Day: May 16, 2025

Quote of the Day: “Be the things you loved most about the people who are gone.” ~Anonymous

I’m certain any men reading this will not find it nearly as odd as I do, but here goes. I was picking up some panty liners at the store the other day when I actually looked at the packaging. (Okay guys, you can skip down to the next paragraph if you like.) Poise (the brand) offers EIGHT levels of protection, and has a little “absorbency guide” printed on the side. I’m fairly certain that these used to say things like “light”, “medium”, and “heavy”, but that has all changed. From least to most: “Drips”, “spurts”, “bursts” (or “jets” for the French), surges, streams, and gushes. I feel certain the advertising geeks who wrote this were raised on slasher movies, graphic novels, and/or killer video games!! The last two levels are reserved for “all day” and “all night”, with no mention of whether we’re talking about a few drops or a Noah-level flood event. Most perplexing is that level 5, (streams), is considered to provide the “maximum” coverage, but apparently that word doesn’t have the same meaning in bladder leakage circles. Going forward I think I’m going to have to read more packaging.

On Friday, December 20, it was time to head north to spend some time with two of our favorite younguns…the Bell Boogers, Angel and Missy AKA Aiden and Madolyn. It’s a LONG drive to Avoca, so we drove as far as Falling Waters, West Virginia, then stopped for the night. .

The next day we picked up the kids at their place and headed over to Great Wolf Lodge Poconos, their Christmas surprise. It was pretty cool, but we were shocked by how crowded it was. Apparently the Christmas break is their busy season. Who knew??!!

We all had a great time playing glow-in-the-dark putt-putt, bowling, playing board games, having a treasure hunt, eating ice cream, and of course, hitting the water park, although Mr. Wonderful (MW) and I were spectators there. On Sunday we went to services in nearby East Stroudsberg at the First Baptist Church, where Madolyn surprised us by knowing the words to all of the songs. She really loves church! Afterwards we had pizza in town at Benvenuto Pizza and Italian Family Restaurant. I think Madolyn’s favorite part of the vaca was the water slides. Aiden liked bowling and golf (glowing and in the dark). MW and I just enjoyed the time with the kids. We couldn’t believe that Aiden is almost as tall as Papa!!

As always, the last day came way too quickly. That morning we were surprised to open the window to several more inches of SNOW!! The parking lot and cars were well-covered, and since getting to their house is up a pretty steep hill, MW and I were more than a little concerned about the roads. It turned out fine, though, and we reluctantly returned the Boogers to their Dad and Step-mom for their Christmas Eve festivities, said our goodbyes, and headed south. The highway was mostly clear, and the snow disappeared about 45 minutes south of Scranton, so that was a relief. It was cloudy most of the day, but started breaking up and gave us some spectacular skies at dusk. We spent the night in Christiansburg, Virginia, then finished the drive home on Christmas morning.

Back at the barn, MW had to take Big Jake in for warranty repairs and recall work. We hung out at the dealership visiting with our friend David while they got it done. Last year, after nearly sliding off the road in Sneedville during the bad weather, I told MW that I wanted to get something with 4-wheel drive. I know it won’t necessarily keep me from sliding, but four traction contact points are better than two in my opinion. The snow on the Pennsylvania trip brought that back to the forefront. I also enjoy driving the truck for most of the year when we are traveling and would really like something big and tall. David suggested a Tahoe, which, to be honest, I’ve wanted since I bought my Trailblazer back in 1999. We checked out a 2025, which was perfect except for a crazy-big digital screen across the dash. He said the 2024s had a much smaller screen, but didn’t have anything but black and silver…my least favorites. A few days later I found one at a dealership south of Asheville, so Big Bertha came to her new home before the end of the year.

Chevrolet side note: Years ago we bought a new truck for MW and had to order it, because he didn’t want all of the fancy stuff on it…power windows, fancy seats, etc. We talked to the guys at the dealership, who first tried to find one at another dealership to transfer in, then ordered it. The order went to Chevrolet the day we signed it and we were given a target delivery date. When we were looking for MW’s new truck, we went to chat with David. Apparently now they have a hard time transferring anything in from other dealers. Additionally, ordering requires an “allotment” from Chevrolet. If they don’t have one available, you just have to wait until one for that specific vehicle type is given to that dealership. So, we waited for several weeks to no avail. Finally, because of our trip schedule, we had to start looking for a truck elsewhere and ended up driving to Ohio! Had David been able to order it when we first sat down, he would have had it in time. Seems to me that is a pretty ridiculous way to handle orders that really messes up the salesmen. We’d much rather have bought from David.

