I Thought I Saw a Dog, But It Was Really a Wheelbarrow

     I was driving past the local Lowe's, on my way to Shop Rite, when I saw what looked like a very big dog, standing next to a tall, well built man.  A man might occasionally merit a double take from me, but a dog will grab my eye every time and hold it longer than is safe when operating a vehicle.  I slowed and stared at this large, dark gray canine, and realized that the mutt was a wheelbarrow.
     I grinned.  This was such a funny example of the eyes and the brain being out of sync.  Funny enough to be blog fodder?  Well, yeah, but not because it called to mind heart warming big, gray dog stories, but because it called to mind my relationship with the family wheelbarrow. 
     My father, a guy with quite a broad skill set, built our house with his own hands.  Except for the cement mixer (which my grandfather owned and loaned out to all the sons and sons-in-law as needed), my father had all the tools and equipment needed to establish his homestead.  The wheelbarrow must have been purchased around 1948, and it probably came from Sears.  At first, it figured predominantly in the mixing and carrying of cement.  Later it was indispensable for gardening and other yard work.
     Almost as soon as children learn to walk, they decide they would rather be carried or toted around in some sort of conveyance.  I found that if I followed my father, taking a load of brush or leaves to the back property line where it was dumped, I could hitch a ride back in the barrow.  Now that was fun.
     It didn't occur to me that wheelbarrows could also be used to transport adults until I reached the legal age for drinking alcoholic beverages.  We always joked that we did our serious drinking at the corner bar because we could walk home if we overindulged.  A friend of my parents, a retired bartender from this same establishment, assured me that if I were ever to be stumble-down-drunk, he would put me in his wheelbarrow and roll me home.  I've never been that drunk, but it's nice to know that someone has your back.
     Sometime during the 1980s, the old wheelbarrow got rickety from being left out in the weather, and one of the handles snapped.  My father went out and bought a new barrow for the heavy jobs, and he did a hasty repair on the old one so he could use it for light work.  I inherited both of these one-wheeled work horses.  I reluctantly said goodbye to the 1948 model.  It was just too far gone.  The newer wheelbarrow served me well until recently, when I bought a model with a solid tire - no more flats from the thorns, glass, and nails I always seemed to pick up in the woods next to the house.

My sister is helping with yard work, probably in the 1970s.
From time to time, the wheelbarrow got a coat of spray paint.  It looks like it was recently spruced up in this picture.

My nephews carried on a family tradition in 1995.
Look closely, and you'll see that the broken handle was replaced by a board.

In 1994, my mother used wheelbarrow #2 to transport her flowers.

In 2003, I used wheelbarrow #2 to build a chain link enclosure for my dog.
After all that work, the dumb animal barked and howled non-stop when confined to her special playpen.  All that work for naught!

   

Zombified

     It's official.  Season 8 of AMC's "The Walking Dead" will premier on Sunday, October 22, 2017.  The upcoming season and a yard sale ghoul costume inspired this video.

Four Word Obituaries

     There are six word memoirs (see my blog post dated 8/27/12).

http://happyinhainesport.blogspot.com/2012/08/six-word-memoirs.html
   
     There are five word horror stories.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/robinedds/truly-terrifying-five-word-horror-stories?utm_term=.umxk8e01b#.rjd5VMOY0
   
     Supposedly, there are four word obituaries.  Douglas Legler from North Dakota managed to get the job done with two words, "Doug died."  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/07/02/doug-died-douglas-legler-obituary/29619781/   While we can laud Doug for being succinct, I think he could have given us a little more.
     Mike and I racked our brains, but we didn't have much luck with the four word format.  Troy Gentry's untimely demise at the Flying W inspired, Now there's just Montgomery.  Sometimes people die during cosmetic surgery - Nip, Tuck ... Oh, f**k!  Chuck Barris - Here today, gonged tomorrow.
     Maybe Blah, blah, blah, blogged should be engraved on my tombstone.  Does anybody out there have a decent four word obituary?
   

     

Old Methodist Cemetery, Lumberton, New Jersey

     Back in June, I discovered an ancient cemetery on Church Street in Lumberton, New Jersey. This place is tucked away on a dead end street, along the edge of the Rancocas Creek.  Some lifelong Lumberton residents I consulted didn't know about this burial ground.
     This is known as the Old Methodist Cemetery because the property once included a Methodist Church.  In the late 1600s, Quakers settled in Lumberton.  By the third generation, most Quaker decendants joined other religions, especially Methodism.  A small Methodist church was built on this property around 1789, then a larger church was built in 1812.  Finally a church building was constructed on Main Street in 1868.  A Baptist congregation owns that building today.          

