In a message dated 3/7/2010 4:40:44 A.M. Central Standard Time,
olymoose@xxxxxxxxx writes:
I'd be very surprised if I found that more than a few list members don't
accumulate, among their other gear, flashlight/torches.
Dang, why did you have to point out the things could be collected? I was
happy just owning three or four of the things. Maybe I need to go look and
see if I have a good start on a collection. Moose you are not my friend
and I think my wife may not even like you.
Now for a slightly more serious note about these little gems. I received
one for Christmas last year from my 92 year-old Godmother who is always at
a loss for some little gift, not realizing that just having her in my life
is the greatest gift. She does know how important she is to me and my
family. An incredible person who will turn 93 this May. She continues to
lead
by example and to inspire all with whom she comes in contact. The little
light she gave me sits on the bedside table and looks a little like the case
for a retractable dog leash with one set of lights that point down and one
set that points in front of you with an ability to have either on or both.
What makes this perfect is that it does the job of lighting the way, is
not something that I would have found on my own and has already saved me on a
couple of occasions. You might wonder how that might be possible with
just a little bedside light. We have recently moved into what will be our
retirement home in the Texas Hill Country. After a year or so of tearing up
the ground (that should read mainly moving rocks around and bringing fill
material in) and building we have created our little retreat out in the
sticks. All this disturbed the natural habitat of the local denizens and a
few
have decided to come live with us in our abode. The most disturbing to us
of these disturbed denizens is the stinging scorpions and we have
dispatched several families of these little buggers since moving in last
March. We
seem to have them somewhat under control, however this little light has
saved me a couple of times during my nocturnal wanderings.
Although I am a collector and am attracted to same, I don't think I'll add
these little lights to the things I collect.
Without going into great detail, I will share that I am currently working
on a project of photographing people I find interesting. We are each
interesting in our own way and I'm more fascinated by what some folks find
interesting than that to which others are drawn. On a recent outing designed
to
keep my 7 and 9 year old grandsons occupied and entertained I came across
a fellow who collects tractors. My wife says he collects junk which
happens to be tractors, but I see it a little differently, although I can
understand her point of view. He must have somewhere between 50 and 75 of
them in
all sorts of conditions from being fully operational to just being parts
sources for his other tractors. The tractors range from the teens to
probably the 60's or 70's and are housed on the old family homestead. A
couple
of them are fully operational steam tractors and I'm sure worth a bunch of
money. Working on and with these tractors brings him great joy.
Discovering this place which is way off the main road was just a little
serendipitous
result of my entertaining my grandsons. I knew I needed to permission to
photograph this place. I know a fellow who lives near him who owns lamas,
which was where I was headed when I found the tractors, so I asked him if
he knew the guy with the tractors and as one might expect, of course he
did. It turns out the tractor guy is an old bachelor who was a year ahead of
me in school. A few weeks later I stopped by, while taking my wife by to
see the tractors and found him out standing by the fence, chewing the fat
with one of his buddies and stopped and re-introduced myself and yakked with
him a little about his passion. As you expected, I requested permission to
photograph the tractors, which he graciously granted me. Yesterday was
the first time I had a chance to go out there and burn some film and a few
pixels and I spent about 4 hours doing exactly that. It was overcast and I
had a pretty nice soft light the entire time. What fun! When I got there
the owner was at a cattle auction about 40 miles away and, as instructed, I
just started doing what I was there to do. It wasn't too long before a
fellow drove up and started wandering around looking for the owner, so I
walked over and introduced myself. Turns out one of the tractors is his and
we
started gabbing about his old Fordson tractor and his plan for restoring
it. I had on a Studebaker ball cap and so we stared talking about his
collection of Model T's. He only has 16 fully restored ones and a a couple of
truck loads of spare parts that he collects. I had to laugh as there I was
the camera collector guy, standing out in a field, photographing the passion
of the tractor collector guy and taking old cars with the Model T
collector guy.
Guess I find collectors to be interesting folks . . .
Moose, reckon I could photograph your flashlights if I ever get out to
California? I would want you in some of the photographs.
Bill Barber
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