Travels with Fred

19 April 2024

Semper Paratus! Shades of my Coast Guard days. My friend Jim Monko of the CGC Reliance sent me an article about Jerry Burleson sending out the last Morse Code signals on March 31, 1995 that ended 100 years of sending code.

The Brunswick News… “TC1 Jerry Burleson was one of the last three Coastguardsman to send and receive Morse Code Signals by the USCG…. The Ceremony marked the passing of an era. 31 March 1995.” The Rest of the Story… “On 31 March 1995, Coast Guard Communication Area Master Station Atlantic sent a final message by Morse Code and then signed off, officially ending more than 100 years of telegraph communications. Three operator’s used their skills to regretfully end a tradition of Coast Guard communications services to all nations. The operator’s names and ranks were: Telecommunication Specialist First Class Jerry D. “Burly” Burleson; Telecommunication Specialist Second Class Timothy L. Hilf; Telecommunication Specialist Third Class Sergio M. Morales. At 010030Z APR 95 the last message was delivered to those that were copying the Morse code signals by the three operator’s. Once completed, the operator’s secured the equipment carrying out the order given by the Commanding Officer Captain Freddy L. Montoya. The official logs and Morse code hand keys are on display at CAMSLANT Chesapeake ending the era of pounding brass and sparking clicks.

I’ve mentioned before that I was a radioman in the Coast Guard and although we had voice and teletype communications back in the 70’s we still sent and received Morse Code.

Many of the ships of that day didn’t have teletype and voice communications was range limited. The most effective long distance communication was Morse Code. We always maintained a 24/7 watch on 500 kHz, the international distress frequency and over the four years of my CG enlistment, I copied two SOS’s of ships in distress.

After enough time, you could recognize individuals by how they sent the code on their hand key. You developed a rhythm and each person’s was unique. There were several that I really enjoyed copying their code because you could read their rhythm and their messages were always readable and you didn’t have to ask for repeats. Then there were those that liked to use a speed key and weren’t very good at it. Speed keys could let you send code up to 80 words per minute. I never copied faster than 30 words per minute so when someone got on a speed key I needed a lot of repeats which would anger the sender.

When you wanted to show anger and that someone was a dummy, they would send dah, dah, dit, dit, dah, dah (two dashes, two dits, two dashes). That mean they thought you were an idiot. The idiot was the one sending with a speed key.

When I say long distance communication, I really mean it. I could sit in the radio station on New Orleans and copy traffic from the Indian Ocean. The code signals from the transmitters would bounce off the ionosphere and we could pick up the signals and copy the traffic.

As a side story, a lot of movies and tv shows often use Morse Code and I’ve found over the years the people responsible for the code take advantage that the producers don’t know code. For example, in the old TV comedy show Hee Haw, they had a news segment that was introduced each episode by Morse Code. What people didn’t know was what the code spelled. It was 3 dits, followed by 4 dits, followed by 2 dits, followed by one dah. It was all run together so you couldn’t separate the dits, but any radioman worth their salt knew it spelled “shit.” That’s one they got past the censors. It’s kinda fun to be able to decode the signals in movies and tv shows.

I’m still sore today and both ankles still hurt – the left more than the right – but I try to keep moving so I don’t lose flexibility. After sitting a while, I look walk like I’m crippled but after a while I can get to moving pretty well. I canceled yesterday’s PT but plan to go to the two next week. I also have a Herceptin treatment on the 23rd.

I need to start packing for the May trip to Mississippi. I always over pack and always manage to forget at least one item.

Just to let you know, after the four page letter I send to the manager and customer service representative at Hollywood Chrysler/Jeep, I haven’t had any response other than text messages asking me to rate their service on Google. I’m not going to do that but I was expecting some response to my letter from the dealership. Oh well.

…/-/.-/-.–/ -/..-/-././-..

18 April 2024

Who knew? I ended up hurting myself more than I realized. You know how you get a good night’s sleep and get out of bed and wonder where all those aches came from? That was me this morning. Not only did my skinned knee and left ankle bother me but my right ankle apparently took a turn during my fall, my left butt cheek hurts, my lower back hurts, and basically, anything below my waist is letting me know I did something stupid.

Guess who is going to chill out for the rest of the day? I’m a little torn between doing absolutely nothing and making sure I move enough to stay limber. Such are the paradoxes of old age.

