I moved my books

Dear Friends - The last couple of weeks have been busy. First, I was off on medical leave. (No worries, no big deal, just an agreement - OK, punctuated with threats - with my doctor to get some uninterrupted down time.) At the same time, I was moving my office to a new building. (Of that, perhaps a post on another day.) Well, I wasn't really doing it, my partner was. The move required that we gather up alllll my books, both those shelved and those still in boxes from the last move and move them again. This weekend, I have spent a lot of time going through the books, ruthlessly sorting them into those I want to keep (still a bunch), and those I will never read again. The latter are going to the public library. (Yes, I know to get a receipt for tax purposes.) As of today, I have about 1,000 volumes to go to the library, and the rest are shelved. As I did this, I visited a lot of old friends. I would not say that I "collect" books, because I think that sounds snooty and I'm not that organized anyway. But let's say I gather together books, and value them. My tastes are mixed, and rather plebeian with rare exceptions. I like westerns. Yeah, yeah, maybe they aren't literature, but nothing beats a winter evening with Zane Grey or Louis L'Amour. Many of those have gone on the shelves behind my desk. (Often, clients will make various comments on the books I keep there, sometimes with surprise that I like the same things that they do.) I also love regional works. There are old and reproduction local histories and novels, also in my room. One of my favorites is Daughter of the Elm, by Granville Davisson Hall, which features "the Big Elm," which was one huge mother of a tree that the original settlers found in the 1700's. An elementary school, appropriately called "Big Elm Elementary" is on the site today. Another favorite is Vein of Riches, by John Knowles. In that, there is a fictional town based closely on my town (the author's hometown), and there are images of locations well known to me, from the Victorian main lobby of a bank in which I used to have an office to a bridge a block from my new office. Let's see - for flavor, I have first editions of everything that Sinclair Lewis wrote. (Finding The Godseeker was a multi-year task in the pre-internet, pre-Bookfinder.com days.) I treasure copies of everything written by Theodore Roosevelt and everything that I can find so far written about him. I have lots and lots of books on Lincoln, but I hear that there are about 16,000 books about him, so I have a long, long way to go. I'm searching out bios of LBJ, many of which have been published in just the past few years. I slowly acquire signed copies of works of authors I love - David Poyer (who wrote the Hemlock County novels), Ken Follett, Clive Cussler (see? see? I told you I have plebeian tastes!) I'm still trying to find a copy of Principia Mathematica and run down Isaac Newton to sign it - Anyone seen him lately? Oh, and a fellow sold me an autographed Bible. Did you know that God writes in cursive? I have lots and lots of books from and about Scouting, which remains one of my life's passions. (Brother Pete, I've held my nose and stayed with them, and I'll be damned if I let the ungodly run me out of town.) I have many books on Freemasonry, another of my life's little passions. My nod to uncustomary class is a bang-up set of the 1953 University of Chicago classical writings, which I stumbled on by accident. I am slowly putting together little hardback sets of favorite works, including all that James Michener published, the American historical novels of Allan Eckert, even classic science fiction. And then, downstairs, spread between the client interview room and the conference room are shelves and shelves of everything else, history, political science (I consider anything written by James Carville to be divinely inspired), thrillers, modern fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, science, and the odd unclassifiable work. Well, this is a look into my literary life, and is the most revealing thing that I can probably write about me. I hope it hasn't been boring. By the way, and this is off the subject, but does anyone know how to put a paragraph break into a post so it's not one damn long paragraph like this? Unskillfully, Roger.

Recipe: Woodbadge Coffee

Seeing a post from Pete started my mind on a detour. (Not that that's terribly unusual.) When Pete and I first met online, we quickly discovered that we have a common history, working with the Boy Scouts. Each of us in our way had become distressed that this excellent organization which provides a worthwhile program of citizenship and outdoor skills had been hijacked by the right wing nut jobs. And each of us had been through a wonderful training program for adult advisors called Woodbadge. This program involves living in a sort of Scouting immersion for 10 days or so, away from phones and newspapers, where the leader is steeped in useful traditions and skills to benefit to the young people in the program. One of the traditions of Woodbadge is the preparation of "Woodbadge Coffee." The recipe is simple, but must be followed to the letter to produce genuine Woodbadge Coffee, and not some pale substitute. First you take a number 10 can (that's the size that bulk canned products come in at Sam's or Costco). Some people add a baling wire to the can to use as a handle, but I just accept the weight penalty of carrying a pair of Channel-lock (tm) pliers in my pack. Fill the can 3/4 of the way with water. Place on an open fire consisting of well-seasoned hardwood, which is available for free in your local forest. Be sure to use some sort of grill, because shifting firewood can make a holy mess of your cooking. I use a very light (4 oz.) grill made from aircraft tubing. Bring the water to a rolling boil - not the namby-pamby bubbling type of boil, but something enthusiastic. Add one cup or so of ground coffee and continue to boil for two minutes more-or-less. ("More-or-less" is a commonly accepted unit of time measurement here in the mountains.) Take the can off the fire, and slowly pour one cup of cold water into the coffee to settle the grounds. Pour and enjoy. You are permitted to add sugar to taste. However, cream is for sissies, and doesn't keep well in your pack anyway.

