Polyphemus moth

                                          vectorimage

This Polyphemus moth was on the deck early one morning last summer.  The wing span was approximately five inches.

Benjaman Kyle

This is such a strange story.  The man has some memories of places he has been and activities he has engaged in, but no memories of people that he has interacted with.  He has spent time in the Denver and Boulder areas as well as Indianapolis, but he can not be identified.  He can not lead a normal life without a social security number and they won't give him one because chances are he already has one and you can't have two.

Howdy Doody

The first episode of Howdy Doody was aired on December 27, 1947.  The last show was September 24, 1960.

I had the opportunity to meet and talk to Buffalo Bob Smith about 15 years (?) ago.  When I told him that my mother told me I should grow up to be like Howdy rather than Mr. Bluster, he smiled and said, " your mother sounds like a smart woman".

Read more about Howdy Doody

Buddy Guy segment of the Kennedy Center awards 2012

iPad users click here to view the video

A video of the entire Buddy Guy segment from the 2012 Kennedy Center awards.  The video quality is not as good as the Led Zepplin segment, but the music still rocks.  What a outstanding group of musicians.

Led Zepplin segment at the 2012 Kennedy Center awards

iPad users click here to view the video

The 2012 Kennedy Center Awards ceremony was televised last night and while looking for the various artists and the numbers they did last night I found that there was a YouTube video of the entire segment.

I think it is evident that even they were moved by the performance of  Stairway to Heaven.

You might also enjoy the video of Led Zepplin's appearance on Late Night with David Letterman which took place sometime after the recording of the awards ceremony.

Summer Garden

There is a blizzard in the forecast.  The current conditions of wind and snow are reinforcing that prediction this morning.  It seems like an appropriate time to gaze back to a more favorable season.  That would be summer.

A long line of orange cosmos plants in our garden attracted a lot of insects including several varieties of butterflys.  The uncommonly beautiful Common Buckeyes were in attendance.  They are the ones with "eyes" on their wings.  Insects do not hold their pose very long. but with lots of exposures you can usually get some decent images.

You can view larger images by clicking on the ones displayed.

Radio Pants

Our family has a rather odd Christmas tradition that got its start over twenty years ago.  At the time Zach and Ben had a collection of small plastic figures that provided a lot of play time with each other.  These figures would sometimes be part of an elaborate array of props and story lines; at other times it would be just a couple of figures taken along to occupy the time while riding in the car.

One of Ben’s favorites was a figure he called Radio Pants.  Radio Pants went missing one day.  Everyone looked for him but it seemed he was lost.  Ben was disappointed. Occasionally there would be a renewed search, but he was not found.  It was the Christmas season and there were other distractions so the missing Radio Pants faded from our memory.

We have an artificial Christmas tree that spends most of its life packed away in two boxes that are stored above the garage with the other decorations.  Each year all the Christmas decorations are brought down and when the boys were small the excitement of the holidays usually began by assembling the tree and putting on the ornaments.

The year following the loss of Radio Pants was no exception in the routine of putting up the tree.  After placing the central “trunk” in its holder, the individual branches would be taken from the box and its twigs would be adjusted.  The color coding on the end of each branch would be checked and then it would be put into place.

During this process we came across Radio Pants clinging to one of the branches.  During their play the previous year he had evidently been placed in the tree.  We hadn’t thought to look for him there, or at least if we did, he went unnoticed.  We had a good laugh when Ben shouted, "Radio Pants"!!!

We were all happy to see him again and since the little group of plastic characters were no longer occupying the boys’ time we just left him on the tree.  He seemed perfectly happy to spend the holiday on the tree after being boxed up in the garage for a year.  When it came time to put the decorations away it was decided that Radio Pants would maintain his place on the branch and he was packed away with the tree and put above the garage.

That routine has been repeated for twenty three years.  Radio Pants emerges from the box along with his branch and spends the holidays with us.  He is a happy reminder of the many Christmas seasons we have spent together.  I look forward to seeing him each year and he doesn’t seem to mind the fact that he spends most of his life in a dark box.  I think he, like me, has to wonder how little boys can grow so quickly into men.

Merry Christmas, Radio Pants.