Navy vessels on the Mississippi & Ohio Rivers

[Gene East]

Many people under the age of 60 are unaware of the contributions made in the war effort during World War II by inland boat yards.

Hundreds of landing craft were built in Quincy and then sent down river to New Orleans and shipped to Europe or the Pacific.

O.F. Christner was was a welding supervisor and trainer at the Quincy boat yard.

Evansville Indiana employed 19,000 workers building LST's (landing ship tank)
turning out 2 ships per week during the peak of the war.

There are only 2 LST's in the world still capable of navigating under it's own power. One of those ships has been on display this week in Hannibal.

I toured that ship with my 2 oldest sons and grandsons today.

In 1961 this ship was de-commissioned and "mothballed" at Green Cove Springs, FL.

In 1962 the US Navy sent me to Green Cove Springs to salvage equipment from LST's scheduled to be transferred to the Greek Navy.

The ship I was on today was transferred to Greece in 1963 and was later purchased by a group of Americans who are creating a mobile historical museum.

It is entirely possible that the decks I walked today, I walked 46 years ago.

Even more ironic, as we were leaving we were delayed as the ship's crew lifted an elderly gentleman in a wheel chain onto the deck.

A younger woman; presumably his daughter, said "He was at Omaha Beach, he got there on an LST". I got choked up when the officer of the deck said, "This ship was at Omaha Beach"!

Could it be that he had walked these decks 64 years ago???

My grandsons got to see two American heroes today. One was flesh and blood, the other was steel and gray paint

To learn more about LST-325 go to www.evansvillecvb.org

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

My late Fathers only long trip on a "ship", if an LST can truly be called one, was from New York to North Africa just prior to the Allied invasion of that Continent in WWII. He landed in either Tunis or Bizirte ?(spelling) after the invasion in what would now be Lybia I believe. He was in the SeeBees and was responsible for one of the warehouses where supplies for the invasion were being stockpiled and then dispersed to the armies in the field.

I will never forget him talking about the trip across the Atlantic on that ship. As Gene mentioned, LST stands for "Landing Ship Tank", and I'm sure most of you have seen the pictures of the LST's run up on the beach with the front of the ship swung open like two doors on a cupboard so the tanks and other wheeled equipment could drive down a ramp and up on the beach. The type construction that made the LST capable of this type landing, was it had a flat bottom, so as to enable it to run itself up on a beach or other relatively flat surface. I can only imagine what the trip across the atlantic must have been like. My Dad told me the LST's only had a cruising speed of about 15-20 knots, and the whole convoy had to go at the speed of the slowest ship. Because of storms in the Atlantic, and the flat bottom of the LST, it was a VERY rough ride. It took 30 days for the crossing and he never had any desire after returning home to take any type of sea voyage again. He also never ate Spam after that trip overseas. My mother attempted to serve it one time in the early fifties, and my Dad said if she ever opened a can of that in the house again, he was leaving. Only time I ever saw my Dad have a harsh word to my Mother about what was on the table for supper.

[RichardKCMo]

Gene , it's good to hear that you've gotten eveything in line , glad to hear that things seem to ok with your son .

At any rate i read with int. what happens , tho i'm not a dem. or pub., i won't say i'm Apollitical, but close maybe, Pual scares me as much as i don't want to admit it , as i have a lot of animosity also but anyways , HI.
RichardKCMO.

[RichardKCMo]

I aplligize for the out burst, didn't know thuought it was a private message, sorry for airing the laundry, anyhow hear i am , so i guess as my DaD said , i've got big shoulders.

I'm going on from here, as i'm not 70 yet...
RichardKCMo

[Original Looper 1]

People could follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity.

[Gene East]

Correction:

My original post stated the shipyard at Evansville built 2 LST's per day. That should have been 2 ships per week.

That's still an amazing accomplishment considering the size (330 ft.) and complexity of these ships.

Another thing I noticed on this ship was a number of Gardner-Denver pumps,
built in Quincy, Illinois.

Bill, thanks for your input. I have never sailed onboard an LST. I was a destroyer sailor, but we did operate with some LST's and you are correct. They were rough riding SOB's.

BTW: I like Spam and so did Cliff Johanssen. Do you remember him??

[Master Oil Racing Team]

My Dad was a carpenter working in the Panama Canal zone when WWII broke out. He enlisted in the navy. I'm not sure of all the islands he was on, but I do know he was at Guam, Siapan and Okinawa. His job was following behind the island hopping invasions and repair landing craft for the next move. I think he must have been on Saipan for awhile though like in a central repair docks because him and the guys in his unit were able to "soup up" one of the boats that took people around in the corner, and it was the fastest boat of its type on the base. After the commander saw how fast it was, it became the boat he used to be shuttled around in.:D I forget all the kinds of landing craft he worked on, but there are more different types than people may realize, from the great big ones to the ones you usually see coming up on the beaches. They each had their specialized uses. That's something else to think that you and that gentlman may have walked on that very LST Gene. My Dad liked spam and when he was first learning to cook for us kids, he did the easy to cook navy food including SOS.