The next couple of months included enjoying time with friends at book club gatherings, girls antiquing days, bible studies, lunches out, and Sunday services. (I’m blessed with an amazing group of ladies in Sneedville and love them all so much!!) Mid-January brought our first good snow…nothing by northerner’s standards, but beautiful and a little slippery for us southerners with the black ice. Big Bertha handled it well, though. We also had a lot of animal visitors at the barn.

In late January I took a solo trip down to Mom and Dad²‘s to spend a little time working on our photo project. We are digitizing the mountains of loose pics that Mom has in storage bins. It’s a JOB!! In the end, though, she can get rid of the prints that aren’t special to her, and we can share all of the digital ones with other family. This is not a short-term deal, though. On this trip I scanned about 1,300 pics, and didn’t even really put a dent in it! Mom and I also worked in a nice, long visit with Aunt Pat and a little shopping, too.

In mid-February we had a LOT of rain in our part of Tennessee. Surface water was flowing off of the mountains everywhere, creeks were very high, and the Clinch River breached TN-33. It is amazing how fast it rises and recedes! We took a ride over to Rustic River Restaurant (formerly Shelly Belles) on the Powell River and found it partially standing in the water. Emergency Management folks came in while we were there to say that water was going to breach the entrance road that afternoon, so they would have to close before that. While eating lunch, we noted quite a few things like coolers, chairs, etc., floating down river.

February was a hard month. Sneedville lost one of the most upbeat, genuinely nice ladies in town…Kim Belcher, owner of The Diner. (If you read this blog much, you know that I’ve eaten a fair quantity of Kim’s chicken!!) I never saw that woman without a great big smile on her face, followed by a big hug and a briefing on the latest town news. She said she wanted to be a stowaway in our RV, but couldn’t leave her grandbabies. While we were away, she read this blog, then wanted more first-hand information when we showed back up. I enjoyed her laughter and hilarious sense of humor and was humbled and in awe of her courage and faith as she battled cancer. I can’t pass the diner now without thinking of her and that smile.

Valentine’s Day, the same day we lost Kim, my dear friend John Hanks lost his precious wife, Linda. When John and I sang together back in the day, I didn’t know her except in passing. Over the past several years, though, we’d become friends through several visits in Utah. There is no doubt to me that she had a direct link to Jesus, because her praise, radiant glow, and joy were never dependent on her circumstances. She had been battling cancer for at least 7 years and was a true inspiration. After her initial diagnosis, she decided to learn to play the cello and committed to regular lessons. When we visited, she gave us impromptu concerts to show her progress, and I wish you could have seen her smile as she played. Linda was selfless and humble and truly one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known. I only wish I’d found that out 35 years ago so I could have known her better. I hope when she arrived in heaven, God asked her to play the cello!

A little over a week later, Sneedville took another hit with the loss of Bill Seals. He was our Tax Assessor, a position he held for 17 years, and was generous, kind, hilarious, and a font of Sneedville knowledge. MW and I would pop into his office with a question and end up listening to his stories about the area. I’m sure someone will fill his job, but I doubt anyone could really fill his shoes.

Near the end of February I took care of something I’ve been wanting to do for years…stock my pond!! You used to be able to buy fish from the state hatcheries, but they no longer do that. Someone pointed me to the Co-op in Rogersville, Tennessee, where a guy comes around once a month from Arkansas with a truck full of various fish. I got catfish, bass, bream, a bunch of minnows, and two grass carp. (I’m hoping the latter will keep the cattails in check.) We brought them home in giant plastic bags of water, then acclimated and dumped them in. In a couple of years, we should be able to fish!! Very exciting!!! Next pond project…a fishing deck along the edge.