Last night was The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock starring Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Angela Cartwright (shade of Lost in Space) Jessica Tandy and Suzanne Pleshette. It’s amazing what special effects there were able to devise for this movie. I read somewhere several years ago that Tippi Hedren did not know about the upper room with the birds. She knew there were going to be a few birds but Hitchcock took her by surprise. I also think I remember she hated the man.

As usual, after the movie Chris and talk. I enjoy our conversations as much as I do the movies. We pretty much talk about everything. Last night we couldn’t get over the 50’s attitude toward women. I mean, who gets in a motor boat and crosses Bodega Bay in high heels and a mink coat. That was how women were supposed to dress back then to attract a man. Even Rod Taylor’s role had him playing the typical 50’s male.

I didn’t walk today for obvious reasons. However, I do have a flower for you. The common name is a little unusual: Ramgoat Dashalong.

The ulmifolia, comes from the elm-shaped leaves (elm is the genus Ulmus). Ramgoat Dashalong, strangely, is a member of the Passifloraceae (passionflower family). Wikipedia suggests that a compound in the plant may have antibiotic activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bit of a problem these days. It’s native to Mexico and the West Indies but has been planted as an ornamental in South Florida.

When I first started teaching at Broward College, one of the labs for nonmajokrs was on plants. We needed flowers for students to dissect so they could see petals, sepals, stamens, pistils, etc. Usually, our only choice on campus was Hibiscus which is an atypical flower and not ideal to study the parts. Ramgoat Dashalong is a great example of a “typical” flower, but, alas, it did not grow on campus. They should plant this all over the campuses of the college just for flower dissection.

The only other excitement in my life today is waiting for a delivery from Amazon. It reminds me a little of The Music Man and the number “The Wells Fargo Wagon.”

Stay tuned!

17 April 2024

No good deed goes unpunished, no yard work goes unscathed. I’ve been wanting to clear out some dead limbs from my sour orange tree and I felt I had the energy to get it done. After about 30 minutes sawing with a handsaw, I realized the wood had turned into seasoned concrete and the hand saw was not going to work.

Fear not! I have an electric chain saw. I pulled it out of the garage and got a long extension cord so I could use the outdoor plug behind the gate. Since it is an outdoor plug, it has a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter). When that wall was replaced due to the flood, they replaced the GFCI and the plastic box surrounding it to protect it from rain. What they didn’t do was clean the plastic box of stucco from when the stuccoed the wall. I had to get a screwdriver to get the cover off the GFCI.

When I hooked the cord to the chain saw, nothing happened. I went back to the GFCI and it had been tripped so I pushed the reset button and got to sawing. To the saw’s credit, the chain only came off twice.

As I was getting ready to put the saw up, I stepped from the grass to the concrete garage pad and fell. I skinned my knee and sprained my ankle.

My intent was a quick removal of dead limbs, do yoga, swim, and clean house to get ready for movie night with Chris. No yoga and no swim and the clean house is looking iffy.

Before I tried to kill myself, I did manage 1.4 miles today. While on the walk past my favorite natural yard, I saw Indian Blanket in bloom.

Up until I went to New Mexico with Jo to see Patrick and Sarah, I’ve never seen this growing in the wild – only in peoples’ wild flower gardens.

On that trip, we stopped at Palo Duro State Park, Texas’ Grand Canyon, and I saw it in the wild for the first time. It’s an arresting flower with the yellow tipped rays and pink to red ray flowers.

The Biota of North America Program reports 13 genera in the U.S. with G. pulchella the most widely distributed. I suspect it’s because so many people plant it in their gardens.

It’s my choice of movie tonight and I suspect I’ll go with The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock. With everything going wrong today, that might be the ticket.

I’ll try not to do any more damage to myself until Chris gets here so she can take me to the hospital if I do try to kill myself again. Remember, most accidents happen within the home!

Stay tuned!

16 April 2024

Another really great day weather wise. I got a late start this morning because I slept past 7 which is unusual for me. I guess I need to turn in earlier if I want to get up earlier. My walk was the shortest of the four today but I extended it to 1.34 miles. My stamina is slowly improving.

