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Post by Melani on Feb 23, 2006 15:23:21 GMT -6
Wow, Billy, thank you so much! I am just starting to read what we've got here, which is a pretty fair amount. I am playing Sam (Samantha) Taylor, green hand aboard Balclutha, a girl in disguise trying to get out of town fast. There is a certain "suspension of disbelief" involved in this, though some of my friends think the fake mustache will help--others just go into hysterics at the sight, so I am of two minds about using it. The main reason I play a guy is that I am part of the topsail crew, and you can't go aloft in a skirt and corset. I think it will be more exciting if my character is ashore when the earthquake hits, so I have to figure out where I was and how I escaped. Then we will pretend to evacuate the Park visitors to Oakland aboard the ferryboat Eureka, which actually did perform that service. She doesn't really sail any more, so we will just have to wait interminably to pull out. The Spanish-American War soldiers from Angel Island will be joining us to provide marshall law. We are really hoping for a successful production--after all, the centennial only comes once!
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Post by Diane Merkel on Feb 23, 2006 21:34:50 GMT -6
Melani, that sounds like so much fun! My best friend from college is a lawyer in SF, but I haven't made it out there yet. I would really love to see that city someday. Billy -- Going to Roswell?
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Post by robert on Feb 25, 2006 23:55:26 GMT -6
I found this thread "introductions" quite interesting. Rather pleasantly surprised to find so many writers in the group. I do a little writing myself, mostly short stories just as entertainment for my family and friends. Probably a long ways from being in the company of you folks here but my grandkids are thrilled when they read a story I have written and they are one of the characters. Ya gotta love the computer if you are a writer. Once, I pounded away on the old manual typewriter but I still keep my pencil and notepad close by at all times.
Unlike most of you here, I do not belong to any organizations. Not from being antisocial, it just happened that way. I got lucky and was able to retire about three years ago from the security/safety business. And yes, retirement is wonderful, albeit my wife still works. I got stuck with the household chores.
I sometimes think I have more hobbies than sense. I have always been interested in history, from the beginning of man up until yesterday. By the way, according to my wife, that is what history is...........yesterday. I collect stamps, books, maps, draw (in pencil), read, write and study the American Indian cultures and the Western movement of the U.S.A. My interest in GAC and LBH evloved slowly over time from the Indain culture, to Indian wars and of course, eventually got around to "Greasy Grass."
I can remember as a young child, standing for hours looking up at the lithogragh by Becker, distributed by "Anheuser-Busch", that I believe was titled "Custer's Last Fight." That print hung on the back wall of the local tavern, in the small town I grew up in. I remembering asking questions about it, but nobody would ever answer my boyish inquires. Sadly, the print and building burned down sometime in the late 50s. Growing up, I always knew my maternal grandmother was Iroquois/French but it was never discussed at the family table or any of the get togethers. My great-great-grandfather Martin on my grandfather's side was killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg. And my great-grandfather Wilson, hid under the barn, in North Carolina, the day his father Martin rode off with the CA. I found a stone axe head while digging along a creek bed in western Iowa when I was 12 years of age. All good reasons for getting hooked on history.
Did I mention I read.....something I could not do until the age of eleven, when a fantastic teacher discovered the fact and did something about it. After her kindness, I never stopped reading.
My wife and I live with our two Maltese dogs (children are grown and gone) on a quiet street in the Midwest. We enjoy camping, especially if there is some historical site nearby. And we are really looking forward to our trip this June. For two weeks we will be wandering around the hills of South Dakota, Wyoming and Montanta.
I have been enjoying reading all the past and present posts here, finding all kinds of things I didn't know or didn't even know, I didn't know. I have a few silly questions of my own to ask but will do that at a later date.
Bob
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Post by chuckwagon on Feb 27, 2006 12:23:18 GMT -6
Hi--I'm chuckwagon. My first name is Chuck. My last isn't Wagon. I joke that it's my radio name. I grew up in Colorado and now live in New York. I got hooked on Custer and the Little Big Horn after watching "Tonka" on The Wonderful World of Disney when I was about 10 years old. The obsession hasn't stopped since. I've visited the battlefield three times and also went on a day-long tour with the wonderful Jim Court. You haven't experienced anything until you climb that impossibly steep hill at Crow's Nest or stand on Weir Point. A few years ago, I became a collector of antique photography and was able to acquire a Civil War-era carte de visite of Custer and later a cabinet card-sized photo of Custer taken by William R. Howell in New York in 1876, according to Mark Katz's "Custer in Photographs". I wondered about the man behind the camera and started doing research on Howell's life. I found so much that I built a dedicated website. Please visit it. You'll see the Custer photo. www.williamhowell.org
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Post by fred on Mar 5, 2006 16:53:51 GMT -6
I am writing this now for all the wrong reasons & to those of you whom I have offended, I truly apologize. I enjoy honest and decent debate & I certainly mean no offense at any time. Sometimes my humor is a little caustic or sarcastic, sometimes I miss putting down every thought, or I exclude people I shouldn't; sometimes I may be a little too dogmatic, but none of that is meant to hurt anyone, & all I expect from a perceived offense is a chance to explain myself before things get out of hand.
