You
will notice with this news letter the print is larger, that is because Nov 6
I turned 70, and the rest of you are not far behind
email from Jim
Umbarger Jr to Tom Hansen 03/01/2004
umbarger@ameritech.net
Hi Tom
Received your message about the email change. I was in Littleton Colorado
two weeks ago not to far from you. We traveled 4380 miles on a car trip to
California and back.
Jim Umbarger Jr.
email from
Tom Hansen 03/02/2004
TOM-LEONA@peoplepc.com
Hi Jim
Hope you enjoyed Colorado. Came out here in 1960, stationed with the Air
Force. Since then things have changed a lot and it is disappointing to see
how the land is being developed for housing. Pushing the wild life out of
their homes into peoples backyards and then they start to complain about
mountain lions and bears in their neighborhoods.
Have a daughter in Delta Co and one in Denver. Sister Joan lives in Florida
and Lois in Glenview. We need to do some traveling our self's. Wife's family
lives in eastern Kansas and we get back there now and then. Not much there
to talk about. Once one gets used to the dry climate here going back east is
not a place you want to stay for any length of time.
Take care and God bless.
email from Lester Gnadt
03/29/04
lestergg@earthlink.net
Hi, and Greetings From Florida,
I found this on my employers
bulletin board, thought it was pretty cute, and so very true. I thought
it was worth sharing. Hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
Don't know who originated it, and it's not mine, so I'll put it in
quotation marks.
"For all of us who feel only the
deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our
lives, read on. At a recent computer expo, Bill Gates reportedly
compared the computer
industry with the auto
industry, stating, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer
industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to
the gallon."
In response to Bill's comments,
General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed
technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the
following characteristics (and I just love this part):
1. For no reason whatsoever, your
car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the
lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die
on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side
of the road, shut off the car, restart it, AND! reopen the windows
before you could continue.
For some reason you would
simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a
maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and
refuse to start, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that
was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as
easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and
alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This
Car Has Performed An Illegal
Operation" warning light.
7. The airbag system would ask "Are
You sure?" before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason
whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until
you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed
hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time a new car was
introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again
because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old
car.
10. You'd have to press the "Start"
button to turn the engine off."
I hope you liked it.
Lester
email
from Jackie "Cavett" Walker class of 1953
05/12/04
Hello to all,
As I have become totally annoyed with the junk mail that comes in, I am
canceling my service to the internet on May 27,2004. There are some of you
that I never receive e mail from, so this will not be an inconvenience for
you. While the others that I trade jokes with, it will seem strange. I hope
to stay in touch with all of you by using the old fashioned telephone or
snail mail. I will give you my mailing address and phone number should you
choose to communicate with me that way. It has been fun, but my patience has
worn out with the junk. Love to all, Jackie
Jackie Walker
P.O. Box 218
Hampton, Fl. 32044
352-468-1392
email from Gordy Cole class of 1952
05/11/04
Hi
Jim,
I just read in my Carpenter's magazine that Stu Koutny passed away. Another
tough loss for our class. I know he was ill and that's why he could not come
to the reunion. I'm just sorry I didn't take time to go and visit him when I
was back their.
The weather here is great. Great for golf! Tell Rosing I said so, if you
ever see him. I keep myself busy with the chores around the house, ( always
have a project going on ),my golf, and keeping in touch with our family. My
youngest son Scott (37) and his wife had their first child in Jan. That's
our 15th grandchild. We vacationed in Portland, OR. in March to be with
them.
This coming week,Thur-Mon: A big golf week-end. Three separate tournaments,
one each day, in Reno, NV. I also have a grand-daughter and three great
grand kids there to visit. Hers is our 9th great grand-child. The family is
getting bigger every year.
Say Jim, that picture of me in the boxing pose that you had put in the power
point presentation at the reunion: Is it possible for me to get a copy of
that? I had never seen that picture before or remember it. I'd appreciate
it.
Well, enough for now, take care and give my best to all, especially to Jane.