One afternoon while sitting outside enjoying the weather, we saw something odd. Among the cedar trees on the hillside, there was a sudden billowing of what appeared to be smoke. It dissipated quickly and took us a few minutes to figure out, but it was POLLEN. The wind hit one of the cedars just right, and a cloud wafted up. I mentioned it to our pastor, Tommy, who said he has seen it happen many times. It’s no wonder people are already having allergy issues.

We enjoyed a bit of spring rodeo over at the Great Smoky Mountains Expo Center in Morristown. As you well know, we really enjoy the bull riding and other events. In the pics this time, I particularly noticed the bull fighter during the bull riding. If you aren’t familiar, the bull fighter’s job is to protect the rider. He pays close attention for the complete ride and puts himself between the bull and the downed rider at the end. That puts them in close proximity to almost a ton of angry beef, and we’ve occasionally seen bull fighters get tossed around. This time that didn’t happen, but you can see how focussed they get in the pics below. (One of the bull fighters is wearing the flag shirt.)

For MW’s birthday (he caught up with me again!) we drove to the other side of Knoxville to check out a cool bit of history. When I was a child during the Cold War, we heard a lot about Oak Ridge. Some adults were afraid of nuclear accidents or it being attacked by our enemies (mainly the Soviet Union at that time). At school in Georgia (and maybe the rest of the country as well), we had nuclear attack practice drills where we huddled underneath our desks or sat in the hallways with our heads between our legs. (As an adult, I have to assume the purpose was to kiss our a**es goodbye, because surely they didn’t think there was any protection to be offered!) Today I know that all the fuss was because Oak Ridge played a vital role in the development of the atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project National Historical Park consists of three units, one each in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Hanford, Washington, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Today, the Oak Ridge unit consists of thirteen sites spread around town. Some are local history, such as the only remaining building from Wheat, Tennessee, a small community taken over by the nuclear project, and the first church built in Oak Ridge. Others are post-war sites like the International Friendship Bell, designed in Oak Ridge and cast in Kyoto, Japan, as a sign of friendship 50 years after Oak Ridge’s founding. Others relate directly to the Manhattan Project and the making of the first atomic bombs.

Despite what many believe, the United States’ development of the atomic bomb was in direct response to Germany’s discovery of nuclear fission. Upon learning of that discovery, Leo Szilard, the physicist who first realized the capability of a nuclear chain reaction, was alarmed. Anticipating another Great War after Hitler came to power in Germany, he had already fled to the United States. If the Nazis had gotten that far, how long would it be before they had the weapon? In 1939, he urged Albert Einstein, already a well-known and respected scientist, to send a letter to President Roosevelt warning that the first building block was in place in Germany. Roosevelt, in turn, provided funding for uranium research. A few short years later, Pearl Harbor drew the United States into the fray, and the powers that be concluded that the feared weapon could definitely be developed in time to determine the outcome of World War II. To fight fire with fire, the Manhattan Engineer District was formed, and scientists went to work. Two routes were researched…using uranium-235 or plutonium, created from uranium. In the end, they decided to move forward with both. With the scientists, led by J. Robert Oppenheimer, sequestered in Los Alamos sciencing the crap out of the problem, uranium production was sent to Oak Ridge, and most plutonium production, to Hanford.

We chose three sites to visit…the American Museum of Science and Energy, the K-25 History Center, and the Y-12 History Center…and learned a lot along the way.

• In choosing sites, the Army wanted areas off the beaten path with very small populations. The spot that became Oak Ridge, located in the Clinch River Valley in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, was ideal with ample electricity from Norris Dam and Watts Bar and plenty of water. The geography of the hills was great for security and safety. Unfortunately, about 1,000 families lived in the area in the small communities of Scarborough, Robertsville, New Hope, New Bethel, and Wheat and on farms on the 59,000 acres needed. Residents received court orders demanding they leave in a matter of weeks, some from farms that had been in their families for generations. In short order, their lives were forever changed. To add insult to injury, the money they were paid wasn’t even brought to them. They had to travel to the United States Court in Knoxville, about 25 miles away. That’s more than a day’s ride on horseback!