I am older than virtually anybody on this site, 65. I graduated from a Jesuit university on the East Coast & went immediately into the U.S. Army as a Regular Army officer. I was a paratrooper, an army ranger, & a Special Forces psy-ops expert, then got shipped off to a NATO command in Germany. I spent a tour of duty in Vietnam as a company commander w/ the Big Red One (1st Infantry Division), & I ran all the convoys for the division, including the first infiltration convoy of the entire war. We ran that one up from the infamous Iron Triangle to the old-time Michelin rubber plantation in An Loc, S. Vietnam. I left active duty as a captain after 5 years, then joined the NY Army Nat'l Guard & the U.S. Army Active Reserve for another 5 years. I had my fill & went to work on Wall Street, where I was with several firms over a 22-year career. I retired in 1994, wrote a book (unpublished) about college basketball & have been enthralled w/ the LBH ever since I can remember.
My wife & I live in a gorgeous new community in SW Florida, though we may be moving out west to be near some friends and some family. Knowing people like Diane Merkel, Jim Byrnes, Perry Baker, Billy Markland, Lee Ness, & Bill Boyes has been a recent highlight in my life & I am much the better off for it. As a matter of fact, I am so much better off after just conversing w/ a number of people on this Website.
I enjoy virtually every one of you.
Best wishes, Fred.
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Post by Major Dundee on Mar 5, 2006 19:34:31 GMT -6
Just to register my presence & say hi!
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Post by markland on Mar 6, 2006 15:46:00 GMT -6
Fred old bud, you nor anyone else I care for would have appreciated me this morning when I got the happy news that, once finished here in New Mexico, I need to be in Indiana on Monday morning at 06:00.
Oh well, as long as the checks keep rolling in...
Billy
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Post by Jim on Mar 6, 2006 17:07:22 GMT -6
Bill,
That is the WORST State to be going to!!! I live about 7 miles from the Border, in Illinois, and we have been after the Homeland Security to give us enough funds to put up a 10' wall along our borders to the East. GOOD LUCK!!!
Jim
P.S. - ALL residents from Indiana have to pass their driving test, driving their John Deere!?!?
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Post by El Crab on Mar 6, 2006 22:35:06 GMT -6
Jim Gaffigan, my favorite comedian (I just saw him live on Saturday), is from Indiana. Here's what he says about it...
"I'm originally from Indiana. I know what most of you are thinking: Indiana: Mafia. But the fact of the matter is where I grew up there was something very similar to the Mafia; 4-H."
"There's a different kind of pride where I'm from. It's not like, 'We're from New York; we're tough.' or, 'We're from Texas; we like things big.' It's more like, 'We're from Indiana and... we're gonna move!'
If you can catch it on Comedy Central, watch his special "Beyond the Pale". Or buy it, its hilarious.
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Post by Jim on Mar 7, 2006 9:05:54 GMT -6
Thanks Crab, I will look up Gaffigan on Comedy Central. As you can imagine Illinois and Indiana, like a lot of other states, have been feuding for years with TONS of jokes going back and forth over the years. I can always use that "Extra" ammunition!?!?
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Post by Tricia on Mar 7, 2006 17:21:23 GMT -6
Jim--
I'm originally from the NW suburbs of Chicago, and I always wondered why the heck Gary, IN just didn't join Illinois! Oh, well ... the land of the Quayle continues on and on.
Regards, Leyton McLean
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Post by Jim on Mar 8, 2006 16:56:00 GMT -6
Leyton-- How do you spell "Potato" That's right, we want nuttin' to do with Quayle or his state. Gary, Indiana would only add to the ALREADY high homicide rate we already have!?!? You know, you lived here!!! Regards, Jim P.S. - PLUS, Your suffix of "CSA" would bring out millions of protesters, I can see why you moved to the beautiful State of Virginia!?!?
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Post by Diane Merkel on Mar 8, 2006 17:01:30 GMT -6
Oh, great . . . . Now no one from Indiana will ever join the boards.
Come on, you Hoosiers, I love you!
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Post by Jim on Mar 8, 2006 17:10:01 GMT -6
Diane, You know, REALLY, I love that state, But do you know why they have Astro-Turf in the RCA Dome in Indianapolis? So the Cheerleaders won't graze there!?!?!? I Love Indiana - NOT!!! Jim
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Post by fred on Mar 8, 2006 17:13:00 GMT -6
Rah, rah!
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