Thanks for all the
e-mails, Gordy
email
from Gerry
"Krippner"and Ralph Spears
class of 1952
07/03/04
Wa9shh@aol.com
Hi
Jim.... Just got done looking at the Web Site.... Wow...you did a great
job! Did not know we had that! It was fun to look back at the reunion
pictures...and the great memories from that weekend. I enjoyed Lester's
letter...with the comparison of the computers to cars... sure could relate
to that one. Ralph and I are sticking closer to home this summer with a
first grandchild due in a few weeks....besides it was a summer to stay home
and catch up. Last year we spent almost seven months... in the motorhome
with different trips in and out.... and the yard, etc. looked like it!
Thanks for sending the note about the site.... I was glad to see it... Take
care... Our best to you and yours.... Gerry and Ralph Spears....
email from Lester Gnadt
08/13/04
Hi Everyone, and Greetings From Florida
I know you have all seen reports on TV news about
Hurricanes Bonnie and Charley, and
especially on the strength and severity of Charley today
as it hammered the gulf coast. At
this hour, it's still too early to know the extent of the
damage, as it's only been a couple of
hours since in touched land and is now working it's way
inland in a northeasterly direction.
I'm glad I'm living in the
southeast part of the state, just up from Ft Lauderdale, where the outer
bands of the hurricane brought us a lot of rain.....especially
yesterday, along with some breezy conditions, but nothing more. Now I
see the hurricane tracking people have a new tropical depression in
their scopes that's too far out there to know much about. At this point
it's tracking in the same place as Charley was a week ago.
Just thought I'd take this opportunity
to say hello, and let you know that all is well, at least so far.
Les Gnadt
email from Janet
Buchholz
08/31/04
Jim,
Some time ago I believe I sent you an update of my Email
Address change Please confirm you have received it.
The reason I request you confirm as I have not been
receiving any emails from you or others. It's good to stay in touch
occasionally with everyone.
We have had probably the best summer that I can recall
here in the Pacific Northwest. The weather has been just perfect with
temps in the 80's almost every day and nice cool nights. Makes me a bit
sorry we sold the sailboat. Hi to everyone back there and an invatation
for anyone traveling to this area give us a call. We can usually dock up
to a forty foot motor home for a few days.
Our best wishes to all,
Irwin and Janet Buchholz
email from Lester
Gandt
09/03/04
Thursday evening, September
2nd. Hi everyone,
There have been some calls on my
answering machine from folks out of the area inquiring about
Hurricane
Frances, and about how
I'm doing. Thought I'd make a blanket reply and send it out to
everyone to give you an idea of what's happening. You should also
find one of our local TV stations website attached, and can click on
any number of places to get up to the minute news and pictures of
the storm as it moves into our area.
I'm closely monitoring the storm
as it approaches, have a lot of things packed into the back of my
pickup
(it's covered), and am contemplating
going to a friends house a little further in from the ocean. The
storm is destined for our "neighborhood," however the hurricane
center still has not pinpointed where it will make landfall, and we
agonize on their predictions of somewhere between Miami and
Jacksonville.
Some local forecasters have been a little
more specific pinpointing Vero Beach, about an hour north of here.
The storm's winds are still 140 MPH, but it's slowed it's forward
movement from 17 MPH down to
only 10 MPH over the last couple of
days. Early Saturday afternoon is now the estimated time for
landfall at the slower forward motion. Storms make lots of changes
as they go along, so who knows really what will happen. I'm getting
the impression that Palm Beach County might be spared a direct hit,
and that we might deal with slightly lesser winds, however the
decreased forward movement of the storm gives it more time to
"pick-up" water and increases our odds for more rain and flooding.
Estimated rainfall
is between 10 to 20
inches.
There's a lot to ponder, and I
guess I won't decide until tomorrow whether I'll evacuate my
apartment or not. If wind velocity looks like a really serious
threat, I will vacate......but if the most serious threat appears to
be rain/flooding, I'll likely stay here as the friend in the inland
area I'd go to, most likely will have more flood conditions than I
would here. My cat probably will be much happier at home, than if
we'd truck off to another house where they already have two cats and
a dog. Say a prayer for me that I make the right decisions, and
that I'll be safe from anything that happens.