While on the walk, I saw a species of Jasminum blooming called Morga. It’s Jasminum sambac and is considered the national flower of the Philippines and is an important component in perfumes.

There are around 200 species of Jasminum worldwide and all are members of the Olive family (Oleaceae).

There are 15 genera of Oleaceae in North America and 8 species of Jasminum. Over the years I’ve seen three genera in the wild – either doing my masters at Tishomingo State Park or on my travels.

I managed to do my yoga stretches, my home PT exercises, and swim today. The problem is I have PT with Shannon at 1:10 this afternoon and I’ll probably be wiped after what she puts me through. However, I’ll try anything to build my stamina.

I have a trip planned for May. My cousin Jimmie in Greensboro is driving to Mississippi with Stephen and I’m driving from Fort Lauderdale. We’ll meet in Mississippi on May 2nd. Jimmie and Stephen will be staying with her sister Jean and her husband Roger at Pelahatchie. I’ll be staying at Roosevelt State Park near Morton and use that as a home base to visit with them and my brother Archie and his wife Tanis in Brandon.

We also hope Jean and Jimmie’s sister Jo comes in from San Antonio. It’ll be a real family reunion of Agnew’s, McKay’s, Searcy’s and LeCoeur’s. The plan is to stay three nights and have some get togethers and maybe head out to some local restaurants. We are all getting older and we don’t see each other as often as we should.

Roosevelt has a lot of memories for me. It was my first night of camping with Boy Scouts. Actually, it was three of us camping on our own to earn a camping merit badge. We had those awful Army pup tents and it rained on us all night long. Those tents were treated canvas and if you touched the inside of the tent, it created a leak. Of course, one of our number didn’t believe that and touched the inside and had a drip over his head all night long.

Our Scout troop often camped at Roosevelt and we were “given” an area that we could clear and use for our permanent camp. Of course, when we cleared all the land in the area, the park took it to make camping spots for tourists.

We also made a lot of the trails around the lake at Roosevelt. I assume some are still there and I look forward to maybe walking one of those.

The Methodist Church used the group cabins as their Church Camp for many years. Jimmie and I would attend. The cabins were extremely primitive with a single light bulb, bunk beds, and no air conditioning. Of course, Church Camp was in the summer.

I’ve previously mentioned that the park had a lot of WWII canons and tanks kids could play on. I guess it’s like the old merry-go-rounds found on school yards. If you got hurt, it was your fault.

I also fished Roosevelt so many times I’ve lost count and caught the last fish I needed for the fishing merit badge there. I had to catch one on an artificial lure and I used a hula popper. I caught a bass. That’s still my favorite lure.

Roosevelt was also where I learned to swim. I took swimming lessons at the pool in Forest, Mississippi but it was Mrs. Oliver, the minsiter’s wife, that really taught me to swim at Roosevelt. It was cousin Jo that taught me to swim on my back out to the diving platform – a scary proposition for me. That gave me the courage to eventually do it using the American crawl and jump off the high dive.

If you swam in and around and under the diving platform (we would often play a game of aquatic chase) you would sometimes have fish come up and nibble at your bits. You’ve never been in pain until a fish has tried to bite your nipple.

That’s enough for today. I need to get ready for PT. Stay tuned!

15 April 2024

Another stunning day! The temp was 62°F when I started my morning walk along Riverland Road. This weather is why people move to Florida. In August, it’ll be the weather everyone moves out of the state.

Along the walk this morning I saw a muscadine vine (Vitis rotundifolia). The vines are not uncommon in the neighborhood but I’ve never seen them bloom or set fruit. When I used to take students to Archbold Biological Station near Lake Placid (Florida, not New York) none of those vines bloomed or set fruit either. I don’t know why they don’t bloom or produce fruit in southern Florida.

The reason I bring this up is Jimmie and I were talking yesterday and we remembered eating muscadines from her yard as kids. Then we got off on the topic of scuppernongs. They are a variety of muscadines and tend to produce larger fruit than muscadines. The fruit is also a yellowish, green color whereas the muscadine is purple when ripe. In my memory, I think scuppernongs were also a little sweeter. I fondly remember eating both as a kid. I think the first scuppernongs I ate were brought over by Uncle Ray and Aunt Minrose.