• The secret town of around 75,000 people sprung up, initially housing military personnel, scientists, and workers. It included 3 facilities to produce nuclear materials…S-50 liquid thermal diffusion, K-25 gaseous diffusion, and Y-12 electromagnetic separation…for uranium enrichment, as well as a the X-10 nuclear reactor for experimenting in plutonium production. Most of the workers at Oak Ridge had no idea what they were working on. Departments were isolated, and few had the whole picture. Many only found out when “Little Boy”, the first atomic bomb used in warfare, exploded in Japan.

• Gladys Owens arrived in Oak Ridge in December 1944 after a friend told her of available jobs and lots of eligible bachelors. She was a “calutron girl”and sat on a stool in front of a bank of knobs and levers all day. Gladys didn’t know what she was working on, but did know it was important for the war effort. The job ended in August 1945. It wasn’t until almost 60 years later in 2004, when she attended a photo exhibit by Ed Westcott, the only person allowed to take pictures in any Manhattan Project facility, that she learned the details. Among his pics was one of her sitting on her stool at work. She took an updated photo to go along with the original.

• There were 1,600 newspapers sold in Jackson Square in 30 minutes when the war ended!

• There were lots of reminders at K-25 for workers to keep their mouths shut. Everyone including kids 12 and over who lived on Oak Ridge with their parents had to wear a badge.

• When built, the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant was the largest building in the world. The 1-mile-long, u-shaped facility had 4 stories, 10 sections, 54 building units, 545 cells, 3,018 stages, and over 5,264,000 square feet! All of that was just one continual enrichment cascade. After the war, the complex was renamed the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, and four more buildings were added, each containing an area control room. All connected, they extended the single continual enrichment cascade. The original K-25 building contained the Central Control Room, which kept an eye on processing in all of the buildings. It also served as a prototype for other gaseous diffusion facilities built at Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio.

• The gaseous diffusion process uses high pressure to force uranium hexafluoride through membranes resulting in a slight separation between the uranium-235 (lighter) and uranium-238 (heavier) molecules. The captured resulting gas is now slightly “enriched” with more of the lighter molecules than it had before. The gas continues down the line and the process is repeated over and over until the uranium is sufficiently “enriched” for its final purpose.

• Y-12 and its 9 major process buildings, used the electromagnetic separation process to enrich uranium, requiring conductive metal. Since copper was in short supply due to the war, they went with silver. More than 400 million troy ounces, or 14,700 tons then worth over $600 million, were delivered from the U. S. Treasury. After the war, the calutrons were no longer needed to separate uranium as K-25’s process was more economical. The facility was used to experiment with other materials, and eventually separated isotopes of every element on the periodic table. Results influenced nuclear medicine, physics, chemistry, earth sciences, biology, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and other areas. Later after the calutrons were dismantled, all except .00035% of the original amount had been returned.

• The electromagnetic separation process uses a calutron, which is basically a mass spectrometer (think CSI), for separating uranium isotopes. Samples are ionized, which changes their electrical charge, then bounced around by both electric and magnetic fields. Since different isotope ions don’t weight the same, they are deflected differently, causing them to split into separate beams. In the case of uranium, the uranium-235 separates from the uranium-238, and the beam of -235 is now “enriched”.

• In August 1945, there were 936 busses transporting 104,000 people every day in Oak Ridge. At the height of construction, a home was completed every 30 days.

• Once the bombs were ready, one was successfully exploded at the Trinity site in southern New Mexico. Afterwards Oppenheimer said: “We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent.” Germany was already out of the war by then, but Japan was determined to prevail. President Truman sent word to the leaders warning of “prompt and utter destruction” if they didn’t surrender. I watch a lot of war movies and have to believe that the Japanese knew about the explosion in the desert, but they did not give up. Truman weighed the option of an invasion with losses of potentially hundreds of thousands of allied and Japanese soldiers against dropping the bomb.

• “Little Boy” was a gun-type fission weapon, meaning they fired a lump of uranium-235 (think uranium bullet) into a cup of uranium-235 to create the reaction. The confidence level on the design was so high that no weapons tests were conducted. When assembled, the bomb was 10 feet long, more than 2 feet in diameter, and weighed 9,700 pounds. The B-29 Enola Gay departed from the island of Tinian in the Pacific at 3 AM on August 6 and dropped her load over Hiroshima at 8:16 AM. The target was selected due to the military headquarters, extensive supplies, and shipping port. The bomb exploded 1,900′ above the city with the power of 15,000 tons of TNT, destroying everything within a 1-mile radius.

