“Nine-eleven” is a term that brings to mind a sad day in our nation’s history, one that should never have been. It seems to me that ample warning was available but the warning was ignored. Evidence not allowed to be shared between the FBI and the CIA is a prime example. But years before the event, terrorists had blown up our embassies, attacked our ships and tried to blowup the trade center, among other things. These things were all but ignored except for talk. Where was the will to bring the gu...(click to continue reading)

Daddy had his dreams in the mid-1920’s of making the little house in Virginia a place of his own liking. He had a wife and two little kids to occupy the house. Before I was old enough to start school I noticed things such as grape vines and fruit trees he planted around the place. I remember the trays in the cellar where he had various kinds of seeds sprouting. He finished the attic to make a third bedroom. There was no hint that he had any notion of moving.

While I was in second grade ...(click to continue reading)

My late wife Dorothy was as pleased as punch to have inherited four children and nine grandchildren when we married.  The children had all moved far from their hometown and far from each other.  Both Dorothy and I wanted to be able to get them all together for a reunion at least once a year.  That’s why I bought time-share units; we would have room for the whole gang.  It was a tough job to get them all together, but with Dorothy’s help it worked pretty well.  They apparently enjoyed the reunion...(click to continue reading)

Before the Great Depression nearly all my aunts and uncles lived within a morning buggy ride of all their siblings. My dad and Uncle Billy lived farther from their kin than the others. Living close together made it easy and natural to keep in touch. Uncle Billy and Dad moved away from the others; nevertheless Dad made frequent trips to visit as many of his siblings as possible. Personal contact between siblings was a good and satisfying thing for them.

I believe that you, my children, a...(click to continue reading)

My grandson, Shawn, as a lad of three who lived in Texas, loved big trucks and was fascinated by dinosaurs of every size and shape. He was a curious young lad, eager to learn almost everything. One day he found a seed in his food and wondered if it would be resurrected into a plant. He buried the embryonic mass in a grave prepared for it in a Dixie cup. With the help of his mom, he tended his garden, keeping it moist without drowning it. In a few days the husk of the seed appeared above the grav...(click to continue reading)

Almost everything in the design of control and protection devices had born B.O. Austin’s mark. Be it a voltage regulator, a power or control relay or the overall circuit design, his influence could be seen. B.O. was an innovator. He was always looking for a better way to do things.

”Jessee,” he said to me one day, “you’ve been working on some of the relays we need for the control circuit for this airplane. Now I want you to put all the pieces together to make a control panel. Here’s the...(click to continue reading)