Cool assignment

Re: 2009 Presidential Inauguration

I'll be Rangering on the National Mall.

Pix will follow.

Mannie

Attention all NCR Parkies

Calling all Rangers and NPS Volunteers in Parks (VIPs) who will be working or attending the inauguration in Washington DC

As you will have some of the best (and worst) seats in the house, so to speak, for this historic event, howsabout sharing them with all other parks enthusiasts and ranger wannabes who won't be able to attend?

If you would be so kind as to send me two or three representative photos of your Ranger or VIP  experience on inauguration day, I'll post them in a later blog entry for everyone to see and share.

Feel free to capture yourself in the picture. Be sure to include with your jpeg how you wish to have your name appear (if at all).

Email pix to:

museumofamerica@myactv.net

and share the day with the rest of us!

Happy new year,

Mannie

Landscape Turned Cute by Steven Sears and Roebuck

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My Jan 1 post is up on my toy soldier blog and reflects upon the one manufacturer's ability to find the cute in the Civil War.

Check it out here.

And happy new year to all.

Mannie

Stonewall Jackson confers with S.D. Lee regarding the placement of Confederate aritllery on the Dunker Church plateau (church in background).

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These Boots (were made for walkin')

                                          (not really my foot)
Check this out.

Two years ago I invested in a fabulous pair of Vasque hiking boots, official Ranger trail boots. They're great boots, really expensive, with a really long (really long) break-in period.

Finally, about a year ago, they got comfortable and and were fantastic on the trail.

Here's the O. Henry part of the story.

About a year ago I developed arthritis in the big toe joint of my right foot, within six months I was no longer to get my right boot on or off comfortably.  Eventually I couldn't get it on or off at all.

Now, how's a Park Ranger, who really enjoys hiking, supposed to hit the trail in street shoes? That's just plain bad form!

Today, I got my boots back.

I decided to make a study of the way my foot enters and leaves the boot, and then alter the boot to accommodate the lack of flexibility in my paw.

Here's the shoe making elf in action:

I realized that my foot needed to enter the boot from the rear rather than the top, in the manner of a slipper, so the first step was to open up the seams and cut an entry down the back.

That was a piece of cake, no more whining and grimacing.

Then, with my handy stitching awl, I had to bind up the raw edges.

A line of stitches (white) marks the door "hinge".  The retaining loop was stitched into place...

and the straps measured, cut, and stained.

Holes for the stitching were punched and the first strap stitched into place.  This is the strap that'll close the back of the boot.

This antique harness buckle was stitched to the other, larger, strap, the one that wraps around the ankle and snugs up the whole kit&kaboodle.

The result?  somewhere between Doc Marten and Doctor (Ranger) Frankenstein,

but it fits great and feels fantastic!

See you on the trail (or in the leather craft shop),

Mannie

postscript (two days later)



All systems groovy!

Lincoln's Antietam Visit

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Here, published for the first time, is the Alexander Gardner photograph of Lincoln's visit to Antietam. Though the exchange between the subjects of the photo was never recorded, it is quite clear that a skeptical Lincoln is scrutinizing the books of the AOP.





"...many are the hearts that are looking toward the light, to see the dawn of peace"

Here's looking toward a delightful holiday and a peaceful new year,

Mannie


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