   

If you are traveling south on Main Street/Route 541, turn left on Edward Street then follow the bend to the right.  The road becomes Church Street at the bend.  The cemetery is on the left side, just before the dead end.

The grounds are neatly kept, but decay is evident.  Some grave markers are propped against tree trunks.

This marker has fallen over.

Lots of little tombstones are stacked up next to this much more impressive monument. 

This lonely grave lies among the trees, fairly close to the Rancocas Creek.

This is the grave of Roelof Voorhees (1741-10/16/1799), a Revolutionary War veteran.

Unfortunately, many, maybe even most, of the stones are illegible. 

Most of the standing stones are clustered in one area.  I wonder if the flood waters that swamped Lumberton in 2004 displaced the grave markers that are piled up here and there.

    Though there are online resources, the best records concerning who is buried in this cemetery are located in the Burlington County Library's New Jersey Room.  There are probably around 176 bodies interred here.  Mrs. Robert Fresoln compiled a list in 1965 by walking up and down the rows of stones and copying names and dates engraved on each stone.  The Geneological Society of New Jersey did the same thing in 1976 and found approximately the same number of graves.  Besides names and dates, they recorded other information engraved on the stones such as poetic sentiments dedicated to the deceased.  In 2002, Judith Irwin Williams walked through the grave yard and found only 36 stones from which she was able to decipher some information.  In the twenty-six years that had passed since the N.J. Geological Society survey there was evidently much degradation of the grave markers.

Washington Monument State Park, Boonsboro, Maryland

     I'm pretty sure that almost all Americans know about the Washington Monument located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  Construction began on that great obelisk in 1848 and was completely finished in 1888.  Besides the District of Columbia monument, there is another tower dedicated to our first president in Baltimore, Maryland.  That structure was completed in 1829. The earliest completed Washington monument, built in 1827, is located near Boonsville, Maryland.
     This gray, stone tower is only 40 feet tall.  It sits on a prominence known as South Mountain.  Boonsboro residents gathered on July 4, 1827 and built the first 15 feet of the tower in one day.  Later that year, residents returned to raise the height to 30 feet.  The stones were dry-laid, assembled without mortar.  As a result of this construction technique that uses only friction to hold a structure together, the monument could not stand up to weathering and vandalism.  It was a ruin by the 1860s.  The monument was rebuilt using mortar in 1882, but it crumbled again when structural problems were ignored.  The Civilian Conservation Corps rebuilt the monument properly in 1936, taking it to its present height of 40 feet.

Why not call this pavilion Mount Vernon?  The park is managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and someone there has a sense of humor.

This is the first of eight signs that list significant dates in the life of George Washington.  Stopping to read each sign affords older visitors like me a chance to rest during the uphill climb.

The monument looks like a big, gray jug.

The spiraling, stone stairway had me imagining lighthouses and castles. 

Check out the line cut through the trees.  That's the Maryland/Pennsylvania State Line.

Fort Necessity, aka the rest rooms.  As I said, somebody has a sense of humor. 

                   

Sugarloaf Mountain, Located Near Barnesville, Maryland

     Sugarloaf Mountain is a 1282 foot peak located one mile from Barnesville, Maryland.  The mountain and the surrounding park are privately owned and admission free.
     In the early 20th century, Chicago businessman, Gordon Strong, began buying parcels of land until he owned the entire mountain and the surrounding property.  Struck by the beauty of the area, President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered building a presidential retreat at Sugarloaf. Wanting Sugarloaf for himself, Strong convinced Roosevelt to build his retreat, known today as Camp David, on nearby Catoctin Mountain.
     We would have liked to hike to the summit, but our schedule was tight.  We stopped for lunch, admired the view from the lower, picnic ground level, and snapped some pictures.  There's always next time.

There is a road and parking area part way up the mountain.  The picnic area is large, clean, and dog friendly.  There are rustic comfort facilities.

Pretty View

My sister posed on this ancient picnic table.  Can you believe the thickness of the wood?  There are a few of these old tables remaining, but most have been replaced by puny, modern versions. 

    

Crystal Grottoes Caverns, Boonsboro, Maryland

     In 1920, road workers quarrying for limestone for for the construction of Maryland Route 34, accidentally found Crystal Grottoes. They drilled into a cliff, and began losing their drill bits.  They detonated some dynamite in the drill holes, and discovered the caverns.  The land owner, Ralph Downs, opened the cave as a tourist attraction in 1922.  His grandchildren still run the family business.  

Mike and I like to visit caves.  Crystal Grottoes is different than others we have seen because the passages are so narrow.  The owners say there are more formations per square foot than any other known cave.