[Dave_E71]

A couple of years ago when I was in the Pacific on Kwajalein for work, I made a 150 mile trip on a LCT (~60' landing craft) for my duty on Gilligans Island, I don't envy anyone who had to travel far on any of that type of boat/ship. Although, it did look mighty good the morning it showed up to pick us up after a month in the field. One of the funnier stories (other than the night I woke up with a lizard walking across my chest and me standing on my cot laughing and swearing like a sailor) was the look on one of the guys I worked with face when he came up on the "bridge" to talk to the captain and I had the helm and there wasn't anybody else there.

Some valuable resources for anyone researching the history of many US Navy ships are,
http://www.hazegray.org/
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/index.html

LST 325 in particular
http://www.hazegray.org/features/lst325/
http://www.uslst.org/lst325.htm

Dave

[Gene East]

Can't you just see "Baldy" souping up a "Mike boat" and Wayne thought he got the "old man" started in boat racing. Finally the truth emerges.

Spam was a staple on board ship and man, you can't believe how big the cans were. Must have been 15-20#. Olive drab of course. (Actually, they were about half that size).

It was common practice to stash a can or two when loading stores for a midnight snack. If you were in tight with the cooks they'd slip you a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven. Spam on hot bread is very tasty at 02:00. That's 2:00AM for you non-military types.

Wayne says "Baldy" fed him Spam and SOS as a kid. Nothing wrong with either of those.

Norma and I were surprised when we went to Hawaii this spring to learn how popular Spam is there. The Hawaiians even were Spam tee shirts.

I mentioned Cliff Johanssen earlier. He was a maintenance supervisor in the Hormel plant in Austin, MN. the home of Spam. Cliff raced A & B Hydros and runabouts. He was a big man, well over 6 feet tall and he drove in a very erect position. The wind drag must have slowed him down 2-3 MPH.

Cliff had a young protoge, Frank Earl. I last spoke with Frank at Depue several years ago. I tried to contact him about the reunion last year but never was able to find him.

If anyone knows how to contact Frank, tune him in to what we do here.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

The funny thing about my Dad cooking Spam was, when I was on my own in college and didn't know how to whip up a quick meal, I cooked Spam in the way I saw my Dad cook it. The college friends liked it and they asked me what Spam was. In the tradition of my Dad, (as Bill Van would accuse), I told them it was made of chicken lips, pigs ears and stuff they didn't want to know.;):D But Gene...what about SOS? You didn't like that?;)

[Master Oil Racing Team]

The funny thing about my Dad cooking Spam was, when I was on my own in college and didn't know how to whip up a quick meal, I cooked Spam in the way I saw my Dad cook it. The college friends liked it and they asked me what Spam was. In the tradition of my Dad, (as Bill Van would accuse), I told them it was made of chicken lips, pigs ears and stuff they didn't want to know.;):D But Gene...what about SOS? You didn't like that?;)

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Gene:

As I have accused Wayne in the past, sometimes our "genes" get in the way of what we may or may not have liked if we never heard the negatives. My feeling about spam is much the same as my Father's and as I heard a fellow say about Buttermilk.

He said the taste of Buttermilk was OK, what made him sick was the way the glass looked on the inside after you drank it.

My feeling about spam doesn't have as much to do with the taste, or even the appearance of the spam itself. It's that clear, snotty looking, vibrating, shaking, shimmying stuff that it is packed in. Thats TERRIBLE looking stuff, and I could never forget about it while trying to eat the spam, as no matter how hard you try to get rid of it all, there is always a little clinging to it somewhere, no matter how hard you try to wipe it all off. You will always see it on the way to your mouth, after you thought you had it all gone!!!

Wayne: I DO NOT want to hear what the clear stuff is.

[Gene East]

Bill,

If you fry Spam, that stuff is gone. Try it with eggs for breakfast. It's been a while since I've had Spam. My boys and I fix it on camping trips. Norma won't allow it in the house.

Perhaps we can get Charley to cook Spam instead of alligator at the next reunion.


Wayne,

Of course I like SOS. When you get down to basics, that's not much different than bisquits and gravy and I never met a true Southern boy who didn't like bisquits and gravy.

BTW:

What are you guys doing up so late?

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Gene:

I suppose your statement about that "stuff" being gone after cooking or frying spam is correct. BUT, you still have to get it out of the can, and that is where the "stuff" is at it's worst and most visable. I will still pass, both on the Spam and the "stuff".

