation Army put ice trucks on the street, selling chunks of ice up to 50 pounds for a penny. Now get this -- why a penny" Because in those days most people refused to take charity. By paying even a penny eased their conscience and saved their pride. You won't find that in the 2000's!

Those torrid years started in 1930 and continued through 1936. In 1934 (year of my birth), 160 people died from heat causes. And then, in the worst year, 1936, the national toll was more than 5,000.

Air conditioning was invented in 1902 but still wasn't widely in use 30 years later. The public air-conditioned place was the movie house. People gladly paid the 20 cent admission price for 2 or 3 hours of blessed relief. Didn't matter what was playing.

Clancy's last paragraph brings us up to date. "We had never heard of global warming back in the 1930's. But I'm sure that if we had, by 1935 there would have been widespread agreement that the world would soon end in a big fireball. Books would have been written, speeches would have been made, and demonstrators would have demonstrated. Not knowing any better, we just sat and cooled oursleves with our fans from Melvin's Funeral Parlor. I know ... I was there."

You can learn a lot from history!

UPDATE: The recent issue of Reminisce has Clancy's obituary as he passed away December 16, 2007 - two months ago today. His column and timely humor will be missed.

Two Magazines You Might Like

I'm a fan of days gone by and subscribe to two magazines that cover the past. You might look them up on the internet to see if they might interest you.

Reminisce & Reminisce Extra

These magazines come every other month and if you subscribe to both, you get one a month.
They are reader written but edited by a staff in Greendale, WI. They ask for submissions on various topics and if you have something - pictures - stories -comments - they want you to submit them and maybe they will be accepted and printed. I have submitted three succesful items and it is nice to see your work or pictures in print in a national publication. For instance - they asked where you were on April 12, 1945 when President Roosevelt died. I knew exactly where I was because I was a newspaper boy for The Daily Standard in Celina, Ohio. I have the actual paper that was published that day - 4-12-45! The headline was "ROOSEVELT DEAD, TRUMAN PRESIDENT. I sold papers that day for 3 cents each as an Extra. That was the only paper I kept in the 6 years I was a paper boy. My picture holding the paper and a short article about it was published in the section about the death of a president.

I like their feature on old cars. Stories about trips and restoring your favorite ride with pictures makes the magazine interesting to me. They have one item every time on "Name That Car". Most of the time I can get the make of the car and pretty close to the year. They give clues and the answer will be on one of the last pages in the magazine.

Every issue starts out with a story about Clancy Strock called "I know - I was there!" The latest issue has his obituary as he died December 16, 2007. His articles are always interesting relating stories of the past as it relates to the present. I will miss his feature.

Look them up on
www.reminisce.com


Good Old Days

This magazine is also reader written but has fewer pictures and are always printed in black and white. Mostly stories of past memories. Enjoyable if you like the past.

Look them up at
www.GoodOldDaysMagazine.com

Ann and I both enjoy these magazines and want to share the sites with you.

Gordon Dillow - Register Columnist

From HolyCoast.com - June 2007

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I mentioned a columnist that I enjoy that writes for the Register. Here is a piece that I did as a guest blogger last June.

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Monday evening a group of ladies from our community (Palmia Women's Issues) invited Gordon Dillow to speak. He writes a column for The Orange County Register. Mr. Dillow is a Viet Nam Vet who was asked by the Register in 2003 to be an "embedded" correspondent going into Iraq with our troups at the start of the Iraq War. He was 51 years old at the time and jumped at the chance to be involved in that capacity.



This was the first time correspondents were attached to a group of our fighting men and women doing what they did, going where they went, experiencing whatever the group they were assigned to experience. Prior to this, the correspondents and photographers were marched to the front for a short time to get the feel of the place and then back to a comfortable place to write their stories. Not this time!



Mr. Dillow, along with Mark Avery (photographer), was assigned to Alpha company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines group and they were the first group, and he was the first correspondent, to cross over the border from Kuwait to Iraq. His group were the first to "bleed". They were assigned to capture and secure an oil pumping station. Iraq's finest waved anything white as they approached and said "no kill - no kill". One of the rules of engagement was that the troops couldn't fire on civilians. But who is a civilian? A car loaded with "civilians" approached the station and wouldn't stop when ordered. they all produced AK-47's and began firing. Needless to say, the car and the occupants were toast. One of the leaders told them before going into battle, if one bullet comes your way, send 1,000 back! There was one of our guys killed -- the platoon leader.



He could report anything he wanted except the following: no names of casualities since the families need to be notified first, where you are today or going tomorrow (you can say where you were yesterday), and no drawing maps in the sand (Geraldo). Otherwise he had free reign to report what he saw or felt. One of the things everyone had to do was to dig foxholes every night for their protection. He had to dig his own. Sometimes the sand was very hard and he said he probably would die from a heart attack digging a foxhole before being killed by the enemy!



Gordon Dillow just returned (June 2007) from his 3rd tour in Iraq and reports that the morale is very high. There were some marines whose enlistments were over that stayed on for 5 or more weeks "because they couldn't leave their buddies" - stayed on until their unit left. If you want to find out what is going on in Iraq, ask someone who has been there. The papers won't report "good" news - only news that bleeds. There are a lot of good things happening in Iraq but that is not reported. If you have a chance to hear Mr. Dillow speak, you will find him candid and interesting.

What's It All About?

What will be in this BLOG? I will use a statement from my son, Rick, to explain -- You are entitled to my opinion! Also I will use a famous statement that you will recognize from the political world -- "I know Rick Moore. He is a son of mine. And I am no Rick Moore".

Rick does political Blogging and I will do very little of that. My comments and items will be concerning past memories, thoughts on current activities in the news, things that interest me, family and friends stories, and anything else that I think others might like to read. My favorite writer in the Register is Gordon Dillow. I may comment on some of his work as time goes on.

I Guest BLOGGED on Rick's HolyCoast.com but they were easily lost in the shuffle as Rick posts 5 or more items daily. The political world is really hot right now and a lot is going on. He has current events as well. Look him up on www.HolyCoast.blogspot.com.

I would appreciate it if you would put my BLOG in your Favorite Places and give me a look once in a while. Once a week should do it. I'm not going to flood this with postings but will write items that I think you would enjoy. At the end of each post is a "Comment" area. Would appreciate your comments on the items.

We are off and running! Wish me luck!

First BLOG As A Test

Hello everyone. This is my first attempt at having my own blog and I will try to post something for review frequently. I have "guest" BLOGGED on HolyCoast.com which is my son's BLOG. Most of the items were from the past but this might change when I get this going. Good luck to all of us!
Dick Moore