• “Fat Man” aka Mark III was an implosion-type nuclear weapon with a solid core of plutonium-239. It was the larger of the two bombs made and nearly identical to the gadget detonated at the Trinity site. This version would be tested several times and replaced by the Mark IV nuclear device in 1951. The bomb was 10.7′ long, 5′ in diameter, and weighed 10,300 lbs. When no surrender followed the first bomb, the second was sent. The B-29 Bockscar took off to deliver its payload, originally headed for Kokura, Japan. The city was obscured by cloud cover, however, so the crew diverted to their secondary target, Nagasaki, a shipbuilding center and military port. The bomb was released and exploded at 11:02 AM at an altitude of 1,650′. The resulting explosion was the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT and destroyed more than 40% of the city. More than 100,000 people died immediately in the two explosions and many more later of radiation poisoning. Japan finally surrendered and the war was over.

• The secret city of Oak Ridge became official in 1949, when the gates were opened to civilians. Ten years later it was incorporated and evolved into a typical Tennessee town. That is if a world center of scientific study where grand ideas come to life in state-of-the-art laboratories can be considered typical.

• INTERESTING SIDE STORY Around 1900, a man named John Hendrix lived in Bear Creek Valley with his family. In grief and despair after the death of his daughter and separation from his wife and other children, he turned to God, praying for a vision. Legend has it that a voice told him to sleep on the ground for 40 nights, and the future would be revealed. When returning to the community, he told his neighbors that there would be factories, buildings, a city, a railroad, and thousands of workers on the land. “I’ve seen it. It’s coming.” No one believed him, and I bet they thought he was a little bit crazy until his death in 1915. Just 40 years later, the Secret City made all of his predictions come true.

• While the ethical considerations of dropping nuclear bombs continue to be debated, the scientific accomplishment should be seen as nothing less than extraordinary. Germany was already well on its way to a nuclear weapon before we even got started. Without the convenience of computers and advanced technology, these folks figured out how to create a nuclear explosion using two different methods in a relatively short period of time. Since then, their discoveries have been used in nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat disease and in nuclear power both as a clean, safe alternative to coal and as power plants for ships. Y-12 at Oak Ridge is still processing, manufacturing, and storing the nation’s premier uranium, and scientists there are also playing major roles in reducing threats caused by nuclear materials around the world. (If you didn’t see it, the movie “Oppenheimer” tells the science story pretty darned well.)

• Nuclear science at Oak Ridge helped solve a 141-year-old mystery. President Zachary Taylor’s death in 1850 was attributed to gastroenteritis, by his doctor, but many believed it to be poison. The point has been much-debated since then in history books and biographies. In 1991, Taylor’s descendants agreed to an exhumation, and hair and fingernail samples were sent to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. There they were tested using the High Flux Isotope Reactor and proved once and for all that Taylor was not poisoned.

• Oak Ridge is getting involved in space flight, too. Production of plutonium-238, which ended in the 1980s, has begun again with the goal of developing enough to power NASA missions to Mars and beyond. Scientists are also looking at other radioisotopes that may be able to power centuries-long missions to the edge of the universe!

Whew…that’s a LOT! You may recall that we went to White Sands, New Mexico last year, near Alamogordo. We are planning to go there again next year to tour the Trinity Site, where on July 16, 1945, they detonated the first nuclear weapon. Stay tuned!

For MW’s actual birthday on March 15, I didn’t make a cake, but a charcuterie board. I think he was pretty impressed!

Our last bit of fun before leaving town was a visit from BFF Tina and Keith the weekend before. We took a ride over to Elrod Falls near our place, which we had never been to. It was beautiful and bigger than we expected. Afterwards we took them to one of our favorite places to eat, Amis Mill Eatery in Rogersville. Delicious!! As always, we had a great time, albeit too short.

That gets us a good bit closer to today. Who knows…I might be caught up by the time we get back in August!! See you on the path.

Talisa

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