And before you suggest I get someone else or pay someone to get it out of the can and cook it for me so I could enjoy it that way, I am just not really interested in putting anyone else through that experience either. I worked in a funeral home as an embalmers assistant right after coming home from college, and even that does not compare with opening a can of spam. Some folks are like that about oysters, I like oysters, so it is just not the look or feel of spam, there is something more involved. Like the Supreme Court justice said when trying to define pornography, "I can't explain it, but I know it when I see it." Same with me and spam, I know it when I see it.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

There's nothing wrong with that stuff Bill Van. It's just a preservative by way of filling the rest of the can up. What else would you want it to be packed in...water?...olive oil?...tomato sauce? Just think green :( and recycling. They grind up the hooves, treat and boil it, settle out solids and skim scum, then use what's rendered as a gelatin preservative.:cool: You probably liked to smell the glue in elementary school right? Horses hooves. Remember they used to send the old swayback horses to the glue factory.

Do you not like vienna sausages either Bill Van? When my nephew was about 2 or 3 years old or so, my sister Jan handed him a vienna sausage to taste. He had never seen one before. He crossed both hands over his private parts and began to whimpering and crying out "No.....no..no..no.." He had a terrified look on his face, and he was so traumatized he still remembers it to this day. But now he laughs about it.

[F-12]

Do you REALLY want spam instead of gator? I can include some in with the gator so it at least has some flavor other than the gooey packaging.........I like fried spam though. Might be a thought................just for Gene

[lilabner]

I'm an LST veteran..LST 1164, Walworth County, built in 1952 in Pascagoula, Miss..As a Marine, I was on a couple more also from 64-68, but remember this one the most..Spent 2 months on it..not good, not bad..ate all the above mentioned and was thankful I had it..Would eat anything I was given in a can or otherwise..lost 40 lbs in Nam..came back at 139 lbs, 6'2", and a 29 waist...
Semper Fi

[ProHydroRacer]

[QUOTE=Bill Van Steenwyk.......It took 30 days for the crossing and he never had any desire after returning home to take any type of sea voyage again. He also never ate Spam after that trip overseas. My mother attempted to serve it one time in the early fifties, and my Dad said if she ever opened a can of that in the house again, he was leaving. Only time I ever saw my Dad have a harsh word to my Mother about what was on the table for supper.[/QUOTE]

Bill,
My dad told me the same thing about the sea voyage and Spam. He landed at Normandy with the 3rd Armor. Got hurt there and was laid up for over two years. He and I both ended up with bad arms his left my right.
Bill

[Gene East]

Wayne,

Do you suppose Bill likes Jell-o???

Let's not tell him.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I wondered about that myself Gene. That's why I didn't say anything. But then I was wondering about why you thought it might be better for Charley to cook spam instead of gator tail? The thought did cross my mind for Charley to have an open can half full of spam next to the frying pan while he was simmerin' some gator tail. That might mean more for the rest of us.;):D

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Not to eat, but to play with, in a pit, with members of the opposite sex. I may be old, but my imagination is still quite active.

[RichardKCMo]

Both to eat and Ahem!! with.
You guys crack me up having never been in the army.
Having a crazy cousin though that was ind. wealthy from an invention though.

He aquired a lifeboat from an old lake freighter , and was a carpenter also as was his Father , on a liberty ship.
He had to work with concrete, so he painted a water line on this thing , and ordered a truck of ready mix for ballast and poured until.

Wayne , his heartbreak that week was he had to dump a good portion of the load.

Just wouldn't hold that much, before computers you know, even if you lick the lead anyways.

What i was going to say was all i know about boats is 1st hand.

RichardKCMo

[Gene East]

Not only can concrete be used as ballast, hulls can actually be poured from concrete.

On my assigment to Green Cove Springs, I saw several ships with concrete hulls.

If you displace the weight over large enough area, I supposed most anything will float.

[Smokin' Joe]

My dad was radar technician on the carrier Monterey, Halsey's Fleet. Went to Okinawa, Tokyo. After the war he was allergic to 'Navy beans'. Our racing interest started with his Chris Craft kit boat and 25 Johnson around 1955, a friend had a similar rig but my dad's was always faster. We had the luck to participate in NOA racing during the birth of OPC around Knoxville 1958-1960. He grew up cutting tobacco on a farm, had two pairs of jeans, wore jeans again in the navy and refused to wear jeans afterward. At races he rolled up his long sleeved starched white shirt sleeves, and the legs of his gabardine pants and then drove barefoot. He wasn't stiff, he just hated blue jeans after the navy. He won races in white shirt and gabardine pants. But he wasn't a mechanic, I was the mechanic.





