Measuring the Empire State Building
I would have never guessed that this cowboy would ever find himself looking across the Hudson River at New York City, but I did. Our gig ended earlier than I had expected. Don, my co-worker, winged his way to California as I flew back to Denver. It was an experience, to say the least. We were working for AT & T, auditing their overhead fiber optic cable. That required us to measure the height above the ground at all streets, roads, railroad crossings and commercial driveways. We also had to inspect the cable for any anomalies. Our walks took us through Newark, Harrison, Rutherford, North Bergen, W. NewYork, Weehawken, Hoboken and Jersey City, New Jersey.
Just before I left, I finished a book about Alexander Hamilton. The Hamilton - Burr dual took place on the river bank, just below the cliffs at Weehawken. Little did I know that I would be soon standing in that very spot.
We were only stopped twice by security guards, asking us what we were doing. One was at MSNBC and the other was at the Lincoln tunnel. I guess we looked official as 20+ police officers passed us and did not stop. One even stopped traffic as we took our measurement in the middle of a very busy intersection. We did have an occasion to chat with some fire fighters in Jersey City. I felt right at home. I connected with Dawn via email but we did not get a chance to meet in person.
While Milo and I were walking this morning, we ran into our neighbors, Pam and Fred. Fred told me he was from East Orange, NJ. I mentioned that I was surprised what a nice neighborhood Hoboken seemed to be. Most of the area around it was mostly Spanish speaking and Hoboken was all English. Fred reminded me that the Ferry goes across the Hudson to Manhattan there and that it is a yuppie neighborhood.
An observation from this ol' cowboy. I was reminded that you have to keep your guard up and not to be too nice. Being nice is often seen as a weakness. Once you have stood your ground and shown that you have some nastiness in you, niceness has a chance to set in. I lived around Baltimore for 11 years and found it true that you have to have a little "nastiness" in you to survive. Little wonder I left and came home. In Wyoming, a handshake and a look in the eye is often the only contract a man needs. You don't cross a cowboy, he may leave you stuck in a spring blizzard, tied to a fence pole. (I want to insert that I have met some really wonderful people from the city. My old room mate, Doug lives in Queens. Ellen, Marina and Vicky are included in that group of wonderful people). It was also a little different passing people on the street. Heads would turn away without any acknowledgement. I missed that little eye contact and a nod of the head, saying "hello" that is common in the west. I also forgot what it was like to have rain for more than 20 minutes at a time. It rained for 2 days and kept us from working. It may snow in Sunshine for days, but never rain. I also missed seeing the stars, the millions of stars at night.
Which one of those wires is ours????
Lower Manhattan, across from the World Trade Center site.
Now that I am back, I need to get back into the swing of things here in Sunshine. School has started and many of our summer residents have left. Mike, Jennie and the kids have returned to Chicago. Eva and Katrina are flying back to Germany as I write this; Jack will follow at the end of next month. We will miss them.
The community is getting geared up for the Community Fest to be held on the 8th of September. It is the annual fund raiserfor the fire department. There will be a silent auction, a verbal auction, food and drink. I always enjoy the verbal auction. It's fun watching people bid $100 - $1000 for one of Hildegards cakes or pies.
The annual craft fair will be held on the 22nd of September at the Sunshine School house. In conjunction, their will be a garage sell at fire house #1. We are trying to raise enough money to get an electrical connection to the school house. We lost our hook-up when fire house #1 burnt to the ground.
There will be no Team Sunshine meeting this month. The next meeting will be on October the 25th.
The last meeting of the season of the Sunshine Garden Club will be held at Mary Ann's house (date to be announced). We are planning on having a plant exchange. By the way Mary Ann, are you a turtle? (Mary Ann does not have an AOL account so I expect and answer via e-mail)
Remember, The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.
Smiles,
David
