Alumni Sandstorm ~ 10/18/17 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4 Bombers sent stuff, heard about a Bomber death, and memorial INFO for 1 Bomber today: Larry MATTINGLY ('60), David DOUGLAS ('62) Dennis HAMMER ('64), David RIVERS ('65) ************************************************************* ************************************************************* BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Bob CHILES ('58) BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Keith HUNTER ('63) BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Lynn-Marie HATCHER ('68) BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Bob HINKLE ('75) BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Kelly GAINES-FRANKLIN ('84) BOMBER LUNCH Today: '55 Ladies, 11:30, (3rd Wed) Billie LAWELL or Sharon TEMPLEMAN will tell you where BOMBER CALENDAR: Richland Bombers Calendar Click the event you want to know more about. ************************************************************* ************************************************************* >>From: Larry MATTINGLY ('60) To: Dennis HAMMER ('64) My compliments on the refinish of the radio cabinet. Looks very nice. In one period of 3-4 years, back about 20 years ago I picked up and refurbished about 20 old cabinet radios. Some, I refinished/rebuilt for the owners for a right tidy charge, and the rest I sold at flea markets or by other means. Most of what I did was cleaning and refinishing the cabinet and replacing speakers where the old paper cone was torn or even missing. Some of those old cabinets had some serious spider infestation. YUK. With all the very dangerous materials I have handled in my life, I hate spiders. Got bitten twice by a huge black widow. Within 20 minutes with only the one eye, I was seeing double and triple. While I did not get a bed, I hung around the hospital over night so they could keep an eye on me. A couple of years later I got bit again with no effects at all. Replacing the string is a precise type job. The choice of string is important. It needs to have some texture to it to keep it from slipping. And you have to be sure to have the needle and the position of the actual tuner plates synchronized in the correct position or the needle ends up being incorrect. Some radios have a spring arrangement to keep the proper tension on the string. The fellow who did my restringing would set the needle on a local station and then he moved the tuner plates until the station came on clear. Then he marked the position of the plates, and then tightened the string to the right tension to move both at the same time. You have to go around each pulley 2-4 times so the string can get a grip on the various pulleys and move all at the same time. It takes lots of patience. He would take a picture of any existing string for reference later. Tubes can still be found, some from collectors and China is still making some of them. Search the internet for needed tubes. You may find someone in your locale who has one of the old tube testers. They have a small charge to check your tubes. Radio electronics have changed radically. You may need to find some old bearded ham radio operator to get the electronics repaired. Yeah, some of the old guys do shave. For the gold rings you might check with stores that sell the parts to make or repair curtains. Some have endless boxes of fittings. Have fun. -J. Larry MATTINGLY ('60), (Pyro Consultants LLC) ************************************************************* ************************************************************* >>From: David DOUGLAS ('62) Speaking of radio stations (somebody did, I recall), I worked one summer (I think '62) at KPKW in Pasco as engineer and disc jockey, although I don't recall the exact title. I took the train to Seattle to take the engineer exam and think I had a 3rd class license. I went to the station to learn how to turn the transmitter on (I don't think my license allowed that, but I didn't actually turn it on) and operate the console and fill out the log. We had a network news feed but had to substitute PSAs for any alcohol and cigarette ads, since the station was owned by a Christian. I worked Saturdays. I went out by myself my first Saturday to turn the station on about 6AM. I plugged in the transmitter, and the fuse blew. The rule about fuses is, if one blows you try a second one. If that blows too, you find out what's wrong. I put in the only extra fuse, plugged the transmitter back in, and that fuse blew as well. I wasn't familiar with Pasco and didn't know where one bought fuses at 6AM, so I decided to try to find out why the fuses blew. I traced the cord I plugged into the wall back to the transmitter. One of the two wires that had been soldered to the transformer had come loose. I decided to solder it back in place and maybe by the time I had it fixed I could think of somewhere to go to find another fuse. Meanwhile, one of the weekday station operators had turned on his radio to listen to the station and not hearing it came down to the studio to see what was wrong. He knew where to go to get fuses, so we finally got the station on the air, although a bit later than usual. I probably told this story once already, but I also appeared on local TV once. We got our first TV the summer of 1958, just before ninth grade. I watched the only station available from sign-on to the national anthem at the end of the day. One show in the afternoon was a local network production (Yakima, Richland and Walla Walla stations), a homemaker show. The lady hostess had a recipe contest, so I sent in the recipe my eighth grade math teacher had given us for Waldorf Cake, made using Miracle Whip instead of eggs and whatever else is in it. I won - probably because I was the only male to enter. The program originated in Yakima. My mom was pregnant at the time with one or the other of my brothers, so my dad took a day off to drive me up there. The hostess took us to lunch at a very nice restaurant - I