My Dad was a carpenter working in the Panama Canal zone when WWII broke out. He enlisted in the navy. I'm not sure of all the islands he was on, but I do know he was at Guam, Siapan and Okinawa. His job was following behind the island hopping invasions and repair landing craft for the next move. I think he must have been on Saipan for awhile though like in a central repair docks because him and the guys in his unit were able to "soup up" one of the boats that took people around in the corner, and it was the fastest boat of its type on the base. After the commander saw how fast it was, it became the boat he used to be shuttled around in.:D I forget all the kinds of landing craft he worked on, but there are more different types than people may realize, from the great big ones to the ones you usually see coming up on the beaches. They each had their specialized uses. That's something else to think that you and that gentlman may have walked on that very LST Gene. My Dad liked spam and when he was first learning to cook for us kids, he did the easy to cook navy food including SOS.

[Roy Hodges]

I served MY time in the Air Force , (1958-1962) and I liked S O S !

[jeff55vDSH]

An LST stopped at the Quad Cities on the Mississippi this fall. I veiwed it from the outside only. Too big of a line waiting to get into it. I hate standing in line. Maybe that's my own side affect from the Navy. No complaints about my time in the service though. What an adventure! And a learning experience.
(Also, I had enough S.O.S. in the Navy to last a lifetime!)

[Gene East]

Jeff,
The ship you saw in Quad Cities was the same one I toured in Hannibal.
We had a long line there as well. My opinion was the wait was well worthwhile.
Perhaps my knowlege of the Hannibal riverfront and the location of all the heads (restrooms) helped

[racnbns]

I was in the Navy from 1952 to 1955[kiddy cruise]. My home port was Sheboygan WI. The navy had a fleet of ships that were manned by reg. navy and trained the naval reserve. There were about 7or8 ships in the fleet. There were about 4 PCE a couple of DE one LSM. We would cruise from late aplil to late Oct., then go in the shipyard for repairs and then home to our homeport for the winter and routine work.

Joined the navy to see the world and saw the great lakes!

Bruce

[Gene East]

Bruce,

The important factor here is:

The Navy got to see you!!

Happy New Year old friend!

[fbref5269]

bruce,

what was the navy afraid of in the 50's an invasion from canada?

have a happy new year!

frank

[racnbns]

Bruce,

The important factor here is:

The Navy got to see you!!

Happy New Year old friend!

Happy New year Gene:

We made it thru another one! Maybe it's time for another CARPFEST!

It'd be great if we could get Charlie to make some GATOR JERKY and bring it!

I'll catch ya later,
Bruce

[Gene East]

Bruce,

Norma and I eat at the River House nearly every Wednesday night.

This week the weather was bad. Only 4 people there when we arrived, the cook, the waitress and us. Got busier later on.

Believe it or not, your name came up.

For the uninformed, Bruce hosted a live on-line boat racing chat session from the River House (specialty carp sandwiches) a couple of years ago. Present were Bruce and Shirley, Tim and Ann Chance, Art and Nancy Neadeck, Mark and Ramona Hummelsheim and Norma and me.

The place was crowded and WE were a little noisy, but the crowd really began to wonder "Who are these nuts" when Bruce stood up using a looper megaphone to amplify his voice and announced, " Ladies and gentlemen, live from the River House Bar and Grill on the beautiful Quincy, IL riverfront etc. ect. ect."

We had a great time and Bruce, you're right. We need to do it again!!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

....about this carp sandwich. I guess everybody has carp in the waterways. When they get more than 4 or 5 lbs down here, we call them "buffalo". Same fish, but they look different. The colors change, and Andrew caught one on Big Red and Corn Flakes that went about 12 1bs when he was 8 or 9. We always considered them a trash fish because the bones were all throughout the meat. How do you make a carp sandwich? Steam it & get the meat off? I am really interested.:cool:

[Gene East]

Wayne,

As the son of a commercial fisherman, I can tell you carp is very tasty when properly prepared.

Back then Dad got 35 cents per pound for carp and $1.00 a pound for catfish.
Do the math, 8 kids to feed, give them carp, sell the catfish! No brainer!

As you indicated carp and its cousins, buffalo, suckers and the like are very boney. That problem is eliminated by cutting the scales off with a sharp knife rather than just scaling them. We call this process "fleecing". The skin is much too thick otherwise. Then fillet like you would a bass or crappie. You can leave the rib bones on, cut off the rib section and fry that seperately. The rib bones make readily avaiable tooth picks.


Most people around here cut the ribs away from the flesh and end up with 2 fillets that are very boney above and behind the rib area.

Next step is very important!

Lay the fillet skin side down on your cutting board and make cuts ACROSS THE GRAIN down to but not through the skin every 1/4 inch the length of the fillet. You can feel and hear the bones being cut! You are now ready to cook although I generally soak the fillets in salt water overnight.

