Spike

I hear the train a comin'. It's rolling round the bend. And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when. I'm stuck in Folsom prison, and time keeps draggin' on. But that train keeps a rollin' on down to San Anton.

When I was just a baby my mama told me, "Son, always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns." But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. Now every time I hear that whistle, I hang my head and cry.

I bet there's rich folks eating in a fancy dining car. They're probably drinkin' coffee and smoking big cigars. Well I know I had it coming, I know I can't be free. But those people keep a movin'and that's what tortures me.

Well if they'd free me from this prison. If that railroad train was mine. I bet I'd move just a little further down the line. Far from Folsom prison, that's where I want to stay And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.....

(Sorry, Blogger would not let me upload yesterday)

Cleveland Botanical Gardens

A couple more pictures from the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. Yes, there were flowers there also, but some of the art and structures throughout the gardens were really cool. It rained on us just as we began our tour and we eventually finished but we didn't get to spend the time I think would have been necessary to see all of it for what it was. This sure isn't what you picture when someone says they are going to Cleveland.

2008 Junior Firefighters Academy

This week, Saturday post Live (Take 8) it not about what I did today. It is about what my son did all week. Today he graduated from the Junior Firefighters Academy sponsored by the Franklin County (Pa.) Fire Chiefs' Association. All week he was one of 30 junior firefighters who trained and learned their current role and their future responsibilities as firefighters. They visited local stations, who fed them each evening, they visited the Chambersburg Fire Museum and the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md. They listened to instructors all week as well as plenty of hand on experience. Also there to enlighten them was Chief Dennis Rubin of the District of Columbia Fire Department, Charlie Dickinson, Past Chief of the Pittsburgh Fire Department and retired Director of the US Fire Academy and Ed Mann, Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner. I think he enjoyed himself, he made some new friends and I hope he learned something whether he takes this into a career or if he remains a volunteer. Way to go buddy. Posted are some pictures of a demonstration they put on for those attending graduation. They donned their fire gear and assembled a handline. Then they each knocked a cone down before two team members threw a ladder and climbed it. The red team, my son's team, timed in third place out of six.

Pleasant View Fire Co. No. 16

This weeks old school firehouse is the Pleasant View Fire Company No. 16 in Harrisburg, PA. Pleasant View was one of the last volunteer departments to organize in Harrisburg and this station closed in 1970 when Engine 16 was transferred to the Shamrock firehouse. There are no longer any active members. This old station sits on the corner of State Street and North Parkway Drive. The awning says "20/20" or "Twenty/Twenty", I don't know if that's some kind of club or what but nothing seemed to active here anymore. Maybe our HFD friends can answer this one.

The Eye of the Beholder

Not much to say tonight. But I was wondering, people fuss and work to make a garden full of beautiful flowers and I walk up a gated mountain road and see this? Where is the irony?

Honest Scrap on Broadway (PG LXVIII)

Painted Gentleman number 68 come to us from Cleveland Ohio again this week. This building is six blocks closer to downtown than the Mail Pouch Gentleman from two weeks ago. This one also sits along Broadway at 49th Street. The top line reads "Joseph D. Panek, Machinery" Now, I've been Googling for the past hour and I can not find any information about Honest Scrap. I don't know if it is the cheap version of Mail Pouch or not. Scrap sounds like it may be second quality. If you know let me in on the scoop on Scrap.

Colorado Post

Just because it's been a while here are some pictures, scanned from film, of my 2003 vacation with the family to my beloved Colorado. The first is Glenwood Springs from the Iron Mountain Tram. It shows the city and the Roaring Fork river and the Roaring Fork Valley, looking south. Interstate 70 and the Hot Springs are straight down and hidden by the rise. The second is the Denver cityscape. Offhand I'm not sure where this was taken from. Three more months and I'll be content.