From 25 Sep 2017

Speaking of county stores.

Nigh on 8 years ago I wrote something and Gerard published it.
Then in the comments section I wrote the following.

Bean Blossom bridge, you did that one right Gerard!
Been across it many times, most recently to test the 4×4 capabilities on my Blazer.

The road to the rear of the picture taker is pretty arduous and shouldn’t be undertaken by anything lesser.

This picture is facing north and I live about 1 mile to the west of that bridge. It spans Bean Blossom Creek which meanders around like a snake and comes close to our house. A stream across the rear of our property feeds into that creek.

That road, that goes thru that bridge, was once the mainline from Indy to Louis many years ago. The northen most end of that road terminated at what was the longest same-family continuously run business in the state, McDonald’s Shopworth. The original owner was what was called a Huckster back in the late 1800’s, brung his wares by horse drawn wagon from the big city to sell and later established the store. Then in the 50’s his son aligned with the IGA chain and built a brand spanking new building, leaving the old dilapidated red wooden structure standing right out on the corner, sort of a landmark over the years. In the 70’s Jack, the grandson took over and was running the place with 3 of his grown kids when we moved here almost 12 years ago.

60 years later the IGA building looked very dated but like an old pair of shoes, was very comfortable. 3 cash registers but I never seen more than 2 open at 1 time. Along all the perimeter walls on the inside, up above the shelves and coolers, were momento’s collected over the years. One of them was a large, maybe 4′ long, wooden model of the Bean Blossom covered bridge. Bottles, cans, a large Singer thread display, many old products I had never heard of. There was a small deli at the rear and we would often get a 12″ pizza there on Fri evenings and while waiting for it to get done I’d wander the store looking at all the thousands of items up high on display. A veritable trip back in time, all times back to the 19th century, all at one time.
Going to “Jack’s”, as everyone called it, was not just a place to go to spend money. As the community is small and there is no other business venture close by, everybody went there. I always seen somebody I knew when I went there. It wasn’t unusual to see someone and start yappin and someone else would jump in, then someone else, and soon 10 or more people are standing around running their jibber, jokes, etc. It was a place to “connect” with others in the real sense. “News” was transmitted, like when the bridge construction at Morgantown would be completed, or Jim Bond was bringing 200 blue watermellons back from Vincennes, Dr Brester (the vet) was doing better with his ailing foot, or Jr Cody bragging about his new tractor and all the stuff he could hook up to it.

Jack’s shut down about 3 years ago and I felt it in my bones, and still. Jack was in his mid 80’s and started suffering from alzheimers and it was painful to try to communicate with him, though I always did try. I knew Jack before the disease and he was a fun guy to talk to. Every year the store would hold a birthday party for Jack in the store with cake and ice cream for everyone and hundreds showed up. I remember the last one, Jack was out of it most of the time, sitting there with ice cream all over himself. Jack’s funeral was like nothing I had ever seen before. The line for the viewing was unbelieveable. My wife and I stood in that line for over 3 hours til we got up to the casket. The family members coming back thru the line shaking hands and conversing with everyone. Amazing.

A year later the kids decided they wanted out and shut the store down and put it up for sale. A year later “Dollar General” bought the place, and re-did the whole thing in their style – just opened a few months ago. It looks out of place. Many people seem to like it but I don’t. I have been in it and can see the convenience but what I really see is what has been lost. Funny, last week I stopped in there and lo and behold, Jack’s daughter was there and I hadn’t seen her since the old store shut down. I asked her how she liked this new dollar store and she said she did like it. I told her I didn’t and that I wanted the old comfortable store back. She looked at me and I could see the wispfulness in her eyes. Or was it regret? I know she seen regret in my eyes. Then without another word we both sort of walked off in different directions.