Using your favorite breading mix, I prefer Andy's, but often make my own, bread the fillets. Be sure to work the breading into the grooves you have cut.

Drop into hot oil and fry until the fillets float to the top. The 1/4 inch bone fragments are softened by the frying process and you'll never know they are there.

Perhaps we should rename this thread. We've talked about Spam, SOS, gator and now carp. Do you have a recipe for armadillo??

If you see Art, ask him about eating carp, or better yet come to Quincy and go to the River House as my guest,

[Master Oil Racing Team]

...so I'll question him. When the Quincy Museum is looking like a go...I will come up there to try the carp burgers.:cool: Actually, the name River House makes me want to try more than just the burgers.

As far as armadillo goes...I haven't eaten any since a study was done about armadillos in Louisiana around 1982 :eek::mad:found they were a carrier of leprosy.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

The folks I know who really know how to prepare Carp call it "scoring". The process exposes the bones and the hot oil basically melts or vaporizes them, removing them from the meat. If you can get around what most folks have always heard about Carp being "trash" fish or bottom feeders, they are absolutely delicious, especially outdoors, deep fried, between two pieces of bread with a couple of beers.

I will leave it to Wayne to suggest what type of different "dressings" might go well. Knowing him as I do and remembering earlier posts he made on this thread, he will probably suggest "that stuff" that comes in the spam can. It is mostly in the southern states I believe that they are known as "Buffalo", or at least that is what I always called them while living in Arkansas as a kid.

In addition to good eating, they will give you all you want in the way of a fight on a rod and reel. They are fished for in England as a sport just like Bass fishing here in the US. One of Ralph Donald's good friends, Douglas Willey, really got into carp fishing after he retired from boat racing. When he came to the US to be the "scrutineer" for the WC's held in Winter Haven in the 90's, he brought his fishing gear with him. I had never seen such small hooks, not much more than 1/4" long and with no barb at all. They think catching a 5-10 lb carp over there with anything other than this type hook, so as not to injure the fish, is "not sporting". When I used to play hooky from work sometimes, a buddy of mine and I would go to a "pay lake" in Kansas City and fish for them, as they are commonly stocked in that type of fishing lake. Made our bait from Wheaties and Strawberry Soda, by mixing the two together into a big glob, and then molding in on a treble hook. The carp went nuts over it, plus after a few beers, it didn't taste bad either, if you got hungry.

[Gene East]

Carp can be quite a challenge on a rod and reel. My ex-brother in law and I were fishing Table Rock for bluegill (bream to southern boys) using ultra light rods and 2# test line.

Mike got a strike,set the hook and said, "This ain't no bluegill". The fish was a carp that weighed 12 pounds. It took about 1/2 an hour to land him and other fishermen passing by stopped their boats to watch that tiny rod flex and bend.

When we finally boated the fish, Mike got a standing ovation from the onlookers. Most fishermen on Table Rock are after large mouthed bass.

While bass fishermen generally have a low regard for carp, they do understand the "bugle mouth bass or sewer trout" as they are sometimes called is a worthy opponent.

Carp from a deep clean body of water such as Table Rock are excellent table fare as well.

Douglas Willey would probably consider me a colonial scoundrel. My favorite way to harvest carp is with a bow and arrow.

I shot one last spring that was 33 inches long and weighed over 19 pounds.

Normally that would have been quite a tussel. as any fish over 5 pounds puts up a scrap when you stick an arrow through his side.

Unfortunately I missed my mark, hit the fish in the head killing it instantly and I just reeled in dead weight. What a disappointment!

This thread has become a bit of a recipe book for unusual foods, all of which I've tried. But after reading Wayne's comments about armadillos, I'll pass.

Does anyone have a recipe for possum???

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Never ate a possum, but I can tell you...stay away from the big racoons, They're too greasy. When you drink cold ice tea after a couple of bites of adult racoon, grease solidifies on your lips and the rim of your glass. Feels like you smeared your lips with chapstick.

When I was a kid I brought down a roadrunner with my ACME 12 gauge while we were hunting quail. I don't really remember why I did, but they are quite tasty. And when you get all the feathers off, they are not much bigger than a quail. Hispanics in South Texas and Mexico eat them to cure boils.

It has been an interesting thread with all these different foods Gene. After I finish the Amazing Story I have been planning to start one that will be interspersed with some of my Dad's recepies. He lived to entertain boat racers at our house. We would have fun racing all spring,summer and fall , then talking about it all winter with friends, food and drink.

