Strange Truck Problem...

I drive my truck a lot.  It's a 2003 model and I have driven it nearly 220,000 miles.  It has been very reliable, until Thursday.  I had just finished teaching a scheduling class, went out to the truck, turned the key.  It turned over but would not start.  I managed to get a ride part way home and Mary Ann came to get me.

Now the debate was, "Do I take it to the Ford dealer or to my friend, Deron Shady?"  I called Deron to see if he wanted to attempt the job.  He indicated that he was very familiar with this engine and that he'd be glad to take it on.  Friday morning, the tow truck delivered the truck to Deron while I was at his shop.  As soon as the tow truck left, Deron said, "I've got a suspicion."  He got into the truck and started it.

It seems that Ford used a Passive Anti-Theft System (PATS) on my vehicle -- and a lot of others also.  Inside the head of the key is a tiny magnetically activated radio transmitter.  When the key is inserted into the lock, it passes through a magnetic field that causes the transmitter to send out a brief coded pulse.  The computer in the vehicle recognizes the pulse and activates the engine's ignition system.  On my truck, something had gone wrong with that sequence.  Deron had turned the key over or inserted it at a different rate or something, and it worked.  I left it for him to check out further.

In the meantime, I've ordered two replacement programmable keys.  His experience is that merely replacing the old keys often fixes the problem.  I sure hope it takes me another 220,000 miles.

Homecoming at Oklahoma

This past weekend, I visited my friends Forrest and Sue Frueh in Norman, Oklahoma.  It was homecoming weekend with lots of alumni and a good home football game (OU beat Texas Tech 38-30).  Here's one of the sights.  More about the trip later...

Celebrity Sighting...

Yesterday, I saw Alabama Coach Nick Saban at Woody Anderson Ford in Huntsville.  Wow!

Ties...

Today, Mary Ann and I decided to go through my ties.  Some are for Summer, some needed cleaning, and others simply needed to go to Goodwill.  Here was the scene when we had them all spread out for sorting:

I don't like to get rid of things.  Some of these ties date back to the seventies.  My closet is much lighter tonight!

The Metal Shapers...

There's a group of people all over the world who are interested in the somewhat esoteric subject of metal shaping.  Given a piece of sheet metal, what is required to form, bend, shape, and fabricate it into some new object?  Naturally, the Internet has enabled many of these folks to get connected in forums such as AllMetalShaping.com and MetalMeet.com and a Yahoo! metalshapers group.  It was a matter of time before they would decide to gather in some common location to exchange knowledge.  I got to see one of these gatherings this week.

I first became aware of this intriguing interest group several years ago through my friend Dan Shady.  Once a year he would disappear for a week to attend a metal shapers' get-together somewhere in the midwest.  The early history of these gatherings is described on the metalmeet site.  In fact, much to my surprise, I learned that the very first such gathering, FormFest 2001, took place right in my backyard in Huntsville, AL!  These gatherings have now proliferated and take place in lots of locations around the world.  I'm sure that the expansion of TV shows related to automobile and motorcycle fabrication has expanded public awareness in the metalworking craft.

One of the people who hosts a metalworking event is Kerry Pinkerton of Harvest, AL.  This week, about 15 metalworkers from as far away as Sweden assembled at Kerry's home for the "DixieLand Metal Shapers Gathering."  Kerry's lawn becomes a parking lot, with trucks, trailers, and RVs everywhere.  Dan Pate, from Minnesota, is a regular attendee at this event and hauls a huge gas-fired griddle on which he cooks breakfast every morning of the 5-day assembly.  Steve Hamilton travels all the way from Fond du Lac, WI.  A family from Rockford, MI, was in attendance.  Another gentleman, Brent Click, came from Greenville, SC.  And of course there was Per, whose last name I never learned, all the way from Avesta, Sweden.  Per has a website displaying some of his work.  One of my favorites is his homemade motorcycle helmet:

Dan Shady treated the gathered clan to a barbecue feast on Friday night and invited me, for which I am grateful.  The food and fellowship were both great.  Dan's son, Deron, and grandson, Daniel, were both there and I enjoyed seeing them.  The group had a tool exchange, in which every participant makes and donates a tool for another member.  There was an abundance of good will and camaraderie   The projects were so varied as to defy description.

Scottish Outing....

Today, Mary Ann and I went to Sharon Johnston Park near New Market, Alabama, to attend the North Alabama Scottish Society's Scottish Festival.  Here's a little taste:

That's the Ian Sturrock Memorial Pipe Band.  They are a performance and competition band based in Birmingham, Alabama.   The band's sponsors include GUINNESS® as well as the St. Andrews Society of the Middle South and the Caledonian Society of Alabama.  The ISMPB also operates with the support of partner organizations Birmingham Irish Cultural Society and Irish Society of North Alabama.  According to the band's Website, they "perform regularly around town with the traditional Irish pub band Jasper Coal and lead Birmingham's Annual St Patrick's Day Parade."

As we were driving to the festival, I jokingly asked, "I wonder if they'll be serving Haggis?"  I had heard of some Scottish dish made of God-knows-what entrails and offal that was one of those "must-try" experiences if a person ever went to Scotland.

Wouldn't you know that one of the first food vendors we saw was Hamish's Kitchen, "The Frying Scotsman."  And there on the menu, big as day, was Haggis!  It was described in all its delectable goodness -- "Sheep (Heart & Liver), Beef, Oats, Barley & Onions, Steamed."  I had fish and chips, thank you.