Years ago when I taught at Itawamba Junior College in Fulton, Mississippi, Effie Kemp and I drove to the Mississippi Delta and visited a winery. We found the wines produced there had won some international awards. The basis of almost all southern wines is the muscadine. All of the wineries I’ve visited in Florida produce wines based on muscadines.

Yesterday I had lunch with Daryl and Bill. I taught with Daryl for many years and they’ve been trying to get me to visit their new digs at The Vi. I finally made it. They went all out for lunch with bagels, salmon, cream cheese, waffles, and just about every other breakfast/brunch item you can name. It was good to see them again after almost a year. Their place is on the 19th floor and overlooks the Turnberry Isle Golf Course and you can see the Atlantic from their windows. They seem to really enjoy their life at The Vi.

This morning I managed to do 1.45 miles on the walk, did my home PT exercises and my yoga stretches and did my laps in the pool. I feel pretty good for the day. The only shadow is a visit to the dentist at 1:30. For the life of me, I don’t understand why we pay good money to be tortured by a dental technician.

It’ll probably be the last visit I make to this dentist. For some reason, they stopped taking my insurance. There was no warning. They just started billing me for the procedures. Strangely, they seem to accept partial payments from the insurance company and bill me for the rest. I still don’t understand their explanation.

Stay tuned!

14 April 2024

I arrived at Joel and Keith’s at 5 pm and we loaded the Jeep with them, Maureen and Andy – Joel and Kieth’s dog walking friends. After getting to the Pillars Hotel, we were offered complimentary champagne (as usual) and we were promptly seated at 5:30. It was great company and great fun and great food. Yelena took care of us all night and we were not rushed at all.

Maureen owned a restaurant in the Bahamas and she’s an excellent chef in her own right. She often cooks for 10 or more in the dog walking group at her house. I was a little concerned she would be critical of the food but she said it was cooked perfectly. I had the filet mignon with watermelon salad. Joel had the cauliflower soup with sea bass, Keith had the veal chop with cauliflower soup, Maureen had Bronzino and watermelon salad, and Any had sea bass with cauliflower soup. We all ordered desserts. We were well stuffed at the end.

We left a little before 8 pm and I got home around 8:45. The reason I was so late there was a lot going on the beach and the traffic was snarled. It took us 30 minutes to go 1/2 mile.

Either it was the late coffee or I had too much on my mind but I didn’t get much sleep last night – 5 1/2 hours. I got out of bed a little after 6 am and was on my walk before 8. I knew I wouldn’t do well today. My foot drop was bad and my stamina was terrible but I did manage 1.2 miles.

On the way back, I passed one of the offshoots of my stag horn fern.

This one hanging in an oak tree two houses west of me is an offshoot of mine. Originally I gave it to Stephen and Nicole (two houses east of me) but they needed to remove the tree from which it was hanging and they gave it to Rian.

Even though mine is the parent plant, it’s much smaller. I never had a tree big enough from which to hang it so it’s stayed pretty small. It’s an epiphyte (living on another plant) but it seems to do quite well in an old pot I had laying around the house.

Today I go to lunch with Daryl and Bill at their place at The Vi, a retirement village they moved to about a year ago. They kept inviting me and first cancer and then Covid prevented me. I’m finally making the trip today. I look forward to seeing them – it’s been over a year. Daryl taught on South Campus with me for around 30 years. She was next door to me for most of that time. She retired from the college before I did and has certainly enjoyed her retirement. Bill is retiring this year.

Stay tuned!

13 April 2024

Another beautiful day! It was 65°F when I started out on my walk this morning. However, it’s like being bipolar (I should know). You know after the high the low is coming. Summer is on its way and it’ll be humid and hot on walks. I managed to walk 1.48 miles today albeit with a little foot drop. I attribute that to the workout at physical therapy yesterday – or the two mixed drinks at Olive and Sea.

I really was tired last night. I went to bed at 9:30 and was probably asleep by 9:35. I didn’t even get up once to pee. I hopped out of bed at 6 after doing some exercises in bed that Shannon said were OK to do in bed. It helps to do this set of exercises because I’m not as stiff when I first set foot out of bed.

On the walk, I passed my favorite natural looking yard and was surprised to see they had planted zinnias.