My son has surprised me

I shouldn't have been surprised. After all, my son has grown up with my EMS stories from long ago and those of the many dear friends I have now who I met in the EMS world. But I was surprised anyway. Friday, someone from Fairmont State University's EMS department called for my son, Tim, who is 17. Unbeknownst to me, Tim has applied for early admission to the basic EMS class, the Emergency Medical Technician-A (for Ambulance) course. I have lots of feelings about this - a certain pride that Tim wants to follow some of the footsteps of his Dad. (Not all of the footsteps, mind you - he's going to WVU's School of Journalism next year, and plans to steer clear of the Law School.) I feel some envy, because I'd give just about anything to relive those days. But most of all, I worry because I have to accept that Tim is about ready to face some of the nastiest observations that life has to offer. I don't mean to offer here much "expertise" about the practice of EMS. After all, I ran my last emergency call the week before Tim was born. For a description of modern EMS, Rocky's the expert, and her blog is a whole lot more informative. I don't remember nearly enough to function in an EMS job now, but I certainly remember the sights and sounds. Little vignettes play on my mind's movie screen: Deangulating (straightening and tractioning ) a femur fracture in a 10 year old girl, while the toughest state trooper I ever met stood beside me crying; the dead 3 year old boy crushed in a car wreck by the body of his mother, who was too stupid to put him in a car seat; the hundreds of cardiac arrests, most of which ended badly; Leroy the truck driver, trapped in his cab over a hill in a driving rain, the truck unstable, and the rescue REAL dangerous; and so many more memories play. And I also see the unhealthy lifestyle - fast food gobbled down between calls, bouts of 36 hours without sleep, pretty wild off-duty parties. (Boy, I hope Tim will be smarter than his Dad, and avoid those.) We as a society expect certain people to experience and process the worst that we have to offer. And we expect them to either do it as volunteers or do it as too-poorly paid career people. Sigh - I have to remember the story of the kid who was kept in his room and pampered until he was 21. He then went out into the world, and died of happiness. Tim is ready to take this next step in his life. I guess I just need to encourage him, and live with it.

We have our priorities straight

CNN.COM today - Lead story: Tom & Katie Wed in Scientology Ceremony; Six stories down: Violence in Baghdad Kills 18. Yup.

Two quick facts

Tonight, 13 million American children will go to bed hungry. And today, Americans wasted 263 million pounds of food. Liberal, conservative, WHATEVER - We should be ashamed.

Another so-called election expert

Dear Friends - Everyone has an opinion. Well, I do too. The mid-term elections were significant to me in three ways. First, my party "won" control of both houses of the Congress. Whoopee. As a group, they still wallow in overt bribery from corporate America, and are doing so brazenly. "My" congressman, Alan Mollohan, was forced off the House Ethics Committee because he's under investigation for steering federal bucks to non-profits which employ his buds. The alternative was a right-wing nut job, so I voted for Alan. Second, statewide referenda showed two broad public opinions. All of the initiatives to raise the minimum wage won by 2:1 or more, despite big money from guess-who to defeat them. It is a disgrace that Americans - AMERICANS - who make the minimum wage live in "official" poverty. And all of the gay marriage bans passed, usually by big margins. Personally, gay marriage is a non-starter for me - It doesn't threaten my family to have official recognition of loving relationships. But if the Progressives make this their/our poster child, we will alienate the very people who stand to gain the most from Progressive ideas. Finally, all politics is local - Here in Mannington District, we're part of a county with a three person county commission. The Commission president, an old-time, blunt, obnoxious political boss ran as the Democrat. A conservative Republican acquaintance ran against him, and I'm happy to say the Republican won. After all, there's no Republican way or Democratic way to administer responsible local government. Those who know me know that I'm occasionally blunt. I called my Republican acquaintance the day after the election, and told him "You're the only Republican I voted for, so don't f*** it up." Here in Marion County, he sure can't do much worse. Mizpah!