The ordinary is extraordinary in VT: a butterfly

I think that it was three years ago that I was outside my cabin in Vermont with my digital camera and was able to take this picture of a butterfly in the ferns that grow outside my cabin. I thought that this was pretty cool. Not exactly an award winning photograph, but I was happy to capture an extraordinary moment: seeing the butterfly when I had my digital camera

The ordinary is extraordinary in VT: cows

There are many dairy farms in the northeast kingdom of Vermont. At least I think that most of the cows that I see are dairy cows and not beef cattle, but I am hardly an expert. So seeing cows grazing in a field is a common sight. I sometimes great them as we drive by with a

"Hello, ladies."

Not that they can hear us we drive by.

When I was a kid growing up in the sixties, my Dad who went to boarding school in Vermont and summered not far from my cabin, used to say that there were more cows in Vermont than people. I think that the time is long past that that was true, if it ever was. But it was a nice story.

The ordinary is extraordinary in VT: wildlife

Being on a lake in northeastern Vermont, there is an abundance of wildlife. The call of the Loon’s is not hard to miss once you know what to listen for, usually around dusk. More often than not you are more likely to hear the Loons before you see them. And if there does happen to be one floating by within eyesight, if you do not happen to be looking right at the Loon at the right moment, it will dive under the water and you will miss it. I think that there is a breeding pair of Loons on the Lake. I think. However, I usually only see one at a time.

About a three minute swim from my dock is a large rock sitting in the water with a large ring in it. At one time someone may have used this rock as a mooring for a boat. Personally, I can not see mooring a boat to that rock because the lake is rough enough at times that I wonder if a boat would be smashed to smithereens! But the birds love to come and stand on the rock. Here is a photo of a seagull standing on the rock. There are some Merganser Ducks that breed near the lake. In the summer, Mama (or is it Papa?) will sometimes take her brood (sometimes as many as ten or more) to the rock where they climb up on the rock and sun themselves. They are quite a sight. I see them most every summer. It is hard to get a picture, as I have to be sitting out on the dock with my camera when they arrive. If I am successful this year, I will try to post a photo so you can see.

The sounds of the loon and the visits of the Mergansers are common. Harder to see are other animals such as beavers and minks. I think that I have seen a mink once or twice scurrying along on the rocks near the shoreline. I saw a beaver once. Every so often I’ll see a fish jumping in the water. Hummingbirds come around as well. I see the bees visiting the fox gloves on the side of my cabin, or the butterflies visiting the lilies.

The ordinary is extraordinary in VT: night sky

A few weeks ago I was writing on the general theme of when the ordinary is extraordinary. So, I thought that I’d revisit this theme as I prepare postings that will made to my blog when I am in Vermont and away from internet access. For those of you who are not familiar with Google’s blogger, there is this nifty setting that allows you to write a post ahead of time for publishing at a future date and time. So, as I write this, I am drawing on post memories of my time in Vermont.

In the section of Vermont where I spend time every summer, the night sky is relatively free of light pollution. On a moon free clear night, the sky is extraordinary. The stars are indescribable. There are so many stars that are visible to the naked eye, including but not limited to the band of stars known as the Milky Way. Most of you know that the Milky Way is the galaxy where our solar system is. But in a clear, light pollution free night sky, we can also see a faint band of stars of another section of the Milky Way.

My cabin faces west, so I am very familiar with the constellations in the western portion of the summer nighttime sky. I love to go out and lay on my dock looking up at the night sky. I am reminded of the magnitude of creation and find the stars comforting. I also get to see Venus when it is the evening sky as well as whatever planets are setting during the summer. In May, I saw Mars low in the western sky around 10 PM. Saturn was a little higher in the sky and should still be visible next week. Perhaps I will be to see the rings with my astronomical binoculars.

I’ll write back after I return and let you know if I was successful at making out Saturn’s rings with my binoculars.

Bob Gibson

I cannot write about baseball players who made an impact on me in my youth without writing about Bob Gibson. Bob Gibson pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1959 through 1975, with lifetime stats of:

ERA: 2.91
Won/loss 251/174
Strikeouts 3,117

I was not a National League fan growing up, but I saw him pitch in three World Series, 1964, 1967, and 1968. St. Louis beat the Yankees in seven games in 1964, beat the Boston Red Sox in seven in 1967 before losing to the Detroit Tigers in 1968. He was an awesome pitcher and I hated him. I hated him because he was such a good pitcher who beat up on the American League.