The festival is a delightful event.  Of course the perfect weather contributed to that.  But the park is a perfect venue with plenty of parking space, clean rest room facilities, lots of space, a pretty lake, a nice performing venue, and plenty of picnic tables and shade.  Highly recommended.

The America's Cup Race...

15 September 1962 President Kennedy waves to the America's Cup crew of the "Weatherly". Aboard the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., off Newport, Rhode Island. Photograph by Cecil Stoughton, White House

I was recently listening to the radio when a commentator began lamenting the pitiful performance of Oracle Team USA in the 34th America's Cup competition. He rambled on about the embarrassment of both failed technology and lackluster team performance that had allowed Emirates Team New Zealand to build up an 8 to 1 advantage. Obviously, the next day was only a formality in which Team USA would once again be trounced.

This year's finalists

Thus, I was really surprised on Wednesday when someone at the office started talking about the final race in the series and the unbelievable comeback of the American team. I had no idea! Oracle Team USA had reeled off seven straight wins to even up the match. Wednesday's event was the nineteenth and final race in this "first to win 9" competition. And to top it off, the Oracle team won on Wednesday in one of the most remarkable rallies in American sports history.

This news reminded me of my involvement in an America's Cup that took place over fifty years ago. I had recently reported aboard my first ship, the U.S.S. Hugh Purvis, a Sumner-class destroyer of World War II vintage. It was the summer of 1962 when we were informed that we might be an escort vessel in support of the upcoming America's Cup competition to be held in Newport, Rhode Island, our home port.  That year, the America’s Cup competition would be run by the New York Yacht Club, since they were the current holder of the cup.  They held a competitive regatta to determine which boat would represent their club.  Bus Mosbacher’s Weatherly, Paul Shields’ Columbia, and Ted Hood’s Nefertiti competed for the opportunity to defend the cup.  Weatherly, a Phil Rhodes designed boat that had been originally built for the 1958 competition, won the right to face the challenger.  Weatherly had undergone significant changes since the 1958 cup races.  The challenger was Gretel, the first Australian-built 12-meter racing yacht.  She would be helmed by Jock Sturrock (Is that not the greatest athlete’s name ever???).


During these years, the race was a real gentleman’s event.  It took place off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island.  Each morning, there was the ritual procession of vessels down the bay and past the old Brenton Reef lightship (about to be decommissioned, as the new Brenton Reef light tower was nearly finished and would soon be placed into service).  This maritime entourage was made up of the escort ships (three navy destroyers and two Casco-class coast guard cutters), the judges’ and officials’ boats from the yacht club, the competitors themselves, Weatherly and Gretel, and finally hundreds of pleasure craft of every description.  The party atmosphere was palpable.

The ships' formation

The navy and coast guard vessels had been scrubbed and painted and polished for weeks.  After all, the President and First Lady would be among the spectators.  The procedure each day was fairly straightforward.  We would proceed to the “operating area” in which that day’s competition would take place.  The large government vessels would form a vee formation with the competing sailboats inside the vee and all pleasure boats outside.  Only the judges and officials could be closer to the competitors than the navy and coast guard ships.  My ship, the Hugh Purvis, was the flagship of the vee formation, which included the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850), the USS Newman K. Perry (DD-883), the USCGC Barataria  (WHEC-381), and another cutter whose name I can’t recall. 


JFK and Jackie observe the race from the "veranda"
aboard the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850)

The President’s entourage embarked each day on the Kennedy, named for the President’s brother, a naval aviator who had died in an aircraft explosion in 1944.  The navy had removed the #2 5-inch gun mount and created a “President’s veranda” on the 01-level forward of the superstructure.  The story circulated at the time was that the veranda had been planked with teak, but photographs taken on that platform lead me to conclude that a canvas surface was installed on the deck, probably to provide a non-slip surface.

Each of the escort ships was used to carry VIPs to the daily race.  We had a few Medal of Honor winners, a couple of Congressmen and their parties, and an Indian Princess among our distinguished guests.  I specifically recall Admiral Joseph James “Jocko” Clark, a veteran of both World Wars and Korea, and the first Native American to graduate from the Naval Academy.  Admiral Clark was the recipient of the Navy Cross, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, and the Navy Commendation medal.  He was typical of the passengers that we had aboard for the Cup Races.


A souvenir cup from the race

The White House had provided the chefs and stewards who fed our distinguished guests each day.  Our ship, as well as the other two destroyers, had completed the Fleet Remodeling and Modernization (FRAM) program, during which a small helicopter hangar had been installed aft of the stacks on the 01-level.  This hangar became the food service area, with a spectacular buffet each day.  Nothing was spared.

The warships lined up in formation as we reached the site of the day’s competition.  Maintaining steerageway was a challenge because we were moving so slowly much of the time.  Each day’s competition involved a total course of 24 nautical miles, but some days’ courses were triangular whereas others were windward-leeward.  The first leg of each course was always into the wind.

Gretel surfs through to windward of Weatherly
 in the 1962 America’s Cup - Maritime Productions Collection

At the end of each day’s race, we’d proceed back into Newport Harbor up past Coaster’s Harbor and Coddington Cove to the Navy piers, where transportation awaited our guests.  The city of Newport awaited them and thousands of other spectators.  There were dozens of parties each night, including many held at the renowned mansions of Newport.  But that’s a story for another time…