I must have been in the fourth grade in Morton when I first planted zinnias. We were at the gray house we rented on Pulaski Road. Dad made a flower bed under the picture window and I planted zinnias and nasturtiums. I apparently had a green thumb because I think every seed germinated. I’ve had a thing for zinnias ever since. I think they are often overlooked in the scheme of gardens. Wherever I moved over the years, when in the correct growth zone, I would plant a bed of these. I haven’t planted any since I’ve been here but maybe I need to add a bed in the yard somewhere. They can be stunning.

My green thumb had other uses. Dad planted a garden in the back of the house where the hill the house was sitting on dropped off. To humor me, he plowed an area on the side of the house at my urging even though he told me it was too steep. I planted butter beans. Dad used to laugh and tell people that my one short row of butter beans produced more than his three, much longer rows in his garden. I’m sure he was embellishing a little there but my single row did produce a pretty good crop – which I proceeded to eat raw.

I have a thing for raw vegetables. I used to eat onions, tomatoes, corn, English peas, butter beans raw. I’ve even been known to eat potatoes (Irish and sweet) raw. It was fun to pull up carrots from the garden, wipe most of the dirt off and start gnawing. A little dirt never hurt anyone. Maybe that’s why Mother kept checking Archie and me for worms every year. Then again, maybe it was the mud pies that Jimmie and I used to make and eat.

Today is wash day and change the sheets day. I won’t be doing much cleaning today since I did a little during the week. Sometime today I need to add water to the pool. I’ve been lucky so far and haven’t had to add water in quite a while. Our rainy season normally starts mid-May so maybe I won’t have to add water too often.

Tonight is dinner at Secret Garden at the Pillars Hotel. That’s always fun, relaxing, and tasty!

Stay tuned!

12 April 2024

It’s been a busy day. It started with my morning walk of 1.2 miles. Yes, that’s a little short but it was my shortest route today and I vary all four routes. Some variations are long and some are much shorter. It all equals out in the end.

Once I had my second breakfast, I cleaned the pool filter, patio and pool deck. Then it was spraying the weeds. I always take a good long shower after spraying. I use Spectracide and it works pretty well as long as you keep at it. At least it’s not Roundup.

From the shower, I headed to the UPS store off State Road 84. That place is usually very busy but I was the only customer when I walked in. It got busy while the person was working with me. I sent off two of the framed pieces and then walked over to Wendy’s.

I used to eat at Wendy’s when I taught on South Campus. There was one across the street from the campus. That was the last time I ate at one. I didn’t remember it fondly. Wendy’s nor the college.

It was getting close to time for my physical therapy so I drove over to the facility and parked and cranked the stereo up and let the windows down in the Jeep. It was a great way to pass time before the session.

Shannon worked me pretty hard today: legs, both upper and lower; arms; upper torso and then a lot of balance. I was tired. I made it home about an hour and half before Holley and Jim would arrive to take us to Happy Hour at Olive and Sea.

This place is great! It’s located at the Hilton and is yet separate from it. Outside dining and Happy Hour overlooks the Intracoastal Canal.

The Happy Hour menu is great. I did the Za’atar fries with a Sabra cocktail. Jim ordered an Old Fashion with the goat cheese, figs, toasted walnuts and truffle honey pizza. Holley ordered the Turkish espresso martini with mezze trio of humus, babaganoush, and olives. All were outstanding. For the second round of drinks, I had the Eastside Marina and Jim and Holley had red wine.

You might get the feeling that the weather was rather nice.

Just below us was another large vessel. They had one of those old style 1950’s wooden inboard boats aboard the top deck and two jet skis. While we were there they used their booms to offload the boat and jet skis and got the top deck ready for some kind of party. We thought about crashing but we knew we wouldn’t fit in.

The service was excellent, the food outstanding and the price unbelievable. The bill, before tip, came to $112 for the three of us with two drinks each and 3 appetizers! We highly recommend the place. We told Leia we would be back again. Happy Hour is Monday through Friday from 3-6 pm.

Tomorrow is house cleaning, change linen, wash, dry and fold clothes. I’m picking Joel and Keith up at 5 then picking up Andy and Maureen and the five of us are headed to Secret Garden for a meal. It should be fun. I’ve never met Andy nor Maureen so it’ll be nice to meet new people.

Stay tuned!