This is part of the roof or ceiling.  The green algae on the ceiling grows because the passages are illuminated for tourists.  There wouldn't be any algae if people stayed out and the cave was always dark.  In order to keep algae growth to a minimum, the guide leaves the lights on only briefly as you pass through an area.

The formations behind me are called The Candlesticks.  I'm wearing a jacket because the temperature in the cave is 54° year round. 

Even is a cave, you can't get away from the photo bombers.

Reflecting Pool

These calcite crystals glitter.  I like shiny things.

This formation is called Blanket Run.  It is 150 million years old.

We saw this guy on our way out of the cave.

   
     Crystal Grottoes is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day from April 1st through November 30th.  The admission price is $10.00 for children age 11 and under and $20.00 for anyone age 12 and over.  There isn't a senior discount, but they have coupons.

http://www.crystalgrottoescaverns.com/index.php

Hagley, Wilmington, Delaware

     I have been to Longwood Gardens and Winterthur, but never to Hagley, the place "where it all began."  Hagley is the site of the first du Pont home in the United States.  Mike and I visited the house, the garden, the machine shop, and the powder yard.

This old mill building is the visitor center.  This is where you buy tickets and pick up the shuttle that will drop you at various places on the property.  The price of admission is free for children under age 5, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, $14.00 for adults, and $10.00 for seniors and students.  Hagley is open most days from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Check the website to verify hours before you visit.
https://www.hagley.org/ 

Éleuthère Irénée du Pont founded what is now called the DuPont Company in 1802.  He came to the United States to escape the French Revolution.  He tried several businesses using money from French investors.  Most of his business ventures failed.  When he saw the poor quality of American gun powder, he got the idea that he could make a better product.  After returning briefly to France for training, he started his powder works on the Brandywine River near Wilmington.   He called this business Eluetherian Mills.  The tract of land was named Hagley by the previous owner, and du Pont did not change the name of the property. 

These cormorants, perched on a branch in the Brandywine, are drying their wings in the sun.

The du Pont family missed France.  Éleuthère planted a French style garden to both feed the family and to make them feel more at home in their new country.  

We saw this chubby ground hog feasting on an apple.

This is the du Pont home.  There were a couple of additions over the years.

The dining room wallpaper depicts scenes of American life.  The wallpaper came from France, probably from the Zuber factory in Rixheim, France.

This is where one of the children slept.  The nanny slept on the trundle bed.

This stair case came from another, grander house.  Our guide explained that the du Ponts were not rich when they came to America.  Being able to install this staircase showed they were moving up in the world.  

E. I. du Pont's family came to the United States on a ship named Eagle.  Perhaps that is why there are so many eagles incorporated into the home's decor.  You'll find eagles perched on the top of mirror frames, painted on china, or woven into rug designs. 

This is du Pont's office.  It is made from a stone called gneiss (pronounced like nice).  The stones were quarried on the property.

This is E. I.'s desk.

The business used the latest technology - oil lamps, the typewriter, and the telegraph.

E. I. du Pont and other local mill owners built this school in 1817 when there were no public or private schools in the area.  Children got their formal education on Sundays.  E. I.'s daughter Victorine taught at this school for forty years.  In 1856 Christ Episcopal Church turned this building into a private church school.  In 1900, the building was used for an office, and in 1921, it became a private residence.   

The Interior of the Restored School.

There were several homes along this row that employees' families occupied.  The biggest, nicest house was for the superintendent.

This is one of several quarries on the property. 

This is the machine shop.  When something broke, the repairmen didn't order a part and wait around for it to be delivered.  He went to the machine shop and had a machinist create a replacement part.

The shop was lighted by kerosene lanterns.  The air in the shop, now as it was then, is an authentic but unhealthy gray blue color. 

Every machine was powered by a belt that was tied into this system that runs down the center of the ceiling.

The gun powder recipe was 76% saltpeter (potassium nitrate), 12% sulfur, and 12% charcoal.  These items were mixed at the powder yard in these stone structures.  The buildings are three sided.  The open side faces the Brandywine River.  The walls are three feet thick.  They are designed so that the force of an explosion will blow out toward the river and maybe blow off the metal roof.  There were many explosions over the years.  One website I read said there were 288 explosions over the 119 year operation of the factory. 

The docent exploded some gun powder for our enjoyment.

KA - BOOM!
The last and worst explosion at Hagley occurred in 1920.  The du Pont family closed all the mills at the site in 1921.  The Hagley site became a museum in 1952, the year the DuPont Company celebrated its 150th anniversary.