[Gene East]

Sorry I never made a race at Baldwinville. I'm sure everyone had a great time from the stories I've heard.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Happy New Year from the Great White North! Anyone want to talk to me about global warming should sit his or her bare *** down here in what little we have for snow for a spell and give me their thoughts after more than 5 weeks of minus 25 degrees below zero Centigrade and worse plus wind chill here in the northern part of the Red River Valley. If there is such as thing as global warming, then it sure ain't here!!!!! :)

Ever see the extension electrical cord going to the block heater of your car so it will start then refuse to coil up for storage while you use your car? How about buying a new electrical extension cord from Home Depot that got so cold it refused to uncoil so you could plug you car in? :)

One emailer asked me if I could turn over a Merc 4 banger at that low temperature stored in the garage at around minus 40 degrees below zero Centigrade, so I went and tried it and of course it did albiet slower than normal. :)

**Historical Point** Back in 1812 the British (aka now Canadians) invaded Washington during the War of 1812 and burned the Whitehouse down! I have no idea what they used for matches in those days but they must have been real big as there are no matches around here for sale these days that could even light under the cold conditions here right now. And if they did have good matches gasoline was not even invented yet so they must have had a long time to do the job!

As for the Ruski yoyos chattering on tv about the USA breaking up and Canada grabbing the middle as the other 4 corners went their separate ways? The middle of the USA would have to be stark raving crazy to want anything to do with the extreme far right wingers we have up here that would make your right wingers look like a children's church choir on Sunday who were still just learning how to sing in tune! LOL!

[Roy Hodges]

If our (wrong) right wingers are so tame compared to yours , it is your DUTY to keep yours north of the border. But, i can feel some sympathy for you . The problem is that ours want to turn the U.S. into "Mexico north". Where about 3% of the people control 97% of the wealth. And, NO real middle class.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Roy:

That is about the situation here where 5% control the other 95% no one likes to admit to but in actuality where the family type and professions "compacts" have had an unbroken opportunity to strengthen their networks and right wing rule for the previous 300 years unbroken by such a thing as your civil war it took to forge the USA as a nation. We or better still they the compacts would have none of that here!! Your Americans first and foremost there where here everyone by government policy here is a hyphenated some one else from some where else so they not so jokingly refer to me as an Amero-Kannuck of which I am actually proud of though I wish they would get their act together here and just term themselves as you do there as Americans would just be plain Canadians here. We still have an identity crisis here! LOL!

Did you hear about the radio talk show up here recently? They asked the radio listening phone in crowd what you as a Canadian would do if the USA offered you a green card? Over 75% said they would move to the USA so fast the dust would not have a chance to settle by the time they were gone! LOL!

Most Canadians are worried about the socalled and getting much more talked about than ever before, North American Union and most paradoxically here oppose it yet this country is by known quantity a branch plant economy of the USA. Our economies are so well merged and integrated both sides might be shocked at just how interdependent we really are and both sides actually dependent on just that. That is why Obama is visiting here first! He wants to see how the ``hypenated`` live!! Still with all this you have to sense of humor as that is something no one can control! :)

If you want to hear more about this sort of stuff and a lot of other interesting topics go to the website or listen to ``coasttocoastamradio.com``- Coast to Coast AM Radio (after midnite central time) with George Norry, Art Bell etc. out of St. Louis, Mo, USA. It is heard around the world and gives listeners insights into their own countries and topics with them they may never have heard of before.

Duty Accepted!

[Roy Hodges]

Now that you mention it , one of my pet peeves is "french-American or Danish American, or Afro- American, etc. I am An american ! If pressed I'd say I'm an American- English ! NOT English American !Our homeland , or Your homeland should come FIRST , not second . If someone's country of origin is MORE important than the country he's living in , GO back there .

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Roy: Those are my sentiments completely. My sentiments grate on local politicians nerves around here on this hyphenated crap to the point where some government vigilante appointee ingrates have made the suggestion very recently that I go back to the USA where I came from! LOL! I refuse to hyphenate anyone's racial origins in meeting, dealing with them or talking about them. That here is a sin and not politically correct if you could believe! Fancey that? My father who killed or incapacitated facists in WWII until he was POW'd and then after 1945 as a military police officer on base in Nuremberg took fervent Nazis to court then to the gallows or to prison afterward to keep the world free of those types whose decendents are now into this extreme right wing political correctness here. Moving here to Canada afterwards he at times wondered out loud with the renewed right wing racism going on here if right wing fascism had simply just changed sides of the Atlantic! Toward his later years he sure was disgusted with this hyphenated garabage ever more so because he saw himself as simply a Canadian opposing the government that got into this multi-cultural mosiac crap that led to this hyphenation. Time to do away with this hyphenation crap because all it does is divide and nothing more.

[kws]

bruce,

what was the navy afraid of in the 50's an invasion from canada?

have a happy new year!

frank

from my studying recent history. There were many pentagon types that felt the ruskies wanted to slip subs in to the great lakes during the cold war. That could be just a rumor. but... the logic being that we were looking for inbound missiles from points abroad. Not looking for anything coming from within the continent.