I am sure that I watched the 1964 series. Asides from the fact that the Cards beat the Yankees, there was nothing much that stayed with me about that series. 1967 was another story. Gibson, killed the Red Sox. I watched most of that series, The Sox could do nothing against Gibson. The Sox scored three runs off Gibson in the three games that he pitched (1, 4, and 7). Gibson pitched on three days rest, pitching complete games in his starts. That year he had a 1.12 fifth on the list for single season leaders for lowest earned run average. In case you are wondering, Dwight Gooden had a 1.53 era in 1985 (43rd on the list). All the players ranked between Gibson and Gooden played prior to 1920. Think about it. All these years later, I still shake my head when I think about watching Gibson pitch that year.

In 1968, he had one bad game against the Tigers, giving up four runs in the seventh and deciding game, losing 4 to 0 to Mickey Lolich and the Tigers. Lolich gave up only one run, in the bottom of the ninth inning, a homerun by Mike Shannon, the Tigers third baseman. Those of you who are into such things know that the Detroit Tiger’s Denny McClain won 31 games that year, the last major league pitcher to win at least 30 games..

My hat is off to you, Bob Gibson. The hatred of my youth is replaced by awe and respect. Will we ever see a single season era lower than your 1967 era?

*With the exception of the reference to single season leader for era, the stats come from The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball: Total Baseball, Seventh Edition (2001), Total Sports Publishing.

Trying something new

I am trying something new this summer during the next couple of weeks when I will be without easy access to the internet. There is a feature where I can write posts ahead of time and set an option so that my post will be published on a specific day at a specific time. So, I am trying this out and will be writing a few posts over the next few days that I will publish at regular intervals over two weeks.

Frank and Brooks Robinson

It was difficult to be a baseball fan in the 1960s and not to know about Frank and Brooks Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles. Those of you who are baseball fans, know that they are not related. Brooks was the 3rd baseman and Frank played the outfield.

As I was checking out baseball stats for my recent baseball writing in The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball: Total Baseball (seventh edition, 2001), I was reminded that Frank Robinson won the triple crown batting title in 1966, one year before Yaz. Considering that there have only been fourteen Triple Crown Batters in Major League history, it is notable that there were Triple Crown winners two years in a row.

That year, Frank hit 49 homers, 122 runs batted inn, and had a .316 batting average. That same year, not surprisingly, Frank was the American League MVP with Brooks finished 2nd and the Orioles Boog Powell finishing 3rd.. This was also the year that the Orioles beat the LA Dodgers in the World Series. Brooks got his own MVP in 1964.

Brooks was no slouch at the plate either and he played a mean 3rd base.

I would be remiss not to mention Boog Powell of the Orioles and give him his due, another awesome hitter. He won the MVP in 1970.

I actually think that I might have seen an Orioles game in person in either 1965 or 1966, but my memory is fuzzy, so I would not bet money on this.

I remember watching the Orioles on television in 1969, 1970, and 1971. I especially remember my disappointment that they lost the World Series to the Mets in 1969. Neither Frank nor Brooks hit during the series. Frank batted .188 and Brooks batted .053. That happens sometimes in the World Series. But I do not remember them for not hitting during the 1969 series, I remember them for all their accomplishments through the years, and their two World Series rings (1966 and 1979) and four American League Championships (1966, 1969, 1970, and 1971).

Carl Yastremzki and Harmon Killebrew

Carl Yastrzemzki (Yaz) of the Boston Red Sox won the last triple crown batting title in Major League Baseball in 1967. He had 121 runs batted in, a .326 batting average, and was tied with Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins with 44 home runs. I was thirteen that summer and remember the hitting competition between Yastremzki and Killebrew. It was exciting to watch (or read about in the newspapers). In addition, Boston and Minnesota were in a dogfight for the American League Championship during the last week of the season.

According to 1967 season statistics compiled by The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball: Total Baseball (seventh edition, 2001), Yaz and Killebrew were 1 and 2 in the following categories:

Runs: Yaz 112, Killebrew 105
Total Bases: Yaz 360, Killebrew 305
Runs batted in: Yaz 121, Killebrew 113
MVP (American League) Killebrew finished a distant 2nd (161 votes) to Yaz (275 votes)

Killebrew got his MVP in 1969, the year they lost to the Orioles in the first American League Championship Series. That was the year of the “Miracle Mets.”

I remember watching both Yastrzmezki and Killebrew on television during the late sixties and early seventies. Yaz retired in 1983, and Killebrew retired in 1975. They continued a force at the plate after 1967, but 1967 was special.

Horseshoe Crabs

I have always loved Horseshoe Crabs. I read about them in the New York Times science section on June 10, 2008. Seems that the marine biologists are concerned about a decline in their numbers due to habitat destruction and their use as bait. So there are counts of the Horseshoe Crab population going on in various places, including Delaware.