Yes, that shiny new store with all it’s thousands of items is a convenience to many and like a mushroom it will most likely cause other such things to spring up close by and little by little the meaning of life will be replaced by things that are easier. I’m not happy about this stuff but realize that there is little I can do about it. Back in 2006 I had a conversation with my FIL about my disappointment with the same thing occurring where we lived in Florida. I had spent a lifetime and a fortune procuring what I thought was my own personal paradise and the last place I would ever live. A home I had designed and built myself in a place 2 miles from the closet neighbor and the last people to live there were the Calusa indians a millenia before. A year after we moved in the largest builder in the state bought all of the property around us and started erecting cheap pieces of junk and inserting all the misfits of society into them thanks to free gov’t money. I told my FIL I was very disappointed and my wife (his daughter) and I were searching for another place to live, a place where we can find peace of mind. He asked me, “Where are you gonna go? Where ever you go they are gonna find you and in time you will be right back where you were. You can’t outrun change.”
My FIL is now dead and I can’t tell him he was right. I see the changes going on around here and again I am not happy.

My wife and I are looking at property to purchase in distant lands though still in the US. But we’re not spring chickens any more so staking a claim on the northside of the rockies is probably not in the picture though that is what I want more than anything. More though than for my own sanity, I am thinking for my wife. She loves her woods and her wild animals and can’t imagine living anywhere else, and never back in society. But I won’t be around for ever doing the heavy lifting that she cannot. So I have to find a balance between peace of mind for us, and a path that is struggle free for her in the future. Can this be done without having neighbors with long noses right up against you on all 4 sides? I don’t know but if it’s possible I will figure it out and I’ll not stop trying, until I no longer can.

Much as I dislike providing live links in posts, I think this article should be spread far and wide.

QTR’s Fringe Finance: "Every Industry Is An Airport Lounge Now"

I saw this meme and figured I'd comment.

Not quite but not far off. A little bit less memory and an earlier version of FORTRAN (Formula Translation System). The probe is still active.

The probe was launched in 1977 with preliminary development starting in the 60s. FORTRAN77 hadn't yet been developed; if FORTRAN, probably a version of FORTRAN IV. The 6 computer system - built of essentially Texas Instrument's 7400 series TTL CMOS (more likely the 5400 series) - has a total of 32k memory made of what could be considered specialized layered PCB traces. And yes, it did have an 8-trak tape recorder - though not of the type found in cars of the late 60s/early 70s.

Of the 6 custom computers, 2 18-bit word units were dedicated to the command system (each 4096 words), 2 16-bit 8198 word units were for the flight data, 2 18-bit 4096 each units were for attitude control. The command system has been operating continuously since 1977 - the control electronics did not include a microprocessor (my hoopty-doo up-to-date computer system has to be re-booted every so often, usually at inconvenient times). Power is provided by what is essentially a nuclear reactor.

Both Voyager probes are still fully active although the isotopes providing power are expected to decay beyond usefulness in 2036. Having been designed before computers changed from being assistance tools to controlling elements, and when design engineering depended more on empirical data rather than models, it is no wonder these over-achieving probes are still active.

FORTRAN was the first compiled computer language being developed in 1956. It is still among the top 10 computer languages in use today.

At 8000ft, just off I-70 west of Denver; formerly directly on US6/US40

Located just east of the present-day I-70/US40 split west of Denver, local mines were established in the area in 1876. The town was established as "Free America" - a community intended for families. When the Colorado Central Railroad came through in the mid-1870s, a site within Free America was selected for the depot which was named for the landowner, Alex Lawson. The population was about 300 in the 1890s but the collapse of the silver market in 1893 closed the mines and the town began to fade. The construction of I-70 in the 1960s destroyed much of the town and the oldest business - the Anderson store - shut down at the same time. The post office closed in 1966.

The abandoned Anderson store is one of the very few remnants of the old town.

There are currently over 1900 recorded producing mines - albeit minor amounts - still in the area. The town is 30 miles west of Golden - Golden being at the face of the mountains. The town is small enough that it is lumped with two other towns along the I-70 corridor of which the combined population is about 500-600. The region grows as people expand beyond the Denver metro area but there is no significant commercial activity and no direct exit from I-70.