Part Two: An Update on the Progress in Building a Historically Accurate Replica of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo’s Flagship

By Judi Curry

When I arrived at the San Salvador to see the progress being made in the building of the ship, I was a few minutes late and the fighting top was already being placed on the ship.

As I stood on the ground and looked up to the sky, one of the volunteers – Bob Wilson– began explaining to me what was happening. I asked him if it was the crows nest they were installing, but he said no. In the days of the San Salvador, what was being placed there was called a fighting top.

He went on to explain that  a fighting top was an enlarged top with small guns, designed to fire down at the deck of enemy ships. They could also be manned by snipers armed with muskets or rifles.  The fighting top  of yesterday is now referred to as the crows nest but with a slightly different role.   [Read more…]

Part One of Two Updates on the Progress in Building a Historically Accurate Replica of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo’s Flagship

By Judi Curry

There are not many times in life that you meet a person you don’t want to say goodbye to. This was not a romantic endeavor, but rather a person that is so genuine, so humble that you obtain energy just from being with him.

I recently met one of those extraordinary men – a Sicilian, who has worked in the boat business for 50-odd years, learning the trade as a teen in Sicily. He is a wonderful craftsmen and you can’t help but marvel at the finished product he creates.

Who is this man, you ask? A little background first.   [Read more…]

By Judi Curry

I have become fascinated with the lifestyle of my friend Cowboy in North Dakota. I find that I am flying there once a month for a few days at a time to do things like go to horse, goat and pony auctions. Just recently we went to the Building Steam Western Minnesota Steam Thresher’s Reunion (WMSTR) in the town of Rollag. Cowboy had never been to this exhibit and since he has so many of the machines on his farm he thought it would be fun to go. We drove the 110 miles to attend one day of the two and a half day show.

I keep taking notes of these activities, with the thought of writing articles about life in the Midwest, but for some reason have never put pen to paper — or fingers to keyboard as the case may be. At the risk of being too verbose – I want to say a few words about the Steam Thresher’s unnamedReunion, but in order to make my point I need to explain a few things about it. The reunion first began in 1940 when a Garr-Scott engine was fired up to thresh grain with steam again for the sake of reminiscing. It has continued to this day.   [Read more…]

Move-on sponsored movie “Koch Brothers Exposed: 2014 Edition” shown in households all over the nation.

By Judi Curry

Senator Bernie Sanders sent out an email telling Move-on members that “ . . . our great nation must not be hijacked by right-wing billionaires like Charles and David Koch. For the sake of our children and our grandchildren, we must fight back, and we must do it now in advance of November’s elections.”

I had heard of the Koch brothers for months; I was somewhat aware of the dastardly deeds they were doing throughout our country, and decided to attend the showing of this documentary at “The Hippie House” recently with approximately twenty of our Pt. Loma/Ocean Beach neighbors.   [Read more…]

“No money would exchange hands, but it would be a win-win for both of us…”

By Judi Curry

I have always thought of myself as a compassionate person. I frequently do things because I feel it is the right thing to do without ever thinking of any compensation – mentally, emotionally or monetarily. So let’s take a trip down the road to “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.” Let’s get into the time tunnel and go back approximately nine months.

I was walking my Golden Retriever Buddy around the block when I came across a woman I knew exercising her dog in front of her house. She was having some work done on her house and I stopped and talked to her. Her name is Patty, and it turned out that she was also in the field of education and I enjoyed talking to her.

The following day, the same thing happened and I asked her about the work she was having done on her house. She told me that a friend of a friend was a handyman and he was doing some work for her on the roof of her house. Apparently the handyman was down on his luck and was virtually homeless, but he was a good friend of another neighbor – a judge in the San Diego Courts – and he was always repairing things that needed work. …   [Read more…]

By Judi Curry

Weeks ago I said that I was going to stop my on-line dating sites.  To a certain degree that was true; those sites that cost money I have now eliminated; those that are free I have kept.  About 3-4 months ago I began corresponding with “Cowboy.”  When he told me he lived in North Dakota  –  near Fargo – no less – I knew that there was no purpose in continuing our relationship, but it just seemed to continue, sometimes talking or texting 20-30 times a day.

After only a short period of time – maybe 3 weeks, he told me that we had texted over 2000 times!  What in the world did we talk about? I don’t know, really, but our conversations went on and on, and pretty soon we were talking on the phone.  For an honest-to-goodness cowboy I was impressed with his knowledge and truly enjoyed our conversations.

A few weeks into our “relationship” he asked me if I had ever ridden a horse.  I told him that I remembered my Dad taking me to the pony rides when I was about 5 years old. We did that every Sunday.  Cowboy quickly sent me two pictures:  One of a pony and one of a horse, pointing out that I had never been on a horse; that ponies and horses are not the same thing.   [Read more…]

By Judi Curry

As my Golden Retriever Buddy was quickly losing his ability to stand or walk, I decided it was time to start looking for another dog. I hoped that the new dog would breathe some life into Buddy, and although I had been looking for months for the “right” dog, none came to the forefront.

None, that is, until I found Shadow, a.k.a. Thomas, at the Baja Animal Sanctuary. He was just what I thought Buddy and I needed.

Although we cannot be sure of Shadow’s heritage, he appears to be a pure Retriever. But just what kind is in question. You see, I think I have the Superman of the Retriever genre. He can’t jump between buildings in a single leap, but he sure as hell can jump over the coffee table — with all the geegaws on it — to jump up on the couch where he’ll watch the people go by.   [Read more…]