One aftermath of storms like
this a lengthy power outage which brings about it's own
punishments. No electricity means no A/C, hot water, stove, refrig/freezer,
TV, computer.......also closed stores, gas stations, etc.
I'll come back on line again
after it's all over and I have internet access.
email from
Lester Gandt
09/03/04
Hi Everyone,
If you get the idea that this is not a personal letter
just for you, you're right.....I'm trying to
communicate to everyone, and to do so as quickly as
possible, and therefore, this "mass mailing."
The good news is that Hurricane Frances has come and
gone, and I'm still here to tell about it. I did evacuate my apartment
right after dinner on Friday night, an almost spur of the moment
decision, as I'd been thinking the storm would continue up the Florida
coast, and the Palm Beaches would be spared a "serious storm." How glad
I was that I went and stayed with friends a few miles away whose home
had storm shutters over all their windows (My apartment has three large
glass windows, and no storm shutters.) Hurricane Frances forward motion
had slowed to the point where it was almost stalled, and it wasn't until
Saturday night that it actually made landfall some 60 miles north of
here. Strong winds preceded the storm's landfall by almost a full day
and included on and off heavy rain. The electricity went off on Friday
evening shortly after I arrived at my friends home, and is likely to be
this coming Friday before it can be restored. What an agonizing 2 days
it was until the storm passed, the rains subsided, and the winds
diminished. As the storm's eye was passing close by, I estimate the
wind velocity somewhere around 90 MPH or above. Needless to say, none
of us got too much sleep Saturday night.
By Sunday afternoon things were quiet enough to come back
and check to see if I still had an apartment, or if I was in the
homeless category. The approximately 4 mile trip was somewhat difficult
as the streets were loaded with debris and standing water. Tree limbs,
branches, sometimes even entire uprooted trees were the most common
obstacles, followed by roofing shingles, and bits and pieces of
buildings, advertising signs, and other miscellaneous. Without
electricity, there were no functioning traffic signals. Then, I turned
the corner on my street and could see my rear apartment window was still
in place.....as were the other windows on the side and front. I'd
expected everything to be trashed, but found it all just as I'd left it
before storm. I was certainly blessed. Of the 16 apartments in my
building, only one had a window that was blown out, but many had taken
on water to some degree or another, while I was one of only 3 I know of
that were still bone dry.
The electricity at my place had gone out, earlier, but
almost a full day later than where I evacuated to. By Sunday evening,
I'd packed up my cat and returned home, deciding I might just as well
"rough it" at home, as there was no electricity any where. When there's
no electricity, night seems to start a little earlier, and it's really
black outside when there's not a light to be seen anywhere. I missed
everything the electricity does, as nothing worked....most of all I
missed the A/C as it was always stuffy and muggy. The water worked, but
the electric water heater didn't, and although tap water temperature was
"warm" for drinking, that very same temperature was cold in the shower.
By this morning, the refrigerator/freezer needed cleaning out, as the
power outage had taken it's toll on most of it's contents, and it
appeared that my meals would now be coming out of cans such as tuna,
Vienna sausages, pork and beans, with the addition of bread, crackers,
etc.
But then, near to 6 PM today, a miracle.......the
electricity in my area was restored. I am so glad the outage was over
in my area, but concerned about others, as I know countless other areas
and homes will suffer without it for an extended period of time yet.
I'm so grateful that everything,
well almost everything, is back to normal in my
apartment. Cable TV will probably be out for awhile, as the line into
our building was broken by a falling tree next door.
Hurricane Frances has certainly been an experience for
me, and one I could have done without, but I'm glad to still be here.
It seems that Frances was just one chapter in this hurricane story.
Seems like the next chapter is close at hand, as I hear there's another
storm (Ivan, I think) out there in the Atlantic, just looking for a
place to "land."
A picture is worth 1000 words......and anyone interested
in seeing pictures of the aftermath of Frances here in Palm Beach County
can log onto
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/ where
they already have some 230 pictures you can browse through.
Please keep me in your prayers that Hurricane Ivan won't
be coming after me like Frances did.
Les Gnadt