got a cake for dessert with sparklers on it. Then we had a tour of the TV station, and finally I baked my cake on TV. I got one fan phone call afterward. It was an interesting experience. In a box somewhere I still have the Junior cookbook I got as a souvenir. One year we had unusual sunspot activity. We had a UHF TV antenna that was next to the phone line to the house. For some reason I happened to turn to one of the VHF channels and actually got a station - in Alberta, Canada. It faded out and I got many other stations from as far away as Louisiana. I plotted them on a map, and the plot made nice curves with Richland at the center. -David DOUGLAS ('62) ~ Mesa, AZ where I'm still swimming in the pool while it's warm ************************************************************* ************************************************************* >>From: Dennis HAMMER ('64) Re: Nerd question ???? I have a question that probably only a nerd or someone who works in a certain field (and I don't know what field that would be) would know. Last August we made a trip to Spokane for three days. The trunk light stopped working so I stuck one of those little flat LED lights that has a little round magnet on the back to the inside of the trunk lid to use as a trunk light. There was a lot of smoke in the air here in the Tri-Cities, Spokane, and in Coeur d'Alene, ID. I assume it was the heat of the Sun made the glue come loose and the light dropped off the trunk lid. I was unable to pull the magnet off with just my hand and haven't tried to use some tool yet. A week or so ago I noticed there is a little circle of dirt on the outside of the trunk lid, so I checked and it is exactly where that magnet is stuck and exactly the size and shape of the magnet. It is a little ring of dirt following the outside edge of that magnet. What could have caused that????? It has rained and I assume the water has something to do with it. Is there iron in the smoke from the trees in the fires??? Does the dirt become attracted to a magnet??? Did the magnet cause the water to form a bead that caused it???? I would not think a magnet would have any impact on either dirt, smoke, or water. It has not been waxed so that had nothing to do with it. Thinking about getting a horse shoe shaped magnet and seeing it the dirt will form the outside shape of a horse shoe. Re: Astrophysics question ???? In High School I saw a UFO (Unidentified FALLING object). My mother made curtains for my bedroom that covered only the bottom part of the windows on McPherson Ave, she called them cafe curtains. One night I woke up and without moving at all saw a really bright "star." It was due West and at least as bright a Venus. In fact, if I had just gone back to sleep I would have said it WAS Venus and probably would not have even remembered it. I was thinking that was really cool, then all of a sudden at great speed it shot straight down. In the late '70s I told someone I worked with I had seen a UFO and described it. He said, "Aw, you just saw a shooting star." I told him it was not a meteorite, I have seen meteorites before and they are moving when you first see them and moving when they go out of sight. They don't just hang there motionless, then all of a sudden take off at great speed. This was far brighter than any meteorite I have seen, but I suppose it could be a much bigger one or closer to earth and heading straight for me, however . . . it would have to break the laws of physics to all at once make what would have to be a nearly 90 degree turn. Only thing I can think of that would look like this is if someone had put a Coleman lantern on a balloon or kite (these days they would use a drone) put it into the air and it dropped off. Now that would be an incredibly stupid thing to do unless it was over a large body of water, and what I saw would have to have been over Richland. Anyone have any ideas that make sense???? -Dennis HAMMER ('64) ************************************************************* ************************************************************* >>From: David RIVERS ('65) Re: Radios I recall having two radios in my yute... One was a gray Zenith that turned on and off by opening and closing the little "door"... the other was a short wave monster (like one of those cell phones in a bag size) with a 100 pound battery... Keith PETERSON ('65) and Craig DAVIS ('65) and I used to go from station to station looking for any rock 'n' roll song... later I always listened to the Real Don Steele (NAB) and Lynn BRYSON ('57-RIP)... don't recall the station but man did I love to just lay on my bed and listen (laziness... )... Lynster's theme song was Straight Flush by the Frantics... dang I remember that song so very well... now. What if I'd been listening with our Bomber B-day Babe... woo hoo... that would mean we could share the memory with everyone... ahhhhhh but alas... I am fairly certain no Bomber-babe ever entered my bed room... waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Lynn-Marie HATCHER ('68) on your special day, October 18, 2017!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -David RIVERS ('65) ************************************************************* ********************** HEARD ABOUT ************************** ************************************************************* Heard about this Bomber death today: Jody KENDRICK LeMaster ('66-RIP) ~ 8/5/48 - 10/9/17 ************************************************************* ********************** MEMORIAL INFO ************************ ************************************************************* not a memorial - only INFO today Bill CRADDOCK ('61-RIP) ~ 1/28/43 - 10/4/17 Celebration of Life: TOMORROW, Thursday, October 19, 2017, 1pm Events at Sunset, 915 Bypass Hwy, Richland ************************************************************* ************************************************************* That's it for today. Please send more. *************************************************************