[kws]

Now that you mention it , one of my pet peeves is "french-American or Danish American, or Afro- American, etc. I am An american ! If pressed I'd say I'm an American- English ! NOT English American !Our homeland , or Your homeland should come FIRST , not second . If someone's country of origin is MORE important than the country he's living in , GO back there .

You got that right Roy!
I am sick and tired of all the hyphenation. I agree it only divides people.
I am an American! of German descent if necessary. I am not a German-American

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Just happened to see a piece on the NBC network news this evening that the Hormel Co., the manufacturer of SPAM, is doing just great economically, no matter the hard times that seem to have hit the rest of the United States.. A Hormel spokesperson was quoted, while standing along side a production line that showed the last "contents" being injected into the container before the lid was fastened on, that they were running full speed, 24/7, turning out approximately 400 cans of spam per minute. Various folks were also being interviewed about their eating and enjoying SPAM, including the new POTUS, shown purchasing a SPAM sandwich from a concession stand at some event he recently attended. I noticed his sandwich seemed to contain lettuce and tomato, but no mayonaise, which really looks a lot like that "stuff" in the can along with the SPAM, and which I really don't like the looks of. I would hope we would not hear that Hormel has received any "stimulus" funds, as based on this news report, it would seem the company does not need them.

I am happy to learn that there are still companies doing well economically in these hard times, and was ALMOST persuaded to give some SPAM a try soon, so as to do my part for the economy. The thing that spoiled that thought forever though, was I SAW WHAT THEY WERE SQUIRTING IN THE CAN RIGHT BEFORE SEALING THE LID ON. It was that awful "stuff" again, that is found in the can along with the SPAM. and it really ruined any thought I may have had of making a small contribution to the economic recovery that we are being told is so neccessary at this time. Just goes to show that the news media really don't want any "good news" these days. I think I'll just get some more of the salty dried beef the next time I shop. At least it doesn't have that ^#$%* "stuff" in the jar.

[Roy Hodges]

Wot ? you don't like gelatin and fat ? the Hawaians love it !

[Master Oil Racing Team]

When I was a kid, my Dad would slice SPAM about 1/4 inch thick and fry it before making a sandwich with mustard. We also ate it sliced on a sandwich right out of the can. I like it. And when I fuel up at the "Last Chance" gas stop at Encinal before heading to the "soon-to-be...no-man's land" 50 miles northeast of Laredo, I get SPAM, tuna (but not Star Kist), sardines, crackers, cheese, hulled sunflower seeds, big scoop Frito's, grape juice, apple juice, peanut M&M's, and lots of water. You're on your own, and in the summer, ice doesn't last long. So SPAM is one of the unrefrigerated foods you can count on to get you through the next 24 to 36 hours.:cool::)

[David Weaver]

[QUOTE=Bill Van Steenwyk;67801]
The thing that spoiled that thought forever though, was I SAW WHAT THEY WERE SQUIRTING IN THE CAN RIGHT BEFORE SEALING THE LID ON. It was that awful "stuff" again, that is found in the can along with the SPAM. and it really ruined any thought I may have had of making a small contribution to the economic recovery that we are being told is so neccessary at this time. QUOTE]

Do you remeber the old saying "parts is parts"??? Your discussion reminds me of the CBS 60 Minutes piece on the Perdue Chicken Franks. By the time you got from input thru processing to finished product you would never, ever eat another "frank".
:eek::eek:

[Master Oil Racing Team]

When I transferred from Texas A&I University to Southwest Texas Teacher's University in 1968, my roommate and pit man,Bud Turcotte was a freshman. By the rules he was required to live in a dorm. I went to the dean of whatever department we had to go to and presented him with our "dilemma". I told him I raced boats in the Pro division and as such, we had to leave early on Friday's to get to the races, and we may be heading home Sunday evening from races 200-300 miles away. We also had to go home testing on weekends. That meant we would be getting back to the dorm at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. Monday mornings. We would disturb the students as well as the Mom of the dorm. Back in those days there was no such thing as co-ed dorms and there were strict curfews...at least on the girls dorms. So the Dean Dude let Bud live with me off campus. All of our friends at first were incoming freshmen, except for Joe Rome, that had to live in the dorm.