So, these articles got me thinking about the summer I was six years old when I met my first Horseshoe Crabs. My sister and I spent one month with our grandparents who lived on the north shore of Long Island on a small cove off of the Long Island Sound. My grandmother would take us for walks along the beach and we say many Horseshoe Crabs lumbering their way to or from the water. I think that they might have been spawning. Asides from our cat Figgy, and a parakeet that died of heart attack after being terrorized by Figgy, the Horseshoe Crab was the first animal that I remember seeing alive. I say this because we used to go to a museum where we saw stuffed animals in displays.

They are one of the oldest animals around, dating back to the time of the dinosaurs.

I have fond memories of seeing Horseshoe Crabs that summer and during subsequent visits if we were there at the right time of year. I tried to feed my banana one summer. Needless to say the Horseshoe Crab was not interested. I don't think that I have seen a Horseshoe Crab in years. I love them and I hope that we can keep our grimmy mits off of them and let them be.

Martin Luther King's March on Washington in 1963

Since I am writing about the summer of 1963, I would be remiss not to write about Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech that he gave during the rally that was a part of the march on Washington that year.

The only reason that I can say with reasonable confidence that I remember this speech is because this happened during the period when I was confined to bed. I can't say that I remember all that much about the speech itself. But I do have a distinct memory of watching Martin Luther King on television giving what could have been his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Perhaps all the networks televised this speech and I had no other option than to watch it. Or perhaps I watched it because of my mother's influence. My Mum was an admirer of Dr. King's. Even if my memory of watching this on television is a false memory influenced by the significance of this speech, I will always remember the summer of 1963 as being the first time that Dr. King entered my life.

Speaking of casts

The cast that I was referring to in yesterday's post was a rather impressive plaster cast that immobilized my entire left leg while my fractured left hip healed. I effectively spent the summer of 1963 in bed, about six weeks in traction in the hospital and another two months in this cast at home. It started just below my rib cage going down my entire left leg. At first it covered my left foot as well, but I soon managed to break the cast just below my ankle.

If memory serves, I got out of the hospital sometime in mid-August of 1963. My parents rented a hospital bed that they set up in my Dad's first floor study. This made it easier for my parents to take care of me. It was still summer. The cast was hot, and it itched.

As I said, I did not have a whole lot to do except homework and watching TV. Oh, and play cards. My Dad taught me how to play poker and black jack. I remember drawing into a straight royal flush in one of my first hands. I remember this because my Dad was absolutely amazed that this happened. A once in a life time occurrence.

I got the cast off sometime in October, and was gradually eased back into walking. Very gradually. By the end of October, I might have been in a wheel chair with restricted use of crutches. I remember sitting in a tiger costume giving out Halloween candy to the trick or treaters. On the day that John F. Kennedy was shot, I had an appointment with my Orthopod where I graduated to one crutch. I will always remember that day. As my Mother took me to the Orthopod, I remember seeing crowds lined up in shop windows watching television.

By Christmas I was walking without anything, not even a cane. After New Years, my sabbatical from going to school ended and I went to the fourth grade. Bummer.

Sandy Koufax

I don't think that I had any idea who Sandy Koufax was or what a great pitcher he was when I watched my first world series in October of 1963. I was still confined to bed, this time at home, recovering from my broken hip. My parents had purchased a small television (black and white) with a remote control that I kept in a little box near the hospital bed that they set up for me on the first floor. I was in a half body cast with the right leg free. So I wasn't going anywhere. So, I watched a couple of now defunct soap operas, cartoons, Dobie Gillis, and baseball. Oh, and I was supposed to be doing homework assigned by my home tutor who was supposed to be keeping up with my forth grade class.

In those days all the world series games were played in the afternoon. I suspect that as long as I did whatever homework assignment I had, or pretended that I had done my homework, that my mother would let me watch the baseball game. It was the Yankees versus the LA Dodgers. And I was rooting for the Dodgers. If you are so inclined, there is complete box score for this series found here. The Dodgers won in four games with Sandy Koufax winning two games. I watched Sandy Koufax in one more world series, the 1965 series

As a life long baseball fan, I am still awestruck by his lifetime earned run average (2.76). He retired at a fairly young age, somewhere around 30 years of age if I recall due to arm problems, perhaps arthritis. 165 wins. And hall of famer. Imagine what he could have done if he had been able to pitch longer.

Needless to say, Sandy Koufax was one of my first heroes, along with Don Drysdal. I knew that Sandy Koufax was special and in subsequent years I would find out how special he was. When people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I would respond:

I want to be the first female pitcher on the Los Angeles Dodgers.