11 April 2024

I managed to complete the fourth of my morning walk routines (4 different walks) today by walking 1.8 miles on Riverland Road. Usually, I have to cut these four routines short due to lack of stamina but I’ve now gotten back to my old walking routines. Today’s routine is the longest and was the most satisfying.

Next up was yoga. It takes a while to jog the memory but I did manage to remember the positions I get into, the sequence I get into them and complete them. Even better, my balance is better today. I also remembered to log it into my Apple Watch.

I then hit the pool. It’s this that made my day. I completed my normal set of exercises for the first time in quite a while. I do four sets of 50 American crawl strokes, one set of 100 American crawl, one set of 100 breast stroke, two sets of 50 side stroke (50 each side), one set of 100 backstroke and one last set of 100 American crawl. That’s about 20 minutes in the pool.

I’ve lately gotten stuck doing only 50 strokes of the breast stroke and I know it’s the hardest to do. I felt if I could get past that, I could complete my sequence. Prior to all my medical issues, I had worked up to 40 minutes in the pool and that is still my goal, but one successful day at a time!

After my first outdoor shower in quite a while, I hopped in the Jeep (Geez! I have a vehicle I can use!) and headed to Smith’s Picture Framing to pick up 5 pieces I had framed. They do a wonderful job with their framing. It’s expensive but the quality you get is worth it. They’ve been in business since 1954 and there’s a reason for that. They had me down for only making a 50% downpayment but I had paid in full. Thankfully, I had their receipt in my wallet.

From Smith’s, it was a short drive to Walgreens to pick up 3 prescriptions and some toothpaste. How I ran out of toothpaste is beyond me. Normally, when I get close to using up a tube, I get another. Apparently, I’m getting a little ditzy. I even took the Jeep fob with me on my morning walk. I kept hearing this strange beeping sound and couldn’t locate it and later realized when I got home that it was the fob telling me I was too far away from the Jeep.

Lunch was at Mini Pita Mediterranean Restaurant at the State Road 84 shopping center. I’ve eaten here before and it’s great. They can’t seem to decide if they are a restaurant or a cafe but either way, they serve excellent food. I ordered Koshari, the national dish of Egypt. It was delicious. When they brought it out, I thought there’s no way I could eat all this. Wrong. I did the vegetarian version and the version served at Mini Pita did not include pasta (which, to me, doesn’t sound very Egyptian).

I then drove to the Riverland Plaza near my house to package and send two of the framed pieces only to discover the shipping place has permanently closed. Too late, I realized I could have done it at the Mini Pita shopping center where they have a UPS package store but I didn’t want to do it there because they usually have long lines, only one person working, and the shopping center is undergoing a complete renovation and it’s a mess. As Scarlet said, “Tomorrow is another day.”

Stay tuned!

10 April 2024

Another day in paradise! You really can’t beat the weather. It makes the morning walk all the more enjoyable. Today, I walked the furtherest finger isle and clocked 1.5 miles. It’s the first time in a long, long time that I’ve been able to complete that walk. Lately, I’ve had to cut it short due to lack of stamina but I steamed ahead today.

On the walk this morning I passed a screw pine. They are not really a pine. Instead, they are a monocot of the family Panaceae.

They produce a huge fruit that is edible but must be cooked before eating. The spiral arrangement of the leaves lends towards landscaping down here. They can grow quite tall. This one seems to be a real slow grower.

Today’s excitement was having Kevin Blake Pools and Spa come to install a handrail to the pool. I’ve needed to do this for a while and as I was stepping into the pool and getting out yesterday, I realized sooner than later. I made the appointment on Monday and he showed up today. It took a couple of hours to install and I can’t put any weight on it today.

This means I’m officially old and decrepit. First the shower hand rails and now this.

It wasn’t cheap. It cost $1230. The price breakdown was handrail $500, brass anchors $160, two escutcheons $30, nine pounds of hydraulic cement $40 and labor $500. To be honest, he made out on the cost of the handrail. They don’t run nearly that high but since they did the installation, I went with their price.

The other excitement for the day was sending off a four page letter to Hollywood Chrysler/Jeep detailing my complaints. I sent a copy to the manager of the dealership and the customer service rep. I doubt it does any good. They run the place to best accommodate themselves and not the customers. I’ll be curious if I get a reply.

Stay tuned!