After the racing season was over, our apartment was the hangout for the weekends. We ate out at the hamburger and pizza places, but Bud and I were both used to home cooked food. So we did a lot of home cooking at our apartment. But you know how it is with college kids. Sometimes we just wanted to get something cooked up and head out, or on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, you just want something simple, quick, and easy to clean up. SPAM fit the bill for many of those meals. After one SPAM meal the conversation went to what SPAM was made of. There was a lot of discussion about it. Everyone knew that it was a conglomeration of leftover, or otherwise meat parts that couldn't be sold individually for size wise, or whatever reason. I told them I knew someone that worked at a SPAM plant and told me what it was made of and how they came up with the name.
I told them the the primary ingredients were Shin bone meat, Pig's ears, A$$holes (ends of the intestines), and Mammary glands. That made up the basic ingredients, but it also included such things as chicken lips. They knew I was full of it, but then....they weren't sure how far from the truth I was.:D

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Hi Wayne:

Looks like the only thing missing from your "survival kit" is an RC Cola and a Moon Pie.

Reminds me of a friend of mine who used to travel Western Nebraska back in the late 60's. Nothing but sand hills out there, and it really gets cold in the winter. He had to travel that area that towns were 50-60 or more miles apart and absolutely no other human beings to be seen. He always carried food, sterno, blankets, extra couple gallons of gas, etc., when traveling out there in the winter, just in case of some problem, as others had frozen to death when stranded and they ran out of gas or something to eat. Guess Heat Stroke would be the problem in the area you are talking about though.

P.S. If you know the rest of the sentence (missing words) in the song by the same name in the first sentence, I'll buy the first beer next time I see you.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Nebraska has the same description of things here pretty much but then it is the great plains of North America so that stands to reason. Even use the same emergency kits in winter and face the same blistering heat in summer. In all this some one forgot to mention the benefits of "Everclear"! :)

[kws]

[QUOTE=Bill Van Steenwyk;67801]
The thing that spoiled that thought forever though, was I SAW WHAT THEY WERE SQUIRTING IN THE CAN RIGHT BEFORE SEALING THE LID ON. It was that awful "stuff" again, that is found in the can along with the SPAM. and it really ruined any thought I may have had of making a small contribution to the economic recovery that we are being told is so neccessary at this time. QUOTE]

Do you remeber the old saying "parts is parts"??? Your discussion reminds me of the CBS 60 Minutes piece on the Perdue Chicken Franks. By the time you got from input thru processing to finished product you would never, ever eat another "frank".
:eek::eek:

Several years ago I worked as temp help at a soybean proccessing plant during the harvest rush. We temps did a variety of jobs from unloading simis to cleaning in the plant. one of the cleaning jobs was to go down in the tunnels under the plant and scoop beans back on to the conveyers. well scoop beans and what used to be beans. soy beans rot unbelievably fast.
within a few days wet beans have turned into .... stuff that smells and looks like crap. very nasty crap. it makes hog manure smell as fresh as spring air in a pine forest in comparison. A coworker and I wanted to get out of the tunnels as fast as we could. we were afraid we would barf if we stayed down there very long. so we had worked up a pretty good sweat while shoveling this mucky CRAP onto the conveyer. a white hat came down to check on us. and gave us a lecture we might end up getting sweat on the beans and that would be unsanitary. we laughed pretty hard at that... he was serious.
I knew all along I didn't like fake food made from soybeans after that job I knew WHY I didn't like it

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

My sister worked as an office manager for many years at a local large beef packing and processing plant and her boyfriend was a federal meat and meat products inspector. Similarly a friend of my wife's her boyfriend was a federal inspector at another large plant that processed pork. Both men just early on in their careers suffered major weight loss. Both became near vegetarians. Neither of them would go into any store meat and meat products sections to shop and both would tell your stories that would make you hair stand on end as to what was going on in their places of inspection including the horrible sights, smells, paractices and the many implied threads of bodily harm! One lasted 10 years and the other 13 and they just had to get out of what they were doing. :(

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I have smelled rotting beans before too KWS, but not in that type of quantity. And you are right about the smell. You're lucky you didn't both pass out.:eek:

I don't know how many of you have ever eaten a "real" chicken fried steak, but in the days before chain restaurants, you could get a real chicken fried steak or steak fingers in just about every cafe in Texas. Then along came the chain restaurants and food service companies that stocked all cafes and restaurants with quickly cooked processed foods. That's when chicken fried steak became a preformed frozen, breaded patty made out of soybean and topped with a gruesome white chicken a$$ cream gravy. The real chicken fried steaks are starting to make a comeback now. The way a Texan will tell you if a restaurant is good usually comes in two ways. Either "They make the best hamburgers.", or "Their chicken fried steak is real."

So with that in mind, I remember a trip to the nationals at DePue. The year I think was in 1972 and the soybean fake "ground beef" boom was in full bloom. We were passing through Iowa farmland when we came upon the path of a small tornado that had passed through only recently. On the right was a trail of scoured soybeans about 50 yards wide and as far back as the field went. The tornado then crossed the road and cut a swath through very tall stalks of corn as it took the soybeans and corn ears with it off to the distance. My Dad just said "Hmmm! That was a lot of chicken fried steaks.":D